Bartolo Montador vs. Moshar, The Desert Walker

First battle report written with my tablet while watching.  Made watching much more entertaining.

First the list break down.

Bart
Mariner
Buccaneer
Freebooter
Doc Killingsworth
Bloody Bradigan
Full Sea Dogs with Mr. Walls
Lord Rock Bottom

Moshar
2x Argus
Feral Warpwolf
Full unit of Wolves of Oboros + UA
Shifting stones
Sentry Stone
Wolf Lord Morraig

Turn 1 - is relatively uneventful.  Circle moved forward followed by pirates moving up poping Dougal's mini feat and killing 5 Wolves of Oboros with an aoe blast.

Turn 2 -  Dougal pulled out his quad iron killing 3 wolves of Oboros, Rockbottom killed 1 and Mariner picked off the UA.

Turn 3 - Mannikins charge forward to force Bloody Bradigan to take a tough which he passes due to Doc.  The 2 remaining wolves of oboros killed off Lord Rockbottom. Then Moshar teleports killing off his ssecond to last Wolf of Oboros to land a large spray onto the Sea Dogs.  Three sea dogs are forced to take tough checks which they pass.   Then Moshar throws out a crevase to hopefully force another spray into the sea dog unit!  It kills its target and forces 3 more tough checks which she fails 1 more.  That's 6 passed tough checks this turn so far.

Turn 4 - Bradigan starts off by removing 2 Mannikins. Dougal then aims and fires at the argus with the quad iron hitting four times doing 18 damage to the beast! The sea dogs then stand up the knocked down models and position for a round of pistol shooting firing into the argus and shifting stones near by. Though it was a glorious display of gun powder nothing was harmed.  Then the mariner followed up by removing the argugs and splashing 2 damage into the Dragoon. Then the freebooter kills off the Sentry Stone.  Bart then fires off a spray and feats.

The circle player then teleports Dragoon into Bart who needs a 10 to hit and misses.  Then moves up with Moshar and buffs the Feral.

Turn 5 - Bradigan moves up and attacks the Dragoon preping him for the Buccaneer to follow and kill the mounted version of the Dragoon. The sea dogs charge into the shifting stones killing two of them off. Doc takes a wild poisoned dagger throw at an argus missing, good effort Doc! Dougal then opens fire and blasts an Argus for 6 damage. The Mariner then fired into the Feral Warpwolf doing 3 damage.  The blast hit Moshar doing 5 damage to him which he transfered to the Warpwolf. The freebooter then walks up to the Argus needing a 9 to hit with no boosts then did 10 damage to the Argus.

Turn 6 - The circle then moves up with feral throwing the freebooter into another jack clearing the range for the Argus to charge Bart. The Argus then charges Bart eating a freestrike from a Sea Dog who lands a hit needing an 8 doing 1 point damage to the spirit blowing it out.  The Argus missing his pow 16 charge attack into Bart.

Dougal opens up the turn firing his quad iron into Moshar hitting all four times! Destroying him with his Quad Iron.

Great game to watch!

Carver vs Moshar Battle Report

A quick nod goes out to Greg.  Good job Greg on getting his shifting stones all painted up!  They look fantastic and great conversions.  Go desert circle!

Carver vs. Moshar

We are on week 4 of our Journeyman league.  As such games slow down, painting speeds up, some people drop out, some people really kick it up.  I was luckily able to grab a game in on Saturday, and it was a very enjoyable one.

Turn 1 - Carver cast mobility and batten down the hatches then moved forward 8 inches.  The brigands moved forward and dug in.  Slaughterhousers ran too the hill followed by 2 gun boars directly behind them.  Targ moves up to support them and gets ready for herding if necessary.  War Hog (first game with Thunder Hog!) runs forward as Carver's body guard.  Also a quick note, the Druids won't be able to push him back as Carver is directly behind him.

Picture for some reason was really fuzzy.  Still gives off a sense of the current battlefield.

The mannikin's move up with a teleporting sentry stone.  Druids advance forward and spam some clouds.  As well as some reshifting.

Turn 2 - The Slaughterhousers run forward, followed by a barrage of attacks from the Gun Boars killing 2 Druids.  Brigands move up and land a shot dealing 7 damage to Moshar.

Circle retaliates by attacking with an Argus.  After some amazing tough rolls (3 passes) he kills nothing.  The Druids then fail to kill the knocked down model with a few attacks and kill off a Slaughterhouser.  The feral warpwolf manuvers over to the flank.  Looking to line up some sort of assassination run in the future.  Also drop down a pillar locking Caver in.

Turn 3 - Carver opens it up by casting Batten Down the Hatches and Mobility maneuvers around the pillar, pops his feat and crushes the pillar.  The Brigands do hog wild and fire then engage the druids killing off a few.  This is where the druids fail their leadership.  War Hog maneuvers over near the Gun Boars and casts Massacre onto the Gun Boar.  Who then charges the Warpwolf boosts to hit and does a 4 damage dice attack dealing nothing to the Warpwolf.  His next attack deals 7 damage to the Warpwolf.  I then charge with my Slaughterhousers only doing 1 full 3 inch charge onto the Warpwolf.  He lands the attack and rolls 5 damage dice!  Dealing 15 damage to the Warpwolf followed by the other Slaughterhouser finishing off the Warpwolf.

Argus on the flank maneuvers around to line up an attack on something in my rear battlefield, maybe Carver. Moshar then is teleported by the shifting stones and takes a spray attack and a spell attacking doing only a few damage.

Turn 4 - Slaughterhouser charges Moshar putting a few damage on him and killing an Argus from the transfer.  Followed up by a hit by a brigand for only a few more damage.  Then the Gun Boar charges into Moshar taking every fury to land the killing blow!

Conclusion
Mental note, circles movement shenanigans are really fun to do and really bizarre to face.  I think the biggest issues there were too many support tools in the Circle force and Carver turns everything into a killing force during the feat turn. I think as points grow larger Greg's Moshar force will grow more deadly.

To Paint Or Not To Paint

I have finally finished painting my THUNDER HOG!  (Yes I know it's just a War Hog)

Thunder Hog!

I had spent a large amount of time converting him up and decided to spend a large amount of time painting him this past week.  It was intimidating to get started with him.  Though once I picked up the brush to just base coat the blue I couldn't put him down.  I really enjoyed picking vibrant colors to combine with the dark skin and grey hair of my army.  Not only is it aimed at being a center piece of my army but also some refreshing color to my dark paint scheme..

Back Shot

Lately in my miniature career I hadn't gone out of the box with conversions, elaborate basing or crazy paint jobs.  I used to love converting models, but I've always been the of type individual who focused on the game. I mainly focused on getting models painted, keeping them clean and trying to maintain some army continuity.  With the main focus on rules and synergy of the units I selected.

Left Side Shot

It was quite refreshing to get back to another part of the hobby. This project definitely showed me I shouldn't restrict myself to just the play style of units and the game. Lets not get confused here though, I'm not a changed man.  I still love playing the game and don't see it getting knocked off as my major preference.  I guess I'm just adding another layer to the hobby, one I had lost.

Right Side Shot

I do really enjoy the difficulties of the Minion faction and the creative sculpts the army offers.  This Journeyman league has been a great experience so far.

Lord Carver's Week 2 Army

I haven't been the only person busy painting this week. Here are some photo's of Nicole and Paul's great paint jobs they created this week.  Great job!

Nicole's Pirates!

Aiyanna

Dougal MacNaile

Holt

Bloody Bradigan

Lord Rockbottom

Paul's Cryx Paint Jobs

Paul's Machine Wraiths

Skarlock

Week 3 Battle Reports and Recap of Current Totals

We had four battle fought tonight with plenty more to happen throughout the week.  Our current totals stand at...


Recap of the Journeyman League Totals

Cryx                                                 11pts

Cryx

Legion                                              5pts

Merc - Pirates - Nicole                   37pts

Minions - Thornfall - John              27pts

Minions - Blindwater - Lucas          9pts

Khador                                             21pts

Cygnar                                              2pts

Cygnar

Menoth                                             3pts

Circle                                                6pts

Circle

Skorne                                              11pts

Retribution                                       6pts

We definitely have a few front runners with Pirates getting a lot of games in and the most painted models.  Great job Nicole!  I'm currently in second with Steve nipping at my heals at 3rd.  The only different between Steve and I is the 6 points I've received from painting so far.

I also love how some of our new players are showing great improvement, great job Lucas and Matt!

Now to the battle reports (most of these will be short as I didn't fully watch any of the games)

Khador vs. Pirates

Sorscha                        Bartolo Montador
Destroyer                     Mariner
Juggernaught                 Freebooter
Bombadiers (min)         Buccaneer
Manhunter                    Aiyana and Holt
                                    Bloody Bradigan
                                    Dougal MacNaile

This battle started out with some barrages from both sides and quickly escalated into an all out throw down.  Bart popped his feat first and applying pressure to Khadors forces killing off the Bombadiers and Manhunter quickly.  Then Khador retaliated by pressuring the high armor warjacks.  The battle quickly boiled down to Bart surviving Sorscha's assassination attempt who then wind rushed away as it obviously wasn't working out.

Bart retaliated by eating a free strike and charging Sorscha.  She survived his barrage of attacks and brought the full force of her army onto him.  Missed both of the Juggernaught attacks needing 7's, landed the Destroyers attack putting Bart to 3.  Sorscha missed all of her attacks but one and failed to crack the Pirate Captains armor!

With the fresh reprieve Bart finished off Sorscha who was no longer defense 18.

Minions (Barnabas) vs. Skorne

Barnabas                               Morghoul
Spitter                                   2xSavages
Wrastler                                Gladiator
Croak Hunter                        Bloodrunners (min)
Thrullg                                   Void Spirit
Feralgeist                               Beast Handlers
Totem Hunter

As I watched the previous battle more I didn't catch much of this game's details.  Skorne claimed victory though, undefeated at this point!

Skorne vs. Pirates

Bartolo Montador                 Morghoul
Mariner                                 2x Savages
Freebooter                            Gladiator
Buccaneer                             Accuraii
Bloody Bradigan                   Beast Handlers
Dougal MacNaile
Aiyana and Holt

Pirates used their advantage very heavily with their shooting to force Skorne to close the gap and come to them.  Unfrotunately for Adam and his Skorne, Nicole's shooting really hammered his army.  That combined with Bart's feat really left him without many good options.  Skorne was out done by the Pirates shooting as Bart claimed a second victory and ending Adams win streak!


Khador  vs. Minions (Barnabas)


Sorscha                     Barnabas
Destroyer                  Spitter
Juggernaught             Wrastler
Bombadiers               Croak Hunter
Manhunter                 Thrullg
                                 Totem Hunter

Sorscha used her Khador forces very effectively to close the gap on the gators and line up Sorscha on a solid assassination run.  This was very effective as early on the charge lane opened up and Steve took it.  Slamming into Barnabas and using her feat to make every blow hit.  Barnabas went down with Sorscha's last attack, but the victory was short lived as Barnabas survived by a tough check.

Next turn after shrugging off stationary Barnabas clobbered Sorscha to death with a whirlwind of attacks.

New gaming table!

I am jubilant! I finally received my geek chic table. The wait was long ... very long.  Apparently they had a flu in office that added a few weeks, plus a few more ordeals.  When we had originally placed the order it was supposed to deliver a few months ago.  No point in focusing on the negatives though.  After my year plus wait It's here!

My emissary table

I ordered a pretty bare bones table in comparison to what you can get from them. The quality of the table amazed me.  A lot of solid pieces of wood, well framed, high quality, and lots of gaming flexibility.

Focusing on its gaming potential, it has an interior game space of 6x4 feet, which can easily be reduced down to a 4x4.  This allows me to play Unbound, standard Warmachine and even other games.

The acrylic topper allows me to use markers on it to block out objectives, terrain and whatever else might pop up as a necessity.

 I went with the basic white board interior instead of the bamboo. The table was already a bit excessive in the cost department for us so we avoided the frills.  We did get the coveted drink holders though!

We played a few games on it this week, and it is a very nice gaming table with extra room for casualties and cards.  Overall a very positive improvement to my previous table.  Since I can put down the wood boards and eat dinner on the table!

I'll need to pick up some different color felts for this weekend, but I can definitely give geek chic a recommendation as long as you don't mind the very long wait time.  You get a very nice product.

A Saturday of gaming and painting

Bart's loyal Mariner

Gaming this Saturday was very low key. It was only my friends Greg, Steve and myself interested in playing. Nicole and I painted earlier in the morning, while she continued to paint throughout the rest of the day. She cranked out two beautiful Pirate Jacks AAARGH!  I finally finished up my warlock, Lord Carver, BMMD, Esq. III.  You can discuss a lot about his spells and stats, but nobody can argue he has easily the best name in HORDES.

Lord Carver, BMMD, Esq. III

The first battle today was a quick Kaya vs. Sorscha where Steve taught Greg the 19 inch threat trick.

Freebooter, Master of Hog Throwing

After that battle Greg challenged me and we had a Carver vs. Kaya battle. Just one game for the league, and then we decided to do a 50 point battle for fun.  I learned a lot of tricks this battle, one them being spirit door is a very hard, specially when Greg filled out the rest of his force with two units of shifting stones to add on to the movement shenanigans of his force.  He picked me apart with Spirit door slowly removing my Gun Boars then doing a drive by on the War Hog and poor carver trapped in the middle of shifting stones.  A very dirty trick I had taught Greg years ago!  As Carver was smashing through the stones Kaya lined up her Feral Warpwolf and proceeded to go piggy bowling! All in all a very amusing game.

The second game was a Harbinger vs. Maelok. Greg has a very effective Harbinger list he's been practicing and I think Maelok is one of the better options for Minions when facing the all powerful 12 year old blind girl.  The game started out very much in my favor with a good Bog Trogg ambush onto his knights errant.  Destroying everyone in the unit except the standard bearer that turn. Totem hunter and Gator Posse finished off the Seneshal.  Greg retaliated with a very powerful ranged turn from a Reckoner doing devastating blows to Maelok.  I didn't protect him nearly enough, and with purification removing spiny growth he was down to his 17 armor. Harbinger also popped her feat.

Maelok retaliated by popping his feat, effectively negating Harbinger's feat, though the Bog Trogs and Wrong Eye were too far away to be affected by Maelok's counter feat. I slammed into the paladins with the Gatormen Posse and Bull Snapper forcing Harbinger to martyr roughly 8 times, this was only doable because Greg kept rolling 1 point of damage!

The next turn Greg opened a charge lane with some paladin killing blows, including Vilmon slaying 1 of his own paladins of the wall! (Moral victory right there in my opinion.) Then sent the Avatar right at Maelok who was sitting on 3 transfers but only 2 hit points left.  The Avatar with guided hand rolls 3 1's missing Maleok with the charge attack. After the laughter subsided he took two more attacks forcing me to pass off 2 transfers.  Then the Reckoner took a ranged shot at Maelok needing an 11 to hit and connected, also setting him on fire.  This was transfered off as well.  Now for all the marbles.  The vassal moved up to the Reckoner and did an ancillary attack needing a 9 to hit on two dice.  Rolled an 11 and finishing off Maelok.

All an all a I like Maelok.  I think I would drop a turtle for another Gatormen Posse and tweak the list a little further.  I also want to experiment with Calaban vs. Harbinger.  I think I might be able to angle some good tricks vs. her.  Maelok is a little heavily reliant on some key up keeps, that are hard to manage with purification on a 10 focus caster.

Next up on the painting block is Thunder Pig!  Though I have no idea how long he will take to crank out. Until next time!

Week 2 of Journeyman League

Paul's Denegra

Week 2 is upon us and it started out with a really fun Friday night.  We had lots of games going on and people showing up with painted models to show off, all in all a good gaming session.

To start off Paul showed up with a really killer Machine Wraith that my picture doesn't give any justice, sorry Paul!  Paul also finished up his Warwitch Denegra, earning him 3 points for painting.

   I finished up a pair of my Gun Boars, they've definitely earned their paint job throughout the course of the week.  Those pow 13 guns are not to be understimated!  I have been blessed with some nice caster shots and a few devastating blows to crucial warjacks.  They did fail me tonight vs. Bart, but only after using all the good ammunition vs. Paul's Cryx, but i'll dive into that as we approach the battle reports.

Paul's machine wraith

Pair of Carver Gun Boars

Kreoss vs. Stryker

I admittedly didn't watch this game in heavy detail.  I can point out some of the highlights as I was battling Cryx on the table next to it.  Dave our Menoth player kept advancing into the guns of Cygnar trying to take advantage of his arc node.

While Eric kept blasting away with his charger and black 13th, as well as his own arc node on the lancer!  The powerful shot ability on the charger landed some damage early on and racked up some damage boxes on Menoth as they advanced.

As the armies started to collide it seemed the Cygnar army was impervious with Strykers feat +5 armor, and Arcane Shield +3 armor on the Ironclade.  Taking him to a massive 26 armor, which is typically unheard of in Warmachine!

Dave was not to be daunted though as his crusader began picking up and chucking Eric's warjacks in a nearby shallow lake extinguishing the furnaces!  It was both hilarious and mournful as Stryker's forces who've been doing so well are being defeated by body of calm cool water.

The battle ended with Kreoss taking home victory for Menoth.

Carver vs. Denegra

 This battle was truly about the Gun Boars as they opened up with a nice hit on one of Paul's bone jacks.  Paul retaliated by spraying and applying corrosion to half of my army.  Though the rest of the damage hits were mitigated by Batten Down the Hatches.  Such an amazing spell.

As the Cryx army rushed to calm the thunderous shots of the Gun Boars one Bone Jack bit the dust.  Once engaged quagmire on one of the Gun Boars helped mitigate the high defense of the Cryx jacks.  Though the one Death Ripper that closed in on a Gun Boar proceeded to heavily damage the pig.  With the mighty 20 armor the Gun Boar survived.

Carver decided to end this now as he saw his pigs taking a heavy toll.  With the help of his feat Carver charged the Slayer and landed a devastating blow.  This was followed up by a pair of Gun Boars battering the Slayer to dust freeing the War Hog to run off to engage Denegra.

Denegra being immune to free strikes (Doh!) backed away from the War Hog and proceed to shadow bind, parasite and bash the War Hog landed very powerful hits.

Though Denegra had lost too many much and Carver applied  lots of pressure as the Gun Boars finished off the Bone Jacks and Carver moved into position to charge next turn.  Denegra seeing her army disintegrate before her took solice in destroying Carver's War Hog before finally getting cut down by Carver's weapon, The Hand of God.

Bart vs. Legion

I didn't watch this battle at all honestly.  Only thing I noticed as I glanced over was Bart had removed all of Legions army and had put 12 solid points of damage on Lylth.  With Lylth's dying breath she landed a powerful bow shot, followed by a parasite and another bow shot to do enough damage to fell Bart (and Carver) has yet to pass a single tough check in the league so far.

Sorscha vs. Denegra

I only caught the highlights of this battle after it had ended.  Sorscha's crazy threat range of 19 inches got her into melee with Denegra and her trusty hammer Frostfang finished the job.

Carver vs. Bart


Going into this battle 1 to 1 a real grudge match has been a brooding.  Carver taking the first turn runs forward with everything except Carver who casts Batten Down the Hatches.

Bart using his superior range takes a shot with his Mariner landing one damage point to a Gun Boar.  The Gun Boars retaliated doing some damage to the Buccaneer and Freebooter.

Mariner taking a 2nd round shot blasts into Carver doing 4 points of damage.  The Freebooter charges into the War Hog doing really nice damage considering it was dice minus 7, but failing to hit with the grab and smash allowing to do its free two handed throw, the bane of the war hog's existence!

Carver calls his feat and charges the Freebooter.  I pick up my four dice happy to roll this devastating blow and see the dice come up 1 ... 2 ... 2 ... 3.  I did 3 points of damage to the Freebooter!  This throws off the rest of my plans the turn and I proceed to take a few pot shots off with the Gun Boars and attack the Freebooter with the War Hog who doesn't finish it off.  (I forgot to mention Bart's minus 3 to hit on feat turn is rough!)  Seeing a charge lane from Bart to Carver all be it too late.  Targ decides to eat the bullet and runs in front of Carver.

The next turn is humorous.  Dougle fires off his Quad Iron and misses with snake eyes.  The Mariner then deciding to kill off Targ to open the charge lane fires killing Targ, who decides to be too tough for a cannon ball and lies down instead (passed tough). The Buccaneer having enough moves up and skewers Targ's body on the ground.  With the charge lane free Bart charges Carver.

Bart lands two solid attacks on Carver who shrugs one off to a beast. (His 1 and only transfer)  Carver sitting at 13 def 20 armor with 5 hit points left thinks he'll survive the round to get his revenge on Bart!  Bart spend his last focus hits.  Picking up two dice we do a quick calculation of the odds.  Bart is pow 14, Carver is armor 20, with 5 hit points left.  Bart needs to roll a 11 or 12 to finish off the pig.  Nicole picks up the dice rolls them on the table and lands double 6's.  I am sweating now.  All I need is a tough check, I pick up my die and roll it, 3.  Game over Bart, you win this time but I'll get my revenge!

Recap of the Journeyman League Totals

Cryx                                      11pts

Cryx

Legion                                   5pts

Merc - Pirates                      19pts

Minions - Thornfall                20pts

Minions - Blindwater             4pts

Khador                                 10pts

Cygnar                                  2pts

Cygnar

Menoth                                  3pts

Circle                                    6pts

Circle

Skorne                                  3pts

Retribution

As it's nearing 3 I'm going to wrap this one as I'm tired.  Though I have got Carver nearly done, so look for an update this weekend with my warlock finally done!  Maybe that's the edge Bart has had all a long!