Update Scheduling

I've decided that I'm going to introduce regular updates on Mondays and Fridays instead of the semi-random updates I do at the moment.  This will allow me to gather up all those interesting bits of gossip and information that spread through the fabled "intarwebs" I have heard about, and put them together in a coherent format.

Tournament Calendar Update

I recently received an e-mail from Kingdom of Adventure in Kirkcaldy about their upcoming tournament on August 7th.  I'm not 100% sure I'll be going but it would be nice to play in a tournament rather than run one for a change.

The Warmachine & Hordes UK Grand Tournament Scotland Heat will ideally be held at either the end of September or early October, I'm currently in negotiations to secure the venue - I suspect it may have to wait until November however.  I'll have to go shopping for stop watches and scenario zone markers.  Not to knock all the effort going into the UKGT, but it does feel a little like someone's jumping onto the band wagon to run a big tournament.  Where on earth am I going to get enough boards?  Do I have enough terrain?  There's a lot of things to think about.

And the Tongue of Gene Simmons

Having secured a copy of the latest No Quarter from Jim (he won the coin toss, so we opted to fight lions for it) I had the opportunity to ponder what all these shiny new Hordes models mean for future lists.  I'm trying to find out if the Skorne Paingiver Task Master's abilities apply to eMagnus.  It's never actually going to come up and I'm 99% sure it doesn't apply, but it could be funny if it works.

The Swamp Troll brings a more interesting ranged option to the Trollbloods.  I have a special place in my dark, shrivelled heart for models and abilities that can move around other models, so the opportunity to use Drag is certainly tempting.  Critical Consume on the ranged attack is also incredible.

I suspect the Thrullg is going to become the Hordes version of eEiryss.  Expect to see it following people's favourite units around to remove such spells as Crippling Grasp from them.  I'm not entirely sure what to make of the increased ability for various factions to remove enemy upkeep spells - will we ever see spells like Calamity or Crippling Grasp being upkept after this year?

Errata Update

The first instalment of the Warmachine and Hordes MKii errata can be found here: http://privateerpress.com/warmachine-mk-ii-official-errata

Personally I didn't really see anything special, though eGaspy is now limited to using small and medium based models for his feat - so no more returning Soul Hunters.  Kara Sloan's feat now works as I read it should work when I first flipped through the Cygnar book, and we get a small spoiler for the Trollbloods book: there's some model called Janissa Stonetide, and she(?) has Wall of Stone.

I've now worked my arse off making a good Mercenaries list, and had a couple of games against Jim (one of which ended with Jim getting a Turn One assassination off on me (how embarrassing!)) using it.  I think I'll get a couple more games with eMagnus against other armies before I put it back in the box and get back to work on the Trollbloods.

Mechanikal Ceiling

Glasgow Summer League Changes!

Take note you infidels:

Play each person in the league ONCE, rather than twice.  Make that game count!

The period of play has been extended to 10 weeks (ending on Tuesday September 21st)

Sign ups are still open.

In other news:
A world of shenanigans has been uncovered while playing my Mercenaries again.  In a practice game against Jim (he was using a Molik Karn list - Xerxes was in it!) I discovered that Kayazy Assassins - with Underboss of course - are devilishly sneaky.  They have a very high DEF, especially in melee, are very accurate and can hit at a decent P+S using Gang.  Previously I've been a bit wary of the Kayazy Assassins, I have a unit of 8 plus Underboss from MKi but never used them in MKii.  Now I may have found the answer to Daughters of the Flame I've always been looking for.  Generally nice miniatures too...

Another trick I've learnt is the combination of Gorman di Wulfe and Madelyn Corbeau.  This pair makes a truly evil duo, worthy of Supervillainhood.  A Death Bubble around Gorman appears, it's 13" from the Rogue Alchemist, and that's where he can automatically blind something with a Black Oil grenade - even if you miss, you should be within the Magic 4 (4 inches that is, a 3" AOE cannot miss its target regardless of how it deviates from 4" away).  It's been a long time since I've had the chance to chase something around with Gorman, but French Kevin's poor Avatar just spent an entire game Blind.  My inner bastard was howling with laughter, the normal exterior feels slightly guilty.

I'm still displeased at the P+S 17 cap for the non-Dwarf mercenary warjacks, but it's just something merc players have to live with.  Oh well, maybe next year we'll get the Steelhead version of the Arcanist...  I should really update my Mercenaries gallery too, I've redone heaps of the metallics and bases.

Arts and Crafts

After much fidgeting with a 5" smoke cloud at the UK Masters this year I encountered Alex Smith and his lampshade rings of varying sizes.  I've tried several times to locate a store in Glasgow that sells these metal rings but come up dry, but no longer!  The "internet" these kids were talking about has provided my salvation.

This store sells the precious metal rings, is based in the UK and seems to be reasonably priced.  More so for us Press Gangers as they provide 11" and 12" rings for use in scenarios.  If I ever have to fly to a convention as a Press Ganger I'm not sure how I'm going to explain the large quantity of strange metal objects in my bag (that aren't toy soldiers) to customs.

I'll be setting up an ebay page shortly to sell some of my painted miniatures, more news on that when it happens.

Wait... What?

Trollkin Scouts.

Yes, really, I kid you not.  One is even carrying a pig, how awesome is that?  He's carrying a pig and a telescope, I believe to aid him in finding a greater quantity of pigs.  Another one has a hat with ear flaps.  Ear flaps!  I was about to splurge my vast quantities of PG points on Kriel Warriors, but I think I'll await the Trollbloods book first.

Glasgow Summer League 2010

Starting Date: 13th July 2010
Finishing Date: 24th August 2010

Registration:
Sign up here or with me (in person or via text message) before week 2 starts (20th July).

Rules:
Pick your faction at the start, that's your faction for the league. Congratulations.
Play every other player in the league twice, any point value, and at any time during the 6 week period, report results on Warmachine UK or contact me directly.

Bastion of Grr

I had my first game against Kevin (French Kevin) this week, in a small 35 point game against his Protectorate. Kevin was using the Harbinger and I thought I'd see how pDoomshaper does against her (I'd left half my eDoomshaper list at home). Having never played against the Harbinger I have to say she's incredibly irritating to play against, particularly with Bastions. At least at the smaller point value games - in larger point games I could just power through Martyrdom, or bring a more balanced list to shoot the wench.

The game wasn't the most riveting of encounters, both of us were using denial casters so there wasn't a lot going on that stayed on the board. Kevin got to use Purification a few times to wipe Banishing Ward (had extra Fury and nowhere to put it - yes, my KSB was full), Fortune, and various animi, but all the Harbinger seemed to do was camp ludicrous amounts of Focus, spam Martyrdom and then heal up the following turn. Eventually I powered through the Bastions/Martyrdom mixture through the cunning use of Thresher (go Axer!) but Mulg failed me and did not destroy the Avatar - Mulg missed 2 attacks needing 5+ to hit, with rerolls, so the Avatar survived and then got a turn with maximum Focus; once both my heavies died it all fell apart and I was a sad panda. It was very educational however.

Bastions do not like Thresher. Also, Bastions seem to like being close together most of the time. I must really remember is that Thresher damage is simultaneous, so it's a bit more complex when figuring out how damage is distributed amongst the Bastions. What I really need are some effects that move the Bastions out of the way... Hmmm... I guess I may need to dig up some Kriel Warriors and their associated Caber Throwers. Or I suppose I could resort to using eMadrak - Thresher for everyone!
edit - ffs, Martyrdom is within Command range, not Control, them Bastions be deaded!

Having said all that however, I think I'll try out pMadrak again. I'm not a fan of having a measly 5 Fury, but I do need more experience away from both versions of Doomshaper.

Yes, Jim is missing from the list of authors. He's still got permission to post and when he makes a post I'll add him back on - he is awfully busy, so we'll see how it works out. We're still awaiting Sean's Blog Post of Super Amazing Awesomeness.