We have a winner!

My Ogre kickstarter arrived today.  28 lbs of cardboard.  I'm off to open it up, once I plant a small forest as an apology to the planetary ecosystem for having the thing.

Tourney results

So, on Saturday, I played ina 50pt SR 2014 beta tourney.  My end record was 2-2,  but there should be a solid * after it, because there are a few caveats.  I put together 2 lists (2nd list optional, but you had to play it if you brought it) - one with Syntherion, one with Axis.  My selection is still pretty limited, so I was running Monitor, Cipher, Prime Axoim, some servitors, one of the light vectors, and a unit each of reductors and obstructors.  (Aurora and the angels are still in pieces, so I could not use them.)

My first match was against Retribution, and I lost it bad.  I made a fairly key tactical mistake (did not line up well, and you can't drag across walls), but the big limitation was my inability (at this time) to deal with some of the stealth targets.  It was a fun fight, with both of us bringing a colossal, but I got outplayed, and deserved to lose.

My second game was against a troll player, and for this one, I snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.  I was winning on CP, I was winning on units and models destroyed, and I got over-eager, and hung Syntherion out too far.  If I had been a little more cautious, I could have won this game.  I had plenty of time on the death clock, and, if I had been more cautious, I would have spent the next turn tearing apart the rest of his army.  Instead, boom.

My third game was against Menoth.  Right now, I do not have enough released for Convergence to deal with the choir very easily.  This changes in December, when I can give out magic weapons for my vectors, but for now, the choir really limits my tactical options.  Fortunately, my opponent made some choices, moved his Judicator too far forward, and out of the range of the choir.  I won, but mainly because he made some pretty bad mistakes.

I won my final game against a Cygnar payer, but I really can't count it either.  He had to leave early, so I won on a forfeit.  I really would have liked to play it through - it looked like it would be a fun game.

So, yeah - I made some bad mistakes, and had some decent attempts at playing well, so I am not entirely dissatisfied with how I played.  I definitely need more practice with Convergence, but the more I play them, the more fun I have with them.  Can't wait until more stuff for them it out - and, looking over the next few months, I won't have to.

A probable winner?

So, I won't be getting Dropzone until Friday, just because I have to go pick it up.  But my copy of Ogre should be arriving on Thursday, all 28 pounds of it.  Until my Wild West Exodus is on the way, and without any tracking info, Ogre will probably be first, then DZC, then WWX.  Still hoping to have all three by Turkey Day.

A new contender emerges.

I'll do another post later, since I played in an SR yesterday, and wound up with an undeserved 2-2 record, but for now, an update on the great race (as I have come to call it):

No word on Wild West Exodus as of yet.  They are shipping, and some people are already getting their copies.  The main delay for them is that the pledge was almost completely customizable, so that no two Wicked pledges were going to be alike.  Still hoping to see it before Thanksgiving.

No word yet on Ogre.  The number of copies shipped to my region of the midwest has not changed in more than a week.  I keep hoping that I will get the shipped notice, but my guess is that I will not see it until the 25th or so.  My current take on it is than an Ogre, a cybernetic tank, several hundred meters long, with nuclear warheads and armor enough to withstand being hit by one, is nonetheless afraid of Detroit.

No word on if Rivet Wars or Relic Knights are actually shipping.  If they start shipping this week, they may actually be contenders.

And, because I am an army altaholic - I am picking up the two-player starter for Dropzone Commander.  It may be here earlier than any of the other four.

The race continues

Still no shipping notice from Ogre orWWX.  Per the daily maps, Ogres - massive, 200 meter long cybertanks with nuclear weapons, are afraid of Michigan.  Or maybe Detroit.  WWX has just started shipping, but at the moment, my money is actually on them.

I understand what SJG wanted to do - they were trying to ensure that the copies of Ogre that had the farthest to go went out the door first.  (The  exceptions were the coasts, where some launch parties were being held - so east & west coast US had first bite of the apple)  Somewhere along the line, the execution of that failed - unless Michigan is closer to Austin, TX than Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, etc.  Neat idea, but I hope they learn something from it before the inevitable Car Wars KS.  (Which I will back, unless the game is so radically changed that I don't recognize it anymore.)

I really need to take a pic.  The Prime Axiom is fully assembled, except for being put on his $%(*$& rock base that looks terrible.  That won't get done until (1) he is fully painted; and (2) I have finished working out how he will "float" (using a clear plastic tube).  But he can be blue-tac'ed on it for tomorrow.

(If I can go tomorrow.  I should be able to, but my car may well be in the shop, since apparently transmissions are important or something.  Who knew, right?)

The race is on.

Both Ogre and Wild West Exodus are shipping.  Which one will get to my door first?  Which one will get played first? 

Those are real questions, actually.  I'm not sure which will get to me first, but hopefully both will be here by this time next week.*  For practical reasons, it may be Ogre that I get to play first, simply because I can teach Ogre to my son a lot faster than I can teach him how to play WWX.  And if WWX arrives during the week, while I have clearance to go deliver my friends split of the order, I'm not sure I have clearance for the amount of time it takes for me to win a game.  Or lose one.  (Either one is good - it sets us up for a grudge match the next week.)

I'm starting to look for Wild West terrain.  I need to have a good chunk of it for WWX, because shooting is deadly, and terrain is your friend.  And much of what I have for WM is themed incorrectly - either bright green, grassy hills, steampunky buildings, destroyed wrecks, etc.  I think I need some cacti too, and I know that I do not have any of those.

In the meantime, registration for AdeptiCon opens tomorrow.  I still don't know what events I will try and do, precisely, but I plan on getting at least Iron Arena and Malifaux Gaslight tickets, and playing in both of them.  I'd like to do at least one WM tourney as well.

* And, in the "shipping in the next week" category, Relic Knights should finally begin shipping, and Rivet Wars should start as well.  Lots of gaming goodness on the way.

Hey look, its another event!

This weekend, I am going to get to take my Convergence to a tourney.  It's four rounds, but if I wind up with a 2-2 record, I will be surprised.  I'm hoping to win at least one, but the reality is that it is a 50 point event, and most of my toolbox is still not out.  I'll play, have fun, and hopefully learn something new, which is all I really am planning on right now.

In some ways, I am trying to think of my playing Convergence as the Warmachine equivalent of a Couch to 5k program.  In the beginning, you don't really feel like you are accomplishing much, but if you stick with it, and pay attention to the lessons you learn along the way, and at the end (say, AdeptiCon 2014), you have learned enough that you won't completely embarrass yourself.

The good, the primed, and the ugly

Camera is acting up, so pics will have to come later.

So, the good news is that, before yesterday's event, I got all 40 of the obstructors and reductors assembled.  I did not bother to prime all of them, but I did get the bases marked so that I could distinguish between units.  Today, I am priming most of the 40 - I think less than 10 of them were primed.

Now, let me start by saying that yesterday was a blast.  Three of us drove down to Fort Wayne to participate in their 4th annual Breast Cancer Brawl.  It's only 90 minutes away or so, and the chance to pass up a day of Warmachine for a good cause was too hard to resist.

Now, for the one or two readers who don't know how a BCB works, it's basically an open day of WM/H, with some exceptions.  First, you pay an entry fee.  Second, most players have anywhere from one pink model to an entire pink army.  Third, you can pay extra, and buy some cheats.  For example, yesterday, I could by 6 tokens/5 dollars.  Tokens could be used to buy rerolls, cancel the opponents reroll, gain charge speed, etc.

Anyway, I got stomped.  I went 0-4 for the day with my Convergence, although two of the games were close enough that I managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.  For another, I ceded too much of the high ground, and it cost me.

I did learn some things.  I enjoyed using my Clockwork angels, and I am trying to learn how to better use my units of infantry.  I have a 50pt SR this coming weekend, where I hope to make a better showing, but I am also very much aware that, at the moment, the Convergence toolbox is basically a hammer and a rusty screwdriver, so some problems are beyond any practical fix.

And that's okay.  I have a full factions; it just is not all out yet.

Woohoo!

Obstructors are all assembled, though not all primed.  I have begun work on the Reductors - one is done, only 19 to go.  (Actually, I should get about half of them done tomorrow, if not more.)  Need to do a lot of assembling still, but some major progress has been made.

Progress (but make fun of me anyway)

So, the count that I need for this weekend is two units of Obstructors and Reductors, plus a solo, plus nine clockwork angels, plus Aurora.  So far, I have about 20% of that done, although I have most of the Obstructors at least halfway assembled.