We can Rebuild Him! Mercenary theme list league and painting blog. Part 9: Colossals

The Galleon is finally done.

I was going to save this for the end of my blog, but the timing with the battle report (below) seemed too

perfect, and I wanted to show it off as soon as I photographed it :p

It took working here and there for something like 2 months, but I finally finished the Galleon, and I've gotta say, I'm damn proud of how it turned out. (click the images to zoom... would have kept it as one, but it was too large for Blogger to take without complaint)

I'm quite happy with the various areas of focus across the model, with a number of highlights that don't detract from the metal/black/green scheme of all my mercs.

The claw arm is removable at the shoulder (held in place with three 1/16" braces and a par of neodymium magnets), because the wrecked charger is actually just barely above the ground, and to not wreck the game if anyone tries to charge that side.

Since Magnus is far and away the merc caster I I decided to go whole-hog and make this his warjack. There are quite a few different ways to read the jack's "Hail to the King" slogan, that players who've read the fiction should pick up on, and he's of course, fighting his enemy, the light blue modern Cygnar.
most play,

I modified my standard Cygnar color scheme for this, going for a more unified carapace on the Charger to not muddle the colors around that point, and went with a brighter blue and yellow banner to emphasize the difference and draw the eye. (Also, the tip of the banner doubles as the center of the model's facing, since the overhang obscured that.

The claw color came from nowhere in particular. I just wanted something to break up all of that dark metal around it, and felt that more green wasn't the answer. I eventually considered that dull red, and got a unanimously positive reaction to that color thought, so painted it.

Finally, for those of you who don't immediately get the reference on the shoulder, you should check out Magnus's original incarnation, before he became the central merc character, and was essentially an Evil Dead/Army of Darkness reference. If you still don't get it, you have some movies to watch.

Also, by request, a comparison of my converted Renegade alongside its smaller standard model.


ADDITION: another request, for how I do the metals:

My mercs' metal is pretty much the same, done with varying degrees of blending.

1- mix of black, brown, and neutral grey
2- blend up to neutral grey roughly
3- wash with black brown mix
4- blend up to light grey, only along upper edges
5- white highlights

Game 11

With a long weekend, I and my wife played another game. We tried something different, (conveniently coincidentally) for her first game with Colossals: 1 unit, 1 solo, 1 colossal, 1 warjack (and, uh, 1 warcaster).


My list (T1... not that it matters, except for pride)
Magnus the Warlord
-Renegade
-Galleon (bonded)
Boomhowler & Co. (max)
Gorman di Wulfe

I played something fairly standard for me. I don't particularly like running the Galleon without at least a Nomad, but specifically knowing I'd be fighting another Colossal, I decided that the long-ranged arcing shot might be necessary as a threat, and I'd want to try to arc Calamity if I could.

I hadn't used Gorman in a long time, and mostly took him for Smoke protection, though Blind was always a hope (and I forgot about Rust, though that probably would have been good).

Her list
Lieutenant Caine
-Stormwall
-Squire
Sword Knights (max)
-UA
-Sentinel
-Archduke Runewood

She took Caine as a new experiment, having not played him in ages.

The Sword Knights got the Sentinel because she wanted to give Caine some protection and he wouldn't want to run another 'jack himself.

The Squire breaks the rules, but I was two points up and it was an easy way of making it even.

Early Game

Again, I got the roll. We played on exactly the field from last game, down to the wrecks (apparently the Cygnarans knew where Magnus was holed up and wanted to send someone else after him-- Runewood probably finked, considering he's here again).

I had Boomhowler & Co. and Gorman on the left, Galleon center, Magnus and the Renegade on the right.

I cast Mobility and then Bullet Dodger on Boomhowler, and everything that could ran.

My wife had roughly a mirror of my force, except Caine was on the left flank with the Squire.

Caine Sniped the Sentinel and Blurred the Sword Knights. Everything advanced, the Sentinel killed my first Trollkin and failed to kill two others, while the Stormwall blasted my Galleon with an average roll and a good roll.

I had everything advance a bit, not having any great positions. The Galleon blasted apart a number of Sword Knights with 4 focus and 4 cannon shots (plus one very unhappy Knight that got harpooned with a 10 to hit and damage).

Boomhowler & co. shot at the knights, until I realized that I needed 12's to hit and should have probably been going for the Sentinel. Derp.

The sentinel gatted up 3 of Boomhowler's company, the Sword Knights killed one more, and Runewood himself casually strolled around a wall and stabbed Boomhowler to death. The Stormwall rolled a second set of solid damage against my Galleon, and it was starting to look pretty hurt. I think Caine blasted a troll or two?

Mid-Game

Sensing the end, I packed 4 focus on the Galleon and cast Mobility. I then feated because I didn't want those last sword knights getting the kill if the Galleon wasn't wrecked. It did pretty admirably considering its cannon-riddled shape, trampling 3 Sword Knights to death, then taking out just over half of the Stormwall.

The three remaining Trollkin attempted a charge, and one took a free strike, dying to a battle blade to the back. The one that connected did decent damage to the Sentinel.

The Stormwall pummeled the Galleon within an inch (actually, 2 hit boxes on its harpoon/cannon system) of its life, and we both forgot that it had electroleap, which might have killed a Sword Knight or two.

Caine then walked up, Sniped himself, and shot Magnus a few times, bringing the venerable warcaster down to 7 health, which might have been a lot worse if Caine hadn't missed one shot.

The Sword Knights were apparently shaken by a giant robot stomping their friends to death, and ran away behind a wall.

Late Game

Things were looking grim, so Magnus did what Magnus does best: sacrifice his men, fuel his warjacks, and cover his ass (camping 4 focus and standing behind cover). He threw the remaining Trollkin at Caine, both getting injured by the Sentinel bashing them, but one luckily surviving to fall down in front of the startled pistolier. 

What must have been a lot more unpleasantly startling was when Gorman's Black Oil then sailed over, onto said prone Trollkin, blinding Caine.

The Obliterator shot then ended the game with a solid hit followed by a high damage roll, again, just managing to kill the warcaster (though, this time from full health).

What if...?

As I was writing this, I realize that we both forgot that the Sentinel could have Shield Guarded Caine  even though it was blind (though he would have still gotten caught in the KD AOE)-- sensing the inevitable terror rocket, neither of us thought about the alternative...

Since the board wasn't moved, we decided to try it out. Unfortunately for Caine, the Galleon's first cannon shot did enough to kill him...

Conclusions

Another game where my wife's forces had me on the run and trying more long-shot kills.

Again, I feel like the Galleon really isn't that great against other Colossals, while the Stormwall is terrifying even without a caster who particularly supports it.