GO WITH THE FLOW

I remember learning how to swim.

As I was practicing, I noticed that I just was not going very far very fast although I was kicking and swinging my arms like mad. In the middle of my furious attempts to move, I thought there must be a better and easier way. I decided to stop trying so hard and just focus on what I was doing. I slowed my kicking down and paid attention to how I was moving my legs. I stopped throwing my arms around and focused on the movement and placement of each stroke. I became aware of how I was feeling and a sense of calm came over me. I relaxed into the flow of my movement and just started swimming.

How often is playing WARMACHINE and HORDES like this?

We struggle and struggle against the flow and try too hard to make things work the way we planned out when we made the list. We stare at the tabletop almost angrily that the opposing player didn’t fall into our well thought out theorymachine. Sometimes, we become frustrated, and almost give up before the game even ends. I’ve done it, and I’ve seen other players do it.

We forget that the important part is in the journey, not the destination. This is a game! We play it to have fun! We play it because we love the hobby.

Just like my swimming, we can relax and begin to focus on what is important. If we keep in mind that being present in the moment and concentrating on the task at hand is what counts, the rest will take care of itself. Letting go and getting into the flow of the game is what will move us forward.

Where in your game are you struggling against the flow?

Let go and get into the flow. Concentrate on the here and now and what is present in this moment. Think target priority. Figure out what you CAN do this turn, not what you WANT to do. Awareness and trust are key to this process. Be aware of what you are doing in the moment and just have fun playing the game.

Enjoy the journey!

SIMPLE TERRAIN TEMPLATES

Begin your project with easy to find materials. I will be using thin plywood, titebond white glue, green putty, vinyl spackling, and basing supplies (sand, flock, static grass, talus.)

These templates can be used as generic groundwork templates in your games of HORDES and WARMACHINE. You can use them as sections of rough terrain, building and ruin bases, forest templates, and other generic terrain. For now, I’d recommend sticking to 5″ x 5″ or 4″ x 6″ templates.

Simply, the project goes like this: (1) Shape (2) Texture (3) Glue (4) Scatter (5) Flock (6) Paint (7) Accent (8) Seal

(1) SHAPE: Cut your template to the size you want it. Craft Stores often sell their craft wood in various sizes. You may be able to find a size that you need pre-cut however chances are you’ll need to use a hobby knife or dremel (with cutting disks) to give the template a little shape. (Using foam is easier here as you can just cut it to shape with a hot wire cutter.)

(2) TEXTURE: Apply your putty and spackling. These materials help to add texture to the template. You can also use a fine grit sand mixed with paint as a substitute. Also, Spectre Hobbies sells “Texture Gel” which does the same thing very well. Anyway, add the putty first followed by spackling. Leave empty space at the edges. Add the putty, spreading it thin and pressing a few medium sizes stones into it. Follow up by adding the spackling to the remaining empty spaces starting from the center. Allow the template to dry before going to step #3.

(3) GLUE: Coat the template with glue. I use Titebond straight from the bottle however if you wish you can use some water to create a 1:1 mixture. It’s really up to you. Spread a thin coat of white glue over the entire template including the empty space on the edges. While the glue is still wet, continue with step #4.

(4) SCATTER: Place a paper or cloth towel under the template. Gather at least three grades of stone-like flock. I recommend craft sand, fine talus, and coarse talus. Sprinkle the stone flock over the template beginning with the finest material and ending with the coarsest. Allow the template to dry. After it is dry, carefully shake the template over a container to remove any extra talus. I usually shake the excess talus right back into its original container as to not waste flocking materials.

(5) FLOCK: Same story as step #4 but this time with flock. Use at least two colors of flock, one dark and one light. Take a cup or sifter and mix the flock together. Now get the white glue. This time, use a 1:1 mix of water/white glue. If you have a scenic sprayer, use the regular mixture. Figure out where you want to add patches of grass on the template. Add your watered down glue to these areas, and then sprinkle with your flock mixture. If you have a scenic sprayer, mist the flock lightly to add an additional seal. Allow the template to dry before moving on to #6.

(6) PAINT: Using a black or brown spray paint, coat the entire template. After the template dries, use a large brush to paint the entire thing with a basecoat of dark brown or reddish brown. Don’t worry about getting fancy because this is a basecoat. Once the entire ground is painted, it’s time for dry-brushing. Start with the rock outcropping, painting them with a dark grey. After finishing with the rocks, dry-brush with a slightly lighter color. Remember to take a little care to maintain the level of “dryness” on the dry as to avoid ugly smudged spots on your template. Afterwards, drybrush a second time with an even lighter highlight color to add contrast. Allow the template to dry before moving on to #7.

(7) ACCENT: Now is when you can add Undergrowth, Bushes, and Grasses. For undergrowth, use polyfiber. Separate the polyfiber be carefully tearing it into layer. Stretch the layer until thin and lacy. Apply white glue to areas of the template you undergrowth. Gently push the polyfiber into the glue, then sprinkle around the edges of the polyfiber to add volume and to fill gaps. Do the same with bulky moss or foam bushes. To add grasses, simply add small amounts of white glue to the surface, and add small pinches of grass to the glue. Allow glue to dry before moving to step #8.

There are plenty of materials to use, including mundane ( herbs, lichens, moss) and hobby focused (turf, field grass, static grass, and flock.) Either way, the materials should be mixed and matched to provide variance so that no color is dominant. (In the picture above, you’ll notice the static grass has brown and green mixed.) Remember to consider your scenery before haphazardly adding vegetation. In some places the grasses and weeds may be growing wildly while in others foot traffic may have worn it down to nothing. Distribute the flocking materials so that they look natural. Make sure that when the materials are fixed in place that they look realistic, are easily distinguished, and do not clash with each other.

(8) SEAL: When you are happy with your template, use a matte spray like Dull Coat to seal it. Lightly mist the entire template with the spray. It will protect your template while you’re moving models and tossing dice on the game table.

CLOAK & DAGGER CREATIONS

During TempleCon 2010, we visited a lot of the vendors.

One of our favorites was Cloak & Dagger Creations. My wife bought a full Steampunk-ish outfit and I bought a pirate hat and goggles. The folks from Cloak & Daggers were very nice and willing to help us find exactly what we wanted to buy. If you’re looking for a selection of unique and special items, check them out. Click here to visit www.cloakmaker.com on the web. They will take special orders.

Cloak & Dagger Creations, 410 Great Rd, Littleton, MA   (978) 486-4414

You can click here to see the events they will be going to next so you can visit them in person.

Get Out Of The Rocking Chair!

When I was young, my Dad had this little picture hanging on the wall who an old man in a rocking chair. Under the picture it read: “Worry is like a rocking chair. It keeps you busy but doesn’t get you any where.”

Man, how true is that?

• 90% of the things we worry about will never happen.·
• 30% are about the past and cannot be altered.·
• 12% center in criticisms, mostly untrue, made by people who feel inferior.·
• 10% is related to our health, which worsens while we worry.·
• 10% is legitimate, showing that life does have real problems and may be met head on when we have eliminated senseless worries.
• 99% of percentages quoted in articles are made up in the first place.

If the problem can be solved, there is no use worrying about it. If the problem can’t be solved, worrying will do no good. Worry is defined by Webster as “a mental distress or agitation resulting from concern, usually for something impending or anticipated.”

So how does this apply to WARMACHINE and HORDES, you ask?

Well, in gaming some people tend to worry about things that just aren’t worrying about at all. They worry that if they play in a tournament that they might make a mistake. They worry that they won’t be able to assemble a complicated model, so they don’t buy it. They worry about their ability to paint well, so they don’t pick up the brush. They worry that if they use model X that some player might say they they are playing with a Chessy list.

Worry, worry, worry.

Nonsense.

Have fun already. Enjoy the hobby.

Assemble some models. Get crazy a convert a couple of customs.

Paint. Make some mistakes, and learn how to improve your skills. Make painting fun, not scary!

Play. Play. Play!

Meet new people. Make new friends. Socialize!

Make some terrain, and have fun doing it.

Talk about the Hobby.

Network.

Do whatever it is that makes you enjoy WARMACHINE and HORDES.

And stop worrying.

Your local WARMACHINE needs you. Without you, the community is missing a single piece of the puzzle. Without that piece, the puzzle is incomplete. And if enough of those pieces fade away due to worrying … the community crumbles.

So get out of the rocking chair already. Get out there, and have some fun.

Decision Making

I’m playing a game of WARMACHINE. I’m stating Turn Two.  I look around, and realize that despite my best efforts, I’m going to have to switch up my original theorymachined strategy. My opponent has done something completely unexpected, and got a few lucky dice rolls. Now I must adapt and overcome. I smile, shake my head, and push the button on my timer…

We sometimes think that good judgment is like dancing; either you can do it or you can’t. That isn’t true. We can all learn to have better judgment and make smarter decisions on the gaming battlefield. Most of that skill comes with time and experience. There are however a few things we can do to improve our decision making skills along the way:

• Assess the Situation. In whatever decision you are making learn as much about the subject as possible without stalling the game. Check control area. Read over your spells and abilities a second time. Take that extra ten seconds to think about what you’re doing and ignore the other guys across the table who’s watching you and tapping his dice impatiently. The more you know enables you to make more effective decisions in a tough spot. Rushing in blindly hardly ever renders the type of results we are looking for and may make us lose the match. This doesn’t mean we can know everything ahead of time, but it is helpful to learn as much as possible by reading over whatever materials we have at hand. Talking the problem over with other people can also help, particularly if they have had some experience solving similar problems. But the talking usually has to take place after the game. Every time you play, learn something. If you stop learning, then you stop growing.
• De-bias Your Judgment. We all have certain ideas about things, the way we think they should or should not be. Sometimes gamers refer to this as “theorymachine.” When we are trying to make a decision, we need to step back and look at the situation as objectively as we possibly can so that we make the best decision possible. Try something new. Use an unconventional tactic. It may be just enough to shake up your opponent and force him to make some tough decisions as well.
• Be creative. Creativity is the process of developing original, novel responses to a problem. Don’t just come up with the same old solutions; think of new and innovative ways to solve the same old problems. Perhaps it isn’t the problems that are really the issue, but the way they are being solved. Step outside of the problem and see what new and innovative ideas you are able to create. This is where you see players Slamming their own ‘jacks, deploying flying horses, and using Throw to move their own models. Sometimes it works, and other times you’re just as screwed. Try, try again.
• Remember the Dice. Your dice will destroy the best laid plans. It just happens. Sometimes you just can’t get the roll that you need, even when you spend extra focus to “make sure it happens.” I remember rolling all 1′s on a boosted roll to hit when I only needed a 5. Don’t get angry. Don’t quit the match. Just take a deep breath and move on.

Problem solving within the game can be creative, fun and exciting if we choose to make it that way. Finding new ways of doing things we have always done will make things more exciting and challenging. Besides, when you do something different, and it pays off … it makes for a memorable experience for both players!

TREAD CAREFULLY.

I agree that if you’re going to play WARMACHINE or HORDES, you should have a good grasp on the basics of the game and understand the way your models work. I’d be a complete idiot to say otherwise.

However, there’s a difference between being knowledgeable of the rules, and being a rules snob, rules lawyer, or a I-think-I-Know-It-All. And believe me, it’s a fine line.

Tread carefully.

I guess the difference is the intent behind it all.

Sometimes rules lawyers simply have the need to make other people wrong. There are people who seem to have the need to be right all the time. I have come to believe that underneath that need can be the need to want to make other people wrong. It’s about power and control over other people. When we are insecure and lack self-confidence we will try almost anything to build ourselves up. Someone who doesn’t know how to do that in a healthy manner may think that tearing down other people is the way to make themselves feel better. The problem is that it is only is a temporary fix, and when it wears off, the insecure person will need to find another victim to get their fix.

Tearing other people down doesn’t really do anything to build ourselves up. It is an illusion. What it really does is to keep us from making true connections with people in our gaming community and establishing strong relationships in the hobby. The best thing to do is carefully and politely explain to the other person how you disagree with their knowledge of the rules, and discuss it. And if all else fails, then agree to disagree. Then you can take a step forward and research the rule further in the forums by for an answer and/or clarification.

If we want to build our personal gaming rep there are better, easier, and healthier ways to do it than by trying to make others wrong. Once we understand that we are all doing the best we can, we can begin to accept others as they are and learn to accept ourselves as well. Once this begins to happen we can begin to support people where they are and build strong happy relationships within the local and regional gaming community, which in turn will help us feel better about ourselves and ultimately have more opportunities of fun. By helping others, we build a stronger community. And in the end, we all benefit from that increased strength.

As a Press Ganger, I juggle this situation a lot. Many players feel that Press Gangers are Rules Experts. They should be experts in the game, able to quote chapter and verse to find the answer to all questions within the game. Yeah, right. I’ve been playing WARMACHINE for a little while now, but there are other guys locally who have played it a lot longer than I have and more frequently. Hell, sometimes when I am blindsided, I fumble over simple rules due to distraction or surprise. Stupid, huh? But it happens. I just have to take a deep breath, focus, and then use whatever knowledge and tools I have on hand to settle the situation. Sometimes I am right, and sometimes I am wrong. I learn from my mistakes, and celebrate my successes.

I played in a friendly game the other day during our Casual Play League. There was another game going on next to us. Haphazardly, I was asked a rules question about Spray Attacks. I had to stop for a second, and recall what I think I knew. I made a judgement call from memory and it turns out I was right. However at the time, I didn’t have access to MKII Prime at that very second. It was a simple question, but had I made the wrong assessment of the rules … it could have turned ugly later on. I just do the best I can, and really, that’s what we all do when we’re playing WARMACHINE. I mean, seriously, it’s still a game, right?

Like the clown often asks, “WHY SO SERIOUS?!”

When you run into a disagreement on the rules in a game, take a moment to figure things out without trying to prove someone wrong. If you’re in a tournament, ask the Tournament Organizer for a “ruling.” Or, simply read the text from the card out loud without adding your own perception on the text. Sometimes this is enough to find the truth behind the disagreement. Other times, this will not solve the problem. That’s when you have to crack open the book, and look things up. And if all else fails, come to a reasonable agreement and then head off to ask your question on the Rules Forum.

Always remember that Page 5 is all about having fun and enjoying a like-minded community of hobbyists who love WARMACHINE as much as you do.

CYGNARAN TACTICAS: eSTRYKER

This article was originally written by Mutton from the Privateer Press Forums. He has given me permission to post this here in an attempt to assist the loyal champions of Cygnar. This article is a part of Boot Camp MKII.

Epic Stryker is a bit of an odd warcaster, but a very powerful one. He plays absolutely nothing like his Prime counterpart, and is extremely competitive in the right hands. His gameplan is fairly flexible, able to alphastrike an enemy army to win through attrition or pull off an assassination run from 17” unaided! He’s a blast to play, but a bit difficult to start out with, so bear with him for a few games.

Statistics

First glance at eStryker’s stats only real shows one outstanding aspect of his stats; his 16/16 DEF/ARM, which tend to keep him quite safe from everything short of boosted rolls or Combined attacks. His MAT isn’t very impressive at 7 for a melee assassin, but more on that later. Overall, you can’t run him as close to the front lives as Terminus or Butcher, but he works right on your second wave if you want.

Weapons, Abilities, and Feat

Epic Stryker comes with seemingly average weapons; a PS15 reach sword and RNG10 POW12 ROF2 Magnus. Both cause disruption on hit. So nothing special at first. But reading further down his card, you’ll notice a little bonus called Overload. The ability to roll up to 3 dice to add to your STR and then roll that same number to take damage makes him able to one shot just about any warcaster this side of Karchev on the Charge! Just be warned; don’t roll three dice once you’ve been hurt at all unless it’s all or nothing and you’re against a hard target, as Stryker can and will blow himself up. If you’re undamaged, you can generally roll three dice, but if you have plenty of focus to spare buying and boosting don’t be afraid to roll less. I’ll have a nice little section on this at the end

Epic Stryker’s bond, giving a free die on the first melee attack roll each activation, is a real winner. Put this on a Stormclad or Rowdy to ensure you hit; with Rowdy it will help ensure the Critical Knockdown as well. The Elite Cadre with Stormblades for Advance Move isn’t amazing, but it helps you get down the field faster, especially for an early feat if you go second.

Your feat is an interesting animal due to how it doesn’t help him assassinate that well, rather serving as a tool of attrition to help either get the first strike or weed out stranglers. There will be games where you can pull off the assassination run without using the feat, and others where you’ll simply sit back and buff your army, using the feat to steamroll the enemy. Don’t be afraid to pop it early to strike a decisive blow at your opponent; running everyone in then feating for a 13.5” threat on Stormblades to the 15.5” threat of Precursor Knights is quite handy. Also, you can keep focus on yourself and your warjacks to boost these rolls; on an assassination run against a soft, high DEF target it is often to save one focus for boosting the feat attack roll rather than buying with an overload attack if the target has a low enough ARM. The same goes for Warjacks if they would have trouble hitting.. Remember that only abilities that last a turn or a round work under the feat; this means you can abuse Positive Charge but not Overload or the Precursor Knight’s minifeat

Spells

Deflection: Quite a useful ability; if you don’t expect a melee strike, casting this is as good as camping focus against everything but blessed weapons. It pushes your Stormnouns to the breaking point for POW10s, Precursors to ARM20 in shieldwall, and Sword Knights to ARM18. A unit with Arcane Shield on it also goes up to ARM20, which is quite nice for surviving Winterguard. It also makes all but the squishiest of models gain near immunity to blast damage. If you are really worried about blast damage and not direct fire, feel free to stack this with Arcane Shield on your gunmages to push them to ARM16 and thus over the curve for even Mortar fire. If you are facing any sort of blasts or ranged fire at POW12 or less, cast it.

Lightning Storm: This will be your least cast spell on Epic Stryker; POW10s are nice, but it’s only really useful for picking off the odd solos that insists on standing next to an easy target. If you are worried about non-reach models engaging your Stormnouns or Warjacks though, feel free to cast it on them to give them a plate of POW10 death. It’s too costly to use without any real purpose in mind though, and Epic Stryker doesn’t have much focus to fling aronud. A rare, but still somewhat useful spell in the right circumstances.

Positive Charge: The best spell on the list (yes, even better than Rebuke on Epic Stryker), it is what allows you to sit back and kill the enemy army without having to angle for an assassination run every turn. A +2/+2 to melee attack and damage rolls to everyone within reach of a warjack? How can you say no to that?! A Stormclad under PC will basically be the Avatar of Storms, hitting at MAT9 and PS21, while Stormblades go to MAT9 PS17 and Stormguard to MAT9 POW14. This is also one of the few reasons to take Swordknights, as a flanked, Positive Charged attack from one is MAT10 PS12 with 4 dice. The spell does not have to be cast on a model in your battlegroup, so if you’re having them marshal something feel free to use it as a Positive Charge rod. This is the first reason you always bring an arc node with Epic Stryker, so you can cast PC from across the table to assist on a flank. More on using this spell later.

Rebuke: Another wonderful spell that synergies perfectly with Stormnouns. Now, I often see the complaint that you can’t get your Stormblades to charge the enemy; they’re too slow with too little a threat. Cygnar doesn’t speed them up against enemy infantry; oh no. We slow them to a crawl, ensuring that we can get the first strike with our charges (something that generally doesn’t happen outside of Haley lists). This is the second reason you bring an arc node with Epic Stryker, just be sure not to attempt and spam the spell, as you’ll often have to boost to hit, even with the Squire reroll.

Velocity: This spell is useful in two ways. The first is on the assassination run, giving Epic Stryker a 17” threat with no outside assistance. You can charge a model, then velocity around it to get to your real target. The second reason is for hit and runs; you can operate Epic Stryker himself as a scalpel, killing Warjacks or important models that have breached your lines before velociting back to safety.

Army Composition

Warjacks

My general rule of thumb with Epic Stryker is never more than 3 warjacks; he can’t run them efficiently due to his low focus and only buff being Positive Charge. My general layout in 50pts is an arc node, a Stormclad (for general beatstickery and free focus), and Ol’ Rowdy (For general beatstickery, free charge, and affinity). At 35 I’ll often drop one of the heavies, but the arc node stays. A Lancer is generally the best option, but Thorn can also be an extremely useful Positive Charge target, thanks to being able to move 3” after you arc it onto him, letting you set up better angles or Flanks. Epic Stryker has no way to speed up a Thunderhead, Centurion or Hammersmith, so I generally leave them out; Rowdy does so much more than an Ironclad for you that I’ll leave it alone as well. Defenders are nice as ranged support, but you’ll generally want to marshal them on ATGM instead of in the battlegroup. Cyclones are a good ‘jack that doesn’t need much support, but once again I’d marshal it just because I find the *action to be your best bet. Chargers are too much of a focus hog, but Shieldguard is nice enough on the Sentinel to warrant consideration.

Units

The rundown on your units is that Epic Stryker has no real ranged buffs, so you’ll really just end up taking what you like there. I swear by either a unit of ATGM+UA or the B13; I don’t find Trenchers or Longgunners to be worth it that often. Stormblades and Stormguard will be the meat of your list; the former wrecks warjacks and the latter infantry, and with PC +Rebuke they can trade jobs if needed. Don’t take the Stormblade UA in general though, as Epic Stryker has no way to buff ranged attacks (unless you take a nice sized firing line and have Rangers of course, then feel free to). Precursor Knights are also a decent choice, as you have no direct unit affecting spells, but remember their minifeat is activationi only. Take a unit of them or Stormguard if you have any sort of decent ranged fire going on. Stormlances tend to move too fast for you warjacks, so no real help there. The new Trencher Commandos work very nicely with the combination of Anatomical Precision, Stealth along with you Feat and Deflection. Swordknights are actually a decent idea with Epic Stryker, as you’ll often be placing your ‘jacks in Flank Range, PS12 +4d6 hurts bad, and their other large weakness of eating up buffs that better infantry could get(such as Arcane Shield) is passed over due to Deflection making them ARM18 against ranged and magic. Hell, I can almost justify taking the Swordknight UA and a Positive Charge ‘jack on it if the Firefly is cheap and decent!

Solos

Take a Squire for the focus and Rebuke reroll. Jr is also great for the Arcane Shield, while Epic Eiryss works to drop focus off their ‘caster and drop any upkeeps that could hurt you (such as Fear of God, Rebuke’s sad little cousin). Stormsmiths are always a good decision. In addition, I always have at least one of Lanyssa Ryssyl (as of the most current FT rules) or Rhupert. The first lets your Stormblades get the pounce of Warjacks along with free charges for your ‘jacks, while the second is a must in any melee heavy army.

Tips and Tricks

Okay, first thing to talk about here is Positive Charge use. In general, I have units positioned around warjacks in order to make the most use of this spell; somewhat of a blob with a hole in the front for the ‘jacks to get out really. Unless you are getting charged your Positive Charged warjack will need to go before your infantry, so make sure it has room to maneuver. Deflection will help alleviate blast damage suffered by this sort of blobing thankfully, but don’t be afraid to spread out in the case of Berserk or Overtaking models. This positioning system is what I like to call the Cell approach, due to how the warjack is the nucleous of the formation and the infantry acts as the infrastructure around it. Your infantry will have to be able to reform around your warjack after the charge to protect it from counter attack so you keep your Positive Charge target. Rebuke will help you split up your oppenent’s army if one cell starts to weaken.

Overload is another ability I wanted to talk about. If you’re damaged at all, do not overload on three dice. If you have at least 12 health, feel free to overload on 2; if it’s all or nothing and you really need the STR you can overload on 3 at up to 13 health, 2 on up to 10 health, and 1 on up to 5 health, but be prepared to explode. In general though, I tend to only overload on 3 at full health, 2 at 11, and 1 at 6.

Tying it all Together: The Assassination Run versus Feating

One of the biggest questions I get from newer Epic Stryker players is how to know when to feat and when to assassinate. To answer the second, it’s when I have a vector; I believe in playing a bit more on the edge with my assassin ‘casters, so if I can reasonably go for the kill, I will. The issue still remains with his feat. In general, I use it in three different fashions. The first is the alphastrike; run everyone up close, then feat move rip and tear. The issue with this is that you’re still only killing their front line; a properly spaced army will be able to avoid much of this tactic and eat you in return, so you must be careful. The second is an overtake really; once lines have clashed, you push into their lines during your activation and use your feat to take out those troops you can’t during your normal turn. The final is to help on the assassination run; holding off on a focus against a squishy ‘caster to boost your feat attack is nice, but so is running up two ‘jacks with Positive Charge on one and 2 focus each so they get a boosted attack and damage feat attack on the ‘caster. Two Stormclads can do this for a 15” threat each, and you should only have to cast Positive Charge once. Rowdy also work as one of them; a boosted PS21 and a boosted PS20 will destroy most ‘casters; MAT9 and MAT10 with boosted attack rolls mean you’ll be hitting.

Summary

Epic Stryker plays far differently from any other Cygnaran ‘caster, offering moderately direct buffs to melee troops instead of ranged troops and with a feat aiming at only melee models. He’s a lot of fun to play in that you can attrition or assassinate with him, and he has a fairly versatile spell list to boot. He’s not an easy ‘caster to learn, but he’s probably our fourth best and very, very competitive. Just remember not to roll a 17 or higher on your Overload damage!

SHOUTING AWAY WINTER?

Tomorrow is Hoodie-Hoo day and will be observed in downtown Clearfield, PA.

At high noon, citizens of Clearfield are asked to go outdoors and yell “Hoodie-Hoo” to chase winter and make ready for spring, one month away. No, really. I’m serious. It’s a regional holiday … apparently.

This Friday and Saturday, February 19 and 20 is your chance to celebrate Hoodie-Hoo day in Downtown Clearfield. Hoodie-Hoo day is a day (or two) set aside for winter-weary people who want to chase winter away.

Most people use Hoodie-Hoo day as a way to cure cabin fever, but others believe the Hoodie-Hoo is a being living in the forest. They believe the  noise surmounted on Hoodie-Hoo Day summons the groundhog to wake him up and try again.

The celebration will take place at 10am Friday at Spanky’s Courthouse Cafe’ and noon at Hedge’s Restaurant. Noisemakers will be sold both days at Scotto’s Pizzeria and proceeds benefit the United Way.

Everyone is encouraged to attend a Hoodie-Hoo celebration and try your luck at awakening the groundhog. For more information on  the event contact Jane Lee Yare @ 814-765-4496 or John Spencer @ 814-765-6023.

NEW BEGINNINGS

League started today at my Local Gaming Store, Whatever!! Enterprises in the DuBois Mall. We had a total of 8 players who participated today, which is an excellent turn out for an event or gathering in this area that isn’t offering prizes. As a Press Ganger in a small Pennsylvania town, I call that a Big Win.

I arrived to the LGS with my Cygnar  Sons of the Tempest Tier force, excited to start rolling some dice. I haven’t really used Lt. Caine as much as I’d like lately, choosing instead to hang tough with Epic Stryker. I used Arcane Tempest Gun Mages a lot back in the days of Prime, and even Escalation. But they have been gathering dust since then replaced by Trenchers, Sword Knights, and Stormblades. Having my choice of models limited by the Tier list was a good thing, allowing me to  put not one but two units of shooty goodness into my army without a second thought. And selecting ‘jack models was not an issue, falling back on my love of Defenders, Hunters, and Chargers. I decided to limit myself to painted models only, so my force ended up looking something like this:

Lt. Allister Caine, 2 units of Arcane Tempest Gun Mages, 1 Gun Mage Captain Adept, 2 Hunters, 2 Chargers, 1 Defender, and The Dude.

My first opponent of the day was Larry using eFeora and the Protectorate of Menoth. We opted for setting up an urban landscape for the table, and placed a rather large ruin in the center of the board which would end up playing a huge factor in the turning points of the game. We agreed that the only thing the ruins did was provided Cover.

Long story short, I got my force too spread out. I ended up suffering a lot from the continuous effects of Fire, and the seemingly endless rain of scattered Redeemer rockets. The two Warcasters fought over who was going to hunkered down in the cover of the ruins, finally ending with Caine teleporting inside in order to put a little space between him and a Repenter. Plus, as a bonus, the vantage point from the ruins would have allowed Caine to have a nice shot at Feora’s back arc. Unfortunately for Caine, a series of scattered skyhammer rockets managed to slide 5″ in the right direction to land right on top of him.  Caine didn’t hold out. The battle was won by Menoth.

My second game was against Macchi using eButcher flavored Khador. My favorite part of the game  was when Fenris came riding around the side of a large building towards the left flank of my army. As soon as he poked his crazy head out, the Defender opened up on him and took the crazy bastard off his horse. Caine followed up with a few well placed Spellstorm pistol shots, putting Fenris in the ground for good.

I was amazed at the pure destruction that the Butcher can dish out in melee. He dropped three of my Light ‘jacks in one turn, opening up a sweet spot that allowed me to gun him down with the Defender. Had Orsus been allowed to continue his onslaught, it might have meant defeat for Cygnar.

My Gun Mages did an excellent job of chewing through troops. I think the psychological effect was even more effective, causing my opponents to focus on trying to kill them right away. They drew a lot of fire, and often ended up  pushing up daisies so that my other models could get in there and do some damage. I’m going to have to practice with them because I’m still rusty. It’s been awhile since they were on the table, and now they can’t bust cortexes so I have to find a new tactic with the when I’m facing ‘jack heavy armies.

My GMCA did what he always does: murder solos. He hung to the right flank on both games, shooting stuff in the face from impossible distances. He managed to get into position in both games for back arc shooting which assisted in taking down the enemy Warcasters. Any day that a GMCA can waste a Manhunter is a good day for me. Say what you want, this model is still on the “Yes Please” list for me.

My Hunters hung on the flanks on both games. They did a great job whittling down the Warcasters (especially medium based eButcher!) so that I could move in for the kill with the Defender. I think that playing with my list a little to include another Heavy ‘jack would be a good idea. I guess I need to get that other Defender painted, and do some play-testing with the Cyclone. (I didn’t get to buy one yet!) Although I like the Charger because it has ROF 2 and is focus efficient for Caine, they really didn’t do much more than tie up charge lanes and provide a little melee here and there. I need to practice with them as well as I’ve only started using them again since the coming of MKII.

I retired at that point, opting to go out to dinner with my lovely wife. The dice were still rolling at the LGS and most of the players were still going strong. I’m happy to report that DUBOIS WARMACHINE is alive and well.

This new beginning for out League will hopefully help to further expand the gaming community. We’re focusing on trying to have some fun, and build relationships. We’re keeping track of wins and losses. But we’re also going to do some fun stuff like: keeping a running Body Count of all the models killed during the League, and running Grudge matches against those particular other players who you often play and rarely win against. (For me, it’s Larry and his Menoth. I’ll be calling him out for a Grudge match when the time comes!)

We’re also going to run promotions where you get League points for accomplishments within the Hobby. For example, you might score League points for: bringing a new person to try out the game, donating a new piece home-made of terrain to the LGS, or even arriving to play with a newly painted model. You will also get League points during the day if you come into the store to buy something new, make or repair store terrain, or paint some of your models. All in all, we just want to make it fun while building the local community.

I’m pretty happy with the start of our League. I’m thinking that next time, I might assemble a Siege Trencher list and bring the Gravediggers to the table. I haven’t used Siege in a long time, and haven’t played him since the new rules came out. I hear that the Major is even more fun to play than before, and that’s tempting.

If you want to get updates on what we’re doing out here in the Wilds of PA, just slide on over to the Twitter account. It’s located at https://twitter.com/autopsyroom and I’ll be making sure to let you know how many bodies have been piling up in the autopsy room.

Thanks for reading, and until next time … “Keep Rollin’ Sixes!”

SEKGG BOARDS CLOSING

I received an email today annoucing that with the ending of Gorilla Con, the Southeast Kansas Gaming Guild (SEKGG) boards and domains have been lacking in visitors other than spambots. I would like to take the time to pass on the following information about SEKGG and provide anyone interested with a reference link. It’s always sad to hear that a brother gamer has had to close down any resource due to lack of interest from the public. I wish SEKGG the best of luck, and thank them for the information and entertainment they have provided to the gaming community in the past.

From the announcement email:
“March 31st, 2010 will be the last day to grab any information from the site- forums, downloads, posts, or any other announcements. I’ll be making a back-up through the software built into the Integramod system (what the SEKGG is built upon) as well as saving all the downloads and images to my local hard drive. I plan on hosting the files on my personal blog site, http://penandlead.wordpress.com/, which will be it’s own domain in short time as well.  So don’t worry if you don’t get something.  I’ll have it all saved one way or another.It’s been a good, fun, eight years helping organize, run, meet, and hang out with a bunch of great people.”

For more information, please click here.