Death by Inches

Lock and Load Tomorrow!

Archimedes the Dog — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 20:26:40 +0000

I am not bringing my laptop, so I won’t be updating the blog (more play time!), but Privateer Press is going to be liveblogging at the following link:

http://nqmagazine.wordpress.com/

I am very excited to get my butt handed to me by a bunch of people I’ve never met before. See you there!

Miniature Monday: Reform Candidate

Archimedes the Dog — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 04:39:15 +0000

Nuala the Huntress, Unit Attachment for the Tharn Bloodtrackers, is an expert in pointy objects and their application in conflict resolution. This is an admirably well-sculpted model: when she was first introduced, some people were complaining that she is almost Warcaster-detailed. Still, as a character model, I feel it is entirely appropriate. I’ve not seen another Privateer model with a sculpted pedestal built in, either. I used Miliput to match the ground from her pedestal, and added a log and extended the vines to the edge of the base.

Not the kind of girl you bring home to Mother...unless Mother is a homicidal maniac.

Nuala (or Nualar, if you are from the land down under by way of the great white north) is not really an auto-include, but that’s what I appreciate about her: she brings utility to the table, but the Bloodtrackers are strong enough all by themselves that she nuances their effectiveness rather than validates their existence. Her signature ability, of course, is Reform, letting the Bloodtrackers make an extra bit of move at the end of their activations. I seem to have trouble remembering this ability at key moments, trying to get through those mid-game turns where everything is in combat and there are a lot of rules and effects to remember. Quick Work is nice enough, allowing the Bloodtrackers to make a ranged attack after killing a model with a melee attack, but I am hesitant to charge into melee with the unit since they do much better at range where their mobility and Stealth are most effective.

You won't be in her rear arc much, if you know what I mean...

I am considering painting the entire Bloodtrackers unit rather slowly. I have one extra Bloodtracker I picked up at some point, and can actually paint them one at a time since I don’t have to remove them from heavy rotation to paint them that way. That of course may lead to some variation in their appearance, but with ten models in the full unit, all with lots of little details, I am not keen on going without a cornerstone infantry unit for the month and a half it might take me to paint them all.

Lock and Load and Lists and Limits

Archimedes the Dog — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 22:30:47 +0000

I’ll be heading out to Lock and Load in a few weeks, and I’m trying to limit the models I bring along, since I can of course only carry one bag full of suspicious little bits of metal onto the plane. I’m focusing on eKrueger and Baldur lists, since I have been playing them the most, lately, even though I tend to struggle with Baldur on the table. It’s relatively easy to be prepared to field eKaya since I am bringing all my beasts by default, and I will probably also bring Kromac along since I need to bring along some of the models in the foam tray in which he lives.

I have my usual 35-point lists, but for Lock and Load, I’m actually anticipating seeing a lot of 50-point games, so I specifically am preparing 50-point lists. I already have a planned 50-point game against a Tier 4 Vyros list, as well.

Flight Plan

Let’s start with everyone’s favorite solar-powered Sect machine, Krueger the Stormlord:

Army Name: Stormy Whether?
50+5 points, 26 models

Krueger the Stormlord +5 points

Megalith 11 points
Pureblood Warpwolf 9 points
Warpwolf Stalker 10 points

Druids of Orboros 7 points

Druid of Orboros Overseer 2 points

10 Tharn Bloodtrackers 8 points

Nuala The Huntress 2 points

Shifting Stones 2 points
Lord of the Feast 4 points

Lighting to the left, lightning to the right.

The druids and eKrueger go together like shag carpet and 1974, and for months I have been augmenting Krueger’s ability to abuse opponents’ field position by bringing along the Druids for their extreme fishing skills. The virago swarm — the Bloodtrackers and Nuala — I haven’t used with eKrueger before. I run them often with Kromac, however, and one of the best things about them is that they are reasonably self-sufficient. Krueger’s Storm Wall spell can help shore up the vulnerability to AOEs of both the Druids and the Bloodtrackers by giving a good chance of directing AoE deviations away from them, as well, with their high defense. Shifting stones and Das Feastmeister round out the list. I considered a Feral instead of the Stalker to get the Shifting Stones UA, but the Stalker has a sword large enough to be suspiciously compensatory, you know, and can chew up infantry just as well as cracking hard targets.

Variation: I may at the last minute replace the lovely experts in pointy things with my favorite Krueger bodyguard — the Gnarlhorn Satyr — as well as a Druid Wilder for fury management.

Rock Concert

Next, we move on to a man voted by his high school class as most likely to be shot to pieces by a blighted elf (prophetic!):

Army Name: Baldur Bash
50+6 points, 31 models

Baldur the Stonecleaver +6 points

Megalith 11 points
Wold Guardian 9 points
Woldwarden 9 points

Druids of Orboros 7 points

Druid of Orboros Overseer 2 points

Sentry Stone & Mannikins 3 points
Shifting Stones 2 points

Stone Keeper 1 point

10 Tharn Bloodtrackers 8 points

Nuala The Huntress 2 points

Blackclad Wayfarer 2 points

Speaking of compensating with your sword...

One thing that is immediately apparent, here, is that I have the same Units in this list as in the previous: The Druids and the Bloodtrackers with UAs. In this list, the Druids are more the Unit that is required to be self-sufficient and the Bloodtrackers instead get direct support from the strength boost of Stone Skin. Both units yet again benefit from AOE protection (or Blast Damage protection, at least) via Solid Ground. A weakness is the fact that the list has neither of the more murderous solos — The Lord of the Feast and the Tharn Ravager White Mane — either of which I normally bend backwardsish to fit into every list.

Variation: I could reduce the ‘Warden to a Wyrd and take the Lord of the Feast, I guess. Depends on how much infantry I see.

Brick Wall

Now in some situations, I may need a reliable tar pit (cough, that Vyros Theme Force game, cough), and in that case I am planning on the following alternative if I can get the second box of Skinwalkers assembled:

Army Name: Baldur’s Hard Place
50+6 points, 26 models

Baldur the Stonecleaver +6 points

Megalith 11 points
Wold Guardian 9 points
Woldwarden 9 points

Druids of Orboros 7 points

Druid of Orboros Overseer 2 points

Sentry Stone & Mannikins 3 points
Shifting Stones 2 points

Stone Keeper 1 point

5 Warpborn Skinwalkers 8 points
Blackclad Wayfarer 2 points
Reeve Hunter 2 points

Maybe he should have had a smile molded into his helmet, instead.

I haven’t used the Skinwalkers previously, but several players have been reporting success with them of late, and are finding them survivable under normal circumstances, much less under the influence of Stone Skin. They are notorious for having low damage output for Heavy Infantry, but in this instance they are indeed intended to be the Immovable Object in the equation.

The Reeve Hunter is a less than inspiring inclusion, I’m afraid. I’d really rather not pick up a second unit of Shifting Stones, nor do I want a second Blackclad, though both would be of some use, here. I hope we will be getting more 2-point Minions later this year, the lack of Warmachine’s excellent Mercenary choices really hinders Hordes’ options at times.

Variation: I considered dropping the Druid UA and the Reeve Hunter in favor of the Lord of the Feast, or the Shifting Stone UA and the Reeve Hunter for a Whitemane, but I think those UAs are useful, here. I guess I’d lean more to the Whitemane option.

Wow, that 15 minutes went fast.

Winning?

None of these is a hugely competitive list. In my experience, at least, competitive lists are often focused around some key strategy/tactic/trick/what have you, and the list is designed to execute that key sequence while surviving x number of counters thrown out by your opponent. My above lists are general all-comers lists designed to give me a few options and be fun to play. Whatever I field at Lock and Load, I’m attending for a chance to to play, not necessarily to win. I’m not even entered in any of the tournaments, and just intend to play casually in the Iron Arena. I doubt I’ll ever be successfully competitive, I’m much more of a hobbyist, and that’s fine by me.

So Angry It Hurts!!

Archimedes the Dog — Tue, 31 May 2011 03:34:45 +0000

What is the Gorax?
And why is it here?
And why is it angry and Primaled, I fear?
And ready to frenzy wherever it goes?
That old Mohsar still lives here.
Ask him. He knows.

(With deepest apologies to Dr. Seuss.)

Miniature Monday: Wealth of Stealth

Archimedes the Dog — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 05:40:13 +0000

In a quick update for Miniature Monday, I have recently finished The Lord of the Feast and a Dwarf Thief model for the new Pathfinder campaign at work, both models representing stealthy characters of different sorts.

The Lord of the Feast came together very well. I wish I had built a little more contrast into the color scheme, but it does make the hair really pop.

Look, kittens! I love kittens. And the flesh of my enemies.

I wish I had built a little more contrast into the color scheme, but it does make the hair really pop.

You don't have him for dinner...

My Dwarf Thief is a nice Reaper mini, and I made a point of trying to paint him quickly for a change, all in all about 4 hours or so.

I steal everything, basically, but especially mustache wax.

While the photos are a little washed out, the blonde beard was probably not the best choice, both because I am not good at Blonde yet, but also because it fades into the skin tone a bit.

Thieves's Guild, not Lollipop Guild. Come over here and make that joke.

I intend to try painting the entire Druids of Orboros unit this weekend, so I used this as a dress rehearsal for the cloaks. It came out too light, so I’ll go darker for the druids.

This week, I’m working on Nuala the Huntress.

Miniature Monday: Don’t Go Into the Woods

Archimedes the Dog — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 18:51:23 +0000

Circle Orboros represents the red in tooth, red in claw side of nature to be sure, and I am currently working on two of the more emblematic figures that embody this: Wurmwood, Tree of Fate and The Lord of the Feast. (Circle Orboros makes up for its lack of titular preposition by liberally applying them elsewhere.)

Wurmwood, Tree of RAWR!!!!!

Wurmwood is relatively straightforward to paint, though it has a lot of detail. The photo washes out the skulls around the base–the shading is much darker in person, but I will still need to deepen the shadows in the eye sockets. Painting all the ropes was getting fussy and I surrendered partway through the day. I have yet to field Cassius and Wurmwood, but am looking forward to the day I feel advanced enough to take on the challenge.

Om nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom...

While Circle Orboros doesn’t have anything I’d call as much of a “crutch” or auto-include as the Choir or the Deathjack, The Lord of the Feast comes close, “bloody” close (har!). I specifically started painting him to remove him from my battle bag and try something else with the four points. I’m still having trouble with the skin, drybrushing didn’t work out the way I wanted it to. I need to do a little more glazing and highlighting, the shading ended up too heavy-handed.

Your Ticket to the Dog Show

Archimedes the Dog — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 06:25:08 +0000

Late last year I picked up the Reeve Hunter and his three pet War Wolf missiles. Today I finally finished painting them. I take forever to paint a model these days — even more so than in the past — due to a busy career and a number of impromptu lunchtime meetings cutting into my painting time.

Let's play fetch. The hard way.

Painting the Reeve Hunter was surprisingly challenging, but also very fun. I wish I had chosen brighter green for his armor, and the sword really dulled down with the matte varnish in a way I wasn’t expecting. In general, however, I am pleased. For the War Wolf Solos, I applied a basecoat of medium gray over black primer, drybrushed with light gray and white, then washed in sepia. I drybrushed up to white again, washed down in sepia, and finally drybrushed up one last time. I wasn’t sold on the result until I painted the armor and harnesses — the fur looks much better in contrast with the other colors.

Real wolves are not as fond of brushing as tiny metal ones.

As always, I tend not to paint the models I am playing — so the Lord of the Feast will never be painted, I guess — and I haven’t figured out the best use for this five points of roving death.

Of course I have the proper licenses. Come check their collars.

My collection of Circle Orboros is continuing to grow, unfortunately it is growing into a pile of unassembled models, much of it infantry. I remain woefully inept at pinning and I had been avoiding the frustration to be had pinning lots of little hands to spears. I despaired of ever being able to run Morvahna or Mohsar, however, who depend on infantry spam. So I finally bit the bullet and assembled — without pinning — a full unit of Wolves of Orboros with Unit Attachment and a min unit of Reeves of Orboros. I did pin Wolf Lord Morraig with predictably inaccurate results.

I don't think the fur is faux.

Painting all these are going to be a chore, I’m going to wait and see how bad the joins are — those spears are bound to catch on everything. I am halfway inclined to just go Indonesian, next time.

R.I.P. Iron Agenda (late to the table edition)

Archimedes the Dog — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 17:06:52 +0000

Nearly a year ago, I started to become interested in Warmachine (I didn’t even know Hordes existed, then). I had heard the D6 Generation podcast review of Warmachine Mk II, and it jogged past memories of the “new miniatures game” I had heard about years before, something people swore would actually survive trying to shove aside some of the crushing weight of the GW leviathan. I really liked what I heard from the D6G. The core mechanics sounded solid and fun, the smaller army sizes were attractive, it was apparent to me (as a maker of video games) that they had incorporated some solid game design philosophies from video games, and I especially liked the goals that Privateer had set themselves for what they were trying to accomplish with the Mark II revamp of the game.

Now, my response to anything is to research it into quivering submission, so I started to read everything I could find, beg, borrow, steal, or pry from the jaws of the Internet. Since I got my iPhone, I have really started to listen to a lot of podcasts, and the D6 Generation referred to “other podcasts” that were commenting on Mark II. The first that came up in iTunes was The Iron Agenda.

Looking through dozens of entries, I was trying to find a good place to start. Naturally I gravitated toward the “New Player Talk” episode, but I had borrowed a copy of Forces of Warmachine: Retribution of Scyrah from a coworker, so I made sure to grab the podcast where they went through that book. While the New Player episode was good, the Retribution episode was even better, at least with the context provided by the New Player episode. The lads did an incredible job of teaching listeners how to understand what a model does and how to interpret a stat line. I listened to those podcasts several times and started listening every week, and I pretty much learned two thirds of what I needed to know to start playing the game.

Over recent months, the podcast had felt a little thin, however. Once Tim didn’t have time to record any more, the group lost a little extra spark. Tim has a sardonic edge to him–and maybe a little more gravitas–providing counterbalance to the general tomfoolery that could occasionally take over, and he was good at bringing the group back on topic. Dave and Jason are hilarious and obviously know how to play and how to evangelize the game, but also seemed to be flagging in their enthusiasm for the podcast. Josh was a willing participant in some of the silliness, but also has an obviously superior grasp of tactics and could suddenly cut in with a really sharp observation, and really seemed to lead the charge more and more. Once Josh announced he was moving to Arizona, I figured the days were numbered. Sadly I was correct.

So I realize this is many days and a fat stack of cash both late and short, but thanks, Iron Agenda for being awesome. Thanks for the Blog Network, too, which really is a great way to bring the community together. Thanks for the tactical advice and the laughs and the absurd yet often accurate speculation.

And dammit, Josh owes us a mini episode where he goes through the Circle book: that was crappy timing on the move day, I had been waiting to get his take for months since he plays Circle.

So where do we go now for our audio fix? There are some podcasts remaining:

Lost Hemisphere Radio. My favorite podcast for Warmachine and Hordes. Generally positive yet prone to real opinion, hosts who have fun and believe in what they are doing and saying, and of course, drinking games and ferret signals help make this top of my list. Plus, the hosts are like 50% of my readership so I have to list them first.
Boosted Damage. I wish they didn’t keep the audio mix so quiet (hard to hear in the car), but the hosts of this opinionated podcast actually explain and back up their opinions and I like the insight into the gaming scene in Britain. John and Jon tend to dominate the conversation, but Chris and Conrad are far more than Greek chorus and the podcast would really be lost without their patient good cheer. And the Cryx hate makes me want to play Cryx, so thanks, Snape, for the motivation to be evil and broken.
Guts N Gears. An independent podcast that sometimes comes off as essentially a house organ of Privateer Press. Relentless positivity and the cheeriest hosts in hostendom make for a pleasant experience, if you can manage to actually hear the podcast. Seriously, what is it with British gaming podcasts? You’re on the other side of the globe, speak up so I can hear you. Anyway, the frequent interviews with Privateer Staff are great and Sam and Andres and Vish are infectiously enthusiastic.
Focus and Fury. Are you a strange mix of dork and bro? Are your knuckles scuffed from dragging on the ground? Do you get your kicks below the waistline, sunshine? You are probably still too classy for this podcast. Unfortunately, they also do get around to tactics in a useful way (whenever they manage to actually record), but I refuse to admit I laugh at the absurdity. And I miss the gaming scene in Minneapolis so it’s nice to hear it’s still very active.

Lord of the Storm, Lord of the Dance

Archimedes the Dog — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 07:25:13 +0000

Epic Krueger has been painted just in time for this weekend’s foodmachine tournament; I ended up rushing the cloak because I wanted him finished, so some of my highlighting is not as good as I would have liked. I have done all but add the basing materials (I painted the front arc after I took the photo): I wish I had a good way to have swirling leaves since he looks all windy. I would greatly prefer to let him dry much longer before I paint the sealer on, maybe I should play him carefully with no sealer on Saturday.

Why do PP's "action" poses all look like dancing?

I wish I had not broken my camera, the iPhone really doesn’t take that great of pictures.

The cloak ended up a different color than I expected, it’s different shades of olive green in thin layers, but then I washed with with GW’s Thraka Green and it got very emerald. I should really have made a dark olive wash myself, I’ve had so many bad experiences with self-mixed washes that I am hesitant. I considered mixing Devlan Mud and Thraka Green washes to try to emulate an olive green wash, but I think that may not work well. I should try that on a model I care less about to see if I can paint my Druids that way.

I chickened out on doing glowing blue eyes. I had a white glaze on the brush and in the eye socket before I changed my mind and just gave him regular eyes. I made the pupils with a very dark gray this time, it looks less googly-eyed than black does.

I’m working crazy hours right now. Not a lot of time to craft a post, I have chosen to spend my free time painting, instead.

Krueger the Stormlord Theme Force

Archimedes the Dog — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 05:35:23 +0000

Bell of Lost Souls has spoiled the Theme List for Krueger the Stormlord, otherwise known as eKruger, otherwise known as Señor Kinda-Like-Rahn-But-More-Crazy. I think we could predict that the Tharn were going to be part of the theme list since Krueger is Kromac’s mentor, though I have no idea what the Skinwalkers are doing in the picture (besides very slowly advancing up the field) — we are still lacking much of a sense of their fluff, and they were also included in eKaya’s theme list spoiled last month. We do know from the most recent No Quarter that Krueger runs with Warpwolves, however, at least in the fiction.

Eek! A mouse!

This list may be thematic, but I had held out hope that it might be competitive, as well. I have been really enjoying playing with eKrueger so far, and am looking to make him a regular choice of mine on the tabletop. But the lack of Woldwardens makes this list seem not very effective. eKrueger has an expensive spell list, and there are no upkeeps. The Woldwarden’s geomancy really makes it possible to get the most out of Krueger by giving him an avenue for getting cheap spells. Krueger has a little to offer the warpwolves, however: Telekinesis gives them an extra two inches of move as long as you activate Krueger first, and Storm Wall reduces the chance that they will be shot on the advance.

But of course, the fact is that the Theme Lists aren’t about being competitive. The point is that the lists are not competitive, so the theme list advantages are intended to offset that fact somewhat. This isn’t to say that there are no competitive Theme Lists, as there certainly are (some by accident, to be certain), but the stated intent is to give players some measure of compensation for fielding a force constrained by the fiction of the different warcasters and warlocks. It gives designers some new ways to introduce some radical options while tightly controlling the conditions under which the options are available. And, of course, there is also some element of giving players a new hook to spark discussion: how many points you need to make a theme list, which tier is most valuable for which caster, and even which Theme Lists are competitive.

In a game with an explicit goal of balanced forces competing on a level playing field, I can see why this approach would cause some confusion. In addition, the personality of those who choose to discuss the theme forces online may be selecting for a view of the game. I may have the advantage that I started down the Privateer path when I listened to the D6 Generation summary/review of Mark II Warmachine, and the Theme Lists were one of the ideas that appealed to me. Not that I have any intention of fielding one before I know the game better, I feel like the Theme Lists are a little bit of the advanced class.