Privateer Press at Templecon: Part 2 - Hordes

In part 2 of my look at  the Privateer Press' keynote presentation, I look at the preview of the upcoming book for Hordes: Exigence.

Flame on!

Hordes new book: Exigence

I'll be completely honest, Exigence excites me more than the Cephalyx. Probably because there seemed to be more to this preview. The plot lines of the last several Hordes and Warmachine books are starting to converge and this book, along with Warmachine: Vengeance (out next month), present this. First up, they show the new warlocks, along with reappearances of past warlocks.

Helga the Conquerer, digital sculpt. 

They presented three warlocks set to appear, the first being a new Farrow warlock; Helga the conquerer. The first female warlock for the Farrow, she appears to be a support caster with a spell list that leans towards supporting those around her. Her model looks very cool from the preview they showed.

Also, to appear was another female warlock, Jagujagu, the first female Gatorman period. It sounds like she is going to be more spell based, with a snake who fights along side her.

Xerxis, digital sculpt.

Lastly, was a new version of Xerxis. The last we saw him, he was severely injured and being dragged off the battlefield by his comrades. Now, with his return, instead of going the Professor X route, he's forgone the wheelchair and taken up an armoured war rhino! He appears to be a combat beast, but we don't know what his spell list will be like, so time will tell on that one.

I look forward to see what other casters may be coming down the pipe with Exigence, especially when you combine this news with the news of lesser warlocks. Not unsurprisingly, the announcement of lesser warlocks comes shortly before the release of the next Warmachine book, which features journeyman warcasters. These models represent novice battlegroup leaders, lesser versions of your army's commander.

Una and her team of falcons.

The folks at Privateer Press preview two, a Circle of Orboros lesser warlock and a Trollblood lesser warlock. They are similar to the journeyman warcasters, in that they have less fury and spells and can command a small battlegroup. The one that stood out for me was Una the Falconer. She is focused around falcons (obviously), and forms battlegroups around Circle griffins. Not only is her art fantastic, but from the digital mockup they previewed, her model is going to be fantastic too! I look forward to seeing what her rules bring to the table. 

Close up of Una's digital sculpt.

The other lesser warlock they previewed was Holger Ironstrike (I think that was his name). He focus' around Pyre and Slag trolls and gets them at a discount! He even has abilities that enhances their ranged attacks. Between this warlock and the Circle lesser warlock, it appears that there will be a nice variation between them, but also some similarities that bring together a nice theme to the new book.

Exigence also will feature, at least, two new battle engines. Both of the ones seen were for Minion subfactions, which may be a way for them to flesh out these groups. The first was for the Gatormen and was called the Sacro-vault (?), which is a tall pillar like tower with a sacrificial alter on the top. This battle engine is said to be powered by the souls of the models that die within proximity of the Sacro-vault. The second is for the Farrow and called the meat-thresher. It's essentially a spiked, steamroller powered by BBQ'd razorboars (seriously). 

Xerxis and his mount, Rhinox.

The last new feature announced is the "Warbeast Pack." These are essentially warbeast units. They can do many of the same things a warbeast can do (use fury, damage transfer, etc) but also can act like a unit (unit coherency, damage points instead of spirals, etc). The idea of mini warbeasts running around is kind of frightening. I can only imagine what happens when a warbeast pack frenzies! I can only hope my warlock is not the closest model. 

All in all, this seems like a really exciting book, both gameplay wise and story wise. With some beautiful models coming along with it, it makes the next few months of very interesting as the models slowly get released. Exigence is scheduled to come out sometime this fall, so I might as well start saving up now, because Warmachine: Vengeance is already going to leave a dent in my wallet.

I'll end this post with a few images I snagged from the video presentation that were never really explained. 

Is this a new Legion warlock or lesser Warlock?
A shot of it's sculpt was seen also in the video.

New Satyr?

Trollblood Highwaymen? Please!

Tell me what you think of Exigence? And don't forget to join us on Facebook!

Privateer Press at Templecon: Part 1 - Warmachine

On Friday, Privateer Press held a keynote presentation at the Templecon convention. It was quite the show and if you haven't seen it yet, you can watch it here: http://www.twitch.tv/privateerpress/b/501465395.

They revealed quite a bit about the future of the Warmachine/Hordes universe.

WARMACHINE NEW MERC FACTION: CEPHALYX

No longer just helping Cryx, Cephalyx steps out on their own.

The big reveal for Warmachine was a new sub-faction for within the Mercenaries; the Cephalyx. These are a race of people who live beneath the surface of Caen, who have mental powers that rival Charles Xavier. The Cephalyx is about controlling those who they see beneath them (who just happen to be above them, physically). Those that they do control, they alter, swapping out hands for weapons. They control them through various in-game abilites, either through joining units or models within a radius, increasing stats or damage. These slaves lose their individuality and seem to lack the ability to feel pain. Prior to this release, the Cephalyx only had a minor role in the Cryx faction. 

One of Cephalyx' big, nasty monstrosities.

The faction also introduces a new type of model: monstrosities. These model function as the Cephalyx' version of warjacks. They differ, however, in a number of ways. Firstly, they don't count as "constructs" like jacks do. These models are living. Thus, what spells and abilities affect warjacks, don't affect monstrosities. But, spells and abilities that affect living models, affect monstrosities. This will make fight against certain Hordes factions interesting. Secondly, because they are not warjacks, they do not have a cortex system. So, while they work with the Focus system, like warjacks do, they cannot be affected by things that damage the cortex. Third, and the big one, because of these differences, they are not warjacks. 

The small-base units, known as drudges, are all made of up people who have been taken in by the Cephalyx mind control. To make things worse, as the drudge slaves, all the Cephalyx have some form of "sacrificial pawn" ability, which destroys the drudge for some bonus. The Cephalyx use both the drudges and the monstrosities as fodder, keeping themselves safely behind. 

Exulon Thexus and company.

The other interesting part of the Cephalyx is that they are a sub-faction of Mercenaries. This means that they can take other mercenary units and models to manage weaknesses within the army. However, it looks like they have to take a Cephalyx UA, the Dominator, that makes they count as "slaves." They gain buffs through this UA, but if it dies, the unit flees.

All these come together for a truly unique theme. They seem to be a rather varied in that their monstrosities, based on the stat cards shown in the video, seem to be strong in melee. Though, the Cephalyx themselves, would rather stay back. The warcaster they showed, Exulon Thexus, has a whopping 8 Focus and allows his monstrosities to act as arc nodes and healing them. His feat "manipulates enemy model positions," and his spells appear to affect enemy models to his advantage.

I'm definitely looking forward to seeing this army play on the table. Not only do they have some very cool looking models, but the concept, ruleswise, seems very interesting. Very strong monstrosities that smash everything, with units that, from the look of it, act as meat-shields for the Cephalyx themselves. I want to see more from this faction as we approach their release, which looks to be Lock & Load this year.

"Dance for me, puppet."

EXCLUSIVE TEMPLECON MODEL

Lastly, Privateer Press released an exclusive model at Templecon. An alternate version of Goreshade the Bastard, this one is "rolling the bones" with a large die in his hand and ghostly dice in its wake. This model is not just available at the event, however. It is also available through the Privateer Press store.

What did you think of what Privateer Press revealed for Warmachine? Are any of you thinking of starting Cephalyx?

In our next post, we'll take a look at what Privateer Press revealed about Hordes and it's upcoming book: Exigence.

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Warmachine: Tactics models!

I wish April would get here faster!

Privateer Press released a preview the limited edition Warmachine: Tactics models, painted in all their glory!

Only two months away... bugger.

I'm very impressed with these sculpts so far. The only one that I think could have been better is the Khador Journeyman Warcaster, who feel a bit static, but that could just be the angle. 

Also of note from Privateer Press; their fiction side, Skull Island eXpeditions, has announced that they are adding their book line to Audible.com. Two books were released today: Into the Storm and Instruments of War. And they have announced a new anthology, Rites of Passage, which will feature short stories revolving around the journeyman warcasters from Warmachine: Tactics.

Trouble in Llael

Just a quick update for today! What do you guys think of the limited edition models?

Review: The new White Dwarf and Warhammer: Visions

Tabletop Maneuvers' first product review!

This past Saturday, Games Workshop released its brand new White Dwarf magazine in a new format, alongside a second, new magazine all together, Warhammer: Visions. This new direction ends the previous line of White Dwarf magazines and resets the counters all back to 1 this month.

The New GW Rags

New Beginnings or Hitting the Reset Button

The first of the two magazines, the White Dwarf, carries on the name of the familiar Games Workshop magazine of the past three decades. The difference now is that it’s a smaller, weekly magazine. Running in at 33 pages (not including the cover), it is considerably smaller, and selling for the price of a paint pot (in Canada that’s $5). It feels a bit condensed, which is understandable considering its size, but not in a bad way. It has several of the articles from the old White Dwarf: Jervis Johnson, Paint Splatter, Designers Notes and of course, New Releases. The new releases section is pages 2 to 13, a little over a third of the magazine. It is the usual large photos with close ups and captions (which will be a trend you'll see later in this article). This issue covered the upcoming release of the Dwarves for Warhammer Fantasy. I don't remember if the article "Sprues and Glue" is one that has appeared before, but it has the potential to be an interesting article if taken in the right direction. This issue's article related to how to work with plastic glue, and while most experienced hobbyists will be familiar with this topic, it is useful for new hobbyists.

The article that I was surprised to see was "the Rules." This article, actually had rules for a miniature yet to be released. Full rules; points, special rules, stats. Full rules. I don't think I've seen that done by Games Workshop in a long time. It was definitely nice to see and a step in a good direction.

The physical magazine, in my opinion though, could be improved. It felt, for lack of a better term, cheap. By this I don't mean that the paper quality is low or that the look was lack-luster. The magazine has good quality, heavy paper and the design is the same as the updated look we're used to with recent White Dwarfs. I mean, I feel like the cover is going to come off, as it's held on by two staples, and that with little effort the thing is going to fall apart.

However, overall, the new White Dwarf isn't bad. I'm not sold on paying $5 every week ($260/year vs. $132/year for the old monthly White Dwarf) for a ~35 page magazine. I, like many married hobbyists with children, have an allowance, and I'd prefer to spend it on actual models and paint. So, I might pick this up every once in a while.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

Warhammer: Visions - Table of Contents

Now, Warhammer: Visions. "Visions" is an apt word.

The new GW monthly magazine is quite the magazine. At 228 pages, it's thick, though its format is smaller than the standard North American magazine size (it's a little larger than the Trade Paperback format). However, it's only $13 (Canadian), which isn't bad given its size. It's also, designwise, very asthetically pleasing. It contains lots of pictures of models, both on the awesome studio tables in dynamic, action-paused style photos and multi-angle, Golden Daemon posed photos. It even contains the highlights of the last Golden Daemon painting competition, whch is always one of my favourite sections in a Games Workshop magazine to look at.

But here in lies the problem: it's a picture book. It's 228 pages of pictures. Text is at a minimum, and it's usually only as captions for the photos. And even then, it's even further limited in that all the text is repeated in three languages: English, French and German. This magazine is clearly designed to be the new global magazine, cutting out regional translations, at least when it comes to Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand. It technically even featured a Battle Report. I had issues in the last White Dwarfs, in that they cut so much of the "report" out of the Battle Report that you really couldn't learn from the designers what tactics were or were not useful. They had become Black Library style prose with pictures. Now it's pictures with Black Library style captions.

If you like Tyranids, this issue of Visions is probably for you. It featured about 100 pages of Tyranic photos, most of which was at the beginning in a prettier "catelogue" of new models. The catelogue of new models was the first 71 pages, then it was into the "articles." Army of the Month was next, which I must admit featured a very cool Vampire Counts army, done by two guys for a Battle Brothers event. I believe a few of the units were featured previously, but they had expanded on the army a lot.

An example of Golden Daemon goodness.

After the Army of the Month article came what was probably my favourite section: Parade Ground. This featured entries from the Memphis Golden Daemon. Next came the "Battle Report" (Grey Knights/Eldar vs Chaos Space Marines), followed by Kit Bash. This was a section I enjoyed the addition of previously, but now with the lack of text, explained less and was more just pictures of conversions. This was followed by the familiar Blanchitsu article, which is one that has always driven me nuts, since John Blanche only ever makes Inquisitorial Warbands, with the same models (theres always a Nurgle lord) and in the same colour palette as his art. After Blanche's piece was more pictures of Tyranids, and Paint Splatter which featured even more Tyranids.

So when it comes to Visions, as cool as lots of pictures of models are, it lacked substance. I feel I will rarely be picking this one up, unless it features an army I play prominently. At $13, I was really hoping for something I could spend a night reading, not flipping through it in 30 minutes to an hour, if that. I was distracted by a toddler through most of that time. She, however, loved the magazine! Which might say something...

The Verdict

I can see myself picking up the new weekly White Dwarf once a month or so, depending on the content. It was enjoyable and good for a quick read, though I would like to see more for $5, but considering they need content now for it weekly, instead of monthly, I don't see that happening. With Warhammer: Visions, I will only be picking it up from the look of it when an army I play (Space Marines, Grey Knights, Tau, Empire) is released, as that will probably be when they are featured heavily in the issue. I don't really feel the need to pay that much for a picture book that won't see much use. 

So, now that you know my thoughts, what are yours? Do you guys plan on picking up the new Games Workshop magazines? What do you like or not like about them? Let me know in the comments below.

Assemble the Fleet

It's been an exciting few days.

Last week, a special delivery arrived for me at work: the Spartan Games bag I ordered from Battlefoam. I had a custom foam order, so that I could fit in a smaller games into the bag. It has two pluck foam trays, two different figure trays (I intend to use them for Infinity and Malifaux miniatures) and the custom starter foam for the Dindrenzi and Terran Alliance fleets.

Spartan Games bag from Battlefoam

On Friday, a friend, "D" ran me and another friend, "K," through the basics of Firestorm Armada at his apartment. I had already bought the 2-player starter set and the Dindrenzi half of another starter set from D. K hadn't completely committed to the system yet (though, from conversation it was more that he just hadn't decided on a faction yet. He was hooked from the description.), so he was using some of D's models. In our first game of the night, we had decided to play 1000 points a side, with K and I playing one side and dividing the points 500 each. D was playing his Terran Alliance, K decided to try the Directorate with some Works Raptor ships and I was playing my Dindrenzi.

Part of my fleet with a patch I have from the Halo Wars collectors edition.

Deployment - I kept my Thraex frigates in reserve

The game was a blast. I deployed on one side of the board hoping that I could keep my railguns (or MAC cannons) on target longer, but I had the problem of the sun (the shiny gold plate in the centre) being between my ships and my enemy early on. Things also went badly in turn 1, as D's battleship critical damaged K's assault carrier causing it's Fold Space drive to malfunction and throw it into the centre of a nearby planet.

On the second turn, things got slightly better for the Zenian Alliance (K and I), as my Thraex shunted in behind D's ships. One squadron arrived and laid waste to a squadron of frigates (though, they did arrive with some hazard markers). The other squadron of Thraex frigates, however, even though they jumped in behind his Tyrant class battleship, they failed to do squat. D then proceed to smash them with nukes. And things pretty much went down hill from there.

Suffice to say, it ended much like it started: with a battleship (my Nausicaa) having it's Fold Space drive damage and it shunting into a stellar body.

The Terran Alliance gloating over it's victory as the Zenian League's capital ships do their interpretation of the USS Pegasus.

Overall, it was a lot of fun. We did a second game, with all of us going free for all, but yet again, the Dindrenzi didn't turn out to well (training exercises don't count right?). So much fun in fact, in what time I could find over the weekend, I've already applied the base coats to my fleet. K also went out and bought a fleet the next day at our FLGS. He ended up deciding on the Aquans.

I definitely recommend picking up this game. It not overly complicated, but complex enough to give you a varying amount of choice. And the starter set, not only gives you two decent fleets, it also gives you the full hard cover rulebook with all the templates needed to play. At a little over $120 too, it's quite the deal.

Tournament Day

Yesterday (Saturday, January 25) was the first WarmaHordes tournament of the Alberta Warmachine Tournament Circuit, and I'd like to say I did fairly well. Out of five games, I won three. I came in third for "Master Craftsman" (Best Painted) and fifth for "Mage Hunter" (Caster kill with least other models killed), which were the two categories I was going for. Which isn't too bad, as I believe there were about 26 players in attendance.

The tournament has to be one of the best ones I've attended, if not the best, and I regret not being able to attend the "swapmachine" tournament that took place afterword due to other obligations. I'd like to thank everyone who worked hard to make this happen at the Out of the Basement group, as well as all my opponents.

I'd also like to say, I learned that when you need to snap pictures fast, the camera on your phone sucks. I had planned to bring my actual camera, but in my hurry to get out the door I forgot to grab it. I blame the lack of sleep from having spent the night previous desparately trying to finish a couple models (which I definitely need to go back to, as rushing doesn't produce the quality painting I want).

GAME 1

My first game was against Trollbloods. He was using epic Madrak Ironhide with a Earthborn Dire Troll and a Troll Axer, with a full unit of Fennblades and an assortment of solos. This game was a bit of a meat grinder, as my Boomhowlers and Fennblades clashed in turn two. But being that my coffee had not kicked in yet, I forgot to use Boomhowlers Call of Defiance for two turns and the Fennblades chewed through the mercenary company. I was able to severely wound his Earthborn Dire Troll with my hunter getting a critical brutal damage Rune Shot from the Gun Mages and boosting damage (four dice!). He was finished off from a few well placed shots before he could really do any damage back. However, the Troll Axer was able to get in and take a couple of swings at Ol'Rowdy. Rowdy was able to cripple him right before I jumped in with Caine, preventing damage from being diverted to his warbeasts as Caine did his assassination run.

Turn 1: After deployment and he moved his Fennblades up (because I almost forgot to take a picture. A trend through  much of the weekend)

What I can remember of his list, which is lacking 2 models at 11 points:
Madrak Ironhide, World Ender
-- Earthborn Dire Troll
-- Troll Axer
Trollkin Fennblades
-- Fennblade Officer and Drummer
Fell Caller Hero

GAME 2

The second game was Cygnar vs. Cyngar, as my epic Caine clashed with Kara Sloan. Setup was fairly typical of Cygnar, with guns lined up on both sides. His list was comprised of everything Kara would need for her feat turn:

Kara Sloan
-- Defender
-- Triumph
-- Squire
Long Gunners (Max)
Arcane Tempest Gun Mages
-- Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer
Reinholdt

I won the dice off and gave him first turn. He moved forward with his force in a line, with his Caster behind the jacks. His jacks and long gunners doing lots of damage to Boomhowler and Company and his Gun Mages trying to shoot Eiryss, but missing. On my turn, Ol'Rowdy and Boomhowler's company ran straight forward, the Gun mages ran towards the wall on my left. Eiryss and my Hunter were able to make it to the wall and still shoot due to their advance deployment, each standing at either end of the wall to ensure Eiryss didn't interfere with my jack. Eiryss took out one of his gun mages and the Hunter pounded on Triumph. Caine stayed comfortable behind the rest. On his second turn he didn't move but continued to shoot taking out more of my Boomhowler company and doing some damage to both my hunter and Rowdy. On my second turn, it was go time. The gun mages shot into the enemy gun mages, clearing out a model to open up line of sight to Kara from her right (my left). Eiryss stepped forward right in front of his gun mages and put a shot into Kara, disrupting her and dropping all her focus. The hunter went next, stepping forward and putting a devastating shot into Kara, nearly killing her. Caine then walked up to the edge of his range and put a single arcane shot down range at her to finish her off. This was apparently unnecessary as I had dominance of the control zone and at the end of my turn would have done 5 damage anyway to her, thus ending the game.

Game over.

GAME 3

Game three saw my first lose against a Retribution of Scyrah force. I knew from the get-go this was going to be a short game as we both were playing the assassination run. It really came down to positioning and who could pull the trigger first. His force was Kaelyssa with lots of ouch. This is his list:

Kaelyssa, Nights Whisper
-- Banshee
-- Sylys Wyshnarlyrr
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution
Arcanists
Dawnguard Sentinels (Max)
-- Officer and Standard
Mage Hunter Strike Force (Min)
-- Strike Force Commander
Mage Hunter Infiltrators (Max)


Turn one was really both of us trying to out position the other, while ensuring our casters moved forward enough to not killbox ourselves.
I ran Ol'Rowdy and Boomhowler's company forward with the Gun Mages and the Hunter on my left. Eiryss moved up on the right. Caine staying back. He ran most of his force up the middle with the Dawnguard in the centre with his Banshee, his infiltrators running up to my left and the strike force moving up field to my right. The Eiyrss were lining up to face each other down. Kaelyssa also popped her feat, making her entire force gain stealth and making it so I couldn't charge.

My turn two I tried to do what damage I could to the Banshee with my hunter, and with shooting from my gun mages and Boomhowler company into his units. I was still out of range to do my assassination run, so Caine moved forward crossing the 14" line by a few inches, thinking I was still out of his range. This was my mistake. I should have just crossed the line and also moved a bit to my left. On his turn, Kaelyssa moved up and cast Phantom Hunter on the Banshee, which then proceed to shoot Caine doing some hefty damage. This was followed by the Mage Hunter Strike Force, which being able to ignore the LOS block from my Boomhowler Company proceeded to shoot Caine, who was JUST in range.
The worst part was, my next turn was setup to be a very good assassination run on Kaelyssa. My opponent even said that if he hadn't killed me then and there, Kaelyssa was in for some trouble.

Middle of Turn 1. Before the Elves go all "Kill all Humans" on my backside.

GAME 4

My fourth game was against a friend of mine who is part of my regular circle of tabletop gamers, and off all my games this is the one that just hurt. He was playing his Retribution, and in this game, Caine and my Gun Mages decided that shooting into the air and dancing like Yosamite Sam would be a productive use of their time. It started out good, with my Cygnar going second. He advanced forward, with Eiryss moving up my left. On my turn, everything advanced forward as well, Caine casting his usual Heightened Reflexes on Boomhowler and advancing up the right side to hide behind some ruins. On his turn, moved in and started doing some damage to the Boomhowlers, who, unlike earlier games, decided that rolling tough was a good thing. It was during my second turn that things started to fall apart. With my army failing to get any shots off and being in a very poor position, Caine retreats to behind the small ruin on my right. Which was probably a bad decision. I probably should have had Caine shoot up the place then Gatecrash out of harms way. But, lessons learned. On his turn, he proceeded to take apart my army, piece by piece, as I failed tough roll after tough roll and the gun mages simply rolled over. However, he did bring his caster forward into a very nice position for an assassination run, albeit with a stack of focus.

So, on my turn, I brought Eiryss up to try and remove the stack but was turned into a puddle of goo by his jack with an impressive free strike roll. Now, Caine had to deal with the caster with full focus... great.
Caine strode forward, popped his feat, and begun shooting... and missed completely. I only needed sixes and could not make them to save his life (literally). Even with all his focus armor, had I been hitting, eventually the negative to my damage should have been able to do something to him. But, alas, nothing.
Caine was now open to die. My opponent was nice at first, leaving Caine be, while he destroyed the rest of the army (he was going for the Executioner award). Only after he had killed everything else, forcing Caine to witness his army die, did he plunge the blade into Caine.

End of Turn 1. "The line must be drawn here! No further!"

Vyros (Prime)
-- Pheonix
-- Banshee
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution
Arcanist
House Shyeel Magister
Houseguard Halberdiers (Max)
-- Officer and Standard
-- Soulless

GAME 5

My last game pitted me once again against Cygnar, this time against another Captain Allister Caine! His list was along the same vein as mine, but switched out up a few things while keeping the focus on the assassination.

Captain Caine
-- Stormwall
-- Squire
Reinholdt
Taryn di la Rovissi
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution
Arlan Strangeways
Black 13th
Rangers
Stormsmith Stormcallers x2

This game was an interesting match up, as both of us vied to get their assassination off. It was a dance almost. I won the dice off and had him go first. His Stormwall deployed slight off of centre to my left, with enemy Caine, his retinue, the Black 13th and Taryn centred. Each Stormcaller was on either end of the army, and the rangers and Eiryss were up front. I deployed in standard fashion with Ol'Rowdy in the middle surrounded by Boomhowler's Company and Caine and his retinue in behind. My gun mages I deployed on my left with the Hunter up front and Eiryss was on my right. Everything ran forward in both of our first turns with a few potshots here and there from both sides, but nothing critical. On his second turn, he advanced his rangers up, and stormcallers up, taking out Eiryss and doing some damage to my hunter and Boomhowlers in the process. His Caine then proceeded to magic bullet assassinate me through Ol'Rowdy. He came very close, but failed to drop my Caine. Wanting to charge his Stormwall in he realized one of his rangers would be in the way, so Taryn summarily shot him in the back and the Stormwall charged into Ol'Rowdy and the Boomhowler company, doing significant damage to Rowdy, but not bringing him down. On my turn, I assaulted with the Boomhowlers that could (thanks to Jonas), and did a decent amount of damage to it's right side. My gun mages proceeded to shoot the stormcaller on my left flank. With the stormcaller gone, my Hunter moved up around the cloud that Ryan had put down the turn previous, and got LOS on to the enemy Caine, and took out half of his damage boxes. Caine (my Caine that is) stepped forward and used an opening between my boomhowlers to use magic bullet through the Black 13th into his Caine, killing him and two members of the 13th as well.

Who's magic bullets reign supreme?

All in all, a good first go at the Warmachine tournament scene. I look forward to trying a 50 point tournament to compare how the two play. I like that at 35 points I can't take everything that I want to take. We'll see how things go at the upcoming Steamroller. Hopefully, I have everything I want in my list painted before the night prior so I'm not scrambling like I was this time around.

In the next day or two I'll be posting more about the Tournament, as well as looking into the newest No Quarter and discussing the changes to GW's White Dwarf magazine. 

Regular scheduled programming

New Years Resolution: POST!
I'm committing to AT LEAST a post a week. Starting now.

It's been an interesting few months. I participated in two leagues at a FLGS, and while I've been trying to attend, I've missed several tournaments that they were running. But this weekend, I will finally be getting to participate in a local tournament. And it's a big one.

This weekend is the Out of the Basement weekend. Several games are having tournament, including Malifaux, Warhammer 40K and Fantasy, Attack Wing, X-Wing, and Firestorm Armada, as well as two Warmachine/Hordes tournaments. The second is a "Swap-Machine" tournament, but I'll be attending the first; a 35 point hardcore tournament. It's also the first tournament that is part of the new Alberta Tournament Circuit.

I'm planning on taking an eCaine list.

Captain Allister Caine, Dual wielding flintlocks like a boss.

Captain Allister Caine (+6)
--Squire (2)
--Ol'Rowdy (9)
Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator (1)
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution (3)
Arcane Tempest Gun Mages (6)
--ATGM Officer (2)
--Hunter (6)
Greygore Boomhowler & Co.  (9)
-- Captain Jonas Murdoch (2)

Group Shot: Arcane Tempest Gun Mages with Caine, Hunter and a Defender in the background.

 I'm currently trying to finish all the painting. Reinholdt and Eiryss are almost done, only a few details left. Boomhowler and company, and the squire are base coated in multiple colours. And I need to start Ol'Rowdy, but I find jacks easy.

Unfortunately, I'm prone to model distraction. I'm trying desperately not to paint my new Firestorm Armada fleets: The Dindrenzi and the Terran Alliance. I have to say, Firestorm's 2-player starter is fantastic and well worth the money.

 

The awesome capital ships of the FSA starter.

I'll post some more once I have more of my list painted. Also, expect to see some battle reports from the weekends fun.

Until next time...