Weekend Report

This past weekend saw a nice bit of gaming: the monthly Saga get together, a game at Andrew's, and a trek through a very foggy Portland to play some Warmachine at Rune & Board.

Saga: Normans v. Normans!

I figured I'd play my Crusaders as Normans this weekend, as everyone else is playing Age of Vikings and the figures are close enough. Dropped into Bob's (better-painted, better organized) Normans and pulled out a very bloody draw.

Deployment. My knights on each flank, crossbows, longbows, and spearmen in the center. Bob has two full levy longbow and three fat units of mounted warriors waiting for me.

Some initial shuffling on both sides; I backed out of longbow range, which was probably a mistake. Should have pushed more aggressively.

A scrum on the right results in horrible casualties; I lose four knights to seven of his serjeants. While I can't afford to lose a lot of men, at least I take away a Saga die from him.

Finally, I start pushing up. My archers kill a bunch of his central levy unit, while my sole remaining knight on the right bravely rides away. Over on the left, my knights are suffering bowshot.

Longbows reduce his center levy to under Saga die level, while my spearmen rush the other archers...

And a bit later, at end of game, we see that my spearmen were run down by the rightmost mounted serjeant unit. What unit, you ask? Why, the one I dedicated all my shooting to and then used my Warlord to finish off. Had this game gone another turn, I think Bob would have carried it with those undamaged warriors on the left, though....

Russian Civil War: What's Red and White all over?

Nothin' civil 'bout a civil war... This was a test game Harry's running for Enfilade, so I'll try not to spoil any surprises, but it was pretty fun. We've got the Reds straddling a railroad trying to capture a VIP on the armored train. Lots of cavalry, some armored cars and tachankas, and a rather quick-moving system (1914, by Great Escape Games). I ended up as high command on the Red side, which, as any student of the Soviet Union can tell you, is a rather dangerous spot to be in. (Nonetheless, we won...)

Table layout prior to deployment.

Brave Revolutionary naval artillerymen.

My cavalry pushing up the field....

The train approaches!

Though the front (artillery) car is disabled, the train chugs on... oblivious to the cavalry scrum on the line.

Game end, more or less.... my center and left are just about broken, but the train has been stopped...

 The system wasn't bad at all. I'm not sure it's suited to a convention, but it moved quickly and we started getting into combat right away, and the results didn't tweak my suspension of disbelief. I'd play it again.

The mat and tracks, btw, are apparently from Cigar Box.

Masters' League Game: Grymkin vs. Skorne

After much scheduling hassle, I was able to get the first game in our local Masters' League (think tournament, but stretched out over a month) in at Rune & Board with Jeremiah. He brought a Xekaar beast brick, a classic titan herd; I brought the Wanderer with my own beast brick. He won the roll and opted to go first.

As this was Jeremiah's second or maybe third game with this list, he managed to clock himself top of three, giving a result of (if I recall correctly), 2 control points and 17 army points for me, 3 control points and 9 army points for me. (I failed to write it down quickly, so that may well be off.) We then played out the rest of the game off the clock, and I won with an assassination. As usual with Wanderer, it's all Star-Crossed for the money and not much else. So, pictures!

Xekaar's second turn just beginning.

Beginning of Xekaar's third turn.

End of game by clock; Xekaar on the left hiding behind a building. I've used the Shadow Arcana over on the right with the red Cage Rager. One thing that isn't obvious is that Xekaar has cunningly applied Dead Weight to the center Skin and Moans.

End of game by assassination. The center S&M was able to kill off the blocking Titan Gladiator, and then the left-hand S&M walked around the building and just chopped up Xekaar. Over on the right we see the effects of the Shadow arcana - very cold dice meant that Cage Rager accomplished nothing.

Warmachine Tournament 2019-01-13

Portland Game Store has the happy habit of running a monthly Steamroller on a Sunday, which means a lot of people who can't make Saturdays due to work or whatever can still get a game in. This past Sunday saw six players competing for top place - a small turnout, but a good three games for me. (Well, sort of. I did lose every game.)

I brought Grymkin for my list pair:

Grymkin Army - 75 / 75 points
[Theme] Dark Menagerie

[Wanderer 1] The Wanderer [+28]
 - Cage Rager [14]
 - Cage Rager [14]
 - Crabbit [0(-)]
 - Crabbits (2) [7]
 - Gorehound [6]
 - Skin & Moans [15]
 - Skin & Moans [15]
 - Skin & Moans [15]
Gremlin Swarm [0(3)]
Gremlin Swarm [0(3)]
Gremlin Swarm [0(3)]
Gremlin Swarm [0(3)]
Lady Karianna Rose [4]
Death Knell [13]

Grymkin Army - 75 / 75 points
[Theme] Dark Menagerie

[Old Witch 3] Zevanna Agha, the Fate Keeper [+27]
 - Cage Rager [14]
 - Cage Rager [14]
 - Crabbit [0(-)]
 - Crabbit [0(-)]
 - Crabbit [0(-)]
 - Crabbit [0(-)]
 - Frightmare [9]
 - Frightmare [9]
 - Skin & Moans [15]
Gremlin Swarm [3]
Gremlin Swarm [3]
Gremlin Swarm [3]
Gremlin Swarm [3]
Lady Karianna Rose [4]
Dread Rots (max) [12]
Death Knell [13]

(For the non-Warmachine players reading this blog: The Grymkin are a literal army of nightmares from hell invading a steampunk fantasy world. Hence the goofy aesthetic to their models and names.)

Round 1: Old Witch 3 vs. Issyria

First I faced Michael and his brand new Dawnmowers Dawnguard Tridents.

Retribution Army - 75 / 75 points

[Theme] Forges of War

[Issyria 1] Issyria, Sibyl of Dawn [+29]

 - Discordia [18]

 - Hemera [16]

 - Hyperion [32]

Arcanist Mechanik [2]

Arcanist Mechanik [2]

Arcanist Mechanik [2]

House Shyeel Arcanists [0(7)]

House Shyeel Arcanists [0(7)]

Dawnguard Trident [16]

Dawnguard Trident [16]

Into this I dropped Old Witch 3. Scenario was Invasion. I won the roll and opted to go first, with Michael picking sides.

This was my first game with this list; also my first game with Old Witch, Frightmares, and Lady Rose... It went about as well as I expected. Windwall was money versus all that Retribution shooting, but even so Michael was able to do a lot of work. My Dread Rots were all but useless; I should have kept one back out of range so that I could Old Witch's recursion ability instead of just losing the whole unit to a well-placed consume shot from Hyperion. The Frightmares were likewise useless, but that's definitely a matchup problem. They had no decent targets here.

Fun game, though.

End of round 1

Grymkin spread out to get around the forest...

But the Dawnguard Tridents get some serious work done. All Dread Rots and one of the Frightmares gone, and all the Gremlin Swarms as well.

I'm able to take out the left Trident and Discordia, but... instead of hitting Hemera (center) with Scourge to stop Admonition, I should have put up Windwall again.

End of game - I'm out of time. Tried to kill the Hyperion just for the points, but couldn't close it out. Did kill Hemera, at least. Victory to Michael!

Round 2: Wanderer vs. High Reclaimer

Protectorate Army - 75 / 75 points

[Theme] Exemplar Interdiction

[High Reclaimer 1] The High Reclaimer [+32]

 - Judicator [34]

 - Hierophant [0(3)]

Exemplar Errant Seneschal [3]

Scrutator Potentate Severius [0(6)]

 - Dervish [7]

Wrack [1]

Choir of Menoth (min) [4]

Exemplar Errants (max) [16]

 - Exemplar Errant Officer & Standard [0(4)]

Exemplar Vengers (max) [20]

Knights Exemplar [9]

 - Knights Exemplar Officer [4]

Visgoth Juviah Rhoven & Honor Guard [9]

I picked Wanderer for some variety, won the roll and went first; scenario was Standoff. 

Dennis is quite a good player, and this list has lots of Hand of Fate going on, so I wasn't expecting a victory or even an easy fight. But it turns out Star Crossed goes a long way... if not long enough.

I had a couple bad turns of luck, and made a crucial mistake that cost me the game, or at least more control points/army points. First, my flanking Gorehound failed to kill a Venger and then sprint into his backfield to disrupt things. Second, he got some crazy hot dice and wiped a Skin and Moans off the table with much less effort than expected (even under Star Crossed). Finally, I got so fixated on killing the Judicator that I forgot to cast Star Crossed on the final turn of the game, and left my beasts so full on fury that all the remaining heavies frenzied.

After my first turn, Dennis just getting going.

Second round begins. Sad Gorehound on the left didn't manage to kill a Venger and then sprint into Dennis' backfield.

Third round... Dennis scored three points to my one here.

Fourth round. At least I blew up that Judicator. As can be seen by all the fury tokens on the table, this is where I made my crucial mistake: I forgot to cast Star Crossed, and I left too much fury on the table to leach it off my heavies...

And here's the consequence. The blue Cage Rager on the left frenzied and destroyed the nearest target (an Examplar of some sort) instead of going for an assassination on the High Reclaimer. Also, of course, no Star Crossed.

Dennis lining up to clear some zones.

End of game, with three out of four zones controlled by Dennis. He won, 7 CP to 2.

Round 3: Old Witch 3 vs. Child

Grymkin Army - 73 / 75 points

[Theme] Dark Menagerie

[Child 1] The Child [+29]

 - Cage Rager [14]

 - Cage Rager [14]

 - Crabbit [0(-)]

 - Crabbit [0(-)]

 - Crabbit [0(-)]

 - Gorehound [6]

 - Rattler [8]

 - Skin & Moans [15]

 - Skin & Moans [15]

Glimmer Imp [4]

Gremlin Swarm [0(3)]

Gremlin Swarm [3]

Gremlin Swarm [3]

Gremlin Swarm [3]

Lady Karianna Rose [4]

Death Knell [13]

Remy's a newer Grymkin player who's making do with a limited model selection. But he's certainly getting the hang of using Child to good effect...

I dropped Old Witch again, just to get more playtime with her. Scenario was the Pit II ("Championship Belt"). Remy won the roll and chose to go first; I picked sides (and in retrospect, picked the wrong side...)

My crucial mistakes here were being way too cautious around his Arcana (also, should have dropped Wanderer again) and then going on tilt after he jammed me up with a Gorehound under Discord and a Gremlin Swarm base-to-base with Old Witch. It took me a good thirty minutes to clear them off, and in so doing I left a clear charge lane to my caster. He took advantage of it and neatly closed out the game with a proper assassination.

I should have played more aggressively, worried a bit less about Arcana, and not left my caster so terrible vulnerable. But it was a good game regardless, and I learned a new trick (Gremlin Swarms are very unkind to battle engine casters).

Deployed and ready to go.

Second round begins.

Third round begins. Note the jamming Gorehound and the Gremlin Swarm directly in front of the Old Witch.

End of my last turn - I have finally cleared out the Discord Gorehound and the Gremlin Swarm, but it took far too long. Notice how little has changed between this picture and the last one...

End of game. Lower right corner shows Remy's Cage Rager right up in Old Witch's face, having easily dispatched her.

Game Night: Black Powder 2, Napoleonics

Gaming at Andrew's after a long hiatus! Pete put on a nice game of 100 Days French vs. Allied with classic 25mm figures, using the new version of the Black Powder rules. I was granted command of the French right, which included the Guard and a division of cavalry.

Thanks to some command failures on both sides, the game developed primarily on the flanks. On the French left, a wood blocked free movement and became the chief battlefield. In the center, French infantry moved slowly up toward the defensive positions the British had seized - some houses and walled fields. On the left, the British heavy cavalry - the legendary Scots Greys - pelted up and seized the initiative. They were quickly met with a charge of French heavy cavalry, which pushed them back. A subsequent charge from the French, however, cost the French one unit of heavy cav and badly bruised the second unit. The Guard meandered on up at a walk, their only contribution being some cannon fire. 

The central French infantry regiments pushed up and evicted the British light infantry from the walled field. Then the Scots charged forward and retook the field, and a ferocious scrum ensued, eventually ending when the Swiss pushed the Scots back and a French line unit annihilated the rifles.

Finally, the French infantry reached the Brunswickers and the Brits holding the defensive line. The light cavalry made a daring but foolhardy charge at the British heavy cav, and succeeded in breaking them - but in the process, were too damaged to stay on the field themselves. Both divisions began to retreat. The Guard began to move up, but it was too late. The French center-right division and far left division both broke as well, along with another British division, and so the game was decided - barely - in favor of the Allies.

View from the French right of the advancing British and Brunswickers.

French cuirassiers and carabiniers charge at and are countercharged by the Scots Greys.

Turn 2ish, overview. Cavalry action on the French right near the camera, 95th Rifles in a field but disordered in the center, and the British left getting bogged down on terrain to the far right.

View of the French center.

Scots Greys retreat in good order, holding the British left. Behind the road and hedge the Brunswickers are awaiting the French.

Over on the French left, French line infantry skirmish with British line in the woods.

French heavy cavalry charge in on the Scots Greys again - but their supporting light cavalry failed the command roll, and so they must fight alone.

British cavalry charge in around the woods, braving French musket fire.

Checking for support in a cavalry melee on the French left.

The penultimate round: French infantry have pushed up the center but are held at bay by Scots and Brunswickers. On the French left, near the camera, skirmishing in the woods dominates the action, preventing the British from moving toward the French line. On the French right (top of photo), the Scots Greys have intimidated the French cavalry severely, destroying one unit, but have taken quite a bruising themselves.

The final state of things. The French are in retreat, half their divisions having broken. The Allies have fared only marginally better, but they hold the day.

Painting update

I'm about 1/3 of the way through the samurai. Been distracted by some D&D figures for a campaign that's just starting up...

Budget update

Spent about $30 out of my $100 budget so far, on primer and paints.

2019: New Year, Fresh Start

Painting Station In Action

Blowing the leaves off this dusty thing...