Mum always called me the blue screen of her life.

If you prick us, do we not bleed?
If you poison us, do we not die?
NO! Because we're better than all you stinking fleshbags!
Viva La Robolution!
- Quote from a Claptrap Propaganda Tower

If I haven't said it before, I'll say it again. I love Borderlands. It's a game that takes itself as far from seriously as reasonably possible, then throws in a few extra feet for good measure. The gameplay is fun, where you run around and shoot as many bullets as possible at something to kill it. At least that's my experience as Roland, who has ammo regeneration. That's probably cheating.

But I've had a lot of fun playing the game, and especially their expansions. Some of the bosses aren't that fantastic. The Destroyer is quite a let down, Dr Ned kinda needs a new tactic, and Generall Knoxx should probably consider getting out of the robot suit.

The fourth expansion takes on a new boss, as you'd expect from something that isn't designed to be an arena *cough*Underdone*cough*. This is Claptraps New Robot Revolution. He has let loose the clap traps from their bonds of slavery and brought forth havoc among the populace of Pandora.

As far as I've found, Claptraps have got about three different classes themselves. Master Samaurai, which are a variant of 3 different figures (A boxer with punching gloves; a random dude with a pair of wooden mallets; and Mr Tee with a pair of knives); Freedom Fighters, firing off a shotgun or a combat rifle; and suicide bots. They also tend to come out in hordes, filing out of a spawn point one after another for much longer than one would hope.

Then he has assimilated older enemies into Claptraps. Psycho-traps; Lance-traps; Skagg-traps; Rakk-traps. Pretty much every enemy has been turned into a variation of a Claptrap, with skin that has been tarnished with mechanical blight, and a giant fuse bulb Vacuum tube stuck into their heads (it's as big as their head again).

The best part is that Claptrap revives old bosses, who are extremely surprised to have been revived.

“Hehe, I'm baaack. Wait, I'm back?!”
General Knoxx -trap

I love this game. I can't wait to finish it. To boot, it's got an additional Eight levels to earn!

Ausnats 2010 Results

http://www.wargamerau.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=103567

Hey all,

My final task before turning in after a long weekend: reporting the results!

First off a few Thank You's.

To all of our sponsors: Ace Comics, Privateer Press, The Tin Soldier, Phoenix Forge, Irresistible Force, Back2Base-IX, Infinity Games, Mana Bar and Stewart's Trophies. They all provided excellent support and the event would not have run at all without them.

To my helpers: Skarburn, Discombobulate, Meatshield, Tilaurin, Norton, Richard & all of the Oz and NZ Press Gang (local and overseas...).

To my family: my ever patient wife, my son, Aunt Mavis and my parents.

To the players: without you all there IS no event and you were a fantastic and patient group. Easily the best group of players I have ever run an event for.

Now for what you all came here for - results!

2010 Warmachine & Hordes Australian Nationals

1 James Kerr-Reeve Protectorate of Menoth Champion, Best of Faction
2 Allen Love Cryx 2nd Place, Best of Faction
3 David Harris Cryx 3rd Place
4 David Lancaster Trollbloods 4th Place, Best of Faction
5 Damien Hutchins Protectorate of Menoth
6 Kieran Moore Cryx
7 Nathan Burns Legion of Everblight Best of Faction
8 Neil Pohlman Mercenaries Best of Faction, Best Dressed (Painted Army)
9 James Rothwell Khador Best of Faction
10 Aaron Davies Trollbloods
11 Kerry Clarkson Minions Best of Faction
12 Leigh Callahan Cygnar Best of Faction
13 Ben Hayes Protectorate of Menoth
14 Ben French Protectorate of Menoth Best Sportsman
15 Daniela Kuckhahn Circle Orboros Best of Faction
16 Rob Blacklock Cygnar
17 Tobias Ford Retribution of Scyrah Best of Faction
18 Rory Cartwright Khador
19 Dave Trueman Cryx
20 Prasant Moorthy Khador
21 Terry Masson Cryx
22 Rolf Heissleitner Cygnar
23 Joshua Claridge Protectorate of Menoth
24 Jonathan Van Vugt Cryx
25 Glenn Blair Protectorate of Menoth
26 Jamie Shirlaw Khador
27 Adrian Roberts Khador
28 Thom Weston Cryx
29 Alex White Cryx
30 Scott Shaw Legion of Everblight
31 Jason Cooper Cygnar
32 The Medway Khador
33 Grahame Roberts Khador
34 Aharon Claridge Cryx Wooden Spoon

Prizes:
First Place: Jackhammer Trophy, Signed copy of Hordes Primal Mk2, $250 Ace Comics Voucher
Second Place: 2nd Place Trophy, $150 Ace Comics Voucher
Third Place: 3rd Place Trophy, $100 Ace Comics Voucher
Fourth Place: 4th Place Trophy, $50 Ace Comics Voucher
Best Dressed: Privateer Press Art Print of Choice, Warmachine Cuff Links
Best Of Faction: Framed Certificate
Best Sportsman: Engraved Tankard, $50 Mana Bar Bar Tab
Wooden Spoon: Wooden Spoon, Hordes T-Shirt.2010 Slam-a-palooza Results

1 Tobias Ford Skorne First Place, Most Warjacks Destroyed (6), Most Successful Power Attacks (12)
2 Scott Shaw Legion of Everblight Second Place, Most Assassinations (3)
3 Kerry Clarkson Minions Third Place
4 Ben French Protectorate of Menoth Most Beasts Killed (4)
5 Rob Blacklock Cygnar
6 Alex White Cryx
7 Dave Trueman Cryx Most Infantry Killed in 1 Turn (13)
8 Nathan Burns Legion of Everblight
9 Jamie Shirlaw Khador
10 Neil Pohlman Mercenaries
11 Daniela Kuckhahn Circle Orboros
12 Rolf Hiessleitner Cygnar
13 Terry Masson Trollbloods
14 Jonathan Van Vugt Cryx Fastest Win (19mins)
15 Glenn Blair Protectorate of Menoth
16 The Medway Minions
17 Aaron Davies Trollbloods
18 Thom Weston Cryx

Prizes:
First Place: Oz Discordia Trophy, $150 Ace Comics Voucher
Second Place: 2nd Place Plaque, $100 Ace Comics Voucher
Third Place: 3rd Place Plaque, $50 Ace Comics Voucher
Other Awards: Plaque, $10 Phoenix Forge Voucher

Painting Competition:
Best Warcaster/Warlock/Solo: Patrick O'Connell (macmusic22) - Major Markus "Siege" Brisbane
Best Warbeast/Warjack: Daniela Kuckhahn (nailyon) - Feral Warpwolf

Prizes:
Framed Certificate, $50 Irresisitible Force Voucher

Thanks again everyone!

Australian Warmachine Nationals Weekend - Day 2

Huh? W hat's the time? I don't have my phone here. Look for the laptop. Nope, it's on the floor. With my phone. Cool. What's the time? 6:24. Right. Isn't that late? No no, surely we should be up at 6:30. Fuck it, I'll got back to sleep.

*ding ding ding ding*

Kelvins phone tinkled in the background from across the hall and made me groan in my mind. Nobody should be awake at 6:30 in the morning. It's an affront to the Powers that Be, who gave us the blessed Sunday to spend sleeping into the wee hours of the afternoon.

No no no, we're playing games today. We're going to enjoy playing games too. Well I am, while Kel runs himself that little more ragged running the event. Today was the SLAM-A-PALOOZA, a stuff around day of gaming for all with fun tables to play on, with their own little themes and features.

The favourite of the day though was “GIT OFFIN MA' LAWN!” where straight in the middle was a small shanty house that house an old man that runs about shooting someone with his... well a good description would be an Elephant Gun.

“Fetch me ma' killin pants!”

But it wasn't entirely fun for all, as we had the finalists from yesterday set up on a table in the corner. The tp four players were facing each other off with larger armies and the determination to go home with the Jackhammer trophy. All four of them would go home with trophies, made up by Humph and Kel themselves, along with other prizes, one of which was picked up by myself at Gencon Indy (A book of Hordes Primal signed by the staff themselves).

I had a fantastic time, even looking after the “Sausages inna bun” stall that was served at lunch. One less thing for Kel to worry about, really, and he was running around like a chook with its head cut off that day. I had myself 3 sausages inna bun, two for the usual and another for my efforts. It went down well with breakfast...

Yes, breakfast: 2 Servo Pies (a normal 'meat' pie, and an Angus Beef pie) mixed with 2 Red Bulls. Everyone could see what was going to happen, and they were standing at least a good metre away from me when they could.

And fuckin jesus they were right. I kept myself moving, just to make sure it doesn't concentrate into a biohazard in that area and that if anyone caught a whiff, they would only catch a small scent of it if anything at all. Kel was the only person who caught it, and that was while we were packing the terrain and stuff into his Man-cave. “Oh Medway that's wrong. Wrong wrong, it's all full of wrongibility.”

Back to the game, and away from the chemical warfare in my bowels, it was a day full of interesting fights with my pig army. Oh man, the Baconation list wasn't going well for me, as first game I lost within the first few turns; the second game was a buy (I don't get why it's supposed to be called a bye); the third game was on “GIT OFFIN MA LAWN” where I almost annihilated the old man in the house on first turn (Looking at my army it looked like everyone was revolting against the farmer) and I lost because Rob was playing a dude who shoots someone so many times that if they're not dead then they're pretty much bullshit; and the fourth game was on a temple table and I lost because I just couldn't roll well enough. And when I roll 5 dice, and have to take away the two best, and I still don't get above 9, it was pretty obvious where the game was headed.

All in all, it was extremely fun. And I know that Kel won't be organising another event for a long time, if at all. It was also a tiring game, so I'm going to go to sleep now. G'night.

Australian Warmachine Nationals Weekend - Day 1

It was a dark and stormy night. A Friday actually, and it wasn't really that dark but it was definitely gloomy and it wanted to storm so bad that it jumped up and down trying to wet itself with anticipation. And it was still only evening.

I'd gotten home to Dee in the kitchen talking with Mel about shenanigans as I packed up my gear to go to Kelvins for the night. Stop to take a call from Scotty to make sure where I was; my two privateer press related shirts; my laptop in case he wants two people to check lists; a network cable in case he didn't get one; stop to take a call from Scotty to ask Kel about whether he could stay the night; pack both my Warmachine: Prime and Hordes: Primal; make sure my wallet is in the bag; pack a pair of pantaloons to sleep in; take another call from Scotty to ask if I'd asked Kel the questions or not, to which his disappointment lay with how I hadn't gotten to Kels yet because I was still packing up my shit.

It was at this point that I was starting to remember why I don't like organising things with Scotty, because he will call you to make sure you're going to do that thing that you were going to do right then and there. It's almost as if he doesn't trust in people. I could understand with Aaron, because Aaron is quite unreliable and will either leave things to the last minute on principle or he will just not turn up at all without notice.

After bumming a lift from Dee to also discuss things like numbers for the house she's buying and I'm renting out of, I finally got to Kel's place, asked the questions Scotty wanted me to ask, and got a call from Scotty to ask if the questions had been asked.

This was the last night though, the night before the Australian Warmachine-Hordes Nationals. I was helping Kel organise the finishing touches with the event, such as event bags and checking army lists that people had sent in. To help pass the time with having background noise, Kel put on Alice in Wonderland, the Tim Burton one. Yeah, didn't really like it. Looked too sensible. And the girl looked like her innards were about to burst out like a waterballoon.

But after that, he really brought on the good stuff by playing Flash Gordon. I'd never seen it before, and neither had Scotty, but sweet jesus titty cinnamon. My favourite character is Dr Zarkov, because he's so ridiculous. "The Sun is not out? CHECK THE ANGLOVECTOR OF THE MOON!"

Also, Scotty and I were sad to discover that Hot Hail is quite lame. With such a fiendish machine that can create a variety of natural disasters, earthquakes, typhoons, hurricanes, why would you even bother putting Hot Hail on there?

Long into the night we prepared, organising prizes, table top terrain, etc etc etc. Midnight we eventually go to bed.


At 5:30 we rose to victory, which smells like reheated hawaiian pizza. Much like the delivered pizza I had last night...

We drove off to the venue, Comic Warriors in Annerley, and we got into the venue thanks to Glen the Owner and we set up the tables with the assistance of Disco, Allan and Olaf. I have no idea who Olaf is, I assume he was here either for "Magic the Gathering" or because he worked there. He was very keen on the game though, and we let him have a browse through the general rulebook to see if there was anything in particular he was keen on.

The day was divided up into 5 rounds between the 34 players that had registered and turned up. Four had to pike at the last minute for various reasons that I'm unaware of and will remain unaware of, so I will just say that they're off saving the galaxy from the moon being drilled by a gigantic laser and eventually causing it to land and making us explode.

The day for me was divided up into 7 parts, and behind the scenes I was messaging Jenny as much as possible to keep her updated with what was happening.

The first part was the first round of the tournament. We got right into it and I was faced up with the only Girl at the event. Righto, I'll take my Heavy Infantry List full of dudes in Steam Powered Armour.

Yeah, she ignored them and took out my Kommander with Teleporting Boulders. Oh sorry, Baulder. My bad. He's the big hippy guy who looks like Brian Blessed? Yeah, he disappears in a group of trees and teleports into a different set of trees near him.

She was nice though. Dani is dating Terry from Adelaide, who is a really nice and funny guy. I faced him at the end of the day at part 6. We found ourselves at the table closest to Kel and, because of the particular list he was fielding which is a REALLY nasty mob of skeletons with massive fuck-off axes, I said he was wearing a Dick Hat to compensate for using said list. Oh how we laughed. A few of the guys next to us were just wanting to get a tape recorder and place it on the table to listen to us yell at each other until we were stupid.

Second game was against Rob, with him using a Themed list as well full of the heavy infantry of his faction, and me using Karchev the Terrible who only lives up to his name when he gets assassinated by a zooming dude with hair spiked up with enough gel to straighten the tower of pisa, waving a big sword and thinking he's oh so scary because he remembered his dick hat this morning and the only reason he wasn't wearing it is because it got crushed in the luggage.

Third game was after lunch, to which we reach the third part. Lunchtime was simply a sausage sizzle out the back. Kel had gotten his aunt over to cook, and boy was she a bloody good sausage cooker (See, I haven't had a decent sausage in months because my roommates always leave them juicy and just that little bit undercooked rather than grilled), and I helped out by guarding the table from fiends who were very keen on the sausage sizzle, not that you can blame anyone. For about an hour (at least it felt it) i was guarding the table and saying the following lines.

"Okay, do you have your white card? When you want your drink, go to the counter, hand it over and grab you drink from the fridge."
"You don't have a card? Go up to the counter, they'll ask for some money and you get a raffle ticket. Bring that to me and I'll take it off your hands."
"You may have two sausages in a bun."
"Yes, that's two... of a sausage in a bun."

Everyone was really good about it, so I was happy with that. I had an extra half sausage for my efforts. Can't go wrong with a cold half sausage that has been cooked properly.

Third game, now, was against a fairly new player with one of the more difficult to face armies. One of those armies that has big buttons all over saying "This is good, and this is good too". Playing the Karchev list again, because he was really fun the other times I played him so why not play him again, I got the moral victory for making him kill EVERY single piece of my army. I think we sat there for a good... 6 turns before he finally whittled me down to nothing.

I was a little disappointed that I didn't have much more of an effect, because I had some bad rolls. Particularly a half dozen Snake Eyes (which are an auto fail on attacks) which would've been wonderful for them to hit. I would've also done better if that fkn elf who turns your warcasters impotent every turn she gets a chance, wasn't there.

Fourth game was my first, and only victory where he had made the fault by spreading himself a little TOO thin across the field and inevitably just ruined his chances for any sort of success. So I threw everything I had with, yes, the Karchev List. I felt a little bad because he knew he had spread himself thin, but *Shrug*.

Skipping the fifth game because we already know about Terry, we move onto the aftermath. Kel, Scotty and I were wasted. We wanted to get some food, and go home. So Terry and Dani joined us for dinner at the Pub across from Comic Warriors, got ourselves a dinner of steaks, lamb cutlets and pies (not in one serving, all different orders of course), before we made the trek back to Kels place to get the last bits and pieces for the event tomorrow and get what shuteye we could.

Speaking of which, goodnight. Talk to you latre. I mean later.

'Jacking in Prime

If there's one thing a Steampunk game must have, it's Giant Robots. Warjacks are that equivalent in Warmachine and fill a particular role of being pillars of Strength and Utility. With high health, armour and damage, they bring a worried face to many of the forces of the Iron Kingdoms.

Khador has a particular playstyle which, personally, can be described in three words: Axe To Face. Three of the Warjacks featured in Prime are a starling example of this. To start, they all have the same stats. Low Speed, Defence and Ranged Accuracy, Average Melee accurasy and High Armour and Strength. While they all match in stats they do come in a variety of flavours and armaments, from melee monsters to the handful of ranged killers.

So what do we have? There's always more than one way to skin an Argus, and the Juggernaut is first to give it a go with his Ice Axe and open fist. He throws himself at the opponent and whales down with such vigour that it leave a massive dent in whoever he's whaling upon, if not destroying them. The Juggernaut is well known for the utility of having an open fist and a very high strength Ice Axe, so strong that only four figures in the game have the same base Power and Strength.

But that's not the only thing that the Ice Axe offers. It's not made of Ice, which is a roaring positive since during summer it would be a little impractical, but it does turn opponent into ice. Critical Freeze is an ability that is few and far between, and even rarer is the immunity to it, and if caught under the effect of it then a figure is in a bit of strife. Melee attacks Automatically hit, and Ranged attacks have to hit a DEF that can only be missed on a roll of Snake Eyes.

But there's a small problem with having a Juggernaut with Critical Freeze. It's not the shake off rule, that's a problem for a lot of figures that can cause Stationary or even Knockdown. And it's not the immunity to it, because you can count the number of figures immune to cold damage on one hand. But it's the fact that the critical freeze is on a very high power attack, which means that even if you freeze a target they probably won't be around for the next attack. Though if they do survive, then you have another attack that doesn't need any boosting to hit, and ranged attacks you can throw in for good measure.

On the other side is a towel draped over the forearm, and holding an engraved silver platter serving what is colloquially known as the Knuckle Sandwich. The Open Fist gives the wonderful option of more Power Attacks, something that can change the game phenomenally... or not at all. You can Throw someone into another figure or you can stop someone from attacking by grabbing onto their weapon, or even their head!

But it's not necessary to have an open Fist to make Power Attacks. You can always perform a Headbutt Power Attack, where you knock them down so you can lay into them a little. While facing small based infantry, Trample has always been a wonderful option as you run over and destroy them by stepping on their heads.

The last option, and wonderful as part of an opening or final move, is Slam. Slam is great for throwing your target into his friends and knocking them down. If a Warcaster is behind a Warjack, for example, the Warjack is thrown a long distance and is knocked down, while the Warcaster is knocked down, along with damage taken everywhere!

There's only one Warjack in Khador that can do a better job of Slamming: The Marauder. Originally a mining jack, Khador figured that if it can do such damage to stone then imagine what it could do to a Warjack! Armed with a pair of Ramming Pistons the Marauder can pound a target into a murky paste, or he can Slam them far away with one single King hit by combining the Power of both of the Pistons.

However, a single high powered attack is not the be-all and end-all of some targets. Occasionally there's the necessity to follow up with something else, such as more hits from a Juggernaut (which will certainly destroy someone) or maybe a ranged attack even. This is where the Destroyer comes in follow his namesake and... well destroy targets.

The Destroyer is a simple jack with an Axe in one hand and a long range cannon in the other. The Axe is reasonably powerful for a Warjack of it's design and, given the opportunity from a critical hit, can cripple both hands of a Warjack in a single stroke. The Cannon is a bit more special, with the Arcing fire ability to help target the poor hapless saps that have been knocked down by the Marauder by ignoring the intervening models.

These are the basic tools of Khador. The only differences between these three warjacks are the weapons they are equipped with. They all have low defence, high armour and are all a bit slow off the mark. Combined with the right Warcaster or 'Jack marshall, they can either make up for the lack of Speed or the accuracy of their attacks.

Marshalls of Khador, however, will be discussed in a later post.

Australian Warmachine Nationals Weekend

I'm excited for this weekend. This weekend is the Australian Nationals for Warmachine-Hordes. I've even gotten my Press Ganger shirt, complete with lanyard holding a small collection of Privateer Press related Badges, and my Whitemoon Dreams shirt folded up in a corner with my gear waiting to be worn over the weekend. My figures are all laid out in the rather large, and now very heavy, gaming case filled with other nicks and nacks like Reference Cards, Dice, and AOE and Spray templates. There's also gum in there from when I was in the US, because fresh breath is good for the community.

As per tradition when I mention that I'm going to play a game, Jubs pipes up and asks “Are you gonna win?” as he has often forgotten my usual reply of “No.”

“Why not?”
“Because I'm not very good and I don't go to win.”

Which is true. I'm not a bad player, but I'm definitely not going to win the nationals or anything. I'm playing a trio of themed armies. The first is full of guys in what can be easily described as Power Armour, called “Man o' War” (http://enjoymedway.blogspot.com/p/warmachine-goal.html), and all it really does is play a mind game with the enemy who; The second is full of Robots going around and causing havoc where possible and led by a dude in his own Robot Suit; and the last is a farms worth of Pig people with rifles and a tendency to yell out SOUIE! They aren't what you'd call competitive, and that's how I like to play.

What's mostly exciting is the event itself. For one, players from all over Aus are turning up, young and old players, and they're all good to play against. Smack talk will be thrown across the table everywhere, a tradition of our local community, and some of the interstate players who have attended before will join in with us.

For another, this is going to be a massive event and very awesome compared to the others. I've been working up Behind the Scenes with Kel. He's shown me the the scenery to be placed everywhere; the prizes and goodies he has made up; the shenanigans he wants to put up on day two. He's done a fantastic job and I couldn't imagine anyone better to do the job of making it the best Nationals held in Brisbane. (there's my bit of brown nosing for the day)

Sidenote: I just realised I've still got superglue on my pinky-nail. I haven't put a figure together for about a week and a half...

Lastly, there's more Hordes books that are coming out on that weekend that I can browse through in my spare time! The Trollbloods book is coming out and I've always had a soft spot for them in my gamers heart. They're big, they're tough, and they're the comedic relief of Warmachine-Hordes. Yes, I realise that's a big thing to state after saying that I have an army of Pig Men that yell out SOUIE! but it's true!

When Hordes first came out, my friends and I each took our factions and conveniently we were all different. I was with Skorne then, but since then I have lost a large portion of interest. Since then, I have sold most of my stuff (or organised the selling of stuff) and now I'm down to a few things that I want to keep, such as Morghoul, Cyclops Warbeasts, a few Titans and whatever I really want to keep.

I have a small collection of Trollbloods, including the battlebox, a limited edition figure of the Dire Troll Mauler, and a Mercenary unit of Boomhowler and Co. (Who I want to bring back the Stink Bombs). Not much, but just enough to have a good game.



This weekend is going to be pretty sweet. Now to see what the downlow is for Auscon next year... Apparently instead of the Logan Entertainment Centre, they've moved to the RNA showgrounds!

Thematic License

I've been playing for nigh on 7 years now and in the majority of that time I have had a soft spot for Theme lists. I had a little softspot for Iron Fang Pikemen with Irusk, partly because it was so effective and because it was so fun. I have a Unit of Ironfang Pikemen with the Unit Attachments, and I also got the Great Bears of Gallowswood who are a ridiculously good character unit.

When the Sorscha Winter Guard list came around I collected as many Winter Guard models as I could. I still have about 20 Winter Guard Infantry sitting about in a cardboard box or blisters, with the Unit Attachment and 4 Weapon Attachments (I got a fourth one as a prize), 2 Mortar Crews, Kovnik Joe, Beast-09 (though he goes with everyone). Eventually I'll pick up a box of Winter Guard Riflemen. And my Epic Sorscha (Cos I didn't like Normal Sorscha because she was too good) is still floating about, broken and mostly unpainted.

Jeez that was a ridiculously good list. Epic Sorscha was a monster, and giving Winter Guard Tough as part of her Elite Cadre... Phwoar!

But as time becomes more and more popular, things change to keep with the running Trend. Whether it's Parachute Pants and the confidence of not being touchable, or adjusting everything to make everyone a little happier, it's going to happen. And it did. Mark II arrived and with it came Themed lists for each Warcaster according to a particular Theme based on Stories features in the previous expansion books.

So I've been playing around with these lists, seeing how cheaply a tiered list can be made, and discovered a few things. One of which is that certain casters can field cheap heavy Warjacks and at fairly good effect. Vlad is an example of this, fielding 8 Berserkers at 35 points. And Epic Severius fielding 8 Crusaders at 35 points. I find it a tad ridiculous, but interesting. If I could see myself investing in so many figures, I would totally give the list a chance.

The Themed lists aren't exceptional. They give players small bonuses to be used for the beginning of the game, such as a +1 bonus to the starting roll, or placing clouds across the table, or even giving an advance move or deploy to particular models. Or they can give bonuses that can change the way you form your list, such as giving models at no cost, or adjusting the points of a particular model (like in the examples above with Vlad and Epic Severius). These bonuses are not exceptional though. They won't change a game dramatically.

To get the bonuses, though, one has to complete a Prerequisite. The first prerequisite is to follow a list of Models and Units you're allowed to have. Once you have that, You have Tier 1. Then with Tiers 2 through 4, you must add certain models to your army to get the bonus of each Tier.

There are two Tier 4 Themed lists that I find easy to attain and are also varied enough to give plenty of options, or are just plain ol' fun.

Name: 101st Iron Rain
Points: 35
Kommander Sorscha Kratikoff
Beast-09
Destroyer
Juggernaut
Winter Guard Infantry (Min)
^Rocketeer (1)
Winter Guard Mortar Crew
Winter Guard Riflemen (Min)
Kovnik Jozef Grigorivich

This list is the Winter Guard list Tiered list, decked out to Tier 4, and is easy to expand upon from the Khador Battlebox, which contains Kommander Sorscha Kratikoff, a Destroyer, and a Juggernaut. The utility of the list is good for a 35 point list as well, offering two long range AOE attacks against units and heavy targets, two dangerously offensive melee warjacks, and two ranged units that can not only deal plenty of damage, but can act as a wonderful road block as well. Combined with the spells and effects of Sorscha, they become rather lethal, especially when she casts freezing grip on a unit for them all to fire at.

On top of that are the Themed list benefits. The first tier gives a free move to a Warjack for each unit of Battle Mechaniks. I don't have any Battle Mechaniks in the list, but players should feel free to mix and match this list to cater.

The Second Tier required three Winter Guard units to get a Free Kovnik Joe. The choices for units are well varied, and I chose three different units that I find appeal in. The Winter Guard Infantry are a staple frontline infantry that offer a ranged attack and utility for expansions, including an Officer and Standard that increase their frontline ability, and Rocketeers that offer a longer ranged attack to possibly disrupt any danger that the opponent may have. The Winter Guard Riflemen are a unit that places areas of danger across the field, while offering pot shots at whoever might be in range.

The Weapon Crews of the Winter Guard are very straight forward units. The Winter Guard Mortar, choice of this list in particular, is a unit that has the longest base range in the game offering a very high POW at the cost of high Innaccuracy. Weapon Crews do not gain the benefit of having the Standing Still bonus but have the benefit of a RAT bonus from figures who aren't using the actual Mortar. The Mortar itself has the rule innaccurate, which lowers their RAT to something so poor that unless a target has very low DEF, or box cars appear on the table, the unit are throwing low POW, medium size AOE's across the table.

The alternative Weapon Crew is the Field Gun that stand heavily as a long range, high POW attack with a bonus effect of, by chance, knocking someone flat on their arse. On top of that the unit has a good RAT which assures that they'll hit whatever they're aiming at.

Now considering the combination of Sorscha, who on feat turn freezes people into stationary figures for a turn, I chose the Mortar crew based on that and the fact that the Mortar can choose targets by ignoring intervening models. So in the situation that the opposing Warcaster is caught under Sorscha's feat, more damage can be thrown on top of the poor sod.

The Fourth tier is easily attained with the addition of the prerequisites of the third Tier, which is to add Beast-09, and the inclusion of the original Battlebox in the list. The benefits of the two are to give a bonus to the Initiative Roll and increase your deployment zone. The benefits of both are awesome for Khador. First initiative can be important for Khador as the opponent has to hesitate slightly while Khador advances across the board. With the increased deployment, the entire army can advance into range of the enemy army and attain first blood.

Now 35 points is a regular play range for my area, especially for the new players wanting to expand into something with a bit of scale. The older players have plenty of gear they have collected over the months/years and thusly have the option of building to the next scale up of 50 points. The Winter Guard list is easily expanded up to 50 points, and also adds more utility to the players options.

The next 15 points include
^Increasing Winter Guard Infantry and Riflemen Crew to Maximum
^Increasing Winter Guard Infantry Rocketeers to 3
^Adding a Winter Guard Infantry Officer and Standard
^Adding Widowmakers and Widowmaker Marksman

Widowmakers are an indespensible Sniping unit. They have a simple job: Pick a warrior model and remove it from the table. With four figures in the unit, they can put an impressive dent into a unit. Given the chance, they can take on a low armoured Light Warjack and deal plenty of good dents into it.

The Widowmaker Marksman Solo makes the unit better by a subtle way of allowing them to slink back into their cover after they destroy a figure with their Rifles. The same applies to him as well. To boot, if the unit are taking on the Low ARM light Warjack, he can put a bigger dent into it with his higher POW Rifle.

I like this build because it adds room for improvement.

Next we have is the fun list. The only real design I have put into this theme is for each model/unit to be different.

Name: Iron Curtain
Points: 35
Karchev the Terrible
Berserker
Juggernaut
Kodiak
Marauder
Greylord Ternion
Man O' War Demolition Corps (Min)
Man O' War Shock Troopers (Min)

Now looking at this list, players would instantly think: That's more than 35 points. In fact it would be were it not for the Themed list benefit.

First tier isn't very beneficial. You can field an unlimited number of Greylord Ternions and you get additional Koldun Lords. Not something I've taken advantage of at 35 points, but expanding out to 35 will definitely become an option.

The Second Tier adds a couple of units to your list, but in an appropriate fashion. Of all units to add to a list with the Man in the Machine Himself, why not add in Man O' War units. Statistically, they're the Light Warjacks of Khador. The downside to them is that they're a fast as the Warjacks that they're accompanied by. Which isn't really that quick off the mark. Conveniently enough, though, they don't need focus to do things such as Run or charge.

The two units in the list were chosen for being different, and relatively cheap. For a unit of 3 figures, it's still expensive to see them at 6 points. But they both play different roles. The unit of Shocktroopers play ARM 21 figures quite well, and can defend against a unit for a turn or two. Then there's Demolition corps who play guys who swing big hammers quite well, demolishing their target immensely well. As a bonus, the Man O' War units gain a free move before the game starts.

Third Tier follows a bit of History with Alexander Karchev. Before he became the Terrible Man in the Machine, he was a Greylord. So you have to field a unit of Greylord Ternion. And one of the Greylord Ternions notable features is making a Cloud Effect centred on a model. So players can place a Cloud Effect on the table for the first turn. A little bit of LOS blocking never hurt anyone.

Then comes the best part. Tier Four. It's nice. It's simple. And it matches what is well believed to be the essence of Karchev, the Terrible. If you have a trio or more Warjacks, you get a discount on all Warjacks. This is immense and is very appropriate for Karchev, a man who has had a deep connection with Warjacks for hundreds of years.

Any expansions on after this are almost purely Warjacks, except for the one addition of the Koldun Lord.

50 Points
^Add Koldun Lord or increase the size of a Man-o-war Unit
^Add Behemoth

75 Points
^Add Spriggan
^Add Two of either Destroyer, Decimator or Devastator.

But players note that you can build your armies any way you like, so if you want an army full of Berserkers, then Game On. This is just a list I want to build one day. (Once I get my Karchev put back together – Need some new legs and to find his head. I have to get a second bombard piece for the Behemoth too)

The Behemoth is the epitome of the word Unstoppable. He has the highest base ARM and health of any figure in the Warmachine AND Hordes; he has two open fists that deal high damage to large and medium based models; he has a pair of bombards that he fires off in whatever direction. There is only one Behemoth and he is Unstoppable.

A Koldun Lord is a nifty addition with his own Magical Scattergun to flaunt, and Ice Cage to support, and he offers Greylord Ternions something they didn't have before: Battle Wizard. If they destroy something, they fire off a spell. If they're in the middle of a unit they can fire off a their Magical Scattergun and catch a good chunk of the unit. That's not too shabby.

So you get an additional Koldun Lord per unit in the Karchev list and I'll tell you why. Koldun Lords are Jack Marshalls, with their own Drive command that improves the attack of Warjacks under their control, an ability that increases their ARM while in Base to Base with Warjacks they control, but thats not the reason. Koldun Lords are great for focus efficiency through their third Spell. It removes Disruption and places a Focus point on a Warjack so long as it doesn't have any on it before the spell is cast.

This is a good addition to Karchev as he only has a low FOC count, and between casting and upkeeping spells, he has trouble having his Warjacks move quickly outside of his feat turn. So while Karchev is making the advance up, his Warjacks can keep up to him with the help of the Koldun Lord pushing the others along.

With an ever increasing list of 'jacks that Karchev takes at higher points, it brings into better light his abilities that spread among the Battlegroup, and how dangerous he can be on a good turn. With Warjacks being as they are, tough and hard hitting, they can withstand some of the most brutal beatdowns that some opponents have to offer.

But Warjacks and Karchev in Details are subjects for another post.

Bringer of Most Massive Destruction, Esquire the Third

Sometimes when you play a game, and you see an army that just looks so ridiculous that you can't resist yourself? That's how I felt when I saw the Farrow start leaking out into the world. Pig men? Game on!

Lord Carver is an interesting mix. He's good in melee, with a high POW melee attack and a Good MAT, with a Magical, Reach Weapon called “Hand of God”. At Ranged, he's good at Point Blank with his “Sawed-off Scattergun”. He can attack with up to two Short Range Sprays, at average POW, or he can pump out one high Pow spray still at Short Range.

He can throw an offensive spell as well, the well known spell of Rift, but that's not something I see being thrown about often. His other spells however are a different story.

Starting from the top with another familiar spell, we have Batten Down the Hatches. For those moments when you don't want to get shunted very far, or take much damage, you can just park yourself somewhere and say “No”. With a bonus to ARM matching Arcane Shield, at the penalty of -2 DEF, you can be sure Lord Carver and his Warpack won't suffer much damage unless he wants to.

Next is another familiar spell called Mobility. Piggies running faster and ignoring terrain makes for a dangerous Warpack, especially since it gets them closer to you. Which is really all they want to do. Get close and deal some Baconation.

Then we have his signature spell, Quagmire. It's a tricky spell. If you have an enemy figure in base to base, they can't move except to change facing. And they suffer -2 DEF. So effectively, they can't get away and you get a bonus to your Attacks. I can see this spell being thrown on a unit of Bone Grinders to surround a Warbeast or Unit you don't want to go very far afterwards. And to boot, they get a bonus to their attack, so those meat cleavers can hit home MUCH more easily.

So his spell list seems pretty simple. First turn: cast Mobility and Quagmire on a unit. Second turn: upkeep Quagmire, Cast Mobility and Batten Down the Hatches. Third Turn: upkeep Quagmire, cast Batten Down the Hatches, use Fury for Attacks, Transfers or Regeneration. Fourth Turn (If there is one): Repeat Third turn, or use Fury for Regeneration or Attacks.

But wait, there's more. He's not just a pretty spell list, but he also has a feat! Hog Heaven gives exactly what they really need: An additional Damage die on melee attacks, and Overtake. This means that if a Warcaster or Warlock is surrounding itself with a heavy unit, you can throw a Warbeast, or even Lord Carver himself, into the fray and wade through the unit until he reaches the Warcaster. With his High POW, good MAT and an additional damage die, he can definitely leave a dent in their health. Especially if he has all his 6 Fury available.

On top of that he has a few simple bonuses to Farrow Units. To start, he has Inspiration. Fearless units within his Command Area? Sweet. And on top of that, Farrow Brigands fielded with him gain CRA. If there was one thing that they really needed, it was CRA. But I'll go into detail with them at a later date.

Lastly, for himself, he has one of the more annoying abilities available to a limited number of Warcasters and Warlocks. Tough. Okay it's not limited within Trollbloods, but it's still rare otherwise. So given his average health, his high ARM and good DEF, he's a tough cookie to crumble.

But no Warlock is complete without Warbeasts, and so far Lord Carver has two Warbeasts available to him. The War Hog and the Gun Boar. The War Hog is also known by a variety of names: Frankenpig; Porkenstein; Cypork of Nine. The Gun Boar is commonly confused with the Rocket Launcher Wielding Captain Gunbjornn. Say them both out loud. You'll see what I mean.

We'll begin with looking over the War Hog. Frankenpig is a simple beast, with three attacks at good Power and Strength, a rather average threshold, and an average Fury Score for a Heavy Warbeast. There's really only one thing he doesn't need and that's extra strength. So they gave him a clockwork ticker, which he uses by turning the dial and getting a bonus to Strength that sends him a little over the top. He's a little more dangerous than a Juggernaut, which one of his arms is actually made of, as he has a Gore attack with Critical Knockdown that can be followed with two more high Powered Attacks that he doesn't need to pay for.

Lastly on the list of details of the War Hog, his Animus is Massacre, matching the one from the Legion Nephilim Soldier. You charge for free, and if you kill with a charge attack you get to move an inch and make an additional attack. This goes well with Lord Carvers Feat, as you can place it on a Warrior Model, whether it's a Brigand or a Bone Grinder, have them charge and kill another warrior model, and move out of the way for something else to follow through. Or the obvious choice is to have the War Hog charge in and use his War Cleaver to kill a warrior model, move an inch, get the target into melee range of the Gore Attack, hopefully Knock down the target before wailing on the poor sap.

Lastly, there is the Gun Boar. He's a nice little ranged Warbeast, with a Big Gun on his back that fires off a Small AOE at a nice range. On top of that, he has a pair of open fists for Power Attacks.

Sidenote: I might have to check whether or not a light warbeast can throw a large base, but that'd be cool. It'd make more sense as well for the 2d6 strength as well.

He only has one ability, and it can be good and it can be bad. And it is called Bacon. It heals each living warbeast in base to base with it. So the image of two Gun Boars standing back to back, one suddenly dying and the other reaching over and pulling off an ear to gnaw on entertains me a little.

But he does stand to have a good Animus to work with, and once again it's copied from the Legion Beast, the Teraph. Counterblast is a really nifty spell, especially within the range it now triggers. The Command of a Gun Boar is only 6 inches, but that's plenty to shoot someone from an angle. You can bait someone into charging a War Hog while your Gun Boar is behind some terrain, and use Counterblast to fire off into the unit surrounding the War Hog. And with Batten Down the Hatches active, the War Hog doesn't have to worry about Blast damage.

Lord Carver is not exempt from the effects of Counterblast. If he's charged by someone he doesn't like, he can retaliate against the figure with a melee attack. Or he can fire off his Sawed-off Scattergun towards that figure and maybe destroy someone else in the mean time.

These are the brain stormings of an up and coming Farrow player. More to come.

Borderlands

Borderlands is one of my recent favourite games, and for good reason. It's a game that doesn't take itself too seriously. I think I've mentioned this before, how random bits and pieces of pop references to bad ass movie characters crop up here and there.

The gameplay was really fun. Think Doom/Quake Strafing crossed with Diablo's RPG elements. You shoot the living crap out of everything, dodging what you can of what they shoot back, and then you pick up random shit that you either sell or use for yourself. And out of the gear, there's a variety of different guns you can use, and hundreds of variations thereof, and then each weapon you pick up may (and most likely) will be slightly different to another one you have of the same design and setup, whether it's more damage, less accuracy, slower rate of fire or a bigger clip, or how effective it's elemental effect is, or whether it has a Scope and how good the scope is.

Oh, and you get missions which you go back and forth for regularly. That's probably the most monotonous part, that you get to see a particular sign post several times that you start to recognise the scrawlings that say “hi there” and you begin to say Hi back because it would be rude to ignore your best friends greeting.

Then there's the story. You're a Vault hunter, a seeker of the unlimited treasure of the trash planet of Pandora. You've been guided by the “Guardian Angel” to go seeking the fortune of The Vault and you throw yourself up against some interesting foes that will keep trying to kill you with poor manners and a big gun. Although Baron Flynt is as hospitable as possible, and you should feel terrible for shooting the crap out of the residents of his mansion (if you can call a giant digger a mansion).

Eventually you reach the end with an interesting plot twist, but sadly not a very good execution. Up until that point was exciting though! Shooting everything out of your way while trying to dodge everything the enemies have to hit you with. And then, because you hadn't reached maximum level yet, you can run through it all again with higher level enemies to face!

Now this sounds cool at first, but after you've conquered pandora a few times around, found the best gear you could find, and earned as many achievements you could achieve, you lose a bit of interest. But that's where Gearbox have got you covered with Downloadable Content. A fairly small price for a few new levels of fun.

To start was “Zombie Island of Dr Ned”, where you solve the problem of an island infested with Zombies by shooting their heads and collecting their brains. Told you they don't take themselves too seriously. I ran through this with a very high level character using a Rider BB Gun. That was good fun.

You met some funny enemies, found some hilarious references (I like the Scooby Doo one), and you got even more gear out of it! If it was your first playthrough, it could be played directly from that level!

The scenery for Zombie Island was very different from the usual Borderlands Style, which was desert wasteland with various trash piles everywhere. Instead they got a trashed up haunted forest, and I swear I saw a pair of shoes tied together at the laces, and thrown over a high branch.

I wonder if there's a name for that?

Then there was their second DLC, one that I'm not too fussed on: Mad Moxxi's Underdome. Moxxi is a sexy woman who controls an arena called the Underdome. You, the players, get to run around shooting the living shit out of enemies you've encountered before, along with bosses, and earn new gear and money.

Now right now, I'd like to point out that money is no object. Actually, it looks like bundles of american cash on the ground, with a thin yellow light coming out for those who want to find their dosh, but you collect enough of it and sell enough trash to the vendors that you literally clock the cash meter at $99 999 999, which completes the in-game challenge of "how much for the world?". You may need to add another 9. But yes, the meter stops there but the amount of money you accumulate continues to climb. So you could buy as many guns and shields and class mods and grenade mods as you like, but you'll still end up with $99,999,999. Best way to drop it down is to kill yourself and respawn at the New-U station!

But yes, the Underdome isn't one of my particular favourites but that's just because it's an Arena and the new feature of a Bank, where you can store your favourite items. Signature or alternative weapons, alternative Class Mods, maybe even equipment you want to sell to your mate another time. It's all good.

Lastly there was a third, and less silly, expansion to Borderlands: The Secret Armoury of General Knoxx. Put simply, you're thrown into another part of Pandora because you've been hired to do a little sumthin' sumthin'. In turn, your character gets thrown up against the Crimson Lance and the rather depressed General Knoxx, who eventually quits the Crimson Lance because his superior is a 6 year old. Okay so it's a little silly, but there's nothing wrong with that.

Eventually you get to the Armoury and you blow up Knoxx's entire base stealing as many guns as you can possibly carry so you can either get something good out of them or get a whole heap of trash you can sell. Either way is good, unless you've got $99,999,999, then you're just searching for something better in the 5 minutes before it blows.

Now the fourth expansion is soon to be released: Claptraps New Robot Revolution. This will be sweet. CL4P-TP is a signature cute character and will annoy the living crap out of you as you hear his repeated lines through the game, but one thing for certain is that these funny little robots that sound like RC cars when they roll around the place, is that they will be menacing. And it will be fun.

Legs Eleven

I figured I should start off this blog with something I have worked on recently.

Man O' War are a unit type in Khador, well known as being units of highly armoured men trudging along the front lines of an army. The stats say differently, as they are usually found in the middle or catching up from behind. Overall though, they are strong units and can deal a substantial amount of damage and can take a substantial amount of damage as well.

Recently I went over to Gencon with such a list, and the list included the following figures.

Ten Man O' War Shocktroopers
Ten Man O' War Demolition Corps
Five Man O' War Bombardiers
Two Man O' War Kovniks
Two Man O' War Drakhuns and Dismounts

Along with several warjacks and 3 Warcasters. The most obvious point of attention is brought to Man O' War Bombardiers. This unit is unavailable to the general public, and in turn I will not be able to field them at the Australian Nationals held in September.

But it is still good to display them to everyone.

For those curious: The figures were made using the Renegade Shredder (Right Arm), Man O' War Kovnik Axe, Shocktrooper Shoulders, and a bit of wiring.

“Order, Order on the Roma Street Train!”

The trains are a weird little concoction of staff members. They hire big fellas, small fellas, hairy, wirey, old, young; pretty much any part of suburbia that have a head on their shoulders can get into the staff of Queensland Rail. It doesn't need to be a full head, it just has to be there.

But sometimes there is a thought that gets tossed around by someone who thinks in the right direction. He calls out to his staff meeting “What is the biggest problem people face about the trains these days?”

Then there's the guy in the corner who's usually pretty quiet, wears his bottle cap glasses, hides his balding head with a cow lick, and possibly has a bad case of separation anxiety, raises his hand and says “Well people tend to get noisy.”

“Noisy how?” Asks a lady who is probably guilty of talking loudly and laughing gaily with her friends about the one time she mistook her foot cream for toothpaste.

“Oh you know,” he began uncertainly. “Kids playing their music loudly, talking about the things they do at parties.”

“Right, so what can we do about it?” the manager demands. His eyes reach out the entirety of the staff stretching across the table.

“Get on with running over the kids,” says the ex-bikie who was grudgingly shunted into the job by his wife, but slowly grew to like the job. But some habits die hard, and history precedes that running things over with a Harley can be quite effective.

“No, to many legalities against that. And then we have to clean up the trains and that shit gets nasty.”

“Put them in a catholic school to show them the wrongs of their ways,” says one fellow in the corner who was neatly dressed and grew up from the sort of history that feared God with a smiling face, because frowning should only be used when God is questioned.

“Funny enough,” the quiet fellow has gotten himself into this conversation, there's no reason to back out now. “One of the Corpus Christie girls told a funny story about a sillouette she shone on a tarpaulin and these two guys-”

“We could quieten them.” This is the guy who's leaning back on his chair and throwing a hackey sack into the air because he got it all in his head that because he does such great work he can get away with procrastinating in broad daylight. And he's already warned the higher ups, who are a bunch of ninnys, that if they say anything about it then he'll sue for creative oppression.

“How would we go about that?” the manager wants to start walking around the table in an intimidating fashion as this is supposed to be a creative process and sometimes a bit of theatrical flare is needed to get these gears grinding properly, but he's been warned against touching some of the staff members inappropriately when they get a good answer.

“We could put a ban on noise on the train?” says mr quiet, feeling quite involved and there's no harm in pushing his luck a little more.

“Not a bad idea, but it might be a little much,” came the reply from the instigator leaning back . “How about we do a trial of a quiet carriage? Just the arse end of it, and just say that nobody can talk loudly or have their music playing?”

Nods go on all around, and the quiet fellow sneaks a few looks at the foot cream lady to see if she was becoming interested in him yet.

That's how I imagine the QR Creative Process went when they came up with this.