Tag Archive for Steamroller

So, uhhhh, Happy 2016 I guess?

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So pretty, likely has no reason to be on this site..

 

Wow, it’s been a long time since we posted a blog article, and for no good damn reason I assure you aside from laziness.  Hoping to address that and make amends by producing more content on a semi-regular schedule, but no promises since that has happened before.

 

So saying “Happy New Year” to everyone is our first order of business.  We at HH wish you all much health, happiness, wealth, success and hysteria in the New Year.  2015 was a good year for me personally, with the health of my family being great and no small amount of financial success as well.  Holiday debt is a thing for sure, but Ladyblade has assured me a new budget is coming for 2016 in order to get us on track and making strides in paying off our household debt and saving for a bright future for our beloved little Dragonspawn.  Home improvements, savings, a vacation in the UK to coincide with Star Wars Celebration 2016 and more family travel are all good reasons to plan for a future and take steps to stick to said plan in order to reap the rewards.  However I doubt you are here to read about my plans to save money in 2016, I assume you are here for the Hysteria of my Hobbies and interests, which I am only too happy to provide.

Further Hysterics →

There’s No ‘I’ In Team…

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…but there are three in ‘Ontario Team Championship‘!

FACE_DOOM hits the streets to get the low down and roll some dice at the Ontario Team Championship.

To the victors go the spoils!

To the victors go the spoils!

 

So I’m sure most of you, dear readers, will have heard of the Warmachine and Hordes World Team Championship by now.  Some of you even have a set of gorgeous precision measuring devices from last years team fundraiser!  The team format in Warmachine has always been a tricky one to approach, the game always having been so catered to one on one play, but some methods have been thought up over the years.  Perhaps the most common of these is the 5 man team format, popular for a few years now in some of the stronger American Metas and recently gaining a good deal of recognition from the WTC.

There can be no doubt that the format is catching on, and provides a few unique tactical elements to change up the standard tournament style.  For these and other reasons one Mr. Scott Talarico, of Party Foul (a rapidly growing, Ontario based Warmachine website), and a few of his compatriots decided to organize a tournament in this format.  Before you could say ‘[insert complicated name of Convergence Battle Engine] it had grown into the ‘Ontario Team Championship’ – and ol’ FACE_DOOM just couldn’t resist a look.

 

Further Hysterics →

Kind of a BIG deal

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So you’ve gotta respect Godzilla.

That’s just a thing.  He’s way too large, powerful and capable of apocalyptic destruction on an unheard of scale to not merit respect.  So in light of this plainly common knowledge, we at Hero’s World chose to hold a contest of sorts; a battle of giants.  Hordes players were invited to bring their favourite Kaiju monster Gargantuans and Warmachine enthusiasts were likewise invited to bring their massive-monster-murderers, the Colossals.  In addition, as a nod to the unmatched destructive power of these beasts, all huge based warbeasts and warjacks could make power attacks for free.  Players were allowed to spend two points of their caster’s warbeast/warjack points on a support solo or unit to really help crank these monsters up to eleven!

The results were spectacular!  Even though only my man Chadi and I brought Gargantuans I think something like eleven or twelve of the fourteen participants brought out their huge bases for a good old Thursday throwdown.  Much fun was had by all, and many thanks to Northblade for organizing and running the event, and even rolling a few dice himself.  I must admit I got rather ponderous while enjoying the competition, because I haven’t seen so many huge bases at an event since the few months following the original colossals release wave.  I mean, the usual suspects are pretty common in Stormwall, Galleon, Earthbreaker and even Hyperion; but I don’t see the others too often.

 

Epic Roasted Marshmallow

 

In addition, I don`t use my own Mammoth all that often anymore.  This event made me wonder why. I really like the Mammoth.  I have experimented pairing him with several warlocks and had mixed results but the most consistent factor was how much fun it is to put on the table.  I guess I must have forgotten that in the last little while because he has been finding his way into fewer and fewer lists.  Putting the Mammoth on the table that night helped me remember how awesome it feels to charge that massive beast in and wreck everything in it’s path, so I’ve been inspired to mount a defence for it; to campaign for it, if you will.  Here are FACE_DOOM_II’s reasons why YOU should love/hate/want to play/be afraid of the Mammoth.

Further Hysterics →

So………. yeah.

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banner_ToThePoint

 

We’re recovering here at Hysterical HQ.  The Southern Ontario Open was this weekend, an 89-player Masters event hosted in Hamilton, Ontario by some of the best people around.  Aside from confirming that I am the WORST player of Warmachine/Hordes in Southern Ontario at a competitive level, it was an amazing event that tired all of the Hysterical crew out to the point of exhaustion and the need for comatose-levels of sleep.

Discussion and some recap will be had, but for now let’s just assume we’re all too damn tired to talk about anything.  We’re going over our wins, losses, and analyzing our gameplay to try and understand everything better.

For my part, I got 31 models painted in 9 days to prep for the event and STILL didn’t get a single 50pt list to fully painted.  I took my Convergence of Cyriss to the event and really enjoyed playing and learning them this past weekend.  But I KNOW I need to evaluate my lists and figure out some stronger options as well as really get down to which caster is suited for which role, and then build better lists to support their respective roles.  I have a lot of work to do before I attempt another showing at a local, or international, Masters event.  😉

All kinds of article ideas spring up as I reflect on the weekend, however like I said, we’re all exhausted so all you’re going to get today is the promise of more articles (I see Face_DOOM is editing his next article as I type) and this GIF of a bidepal Horse running full out.

 

Guess which end of the Horse I feel like?

Tournament Inventory

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MPA

 

So many of us have been there before.  It’s the biggest local tournament of the year and you’ve been preparing for it for weeks if not months.  The first round pairings are announced and you confidently walk over to the table and begin unpacking your figures.  You then get that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach as you frantically search all your foam trays in futility.  You forgot to pack that Warlock you just finished basing last night.

 

Goatvahna. Never leave home without her.

 

So just in time for the Southern Ontario Open, here’s a handy checklist for your Warmachine and Hordes inventory!

Further Hysterics →

Would You Want To Play Against You?

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FACE_DOOM_II’s thoughts on how to be a better and more enjoyable opponent.

So I’m playing a game.  It’s a game that I love, and I’m in a room with at least a few of my friends, and it’s Saturday.  Everything should be great right now…but it’s not.  I’m feeling stressed, or annoyed, or outright angry (in the worst case scenario) because the individual across from me is doing something – or multiple somethings – that are really hampering my ability to enjoy one of my favourite hobbies.  They aren’t being a dick or trying to cheat as far as I can see, but they are not holding themselves to a high standard of gameplay and that’s making things hard for me.

And the worst part?  Knowing that I’ve been guilty of all or some of the things they are doing as well at some point or another.  I’ve had to work hard and spend time and money in an effort to become a player people enjoy facing off against (most of the time), and it’s not easy.  It starts with good attitude and sportsmanship but that’s only the beginning, and that’s what I want to talk about today: how to be a better opponent.

 

Ok ok FACE_DOOM I'll put Epic Haley away...

Ok ok FACE_DOOM I’ll put Epic Haley away…

Further Hysterics →

Lowering Your Standards

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MPA

Once upon a time I worked for a miniature company you may have heard of called Games Workshop. Games Workshop would hold two annual tournaments. One was for staff and the other for the public. Both tournaments required all models be completely painted in order to be played. I would typically spend several months ahead of time planning and meticulously painting each model to the best of my ability in order to win the “Best Painted Army” award, which I was fortunate to achieve a couple of times.

Fast forward to today. I no longer seem to have the patience to paint models to showcase or competition level. Now, I find it quite frustrating if a single model takes me longer than two painting sessions to complete or a unit to take more than four painting sessions to complete. I can still achieve pretty decent results but the quality suffers a bit. If you’re not painting for competition and just want to get your models on the table then you may consider lowering your standards. This article may help you out as it’s all about painting to tabletop quality.

 

This lovely female painter is lowering her standards a bit.

This lovely female painter is lowering her standards a bit.

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I’m Conning your Temple, 2014!

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That’s right people, it is Thursday, February the 6th of 2014 and right now, somewhere in the Crowne Plaza hotel in Warwick, RI I am sleeping off the first of many nights of copious amounts of drinking.  Alternatively I haven’t slept and am in the line to get access to the new Privateer Press shinies when their booth opens in the morning, hoping beyond hope that Stryker3, Vengeance Softcover and ALL THE CONVERGENCE DEATHBOTS pre release models will be mine.  TempleCon 2014 is here, and the best FOUR days in gaming have begun.  Don’t hate me because I’m beautiful, but it’s fine to resent me for the fact that i am here amongst many friends and fans of the Warmachine & Hordes games (including High Command!).

Further Hysterics →

Year of the Alligator

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MPA

I’ve been known to play a bit with the less popular factions. I love the underdog. To this end, for about a quarter of 2013 I was playing the Pigmen of the Iron Kingdoms, the Farrow Thornfall Alliance. I had specifically avoided collecting the Blindwater Congregation (Gatormen) side of the faction because it was generally deemed the more competitive half, especially after Rask had been released. Now, for whatever reason, I’ve got my competitive juices flowing and I’m ready to get back to my winning ways and pulling no punches so here come the Gators.

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What? Oh. No, not THAT Rask…

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NFL(GS) Game Tape

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MPA

Professional sports teams review old game tape for hours in order to improve their own skills and abilities as well as to learn their upcoming opponents’ play style.  These are athletes that are at the top of their game and studying game footage helps to keep them there.  What exactly are they looking for?  Well you can’t control what your opponent will do but you can investigate what they’ve done in the past and possibly learn strategic tendencies and tactics and from that info, you can learn how to counter it.  You can also study your own gameplay and determine what you can improve on.  So if you’re looking to get to the top of the Warmachine/Hordes competitive scene, why wouldn’t you review old games?

 

Enter the NFL(GS) Game Tape (Notable Friendly Local Game Store).  Alright, admittedly competitive Warmachine is not a professional sport but it is a competitive tournament environment where knowing the play styles of the major competitors and the typical models you’ll encounter across the table is essential to success.  More important is learning how to improve the strategies or positioning of models a typical player can make during a game.  Can you learn to recognize that your plan to out-attrition your opponent will fail and you should switch to assassination mode? Maybe reviewing the game a few times can help! As such, following in the footsteps of Matti K from endgamegaming.net, I have taken it upon myself to record a “game of the week” for the local players at our local gaming store, Heroes World.  Several of the players here will be going to Templecon to test their skills against the field and while only one of our local players has aspirations at seriously competing for the Warmachine Masters crown, I felt it would be good to let a variety of players assess their own games to see where improvements can be made.

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In Play 1, Knowshon Moreno wants to charge into combat but doesn’t know eEiryss is going to shoot all the Focus off of Peyton Manning. After studying the game footage, the player realizes he should have done Play 2, and sent Moreno to charge Eiryss so she can’t shoot Manning.

Further Hysterics →