Working on Trollbloods

My local store has the Gargantuans book release event coming up soon so I have been rushing to assemble all of my Trollbloods.  I have collected Trollbloods for a long time, because I like a lot of the models.  Last night I finished assembling everything.  Now I am trying to figure out what 35 point two caster list to paint for the tournament.  I always go for the maximum points possible before the event starts.

For the book release event I need to do the following:

1. Make a:
1. Linear Obstacle
2. Forest
3. Hill
4. Shallow Water
2. Paint 35 Points of Army and two warcasters
   
   Tonight I paint whelps!!!

Gonna miss my Cryx

I am taking a month off from Cryx to play my new Trollbloods for a while.  I have the Banes packed up in my Battle Foam stacker boxes, and the Trolls are loaded up in the PACK Air.  I have a few parting shots of the Cryx from one of my last league games.

 This was my first real game with pDeneghra.  It ended with her popping feat, and casting parasite on the Storm Strider.  Tartarus charged up killed two stormblades, and cursed Nemo.  The the newly created banes charged Nemo and won me the game.  The bane thrall officer got an epic charge off on the battle engine, and nearly one rounded it dealing 17 damage before being pushed back.

 Skarlock burnin' Nemo's eyes

This pic has musical accompaniment when you click on it.

The new GW Trade Agreement and what I think

I am a fair man, and I believe in full disclosure.  I have been heavily involved in running the war gaming side of a brick and mortar retailer for years.  It is a part time thing that I practically volunteer my time for in order to make sure I have a place to game.  With that in mind I want you to understand where I am coming from and that I am speaking from experience.

If you are unfamiliar with the Games Workshop trade agreement controversy it is a recent change to the terms of service for independent retailers.  The updates to the agreement heavily restrict online sales of Games Workshop products.  I just watched the miniwargaming.com video explaining why they will be shutting down their online store.  I then read the "Boycott GW!!" train of comments that inevitably follows news of them doing anything.

 The new agreement has four major changes:

1)  Forbids out of box sales.  (No more bits sales)
The disallowing of bits sales is never going to restrict peoples ability to sell the bits they didn't use out of a kit, nor does it mean the end of bits stores.  All this is really going to do is stop online shops that buy kits directly from GW from selling a complete Rhino (for example) as "bits", thus circumventing the prohibition of online sales by selling the kit without the box.

2)  Forbids direct online sales of their products.
 This clause has existed for a long time it is just stricter now.  It is not going to stop phone order sites, so I really do not see what the big stir about this is.  All this does is stop retailers from directly selling G.W. products online.  Miniwargaming was arguing for the "online ordering experience" and how it has an important place in the war gaming world.  I don't see it, this is a tactile game with models, terrain, and movement of those models around a game board.  How does a stock photo and a model with a discounted price tag provide an "experience"?

3)  Limits GW Direct sales to $500 a month
G.W. has approximately 1800 models that they only move a few (few being relative) of a month.  These items are in the Direct line, and they are available to independent retailers at a smaller margin than the regular product line.  MiniWargaming made it sound a lot worse than it really is, direct includes a lot of old crap models that not many people would want anymore.  Direct also includes things like less popular terrain pieces, and a lot of the HQ choices.   In my personal experience I can say that I have never even hit close to $200 in Direct a month.  Its always been a few things every month that a customer special requests.  The only stores hitting $500+ a month in Direct would be online retailers.

4) No international sales
An American retailer that buys directly from G.W. can not sell the product in other countries.  I do not see why this is a big deal.  The entertainment industry has done this for years with region coding, and other means.  G.W. is the big daddy of war gaming, and they have a presence all over the world.  It makes sense they do not want G.W. Australia, being cut by G.W. USA

I do not want to nit pick MiniWargaming on their video and its content too much, because they had something to say and subjected themselves to the full scrutiny of the internet.  Kudos to miniwargaming for that, but I did not appreciate MiniWargaming's casual dismissal of most independent retailers as comic book stores that carry some of the products and don't have a place to play. 

I've had a really hard time with this article.  It has been through more content revisions than anything else I have ever posted on this site.   I feel really passionate about this because I do not like online retailers, and this is why.

What a friendly local gaming store with does for you:

• Provide tables, terrain, and usually a dedicated time to play
• Initiates new players into the hobby through demos and displays
• Runs leagues, tournaments, and other organized events

What an online retailer does for you:

• Provides slightly more models than would have been purchased otherwise

I hated writing this whole article and I feel like it shows a little.  In the end this is going to be a step forward from the step back that the online models industry created.  I hope that these steps lead to increased sales a local game stores, due to the increased difficulty of placing online orders.  I like that there are places to play our games all over the United States, and I want it to stay that way.



 

Fail Jackson

Not only did I not finish the models on time, I haven't even finished the bases!  I put the final paint on the models three days after the Monday challenge.  The Mechanithralls haven't even been touched.

 This is what the Raiders looked like on Monday.

This is  what the Mechanithralls still look like.

 Here is the finished unit.  I am trying to figure out how to make the bases look like wood docks.

 Instead of painting those Mechanithralls I put these guys together.  I heard that they are pretty good.

 I fielded the Raiders with pSkarre yesterday and it went very very well.  I was playing against a Retribution list with Ossyan, two griffons, a banshee, Aiyana & Holt, Narn, a Mage Hunter Assassin, and the full unit of Invictors with UA.  The rest of my list was Banes+UA, a Helldiver, Tartarus, and a minimum unit of bile thralls.  The scenario was Ghost Town the Umbra League special scenario.

Turn 1:  My opponent used Ossyan to cast Quicken on the Invictors, and the rest of his army ran across the field.  In response I flanked the Raiders off to the right at midboard in order to threaten the entire flank.  The Banes ran forward but not so far forward that he would be able to Aim with the Invictors the following turn.  I also had a minimum unit of bile thralls also piled in behind the banes.  I also "accidentally" moved my Slayer way ahead of the army to try and draw more stuff in.  (For reference the silver wreck marker doughnut is where the Slayer used to be.)  Skarre moved forward a few inches, and cast ritual sacrifice removing one of the bile thralls.

Turn 2:  My Slayer was charged by a Griffin and two invictors, and two of my Bane thralls got charged by two Invictors each.  I totally forgot that Invictors were a viable close combat unit.  The Slayer got smoked, and of course the two bane thralls died.  In response I purged three of my bile thralls on the Invictors, which killed all but three of them and caught the Mage Hunter Assassin as a bonus.  Skarre then moved to where you see her in the picture, cast Dark Guidance and camped four thanks to the ritual sacrifice from the previous turn.  The Raiders charged the Banshee and failed almost completely to do anything at all.  The Banshee took four damage and Ossyan took two from feedback.

Turn 3:  Aiyanna tried to Kiss Skarre, and failed, Holt tried to shoot her twice and failed, Ossyan shot Skarre, and did a fair amount, and one of the Griffins got a charge off on Skarre after the bane engaging it missed the free strike.  The result of all of this was that Skarre was down to three health.  In response I spent four for Dark Guidance, spent two to heal, then popped feat and cut for four.  Skarre then proceeded to totally wreck the Griffon that had charged her the previous turn.  Being a Retribution player he did not have a wreck marker so the bonejack wreck marker was substituted.  Next item of business, banes charged Narn, Aiyanna. and Holt removing them from the board.  The Raiders then charged the Griffin, and Ossyan, and continued to whip on the Banshee with renewed vigor thanks to +4 Strength, and Power Swell. 

So that was the end of the game.  Raiders with the mega charge from the right hand side.  I think next time I play them I will spend less time flanking and follow more of a direct path to the opposing force.

Till next time Patrons!

Iron brush painting challenge!

I have a unit of half painted Satyxis Raiders, and a bare metal unit of Mechanithralls that I would like to get painted by the time I go play in the Machinations league on Sunday.  Can I do it?  Success or failure will be reported on Sunday.

The blackest of hearts

In June of 2012 I attended Wargamescon in Austin Texas.  One of the booths (Spikeybitz maybe) had a Cryx army that was being parted out.  The models were gorgeous so I picked up Deathjack, Canker Worm, pSkarre, and pDeneghra.  I didn't really know if I was ever going to play Cryx but the models were too nice to pass on.  They sat in my case for a long time, but not anymore!

I was playing Retribution at the time so I didn't really think anything of these models.  These four models formed the necrotite seed that has grown into a tree of death!

I bought the Cryx starter box plus a box of defilers to give me options for Arc Node choice.

Bane Thralls, Tartarus, Arc Nodes, and a Skarlock I figured these models would be the place to start.  I wanted to play Deneghra because she is my favorite character in the story arc.  So far I am terrible with her but I think eventually I will figure out how to not get her smoked every game.  I am thoroughly enjoying Asphyxious the Hellbringer.  I will be campaigning Asphyxious3 all year.  I love everything about this guy, the model is fantastic, every spell on his card is incredibly useful, he can smack the crap out of things, the feat is the most okay part of him but it is still great.  I love having a turn of 10+ focus to spend.  Other than Asphyxious I really enjoy playing Mortenebra in tier so far I have lost every time I've played with her but it has been a blast.  I got into Warmachine for the jacks so this has been a lot of fun.  I have been really surprised with how good Slayers actually are.  I figured they were the fodder in the list but they do some serious work.  Anyway expect many Cryx related posts in the near future.  I attended a tournament over the weekend, I start the machinations league on Sunday, and I am painting a ton of Cryx right now.  Lots of Warmachine going on.

Epic Stryker 50 point Dojo Session

I have been playing a lot of SR2013 lately.  So far I like 2013 a lot better than 2012.  I like the dominate mechanic that awards bonus points for warcasters scoring in zones, I also like that Warcasters can not contest anymore.  For the tournament on January 6th I am running a Siege / eStryker pair of lists.  The Siege list is the one I wrote about here.  I have made two tweaks to that list. Arlan Strangeways now marshals the Defender, and the Ragman has replaced Jonas Murdoch.

I have never put eStryker on the table so this is all theory hammer.  The reason I choose him was because I think that I am going to see a lot of casters camping a lot of focus this year, and eStryker has an excellent way of getting around that.  Deflection and Positive charge are the main spells I like off of him.  My goal was to build a list for synergy with lots of melee.

I really like the idea of the two martially powerful melee units.  I gave the Sword Knights the Centurion so they could use their flank bonus pretty easily, and the Pronto Drive will give the Centurion the movement to keep up with the unit (nearly).  I also like the Centurion / Sword Knight combo because it is a lot to have to remove from a zone or objective.  For a second unit I fell the Stormblades really compliment the list.  They have the elite cadre movement bonus with Stryker, and I like the extra focus for the bonded Stormclad.  When I first got back into Cygnar I had a lot of success running them with the tough buff from the Piper so I will probably keep that going.  I like how hard the Stormblades hit, even if they get stuck in it is still (usually) POW 15  swings.

I can see you all through your computer screens rolling your eyes at me.  Yes I know there are no Forge Guard, Nyss, or Steelheads in this list.  They do not lend any synergy to the list, and not having to take Jonas Murdoch saved me two points.

I am taking the battle engine for my ranged compliment in the list.  Two pow 14s with Electro-leap will help on the charge across the board.  I choose the battle engine over the Nyss Hunters because I wanted something that was more time efficient than a third unit of infantry.  And Stryker has a large bunker to hang out behind if he needs it.

I have a small cast of support pieces.  Rhupert, Alan Runewood, and the Journeyman.  I really like these three pieces.  Pathfinder, tough, defense, terror, stand up, armor, none of these things are bad.

Thanks to the holidays this list is entirely speculation until the day of the tournament.  So I'll be sure to post pics and battle reports of my successes and failures.  I do like to play my armies all painted but I am not too sure that the eStryker list will be painted in time, because...