THE WAR LEAGUE BEGINS NOW

http://www.privateerpressforums.com/index.php?showtopic=176321

We have a total of 10 players throwing down in the War League.

Factions have been chosen.

Challenges have been made.

Play Like You Got A Pair!

BLOOD!

Chest of Colors has a short but good article about a blood effect for your models. Check out the article and if you decide to experiment, please let me know. If you take some pictures and send them to me, I will post them here.

MINE RAID: CAINE

The picture above shows how Caine was able to get up on a low wall, start blasting with his pistols, pop his feat, and turn a failed assassination run by Magnus into a warcaster kill.

MINE RAID: MERC

Magnus had been using the mine as a hideout. He was dealing in blackmarket 'jack parts with a few members of a pirate crew. Caine had managed to show up right in the middle of the transaction, so the two forces join in an effort to eliminate a common foe.

I deployed Magnus to the top of the ramp, and clustered his force around him. Boomhowler and the boys would act as a living wall to draw out the enemy and allow for Magnus and his 'jacks to get in close for some hack-n-slash. I planned to utilize the narrow center of the board with the walls to tie up the Cygnar force and limit clear shooting lanes. If you look at the picture below you might notice a "stone boulder" in the lower left corner. This piece of terrain was allowed to be used as a missile. We worked this out as a Special Action ahead of time. I really wanted to get my Freebooter up to the boulder and toss it at the enemy, so I made sure that happened. The Mule and Renegade didn't waste any time popping the boys in blue with their ranged attacks, right before Boomhowler and his boys smashed into the enemy lines.

In the picture above you can see that the Mule took up position right in from of the section of Cracked Tile which counted as Rough Terrain. The Mule and Renegade both popped the Defender hoping that this would somehow help Boomhowler and Company. Luckily, it did. With the Defender's Movement sytem knocked out it made Boomhowler's job a little easier.

The Renegade did its terrible work on the Hunter but only after taking a nasty shot on approach.

Boomhowler and his boys put axe to metal, trying their best to hold out against an onslaught of Cygnar Warjacks. The tight spaces helped to tarpit both armies for a short period of time on the right hand side of the board.

Meanwhile, Magnus was able to run ahead on the left hand side of the board. The Freebooter tossed the boulder and took out a couple of Arcane Tempest Gun Mages. Squish! Magnus was able to engage the GMCA in melee. Megan was unwilling to use the Gun Mages or Caine to fire into combat in case she would actually miss and hit her own GMCA. Magnus easily cut down the GMCA and made a wild rush to assassinate Caine. However, in the end, Caine survived the assasination run. My own "bold" move actually was my demise. Caine flashed to the top of a low wall, blasted away with his pistols and then popped his feat. When it was all over, Magnus was down for the count.

Cygnar had control of the Mine, and had captured The Traitor!

MINE RAID: CYGNAR

Megan's main focus was to engage Boomhowler at the middle of the board in order to block charge lanes and limit LOS from Magnus and his 'jacks to Caine. Although this plan worked to tie up the right hand side of the board, the left was wide open. Magnus was able to rush in and flank the Cygnar force by using the walls for cover. In the picture below you can see that Magnus is engaging the Gun Mage Captain Adept in the far left corner of the picture.

Megan attempted to use her superior firepower to weaken (soften up) Magnus and his 'jacks before they could enter melee. This tactic worked fairly well. Magnus was actually able to run into combat, engage models, and remain in constant melee. This was a bold move, but made Megan make a few hard choices with whether to fire into combat or select other targets.

In my next post, I will focus on the Merc side of the battle.

And I'll tell you who won ... and how.

Until next time, keep rollin' sixes.

MINE RAID: DEPLOYMENT

We enjoy little stories with our games. So we made up our own. The idea was that Magnus was found to be roosting in an abandoned mine within Cygnar's territory making some deals with various Pirate outlaws. Who knows what schemes the villian is planning right under the boots of our the heroic Cygnar citizens? Caine rounds up a posse and rides out, brashly deciding to engage Magnus within the confines of the mine.

Megan took:

Faction: Cygnar

Model Count: 12

Victory Points: 16
Lieutenant Allister Caine

> Hunter

> Hunter

Journeyman Warcaster

> Defender

Gun Mage Captain Adept

Stormsmith

Arcane Tempest Gun Mages [6]

and I took:

Faction: Four Star Syndicate

Model Count: 14

Victory Points: 19
Magnus The Traitor

> Renegade

> Freebooter

> Mule

Bosun Grogspar

Dirty Meg

Master Gunner Dougal MacNaile

Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator

Greygore Boomhowler & Co. [6]

SETTING IT UP

Depending on what sets you have in your collection, setting up Dwarven Forge for use in a game of WARMACHINE can be as simple as trying to create wide rooms and double sized hallways. There will be narrow sections where only small based models will be able to enter, but that's okay. Just discuss it ahead of time with whomever you're playing with and make sure you're both on the same page as to entryways and which size model can fit where in the game.

Personally, I have the following sets: Cavern Set, Cavern Passage Set, Two Fantasy Room sets, a Narrow Passage Set, an Advanced Builder set, the Wicked Additions #1 and #2 sets, a Room and Passage set, two Ogre Den's, a Sci-Fi Alpha Expansion set, and 12 of the 6" x 6" Square Floor sections. So I have a lot of different options for setting up and arranging the sets in such a way to create a good WARMACHINE environment.
Megan and I cleared a spot and put together a layout on a 24" by 48" section of Battle Board.

We agreed that the Pool would be considered Deep Water. The Pillars would block LOS. The Crypts were considered Impassable. And the Cracked Tile sections would be Rough Terrain. The sections of DF walls are considered to be ARM 18 with 1 Damage Capacity per inch. Walls that block Warjack entry may be destroyed to create Breaches. All normal tile and stone sections of flooring are considered Open Terrain.

Megan decided to play Cygnar and I would play Mercenaries.

USING DWARVENFORGE FOR WARMACHINE

Okay, first off let's be clear. I am not employed by Privateer Press or Dwarven Forge. So what I am discussing here is not some expert information that should be etched in stone. It's opinion, folks. This is in fact ... a blog. I am simply a fan of both companies and the product that they have supplied to fellow geeks like myself.

If you don't know what WARMACHINE is exactly ... Why not?! Go here and read about it. I include this because I recently posted some pictures in the Dwarven Forge forums and many of the hobbyists there were not familiar with Privateer Press (PP) or WARMACHINE.

Likewise, if you have no idea what Dwarven Forge might be, click here. They make really cool polystone terrain pieces that can be used to create buildings, dungeons, caverns, and more.

So anyway...

If you plan to use Dwarven Forge (DF) stuff as terrain for games of WARMACHINE, please understand that there are some basic elements you have to wrap your head around:

• DF is made for 25mm miniatures. So in a game like WARMACHINE where the small bases are 30mm, you're not going to always be able to squeeze your medium and large based models into the terrain pieces. No big deal though, because this can add an interesting aspect to playing a game of WARMACHINE in a DF environment: limited access. Small based models can go into the tighter places and larger based models can't follow.


• Collecting miniatures is not an inexpensive hobby. Both PP and DF could be considered expensive to collect. I really don't want to go into discussion about this because if you collect miniatures, you already know where I'm coming from. We love our toys so 'Nuff said.


• DF WARMACHINE games are best played in 2x2 or 3x3 game areas. That's my opinion. It gives you enough space to set up environments of both "outside" and "inside." I will discuss this later.


• A game of WARMACHINE using DF pieces will more than likely take place ... inside. Yes, battles can occur inside. It might be a duel or skirmish between small forces in a mine, a building, or an ancient temple. No matter where it takes place, the idea will be that most of the fighting will be played out as if the models were inside rather than on a battlefield.


• Set up and tear down can be tiresome. Since DF stuff is modular, it's awesome because you can set up your maze or dungeon however you wish depending on what sets and pieces you own. But I know that the "worst" part of playing any game is cleaning up and packing up. SO not only will you be putting away all your models into foam trays, but you'll be packing up individual pieces of DF terrain too.

That's all I have for now. I'll take some pictures, and post some more information soon. I might even play out a MKII Field Test using some of my DF terrain and post a short battle report.

Leave a comment if you wish, and check back soon.

SUPPLY DEPOTS IDEAS FOR YOUR IRON KINGDOM SCENERY

The next issue of NO QUARTER is supposed to feature some information on railroads in the Iron Kingdom. Being a fan of both real life and model railroads, this sounds like a good thing to me. If you're designing a railroad layout, one idea might be to recreate a supply depot.
Now, I'm making an assumption here. I'm assuming that an Iron Kingdoms steam locomotive is fueled by coal and water, not wood and water. In the United States up until 1870, almost all of the steam locomotives burnt wood rather than coal. However, as it became obvious that coal was the more readily available (and I guess better) resource, they switched from wood to coal.
I'm also not taking into consideration any bells and whistles that might come from magic. I'm sure that considering that the Iron Kingdoms is a high magic environment that magic will take some effect on the powering, maintaining, and so forth of IK Railroads. Heck, maybe there will be Railcasters that operate trains like a Warcaster operates Warjacks. Who knows.
So anyway...
Steam locomotives need constant maintenance, supply, and waste disposal. So along the service lines, depots were built to meet these needs in a "quick" and "efficient" manner. The expectation of a supply depot would be to hold, maintain, and store the basic materials needed to keep the trains running from point A to point B. If we ignore the complicated systems of signage, switching (including Wye and turn abouts), markings, signaling, and man power ... we can focus on supply issues.
COAL: Coal burning steam engines require tender bunkers. A medium sized 32-foot tender holds about 15 tons of coal. Larger tenders could be filled to capacity at about 22 tons. Depending on the number of locomotives operating on a given track, and the distance required to travel from point A to point B, a basic supply terminal usually needs about 28 tons of coal every day for each operating steamer assuming that the locomotive was making a round trip. That's a lot of coal. Thank Marrow for Labor Jacks, huh?

WATER: Water is essential in the powering of steam locomotives. I read recently that it takes about 15,000 gallons of water to properly operate a steam train running under full power for a typical run from point A to point B. In Pennsylvania, rail companies required that servicing companies station a water tank every twenty miles along a given railway. Why? To avoid BOILER EXPLOSION. If you run into a problem during transition, get short on the supply of water and allow the boiler area above the firebox to boil down to nothing ... then BOOM! And let's face it ... BOOM ... isn't going to make for a good day on any railroad. So the Iron Kingdoms would need a constantly supply and resupply of water throughout their lines. Also, the maintenance of watering stations would be very important. So considering that the Iron Kingdoms is constantly at war, crippling supply lines of water would be a key objective.

ASHES: Burning coal leaves waste products including ashes, cinders, and clinkers. However, ash-pan capacities do not appear to be a readily available steam statistic. We can figure that the most basic characteristic of coal is that it leaves 10% waste when being burned for steam power. So if the basic steam locomotive supposedly needs almost 50 tons of coal every day to complete a "long round trip" and there are at least two locomotives running on each expanse of track (One for main line and one for service line) then a typical depot might be taking in about 10 tons of ash waste every day. The service lines would quickly become littered with cinder cars and ash pits. So in that case, it would make sense that a typical Iron Kingdoms mainline would need at least three different trains running at a time: one for main transport, one for supplies, and the last for disposal of waste. And the last two are just to maintain a single service station. (But again, I am making assumptions. We'll see what NO QUARTER'S article has to say...)

SAND: Sand is needed for a servicing station. Steam locomotives are equipped with sandboxes from which sand can be deployed to the rails to improve braking and traction in wet or icy weather. A sandbox on a large locomotive can hold up to 60 cubic feet of sand. A typical 40 foot gondola can hold about 1000 cubic feet of sand in a 50 ton load. So depending on the weather, and the need for sand, a typical depot may be filling and refilling the sand towers and sand houses repeatedly.

So the typical WARMACHINE layout featuring a depot could allow for a lot of interesting scenery. You've got multiple crisscrossing tracks, including a possible Wye or a roundhouse if you're into modelling such things. Water towers, sand towers, ash pits, and outbuildings would be a must. You could also add in some free standing gondolas or freight cars that are being used for storage or waiting for transport.
I'm looking forward to reading more about Railroads in the Iron Kingdoms. How about you? Feel free to leave me a comment.

WARMACHINE + DWARVENFORGE

I have an extensive collection of Dwarvenforge terrain and pieces.

I will discuss in future posts how and why to use Dwarven Forge with WARMACHINE.

Stay Tuned.

CHALK WASHES AND OIL PAINTS

Steam Technology, whether we are discussing real life 19th century Steam Locomotives or fictional Iron Kingdoms Warjack Technology, is dirty business. The smokebox of a boiler spews steam out of stacks creating a significant amount of smoke, sparks, and hot air. These engines were dirty to be around, and much more so to maintain.

You can help simulate this by weathering your models. You already know about dry brushing and ink washes, but do you know about using oil paints and chalk washes to weather your miniatures?

Oil paints are good for creating patches or streaks of rust for figures or structures. Mostly, you would use darker colors of brown and brown-orange for rust spots and black or brown-black for larger streaked areas to simulate oil leaks or spills. Once you’ve applied the base coat of colors on the model, you can take an old brush with mineral spirits to streak the rust color down the side of the model to simulate age. Again, you can either be very subtle in doing this or just go wild with it. Depends on which faction you are painting and how well maintained the model would normally be: Cryx probably maintains their 'jacks in a different manner than Cygnar. Keep in mind that it will take about 2 days for the oil paints to dry before you can do anything else with the model. Using a hair dryer or a low heat lamp may help with drying time.

In the same manner, artist’s crayons can be used for creating cool streaking effects, but they are especially useful for highlighting raised surfaces.

Chalk is also a great way to weather models. You can use chalk dust to lightly sift over buildings to simulate dust and dirt from everyday life. You can also use chalk to simulate mortar lines in textured model brick walls. Rub chalk dust over the model wall allowing the dust to gather in the low places of the model. Then simply take a dry, clean brush and brush away the dust from the higher surfaces of the textured brick wall. The dust should remain in the low places to help simulate the white or gray mortar lines of the brick.

Chalk Washes work well too. Simply use sandpaper to grind down some chalk into a fine dust. Mix this with clean water. I recommend using a small 3 oz cup like the ones sold in the Paper Supplies Isle of your favorite local grocery store. Fill that about half way, and then add the chalk dust to the water. Add about the same amount as would be in a sugar packet. Mix this well. You may have to experiment, adding more or less depending on how deep you wish the color to be in the wash. Then using a clean brush, paint on the wash as you would any other wash. The wash will settle into the low places, joints, and so forth of the model you're weathering. After you've applied a single coat, set the model aside and allow it to air dry. The water with evaporate, leaving the chalk behind to create a grimy, weathered look. (This is really nice to use around smoke stacks and chimneys to simulate ash and smoke stains and markings.) You will likely have to use a clear coat matte sealer to protect the chalked look as it could smear with rough handling.

So that's about all I have to offer for now. If you feel like trying out any of these little tricks, please check back in with me. Tell me if you liked the effect or if it was a waste of time. Either way, keep learning new skills in your hobby. It keeps things interesting, and fresh.

See you next time.

THE WAR LEAGUE

You are invited to our Friendly Local Gaming Store (FLGS) in the the DuBois Mall to participate in the War League.

Come on out and have some fun.

Sign up before April 21st.

Anyone is invited to participate but only those signed up before the 21st will be considered League Members.

Only League Members may score League Points.

Only League Members will be awarded prizes.

<<>

Prizes will be supplied by Rich.

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MKII SIEGE + CHARGER

Major Markus 'Siege' Brisbane: Explosivo - When target friendly model makes a normal attack with a ranged weapon, the weapon causes magical damage and become AOE 3 if it was AOE -, then Explosivo expires.

Charger: Duel Cannon: Powerful Attack - When attacking with this weapon, this model may spend 1 focus point to boost all attack and damage rolls for the attack.

If Siege casts Explosivo on a Charger and the Charger attacks with it's Duel Cannon and uses Powerful Attack then all the blast damage rolls be boosted as well.

AN AD FOR ANCON

Copied and Pasted from the recent AnCon newsletter:

April 24th is the Ancon Pre-registration and Gamer Bounty Hunter deadlines. All pre-registration forms must be received by then and online registrations completed. PDF Pre-registration and Gamer Bounty Hunter forms are available on the AnCon Web site; www.anothergamecon.com.

AnCon Pre-registration is over 120 people at this time with more coming in daily. Our goal for the show is a minimum 300 people, but we would like to build the show to 500 people annually. Please pass on this email and the show information to your friends and family.

Version 3 of the AnCon Pre-registration Book PDF is up! It is so large we put it up in 2 parts. We have over 200 events scheduled for the weekend. 18 exhibiting companies with games, dice, cards, shirts and more. A used Games Auction with Paul Delhia as our Auctioneer. www.AuctionByDelphia.com.

We are starting work on the AnCon Onsite Book. All events received from now until April 24th will be included in the Onsite Book. Further events submitted after then will be put into an update flyer onsite.

AnCon has a myspace page, myspace.com/anothergamecon and a facebook group, http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=31236569371. Join us as friends and keep up with information on the show.

Super Dave Radzik

AnCon '09: Another Game Convention
May 15-17, 2009
Clarion (formerly Holiday Inn) Hudson - NE Ohio 330-908-3970
Web Site: www.anothergamecon.commyspace.com/anothergameconhttp://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=31236569371http://www.fallensword.com/?ref=1697412

BLINDED TO DEATH!

What happened at Schism, you ask?

This was my 8th official tournament that I played in rather than hosting. I took an entire year to run events, visit PA hobby shops, and basically pimp the game to the fans. So I'm trying to work on getting in more practice games, and getting in more tournament experience. I get so nervous in tournament environments when I play. I don't know why. I guess it's just stage fright. I'm getting better though!

Let's talk about my first game. The guy I played (sorry forget your name) was great. He was friendly, had a nicely painted army, and had this Agonizer that was mounted on the base with a Bobblehead type spring that allowed it to bounce around and look like it was having fits. It was posed to appear to be laying on its back. I enjoyed the game because my opponent was a great guy and obviously a good player.

Well, let's talk about my choice of Lists here first. I went infantry heavy, and that was a mistake. I should have balanced my lists better however I had this idea of just cluttering up the board with lots of troops. Usually my army list is 'jack heavy with solos and few units. I decided for the hell of it I'd go the other way and go troop heavy and only have a few 'jacks. Baaaad mistake. What I learned: Balance! Balance is the key.

Anyway, my first game is pictured above. I was using Epic Caine. My opponent won the roll off, and he chose to pick himself at the First Player. If you look closely you can see that I ended up with a good sized hill on my left, a forest template right in the middle of my deployment zone, and a big tower in the middle of the board.

My opponent was using Lord Assassin Morghoul. My lack of knowledge of this Warlock would soon be painfully obvious...

So anyway, I got schooled on Skorne. Big time.

I have to tell you: My Storm Lances got hosed by his Venators. I mean, those little buggers tore my boys apart. They are considered to be average models, but their ability to hit and destroy large based models, even up to ARM:20 is definately true. In one turn I lost my Unit Leader, and had both other models injured. Yeah, I only took 3 Stormlances. Those Venators (which I now call Ventilators) groups up on the left side of the board next to the tower and shot their godawful CRA madness at me.

But I was cool. I tried to see the imminent and immediate loss of the Stormlances as acceptable losses. At least the frickin' buggers weren't in the middle of the board tearing apart my units. I moved the Long Gunners to get in some good shots, placed my Steelheads and Storm Guard in a position that Reach would help to tear up his Warbeasts, and positioned Caine in the forest after taking a few shots. I made sure that there was a mighty amount of troops between his Warlock and my Warcaster. I figured I was cool. WRONG!

My opponent popped out a couple of Animii, and then Feated Morghoul. Blinded every enemy he can see within his control radius. Because of the way I positioned my units to avoid tramples and to bog down his Heavy Warbeasts ... that made the feat hit the entire center of my army including Caine. (Although in retrospect I wonder if Caine was far enough into the woods that he would not have been blinded?) Anyway, Morghul just danced in and murdered Caine. Zip. Bam. Dead. I was like, "What? Can I see that card please?!" Sheesh. I really should study HORDES more. My lack of knowledge about Epic Morghoul was definately a downfall.

My response was: "Wow." Pause. "Wow, that's crazy." Then I started laughing, shook hands, and discussed the game briefly before moving to a different table.

I played "Robbo" next and his very nicely painted Legion army.

But that's a story for next time...

MKII ARCANE TEMPEST GUN MAGES

Well, then. I guess I won't be frying cortexes with my Gun Mages anymore, huh?

They are FA 2 so that's cool because of course I have two units of the silly hatted fellas.

Gun Mages in MKII cost 7 points and now wield magical magelock pistols.

Their stat line stayed the same except for a drop in ARM.

Arcane Inferno is now a CRA with POW 10 instead of 14.

And they don't have Shocker anymore, but they do have a nice choice of three different Arcane Effects.

I always liked the Gun Mages. I liked the look of the model, and the fluff. I can still see me using the Gun Mages but they seem a little lackluster right now because of what the Dude could give them. Now that The Dude is different, they aren't quite as shiny and cool as I thought they were with the release of Legends. But, it's not the end of the world. They still have some cool abilities and will serve their purpose in a shooty list.

I'm still giving the Gun Mages a thumbs up.

What do YOU think?

RIVETING TOOL

Have crazy money that you don't know what to do with?
What to add a wacky cool toy to your collection of Hobby Tools?
Then click on over to Micro-Mark.
I'm kidding of course.
I love Micro-Mark because they have wild hobby tools that I would love to have but just can't afford to buy.
They have a Rivet Making Device that's right up your alley.
Seriously, if you're making Iron Kingdoms buildings and terrain, this tool would probably pay for itself quickly. Check it out.