Nechriah's "Fun and Exciting!" Cygnar Blog

[Nechriah]

Originally Posted by Da Mighty Camel

What? You played FE (assuming it is Radiant Dawn) for the story? I gave up the story after an hour since I realised it was teh crap then. I play it for the battles!

It was the one on the Game Boy Advance - as far as I know it's just called Fire Emblem, no snappy subtitle or anything like that.

I will admit that the story was pretty lame - I only really enjoyed it when I was reading the cutscenes aloud in horribly overacted, caricatured voices, but even that din't prepare me for just how BAD the ending was. I think I was also annoyed with it because I lost all of my favourite units in the final battle - namely Raven (the swordsman) and Canas (the dark wizard)

[Nechriah]

Alright! I'm almost completely over my icky disease of doom, and so I was able to go along to my gaming club's weekly thing yesterday. I managed to get in three games, two with my new Highborn Covenant list (using proxies), and one with my good ol' Cygnarans - also using mostly proxies, since I decided to try out a whole bunch of stuff I'd never used before.

First game with my Highborn Covenant was against Louise and his Menites: Feora, Idrian Skirmishers, a Wrack and plenty of Exemplar Vengers with their new best buddy Gravus. This was a very close game, and could have gone either way for a while. The Idrians and Hammerers fought each other to the death, with Aiyana and Holt mopping up the pieces; while Dirty Meg, my Mariner, Ashlynn and her Bokur bore the brunt of the Exemplar's charge. The Bokur really shone, killing a Venger and Gravus, while the Mariner's performance was...lacklustre. In the end it came down to a one-on-one duel between Ashlynn and Feora in the river, after most of my stuff was set on fire and put out of action. Ashlynn didn't quite manage to kill Feora - knocking her down to one health - and Feora finished her off the next turn

Second game was against Ron's Cryx: Asphyxious, his pet Skarlock, a Deathripper, the Withershadow Combine, some Soul Hunters and their new best friend Darragh Wrathe. Everyone in our group is using their new character dragoons except me it seems. This game was a disaster for me from the beginning, with Asphyxious destroying the entire unit of Forge Guard in the first turn. Things were not going well until I managed to cast 'Kiss of Lyliss' on the Iron Lich. Two attacks from Holt pinned him down, allowing a Quickened Ashlynn to swoop in and deliver the coup-de-grace with a sneaky lunge attack. So, I've had my first win with the Highborn Covenant now!

Ron's been itching to have a game against my Cygnarans, and I decided to oblige him. For something different, I took Caine, a Hunter, 7 Stormguard, a Gunmage Captain-Adept and, since character dragoons are popping up everywhere, Major Katherine Laddermore. I was keen to try out Captain Arlan Strangewayes as well, but we couldn't find the No Quarter mag with his rules in so I settled for the Gunmage instead. Ron also decided to mix things up, swapping out his cavalry and Skarlock Thrall for the Revenant Crew and a BIG unit of Drudges. My first impression of Katherine Laddermore was a good one as she cut into the flank of the Drudge unit and fried four of them with her funky lightning lance. As this was my first time using Caine, I decided to Flash him behind a wall, and then declared his 'Maelstrom' feet the next turn, just to see what he can do. Turns out he can do a lot, but I suspect most Cygnar players already knew that. Caine netted himself the entire Pirate unit and all the remaining Drudges, as well as severely damaging the Withershadow Combine and the Deathripper. Unfortunately, the Iron Lich was outside of his control area by a hair's breath. During his next turn, Ron decided to take a gamble and charge his damaged Deathripper at Caine. Amazingly, it hit him and inflicted a whopping twelve damage to my warcaster. I was thinking Caine could still survive when that evil Cephalyx slaver drifted over and proceeded to slice Caine up with his knives.

So, at the moment I'm thinking I'll continue to build up my Highborn Covenant army. Ashylnn is a fun caster to use, and she's far more deadly than what I'm used to working with. Keeping her out of harm's way until she can unleash herself in melee is tricky (she's VERY fragile), but with practice that should come easy. Aiyana and Holt continue to earn their points back with great aplomb, though I should use Aiyana's 'Glyph of Nyrro' spell more often - it could have saved her and Holt from Feora in that game against Louise. The Ogrun Bokur is an awesome solo, tough, hard-hitting and reliable; and while they didn't get to do much I was impressed by the Forge Guard. The only weak link in my army is Meg, she didn't seem to do much so I think I'll swap her out for Rhupert Carvolo - he ought to make the Forge Guard more survivable.

When I turn my attention back to my Cygnar, I think I will be using Caine a lot more. He's one of the coolest charcters in the WARMACHINE story, and who can resist a guy with two magickal pistols? With the abundance of infantry-heavy armies where I play, Caine is probably going to be worth his weight in white metal alloy. Laddermore is also a bunch of fun to use, and I'm dead keen to try out Strangewayes as well.

It seems my only problem with the hobby now is the usual "Too much awesome stuff, not enough time and money to buy and paint it all" - but I guess that's a good problem to have.

'Til next time,
Nechriah

[Da Mighty Camel]

Ooh, 3 nice little summaries there. Good to here that the Covenant is working out for you, Ashlynn is such a cool 'caster.

Keep us posted!

edit: @ Fire Emblem. I own the Wii-version. Very fun game with some great tactical battles. I recomend it.

[Nechriah]

Hmm, I've yet to pick up any of the "next gen" gaming consoles - I think it's because I already have one expensive and time-consuming hobby. That, and I'm torn between the 360 and the Wii. Still, if I do decide on the latter I will certainly pick up fire Emblem for it - I do love me some tactical battle games (Obviously! Why else would I be playing Warmachine/Warhammer etc. if I didn't?)

Yeah, the Highborn Covenant are working out well for me indeed Camel. I love stories about resistance fighters, so as soon as I read about Ashlynn I knew I'd want to play some a games with them at some stage. She's one of the best characters in the WM story in my opinion. I've challenged Yoshi (our resident Khador player) to a "grudge match" game between her and Epic Irusk - 'You killed my father. Prepare to die!' - and everyone at our gaming club is anticipating this event with great excitement, as it'll be our first 750 point game. This should be interesting...

I think Yoshi's trying to delay this match by way of encouraging me to return to my Cygnar army - he gave me Captain Arlan Strangewayes, the Arcane Mechanik, as an early birthday present yesterday, and it's not my birthday for another month or more! I'm not complaing though, Strangewayes is a wicked solo. I'm hoping to finish painting Aiyana and Holt sometime soon, so that I can get onto painting him up as well. Pictures will be coming soon, I hope!

*Nechriah out*

[Nechriah]

It looks as though my Cygnar blog, and indeed most of my wargame related activities will be going on hiatus until the end of the month. Exam revision week begins either this week or next week (depending on which university you attend 'round these parts), and since most of my gaming club are uni students - myself included - we'll all be up to our eyeballs in work for the next few weeks. Hence, the club is dormant for a while. I just thought I'd let my avid readers (all five of you! ) know where I disappeared to in adavance.

Oh, and for a little bit of good news: my Commander-Adept Sebastian Nemo model FINALLY came in. That only took fifteen weeks, as opposed to the "two-to-six weeks" that my friendly local games store advertises. Still, I'm not complaining (okay maybe I am, just a little tiny bit) - I've got my model and I can't wait to paint him. Now, it's just a matter of finding the time to do so...

Peace out, and see you all next month!
~ Nechriah

[Da Mighty Camel]

I think you should have recieved a discount on him, considering the outrageous wait...

And good luck with the exams!

[Nechriah]

I return! After a month long hiatus from Warmachine and Hordes, our gaming club have resumed our usual weekly shenanigans. I haven't been reporting on them though, because...well, because I keep losing. Actually, it's mainly been because I just haven't been able to find the time. Though I have lost every single game - the results for the last four weeks look something like this:

Nechriah (Cygnar) versus Yoshi (Khador)
Encounter Level: Rumble/500 points
Winner: Yoshi

Nechriah (Cygnar) versus Yoshi (Khador)
Encounter Level: Duel/350 points
Winner: Yoshi

Nechriah (Cygnar) versus Ron (Cryx)
Encounter Level: Duel/350 points
Winner: Ron

Nechriah (Circle Orboros) versus Louise (Legion of Everblight)
Encounter Level: Duel/350 points
Winner: Louise

Nechriah (Circle Orboros) verses Ron (Skorne)
Encounter Level: Rumble/500 points
Winner: Ron

Nechriah (Highborn Covenant) versus Yoshi (Khador)
Encounter Level: Rumble/500 points
Winner: Yoshi

I'm starting to wonder where I'm going wrong. Not so much with Circle Orboros and the Covenant - I've barely grasped the basics of using them in 350 point games, so trying 500 points was a little presumptuous of me. Yoshi is just really, really big on encouraging people to play 500 point games. Cygnar, though...I'm GOOD with Cygnar. At least, I win with them sometimes - more often than I do with my other factions of choice. I don't think there's any one particular thing that's letting me down; just a combination of being a bit rusty after not having played for a month, bad dice rolls (always the bad dice rolls), and not knowing how to get the most out of some of my army choices. Major Katherine Laddermore, for example - I've used her in every game with Cygnar, and while she seems good I just haven't been unleashing the lightning powered storm of death that people are afearing.

As legend has it that I'm the happy, friendly, optimistic one in our gaming group, so I'm not too bothered by my losing streak. I'd just like to win a little less occasionally. Anyway, I'm going to return my focus to Cygnar, especially with all the cool new stuff they're getting from Legends, and try to finish collecting, painting and building my army before I do anything about Circle or Mercs. I'm also thinking I might try out a different warcaster, just for a change. I've used all of them bar Siege and Darius, and I'm liking the look of Siege. A lot. The core of my list is my Ironclad, some Stormguard, the obligatory Journeyman and his pet Hunter, with Strangewayes along to keep my 'jacks running longer than they have any right to. The remaining spots in my list can be filled by Major Laddermore, Stormsmiths, Aiyana and Holt, Rhupert Carvolo and Reinholdt...as well as the Black 13 Gunmage Strike Team and Professor Pendrake, once they're released. Nemo and Siege are around the same points cost, and I can see either of them working well with whatever list I come up with...so, I can swap them around as I see fit.

So, here's a list of all the stuff that I'll need, and how close I am to owning it:
Major Markus "Siege" Brisbane...need to order him in from my FLGS
Commander-Adept Sebastian Nemo...I own the model, but as yet he's unassembled and unpainted
Ironclad...I have one of these, and he's painted! Next!
Stormguard...I'll need to order these in from my FLGS. A box and one blister should be enough for now
Black 13th...these guys (and gal) aren't released until November. So...
Stormsmiths...there's a blister of them in my FLGS. Taunting me, me and my lack of money
Journeyman...I've got one, and bar a paintjob that needs a little tidying up, he's more or less done
Hunter...currently sitting on my desk, partially assembled
Arlan Strangewayes...ARRGH! So many bits! Where do they all go? How do you paint him? He's on my desk, and he's DRIVING ME NUTS
Laddermore...I don't have her, but she's on the shelf at my FLGS. She's expensive, and probably even harder to put together than Strangewayes. I'll leave her 'til later
Pendrake...released next month, and given how my FLGS likes to keep up with the new releases, he should be on the shelf soon
Aiyana & Holt...I own these two, and they're actually assembled and half-way towards being fully painted
Reinholdt...I'll need to order him, but he'll be worth it just for the carnage his 'reload' benefit will wreak when combined with Siege's rocket cannon
Rhupert...I ordered him about three months ago...and he's still not here. It's like Nemo all over again, so I guess he'll turn up. You know, eventually

Well, that's my wishlist. Over the next few months I'll be using my mad time-management skills to devote some time each week to building up the force outline above; and by blog here will allow you all to bear witness to this remarkable occurrence - Nechriah, with a fully-painted army! No proxies! Faith and Begora! Plus, there'll be more of the usual rubbish like my battle reports. All in all, my blog might be looking more structured and be updated more regularly. For now though, you just get all this twaddle...I know, and I'm sorry

~ Nechriah