Day 5 of the Great Trace Chase: Going Home

We got up on Saturday morning, had a little breakfast our of our cooler, and headed to our last big Trace location. We wanted to visit the Grand Village of the Natchez Indians that was on the south side of Natchez before we left town and started for home. There was a little museum with exhibits on pottery, religious ceremonies, dress, and diet of the Natchez Indians, a tribe descended from the Mississippian mound builders that we had been learning about all trip long. Outside, there were two mounds to climb and a reconstruction of one of their houses. We also hiked a nature trail on the property of the village.

After this last Indian site, we started home. W decided that instead of going the old boring route,we would go south from Natchez and drive along the beach at least for a while. It was a grey, rainy kind of day, but we still got out and padded around the beach in our bare feet with our pants rolled up to our knees. We touched our toes to the water, but it was COLD. Livy chased sea gulls for the first time.

After that stop, we drove for the rest of the day (a total of nearly 12 hours) toward home. We finished Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, both by Roald Dahl. Livy read to me from Phonics Pathways, her newly beloved reader. We ate fast food because we were sick of our stupid cooler. And when we reached home at nearly midnight, as I carried the sleeping Livy into the house, I said, "We're home, sweetie." She replied, still mostly asleep, "I love home."

Assassins, Quandries, and Schedules

So ugly, yet so beautiful.

With the (relatively) mammoth Black Friday order placed and on it's way, I was feeling like I buckled and heaped more work on an already high pile.  While it's true that the list is longer than ever, I've actually made some decent progress over the last couple months.  I dug through my email to find past Warstore orders under the assumption that I'd placed half a dozen, with a model count nearing triple digits, and had painted perhaps a ten of the pieces.  Turns out I've only done two other orders and everything from them is primed (except a omnijack kit waiting for me to work up to magnetizing it), and there's even something completed (Ivan).  After finding this out I didn't feel nearly as bad about dropping two units (Kayazy, Mechanics) and a handful of solos (Yuri, Manhunter, Gorman, Sylys) into the painting queue.  I'm not sure how I managed to avoid the Kayazy for this long.  Now that they're on the way I either have my nose buried in the Khador book or inches from iBodger as I cobble together list after list to take advantage of them.  Stealth, Gang, Parry, base DEF 14 (16 in melee), and a mini-feat that lets them walk through other models?  Yes please.  I love the idea of just running them into melee, where they're safer than just hanging out, and then using the mini-feat to walk back into my opponent's second/third wave/caster.  Because the WGI Deathstar does so much, I hate to just run them into melee to tie something down because that keeps them from shooting and spraying.  The Kayazy can quite happily run to engage, then just walk away in future turns to let my second wave pour in.  Roughly a week away from arrival, they've already altered my (tentative) pIrusk tournament list, and the general list building implications are staggering.  Why does such a fun unit have such fugly models?

How do you counter both at once?

Despite my relative progress with previous additions, I still have a mountain of stuff to paint.  Counting the batch on the table as finished for the moment I still have the War Dog, Kovnik Joe, a Koldun Lord and a Ternion to paint for the pIrusk list.  Plus the yet-to-arrive Kayazy.  I'll have to pick some brains on how the two list format works, but I'm guessing you have your two lists all typed up or somesuch, trade lists with your opponent before the round starts, then pick which list you're going to play based on the two lists your opponent might run.  If this is the case then it seems prudent to have two different army styles (pIrusk and Karchev for instance) instead of two similar styles (pIrusk/eSorscha Deathstars) to make the choice harder for the opponent.  To this end I'm thinking about running a pButcher theme force as my second list.  It certainly plays differently than a pIrusk infantry list, and while I'm sure there are lists that can deal with both I'm willing to bet that there aren't many.  The problem here is that I have yet to field that theme force and will have perhaps a week to come to grips with it (not to mention the pIrusk list) before the tournament.  While I don't have any illusions of winning, I would like to make a decent showing and not embarrass myself.

A plan is coalescing.

Coming back around (again) to painting, things are gathering into a neat package of times.  As noted last time, the plastic Legion box is unlikely to release before February, which is the same time the Kayazy Eliminators debut.  Templecon is in February (not that I'll be attending), and the Clash of the Titans/Vox Populi over at Lost Hemisphere also (presumably) runs through February.  With all signs pointing to February, my very tentative plan is to have both the pIrusk (hopefully in time for the tournament as well, but I'm being realistic here) and pButcher lists done, submitting to Vox Populi along the way since I'll be doing a theme force.  I'd feel a little odd about submitting basically the same list as Plarzoid, who's doing the actual Clash of the Titans, but the schemes would be different and I'm leaning towards a pair of Juggernauts instead of a single and a Marauder.  There's not much to worry over though as there's precious little wiggle room in theme lists, so some redundancy is to be expected.  Leaving Lost Hemisphere aside for a moment, for this to work I'd need to paint: full Kayazy with Underboss, Koldun Lord, Greylord Ternion, Kovnik Joe, War Dog, Yuri, Manhunter, min Shock Troopers, min Demo Corp, and a pair of Juggernauts (one of which will be magnetized).  All this in two(ish) months.  It's a tall order but I think I can manage it.  Should it all pan out, I'd be able to venture off into Hordes virtually guilt free, plus I'd have taken a respectable bite out of my painting queue.  It sounds like a great idea, but the real trick will be pulling it off.

Day 4 of Great Trace Chase and What I am Thankful For

Today, we left my mom's house and headed back to Jackson to start our final leg of the Trace where we left off before Thanksgiving. It was a full day, and some of our favorite things of the trip happened today.

The highlights:

1. We finished Matilda and started Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Livy likes Roald Dahl A LOT! She says he is tied with J.K. Rowling. I love these books too; they are like Narnia mixed with Jonathan Swift. Sharply satirical and heroic/fantastical at the same time. (Not that C.S. Lewis wasn't satirical, but this is acrid satire, very Swiftian.)

2. We hiked under a waterfall. It was a tiny waterfall, but it was so neat to climb underneath its overhang and put our hands in it from the back.

3. Livy climbed on everythings. She climbed the Sunken Trace (where the Old Trace is sunk way down below the treeline with lots of exposed roots), down into a ravine where she crossed a creek on a big log, and up several Indian mounds.

4. We walked through the remains of an old town and through its cemetery. We found the oldest grave, a lady who was born in 1778 and died in 1859.

5. We explored Mt. Locust, the only remaining inn from the hayday of the Natchez Trace. We did a scavenger hunt all over the grounds and inside the building, hunting up slave graves, magnolia trees, and furniture to hold chamber pots, among other things. Livy turned in the Junior Ranger book that she had been working on the whole trip here and got her badge. She and I agreed that this was one of the highlights of the trip. I liked the Pharr Mounds from Day 2 better, but Mt. Locust was a close second. The scavenger hunt made exploring really fun.

6. We climbed up (and Livy rolled down) the second biggest Mississippian Indian Mound in the counrtry, Emerald Mound. The sun was starting to set, and it was beautiful to look down over all the surrounding forests.

7. We reached the end of the Trace in Natchez at twilight and drove across the Mississippi River into Louisiana and back. I love the river; I always have. It's so fun seeing how wide it is, and I love the moment when half of the car is in Mississippi and half in Louisiana. Afterwards, we drove through downtown Natchez to look at their Christmas decorations, which are AWESOME

.

A little Mexican food and several pages in our phonics reader later, Livy and I are settled into our motel, watching Phineas and Ferb.

This has been the most amazing trip. I just love traveling alone with Livy. She and I really get reconnected, and we do the most spontaneous, fun things. I would never do some of the things she pushes me to do, like jumping from hay bale to hay bale or climbing under a waterfall, even though it is off the path. It's awesome to listen to some many great books as we drive, and when we are together for long periods of time, she talks more than she does at home. Traveling together makes me feel so close; there are none of the distractions of home, just hanging out.

So this Thanksgiving, I am thankful for how cool Livy is, for her being the kind of kid who enjoys my wandering ways and who makes a good companion. I'm thankful for Aaron, too, who understands my need to be on the move when I start to feel like a cud-chewing cow. I love that he doesn't feel left out when Livy and I take off. (The truth is that he really likes the alone time, as much as I like the wandering.) And I am thankful for the big world full of wonders and marvels to experience.

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A slightly tardy post

Haste makes poor pictures.

Painting was yesterday, but pictures had to wait until today.  Despite it taking about three times as long as it should have, I got the reds done yesterday.  The problem is I keep painting the same spots over and over.  I start with Heavy Red, then a wash, the Red Gore, then Blood Red, all of it over the same area.  This isn't by design, I just keep doing it despite my intentions.  The results are good enough, so I guess in the end it works out, it just takes far too long.  At least I'm getting the hang of highlighting red without making it too orange.  I also got a base on the browns, which means that every bit of the model is now the color it will end up being, albeit after much washing, shading, and highlighting.  I had thought this batch would be finished the next session, but that was before I spent the whole time doing red.  Hopefully they'll still be finished the next time I sit down to paint, though getting all the basing done might be a stretch.

Do Khadoran bears poop snow in the woods?

The new approach to snow looks promising, but I'll be tweaking it next time.  I put in way too much snow and ended up with a thick paste, so next time it's more glue and less snow.  With some luck this will lead to more natural looking piles instead of the rock-like snow clumps I have now.  Both Ivan and the Manhuntress will be getting more snow to try and even out the clumps, though because of this approach there will always be little hills and clumps.  The weather here in the DMV has been rainy and cloudy for the last few days, which was a bit of a blessing in disguise as I would have sealed up the freshly snowed pair by now if 90% humidity hadn't stopped me.  It looks like the ever present cloud cover is moving out, so I should be able to get my varnish on in the next few days.

It doesn't look nearly this good in person.

Since I have another picture, a collection of random thoughts.  The insidious plague that is this blog is gearing up to join the Iron Agenda blogging network.  This very post might be the first to appear.  I'll hold off on the Iron Agenda podcast reminiscing until I get to the "Welcome new readers" post.  With the Warstore's Black Friday sale set to start tonight at midnight, I've been filling a fantasy shopping cart with most anything that I think I'd like with an eye towards cutting it down to reasonable levels when I see what the sale is.  The current total is $380 $390, though to be fair that includes a bit of Christmas shopping for EV, so it's not all for me.  I'm doing my best to keep Legion stuff out of the cart (outside of the book which I can put down to research) in an attempt to hold the Trollblood line, but if I look at it realistically it's just a matter of time.  Much as I like the look of the Trolls, the more I dig into the book the more they seem like a Khador in a different color.  I've heard a lot about Trolls becoming the ranged faction in Hordes, and if that's true then it would help to differentiate them from the existing Khador stuff I have, but with all the MAT and STR buffs the Trolls have it seems like shoving a square peg in a round hole.  On the other hand, Legion seems more Cryx-like, with glass cannons and dirty tricks.  I like the blighted elf theme as I've had my fill of standard Tolkien elves, plus the remind me a bit of the Blood Elves from Earthdawn who scratched my corrupted elf itch before I knew I had it.  (There's also the pimp daddy Thagrosh and his harem of buxom...witches angle, but that can stay in the subtext).  The beasts were a big turnoff for me initially, but they've grown on me from an apex predator sort of angle.  Perhaps I'll put a solo in the Warstore order and see how it looks in person.  In a twisted way, picking up Legion would work out well as I could stick with the "Paint the Trollbloods up real nice" pact I made with myself a few months back.  Hordes looks tasty and I'm anxious to take a few bites, but my progress with the Trolls has been minimal.  Then again, I'd want to wait for the plastic starter boxes, and with the plastic Legion beasts not due until February that will mean quite the delay.  Perhaps that delay would be long enough to allow for a large dent in the Khador painting queue...

Great Trace Chase: Day 3

Today, we set out early for another full day on the Trace. We made it as far as Jackson before heading east to my mom's house for Thanksgiving. We got to her house tonight, and I am so tired that I am only going to make a list of things we did, though I will try to include entertaining details.

1. We started out at the Visitor Center in Tupelo, where we saw some exhibits, touch deer skulls with antlers, and picked up a hitchhiker - an armadillo puppet named Sparkles who especially enjoys Native American historical sites and whom Livy taught to read a map all day long.

2. We hiked two sections of the Old Trace, the actual trail that the Kaintucks (that's Ohio Valley farmers who came down the river and hiked the trace home) walked along. We pretended we were Kaintucks, Chickasaw Indians, and even robbers (of which the Trace had its fair share). We wished we had horses so we could pretend to be mail riders.

3. We visited a Chickasaw Indain village, two more sets of mounds, and a house and barns circa 1840. We were excited to see a plow just like the one Almanzo would have used, harrow and all!

4. We did a nature trail through a cypress swamp, which was beautiful. I really wanted to see an alligator, but Livy was slightly terrified the whole time and was glad that we didn't. We didn't even see a turtle, but at different parts of the day, we saw cranes, hawks, and lots of horses.

5. We picnicked at a pretty overlook. It wasn't historical or interesting at all in that way, but we laid back on our blanket on the hill and had a delightful lunch of ham, cheese, veggies, hummus, and yogurt. Livy also ran up and down the hill about 48 times.

6. We watched the sun set over Ross Barnett Reservoir (very beautiful), and Livy threw about 600 sticks into the water.

7. We finished James and the Giant Peach and started Matilda (also by Roald Dahl).

I probably won't post until we are on the road again. We are going to spend 3 days here in Meridian and then head out again to do the rest of the Trace from Jackson to Natchez. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Caution: Flying Paint

I need to work on lighting for these setups.

In anticipation of only 2-3 days of painting this week, I put some work in today when I had the opportunity.  Painting inside to outside, I got going on the flesh.  About halfway through I realized I had missed an inside-ier part: the eyes.  Me and eyes don't always get along too well, but this time they didn't put up much of a fight and I got them all right the first time.  After finishing the skin I rolled into the green.  Highlighting went better on this batch, perhaps because I did it in two steps instead of one.  Whatever the cause, I didn't end up with the too-bright areas that have cropped up previously.  I considered the reds as a finale, but instead went with the metals.  The Tamiya Smoke I got from EV worked quick and well on Ivan, so I used it again here.  The finish is a bit slick, akin to a varnished area, so it might be fun going back on the officer's blunderbuss to do the wood bits, but it should work out well enough.

Spray that way.

Speaking of the officer, I've really come to like the model.  The face is large(ish) and painted up well.  She's been getting something akin to the caster treatment, along with Irusk, though I'm trying to not dawdle too much with either one.  The pair has gotten an extra layer or two of highlights, plus I've been extra attentive about where my brush is going with them.  Not that I'm a sloppy painter, but I am trying to push through the rank and file.  That approach is about to pay dividends.  While considering my approach for the next time I can sit down at the painting table, I realized this group is close to finished.  Still outstanding is: red, brown, black, hair, metal studs, basing.  Of special note, and not featured on that list, is the banner.  It's big and ugly at the moment and not likely to improve much.  On the smaller surfaces I can get away with dabbing some paint around and calling it done, but the banner just hangs out over everyone and draws attention.  Maybe I can hope my way into having it turn out decently.

This model has no eyes.  I approve.

From the bits n bobs file, I tried out the new snow approach of combining glue and snow into a paste.  At first blush, I don't like it.  The big globs of snow are very uniform and look more like a slurry of glue and little white flecks than snow.  Perhaps after it dries it'll look more like the examples of this approach that I've seen around.  Assuming I like how it looks in the morning, Ivan and the Manhuntress (my victims subjects) will get a final coat of gloss, then a Dullcote, then they'll be done.

Last week at the FLGS I got two brand newbies.  First was a pDenny + Bane Thrall list (30 points), which I faced off against with the same list I ran against EV in the marathon game, minus the Great Bears.  Things went fine until Denny landed Crippling Grasp on Orsus, then feated, then walked out of combat with my Kodiak (who knew she had Parry?), and poked the Butcher a couple times.  Even with Iron Flesh up and camping some Focus, the debuffs were too much.  At least I took out Tartarus with a Bombardier when he strayed too close to my lines.  I lost this game fair and square.  Next up was a pKreoss list with a Choir and a Vassal (20 points).  Time was a factor in this one, so I cobbled together a pSorscha list with a pair of jacks and a pair of solos.  This time I have an excuse in that a couple guys who know what they're doing were showing my opponent the ropes.  I had Sorscha screened well enough, but Kreoss' feat just works on everything unlike Sorscha's that needs LoS.  pKreoss looks like a bad dude on paper, and I imagine he'll be popular with the starter boxes and all, so any lessons learned will be helpful.  And now it's far later than I intended.

A Post About Nothing

They don't look too Khadoran, but neither do the real ones...

The mega battle report takes up the whole front page when I load the blog and I don't like it.  The answer?  Another (shorter) post. 

In a fit of inspiration I remembered that hidden away somewhere deep in the recesses of my collection was a box of Vespero's Vendettas that I might be able to use as stand-in Kayazys so I could give the unit a shot.  Ten seemed like a reasonable number to come in a box, and even six should be easy enough to come by.  After rooting around for a bit I came up with three assassins and Vespero himself.  Looks like I'll have to wait until I can get the actual models.  Of course the actual models are...unfortunate.  Still, Kayazys seem like a good fit with Irusk (Battle Lust), Strakhov(feat), and any caster with Iron Flesh(tarpit), so I'm curious how they'll work on the table.  A full unit with the Underboss and some support solos are the core of the impending Warstore order, to be joined by other bits and bobs depending on what the Black Friday sale has to offer.  The Holiday bundles at the Privateer store looked interesting at first glance, but all they have to offer is a PP tape measure, dice, and tokens.  I had hoped for some sort of discount, and much as I'd like a gaming tape measure I'll have to be content with whatever the Home Depot has on offer.  Hopefully I can find one with a sturdy, durable lock.

On the hobby front, Black Ivan has arc markings and a coat of varnish.  I'm going to try a new snow basing method: mixing the snow and glue into a paste.  With any luck this will give me mounds of snow instead of the thin covering of the current method, glue then snow.  Irusk and the WGI ephemera got a base black coat on the appropriate areas, so everything on them from here on should be finished work. 

Great Trace Chase: Day 2

So, it's good to have a friend like Jenn, who can come up with good names. Our trip is renamed the Great Chase Trace, which is a better not only because it is shorter and catchier, but because it is a tongue twister! When we shout out the name when we crank the engine, it's so hard and funny to say. We have started saying it 4 times over every time.

Today, we spent the whole day on the Trace. The morning was rainy and yuck, and in order to keep our spirits up, I said, "We are the kind of people who are so much fun that rain cannot stop us. It cannot dare to suck up any of our fun." To which Livy replied, "What about locusts?" (Can you guess what books we really like?) And I said, "No, locusts would not dare come near us. We are that fun." Now, since I am the kind of person who intends not be upset by the rain but has bouts of self-pity when we are in it, and since Livy is the kind of person who is upset by it at the beginning but never thinks of it again once the rain is in her plan, I made our "locusts dare not approach us" saying, and she reminded me of it whenever it rained on us and I complained. :)

We had some of the best moments of our day in the rain. We hiked down to waterfall and climbed up the side to get a better look. We saw a house built in 1816 by the owner of a ferry, and we hiked down to see where he ran his ferry across the Duck River. I fell down in the mud, but I didn't mind because locusts dare not approach. After the rain stopped, mostly, we hiked a nature trail and skipped stones at Sweetwater Branch, saw where Meriweather Lewis died (some say murder, but most say suicide) and was buried, picnicked where the Colbert Ferry carried people across the TN river, climbed up Bear Creek Mound (Mississippian Indian temple mound and some Indians even earlier), explored a sinkhole/former cave and climbed all over the fallen-in ceiling rocks, and explored the Pharr Mounds.

The Pharr Mounds were a lot of fun, my favorite thing of the day. The rain had stopped; it was nearly dark; and we had the 90 acres to ourselves. We read the info about the mounds and walked out to three of the biggest. We ran up, ran down, and Livy rolled down like a log. She compared the heights of the two biggest by counting her steps. We thought we saw a deer on the top of one in the distance, but it was only a clump of tall white grass. :( We climbed up onto those big round hay bales and jumped from bale to bale. We ran with our eyes closed across the big open space. Basically, it was awesome sauce. Irreplaceable fun.

We had dinner, a bath, and now we are playing a version of Memory I made up with Choctaw word flashcards that came in her Junior Ranger book. We also managed to finish The Last Battle and start James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl. Good day.

Mississippi's the place, by way of the Trace:Day 1

Two observations:

1. This blog has become a travel blog. Partly because we travel ALL THE TIME, and partly because when we travel I have time to write on it.

2. As road trip names go, this one is not our best. But we must have a name, and this is all we've got: "Mississippi's the place, by way of the Trace." I reserve the right to change it if one of us comes up with something brilliant.

Anyway, Livy and I set out after a lunch with Aaron for Nashville. Why did we go in that direction to get to Mississippi, you may ask. Because we are going to drive ALL THE WAY down the Natchez Trace if we can fit it all in. The Natchez Trace is a paved highway running down an old trail called the Natchez Trace. See, people in the West (Kentucky, Pennsylvania, etc) used to travel down the MS River and then walk back up the Trace. There were also apparently tons of Indians, outlaws, and mail riders. The road has tons of hiking (some of it along sections of the Old Trace), pretty overlooks and picnic spots, and historic sites of all kinds.

I used to drive it with my parents all the time when I was little. ALL THE TIME. Finally, as a teenager, I put my foot down. My MS history and government teacher father would have driven that damn road every holiday and read every placard along its 440 miles. But now, more than a decade later, it seems really fun to me again. Did it just take some time to stop being sick of it? Am I just old? Whatever the reason, that's the trip I chose this time.

Livy is a really good road-tripper, and this one is even better because she can follow our progress on the map of the Trace and get out all the time to run about. I am not sick yet of "Look, there was mile marker 423! Look, there was mile marker 422!" So far, it's just adorable. And I have learned that she will read ANYTHING if it is on a map. :)

So, we drove to Nashville today and started down the Trace almost at the very top. We started at mile marker 436, instead of 444, because of where our highway spit us out onto the Trace. We saw (and drove across) an awesome bridge (the Double Arch Bridge); we hiked a 1 mile round trip up to an amazing overlook where we saw patchwork fields and horses below us; we drove into an beautiful sunset; and we listened to almost all of The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis.

Tonight, we got dinner, grocery shopped to fill our cooler for tomorrow, checked into a hotel, and now we are working on Livy's Junior Ranger book for tomorrow. She is matching up footprints to animals and making coded messages in Choctaw.

More tomorrow!

The (new) battle of Marathon: pButcher vs eGaspy

Lace 'em up Forrest, this is gonna be a long one.

The game that is usually on Thursday got moved up to today (Tuesday) to accommodate my occasionally wonky schedule.  During the list building phase of last night, I decided it was more than time to try out the Shock Troopers.  After trying a few different combinations, the only thing I came up with that accounted for the slow, slow, sloooooooooooooooow nature of the Shock Troopers was more Men-o-War.  Since I'd be embracing the slow slowness, Orsus seemed appropriate.  Plus I think of him as part MoW anyway.  Shield Walled, Iron Fleshed Shock Troopers should form a nice, solid wall that is hard to get through and blocks off whatever is behind it, which is a great idea until you want to attack from behind it.  The answer?  Bombardiers.  Tough and slow, they fit the nascent theme of the list and could bomb away from behind the wall thanks to Arcing Fire.  I toyed with a MoW Kovnik, but in the end I didn't have the points.  Jacks were easy as my list building has calcified to an extent.  Once I settled on Orsus, I knew I'd be taking a Juggernaut and a Kodiak.  I couldn't manage an entirely MoW and jack list, so I had to venture into the small bases.  My Ternion hasn't seen any table time in a shamefully long time, plus I wanted to get some reps in with the Iron Flesh + cloud combo, so in they went.  They'd also add some infantry clearing and accuracy boosting in a pinch.  The Great Bears rounded things out because...well, why not?  My final list was thus:



35+6 points, 18 models

The Butcher of Khardov  +6 points
* Juggernaut  7 points
* Kodiak  8 points
* War Dog  1 point

Great Bears of Gallowswood  5 points
Greylord Ternion  4 points
3 Man-O-War Bombardiers  7 points
5 Man-O-War Shocktroopers  9 points

I've already laid out the general approach above, but just to reiterate: brick up, crawl forward, lob grenades.  An objective scenario would screw me pretty good, but isn't that always the case?  Some cocktail napkin math told me that if I ran one turns one and two I could make the center line, with Iron Flesh up but without Shield Wall.  Hopefully it wouldn't come to that.

Still running.  Hope you brought some water.

After eCaine's showing in the last game, I didn't expect EV to field him again today, but I did think I'd see something like the gun line he ran last game.  When he pulled out eGaspy instead, I was rather surprised.  At first I was concerned about all the infantry, but after a moment's reflection I thought it was a good match-up for me.  The Bombardiers would have plenty of targets (and ones they could kill to boot), and my ARM + boxes should help weather the inevitable charges.  The Bile Thralls were more of a concern than usual, but I hoped I could work around them.  EV's list was unchanged from the last time he played eGaspy, but it's been a while so I'll repost it because I'm just that helpful.

35+6 points, 36 models

Lich Lord Asphyxious  +6 points
* Cankerworm  5 points
* 2x Nightwretch  4 points each
* Skarlock Thrall  2 points

10 Bane Thralls  8 points
6 Bile Thralls  5 points
Bloat Thrall  2 points
10 Mechanithralls  5 points
* 1 Brute Thrall  1 point
Withershadow Combine  5 points

Heavily outnumbered again, I had faith in the Motherland's thick armor and the stout hearts of her soldiers.  We rolled up Mangled Metal first, then rolled again and got the two objective scenario.  Looking at the description I knew I was sunk from the beginning.  With 22" between the edges of the two objective zones I'd never be able to cover both, so winning by scenario was right out.  After terrain went down my resolve was firmed: the center forest was back, and there was plenty of other terrain around.  My saving grace was that EV won the roll to go first and didn't defer, so I'd be able to deploy in response to him.  Fortunately the unit that worried me the most (Bile Thralls) was shoved out to the left flank, so my choice of which side to neglect was an easy one.  This meant I'd be lining up against the Bane Thralls (and Fatty Arbuckle), but I liked that matchup more than Purge Purge Purge.  I put the Shock Troopers as far forward as possible, then the Bombardiers behind them, then my small bases.  Just to the side was Orsus and my jacks.  The Kodiak pulled the inside lane because of the (oh so common) center forest.  I had a few moments of panic while figuring out if the objective area was a 5" diameter (in which case I had no chance of getting anything into it by the end of turn 2) or a 5" radius (which would make things much easier).  Turns out it's a radius, so the turtle was in business.  Though I was fighting for a draw (on scenario) from the beginning, I was ready to come out swinging.

The armies take the field.

Turn 1

EV advanced.  Apparently eGaspy has no buffs, so there wasn't even a spell to track.  Everything except the Bile Thralls started moving right.  If those stupid Biles wanted to spend the whole game camping in the woods I was happy to oblige.

Cryx turn one.

In comparison my first turn was packed with action.  Excepting the Greylords and Orsus, everything ran straight forward.  The Ternion dropped clouds on some Men-o-War (turns out the cloud spell has a much shorter range than I thought, hence the cloud on the Bombardier) and the Butcher Iron Fleshed the Shock Troopers.  Because the zone was a radius and not a diameter, I'd be able to advance and Shield Wall next turn, which should improve my survivability in a pleasing, to me, way.

Khador turn one.

Turn 2

Not much doing on turn 2 for the undead.  The Bloat Thrall took a shot at the Shock Troopers but missed and deviated into irrelevance.  EV also laid some caustic clouds in the objective building. 

Cryx turn two.

I figured out that I had just enough room to fit the Men-o-War against the outside of the building and have them be in the objective zone, so I didn't have to deal with the clouds.  Even better, the Shock Troopers were close enough to Shield Wall forward and contest the objective.  After a discussion about how Arcing Fire works (EV thought Shield Wall would block it, I thought I could shoot over not 1" away from the potential target) the Bombardiers opened up on the Bane Thralls, killing three.

Let the barrage begin.

The Greylords put up their clouds again, completing the Shock Trooper wall of doom.  DEF 14 (16 against shooting), ARM 21, 8 boxes, big ol' bases.  I put the Kodiak in the woods to hopefully avoid Bane Thrall charges.  The Juggernaut filled the charge lane between the woods and the building, and I positioned the War Dog so it would have a nice lane for a Counter Charge.

Khador turn two.

Turn 3

The whole hiding the Kodiak in the woods thing didn't work out too well.  First EV arced Parasite onto the Kodiak, then charged the Cankerworm in.  Despite only having the one AP attack, the addition of Parasite meant that one attack took out a third of the jack, including an arm.

That worm isn't very nice.

Next the Banes charged my jacks.  Before the pain began I sent the dog in to lessen the blow a bit, then used Return to bring him in closer to Orsus.

This dog?  Very nice indeed.

Only one Bane made it in, but it got a good swing for its efforts.  Another third of a jack gone at a stroke.  At least this one didn't take any systems out.

Charging Weapon Masters hurt.

And that was that.  The MechThralls advanced in a generic, towards-the-center manner.  The Bile Thralls took full possession of the left objective, but with my Shock Troopers in the right zone there was no scenario victory.  I didn't like all those Banes in so close and made it a point to clear them out some in my turn.

Cryx turn three.

The Shock Troopers started off.  I had disparaged the Shock Trooper's Shield Cannons at the beginning of the game, but they took out the Fat Thrall easy enough.

Who uses a RNG 6 gun?  I do.

The rest of the Shock Troopers took out a Bane, but did little else.  They did present a sizeable road block though.  Nothing was getting through that building.  Reach is a great ability.

Locking down the objective.

Next the Bombardiers took out some more Thralls.  The auto-miss for Stealth made the Banes a bit tricky to take out.  With an ARM around 15, POW 7 blast damage had a fair job to do in getting through the armor.  The Bombardiers were getting the job done, but too slowly for comfort.

Keep firing lads.

Trying to keep the Kodiak alive, and do some damage, I put up Full Throttle and sent the Kodiak in to take some swings.  The good arm took out the Brute Thrall, while the gimpy arm dinged the bonejack.  With all the Banes around to tenderize them I was anxious to keep my jacks away from the Withershadow.

Send in the gimp.

And that was about it.  I thought EV might be plotting an assassination run, hence the cloud on Orsus and the Juggernaut's placement (hopefully far enough away so a Bane couldn't charge the Juggy and engage the Butcher).  I moved the War Dog far enough ahead for the same reason as the Juggy.  With the Reaching Shock Troopers inside the building, I figured on getting a free strike at anything that might charge the dog before I got a Counter Charge in and Returned out of danger.  The Great Bears hung well back, waiting for an opening.

Khador turn three.

Turn 4

Turns out I didn't hide the Kodiak well enough.  The Cankerworm came in to take an Armor Piercing bite before running back into the woods to hide.  The MechThralls came in and finished it off easy enough, even without the Brute Thrall.  At least EV wouldn't be able to turn it into a Cryx jack.

Poor Kodiak, it died too young.

I learned a good lesson here, for what felt like the 1,000th time.  When the MechThralls charged I thought about Counter Charging (EV even mentioned it), but I was holding out for the Withershadow.  When a Bane charged the dog, my first thought was that Reaching free strike.  Because I'm inattentive about the direction my models face, EV could get the charge in without leaving the Shock Trooper's front arc.  (I don't quite understand why one trooper will watch an enemy walk up and kill a comrade without lifting a finger, but once that enemy walks past them they go into a frenzy.)  The attack hit and the dice couldn't fail to kill the dog.  With an inadequate Tough roll, I lose the dog.  At least I got a reminder about facing and how free strikes work.

Alas, no free strike to be had.

I believe the Banes also charged the Shock Troopers, but didn't take any out.  EV was running out of Banes, and I wasn't sure that MechThralls could deal with DEF 14 Shock Troopers.  The Withershadow was troublesome, but I was through most of the troops that scared me.

Cryx turn four.

With the lines good and close, I popped Butcher's feat and got to work making scraps.  Orsus kicked the fun off by taking out a Bane with his Blunderbuss to clear up a lane for the Juggy.

The Butcher steps up.

Next the Shock Troopers took out some more Banes.  I had two CMA the bonejack, but they missed despite needing a 6.  Of note I moved the leftmost model so his shoulders were squarer to the back edges so he'd be able to get a free strike off.  Hopefully.

This time the alley is covered.

The Ternion came in and redeemed that flank a bit.  A pair of sprays took out two of the Withershadow and scratched up the bonejack pretty good.

No more jack factory.

Then the Bombardiers opened up and erased two MechThralls.  The Bombardiers were working fairly well so far.  Being able to plant (in the zone) and blast away made them a bit more accurate (when not shooting at Stealthed things), and hiding behind the Shock Troopers meant they didn't have to worry about melee troops coming up and engaging them.  Are they worth 7 points for the three of them?  I'm not sure, but they did better in this game than they have in previous ones.

I love the sound of artillery in the morning.

In the middle the Great Bears came in to finish the bonejack.  I sent two, but it only took one half of one Bear to get the job done.

Those are some great Bears.

The Juggernaut was left without anything to kill. so it stepped back a bit to shield the Butcher.  The Great Bears are far too exposed for my liking, but I was anxious to get them some action, plus the woods should keep most things from charging or just walking up and swinging.  I had whittled down most of EV's infantry with little loss in return, Kodiak aside.  Now to look for my shot at Gaspy.

Khador turn four.

Turn 5

EV brought the MechThralls in against the Shock Troopers.  One of them connected and finished off the damage Man-o-War.  Fortunately for me it was the leader, so I got to swap it out and deprive the Thralls who had yet to swing of their attacks.

One down, four to go.

EV laid down a solid screen of clouds to shield the MechThralls, and his turn was over.  By holding the gap in the building I kept EV from swarming my Shock Troopers with his Thralls, leading to a Thermopylae-esque situation where a few elite soldiers held off the more humble horde.

Cryx turn five.

I was close to running EV out of infantry and kept at it with the Shock Troopers.  The two in the building killed a MechThrall each, while the two on the outside again missed with their CMA.

The top two do not play well with others.

Then the Greylords got to work.  If I'd been thinking I probably would have activated them before the Shock Troopers and Ice Caged the bonejack, but that's not how it worked.  Instead they pumped two sprays into it, doing some decent damage in the process.  The other Greylord sprayed into the Thralls, taking out two and damaging the Cankerworm as well.

Sprays are amazing.

Then the Bombardiers cleared out most of the remaining MechThralls.  Have I mentioned these guys did well this game yet?

They drop bombs like Hiroshima.

It was right around here that I remembered I'd moved one of the cloud templates that couldn't lay on the table or balance on the building.  I'd moved one of my Greylords into it, without realizing it was there of course, which would have killed him as soon as he was done moving.  Fortunately I realized this before we got too much farther, so some MechThralls came back and the Cankerworm wasn't damaged after all.

The perils of forgetting about toxic clouds.

I brought the Great Bears back to hopefully keep them away from charges.  The Juggernaut blocked up LoS to Orsus while (also hopefully) providing free strike coverage to the Great Bears, with a Shock Trooper doing the same for the alley between the woods and the building.

Khador turn five.

Turn 6

Turns out I didn't get the free strike lanes quite right, so EV got a charge in on one of the Bears.  The MechThrall connected, I failed the Tough roll, and the Bears were down to a pair.  This was quite the keyhole charge to dodge the free strikes while also not clipping the woods.

Despite my best efforts...

I learned to really hate the Cankerworm this game.  It hadn't been impressive before, even when we weren't quite sure how it worked and it got more attacks than it should have.  It folded under light pressure and wasn't much of a threat.  This game it was a constant thorn that I could never quite lay a hand on.  It's amazing what a full advance at the end of your activation will do.

Hate that worm.

And that was all.  The MechThralls didn't do anything to the Shock Troopers.  Gaspy floated rather close to my troops, but there wasn't much I could do about it.  My big hitters were on the wrong side of the building, well out of range to get anything done.  Had my Shock Troopers dealt with the remaining bonejack this wouldn't have been such an issue, but since they couldn't land a CMA the resulting situation was less than ideal.

Cryx turn six.

Starting my turn, the Shock Troopers finally got their acts together...by acting independently.  I skipped the CMA and had one of them hit.  The blow almost killed the bonejack, but not quite.  In the building two more MechThralls died.  I loved how the Shock Troopers performed in this game, except for their killing potential.  They took plenty of blows but couldn't dish many out in return.  Giving them Thresher would change a whole lot, but perhaps a shield attack?  Something to clear out a bit more infantry per turn would be very welcome.

Working better separate than together.

The Great Bears got well out of the way while the Juggy cleaned up the stray MechThrall.

Squash that bug.

EV was all but out of pieces, yet I had no good idea on how to get at Gaspy.  With Hellbound up he projected a bubble of rough terrain and couldn't be charged.  I suppose I could have shot him up, since eGaspy (amazingly) lacks Stealth, but at the time I was focused on delivering axe to mouth.  To that end, I hoped to pin him down with the Shock Troopers long enough for the Butcher and the Bears to come around the back of the building and join the fun.

Khador turn six.

Turn 7

More Cankerworm to start turn seven.  With Pathfinder and the after activation advance the stupid worm could eat my jacks in little bites at its leisure.  In retrospect I should have moved my jacks away from the woods so I might have had some chance at doing something to it.  Between Parry and Stealth I don't know what that something would have been, but it would have been better than just watching my jacks go slowly down.

Hate that worm!

EV took a good long think about feating here, but decided against it.  He did send Gaspy against the Shock Troopers though, but didn't get anything done.  With Gaspy engaged, I could start working on my plan.  The only problem was Hellbound, and it's quite the problem.  Still I had my chance here, so I was going to make the most of it.

Cryx turn seven.

I brought the Shock Troopers in on Gaspy, but didn't get much accomplished.  Three damage wasn't much to show for a pair of P+S 14 attacks.  I could have gone the CMA route, but considering how well that worked for me throughout the game I figured I was better off with single shots.  Still couldn't finish off the stupid bonejack either.

Great at taking hits, not so great at giving them.

The Bombardiers were almost out of targets.  With Gaspy and the bonejack in melee and the Cankerworm hiding in the woods (with Stealth no less), the only option was the Skarlock, who was made redead in short order.

One less Skarlock in the world.

The guys with the big axes started their sweep around the building.  Wary of Gaspy's feat (which I've never seen but have heard is vicious), I put Iron Flesh up on Orsus and tried to arrange the Bears in free strike formation.  I had no idea how I'd get into combat with Gaspy before he killed enough Shock Troopers to disengage, but I hoped to figure it out on the way in.  Hellbound is a horrible, tricksy spell.  The rough terrain I can deal with, but not being able to charge Gaspy is quite a hill to climb.

Khador turn seven.

Turn 8

The game was getting surreal at this point.  How long had we been going?  Long enough that turns took next to no time.  With three pieces (barring the Bile Thralls camping on the other side of the board.  Remember them?) remaining, I had no doubt who would start off turn eight.  That damn worm.  One less Shock Trooper to swing at Gaspy. 

Hate that worm!!!

Two less Shock Troopers. 

No sustained attack, still effective.

The final bonejack came out to block the charge lane to Gaspy.  This wasn't necessary since I couldn't charge him in the first place, but I guess practice never hurts.

Cryx turn eight.

Since I couldn't do it in melee, I had to try it at range.  The Greylords got a pair of Ice Cages on Gaspy, then the fusillade began.  One Shield Cannon and three Bombardiers later, Gaspy was down to 5 boxes.

Poppin' a cap in that lich.

The Great Bears came in to, at long long last, finish the bonejack.  They also ended up blocking any charges on Orsus from Gaspy, not that I was too worried about it.

Great Bears - 2, Bonejacks - 0.

I brought in Orsus for the coup de grace, but came up short.  The consequence of this can be seen hiding in a corner in this shot.

Khador turn eight.

Turn 9

The dread feat turn.  This was the third or fourth game that EV ran eGaspy, but this was the first time I'd seen his feat.  It was unfortunate, but the Butcher pulled through.

How did the Greylords survive?  I have no idea.

After the ghosts disappeared, Gaspy began his retreat.  We had reached a stalemate.  I held the one objective, while EV had the other.  I didn't have anything fast enough to run down Gaspy, EV wasn't about to come charging into my little safe house, plus we had reached the edge of our gaming window for the day.  Thus we called it a draw.

Stalemate achieved.

I said the game was a draw just now, but I'm calling it a moral victory.  I took the right objective for the Motherland and held it against wave after wave of undead horrors.  Granted EV was down a unit with the Bile Thralls having a picnic on the left objective, but at the end of the day Orsus was watching Gaspy slink off behind cover.  Sometimes you take what you can get.

We made it!

The Men-o-War really impressed me this game.  The Shock Troopers were an unbreakable wall (until I took down Iron Flesh and they got hit by a caster and a jack).  They didn't move very fast and didn't kill a whole lot of stuff, but they took a ton of hits and shrugged most of them off.  Once I figure out the free strike mojo I'm sure their Reach will be very welcome as well.  The Bombardiers had a good showing as well.  Considering I used them like I imagine they were intended, as fire support and a potential second wave, this isn't so surprising.  Despite my inability to seal the deal, I like how this list worked.  It's awful similar to a pButcher tier list, which may have been by design.  Of course with that list I'll lose the Greylords and Great Bears, but I'll gain lots of Manhunters and extra speed, so I think it's a good trade.  Slowness aside, the list played in the way I wanted it to (shrugging off blows and grinding down foes).  If only I could find a scenario that forced my opponent to keep advancing into guns and axes then everything would be perfect.  Since that won't happen, I guess I still need to work on assassination, even with an ultra-attrition list.