Online Gamer's Journal - inspired by NQ - Issue #2 (week 2)

[Naahz]

The Online Gamers' Journal - Blasted Heath: Week 2!
Inspired by the No Quarter article series of the same name
Prize Support provided by our sponsor thewarstore.com

Week 2 concludes Monday 17 May 2010.


Readers and Journalers, Welcome to the second installment of the Online Gamers' Journal. If you are not familiar with the No Quarter article of the same name I highly suggest reading it to see what we are striving for.

By midnight PST Sunday May 16, 2010 each of the twenty three initial participants in the project will have posted the second in a series of weekly updates as we Journal our progress from a 15 point army to a fully painted 35 pt force ready to begin the Blasted Heath league fully painted on June 7th.

All the Issues can be found here:
Issue #1 -
Issue #2 -
Issue #3 -
Issue #4 -
Issue #5 -
Final Voting ! -

If you are not familiar with the No Quarter article of the same name, what you should expect to read from us in this first entry is a brief description of the theme, style or painting inspiration for our force, some photos of the initial stages, challenges to each other in the form of classic Mk2 page 5 sportsmanly banter, and whenever possible a short battle report against either another member of the Journal or a local rival.

How we started the idea and chose our factions:
http://privateerpressforums.com/showthread.php?t=20726

Or to gain some insight into our development and brainstorming phase:
http://privateerpressforums.com/showthread.php?t=21155


At the end of our Journal series we will ask you our readers, along with ourselves to vote on who has kept the most entertaining Journal. Feel free to form your criteria however you like but I hope a guiding factor in your choice is a participant who provided not only interesting but clearly presented regular submissions to this Journal.


You will note that this week's title is in Blue, this is in honor of Week 1's prize winner Gdaybloke. Gdaybloke was chosen by fate, luck or roulette one might say to recieve a $15 gift certificate to add to his army for the Journal. Gdaybloke's featured model was a brilliantly painted Mennoth Templar with Blue Trim. Congratulations Gday, and we can't wait to see your progress in the Journal this week! Two of this week's randomly selected active Journalers will recieve a $15 gift certificate to thewarstore.com. All participants will have an equal chance at these certificates, but the final grand prize at the end will be based on who we and our readers vote on as the most entertaining journaler to follow!







Journalers a reminder that each issue should focus on:

1) Having Fun! This is intended to be a group project. Stay together as we incrementally build our lists. What may seem a modest beginning of 15 pts will grow to a fully painted army that we can view as part of a larger effort!
Remember, Missing this deadline doesn't end your journal. Please stay with us!

2) A photo of all painted models from the list together. (note in NQ there is sometimes just a sample of the look, not the full list painted even from the pros at PP) (www.tinypic.com will host for free your pics)
-- a couple smaller zoomed in detail shots, or a better/alternate shot of the model you are most proud of to feature!
3) Your 15 pt list. If you take out a model from a previous week of the Journal, put that in red, and add your new points in green (as per the NQ series)
4) in week 1 we covered a A brief description of your inspiration, mode selection and artistic goal.
-- this week explain any changes you made to the list, strengths you plan to capitalize on, and weaknesses you seek to address with your 10 pts of added models for week 3! You are free to fully divulge,
titillatingly hint at, or mysteriously write fluff about it. You might also talk about painting challenges - especially if you overcame them!

5) Whenever possible an abbreviated battle report ( Against another Journaler is even better!)


-optional items -
*) (any where in your post) a short piece of fiction (these were great in the Brainstorming thread)

*) Work in Progress photos, technique photos etc should be posted to the Brainstorming thread found here:
http://privateerpressforums.com/showthread.php?t=21155
this keeps the OGJ issues concise, clear and focused on pure unadulterated painted page 5 accomplished awesome.

*) Link to your blog.




Week 2 Final Entries Posted ! - Updated 8:37 EST 18 May 2010
Naahz (Hawk) - The Crew of HMS Niobe, Acting Leftenant Hermione D'Arrington commanding
Taslon - Retribution ... an eerie blue glue is seen amidst the approaching sandstorm force, Kaelyssa
Redphantasm -- **Pics or it didn't happen!
Matilda - Doomshaper's foes will Lamont getting their face smashed by this bouncer! , Doomshaper, Shaman of Dhunia
Gdaybloke - thwack,smash, spinkick stabbity stabbityx24; Amon Ad "please can we get a close up" Raza
Joasht - Frozen in Evil Protoss, Deneghra
Mozz - Llaelese Resistance, Ashlynn (AWOL)
StudderingDave - eKreoss and the Afterburners, eKreoss
GeminiX6 - Saphire Guard, Makeda
StarmanTTLB - The Shattered Kriel of Madrot Marsh, Grim Angus
Cloud-Gatherer - The Burninating Crusade, eFeora
Andal - Pigpen, Piglock
CrashTestDummy- Bodgin' an Upgrade to the Classics aka "Magnus Masher", Siege
Fire4Effekt - The Saphire Shadow, Morghoul

Guys this is awesome, 14 contributors, 13 with posted pics, 11 making painting progres. Just Awesome.
Ok late runners, I'm rolling for prizes tonight at midnight

[Naahz]

Day Ten Aboard His Majesty's Ship Niobe, Sloop-of-War, Acting Leftenant Hermione D'Arrington, Commanding

Acting Leftenant Hermione D'Arrington stared into the whiteout... the darkness of night, and the stealthy prospects it had offered, was but a memory. Now she was faced with a dire threat only felt by those who made their lives at Sea. Leftenant D'Arrington peered back over her shoulder as if some inconceivable shadow followed her sloop-of-war through the fog. All about them clouds clung like thick webs to the shallow cresting ripples of this tributary to the Black River. Still, despite all lack of visibility, she was sure something pursued her. Mathews, her Gunner's Mate, approached from the fore deck, if such a small area could be called such. He rendered a quick salute and relieved her at the helm. "Have Oldroyd continue to give you soundings hand over hand until this fog clears, Mathews", she ordered. "Aye, Aye ma'am" was the seasoned sailor's only necessary response. Mathews knew full well his duties in this risky brown water venture.

Lt. D'Arrington, began her morning review of the ship under her command. While it was unlikely anything had sprung loose on the calm river's winds it was a formal custom and to buck custom was to invite disaster. The foc'sle was barely able to mount its single 12-pound brass canon - a bow chaser borrowed from her home ship, HMS Indefatigable. It was customary for guncrews to award a nom de guerre to their charges and the brass bow chaser was no different. Hermione ran an approving finger over the shinning bell of the gun Mathews had come to call the "Horn of Hell" for its resounding call, trumpet like shine, and skull carved visage. Aft of the Horn the quarterdeck was equally crowded with her ship's complement - 'jacks covered by tallow soaked canvas.

Tugging her waist coat to shock out the wrinkles of her early morning watch, Lt. D'Arrington turned on a sharp, well shined heel and walked aft past her own well named armaments - "The Surprise" and "The Lively" - and down into the extremely cramped and foul smelling half deck below. Removing her cocked hat, and being careful not to knock its brass askew, she bent down to peer within and sighed at the self indulgent sleeping habits of her Laelese passengers. Hopefully, this river gambit would work. And if not, may her simple sloop somehow find a clear day and strong winds to carry them back to the Meridius... where they belonged.

Day 12

"Oldroyd, get the H-H off the capstan by the double!" "Mathews, secure an extra barrel of powder to blow that bridge! Colonel Moncoutant has already gone ashore with the Amethysts and I mean to give those Khards a Surprise that'll level the weight of broadsides in this exchange!



The HMS Niobe , fifteen pointer in His Majesty King Baird's Royal Navy
**Captain** Acting Leftenant Hermione D'Arrington {Ashlynn D'Lysse} (+6)
-- The Surprise, Mariner Hull Seajack (8)
-- The Lively, Buccaneer Hull Deckjack (3)
Ships Crew:
Gunner's Mate Petty Officer Mathews {Dougal McNaille} (2)
Gun Crew, Oldroyd & Finch (2)
Passengers:
A complement of the Order of the Amethyst - soldiers loyal to the highborn nobility of Lael
" Vive La'ell ! " {Highborn Gunmages} (6)

The Leftenant and Her ship's compliment of Seajacks... note the Amethyst captain's tea pot, not totally uncultured it would seem!


Lt. D'Arrington (left view)


An Extra Powder Ration ! (magnetized)


I didn't make any changes to my list and the main focus of painting progress this week was in painting my warcaster and doing some basing. I've really tried to limit my conversions with this project. Conversions is something I _love_ doing but it nearly always slows down my painting progress to the point of stopping it cold. I did allow myself to throw some detritus on the bases of the gunmages to represent them ransacking the Laelese town they've come to reclaim for their Lord, Colonel Montcoutant !

I wish I'd had the chance to test out some items I'd planned to add at our next point level. It seems rediculous to me to add ten points but no warjack! Still I think I need to add some elements to increase the effectiveness of my current list. To that end, and as you may have detected from my hints in Week 1, I'll be adding Aiyanna and Holt. Holt will be played by Stephen, an Ode to Stephen Maturin from the O'brian series, and his lady will be played by Aiyanna. I wish I could remember which dress she was described most vibrantly in, but I think I'll just go for a really bright green I used once for a skorne model. My other additions will be Lord Edrington {rockbottom} who will be the first Lobster added to the crew! And of course the gunmage UA, Col. Montcoutant! This will give me the ability to deal with stealth and high armor models a bit better. To round it out I'm still a bit torn between the thematic use of a seductive Lady, or an outright dangerous femme fatalle with her own two flintlocks to bring to bear. I have an upcoming team tourney at 25 pts, and one of these two will be a key piece in either maneuver or fire. So at the very least my choices are taking me towards the non-mellee fire and maneuver army I wanted to try out >)

The challenges this week were the stripes on Mathew's shirt - for which I still need a better technique than freehand, and the base color for the army. I've tried off white, white, yellow, tan, dark green and the two shades of brown you see here. Please let me know in the Brainstorming thread if you have a preference or an alternate idea.

By the way, I know I haven't shown you The Niobe yet, but can you guess her paint scheme from the Seajacks? I'm curious if the green stripe is conveying as nautical....

thanks for reading !

Some addional photos can be found in the Brainstorming thread here:
http://privateerpressforums.com/show...l=1#post338562
check out the work the crew did to shine of 'ole H-H as well as Mathew's new shirt from week1 to week2 !

[Taslon]

Grr I've written this out about 5 times and it keeps messing up!

So firstly I had to switch to retribution due to my menoth stuff not getting here even yet. Ill write a more dtailed thing later prolly tonight, but till then, heres some wips:

Manticore conversion.




Battlegroup WIP




Battle group wip 2



Pheonix finished minus dipping.

[Mod_Redphantasm]

By Choir I of course meant Cleansers, they're next on the block.

Funny story, I've owned a choir since Prime MK I, and they've never seen more then Primer. Now? Their freaking staves wont let them fit in my Battlefoam case, so it's under the saw for them...

In the mean time:

Reznik:


Reckoner:


Vanquisher/Templar/Crusader:


Dervish:

[Matilda]

Well my DTM had an unfortunate accident so painting him as been delayed till I can figure out how to fix it.. (after a fall the his mohawk thing has become horribly bent up..)

The Bouncer is done:




I like how the skin came out, wasn't sure when I put the first coat down, that moldy ochre is very yellow! but as always had to finish the model before I could see the real affect. Thinking about picking up some envirotex lite which I hear is good for water, since almost every base I have made so far will have more water on it and the stuff I have has a tendence to shrink when drying.. meaning I have to do a lot of coats.

Fennblades are almost done will post pictures when I finish em..

[PG_gdaybloke]

As any adult gamer knows, there are many hats to juggle in our weekly meanderings. From employee to husband to father, from coach to teacher to chauffeur, the demands on our time are many, and it's often difficult to dedicate as much time as we'd like to our beloved hobbies.

This week was such a week for me. Deadlines at the office required overtime, the wife's business needed my asisstance with the bookkeeping, my daughter's softball team required my exuberance and then there was the science fair project... oooh, Maglev trains... you are neat, yet irritating to duplicate on a small scale...

Capping off the pile of things interfering with my painting Idrians this week was the need to work on some terrain for an upcoming tournament being run at The Hobby Kingdom by Lost contributor CaptainSpud. In this case, an enormous storm tower and half a dozen ancillary towers. While I can't give away everything, I've used the tower base to display a most of the models I'm hoping to have done by the time all is said and done in this challenge... with one little twist.

See, I won something last week. Naahz very kindly contacted my FLGS and had a $15 gift certificate waiting for me. I hadn't planned on fielding any light warjacks, but as you can see, I've started work on a Dervish that I'm going to have to squeeze in somewhere... Maybe if I can get another Repenter painted I'll switch the two in for one of the heavies, we'll see...



So aside from Li'l Stabbity the Dervish, I still have two full units of Idrians + UA's, 2 Allegiants (need to find a 4th) and a second Vassal waiting to be painted. We'll see how this week goes...

[Joasht]

What a busy week, and I'm pretty sure I have a busier week this week >_>

My slightly converted skarlock, I basically re-did his face. Wanted it to be a snow elemental of some sort to get with the snow theme rather than a just your typical "unusually tall zombie mage guy" (the skarlock model is pretty tall), but his face came out a little Protoss-y (Protosskarlock, rawr!). Could have probably gotten it done better if I put more time into it, but it looks decent right now IMO; plus I could always just redo his face some day when I gather the time.





And a shot of the happy family so far.




In the works are my Bane Thralls, most of which are just still sitting here, on my table......hopefully I'll get some stuff done by the end of this week

And before I forget, the 25 point list:
Deneghra -5
Slayer +6
2x Deathrippers +8
Defiler +5
Skarlock +2
Bane Lord Tartarus +4
Bane Thralls (min) +5

Not optimal, but its pretty much all I have at hand right now. My final order hasn't arrived and is pretty long overdue.

Anyway, thanks all for reading!

[MOZZ]

Mozz’ Llaelese Resistance: Week 2



Ashlynn -6 (on order still... ugh)
Freebooter 6 (assembled, pinned, based, primed, 15% painted)
Talon 4 (assembled, pinned, based, converted, primed, 90%)
Gun Mages 6 (assembled, based, converted, primed, 90% painted)
Steelhead Riflemen 5 (assembled, based, primed 90% painted)

I like how the army is beginning to look. As I was brainstorming the paint scheme, I was hoping to strike a good balance between cohesive and ragtag. These guys are supposed to be a resistance movement, not a spit and polish army like Cygnar. While the Merc sculpts themselves go a long way towards achieving the rough and ready look I was going for, I also chose to limit the amount of purple. So far, with purple as the only bright color on the models, I seem to get a good amount of variety while maintaining unity.



This is the first warjack I have painted. I was concerned about shading the large panels but they seemed to have come out well enough. When I first considered making this army, I wanted to weather the jacks pretty heavily. We'll see how well I catch up to the deadlines but I just don't have time to learn a new technique, let alone repair any mistakes I'll likely make. I’ve included an additional photo here.



The black didn’t come out as well as I’d hoped but I hit pretty close to my original concept for the Order of the Amethyst Rose Gun Mages. They definitely don’t look Cygnar. In the close up here, you can see one of my other painting weaknesses, blotchiness. I am still not very good at layering so when I get in a rush it starts looking sloppy fast.



Dear lord! There are rivets, pouches, swords, goggles, cigars and buckles galore! They were a tough project to bite off but well worth it. They’ve got a strong steampunk vibe and a lot of personality for generic troops. These guys look tough, even in Llaelese purple, and that should tell you something. Troop shot here.

On the table the army is doing great. Last Monday, I won three of four games and the ATGM with Quicken remain the standout of the list. Still, lets not overlook the underdogs shall we? Namely, Steelhead Riflemen, my bait unit. They cause enough pain that the enemy has to deal with them. They generally get charged, which then allows me to countercharge with my jacks and exploit the flank with my ATGM. It’s a pretty rudimentary tactic but it seems to work. Not bad, but there has to be a better unit for bait right?

Speaking of which, howsabout a teaser for my 25 point list? Yep, more steelheads and more conversions. Now I just need to find a better way to deal with high armor. More to come.

[studderingdave]

25 pt. menoth is up.

eKreoss
- Templar
- Reckoner

Choir of Menoth (Min unit)
Exemplar Bastions (Max Unit)
Daughters of the Flame






Exemplar Errant and the UA will top off the 35 point list, and i am almost done with them.

[Mod_Gemini]

The Sapphire Guard - Week 2

The List: (numbers link to close-up pictures of the model)

Archdomina Makeda (*5pts) [1][2]
* Cyclopse Savage (5pts) [1][2][3]
* Cyclopse Shaman (5pts) [1][2]
* Titan Gladiator (8pts) [1][2][3][4]
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts) [1]

Preparation/Painting/End Product:

Wow! Just, seriously... wow! I am blown away by the fact that I painted these guys. I -love- the color scheme, they pop on the table and really look amazing. They're by far the best models I've ever done, and considering I'm painting them as fast as I can, I'm very happy with them. Due to a lot of different factors, I wasn't able to finish them up in the two week time period, but I'm only going to overshoot it by a day, and I'm happy with that. The next models are much smaller and should go much faster. As an example, all four of the Paingivers took me only two days. Makeda was about an hour. The Savage and the Gladiator took the most time, with the Gladiator taking a whopping 2 days of solid painting to finish. But, in total, he was still probably only 4-5 hours worth of work.

Battle Reports:

Battle 1 - Sapphire Guard vs. Shattered Kriel (Trollbloods of StarmanTTLB)

The pictures are a little hard to see, but we played this game on a board that had shallow rivers running through it, which we counted as rough terrain. Perfect for the swamp trolls, obviously. Deployment was fairly basic, across from each other, each of us deploying near the bridge that spanned a large pond.

I cast Rush on my Gladiator and Savage, running them both out in front of the army, the Savage to one side of the bridge, the Gladiator in front of the main force. [end of turn 1]

Grim moved up and attacked the Gladiator, hoping to get the extra 3" of charge range that his gun gives when it hits a target. Amazingly, he missed that shot, even though the Gladiator had only DEF 12. The Mauler moved across in front of Grim and off to one side, ready to intercept the Gladiator on the next turn.

Paingivers moved up and one of them Enraged the Gladiator. Next, Makeda moved up and cast Carnage, making sure that every troll except the Pyre was in her control area. The Gladiator then activated, used his Rush animus on himself, and with the extra distance and pathfinder was able to slam the Mauler 5" back, clipping Grim on the way and landing the Mauler about 2" behind Grim. The Gladiator used his follow up, but stopped once he was b2b with Grim, leaving the Mauler out of reach. Bought 2 auto-hitting attacks against the knocked down warlock and he had to transfer to keep from dying. The Savage got Rush from the Shaman and ran around the bridge to engage the Impaler. [end of turn 2]

Grim stood up, but the Mauler was unable to because it's Spirit was out and couldn't be forced. The Pyre charged the Gladiator in the back, hitting, but not doing much in the way of damage. The Impaler moved around and also attacked the Gladiator, taking out his Mind spiral, but not damaging him enough to kill. Grim couldn't walk away for fear of taking a freestrike that, even if transferred, could have possibly killed any of his beasts.

I activated, casting Carnage with Makeda again, then moving my paingivers up and getting one close enough to the Gladiator to cast Medicate. Gladiator healed his Mind spiral, then activated. I attacked Grim with a Headbutt and boosted the attack roll, succeeding and knocking him down. After buying two more attacks, Grim was out of fury to transfer with, and had lost about 2/3's of his health. The Savage activated, moved up to Grim, and killed him with his first attack. [end of game]

Thoughts: This list is fast! As a Menoth player, I'm not used to being able to get speed like this, and from what I've read this is a new experience for Skorne players as well! Definitely enjoyed the synergy of the models and felt I played extremely well.


Battle 2 - Sapphire Guard vs. Circle (played by PPS_Mod:Garvin!)

Grant was kind enough to oblige me with a game against his Circle, and it was a fantastic game. I won't give the play by play, as I did above, but the end of the game was truly epic. Grant brought Kromac, a Pureblood, a Gorax, and a min unit of Wolfriders. We also played on a board that included a bridge in the middle. By the end of turn 2, the Wolfriders had swept around the bridge to engage my Savage, and the Pureblood charged straight across the bridge to finish it off. My paingivers stripped the fury off of the Pureblood before it ate a charge from my Gladiator that killed it fairly quickly, leaving the Gladiator at the mouth of the bridge. (This is important)[pic from right about this point]

Kromac beasted out and charged the Gladiator with 4 fury, tearing into him and buying attacks, then feated, getting 7 more fury, and continuing. after all of this, the Gladiator still had 8 health! Wolfriders took him to 1 health, but couldn't finish him off. I activated, tried to Medicate the Gladiator, and only rolled a 1! So, I healed his Spirit, tried to two-handed throw a Wolfrider into Kromac, failed, then tried to kill my own Titan with my Shaman, and failed that too! Makeda finally charged the Titan to kill it and get it out of her way, sidestepped to a Paingiver, killing him, then sidestepped to Kromac and bought attacks, but left him with 2 health. Makeda died on the next turn to a combination of Kromac and the Gorax. [end game]

Thoughts: Well, if I had rolled anything other than a 1-2 on my die roll for Medicate, I would have won. If I had charged my Gladiator with the Shaman instead of making a ranged attack, I probably would have killed it and Makeda would have had a direct charge path to Kromac, and I would have won. If Makeda had upkept Defender's Ward and cast Carnage before charging the Gladiator (I would have reaved 4 fury off of him when he died, putting me back to full fury) I would have been a +2 DEF, +2 ARM, and +2 on my attack rolls, and probably would have either killed Kromac, or survived the next turn and killed him on that turn. So, I had a few planning errors and some bad luck on dice rolls, but again the army played very well. Circle is superfast and I wasn't ready to have his stuff attacking me that fast, which was an error on my part.


Expanding To 25 Pts:

I've already ordered the models to do so, and my 25pt list will add the following:

Praetorian Swordsmen (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
* Praetorian Swordsmen Officer & Standard (2pts)
Extoler Soulward (2pts)

The full Swordsmen unit plus the UA is just insane. 11 models with 2 attacks that can auto-plink beasts/jacks or the option to combo-strike, a mini-feat that gives them Anatomical Precision for a turn, granted side-step, and tactics ranked attacks. All for 8pts. Phenomenal. The Soulward will follow behind that unit, collecting souls and spitting them back out with boosted ghost shots and the ability to grant a model Eyeless Sight and Magical Weapon for a turn. The Swordsmen will also be great with Makeda's feat, which is currently fairly useless for the 15pt list, only keeping the Paingivers alive for a turn.

Very excited to continue this!

[PG_StarmanTTLB]

The Shattered Kriel of Madrot Marsh - Week 2 Report



15 point list:
Grim Angus [pic 1 / pic 2 / pic 3]
* Irontooth the Dire Troll Mauler [pic 1 / pic 2]
* Jurt the Impaler [pic 1 / pic 2]
* Swampfire Troll (aka Pyre) [pic 1 / pic 2]
* Comfort Food (aka Whelps) [pic 1]

(More pics at my gaming blog, 2 Gamers 1 Table.)

Painting & Modeling:

Wow these guys turned out great (compared to my usual standard)! I love the bases, a lot easier to do than I would have expected although still very time consuming.

Battle Report #1: 15pt vs Skorne (run by fellow Gamer?s Journaler GeminiX6)
[pic 1 / pic 2 / pic 3]

Skorne player brought Makeda, a Gladiator, Savage, Shaman, and Paingivers.

The long and the short of it was that Grim failed to hit a DEF12 Gladiator with a boosted Headhunter shot, which meant that my Rage?d Mauler couldn?t make the charge distance for the intended alpha strike. I tried to reposition the army to deal with the incoming Skorne charge, but the Gladiator had juuust enough of an angle to slam the Mauler across Grim?s base. This knocked out the Mauler?s spirit, so I couldn?t force him to shake off, so he was basically unable to help on the next turn, during which Grim had to try and deal with the Titan himself. Unwilling to risk a free strike to walk Grim out of melee, I tried dealing with the Gladiator with a Rage?d Pyre and a Rage?d Impaler, but had no luck. The Gladiator almost destroyed the entire army through transfers, then finally got Grim for the win.

Battle Report #2: 15pt vs Protectorate of Menoth
[pic 1 / pic 2 / pic 3]

PoM player had eFeora, Vanquisher, Redeemer, 2 Vassals, min Choir, and Wracks.

This game was frighteningly like the first. Grim failed to hit DEF10 Vanquisher out front (yes, he rolled two 1?s), so the Mauler was unable to hit it first. Pyre was the MVP, landing an AOE smack over the support pieces and killing two Vassals and a Choir boy. Vanquisher ended up in melee with Grim, Grim walked out (and transferred a terrifyingly strong free strike away) and KD?d him with the snare gun, and then I unleashed a Rage?d Mauler on it, wrecking the jack without even maxing out the Mauler?s Fury. Of course, moments later eFeora charged Grim and removed all but one Fury through transfers, and left 2 health on Grim. I didn?t realize that I couldn?t transfer Continuous Fire damage, hence holding the one last Fury, and then since Cont. Fire can?t expire in eFeora?s area, he had to basically roll a 5+ on the fire damage roll to kill Grim. Failed Tough, and that was game.

Moving from 15 to 25pts:

I?ve learned from these games that I have absolutely no idea how to play Grim! I?m going to try and hedge up some weaknesses in my 25pt list. I?m considering the following choices:

* Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes (4): On turn one, I don?t have anything to do with Grim?s Fury other than Cross Country, so I can fill it up then. The ARM buff would have done wonders with my list, especially with all of the damage transfers I had to make. If I have the points, the Elder UA would go in, but I probably won?t max the unit out at 25pts.

* Fennblades (6): Reach tarpit unit, hard to kill, and can spread out to protect Grim from getting tied up.

* Champions (3): Bait the Line can get them charging 10? and Grim has lots of DEF debuffs to help their freight train attacks hit.

* Stone Scribe Chronicler: To buff either unit I end up taking.

* Swamp Gobbers: Thematic, and they can plop a big cloud down in front of Grim for LOS blocking. Since Grim can see through it too, there won?t be a lot of concern on my part for the order of operations with these guys.

[PG_Cloud-Gatherer]

The Burninating Crusade, Week 2:

The 15-point army is finished! I wasn't sure I'd get Epic Feora done in time, but it turns out I was closer to finished than I thought when I called it quits for the weekend on Friday. This picture is (hopefully) better than the last one, too.

Anyway, here are some close-up shots of the most interesting models, Feora herself and Eiryss, the Desert Ghost:



The List:
Feora, Protector of the Flame
>Vanquisher (bonded)
6 Temple Flameguard
>Officer & Standard Bearer
Vassal of Menoth
Paladin of the Order of the Wall
Eiryss, the Desert Ghost (Mage Hunter of Ios)

Comments:
I didn't make any changes to the list this week, because I didn't see any need to. The list may have been chosen from my extremely limited selection of Protectorate models, but it works together pretty well. Nearly everything in the army can set enemies on Fire, which makes Epic Feora pretty happy, and I can present a decent blend of ranged and melee threat. Based on this notion, I'm going into Week 3 with a REALLY easy goal: fill out the TFG and add another 'jack. See you in a week!

[Naahz]

Starman, fantastic journal ! Thats a dramatic force you've put together this week ! Awesome!

[Andal]

Sadly my week was incredibly busy and I managed to get nothing painted. Yes thats right, nothing. So what did i do this past week? Well, i had finals, got my classes for summer set, did some overtime, and worked on getting my house ready for a dog. Did i get anything done on the model side? In fact i did, just no painting. I cut/ground off all the rocky protrusions on the Dire Troll Mauler in preparation for Pigonizing it (and man there are a lot of rocky protrusions). I also cut off his feet and got to work on hooves, finishing most of one hoof. The head is still in progress and is taking a lot of small detail work. Ive got a head finished for Piggy Hoarluk but still need to sculpt his hooves. Since nothing new is finished im not posting pics but i can if people request.

@StarmanTTLB- You can indeed transfer fire damage as there is no point in the Maintenance phase where warlocks lose all their fury. Warcasters DO lose all their focus in maintenance and dont get it back before fire hits them so they dont get an armor bonus. Your opponent must have mixed it up. So count yourself as having another win.

Finished converting my piglock ( I know he's not painted but i thought some pics were better than none):

[Mod_Gemini]

@StarmanTTLB- You can indeed transfer fire damage as there is no point in the Maintenance phase where warlocks lose all their fury. Warcasters DO lose all their focus in maintenance and dont get it back before fire hits them so they dont get an armor bonus. Your opponent must have mixed it up. So count yourself as having another win.

Whoops, that is my fault then. I was the one that told him he couldn't transfer it, I could have sworn I read it somewhere. I must have gotten confused... so sorry!

[PG_StarmanTTLB]

@StarmanTTLB- You can indeed transfer fire damage as there is no point in the Maintenance phase where warlocks lose all their fury. Warcasters DO lose all their focus in maintenance and dont get it back before fire hits them so they dont get an armor bonus. Your opponent must have mixed it up. So count yourself as having another win.

We (being four of us in the store) weren't sure. I knew that Fury stayed behind, but 2 of the 4 of us thought that there was a rule stating that you couldn't transfer during the Maintenance phase, and the other 2 of the 4 of us had no idea ^^

[Andal]

No big deal, especially when youre playing friends. Just thought you should know. Also, transferring fire damage to a pyre troll still does damage to them as all youre transferring is the points of damage, not the type.

[PG_CrashTestDummy]

Week 2 - Seige 15 Points
This was a slow week. After re-adjusting things to fit into the proper formatting for this journal, most of the things I had spent time on painting ended up not being in my 15 point list. That list being:
Seige
-Defender
-Defender
-Mechanics
I've orderd some new plastic Cygnar kits to replace all my old metal ones, but unfortunately they have yet to arrive. As a result I'm going to just paint up my 2 spare defenders I have until my re-inforcements have arrived. Here is a group shot of my 15 points and you can see the various progress I've made.



These 2 models are 100% done! (Well except for Seige who is missing his Mancannon that needs to be strapped to his back). I'm quite pleased with how they turned out and the feel that the bases give them. I might add a little more shading on the blue for Seige and redo his leather pouches at some point to clean them up. I really like how the bodger turned out, as they are some of my favorite minis in the game. It took about 4 tries to get the flesh tone the way I wanted it, but amd quite pleased with it now and will get his buddies painted up soon! I really like the Microart Studio Bases (orderd from the warstore). I personally am a terrible baser and find there trench themed bases to work quite well for the look I'm going for.


Plans for this coming week:
25 Points Seige List
Seige
-Defender
-Defender
Mechanics
Maxwell Finn
Trencher Chain Gun
Trencher Cannon Crew
Trencher Master Gunner

I like the combination of the Trencher master Gunner/Finn/Trencher Cannon Crew. Getting up to Rat 11 combined with Seiges feat will be very helpful when it comes time to take down high def warcasters. That plus 2 defender rounds make for a decent assasination attempt, though I need to make sure my opponent doesn't force me to use my feat defensively. Then it gets a little more tricky. With only a few models being added this week I'm hoping that I can catch up on the models I failed to finish painting the past week.

[Otzlowe]

Loving the progress from everyone here! It looks like you've all made a major improvement in the past week. (While my Trolls have sat, unpainted and completely untouched in that time)

Also, Naahz: Your directional arcs seem to be at slightly unexpected angles. Did you choose to angle some of them that way so that the models wouldn't interfere with formation, or do you have some arcane scheme behind painting them on that way and showing us them all facing forward? :P

[PG_CrashTestDummy]

Fluff forthcoming!
I managed to get a game in against Justin Kase's Cygnar...I mean Mercs. Though they look like the Cygnar that "disappeared" just a few weeks ago. Armies deployed!

The Steelheads sweep around each flank as the Defenders move up the middling, engaging Magnus' jacks. The bodgers take in the sights as poor dice rolling meant no damage to the Defenders.

After Magnus' feat turn, Seige is surrounded by jacks. The Steelheads futily try to take down the Defender to no avail, though they were able to claim the lives of two bodgers! Seige was able to dispatch the Steelheads on his left flank with a few volleys from his rocket cannon. Seeing an opportunity to strike, Seige loads up on focus and charges Magnus

With the help of breach, Seige was able to one shot Magnus. Looks like he will have to fashion himself some more mechanical parts!


5 Things I learned from this game:
1) Bad dice ruin the game. Justin Kase's dice are cursed!!! Everything that could miss just about did. Even when rolling straight damage on Seige, only 3 damage was done. 1 or 2 bad breaks are expected in a game, but not a whole games worth. Hopefully next round things will be a little more even.
2) 2 is better than 1. Having 2 Defenders is quite nice. While I don't think I would do it outside of the theme list, being able to get multiple long range shots to start breaking down other jacks is helpful.
3) Don't forget about the hammer. Most of the damage done by my Defenders was in close combat, after softening their targets up, getting a couple whacks with the Cortex hammer were able to easily finish off their targets. Mind you these were light jacks. The nicest thing about the Defenders in combat is they are mat 7, so for the most part there was no wasted focus on boosting to hit.
4) Shake off is great! One thing I dreaded in Mark I was facing Magnus lists because of all the knockdown. While it hurts spending the focus with such a low focus caster, being able to shake off knockdown really keeps the game moving and doesn't completely cripple a players offensive abilities like it used to.
5) The mancannon. Seige's rocket cannon is ridiculous. I wish I had room for rangers in my list so that he could get a bonus with shooting but I just can't squeeze them in. Not needing line of sight catches a lot of people off guard and the fact that you don't have to target anything gets around some of the usually annoying anti-shooting things.


Also, thanks to Faultie for taking the pics!

[fire4effekt]

[QUOTE=GeminiX6;338775]

The Sapphire Guard - Week 2

Wow, those guys look sooooo familiar.....




My 15 point list
pMorghoul(+7)This base version was chosen after reading about her inflicting 14 auto damage against living models
Paingiver and Beast Handlers(2)
BloodRunner Tormentor(2)Extra two points w/pmorg
Titan Gladiator(8)
Bronze Back Titan(10)

So this week i forgot to order Emorghoul, who i still believe is a female model(look at that great rack )so i rocked pmorghoul, as SHE was the only caster i painted so far. With HER extra warbeast points i added a bloodrunner master tomentor for a bit of solo fun. Well i added that model actually because it was the only 2 point model i had.This week i have a couple of new ones showing up, and as long as i dont poke an eye out, they or it will be added to the list. There is actually a sneak of one unit that has been helping me up to 20 points for games, they have performed admirably and deserve to get painted so, they will. (eagle eyed readers can spot him in the pics) The combo of BB and Titan Gladiator produces massive casualties and i love it. Ive only had the BB frenzy once, and the Gladiator has yet to frenzy because of careful placement. The delicate balancing act of leeching fury but keeping fury on the lock is an interesting aspect. I find the allure of 5 extra strength 19(with enrage) attacks from the Bronzeback is often too overwhelming and i just feed my violence, leaving me with slightly pissed off beasts, but hey whatever. Ive also toyed with Herexis and his soul slave spell was great.



I played a game against Zerkova yesterday and granslammed a Kodiak out of the way with my Gladiator, with the follow up and the initial charge(with animus) he ended up moving16"(charged 9, slammed 5+2) and put him way out of my control with 4 fury on him. The bronzeback hit with both initial attacks(at str 19) and grab and smashed a Marauder tossing the crippled jack carelessly out of the way, freeing up Pmorghoul for the assisnation run. She charges and hits with her first attack with the free boost, dealing 8 damage above armour and feeling pretty good. She still has another swing and 6 fury on her(she used Malltreatment), no boost, i got this...whiff. Alright i will pay one and swing 2 more times, whiff....fine ill boost this next swing(2 fury gone) whiff....grrr. This is not going my way, Anotomical Precision only works on a hit... Alright i will swing AGAIN and harder this time, hit, 1 damage, swing/hit 3 damage(3 fury gone) Swingx2 whiffx2, two fury left. I buy another set of attacks and hit/1 damage, then i swing with my other Ripper...hit. Ihave had enough of this combat at this point so my last fury went to boost damage, triple sixes. pMorghoul wins, pMorghoul wins!


woot.

[Mod_Gemini]

Wow, those guys look sooooo familiar.....

Haha, yeah! When I saw your WIP pictures I realized we were going for almost the exact same color scheme... it's a great look, though! I'm adding a Bronzeback at 35 pts as well, so we'll have some great comparison shots!

[Naahz]

Journalers, well done!
14 contributors, 13 with posted pics, 11 making painting progres and others making modeling progress. Just Awesome. I think everyone really enjoyed the pictures this week and over all we are really starting to come together. I'm hoping I can find time this weekend to send a PM to each member of the Journal we haven't seen anything from this week to encourage them to stick with us 'cause we liked their stuff! (I'm looking at you Snapshot, ummhmm and soul reclaimer!)

While 15 pts may sound like a small army, in actuality it is the largest increment of our Journal since the average warcaster makes it 21 pts plus the warcaster model to prepare, convert and paint! Our next increments are only 10 pts, which hopefully will be much easier. So if your behind, we hope you catch up, and if your ahead, challenge yourself with something new !

I'd also like to say I'm loving the table from 2 gamers 1 table.

Its been interesting to watch the factions shape - we didn't have as much faction variety as I was initially hoping for, but its been equally interesting to watch two very similiar armies turn out so unique as a result of individual painting choices! And even when our two skorne players both went blue - it still came out interesting !

I do request though that you keep eyes and ears peeled to see what the Blasted Heath special units will be - I'm really hoping some of us can do something special with it in time to be ready for the league start date.

I'm personally salivating to see more of Justin Kase's and Andal's conversion projects, but the painting I've seen this week only begs for more closeups next week - and motivates the heck out of me to be fully painted for the career of this little project force!

The photos this week were a lot stronger, with nice group shots, some detail pics, and even a few battle reports. A lot of us are using backdrops or colored surfaces to bring out the colors in their best light - this is a nice key we can all use.

Lastly, the battle reports were interesting, concise and a great reflection on list building.


Overall, I think we are producing a Journal of the same caliber as the No Quarter issues - especially when you look at our rediculous timetable.

I know everyone crossed their fingers to win a new solo or beastie as a prize to go from 15 to 25 points, so without further delay we'll get to the prize winners.

with all the fanfare of the rainbow pallet, all the excitement of a battle report, and all the amazement of a wad of green stuff our winners are:

Fire4Effekt!, for his tortured blue skorne led by Morghoul !

&

Redphantasm ! for his mennoth who are at this very moment incorporeal due to the Testament's feat, but hopefully will be seen in physical form shortly!

Redphantasm mentioned last week that his camera broke, so I'll give you a two more days to post up some pics (Thursday midnight eastern time) if you can borrow a camera please. Bad stuff happens, and I'm glad you kept us posted. However, in the absence of photos, and in the interest of promoting photos for the Journal the alternate winner is StarmanTTLB



Numbers for the prizes were generated at www.random.org

winners recieve a $15 gift certificate from thewarstore.com for miniatures, paint, brushes, or inspiring terrain basing or whatever else you might need for your game of Warmachine and Hordes!

n.b. shipping fees will be deducted from the gift certificate, which is most often a factor for international folks.

Thanks everyone for reading issue #2 and check back with us next Monday as we move up from 15 to 25 pts, the pigs break out of the pen, Magnus seeks revenge, D'Arrington enters a team battle with unexpected friends and foes, and Makeda and Morghoul pit their bronzebacks in an arm wrestling contest to decide who will choose the color of their accessories to match this new Imperial Blue national color!

p.s. if you don't have PMs turned on, please do so for the duration of the journal - unless you want your gift certificate numbers posted here for all of us to share

[PG_thegreatblah]

Put mine in the first weeks thread because I'm awesome.

Week 2 Prep.

Thor was starting to feel guilty about sending the Old Driller with Gorten. For two reasons, first being that the new one that was supposed to go with him was crushed in a rock slide during one of its test runs. But more importantly it was one of his own drillers and was one of his favorites.

He put the finishing touches on the new Avalancher, he was certain Gorten was going to like and begain the final preparations to drive it up after Gorten. In Exchange for the his Driller back he would have to help keep Gortens backside out of trouble... which by all accounts he needed help.

As a last note of business Thor sent yet another message to Officer Grumsnot, a friend of his, and part of a well trained Highshield unit, but still had not heard back from him. Hopefully Grum would get word and follow him into the Trees. Just in case he set some of the workers on a new basher with instructions to send it with the Highshields when/if they arrived. The last paper he opened was a note from one of his contacts that Gudrun was drinking himself into oblivion in one of the mess halls in the fort... he would have to go see what help Gudrun could offer in the event that Grum and the Highshields could not be found in time.

Army additions because I didn't have the units yet.

Gorten
Gunner
Blaster
Driller
Brun
Lug
Thor
Avalancher

[fire4effekt]

Hey, thank you very much! my pm's should be turned on so send away, i will be browsing. =)

lookin forward to week 3

[Mod_Redphantasm]

Well friends, Incorporeal Menites certainly can't win a prize.

I've got to say, It's been hell putting my life into boxes to move this week, but I've still found the time to paint. My tools are the last things to get packed, and the best things to keep me sane. So, without further wait, here is the army the gods of chance have chosen to receive the spoils of contest.



A big thank you to our contest sponsors for the prizes, and a big huzzah to everyone who's faster at posting photos then I am.

Week 3 is coming friends, get ready to Blast the Heath

Look I even got a head start:

With the surprisingly fast to paint Vassal (40 minutes for this guy)


PS - You can see the individual parts of the group above, where I reserved a spot.

[Naahz]

red, holy cow brother. I have never seen mennoth in that color and all I can say is, if there was a special Blasted Heath color scheme for Mennoth in my opinion that would be it. Super Sweet. I'm glad you got some pics up to share!

[Justin Kase]

My appologies for not getting anything posted as of yet - been a rough week at home and work and I haven't had time to take photos and format up my post, I'll be attempting to get it posted Friday night.

And the game against CrashTestDummy was absolutely a blast (no pun intended) - I have rarely met an opponent so entertaining to play against

Next time, Magnus will have his vengence - maybe

[PG_snapshot_superhero]

*sigh* My computer completely blew up a week and a half ago and I'm in the midst of waiting for new parts. When they arrive, I will be sure to post my progress! My apologies for not posting sooner. Just so I know where we're at, everyone is posting their finished 25pts correct? 35pts is due by next Monday?

The March of Cerberus will not go quietly into the night! lol

[Naahz]

Sunday at midnight folks should have posted their 25 pt list, 35 pts are due on June 6 just before the start of blasted heath !

I'll be attempting to get it posted Friday night.

You could just save it for the weekend and do it all for week 3, I'll post up the blank issue for that on Saturday. so you can post to that for week 3, and then edit it to add anything you get done by Monday.

[fire4effekt]

Just ordered some venerators to bulk out my force, thanks Warstore, and gamers journal!

[Justin Kase]

Better late then never.

I'm going to get everything posted up - as I had committed to it. Life had otherwise conspried to keep me occupied, everything went south for the better part of a month.

Week 2:

Managed to get some paint on my first 35 points of models.

We'll start off with my favorites - the Steelheads

Squad 1


Squad 2


Followed by the 'jacks.

Buccaneer


Renegades


Battle Against Seige:

As CrashTestDummy had posted, we cut our teeth on our first 15 point list.

Magnus tried his best to rush into Seige in a feeble attempt to overwhelm him with numbers, but precision shooting on Cygnar's part picked apart Magnus' force as it came in.

Aside from learning that I needed to invest in some new dice, I also decided that I would need something with a bit more punch and durability to get in there and mix it up with the MC Hammer.

This was also the first time I ever used a Buccaneer. It seems like it has some potential, I just have to keep him alive long enought to realize that potential.