Army Impressions - Shael Han

Today we have another post from Evil Homer. He sent this to me once before, and the first post didn't really say anything you couldn't read on the Wrath of Kings website. So, he graciously offered to re-write it. Hopefully this can be helpful to you.

Shael Han

     This is the second time I’ve written this article.  The blog owner and editor believes in actually publishing articles that actually SAY something instead of the trite BS spewing.  Good for him, there is enough of that on the interwebs as it is.

First

     So Shael Han.  The first thing you have to realize is your main models are not amazing, certainly not in the same way as the models from the other factions are.  Your legionnaires are ok, the Wraths are maybe a little better, the Iron Lotuses are average, and you get the idea.  What makes your chosen faction tick is the concept of Insights. 

     Insights are always on, area of effect bonuses divided into offensive and defensive abilities.  Every Shael Han model has at least Enlightenment (1) which means you get to pick one offensive insight when you activate to use during the turn.  Defensive insights are chosen after results are generated every time you are attacked.  Insights are 6” aura and you can pick from any one you are in range of.  Insight use is important to get the most from your models. 

     Offensive insights are pretty simple to understand.  You activate, choose the insight you want to use and then proceed.  Unlike Inspire abilities they are not tied to a model type.  So your Wrath activates, checks distance and sees he is in range of both a Big Sister and The Warchild.  You are intending to engage multiple models so you are eligible to pick either one.  One of the models you intend to engage has a resilience of 2 so you pick The Warchild’s insight so you have the extra die to attempt to penetrate the enemy’s toughness. There are a variety of offensive insights to choose from and each can enhance your troops.  Some more than others and depending on what you are using for troops you will choose specials and character to either enhance your abilities or may help to mitigate deficiencies in your troops.

     Defensive insight are awesome.  Plain and simple.  They trigger from various results on the damage chart but since they trigger after results are generated you can pick the one you want to use after seeing what the enemy has done.  For instance the Shield of Taelfon (hereafter known as the Teflon Don) provides a defensive insight that triggers when a magic result is generated (it generates a backlash). On your basic troops (Wrath, Legionnaire, and Lotuses) that means 20-30% of the results generated.  When the result triggers the attacking models makes a Will attack against themselves.  If successful they suffer the results of the Will attack.  The Don himself has magic results on 50% of his card and three wounds.  I’ve stuck him in and managed to kill more enemies from the backlash than from my attacks. The nicest thing about the Teflon Don is how well his ability synergizes with other results that trigger on the Magic results, for instance potential placement shenanigans from the Dragon Legion Keeper’s training ability.  Or the knockback attack from The Winterhawk’s training.

     Defensive insights require you to really pay attention to what’s best because it changes depending on the results being generated.  You may be thinking the Don’s ability to generate a backlash is what your looking for but then your opponent rolls a ‘7’.  You have to remember the Legion Keeper’s insight is also available which turns the ‘7’ on the chart into a parry rather than the strike it is as printed allowing you to negate the roll, or they may roll an overpower and you have The Winterhawk, which allows you to make a will check.  If successful all enemies within 2” suffer a hit.  That’s a straight up hit, no chart shenanigans involved (not as good as direct damage but hey, we can’t all be Hadross).

     As you can see (or not) being mindful of defensive insights is key to making the most of your models, since you will likely be utilizing the defensive insights many more times than the offensive ones.  Enlightenment is designed to be the leveling mechanism for Shael Han.  As such the smaller the game size, the more individual model strength becomes important.  As the game size decreases your ability to stack multiple insight options on the table becomes compromised.  This, in part, is why I’m not crying about the sky is falling concerning Hadross (yet).

Second

     Motivations are how you win the game.  Seriously, it’s that simple.  Even with all the cool insights you aren’t going to match up with the individual superiority of Nassier or Hadross.  You really have to play attrition until you can get to win conditions you have decided on.  In my opinion Hadross and Nassier have to worry less about completing motivations but Shael Han has to guard against allowing the enemy to achieve their motivation while positioning themselves to achieve their own. Hadross and Nassier have an insane amount of damage at their disposal.  They can simply whittle your morale down without having to concentrate on the motivations.  If they achieve their motivation it just goes fast.  It’s a kind of race.  Can you hold them long enough to complete your own motivation.  You likely aren’t going to straight up kill enough of them to win the morale attrition.  You need to concentrate on the motivation to move things along.

Third

     It’s not all doom and gloom for Shael Han.  I personally feel they are on the bottom of the power spectrum but my view is compromised by having played nothing larger than an Intro game.  I can see where enlightment flexibility from larger games will help offset some of the advantages other armies enjoy.

     Next you have some amazing specialist models.  The Deathbloom, Red Willow and Hong Yao all have some amazing tricks up their sleeves and bring insights that will help even line troops pull some unsuspecting things.

     Finally, larger games are going to play into the chart probabilities and your defensive insights are going to that much better.  You can’t really outnumber someone by much in this game.  What Shael Han can do is make their equivalent numbers work in our favor, or convert their extra dice into extra defensive insight opportunities for us so be mindful of those opportunities and utilize them.

     As always the views expressed in this article are mine and not the blog owner’s.  Feel free to disagree in the comments.

Pelgarth Bloodmasks - Final

Well here they are. I went back in and added additional highlights to most of the parts. They are nowhere near the quality I have produced in the past but I am currently okay with that. Working on more miniatures will retrain my skills and sharpen my brushwork. I hope you like them.

CMON Deep Well Bases

So if you have bought any Wrath of Kings or Dark Age miniatures lately, chances are you have some of these that came with them.

Now, when I first got mine I was a little taken back. Ok more like..."What the hell am I gonna use to fill all that space!" After spending some time thinking about it, I came up with several solutions. Some I think work well, some....not so much. BTW, I am not going into too much detail about how I did each of these designs as I have covered basing several times before. I am going to focus on what you can do and some pitfalls to avoid.

Wrath of Kings- Impressions ...guest post by Evil Homer

     I have asked some of the local gamers to give me a hand with some content based on Wrath of Kings. While I have a small reader base I am hoping to spark that a bit with some additional content as well as get the word out about this game. I enjoy it and I am hoping others will as well. This post is some general first impressions from Evil Homer.

    Let me preface this by saying that Confrontation (Rackham – The Best Game Ever) is my favorite game from both an overall aesthetic and mechanical point of view.  It managed to capture a feeling that both GW and PP games have failed at.  The alternating activation works on so many levels, individual model activations combined with special abilities create interactions that often cannot be predicted.  The combined close combat phase of that game was and remains pure genius.  With all of that out of the way let’s talk Wrath of Kings and see why it almost scratches that itch.

Considering Light and Location

So I thought I was done with my Bloodmasks. I applied the finishing touches, gave them a spray of dullcoat, and I was pretty happy with how they looked. Then took them to the game store for the first week of our slow grow for WoK.

Houston we have a problem!

See I forgot a very important thing about miniature painting. Consider where you are and the light that is at that place. The miniatures I had finished painted at home were painted OK and the highlights and shadows, while not especially well defined, looked good. At the store they were flat lifeless pieces of excrement. Ok maybe that was a bit harsh but the flat lifeless part is accurate.

Pelgarth Bloodmask - WIP 2

So still working on my Bloodmasks. The progress has been slow as I have been busy with summer school and distracted by H1Z1. I have managed to move forward on these buxom ladies. I have a lot of stuff on them that is incomplete.

Wrath of Kings

So as you have seen I am getting started in CMoN's latest game, Wrath of Kings. So what is it all about? Well on the surface it is a simple, quick paced game, that gains depth from the interactions between friendly and enemy models. It is an alternating activation setup so players take turns activating models. It is a single die roll (d10) mechanic meaning all effects are bound by a single action/attack/ability roll, with little or no rolling for the inactive player. I typically do not like those types of games, but honestly my experience with them is extremely limited.

Pelgarth Bloodmask - WIP I

So I want to try and stay up with my progress as I work on these models. I may bounce between simple progress updates and something more in depth. The pictures may not all be great quality either as I am more interested in getting the posts up than with great quality pics. Of course if there is something I need to show I will do good pics.

It's Alive...IT'S ALIVE!!!

     Nope, this is not a mirage.....I am actually going to post something. It's been a while since I have posted anything on here. I could blame it on time (school, work, wrangling my toddler), but it really boils down to a complete lack of interest in the hobby. I always go through low times in my gaming and normally something comes along that sparks me back into playing/painting and therefor posting. Maybe its just a perfect storm of my friends not playing or not playing anything I want to play, and wanting to invest my time into school and family.

Getting something done: Salias Yesod

Well, if you have spent any amount of time reading stuff on this blog then you know my one true love is Confrontation. I love the way that game plays out, the feel from the setting, and I have had some of my most memorable moments playing that game. So where am I going with this....lets just say I have a lot of unpainted stuff for that game.

My entry into the challenge

Yu Jing Spec Ops : aka Bruno Pontz Jones

So here he is. Bruno Pontz Jones. I know its a name hack from Kids in the Hall, but hey. This is not my best work but considering the distance since my last painted model I am far from disappointed with the results. I mounted him on a different base than what he was originally pictured. We are using a square grid for the game and I did not a round peg in a square hole if you get my drift.

In the end I stayed with the blue fins. Mainly due to lack of other inspiration. I may go back and fix them later if I come up with a better idea. The studio mini has white ones with a bit of turquoise showing at the base, perhaps I will go back in and do that. Not any time soon mind you, but it is a possibility in the future.

As a side not I hate it when I look at pictures while writing a blog post and see something I missed. I will definitely need to go back and paint the edge of the base back to black.

WIP 3: Yu Jing Spec Ops

A bit more work on the Spec Ops model that I am using for the Savage World game that our RPG group is playing. It's kinda hard to see what I have done with my current light set up. I have refined the armor with some additional highlights and done some work on the pants. I am not too sure how much more I am going to do on this model as working on it has made me anxious to finish it and move on to something else.

 I will probably work a bit more on the leather, the pants, and the metallics and call it quits. I may do something else on the back fins as I move in and out of love with them. Its a combination of the color not fitting the composition and not knowing exactly what direct I would take them.

For a warm up this model has come out pretty good I think, and I was surprised how quickly some of my skills are returning. We will see if I can maintain it across other models.

BTW...if you were wondering about the contraption holding the mini. It is a miniature holder from PK-Pro. I just got it and so far I like it. The wire with the skull gives you a place to rest your finger while you grip the base. The ceramic bottom rotates inside the metal so you can get a good angle to the model. There are two models one for 30mm and one for 54mm. I will try to do a full review of it after I have had the time to use it for a while. 

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Manipulations Episode #1

Well, I stated in the last post that I would probably start posting some random stuff here and there so here it is. It has been a couple weeks since I posted last, but I am gonna try to post at least once a week. Hell, maybe I will make a regular Sunday article. We'll play this one by ear and if it goes ok maybe I can keep up with it.

Competitive 40K?

So, there has been quite an uproar the last couple of weeks over what competitive 40K players feel GW is doing with their game. If I still ran regular tournaments I could easily see how it might be an issue. Dataslates. strongholds, super heavies, allies, and all that is out there is a nightmare for tournament organizers. It really has little to do with those fellas and a lot to do with the people who show for those events.

If you don't know maybe you should understand something about people who take it on themselves to run not only tournaments but any type of event. Regardless of how it may look on the outside the desire to run events comes mainly from the desire for others to have an enjoyable experience. Some may be about ego and the more successful ones can make some money at it, but at the root of it is running an enjoyable event.

Having said that, if they feel the players won't enjoy the game many will strive to strike a balance that can neutralize a problem. I was quite like that when I first started. Things I got complaints about or seem overpowering were often comped out or forced to deal with scenarios that weighed heavily against them. I learned a while ago that all you end up doing in those situation is creating something else that is off and it becomes a never ending battle. More recently I have been pretty much will to allow what ever is in the book to fly. Balance comes from the option for everyone to use the same stuff.

How do I feel about the current game. I like it. What follows may explain why.

WIP 2: Yu Jing Spec Ops, oh and a spew of random crap

That's right boys and girls, I am still painting. Not a ton of progress but I am working even though it is in 10-20min spurts. I am just having a lot of trouble maintaining focus for too long right now. At least I am putting paint on a model.

There may not seem like much progress, but trust me its there. Not only am I having to re-find my touch and technique, I am discovering that my eyes are starting to betray me. I am not "old" by any stretch of the word, but my eyes have never been good and after 33 years of glasses/contacts they are starting to tire. My eye doc suggested readers, but I am resisting that with every fiber of my being. Perhaps the intelligent part of my brain will cross the hall and slap the shit out of the stubborn side. For real though the more I paint the more I face that reality. My eyes take time to focus on the details, and at time I have to give distance to do so.

As a side note, this blog might move a bit away from just a hobby blog and into a more personal nature. The times I do get to leave something for you I tend to feel better afterwards so maybe there is some therapy to be had here. I will try to at least have something for you to look at, but it may be old stuff or something interesting I find online. Having said that, you might get post about minis, my rp group, World of Tanks (by the way, thanks to TSP for taking me into their clan), programming work for school, or in the future even some EQN Landmark (I can not wait for this game).

Anyway, I have continued on with the armor a bit and started to work more detail around the mini. The cloth is still pretty much basic and the leather has had some more work. As you can obviously see, I also painted the fins on his back. Now, I doubt this will ever get used in a game of Infinity, but in the game they have many minis that have those type of protrusions. They describe them as something that helps soldiers with a combat drop ability (kinda like a paratrooper but more high tech). It adds a bit of color distraction as is, but I am not sure I like it. I might change it or I could just say f-it.

That is about it for now. As always thanks for taking a look.

WIP: Yu Jing Spec Ops

Here are some WIP shots of the Spec Ops model I am working on for a RPG game. My character is a charismatic talker but not a slouch in combat. He is more than able to defend himself in a fight as well as use his charm or witt to best his enemies. Our group will be a band of mercenaries for hire so I wanted a muted scheme befitting of someone ready to undertake a covert op.

 What I have here is fairly preliminary. The green has had some highlighting and shading done, but is far from finished. The the rest of the colors are simply a base with some initial shades for definition.

Quick Hit

Been a while since I worked on anything hobby related. Not only have I not been painting I haven't even been playing anything. For most part the extent of my gaming has been either World of Tanks computer game or my weekly RP group.

Our RP group recently wrapped up the first portion/chapter/whatever of a Gurps Fallout game I was running. I feel like it went well and everyone seemed to enjoy it and that is what matters. I learned one great lesson running this group. All GMs cheat. The good ones do it to keep the game interesting and challenging, and the bad ones do it to compensate for things they can't control. The thing to remember is that there is a fine line between good/bad GMs and the most enjoyable ones bounce between the two.

Anyway, with the conclusion of my game, Gauthic has volunteered to run some stuff for his setting The Chronicles of Sol. It is a sci-fi high tech game set in the current solar system that has evolved over time. I made a "face" and plan on being the contact and communication guy. I still need to work on the background info for him, and I am going to need a mini for during the game.

I chose this:

Infinity Yu Jing Spec Ops. This is one of my favorite models in the army. The armor is a bit more than my character has at this time, but I should grow into it. I will try to keep up with it and keep you all posted when I get some progress.

Every Store Needs One turns 3 and I turn....none of your business!

So here we are. Another birthday for me means my blog is another year older. I don't post anywhere near as much as I used to, or as much as I would like to for that matter, but still here. Unfortunately for the blog as goes my hobby time (or free time in general) goes the blog. I could have given up on the blog long ago, but I like having it out there and sharing with anyone who is interested when I do get some work done.

This blog gives me a place to put my thoughts as well as my projects out there for anyone to see. At times its rambling mess, but I hope that at other times there is something here for you all to enjoy.

I would love to say I plan on posting more in the future, but there is not reason lying to myself or anyone else who stops here. I have had some major changes to my life the last couple of years and school and a 9 month old boy, free time is at a premium.

On my desk right now are my Eldar. The new codex has given it some new life, and in turn I am trying to give it a new paint job. Things are going good now, and I hope to have some more WiPs for you.

The one thing I will say is thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read my posts and look at my minis/projects. Hopefully I can get some new stuff up for you all to take a look soon.

Thanks for reading.

Master Manipulator

Eldar Re-Paint WIPs

     My hobby time the past two years has been extremely limited. My decision to return to school as well as the birth of my son have cause quite a drain on my free time. That is probably the number one reason why I have had limited activity on this blog. This summer I decided to take a break after 2 full years (summers too). That should allow me more time to paint and hopefully put some stuff up for you all to look at.

     So, with the recent release of the Eldar codex I have enjoyed working with that army again. We have a saying locally "I don't paint like that no more.", and to some extent that is true. I am not trying to say there was anything specifically wrong with how I used to paint in particular how I painted my Eldar, I have just learned skills and techniques that will make painting new models much easier and reach a better result.

Quick Hit: Some NMM color recipes from Brush Brothers

The guys over at Brush Brothers have a really nice write up on NMM silver and gold. The tut is not really in depth but the recipe is written so it should be easy to understand.

I hate that I have not had time to write my own content but I definitely wanted to share these.

Take a look.

Infinity Table in 30 Mins

 So, after browsing the Infinity forums I found a great idea for quick terrain for Infinity. I stole this idea and ran with to see what I could do. In the same fashion as other terrain I am working on, it is incredibly basic. I will detail it later. 

 The how after the jump...