Friday, September 23, 2011

I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.

These are three simple videos from miniwargaming on how to play Warmachine and Hordes. They are entry level videos, and I am posting these for the benefit of people looking at getting into the game, perhaps from a GW background. This is a step towards making the game decipherable to the green player. Even if you are a fairly skilled 40K player, the game mechanics are quite different and these videos can part the mists for us :D

Whilst this gives no doing, at least we'll see and remember ;)

Part 1.
miniwargaming Warmachine part 1.

Part 2.
miniwargaming Warmachine part 2.

Part 3.
miniwargaming Warmachine part 3.

Hopefully these have been of use to you :)

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Of pig's ears and purses.


Many of us will know the saying "You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear"
A sow is a female pig, and incidentally a sounder is a male pig.
The saying is meaning, you cannot make something noble out of something that is common. Very common in this case. *oink*

But if you think about it, the saying holds true in reverse. You cannot make a chrome vanadium spanner out of a gold nugget. Or, to put it this way, you cannot make something practical out of something almost purely decorative. Well, you can, but it won't do the job very well and would cost a ridiculous amount.

So what am I saying?

A thing is what it is. Trying to make that thing into something else, will not often bring as much success as if it were used for its apparent purpose.

For RoS, our Myrmidons are not simple, dedicated mêlée Warjacks. They are, for better or worse, hybrid shooting and mêlée units.
Similarly, our Infantry are really very good, and perhaps superior to other factions Infantry overall.

Trying to make Myrmidons perform like dedicated units just isn't going to work, unless coincidence of convenience comes along.

Likewise, if RoS Infantry is high quality, then that is a fantastic thing.

Why am I saying this?

When someone has played with another Faction, it is quite natural for them to transfer that knowledge and experience onto their expectations of RoS.
Now when they try to run RoS in the way they would a typical Faction, they will be confused and disappointed about how the Myrmidons operate. Or they won't be using many of our quality Infantry, because, in Warmachine, the games is "all about" the Heavies [Jacks or Beasts].

Fortunately for me, and other WM n00bs who have not played with other Factions, we won't have to "unlearn" how to play WM. Whilst that could then put us at a disadvantage when we start playing with different Factions, having our RoS knowledge and experience interfering with how that Faction plays, our greenness to WM means we haven't been moulded into playing any other style than RoS.

Sweet!

A thing is what a thing is. Our units are what they are. By using them how their intrinsic strengths demand, will enable a far more harmonious result to come from them, garnishing success for the user.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Tournament preparedness.

I have lifted this post from the PP forums. These are some of my pearls for attending a tournament with winning in mind. It is to do with off-table things, that help you win:

Tourneys are like exams. You are put under the pump, but after you have completed them you have a reward from it. For exams it is the mark, but for tourneys it is cool stories. Both give you experience for next time.

So how I approach one is just like I would an exam:

• Get to bed early. Tiredness when driving is like driving drunk. You wouldn't get inebriated at a tourney, unless you are just their for socialising. So why go tired?
Having a sharp mind can stop even just one mistake, which could turn a narrow loss into a tie, or a tie into a win, etc.
Also, tired people are usually grumpy people. You feel better for not being grouchy, even when things go wrong.

 Be early. You will be better off mentally getting there, say, 30 minutes early, than trying to find the place, or find parking, etc. My Dad was an Insurance claims assessor. You can imagine he might be on the back-foot if he was telling a client they were not insured for this or that. Getting there before time was one less apology he had to make, and one less stress he had to deal with.
Our family motto seems to be: "To be early is to be on time, and to be on time is to be late."


• Water. It is great for the brain. I have heard, so take it with salt if you want, that dehydrated people perform less well on tests on so on.
Don't load up on sugary drinks - they just dry you out. If you do drink them, make the next one a water.

• Shoes. Even if you have managed to sit down a lot, you feet might well end up sore. By wearing good runners, instead of something trendy, you actually improve your concentration. Workplaces with concrete floors put down rubber matts for workers to stand on for this very reason.
You don't want to miss something because your heels started aching.

• Loose-ish clothing. It'll help keep you cool, which will keep your BO down. It is not nice playing against someone who is a little whiffy. Also, loose clothes are more comfortable - which keeps your concentration up.

Now if you are not going to do the very best you can, then don't worry about what I have said. But if you want cool stories and results to share with your friends, these quite small things will help.

I hope I have been of help 

Stalking Colonel Festus

As I will be copying Colonel Festus's technique, assuming I am able too :P, I thought to provide links to his posts, will will cut out the middle man (me) and stop anything from being lost in translation.

The Colonel's Thread

BoLS, Warmachine hobby. PAINTING MYRMIDONS
BoLS, Warmachine hobby. PAINTING DAWNGUARD.

And something from Grey_Death:
Zenithal highlighting.

Painting my Retribution of Scyrah miniatures.

I have spent quite a bit of time scouring the net and talking to people who have painted white, one of the trio of terrible colours in the Trimurti of Trauma that is red, yellow and white. Testing times truly!

Due to the lack of opaqueness these colours have, you can spend a lot longer trying to make them look handsome than you would if you used something with better coverage, such as black or blue.


opaque |ōˈpāk|
adjective ( opaquer, opaquest)
not able to be seen through; not transparent : the windows were opaque with steam.

I have spoken to Meg, who is a PP studio painter and she was very helpful. She told me that to make up for the lack of opaqueness that white paint has, manufacturers will put in more white pigment into the paint, to rectify that problem. Which is fine, until you start thinning the paint, which you should do to get thin layers and a smooth finish.

More pigment means that thinning the paint with water, reducing the carrying medium, will just leave more particles, and less medium/gel around them. So it looks grainy and bleurgh. Boo!

Using a medium to thin the paint will reduce the thickness of the paint, but also still give the particles something to sit in once the paint has dried, thereby reducing the isolated pigment particles from sticking out like grains of sand.
Yippee!

I also spoke to Spiky James, who painted the White Scars Marines that appear in the Codex: Space Marines book. They look pretty swish if you have not seen them. His technique is to not actually paint the white at all, but to use the undercoat as the white itself. So use a can of white spray paint, apply it twice, and voila! that is your white done. Then you paint the rest of the mini as normal. Any mistakes onto the white get covered with a very light grey, such as GW's Fortress grey, and then with Skull white. To counter the graininess of the sprayed white, which is noticeable compared to sprayed black, Spiky James says to then varnish the white areas, which fills in the gaps around those white pigment particles.
Clever, eh?

This technique I will be using on the Halberdiers unit.

Finally I spoke to Colonel Festus, whose smooth looking RoS can be seen on the PP forum. He uses an airbrush to get his smooth, smooth white finish. So I will be aping his technique for the Myrmidons and Dawnguard units, who are mostly white armour.
Spray the unit a black spray can. This provides a basecoat and a shadow. Then airbrush GW's Fortress grey. Finally, airbrush with Skull white, but from 'above' the mini, so that it hits the top of the mini, but leaves the underside with Fortress grey. This shades the mini for you.
Sweet!

These are the techniques I will be using and will be posting pictures once the units are finished painting.

So what do we have then?

We? Am I one of those special people who uses the royal we when talking about oneself? No. Well, not yet anyway, lol.

My older brother already had bought some RoS miniatures. That made it very attractive for me to join in RoS and pool our minis together. Why start from zero when you can team up? Not very Western Individualist of me, but there you go ;)

These are what my brother has:
Dawnguard Scyir
Arcanist
Stormfall archers
Ravyn, Eternal light
Mage hunter strike force + commander + assassin
Adeptis Rahn
Kaelyssa, Nights whisper
Nayl
Light warjack Griffon
House Shyeel Magister
Soulless Escort
Garryth, Blade of retribution



These are what I bought:
Halberdiers + UA
Riflemen + UA
Invictors + UA
Battlemages
Heavy Myrmidons x2 & Discordia upgrade



So between us, we have quite a healthy sized force. We will be using the PP studios colour scheme, which looks very nice and saves we indecisive pair from making choices - oh the horror!


I have bought Prime Mk2, Wrath and the RoS faction book, so we are all set to go.
w00t!



Why Retribution?

Why Retribution?

Well, I have never been a big Elves fan, so it wasn't that. In fact, I do somewhat like that they are not the classic 'we are perfect' aspect that PP has given them.

I guess it was a few things:
1) The Myrmidons look like the Invid from the '80s cartoon Robotech/Battletech. They just look slick. Given that Craftworld Eldar are the most handsome range in 40K, and no I don't play Eldar, and that RoS has that sophisticated and sleek look, it was just a winner in my eyes.

2) The gleaming white. White and black are simple colours, yet they look delicious when done well. When you see those sleek Myrmidons in their glowing white armour, you just get this sense of handsome from the miniatures.

3) The aqua glow. The RoS range looks high tech, but in that organic sense that Elves and Eldar have. The power intrinsic to them isn't belching smoke and huffing steam. It is far more advanced than what those primitive humans are up to.

I just think they look really good :D

I like that they don't play like a blunt instrument either. No raaaargh! smash rushes at the foe. A clever application of firepower and mêlée, through movement, combined with some magical push-pulling, and you have an army that appears to be more tactical. In my opinion at least ;)

Have blog ~ may post....

Greetings traveller,

My name is Marshal Wilhelm and this is my blog about the Retribution of Scyrah faction in Warmachine Machine. As life has a habit of getting in my way, this will not be a constantly updated blog. I intend to write up some of my gleanings about enjoying the hobby with the Elves of Ios, from painting, to modelling and to gaming.

I have decided to branch out from Games Workshop and 40K. I am not wishing evil upon GW, but am somewhat wearied by how the go about things, and after hearing so many good things about PP from fellow gamers, some who have left GW or, as I will, still dabble in it, I decided to take the plunge and try out Warmachine.

I hope it will be helpful, in whatever form that may take, to you.

Marshal Wilhelm.