MKII Hordes Field Test = Fail

First off I think the MKII field test has been pretty dang amazing if you ask me. Looking at nearly 90% of the figs it feels like each of the factions are very well rounded. They each have a few A+ peices, B's, C's and yes, a few failures. (Scattergunners you fail.)

What I'm so surprised at is the overwhelming amount of "NERF THIS" which appears in the Skorne community. It seems like they want anything and everything to be toned down or eliminated. I don't get this.

Werecat and a few others have even posted on this and how it's so bizzaro. I just don't get it.

Maybe it's because I'm not all that invested in my Skorne army that I really don't care what happens. But when I read the new Skorne rules I wasn't shocked and awed, I was "meh'd."

I just can't see where people are coming from, it's as if they feel guilty for having decent figs.

So to PPS "GOOD DAMN JOB" with the field test.

To the Skorne community, "GROW A PAIR!"

(Ahhhhhh, I feel better.)

-Cheers-

The Newest Cryx Player

William "The Destroyer" was born 11 November 2009 at 4:23pm weighing 8 lbs 1 oz and measuring 19.5" long.

I am one proud papa and can't wait for my two boy grow up a little and start playing silly games with their Dad.

While I've already chosen my first born to follow in my Cryxian footsteps, I think the Skorne will be a nice fit for our newest addition.

Either way we're so happy to have him here and can't wait to bring him home from the hospital!

Game on!

-Cheers-

Molik Karn

We had a tournament a few weeks ago and I was victorious; and to the victor go the spoils. The spoils in this instance was a paint-job of my choice. Right away I knew that I wanted Molik Karn painted.

First, he's amazing, I love him and think he's one of the best figs that Skorne has access to.

Second, he's highly detailed and knowing how I don't finish much of what I start I wanted him done and done.

The LGS's wife agreed to paint him and the rest is history.

So now I present, for your viewing pleasure.

MOLIK KARN!!!

I'm so happy.

Absent

I got nothing.

I try to come up with interesting things to write about, but find myself deleting the post in the middle of some long spiel or rant. I really am trying to figure out a neat story or analysis. I just can't think of anything yet. Soon, very soon I will have a stroke of genius and will then write a post which will blow your minds.

Until then.....

Cryx Win It!

The last LGS event prior to Summer Rampage is officially over.

It was a long three week campaign which resulted in a Cryxian conquest. That's right folks. I took it, the whole shebang.

Game 1 vs Trollbloods. We roll and get 750. Mortenebra vs Calandra. I won initiative, ran everything forward, move up Mortey, put a few upkeep's on the DJ & NM both.

Trolls. He runs up. Tries to get as close to me as possible. Puts gobber smoke in front of Calandra and feats. The nightmare advances.

Turn 2 Cryx. Mortenebra casts Deathrace on the DJ, terminal velocity, and feat. DJ charges the champs and reigns death upon the extremely tough Champs (tough on 3+.) The nightmare advances due to death race avoiding free strikes thanks to the upkeep spell. The NM is inside the gobber smoke and has a charge lane to Calandra. The NM activates, charges the big fat gypsy lady, she dies.

Game 2 vs John the Mennite (JTM). We roll and get 500 points. Skarre vs the Harbinger. I win initiative. Run everything forward but the skarlock. Use the focus factory.

Menoth: he runs the avatar forward, uses the gaze of Menoth. Choir puts no shooty on the avatar. His bastions advance. Harby casts martyrdom.

Cryx turn 2: Tartarus curses the avatar, charges and deals a lot of damage. Bane knights charge and wipe the avatar out. A pistol wraith kills the choir leader but harby take a few licks to keep him around. Skarlock generates more focus and everyone else moves forward. The dj is poorly positioned in the trees, my bad.

Menoth: He charges Tartarus with the bastions and the sauce survives. A bane knight is hit but doesn't die, another shifts dealing a ton of damage causing the Harby to take some more damage. Harby feats, casts martyrdom again.

Turn 3 Cryx. Skarre goes first. Moves forward so as not to have the Harby in los. Feats and sac strikes the bastion leader boosting damage. Harby martyers. Tartarus curses, threshers and doesn't take any damage from the witches feat. Bane knight charge, 2 die to the feat, the rest decimate the bastions. Harby takes some more damage from martyrdom but has to let a few bastions die. Everyone else then moves forward and positions so as not to have los to the witch. Dj is still in terrible position but casts Blood rain, corrodes a bastion. The pistol wraith continues on the right flank.

Turn 3 Menoth: a bastion dies to corrosion. JTM can't martyr because he hasn't cast it yet. It's not looking so hot for John. A devout charges the DJ and does no damage. Bastions kill Tartarus and a bane knight or two allowing a few shadow shifts. Harby moves forward behind the bastions and casts cataclysm and kills a bane knight. I shadow shift into Harby with P+S 16 weapon master and kill her dead. Martyrdom did most the work for me.

Game 3 vs Cygnar. We roll and get 750. My Mortenebra list vs epic Stryker. I win initiative. Run everything up except Morty. She moves, puts sacral ward on the dj and the ghostly armor spell on the nightmare.

Cygnar turn 1. I wasn't very smart and put the Cankerworm too close to the sword knights. The piper gave them an insane charge range and they chopped the little guy into pieces. Ayana and Holt almost knocked out a node and the Black 13 killed 1/3 of my bile thralls and a Necrotech. Stryker advances, casts a spell at a pistol wraith behind cover and misses. The Nightmare advances through a forest towards Stryker.

Turn 2 Cryx. Upkeep spells with skarlock and combine. Morty moves up, feats, casts deathrace on the DJ and terminal velocity. The Deathjack charges the b13. They die, deathrace triggers, nightmare advances trying to get a bead on Stryker. Rowdy counter charges but only deals 5 pips to column 4. (Whew.) Nightmare activates and moves into melee range with Stryker. Stryker dies.

The tournament is over and I win!

It was a fantastic series of games. The first place prize is a free paint job by the LGS owener's wife. She's pretty good so I'm way excited. I'm going to have her paint Molik Karn.

-Cheers-

Cryx For The Win!

I won the LGS tournament last night.

Battle reports are almost finished. I should have them posted tonight.

LGS Random Tourney

Yes, I'm playing in another tournament. It's a LGS tourney, simple caster kill scenarios but the kick is that we had to bring 3 lists. A 350, 500 & 750. When we hit the table vs our oppo we roll a d3 to determine the point value.

Not certain on who I should run I decided to go with a few casters I haven't run in a while, or ever for that matter.

At 750 I chose my favorite caster Mortenebra. She's amazing. The tricks she can pull with her battle group are exceptionally powerful and can catch the most experienced player unaware.

For 500 I chose Skarre. Paired with the Deathjack and infantry spam I should be more than able to kill everything on the board assuming I don't simply bomb the caster first. She's solid and my Haley counter.

And finally 350. Arguably my least favorite and the point level with which I've had the least success. For this beauty I threw subtlety out the frig'n window and went 100% Velveeta. I'm talking the Witch Coven of Garghlast with a fist full of nodes. What's my strategy? Oh I don't know, run one node up. Cast stygian abyss three times at their caster and laugh my head off.

Sigh, I'm going to win the entire frig'n tournament. Even if that means making a few people cry and pull their eyes out due to the cheesiness that is Cryx.

-Cheers-

Oh No, I Suck Again!

Drove two hours for a tournament in Salt Lake City. I got whooped. Games were real close but as the old cliche states, "Close only counts in horseshoes and hand-grenades."

I hate it when people lose and try to justify why they lost, I'm not gonna do it, probably because I'm pretty tired and running on empty about now. Basically I was too fidgety with my armies. I was moderately aggressive but not aggressive enough. I felt bogged down by the terrain, mostly due to the Bloodgorgers, not their fault by the way.

First game was a loss due to time running out and the Circle player had his ambuscade guys on a victory condition so he won by scenario. I had just feated with epic Gaspy and was about to charge Baldur with Slaughterborn, Tartarus and a handful of Bane Knights. Oh well, so sad, too bad.

Game two vs Cryx was pretty fun, but everyone knows how much I HATE same faction battles. I lost this one by scenario too, we pretty much gutted each other's army and by the end there wasn't much on the table. He ran pGaspy I ran the epic version. Time ran out and he had output more damage on the objective than I had by about 8 damage points. I don't remember the exact tally but that's neither here-nor-there.

Game three vs Skorne was a blast. I was tired of running eGaspy as I'd not had much success with him so far. He ran Mordikar (who is awesome by the way!) We duked it out a bit, I took over a few of his units, he killed a lot with the Venators ghost sighted by the Extoller. Ultimately I won because eDenny feated, made it so none of his stuff could move. I then killed the rest of what was in the objective zone and won. Straight forward and simple enough. It was the most fun game, not because I won, but my opponent was gracious and very chatty, I like that.

Game four vs Circle, again. Baldur, again. Slug-fest to the end. I was tired and wanted to go home so my heart wasn't in it. By now I'm so far out of the running for a prize that it's not funny. I killed his stuff, he killed mine. Ultimately he cast a hail marry at eDenny and scored just enough damage to send her back to Toruk (sp.) I lost. Boo.

Three of us went down, three of us returned. Our fantastic records a tad more tarnished than before but all the better for it I think.

I'd really like to see out play level here at our LGS increase, it's hard though, always playing the same people, same armies, same casters etc. I wish I had the time and money to travel more. It's hard now, what with a wife and kid. For now I'll have to settle for a small road trip every blue moon or so and pray that my local meta can help prepare me for those games. Here's hoping.

-Cheers-

The Beatitudes - Concluded

Be Timely:

Want to be a good gamer? Play lots of games. If it takes you 2 to 3 hours to play a 500 point game you seriously need to learn your army. A quick fluid game is not only more enjoyable but helps build confidence in your abilities. I'm pretty sure that no one enjoys having to sit around scratching their ballz waiting for a complete noob to figure out what they're going to do. Quick and easy, that's how we like'em.

Be Confidant:

Your army is good and very capable of winning. Say it over and over again. I cannot stress enough how helpful it is in the tourney scene to simply have confidence in yourself. Ever heard of the "Attractor Factor?" Basically it means that your mental thoughts will equal your future. It sounds so cheesy, but if you envision the win, you're that much closer to the win. If you're not confidant you may find yourself getting pushed around by the lgs rules jerks.

Be Humble (good winner and loser):

Bad losers suck to play against. I'm sure I've been a bad loser on some occasions but I really don't lose that much. That being said I want to focus on the ego maniac. Yeah, you're probably going to kick the tar out your opponent. At least be gracious and allow them to have a good time. If you want to keep gaming then you'll need to keep finding people to play against. You won't get very far by being smug. Buy'em a drink, compliment their painting. Make the game more than a notch on your bed post. The easiest way is to be humble in your conquest.

Be respectful:

This is a lot like be humble but applies to much much more than simply winning or losing. During a game you need to show respect to the other player by speaking clearly, making eye contact, listening to what they are saying and by paying attention. Don't be condescending if they ask for a rule clarification and don't bitch about how "cheezy" X is or how broken they are yadda yadda. You can trash talk a bit so long as you know your opponent is ok with that. I'm not, so don't ask me. Also, if you are a spectator you have no right or obligation to rules-lawyer. I'm guilty of this so often that it makes me sick, I feel bad about it but that doesn't make rules-lawyering OK. As a spectator don't ever ever ever ever ever pick up another player's figs without express permission. I don't care if it's in the graveyard or their case. Keep your grimy hand off the figs. And lastly, let them play. Don't be a distraction. Sit and watch and judge for yourself how much friendly banter is acceptable.

Be Knowledgeable:

If you're going to play a game learn the rules and know your faction inside and out. To gain success as a gamer you also need to learn the other factions. I've found through the few real ass-whoopn's I've had that they were always a result of me not knowing what the other units/caster/solo was capable of. My word of advice? Buy the books and study them, or at least the faction decks. You'll thank me when you're faced with a new army and still know everything about them, then proceed to tear them apart! :)

Happy gaming.

The "Be" Attitudes - Cont.

Be aggressive:

In my experience, my 17 years of wargaming experience, I have found that victory favors the aggressor. There are instances where a turtle seems the answer but ultimately they will lose to a more aggressive player as the aggressive player continue to develope new strategy. Look at it this way. If an opponent is forced to continuously respond to your assault then they have little ability to force a counter attack, will make a rash decision which and allow you to dominate them.

Be adaptable:

Even though your game plan is to simply run the Nightmare up and kill their caster (It always works for me) it is always wise to have 2 - 3 back up contingencies available. This way should your primary win condition fall short you will not require as much energy to regroup. Also, this let's you remain on the offensive (see "Be Aggressive.")

Be honest:

The best part about war gaming is the human interaction. There's nothing better than a few chums gathered together for a little brain bash'n. Even at a tournament the atmosphere and energy level should be fairly relaxed. Keep it this way by not trying to deceive your opponent. When they ask you for stat information don't lie. Don't erase wounds and especially don't try to move your figs farther than their alloted movement. Not only will dishonesty result in a quick sock-jacking, you'll soon find it difficult to get a game. I've seen this first hand as continual problem players fade from the local game group.

....more to come....

-Cheers-

The Beatitudes - "Be Prepared"

Be prepared:

The first step to a successful game (resulting in a win) is to adequately prepare for your oncoming game.

The most essential skill needed is basic list building. There are two conflicting views of list building. The casual gamer and the power gamer. Both are highly capable of creating unique and interesting lists, I simply feel that the individual who claims their lists are all fun is simply devising a strategy for a loss. I've made plenty of "just for kicks lists" and been very successful. The trick is to know how to balance the list so that you have fun but don't weaken your position by having nothing but junk and then proceed to epic fail.

When you build a list there are a few rules of thumb.

First: Build to your strengths and plan for your weaknesses.

With Cryx vs different armies I have to worry about different threats, so when list building I have to take that into consideration. I'm particularly fragile vs shooty factions and factions which ignore most of the rules. While searching for a solution to those problems I've found that my army contains a variety of "toolbox" units. Toolbox simply means that they solve a specific problem. For example, bile thralls are the #1 unit vs infantry. The nightmare and bane knights are the assassins, . Skarlock helps maintain a focus efficient caster. each caster has their own toolbox figs that aid in delivery of their kill mechanic. For example pSkarre relies heavily on mechanithralls to feed the bomb and her focus factory. Gaspy needs Gorman to help screen him from shooty as he is a medium base. Also, the bloodgorgers serve him very well as they are also medium bases and provide screening. These toolbox units are at your core of my lists and everything run is then be built around them.

Essentially we're playing a giant game of rock-paper-scissors. Making sure you have enough rocks, scissors and paper on hand is usually the trick.

Second: Prep for your opponent.

If you've paid any attention at all you'll probably know more or less what to expect from your local meta. Playing vs Khador and know that he's a huge Karchev fan? Perhaps bringing gorgers and biles isn't the most sage approach. Get my drift? Again, it's all about paper-rock-scissors.

Lastly: Anticipate the unknown.

I find that a list which is well rounded, meaning that it has an answer or two for each threat, is much more efficient and stands a better chance of winning. An army of Bane Knights while sounding fun would do horribly vs any anti infantry army, and so on and so on.

So remember, recognize your weaknesses, plan vs your opponent and yet maintain balance.

Happy Gaming!

-Cheers-

AAAAAAaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!

OH NO, THE MAIN FORUM IS DOWN!!! WTH AM I GOING TO DO WITH MY BREAK?!?!

New Toys. First Game, First Loss.

I played my first game yesterday vs. Khador and it was a HOOT! I had a lot of fun trying to figure out how to posture my guys to get the most out of them. There were a few definite stars and a few figs that lacked, though mostly due to how I ran them.

I played:

Zaal

Krea

Savage

Cannoneer

Extoller

AG

AG

Praetorian Swordsmen (8) + The Officer & Standard Bearer

Cetrati (4)

Ferrox (3)

Orin Midwinter

Venator Catapult

Pain Givers (4)

He ran: (More or less)

Epic Sorcha

Destroyer

Juggernaut

Kovnik

Drakhun

A&H

Eyriss

Orin Midwinter

Man-O-War Demo Corp

Mortar

Mortar

Field Gun

Great Bears

I won initiative and ran everything forward, for the AG I had them declare charges just to get the added 3" of movement. Gobbers put concealment on my front rank of praetorians.

He had Eyriss in a tree and shot a phantom hunter bolt at my praetorian officer, didn't kill him thaknfully but it was close. I sent Orin Midwinter after the Iosan Bitch, too bad she's a better shot than he is. Basically he shot at her, she killed him.

Khador then launched a mortar and field gun barrage which killed a few praetorians and fed the AG's. The Drakhun then ran down my left in an attempt to flank. Holt then killed a few more praetorians and now have almost completely loaded my AG's with souls. :)

My Turn. AG's both gain +4" movement and charge for free thanks to zaal. Death rains down on the great bears and the demo corp. The ferrox jump over the intervening model in front of Sorcha and engage her. They deal some damage but not enough to really matter.

By now the savage is dead and the cannoneer has taken care of the Drakhun thanks to a well placed shot to his tiny khador head. The catapult drifted nicely into Holt and turned him into a red stain. The Cetrati engage the Demo Corp and deal damage but not sufficient to really kill much.

I'm feeling good about my position. My titan is still untouched with the extoller in tow and the unit of pain givers are doing just fine. The praetorians are dead but that was pretty much their purpose. I didn't even bother feating, mostly because I forgot to but I felt that it wouldn't have made much of a difference. I was wrong, why was I wrong? I thought Zaal only received a token for each Skone model killed in the last turn etc. I failed to see that it counts for the WHOLE game. Holy crap. Had I feated the Cetrati would have put out way more damage killing much much more than they did. Also, the ferrox could have put more than a few scratches on Sorcha.

Ah well, live and learn.

Now It turns ugly.

Sorcha feats. So I'm like you. I think that it's pSorcha not epic. I laugh because I've anticipated the feat and there is not much in LOS that isn't expendable. Oh snap, it's epic Sorcha, so instead she makes it so that her entire army deals double damage for every pip that gets through my armor. Well, to make a long story short he beats the crap out of me and manages to get the last remaining great bear into combat with Zaal. Yeah. Dead.

In all it was one of the most fun games I've played in a long time. The newness of the faction and their unfamiliarity made game play a tad slow but that was mostly due to my search for "combos" etc. I can't wait for my next opportunity to play.

Zaal is still my go to guy. I can't imagine having less than 7 fury so making that adjustment will be difficult. Morghoul seems interesting but I'll have to get a few more pain givers together to allow better fury management. I'll save that discussion for another time.

Until then,

-Cheers-

What's That Funny Look'n Logo Under The Cryx Badge?

Yes, it's true. I've picked up a second faction, for the second time.

Originally I played both Trollbloods and Cryx but found that I had a hard time building both armies at the same time. A troll here, a wraith there yadda yadda. I couldn't do it. So I traded my trolls off for some cryxian goodness and now my collection is all but complete (minus some of the more crappy figs.)

Now I feel comfortable makeing the investment into another faction. This time I chose my faction based on tons of play experience and game preference.

Skorne seemed the best fit. They have some terrific looking models, some very tough units and solos and I love their beasts. Plus soul collecting and manipulation mixed with an army willing to sacrifice anything and anyone seemed right in line with my Cryx play style.

Here's what I got from a my good buddy Cerealjohn (who got it from bartertown) and sold it to me for a good price. We think ;)

pMorghoul

pMakeda

Zaal

Xerxis

Hexeris

Krea x2

Drake

Cyclops Brute

Cyclops Savage x2

Cyclops Shaman

Bronzeback Titan

Titan Cannoneer

Titan Gladiator

Ancestral Guardian x2

Extoller Soulward

Cataphract Arcuarii (Box)

Pain Giver Beast Handler (Box)

Praetorian Ferox (Box)

Praetorian Swordsmen (Box)

Praetorian Officer & Standard Bearer

Venator Catapult Crew

Swamp Gobbers

Warlock analysis soon to come once I finish the "Be Attitudes of War Gaming."

-Cheers-

The Be Attitudes of War Gaming

In pursuit of a successful gaming experience there are certain qualities you must attain so that joy and happiness follow you and your pursuit for wold dominance.

• Be Prepared
• Be Aggressive
• Be Adaptable
• Be Confidant
• Be Knowledgeable
• Be Honest
• Be Timely
• Be Respectful
• Be Humble

With these traits you too will be able to smash face and have a good time of it like sifu McCryx!

****Each attitude will be expanded upon in subsequent posts, stay tuned!****

Game Record

So it's mid June, the year is half over and we're getting closer and closer to Summer Rampage '09. Our local gaming group has been playing furiously every Wednesday night at our LGS and having a lot of fun doing it.

While our meta isn't represented by the full spectrum of factions our group does however have a fantastic mix in both player ability and variety.

As of June 17th my current 2009 win record is as follows.

vs. Cygnar 9 Wins 6 Losses = 60%

vs. Menoth 6 Wins 0 Losses = 100%

vs. Khador 4 Wins 0 Losses = 100%

vs. Cryx 3 Wins 1 Loss = 75%

vs. Mercs 4 Wins 0 Losses = 100%

vs. Trolls 6 Wins 0 Losses = 100%

vs. Legion 5 Wins 2 Losses = 71.43%

vs. Circle 2 Wins 0 Losses = 100%

vs. Skorne 0 Wins 0 Losses = N/A

Add all that up and you've got an overall win record of 81.25% Not too shabby.

All this success has really had me thinking these last few week. That and having an incredible amount of free time at work. I've come up with a new blog post that I hope to have together by the end of the week. I call it the "Be Attitudes Of Wargaming." Essentially it'll be a post on some attributes of what I view as a successful war gamer. More to come.

Escalation

LGS tourney time again.

Escalation, meaning that in a three or four round event each player plays three lists starting at 350 MM/T&C. It then graduates to 500 then 750. At the 750 level we must use the epic version of our original caster if that option is available

My first question is this:

"Do I care about going epic?"

What I mean is, should my decision as to which caster I run be based solely on their ability to run epic at 750? Both Mortenebra and the Coven don't have the option so should that preclude them from the tournament?

Which then makes me wonder,
"Are the non epic versions capable of winning at their lower point values?"

Or

"Do the epic choices I have available make a big enough difference at 750 compared to my other non epic casters?"

I'm not really worried about Deneghra, Skarre or Goreshade (who I still don't own so forget him anyway.) I am worried about Asphyxious at the 350 point level.

So does that eliminate him entirely? I don't think so but still. I'd like a few more games with him under my belt before I throw him to the wolves. That being said, Gaspy is an amazing assassin. Either by spells or by taking it into his own hands. Of feat turn I can cast hellfire multiple times or stick them with my spear several times then shadow wing away if the job isn't done.

At epic level he's a monster. Can't be charged, immune to blast damage and the warding is like having multiple Madrak scrolls. Combine that with insane soul harvesting and bloodgorgers and you have a recipe for destruction.

The coven can spell assassinate at the 350 and even 500 point levels quite easily. 750 becomes a tad more difficult any anyone I face in the final game should be competent enough to avoid the 3xSA to the face ploy anyway. Still, I'd feel like a tool for trying to pull that as my strategy. I'd be like a sissy Cygnar player using Haley and the Temporal barrier/turtle gimmick.

Mortenebra is amazing but after running her in a previous tourney I'm a little burnt out and I'd like to try my hand with a different caster. Also I can fully expect to make a variety of mistakes with Mortenebra seeing as how she was my primary caster during the MKII beta. I'd hate to lose because I forgot to move the Nightmare during my opponents turn as opposed to the beginning or my turn.

Skarre is out of the question as I don't own her epic version and really won't need it until MKII is officially released. (My group has shifted back to MKI)

Goreshade is right out as well. I don't own either version as I couldn't justify the expense of having to buy a box of bane thralls. Also, eGoreshade is a puddle of suck in MKII and not worth the purchase anyhoo.

Terminus. Don't own him and I don't think he's viable in a tourney game rife with "shooty" anyway. I think the fig is great but even in MKII he's just a big sissy. Nothing like you'd expect from a HUGE terrifying monster.

Next problem is creating a 350 point list that will blend into both 500 and 750 point lists. Not being a jack faction 350 will be the most crucial hurdle. once I lay the foundation I'm stuck with it for the remainder of the game. The only jacks I use consistently are nodes, Nightmare and the Deathjack. The DJ is too pricey for 350 and an all node list is real risky.

From this point list building gets easy as all I have to do is insert my favorite troops. You know, bile thralls, bane knights, the Nightmare. The basics.

Again my foe will be Haley and TB. I don't have much that can deal with it aside from careful maneuvering and a quick blitzkrieg with a Gaspy feat. I mean really, can't run, can't charge and def is -3 and it's a spell that can be cast EVERY damn turn. Stupid.

Other than that I shouldn't have any problems.

Wish me luck. It'd be nice to win one for a change. The last tourney I won wasn't even with my own faction, I played a 750 eVad army. Hmmmmmm. I could probably do that again lol. No wait. I refuse! Cryx can do this, Haley be damned!

-Cheers-

What Goes Bump In The Night

Cryx vs. Trolls

Epic Deneghra

Skarlock

Nightmare

Deathripper

Deathripper

Defiler

Cankerworm

Slaughterborn

Tartarus

Pistol Wraith

Bane Knights

Bile Thralls

Overlords

Trolls:

Epic Doomshaper

Mulg

Mauler

Slag

Impaler

Hero

Fell Caller

Champions

Alten Ashley

Swamp Gobbers

The Cryxian raiding party, en route to intercept a Cygnar supply train, stumbled upon a band of sleeping Trollbloods. Thinking that troll flesh made the sturdiest thralls the Wraith Witch quickly made a full advance towards their kriel prey.

An unfortunate human was sleeping next to a grain silo and was melted into a greasy puddle of corrosive goo. His terrified screams of agony alerted the kriels and their hulking kin to the Cryxian presence.

Doomshaper, in his gnarled wisdom, pulled the bulk of his force away from his left flank where opposite were advancing sacks of pestilence, bile thralls. The champions ran towards the sound of their fallen companion but were surprised when a neurotic dire troll mauler with a major jones for doomy picked some of their brethren up and hurled them towards the oncoming wave of undead. One throw was so well placed that the champion bullet demolished one of the deathrippers. The dazed troll could only lay there with a confused yet proud look on his face. Too bad he wasn't looking behind him at the full unit of bane knights less than a few yards away, otherwise his expression might have been a bit different, but we're getting ahead of ourselves here.

With a beastly chuckle, if trolls can chuckle, or it might have simply been gas, the dire troll grabbed another champion and hurled it towards the floating overlords and came up short, not short of a boulder, but short of hitting the floating telepaths. Consequently the champ got KO'd and wouldn't be able rejoin the fray, ever.

The remaining trolls lumbered forward in a cloud of gobber smoke and Mulg farts.

"Let's let them consume their own." Hissed the warwitch as she motioned the enigmatic cephalyx overlords forward.

The drooling dire troll mauler's eyes went even more vacant and slowly it ambled away from the fray. Meanwhile one of the champions was forced to make a full advance towards the Cryxian battle front.

Deneghra waved her spear commanded her skarlock to cast the harrowing compelling the remaining champions to sprint towards their cursed brother.

"Ima'gunna'keelyahbadly!" Screamed the witch as she attempted to suck the souls of Mulg, a hero, the swamp gobbers, the slag troll and an impaler down to hell. The beasts proved to strong for the dark magic but the gobbers were never seen from again.

In a rage the impaler threw a tree sized spear and impaled Gerlak knocking him several feet back into Tartarus. While any other troll would have returned to Dhunia, Slaughterborn pulled out the gore soaked shaft and cast it aside letting out a terrifying howl. Tartarus was pissed too, but, being an undead apparition he simply shook it off like a champ.

Again the dire troll mauler advanced and grabbed two not so champion champions by the throat and threw them towards a unit of bane knights. In a giant puff of blood and armor both knight and troll evaporated into goo.

More troll champion landed amongst the knights missing their targets and ending rather poorly with broken necks and backs.

"This fool is doing my work for me." Deneghra laughed. Quickly she slid forward binding all her foes in a terrible feat of darkness. Easily she could pick off one by one the full blooded trolls that blocked her path to instant victory. The path to Doomshaper.

Tartarus' giant axe bit heartily into several trolls and greatly wounded mulg. Mulg who in protest to being skewered promptly ate the bane lord. Tartar sauce was quickly vindicated as the nightmare and Slaughterborn cleaned up the mess only to be killed by the remaining slag troll.

The mauler limbered in front of the bane knights to block their charge to Doomshaper. While standing there its form turned to smoke and became incorporeal. With a clear path toDoomshaper the bane knights quickly overwhelmed him.

With Doomshaper out of the way the few remaining Kriels fled the field.

"Not a bad day wouldn't you say." Deneghra spoke over the quickly healing Gerlak Slaughterborn. Behind her a vaporeal shape took form as the bane lord retook his formidable form.

The necrosurgeons will be pleased with all this troll flesh.

Battle Report!

Ok, not yet.  I'm still working on it.  I just wanted to toss out a teaser so that you are all primed for its awesomeness. 

And Now For Something Really Special....

Painting The Nightmare

This bad boy has been my MVP since I finally figured out how to run it. Initially I treated it like any other jack from any other faction. I thought it was my beat stick of doom. So I'd send it off to confront some other beat stick or unit and invariably it'd get smashed to bits. 

Then I had my "aha moment." And I finally understood it's purpose. For those who've played against it know what that purpose it. For those who haven't I say "just you wait."

So, in part because I've got a hankering to paint and mostly because I love the nightmare so much, it gets a paint job. 

I present for your viewing pleasure, a step by step guide to painting the nightmare (if you want to paint it very poorly.)

Step one: Assemble it. Use pins and green stuff the joints. I didn't think the little girl was very funny and frankly it doesn't fit on the table so I omitted it. 

Step two: black primer. Spray it evenly and it's better to use multiple thin layers as opposed to just blasting it. Also, make sure you spray the underside as well. Just because some people paint over pewter doesn't mean you should. 

Step three: The metal. The chassis and undercarriage we'll paint Vallejo "honed steel." We'll also paint the claws talons and gilding the same color. I painted brown everywhere I wanted to paint gold as it provides a nice base. 

Step four: ink wash. I added a few dots of thamar black to the honed steel and then used a dropper to add water creating a wash. I had previously stated how I don't want to use regular water because I found that it caused the ink to dry weird. In this instance I want that effect hoping it looks sort of smokey, so we'll see if it happens. I then applied the wash to all the honed steel  

Step five: dry brush the steel bits with honed steel again. 

Step six: paint the gold bits. 

Step seven: mixing a similar wash for blighted gold I create another wash and apply it liberally. 

Step eight: dry brush the gold bits with blighted gold. 

Step nine: clean up your edges by paining and spill overs with thamar black. It helps and really dose keep your fig looking nice. 

Step ten: I took cryx base and applied it to all the armor surface, careful not to mar any of my finished metal bits.

Step eleven:  Ok, I did this a tad premature but I really wanted to try and paint the necrotic smoke stack.   So that's what I did.  First I took green, then added some white, then added more white, then some more white and then... You get the point.  I think it turned out great.  I wish I knew how to blend a bit better because there is a definite distinction between the different colors.

That's it so far.  Next up comes highlighting and finishing touches. 

No painting whatsoever.

OK. So I had a goal, a plan, a thing to do. It was simple really. Just paint the seether. Well I failed miserably. It's not even primed yet. Worse that that, the poor brute has taken some battle damage as it spikes keep getting knocked off thanks to my foam not being deep enough. 

One positive note is that I watched P3's Core painting guide yesterday. It was informative. Sadly nothing that I didn't know before. I digress, I admit that my washes had been drying all crazy on me, according to the video it's because of the tap water. They recommend their mixing medium. I used to wash windows for a living and I know that purified water drys real nice and spot free. I wonder if that's essentially what their mixing medium is. I'll have to try it. 

I was going to get some painting done but now that my summer job has kicked in it'll have to wait for another day. Maybe, just maybe by this Wednesday I'll have something to show.

-Cheers-

The Results Are In...

And fist up to be painted is......

I have no idea where to begin but it's going to be fun.  I'll try to remember to take pictures as I go.  I hope to get it primed and ready to go tomorrow and have it finished by next game night.

-Cheers-

MKII Model Review

Jacks rule so they go first.

Deathjack: An amazing brute with a deep grid, terrific stats and a plethora of unique abilities which make this jack the finest in all the IK. With two P+S 18 attacks, arm 19, two free focus every turn and the ability to cast spells and consume. souls the DJ has no equal on the battle field

The DJ suffered a few substantial nerfs in MKII but none are overly worrisome. Firstly the DJ can no longer necrovent but as a trade you no longer have to feed it a FOC to keep it from going crazy. True that loss of fluff tames the dj down a bit but ultimately it's for the greater good, er, bad.

The Nightmare is my favorite jack in the game. This speedy son of a bitch has earned more kills than I care to count. As far as I can tell the Nightmare is essential in almost every cryx list and especially with Mortenebra.

While spd 6 is great for a jack, with Morty the nightmare can potentially move 23" in a single turn. With 2". Reach the nightmare has an effective threat range of 25". Game Over.

The nightmare kept its bond with Deneghra so that while in her battle group it gains stealth. The imprint "ghostly" is fantastic in that it let's you ignore free strikes and terrain. If only it ignored intervening models.

On the down side the nightmare's grid is shallow for a heavy requiring you to play with a tad more finesse than with other heavies. All in all the nightmare is A+

The Seether: was pretty cool in MKI but was rife with issues, namely I played infantry machine and never ran much more than a few nodes and the Cankerworm. That being said, MKII has provided some serious incentive to fielding jacks so now the seether shall see the light of day.

With MAT 8 and one free FOC per turn the seether is nigh but guaranteed to box whatever it charges. MKII granted the seether a chain attack which allows it to make a power attack for free. (With some exceptions). Frankly this jack, while more expensive, has taken the Cankerworm's place on all my lists. So again, great MAT, better DEF than most heavies (irc), decent pow+str, two open fists, a deep grid and decent movement makes the Seether another A+ jack.

The Slayer is still the red-headed stepchild of all Cryx players. Its utility was increased in that it is now cheap as dirt for a heavy and boasts a killer pow 22 combo strike. This little guy on a charge is going to cause some serious grief. Lamentably with low armor and a shallow grid the Slayer isn't going to last long after its initial assault so pick your targets well. Overall rating is a solid "B-"

The Leviathan is a confusing jack. I don't own one, and with its current stats I'm pretty sure that will go on unchanged. There is really nothing special about this maritime heavy. It looks cool. Has a ranged attack with ROF 3 and a cool looking claw. But, well, that's really it; and it's as expensive as the nightmare or seether, both of which I'd take over the levi' any day. Overall grade "D+."

The Harrower is still cool. Pricey and "OK." As of yet I don't know why I'd take it over the nightmare.

The Stalker is perhaps the one jack which benefited from MKII more so than any other jack in the faction. Let's be honest now, the stalker was a sissy, waste of time, no good wreck marker waiting to happen. Now, while still a wreck marker waiting to happen, the stalker comes with a few added tryx and the potential to be an assassin. Honestly though the damage grid on this glorified bone jack is so pathetic that even taking into consideration its high def and cool abilities the jack is still scrap. "C"

The Cankerworm is no more. I'd prefer to not talk about it. You bastards! You know who you are! "F"

Nodes: single in purpose and mind though different in cost. Much energy was spent on an in faction argument concerning the nodes and their steep point cost. Mostly it was one dink saying "they are fine" vs the Cryx community. Ultimately the community prevailed as PP recently updated the stats for the nightwretch and defailer. Same points as before but the defiler finally has the spray attack it should have always had and the wretch has "powerful shot." Awesome. For still being too expensive and because I say so, the nodes get a "B."

To Be Continued...

Choices Choices

Now that I've established my summer goal it's time to jump right into it  

So who's gonna be first?

Well there is no sense wracking my brain on the matter. This seems like the perfect topic for a reader poll!

So choose your doom and there we'll start. 

Until next time,

-Cheers-

Summer Time!

It's good to have goals, they keep you focused and are essential for constant self improvement.

Here is my goal for summer 2009.

Thankfully now that summer is over and the restrictions on my time are relaxed I find myself in a position to really have some fun painting my small army.

I like to paint, no, I love to paint. Painting and modeling are possibly the two primary reasons I love to war game so much and have pursued it for so long.

I've posted them before but I'll do it again, here are a few of my pieces. Frankly they're nothing to boast about but I like'em and am proud of the job I've done. Just like my gaming venture from casual to competitive I want to take my painting ability to the next level.

I have a problem though, I don't know where to begin.

Here is a list of what paints I have, my tools and other misc odds and ends I use when painting.

• Reaper Honed Steel
• Reaper Cyan Blue
• Reaper Pure White
• Reaper Carnage Red
• Reaper Sunlight Yellow
• Reaper Pure Black
• P3 Blighted Gold
• P3 Molten Bronze
• P3 Jack Bone
• P3 Thrall Flesh
• P3 Khador Red Base
• P3 Bloodtracker Brown
• P3 Ordic Olive
• P3 Necrotic Green
• P3 Cryx Bane Base
• P3 Cryx Bane Highlight
• P3 Thamar Black
• P3 Trollblood Base
• P3 Underbelly Blue
• P3 Beaten Purple
• P3 Midlund Flesh

• Pin Vise
• Round File
• Clippers

I find myself at a loss though. When I frequent such affluent sites such as "Brush Thralls" or "Cool Mini or Not" and even the creative community on the PP forums I hear talk such as:

"Blending"

"Dry-brushing"

"Glazes"

"Smoke"

"Wet"

"Wash"

Etc. Etc.

I have an idea what those techniques are, I've even seen some of them put to use but when I take my turn at it I find the results lack significantly.

So, after that long winded into I present you with my summer goal.

(Drum roll please!)

I am going to finish my Cryx army!!!

And I'm going to do it using they techniques I plan on learning along the way. I hope to be able to document over the course of the next few months is a visible increase in both my own ability and overall fig quality.

The purpose?

1) I WANT to be a better painter and as everyone knows, "a painted army plays better and winz moar."

2) I plan on submitting a piece to a NQ competition. I don't know which nor am I certain there will be one, but I want to be ready in case there is one.

3) Hardcore. I want to play hardcore so incredibly bad my teethe ache. It's speed chess meets Warmachine and by thunder I like it!

The trick will be getting my local bunch of swabs in on the idea. Hey, here's a thought. Mayhaps once my mad painting skills are developed I could start petitioning commissions and help them get on the way to a life of hardcore.

That'd be one helluva road trip for next summer.

-cheers-

Cannibalism

My lack of blogging is due to two factors.

1. I have an insane amount of homework
2. I've spent most my energy trying to deal with the cannibalism in the Cryx community.

Let's focus a little on factor #2

I know, cannibalism. Really? What the hell is that supposed to mean?

Well, taken from my perspective it's when one person attempts to undermine the efforts of his or her own team. Think about it. Was eating your own kind any way to continue the propogation of the human race as a whole? Nope.

It's similar to what is going on in the Cryx community and quite frankly I'm tired of it.

Each post if rife with Cryxian wannabe's and hyperbole. What I'm really tired of is that a few people who don't even play Cryx are spewing their vomit all through threads which started as sincere discussions but have deteriorated into cock fights.

So much energy has been spent gathering empirical data yet the nay sayers remain steadfast in their ignorance.

I'm done. I just wanna play.

-Cheers-

350 MM Tourney Update + MKII Test vs. Cygnar

Tonight was the final games for the 350 MM tournament. I played vs Circle and came out on top.

pDenneghra and the Nightmare are a wicked combo. Cankeworm earned his points easily while the nodes were obliterated pretty easily. Denny used her feat defensively allowing the nightmare to avoid being charged.

Endgame found Baldur being chargede by the nightmare and his only beast left had full fury so he couldn't transfer damage. Game over.

Second game of the night was a MKII pick up game vs. eHaley. Wow, I didn't realize how f'ing annoying she is. Run and spell bomb, run and spell bomb. It got real old real fast. I was literally crippled by my lack of nodes, but at 5 points a piece and at 25 points I had to be very selective about what to take

I ran the Gorgers, Seether, Slaughterborn, Stalker, Cankerworm and Bile thralls.

Gorgers = fail. They killed s storm smith, woo woo.

Slaughterborn was so very close to being devastating to the precursors but failed to hit on his 2nd attack. Seether bust heads but without reach or any follow up wasn't able to do much more than kill 2 knights. Stalker hurt the ironclad but not much. Cankerworm failed to reach the ironclad on his charge. Boo.

After a few rounds it was getting late so we called it a game. Most my stuff was dead thanks to Haley dropping two 4" AoE pow 14 spells per round. It's hard to keep up with that when she's approx 24" away as she casts it. Thankfully eSkarre's feat somewhat negated her feat by making some of my most precious figs immune to damage for a round but still, with him running away most the game it was more or less pointless.

It was a good game though. I saw the need for arc nodes as eSkarre's spell with average range 6" were impossible to cast while keeping her out of harms way. Skarlock was ok, not too amazing but able to cast a few of the unit buff spells helping to manage foc.

-Cheers-

Finally, My First Non-Vassal MKII Test.

MKII has been released and my initial reaction was pure DOOM. For reasons stated in previous posts I've felt somewhat cheated and frankly completely pissed at the changes which have dramatically altered my beloved faction.

Enough pouting, time for playing.

This morning's game was my chance to try out a few of the new mechanics Cryx have been give. Most interesting to me were:

• Bane Knights and Vengeance vs Shadow Shift
• The Necrosurgeon
• The Seether

Bane Knights: Shadow shift was quintessential to my game play. A huge section of my "cryx tryx" arsenal dealt with bane knights (BK) and Tartarus. Unfortunately because so many players couldn't wrap their head around shadow shift and their out of turn activation that PP found it necessary to stream line them a bit. So now instead of Shadow shift we have Vengeance.

Vengeance works as such: "During your maintenance phase, if one or more models in this unit were destroyed or removed from play by enemy attacks during your opponent's last turn, each model can advance 3" and make one normal melee attack."

So basically instead of one shift for each hit BK during your turn, I now get to "shift" my entire unit at the beginning of my turn AND then activate them normally. Seems like a good gig to me. Here's what worked and what didn't.

Pro's: Did I mention that the ENTIRE unit gets to advance and make a regular attack? Yeah, that's terrific.

Con's: My opponent still gets to attempt to eliminate the entire unit sans retaliatory shifts. No screwing with their charges etc.

Running them with epic Asphyxious worked out rather well. The BK's laid the beat-down on his exemplars but were summarily butchered on my opponents activation. That being said the two remaining BK's did a number on them thanks to vengeance. eGspy then casts excarnate, killing a choir boy and I then get to add a BK to the unit. BK's activate again and leave only two exemplars standing.

The NecroSurgeon: Arguably Cryx's worst fig ever in MKI. This unit attachment was way over priced and worst yet, when you did pop out some mechanithralls they couldn't even activate. MKII has fixed that. They are super cheap, multi wound with sacrificial pawn allowing them to stave off any potential snipers. Best yet is that the mechanithralls get to activate the turn they are brought into play. MKII tips do state that they cannot move but may attack. WOOT.

Against the Mennite they suffered what seemed a devastating blow when the Castigator vented killing five mechanithralls. No worries on my part, next turn the surgeon advances and places five new mechanithralls into melee with both the castigator and the crusader. The castigator has a pretty bad day and both jacks are tied up in melee yet again with a unit which only cost 7 points total. Fantastic!

The Seether: I honestly didn't have too much experience with the original version, thanks in part to the fact that I didn't like Terminus and that my other character jacks were so much better. Seems a lot has changed in MKII.

Seether has terrific mat and pow+str attacks. It's going to hit you and often. If both initial attacks connect you're also looking at a free power attack from a limited list. On that short list is the little used "head butt." What's terrific about this is that with a successful head-butt you may now buy extra attack which auto-hit! That's pretty awesome. The fire of salvation found out first hand how deadly a seether can be once it was properly turned to scrap.

In all it was a good game. We had to call it quits prior to completion thanks to an Easter-egg hunt and BBQ I was committed to. So for the sake of the game we called it a draw. If you're interested though all I'd lost were some bane knights and bile thralls and Tartarus. He was down a Dervish, FoS, a unit of exemplars, most his choir, Vilmon and the Castigator was nearing "scrap" status, plus Gaspy still had his feat too.

As of now MKII is looking loads better than before from a core rules standpoint. I'm still upset that the bloodgorgers, which are a fantastic unit in MKI, were relegated to the shelf thanks to MKII and an incredible nerf bat.

-Cheers-

350 Mangled Metal/Tooth & Claw

Our LGS ran a MM/TC tourney today and it was an absolute blast! I really like that point level as it poses some tactical issues.

An all Jack list limits my choices and creates synergy issues.

Cryx don't have "amazing" jacks and rely more on tricky solutions ala Warcasters.

Fewer figs make it more important to accurately anticipate your opponents next move else you may leave yourself open for a charge or flank attack.

I don't own very many jacks as I prefer infantry-machine.

Taking those issues into consideration I originally planned on running a cheesy Coven list with a bunch of nodes. My problem is that I only have a few defailers and deathrippers with no nightwretches (I know, heresy.) After throwing a list together I kept coming up significantly short. Some people are ok with that, but I just can't do it.

Here's what I ran:

• Deneghra
• Cankerworm
• Nightmare
• Deathripper
• Deathripper

I really like this list for a few reasons. First 3/5 have stealth and those that don't are def 15 which is insane good when dealing with MKI's low mat/rat jacks.

I also like having advance deploy on the worm and a jack that can move out of turn allowing it to set up an assassination run.

Lastly, all four jacks have terrific synergy and gain a ton from Deneghra's spell list and feat.

Time to play.

ROUND ONE vs Legion of Ever-broken.

Legion ran:

• Saeryn
• Serraph
• Angelius
• Shredders x 3

Sum it up real quick. I eff'n lost!

I had him on his heels scrambling for position by my second turn. Already his Angelius was pretty much paste and his serraph was knocked down. Shredders were taking damage left and right and he was down to only 5 life.

What happened next? Oh, I don't know, Saeryn's broken feat pops and I have to sit a turn scratching my but as he essentialy gets two turns in a row.

Legion guy spends fury healing a single pip in each column in each of his beasts circles. Serraph rolls a 6 on strafe then obliterates the cankerworm with die showing 5's and 6's for damage. Shredders all go rabid and chomp of both the nightmare's arms an the Angelius fame jets my deathripper and fries the node. What can I do? Nothing except try and run my other node up and lob some venom's.

Not enough damage. His turn next. There is no way he can kill Denny unless he rolls really well for strafe from the serraph. Either way all my stuff aside from Deneghra will be fried to I simply concede. Good game.

What did I learn from this experience? That legion at 350 and 500 is so broken that an inexperienced player can pwn with them. Imagine what a more competent play can accomplish. *Side Note* same guy chomped Darius for the win next round now continues onto the championship game. (Sigh)

ROUND TWO vs. Khador

• Khador ran:
• Irusk
• Beast 09
• Destroyer

Game was quick and painful. If you were the Khador guy.

My turn: Run forward, canker on the right flank hiding behind a farm house, nightmare on the left flank.

His turn: He moves forward, destroyer lobs a shot at a node, misses but the deviation catches it. boosts damage and knocks out my movement. Irusk casts Inhospitable ground and ends his activation. Nightmare responds with prey.

My turn. Ghost walk on Deneghra, move forward, feat. Use nightmare's imprint and charge Irusk from 13" for the win. Good game.

I'm still seething from my first loss to David and his stupid Legion army that I play two more pick up games and give them both a sound thrashing as well. So for the evening is was 3 for 4, too bad the game that really mattered most was a wash.

Apparently I can still vie for 3rd place. Yay more paint.

One thing these games verified was my love for the Cankerworm. It's terrific. Utterly squishy but good all the same. I've submitted a few "underpowered" feedback forms on the little guy.

Until next week.....

-Cheers-

And I'm Back!

Huzzzah!

Ah Crap

Hmm.  This says it all.  Not sure how long it will be until I can post on the main forums again.  At least I can still read the posts and add my feedback for the beta.  Until then.....

-Cheers-

Some thoughts

Howdy!

1. POINT SYSTEM: It’s pretty cool actually. Though I find myself constantly comparing old cost vs. new cost. The different encounter levels are a tad strange. 75 points is close to 1000 points and it’s classified as only a grand melee. Skirmishes are more like the classic 500 and 750 point games we’re used to. I was amazed at all the stuff I could bring. Seems like 50 points is going to be the new norm for game size imo.

2. EPICS AT ANY LEVEL: I don’t like this at all. I realize it’s an argument over semantics but epic as defined by Merriam-Webster is “extending beyond the usual or ordinary especially in size or scope.” ([url]http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/epic[/url], 2009) Epics are to be just that, EPIC. The revamped models are different true, but most are actually worse than their variant as they are not fun and lack any fluff or flavor.

3. MIN OR MAX UNITS ONLY: Terrible, possibly one of the worst mechanics of the game. Much less diversity because you are locked into one or the other. I realize this will help sales as those of us who’ve only felt the need to run 8 bile thralls or 8 bane thralls as that’s all we need will now have to suck it up and buy more blisters. Honestly, how many of you guys ever run one or the other? Usually it’s somewhere in between. 7 or 9 maybe. Either way, you get my drift.

4. SYMBOLS FOR ABILITIES: yeah, this is a bit cartoony for me, as a constant heckler of hero clix and other sissy gamers I feel sheepish now that my own stuff has the same symbology. Is that a word?

5. LACK OF SCENARIO SECTION: Wasn’t this explained earlier?

6. LACK OF GRAPHIC VIOLENCE: Where is the death and mayhem? I read a reference to a model being disemboweled as simply being “boxed.” LAME! We kill things, that’s what my big axe does to your sissy long gunner; it cuts your f^(%!n$ head off. Just a silly tangent, back on topic.

7. OTHER IMPRESSIONS: I was lied to. PP did the old bait and switch on me. EVERYTHING from Legends, which is still so new the spine still cracks when I open it, is now garbage. Streamlining doesn’t mean butchering. We were told that everything would be essentially the same. That each unit/fig’s role would be the same. This is why I spent hundreds of dollars buying EVERYTHING from that book. You said it’d be the same. It is not.

I’m not a fan of this being a whole new game. I gladly invested thousands of dollars, hundreds of hours and poured a ton of emotion into MKI, now you tell me that’s gone for good and I have to deal with it? You tell me to live with it and “evolve or die?” What, are you thirteen? As an adult I have to make a lot of big boy decisions dealing with investments all the time. The cost of this game does equal an investment. I know for a fact many of you have just as much money in this as I do and the thought that it’s a waste now because the fun has been sucked out, dumbed down and numbed to the point of useless is maddening.

I love that the many of the rules and confusions have been clarified. I like that for the sake of simplicity there is only one type of ghost walk. I like that model size is clarified and LOS, timing issues and the majority of rules are condensed and simplified. I don’t like that units are called grunts and that leaders are auto promoted should one take an axe to their skull.

I’ve half dozen games already under the new system and frankly I do not love it. It was all about the flavor and fun of the game for me and I truly feel that has been so sanitized now that it’s just like playing 40K. I quit 40K and didn’t pick up a fig for almost 7 years until a friend turned me on to Warmachine. It was so zesty and the casters were so over the top that I couldn’t resist. I got hooked much to the dismay of my wife and have been an avid gamer for quite some time now.

Now don’t take what I’m saying as “I’m gonna quit” yadda yadda. All I’m doing is expressing my honest opinion as to the apparent lack of fun that is WM MKII. I’m still going to play. Game night is still every Wednesday at six for all you guys in the Cache Valley Utah area. I want to play test this until my eyes bleed because I WANT this game to be FUN again. I WANT WM MKII to survive and thrive and be so awesome that all my buddies drop their fishing poles and come play war games instead. That being said, as of right now, this is not a system I’d advocate.

-Cheers-