Monday 27 February 2017

Cancon 2017 Aftermath - Part 3

This is a (rather late) conclusion of my report of my experiences of the Kings of War tournament at Cancon 2017. You can find the previous part here.

Game 6 - Control!
Kort T - Abyssals
  • Regiment of Flamebearers
  • Regiment of Flamebearers
  • Regiment of Flamebearers
  • Regiment of Lower Abyssals
  • Horde of Lower Abyssals
  • Horde of Tortured Souls
  • Horde of Tortured Souls
  • Troop of Hellhounds
  • Troop of Hellhounds
  • Troop of Hellhounds
  • Efreet with Inspiring Talisman
  • Archfiend of the Abyss
  • Abyssal Harbinger with the Bangstick
This list above is not correct. It can't be, because it adds up to too many points. I'm probably getting something confused, but the things I've listed above do align OK with what things were doing to me during the game...

This game was another where I found myself being out-deployed because I didn't have enough units. The Tortured Souls were my main concern, but I didn't know where they would be until it was too late for my deployment. They wound up well to my left, where I would have trouble responding properly. The field also had a couple of large fields in the middle, which would slow my movement and hinder my charges. 

I was worried about being out-shot by the combined fire of the Flamebearers and the lightning from the characters, and this influenced my opening moves. I advanced fairly aggressively around the fields, whilst I shot at (and routed) one of the Flamebearer regiments. That was surprisingly easy. Unfortunately I was never going to be able to close the gap with the enemy without letting the Tortured Souls have a go at me, and they predictably caused me issues.
The one unit I left within range of the Tortured Souls but without immediate support was the horde of Warriors. I figured this was OK. They should not be in real danger from a frontal charge, so could counter-charge and would quickly be on the front foot. Unfortunately Kort rolled fairly well and then wavered them. So that pretty well stuffed that plan. I was never going to be able to rescue them in time now.

Monday 13 February 2017

Painting progress

In the months leading up to Christmas, I had lost all of my painting momentum and motivation. I had burned myself out trying to get organised for a large battle report, and it was all I could do to sit back, relax a bit, and spend more time playing computer games than fiddling with miniatures.

Things have improved slightly from a hobby perspective in the time since then, thankfully. In the lead-up to Cancon I was working on a Chaos Blood Bowl team that a friend was borrowing. I didn't get it finished, but I did at least get it to a usable state. That may be as far as it gets for a while - we shall see.
No, they are not completely painted yet. Well, the Chaos Warriors probably are done. And maybe the Minotaur and one of the of the Beastmen are close. Actually, they're all close.

Thursday 9 February 2017

Cancon 2017 Aftermath - Part 2

This is a continuation of my report from Cancon 2017. You can find the first part here.

Game 3 - Loot!
Craig Smellie - Dwarves
  • Regiment of Ironclad with Brew of Courage
  • Horde of Ironclad
  • Horde of Shieldbreakers
  • Regiment of Berserker Brock Riders
  • Regiment of Berserker Brock Riders
  • Flame Belcher
  • Flame Belcher
  • Ironbelcher Organ Gun
  • Ironbelcher Organ Gun
  • Army Standard Bearer
  • Berserker Lord on Brock with Blade of the Beast Slayer
  • Steel Behemoth
  • Steel Behemoth
A loss followed by a win. Clearly I was undertaking the classic "submarine" technique of dropping my first game in order to ensure an easier run. That is obviously what was happening, right? Anyway, my next opponent would be Craig's Dwarves, which sported an alarming array of war machines on a field with a very open centre...
I placed one of the loot counters hard on the right flank in the hope of making things more difficult for Craig, with his generally slower troops. Unfortunately with the 4 war machines, he had far more deployments than me and was able to delay dropping his key units until I was committed. Now I was facing 2 regiments of Brock Riders and the Berserker Lord over there.

Sunday 5 February 2017

Cancon 2017 Aftermath - Part 1

Cancon is over for another year, and despite being a bit under the weather during the trip, I survived. As usual I will offer a bit of a summary of my experiences at the tournament. Rather than distract myself with a proper camera, I only took my phone with me this time. So the photos may not be that great, or that numerous. Maybe it will help me talk less this time...

My army was Ogres. I was unsure what to take, but a friend convinced me that Ogres would be compact to transport and move from game to game, so they were a practical choice for a road trip like this one. I decided to take an army with very few magic items (even ignoring obvious ones like +1 to hit on the Shooters) in order to keep things simple and stuff in as many Ogres as I could.
  • Horde of Ogre Warriors
  • Regiment of Ogre Warriors
  • Horde of Siege Breakers
  • Horde of Siege Breakers
  • Regiment of Hunters
  • Horde of Shooters
  • Horde of Boomers
  • Regiment of Chariots
  • Warlord
  • Army Standard with the Boomstick
  • Warlock with Inspiring Talisman
Game 1 - Pillage!
Andrew Old - Basileans
  • Horde of Crossbowmen with Brew of Keen-eyeness
  • Regiment of Foot Guard
  • Regiment of Foot Guard
  • Regiment of Foot Guard
  • Regiment of Foot Guard
  • Horde of Elohi with Brew of Haste
  • Horde of Elohi with Pipes of Terror
  • High Paladin on Dragon with Medallion of Life
  • Phoenix
Andrew's army was comprised of Stormcast Eternals, or Sigmarines, or whatever they are actually called. It was pretty cool. Lots of flyers, though...