Dark Eldar and some updates

So Dark Eldar is coming..

The metagame right now is basically Space Wolves, IG, a few Eldar lists here and there, some Orks and Blood Angels.  Now I don't know how to say this without just saying this, but it looks like that Dark Eldar are going to shit all over MEQ.  For BA, I can see us taking the standard 3/3 Baal/ACLC Pred to counter the threat of long range triple Dark Lances on the move, and Space Wolf players just shoot RBs all day.  3x groups of 6 Long Fangs with 5x ML and 3x RBs with TLLCs is going to crap all over DE vehicles.  That and the fact that Rune Priests with Living Lightning will have a field day with Split Fire.  Never, ever, ever go MSU and 5-man bodies.  You're too easily destroyed by Dark Eldar and that only fuels their combat drugs.

The only problem I'm seeing here is the DE close combat.  They get Harlequins and Wyches are going to rape some face when they get in close combat.    Marines, even Blood Angels and Space Wolves who are some of the most powerful CC armies right now, can't really hold up to DE CC.  Yes, we get FNP and 3+ AS as Blood Angels, but with enough wounds, rending and combat drugs, things are looking bad for you.  You know what that means right?  Shoot the shit out for their AV-craptastic, open-top vehicles and murder everything with rapid fire Bolters.  I would rather get out of my vehicles and shoot everything to death to minimize on CC death later than getting into CC with Dark Eldar.  NEVER, get into CC with Dark Eldar and expect good things.

Article: Do or Die Scenarios are Bad

Here's a teaser of an article I wrote recently for Bell of Lost Souls:

Warmachine is a game where if you play carelessly with your warcaster, you can lose the game immediately.  When I read battle reports from other players, I shake my head every time I read the dreaded "do or die" scenario.  What does this scenario mean?  It means that if you don't do something big this turn, you will lose the game.  It's literally do or die.  This is exactly the type of scenario that you should avoid.

Recently, I read a battle report where someone got himself in close proximity to pButcher.  He was trying to pull off a kill on pButcher but when all things failed, he figured his warcaster should go try!  Now I don't know about you guys, but I can't fathom why you would ever get anywhere near a MAT9 Reach POW16 Weapon Master.  To make matters worse, you're not running eEiryss and the Butcher is camping focus with Iron Flesh on himself.  For those of you that are not familiar with Warmachine, pButcher is a slaughterhouse on two legs.  He's the size of most armies' light 'jacks and his melee swings as strong as most heavies.  Under no circumstance you should ever be near him unless you're prepared.  If you're running a melee beast warcaster yourself, you still might want to invest in another strategy since going up against Butcher with camped focus and buffs is going to be tough.  If you're ranged or a spellcaster and you're going for it, you're doing it wrong.

You can find the rest here.

League of Legends

You guys are probably wondering what the hell have I been doing lately.  Well, I'm playing League of Legends and trying not to suck at it.  I mean, I don't really suck at it.. I'm just trying to get wtf gosu pro.  It's a little different than DotA for those who's played it, and the RPG elements of it makes it something really unique.  The biggest thing for me is that it's a new game with a lot of new things for me to learn, and I dig that kind of stuff.

I'm currently experimenting with ranged carries since that's what I enjoyed playing back in DotA.  My favorites right now is Miss Fortune, Ashe and Annie.  I haven't really gotten a foothold on Annie yet.. and I'm going to try playing with Ryze today.  For those who are unfamiliar with the game, my characters can be broken up into 3 categories.  Miss Fortune, is a character who is ranged, does physical damage and is considered a carry.  A carry is basically any character who can make a lot of money (therefore getting uber items) and have deal enough damage to rape the other team.  Annie, for example, is a ranged, spellcaster carry.

I play carries because I like blowing things up for big damage and dominating people.  Tanks, healers and support classes need not apply.

PS - This game is free to play.

My Tier2 Rahn list

Cygnar is a great faction and I love playing with them, but sometimes you just need something different!  That's why I chose Retribution as my second army.  Nobody around here really plays them, no one understands them and the rarity of the faction is what really appealed to me.  Just because no one really plays them (there's like 5 Cygnar players here) doesn't mean they're bad.  In fact, I find Retribution to be one of the trickiest factions to play against.  They have strong shooting in the form of Invictors and MHSF, powerful melee thanks to Sentinels and Halberdiers, and ridiculous manipulation in the form of Battle Mages (mittens).

BR: 35pt Siege vs. eGaspy

The battle begins with a map with a fair share of terrain.  This battle highlights the importance of utilizing knockdown and positioning so Breach turn can inflict the most damage.  By destroying and severely crippling my opponent's warjacks, I can stay ahead in the attrition game and deliver game-winning results.  The guy with the last warjack is always ahead.

My list looks like this:

Points: 35

Major Markus 'Siege' Brisbane (*5pts)

* Defender (9pts)

* Defender (9pts)

* Ol' Rowdy (9pts)

* Squire (2pts)

Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team (4pts)

Captain Arlan Strangewayes (2pts)

Eiryss, Angel of Retribution (3pts)

Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator (1pts)

Stormsmith Stormcaller (1pts)

BR: 35pt eHaley vs. pGoreshade

The battle begins with a map with a fair share of terrain.  This battle highlights the importance of Haley's spells in combination with her Feat.  When used correctly, her feat can utterly cripple the opposing army and essentially give Haley's army another turn.  Her two win conditions in this list is the Defender and the Stormclad so both must be protected to make the win happen.

My list looks like this:

Points: 35
Major Victoria Haley (*5pts)
* Thorn (8pts)
* Defender (9pts)
* Stormclad (10pts)
* Squire (2pts)
Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team (4pts)
Stormblade Infantry (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
Captain Arlan Strangewayes (2pts)

BR: 35pt eCaine vs. eVlad

The battle begins with a map with a fair share of terrain.  This battle highlights the importance of target priority over the ambition of caster kill.  Sometimes the quickest way to victory is not the shortest path.  By killing key targets and destroying your opponent's ability to maximize his turns, the game can be yours without the need of assassination!

My list looks like this:

Points: 35
Captain Allister Caine  (*5pts)
* Ol' Rowdy  (9pts)
* Squire  (2pts)
Arcane Tempest Gun Mages (Leader and 5 Grunts)  (6pts)
* Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer  (2pts)
* * Hunter  (6pts)
Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team  (4pts)
Rangers  (5pts)
Captain Arlan Strangewayes  (2pts)
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution  (3pts)
Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator  (1pts)

Tried some hardcore

Well, not really too hardcore.  We played 35pts eCaine vs. Kaelyssa with 5 minute turns for a standard caster kill game.  Since we played on our lunch break and this is our first time trying out the stress of "hardcore", we wanted to see what it was like.

Man.. it really IS hardcore.  On my first turn, this is what I did:

1. Squire gives Caine a focus.
2. Reinholdt reloaded Caine.
3. Rangers ran to give Caine the +2 bonus on Eiryss and a Sniper.
4. I casted Trueshot on Caine, killed both with normal shots and then magic bullet the MHSF guy next to Eiryss.  Caine GCs back to safety.
5. Time - My turn ends.

WHAT?!  I was so shocked that that happened.  Maybe I'm getting old or something, but I barely did anything before turn was up.  I literally still had an entire army to move around and position myself.  In short, I wasn't able to shoot with my Hunter, run with Ol'Rowdy or move my ATGM into a more favorable location.

You know that saying "time flies when you're having fun?"  At the end of the game (Ol'Rowdy smashed Kaelyssa's face in), we decided that playing 5 minute turns was a bit too much.  Since we only have an hour lunch, we decided on 7 minute turns next game!  By my 2nd turn, I got used to how fast the turns ran but it still didn't help us in the most important aspect of all:  tactics.  A lot of mistakes were made and once Kaelyssa was exposed in range of Ol'Rowdy because of the mental pressure, I knew the game was over.

I am now officially impressed by the skill and precision it takes to play "hardcore", but I think I'll play something a little more casual.  Like they say.. "I'm getting too old for this shit."

NEW High Elf Minis pics!!!

Oh man, oh man!  Looks like my wallet is going to hate me in October!

The amount of detail on these bad boys is seriously bad-ass!  Those Dragon Princes look amazing.. especially for the actual Dragon masks the horses are wearing.  The White Lions are much more dynamic and the Phoenix Guard are downright scary.  Bring it on!

Oh, who is that in the first pic?  That's Althran Stormrider of course!  He's one of our 2 metal blisters that we're supposed to be getting.

Defender or Hunter?

Here's another one of my army lists based on eCaine.  Unlike my other army list, this one uses a Hunter instead of a Defender.  With the extra points, Caine can take the B13 - which is a great toolbox unit plus the fact they do quite a bit of damage.

Points: 35
Captain Allister Caine  (*5pts)
* Ol' Rowdy  (9pts)
* Squire  (2pts)
Arcane Tempest Gun Mages (Leader and 5 Grunts)  (6pts)
* Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer  (2pts)
* * Hunter  (6pts)
Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team  (4pts)
Rangers  (5pts)
Captain Arlan Strangewayes  (2pts)
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution  (3pts)
Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator  (1pts)

So I guess the question is:  Defender or Hunter?  The Hunter allows me to make AP attacks vs. Medium-Large base models (halve their armor) and can do the same damage to those models as the Defender.  Add in some Runeshots from the marshaled ATGM UA and you've got the same amount of tricks as the Defender.  The downside to that is that against small base models, the Hunter only does 8 damage vs. the Defender's whopping POW15.  On the plus side though, the Hunter has AD, Pathfinder, RAT7 and DEF14.  Since it can move freely in terrain, it's basically floating around DEF16 and is an excellent harassment tool.

The Defender, on the other hand, has more damage boxes, more armor and a RNG16 POW15 cannon that shoots at RAT6.  He also has a MAT7 Cortex Hammer that can hit for a respectable PS16 and does 1 point of Cortex damage with each hit.  Since he does equal damage all around with his cannon, he can reach out and slap vulnerable warcasters/warlocks for a shit ton of damage.  The 16" range also allows the Defender to aim at most targets for an effective RAT8.

The big thing to note about these two is cost.  At 6 points vs. the Defender's 9, taking the Hunter gives me the B13 or A&H vs. the Defender + Stormsmith.  So far, I've been having good success with the Defender, but I guess I have to play around to see what's good and what's not.

Your most hated enemy

Over my years of wargaming, I've played against many many types of armies, players and individual playstyles.  I can always look back into my past experiences and pin-point which armies I find the most heinous.  Truth be told:  My most hated enemy is also the enemy that I enjoy fighting most.  I'm not sure why that is.. maybe because I like the challenge or maybe because I'm completely deranged.  I find the hardest and most frustrating match-ups to be my favorite fights because it constantly challenges me to get better.

Sometimes though.. you'll play against a certain army that you vow you'll never play again.  I'm talking about the ridiculous PD spamming Daemon armies of 7th Ed. Fantasy or the dread Iron Warriors army of blow your shit back when CSM actually had a real codex.  I played against the Daemons with my Dwarfs and High Elves and every game was a wrist-cutting experience of frustration.  My poor Grey Knights had the worst of it.. since they were the first army I ever bought from GW and most of my forces were footsloggers.  Needless to say, I have a bitter disdain for these armies ever since.