Month: February 2017

The Empire Returns

The Empire Returns

Okay, so I’ve played Skorne for a long, long time. And despite always moving on, it seems that I always come back to it. This time it was two things. One, some friends getting fired up about doing a joint Skorne project together. And two, finding a painting scheme that I liked for my Immortals and Ancestral Guardians units. So it meant some change in what I’m painting (tho with Zaal1, I refined some of my purple painting and I’m relatively pleased there too). I also got a few games in with the Skorne to shake the rust off, and the new Errata has pleased me a great deal. It seems like around this time last year I was fooling around with Hexy1, so it was a nice thing to drop right back into him with added improvements. I also got Zaal1 painted up so I can start to give him a go (need one more unit of Immortals finished to run him, I’m thinking).

As always: first painting progress, then games.

1-skorne-supreme-aptimus-zaal-zaal1-kovaas-alternate-color-scheme-purple

I’m really liking the way these two show all the colors of my force at once. Yellow for magic/soul energy, purple armor, mixed brown-to-yellow robes with pale blue cording, and jade statues. 

skorne-hakaar-the-destroyer-jade-color-scheme

Hakaar the Destroyer. I like the model a ton, but I’m still somewhat meh on him without the right list (Zaal2 I’m guessing). 

2-skorne-ancestral-guardians-jade

Three Ancestral Guardians. They’re great after the errata, as boosting Immortals’ speed is critical. 

3-skorne-immortals-jade

The Jade Immortals themselves. I really like the way they turned out. 

On the gaming side, I managed to get in three games. All of them with Hexeris1, as I wanted to try out his changed-up abilities. I’m loving Parasite with Skorne, and the fact that he upkeeps one spell for free is a big deal in his spell-slinging ability. And as always, his feat was HUGE when it was huge, and terribad when used at the wrong time/against the wrong foe. Ah, good to see he hasn’t changed too much.

skorne-versus-retribution-of-scyrah

First game was versus Steve’s Retribution force. Against Dawnguard, Hexy1’s feat was great. Took out an entire unit with a single shot from a Cyclops Raider to start the chain. I’ll take it! Managed to swarm the shooting elements with Immortals, as Krea-boosted ARM 20 on the approach is tough to stop. That let Hexy1 get a Gun Bug into melee with the objective to win the match. Bonus shout-out to Steve for the great looking Chimera model. 

skorne-hexeris1-vs-cygnar-nemo3

Second game was against Michael’s lovely Cygnar force. He fielded Nemo3 in theme, while I took a bit more shooty of a package with Hexy1. Again, the Feat turn worked. Took out his whole unit of Stormblade Infantry, though it took a lot more of my models to keep the chain running. The game was still close, as his Warjacks were pressing hard on my weak side. I managed to get an opening to put Parasite on Nemo3 when he had no focus. Even though only two Bloodrunners actually got to him, their Death March MAT 9 charges with Gang were enough to finish him off. Great game, and now another player will not fall for Hexy1’s shenanigans again. That’s my main worry with him–once an opponent really knows, they can take more care with their clusters and spacing and minimize an already kinda-clunky Feat. 

skorne-hexeris1-vs-skorne-zaadesh2

Third game was against Brad’s Skorne. Time for a Skorne-off! He fielded Zaadesh2. Honestly, I should have lost this game–so I’ll only credit luck on my part and food poisoning on Brad’s. He was way ahead on attrition, but Hexy1 managed to get to the objective himself and cap the game for the win solo-style. Swarm (from the Aradus Sentinel) is a great animus. The lesson of this game, tho, was that Hexy1 vs. Tough troops is bad, bad news. Not only do they tend to survive, but you cannot kill them after knocked down–as they cannot make the advance or swing if knocked down. Too many chances for an opponent to get lucky and stop the Feat train. 

365 Points Challenge Progress (2017):

111/365

Battles (Privateer Press):

Overall Totals 2017: 26 (Win/Loss 20/6/0); 2016: 123 (Win/Loss: 74/49/0); 2015: 43 (Win/Loss: 29/14/0)

Skorne:

3 Wins (Kaelyssa, Nemo3, Zaadesh2) / 0 Losses

Retribution of Scyrah:

13 Wins (Tanith x2, Venethrax x2, Malekus, Gaspy1, Ragnor, Zaadesh2 x2, Grayle, Borka1, Makeda1, Strakov) / 5 Losses (Zaadesh2, Thyra, Xekaar, Tanith, Gaspy1)

Trollbloods:

4 Wins (Gaspy1, Terminus, Barnabas, Gunnbjorn) / 1 Loss (Feora3)

Points for the Pointy-Eared

Points for the Pointy-Eared

Another stretch of gaming, more painting and games. I’m on a roll for 2017 so far, and I hope to keep it up. Retribution has become a very entertaining faction to play and to paint so far. I’m still inclined to play some of my Skorne as well, but these ladies and gents will do for a while. As always, painting first:

1-adeptis-rahn-retribution-of-scyrah-alternate-color-scheme-red

Adeptis Rahn. I like how he turned out, and he has been quite the pleasure to play on the battlefield so far. I know he’s going to take a long time to master, despite the fact that I’ve been successful in most early games with him. 

2-retribution-of-scyrah-sphinx

Sphinx heavy warjack. The Vyre chassis seems to take longer to paint than the Shyeel chassis. A lot more red surfaces in the arm joins and legs I think. Still, pleased enough with him. 

3-retribution-of-scyrah-arcanist-mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik. He was fun to paint up, and was my main test for how I’ll be handling the different cloth and leather tones on my Retribution models. So far so good I think. 

On the battles side, there were no tournaments in the first half of this month so it was mostly just open games against friends. I did get a good amount of variety in my games. I’m hoping to play a Steamroller with my Retribution in mid-February, so that’s on the docket–which means I’ve got to punch my painting and practice games into overdrive.

1-retribution-elara2-vs-khador-strakov

I got a few more games in with Elara2 before swapping to Rahn. First was against Andy’s Khador. It is a warjack brick with Strakov. The speed of Elara2 caught him off guard, and I managed to get my Chimera into Strakov as he dealt with my force to finish the job. 

2-retribution-elara2-vs-circle-tanith

I faced Kevin’s Circle Orboros force led by Tanith next, and lost the game to assassination. He staggered his stuff well enough that I couldn’t leverage the threat range the force can generate, which eventually led to a Warpwolf to the face for Elara2 as I had to get more desperate with my positioning. 

3-retribution-elara2-vs-cricle-grayle

Final game with Elara2 for now was against Charles’ Circle force, facing Grayle the Farstrider. It was a good match that turned into a grind. Ended with Grayle having to make a play for Elara2 and failing, leaving Elara to finish him off in return. I had to show the picture of Charles’ Gorax above, because he still uses the old metal model. I like the new one, but the old one has a silly charm to it. 

4-retribution-rahn-vs-skorne-zaadesh2

Got started with Rahn against Brad’s Skorne force led by Zaadesh2. This was an absolute slugfest, but Rahn’s annoying telekinesis to keep his warbeasts turned around and out of the game was sufficient to get me the opening I needed on Zaadesh. 

5-retribution-rahn-vs-trollbloods-borka1

This great shot of Joe’s Dire Troll Mauler smashing my Chimera was part of a game of Rahn vs. his Borka1. Again, keep-away and isolating warbeasts with telekinesis led to an advantage. My mostly-dead Sphinx could block most of Borka’s stumbling drunk movements, and the Manticore managed to get into his back arc for a hit that finished him. 

6-retribution-rahn-vs-circle-tanith

Rahn faced my good friend Kevin’s Circle Orboros Tanith list, ready for redemption. Kevin played a very tight game again, but the Chimera was just able to slip free of the Reeves that ran to engage it with its Apparition move in the control phase. A quick run and it was right up within range to ignore Tanith’s Prowl-given stealth. That let Rahn knock her into the stone, then telekinesis her to partially out of the woods. And the Sphinx shot plus Battle Mages did the rest. 

7-retribution-rahn-vs-skorne-makeda1

Rahn again against Ryan’s Makeda1 Skorne list. I’m really liking what he can do in terms of personal impact. In this game, he got a good Forcehammer onto her that sent her into the Agonizer, then a Telekinesis to turn her around and Battle Mages to pull her out and kill her. When Rahn works, he seems very powerful to be sure. 

8-retribution-rahn-vs-cryx-venethrax

Venethrax was a tougher challenge for Rahn than others, as Lamentation doesn’t make things easy. Mercifully I could use my arc node and get the right telekinesis into him and let the Sphinx in the back do the rest of the work. A good game against Charles’ Cryx.

9-retribution-rahn-vs-cryx-gaspy1

Last game of this set was my first loss with Rahn, against Adam’s Cryx led by Asphyxious1. Rahn got a bit too ambitious where he stood at the end of the game having used his stack of Focus to severely hamper the enemy. Gaspy1’s feat gave him just enough oomph to seal the deal with a spell assassination. This was a great game and a long grind–Adam is a cagey opponent and definitely won due to his good positioning throughout the game. 

 

365 Points Challenge Progress (2017):

62/365

Battles (Privateer Press):

Overall Totals 2017: 23 (Win/Loss 17/6/0); 2016: 123 (Win/Loss: 74/49/0); 2015: 43 (Win/Loss: 29/14/0)

Retribution of Scyrah:

13 Wins (Tanith x2, Venethrax x2, Malekus, Gaspy1, Ragnor, Zaadesh2 x2, Grayle, Borka1, Makeda1, Strakov) / 5 Losses (Zaadesh2, Thyra, Xekaar, Tanith, Gaspy1)

Trollbloods:

4 Wins (Gaspy1, Terminus, Barnabas, Gunnbjorn) / 1 Loss (Feora3)