Yes, this is the 2011 review post that usually only the author cares about. But I will make it quick and concise.
I noticed I had no resolutions for this year. I talked about how I managed to fulfill the ones from 2010 (paint lots, play lots more) and it seems I was too busy getting into Warmachine during December/January that I completely forgot about them. Most bloggers out there make loooong lists of things to accomplish during 2012, right below the loooooong list of failed resolutions from 2011. So yeah, let’s not fall for that.
I did paint lots, and I did play lots more. On last December I played my first ever game of Warmachine, and it seems like it’s been ages ago. If you’re wondering, no, my brother didn’t get into it. He has a thing with losing, and after he beat me on my first game I won the next couple, so he decided a game where you can lose was not for him. I did get my girlfriend into WM and another friend though.
That noob on last December turned into a fan. Probably owning about 100 points of Khador, maybe 50 or so of Cryx, a few Trollbloods and a lot of Mercs that will sneak their way into the site (and my army lists) soon enough. I can honestly say it has been the minis game I have played the most in my 15 years of wargaming and by far the one I’ve enjoyed the most.
I posted around 100 posts, so that’s a nice thing. Probably the busiest year since I started this in ’07. I got rid of a lot of armies, both historical and fantasy. It was time to re-focus on my collecting and spending habits, specially when considering playtime.
But the important thing my friend is that I painted around 115 figures. It is definitely not a bad number, considering I don’t play big armies games anymore and most of them are beautiful Warmahordes stuffs.
So for 2012, more games, more painting, more theorymachine while on the bus (when you know the point cost for every model in your army you know you’re in trouble) and hopefully more great fun. With any luck Dust Warfare will be a better game than I hope and I will get to use the nice collection I’ve been amassing just as I rock the Warmachine toys.
There are few things I enjoy more than battle reports online. I usually like more the way and the how than the actual battles. For example, I don’t play (nor plan to play) Warhammer 40K, but Miniwargaming’s video reports I find extremely fun to watch. When it comes to Warmahordes things get even better.
But… I don’t really enjoy written battreps as much as video. And then most make the “recap” style. Play a turn, get camera rolling, say what happened, stop rolling, and so on. They are interesting, but not as much as others.
Then there’s the extremely sporadically Miniwargaming’s WM/H battreps. They are great in the way they are made, fun to watch, but as a hardcore Warmahordes player I want more than just a “friendly” game. Don’t get me wrong, I mean hardcore as someone who loves the game, who basically stopped playing anything else because WM is THAT great, and who thinks, reads, and talks (or types) about the game a good bunch of time a week. Means I want more than just a recap. I want the players’ imput on lists, and advanced tactics whenever possible.
Enter Chain Attack podcast. I have listened to Warmahordes podcasts before but I stopped a few months ago. They are too long for the most part, and they talk a ton of time about armies/models/events I don’t really have much interest (although as a hardcore player I do like to know as much as possible about all factions). But these guys have found an amazing sweet spot in the podcast/battle report mix.
Two of them play a game. They document it throughly. They start talking about the lists, describe the feats, and go on to deployment. Most of the time it’s clear they have played several games with the lists or caster/locks (against each other) before the actual battle from the report, to get a decent hang of it all.
They go on a turn per turn basis, and on the site you get a link to a forum post with the pictures. One for deployment, and one for each player’s turn. Good old bird’s eye picture with the whole table. They retell the game move by move in a conversational manner with other players, usually 4 or 5 on the chat. It’s extremely agile and entertaining and the pictures are spot on. They talk of the hows and whys and whens of everything that happens, and you get an idea of everything even if you barely know what one or both of the factions playing do.
In the end they go about ranking the caster/lock on different categories. I don’t share that and usually don’t like that. I was a Warmahordes newbie not too long ago, and finding ratings like these do nothing, specially for a game such as this where every model simply works, just with different combinations and playstyles. It probably does something for the tournament player, but for new gamers it’s not great to find a few of the options available marked with a C, a B, and so on, twisting the view of the models before even playing them.
On the other hand, the discussion while putting these scores is smart and informative, full of gamer passion as well as thought after many games.
They really hit the sweet spot for battreps, with a mix of audio and pictures, and a pace that couldn’t be accomplished on video. Go check them out and follow them weekly. You will learn a lot about your favorite game.
Disclaimer: I’m not a tournament winner Warmahordes player. Far from it in fact. I barely know my ropes with Khador, and have played the game for about a year now. I have played quite a bit though.
The greylord escort is the first of the greylords I have painted. They are a school of ice cold wizards and Khador has a few of them in different iterations to field. This one in particular is a unit attachment for the crazy dangerous doom reavers.
Just like them, he cannot be targeted by spells, friendly or enemy, so that makes them a bit safer and also quite independent right from the start of the game. In fact if you’re fielding non-fearless troops on your army make sure they’re at least 3 inches from any of the abomination psychos.
The greylord grants the unit a few nice things. First is silence, the most important, which allows the doom reavers to avoid their berserk attacks. Very useful for a crowded charge where you’re certain they will start killing each other. But don’t forget this is optional!!! So if you need a few of those attacks and get the chance, used them!!!
He also grants them though. Might look like a big deal at first, but we know you will not make the tough rolls you need when you need them. Do not take him for this ability, consider it a nice little extra bother to your opponent if he/she sets a lot of points to deal with your reavers.
Lastly he has a nice 8 inches spray attack with a POW of 12. It is a nice attack specially cause most anyone never see it coming. Other than that he has adv. deployment, magical weapon and reach like his demented buddies.
Since they cannot be targeted by spells there’s little sinergies you can pull with them (but keep in mind targeted is not the same as affected, watch those damn spell AOEs). They’re a trained, oiled, killing machine and the escort just gives them a little extra push for when things get messy. They will however be affected by any feat, so keep that in mind. Also, any benefit from spells put on others will work! So they can boost their melee rolls with eVlad’s transference focus, simply because the spell is not cast on them. That’s the kind of sinergies you will be looking forward if doom reavers and the escort are a big part of your plan.
Now I know what you’re thinking. Is he an auto-include? Well, I honestly don’t think so. I thought he was, and I was even scared of fielding the reavers without him. But at 2 points you really have to think about it. And if you really want to use the psychos, you might as well learn how to use them well, even without the escort to calm their bloodthirst.
Disclaimer: I’m not a tournament winner Warmahordes player. Far from it in fact. I barely know my ropes with Khador, and have played the game for about a year now. I have played quite a bit though.
The marksman is probably one of the first solos a new Khador player gets his/her eye on, being that adding widowmakers to a battlebox makes the quintessential 15 pt starter army. So you have this amazing snipers everyone knows, and they still can’t do shit about them half the time if you play them correctly. It’s no wonder you go through PP’s gallery and see this guy and think “a widowmaker on steroids!”
And he pretty much is. The first thing to remember is he is not an attachment. There is some benefit from keeping him within 9 inches from the widowmakers, but after seeing the table and the enemy army keep in mind you can deploy him anywhere far away from his fellow snipers if you need.
He has adv. deployment, pathfinder, camouflage and sniper like the widowmakers, but be mindful of the differences. I’ve seen him too many times being considered just another widowmaker, the player forgetting the small upgrades he has for which he pays the 2 points. To begin with, he has stealth. We don’t have a ton of stealth, so keep that in mind. Secondly, his rifle’s POW is 12! Remember this specially when harming a light jack/beast, even without rolling more than 2 dice due to spells and such. Then of course the swift hunter ability which he can grant to widowmakers 9 inches from him, which lets them move 2 inches after killing something. A very useful ability for when you already are in an advantageous position: in front of single wound infantry models.
I guess most common widowmakers tactics apply to him, but when he’s on his own people tend to forget about him. Use that to your advantage and snipe that unit attachment that gives so many bonuses, or even get a bit of harm on the opposing caster/lock if you have the chance. 14 inches is a long range in Warmachine. Also don’t forget he has better RAT than his fellow snipers with a whooping 8.
The crappy thing about him being a solo is that he will not benefit from spells on the widowmakers unit, like the nice Hand of Fate from eVlad. If you’re going to take him alone without the widowmakers and your caster’s feat would not greatly affect him, then you’re probably better off with Kell Bailoch for similar abilities and stats (POW 10 though) but two shots instead of one if he doesn’t move (and for the same points). In a big game, and if you’re into the subtleties of sniping then you could field them all and have your opponent think twice before he/she deploys the infantry.
Last weekend I had my second tournament, this time at Borges culture centre where modelers where showing their annual expo. I brought the list I showed a few posts below and the most amazing things happened.
First game against an Absylonia list. Beautiful models. We tied. No, really, we tied the untieable game. We tied on every damn tiebreaker, all 4 of them and also the army points (eVlad and Absylonia both had +5 jackbeast points) so a roll of some dice just put me over my opponent for next round’s matchups purposes.
Second game against freaking Miguel and his obnoxious Kaya Orboros. I should already know how to play against him right? Well, I did well in not sending important models upfront and he had to use his feat to get a few kills, but then when I was getting my payback I left Vlad too exposed for a caster kill.
Third game and matchups made me play against the same opponent as the first game. I’m still to play against any Cryx in tourneys! This time we were both as cautios as the first game but it was nicer to actually know what the beasties did this time. In the end we were running out of time and I feated to utterly destroy his Raek (on single Doom Reaver blow without feat on him) and his Typhon.
Overall a lot of fun, no 4th round again due to overwhelming victory by Orboros, and at least this time people looked at my army with a little more fear than last time. It’s a nice and fun as all hell list and I just can’t get enough of Vlad.
Now click on the picture to get to the hundred pics photobucket slideshow. Some amazing pics by my friend Gonzalo and my girlfriend Stef. The tables looked great if a bit overcrowded (specially for my infantry heavy, medium based, snail speed parade) All the snowy walls and fences are from my collection, which made a great winter board with other people’s scenery.
And if you want to check out the rest of the expo, click on the next picture for that slideshow. Some very high quality stuff, and the railroad modelers always make everything better.
I’ll upload pics of the three models I had to paint for this tourney with some thoughts on how they play during the week.
oMAD 