Stompys First Mammoth Night Outing

Feora, Protector of the Flame vs. Supreme Kommandant Irusk (Khador)

Loss: Scenario (5/0) 

So Stompy (my Judicator) got his first outing at the club.

The game was against Khador and was a fairly light hearted affair.  With the release of Mk3 in the not to distant future the fun element crept back in which was a nice addition.

End of game photo:

So the list was pretty much my tournament eFeora list with Flamebringers, Madelyn Corbeau and Anastacia Di Bray thrown into the mix.  Idea being to use Madelyn to throw Anastacia close to the caster and then move everything into an assassination run.

I went first and amazed by the Daughters speed threw Ignite on them and ran them (18"!!!!!) at the Widowmakers -  I figured they weren't Widower-makers so they should be fine. Everything else scampered forward and got ready to cause damage turn 2.  In response the Khador right flanks advanced and trashed the Flamebringers, between Eiryss, Widowmakers (my theory was wrong) and Winterguard Rifles I lost 3 and the fourth was damaged.  On the other side things were better and the shoting was ineffective.

My turn two and I paused for a thought (which probably saved the lives of numerous Zealots).  Instead I activated Stompy and fired a barrage of shots into the Man-O-War unit, killing 1, setting 2 on fire and the scatter killing a pair of Doom Reavers.  The other pod let rip at the Spriggan and managed to set it on fire.  Next the Zealots mini-feated and walked into bomb range of the man-o-war and released some bombs.  Not much happened, mainly due to lots of missing and the steam armoured brutes being immune to the blast damage.  On the other side I tried my first cavalry charge on Eiryss, hitting the Widowmaker first the impact attack failed and that was it.  The other one then did a standard charge on a widowmaker, killing it and then sidestepping into a second, killing that and ending in combat with Eiryss (well worth a note for the future!).

At the bottom of turn two the men-o-war and Doom Reavers charged the Zealots - they couldn't kill them but did jam the zone full of red bodies.  The Great bears then ripped the two Flamebringers apart, Eiryss moved up and shot the Reckoner distrupting it.  Finally the mortars took some shots at the judicator and managed to cause limited damage and kill a choirman.  To finish up Irusk moved into the friendly zone to dominate leaving it 2/0 on scenario.  Yes, it should have been 1 point for dominating a friendly zone but we both forgot at the time and I only realised whilst typing this out.

My turn 3 and Irusk was in the open and Stompy wasn't far away.  He walked forward and let rip with both rocket pods and an ancillaried pod.  This is some of the best shooting Stompy has ever done, by the end of the Khador control phase (after Cont. Fire) 7 winter guard rifles, 2 Great Bears and Kovnik Joe were dead.  Additionally Irusk was on fire and had taken a bit of damage.  I'd also killed another Doom Reaver and set on fire two Men-O-War with a flamethrower - go Stompy!!  The only other thing of note was to toe the zone with the Reckoner and use the Zealots to kill two more Doom Reavers - leaving a single man left.  One thing that worried me was his heavy near Stompy so I ran Rhoven and his bodyguards to intercept any charges that came that way.  I felt kinda smug at this point, I believed I was winning the attrition game and even if the Reckoner died I'd only be 4/0 down ready to camp Stompy in Zone 2 next turn.

Khador turn 3 didn't go how I expected.  The usually inaccurate mortars both targeted the Objective and obliterated it - at the time I thought they were going for damage on Feora (who was camped on ARM23 base to base behind it).  However that was another scenario point for Khador - all that remained was to kill the Reckoner.  It turns out the Spriggan has bulldoze, charging through he bashed the Reckoner out of the zone for the win.

I now realise that this should have been only 3/0 and the game result may have changed (this is to take nothing from my opponent who was just as oblivious as me and played the game very clinically), but that is entirely my fault yet again my absent mindedness has left me with a loss that could have been a victory.  But on the positive, STOMPY SURVIVED!!!!!
 

Lessons Learnt - 

• Know the victory conditions - both to avoid mistakes and also (had the scenario been as we played it) I failed to see the destruction of the vulnerable objective of the critical 5th scenario point.
• Flamebringers are neither a frontline unit nor a jamming unit.  By trying to use them out of character they were always going to die.  They would have been better held in reserve to charge into the zone turn 2 and then used the bonus of being in combat to improve the survivability.
• Rhoven and Co were a waste yet again, I feel that I'd be better off using them as bodyguards for Stompy rather than hanging around behidn him.
• Equally Anastasia and Madelyn were wasted, hanging to far back there was no way that I could have got the advantages they provide.  The four points could have been much better spent.
• I'm actually getting to grips with

2016 Win/Loss record to date: 8/23 (Protectorate 8/22 - Circle 0/1)

Stompy Gets Some Colour

So its a long way from being done but its a start:

Harlequins Spring Blast - 50pt Steamroller Tournament

Well the day of the tournament dawned and having seen the factions entered in advance, I knew I would learn something.  Having never played Skorne there were three players entered and I drew one of them to start!  It was also my first time using a Colossal so nothing like learning on the job.

Feora, Protector of the Flame vs. Xerxis, Fury of Halaak (Skorne)

Loss: Assassination (Scenario - 5/0) 

You know its a tough draw when the press ganger running the tournament walks past pre game saying "Enjoy this, your opponent is quite good, he's in the Polish WTC team."  In addition to that it was my first ever game vs Skorne with a list that I'd never used before...what could go wrong?!

Looking through the lists they didn't mean much to me, quite nicely my opponent went through the various units to give me an idea of the flavour of each.  Not sure what to expect and having Stompy sat on my tray there was only ever going to be one list that I used first.  My opponent dropped Xerxis on his mega beast and we started the game.

The game went really quick, I opted to go second hoping for a round of shooting at the bottom of turn 1.  The Skorne advanced rapidly but equally everything was done very precisely which was interesting to watch.  I had my go and aside from a few beasts being set on fire the highlight was a lucky scatter onto a Willbreaker killing him outright.

At the top of turn two a bit of boosting and suddenly Molik Karn  was next to the remains of Stompy (a 16" threat and a beast weaponsmaster?!?!?).  I spent the rest of the game reacting to my opponent, I managed to get revenge on Molik and a flying beast but ultimately I was loosing more each turn than I was killing.  I then had the option of an assassination run but wimped out for fear of taking a free strike.  Instead I went for it the next turn (this time taking 3 free strikes, non landed - eFeora is pretty hard!!), but with less focus due to a few deaths from flames and Xerxis sitting on 5 fury it was never going to happen.

The game finished at the top of turn 4, with the scenario counter going to 5/0 and Xerxis killing Feora leaving me with a Choirman and one of Rhovens bodyguards as the only models left on the table.

The only positive was that I was comfortably ahead on time and if I could have forced another turn from my opponent (who had around 5 mins remaining to my 15 mins) I could have possibly got the win.  Worth noting in the future!

Grand Scrutator Severius vs. Vladmir Tzepesci, The Dark Champion (Khador)

Win(ish): Scenario (2/0)

This was against my fellow Mammoth Chris.  I dropped my usual Khador drop of pSevy (Voodoo People) into what turned out to be Vlad2.  The game went really well and I managed to really mangle his army between 2 x Ashes to Ashes, the Vessel and the unkillable Temple Flameguard.  The only hole in the plan was Vlad teleporting forward and blasting pSevy with two spells to kill him.

Rightly or wrongly at this point the Tournament Organiser  stepped in to remind me that pSevy is untargetable by magic and that as the game had finished in an illegal gamestate we had to continue playing.  We dropped Vlad back to pre-asasassination run and then continued, with the spell assassination off the table Chris' options were very limited.  In response I moved the vessel behind Vlad and used a miracle to push him out of the zone.  I then smashed the objective to put me two up on scenario for the win.

I have to say that it was a crap way to win, it was my lack of remembering my guys rules that got us to that stage so in my mind I should have lost.  I maybe should have insisted on taking the loss and fought it a bit more but unfortunately it was done and round 3 beckoned.

Feora, Protector of the Flame vs. Tyrant Xerxis (Skorne)

Win: Assassination (Scenario - 2/0) 

Well the two lists threatened a mammoth in one and lots of beasts in the other so it was only every going to be Feora and the heavy hitters.  My opponent didn't want to get list locked so opted for the anti-infantry mammoth list, this tilted the scales in my favour and I wanted to make sure I capitalised on it!

So having been demolished in round 1 I was a little more careful, there was also a bit of cat and mouse as both colossals had the same 11" threat and could both one round each other.  I advanced cautiously and took pot shots around the board with the rockets.

On my right the zealots engaged and held up a unit of Croaks and Incindiarii for the whole game.  On my other side I stupidly used my Enliven move to shift the Reckoner well out of control range.  However he was advancing towards the enemy warlock so was causing a threat anyway.

I also managed to release a rocket barrage onto Xerxis setting him alight on turn 2.  The enemy mammoth then advanced forward to what I thought was just out of range. I opted to stand and aim and blew some big chunks out of the gargantuan.  However next turn my folly was show when my opponent declared a charge, measured the distance and trashed Stompy.  To make matters worse I was next to a fuel cache so could have loaded up Stompy with four focus and charged for free, virtually guaranteeing a kill!

This distraction gave me what I needed however as Hand of Judgement got into charge range of Xerxis (who was on fire).  Getting a free charge for him being on fire meant that the POW20 jack caused so much damage from his first two strikes that non of the Skorne jacks was healthy enough to transfer the full damage of the final hit meaning Xerxis had no choice but to take it himself which finished him off.

Feora, Protector of the Flame vs. Absylonia, Daughter of Everblight (Legion)

Loss: Assassination & Scenario (5/0) 

Well having played 2/3 Skorne players, sadly I didn't get the set.  Instead I got to play Legion which having played numerous games at the club I was quite happy about.  Even better was that neither list included a Blight Bringer or Ravagore, happy days!

I opted for eFeora again as being fire proof I hoped that she could avoid some assassination runs that were bound to come my way.  Equally my opponent was list locked to taking eAbby who I know from experience hasn't got any offensive spells meaning Sevy would most likely spend the game quaking in terror.

The scenario had two large circles in the middle which needed controlling or dominating.  I decided to go second and thought I'd throw all my might at the right hand side and use the Zealots to contest the left.  This also meant that I'd be throwing all my jacks head long against the Legion Heavy Beasts, I hoped that I could soften them up on the way in and by doing so survive the alpha and then smash back harder.

It all started well with Judy setting Abby and two heavies on fire at the bottom of turn 1, additionally I managed to roll 6, 6, 6 and a 5 & 6 for the blast damage forcing Abby to pass on the damage to her beasts - maybe this could be a third win to put me in the top quarter?!?

The downfall to my plan was my need to contest zones meaning that I advanced quicker than I'd have liked.  This meant that instead of hanging back a little I moved forward and the limited frontage meant that my Jacks and troops blocked each other in.  A feat at the top of turn 3 placed a Scythean and Carnivean next to Stompy and once again he fell down.  I also lost a Reckoner the same turn.  Counter charges from Rhoven and the Hand of Judgement killed a Raek and got revenge for Stompy but they couldn't get in the zone.  I was now down 1/0 on scenario.

More importantly the blight wasps were making a problems of themselves for the Zealots and so I was given the opportunity and charged the remaining 2 wasps.  This meant them leaving the left zone with a single zealot but I figured it was only a secnario point and they'd be back the following turn.

Big mistake, with the zone up for grabs Abby jumped in and killed the zealot, dominating the zone.  Already contolling the right zone the remaining legion went to town on the zealots killing them all.  The wasps now free then blocked access to the left zone except through them.  Scenario was also at 4/0.

This left me with a problem, I needed to contest both zone otherwise I won, to this end I easily contested the right zone with Hand of Judgement.  Feora then finished off the wasps to allow two choir through to the left hand zone.  I knew this wasn't enough but with nothing else to send I just had to hope. Scenario clock was at 4/1

Sadly it wasn't to be, Abby hopped forward, shredded the choir and then won quite happily 6/1.

A great days gaming and so much learnt, now I just need to put it into practice next time.  Also at 2 wins 2 losses I was quite happy with my performance!!

I tried to keep the descriptions shorter as with four games if I went to much into them then this post would be huge, hope no one minds!!!

2016 Win/Loss record to date: 8/22 (Protectorate 8/21 - Circle 0/1)

Mk3?!

Wow they're redoing the game, the internet is a-flutter the speculation is rife. 

On a personal note I'm just really looking forward to a level playing field as everyone relearns the game.  Hopefully mark 3 will be my chance to shine!

Building My New Judicator!!!

Since going to my first tournament and seeing the various colossals I've really wanted one.  I'd been holding out for a Revelator but I can't see them appearing any time soon and having sold some Warhammer the money was burning a hole in my pocket!  Luckily I found a new one for a good price second hand from Facebook and so I ordered it straight away!

At this point I should say that I didn't have the idea of doing a blog post on assembling him (I should have done but the excitement overwhelmed and I jumped into it).  However, Chris suggested it would be good to read and I agreed that it may help anyone assembling a Judicator in the future.  So here it is, my guide/experience assembling a Judicator (painting will hopefully come later).

So whats in the box?

• 59 resin and metal parts to make the model (24 part are the rocket tips and port covers)
• Card wreck marker
• 2 x Stat Cards
• Instrutions sheet - I use the word instruction very loosely!

The "Instructions"

Hmm yes well, whilst they are functional and show how everything goes together, an A6 photocopied sheet do not the instructions for a £80+ model make.

 The assembly

1)   Preparation

The first thing you will notice when you get the bits out is the sheer volume of excess material on the bits.  I've highlighted the below photo to try to give you an idea:

Whilst I understand that this is pretty much the norm for resin kits and its just part of the process, I think its worth while highlighting how long it actually takes to clean up all of the pieces.  Having spent good money on the kit its worth spending the effort making sure every surface is smooth and the tags have all been completly removed and filed back.  This should aid the bonding process but also improve the aesthetics when it comes to painting.


2)   Base-Hips

The bottom of the model was the easiest part to put together.  The key thing to note here are that the legs come with the front unattached to it feels at first like they're being attached backwards. 

The first parts I glued together were the hip joints for both legs.  These are preshaped sockets similar to those on the plastic jacks (so you can't get them backwards :-) ).  I then attached the toes/front of feet and stood them on a plastic sheet to ensure that they dried as flat as possible.  I was a little worried when I checked before gluing that they could be angled to down which would have been a nightmare to attach to the base, so I hoped by standing up early on it would avoid this. 

Before I attached  any more I decided to glue the feat to the base.  My thinking behind this is that I could hold the model by the base as I assembled it and hopefully not put to much excess stress on the newly glued parts.  I got he alignment from looking at photos online and from placing the torso above to get an idea of where it looked like it was facing - its essentially an angry left foot forward stance!  I then left this for a good half hour to dry pretty solid.

3)   A note on metal parts and pinning

In the final phtoos below you will see the silver coloured metal parts in the model.  With the exception of what I will call the Elbow connectors these can all be attached after everything else so I left them till the end.

For all of the pinning on the model I used a 1mm bit and paper clips.  Whilst I know others have used brass rod paperclips are both what I had and also what I am familiar with.  I also didn't want to go putting too bigger holes in the model.


4)   Hips-Torso

So my first bit of pinning on Stompy (this name appeared later on when I was cursing at him and the rocket pods), the ball and socket joint that attachs the torso to the hips.  Whilst I know that ball and socket joints are fairly solid once dry I also know that they can be a pain to hold in place whilst the glue dries as they slip very easily.  As this was also the single joint supporting the entire upper half of the miniature there was no way I wasn't pinning this and making my life easier!

So first I drilled into the centre of the socket and inserted a pin.  I positioned the torso in postion and applied pressure to leave a mark in the resin.  I then took it apart and drilled where the mark was left - this resin stuff makes this easy!

After that I glued it all together and also glued on the exhaust funnels, armour panel above the head and the head itself - well everyone needs a face.  I also glued on the thigh shielding to the legs as these were the last resin parts on the legs.

5)   Torso-Missile Pods 

So I'm thinking, I'm half of the way through the build  and not really had any issues at all, this colossal thing is easy - heres where Stompy hit back.  The missile pods (diamond shape below) attach to the top of a disk that in turn attaches neatly using a circular key into a circular hole in the arm socket (see dodgy diagram below!)

My main problem in hindsight was that I was trying to angle the pods too high (35-45 degree angle) as thats how I'd envisoned them working.  However at this angle they interfere with the exhaust vents.  I then thought I must have attached the exhaust vents wrong (please note this is actually impossible based on the inserts and differnet size shapes) so gently popped them off to take another look.  I realised my mistake, and the fact that the rocket pods should be pretty much horizontal (depending how you positioned the waist). 

This next part was my most frustrating bit, I had to reattach the exhausts, glue the disk to the torso and the missile pod to the disk.  I decided to do this all at once as it would ensure that the whole lot would fit and I wouldn't then find I couldn't attach another part.  The first arm (that I hadn't glued at all when I attempted first time) went on super and with a little bit of tweaking was on and sorted.  Well the next one is the same surely?!  No, as this had already started to be glued it wouldn't stick solid like the first.  Also the guide on the disk and the guide on the pod didn't lock in the same as the other side.  However, after numerous shouts of "You -****ing Stompy ******d" (and so Judy was Christened) and some really helpful laughter from my wife, I got it all attached and vowed to let it dry before I went anywhere near it again!  I also checked the shoulder pads would fit in place properly which required a little tweaking - worth doing now though before it all dried!
 
6)  Shoulders

The good bit about this is that the arms and shoulders are probably best assembled separately first and then attached in the final stage.  This mean that stage 5 could dry whilst I was doing them.

The shoulders are each amde up of a large shoulder pad, a barrel shaped insert and a metal elbow joint.  I pinned each piece to each other as I thought the entire arm would take the most leverage so would need to be as strong as possible.  The pins were drilled in line with the way the parts fitted together (see below in red).

I also drilled a pin horizonatlly into the should to attach to to the disk on the rocket pod.  Again this was to strengthen the whole arm as I didn't think that the cutouts bonded together as well as they could do.  I didn't attach this to the main model until stage 8 though.


7)   Arms  

The forearms, hands and shields all went together really well and seeing as there was no weight on them I couldn't really envisage them needing it.  The part that would need the strength is the ball and part socket joint at the elbow.  I assume that this is the reason it is made out of metal to save it sheering off if excess force is applied.

However again thanks to the softer nature of the resin I was able to drill into the metal socket and then use a little pressure to accurately put a mark on the ball to mark where I needed to drill.  Again I checked it all went together ok but didn't glue them to the shoulders.

8)   Putting it all together! 

Having spent the time making sure the pins were all in the right place, all that remained was to slowly and carefully glue it all together.  I'm actually surprised how well it all went together, first the shoulders to the torso and then the arms to the elbows.

9) Missile Pods & Metals

With all the resin parts attached all the remainign metal was atatched.  The knees, nipple guns, Reliquary (metal bit on top) and boiler were glued into place - nice and easy!

The last bit was the missile heads and missile port covers that were fairly straight forward just very tricky.  I may well regret attaching them as I can see them getting knocked off very easily.  Ah well, at least it is fully assembled for the moment.

10) Done!!!  

Well it only took around 4 hours but well worth it!  And here are the photos of one fully assembled Judicator - aka Stompy!

Pre Tournament Prep - eHaley & Stormwall

Feora, Protector of the Flame vs. Major Victoria Haley (Cygnar)

Loss: Scenario (5/0) 

I forgot to get a photo of this one, sorry Ladies and Gents.

I'll keep this one brief, the game was just before the tournament at Harlequins.  Having only ever faced a colossal once (aside from the Blight Bringer) I wanted to find one to play, equally the last tournament had two double Stormwall lists with eHaley.  So with this in mind I organised a game with the local eHaley & Stormwall player.

I took my armour cracking eFeora list with the hope of smashing the Colossal and then using the Zealots to hold everything else until this happened.

It all went to plan with the exception of my inability to roll decent dice.  In a single round a Vanquisher, Reckoner and Rhoven and Co charged the Stormwall and failed to cause more than 50% damage.  At this point it all started to go horribly wrong, the Stormwall then proceeded to smash the Jacks and buy time.  The Zealots worked well holding a unit of heavy cavalry up for the whole game. 

Seeing Jacks falling over lead me to go for a hail-mary assassination run on eHaley.  Looking back it was never going to work by the time I'd spent enough focus to get to where I needed to go I realised that due to the dead jack remains in the way I couldn't make the charge.  So instead I paused and camped the two remaining focus and left her stood behind the Stormwall.  Without a jack for escort and on only ARM19 the Stormwall turned around and promptly squashed her.

Lessons Learnt -

• Colossals are neither as big or as scary as I made out.
• eHaleys feat is absolutely brutal, essentially unless you have a gun you lose a turn.
• I need to stop doing hail-mary assassination runs I'd have been much better off camping all the focus, waiting another turn and then seeing where I was rather than throwing the game away.

2016 Win/Loss record to date: 6/20 (Protectorate 6/19 - Circle 0/1)