Ides of March 2014

Time once again seems to be flying by thanks to work and home, so I have failed to do a follow up to Ideas of March till now. IOM was a great Warmachine weekend with 40 players turning up from all over the country to duel it out. I took my Circle out for a run, using it as an opportunity to get my Woldwrath (pictured below) painted, along with a Druid Wilder and Gnarlhorn Satyr.

List 1:
Baldur the Stonesoul
- Woldwrath
- Megalith
- Woldwyrd

Druids of Orboros (full unit)
Shifting Stones
 - Stone Keeper

List 2:
Kaya the Wildborne
- Druid Wilder
- Feral Warpwolf
- Pureblood Warpwolf
- Warpwolf Stalker
- Gnarlhorn Satyr

Druids of Orboros (full unit)
Shifting Stones
 - Stone Keeper

The weekend went..... even worse than expected on the gaming front! I had played a couple of practice games leading up to the weekend so I thought I had an idea of how to play eBaldur, but I knew Kaya was going to be a little more difficult. In the end though my usual lack of match fitness really cost me. I did however have some truly epic moments with Kaya Spirit Door'ing into pButcher, flailing away, popping her feat and needing to roll up on a couple of attacks, failing badly and dying to his big choppy axe! eBaldur took on a Stormwall and learnt that those bad boys are bad for a reason - also realising that I started that turn with a plan and then threw it out the window a couple of minutes into it. On the positive side the guys that play at the lower end of the table are a great bunch, we all want to win but we also want to have a good time so the games were played in good spirits.

I leave my final placing till after the pictures of the Woldwrath to build the suspense!

So yeah.... highpoint was finishing the Woldwrath, coming 35th (out of 40) was not so great (in the context that we all want to win some games!) but this was evened out by bringing home the Best Sport Trophy - apparently having fun even when you are being curb stomped by a Cryx eGasphy list pays off.

So, great weekend, great organisation, great players.... shame it is 12 months till we get to do it all over again. Maybe I should start thinking about what I want to take and playing a game or two before then!

One Sided Games, Fun For All?

I managed to get in a couple of games over the last week of my Christmas / New Years break and both of which felt like really one sided affairs...

Pushing up and popping my Feat

First up was a game of WarmaHordes vs Tony. Vod (as he is locally known) is a playtester for Flames Of War and an exceptionally good wargamer (better than me to be sure), known for playing hard, knowing his opponents and finding holes to exploit both in terms of the their army and the rules!

I took the opportunity to roll out eBaldur to help me prepare for Ides of March (in March...), with Megalith, Wold Guardian, Woldwatcher, Woldwyrd, Druids and Shifting Stones. Tony took eVayl, a host of heavy Warbeasts, Spawning Vessel, Martyrs and Shepherd. We were playing under some time pressure so we opted to go straight assassination rather than digging out SR2013 and picking a scenario. We both pushed up the table, Tony used his range to deal out some damage, I ran up and popped my feat hoping that he would take the bait and rush in. Tony used his speed and powerful ranged game to deal out some more damage whilst keeping his distance. By this point I controlled 3/4 of the board and realised that by not playing a scenario we had stacked the deck completely in Tony's favour (he could maneuver and trade board space for time, whilst I had to have an engagement to try to win) so I went for the hail Mary and threw my Wold Guardian and eBaldur into combat - too little and too late as even though they were able to deal out a lot of damage and kill two of the three heavies, Tony was able to finish the game next turn with his assassination.

Given the one sided nature, was the game worth playing? Absolutely! Not every game goes your way and it is important to play games where you are on the back foot because it lets you work out things with your army that you otherwise may not try. I also realised that I need to get a lot of practice games in before Ides because I have forgotten how eBaldur plays after not taking him out of the box in 18 months.

The German/Finnish first turn

On Friday Wayne and I headed round to the American Embassy (otherwise known as Steven and Andrew's place) for a doubles match up - Kiwis vs Americans and 1000 points per person.

Wayne took two heavy KV-1e companies and a Motorstrelk company, whilst I took a pair of T-34 85 companies and a small platoon of BA-64s. On the other side of the table Andrew took his new Finnish Winter troops with a pile of infantry and a captured SU-152, whilst Steve took three Jagdtigers, Wirbelwinds and 37mm AA guns. For the mission we rolled up Surrounded which resulted in our tanks stuck in the middle, Andrew and Steven opted to deploy in one corner with a forest anchoring their line and advancing out from there.

T-34s pile in to the forrest trying to score some points

Steven and Andrew moved the Jagdtigers forward to be able to shoot at both the T-34s and KVs, perfectly maneuvering them through a combination of "turning to face" when shooting, and Stormtrooper moves to not only hit their pick of targets but also keep their (relatively) soft side armour safe. Wayne pushed the KVs up as a distraction whilst I moved the T-34s around the side. I managed to get to the forest in their deployment area and knock out the defending SU-152 with only a couple of casualties. Andrew had dug his infantry in realising that as long as they did their job of stopping the T-34s from flanking the Jagdtigers the game would be theirs. I knew that I would never get to the Jagdtigers and that my only option was to try and break either Andrew or Steven'companies so where I could I picked off (or tried to pick off) the smaller platoons and eventually threw my tanks into a desperate assault trying destroy and infantry and AA platoon defending the forest - sadly 3 out of the 5 T-34s bogged and that was essentially all that she wrote. A follow up assault from the second company did a little more than kill a couple of teams and my company left the field with only the 4 BA-64s remaining.

I think we all knew how the game was going to pan out with Steven's Jagdtigers being basically unkillable given the forces we opted to take (guess Wayne or I need to paint some 152mm artillery!) so I asked myself the same question though - "was the game worth playing once we rolled up the mission?" and my thoughts were yes. Partially for the same reason as my game vs Tony that you do not always have a fair fight on your hands and the challenge makes you think outside the box, but also because of a few other reasons
1. I have only played Surrounded a handful of times so any exposure to how other players tackle the mission is good.
2. I have four Jagdtigers somewhere deep in the painting queue and it is always nice to see something you want to paint in action to help inspire you to move it up.
3. Since it was a relaxed afternoon game we were just throwing dice, talking smack and discussing rules (i.e. the game was a backdrop to a social few hours!)

With a couple of social games to start off the year hopefully this will set the tone for more to come over the next 12 months. I might even manage to win a couple.

Woldwrath... Oh My!

I have been wanting to assemble a Colossal or Gargantuan for some time, but never seemed to get round to it so over the last few days I decided to get my act together and give it a go, after all they are just big 'jacks or beasts right?... hmmm not so much!

First up let me say that this is a fantastic model and was a joy to put together (once I figured out the assembly instructions) and looks great once finished. I still have a few metal pieces to glue on but it is otherwise complete and I am really happy with the entire look and feel of the model. If you have not seen Sean Bullough's shots of the master, it is worth checking out here...

I did break one of my rules (avoid pinning at all cost) and broke out the brass rod and GF9 pinning kit as I was worried about the size of the model and the effect of gravity over time. Almost every joint on this model is pinned (and in the case of the right arm, pinned twice!) to just give it a little more strength. The upside is that the PP resin/plastic is really easy to drill  because some of the components are hollow (as my initial suspicions suggested when I held some of the components) to reduce weight and resin, all of which equals reduced production costs and, in my opinion, a better model. 

As you can see I opted to leave the arms off as I have no idea how I would paint it otherwise. Unfortunately for me I have a few projects competing for painting time at the moment so I am not sure when I will start putting some paint on, but I did notice that I have a Woldwyrd,Woldwarden, a partially complete Woldwatcher and a unit of Woldstalkers that also require some painting and assembly so I might have a "Wold Month" later in the year..

Looking at the big fella next to Megalith and eBaldur though I can tell you that I am looking forward to putting some paint on him!.

NiCon Teams Tournament & Baldur

A couple of weeks ago, Victor, Sean and myself played in the Warmachine Teams Tournament at NiCon. After last years poor showing we thought we would try and come up with some more competitive lists and perhaps even get some practice games in. Needless to say we only ended up getting a couple of games in but I think we all learnt a lot from it. Victor had his Zaal list packed full of annoying infantry and Ancestral Guardians, Sean had Blindwater list with Maelok and friends.

I took Baldur the Stonesoul and his Tier list

Baldur the Stonesoul

Baldur the Stonesoul (again)

The Wolds

Blackclad Wayfarer

Shifting Stones and Stonekeeper

Druids of Orboros

The entire army was painted (as a few of the other posts on the blog will tell you) over the weeks prior to the event and I am really happy with how the entire force turned out. I would like to have a go at re-doing Baldur's face as I know I can do better, but as a large cohesive army I think it looks great.

One of the things (at least in my mind) that really set it off is the foliage I added to the Wolds. This is the same stuff that I am planning on using on some of my Late War Germans (when I get around to doing them) and is made by a company called Silflor (same people that do the tufts). It was a little annoying to glue on and it is not really something that will last forever if you are doing a lot of gaming with it, but it really made these big wood and stone constructs "pop" on the tabletop.

Silflor Leaf Foliage on Megalith

As for the weekends gaming... it was great fun and our performance on the tabletop was definitely better than last year with a total of 5 individual wins and 2 team wins. For me the most amusing win was a balls to the wall, do or die effort where I knew I had moved badly in my first turn and Xerxis was up in my face too quickly - so the Shifting Stones and Baldur combined for a sweet assassination run. The Blackclad charged in first, hit and managed to knock a few boxes off, then Baldur appeared next to him and said - I have a full load of Fury, you have a few transfers, lets get it on! Xerxis transferred 2 or 3 hits, which killed an Archidon and badly wounded a Titan, however the last attack cleaned him out letting me claw out a victory. It was glorious!

Now to work out what my next WarmaHordes project will be....

Wold Week: Megalith...SMASH

Wold Week has finished, I am just being slack in terms of getting the final thoughts on the blog! It was a good week, got a pile of stuff done (not as much as I hoped) but I am back on painting T-26s at full speed for another week now, so there is no chance to finish the Circle boys off. Of course they need to be ready in three weeks so I am sure there will be another update shortly on the Wolds.

In the meantime, here is the modified Megalith. I changed him from the standard pose and dropped the arms to make him a little easier to store and carry. The only part that I could not make my mind up on were the "shoulder pads". In the end I decided to remove them and rotate them in line with the arms - my logic was that these should be articulated so that he can more easily drop the shoulder whilst charging and put stone to face!

I'll have some more photos of the entire force up "soon"...

Wold Week: Wold Guardian

Wold Week continues... (Its like Shark Week on Discovery but with more stone and less teeth!)

This morning I finished up my Wold Guardian. I am happy on the whole with how he turned out, although I wished I spent a little more time practicing how to paint stone before tackling this guy as I think I could have done a better job. However the finished look is cool and once I add my secret ingrediant (more info coming soon) and finish the basing I think he will really pop on the tabletop.

Next on the list is Megalith, I have decided that I will convert his pose from the traditional hands up, to a something a little easier to transport! 

I've already put a little paint on him, but it is only the base colour for the stone and wood so no great loss if I end up having to redo a little of that work, especially if I have a nicer looking model at the end of the process. I expect to have some photos of him tomorrow.

In the meantime, I'm off for my first game with eBaldur and the Wold boys. Going to give Victor a game later today and with a bit of luck I'll confirm that I have a workable list for NiCon... Mike has even promised to show me how Saga works, so it will be be a good day of gaming!

Wold Family...

Wold Week: The Woldwyrd

Been busy on the brushes again, this time finishing off a Woldwyrd. Very satisfied with how his “eye” turned out, definitely think it finishes off the figure nicely. Had a bit of a painting fail last night with my Wold Guardian – just too big to finish in one night, although I did managed to get the green glowy bits done and started work on the stone. With a bit of luck I’ll have him finished tomorrow (a lot of luck), leaving Megalith as my last Warbeast to finish up for the NiCon teams tournament. Next week I’ll be returning to Flames Of War, trying to get those 21 T-26s ready for the Mid War GT in a couple of weeks…

Wold Week: Woldwatcher Done(?)

Finished my test Woldwatcher with a little help first thing this morning before work, still needs basing and my secret final additional touch (more on that later in the week). Not 100% happy with the stonework, the face especially... might have a play with that later in the week once I have the other three completed. Victor suggesting trying some of the new GW washes to help build up some contrast... always looking for an excuse to buy new paints so I might have to go and have a look at them!

Also got distracted last night by having to do some more work on my Soviet Mid War GT army... finished the assembly of 21 T-26 tanks! Not a bad nights work I thought.

Tonight I will work on my Woldwyrd, leaving me a Woldguardian and Megalith to try to knock out over Wednesday and Friday nights... I sence a failure about to happen as the new Avengers movie is calling pretty hard as a much better way to spend Friday night!