June 29, 2018

Battle Report: WM/H 6/28/2018 Speedmachine (15 Points)

The nice thing about being on vacation for a few days, I am able to get in some gaming and painting.  Yesterday was our day to stay home and get in a few games of Warmachine/Hordes.  The NOVA Open is two months away and I still wanted to get in some practice for “Speedmachine”.  “Speedmachne” is 15 Point armies and played with 3:00 minute turns.  The 3:00 minute turns is really allowing me to learn my army better and play faster, I am hoping this faster play will rollover to when I play the larger 50 and 75 Point practice games.

First up during the day I played my son’s Cygnar army led by ‘Stryker 3’ and I played my Khador with ‘Vlad 1’.  I had a Unit on a scoring zone collecting points for me while the rest of my army was battling out, my son had nothing he could contest with until late in the game, by that time one of my ‘Juggernauts’ was able to Assassinate ‘Stryker 3’.  If I did not Assassinate ‘Stryker 3’, I would have one the game on Points that turn.

Later in the evening my Trollbloods friend TJ came out for a some practice games.  First up he played my Khador army and I was playing the same list as earlier in the day.  TJ elected to give ‘Borka 2’ a try.  This was a hard fought battle, ‘Borka 2’s’ Feat really dampened my plans, but I managed to stay in the game.  We battled it out all the way till the end of Turn 7 and I barely lost 2-1.

After my son played a game against TJ’s same list (and my son also lost), I played TJ again and he went with ‘Borka 1’ and a ‘Mountain King’.  I played the same list as earlier, but I swapped out ‘Vlad 1’ with ‘Butcher 1’.  We ended up going to Turn 4 and the score was 0-0 at this point.  TJ elected to charge into ‘Butcher 1’ and failed to hit on his Charge attack, ‘Butcher 1’ was camping 3 Focus and he managed to stay alive with 5 boxes.  ‘Butcher 1’ then popped his Feat and charge back at ‘Borka 1’, able to do so with his 2” reach and I was able to Assassinate ‘Borka 1’.  That was my first Assassination ever against TJ.

I am still undecided between playing ‘Vlad 1’ and ‘Butcher 1’, I still have 2 months to think about it before the NOVA Open.  I like ‘Vlad 1’ for his “Signs & Portents” spell, but ‘Butcher 1’ is a lot better in combat.

Besides getting in some gaming yesterday, I was also able to start on my ‘Kodiak’ Warjacks for my Khador army.  I need these two Warjacks for my 75 Point list for the NOVA Open Team Tournament.  I have only played with ‘Kodiak’s once before, so I know I will need a lot of practice with them.  I should be getting them done sometime later today or tomorrow.  More than likely they will be posted next week for the month of July.

June 27, 2018

WM/H: Privateer Press Releases Steamroller 2018 Rules

Privateer Press had announced that once Lock & Load 2018 was over they would be releasing the new Steamroller 2018 rules packet, well today is the day.

Not much has really changed in terms of rules in the packet (Masters and Champions packets do have more changes) but they did modify 3 of the Scenarios in the packet.  Scenarios 4 & 5 are brand new and they made a slight change to Scenario 6: Recon II by moving the Flags toward the center of the board slightly.

You can download the new Steamroller 2018 Rules Packet at Privateer Press by clicking HERE.


June 25, 2018

Weekly Chronicle 2018 #25

This is not a very good pattern for me with rarely any updates and I am hoping that will turn around very soon.  I am actually off on vacation the rest of the week and I am planning to finally prime some models and possibly get some paint on.  Will I finish a model or a Unit, we shall see.  I have a Unit of ‘Battle Mechaniks’ and 2 ‘Kodiak’ Warjacks that are up next on my painting board.  My plan with the Warjacks is to actually base coat them with my airbrush.  If I can get my station all setup this week, there is a good chance those 2 Warjacks may get done by next week.

I did manage to get in one game last week of Speedmachine practice and I am planning a few more games at this points cost this week.  I am still finalizing which list I want to play, so the more practice the better.

Models Completed: 0

Games Played: 1

June 24, 2018

WM: Khador Armored Corp Incoming

With the recent CID release for Khador also comes some new models for them.  Over the past two weeks, Privateer Press has been releasing new Man-O-War models for the Khador army.  Khador was my first army for Warmachine/Hordes and probably still is my favorite.  I do love the look of the Hordes models, especially my Minions, but I like the gam play mechanics of Warmachine better.

As always when I see new models coming out for an army that I have, my wallet tends to open up for them.  I did not get every model that was just released, but quite a few.  I want to try an Armored Corp themed list, but more for fun with some variety in models.  Instead of spanning units, I want to play with 1 of each. 

As you know I recently received the ‘Man-O-War Assault/Siege Chariot’ and I already own a Unit of ‘Man-O-War Demolition Corp’, so this past Friday I made an order for my remaining models.

* denotes new model release
Kommandant Sorscha Kratikoff (Sorscha 3) *
Man-O-War Bombardier Unit
Man-O-War Bombardier Officer *
Man-O-War Shocktrooper Unit
Man-O-War Shocktrooper Officer
Man-O-War Suppression Tanker Solo x2 *
Sergeant Dragos Dragadovich (Demo Corp Attachment) *


The question now is , when will these models get painted? Who knows.... I still have some models I need to get done for the NOVA Open coming at the end of August.  Once those are completed, I will take another look at my Painting Queue and see what I want to paint.  I think for now I may be playing these model unpainted in the basement.

Sorscha 3



Dragos Dragadovich

Suppression Tanker


Bombardier Unit


Bombardier Officer

Shocktrooper Unit


Shocktrooper Officer



June 19, 2018

Battle Report: WM/H 6/18/2018 Minions vs Cygnar (15 Points Speedmachine)

One of the events my son and I will be playing in this years NOVA Open in September is called “Speedmachine”.  It is Warmachine/Hordes, 15 point armies and 3:00 minute turns, hence the name “Speedmachine”.

To save on space in the car while traveling I was only planning on bringing one army with me, and that is my Khador army, but yesterday I was thinking about my Minions for a little while and decided to see what kind of 15 point list I could come up with.  As with my Khador list (running a ‘Conquest’), I decided to build my Minion list with my ‘Dracodile’.  The reason being, I am a slow player to begin with, so the less models I have to move around and think about the faster I can play (that’s my theory).  I still plan on testing my Khador “Speedmachine” in the next couple of weeks, but last night it was all about my Minions.

My son came down into the basement carrying his Cygnar army (which I expected), but I expected him to be playing his ‘Stormwall’ model, but instead came down with 2 Heavy Warjacks and 1 Light Warjack led by ‘Stryker 1’ and a ‘Journeyman Warcaster’.


Scenario: Breakdown







Minions


Theme: The Blindwater Congregation

0 / 0 Free Cards     15 / 15 Army


Rask - WB: +27

-    Dracodile - PC: 36 (Battlegroup Points Used: 27)


Bog Trog Mist Speaker - PC: 4


Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew - Leader & 1 Grunt: 2


---


Cygnar


Theme: Heavy Metal

1 / 1 Free Cards     14 / 15 Army


Commander Coleman Stryker - WJ: +30

-    Squire - PC: 0

-    Ironclad - PC: 12 (Battlegroup Points Used: 12)

-    Ol’ Rowdy - PC: 18 (Battlegroup Points Used: 18)


Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 4

-    Hunter - PC: 10 (I think he had a Hunter)

3:00 minutes per Turn is not a lot of time, but I thought it was very fun.  

Turn 1 Cygnar ran up the board and I did the same with my ‘Dracodile’ up to the Zone and advanced my other models.  ‘Rask’ popped his Feat since he was now in charge range of ‘Ol Rowdy’.

Turn 2 Cygnar could not Charge anything and moved some model to my left Zone so he can start to contest a Circle.  Minions upkept Fury on ‘Dracodile’ and Charged into ‘Iron Clad’.  I just fell short of killing him and my time expired (I did forget that I can Assault with my ‘Dracodile’)

Turn 3 Cygnar’s ‘Iron Clad’ and ‘Ol Rowdy’ went to town on my ‘Dracodile’, but he was still standing, the rest of the army advanced and his ‘Hunter’ was able to get some hits on ‘Rask’ which I transferred to the ‘Dracodile’.  I did some healing on my ‘Dracodile’ and I was able to finish ‘Iron Clad’ and do quite a bit of damage on ‘Ol Rowdy’.  I also moved ‘Rask’ into the Rectangle Zone and scored a point. 1-0

Turn 4 saw Cygnar try to kill the ‘Dracodile’ with ‘Ol Rowdy’, but being badly damaged, the ‘Dracodile was still standing’.  On my Turn, the ‘Dracodile’ was finally able to finish off ‘Ol Rowdy’ but I did not have much time left to do anything to ‘Stryker’. 2-0

Turn 5 Cygnar’s ‘Stryker 1’ was able to bring down my ‘Dracodile’ and his ‘Hunter was able to do some damage on ‘Rask 1’.  I knew now it was kill or be killed so ‘Rask 1’ cast Fury on himself and charged into ‘Stryker 1’.  Well ‘Rask 1’ is not much of melee caster and he fell short causing only 9 points of damege.

Turn 6, we all know what happens now.  With ‘Rask 1’ only having 6 boxes left.....’Stryker 1’ was easily able to bring him down.  It was an Assassination Win for Cygnar.

I need to think about if there are any other Minions combos I can think of that I can play fast with.  I was pretty good controlling the ‘Dracodile’, though I never did get to get a spray shot in since I forgot to do it with Assault.  I think they may have helped a lot since I would have hit ‘Iron Clad’, ‘Ol Rowdy’ and ‘Stryker 1’ but with 3:00 minute turns you are trying to move as fast as possible.  All honesty if I would have sprayed, I probably would have ran out of time for his melee attacks.

I really like the low point level games that play fast....looking forward to trying some of my Khador combinations.

June 18, 2018

Weekly Chronicle 2018 #24

Once again another week has passed and not too much was accomplished.  At least I did actually build a few Khador ‘Kodiak’ Warjacks last week and I know it will still be a few weeks before I get any paint on them.  I have 72 days before NOVA Open starts, so that is my goal for my 7 models I need to complete.  7 models in 72 days should be easy, but life always gets in the way (especially with new puppies).  I am hoping once I get into my 3rd quarter for my painting queue I can kick up the production like I did in the 1st quarter (maybe not to that extreme, but better than 2nd quarter).  The puppies are getting better at being housebroken, so hopefully my modeling time will come back.

I know the lists that I am planning on playing at this years NOVA Open are not that competitive, but they may be fast for me to play.  The ‘death clock’ still has a tendency to beat me.  I have no problem losing a match to my opponent either by assassination or scenario, but I really hate to lose when I beat myself with the clock.  So my plan is to try and with fewer models so I can complete my turns faster.

So last week for me was no models completed, nor any games played (we did drive out to my friends house and my son got in a 75pt game while I watched).  This week I am hoping to get in some smaller games of Speedmachine (15pts)  and maybe a practice game of Breakfastmachine (50pts).

Models Completed: 0

Games Played: 0

June 14, 2018

Daily Chronicle: 2018 2nd Quarter Painting Queue Update

I kind of expected going into the 2nd quarter this year that my modeling/painting would slow down, but I honestly did not expect it to basically come to a halt.  I knew that at the end of May I would be going back down to Arizona for a few days, and that is all that I had planned.  Well 2 bathroom remodels, a trip to Arizona, and now 2 new puppies has placed a halt on my 2nd quarter.

I decided today that instead of having 1 Painting Queue to act as my queue and backlog, that I would create a separate page for my actual Painting Queue Backlog and then move models from there to my actual Painting Queue   My original Painting Queue was getting a little hard to manage, by having the separate page I can move a few models a little at a time and keep it a bit more realistic.

I did manage to get a few models assembled from my new queue.  I have a Unit of Khador ‘Battle Mechaniks’ and 2 Khador ‘Kodiak’ Warjacks that are almost ready to be primed.  My plan is to have these model ready for the NOVA Open and I may want to get in a practice game with them next week before I start to prime them.  I think for the first time I may break out my airbrush for the Warjacks so I can basecoat the red them.  I have never used it on my Warmachine/Hordes models (only Bolt Action Tanks) but I think it should not be an issue, then I just have to pick out a few details and the Pig Iron metals.

Battle Mechaniks and Kodiaks.

New puppies for the family.



June 11, 2018

Weekly Chronicle 2018 #23

Boy time is flying by pretty fast this year, we are already into Week #23 for the year.  As you can see in my blog, gaming/hobbying has been pretty slow for me the last 2 months, and I am way behind in my ‘Painting Queue’.  I really need to re-evaluate my queue and start to get ready for the NOVA Open.  We picked up 2 more Siberian Husky puppies this past weekend, so house training them will once again take some gaming time away, hopefully I will be able to get a few models assembled shortly and start painting them.

On our long drive to pick up the puppies I was thinking of some lists to use at the NOVA Open, originally my plan was to play my Minions army (and I still may), but I feel more comfortable playing Warmachine over Hordes.  I came up with a few Warmachine Khador lists that I think I am going to try and complete for the event.  I always prefer to play with painted models at these large events (though it is not required for the NOVA) so that is my goal with my Khador,  I should be able to get these done in time (there really is not too many) and I still need to play with the lists for practice.  Lets just hope the pups get housebroken quickly so I can get back to playing.

Models Completed: 0

Games Played:

June 8, 2018

Battle Report: Warmachine 6/7/2018 Khador vs Circle (50 Points)

It has been some time since my last game of Warmachine/Hordes but last night my son and I finally got to get a game in downstairs in the man cave.  To keep things a little quicker we played only 50 points and I wanted to proxy in my new ‘Assault Chariot’ that had just arrived.

I elected to play ‘Vlad 1’ (I am really liking his spell “Signs & Portents” which for a bad player, it really helps out) and my son played ‘Kromac 1’ which is a change from playing ‘Kromac 2’ most of the time.

I went first and tried to quickly move my army up the table, especially with the ‘Assault Chariot’, I really wanted to see what kind of damage this model can do.  Turn 2 I was outside of charge range, so the ‘Assault Chariot’ advanced towards his ‘Tharn Ravagers’ and laid down some fire.  The ‘Assault Chariot’ was able to get 4 shots, and only 1 was not a direct hit (with S&P).  The ‘Assault Chariot’ managed to do quite a bit of damage leaving only 2 models with just a few boxes left, my ‘Winter Guard Rifle Corps’ were able to finish off the Unit.  My 2 Warjacks advanced forward but were too far for any charges.

I did end up losing the ‘Assault Chariot’ from multiple attacks from his Warbeasts, so I think the trade off with his Unit and my Chariot were even.  My problem now was a huge forest protecting his Warbeast from my charging Warjacks.

At this point my son had actually clocked out and I was really close with less than 2 minutes on my clock.  We decided to play out the next turn.

I ended up getting my ‘WGRC’ around the flank and got shots off on ‘Kromac 1’, with once again “S&P” which then Assassinated ‘Kromac 1’.

Control Point wise it was pretty close through out the Rounds with me leading by 1-2.

Scenario: Standoff















June 7, 2018

WM: Khador Man-O-War Assault/Siege Chariot Arrived

This past weekend my Khador ‘Man-O-War Assault/Siege Chariot’ arrived from Black Anchor Heavy Industries (Privateer Press), and I was so busy putting our main bathroom back together that I forgot I received the package till yesterday afternoon.  Once I remembered about it, I had to open it and take a few pictures and I wanted to check out the BAHI truckers hats that came with it.

The flashing on the resin is not too bad, looks like it will be pretty easy to clean up, but one of the horses legs was broken.  Looks to be a clean break and should heal pretty good, does not look like I will have to put that horse down.

I do not remember when I assembled my ‘Dracodile’ from BAHI if it came with assembly instructions, but the ‘Man-O-War Assault/Siege Chariot’ does not come with any (wish that it did).  I did do a dry fit of some of the pieces and it does not look like it will be too hard to put together.  The two gun options also look like they can be easily swapped out (even without magnets) which is a nice option.

I am actually going to play a 50 point game tonight with my son and proxy base this model too see how it plays.  Currently there is no Theme for this model, so we’ll see how the game goes.









June 4, 2018

Weekly Chronicle 2018 #22

It has been pretty bad for my hobbying/gaming the last 2 months (ever since coming back from AdeptiCon), but both of my bathroom remodeling projects are now completed, my trip down to Arizona to move my son up to Michigan is completed, so now HOPEFULLY I can start to get back into the swing of things.

There is 85 days until our next convention the NOVA Open, I need more practice of Warmachine/Hordes and Guild Ball (which I have only played 3 games this year).  I am hoping there might be another local Guild Ball tournament in next few months so my son and I can get some practice in.

I also need to take a hard look at my painting queue this/next week and re-prioritize my models I need to paint.

Models Completed: 0

Games Played: 0