Epic Feora or Feora2...

Or whatever you like to call her. This is the first epic caster I painted and it was really fun. The one problem I had with the model was the smoke stacks. After spray painting the first layer of primer, she fell from my hands and hit the ground. Ouch! I didn't realize it at the time but one of the smoke stacks came off. I went scurrying about looking for the thing but to no avail. Enough with the talk, here she is.



I hope to have the Testament of Menoth by weeks end as he's about 90% completed.

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.

Decision Time

Barrett and I are starting up a MK II Escalation Campaign to coincide with the launch of Prime MK II. We initially did one last year when the MK II field test rules were released to the public. It was nice to see how our favorite casters, jacks, solos, and units changed and this time it shouldn’t be any different, save the stats and rules are permanent.

The rules are pretty simple, choose a caster and play with him or her at 15, 25, 35, and 50 point levels. You’re not allowed to upgrade your caster if there’s an epic version nor are you allowed to downgrade if you’re using an epic. I know this differs from typical Escalation campaigns but we decided to keep the same caster throughout. They’re no proxies allowed and we’re thinking about using the killbox scenario from Templecon.

My big dilemma this time is choosing a caster I want to play. At the moment it’s a toss up between two epics I’ve haven’t ever played, Kreoss2 and Feora2 (I think this is how the big boards are naming the epics nowadays). Both forces offer a nice thematic choice in troop selection and should look nice on the table, barring they’re actually painted. This is something I’m also going for, a force that plays well on the table and has a theme to it.

Kreoss2 brings a more troop heavy build with big hitters, specifically Exemplar models, something I don’t have a lot of. To help this out, I’m all set to order some Bastions and Cinerators. The only other Exemplars I have are Guis and Cassius, the two guards for Rhoven. My other big hitters are the Avatar, which is yet to be assembled and Vilmon, who would benefit greatly from Kreoss feat. The main issue with this army is getting the pieces together and assembling them.

Feora2 brings a little more speed and a lot more fire to the table, something I sort of have (fire wise). I have a full unit of TFG w/ UA and my Cleansers only need one blister to bring to a full unit. Throw in a Vanquisher with a Vassal and an obligatory Repenter and I should have the fire part covered. The one key ingredient I’m missing for a nice thematic list is Daughters of Flame. I doubt I'll get the Daughters anytime unless someone wants to unload them for dirt cheap.

The campaign is set to start in a week or two and I’ll have to make a decision before then. The nice part about it is, either caster I choose should bring a different play style and both of them look fun to use. If any of you have some suggestions, I’m all for it.