Custom Bases - A Background

For a while now, I've wanted to do a tutorial on how I make my custom bases for my Protectorate army. It’s nothing too fancy, just a couple of layers of cork and then some washes here and there. Add a little drybrushing and some flock, then you’re done. First though, I want to explain how I came up with the idea of green turf on top of rock.

When I first started to assemble my Guardian, I thought it would be cool to make a custom cork base to reflect the rough and rocky terrain of the Protectorate land. I had imagined making an army that was deeply involved in the Northern Crusade and them marching across the desert.

I went out and bought some cork from the local department store and then started to sculpt. After thirty minutes or so on working with the cork, I had a desirable look. Then I primed it and started to add paint of various orange, browns, and reds.

This is where it got ugly, I couldn’t get the colours right to convey realistic desert rock or something you’d see in Utah. After doing a google search for cliffs, I stumbled across the Cliffs of Moher. I thought to myself, man I would like to visit these one day and I might even be able to create bases similar to the Cliffs themselves. The base I was working on then got trashed and I sculpted another one and started with a new idea in mind.

After a few tweaks to the process, I ended up with a custom base I'm satisfied with. Next week, the tutorial should be posted with some pictures to show the process.

Darius vs Feora2 - 15 Points and Escalating

This past Tuesday night, Barrett and I sat down for our first game in our Escalation campaign. Both of us are using new casters and during the course of the game, it was abundantly clear. But that's the whole point of it, to familiarize ourselves with the caster and enjoy the battle at hand.

Here's the two lists.

Feora2
*Guardian
*Vanquisher
Choir - min
Vassal - min

Darius
*Hammersmith
*Ironclad
Sword Knights
Reinholdt

This was the first time that I've ever had more range than his army and the first time he's had more troops than mine. It was a nice change of pace. The table was terrain heavy to try and compensate for the low model count.

Here's a quick recap ot the match.

Starting Positions.

Round 1 - Everyone runs except for the choir who should've anyway. I think I put passage on my jacks thinking Barrett was going to shoot them up like he normally does.

Round 2 - Vanquisher takes some shots at the Hammersmith and comes up short, it was so close we used the new spray template to see if the shot was in range. It literally came up 1 mm short. The deviation drifts off into the distance. All his jacks are out of charge range and Darius takes a shot at the Vassal and comes up short.

Round 3 - The Guardian charges the Ironclad while Ignited and Battle Hymned. I manage to scrap it thanks to the Vassal's ancillary attack. Vanquisher charges and does minimal damage. Hammersmith is loaded up with focus and wrecks the Vanquisher in 3 hits, taking out the Vassal with the chain attack slam. Unfortunately for Barrett, he wasn't able to use the extra focus as he was out of melee range after the slam attack.

Round 4 - Feora pops her feat and manages to take a fire token off the Guardian and Hammersmith and put it on Darius and Reinholdt. The Guardian wrecks the Hammersmith. Darius casts a spell that causes the Guardian to be stationary.

Round 5 - I use a focus to shake off stationary. The Guardian charges Darius and is barely in reach range. The attack hits and does considerable damage. By another attack and I get the critical pitch, throwing Darius towards a house. He survives with 3 boxes left. He gets up and shakes off knockdown. Charges the Guardian and almost wrecks him. It was getting pretty late and we wanted to end the game.



Round 6 - Feora charges Darius and ends the game

Post match thoughts.

It was evident that both of us hadn't played our casters before. We missed out on some opportunities early on to go for the caster kill. I really think Barrett could've got to Feora with the Hammersmith with some better positioning. If that was the case, the game could have ended a lot earlier.

I really like Feora2, she has a good variety of spells and likes to get her battlegroup into the thick of things. Halfway through round 2, I realized that she had a warjack bond. This is the first time I've ever played a game with one so that should tell you something.

Its back to the drawing board for both of us. We're going to be expanding to 25 points next game and the nice part about it is, we can change up our list anyway we want, save for the caster.

Resurgence Recap w/ Pics

Well, my first tournament in two years was an absolute blast. In total they were sixteen players that should up to play with people coming from Richmond, Woodbridge, and the SoMD Baythralls. We followed all the Resurgence rules and played 25, 35, and 50 point games through four rounds. You can check out my tournament list here.

I won the Protectorate coin by being the de-facto player and ended the day at 1-3. My list was built on a grind it out game and lacked the necessary speed to contest the control zones. It would've been a good idea if read up on the scenario rules to understand the scoring more. Not that it was all that complicated, I just found myself going for the caster kill instead, something I wasn't planning on doing. I guess old habits kick in.

Round 1 - My first game was against Dave from Richmond. Him and his friend John came up and were really cool guys. We got the chance to talk before hand about playing and what caster we're taking then we got matched up to play. Here's Dave's list.

Iron Lich Asphyxious
*Seether
*Deathripper x2
*Stalker
Skarlock
Mechanicthralls - max
Brute Thrall x 1
Machine Wraith x 2



This was my first time playing against the Iron Lich and really Cryx for the that matter. Dave went for the assassination run against the High Reclaimer and didn't realize he was camping nine focus. He still did some considerable damage but left himself open for the High Reclaimer's feat. I feated and brought back some Cleansers and they incinerated the Iron Lich. I won via caster kill but only managed to get one control point to his three.

Round 2 - This game was against Fred and the Iron Lich, surprise surprise. This was rather funny because Darren played against Fred the first round and then played against Dave, my first round opponent. We both got to face off against the Iron Lich two times in a row and oddly enough, we split the games.

Iron Lich Asphyxious
*Deathripper x 2
*Nightwretch x2
*Cankerworm
Mechthralls - max
Necrosurgeon
Soul Hunters - max


Fred went for the caster kill in the second round but ended up running his arcnode out of his control area and had to settle for a contested control zone. The game was a real grind with him winning via scenario 7-3. The lack of pathfinder devastated me and it didn't help that my Cleansers were fleeing for most of the game. This was the only game where I didn't get any damage onto the opposing caster.

Round 3 - After lunch we came back fresh, ready for the final two fifty point rounds. This time around it was against Chris and his Khador army lead by Sorscha.

Sorscha
*Beast 09
*Wardog
Drakhun w/ dismout
Fenris
Doomreavers
IFP max w/ UA
Widowmakers
Widowmaker Marksmen
Yuri
Manhunter x 2
Reinholdt


This game reminded me how devastating Sorscha's feat can be. By the end of his second turn, over half my army was wiped out. He had a chance to disrupt the High Reclaimer who was stationary and sitting on ten plus soul tokens but rolled snake eyes with Eiryss. Doh!!! I ended up doing minimal damage to Sorscha and he ended the game with a caster kill by a Manhunter. Really this game wasn't even close, and I didn't even get a control point. Hats off to Chris, he really played his army well.

Round 4 - This game was against John from Richmond. He had a fantastic merc army led by Durgen. It ended up being the longest game in the tourney but it was a real slugfest.

Durgen Madhammer
*Baser
*Blaster x2
*Rockram
Thor
*Driller
*Bokur - client to Thor
Boomhowler - max
Steelhead Cavalry - max
Sea Dog Deck Gun x2
Reinholdt
Herne & Jonne


There's so much that went on in this game, it's hard remembering all the details. His feat turn was pretty nasty, I do know that. I tried going for the caster kill with my Cleansers again. For some reason, I thought Durgen's armor was a lot lower than it was. My incinerate did decent damage but it left that lovely cloud effect. This ended up killing my resurrected Cassius (Rhoven's Honour Guard) when he charged in to finish him off. Whoops! He then shot the High Reclaimer to pieces who was sitting at base defense and arm. . It was the best game of the day for both of us and a nice way to finish off the event.

Darren ended up winning the Retribution coin by going 2-2 and having more control points than the other Retribution player with the same record. Unfortunately, Jeremy lost all three matches but won a blister for being the best sport or should I say, best loser. :)

From left to right, Darren, Jeremy, and me with the goofy face.

Tournament Time = Tournament Tray

Here's a couple of pictures of a miniatures tray I made for the Resurgence tourney tomorrow. I figured it would be a pain to transport all the infantry I have so this should make it a lot better. Enjoy.

A Preview of My First MK II Event - Resurgence

This coming Saturday, I'm heading to a Resurgence event in Fredericksburgh, VA. Darren and a few other Baythralls will be joining me there and I hope there's a good showing of players. This will be my first tournament in the new MK II setting and really, the first tournament for me in about two years. I'm a little nervous going in but I plan on having a good time and playing my one of my favorite casters, the High Reclaimer.


With that being said, I really like the HR's rules and here's a few reasons why. The grind it out game, I really enjoy longer games and like the fact that he plays an attrition battle. Though he can go for the assasination run, this suits my playing style more and its really fun bringing back Bastions at full health. Another thing is creativity, there's really a lot of good troop and jack choices to bring with him and his army doesn't get stale. I've read about resurrecting Idrians that have the opposing caster as their prey and how its a good assasination attempt. That might sound obvious to any seasoned veteran of the game but it caught me be surprise.

Finally is his ability in scenario play. Those people that have played in Resurgence know the scenario Gaining Ground, where you have to control zones in the middle of the board. I was thinking the HR could resurrect troops and have them go for the zone closest to the opponent's edge. There's a bunch more reasons why I like him but that's good enough for now. Its time for my three lists.

High Reclaimer - 25 Points
*Vanquisher
*Crusader
Hierophant
Choir - min
TFG - max
Cleansers - min
Vassal

High Reclaimer - 35 Points
*Vanquisher
*Crusader
Hierophant
Choir - min
TFG - max
TFG w/ UA
Cleansers - min
Bastions - max
Vassal

High Reclaimer - 50 Points
*Vanquisher
*Crusader
*Guardian
Hierophant
Choir - min
TFG - max
TFG w/ UA
Cleansers - min
Bastions - max
Rhoven and Honour Guard
Vassal
Rhupert

I'm particularly concerned about the lack of any commanders in my 25 and 35 point lists. My TFG and Cleansers are both susceptible to fleeing and I hope that it doesn't happen. The Guardian is in there for arcing spells if I have a ton of focus and for pitching people out of the control zones. Plus, if I can clear out a charge lane for him to an opposing caster, he'll be MAT 10 with Powerful charge and battle hymned. Its all in theory though, now I have to execute my plan.

Here's a picture of my 50 point army. I forgot to add poor Rhupert to the army but its ok. He's only primed and no special base.


I plan on bringing my camera and taking some pics. Battle reports should be posted no later than Monday. Wish me luck...

Temple Con 2010...what a POW 20 blast.

So this past weekend was Temple Con. I was lucky enough to be able to attend. Glad I did, it was fun times and noodle salad. I got to reunite with a lot of my Press Gang brothers and sisters whom I meet at the PG Invitational last spring, on top of meeting a lot more of them. I got to meet some of the Warstore crew who all in all were a great bunch of guys. I learned how to play Malifaux which is a great skirmish game if you don't know about it. But over all I would say Temple Con was a great con.

Now during the time there I only managed to play three games of Warmachine ( due to helping out at the HQ desk for Eternal War ) First game I played a re-match against my PG buddy Ross aka Capt Caine on the PP forums. He plays Cygnar and I of course used my Retribution. We played on an awesome scenario table (wish I would of got pics ) basically he was the attacker and got to field 50 pts and I as the Defender got to field 35 pts. I know sounds unfair right...wrong the table looked like the beaches at Normandy with my army atop a huge hill and the only access to me was up a rocky path on either side or a tunnel which allowed small base models to come up through a access hatch right by the objective, which btw was for them to destroy a water tower. It was a great game, he of course won by caster kill.

My second game which was by far the best game I have ever played, and my dice couldn't of done me prouder. I got to play against David "DC" Carl who for those who don't know works for Privateer Press and is in charge of the playtesting and field testing and some development. We played a standard 35 pt game. He used Cygnar with the new Kara Sloan caster and me and my Retribution with Ravyn . I tell you the auto includes with Kara make her real nasty. Of course you take a Squire but everyones favorite little gobber is in full effect with her. Giving her two shots with that rifle or allowing her to roll more dice is just *shudders* ewwww. So we went round for round and it wasn't looking good for me...again. As the game went on I still had some of my Housegaurd Riflemen left and with snipe on them they were proving to be a real threat to him. So I managed for the killing blow to position Ravyn where she could catch my Riflemen in her control area and poped her feat while being in LOS of Kara and in range took my shot. I hit of course being it was boosted attack and then managed to do a significant amount of damage enough to drop her to 8 health from being untouched. So feeling good about my dice I declared a 5 man CRA against her with my Riflemen and finished the job. I consider that pulling the victory out of my arse. From what I understand playing against DC is not an easy task. It was a very fun game and I learned a lot playing against him, more so how to use Kara Sloan effectively...so guess who is gonna field Cygnar again :-)?

My third game was against one of my best online friends and the creator of our wonderful banner for the blog. G'daybloke aka Chris Miller also know for his wonderful blogsite Lost Hemisphere, if you haven't been I highly recommend it. He has lots of pics and video of Temple Con up there. You will see me in a few pics and even in a video doing an Interview with Jack Coleman who is the Quarter Master of us Press Gangers. So my third game wasn't to great, 50 pts of Retribution on Retribution the table was awesome, the models looked great both mine and his, well more so his he is a great painter. The table was a canyon with frozen water in the middle and going across from one corner to the other was a train bridge. My objective was to destroy the bridges pillers in 6 turns. Sounds easy right...wrong. I managed to take out two of the three in 4 turns due to really bad damage rolls, my guys might of well been using a hammer and chisel to damage them with me rolling only three to four points each time. But I managed to concede defeat when all I had left was less than half of my Riflemen who were no way in hell gonna take on the rest of his army.

But all in all Temple-Con was great times for all. Next year the SoMD Bay Thralls need to be represented in full force, so start planing for it now guys :-)?

TFG & Vassal

First off, to all the people attending Templecon, I'm jealous. I hope everyone has a good time and the tournaments go well. And if you're reading this at Templecon, what are you doing?!?! I wanted to attend this year but the timing wasn't right, house buying and stuff sort of got in the way. Next year, I'm definitely going to go.

Here's a couple of pictures of my TFG and Vassal. In the rush of painting the Vassal, I overlooked his ear. You can't tell from the pic but I need to go back and paint it. For whatever reason, I thought he only had hair to paint, silly me.

Here is a picture of my TFG. I just included all the different models since my photo set up isn't the best.

They're all complete except for the flame on the standard bearer's flag. I originally painted it light blue, trying to go for different flame look but it came out a little cartoonish, think Superman with the red and blue. I went back and painted it black and am debating on which colours to try. For now, its fine.

Here's my Vassal Pics



You can see his unpainted ear in the second picture . I'm going to finish painting it this weekend during the blizzard of 2010. I normally don't put up miniatures that aren't 100% complete but it's been a while since I've showed off any of my stuff and figured why not. Now I just need to work on a photo box.

Till next time...