Beat the Quartermaster

It’s hard to believe that this time last week, I was in Washington at Privateer Press headquarters. We were still recovering from Saturday’s Theater of War live and it was time for more gaming.

In addition to gaming all day Saturday, I got in a game Thursday, Friday and three on Sunday. I’m going to fast-forward to the only game I won over the weekend, my game against Biggie, the Press Gang quartermaster.

We played at Templecon in February, his Durgen list vs. my Nemo list in a very memorable 500-pointer, which is near the end of my Templecon battle reports. I squeaked out the win with Nemo dropping Ball Lightning (who uses Ball Lightning??) on Durgen a few times.

Last Sunday, Dan was kind enough to play me again, this time, his Cygnar against my Bright Pink Trollbloods.

For those unfamiliar with my skill with Trolls… I suck. Those of you who have followed the blog already know this. But I love the models, really love painting them and enjoy the flavor — all things that should hold true when you pick and play an army.

That being said, I generally don’t expect to win with them. Sure, that’s what we would all like the end result to be, but I’m all about having a good time. And that’s what I got against Dan.

We were going to play a 350 Mangled Metal/Tooth & Claw. Then we upped it to 500. Then it was 500 with epics since someone was used to the Mk II way of doing things.

Biggie’s list:

• eStryker
• Centurion x2
• Hunter x2

Bobaferret’s list:

• eDoomshaper
• Earthborn Dire Troll x2
• Dire Troll Mauler
• Slag Troll

Biggie gets ready to face the Bright Pinks; Don King attempts to hide in the corner. (Apologies for crappy cell phone camera pic.)

I won the roll and opted to go first. The above photo shows my deployment, and Biggie’s. The Hunters proved to be quite annoying.

My first turn, I did what I'm supposed to do with this army -- everything ran.

The problem with running everything is that damn near everything was in range of Dan’s two Hunters, which he deployed on each flank. The Hunters put a hurtin’ on the Mauler, wiping out one aspect (mind) very early.

Turn 2 for me was resisting the temptation to pop eDoomie’s feat. I had popped it early twice before — once against Tubbie420 and against UndeadDan — and it cost me the game. I stayed patient, talking myself out of it with a little help from Invader Larb, and got things set up for my Turn 3. Dan’s turn involved him shooting the crap outta my stuff with his Hunters, hurting the Mauler yet again and wiping out the mind on my Slag Troll.

Top of Turn 3: Forced Mauler to heal 1 in mind, forced Slag Troll to heal 1 in mind. Popped eDoomshaper’s feat and advanced. Activated the Mauler, put its animus (Rage, +3 str) on Mr. Fluffykins, my bonded Earthborn Dire Troll. Fluffykins walked his 10″ (thanks to the feat) and positioned himself in melee range of both Centurions. He looked at the Cent, saying “Hey man, nice spear!” and proceed to smack the jack with its on weapon. After a few smacks, it was time for the Centurion to take a ride.

Thanks to the bond, Fluffykins could power attack as if it was a normal melee attack. So he picked up the Centurion with both hands and threw it at eStryker. I needed a 13 to hit. This is what I rolled:

Just what I needed.

Didn’t do enough damage to kill Darth Stryker, but the stage was set.

Fluffykins took some swings at the second Centurion, missing once and connecting on another. Then it was time for another toss at a knocked down Stryker. He was smushed by attempting to catch the second jack, but not dead!

I had one beast left, the Slag Troll. He casually walked out from behind the rock where he was standing toward Stryker. But on the way there, he felt something in his throat. With a mighty “Hhaaaaaaawwwwkkkkk!” he spit upon the downed warcaster, covering him in goo. Styker die of embarrassment despite the boosted damage roll; his shiny armor was covered in Slag Troll pleghm and it was too much for him to bear. So much for the hero of Cygnar. Take that. 😉

*cough* Something in my throat. *cough*

And thus, Haka Lugi, who is fully painted in the post after this one, earned his name.

So yeah. I won one game over the weekend. The Troll team was tied for second with Circle in Theater of War.

Here are a few more pics from the weekend that you probably didn’t see unless you’re on Facebook:

UndeadDan's Warpwolf and Pureblood worked over the Hero, who made 3 tough checks.

eDoomshaper couldn't avoid death at the hands of eKaya. UndeadDan's force was fully painted and gorgeous.

The Trollblood home base, Erik's forces in the fore, mine in the back.

Between the two of us, there were 4 units of Champs, 3 units of KWs, 2 units of cav and some other stuff I can't remember.

My detachment commander, the Hero, captured and held the flag on the former Cryx base. Woo.

The Bright Pink detachment takes on Devilsquid's Steelheads.

For grins, I took my warlock-less detachment against Devilsquid in a 750. It was the same Bart list I faced at Templecon.

My detachment included:

• Hero (leader w/beast handler)
• Hero
• Axer
• Champions x2
• Bushwhackers (6)
• Long Riders (5)
• Kriel Warriors (10) + UA and Caber

I don’t remember enough to do a round-by-round report, but I do remember things were going badly for me in the beginning. Then we took a lunch break and things went a little better for me during the later part of the game — I made some amazing tough rolls, chased off a unit of Steelheads and slowed the Steelie cav down with Bushwhackers! The moral victory was that I killed Stannis; thanks to terrain and lack of anything that could get through the Nomad, Bart was out of reach.

It was a brutal game that showed me that my Trolls are durable when they want to be. This was right before my Hero got splattered by a Nomad.

I have newfound respect for the Bushwhackers. They did well for me a few months ago and earned a paint job, but I failed to paint them. So I think I’ll get back to that; I love the little guys for holding up the Steelhead cav the way they did. Nothing like a 60-point unit securing a flank.

My setup vs. webmaster Daryl. Devilsquid let me borrow his Mercs. 🙂

After the game with DS, it was on to face Privateer webmaster Daryl and his Protectorate. It was a bloody game, with most of my stuff dying to rockets. It was neat to see a newer player using the old Protectorate standbys — I know I don’t run Deliverers or Zealots when I use the army. I’m going to seriously reexamine my tried and true Protectorate lists.

Ross, Don, Yann, Me, Matt and Darren

Some how, we all survived riding with Devilsquid in the Walkaway Insurance van. DS was the first person to rent van — it had 14 miles on it. The guy at the rental counter asked about insurance and said that for $100, if anything happened to the van, DS could just walk away. So among the names we got that weekend: The Walkaway Insurance crew, Magnificent Seven and Sea Dogs.

It was an amazing weekend and I’m still sad it’s over. I can’t wait until Gencon, when I’ll get to see many of these folks again. Then there’s PAX. Then it starts all over again with Templecon. 🙂

See you soon!