Whelp Pale Ale is a Success!

I broke into a bottle of Whelp Pale Ale over the weekend and it is definitely a success. The carbonation brought a nice balance to the malt and hops. It has a good hop aroma and a very smooth hop flavor.

This beer went down way to fast, especially at a little over 6% alcohol by volume. I haven't had time to work on getting labels printed up for the bottles with things going on and work and home, but I hope to eventually get some. At the very least I will put the larger labels on the bottle carriers.

I will try to get a six pack over to Dallas, it might have to be delivered through John because summer brings a different set of priorities.

For those of you that follow this strictly for warmachine I am sorry to disappoint, but I am going to be writing more about outdoor pursuits, yard and garden activities, home remodelling, beer and beer brewing, and I do hope to get some model assembly and painting in on occasion.

If there was a game store a little closer to home I could see getting more games in. Kim and I have created our own table and we are creating some terrain. We will play occasionally at home so that we don't completely forget the rules.

I hope to make it to the FLGS a few times this summer, but as I mentioned there are other things that take priority right now.

Time to try Whelp Pale Ale

Whelp pale ale has been carbonating in the bottle for a week now and should be ready for an initial flavor and carbonation test.

For best results I will wait at least two weeks before letting anyone else try it.

The hop flavor should be intensified even more with the increased level of carbonation. This beer is definately not for the person that typically stays with the large, commercially brewed pilsners.

No....I'm not Dead!

I have felt like dying the last couple of weeks, but no I'm not dead.

Nothing beats an early summer cold... oh wait, yeah having an early summer cold while travelling cross country.

I was in North Carolina a couple of weeks ago, got a cold and then came back to Utah and felt like I was going to die. I would have preferred if the weather had stayed overcast and crappy but not it got nice.

I suffered through work and am not feeling a little better. Whelp Pale Ale is now carbonating it bottles.

I will try one in a few days but it is best to let it carbonate for a couple of weeks.

We travelled to Idaho and visited the family. Played with all of the crazy neices and nephews and went to my brother's graduation.

With the weather warming up it looks like warmachine has dropped down a bit on my list of priorities. Work is keeping me pretty busy with an upcoming food safety audit. When I'm at home we are working on the yard and garden and preparing to start finishing the basement.

Oh and and the really fun side of things I am researching stuff to do when we go to Oahu and Maui. I am still finding some time to get hiking in and hope to at least get a few nights in a bag this summer.

I hope to still get the occassional game over in Logan and Kim and I have created our own board and we are making terrain so we will get a few games in at home.

We have artwork!

Thanks to Florian and G'DayBloke. I just have to figure out how to print it the right size. I don't deal with photoshop or printing much other than documents.

But let me know what you think and I give all of the praises to those guys. This kick's ass!

Cryx on Cryx Battle Report

Okay it is a little late and I hope I don't forget to much of what happened but here goes.

I was fielding the following:

eSkarre
Deathjack
Stalker
Nightwretch
full unit of Bane Knights
Bane Lord Tartarus
min unit of Satyxis
Sea Witch
Min unit of Mechanithralls
Brute Thrall
Necrosurgeon and Stitch Thralls
Min Unit of Bile Thralls
skarlock
pistol wraith

I think that is it.

Geoff had the following:

Mortenenbra and Deryliss
Deathjack
Nightmare
Seether
A couple of deathrippers
full unit of bile thralls
Withershadow Combine
a coupe of necrotechs and scrap thralls

I might be forgetting something but not sure.

The game went something like Geoff taking a couple of large jacks up one side and I had a line of banes coming towards him at the other side along with the Deathjack.

I used the satyxis and eSkarre's backlash to get some hits to Mortenenbra by trying to beat on some of his jacks.

I thought that I was doing pretty good, but I did realize that I forgot to feat and that left his jacks able to beat up my stuff, and unfortunately his Deathjack trampled over and gave eSkarre a couple P+S 18 fists.

It was a fun game. I enjoyed playing against cryx. Geoff brought a lot of stuff that I don't have and it was interesting to see how he played it as well as how he played the stuff I do have. He gave me a couple of pointers on how to better use the necrosurgeon, so next time I will have the stitch thralls positioned differently.

Good game, crappy battle report because I waited to long.

Whelp Pale Ale......Day 14

Ah, what a lovely two week old baby.  I don't have children, but treat my beers as tenderly as anyone would a child.  Well other than the shaking at the beginning to get some oxygen in there for the yeast.  I don't suggest anyone do that with a real baby.

We are 14 days into fermentation and it looks like primary fermentation is complete.  We started with a specific gravity of 1.054.  At the end of primary fermentation it looks like the specific gravity is 1.008.

This is the formula for calculating percent alcohol by volume.

((Beginning specific gravity - end specific gravity) x 105) x 1.25)

Using the 1.054 and 1.008 the %ABV (Alcohol by Volume) is 6.0375.

I tasted the sample that I pulled and it has a very floral hop aroma and taste.  It will be transferred to the secondary fermenter with additional hops tomorrow and will age for another two weeks.  The alcohol content is set, now it is just going to be adjusting the flavor and mouthfeel with additional hops and carbonation.

Girl on Girl! Sorry, meant Cryx on Cryx

Now I know it isn't exciting, but tonight will be my first battle against my own faction. I am playing Geoff, who is infinitely more experienced at table top war games, but I'm only slightly terrified.

I am still not sure who I'm bringing to the table tonight, but we are going to be playing with MKII rules. I have not spent the time going through the new rules and cards so it could be a slower game than Geoff likes. I am also planning on playing some models I haven't played, so it could be brutal.

If only Whelp Pale Ale was ready to drink I could have a bottle of that to provide some liquid courage.

I will post my list and how the battle turns out tomorrow. There is a possibility of a 25 pt MKII game against Menoth later in the evening, but I will have to see what how late it is.

New Lists

For those of you that have followed my blog for any length of time you probably noticed that my armies were usually pretty similar. I typically used one of three casters and then my core units and jacks remained the same.

I have recently come upon a lot of models and I now have access to all of the cryx casters with the exception of Mortenenbra and Goreshade the cursed.

I now have epic casters as well as Terminus and the Witch Coven. The question is who to bring to the table. I really want to play with Terminus even though I have been told I will lose. The model just looks bad ass and he looks like he could fly in and lay a beat down on a lot of stuff. The Coven allows for a huge control range and paired with more focus efficient jacks allows for a lot of focus to throw around on spells.

I have satyxis and the sea witch in case I can find someone to play MK II rules with, and if I take them I think I will have to bring out epic Skarre.

I also now have the revenant crew. I am not really familiar with what they are capable of in MKI or MKII, but I might have to put them in an army just for the hell of it.

Then there is the always fun Deneghra and bonejack army. I have been toying with running Deneghra at 500 points with 4 Deathrippers, 4 Nightwretches, and 2 Defilers. I would probably get my ass kicked, but it would be fun to have all that speed.

I have a few other jacks that I have never seen anyone play, especially in MKI rules, but if I get a MKII game in I might bring them to the table. I have a stalker, a couple of harrowers, a leviathan, and a reaper. Most of these aren't assembled so for jacks it will most likely be the cankerworm and Deathjack.

The choices are starting to make my head hurt. I now have to deal with list optimization where before all I had to deal with was learning to play the stuff I had. I now have the ability to switch out solos or units if they end up not working in conjunction with the rest of the list.

I guess I should first try to get a game for tomorrow before I get ahead of myself.

Whelp Pale Ale, An Update

It has been a little over a week since the beginning. Fermentation started rapidly and continues more than a week later at a slower pace.

The brew will stay in the primary fermenter for another 3 or 4 days before I start to take hydrometer readings. This will give me the percent alcohol based on a starting gravity of 1.050. I will put the actual equation in here when I begin to take the readings. I can never remember it off the top of my head.

When I have two consecutive days with the same specific gravity I will transfer to the secondary fermenter. I am going to be adding another ounce of pelletized hops to the secondary fermenter to give it that extra tangy hop flavor. The brew will then sit in secondary fermentation for an additional two weeks before priming and bottling.

With this type of beer I would want it to sit in the bottles and carbonate for at least two weeks, but I always become impatient and will probably try one about 5 days into carbonating.

I am still looking for some artwork, so if anyone has come across anything please let me know.

Models, Models, everywhere Models

I have recently been inundated with Cryx models.

Now comes the hard part. What do I keep multiples of and how many do I keep. Below is a list of some of the duplicates:

Casters

Warwitch Deneghra x2 - This is a no-brainer can't have two and I like my paint job.

Iron Lich Asphyxious x2 - Again same comment as above

Pirate Queen Skarre x2 - Well neither are painted but can only keep one.

Goreshade the Bastard x2 - I have one painted and one primed. I think I am going to try for a
different paint scheme, but again really only need one.

Jacks

Slayer x2 - Not sure if I want to keep two of these for the MKII rules. They are cheap so it is tempting.

Harrower x2 - Again same comment as above.

Deathjack x2 - Well I can only field one, so one has to go.

Deathrippers x5 or 6 - I really don't know that I need this many, especially with the cost of of them in MK II

Defiler x2 - Again not sure I need too, hell not sure I need one with the new rules for the cankerworm

Nightwretch x5 or 6 - This is a lot of these little guys, but that is a lot of AOE's being dropped.

Units

Bile Thralls x30 - I want to keep at least two full units of bile thralls, but I have to decide if three full units is overkill

Bane Knights x28 - I want to keep at least two units, so that leaves a mid-size unit that I might part with.

Bane Thralls x18 - Not sure if I should keep all of these. That is almost two full units, and they are fun to play with. This would allow me to field a unit and keep the min. unit in reserve for Goreshade's feat.

Mechanithralls x16 - These are fun little guys. I just don't know if I need more than a single unit.

Soulhunters x8 - I can only field one unit at a time, and with the new rules I'm not sure how much I will use them. I do want to keep one unit, so most likely looking at getting rid of a min. unit.

Solos

Pistol Wraith x4 - I love these guys, they have won me a lot of games. I don't see the need to have more than two. I might be wrong but it seems like overkill.

Bloat Thrall x5 or 6 - I like the models and they are fun to play with. I just think that 2 or 3 is sufficient. Most likely be getting rid of some easter egg color schemed bloats.

Bane Lord Tartarus x2 - Can only have one.

Skarlock x3 - Definately some overkill here.

So those are all the models that I have multiples of. I would love feedback on how many of some of the models and units you think would be a good number to keep.

A Plea for Help! Well sort of a plea.

I am asking for assistance from my readers. I have the beer started and in about 3-4 weeks I will be bottling it. It will sit in the bottle for another 2 weeks carbonating and aging.

I would love to have some Whelp related artwork to slap onto the bottle prior to the official unofficial tasting.

I am not good with photoshop and really haven't been able to find any usable images of the whelps that I can put on the bottles. If anyone has any suggestions or artwork that they are willing to share I would greatly appreciate it.

Thank you and keep up for updates of the beer. Fermentation has slowed, but it was extremely active the first couple of days. When it is transferred into the secondary fermenter with the dry hops it should get some additional fermentation.

Whelp Pale Ale's First Days

We cooked up the wort for Whelp Pale Ale on Saturday.  We had 5 hop additions during the boil and now it smells like hops in my office as the beer begins fermenting in the carboy.  I have filmed the stages of the creating the beer, and when I edit it I will try to get it on youtube and post a link.

I also like that my first comment from PPS_Kevin is on the post about the homebrew.  I kinda like that.  It sounds like at least one guy at Privateer Press likes his ales so full of hops that it kinda hurts.

And it Begins

I am not beyond using vague titles to lure people in.  So you might ask what exactly is beginning. I'm glad you asked.

Whelp Ale ingredients are scheduled to arrive today and the brewing process will start tomorrow.  I am going for a very Western U.S. type of pale ale with hops, hops, and more hops.  There are 4 hop additions during the boil and once I transfer to secondary fermentation dry hopping will occur.

This will not be a beer for the timid.  If all you drink is coors or bud this is probably not your beer, in fact it could make you cry.  If, on the other hand, you like your beer to reach out and give you a little slap before you take that first taste this is the beer for you.

I am still looking for ideas for artwork.  I'm good at making the beer, but not so good at making the artwork for the bottles.  It will be at least 2-3 weeks before it is bottled and then an additional 2 weeks before it is carbonated enough to drink.  

A six pack is headed to Dallas for suggesting the winning name.  John will get to try a few because we always tend to have homebrew when we get together and play on Saturdays.  

Warmachine MK II Experience

I played my first game with the new MK II rules against John last night.   I forgot the camera so no pictures of this battle.  Here is the list I was running.

Goreshade and deathwalker

Deathjack

Cankerworm

Deathripper

Bile thralls x6

bane knights x6

mechanithralls x6

Pistol wraith x2

bloat thrall

Darragh Wrathe

Gorman di Wulfe

Bane Lord Tartarus

John won the roll and chose to go first.  He moved up but not enough to where I could charge him with the Deathjack.  I moved up and unfortunately I was a little too close and the Deathjack was charged by the avatar that had 4 focus that turn.  The Avatar turned the Deathjack in a wreck marker.

The zealots took out a fair number of bile thralls but left me with three remaining.  Tartarus cursed the avatar and charged followed by charges from the bane knights.  They were able to get the avatar down to two boxes but not finish the job.   I moved Goreshade up and cast mageblight which meant no magic or feats within his control area.  I then popped his feat and had a unit of bane thralls charge the bastions.  I was fairly impressed that the thralls were able to take out the unit of bastions.  I figured this was my last ditch effort combining mageblight and feat.

eFeora and her bonded redeemer then lit a bunch of my stuff on fire.  eFeora moved up but was inside of Goreshade's control area and couldn't feat.  The avatar hit and destroyed a couple of bane knights which exploded and lit a couple more on fire.  Tartarus died that round.

I started my round by using vengeance and moving a couple of bane knights away from the avatar to give them a free charge lane to efeora.  I attacked the avatar with a couple that were on fire and then they immediately died.

I began to move biles thralls up to purge on efeora and John decided to concede the game at that point.  

Emotions started running a little high towards the end of the game which unfortunately made the experience unpleasant for both of us.  We always have to remember that this is just a game and if we stop having fun when we play maybe we should reconsider playing.  

John has already expressed an interest to have a rematch with the same lists and I doubt that he will make the same tactical error.  I believe the list I put together was not the best list for what I was facing since I was getting my undead ass handed to me.  I may tweak the list a little and see what happens.  I know that Darragh losing shadowride is a big deal.  I attacked a Seneshal and missed and I was screwed.  I couldn't run away I just had to sit there and take the whacks.

MK II rules will take a big of getting used to and I know that there are models that I don't have that are now good.  I may have to proxy a necrosurgeon with the mechanithralls and see how that goes.  I will need to take the seether and stalker for a test run as well.  The new rules are going to take some getting used to, but I think everything will work out.

MK II test tonight

I am playing my first MK II test tonight against John and his flaming menites. I have put together a list that should be fun. I'm using Goreshade as my caster, and I'm still getting used to him, so it should be an interesting game. I will post the full list and battle report tomorrow. John got the better of me the last time we played and I brought Goreshade, so I'm hoping to avenge that.

Sucking up the 350 pt Tournament

Dallas kicked my ass, Mike kicked my ass and then Adam forfeited so I got the pity win.  I will post pictures and a tad more detail tomorrow.  Also be on the look out for the assembly of the deathjack.  It is being prepared and coming to a blog near you soon.

Assembling the Deathjack....poorly. Part 2

Ok, so after tearing the arms off and figuring out that I'm an idiot this is what it should look like.

This is a view of the front, you can almost make out the broken open rib cage with the souls being sucked into the soul furnace. I think this is going to look awesome once I get some paint on there.

So all that was left was to mount those giant hands, the necrovents and the shielding over his spine. That is all pretty straight forward.

And yet another angle where you can see the horns pretty well.

Assembling the Deathjack.....poorly. Part 1

So I needed to get the Deathjack assembled for the 350 pt tournament. It wasn't that it did a lot of good, but I wanted to field it and if I didn't play in the tournament Dallas was going to kick me in the junk.

Here are all of the parts and pieces.

Here is the beginning of assembly. Pinning the legs.

Here is a photo of how I first attached the arms. For those of you that have assembled a deathjack you will see the obvious error. After this photo I had some mild profanity, and then had to tear the arms off.

So he was starting to look all bad ass and then I had to tear off his arms and he kinda came undone from the base at that point.

Look for part two

Warmachine/Hordes Themed Homebrew, and the winner is.........

We have a tie! There was a tie between Harby's Jailbait Pale Ale and Whelp Ale. I think that I am going to make the tie breaking decision and go with Whelp Ale. I just think there are a lot of opportunities to have some fun with the whelps for the label design.

Now that I have mentioned Whelp Ale and label design if any of you happen to be artsy and creative I would love to see what you can come up with for a beer bottle label for Whelp Ale using the images of Whelps.

Dallas not sure if you drink or not but I do believe you just won yourself a six pack of homebrewed pale ale. It will be several weeks before it is ready for consumption, but it will be a lot easier to deliver it to you than to mail it.

A plea for support

I thought I would use my blog to see if I could drum up support for my Tour de Cure team. This will be my third year as captain of a Tour de Cure team. The Tour de Cure is a cycling event that takes place in over 40 states and raises money for Diabetes education and research. The event in Utah has distances of 25, 60, and 100 miles.

If any of you feel an irresistible urge to part with you money I am giving you the opportunity to part with it by making a donation to my team that supports the American Diabetes Association.


For those of you that might be interested here is my personal rider page.

http://main.diabetes.org/site/TR?pg=personal&fr_id=5629&px=3374559

Mangled Metal Tournament

Well I have decided to not risk Dallas kicking me in the junk, since I am kind of fond of that part of my body. I stayed up last night putting the Deathjack together. I will post some pictures of this process a tad later. I think I deleted the picture where I was giving the Deathjack the finger when I realized I put its arms on wrong and had to tear them off.

More to come later.

Warmachine MKII

I will admit that I have not committed the time to reading through all of the new rules, but I have discovered a fair number of items that I'm not a fan of as well as I few I have appreciated.

I do have to thank Geoff over at McCryxian Domination for taking the time to read through the rules and already get some games under his belt. We play the same faction so when he feels some pain for the loss we have taken I automatically sympathize.

I understand the need to have balance to the game. The problem I have is that some of my favorite models are no longer the same character. I look specifically to the cankerworm for this. What happened to meat grinder? I loved having the ability to roll and extra attack die, kill some units and then scuttle away.

I am also so glad that I have not made an investment in bloodgorgers. I think that money will be spent better on other pursuits. They have lost the bloodmarks which is what made them so appealing. The more you rush them into battle and destroy living models the better they get.

I am very frustrated with what has happened to cryx. I know that there are other factions that seemed to have gotten a better deal, but screw them. There is a reason I picked Cryx.

Warmachine MK II

Well I have started to look over the rules and some of the new cards. I noticed that the Skarre Bomb has been altered quite a bit, casters no long cost points but have warjack points that get to be added to the total of the amount you can field, and the point structure has been completely changed. No more 750 point list, it is now a 75 point list.

I will share more thoughts on this later.

Deathjack coming to a table near you.

Alright I have had the Deathjack for a little while now and all I have done is file down the bits and proxy it using a slayer.  We have a 350 pt mangled metal tournament coming up and I need to have the Deathjack put together by Wednesday.

I want to make sure I get this one put together right and I'm worried I'm not going to have the time to get it properly pinned and glued in time.  If not it is going to be the slayer, cankerworm, and some chicken jacks.  That isn't the most formidable list but it would still be fun.

When the Deathjack assembly starts I will work on posting pictures of the process.

Two Victories for the Household--Updated!

I defeated Jason and his religiously deranged Menites in a 750 game on a couple of charges from Bane Thralls that popped up from Goreshade's feat.


Kimberly beat Chris with Legion in a 350 pt. match. Here are some pictures of the matches.

Below is the set-up for Kimberly and Chris' game.



This is the set-up for mine and Jason's Game



I'm not sure what round of the 75o game this was, but at this point it was starting to get hot and heavy. I was able to use my cankerworm to his full potential finally by using the defiler to get corrosion on his blessing of vengeance and then charging in with the Cankerworm.


I was trying to following Kimberly and Chris' game the best that I could but as you can tell from the pictures of my game I was a tad preoccupied. I believe that the picture below is of the final of the game when Kim hit Baltur with Hellsinger and then cast eruption of spines on him for the win.

Time for a Poll!

Well I have received a fair number of ideas regarding Warmachine and Hordes themed brews. For this poll I want to stick with strictly pale and amber ales, so for those of you that suggested names that are not on the poll you may see them on another poll for another time of beer.

So for the list of contenders.

Grim Angus Albino Pale Ale
Crippling Grasp Ale
Feora's Fire Amber
Harby's Jail Bait Pale Ale
Reclamation Amber
Fire of Salvation Amber Ale
Whelp Ale

The poll will be open for about a week and the winner will be the style of beer I brew in celebration of Utah legalizing homebrew. The beer will receive the name of the winner of the poll and I will work on getting some artwork to match. I am still considering sending a sixer of the brew to the person that came up with the winning name, of course that is still illegal, so I might send a sixer of "books".

So vote early and vote often. Enjoy!

Tonight's Match-ups

Well another Wednesday has arrived and now all I have to do is make it through a day of work before I give Goreshade another shot at his first victory. I will be facing Menoth, although what I'm facing I'm not exactly sure. The majority of my games have been against Menoth, but against a different Menoth player so this should be interesting.

I am fielding the list below:

Goreshade the Bastard's make your Children Orphans 750 army

Models: 29 Points: 739/750 VPs: 24

Goreshade the Bastard w/ Deathwalker
Deathjack
Cankerworm
Defiler
Bane Lord Tartarus
Bloat Thrall
Darragh Wrathe
Gorman Di Wulfe
Skarlock
Pistol Wraith x2
Bane Knights x6
Bile Thralls x10

Bane Thralls for the feat

Along with my game, my girlfriend Kimberly will be playing her first game using Legion of Everblight to go against a work buddy Chris who will be bringing Circle. The battle is set at 350 pts and should be a good learning game for the both of them.

Warmachine and Hordes Themed Homebrews

I mentioned in a my previous post that Utah has finally legalized homebrewing, well as of July 1st. But I think I should have at least one or two batches made to celebrate the significant occasion. I mentioned that I would like some ideas on Warmachine or Hordes Themed names for either an Amber Ale or a Pale Ale and I already received a few good ideas.

Below are a few of the names I have received so far from my creative readers:

Grim Angus Albino Pale Ale
Trollblood
Toruk's Special Brew
Witches Brew (With artwork of the Coven, but I bet I would have to get permission on that one)

Right now my favorite is the Grim Angus Albino Pale Ale, but I would love to hear more ideas of names or artwork. Keep sending your comments with suggestions and when I get enough names I will put up a poll and choose a winner. I may try to ship a 6 pack to the person that came up with the winning name, that is of course if that person drinks beer.

How to make a Saturday of Warmachine better

The governor of Utah signed into law House Bill 51.  It is finally legal to homebrew in the state of Utah.  I know that John will appreciate this, and I think with that I am going to have to brew a new batch of beer.

I do have a request from my followers.  I'm looking at making one of two styles of beer and I would like to come up with a good warmachine name for the beer. The two styles that I'm looking into brewing are either an Amber or a Pale Ale.  If anyone has any good Warmachine or Hordes themed names for those styles of beers I would love to hear it.

Misunderstanding or just someone getting pissy

I recently put up a post about bartertown and received a rather heated comment about the need to support the local gaming store.  

I don't think that anyone will argue with liking to save money.  I purchased a Legion army from bartertown for my girlfriend to try out, and a couple of buddies have purchased armies from bartertown.  

That being said I am one of the biggest supporters of the the FLGS.  Every one of my over 1100 points of cryx, along with paint, and army transport have been purchased from Paul.  He is always available for ideas and is great at giving us the space to play.  We have already purchased the primal book and additional models for Legion from his store.

My reasoning for sharing the bartertown sight is for those that might want to try the hobby but may not have the money to spend on a new army.  

So if there was some misunderstanding my apologies, but no need to get all upset like the world is coming to an end.  Cheer up, drink a beer, and go buy some new models.  That always makes me feel better.

Wednesday's Line-Up

Well my Goreshade list lost to a bunch of religious nuts on Saturday, but that was my first time bringing him to the table. He is getting another chance to strut his stuff on Wednesday against the Menites again, however I will be facing someone other than John. I will be playing against Jason and from what I have heard a very different play style.

The list I will be fielding will be exactly the same as the list I took against the Testament of Menoth. If you scroll back a couple of days you can see that list. It has Goreshade at the helm, with Tartarus leading the Bane Knights, and a Deathjack that is ready to step on some prayer boys. It should be a fun time.

My girlfriend will also be playing against another John inductee, Chris, he will be bringing 350 points of Circle and she will be bringing 350 points of Legion of Everblight.

John has started putting together his Menoth's least wanted lists and for more information on that you can visit his site. Feel free to give him a pat on the back for the blog, he was feeling a little down about it before.

Here is a link to John's site. http://newtowarmachine.blogspot.com/2009/03/menoths-least-wanted-so-it-begins.html

Bartertown is a Success

A fair number of us in our little circle of warmachine newbies have been spending some time on bartertown. We have now ordered three armies off of the site and had two show up with success. The third will hopefully arrive within the next couple of days.

So with that here is the link and happy shopping. The more people frequent the site and begin to trade the better the site will become.

http://www.bartertown.com/trading/

Swapped Army King of the Hill

If you would like a great battle report and some pictures of the 350 pt king of the hill with swapped armies swing over to McCryxian Domination's blog.

That was by far the most fun multi-player game I have competed in during my short tenure of playing warmachine. The idea of making an army that you hand off to someone else was very intriguing. It was a toss up of how much power you want to put in their hands. It was also nice to be able to see how someone else would play your faction as well as getting your hands on another force. I have to say those trolls are just badass, just a totally different play style than my beloved cryx however.

Anyways, here is the link to McCryxian Domination's blog, make sure to check out the pictures of the battle.

http://mccryx.blogspot.com/2009/03/paradigm-shift.html?showComment=1238433900000#c3543687749867128113

Saturday's Games

So Saturday had mixed results.  I played with Goreshade against the Testament of Menoth.  I was fielding a lot of new models, but I was very impressed with everything.  I did end up losing because I got hung up on using Mage Blight, and I missed an opportunity to soulgate the Deathjack right to the Testament.

The second game I was playing trolls because we traded armies.  I didn't really know what I was doing, but Dallas helped out a lot.  We ended up having to put a  hard stop on the game and John ended up winning King of the Hill with my Cryx army.  If it had come around to me one last time I I could have won because I was lining up to kill a caster or two. 

Great Saturday of gaming and combine a few beers in and a pretty good weekend.

I'm getting my Fix on Saturday

John was concerned about me going through withdrawals so we are going to play a 750 pt. game at his house this Saturday. I know that he will be fielding the Testament of Menoth with a bunch of horsies, and a bunch of other religious fanatics.



I am going to try my new Goreshade list. I haven't played a lot of the stuff in it, so it will be a learning experience.



I will be fielding the following:



Goreshade the Bastard w/ Deathwalker

Cankerworm

Deathripper

Defiler

Deathjack

Bane Lord Tartarus

Bloat Thralls

Darragh Wrathe

Pistol Wraith x2

Skarlock

Bane Knights (Min unit of 6)

Bile Thralls (Unit of 10)



I will also have the minimum unit of Bane Thralls for Goreshade's feat. I have a feeling I'm going to get my ass handed to me, but it will be fun and be a learning experience.



Then after the bloodbath we are expecting a couple of other individuals to show up and we are going to do a 350 pt. anything goes King of the Hill. We are going to put our names in a hat and the name you draw out will be the army you play. This should be very interesting, but I do not know what the other factions really have so I will be doing a lot of referencing to cards.

This is the list I am bringing to that game:

Iron Lich Asphyxious
Deathripper
Deathjack
Bloat Thrall
Pistol Wraith
Skarlock

This should be a good Saturday of Warmachine, and to make it even better I think I'm going to bring some homemade nut brown ale for those that wish to partake in an adult beverage.

LoE on the way....Hopefully.

So after some consideration I purchased some Legion of Everblight models off of http://www.bartertown.com/ . This are for my girlfriend to field. I doubt that she will be playing them much at our FLGS, but we can play at home and if she wants she can take it to some of the other players. She has a better mastery of the rules so that is definately a boon for her. If she decides not to play at the store I will probably start bouncing back and forth between Cryx and Legion, with Cryx being my first love I am sure that is where most of my devotions will continue to lie.

I will give an update as to how my bartertown transaction goes, and as soon as I have good or bad news I will post an update.

Weapon Masters on the Horizon

I am going through withdrawals this week not being able to get a game in. However I have been working on getting my new models put together.

For those of you that have viewed previous posts you will know that I typically run a list something like the following

pDeneghra
Deathripper x2
Nightwretch
Cankerworm
Slayer
Bile Thralls
Mechanithralls
Soulhunters
Darragh Wrathe
Bloat Thrall
Gorman di Wulfe
skarlock
pistol wraith x2

Well with the new models I am looking at trying something quite different.

Goreshade the Bastard w/Deathwalker
Deathjack
Cankerworm
Defiler
Bane Lord Tartarus
Bane Knights
Bile Thralls
Bloat Thrall
Skarlock
Pistol Wraiths
Darragh Wrathe
Gorman di Wulfe

Bane Thralls for Gorsheshade's feat

Everything in red is something I have never played before.

The combination of Goreshade, Tartarus and Bane Knights looks like too much fun to pass on, and of course the Deathjack is total badass on a plastic base.

Goreshade's play style is completely different than Deneghra so I have a feeling I am going to get pummelled a few times before I learn to play him effectively. He has abilities designed around him being able to kill an opponent with his Melee weapon, and when I played Deneghra that was normally a last ditch effort for survival.

I will be ready for next Wednesday. The banes will be ready by next Wednesday, the Deathjack might be ready by next Wednesday. I'm still trying to finish the master bathroom, so unfortunately I can't just hide in a hole and put models together no matter how much that appeals to me at times.

New toys!!

I have a lot of assembly to do. I am not going to be playing this week due to a trip around Southern Idaho visiting sugar factories and flour mills, but next week I will be ready.... I hope. I have the following models to assemble.

Goreshade the Bastard and the Deathwalker
Bane Lord Tartarus
Base unit of Bane Thralls
Base unit of Bane Knights

and Finally

The Deathjack

This is a lot of stuff to assemble, and with the weather being nice over the weekend I didn't get anything assembled. I did however get some yard work done as well as finally getting that bastard of a toilet installed in the new master bathroom. Luckily for my assembly future the weather is turning to shit around here, so I should be able to get some assembly done.

I am going to be working on a new 750 point list featuring Goreshade. This is going to be a big change for me because I have normally been featuring the dreaded Slayer in my lists and mechanithralls as my hitting infantry. I am really looking forward to fielding some weapon masters and a jack that has a little more hitting power.

I will post a potential list after I get it put together.

Cheers.

Round 4 Loss

Well I ended the tournament at 2-2, won my first two games by scenario and lost the second two. I was playing against Mike who had circle.  We played until the last round when I conceded in the middle of his turn.  We were both going for the scenario win because it could have pushed us into second place.

I will try to give a slightly more detailed update later, but good like Mike in getting second, and Congratulations for Adam and his Khador army for going undefeated and getting first.

So much for putting together models

I was hoping to put together some models tonight, but I got carried away with the wrench last night and snapped off the bolt attaching my new toilet to the flange. I guess I'm just happy that my toilet isn't going to end up in the giant pile in the picture.

I will get new bolts and a new wax ring and start over, being very careful on how much tension I use this time. I am hoping I can get everything in place and then I will beginning putting together Goreshade, Tartarus, and the Bane Thralls.

I am really looking forward to finally being able to field some weapon masters. Don't get me wrong I love my Bile Thralls and Mechanithralls, but being able to roll 4 dice on a charge, that is just tasty.

Lovely day for Some Banes

Well the thought was to go to a movie yesterday, but it was just too damn nice.  We went over to Logan to pick up groceries and a new toilet, since the bathroom is slowly getting closer to completion.

We stopped in at our FLGS because I was curious to see if the new NQ magazine was in.  It wasn't but I decided with it being such a lovely day I should pick up some Banes.  I ended up getting Gorshade the Bastard so I picked up the Bane Thralls for his feat.  I also picked up Bane Lord Tartarus to beef them up a bit.  I will get some Bane Knights even if they are going to get Nerfed, but for now this is some new stuff to play with.

We may go to the movie tonight, but with it being so nice yesterday we went for a drive out to the Spiral Jetty.  For those of you close enough to make the trip I would recommend it.  It is an eerie type of place out there.  I would recommend something with a little higher clearance if you do head out that way.

Damnit!!!!

I did better against Haley than the last time I played against that wench, but came up short.  More to come later.  And unfortunately I am one of the dozens this week.

Haley it is!

The pairings are official and I will be facing Brian and his Cygnar force. The last time I faced Brian it was my first experience with Haley, and it was one of the most excruciating experiences since I have started the game.

I have been receiving prayers from Menoth, tips from everyone, and I am looking forward to it in a morbid way. Brian has a lot more experience than I do, but I think I still have a chance. This if for bragging rights for me. I have everything to gain and Brian has everything to lose. There is no way I should be able to defeat him, so when when I do it will be all the sweeter.

The game will most likely be tomorrow evening and I will post the victorious results as soon as I can. I might have to break out Winston Churchill for the celebration.

Bastions, Bastions, Bastions!

What the hell. I feel left out everyone talking about these bastions. I have to admit that from what I have seen and hearing John talking about proxying them I am not looking forward to facing them on the table.

I have mixed emotions on the plastic models. I have only been playing table top wargames for all of maybe 6 months. I do like the metal models, but I also like my money. If casting the models in plastic rather than metal saves me a few bucks as the end consumer I think I'm willing to give it a shot.

That might help bring down the price of the bloodgorgers a tad, which would just make my day. I covet them oh so much, but just can't bring myself to shell out that much for them....yet.

My Back!!!! AAAAAHHHH!

The bathroom is tiled, and now I'm walking around like an 80 year old man.  Kim and I had a couple of friends from the big city of Portage, Utah come down and helps us tile our master bathroom.  We did get the tile all set, now just wait a day or so and time to grout.

I wasn't a big fan of tiling it just kills the back and knees, but the beer and homemade pizza afterwards was enough to dull the pain until I woke up this morning.

There is a very good chance that I will need a cane to stay upright for my match on Wednesday.

Prayers from Menoth.....WTF!

If you have visited cerealJohn's blog, which I believe that is where all of my 6 followers originated then you have surely seen the wonderful prayer that it emanating from the followers of Menoth.  It is not often that they pray for Cryx, but in this situation we were hoping for a one-two finish in the tournament.  I am not positive that I will be facing Haley in the next round, but it is a good possibility.  I have only faced her once in the past and it was rather a disastrous game.  I have since received some ideas from McCryxian domination as well as spending some time thinking through my strategy.  I am at a disadvantage with experience, but it is possible that this may benefit me.  I am not expected to win, and in that lies a large part of the fun.  I love pressure, I love the competition, if I wasn't such a nerd I'm sure that I would have been great at sports, but instead I went the route of competitive academics.  

I will practice, I will focus, and I will absorb Menoth's prayers.  In the end I will be successful.  John and I are trying the forces of positive energy and thoughts.  

I will have my pairing by Monday I hope, and then on to victory on Wednesday.  I just need to find another good picture depicting victory.  I have to say I really like the Winston Churchill picture though.

Now it is time to tile!

Sweet Victory! Round 2 Goes to Cryx

Just a quick update before calling it a night.  It was round 2 of the tournament tonight and I faced David who was fielding Legion against my Cryxian army.  We ended up playing the Killing Field scenario.  I won the roll and decided to go first.  We couldn't score points the first round, but at the end of round 2 the score was Cryx 3 Legion 2.  At the end of round 3 for me I had 5 points, and it looked like at best he was only going to be able to pick up one more.  He decided to try for the caster kill on Denny, he moved the Seraph up after using Lilith's feat and attacked Denny.  He boosted and needed an 11 to hit and rolled 10.  That ended his round, so at the end of round 3 it was Cryx 5 Legion 3.  I had one point already tied up with my Soulhunters, one point had so many models on it that I wasn't sure I could remove him, and then he had one with a harrier.  I moved Denny up and popped her feat.  I then cast crippling grasp on the harrier and after using venom from Denny and then again through the Skarlock the harrier was dead.  I moved  my Mechanithralls into place and it was game over.

So for my first tournament I am 2-0 so far, but I have a feeling that I going to meet some very stiff competition next week.

Tournament Round 2!

Ok, so I slacked and didn't get a more detailed battle report in. I did however find out yesterday that I will be playing David (Legion) in the next round of the tournament. My results against Hordes players has been less than stellar, so we will see how it goes and what scenario we get. I am most likely going to stick with my Denny 750 pt list. I can at least hit some of those beasts with crippling grasp and parasite and make a run at them that way.

John is going up against Caleb on Wednesday. I am not sure what Caleb's second army is, but I defeated his Merc army last week and I think John should be able to take that one down if Caleb chooses to play that one again.

I will hopefully be posting positive results sometime after Wednesday eventing.

First tournament victory!

For those of you that have been keeping up with this blog or John's you know that we just recently started a 4 week long tournament. This if my first tournament experience and my first experience with timed rounds. I ended up playing against Caleb and he chose a merc list that was fielding 4 mules as well as some other models which I will list in a more detailed report. I fielded my Deneghra list. We ended up with the crossed lines scenario which definitely gave me an advantage since it got me closer to his forces without having to wade through the AOE's

Like I said more detailed battle report to come, but in the end I pulled out the win and started the tournament with 3 points for achieving the objectives of the scenario.

H.B. 51 Passes the Utah State Senate

Woohooo. All that is left is the governor's signature and I can legally make my tasty homebrew in Utah instead of having to make it in Idaho, or at least say I make it in Idaho.

I am considering talking to the organizers of the Box Elder County fair and see what their thoughts of having a homebrew competition are. I think I'm going to fuel my jacks with some tasty homebrew.

Saturday's Results

I showed up to John's a little later than I planned but I did get to see Scot and John finish their 350 pt. game. I'm pretty sure that Scot is hooked. Dallas then showed up and I was going to let Scot field a 500 pt cryx army against him, but Scot was going to have to leave so just watched the start.

This is the list I fielded:

500 pt. Deneghra List.

pDeneghra
Cankerworm
Deathripper (2)
Nightwretch
Bloat Thrall
Bile Thralls (7)
Mechanithralls (6)
Skarlock
Pistol Wraith (2)
Gorman Di Wulfe

Dallas was fielding Privateer Mercenaries.

Broadsides Bart
Dirty Meg
Master Gunner Dougal
Ayanna and Holt
Mule
Mariner (2)

Well it was my first time playing a mercenary army. It was a good fight, but battling through the AOE's really took their toll on me. I was able to use the Bloat Thrall to take out Dirty Meg relatively quickly and with a combination of spells I was able to get the cankerworm to Bart, but he had popped his feat so I was at -3 to attack rolls. I was not able to do that amount of damage I wanted too.

In the end he brought all of the jacks to base to base with Deneghra and attacked. He missed with all attacks. Bart then charged and missed the charge attack but hit with the extra attacks. I survived and then went on the offensive. I cast crippling grasp and boosted and hit with the first attack and boosted damage but my rolls were less than spectacular. I was able to buy another attack but I missed. That was all I could do, the next turn Bart finished me off.

This was a good game and came down to hand to hand combat between the casters. Dallas said it was retribution for when I beat his Troll army a few weeks back. The mercenary army looked like it would be really fun to play with. I think that I may see a larger version of it in the tournament that starts later this week.

Get em hooked!

John and I have been working on getting another co-worker involved with Warmachine. John is going to have him over to his house tomorrow morning to teach him the ropes with the PoM. I am going to show up a little later and let him get a taste of Cryx. I unfortunately do not have enough models to let him borrow an army on a consistent basis, so he will most likely be playing as PoM for a while. I can at least let him get a taste of the undead and maybe I will get him hooked.

I am going to put together a 500 point list to let him play with and I'm thinking of fielding Deneghra and then a collection of bile thralls, mechanithralls, pistol wraith, the cankerworm and a few as yet to be determined goodies thrown in there.

I am also working on lists for the tournament which starts next week. I have enough speed to be competitive at most of the scenarios, but I'm worried I might not have enough fire power. When I get the lists put together I will post them.

Haley.....A Masochist's Dream!

Well I had my first experience playing against Haley. I have to say that if you enjoy a slow drawn out death this is the one to play against. I had temporal barrier cast against me every single turn. I did not bring anything with reliable ranged attacks so as I would move in and try to attack I was getting picked off by long gunners, gun mages, the black 13th, and most of all the thunderhead's lightning coil.

I am going to have to do some research on how to effectively play against Haley because since I have been playing this is by far the most one sided game I have played. I was able to do a fair amount of damage to Thorn and the Thunderhead with my Soulhunter, Darragh Wrathe, and my Slayer, but I did not remove a single model from play until it was down to just Deneghra and the slayer. I moved Deneghra up popped her feat and tried to catch Haley in a scourge template, which I didn't. I did kill off some long gunners, and then I used venom to take out the gun mage, eEiryss, and half of the black 13th. I then abruptly died at the hands of Thorn.

I picked up a Bloat Thrall which gives me that 12 inch pow 14 5" AOE, but the rat is a 4 and he is pretty slow so I'm not likely to get reliable hits with this. I can run him up and dare my opponent to kill him. I'm just thinking out loud at this point.

We are starting a month long tournament soon and we find out our first pairing next week. We are allowed to have 2 lists and we have to choose a list and then we will randomly select one of the scenarios from prime. The only one we are leaving out is mangled metal. I am limited to basically taking the same army with possibly just a different caster. I am going to have to think this through, I would like to at least be competitive in the tournament.

Painting Units Sucks!

As you may have noticed there have not been too many pictures of painted models on my blogs lately.

The reason for this is that I am buried in painting units. I am trying to make sure that the various shades and tints are a nice match across the entire unit and this can become very monotonous. I am currently working on a unit of Mechanithralls and I hope to have it finished or at least to a respectable stage within the next couple of weeks. I think that after that I may start on the Cankerworm for a break from units. I love playing the units provided in Cryx and I like the look of a painted unit when I'm done, but I really do not enjoy the process of painting them. I prefer the individuality afforded with painting jacks and casters, it seems lost after you paint the 3rd member of a unit almost identically to the first two.

Anyways the whole point of this post was to let you all know that I will eventually get more pictures of painted models up, and I hope to be adding some new models over the next few weeks. I am planning on picking up a bloat thrall on Wednesday to add some ranged ability to my army. I also like the fact that if you charge him in you are just daring your opponent to kill him and risk the consequences.

Fajitas, Margaritas, and Musically Inclined Homeless People

I just got back from San Antonio.  It was a pretty good trip.  I learned a lot and met some interesting people.  A few of us went to dinner on the river walk and ate at Cafe Rio.  We had fajitas and a few margaritas.  That part of the title I imagine everyone understood.  We then were serenaded by a homeless man who had some pipes on him.  He belted out some Tom Petty and Kenny Rogers.  We were all feeling pretty good so we decided to sing along.  I would like to think that the other people within hearing distance appreciated the shower.

I finally have my army in an Army transport or my mishap last week.  I was on my way home and someone pulled out in front of me, I hit the breaks and the toolbox even with the eggshell foam was not enough to prevent some serious damage to my soul hunters.

I am looking forward to playing next week.  It sounds like there may be a multi-week tournament being put together.  The level of experience among those playing is quite diverse so it should be interesting to see where I land.

Congrats to John, I just heard he beat the trolls this afternoon.  I think I beat him to posting about it.

REMEMBER THE ALAMO!

Well no Warmachine this week. So I am glad I got two really good games in last week. I am off to San Antonio, Texas for a couple of days for work. I will not be flying on the beechcraft this trip.

Good luck to John against the Trolls this week, and next week I will be ready to kick some ass again. It seems like a week off suits me.

Updated Report

My first game was against Dallas at 750 pts. He was playing Trollbloods and I was fielding my Deneghra 750 pt list. The terrain positioning really did not benefit me. The cankerworm and an arc node were quickly destroyed by his champions and his caster threw a bomb and killed my lead soulhunter. This was round 2 or 3 I believe. I knew I was going to be in trouble so I decided to go for a caster kill which up to that point has not been too successful against Hordes players. I ran an arc node up next to his caster and then activated Deneghra. I moved up up so that I caught almost all of his army in her control range and popped her feat. All of their stats were -2. I then cast crippling grasp on his caster and that dropped his stats another 2, and then I followed it with casting parasite on his caster which dropped his armor by 3. In the end I had lowered his defense by 4 and his armor by 7. I then activated Darragh Wrathe and used Death Ride to move the soulhunters up and inch prior to activating them. This allowed both of my remaining soulhunters to be within charge range of his caster. The first soulhunter was able to hit with the mount, the scythe, and the sickle. The second was only able to hit with the reach weapon. He did shove some of the damage off to his beasts, but in the end I was able to kill him. I also had a pistol wraith in reserve just in case the soulhunters couldn't pull out the win. I was extremely happy to have my first win against Hordes and against a faction other than Protectorate of Menoth.

The second game was a 500 point game against John who brought Kreoss and a bunch of Knights exemplar to the party. I fielded the Skarre list that I had in my post yesterday. John popped his feat and knocked everyone down except my pistol wraiths. I thought I was screwed, but he couldn't quite reach me with the Seneshal when he charged. I stood up and walked a bile thrall to within an inch of Skarre and then I popped her feat. I sacrificed the bile thrall to drop a POW 18 Skarre bomb on Kreoss. I however failed to kill him. I was sure I was dead. John attacked Skarre with the Seneshal but because of the feat I had a 20 armor and the initial attack missed and the second did not do enough damage. John then used Ayanna and Holt to kill my pistol wraith. I think that at this point if John and chosen to kill my last bile thrall instead that I would have lost. One my next turn I moved my last bile thrall up to Skarre and sacrificed it to drop a POW 13 Skarre bomb on Kreoss. This was enough to finish the job. I normally don't play my casters that far up but with her shorter control range I had to. It was an interesting game and came so close to going the other way.

All in all it was a fun night and a couple of great games.