Happy New Year!

Better late than never. Here's to 2015, which I pray will be a year of positive change.
That emcompasses everything - wargaming, family, career/work, you name it.

As a very brief review within the scope of this blog: 2014, dubbed to be the "Year of the Beard", went... a lot different than anticipated. But with me scoring my first (and currently only) success with Harkevich, I can still declare it a success. So here's a farewell to the beard!

*Ba-dum-tsh*

And for this year, if you're on Facebook, you might want to look out for this hashtag:
#ZerkovaWorldDominationTour

More news on that later!

Khador 2014 - Part 09/3: The beard, son! The beard!

It has dawned on me that, while trying to figure out the best ways to win in the Spell Draft format with Khador, I lost track of one thing I set for myself: It's the year of the beard!

Probably won't get out of that one!

Now let's recall that I mostly discarded Harkevich as a good Spell Draft 'Caster since his performance apparently was tied to his spell list (basically, Escort).

After the break, I'll try and figure out a solution!

Khador 2014 - Part 08: Three Dark Riders

PG_ The Captain did it.

At the very least, he made me do it.

Seriously, you can't just go and drop a phrase like "I'll play Harkevich, Zerkova and Strakhov as my three masters 'Casters" in front of a Hark'/Lady Z fanboi (i.e.: me), and not expect anything to happen. So I got in touch with him to inquire about details, which he shared with me (kindly enough, thanks a lot!), and in this post I'll jabber at length elaborate on my take on that particular line-up. I'll talk about the preliminary lists, their roles/opponents I'd use them against.

But we'll do that after the break.

Khador 2014 Part 06 - Weapons of Choice

(Still needs witty picture)

Following the personal gaming success that was ClogCon (first win with Harkevich, first scenario victories since 2012, to be precise), I spent a lot of time (for me, at least) a) playing the Harkevich list I took to the ClogCon Masters, b) reading a lot of Sticks and Dice and the relevant PP Forum Thread.

It basically boils down to this: How sensible is the armour skew in a list line-up? But that's not the point of today's article (WHOAA?). Instead, I feel more tempted to write about the list-chicken part of the game. When I was first confronted with it, it completely blew me out of the water, and I more or less picked lists at random.

Now, I'm looking at the list chicken situation as a puzzle to be solved, and I want this article to help others with solving the puzzle. I am certainly neither the first nor the best to write about this topic, but I gave it a lot of thought, and those thoughts I deem worth sharing. Ready?

Khador 2014 Part 04 - ClogCon lists review

Last weekend, ClogCon took place, and in this post, I'll write to you about my experiences there - which will include a very surprising twist. So enjoy!

Prelude:
   We left town at about 6.30 o'clock Friday morning and safely (and uneventfully) arrived in Rotterdam, at the Savoy Hotel, around 10.00 o'clock. "We" being Arides, Fiona, our little daughter pVicky, and me. Due to me having spoken to the hotel beforehand, Fiona, pVicky and me were able to check in right away (go Savoy!). Arides was staying with other Germans at a youth hostel.
   We arrived at the convention's location right in time to register for the opening tournaments, and I played in the 35 pt Steamroller. I won't bother you with my lists right here, because they... will be there again later on. Also, two important things happened while packing: I took Vlad2 with me because I anticipated casual gaming on Saturday, but left Orin at home even though I had him in my hand.

Friday:
35 point Steamroller:
Round 1 - Supply and Demand v. Georg B.
   It was Harkevich's theme force v. Vlad3's theme force, and a very grindy battle - and I punted my one chance at winning by spending the one focus left on Harkevich for the wrong thing (I boosted damage instead of casting Jump Start). ARGH! Very nice opponent, though!

Round 2 - Balance of Power v. Harm K.
   This one was Harkevich (again) against Bart/Galleon. Turns out: On three focus, with Escort, under feat, Harkevich CAN face-tank a Galleon. Also, Bart is one of the two WM Caster that still have though - he rolled it when Harkevich kept calm and cast razor wind. ;)

Round 3 - Incursion (I think) v. Jeroen
   He brought Cryx, so I opted for Zerkova and her anti-Cryx list (which actually had been built to beat Janus S.). He's still a learning player, which showed, and it ended with Deneghra skewered on a Spriggan Warlance (rolled 6, 6, 6, on the charge attack damage, and she had no focus... so 22 damage?)

That was a... pretty underwhelming start. Sure, the first two games were close, but I am still waiting to win with Harkevich the first time ever, while Zerkova remains my "comfort zone".

Saturday:
   I had a Bushido demo which made me really like the system (better than Anima:Tactics, at least). I also got a game in against Rob K., which pitted Harkevich's theme force against Calaban's theme force. And IMO, Calaban is way underrated. It gave me a chance to field a 50pt Harkevich list I both saw on the forums once AND had the models for for the first time. We didn't get to finish it, because I chose to enlist for the Thunderdome competition last minute.
   And that, lads and ladies, was where things started to go crazy.

Khador 2014 - Part 02 "Year of the Beard"

Bring it on! (courtesy of PG Somnicide)

Fellow comrades, it's time for me to speak about the "Year of the Beard", and my plans for it. Or, at least, my initial ideas. For this issue, I think we'll best stick with the intention behind the "campaign" and my initial lists for Harkevich. Meh, I'll throw in an outlook for ClogCon.