This is it, the final update of 2016. I got behind in updates due to the madness of the holiday season, so pardon the fact that this one is a LONG one.
The big highlights: I painted 727 total points (converted to Mark III costs) in 2016, and played 122 games fielding four different factions (Trollbloods, Protectorate of Menoth, Skorne, and Cryx). I finished up with a 60% win rate overall, which I’ll take as pretty good for the sheer number of Warcasters and Warlocks I plunked onto the table during the year (27). I played the following Warcasters and Warlocks in at least one game this year: Feora2, Amon Ad-Raza, Kreoss1, High Reclaimer, Malekus, Durant2, Goreshade3, Asphyxious1, Scaverous, Skarre2, Deneghra1, Borka1, Grissel1, Doomshaper2, Hunters Grim, Jarl, Madrak2, Ragnor, Makeda1, Xekaar, Hexeris2, Morghoul2, Hexeris1, Naaresh, Morghoul1, Mordikaar, and Xerxis2.
My goals for 2017 are fourfold: Settle on a caster pairing and really play a lot of them, focus on a single Hordes and single Warmachine force, play in more “away” tournaments to get more exposure to players outside of our local meta, and paint at least 365 points again for the year.
On the painting side, here are the models that I completed to finish off 2016:
The Scourge of Heresy prepares to cleanse the unfaithful.
Not a great photo, but the Vigilant stands ready to defend my warcasters.
The Hunters Grim, which were a super-fun unit to paint up. I really love Krump in his little bowler hat and stogie.
Dire Troll Bomber stands ready to blow up some foes.
And my final addition of 2016, a hint of my 2017 project: a Retribution of Scyrah Griffon.
I got a heap of games in to finish out the year as well. Some brief photos from each:
Mortenebra could not handle the charge of the Allegiants of the Order of the Fist under Durant2. They gummed up the works long enough that I could get her into the range of the Book, and once she couldn’t cast spells she was done. More of a grind than an assassination, but it ended with her dying. I also got in a game with Malekus, who lost to Deneghra3 (but I failed to get a photo of them).
Kreoss1 faced off against Fyanna2. It’s a rough match up for Fyanna overall I think, as his feat hurts her. After the knockdown, it only took an Eyriss1 shot and a single Vanquisher shot to finish her off.
Did I mention that my meta is chock-full of Cryx players? Because it is. These are Terry’s amazing Bloodgorgers opposing my Malekus force. I managed to carve my way to Gaspy1 and finish him off.
My newly painted Vigilant hits the field… and immediately loses me the game. Forgot the Banshee shot, having a medium as part of my bunker (rather than just heavies) turned the Vigilant into a slammed knockdown on Kreoss1. And Kreoss did not like the taste of his own medicine as he was promptly shot to pieces.
With a sour Protectorate taste in my mouth from my blunder, I decided to play some Trollbloods for a bit. It also helped that I finally painted up the Hunters Grim and really wanted to give them some table-time. This is list absolutely not the list I want to field with them, but it was good to give a go with. I’m still finding Dire Troll Blitzers to be somewhat bland (the change of their animus is the worst part… as I loved the hijinks that I could do with their Mark II animus). My force took on Absylonia2, and I managed to triumph after a long grind of a fight. Abby2 came up just a bit short on killing Grim2 personally, which let me finish her off in return.
Next I took the Hunters Grim into Deneghra1. Overall I think I played okay in this game when it came to attrition but ended up losing Grim2 when my center couldn’t quite hold to protect him.
The Denny1 game had been against my buddy Ryan in prep for a Tournament we were headed to. Sadly, nasty ice and snow managed to keep us from heading down into the hills of West Virginia, so the four of us who were going to carpool played the “Bummer Bowl” instead at Ryan’s place (as so very much went wrong that morning it got to be absurd). I got paired against Ryan’s other half of his pairing: Aspyhxious3. It proved to be a very rough game, but the Hunters Grim managed to hold on for the win. Grim2 got a Blood Lure shot onto Gaspy3 and put up Rage on the Mauler, and I cleared the path with the remaining Blitzer. Despite being way behind in attrition, a single Dire Troll Mauler can get the job done when he can play with all five Fury.
Another day, another Hunters Grim day. I faced off against Skorne this time, and my first chance to play Zaadesh2. The good news was that Grim2 had many of the tools to help against Zaadesh2. The bad news was that it took too long to get them leveraged in the right places. I lost by points on two opponent-turn dominates as I just couldn’t contest the left zone in the picture.
Finished 2016 with a game against my buddy Michael’s Trollbloods and Horgle2. I fielded Ragnor, as Michael is just starting out–so seeing his other caster is almost like getting reps himself. Horgle2 puts on a heck of a nasty show. We played the scenario “The Pit”, and my early scores on my friendly flag left me able to steal a dominate of the zone in the middle of the game to win. I’m definitely nervous about the next time I face off against Horgle2’s flaming fury!
All in all, a heck of a 2016 year of gaming. I painted a ton of models, got in heaps of games with lots of casters while maintaining a solid win rate, won a best-painted award for my Trollbloods force at a Steamroller, and ran two amazing (I thought) home campaigns for a dozen players in our local meta each time. I’ll take it! Here’s hoping to make 2017 even better!
500 Points Challenge Progress (2016):
504/500 (actually 727 if I convert everything to Mark III points)
Battles (Privateer Press):
Overall Totals 2016: 123 (Win/Loss: 74/49/0); 2015: 43 (Win/Loss: 29/14/0)
Trollbloods:
18 Wins (Karchev x3, Vayl2 x3, Lylyth x2, Kaya, Skarre, Thagrosh, Asphyxious3x2, Venethrax, Deneghra, Grayle, Absylonia2, Horgle2) / 14 Losses (Adeptis Rahn, Kromac, Caine2, Borka2, Kaya, Rhyas, Ashlynn x2, Twins Saeryn and Rhyas, Butcher3, Thagrosh, Vayl2, Sturm and Drang, Deneghra, Zaadesh2)
Protectorate of Menoth:
25 Wins (Agathia x3, Tanith x2, Helynna, Lord Carver, Terminus, Beth Maddox x3, Ragnor x2, Sorscha, Stryker2, Rask, Xerxis, Butcher, Sorscha2, Haley, Aiakos, Reznik, Deneghra3, Mortenebra, Fyanna2, Asphyxious) / 12 Losses (Agathia x2, Haley, Terminus x2, Kaya2, Rhyas, Amon, Tanith, Deneghra3 x2, Helynna)
Skorne:
25 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, Kallus, Harkovich)/ 19 Losses (Rask, Xerxis, Butcher3, Thagrosh, Zerkova2, Stryker x2, Magnus2, Terminus x2, Tanith, Vlad x2, Rahn, Arkadius, Deneghra, Gorten, Asphyxious)
Cryx:
4 Wins (Caine, Karchev, Skarre, Vlad) / 4 Losses (Asphyxious, Lylyth2, Goreshade3, Stryker)
The Dark Muse 