Assassins, Quandries, and Schedules

So ugly, yet so beautiful.

With the (relatively) mammoth Black Friday order placed and on it's way, I was feeling like I buckled and heaped more work on an already high pile.  While it's true that the list is longer than ever, I've actually made some decent progress over the last couple months.  I dug through my email to find past Warstore orders under the assumption that I'd placed half a dozen, with a model count nearing triple digits, and had painted perhaps a ten of the pieces.  Turns out I've only done two other orders and everything from them is primed (except a omnijack kit waiting for me to work up to magnetizing it), and there's even something completed (Ivan).  After finding this out I didn't feel nearly as bad about dropping two units (Kayazy, Mechanics) and a handful of solos (Yuri, Manhunter, Gorman, Sylys) into the painting queue.  I'm not sure how I managed to avoid the Kayazy for this long.  Now that they're on the way I either have my nose buried in the Khador book or inches from iBodger as I cobble together list after list to take advantage of them.  Stealth, Gang, Parry, base DEF 14 (16 in melee), and a mini-feat that lets them walk through other models?  Yes please.  I love the idea of just running them into melee, where they're safer than just hanging out, and then using the mini-feat to walk back into my opponent's second/third wave/caster.  Because the WGI Deathstar does so much, I hate to just run them into melee to tie something down because that keeps them from shooting and spraying.  The Kayazy can quite happily run to engage, then just walk away in future turns to let my second wave pour in.  Roughly a week away from arrival, they've already altered my (tentative) pIrusk tournament list, and the general list building implications are staggering.  Why does such a fun unit have such fugly models?

How do you counter both at once?

Despite my relative progress with previous additions, I still have a mountain of stuff to paint.  Counting the batch on the table as finished for the moment I still have the War Dog, Kovnik Joe, a Koldun Lord and a Ternion to paint for the pIrusk list.  Plus the yet-to-arrive Kayazy.  I'll have to pick some brains on how the two list format works, but I'm guessing you have your two lists all typed up or somesuch, trade lists with your opponent before the round starts, then pick which list you're going to play based on the two lists your opponent might run.  If this is the case then it seems prudent to have two different army styles (pIrusk and Karchev for instance) instead of two similar styles (pIrusk/eSorscha Deathstars) to make the choice harder for the opponent.  To this end I'm thinking about running a pButcher theme force as my second list.  It certainly plays differently than a pIrusk infantry list, and while I'm sure there are lists that can deal with both I'm willing to bet that there aren't many.  The problem here is that I have yet to field that theme force and will have perhaps a week to come to grips with it (not to mention the pIrusk list) before the tournament.  While I don't have any illusions of winning, I would like to make a decent showing and not embarrass myself.

A plan is coalescing.

Coming back around (again) to painting, things are gathering into a neat package of times.  As noted last time, the plastic Legion box is unlikely to release before February, which is the same time the Kayazy Eliminators debut.  Templecon is in February (not that I'll be attending), and the Clash of the Titans/Vox Populi over at Lost Hemisphere also (presumably) runs through February.  With all signs pointing to February, my very tentative plan is to have both the pIrusk (hopefully in time for the tournament as well, but I'm being realistic here) and pButcher lists done, submitting to Vox Populi along the way since I'll be doing a theme force.  I'd feel a little odd about submitting basically the same list as Plarzoid, who's doing the actual Clash of the Titans, but the schemes would be different and I'm leaning towards a pair of Juggernauts instead of a single and a Marauder.  There's not much to worry over though as there's precious little wiggle room in theme lists, so some redundancy is to be expected.  Leaving Lost Hemisphere aside for a moment, for this to work I'd need to paint: full Kayazy with Underboss, Koldun Lord, Greylord Ternion, Kovnik Joe, War Dog, Yuri, Manhunter, min Shock Troopers, min Demo Corp, and a pair of Juggernauts (one of which will be magnetized).  All this in two(ish) months.  It's a tall order but I think I can manage it.  Should it all pan out, I'd be able to venture off into Hordes virtually guilt free, plus I'd have taken a respectable bite out of my painting queue.  It sounds like a great idea, but the real trick will be pulling it off.