Thursday, December 31, 2009

All for Alzheimers Awareness


So first off let me introduce myself. My name is Darren and I am the local Press Ganger for the Southern Maryland area. I am known on the PP forums as Capsfan34, and most of the local gamers know me by tubbie, but I am no longer going by that name. So, after thinking long and hard for a color scheme for my new army The Retribution of Scyrah I thought of a good friend of mine's aka Devilsquid on the forums, idea about painting his Legion pink to spread awareness for Breast Cancer and his dedication to his mother who past away from it (R.I.P). So after thinking long and hard I decided to dedicate my army to my Grandmother who past away years ago from Alzheimers and to try and spread awareness of this horrible disease. So the Purple Pain is born and I one day hope to hold events to raise money to donate to Alzheimers research.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Early Christmas Present

For all you Menites out there, including myself, Privateer gave us a early Christmas present. The new Vice Scrutator Vindictus.

The model itself is pretty rad, it's also hard to describe, at least for me. Some have called him creepy and others have said he looks alien, however you like to describe him, he's definitely unique. This is what I really love about Warmachine, the unique diversity inside a faction.

From the description we're given, he looks to be an infantry caster with some buff to Zealots. That's all fine and dandy with me as I'm hoping to score some for Christmas. I might be one of the few Protectorate players that didn't use Zealots in MK I. I'm also hoping he's at least a 7 focus caster, if not 8, though that might be too much.

Kudos to Privateer for another unique, interesting warcaster. MK II can't come soon enough!!!

Saturday, December 19, 2009

A Little Change and Background

First off, a huge thanks goes out to gdaybloke at Lost Hemisphere for the awesome banner atop the home page. It's pretty much awesome sauce!

We're currently in the works of making some changes to blog, specifically the name and url. The current goal is to have a place for Warmachine/Hordes players in southern MD to post pics of the minis, share battle reports, lists, and the usual stuff associated with the blog. Basically, it's going to be the same blog with more authors, content, and posts. Sort of like a poor man's Kiwi Thralls, if you like.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Southern MD region, it encompasses three counties below D.C. Players can be spread throughout the region, in different counties, and it can be difficult getting people together to play games. The blog will help alleviate this problem with a central, albeit cyber, location.

Author introductions will follow shortly and we anxiously await the release of MK II. I think it's the cards that I wan't the most!!!

Thursday, December 3, 2009

In a Rut

Since the MK II final stat cards have been released, I've been creating lists for most of the casters I have. When doing so, I try to think about the models I have and then some models I don't have. This way, I can proxy the ones I don't have in a game and see if I should buy them.

The recent problem I've come up with is, I'm including the same models over and over again. For instance, the only Exemplar unit I have is Rhoven and I'm not sure he counts because his bodyguards are Exemplar. I rarely ever think about putting Exemplars in a list, save for Bastions. When I do put them in, its normally with Kreoss, Severius, or the High Reclaimer.

My normal list goes sort of like this, Caster, 1 Vanquisher (shocker I know), another heavy, possible Devout, and then choir, vassal, TFG w/ UA, and an assortment of solos. That's pretty much it. The caster I choose normally dictates the jacks I take with them, that's probably true for most players but its nice to mix it up some.

In writing this, I think I found out my problem. I need more units, specifically all the Exemplar ones, Idrians, Daughters, and possibly Croe's Cutthroats. This should give me more variety and a different play style than the one I'm use. Which is a slow methodical, Menoth brick, walking up the field waiting the lay the hurt.

The night before I know I'm going to play, I sit down and make 2 lists. This helps me and my opponent because normally I would do it right before the game. Sometimes it added another 15-20 minutes, just ask Barrett. This way, I know what models I need and it speeds up set up time considerably. There's a chance of me getting in a game this Saturday and if I do, I plan to try out this 50 pt Amon list. Its definitely a change of pace and hopefully it'll be a lot of fun to play.

Amon 50 pts
*Devout
*Castigator
*Crusader
*Crusader
Hierophant
Vassal
Choir - full unit
Idrians - full unit w/ UA
Croe's Cutthroats - min unit
Kell Bailoch
Gorman

Friday, November 20, 2009

New Cygnar Light, the Firefly

The forums are down for the weekend (what kind of sneakiness is PP up to?), but I gotta talk about this little guy. I just thought I'd check the front page in case anything new came up, and saw this

"The light warjacks commissioned by the Cygnaran Armory set the standard by which all light ’jacks are judged. The original Charger chassis has proven an excellent platform for versatile and deadly machines. The Firefly is the most recent variant of the Charger chassis and possesses cutting-edge electro-mechanika capable of frying opponents to a crisp."

As far as I can tell, no one was expecting Cygnar to get anymore jacks in MkII. I didn't see a leak anywhere, which is odd. But I'm overall very happy and excited about this jack.

First off, it will have reach. It has a spear and has to. We have no need for a light with a ranged weapon and .5" melee. Second, I think it is going to be a spray weapon, though it's description makes it sound like it may have some kind of melta-esque feature. I think Spray, Phill thinks Assault. Both are viable.

I think this jack cannot be more than 5 points. The Charger and Sentinel are both 4. If it costs 6, you'd just take a Lancer. He has reach and, when not engaged, will be an arc-node. So this thing needs to be 5 pts, if not 4. I'm most excited about this Jack because it looks like the Swordknights now have their auto-include. The Centurion is too expensive to be marshalled and too slow to be an effective escort. Marshalling (or even just getting into melee with) the Lancer is overcosted due to the arc node. So now, the SKs will have a melee 2" jack that is cheap enough for marshalling. Very exciting, because I love the Swordknights.

Judging from the look, it is clearly a new mold, which makes me wonder if this is Cygnar's first plastic light jack. No indication shows that it is a 3-in-1 kit, but it could be possible.

The only complaints I have are about the shoulders and the name. The shoulders are comicly round! I mean seriously, this isn't the '90s. Stuffed shoulder pads, on a jack?!? lol. I may have to buy the weapons and head and throw them onto a Charger chassis (since that is what this is supposed to be). But there is very little similarity here.



And what's with the name? We've got Ironclad, Defender, Centurion, Hammersmith, Stormclad, Charger, Sentinel, Lancer, Hunter, Grenadier, Thunderhead... and Firefly! This jack gets beat up a lot, from both sides. I think I'm gonna have to check out PP's parts store and get some suitable wings. Fairy wings.

Joking aside, I am looking forward to this jack. I'll gladly take two of them, and can't wait to find out its price and release date!

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Menoth Battlegroup

My gracious friend Greg was kind enough to take some photos of my minis tonight. He's got a nice photobox setup and the pictures came out really good.

Here's my Menoth battlegroup. I should of had the Repenter facing a different direction as you can't see his duck bill head.


Here's a better picture of my Vanquisher.Thanks again to Greg and I hope you like them.

Friday, November 13, 2009

Revenger - Before and After

I'm finally finished my before and after painting project, it only took me 6 months to do it. At least its done and here's the final product. The pictures are again washed out by the flash and my lovely wife told me she could help me make a photo box. Lets hope I can take some better pics after that.

Here's the model the first time I painted it. It wasn't that bad of a paint job but I really didn't like the grey on gold. I much prefer the grey on brass in my current scheme.





The second pic has a little photo editing in it to try and bring out some of the detail. I hope to have a battle box group pic later next week with better photos. Let me know what you think.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Fully Painted

I just finished repainting my Revenger and it got me thinking, will I ever have a fully painted army? Probably not, but the best I can hope for is to have a 50 point army painted to a nice table top standard. Sometimes I look at all the models I have that are unpainted and get a bit overwhelmed. Then I have to realize, I play this game for the fun of it and it shouldn't be a chore or something I'm a slave to, rather than, a fun laid back hobby.

As of now, I have 52 Menoth models and 23 of them are completed painted. As for my Mercs, I have 12 models and only 3 are painted. At this rate, I'll have all my models painted by 2011. I've considered dipping my Menoth but I want to keep a consistent look to my army. Dipping half way is not an option for me but could be for my Mercs.

This gets me to thinking, I'm tempted to trade my Mercs away and finish collecting Menoth. For me, Menoth has enough variety in casters that makes playing them fun and not stale. Another thing to consider is playing time, I get to play maybe once or twice a month and this lets me play a caster a couple times and then move onto someone else. If I were to play weekly or bi-weekly, then I would consider keeping my Mercs.

It's nice to have options but I think I want to have a nice big army with more options rather than two mid size ones that I would switch back and forth on. I actually got to play my Mercs this past weekend and while they were fun, they weren't Menoth. I missed my faithful soldiers.... how sad.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Hordes!

So with the Hordes Field Test only 3 weeks away, I lucked out on Bartertown and picked up the Battleboxes for both Circle and Legion, along with Rhyas (Legion lock) and a Seraph (Legion light warbeast), along with a huge Cygnar lot. While Phill and I rarely get enough time to play our main faction as it is, we are going to be making a conscious effort to try out the four Hordes factions during the Field test.

I already know I will be going with Legion. I picked up the Circle battlebox for my wife, who likes the furry creatures and wants to try painting them. Since she will not likely play with them, I'll have a small Circle force on the side that should end up seeing as much playtime as my Searforge army (Wait?! You collect Searforge too? See... In other words: No playtime)

I'm not sure what direction Phill is leaning in Hordes, but we'll be switching through all four factions' battleboxes, proxying Trolls and Skorne, and figuring out the Fury mechanic.

I'm looking forward to this. We're planning on a paint-and-play escalation campaign in 2010. Playing the Hordes FT in between games may give me the extra weeks I need to get my army painted. Phill (the wiser) already is nearly finished. Barrett (the buyer/postponer) is still resting on his accomplishments of 1 painted Centurion (out of 3), from a year ago. Oh yeah!

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Ranking Menoth Casters in MK II and Brainstorming

Ok, so there's a thread ongoing in the Menoth section on the big boards, about who is going to be the best caster in a competitive tournament setting. Now, I don't play in a lot of tournaments and for the most part, I'm a casual player so take this into consideration when I rank them.

Tier 1

High Reclaimer
Amon
Reznik
pSeverius
eFeora
eKreoss
Feora
Testament
pKreoss
eSeverius

Tier 2

Harbinger

As you can see, I think all of the Menoth casters are more than capable of doing their job. The only reason the Harbinger is Tier 2 is because of the immensity of putting together the model. It might take someone longer to do this and cut back on playing time.

When people see caster rankings it sometimes sways an individual to not even try to play a caster. That's why I have everyone at Tier 1 save the Harbinger, which is just a joke. It's a good way to encourage people to try out all the faction casters and increase your gaming skills.

Let's not think of reasons why one caster is the top dog but try to come up with new strategies for them instead. It will help broaden your knowledge of models and help come up with the not so obvious combos. In the end, it'll be more rewarding for you as a player. That's my 2 focus for the day.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

The Basher

Privateer unveiled the new Rhulic warjack, Basher, for all of us to see. This little big guy is one unique and awesome jack. I'm in awe of the design aspect of it and it's coolness.

After seeing this new jack and all the new plastic ones, 2010 couldn't come soon enough. Bring on the new jacks and sculpts, next year is going to be fun.

Monday, October 26, 2009

A little to do list

It's been a while since either Barrett or I posted anything so I thought I'd end the dry run. I'm currently working on removing some paint from some older miniatures, namely TFG, Cleanser, and a few solos.

About two years ago, I commissioned someone to paint 6 Temple Flame Guards and a Castigator. While the paint job was excellent, it doesn't match my current scheme. You might ask, why not copy the same scheme as the TFG and Castigator? Well, it just so happens that I tried to but didn't get it right the first time and I prefer the scheme I have now.

This brings me to my to do list, I have a full unit of TFG ready to be primed and painted. This is going to be my biggest infantry unit I've painted in Warmachine. The TFG are a nice basic unit without so much detail so I'm looking forward to painting them. I've read that it helps to paint them in small batches of 3-4.

Before I paint my TFG, I'm going to try and speed paint my Revenger. I'm not the biggest fan of the model, light warjacks in general don't fancy me, and in MK II, arcnodes aren't that necessary. At least for me they're not.

After the Revenger and TFG, I have 8 Cleansers to paint and I'll most likely make it a full 10 when all is said and done. I'm hoping to have the majority of my eFeora list ready by MKII release. It's a daunting task to paint so many models so hopefully I can get it done.

Did I mention I want to get Bastions and Daughters as well, along with my three epic casters, solos, mercs...... Yeah you get the idea, it's going to be a fun fall and winter full of painting madness. This Saturday I'm starting my to do list and only time what all will get done. If I manage to paint 50% of it, I'll consider it a success.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Going Epic in MK II

Recently, I was the recipient of a nice bartertown trade where I got epic Kreoss, Testament of Menoth, and Severius. This might not seem like much but I'm a big fan of the epic models and their rules. In the earlier edition of Warmachine, I didn't play epics at all. My main reason was I didn't have them and the second was they had to be played in 750 point games. Now that they can be played at any point level, that's gravy!

I was thinking about it on the way to work, how does epic Feora sound in a mangled metal game? Pretty good right? Not only does it change the meta on a lot of levels, the models normally look better. The Testament of Menoth is a killer sculpt and I can't wait to paint the guy. Epic Severius is also really nice and I even like epic Kreoss. The one I'm waiting to see is epic Harbinger. It's going to be hard to top the original Harbinger but I think Privateer can pull it off.

The only problem with epics is getting use to their rules and abilities. It's one that I won't mind having to due and it by doing so, it should create some good games.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Reznik MK II Style

After seeing Reznik's new rules, I'm really excited to use him again. He's probably my most experienced caster I've ever used and his spell list is great. I'm liking Iron Aggression and Ignite on him even more than Brand of Heresy and Hate Monger. While it was a great spell, I often whiffed my attack roll and Hate Monger normally only netted me 1 attack when I really needed at least 2. I'm digging the new Reznik, so much so, I painted the guy.

Here he is, the flash drowns out some of the detail. I really need to get a photo box or have my friend take the pictures. It looks a lot better in person.










He was really fun to paint but putting him together, I got lazy. His left arm where the hand attaches to the arm, was put together with green stuff. I got too much of it on the model and it covered up some detail. Somehow when I glued the head on, the glue went over the menofix and messed up some detail as well. It was one of those deals where I wanted to get him on the table and just play the model. Next time, I'll take my time and do it right.

None the less, I'm pleased with the model.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

MkII Feedback, Searforge

Well, not really. As the resident Searforge expert, I'm going to defer to Searforge Chronicles, from our blogroll, for his breakdown. He handled it nicely. There are some very attractive things to see there.

Oh when, oh when, will Brun and Lug be MkII compatible?!?

MkII Feedback, Mercs

I'm going to give a quick rundown of the few mercs I'm interested in. I won't be touching the Searforge Mercs, since I'll probably have to do that in a separate post. I'm merely interested in the mercs that would work for Cygnar.

But first, pMagnus. Holy Crap! His focus efficiency is insane, and how dare he steal Snipe from me. I don't care if he thinks he is the True Cygnaran. Snipe is mine!

Reinholdt is the same. Eiryss lost Magical on her crossbow (dang you Choir). The Bokur gained Shield Guard, taking an auto-hit from ranged instead of its client.

Aiyanna & Holt each lost 1 ARM and Holt lost Crack Shot. Alexia Ciannor looks like an entirely different unit. I'm definitely picking her up now. This tipped me over the edge. She got a MAT and RAT increase, a hand cannon, Arcane Disjunction (enemy models pay double to cast/upkeep. Take that Menoth!), she starts with 9 Risen in play (instead of 6), and her magic abilities are completely changed. Her Risen got a SPD, STR, and MAT boost. The Thrall Warrior got a SPD boost.

MkII Feedback, Cygnar

Just a few initial impressions:

Both Nemos got a 1 point strength boost, making them POW 12 in melee. Appreciated. eNemo is sicker than ever. His feat, in the FT cards, used to say warjacks cannot exceed its focus allocation limit (3) as a result of the feat. It no longer says that, which means that I will have 2 jacks with 6 focus and 1 with 4 focus on my feat turn, assuming I allocate all 7 focus. That is disgusting. I'm sure it was an error on PP's part or else eNemo is now our beat stick Jack caster. Yes please.

Darius, my newest caster purchase, gained Repair *action. Makes sense. It is also nice to see that Tremor didn't lose it's single attack roll. Simplicity. Full Throttle lost the 2" of extra movement, but gained boosted attack rolls. I'll take that almost anyday! He lost Jumpstart (the turn and look spell), which merely means I'll be casting Jack Hammer whenever I have a focus left over. No more deliberation.

Seige gained a 4" AOE on his Ground Pounder. Glad to see it. In exchange though, it looks like I have to make a separate roll against each model. 4" is still a small AOE under the formation rules (which I haven't confirmed yet), but hopefully I can catch a Vassal or choirboy hanging too close to a jack. Shockwave became Force Hammer, which means it doesn't push whatever it comes into contact with, but does do POW 12 damage. That will be a great way to hit whatever is hiding behind jacks. It did get 1 FOC more expensive though, but its range increased 2".

The Charger didn't change. The Hunter gained Parry. I'm sure that will come in handy a lot. If I get charged, but not wrecked, I just drop back and AP the jack in the face. Good call, PP. Nothing different for the Lancer, except a wording clarification. Thorn's reaction drive got limited to 3". Probably a good call... My lights stayed at about the same.

Centurion and Defender didn't change. Ol' Rowdy has Aggressive; he can now run or charge without spending focus. His affinity with Stryker wasn't included on the cards. Looks like a typo. Ironclad simply got cleared up a little. For the THead, the Energy Pulse is now an auto-hitting *attack against everything within 6". He also gained sustained attack on his fists. I wonder if the first fist that hits get sustained (and the 2nd initial attack is auto-hit) or if it is only the second hit that is sustained... Either way, THead is gonna be playing a lot more. My Heavies just got a lot better.

GMCA is 2PC, less one ARM and 2" range on his pistols. He ignores only Stealth, and only if he doesn't move. Also, his Phantom Seeker doesn't say it ignores clouds or intervening models, but it does say it ignored LOS. I wonder if that was simple reduplication, because the GMCA was a auto-include against the High Reclaimer. Doesn't look like the Jr or Stormsmiths changed. Squire got a STR and MAT boost. Why? I have no clue. A huge blow to Arlan... He is no longer immune to electricity. Bummer. So much for the Arlan-THead duo.

Sword Knights got the boost I was looking for. They trades Precision Strike (pick the column) for Penetrating Strike, now doing an auto-point of damage against Jacks and Beasts if I so choose. Unfortunately, it is before the damage roll. They a bit more viable now. What good was picking the column if you couldn't exceed the damage? And with the UA, they get Precision Strike back (Tactics). The big question: Did Rangers get any better? Unfortunately, they really didn't. The only change I can see is that they are 1 PC cheaper (5). Still not enough difference to make them worth it. If I'm missing something on them, I'd love to know what, because I really like them and wish I could take them. Stormblades are now ONLY a min unit of 6. Guess that solves the problem of Stormblade blisters. A max unit of Stormguard are 9 PC instead of 10. They now have gunfighter, without any ranged weapon listed. Why? I guess it is for the officer's Electric Discharge. Odd. The Mechanics are 1PC more expensive for both Min and Max units. The Gobbers also lost Bodge and gained Repair[6]. The benefit is that they can now assist each other, though it came at the price of the auto-point of damage removal. The Mechanic has a weird ability that says he now cannot be knocked down and is +2 DEF and ARM when in B2B with a jack. May come in handy, though now that they're 2PC for a Min, I won't likely be taking more than one unit. PK Knights now have Spell Ward, which means they cannot even be targeted by Friendly spells (Arcane Shield). Kneel and Ranked Attack have now blended. I like the new one. Black 13th are cheaper and Ryan lost her Chain Attack for a *Attack. Better off. Like the GMCA, they also lost 2" of range and 1 ARM.

In summary, my MkII jacks are even better than the field test. My Casters are about equal. My solos probably equal out too, with some getting better, one getting a lot worse (Arlan :( ) and some staying equal. Interestingly, my four melee units look to be back where they were in MkI, which I'm happy about. The Stormguard and Sword Knights got better, the Stormblades and PK Knights a little worse. I prefer the SG and SK anyways, so I'm glad I can get them now. The Mechanics, which I was really excited about in the FT, are so-so and the Rangers still look cooler than they can perform. Black 13th was improved. Overall, I'm very happy. I haven't had a chance to read the rules yet, but I like the final versions of my models. The error on Ol' Rowdy's affinity has me wondering if any other typos will be identified. I'm sure they will, which might be the reason they release these before the official cards.

Monday, September 21, 2009

MK II Instant Feedback, Thank you Privateer!!!

Well well, what a surprise that was!!! I can't believe Privateer made the MK II rules and stats available to the public! Man, that is so awesome! I want to thank the great company for doing that and will definitely be playing some MK II in the future. It goes a long way to show what a great company they are!

Overall, I'm really happy with the way things came out. Now we can all stop whining about Mage Hunter Assassins for crying out loud... Anyways, I'm just going to touch on some of my favorite models and I'll let Barrett create a new post for his.

*Amon - He lost Sandblast and gained Convection, IMO a major boost. His feat now lasts one round which is fantastic.

*Reznik - He lost Brand of Heresy but gained Ignite. IMO a great move to make him more versatile. I don't own a Redeemer and to me, it was kind of a boring tactic. Now he can take some good infantry and make them better.

*High Reclaimer - He pretty much stayed the same. Ritual Sacrifice was reduced to 1 focus and Soulstorm was reduced to 2". His going to be a grind it out caster but I look forward to using him.

*Guardian - Its my favorite warjack sculpt wise and the rules for him are better. It gained powerful charge and critical pitch is worded better. He'll be in my Reznik and Amon lists for sure.

*Vanquisher - 10" range on the Flame Belcher is most impressive. I'll be using this guy a lot.

* Avatar - To quote Podthrall Jim, "Disgusting". It gained reach and only went up one point. He's going to be the bane of a lot opponents.

*Bastions - The gained blessed on their weapons and are now FA:2. Great move for us Menites.

*Rhoven - Their point cost was reduced and they gained Blessed on their weapons and Set Defense. Rhoven's cleanse works on continuous effects and now has Negation, which removes 1 focus or fury.

I'm going to stop there and take a look at some more stuff but I'm most pleased with the way things came out. Barrett informed me that he was really pleased with Cygnar's stuff as well. I want to thank Privateer again for taking the time to listen to their player base and creating such fun and enjoyable game.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

A Return Thanks, and My Goal

A quick return thanks to Clayton for such great deals over on Bartertown. His whole army, the one he threw into my original order of Darius, Ironclad, Centurion (#2), and a Squire, ended up being a Max unit of Trenchers, UA, Grenade Porter, Chain Gun, Finn, Max Longgunners, a Lancer, and Nemo, Haley, and both poses of Stryker. I was really blown away by this "special bonus" as Clayton called it. Grim Angus was the least I could do.

The new acquisitions got me thinking about what my entire force would look like now, if I set them all up. I quickly sketched the whole thing out in Paint, while I was bored at work last week. Here is what I've got:



Starting from left to right, top to bottom:
Units:
Min unit of Stormlances
Max units of Longgunners (x2)
Max unit of Trenchers
Grenade Porter
Chain Gun
UA

Jacks:
Ironclad
Centurion
Centurion
Thunderhead
Lancer
Lancer
(behind the casters)
- Defender
- Charger
- Charger

Solos:
Finn
Stormsmiths x3
Journeyman
GMCA
Female GMCA

Casters:
Darius
Siege
Caine
Haley
Nemo
Stryker
Squire

Over on the far right, I have my mercs, consisting right now of Gorten's Battlegroup and the Alt Eiryss.

In all, by FA, this totals 2384 points MkI. In MkII, it is a slightly less impressive 142 points. My goal for September (which is rapidly coming to an end) is to strip, base, and primer my entire army. At the end of the month, I hope to be able to set the whole army out on a table and take a real picture, just to get an idea of the amount of metal I'm playing with now, after 1 year.

Thanks Clayton and Phill. This whole army is due to the two of you!

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Repenter Complete

A few weeks ago, Lost Hemisphere ran Repenter week. This inspired me to finish painting the one I had started a couple of months ago. I had originally painted this little fellow up in a less than stellar paint job. He was stripped of paint a while back and primed using Dupli Sandable primer, which is great and cheap.

Here was the first paint job I did and it really wasn't a complete paintjob but it was so bad, I didn't finish him.


This is the finished product and I must say, I like the model. Being one of the original Prime warjacks, he has a pretty cool look to him and I'm looking forward to using him in MK II.





The last model to paint in my "Before and After" session is my Revenger. He's already to be primed and then painted. I'm looking forward to having a complete battle box after and then I'm ready to strip and re-paint the Avatar.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Demo Game Board Done!

I'm finally finished the demo game board and it's nice to see the finished product. I added more flock to the sides of the road and then washed it with GW Sepia. It could probably stand a little more of the wash on the road but I'm happy with it now. Small rocks were added to the bigger rocks to give a little more authentic look and a few shrubs were added as well.

The sides of felt were stapled to the wood and the excess was cut off to keep it clean. I added some felt pads on the bottom of the board so I won't have to worry about the wood scratching any table. Overall I'm pleased with the project. I hope it'll serve it's purpose well.

Here it is.


Now that I have some terrain making done, It's on to paint the Repenter, Revenger, and Avatar.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Two Lists and a Little Theorymachine

Phill and I aren't playing much lately. I just started school, Phill's adjusting to a new job, and we're both pretty busy, trying to coordinate our schedules for the odd game in. Until then, I spend free time at work making lists. I thought I'd throw two of them up here and talk about them.

First, the themed army. Aside from an all Ogrun Legion army, nothing excites me fluffwise more than an all Gun Mage themed army. It isn't so much the awesomesauceness of the list or tactics that excite me, as much as the sheer cool factor of squeezing in as many GM units as I can into a list. So here it is:

50 points, MkII
Epic Caine
-Hunter
-Sentinel
-Sentinel
GMCA
GMCA
Journeyman
-Charger
ATGM
-ATGM UA
- Defender
ATGM
Black 13th

Again, I put little thought into how I would play this many gun mages, but the fact that almost all of my infantry would have Gunfighter excites me. The lack of melee is a problem, but the Charger and the Defender aren't shabby in hand-to-hand. The biggest thing I worry about is frustrating Phill at how long my turns would take to measure ranges, but I'm sure he'd be stunned at how cool this force would look on the table. That being said, I have a long way to go to be able to play this without proxy. I'd need eCaine, the Hunter, 2 Sentinels, two units of Gun Mages, the UA, and the Black 13th. But this is my goal list.

The next one is actually playable for me, and has more tactics in mind in its design. I'll use it for my first 35 point battle with my newest caster, Darius. Spoiler Alert, Phill! Thanks to Clayton over at Adventures in Warmachine, I finally got to pick up the Doughboy for a great price. My latest purchase on Bartertown from Clayton also secured me a second Centurion, my first Ironclad (I now have the whole battlebox!), and a Squire. So here goes:

35 points
Darius
-Lancer
-Centurion
-Centurion
-Ironclad
Arlan
Jr
-Charger

The main idea here is to get into Melee quickly and put the hurt out there. Full throttle will get my jacks up there quickly, the Lancer will allow me to cast arc Jack Hammer if they get extended past Darius' measly control area. The idea will be to run the Ironclad with a Centurion on either side in B2B. Upkeeping Fortify on the IC will allow him to Tremor and not knock down the Centurions. Giving focus to either Centurion to start a turn, and using what's left after spells to cast Jack Hammer on the IC after his *Attack will let me clean up quickly. Not much will be able to withstand 2 POW 18 Piston Spears and the odd Quake Hammer. To keep the infantry at bay, I'll keep the halfjacks nearby to repair Jacks or plant themselves in the ground and blow up. It's unfortunate that my "Jack caster" only has 6 focus, but with his ability to make his whole battlegroup rock makes up for it. I really look forward to the look on Phill's face when he leaves 1 damage box open on a Centurion and I wipe its damage clean with my Feat. Oh Happy Day!

I've been reluctant to pick Darius up till now, by the combination of his looks and the price, but now that I've played around with the possibilities a little, I know he and I are going to have a lot of fun together. I wish eNemo's feat overlapped with his spells. *shudder*

Oh Crap! I just rechecked Nemo's card, and it does! His feat doesn't say "in his battlegroup"! Man, Jacks and Beasts Never Rest never sounded so sweet.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Demo Game Board Take 3

Well, I'm almost finished the board. All I have left is to do is tidey up the road a bit and make it a little more authentic. I'm also going to take a staple gun to the extra felt on the sides and secure it into the wooden base. This should help the felt from coming up on the edges which is easy to do with a simple pull. I don't want this project going to waste with a simple error in transporting it and a side gets snagged and then the felt pops up.

Here's the board after I flocked it with some Woodlands green turf and earth. I tried to cover up all the bright green and make it look a little more real.


It should be officially finished by week's end but for now it'll do.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Demo Game Board Take 2

I managed to get a lot of work done on my demo game board today and it's almost finished. The big rocks were pretty easy to do but painting felt is another story. Needless to say, it didn't go exactly as planned.

In looking back, I should've flocked the table with some Woodland Scenics green turf before I started painting the rocks and then painted the big stuff. Anyways, here's some WIP shots of the gaming table after today's work.

This is the table after I sprayed black primer on the rocks and put down some brown paint around them. I also glued down some rocks on the road to make it a little more authentic. The rocks are kitty litter if anyone wants to know.

Here's the table after I applied a base coat of grey with a tint of blue onto the big rocks and cliff. The rocks were pretty straight forward. I took some info out of a No Quarter mag to help the process go smoother.

This is the rocks after one layer of drybrushing. In hindsight, I don't know if I would've add a cold grey wash onto them. They were looking great and then I tried to get fancy. Oh well.

Here's the rocks after I added a coat of cold grey and then a wash of devlan mud (I love this stuff) and a little green wash to the big rock. You can see the green in the bottom left hand side of it. I'm not sure If I like this or not. The road also got its first base coat and I tried painting some of the felt a darker green. You can kind of see it in the outline of the board.

Here's a first person shot of the road and its layout. Notice the arch in the big rock... That's pine bark for you.
Finally, this is the current state of the board. It's coming along nicely and I hope to have some green turf put down on it by the end of tomorrow. I'm mainly going to flock the bright green parts and leave the brownish areas alone. It'll add to the scorched look of a battleground.

One more day and couting, here's hoping I can finish it...

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Demo Game Table

Two post in two days, amazing right? It's been a slow summer for me and painting miniatures, so I decided to spark my interest in making a table. Barret is doing one and it got me motivated to try one as well. Before I try my hands at a full size gaming board, I decided to try and make a demo board. Something you could play a quick mangled metal/tooth and claw game on. The original idea spawned from this thread at the PP boards.

My board won't be as in depth or as good looking as that one but I hope it will have good playability and decent aeshtetics. I bought a 2x2 board at Lowes and got some small pieces of trim for the boarder and foam for the center. Barrett pretty much made the board himself a couple of weeks ago with me rooting him on the whole time.

Here's the board after the felt had been glued on, notice the small hill in the top left corner. Barrett made that too.



Here's the board after I made the road and glued down the cliff and a big rock. I was trying to seat the rock in the ground at a angle. It looks a lot better in person and it should give some decent cover. The cliff on the other hand, might be a little too steep but it's nothing a dice won't be able to fix.


Finally, here's a couple of pictures after I glued down the final two large boulders to provide
cover for both sides. The rocks are pieces of pine bark and should look a lot better after I paint them.












I plan on painting it and flocking it in the next couple of days and should have it almost completed by Saturday. Here's hoping that comes true.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

They Have a Pulse!

Just to let our readers know that we haven't died, I'm gonna post on two things here, in a minute. Before that, I'll let everyone (all none of you) know where we're at. My table has sat in my shed for the past three weeks. I haven't done a thing to it. All it really needs at this stage is paint. I'll partially blame in on the stinkin' heat and bit of thunderstorms we've been having, but only partially. I have been painting a little bit and have only a couple more hours to put into my Lancer. I also recently picked up a Defender and two Chargers from Bartertown (Clayton @ Adventures in WM) and have prepped them for priming after de-painting them. Two weekends ago, I helped Phill out with a 2'x2' table for Mangled Metal games. We made a lot of progress on it and Phill is finishing up the painting on it. So we are still active. We've only been able to play every three weeks or so, and that is kinda sad, but we're still playing.

First thing: The Podthralls, after four years and 200 episodes, have quit. They cite MkII and family life changes as their reasons. I understand. They've had a long, great run and it would be painful to have to adjust their episodes to do a top-five MkII feats or detail the Skarre-bomb in MkII. And a Monday night commitment every week for four years is huge. So I'm glad they'll be able to spend more time with their families. As supportive as I am of their decision, I'm going to miss them. I've been catching up on the past episodes over the past year since I began listening and just finished. Between the games Phill and I infrequently play, the Podthralls kept my mind in the game in the meantime. When I couldn't play, I could listen. And I passed a LOT of time at work pretending I was playing instead.

So their presence will be missed. So far, I've listened to an episode of Boosted Damage and Focus and Fury, but both left me unsatisfied, for one reason or another. The other two, Iron Agenda and Guts-n-Gears, are a lot farther into their shows. At this point, I'll probably just start listening to THAC0. Yes, I'm that pathetic.

Second thing: Privateer Press has a "Secret" announcement for Warmachine on Friday, at Gencon. A lot of pixels have been spilled over what this is, and I'm more prone to thinking it is either a video game, novel, or a movie. What I'd love to see, however, is an early release of MkII. I'm tired of waiting for it and I'd love to see that production finished sooner than they thought it would. Phill and I haven't played a MkI game since the rules and cards released. We never had a desire. We've had a great time with MkII and we'd love to get on with it. If nothing else though, I'd like sneak-previews of the promised MkII jacks for each faction. So, not much for wild-speculation, just my thoughts on what I'd like to see.

I'm still looking forward to Grind...

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Dog Days of Summer and Break Time

Well not really, the weather in southern MD during the summer this year, has been exceptionally nice. Along with it comes more time outdoors with friends and family and less time at the painting table. My wife and I just bought some bikes and plan on enjoying some bike trails and the great outdoors.

This leads up to my break time, I'm not stepping away from playing Warmachine, just the painting aspect for a couple of weeks or so. I find myself going in phases where I'll really want to complete some warjacks and then a warcaster and I work hard to do it. Then, out of nowhere, I want to work on terrain. I guess it's because Barret has been working on his table that has inspired me to finish up a couple of wips I've had for a long time.

Specifically speaking, I have a desert terrain hill that looks sort of like a skate board ramp that's almost complete. The idea behind it was to have two of them face each other to make a valley or ravine. My inspiration came from the same article Barret is using for his table. You can see it here. I should have some time in the few weeks to finish it up and then work on other things, if the mood strikes me.

Here is the first stage of the hill.

The second stage after I used a dremel to carve it up and give it shape. Notice a little feline in the back, inspecting things. That's my painting buddy.


Here's a side view of it.


After the hills are completed, I'll probably try to make those tall rocky, desert pillars, not sure the name of them. And then after that, I'll probably finish my Repenter and Revenger, to complete my "Before and After" painting project. Who knows how long this will take but that's the fun thing about table top gaming, there's always something you can be working on.

Hopefully Barrett's table will be finished soon and we could possibly play a game outdoors. How bout that, play Warmachine and enjoy the outdoors at the same time.

A Place To Call Our Own, MkVI

Last night, I got to work on the most anticipated part of this project for me: the cliffs and the roads. I started off with the pine bark and my hot glue gun. Hot glue will work more effectively when gluing to felt than white glue, and it also allows me continue immediately. So I laid out the bark and attached it. Then, I took a scrap of foam and started to back fill behind the bark. Cut and fit the foam around the bark as well as possible. I used white glue and skewers to hold it. Fill in gaps with small chunks of loose foam. Anything you can fill in with foam will save you on plaster later on. I also worked on three ramps that will allow access to the hill. This is a messy process. Make sure you blow the tables off before you start on the plaster.

After the cliffs were filled in, I started to work on the plaster. I laid it on the bark eccessively. The point here is to bridge the gap between the top surface of the bark to the foam. You want the cliffs to look like they are a part of the hill, not like someone laid them next to it. There were a few spots where the bark was taller than the foam, so I had to double up on the foam. We'll see later if I'll regret that decision visually, but it will give some elevated platforms to shoot from.

Once the cliffs were molded, I started on the roads. Put the plaster in the middle of the road, spread to the edges, the run the spatula down the middle of the road to give it the proper flow. I also ran the edge of the spatula through the road to make ruts, then lightly dragged it over them to lessen its impact.

These boards are nearly done and ready to paint. I will likely hit these (at least the cliffs) with my sander (or sand by hand) just to smooth it out a little. I also have some felt to put on top of the hill. Once these are finished, I am going to hit them with textured paint and start the painting process. Before that, these will need a lot of time to dry, so I likely won't return to this till next weekend.


Friday, July 10, 2009

A Place To Call Our Own, MkV

One thing I enjoy about focusing on a project with end goals in mind is that you can seem to find spare moments to work on the project. I had some of these moments last night, so I was able to trim the felt and put in the roads. I also undercoated the bark that I will use for cliffs.

Using the edge of the board as a guide, I trimmed up the felt . This is why it is important to leave at least a 1/2" of felt around each side, because anything less will be hard to cut. A good buffer on the sides allows you to hold onto something while trimming and you can pull it away as it separates. Make sure you're using a sharp blade so you won't tear it. Here, you can see the trimmed edge (bottom left) and three more untrimmed edges.

The next step was to draw out the roads with a black Sharpie. I measured out where the roads would join the edge of the board to make sure that the boards are interchangeable. I centered each road at 16" from an edge, and made the roads 3" wide. Then, I free handed the roads on the felt and cut them out with my knife to just the outside of the line. I'm not very good at free handing, so any goofiness in the roads can be fixed when I lay down the plaster surface for the roads. Finally, once the roads are cut out, pull up the felt, keeping your hand on the side that won't be removed. Again, go back with your glue and spot fix anywhere the felt is coming off.

My final step for the night was to apply black spray paint to the pine bark I would be using for the cliffs. I laid out the bark in the design I'd planned, then moved them to my painting surface and sprayed them. I will likely have to wait till Sunday to work on the cliff and roads, but the bark will be attached with a hot glue gun. I'm looking forward to this step the most!

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

A Place To Call Our Own, MkIV

A sick daughter canceled my plans for the evening and gave me a chance to work on the table. I'm sorry my Anna had to suffer, but I really am glad I got to work on it! I finally spread the felt! It's starting to look like a real table.

The night started with some sanding. A lot of the plaster started to break off from the vibration, but I was able to smooth out a few rough spots. The part I focused on most was smoothing out the edges to minimize splinters in handling. I had the right idea with the plaster, but it didn't work too well. Once the felt was on, I could really see the indentation where there were gaps. I'm hoping that the paint and effects will draw the eye away from the valley that they'll be moving through... At least it will keep the dice on the table.

First off was to rough cut the felt to the shape needed. I wanted to minimize the waste of the felt, and stretch another 2x4 board out of the 72"x54" piece. For this, I roughly cut where some roads would end up in order to make it last. You can also see where the cliff will eventually go. Once the pieces were cut, with a 1/2" overlap around the edges, I spray them with the hose.
By moistening the felt with water, it prevents the felt from soaking up the glue too quickly. As the glue dries, the felt will stick. I started by spreading the glue around the edges, with a continuous bead, then I spread it everywhere. Don't skimp here. I went through four 4 oz bottles for the two boards. As you can see in the pictures, the glue will seep through the felt in areas where it is really thick. This is fine, because it will dry clear. Work one piece at a time to keep the felt from drying out too quickly.

I decided to add the hill before I covered the felt. Trying out the piece I cut showed that the felt would stretch well. So I shoved a number of penny nails into the base, with the points sticking up, and covered the area with glue. Then I pressed the hill down on the nails. To attach the felt, I focused a lot of glue around the seam where the hill connected with the board and coated the top of the hill. I started the felt on the hill and pressed down into the creases. Keeping one hand on the base of the hill at all times, I worked my way outward to the edges. In this way, I was able to simultaneously keep it from wrinkling and from stretching away from the base. I've now put the two boards away to dry. Tomorrow night looks unlikely, and I promised my wife I'd work on the house all day Saturday if I could work on the board all week. I'm hoping to work on this again on Sunday afternoon.

Next up, I'll cut the felt to its final size and reglue anywhere the felt is pulling away. Then, I will turn my focus towards the cliffs. In order to incorporate then in properly, I think they need to be done before I start on the roads. So I'll build up the cliffs, using pine bark and foam, then work on the roads, cutting into the foam and laying down spackle. Once the roads are laid out, I'll focus on adding some texture, then start painting. Though I know how long painting can take, I feel like the hard part is already behind me! Here's hoping the felt stays glued on...