Saturday, September 8, 2012

On Conquest and Performance - Melee

Since purchasing the Conquest and working on painting it, I have been looking at it as a model. I also though would like to look at it in game purposes.

I think for comparison purposes I will compare it to the venerable Behemoth, the former "King Sized" warjack, and as far as I can tell the proof of concept for the Conquest in Khador.

First, let us look at the statlines between the Conquest and Behemoth.

CONQUEST V BEHEMOTH


SPD = SPD
STR (+6) > STR
MAT = MAT
RAT = RAT
        ARM < ARM (+1)
      DEF < DEF (+3)
BOXES (+26) > BOXES

While the Behemoth is a hard hitting Warjack and has one point more ARM  and 3 points of DEF over the Conquest and , with 93.75% more boxes the Conquest has the ability to soak up nearly twice as much damage as Behemoth while remaining a viable threat.

To show how this affects the two differently, how long it would take for a baseline weapon, such as the "standard" Khadoran Axe, the Ice Axe on a Juggernaut, to break through and finally box each of them. Assuming non boosted attacks on 2d6 the average damage should be 26 points. This would do 5 points a turn to Behemoth and 6 points a turn to Conquest. The results would be:
Behemoth - 8 (7.2) turns
Conquest - 11 (10.33) turns

Now lets look at how well they can break a target with Initial, non boosted attacks:

First we need to look at how much they can do on an average 2d6 roll with their Power and Strength.
Behemoth: P+S+2D6 avg = 19 (Armor Piercing)/attack
Conquest: P+S+2D6 avg = 29/attack

Colossal - 
Test Target - Conquest: ARM 20
Behemoth: 4 (3.44) Turns (9dmg/turn x 2 attacks)
Conquest: 4 (3.44) Turns (9dmg/turn x 2 attacks)

So, against Conquest they are both as effective at downing a Conquest.

Next Target, Standard Khadoran Warjack, a Juggernaut:
Test Target - Juggernaut: ARM 20
Behemoth: 2 (1.88) Turns (9dmg/turn x 2 attacks)
Conquest: 2 (1.88) Turns (9dmg/turn x 2 attacks)

Once again, the Juggernaut is not able to out do Behemoth and Behemoth isn't able to drop it any quicker

Up next is the Khador Light Jack equivalent, the Man-O-War Shocktrooper (3 in a squad in Shield Wall)
Test Target: Man-O-War Shocktrooper ARM 17 (+4 in Shield Wall)
Behemoth: 2 (1 First Turn, 2 2nd Turn) 
Conquest: 2 (2 in first Turn, 1 2nd Turn)

In this case The Behemoth would have to put 2 Attacks into a Shield Walled Shocktrooper to drop him. This is because in Shield Wall the Shocktrooper would be effectively Armor 13 (Arm 17, Armor Piercing to 9, +4 for Shield Wall) making it where each hit on the trooper would cause 6 damage. Meanwhile Conquest can squish each Shocktrooper with his P+S+Avg 2d6 of 29 Damage causing 8 to the first trooper and 12 to the 2nd trooper. The situation becomes worse for Behemoth if the Troopers can move back to B2B after Behemoth swings causing them to each take 2 hits to kill making the kill take 3 turns.

This is where Behemoth starts to fall short against its bigger and ok, bigger counterpart. Finally small bases. I will use a Warcaster as I am not comparing their special attacks as none of this takes Focus into account.

Test Target: Kommander Sorscha ARM 14 (Arm 20 with full Focus)
Behemoth: 2 against ARM 14, unknown against ARM 20
Conquest: 1 (18 points in 1 Turn)

As a Caster Killer, Conquest takes the cake when compared to Behemoth against most Casters.

The one thing I would like to compare between them is against a full WGI DS, I think though this would need to be done with a full focus load.

As a last piece of information, I would like to pit them against each other, so, with just initials who would win? (or more like how much of the Conquest would be left when it finishes eating Behemoth?)
Test Target: Each Other (Conquest ARM 20, Behemoth, ARM 21)
Conquest: 3 (2.25 turns @ 16 damage/turn)
Behemoth: 4 (3.44 turns@18 damage/turn)

Conquest would have 8 points left. 

Just for fun, lets load them up with 3 focus each and see how many turns.
Conquest avg damage on 3d6 is 32
Behemoth avg Dmg on 3d6 is 22
They would have 2 boosted and one unboosted

Conquest: 2 (1.2) @ 30 damage/turn
Behemoth: 2 (1.87) @ 33 damage/turn

So on a Side note, Behemoth with 3 focus under Karchev's Unearthly Rage would be a Colossal Killer with 5 boosted attacks putting out an average of  60 damage a turn, but that is another subject for another day.





Thursday, September 6, 2012

Red Army sold....Got a Conquest WOOT!!

Ok, so, my Red Khador Army sold. I picked up a conquest...... how couldn't I . So, I wanted to share my thoughts on this beautiful monstrosity, model wise at least.

All Scores 1-10

Quality - 7
Overall I give it a 7 because there are some pretty bad mold lines and some small bubbles  in a few resin pieces and a small but workable deformity in one of the larger resin pieces. Otherwise the metal didn't have alot of flash and the flash on the resin was ok, The pour/vent holes left sometimes in awkward places but it wasn't anything a bit of elbow grease didn't fix.

Fit and Form - 9
Once all the mold lines and flash is gone this model goes together like a dream. The lower legs are stuck in 1 pose but it is a dynamic pose and the upper body has so many possible poses that it can be positioned in a variety of ways making it a very dynamic model given its size. The legs being in 1 pose only got it the 9.

Aesthetics - 10
To me it hearkens to the blockyness of the metal jacks which I prefer, so a resounding 10 for me.

Once I get off my ass and finish painting it I will post some pics.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

A long needed real update

So, In the past few months I have been up to some stuff. I cant quite recall how much I have gone through so, here are my updates.

Warhammer 40K
So, last y'all saw I was working on my Nids I was going to sell, last update was this:
http://rowed2oblivion.blogspot.com/2012/07/more-painting-updates.html

In all honesty, the nids haven't budged an inch since. Probably because the Warmachine models I had took precedent over them. That and I really hate painting the little buggers, the sooner they are gone the better.

As for the game itself I do plan on picking up the new boxed set which is 99 bucks and gts some models for 2 small armies for my friend and I to re-learn this new edition. This will also allow him to expand his Chaos Space Marine army for 25 bucks more then the cost of the rulebook itself.

Warmachine
Well, a few months back I had built a small Khador colection for Warmachine which included:
Kommander Sorscha
Karchev the Terrible
Juggernaut (Plastic)
Juggernaut (Metal)
Destroyer (Plastic)
Devastator (Metal)
Beast 09
Greylord Ternion
MoW Shocktroops (Max)
MoW Bombardiers (Max)
Battle Mechaniks (Max)
Manhunter
WidowMakers
Widowmaker Marksman

I then made a purchase for 300 dollars for mid paintjob stuff of:
Karchev the Terrible
Kommander Sorscha
Vlad Tzepseci, The Dark Prince
Kommandant Irusk
The Butcher of Khardov
Kommander Orsus Zoktavir
Old Witch and Scrapjack
Destroyer (Plastic)
Destroyer (Metal)
Juggernaut (Plastic)
Juggernaut (Metal)
Kodiak
Devastator (Metal)
Spriggan (Metal)
Behemoth (Metal)
Berserker
MoW Kovnik x2
MoW Drakhun w/ Dismount
MoW Shocktroopers x4
MoW Demo Corps x3
1 Sqd Doom Reavers
Fenris
Manhunter Female Variant
1 Sqd Battle Mechaniks
Widowmaker Squad x2

So, I turned around and took the plastic juggy from my 5th border legion, stripped him and repainted him along with Sorscha, Karchev, Plastic juggernaut and Destroyer, The Mechaniks, a Kovnik, and a squad of Widowmakers in my Khador "Red Army" Theme as can be seen here:
http://rowed2oblivion.blogspot.com/2012/08/khador-red-army.html

Everything else except one of the Widowmaker Squads is in the process of being painted in my 5th Border Legion scheme. I picked up another metal Juggernaut which I will be painting with the Widowmakers that cant be used because of thier FA in the scheme of the Unbreakable 111th. As for what I have painted, but not necesarilly based fully, I forgot to take pics but I got the kit for Black Ivan for the metal Destroyer I kept and also picked up Harkevich and he is done too. Take a gander at the pics below:

Demo Corps

old Witch and Scrapjack

Kodiak

Butcher of Khardov

Harkevich angle 1

Harkevich Angle 2


MoW Shocktroopers




Female Manhunter

MoW Drakhun w/Dismount


Metal Juggy and Destroyer

Different Angle

Metal Devastator (Closed) and Spriggan

Different Angle

Behemoth

Kommandant Irusk

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Khador Red Army

A very basic variant of the Khador Red Paint Scheme using GW paints




I almost forgot

I finally finished the Khador Red Army, It is for Sale at The Game Vault for 175, pretty cheap actually, and if the buyer wants I will paint models they provide to bring the army up to 35 points.

Friday, August 10, 2012

Of models, Historicon, and game stores



Well,

I just wanted to update everyone on my progress on.. well... everything.

First of all I have to say, I had a great time at Historicon. I ran 2 games, both of which were great. I also played in Wicked Day which was interesting. I had never dealt with Car Bombs in BattleTech before. I also played in the Grand Melee. All I have to say is I have fallen in love with the Pariah and I think I will have one already painted and based to try and win the Melee next year.

As for what I am up to now, I am running a BattleTech demo at The Game Vault on August 18th. Basically I'm planning on doing some small basic games, hopefully getting some people interested in the game and see where it goes from there.

On to the painting front.

Right before Historicon I had to finish all my Mechs for Historicon which put everything on hold. Since then I have felt kind of worn out and now on my work bench, I have four different projects I keep switching between so that I don't get bored with any of them.

They are:


Tyranids..... I know..... I have been working on these forever. They are pretty nice even though I really don't care for them. I still have to finish the Hive Tyrant, 15 Genestealers, and a Lictor and they are done. Woot!!!!

Nids Almost Done

Next up on the list is a Khador Army made up of a purchase I made for 300 for tons of Khador stuff. This army I will be selling consists of 2 Juggernauts, a Destroyer, Karchev, PSorscha, a Full Mechanicks Squad, Widowmakers, and Man-O-War Kovnik. They are all being done in a generic Khador Red.

the Khador "Red Army" sans a Mechanik, Sniper, and Juggernaut who are all on the worktable
Keeping with the Khador Theme. I have a worktable covered in my army and my in progress pieces. In the back of the pic you will notice my current army which consists of :
Karchev, p-Sorscha, Plastic Destroyer - who will be converted to Black Ivan, Devastator, Classic Juggernaut, Beast-09, Full Man-O-War Shocktroops, Full Man-O-War Bombardiers, Greylord Ternion, Manhunter, Widowmakers, Widowmaker Marksman, Full Mechaniks.

I am using them as reference for the very large expansion of my army which includes:
2 Classic Juggernauts, Classic Destroyer, Kodiak, Devastator, Spriggan, Man-O-War Kovnik, Man-O-War Drachun with Dismount, Min Man-O-War Demo Corps, Min Man-O-War Shocktroops plus one additional guy, Doom Reavers, Fenris, War Dog, Berserker, pIrusk, pButcher, eButcher, pVlad, Old Witch and Scrapjack, Behemoth, Harkevich, Kayazy Eliminators, Female Manhunter. If you haven't noticed, except for character jacks and new models that weren't built in metal, I'm trying to go as much metal jacks as possible.

The 5th Border Legion Expands......some Khador Red guys at the bottom of the pic.
Alright, now we move on to my final job int he line.... Battletech:
DCMS - Strider, Raptor, Avatar
General Camo - Pariah
CCAF - Men Shen, Phoenix Hawk Reseen
LCAF - Jumping Atlas, Atlas, Arctic Fox, Cyclops
SLDF 2750 - Spider, Hussar, Champion, Bombardier, Exterminator, Osprey, Shadow Hawk Primitive
WoB - Buccaneer, Grand Crusader, Red Shift, Initiate, Initiate
AFFS - Thunderbolt 9NAIS, Hammerhands

BattleTech and the XBox360 games

Finally, I would like to say that I had the pleasure during Historicon of hosting Paul Sjardin here at my house. Great guy, fun to talk to, and has good taste in Chinese food. I hope to have him back here next year.

I would just like to finally end the post in some pics of my game room, a constant work in progress

Wall Art

The table, mostly clean and set up for Warmachine
The messier end of the room
My car collection
Even more waiting to be done.....NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Better shot of the table
Jethro and Captain Jack Sparrow
Augie


Dont forget to visit your FLGS

From the Vault - Restoiring the old Cron Models

This is an old draft that never got published. But what the hell.

today I am delving into something which annoys me, bugs me, drives me absolutely insane, and in all honesty needs to be answered. a Friend of mine plays Necrons. He just got his new codex and through some trading he got some very damaged Warriors, a monolith ,a banged up tomb spyder....errrrr....canoptek spyder, and a bunch of scarabs.

The scarabs are in decent shape, not really too much you can do to screw those up. the warriors...... not so much. The guy had about half of them crawking on the ground and the other half standing. Ok, so about 30 warriors just became trash. The Spyder is missing 2 legs. Easy enough to fix at a later date. We finally reach the monolith. This thing is beyong ugly. The walls are so poorly put together that you can look through it from one corner to the other, the crystal is messed up, the gateway is pretty well mauled, this thing was toast when I got my hands on it. I was able to pop out all the clear green peices and take the entire monolith apart to rebuild it. The edges on the pieces all had to be shaved and sanded and then after it was assembled Green Stuff had to be used to fill any slight gaps and get a true squareness to the outer edges of the body again. The crystal had a giant gap in it and all the sides were pretty well messed up, so some more Green stuff and alot of sanding and it is the right shape again. The crystal was primed, painted Snot green and using a mixture of snot and scorpionbreen now has the look of lightning running theough the crystal. The gateway will probably get the same treatment and finally the monolith is probably going to be black with scoprion green in the crevesces and metallics where appropriate with a ardcoat finish......

All of that rambling though brings me to my point. Why didnt GW just opt for either solid colored pieces for the crystal, gateway, green tubes and so forth, especially given the fact that now the different necron dyntasties appear to use different colors. I understand that the argument cant be made of "well they didnt know they were going to do that" Ok, I will concede that point, but what about just some good ole replacement parts being made available. I mean honestly, I am sure that if they were to sell just a ton of green tubes, the crystal, and gate for a monolith you wouldnt see some of the hack jobs that exist out there now on these things after they have been painted over about 10 times.

Well anyway, I think with the rise of the necrons as it were they should explore the options of releasing a monolith crystal and tube kit simply because there will be a number of Monoliths on the secondary market changing hands and quite frankly I would rather be in the market to make some money off the secondary market and people attempting to restore the broken down monliths they get in trades instead of sitting on the sideline offering only the full kit for peple to purchase. I guess the only kind of comparison I can make is this. While GW doesnt really want to support a secondary market to repair broken down models as much as just sell new ones, Car manufacturers dont really want to do it either. They do though because to not do it makes it much easier for aftermarket companies to step in and fill the void and make a profit on someting you developed in the first place if you dont make parts available, or has GW not learned its lesson from the Thunderwolf Cavalry.