Shock Troopers WIP #1, Tournament Musings

Preparing to take some objectives.

This month's Paint the Target is for a unit and while it's tempting to run with a thrown-away line Gdaybloke dropped on the post and do my second Mortar team, instead I'll take this opportunity to finally paint up some Shock Troopers.  I've been wanting to paint these models for a while, but always managed to talk myself out of it.  This time around it's no different, as the Shock Troopers have featured prominently in my list building of late, but I'm not letting that stop me.  I can always proxy them for the next week or two and I could (if things go well) get them done by Thursday and not miss any table time, but even at the worst I'll have them done by the 19th.  Why the 19th?  More on that in a minute.  Today I was focused on getting base coats and the preliminary wash done.  I managed that feat, though it was far more painful than anticipated.  Turns out painting a full unit of medium bases takes a lot longer than doing a single small based model.  Everything that needed a wash got that far, which is everything except what will end up black.  Next time I'll be satisfied if I get the green done, and after that it will be another session or two to finish.  It'll take some work, but I think I can get them done next week.

This Week in the Gnarls League, Part 2

Against Jason.

Week two of the Gnarls league wraps up today, but for me it finished yesterday with my third game.  Let's start at the beginning.  The first game was Thursday against Jason, a regular Menoth player who I had not yet faced off against.  I ran a newish Absylonia list with Typhon, a Carnivean, a Seraph, four Shredders, and a pair of both Shepherds and Forsaken.  Jason used Amon with a horde of light jacks, 8 in all, with a pair of min choirs and some wracks.  The scenario was Hold the Line, one that I enjoy for its straight-forwardness.  As usual when facing a new caster/army, I read the cards and took note of abilities, then promptly forgot or underestimated them.  Synergy caught me with my pants not down, but off and in another room.  I lost Typhon and the Carni, both undamaged, on the same turn and that was about it.  I almost shot down Amon with the Seraph, then couldn't quite manage to get Aby in charge range of him.  This game was a fairly ugly case of learning by taking it in the face for me, but that knowledge would come in handy in the next game.

Tournament Mode: the Debut

Tournament time.

A cluster of eager combatants. Pedestrian tables turned into exact playing surfaces with themed terrain. Handouts: a sheet for game results and army lists, another for event feedback. Packets of rules and scenarios. The gentle rumble of conversation and laughter. Trays of (somewhat) painted minis. The appraising looks drawn by the assembled armies. The atmosphere when I arrived to my first Warmahordes tournament was everything I thought it would be.

As I alluded to in my last post, I went in a new direction with my lists the night before the tournament.  I had settled into a single jack, infantry heavy, Iron Flesh caster approach, but following a successful game with Strakhov on Thursday night I went with a list very similar to the one I used that night:

Camoflague is not neccesarily on the card: Harkevich vs eStryker

Peek-a-boo dog is playing with you.

Gaming got moved up a couple days to accommodate the arrival of a new furnace here on Thursday, so EV and I had a shorter gap than usual between matches.  I ran the same list as last time, except in this game I only fielded what was in my list and made sure to double check what I had on the table against what I had on my phone.  Because EV generally has his army, cards, dice, various ephemera, and the table ready to go when I arrive I don't get around to making a copy of his list for later use until he's taking his first turn.  Such was the case today, and it avoided another math issue when we found that he was a couple points over.  Fortunately a) we figured this out before the game was over, and b) it was during his first movement phase and thus easily corrected.  His list was as follows:

Afternoon of the Wolf: Harkevich vs Siege

Feel the power.

Part of my painting zeal of earlier this week was the result of my desire to try out some of my new models.  A fully painted (except for a Dullcote) Harkevich was eager to see the table, while newly constructed non-proxy Black Ivan and some Bombardiers had cherries in need of popping.  I took a couple swings at a Harkevich list, probably a dozen or so before I was finally satisfied.  I toyed with Ivan and a Destroyer, but I didn't have enough Focus to Broadsides every turn.  Yet I had too much Focus to just shoot two boosted Bombards since Ivan boosts attacks for free while in control range of Harkevich.  Once I paired Ivan with a more focus hungry melee jack like a Juggernaut or Kodiak, things started looking better.  The Devestator also came to mind, but after Crippling Grasp shut it down last game I looked to the cheaper options.  When mixed with some Winter Guard and a smattering of solos I was pretty satisfied.  A little too satisfied in the end, or perhaps too little satisfied, as I ended up with three versions of the same list.  The choice of a tier list, a list with Greylords, and a list with a Koldun but no Ternion was too close to call, so I sought an unbiased opinion.  Before we got down to business I labeled the three lists and gave EV a choice of A, B, or C.  He picked A, the Koldun but no Ternion list, which is:

I should really put a title on this post

The madness begins to take shape.

Productivity was up in all sectors today, hobby progress included.  I kicked things off by getting a start on the Doomies.  Nothing much yet, just roughing in colors as has become my habit of late.  For the first time in a long while, possibly ever, I took a single look at these models and knew what colors would go where.  Is it possible I'm just getting more comfortable with my scheme for the army?  Is it possible that these particular models are better suited to my scheme than others that I've painted?  Is it really possible that I'm dipping a third time into a reference that no one is likely to get?  Whatever the cause, knowing what I'm going to do before I do it (in a painting context) is such a pleasant experience that I'll have to do it again.  Ordinarily I'd describe what it is I plan to do, but with any luck I'll have the Doomies to a point that the scheme is evident via pictures in the near future.

Another one(two) bites the dust

More finished warcasters.

Finished up Harkevich and Strakhov this afternoon, a full day ahead of the Paint the Target deadline.  Granted I still have to do arc markings and figure out snow basing, but that will have to wait until the humidity drops below 75% here in the DMV.  While I love warcasters because the models are typically more detailed and dynamic than regular footsloggers, the unfortunate truth is that I'll only ever sit one (possibly two in the future) on the table at a time.  Thus while I've been making (some) progress in painting recently, it won't show up on the table as the painted models (assuming I ever get them varnished and buttoned up) will be sitting in my case. 

This has extra bearing in the immediate future as my first thought on "What do I paint next" was "Finish that Sorscha I started way back when."  (As a brief aside, I sure have come a long way in miniature photography.  Those pics, admittedly my first attempts, make my brain sad now.)  I'm sure I've talked about this before, but a little more never hurts, right?  When I first started up with Warmachine I intended to stick with pSorscha until I got her figured out, not to mention fully painted.  Fast forward to now and pSorscha is one of my least played casters, one of the last ones I reach for when making a new list, and no more painted than she was when I made that above post.  While I'd like to rectify that situation, on the painting front if not the playing front, by doing so I'd also be adding yet another caster to the pile of painted models while those units, jacks, and solos continue to look at me with resigned (and unpainted) eyes.

To remedy this situation, I'm contemplating drastic action.  Pending the announcement of this month's (Paint the) Target, I may pull the Doom Reavers from active duty to get them painted up.  While they didn't blow my skirt up at first, I find them more indispensable with each passing game.  They're just so good at cutting things up in tiny pieces, not to mention resilient(ish) with the UA.  Then there's the spray the UA brings along.  I almost love the Doomies enough to consider running an eButcher tier army.  Almost.  This all said, it pains me to consider taking them out of the lineup to get them painted.  On the plus side I'd have a great incentive to get them finished quickly, plus I'd be able to field another painted unit on the table instead of tucking yet another caster away in foam.  Maybe I can even get them done before the deluge arrives. 

Painting progress?!

Behold my progress.

Yesterday saw me pick up a brush for the first time in what felt like forever.  I got the greens done and "finished" the flesh, though I may go back for another round.  Before my long gaming hiatus painting was akin to throwing darts: sometimes I hit my target, sometimes I hit my foot.  In the past year and a half, during my triumphant return to wargaming, I've felt more comfortable with the brush.  The results I get may not be exactly what I wanted at the beginning, but I feel in control during the process.  Yesterday was more akin to the random results of old, especially in the faces.  By the end of the session I was more or less back to the new normal, but that first half hour or so was what I imagine walking a tightrope feels like.  Hopefully the cobwebs are shaken out now.

Taking a different angle on painting, my painting queue is currently unmanageable and is about to become worse.  Off the top of my head I have eIrusk, the Old Witch, Black Ivan (who needs a body as he's just the upgrade kit), and a Trollblood starter box all sitting patiently in their original packaging.  That's just PP stuff too.  Then there's all the stuff that's been assembled but not primed, primed but not painted, painted but not based, so on and so forth.  I'm rapidly approaching the sort of saturation that contributed to my previous hiatus.  To make matters worse (and better of course, who doesn't love more toys?), I just put in an order for the two player box, Bombardiers, and Aiyana & Holt, which will dump even more things to be done into my already overwhelmed queue.  Drastic action is required to keep this gaming ship afloat.

As such, I'm putting an end to all model purchases until I hit some sort of big milestone.  What that goal is has yet to be finalized.  My first thought was having all my Khador stuff painted.  Fully painted, based, and sealed, not in limbo like poor Orsus who's still waiting to have his base finished and be swathed in varnish.  I'm leaning towards having a tier force fully painted, either 35 or 50 points.  What level tier and what caster is still up for debate.  It may turn out that I don't even have the parts to make any tier list, but I'm not too concerned about that.  I'm thinking about running a tier list this Thursday in fact, so I'll find out if my plan is feasible very soon.  The point is that purchasing has once again outstripped painting, so I'm putting the brakes on hard until I get caught up some.  Hopefully nothing comes out soon that I start drooling over...

I don't like math, or how I came to want a Marauder

I have a BA and not a BS for a reason.

Being knee-deep in Harkevich Theorymachining, I came to a point yesterday where I wanted to have some numbers to inform my list building.  Is a Decimator viable with rerolls?  How often can I expect a Field Gun to crit?  What if Kovnik Joe is calling the shots?  Just how accurate would a full unit of aiming Bombardiers with rerolls be?  The rudimentary cocktail napkin math I can do in my head proved insufficient from the first of the questions, so I decided to seize this learning opportunity and make a probability chart on a spreadsheet.  Fast-forward a few hours and handfuls of hair later and I hadn't made much progress.  The spreadsheet was the first to go, perhaps 20 minutes in.  I don't have the first idea how to use Excel and I'm iffy at best on the math I was trying to use.  Combining the two was a recipe for disaster, so I went back to the pad and pen.  I got the 2d6 chart nice and quick, but the 3d6 chart started giving me fits.  Factor in rerolls, let alone crits, and the red haze was descending.  Picking your fights is a key skill and I recognized the chick I thought I had tapped on the shoulder was actually a dude, and a pocket-sized bodybuilder at that, so I beat a hasty retreat to the interwebs in search of a probability chart.  I thought it would be easy to find.  Turns out I was wrong.

Greener Pastures?

EV has a future as a foot model.

EV and I took a trip to a new(ish) local(ish) game store today, Huzzah Hobbies.  It was a 30(ish) minute drive with little traffic, though a heavier load could easily double that.  In a bit of a paradox, it was a smaller store than the usual FLGS, but they had more of what I was looking for.  After haunting the FLGS since Wrath released, I finally found a copy on my first trip to the new store.  I also got Commander Harkevich, his pet jack Black Ivan, and some snow for basing.  After hearing about Wrath across the internets since it was released, it's good to finally lay hands on it.  Harkevich and Black Ivan are bound to be a pair that sees a lot of action and may well dictate the next additions I make to my collection.  I'm awash with list ideas, especially theme forces.  His tier lists are more or less what I'd be taking anyway, minus perhaps some Greylords and Widowmakers, so the theme forces are pretty painless to conjure and the benefits (upkeeps in place for free on turn 1, placing terrain, cheaper ranged jacks) are enticing.  Things are a bit tight at 35, as what I'd really like is to do WGRC + Joe and three ranged jacks and just don't have the points for it.  Instead I've come up with three off the cuff 35 pointers here in varying flavors.  First is a list of just pieces I have.