Monday, January 16, 2012

Domination Event

This past weekend was the first time we played Warmachine/Hordes in a public forum.  We traveled to our NLGS (not-so-local-gaming-store) about 50 minutes away to play in a Domination Release event.  I had a great time and got to play with some new people with different styles of play that I hadn't experienced yet.  I also faced some new factions that I'd never seen before.  Up until now, I'd played my Circle and Cygnar with Protectorate, Cryx, Legion, and Trollbloods.  I went into it expecting that we were playing for points and needed a 35pt army, according to modified Domination event rules.  However, due to turnout and people's army composition, the event was changed to a 15pt tournament.  This had some impact that I'll get into below.  Overall, it was a blast and I'm planning to go back in two weeks for some more casual games.


Event Prep:

Here's a picture of the additional guys I painted for the event.  The plan was to add another 20 pts to the 15pt army I already had.  Most of the painting took place the week between Christmas and New Year's.  I had the whole week off and painted for a good three days of that.  It was a luxury that I won't have again in the for-seeable future and I really enjoyed it.



It turned out that we only played 15 point games.  Of the guys above, I did get to use the Gobbers and Shifting Stone UA.  Also, I won't have to stress about getting to 35 pts again... in this faction.  

The event also called for some bring-your-own terrain in the form of boulders.  The ones below were made from 3 pieces of 1/2" insulation sandwiched together with construction adhesive.  I covered them with spackle, then epoxied them to the 50mm bases.  A little dry-brushing after that and they were done.  Total time, about an hour.


 

The Army:

I ended up bringing mostly the Circle starter warpack with a few exceptions. 

[00] Kaya the Wildborne (0 / 6 WB)
[09]  >> Feral Warpwolf
[04]  >> Argus
[04]  >> Gorax
[02] Shifting Stones
[01]  >> Stone Keeper
[01] Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew

I replaced an Argus with a Gorax for the empty hands and added the stones and UA, and the gobbers.  The stones and gobbers worked out well, but I didn't get much more utility out of Gorax.  I never used his animus and there was nothing to throw with his hands.  I should have brought the other argus for his paralyze spray. 


The Games:

We played three 15pt games using the Domination event scenario.  Instead of using the deeds to score points, we played a standard tournament. I played Cryx the first game, Legion the second, and Skorne for the last game.  I won out against Cryx by scenario points but lost to Legion and Skorne from caster assassinations.  Legion, running non-epic Thagrosh, pelted me with ranged attacks from his winged beast.  Skorn, running the new Domination caster, ran into melee with Kaya and spent 7 attacks killing her. 

 

Learnings:

These games were really good experience.  Many mistakes were made, but they were valuable lessons.  I will remember to use Spirit Door to slingshot my vulnerable heavy beasts (I'm looking at you, Feral Warpwolf) back with Spirit Door.  I'll remember not to fill up a warbeast with fury if I hope to transfer damage to it.  I will remember that stealthed models do not block LOS and that Shifting Stones, while immovable, can still be trampled over. I will remember that when faced with heavies, that I should focus enough firepower on them to kill them if I can't disable them another way.  Don't send a light against a heavy and expect to kill it.

Friday, January 13, 2012

Lord of the Feast

What a great sculpt.  I love this guy.  The antlered helm, the raven perched on his arm, the severed hand hanging from this bag.... what??  Yeah, he's that kind of guy.

His assembly really challenged me.  At first I didn't bother to pin anything.  However, his sword arm broke off while painting him so I added the pin there.  It was a pretty easy pin job.  The horns, however, took me about 20 minutes to attach.  It felt like longer.  I couldn't figure out how they were intended to line up.  Eventually, after some filing, I found a position that seemed to work well and it glued surprisingly easily.

As usual, I tried to follow the studio painting scheme.  The part where I winged it was the antlers.  I'm not too happy with them, but overall I think he turned out okay for a tabletop standard.  I'm in the midst of trying to crank out 35pts for an event in two weeks, so I don't have much time to spare for the details.

Lord of the Feast

Thursday, January 5, 2012

35pt Domination List - update

Here's an update to my domination list.

http://geeklyminis.blogspot.com/2012/01/35-pt-domination-list.html


Wolves of Orboros (6 man) - complete
Woldwarden - complete
Lord of the Feast - complete
Swamp Gobbers - complete (late addition)
Grayle 
Wolves UA
Morraig

Making some decent progress.