2013-06-28

Done. Done. Done. Done.

pDoomshaper is looking for company.

I am currently painting up my competitive lists for the WTC and hit another important milestone today with four Trolls getting done.

Fire Troll




Storm Troll




Dire Troll Bomber




Mulg!




So pDoomshaper should be quite happy with these additions to his battle group. However, there is more: next on the painting table is the Mountain King. :-D

2013-06-24

Bavarian Open Team Tournament (BOTT) 2013

One of the most amazing Cygnar armies I have ever seen.

Well, our team, the Unboostables, have been participating last weekend at the 2013 BOTT with mild success - in the final ranking we ended up on 9th place out of 12. :-)

The BOTT follows the mechanic we see in international team tournaments in WM/H and 40K - there are teams from various nations, each five players strong, and they get paired in individual rounds battling each other. As soon as three or more players of a team win their games, their team obviously wins the round. The Unboostabels won one round and lost four. :-)

My two lists. I was playing eCaine and eHaley plus stuff. The armies are +Botond Gati's.

The Unboostables, ready to have a good time. :-)

3/5 of Team Albania. :-)

Team Salmiakki, our trusted blend of Swedish/Finnish Warmachine aggression with heartfelt friendship. :-)

He doesn't like it when you steal his lunch money.

Orange is way sexier.

The Unboostables battling team Albania. +Robi Deola, do you remember what happened there? ;-)

Lunch was awesome every day with supreme catering.

Norbert's preying eye makes sure rules violators stand no chance.

I just called to say "I love you".

The Unboostables playing the Iron Hookers.

Maurus scoring his first win at a major WM/H tournament. :-)

End of day one in a nice Bavarian Biergarten - I can feel how jealous +Angel Baker is on the other side of the ocean. :-P

The Iron Hookers.

Team Salmiakki to the upper left, Norbert in the center, team Stronghold on the right.

Big G tries to draft Zahnfee as our new recruit. ;-)

The number 1 team - German Lamers. :-D

Packing everything up and saying goodbye. :-(

Game 1

End of game 1.

Basics: game 1 I played with eCaine against team Albania's Oliver Eitschberger and his eFeora list. eCaine got assassinated by his Judicator and his Warjacks' ranged attacks. Yes, quite embarrassing.

Problem:Oliver knew what he was doing and shot his templates on low DEF grunts standing near high DEF solos. That way he shot away all my key solos until he went for the assassination of eCaine.

Solution: I should have remembered that Rhupert not only dishes out Tough, but also Pathfinder. My Forgeguard with Pathfinder should have charged the Judicator through the corn field and brought it down.

Game 2

End of game 2.

Basics: game 2 I played with eCaine against the Iron Hookers' Laszlo Vuray and his Barnabas list. eCaine got assassinated when one of his beast's performed a two-handed throw on Barnabas having him land too close to eCaine.

Problem: Barnabas hid all game in his mobile swamp, so I could not shoot him, until he started for the assassination run himself.

Solution: I should have played my eHaley list and have the Stormwall blast away. Also, I realized that my way of palying eCaine may be too risky.

Game 3

End of game 3.

Basics: game 3 I played with eHaley against team "Mein Bruder und ich"'s Alexander Hoschkara with his Scaverous list. Cryx, Cryx, and in case of doubt even more Cryx. I lost on scenario because I was playing too defensively.

Problem: there was just too much Cryx infantry. It didn't help that I didn't remember to place the Stormwall's pods until turn 3.

Solution: I feated defensively, used eHaley's spells to boost my DEF, and the Stormwall fired away - I was all happy with that. However, I should move my models forward more aggressively and block the Cryx infantry's moving lanes with the Stormwall's and the Black 13th templates.

Game 4

End of game 4.

Basics: game 4 I played with eCaine against team "Dead Fish Syndicate"'s Ben Fröhlich-Rodriguez and his eKrueger list. Once again I lost because of a caster kill and even though I was familiar with the Circle's double teleport.

Problem: everything looked wonderful for me at the beginning of Ben's last turn - or so I believed. eCaine was the boss on his hill with 19/18 and tough Forgeguard (Rhupert) and Boomhowler & Co. with Heightened Reflexes in front of him. Well, Megalith telepoted and cleared away Trolls and Dwarfs all failing their Tough rolls, then he used also some spell to drop eCaine's DEF. eKrueger himself moved in and dropped eCaine's DEF even further down to 13. Ghetorix teleported onto the hill, swung his axe, boosted to hit, and eCaine once again was history.

Solution: I should have either stood more back or have had more Dwarfs and Trolls in front of eCaine in hope that at least some of them would pass their Tough roll.

Game 5


End of game 5.

Basics: I played game 5 with eCaine against Team Stronghold's PalaTin and his eStriker list. This was a game with no surprises as we both knew very well what each other's army was doing. I lost on scenario.

Problem: once again it was infantry spam. Also PalaTin was excellent at moving his troops. The way he moved them was a case book study on how you should move them. He surprised me by running everyone in his second turn again, but only as many soldiers as necessary to bind mine in close combat while the rest stayed back for the countercharge in his turn three. My infantry jammed on and around the hill and could not develop its full power.

Solution: I should have moved my units the way he moved his to be more aggressive and go after the mission objectives. This game was an awesome lesson/experience that I will incorporate into my future games.

2013-06-05

Looking at 40K with a WM/H mindset

Eldar Banshee by UltimaFatalis

While I have grown to despise GW for its business practices and shoddy rule books, I still look at Warhammer armies - because they are so iconic and well designed. Actually that sort of is a good thing as I still have thousands of points of Blood Angels, Dwarfs, and Wood Elves - and it would be sort of a waste if I didn't enjoy these models anymore, wouldn't it?

Either way, last Saturday's re-release of the Eldar rulebook spiked my interest in this race again, so I went to the FLGS after work to have a look at the new Codex. I have to say as a fluff player, I really like it, that army definitely has character.

However, as I was flipping through the Codex Eldar, I realized how ingrown WM/H habits have become over the last two years of exclusive PP gaming:


  1. Thinking of units and armies in hundreds and even thousands of points again felt really weird.
  2. The same weird feeling got triggered when I browsed the weapons section with the option to individually equip my troops.
  3. The biggest difference was browsing the HQ section, especially the named characters:
    1. I immediately checked how tough they are and their armor/saving roll to calculate the probability of losing them to a certain attack;
    2. Running a quick army list through my head I was more hesitant to pick a character HQ model than a generic one; the WM/H tournaments' character restrictions have become so ingrown to me that it would feel feel weird to me to pick a named character in 40K unless I have to.

I have also come to realize that I miss fluff gaming, something IMHO that GW still is better at. Playing competitively in WM/H makes sense because of the well written rules and there is no doubt PP produces very nice models. However, GW creates very iconic and amazing armies and a wonderful background story where everything is embedded, so that's the magic that keeps me looking back.

Maybe I should just go back to 40K for a game of combat patrol or Apocalypse, just to get that feeling of fluff gaming again. Most likely I will frown upon the rules, but then I will also enjoy the narrative part. After all, playing the narrative track in Austin was one of the best experiences in my gaming life. From my point of view, smacking each other in 40K with optimized lists at 1850, 2000 or (looks like a new trend) 2500 doesn't really make sense because of the flawed ruleset and codex creep. However, to put models on the table because one loves their looks and background stories, 40K has a lot to offer. Gee, Jervis Johnson would probably love me.

In a perfect world, I would get the benefits of both systems in one game, of course.