Warmachine. The battle of Chingford moor

This Thursday Alister and I managed to meet up for another round of Warmachine.

I had finally got round to buying a couple of bits of scenery and some flock mats so the table looked better then normal.

Once again it would be a contest between the freedom fighters of the High Covenant and the scoundrel that is Magnus.

I went Jack heavy for this one as they were painted and Al was kind enough to lend me his Steelheads.

Reinholdt was an impulse buy on the way home from Dark Sphere after I ended up catching a flying 12 year old at my school as he was jumping out the window of a moving vehicle. I then had to firemen carry him into the unit as he was kicking and screaming (and it was not even 9:10am yet!).

Anyway back to the battle.

I went Jack heavy down my left flank with 3 jacks which Al countered with a Mangler and a unit of Skorne praetorians.

The Talon stalled out the mangler and the Nomad got choppy on the Skorne. Once again "Jack the Jibber" took a kicking but the scrappy little sod went back for more. Al took great delight showing me the Praetorians "penetrating strike" ability as he nicked away at my Nomad with two attacks per praetorian!

Unfortunately we did not realise Praetorians did not get reach or ranked attacks without an officer (not a leader) so he got 12 attacks in for free!

I run my Steelheads forward with the intention of tying up Als Renegades and Mariner but bottled it at the last second and hid them behind cover ready to jump out next turn.

With a renegade closing in and the nomad in trouble I popped my feat. Al confessed he has never really got his head round "feats" but I think I was about to show him that he needed to and soon.

I cast distraction on the closest Renagade to stop it shooting (with the four die it was an easy hit), the Nomad cleared his arc of Praetorians and the Mangler was left hanging by a thread.

"Old Smokey" opens up with his steam lobber which is boosted and with the extra die from the feat pretty much ensures the critical!

Unfortunately the "Lash" ability of the Mariner stops it and Magnus being knocked over which means I lose the chance to finish Magnus off with the Halberdiers.

It slowly dawns on Al that my Feat is just as effective in defence as I pick out his two highest die from all his attacks and suddenly his Praetorians can't hit the side of a barn. Al is forced to boost the Mariners attack which is just enough to finish off the Mule and give Al the win in a narrow points victory after 3 turns.

Al and I shake hands on a close fought battle.

LESSONS LEARNT

SO MANY MISTAKES WERE MADE THIS GAME!!!! Where do I start?

1) What was the point of running 3 Jacks off down the flank? 

They should have been charged up the middle, tying up the Mariner, stopping the ranged attacks and stopping the free roaming of the Renegades. This would have put Al truly on the back foot and with the surprise of my feat surely secured the game!

2) Why on Earth am I saving a unit worth 4 points from destruction!

The whole point of Steelhead halbediers is they are cheap and cheerful, used to screen more expensive and useful units from the enemies attentions.

Running them into cover left the Mule open to the Mariner and cost me the game

3) Leaving Ashlynn guarded by just a Mule vs 2 renegades and a Mariner was a ridiculas gamble which thankfully Al did not punish me for.

4000 hits

still blows my tiny little mind

Vulture warriors from Dimension X. Algae World garrison

Once again my son had me up at silly 0' clock last Sunday.

Before we went hunting for Gruffalos I set the little sod to work on a little project of mine.

Many, Many moons ago (White dwarf 112 to be exact) an article was published in White Dwarf called "vulture warriors from dimension X"

At the time I could not afford the miniatures needed to play the game............ but I can now!

This is a game I have been waiting nearly 20 years to play so I wanted to do it properly.

First up I needed a Garrison building.

First up I blew up the floor plans provided in the article using a standard Photocopier. I will attach the plans to this blog at a later date. These were stuck inside some cardboard boxes.

Next I needed 12 paper cups. A quick visit to the local Coffee shop, the purchase of a grande skinny Latte and a big smile from the boy and we are golden.

Little fella is sent into the garden with a can of Army Painter Grey primer, 12 paper cups and 3 card board boxes............. this can only go well!

Next I go on Google images and fire up Photoshop. 20 minutes later I end up with these

Once again I will post the sheet on a later post.

Just as I finish this the little fella walks in pleased as punch. Thankfully he is only wearing an old pair of trainers (they will have to disappear before the misses wakes up).

A bit of scissor work and some some PVA glue and voila

Next we cut up some cereal boxes and out comes the prit sticks.

Add some bases and the doors from my Old Space Hulk game and we have blast doors.

Another 30 minutes of glueing and we have one Algae world barracks ready to go.

a barracks any Ork would be proud of!

Not bad for a mornings work!

P.S. we found our Gruffalo

SALE, SALE, SALE Miniature Empire gaming store Gants Hill Ilford. MASSIVE SAVINGS

The Miniature Empire Gaming Store Ilford is having a massive store sale almost everything has extra discounts!

The only lines not discounted are Reaper and Dark Sword.

Here is the list.

GW 30% OFF / 35% OFF IF YOU SPEND OVER 100 POUND
FLAMES OF WAR 30% OFF / 50% OFF IF YOU SPEND OVER 40 POUND
X-WING 20% OFF
WARLORD 20% OFF/ 30% OFF IF YOU SPEND OVER 40 POUND
EVERYTHING ELSE 40% OFF

cash would be preferred.

SALE ENDS END OF DAY SATURDAY 12th JULY

I have already picked up the bulk of a new Ogre army so grab yourself a bargain.

Julys painting shelf

So here is Julys painting priorities.

Warhammer 
 drummer and 3 hand gunners

Warmachine
Finishing off the 2 gunmages and the Vanguard.

If I get a chance I have promised my brother I will make a start on his Viking Bloodbowl team and Stannis is looking tempting.

Targets;
Priorities
7 miniatures

Secondary targets;
3 miniatures

MC Pendrake. Warmachine Monster hunter

After his sterling effort against the Trolls on Friday I decided to finish up Pendrake in the shop yesterday.

As soon as I looked at the glasses he looked familiar and then it clicked.

Remember this bloke

And so MC Pendrake was born...

I figure his duck ability will be due to his nifty footwork.

Please Pendrake DO hurt them

and finally

Painting inspiration. Getting a wiggle on!

A couple of fellas at the MEGC were asking me how I am managing to pump out the mini's so consistently?
Especially with regards to the "4 Gamers".

I honestly think part of it is my "painting shelf".

Pendrake, 2 mages, a knight and a command group are the current priorities!

Basically it is a small shelf I have set up in the kitchen with my priority "work in progress" minis and some of my better examples of painting on.

Be warned having minis this close to booze is NEVER a good idea

I have deliberately set it up in the glasses and drinks cupboard so everytime I go to get my self a drink I am reminded what I need to get through. 

It acts as a real spur, as I now get to regularly look at nearly completed works in progress (so close the little voice says......... so close) and it is nice to see the number slowly diminish as the minis are completed and stored in the relevant KR case.

The two big dangers!

One is having nearly completed minis REAL close to booze. I have caught myself a couple of times, worse for wear from booze and reaching for a 90% complete mini and thinking "I could just give that a quick 10 minutes now!" (God knows what the results would have been), and 

Two the Misses cottoning on to just how many minis are being cycled through that shelf. (Thankfully at the moment they all look the same to her!).

Warmachine. 20 points of Troll hunters for hire

Popped into the Miniature Empire for a pick up game today.

Both Ed and Damon were in attendance and were just finishing off a 25 point game.

Ed won.

With only 1 and a half hours left on the parking ticket I naturally asked to play Damon at 20 points.

My Force list is;

Ashlynn (+6 warjack points)

Mule 8 pts

Mule 8 pts

Gun Mages 6pts

Pendrake 2pts

Gorman 2pts

Damon wins the roll and sets up first with Trolls. He then makes the first mistake of the game by giving me a full run down of his new Sniper unit.

Not surprisingly I set up like this..........

you can see his snipers in the far corner if you REALLY squint!

Yes it makes me a dick but he normally plays Cygnar and I'm a bit bored of being shot off the board in the first turn.

And I have spent ages painting these blokes........

I have decided to go to town on the back of these fellas as it all I get to look at

I figured they might run away so put some effort into the front as well

Damon brings all his forces into the middle of the table and I run off the hill, casting "quicken" on the mages so they fully clear the Jacks. Gorman pops smoke to screen Ashlynn from the snipers.

The Trolls finally get to charge in ........

............. and proceed to pull my Mule (the wild rover) limb from limb!

Damon is very impressed with my special effect detachable weapons!

Its time to go nuts. Ashlynn charges the Trolls and pops her feat. Here come the criticals!!!!

Ashlynn leads by example and misses her charge attack on 4 dice!

Despite Ashlynn missing her charge attack she slashes and shoots left right and centre. Finishing off one Troll and severly hurting another. "The wild Rover" head butts another unconscious and the Mages go nuts with critical brutals! Pendrake knocks down one of the last remaining Trolls with his Bola, Gorman kills off the Troll Snipers with an acid attack before they make any real contribution to the game and my 2nd Mule "Old Smokey" sends both the Troll Warbeasts for a flying lesson with a critical hit!

So much for tough

The only down side is my Gun mage leader manages to hit my own jack and send it to the scrap yard "Thats coming out of your wages" Ashlynn shouts over her shoulder.

Damon uses his Fury to shake off the knock down and charges in with one of his warbeast. Thankfully with the feat up he can't hit a barn door and I am yet to take a casualty (except for the "blue on blue" I inflicted on myself)

The Trolls try to stomp Ashlynn but again her feat saves the day and with riposte and weapon master she soon removes them from the board.

Now the sneaky bit. By not moving my mages and granting them "beast lore" via Pendrake I manage to hit the Warbeast thats in Melee and push it out of combat. This leaves the remaining Mages free to open up on the warbeast. A number of critical brutals leaves the Warbeast looking like road kill.

This leaves Gorman to get into range and hit the remaining Warbeast with "Black oil". Thankfully the Caster is also within the AOE and is blinded as well!

"Old Smokey" charges in (JUST!!) and smashes the last remaining warbeast into a bloody pulp. 

"Hang on, can't we talk about this!"

With only his Caster left Vs my starting force (minus one Mule) Damon concedes and we shake hands on a real fun fast paced game.

LESSONS LEARNT

1) Timing is everything when it comes to popping your feat. I timed it just right. If had waited another turn I do not think there would have been much left to save after the Trolls had got to work!

2) Black oil is just as devestating against casters. It left Damon pretty much powerless for one turn. I must keep Gorman alive for as long as possible.

3) Stationary Mages have a pretty good chance of hitting most things and anything I can do to add an attack die is worth it. Must remember Trolls are NOT warbeasts when using beast lore from Pendrake.

4) Knock down can really hamstring an opponent and this army list seems to have a lot of that ability. Mules (critical), Mages (critical), Pendrake (with a bola). On a feat turn there should not be a lot left standing.