This week in Immoren: Fresh started and finished.

Fresh Starts has now been and gone and I had a great time! It wasn't quite the beginners tournament I thought it would be, but it was a nice introduction nonetheless. 

There were four rounds altogether each using a different mission from the Steamroller 2014 rule pack. The missions were Incursion, Process of elimination, Balance of power, Close quarters. 

This week in Immoren: Large scale games and new Convergence models!

Unbound Hordes

This weekend I played a large scale game with Ben and Sam. The idea was that Sam and I had to capture objectives held by an ambushed Skorne force. The point sizes were 50 each for Sam and me and 100 for Ben. Three objectives were set along the centre line with the idea that at the end of turn one, Ben would remove one of his choice as a decoy. Victory conditions were that Sam and i had to reach 3 objective points while Ben, being in the stronger starting position to do so, had to earn 6 points. He then set up his Large and medium based non Warlock models in a 12 inch area in the centre. Sam and I then set up our full forces except advance deployment and finally Ben placed his remaining models and we each placed our advance deployment models.

Sam's Legion

Ben's Skorne

My Trollbloods

The game went on for six hours, and whilst it was a good game, was largely uneventful on my side. I had taken an entirely firepower Hunters Grim list and essentially could not then break through Ben's Xerxis force. Well played on his point, but neither of us really did more than act as a cordon to the opposing force. 

Sam's side however was something of a bloodbath. He used a eThagrosh force against Ben's eHexaris force. In the end, the Messiah fell to Hexaris, but Sam had exacted a decent toll for it. 

However, we just couldn't break through enough to even gain a single point between us, and as such Ben reached his double points easily. 

In all then, an enjoyable game, and in terms of us amateurs creating a game, not too bad and a few lessons learned. 

A big thank you to Ben and Jamey for hosting (as always) and for feeding and watering us. 

The Maiden of lots and lots of Gears

Also this week (and I term this as since I last posted), my Convergence of Cyriss Battlegroup arrived. 

A small mixup on my part has meant that I don't yet have the book (not an issue as I've the deck on War Room) but instead have two sets of the Cyriss paint sets (yeah I know). I'm very excited about these, even if the following assembly pictures taken from the Privateer Press Insider are making me a little bit afraid. 

This week in Immoren: Sunday hobbying

I've had a good run of games of Hordes lately against Ben and Sam and I've really enjoyed them.

At this point I'm obliged to congratulate Sam on his first 'Caster kill the Sunday before last when he managed to slay Angus from Hunters Grim using a Carnivean. Now, I must admit that I cannot honour Sam with the four paragraphs that I awarded myself when I managed to kill his Thagrosh, however I will say that much like my own 'Caster kill, Sam managed string together a few combos to really make his turn a success, and even had it not worked, he would have likely weathered my own turn and seen off Angus in his next turn. Well done Samuel.

Proud of you!

This Sunday was supposed to be a hobby day rather than a gaming day, and moreover I was supposed to be painting. Ben had already done a fair bit of painting by the time I even picked up a paintbrush, and in a cunning ploy I used it to apply PVA to the bases so that I could add sand to them, thus delaying the painting a little longer. 

Digmies gonna dig!

Whilst the glue dried Ben and I played a small game. Knowing that we didn't have as much time as usual and also having a desire to play a stripped back game, I had suggested we play a 16 point Claw and Fang game. For those not familiar with the missions from the Hordes rulebook, it is a Warlock and Warbeasts only game (the Warmachine equivalent is Mangled Metal). I chose to dust off pDoomie, the first Warlock I ever used, and decided to back him up with a Dire Troll Mauler, a Dire Troll Blitzer and a Troll Impaler. For his part, Ben took Tyrant Xerxis and his battlegroup consisted of a Titan Gladiator, a Titan Sentry and a Cyclops Savage.

Going in to this game I had never killed a Titan of any kind, so that was my objective for this game. I didn't hold much hope of Doomie standing toe to toe with Xerxis and that was clearly Ben's thoughts too so killing a Titan would be more than enough of an achievement for this game. 

And to be perfectly honest, not only did I finally win myself some ivory, I also didn't do a bad job at trying to take down the Tyrant as well. But sadly, Doomie is far too squashy and instead the old man of the Trollkin collapsed under the weight of the Pillars of Halaak despite making two tough rolls. 

Back at the painting table I could avoid it no longer, but undaunted I under coated the min unit black which took most of the rest of the day. I did also basecoat them with, well, Trollblood base, so I am getting there slowly.

A photoshopped image to make it look as though I am painting

Painting wasn't as terrible as I remember it, so I may try my hand at it again next year.

Progress so far

This week in Immoren: Hunting with Grim

Okay I will admit it, I am in love with Hordes again. I knew I would be. I even spoke about it in my last post.

So far since writing that I've had one very long walk to get a new Warlock and three games.

The Road

I had ordered the Hunters Grim a couple of weeks ago, and not long later a red slip appeared on my doormat one afternoon when I returned home from work. Helpfully the time on the card indicated that as useual, the Postman had been waiting around the corner out of sight until I had left for work earlier in the day, waited a whole three minutes, then gingerly ran to my house card in hand. This is the only logical conclusion I can draw as it seems to happen every time. That was the Friday. By Tuesday I was finally off work, but not having a car at the moment meant that I would need to walk to the depot if I ever wanted my parcel. Phones, it seems do not work in the Royal Mail and I cannot figure their backwards website out.

And so, I began the forty five minute walk (each way) to pick up my new favourite Warlock and it was worth every second!

Hunting Season

I've been lucky enough to get three games this week with Hunters Grim. In no particular order, I played against Ben's Lord Assassin Morghoul led Skorne, Luke's Gorten Grunback led Mercenaries and Sam's Thagrosh the Messiah led Legion of Everblight.

Now, I must admit that I completely messed up against the Skorne. Taking nothing away from Ben who earned his win regardless, I not only left Angus vulnerable but I didn't exploit openings he left to the fullest and I fixated on his distraction. And so, Ben got his first Caster Kill with his new warlock.

Against Luke I knew I was facing a much more experienced player than I. He started playing Warmachine and Hordes at the same time as Ben and me, but hadn't been playing other systems since and so was more focused (pun intended) than either of us. It was a great game and Luke was very patient considering unlike myself, he doesn't need ten minutes just for the control phase. I enjoyed facing the Mercs as it was a very different one to the Seaforge list I faced last time I played against Mercs so it was a nice change. I conceded this game because of time, though as I explained to Luke, my options couldn't lead to a win, though his own would, and so I am glad I didn't take up Luke's paint bet upon arrival. I've fallen foul of that before!

In my game with Sam, I had obviously learned from the previous two games and I managed to pull together a few combinations to ensure a caster kill on Thagrosh with these little buggers

Now, it was actually the min unit rather than the max, but it was still fairly impressive. Here is how the plan came together. At the beginning of my turn I was left with just a Mauler in my battlegroup who was facing off against a Scythean that it didn't manage to kill. With a Raek nearby the Scythean and Grim being in charge range of the Scythean, I knew that if I didn't manage to kill Thagrosh in my turn, Sam would kill Grim in his.

Coup de grace

Mirage and Vengeance moved my Fennblades in to Thagrosh's rear arc as well as enabling them to kill a Shredder which would hinder the Digmies shooting. Because Sam had depleted my Fennblades over the previous two turns, I only had three that would definitely make it into Melee with Thagrosh and two that may or may not (I had used No Quarter earlier so wouldn't gain +2 movement not to mention the all important Fearless required to face an Abomination with ease). As such, I knew that I would need to view them as the back up plan. I therefore activated The Hunters Grim. Muggs and Krump advanced towards Thagrosh, albeit from different areas of the board and Grim as the only with a hindered line of sight to the Messiah advanced to a better position, though one that would mean a rear advance from the Scythean if the plan didn't work (albeit that it would only be a rear advance if Krump died). It was unclear at this stage whether all the components were in the right postion as I purposefully for once didn't check my control range. If even one member of the warlock unit was out, the plan would crumble anyway. My first action was for Krump perform his Trapper action. If Thagrosh survived, it would deter Sam's Blackfrost Shard from aiding in the retribution towards Angus, not that the Scythean particularly needed it. But it's main function was to let me know if I would gain Mark Target on Thagrosh. The 5" template overlapped Thagrosh's base and so I knew that part one of the plan had worked. Next up, Grim popped his feat. I now knew he wouldn't need snipe on Headhunter as I had just declared I was casting Mortality on Thagrosh and found myself to be in range of that. I boosted the roll to be certain and managed to hit. This proved invaluable as I then fired Headhunter causing the first amount of damage to Thagrosh. Sam didn't have any fury on him and so couldn't transfer. Next, making the most of gaining Snipe from the Feat, Muggs fired the Snare gun. Even at defensive 11 with an effective RAT of 8 thanks to Mark Target, I was nervous of the roll but managed to hit Thagrosh thereby knocking him down. From here, I knew that the outlook was bleak for Thagrosh as the newly emerged Pyg Burrowers were next to activate and advanced so that four of them were within eight inches of Thagrosh. Needing anything but ones, none of the pygs failed to hit their target and it took just three to finish off the Messiah.

I would say that Sam didn't really make any mistakes, he just couldn't cover all the possibilities as I had ensured that threats were evenly spread and so he dealt with what he could where he could.

I was pleased with the way I used the list as I felt I was beginning to get my head back in to the Privateer Press way of thinking again, so hopefully I shall be able to continue this in future games.

Thanks to all three for great games, and I hope to face you all, and others besides, again soon.

Hordes Day

Well, Saturday saw Ben host a Hordes day as our Women folk had decided to meet up for shopping and we didn't fancy that, and so Ben, Sam, Luke and I faced off with each of the main Hordes forces represented.

Rolling out the Trolls

I took a break from the painting last night as everyone at the club was desperate for me to attend (who am I kidding? I practically jumped at the chance) and had my first none tutorial game with the Trollbloods which I again faced Ben and his Skorne.

I took:

• Hoarluk Doomshaper
• 2x Impalers
• Axer
• Fell Caller
• Kriel Warrior Unit
• Krielstone Unit

Ben took:

• Mordikaar
• Void Spirit
• Cyclops thingy
• Gladiator Titan
• Praetorians
• Venators

Things flowed a lot better in this game and I really started to get used to how things work, although it was still a slow game as I seemed to take forever to decide on options and activation orders! It was a slow start and Ben clearly had the advantage until i pulled a nasty trick and cast Rampager on his Titan meaning I took control of it and could advance it and make an attack, so I sent it to strike Mordikaar. I managed to hit and then rolled two sixes for damage leaving his Warlock on a single point of damage! Unfortunately for Ben, he forgot to deflect the damage to a warbeast so he was perilously close to death. On the flipside, I didn't really have much with which to capitalise on this as my force was severely diminished. The photo below is of this event which I took on Ben’s photo – when he sent it to me today, he named the photo as ‘Mark’s trickery’!

My only real option was to move my Impaler out of a combat he couldn't win with a void spirit and threw a spear at Mordikaar which just did enough to see him off, but obviously this time Ben remembered to spend fury to place the damage on his titan. Ben moved in the Void Spirit again and the Impaler died before he could do anything further. The Void Spirit is a tricky blighter as I need a magical weapon to harm him because he is incorporeal (I think) which meant that in my list, I’d need to risk Hoarluk to cause him damage! This obviously highlights a gap in my lists - I’m sure that this problem isn't going to arise in every game, but against the Warmachine players I know that there are a lot of Cryx armies, and from my basic understanding, they have a few similar beasties. Off the top of my Head, the Rune Shapers unit have magical attacks, but I don't know how good they are. After that I suppose I’m left with spells. Something to chew over I think!

In the end I was left with just Hoarluk alive when we stopped, though at least this time my force had worked a bit better than previously and I’d started to use them as a cohesive force. The Impalers aren't as bad as I had thought as we had previously overlooked one of their (major) rules, so I think I’ll keep at least one in most forces unless i have major successes with the Pyre Troll when he arrives.

I'm still waiting for the mauler and the Pyre troll to arrive, and I’m starting to again consider another unit - it’s a toss up between the Trollkin Champions and one of the ranged units at the moment as I’m aware I’ve not got much to soften up the enemy as the fell caller and the two Impalers don't cause enough of a dent really.

Finally a big thanks to Dave (captaincaine) for his help and advice both tactically and on future purchases - he has particularly suggested a slag troll which would cause a few headaches for the Warmachine players. I may have to buy that one in Notts at the end of the month! ;)

First Blood and some early re-inforcements!

Finally had my first real game last night against Ben's Skorne, albeit it was a slightly odd game as i've still not had the opportunity to read the rules. As such it became something of a tutorial game with most of the time being used to explain to me what to do.

Nonetheless it was very enjoyable and i'm looking forward to gaming with the Trollbloods again.

I used Madrak, an Axer, two Impalers and the Krielstone Bearer unit.

One thing i learnt was that perhaps the Krielstone bearer unit isn't right for the smaller games, albeit that later on it may be worthwhile. Essentially in the early days i think i need more aggressive units rather than those that hang back in support - my light warbeasts seemed to do well, but really needed a bit of support.

As such, I've dug out the Kriel Warrior unit which will begin to be assembled over the weekend. Yesterday also saw the arrival of two new models in the form of Hoarluk Doomshaper and a Fell Caller.



Unfortunately I didn't manage to get them assembled in time for the game, but as you can see above, they are now ready to rock! To compliment these guys i've already begun to plan the next wave and as such i am leaning towards a Pyre Troll, a Dire Troll Mauler and a unit of Fennblades, but these may need to wait!

In other news, i'm now within a month of Badab Wars and am still a fair way off. I painted my Power Armoured Company Master to minimum standard on Tuesday night and am hoping to get the command squad to the same state by Friday. After that, the main stay of the models are Deathwing or Ravenwing, so there are still a couple of additions to be made to the former and the latter should be easy enough to get to minimum.

Hopefully i should has some tangible improvement after the bank holiday!