Workbench 31/1/2013

Been a bit busy working on some of my miniatures, recently got the Khador battlegroup which I'll do a post about next week.

So now some pics of my latest efforts.

Mis-Adventures In The Iron Kingdoms 30/1/2013

Part Two, covering last Friday's session.

~

After their jaunt in Riversmet the party moved towards Elsinberg, using their stolen Merc permits to get past Khadoran checkpoints. Compared to the other parts of Llael they've travelled through this area was clearly under firm Khadoran control, similarly they found that Elsinberg had fared much better than Riversmet during the Invasion.

Now they arrived during the March of the Dead: basically the manifestation of an army from the Rebellion period that mysteriously disappeared when it set out to reinforce Ravensgard against the Orgoth in 183 AR. There has been a festival that has sprung up around the March ever since it started some years ago, something that the party used as a cover to get into the city.

The final Pearl that they're after is on the estate of the Llaelese Minister of Internal Security, so it'll be bit of a tricky task to get to. Fortunately the Minister is hosting a masked ball as part of the Marsh festival and Ratchet's cover identity as the grandson of a Khadoran general has helped the party gained invites to the ball.

We finished the session as the party was getting ready for the ball and working out their plan of action.

Newes From The Front 29/1/2013

First battle report for a long while, my you are a lucky lot.

It was a 35 pts battle, straight up 'Caster Kill game between two Merc armies; my typical Magnus force and a Searforge one under Gorten Grundback.

IIRC my opponent's army consisted of;

Gorten
-2x Grundback Gunner
-Ghordson Driller
Ogrun Bokur
Thor Steinhammer
Herne & Jonne
Orgun Assault Corps
Horgenhold Forge Guard
Hammerfall High Shield Gun Corps
-Officer & Standard UA

We rolled off and I ended up going first, deploying wreck markers that I get from playing a Tier 4 Magnus list on my left flank with both units of Steelheads covering my right. Magnus' battlegroup deployed center with Kell Bailoch just to the left of them. My opponent setup the Gun Corps with Herne & Jonne opposite the Steelheads, the Ogruns and Forge Guard center and Gorten's battlegroup on his right/my left. Steelheads moved across the board about 18 inches thanks to the Advance Move they got from Magnus' Tier list and a run on their normal activation, Kell Bailoch moved an inch to take up cover behind a wall. I ran my battlegroup forwards, but stupidly forgot to pop Magnus' feat.

The Steelhead Halbarbiers got slaughtered by the Gun Corps and were forced to flee, but their Riflemen brethren seemed to be immune to Dwarven rifle fire. Aside from a couple of ineffective pop shots against my Mangler that was basically it for the Dwarfs. My next turn saw most of Gorten's battlegroup Knockdowned by the Renegades and the Bukor sporting a couple of bullet holes from Bailoch, meanwhile the Gun Corps were steadily whittled down by my Riflemen. The Mangler got stuck in with the Ogruns, despite taking a pounding in return it survived the rest of the game. The return Dwarven rifle fire proved to be ineffective yet again.

Turn three saw the Renegades charge the Driller as I tried to position myself for an assassination run on Gorten, however my plans were ruined when Gorten's feat was popped and my battlegroup was relocated as an assassination run on Magnus was setup....and failed.

Seeing my chance I whacked Gorten with the Mangler's wrecking ball and then a boosted shotgun blast from Magnus finished off the Dwarf and brought me victory.

All-in-all a good and hard fought battle, though I'm kicking myself for not popping Magnus' feat on the first turn.

The Workbench 4/1/2013

Two posts in one day?!

You lucky people.

Finally got round to repainting the Nomad.

Immeron Newes 7/12/2012

Just a couple of Insiders this past week.

*David Carl talks about painting up a Legion of Everblight army for a PP Staff Holiday Bundle Painting Challenge.

http://privateerpress.com/community/privateer-insider/insider-12-3-2012

*Likewise Tony Konichek talks about the Merc force he's doing.

http://privateerpress.com/community/privateer-insider/insider-12-7-2012

Workbench 5/11/2012

At last! Some progress on the miniatures front!

Devoted some time on Saturday to working on my miniatures, a mix of assembly and a bit of painting.

*Started painting up Magnus, but still a long way to go before he's done.

*Nomad is now painted up in the colours of my army, just some highlighting left and then the varnish.

*Croe's Cutthroats proved harder to assemble than first thought, probably going to end up pinning them as I'm having no end of trouble gluing their arms on.

If anyone has any advice on pinning miniatures then I'm all ears.

Immeron Newes 3/11/2012

Just a quick post, meant insanely busy today.

The Merc Colossal, the Galleon, is up on the front page!

http://privateerpress.com/warmachine/gallery/mercenaries/colossals/galleon

I'll most certainly be getting this.

Newes From The Front 29/10/2012

Well I managed to get a couple of games in over the weekend.

The first was a 50 pts one against my regular Cygnar opponent, similar lists to our previous game.

My opponent opted for a Refused Flank tactic and deployed his army in a single corner, I deployed most of my army opposite his with Saxon Orrick running with Croe's Cutthroats. Charged my battlegroup forwards to get into melee quickly, managed to severely damage my opponent's Cyclone early on to limit its effectiveness so that Stannis and both squads of Steelheads could move up relatively unmolested on my left flank. The sellsword ranger and the Cutthroats took the right flank, supported by the sniper Kell Bailoch, managing to wipe out the opposing Long Gunners. Trenchers proved to be much much harder to take out but I managed it in the end, though lost both my heavies in the process. The Steelheads ended up being almost wiped out whilst Stannis hacked his way through my opponent's Stormguard and went for Stryker. In the end it was the Cutthroats that managed to get the killing blow, shooting Stryker in the back with a crossbow getting a  POW 10+5d6 damage roll.

Second game was a quick demo game against a guy who was interested in Warmachine; I set him up with Ashlynn, a Nomad, Mule and a Vanguard whilst I ran the Magnus battlegroup of Mangler, Renegade and a Talon. His Nomad took a pounding early on but his Mule got a crit and pushed back the Talon, smacking into Magnus and doing a POW 15 damage roll. Ashlynn managed to get a charge off on Magnus and gave him a sound trashing but the Traitor remained standing with 1 HP left. On my turn Magnus' first attack misses and triggers Ashlynn's attack back which hits and does more than enough damage to win the game.

All-in-all both good games, plus may have a new Warmachine player.

Mis-Adventures In The Iron Kingdoms 22/10/2012

Did another session on Friday, though round somebody else's house.

Suffering from a bout of the flu and with a marauding dog, a bunch of cats and a devilcat meant dice rolling and combat was limited. So it was more of a Role Play evening, mainly consisting of travelling by caravan up towards Llael.They skirted up past the Bloodstone Marches and the caravan was hit by a sandstorm that it managed to weather it. Eventually they moved into Llael seeing signs of Khadoran occupation and recent battles between them and the Menites.

They finally arrive in Rhydden where they linked up with the Resistance and given some missions to do;

*Take out a Khadoran outpost thats sited close to a route used by the Resistance.

*Attack a Khadoran administration office, steal some paperwork and raze the building to cover their tracks.

*Using (stolen) mercenary licence to move across Khadoran territory to Elsinberg, posing as mercs going to bolster the city watch during the March of the Dead. This will give them a cover identity as they prepare for a raid on the estate of the Llaelese Minister of Internal Security.

Have to admit that I was surprised the party's resident Khadoran, a Morrown Paladin, was quite eager to help out the Resistance.

Armchair Briefing 17/10/2012

Been a while since I've done one of these, but I'm doing something slightly different compared to the others.

I've been looking at the idea of starting a second army and I've considered doing Khador, main reason being I've played them before and its an army I can easily use my mercs with. My idea is to build up a 50 pts Khador force to be combined with my 50 pts Magnus one to form a 100 pts army, though in the mean time I'll be using this segment to post up possible lists as I worked towards my goal.

Natural place to start is the Khador battlebox with Sorcha, I've played with this 'caster before and have a reasonable idea of what she's capable of. So things should be fine....long as I don't freeze my own warjack again. ¬_¬

Newes From The Front 8/10/2012

Was hoping to post about the one-shot IKRPG game that I was running Friday, however nobody turned up and I wasn't able to run the game (not to mention wasted my time and bus fare). Though I spoke to the other GM who had planned to run another game that same evening that there had been a poor turnout out all week long and that only one game barely had enough to actually run.

On a lighter note I did manage to get in a 50 pts game of Warmachine over the weekend.

It was against my regular Cygnar opponent and was out first game against each other in quite a while as well as being out first 50 pts one. He went with his usual Stryker list that he played before with the addition of some Stormguard, maxed out Long Gunner and Trencher units backed up by a couple of Lancers, a Defender and a Cyclone. Likewise I played my normal 35 pts Magnus the Traitor list with the addition of Stannis Brocker, Kell Bailoch, Orin Midwinter and Croe's Cutthroats.

My opponent deployed the bulk of his force in one corner as I spread mine out a bit, Magnus' battlegroup in the center with the Cutthroats backed up by Midwinter on one flank and the Steelheads backed up by my other solos on the other flank.Getting first turn I opted to do the '20 inch' dash across the table by running my warjacks and then popping Magnus' feat Hit and Run to run my warjacks again so that they were across the table in one turn. Whilst the rest of my army tried to outflank, my opponent focused on taking out my two Renegade light warjacks but not before they decimated my opponent's Long Gunners. The Trenchers proved to be a tough target as the Cutthroats quickly found out, Dug In with Arcane Shield and Stryker's feat the Trenchers were quite capable of being made nigh impossible to kill. But lucky dice rolling with Midwinter's Chain Lighting spell cleared out most of 'em before the Cutthroats charged in with poison coated weapons.

In the center the Long Gunners ended up being wiped out, so were my two Renegades whilst my Mangler got wrecked as well. The Nomad fared better, typing up a Lancer and the Stormguard for a fair number of turns. On the other flank Stannis proved to be a tough customer as the Steelheads dealt with the Cyclone and the second Lancer.The final turn saw Magnus casting Obliteration to do a ton of damage on Stryker, but the Cygnaran 'caster barely survived. I then decided to move Magnus up and fire of an unboosted shot from his scattergun, needed a double 6 to hit or otherwise it was game over for me.

Amazingly the dice were with me and I managed to do enough damage to finish Stryker off and win the game.

It was a long, hard fought game that I really enjoyed. Though my opponent made the mistake of spreading his firepower out when he should've just focused his attacks on punching through my warjack screen to get to Magnus, but the dice were against him as he kept rolling double 1s and took about 3-4 turns to kill Stannis who is a 10hp Solo.

Our next game I should hopefully be trying out a new warcaster, chiefly Drake MacBain.

Workbench 1/10/2012

Been a busy week in general which included a 40K Combat Patrol tournie over the weekend, but managed to get some work done with my ongoing project.

*Croe's Cutthroats are finally getting put together as I move up to a 50pt army, they'll get their baptism of fire this evening.

*That cardboard building I'd started on has seen little progress, mainly due to having to wait for the glue to dry. Intending to at least get all four walls sorted and the roof if I can this week.

Newes From The Front 25/9/2012

Haven't gotten any gaming in this past week but I have been looking at trying out a different warcaster, namely MacBain.

Heres what I'm looking at;

MacBain
-Talon
-Talon
-Mangler
-Nomad
Steelhead Halberdiers x10
Steelhead Riflemen x10
Saxon Orric
Kell Bailoch

If anyone has any experience with MacBain then I'm all ears.

Newes From The Front 18/9/2012

Finally got a game in last night, this game against a Mage Hunter heavy Retribrution force.

Since the Elves ignored cover it menat staying at range and shooting them wasn't such a good idea, so I used the normal list for this one. Surprised my opponent a bit by running my warjacks and then popping Magnus' feat Hit and Run to move a total of 20 inches across the board on turn one, it meant I got into melee much quicker and limited the amount of shots against my army.

Then I discovered another sneaky Elven trick, 4 inch melee attacks!

Oh and other stuff like ignoring magic buffs, Free Strikes and even Focus stealing. It quickly became one of those games that was going to end on turn two no matter what happened, ultimately I ended up losing thanks to my opponent doing well on damage rolls. My tactic was proven to be valid since we rolled to see what happened if I survived a little bit longer, average rolls with the One-Shot Wonders on the Renegades would've killed his warcaster...if only I'd gone first.

Still, we both had fun and my opponent said it was the msot enjoyable game he's had in a while.

~ ~ ~

As a side note, home computer went kaput last night so posts will be irregular this week.

Armchair Briefing 6/9/2012

The Nomad is this week's 'jack under review.

Backstory

The Nomad is an old Cygnaran warjack designed with one purpose in mind; cutting open heavy armour like a tin can. Its massive battle blade brought a world of hurt to anything unlucky enough to get in its way, serving Cygnar in this role for over a century.








It was one of the first few designs that was produced in bulk, something that allowed the liberal allocation of this 'jack widely throughout the Cygnaran Army. But with the coming of more mechanikally advanced designs the Nomad was decommissioned from Cygnaran service in 563 AR and found its way quickly onto the mercenary market. Though its design now predates anyone living today, the Nomad has become a mainstray for many sell-swords for its reliability and ease of maintenance.

Abilities

See weapons.

Weapons

*Open Fist; Nothing special, an open fist that allows one-handed throws and a buckler that adds +1 to the ARM value.

*Battle Blade; Big Bloody Sword with Reach, it'll hurt whatever it manages to hit.






Tactics

The Nomad is the Merc's generic 'jack and a fairly cheap one at only 6 pts, its main job is to charge big targets and whack 'em for six. Load up with 3 Focus, charge and let loose. Most 'jacks will take a battering from its sword.

I usually upkeep Magnus' Iron Aggression spell on this 'jack, being able to charge and boost attack rolls for free that Focus you put on its can be used to buy extra attacks and boost damage.

Armchair Briefing 23/8/2013

Up this week is the Mangler heavy warjack.

Backstory

Another one of the warjacks designed and built by Asbeth Magnus, the Mangler quickly became a favoured heavy warjack chassis amongst various mercenary companies. It was built from a collection of stolen labourjacks and outdated warjacks, its massive spiked ball it attached to a chain often nabbed from ship anchors or drawbridges.

Abilities

See weapons.

Weapons

*Punching Spike; Melee with a respectful P+S of 15, plus Open Fist to allow one-handed throws.

*Wrecker; Reach, ignores Shields and a special attack that allows a single attack against every single enemy model in LOS and melee range makes for a weapon thats a world of hurt for infantry.

Tactics

Typically I use the Mangler to clear out pesky infantry units, though I make it a habit to put Temper Metal on this 'jack to boost its ARM up to 21 so that it can survive hits against it with very single damage. Its a melee 'jack so get it stuck into combat soon as possible and try to position to hit one or two infantry units at the same time, Reach helps alot here, and then use Tresher on the chain ball. Alternative might be to put Iron Aggression on him instead to allow him to boost attack rolls for free and to give that extra chance to hit models with above average DEF.

Newes From The Front 20/8/2012

Got a game in Monday night against a Khador player who ran a Butcher Tier list.

pButcher
-Juggernaunt
-Kodiak
-Maruader
-Wardog
Man-O-War Demo Corps x3
Man-O-War Demo Corps x3
Manhunter x2
Widowmaker Kaptain

I'd used my Magnus Tier list with the Mule instead of the Mangler so I had the ranged advantage and we rolled up a scenario; Throw Down

Nice and simple, take and keep control of two 10" diameter circles along the centerline of the board.

During the early turns my advantage paid off and I managed to inflict a few casualties amongst the Soviet Red Army...Khadorans including one of the Man-O-War units to allow me to at least contest one of the control points with the Halberdiers and the Wardog. The Riflemen didn't do as well as their melee counterparts and only claimed a single Man-O-War from the second unit, though they only lost a couple themselves and managed to pull back to reform as a gunline. Saxon was felled with a single bullet from the Widowmaker, though didn't inflict only damage himself and only helped out the Halberdiers by giving them Pathfinder for a couple of turns.

In the center the Mule fired off a few potshots at the Butcher and took him down to about half health, but the combined actions of the Kodiak and the Angriest Man On Caen eventually turned the Mule into a smoking wreck. The Nomad proceed to smash ten bells out of the Maruader, lost its sword arm in return and was eventually finished off my a Manhunter. Renegade No.1 was also lost to a Manhunter but took one of them with it, its twin tangoed with the Maruader to keep it occupied until I withdrew it when Magnus' feat was popped.

Last turn of the game I still had Magnus on full health, one of the Renegades and the surviving Riflemen forming into a protective block. The surviving Halberdiers still stubbornly hung on and contested one of the control points....well at least until the Butcher introduced Lola to them.

Thus Khador won on scenario.

Thoughts

In retrospect I'm thinking maybe I should've focused my entire force on taking control of one of the control points and using my ranged units to whittle down the Khadorans, probably focusing on one target at a time and using Arcantik Bolt. Had I used the Mangler instead of the Mule I suspect I would have been in for a tougher fight, the Mule's AOE was certainly useful throughout the game until the 'jack got destroyed. I also should have boosted blast damage rather than the initial hit on certain targets, least I would've taken out certain models that proved to be a bane for me later on.

All-in-all, an enjoyable game.

Armchair Briefing 16/8/2012

This week we're covering Magnus' signature warjack the Renegade.

Backstory

The Renegade is the result of Magnus' Meckanikal skills, being designed and assembled whilst the warcaster was on the run during the first few years of his exile. The main body is based on decommissioned Cygnaran 'jacks whilst various parts were salvaged from junkyards across Western Immeron. After seizing an estate in Ternon Crag Magnus gained access to a workshop and was enable to make improvements upon the basic design, presently his Renegades all utilize parts claimed from wrecks abandoned after the countless battles from which he emerged the victor.

Abilities

*Arc Node; Only Merc 'jack that has access to one.

*Custom Warjack [Magnus]; Only Magnus (in either form) is allowed to use this 'jack.

Weapons

*Obliterator; One-shot weapon with Arcing Fire and Knockdown makes this 'jack good in the indirect fire support role until it fires this weapon.

*Shredder; Critical Shred is nice for the extra damage but getting a double 6 is rare, Sustained Attack is extremely nice long as you loaded up the 'jack with Focus and hit first time.

Tactics

The Renegade is one of the 'jacks that tries to do everything but masters nothing, its most powerful weapon the Obliterator can only be used once per game and more often than not (in my experience) needs boosting on the attack roll to even remotely hit a target. The Arc Node is of use most games and I have found myself using it a few times to hit targets just outside of Magnus' normal spell range, but it is a bit slow for a light 'jack. I've only really used the Shredder on rare occasions, you really need to dump all the focus you can onto this little bugger to get the most out of it.

Common census says you typically run a single Renegade with Magnus, though his Tier list requires two (but makes them cheaper) and so thats what I've usually put on the board. Taking a couple certainly gives you a bit more flexibility and some more options, not to mention being able to use the Obliterator twice and a couple of Arc Nodes.

All in all a solid light 'jack that provides Magnus with a range of tools to help get the job done.

Newes Fromt The Front 14/8/2012

Well haven't been able to get any games in this past week and so no battle report to post.

Instead the focus this time is on lists I wish to play, ultimately moving up my current list to 50 points from the 35 points it currently sits at.

pMagnus
- Mangler/Mule
- Nomad
- Renegade
- Renegade
Steelhead Halberdiers x10
Steelhead Riflemen x10
Croe’s Cutthroats
Stannis Brocker
Saxon Orrik
Orin Midwinter
Kell Bailoch

As with my current list the Mule is optional depending on what armies I'm facing, though the big fella will most likely be in when I'm facing melee heavy armies. The Mangler will be in when I'm facing Cygnar, effectively using Magnus' Hit and Run feat to get 20 inches across the board though some careful use of timing will be needed.

Kell Bailoch will probably be paired off with the Riflemen to lend them a hand, whilst the Halberdiers will get the support of Saxon Orrik and Stannis Brocker. Midwinter I've never used but common wisdom suggests he's best sticking close to Magnus.

The Cutthroats will be flank runners, probably operating opposite the Riflemen and helping to clear out infantry thanks to the overkill of Poison they have on every damn weapon!

It'll be a few months before I get the models together for this list but it looks to be a fun one to play.

Workbench 13/8/2012

Just a quick one this time round.

*Finally finished putting together the Steelhead units (Halberdiers and Riflemen) and so now have a fully assembled 35 points army.

*Next I'll be breaking out the paintbrush to undercoat the entire army in Chaos Black.

*Croe's Cutthroats are on order so I can start making the jump to 50 points.