mandag 24. desember 2012

Merry Cryxmas!

So, there we were, in the northern realms of the world, icy gales blowing and frenzied snow whipping around our camp-fire. The ancient ritual of treasure-trading was well underway, as my mother looked at me, the hoar-frost sparkling upon her brow. Son! She exclaimed, her green eyes reflecting the flames of the fire, her rune-chains rustling softly. I hear you have been going to war without the proper tools of battle! No longer must you shame the family by bringing the near-blind Bushwhackers where you should have brought the eagle-eyed Nyss, and the weakling Sword Knights where you should have brought the indomitable Boomhowler and his trolls! The other members of my clan nodded sagely at her wisdow, and I could naught but obey. She reached into the fire and pulled out two boxes of magic figurines, strangely they were cool to the touch. I took them with trembling hands... was this a curse, or a blessing? Once I had taken them up, would I ever be able to put them down again?

torsdag 20. desember 2012

Grim Angus list version 2


I decided to listen to some of the tips and hints I got about how to make the Grim Angus list even better. First off, everyone says to bring the Nyss Hunters, because they are awesome. I tried them out, and of course they are. Not only are they really accurate and hard to kill, but the Weapon Master attacks gives the list some much needed punch. They can't take out really high armor targets, but they can put the hurt on anything with armor less than 20 on the charge. So, I switched out the Burrowers, Chronicler and Fell Caller for Nyss Hunters and a Feralgeist. The Fell Caller and Chronicler, while really good, have fewer things to buff in this version of the list, and then I'd rather use the points on troops.

I also switched out the Kriel Warriors for Fennblades. I really want to be able to attack the enemy on my feat turn, and Vengeance and the Officer's minifeat give me a vastly higher threat range than the Kriel Warriors have. If my front line of Fenns gets shot away I can then Vengeance move up 3" and charge with a threat of 13".

Another thing I like with this version is how little support it has (only 4 points). Trolls are pretty support dependent, but Grim can support the units so well himself that I think I can get away without it. At 50 points I might add in more, but at 35 I try to use as little as I can get away with. So it's Janyssa (for keeping Grim alive) and the Feralgeist (for grabbing Control Points).

Playing against Nima's Retribution army, led by Adeptis Rahn.
Note: The Kriels are proxy for the Fennblades.

Army list


Grim Angus (+6)
- Earthborn (10)
Feralgeist (1)
Janissa Stonetide (3)
10 Fennblades + UA (10)
10 Nyss Hunters (10)
6 Scattergunners + UA (7)

I have had three games with this list so far, winning two, and I was in a fairly good position when the store closed during the last game. This list looks like a winner, and will probably be the one I'll play at Norwegian Masters.


Update


I have had some more practice games, winning all of them. Cracking high armor is still an issue, but I do not think I can really fix this without going much lighter in the infantry department - and anyway, I do not want to change the list further, so close to the tournament.

So, the list will stay unchanged.

søndag 16. desember 2012

Hoarluk2 list version 2


I have painted Rök, and have therefore changed the original list slightly.

Army list


Hoarluk Doomshaper, Rage of Dhunia (Hoarluk2)
- Axer (6)
- Mulg the Ancient (12)
- Pyre Troll (5)
- Rök (11)
4 Krielstone + UA (4)
2 Swamp Gobbers (1)
5 Whelps (2)

This gives the list a bit more defense. ARM 21 Mulg is way harder to kill at range than ARM 19 Mulg, and the Gobber cloud helps a lot with keeping Hoarluk safe. I think that the list is still just as punchy, since I get access to Primal, and Rök is completely bananas with Goad and Berserk. That is, you can kill something, then Goad, and then take the free Berserk attack. So with Wild Aggression you can get just about an infinite number of attacks while wading through an infantry unit.

Update

I have had the chance to play some games with this list now, and it works very well. Two very dangerous heavies that can one-round pretty much anything, and with Rök I also have excellent infantry removal... I got 9 infantry models and a light jack using Rök in a single turn.

I have also found the Axer to be key. Without it, after the feat turn, I have serious problems with terrain and threat ranges. So I guess my preferred order to lose the beasts is Pyre, Rök, Axer, Mulg.


Grim Angus Tactics

After having played a few games with Grim, I have decided to write a tactics post. I have further updated my Grim Angus list after this post.

So much Tough infantry... what to do?

Grim Angus (35 pts)



Who cannot love Mr. Front 242 himself?

So, I've selected Grim Angus for this list. I need something that covers for the other list's weaknesses. Among these are denial, and high defense or weapon master infantry lists. I know some of my opponents will be running Iron Flesh spam and jammy Cryx lists. Grim is a very good caster for dealing with these things. His feat is great for counter-feating against the really awesome control feats.

One of the fun things about Grim is that all his spells are Friendly or debuffs on the enemy. This allows him to bring, well, pretty much anything. Trolls have some issues with the ranged game, since there are few ways to make your troops shoot better, but Grim has that in spades.

This also makes it hard to write a generic tactical article on Grim... he can really use anything, including minions.

Army list


Grim (+6)
- Earthborn (10)
Fell Caller Hero (3)
Janissa Stonetide (3)
Stone Scribe Chronicler (2)
10 Kriel Warrior + 2x WA + UA (10)
10 Pyg Burrowers (6)
6 Scattergunners + UA (7)

Models


Janissa and the Earthborn are there to allow Grim to play up the board. Grim and an Earthborn bullet is a very potent threat, so I do not want Grim to hang back and snipe with an Impaler buddy. Also, keeping Grim back means losing a lot of the things that make him good, like a killer Feat, Marked for Death, and a couple of extra Lock the Target for the assassination run.

I have to play very carefully with this list. Losing the Earthborn or Janyssa will give me a lot of problems, since I don't have any other Warbeasts or other defense tech. Fortunately Grim usually can get by without using so much Fury... I usually have him hanging onto 2 Fury and the Earthborn on 4.

One thing I will try is to replace the Kriel Warriors with Fennblades + UA. The increased threat is good with Grim's feat, and since I'm not packing a Stone the reduced ARM doesn't really matter. The Scattergunners are another unit that can could be replaced with another ranged unit, like Bushwhackers (for a stronger assassination threat) or Sons of Bragg (for a strong second wave punch, which is something this list lacks).

I would also have liked to replace the Earthborn with Rök for a stronger assassination potential and for more beatstick... unfortunately Rök with Goad is completely awesome with Hoarluk Doomshaper, so he will go into that list. After all, this is my backup list, and I'm  a firm believer in making my main list as strong as I can.

Cuba is planning Grim's grim fate...

Feat: Spread the Net


Grim's feat is maybe not as good as the most ballbusting Warmachine feats, but it's pretty strong. The DEF debuff makes all our troops shine. The SPD debuff is even better. This feat can give you the alpha strike, it can be used to counterfeat against the really awesome control feats, it can allow you to chew through high defense infantry - against slower opponents it can even let you alpha strike twice, by hitting them, wiping out the front line, and preventing their second line from engaging.

It is also a very potent assassination threat against low to medium armor casters. Feat, shoot the caster, spell him, and have your ranged units (or Earthborn) tear him to shreds

With the list set up as it is, with a mediocre ranged component, it doesn't have the best assassination threat... but it's something your opponent cannot ignore, either.

Ability: True Sight


Allows you to pick out Stealth solos that wander too close with ease.

Ability: Bait the Line


Another 2" for the Earthborn Bullet can help with alpha striking.

Spell: Cross-Country


I often start out with putting this on Grim to aid him in picking out key solos. Makes ranged troops better, and also allows melee models (Earthborn!) to charge through forests at the enemy. This spell is very dependent on terrain... try to pick the side which will give you forests to hide behind!

Spell: Lock the Target


The low POW makes this spell very risky for its main goal - stopping enemy beatsticks from charging stuff. If you are close enough to cast it on a dangerous target, and fail, then they are close enough to stomp Grim into the ground. I usually use it on the assassination run for an extra boosted attack, or to clear out an annoying infantry model blocking my lanes. With Hunter it can also be used to pick out enemy solos hiding behind forests. Not a very strong spell. 

Spell: Marked for Death


This spell is a silver bullet for many Cryx units and abilities, but is quite decent for the -2 DEF debuff as well. It's easiest to land on high defense stuff on the feat turn. Feat first, cast Marked for Death, and with the Fell Caller you've got an effective +7 MAT (or +5 RAT). Not even Iron Flesh Kayazy are safe against this.

Spell: Return Fire


Very situational. I throw it on Grim or maybe the Fell Caller if I have Fury to spare. It will be of more use in a ranged Grim list, but since it gets its effect depending on what the opponent does, it loses its value somewhat against skilled opponents. It's better than discarding Fury, anyhow...

onsdag 12. desember 2012

Rök is painted


I got a Dire Troll kit for my Birthday, and really the only Dire I want at this point is Rök. So I bought a kit and upgraded it. Here's the result:

Rök, front view


I wanted to keep the crystal theme, and for Rök it was pretty obvious it has to be ice crystals. I had a couple of attempts before settling on how to paint the crystals, and decided that having fairly light crystals would contrast the skin better. I was a bit worried on whether blue crystals on blue skin would work at all, but hoped that the very different color tones would be enough.

The paint on the crystals are (bottom to top) GW Icy Blue + White, GW Icy Blue, and  Cygnar Highlight. I then gave a thin blue ink wash to pick out the shaded areas, and went over it with some white highlights.

Granted, it's still some very blue ice. But I think he looks cool (haha) painted glacier blue.

Rök, left side view

Rök, right side view

Janyssa and her Rock Wall is painted

I haven't done much modeling yet, and I had this idea for a long time of Janyssa's wall bursting from the ground. It seemed like a good starting project. I also love the whelps, and I had a spare blister pack lying around the house. So I went for this - three rune stones bursting from the ground, accompanied with a couple of troll whelps. The base is two Warhammer cavalry bases glued together, the runestones are made of grey stuff, and the flat stones on the ground are the same plaster stones I'm using on all my models. If anything I would have wanted sharper edges on the stones, but I painted in some edge highlights to compensate. I think it worked out pretty well!

Rock Wall template, complete with Whelps singing and drinking

Ever since I first saw it I felt that the Janyssa model had a kind of goofy pose, like she's a Master of Cenermonies or possibly a dancer at a cabaret (or both). So, in keeping with my hat theme on the infantry I decided to give her a stylish top hat. So here she is, rocking it out with her Whelps.


Janyssa will rock you (rock you)

Janyssa, swinging her skirt


søndag 9. desember 2012

Phat loot!

One of the clear advantages of being a nerd is getting nerdy birthday gifts... :D
Cuba and Mikkel obviously think that I play too slow, so they gave me a chess clock!
Nima and Jonas seem to think that I win too much and have too much time on my hands. Thanks for the Mountain King!
I also got a pair of Dire Trolls, one of which will surely become Rök. And after the gaming I can relax with good wine and truffle salted food on the Mountains of Madness...
Thanks to everyone who showed up at the party!

onsdag 5. desember 2012

My son's first (and second) HORDES game

So, my son is soon six years, and I gave him a Legion starter last summer. Today, he said he wanted to play with miniatures! And so we did.

First game





His list:

Lylyth1
- Carnivean
- Swamp Gobbers

My list:

Madrak1
- Mauler

First, we pretended his Carnivean was painted completely white.

Theodor Odin's army is attacking. His dice are hot!
We started pretty close. He walked up his Carnivean, it used Spiny Growth on itself, and sprayed Madrak1. I transferred the damage to the Mauler. Then, he popped the Gobber smoke, walked Lylyth behind it, and shot the Mauler twice with Lylyth, taking out its Mind.

My turn, I cut myself for one Fury, walked up and threw Rathrok at the Carnivean and did almost no damage. My son said the game was boring now. I told him he had a blast a moment ago. He said he thought it was more fun to play his own turn than to watch my turn (I can see his point...) :D . We agreed to continue. Then, the Mauler healed itself, charged in, hit the Carnivean twice and did some damage, I then Smash & Grabbed it and threw it on the Gobbers, killing them both.

He then activated the Carnivean and proceeded to dismantle the Mauler, and then he used Spiny growth on Lylyth. Lylyth shot Madrak twice, leaving him at six boxes.

Carnivean and Mauler duking it out
I cut myself for five fury, leaving one box. I charged past the Carnivean at Lylyth, the free strike from the Carnivean connected, and that was that. Victory to my son! :D

Victory roar!


Second game


His army has been reinforced by four Shredders,
two elephants and a bomber plane
My son added his four Shredders to his force and I added an Impaler and Alten Ashley. He asked me what Alten did. I said he killed big monsters. He looked a bit concerned at this rather disturbing piece of news, and asked me not to take him. Lanyssa looked less threatening, I guess, so I got to take her instead.

My son was adamant that he wanted a huge big forest in the middle of the table, so he grabbed a green Duplo LEGO board and built a forest. He did this since he remembered from this summer that Legion can see through forests, and the trolls can´t. The little cheater, already placing the terrain to his benefit! After this, he filled the forest with traps I didn't know about, and put an elephant on either side. When my Impaler entered the forest it took forty damage from some rotating flowers and died. I tried to walk around the forest but the elephants blew me back. After this a LEGO bomber plane entered the fray, destroying the Mauler, and his monster truck ran over Madrak, dealing forty damage. So I lost this game as well!
Madrak1 gets assassinated by a monster truck

I asked my son which game he liked the most, and he said it was the second one. I am not surprised. We had a really, really good time! :D