Wow. I forgot to put something up last week. Yay!
Ok, got in a pair of games last week, both with the same guy against the same list. I switched up my list after the first game. Working from memory on these things:
Him:
eHaley
-Cyclone
-Defender
-Lancer
Trencher Infantry (x6)
Trencher Commandos (x6)
Maxwell Finn
Yes, that is a Tier 4 Gravediggers list at 35 pts. FML.
Me first game:
pSkarre
-Deathjack
-Deathripper
-Deathripper
-Skarlock
Mechanithralls (x10)
Bane Thralls (x10)
Bane Lord Tartarus
Necrosurgeon
Yeah, good ol' melee oriented pSkarre list up against Gravediggers. Yup. Going to end well. And actually, it did. And it gave me one of my favourite plays ever.
I luckily outraced him to the caster kill before he could pop her feat (more on that later). Tartarus got to beat the hell out of terrified Commandos (really, they rolled an 11 on a command check once we realized he was in melee with them and was a terrifying entity) and add on more Thralls (I MIGHT need to get more of them just to be fodder for Death Toll...). He Assaulted the Infantry into my Mechanithralls with the Deathjack behind them. Arc'd Blood Rains already had Finn sitting at one pt left after Corrosion ticked so he was making a suicide charge for glory! And horrible, soul-devouring death. Can't forget that.
So, Skarre decides to finally step out from her hiding place to get my entire army into range and pops her feat, cutting herself for five. She then tossed up Dark Guidance. The Assassination run is on. And that is when I became exceedingly happy.
A Deathripper. Actually, my only painted Deathripper out of the far too many I own. He slams the Cyclone, full force, full distance, with a STR of 12 straight across eHaley, taking off half her health and knocking her down. Ha! TAKE THAT YOU TEMPORAL WHORE! (Can you tell I'm not a fan of either version of Haley?) The Deathjack decides he wants to devour her soul too, so he clears out the way for himself with some spell casting, then goes charging in on the Defender next to Haley, smashes it (for some ridiculous amount of damage that I cannot recall), then reaches over with his next swing and splatters Haley for 18. Seriously, more than her starting health with a single swing.
I chalk the head up for the Deathjack. That's two casters in MK2 he has personally gotten the killing blow on. I actually plan on keeping track of his kills on the back of his base with faction coloured tick marks. I'm still debating on whether I want to do one tick for each unique caster he's killed or just for every caster killed ever, even if they are repeats. But anyway, while I give him the kill itself, my opponent contends the Deathripper is the real killer. Ok, the little guy does get points and needs some special love. He's the #1 Deathripper now.
We decide to roll up for another quick game so I swap lists, specifically to a pDenny list I had prepared that also used Bane Thralls so I had less to do in terms of swapping to the Bane Knights I had in the pGaspy list I also brought.
This time I have roughly:
pDenny
-Deathjack
-Deathripper
-Deathripper
-Deathripper
-Skarlock
Bane Thralls (x10)
Bane Lord Tartarus
Warwitch Siren
I believe he had a comment of something like "Holy arc nodes..."
This game got mired down into cat and mouse pretty quick as we both speed played. Stealth on the Bane Thralls kept tripping him up, saving me repeatedly. (Also constantly incurring evil cackling on my part...what can I say, I feel I belong with Cryx) He popped his feat a bit earlier this time though which tripped me up bad. For the record, eHaley's feat boils down to this:
-All affected enemy (read: my) models (in her massive 8 FOC ctrl) forfeit either their movement or action. Ouch. Especially when running a melee heavy army that hasn't reached combat yet.
-On my next turn he gets to tell me which order I activate in. Dammit.
He popped it at pretty much the perfect time since my army was heavily affected by not getting their attacks and still needing to even reach melee so most of my army just kind of moved up. I did however manage to land Crippling Grasp on Haley and then popped Denny's feat as a defensive measure to keep him tied down for a turn. It works to let me survive and has Haley reduced to a crawl as she runs away. The Cyclone though stepped up to play bodyguard and actually hurt the Deathjack fairly bad, knocking off an arm (and a crucial FOC from the Skull of Hate).
Given that the next turn is the last thanks to the shop closing up, I decide to screw the methodical approach of picking apart his army and decide to go for the assassination. It fails, though I did hurt her pretty bad (if the DJ still had that extra focus from his second arm I think I would have been able to manage a kill since then it meant either meant a fourth Venom cast or enough for a Scourge before double Venom to make sure she bites it). However, we call it a draw and pack up.
So, closing thoughts:
Tartarus is a goddamned beast. No, really. This guy does not fuck around. He wrecks house, is resilient for a solo and is SPEEDY. He zips up the field and is just fine RUNNING into combat to make an opponent think twice about running. If even a single Bane Thrall can manage to reach within 3" of Tartarus, then fleeing and giving me the free strikes is a terrible option. Clumping in to get Thresher'd is just as bad. And, well, if you can't kill him before he goes nuts next turn, there just aren't any attractive options. Tartarus says hello with a very big axe and a slightly murderous disposition.
Necrosurgeon didn't do much but I expect I will get better use of her healing and McThrall making abilities in games that don't end so quickly when the feat goes live for Skarre.
The Siren didn't do much, but that's thanks to my opponent redeploying so he didn't have to play with her and the Deathjack running a tag team on him gathering souls for even more unholy devastation.
The Bane Thralls impressed me. In MK1, I just always reached for my Knights instead (reach, Ghostly, their free attacks and I like the models better). But the Thralls are major contenders now I think. And man, I cannot wait to get that UA next month...
Deathripper needs a name. Now. He is my friggin' hero. The DJ may have been able to do it all on his own without the little guy, but the little guy was an isnurance policy that made sure the DJ could finish the job. Also, painted models do perform better. More proof!
This week I'm hoping we can throwdown in a three way with my Cygnar and Khador opponents (from here on called J and T respectively). I'm trying to decide between some Coven or pGaspy action. I'm sure I'll make a decision by Wednesday. And that's good since the following week brings us our first week of Nightfall. Of course, since I am still getting re acclimated to my Cryx and Nightfall has the bastards invading my home turf, I am bringing the Cryx to the party. Though while I have been trying to explore the different casters and how they act in MK2, for the League I am not straying far out of my comfort zone. I'm playing good ol' Cryx. That is, quick and dirty.
Though, I think I'll need to change things up since J has at least found me on the Privateer forums (where he voiced his contention over the Deathjack's latest prize to me via PM) where I also have a link to this blog for my thoughts. I don't know if he will read any of this, but I can't trust a dirty Cygnaran (even if he has Cryx too). Besides, I don't really wanna' be a one trick pony. More of a two trick pony. Their names being Deathjack and Skarlock. Rawr.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
And the Deathjack claims it's first MK2 warcaster head...
I got my first MK2 game in tonight. Huzzah!
I changed up the list sort of last minute since I couldn't find my Nightwretches (where the hell are they?) I dropped the Necrotech and took a Defiler instead.
So my list was:
eSkarre
-Deathjack
-Leviathan
-Defiler
-Skarlock
Satyxis Raiders (10x w/ Sea Witch UA)
Pistol Wraith
I faced off against:
pSorcha
-Destroyer
-Juggernaut
-Marauder
Winterguard Infantry (6x)
Winterguard Mortar Team
Man-o-War Demolition Corp (3x)
Widowmakers
He won the die roll and decided to take first. From my side of the table, I was looking at the Destroyer with Manowars on the left flank, the Marauder with Winterguard on the right flank and the rest, including Sorcha, setting up in the middle. I deployed heavy to the right flank, intending to just not deal with that hated bombard on the Destroyer. And I never really did. He Avande Deployed (AD'd from now on) the Widowmakers on my right flank just behind a forest. I AD'd the Deathjack (DJ from here on out) directly behind the big rock spire in the middle of the board with the Satyxis doing the same on the far right.
Turn 1: He moved the Widowmakers up into the woods and shot at the Satyxis. Let me just say right now the Satyxis seem great on their own. Toss in that UA and they are approaching broken. Holy hell. DEF 16 vs ranged and immune to blasts? I actually had to keep checking that latter part to make sure I was right. Woah. I'm not sure if they are immune to a direct hit as well, but I assume they suffer that and are simply immune to the blast damage. Luckily, he never managed to hit them directly with his mortar. Of course, he missed the Satyxis. Otherwise, he largely moved up, tossed up Fog of War and passed the turn.
In return, I started by running the Satyxis up to where they stood outside the forest but with the Widowmakers within the reach of my Lacerators. The rest of my army largely moved up, I tossed up Death War on the Defiler and Admonition on...I don't remember. It didn't really matter. Admonition DID matter later, but I'll get to that.
Turn 2: He upkept Fog and moved into his turn after some allocation. His Widowmakers tried to flee. Somehow, one of them made it out alive, passed his command check and lived in the back. He didn't manage to do much else, trying to drop a mortar shell into the Satyxis and doing nothing. Notably, the Juggernaut had moved onto the open part of the hill in the center of the table (it was a flat hill with an impassable rock spire taking up half of it).
When it came around to me, I allocated plenty of focus to the Deathjack to do his thing, took a damage point to upkeep Death Ward on the Defiler and tossed a couple to the Leviathan, who squandered them, so we won't talk about him anymore this turn. The Satyxis went running through the woods to again harass the Widowmaker. I got Backlash up on the Juggernaut, used the Skarlock to put Admonition on the Deathjack and then charged in with said Deathjack. He wrecked it in one turn and fed back some damage to Sorcha. The Pistol Wraith tried to Death Chill the Marauder (and somehow failed to hit on his first attack...on a Khadoran heavy...wtf). With the Deathjack basically being the triumphant king of the hill, I passed the turn, waiting for a challenger.
Turn 3: He accidentally let Fog of War expire this turn but allocated focus to the Marauder. The Widowmaker made a break for it again and got cut down, but this was perfect for him. He cast Boundless Charge on the Marauder, popped Sorcha's feat, freezing the Deathjack, my Satyxis and the Wraith. His Winterguard moved poorly and only half got to shoot at the Satyxis, but without my DEF 16, he scored three hits and three kills handily. The Marauder then made his move, charging in on the Deathjack, and began hammering in. He was hitting automatically but his damage was all over the place. He missed knocking out a single system completely while still taking out about half the Deathjack's boxes. Of course, the DJ got a tad pissed and got his revenge the next turn. And for the record, I hate Sorcha's feat. It shut down my Admonition defense. Luckily, that wasn't happening again.
So, things roll around for me, the DJ has taken a fair bit of punishment, needs to act this turn and I need to protect him. I allocate him full up, give the Leviathan a few so he can get in on the act, have the DJ spend a focus to shake off the Stationary and then proceed with the turn. The Skarlock successfully got Backlash onto the Marauder and then the Leviathan moved in. He managed to get some damage on before the Deathjack went to town and got another warjack wreck to his credit, dropping Sorcha to about half her health by the time it was done. I moved up with Skarre, popped her feat, cut herself for five and protected the Deathjack, Leviathan, Defiler, Pistol Wraith and Skarre herself.
Turn 4: Facing down a line of most of my army that was untargetable, Sorcha ran off. Not much really happened except some maneuvering. Well, he did charge the Raiders with his Winterguard, playing Imperial Guard style to keep them locked up. Nothing came of it and he moved on.
During my turn, the DJ got a full load like every other turn. The Satyxis moved up and wiped out the Winterguard, making for their last play of the game. The Deathjack advanced over the wreck markers in front of him and hurled Black Spot at Sorcha (given the amount of heavy Khadoran armour I faced off against, this was oddly the first time I cast this all-star spell). It came up one short so I boosted it after the roll. Oh, how I LURVE Seas of Fate. Got it to stick now and then cast Perdition, hoping to move up onto Sorcha and hopefully luck out and pound her in with his initial attacks, which were still ready. Sadly, it missed and I went on. The Defiler moved up, intending to act simply as a node if needed and took a potshot spray across the clustered Manowars and Mortar Team. Took half the health from one Manowar, pinged the second and killed one member of the mortar team. I don't remember these guys being this awesome in MK1 so this improvement to him made me VERY happy. The Pistol Wraith stood his ground and fired into the Manowars. He finished the first one, gaining a token that he in turn used to boost his damage roll on the second Manowar (the other wounded one) which let me kill that off too. The Skarlock dropped Admonition back on the Deathjack and everything was setup. All of this proved very important when Skarre moved up, used her last focus to cast Perdition, killed the last member of the Mortar crew (which was also the closest enemy model to the Deathjack), and let Perdition trigger the Deathjack directly into Sorcha herself.
Turn 5:
He tries to charge the Deathjack in the back with the last Manowar, which triggers Admonition and lets him scuttle around Sorcha, out of the Manowar's reach and trying to hide behind her to keep the Destroyer to from coming after me. Sorcha swings in effectively at the jack while moving to the side to let the now Boundless Charge Destroyer to still reach the Deathjack. The poor Khadoran jack whiffs and the Deathjack promptly smears Sorcha in a single swing the next turn, sealing the game and capturing his first caster kill in MK2.
So, that was a long ass play by play and I really won't do that for all games (probably just really notable ones). But damn was that fun! I was so happy to be back chucking dice. I had the upper hand from the start of the game because this is someone fairly new to the game who lacks much for model choice (the Widowmakers were proxied) in addition to his lack of experience. We are gonna' play again next week and he is proxying things to try them out to see what he wants to buy next. This is simply going to be a matter of time in terms of learning and expanding. I can't wait 'til this becomes a more competitive game for the people here.
Under MK2 though:
eSkarre: Just as sickening as in MK1. Oh, I love her. She lost the ability to suck Focus back off her jacks and while I wished I could have done that a couple times that night, meh. She is still my lady.
Deathjack: Still kind of unfair. He lost Necrovent, but he also lost Unbound, which is MORE than beneficial to the Cryx player IMO. He personally tallied Sorcha herself as well as TWO Khadoran jacks (with minimal help from the Leviathan).
Leviathan: Ok, honestly, he is here to shoot at infantry that have Black Spot on them. This made him pretty lack luster. I'd honestly probably have preferred to have a Slayer and the points freed up.
Defiler: Went from utterly useless to pretty damn awesome I think. Expensive at 5 pts, but I will definitely take him in future games if I can eek out that extra pt.
Skarlock: Still a staple.
Satyxis: Oh. My. God. They didn't get to do what I REALLY wanted (Power Swell charge a jack with Backlash on it and kill the opposing warcaster without ever getting close to her) but he ran scared of them. And at range against regular ranged attacks, hitting them seemed near impossible. I am going to have a lot of fun with these. I need to make a Satyxis army when the Raider Captain, Bloodweavers and Blood Hag all come out.
Pistol Wraith: A tad overcosted I think. I don't think I'll be using them much in the future except for MAYBE big games with eSkarre or Denny (both versions).
No update on the projects for now, so meh. I got to throw dice! That's all that counts! Oh, and I got God of War 3, so I'll be posting something about that later on. Probably once I beat it, which could honestly take a bit. I'm playing on Titan (hard) mode and it is fairly punishing actually. First boss was able to knock 1/3 of my health off each time he hit. But I still love it.
I changed up the list sort of last minute since I couldn't find my Nightwretches (where the hell are they?) I dropped the Necrotech and took a Defiler instead.
So my list was:
eSkarre
-Deathjack
-Leviathan
-Defiler
-Skarlock
Satyxis Raiders (10x w/ Sea Witch UA)
Pistol Wraith
I faced off against:
pSorcha
-Destroyer
-Juggernaut
-Marauder
Winterguard Infantry (6x)
Winterguard Mortar Team
Man-o-War Demolition Corp (3x)
Widowmakers
He won the die roll and decided to take first. From my side of the table, I was looking at the Destroyer with Manowars on the left flank, the Marauder with Winterguard on the right flank and the rest, including Sorcha, setting up in the middle. I deployed heavy to the right flank, intending to just not deal with that hated bombard on the Destroyer. And I never really did. He Avande Deployed (AD'd from now on) the Widowmakers on my right flank just behind a forest. I AD'd the Deathjack (DJ from here on out) directly behind the big rock spire in the middle of the board with the Satyxis doing the same on the far right.
Turn 1: He moved the Widowmakers up into the woods and shot at the Satyxis. Let me just say right now the Satyxis seem great on their own. Toss in that UA and they are approaching broken. Holy hell. DEF 16 vs ranged and immune to blasts? I actually had to keep checking that latter part to make sure I was right. Woah. I'm not sure if they are immune to a direct hit as well, but I assume they suffer that and are simply immune to the blast damage. Luckily, he never managed to hit them directly with his mortar. Of course, he missed the Satyxis. Otherwise, he largely moved up, tossed up Fog of War and passed the turn.
In return, I started by running the Satyxis up to where they stood outside the forest but with the Widowmakers within the reach of my Lacerators. The rest of my army largely moved up, I tossed up Death War on the Defiler and Admonition on...I don't remember. It didn't really matter. Admonition DID matter later, but I'll get to that.
Turn 2: He upkept Fog and moved into his turn after some allocation. His Widowmakers tried to flee. Somehow, one of them made it out alive, passed his command check and lived in the back. He didn't manage to do much else, trying to drop a mortar shell into the Satyxis and doing nothing. Notably, the Juggernaut had moved onto the open part of the hill in the center of the table (it was a flat hill with an impassable rock spire taking up half of it).
When it came around to me, I allocated plenty of focus to the Deathjack to do his thing, took a damage point to upkeep Death Ward on the Defiler and tossed a couple to the Leviathan, who squandered them, so we won't talk about him anymore this turn. The Satyxis went running through the woods to again harass the Widowmaker. I got Backlash up on the Juggernaut, used the Skarlock to put Admonition on the Deathjack and then charged in with said Deathjack. He wrecked it in one turn and fed back some damage to Sorcha. The Pistol Wraith tried to Death Chill the Marauder (and somehow failed to hit on his first attack...on a Khadoran heavy...wtf). With the Deathjack basically being the triumphant king of the hill, I passed the turn, waiting for a challenger.
Turn 3: He accidentally let Fog of War expire this turn but allocated focus to the Marauder. The Widowmaker made a break for it again and got cut down, but this was perfect for him. He cast Boundless Charge on the Marauder, popped Sorcha's feat, freezing the Deathjack, my Satyxis and the Wraith. His Winterguard moved poorly and only half got to shoot at the Satyxis, but without my DEF 16, he scored three hits and three kills handily. The Marauder then made his move, charging in on the Deathjack, and began hammering in. He was hitting automatically but his damage was all over the place. He missed knocking out a single system completely while still taking out about half the Deathjack's boxes. Of course, the DJ got a tad pissed and got his revenge the next turn. And for the record, I hate Sorcha's feat. It shut down my Admonition defense. Luckily, that wasn't happening again.
So, things roll around for me, the DJ has taken a fair bit of punishment, needs to act this turn and I need to protect him. I allocate him full up, give the Leviathan a few so he can get in on the act, have the DJ spend a focus to shake off the Stationary and then proceed with the turn. The Skarlock successfully got Backlash onto the Marauder and then the Leviathan moved in. He managed to get some damage on before the Deathjack went to town and got another warjack wreck to his credit, dropping Sorcha to about half her health by the time it was done. I moved up with Skarre, popped her feat, cut herself for five and protected the Deathjack, Leviathan, Defiler, Pistol Wraith and Skarre herself.
Turn 4: Facing down a line of most of my army that was untargetable, Sorcha ran off. Not much really happened except some maneuvering. Well, he did charge the Raiders with his Winterguard, playing Imperial Guard style to keep them locked up. Nothing came of it and he moved on.
During my turn, the DJ got a full load like every other turn. The Satyxis moved up and wiped out the Winterguard, making for their last play of the game. The Deathjack advanced over the wreck markers in front of him and hurled Black Spot at Sorcha (given the amount of heavy Khadoran armour I faced off against, this was oddly the first time I cast this all-star spell). It came up one short so I boosted it after the roll. Oh, how I LURVE Seas of Fate. Got it to stick now and then cast Perdition, hoping to move up onto Sorcha and hopefully luck out and pound her in with his initial attacks, which were still ready. Sadly, it missed and I went on. The Defiler moved up, intending to act simply as a node if needed and took a potshot spray across the clustered Manowars and Mortar Team. Took half the health from one Manowar, pinged the second and killed one member of the mortar team. I don't remember these guys being this awesome in MK1 so this improvement to him made me VERY happy. The Pistol Wraith stood his ground and fired into the Manowars. He finished the first one, gaining a token that he in turn used to boost his damage roll on the second Manowar (the other wounded one) which let me kill that off too. The Skarlock dropped Admonition back on the Deathjack and everything was setup. All of this proved very important when Skarre moved up, used her last focus to cast Perdition, killed the last member of the Mortar crew (which was also the closest enemy model to the Deathjack), and let Perdition trigger the Deathjack directly into Sorcha herself.
Turn 5:
He tries to charge the Deathjack in the back with the last Manowar, which triggers Admonition and lets him scuttle around Sorcha, out of the Manowar's reach and trying to hide behind her to keep the Destroyer to from coming after me. Sorcha swings in effectively at the jack while moving to the side to let the now Boundless Charge Destroyer to still reach the Deathjack. The poor Khadoran jack whiffs and the Deathjack promptly smears Sorcha in a single swing the next turn, sealing the game and capturing his first caster kill in MK2.
So, that was a long ass play by play and I really won't do that for all games (probably just really notable ones). But damn was that fun! I was so happy to be back chucking dice. I had the upper hand from the start of the game because this is someone fairly new to the game who lacks much for model choice (the Widowmakers were proxied) in addition to his lack of experience. We are gonna' play again next week and he is proxying things to try them out to see what he wants to buy next. This is simply going to be a matter of time in terms of learning and expanding. I can't wait 'til this becomes a more competitive game for the people here.
Under MK2 though:
eSkarre: Just as sickening as in MK1. Oh, I love her. She lost the ability to suck Focus back off her jacks and while I wished I could have done that a couple times that night, meh. She is still my lady.
Deathjack: Still kind of unfair. He lost Necrovent, but he also lost Unbound, which is MORE than beneficial to the Cryx player IMO. He personally tallied Sorcha herself as well as TWO Khadoran jacks (with minimal help from the Leviathan).
Leviathan: Ok, honestly, he is here to shoot at infantry that have Black Spot on them. This made him pretty lack luster. I'd honestly probably have preferred to have a Slayer and the points freed up.
Defiler: Went from utterly useless to pretty damn awesome I think. Expensive at 5 pts, but I will definitely take him in future games if I can eek out that extra pt.
Skarlock: Still a staple.
Satyxis: Oh. My. God. They didn't get to do what I REALLY wanted (Power Swell charge a jack with Backlash on it and kill the opposing warcaster without ever getting close to her) but he ran scared of them. And at range against regular ranged attacks, hitting them seemed near impossible. I am going to have a lot of fun with these. I need to make a Satyxis army when the Raider Captain, Bloodweavers and Blood Hag all come out.
Pistol Wraith: A tad overcosted I think. I don't think I'll be using them much in the future except for MAYBE big games with eSkarre or Denny (both versions).
No update on the projects for now, so meh. I got to throw dice! That's all that counts! Oh, and I got God of War 3, so I'll be posting something about that later on. Probably once I beat it, which could honestly take a bit. I'm playing on Titan (hard) mode and it is fairly punishing actually. First boss was able to knock 1/3 of my health off each time he hit. But I still love it.
Monday, March 15, 2010
This is going to become a bad habit
So, it's 2:14am my time when I am starting this and I have class in...7:45. Not terrible, but I'm one of those slow to wake up sort. And I'm just not tired. Therefore, I'm writing this to gather my thoughts!
This is gonna' be a pretty Warmachine focused post since that has been consuming my thoughts the last two days or so. Wednesday I'm finally getting my first MK2 game in. Woo! 35 pts of Cryx lead by epic Skarre against some Khador, another person's first MK2 game as far as I know too. Should be a fun learning experience for us both. So, here is my currently intended list unless my mail order shows up. In that order are a Warwitch Siren (saw her card online. 2 pts? Really? How did that get through?) and a Necrosurgeon, who apparently DOESN'T suck now. Hell, looking at his rules, she looks pretty nifty. Much better than the useless weight it used to be. Makes me happy since the Necrosurgeon herself with that big mechanical arm was always pretty awesome looking. Oh, this order also has a Cygnar Mk2 deck and their Forces book. I kind of inherited a Cygnar army from a friend last week. Might as well run with it!
eSkarre
-Deathjack
-Leviathan
-Nightwretch
-Skarlock Thrall
Satyxis Raiders (10x w/ Sea Witch UA)
Pistol Wraith
Necrotech
35/35
Since I had first bought and painted the original Skarre (that model is also hideous, so happy they made a new one), she's been my special lady. Skarre is simply vicious, in both her incarnations. Prime version can feat with a bunch of focus off a Ritual Sacrifice and just wade into the enemy. People lived in fear of the Skarre Bomb in MK1, but she was just as potent without that really if you let me get the charge off. Her epic form becomes nearly invulnerable on her feat turn, once again letting her just come wading in to dispense a little Cryxian justice. And that is purely her personal combat capability. Toss in some amazingly powerful feats and a versatile spell list and you have what I consider some of the best casters Cryx has to offer.
Man, I am looking forward to getting back on the tabletop with my favourite lady. I've heard she has held up well too in MK2.
Oh yeah, I'm supposed to be painting. Sadly, I was out for a good portion of the last week back home visiting the family for spring break. Yeah, my spring break may be lame (and I had a flat tire), but it was more or less relaxing getting to go home. Missed my family but also really missed my pets, two cats and two dogs. Ok, those will come up as a subject again.
But anyway, the Cygnar are assembled and primed (via GW Foundation paints). I finally know the scheme I wanna' go with, but I need to work out a good ivory/khaki colour for the main armour plating. Similarly, I think I've almost got a scheme for my Cryx figured out, partially inspired by the way I have seen some do Cygnar (with certain colours which are the "faction" colours ending up being relegated more to details with another primary armour colour). Yeah yeah yeah, I have a smattering of painted Cryx, but for the non Thralls, there is no unified scheme. Mostly a bunch of different experiments. The Mechanithralls and Bile Thralls though are pretty ordinary undead flesh so they fit no matter what scheme the more unified warcasters and such end up with.
But you may recall my wish to have two battle boxes complete to apply for being a Press Ganger (I did mention that, right?). So, I'll close out once again with my current painting progress. I'm cheating here because some of the Cryx models are painted already. >.>
-Alviaran, the Meddling Mage
Current Projects
Cygnar Battlebox
Primed
0/4 Painted
Cryx Battlebox
Primed/Painted
Deneghra = Primed
Slayer = Primed/base colours down
Defiler = finished
Deathripper A = Primed/base colours down
Deathripper B = Bare metal/slight conversion finished
This is gonna' be a pretty Warmachine focused post since that has been consuming my thoughts the last two days or so. Wednesday I'm finally getting my first MK2 game in. Woo! 35 pts of Cryx lead by epic Skarre against some Khador, another person's first MK2 game as far as I know too. Should be a fun learning experience for us both. So, here is my currently intended list unless my mail order shows up. In that order are a Warwitch Siren (saw her card online. 2 pts? Really? How did that get through?) and a Necrosurgeon, who apparently DOESN'T suck now. Hell, looking at his rules, she looks pretty nifty. Much better than the useless weight it used to be. Makes me happy since the Necrosurgeon herself with that big mechanical arm was always pretty awesome looking. Oh, this order also has a Cygnar Mk2 deck and their Forces book. I kind of inherited a Cygnar army from a friend last week. Might as well run with it!
eSkarre
-Deathjack
-Leviathan
-Nightwretch
-Skarlock Thrall
Satyxis Raiders (10x w/ Sea Witch UA)
Pistol Wraith
Necrotech
35/35
Since I had first bought and painted the original Skarre (that model is also hideous, so happy they made a new one), she's been my special lady. Skarre is simply vicious, in both her incarnations. Prime version can feat with a bunch of focus off a Ritual Sacrifice and just wade into the enemy. People lived in fear of the Skarre Bomb in MK1, but she was just as potent without that really if you let me get the charge off. Her epic form becomes nearly invulnerable on her feat turn, once again letting her just come wading in to dispense a little Cryxian justice. And that is purely her personal combat capability. Toss in some amazingly powerful feats and a versatile spell list and you have what I consider some of the best casters Cryx has to offer.
Man, I am looking forward to getting back on the tabletop with my favourite lady. I've heard she has held up well too in MK2.
Oh yeah, I'm supposed to be painting. Sadly, I was out for a good portion of the last week back home visiting the family for spring break. Yeah, my spring break may be lame (and I had a flat tire), but it was more or less relaxing getting to go home. Missed my family but also really missed my pets, two cats and two dogs. Ok, those will come up as a subject again.
But anyway, the Cygnar are assembled and primed (via GW Foundation paints). I finally know the scheme I wanna' go with, but I need to work out a good ivory/khaki colour for the main armour plating. Similarly, I think I've almost got a scheme for my Cryx figured out, partially inspired by the way I have seen some do Cygnar (with certain colours which are the "faction" colours ending up being relegated more to details with another primary armour colour). Yeah yeah yeah, I have a smattering of painted Cryx, but for the non Thralls, there is no unified scheme. Mostly a bunch of different experiments. The Mechanithralls and Bile Thralls though are pretty ordinary undead flesh so they fit no matter what scheme the more unified warcasters and such end up with.
But you may recall my wish to have two battle boxes complete to apply for being a Press Ganger (I did mention that, right?). So, I'll close out once again with my current painting progress. I'm cheating here because some of the Cryx models are painted already. >.>
-Alviaran, the Meddling Mage
Current Projects
Cygnar Battlebox
Primed
0/4 Painted
Cryx Battlebox
Primed/Painted
Deneghra = Primed
Slayer = Primed/base colours down
Defiler = finished
Deathripper A = Primed/base colours down
Deathripper B = Bare metal/slight conversion finished
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
So, how does this thing work?
Ok, first post. Ahem. Guess I should start off with why this exists and who I am.
I've gone by a number of names online and off. In the vast world of the internet, I've held names such as Karamozov (still in use on a forum somewhere so stalk me!), Nariivla and mostly Alviaran wherever possible. Maybe someday I'll actually explain where those come from.
As for the real world, my full name is Nathaniel, though I've never gone by it. Mostly I've been Nathan. But knowing so many Nathans anymore (my count is currently at ten all time, eight locally as I recall) I've lately been going to just Nate. Cuts down the confusion a fair bit.
But despite that, I'm here to be Alviaran, the Meddling Mage!
This blog is to be a personal repository for my gaming thoughts and projects. When I raised the idea to a friend of mine (who's WoW/MtG blog you can find here. Woo first plug!) and said I'd need a name, he somehow immediately came up with "Meddling Mage". When I thought about it, it fit. Perfectly in fact. The name comes from this card for Magic. It's an annoying card and a fun one at that, but it exemplifies my preferred playstyle in anything I do: denial and deprivation. In Magic, I play control decks (and failing those, discard). In Warmachine, I play Cryx (oh, the debuffs and denial...). In DnD, I deny my enemies options through invoking flat-footed effects and such (I tend to play rogues in DnD for some reason, my preferred spellcasters less often). And so on and so forth.
So thanks out to my friend Mugsley for giving me this name to go with the others I've accrued over time.
But anyway, this will be where I post my thoughts and results from MtG, Warmachine and whatever else. Just a place to offload my thoughts and maybe get some feedback from others. Also a place for me to stick pictures of Warmachine/Hordes minis as I paint them up, using this to guilt myself into actually finishing them. But I'll tell you what I'm playing these days:
Warmachine:
Cryx (tons with Skarre being my special lady with the Great Rack)
Cygnar (ok, honestly, just to fulfill a two battlebox requirement for Warmachine Press Ganger application...but I've always had a thing for lightning. Trust me, that will come up again)
Hordes:
Circle Orboros (Kaya being a favorite here though I haven't tried her out under the MK2 rules)
Legion of Everblight (Haven't played them much but Rhyas always seemed to be a silly amount of fun...watching her ping pong across my Cryx to wipe out both Goreshade and Skarre in a tournament was hilarious, even though it was me losing)
Magic Standard/T2:
Jund (oh, shut up. It works, it's fun, and I run Ob Nixilis for some reason!)
Team America (I miss my counterspells so much...)
Vampires (Because everyone and their cat love vampires. And I have the Nocturnuses)
Magic Extended:
Zoo (waving back and forth from little to big zoo)
Magic Legacy:
Canadian Threshold (just completed it! Need to take it out for a spin now. Oh, I have counterspells. It makes me happy)
So that's it for now. Oh, warning in general for the future: I'm a wordy bastard. Nothing is likely to be short. I've avoided Twitter because 140 characters would be terribly restrictive to me. Expect some updates both in terms of posts and the other random things as I get this whole blog thing sorted out. But I do want to begin this all by closing out posts with whatever my current project is. Whether that be achievement/trophy hunting in a video game, painting miniatures, acquiring cards for certain decks or whatever. This is to keep me honest about my progress. Sadly, my camera is 115 miles away for another two weeks, but then I'll start adding photos to what I'm doing too.
-Alviaran, the Meddling Mage
Current Project
Cygnar Battlebox
Assembled/bare metal
0/4 models
I've gone by a number of names online and off. In the vast world of the internet, I've held names such as Karamozov (still in use on a forum somewhere so stalk me!), Nariivla and mostly Alviaran wherever possible. Maybe someday I'll actually explain where those come from.
As for the real world, my full name is Nathaniel, though I've never gone by it. Mostly I've been Nathan. But knowing so many Nathans anymore (my count is currently at ten all time, eight locally as I recall) I've lately been going to just Nate. Cuts down the confusion a fair bit.
But despite that, I'm here to be Alviaran, the Meddling Mage!
This blog is to be a personal repository for my gaming thoughts and projects. When I raised the idea to a friend of mine (who's WoW/MtG blog you can find here. Woo first plug!) and said I'd need a name, he somehow immediately came up with "Meddling Mage". When I thought about it, it fit. Perfectly in fact. The name comes from this card for Magic. It's an annoying card and a fun one at that, but it exemplifies my preferred playstyle in anything I do: denial and deprivation. In Magic, I play control decks (and failing those, discard). In Warmachine, I play Cryx (oh, the debuffs and denial...). In DnD, I deny my enemies options through invoking flat-footed effects and such (I tend to play rogues in DnD for some reason, my preferred spellcasters less often). And so on and so forth.
So thanks out to my friend Mugsley for giving me this name to go with the others I've accrued over time.
But anyway, this will be where I post my thoughts and results from MtG, Warmachine and whatever else. Just a place to offload my thoughts and maybe get some feedback from others. Also a place for me to stick pictures of Warmachine/Hordes minis as I paint them up, using this to guilt myself into actually finishing them. But I'll tell you what I'm playing these days:
Warmachine:
Cryx (tons with Skarre being my special lady with the Great Rack)
Cygnar (ok, honestly, just to fulfill a two battlebox requirement for Warmachine Press Ganger application...but I've always had a thing for lightning. Trust me, that will come up again)
Hordes:
Circle Orboros (Kaya being a favorite here though I haven't tried her out under the MK2 rules)
Legion of Everblight (Haven't played them much but Rhyas always seemed to be a silly amount of fun...watching her ping pong across my Cryx to wipe out both Goreshade and Skarre in a tournament was hilarious, even though it was me losing)
Magic Standard/T2:
Jund (oh, shut up. It works, it's fun, and I run Ob Nixilis for some reason!)
Team America (I miss my counterspells so much...)
Vampires (Because everyone and their cat love vampires. And I have the Nocturnuses)
Magic Extended:
Zoo (waving back and forth from little to big zoo)
Magic Legacy:
Canadian Threshold (just completed it! Need to take it out for a spin now. Oh, I have counterspells. It makes me happy)
So that's it for now. Oh, warning in general for the future: I'm a wordy bastard. Nothing is likely to be short. I've avoided Twitter because 140 characters would be terribly restrictive to me. Expect some updates both in terms of posts and the other random things as I get this whole blog thing sorted out. But I do want to begin this all by closing out posts with whatever my current project is. Whether that be achievement/trophy hunting in a video game, painting miniatures, acquiring cards for certain decks or whatever. This is to keep me honest about my progress. Sadly, my camera is 115 miles away for another two weeks, but then I'll start adding photos to what I'm doing too.
-Alviaran, the Meddling Mage
Current Project
Cygnar Battlebox
Assembled/bare metal
0/4 models
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