My main focus in 2011 was campaign play and I see that continuing in 2011. I’ve played campaigns in Warmachine, Horde and Flames of War. I’ve also done quite a bit of painting this year. Here are a few samples -

I didn’t make that much terrain last year. I made the Jailhouse, some Fences and some fortifications for Flames of War. I’d like to improve on that for next year.

I also did the Wargames Audit which was a great exercise. On the back of it I am determined to concentrate on my three core games of Warmachine/Hordes, Flames of War and Malifaux in 2012. I don’t see myself starting any new armies other than adding to my US WWII army. I have good faction coverage in Warmachine (Khador, Mercs and Cryx) and Hordes (Legion) and until I get more games of Malifaux played there is no point adding more models. I have the Puppet Wars models and the Dead Justice crew to paint anyway. My painting list is under control and I’m happy with the progress I’ve made.

In 2012 I’m looking forward to extending the Malifaux VASSAL module and getting more Malifaux played. I’d also like to run a Flames of War campaign based on some of the fighting in the Hürtgen Forest. I’m going to focus my Press Ganger activity on a new store that opened in my home town recently. I think the IK RPG may pique my interest in 2011 too, but I’m not really a roleplayer!

Happy New Year,

Owen

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Malifaux

I picked up Malifaux not long after it was released, but interest in the game locally plummeted after the initial release. I still kept interest in the game, mostly driven by the beautiful models, and even started to build a VASSAL module for it just over a year ago. Other projects took over so it stalled before it had really begun.

This year has been much better for Malifaux. From a hobby perspective I have really enjoyed painting the models, particularly in experimenting with the underpainting technique. I’ve painted the Sonnia Criid and Lucius crew boxes this year and have more stuff lined up for the next few months (Guild Guard; Dead Justice and converting a Lady Justice Avatar from the alt. sculpt). I’ll continue with the underpainting approach as its muted colours help to unify the models quite nicely.

On the gaming side I’ve gotten more Malifaux games in this year than I have at any other stage. I only started playing Malifaux in May 2010, so playing more games this year was pretty much guaranteed. The fun I’ve had playing the game re-invigorated my interest in doing a VASSAL module for it and things have been progressing well on that front. There will be more news on that later in the year!

Puppet Wars is something I’m looking forward to. I have it pre-ordered and I can’t wait to get a few games in. I’m really looking forward to painting the puppets as it’ll give me a chance to use some interesting colours. Expect a few posts about colour theory and palette selection when I start work on those little models. I plan to use them as Malifaux models too, so that’ll present an interesting modeling challenge when I want to have a crew of mixed models. Basing might be the secret there.

Apart from completing and releasing the module and getting into Puppet Wars, my main plans are to continue learning to play The Guild and trying to play as many enemy Masters as possible. Painting the Dead Justice crew is something I’m particularly looking forward too.

Malifaux is in the ascendency. The main problem is that there are few players locally. The VASSAL module will mitigate that somewhat, but I may think about writing a campaign system for it. I am a little disappointed that Wyrd don’t have a campaign extension for the game…

Next up in the audit: Flames of War.

Owen

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In this video I talk a little about copyright progress and show the deployment zone features, the revamped card control and some other basic features.

Enjoy!

Owen

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I looked into this about three months ago, but didn’t have time to make progress on it then. I don’t have time now, but somehow I’ve managed to produce this version. VASSAL is essentially a boardgame simulator that allows players to play online – modules can be produced for different games. It does not simulate any of the game rules or logic. Players need to know how to play the game and have access to model cards.

This Malifaux module is not available for public download as I have yet to clear it with the relevant copyright holders – I wanted to produce this proof of concept first. If you can suffer through my prattling for about 7 minutes here it is…

Shown in the video is v0.21 of the Malifaux Vassal Module. As you can see the card decks and hands work well and the basic miniature movement is fine. I forgot to show the deployment overlays and flipping cards to make them visible to your opponent, which work also.

The main outstanding items are Malifaux specific damage grids and obviously sprite artwork for the individual models!

From here I want to go into a test cycle and begin the process of getting copyright approval.

Enjoy!

Owen

PS I case it needs to be said – I’m not looking to make any money from this. It is just a small project that may be of value to other wargamers.

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Added Model art for Forces of Hordes: Trollbloods, Circle, Skorne, Legion, Minions and released models from Warmachine: Wrath
Added Generic Huge Bases
Added 0.5″ and 2″ Melee Overlays for Huge Bases
Distance auras added for special abilities on many models
Added missing Hordes damage tracks
Fixed various naming mistakes
Added new premade maps
Added Super Special Map: Drer Drakkerung
Added Scenario Overlays for SR2011 Rules
Added Radial Deployment
Updated Deployment Overlays to include Ambush
Updated Scenario Roller
Added Scenario Bodging Bits

Get it version 4.1 here.

Owen

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The basic idea behind M’44 is that each player has a hand of cards where each card allows you to activate a few units on the left flank, right flank or in the middle. Units are comprised of 3-4 models and when they battle (using special dice) a model in a target unit is removed if its symbol appears on the dice. Range and terrain affect the number of dice rolled. After a card is played it is discarded and a new one is drawn from the deck. Simple stuff and it translates very well to VASSAL.

In the VASSAL module, each player has an area to store their hand of cards and can drop a card onto the discard pile to play it. It then becomes visible to your opponent. Units are easy to move and there are shortcuts to remove wounded models (Ctrl-H), indicate that a unit is being ordered (Ctrl-O) and whatever else you might need to do.

Memoir is typically won by destroying a certain number of enemy units (moved to your victory bar) or seizing specific objectives. I was playing the Allies in the game above and managed to destroy six units before Phil did. I had ridiculously good cards! We played the game in less than an hour and a half and that was a relatively long game for Memoir.

The nice thing about Memoir ’44 is that there are a lot of missions set in many different WWII theatres, so it has high replay value.

Here are the rules (PDF) and here you can get the VASSAL modules. Go check it out…

Owen

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My force consisted of a Kovnik Warcaster, a Juggernaut, 6 Winterguard, 4 Widowmakers and a Marksman. They were deployed around the outpost. Phil’s force was led by a Chosen of Menoth and was made up of a Devout, 6 Deliverers, 6 Exemplar Errants and an Exemplar Errant Seneschal. His army was approaching from the south.

Not an in depth battle report, but a quick overview to mention how the Apprentice Warcasters performed. This is just one game, so it’s hardly what you might consider playtesting!

The Widowmakers pinged some Deliverers on the left, but a couple of lucky deviations from them caused two snipers to fall and the unit to fall back towards the outpost. On the right the Exemplars and Winterguard exchanged fire to little effect. The Winterguard survived quite well thanks to Iron Flesh. The Juggernaut moved up the centre while the Chosen and Devout moved to the left of the Errants.

Phil made a mistake placing his Chosen behind his ‘jack. A slam from the Juggernaut placed both of them on their asses, a follow-up shot from the Marksman finished the Chosen. The Widowmakers and Errants exchanged fire while it was my turn to make a mistake. Recognising that the Kovnik Warcaster’s control range is terribly short I decided to move him closer to the Juggernaut. I should have kept him back and let the Juggernaut move (slowly) back to him. Instead he became a pin cushion for the Errants. He could have done with Iron Flesh!

The game came down to whose infantry could get the job done. In the end my guys came out on top.

So, not really enough to say how the Apprentice Warcasters performed. They are super squishy, but can get a ‘jack to where it needs to be and do what it needs to do. They can buff a unit, but with so little focus to go around they are always struggling to do all you’d want them to. I’m not sure how they’d perform alongside a real Warcaster. The could stay backfield after putting the buffing spell in play. They could also feed focus to a ranged ‘jack which would keep them relatively safe.

For now we’ll just use them as commanders of small forces for campaigns. In the meantime m remaining infantry are speeding back to the garrison to warn them that the Menites are on their way.

Owen

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Game 2 Overview

Scenario: Killing Field (from Prime MkII)

I really missed the ranged elements of my army in this game. I barely dented Phil’s force and ultimately it was the Sunburst of all things that finished me off! In the last game my Marksman took out the Sunburst by himself, but I had no such option in this game.

Severius (and Phil!) proved too much for the Butcher’s slow moving army. I wasn’t aggressive enough – I should have moved up faster. I didn’t. As it was I was blasted with spells and then the Sunburst – that’s about the sum of it. That said I did manage to take out the Templar, so at least that’s something!

From a campaign perspective it’s all square with a game a piece, but Khador is ahead in the attrition game.

Owen

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Campaign Overview

The Menite Incursions campaign is set in eastern Khador with forces from the Northern Crusade moving from Llael into Khadoran territory. The battles in this campaign take place near Fort Bruzig. The Khador forces are jus protecting their lands, but the Menites have are attempting to move north to retrieve and destroy the Scourge Bringer pieces. This campaign is part of the Orgoth Legacy campaign.

Game 1

Scenario: Killing Field (from Prime MkII)

	Deployment Armies: Phil’s army comprised Feora, 2 Repenters, a Revenger, a max unit of TFG with UA, a min Choir, a Sunburst, 2 Vassal Mechanics and three Wracks. My army had the Butcher, a Juggernaut, a max unit of IFP with UA, a max unit of Shocktroopers, a Marksman, a Manhunter and the Wardog. You can see the deployment in this image.
Round 1 Not a lot to report in the first couple of turns. Both sides moved up rapidly, while keeping an eye on the scenario points.
	Round 2 Things hotted up this round. The Menites blasted several Iron Fangs apart at range and Feora put a wall of fire to prevent the rest charging. On the left the Manhunter charged the Flameguard to stall them, but he was a fraction out of range. The Marksman grabbed the scenario point on the right and picked off one of the Sunburst crew. The Butcher moved back into the middle of his force and camped focus again.
Round 3 There was a lot of melee in this turn, but it started with Feora arcing spells at the Iron Fangs killing several, but there were still enough to scrap the offending Revenger and deal some damage to the Repenter. One of Feora’s walls of fire prevented the Shocktroopers from doing much. The Temple Flameguard dispatched the Manhunter and the Juggernaut remained on the left to stop them sweeping in from that flank. The Marksman picked off another Sunburst crewman and snagged another control point.
	Round 4 I hate Feora’s feat and it hit this round. It finished off the rest of the Iron Fangs, but at least I took out the Repenter that foolishly charged the Butcher. The Shocktroopers took a small amount of fire damage and moved to block the Flameguard on the and the approaching Feora in the middle. On the right flank the other Repenter moved to engage the Marksman, but failed to hit him. The Marksman survived the free strike to move out of the wood and shoot the Sunburst.
Round 5 This was the final round – it saw the Repenter on the right finally blast the Marksman. Feora mistakenly charged the Shocktroopers, killing one. Realising the error Phil ran the Choir to engage the Butcher, but he laughed off the freestrikes as he charged into Feora. I boosted his attack roll, ut somehow managed to miss! The followup attacks were more than enough to strike down the Priestess of the Flame.

As this was part of an ANNIHILATION campaign every lost model hurts. I was down all of my IFP, most of my Shocktroopers, a Marksman and a Manhunter – Ouch! Phil was down a couple of ‘jacks and a few minor bits an pieces. So, we ended with a win to Khador, but at what cost?

Owen

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Owen

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Round 1

My army was made up of two Defilers, 10 Bane Knights, Tartarus, 10 Mechanithralls, a Skarlock and Skarre. My first turn was quite pedestrian. Everything ran up except the Skarlock which moved up to cast Ritual Sacrifice on one of the Mechanithralls.

Even at this stage things weren’t going that well. Tartarus was out on the flank and I was using terrain to screen my Banes versus an army with Eyeless Sight! Speaking of Eyeless Sight, why was Skarre up there and not behind a ‘jack!

Joe’s army was comprised of a Ravagore, an Angelius, a Nephilim Bolt Thrower, a Shredder, two Shepherds and a Spell Martyr. That was led by Saeryn, who is one of my favourite warlocks. She has a stunning feat and a great spell list. Joe started with her and cast Respawn on the Angelius and Banishing Ward on herself. The Ravagore moved forward, put its animus up and took a shot at Tartarus. It just missed and scattered off behind Tartarus. The Angelius and Nephilim moved up the threaten the right flank. The Shredder moved up and put Tenacity on the Ravagore.

Round 2

At the start of my turn I rolled 5 for Ritual Sacrifice giving Skarre 11 focus. I decided to leave it on her and bring some pain to the Ravagore. The closer Defiler moved up and took a shot it. I missed, but at least I was sure I was in range for a few Hellfires. It took all of the focus, but I managed to do a whopping… Nah, it wasn’t that whopping, I just about managed to do half of the boxes on it. Tartarus moved up and Cursed it, but the Bane Knights were out of range, so they just moved up.

On the right the Mechanithralls moved around Skarre to try to give a bit of protection and the Skarlock again cast Ritual Sacrifice.
This was Joe’s big turn. He moved the Ravagore up and took an Eyeless Sight shot at Skarre, but just missed. The scatter, however, took out the Mechanithrall screen. Saeryn attempted the Breath Stealer Skarre through a Spell Martyr that moved up into position, but the shot just missed. Saeryn feated. The Nephilim then moved up and sent a bolt straight at Skarre scoring a critical hit! It did a load of damage and knocked her on her ass. The Angelius ran up to engage Skarre (thankfully, just out of Saeryn’s control area).

Round 3

I was in quite a bit of trouble now. All of Saeryn’s army except the Shepherds and the Angelius were immune to melee attacks, so that pretty much neutered the Banes. I started my turn with Skarre and feated taking five more wounds. This left her on one. I forgot completely that her feat adds to strength as well as armour. This mattered as it would have been an extra 20 boxes on the Angelius after Skarre hit it four times! As I’d forgotten it the Angelius wasn’t destroyed. I also forgot she was knocked down, so I should have shaken effect too. Doh! Mistakes lose games. I arced another Hellfire at the Ravagore and shot it with the Defilers for little damage. The Mechanithralls tried to finish off the Angelius, but failed. The Banes moved up to surround the Ravagore.
Joe could see the end in sight. He firstly moved the Nephilim across to take a shot at Tartarus. It struck home and killed him outright. The Shepherd then moved out of Saeryn’s way, so she could get as close to the Angelius as possible. This gave her range to cast Blight Bringer. With her last Fury, she boosted the damage on Skarre, ending the game. Nicely played Joe!

It was good game. In retrospect I should have moved my army up in waves with the Banes leading the way. Skarre’s feat would make them vicious on the charge and quite survivable to the counter attack. They are a little too slow to go the long way around.

Owen

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BEASTS
I think she can support beasts quite well and I’m considering bringing two heavies. I own a Carnivean and an Angelius so I’ll include them. The Carnivean is a beat stick that would be a great target for Respawn. The Angelius really benefits from Saeryn’s feat as it can fly over intervening models, ignoring free strikes, to get at a targe behind. I’ve always had a soft spot for the Nephilim Soldier (I think it’s a fantastic sculpt). It is quite a mundane beast now, but Reach on it’s weapon and Flight make it useful in a similar manner to the Angelius. For the beasts I’ll round things out with the Shredder. Saeryn has +2 DEF on ranged attacks. Throw in Tenacity (the Shredder’s animus) and she’s effectively DEF 19.

SOLOS
Now I’d like a bit of support for my beasts. The Shepherd is an obvious choice as she effectively allows a longer strike range for the beasts. I can run the Shepherd up just before the Angelius dives in for an assassination. This allows me to ensure it can be forced even outside of Saeryn’s control area.

The Feralgeist is another nice option. Between it and Respawn my opponents will be sick of killing (and re-killing) my heavy beasts!

UNITS
Saeryn doesn’t directly buff her units, so the first unit I selected was one that buffs her – the Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew. The concealing cloud can either completely hide Saeryn or at least give her an additional +2 DEF. With the buffs discussed above that leaves a fantastic DEF 21!

For Leigon units I went with the Striders, as they can be quite disruptive, and the Legionnaires. Defensive line makes the Legionnaires slightly more survivable and I plan to use them as a cheap tarpit. Warmongers may be a better option, but I’d need to find an extra point somewhere.

THE LIST
Anyway, enough talk. Here is the list -

• Saeryn, Omen of Everblight
  • Nephilim Soldier
  • Shredder
  • Angelius
  • Carnivean
• Blighted Nyss Legionnaires (Leader and 5 Grunts)
• Blighted Nyss Striders (Leader and 5 Grunts)
• Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew (Leader and 1 Grunt)
• Blighted Nyss Shepherd
• Feralgeist

I’m limiting myself to using models I have painted. Dropping either the Feralgeist or Gobbers and the unit of Legionnaires would allow me to add a minimum unit of Warmongers. Maybe I’ll try that next time.

PLAYING THIS LIST
The VASSAL screen shot above gives an idea of the setup. The Stirders will try to cause a nuisance on whatever flank has terrain for them to hide in. The Legionnaires are tasked with keeping up with the army and providing some kind of speed bump. Saeryn will cast Banishing Ward on herself and Respawn on the Carnivean. She is going to have to keep pace with the army so that her support spells can be effective. The Carnivean and Angelius will run up with the Feralgeist in relatively close pursuit Remember it can take over a dead beast within 8″, so it doesn’t need to be too close. The Shepherd wil be screened by the Nephilim soldier and the soldier will primarily be a speed bump on the right flank. The Angelius is set up for the assassination run, which the Shepherd may need to support. Massacre is a useful animus for it to have cast on it.

Anyway, I’m playing later, but you know what they say about best laid plans!

Owen

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OVERVIEW
Okay, I’m a little behind the curve on this, but I had my first online game of Warmachine using Vassal. In case you don’t know what that is, it’s a program that let’s you play a large variety of board game and tabletop wargames over the Internet. There is an excellent Warmachine and Hordes module available for it that offers loads of maps, terrain and sprites that represent every miniature released up to Metamorphosis. Installing it and getting it up and running is pretty straightforward and I’m not going to talk about it here as they have a getting started guide.

FEATURES
Vassal is not a computer game, though. It purely gives you all of the pieces and controls to simulate what happens on the tabletop. You still need to know the rules and have the cards for your individual miniatures. It has some pretty nice features including auras, ways of marking continuous effects, highlighting ‘caster control areas, showing melee range (including reach), showing deployment zones and mosh pits, beautifully rendered boards and loads of terrain. Oh, luckily you can roll dice and measure distances too! Here’s a screen shot from half way through my game against Phil, who is based in Hamburg, last night -

We played a 350pt MkI game to celebrate the release of MkII! Off the table you can see used focus counters and some AOE templates. On the table you can see the two armies bearing down on each other. I’ll go through the controls in the next section. Another lovely feature is the ability to track Damage Grids through Vassal. There are grids for all ‘jacks and ‘casters and default grids for multi-wound infantry and solos. As you can see it’s also easy to change the label for any miniature or grid.

CONTROLS
Each miniature is an individual playing piece and can be moved separately. As mentioned above, things can be overlayed on the miniatures and playing surface. For example, you can see several auras on certain miniatures to represent upkeep spells above. Each miniature also has a ‘white shadow’ at the rear of their base to indicate that all miniatures have moved. This can be cleared at the top of each turn with the click of a single button.

You can ‘cycle’ through the artwork for each miniature. For example, a ‘jack has it’s basic art, a blank base that shows LoS and facing and a wreck marker. This is useful when attempting precise movement past terrain or near other miniatures. Here’s a quick run through of the keyboard controls that I found useful (though there is a right-click menu on every miniature that allows you to access every control) -

Movement

These controls allow you to precisely move a miniature a certain number of inches and turn while doing so. you can select several miniatures at once and move them together. An alternative to moving like this is to lay down a tape measure and dray the miniatures into position using the mouse. The nudge movement is particularly useful when moving miniatures into B2B.

Combat Ranges, Control Area and Miscellaneous

The melee and control area overlays are very useful as they save a lot of potential fiddling with the tape measure.

CONCLUSION
Vassal works well and is fast to use. Arrange a game with a friend, fire it up and setup a voice chat (e.g. using Skype) and you have a good substitute for playing a ‘real’ game. In my case playing a game I love against my good friend over 1000km away was possible when otherwise it wouldn’t have been. It won’t replace the face-to-face battle over beautifully modelled terrain with nicely painted miniatures. After all, it’s important to be able to look your opponent in the eye when you crush them. Maybe we’ll use a video chat next time!

Owen

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