Expect the Unexpected: pButcher vs eStryker

You already know what their chief weapons are.

The lead-up to today's game begins last night.  (Bad form to start with the parenthesis so soon, but it happens.  Standard time caveat applies: today is relative to when I'm writing [Thursday] and not necessarily when this gets posted, which might be a few days.)  Wednesday night is the traditional "I need to figure out what I'm playing tomorrow" time, when I become enamored with some particular combination that can pull of some wacky trick that needs just the right situation and even then may not work right.  This is when I come up with half-baked Harkevich lists that are based around having a Marauder knock something over.  These are great flights of fancy that never realize their potential.  Last night I decided to go the other way and build a list that was no trickery and all ass-kickery.  The poster boy for this approach is good ole' Orsus, who has been waiting patiently for a shot at the table since he's been painted, and no sane man denies the Butcher his desires.  After some wrangling I came up with the following list:



35+6 points, 23 models

The Butcher of Khardov  +6 points
* Black Ivan  10 points
* Kodiak  8 points
* War Dog  1 point

Koldun Lord  2 points
Kovnik Jozef Grigorovich  2 points
3 Man-O-War Bombardiers  7 points
Manhunter  2 points
10 Winter Guard Infantry  6 points
* Winter Guard Officer & Standard  2 points
* 1 Winter Guard Rocketeer  1 point


Despite what I said above, there is a bit of a "trick" to this list, if you can call Full Throttle a trick.  Since all of the Kodiak's attacks are melee attacks, even throws, Full Throttle will boost them all.  The idea was to use this to throw something into something else, then shoot those things up with the Bombardiers and/or charge/shoot with Black Ivan.  The melee Black Ivan is extra intriguing because of the claw, which gives an extra damage die on a crit.  I don't have the number handy, but I could reasonably expect 4 attacks to crit 1-2 times, and those crits would be "boosted" for free.  The rest of the list is WGI, and we all know what they do by now (though I did have a special trick in mind for them).  Originally I had the MoW Kovnik in the list, but I had taken the model out of my case to make room for the Butcher himself so I had to improvise.  (More on model storage in a future post.)  It was an easy fix: out goes the Kovnik, in comes the Manhuntress and a Rocketeer.  I wanted to bring the Doomies since they're painted, but I also wanted to give the Bombardiers one more shot at redemption before I relegated them to "Nice, but not as good as the alternatives" pile. 

EV fielded basically the same list as the last game, except he swapped the last light out for a Hunter.  Here's the list because I'm feeling generous:

35+6 points, 22 models

Lord Commander Stryker  +6 points
* Stormclad  10 points
* Squire  2 points

Journeyman Warcaster  3 points
* Hunter  6 points

Arcane Tempest Gun Mages  6 points
* Gun Mage Officer  2 points
Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios  3 points
Stormblades  5 points
* Stormblade Officer & Standard  3 points
Stormsmith Stormcaller  1 point


I've played against the Hunter before and not liked it, so I was expecting more of the same.  Speaking of more of the same, I still haven't found a good answer to the super armored Stormblades, short of using a jack or a big CRA or some other huge hammer that should be pointed at a harder target.  On the flip side, EV seems to have come to terms with the Iron Fleshed Winter Guard, so in the battle of rock units I'm looking at an uphill climb.


Normally I glaze right over terrain setup, but this time it gets a little more love.  I've detailed the process EV and I use before, so if this is a repeat then apologies, but it's especially relevant for this game.  We dice off and the winner starts.  This has been a "will there be a center forest" roll in the past, but EV has moved away from planting trees in the middle and I have no particular love for it.  This time I won the roll and put a building dead center.  EV put the hill that I hate to the right of the building, still on the center line, to which I responded with a center feature, to which EV responded in kind.  I called it there, and EV exercised his option for a final piece on his side of the table.  Out battle field ended up like this:

Fat Tire?  Not equal to the hype, but then I'm not a beer guy.

Though I didn't think about it at the time, this is really a great setup.  Terrain on my half of the table mostly gets in the way and funnels my approach in a predictable manner, so having a wide open avenue towards EV's forces is a boon.  During the post-game we talked about it a bit and came to the conclusion that the only terrain that matters in 95% of our games is within ~6" of the center, which is where the magic happens.

(I stalled out at this point a few days ago, so from here on the tone of the post is probably going to change)

I won the roll to go first and took the opportunity.  Deferring first player hasn't worked so well for me lately, so I thought I'd try the other side and see how it went.  I used my favorite deployment method of the refused flank.  This isn't as powerful of a technique when setting up first, since you can't cut off your opponent's flank units when they haven't been deployed, but I like keeping things pulled in close and figured I'd be able to make this happen even going first.  Since I was going for a straight-forward list, I deployed in the same vein.  Winter Guard up front to tie things down, heavy hitters behind to clean up the remains.  I put the Kodiak in the middle since it has Pathfinder, but since the hill isn't rough terrain it didn't really matter.  EV put his Storm Smith Zone Holder way out on the flank, but otherwise went to the middle.  I considered sending the Manhuntress after the Storm Smith, but I figured we'd both be in the zone so having the one guy alone on the flank wouldn't matter.  If I had to worry about getting him clear of the zone I'd probably already cleared out EV's army anyway.

Deployment.

Turn 1

My first turn was standard running.  Iron Flesh went on the WGI.  EV took a shot at Ivan but didn't do any damage.

Hit, but no damage.

EV also put up Arcane Shield and Deflection. 

Turn one.

Turn 2

With most of EV's army hiding behind the hill, I decided to do damage to the only thing in range: the Hunter.  First up was the Winter Guard, who did a decent job with a CRA.  Next Black Ivan piled in and landed a Bombard shot.

Piling on.

The result?  One fairly damaged Hunter.  The gun was still working, which was unfortunate, but I'd taken out the cortex, so at least EV couldn't boost damage against my easy-to-hit jacks.

Not bad for two attacks.

That was about it for me.  I tried to hide the Manhuntress from Eiryss, who was sniffing around the building, as best I could. As usual I'd forgotten to activate Joe before the Winter Guard, so they were Tough instead of boosting.

Khador turn two.

Turns out I didn't hide her well enough as Eiryss popped around the corner and settled the score from the previous game when the Manhuntress cut her down.

Not hidden well enough.  Next time elf...

Next the Gun Mages dropped their CRA AoE on the Winter Guard and Tough came in handy.  This was another case of EV pointing out an ability, me reading the card, and then promptly forgetting about it.  As I would find out over the course of this game, the combination of CRA and an AoE template is a nasty thing, especially when your infantry rely on not getting hit instead of soaking up damage.  Fortunately only one Winter Guard was hurt by this first assault, and he passed his Tough check.

Sometimes forgetting to use Joe before the WGI works out.

In a puzzling move, EV popped his feat.  To be fair he jammed himself up a bit by not moving the Stormclad out of the way, but I don't know that it mattered too much.  What made his feat turn so effective last game was that the Storm Blades got to charge, attack, advance, and attack again.  The pain was large.  This time around the Storm Blades ran, then advanced (from the feat), then got the odd attack where they made contact.  The Winter Guard on his ass from his Tough check was killed, but that was the only casualty.  It would have been a different story had the Stormclad made it in, but I don't think it would have been that different.

A not-so-intimidating charge.

That was about all of EV's units.  The Hunter took a shot at Orsus, who was fairly hanging out in the breeze, but didn't make a dent.  After the reaming I took on Stryker's feat turn last game, I felt pretty good after his feat this game.  I also started formulating a crazy plan for retribution.

Cygnar turn two.

Turn 3

I started my turn by letting Iron Flesh expire.  Why on earth would I do this?  A couple reasons.  First, I had read up on orders and discovered that I couldn't use Bob & Weave (an order) on the same turn I charged (also an order).  This doesn't really matter in this situation as I couldn't charge with the Winter Guard because of the movement penalty from Iron Flesh, but it does matter because when I learned about the orders interaction I started looking at my options.  One of these options is Fury, which when combined with Bear's Strength (from Kovnik Joe) and pButcher's feat means the Winter Guard are P+S 15 (I believe) with 3 dice for damage, four if you charge.  And they can CMA.  Needless to say I was taken by this idea, so when I saw a (bad) opportunity to use it I sprung my trap.

The only problem was that I sprayed every single WGI out of melee with my first attack with the unit (a spray from the standard bearer).  I ended up clearing out almost the entire unit, so I guess I can't be too cross, but considering I took down Iron Flesh and put up the DEF-decreasing Fury so that the WGI would be melee beasts and then did nothing but shoot with them wasn't great.  Plus it made them DEF 13 instead of 17.  Nice idea though.

Right results, wrong reasons.

The Bombardiers split up to join the fray.  One got real close to Eiryss and got her with an AoE.  Another charged a Storm Blade and cut him up.  The final one shot at the Gun Mages, missed, then deviated further into the unit and hit more models as a result.  Good turn for the otherwise disappointing Bombardiers.

Bombs away!

And that was that.  I moved the Kodiak way to the flank for some reason, perhaps to finish off the Hunter, or more likely to block LoS to the Butcher.  Despite botching my own feat turn in response to EV botching his feat turn, I was in a good position.  The Storm Blades were down to a single member, the Gun Mages had taken heavy losses, Eiryss was dead, and the Hunter was still very damaged.  In return I'd lost a Winter Guard and the Manhuntress.  A good position to be in.

Khador turn three.

EV got started by sending Stryker in to cut some guys up.  With the WGI defenses down I figured I'd lose the guys easily, and I did, but Stryker ended up with no Focus, which was an unexpected bonus.  Of course he had Deflection and Arcane Shield up, which made him a plenty tough nut, but one that I felt capable of dealing with.

Stryker....strikes.

The Stormclad joined the fight and killed a Bombardier.

Big robot kills little guy-who-looks-like-a-robot.

Then there was more AoE.  I really got to not like these guys by the end of the game.  I can only imagine what the Black 13th is like.  Judging by how much complaining I see about them, I don't want to find out.

Who decided an AoE CRA was a good idea?

So that good position I was in?  Not so much now.  The WGI were mostly dead, my jacks were off on the flank not doing much of anything, and my line was strung out across the board.  When EV moved his remaining Storm Blade, I started in on another plan...

Cygnar turn three.

Turn 4

With the Storm Blade hanging out right next to Stryker, I fired up Full Throttle and sent in the Kodiak.  Unfortunately I had to forgo attacking the Storm Blade so it would be alive to throw at Stryker.  I landed the throw, double handed of course, on the Storm Blade and promptly missed Stryker.  So much for my plan.

Strike one.

The Winter Guard pushed on with their assignment of pumping a CRA into Stryker.  They hit just fine, but did only 6 damage despite having four members contributing.  Those stacking ARM buffs are a pain.

Plink plink plink.

The Rocketeer was more successful, blowing up a pair of Gun Mages with his shot.

Go go Rocketeer!

Curious about the Bombardier's melee abilities, I charged them into the Stormclad.  One got off a critical, so they ended up with three hits total, though only two were charge attacks.  The results were satisfactory considering the Stormclad was pristine before the charge.

Rev those chainsaws.

With the Kodiak blocking his charge lane, Ivan had little choice beyond shooting Stryker, so he did.  Orsus also shot his Blunderbuss to no effect.  I thought he had a Hand Cannon, but alas this was not so.  Joe had also shot his Hand Cannon earlier.  The end result was that I did some good damage to Stryker, but he lived on.

Close but no cigar.

In retrospect I don't think I put Full Throttle up, not that it mattered anyway.  In further retrospect I should have Slammed the Storm Blade and taken my chances with the dice on distance instead of doing the Throw and flubbing the roll to hit Stryker.  Coleman was perilously close to Orsus, but I had a couple of layers between the two and wasn't too worried about it.  It was definitely crunch time though.

Khador turn four.

One of those lines of defense, the Winter Guard, got gunned down by yet another ATGM CRA AoE (yay acronyms).  I really should have seen that one coming.

Hate those Gun Mages.

I still had the War Dog though, plus a number of incidental bodies waiting to throw free strikes should Stryker charge.  That's exactly what happened, but the route didn't give me any free strikes.  The War Dog failed me twice here.  I thought it was positioned to keep Stryker out of combat with Orsus, which wasn't the case.  I also thought I'd be able to counter-charge Stryker when he used Velocity to line up his charge and, hopefully, tie him up away from Orsus.  Turns out when you don't use Velocity you don't move twice, so the War Dog got to attack Stryker when he finished his charge, which was also when he was within (Reach) melee range of the Butcher.  The Dog didn't kill Stryker.

Before all this happened, EV used Stryker's ability to boost his strength.  He went with two dice of boosting and ended up with a P+S of 26(!).  This meant he would take two dice of damage, unmodified by armor and the like.  Since Stryker was on 8 boxes, this could have been the game, and an 8 is close enough to expected value on two dice to be interesting.  (Of course I need a 9 to hit Stryker with the thrown Storm Blade on three dice, just below expected value, and got nothing, so expected the unexpected).  EV rolled something low, two or three perhaps, well short of eight, and the charge was on.  Orsus was factory-fresh, but against a P+S 26 on the charge it didn't matter.

The Butcher gets chopped.

This was another game that I thought I had in the bag, only to lose it all in a rather unexpected way.  I did learn a couple good lessons though.  First was the War Dog: don't keep it too close to your caster.  If I'd had a little more room between Orsus and the pup things might have worked out for me.  Second is that Gun Mages suck.  That CRA AoE seems tailored to taking out Iron Fleshed Winter Guard.  Finally, I learned that Stryker is a bad, bad man.  I've been having issues getting through his thick armor field lately, so to get past it only to get smacked down with ease was disheartening.  I knew he could be a big nasty beatstick, but didn't think he'd be able to deal with the Butcher as easily as he did.

Despite my intentions to keep things simple, I got my feet tangled and tripped myself at a crucial moment.  While the idea of the melee monster WGI is appealing, there's a time and a place for it.  Neither was right when I engaged that tactic.  I also didn't get any use out of Full Throttle, which was the one trick I was looking to use in this game.  My jacks were disorganized throughout and while I got boned on dice with the Throw (9 on 3 dice should be a slam dunk), I should have gone with the better option (Slam) instead.

On the plus side the Bombardiers did well this time out, killing Eiryss and some Gun Mages plus putting a big hurt on the Stormclad.  Their overall value is still questionable though.  At 7 points for three, they're awful expensive and fiddly.  They had a bit of a best case scenario in this game where they could shoot at low ARM targets and use their chainsaws on a jack that can take a hit and potentially survive for another crit-induced attack.  In the end they just don't seem like difference makers, and for 7 points I can have the Doomies with a point left over.  I really want to like Man-o-Wars, and perhaps I will when I get the Shock Troopers together, but for now the Bombardiers are a prime candidate for sending to the painted booth.  The new Paint the Target should be up in the next day or two, so the final call will wait until then, but considering that I want to paint some heavy infantry and that I won't really miss the Bombardiers on the table I may end up painting them regardless of what this month's Target is.

I blame EV for this one

Cast-iron bitch to assemble.

With EV's birthday coming up in the near future, I went out to do something about it.  I had a few ideas (Wrath, Black 13th, Bane Thrall UA, Primal mk. 2) and took a tour of the game stores in the area to see what I could find.  Good news is I found stuff.  Bad news is the stuff is for me.  Good news is I have a Warstore order in to remedy this situation.  Bad news is there's more stuff for me in said order.  This flies in the face of my resolution to not add to the pile of unpainted/unassembled models until I've taken a significant chunk out of what I have on hand, but I can't very well go to a game store and leave empty handed, can I?  We all have to do our parts to support local game stores so that we can still have local game stores.  It was for America.  Yeah, that's the ticket...

Doesn't show up so well, but there's lots of green stuff.

All of this is a roundabout introduction to eEiryss here, who I put together last night.  Recent success in pinning pMordrak made me overconfident in my abilities, so I jumped into the hooker with abandon.  She was...difficult.  I pinned every piece (two arms, one leg, two halves of the chimney/statue thing) and they all sucked.  In a surprise move, the chimney was the worst part.  The two halves didn't fit together flush and required large amounts of green stuff.  To use scientific measurements, whenever I use green stuff I always end up with about twice as much as I need.  This time I had to cut a second stripe off the ribbon because I still had gaps to plug.  That aside, the model went together well enough and I'm pleased with the results.  The arms were especially fiddly, but I took it nice and slow with the drilling and everything matched up with little work.  Later tonight I think I'll go back over the gargoyle's neck, where I put the pin, and try and shave the putty down some to make it nice and smooth.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do about the base.  Being perched on a chimney/buttress/statue thing means you're not especially close to the ground, so the usual dirt-and-grass-or-snow approach isn't going to work.  The current plan is to ballast the base as usual but just paint it black.  We'll see how it goes.  In the meantime I'm savoring the idea of removing upkeeps and basking in the glory of what is easily my most ambitious pinning/green stuffing project to date.  The Troll beasts are still a bit intimidating, but so was the elf before I got to work on her, so perhaps I'll just dive into a beast and see how it goes.

Battle report is going slow and I'm not sure why.  I had the whole thing outlined and roughed in, writing-wise, on the trip home from EV's (which is all of 5 minutes if traffic isn't horrible), yet I haven't gotten much past terrain setup yet.  The modelling bug has hit, as you can tell, and I'm inclined to ride that wave while it's rolling in.  I hope to get back to the report today, but I've been hoping to do that since Thursday.

Day 4 of We Crave Caves: The Drive Home and the Analysis

We got up this morning, refreshed and reconnected after our little incident, and we ate our breakfast from the cooler. We packed up, checked out, and hit the road.

We drove straight home, about 5 hours. We finished The Silver Chair and started The Magician's Nephew. Livy played games on her phone. It's lovely to be home, and I will probably be satified with my normal routine and not having any adventures for about 3 days. :)

The highlight of our trip was definitely Dinosaur World. The cave was wonderful, but we had been there before. Dinosaur World was a monumental surprise. Both of us thought it would be a dinky, cheesy, roadside attraction, and it turned out to be both ginormous and exciting. As we drove by it on our way out of town, Livy yelled out the window, "Goodbye, T-Rex! Goodbye, stegasaurus! You have such lovely skins!" That sounds weird, but really, it makes perfect sense.

We almost always see dinosaur bones. You get used to these creatures as skeletons, without flesh, without life, without skins. To see them all live-looking, with skins on, was a treat. Yes, we know that scientists don't have much idea what their skins look like (they do have some impressions left in dried mud), but even an educated guess at a whole, fleshy dinosaur made us happy.

Next adventure (the weekend and week before Thanksgiving) will be a trip down the Natchez Trace. No dinosaurs, but Indians, highwaymen, and Mississippi River traders will be great too.

NNIPL November - Secret Agents Week One

Here's our enlisted Nursing in Public secret agents for the first week of November!! Interested in being an agent for next week? Email in your info and a picture if you'd like to include that to thegoodletdown@gmail.com by noon Sunday. NNIPL agents - please report back by Friday on how your experiences went this week and include photos of you nursing in public if you've got 'em! 

I know it's still officially October but I had this pic of me nursing in the Crossroads Mall in Waterloo, Iowa on Saturday.  No cover, on a bench right outside one of the big stores (Penney's I think).  I had about 70 people walk by and only one little old lady took a second look, and then smiled!

Next week I will be nursing in the dr's waiting room while I wait to get my ultrasound. 

~Alissa

Hello! Here where we live in Colorado Springs CO there is a small theme park called The North Pole.. I plan on going on Monday and can definitely do my part and nip there! Not sure on a time or if it's positive I'll go, (dd has been sick this weekend, I'm hoping she will feel better) Either way I'll let you know! And I plan on nursing with NO cover!! Thanks!~Melinda

Hello! My name is Rachel. I am a 21 yr old, full time college student, and mommy of a 3 year old girl, who self-weaned just before her 2nd birthday, and a 10 month old boy. I am going to commit to nursing in public at the Knoxville Zoo, in Knoxville, TN this week! I have nursed in public many times in my almost 3 years of breastfeeding, but I am much more confident this time around than I was when my daughter was younger. Although my mom breastfed all three of her children for a year, my parents were not very supportive of me nursing in public. It took some time, but I have succeeded in normalizing it for them, and I hope to do he same for many other people.

I want to participate in the November challenge. I NIP nearly every week depending on where we need to go. I am a homeschooling mom of 4 children, 3 boys age 11, 5 and 3 and a new baby girl who is 7 weeks. our oldest boy is adopted but I have nursed all the others for a total of over 4 years nursing so I am not new to NIP at all. I will be NIP on Sunday at church in Austin, MN.  Monday at the dentist in Northwood and the Orthodontist's office in Mason City, IA. Tuesday at a friend's house for lady's Bible study, though that is not very public. Oh and depending on how long we stay at the costume harvest part tonight at the elementary school with the kids, I may NIP there as well:)

Baby girl goes everywhere with me and at 7 weeks nurses every 2 hours at least so I am glad that I am comfortable NIP, have never had a bad experience. though I think the strangest NIP time I have had was a few weeks ago when I nursed her through a cleaning at the dentist's office. I did use a light blanket so she didn't get anything on her or look into the bright light. not sure what the dentist thought:) but I didn't ask permission.

~Brea

I am 24. I have 2 beautiful healthy children. 22 mo daughter  i nursed until 10 mo when i found out i was expecting my 2 nd baby.  I didn't know anything about nursing while pregnant and stopped cold turkey. And after a few weeks of engorgement and pain i was on a mission to figure this whole breastfeeding thing out. I've done tons of reading and found out i didn't have to stop nursing which broke my heart.  So i found the leakie boob and good let down on facebook.  And went to wic here in my town and tried to contact lll but was disipointed to find out they don't do meetings. So i created Yuma on tap page on facebook.  And have a few very few moms there.  And try to have meetings but only one will show. So i have talked to wic LC and a few other women but i have had no luck with my attempt to spread the breast feeding word.  I want moms in this town to know and have support because not everyone has wic or know about lll. So eventually i want to team up with wic and lll and have outreach programs for breast feeding support.  I need help! And information.  I still haven't gotten a hold of the yuma arizona lll. But any who my son was born july 22 snd has been thriving on boobie milk. 15.4 oz at last check. My first had so much trouble and i had to supplement at first. Iam proud to be able to. Breast feed my baby.  And i would love to be a nnip agent.  

~Renae

Hi!! My name is Holly aka Lynne lol :) I have a 23.5 month old and he is a super nurser! :) He nurses ALL. THE. TIME :) Comfort, tired, hungry, thirsty, BORED, etc :) He eats solids really well too but is not ready to stop nursing yet at all lol! :) I will be NIP Sunday at my church (The Grace Place, Colorado Springs, CO) sometime between 10:30 and noon. I will be NIP Wednesday but not sure where/when. Thursday the 2nd I will be nursing at the Fountain/Widefield/Security CO MOMS Club!! :) (also looking for new members so holler if interested!!!) Probably at least one other day I will be getting out of the house and be nursing too! :) Anytime we leave the house you can pretty much guarantee that we will be NIP since kiddo nurses all the time :) 

Day 3 of We Crave Caves: The Agony and the Ecstacy

Mostly, it was ecstasy. We breakfasted from our cooler and drove to Mammoth Cave National Park. We took a walk to the Old Guides' Cemetary, then did our 11:15 New Entrance tour. It was a much larger group than the last time we came (36 people), but we had a great time. The highlight was the Drapery Room.

After the tour, we grabbed a quick lunch at Wendy's. We spent the afternoon working on Livy's Junior Ranger Badge. I love this program so much! They give you a free activity book with lots of info about the park, geology, careers studying caves, animals in the caves, etc, and it is filled with games and activities. Some were typical worksheet type things (crossword puzzles, word searches, etc), but some were more unusual. We did a nature scavenger hunt hike, counted deer (24 today), and ranked nature careers in order by which Livy likes best (1st-paleontologist, 2nd-wildlife biologist, 3rd-botanist, last-out-of-6-choices-historian). At the end of the afternoon, she turned it in and talked with a ranger, who gave her a shiny gold junior ranger badge that looked a lot like a real one. It was a lot of fun, and it gave some shape to our wanderings in the park. I think I might arrange some scavenger hunt activities for hikes at home too.

We took a short walk around a pond/marsh, and then we went on our second cave tour of the day, completely by lantern light. It was a less exciting part of the cave, but it was cool to be in the dark. Awesome things: a naturally mummified bat, a live bat, and tons of graffiti from the 1820s and 30s.

Next came the agony part. Livy was tired (she did walk miles and miles today) and cold, so we finished up the night with a ginormous tantrum (I cannot remember the last time that happened!), which I handled nearly as badly as she behaved. One long, warm trip to Taco Bell, a long talk, much crying, and a fair bit of Narnia later, we are both sorry and both tucked tight into a much beloved bed.

Tomorrow we head home.

Day 2 of We Crave Caves: Dinosaur World

We woke up in our hotel and started a long and rainy morning. We filled our cooler with food at the grocery store in the rain. We drove 4 hours through the rain. Rain, rain, rain.

But then it stopped, and we went to Dinosaur World. No amount of rain, not even 40 days and 40 nights of it, would keep me from this amazing place! It was a walking path lined with life size dinosaurs, probably 50 of them! What could be better than that? Even if we didn't do the caves, the trip would already be worth it.

It was freezing, but I just imagined that we were living in the age of Mammoths. (There were life-sized mammoths!) Tonight, dinner in our hotel room, Little House on the Prairie on TV, snuggling. Tomorrow, Mammoth Cave.

Another quick one

Not as hard to pin as I expected.

After reading a recent 3++ post about Hordes, a thought got stuck in my craw.  The idea that warlocks need more beasts than warcasters need jacks made me wonder if my desire to run jack heavy might not be better suited to Hordes.  When I first started looking at Warmachine, well before I started playing, the jacks didn't do much for me.  They all looked basically the same, and while I can appreciate the subtle differences between Khadoran and Cygnaran jacks now the point still stands.  There's no way you're going to mistake a Circle beast for a Legion one though.  Looks aside, once I got into the game I wanted to run a handful of jacks, at least three, but sadly the game just doesn't support it.  Granted I could run Karchev or some crazy pButcher list with a ton of Kodiaks and Berserkers, but the system just doesn't encourage running more than two jacks per caster, and even that's pushing it for some.  So perhaps Hordes is the key, where the beasts power the locks instead of the other way around.  With all this in mind I sat down for some pinning and got pMadrak assembled.  I wanted to put a beast together, but they're going to take some real work to get together and my pinning skills, while getting better, still need lots of work.  Perhaps I'll get Madrak up there based and primed, plus splash some paint around, while I'm on a between-paint-the-target-goals hiatus.  Maybe I'll get the beasts together and start work on the battle group.  More likely Madrak will sit and wait for a while before getting any love while I continue to plug away at Khador troops.  Whatever the future holds at least I finally cracked Primal and the Trollbloods box that have been waiting for attention since they arrived at my door.

In other news, there's a battle report in the works.  It might get finished tonight or it might get done sometime over the weekend.  In the meantime, ratchet up your anticipation.

Day 1 of We Crave Caves: A Little Drive with a Big Spirit

Livy and I set out tonight at 9:30. We only drove for an hour and half, but I wanted to get started today so that we would feel like our adventures had begun.

On the way, we listened to The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, which I think is an excellent soundtrack to an adventure trip. Caspian and crew are on an adventure to the eastern edge of the world, and we are on an adventure to Kentucky. Pretty much the same, if you ask me, especially since we have a noble, voyaging kind of spirit.

Our trip is called "We Crave Caves" because our destination is Mammoth Caves National Park. We aren't just driving straight there, though. We are going to take in the interesting island stops on the way, just like true Narnians.

Tonight we heard a quote from my dearest Reepicheep himself that seemed a good motto for our adventures. They have found the island where the 3 lords sleep at Aslan's table. Reepicheep declares that he will stay the night at the table, and Eustace asks him why. "Because," said the Mouse, "this is a very great adventure, and no danger seems to me so great as that of knowing when I get back to Narnia that I left a mystery behind me through fear."

Coming Out of the Tandem Nursing/Toddler Nursing Closet

So, last year my grandparents came into town over Thanksgiving to meet their new great granddaughter Chicklett. They knew I had breastfed big brother Chicken Little, but as far as I knew they assumed I was no longer nursing him at that point. They stayed in our home for 10 days and I basically hid the fact that I was still nursing this 2-year old boy. I hid, not out of shame, but simple because I didn't feel like having to explain myself to family from that generation. It'd be one thing if they weren't staying in my house... but since they were... I really didn't want to make anything awkward between us for their stay. I only get to see them once a year and I'd like the visit to be pleasant. They are pretty liberal folks... but I know nursing a toddler could be over the limit. Or they could be fine with it... I really have no idea. For all I know she breastfed my dad until he was eight years old... I really have no idea! 


So... here we are... three weeks away from them coming for another long visit. Now I'm nursing a 3-year old boy and a 1-year old girl. Chicken Little is a lot more obvious about his nursing requests by voicing "Boobies please!" loudly and proudly. I know I was skirting around the issue last year and I'm sure the few times that my son mentioned boobie time confused them. So, enough is enough... I should probably just come clean. I think I'd like to do it in email form with some links to resources... but which ones? What are some of the best, clear, concise, informative online resources for information on extended/full term nursing and tandem nursing? Help me form this out because I'm a big wuss about it since I don't like confrontation or debating. 


Here's what I have so far....


We're very exciting to have you staying at our home again this year! I wanted to get something off my mind before you arrived just so you aren't surprised by it. We are practicing what is known as "child led weaning" in this house, which means that the children can breastfeed until they are ready to stop. It is a pretty normal occurrence in my bubble of a community. I know things were much different back when you were having babies, and the fact that you breastfed at all might have been taboo depending on who you were around. 


I know my mom breastfed me until 11 months and that my husband was breastfed until he was almost 3 years old. Long term nursing is just kind of normal for us, and the boy is much more vocal about it this year than he was last year... so I figured I'd better explain the situation before you got here just to give you some good information to digest. 


So, yes, I am breastfeeding both a 1 year old and a 3 year old at the same time. I will never run out of milk as the body works on a supply and demand situation so the kids combined tell my body how much milk to make. 


American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that "Breastfeeding should be continued for at least the first year of life and beyond for as long as mutually desired by mother and child... Increased duration of breastfeeding confers significant health and developmental benefits for the child and the mother... There is no upper limit to the duration of breastfeeding and no evidence of psychologic or developmental harm from breastfeeding into the third year of life or longer."


This is a great article that outlines the natural age for humans to self wean as biologically compared to other primate species; http://www.kathydettwyler.org/detwean.html


[here's where I need y'all help the most!! Help me fill in the gaps... and I don't want this to be too long winded... no need to overload them... just a highlight of the biggest and most important things] 

Productive morning

Currently in the drying booth (aka the bathroom[aka my office])

First coat of varnish on the Doomies.  Snowed the Doomies and WGI.  Second coat of varnish of the lot.  All the remains is the Dullcote and they'll be done done.  In celebration I may bring along the plastic Sorscha and/or Kreoss and/or some Menoth jack and/or the plastic Juggernaut to put together before I ambush NGF with Devestators.  Again.

Return of the cleave age

Just snow and varnish to go.

I hoped my painting mojo from yesterday would return, but such was not the case.  Determined to finish the Doomies, I pushed on and got all the paint applied.  All that's left is a couple coats of varnish and the snow for the bases.  Thinking of basing, I find it odd that I can date these models by how I based them.  No bit of slate for a rock, no green stuff filler between the tab and the slot, sand instead of ballast.  The funny/sad thing is that the sand took a brushing better than any basing I've done since.  It stuck around despite drybrushing and being flooded with paint.  Only a few bits flaked off, and those were mostly bits glued to other bits instead of the base.  The various severed heads gave me a bit of trouble, but overall this batch of minis was the best time I've had painting in quite a while (possibly ever).  The best part?  I can have my cleavetastic madmen back on the table this week if my varnish/base/varnish plan for tomorrow goes well.

How did I not title this post when I posted it?

Group shot looks better than the individual for once.

My painting mojo was in full swing this morning, right up until I had to stop.  I'm a painting nomad in that my paints are rarely at home, and when they are it's because I'm in transit to another painting locale.  This is by design and has worked well right up until today.  A new furnace was installed here last week, and today there's a follow-up visit to fix up some of the loose ends.  Someone has to be here to let the guy in, and that someone is me.  This isn't a problem, nor a surprise, but it did cause some unexpected problems today.  As you can see, I got some good progress in on the Doomies.  They'd probably be finished today if I hadn't had to break off early to wait for the furnace guy.  I got the greens and reds done, plus (most of) the bandages on the limbs.  I was having a good old time on the reds when my hurry-home-so-I-can-wait timer went off, so the front rank of the above picture got the TLC highlight treatment, while the back rank got a much quicker pass.  I have a bad feeling that when I get back to the models and compare the two batches there won't be much difference.  The good news hidden in there is that I was reminded that I'm trying to strike a balance between detailed painting and getting things done quickly.  The other silver lining is that, barring a catastrophe, I should have them finished next time I sit down, which is hopefully tomorrow.  If I can manage all that, I might even have them available for Thursday.  I have missed my bloody, crazy Doomie safety blanket these past few weeks.

Looks like I focused on the bottom.

Because I have another picture, you get another paragraph to nest it in.  Modelling with NGF didn't go quite as intended over the weekend.  Turns out he wants something already finished, which really isn't a surprise.  That's not going to happen of course, and I have a plan in place for Wednesday.  The original plan was to have NGF dive in to a fresh box himself, but it looks like I'll have to do a little prodding, so the new plan is that I'll start to slowly assemble a marine and stick NGF with a hobby knife until he gets the idea.  Once he gets rolling things should fall into place.  Overcoming his natural inertia is the key.

More space eh?  Perhaps a meditation on the Reaver's skirts.  They'll be the olive drab sort of green like the rest of the army, but in the course of painting them I'm thinking they aren't any sort of fabric at all, but rather skin stitched together.  This doesn't change my painting approach, but it does add a bit of character to the models.  I'm still pondering my approach to the heads, but I can save them for last.  The list of things to finish is as such: skirts, hair, heads, random metal bits, bases, the bit of bandaging I missed on the leader.  Not much at all.

There can be only one

Mostly as a place to link the pic from, but since the Caps are the last undefeated team in the league I think a little celebration is in order.

Is there such a thing as a "quick" post?

The group, it progresses.

Though my previous estimate of completing the Doomies in another two sessions is probably off, I did get in some decent work today.  As you can hopefully tell by looking at them, I got the skin done.  Less noticeable is the leather bits, which also got finished.  To round out the day I did a coat of Red Gore to firm up the red which had gotten rather dark after the wash.  While I have a firm idea of what color is going where, the firmness is most squishy when it comes to the trophy heads.  Like all good maniacs, the Doomies have taken plenty of trophies and display them on their belts, or in your face in the case of the leader.  Pending a good, close examination to see if any are Skorne heads, Ogruns, anything other than human, I'm thinking of doing some sort of wash or unusual (for me) shading on the heads to show that they're not fresh.  Having never done decaying/putrefying skin before, I'm not sure where to start.  My current inclination is a green wash, though purple seems like a good idea too. 

Individual shots show details better.

Because I need another paragraph to put in the second picture, I'll continue.  Tomorrow is D-Day for NGF.  I'll be bringing a box of Devastators and my handy modelling box, which has all my tools and materials for assembling minis, when I pay him a visit tomorrow.  My natural inclination when assembling is to save the one I'm most excited about until the end so I can get all my learning out of the way before I care about a stray cut here or there.  Since I want to set the hook firmly on the first strike with NGF, I'm considering going the opposite route.  As much as I want to give him the full treatment on cleaning, basing, posing, all the modelling goodness, I think the better tactic will be to just have him open the box and see what catches his fancy.  My big bag of marine kits may stay at home to avoid option overload, as staring at 30-40 sprues might be a bit much.  In the meantime I have to actually go get that box of marines.  And go make that money to get marines with.

Baby Led What?

I guess you can consider this a bit of a follow up on my Sleep Thing posts. I've had to come to a realization about what my son's needs are and it has meant a lot of thinking on what mothering is about for me.

I am exhausted. Chase is not a good sleeper and he nurses most of the night so I have not had a good night's sleep in a year. Since he was six months old I've been on and off scrambling to gently guide him towards less nursing and more sleeping at night. A few weeks ago I was pretty much having a mental breakdown about the whole thing. My husband has been sleeping in the guest room for a couple months while I've been trying to find an arrangement for Chase that respects both his need for night time parenting and nursing and my need for sleep. In order to find some guidance I picked up a book I thought I never would pick up: Dr. Sears's Attachment Parenting Book. I'm not done yet but it has really helped me to better understand the inner battle I'm having with the sleep issue in my house.

I enjoy sleeping with Chase, he is a snuggly, delicious little boy and he loves to sleep close to me. It's a beautiful thing. I also love that he has access to me when the need strikes him at night. I think he is more secure because he knows he can count on me to be there for him whenever he needs me. I've often said that for a baby, their wants are the same as their needs. Chase has reached an age now where the two are beginning to differentiate. So, he WANTS to eat the crayon, but he certainly doesn't need to. For some families Chase's desire to sleep in my bed at night (he adamantely refuses to sleep in his crib any more than thirty or fourty minutes) is a want, a habit, and not a need. I beg to differ. I believe that he needs to sleep with me. As he crosses more milestones, grows and learns with every passing day, he needs the reassurance that in this great big, exciting, sometimes frightening world, his mama will always be there for him. He needs to feel safe, and he needs me to help him feel that way at night when he is most vulnerable.

So I tested the waters with limiting night nursing and moving him to his own space to sleep, but he did not respond well. I had to read his signals. This is following his lead. Baby Led sleep is as important (to me) as baby led breastfeeding. I feel like he needs me to follow his cues, he wasn't responding positively to gentle sleep guidance, so...we will wait and try again later. I think I can handle this.

What I call the "Baby-Led Lifestyle" is not easy. Parenting in general is not easy, and I'm not saying that my kids rule the roost, but on meaningful issues like sleep maturity, nursing, food, and independance, I think it is important for my boys to have their cues recognized and respected. This probably would be referred to as "Attachment Parenting" by a lot of people, but I'm sorry, I really don't like that term because it then gives the impression that if you are not parenting within those parameters, you are not attached to your children. Baby-Led gives more of an impression of give and take. I see an opportunity for growth, I follow his lead. We go too far beyond what he is ready for, we back off a bit. I can encourage his growth and development in a positive way by watching how he responds and following his lead.

I will admit to being exhausted. I will admit to wishing I had the balls to have him Cry-It-Out on particularly difficult nights. Come the light of day, however (and a few cups of coffee) I know that I"m doing the right thing by my boys. Is Aiden allowed to sleep with us every night? Will I give him unlimited sippy cups as he works through his usual delay tactics? No. But if he wakes feeling unsafe or unwell in the night and needs to sleep next to mom or dad, he can do that. This is a great big world he is trying to learn his place in, and he needs to know we are there for him when it gets a little frightening. This gives him the strength and confidence to move forward and grow more within it.

I also remind myself that being a mom is not meant to be easy. It's not a small or simple task to be trusted with the growth and development of people, and yes, as a mom, I frequently have to put my kids' needs before my own. As parents, once we stop trying to fit our children into our existing lives and recognize that our children ARE our lives and start working other things (including ourselves) around their needs, our perspective changes. YES, the child's need is more important than my needs, they are are still growing and maturing, we are their guideposts in this crazy world, and they need us more than we need pretty much anything. We can be more compassionate about their needs, following their cues instead of trying to teach them to make our lives more convenient. Being a mom isn't about convenience to me. Do I love anything that makes my life easier? Heck yes, but not at the expense of my children's emotional and physical development. Sign me up for bouncy seats so I can get a shower when my little baby is fussy, an exersaucer to safely contain my baby while I finish making a meal, and even a little TV if I need my toddler distracted long enough that I can finish up something I'm doing. But overall, it's more important to meet their needs than anything else is going on.

My house is a mess a lot. I'm ok with this too, because a spotless home is the sign of a neglected child.

I am by NO MEANS a perfect parent, not even close. Maureen Campion, a therapist and Attachment Parent in Minnesota, posted a wonderful perspective on a post once that has stuck with me for the last year or so: if we are good enough and do our best 80% of the time, the other 20% doesn't matter so much. So yea, sometimes I want to drop both boys off on a curb somewhere, and sometimes I just want to lock myself in a closet for some peace and quiet...but overall I am striving to follow my boys' leads where it matters most for their emotional development. Sometimes I fail, but that's OK, because more often than not, I am meeting their needs when they arise and I am following their lead as best as I know how and am able to.

I think I will copyright the term "Baby Led Parenting." It makes sense doesn't it? According to The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding if we allow babies and young children to lead the way on eating...nurse and eat when they are hungry, however much or little they choose, we are fostering the development of healthy eating habits later in life. The book refers to a study that found that children who were fed on schedules, a set amount were more likely to eat everything on their plate at age 3...regardless of how much their was...because they were taught to eat what they were given regardless of hunger. Dr. Sears and many other child development experts talk about the importance of night-time parenting to a child's social and emotional development, largely stating that following your baby/child's cues on sleep will help to foster healthier sleep habits as the child grows.

So there you have it, that's my sleep update. Chase has been waking up A LOT in the last week and I'm very tired, but I'm keeping his needs in perspective. He is teething, coming down with a cold, and coming up on more milestones. They are only little once, and I only have one chance to get this "right" for them. I can do this.

More boots approach

One of these things is not like the others.

Due to some schedule swaps, I had a larger than usual amount of hobby time available yesterday.  As such I packed up quite the laundry list of potential modelling projects:

• The 2 player box, save the Destroyer chassis which is now Black Ivan
• Old Witch + Scrapjack
• Aiyana & Holt
• eIrusk
• Trollblood starter box

I also had my usual huge stack of books for flipping.  (As a side note, I want an all-inclusive Warmachine app that lets me flip through full entries for all the stuff in the game.  I realize this won't happen because it would invalidate the Forces books, plus all the cards, and basically give someone the whole of the game (minus the rules) in the one place, but isn't that what that program that rhymes with Smarmy Guilder does already?  iBodger is great and all, but sometimes I want to see the exact wording of a feat while on the crapper, in the car, at work, or elsewhere when my books aren't handy:)  While I didn't get as much out of that time as I hoped I would, I did make some progress, as you can see on the left.

Something is very wrong.

My first thought was to lead this paragraph with "I ran into a minor setback," or something in a similar vein.  That would be a misleading though, as the setback was not so minor.  As the pictures attest, the Annihilator Blades are warped worse than anything I've dealt with before.  The leader's blade was close enough to be glued on, but the others will all require work.  Trawling the forums confirmed my initial solution: dip into hot water and bend into the desired shape.  It looks like I'll have to boil the water and will also need some cold water handy to set the pieces when I'm done bending them.  This doesn't sound so bad at first, but it must be noted that there isn't much cooking that goes on here.  Using the stove, even for something as mundane as boiling water, constitutes an adventure.  Hopefully the process goes smoothly.  While building this set of Men-O-War I put the lessons I learned with the Bombardiers to use and puttied all the joints, except for the feet (but they'll get a sort of puttying when I fill in the gaps in the base).  Even so I had an arm come off on me, though I'll chalk that one up to pressing too hard on a shoulder join that wasn't even close to dry.  That said, this batch feels more stable than the Bombardiers did.  Still having issues with the loin cloths though.  In playing around with lists I used two full squads of Shock Troopers, plus Demo Corps, so chances are good that I'll have more bites at this particular apple.  Definitely disappointed with overall quality though (some of the pieces looked like they didn't fill the mould enough).  Since it will be a while before I look to more Men-O-War I can hope they clear the jams in the system between now and then.

Alternate angle.

In unexpected news, NGF asked after models yesterday.  He couched it in his usual manner ("So I guess all your marines are Blood Angels?"  "Pretty much, I have some odds and ends floating around."  "I don't suppose one of those might happen to possibly be a Devastator?  Those guys are kinda awesome."), but the gist of it was "I want a marine for my desk at work."  My gamer shame runs deep, so this motivation makes me a little skittish, but NGF is not hampered by any such notions.  I had him pegged for an Assault Marine guy, but the Devastator doesn't surprise me.  I'm calling it now: Heavy Bolter, wide stance, possibly a Dark Angel but more likely from the grey plastic chapter.  Assembly should be an easy sell as NGF likes putting things together (actually it's taking things apart and then putting them back together, but it's the same idea), but I expect painting to be akin to pulling teeth.  Still, the long con takes a step closer to completion.  I'll be making a trip to the FLGS today or tomorrow to get a box of Devs, and if that goes well then maybe I'll look into the Gears of War game.