Challenge Accepted: Nemo

Nemo is one of the few warcasters out there who has been lucky enough to have 3 different versions of himself.  He's always been one of my favorite warcasters conceptually and his models (at least the newest versions) all look pretty great - dynamic while maintaining his character and personality.  While I began playing Cygnar with his epic form, I've recently been revisiting the idea of playing with the prime form: Commander Adept Nemo - one who is mostly considered one of the worst incarnations of Nemo, let alone the worst Cygnarian warcaster.  Naturally my response has been, "Challenge Accepted!" and so I've decided that I want to make him work.  It also helps that I already have a solid tournament warcaster for Cygnar in Kara Sloan and so I've been looking for a good, complimentary warcaster to run in a 2-list tournament with her, so maybe with some time and practice Nemo can make the cut!  Let me share my list with you and some of the justifications, as well as some other ideas I've tossed around and potential tweaks I might make if playtesting doesn't go so well.

Steamroller Prep: Escalation Tournament

So there's an Escalation Tournament on December 9th at The Battle Standard in Manchester, CT that sounds really interesting.  Unfortunately, I'm on duty that weekend so I will be unable to attend *shakes fist* but in case I can get someone to switch duty weekends with me, I still would like to prepare for it.  What will be interesting about the tournament is that there will be 4 rounds and the points values for each round increase, so you'll play at 15 points the first round, then 25, then 35, and lastly you'll play at 50 points.  Where it gets most challenging, however, is that you must keep building on your previous list.  In other words, the models in the 15 point list must be present in your 25 point list and so on.  The other major challenge is that your 15 point list is warjack/warbeast only (although you can be 3 points down).  That's where things get tricky because it means infantry warcasters will have a tougher time first round, and so the event as a whole will likely favor warjack/warbeast-heavy lists.  So what would I be bringing?  Well I first had to start with looking at viable 15 point lists, since those elements will carry forth into the later rounds.  Here's what I considered:

Recent Games and Reflections

September is the craziest time of year for me.  Coming out of the hibernation period that is the summer and being dropped right into a full boarding school teachers schedule is a bit intense.  Now I remember why I didn't start The Steam-Powered Gamer until October (OMG ALMOST A YEAR OLD!) - I was far too busy in September to do it.  Things are starting to calm down here a bit now 0 well, actually, I think I'm just getting into my groove.  Anyway, I have still been trying to be productive when it comes to Warmahordes stuff and I've managed to get a couple of games in at the local club.  Now that school is back in session some of the regulars have been coming back to the game club so I can at least get a game of Warmahordes in on Friday nights (typically).  That said, 2 games in the month of September is still not that great, but let me outline quickly how those games went.

I still need a good Cygnar tournament list - Part 2

After Sunday's relatively poor tournament performance I've been pondering what kind of list I should build to make up for my poor performance against Warmachine armies.  My Sloan list has been perfected to deal with Hordes well and now I need to find something to deal with Warmachine, since pStryker and pHaley have let me down.  It's not just losing games with them that has been the problem, but an overall shift in the Warmachine meta, that leaves me needing to change up my list.  Like I said yesterday, it's less common these days to see high-DEF low-ARM models out there since everyone seems to have a solution to them these days.  No, the Warmachine meta has shifted to high-ARM models instead.  Suddenly it seems everyone is bringing infantry with Shield Wall and/or ARM 16+ to counteract all of that lightning out there these days.  Yesterday I shared a pNemo list that I think might be fun to try but today I have another list that I wish to share.

I still need a good Cygnar tournament list - Part 1

Okay so, as expected, yesterday's performance with pHaley was not so great.  Not so surprising, I guess, considering we have the "Andy Rule" on the Regular team after our first NETT appearance where Andy played eThagarosh for the first time and got rolled.  I posted some general results on the Steam-Powered Gamer facebook page.  I wasn't taking this tournament too seriously anyway, so it's not the end of the world that I broke the rule.  Well, it just goes to show that it's a good rule.  I still went 2-2 and my Sloan list continues to make me happy, so now I just need to find a replacement list based on some information I did gather from my 2 games with Haley but also couched with my experiences with pKrueger against Warmachine.

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.

Showcase: Black 13th, Reinholdt, Pendrake

So I've been pretty busy painting the past couple of days because I want to have at least one fully-painted list for the tournament on Sunday.  The challenge, of course, is that I still haven't decided on what I want to take for my reinforcements and so until I decide what I want to bring along, I might as well get the other elements of my list painted up until I finalize my decision.  Today I'll share some photos of what I've accomplished so far.

Sloan Tournament List

So I've had the opportunity to play quite a few games with Sloan at this point and I finally got a model for Viktor Pendrake and am very pleased with his addition to the list.  Indeed, since I intend this list to be used regularly against Hordes opponents, his usage specifically against warbeasts is hardly a limitation.  As such, I feel very confident with the list that I have developed for 35 point tournaments... for the most part.  I am fairly comfortable with the list and I have already begun painting the models that needed to be finished so that I can compete with it this weekend, if I can make it to The Battle Standard's tournament.  I'll quickly share my finalized list and expand on some of my rationales for the choices made and at the end I'll share my only apprehension for the list: reinforcements.  Let's start with the list:

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.

List Building Advice: eCaine 35 points

The Steam-Powered Gamer received a message last night from a fan asking for some advice:

Hey! Love your blog. I was wondering if I could ask you some questions about list building - I'm just starting out, going to be playing eCaine, and I like both Alexia models. At 35 points, how would you try to build an eCaine list which also contained one of the versions of Alexia?

(If you don't answer specific questions, I totally understand that, but I figured I'd ask.)

Well, fortunately, I'm willing to answer specific questions!  eCaine is a great warcaster to start out with.  He's fairly simple to use while still maintaining some depth and useful options for a variety of situations.  We'll start by looking at what eCaine has at his disposal (starting with his feat) and then I'll share a list that I created.

NETT: Cygnar Debriefing

So this week has been chock-full of playtesting for me with my Cygnar in preparation for the New England Team Tournament.  I posted on Tuesday the lists that I was considering bringing for my Cygnar and I've been practicing games with both lists to see how comfortable I'd feel with either of them.  I haven't played at all with my Circle, and while that might seem like a bad idea in case I take them to the tournament, I actually have a lot of tournament experience with them already and since the lists will be exactly the same, I'm very confident with my performance with them.  No, this week has been about playing with Cygnar to see what kind of damage I can do with them.  Well, today I can share with you my conclusions about my Cygnar.

Tournament Prep: Circle or Cygnar? Part 1

The New England Team Tournament is coming!  This past weekend I held a gaming weekend at my apartment for my friends where we played games, grilled up some food, and had some fun.  I own two gaming tables and so we were able to get a few games in between the lot of us (although we could have played more).  One of the questions that I've been wrestling with is whether I should bring my Circle or my recently-beloved Cygnar.  The New England Team Tournament will look a little different this year than it did last year, with only two lists at 35 points.  While it means that certain factions will have an easier time participating (Mercenaries, Minions), it does limit the options for certain Hordes factions which can handle the 50 point limit better than most Warmachine armies.  The meta has also shifted with the arrival of Domination, several models from Wrath, and the Stormwall since last year's team tournament.  In other words, this year's team tournament will be completely different.  So which lists would I bring?  Today I'll look at my Cygnar options and tomorrow I'll share what I'm thinking for Circle.

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!

Debriefing: 25 point "Ambush" (part 2)

On Sunday I participated in a 25 point "Ambush" style tournament, where each scenario played used the Reinforcements artifice.  In part 1 I shared the lists that I brought to the tournament and shared the general results from my first two games.  After both of those games I was feeling pretty good, but I felt like I still had room to improve and I had to keep on my game.  I had made some big errors with my first game with Sloan and I was determined to make sure I did not repeat those errors.  Similarly, I needed to make sure that I kept the scenario in mind, as I had yet to earn any control points and those could be huge in future games.  Boy, was I right!

Debriefing: 25 point "Ambush" (part 1)

First I want to apologize for the lateness of this post.  I awoke this morning to find that my power was out at home so I had to go out to get some internet so it took me a little longer to get this all written up.  I had the fortune of being able to attend a 25 point “Ambush” tournament in Manchester CT at The Battle Standard on Sunday.  The tournament was really well attended (24 participants) and the store itself is… awesome.  I highly recommend anyone within an hour of driving check it out because it is certainly worth it.  I attended the tournament and decided to bring two Cygnar lists with me and I convinced myself that I probably wasn’t going to be able to do much but get some games in and get some experience with the Stormwall, since I had not had the opportunity to play with either of the lists I had brought yet.  Today I'll share the two lists I brought with me and a brief synopsis of my first two matches.  Tomorrow I'll share the 3rd and 4th matches as this post would be too long if I included them too!  I'll also share some of my general thoughts on the Stormwall tomorrow too.

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:

Showcase: Sloan and the Minutemen

 First of all, look what arrived yesterday!  It took a good amount of time to put together but I have to say I'm impressed with the quality of the kit.  There was some flash and a slight miscast along a mould line, but I'm overall impressed with the thoughtful placement of the mould lines and assembly points.  While I work on the colossal task of painting it (GET IT!?) I figured I'd share some of my other Cygnar models: two of the four Minutemen I own, and Kara Sloan - who I finished painting yesterday!  I don't claim to be a great painter but I am quite pleased with how these models came out.

35 point Army Deals: Cygnar

With the recent arrival last week of the Artificer General Nemo and his assistant Caitlin Finch, I decided to delve right into what seems to be one of the most powerful warcasters of recent memory.  The best part about the list I'm about to share is that it's incredibly cheap for a 35 point army ($219.92 retail) to own without sacrificing on brutal effectiveness.  In the spirit of the new 25 point summer deals, I decided to share with you all some cheap (but fun!) 35 point armies to try out that I aim to price between $200-250 retail.  Not only will I share the list and retail prices with you but I aim to also provide a brief description of how the army is played in the style of a short list building article!  Let's start today with Cygnar's 35 point deal: Artificer General Nemo!

Steamroller Prep: 25 points - Cygnar

One of my long-time Warmachine/Hordes buddies has been the Press Ganger running events over at the Battle Standard for a few months now and, despite living in CT, I haven't made my way out there yet.  I've been tempted to do so a number of times, but with a lease on my car and limited mileage, I have to be careful to keep track of how far I drive.  This will change, however!  There is a 25 point Steamroller tournament in less than 2 weeks that I think I want to attend since it's a good opportunity to get some guaranteed gaming in.  What makes this tournament so interesting to me is twofold.  First, it's an "Ambush" themed Steamroller where all of the scenarios will use Reinforcements and secondly, even if I don't win anything, if I can get my army fully painted then I will be entered into a raffle drawing.  With this being summer vacation for me I could certainly use some motivation to get more models painted so this seems as good of an opportunity as any!  So what lists am I considering taking?  Well for the next three days I'll look at creating lists that I would feel comfortable bringing considering the factions I own/play.  Today I'll start with the 2 lists I'm considering for Cygnar.

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.