Yeesh

Long time no post. Between getting a new job and moving to TO, I've had bery little time for either gaming or painting of late. As things settle down, however, I should be able to get back in the swing

Highlights of the last few weeks include a visit to the new location of the Dueling Grounds in TO. They continue to be one of the best stockists for Warmachine and FOW in the city, and in their new location, have a ton of gaming space. Only downside is all that gaming room is in the basement, and ventilation issues mean that one is faced with some serious gamer funk. I'm hoping things clear a bit as the weather cools, but we'll see.

I also trekked up Yonge St. to the new location of the Toronto GW store, and tbh, was pleasantly surprised. While there remains the contractually-mandated level of enthusiasm that marks most GW stores, the staff are solid, there's lots of tables, it's on street level, well-lit, and airconditioned. I was there yesterday for the kick off of their WFB 8th edition escalation league, got in three games against some extremely normal people, and generally had myself a good time.

The list I played was as follows:

10 KotR, musician, standard = 264
12 Knights Errant, musician, standard = 261 / 525
BSB: Paladin, enchanted shield, shrieking blade, Bwarhorse = 94 / 619
20 Peasant Bowmen, musician, standard, braziers = 140 / 759
General: Lvl 3 prophetess (life), warhorse, crown of command = 240 / 999

Lost my first game against a knight heavy Khorne WoC list, then won against orks and high elves. Bear in mind I'm only three games into 8th edition, but a couple of things jumped out at me.

1. Combat is very much a risk vs. reward dynamic. The new rule set provides incentive to bulk out one's units. It give more attacks, gives a better chance of decisive wins in combat, and makes one more resistant to leadership failure. The thing is, however, that means concentrating points into smaller numbers of unit. When a unit does go - breaks from combat, flees from a charge, etc., then the result is decisive. I won my second game when a unit of orks fled from my KotR charge, rolled high enough to run off the table, I sucessfully redirected into the flank of his other big unit, and reamed it. I won my third game when I beat his big unit of sword masters by one, he rolled just enough to break, and I ran him down, taking out his banner and general.

2. Scenario variation is huge. If you play the book scenarios, rather than line up and fight, it puts pressure on list design to bring in a wide range of army capabilities. I'm going to sit down with these and give them a closer look - there are elements I need to incorporate into my list designs.

3. Bretonnian knights are still viable - maybe not at the level of national tournaments, but locally, they do fine. They do need to be big, however. Lance formatin is a huge advantage, minimising the attacks that opponents can bring to bear. Charging for Brets is still critical, and the random element in charging means that any abilities or items that make chargin more reliable are at a premium for Bretonnians.

I'll post pics of what's been painted as soon as I unpack the camera ;)