Game day 2-27-16

Goooooooooood morning Internet friends and wargamer family members and welcome to another bat-sums!  We recently had a Journeyman League day and I was able to get 4 games in, this time with a better track record than the week before!  Let's get right in.

The three boards altogether

My first game was with Bernie and his Cygnar, specifically he went a blend of pNemo and the core battlebox jacks.  He had enough points to bring the Black 13th as well, whereas I had enough points to bring....nothing.  I was pretty much stuck with my 4 models like last week, ah well.  The board had a lot of choke points which I thought would have been to my advantage so I moved my chicken's in covering positions and my Leviathan in a solid firing lane.

The chokepoints worked against me :(

Unfortunately it's been awhile since I've played against Cygnar and I forgot that when it came to ranged warfare, I was not in the superior.  With similar control ranges pNemo was able to get some extra focus from my spell casting and so was able to not only pump up the Charger but also the Lancer.  They both wrecked/crippled my chicken jacks and while I was able to knock out his Ironclad I was losing out on attrition.  The Black 13th was able to move around the side and were able to hit Scavvy for some damage, allowing the Charger with full focus to take the last 2 boosted shots needed to wreck him.  Thus giving the game to Bernie.

After 1st turn moving

My second game was with my lovely wife and her Retribution, with the newest additions being 2 Arcanists.  I was able to keep her Phoenix at bay with some of my trickery and Leviathan firepower.  I think I did a decent job moving up and staying in cover with not only Scavvy but my jacks in general.  I was able to keep her Hydra busy with one of my chicken jacks the majority of the game.  So I thought I had the game in the bag mid-way, but alas that was not the case.  I felt that the only way I was going to be able to win the game is by pulling off a magical assassination run so I moved Scavvy up the fence line to get into position.  Unfortunately I was bogged down by a wreck and ended up falling short which then led Ravyn to take the initiative and end up taking Scavvy out in her own assassination.  A win to Courtney!

Turn 3

My next game was against Josh and his Circle and he was able to bring a lot more to the table than I was prepared for.  It ended up being his original force, shifting stones with UA, Blackclad Wayfarer, and a Gallows Grove.  Josh was able to move up pretty quickly and get into a solid position about 2 turns before I could have hoped to.  Thankfully Josh messed up on his order of activation and missed out on a chance to do a turn 2 assassination (yay!).  Josh then feated and kept me from being able to charge in, but given my force selection I don't think I would have wanted to anyways.  In a way Josh seemed to be not sure what to do with his new ability to teleport all over the map and so ran Krueger empty on fury and he had his Stalker rush in via shifting stones through the tower to take out my Leviathan.  On the turn after his feat I was able to move up both Ripjaws into a clear LoS and in range of all my spells, then I popped my feat.  It was a precarious situation I was in, if I missed up on ANY of my rolls I would have lost as his Stalker could easily charge in and win the game next turn.  I wagered on tossing Feast of Worms followed with two Excarnates and thankfully I was able to hit and deal enough to win the game.  Without any fury on Krueger Josh ended up not being able to transfer and lost the game.

Turn 3 or 4 I'm not sure which

My last game of the night was a mirror faction match against Mychaela's Cryx.  She was able to bring a Warwitch Siren and a Skarlock in addition to her other models.  I was able to get into a good position with my Leviathan and before Mychaela was able to take advantage of cover I managed to start hitting her jacks for damage.  I wanted to play it more safely this game and mostly we ended up trading damage on our jacks.  Mychaela moved up a Nightwretch to arc Curse of Shadows up on Scavvy,  In response I moved him into melee with the Nightwretch and in position of concealment giving me an effect DEF against ranged and magic to a nice solid 20.  A venom spray put Scavvy on a timer as his health ticked away, Mychaela moved the other Nightwretch into combat making it more difficult for me to just walk away.  I used the Leviathan to throw the more healthy chicken off of Scavvy and walked away, allowing me to draw a bead to eDenny and take out her remaining hit boxes for another win.

Overall I think I did pretty well for myself considering that I won 2 games out of 4.  I think playing the long game with Scavvy is the way to go for now and I have to be careful about my placements when using him.  Hopefully next League week I'll be able to bring some more to my force and maybe pull more wins in the future.  Until then happy gaming folks!

What gets me into a new game...

Hey everyone and welcome to another set of my ramblings.  Today I'm taking a more introspective look at the hobby for a couple reasons.  It's been a hectic week and I've not done a lot of painting as much as I would have.  Instead I've been spending some time doing some video game stuff and getting my WoW fix on.  I did manage to paint up the iron parts of Erebus (more detailed post coming later) but for now I started to think about what gets me into a new game.

I find that taking time to think about these things helps me stay grounded in the hobby.  It's quite easy to get lost when you think about it.  Hell starting a new game can be daunting, starting the right new game can be even more challenging.  Then when you start to think about what it takes to start one up it's quite a lot to take in.  First you find the game, learn about the game, see if anyone else plays it, pick a force, get the rules for your game and force, read the rules, keep reading, assemble models, play a game or two, read some more, read online about lists, paint models, and so on.  Throw on the cost of the models/rules/game and holy bajeezus how do people even start this crap sometimes?

How I feel when someone tells me ALL the rules at once

It's a lot like why people paint/don't paint, it'll be a personal reason in the end.  So instead of coming up with the ridiculous amount of what-ifs I'll just talk about my personal reasoning.  Of course that's not a simple 1 reason answer either.

See I like playing these games primarily for three reasons.  The first is that as I mentioned in my previous posts it's a big source of stress relief and community connection.  If my friends are playing a new game I'm more likely to start it up.  Hell that's why I have Bolt Action, it's literally the only WW2 miniatures game I have any interest in.  95% of that is because I have my crew of friends who play it and it's been a fun experience.  It's also a factor in not getting into games also.  The big reason I've not collected a Malifaux crew or started up a Firestorm Planetfall invasion force is because I would be the only guy on the block with them.  I mean sure I could get into those games but it doesn't seem like I'd be getting any games in.

Gencon brings the community together like this, great stuff :D

The second reason is that I have a pretty active imagination as I am sure most of us in this hobby have.  So I really get into the background of games and I just daydream about what battles look like in real-time.  I can't count the number of Warhammer 40k novels I've read or the articles in various magazines over the years that share some aspect of the lore in these games.  I get invested in this background information and it has a big draw for me.  I get my Grimdark fill from 40k, my spell-slinging from Warmahordes, and my sci-fi cyber from Infinity.  Usually if I am able to start day dreaming about the game's lore then it's a good sign that I would want to get into the game.

I can daydream about this picture all day long

Finally we have the good ol' mechanics being a primary reason to get into a game.  No one wants to play a dull or lifeless game, we play because damn they are fun games!  Now for me sometimes a quirky mechanic will get my interests going.  The Malifaux cards, Infinity using d20's, MERCS with their cards, Bolt Action's order dice, and so on are some examples of mechanics that are different enough to keep me interested.  It doesn't have to outrageous or complicated for me to want to play, it just has to be solid with a lot of opportunities and options to explore.  Rules that are written hastily with a lot of open holes for abuse are not my particular cup of tea (some 40k codices come to mind coughGreyKnightscough).

Quirky mechanics like cards instead of dice can do it for me

So ideally a game with solid and fun mechanics, played by my friends, and is mentally interesting are the ways to get me to spend my money on your game.  What about you, what gets you going for a new game or keeps you in the one you play now?  Leave your thoughts and happy gaming!

Painting Cryx: Jacks and Scavvy part 1

Hello everyone and I hope you are doing well this day!  If you've been following this blog you know that I've been working up to this point where I start painting.  Aside from my starter list I've actually managed to acquire a decent amount of Cryxian models.  Therefore I've started my painting journey now that everything is assembled and primed, so here's the start!

I primed my models with Krylon flat black and then did a spray over the top with satin white, mostly because it was a mistake in picking up the can and not going with flat.  To be honest the satin didn't change the texture/outcome of the painting later on in my opinion so I had no major qualms.  I did this so later coats (since I am using an airbrush) would have that semi-zenithal shading naturally.

For the basecoat

One of the major purchases I had once was to the get the complete Minitaire line of airbrush paints.  So far they've served me all right though some of the paints can come out a bit more glossy than I would like.  For this group of models I am starting off with a coat of dark brown moving up to a lighter tone and then topped off with a bone.  So I chose the following colors: Dark Leather, Jaundice, Ancient Bone, and then a quick top off with Cracked Soil.

In all honesty I didn't get the tone that I wanted that I would have if I had diluted GW's Bleached Bone (or whatever it's called now) and went with that.  Oh well, beggars can't be choosers at this point.  Next I did a spray over with GW's Agrax Earthshade and it ended up being a nice solid dirt encrusted bone (maybe more on dirt encrusted, I can work with this).

For the glow

For the last phase of this part I decided now would be the time for me to do the glowing effects.  Mostly because a lot of the Cryx areas have glowy bits but metal tubing that I will want to cover up next time.  So for the glow I went with a blue as I felt that it struck a good contrast with the darkened dirt bone stuff.  So I chose the following: Nautilus Blue, Lagoon Blue, Spellslinger Blue, and Skull White.

Work so far

I found that spraying directly on instead of trying to cover up entire sections worked better for me than what you see on tutorial videos.  Ironically I will have to go back and paint over the spots that were covered anyways as paint somehow crept up under the tape.  The worst part is going to be getting the right shade, maybe there's a shade out there that'll work.  In the interim this is where the models stand as of now.  Later I plan on doing the metallic areas and then start working on detail work and weathered effects.

Tune in next time for more painting and if you have any tips or comments feel free to leave them below.  Until then happy gaming folks!

What I think of...Lord Exhumator Scaverous

Hello everyone and welcome to another exciting examination of a unit/model/whatever.  Since the more recent theme has been about the Journeyman League and my journey with the Cryx faction I wanted to take a look at my chosen caster, Scaverous or Scavvy.

I have to make some claims though so take whatever I say with however much grains of salt you want, but I am not the best Warmahordes player out there.  I'm also not the most experienced with Cryx, and I am not the most experienced with Scavvy.  Almost all of my "real" games with Cryx have been with Scavvy.  So be forewarned this is just my inexperienced opinion of him.

Looks can be deceiving

Let's talk stats.  At a quick glance you can see that his weapon has a nice P+S to it, reach, and he can do a Thresher attack.  His MAT is a bit below average so you won't be hitting anything with high DEF (i.e. above 12) without boosting and hoping.  His RAT is also low but he has no ranged attacks sooooo whatever.  His Focus stat is pretty solid being what I think is the "average" so that gives him some leeway with options. Unless it's supporting warjacks then you are sort of boned as he is a focus greedy bugger.

He does have a soul collecting ability but being limited to 2" naturally it can place him in a risky spot if you're not careful.  Slightly higher than a Slayer's DEF and with his natural ARM being the same as a Slayer (combined total of 31) means that Scavvy could possibly hold his own...but not for long.

How PP paints him up

His spell list is a toolbox of options where he wants to do a little bit of debuffing, a little bit of nuking, and a smidge of utility.  Problem is that the spell variety and cost make it pretty hard to do any of those roles effectively.  His debuffing spells cost a total of 6 focus leaving you with only 1 point to boost.  His nuke costs 3 per shot meaning that unboosted/unsupported you only have 2 shots you can take.

Now his feat is where you get the impression that Mr. Scavvy might want to do a bit of arcane assassinating.  It lowers the cost of his spells by 1, increased the cost of spells/animi in his control area by 1, and auto boosts magic attack rolls.  So what it seems to me is that you want to get in a good turn in which you can make an arcane assassination and use your feat to help mitigate the natural problems he faces with his list already.

One of my favorite paint jobs

See this is what I'm talking about with Scavvy, he wants to be so many different things but he isn't particularly good at ANY of those things.  He's subpar in almost all respects except for his feat turn assassination and even then it's still a crapshoot.  To be honest it only seems to be that he starts to even glimmer once he has a Skarlock and the Withershadow Combine.  Without them his job of wanting to assassinate is even more difficult.  As far as getting into melee, unless they've been hit by both Icy Grip and Feast of worms to get a -2 to DEF and ARM then it's not going to happen reliably.

I don't see many WM conversions but when I do I like what I see

From my game with Kevin (right here), my own games with him, and from my research you just have to play him really carefully.  He is not a lolpointandclickwin sort of caster, he's like a hard game of chess where you will have to think ahead a couple of turns.  His lists seem to be either made up of the recursion mechanithralls (such as the one Kevin played), or with troops that can somewhat hold their own.  Either way Scavvy is not a small game caster but needs about 35+ points to be most effective.

Well those are just my thoughts and I'm sure the more games I play with him I will have more figured out.  Until then it looks somewhat grim but I am positive I will learn either Cryx mechanics or the core game mechanics better.  Until next time folks have a good one and happy gaming!

Game time!

Hello and welcome to another exciting day of game time!  Honestly it's been more than a few days since me and Kevin actually played this game, but I only started writing it up today.  I blame XCOM 2 for this mostly as it's been a big focus of my attention.  That and I've been trying to prime models to prepare for painting.

Kevin was really kind to let me use his models and gave me a LOT of pointers about Cryx lists in general (and also playing WM in general).  He graciously went with playing as Scaverous in a 35 point list and he gave me a pretty solid Goreshade3 list to use.  After the game was said and done with I have to say I can see how the list he gave me was solid, but I don't feel like I did it justice.

Scenario used

 The scenario, #4 Fire Support, came from the 2015 Steamroller set and let me tell you it was something I was not mentally prepared for.  My scenario senses were pretty much rusted over and bone-dry so I was not prepped for it.  I think prior to this game I last played a Steamroller scenario about....hmm....a year?  That should indicate the amount of skill I lack with this game in general.

End of my turn 1

So after deployment I moved my guys on up hoping to avoid being charged by Kevin's Mechanithralls but also to get myself ready for a charge-in.  He was able to knock out a large portion of the Blackbane's Ghost Raiders with the Withershadow and Scavvy himself while moving into better position with his Mechanithralls.  I found it rather awkward the way I deployed my Soul Hunters and didn't feel like I could have done much with them at this point.

My feat turn

I used my feat soon after by running up all of the remaining Ghost Raiders into his line, mostly I think I was going for a stall at this point.  I still didn't really know if I was going to try and win via assassination or scenario, but with the Ghost Raiders gone the likely victory would have been assassination.

Prepare your booty for Dark Industries! - WSC

I think a highlight at this point was that Kevin was able to use the Withershadow's Dark Industries on my Defiler (as he used telekinesis to turn it around before they charged in) and turned it into 'jack for him.

End game

Things got really desperate for me as I was left with only a few models left on the table.  It ended up being an assassination attempt after I cleared up some Mechanithralls and a Necrosrugeon but first Kevin made his attempt at killing Goreshade and knocked him down to 4 boxes.  After that Goreshade did his thing and ended up winning the game.  Granted it was also due to a lot of pointers and tips so I won't say that it was by my own hand.

It was a good game as I was able to see how Scaverous will be playing on the field as well as seeing what other options Cryx can give me as I go further down into the faction.  It was also pretty eye-opening as to where I am as a player and just how much I need to grow in this game.  Hates off to you Kevin for giving me a game, letting me use your models, and for playing Scaverous!  Until then everyone take care and happy gaming!

The Frozen Brush

Good tidings everyone and welcome back to another set of Wargamer Ramblings!  If you're like me some snow has recently come through for unprimed models that can only mean one thing...unprimed models!  Since I've not been able to get my stuff primed for the journey ahead with the low temps I'm looking at some of my brushes and thought "hey brushes can be a blog post."  So let's talk...about dat brush.

If you have no experience in it, and in my opinion if you don't paint much/often, then you would miss out on the fact that the whole painting process becomes a pretty personal thing.  When you think about it every detail becomes a series of personal preferences and decisions.  That can be another rambling topic for another day, today I want to focus on my brush decisions.

My old favorite brush line

 I've used a few brands before and for the longest time I was a pretty big advocate of GW's paint brush line.  While I cannot say if they were the 'best' I can say that they were quite excellent in my opinion.  I became accustomed to the old blue handle brushes (I think they've moved to a black handle with different color tips?) that reportedly utilized sable hair.  They lasted several years of use and abuse and honestly I think if I had know how to take better care of them they might have lasted more.  I sometimes miss them to be frank.

I use this brush from the PP line

Right now I've been using a combination of brushes from Vallejo, Privateer Press, and Army Painter.  They've been filling their purpose in being able to paint the models but there are some quirks about them that I am not a fan of.  I have to say I do like Privateer Press's ability for their brushes to keep their form and point.  I have one of their drybrushing brushes but it doesn't do the trick like my old, cut bristle, custom drybrush.  With most of the bristles being made from nylon they have a different feel to them that in some ways I am still not used to.  I might look into some Kolinsky-Sable brushes into the near future.

Have no idea what these mean just yet

 Currently I use about 5 brushes consistently, but have access to some more niche styles.  Truth be told I am still not sure how to classify them in 'official sizes' like the 5/0, 0, or 00 (I have no idea what those mean I just see them online).  So if you are more experienced than I, you will get an idea as I go through the GW equivalent.  I use a Fine Detail, Detail, Basecoat, Drybrush, and Large brushes.  Here's a good chart of what sizes I'm working with:

I find that with most models these 5 brushes pretty much do all the work.  I use the Large brush to get the larger areas painted up.  I follow up with Basecoat for highlights/large details/areas that need to be covered with large amounts but are too small for the Large brush (i.e. cloaks).  Then drybrush for you guessed it, the drybrushing.  I mostly use Detail for most of the smaller work, with Fine Detail being reserved for the really reeeeeaaaally small things. 

The old blue handle brushes

Sometimes I will use the older Tank brush especially when I am painting up larger models like a Colossal or a vehicle of some form.  I have a Stippling brush but I found that the bristles are not easy to work with and I've not gotten the results I've been hoping for.  A special mention I do want, and it might be a different post to go over everything about it, but I do have an airbrush!  I invested in a Grex T-whatever and I've been using to get some painting done quickly.  The clean up is definitely more than your standard brush but the ability to transition colors, basecoat large amounts of models quickly, and get some other unique effects have made it worth the cost and effort.

Take care of your brushes (this is the shit!)

 So there we have it, a quick overview of my own personal brush system.  As I said it's a personal thing and you might not like some of the tools I use (vice versa).  That doesn't make it wrong, because it all boils down to personal choice and preference.  So what works for you, what tools do you use in your painting and what do you prefer?  Until then happy gaming fellow wargamers!

When it comes down to painting...

Hello and good tidings fellow wargamers!  Welcome to another set of ramblings with today's focus being on painting up our models, or why we don't.  Without further ado, let's get rolling!

So when it comes down to painting it becomes another challenge for most of us wargamers.  I've spent quite a bit of time talking to people who do paint regularly and those who abhor it.  For many of us we seem to fall a bit into that spectrum leaning one way or the other.  We shift from one stance to the other and sometimes stagnate in our paint zone.  Why is that though, why don't we paint like little zealots of the Emprah?

The type of army I think we all aspire to

I'm sure there are a large host of reasons and each one of us can testify anecdotally why we do/don't paint our miniatures.  To me it seems a disservice really that we spend a lot of discretionary income to leave them as plastic/metal/resin shapes.  Most are quick to assemble and quick to leave painting for another day.  Still when it's all said and done we often see armies in various stages of being painted from none to fully (and many in primer).  I cannot count how many primer armies I've seen over the years, it's almost like they are nothing but black/white out there.

What you most likely see in your LGS (credit: space-wolves-grey.blogspot.com)

From a viewpoint of the American way I think a large part of it has to do with it being less of a hobby for most and more of a game.  It takes considerably less effort to assemble a 35 point army than it does to paint it, so I'd like to think that many people want to be done with it and get to playing.  I can't say that's the same general attitude for those reading this in a different nation (my hats off to you), but for the Muricans it seems pretty applicable.  We also tend to enjoy quick gratification in terms of entertainment and the multitude of other activities (video games, movies, drugs, etc) compete for our time and attention.  For many it's just easier to assemble the models and then move on since most people are still willing to play versus an unpainted army.


"Paint? Game! 'Murica!"

I think there tends to be bit of hesitation when it comes to painting because of high expectations that collide with individual ignorance/experience.  All too often we get to see many articles about "how to paint X" or "look at this guy's army" and we see professional levels of detail.  Some of the stuff that GW, Privateer Press, or Corvus Belli put out are just simply gorgeous.  We dream about how great our models will look and we get encouraged to paint, hurrah!  Then we look at our own completed work and we see a ramshackle blob of colors and quite frankly it can be discouraging when we start to compare.  I think this must be what some women feel like when they see the models/actresses/porn stars and then try to compare to what they see with their own image.  It can be disheartening at times and I think of some people who just simply...stop.


This is for us what Cosmo is to some women

A good portion of hesitation might end up being a lack of knowledge on how to paint models aside from the obvious.  My younger self 10 years ago would have never have known all of the things I do now and you can see the differences in painting (unless I'm lazy).  All the different tips, tricks, tools, and trials lead up to where I am now in terms of skill.  It took me a long time though, it was not an overnight process.  Thankfully we live in an age where Youtube allows us to get tutorials to help mitigate this hurdle.

Wait there are different brushes? Whaaaaaat?

In a way I speak on a personal level.  I too suffer from having too many entertainment options and often put those ahead of painting my own models.  Occasionally I get discouraged by my perceived lack of talent and frustrated by where I think I "should be."  A good part of it also lies in just that I have waaaaaay too many models to paint and it gets overwhelming mentally at times.

How my collection feels like

I can't speak for anyone else but for me my advice has always been: when the waves of motivation come crashing in, ride it until you cannot anymore.  I get in painting moods and will take time to paint daily, watch some shows, and get lost in the painting.  There is something cathartic about painting and truly the result of having a force completely painted (despite the perceived skill behind it) is very rewarding.  I have enough painted where if I play with nothing but painted models any comments like "Man I really love that color scheme" or "Wow that's really well done" just make it so worth it in the end.

I encourage you my readers and fellow wargamers to take the time to paint if you are even remotely interested in doing so.  Eventually you get better and faster at it and soon you will have a force that looks so much more than just black/white primer.  Until then happy gaming, happy painting, and see you around.

Dread Elf: Lords and Heroes

This will be the final post in a little while related to 9th Age considering the Journeyman League is coming up very soon (this Saturday kicks it off)! So I will condense all the information about my characters right here instead of covering each one individually in their own post, so I apologize for the lengthy text.  So let's get started!

Dread Prince/Captain

Pretty sweet art depiction....

 

I have one on a Raptor and another on foot.  Stat-wise they are excellent compared to base Legionnaires with the difference between the two being an extra point in WS/BS/W/I/A/LD for the Prince over the captain.  Looking over the options there are some definite choices to be made for this Lord/Hero.  For one, both can take a variety of mounts with the common trend that the Lord can take more options than the Hero.  Secondly they both can be given cult membership or Nabh or Yema.  They also can be upgraded to be either Fleet/Beast masters (for your Corsair/Beast themed lists).  Finally they both can take magic items up to 100/50 pts respectively, and the Prince can be upgraded to be the BSB.

Hoo boy, where to start? 

Well there are just so many options you can take with these that to list them all would be another post or two on this blog.  I'm already a bit wordy anyways so really it will boil down to this: what do you want them to do?  Naturally they are going to be nasty fighters in melee without the staying power due to the Elf toughness of 3, but true to Dread Elf style you would probably want them to be the ones striking hard first and killing whatever you can before taking hits back.

What I actually have

With so many options available in making your own Prince/Captain, I am not even sure if I will go over every option there is.  What I will do is toss out my initial build and see where it goes.  So for my Lord choice Dread Prince this is what we will be taking: Armor of Fortune, Sword of Haste, Shield, Raptor, and Obsidian Rock.   This will give me a decent armor save, ward save, resistance to magic, allow me to accompany my Dread Knights, and handle myself in a challenge.  Being able to wound a +4 always is never a bad thing, though it doesn't directly affect armor saves aside from my base strength.  This is a generic build but one of many and hopefully it will show the potential this character option has in your army.

 

 

Exalted Oracle/Oracle 

My ladies of Magic

 

My wizards of the army, the casting ladies of doom!  Stat-wise they are pretty much similar except for an extra point in W/LD for the Exalted Oracle.  Similar to other wizards the Lord version starts off as a 3 whilst the Hero is a 1 for wizard levels, both can be upgraded.  These ladies can choose spells from any of the 'standard' battle lore spells or go for the Dread Elf Black Magic lore.  If I choose to upgrade either of them with the Cult of Yema rule then I have the option of having the Path of Lust, but I HAVE to choose either Lust or Black Magic.  It's a bit of a trade-off all things considering but it limits options in favor for some special rules.  I can give the ladies a mount, but the Lord version has access to some of the more esoteric/awesome mounts whereas the Hero version can ride horse-equivalents.  Also both versions can take some magic items up to 100/50 points respectively.  Finally they each have Master of the Black Arts helping me channel power dice by adding 1 to the roll.

 

So how would I use these ladies?  Well that's probably another article since magic plays an important role as it has in the past with WHFB.  Knowing my play style I would have to tinker around with some of the lores on the field before settling in on a preference.  Each lore has some nasty potential but they do it in different ways, meaning that to just say "lulfirelul" is not really effective.  I would look to either debuffing the enemy or buffing my own troops as a preference over just flat-out blasting power.  The Dread Elves have some great strengths but equally strong weakness as well, so anything to help expose/mitigate is good in my book.
 

The Assassins

Cold-hearted killers

Assassins are back and in some ways they are just as nasty of a surprise if you plan them correctly.  Stat wise these killers are pretty much superior in combat to most of the army.  Their WS/BS are sitting at 7's, their I is a 9, 3 attacks naturally, and they come with the standard Dread Elf rules.  They also have Scout, Armor Piercing (1) in addition to S4, Hidden, Poisoned Attacks, and Not a Leader.  So you can't use them as a leader, which makes sense since they are freakin' assassins!  Option wise they can bring magical items up to 50pts, become a cultist of Nabh, have a 4+ ward save, an additional hand weapon, and take any number of points.  A note about poisons though is that you can only use 1 each combat round, so you can't combine unfortunately.

 

So how to best use these killers will all determine on how you outfit them and for what purpose.  The poison selection allows you to get a bit creative with your targets, and if you know what you are facing ahead of time you can make some preparations (as any assassin would do).  Nightshade lets you hurt models with a higher toughness and get a nice strength bonus, up to S6, which also stacks with Armor Piercing for a nice -4 to armor saves.  Wolfsbane grants you Lethal Strike and you get to re-roll failed to wound rolls.  Bloodroot gives you an additional +1 to the wound rolls, and Multiple Wounds 2 on most targets.

 

Ultimately it will come down to what you need the assassin to kill which will determine how to outfit them.  It's almost a given that you will be a cultist of Nabh (gaining Hatred in return) and get a +4 ward save, so the option you choose for magic items/poisons will be up to you.  If you need to murder high toughness/armor models then go with Nightshade.  If you need to clear out multiple wounds then go with Bloodroot.  If you need to take out a character then I would go with Wolfsbane.  Of course this might change as time goes on but these are my initial reactions with the assassins.

 

Conclusion

 

So that wraps up the series for my 9th Age army...for now at least...if I do manage to get some games in I will of course post it up.  Since we are starting the local Journeyman League my focus will be on that coverage/ramblings for now.  Still if you have any suggestions for tactica/discussions please leave a comment below, until then happy gaming!

Game Day...2 days ago!

As I mentioned previously we have started our local Journeyman League and it looks like we've got quite a gathering indeed!  Since there were so many games being played sadly I will not discuss other people's games (I think we have like 8-9 people show up for day 1).  So how did my Cryx go?

First game I played again my own wife!  First things first however, my list:

Lord Exhumator Scaverous
-Leviathan
-Ripjaw x2

So Courtney and I played and as you can see our field didn't have a lot of middle terrain to block some of those shots.  Which worked against me as the game went on.  I was able to hold off her Hydra by using my telekinesis-vice lock trick and then I just wailed on it effectively taking it out of the game.  Unfortunately my focus on her Hydra with a Ripjaw and Leviathan left Scaverous out in the open near the sand bag middle.  I attempted to do the same trick with her Phoenix but I missed, and since his spells cost so damn much I didn't have any left to help mitigate damage.  Courtney walked the Phoenix away from the Ripjaw, shot Scavvy with boosted attack/damage putting a crit fire on him, and followed up with a shot from Ravyn.  Leaving me with only a couple hit boxes...Scavvy fell to fire.  A win to my wife!

Sadly I have no picture for this match but I played against Josh #2 (maybe eJosh?) and his Khador starter.  He went with pure battlebox pSorscha.  The game went fairly well as for playing his second game he did really well.  We moved towards the center, same terrain set up as the one with my wife, and I mainly kept to cover to help mitigate his bombard shots.  I more or less plinked his Juggernaut with my Leviathan and with a couple well-placed debuffs I was able to take down the jacks with ease.  At a good opportunity he was able to charge/assassinate Scavvy with Sorscha and of course used his feat.  He got me down to 1 box which meant that I was able to shake off stationary, boost to hit and damage and secured a win.  It was really close though and by all rights I feel like I should have lost but the dice were just that cruel.

 


Third game was with pJosh and his Circle.  He went with eKrueger, the Warpwolf Stalker, and the Gorax.  Josh was able to utilize the giant terrain piece in the center which just countered my tactics up to this point.  I couldn't effectively shoot with my Leviathan since he was in cover AND higher elevation, so I moved up and tried to get some shots in whenever I could.  It was difficult to get Scavvy and the Ripjaws into a good position for a magical assassination.

 



Just when I thought I could pull off something, Krueger hit Scavvy with telekinesis, pulling him 2" out into the open, and then pumped up the Stalker with the Gorax's animus.  A solid charge from the Stalker led to the demise of Scavvy and a win for pJosh.

Last game of the night was a mirror match against Mychaela's Cryx.  eDenny, a Leviathan, and 2 Nightwretches so it really was almost mirror!  I was able to creep up along the sidelines and take full advantage of cover, mitigating shots from the Leviathan and Wretches.  I decided to block her ability to channel but taking the initial charge with Ripjaws into the Wretches.  A couple Armor-Pierce attacks and I was feeling pretty good about the situation at hand.  I was able to get a Ripjaw in clear channel position, feated, and brought eDenny to a few hit boxes left!  I was feeling pretty confident with the way the situation was playing out.....until...well...as anyone who plays this game knows that can change easily.  I thought I could block off her Leviathan with mine but she was not engaged and had line of sight to Scavvy.  So with her popping her feat, hitting Scavvy with Curse of Shadows, and a fully pumped Leviathan who forfeited move for aiming, Scavvy ended up with several new spikes in his face.

Overall I lost pretty hard which has lead me to learn a lot about how to play Cryx, and also how rough Scavvy is to play in the low levels.  I can only hope that when he is able to get some support/units on the field he might shine a bit.  What makes him so rough is that you cannot do multiple things each turn and even then when you do one thing (i.e. cast a bunch of spells/melee/jack support) you end up not doing it as well as another caster might.  These are the things I've learned by going 1/3.

Well soon there will be more bat-reps/summaries coming in soon as we start the JL, tune in next time for some more losses.  Until then happy gaming!

Dread Elves: Dread Reaper!

Welcome back ladies and gentleman to another update to the Dread Elf army!  Today we are going to discuss the only true artillery piece available to us, the Dread Reaper (e.g. Reaper Bolt Thrower). 

Stat-wise the artillery piece has T7 and 2 wounds with 2 crew members that have standard Dread Elf stat-lines comparable with the Legionnaires.  The reaper itself fires as a Bolt Thrower with S6, Multiple Wounds (d3), and has armor piercing (6).  The crew have standard Dread Elf special rules.  The artillery piece can also be upgraded with Repeating Shot, an ability that was auto-included in other games, that grants it an alternative firing option.  It can instead of the normal bolt, fire 6 S4 Armor Piercing (1) shots up to 48".  Ouch.

What a mess?  Nah not really

Defensively the artillery piece suffers the same issues as any other artillery piece so if you are familiar with those weaknesses this won't be news.  If not then you have to watch out for fast moving side line units that are meant to kill the crew.  The crew cannot stand up in a fight (barring some amaaazing die rolls) and so light cavalry/flyers are the big threats to watch out for.  Another downside is that if you are not in a good spot then you might limit your efficacy by not being able to fire, so deployment is key!

Staring to make sense...

Offensively what is there to really say other than the obvious?  The two firing modes offer flexible options for targets and so you have to decide each turn which is the main threat that needs to be dealt with and apply the correct firing solution.  Heavy armor? Bolt.  Light infantry block? Repeating shot.  High tough-ness multi-wound? Bolt.  Angry granny? Repeating shot.  This goes on and on but you get the idea.

Boom, got it.

There really isn't a lot to talk about how to use this unit either since it is pretty self-explanatory.  Depending on the terrain set-up I would be interested in getting them placed on a hill if possible to help mitigate line of sight issues.  Failing that then it would default to finding a good spot to snipe early game some threats or use them as a flank deterrent.  It's not attractive to have your unit of heavy cavalry staring down 2 Reapers with that level of firepower.

All in all a pretty solid but standard artillery piece, but then again it's not like we get a choice in the matter.  Tune in next episode where we start to go into the character options for what I have.  Until then happy gaming!

Dread Elves: Raven Cloaks!

Continuing with our series on the Dread Elf army I have been working on, today we are going to go over the Raven Cloaks (e.g. Shades).  This is probably the smallest unit I have in my current force, with the exception of some artillery pieces and characters, and it is also the last true unit I've left to assemble.  Let's take a look at their stats and options!

Stat-wise there aren't many things that stand out compared with our 'baseline' Legionnaires.  The WS and BS are both sitting at 5 putting them as being accurate elves even with some penalties to their ranged to hit rolls.  They come with standard Dread Elf rules as well as having Scout and Skirmisher.  They are armed with repeater crossbows as standard but have several options available to them that can alter their role.  I personally plan to use them as a skirmishing ranged unit that peppers units to smaller ones.  If that is not what you want to use them for you can give them: light armor, great weapons, an additional hand weapon, and poisoned attacks all for 1 pt/rule/model.  Instead of a full command you can upgrade 1 model to a Champion.

Near solid pieces are the best

Alternatively I could use them to scoot around the back lines and mess with artillery units, or counter certain threats.  The downside to this unit is their lack of staying power.  Certainly having the skirmisher rule will help against ranged shots, but any decent charge is going to ruin their day.  Light armor doesn't help much unless the hits I am taking are at S3, and even then you need 6's to pass your save.  In the end I think it's just better to mitigate getting hit in the first place and keep the unit at an arm's length.  Not only that but I will more than likely upgrade them with Poisoned Attacks, because e






Except for this part

Offensive-wise this unit isn't a heavy hitter like the Dread Knights or the Executioners, but that isn't to say that they cannot sting.  As the former are sword thrusts into the hearts of the enemy, the Raven Cloaks are like snakebites.  Hit them in the right spot and it will deadly effective.  Sadly the repeater crossbows are naturally S3 but have Armor Piercing (1) and Multiple Shots.  This makes them near perfect if you've got some lightly-armored units to take out, and even better if they are in small numbers to begin with!








I don't think it will fit easily

So high-toughness/multi-wound units are probably not what I would want to put in my sights.  Low-armored/average toughness single wound units are more the style.  Of course I can try my luck if I give them Poisoned attacks as well, but I'd have to hope for some 6's which is never a reliable thing.


Compared with 8th ed. WHFB version (from what I know) I'd say the Raven Cloaks have been nerfed, but not in a omgnevertakethisunitplskthx sort of way.  It looks more like they are back into their prior role of being a side line unit that helps the rest of the army by whittling down units into more manageable threats.  Like a glass cannon support unit.  Since I'm taking 10 maybe that will help keep my opponents from targeting them since they are "just 10 guys" and hopefully not attract too much fire.  Their point costs also support the idea of what role they should play as well.


Here they are, sort of sketchy placement though

That's all for today, tune in next time in our Dread Elf series as I go over my only piece of artillery!  Good luck and happy gaming!

p.s.  With the upcoming JL I've been putting more focus on those sort of posts but I wanted to finish up my Dread Elf series since I've almost assembled the entire force.  Over the next couple of days I will be putting the last bit (for now!) up and then moving on to my Cryxian thoughts!