Monday 22 October 2012

The Harbinger

The Harbinger is another Menite warcaster, she is mounted on a large base and is incredibly detailed.  This miniature is perhaps the most awkward mini I have ever built and painted.  It is very delicate and there isn't much space for pinning; further citing the positions for all of the Zealots and Harby herself is very tricky, being out by a few millimeters will mean that the model will not fit right.

Initial assembly was tough as outlined above, but a lot of 'dry-fitting' with pins was worth it in the end.  The Harbinger herself has a pin laterally right through her hips to attach both side swirls.  She also has a pin vertically to attach the upper and lower torsos - I painted these separately, as were the three Zealots and her shoulder guards.

One small mistake that I made was perhaps not replacing the haft of the flag given that this piece flexes all of the time and may well break in the future.  The problem is that it isn't round, but rather rectangular and very hard to remove from her hand.  If I did another Harby model I'd take the time to use brass rod, but for now I'll try and securely pack her in my figure case...

Painting was quite a treat for this model as the long flowing swirls lend themselves to some nice blending and the miniature(s) are all very nicely sculpted cumulating in a great model for the tabletop.  I used all of the colours and techniques described in previous articles, so hopefully you'll like the end result:

Harbinger - upper torso

Harbinger - lower torso

Harbinger - full view (front)

Harbinger - full view (side)

Harbinger - full view (rear)

Harbinger - full view (side)

Harbinger - Zealots (front)

Harbinger - Zealots (rear)

Turning the tables Splattermania style.
I'm no photographer or computer tech so my first video is a bit poop I'm afraid, but I've had a go at a 3D Harby.  It looks too dark to me, but maybe in future I'll learn how to get the lighting right, any tips please drop me a comment or an email!


Thursday 18 October 2012

Open War 18 – The Menite Crusade



On the last entry I discussed the imminent tournament; Open War 18, where I was taking my Menites to purge the unclean and baptise the unfaithful in the holy fires of The Creator!  Below is a brief synopsis of each game and a run down on my thoughts of the event.

Deneghra1 (taken from BattleCollege)
Game 1
Adam Archer – Cryx (Deneghra1)
Scenario:  Incursion

I faced Adam in the first round of Open War 17 earlier in the year and he took a very similar list, the same Warcaster and at the same points value.  Since the last time we crossed tape measures I’ve played a bit of Cryx and knew a bit more how to deal with them and this really helped during the game.  Adam won the initial roll and chose his side giving me the first turn.

On both of our first turns we just ran towards the middle ground and positioned.

On the second turn I had a good opportunity to hit the Cryx front line and killed all of the Bile Thralls, Bloat Thrall and damaged a pistol Wraith and did 6 wounds on Tartarus.  Adam responded by killing a couple of Errants and crippling my Reckoner’s melee weapon.  I also made an error in judgement and wasn’t close enough to an objective to contest it giving Adam an early control point.

On my third turn I felt that the Reckoner should slam the Cryx chicken ‘jack that had taken the cheeky control point and needing a seven on three dice failed miserably – boo!  The TFG did a couple of big CMA’s on the other chicken bonejack which was contesting the other objective.  Perhaps the rudest thing was the Vanquisher neatly landing a 4” AOE on a Bane Thrall and clipping six more in the blast killing all but one; the Errants mopping up Tartarus and most of the remaining Bane infantry.  Adam managed to kill a couple more Errants, but was struggling with causing much damage where he needed it.  This turn saw a turn in the tide towards the Menoth regarding attrition, but still Adam was 1-0 up on control points.

On the fourth turn I managed to destroy the remaining Banes and one chicken ‘jack with the TFG and remaining Errants.  The Vanquisher also managed to set Deneghra on fire and cause a few wounds.  Adam was loosing the attrition quite badly by now and I was now equal on control points.  He used Deneghra’s feat defensively, which would slow my advance and release some of the pressure, but the fire kept on burning and Deneghra was getting low on health.

On the fifth turn I was able to clear out the two objectives to secure a control point victory, however the Vanquisher was able to shoot Deneghra twice more and sealed the game with a ‘caster-kill.

So a win to the Menites with a truck load of Army points (the secondary sort) meant I was in the lead after game 1!

Result: WIN AP:58

Saeryn (taken from BattleCollege)
Game 2
Andy McBirnie – Legion (Saeryn)
Scenario:  Outfight, Outflank, Outlast (reserves artifice)

Andy is a close friend and regular gaming partner, but this was inivetible considering four of the six players were from my local gaming group!  Andy is a skilled tactition and we often have long drawn out attrition style games, this would be no different!!  We both took the opposite list to what the other expected and we would effectively replay a practice game from earlier in the week!  I chose Feora2.

Andy took the first turn and sent his army upfield at full speed, I did similar, but held back a little so as not to enter his beasts threat ranges and try and keep the Zealots somewhat safe from the Deathstalker and mounted character solo.

On turn two Andy brought on his reinforcements and began the tactical game with cunning manoeuvreing and positioning.  He was planning on nibbling out my support from range and I tried to defend.  One thing that did occur was that the Avatar left the centre ground and went far left to take on Andy’s reinforcements and the left hand pit.  He was just about immune to the warrior model solos and was self generating in focus so wouldn’t need the ‘caster or support as much.  This effectively divided the game between the two battlegroups facing off in one pit and the Avatar Vs the rest in the other.

Turn three saw the Saeryn feat which makes the Legion battlegroup untargetable by melee attacks and positioning the beasts in harms way, but immune to retaliation.  I used my Zealots minifeat to make them immune to most damage and ran to engage the beasts and clog them down, returning the iniative back to me, however I was aware that Saeryn could use Blight Bringer to clear out my Zealots, so I tried to spread them out to mitigate that somewhat.  The Errant reserves, which entered the frey on turn two, also adding their ability to Self Sacrifice to add tar pit issues to the Legion beasts.  The Avatar was able to destroy Andy’s Reak as it was out of Saeryn’s control area as well as a few solos, his natural MAT 8 and my ability to roll high was keeping the left hand pit looking safe, though Andy had numerous pieces to keep the Avatar from lending his weight against Andy’s two Scythean’s in the right hand pit.

On turn four Andy saw an assassination angle and cleared out some of the Zealots and Errants (with Blight Bringer) and mused over a trample, crossing a couple of linear features and wail on Feora with a Scythean.  We both discussed it and Andy decided not to do it as the linear feature would put the Scythean’s base too far forwards and therefore out of melee with Feora.  The pair of Scytheans went to town on the Errants butchering them almost entirely.  The Avatar continued its rampage and smashed up another three solos, almost clearing the pit.  My plan for this turn was to put some hurt on Saeryn and her beasts and set her on fire.  The Vanquisher took an almighty freestrike off an Angel, but manoeuvred into a position where the blast would catch Saeryn no matter how far it deviated (I was 2” away), unfortunately I just wandered into the melee range of a Shepherd (2” reach) which I forgot about.  The Templar went mental on the front Scythean and killed it, just to have it respawn 3” away!  It was looking a bit iffy for Feora at this point and she advanced and feated moving the fire to Saeryn, but doing nothing damage-wise.  I then moved the last Zealot up to throw a bomb at Saeryn’s back and the question of the Shepherds melee range came into question and Andy realised that he’d played it wrong initially as his arcs were wrongly painted (front and back, instead of left and right).  At this point we realised that the Vanquisher was indeed able to fire.  Andy was good natured in allowing me to do this, but I think it was fair as I hadn’t actually made a mistake in entering the Shepherds melee range after all and it was a really vital part of my turn.  The Vanquisher proceeded to roll box cars and obscenely high on the boosted damage roll completely altering the game dynamics.  We also re-set Feora’s feat as the Vanquisher should have shot before that and therefore I didn’t need to move the fire, I just left it on the respawned Scythean.

After the shenanigans at the end of turn four the game had been totally shaken up and things were quite interesting, the fire killed the respawned Scythean and Saeryn had to eat some fire damage.  Both Andy and I had 7-8 mins remaining, but dice-down was called.  We weren’t expecting that as we each had a fair bit on the clock, but there had been a few pauses for rules queries and perhaps we started late, therefore it went down to tertiary victory conditions and I had the most points in the two zones and took a victory.

I would have liked to have played the game out as there was still absolutely everything to play for, I was up a heavy, but Andy would have got the alpha strike and changed that fact quite easily.  I really don’t know who would have won, but it would have been an epic struggle for certain!

 Result: WIN AP:26

Kaya2 & Laris (taken from BattleCollege)
Game 3
Luke Foster – Circle (Kaya2)
Scenario:  Sacrifice

Another inevitable draw against a regular gaming buddy.  I took Kreoss to this encounter as we weren’t sure if you had to use both lists or not, but Kreoss would be strong which ever list Luke chose I felt.

I took the first turn and sent everything towards the centre, Luke did likewise.

On the second turn I made a similar mistake to the first game and didn’t put anything into the pit to contest, but concentrated on positioning for attrition and put some hurt on one of Luke’s beasts with a Menoth Sighted Reckoner.  Luke scored his first control point and positioned to hold the pit ready for a second.  I realised that I was going to loose if I didn’t change my strategy and I decided to charge/run with the Errants and they just managed to get a few bodies into the pit, but were so spread out several were now out of command and would be able to do nothing next turn.  Rhoven and Co. managed to get into the pit and engage a few Druids, one Reckoner also got a toe in and the Choir sang the hymn of anti-magic (I figured Luke might try and force bolt it out).  I think a Vassal might have just got a toe in too.  I managed to kill off Luke’s immediate forces around the scoring objective in the other side of the board and reduced the chances of Luke scoring a second point and winning next turn.

On the third turn Luke quite rightly set to work clearing the pit, but soon realised that his dice weren’t quite up to the task and I still had a couple of infantry models left, blocking a path to the Reckoner, as well as it being enlivened.  On my third turn I feated and killed two of Luke’s beasts and further added more bodies to the pit and placed a ring of models around the objective making it very hard for Luke to score his second vital point.

On Luke’s fourth turn the attrition had started to take its toll and Luke was down to a couple of beasts and infantry models and the pit/objective were too packed to clear with the forces he had remaining.  Luke had lots of time on his clock and he could have just let the time run down and won on secondary conditions, but Luke is a sporting player and continued the game trying to get back into the fight.

On my next turn I set to work clearing the pit, killing last remaining beasts and infantry to score a point myself and make the conditions tertiary, which I would win on.  Before I scored my control point I assassinated Kaya2 with a few Reckoner shots.  This however shouldn’t have happened as Luke had cast Shadowpack, which gave Kaya stealth, we both forgot about it so my apologies to Luke, however it would have been 1-1 on control points and I hadmore points in the pit if dice down was called.  I could have run out of time I guess, but my forces would have focussed on killing Kaya, who would have had to be in multiple charge ranges.

Another great game against a cunning opponent, a few good dice rolls early game would have seen Luke clear the pit and score his second and final control point, or later game I might not have cleared the pit before time expired etc meaning I could quite easily have lost this game, I guess the Menoth luck was with me ;-)

 Result: WIN AP:41

Soarscha2 (taken from BattleCollege)
Game 4
Dave Forster – Khador (Sorscha2)
Scenario:  Close Quarters

The final game against another regular gaming buddy, ah well might as well play all my mates in one tourney!  Dave and I had played a couple of practice matches and I had already learned the hard way that big Konquest is a bit of a bad boy under Epic Sorscha, kind of “Hulk SMASH” and my anti-armour list had been, well Hulk-smashed!  Therefore I chose my Kreoss list for a different set of prospects.  I chose board edge, mainly to get my Errants behind a wall that was centre field, though this was a double edged sword in the end.

Dave ran forwards on the first turn, as did I, just nibbling a couple of Winterguard and IFP who had strayed too far into my threat range, but I had made a big mistake…. a huge mistake....

On Dave’s turn two I realised my mistake, I hadn’t cast Defender’s Ward on the Errants and they really needed that ARM bonus against the Winter Guard sprays, sadly I had dropped a real clanger and Dave punished me for my mistake big time leaving just two out of twelve alive – sad times!  I was in a tough position here and decided to use my knockdown feat to hurt the Winterguard killing most of them including the officer, standard and racketeer.  I had to hunker down in my pit and both ‘jacks were enlivened and trying to position for safety.  Somehow I’d cleared Dave’s pit and gotten a Reckoner’s toe into the pit to claim a control point.

On Dave’s next turn the IFP came in and did a few CMA’s, killing a few bits and pieces, the Errants and some of Rhoven’s group died, the odd support piece too, but I was still in it and somehow 1-0 up.  Kreoss himself and the remnants of Rhoven’s group attacked and killed several IFP, as did the Reckoners, just thinning out the enemy infantry whilst trying to stay safe.  The wall was just enough to stop Konquest being in the thick of the action.

On the following turn Dave was starting to get a bead on Kreoss and he took a little damage, but Defender’s Ward was helping preserve his life!  On my turn I just about cleared all the IFP and most of the Winterguard, but Konquest and Sorscha2’s feat were looming…

Dave saw the opportunity and took it, giving Konquest four and casting Boundless Charge the great Khadoran Colossal charged Kreoss…  Defender’s Ward meant Konquest needed 10’s to hit, so Dave boosted both initials to hit and missed, bought and boosted a third…and missed.  It was so unlucky as Kreoss would have been a smear if one of those P&S 22 fists had landed.  I saw a cheeky opportunity and did a cunning trample with a Reckoner and scored a second control point, Kreoss did the honerable thing and ran to hide behind a piece of cover on the backfield.  I was about ¼” away from destroying Kreoss as the kill-box artifice was in play for this scenario.

On Dave’s next turn his time was almost expired, but he continued to press forwards, but luckily Kreoss was too high DEF and ARM to be hurt by Konquests guns and Dave passed the turn.  I saw the opportunity and killed Kovnik Joe, the only model in Dave’s pit and scored a third point to win the match.

In hind sight Dave really did deserve to win, my forgetting to cast Defender’s Ward set the pace for Dave to pressure me attritionally and he should have landed one if not two of those Konquest hits to kill Kreoss.  Another fantastic game, super hard fought, though Dave had realised that both of our positions in the tournament could not have been affected by the outcome of the game (the field was so small mathematics dictated the result after three rounds)!

 Result: WIN AP:17

So in the final standings I came first, Dave second and Luke third.

I managed to get maximum 100 points (4x20 points for gaming and 20 points for painting), I also managed to get the highest AP’s (142) and I was very chuffed to secure Best Painted too – so a clean sweep!  I guess with there only being six players, four from Hull and my local gaming group of which only two were fully painted meant competition was not as high as if there had been more players, but nevertheless I thoroughly enjoyed it and all my opponents gave me a hard fought and tough game!  Many thanks to my four opponents who were all gents and could quite easily have beaten me, just a few dice-rolls here and there could have easily changed the results – cheers guys. :-)

My winning trophies!

Thursday 11 October 2012

Open War 18



With quite short notice myself, Luke, Dave and Andy from the Hull area decided to buy tickets for Open War 18, due to take place this Saturday at Maelstrom Games, Mansfield.  The tournament is locked-in now and there are only 8 players, it appears that the team element has been cancelled so there is a very real prospect that the four of us will end up playing one another.  Since the field is so small I’m hoping that the event will be really good fun and perhaps more light hearted than a standard event.  It would be very cool if the four of us could face the four of them in a kind of challenge, but I'm not sure that would suit the organisers or all players.  Details of the event including rules pack can be found here.

List building
I decided to go with Kreoss1 and Feora2 for my two 35 point lists and try out Severius1 at 50 points.  As character restrictions are enforce across all three lists building a good balance is tricky.  Having finished the battle engine recently I felt that it should go in the Sevvy list; as per the last entry I’m undecided on its worth at 9 points (taking the place of a unit or ‘jack), but the thing is such a beautiful model I felt it deserved to take pride of place when the armies are placed for painting judging, additionally it fits better at 50+ points.  Feora2 also will get her first tournament debut: though I am hesitant on the list change.  Basically I dropped the bonded Templar in favour of a bonded Redeemer and Gorman Di Wulfe and switched the Vanquisher to a Reckoner – from previous play testing at 35 points.  The Kreoss list is a slimmed down version of the 50 point ETC list that I've been happy with of late.

The lists
List 1 (35 points)
Feora, Protector of the Flame
*Reckoner
*Redeemer (bonded)
Avatar of Menoth
(4) Choir of Menoth
(10) Holy Zealots
*Holy Zealots Monolith Bearer
Vassal Mechanic
Vassal Mechanic
Vassal of Menoth
Gorman Di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist
List 1 Reinforcements
(6) Exemplar Errants
*Exemplar Errants UA

List 2 (35 points)
High Exemplar Kreoss
*Reckoner
*Reckoner
(4) Choir of Menoth
(10) Exemplar Errants
*Exemplar Errants UA
Visgoth Rhoven & Honour Guard
Vassal of Menoth
Vassal of Menoth
Covenant of Menoth
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord
List 2 Reinforcements
(3) Exemplar Vengers

List 3 (50 points)
 Grand Scrutator Severius
*Blessing of Vengeance
*Reckoner
*Vanquisher
Vessel of Judgement
(4) Choir of Menoth
(6) Temple Flameguard
* Temple Flameguard UA
(10) Exemplar Errants
*Exemplar Errants UA
Vassal Mechanic
Vassal Mechanic
Vassal of Menoth
Vassal of Menoth

*As I write this article I'm really unsure about list 1, whether to have a bonded Redeemer & Gorman or the bonded Templar.... hmmm decisions decisions!

Sylys Wishbone
Also this month the Breast Cancer Brawl event will be taking place in Leeds, Travelling Man and I promised to paint up Sylas Wyshnalyrr for Luke, so below are the fruits of my labours for a couple of nights painting – hope he does you proud mate :-)

Sylys Wyshnalyrr front

Sylys Wyshnalyrr back


Sylys Wyshnalyrr close-up

Wednesday 3 October 2012

More Completed Menites



Firstly, many thanks for the kind comments in the previous entry, much obliged thanks :-)

This article will basically showcase the painted miniatures I have mentioned in the previous couple of entries; Holy Zealots, Vassal Mechanic and Vessel of Judgement.  They were all painted in the same style as my previous Menites, picking out select panels for the lilac; the colour which singles my personal army out from the standard colour scheme, basing etc.

Holy Zealots
The Zealots came out quite well and they were quite nice to paint, they’re one piece models, barring the Monolith Bearer and the poses are all quite similar, but still I think the unit looks quite individual and good on the battlefield.

Gaming-wise I’ve not fielded the unit many times and need some practice to get the best out of them, they have very short ranged weapons and not much cop in melee.  I think their mini-feat makes them somewhat invulnerable for a round and can therefore be used to jam up an enemy unit for a turn.  I think their bombs are better at using the blast damage rolls to clear out high DEF, low ARM troops, but anything with half way decent armour has laughed at them so far!
Holy Zealots unit
Holy Zealots side view
Holy Zealots front view
Holy Zealot rear view
Holy Zealots side view

**Monolith Bearer photo to come!

Vassal Mechanic
The Mechanic is a fairly new miniature and came out with Prime2, I think it is quite well posed and there are quite a few nice details, tools etc.

In the game they are skill [8] and therefore just above average to make the skill check, but not enough to be reliable in my opinion, so 2-3 if points allow would be a better statistical option.  I guess if you’re fielding numerous ‘jacks and or the Vessel of Judgement then these “Menofixers” are a great addition.

Vassal Mechanic front view

Vassal Mechanic rear view

Vassal Mechanic side view

Vessel of Judgement
In the last article I showed off a couple of snaps of my work in progress for this battle engine.  It is now complete as seen below.

Gaming-wise, I’ve only had a couple of games with this machine now and aren’t convinced it is worth the nine point investment, I think it will come into its own at around 50+ points where it becomes difficult to field another ‘jack and you’ve already got a couple of decent units.  I think it kind of takes the place of one of these and at less than 50 points the ‘jack or unit is more valuable.  Might not be the case, but from less than a handful of games using it at 35 points these are my thoughts!

Vessel of Judgement

Vessel of Judgement

Vessel of Judgement

Vessel of Judgement
Next up, hopefully a 360 degree rotation of the Harbinger, Splattermania style!