Project 365: Day 124 - What's on the table

 Let's just pretend that my kitchen table is an appeal to the blood god...

Project 365: Day 123 - Water, water everywhere...

And not a drop to drink.

For the last two days, Tropical Storm Falcon has been wreaking a good amount of havoc all over the country. While thankfully not as bad as Ondoy, it did do some damage in the Fish homestead.

Water got high enough to flood the house and we've been treading water for the past couple of days.

Hopefully it will let up soon.

Project 365: Day 122 - Currently Reading:

Wolf Guy: Wolfen Crest

Stupid title aside, it's a well-drawn and visceral manga. A typical "delinquent in high-school story with a twist" type of manga. I like it so far though. The art is strong and the violence is unapologetic.

A "Mature Content" warning is in order though for the aforementioned violence and sex.

Read it over at MangaFox

Project 365: Day 121 - WARMACHINE TRAILER

From Whitemoon Dreams and Privateer Press:



Seems raw and a bit stiff to be honest, specially the clothing and organic effects. Kreoss is looking good!

and of course:

 A stone-cold heart never looked so hot...

Project 365: Day 120 - Blood for the blood god!

That is NOT paint...

Project 365: Day 119 - CTA 2011 vs Mangsky

Final opponent of the day: Mangsky, our friendly neighborhood Warmachine/Hordes Crack-dealer. :D. He was playing with The Harbinger of Menoth. Keeping in mind that fluff-wise, the Harbinger is  a floating female teenager, that sentence sounded so much dirtier in my mind.

Scenario: Overrun

Sorry for the blurry pic. This was literally the last game for the day as the rest of the gang left for home, leaving me and Mang to duke it out.

I went with a beast-heavy Epic Kaya list that I was a lot more comfortable with.

There was a moment where I thought I could have actually won this game early on. Mangsky placed Harbinger far forward with no models screening and by my estimates I had a good chance of landing a Pureblood spray, a charging Warpwolf stalker and a Kaya-Laris Assassination run on the warcaster. The thing that made me hesitate was that Mang activated Harbinger's feat and the Harbinger herself was camping on focus, giving her a total of 20 armor. A small nagging voice urged me to pull the trigger...

I decided that if the Pureblood's spray landed,I'd bite the bullet. Predictably enough I missed and decided to play conservatively afterwards.

What followed next was a few turns of Mangksy methodically taking my army apart piece by piece and ending Kaya with an attack from the Avatar or Menoth.

With 3 straight losses I am now officially "The Bonus Round" for this league. The league isn't done yet but I can safely kiss my chances at the top 4 goodbye :)

Being utterly outclassed in every which way does leave you with a lot of lessons though. And what sweetens the bitter medicine of humility and learning is that the lessons were taught by friends and peers while playing a game. :) I had fun and I hope my opponents had fun taking me down as well.

Thank you sirs!

As for the other folks I have not gone against, I WILL be taking my pound of flesh.

See you soon.

Project 365: Day 118 - CTA 2011 vs SJ

My next opponent was SJ and his Calandra list.

Scenario: Capture the flag

If you look at the picture above you can already tell what the heck I've been doing wrong. I keep clogging up my own lanes and keep tripping over myself. Circle mobility was pretty much nullified here, again my a huge number of models on the table and the general lack of smart placement on my part.

There were some close moments for SJ as for a turn or two I was able to threaten Calandra. Baldur's feat also proved to stifle the Bomber. I was also able to nullify the Trollkin Longriders with well placed forests.

As the game progressed though I noticed some key things wrong with my list. While I was able to present some credible threats on my side, I found that I was not effectively removing the threats posed against me. Calandra's "reverse signs and portents" pretty much halved my chances in landing hits in and on her feat turn she was able to land some solid hits and cause me some key units. As soon as the hits landed I saw my units fall and my chances of winning drop as well.

Again, Baldur ended up surrounded and fell to a Trollkin Champ Hero.

Another loss...

Project 365: Day 117 - CTA 2011: vs Wolf

First game was against Wolf's Venethrax list.

Scenario: Incursion

Baldur and Venethrax playing peek-a-boo behind the boxcar

I should've known better than to bring a list I wasn't comfortable with against Wolf. His Venethrax list just had too many bodies. The Mechanitralls kept coming back on the board and the Bloodgorgers just wouldn't die. Tough rolls plus  a "no knockdown" rule made them really annoying to get rid of. And they hit relatively hard to boot.

I was going to rely on my Warpwolf Stalker to clear some of his infantry but bad rolls and placement cost me the furry. I charged and missed some Mechanithralls and since Baldur was so far away I couldn't force to buy more attacks. I lost the heavy warbeast early on and things went downhill from there.

The Mechanithralls and Bloodgorgers were mucking up my charge lanes and even after a glimmer of hope by turn 3, my own placement mistakes prevented me from going for an assassination run. I conceded the game with a surrounded Baldur.

While I didn't do too well, the Skinwalkers seemed to be doing their job well enough to convince me to try the same list against my next opponent...

Project 365: Day 116 - CTA 2011 Kickoff!

Call to Arms 2011 Philippines kicked off today. Despite the generally dreary weather, the WMH players were able to gather under the Pithsop roof to play. In attendance were Mangsky, Kim, Wolf, SJ, Patskorne and Zionson. I apologize for the dark pics as I was shooting against the light.

I will be writing some batreps of the games I played.

Spoiler warning: It wasn't pretty

In-joke of the day: "I am bonus round!"

The gang well into their games by the time I arrived...

Games in progress...

Mangsky observing SJ's expert maneuvers.

Project 365: Day 115 - I will find you...

Last one for the day. Fave one by virtue of not having heard it before?:

"SIT! your five-dollar ass down before I make change..."

Project 365: Day 114 - Harry Potter...SENTAI?

Yes I'm pretty much trawling the internet right now...

Project 365: Day 113 - And they thought I was crazy...

I had a cat who used to "bark" too, or tried to at least. But all he could do was a weird "ngyarf"-ing sound. Whiskers will be missed.

Project 365: Day 112 - Green Lantern - A Review

Just got back from watching Green Lantern.

Let me give you the TL:DR version: "meh..."

I'll try not to be overly negative about this write-up. I was looking forward to this movie ever since they released a better trailer for it a couple of months ago but I have to say...there isn't a lot to see here.

The story felt like it was spread too thin with too many characters that don't do anything significant except fill up the background. The pacing itself felt like the writers were going "lets get to the good parts!" but even then they seem to have left the sequel to let us have anything substantial. There was no real palpable feeling of threat, even as the world was about to be annihilated. The concept of the movie's villain was coo enough but execution was just underdone.

I was mainly looking to see how Ryan Reynolds would tear this movie up. I love his brand of humor and he was the bright point in the two superhero movies he was in (Blade and Wolverine) . While there were laughs here and there, the trademark snark and sneer of Reynolds was disappointingly absent. Maybe he's saving it up for Deadpool? I hope so. Reynolds as Hal Jordan just didnt seem like a good call here.

One performance I did like though was Peter Saarsgard's Hector Hammond. Not a lot of comic book purists would like how the character was used and written here but Peter was very effective in conveying the character as a creepy, pathetic, meek but ultimately evil loser. The sad part is, the character itself was poorly written. The writers would have us believe that Hammond had a lot of pent up jealousy and anger over Jordan and the others but some of this drama was lost because they failed to show us and instead opted to tell us. It sort of felt like the "evil" in Hammond's  heart was just out of character. It was only through Saarsgard's performance did I feel anything for the character at all.

Spoiler! (highlight to read)

Yes, Sinestro does wear the Yellow ring at the end of the movie. Though at that point there was no reason to even do so. The threat was nullified and if anything the final battle showed us that Green Lantern Powers of Will were superior. But he wore it anyway. WHY? Curiosity?

To some up, the movie was overwhelmingly meh. The fight scenes were neat though there wasn't any real sense of crisis. The special effects were cool but the CG suit just didn't blend with the rest of the real elements well. The plot was thin, spread out and obviously hoping for a sequel.

Project 365: Day 111 - Halestorm - Bad Romance Cover

Stumbled on this while surfing Dakkadakka. I can finally enjoy the song unironically:



Roxane loves this one:



And here's an original from the band:



Seems like I've got a new band to listen to

Project 365: Day 110 - "I hear the drums of war...

...distant yet fervent. Gather the men and ready the hounds. We have blood to spill."

It's league season again for the Warmahordes players in the Philippines.

I normally don't do well in leagues...okay, I don't normally do well period. I plan to change that this year though. I've got 7 other players to compete with for this season and this would be a good test to see how far I can make it up the ladder.

I'll be using Circle of Orboros with leanings toward Kaya/Kromac beast-heavy (what a shock!). I'm going to see how well I can do with Baldur though and maybe even Kreuger.

I'm looking at a lot of Cygnar, Cryx and Khador but the one I'm really worried about is Menoth. I dont get to play against Menoth often but I always find the swarm tactics and synergy annoying.

A self-imposed challenge for me here is to play fully painted. I have most of the stuff I'm going to use painted but key units for my Baldur list such as the Warpborn Skinwalkers and Tharn Bloodtrackers aren't painted yet.Hopefully I can get them done in a couple of weeks.

I march to war.

Project 365: Day 109 - Whats on the table

Just a list of things I'm supposed to be working on. I've started on these and they're currently sitting unfinished. Maybe this will get me off my butt...

WIPs:

Trollblood Fennblades + UA (12 models, assembled, based, primed)
Trollblood Stone Scribe Chronicler (assembled, primed and partially painted)
Trollblood Borka Kegslayer (Assembled, based, primed...thinking of stripping and repriming)
Trollblood Earthborn Dire Troll (assenbled, primed and based)
2 Circle Orboros Argus for Monroe (2 models, assembled, primed, no basing yet)
Grey Knights Terminators for Jeff (assembly)
Grey Knights Jokaero for Jeff (assembly)
Khador Kommander Sorscha 2010 (assembled, based, primed)
Khador Forward Kommander Sorscha (assembled)
Khador Beast 09 (unassembled)
Cryx Warwitch Deneghra (assembled)


Holy hell thats a lot... and I have this secret project that i need to get done in 3 weeks time.

..eep

Project 365: Day 108 - House

No, not the surly doctor...







Yeah...I have no idea either.

Credits go to Gordon McAlpin over at Multiplexcomic.com for the sanity check. No, I don't know him personally, I just read his webcomic. You should too :)

Project 365: Day 107 - Battle Report - Baldur vs. Captain Allister Caine

This battle report can also be read at WMHPH: Stone outlasts Storm

Don't let the title fool you. This was an uphill battle for me.

For last Friday's game I decided to use a list that I came up with on the spot. I really wanted to get more games with Baldur as my warlock. I felt that Kaya and Kromac were becoming crutches for me and I needed to learn how to use units more effectively. I love running beast-heavy and my 50 point list would reflect that. Since I'm playing on a higher pointage however, I had the opportunity to put in more troops.

The lists:

Jeff Yu's Cygnar force
Points Cost: 50

Captain Allister Caine (*5pts)
* Hunter (6pts)
* Stormclad (10pts)
* Thunderhead (12pts)
* Squire (2pts)
Long Gunner Infantry (Leader and 9 Grunts) (10pts)
* Long Gunner Infantry Officer & Standard (2pts)
Stormblade Infantry (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
* Stormblade Infantry Officer & Standard (3pts)
* 3 Stormblade Infantry Storm Gunner (3pts)
Harlan Versh (2pts)

My Circle Orboros force
Points Cost: 50

Baldur (+6pts)
Druid Wilder (2pts)
Megalith (11pts)
Woldwarden (9pts)
Warpwolf Stalker (10pts)
Tharn BloodTrackers & Nuala (10pts)
Warpborn Skinwalkers (8pts)
Shifting Stones & UA (3pts)
Sentry Stone & Mannikins (3pts)

Lately I've been favoring Tharn Bloodtrackers for their speed and annoyance factor and I've also been fielding the Skinwalkers as I really love the models. Personally speaking though I have never been happy with how the Skinwalkers  would perform or not perform on the table but I feel like i just need to get used to them. My unfamiliarity with my unit choices would show pretty badly as the game progresses.

The basic idea I had with this list was to allow myself some strong assassination threats with a forest-walking Baldur being the biggest one I have. I could pretty much create forests on demand and failing that I could teleport one of my heavies into the fray. I also thought I had a decent set of speedbumps in the Bloodtrackers and Skinwalkers as I positioned myself for the assassination run.

I stuck with that gameplan throughout the game. While Baldur and the heavy constructs were well protected by forests and the feat, I found my troops rendered ineffective or outright killed. The annoying part was the fact that the list is slower and with a shorter threat range than what I normally have when playing Circle. I found myself clogging up my own movement lanes with he slower Skinwalkers and Constructs.

Jeff positioned himself well here, with the Longgunners combining attacks and doubletapping made quick work of some of the threats I posed and with the help of sucky luck with dicerolls I found my bloodtrackers failing to kill a Hunter and my Stalker wiffing several times on his berserk attacks, failing to wipe out the  stormblade infantry

I found myself with several casualties by the 3rd turn with two units down. Since Jeff had Harlan Versh, my upkeep spells were suddenly a detriment and my Skinwalkers were eating boosted damage from the solo. I also lost my Stalker to double-tapping longgunners.

By rights I should've lost since all Jeff had to do was get Baldur in range of eCaine's revolvers and Baldur wouldve died byCaine's feat turn. What happened next was lady luck smiling at me.

I overextended my constructs with fury and found myself unable to transfer damage on Jeff's turn. I kept two fury on Baldur and prayed that Jeff doesn't  see my mistake. Smelling blood, Jeff used his feat to try to take down Megalith in melee range but due to the construct's armor and wounds Jeff failed. Caine was  standing base to base with Megalith.

with eCaine's high defense, hitting him in melee would normally be risky but I was able to bring  his defense down to more mundane levels by using the shifting stones to 'port Megalith behind the gunman. I then activated Megalith to get the backstrike bonus, spent focus  to activate the animus to bring down Caine's defense further. I then made a melee attack, boosting the attack roll and  after severely hurting the warcaster, Caine found himself at defense 10 versus Megalith's MAT 7. Another boosted attack roll from the construct sealed the warcaster's fate.

Again, I was just extremely lucky to win this game.If Jeff noticed I had no means to transfer damage to my beasts I'm sure he would've won.

Thanks to Jeff for the nail-biter of a game and thanks to Kim for the pics :D

Project 365: Day 106 - More Friday Night Fights!

Some Friday night gaming at the bunker!

Games underway...

SJ declaring his charge attacks

L to R: Wolf, Kim, Taks and SJ. Not shown: Jeff

Kim's awesome paintjob on his Drago

SJ's Diretroll Mauler filling in as a bomber for this game

more pics to be found on: WMH Philippines

Project 365: Day 105 - Kaldor Draigo

Jeff's Kaldor Draigo at tabletop quality.

This offered a different challenge from Bane Lord Tartarus as this had a better silhouette so he looked better from 3 feet away. The concerns I had with this model (aside from what I mentioned in a previous post)  was that it had a lot of fine detail to paint. It was a challenge and I think I did well enough. I could stand to be cleaner with my painting style though.

Project 365: Day 104 - Bane Lord Tartarus

Jeff's Bane Lord Tartarus at tabletop quality.

My photographs having been getting worse lately. Not that it was any good to begin with.

The biggest difficulty I had with this model is that, while a well-sculpted model in it's own right, it has one of the worst silhouettes in PP's miniature line. It's hard to tell what's going on with Tartarus without picking him up and examining him closely. I found it hard to make the model standout from arm's length. I did what I can :p

Project 365: Day 103 - "Thought of you" by Ryan Woodward

I had goosebumps. He blended a relatively simple dance with the magic of animation to produce something that is more than a sum of its parts. It's powerful, emotional...beautiful.

Project 365: Day 102 - Japanese XMen openings

Yep, these are for the 90s cartoon that we all saw. As much as I liked the 90s series...I reeaaaaaally wish the cartoon was more like these: