Masters

I’ve booked in a couple of tournaments for the not too distant future, the National Masters being held at the North West Gaming Centre, near Manchester being the main event.  This is a 128 player ‘Masters’ event taking seven rounds to find a champion.  It will probably be the biggest event of the year and all of the ‘who’s who’ of the community will be there.  I’m under no illusion that this will be one of the toughest events I have ever attended for Warmachine, all the top players, a two day gruelling challenge and most likely a stifling hot atmosphere!

I have also just attended the ‘Brothers in Armour’ doubles tournament on 09/06/2013, partnering Paul North – I’ll do another blog entry on this in the near future. [spoiler we won]!!

National Masters 2013:

Regarding the Masters, I am pretty much decided on lists now; I’m going with Kreoss1, Feora2 and Harbinger.  The latter caster has seen a lot of table time recently and the list has evolved to something that I am both comfortable with and somewhat competitive too (more so than the Feora1 and Kreoss3 lists I've been tinkering with lately).  I’ve tweaked the Feora2 list a little and switched the second Reckoner for a Vanquisher, then due to this change, dropped the Zealots unit down to a minimum size and squeezed in a second Vassal.  Reason; having two 4” AoE flaming templates of doom is too good an opportunity to pass up and will get more work done than four zealots.  The other Vassal has a similar function giving the Judicator a third twin missile of flaming goodness, but I also now have more Enliven options.  I am still considering switching the whole Zealot bundle out for the Temple Flameguard bundle in the Kreoss1 list – I just feel the TFG do more work and are more survivable; though the Zealot mini-feat and the KD feat of Kreoss1 is a very strong synergy.  Below are the three lists I’m likely to take:

The Lists:

Harbinger	+5	Feora, Protector of the Flame	+6	High Exemplar Kreoss	+5
*Reckoner	8	*Reckoner	8	*Reckoner	8
*Heirophant	2	*Vanquisher	8	*Reckoner	8
Avatar of Menoth	11	*Judicator (bonded)	18	(4) Choir of Menoth	2
(4) Choir of Menoth	2	(4) Choir of Menoth	2	(10) Exemplar Errants	8
(6) Exemplar Errants	5	(6) Holy Zealots	4	Exemplar Errants UA	2
Exemplar Errants UA	2	Holy Zealots Monolith Bearer	2	(10) Holy Zealots	6
(5) Exemplar Vengers	11	(10) Temple Flameguard	6	Holy Zealots Monolith Bearer	2
(10) Temple Flameguard	6	Temple Flameguard UA	2	Vessel of Judgement	9
Temple Flameguard UA	2	Vassal of Menoth	2	Vassal of Menoth	2
Gorman Di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist	2	Vassal of Menoth	2	Vassal of Menoth	2
Kell Bailoch	2	Vassal Mechanik	1	The Covenant of Menoth	2
Vassal of Menoth	2	(3) The Wracks	1	Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord	2
				Vassal Mechanik	1
				(3) The Wracks	1

Rational behind the lists:

Harbinger

The Harby list is very strong in scenario, her feat is best employed on turn one or two preventing the opposing infantry from advancing and contesting scenario elements.  This isn’t always going to be the case as multi-wound and high ARM units will survive it, certain builds will have no problems such as beast heavy Legion lists for example; but for the most part it will be effective.  This generally boils down to only heavies being able to run forwards and contest, so the Harby player can plan on this and set-up a counter charge to alpha strike said heavies – or go way ahead on control points.  I think that in my practice games so far I’ve won mainly on scenario, though Harby is one of those casters who possesses the trinity of threats: scenario, assassination and attrition in plentiful supply.

The Harbinger list

One of my play-testing changes was to drop the Errants in this list down to a minimum squad, this really felt bad, but they’ve done OK with four less bods and I’m relatively happy with this.  Dropping Gravus was kind of a shame, he synergised really well but in the end he was a big magnet and didn’t really get his points worth – essentially a canny player would target him at range and dismount him reducing his effectiveness greatly.  The list change granted the full TFG unit and I feel they are a real workhorse, they get good use in any list to be fair and they’ve got some great synergy with Harby and her spell list too – so they’re definitely staying!  The Vengers are expensive, but can hit hard from afar, flank if necessary and out-threat/tie up other units when needed.  They block LOS to Harby and saved her bacon from shooting assassinations several times by continually Martyring, for example on a Kara Sloan feat turn, where the battlegroup killed two intervening Vengers about four times over, her Martyring ability keeping them standing and continuing to block LOS!

The army has tools to deal with both armour and infantry, something that a lot of Protectorate units possess both qualities, e.g. Errants charging weapon masters for armour, but also high accuracy stats.  TFG can combine their melee attacks to suit and Protectorate ‘jacks are perhaps the most accurate in the game.  There isn’t a massive amount of assassination threat in the list though everything has the potential, increased speed and an accuracy buff really help here. An Avatar to the face will spell the end for a lot of casters and Harby herself can lay down some hurt, focus 10 with an auto hitting P&S 12 melee weapon or an up to two fully boosted POW20 auto hitting spells is scary.

Feora2

As noted above I made a couple of small changes, I lost some melee threat range on a second Reckoner charging, but gained a really scary AoE and a more surgical method of dealing with infantry, the Zealot mini-feat and set them all on fire for Feora’s feat trick is a lot easier with this and the big AoE synergises well with Feora’s Caustic Presence.

The Feora2 list

The list packs a real punch with the ranged game; Flare from the Reckoner aiding the Judicator’s accuracy when shooting enemy heavies, the ancillary attacks for further damage and the Escort spell giving the ‘jacks 2” more movement to get range.  Clearly the list can deal with infantry; that many continuous fire templates will scare most infantry and Feora2 can surgically target certain models under her feat to almost guarantee this.  With Ignite and the Hymn of Battle the ‘jacks can deal with most armour in the game and the extra movement will help get an alpha strike off.   Perhaps this list can deal with excessive armour more easily than the others, though light infantry will make good hunting too!

In terms of scenario, Feora2 probably has nothing particularly strong to offer, but her army has a good potential to clear zones and scenario elements, she is also very survivable with good native stats and protection buffs, so I’m hopeful she can take charge in scenario by being able to weather an enemy assassination attempt and dominate zones.  Her attrition game is strong and the army can inflict huge damage, assassination wise, she has some tricks and no enemy caster likes being on fire.

Kreoss1

This list has remained the same for quite some time, but synergises well, I’ve mused over swapping the Zealot unit out for the TFG – exactly the same points, possibly because the TFG get more actual work done, though Kreoss’ feat does allow the Zealots two turns of getting out of melee with the enemy and easy pickings for direct hits off their usually low accuracy high POW bombs.  I think the Zealots are staying, but it is always good to muse over these things!

The Kreoss1 list

This list has clearly got a strong assassination threat with the ‘pop and drop’, it can deliver three fully-boosted POW 15’s and two un-boosted to a knocked down target.  If the caster can’t be targeted, or is too tough to kill then the feat can be used in a strong attrition game by killing the enemy army – Errants doing a ‘live the dream’ turn with their Quickwork ability and double tapping enemy infantry.  Regarding scenario, Kreoss1 doesn’t do anything especially effective, though his army is very resilient and can contest zones and scenario elements well, the feat can buy a turn to clear a zone and score points if necessary.

List Match-ups:

This is a real problem for me, I'm just not sure what will do well against certain factions, all of the lists are pretty well balanced so I'd probably do reasonable with whatever I drop against Cygnar for example.  There is a lot of talk about creating and 'anti-X' list, which is perhaps the way to go, but then people build and anti-anti-X list and so on.  To be fair I'm not going to be fighting it out at the top so I'll try and not get too hung up on this, just play what I fancy, or maybe not drop a certain list if they've got a lot of anti-tech, say anti-knockdown in each list would mean Kreoss would be a poor choice.

I've thought about asking various friends who are also honing their Masters lists about which of mine they would least like to face and why, that way I'll see the strengths of my lists rather than focussing on their weaknesses against others.

Glamour shots:

Painted Menites!

Especially for Mark…

As promised in the last thrilling blog post some Menite stuff has been painted and now photographed.  Below are some of the fruits of my labours over the past couple of weeks as well as a bit of painting info:

Templar

The Templar for the Feora2 list was once a Crusader, from the Starter Set, I painted it up whole (without magnetising).  I used a razorsaw to remove the Crusader’s mace and added magnets to these parts allowing for the Crusader to be re-assembled when the need arose.  I also added another tiny magnet into the open fist allowing for the Templar’s shield to be added.  I tried to pop off the Crusader’s head so that I could magnetise and swap this, but unfortunately it was glued too well.  Below are a couple of shots of the completed Templar:

Templar, ready to beat face!

Feora2

Following on from the Templar I painted the good lady herself; Feora2.  I originally assembled the whole model for gaming purposes, but when it came to painting I cracked the glue joins and removed her from the epic base.  Given that her epic base is basically a big bonfire I needed to be able to get a brush to all of it, additionally it would allow me to paint from underneath the model easily and do a thorough job on her cloak and chainmail.

Feora2 front view

 Painting Gold

Feora2 side view

Feora2 rear view

Feora2 front vie

I followed the standard Menoth colour scheme for her cloak and armour etc, but I’ll elaborate on the gold a little more: the model firstly took a heavy drybrush of P3 Rhulic Gold with a second coat to strengthen the colour.  The next step was to do a further drybrush of P3 Solid Gold, this was applied less heavily than the first in order to add highlight, rather than obliterate the effect.  Drybrushing is often seen as a less advanced technique and somewhat negative, but I find that it takes some skill and a lot of practice to get the consistencies and technique right for the desired effect.  The gold at this stage looks strong and there should be definition from black undercoat in the deepest crevasses to Solid Gold on the highest points.  I usually allow the paint to cure for a short while between coats as drybrushing can be quite abrasive, a good idea is to do several models at once.  After the drybrushing is complete and the paint hardened a little I add my own gold wash, it is basically Citadel Chestnut Ink and P3 Mixing Medium and clean water.  The chestnut colour adds warmth and richness to gold whilst not matting the sheen, however inks tend to pool and streak so medium is essential to get a proper wash.  I add clean water to simply dilute the strength of the ink.  I’ve found that the mixture needs to be strong enough to be seen, but not so strong it removes the dark to light gradient generated by the drybrushing, this is inevitable to a certain extent, hence the next step is to re-drybrush Solid Gold, but only lightly.  A good tip is to ensure the wash is 100% dry and had some time to cure before drybrushing as this mistake will ruin everything…

In summary the two P3 golds are really good, they provide a strong coverage and a rich colour, but the wash is what makes the effect really work; hopefully you can see it in the photos.

Feora2 base (no flash)

Painting Fire

Feora2 base (flash)

As you can see above in the photos of Feora2 she is standing on a bonfire, this was a pain in the arse to do and hopefully it looks like fire, I started from a black undercoat, as I’d sprayed the whole model months ago, possibly not ideal I thought, but I don’t have any more white, so I tried a top spray of grey primer and did a couple of heavy drybrushes of pure white.  I then tinted the whole thing with Citadel Wash Baal Red.  This gave me the deep red in the nooks and crannies up to a lighter red where the Citadel Skull White had chance to make a strong coverage.  Next I layer painted Citadel M. Solar Orange onto the flames higher points, using the lighter red washed areas as a reference.  I attempted to layer paint P3 Cygnar Yellow onto the previous orange, but found it did not lay well, therefore I painted Citadel Skull White instead.  Then, over the top of the white I applied the Cygnar Yellow, the white giving me a good foundation to make the Yellow work.  Finally I layered Skull White onto the top most flaming highlights.  The result was a layered flame effect from dark red through orange and yellow, up to white.  Similarly to the gold I made a wash to pull the shades closer together- the mid shade being orange, so I mixed Cygnar Yellow with P3 Khador Red Highlight and lots of medium and some clean water.  The resultant wash was applied in several layers and had the effect of lightening the reds and darkening the yellows and tinting the white to the desired effect.  Washing will bring colours closer together and I managed to remove the stark changes in red/orange/yellow/white whilst preserving the illusion of depth

Next some Zealots and Menofixer action!  But until then feast your eyes on this bad mutha:

Judicator, photo obtained from the PP Menoth forum