Here are a couple photos of my first Tactical Arcanist Corps. The last member is getting painted up now but I can’t resist throwing these up now. I tried to do some glowing effects on the fingers and eyes, as well as some OSL. I still am not sure how it actually turned out.
Loving the TAC!
I just picked up the Tactical Arcanist Corps – shout out to Battlefield Games in Killeen, Texas! – and I am loving them so far. On a sadder note, I have just been ordered to participate in a month-long field exercise so I won’t be attending Wargames Con. Frown. However, I am painting the TAC right now. In the two games I’ve taken them in, they have killed a Conquest, Gun Carriage, Centurion, and Thunderhead as well as having burned two casters to death with Battle Wizard after destroying the above. When your Forgeguard don’t quite get it done, these guys can clean up the mess and blast some other dudes into ash at the same time. The models are also really awesome. If you are a dwarf player, you probably already own these guys, but if you don’t love the drunken dorfs, the versatility the TAC bring to the faction may just convince you to pick them up. We now have magical attacks outside of our warcasters, but they also bring smoke clouds to help your slow army advance up the board. I’m going to try to get some more games in with them tonight and I’ll report back later.
Another Outing with Midas
I am leaving Oklahoma and that makes me very excited (my apologies to anyone from Oklahoma reading this). To celebrate being done with that particular time of my life, I am going to Wargames Con in Austin at the beginning of June with my buddy Billy. I am currently planning on competing in the Mangled Metal/Tooth and Claw tourney as well as the 35 pt Thanks for the Flanks tournament. We tested out some lists and the results were…not exactly amazing for me, but that’s all part of the fun and challenge.
The Mangled Metal list I tested consisted of Sturm und Drang, a Road Hog, War Hog, and four Razor Boars. The Razor Boars did not quite play out as planned. I had wild dreams of casting Killing Ground and hunting down the enemy caster with too many attack vectors to hide from, but alas, in these matches, the Razor Boars were gone well before that stage of the game. I think I will switch them out for a second War Hog. Telekinesis is an amazing tool to use to pull off charges with the War Hog, whether he is engaged or something is blocking it or to simply move him two inches up the field. Watcher is another big spell for the later stages of the game. A fully boosted 10″ spray can reach into the back line and set a caster afire and that has been a big advantage for me in these games. Honestly, I think Midas would be a better MM/T&C caster, since he can send his entire battlegroup to die, then just feat them back. I don’t really want to play him in that event though, since he is one of my 35 pt SR 2013 lists (spoilers).
So Midas’ tier 4 list is still a little up in the air, as I struggle to get some more experience with him and fine-tune the subtleties of playing him. I took this list:
Midas
-Road Hog x2
-Gun Boar
-Boneswarm
-War Hog in the freezer
-Targ
Min Bone Grinders x2
Slaughterhousers
Billy brought this:
pIrusk
-Conquest
-Sylys Wyshnalyrr
Kayazy Assassins w/Underboss
Koldun Lord
Greylord Ternion
Great Bears
full Battle Mechaniks
Here is the deployment. The Gators are flags because we played Incursion.
I deployed first and my main concern was delivering the Road Hogs to his caster more or less in one piece while still screening Midas from the loving, tender attention of Condy, Billy’s Conquest. I took my Advance Move on the two Road Hogs, and pushed my force up the field, pushing one unit of Grinders in front of Midas, putting up Swarm, and trying to get into position to threaten the flags. Billy moved toward me, putting Iron Flesh on the Kayazy on my right flag, Superiority on the Conquest, and moving the Great Bears toward the left flag, which promptly disappeared.
I decided to take the bait that Billy had offered me. I walked the Road Hog on my right up and sprayed Irusk. I caught a couple mechanics, a Kayazy, Wyshnalyrr, and Irusk. I boosted to hit and damage on Irusk and put ten damage on him. I also killed off Wyshnalyrr and missed everything else. I then took the Road Hog on the left and forced Full Boar before charging the Great Bears. The spray left one of the Bears on one box but missed my charge attack since I was out of Midas’ control area and thus couldn’t boost. I stuck Calamity on the Conquest and the Gun Boar put 8 wounds on him. The Bone Grinders continued to try to jam and screen while the Slaughterhousers slunk around in the back trying to survive.
The fire did not go out on Irusk, but I only did two or three damage. Billy popped his feat and put some shots into Midas, which I transferred, and the Grinders. The Bears left their Road Hog on one box due to poor dice. Bill’s Kayazy got Battle Lust put on them and he eliminated the left Road Hog. The Greylord Ternion sprayed down a couple Slaughterhousers.
My left Road Hog frenzied and killed the Steady Great Bear. I tried to charge the Conquest with the Slaughterhousers, but due to one being knocked down from toughing the Greylord’s spray last turn, I only got two charges off. He had repaired 6 of the 8 boxes on Conquest with his mechanics last turn, but even with Calamity up, I only did a handful of damage on the first charge attack and no damage on the second. Here is where I made a big mistake – I should have found a better way to handle the Kayazy. What I decided to do was Curse them with Midas and put Battle Lust on my Grinders. I’m not entirely sure what I could’ve done differently, but there has to be something. My Grinders charged the Kayazy and I actually killed the Underboss and two others….but they hit their Super Tough rolls thanks to Billy’s feat. Womp womp wooommmp. Good thing I left Midas sitting on three Fury. I moved the Boneswarm over to the Kayazy but he utterly failed to hit them.
Billy started out by shooting Midas with two Ice Cages from the Greylords. put Battle Lust on the Kayazy, popped the minifeat, and ran one around Midas while charging two others and the Boss into Midas’ melee range. The other assassins mowed down my Grinders. He didn’t roll exceptionally high and by the time it was all over, I was camping one Fury and my Gun Boar was dead. His Great Bears finished the left Road Hog and Conquest shot the Boneswarm a couple times, but missed.
I popped my feat for three, bringing back the Gun Boar and both Road Hogs. The Gun Boar aimed and put a round into Irusk, finishing him off. As soon as the left flag disappeared, the scenario became irrelevant. It did force us to spread the forces out a little bit to cover all three flags, but there was no way I was shifting him off the center flag and the Iron Fleshed Kayazy were too hard to kill on my right. I still need to work on protecting Midas better, but I thought the game overall went fairly well.
Here is the final layout.
Sturm und Drang
I did get another game in yesterday with Billy. He brought the same list with pSorscha. I brought this list (tier 4) with Sturm und Drang.
S&D
-Targ
-War Hog
-2x Road Hog
-4x Razor Boars
2x Slaughterhousers
Max Brigands
We played Supply and Demand and Billy went first. He ran everything up and his Assassins were very threatening. The Gun Carriage was holding down my left flank and I pushed Comrade Napoleon the War Hog toward that area, hoping to bait him into the charge.
This is the deployment. Brine and the Decimator are objectives. The Gatorman hanging out in my force is Sturm and Drang, and my ‘housers get advance move from the tier. He charges the War Hog with the Gun Carriage and hurts it pretty badly. Everything else is in my face and I’m concerned.
On my turn I start with Drang up, so my beasts get +2 speed. I run the RaBos up the field and walk the Road Hogs up behind my jamming brigands. The ‘housers on the right try to make themselves inconspicuous. Comrade Napoleon activates and does a terrible job of wrecking the Gun Carriage, leaving it with 10 boxes. The Slaughterhousers on the left moved into the forest and one swung at the Carriage for zero damage.
The Kayazy Assassins charge my front line of brigands and kill several. One of my right Razor boars dies to a manhunter charge. The Gun Carriage continues to shoot Napoleon. He moves his kodiak up behind the Assassins and the Koldun lord and Destroyer follow on his right flank. Sorscha moves up and throws out one of her big 4″ AOEs at the Brigands, killing several. He does not razor wind her back, choosing to camp the focus. A few other models of mine die.
I start my turn with Sturm active. I spray the Underboss (who I’m terrified of) and kill him, but Billy toughs. I also throw up Watcher. I follow that with a spray from my left War Hog that catches Sorscha and the Underboss. The Underboss dies and I put 8 damage on Sorscha as well as set her on fire. I push forward more with the brigands and Slaughterhousers.
The fire goes out on Sorscha but the first thing billy does is move the Kayazy, so I trigger Watcher. The right Road Hog positions himself to catch the offending Assassin as well as Sorscha and puts both of them in the dirt. So it turns out that Watcher on a pow 12 spray 10 flamethrower is a thing.
Some Games With Pigs
I know it’s been a while since I have posted in this space, but I’m almost done with my time in the barren wasteland that is Ft. Sill and Lawton, Oklahoma. I’ll be moving back to the Promised Land of Ft Hood, TX to be in the 1st Cavalry Division (“If you ain’t cav…”). I visited home this weekend and managed to get in a couple games with my friend, Billy. I’ve been on a big Farrow kick the last couple weeks since I got my filthy little hands on Midas, so I put together a couple lists to play against his Khador.
The first game we played was a 50pt. game using the scenario Outflank. I took the following list:
Lord Carver, BMMD Esq
War Hog x2
Razor Boar x4
Road Hog
Full Farrow Brigands x2
Slaughterhousers
Billy brought the following:
pSorscha with Sylas Wyshnalyrr
Kodiak
Widowmakers and Widowmaker Marksman
Manhunters x2
Greylord Ternion
full Kayazy with Underboss
Koldun Lord marshalling a Destroyer
Gun Carriage.
This is the deployment. I wanted to try to push Carver up the middle while using the Razor Boars to fly up the field under Mobility and Batten Down the Hatches and jam his forces. The Brigands were supposed to CRA anything that moved and help me contest the zones.
Billy went first and ran everything up. I followed and advanced the Brigands, praying Heroic March to get through the forest on my left flank and the rough terrain from deviated Gun Carriage shots on my right before digging in. The Razor Boars ran up to be problematic and my other beasts moved up.
Here’s the top of Round 1. He picked off Brigands with the snipers, charged a Razor Boar on the right with a Manhunter and killed it, and charged the Gun Carriage into the Brigands and killed a couple. The Destroyer moved up with Bad Santa and launched a bombard. The Kayazy moved into the zone, and the Kodiak runs over toward the left zone to threaten my beasts. Sorscha uses Sylas’ super spell talisman and makes my Brigands stationary, which is quite problematic as that cramps my movement on that side of the board.
On my turn, I charge the Gun Carriage with the Brigands and War Hog, scrapping it. The Road Hog moves to my left flank and sprays down the line of Kayazy engaging my Razor Boars but only kills a couple. The Slaughterhousers charge the Kayazy but do nothing. Carver has to move a few inches toward the right zone to get the War Hog charging the Gun Carriage in his control zone so I can’t kill the Underboss with his spray. The second War Hog moves to block LOS to Carver from Sorscha. The surviving Razor Boar on my right flank frenzies and kills the Manhunter. I score a Control Point for controlling the right zone.
On Billy’s turn, he activates the Underboss’ mini feat and charges Carver with two Kayazy. The rest engage my lines from behind, killing several Brigands and Slaughterhousers. The two Kayazy put about 10 damage on Carver. He kills several Brigands on the right with the snipers. The Greylords battle wizard a Razor Boar that I had used to engage the Kodiak to death. The Kodiak walks over and beats up the Road Hog, using his Chain Attack to lock the claw arm. Sorscha makes everything stationary with her feat and kills more Brigands on the left with an AOE spell. The Destroyer shoots with Bad Santa’s help again. However, my Brigands and ‘housers are just barely contesting the zone as well as the Road Hog so he can’t score.
On my turn, I move Carver over into the right zone to dominate. The Brigands on the right kill a Manhunter and try to move over to engage the snipers but fall short. The War Hog that killed the Gun Carriage sits on the zone while the one standing next to Carver kills a couple kayazy to free Carver up. My Brigands and ‘housers are stationary. I score two more control points for a total of 3. The situation is looking bleak for Billy.
He charges the War Hog in the zone with the Destroyer and moves Bad Santa up to contest. The Greylords clean up the last of the Brigands to the left. The Kodiak kills the Road Hog, but Billy still can’t score because there are two ‘housers contesting the zone.
I pop Carver’s feat and move him up into the zone so I can spray down Bad Santa and the Manhunter Billy moved into my right zone. He kills Bad Santa but fails to hit the Manhunter. I end up sitting on one fury and I know I’m in trouble. My War Hog with the sickle and hammer (Comrade Napoleon) turns around and walks over to the Destroyer, killing it halfway. The War Hog that had been sitting in the zone pulped the Destroyer but couldn’t kill the Underboss. I run the ‘housers to engage Sorscha.
Billy charges Carver with the Underboss and the Manhunter. Billy misses both his swings from the Manhunter due to poor attack dice. The Underboss pokes Carver for a few points and the snipers take their requisite 5, leaving Carver on 2 points. The Greylord Ternion spray down the Slaughterhousers, killing Sylas as a casualty of war. Sorscha walks over into the second zone but can’t quite kill me.
On my turn I kill Sorscha with Comrade Napoleon. Victory! I’ll talk more about the scenario later…Right now it’s time for me to go to sleep. Here’s another picture before the final turn.
Two More Games With Carver
I visited Galaxy Games and Comics in Wichita Falls, TX yesterday and had a blast with some very kind folks down there. They went out of their way to make sure that I had some games since I made the trip, and I am very excited to drop in again before I head back home to Killeen.
I played two 25 pt games with Carver, using this list..
Lord Carver
-War Hog
-Razor Boar
Rorsh and Brine
min Brigands
Slaughterhousers.
My first opponent, Brent of the blog StrictlyAverage, brought pKaya with a Pureborn and Feral Warpwolf, Argus, Blackclad Wayfarer, Lanyssa Ryssyll, and min Skinwalkers. This was a thriller of a game, with a terrain-heavy board that dictated the action. He ran everything up, using the ruined house in the center of the board to screen his beasts. I moved up a little cautiously, putting the Brigands in front and Slaughterhousers behind. The War Hog sat behind the troops and the Razor Boar tried to go around the right flank while Rorsh and Brine moved to the left. He managed to kill the Razor Boar with the Argus, and pulled out a charge against Brine with the Pureborn thanks to the Ghostly warp. He left Brine with two boxes remaining. The Skinwalkers killed a couple Brigands. On my turn, I popped my feat and killed the Skinwalkers and put a few boxes on the Argus and Feral with the Slaughterhousers. Rorsh did Diversionary Tactics, allowing Brine to move back and charge the Pureborn. I had healed him another box so he had all aspects and I boosted to hit, hoping for the crit KD…and missed. Then I did the rest of my initials…and missed. I managed to land a single blow for a pathetic 5 or so boxes of damage. Womp womp. I really needed that Pureborn gone so I could rest a little easier positioning Carver without having to worry about the Ghostly warp on the Feral. On Brent’s next turn, he killed several of my infantry with the Feral, moved Kayla up into the ruined house, ran the Argus into melee with Carver, and killed poor Brine with the Pureborn. I charged the Pureborn with the War Hog on my turn and managed to get a crit KD with the gore and put him on 5 boxes remaining. Rorsh got a small measure of revenge by shooting the Blackclad Wayfarer – who’s been handing out Hunter’s Mark the whole game – in the face. I couldn’t leave Carver where he was with the Pureborn still alive, or the Feral was going to come through my lines and charge him. I charged the knocked down Pureborn, took a free strike from the Argus which didn’t do any damage, and killed the Pureborn. On Brent’s turn he charged Carver with the Argus, but left Carver with 9 boxes. Then Kaya entered the picture. After expending all her fury, Carver was standing proud with 2 boxes left…and proceeded to bury the Hand of God into her forehead. Now Brent could’ve moved Kaya over and cast Spirit Door to place the Feral into melee with Carver, but lucky for me, he did not. As soon as the game was over, he saw that and simply shook his head. A little learning experience for both of us. I need to have some back-up plans when my warbeasts struggle with high defense.
My second game was also at 25 pts against an eSorscha tier list with two WG Death Stars, a Kodiak, and two Field Mortars. There isn’t a lot to say about this game. I ran forward at a break-neck pace, got shot to pieces over the course of two rounds and finally engaged him in his own deployment zone. He moved Sorscha up just a touch too far and I managed to charge her with Carver under the feat turn…and missed. Sound familiar? I missed the next two boosted attacks too, but managed to hit her with my last attack and put seven on her. Rorsh and Brine were tied up with some WG on the right flank, but Diversionary Tactics freed them up and put Brine in a position to redeem himself. However, I had short-sightedly run Brine hot the turn before, so he had three fury on him….only one to work with. He charged for free thanks to Pig-Headed and hit the boosted attack roll. Four damage dice at -2 finished the job Carver started. Another fun game.
Rask and Razor Boars
Sorry for not posting very much of late. I have been attending the Field Artillery Basic Officer Leader Course in Ft Sill, which doesn’t give me much free time. Even if I had said free time, there isn’t a WM/H community in Lawton so I only get games in when I visit home.
I played a game with Rask the other day at 50 pts against my buddy Billy’s Zerkova list. His list is sorta take-all-comers, sorta I’m-a-masochist-because-I’m-playing-Zerkova. We had a lot of fun and I got some valuable table time with Rask. The key take-aways for me were that Rask’s feat is a potent denial tool, but you have to beware of the tricks that opponents can use to get around it. Trampling into combat, running a model up and charging that model, and just plain ol’ walking into melee can all get around the wording of the feat. Fury makes the Gatormen the best heavy infantry in the game and turns the Swamp Horror from mediocre light infantry clearance into a heavy warjack mauling monster. His spell list is unbelievable, but don’t get too greedy. Inhospitable Ground murders lists that lack Pathfinder, but hot-swapping Fury and upkeeping Admonition can get in the way and leave you sitting on zero fury. There isn’t too much to write about the game. My Posse annihilated the Bombardiers and jacks facing them, the Bog Trogs ate the Manhunters and Widowmaker Marksman holding down one of his flanks, and Rask shot a jack or two with Arcane Disruption from his quiver of trident abilities – basically a second spell list. I’m really excited to see what the Swamp Shamblers can do. I really want to actually be able to use his Call To Sacrifice ability. Usually the Bog Trogs ambush in too far up one side for him to get close enough to use that.
I also got in a game using the new Razor Boars. I didn’t deploy the Razor Boars very well in hindsight, spreading them out when I should’ve grouped them together. I advanced the group up the field with the Boars spread out, Brigands behind, both Slaughterhousers behind them with Carver in the middle, Rorsh and Brine and the War Hog on the left flank and the Road Hog and Targ on the right. He led with three jacks and the Battle Carriage on my left flank. Turn two he popped feat and killed three of my Boars, though they drew charges away from some of my other stuff. The Battle Carriage put a hurting on Brine and his feat neutered what would have been my feat turn. I weathered a storm on my next turn, sacrificing the Brigands to gum up his works. On my third turn, I popped feat, and managed to clear a lane to Zerkova for my remaining Razor Boar. He took her down to one box on a charge! I crippled his army with that feat turn and mopped up the rest the turn after.
His army wasn’t the best for Razor Boar testing because he had a lot of jacks up front and not many helpful targets for my lessers. Even though three of them didn’t kill anything, I felt like they were worth it because he had to divert resources to them. He couldn’t afford to have them frenzying in his backfield.
