Yearly Archives: 2013

Ogre Kingdoms vs Lizardmen (750 points); 26Nov13

Posted on December 10, 2013 by Argentbadger

The second game of our ongoing escalation campaign at the 750 point level is against Joe’s Lizardmen force. My army is as per this post, but for convenience, here it is again.

Miss Madras, Firebelly (FB)

Heidi’s lasses, 6 Ironguts, musician, standard bearer (IG)

Helena’s lasses, 6 Ogre ~~Bulls~~ Cows, ironfists, standard bearer (OC)

Helga’s lasses, 3 Leadbelchers (LB)

Blackcat Bone, Sabretusk (ST)

Joe has evidently decided that non-Skirmisher Skinks are just no good and duly dropped them. So I’m facing a couple of different flavours of Skink, some flying Skinks and increasingly scary looking unit of Saurus Warriors. The Skink Chief has apparently grown up into a Saurus Scar Veteran too.

Saurus Scar Veteran, Egg of Quango, Enchanted Shield, light armour (SV)

Skink Priest, Lore of Heavens (P)

13 and 12 Skink Skirmishers (S1 and S2 respectively)

17 Saurus Warriors, full command (SW)

3 Terradon Riders (T)

5 Chameleon Skinks (C)

We’re still defaulting to Battle Line and the random terrain gives us a forest in the North East, a Wyrding Well in the North West and a river in the South West. The Firebelly rolls something useless again and takes Fireball; I don’t actually think there’s anything I’d have kept against this force. Maybe Fulminating Flame Cage, maybe not even that. The Skink Priest rolls Curse of the Midnight Wind and keeps it. The Lizardmen win the roll off and opt to go first.

The Terradons roll right up to the Sabretusk, and the Chameleons evidently trust their mounted brethren to kill it off as they present their flank. For reasons which are not clear to me, the Skinks swap sides with each other. The Priest summons 3,1 magic dice and puts Curse on the Leadbelcher. The Chameleons manage to outright kill one Leadbelcher but luck smiles on me as they don’t panic. The Terradon riders are much less effective and fail to even wound the Sabretusk.

The Sabretusk charges the Chameleons in the flank; they’re too busy glaring at the Terradon riders to flee. The Firebelly leaves the Leadbelchers, at least in part because they’re apparently magnets for ranged attacks, and faces the Terradons. The winds of magic give us 3,1 magic dice again and they all go into a medium fireball at the Terradon riders. One of them actually survives the barrage but only for long enough to remember he’d left the gas on back at the temple and flee off the board. With Curse of the Midnight wind on them, the Leadbelchers predictably fail to do anything to the Saurus Warriors. Just as predictably, the Sabretusk eats a couple of Chameleon Skinks and runs the rest down.

The Saurus Warriors fail a long charge into the Cows and the Skink Priest bails out of his unit to join the other one. I suppose that this was to get in a better position for range on his spells, but it looked to me like getting in a better position to be eaten by Ogresses. He uses his 3,1 magic dice to put Curse on the Ironguts then a hail of poison from the Skinks kills off the Sabretusk and wounds a Leadbelcher.

With the two ‘new’ units both gone and the rest of his force in range of mine, I’m feeling pretty good about this game now. The Cows charge the Skinks, expecting them to flee and to hopefully redirect into the Saurus but instead they have to suck up a stand and shoot reaction which drops one of them. Then I declare that the Ironguts will charge the Saurus, foolishly uttering the immortal words ‘Only snake-eyes will fail this charge’. Naturally, they roll 1,1 and all of a sudden my great plans are for nothing. Oh well, it would be a pretty dull game if I could predict everything flawlessly. The Winds of Magic come up with 3,2 power dice and I go for a big Fireball on the unengaged Skinks but fail to make the cast. The Leadbelchers do shoot 4 of them down though. The Cows trample the Skink Priest and most of his unit; 3 of them live long enough to flee and the Cows reform to face the Saurus to make them choose between the fronts of two fairly competent fighting units.

The Saurus choose the Ironguts (it’s what I’d have done too) and make it of course. Sadly, the forest turns out to be a Venom Thicket and a few of them don’t make it to the other side. The fleeing Skinks rally, and the other ones move across the river and throw poisonous sticks at the Firebelly for a couple of wounds. In the combat I’m expecting a tough time. The Scar Veteran uses his Egg of Quango for a couple of wounds but then the Saurus put out a terrible round of rolls and only drop a single Irongut even with the hero and his magic item. To really rub it in, my dice are on fire and the 15 attacks and 3 stomps back kill an outrageous 14 of the Saurus Warriors. Needless to say, the Scar Veteran and his few remaining friends flee. I think that Joe’s luck has continued when he rolls only a 4″ flee but the Ironguts only ponder after them 3″.

That’s pretty much it for the game, but Joe is keen to play on. Just for a laugh, I decide to try to get the Ironguts into the Skinks so the Cows declare a charge on the Saurus (who flee off the board) to get them out of the way before rolling too low for the distance to reach the Skinks anyway. Still, it can be a neat trick sometimes since the receiving unit must flee as the charge reaction whereas the charges themselves can be resolved in the order I choose. With 2,1 magic dice, the Firebelly cooks a few Skink with a Fireball then breathes fire killing all but one. The Leadbelchers finish off the other unit. Victory to the Ogre Kingdoms! Actually, we did play a bit of a further turn in which the lone Skink charged the Firebelly (we allowed him to turn then charge). All it resulted in was one more squashed Skink.

Another satisfying game with a fun player across the ‘table’ (i.e. floor) from me. I think I had things in hand anyway even without the Ironguts (which I expected to lose the Saurus Warriors) but the dice stopped any chance that Joe had of pulling this back. Looking at the other side of the board, Joe needs to learn when to flee rather than holding all the time (in fairness, I also could do with learning this, but it matters less with brutish Ogresses than with squishy Skinks) and perhaps also to stop offering me perfect charges with the Sabretusk.

Categories: Battle reports, Campaigns, Escalation campaign, Warhammer Fantasy Battle | Tags: Battle reports, Lizardmen, Ogre Kingdoms, Warhammer Fantasy Battle | 2 Comments

Warhammer Quiz Results

Posted on December 7, 2013 by Argentbadger

There seems to be a very minor spate of people on blogs I like posting up the results they got from a Warhammer quiz that can be found online. Never one to be first into anything, I decided to follow the lead of Flames of the Phoenix and Iggykoopa30 (here and here respectively) and put up my results.

Ogre Kingdoms 95%
Dogs of War 85%
Beasts of Chaos 70%
Chaos Dwarfs 55%
Orcs and Goblins 55%
Hordes of Chaos 55%
Dwarfs 50%
Skaven 50%
Vampire Counts 50%
The Empire 45%
Wood Elves 40%
Tomb Kings 35%
High Elves 35%
Bretonnia 30%
Lizardmen 25%
Dark Elves 20%

Perhaps not completely to anyone’s surprise we have Ogre Kingdoms and Beastmen at the top. Dogs of War are interesting in that they’ve never actually been part of the game when I have been playing it but a quick check online suggests that they’re the mercenary army. Considering Warhammer Fantasy Battle’s general poor internal balance I can see why mercenaries are probably not a good idea. The previous (6th edition?) Ogre Kingdoms book had quite a few units which could be in a Dogs of War force so perhaps liking Ogres has bumped them up. In general, the quiz seems to think I like to play the baddies which I suppose isn’t too far from the truth. It is interesting that Lizardmen are so low down as I quite like them. I got one game played using the 7th edition army book and crushed Furycat so completely that I decided that it wouldn’t be a good idea to carry on. If I was in the market for a new force then they’d certainly be contenders (except that Joe plays them anyway now). Finally, I’m not sure why Dark Elves should be right at the bottom as I don’t have any special dislike for them. I did answer ‘no’ to the question ‘Are you an emo’ so maybe that knocks off a lot of points.

Who could ever get tired of a fire-breathing curry eating magical giant lady?

Categories: Warhammer Fantasy Battle | Tags: Warhammer Fantasy Battle | 1 Comment

Ogre Kingdoms vs Empire (750 points); 24Nov13

Posted on December 4, 2013 by Argentbadger

It only took us about 4 months get through the first round of our escalation campaign! Not a bad effort for us to play only 6 games each. Anyway, it’s not like we’ve been playing only this one game system, or indeed that we’re in any hurry. As with the 500 point level the opening game is me vs Furycat; a match up that saw my only defeat in the opening round. My army is as per this post, but for convenience, here it is again.

Miss Madras, Firebelly (FB)

Heidi’s lasses, 6 Ironguts, musician, standard bearer (IG)

Helena’s lasses, 6 Ogre ~~Bulls~~ Cows, standard bearer (OC)

Helga’s lasses, 3 Leadbelchers (LB)

Blackcat Bone, Sabretusk (ST)

Furycat had added a Witch Hunter and retinue of Free Company militia as well as bulking out his other units. It is probably worth noting that Furycat has long been a proponent of how bad Free Company are, but put them in for story reasons.

Warrior Priest, Opal Amulet, Great Weapon, heavy armour (WP)

Witch Hunter, Potion of Foolhardiness, brace of pistols

25 Spearmen, champion, standard bearer (S)

2 x 5 Archers (A1 and A2)

24 Halberdiers, full command (H)

20 Free Company (FC)

5 Pistoliers, musician (P)

We’re still using Battle Line until the next escalation. Our reduced strategy gives us a Scree Slope in the South West, a building in the North West, a forest (which turned out to be a Venom Thicket) in the North East and finally a river (a Raging Torrent when we actually entered it). I still fail to roll any of the Lore of Fire spells I like and hence end up with Fireball as usual. Luckily Fireball is pretty good when all units are tiny. Furycat wins the roll off and opts to go first.

The Pistoliers saunter round the hill to be in maximum irritation position for the Ironguts. The Archers find out that the forest is a Venom Thicket and the Halberdiers decide that they don’t fancy spending a couple of turns trudging through it being bitten by nasty little things so reform to head around it. Both sets of Archers fire at the Leadbelchers, and, despite needing 6s to hit and 5s to wound, manage to put 4 wounds on them out of 10 shots. Luckily for me the Leadbelchers don’t panic. After that, the paltry single wound that the Pistoliers manage to put on the Ironguts seems a bit weak.

It may have become clear to anyone who has read this blog for a long time that I find Pistoliers very annoying so the Firebelly leaves the Leadbelchers and starts incanting at the riders. We roll 2,2 magic dice and mid-sized fireball is sent to wipe out the Pistoliers which makes me happy indeed. The Leadbelchers plink off a single militia man.

The Free Company and Spearmen both charge the Cows, making it but losing a handful of guys to the Venom Thicket. For some reason, the left hand Archers charge the Leadbelchers. Sadly, they roll terribly in the Raging Torrent, panic and flee again; presumably leaving the Leadbelchers looking rather bemused. The Warrior Priest summons up 3,2 magic dice; Shield of Faith is dispelled but Hammer of Sigmar does go off. The Archers who aren’t running like children fail to match their amazing volley of last turn, then we’re onto combat. Bizarrely, everyone in the massive central scrum roll hopelessly but the end result is a narrow Ogress win which sees the Spearmen sent packing. To rub it in, the other Archers also panic at this point; the Cows reform to maximise contact with the Free Company.

The Ironguts chase the Spearmen and Archers away making scary faces as they do so. I roll a mighty 3,2 magic dice and put them all into the biggest Fireball at the Halberdiers which kills off a good chunk of them; the Leadbelchers kill off a couple more. Those fleeing Archers are right in the way of the Warrior Priest’s unit and I’m quite happy for them to stay there. The combat between Cows and Free Company continues to grind away at both units though the Free Company are taking most of the punishment.

The Spearmen and right hand Archers rally, meaning that the Halberdiers are spending another turn just looking at the stupid peasants dithering in front of them. Furycat rolls up 3,1 magic dice and gets Shield of Faith through (failed dispel) but I am able to stop Hammer of Sigmar. The Free Company have finally had enough and break; irritatingly for Furycat a single militiaman also survives the run through the Venom Thicket, meaning that the Witch Hunter won’t be likely to rally. The Cows restrain themselves and face the Halberdiers.

It’s probably worth noting that there’s no good reason to throw the Cows at the Halberdiers here. I’ve got ranged attacks and would be better to stand off and soften them up a bit more. On the other hand, that’s pretty boring for both of us, so in they go. The Firebelly rolls up 1,1 magic dice and kills off a few of the fleeing Archers on the left with a small Fireball. The main event is the combat though; the contact is quite small due to the presence of the Archers, and if there’s something that Ogres are good at it’s concentrating force into a narrow area. The Cows win by the closest of margins but Furycat rolls high on his break check and the humans flee and are run down. With only the Spears left against practically my entire army, Furycat has seen enough. Victory to the Ogre Kingdoms!

It was quite a strange game with the dice going hot and cold all over the place. The Archers blocking off the Halberdiers meant that I could have focused all my attention on the rest of his force even if the Spearmen hadn’t rolled terribly and fled in the first combat round. I didn’t do anything too clever and still got a heavy victory, though in fairness Furycat has knowingly selected some fairly weak units. It’s always fun to play against Furycat whatever the game system.

Categories: Battle reports, Campaigns, Escalation campaign, Warhammer Fantasy Battle | Tags: Battle reports, Empire, Ogre Kingdoms, Warhammer Fantasy Battle | Leave a comment

Ogre Kingdoms force for slow grow campaign (750 points)

Posted on December 1, 2013 by Argentbadger

Miss Madras patted her increasing gut and wiped away the last bit of Dwarf vindaloo from her lips. Perhaps mercenary work wasn’t so bad after all, and while the Little Death tribe certainly wasn’t in a position to be raiding any major food sources any time soon, there seemed to be a never ending stream of other warbands in the area in the aftermath of the battle. Providing you weren’t too fussy about what you ate (never a problem among Ogresses, especially with curry sauce in the mix) you could easily keep a full belly here. After a humiliation at the hands of the Humans with their fancy mustaches that had scattered the tribe almost for good, every day had led to an encounter with another race looking to take their turn in the cooking pot. The constant wandering had allowed some more stragglers to be picked up, including Helena and her lasses who had found themselves a very suitable bit of work guarding a brewery. They had be quite reticent on what form the payment had taken.

The only troubles were the continued absence of the other tribal leaders and the frustrating lack of progress toward finding ‘El Habañero’. Still, there were surely clues out there and there was evidence of reinforcements arriving from all corners of the Old World to join the growing armies. Well, almost all. The Vampire Barry Von Carstein had been raising his new recruits from the plentiful supply of corpses littering the battlefields, and the Goblins appeared to be learning how to fight rather than increasing in number. That was probably just as well considering how many of the blighters there already were, mused Miss Madras as she flossed her teeth with a beard-hair.

The first games of our escalation campaign at 500 points have gone better than I could possibly have imagined. After the stern beating I received at Furycat’s hands in game 1 I was expecting to be on the wrong end of a lot of crushing defeats. But my dice have been very good to me, and panic checks don’t seem to have caused as big a problem as I expected; all leadership checks are a bit worrying when your general is only Leadership 7.

After arguing strongly before we started this to allow monstrous cavalry at 750 points (which would allow me to field Mournfang Cavalry) I eventually decided that they would just be too awkward for most forces to take down at this level and I would probably win big most of the time and occasionally lose big when someone had a good answer for them. Instead I bumped up the Ironguts to the full 6 I own and made one a standard bearer (because the standard bearer is the 6th Irongut in my collection) and added 6 Ogre ~~Bulls~~ Cows. The Cows also got a standard bearer since I have one but I don’t have the points to make one a musician (which I also have as a miniature) so the musician has to stand shamefacedly at the back pretending not to have a trumpet. It’s a shame my photography isn’t up to the performance of my dice rolling.

My force, the Little Death tribe at 750 points:

Miss Madras, Firebelly

Heidi’s lasses, 6 Ironguts, musician, standard bearer

Helena’s lasses, 6 Ogre Cows, ironfists, standard bearer

Helga’s lasses, 3 Leadbelchers

Blackcat Bone, Sabretusk

Categories: Campaigns, Escalation campaign, Warhammer Fantasy Battle | Tags: Ogre Kingdoms, Warhammer Fantasy Battle | Leave a comment

Malifaux tournament report: Scottish Grand Tournament; 16-17Nov13

Posted on November 19, 2013 by Argentbadger

This weekend was the first of a hopefully long line of Scottish Grand Tournaments for Malifaux. This was held at Common Grounds gaming in Stirling and was apparently a big enough event to attract players from a much wider Malifaux tournament community. Showing my class, I took a wrong turning on the way and rocked up about 10 minutes late. Fortunately, the first games hadn’t quite started (probably they were delayed waiting for me) so a quick reshuffle occurred and we were off.

Game 1: Ten Thunders (me) vs Neverborn (Andrew)

Strategy: Reckoning

Schemes
Pool: Line in the Sand, Breakthrough, Distract, Cursed Object, Make Them Suffer
Ten Thunders: Line in the Sand (announced), Breakthrough (announced)
Neverborn: Line in the Sand (unannounced), Make Them Suffer

Crews
Ten Thunders: Mei Feng (Seismic Claws, Price of Progress), Emberling, Kang, Rail Worker, 2 Illuminated, Thunder Archer, 3SS
Neverborn: Jakob Lynch (Rising Sun), Hungering Darkness (Nexus of Power), 3 Illuminated, 2 Beckoners

Since I arrived late, Andrew already had his crew out on the table so I deliberately picked Mei Feng (and not my own Lynch) to make it more interesting. Thinking about it now, I reckon that Lynch vs Lynch had the possibility to be hilarious as everyone is suddenly on huge bonuses to attack anything. I pretty much just dropped the first set of miniatures that came to hand onto the table so as not to waste any more time than I already had. Andrew was a gent and helped me get my cards sleeved etc. I had actually been present for Andrew’s first game and (hopefully) gave him some useful hints on playing Lynch at the time; it turned out that this would be his second game. I took schemes by the highly strategic method of ‘ones I could remember how to score on without recourse to the rulebook’.

Turn 1: Nothing too clever, we just moved forward into position. That massive building in the centre was going to make things a bit more challenging.

Turn 2: Andrew’s male Illuminated on the right moves up and takes a shot at Mei but misses thanks to Vent Steam. I can’t resist a pack like that so Mei charges the female Illuminated and puts a few wounds on the nearby Beckoner and Illuminated, then the Beckoner Lures her even further forward. My own female Illuminated charges his on the left hoping to take advantage of that tasty damage bonus against Brilliant models but I Black Joker one attack and leave it alive. It then fights back but also can’t do enough to kill mine. My Archer Rapid Fires on the rightmost Illuminated for minimal effect and Lynch takes a shot at Mei Feng and moves toward the forest to get away from her. Disappointed by the Archer’s performance, my other Illuminated charges and takes out the other Illuminated on the right. The other Beckoner Lures Mei Feng toward the forest where the Hungering Darkness lurks but bad cards prevent either of his charge attacks from connecting. Now that I’ve cleared up the right side the Emberling and Rail Worker move over there to start dropping scheme markers. I score a VP for the strategy.

Turn 3: The Hungering Darkness attacks Mei Feng but I cheekily cheat in the Red Joker on the first attack so she can Leap Aside to safety so it moves to the forest instead. My female Illuminated tries and fails again to take out the final Neverborn Illuminated and the return attack is similarly ineffective. What is it with that pair? With minimum damage of 4, one of them should be a fine mist by now. Kang charges the nearer Beckoner but can’t quite put her down and she wounds him back a little. Mei Feng is taking no such nonsense, easily killing the one nearer to her and then Vents Steam while Lynch finally puts down my Illuminated on that side of the building (and scores a VP for Make Them Suffer in the process). The rest of my crew, trapped on the far side of the building, move around and drop scheme markers.

Turn 4: Kang kills off the Beckoner and puts a few wounds on the Hungering Darkness. Lynch advances, kills off the Archer who has unwisely advanced into his range (scoring another for Make Them Suffer) and drops a scheme marker on the centreline. After two turns of watching my Illuminated’s bumbling attacks, Mei Feng kills off the final Illuminated and Vents Steam to thwart Hungering Darkness (due to a weird interaction with the way it attacks). Hungering Darkness is unable to resist the temptation anyway and charges her so I again drop a high mask and Leap Aside again. I score another VP for the strategy, and we’re out of time to have another turn. Ten Thunders win 6 – 2 (2 for Reckoning, 3 for Breakthrough and 1 for Line in the Sand for me; 2 for Make Them Suffer for Andrew).

It was a very fun game and Andrew has the potential to become a very good Malifaux player, as evidenced by his eventual 8th place finish; a great result for someone playing games 2 to 6 of their life. For my part, I was happy to get the tournament off to a straightforward start after the stress of getting lost and arriving late at the venue. With no disrespect to Andrew intended, I was always confident to win this game.

Game 2: Ten Thunders (me) vs Neverborn (Barry)

Strategy: Squatter’s Rights

Schemes
Pool: Line in the Sand, Protect Territory, Plant Explosives, Deliver a Message, Assassinate
Ten Thunders: Protect Territory (announced), Plant Explosives
Arcanists: Deliver a Message (unannounced), Assassinate

Crews
Ten Thunders: Jakob Lynch (Endless Hunger), Hungering Darkness, Kang, Beckoner, 2 Illuminated, Thunder Archer, 2SS
Neverborn: Lilith (Beckon Malifaux, Wicked Mistress, Rapid Growth), Cherub, Barbaros (Nexus of Power), 2 Waldgeist, 2 Terror Tots

I love to play Jakob Lynch, so I was planning on using him for most of the tournament. Also with Deliver a Message as an option I thought he would be a stronger choice than Mei Feng, who tends to get hung up on miniatures from time to time if I get her to bite off too much. Not too much thought went into this crew; it is simply the miniatures I like well enough to play at 50SS, but with 2 Rail Workers removed so it actually fits. I don’t actually have that many Ten Thunders miniatures that have rules at the moment as half of them are still in beta testing. Any changes I make are just changing the proportions of what is in the crew. Plant Explosives is a very amusing and tactical scheme to play so that was always in; Protect Territory is a good scheme to score on with the Beckoner and the Archer.

Turn 1: Everyone moves forward, of course. Sadly for the Cherub and one of the Tots, that turns out to be too far and the Beckoner Lures them both forward to be killed by the Archer and Hungering Darkness respectively. For some reason which escapes me now, I moved Lynch right up in front.

Turn 2: Barbaros comes in and attacks Lynch, taking a bit of damage in return from Hold ‘Em. The female Illuminated charges the other Tot and wounds it; a counter charge from the Waldgeist on that side is similarly ineffective. My male Illuminated resists the temptation to also charge in and claims the leftmost strategy marker; the Beckoner takes one on the right. The right Waldgeist moves onto its own nearest marker but hasn’t enough AP to do anything with it. Lilith hits my female Illuminated but Barry’s cards betray him and she lives on a single wound. My Archer Rapid Fires Barbaros and Kang beats him back out of melee with Lynch, who strolls over to the furball with Lilith et al and casually drops a scheme marker. Hungering Darkness drops Barbaros and then charges the lonely Waldgeist leaving it on a single wound. My scheme marker is indeed used for Plant Explosives and scores me three VPs (Lilith, Tot and Waldgeist); I also score for Squatter’s Rights.

Turn 3: The Terror Tot kills the wounded Illuminated and promptly Grows into a Young Nephilim. My other Illuminated charges and puts some wounds on the Waldgeist, and the newly created Young hits Lynch, taking damage in return from Hold ‘Em. My Beckoner Lures the Archer forward, partly to get him back in the action but mainly to Push to get line of sight to the right hand Waldgeist which she kills with Despicable Promises. The Waldgeist and Lilith both attack the Illuminated but somehow don’t quite kill it (I didn’t note anything about it but I suspect that Lilith may have spent a couple of AP doing something else this turn). Lynch kills off the Young, moves away from the fight and drops a scheme marker. Barry mentioned at this point that he’s never successfully Grown a Tot into a Young and had it survive the turn. I score on the strategy.

Turn 4: Lilith kills the Illuminated and wounds Kang, then Kang kills the Walgeist. Lilith is feeling lonely. Lynch makes her Brilliant with Play for Blood, and the Hungering Darkness eats her alive. Ten Thunders win 10 – 0.

I enjoyed that game but I have to admit that I overcooked it a little bit. I know that Barry is also very new to the game and I wasn’t really intending to make it so brutally one sided (I only lost the two Illuminated in the whole game; Barry lost two models on the first turn) but I just kept finding myself in positions to score or kill his pieces. Still, I believe that Barry enjoyed it too as he certainly has the right attitude to enjoy all his games. I’m looking forward to playing him more in the future as he gets a better feel for how to use the crew.

Game 3: Ten Thunders (me) vs Resurrectionists (Mike)

Strategy: Reconnoitre

Schemes
Pool: Line in the Sand, Bodyguard, Murder Protege, Breakthrough, another one that I didn’t note for some reason
Ten Thunders: Bodyguard (Kang), Murder Protege (Sebastian, announced)
Resurrectionists: Murder Protege (Kang, announced), Breakthrough (announced)

Crews
Ten Thunders: Jakob Lynch (Endless Hunger), Hungering Darkness, Kang, Beckoner, 2 Illuminated, Thunder Archer, 2SS
Resurrectionists: McMourning (Moonlighting, Plastic Surgery, Evidence Tampering), 2 Nurses, 2 Necropunks, Zombie Chihuahua, Sebastian, Flesh Construct

I was really looking forward to this game for several reasons. Firstly, Mike is famous. Secondly, I’ve never played him before and he obviously loves Malifaux enough to not only do a lengthy podcast about it but also to drive hundreds of miles to play it against me. Thirdly, he’s apparently pretty good at the game, and as much as I enjoyed playing Andrew and Barry, I was not in any real danger of losing to them. I wasn’t really sure what to expect from his crew since I’ve never played McMourning before but I know that they can mess with scheme markers so there’s no way I’ll take anything that involves those. Lynch is a good bet against McMourning since I’m expecting to face several Flesh Constructs and with Ace in the Hole it’s not likely that I’ll run out of cards. Bodyguard and Murder Protege seemed reasonable choices at the time though in retrospect I guess that Bodyguard on Kang is probably not optimal since he provides such good bonuses against Undead that he’d have a huge target on him.

Turn 1: A Nurse hits the Flesh Construct to pump it up to about a million poison tokens and speed it up, and the Necropunks leap forward. My Beckoner Lures the nearer one and the Archer takes it down to its Hard to Kill wound; Lynch finishes the task with Play for Blood. Everyone else just moves forward; the Flesh Construct is far enough forward that the Hungering Darkness can smack it a little with the benefit of Kang’s Worker’s Champion ability.

Turn 2: The Flesh Construct starts us off killing the female Illuminated. The other one charges Sebastian for a few wounds. The Nurse uses Take Your Meds on Sebastian and leaves him able to only take melee actions this turn (I presume that they were also improved in some way). So the Beckoner promptly Lures the Illuminated right back out of his range. The Chihuahua moves into the middle of a group of my pieces and poisons a load of them, and the surviving Necropunk heads for a safe place in the back corner of my deployment zone. My Thunder Archer finishes off the Flesh Construct freeing Hungering Darkness to charge Sebastian and put a few good wounds on him. Kang kills the Chihuahua and then McMourning zooms in, killing off the other Illuminated and turning him into a Flesh Construct. Lynch, not liking the look of McMourning much, heads after the Necropunk and wounds it a little. Throughout this game one of Mike’s Nurses is loitering in the back left corner of his deployment zone to secure him that quarter. We both score for the strategy.

Turn 3: Mike wins this crucial initiative flip (Hungering Darkness will certainly kill Sebastian if I go first) and the Nurse throws pills into Sebastian’s mouth from a mile away, healing him up to full but paralysing him. She then does the same to the Hungering Darkness with a 13 of crows; the only card I can’t defend against this turn (I’d need a Red Joker to stop that). The Archer Rapid Fires the new Flesh Construct, killing it on the last hit with a lucky Red Joker. McMourning drops a scheme marker then hurts Kang pretty badly and Lynch finishes off the Necropunk that’s messing about in my deployment zone then Plays for Blood to wound McMourning. Kang and the Beckoner join in to really crimp McMourning’s style. Again, we both score a point for the strategy.

Turn 4: This time, I win the critical initiative flip and stop McMourning from easily killing Kang by beating him to death with a spade before he has a chance. Mike noted at this point that he should have pushed McMourning out of combat at the end of last turn with one of his abilities which could have had a pretty big effect on the game. To make up for it, that pesky Nurse paralyses the Hungering Darkness again and Sebastian makes a run for it. Mike scores on the strategy this turn but I don’t because I very stupidly move the Archer too close to the centre of the board, though I do reveal Bodyguard at this point.

Turn 5: Hungering Darkness chases after Sebastian, then the Nurse inevitably paralyses him again. Lynch moves round and puts some damage onto Sebastian, who charges right in to return the favour. My Beckoner has one chance to wound him with Despicable Promises: I hit then, on a double-negative flip get the Red Joker, some card and then the Black Joker. So close! No one ends up scoring on the strategy this turn, but for the first time that I can think of in a tournament game we both have enough time to flip for a further turn and it would actually be relevant. I flip, but the game ends anyway. Ten Thunders win 4 – 3 (2 each for Reconnoitre and Bodyguard for me; 3 for Reconnoitre for Mike).

It was great to play Mike. He plays a very tight game and kept me right on the rules a good few times. He has a reputation for being a nice chap to play against and I’m pleased to be able to extend it further. I was delighted to be able to test myself against someone who is ranked very highly. Amazingly I was in the lead after day 1 of the main event and was scheduled to play against James Doxey, who has an excellent blog in which he appears to travel the country outclassing people at Malifaux. That was a challenge I was looking forward to on day 2. In addition, the two games on day 2 increased in size to 50SS. We had the Hardcore event on the evening of day 1; more on that later. I went home and filled up on tasty curry with Mrs Argentbadger while most of the rest of the players fruitlessly wandered the streets of Stirling in search of a pub that sold food.

Game 4: Ten Thunders (me) vs Arcanists (James)

Strategy: Stake a Claim

Schemes
Pool: Line in the Sand, Protect Territory, Outflank, Distract, Deliver a Message
Ten Thunders: Outflank (announced), Protect Territory (announced)
Arcanists: Protect Territory (announced), Distract

Crews
Ten Thunders: Jakob Lynch (Endless Hunger), Hungering Darkness, Kang, Beckoner, 2 Illuminated, Thunder Archer, 2 Rail Workers 2SS
Arcanists: Ramos (Arcane Reservoir, Field Generator), Joss (Bleeding Edge Tech, Imbued Energies), Miss Step, December Acolyte, Electrical Creation, 2 Molemen

Again, I was very much looking forward to this game. James is famous for being good at playing Malifaux so I was interested to see if I could compete in his league. Also, his crew is absolutely beautiful. Luckily, I’m used to putting my crew on the table against miniatures with vastly superior paint jobs on them. I didn’t give too much thought to my crew; the extra 10SS is exactly enough for 2 Rail Workers and I thought I’d need every activation I could get here. The rest of my Ten Thunders are pretty expensive so Rail Workers are my cheapest options to get objectives and they’re also dangerous enough that people have to put in the work to kill them off. I picked schemes I felt confident I could score on and both Outflank and Protect Territory are quite straightforward if you can avoid getting overrun.

Turn 1: Ramos does the now-famous trick of killing his own Electrical Creation to turn it into a Van Neumann-style swarm of Steam Arachnids. The Beckoner Lures forward the Acolyte but the Archer can’t do anything to him. I decide to commit Hungering Darkness to the centre and kill off the first of many Arachnids.

Turn 2: My Rail Worker on the left charges an Arachnid but achieves nothing, as does the one on the right at the leading Moleman. The Acolyte shoots the nearest Illuminated to give him Slow (and prevent a charge) so the female one charges instead and kills him. Ramos pours out yet more Arachnids around the Hungering Darkness but fails to cast Arcing Screen. Lynch and the Archer both kill Arachnids in an attempt to clear out the Hungering Darkness but the Archer Black Jokers an attack on one. In a move that makes me love Malifaux, Miss Step chooses not to attack anything but instead moves forward and drops a scheme marker so that Molemen can use their Place effect to move to it and get away from the Rail Worker. One of them does so and puts down a strategy marker. I can see this coming but can do nothing to stop it. Hungering Darkness offs the last Arachnid pestering it and drops a strategy marker of my own but Joss simply advances and drops another, erasing mine. James scores a VP for the strategy.

Turn 3: The male Illuminated charges Miss Step, and she decapitates the poor chap in return on the first hit; she’d already dropped the card to Flurry so it wasn’t worth paying out the cards when he was surely going to die anyway. On the left, my Rail Worker continues to chase after an Arachnid to stop it getting to far into my territory and putting down markers freely, though he can’t actually kill the thing. One Moleman Distracts the right Rail Worker while the left one is Distracted by the Arachnid he’s chasing. The Beckoner Lures the other Moleman in and makes it Brilliant as I forget that they can easily get away from her. My surviving Illuminated places a strategy marker which removes the one James put down on the right and the Archer takes a few wounds off Joss. Ramos manufactures another piles of Steam Arachnid, places a scheme marker and uses Arcing Screen again to help his numerous minions. Miss Step is killed by the Rail Worker on the right and Lynch makes Joss Brilliant with Play For Blood before blowing up yet another Arachnid. The Brilliant Moleman teleports to the nearby scheme marker and puts down a strategy marker, removing the one that my Illuminated just placed, so Kang comes over to play whack-a-mole with him. The Hungering Darkness wounds Joss, then switches targets to an Arachnid since I’m in danger of only wounding Joss and letting him Reactivate. It’s probably worth noting that Joss was using his ability to give negative flips to cast action near him to hamper the Hungering Darkness, but with Brilliance and Kang nearby it didn’t help much. James scores again for the strategy and for Distract.

Turn 4: The other Moleman is killed off by the Rail Worker, giving me complete control of the right side of the board. Joss hits the Hungering Darkness, and the left hand Rail Worker kills the Arachnid he’s been chasing for several turns and moves to the centreline. Another Arachnid Distracts Hungering Darkness and Ramos moves round toward my right, using Magnetism to get up into the Rail Worker’s face and throws out another pile of Arachnids. Hungering Darkness finally eats Joss and the rest of my crew move around to place markers for Protect Territory or the strategy. I score for Stake a Claim and James scores for Distract.

Turn 5: Ramos kills off the Rail Worker and summons yet more Arachnids. Lynch moves over to get me Outflank and pretty much everything else drops markers for schemes or strategies as needed. The game ends up as a draw at 8 – 8 (both scored maximum points for both schemes, and both scored 2 for the strategy).

Wow, that was an intense game of Malifaux. I can certainly see how James is so well thought of as a player, and he’s a lot of fun to play with too. I was very happy to be able to manage to keep him to a draw. For the final game, strict tournament standings would have us playing each other again so it’s decided that we should mix it up with the players in 3rd and 4th place currently. I am paired up against Ant, who I’ve also heard of through the general Malifaux community and is therefore presumably very good.

Game 5: Ten Thunders (me) vs Resurrectionists (Ant)

Strategy: Turf War

Schemes
Pool: Line in the Sand, Plant Explosives, Bodyguard, Distract, Vendetta
Ten Thunders: Plant Explosives, Bodyguard (Kang)
Resurrectionists: Plant Explosives, Distract

Crews
Ten Thunders: Jakob Lynch (Endless Hunger), Hungering Darkness, Kang, Beckoner, 2 Illuminated, Thunder Archer, 2 Rail Workers 2SS
Resurrectionists: Nicodem (Maniacal Laugh, Undertaker, Necrotic King), Mortimer (Corpse Bloat, My Favourite Shovel), Vulture, 2 Crooked Men, Rotten Belle, Nurse, Flesh Construct

It’s the last game of the tournament, and I’m playing yet another person who is famous (for a given value of ‘famous’) for winning lots of Malifaux tournaments, so I am a very happy gamer. I have no idea by this point what is good to take, and the only Resurrectionists I’ve played against previously in Malifaux second edition were Mike’s crew a couple of games ago so I just go for the same crew as before and hope for the best. I choose Plant Explosives because I think it’s a funny scheme, and Bodyguard because it doesn’t require much thinking about. Ideally I’ll be able to keep Kang off the front lines and in a position to just help my crew against the expected horde of Undead. Of course, it never works out that way; apparently I hadn’t learned my lesson from game 3.

Turn 1: The Flesh Construct advances and is charged in the back by the Nurse to leave it on about a million poison tokens. Mortimer produces a couple of corpses which Nicodem turns first into Mindless Zombies and then into Necropunks which rush forward with the Vulture; one of them leaves a scheme marker invitingly in the middle of the board. Lynch wounds the latter and Hungering Darkness the former. My Beckoner Lures a Crooked Man forward and a Belle Lures him right back. It must be nice to be so popular.

Turn 2: One Necropunk Distracts the Hungering Darkness and the nearest Rail Worker, and the other Distracts the male Illuminated which has advanced to drop a scheme marker. The Beckoner Lures the Necropunk on the right round a little and wounds it with Despicable Promises. Mortimer drops a few more corpse counters and puts a pile of poison on the Illuminated in the centre. The Archer Rapid Fires into the Flesh Construct for a good number of its wounds and Nicodem summons another Rotten Belle and uses Necrotic King to give even more bonuses to his crew. The right Necropunk is finished off by a Rail Worker and then the Belles Lure both the Beckoner and Archer right next to the scheme marker in the middle of the board. Lynch finishes off the Vulture and the other Necropunk and Hungering Darkness kills the Flesh Construct. The Nurse then Paralyses it. I’m starting to get a little irked with Nurses throwing pills into Hungering Darkness’s admittedly enormous mouth and I’ll have to think of a clever way to stop it happening all the time. Sadly, I haven’t done so yet. A Crooked Man blasts away at the clump of my pieces in the centre of the board putting good damage and lots of poison on them. The turn ends and, of course, Ant has Plant Explosives and scores 3 VPs for my Illuminated, Archer and Beckoner next to his scheme marker in the middle. We both score on Turf War, and what little photographic skills I have apparently desert me utterly.

Turn 3: Kang kills the Nurse (it’s either that or inevitably get Paralysed) and moves into the thick of things just to make life awkward. Unfortunately, I didn’t know that Crooked Men have a trigger for Paralyse on their melee attack, so Kang gets Paralysed anyway. The Archer advances and puts down a scheme marker, then the Belle removes it since he has no melee range with which to stop her. A couple of activations later we realise that I couldn’t have done this anyway (as it was too close to my other marker) but cards have been flipped and it probably won’t affect the result anyway so we agree to just stick with it. The Beckoner Lures Lynch forward before the Crooked Man kills both her and the Archer. The Illuminated on the left drops a scheme marker in amongst a load of activated miniatures as I desperately attempt to actually score some points and the Rail Worker on the right does the same. Nicodem raises a Punk Zombie and 2 Necropunks which band together to kill an Illuminated. Lynch kills one of the Necropunks. I score 3 points for Plant Explosive, Ant scores a VP for distract and we both score on the strategy.

Turn 4: Last turn is called not long after we start this, so we agree to just theorise the important bits of the turn. Basically, I won’t be able to keep Kang alive and I won’t be able to clear out anywhere near enough of the horde of zombies to prevent Ant scoring again on the strategy. We did move some miniatures around a little just to make an interesting photo though. Resurrectionists win 9 – 6 (full score for Ant, less the turn on the strategy that we didn’t play at all, compared to 3 for Plant Explosives and 3 for the strategy for me).

It was a lovely game against Ant, and I can safely say that I was outplayed. Ant’s positioning of his miniatures was very precise and constantly kept me reacting to him instead of the other way round (which of course I would prefer). He arranged it so that I also ended up moving to him constantly, meaning that I was spending AP on movement while Ant’s crew could use all theirs doing what he needed to win the game. I have a lot to learn.

In the evening of day 1, immediately after game 3 there was a Hardcore event. There were three rounds, 20SS, only Henchmen, all strategies are Turf War and all schemes are Assassinate. Crucially, only 20 minutes for each round. I took Hungering Darkness with Misdirection, Illuminated, Beckoner, Terror Tot. Since there wasn’t long to play I didn’t take photos or notes so this is just a brief write up for completeness.

Game 1 vs Victoria (Kang with People’s Champion, Thunder Archer, 2 Rail Workers): we ran at each other in the centre of the board, then ran out of time during turn 2. 1 – 1 draw.

Game 2 vs Ant (Sybelle, Hanged, Bette Noir, probably with some upgrades): we ran at each other in the centre of the board, then ran out of time during turn 3. For some reason, perhaps due to mental tiredness, I couldn’t get it through my head what effects all that stuff had on my crew so poor Ant had to repeatedly explain it to me. He probably thought I was going prematurely senile or something. I was one activation away from losing the Hungering Darkness, and therefore the game. In turn 1 of this game I realised that I couldn’t take Misdirection as it is a Ten Thunders upgrade when I was using a Neverborn crew so I played the remaining time without. Sadly, I can’t even remember why I wanted to use the Tot, which was kindly donated by Barry. 2 – 2 draw.

Game 3 vs Greg (Bad Juju, Teddy, Illuminated, more upgrades that I can’t recall): : we ran at each other in the centre of the board, then ran out of time during turn 3. By that point Hungering Darkness had actually fallen and I failed to flip the required Red Joker to down Bad Juju at the end. Thanks to Greg for keeping my spirits up on this one as I have to admit that I’d pretty much had enough by that point in the evening. 5 – 2 loss.

I didn’t particularly think that the Hardcore format was very well-suited to Malifaux. What I like about the game is that it isn’t all about killing things; there are other ways to score points and plenty of cool movement shenanigans to be used. In Hardcore, it is all about running into the middle and trying to kill things, and there’s no point trying to do anything clever with movement as the strategy obliges everyone to be in the middle.

So after the scores were counted up, I am in 3rd place over all for the main event (and 7th of 8 for the Hardcore) which I’m really happy with. I got to play 8 games of Malifaux in close succession, all against people I’d never played with before, unless you count playing Ant twice. I want to thank David for working hard and stressing hard to make it such a successful event, all the traveling players for making the effort to come and play, and all my opponents for having fun with me. David has numerous photo galleries here, here, here, here, here and here for your enjoyment, though only members of the Society of Scottish Malifools FB group will get to enjoy the witty commentary on them.

There are a couple of further things which are probably of interest only to me, but it’s my blog so I’ll post whatever nonsense I please since probably no-one reads this tripe. Firstly, Joe had mentioned off-handedly to me during the week that Lynch was regarded as a bit too good by the Malifaux community, and I was surprised since I’d never heard that. I asked at one point while we were setting up a game whether this was indeed a truth universally acknowledged, and was answered by a very resounding chorus of ‘yes!’ from all around. That seems pretty clear cut then, so I can say now that I’ve reached these giddy heights by riding on the back of Lynch filth. Time to put him in the case for a while and concentrate on not being so hopeless with Mei Feng for a while, I think.

Secondly, I sometimes wonder how good I really am, and how good the groups I play in really are. Indeed, I even mentioned it in my very first post about tournaments, before I ever played in a tournament at all. Am I actually any good at playing, or is it just that I play in a group which is really terrible? As I took my first steps into the Malifaux tournament community here in Scotland, my general experience was that my small gaming group is approximately a microcosm of the larger tournament group, in that those of us who do well in the weekly gaming also do well in the tournaments, and those who tend to lose more than they win in our group have the same results at the tournaments. As I’ve become more involved in the tournament scene, I started to have the same wonderings about how the Scottish groups fit in with the rest of the UK scene given that we’re slightly geographically isolated (most people aren’t keen enough on their toy soldiers to drive hundreds of miles to play with them). Again, I think that from this weekend it can be said that the Scottish tournament scene is probably about as good on average as the rest of the scene. Those who traveled up from England did do terrifically well and took home most of the prizes, but those who love the game so much that they travel so far to play it are definitely above the average player in skill level. I look forward to more cross pollination in future events.

Categories: Battle reports, Malifaux, Tournaments | Tags: Arcanists, Battle reports, Malifaux, Neverborn, Resurrectionists, Ten Thunders | 2 Comments

Ogre Kingdoms vs Dwarves (500 points); 22Oct13

Posted on November 9, 2013 by Argentbadger

I thought that I’d completed all my games for the 500 point level of our ongoing escalation campaign, but then another new gamer joined our little group. Well, not new, as Jonny (NinjaBreadMan) is another established member of the local Malifaux community and hence well-known to us as a gamer, but he hadn’t previously joined our little group. Anyway, Jonny is using Dwarves and modifying / painting them as Chaos Dwarves based on the fluff from years ago (possibly it was retconned away at some point) that Chaos Dwarves turn into metal as they get older. My list is as noted previously, but for convenience, here it is again.

Miss Madras, Firebelly, additional hand weapon (FB)

Heidi’s lasses, 5 Ironguts, musician (IG)

Helga’s lasses, 3 Leadbelchers (LB)

Blackcat Bone, Sabretusk (ST)

Jonny, who is new to Warhammer, used this bunch of short-legged beardy chaps:

Thane, Grudge Rune (T)

24 Warriors, standard, musician, great weapons

5 Ironbreakers (I)

2 Bolt Throwers (BT1 and BT2)

We roll up two hills (the one in the South East is a scree slope) and two normal buildings. Boring, but we somehow end up putting them in places where they couldn’t possibly affect the game anyway. The Firebelly rolls up something useless and swaps it for the reliable Fireball. I win the roll off and choose to move first (in fact I had a bit of a stupid moment and nearly made Jonny go first, which would have simply given him an extra turn of turning my Ogresses into kebabs with the Bolt Throwers before I realised).

Everyone moves forward. We roll up 2,2 magic dice which all go into a mid-sized fireball at the Warriors; great rolling takes out 5 of them. The Leadbelchers make up for it by rolling like fools and only bring down one more.

The Warriors fail an outrageous charge on the Ironguts; they held because it’s a fight I want to happen anyway, though of course I really want to charge in for the impact hits. For reasons that aren’t clear to me, the Ironbreakers back up a little, then both Bolt Throwers miss their shots at the Leadbelchers.

Not being hampered by short legs, the Ironguts charge into the Warriors and the Sabretusk charges the Bolt Thrower. The Leadbelchers advance, making sure to stay more than 6″ from the Ironguts in case that goes poorly. A medium Fireball at the Ironbreakers is Irresistably Dispelled but the Leadbelchers do manage to drop one of the heavily armoured Dwarves. After an epic blood bath at the Always Strikes Last step, the battle between the Ironguts and Warrior turns out to be a draw. This is going to favour the Dwarves next round though as they’ll still get all their attacks thanks to the deep ranks whereas every Ogress killed in my unit is one who can’t fight back. The Sabretusk kills two of the Bolt Thrower crew but the last one is stubborn and going nowhere.

Whatever the Ironbreakers were doing in the first turn, they evidently changed their minds as this time they march purposefully forward. The Bolt Thrower misses its shot at the Leadbelchers (the only available target), perhaps because almost the entirety of both our forces was in the way. The Sabretusk finishes its meal of crew members and reforms to face the flank of the Ironbreakers, and the Warriors predictably do horrible things to the Ironguts, though they take a fair toll themselves. The final Irongut, on 2 wounds remaining, flees a mighty 4″ but the Dwarves roll even lower.

Apparently not full after dealing with the Bolt Thrower crew, the Sabretusk charges the flank of the Ironbreakers which has been inexplicably presented. The Leadbelchers shake their heads at the fleeing Irongut and move up to shower the Warriors in shrapnel. There are 2,1 magic dice but the Firebelly channels and then casts a medium Fireball scorching one of the Warriors. The Leadbelchers are not in such a forgiving mood though, rolling like the champions I know they are and cutting down the Warriors to just the standard bearer and the Thane. To my amazement, they flee. Well, they’re not coming back. Meanwhile the Sabretusk and Ironbreakers are unable to do anything at all to each other, but it turns out that Ironbreakers aren’t stubborn and don’t like flank charges. The Sabretusk, already outstripping my expectations by actually being alive, runs them down.

This’ll be a short turn. The Warrior isn’t able to muster 1,1 to rally and keeps fleeing with the unlucky Thane for company. The Bolt Thrower takes a shot at the wounded Irongut hoping to kill her and trigger a panic test in the Leadbelchers. It hits, it wounds, and I breathe a sigh of relief as it leaves my last Irongut on a single wound remaining.

Ignoring the fleeing Thane, everyone converges on the Bolt Thrower and all but one crew member is killed by the combination of magic and shooting.

The Thane and his drinking buddy continue the long trudge off the table and into a pub, and the Bolt Thrower can’t make a hit count at point blank range.

We didn’t really bother rolling the dice here, but the curtain closes on the final Bolt Thrower crew member preparing to sell his life dearly as the Ogresses run in licking their lips. Victory to the Ogre Kingdoms!

There’s not really much to say in conclusion here. We had a good time playing, but the game itself was quite pedestrian – we ran at each other, and fat ladies triumphed over short bearded chaps.

Categories: Battle reports, Campaigns, Escalation campaign, Warhammer Fantasy Battle | Tags: Battle reports, Dwarves, Ogre Kingdoms, Warhammer Fantasy Battle | 5 Comments

More painted Mournfang Cavalry

Posted on November 3, 2013 by Argentbadger

This the second pair of Ogresses to fill out my Mournfang Cavalry unit for the Ogre Kingdoms which I’ve finally got round to painting after preparing them a couple of months ago. There’s not really too much to say about the painting as it’s pretty much the same as the previous pair. I had argued strongly to be allowed to play with Monstrous Cavalry at 750 points in our escalation campaign but after getting through most of the 500 point games I think that it probably would just be too awkward to deal with for most armies. Also, I think I’ll get more value out of more rank and file Ogresses. At the moment I am considering them for the 1000 point escalation.

I found that I’ve assembled the standard bearer in a slightly irritating position since the arms make it hard to take a photo of the face. Nonetheless I’m pretty happy with the way that the eyes turn out.

As is traditional, I used a very simplistic design for the banner. I originally had delusions of painting on some kind of avalanche crashing down the mountain but once the mountain itself was drawn I decided not to spoil it any further.

Musicians are excellent in Warhammer Fantasy Battle 8th Edition, allowing swift reforms as well as improving the chance to rally (useful if, like my Ogresses, you flee at the drop of a hat), so I’m happy to get the one for the Mournfangs painted up.

Here is the family shot of all four Mournfang Cavalry together, out for a drink and a curry. I don’t think I’ve every put out the full rack of four plus Dragonhide Banner but even three strong this lot are more than a match for most opponents and fast enough to avoid a lot of bad targets.

Next on the painting table: Tuskgor Chariot.

Categories: Painting and modelling, Warhammer Fantasy Battle | Tags: Ogre Kingdoms, Warhammer Fantasy Battle | 6 Comments

Malifaux tournament report: A Brave New World (50SS); 26Oct13

Posted on October 26, 2013 by Argentbadger

It’s been a while since I’ve been to a Malifaux tournament, partly I suppose because of the change to the second edition. I wasn’t really enthused about the game’s beta testing period but lately I’ve had a few very satisfying games with Joe and I was very much looking forward to the Brave New World tournament at Worlds at War. As far as I know this is the first M2E tournament in Scotland. Strategies and scheme pools were predefined by the organisers so if I had known what I was doing I could have theorised about them ahead of time. So far I haven’t played enough M2E to make an informed choice so I didn’t bother.

Game 1: Ten Thunders (me) vs Arcanists (Sholto)

Strategy: Stake a Claim

Schemes
Pool: Line in the Sand, Bodyguard, Protect Territory, Entourage, Plant Explosives
Ten Thunders: Protect Territory (announced), Plant Explosives
Arcanists: Entourage (Ramos; announced), Protect Territory (announced)

Crews
Ten Thunders: Jakob Lynch (Endless Hunger), Hungering Darkness, Kang, 2 Rail Workers, 2 Illuminated, Beckoner, Archer, 2SS
Arcanists: Ramos (Arcane Reservoir, Under Pressure, Electric Summoning), Joss (Imbued Protection, Open Current), Howard Langston (Imbued Energies), Johan (Bleeding Edge Technology), Rail Worker, Brass Arachnid, Electrical Creation

So it’s a whole new set of abilities for pretty much every crew, and I don’t really know much about what my own crew does either. Kang is good against things which are either scary or are Constructs or Undead as he allows nearby friends to ignore horror duels for the former and gives positive flips against the latter, so he was in. The Archer and Beckoner give me ranged options and the Beckoner also adds a very useful Lure ability to the crew. I did consider playing Mei Feng but I think I’ve only played a single game with her so far, so that made the choice of Jakob for me. I had previously used the Rising Sun upgrade on Lynch to allow him to bring the Hungering Darkness back if killed but it’s not too easy to pull off in the new system, and with fewer turns it also means that there is less chance for it to matter. So instead I selected Endless Hunger (which makes the Hungering Darkness more powerful) and figured that if anyone committed too heavily to killing off a beast like the Hungering Darkness then I should at least be able to take out something good in return. A lot of the miniatures I want to use (and actually own and can play) in this crew are expensive so I deliberately avoided taking many upgrades in order to have more bodies on the table.

Turn 1: It’s still Malifaux so most of the first turn is spent moving into position. I’ve got a couple of Rail Workers out of shot on the right intending to put down markers for Protect Territory and Claim Jump, or otherwise to distract something big enough to take them both on. Langston makes a cloud and moves up in defensive stance; Joss follows and is Lured across the board by my Beckoner. Sadly, attacks from most of my crew aren’t enough to kill him (though in fairness this does use up a lot of David’s soulstones) and even worse I then find out that Joss gets Reactivate when reduced to his Hard to Kill wound, which he duly applies by chopping his axe into Kang. Meanwhile Ramos kills his Electrical Creation for some reason which I still cannot fathom.

Turn 2: Winning the initiative, Joss hammers into Kang who uses a soulstone to survive on one wound. The Hungering Darkness charges Ramos but is pushed back by Ramos’s defensive trigger after the first hit, wasting the second attack; his last action finishes Joss. Ramos kills off Kang with Electrical Fire and summons an Arachnid. The Beckoner does an elaborate set of moves to Lure the Archer forward into a suitable position to shoot a useful target, which he does by Rapid Firing a few wounds off Ramos. One of my Illuminated charges Johan after he moves forward for depressingly little effect and the Rail Workers both advance to allow a Claim marker to be placed next turn; one also drops a scheme marker. The Brass Arachnid successfully gets Langston to Reactivate which he uses up by moving forward then charging and Decapitating the Hungering Darkness. I’m not sure how that works as the Hungering Darkness is almost entirely made of head, but anyway I only had a single card and single Soulstone left so that was that. Lynch gets revenge by killing off Johan with Play For Blood.

Turn 3: The nearest Rail Worker uses Implacable Assault and charges Langston (the photo above is after this movement), then Langston discards his Imbued Energy upgrade and kills the Archer and wounds the Beckoner. I got the rules wrong here, discarding two aces to avoid Decapitate then immediately picking them up again, as I thought that they could do this at any time other than Lynch’s activation but it turns out that it only works in their own activations. Hopefully it didn’t affect the game over all too much. The other Rail Worker puts down a Claim marker. Sholto’s Rail Worker charges my Illuminated near the central tower, then my other Illuminated finishes off Langston. At this point the TO tells us that this will be the last turn; it’s not been a fast game while we both spend a lot of time reading cards. My Beckoner therefore changes plans and moves up to drop a scheme marker for Protect Territory. Ramos, realising that he needs to get into my half of the board, detonates his own Rail Worker to get him out of the way, and is then stopped from moving by a couple of great disengaging strikes by my Illuminated. Finally, Lynch moves up and drops a scheme marker near to Ramos and his Arachnid. I reveal my Plant Explosives scheme, getting two VPs for it. Ten Thunders win 6 – 1 (1 for the Claim Jump, 2 for Plant Explosives and 3 for Protect Territory for me, just the 1 for Protect Territory for Sholto).

I was very happy with the win, especially against such a strong player as Sholto, but I was particularly pleased to have the privilege of playing on the amazing board he made. Even better, the win meant that (as this board had been designated as the top table) I could play on it again. My terrible photos simply don’t do justice to the quality of the board.

Game 2: Ten Thunders (me) vs Outcasts (Mark)

Strategy: Reconnoitre

Schemes
Pool: Line in the Sand, Assassinate, Breakthrough, Outflank, Make Them Suffer
Ten Thunders: Outflank (announced), Line in the Sand (announced)
Outcasts: Make them suffer (unannounced), Breakthrough (unannounced)

Crews
Ten Thunders: Jakob Lynch (Endless Hunger), Hungering Darkness, Kang, 2 Rail Workers, 2 Illuminated, Beckoner, Archer, 2SS
Outcasts: Viktoria of Ashes (Survivalist, Sisters in Fury, Synchronised Slaying), Viktoria of Blood (Howling Wolf Tattoo), Taelor (Scramble), Student of Conflict, 3 Ronin, Convict Gunslinger

I consider changing up my crew selection but they did well enough in the first game that I decide I’ll be better off sticking with what I have and learning how to use this lot better. I don’t fancy any of the schemes too much but figure that cheap, tough to kill pieces like the Rail Workers might be a decent choice for Outflank as they’ll be too much work to get rid of by most things in the Viks crew considering that most of their damage is done in melee. While they’re out there, they can also put down a Line in the Sand Marker.

Turn 1: We start to move to engage; the Convict Gunslinger gets first blood taking a couple of Trigger Happy shots at the Illuminated on my right after I moved it too far forward. The Ronin move up and take defensive stances but my Beckoner Lures one in anyway and, after the debacle trying this on Joss, I am quite pleased when she’s put down without much fuss. The Student of Conflict uses Sisters in Spirit to move the Viktoria of Blood forward, and finally the Hungering Darkness moves to attack Taelor on the edge of the central forest but misses completely.

Turn 2: Hungering Darkness and Taelor trade hits but neither goes down so the male Illuminated charges and kills her. The Viktoria of Blood charges the Hungering Darkness and obligingly fails her Horror duel, though my relief is short lived as the Viktoria of Ashes follows up and delivers the killing blow anyway before using Setting Sun. Poor paralysed Viktoria of Blood is Lured round the tower by my Beckoner, then the Archer and Lynch combine to kill her off. On the left, the Ronin shoots my Rail Worker while the one on the right charges the Illuminated for little effect in either case. I score 1 VP for the strategy.

Turn 3: Viktoria of Ashes kills the Illuminated on the left, putting some damage on Kang thanks to the Whirlwind trigger (and scoring a VP for Make Them Suffer) and being placed back in the forest by the companion-ed Student of Conflict. My Rail Worker kills the Convict Gunslinger and the Ronin in the forest continues to chip away at the surviving Illuminated. Lynch moves up to shoot the other Ronin who responds by charging him. The second attack misses and Lynch pushes away with Squeal and the Archer shoots down the offending (and now unengaged) Ronin. Kang charges Viktoria and kills her as all the Soulstones are used up. Finally, the Rail Worker on the left moves into position for Outflank and puts down a scheme marker on the centreline for Line in the Sand. I score a VP for the strategy again.

Turn 4: The last Ronin fails to kill off the Illuminated, who makes no mistake in return. The Student of Conflict, last member of the crew, somewhat optimistically moves up and pokes Kang who, amazingly, is unable to kill her off in his own activation. Considering how he managed with the Viktoria of Ashes last turn, this is a bit disappointing. Still, Lynch moves in and takes the final wound from the Student with Play For Blood. I am able to use the rest of this turn and the next to score any remaining VPs so the Ten Thunders win 10 – 1 (maximum for me, 1 for Make Them Pay for Mark).

That was quite nasty for Mark, who I think was probably not expecting his crew to fold so quickly. I was certainly surprised by how quickly the Viktorias themselves died, but most of the crew’s Soulstones had been used by Taelor staving off the Hungering Darkness in turn 2. The Ronin couldn’t seem to put out enough damage to clear the Illuminated who could keep healing with Brillshaper and of course I had a small advantage from the start by taking out a Ronin during turn 1. Anyway, I was expecting to get a third game on that marvelous board (as I was still on the top table) but the TO moved things around so that someone else could have a play on it, which is fair enough. For the final game I’m up against David Hamilton who is surely the best Malifaux player I’ve actually played against, and probably the best Malifaux player in Scotland. Regular readers will note that he’s beaten me in several previous tournaments, generally going on to win them overall.

Game 3: Ten Thunders (me) vs Outcasts (David H)

Strategy: Turf War

Schemes
Pool: Line in the Sand, Distract, Breakthrough, Take Prisoner, Vendetta
Ten Thunders: Line in the Sand (announced), Vendetta
Outcasts: Take Prisoner (Kang, unannounced), Distract

Crews
Ten Thunders: Jakob Lynch (Endless Hunger), Hungering Darkness, Kang, 2 Rail Workers, 2 Illuminated, Beckoner, Archer, 2SS
Outcasts: Tara, Herald of Obliteration (Dead of Winter, Knowledge of Eternity, Obliteration Symbiote), Nothing Beast, Karina, 2 Death Marshals, 3 Void Wretches, Desperate Merc

I am a big fan of Vendetta on the Archer as his range means it’s quite easy to ensure that his first attack is on the right target; in most crews that doesn’t matter but I don’t have many ranged options at the moment. In this crew the only viable target was the Nothing Beast, and I figured that such a miniature would have to come to me to make itself useful. I know nothing at all about Tara’s crew, so this’ll just have to be done playing by ear.

Turn 1: I forgot to take a photo at deployment, so this is taken after a few moves up for position; there’s another Rail Worker out of shot on the left. The Beckoner Lures a Death Marshal into the open but I can’t put enough damage on him with Lynch to take him out. The other Death Marshal Pine Boxes the Nothing Beast then , right at the end of the turn, everything kicks off. Tara unburies the Nothing Beast in the central building and gives everyone fast (including the nearest Illuminated), discarding all her cards. The Nothing Beast then charges the Illuminated and puts a couple of attacks onto Kang but with nothing to cheat (and me with a full hand from not much happening on turn 1) nothing happens. Hungering Darkness charges up and takes the Nothing Beast down to a couple of wounds in the battle of the big scary monsters.

Turn 2: I flip a 2 for this critical initiative, but David trumps me by flipping out a Black Joker on his positive twist, so the Archer uses Rapid Fire to end the Nothing Beast. This not only scores me 3 VPs for Vendetta but makes me feel a lot more comfortable in the game with that massive nasty out of the way. Tara charges the male Illuminated and uses Soulstones to guarantee the Sympathetic Echoes trigger and put some wounds on the other one. My left hand Rail Worker charges up and kills off the Desperate Mercenary. Karina takes a shot at the badly wounded female Illuminated but can’t quite take her out so she heals up with Brillshaper and charges Tara for a few wounds. The wounded Death Marshal takes a shot at the Hungering Darkness then thinks better of it and moves back behind the building wall and the other on shoots at the Rail Worker. On the far side, the other Rail Worker moves to put down a marker for Line in the Sand. The male Illuminated makes use of the fast status that Tara gave him to put a few more wounds on her, then a Void Wretch makes him fast again and charges for a little damage. I need to get rid of Tara before she makes more of a mess so the Hungering Darkness charges in and ends her while Kang takes out the leading Void Wretch. The Rail Worker on the left gets the Distract condition from a Void Wretch, the Beckoner Lures Karina into the Hungering Darkness’s waiting arms and Lynch polishes off the wounded Death Marshal. We both score 1 VP for the strategy. I never like to count my chickens before they’ve hatched against a player of David’s calibre but I have to admit that I’m feeling like I’m in a strong position here.

Turn 3: The Archers kills Karina with another volley of arrows and the Hungering Darkness moves up and attacks the Death Marshal on the hill. To my slight surprise, the Death Marshal responds by moving up and Distracting it; the Void Wretch with the Rail Worker takes a double defensive stance to make it hard for me to remove the Distracted condition. The Rail Worker kills him anyway and Lynch moves round the building to drop the last Void Wretch with Play for Blood. The rest of my crew move into position to put down scheme markers except Kang who goes to assist the Hungering Darkness (not that it should be needed). I score a VP for the strategy, David scores 1 for his scheme.

Turn 4: The Hungering Darkness eats the final Death Marshall. The Rail Worker removes Distract from himself and everyone else drops scheme markers as needed. Ten Thunders win 10 – 2 (maximum for me, 1 each for Distract and the strategy for David).

The scores are counted and I am in first place – hurrah! I had three very fun games against three nice players which is all I’m really looking for, but I have to admit that it’s a little nicer to end by winning three games than losing them. My children have adorned my trophy (a very pretty looking gold-painted Silurid) with stickers, surely the universal mark of Being A Good Boy so all is well in the world. Thanks to David and Joe for running the event, and to my three opponents for having fun with me.

Categories: Battle reports, Malifaux, Tournaments | Tags: Arcanists, Malifaux, Outcasts, Ten Thunders, Tournaments | 2 Comments

Tuskgor Chariot conversion 2

Posted on October 5, 2013 by Argentbadger

It’s been so long since I posted anything about Beastmen that any random visitors here might be confused by the blog subtitle ‘A Warhammer Beastmen Blog’. Well, it is time to briefly rectify this lapse with a kit-bashed Tuskgor Chariot. Long-time readers will be aware of my preference for plastic over metal as a miniature medium, and specifically my dislike for the proper GW Tuskgor Chariot kit. A while ago, I received a High Elf Chariot as a gift; the lions were duly co-opted into my Ogresses’ force as Sabretusks, and now I’ve completed my nefarious plan by using the rest of the pieces of the chariot. The Ghorgon kit contains a ridiculous number of skulls in varying formats so I put of few of them hanging on the chariot to make it look more Beastman-ish and the shields from the Gor kit are conveniently the exact correct size to hide all the fine workmanship of the Elven wheels behind a lump of wood and bone. The individual pieces here are all just blue-tacked together for photo purposes; I’m only going to glue it all together after the painting is complete.

The beasts of burden are the remaining pair of Chaos Warhounds after the six I painted as a unit and the two pulling my other Tuskgor chariot. The two halves of the body still fit together terribly. Luckily, this perfectly matches my skill with Milliput and a camera.

The Gor is modelling the hands from the High Elf crewman because I like the look of the the reins. They’re a bit fiddly since the only contact point at the moment is the wrist where I removed the driver’s original hands but when I get this all painted they’ll be glued on at the other end too. Despite the reputation for some High Elf miniatures to have outrageous monkey hands, these are somewhat too small but I don’t think it’ll be too noticeable. Since the Gor is unarmed (apart from his horns, which I imagine are tricky to use as a weapon while driving a chariot) the Bestigor has taken on the additional responsibility and packed a spare axe.

Categories: Painting and modelling, Warhammer Fantasy Battle | Tags: Beastmen, Warhammer Fantasy Battle | 6 Comments

Painted Ten Thunders group photo September 2013

Posted on September 28, 2013 by Argentbadger

I’m finally up to date with my Malifaux painting though I suppose that won’t last long. Anyway, Sho3box commented a while ago suggested that I should take a family photo of my Ten Thunders crews and here it is. Of course, this lot is nothing even close to a legal crew in either version of Malifaux, and thanks to the arcane hiring rules that govern the faction half of this lot can’t actually be taken in a crew other than by their thematic master. As of right now, a lot of these miniatures don’t actually have rules in the first half of the Malifaux version 2 release so I can’t even use them in that ruleset. Luckily I’m having a great time playing Jakob Lynch to work out how I can use him to most entertaining effect (against Joe, who should probably become a Henchman and get some recognition for the work he’s starting to do to keep up the community) so I’m not really too worried about the rest yet.

Categories: Malifaux, Painting and modelling | Tags: Malifaux, Ten Thunders | 9 Comments

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