Month: August 2016

Another Journey Ended

Well, the Summer 2016 Journeyman League I’ve been running has finally ended its Week 6, and the results are in: you can check them out here if you’re inclined to see shots of all the armies and the final standings from the various games. It’s been a bumpy road, and choosing Xerxis2 as my caster for weeks 4-6 didn’t help any. That said, I finally think I’m starting to get a sense of what he can do and cannot do–though that latter category is much larger, sadly.

But as always, painting progress first:

I finished up a Swamp Gobbers Bellows Crew, which was passed on to me by my buddy Enrico. These plus a unit of Paingiver Bloodrunners were my additions for Week 6 of the League.

I also did up an Extoller Soulward solo for my force (actually for the Champions format Steamroller featured in my last post, but I forgot to take a photo). The benefit of forgetting was getting a great shot of the model on this terrain piece that my buddy Roger built brick-by-brick from plaster molds and painted.

This week I managed to play three games spanning Saturday to Thursday, and got a victory in each one of them. Two were against Ryan’s Cryx army led by Terminus–we often play because we have matching flexible schedules it seems. And the other was against Roger’s Circle Orboros force.

The first match against Terminus this week I realized that I couldn’t go heads-up against his force or him, so I had to carefully attrition the army. It managed to work out, thanks to the deep threat provided by Rorsh and Brine headed toward his deep objective. By pulling just enough of the force in two directions, I was able to piecemeal it. He had to take a shot with Terminus, which failed, allowing Xerxis2 and a Titan Gladiator to combine together to finally take him out via assassination.

On Tuesday, I ran down to my buddy Roger’s for another League game. We played on his great fall-themed terrain table. This time, luck was on Xerxis2’s side. Tanith’s gun-and-spell assassination run on her feat turn came up short in killing him, leaving him able to ride over and finish her off.

Then on Thursday, after testing out the new Rumble Rules (not a huge fan), Ryan and I happened to be paired up for the first Journeyman game of the evening–having each played someone else in the interim, it worked out. I wasn’t looking forward to facing Terminus yet again (don’t get me wrong, Ryan is a fun player–just the Frankenstein’s Monster of a Xerxis2 list I was running as a result of Journeyman was ill-suited to take on Terminus). This time, my attrition attempts were clearly not working. So I had to take a desperate move and sprint forward, having a few beasts follow for fury purposes while the rest of my force jammed. That left Xerxis2 in his deployment zone behind a forest. I had to weather a turn of Arc Node spells before I charged the objective… and then came up one damage point shy of destroying it. With no Fury left. Yet luck was with Xerxis2 again, and the spells from the Withershadow, spells from Terminus himself, and attacks from two Soulhunters all failed to finish him off (thanks mostly to a splendid run of 3’s and 4’s rolled by Ryan in the process). I stole some Fury off the lone Basilisk Krea that still survived, and smashed the objective for a victory. An epic conclusion to a pretty epic league.

500 Points Challenge Progress (2016):

325/500

Battles (Privateer Press):

Overall Totals 2016: 84 (Win/Loss: 50/34/0); 2015: 43 (Win/Loss: 29/14/0)

Protectorate of Menoth:

11 Wins (Agathia x3, Tanith x2, Helynna, Lord Carver, Terminus, Beth Maddox x2, Ragnor) / 2 Losses (Agathia, Haley, Terminus)

Skorne:

23 Wins (Butcher x2, Deneghra, Shae, Sorscha2, Feora2, Severius, Skarre x2, Kreoss2, Borka, Kaya2, Stryker x2, Ragnor x2, Agathia, Malekus, Durgen, Kozlov, Bart, Terminus x2, Tanith)/ 16 Losses (Rask, Xerxis, Butcher3, Thagrosh, Zerkova2, Stryker x2, Magnus2, Terminus x2, Tanith, Vlad x2, Rahn, Arkadius)

Trollbloods:

11 Wins (Karchev x2, Vayl2 x3, Lylyth x2, Kaya, Skarre, Thagrosh, Asphyxious3) / 11 Losses (Adeptis Rahn, Kromac, Caine2, Borka2, Kaya, Rhyas, Ashlynn x2, Twins Saeryn and Rhyas, Butcher3, Thagrosh, Vayl2)

Cryx:

4 Wins (Caine, Karchev, Skarre, Vlad) / 4 Losses (Asphyxious, Lylyth2, Goreshade3, Stryker)

Decisions Decisions

Ah, faction-jumping… My favorite pastime. I’d have a completely painted full faction together by now if I wasn’t so torn all the time. Mark III, of course, threw that into over-drive. I was initially was focusing on Protectorate for Mark III. I wanted to take them to GenCon, but the time grew too short. So I swapped to Skorne as I have much more painted for them. Then (of course) couldn’t make it to GenCon, which meant that I’m still suspended between the two: not quite enough Protectorate to be happy with what’s hitting the table, but a Skorne force that I’m not as entirely enthused about as I’ve been in the past. I swapped to Skorne for our Journeyman league, and while I was intending to play Protectorate in a recent Champions format tournament in my area, I ended up taking my Skorne there as well. Again, the curse of wanting to play fully painted.

That said, my painting addition for the Journeyman league this week was at least something that I could use in my Protectorate force as well (actually, designed and painted to accompany them more than the Skorne). Enter, Rorsh and Brine:

I did Rorsh up as a convert to the faith of Menoth, to the point where he incorporated a stolen shoulderpad from some fallen Exemplar into his armor. Sorry the pic is a little blurry on Brine’s face–he’s a long model and really leans forward.

This past week and two weekends were a flurry of Warmachine and Hordes, with my Skorne getting a lot of action. I played a couple for-fun games, two Journeyman league games, and attended a small Champions tournament at Legions Games.

Kicked it off with a battle between Archdomina Makeda and Ryan’s Broadsides Bart Mercenaries list. I wanted to try out the trick of using lots of Scarabs as shield guard targets for Makeda’s Subjugation of Will spell. This was a good list to try it against, as it was somewhat shooty at first. The melee threat after was hard to handle, and my force dwindled. We were playing with a clock, and Ryan timed out ultimately for a win for me–but he definitely was hammering me (Makeda and a single scarab were hiding at one of the flags) and if it had been a more focused tournament situation he would have most likely won in time.

Again, I faced off again (a different) Ryan’s Terminus Cryx list. It doesn’t have many of the things that he would normally include if it weren’t for Journeyman restrictions, and yet it was a very nasty list to battle with Xerxis2.

This time, Terminus beat Xerxis to death rather than Makeda. Outcome was the same. He’s a monster that Xerxis2 simply lacks answers for in the list I’m fielding for Journeyman.

My other Journeyman game for the week was against Paul’s Khador force, led by Vlad. This was a nasty fight, but Xerxis2 did as he always does, ends just a little too close to something. He managed to land a little damage with some ranged attacks as I advanced, and little damage adds up fast on Xerxis2 even with ARM 19 (occasionally 21, thanks to the Razor Wurm). Finally I tried to set up a lane to try and get to Vlad, but just a bit too much could reach him and Xerxis2 was defeated yet again.

I was glad to get in another friendly game, this time against Michael’s Trollbloods force. I took Naaresh for this one, mainly because Michael is a newer player and hasn’t seen every different type of caster. I wanted to show him what an aggressive caster played like–and Naaresh did it well. He led the charge, stomped around damaging foes and surviving attacks leveraged at him. I ended up damaging his caster with Naaresh, and finishing him off with a charging Gladiator to end the game.

As I mentioned above, I also played in a Champions format tournament this past weekend. I fielded a ranged attack Xekaar list and the multiple-shield-guard-scarabs melee list with Makeda. I ended up losing all three games, though two of them were very close.

First up, Brandon’s Aspyhxious list. I was doing very well in the match, with my Siege Animantarax and Paingiver Bloodrunners doing great work on my right flank. And that’s why my opponent took a chance at spell assassination. It worked, just barely. Aspyhxious is a good assassin, and Xekaar just didn’t have enough defense around him to survive (note a similar theme next game with Makeda… I need to get a spot for Orrin Midwinter in my lists for my Skorne to be competitive it seems).

Second game was against Kyle’s retribution. I had the distinct feeling he would play Adeptis Rahn, mainly because both of my lists were going to be awful against that match-up. Lo and behold he did, and I got a bit too close with Makeda… After all the twisting, turning, jerking, and pulling she was backwards in front of a few weapon masters and easy pickings. At least it ended quickly. In retrospect, I should have probably taken my Xekaar list and used the Battle Engine simply to deny line of sight as much as possible to my caster, with hopes that my shooting could clear enough of his stuff to try and slog it out at the end. Either way, it was unlikely, and Kyle ran his list very well.

For my third game, I matched up against Andy’s Dr. Arkadius list, complete with four heavy Pigs. I did a good job befuddling him with added fury from the Agonizer and lower thresholds from Xekaar’s feat, but he got to the far flag first and started scoring a bit quicker than I did. I tried to stop him but came up a bit short–the forest in the middle slowing all of my warbeasts besides the Aradus Sentinel, who is just as slow as a Cyclops in terrain anyhow with his Speed 3. A fun and silly game, as Andy is always a pleasant opponent win or lose.

It was a week of a lot of Skorne, which only increased my thinking that maybe it’s time to put a push into my Protectorate and get them at least a single list that’s really Table-ready at 75 points. With the upcoming Crossroads of Courage league from Privateer Press, I’m all the more torn: do I want to try to pull the character’s narrative toward Protectorate, or would it be funny to campaign for him to be a Skorne model instead… Decisions decisions.

500 Points Challenge Progress (2016):

320/500

Battles (Privateer Press):

Overall Totals 2016: 81 (Win/Loss: 47/34/0); 2015: 43 (Win/Loss: 29/14/0)

Protectorate of Menoth:

11 Wins (Agathia x3, Tanith x2, Helynna, Lord Carver, Terminus, Beth Maddox x2, Ragnor) / 3 Losses (Agathia, Haley, Terminus)

Skorne:

20 Wins (Butcher x2, Deneghra, Shae, Sorscha2, Feora2, Severius, Skarre x2, Kreoss2, Borka, Kaya2, Stryker x2, Ragnor x2, Agathia, Malekus, Durgen, Kozlov, Bart)/ 16 Losses (Rask, Xerxis, Butcher3, Thagrosh, Zerkova2, Stryker x2, Magnus2, Terminus x2, Tanith, Vlad x2, Rahn, Arkadius)

Trollbloods:

Cryx:

4 Wins (Caine, Karchev, Skarre, Vlad) / 4 Losses (Asphyxious, Lylyth2, Goreshade3, Stryker)

The Archdomina and the Rhino

Another week of painting resulted in a fair amount of progress. I completed two more Skorne Warlocks: Archdomina Makeda and Xerxis, Fury of Halaak. I’m actually nearing the point where I have every single Skorne Warlock–I’ve ordered the last two that I don’t own, and the ones that I do own that are unpainted are high up in my “to do” list for completion.

The Archdomina herself. For some reason, I never liked this model when I saw it. Yet now that I painted it, it may be one of my favorites. I feel like I did a good job with her face, which is hardly my skilled area when it comes to painting. And I like where the yellow jewels rest and the pose a lot more when I see it in person.

One of the two heavyweight Warlocks for Skorne. I need to get some scrub grass for the bases, particularly on these larger models. They need a bit more variation than they have now. But I’m pleased with how he turned out.

I also got in a few games this week, all for our Journeyman league. I ran Makeda in my first one, but then swapped to Xerxis2. The nice thing about being the event organizer and just being there to help others get games in is that it’s not a big deal if I change things up a bit. Unfortunately, the three games I played this week were all losses. I need to step up my game next week!

The Makeda attempt. It really suffered by being too bricked up against a force like Ryan fielded. Terminus with a balanced list was too tough a nut to crack, and it ended with pretty much nothing left but Makeda and her flailing wildly at Terminus in an unlikely assassination run. Demoralizing to be sure, but still a fun game because Ryan is a great opponent.

My goal was to field the worst Skorne caster, and the internet is divided between Makeda and Xerxis2. So I had to get him done and onto the table as well–first against Paul’s Khador. This match went pretty well for me, as Xerxis2 can be a big bully on the table. Yet it didn’t quite finish my way. I piece-mealed two of his Heavies, but the Decimator landed a shot and the Kodiak inflicted enough damage to get me to a Tough check. To try and make my assassination on Vlad work, Xerxis would have had to put up Mobility, leaving him precious few Fury in a run–so he needed beast support to help in the attack (the Savage and the Raider could have both contributed). So I had to leave a single Fury on the Basilisk Krea. Who promptly frenzied. And cranked the damage roll on Xerxis2. And I failed the Tough check that time. Ugh.

My second game with Xerxis2 again saw him being a great bully on the table against Roger’s Circle Orboros. This time, I mucked up what I think I could have gotten done and my defensive stats. I didn’t quite kill the Wold Guardian, but still used Sprint to get away (he killed a Moonhound before turning to the Wold). It’s free strike rolled an absurd amount of damage, that left Xerxis2 way more limited. Strapped for Fury as it is, I didn’t take any time to heal him at all, which meant that a later turn saw two Skinwalkers and an Argus able to get to him and finish him off. I’m starting to see why his defensive situation is as bad as it is. For him to contribute, he’s got to get up and involved. But that limits screening (unless you have two units that can screen back and forth), and dedicated attacks from anything remotely tough or able to take multiple swings can get really ugly fast–and Fury 5 means not enough transfers for an “ugly fast” situation. I’ll have to keep experimenting with him.

This week we got in fewer Journeyman games, because we ran a Thunderdome event as well for fun (for people who couldn’t make GenCon). We had six players who wanted to take part, which made for a very interesting game. Andy dominated with Protectorate of Menoth, while Rogers Circle and Colton’s Khador racked up a fair number of caster kills each themselves. My trio of Naaresh, Xerxis2, and Hexy2 was pretty clunky. Other than a couple of layered buffs, they didn’t do too much together… with two Feats completely pointless it wasn’t going to be a power combo to be sure. The Thunderdome table that Drawbridge Games made looked awesome though!

500 Points Challenge Progress (2016):

305/500

Battles (Privateer Press):

Overall Totals 2016: 74 (Win/Loss: 45/29/0); 2015: 43 (Win/Loss: 29/14/0)

Skorne:

18 Wins (Butcher x2, Deneghra, Shae, Sorscha2, Feora2, Severius, Skarre x2, Kreoss2, Borka, Kaya2, Stryker x2, Ragnor, Agathia, Malekus, Durgen, Kozlov)/ 11 Losses (Rask, Xerxis, Butcher3, Thagrosh, Zerkova2, Stryker x2, Magnus2, Terminus, Tanith, Vlad)

Protectorate of Menoth:

11 Wins (Agathia x3, Tanith x2, Helynna, Lord Carver, Terminus, Beth Maddox x2, Ragnor) / 3 Losses (Agathia, Haley, Terminus)

Trollbloods:

Cryx:

4 Wins (Caine, Karchev, Skarre, Vlad) / 4 Losses (Asphyxious, Lylyth2, Goreshade3, Stryker)

Journeys upon Journeys

I’ve been updating the full progress of the Journeyman league on that post, but this one tracks my own progress (Weeks 2 and 3 of the event).

I completed Week 2 games with Protectorate, but our league was getting to the point where a lot of the players were fielding Protectorate armies (there was one player who ended up facing Menoth something like five times in a row). Given that I’m the organizer and cannot win any of the prizes anyhow, I figured I’d step aside and field my Skorne starting on Week 3 in order to give people a more varied play experience.

So you’ll see both Menoth and Skorne across the two weeks of progress in the post. I also added two new Paingiver Beast Handlers to my force for Week 3.

The pair in front are the new additions, giving me the flexibility of a minimum or maximum unit.

Week Two

It was a slug-fest, but my Menoth managed to triumph over the cagey Cygnar by taking them on piecemeal.

Jon’s Trollbloods started packed in a corner, so I was able to use that little cabin to my advantage. Despite a bunch of misses on my feat turn slowing progress, I managed to take out Ragnor with Malekus to end the battle.

My match against Tom’s Cygnar went much the same way–a lot of back-and-forth attacking leaving damaged but not destroyed warjacks. I managed to claw my way to victory mostly through dice rolls being lucky for me and unlucky for Tom.

Having the Devout made a huge difference against Roger’s Circle Orboros force, and I managed to defeat Tanith with some well-placed fire sprays.

The Devout’s Shield Guard made the tight brick work against Ryan’s Cryx force and the harpoon-launching Reaper. It enabled me to bully my way up to Agathia and take her out with the Scourge + Fire Type sprays combo.

Week Three

This was the week I swapped to Skorne. Andy, my opponent playing Protectorate here, requested that I field Scarab Packs so I did up a list that had two of them. This match he got really close to killing Xekaar but fell short. Allowed the Cyclops Savage to finish Malekus off in return.

Next I played Ryan’s Cryx, and again an assassination fell short–leaving Xekaar freed to take Agathia out himself.

I took on Enrico’s alternate battle box Rhulic Mercenaries in a third game. Despite the crippling effects of my feat, his feat turn proved very successful. However, it came up two points shy of killing Xekaar. He probably would have had it if he didn’t CRA with the Ogrun Assault Corps too. After that, a thrown Warjack into his caster to knock him down and the Cyclops Savage nearby to finish him off won me the closest match of the week.

Paul’s Khador force. He never quite got two Warjacks to bear on my forces at any one time, and my feat turn really slowed him down. I managed to get to a position where he wasn’t going to be able to take the center from my force without losing his own, and we called the game a win for me.

I also managed to sneak in two larger 75 point games against Ryan as well during the weeks… both with High Reclaimer.

I won the first clash against Bane Witch Agathia (above), but lost a rematch fielding the same force against Terminus.

500 Points Challenge Progress (2016):

292/500

Battles (Privateer Press):

Overall Totals 2016: 71 (Win/Loss: 45/26/0); 2015: 43 (Win/Loss: 29/14/0)

Skorne:

18 Wins (Butcher x2, Deneghra, Shae, Sorscha2, Feora2, Severius, Skarre x2, Kreoss2, Borka, Kaya2, Stryker x2, Ragnor, Agathia, Malekus, Durgen, Kozlov)/ 8 Losses (Rask, Xerxis, Butcher3, Thagrosh, Zerkova2, Stryker x2, Magnus2)

Protectorate of Menoth:

11 Wins (Agathia x3, Tanith x2, Helynna, Lord Carver, Terminus, Beth Maddox x2, Ragnor) / 3 Losses (Agathia, Haley, Terminus)

Trollbloods:

Cryx:

4 Wins (Caine, Karchev, Skarre, Vlad) / 4 Losses (Asphyxious, Lylyth2, Goreshade3, Stryker)

Journeyman Mark III

Mark III of Warmachine and Hordes has brought not only a bunch of new players to our area, but a lot of excitement for switching factions and trying new forces. Thus, we decided to start with a Journeyman League. It’s the best way for new players to get involved and build up to regular-sized army lists. So far we’ve had a whopping 16 players show up and play at least one game in the League. This page will track the advancement of the League, with player standings and pictures of the clashes and painting progress. Players shouldn’t be disheartened though: remember that you get the full starter design patch and three bars for getting a game in all six weeks, whether you win or lose.

Awards

Given that we had so many players, Drawbridge Games‘ order for prize support got listed as two sets, so we had the luck to be able to award the reward patches to the top two in each category.

Destroyer Award: Given to the players who were awarded the most Destroyer points in the league, out of a total possible of 12 (six for painting over the six weeks, and six for tying for most wins in a given week was how we ran things). Ryan Nolte finished with an impressive 10/12 total points. Paul Zellem finished right behind him with 9/12 total points, with his final game of the League a win against Michael De Rosa’s Cygnar (which if Paul lost, could have changed the final standings at the time of the game, as Michael would have had an opportunity to tie Paul with 8 destroyer points and had the tie-breaker game… but alas, sometimes a Kodiak comes along and finishes off your Warcaster).

The armored fists of the dreaded Kodiak end up sealing the results.

Creator Award: Given to the players who had the best painted full 75-point army at the end of the six weeks, voted on by the players. We had to use photos shared on our social media coordination page for some who couldn’t make it the final evening. The winners were Michael De Rosa’s Cygnar (classic blue in the pics throughout the weeks) and Terry Mealy’s Protectorate of Menoth (classic bone and magenta in the pics throughout the weeks). Apparently our group loves classic color schemes done well!

Journeyman Award: Given to the players who were the best Sports-persons of the League, voted on by the players. The winners were Andy Dobies and Roger Coldren, both well deserving as good sports.

Final Standings

Below are the final gameplay results, completed through six weeks of play. The final week of games (75 points) saw a win total of two or more to net the Destroyer point for the week. Paul Zellem’s Khador rocked his way to two consecutive wins, which gave him the edge (I netted enough for a destroyer point as well, but as the organizer my place doesn’t get counted–I’m just glad that I’ve kind of sorted out a strategy for being competitive with Xerxis2). Note that the forward slash symbol divides each week of the league for tracking purposes, to denote when players earned the points.

Name	Faction	Win – Loss Total	Weekly Painted Bonus Points	Destroyer Points
Ryan Nolte	Cryx	13-11	1/1/1/1/1/1	1/1/1/0/1/0
Andrew Lotz*	Skorne	15-6	1/1/1/1/1/1	1/1/1/0/0/1
Paul Zellem	Khador	10-2	1/1/1/1/1/1	0/0/0/1/1/1
Andy Dobies	Protectorate	7-4	1/1/1/1/1/1	1/0/0/0/0/0
Michael De Rosa	Cygnar	4-9	1/1/1/1/1/1	0/0/0/0/1/0
Dan Hodge	Circle	8-1	0/1/1/0/1/1	0/1/0/0/1/0
Roger Coldren	Circle	5-6	1/1/1/1/1/1
Terry Mealy	Protectorate	2-3	0/1/1/1/0/1
Brandon Myers	Circle	0-3	1/1/1/0/0/0
Xavier Walker	Circle	5-4	0/0/1/0/0/0	0/0/0/0/1/0
Zach Hirsch	Khador	3-5	0/0/0/1/0/1
Steve Yaworski	Retribution	3-2	0/0/1/0/0/0	0/0/0/0/1/0
Colton McBryer	Legion	2-2	0/0/0/1/0/0	0/0/0/0/1/0
Tom Kelly	Protectorate	1-0	0/0/0/0/1/0	0/0/0/0/1/0
Thomas Jarvis	Cygnar	1-6	1/1/0/0/0/0
Jason Arena	Cygnar	3-4	0/0/1/0/0/0
Jon Forrester	Trollbloods	0-5	1/0/0/0/0/0
Enrico Nardini	Mercenaries	0-2	0/0/0/0/0/0

Modifications: We’ll have a gold and a silver finisher for each category (as we have two sets of reward patches), so in case of ties destroyer points will be given to all who win the most games for each week of the league. Likewise there will be two winners of the Creator and Journeyman awards. Of course, the final two finishers will still have to battle it out if they’re close on Week 6 for the ultimate trophy (in addition to the patches). *Also, I don’t count for the order of results or any of the awards as I’m the EO for the event.

Week One: 0-point Battlegroup Box games

Michael’s excellently painted Cygnar clashed against the might of Andy’s Protectorate. Roger faced off against Brandon in a Circle versus Circle grudge match. And Ryan’s Cryx preyed upon Roger’s Circle, obviously exhausted from the internecine clash just before.

New player Jon arrived with a fully-painted Trollbloods battlegroup box (kudos!), and it started by taking on Colton’s Legion of Everblight. Tom’s sturdy Cygnar force struggled to rid the woods of Dan’s Circle Orboros. Zach and Paul clashed Khador versus Khador to determine who was the king of the north.

Jon’s Trollbloods went on to face Roger’s Circle. Steve’s Retribution squared off against the burning fires of my Protectorate of Menoth. And Tom’s Cygnar cagily used a farmhouse to try and hold off the onrushing might of Zach’s Khador.

Week Two: 10 point games, battlegroup only

This was a strong week for the holy warriors, as the most combined wins for a faction is heavily skewed toward Protectorate (Circle coming in second). Terry’s Menites clashed with Michael’s Cygnar in a war of faith. And while Andy’s Malekus died to Dan’s Winter Argus, the Jon’s Trollbloods were stopped by a brethren Protectorate force.

Steve’s Griffon danced with Ryan’s bonejack, in a battle marked with some of the worst dice rolls on both sides I’ve seen in a long time. Paul’s Khador menace threw their weight around against Tom’s Cygnar force. And hot Circle-on-Circle action happened between Dan and Roger in a slugfest for the forest.

Andy’s Protectorate survived a nasty attack by Michael’s Cygnar, and managed to finish off Major Beth Maddox with a final spray. Tom’s Cygnar faced Roger’s Circle, and was slowed by both forest and rift. Xavier’s Pureblood (balanced on a pen cap) started the push against Jason’s Cygnar.

Week Three: 25 Point Games

Paul’s Khador crashed into Roger’s Circle Orboros and triumphed. Andy’s Protectorate came up short assassinating my Skorne. Michael’s Cygnar shot Ryan’s Cryx to pieces.

Andy’s Protectorate faced off against Ryan’s Cryx near a country farmhouse. My Skorne managed to barely survive the barrage from Enrico’s Mercenaries. And Paul’s Khador couldn’t quite piece trade against my Skorne.

Week Four: 50 Point Games and Caster Swap

Michael’s Cygnar boys in blue continued to be led by Major Beth Maddox, but faced a new foe in Andy’s Protectorate of Menoth led by Vindictus. Zach’s steely Khador rumbled against Terry’s Protectorate force. And Paul’s Khador saw Vladimir Tzepesci, the Dark Prince take the helm to battle my Skorne, led by Xerxis, the Fury of Halaak.

Paul’s Khador also managed to triumph in a grind-fest battle against Ryan’s Terminus-led Cryx force. My Skorne pushed hard against Roger’s Circle Orboros, but Xerxis took way too much damage from a free strike early, and got mopped up by a few models at the end. In addition to the Journeyman games this week, we got a bit side-tracked by a Gen-Can’t event that was run: Thunderdome!

Week Five: 65 Point Games

Colton was the first to field a Hellmouth with his Legion forces, and Terry’s Protectorate fought valiantly against it… however Kreoss fell to the rampaging Legion beasts. Tom, a brand-new player joining the league in the middle managed the old fastball special with Amon Ad-Raza to take out Beth Maddox and Michael’s Cygnar force. Paul’s Khador clashed against Steve’s expanding Retribution force, and the steady power of the Dawnguard Sentinels wore away even Khador armor.

Michael’s Cygnar is probably used to the religious chants of his foes, as he also faced off against Andy’s Protectorate force. This one was a win for Michael, thanks to a huge swamp that allowed Cygnar to stay at range a bit longer than normal. I took my Skorne into Paul’s Khador, and again got walloped as Xerxis2 is just too fragile for the table it seems. Dan and Roger clashed for the second time with Circle versus Circle warfare–a long grind of a game finally ended with Roger’s version of Tanith defeated.

Week 6: 75 Point Games

Paul’s Khador successfully defended their icy home against Michael’s Cygnar. Zach’s Khador took the long march, but triumphed over my Skorne. Terry’s religious faithful clashed against Steve’s xenophobic faithful.

Ryan’s Cryx battled against my Skorne through a ruined forest, and I finally managed to beat Mark III Terminus. Dan’s Circle managed to jam Ryan’s forces between a lake and a house long enough to win their game. And Roger’s fall-time tabletop looked great with his woodland friends themed army, as he and I clashed to get his Week 6 game in.

Full Steam

We ran a Full Steam launch event at Drawbridge Games last weekend, and these are the results. Turnout was okay, but not as many as our usual–mainly because we ran the event on a weekend and the Warmachine/Hordes crew tends to be weeknights. I got a chance to play as well, as we had an odd number of players for the event!

I’ll start with what I prepped for the event:

I painted a brand new High Exemplar Kreoss for my force. My old brown-tone scheme is hideous compared to the new red scheme, which I really like.

I also finished a Devout to help protect him.

And two Vanquishers for shooting power to support his feat turn.

Below is the full list of what I brought. The goal of the list was the score the bonus 4 points for having an army list that was completely battlegroup models and getting a win. I went for an approach that would hopefully maximize my chances at scoring many of the bonus points for the event.

Full Steam List:

High Exemplar Kreoss

Judicator

Castigator

Vanquisher

Devout

Revenger

Repenter

I even crafted my own Protectorate of Menoth miter hat to wear for the event for the bonus point that wearing a piece of faction gear gave you.

Full Steam Event:

As I mentioned above, it turned out to be a smaller event as we only had six people able to make it. The warcasters and warlocks represented were: Terminus, Haley, Lord Carver, Sorscha, Caliban, and my Kreoss.

Round One

My list faced off against Andy’s Lord Carver list–also an all-battlegroup list for the points. We fought to a standstill with no control points when round time was called. I had managed to squeeze a few more points killed than him, so ended up taking the victory.

Nate’s Khador versus Ryan’s Cryx. Cryx triumphed in the grind.

Brandon’s Cygnar versus a Minions army fielded by Xavier. Like the others, the first round proved to hinge on who could get an early Control points lead and Brandon won.

Round Two

My Kreoss list squared up against Terminus. It went poorly for the Cryx, as they moved into pretty much perfect position for the feat turn to decimate his troops. Terminus’ last-ditch attempt at assassination failed, and I finished him off.

Khador tried to weather the hail of bullets, but just couldn’t get there. A group of gun mages got around the side of the Khador line and finished Sorscha off.

Minions versus Minions. A huge bum-rush turn saw the Pigs bully their way right to Caliban and finish him, and only him off, giving Andy the amazing “Seriously, what just happened?” achievement points as well as the “Speed Demon”, “Unstoppable,” and “Blood and Oil” results as well.

Round Three

I faced off against Brandon’s Haley-led Cygnar, and Mark III started just like Mark II left me: unable to win against Haley. I set up a good position, but got assassinated. Just two small cracks for line of sight were enough to let the Cyclone and the Black 13th do the job.

Cryx faced Minions, and Lord Carver ended up getting carved by Terminus and his force.

Caliban’s Minions faced off against Khador, and Khador won when time was called for the round thanks to scoring more control points.

Results:

From L-R. Brandon went undefeated for the event with his Cygnar, and yet still won Best Sportsman. Ryan won Best Painted for his great airbrushed Cryx force. Andy secured the Champion award for the event, getting lots of the achievement points with his all-beasts Lord Carver list (and despite going 1-2 with it). 16 total points is really impressive!

I managed to finish the event 2-1, with 14 achievement points, so I was still really happy with myself and my Protectorate force.

500 Points Challenge Progress (2016):

290/500

Battles (Privateer Press):

Overall Totals 2016: 60 (Win/Loss: 35/25/0); 2015: 43 (Win/Loss: 29/14/0)

Skorne:

14 Wins (Butcher x2, Deneghra, Shae, Sorscha2, Feora2, Severius, Skarre x2, Kreoss2, Borka, Kaya2, Stryker x2, Ragnor)/ 8 Losses (Rask, Xerxis, Butcher3, Thagrosh, Zerkova2, Stryker x2, Magnus2)

Protectorate of Menoth:

5 Wins (Agathia, Tanith, Helynna, Lord Carver, Terminus) / 2 Losses (Agathia, Haley)

Trollbloods:

Cryx:

4 Wins (Caine, Karchev, Skarre, Vlad) / 4 Losses (Asphyxious, Lylyth2, Goreshade3, Stryker)

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