UK Masters Preparation: Part 3 - So Much Anger

Tested Kris' eDoomshaper list and I found it generates stupid amounts of Fury very quickly.  Not quite my thing unfortunately.  Maybe if I had an additional helping of Whelps I'd consider it.  So... time to consider other options, and I'm wondering if I can cancel my PG order as it hasn't been processed (still - that may turn out to be a blessing in disguise).  Grim Angus or Gunnbjorn seem to be viable options, I'm leaning more towards Grim at the moment.  I'm rather impressed by the Bomber though, those 4" AoEs are great for blowing up random infantry, especially since I can boost the important blast damage rolls.

I'm testing out pMadrak again tomorrow with a couple of tweaks, what I like about his list is that my casualties are large irrelevant; as long as pMadrak is still alive and the enemy has models I can chew through then I'm still on for a possible assassination run.  However, just how it performs against denial lists is a mystery at the moment.  It has some bad match ups (lots of VERY high ARM models) and some great match ups (lots of infantry) but at the very least I need to play it a couple of times to get my turn time down.

Also noticed I've been playing terribly the last few games.  Definitely need to sort out my game.

Like a Fox

Another Quarterly Win against Jim.  Woot.  Though Mulg did go flying back and forth over 2 turns, courtesy of a Pureblood Warpwolf and then my Dire Troll Mauler.  The basics of what happened was that Jim's Primal'ed Stalker flubbed up damaging Mulg before I wiped out its Mind though pDoomshaper's feat damage.  So the Pureblood came in and threw Mulg, then eKrueger feated and pushed him further back.  In return I used Rage on my Dire Troll Mauler and threw Mulg back at the Stalker before using my Fell Caller to stand everything back up and commence Death by Tree.  I'm so cunning!  Like a fox.  Strangely my own throw did more damage than all the attacks from the Stalker.

My Saturday game also went well, but that was more due to my tremendous dice against Sean Murchie than any tactical brilliant on either part.  When your opponent can't stop rolling massive damage, there's not a lot you can do about it.  I just pasted all his Titans and Gatormen in record speed with my damage rolls.

Anyhow, that's my pDoomshaper list finely tuned and working, I just need my PG order to get processed...  I'm still missing tons of stuff from my other two lists.  Come on Mike, it's only a public holiday, miniatures needs posting!  Slacker.

Intarwebbing

I thought I'd include some Google ads in the blog and then link it up to Maelstrom Games and Firestorm Games or other wargaming related (and thus, useful) links.  Unfortunately Google appears to have other ideas on this, but I'm willing to let it slide for now - apparently it's supposed to sort itself out.  If it's still made of failcake after a fortnight, it's going to get the axe.

Good news however, Martyn Jenkins has finally figured out how to post the Dragon-storm podcast on iTunes and the episodes are now available for download.  Apparently Jim will be on the next episode, which means I'm probably going to be asked to set up a mic for him.

I've ordered all the pieces I need for my remaining lists, but with parts of the Privateer Press site down and with Salute just this last weekend, I'm not sure the Quartermaster will be able to process my order any time soon.  At least Vassal has no such qualms about models, so I'm sure I'll be able to test out the lists over the next few days.  That or resort to using proxies (blerg).

UK Masters Tickets Sold Out

These things sell like hot cakes, all 100 tickets are now sold.  Myself, Jim, and Martin have secured our tickets, so I better get my car fixed.

UK Masters Tickets Available

Yes, the waiting is over, the tickets are available!

Just follow these easy steps:
1.) Register with the Games Expo.
2.) Confirm the e-mail they send you.
3.) Sign in.
4.) Go to the Tickets -> Entrance Tickets drop down menu.
5.) Choose whichever ticket applies to you.  The UK Masters is a 2 day event on the Saturday and Sunday, so I'd pick Weekend Adult personally.
6.) Go to the Events -> Miniatures drop down menu.
7.) Select War-Machines Hordes UK Masters tickets.
8.) Pay for it all.
9.) You're done.

Tickets are selling VERY quickly (at the time of this writing there are 47 left - after being on sale for 3 hours) so get into gear and get those tickets!

Information and the rules pack is available on the Privateer Press forums here.

Concentrated Firepower

So... after three games with my new pDoomshaper list I have come full circle and gone back to the list I used last year, this time using Scouts instead of a minimum unit of Fennblades.  The new list just didn't seem to perform as expected (or I was playing terribly - probably more likely), but I'm happy with how last year's list performs with the Scouts replacement - this morning they blitzed a Scythean and an Angelius (though they'd have done more if they hadn't failed a terrifying entity check).  There's no Janissa, but I think she may have been promoting lazy play rather than smarter play.  The only thing I'm not happy with is using the Nyss Hunters as they've become too popular these days, they're not the dark horse entry they seemed to be last year.

My other two lists have also fallen into place strangely.  One is a list Kris Tannahill came up with and the other one appeared while I was pressing random buttons on Forward Kommander.  Both use a double Axer setup for Thresher spamming, and Mulg to deal with anything tougher than normal.  My pMadrak list utilises the theory of an almighty punch and is almost exclusively multi-wound.  Kris' eDoomshaper list brings the tools to deal with infantry spam while allowing me to use eDoomshaper's 14" death bubble.  It looks fun.  I'm going to have one more game with my pDoomshaper list, then begin testing on lists 2 and 3.  Their ludicrously low model counts bodes well.

UK Masters Preparation: Part 2 - The Doom Song

Moving back into regular games I'm quite pleased with my modified pDoomshaper list - though I'd still like to use his theme... one day it will happen!  I played against Martin's Fiona list and managed to dominate the centre zone (radial scenario) but I ran out of time on one of my turns without managing to get Janissa's wall down to protect Doomshaper.  So he ate a bajillion Long Gunner shots.

Kriel Warriors are superior to Fennblades.  This is a fact.  Do not be fooled by anyone telling you otherwise.  Unless you're utterly desperate to get the long range charge off, the Kriel Warriors perform much more consistently - and have Steady.  Fennblades may have Reach, but having effectively MAT 9 basic infantry solves more problems than Reach.  That and Caber Throwers are awesome.

I've noticed that people are taking big shooting units these days.  On Vassal I see the giant unit of Errants generally being knob-ends and trying to shoot pDoomshaper.  Unfortunately for them most people seem to forget about Mulg and he just wanders up into melee range and prevents lots of shooting - or he blocks LoS.  Sadly this is not an option against Fiona and her Nonokrion Brand, but I'm sure I can come up with something that works just as well (like moving away from the Long Gunners...).

Fortunately I can pinpoint the two things that could have prevented (well three if you count moving away from the Long Gunners (the wimpy choice!)) pDoomshaper's death, and they're something I'll have to incorporate into my battle plan each turn: activate Janissa immediately after I'm done with pDoomy and put that wall down - this takes priority over killing stuff; try to  have Transmute up on pDoomy as much as possible.  It's not too hard to do, I just need to get through my turns faster.

Here's the final version of my first list:
Hoarluk Doomshaper, Shaman of the Gnarls
*Mulg the Ancient
*Earthborn Dire Troll
*Pyre Troll
*Troll Axer
Kriel Warriors (min)
+Standard & Piper
+2 Caber Throwers
Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes (min)
+Stone Scribe Elder
Trollkin Runeshapers
Fell Caller Hero
Janissa Stonetide
Whelps

Now to cut my turn times down so that I have time to spare.

Car Trouble

My car just died.  This makes me an immensely sad panda.