Stryker's Replacement

I've been working on assembling the Woldwrath and I plan on painting it within the next week.  For now, I'm focusing on Cygnar again in preparation for this upcoming tournament.  I managed to play a game with pStryker on Thursday and my woes with the warcaster continued.  He's great and all, but I'm not sure I'm playing him as aggressively as I should.  I normally don't do this, but I think I'm going to change up my decision to play with pStryker in the tournament on Sunday.  Like I said, I normally would strongly discourage this, but since I can't seem to align myself with Stryker's playstyle, I instead think that I will replace him with a warcaster that will probably better fit my style naturally.  It might totally backfire on me since I've never played with his replacement before, but I think her playstyle will better match my own and require less of a learning curve than if I continued to play with pStryker.  It's with a heavy heart that I must admit, I'll be playing with pHaley.  I know.  I'm the guy who keeps saying I think she's overrated, but I think in this case, she'll be a good alternative.  Let me explain.

pStryker and the Stormwall

I've been playing around with the Stormwall for some time now.  While the model is hardly rare on the tabletop anymore, it's most often seen with either of the Haleys, despite having some solid synergies elsewhere.  Frequenters of my blog know that I've had great success with the Stormwall under Sloan and I think I've finally found a comfortable list with her, but I've been searching for a 2nd list to run next to her, and I think I've come back to Commander Stryker, with whom I've had some great success at tournaments so far.  One of the features of the list, of course, is the Stormwall and pStryker has some solid synergy with the Colossal that many will often overlook.  Today I will breakdown why I love the Stormwall so much with the often underrated pStryker.

New Poll: How do you react to seeing a Colossal on the table?

Hey everyone, I'm back!  It's been quite the eventful week in "Real Life" and I wish all of it was positive.  I'll have some interesting stuff for you guys this week leading up to the New England Team Tournament this weekend, but first I want put up our new poll for July and take a look at the poll which concluded at the end of June.  I've been seeing lots of hate out there for Colossals (particularly the Stormwall) but I've also seen a lot of people who are unimpressed.  This month the Conquest will be released and with there being enough time for the Stormwall to be seen on tables, I'm curious to hear how you all are dealing with it.  So let me present our new poll:

Showcase: The Stormwall

It's time for the moment you've all been waiting for!  Okay, maybe not, but I finally took some pictures of my finished Stormwall.  I've been debating with myself on whether or not I should go back and highlight the blue on its armor plates more but I've now decided against it.  I'm very satisfied with the way it looks and I'm pleased with the color blue I have, without needing to highlight it just for the sake of highlighting it.  He fits with my painting style and dammit, I'm keeping him the way he is!  Without further ado, here's my Stormwall!

Sloan and the Stormwall

Don't get too excited, it's not completely done yet.  I've spent the past 24 hours painting this guy and it is quite intimidating to paint.  Unlike some other large models you might encounter, this guy is still packed full of detail and it's quite challenging to paint it without accidentally getting paint somewhere where I don't want it.

Anyway, I'll be taking more pictures when it's actually finished but for now I want to share some of the thoughts I've had about the Stormwall and Colossals in general.  First I want to share a list that I'm considering bringing to the 25 point "Ambush" scenario this weekend, featuring the Stormwall itself:

List Building: Sloan and the Stormwall

I'm pretty excited about the Stormwall.  I won't go as far as saying that it's the best Colossal, but I think it really has everything that Cygnar players have really needed and been waiting for.  Ranged firepower?  Check.  P+S 20 on melee attacks?  Check.  Able to disrupt enemy warjacks?  Check.  There has been a lot of discussion in the community since the release of the Stormwall about which warcaster would benefit the most from it.  Everyone seems to love pHaley with the Stormwall but on my own list I really tried to advocate for Kara Sloan.  Perhaps my desire to make her my next Cygnar warcaster has led me to be over biased, but I really believe that she will benefit from the Stormwall more than most.  Today, I want to look at Sloan in the context of the Stormwall and share a list that I think will probably have you intrigued.

New Poll: Affordable Colossals/Gargantuans

After the whirlwind of this weekend with the spoiling and releasing (albeit only at Lock n' Load) of Colossals and even the Gargantuan Mountain King, I've thought about how expensive these models are.  I'm not talking about the points cost, but the fact that the Stormwall is $135.  While I believe that the models are appropriately priced for their size and the quality of the kits, I still wonder how many will be able to afford these models.

That brings us to the new poll for the month:
Do you plan on buying a Colossal/Gargantuan?
"Yes!  I'll be buying one ASAP!"
"Yes, but I have to budget my funds carefully to afford one."
"No, they are too expensive for my budget." 
"No, I'm not interested."
"Not until I see the official rules."

Warmachine: Colossals Consolidated Spoilers! [UPDATED 6-3-12]

Today I have something special for you all.  With Lock n' Load starting yesterday, I managed to scour the interwebs for everything that I could find on this event (since I couldn't make it myself).  Not only do I have pictures for you but some awesome spoilers on some of the new models coming out!  If you were following the Facebook page yesterday then some of this will be old news for you (lesson: like us on Facebook!) but there will be some new stuff that I've compiled from the Privateer Press forums for you all.  Let's start with some pictures and then I'll head right into rules!

[UPDATE 6-3-12] - We also have one of the spoiled cards for the Trollbloods Mountain King!  This answers a lot of questions that I had about how these Gargantuan warbeasts would function.

Thinking Cap: The Stormwall

By now if you haven't already heard, Privateer Press released the cards for the Cygnar Stormwall and we get our first official peek at a Colossal!  We now know a lot about the direction Privateer Press took with these large models and they aren't the crazy unkillable machines that some initially thought.  In fact, the Stormwall has less ARM than Ol' Rowdy.  So, naturally, I want to jump right into designing a list around such an awesome centerpiece model, and now that we have the cards, we can actually start planning - making some assumptions of course about how the rules will work for these guys.  So let's break down the rules for the Stormwall and look at which warcasters would make the most of a giant robot with lightning fists!

Editorial: Gargantuan Possibilities

As we rapidly approach the anticipated release of Warmachine: Colossals, we're finding an odd lack of information about the Gargantuans which we can expect to see in the fall.  I suppose it's understandable with Privateer Press focusing their energies this summer more on their new intellectual property LEVEL 7 and their new Bodger's game Heap.  Additionally, I'm sure that they intend on keeping things fairly close to their chest until Lock n' Load and GenCon.  What I see, however, is great possibility for these Gargantuans since we have only seen beneath the surface of two of the Colossals so far (Conquest and Kraken).  What this means is that we aren't really sure what to expect from the Gargantuans, save for the Mountain Troll for which we've at least seen a model.  So what can we expect based on what we already know?  What can we hope for?

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...

New Poll: Colossal Anticipation

Today is March 1st and it's time to take a look at our old poll and introduce a new one!  I like adding polls because they let us all see how some of us in the community are feeling on certain issues or events.  So I've had the previous poll up since the end of Templecon, asking: Which Warmachine/Hordes Faction needs 'fixing' the most?  Most of the responses were not terribly surprising, but I intentionally left the definition of 'fixing' up to you, the voter, as some factions might need to be fixed in a positive (made better) or negative (needs nerfing) way.  Indeed we have some interesting results, so let's take a look at them!

Templecon 2012 Privateer Press spoilers

[Update]

Videos and information are now up on Privateer Press:

Colossals:

War Room App:

Infernal Contraption 2nd edition 

Heap

War room app coming to not only build lists but track damage, status, and look up relevant rules.  Initial app is free with starter box cards info free.  Need to purchase faction card deck for $6.99 includes future releases for faction and updates.  App includes seasonal cards!
Iron kingdoms rpg looking good, good info.  Taking a realistic approach and not really required to play a warcaster.  The other characters will be able to "do some really cool shit".

Infernal contraption coming back!

New bodgers game called Heap sounds fun

Colossals are coming!  Two damage grids (only one cortex), Colossals confirmed for all main warmachine factions (including mercs!  Not contract specific).  All models released before colossals (slight domination overlap).  18-20 points per colossal.  Fa: 2.  Troll spoiler for colossal equivalent.  Minions a "surprise".  New power attacks: psuedo-thresher, slam without moving.  Throws and slams move models extra 2".  No price determined yet.  "Not insane price".  Benefit from battlegroup effects.  Conquest (Khador), Hyperion (Retribution), Stormwall (Cygnar), Judicator (Menoth), Kraken (Cryx), Galleon (Mercs).  First Colossals available as pre-release at lock-n-load this year.  Only legendary warcasters and Colossals (for new stuff, will probably still have other stuff too).

Kreoss going double epic in a horse!

Minions and merc battle engines a possibility?  "Hell yes".  New rhulic warcaster mossimo (sp?).