Terrain: Wooden Fence

A warmachine game always needs walls. I thought it'd be pretty easy to throw one together with some balsa and speaker wire.

This fence was pretty quick. I first cut the strips of balsa and painted them. You'll notice that the two on the ends are shaped differently - they're from a square dowel. 

I took 2-3 strands of speaker wire at a time, maybe 6 inches long, and twisted them together. I wrapped the wire around the dowel, then around the next fence post, twisting to hold them together. I proceeded like this until I had a fence the right length. This was by far the longest and most tedious part of the process, and I used multiple short lengths of speaker wire.

With that part done, I stuck it to a plastic base with green stuff, and after that had cured, I poured down some tacky glue, which I poured craft sand onto. Oddly, at this point, the base separated from the glue, but the glue stayed solid, forming a new base itself. Oh well, happy mistake.

I glued on that small bush and called it done. It's simple, but it's one of my favorite terrain pieces.

Tyrant Xerxis Painted

Here's the latest model I've painted. I generally don't share photos of models I paint, but I felt like it this time.

Battle Report: Mercenaries (Gorten) vs Trollbloods (Ragnor)

This was a game I got to sit and observe recently during a weekend-long Warmachine get-together some friends and I had.

Gorten Grundback (Hammer Strike)

• Gorten Grundback
• Ghordson Earthbreaker
• Hammerfall Siege Crawler
• Horgenhold Forge Guard (max)
• Stone Lord Guvul Godor

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Trollbloods (Power of Dhunia)

• Ragnor Skysplitter, the Runemaster
• Dire Troll Mauler
• Storm Troll
• Troll Impaler
• Troll Impaler
• Troll Impaler
• Trollkin Runebearer
• Krielstone Bearer and Stone Scribes
• Troll Whelps
• Troll Whelps
• Greygore Boomhowler & Co. (min)

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Deployment

The scenario was Split Decision.

The terrain had open graves in one deployment zone, and a building and forest on the far side. The Khador burned-out ruin divided the zone from the side with flags, and between the flags was a forest and a fence.

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Rhulic Turn 1 

Dwarves and their machines run forward.

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Trollblood Turn 1 

Trolls run forward.

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Rhulic Turn 2 

The forge guard run to engage the Boomhowlers.

The Siege Crawler shoots and crit staggers an impaler.

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Trollblood Turn 2

The Boomhowlers attack. They make lots of killshots, however all but two dwarves roll tough, and cannot be knocked down.

Impalers spear the Earthbreaker and Siege Crawler.

The Storm Troll hits the Siege Crawler with a lightning generator shot, but the 2 electroleaps do nothing.

A whelp runs up to be annoying, and the Trolls get 1 point from flag.

(Trollbloods 1, Mercenaries 0)

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Rhulic Turn 3 

The Earthbreaker knocks down a large swath of Boomhowlers, and kills one dwarf. Then, the Siege Crawler shoots the knocked down Boomhowler, and kills two.

Guvul resurrects a dwarf, and the forge guard kill another boomhowler.

The trolls go to 2 points

(Trollbloods 2, Mercenaries 0)

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Trollblood Turn 3 

The Mauler gets rage and attacks the Earthbreaker, taking out an entire side.

The storm troll kills two dwarves, and hurts Greygore Boomhowler.

An impaler stands up and kills 2 dwarves in melee after they make a few no knockdown tough checks, and the other impaler kills a single dwarf.

(Trollbloods 3, Mercenaries 0)

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Rhulic Turn 4 

Trolls are threatening to win on scenario, so Gorten feats, shoving the entire trollblood army four inches back. The Earthbreaker charges to contest the troll flag, and kills the Mauler. It then puts some damage on an impaler.

The Siege Crawler kills a krielstone grunt, and Guvul hurts an impaler.

(Trollbloods 3, Mercenaries 0)

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Trollblood Turn 4

The remaining Boomhowlers kill Guvul and one other dwarf. An impaler kills three dwarves through their tough checks.

The storm troll, who has lost his mind, punches a dwarf, but that dwarf toughs. An impaler attacks the earthbreaker in melee and does some damage.

Ragnor heals the third impaler, who then kills the Earthbreaker.

(Trollbloods 4, Mercenaries 0)

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Rhulic Turn 5 

Forge guard continue pounding on the storm troll and impaler, while the siege crawler bulldozes and runs down a whelp, and then shoots out every Boomhowler other than the leader.

Gorten aims and shoots the whelp on flag, killing him and putting off a troll victory.

(Trollbloods 4, Mercenaries 0)

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Trollblood Turn 5 

At this point, the trolls only need a single point to win. The impaler kills a dwarf who's engaging, and a second impaler kills a contesting dwarf in the forest.

Ragnor casts chosen ground for pathfinder, takes the flag and wins.

(Trollbloods 5, Mercenaries 0)

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Final Thoughts

• From where I was sitting, this just looked like two armies running at each other and punching.

Battle Report: Skorne (Morghoul) vs Trollbloods (Ragnor)

 This was a game a friend and I played at the local game store. I haven't had my ass kicked so badly in Warmachine in some time. Please, pull up a seat and some popcorn and enjoy the sad tale.

Skorne (The Exalted)

• Master Tormentor Morghoul
• Aptimus Marketh
• Agonizer
• Baslisk Krea
• Aradus Soldier
• Titan Gladiator
• Extoller Soulward
• Extoller Soulward
• Paingiver Beast Handlers (min)
• Paingiver Beast Handlers (min)
• Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew

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Trollbloods (Storm of the North)

• Ragnor Skysplitter, the Runemaster
• Trollkin Runebearer
• Dire Troll Mauler
• Troll Impaler
• Troll Impaler
• Troll Impaler
• Troll Basher
• Troll Whelps
• Troll Whelps
• Troll Whelps
• J.A.I.M.s

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Deployment 

Our scenario tonight was bunkers. We also rolled a terrain placement method which was promptly ignored in favor of wild randomness.

The terrain had a very tall cloud in the center of the board, and a lake on one side. The other terrain was noncentral and didn't play much of a part.

My opponent won the roll and chose to go first, and I chose the side with a wall and some fuel tanks to hide behind.

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Trollblood Turn 1  

A troll gets pulverize and the army runs.

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Skorne Turn 1  

A soulward runs behind the flanking forest. Gobbers run up and blow a smoke cloud, and Morghoul hides in it. The aradus soldier gets rush and abuse and runs forward behind the terrain cloud. The krea puts up a force aura.

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Trollblood Turn 2 

An impaler crit slams the aradus soldier back through the bellows crew, killing them. The rest of the trolls edge forward, and the J.A.I.M. moves up towards the flag.

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Skorne Turn 2  

A beast handler runs up around the corner of the administrative building, just barely within four inches of the flag.

An extoller soulward takes the flag, and the aradus soldier runs up to hide him. The krea hides behind the wall, and force auras to protect the other soulward and the agonizer.

(Skorne 2, Trollblood 1)

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Trollblood Turn 3  

An impaler rolls 1-1-3 and crit slams the aradus sentinel through the extoller soulward on the flag, killing it and putting ten damage on the ARM 23 soldier with a single shot.

A second impaler crit slams the titan gladiator back through two beast handlers and into the objective, killing the beast handlers. The slammed beast misses Morghoul by a hair's width.

The J.A.I.M. charges and kills the beast handler contesting the flag and sidesteps back onto the flag.

(Skorne 3, Trollblood 3)

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Skorne Turn 3 

I've left one too many fury on my beasts, so I roll to check frenzy, needing to roll an 8 or less, and I miss. The gladiator frenzies and hits my caster for eight damage. I transfer the damage to the agonizer.

Aptimus Marketh aims and boosts, killing the J.A.I.M. with a spirit eye shot.

Things are looking desperate. If I sit back, my entire army will be gone in two turns. So my army bricks up to protect the caster and runs forward. Morghoul feats.

(Skorne 4, Trollblood 4)

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Trollblood Turn 4  

Shockwave knocks down most of my army, and an impaler crit slams Morghoul, killing him.

(Trollblood Victory!)

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Final Thoughts

• I guess this is why certain terrain placement methods require a LOS-blocking piece of terrain near the center of the table. In this case, our LOS-blocking terrain was small, round, and trolls had the true sight objective. This meant that it prevented my titan gladiator from charging the impaler, but one impaler each turn could draw line of sight right through it.
• Impalers got at least one crit slam every single turn after turn one. The first slam killed the bellows crew, the second a solo who'd been scoring a flag, the third killed two beast handlers, and the fourth killed my caster.

Battle Report: Bennet (Crucible Guard) vs Trollbloods (Ragnor)

 

I got a chance to observe this game recently, and take some photos. Since I wasn't playing, I figured I might have time to collect extra detail, but in the end I had a few drinks during the game and payed less attention than I might have. So here's the battle report.

Crucible Guard (Magnum Opus)

• Major Aline Bennet
• Vindicator
• Suppressor
• Liberator
• Crucible Guard Rocketmen
• Rocketman Gunner
• Crucible Guard Rocketmen Captain
• Containment Operatives

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Trollbloods (Power of Dhunia)

• Ragnor Skysplitter, the Runemaster
• Trollkin Runebearer
• Troll Impaler
• Troll Impaler
• Troll Impaler
• Dire Troll Mauler
• Dire Troll Bomber
• Troll Whelps
• Troll Whelps
• Troll Whelps
• Troll Whelps
• Troll Whelps
• Krielstone Bearer and Stone Scribes

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Deployment 

This was our first 35 point game with the new factions. The scenario was Invasion.

The terrain was very interesting - a lateral wall abutted a building, separating two zones. Tall grass stood in the center of one zone, and a forest in another. An odd 3-walled terrain piece functioned as a trench, and a downed train was a simple obstacle. Crucible Guard won the roll due to Magnus Opus's reroll rule, and chose the side with no fire and more cover. Trolls went first. 

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Trollblood Turn 1  

Trolls run forward.

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Crucible Guard Turn 1  

The vindicator gets arcane propulsion, then takes a withering humor shot which misses.

Rocketmen start flying into the zone.  

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Trollblood Turn 2  

Impalers walk forward, and all take powerful shots at the vindicator. All three of them get crits and slam the vindicator back into a wall three times. The bomber misses rocketmen with bombs, which deviate into the vindicator, doing no damage. Ragnor feats and his army digs in.

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Crucible Guard Turn 2  

The rocketmen fly into the zone to score. The Crucible Guard warjacks run and hide.

(Trollbloods 0, Crucible Guard 1)

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Trollblood Turn 3  

Two impalers leave the objective on one box, and the bomber finishes it off.

The krielstone boys run and hide behind the forest to score a zone.

(Trollbloods 3, Crucible Guard 1)

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Crucible Guard Turn 3  

The vindicator lands a withering humor shot on the clump of trolls, and the containment operatives set one troll on fire and land two amazing deviations that kill two krielstone members and leave the rest corroded.

(Trollbloods 3, Crucible Guard 1)

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Trollblood Turn 4  

Corrosion kills the remaining krielstone members, and fire kills the burning spear guy.

The dire troll bomber tosses a bomb at the liberator which is toeing the zone. An impaler gets +5 strength and throws his spear at the suppressor, hitting for a whopping 12 damage. The mauler lumbers up and eats two rocketmen. The runebearer hex blasts a rocketman to death. A whelp contests a zone.

(Trollbloods 3, Crucible Guard 1)

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Crucible Guard Turn 4  

The vindicator shoots the dire troll bomber for 15 points. The suppressor moves up and sprays the bomber and the spear guy, killing the impaler.

Crucible Guard feats, and the new rocketman unit swarms the dire troll mauler, killing it.

(Trollbloods 3, Crucible Guard 2)

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Trollblood Turn 5  

Trolls have very few models remaining. The bomber throws bombs, and they all miss. The deviations catch 5 rocketmen, and all fail to kill. The contesting whelp hides behind the forest.

(Trollbloods 3, Crucible Guard 2)

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Crucible Guard Turn 5  

The rocketmen kill the dire troll bomber, Ragnor's last heavy, and put some damage on the objective. The suppressor charges the objective and finishes it off with a spray.

(Trollbloods 3, Crucible Guard 4)

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Trollblood Turn 6  

Ragnor kills the suppressor in melee.

(Trollbloods 3, Crucible Guard 6)

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Crucible Guard Turn 6 

Crucible guard skips its turn, scores two points, and wins.

(Trollbloods 3, Crucible Guard 8)

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Final Thoughts

• That deviation that reached around a corner behind the forest to kill the entire krielstone unit was a big deal.
• If Ragnor had kept up the spell that increased his armor, it may have helped him survive the low POW rocketmen.