All WiP, but startinng to get there. I'm not sure if I just want to ink the cloaks and make them a dark blue or what.
Wednesday, 30 September 2009
Wip Shots
Some quick off the hip pics
All WiP, but startinng to get there. I'm not sure if I just want to ink the cloaks and make them a dark blue or what.
All WiP, but startinng to get there. I'm not sure if I just want to ink the cloaks and make them a dark blue or what.
Retribution debut
So I promised a report of my gaming yesterday and here it is.
I played 2 games, one was a battlebox game and one was a 500 point game. The guy I was playing (can't remember his name, I haven't been in for a while and the community has been very active and loads of new guys) was a new player, but he was an experienced wargamer, so he wasn't making too many mistakes.
Rubytibution 500 points.
Kaelyssa
-Phoenix
-Griffon
10 Invictors
Narn
Eiryss
Aiyanna & Holy
Solid little list, solo assassination with some heavy hitters to back it up should I need to beat through Stryker's jacks.
Cygnar 500 points
Stryker
-Ironclad
-Hunter
Junior
-Hunter
10 Long gunners + UA
Pretty solid jack heavy list. Not perfect but still worth doing.
He won the dice off and decided I should set up first. So I set up my Invictors and Griffon infront of Kaelyssa at the centre of the board, with A&H on my left with the Phoenix and the other solos Advance deployed ahead of A&H. My opponent put Stryker on the left side with his jacks, long gunners off to the right and Jr on the right flank with his Hunter.
Terrain wasn't too bad, there was a coule of buildings on my side of the board, with difficult terrain hill right in the middle of the board.
I go first and move up Team solo (Narn and friends) disrupt the hunter with the Elven hooker and charge it with Narn to keep him safe from the Ironclad and Styker getting off easy magic on him. I ding the hunter a bit but nothing remotely note worthy. A&H run up field as I see a turn 2 assassination chance. Invictors run up towards Stryker, Kaelyssa does.. stuff but didn't do anything to effect the game until the final turns, so lets just ignore her for now. Griffon moved up to block LoS to Kaelyssa in case of snipe type things happening.
So my Turn 1 means I already have Styrker under pressure, a Hunter locked in combat and there isn't much that can be done to hurt my army at this point, seems a good first turn.
He starts his turn by moving up the field with his flanking forces, long gunners run, Junior puts Arcane shield on the hunter and he runs too. Stryker cast arcane shield on the hunter and didn't do much else, Ironclad moved up and that was pretty much the turn since the Hunter couldn't hit Narn.
Turn 2 I move Eiryss up and take a shot at Stryker but misses (def 16 is a bitch). Narn backflips over the Hunter and charges Stryker, and can't hit him to save his life.. There goes my turn 2 assassination.. So, I move up the invictors, Kaelyssa and her pet jack. Pheonix goes "Rawr, I smash face now!" and charges at the hunter. This leaves him tying up the Hunter and Ironclad. So he starts to wail on the hunter, all but shuts him down and sets him on fire. I realise now I should of hit the Ironclad once as well, so that both would be on fire. Hunter is almost dead after a good smack any way. A&H move up, cast no feats and start beating on the hunter.
Stryker nailed Narn and the Ironclad wailed on the Pheonix, my opponent rolled very badly and it hit, took down the Arc node and generator in it's activation. Hunter took a swing and did nothing, so popped it's reserve tank and tried to cover Stryker from the Invictors next turn. Long gunners ran in to try and get a line on Kaelyssa next turn. Jr and the other hunter followed the Long gunners.
Turn 3 hits and I start wailing on 'jacks with the Phoenix, Set the Ironclad on fire but just can't break armour 21 on the 'clad. Invictors move up a bit and decide the Long gunners look a bit menacing, so they start to pop them off, taking out the UA and a few extra Long gunners to lighten the damage they could do. I messed up here and spread them out, where as I should of based to based them ready for return fire. Kaelyssa threw an AoE at a Long gunner, it missed and scattered just infront of them, which stopped them advancing and such. Griffon block LoS to Kae from the Long gunners and then the Elven hooker goes "Hey Stryker.. no focus buddy!". A&H finish off the Hunter and prepare for Stryker next turn.
This turn is rather uneventful and The ironclad can't finish off the heavy with no focus. Styker is in combat with Eiryss (she assaulted him) and wasn't willing to take a 4 dice free strike, so stayed put, swinging at her and missing. Long gunners killed 4 Invictors after double tapping and couldn't get to Kaelyssa..
Stryker has no focus, couldn't pop feat and has A&H and Eiryss staring at him.. Since this was a pick up game I had no reason to do anything but take the assassination, had it been a tournament game I would of tried to finish off the 'clad and Long gunners. I think the Invictors, Kaelyssa and the Griffon could of dealt with the Long gunners easily and the 'clad should of gone down with 3 focus on the Pheonix. So any way. Aiyanna harms, Holt smashs face, Styker dies.
We discussed the game afterwards and I thought he should of sniped the Long gunners and put them in the center of the board and just trashed my army and forced me to deal with them rather than shutting them out of the game as I did and have to only deal with Styker and 2 'jacks, so in effect gaining 250 points advantage. It didn't help that I figured the Retribution's playing style was applying uber pressure and just forcing the enemy 'caster down. Getting Team solo on Stryker on turn 2 and then locking his 'jacks down was brutal. So yea, I was happy with the way the game went, I ewnjoyed the Retribution playing style and other than being pestered by a group of annoying kids wanting to know everything about my Retribution stuff and just generally annoying me I had a good night.
The 2nd game wasn't very exciting at all, it was a battlebox game and I got a chance to try the focus stealing with on Kaelyssa, it fell through and got her killed, but I wanted to try to see how it worked.
I'll post some pictures of the army later. Kaelyssa is maybe half way done and the first Invictor just needs the black highlighting and metals redoing.
I played 2 games, one was a battlebox game and one was a 500 point game. The guy I was playing (can't remember his name, I haven't been in for a while and the community has been very active and loads of new guys) was a new player, but he was an experienced wargamer, so he wasn't making too many mistakes.
Rubytibution 500 points.
Kaelyssa
-Phoenix
-Griffon
10 Invictors
Narn
Eiryss
Aiyanna & Holy
Solid little list, solo assassination with some heavy hitters to back it up should I need to beat through Stryker's jacks.
Cygnar 500 points
Stryker
-Ironclad
-Hunter
Junior
-Hunter
10 Long gunners + UA
Pretty solid jack heavy list. Not perfect but still worth doing.
He won the dice off and decided I should set up first. So I set up my Invictors and Griffon infront of Kaelyssa at the centre of the board, with A&H on my left with the Phoenix and the other solos Advance deployed ahead of A&H. My opponent put Stryker on the left side with his jacks, long gunners off to the right and Jr on the right flank with his Hunter.
Terrain wasn't too bad, there was a coule of buildings on my side of the board, with difficult terrain hill right in the middle of the board.
I go first and move up Team solo (Narn and friends) disrupt the hunter with the Elven hooker and charge it with Narn to keep him safe from the Ironclad and Styker getting off easy magic on him. I ding the hunter a bit but nothing remotely note worthy. A&H run up field as I see a turn 2 assassination chance. Invictors run up towards Stryker, Kaelyssa does.. stuff but didn't do anything to effect the game until the final turns, so lets just ignore her for now. Griffon moved up to block LoS to Kaelyssa in case of snipe type things happening.
So my Turn 1 means I already have Styrker under pressure, a Hunter locked in combat and there isn't much that can be done to hurt my army at this point, seems a good first turn.
He starts his turn by moving up the field with his flanking forces, long gunners run, Junior puts Arcane shield on the hunter and he runs too. Stryker cast arcane shield on the hunter and didn't do much else, Ironclad moved up and that was pretty much the turn since the Hunter couldn't hit Narn.
Turn 2 I move Eiryss up and take a shot at Stryker but misses (def 16 is a bitch). Narn backflips over the Hunter and charges Stryker, and can't hit him to save his life.. There goes my turn 2 assassination.. So, I move up the invictors, Kaelyssa and her pet jack. Pheonix goes "Rawr, I smash face now!" and charges at the hunter. This leaves him tying up the Hunter and Ironclad. So he starts to wail on the hunter, all but shuts him down and sets him on fire. I realise now I should of hit the Ironclad once as well, so that both would be on fire. Hunter is almost dead after a good smack any way. A&H move up, cast no feats and start beating on the hunter.
Stryker nailed Narn and the Ironclad wailed on the Pheonix, my opponent rolled very badly and it hit, took down the Arc node and generator in it's activation. Hunter took a swing and did nothing, so popped it's reserve tank and tried to cover Stryker from the Invictors next turn. Long gunners ran in to try and get a line on Kaelyssa next turn. Jr and the other hunter followed the Long gunners.
Turn 3 hits and I start wailing on 'jacks with the Phoenix, Set the Ironclad on fire but just can't break armour 21 on the 'clad. Invictors move up a bit and decide the Long gunners look a bit menacing, so they start to pop them off, taking out the UA and a few extra Long gunners to lighten the damage they could do. I messed up here and spread them out, where as I should of based to based them ready for return fire. Kaelyssa threw an AoE at a Long gunner, it missed and scattered just infront of them, which stopped them advancing and such. Griffon block LoS to Kae from the Long gunners and then the Elven hooker goes "Hey Stryker.. no focus buddy!". A&H finish off the Hunter and prepare for Stryker next turn.
This turn is rather uneventful and The ironclad can't finish off the heavy with no focus. Styker is in combat with Eiryss (she assaulted him) and wasn't willing to take a 4 dice free strike, so stayed put, swinging at her and missing. Long gunners killed 4 Invictors after double tapping and couldn't get to Kaelyssa..
Stryker has no focus, couldn't pop feat and has A&H and Eiryss staring at him.. Since this was a pick up game I had no reason to do anything but take the assassination, had it been a tournament game I would of tried to finish off the 'clad and Long gunners. I think the Invictors, Kaelyssa and the Griffon could of dealt with the Long gunners easily and the 'clad should of gone down with 3 focus on the Pheonix. So any way. Aiyanna harms, Holt smashs face, Styker dies.
We discussed the game afterwards and I thought he should of sniped the Long gunners and put them in the center of the board and just trashed my army and forced me to deal with them rather than shutting them out of the game as I did and have to only deal with Styker and 2 'jacks, so in effect gaining 250 points advantage. It didn't help that I figured the Retribution's playing style was applying uber pressure and just forcing the enemy 'caster down. Getting Team solo on Stryker on turn 2 and then locking his 'jacks down was brutal. So yea, I was happy with the way the game went, I ewnjoyed the Retribution playing style and other than being pestered by a group of annoying kids wanting to know everything about my Retribution stuff and just generally annoying me I had a good night.
The 2nd game wasn't very exciting at all, it was a battlebox game and I got a chance to try the focus stealing with on Kaelyssa, it fell through and got her killed, but I wanted to try to see how it worked.
I'll post some pictures of the army later. Kaelyssa is maybe half way done and the first Invictor just needs the black highlighting and metals redoing.
Tuesday, 29 September 2009
Game on!
Today I had my first games with Retribution. My theory on being a high pressure army that goes for the throat was correct and I felt in control of the game the entire time. The solos are the key assassination pieces, but the Invictors and 'jacks were capable just as well.
I'll write up a full report tomorrow and give a run down of each model I used and how I felt they performed.
I'll write up a full report tomorrow and give a run down of each model I used and how I felt they performed.
Sunday, 27 September 2009
Retribution review part 1
Today I worked some more on the Ret. Started to paint Aiyanna, Kaelyssa (Boob armour!) and the Invictor is almost done. I absolutely HATE the Heavy jack and I will make a full post on it, because that kit is absolutely vile and deserves to be absolutely demolished.
But onto the main show!
I'm going to review every model in the Ret book, but using only 1 sentence for each.
The Retribution seems to have a solid theme going with adaptable troops able to hold scenarios with the solos and 'casters suited to assassination. So in SR4 Ret will either go for "you can't win" and assassination or full on Scenario abuse. Another overriding theme is pressure, Ret excel on applying pressure, especially to 'casters.
Garryth.
Melee Assassin. He's exactly like Abyslonia in Legion, except has Arc nodes. I really liked her in that, but in Ret he just doesn't feel as strong. Does make me think E Morghoul's fan will be passive in MKII though. But yea, he'll pull 'casters around and then stab them. Nothing else to say.
Kaelyssa.
She is a disruption and mind games 'caster. Her abilities tend to disrupt your opponents troops with rough terrain and cripple their warjacks/make them shake. The fury/focus leeching leads to mind games with Hordes and she is deadly against casters, but lacks the ability to set them up. She should be a strong 'caster but will take a lot of skill to really abuse. She will also be one of the first Ret epics, her fluff is all "Will be awesome"
Rahn
Rahn I really don't like, he's a scenario 'caster and that's about it. He just pushes things around and disrupts, but it's just not enough for me. Why is my 'caster pushing dudes instead of killing them on mass? Has a terrible feat and just feels unplayable to me. I love his model and will pick it up to complete the set.
Ravyn.
Emo chick! She's a really strong 'caster who applies pressure best of all the Ret. She can extend ranges, move things faster. She can easily kill a 'caster in close combat and has the ability to move things around to open lines. Her feat is just insane with the right army, it screws the def stat and lets you move forward, take some shots and then move 2 inches back to deny the charge and stabby death.. I think she is a very strong 'caster, with the Ret units and her spell list she can force people to play on the back foot and then corner them ready for the kill.
Vyros.
Ret's jack 'caster with some troop support thrown in for good measure. He's a jack of all trades and will be solid for being so, but he could do with some more ways to boost 'jacks or generate additional focus.
Chimera
It's an arc node that you can't engage. It's just a solid little Lancer style dude, what more do you want?
Gorgon
Another disruption piece for the Ret, they have a lot of pinning models in place abilities and the Gorgon excels at this. My only complaint is that I'm not sure if the Gorgon is worth the points (I'm unsure on how to value a point in MKII yet), it's going to pin something down, but anything worth pinning (Character 'jacks/beasts etc.) are going to beat it senseless. Time will tell ifi t's worth it in the meta game.
Griffon
It's a beat stick and it's cheap as hell. You could take 10 of these in 500 points. How the hell do you deal with that many beat sticks at once? With Vyros these are nuts.. speed 8 pathfinding jacks you could just swarm with. Yes, freaking, please.
I'll continue this tomorrow with the Heavy jacks and the units!
But onto the main show!
I'm going to review every model in the Ret book, but using only 1 sentence for each.
The Retribution seems to have a solid theme going with adaptable troops able to hold scenarios with the solos and 'casters suited to assassination. So in SR4 Ret will either go for "you can't win" and assassination or full on Scenario abuse. Another overriding theme is pressure, Ret excel on applying pressure, especially to 'casters.
Garryth.
Melee Assassin. He's exactly like Abyslonia in Legion, except has Arc nodes. I really liked her in that, but in Ret he just doesn't feel as strong. Does make me think E Morghoul's fan will be passive in MKII though. But yea, he'll pull 'casters around and then stab them. Nothing else to say.
Kaelyssa.
She is a disruption and mind games 'caster. Her abilities tend to disrupt your opponents troops with rough terrain and cripple their warjacks/make them shake. The fury/focus leeching leads to mind games with Hordes and she is deadly against casters, but lacks the ability to set them up. She should be a strong 'caster but will take a lot of skill to really abuse. She will also be one of the first Ret epics, her fluff is all "Will be awesome"
Rahn
Rahn I really don't like, he's a scenario 'caster and that's about it. He just pushes things around and disrupts, but it's just not enough for me. Why is my 'caster pushing dudes instead of killing them on mass? Has a terrible feat and just feels unplayable to me. I love his model and will pick it up to complete the set.
Ravyn.
Emo chick! She's a really strong 'caster who applies pressure best of all the Ret. She can extend ranges, move things faster. She can easily kill a 'caster in close combat and has the ability to move things around to open lines. Her feat is just insane with the right army, it screws the def stat and lets you move forward, take some shots and then move 2 inches back to deny the charge and stabby death.. I think she is a very strong 'caster, with the Ret units and her spell list she can force people to play on the back foot and then corner them ready for the kill.
Vyros.
Ret's jack 'caster with some troop support thrown in for good measure. He's a jack of all trades and will be solid for being so, but he could do with some more ways to boost 'jacks or generate additional focus.
Chimera
It's an arc node that you can't engage. It's just a solid little Lancer style dude, what more do you want?
Gorgon
Another disruption piece for the Ret, they have a lot of pinning models in place abilities and the Gorgon excels at this. My only complaint is that I'm not sure if the Gorgon is worth the points (I'm unsure on how to value a point in MKII yet), it's going to pin something down, but anything worth pinning (Character 'jacks/beasts etc.) are going to beat it senseless. Time will tell ifi t's worth it in the meta game.
Griffon
It's a beat stick and it's cheap as hell. You could take 10 of these in 500 points. How the hell do you deal with that many beat sticks at once? With Vyros these are nuts.. speed 8 pathfinding jacks you could just swarm with. Yes, freaking, please.
I'll continue this tomorrow with the Heavy jacks and the units!
Saturday, 26 September 2009
Invictor WiP
I spent all day working on models, building, painting, hating the goddamn annoying heavy kit (modding it just so I never have to buy another). I'm now going to try and avoid plastic kits if I can, I just plain don't like PP plastic.
I'm running out of Thaco podcast and starting to regret the pink. It takes 4 coats to get a solid colour..
I'm running out of Thaco podcast and starting to regret the pink. It takes 4 coats to get a solid colour..
Friday, 25 September 2009
Models here!
Okay so my models arrived, I'm now working on building A&H, Kaelyssa and the Invictors.
Since I'm busy trying to get all this built for Tuesday (my gaming night), I'm just going to post 1 interesting pic.
This is how many parts the Griffon comes in. And that polearm needs a brass rod.
Thursday, 24 September 2009
I am the dice man!
So my book arrived today (HAPPY FACE!) and I sat down to read the fluff and then got 2 pages into the fluff and went "MODEL RULES!" and proceeded to spend about 8 hours looking over it.
So for a quick run down.
I like the female 'casters and I like Rahn's model, but really don't liks his rules. I'll be picking up Ravyn ASAP and her and Kaelyssa will be my main 'casters. I got a thing for emo chicks I guess. Ravyn is awesome, I love her spell list and her weapon, I can't wait to pick her up and put her on a custom base, Position her foot so she's standing on a slant and like she's going to look down and stab someone.
So units wise I love the Dawnguard and Mage hunters, both of which I will pick up a unit of when they come ot (aka when I have more moneys, I plan to spend about £50-60 a month on models to quickly build up the Ret force. I really don't like the mittens or houseguard though. The houseguard are just shitty Gun mages and quite frankly the models are terrible. They look like Big O and Piccard had a love child and then cloned him a few times. Houseguard just don't work for me, they seem like dawnguard if you are missing a point or two, unless the models are amazing, I doubt I'll pick them up, maybe the long gunners, but probably not.
Stormfall archers need their own sentence. FUCK YEAH! These guys have an awesome concept and awesome art to go with it. Hoping the model lives up to it.
Onto the solos. There are some stunning and awesome (Narn) some are terrible like Nayl. Going to pick up most of them though.
I'm wanting to know what PP will do with the cav. Will they release a full box or do the current cav thing? Either way lots of cav, I'll probably pick them up.
So yea, I likes it. My stuff should be posted today or tomorrow, so hopefully I can get to work on them. There is a tournament here in a couple of weeks on the 11th, it's the Retribution steam roller event, so I figure I should be rocking my pink Elves. I need to check what the format is, but I'm hoping it's not mangled metal or I'll need to buy another jack or two. I am quite tempted to go for Griffon spam. They're insanely cheap and it would be fun to just beat people down with a bunch of them, while stealing Fury/Focus with Kaelyssa to power her spells.
I suppose the advantage of playing a new army is surprise, even though I'm not experienced with them. But hey should be fun either way, just got to hope my health is okay. I have to go into hospital for an entire day next week, which will cut into my painting time, plus they want to knock me out so it'll take a while to recover even when I do come out.
But yea, Ret good, very good. I'm really digging the Ret vibe, they seem to fit my style really well. My next purchases will probably be Ravyn, E Eiryss, Invictor UA and a unit of Mage Hunters. That will give me a 35 point list in MKII and I'll be closing on the 750 mark in MKI as well and throwing in a couple of solos and another jack and I'll be good to go.
So for a quick run down.
I like the female 'casters and I like Rahn's model, but really don't liks his rules. I'll be picking up Ravyn ASAP and her and Kaelyssa will be my main 'casters. I got a thing for emo chicks I guess. Ravyn is awesome, I love her spell list and her weapon, I can't wait to pick her up and put her on a custom base, Position her foot so she's standing on a slant and like she's going to look down and stab someone.
So units wise I love the Dawnguard and Mage hunters, both of which I will pick up a unit of when they come ot (aka when I have more moneys, I plan to spend about £50-60 a month on models to quickly build up the Ret force. I really don't like the mittens or houseguard though. The houseguard are just shitty Gun mages and quite frankly the models are terrible. They look like Big O and Piccard had a love child and then cloned him a few times. Houseguard just don't work for me, they seem like dawnguard if you are missing a point or two, unless the models are amazing, I doubt I'll pick them up, maybe the long gunners, but probably not.
Stormfall archers need their own sentence. FUCK YEAH! These guys have an awesome concept and awesome art to go with it. Hoping the model lives up to it.
Onto the solos. There are some stunning and awesome (Narn) some are terrible like Nayl. Going to pick up most of them though.
I'm wanting to know what PP will do with the cav. Will they release a full box or do the current cav thing? Either way lots of cav, I'll probably pick them up.
So yea, I likes it. My stuff should be posted today or tomorrow, so hopefully I can get to work on them. There is a tournament here in a couple of weeks on the 11th, it's the Retribution steam roller event, so I figure I should be rocking my pink Elves. I need to check what the format is, but I'm hoping it's not mangled metal or I'll need to buy another jack or two. I am quite tempted to go for Griffon spam. They're insanely cheap and it would be fun to just beat people down with a bunch of them, while stealing Fury/Focus with Kaelyssa to power her spells.
I suppose the advantage of playing a new army is surprise, even though I'm not experienced with them. But hey should be fun either way, just got to hope my health is okay. I have to go into hospital for an entire day next week, which will cut into my painting time, plus they want to knock me out so it'll take a while to recover even when I do come out.
But yea, Ret good, very good. I'm really digging the Ret vibe, they seem to fit my style really well. My next purchases will probably be Ravyn, E Eiryss, Invictor UA and a unit of Mage Hunters. That will give me a 35 point list in MKII and I'll be closing on the 750 mark in MKI as well and throwing in a couple of solos and another jack and I'll be good to go.
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