On the Paint Station - Cygnar

So with projects over at the Hobbynomicon taking up a lot of my time I figured I'd come back to spiritual home and give an update on a project I'm currently involved in.

Lots of the guys and gals at my FLGS (friendly local gaming store) have huge Warmachine collections however much of it was unpainted. So the big 5 player have all been challenged to paint 300 points by Christmas. Now as my on a budget articles may suggest, I don't have the most money in the world so a lesser group of us have taken up a much lesser baton to paint 100 points by X-mas.

I thought today I'd talk you through the first 50 point list I've made to complete my first half of the challenge.
I had no interest in Warmachine for years until a friend of mine asked if I wanted to play in the Iron Kingdoms RPG. I said yes and fell in love with the world, particularly one unit, gunmages.

In essence these guys are pistol wielding light troops who channel magic into their bullets. The game contains all sorts of them, so I set about trying to fit as many as possible into a list. My 50 point Caine list is the end result.

 So as you can see my paint station is truly packed at present, however this is still ten points short as my gunmages on horse have not arrived yet.

First up lets take a look at my 'jacks.

So having played Warmachine for a while now I became bored with hard hitting melee 'jacks so took my whole force ranged. (I apologise but the red rings did not come out well). The first jack is Sentinel, this guy has a mini gun and shield and is mostly used to keep my caster alive, he's useful and cheap, I just wish he had a nicer head.

My other two 'jacks are heavies, the twin mini gunned Cyclone. These sit on my flanks and drop templates of death in my opponents path until I need to take down a target.

That's the 'jacks which are mostly in my force for power, If i could field none and still be effective I'd be very happy to but, its not viable from what I've seen of the game. But on to my favourites.

The two units on the right of your picture are my gunmages. I opted for one Cygnar colour scheme and one Llael, as I wanted some variation and love the Llaelese fluff. These are the last units I have to finish, as it seems Malifaux has made me lazy when it comes to mass infantry,
There is also a gunmage solo on the left but I'll talk more about him in a moment. 

In addition to my vanilla solo I also Have Taryn Di La Rivossi, a Llaelesian gunmage who's background and art work I just love. The model however isn't the nicest but I'm looking for options for a conversion.

Another named unit and my favourite model in Warmachine (even if they are a little out of scale) are the Black 13th. Cygnar's special Op's team and my tabletop tool kit they have option for every situation and I literally never play Warmachine without them.

Finally we come to my Caster.

My caster is Cygnar's only gunmage caster, who I field with a tiny goblin friend (Reinholdt) and the two together are pretty powerful especially on feat turn.

So that's my 50 points at present I still need to finish the gunmages and the new Blazers (gunmages on horses) So I'll put some pictures up of the finished 50 points in the next couple of weeks.

Games for Kids - Dixit

Over the recent Easter holidays I became a third parent to my two sisters and spent almost every day with them, which fortunately meant a lot of time playing games.  However after two weeks of games I ran out of our staples and had to find some new game for the girls to try.
There are many games I own that are simply not suitable for children either in theme or just length of time needed to play. With this in mind I turned to the games my friends and I play as party games, and that meant one game was my first candidate; Dixit.

Dixit is unlike any game I’ve played, and is almost universally popular with every one I’ve played it with.  In Dixit players are dealt hands of cards, these cards contain ambiguous pictures that cover many fields and a visually amazing to look at, One player (the Dixer) then chooses a word, phrases, quote or noise to describe one of their cards, usually something ambiguous like “Hope” the other players then choose one of their own cards that fits the Dixer’s description and all are laid face up on the table; players then vote as to which is the Dixer’s card. The finesse in Dixit comes in choosing a quote not everyone will get (as then you get no points) but that some will (and no guesses also means no points).

The contents of Dixit

It’s a great games especially with close friends as the quotes get more obscure and difficult to guess, my only fear though, would this translate to children playing?

We set up ther game and I wnet first, I had a few cards with musical instruments and notes on so said music as my Dix. My sisters found cards that kind of fit and that round went ok. The difficultly arose on their turns when they would just describe the card in too much detail so you knew which card it was in an instant. My older sister broke this habit after a while but my younger sister never quite got the descriptive element.

They both enjoyed Dixit but seemed more frustrated by it than I had expected< i'd say a definate for older children but younger ones may get a little confused. Next time, a game by the same compnay as Dixit, Fabula.

Malifaux on a Budget - Plastic Crews Part II

So last time we looked at two of the new plastic gangs and they came out as the cheapest crews I’ve looked at so far. Today we’re seeing if the final two Plastic crews can match the challenge.

We begin with the Guild’s new addition; The Relic Hunters.

The Box
Price - £24.50
SS - 23

Lucas McCabe is a very interesting master. He is not only Malifaux’s first mounted master (there are the horsemen and avatar Leviticus too) but his gang can and must choose some unique items before the game begins, but we’ll come to those shortly.

As with the other plastic crews, the box contains;

·         A master (McCabe mounted and un-mounted),

·         His totem (Luna, the faithful hound),

·         A based support model (Sidir Alchibal)

·         Three in theme minions (The wastrels).

The crew is primarily a mid-range crew, focusing on paralysing and slowing opponents to allow you to out-manoeuvre them. The crew suffers from relatively low defence, so will rely on these tricks to keep them safe as well as taking objectives. The unique point about McCabe and his fellow is the relics they find. McCabe himself has a choice of six artefacts he can purchase with his soulstone cache before the game begins. He must choose at least two of the items (which range from giving him paired weapons to armour 2) the cheapest pairing costs two soulstones out of the six available to him but you are free to buy more.  The wastrels also have access to four lesser artefacts McCabe has allowed them, and must choose a different one each before the encounter begins.

There are a couple of nice options for expanding McCabe’s crew, as this is Malifaux on a Budget I’m going with the cheapest as this box set takes the crew up to the 35SS we’re looking for.

Price - £12.50
SS- 4 each

Guild Riflemen are the cheapest way of adding some serious range to any guild crew but with McCabe able to stop opponents in their tracks it allows the rifles more turns to whittle down those wounds. With hunter (able to ignore cover) , a (0) action range increase, a (0) action charge reaction and the ability to the fire 9 shots when activated together they really will ruin your opponents day should they be foolish enough to get within 12 inches.

Total crew cost - £ 37

The 35SS crew has a fast moving element as McCabe takes a few wastrels to the front with him leaving a solid block of range to offer some covering fire, choose your equipment to match your opponent: if you see Taelor’s hammer, don’t take the armour. See Lucius? Take the paired sabre. This crew will work for you in pretty much any mission with just a little forethought. 

The final box set of Wyrd's new plastic range is The Master's of the Path.

The Box
Price - £21.50
SS - 19

Yan Lo is another unique master, but this is all part of the fun. Unlike the other Ressurectionists Yan Lo deals in relics not the mindless creations of the other masters. Instead Yan Lo works with ancestor models, boosting them and using their abilities once they die to improve his damage and increase his abilities. In addition to this he can collect “Chi” points to spend on oaths of magic that change how he and his crew work, one path makes him faster, one tougher and one a bit of a combat monster. You can choose to follow one, some or all of these paths as long as you gain enough “chi”.

Not really a front line master his crew box allows him to step back from the front line. Yan Lo’s totem is a great model for making ancestor models faster and can collect relics dropped by ancestors for Yan Lo.  Chiaki is the utility model included the box and is Yan Lo’s presence at the front of the battle, allowing him to leach “chi” points through her as she debuffs and pushes the enemy just where you want them.

Yan Lo’s minions are three of my favourite models, the Ashigaru look stunning and make a great defensive line. Able to form a phalanx of spears that attacks an model foolish enough to get close they are a reliable and survivable way of protecting Yan Lo and any ancestor you need to keep intact. The box is a little soul stone light compared to many of the plastic boxes but they are full of character and certainly pack a punch. 

 Our first addition is a BIG one, literally...

 Price - £10.50
SS - 10

A combat monster Izamu deal master level damage with every strike. I call him Justice light as he has many of the same abilities as Lady Justice, he can riposte enemy attacks, cancel enemies triggers, get a positive flip to damage and tops it off with melee expert. He is a bit of a point sink at 10SS but if he dies Yan Lo can summon him back.   

Our last addition helps with "chi" and even in death can assist you.

 Price - £10
SS - 5 each

Onryo are usually seen with Kirai but fit with Yan Lo well, their ability to slow an opponent (for the game) when they die is a great bonus and their death can fuel your “chi”. In addition to this they damage models that strike them, and have a pretty high damage output. Unfortunately we’re only using one in the list but it does allow you to push the crew to 40SS by adding the other.

Total - £41

The crew does its job well, allowing Yan Lo to advance protected and sends in the hard hitters to finish off the enemy until Yan Lo is ready to be unleashed, I'd like to have included more of the ancestors models but they aren't out yet and come at a very high soulstone cost. If able you should look into Toshiro the Daimyo and more Ashigaru. I will reassess this list once they're released. 

Next time we'll be re examining a few crews I've looked at before to include newer models and advancing some of the earlier crews i worked out to take them up to 35SS.