Another two weeks, another load of painting and games put in. As always, I’ll start with the painting. Finished a new Warlock, Grissel2, and a unit of Trollkin Warders to accompany her. Plus I also completed a Trollkin Sorcerer (getting ready to face Ghost Fleets in my local meta).

I like her as an assassination threat, and for what she can enable for infantry. Maybe it’s my experience with Amon, but handing out Parry can be pretty solid for loads of tricksy play. 

This unit turned out really well. I’m quite pleased with the result. Ton of work in, but good payoff in the end product. 

Hehe, this guy looks so silly. My friend Dan always says “hey can you read this to me” about another player’s Trollkin Sorcerer, as they printed the text on the outside of the scroll. I was careful to put the runes inside–so he was the one reading it. 

In addition to all the Trollbloods painting, I also finished some Convergence of Cyriss pieces in my slow build toward that force: A Cipher and an Optifex Directive.

I swear those arms look like rockets–but he shoots from the face-gun. What a silly faction.

I really liked these guys, and I’m feeling like some of the more characterful infantry of the faction are going to be my painting draw. Next up, I’m leaning toward some Clockwork Angels or some Eradicators. 

 

While I painted some Convergence, gaming has been entirely Trollbloods these past couple of weeks. I’m definitely feeling the groove of Trolls–which is good, given our upcoming summer campaign that is Trollbloods-focused.

First game was against Steve’s Retribution, and my frequent nemesis Helynna. She is a thoroughly solid Warcaster, and he always pilots her well. I was able to leverage Grissel2’s assassination threat to finally finish her off. Being able to free up the Pyg Bushwhackers without need of their expensive UA (thanks to her Dash spell) is a huge boost to them and their ability to put some steady damage on assassination targets. 

Next I faced Andy’s Cyngar, led by Caine2. I wanted to get a shot of how cool he looks, because Andy did a great job with the conversion and the paint scheme. Caine managed to inflict enough damage on himself that I finished him off through the course of an extended game with my Madrak2 force. I mucked at least one thing up (Blood Fury is warrior model/unit), but it was somewhat inconsequential. I’ve been thinking of Madrak2 in Band of Heroes theme as a good answer to some concerns in my meta, so I wanted to get some reps with him. Great game full of Trolls beating on stuff and my opponent coming up short on rolls other than with his Warcaster–I’m looking forward to the rematch as Andy is always a great player.

More Madrak2 versus Cyngar, this time against Mike’s beautifully painted force. I included this picture because the model just looked so good. Madrak2 would go on to take a free strike from this guy, walk around, and smack Craye to death (he’s just out of the shot). Was a good game, and Mike had the upper hand in attrition–but got a little too close with Craye, who could have been far further back. 

My final game was against Charles’ Cryx. We continued with our on-again, off-again narrative campaign that he’s constructed, reaching the conclusion this time. The vault had been opened by the Skorne, though in the process Morghoul had been felled. Yet, other powers were interested in what emerged. My Trollbloods, led by Grim2, got to the ruin first. Grim found a strange shade lurking there, and he managed to use his magical force to bind the creature. A good thing, as it attempted to possess him!

 

A battle ensued as Lich Lord Venethrax also came seeking the power revealed from the opened ruin. Grim had to try and get the bound spirit, with its escaping energy, back to the Kriel where Doomshaper was waiting with the ritual to truly set the creature at rest. That meant his force had to sell themselves dearly in the process of delaying Venethrax’s advance. Grim managed to escape as the Trolls held on just long enough. The Trollkin Scouts managed to charge Venethrax alongside a Stone Scribe Chronicler–however his defensive abilities caused their thrown axes to miss horribly and fell allies (a Storm Troll that was assisting). Their assault blunted, it was all they could do to simply die under Venethrax’s blade while allowing Grim to make good his escape. 

As always, a great set of games. Especially the story campaign I informally did with Charles. That was a fun way to motivate our games together. I normally game on Thursdays, but Charles can really only get Sunday games in–so we agreed that doing a little story would keep our games fresh despite playing each other alternate weeks. I would definitely recommend that approach for anyone who has a limited set of opponents. Having the routine special scenarios that told a small story made it lots of fun. I can’t wait for the next one!

365 Points Challenge Progress (2017):

273/365

Battles (Privateer Press):

Overall Totals 2017: 61 (Win/Loss 42/19/0); 2016: 123 (Win/Loss: 74/49/0); 2015: 43 (Win/Loss: 29/14/0)

Trollbloods:

9 Wins (Gaspy1, Terminus, Barnabas, Gunnbjorn, Kaya2, Helynna, Stryker2, Craye, Venethrax) / 1 Loss (Feora3)

Protectorate of Menoth:

3 Wins (Kaelyssa, Magnus2, Skarre1) / 7 Losses (Makeda1, Deneghra1, Thyron, Kozlov, Kryssa, Fiona, Gaspy3)

Convergence of Cyriss:

9 Wins (Maddox, Haley2, Rask, Helynna, Makeda1, Gorten, Kaelyssa, Vayl2, Gaspy1) / 2 Losses (Venethrax, Helynna)

Skorne:

8 Wins (Kaelyssa, Nemo3, Zaadesh2, Makeda1 x2, Kaya3, Grayle, MacBain) / 4 Losses (Makeda2, Venethrax, Grayle, Horgle2)

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)

• Warmachine/Hordes