Week 2

  Hello there! Aug 10th brought to us the Grand Opening of The Complex.  It was definitely a lively crowed and we had around six or seven Warmachine / Hordes, well mostly Hordes players.  Had three who had never played and they seemed to enjoy their experiences.

  I am now going into full steam ahead for a Journeymen League, with the start date the first or second week of September.  I'm not sure who I plan on running yet but one person picked up on Legion, another on Trollbloods, and one for Menoth.  I may run with a Rhulic list or I might go with the Skorne alternative list as I am trying  to get my Skorne together to bring to TempleCon 2014!  Yes I know it's a bit far off but those who have seen my Skorne it's been in sad shape other than a small Rasheth this that I built and painted and then put aside.

                                                    

  I will be trying to get as many people as we can the more the merrier.  I have the full list of alternative starting armies, so if you have a faction you like and already have the starter box here is a way to expand your faction.  And for those of you out there who I know are good at painting it gives you an incentive and a bit of fun to paint up a 35 pt list and then ebay it or sell it to someone else who enjoys the game yet painting is lets say not their strong point.

  If you are interested and don't think you can make it every week we can work something out I have a few people with conflicting schedules and we will work with you plus there are additional ways to get points.

For those who did show up thank you again I enjoyed talking with all those who were interested as well as who already play.  I will be back next Saturday battle boxes in hand hope that if you have a spare hour stop by for a quick demo. Or if you are into Warhammer you might really enjoy anyone who wants to learn I'll be there.

Ah Week 2 setup

A little more together this week

Game 1 Kaya v Xeris

Kaya attempting a maneuver around Skorne Brick

Xeris smiting Feral into Kaya

Kreoss trying to manouver

Morgohul's last ditch fail roll effort...

Magnus Battling Legion

Lilith Herald of Everblight

Beware of the Carney

Kaelyssa of the elves

FIRE!  Feora

Feora's arc node Guardian

There she blows The Cryx Kraken

Dirty D!  negra

A friendly game of Tailsmen

Lasted almost 7 hours! Haha whew way to go!

First Week

  So we had a decent showing our first week at The Complex. All in all we had nine people stop by and a few more who showed interest. I have four confirmed to start a journeymen league in a few weeks. I'd like to get another four to have at least eight. So for now we are going to be there Saturdays from 1 - done! :)  I have 10 starter boxes assembled and painted for demos and questions. 2013's journeymen league has a few new alternative lists for almost every faction! Meaning if you already have the army here is a new direction you can take. pDoomshaper for trolls, pThags for legion, Xeris for Skorne, Balder for Circle, Gorton or Bart for Mercs, Butcher for Khador, Asphyxious for Cryx, Ossyan for Retribution, Caine for Cygnar, and Feora for Menoth! I have all the alternative lists available for those who already have the battle box's or aren't interested in the battle box option for the faction.

  The complex I think will be an awesome place for Warmachine/Hordes and a place we can establish a good gaming community for southern Maine. Since Game Geeks closed many of us have been homeless gamers but here I think we can find a good space to thrive. 

  As I said before and will continue to say we will be there every Saturday as long as I can, if you are interested stop in say hi, play a demo.  Costs nothing to try and is inexpensive hobby to start. Lots of fun to be had by all. Big gaming space with room for card gamers and board gamers to play alongside miniature gamers.  

                     

                     

                     

                     

                     

                     

                     

The Complex

    Ok I've been trying to get some momentum on my blog and miniatures but things have been at a relative standstill with my lack of gaming. Out of the blue, a new store opens in Scarborough, Maine. For those who don't know The Complex only just opened and do not have any Warmachine clients as of yet, but it gives me hope. I am working with the owner to start running demos of Warmachine / Hordes starting Saturday August 3rd and am hoping to make it a regular thing. With time and the fact that I am in possession of almost every army, I can run demos and gather interest in the PP products. I am going to start small but I hope we can start having tournaments and leagues. I know, don't put the cart before the horse, but they have a nice building and a good location right on route one.  If you live in Southern Maine and are interested in Warhammer or if you know about Warmachine, stop in for a demo.  I am going to try and bring a small point value for each Warmachine or Hordes faction.

     More info to come in the following days.  If we can get some interest and a supplier maybe we can even start a journeymen league I know Convergence is calling my name! :)

re-vamp under way

Many big changes since my last post including the end of our gaming store so I didn't play very much until about two months ago found a new store farther away and some friends from the old store got in contact.  So I have decided to start by changing things a little on here making it a weekly and hoping to get some feedback as we progress. I'm hopeful that by next year I may have a podcast with a video channel to show some of the progressions with Privateer Press and the Iron Kingdoms.

I have found a new path and I think this is good I hope you all enjoy.

I'll be starting with my New Colossal the Kraken and a few new casters Asphyx3, Rask, and eBaulder showing my painting progression and if I can I'll sneak some pictures of the Models my wife is working on as she puts me to shame.

I'm sure we'll talk about Templecon 2013 and whats to come in 2014!...\

Vladimir Tzepesci, Great Prince of Umbrey

Vlad3 becomes the true Horse Lord and Khador gets a cavalry caster.

"Reclaiming his long-denied birthright, Great Prince Vladimir Tzepesci rides his warhorse Vsada into battle to defend the lands of Umbrey restored to his family. He wields weapons of the ancient Tzepesci horselords, carrying a spear in one hand and the mace Huntsman in the other. Should strength of arms alone prove insufficient, Vladimir lashes out with dark sorceries, the blood of kings that runs in his veins lending him the strength to secure victory."

Vlad keeps most of his stats the same as with most of the third tier reincarnations with a little more ARM and a lot more SPD (He's on a horse)  Vlad gave up his sword for a spear with brutal charge gains an additional die on damage on a charge, and it's really long so he has Reach. Vlad also carries the huntsman, his mace which has a higher P+S and it's a chain weapon so it ignores shield wall, shields and bucklers. Don't forget the War Pony he packs quite the punch with a standard P+S and Crit Knockdown.

Special abilities the great prince and his pony have Combat Rider allowing his horse to boot you in the face even if he didn't charge. He gets Relentless Charge meaning that on his charge he gains pathfinder meaning that he can get to you Even Faster!  Last but not least Vlad gets Blood-Quenched, whenever he kills an enemy this round he gains+1 STR +1 ARM meaning on a charge if he angles it right kills the things in front then when he get to his charge target he's going to have more STR and more ARM that on top of Brutal Charge equals ouch!

On the spell front Vlad is no slouch as with previous incarnations he brings not just melee brute force but a collection of spells that puts many casters to shame.  Top of the list is Dash giving all warrior models in his CNTRL area +1 SPD and immune to free strikes meaning that now Uhlan's can impact charge away with extra SPD and not worry about pesky free strikes. Plus this also gives Vlad more brute force on his own Brutal charge.

Next they gave Vlad Flashing Blade so at the end of his charge before the combat he can cast flashing blade on his lance lets say hit everyone within 2" gaining more Blood-Quenched goodness before he finishes his attack.

Not to be out shown is Hand of Fate a disgusting cheep upkeep-able spell that gives a unit an additional die to hit and damage with dropping the lowest of those dice.  Meaning reliable hitting and reliable... well... Squish.

Infernal Machine is all kinds of sick nasty giving a warjack in your battle-group +2 SPD and MAT along with the oh so useless terror! Yes one in twenty will scare the pajesus out of a unit but just a nice added bonus for the MAT and SPD bonus especially Khador's swift footed Warjacks am I right?

How can you go wrong with Razor Wind a Khador classic a cheap ranged spell of decent power giving Vlad a nice way to rid himself of extra foes at range.

His last spell another Vlad classic Wind Wall he can't make ranged attacks and non-magical ranged attacks automatically miss models within 3" of this model cannot make ranged attacks and non magical ranged attacks targeting them automatically miss.

Last but most certainly not the least is Vlad3's Feat: Charge of the Horse Lords - Friendly faction Warjacks and Cavalry models in Vlad's CNTRL area gain Side Step ( A model with side step can move 2" without free strikes every time they hit with an initial weapon. No bought attacks) and Sprint ( A model with sprint can move it's SPD at the end of it's activation if it destroyed at least one model during it's activation)  

This feat can be uneventful if not planed out well or absolutely devastating. Vlad3 with a unit of Uhlans with Hand of Fate and Drago with Infernal Machine up, can by turn two can be impact charging with three dice to hit three dice damage dropping the lowest Vlad Blood-Quenched and sidestepping can lead a brutal charge followed by a swift retreat leaving you room to for you to run extra units up from the back to block charges after your smash then regroup for another attack.  I think that this feat will catch a lot of people off guard making it a problem that opponents of Vlad3 will have to deal with.

My thoughts on Vlad, Great Prince of Umbrey is that he give you a reason to field cavalry and has ways to make them even better.  As far as the Cav casters go Vlad3 gives his cav the biggest boost that being Hand of Fate and well his Feat.  With a unit of light cav on the horizon makes me think that Khador will remain the mounted kings of combat in the Iron Kingdoms.  The added boost of a cav caster just helps them be even more effective.  That being said there still is numerous weaknesses of cav and not sure if this will balance the gap or just make it a little more interesting when you see a field of horses bearing down on you.

Asphyxious the Hellbringer

Of all the new casters coming out Asphyxious3 is looking pretty awesome to me. So I figure over the next few days I'll go over the new third tier casters and the uses they might have.

"More than one thousand years of preparation has brought Asphyxious closer than ever to his goal of rising above the other lich lords to stand as Toruk’s most invaluable general. He alone holds the key to unleashing the terrible might of the Nightmare Empire. To aid him in his great work, Asphyxious has applied his impressive mastery of thrall runes to craft Vociferon, a skarlock perfectly equipped to serve as a conduit for souls. Vociferon’s battle standard of death and discord resonates with unholy intent, for it was made to collect the essences of all who perish within its reach and fuel Asphyxious’ fell sorceries."

Stat wise his looks the same as his other forms 15 DEF/17 ARM/F 7/ P+S16/ . Daimonon has a new ability Blood Boon, for those of you who haven't played Vlad recently this gives Asphyxious the ability after killing living enemy to cast a spell of three or less for free. So kill a dude spell, kill a dude spell so forth and so on. A nice touch.

Speical abilities are pretty much standard fare.  Cull soul, living models killed he gains a soul token, Terror, he's scary (sort of) and da...da...da..dah! Undead yeah I know you never expected that one.

Spells are where Asphyxious3 is going to shine. Lets start with the Menoth favorite Ashen Veil that's right people Cryx is getting a higher defense! hahahahaha...  Ashen Veil gives a friendly model concealment, and living enemy models suffer -2 to hit while within 2" of affected model.

Bone Shaker a nice spell 2 F offensive ranged when boxes a living enemy you get to advance with model ignoring free strikes make a melee attack then the model is removed from the game.

Good Ole Carnage 3 F making it even easier to hit living enemy models +2 to hit while while within this model's CNTRL.  Hey why not make it easier for Bane Lord Tartarus shall make many a bane with his MAT 11 Curse + Carnage +4 to attack.  Banes then become MAT 10. Hell even Satyxis raiders on power swell no need to CMA that's a lot of feedback.

Hex Blast is a nice spell to debuff a caster sitting on Iron Flesh or Arcane Shield or drop it on a trooper and eliminate a nasty spell on your troopers. Hex Blast model hit looses spell effects.

Mobility is a cheap method to give his battlegroup, including himself +2 SPD and pathfinder.  So now Asphyxious has a huge threat range even longer if you take Darragh in your list.  Plus pathfinder on your jacks won't hurt too bad.

Scything Touch an Asphyxious spell makes Satyxis raiders and blood witches something to fear.  Scything Touch gives a friendly faction model +2 to damage rolls and crit corrosion. That gives blood witches a P+S 12 and a P+S 10 with gang so those become 14 and 12 respectively not too shabby on a SPD 7 unit. I've wreaked jacks with the unit on a charge. Give it to the raiders and power swell 

His Feat isn't anything to scoff at either.  Whenever a model is forced, a spell is cast, focus, or fury is spent in his CNTRL area Asphyxious heals d3 and gains a soul token.  This looks disgusting on paper but I am looking forward to trying it out in play.

Vociferon, Asphyxious' attachment 13 DEF/ 17 ARM.  He's an Arc node, he even gets the commander ability, nice twist allows Asphyxious to allocate focus to a warjack in Vociferon's CMD range so you can extend you CNTRL zone by a good amount.  He picks up soul tokens for living enemy models killed within his CMD range these add to his ARM +1 for each and Death Harvest allows him to transfer them to Asphyxious during his maintenance phase. A nice addition in replace of our beloved skarlock.

On paper he looks like one hell of a caster I can not wait to get some play testing underway.  Unfortunately I have to wait until the beginning of August to get my hands on him. shucky darn.  His tier list is ok:

• Warjacks: Non-character warjacks, Cankerworm, Malice
• Units: Bile Thralls, Mech Thralls, Necrosurgeons, Soulhunters, Withershadow Combine
• Solos: Warwitch Sirens, non-character undead Cryx solos
• Battle Engines: Wrath Engines

Tier 1: Army gains one free Necrotech for each Helljack in your army

Tier 2: (Includes Pistol Wraith) Pistol Wraith's gain AD

Tier 3: (3 or more units) Models that can gain a corpse or soul token begin the game with one.

Tier 4: (Includes the Kraken) Deployment Zone Extended 2"

Asphyxious the Hellbringer looks to become a staple Cryx caster in heavy rotation of my Cryx army pAsphyxious and eAsphyxious are casters that I love to run and their big brother looks to continue the tradition.

Colossals, Gargantuans and WarRoom

I'd like to hit on a few topics that are coming up quick.  Colossals and the War Room App.

Colossals bring a lot to the table and now after reading some battle-reports and now that the Stormwall is out and Conquest will be out later this month.  I have to disagree with some of my fellow players I think this is an amazing move by Privateer press.  I think that Colossals aren't invincible that can easily be taken down by a good stratagy or if the player doesn't know the full potential of his colossal.  This element gives large scale games an interesting start since before with PP large scale games took tons and tons of models now with adding a colossal (..or two) you reduce the number of models you need to field and you get an interesting large scale game.

I have yet to get a game in against one as no one up here in the great north has purchased one.  I am debating on getting a conquest for my Kahdor but not sure if my small force needs that sort of help yet I am leaning toward it.  And the Kraken doesn't come out for a few more months.

Gargantuans I personally think take the cake if the three I've seen so far hold true.  The Mountain King for trolls looks like Mulg on roids, then there's Circle's Woldwrath the Gorilla Wold, the Archangel Legion's SUPER Angelious, and no name of the Skorne Gigantic Titan with multi-cannon strapped to his back.

Lastly I'd like to hit on the War Room App coming soon to a device near you.  Having only seen the demo video at Temple-con and watching it online it looks pretty amazing like I may have to say goodbye to my good and faithful iBodger.  They just announced that it was off to be approved by Apple, Google, and ...AMAZON! Wha..wha..WHAT!? say that again Amazon for the Kindle Fire... my kindle fire... I don't have to squint to see it on my iPhone?! I think I might faint...  Wait let me back up a few steps take some deep breathing exercises and then lets try that one more time.  

Yes the new War Room app will be available on Kindle fire so in order to get the most out of the app you don't need to own a 650$ iPad just my lil Kindle Fire.  So now comes the hard part it's done with yet I have to wait! That's just rude.  The ability to mark off damage and build lists will probably put the last nail in the coffin of iBodger which has been a good and faithful friend low these many years. You will... probably not be missed.