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.