Friday, July 31, 2015

DBA Republican Romans

I just finished my first proper army for De Bellis Antiquitas: Polybian Romans from Essex Miniatures, suitable for fighting Carthage or Syria. I'm pretty happy to have finished an entire table - ready army in a week. Next up I need to finish the Japanese and Galatian armies to oppose them...


Monday, July 27, 2015

July Historical Day

Saturday was the monthly historical miniatures wargame day at Guardian Games, and for the first time in quite a while we had more than just me and Gabe, thanks to a crowd that came up from Salem. I played Saga with Oliver, and my Crusaders sadly lost to his Saracens on scenario.*

Saga - Vikings versus Pagan Rus
We played a couple other Saga games - Finns vs. Jomsvikings and Vikings vs. Pagan Rus - as well as trying out a game of Lion Rampant.

Lion Rampant

* So my main game is Warmachine, and one of the reasons it does well competitively is because of the updated-yearly Steamroller packet, which contains the official tournament format(s) and scenarios. I'm going to try adapting a few features of that to Saga. The easy sell is the scenarios; the hard sell is using a chess clock or timed turns, as I've found most non-Warmachine players are extremely reluctant to use them...

Monday, July 20, 2015

Battle Report: That's A Huge Base Tournament, July 18, Haven Gaming

I competed in a Warmachine Master's format tourney this past Saturday down at Haven Gaming in Salem. I didn't do very well, 2-2. I'm feeling pretty burned out on competitive Warmachine right now, to be honest; I don't feel like I can keep up with the competitive players simply because I don't have the time to dedicate to practice and theory. And I'm not sure it's really worth it, in the larger scheme of life, to make time...

But enough maundering. The games!

I brought the following lists, using the ADR rules. Rasheth is the caster I'm most comfortable with, and since my meta has a preponderance of Legion, he's a really solid drop in most competitions. Makeda is there to drop against Cryx and Cygnar, but I'm very inexperienced with this list.

Archdomina Makeda

* Mammoth
* Cyclops Raider
* Basilisk Krea
Mortitheurge Willbreaker
Extoller Soulward
Cataphract Cetrati (max)
Venator Slingers
Tyrant Commander and Standard Bearer
Paingiver Beast Handlers (minimum)

Specialists:
Cataphract Incindiarii (max)
Gatorman Witch Doctor
Cyclops Shaman
Tyrant Vorkesh

Objective: Bunker

Dominar Rasheth (Chain Gang theme force, Tier 4)

* Titan Gladiator
* Titan Sentry
* Titan Cannoneer
* Bronzeback Titan
* Basilisk Krea
Agonizer
Agonizer
Agonizer
Paingiver Task Master
Gatorman Posse (max)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (minimum)

Specialists:
* Titan Sentry
* Basilisk Drake
* Basilisk Drake
* Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew

Objective: Arcane Wonder

Round 1: Vyros, Incissar of the Dawn

Turn Three, and Ryan's set the line of engagement well forward for him.

First game was against Ryan, who brought Vyros 2 and Issyria to the party - both at tier 4. He dropped Vyros with a battlegroup evenly split between heavy and light 'jacks. I countered with Makeda, and swapped out the Krea so I could bring in the Gatorman Witch Doctor to Tough my infantry.

The scenario was Close Quarters. I lost the roll and selected the side without the enormous obstruction in front of the deployment zone. In retrospect, that may have been a mistake, since the wheat field (rough terrain) on the side I did choose turned out to be something of a problem.

At any rate, he moved up the board extremely quickly, and managed to jam me out of the middle of the board. Although I killed just about all of his army, I wasn't able to contest my own flag, and he was able to win on scenario by turn 4.

Round 2: Lich Lord Terminus

Turn two: Cetrati hold the line against Mechanithralls.

Kyle brought Lich Lord Terminus and the now-ubiquitous Deneghra 2 Body & Soul Tier. He dropped Terminus, to my regret; I can deal with Body & Soul, but the Terminus list brought way, way too much meat for me to kill. Bane Thralls, two Mechanithralls units, and, of course, two units of Stitch Thralls. I dropped Makeda again, and swapped out the Slingers and the Krea for the Incindiarii. I probably should have actually taken the Cetrati off the table instead, just to maximize my ranged attacks.

The scenario was Recon. Terrain made little difference in this game, except for the craters in the zone. I'd assumed they were simply rough terrain, while he thought they granted cover (+4 Defense). Remember, kids, talk out terrain with your opponent before the game starts!

This game went much like the last; he managed to jam me out of scenario, and though I did kill quite a few zombies, I wasn't able to contest. He killed my objective, dominated a flag, and controlled the zone to win by turn 3.

Round 3: Thagrosh, Prophet of Everblight

No picture for this one; it was too blurry.

Don brought Thagrosh 1 and Abyslonia 2, and dropped Thags T4 - two full units of Warspears, Carnivean, Ravagore, Scythean. I dropped Rasheth and subbed out the Cannoneer for the two Drakes.

The scenario was Outflank; I lost the roll and picked a side. The only terrain that mattered was a forest between the two scenario zones which divided my forces, but made no difference to the Legion units.

This match up was one I'm quite comfortable with. I jammed out one side with fast moving Gators, used the Drakes to engage the other side, and brought my beasts up the middle. The Sentry with Carnivore under feat was able to remove both his Ravagore and Carnivean in a single turn. After that, it became a bit of a grind; I narrowly avoided assassination thanks to Thagrosh not having Eyeless Sight to draw LOS through a forest, and then was able to finish off Thagrosh himself with the Bronzeback.

Round 4: Absylonia, Daughter of Everblight


Rasheth's POV on turn two
Derek had Absylonia 2 and Kallus; he dropped Aby, I dropped Rasheth. Lost the roll, picked a side (same table I played round 2 on, as it happens), and we got underway with the Destruction scenario.

Aby had a pair of Blight Wasp swarms, two Scytheans, a Seraph, and an Extreme Carnivean. I used the same setup as I had in round 3. This game was a bit tighter than last round. Derek was able to kill off quite a bit of my pieces, but I caught him out with a classic Gladiator slam & follow up assassination.

All told, not a bad tournament. It went to 5 rounds, but I dropped after round 4 to get home at a reasonable hour. But I think this will be my last tournament for a few months, maybe for the rest of the year.

Friday, July 3, 2015

Painting Update: Summer 2015

It's miserably hot in Portland right now, which means I'll be spending as much time as possible in the basement, where it's cool, painting. The 2015 summer Cog Collective painting challenge is in full swing, so I'll be working toward that as well as polishing off a few unfinished projects that have been taking up space for far too long.

Cog Challenge

For this year, I'm limiting myself to just four projects, and I don't even expect to finish one of them. They are:

Essex post-Mongol Japanese army for DBA

Old Glory Crusaders, for SAGA
These probably won't get done, because I need to order spears and that probably won't happen till August

Krueger the Stormwrath, a Pureblood Warpwolf, and a Shadowhorn Satyr
These are for the summer Journeyman league, and about the only Warmachine models I plan on carrying out from start to finish this summer.

Battlefront WW2 Hungarian infantry, for a commission

As for unfinished projects, they are legion. In order of priority, more or less:

  • Skorne Mammoth. Really need this for an anti-Cryx list.
  • Kings of War Undead army. Interest in KoW is rising in Portland thanks to the imminent release of 2nd edition as well as GW's release of the very different Age of Sigmar to replace Warhammer Fantasy. This will invovle some rebasing, something I swore I would never do...
  • Assorted Minion models for Warmachine - Gatorman Posse, Bog Trog Shamblers, and Efaarit Scouts.
  • Not quite unfinished so much as not yet begun, but I have an army of Essex Attalid Pergamenes that I want to get finished so as to have something to throw against my Seleucid force in Field of Glory.
So that's a summer's worth of work, easily. We'll see how much actually gets done.