WIP - Praetorian Swordsmen

Another painting post?


Well, I’ve finished my Cetrati by pinning their weapon hands to their bodies (at least I hope I did – we will know when I pull them out of the case and throw them onto the tabletop tonight). I also pinned Xerxis various appendages while I was at it (again we’ll know if I got it right tonight). Next on the agenda – a maximum unit of Praetorian Swordsmen with UA. I’ve already seen from forums and other blogs that these guys have quite a bit of detail on them. They weren’t wrong.

 

These guys are testing my patience. When I started this unit, I had quite a bit of impetus after finishing Xerxis and 12 heavy troops. As I always say, I have very little patience for painting but I ploughed ahead as I set myself an extremely unrealistic goal of finishing them by the time I play my next game (I started at some point on Sunday afternoon and have a game against Nat and his Menoth tonight). All the same, I’m somewhat happy with the progress I’m making and will hope to have them tabletop ready by next Tuesday.

I will be keeping with the theme of green and gold with some red bits here and there (not red, gold and gree-ee-een), and dark blue/purple skin.

This is a scheme that I want to carry over to the next unit (maximum Immortals and Ancestral Guardian) but am not quite sure how to do so yet. I have base coated an Immortal (sorry, I forgot to take a pic) in Astronomican Grey. I am quite taken by this and prefer it to the PP studio’s black scheme. I had this colour in mind for a while and only confirmed my choice after searching the web for alternate schemes. I saw Immortals in jade, terracotta and a kind of sandstone which all looked really great. The big choice for me is whether I add green armour plates and gold trimming to these models. But that should really be a decision for when I finish my pesky Swordsmen.

Some stats (insert quote about stats being totally meaningless here)

I have (rather sadly) spent a large portion of my lunch break figuring out my success rate this year. If the idea of tabletop games being games and not life and death was not at the forefront of my mind, then I would be sickened by what I’ve just put myself through. As it is, these numbers would prompt a lot of people to use the phrase ‘Don’t give up your day job’. So here goes:

Since start of 2011:

P – 45 W – 4 D – 1 L – 40

Amazing, huh?

The next few facts are in no way self-criticism, but...

1) The draw (against Jaden) was looking like a defeat for me before we ran out of time.

2) One of the wins (against Bill) was a battle-box game where I wanted to get the hang of the Hordes mechanic.

3) Another of the wins (against Mark) might have been another loss if Mark had remembered to put all of his models on the table.

It looks like a really bad record, but my tournament only record is even worse. Attending both the UK Masters and ETC this year gave me a 0-12 score sheet. Yes, I need to try harder I suppose but it’s only a game. Anyway as our resident Warmahordes madman Vish put it, “0-12 is a record that people need to understand. It means you are literally Fearless, inured to injury pain and suffering. To be honest, that's pretty fucking hardcore if you ask me.”

I only went on this little fact finding mission to find out how long my current losing streak is. Here is the answer: 16 games. However if you apply fact number 3 the streak would stretch to 26 games. And if you wanted to go further, then apply fact number 1 to make it 27 games since I beat Marcus (legitimately).

Beat that!

Right...

Right. I’ve just eBayed the last (pretty much, there is just a few models left) of my Dark Angels, Imperial Guard, Necrons and Dwarfs (sorry GW). And now I’ve come to a couple of realisations.


First and foremost, I’ve pretty much recouped all that I furiously splurged on minis since I was made redundant from my last job four years ago. The money I received back then made me quite silly and made me quite addicted to eBay. This means that I have finally paid of the loan I took out to cover my credit card which makes the wife pleased. Have I learnt my lesson? Mostly yes. I still buy bits every month, but no more than my agreed budget. For September, I’m not going to buy anything except for a few pots of paint as I want to concentrate on my Xerxis force which has a few options that I can use. I hope I will only buy when I have tested these options.

Secondly, and this is really strange, I miss my Necrons (and to a certain extent, my Dark Angels). Just like the rest of the armies and forces I’ve ever collected, the Necron success rate was poor. But I liked their simplicity. Only the Necron Lord had any real weapon options. I even enjoyed the simple paint job I gave the majority of them – this was the main reason for buying them, I didn’t have to go over the top with them. When I bought my paints at lunchtime today, I was speaking with the chap at GW and he seems to think that Necrons will finally get some form of update later this year. If this is true, then I may regret getting rid of them.

Hopefully I will now remain a responsible gamer/collector (just a couple of months ago I did have a relapse and picked up a fantastic bargain of a Gator force for Hordes). I have learned that I can say no to new minis and games systems, but that’s not to say that I will not add to my Malifaux and Infinity armies (they are simply on the back burner).

August (for want of a better title).

August. Not a particularly good month gaming wise. Not for me anyway. I have played three games down at the club this month and it’s needless to say that they were all very good. So off the top of my head:

Game 1: Steve and his Legion

Possibly eThagrosh with a beast heavy list. Steve had some forest near his deployment zone and camped in there for the game inviting me to go to him. I didn’t really want to as my army would be picked off bit by bit, and being fairly slow I couldn’t make get to him quick enough. Once I did get close enough, a couple of heavy beasts (?) chewed through some Cetratii and smacked Xerxis hard in the face a few times.

Game 2: Steve (not the same one) and someone else’s Cryx.

Not the Skorne vs Skorne game we planned, but still a good one. Satyxis Raiders proved to be my downfall and dispatched my Arcuarii on one flank and a big scary jack did it’s business to my Cetratii on the other flank. I can’t quite remember how Xerxis fell (or I choose not to remember) but he did. Again. Still, I hope Steve steers clear of Cryx (although he did field a very good list).

Game 3: Jaden and his Skorne (last night).

Mirror match – Zaal vs my Xerxis. My conservative play saw my force get bogged down again. When I did try to outflank Jaden’s swordsmen with my Swordsmen he responded by casting Last Stand and leaving me with only four left in my unit I would have hoped to give a good response but couldn’t really as my UA had been chopped down, I therefore lost Side Step and any chance of doubling my opponents loses. In the same turn, Jaden used Marketh to cast Last Stand again (which was quite a good move) on his Nihilators. These started to break through my Arcuarii. I did make some positive moves with my first my Bronzeback and then my Gladiator when, in successive turns they slammed whichever model was standing in front of Zaal. The collateral damage from the Bronzeback’s slam caused eight points of damage while the same from the Gladiator only caused one point. Sadly for me neither of these beasts had the means to cause any more damage (Bronzeback had no follow up, even with the Train Wreck animus, he didn’t have the range to hit anything else and the Gladiator was already running hot with fury). My last hope was for Xerxis to Combo Smite Zaal’s next meatshield (Jaden’s own Tyrant Commander) and hope that this would inflict the last six points of damage. For this to happen I needed two things.

Firstly, for my last two Cetratii to clear a path to the TyCo by killing a Swordsman and the TyCo’s Standard.
Secondly, I really needed Jaden to forget that Zaal had one point of fury to transfer the damage.
Sadly, due to the law of the sod, the first point was only half met and the second would never had happened.

All in all, three great games with a lot to learn. I am really happy with Marketh’s usefulness, although Jaden used his Marketh to greater effect. I should use also put Xerxis’ and TyCo’s Battle Plans to better use and get both units of Cataphracts up the table quicker. I should also keep the Swordsmen back as they can be quite vulnerable.
The month has been good for painting however (see last post). At the weekend I managed to finish off my Cetratii, although I am going to try to figure out how to effectively pin their weapon arms.

.. and we're back.

So after a long and eventful while, I am back to post again. I think it would be too much work now for me to post up various battle reports, despite keeping a photographic trail of my gaming misery. I may post a selection of pics of certain points in games where things actually went my way. I might actually make a new post titled ‘How to have a caster/lock killed’.

Today’s post, however, will about me and my least favourite aspect of the hobby: painting. I have recently caught the painting bug and have put my head down and got on with it. I think it’s to with buying a new paintbrush. There has been a bit of discussion about various brushes on the Cross Gaming Club forums and I thought I would investigate. As soon as I started to use my new Windsor and Newton Series 7, I found out that I’m just as bad as ever. This is not to say that the new brush doesn’t work in my hand, no sir. What I’m experiencing might be the painting equivalent of the placebo effect. I have now tricked my brain into thinking I’m either slightly better or slightly more patience (I’m leaning towards the latter).

So, what have I done? This:

I have finished up a unit of Cataphract Arcuarii for my Skorne force. They took up a fair amount of time (which has been made even longer due to doing a lot of proof reading for an article my wife is writing. But I’m happy they are done. I had actually started off with Lord Tyrant Xerxis, the head of my army (and number one bad man).

I have followed this scheme with my Cetrati

You can see that there will be a lot of Dark Angel Green at the centre of my army. This is because a) for PP games I don’t like sticking with the studio colour schemes and more importantly b) I have no more Dark Angels to paint. Because I have become disillusioned with the direction GW appear to be going, I have sold pretty much all of my 40k and fantasy minis. I have the last of my minis on sale now on eBay and hope to be shot of them next week. It hasn’t been easy getting to grips with the idea of selling over 13,000 of Dark Angels, nearly 7000 points of Necrons about (I never got around to actually adding it up after the new book release) 4000 points of Dwarfs and quite a lot of Daemons and Warriors of Chaos. No, it’s been heart-wrenching at times. I have kept a few minis that I really like (both C’tan gods, a Terminator Chaplain for examples). But I can tell you that I have a lot more space now, which the wife appreciates.

AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

 No! No!

Please, have mercy!!!

Don't do it please!! Don't hurt me!

So that's what my spleen looks l...

Recap of recent weeks (spending and preparation).

I fear that I may have overspent this month (three times what I allow myself each month) in preparation for upcoming tourneys that I’ll be going to. Originally, I got myself a unit of Houseguard Halberdiers and UA. But then, after a game with Marcin in which I used Rahn, I decided I really wanted a second unit of Battle Mages and a second Magister. I failed with the Battle Mages but managed to buy a Heavy Myrmidon (which will now be my Discordia), an Artificier, a Heavy Rifle team and Dahlia Hallyr and Skarrath. The next day I bought myself a second unit of Stormfall Archers. Whoops.

Despite the hole in my pocket and a little bit of guilt, I’m quite pleased with my purchases.

First off, I would like to praise my Halberdiers. In my last two games (a loss against Marcin and a win against Marcus), they have done their job very well. Against Marcin they held the front line for a couple of turns which would be long enough to get everything else into play. The fact that they can push themselves 9” forward every turn with Reform is very useful. But the thing I like best about them (and RifleElves – they are not men after all) is that they do not block LOS to friendly models. Against Marcus, I had a minimum unit + UA sat in front of my Invictors. The Invictors could just sit back and shoot from a distance (I had Ravyn cast snipe on them plus they had their little Extended Fire mini feat).
Discordia is a very useful heavy. With a high powered spray and an imprint that shares it’s Force Field with nearby models, it has certainly made itself useful in both support and offensive roles.
Artificier looks to be a very nice solo, but I have yet to use him in an offensive manner. Like the Discordia, he can also share a Force Field with nearby models, which would come in handy. In my game against Marcus, he sat behind the Halberdiers and Invictors buffing their Shield Wall and Defensive Line respectively. I can now have some very hard wearing troops.
I didn’t really get to use my Heavy Rifle team against Marcus through a combination of moving for a couple of turns and Zerkova’s nasty feat. So I’ll have to wait a bit longer to really see what they can do.
I know what Archers can do and now that I can provide them with some extra durability with an Artificier, I will definitely be thinking about making use of both units (most likely under Ravyn obviously).
Dahlia and Skarrath. I have longed to get these models. A chick with a huge snake that can deny enemy orders can only be a good thing. If I don’t get to use these with Retribution, I can add them to my Trollblood force.
Add to this, Fane Knight Skerryth, who looks to be a hard hitting solo. He personally dispatched a handful of Marcus’ Khadorans (Righteous Fury rocks!).
I feel my force is now quite flexible, although I feel a unit of Destors and a couple of Destor Thanes would complete the family. The one thing I’m still undecided about is the battle engine, and how they would fit in down at the club.

As I’ve mentioned in this post, I’ve had a couple of good warm up games for the UK Masters and ETC. The first was a loss against Marcin’s Circle. My Phoenix and Discordia had good games. The Phoenix made good use of it’s Halo Cannon annoying the heck out of a unit of Ravagers by setting them on fire (there were some good dice (including a couple of double sixes) when facing them). Rahn helped out when Phoenix got engaged by pushing the out of the way using Force Hammer. The RifleElves shot lots of things from behind the Halberdiers. The Halberdiers in turn provided some good cover for the rest of the force with the help of Rahn’s Polarity Shield. I can’t quite remember how Rahn got his face smashed, the pics must still be on my camera.
That was followed by a win over Marcus and Zerkova. My Mage Hunter Strike Force led the flanking manoeuvre but became a bit cagey when engaged by some Doom Reavers. My Fane Knight Skerryth saved the skin of pEiryss a couple of times as she followed the MHSF. A full unit of Invictors and UA sat behind a minimum unit of Halberdiers and UA with Snipe cast on them. Discordia caused some trouble early, by standing behind a hedge (which would save him from getting smashed by some Khadorian jacks. His Sonic Pulse Cannon (an incredible high powered 10”spray) took out most of a heavy weapons team, War Dog and took Zerkova down to half her damage. Ravyn feated in the second turn affecting nearly all of my force (only missed six of my MHSF!!! – which I needed), and they grabbed the chance with both hands. Most of the Doom Reavers fell to Phantom Seeking crossbow fire. The Invictors came up trumps with a couple of CRA’s targeting some Shocktroopers/MOW’s (I can’t remember). Everything was looking ok even though Zerkova feated. Not being able to charge or give orders, wasn’t that good. But that didn’t stop Skerryth and a few Halberdiers dishing out some damage (it was here that Drakhun fell under the Fane Knights challenge).
There was a scare when Marcus’ Kayazys walked through my line with the Underboss’ mini-feat. The Underboss himself couldn’t get through to Ravyn, but two of his men did. Fortunately, they didn’t have enough in the locker to finish her off. We called the game in my fourth turn as Zerkova had Discordia, some Invictors, Eiryss and a full strength MHSF +UA looking at her.

A couple of good games against good players, both of whom I hope will be raising hell at ETC when we all go in July.