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?

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.

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...

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

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!

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

Playing Grim Angus

Update: I have changed my Grim Angus list.

Since I'm pretty much decided on using Hoarluk2 for one of my lists, I need to make a list that covers that list's weaknesses. My first option... Grim Angus.

I think Grim is a lot harder to build a list with. He's a pretty atypical troll, since he debuffs your opponent, rather than buffing your own models. This, of course, makes it possible to use pretty much any model in the game with him.

Her's my first attempt:

Grim Angus
- Earthborn
Fell Caller Hero
Horthol
Janissa Stonetide
Stone Scribe Chronicler
10 Kriel Warriors + 3x Cabers + UA
3 Long Riders

vs Haley1

A Leif and His Stormwall.

Haley1 with Stormwall, Black 13, Boomhowlers, support.

Not a great matchup with my mêlée infantry and low power attacks. I cannot use Bull Rush, I cannot charge, I cannot crack the Stormwall. So. I advanced up and tried to angle for position with the Long Riders. On the third turn I got LOS to Haley, feated, and shot her with Grim, rolling 5 on three dice for the damage. Whee. I also managed to screw up the troop placement, so I didn't manage to get the wall up. Leif shot me back, but didn't manage to kill Grim off, leaving him at 3 boxes. I cut myself for 2 Fury, leaving me at a single box, power attack pushed Janissa with the Earthborn to get her within spell range, did the Rock Hammer magic attack, and boom! Double four, knocking Haley to the ground. Grim followed up by shooting her dead. I could have hit her with a couple of spells as well.

I would really like to get some more shooting into the list, to make it easier to pull off the ranged assassination. I think this means the Long Riders have to go.

vs Lylyth2 

I changed my list completely. New list:

Grim
- Earthborn
- Pyre Troll
Fell Caller Hero
Feralgeist
Janissa
Stone Scribe Chronicler
10 Kriel Warriors + 3x Cabers + UA
10 Pyg Burrowers

Scenario: Close quarters without Killbox.

Lylyth2 with dual Ravagores.

Haakon moved forward, but not far, just walking.

Since I was in some doubt about whether I would reach him on the second turn, I decided to not burrow, but to run them forward instead. The Kriels spread out so that he could not hit two with a Ravagore blast.

Run, my minions, run!

Second turn he shot a handful of my dudes, but moved too far up with Lylyth, thinking he could step back after shooting. But the last Burrower he shot passed his Tough roll, preventing the move.

I then ran a Kriel in front of her and used the Caber to slam my guy over Lylyth, knocking her down. I then shot her with three of the Burrowers and Grim, killing her. Turn 2 assasination against Lylyth, how often does that happen? :D

Not where Lylyth wants to be.

vs Deneghra2

I bought a box of Bushwhackers and stuffed them into their bases, and swapped out the Pyre.


Grim
- Earthborn
Fell Caller Hero
Feralgeist
Janissa
Stone Scribe Chronicler
10 Kriel Warriors + 3x Cabers + UA
10 Pyg Burrowers

6 Pyg Bushwhackers

Scenario: Close quarters without Killbox.

Deneghra2 with Nightmare, Nyss and Witches.

He ran up.

Jonas Brand, our most evil Cryx player,
plotting my downfall

I moved up and did a CRA on his arc node with the Bushwhackers, knocking out the cortex.

He pulled back a bit, fearing my Burrowers, which were really close to Deneghra. He spelled away half the Bushwhackers.

I ran my Feralgeist into the scoring zone and Grim into the other, scoring a point at the end of the turn. Then I feated, shot some Nyss with the burrowers, locking down Nightmare and the rest of the Nyss.

He feated and killed quite a lot of my army. Deneghra was far forward, engaging two of my models. The borrowers burrowed, and I shot away my own Kriel Warrior with the Hero. Then I shot her with Grim, leaving her at 3 boxes. Unfortunately, my next spell failed to hit. Next turn she killed Grim, who was open and camping just 1 Fury.

I feated too early, I think. I should have just pushed forward and waited for his feat, then counterfeated.

Overall I was very happy with how the list performed. Definitely the closest game I have had against Cryx so far. I lost, but for once it wasn't a complete overrun.

vs Rahn

I played Nima, who had Rahn, 2x Battle Mages, Archers, Halberdiers, two lights.

I messed up an assassination run in turn 2 (he had Rahn within Kriel-slamming distance) by placing a pyg in the wrong spot, blocking my charge. Also, I had made an opening for Grim too small to walk through, giving me some activation order issues.This made my second turn rather inefficient, and he killed a lot of my dudes on his third turn. But, Rahn was then within striking distance, so I went for it. I used Janissa to Tectonic Shift away his Halberdiers blocking LOS, and Grim went up, feated, shot Rahn and cranked the damage, and then finished him of with a spell. A win, though not a very well deserved one.

Pyg Burrowers are painted

Pyg Burrower unit

My Pug Burrowers are painted!

These models have the rather ridiculous ability to mine under the battlefield, and then pop up behind enemy lines, letting go with their short range, high power guns. Fun to play, and very scary for the opponent!

I did some very minor conversion work on the miniatures. One got a red Khadoran hat, one got goggles, and (my favourite) one of the grunts got a beret, with matching tartan colors. All the sculpting was done using green stuff and some sculpting tools.

Pyg Burrower Grunt, with matching beret.

The leader got some minor Object Source Lightning from the lamp in his mining helmet.

The tartans are painted purple, with a purple/brown wash. Horizontal white stripes where added, and then a dark green grid. The center of the grid lines were then painted in with light green.

Pyg Burrower Unit Leader

Hoarluk2 Tactics

Update: I have changed my list slightly.

Welcome! Instead of making a generic tactica, discussing every possible permutation of a list, and every possible use of every spell, I'll rather make one list and explain how it works. I won't go into much detail on each model. Enjoy!

Hoarluk Doomshaper, Rage of Dhunia (35 pts)

Army List

Hoarluk Doomshaper, Rage of Dhunia

Hoarluk Doomshaper, Rage of Dhunia (Hoarluk2)
- Axer (6)
- Dire Troll Bomber (10)
- Dire Troll Mauler (9)
- Mulg the Ancient (12)
- Runebearer (2)
5 Whelps (2)


This list is a fast, super hard hitting alpha strike list. Hit first, and hit hard! And after that, I recommend you camp some Fury.

Models

The Axer is there to allow you to get up the board faster, give you an extra crazy feat turn, and allow you to reach the targets you want on later turns.

The Bomber is there to clear charge lanes, finish heavies, and assassinate casters.

The Mauler is there to make all your beasts hit hard, and to make Mulg able to one round Colossals.

The Runebearer is there to juggle a spell at the right moment.

The Whelps are there since you can potentially generate 18 Fury a turn, which is a bit too much to handle, even for the Rage of Dhunia.

And finally, Mulg is there to eat the world. Om nom nom.

Dire Troll Bomber, Dire Troll Mauler, Mulg the Ancient
Whelps, Runebearer, Hoarluk Doomshaper, Troll Axer

Deployment and first turn

Place the models close together, keeping three Whelps in reserve, and make sure Hoarluk can see the Bomber (Refuge) and Mulg (Wild Aggression). Throw out upkeeps and Rush on Mulg and charge the enemy. Let the Axer rush the Bomber and charge something, and then run up the board with Mulg, Bomber and Mauler. The Runebearer has no job the first turn, so just run him as well.

Feat

The Feat should buy you the alpha strike and allow you to do some extra attacks. Try to take out any hard-hitting troops or heavies that could threaten your heavies on the next turn. If you can do enough damage on your feat turn, the enemy may never recover. Even if only one of your heavies survives the counterattack, then Wild Aggression, tramples, and Primal Shock may allow you to assasinate the opponent's caster.

The Feat also gives you crazy long tramples, which can allow you to both kill a lot of infantry, but also reach models that thought they were safe between the infantry screen. Use the Bomber to clear a spot to land, then trample in.

Ability: Attuned Spirit

One extra Dire Troll animus per turn. Use it for Girded (if the enemy has AOEs) or Runebreaker (just because...) until you get engaged, then use it for free Rage.

Ability: Goad

This ability is great for beating through some troops to get hold of the heavy or warcaster you really want to kill. You can also use it after killing the front line of a unit to engage the next line. Be careful to calculate in Goad when moving Hoarluk, so that your beast doesn't suddenly leave your control on the assassination run.

Ability: Hyper Regeneration

If things start hitting you, and you're out of Fury, you'll probably die. If you lose so many beasts that you have to cut for Fury, the game is probably pretty much over anyway. You won't be using this ability much with this list.

Spell: Agitation

A fairly weak spell. You can use this spell to prevent transfers by increasing an enemy Warbeast's Fury to its maximum. You can also use it to make enemy Warbeasts take frenzy checks. This spell can mostly be countered by the opponent through careful play. It's easy for him to forget that Hoarluk has it, though, since he rarely uses it.

Spell: Refuge

An awesome spell, especially on a ranged beast, or against lists with very low threat. Place this on the Bomber initially, then use Rush + Refuge to move the Bomber 7", blow something up, and back out 7". This will put you out of the threat range of most mêlée models.

Spell: Primal Shock

Very useful for killing off key solos, clearing lanes, assassinating casters, and finishing off wounded heavies. With the Runebearer this spell can be cast four times, or two times fully boosted. This can be enough to straight up kill weaker casters, especially if you can get Mulg to slam something into them first.

Spell: Sunder Spirit

Another fairly weak spell, since Primal Shock costs the same, has greater range, and hits harder if cast through Mulg. I guess it could be useful if you can't kill some beast, *and* need to get rid of its animus, *and* cannot get Mulg with Runebreaker nearby. Which is pretty unlikely...

Spell: Wild Aggression 

Mulg is the ultimate recipient for this spell. With his potential eight attacks (2 initials, 5 Fury, and Warlock Affinity), it's like getting up to nine free Fury each turn to boost and charge. With this spell on, Mulg will hit on almost every attack against enemy heavies, lights, and all but the highest DEF infantry. Also, the boosted attacks will increase the chance of landing the Critical Smite. After charging or goading, try to move Mulg so that the Smite will do maximum damage.

The Mauler and Axer are good secondary targets. The Axer will mow through infantry with his Thresher, and the Mauler will be almost certain to land his Grab & Smash.

This is a good spell for the Runebearer to use his minifeat on, it can allow you to cycle Wild Aggression on up to three of your Warbeasts on the same turn!

Matchups

This list is excellent against heavy armor lists that you out-threat, especially Colossals. If they out-threat you, you will have a problem. I don't think many lists do, though... 14" threat is pretty long. Possibly you might offer up the least important beast (the Bomber) and try to get their heavies in the retaliation.

Against mass infantry you might have issues, since there is no Krielstone nor Janyssa. If possible, try to keep your beasts together and engage one flank at a time. If the infantry is slow, then Rush + Refuge + Goad tricks may work (go in, kill as many as you can, save one Fury, Goad and then Refuge away). Otherwise, Bomber and then Axer / Mulg with cycled Wild Aggression should (hopefully) be able to kill quite a few of them. And if they don't kill your beasts in one turn, well, om nom nom and heal back up.

Another solution against small base infantry is of course to just trample then Goad to whatever you actually want to kill. With the free trample and extra strike a trampling Mulg with Wild Aggression can stomp across a lot of infantry first, then snack on the heavy behind them. 

Iron Flesh Kayazy are (as always) a pain to deal with. With some clever placement and Crit slamming you might be able to get some extra kills. You can also run in a Whelp and then shoot it in the back with the Bomber, this will allow you to place the 4" AOE anywhere you like.

Playing Hoarluk2

Update: I have created a Hoarluk2 Tactics post.

One of the lists I am working on for Norwegian Masters is a list with Hoarluk Doomshaper, Rage of Dhunia (Hoarluk2). Just for fun, I wanted to try him with nothing but Dire Trolls:

Hoarluk Doomshaper and his hungry trolls

Hoarluk2
- Bomber (10)
- Earthborn (10)
- Mauler (9)
- Mulg (12)

vs Harbinger

Mulg snacks on the Harbinger

This is just a crazy fun list. I tried it against Harbinger. We both moved up. He tried to lock down my heavies by using Gaze and running with the Avatar, but I grabbed it with the Mauler, hit it twice and threw it away, and proceeded to eat Harby with Mulg after eating a choirboy and goading.

vs Ravyn

Earthborn snacks on Ravyn

Then, I swapped the Bomber for an Axer, Whelps and Runebearer. I played against Ravyn. I got shot at a bit, but lost nothing important. Mulg then one rounded Hyperion, and the Earthborn walked through the wreck and one shot Snacked Ravyn.

vs Deneghra

The last game was against Deneghra2. In this game, I also swapped the Mauler for a Pyre and Krielstone + UA. She got a bit close, and I tried to assassinate her by trampling Mulg into a forest containing two Nyss, unfortunately I missed twice when trying to kill the first one, This left me at three fury when I reached Deneghra, who was camping quite a lot of Focus. I hit twice and slammed her away, but she was left at three boxes. Close! The Nyss charged Mulg and killed him, and Deneghra locked down most of my army with her feat. Unfortunately, the store closed at that point. I did have a Primal Shock assassination run open, since the Earthborn was a bit back and out of the feat bubble, it could trample up and allow me to do two fully boosted POW 12 primal shocks on Deneghra. We'll never know how it would have turned out, but on average dice it should be enough to hit with one of them to finish her off.

Moving up the board against Deneghra

I guess the conclusion so far is that the Axer is awesome to have for the increased threat and Pathfinder, so I won't run the single battlegroup list. My list going forward is going to be:

Hoarluk2
- Axer (6)
- Bomber (10)
- Mauler (9)
- Mulg (12)
- Runebearer
5 Whelps (2)

Then I have a nice target for Refuge, with the Axer animus it can move 7", shoot twice, and then walk 7" away again. This will allow it to stay out of charge range of almost everything after the shots... and with Wild Aggression and the Mauler animus it's still no slouch in mêlée.

There's no defense for Hoarluk in this list, so it depends on him holding as far back as he can, and camping Fury. I might swap out the Runebearer for a Feralgeist and a Swamp Gobber, this will make it easier for me to hold and defend objectives, and give me something to hide behind, but I'll lose the free buff swap.

vs Kromac

It looks like I can out-threat Circle. This is good. I used the Refuged Bomber to clear a line to his heavies, and charged in Mulg to almost take out two of his beasts. After this he feated with Kromac and killed the Mauler, Bomber and Axer, but I still had Mulg. So I POW 13 Primal Shocked Kromac twice, then proceeded to Snack him for the win.

vs Asphyxious2

I died in turn 2, not really having understood the insane threat range of his feat. I think this would have been very hard to win, anyway! Banes with Tartarus under the feat would have murdered my heavies, as well.

Earthborn Dire Troll is painted

Dire Troll Bomber, Mauler, Earthborn, Mulg the Ancient

I have finished my Earthborn. I'll celebrate this occasion with a group shot of all the Dire Trolls I have painted so far! Now I just need to finish Hoarluk Doomshaper, Rage of Dhunia (Hoarluk2), and I'll have a valid 35 point army containing a grand total of 5 models. It might even work... :D

Hoarluk2 (+6)
- Dire Troll Mauler (9)
- Dire Troll Bomber (10)
- Earthborn Dire Troll (10)
- Mulg the Ancient (12)

The Earthborn's crystals were inspired by orange garnet. I had a few tries before I ended up with this version. The crystals are striped Skorne Red at the base, then a Fiery Orange / Skorne Red mix, then Fiery Orange at the top. Afterwards I have lined in the parts I wanted edge reflections in with white, and given a single glaze with yellow ink on the middle and top of the crystals, removing any ink that seeped into the base. I'm happy with the result, I think the extremely high contrast works.

WARMACHINE and HORDES gaming in Oslo

This is Outland Kirkegata, the place we usually meet up to play in Oslo. Outland is just great. Not only do they have gaming tables, they also have coffee, a good selection of minis and accessories, and they can also order stuff for you. They have space for 6 or so WARMACHINE tables. Currently, there is regular play on all Wednesdays (from about 17:00) and Sundays (from 12:00), and there is almost always someone there. Unless there is a tournament going on...

The top picture is from a Wednesday during the Journeyman League. As you can see, the place was filled up.

The bottom picture is from a practice game with my Trolls against Thomas' Legion army for the Rookie Mistake V tournament. I'm playing Borka, the most drunk Warlock in the game. I like his playstyle, he's wicked hard to kill, and it's always a blast to start the first turn with running your Warlock straight at the opponent, with the rest of the army following behind. :D

There is also regular WARMACHINE gaming at Oslo Miniatyrspillklubb (OMSK) on Fridays (from about 17:00) at Grønlandsleiret.

By the way, if you'd like to try your hand at the game, we have an active WARMACHINE forum at 2D6. I write there under the nick 'Pjolterbeist'. There are currently three official representatives (Press Gangers) for Privateer Press living in the Oslo area, who'll be more than happy to run demo games.

There is an active tournament scene in Norway. Next year (19-20th of January, 2013) will be the Norwegian Masters. In addition, there are tournaments at ARCON each summer, a series of 16-man tournaments called Rookie Mistake, some more tournaments and special events at irregular intervals, and a yearly Journeyman League for new (and old) players. I would guess there are about ten WARMACHINE tournaments and events in Oslo each year.

Dire Troll Bomber is painted

Bombs away! Another Dire Troll painted. I went with a citrine-ish color scheme for the crystals on this guy. The model is nice, I like the dynamic pose, and the tiny pygmy troll swinging a torch while desperately trying to hold on is just awesome. I wonder where the Bomber keeps his spare ammo, though. :D

Mulg the Ancient is painted

I have started painting properly again, after a couple of lazy months doing mostly basecoating. For your enjoyment: Mulg the Ancient, Bluntest Instrument of the Trollbloods, and Snacker of Legion Warbeasts (my current record is Snacking two in a single turn :D ).



I wanted a quartz-like look to the stones, so what I did was coat the stones several times in white, until it was completely even. Then I painted each face, with a darker grey at the base, and lighter further up, striping it a little, and leaving the white on the edges and top. Then I inked yellow over the runes. OK, so it's doesn't look exactly like quartz, but I think it works.

Mulg smash!

Warmachine Weekend finals video and interviews

This is pretty awesome, a video of the Warmachine Weekend Finals! Chain Attack also has an interview and battle report with the players, where they discuss their tactics.

Damn, that table is beautiful.

We should try to have something like this set up for the Norwegian Masters... :D

Playing Trollbloods at Rookie Mistake V

So, we have these 16-man tournaments in Oslo called Rookie Mistake. This is going to be first time playing Trollbloods in a tournament. I have practiced way too little, so I expect this to be fairly hard...

My lists:

Borka
- Mauler
- Mulg
Fell Caller
Stone Scribe Chronicler
10 Kriel Warriors + UA + 2x WA
4 Krielstone + UA

Reinforcements:
3 Long Riders

This list is my heavy hitter list, which I intend to play if I run into Colossals and suchlike, or anything else that Jarl cannot punch through. Mulg can get up to a juicy POW 23, and Borka, the Mauler and the Cabers also hit pretty hard. The Kriel Warriors are there for being annoying and Iron Fleshy while I set up my heavy punch.

Jarl
- Bomber
- Impaler
Fell Caller
10 Kriel Warriors + UA + 3x WA
Feralgeist
Chronicler
Swamp Gobbers
10 Pyg Burrowers

Reinforcements:
3 Long Riders

This list is supposed to be a fairly grindy and accurate list, to use against troops swarms. A clear weak spot is the fairly low POW in the list, but on the other hand it has 31 Tough infantry models...

Nemo2 on Chain Attack

Chain Attack is playing my favourite caster, Nemo2, this week. I hope the old man wins! My guess on the grade: B+.

http://www.chain-attack.com/2012/10/episode-69-garryth-vs-enemo/

Update: They gave him a B, which I guess is fair.

I disagree strongly on the low survivability - Focus Matrix, 16" Control with Squire, and Energizer allows him to stay so far out of range that I almost never lose him, unless I have already lost the game some other way. What you do is that you can move his jacks out of his control on his turn, and then on the next turn you move up, use Focus Matrix to allocate, and Energizer to get jacks into position and Nemo back further out of range. You can easily be 20+" behind the front line and still run the jacks just fine. And, Eyriss2 a threat to Nemo2, with Stormcallers and Nemo2 being able to hang back way out of her 19" Threat? Come on. I have never, ever, seen that happen, and I've played Nemo2 against her so many times.

I'm also not so sure that Tier is *that* good, I haven't played it all that much, though. The bonuses are great, sure, but you lose so many good things - you will have no tarpit, and no Arlan. Arlan is the perfect support for Nemo - extra Focus, Disruption removal, and Evasive Action are all awesome.

I love playing Nemo with Sword Knights - a screen of either ARM 19 (against ranged) or unchargeable (against melee) Sword Knights combo so well with a couple of Reach jacks and Energizer. I'm pretty sure Boomhowler would be good as well.

Also, Fireflies are the worst Cygnar jacks, with bad defenses, bad melee *and* bad ranged attacks, and now that you can take the Stormwall for triangulations I don't see why anyone would ever bother going over Tier 1.

They didn't really note that Nemo2 has some horrible matchups. Anything that can mass Disrupt or lock down his jacks is a pain to deal with, and Mage Hunters are particularly bad. This is maybe his biggest weakness, he is pretty solid against most lists.

Steamroller tactics with Cygnar

I know I'm not the most experienced player around, but I've got a few tournaments under my belt now and I thought I should just write down my thoughts on how I build and pay a Cygnar army.

Before I start, I'm not going to be writing about Haley. She is amazingly good, but I don't play her a lot, since I don't find her all that fun to play with.

Victory conditions

First off, there are three ways to win. Attrition, Scenario and Assassination. My take on this is usually to play for attrition first. It's fine to play for scenario win or assassination as well, and if I see an opening, well, then why not go for it. The problem is that a cunning opponent with an intact army can almost always deny the scenario or assassination win. So, to land the scenario win or secure the assassination, I prefer to focus on removing the enemy army first.

Denying the opponent

To to win on attrition, I have to deny the opponent the assassination or scenario win.

The best way of denying an assassination win is simply staying out of range. If his assassination threat range is 19", and I'm 20" away, that's it. He just can't do it. I play Nemo2 a lot, and I rarely have him assassinated, unless I have already lost the attrition game.

The best way of denying a scenario win is to have something hard to destroy to contest the scenario. My personal favourite is Centurion with Fail Safe or Arcane Shield. It has survived both double Vanquishers and a Madrak2 and Mulg tag team. Yes, there are ways to take it out, but quite often I find that the opponent don't have them - especially if I take out Eyriss2 or enemy debuffers. The other option is tarpits. I don't have Boomhowlers yet, though having met them a few times I can say they rock. Just keep Greygore back so he doesn't get killed. Sword Knights with Rhupert are pretty good option... 13/19 with Arcane Shield and Tough is hard to shoot away, throw in Alexia and the Risen as well and I have 30+ bodies for a measly 13 points, enough for a really long grind.

Improving the attrition

Cygnar is very much a combined arms faction. Use this to pressure the opponent. Hunters, Defenders and Black 13 / Gun Mages are great for pressuring the opponent by taking out things at range. I try to position troops so that he can't engage everything, and if possible back up my melee units so that he has to run to engage or suffer extra rounds of shooting. I usually try to move sideways or circle to stop the enemy melee army from engaging me with everything he has. I cannot stay away forever in scenario play, but this can buy extra turns of shooting this way. I usually try to pivot in such a way that I'm standing with my tarpit on wherever the opponent needs to be to win, and circle with my ranged troops behind them.

Staggering the formation is a really good way to attrition better. I fail to do this all the time, it's often so tempting to try to deal the maximum amount of damage each turn. But, I find that I invariably get screwed by double-attack feats, additional die feats or charging Weapon Masters or things to that effect when I do it. Reach infantry is the best for this, but Cygnar does not have a lot of cheap reach infantry. But just putting some models in his charge range and more further back out of his charge range will force me opponent to choose between not charging (and eating more bullets) or charging (and eating the countercharge).

I always consider bringing Rhupert, he's the #1 attrition piece in the game. Tough gives in effect 50% more models, and his other abilities are really good too. Alexia and the Risen is also a very good attrition unit, if I can keep her alive.

If I can, I kill his support. Support is expensive, and it is there to improve army efficiency. Removing it does a lot more damage than removing troops.

Army composition

First off, Cygnar needs mercs. Playing pure Cygnar is fluffy and fun, but if I want to win I need to have the best tools. A lot of those tools are mercs. Use them.

I try to not bring more jacks than I can support. Most jacks have awful damage output unless they have Focus. Even if I'm playing a Jack caster which does nothing for infantry, like Nemo2, it's usually a good idea to bring some self-sufficient units to tarpit the enemy, block charge lanes and gum up his army while I get into position. If I'm playing a non-Jack caster then I will often just bring one jack. Rowdy, Defender, Stormclad and Centurion are good overall choices. I don't bring an Arc Node unless I really have spells I need to arc. I can 'arc' Chain Lighting or AOE abilities by hitting my own troops, so I just run in a Risen or Sword Knight or whatever and shoot him in the back. It's much, much cheaper than 6 points for a Lancer, and he was probably a Protectorate spy anyway.

I also try to not bring more support than I really need. Support usually has really bad damage output per point put into it, and the more support the less there is for the support to, well, support. In larger games damage (or defense) multipliers get better. Gorman, Rhupert, Journeyman, Rheinholdt and Eyriss2 are very good pieces there. In smaller games I would consider trying to get by with little or no support, and just go for the large body count.

Gun Mages are really that good. I bring the UA, even if I don't marshal anything to him. The ability to pick off stealth solos, whittle down high def / stealth infantry, or push things out of range or away from objectives is invaluable in scenario play. I try to spread them out and stagger them so I don't get them all engaged or killed in one go... having a couple left to push things out of zones can mean a lot in the end game.

I try to have something against everything. Cygnar is good at building toolboxes, maybe more so that any other faction, and this is a strength I think I should play to. In multi-list formats, it's OK to have weaknesses as long as the other lists can compensate. Otherwise, I aim to have the following:

- A way to deal with high defense (17+). Some examples are Electroleaps, Black 13, Thunderhead with movement tricks, Gun Mages + Rangers, Stormcallers.
- A way to deak with high armor (20+). Some examples are double Hunters, Melee Jacks with threat manipulation, debuffers like Ragman, Aiyana, Gorman, and Eyriss2.
- A tarpit, or I will be Steamrolled. Boomhowler is the best, but Sword Knights and Alexia are also good. I hear Forge Guard are a good pick as well, but I've never tried them.

General advice

I try to play a lot of games with my army. I try to replace one unit at a time, if I feel that something is weak. I'm too busy to get lots of games every week, but I usually try to get into a few extra games before a tournament, so that I have everything fresh in mind when playing.

Oh, and Caine2 is awesome. Seriously, if you haven't tried him, you must. He's shoots like a ten point unit, he is a blast to play, and attritions well. He's also completely broken in low point games. I try to keep him as far forward as I can without getting him killed (Gorman helps a lot with this). This gives the opponent major headaches with his caster placement.

Also, feel free to ignore anything I wrote. Theorymachine and reading strategy advice is no substitute for experience, and it's clear to me that there are many other ways to win in this game than the way I prefer to play.

DM 2012 - Painting competition

The pictures of the armies and entries in the Danish Masters 2012 painting competition have been posted on the Battlegroup.dk forums. There is some really good stuff here!

Pia won the individual warrior model competition with this amazing Widowmaker:

Fantastic shading on that one!

Roar won the Warjack / Warbeast competition:

Also a beautiful piece, with a very nice color scheme.

Roar even made a picture of each army. Here's the picture of my Cygnar:

I see the closeups are of my all time MVP models, Centurion, Caine2 and Thunderhead. How did he know? :D

All Danish Masters 2012 posts:

Danish Masters 2012

Game 1 - Caine2 vs Haley1

Game 2 - Nemo2 vs Kraye

Game 3 - Nemo2 vs Kreoss2

Game 4 - Caine2 vs Stryker2

Game 5 - Nemo2 vs Feora2
Painting competition

Wrap up

DM 2012 - Wrap up

This was a fantastic weekend.

First off, a big thank you to Stephan Garmark for inviting me to stay at his place. Stephan is an awesome guy, we went out for beers every evening and talked about life in general, and Warmachine in particular. Enjoy the rest of the Aquavit, and I hope you can come crash at my place for the Norwegian championship! :D

Second, the chef at the venue was amazing. Lots of really tasty food, and plenty of it. I hear you just do it for fun... Thank you!

Third, Bo! The tournament was really well organized. Good terrain, booklets with the scenarios, plenty of time to play the games with food breaks between every game. Everything went silky smooth. Well done!

Fourth, the Danish Warmachine players. The Danes are just so relaxed and friendly, even in a  Masters game they were generally very nice, pointing out if you really intended to not activate a model, and let you take back minor mistakes. It was clear that people were there for a nice weekend and not just for the game. I'd love to come back and play more games with you guys (and one gal) in the future, and I look forward to seeing some of you in January!

I also have to comment on the quality of the painting, most of the armies were pretty good, and some were extremely well painted. Especially those Menoth in the last game. Damn, I wish I could paint that well!

Here are the Danish Masters 2012 Results on Battlegroup.dk.

All Danish Masters 2012 posts:

Danish Masters 2012

Game 1 - Caine2 vs Haley1

Game 2 - Nemo2 vs Kraye

Game 3 - Nemo2 vs Kreoss2

Game 4 - Caine2 vs Stryker2

Game 5 - Nemo2 vs Feora2
Painting competition

Wrap up

DM 2012 - Game 5 - Nemo2 vs Feora2

I was rather worried about taking Caine2 and all his expensive solos against Feora2. Jacks burn a whole lot slower than Gun Mages! So, Nemo2 it is.

The list:

(From memory, and I don't know Menoth well...)

Feora (Martin K)
-bonded redeemer
-vanquisher
-vanquisher
-repenter
10 errants + UA
6 zealots + UA
choir
wracks
2x vassals
eEiryss
covenant of menoth

The game:

I had a forest in most of my deployment zone. This forced me to put my jacks on the left outside the forest, gun mages on the right. Rhupert and sword knights in the middle.
He put Zealots on the right, jacks and Feora in the middle, Errants in front.

I run up and cast Fail Safe on the Centurion and Force Field on myself.
He runs up.

I shoot away half of his Errants and put Polarity on Thunderhead and Lighting Shroud on the Ironclad.
He kills all my Stormcallers - I had forgotten about Hunter. Eyriss zaps the Ironclad.

I feat. Arlan boosts the Ironclad, which splats Eyriss. Thunderhead pulses away most of his remaining Errants. Centurion reaches one of his heavies, which enlivens away. Damn! Fortunately it enlivens in a bad direction, it could have gotten Thunderhead the next turn.

His two heavies fail to kill the Centurion, which was a bit of bad luck. He feats, but there are few things burning. it just kills a couple of Sword Knights.

Centurion wrecks a heavy. Ironclad puts some damage on the Reckoner. Thunderhead pulses away most of the remaining support.
He finally kills my Centurion.

I run with my Gun Mages and box in his jack so it cannot Enliven, I rust, and then wreck it with the Ironclad. Thunderhead pulses away more stuff. Triple Pulse! First time ever. Only Feora and a light left.

I run to capture a Control Point with Gorman, and the Gun Mages contest the far zone.
He kills my Gorman with Feora. I have less than a minute left!

The result:

I run out of time and lose. I think it's about turn 7 at this point. A sad loss, after having decisively crushed his army. Three more minutes and it would have been a sure win!

Lesson learnt: Agonize less and roll more dice! This loss could easily have been avoided if I had played a bit faster.

Total score for me: 2-3, and 3 control points.

Edit: I've been informed my opponent was Martin K.
Edit: And he has provided me with the correct army list. Thanks!

DM 2012 - Game 4 - Caine2 vs Stryker2

This is an interesting matchup. Two casters that want to get personal and do the job themselves, with similar very long threat ranges. I envision a lot of jockeying for position and trying to set up the assassination.

If I remember correctly, Lars' other list had Stormwall, which is no fun for Nemo2. So, I pick Caine.

The list: 

Stryker2 (Lars Kriegler)
- Rowdy
- Stormclad
- Squire
10 Stormguard
8 Stormblades + UA
Jr
Arlan
Runewood
Stormcaller
Eyriss
Gorman
Madelyn
Rhupert

Reinforcements:
Lancer
Charger

The game:

I moved up, he moved up, I started shooting stuff.

He cleared out most of the Risen and two of the Gun Mages with his Stormblades.

I proceeded to clear the right zone.

On his feat I did manage to have most of my stuff far enough away to avoid getting hit twice. So, it did not do very much damage. He got Eyriss with his Stormclad, though, which is a bad. I really wanted to keep her alive for focus stripping.

I killed his clad and almost all his remaining infantry. At this point I was clearly winning the attrition war. So, my opponent decides to go for it. Unfortunately, he has boxed in Stryker too well, so he doesn't get all that much out of Corbeau.

The result:

But, just how far away is Caine from Stryker? It turns out, a bit too far away.
The game ends when Rowdy pushes Stryker, Stryker tries to charge one of his own models to get near Caine, but ends up 3 inches away after Velocity... One inch off! He waves his sword in the air. I move up a Ranger, shoot him with B13, blind him with Gorman, Harm him, feat, and he dies with 6 focus left on Caine... Hey, it's Overkill, but that's the way Caine rolls! :D

It was a good game, and my opponent was a really fun guy!

It's now 2-2. Am I above average or below average? Soon, we will know.

DM 2012 - Game 3 - Nemo2 vs Kreoss2

I have not played much against Protectorate, so I was very unsure about what to pick. I felt that I would have problems keeping him away with my shooty list, so I went for melee and hoped my longer threat ranges would work to my advantage. If I remember correctly the other list was Kreoss1, and auto knockdown is no fun against Gun Mages.

It looks like I forgot to take photos in this one... we were using my phone for the timer... :D

The list:

Kreoss2 (Michael Ottesen)

- Fire of Salvation
3x 6 Knights Exemplar
2x 5 Bastions
Choir
Gravus
Exemplar Seneschal
Madelyn
Saxon
Rhupert

The game:

He went first and ran.
I moved up and shot a few Exemplars.
He moved further up.
I shot some more guys and engaged him, so he could reach now most of my stuff. Not a good move! I also killed his jack with my Ironclad.
He feated and went medieval on my army, killing a lot.
By this time I was rapidly losing the attrition war. But, Kreoss was far forward.
We had one more turn, my Centurion was boxed in. Nemo was engaged in melee with Gravus. But... Kreoss was 7.5 inches away from Nemo, over a wall. Could I do it?

The result:

I used my Gun Mages to push Gravus away and open a line to Kreoss. I Energized for one, walked over the wall taking a free strike, but I missed twice! This left him at about 8 boxes. It was a long shot, but really it was my only option.

Then Nemo got hammered to pieces...

I have to start to remember to not present my entire army to opponents with crazy damage feats! I do this all the time, instead of staggering my formations.

It was a fun game, and my opponent was a friendly and relaxed guy.

I'm down 1-2... but there is always beer. :D