The State of the Nation 2015

It's been a funny old year. Some things have gone well and some not so much. I've made some changes to my life, and plan some more in the future. One thing that has suffered the most is writing, and as a result the frequency and content of my blog posts. They have always been intended more for my own recollection than for outside reading, however, I do still try when I write to make it entertaining. Unfortunately I find it difficult in game to note take. As a consequence my write ups are often fairly vague. I'm hoping to try and change this in the future, as apart from anything, it isn't going to help me if the information is sketchy!

This week in Immoren: Onwards

The Journeyman League is long since done and dusted, and it's onwards and upwards. I didn't really get a great handle on the Convergence in the larger games, but a bit at a time I'm beginning to understand them.

I think one of the issues is that I was still trying to cope with the differences between Warmachine and Hordes. At the lower levels where resource management wasn't spread so thin, I was doing quite well, however once you add in a couple of units and solos that may need a little boost, it's a bit tricky.

Still, I'm settling in to it now and I do enjoy the challenge of the faction.

This week in Immoren: Ever onwards

After a couple of weeks off following the recent tournament, I'm back to thinking about Warmachine again. I had intended to look at a new faction after Fresh Starts, be that the Convergence or Circle, however, it seems I cannot shake off the Trollbloods. 

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: Fresh Start approaching

Fresh Starts is now less than a week away and as it stands I am nowhere near to achieving my fully painted lists. Grissel's battlegroup will be finished, as will the Whelps and the Feralgeist which is in the bag already. 

This week in Immoren: Painting progression

Painting isn't progressing as well as I had hoped, yet better than I expected. As it stands presently I see no reason why Grissel's battlegroup shouldn't be completed, and Doomshaper's shouldn't have a reasonable chunk with at least a bit of paint on. 

This week in Immoren: Brush in hand part 1

So far this year I have already exceeded my total number of models painted in 2013. So far this year I have painted one model. However, seven modelsdo have paint on them and are works in progress. 

In the last couple of posts I've been discussing tactics and lists that I'm using for the Fresh Starts tournament at The Outpost in March. I've not yet progressed much beyond where I was after writing the last post as I've had a fair amount of work to do for University, but I have at least began the painting. In previous years going to GW tournaments, with this much time before the tournament I wouldn't have even thought about picking up a brush yet. Maybe because more models are involved, maybe because my heart wasn't in it, maybe because GW was telling me that to attend, I must have a fully painted army and I don't respond well to authority. 

This week in Immoren: Fresh year, Fresh lists, Fresh Starts

This week I've managed to test out my Borka list against Dave's pSorscha list. Consequently I'm now going for a beast heavy Doomie2 list. 

This Christmas in Immoren: Fresh Starts

I hope you are all had a great Christmas. I know I am, I got this:

Full faction baby!

I've been in a bit of a gaming slump recently. I blame Ben and Sam for this. They've been busy with one thing or another, as have I, but they haven't been waiting in the corner of my house on standby for those free couple of hours to play a game. 

The other day this was rectified as I tried out one of the lists I'm planning to take to my first Warmachine/Hordes tournament in March next year. The Tournament is called Fresh Starts and is being hosted by The Outpost in Sheffield. The rules details can be found on their website here.

The game was 35 points and I used Grissel2 with Ben using Cygnar's Kraye. Both casters were new to us so I don't think either of us quite knew what would happen. 

Instead of a straight out slugfest we decided we needed to get in to the habit of playing scenarios, and not having the Steamroller rules to hand, we played No Man's Land from the Rulebook. We had discussed having an auto loss for Caster Kill during the week beforehand and whilst this wasn't strictly in effect, I was going to try to abide by it to fully concentrate on scenario. 

The full list I used was As follows:

Grissel Bloodsong, Marshal of the Kriels - WB: +6
- Trollkin Runebearer
- Troll Axer - PC: 6
- Slag Troll - PC: 6

Fell Caller Hero - PC: 3
Fennblade Kithkar - PC: 2

Trollkin Warders - Leader & 4 Grunts: 8
Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes - Leader & 3 Grunts: 3
- Stone Scribe Elder - Elder 1
Trollkin Fennblades - Leader & 9 grunts: 8
- Fennblade Officer and Drummer - Officer & Drummer 2

Ben's list was:

Captain Jeremiah Kraye - WJ: +6
- Squire
- Hunter - PC: 6
- Defender - PC: 9
- Cyclone - PC: 9

Gorman di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist - PC: 2

Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team - Lynch, Ryan & Watts: 4
Stormblade Infantry - Leader & 5 Grunts: 5
- Stormblade Infantry Officer & Standard - Officer & Standard Bearer 3
- 1 Storm Gunner's: 1

Now to be honest, it wasn't until I started putting out my models pre game that I realised that the Krielstone was the min unit, and I was a little concerned that it wouldn't play a big enough part to justify its inclusion. However, since the main role was more about buffing my precious two Warbeasts and the Warders than the Fennblades, it wasn't as bad as I feared, and caused Ben a bit of trouble by pushing the light beasts to armour 20. 

The list was intended to be a jam list and it really did do that. Admittedly I didn't use my list to its full potential, but then nor did Ben with his own. 

I think that with a few tweaks, this is a strong contender for Fresh Start in March, but my main concerns are that with only two Warbeasts, the loss of just one will seriously hamper my late game as soon as one goes pop. As such I'm looking for a way to shoehorn in a third light beast, or possibly even a heavy. 

I was very impressed by the Trollkin Warders as they really soaked up a lot of attention. I think with a better thought out list with a few buffs I can really make them a solid base for the list.

As for the second list, I'm a little unsure. I was looking for a list for Calandra, but to be honest I'm unfamiliar enough with Grissel, let alone taking on a second new caster. As such I keep going back to Borka. 

A Tuffalo list with a heavy warbeast or two will give me something that the above Grissel list lacks: heavy hitters. Also, and let's be honest, it reduces the numbers I need to get painted. 

But painted I must get them, as I want to ensure at least one of my lists is fully painted by March. 

This week in Immoren: list strengthening.

I'm thinking I have a new feature title. Also, I've been trying to improve my lists a bit recently. I'm working mainly on strengthening my 35 points lists initially but then increasing to 50 points in time.

Now, I have all the currently released Warlocks, but there are a few I prefer to the others:

This week in Immoren: Marshalling the forces

Seems more like it ought to be this month rather than week since it has been so long since my last post. Suffice to say I've not managed much table time or modelling time recently with one thing or the other.

As the months roll on and we seem no closer to moving I have been spending a bit more time trying to order the chaos of my house so that we can at least try and get over to West Yorkshire before I retire. In addition I seem to have developed something of a social life in recent months with me joining an am-dram group earlier in the year (as a stagehand; I've no desire to act, I'm a writer after all!) and a couple of weddings, a stag do and numerous trips here and there.

However, I have recently had my first battlegroup game with the Comvergence of Cyriss against Ben's newly acquired Retribution of Scyrah whereby he used the alternate battlegroup from Privateer Press' Journeyman League rules. It's early days but I enjoyed the game and even though it is a very different (pardon the pun) beast to Hordes, the synergy element of the Convervenge helped. In the end though I sacrificed the Forgefather rather needlessly and gave Ben a caster kill.

The only other thing I've done is assemble my Trollkin Warders and try to find a list for them, which I think I have done now, and there is a clue as to which Warlock I'm using somewhere in the post, but I shalt spoil the surprise for the uninitiated.

The models are quite nice albeit that there is quite a lot of flash to them. I've still not managed to remove all of it, but to be honest I got bored of trying so shall have to go back to that if ever I decide to paint them.

I'm quite enjoying the back to basics approach to gaming with Warmachine and Hordes at the moment and so m scaling back my games at the moment, so when I get a chance to catch my breath again in a couple of weeks, if anyone wants a smaller level game, let me know.

Until then, take care and play you you have a pair.

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.

The State of the Nation 2013

I've not been too frequent with my blog posts lately, but as that is well documented already I won't go in to that too much other than to say that as much as I love writing, I miss wargaming as much as I used to be able to. 

Focus
One of the decisions I made earlier this year, which is again well documented, was that I would focus on GW games with a view to maintaining a consistent approach as well as to improve my knowledge. As such I have stuck closely to single armies for both Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000.

Warhammer 40,000
The army I have played the longest for 40k is Chaos Space Marines. I've tried a few different styles over the years be they Night Lords, a mixture of the cults and none cults, but when GW started to focus more on the Red Corsairs more as a unified force rather than a rag tag band that is mentioned from time to time in the fluff, I really started to like them. The Huron model is superb, and as such with the new book I wrote a Red Corsair themed list. The list itself isn't a tournament list by any stretch, nor however is it too weak and as such I have enjoyed using it greatly. As I've tweaked it and become familiar with it, I have looked towards developing a second force, which whilst remaining a Chaos Space Marine force does perform in a different manner. The Red Corsairs were more of a fire base army with a few mobile elements with which to close up to the enemy. However, I have developed a purely Tzeentch army whilst is quite the reverse. It is much smaller even than it's Red Corsair counterpart, and is in truth a bit of a glass hammer, but although I shall need to test and tweak it further, I think it should perform strongly.

Warhammer

For Warhammer Fantasy Battles, I have again developed one army before working on a second. The first being a Daemon Prince led Tzeentch army with a few monsters in it, albeit that I have mixed marks in this army a bit. I liked the idea of men of the North worshipping all the deities, but perhaps some being favoured more and so the bulk is Tzeentch but some of the army is dedicated to Nurgle. Afterall, they are men even if they are servants of the gods, and men follow a strong leader even if he does speak of a different god. This army has done reasonably well. Again possibly not a tournament army, but solid nonetheless. The second army is a much newer beast. All units in this second warband are marked Nurgle, or cannot be marked. It is still early days, but is enjoyable enough to play with.

Children of the Empyrean
I have however begun building my dual system Daemon army. Very early days as yet, but initially I plan to use them as allies in 40k, then develop them as a force in their own right.

Privateer Press

Now, having spent the first half of the year keeping my promise to stick to GW, I find myself yearning to get back to Privateer Press. At the end of last year I felt I was finally starting to get somewhere with Hordes and Warmachine, something which I think I shll have to develop once more due to the break in play. I am still very much in love with my Trollbloods and have spent a lot of time recently thinking about lists. Jarl Skuld is still my favoured Warlock and so he is still going to be the crux of my main list, but I have found myself looking at the new Hunters Grim Warlock unit from the Gargantuans book.

Having played about with some list options, I am happy with the theory of how the units will play, and as such he is now on his way.

Aside from the War Wagon (which I think will have to be a Christmas present) and any of the currently unreleased models, I'm now at full faction and as such I have plenty of options and so I'm trying to vary the lists as much as possible at least up to and including 35 points. Inevitably the Fennblades are a popular option in most lists as are the Scattergunners, but I've resisted putting them both in all lists. I've also varied the Warbeasts as much as I can, though the Impaler, because of his animus and my seeming preference for ranged lists, makes it in to more than one force. Initially I shall concentrate on the two Warlocks mentioned above, though eventually the aim is to get back to developing the Borka list and some of the other Warlocks that I've not used before.

Convergence of Cyriss

Keeping with Privateer Press, I have wanted to have a go at the Warmachine side of the coin for some time, though as they did before I first bought the Hordes Trollblood starter pack when Mk1 was around, none of the factions really captured my imagination. Even the newer Scyrah didn't really hit the spot, and to be honest I had decided to forego that side of the game entirely. However, with the announcement of the Convergence of Cyriss as a playable faction, I decided to wait out the details and see how I liked them, and I must say, I really like them! The idea of them being clockwork beings that have foregone their flesh is a very good one to me, and I like the idea of the Vectors rules. As such, I have ordered the starter set for them and who knows, maybe I can cope with painting silver?

Dystopian Wars
To be frank, this has taken a back seat for now. I still have much less time than I would like to wargame, and either 40k or fantasy will suffer to fit in Warmachine/Hordes. But it is not forgotten, and I shall get back round to it at some point.

The Future
Some of you may know already, however The Whyf has been given a store manager position in Ilkley, and as such at some point the intention is for us to move to West Yorkshire. Their are pros and cons for us that we have carefully considered, but both think it will be beneficial in the long run. It may be in a few weeks that we go, or in a few months. That is the best information we have at the moment, but we are looking forward nonetheless.

In the meantime, thanks for reading.

Iron Kingdoms RPG

Well, it seems I don't play enough systems already and have now dipped my toe in to the new Iron Kingdoms RPG. Now, I will say that I have actually intended to do so for a while as I had pre ordered a copy from the ill fated Maelstrom (who still have my money for this incidentally) only for the release date to come and go and for no book to appear.

As such, I've had to wait to take a look at someone else's copy, and this Friday gone not only did I get to have a look, but I also had a chance to take part in my first ever RPG thanks to Dave.

Typically, I decided to stick with what I know and chose a Trollkin character, and Jarl being my favourite Warlock I also went for a pistolier. Now I appreciate that I won't actually be playing Jarl, but I did like the idea of a Trollkin becoming a gunslinger. Apparently, with the help of some of the other players, I've put together a ruthless combination which will only be muted by my inexperience.

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!

For now I await my re-order of the book and look forward to the next adventure!

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.

I have been somewhat distracted of late...

I have seriously been considering re-naming this blog "The Nation of Procrasti"

Let me know what you think.

Anyway, just a quick one to show you what I've been doing rather than start painting the Dark Eldar for doubles:

quiet time

Not a pretty sight that photo is it? It was taken at the Planetary Empires at the end of last month.

Training for the Hull vs York event.

I had a test game with Nick last night with the 35 point list that I intend to take to the Hull vs York event this Saturday and I have to admit, Kenny sure has written me a strong list! The best thing about the game however was that Nick taught me a great deal and was a very patient teacher!