Prepping for the Tournament

Sorry, pressganger duties have kept me out from participating in most events. However, back in November, I and Gunslinger Games welcomed Jared as our second pressganger. And boy was it badly needed.

When I became a PG back in January 2011, Gunslinger Games was home to about 5 to 8 gamers. I knew I could attract another three or four, for a solid community. However, starting in May 2011 the situation sort of spiraled out of my control. My average demo per month before then was two. May, I did ten demos, in June I started doing two to three demos a week (a week!) and this continued up into August. When I ran the two leagues in early October, I had a combined 30 player presence (max).

Now, that ebs and flows weekly. I can see anywhere from 8 to 20 people a week, so the spread is wide. However, the constant need to demo games, run events, and a work life that is increasing the amount of travel that is expected of me, leaves me with very little time for the home life and my wife. Jared was the saving grace and was able to take some of the load off my shoulders. 2012 is looking to be amazing!

Out and About and a Little Taste to Come

With Gencon over, I have been feeling the Warmachine burn out. I wish I could say that I have been forcing myself to attend game days here locally and grind it out, but luckily (and unfortunately) the fall always picks up in terms of travel. So, instead of feeling less excited about Warmachine & Hordes, I ended up flying out to Seattle and Austin and I will find myself in San Diego this week. Coupled with various business meetings here locally, I am now excited again to get into the mix.

It also helps that our community has doubled in size and that given the size and new league formats, I am running two leagues side-by-side. And to prevent future burn out, I have returned back to Skorne, much like what Mike has done as well (that should explain the lack of Mercenary related-posts by him). Unfortunately, my travel to San Diego will prevent me from sharing in the near future, so I leave you with this tidbit.

GenCon Reporting - too many months later

I really have not had the time to post, so I apologize. This post will be about my Gencon Hardcore tournament experience. I actually took Bad Seeds to Hardcore. The list was:

The reinforcements arrived!

Just a quick teaser, because I can. Look what I got today:


Now to get that puzzle that Alexia is assembled. Updates to follow.

2nd Growth League - Bad Seeds

Well, back on the Magnus the Warlord kick, thanks to the NQ posting an alternative theme list for eMagnus, called Bad Seeds. Since I'm running a slow grow leage (June - 15 pts, July - 25 pts, August 35 pts), I am taking advantage of the league and playing another new challenging list. Due unfortunate luck and the duties of being a pressganger and honoring demos when needed, today happened to be the very first day I was able to play my 15 pt list this month. (I know, right? But that's what happens when your community balloons from 10 regulars to 24 regulars in a span of 3 weeks.)

Al's Thoughts on Wrath

Is it sad for me to say that while I am pleased with the new releases, nothing is a must have in my playbook? Maybe it's because I'm on an eMagnus kick with Bad Seeds. Don't get me wrong - I am very pleased with the releases and I am very willing to argue, nay beatdown, any naysayers who think that Khador got the best sliced bread.

Initial Wrath Reaction

So Wrath happened and pretty much everybody is quite happy with it. For Mercs it brings a bunch of great toys to play around with and ultimately making the faction as a whole a lot stronger. Let us have a look at the releases for Mercs:

Hey everybody, my name is Mike and I am the new kid on the block. I stem from the same “stable” as Al, the NJ SOBs in Somerville, NJ and play Warmachine/Hordes since around November ’09 with some
breaks in between. While I was very loyal to the Skorne Empire for the longest time, they are taking a
short break of conquering and torturing, so I decided to freelance a bit in the off-time. This resulted in
me starting to play Mercs, which I intended to be a slow-grow entrance into a new faction. Well, couple
weeks and a lot of money later, I have a big part of the Merc range in my possession and love the life
of sell-swords. After perusing through the faction book, I decided to play some Ashlynn at first as she
looked fun, and I love weapon masters. Her spell list seemed solid and ‘tricksy’, something that I was
direly missing with my Skorne, who prefer the Axe-to-the-Face technique of warfare, and if that fails,
they bring a bigger (or faster) axe. Here is the list I was using for my first couple of games:

Ashlynn d'Elyse (*6pts)
* Nomad (6pts)
Arcane Tempest Gun Mages (Leader and 5 Grunts) (6pts)
* Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer (2pts)
* * Mule (8pts)
Horgenhold Forge Guard (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution (3pts)
Gorman di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist (2pts)
Harlan Versh (2pts)
Lanyssa Ryssyll, Nyss Sorceress (2pts)
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord (2pts)

After playing a few games, I enjoy the Mercs a lot. It is a huge change of pace from Skorne and
learning all the little pieces that Mercs have is a welcome challenge. Gone are the days of Gladiator,
Bronzeback, Marketh, and Paingiver Beasthandlers and the remaining 15 points that I could fit. Building
lists in Mercs allows for great customization due to the countless solos that add flavor to your army and
can make a huge change in how you will play. Ashlynn in particular is very interesting as all the Critical-
Hit effect that were a nice thing to have, now become a constant reality. Having 4d6 to hit allows you to
pick a Crit very often, which changes your Feat turn a lot from what a normal turn would look like.
Suddenly the entire army is potentially knocked down and thrown around and gives you a lot more
control of the battlefield. I particularly love the Forgeguard, that already hurts a lot, adding Critical Smite
just makes them obnoxious and requires your opponent to be very careful what they put in front of
their ‘Jack as Gaspy learned last game.

The Mule is another star of this list, with the Gunmages he’ll have a 16” range on his shot, which
around turn 2-3 should allow you to hit in the center of the army. Gunmages go without saying as their
variety of shots, combined with True Sight adds a crazy control piece in their corridor and with the Mule

that is even better. Silent stars are Lanyssa Ryssyll (her parents clearly wanted to save on letters) and
Harlan Versh. While they are not totally brutal, they allow for interactions that wouldn’t work otherwise,
plus I cannot wait to destroy Legion player’s eyeless sight and pathfinder. I am sure they won’t know
what to do. “Oh you’re hiding a Ravagore in the forest? Well, have fun getting him out”

That’s it for me. I am really looking forward to Wrath and what it will bring us. I would love some
Crit-solos for Ashlynn, but just Damiano will be enough to get excited, especially that we didn’t see what
his ‘Jack brings yet, and I expect grand things of it. See you until next time.

Malarowski

Welcome Malarowski!

I want to welcome Malarowski as a new author to the blog. Coincidentally, he is another Skorne/Merc player - just like me! Although I had nothing to do with pressganging him into playing Mercs. Welcome!

NJ Civil War - Southern Theater - Game 1 & Game 2

So nearly a week later and I'm finally reporting my results on the tournament at All Things Fun in West Berlin, NJ. There was a record number of players (41 players in total, encompassing NJ SOBs, ATF local crowd, PA guys, and I believe some DC Big Guns). Faction spread as follows:
Cygnar - 1, Cryx - 8, Khador - 6, Menoth - 5, Retribution - 2, Mercenaries 2
Circle - 7, Legion - 2, Skorne - 4, Trolls - 4, Minions - 0

What to paint next...

Poll is nearly done, but I'm sitting on some spare time today and tomorrow. It's too humid to prime (although I can use gesso). I have Steelheads in the works and I should work on some ATGMs or at least wrap up that Vanguard.

Lack of motivation is killer. That and the fact that I have no idea how this poll is going to end. 23 hours left folks and it still is neck and neck, with Cryx paving the way.

Gah, I might have to throw in an order for two Scavengers now.

Quick little league updates

Well, the Gunslinger Growth League ended on this past Saturday, 3/19. The awards went to:
Ben Johnston - Conqueror and League Winner (52 pts!)
Dale - Master Painter. The only player to have 100% painted, and his first in seven years of playing.

Unfortunately no one wins General, since only Ben J. got one scenario win. Pyrrhic victory on my part I believe, since I did get my player base to try scenarios actually!

And look, Mercs are beating Cryx in the polls. Two days left of voting.

Update on NZ Quake Dice

Just a quick update on the NZ Christchurch Quake Dice, from PG_Izza:

Well the response to my Quake Dice idea has been amazing! The first batch of 100 sets has sold out, and they havent even arrived yet! I will be ordering another 100 sets, and maybe even more if there is demand.

What does that mean for you, the gamer? It's a limited run so contact Izza fast to help out!

Well, Now I'm Confounded - Mercs or Cryx

So the worst thing someone well meshed in this game can do is read the Cryx Privateer Press forums. It is nearly as bad as others, but for all its merits, the amount of whining that occurs and model bashing is atrocious. And for me, it challenges me to find uses for models people disdain. Merc forums - almost never a problem! Probably just the poor Talon.

So this leads up to the leaked information on the Scavenger. A lot of naysayers (even without testing the model). However, because of the usual naysayers, I have every intention in making this model work and I have been thinking for a few nights now how to.

Q&A Session II

Another Q&A time. I might have to move away from Blogger.com because it does not allow replies to comments (just more comments...).

Are you painting up new models for the league or are you using your existing Merc collection?

3 Posts in a Day? - NZ Quake Charity Dice

This is from PG_Izza on the WM/H forums:

This seems kinda lame now after the tsunami in Japan, but its something I've been working on for a couple of weeks...


As you may know, Christchurch, New Zealand was hit by a 6.3 magnitude earthquake on 22nd Feb, causing substantial damage and some loss of life.
I live 2 hours drive away, but for 8 years Christchurch was home. My wife is from Christchurch, all her family live there and we have alot of friends who also live there.
Christchurch is where I started my interest in wargaming, and is very close to my heart.

NJ Civil War- Southern Theater

Q&A time. Michael posted this question back on my thoughts about Epic Morghoul.

What are you brining to Jersey in two weeks? Any plans yet?

Week 3 Growth League - 35 Points Epic Magnus

We just wrapped up Week 3 with 35 points and I got to play a couple of games. Before you ask, Week 2 was a 25 pt Death Race tournament using league lists. As TO, I did not get to play, but I built my list should anyone else have a bye.

Week 1 Growth League - Epic Magnus

A while back I discussed Magnus the Warlord for the growth league I am currently running. Well, the first week of 15 points has passed and the results are in.

Some Thoughts on eMorghoul, Lord Assassin

Saturday's tournament was a blast. I went 1-2, mostly due to my own game play errors and epic dice failure (notably in Game 2, where my opponent's dice seized up as well and the game ended two seconds before time was called - I think we had 7-8 rounds by that point). The tournament was 35 pt SR 2011 with league unit rules in effect. I, taking my Skorne, do not own Karax nor plan on it. I see them as a very limited use and for the same points, Praetorian Swordsmen are better.

But this post is not about how Swordsmen are better than Karax. It is about eMorghoul, who I used in the last two games, my two losses.