Sunday, October 31, 2010

Taking a shot on magnetising

Slayer/Reaper has been fully magnetised now.

I don't have the Malice parts yet but I'm about to magnetise it too into the same chassis.

Those souls could have been quite a problem but I thought of a way to go about it. I'm doing two different bases, one normal for reaper/slayer and one for Malice where the souls are floating around.

Anyway, I'm quite happy how well things turned out. Parts fit quite nicely and seem sturdy enough. Another thing will be how everything looks when it's fully painted.

I'm updating this post now... I thought that now that I'm "connected" to stuff (Iron Agenda Bloggin Network) I might as well write down a bit of the important stuff. If people are looking for, like, tips on magnetising.

Well sadly enough I can only tell how not to do it.

Get real tools. I just carved slots with pin vice and dull carpet knife. It was horrible and I didn't do it in one go. If you don't mind unnecessary pain then you can go cheap like I did but it has it's price in work you need to do.

Magnets are rare earth magnets, you can order them for pretty cheap from Maelstrom Games. For these faction warjacks they're just perfectly sized. Magnetising myrmidons with them might be a pain though.

Saturday, October 30, 2010

28.10.2010 - Three murders at friend's place, Jyväskylä

I think I hadn't actually played Cluedo ever.

But on Thursday we played quite a few of them with four players.

Damn it was fun but it's a bit difficult to have anything clever to say about that game. But it's a good example that you don't actually need awesomely detailed 100-page rulebook for an entertaining game.

We did house rule dice away from the game though and decided everyone moved a static 7. And it's a good house rule because only endgame where everyone's having some strong hunches who killed Blackpepper and where and how would be any thrilling with rolling dice for move.

Anyway, I played miss Scarlett in every game. It just happened so that I really started to like that character after first game where I always accused myself of the murder. And the trend continued on following games too.

Funnily enough, miss Scarlett was the murderer in two games out of three!

First game other player managed to pull a good bluff that tricked me badly and I made a false final accusation. Actually things went so weird that three players out of four made wrong final accusations. Turned out miss Scarlett didn't remember that well in which room did she kill mr. Blackpepper...

Second game I happened to got miss Scarlett's card and as second player I got the chance to pick miss Scarlett again. By then I had taken it as a bit of my style to always accuse myself in any room and I thought it might be a good bluff to continue it. Second game started a bit weird because I happened to ask in exactly right room with exactly right murder weapon had I killed mr. Blackpepper. That meant no cards were shown at all.

Later the same thing happened in totally different corner of the playing board. Obviously accuser had to have the room card in her hand.

That game ended in my victory because I knew for sure who was missing: the killer.

Third game was hilarious because it came soon pretty apparent that miss Scarlett was again the killer. This resulted everyone dragging her through about every room in the house...

Uncertainty is a lovely feeling in a mystery game such as Cluedo. Late in the game I was pretty certain I got the right theory what had happened but I wasn't 100% sure. I chickened out and tried to fish more info out of other players just by hanging in the corridors but it didn't really pay off because another player went in and won the game.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

20.10.2010 - Salo, friend's place. 4 player smallworld.

Game started with Peace Loving Giants which was a pretty darn fine starting race because you will easily get the peace bonus. However, next player picked up Bivouacking Sorcerers that proved a real, you know, PITA to deal with. They snatched one territory from giants on first round.

That made me think that if somehow Sorcerers remain unpicked up for the last player on round 1 then all hell would break loose. Well, this was not the case but it's always nice to imagine things.

Anyway, then I got Berserk Orcs and started from close to giants. I didn't make even one succesful berserk roll and I got really lousy start.

Last player took Hordes of Dwarves and went to the side of playing board where was no other players and some mines close by.

Giants were harassed by both Sorcerers and Orcs. I tried to kick a bit Sorcerers too but Giants were in between. After I conquered Giants I failed all the Berserk rolls again and could do nothing to Sorcerers.

All the while Dwarves were scheming and mining and drinking beer.

Giants turned soon into Alchemit Wizards and Dwarves into Mounted Halflings.

Both started getting pretty scary amounts of points per round so I decided that I needed to go to decline too and pick a better race and leave Sorcerers to themselves. Historian Amazons had picked up a few victory coins so I chose them. I hoped that their sheer number would bring enough in decline dwarves and active wizards down.

But then Sorcerers felt a bit abandoned to that one corner of the board and emerged again as Dragon Master Goblins.

Yes, there was blood on the streets.

Everyone was butchered to pieces. However, the hardest toll fell on Giant/Wizards because so many Wizards died and had to be put in decline pretty soon which meant very little point scoring for a round.

On last rounds of the game Wizards turned into Seafaring Ghouls. Goblins killed last of the Dwarves and so Halflings went in decline and a horror that's known as Merchant Ratmen came into being. The player scored 18 points in one round which was kind of harsh.

I put Amazons in Decline too so I had one round of fooling around with Hill Gypsies. It didn't really save me.

Final scoreboard:

Hordes of Dwarves/Mounted Halflings/Merchant Ratmen: 101
Bivouacking Sorcerers/Dragonmaster Goblins: 72
Berserker Orcs/Historian Amazons/Hill Gypsies: 68
Peace Loving Giants/Alchemist Wizards/Seafaring Ghouls: 66

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

17.10.2010 Turku Fanatic Day 2

I'm going straight to game reports again.

Game 4: Epic Deneghra vs Baldur (Convergence)

Pretty damn awesome matchup. Both Baldur and epic Deneghra are good at Convergence scenario. I didn't even win the starting roll.

Anyway, picture from the end of round 1:

Those small papers roughly mark the convergence area. Because we played the earlier Steamroller Convergence scoring would have started on my next turn. But as it turned out there was no way I could have ever started scoring... All three heavy warbeasts rushed in to the area next turn.

So, Circle rushed forward and Baldur put up his feat. As you can see, Megalith went down. I rolled less than awesome damage rolls but eventually the big beast crumbled to dust. Orin Midwinter proved to be quite a valuable asset against Circle. He messed up Druids real good and even Baldur found himself troubled with his smaller control area.

Oh, another turn.

First, Wolves of Orboros charged in and killed all my Soulhunters. Bile Thralls were just behind the Soulhunters so I guess opponent knew it to be a trade of sorts. Harrower was wrecked too.

But then it was my time to use feat. Deneghra went incorporeal and charged one of the woldwardens. Dark Banishment throwed the warden 10 full inches away which was rather cool. Then came in Web of Shadows. I was feeling quite confident about the game by then.



However, I was facing Circle anyway. Opponent had two units of Shifting Stones and totally messed up my advance to get to juicy targets. All I actually managed to do was to beat down one woldwarden and a few shifting stones.

I just could not reach Baldur.



And then it was the last round, kind of. Remaining Woldwarden charged in and wrecked Seether. Baldur just stayed.

And you can see the picture. Woldwarden had maxed out it's fury so Baldur was just a def 14 arm 16 target and nothing else. I had epic Deneghra (though knocked down but able to shake herself) with full focus, one bile thrall and even one nightwretch ready to aim a shot at Baldur, not to mention such curiosities as Necrotech and even few remaining Satyxis.

So three minutes more and Baldur would have died most certainly. But time was up. Game ended. And neither of us had scored control points so tie-breaker was that who had more army points at convergence area and opponent had Woldwarden there.

Fight was awesome though ending feels a bit unfair.

Game 5: Epic Deneghra vs Deneghra (Process of Elimination)

Next game was a funny one, Deneghras were facing themselves!

Scenario did favor epic Deneghra more, however. I took a picture the turn before the real action came:

Oh, my poor Harrower lost its scythe claw physically and it showed in it's performance too.

Anyway, opponent didn't realise amazing threat ranges the Satyxis possess with the solo. Next turn was pretty brutal me shutting down opponents movement and slaughtering nearly whole unit of Bane Thralls.

Epic Deneghra went incorporeal and moved forward as far as she could and used her feat. Then I cast Hellmouth on Darragh Wrathe. I wanted to kill Bane Lord Tartarus with it and succeeded.

Then Satyxis launched themselves at the front line and well, the picture speaks for itself. I didn't quite manage to push everyone out of scenario scoring areas.



Opponent had to use Deneghra's feat defensively which is quite rare indeed. But sure it crippled my army, only thing I managed to do was to kill off one Pistol Wraith with combined melee attacks from satyxis.

After that opponent retreated with his Deneghra and left hard targets still contesting scenario areas. Funny thing was too that I purged five of my bile thralls so that the Deathripper engaging Harrower would be easier to finish. But as it turned out I did more damage to Harrower than to Deathripper with those purges, damage rolls were absolutely pitiful.



Anyway, we played one more round but opponent was on the defense. Game could have dragged on for more but time ended. This time tie-breaker favored me but game was going so good for me anyway so this ending, barring amazing rolls from opponent, only accelerated the outcome.


Game 6: Venethrax vs Absylonia (Don't remember scenario, three flags one goes away after first round)

Deployment picture is quite important here actually. So here's the shot:

Bile Thralls were placed rather badly. They would have just been shot by Striders with nothing to support them. So Bile Thralls ran away and Bane Thralls tried to catch up Striders. The middle flag went away that made my position a bit difficult.

Typhon charged my Seether and wrecked it and I think Seraph shot the melee arm and cortex from Corruptor. Damage rolls were a bit excessive. But then I thought that maybe Venethrax needed to kill 'em all alone then if warjacks were going to die. So I charged Typhon with Venethrax and, well. I didn't know if I should cry or laugh, I rolled dice so badly. Three snake eyes in attack rolls, a few other plain misses and few botched damage rolls too. I actually managed to kill Typhon once but then Feralgeist came in. I was able to reave the fury from Typhon and continue beating Typhon with warbeast-slaying expert Lich Lord and, well, failed.

Then Necrotech charged the Typhon and killed it eventually. So we all saw who the wurmslayer actually is. Venethrax also put up his feat. Situation at the left-side flag was looking bad, I had to run my Warwitch Siren to contest stuff there so opponent wouldn't gain control points. I think he scored two points already on his earlier turn.



Next I needed to be brave. I managed to charge Bane Thrall Officer and one ordinary bane thrall to Scythean. I made my single most awesome damage roll then in whole tournament. 5,6,6,6. Take that, Scythean! So that beast actually went down which made situation at that flag a lot better.

To the other flag I went with Venethrax and camped all focus and Admonia upkept Dragon Slayer so he had arm 25. Still I was afraid of Angelius' Armor Piercing attack but I thought that I'd survive. And I should have survived.



But, well. You can't deny the power of dice. Angelius obviously charged Venethrax. Hitting wasn't problem now with boosted attack roll. And damage roll. That damage roll. I weep bitterly that damage roll even now as I write this. 5,5,6.

Well, at least it was some kind of an accomplisment that Venethrax didn't die to that attack.

Next opponent buys a new attack but doesn't boost attack roll so he needed 8+ to hit. And well, 8 it was. He boosted damage and still needed 12 on three dice to kill Venethrax. And 12 he rolled. Game over.

Anyway, tournament was all nice and good though it feels a bit bad that so many of my defeats were so weird or close or unlikely. But plenty of tough and cool games and that's what's most important, right?

Monday, October 18, 2010

16.10.2010 Turku Fanatic Day 1

I'm in kind of a hurry so I'll skip straight into reporting games. Lists I used and tournament format is in earlier post.


Game 1: Mortenebra vs epic Feora (Killbox)

Amazing and awesome game all and all, real kickstart to tournament! Anyway, here's a picture taken after first rounds movements. Feora had bonded Redeemer, Vanquisher and plenty of things that puts automatic Fire on things. I have once earlier faced epic Feora with Witch Coven and she managed to put two of my witches to fire with good deviations from Redeemer. So I had a certain worried feeling of the upcoming match.

But then, here's a picture of end of opponents turn 2 before my movements. Red beads mean people burning.

You can't really see epic Feora in that picture but she's behind that one hill in middle of warjacks. But anyway, I saw an assasination possibility, actually pretty damn sure one. I allocated three focus to Slayer and one to Harrower.

Gorman moved forwards and so did Mortenebra. Mortenebra put up Terminal Velocity and her feat. Withershadow Combine put Puppet Master on Slayer.

Harrower charged the Temple Flameguard and gave them a good butchering. Then I overran Slayer closer. Here's a close-up that was taken to illustrate the situation. Red circle shows Feora's position because she's so well hidden behind that warjack.

Anyway, Feora camped 3 focus so was sitting at arm 20. Free charge and free attack roll boosts and every single roll of "fail" available to re-roll weren't enough to bring her down. She was left with 1 hit point. In hindisight I really should have used Combo-Strike because with Withershadow Combine's re-roll I would have most certainly put up some real good damage to Feora and after that I should have bought one additional attack AND boosted the damage. But no, I rolled all separately, hoping for good rolls with re-rolls.

Well, however it happened so that game didn't actually end there and then. Mortenebra survived opponents turn and game continued.

Feora healed one damage point because of corrosion and stuff. Slayer got wrecked good but I really didn't get any too serious casualties. Tartarus went down but did good job in tying up Vanquisher. Feora used her feat too and all the important guys on my side were on fire and Feora was sitting nicely camping 7 or 8 focus but with only 2 health left.

Here's another picture of what was happening by then.

I allocated three focus to Harrower and cleared up a route to Feora with all I got. It wasa bit of a mess because we had to rewind a bit because we both forgot that Covenant was saying there that no spellcasting allowed. Anyway, I managed to get my Harrower to position but without Terminal Velocity up. I don't remember how the rolls went except that I got one damage boosted roll in but didn't roll high enough though if I remember right I didn't need THAT amazing rolls to finish her.

Anyway, then I remembered I hadn't used Deryliss yet because I thought that he could not get close enough to give Harrower overrun or anything.

So, Feora was at 2 health and Doom Spiral gives d3 points of damage to a warcaster that controls the warjack I damage with Doom Spiral.

Hitting that Vanquisher you see in the picture was the easy part. Then I needed to roll over arm 19 with pow 12. I rolled exactly 8, giving in one point. Then... on one dice, 3+ kills Feora.

I rolled a 2.

That was about all I could do.

Next Feora moves forward and Fire Steps to a position you can see in picture and personally kills Mortenebra in close combat.

Thrilling game.


Game 2: Venethrax vs Karchev (Capture the Butch "flag")

Second game was a bit less thrilling. Also I don't understand myself any longer - why did I ever pick up Venethrax when I was facing Khador? I know I was thinking that Venethrax would be better against the two other lists opponent had and I thought scenario didn't favor Karchev so didn't expect him.

Oh well. You always learn new things. Also you learn old things. Like Line of Sight. Here's a picture that tells all you need to know.

Karchev upkeeping Tow even while he was under my Lamentation, running ahead and putting two heavy warjacks with reach next to those bane thralls I put on front of Venethrax. Game over.

I tried to be all scheming and clever and denying easy tramples next to my warcaster but, well. That didn't really work out?


Game 3: Mortenebra vs Grim Angus (Destruction)

Third game was really short too.

You can see Grim Angus in attached picture. Then you can see those Fennblades, Tartarus and Harrower. Tartarus ran next to Grim Angus. Mortenebra moved as far as she could and put up Terminal Velocity and her feat. She had allocated three focus to Harrower and Admonia had upkept Spectral Steel on Harrower.

Deryliss put Overrun on Harrower.

Then Farrower charged the Fennblades. Killed three with thresher and Overran to Grim Angus. Grim had two fury left for transfers. But still it meant 6x pow 16 attacks with attack rolls boosted and able to re-roll any misses and utterly failed damage rolls while Tartarus gave -2 to Grim's armor (though that only offset the bonus from those stone bearer thingys.)

That victory didn't actually even feel good.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Meta musings

So I actually haven't played games for a long time now.

But I wanted to write something so that I won't feel like abandoning this blog.

Upcoming Turku Fanatic tournament is a perfect happening to ramble on, then. I'm going to attend.

I'm taking Cryx with me.

Format is actually exactly the same as in Ropecon. That means three lists with different warcasters and you have to use each list at least once and no more than twice. Because there is more game rounds than in Ropecon that would mean the last round you couldn't choose your list at all. That's why there's a little exception.

But anyway, my lists I plan to use:

Mortenebra
-Cankerworm
-Deathripper
-Harrower
-Slayer
Maximum unit of Bane Thralls + Unit Attachment
Minimum unit of Mechanithralls + Brute Thrall
Withershadow Combine
Bane Lord Tartarus
Gorman diWulfe
Necrotech & Scrap Thrall
Warwitch Siren

Yeah, it's a Mortenebra non-tiered list!
Next:

Wraith Witch Deneghra
-2x Nightwretch
-Harrower
-Seether
Minimum unit of Bile Thralls
Maximum unit of Satyxis Raiders + Sea Witch
Minimum unit of Soulhunters
Orin Midwinter
Satyxis Captain
Ogrun Bokur
Necrotech & Scrap Thrall

Sure, epic Deneghra is a scenario based game beast. But on top of that I tried to make a sudden, unexpected and murdering list. Amazing threat ranges even through enemy units hopefully will wreck something. Agonizer, maybe?

Next:

Venethrax
-Defiler
-Helldiver
-Corruptor
-Seether
Maximum unit of Bane Thralls + Unit Attachment
Maximum unit of Bile Thralls
Withershadow Combine
Bane Lord Tartarus
Necrotech & Scrap Thrall
Warwitch Siren

I'm not sure if this is a good list but I've played so few games with Venethrax that I want more practice. I don't even have Skarlock but hopefully I'll manage without. I've managed without earlier too, usually I place my Skarlock stupidly and it gets itself killed on round 2.


Anyway, I like varied lists. I tried to do the same funny "house" rule with list building that I used at Ropecon tournament. That meant that there would be no model that would be present in all three lists. Well, it happened so that actually I do have a necrotech in every list.

Curious thing that I don't have a Skarlock in any of my lists except, well, for Mortenebra who has her own. But, with these I'm seeing what I can do in somehow competitive environment.