Thinking Cap: Initial thoughts on the Woldwrath

I think I inadvertently creating a shooting list with eBaldur.  I got to play with the Woldwrath for the first time a couple of weeks ago against a Cryx player at the Battle Standard.  He usually doesn't play in tournaments much but it was my first time with the Woldwrath anyway so I have no allusions that it's OMG BROKEN or anything but I do want to share my brief insights on the model.  I wanted to try out a 50 point game because Templecon is coming up soon and I need some practice.  I crafted a 50 point list for eBaldur a while ago but I finally got to try it out and so I need to share my findings.

The Search for a new Partner

After the NETT I discovered that I was a little disappointed by my pKrueger list.  While it certainly handles Warmachine armies reasonably well, I played against 3 Troll lists over the course of the day and they made me aware of some of its limitations if I have a bad match-up.  So, that means that I need to either tweak the list or come up with another list that I want to run alongside Baldur when I take my Circle to tournaments.  I took some inspiration (as I always do) from the captain of team Danger Apartment.  He's given me some great ideas since I first started playing the game and he's probably the best Circle player that's out there right now, so I watch his games and lists carefully.  Today I'll share my revamped pKrueger list and then some alternatives that I'm considering to try out to see which of the three will compliment Baldur the best.

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.

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!

Road to Templecon 2012: Final Team Tournament Lists

So the Regular Team has gone from being super exciting to super dull for me.  Mostly it's because where I am makes it very difficult for me to play games of Warmachine/Hordes at all, let alone at a tournament standard.  The few games I got in were good and I've been getting better with timing my turns appropriately, but I'm not nearly as confident as I should be.  Oh and Skyrim eats away at my soul.  Seriously, for someone who's obsessed with completing every little quest like myself, this game is destroying every minute of my free time.

That makes me laugh every time.
I digress.  I have my lists finalized for the team tournament, and seeing as I'm not terribly confident with my abilities anyway, it's not like I lose much by posting them up on the internet for global scrutiny.

Road to Templecon 2012: List Building

So if you have not had the opportunity to read my two articles on List Building, you should check them out in the Learning Center (the links towards the top left of my blog).  In those articles I discuss what kinds of things you should be considering when designing a good list.  While having fun is first and foremost, the best way to have fun is to make sure that you aren't screwed by a particular playstyle of something that you "totally forgot about."  It happens to the best of us, and bad match-ups will always be a part of the game, but this is why multiple-list tournaments are so popular.

Today I will be discussing a couple lists that I have been considering bringing to Templecon 2012 this year, to play in the team tournament (also mentioned in my last Road to Templecon article here).  I have four lists on the chopping block, and I'm only allowed to bring two.  I already have a good idea of which ones I want to bring, but I won't tell you, so that I can keep the surprise ;-)

Domination Release Event! (Updated!)

So today at my LGS there is an event celebrating the release of Domination and I most certainly will attend!  So the deal is that you try to play as many 50 point games as you can and you earn points once you achieve a "glorious deed" or other such conditions are met.  There will also be a new scenario, which I briefly playtested the other day against my Troll buddy, so that will be fun too!  The rules for the event can be found here and I plan on playing all day!  I will try to update my blog over the course of the day to let you all know how I'm doing and how the event is progressing, so make sure to come back and check up on how I'm doing.  Here are 3 lists I'm going to run (at least):

DOMINATION! READ! NOW! PART 7! FIGHT!

Today is the conclusion of the DOMINATION! READ! NOW! series, and I’m sure you’re all tired of seeing so many exclamation points and capital letters.  To conclude my initial analysis and impressions of Domination, I have a battle report to share with you!  Today’s battle report is pretty special not only because it’s the first I’ve posted on here, but also because it’s against a kid Drew at my LGS.  Drew is a good kid and I’ve been playing games against him for some time and recently traded my old Minions from the good Dr. Arkadius for his Cygnar.  This means that all of the painted models in the battle report today were painted by yours truly!  Let’s begin.

List Building: eBaldur Tier 4

This week is tech week for me at my school.  Due to the power outages last week, that means that we actually have two shows being put on this weekend.  As the technical director, I'm a bit drained, but I've been striving to make sure that Steam-Powered Gamer gets it's daily article!  Today I'm particularly exhausted, but it's time to play around with Baldur the Stonesoul!

Spoilers: Lots of Domination stuff!

Alright so yesterday's post featured some detailed reviews of the actual Domination cards for some Warbeasts, but there has been a metric TON of spoilers on the Privateer Press forums!  Not terribly surprising, considering that the book will be out in two weeks.  Not only do we have rules and stats but even some tier lists!  I'm a huge fan of tier lists, and they were the reason why I even got into Mk II.

Alright so here's everything that I have synthesized while trolling through the Privateer Forums:

List Building: The Journeyman League!

While there was no power in Connecticut, I decided that I would trek up to Boston to spend time with my girlfriend.  I had a mini-vacation, sure, but she still had to work, go to class, and write papers and such.  What was a guy to do?  You guessed right: GAME ON!

I spent 3 of my 4 days off hanging out at The Whiz, my "L"GS (I say "L" because it's only local when I'm in the Boston area).  I had some fun crafting and playing a new style of Magic: The Gathering deck I like to call the "Mad Scientist" deck, but I wanted to take advantage of the time to play some Warmachine/Hordes.  That was when I heard from one of the Press Gangers that the store was starting a Journeyman League.  If you click that link you'll find out what the Journeyman League is, but I will summarize it by saying that it's a 6 week event that is designed to encourage new players to get into the game by starting small with the standard faction battle box of models.  The League tallies points for games played and the number and type of models you paint and you can earn prizes (and neat patches!) depending on how many points you earn.  Even though I'm not a new player, I decided that I would join up so that I could motivate myself to get some of my Circle painted in time for Templecon in February.

Wednesday Game Night: A Tale of Learning

This is Kent: Beautful! ... but rural

So this past summer I moved from my comfortable existence in Waltham, MA to Kent, CT.  If you are not aware, Kent is pretty much the middle of nowhere.  Don't get me wrong!  It's a great community and the school is wonderful, but it has severely limited my gaming experiences as I no longer can drive out the the LGS to play some games.  One of the big "cons" to moving out here was the fact that I would likely be too far away from a good game store and I would be left with no way of dealing with my stress.  I. Need. To.  GAME!  What was I ever going to do!?

Army Showcase: Sticks and Stones

My big stone constructs! The Woldguardian is my fave

When I first thought about playing Warmachine/Hordes, I looked through all of the different models of the factions on the Privateer Press website.  At the time, the group of gamers at the Local Game Store were mostly playing 40k, so I wanted to start small and cheap, just to get a 25-35 point army just to have something different to play.  I saw the models for the Woldwarden and Megalith and thought that they were pretty neat.  I've always loved druids and the idea of animated trees, and this was pretty close.