Audit. A word that strikes fear into managers everywhere. If you’re in a business area that doesn’t get audited I envy you! That said taking stock of any activity can be a healthy exercise, so in this series of posts I’m going to reflect on what games I play and how I’ve fared with them in the last year. I’ll also talk about my (tentative) plans for the coming year. Up first it’s Warmachine and Hordes…

Warmachine and Hordes

In the last year the majority of the games I’ve played have been of Warmachine and Hordes, and I definitely consider it to be my main game. I currently have Khador, Mercenaries (mostly Privateers), Cryx and Legion of Everblight factions. Here’s an overview of my collection of models -

Oh yeah, I have a proxied Circle Orboros force too! As you can see I pretty much have everything painted that I own. In the last year the Mercenaries have seen quite a lot added to them, as have Legion. To Khador and Cryx I’ve added the odd model here and there.

In terms of play time Khador and Legion are still my primary factions and I think that will continue, though the Mercenaries are getting a decent amount of play. I’ve done well in competitive play this year with all three of those factions, so I think my standard of play is pretty good. I’ve also played a lot of campaign games, both physically and over VASSAL. I’m really enjoying Warmachine and Hordes and that is set to continue.

In the coming year I’d like to do a couple of things from a painting and modelling perspective – add the Gun Carriage and some more infantry to Khador is one of my main priorities. For the Gun Carriage I’d love to create a diorama base. I have some ideas – more on that in the next month or so! Legion is ticking over quite well. I see myself adding just a few bits to Legion when Domination comes out, maybe Kallus’ character beast and the Legionnaire’s UA. I’d also like to add some models to Cryx to do Skarre’s new theme force from a recent No Quarter. I don’t plan on expanding the Mercenaries this year, though I can seem myself adding a Freebooter warjack to complete the Pirate ‘jacks!

From a gaming perspective I’d like to increase my Press Ganger activity – family life has been pretty hectic with Ciarán’s birth this year, but I’ll hopefully have more time in the coming year. I plan to run the Journeyman Slow Grow League this side of Christmas as well as running a couple of tournaments. I’m going to keep up the campaign play as it’s just silly fun! I’ll probably expand the ANNIHILATION system next year, though I’m not sure what direction to take it in yet. One other thing I’d like to do is to reflect on how much MkII game time my Warcasters and Warlocks have seen. I definitely have my favourites, but I need to consciously try to use my less competitive models.

Next up in the audit: Malifaux!

Owen

Peter and I got a game in this evening with the new Legion warlock facing off against pSkarre. Peter’s force was all Satyxis (Raiders and Blood Witches), their respective UAs/solos, Mechanithralls, Skarlock and a Leviathan.

In Kallus’ force I had a Ravagore, Carnivean, Shredder, Shepherd, Deathstalker, max Warmongers and max Legionnaires. This was my first game with Kallus and I wanted to see how he fared with a mixed force. His abilities mostly seem to support infantry, but Dark Guidance is a great spell on beasts too. It is expensive for a 6 Fury warlock… Incite gives the Legionnaires decent punch and they, along with the Warmongers will also benefit from Dark Guidance. The Shredder is there for his animus and a damage transfer if needs be.

We played the Close Quarters SR2011 scenario this evening and I’m afraid I only got a teaser of what Kallus is capable of. Peter pushed up aggressively and the Ravagore dropped a boosted Scather shot on to Skarre. When I saw the opportunity I sent the Carnivean in, under Dark Guidance, to tear up the Leviathan. This left Peter with little option other than to attempt an assassination on the furyless Kallus under his feat and with Tenacity on him. Some unlucky dice rolls left him on 6 boxes. Skarre feated, but it wasnt enough to stop the Ravagore and a feat Incubus finishing her. Kallus was fully loaded with Fury and in charge range had the Incubus failed.

Peter forgot Puppet Master on Skarre which may have let him land one of the Hellfires that missed, but probably not with the way he rolls dice!

It was a good game, but I didn’t learn too much about Kallus. The +2 DEF on his feat for soulless models is great. It protected him from Skarre and made the feat Incubi tricky to hit. Dark Guidance is pricey – between greedily casting it and leaving Kallus on zero Fury I nearly lost the game. I needed to repair the Carnivean after some decent Leviathan ranged attacks, but I should have let Incite drop to leave him with a transfer. He will always be short on Fury when casting Dark Guidance, but the Carnivean did make six attacks including its charge and hit with all of them thanks to the extra die to hit. It was a thing of beauty! The Incubi are useful, but like most defensive feats rely on your opponent, so a canny opponent can minimise the impact, or plan to take out the Incubi created.

I think Kallus could be very solid. I’m looking forward to getting more games in with him.

Owen

I’m more content than happy with how this guy turned out. He has a bit too much metal on him for me, but what can I expect from a model that’s covered head to toe in armour!

Owen

The is the second game in a four game campaign. I brought Saeryn out to play this time against Phil’s Baldur list. The winner of this 25pt game would get a free Feralgeist in each of the subsequent games (this doesn’t impact theme forces) as well as campaign points, so there is something to fight for.

Owen

My Ninja shopper Stu sent this model back from GenCon. I couldn’t wait to get it on the painting table. Here’s the result -

Here are the photos I took while painting him. The base still needs to be done – I’ll get to it over the weekend.

Enjoy!

Owen

I always enjoy bringing Karchev out to play. He’s a fun warcaster with an aggressive play style. Last night Gerry and I played a 35pt game that pitted Absylonia and the man in the machine against each other. We played the Command and Control scenario, but once I clogged the control zone with ‘jacks it became clear that the scenario would have little bearing… Here’s an overview of our game.

On turn one I predictably cast Tow after allocating a focus to each ‘jack (Beast-09, Devastator and Juggernaut). Karchev charged a random target in the distance moving 9″. Obviously you can’t Power-slide with this, but it nets you a few extra inches movement. The ‘jacks then all run from behind Karchev, leaving a gap for him to run through on the next turn.

Gerry moved everything up and it looked like everything was safe enough. One Power-slide later and a focus loaded Beast-09 was charging into the Scythean. I was conscious of focusing effort of killing beasts outright as Absylonia’s feat can be painful if she just repairs one badly damaged heavy. Beast-09 did what was expected with a focus to spare. I used his Murderous imprint just to use up that point of focus – there were Forsaken nearby! My Juggernaut ran into base contact with the Angelius.

On his turn Gerry did a ton of damage on the Juggernaut, taking out its movement, but nothing else. The Striders peppered things with shots, but the heavy armour left few viable targets for them. The Raek leapt into Headlock the Devastator. I responded by loading the Juggernaut with focus, dropping Row and then casting Unearthly Rage on my activation. Karchev then squished the Raek and the Juggnaut went to town on a Forsaken and the Angelius. Forced Evolution meant I needed 10s, but as they were boosted from Rage I manage to hit a few times, taking the beast to within 3 points of dying. I had nothing else that could get near it. Beast-09 couldn’t charge as Gerry had dropped Blight Field over him. He smashed a couple of Striders and a Forsaken in lieu of something better to do.

Gerry needed to feat this turn in order to bring the Angelius back up to health. His back was against the wall. He contemplated charging the Angelius over the Juggernaut into Karchev and risking the free strike, but he opted to take down the Juggernaut instead. The Striders took out some opertune targets, but their effectiveness was hampered by engaging enemy. A Blight Field again prevented Beast-09 and the Devastator from getting focus.

On my final turn I kept all of the focus for Karchev (he had no ‘jack that he could allocate to) and again cast Unearthly Rage. He feated and charged the Angelius, smashing it to pieces. Beast-09 changed facing (thanks to the feat), charged for free (thanks again to the feat) and hit Absylonia with a boosted hit (Unearthly Rage) and one shotted the Legion Warlock.

I love Karchev – so much fun.

Owen

After playing a few games with Harkevich I almost lost the motivation to finish painting him. He looks so promising on paper, but he’s a ‘caster that tries to do too much. I’m not done with him, but I need think about how I’m going to use him… I might write a narrative campaign with him versus Resnik at Riversmet (nice a fluffy!)

Owen

This game was Mangled Metal/Tooth and Claw on steroids. I brought my newly converted Absylonia out to play and Peter fielded Mortenebra. We played The Gauntlet scenario with armies that were full of heavies. Peter’s list had a Ripjaw, Deathjack, 2 Slayers and a Leviathan with a handful of support solos. My list comprised four Shredders, a Carnivean, Ravagore and Angelius.

Peter had the first turn and moved out quickly. He cast Spectral Steel on the Deathjack and that was about it. In response my Ravagore missed a shot on the Ripjaw that was obviously acting as bait for one of my heavies. Absylonia put Forced Evolution on the Angelius and Playing God onto the Carnivore and I didn’t fall for it and sent a Shredder into it, taking out the head. The Angelius moved the the right to take out a Scrap Thrall that ran close by. Another Shredder charged the Slayer near the woods to act as a speed bump and my Carnivean ran to the left of the wood.

Peter was wary of my feat and wanted to Beasts out in one go. With that in mind he set about realising his devious plan. He cast Overrun on the Slayer and it set about pummelling the Shredder. This triggered overrun on Deathjack and it moved forward within charge distance of the Angelius. Before it charged the Leviathan ‘softened up’ the Angelius, dropping it to 3 points of damage! This left Peter with a difficult choice as the Ravagore, Absylonia, with Tenacity and 3 Fury, and the Angelius were within charge range of the Deathjack. He decided to finish off the Angelius, fearful of Absylonia’s feat and her ability to fully heal lots of damage. This took Deathjack quite far from the main body of activity… A Warwitch ran into the Carnivore to tie it up.

On my turn Absylonia put Forced Evolution not the Ravagore and granted herself flight and reach to make it into the Warwitch for the kill. Next up the Ravagore charged into the Ripjaw, one shotting it. This let the Shredder go Rabid and finish off the Necrotech in the middle of the control zone. The final part of the plan involved the Carnivean, which had reach thanks to Playing God, totalling the Slayer. It charged in and scrapped it. That would be a control point with Peter a little out of position to challenge the scenario.

On his turn he cast Overrun again on the Leviathan, which took out the Shredder that had killed the Necrotech, moving Deathjack to charge range of the Ravagore. He charged in and totalled it. Deryliss moved into the control zone to contest it.

I had Mortenebra’s per Skarlock and Deathjack to deal with in order to win the Scenario. Absylonia cast Forced Evolution on the Carnivean, to buff his strength, and then charged Deryliss to take him out. The Carnivean then performed a Double-handed Throw on Deathjack to get him out of the zone. The game was mine.

That was a fun game. Beasts and ‘jacks make for an impressive spectacle.

Owen

I think one of the reasons Absylonia has sat unpainted for so long is that I detest the original model. In this video I talk about the conversion I did and how I painted the model.

Owen

Phil wrote up an excellent campaign (based on my ANNIHILATION campaign rules) that we began playing through last night.

It pitches Legion and Circle against each other in a struggle for control of the Rustwood, a traditional stronghold of the Orboros druids. The area has strategic importance to Everblight as his forces seek to keep the specific locations of the remaining two pieces of the Scourge Bringer secret. By extending their control into the Rustwood they can protect the eastern approach. Everblight has tasked Absylonia and Saeryn, accompanied by a beast heavy force, to this task.

The campaign will be played using VASSAL and last four games – 25pt, 25pt, 35pt and 50pt. This gives each player 108pts (80% of the total) for their starting force. Remember, in ANNIHILATION casualties carry forward, reducing your pool of available troops. Each of the four games is a standard SR2011 radial scenario which Phil has written custom fluff for. Here’s the battle report for the first game.

Game 1

For the first game we were playing with 25pt forces over the Sacrifice scenario. My army was a Tier 4 Absylonia Theme force comprising the following:

Faction: Absylonia – Winds of Change
Points: 25/25
Tiers: 4
Absylonia, Terror of Everblight (*5pts)
* Harrier (2pts)
* Shredder (2pts)
* Shredder (2pts)
* Stinger (2pts)
* Angelius (8pts)
* Carnivean (10pts)
The Forsaken (2pts)
The Forsaken (2pts)

In a recent tournament I saw how effective the Angelius is with Absylonia. Forced Evolution gives it an impressive DEF 16 and P+S of 16, which is Armor Piercing. I have a choice of either Carnivore or Playing God as the upkeep on the Carnivean, but as Phil’s force had few living models Playing God made a good choice. The only real advantage it gave was Reach, but a Carnivean with Reach is amazing as it affects all three of his melee weapons!

Phil went with a Moshar Tier 2 force:

Faction: Mohsar – Sandstorm
Points: 25/25
Tiers: 2
Mohsar the Desertwalker (*5pts)
* Gorax (4pts)
* Woldwarden (9pts)
* Woldwarden (9pts)
Sentry Stone (Leader and 3 Manikins) (3pts)
Stoneward and 5 Woldstalkers (5pts)

Deployment
Phil won the starting dice roll and deployed in the bottom right. He repositioned the Woldstalker unit thanks to a tier benefit after seeing my deployment. All of my lessers were advanced deployed and the two heavies got to advance move thanks to tier benefits. It was obvious from deployment that neither of us were going to make a serious play for the scenario. I had options with the placement of my Forsaken and Harrier, but the POW 20 from the Sacrifice would kill them. In an attrition-based campaign that’s undesirable!

Round 1
On his first turn Phil pushed forward aggressively and put out a load of Pillars of Salt. Pillar of Salt is great against Legion as it blocks Eyeless Sight, which specifically hurt the Angelius’ offensive punch. After casting the spells above I also pushed forward fast with the Angelius moving down the right and the Carnivean moving towards the control zone. I put its aniums up and dropped Blight Field in front of it to prevent Phil from smashing it up too badly if he chose to charge in with a Woldwarden.

Round 2
On his next turn Phil laid into the Carnivean at range. He first cast Curse of Shadows (via a Woldwarden) on to the Carnivean, effectively neutralising its animus, and then shot it up with the Woldstalkers. This did a lot of damage, but not enough to take it out. Again he dropped down several Pillars, primarily to thwart my heavies. He also put Sunhammer up to damage my beasts as the moved in Moshar’s control area. The Sentry Stone snuck in to steal a fury from the Carnivean.

On my turn I reckoned I could sneak the Carnivean around the Pillar in front of it to get Reach on the Woldwarden that had cast Curse of Shadows against it. First I needed to get Absylonia moving. I was afraid of losing branches on the lessers to Sunhammer and since the Carnivean had a good bit of damage on it I feated. I also cast Blight Field where I expected the Carnivean to end up and camped the remaining three fury in anticipation of Moshar’s feat. The Carnivean did indeed have enough movement to creep around the Pillar and Sentry Stone to get into Melee with the Woldwarden. With only DEF 10 I hit with every attack and totalled it. The Forsaken came up to remove the Fury from the Carnivean. The Angelius flew over the Pillars in front of it and used Overtake to strike and kill four Woldstalkers. It managed to engage the rest of that unit and the Gorax. Finally I flew the Harrier in to harrass the remaining Woldwarden.

Round 3
This round is where things really hotted up. Phil did indeed feat and placed more Pillars of Salt. He then decided to focus his energy on destroying the Angelius. The Gorax pummeled it, but failed to destroy it. It’s high DEF and inability to be knocked down saved it. On the right the Woldwarden almost one shotted the Harrier – the second hit did the job. The Sentry Stone managed to fill up on Fury, warped into a prime location and produced three Mannikens. These were placed in front of Absylonia and the Forsaken and Stinger near her.

On my turn I couldn’t leech any fury, but I saw an opportunity to put a lot of hurt on Moshar. With only the Woldwarden as a viable transfer target (Gorax was full of Fury) I hoped to destroy it with the Carnivean. Before all of that I had to take some Frenzy checks. The Angelius passed (pretty amazing given it had 4 Fury on it!) and the Shredder nearest the Stoneward frenzied, but failed to hit him (rolling 5 on 3D6). With the Angelius free to activate the plan was on. The Carnivean again crept around the edge of a Salt Pillar to engage a Woldworden and again he totalled it. Absylonia activated next, she healed the Angelius for 1 point, bringing it back to fully functional, she then dispatched two Mannikens with her claws and finally cast Blight Field defensively. The unengaged Forsaken moved up and removed a Fury from the Angelius (for once I was thankful of the Sentry Stone – it stole a Fury last turn which allowed him to do this!). The Angelius swung around and (boosted) hit Moshar with a P+S 18 strike dropping him to about 4 boxes. The second Forsaken killed the third Manniken and the Stinger hit the Sentry Stone for 6 damage at range.

Round 4
Phil was very much on the back foot and in his turn he was trying to protect Moshar, but this was nearly impossible. The Gorax and Moshar double teamed on the Angelius is a bid to destroy it, but again its high defense kept it (just about) alive. The Sentry Stone warped back to place three Manniken between the Carnivean and Moshar.

In my turn I activated Absylonia first, she again healed the Angelius and then walked over to the Sentry Stone and destroyed it. This left both the Angelius and Carnivean in position to take the Furyless Moshar down. The Angelius took the final swing of the game felling the Circle warlock.

This was a fun game and my first time using Absylonia. I have to say she is great fun! ‘m pretty pleased with how this game went. I should have used the Shredder to destroy the Stonewarden as every death counts in an ANNIHILATION campaign, but taking out the Gorax may have left me unable to kill Moshar.

Roll on Game 2…

Owen