My Khador - 2008

I got to read my WARMACHINE Superiority again last night. I liked how those Notable Kompanies struck a nice touch in the Khadoran force. So since I do have a lot of models at home which are in various states of incompleteness , I decided to adapt the Notable Kompanies in my collection.

I have a whole new box of Iron Fang Pikemen which I'll paint up to be the Howling Wolves.

The other unit of Widowmakers will be painted up in the colors of Blood Ravens.

I'll be adding some freehand to my Man-O-War Demolition Corps and make them that Ram kompany (I'm forget their name).

Maybe I'll get another box of Winter Guard and paint them white, too.

Well, since I'm very happy with how my painting and gaming turned out, I'll just continue with it (while I'm waiting for the Koldun Lord and the Khadoran Guard Dog; Great Bears... not so).

Reawakening the Tomb Fleet

I got to play a 1000-point game: Necrons versus Ultramarines. More details here.

CTA `08 Week Two Aftermath

Fortune has been by my side for the second week now. I've gotten top place for the second week of the Christmas Call To Arms despite the peculiar handicap for me (yeah, I'm used to playing with Eiryss, what can I do? LOL).

My second game was against John "Tiny" David who used Lord Commander Coleman Stryker. Apparently Tiny was still shaking off his rust, as he was grasping at proper application of his new models (the ones he bought off Ryan Tamayo). No Arcane Storm, no early feat. But as always, I do not make it a habit of underestimating my opponents. I took Supreme Kommandant Gurvaldt Irusk for that game. Unlike my old build, I dropped some infantry in favor of a Destroyer, which would be a good candidate for a mobile Fire For Effect firebase. But it was the Battle Lust + Kill Stroke on my Kayazy Assassins that won the game for me. Ventilate death!

My third game was not counted because it was against Tiny again (Kei did not favor gaming against me). I used Orsus Zoktavir and he used his same list. I went for sending eButcher out front as fast as he can, even though I was rolling abyssmally low for his Arcane Dementia. In the end, I went for objective victory, clearing No Man's Land of Tiny's three Storm Lancers.

My official third game was against Dick Sy and his new Circle Orboros army. He fielded Kromac the Ravenous that evening and I used the eIrusk list I had (I did not have time to change lists since I came from Fairview before I went to the game). The maneuverability and speed of that army was blinding. I knew I was going to be outmaneuvered so I opted to bunch up all the squishy models I had within 10" of eIrusk, just so they can benefit from Tough. Another objective win, this time I went for his lone Gnarlhorn Satyr with my Drakhun and some Battle Lust Iron Fang Pikemen while my Fire For Effect Destroyer sent his Druids fleeing.

Good games all in all. Again I hope I can squeeze in time for the CTA games this following week.

Blood War - Chaos Daemons versus Tyranids

Posted by Ian Siongco on the HGR blog:

Soul and Flesh

Posted by Kuneho at 12:08 PM

1000pts: Hive fleet Conqueror (kuneho) vs Chaos Deamons (Kim)
Location: Battlr Bunker
Date: 08Dec'08
Mission: Seize Ground
Deployment: Dawn of war
Terrain: Hills

The Conqueror fleet moved towards the desecrated island in the south, a deamon controlled sector, looking for yet another prey. Consuming every life form that crossed their paths, and destroying every deamon tombs along its way. It made the deamons mad, as bloodletters and a deamon prince was summoned out to reclaim the remaining tombs. The battle between the Soul devourer and the Flesh devourer commence.

soulless, the Hive tyrant together with the genestealers assaulted the bloodletters and the deamon prince, totally devouring them. The deamon flesh was sweet, better than those of humans. Another batch of deamons arrived, as the juggernaughts slaughtered one of the hormogaunt brood. The bloodthirster was caught by the other hormogaunt brood, holding it until the carnifexes arrived.

It was a total carnage for both sides, and ended in a stalemate as 2 of the tombs were recovered by the deamons.

Result: Draw!!!

Looks like I'll have to be more narrative on my battle report for this one *LOL*

"Do you sense it, brother," the Daemon Prince's words were like a smoldering knife cutting across rotting fat, "It is the deafening song of the Devourer's brood! They have come at last! The foretold day, it seems, has arrived earlier."

Sauhandiir held an Imperial Guardsman's soul in one of his massive claws. It dragged the suffering entity across the flames of the tempestuous Warp as it moved closer towards a massive hulking form of a Bloodthirster. As if feeding of the soul's torment, Sauhandiir reared its head and revealed it sharp, misshapen teeth in an elated smile.

Marzog ignored the daemon prince behind it, its thoughts only brewing on how to bring much suffering to the Guardsman that brought him low in close battle no less. Countless souls were being sucked into Marzog's gaping maw. They would need such to be able to break out of the Warp once again.

Unlike the other denizens of the swirling Chaos, the brotherhood of the Daemon Prince and the Bloodthirster were utterly impatient. They enjoyed devouring souls in the Warp as much as blood bathed their material forms outside of it.

The Daemon Prince weaved several souls into the form of a humanoid skull, and latched it upon one of his wings as he continued towards Marzog.

"Do you not feel them, brother," Sauhandiir asked again, its face warping in and out of a blur, "They are close."

The Bloodthirster's voice was a low rumble of thunder. "They are soulless. We will benefit nothing."

"Nothing," Sauhandiir interrupted, "nothing save glorious battle. Open your eyes, brother, and see!"

Marzog allowed the Daemon Prince's slithering tone to convince it. It turned it's horned head, as if looking afar into one of the pockets of void upon Chaos. And indeed it saw.

The Greater Daemon's vision was flashes of scuttling claws amid a shaking earth and the euphoric screams of mortal pain. Beyond the sea of Hormogaunt scythes and Genestealer claws, Marzog saw the hulking forms of a Hive Tyrant and a pair of Carnifex. As sudden as the vision vanished, the Bloodthirster immediately felt a great hunger. Tyranids may not have souls, but Marzog knew his craving for battle will be sated.

The Bloodthirster bellowed, it's sound deafening through many world. It has called for his army.

+++

Learning points when fighting Tyranids:

• Never be on the charging end of Genestealers. EVER. They will eat you up quite literally. I don't care if you're Daemons. You CHARGE THEM, never the other way around.
• Use their numbers against them. For all that model count, it will be difficult to move into proper position (same with the truckload of Khadoran infantry but without eIrusk).
• Never underestimate those small bugs. You big Daemon MIGHT still roll stupid, even with just 3's to hit and 2's to wound.
  

Christmas CTA `08 - Week Two

I got my first game in for Week Two. With this week's special rule of "no other characters besides the warcasters and warlocks", it seemed strange for me since I'm very used to playing with Eiryss. With the recent addition of Orin Midwinter and Beast-09, it's too bad for me since I won't be able to use them.

My first game was against Fred Escalona, who still used Iron Lich Asphyxious even at 750 points. But with the double-edged scenario rules, he won't be able to use Tartaus, Gorman di Wulfe, Darragh Wrathe or the Withershadow Combine, too. He used four bonejacks and the two spider-legged helljacks, the Leviathan and Harrower, his usual pair of Pistol Wraiths, a Skarlock, three Soul Hunters and two Ogrun Bokurs (one had the Skarlock as client, the other was Asphyxious').

I opted to use Dark Champion Vladimir Tzepesci with a Kodiak. The rest of the 750-point force was comprised of infantry - a lot of Iron Fang Pikemen, a lot of Greylords, some Kayazy Assassins, some Uhlans, a pair of Winterguard Mortar Crew and Widowmakers deployed way out front (since I won the roll off for first turn anyway - good thing there is no "Sieze the Initiative" rule yet here in WARMACHINE *hehe*).

TURN ONE

Early on I managed to snipe off the Skarlock, despite it being screened by its Bokur bodyguard. The rest of my force surged forward. No Blizzard screen for me this turn. I hoped for an early Pegasus, so I casted Hand of Fate on my Kodiak before it ran forward with the Drakhun close by.

Fred answered his Skarlock's demise with a channeled Breath of Corruption on my Widowmakers. With only one sniper remaining, he failed his CMD check and turned tail. His Soul Hunters took my right flank speedily and uncontested while his All Terrain helljack strode through some woods. His Pistol Wraith pair took to some elevated ruins at my left flank. Asphyxious was way out in the rear though, so I had to rethink my strategy.

TURN TWO

I dropped the Kodiak's Hand of Fate and recasted it on one unit of Greylords at my left flank. With seemingly precision spellcasting, the Greylords eliminated both Pistol Wraiths with Frostbite. The Skarlock's Bokur was the target of my Uhlan's charge, which was easily brought down. The bonejack which channeled the Breath of Corruption was also destroyed by my Iron Fang Pikemen.

Fred charged the Uhlans with two of his bonejacks, scoring some wounds but failing to kill even one of them. It was the start of some bad rolling for Fred.

His Scything Touch Harrower charged the furthest end of my Pikeman line, hoping to break them with a Thresher-like special attack. Only two out of its five targets were killed, and he only needed to roll 8's for the auto-kill hits.

His Soul Hunters also charged, killing another Pikeman. But it was here that he made a crucial mistake. With SR4 No Man's Land, for a unit to be counted as controlling the area, ALL models in the unit must be completely within the No Man's Land area.

With his last moves, only his Harrower was inside the No Man's Land.

TURN THREE

For a "righteous kill", I had eVlad pop Blood Legacy on my Drakhun and three Pikemen. The first Blood Legacy Pikeman scored tremendous blows on the Harrower, with an extra melee attack for good measure, too. The IFP Sergeant's first blow was the one that reduced the helljack to a smoking scrapheap, and bagged the win for the Khadoran force!

Christmas Call To Arms 2008

I got to play a unique league for WARMACHINE in Mike Ang's Call To Arms 2008. It's a set of four separate leagues broken into the four weeks of December. Veterans must play a minimum of 750 points though. There's a special global rule and specified scenario for each week.

In the first week, warcasters and warlocks may not use their feats while playing the SR4 Mosh Pit scenario. I put together an all-infantry list with Supreme Kommandant Irusk as my warcaster. And by all-infantry I mean a lot of squishy models like Greylords and Iron Fang Pikemen. I think the only multi-wound models I had were Iron Fang Uhlans and the Drakhun. I got to fight against Jake de Jesus' Lord Commander Stryker, Mang who also used epic Irusk and Arvin Tan's dire troll-heavy Grim Angus army. Apparently, I had a lot of time on my hands and was the only one to play the maximum 3 games in a week. Luckily I also won all my games for that week.

For the first week, it looks like Khador had initiative. Dick Sy, who also played Khador, and myself won the pins for being top 2 during that week.

This week, except for warcasters and warlocks, no other characters may be included in your army. In the case of my Khador army, that would mean no Eiryss, Kovnik Jozef, Fenris, Aiyana and Holt, and Orin Midwinter. That would mean no unique warjacks like Beast-09 and the Behemoth, too. Playing SR4 No Man's Land without them would be more difficult than usual for me.

I hope I can get to squeeze in playing the minimum 3 league games, as well as playing Tuesday nights at Oberon Sector.

November's End, December's Beginning

WARHAMMER FANTASY

I've been able to help organize the Warhammer Fantasy minitournament at Lito Tan's Oberon Sector the past two Fridays. After the dust had settled, Clarence Cua and his Vampire Counts rose victorious above the beaten heap. Looks like I'll have to rethink my stand on the new Zombie rules *chuckle*

I got to play against Sunny Yu's Wood Elves using Daemons of Chaos in a 1,250-point game. Knowing that I can't outmaneuver his fast army, I decided to spread my forces and just get as many of his units into close combat as possible. I managed to score a win in a crucial mass combat at the center of the table, which pretty much dictated the outcome of the battle.

This was my first game against Sunny since several years back. The experience was tremendously fun. I got to apply Page 5 into WFB *LOL* Even if both of us were into technical spots at times during the game, none of it were serious. I'd better pretty up my army real soon though. He has very pretty Wood Elves and well-painted, too, in a winter theme to boot!

Learning points in fighting against Sunny's Wood Elves:
• They can surf in their woods closer or further away from my forces
• They can whittle you down in short range with S4 missile fire
• That wood surfing spell is indirect, and he can use it as often as he can so long as he has Power Dice (which pretty much screws me over in the Magic Phase since I usually run with only two Dispel Dice and rely on Magic Resistance).

WARHAMMER 40,000

I also got to play against Freddie Yu's Imperial Guard using Chaos Daemons in 40K with 1,000 points. This time, I knew I had to risk Deep Striking in the midst of his firing line, hoping that the lone building would provide ample cover for my non-shooting Bloodletters. With a lot of unlucky rolls on his part, and a lot of lucky rolls on my part, I managed to turn a supposed loss into a draw. Surviving the hail of IG fire were the Daemon Prince with only a single Wound left and a fat unit of Bloodletters. Morale victory for Freddie was when a Guardsman brought down the Bloodthirster in close combat (yeah I got some unlucky rolls, too)!

I learned a lot fighting Freddie's IG. Cover rules, assault rules and assault results, I got to fine tune my understanding on those. He did mention that 40K now drew a similar picture to WMH now, and I'll never complain about that one. Maybe he'll jump into WMH, too *grin*

Learning points when fighting Freddie's IG:
• Luck, luck, luck! I really cannot have managed as well as I did if I was unlucky. The numbers game will always work in the favor of the Guard.
• Get into assault quickly!
• Do NOT get assaulted by those Rough Riders. Assault them instead *LOL*

WARMACHINE/HORDES

I put together a 500-point list for Irusk using Beast-09 and my entire Winterguard collection - which wasn't much since it's only the basic 6-man unit, with Kovnik Jozef, the WGUA and the Rocketeer. The rest were two Mortar teams and two units of Greylords. Apparently, the list should have included Orin Midwinter, but I was stupid and left him at home.

I played against Patrick Palma, who used Jeremiah Kraye - something he also wanted to try out. He had a lot of jacks, I remember a Thunderhead, a Lancer and a Centurion. He also had Arlan Strangeways and a Journeylass Warcaster.

We played two games, both at 500 points. One game was using a No Man's Land scenario, and the other was using Destruction scenario. I won both by killing Kraye with well-placed Rocketeer shots, with the help of the Greylords' Ice Cages.

The two games were some of the more enjoyable games I had. Patrick was as much a technical player as he is a good sportsman. I'll be looking forward to playing against him again.

Orin Midwinter

I finished painting Orin Midwinter last night on a sporadic burst of painting interest and effort. I was quite pleased with how it turned out, especially how the blending on the cloth parts of the miniature looked. Also with the magical glow effect I did for the tip of his staff.

I also tried out playing with the Winterguard. Their performance against Karl's Circle Orboros wasn't as well as I expected. All three rockets from the Rocketeer didn't kill the alpha Warpwolf. I was rolling horribly low then. I'll see if they will work better with Irusk. I've always wanted to play with a Superiority Beast-09!

Lito's Oberon Sector seems to be doing very well. I'll be continuing to judge the 2-day Warhammer Fantasy minitournament that we started.

Looks like my Angelic Legion project will hit some snags. Things are getting more and more expensive and I can't go buying stuff like I used to anymore. I'll see if I can get more painting done on my Daemons, since they're pretty much playable between WFB and 40K.

I'm also planning on easing up more on my spending. I hope I can discipline myself from buying more stuff. At least until I get the current stuff I have painted first.

Beast-09

I have to say Beast-09 has to be the BEST Khadoran warjack model every made! The arms were in ball sockets and the shoulders were made for swiveling upon placement, allowing for a wide variety of arm poses lower part. The waist to torso joint was also in ball socket structure, so you can have the Beast lean forward or arch back. The legs would have been better if they made them as dynamic with ball joints like the arms, but then it would make for somewhat unstable base.

I'm still painting it so hopefully I can post up pics once it's done.

WARMACHINE Gaming

I got some WARMACHINE games in via the campaign and some casual games at Fortress. I'm more relaxed with my gaming now since I realized I've already achieved a lot of success in the hobby. I'm still giving my ace game to anyone who wants it - but I feel I'll try to be less of an ass from now on LOL

People will always have something to say despite whatever you do anyway.



I got to try out my new Khadoran warcaster, Koldun Kommander Aleksandra Zerkova - mainly because I got to finish painting her.

My first game using Zerkova was against Fred's Iron Lich Asphyxious in a campaign game. I won via objective in a King of the Plateau scenario - killing as much of his units on the plateau on the third turn. It would have been better if I had Greylords but I opted for Winter Guard Mortar and Iron Fang Pikemen instead. Ah well, winning's winning.




My second game was against Kei's Grim Angus. It was the first game in Fortress that day and I made many mistakes like not allocating focus on the first turn and mistaking the Fury tokens on the nearby Bouncer. I tried to patch up said mistakes late in the game by covering up my warcaster with as much of the troops that I have. But Kei surgically removed all of them via awesome shooting and a well-placed Mantrap, knocking Zerkova down. The Earthborn Dire Troll made short work of her after that.

Third game was against Fred again, but this time I used Beast-09 instead of a Spriggan. It was hilarious because Fred kept on damaging the warjack, and naturally Beast-09 moved closer towards Asphyxious, who was dead center on the table (pun intended). Beast-09 did manage to do a Critical Freeze on the Cryxian warcaster, but failed to finish the job. Then upon Raymund's jolly persuasion, I lobbed a Mortar on the Beast, which hit! Not only did it deal damage to the ARM 20 warjack, it got a high roll on Asphyxious as well! But then the Beast's big nasty axe got an arm bar from the surviving Withershadow Combine. Beast-09 did manage to get the casterkill later on via boosted P+S 14 head spike. Beast-09 = awesomeness! ^_^

My fourth game with Zerkova was against Les' Kaya. We played at home after a very long hiatus (I feared the table would feel bad and give us bad rolls). I swapped the Mortar Crew and the extra Pikemen out and placed in Orin Midwinter and some Greylords. The army performed wonderfully! Orin hid behind a house and spammed Null Magic (although I kinda got too excited because I Nullled kinda early, so my second turn, no spells from Zerkova and the Greylords duh~). With a dead Warpwolf and Argus later via MOWDC and Beast-09, I got the No Man's Land win via objective.

Will post pics as soon as Barby returns the cam ^_^

The Plan

I've always wanted to play using Chaos Daemons, be it in WFB or 40K. Their rules make them awesome and fun to play with. Sadly, the models aren't really appealing to most normal people.

I have tried assembling an Angelic Legion for WFB way back, having bought and coverted some units already. Sadly I discarded the idea in favor of a more tournament-legal army - meaning using the legit units. But that was before I won tourneys in miniature wargaming. Now, I think I've reached a point where I want to play with very nicely-painted models. I've given myself a personal rule - that I must play only with painted miniatures or not play them at all - as observed by the old gods Pork and Luigi.

Admittedly, I've striven to win a lot of in any of the games I play - WFB, 40K and WMH. I have been humbled by my share of losses and have learned to take in victory with equal grace. But in all my years in the hobby, I have never played with a fully-painted Warhammer army. I've played with my fully-painted Khador, but my GW armies haven't been showed ample attention.

That's something I mean to correct.

I have gone over some of my old models in all the game systems I play, and touch up on them again - be it painting over chipped areas, adding highlights or some freehand, or even disassembling whole models to be repainted and converted.

Going back to the "Angelic Legion", I'm planning to put together a WFB army that's heroic-looking, but using the rules from the Daemons of Chaos army book, or even the Warriors of Chaos army book for that matter. But this time, I'm meaning to apply the best that my meager painting skills can offer. I know I can o blending, and highlighting and freehand and convert and sculpt and make scenic bases, but can I pull it off on this planned army of mine?

As Pork would say, "Abanagan!"

WIP Fenris

I've been trying some better techniques with my painting. Here are some WIP shots of Fenris' big horse.

Necromancy

Legion of Everblight Nephilim Warrior completed


My workbench wil a lot of black-sprayed stuff


Some Khadoran models


I am aware I haven't updated my blog for about a month already. Real life got me snowed in apparently. I'm trying to bring back my momentum with updating the blogs I have at present time.

Looks like we'll be looking at megabattles for both WFB and 40K before the year ends, with the WFB megabattle under my coordination.

Tournament/league scene for WMH not looking too good. Most players seem to prefer casual games, with only a few willing to go competitive. Ebb and flow it seems. Hopefully it picks up soon.


Some hills I decided to make, to be donated to Fortress


Here the hills in action


Another shot of the custom hills

Fortress Table

I'm planning to make the table at Fortress prettier to play on. I already started with giving a pair of hills and forest bases.

Yeah the hill is black/somewhat black/grey. That's because the next step would be setting up either just heavy black cloth or black rubber or foam to cover up the table. The black is easiest on the eyes IMHO. The fact that I painted up the bases of my miniatures the same way has nothing to do with it. Really.

Blogroll Update

Kei drops updating his blog and adopts an automatic one for his XBOX. Check it out here.

WIP Nephilim Warrior

Started on Mando's Legion of Everblight Nephilim Warrior. He wanted it to be similar to how I painted Kei's Bog Trog Ambushers with heavy fleshy, brown and yellowish-brown tones.

I just tried my hand at painting again despite my aching limbs due to cheer-dance practice (plus Barby and Patrick were playing Resident Evil on the PS2, so I really couldn't play Guitar Hero even if I wanted to LOL).

Hopefully I'll get to finish it tonight. And apply the same technique on his Carnivean.

Tomb Fleet Vyr Repulsed From Cuan Sector

I got to play in this year's 40K Grand Tournament. Details on Tomb Fleet Vyr.

Preparing for the 40K GT

The 40K Grand Tournament for this year will push through this Saturday. As such, I'm finishing up a few more details on the Necrons. Despite the tiring practice sessions for an office sportsfest, I'm still making significant headway to playing with a fully-painted 40K army by this weekend.

On a somewhat different note, I'll be putting up some new features for the WARMACHINE Philippines blog and something new for the local Warhammer Fantasy group.

More Random Gaming

Summer Rampage 2008 is now officially over. I hope I've done well, but I guess I'll find out more this week. Above is one of my last games in SR`08 against Arvin's Magnus Agenda army. I was using Irusk in an Iron Rain build. Primarily I was just gunning for the Mayhem Rampage, but I had fun playing the list anyway.


I got the buzz in WFB back, thanks to Fred and Dexter. I'm still bummed about the new Daemons of Chaos rules, so I'm going to stick using the old Storm of Chaos rules instead. Above are some of the miniatures I got prepared for some gaming in Fortress or Dex's place.


Up there's Fred and his old Hordes of Chaos army. Also is my old army which evidently needs painting. I used a sampling of the new Daemons of Chaos rules with the army I used above. I'll be looking forward to using the Storm of Chaos again though.


Continuing with Kei's D&D campaign, I fashioned a pair of boards with penciled-in grids and covered it with plastic. That way Kei can just draw on whatever map, dungeon or feature on the grids and run the scenes there. Using the good old dry erase markers idea from WARMACHINE, too bad I didn't think of this earlier LOL

Kim's Gaming Spin

EJ has been crushing my Khador with his Cygnar every time we face off against each other. I'm going to give credit where credit's due - I'm gonna have to say EJ is THE top player now in the local WARMACHINE/HORDES scene! He'll be a tough gamer to beat in any tournaments or leagues in the future!

Back to my status in Summer Rampage 2008, I haven't been able to update my blog. Too much work at the office and too much time on my freelance stuff. Here's where I'm at so far:

Date: July 23, 2008 (Tuesday)
Kim's Vlad victorious over Arvin's Magnus via forfeit
Pointage and scenario: 500 points Contested Ground, Western Khador

Date: July 25, 2008 (Friday)
EJ's Darius victorious over Kim's Sorscha via casterkill
Pointage and scenario: 750 points Predominant Front, Northwestern Khador
EJ's Centurion performs MAGE CRUSHER Rampage on Sorscha!

Kim's Karchev victorious over Kei's Borka via casterkill
Pointage and scenario: 750 Predominant Front, Northwestern Khador
Kim's Behemoth performs MAGE CRUSHER Rampage on Borka!

Date: July 31 (Thursday)
Kim's (shink1m) Irusk victorious over Fred's Asphyxious (PantyMan) via forfeit
Pointage and scenario: 500 points Scattered Lines, Eastern Khador

Date: August 1 (Friday)
EJ's Epic Haley wins over Kim's eVlad
Pointage and scenario: 750 Ord

Kim's Epic Vlad wins over Fred's Asphyxious
Pointage and scenario: 750 Northern Cygnar

Date: August 2 (Saturday)
Fred's Asphyxious wins over Kim's Epic Butcher
Pointage and scenario: 750 Protectorate of Menoth

Kim's Sorscha wins over Fluffy's Harbinger
Pointage and scenario: 500 Ord

I think I have enough wins to get that Magus merit. Too bad I couldn't get any Finishing Moves done (I didn't get to play against any HORDES players during the time I was in Fortress). Ah well, there's always the next league.

I'm painting up 1,500 points worth of Khorne stuff for Daemons of Chaos. Hopefully the trip to Dexter's will push through this Friday. I'll demo a game with him and Fred then.

Summer Rampage: Western Khador Contested Ground

I got to play my first Summer Rampage 2008 game in via ninja lunchbreak! From last night's results (which is officially Day 1 of this year's SR), it seems Khador has taken Global Priority. And since Arvin will be playing his Magnus Agenda this time around, I got to pick where we'll be fighting. The choice was more of whimsy since I just asked what territory was still being contested (plus I wanted my first game to be in Khador as much as possible, good thing we had Global Priority, hehe). We rolled off and got Map 20 (the one with the wheat field and hedge rows) and Contested Ground for the scenario, but Arvin ended up getting first turn.

Arvin claimed he made a mistake by not putting focus on one of his three Nomads as his forces advanced forward. He had his Trenchers dug in on my left flank and his Steelhead Halberdiers hugging a hedge row on my right flank. Magnus and his three Nomads made a cautious but direct advance on the inner left territory.

With Vlad's Signs and Portents, I got to down a good deal of his Steelheads (which included their unit leader) with one of my Winterguard Mortar but Arvin made his Command check, and the Halberdiers stood their ground. The other Mortar Crew snagged some dug-in Trenchers, too. My Demolishers ran forward, providing some semblance of a screen for my Greylords. Both my Kodiak and Juggernaut took positions with running forward.

On his second turn, Arvin took to running his Nomads forward, jockeying for a good feat turn later. His Trenchers pulled back, continuing to pepper my Juggernaut with combined ranged attacks. The Halberdiers took to the inner right territory, maybe to lend support to Magnus or just a free bait. By doing so, he opened an opportunity for me to score a Control Point if I placed Eiryss there, but she'd be far from hitting Magnus if I did.

Before he ended his turn, Magnus popped Hit and Run - his three Nomads, laughing off the supposed free strikes from my Demolitions Corps, ran straight and positioned behind my Demolishers! Now all three can't be charged by the Men-O-War and my Juggernaut. Magnus finished off my bounding towards the outer left territory, taking concealment behind some hedges.

On my second turn, I had Vlad put a focus point on his Juggernaut, cast Signs and Portents and Blood of Kings. Vlad then advanced towards the Frenzied Nomad behind his line (Magnus has a spell called Frenzy), copied the knockdown ability of Magnus' Mechanikal Arm and brought the mercenary warjack down, doing some damage to it.

The Juggernaut on my left flank ignored Magnus in front of him and advanced towards one of the Nomads, snagging it with Critical Freeze and chopping off some metal from it as well.

The remaining Nomad had a Demolisher engaged, which gave it some defense bonus against the Greylords trying to Ice Cage it. But with Signs and Portents, the three spellcasters managed to freeze it, too. With Magnus' two Nomads frozen and another knocked down, MOW Demolition Corps with Back-swing under Signs and Portents destroyed two that were in the inner left territory.

Eiryss took the outer right territory, taking one of the Halberdiers with her death bolt. The remaining two were finished off by the Signs and Portents Mortar Crew. By then, three of the territories were all mine.

On the third turn, Magnus trotted over to the Juggernaut and broke it easily. But seeing the numerical advantage my Vlad already had on him, Arvin promptly tapped out.

WIP Long-overdue Behemoth

I've bought this Khador Behemoth since Mang's shipment came in way back a few years ago. I had included it in several attempts to repose and convert it to how the artwork for it is in the Apotheosis rulebook. In the end, I decided to scrap the ideas and go for default. I'm no Golden Daemon painter. I'm no tactical expert. I just aspire to be somewhat capable in both areas though.

It's almost done, even with the experimental step back into forced highlights. Hopefully I can finish it within the week. I'm working on the skills required to make it better before I work on Karchev.

OMFG GW

My brother got me the latest army book for Daemons of Chaos from Australia. Straight up, I'm disappointed with it. Sure, we got new stuff and yeah, all we have to do is adjust. But if adjusting means that I have to buy several more boxes of models that cost 3K Php (each for 10 models inside) in order to make the army work, then that's just stupid.

The same can be said for the Vampire Counts army book. A big chunk of my troops were Zombies with which I used the old Zombie Bunker tactic. Now with the new army book, Zombies have not only dumbed down to S2 T2 and STILL strike last, if they win combat this time around they DO NOT pursue the enemy! Now, you will need Skeletons and Ghouls to be able to do that. And again, that means BUYING more boxes of said models. Sure, using Zombies can still be worked around on. How? By BUYING several new Corpse Carts!

But since I wanted to make a Daemon army more than a Vampire Count army, this rant will be about those wretched denizens of the WFB Warp. And since I'm all for looking at both sides of the coin, let's start with THE GOOD:

- Daemons have new models that can be used both in WFB and 40K (except for the 40K Soul Grinder). Their abilities come across both systems pretty good.
- Khorne Daemons have lost their Frenzy (except for Skarbrand)
- Bloodthirsters (as well as the other Greater Daemons) can now be customized with Daemonic Gifts
- They still retained their 5+ Ward save
- Bloodletters now have Killing Blow
- Basic Core Troops (Bloodletters, Plaguebearers, Daemonettes and Pink Horrors) have a basic cost of 12 per model, which makes for easier math

And now for THE BAD:

- No more Unholy Icons
- No more Exalted Daemons (what about that conversion you did for Scylla? That is now an expensive paperweight)
- Bloodletters may have Killing Blow and high WS, but still at T3 and no armor - I doubt they'll survive crossing the table
- Bloodcrushers are now pathetic T4 with W2 and 4+ armor save. I don't care if they can hit hard. If they can't survive crossing the table, taking a Rare unit of 70 points per model will just lead to frustration.
- Chaos Furies do NOT count towards your Core Troops. So you really NEED to buy more Core box sets.
- Flesh Hounds may be W2 but are NOT Fast Cavalry anymore. Again with no Armor Save, meh.
- Your survivability would generally depend on your 5+ Ward Saves. And more models. Again, leading to force you to buy MORE new boxes.

I'm pissed because it rendered my current build utterly USELESS. Buying is alright, but with their current price, it would mean I won't be seeing any WFB action for the next few months or so. And we all know during that time, GW may come out with FAQs and errata that screw up your current build by then.

I'm so pissed, I might go ahead and do my Angelic Legion project. And if anyone complains about it, they can just kiss my big, fat ass.

Looking at it, spending 3K Php would either get me a box of 10 Plaguebearers (which by itself can't be used effectively) or Warmachine's Fenris (which will totally give me something new and exciting to play with). Looks like a no brainer to me. Debate about it? My fat ass.

Call To Arms II Unfinished

I guess there's a first time for everything. Things just got too busy with the reunion, the folks at home, the side projects, D&D 4th edition, the HGR minitourney... I only logged in five of the ten games needed for the Call To Arms II league.

I did well with my games though. Here they are:

Game 1: eVlad victorious over Lesther's eKreoss via casterkill
Game 2: Karchev the Terrible victorious over Fred's eAsphyxious via casterkill with Kodiak
Game 3: eVlad victorious over Fred's Asphyxious via objective
Game 4: Irusk victorious over Jeff's eHaley via objective
Game 5: eVlad victorious over Jeff's eCaine via casterkill

Ah well, maybe I can do better next time. Now, I can concentrate on repainting my Necrons for the upcoming 40K Grand Tournament this August. And some more relaxed casual WMH gaming ^_^

The Harvest of Garrison Sector

I got to play in a minitournament hosted by HGR last Saturday at Robinsons Galleria and won 2nd place. Read more on Tomb Fleet Vyr.

Cheap Display Cases

This is a take from the hobby project show on WeeToySoldiers:

I did not bother much with transparency, as I just wanted a space-saving display case that also helps with keeping the miniatures dust-free. Also instead of using PVC pipe for spacing, I just cut 2" strips of plasticard and superglued them to hold the upper CD levels.


I tried placing epic Vlad on the second CD level and I saw that what I set up cannot handle that much weight in metal. But they work perfectly well with plastic 40K Necrons. I got to free up some space in my big cabinet with this thing. ^_^

Materials used:
• 100-piece CD spindle (50 Php)
• Plasticard
• Loctite superglue
• Utility cutter
• Cutting mat
• Pencil

Essentially, I only spent for the spindle since I already had the other stuff I had at home (the perks of hoarding a lot of hobby stuff over the years). It took me only a few hours - since I was flitting between doing the project and watching Hellraiser and eating dinner.

Looks like I'll be making more of these (and essentially thinking of better ways so that the upper CD levels can hold heavy metal miniatures, too).

Khadoran Ogrun Bokur

This is my Khador army's Ogrun Bokur. I did no conversion on this model despite the local craze of replacing the head with GW Ork heads back in 2006.

I painted him predominantly red, and using the heavy black and red scheme of Irusk on the cover of No Quarter #1. I had been greatly influenced by Confrontation back then so I decided to add some of its flavor on this miniature.

This is also the first time I tried to better my methods with taking pics with Koi's digicam. Maybe later on I can come back to this miniature and improve on my painting on it.

I'll just use this post as reference to what I already did and what I plan to do for it in the future.

PG_shink1m

It's official! I'm now a full-fledged Press Ganger! I know I've been pimping this hobby since it started in this country, but now I can do it the proper Press Ganger way!

Hello Mr. Ian Navarro,

Your application has been accepted and you are now a full member of the Privateer Press Gang!

Please take some time to go to the press gang forum (you will have access within the next 24 hours) and introduce yourself and become familiar with the FAQ and all the tools and resources you need.

Please feel free to let me know if there is anything else you need or if you have any questions.

Glad to have you aboard!


Thank you again for your interest,
Privateer Press Quartermaster
Dan Brandt
quartermaster@privateerpress.com

CTA2 First Blood

Apparently, the games we played at Pitshop yesterday were the first ones to start off the Call To Arms 2 league. Despite the late start and the few number of games, I think I have made a good start with my Khador army.

I got to fight Lesther and his Protectorate of Menoth. I was making lists before Les and Kei arrived at home yesterday, so I was more prepared in a way. I used Dark Champion Vladimir Tzepesci, more affectionately known as epic Vlad. I don't have my army list now so I'll just post it later on.

We played 750 points in an SR4 Contested Ground scenario. Les used an Exemplar-heavy Grand Exemplar Kreoss list. As far as I can remember, he had two units of Knights Exemplar, a unit of Exemplar Errants, a fat squad of Temple Flameguard, a unit of Idrian Skirmishers, the Piper of Menoth, a Devout and a Guardian (the rest I can't remember right now).

I got in a second-turn Caster Kill victory via eVlad's Blood Legacy feat. I took care of his bodyguard Devout first. He made a Defensive Strike against a Blood Legacy Doom Reaver, but one of the other two made short work of it. Blood Legacy Drakhun got Flying Pegasus via Behemoth and easily broke eKreoss.

An underslept Kei fought Les' same army next, with Kei using his Grim Angus list. Kei was pretty much out of it and Les was playing 40K style with his Protectorate army.

After those two games, Les had to leave early so me and Kei met with Mando at home, where he tried out a 750 beast-heavy Legion of Everblight Saeryn list against my eIrusk list.

We played SR3 Killing Fields. Since he is obviously faster, he go to two of the points on his first turn. My Winterguard Mortar was useful with eIrusk's Fire For Effect, taking a big chunk of his Striders who took the left point. Despite three consecutive snake-eyes rolls, Battle Lusted Iron Fang Pikemen on the charge can still easily bring down a Carnivean. Extra bonus is Shield Wall-ing right after and taking the point after the slaying the warbeast.

There was a chance that eIrusk could have charged Saeryn with only one Fury left - but I decided against it. All I needed to do was ensure eIrusk's survival and I would win via objective. Balancing a risky charge move (hitting Saeryn on 9 and hoping to do big damage) or securing a guaranteed win via objective? Winning's winning.

Late Start

Patrick and Mike visit `da Bunker

Attendance: Kim, Kei, Mando, Mike, Patrick

Got to play three games yesterday! Need to practice some more though. Good thing these four will play the CTA2 league! Tiny was a FAIL, as he didn't make it. Again.

Pics and results on the WMPH blog.

I'm getting frustrated with that Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow game on the NDS. Looks like I'll be looking forward to playing some more Hack GU Rebirth on the PS2 instead LOL

Ah well, more to come soon. As Pork would say, abangan!

Warhammer Grand Tournament 2008

It's finally over! And it was a success! It was the first time that I actually moderated a whole GT, and I got to play some Warhammer, too! We had ten participants with a varied representation of the various armies in the Warhammer World. More details here!

My (shamefully unpainted) Khorne Daemonic Legion prepares to face off against Lito's Tomb Kings

My Khorne Daemonic Legion got a last hurrah battle before the arrival of the new Daemons of Chaos army book - I got to fight Lito Tan's Tomb Kings!

My preliminary deployment was about 10 inches from the table edge, as opposed to the usual 12 inches. I decided on this because on the first turn, my units with Frenzy might be baited out too far, especially the Bloodthirster since it has wings, and be left unsupported by the rest of the army. In hindsight, I should have deployed them far out on the 12-inch line since I had them facing the other direction anyway (the usual counter-counter-Frenzy deployment).

Nonetheless, my advance was fortunate. Being throttled by two Screaming Skull Catapults during the Magic Phase AND his regular Shooting Phase is not fun. Relying on the Daemonic Aura for survival was not fun LOL! Good thing the Bloodthirster did not die when it got hit by a scattered Catapult artillery!


Godfather Lito planning his cunning moves

In the end, fortune favored the followers of Khorne! All my die rolls for Daemonic Aura saves were made, and my forces managed to get him into grips by turn three.

At the bottom of turn five, and after my big block of Herald-led Bloodletters survived (and won) a dual charge of a unit of Ushabti and flanking Tomb Guard, Lito concluded the match via forfeit.

Now if only they can perform the same with the new army book~


Tomb Kings bombard the Khorne Daemonic Legion as they advance

DW + Blogspot Table Test

table cell 1	table cell 2
table cell 3	table cell 4

The Long Walk

I already experienced this from last year when Mando invited me and Kei to walk with him from Robinson's Galleria all the way to that church in Antipolo. I know that afterwards, I have drenched my shirt in so much sweat and that I can easily walk up from ground floor to 6th floor at work. It was funny because Kei had apparently "written himself into a contract" which he must be forced to comply.

This year it was different. There were a lot of us - Mando, Kei, Papa Jun, Tiny, Sarah (Tiny's sister), Barby and myself. And worse, the shoes I had on had REALLY, REALLY thin rubber soles. Walking around in Galleria, I felt the contour of the ground I walked on. I knew they'd hurt more when we started walking.

And hurt they did.

I was the slowest in pace because each step was excruciating. Foolishly, I trudged onwards without calling the signal to rest. I dunno, maybe I had to prove that despite the pain, I can still push myself onwards.

When we got to Chowking, I was about to agree with Kei to put a stop to the madness and just take a ride there. But when I got rested, I felt I could finish it. I mean, I already finished it last year anyway.

But I did get to finish, painful and numb feet and all.



I could have had a long weekend since I have my off day on Fridays and Saturdays -- would have been Thursday all the way to Saturday with me just gaming at Fortress and/or Galleria. The pain with each step put a quick and harsh end to that.

Pics on my Multiply page here.

Tomb Fleet Vyr

I decided to put up a separate blog for my armies. And since I got to play 40K last Saturday, I decided to start with my Necrons I named Tomb Fleet Vyr.

Check it out here.

Circle Orboros Warlocks

I got to finish Baldur the Stonecleaver last night. Nothing spectacular, just keeping things simple. But getting the Circle stuff done significantly. I took a picture of him together with Kaya Wildbourne for comparison. I'll be painting Tharn Wolf Riders later on when I get home.