Thinking Cap: Reeves of Orboros

I know what you're thinking. Anyone who's played with Circle has probably looked at Reeves, thought they were neat and then laughed when they saw the cost of the unit. Furthermore, anyone who's actually played with the unit will probably even agree that they are difficult to use effectively at best or lackluster at worst. They have some neat tricks with War Wolves but the synergy can be a bit off (if a War Wolf charges a target that you shot at, you'll have a hard time shooting that same target again to get another War Wolf in there to trigger Gang Fighter). Indeed, even the UA doesn't seem to offer much as Ranked Attacks is not as helpful when a ranged unit is the one that has the ability. To top it all off, they're pricey and if you really want to max out all of their synergies you're looking at 17 points (full unit + UA, 3 War Wolves, and the Reeve Hunter). That's a lot of points for a bunch of models which will still have a hard time. So I got to thinking and I may have found someone who could make them far more effective: epic Morvahna.

Team Tournament Prep: 50 points

I've certainly distracted this week from Warmachine/Hordes.  First, I've been distracted due to orientation week for work, with various meetings and classroom prep.  Secondly, I've been getting ramped up for Relic Knights since their Kickstarter has almost ended.  I've been trying to shift gears, though, since even when the Kickstarter ends, product isn't expected until May (yikes!).  Alright, so it's time to start preparing for Templecon in February and start getting into tournament prep and playtesting mode.  I had hoped that this summer I could get lots of practice in with my Cygnar as a potential option, but I've since decided that I should stick with what works: my Circle.  So today I revisit my Circle in preparation for the tournament.

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.

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.

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:

Steamroller Prep: 35 points

There's a 35 point Steamroller this Saturday at Pandemonium in Cambridge, MA.  While I've known about this event for a couple of weeks now, I actually forgot about it until last week when my fiancee reminded me (she's the best!).  We weren't sure if we were going to make it but since she wants to see her best friend in Boston this weekend anyway, I get to play in the tournament!  Hooray!  So today I'm going to look at my two favorite options again to see what I want to bring with me.  I learned some lessons at the NETT and I want to re-evaluate my options.  Naturally, I think I'll bring my Circle to this tournament just because they're my best faction.  I've been trying to give my Cygnar some experience too, but I'm not ready to bring them to a tournament yet.  I might play some games with Cygnar today just for some practice, but I'm 80% sure that I'll bring my Circle.  There are two warlocks that I want to playtest, if possible, before the event on Saturday so hopefully I can get some games in tonight at the Battle Standard.  Who am I considering?

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.

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.

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 2

The New England Team Tournament approaches!  My teammates and I have been playtesting, sharpening our skills and refining our lists.  We're feeling pretty confident, representing Legion and Menoth, but I'm still unsure of whether or not I want to bring my recently successful Cygnar or my confident Circle.  Yesterday I shared the two lists that I'm considering for my Cygnar and I anticipate that I'll use either list in equal measure, depending on my opponents of course.  So what lists am I considering using with my Circle?  Well I'm once again considering my two old stand-by warlocks: pBaldur and pKrueger.

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.

35 point Army Deals: Legion of Everblight

Continuing the 35 point army deals, today we have the cheapest deal yet, clocking in at a mere $201.94 for the Legion of Everblight!  Part of the fun of playing Legion, of course, is being able to run with lots of warbeasts!  One of the most fun aspects of playing with the Legion of Everblight is being able to run with lots of warbeasts and to run them efficiently.  Today’s list not only has a bunch of warbeasts, but they’re warbeasts that you’ll see used in multiple Legion lists so you’ll be getting the most bang for your buck – and that’s part of the goal of these 35 point army deals.  Perhaps it's due to the lower cost of running a Legion army that they are very popular (although not as popular as they once were).  Without further ado, I present today’s 35 point Army Deal, led by Thagarosh, Prophet of Everblight!

35 Point Army Deals: Mercenaries

Today I want to continue my series on Summer Deals for those wishing to go beyond Privateer Press' 25 Point Summer Deals.  While the deals they offer are nice, for those who are willing to spend a little more $$$ for effectiveness, I've decided to craft 35 point lists for each faction that I hope will both be a good starting point for building a collection with that army, while also being fairly effective and/or fun!  Today I will be creating a list for Mercenaries (specifically, the Four Star Syndicate) that clocks in at only $221.88 retail.  The added benefit here, of course, is that Mercenaries can be taken with other factions and so I purposely chose some models that I feel will both be effective and useful in other factions.  Without further ado, let's look at the list, breakdown of cost, and briefly how one can use the list to be most effective!

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.

35 point Army Deals: Minions

Once again, in the spirit of Privateer Press giving 25 point army deals, today I will present another 35 point list that is a good deal, falling within the $200-250 price range and will be fun/competitive to play with too!  Today I will take a look at the Blindwater Congregation, specifically, because as hard as I tried, it was difficult to find a really competitive list with the Thornfall Alliance that fit into the price range.  If there's enough demand I might try harder, but for now I came up with a list that is both affordable (coming in at $227.93 retail) and will be fun and characterful to play!  The only note that I need to make here is that one model (the Gatorman Witch Doctor) has not been released yet, but it can easily be replaced with a Thrullg for now - which will actually shave off an extra $2!  Without further ado, let's take a look at the list and then I'll give a brief description on how it's supposed to work:

Stratford CT Steamroller (6/9/12) Results

This past weekend there was a 35 point Steamroller tournament at Gamingetc. in Stratford CT.  While the expected turnout was fairly low but there ended up being about 15 players in the end (I think...) - pretty solid around here for Warmachine/Hordes tournaments.  I wasn't sure if I was going for sure until the morning of the tournament and I'm glad I attended!  I decided to bring along my Circle because they never let me down and are my go-to tournament army - plus the lists I bring are fully-painted!  I was also fortunate enough to bump into some friends who regularly play at my old LGS who decided to make the trip down too!  So let me share the demographics of the tournament (to my best recollection), the lists that I brought, and how I performed in the tournament.

List Building: Kromac and Mohsar 35 points

Last month's poll asked which of the Circle warlocks I should bring to the New England Team Tournament.  While I'm still considering my options and haven't committed yet, I did say that the top 3 voted warlocks would at least get a list building article.  The top 3 favorites for the NETT were: 1) Mohsar, 2) Kromac, and 3) pBaldur.  Since I've written about list building with pBaldur before, so I'll spare you from yet another article on him, but I'll instead focus on Mohsar and Kromac.  Since the tournament is 2 lists required, I'd need to bring both of these guys and have them cover all of the potential models I could see out there, and at 35 points it'll be even more challenging for Mohsar.  I'll start with Kromac first.

List Building: Zerkova 35 points

I only just realized today that I don't actually have any list building articles posted for Khador.  I knew that I wrote one up for 3++ but I never actually posted it here.  So, I apologize, but today I will be officially posting the article I wrote on building a 35 point list with Zerkova.  Zerkova has a special place in my heart and I think she's pretty fantastic and cool, offering a unique playstyle to Khador.  Unfortunately, she struggles to come up with easy answers to some common problems, so she's often left behind in favor of the flashier warcasters like Sorscha or Butcher.  That said, I think that she will be a satisfying warcaster in the hands of a dedicated general.  Let's start - as usual - with looking at her feat.

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.