Blood_Blade's WM/H Blog

[Blood_Blade]

Hey everyone,

I'm done another term of Uni and am back home where we have a much stronger Privateer Press community. My need to get painting, coupled with the slowness of this part of the forum has 'inspired' me to get a blog going again. My main Warmachine faction is Khador with a respectable Cygnar contingent (maybe 75 pts), and my main Hordes army is Circle of Orboros with a couple Legion models (maybe 25 pts, they've never been played but I like the idea of cheating and land sharks )

A little history on my Warmachine/Hordes gaming background:
I started playing Warmachine in the fall of 2007, and fell in love with the stompy robots. Since then, I've tried to get a game or so in every week and when I can't I'll try to get on VASSAL. I started collecting Khador from the get-go and getting Circle as I branched into Hordes. My Cygnar and Legion are recent acquisitions (past year or so), and they're really there to just add flavour when I'm getting tired of "axe to face" or "shenanigans 'till I die" which to be honest isn't all that often.

A quick rundown of my Khador collection (pics to follow):

-All the casters (regular and epics)

2 Berserkers
3 Destroyers (metal)
Devestator
2 Juggernauts (metal)
Kodiak
Marauder (metal)
Spriggan

Beast-09
Behemoth
Black Ivan
Torch

10 Iron Fang Pikemen and UA
5 Iron Fang Uhlans
10 Assault Kommando's and 3 Flamethrowers
3 units of Greylord Ternions (a ternion of ternions...)
Doom Reavers
10 Winter Guard Infantry and UA and 3 Rocketts
10 Winter Guard Rifle Corps
2 Winter Guard Mortars
10 Kossites
10 Kayazy Assassins and Underboss
2 Kayazy Eliminators (one unit)
5 Man-O-War Demolition Corps
5 Man-O-War Shocktroopers
5 Man-O-War Bombadiers
2 full units of Mechaniks with one UA
2 units of Widowmakers

2 Manhunters
Yuri the Axe
2 Koldun Lords
War Dog
Drakhun with Dismount
Kovnik Markhov
Man-O-War Kovnik
Kovnik Grigorovich
Widowmaker Marksmen

I'll try and get a group shot/a couple of group pictures of these guys for your viewing pleasure tonight. I'll follow this up with my Circle models (with pics), and keep this blog going with updates on painting and battle reports as time goes on.

Wish me luck!

++EDIT++
I just took some pictures, but my lighting is awful. I'll give it a shot tomorrow in the sunlight!

++DOUBLE EDIT++
It would be a rainy day...

[Lost Nemesis]

Glad to see you're still around these parts, Blood! Looking forward to seeing what you've got completed.

[Blood_Blade]

Glad to see you're still around these parts, Blood! Looking forward to seeing what you've got completed.

Hey Lost Nemesis! I'm still trying to work out how to take decent group shots (because a lot of my mini's are just primed black, they come out looking like a shadow force and it's hard to discern anything...). I think I'll be taking WIP shots as I go, but because a lot of my painting materials are still up in my rental house at Uni... it may take a while to get going :p

So to add something useful to this blog, here are my go-to 35pts lists for Circle:

Kromac +4
-Goarx 4
-Ghetorix 11
-Warpwolf Stalker 10
Woldstalkers 5
Woldstalkers 5
Shifting Stones 2
-Stone Keeper 1
Swamp Gobbers 1
(shamelessly stolen from Skillt)

This is a hit and run list, with reach and SPD 6 my heavies should be able to Alpha strike their heavies. Utilizing the Woldstalkers to ding up the initial targets should allow my 'beasts to wreck their targets without the use of Primal. If I can swing it, I'll use Lightning Strike instead so that I'll be able to retreat 6", then another 3" from Warpath, minimizing retaliation. Primal is still vital to this army as it allows me to crack super ARM (22+) and +2 MAT is great when going for the assassination.

The upkeeps go: Wild Aggression on the Stalker for low MAT mitigation, Warpath on Kromac (duh), and Invioble Resolve on Ghetorix for ARM 19 against shooting and ARM 21 when engaged.

Cassius +6
-Feral Warpwolf 9
-Woldwarden 9
-Woldwarden 9
Shifting Stones 2
-Stone Keeper 1
10 Wolves of Orboros 6
-UA 2
4 Farrow Bone Grinders 2
Swamp Gobbers 1

Cassius is, hands down, my favourite Circle warlock. While he definitely begins to shine much more at 50pts, I like to use him a lot and my FLGS plays a majority of 35pts games. This list looks to capitalize on his excellent magic offensive potential in a variety of ways. First, the dual geomancers allows me to get Curse of Shadows out there for 'free', and with upkeeping from the turn before it can go on 3 targets with Cassius only spending 1 fury. Second, they can cast fully boosted Strangleholds (the only reliable type of Stranglehold...) on the enemy 'beasts/'jacks. With Curse of Shadows, I feel that the Gorax is unnecessary as the Feral already has an increased MAT value over the other Warpwolves, and it allows me to spend the points elsewhere.

The Bonegrinders provide Craft Talisman to Cassius (and the +2" on spell ranges has come into effect more often then not) as well as super cheap souls if Wurmwood gets hungry for bacon. The Swamp Gobbers povide more cheap souls, but more importantly concealment to proc Wurmwood's prowl so he doesn't get shot off the board too easily.

Tier 1: Wake of Destruction
eKruger +5
-Woldwarden 9
-Woldguardian 9
-Woldguardian 9
Druids of Orboros 7
Shifting Stones 2
-Stone Keeper 1
pEiryss 3

This is a great anti-Warmachine list, with it's drawbacks being magic reliant and slightly pillowfisted. With 2 Woldguardians you should have an edge on durability and between the Druids force bolt, eKrugers feat and spell list (mainly Telekinisis and Gallows) and geomancy from the Woldwarden, I should have tactical control of the board throughout the game. Add in that pEiryss will be causing disruption to enemy Warjacks and eventually their Warcaster (you can't hide from all my push/pull/placements forever) means that the enemy should be significantly hampered right from the get-go.

The tier bonus, on top of allowing me to field pEiryss *yay* also allows me to AD a beast for every Shifting Stone unit in my army. With this, I'll be able to have one Woldguardian up front and center before turn 1, which is quite handy for the SPD 4 'beasts.

+++EDIT+++
Post 1000! Cake for everyone!

[Triumph Of Man]

You don't double stones?

[Blood_Blade]

You don't double stones?

I do and will, but especially at 35 points I don't feel they're necessary in every list. Don't get me wrong they're great, but after the inaugural Stones+UA I don't feel the second unit always needs to be added as they could be a UA, 2 Gallows Grooves, Swamp Gobbers +1 point etc. Also while nice and tricksy my meta has gotten wise to them, with proper precautionary actions on my opponents behalf I don't feel 'doubling down' is needed when points are so tight.

With hopes and dreams being what they are, I finally found work for the summer... and you guessed it! It's the night shift

Wrench's in plans and all, I'll still try to get periodic pics up of the models I get done (my primed black Celestial Fulcrum has been glaring at me for a while). Batreps and such will also go up on here when/if I get nights off to game.