Totengräber's Workpläce

Fred and I planned on playing some SWM this week over at Games To die For. It’s been a few weeks since we played and I think both of us had ended up getting some new figures. Unfortunately, the store didn’t have any new boosters of SWM or else I might have bought some. Fred and I started at about 6:30 or so after I dug out all the minis I needed for my squad.

My Squad #1:

• General Wedge Antilles
• Garm Bel Iblis (Elite Rebel Commando, Dresellian Commando)
• Boba Fett, Mercenary
• Human Soldier of Fortune
• Ugnaught Demolitionist x3

The funny thing about this is that I originally hadn’t even thought about Garm at all. I’d originally planned on using a bunch of Bounty Hunters (Dengar, Bossk, etc.) to benefit from Mobile Attack and Evade. going through the binder, I saw Garm and thought I could use him to get more stuff.

Fred’s Squad #1:

• Darth Maul, Champion of the Sith
• Darth Tyranus, Legacy of the Dark Side
• ASN Assassin Droid
• Battle Droid x5

Map: Freight Transit Station

I chose the map simply because it seemed to look like fun. No strategy to it at all. I deployed on the right side of the map while he chose the left. This game was fun, but I feel like I lost for one very simple reason: I moved Wedge and Garm into harm’s way. Things seemed to be going fairly well until he got Maul and Tyranus into melee range of Boba. Boba kept tactically retreating to minimize Maul’s damage output. In the end Maul went down, but Boba went down to Kouhun Infestation + Force Lightning by the time it was over.

We decided we had time for another game, so we picked out our next squads. I had just built an Exar Kun squad using what Masassi Sith Mutants I have plus some Savage figs.

My Squad #2:

• Exar Kun
• Boma
• Massassi Sith Mutant x2
• Varactyl Wrangler
• Ugnaught Demolitionist x2

Fred’s Squad #2:

• Luke Skywalker, Legacy of the Light Side
• Princess Leia of Cloud City
• Obi Wan Kenobi, Unleashed
• Bothan Noble
• Elite Rebel Commando
• Mon Calamari Medic
• R2-D2
• Tusken Raider

Map: Hall of Judgement

I deployed on the right side of the map and he deployed on the left, inside the temple. My first move was to send the Varactyl Wrangler ahead of everyone else, then the Boma, MSMs, etc. I didn’t realize until the next turn that the Varactyl would negate Exar Kun’s CE, so I sent him to the other side of the map. Boma ran forward and smoked his Tusken Raider only to be pasted by Obi-Wan, Luke, Bothan, and everyone else. R2 was used to Override closed some doors to funnel my guys through. I’d lost all but Exar Kun by the end who proceeded to mop the floor with the rest of his squad. Holy Moly! He’s definitley worth the $16 I spent on him last Saturday! Next time I use this squad, I’ll likely swap out the Varactyl for a couple more Ugnaughts for Exar Kun’s Energy Transferrence Force Power.

Hordes Blackclad Wayfarer - Front

The other day while in my FLGS, I picked up the newest issue of No Quarter with the intent of checkng out the stats of one of the new Minion Warlock Rorsh and Brine. In the course of flipping through the pages, I noticed they had pictures from the Gen Con 2008 Privateer Press Grand Master Painting Competition. On the bottom right corner of the Warrior models Honorable Mentions is my Blackclad Wayfarer! I just about had a fit of joy over this. I immediately bought the magazine, which I wasn’t originally planning on doing so I could show my wife and friends.

It’s the first time I’ve had the joy of seeing my name in print on a national level. It’s a pretty awesome feeling, too!! It definitely makes me want to continue to participate in painting competitions like this in the future. I think next year I’ll submit an entry for Warlock/Beast using Rorsh and Brine.

Brian and I scheduled an Infinity game for last Thursday over at Games To Die For. We decided on 300 points and we’d use the new 2nd edition rules. I decided to play the following list:

• Khawarij (Lieutenant)
• Djanbazan w/ HMG
• Janissaire w/AP Rifle
• Janissaire w/HMG
• Tuareg (Doctor)
• Nafftun
• Hassassin Fiday w/EXP CCW
• Ghulam x2

I think his list went something like this:

• Charontid (Lieutenant)
• Gaki
• Daturazi Witch-Soldiers x2
• T-Drone
• Morat (Hacker)
• Morat (Forward Observer) x3
• Shrouded (Forward Observer)

(I know that’s short on points, but I didn’t see his whole army)

so we set up the terrain and rolled off for deployment. This rule had changed in the new edition. Now it’s a WIP Face-to-Face roll and the winner chooses to either deploy first or to go first much like Warmachine/Hordes. He won the roll since my Lieutenant failed his F2F roll.

The game really didn’t go very long for one 81 point reason: Charontid with his Plasma Rifle. I made the mistake of putting three of my guys behind a single piece of terrain, but leaving one of them within LoS of the Charontid. He fires and hits all three guys with his blast template. Two of them survived (Ghulam and Janissaire), but the Khawarij died a quick death. I nominated my Fiday as the Lieutenant after that, who in Brian’s next turn was toasted by the Plasma Rifle again. We called the game there. Actually, to be honest, I called the game at that point. I would be losing at least one figure a turn if things kept going this way. The only shining moment was the Fiday shooting the Gaki from far enough away that the blast from the self destruct didn’t affect him.

It’s been so long since we played Infinity and with the new rules, I think we could enjoy it again. I look forward to throwing down once more and maybe I could play better next time.

Rumour has it that the Lizardmen will be getting a new army book and models come February 2009. Man, I can’t wait!! I loves me some Lizardmen. Here are some preview pics I found while scouring the ‘Net.

New Stegadon - Closeup

New Stegadon

The new Stegadon looks pretty sweet if you ask me, even though it looks a little exaggerated. Supposedly, he’ll be modular such that he can be used as a regular Stegadon, an Engine of the Gods (from the Lustria book) and as a character mount for a few different kinds of characters. The supposed retail price will be $40. I’ll likely end up with a couple.

Temple Guard

Terradon and Kroxigor

I’ve never personally used either of these in any of my Lizardmen lists, but the lure of plastic Temple Guard just might pull me in.  I think I’ll stick with my old 6th edition Kroxigor. The new Terradons don’t look too bad, though the buck teeth are a little weird. Too bad they don’t look more like Pteradactyls.

Supposedly, the cost of Saurus is going down by a point or two, which a lot of people like. I always felt like they were the heart of the army and have never played a list without them. There’ll be some new models called Razordons, which people are speculating will be kinda liks Salamanders. We also expect to see a nerfing of the Salamanders as well. Some new characters are coming out, one of which is named Thictac’to. The silly names are a little off-putting, but it seems like something they trow in every once in a while for kicks.

I’m definitely looking forward to February and I expect to be working more on the Lizardmen in the near future. I gotta get me a Slann to go with those spiffy TG and some Salamanders so I can complain when they get nerfed.

I met up with Fred last night to play some Star Wars Miniatures at Games To Die For. Him having played a few games at Gen con and me not having played for years except once made for a kinda slow start. In the end, we decided to play on the ROTS board and with 150 point squads.

My squad:

• Luke and Yoda
• Juno Eclipse
• C-3PO and R2-D2
• Czerka Scientist
• Gotal Fringer x2
• Utapaun Soldier x2
• Ugnaught Demolitionist

His squad:

• Darth Malak, DLOTS
• Dark Jedi Master
• Echani Handmaiden
• GenoHaradan Assassin x2
• Devaronian Bounty Hunter
• Tusken Raider

The game was lots of fun even though my Czerka Scientist + Gotal Fringer/Utapaun Soldier plan failed miserably. Loda did the most work and damage, though they did end up falling. The most interesting thing that happened was Loda using Force Stun on Malak two turns in a row where he failed the save and then re-rolled and still failed. Fred ended up winning pretty handily.

Game two we decided to play on the Clone Strike Muunlist map. Again, we played 150 points.

My squad:

• Emperor Palpatine
• Darth Vader, Imperial Commander
• Admiral Ozzel
• Stormtrooper x2
• Raxus Prime Trooper x2
• EVO Trooper x2

His squad:

• General Grievous, Supreme Commander
• Battle Droid Officer
• Super Battle Droid x2
• Guard Droid x2
• I think that’s it?

This game started out pretty awesomely for me as I rolled a 6 on the first initiative roll and added 2x Stormtroopers and 2x Raxus Prime Troopers thanks to Ozzel’s Imperial Reserves 20 ability. First turn was a lot of moving through cover and Fred moving GG and crew through some rooms on one side of the map. Second turn I started moving Palps into the rooms to engage GG. I was able to Force Lightning GG a couple of times and eventually get Vader into melee range. Unfortunately, the Guard Droids did some serious damage to him and he fell at the hands of GG. Palpatine took care of GG right after that. We called the game around there due to time. That game was a blast as I felt less like I was losing right off the bat.

I’m digging this game more and more as I play it.

After Brian and I played Pulp City a few times on a 4′ x 4′ board, we determined that we need to play on a smaller space (2′ x2′) since it took forever for the two teams to make contact. We also decided to give Agendas a try.

Brian’s Team:

• Guerilla w/Ammo Feed & Tracker
  
• Hellsmith w/Hellhammer
• Chimp-Chi w/San-en Ninjaken
• Gentleman w/Sniper Rifle & Brace of Pistols
• Nuke w/Radioactive Substance

My list was:

• Iron Train w/High-Octane Fuel
• Androida w/Advanced Sentry Bot
• Ace of Wraiths w/Hellstromm and Hangman
• Red Riding Hoodoo w/Zombie Wolf
• Solar w/Ahau-Kin’s Tiara

We drew Agendas randomly and I ditched “Evil Ritual” since it is a Villains only Agenda. Brian ditched “Rob the Money” due to its complexity. Brian ended up with “We Must Eliminate This One” (Iron Train) and “Those Who Run Will Live to Fight Another Day!”. I had “The Chosen May Not Perish” (Red Riding Hoodoo) and “Defenders of the Innocent”.

The first problem we had with this small of a board was the lack of space to place the citizens where they weren’t just in a line in the center of the table. To complicate things, Chimp-Chi’s “Sneaky Git” ability allows him to deploy further in. We did end up getting the citizens properly placed and began the game. For most of the game, I won the starting roll each round and moved a number of citizens (usually 6!) as close as possible to my side of the board. Brian spent the first couple of activations killing citizens. Through use of the “Beacon of Hope” action, I was able to get most of the citizens to the edge of the board, though we weren’t sure if they were allowed to leave the board. That I can remember, there weren’t too many amazing moves made by either of us, but later in the game, he started winning the starting roll more regularly. In the end, I’d rescued 5 citizens and he’d killed 3. I also completed “The Chosen May Not Perish”, giving me a total of 2 Agenda Points. Brian did complete “We Must Eliminate This One”, but lost 3 Agenda points for “Those Who Run Will Live To Fight Another Day” as only Nuke had crossed the halfway line ending with a -1 score.

I really like this game. It’s a ton of fun. Brian and I are the only ones in the group to try it yet, so we usually just throw down when nothing else strikes our fancy.