Warmachine League - End of Week 1

Week 1 of the local Warmachine League has been completed.  While it was originally quite stressful for me because I couldn't get a game in all week, I finally did get some games in on Friday and I can make at least one conclusion: the Harbinger of Menoth is a real witch.  While I'm well aware of her tricks and shenanigans, she's really difficult to deal with at 15 points and my games on Friday were both against her.  While I should go easier on myself because these were my first two games with my Morrowan force, I made some silly mistakes in the first game and I lost the last game on a technicality (the store was closing and we ran out of time).  I want to start today by sharing my experiences in these two games first and then I'll share my list for week two.

New England Team Tournament is coming!

Alright, today is the last day this week that I'll plug the Steam-Powered Gamer Facebook page, but I really think you'll "like" it as I plan on using it to present various news bits so that you can read some thoughtful articles here instead of reposts of common news items.

Speaking of common news items, the New England Team Tournament (NETT) is coming!  Is it really that time of year again already?  Yikes!  Just last year I participated in my first ever NETT with the Regular Team and we were surprised that we ended up with a winning record going into round 3, only to find ourselves defeated by our own pride against team 'Cryx are for Kids'.  This year, we plan on reuniting the Regular Team to have our hand at this tournament again and to prove ourselves after our terrible performance at Templecon this year.  Today I want to share my initial thoughts on the lists that I may bring to this tournament, since there have been quite a few releases since last year to consider.

GW Shade vs. Wash AND Harlan Versh

So yesterday there was some disappointing news about the status of War Room being delayed.  It was originally planned for late April but now it's looking like the middle of May will be when we can expect this awesome app.  I didn't share it on here but if you had checked out the Facebook page you would have found out about it yesterday!  Ha!  And you thought I wasn't going to plug the Facebook page today...

The real article today is actually a two-for-one.  I've begun painting my 15 point Morrowan list for the local Warmachine League and I recently picked up some of the new GW paints to try them out.  Not the 'base' or 'layer' paints, but some of the more interesting paints like the new 'shades', 'dry', and 'glaze' paints.  I'll be doing some reviews of the dry compounds and glazes later, but since I used the old GW washes right away in my painting process (it helps to identify the detail before I paint), I figured it would be helpful to show the differences between the new Nuln Oil black shade and the old Badab Black wash, and then I'll show off my first painted Morrowan model: Harlan Versh!

Showcase: Diorama Art Project

Day 3 of plugging the Steam-Powered Gamer Facebook page!  Not only will I be posting updates about miscellaneous Privateer Press news on the facebook page, but various photos of models or projects that aren't found here - such as what I'll be sharing with you today!

Today I actually have to share something really special: a Warhammer 40k diorama that one of my best friends made for his senior art project.  Typically I don't post anything 40k related on here, but since this was done by one of best friends and it was his senior college project, he wanted me to share it so that people could enjoy his work.  Also, I must claim some credit for the project.  When he was torn about what he wanted to do for a senior project as an art major, I convinced him that he should really do what he loves most: 40k!  Not only was it a great display of artistic skill, but it also gave him a great excuse to paint up a bunch of models that he could play with later (which he did).

Thinking Cap: Kaya and the Celestial Fulcrum

All of this week I want to plug the facebook page for Steam-Powered Gamer so that you all can go there to get updates on the latest posts.  You'll also note that with this blog I try not to just repost the latest releases by Privateer Press, because I figure you can get that everywhere.  I laugh when some new model comes out because the Iron Agenda Blogging Network explodes with reposts.  Well, when those releases do come up, I'll instead share them on the Facebook page so that whenever you come here, there will be a quality article to read.  So head on over because I think you'll "like" what you see!

Lately I've had some thoughts about one of my favorite and underrated warlocks: Kaya the Wildborne.  While her epic form often gets a lot of attention for being really powerful, I tend to actually think that pKaya has a lot of potential to be a really effective warlock.  I've played around with her a lot since I started playing Mk II and I've found her to be quite effective, but she does have some weaknesses, and my recent thoughts have centered around mitigating said weaknesses with a particular model: the Celestial Fulcrum.

Local Warmachine/Hordes League - Week 1

Before I get started I'd like to announce that the Steam-Powered Gamer has a facebook page!  Feel free to head on over there and 'like' us so that you can be updated on the latest posts on the blog (although I do update on the weekdays) and other info!

The LGS that I've been frequenting is just starting a 6 week League starting today and I'm intrigued to see what will come out of it.  It's roughly based on the Journeyman League rules but with some interesting twists that have had me thinking pretty much all day on Saturday about what I should bring to the event.  Unfortunately (at least in my opinion), a greater emphasis is placed on winning games in this league instead of just playing, so it means that I have to make sure that I bring my A-game.  This means, though, that I'm less inclined to try something different because I'll basically be penalized for playing with a list that will result in a couple of losses.  Oh well.  Let me share with you the league rules and run through what I was thinking all day on Saturday, preparing for this League.

Challenge Accepted! pBaldur 35 points

So today we'll be doing something a little different.  I had an article on pKaya that was almost ready to share, but I found myself reading this article over at ThrallBlacks claiming that Circle is not as good as other factions at 35 points.  Before I continue, I do want to say that I do enjoy reading the material over there and the crew seems really great.  Hell, they make me want to move to New Zealand even more now!  That said, I was a little shocked to read that and figured I'd accept the challenge of building a list and defending it, but not before stipulating that I firmly believe generalship outweighs list building.  Circle is not an army that you can just design a good list and start winning with it (as evidenced by my experience this year's team tournament at Templecon) - it requires a lot of patience, critical analysis, and practice.  So today, I'm going to work a little bit backwards here and share my 35 point pBaldur list (which I love) and why I think it's a great list even if it is only at 35 points.

A Simple Buccaneer Conversion

I don't remember where I saw it, but a while back I saw a simple idea for a conversion for the Buccaneer warjack.  Seeing as I really love these warjacks and one is an important part of my Fiona list, I figured it was worth attempting myself.  This was a fairly simple conversion in theory, so I wanted to take a stab at it and see if it was as easy as it looked.  The idea is simple: use the top of Fiona's trident and do a swap with the head of the Buccaneer gaff pole!  Here's my attempt at it.

Lord of the Feast threat range trivia

So at the end of yesterday's article on using Shifting Stones I asked a question about the potential threat range of the Lord of the Feast using the Slingshot tactic we discussed:

What is the furthest distance from your board edge that you can project the Lord of the Feast on your first turn, if you assume that he hits a target with his raven?
a) 34"
b) 35"
c) 39"
c) 41"
d) 43"

While there are lots of ways to get some added threat range to the LotF, it often will depend upon using warbeasts or spells that you might want to use for another purpose.  In order to be most practical with this, I wanted to use only the Shifting Stones and the LotF, but admittedly the greatest threat range is with a specific warlock.

Shifting Stone Tactics

After my tournament performance on Sunday I realized how mean my pBaldur list can be.  While to a certain extent the components of the list are what make it work, part of it also has to do with the tactics that I employ regularly with the list as I use it.  One of my favorite aspects of the list are the Shifting Stones.  This unit is absolutely amazing for Circle and they're even better with Baldur.  What makes them so great?  They give my constructs a threat range that rivals most heavies in the game - especially when combined with the animi and spells present and available in the list.  Today, I will use some images from Vassal to illustrate my two favorite tactics with Shifting Stones: the Slingshot and what I call 'the Feint'.

4/15/12 Tournament Results

I had mentioned on here in passing that there was a tournament yesterday at the Hobbytown USA in New Milford, CT.  I've been frequenting the club a lot lately because a) it's relatively close to where I live and b) everyone there is really cool!  When I had originally moved to CT, I tried frequenting a club in Torrington but while they had a reasonably good stock of models, the people there were quite insular and mostly just played 40k.  I wish that Hobbytown carried more Warmachine/Hordes product, but I imagine that as more people get into the game and place orders, that could change.  But I digress.  The tournament yesterday was pretty fun and while there were only 6 of us present, it was good to get some games in with my Circle.  First, let me share a couple of pictures from the event!

Showcase: Fiona and Taryn di la Rovissi

 It takes me a long time to get models painted.  It's not that I'm a slow painter.  In fact, I think that I paint models fairly quickly.  No, it's that I am obsessive about finishing the model and since that takes around 3-5 hours, and I have a job that consumes most of my time, that means that even when I get bit by the painting bug, I still can only get a couple of models done per week.  Last weekend I was inspired by my recent successes with Fiona the Black and I decided that I should just sit down and get painting.  The most daunting part for me, was trying to nail down a paint scheme.  Why was this so difficult?  It's because I have such a hodge-podge of models that I use with my Mercenaries, including the recent addition of the pSkarre theme list.  This means that I want my models to blend with Cryx, but I also want them to make sense if I want to play the Highborn Covenant mercenary contract.  This left me with some difficult decisions for my palette, but ultimately I decided to use two of my favorite colors: purple and green, accented by white.

Debriefing: pKrueger Battle Report

Yesterday I posted a battle report with pKrueger vs. Venethrax - the first time using Prezi to do so.  So far the response has been fairly positive, so thanks everyone for being supportive!  I clearly learned some lessons using Prezi for a battle report, as in the past I've only used it for teaching a lesson for class and I didn't use so many high-res photos.  I do like how it turned out, and I will use it again in the future, but I clearly need to streamline the process a bit and adjust the picture quality.  I promise that in the future, the photos will not be so intense and Prezi won't freak out so much and use up too many of your system's resources.  For those who had that problem, I apologize sincerely!

Beyond the lessons I learned from using Prezi for a battle report, there were some valuable lessons that I learned from my first game against Venethrax, and that is actually what this article will focus on.  Today, I debrief my performance using pKrueger at 35 points.

Prezi Battle Report: pKrueger

So a couple of days ago I played a game with pKrueger in practice for a tournament that's coming up this weekend.  I finally remembered to take pictures so I could write up a battle report for you all, but this time I decided to to something special!  I actually have to admit that I hate video battle reports.  They seem to cater too much to a cult of personality, I guess, and I'm more interested to hear about the game than hear some dude explain it to me.  I dunno, maybe it's just me.  Alternatively, I do like posting pictures which are narrated and annotated to show what happened in various steps along the way, but the limitation is that since activation order is so important in Warmachine/Hordes, it can be difficult to see the order in which things happen.  That's why I've decided to use Prezi to both annotate the pictures but to also emphasize activation order where appropriate.

Updated Blog Features

Whether you're new or a returning visitor to my blog you might notice that I have some tabs towards the top of the page.  These tabs provide links to past articles I've written on various subjects and as time goes on and I write more, I try to make sure that those tabs are updated.  This past weekend I made another update to the tabs above, consolidating some information, dividing others, and creating a new tab entirely to feature Battle Reports when I get around to them.  So, whether this is your first time here or you've been checking out my blog since October, I figured I'd give you a breakdown on what you can find in each tab, in case you're looking for something general (if you want to search for specific articles, you're welcome to use the 'Search' feature on the left).

Mercenary Unit Attachments: The Lists

In the first two parts of my series on Mercenary Unit Attachments we looked at what each unit attachment offered their charges and then we looked at all of the warcasters for each relevant faction and their feats, spells, and abilities which would affect these Mercenary units once they were considered faction models.  For today, I created three lists that feature these mercenary units and their attachments and I will focus on how each mercenary unit and MUA features in each list.  Again, I make no claims on the power of each individual list, but merely am focusing on how a mercenary unit will offer something unique to the particular warcaster that normal faction models might not.  Let's start with Cygnar.

Mercenary Unit Attachments: The Warcasters

Yesterday I wrote about the ever-rare Mercenary Unit Attachments, a recent addition to the game introduced in Warmachine: Wrath.  These attachments allow an attached mercenary unit to count as friendly faction models, as well as giving them some other abilities which I discussed.  While there are only three of these MUAs available, they are not seen often on the tables from what I've seen, and I wanted to discuss their merits.  For today, I will be looking at the various warcasters which could make the most use of these MUAs and their charges - often because they'll have a feat or spells that only affect friendly faction models.  This is a long post, so I'll wait until next week to look at some sample lists which feature Mercenary units and their MUAs.  Let's look at how each warcaster in each faction could take most advantage of having new friendly faction models.

Mercenary Unit Attachments: The Officers

Something that I have found interesting lately is an apparent lack on the tables of one of the new rules in Warmachine: Wrath.  With the release of this book there were some exciting new additions to each faction, but the most notable were of course the battle engines.  There were some other new additions, however, that I'm shocked have not seen more use on the table or mentioned in Warmachine articles, and I figured I would give these guys some attention (which they rightly deserve!).  Granted, there are only three of these guys to choose from, so if you're a Cryx, Retribution, or Mercenaries (duh) player, this article will not apply to you, but seeing as Cygnar, Khador, and Menoth represent some of the most popular factions on the tables, they deserve some attention given to their wonderful Mercenary Unit Attachments.

The Adventures of Fiona the Black

So I've been trying to get as many games as possible in with Fiona now that I have some models to work with.  Each game has been very close but even those where I've lost, I've had a really good chance at the win, I just forgot about a particular rule (beware a satyxis captain keeping Skarre from getting knocked down!).  Today I want to share the list that I've been using and reflect on what I've learned about Fiona the Black - the least liked of the privateer warcasters.

List Building: Amon Ad-Raza - 35 points

I'm really excited about the new store that I've been attending.  Everyone has been really nice, cool, and I've been able to get a couple of games in against some great dudes.  This has also been great for me getting more excited about Warmachine lately, as I've mostly focused on Hordes for the past couple of months.  Today I want to share with you all some recent thoughts that I have had regarding a particular warcaster: Amon Ad-Raza.  Did you know that there are only two warcasters who do not have steam-powered armor?  I want to talk about Amon because he seems to be another one of those warcasters that is often overlooked for his more "tournament worthy" brethren, and Amon has a special place in my heart because he piqued my interest back in Mk I when I originally played Menoth.  While I don't play Menoth, I do try to stay aware of every faction's abilities and capabilities and it's a good exercise to do list building for another army, so here we go!  This time we'll start with Amon's feat.

New Poll: Hordes Colossals (Gargantuans?)

Hey everyone, it's time to look at the results of the last poll and present you with a new one!  This last poll was very interesting and asked you 'Which Warmachine Colossal are you most excited for?' with some very interesting results.  So before I look at the results of the last poll, I want to present you with the next one: 'Which of the Hordes Colossals (Gargantuans?) are you most excited for?'  While this poll is ostensibly the same as the last one, the added difference here is that the only Hordes Colossals (I've heard them called 'Gargantuans' but this is not official yet) have not really been spoiled, with the exception being the artwork for the Trollblood Mountain King.  This poll essentially asks which one are you excited to see revealed, not just released!  For one, I'm very interested to see what Skorne receives!  Now let's take a look at the results of the last poll...