Cogs in the TheoryMachine

Hi all, and welcome back to the latest installation of Cogs in the TheoryMachine! Following the Valentines Massacre results from a week ago, I decided I needed to get more practice with some of the more traditionally tournament viable casters for the faction. I'm pretty ok with my eFeora play, and I got a decent run through with both pSeverius and pKreoss when I started playing Menoth. The caster I really wanted to get to grips with, though, was Harbinger.

I don't think that there would be any argument that she's one of the best casters in Menoth, and probably the game as a whole. Having said that she can be tricky to play, and I have very limited experience playing with her. In fact if you skim back through the archives I took her to a Tournament at the Outpost last year with a single practice game and got fairly consistently schooled using her against more experienced oppenents. To overcome this I've decided that now is the time to get a handle on her starting by playing her for the next few weeks until I feel confident enough with her. 

The list

The Harbinger of Menoth +5

-Heirophant -2

-Reckoner -8

-Devout -5

Minimum Choir -2

Wracks -1

Vassal of Menoth -2

Maximum Exemplar Errants with UA -10

Exemplar Errant Seneschal -2

Rhupert Carvolo -2

Covenant of Menoth -2

Minimum Holy Zealots with UA -6

Maximum Exemplar Bastions -8

Dartan Vilmon -3

Paladin of the Order of the Wall -2

Objective: Fuel Cache

The idea with this list is all control and denial. The Errant package (Max Errants with UA, Seneschal, Rhupert and Covenant) is designed to be a massive pain for my opponent to get rid of while also dishing out a reasonable amount of damage to clear zones etc. with Hunter Quick Work shots from charging weaponmasters. The Zealots are also in the list for zone control, jamming and obviously super-fun bomb throwing japes. The Bastions form a second wave to counter attack whatever's left from the rest of the grind in the list, adding in a hard to shift force that can polish off any troublemakers. The Devout is in the list to offer squishy Harbinger some protection from ranged, while the Reckoner is there to handle any heavy ARM that comes up. The support package is the deluxe edition with choir, wracks, vassal and a Heirophant. Then finally Dartan and his little brother are in the list to offer an immovable object to sit on flags and in zones and simply not die. Add in all of Harbingers cool native abilities (Awe for the pseudo DEF buff, FOCUS 10 for... being awesome, and obviously martyrdom) and the list becomes hard to kill and pretty heavy hitting on the retaliation. 

Test Game 

Ok. Full disclosure: I did actually already use this list and I was going to write it up as a bat rep... but the game went long and the store was literally closing around us at the time, so it didn't end properly and I didn't feel like it reflected how the game was going. I played against a Legion list that included pThagrosh with a Carnivean, Angelius and Scythean, along with a max unit of Legionnaires, a max Spawning vessel, the Black Frost Shard, a Foresaken, a shepherd and a Throne. We played Two Fronts from the 2015 Steamroller. 

My list out attritioned throughout the game, wiping out swathes of Legion models, including killing all the heavies (and one twice). The Reckoner in particular was very effective, using Enliven and Assault to dodge charges from a heavy and then one round it in the next turn. The Errants did a great job of making a nuisance of themselves while also whittling down the Legionaries. I wiped out the majority of the force and survived a couple of long shot assassination attempts along the way. By the last real turn his force was a Harrier with one box, a shredder, the Throne, Thagrosh, a mostly dead Carnivean and the Blackfrost Shard, while I had only lost about half the Errants along with all the Zealots, and only had a single model (the Harrier) stopping me from controlling the opposing zone.

I was in a commanding position and could easily have gotten Harby to a safe position from which I could continue to attrition and ultimately win on scenario, which is what I would have done normally, but as the store was closing and we had to get finished, I instead went for the cool option of charging the Throne with Harbinger to remove the last big threat. I used a boosted Cataclysm and a couple of melee attacks to hurt it and then poured damage onto it, and the Reckoner killed the Carnivean. The Throne was left on 1 box when I was done, and so I allowed him to take his turn, and he managed to kill Harbinger using every model he had left on the table to pull it off. It's a shame that we didn't have more time to be able to play the game out properly as I feel if I played it safe I was in a strong position to win the game within a couple more turns. More importantly I felt that this game gave me a good chance to play around with her abilities and use them effectively in a real game. 

I'm really looking forward to having a another practice with her to hone my experience a little further. I'll be sure to tell you all about it as it happens!

Stay tuned for more, and don't forget to like Mitsuharu on Minis on Facebook for more updates!

-M

Mini Thoughts - Gargantuans Wave 2

So, just like they hint-dropped at Adepticon, PP's SmogCon announcement was the next evolution of Gargantuans! More good news! And unlike the recently announced Colossals, these are pretty much all brand new beasties, not just variants on the old models. For anyone who hasn't seen it yet the video on the Gargantuans is here: http://privateerpress.com/privateer-press-prime-video-channel/gargantuans-evolved. 

Anyway here's my run down of the new Gribblies:

Glacier King

First up on the docket was the latest Troll model, the Glacier King. Horluk's newest buddy is a mountain king that's been in the fridge too long, and come out all badass. As well as a typical 'big fist' (yeah literally) he has something called 'Wind Thrower'. Possibly a crit freeze spray? Maybe not, have to wait and see on that one, but the fists definitely do have some kind of freeze ability. Its animus 'frozen ground' is a knockdown effect, and it sounds like it affects models within so many inches of it. Assuming that this Gargantuan has the same medicore MAT as its predecessor I'm sure auto hitting in melee will be a nice touch. Also it'll give any troll caster access to a small range knockdown effect too, which can be all kinds of useful. Just ask anyone who's seen pKreoss. On top of that it has an ability called 'snowfall' that grants concealment around it. While this might have a cost or a trigger, anything that can help a troll brick across the board with fewer casualties will always be appreciated. 

Storm Raptor

Next up was the Storm Raptor. And bird is the word. Described as 'Krueger's best friend' this little lightning pigeon is the latest addition to Circle. This is the fastest Gargantuan so far, at SPD 7, and with Flight this beastie can whip across the board pretty fast, ignoring terrain along the way. On top of that it has some combination of animi and special abilities that allow it to give boosted electrical attack and damage rolls. Meaning that this thing synergises like crazy with a bunch of other circle guns. Also giving Krueger access to an animus that can boost electrical attacks is just... I mean... Wow. 

Blightbringer

Now here's the one I'm most interested in. Legions new beastie, the Blightbringer. To be honest it's not... Exactly what I was expecting. It looks a lot more bug-like than the majority of Everblight's roster to date. It seems that this gargantuan is more of a utility piece like the new colossals. All they said was that it was constantly spewing ash that could take on a number of abilities. These include causing magic in the area to fail (limited range no spells? Or maybe even a nice little upkeep removal. Kinda AOE Banishing Ward?). Concealment to nearby models. I'm assuming some kind of Ashen Veil? I suppose there's enough prowl in Legion that it could have an extra layer there. And finally one that reduces 'defence and health of enemies' so maybe it'll be like Belphagor's animus or Saeryn's spell of the same name? Interesting. The way they're speaking about the Blighted Breath also imply it's an inherent ability, meanning that its animus is still unknown (more on that later). Those claws look pretty handy too!

Desert Hydra 

Typhon has effectively shown the world three heads are better than one. And what's better than three heads? Five. That's right. They've been talking about it in the fluff forever but it's finally on the tabletop. Skorne's new Gargantuan is the Hydra. Desert Hydra to be precise, although I'm not up enough on my extraordinary zoology to know how many sub-species of Hydra there are. Much like its younger cousin Typhon, the Hydra has the 'multiple heads' special rule. Meaning five heads get 5 initial attacks. That's five Sprays. Or Five Bite attacks. Or any combination of the two. And Five sprays off a huge base? That covers some ground. 

Oh, that's the other thing. There's a model for it. A very nice model. I mean, sure, it looks like a real pain in the ass to assemble and paint, but look at it. Worth. It. Other than the five heads thing (as if that's not enough for you) they didn't really go into much else about it. Its animus wasn't discussed either (I'm getting to it). This looks like a nice little addition to the Skorne forces (pending actual rules obviousl)y. 

Animi

I said I'd get to it! So you might have to bear with me a little on this one. First off the animi of the Blightbringer and Desert Hydra were conspicuous in their absence. Strange not to mention them when they did for the other two. However they also spoiled this art of the Blightbringer:

Now, when Exigence hit everyone was a bit confused by the Warbeast packs. I mean they sucked. I read dozens of articles and forum chains trying to figure out how they were supposed to work. It seemed like they were set up to fail. They didn't do anything that their factions couldn't do better, elsewhere already. Surely PP in their wisdom and foresight must've had a plan? But we couldn't see it. Maybe this is why. We didn't have all the pieces. Put these things together and maybe, just maybe the Blightbringer has something to offer Blight Wasps? Maybe it can spawn them? Or convert enemies into them? The art certainly indicates a link anyway. And from there I don't think it's too much of a leap to think that maybe the Hydra can do something similar for the Scarabs? Obviously this is all just speculation but it seems to make sense to me at least. 

Other Stuff

In addition to the Gargantuans the video had another little sneak at the end. A few flashes of something just as exciting but much less clear. A Gator with candles on his face? Epic Calandra? Some kind of imp gremlins? A Grotesque? Kromac? With Rathrok?!? If that's PP's way of apologising for the recent errata to Circle affecting Kromac then... 

Looks like there's some pretty exciting stuff coming our way in the next year or so. And I for one, can not wait. 

I'll leave you with one final image:

*slow respectful applause*

Don't forget to like Mitsuharu on Minis on Facebook for regular updates!

-M

Tourney Tales - Valentines' Massacre

Hi again everyone, the dust has settled on the Valentines' Masscre tournament at my LGS so I'm here to tell you all about it. This is the tournament that I've been preparing for for the past few weeks so I was looking forward to it. Right up until the actual morning of the event, that is, which is when the cold I'd had brewing exploded into a full on head cold and I felt awful. Despite that though, I dragged myself down to play some Warmachine. (See how I slipped my excuses in early). Because of this illness I didn't get any photos like I said I would, and my memory of the games is foggy at best. Because of this I'll just write up a quick summary of the games I played for each round rather than a turn by turn. 

The lists I took were the two I'd been practicing with:

List One:

Intercessor Kreoss +5

-Vanquisher -8

-Reckoner -8

Min Choir -2

Vassal of Menoth -2

Nicia, Tear of Vengence -3

Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord -2

Covenant of Menoth -2

Wracks -1

Vassal Mechanic -1

Daughters of Menoth -5

Max Exemplar Vengers -11

Max Exemplar Errants with UA -10

List Two:

eFeora +6

-Bonded Judicator -18

-Reckoner -8

Vassal of Menoth -2

Wracks -1

Vassal Mechanic -1

Eiryss, Angel of Retribution -3

Dartan Vilmon -3

Saxon Orrik -2

Gorman Di Wulfe -2

Min Choir -2 

Max TFG with UA -8

Min Zealots with UA -6

Round 1

My first game was against Will whose Mercs I'd had a practice game against last week. This time around, though we both decided to use our other lists, with me taking Intercessor Kreoss and him electing to take Magnus the Traitor. His list consisted of two Renegades, a Max unit of Nyss Hunters, eEiryss, Carvolo, Dougal MacNaile, Ayanna and Holt and probably most importantly Gastonne Crosse with a Galleon. From my part this game was a complete flop. I managed to allow Will to 'live the dream' with the list, getting a turn 2 assassination to win the game. A re-rolled deviation (thanks to Dougal) on a Renegade shot knocked Kreoss down, allowing the Galleon to pump him full of shots before hitting the drag (Double powder rations) and using the free melee to stomp on Kreoss' head. Not an especially auspicious start to the day, with me only managing to score 3 army points of damage for the whole game by killing Eiryss. 

Round 2

My second round game was against a Cryx player who was using Sturgis the Corrupted. I elected to drop eFeora to handle the infantry that was in both of his lists. His list comprised of Sturgis himself with a Harrower, a max unit of Boomhowlers, Gerlak Slaughterborn, a full unit of Bloodgorgers, a full unit of Bloodwitches with the UA, Orrik to give them pathfinder, Ragman, a Warwitch, two pistol Wraiths, and a min unit of Bile Thralls. It was a meaty list with lots of tough and other shenanigans to make it hard to get through. The game was pretty back and forth, and was fairly balanced throughout. Mainly because we were both really unlucky, failing to get off multiple things. The Bloodwitches and the zealots traded mini-feats to ensure that neither did anything for two turns. There was a turn when he passed no tough rolls, including the 4+ Boomhowlers, and then the following round not a single troll failed. We both took critical chain attacks but missed the second hit despite needing 3s to hit. Throughout the game Sturgis got work done, moving up the field with Relentless Charge to kill a bunch of stuff before yo-yo-ing back with teleport. This left his caster pretty bare for most of the game, and so he took a pounding from blasts from the Judicator. The Judicator was his main priority, putting all of his efforts into killing it, but missing the mark by around five damage boxes. In the end the blast damaged and the fact that fire never went out was what won me the game. despite being outside of Feora's Caustic Presence, the fire stayed on and the pow 12 was enough to finish off the former Cygnar caster and win me the game, making me one for two. 

Round 3

My third game of the day was against one of the youngest players in our meta. Despite his age, however, he's a canny opponent who generally practices against some of the best players we have. He was using Cygnar and had made a commitment to destroying a colossal for the day. Because of this he dropped a Siege list, and I obliged by dropping eFeora. His list included a Defender and a Squire with Siege along with a unit of Gun Mages marshalling a Hunter, a max unit of Tempest Blazers, Jakes with a Stormclad, accompanied by Arlan Strangewayes. The list also included Rienholt, Gorman and Pendrake. 

I spent the majority of the game sniping out the key support solos in the army, and using blasts to overcome the Cygnaran high DEF and take out a bunch of models. A lucky deviation from the Stormclad landed right on Jakes, killing her and making it inert. To overcome this he moved his Gun Mages into the zone and thunderstruck his own Jack backwards towards Arlan so he could reactivate it. This pushed the Jack out of the zone, following which the zealots and the Judicator managed to clear the zone and score a point. We both attritioned well but he found Passage'd jacks frustrating for his list and couldn't clear them from the zone, while I couldn't reach his caster for a reliable assassination run on him. In the end we got to dice down on a very unclear point in the game where there was no certainty which way it might have gone (his feat turn could have crippled me, or left him exposed to a solid assassination run) and since I'd scored one point I won on tie breaker. Putting me at 2 for 3 for the day. 

Round 4

The final round saw me paired up with Mark, the Khador player who I faced a couple of weeks previously during my iKreoss test games. Much like with Will we both ended up using our alternative lists. I played eFeora and he was locked into Vlad 2. The list included Sylys Wyshnalyrr, a Spriggan two units of Doom Reavers, Fenris, a max unit of Uhlans, along with the solo, and a max unit of IFP with Black Dragon UA. 

This game was good, and much like last time I massively out attritioned him, killing all but one of the IFP and Uhlans respectively, and leaving only two or three Doom Reavers by the end of the game. Despite this he put a bunch of pressure on me, moving across the board quickly and locking me out of contesting his flag. He made several attempts at an assassination run on Feora but she proved too hard to kill. He scored defensively on his own flag for 2 rounds, forcing me into a long shot assassination run. I hit with a double boosted rocket pod, wiping out half his boxes, and doing a couple more with the secondary blast. I then boosted the second rocket pod and would have hit if not for the Might of Kings bumping up his DEF, doing a bit more damage with the blasts. The Reckoner then managed to get a line on him and took another shot, but didn't have any focus for boosts, and even though he managed to hit, didn't roll enough to kill. He was left with a handful of boxes and on fire, but managed to score the final point for the win, leaving me on 2 for 4 overall for the day. 

The games I played were really fun, and apart from the first game I felt like I was always able to take control. I would have enjoyed myself a lot more if I wasn't feeling so sick, but nonetheless it was a good day, and I'm already looking towards the new casters I want to try out...

Stay tuned for more, and don't forget to like Mitsuharu on Minis on Facebook for regular updates and more!

-M

Mitsuharu on Bat Reps - Feora, Protector of the Flame vs. Drake MacBain

Hi everyone and welcome back to the latest Bat Rep! This week was my final game before the local tournament this Sunday. I was still practicing with my eFeora list:

eFeora +6

-Bonded Judicator -18

-Reckoner -8

Vassal of Menoth -2

Wracks -1

Vassal Mechanic -1

Eiryss, Angel of Retribution -3

Knights Exemplar Seneschal -3

Saxon Orrik -2

Gorman Di Wulfe -2

Min Choir -2 

Max TFG with UA -8

Min Zealots with UA -6

My opponent was one of the few Merc players in my meta, Will, and was playing a new Highborn list he'd cooked up using Drake MacBain accompanied by Sylys Wyshnalyrr and a Galleon. The list also included a max unit of Boomhowlers, a unit of Gun Mages with UA, Alexia Mistress of the Witchfire, Anastasia di Bray, Eiyrss Mage Hunter of Ios, Madelyn Corbeau, Ogrun Bokur, Taryn di la Rovissi, a Gobber Tinker and Victor Pendrake. This list included a lot of interesting and some less common merc solos and combos. The Scenario that we were playing was Two Fronts, and I lost the roll for initiative thanks to Anastasia's Intelligence special rule. My opponent decided to take the more advantageous board side and let me take first turn. 

We each set up our Colossals in the centre of the board, and I then placed my TFG on the side nearest my zone with Orrik, and the zealots on the opposite side across from the other zone along with Gorman and the Seneschal, with Feora near the middle of the board, and the support staff surrounding the colossal. Will then deployed his gun mages opposite my TFG along with Pendrake, while the Boomhowlers surrounded MacBain on the other side of the board. All of the solos then advanced deployed right on the edge of his own zone. 

Having the first turn I ran my force forwards, placing the Zealots on the hill Directly in front of them, followed by the Judicator, Senechal, and Gorman. Orrik gave pathfinder to the TFG who then ran up close to the zone. Feora put out Escort and then moved up toward the linear obstacle on my side of the board, and the support staff all moved up, with the choir singing Passage on the Jacks. Will then ran all of his Solos into his zone, surrounding his objective which was The Stockpile, preventing knockdown (we had the details of this objective wrong. We'd been playing that it was no knockdown within 4", however this is B2B and the stand-up effect is 4"). The Gun mages moved forwards and the Boomhowlers ran across the board, with the Galleon stomping up behind them. MacBain then moved onto the hill, surrounded by Boomhowlers and used his feat, affecting the solos in the zone and himself and Boomhowler. 

In my turn Gorman stepped up and threw Black Oil at Alexia, but missed and deviated off to the wrong direction, missing everything. The Zealots then shuffled into the zone and prayed for Fervour, before ineffectually tossing bombs into the mass of solos, scratching a couple of them but not doing any real damage, and then used their minifeat to hold out. Orrik moved up again and put Pathfinder on the TFG, who moved into the zone with Shield wall and also mini Feated to turtle the zone. The Reckoner hopped over the wall into the zone, and Feora moved up behind the wall and put Ignite on the TFG. I then activated the Judicator and took a template shot at MacBain, boosting the to hit and managing to set him on fire thanks to the bond. My clock then ran out before either of the vassals could move up. In hindsight I should definitely have taken my extension this turn, and finished off my shooting and moved up my vassals, but I didn't. 

The fire did not go out on either MacBain or the Boomhowler next to him who'd also been set on fire, killing the boomie, and doing a couple of boxes on MacBain. Madelyn used her intrigue move to have MacBain shuffle forwards, considering the assassination run on Feora. The Galleon moved up and took a big chunk out of my objective. The Bokur charged through a gap in my Zealots using reach to catch the Seneschal and took him down to 0, knocking him down, waiting for the revive. Alexia then moved up and took a Hellfire shot on Gorman, being just barely within Stealth and killed him. At this point I realised how poor my Seneschal placement was, since the Greater Destiny Zealots could not die to bring him back and Gorman does not activate Restoration, since the wording is for Faction models. Moving on! Pendrake set his sights on his nemesis, Orrik, and advanced across the board towards him on the extreme flank. MacBain decided to be more cautious and jogged around to the back of his Galleon, using a couple of Jack Hammers to finish off the objective, scoring a point. The Gun mages aimed, killing a couple of the TFG despite their massive ARM, freeing up LOS for Eiryss to Disrupt the Reckoner. The Boomhowlers then charged, with two attacking the Reckoner, two on TFG and two on a zealot. One Boomhowler killed a zealot, freeing up the other to swing a couple of points damage onto the Judicator. The Boomhowlers facing the TFG failed to hit on any of their attacks thanks to Set Defence and the other one managed to deal a handful of boxes to the Reckoner. Anastasia then moved up, using espionage to get another activation on the board, but with the clock running down this achieved very little, with a couple of Boomhowlers putting a couple more boxes on the Judicator and the Reckoner. 

On my turn I gave a focus to the Judicator and upkept both of my spells. The zealots activated and instead of throwing bombs like a good Menoth player I decided to be stupid and moved into Melee to miss all my attacks vs Alexia and the Bokur. Feora moved across to shoot her spray at Anastasia, boosting the to hit roll, and still managed to miss, forcing Eiryss to finish the spy off with a quick crossbow bolt. The vassal then activated, moving up to the Judicator to use an Ancilliary attack on the flamethrower. The template covered a Boomhowler, Madelyn and Taryn. Taryn dodged the flames acrobatically, and Madelyn used Sucker! to have the Boomhowler double hit, with one of the damage rolls killing him. The Judicator then activated properly, spending a focus to pick up the Bokur and throw him at Madelyn. The throw missed Madelyn but only deviated by 1", meaning she was still hit, and both of them were killed in the resulting splatter. Saxon Orrik, having given the TFG as much guidance as necessary, moved up the board and levelled his hunting rifle at his nemesis, Victor Pendrake, grazing him with a bullet but failing to kill. The Reckoner managed to kill the Boomhowler engaging him despite being disrupted. The TFG then moved up the board but my clock ran out before I could make any attacks, and I again stupidly decided not to take my extension on the only other turn that it would have mattered. 

Will started his turn by rolling fire off MacBain who'd been taking a few boxes a turn all game from it and had Alexia use her souls to create 3 thrall warriors, who spawned in the zealots' back arcs. T wo of them killed their targets but the third managed to fail despite the bonuses to hit and the naturally low DEF. The Boomhowlers moved into the Judicator, taking a few more boxes off it. Pendrake sacrificed movement to aim at Orrik, hoping to end the feud with his lucky bow, forgetting that the sneaky Orrik has stealth, causing him to automiss. Being a coward Pendrake then had the Gun Mages shoot at Orrik to finish his job for him, but they failed to hit his high Defence. The Gun Mages did however manage to kill several of the TFG. Meanwhile Eiryss disrupted the Reckoner again. With his remaining time the Galleon advanced into a crack between 2 Boomhowlers, just getting the Judicator within reach, taking two punishing melee attacks on it. MacBain then activated and used repeated Jack Hammers and the rest of his clock to scrap my colossal. 

On my turn, somewhat disheartened by the loss of the Judicator I had the support staff run across the board towards the remaining Jack. The Reckoner used its natural Attack and an Ancilliary to kill a pair of Boomhowlers. The TFG moved up and swung at the Galleon, not harming it but setting it on fire. Orrik took more careful aim at his foe, Pendrake, and managed to get a killing blow, with Pendrake failing the tough roll. Moral Victory! Feora moved back towards the wall and firestepped into a safer location behind some human cover and the wall. The Zealots continued to do very little to clear their zone, with their combined efforts killing a single Thrall Warrior. Eyriss moved over the wall and within 5" of the Galleon to use Technological Interference to limit its effectiveness next turn. 

Taking advantage of an exposed Eiryss the Gun Mages and younger Eiryss shot her to death along with another handful of TFG. Alexia and her risen along with Taryn managed to polish off the last of the Zealots quite handily, freeing up the Boomhowlers to move across the board and victimise my support staff, with the Mechanic swiftly becoming a light snack for a Trollblood. Despite having no focus the Galleon moved into melee with the Reckoner and used its own attacks and some Jack Hammers to scrap it. 

Seeing that I was clearly losing the attrition game and with no way to clear out the Galleon I decided the best course  was to try for the assassination. I measured my control area and was pretty sure that I was around an inch out. Deciding it was still worth the try I started by having the TFG attack the Gobber Tinker and Boomhowler himself. The combined melee against the Tinker failed completely but Boomhowler was set on fire. Feora then firestepped over the wall, setting up a clear lane to MacBain. After that I remeasured my control area and found that I definitely was out of range for the assassination run. Instead I moved across into the wreck marker to get a slightly improved DEF and then feated, taking the fire from a Boomhowler and the Galleon, putting it back onto MacBain and Eiryss. Deciding that killing Eiryss was a priority she then boosted a flamethrower shot at her. And missed. Saxon Orrik then tried to make up for this with a risky charge on Eiryss but was about an inches short. The Vassal then moved into melee range of Boomhowler and used his Bolt to zap him. Unfortunately he made his Call of Defiance tough. This left me in a pretty precarious position, but Feora was DEF 19 vs ranged and camping a stack of 8 Focus. 

The fire on MacBain did another couple of points of damage but the fire on Eiryss rolled a double one. Leaving her more than alive enough to roll double 6 on her aim at Feora, hitting her squarely with a disruption bolt. The Boomhowlers and Alexia swanned across the board before Sylys ran to engage Feora, setting up a gang for MacBain on her. MacBain then charged in, boosting his charge attack. He hit and did a handful of damage. He bought and double boosted the attack again, reducing her to a few boxes. He bought a final attack and cranked the damage roll putting her in the ground. 

This was a fun game, starting off slow and then getting very serious very quick. We were both inexperienced with the lists that we were using and so there were some pretty basic mistakes on both sides. I should have placed my Seneschal on the other side of the board with the TFG instead of with the zealots who couldn't heal him. I also should have been throwing bombs instead of swinging sticks with the Zealots. I also should have used my extension on the earlier turns. 

I'm looking forward to the tournament on Sunday and I'll be sure to write it all up and give you all a look at how it goes!

Don't forget to like Mitsuharu on Minis on Facebook for more updates!

-M

Mini Thoughts - Colossals Wave 2

I'm sure by now everyone has seen the new colossal designs put out by Privateer Press at the Adepticon 2015 Keynote. Being British and employed I wasn't able to live stream the keynote as I was in the middle of a Friday at work. Thankfully I've managed to catch up through the video posted by Privateer Press of the Colossal announcement (available on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10152618645627050&id=74721417049). First off I'm pretty psyched. I know there's been a bit of negativity from what I've seen, but I'm pretty excited to see the full, proper rules for these bad boys. For anyone who hasn't yet seen the concepts for these guys here you go:

Hurricane

Ok, first off Cygnar. The new colossal for Cygnar looks awesome. No questions. It doesn't have the Storm pods of its predecessor according to the video but since it's Cygnar you can bet that they'll more than make up for that. As it stands so far they've announced it will feature a pair of powerful shots that can also push affected models, making it a great piece for controlling zones and clearing models from flags. Also it has an arc node. A Colossal Arc Node. Let that sink in for a moment. Knowing Cygnar it'll also be able to arc whilst engaged in the same way that a regular colossal can shoot while engaged. 

Victor

The Victor swaps out the heavy cannons of the Conquest for a new gun that fires (at least one) AOE 5 template that cause all kinds of bad juju for your opponent including rough terrain, reducing DEF and cont. fire with its Siege Mortar. the art has some nice secondary weapons like the Conquest but for now it's not clear how, if at all, they'll differ from the Conquest's guns. 

Revelator 

Ok, I'll be honest here's the one I'm most excited about personally, as a Menoth player (I'm bias, sue me). This big guy has the flamethrower nipples like the Judicator but seems to have a much bigger version of the Vanquisher's Flame Belcher (AOE 5, please) on each shoulder. Yowza. It's no secret that the Vanquisher is one of my favourite Protectorate Heavies and ends up in most of my lists, so a mega version? Fine by me. On top of all of that goodness this colossal ignores one of the biggest pains in the game for a ranged list: Stealth. As a Menoth player who frequently faces Cryx across the table I can tell you that ignoring stealth is huge in and of itself. But! But, cherry on the cake? He has some kind of ability that lets your other models ignore stealth too! I'm in love. 

Sepulcher 

Sepulcher is the only Jack to get an actual photo of its model, suggesting that it's likely to be the first to be physically released. This one is described as a 'walking necrofactorum' that collects corpse tokens (probably) to put out even more guys. It's like the giant robot version of a Necrosurgeon that can also tear the enemy apart. I like to think it'll probably have a rule that gets you d3 models for each corpse token or something so you can dudespam your heart out like a good Cryx player. On top of that while the unicorn cannon from the kraken is gone there is still a little gun up on there that probably kicks out some oomph too. 

Helios

Helios is the new Retribution Colossal and the only Colossal (so far) without a 'real' ranged attack. Instead Helios gets a tractor beam that lets it move an enemy model 3" in any direction. Basically it's a super-heavy jack that can cast telekinesis. For free. But better. Plus I doubt those massive fists are ornamental either. On top of that it also has mysterious 'Force Gate' abilities that weren't really explored but sound pretty badass. Shenanigans galore!

Prime Conflux 

The new Convergence goodie is all about electricity. The Prime Conflux is voltaic all over sporting electrical 'defences and offences'. That's not really discussed in any detail on the video. Presumably it's immune to electrical damage. It seemed to imply it would have some kind of shield, perhaps that deals lightning damage to models that attack it? And it also has some intimidating looking cannon on its shoulders. On top of that, like it's older brother, the Prime Axiom, the Conflux can launch servitors. Unlike the Axiom the Conflux has it's own flavour of servitor called 'Ionisation Servitors' that increase electrical damage around them. It's not clear how (cumulative +2? Additional die? Cumulative additional dice? Do they have to be near the shooter like choir or the target like rangers?) but either way it'll help the Conflux to smash face more effectively. 

Summary

Personally one of the most interesting things to note about the new colossals is that they are all more utility pieces than their predecessors. The Conflux's servitors, the Sepulcher's spawning abilities and the Revelator's anti-stealth help to assist your force in doing their thing. Meanwhile the pushes from Helios and Hurricane and the variable AOEs from Victory help to create some very nice board control for their armies. I'm really pleased to see that in these colossals, since the 20 (ish) point investment is much easier to swallow if the result not only has terrifying attacks but also adds synergy with the rest of the field! Hopefully at least one of these monsters will be spoiled in the next NQ and we can see some rules! 

And to add to all that the announcement ended with a promise of a Hoards reveal for Smogcon! New Gargantuans? Let's hope so! And that they and these colossals will be just as awesome as they're promising to be right now!

Don't forget to like Mitsuharu on Minis on Facebook for regular updates!

-M

Quick Update

Hi everyone, quick bonus post! I've just logged onto this blog on my computer and seen two things. Firstly the view counter is about to tick over to 1000 page views of my humble ramblings which is awesome to see! Secondly this blog is hella ugly. I assumed that my phone (from which I do all my blogging) wasn't loading the page properly. Nope, this blog was bland and white and hideous. I've changed that! As you can see the blog is looking a tiny bit more presentable! Moving forwards I'm planning to inject a little colour into the upcoming posts with some pictures to accompany the walls of text, so look forward to that! Also I set up a Facebook page for anyone interested in regular updates and quick thoughts at https://www.facebook.com/Mitsuharuonminis so hit like for more!

Thanks for reading, there's plenty more to come!

-M

Mitsuharu on Bat Reps - Feora, Protector of the Flame vs Lich Lord Terminus

Hi everyone, welcome back to the latest installation of Mitsuharu on Bat Reps. This week I managed to get a game against Jayke from Hall of Legends (http://hall-of-legends.blogspot.com/) using my eFeora list against the Terminus list he's been practicing for ETC. My list included:

eFeora +6

-Bonded Judicator -18

-Reckoner -8

Vassal of Menoth -2

Wracks -1

Vassal Mechanic -1

Eiryss, Angel of Retribution -3

Knights Exemplar Seneschal -3

Saxon Orrik -2

Gorman Di Wulfe -2

Min Choir -2 

Max TFG with UA -8

Min Zealots with UA -6

I decided at the last minute to swap out Dartan for a Seneschal on the advice of Nick from Solid Ground Studios (http://solidgroundstudios.co.uk). Other than that the list was exactly what I'd decided on in the Cogs in the Theory Machine post a couple of weeks ago. Jayke was playing Terminus with a Deathripper, Darragh Wrathe, Tartarus, a Warwitch Siren, Madelyn Corbeau, Saxon Orrik, Orin Midwinter, a Max unit of Bane Knights, a min unit of Bile Thralls two max units of Mechanithralls, each accompanied by a Necrosurgeon and thralls and the Withershadow Combine. The game we rolled was Outflank and I got the first turn. 

I deployed the Judicator just to the left of my centre field, then placed Feora and the Reckoner to its right, with the various support staff around them. The zealots and Gorman took the left flank while the TFG with Orrik and the Seneschal took the right, with the Wracks scattered across the deployment zone and Eiryss central, in line with a wall that was placed just ahead of my advanced deploy line. On the other side of the table the mechanithralls, Necrosurgeons, and bile thralls surrounded Terminus in the centre of the board, with the deathripper and warwitch set opposite my Zealots and the Bane knights opposing the TFG on the other flank. 

I started by moving everything forward, with the zealots and Gorman sitting on a hill for extra DEF vs ranged. The TFG got pathfinder from Orrik and moved up in shield wall, not getting very far up the field. Then the Judicator ran and took a pot shot with Ancilliary Attack, but failed to hit anything. Jayke's army all ran up, with Terminus sitting behind a forest that was near the centre of his half of the board. 

In my turn the judicator spent most of my 10 minutes blasting mechanithralls from the zone near it with it's rocket pods and flamethrowers meaning that I didn't get much else done in my turn except moving the TFG up with Orrik so two of them were in the zone but the rest couldn't make it in. Then I completely forgot to use their minifeat to give me the edge on ARM against the inevitable countercharge from the bane knights, but did remember shield wall. The Zealots moved up to throw bombs, killing an extra thrall or two and they did minifeat. I then had to end my turn without activating the majority of my solos. 

Jayke took full advantage of my rushed turn charging Tartarus into the TFG, but failed on his charge attack thanks to set defence. The bane knights then charged in thanks to curse and killed a few of the Flameguard, and finally the Seneschal, meaning he couldn't resurrect next turn. He didn't manage to clear to the zone though. One unit of mechanithralls charged the Reckoner who'd failed to activate, reducing it to a couple of movement boxes but generally crippling it. The other unit of mechanithralls moved into the zealots, and killed Gorman and put a couple of points on one side of the Judicator. Tartarus moved up into the forest a bit more, feating. The Warwitch moved up and used venom to kill off a couple of zealots. 

On my turn the TFG started off, killing a couple of the bane knights and remembering to get off Iron Zeal along with the Shield Wall. The zealots prayed for fervour and took some swings at the mechanithralls and Eiryss took a shot at the deathripper, disrupting it. Thanks to battle from the choir the Reckoner was actually able to smush one of the mechanithralls engaging it even with only one die on the attack rolls. The Judicator then took another bunch of shots, including the ancilliary, to batter the Bonejack and kill more of the infantry swarm, and Feora moved up behind the Judicator to get the bonuses from Escort. 

Jayke continued to slaughter the TFG, clearing the zone on my right, securing his first point. One of the bile thralls moved up and purged, seriously wounding my Mechanic, wiping out all but one Chorister, and putting corrosion on the Judicator and Feora. The Warwitch used power booster to give a focus to the Deathripper who tried to slam the Judicator (he had actually lost movement but didn't remember at the time) but being a collosal it couldn't be moved and the attack didn't crack the ARM. The mechanithralls took some more swings at the zealots. The other unit of Mechanithralls activated and finished off the Reckoner, but since he'd taken attacks he couldn't use the rest of the unit. 

I was left with very little left on the board, but this turn was when the game started to get really interesting. Saxon moved up into the zone next to Tartarus to contest that flank. The Judicator then used a two handed throw to pick up the heavily damaged light that attacked it last turn and threw it right at the Warwitch, killing them both, then used its last focus to kill another thrall in the zone. The Zealots activated, killing two thralls and throwing a bomb at some other guys in the zone. Then Feora moved slightly further around the Judicator, toeing the zone. Unfortunately the zone wasn't clear so I didn't score. 

On the next turn the Bane Knights started to run across the board, trying to get in to threaten Feora next turn and Tartarus took a contemptuous swing at Saxon to clear the zone again, but missed, keeping me in contention for another round. Another bile thrall purged, killing off the last of the choir and the vassals, seriously impacting the usefulness of the Judicator (though it was hardly crippled). The larger unit of thralls and their Surgeon moved into the line, clearly terrified of the threat that Saxon Orrik represented in clearing out that zone. The remaining thralls in the other zone continued to trade blows with the zealots killing another. The Withershadow Combine moved up to offer some screening to Terminus who was cowering in the woods. 

This wasn't perfect though, and I eyed up the board for the first two minutes of my turn trying to decide if I should try to clear out the zone or go for a risky assassination run on Terminus. I opted for the cooler route and gave two focus to the Judicator and charged it into Terminus, and with a proxy base and widget figured that it was only just in. After some rolls Terminus had only taken a handful of boxes, and the zone still had a bunch of Cryx in it. Feora advanced up behind the Judicator, hoping Escort would mitigate the inevitable retaliation. Saxon failed to kill Tartarus in return for his turn. 

Terminus put his grumpy face on and used Corbeau and Darragh Wrathe to shift across the board and line up a charge lane on Feora. The Withershadow put Puppet Strings on Terminus and took a shot at Feora but missed. Terminus then took the charge on Feora, suffering a free strike from the Judicator. It hit, but with the full camp only did a moderate amount of damage. Terminus then proceeded to smack Feora into the dirt using his full stack. But Faith being stronger than Fury, she was left standing quite comfortably with around 8 boxes thanks to some poor dice rolls. Not wanting to lose the assassination a pair of bane knights charged into the mix too, but only one hit, with the other doing 5 damage. Desperate to finish off the game one of the bile thralls activated, but only did one box to her, leaving her safe even from corrosion, but killing a bunch of cryx models to boot. The corrosion stayed on for my turn leaving Feora on 1 box. 

This gave me the best shot I'd had all game to close it out. Feora gave two to the Judicator, who turned around and took another chunk out of the Lich Lord before Feora started laying in with Apocalypse. The Lich Lord took a couple of hits before Feroa plunged her spear into his chest for the kill, looking on in righteous indignation as he passed his tough roll. Using her last focus to buy a final attack, hitting automatically, and once again took the last chunk off him, this time the die for tough hit the table and came up a 4. 

When the smoke cleared the board was left with one or two zealots, Feroa on one box and her Judicator along with Saxon Orrik defiantly staring down Tartarus, a bunch of Bane Knights, a mostly full unit of mechanithralls and a necrosurgeon unit. And two of the Withershadow combine along with the support solos and basically a whole bunch of guys, but the lucky assassination had secured me a relatively undeserved win. 

On reflection Jayke realised that he hadn't actually used the puppet strings bonus during the assassination run which might have made a big difference to the result of the game. Besides which after clearing out the zone on my right he could have flown Termimus into the zone and locked me out for a scenario win. Looking back I didn't really learn Saxon well enough to really utilise him and I really should have run the TFG to get a more commanding board position to properly contest the zone instead of just getting a toe in the zone. I really liked this list and had a fun time playing with it. Especially the Bonded Judicator which is awesome to play. I'll feel a lot more comfortable with the list once I've had at least one more game with it. 

I'm looking forward to having another practice game I can tell you all about before I hit the tournament in a week!

-M