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:
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)
The Dark Muse 