Since my last post I’ve had a whirlwind of 30 points of painting and twelve games of Warmachine and Hordes. And all of it Protectorate of Menoth. I think I’ve got a problem.

Not sure if I’m a convert or not… the hat may give it away

I’ve been really enjoying the force, even though I’m really slow at painting it (I’m so tempted to go back to Trollbloods which I paint fast or Skorne with which I have a simple scheme). But I’m still making progress: I finished a new Warcaster and two Warjacks for my force.

Feora2, Protector of the Flame. I really like how she turned out, and while assembling I was annoyed by her model I really like it now that I’ve gotten it completed. 

A mighty Reckoner heavy warjack. 

Redeemer light warjack. With Feora2’s Firestarter spell, this model seemed to be the obvious must-add for my army list. 

This post also marks the completion of our first season of the Crossroads of Courage campaign that Privateer Press has been putting on. I played in every week and was pretty successful overall as a Sower. I got an awesome campaign coin for playing in the games.

Though I never once got this result in the four weeks. It was four straight weeks of Coward for my Holden the Last. 

 

On the gaming side, I fielded my Protectorate in a local Steamroller, played a heap of Crossroads of Courage games, and had a one-off game with my buddy Michael who is making leaps and bounds progress on his Trollbloods force.

First up: the Steamroller. It was a pretty small event, and I went 1-2 overall. That said, I had some really fun games. My pairing was Kreoss and Amon Ad-Raza. With Kreoss, I ran a warjack shooting-focused list using a Judicator as a central pivot and the threat of Kreoss’ feat. With Amon, I had a Warjack heavy list to capitalize on his Mobility spell and deep-range assassination runs.

First round I was paired against Dave’s Legion of Everblight force, led by Rhyas. I was doing well in attrition, and had eliminated every one of his warbeasts. Sadly, the Devout stood in the woods rather than behind it with Kreoss, and Rhyas’ feat let her warp to just the right spot to promptly chop of Kreoss’ head with a critical decapitation.

Second round I faced off against Little Larry’s Minions army, with Rask as his warlock. He bricked up, which meant that my template shooting was murderous on his cluster of heavies and Rask. With his Bog Trogs flanking rather than staying to protect Rask, he ran out of Fury too fast over two rounds of shooting and I managed to assassinate him. 

Third round was another close game, this time against Jay’s Protectorate of Menoth force. He ran Amon Ad-Raza, and I ran Amon Ad-Raza. It was an Ad-Raz-off! I made two blunders that cost me the game ultimately. The lesser one was forgetting the rules of his objective (passing damage to nearby warjacks), which left my shooting Warjacks strung out with little impact. The greater one was inexcusable: denoting just how far Amon can get a warjack into the mix. He had to trample to do so (as I managed to get a Monk in the way when I realized my mistake), but with the Synergy chain Amon’s high defense wasn’t high enough and the Crusader mashed him. 

 All-in-all a great set of games and a good time with all three opponents. I’m still getting the handle of competitive list-building for Protectorate, so playing against a mirror in the third match was particularly useful for my thinking.

Next up, I played more than a few Crossroads of Courage games over a couple of weeks’ span:

My Amon Ad-Raza helped escort Old Jeb to a mine entrance past Brad’s Skorne led by Xerxis.

A second Old Jeb escort mission. This time against Colton’s Butcher and his warjack-heavy Khador force.

We called them training exercises when my Protectorate clashed against Terry’s. Reznik wasn’t ready for how far a Reckoner could get with Mobility, and I managed the assassination. 

My first outing with Feora2 was against Ryan’s Cryx and Terminus. I got so close to killing him… needed a 7 or more on the fire roll at the top of his turn to win. I rolled a 6. And was promptly slain in retaliation.

The burning ash hazards made for an interesting messenger battlefield as my Feora2 force took on Colton’s Sorscha2. Fire triumphed, mainly by Feora’s Feat giving the messenger a burning sensation by transferring the continuous fire to the model. 

For the first time ever, I managed to assassinate pHaley. I’ve played her countless times in my gaming career, and she’s been something akin to my Achilles heel. All it took was Andy fielding her for the very first time with his brand new (and awesome) wasteland-themed Cygnar force. Curse of the newly painted model and someone fielding her for the first time? Doesn’t matter. Streak broken!

My Holden the Last ducks near a crate of dynamite as Roger’s marauding Circle warbeasts close in on the Protectorate battle line. 

After a protracted battle against Ryan’s Cryx, led by Captain Aiakos, my force hunkered down enough to eek out a victory by scenario points. It took Feora standing up to an attack from Barathrum, which she barely survived. 

Finally, I got in a game against my friend Michael who is slowly getting into the game.

Look at those beautiful, classic-scheme Trollbloods models. I managed to win by assassination,  but Mulg had smashed his way through anything in my force that was a threat to him by then… had I not succeeded, Feora2 would have been a red stain on his big club. 

500 Points Challenge Progress (2016):

414/500

Battles (Privateer Press):

Overall Totals 2016: 101 (Win/Loss: 61/40/0); 2015: 43 (Win/Loss: 29/14/0)

Protectorate of Menoth:

22 Wins (Agathia x3, Tanith x2, Helynna, Lord Carver, Terminus, Beth Maddox x3, Ragnor x2, Sorscha, Stryker2, Rask, Xerxis, Butcher, Sorscha2, Haley, Aiakos, Reznik) / 9 Losses (Agathia x2, Haley, Terminus x2, Kaya2, Rhyas, Amon, Tanith)

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)

Okay, so Privateer Press’ Crossroads of Courage event is going on, which means I’m getting some games in–and getting a ton of painting done.

I’ll be doing a separate post for the story of Holden the Last through my game experience, so you can check that portion out elsewhere.

First, as always painting. And there’s SO MUCH. Largely because I’m finally pushing hard on my Protectorate of Menoth force.

First up, I finished Amon Ad-Raza, as I wanted to have an answer to terrain-heavy battlefields. He’s a buff caster, who casts buffs (absurd muscles joke). I like how he turned out, as the red works well for me when there are the neutral colors and metals. 

I also finally put all the finishing touches on my Judicator. I really like how it turned out. I need to add some scrub grass to the base, but otherwise I’m really pleased. 

Two Allegiants of the Order of the Fist, otherwise known as “punch monks”. Much debate was had on whether they should be “kick monks”, but I think they’re stretching or practicing their balance in this pose, rather than in mid-attack (very few Privateer Press models are depicted “mid-attack” it seems). 

A Hierophant. Man, I love this model. Its ability to reduce the cost of a Warcaster’s spell is huge, ultimately letting me camp more Focus or get another critical spell out in early turns. 

A bit blurry, but I also finished a Wrack. Can you tell I’ve been worried about Focus issues? The Wrack is a very solid solo, and at 1 point the ability to give potentially limitless rounds of and extra Focus is huge (though 1/3 chance to blow up is still pretty high). 

I finished a Crusader as well, as part of the Crossroads of Courage is choosing a side and getting painting objectives based on your side. My side is Sowers, so it’s a heavy warjack or warbeast each week for me. 

Finally, my Holden the Last conversion (for season one–I’ve got some later season Holdens planned too as he advances through the faith). It’s a Sea Dog Rifleman unit attachment, with a shoulder swap and the removal of the drinking cup (I put in power charges on his belt instead). 

 

What really pleases me about this progress is that I’ve now hit more than 365 points painted in 2016 (actually I’m at 384). My goal is 500 by the end of the year, which is pretty absurd if I thought about it in January, but currently looks entirely manageable.

I got five games in with my Protectorate of Menoth these past two weeks. One practice before the league started, and then three league games.

Small practice game versus Brandon’s Khador. They gave Amon a scare, but he narrowly survived–which meant that a quick slam of a Juggernaut over Sorscha followed by generous application of a Devout in melee managed to win me the game. 

My first Crossroads league game was against Roger and his woodland critters Circle army. This was one of those games where I realized how Warjacks can be a bit more limited than Warbeasts–even in Mark III. I came up short in an assassination, and Kaya2 beat Amon to death. 

My third game was against Andy and his cool wasteland-theme Cygnar army, led by Stryker2. It was a clash of two very compact forces that were largely battlegroup in composition. Stryker moved to take out one of the Monks, but failed to kill him despite repeated attempts. Which left him too low on Focus and with his back to two of my Warjacks… which let a long Mobility-driven attack finish him off. 

My fourth game was against a brand-new player, Scott, who is starting a Cygnar army. We played battlebox sized games, with the two battlebox casters. Through an astonishing number of bad rolls, I came up short again and again with attacks–which culminated in an assassination gone wrong and Beth Maddox using her feat to boost herself and her attacks on my Warcaster, finishing him off. 

 

My final game of Week 1 of the Crossroads campaign was a loss to Ryan’s Bane Witch Agathia. I was winning the attrition war pretty handily, yet left a damaged Amon just a half inch too close to Barathrum. I forget how fast Cryx heavies can be. 

500 Points Challenge Progress (2016):

384/500

Battles (Privateer Press):

Overall Totals 2016: 89 (Win/Loss: 53/36/0); 2015: 43 (Win/Loss: 29/14/0)

Protectorate of Menoth:

14 Wins (Agathia x3, Tanith x2, Helynna, Lord Carver, Terminus, Beth Maddox x3, Ragnor, Sorscha, Stryker2) / 5 Losses (Agathia x2, Haley, Terminus, Kaya2)

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)

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

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:

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)

I’ve dabbled with Protectorate of Menoth before, and while I like their play style more than any other faction, I never found a color scheme I liked at all. I tried the classic one once, I tried a blue-tone version, and I tried one in drab browns and reds with greyscale for metallics rather than proper metallic paints. I got deepest into the latter, but still the painting did not excite me. As is often the case, without the enthusiasm for the painting it’s difficult to make progress.

So with Mark III I was convinced that I’d be giving Cryx a return for the new edition with Skorne and Trollbloods in support. I’ve been really motivated with my Trolls, but the other two have languished somewhat–getting the new Battlegroup Box painted for Skorne was a struggle. And in the process, I realized that maybe it was time to take care and work out a color scheme that I truly liked for my Menoth–strip them and repaint it all. Thus, the Mark Three Menoth Project was born. I messed around for a long while with colors, and finally settled on something I liked: a red-dominant scheme with dulled metals and bone portions behind any Menofixes (the little cross-looking symbols) and on the steam caps. Finally, a scheme I liked and felt motivated to paint. I finished the new Battlegroup in a single week of painting.

Malekus, the Burning Truth. I love the model, as hefty models are fun and have a lot of persona. He’s no exception, and I really like the balance that the slight portions of white and dull gold provide in the scheme I’m working with. 

Castigator. I resolved to have the bone color be very limited, so he doesn’t have any on his shoulders other than the small portions. Basically the theme is red everywhere, except behind a Menofix. The Crusader/Templar/Vanquisher chassis would have more prominent cream sections, but this chassis will be nearly pure red. 

Close shot of one of the light warjacks (Repenter) for their look. I was worried the gold shoulders would be too much, but I really liked how they turned out. 

The completed Protectorate of Menoth Battlegroup Box for Mark III.

I also got four games in with the group. Three as part of a Journeyman League we’re running at Drawbridge Games, and fourth just for fun with some expanded models to try a later level build idea for the league.

First game of the Journeyman was against Ryan’s Cryx Battlegroup. A critical central copse of trees and the Repulsor Shield on the Revenger helped me avoid the Reaper’s Reel-in-and-Kill long enough to get two models onto Agathia and finish her off. 

Ryan and I played a second game, this one with more points than just the Battlegroup boxes (but of course, they’re the only things visible in the picture… /sigh). This time we played the scenario from the Prime rulebook with the five flags, each of which can be scored only once, with scenario victory at five points. It’s a pretty ludicrous scenario, but a lot of fun. Cryx’s mobility proved to be the main advantage, as I couldn’t keep them away and still score the flags myself. Finally, Malekus was assassinated by a rampaging Helljack as he was forced to try and turn the tide himself (and came up short). 

Second Journeyman game was against Dan’s Circle Orboros and Tanith the Feral Song. This is the caster that worries me the most among the new Battlegroup Boxes, as she’s got some nasty abilities between her gun, Feat, and spells. Mercifully, Dan moved her too close to my Revenger and forgot about the Arc Node. A quick Scourge later and Admonition was not going to save her, which meant flames from Malekus and the Castigator to finish her off. 

Third Journeyman game was against a brand-new player to our group, Steve. He started with Retribution, with I definitely feel is one of the stronger of the starter boxes. Being able to take hits and then under Feat act without any systems being crippled is huge. As it was a new player, a fair amount of the game was helping my opponent with the best ways to assassinate my caster and deal with my own jacks. While I won this one, I think he’s better equipped than other players for what Malekus can do and how to stop him. He got very close to finishing me off, but had just a few critical misses right at the end that kept my caster alive and I could finish his last Warjack. 

A good week of gaming with the Protectorate, and I’m really excited about them and what they’ll bring in terms of painting progress as well as game fun.

500 Points Challenge Progress (2016):

244/500

Battles (Privateer Press):

Overall Totals 2016: 57 (Win/Loss: 33/24/0); 2015: 43 (Win/Loss: 29/14/0)

Protectorate of Menoth:

3 Wins (Agathia, Tanith, Helynna) / 1 Loss (Agathia)

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)

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)