You should know the drill by now. Lets get to the last of the "big boy" factions, and the one that brought us the unerring symbol of authority that I've been using for the ratings system.
Thursday, October 30, 2014
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
Hordes: Exigence Review - Legion of Everblight
Continuing the train of faction reviews, today I'll be going over the relative greatness (or lack thereof) of each of the releases for the Legion of Everblight models. The reviewing process (in all of it's statistical validity and nuance) has been outlined previously, so lets just get right into it!
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Sorscha2 vs. Goreshade1 - What A Bastard
This past week saw our group taking a break from our Descent (Second Edition) campaign which meant it was time for some more Warmachine!
My friend had a Cryx list he's been wanting to get more practice in with, and I've been wanting to practice with a Cryx/infantry horde solution to pair with Irusk2, so we matched up against each other.
Without further ado (there will be much ado later,) lets get into the game!
My friend had a Cryx list he's been wanting to get more practice in with, and I've been wanting to practice with a Cryx/infantry horde solution to pair with Irusk2, so we matched up against each other.
Without further ado (there will be much ado later,) lets get into the game!
Monday, October 27, 2014
Painting Log - Children of December Box Set
The painting train continues a-rolling. Now that my Khador is pretty much caught up to being fully painted (just some rarely used duplicates and the.....Bombardiers,) I want to try and get as much Malifaux stuff painted as possible before switching back to painting Warmachine.
In order to accomplish that, I've decided to pick a crew and paint everything I have that is associated with that crew. Painting up Malifaux crews is usually relatively quick - a full Malifaux crew can have fewer models in it than a single Warmachine infantry unit - and it's a very welcome change of pace.
The first crew I've decided to catch up on is Rasputina's crew, which means I've been spending the past few weeks painting ice critters. I'm very pleased with the result, especially for how quickly I managed to get them done:
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| Children of December Box Set with bases from Secret Weapon Miniatures |
More thoughts after the break.
Wednesday, October 22, 2014
Hordes: Exigence Review - Circle Orboros
Last time we covered the Trollblood releases from Hordes: Exigence. This time we'll be looking at the Circle Orboros releases.
As a quick reminder: each entry will be graded on a scale of 1 to 5 flail-chucks (in honor of Xerxis2's gift to weapon technology) for three factors - Efficacy, Meta Bending, and Coolness. As should be evident, all of these ratings are arbitrary and based off of my own opinion, so if you don't like it feel free to let me know why in the comments.
Full Circle review after the break. Fair warning: These entries may be longer on average than the Trollblood entries; I was originally planning on doing this review as one mega-article, and as a result I was trying to force myself to be brief. Now that I'm breaking it out by faction I'm likely to unleash more of the word-kraken.
As a quick reminder: each entry will be graded on a scale of 1 to 5 flail-chucks (in honor of Xerxis2's gift to weapon technology) for three factors - Efficacy, Meta Bending, and Coolness. As should be evident, all of these ratings are arbitrary and based off of my own opinion, so if you don't like it feel free to let me know why in the comments.
Full Circle review after the break. Fair warning: These entries may be longer on average than the Trollblood entries; I was originally planning on doing this review as one mega-article, and as a result I was trying to force myself to be brief. Now that I'm breaking it out by faction I'm likely to unleash more of the word-kraken.
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Hordes: Exigence Review - Trollbloods
Hordes: Exigence has been out for a little while now. Probably not long enough for any concrete ideas to have formed about the heretofore unknown entries, but definitely enough time to have digested the rules. As is tradition, that means its time to recap everything and see just how the gaming landscape looks after this latest release.
However, this review is probably going to be a little different than the expected review format. Here are the factors I'll be evaluating:
Efficacy: How well the model does it's "job." If it's a melee model, is it worth throwing into the fray? If its a shooting model, will it hit the broad side of a barn?
Meta Bending: Will this model inspire new list builds, or refine old list builds? Might this become a new list staple?
Coolness: Is the model idea cool? Does it try to do something interesting with it's design (regardless of if it succeeds or not)?
In honor of Xerxis' ascendance to prominence, gaining both an "Epic" tag and a cover art shot in the same book, I'll be rating each category on a scale of 1 to 5 using his fantastically, wonderfully impractical choice of weaponry: the mega-mace-chuck.
In an effort to keep things more easily readable, I'll be breaking each faction into it's own post. We'll be going in War Room listing order, so today we kick things off with Trollbloods. Review starts after the break!
However, this review is probably going to be a little different than the expected review format. Here are the factors I'll be evaluating:
Efficacy: How well the model does it's "job." If it's a melee model, is it worth throwing into the fray? If its a shooting model, will it hit the broad side of a barn?
Meta Bending: Will this model inspire new list builds, or refine old list builds? Might this become a new list staple?
Coolness: Is the model idea cool? Does it try to do something interesting with it's design (regardless of if it succeeds or not)?
In honor of Xerxis' ascendance to prominence, gaining both an "Epic" tag and a cover art shot in the same book, I'll be rating each category on a scale of 1 to 5 using his fantastically, wonderfully impractical choice of weaponry: the mega-mace-chuck.
In an effort to keep things more easily readable, I'll be breaking each faction into it's own post. We'll be going in War Room listing order, so today we kick things off with Trollbloods. Review starts after the break!
Monday, October 20, 2014
Seasonal Changes
Anyone who's followed this blog for awhile has probably noticed the drop off in Warmachine/Hordes content over the past two weeks. This happens to me around the same time every year, though for different reasons. Sometimes I straight up burn out on the game, and other times I just need a bit of a break (which is more what's happening this year.)
During those periods I'll still play WM/H, but I usually seek out other games as a way to recharge my batteries. Nothing makes me appreciate what PP has been able to pull off - and maintain - with WM/H quite like stepping away and then coming back to it, so it's a cycle I embrace.
I've been working on Malifaux stuff recently (mostly painting) in preparation for the resurgence of Wave 3 of the M2E beta. Previously scheduled for...right around now, the final beta wave of M2E has been delayed until the start of next year in order to try and fine tune the Avatar rules as much as possible before the players get their hands on them again. As the Avatars were one of the more divisive topics of all the beta waves, this will likely be a big help in focusing on getting them to "final" state (instead of just "refined.") I'm very excited to play Malifaux again, so I'm looking forward to ramping that up as we move closer to next year.
My gaming group has also decided to take a break from playing our usual stable of miniatures games to play the Second Edition of Descent: Journeys Into the Dark. We had spent some time playing the previous edition, but it didn't really resonate with us. The Second Edition changed the game in some dramatic ways, and we're having a very fun time playing through a campaign. I'm hoping to share more thoughts about it in the future, though I want us to make it a little further along before I do so.
And then there are all the other games we have sitting around. I still have Relic Knights on deck for more games (having only played the one "real" game of it so far.) In a fit of sanity I sold off three of the factions I bought through the Kickstarter in order to fund a new video game console, but I still have one faction left - the Noh Empire, my favorite looking ones - and I'm still very much interested in playing more games with that system.
Our group also has some interest in Infinity, though it's maybe a third or so of the group. Still, the Third Edition of that game is sounding very interesting, and I mostly played it via 40K proxies (thanks to a friend who has a ton of semi-appropriate models) so it won't cost me anything to at least try it out. Bonus points if the new edition improves the game - Infinity wasn't a game I particularly disliked, but it definitely had/has some rough edges to iron out - and I'll be happy to play it a few times if the guys who are more into it want to throw it down on the table.
And of course there's the deluge of end of the year videogames that I'm more than happy to sit down and spend some time with. For as lean a year as 2013 was for exciting end-of-year content, 2014 looks to make that up with gusto. I've already got a decent pile of "must play" games going, and another three or four are coming out before years end.
Except for Destiny. Screw that game.
So if you're a regular reader, don't worry; more content is in the queue. It'll probably be a different flavor than usual for a little while, but it'll inevitably lap back around to WM/H in the near future (and things like battle reports will probably be sprinkled in here and there.) I have some thoughts to share about the Hordes: Exigence releases, which will hopefully go up soon.
I'm also sure we'll start to see stuff for Warmachine: Reckoning in the relatively near future - the first release from that cycle, the Cygnar Character Warjack, Dynamo, comes out in December - which will probably get my WM/H hype cycle started again.
Until then, I'm going to enjoy this brief break. I'm sure whatever PP comes up with will throw me into another dojo-frenzy, and you'll all get to see the mad outpouring that accompanies it.
During those periods I'll still play WM/H, but I usually seek out other games as a way to recharge my batteries. Nothing makes me appreciate what PP has been able to pull off - and maintain - with WM/H quite like stepping away and then coming back to it, so it's a cycle I embrace.
I've been working on Malifaux stuff recently (mostly painting) in preparation for the resurgence of Wave 3 of the M2E beta. Previously scheduled for...right around now, the final beta wave of M2E has been delayed until the start of next year in order to try and fine tune the Avatar rules as much as possible before the players get their hands on them again. As the Avatars were one of the more divisive topics of all the beta waves, this will likely be a big help in focusing on getting them to "final" state (instead of just "refined.") I'm very excited to play Malifaux again, so I'm looking forward to ramping that up as we move closer to next year.
My gaming group has also decided to take a break from playing our usual stable of miniatures games to play the Second Edition of Descent: Journeys Into the Dark. We had spent some time playing the previous edition, but it didn't really resonate with us. The Second Edition changed the game in some dramatic ways, and we're having a very fun time playing through a campaign. I'm hoping to share more thoughts about it in the future, though I want us to make it a little further along before I do so.
And then there are all the other games we have sitting around. I still have Relic Knights on deck for more games (having only played the one "real" game of it so far.) In a fit of sanity I sold off three of the factions I bought through the Kickstarter in order to fund a new video game console, but I still have one faction left - the Noh Empire, my favorite looking ones - and I'm still very much interested in playing more games with that system.
Our group also has some interest in Infinity, though it's maybe a third or so of the group. Still, the Third Edition of that game is sounding very interesting, and I mostly played it via 40K proxies (thanks to a friend who has a ton of semi-appropriate models) so it won't cost me anything to at least try it out. Bonus points if the new edition improves the game - Infinity wasn't a game I particularly disliked, but it definitely had/has some rough edges to iron out - and I'll be happy to play it a few times if the guys who are more into it want to throw it down on the table.
And of course there's the deluge of end of the year videogames that I'm more than happy to sit down and spend some time with. For as lean a year as 2013 was for exciting end-of-year content, 2014 looks to make that up with gusto. I've already got a decent pile of "must play" games going, and another three or four are coming out before years end.
Except for Destiny. Screw that game.
So if you're a regular reader, don't worry; more content is in the queue. It'll probably be a different flavor than usual for a little while, but it'll inevitably lap back around to WM/H in the near future (and things like battle reports will probably be sprinkled in here and there.) I have some thoughts to share about the Hordes: Exigence releases, which will hopefully go up soon.
I'm also sure we'll start to see stuff for Warmachine: Reckoning in the relatively near future - the first release from that cycle, the Cygnar Character Warjack, Dynamo, comes out in December - which will probably get my WM/H hype cycle started again.
Until then, I'm going to enjoy this brief break. I'm sure whatever PP comes up with will throw me into another dojo-frenzy, and you'll all get to see the mad outpouring that accompanies it.
Friday, October 17, 2014
The Killing
The Killing is a show I've had on my mind for awhile, but I didn't want to give my final verdict until finishing it. With the fourth and final season complete, I feel like I can finally vent the things that have been rumbling around in my mind for the past few weeks.
First, the short, spoiler-free version: I overall enjoyed the show. It has some serious high points and serious low points that balance each other out, and I think the net result is a very interesting show that's worth sitting through once. Moreover, the things that I didn't like may be entirely subjective, so if they don't bother you, you'll probably walk away with an even better impression of the show overall.
It's also a pretty quick watch - by the time I thought to check how far along we were I realized we were halfway through the 3rd season - so it's an easy show to throw on and get through in a week or two. And it also has the virtue of actually having a conclusion instead of being cancelled or having a hasty ending (though the 4th season does feel kind of abbreviated.)
As usual, more in depth and spoiler ridden thoughts after the break. Fair warning: I'm probably going to spoil the big reveals for seasons 3 and 4 during my ranting, so if you have any interest in watching the show, I'd recommend holding off until you've experienced it yourself.
First, the short, spoiler-free version: I overall enjoyed the show. It has some serious high points and serious low points that balance each other out, and I think the net result is a very interesting show that's worth sitting through once. Moreover, the things that I didn't like may be entirely subjective, so if they don't bother you, you'll probably walk away with an even better impression of the show overall.
It's also a pretty quick watch - by the time I thought to check how far along we were I realized we were halfway through the 3rd season - so it's an easy show to throw on and get through in a week or two. And it also has the virtue of actually having a conclusion instead of being cancelled or having a hasty ending (though the 4th season does feel kind of abbreviated.)
As usual, more in depth and spoiler ridden thoughts after the break. Fair warning: I'm probably going to spoil the big reveals for seasons 3 and 4 during my ranting, so if you have any interest in watching the show, I'd recommend holding off until you've experienced it yourself.
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
Painting Log: Ogrun Bokor
The march to get "caught up" painting all of the models I regularly use in Khador is once again complete: the Ogrun Bokor is painted. I was worried there for a bit that, in the time it took me to paint the TAC and the Bokor, the Grolar kit would come out, but it turns out those worries were unfounded.
I could probably strip them and repaint them before that kit even shows up on the release calendar, but that's a different discussion entirely.
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
Weekend Gaming Reports
This past weekend a bunch of my friends headed over for our occasional "hey lets get everyone together and hang out" gaming events. Over the course of the day everyone got in two games. Here's how mine turned out.
Friday, October 3, 2014
Spoilers - The Remaining Hordes: Exigence Models
After many months of waiting the newest Hordes book has finally arrived. Well, not quite arrived. As is often the case, someone managed to get a sneak peak at Hordes: Exigence and there are spoilers floating around for the few unknown entries for each faction.
Lets take a look at the (reported) rules for these holdouts and see how each faction fared overall in the latest Hordes expansion. Allegedly.
Lets take a look at the (reported) rules for these holdouts and see how each faction fared overall in the latest Hordes expansion. Allegedly.