Towers of Midnight and Some Khador

by Ishamael



Hi there lads and lasses! Contained within this short post are no spoilers.

So, yesterday I had the distinct pleasure to finish Towers of Midnight (one week after its release, 6 days of my owning it :3), and I have to say I am incredibly excited for the next book. Without spoiling a thing, I am certain that fans will enjoy it, and there are even some plot elements from earlier books that went completely over my head that become revealed late in the book. For those of you that have finished the book, that particular romance at the end of the Tower of Ghenjei took me by surprise, and I still never noticed it in my second read through the first five novels.

I figure I will give a more complete book report in about a week or so to give fans time to finish the book, so I'll finish this with a nice smiley face.

:D

post script: Kirby, I would love to discuss the book and series with you when you're finished with it!

WARMACHINE

Unfortunately, it has not been the case that I have had time to play Warmachine lately, but I have been thinking more and more on what caster to take. While I own Sorscha, Vlad, The Old Witch, and Zerkova, the caster I'm leaning towards for the units I enjoy is Vlad. Given that Signs and Portents works for everything, and I have three Jacks to take advantage of his feat, I will give a sample 35 point list of what I want to test out:

Vladimir, The Dark Prince 5
Berserker 5
Juggernaut 7
Spriggan 10
Battle Mechaniks (Leader and 3 Grunts)2
Great Bears of Gallowswood 5
Greylord Ternion (Leader and 2 Grunts)4
Iron Fang Uhlans (Leader and 2 Grunts)7

It just so happens that this falls within the parameters of a Tier 1 Vlad-themed list, so the Berserker gets a price reduction. So, what are the strengths here?
While quite small and elite, I get the units I like, and even have some small plan to keep them alive! The Jacks cover center field B2B under the cover of one Ternion's Blizzard, one casts it on Vlad, and the last casts it on the center Uhlan. Vlad casts Wind Wall, and he advances with the Bears in front of him while B2B completely within 3 inches. The mechanics and Ternion hang out behind the Jacks. So, +2 Def to everything, and Vlad + Bears cannot be hit with ranged attacks unless they are magical, but the +2 Def holds unless it's Retribution I'm playing against. The plan is to pop Vlad's feat when I'm certain that the enemy is within the 11 inches to charge. If it appears further, casting Boundless Charge three times + feat gives my jacks 13 inches of charge range, with 2 inches for Reach on my Spriggy, but it may just be better to use the feat and give focus to the Jacks. Now, the cavalry will come into play after battle has been joined by the Jacks. My current play testing has been ahistorical, given that I had forgotten how cavalry have been used since their inception. For infantry-heavy opponents, the Ternion will hopefully spray them out, and I have the Spriggan's grenade launchers, as well as the cavalry's ability to overrun infantry with their mounts. Vlad and the Great Bears go as needed in a similar manner as the cavalry, most likely with Signs and Portents up. I'll have to sit down and think on what to do with 50 points to spend. It'll probably stop being themed at that point.

So, these are my current thoughts on using Vlad and some units I enjoy. I am hoping for this Christmas I can get ahold of Karchev. I think I will enjoy playing with a caster that is essentially another Warjack with some fun spells. I plan to do a themed list with him, especially at 50 points. I also need to grab Behemoth.

One of these Saturdays soon I plan on playing some 40k, and I also need to get back to painting my Tau'r Rangers.

So, here's a small update on what I am up to, and now I need to get back to finishing Lord of Chaos.

dovie'andi se tovya sagain,
Ishamael