The Scrutator Semper Chronicles V

Chapter One: The Relics of Saint Malathric

Part Five: It’s Strong, And It’s Sudden, And It’s Cruel Sometimes…

“The field guns thundered, and the Menite camp was sundered by concussive blasts. The gun crews paused as their officer sighted down a telescope. There were still pavilions left standing, even as others were consumed in flames. He raised a hand, and the gun crews went about their work, priming the huge cannons and loading them, soon ready to fire again. He dropped his hand, and the volley roared forth. To the west of the artillery in the foothills that surrounded Tighrael there was a rustle of undergrowth and the sound of boots moving quickly. This strikeforce of Exemplars, led by High Exemplar Gavram Kreoss, had left their camp under cover of darkness, leaving most of the tents still standing but empty as a prime target for the enemy guns.

The Exemplars sally forth!

Warpcon 2014 – Game four.

After 3 rounds and the end of Day 1 the Cork lads head down to a watering hole or two to discuss their games and drink away sorrows. Most of the time is spent giving Pat abuse, making him recount his loss every time a new person turns up and says “Pat?!? You LOST A GAME?!”. Take it as a compliment!

I have an Appletini, the Champion’s Tipple of Choice, and resolve to drink lightly so I’m on form for the next day.

One Appletini, 5 Vodkas and a tower of Cocktails later I’m at home having nightmares about Cryx and Trolls. So much for a light evening. I blame Pat.

I’m picked up by my Driver and we head over to the tournament, grabbing a coffee and a baguette full of meat before Day 2 and Round 4 kicks off.

What I Learned on the Forums This Week 39

Hello dear reader! My introduction this week comes with ill tidings as I have been struck down in my prime with the dreaded Con Lurgy! Don’t weep for me friends for I go to a better place! A place of sitting on the couch reading what stupid people have to say on the internet for hours at a time. A place where I can engage in an argument on the internet and win in as much a way as anyone can win an argument on the internet. Which is to say that I have lost but even more than that I am lost. Lost in the waves of misinterpreting what people said and petty insults. With any luck and a healthy dose of ibuprofen I will emerge stronger than I was before. Or at least not sick anymore.

Warpcon 2014 – Game three.

I’m 2-0 after Round 2 and going into the last round of the day, I’d really like to finish with a perfect spread. I’m drawn against Dan, who has some lovely yellow and blue Cygnar. He’s packing eCaine with a Hunter and ALL the solos, and eHaley with a Stormwall and Ol’ Rowdy.

I figure he’s probably going to drop eCaine because of Conquest, but I can’t take Vlad2 because Caine can kill basically all of my Doomreavers on Turn 1, and I really don’t want that, so it’s eSorscha vs eCaine.

Warpcon 2014 – Game two.

After a solid 5-1 Scenario victory in Round 1, I’m drawn against another Khador player, Killian, who received the Bye in Round 1.

He’s got Butcher3 and Karchev, which means Sorscha is getting another run out. I’m not sure Vlad can deal with either list, as there’s a lot of armour in both lists.

Warpcon 2014 – Game one.

This weekend, Cork was host to the first big Warmachine and Hordes event of the Irish Calender, Warpcon 2014, which is held every year in UCC. 25 players traveled from across Ireland to take part, trekking from as far away as 2 hours on the train. It’s a small country ok?

The Scrutator Semper Chronicles IV

Chapter One: The Relics of Saint Malathric

Part Four: An Angel Named Clarence

In which Master Siskington escapes his richly-deserved punishment in exchange for of a life of adventure.

The discerning reader will realise that I could not write this memoir if I had died that fateful evening garroted on the floor of my bedsit flat above a garlic shop, and this is of course this case. I did lose consciousness however, so what happened next I only have second-hand.

The Scrutator Semper Chronicles III

Chapter One: The Relics of Saint Malathric

Part Three: The Standoff at Tighrael

“The weak winter sun reached its zenith as the Errant phalanx moved into position behind the abandoned shell of the clocktower. They were the forerunners for the small exploratory force, sent to see how far the Cygnarans had taken control of the town, known as Tighrael in ages before. Now it was nothing, just a collection of ramshackle buildings that even the rats had abandoned. Grass grew waist-high in the streets, heavy with frost, and the Errants took full advantage. Their white armour and chainmail belied their ability to move in silence and blend in to their surroundings. They hunkered down against a collapsed wall and waited.

After a few minutes’ wait the forward scout of these forerunners returned to his brothers-in-arms. He emerged from a clump of grass running and bent almost double, keeping his head below any windows that might give him away. He stopped beside the phalanx leader, and whispered urgently into her ear. She risked a glance over a nearby window sill, off to the southwest. Sure enough, a faraway flash of blue confirmed the report, and soon the telltale clank-clank-hiss of a warjack carried on the afternoon air. The Cygnarans were on their way.

She swept her hand back towards the north, the way they had come, and the phalanx was on the move once more. Keeping the clocktower between them and any keen-eyed Cygnarans, they hit the tall grasses on a near rise and disappeared from sight.”

The Menites surge into Tighrael to find the sacred relics.

What I Learned on the Forums This Week 38

Welcome to a topsy-turvy edition of On the Forums in which the Circle and Legion forums decide to be weirdly shitty while the Ret and Troll forums are strangely reasonable. I’m going to go ahead and blame it on the Polar Vortex since that’s a thing that happened recently. I’m pretty sure at some point in this series we proved that correlation implies causation and something happening near something else is basically correlation. So there you go folks, this week’s article is brought to you by snow! Enjoy!

Starting Warmachine and Hordes: What is the Game like?

Greetings readers! I’ve been unfaithful. I decided to look at other miniatures wargames, particularly small-scale skirmish based ones to see how well balanced they are and how they compare to Warmachine. I honestly didn’t find anything that answered my questions, so if anyone has a good/great place where mini wargames are compared objectively, please share! (I was looking at Malifaux, and especially Infinity).

It made me want to provide an overview of Warmachine that will tell you what to expect once you reach the real core of the game and the experience it provides. No-one wants to invest tens of hours and hundreds of monies only to realise they don’t like the game as it plays in actuality.