Warmachine Batrep: RoS vs. Cygnar

So, I got in a 35 point Warmachine game last night, and apparently the third time is the charm, because I won by a land slide. I went into the store plotting to try out a Garryth list. My opponent for the evening was kind enough to tell me that he was playing a shooty Cygnar army, so I decided to not rely on any stealth lists as I expected any respectable Cygnar shooting list to ignore it. So no Garryth last night. I decided to drop a balanced 35pt Kaelyssa list instead. Not so much for the balance, but because it included my almost completed Imperatus!

Thinking of doing more with the hands and gauntlets.
More pics later!!!

Onto the game summary! The lists were:

Cygnar:
Karra(spelling?), the sniper caster
Reinholdt, the gobber reloader guy
1x Stormwall
1x Squire
1x max unit of Gun Mages with some light jack with a gun that halves armor
1x Random anti-Hordes solo with a short range Bola attack that knocks you down.
1x Journeyman Caster

Retribution:
Kaelyssa, Night's Whisper - WJ: +7
-    Imperatus - PC: 12
-    Aspis - PC: 4

Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios - PC: 3
Mage Hunter Assassin - PC: 2

Houseguard Halberdiers - Leader & 9 Grunts: 7
-    Halberdier Officer & Standard - PC: 2
-    2 1 escort's: 2
Mage Hunter Strike Force - Leader & 9 Grunts: 8
-    Strike Force Commander - Commander 2

42 / 42 (35+7)    Warcaster(s) : 1/1    Warjack(s) : 2    Battle Engines : 0    Solos : 2    Units : 2


Yikes! My first game against a colossal 'jack. It was a little daunting not knowing what it was capable of, but I ended up with a good match up against it.

Cygnar won the starting roll and decided to choose board edge and deploy second. I set up my houseguard and battlegroup in the center; houseguard slightly to the left and Kaelyssa slightly to the right. Cygnar dropped Stormwall opposite Kaelyssa and his gun mages opposite my houseguard. I then advanced deployed the MHSF on the right flank (hoping that 'jack hunter would help take it out), and on the left flank I put Eiryss and the MHA.

With deployment out of the way, I pretty much just ran everything up the board for my first turn. The houseguard moved up in shield wall. On Cygnar turn one, my opponent tried to clog the right side of the board with templates from Stormwall to close off some charge lanes. Karra manages to snipe a couple of the MHSF grunts.

On turn two, I moved the houseguard up in shield wall again to jam the movement of the gun mages and screen Kaelyssa. The MHSF moved around the templates to get into the side of the Stormwall, and then take some pot shots and actually do some modest damage. At this point, I had a plan to charge the Cygnar solo guy with Imperatus, and then side step my way to Stormwall. Imperatus sadly failed it's charge. The MHA charged the Stormwall and put some decent damage on it. Kaelyssa then moved up with the Aspis. I should have used my feat here, but I forgot to. On Cygnar turn two, Karra used her feat and the entire Cygnar army had a very underwhelming turn. All told, I think they managed to kill 2-3 more MHSF, the MHA, and 2 houseguard.

On my turn three, I decided to get aggressive. The houseguard charged into the gun mages and decimated the unit leaving two alive. I then used my reform move to help block Karra's maneuverability. The MHSF unloaded into the Stormwall again, this time almost completely destroying it's left half. Imperatus charged Stormwall, completely wrecking it's right half, setting it on fire, and used it's side step moves to just be a hair away from engaging Karra. On Cygnar turn three, my opponent did not have a lot of great options. The Gun Mage leader ran away from his combat (surviving three free strikes) to engage Imperatus and stop me from walking into Karra. Karra couldn't move towards Kaelyssa without engaging my houseguard or Imperatus, so she stood her ground and tried to blow up Imperatus, which she did....but then it came back. Troll-face engage.

On turn four, Imperatus wrecked the Stormwall, and then dug into Karra hitting her once and setting her on fire. I missed my last attack. My houseguard tighten the noose around her neck, but don't manage to kill her off. On Cygnar turn four, my opponent decided that the only way to win would be for Karra to expose herself and try and assassinate Kaelyssa. Karra runs out of combat with three houseguard and Imperatus, taking no free strike damage and shoots Kaelyssa in the face. She does heavy damage with a boosted die roll, but it isn't enough to kill Kaelyssa. Deciding to use her remaining focus to cast offensive spells, she ends up triggering Witch Hound, allowing Imperatus to move and attack her. Amazingly, Imperatus misses again, but now Karra is out of options.

My turn five, I boost to hit with Imperatus, decimating Karra and lighting her remains on fire. Victory! And now, more Imperatus pics! I apologize for the yellowing in the photos. I still don't have a good light box setup yet :(

Retribution of Scyrah WIP

I have been super busy getting all of my Myrmidons painted, and I am on track to finish them this week! I went with a similar style to the studio scheme from Privateer Press, with a little bit of airbrush magic. I have a few pictures to share of my WIP stuff. I apologize for the quality though. The light in my work area is very yellow, and I don't have a light box yet. Also, these were taken with my cell phone. Apologies out of the way, now lets move on to the fun stuff.

My airbrushed priming/basing process is:

1. Prime model completely black.
2. Using a zenithal technique, prime the model with grey primer from a roughly 45 degree angle. All of the black should be covered (very lightly, more of a tint) except for in the deepest recesses.
3. After the grey, do the same with a very thin white from a near vertical angle.
4. For a basecoat, coat the entire model in a very thin mix of PP Underbelly blue and Army Painter matte white.

Following those four steps took no time at all, and created a nice gradient of color all over the model ranging from very cool blue-grays in the shadows to white for the highlights. Now that the model is primed and mostly base coated:

1. Lightly spray around the "power nodes" with PP Arcane blue to be the base of a glow effect.
2. All of the nodes, metal bits, hands, and weapons get coated with PP Pig Iron (via brush). 
3. The "swirls" surrounding the power nodes were lined with a GW dark blue ink. I can't remember the name of it off the top of my head.
4. Exhaust vents got PP turquoise ink for the start of a glow effect.
5. Sword and Halberd casing got hit with a mix of Pig Iron, blue ink, and red ink to make a purple metallic color (recipe right out of the RoS book).

My Iaijutsu Phoenix

Whew, done with the base coat! That process isn't so bad, but I was doing 16 warjacks all at once. My hands were actually a little cramped when I was done. At this point, I created a save point by spraying a coat of Liquitex gloss varnish via airbrush and then took these pictures. Left to do are my highlights, small details, and basing. Thanks to the way I primed/based the armor, I actually don't think I am going to do any traditional highlights there. Most of the highlighting will be for the metallics. I plan to use Vallejo MA Steel, and then wash everything in GW Nuln Oil (which is an amazing ink). I also plan to point Nuln Oil in the recesses between the armor plates. I don't know why, but I hate the glow all over thing that is in the studio scheme. I think they really went overboard with it.

So, I think that was more than enough words. Moar Picturez!

The Hydra reminds me of the Hulk...

I wish I had a better pose for Imperatus.
Sadly I pinned the hell out of him before I checked what
the pose would look like....lesson learned.

Manticore!

Well, that's it for now. I did some more work last night on Imperatus, and he is looking pretty spiffy. I should have some more (and hopefully better) shots by the end of the week!