Last night I played a game against Mugu and his masterfully painted Cryx force. I had played Mugu before when I was but a wee noob (now I’m a big noob) and it was a lot closer than it was this game. Sheesh. Mugu, I think you’ll do just fine at Templecon! Good Luck!
I tried something new this time with pVlad and 3 warjacks. It’s a list I had been wanting to try out for a while now. I also proxied the Kayazy Eliminators (Eiyrss & Zerkova in the pics). pVlad appears to be quite the straightforward caster from looking at his stats and spell list. Signs & Portents is just such an amazing spell. Blood of Kings too. But alas, it was not enough to beat Mugu. As you can see from the pictures, he outnumbered my force by a good bit. I attempted to barrel into his forces, hoping to weather my ‘jacks through the Thrall mass, while my Iron Fangs cleaned up on the right side. Things went south quickly as I lost a good majority of my Pikemen very early in the game.
Where I was whittling his force Thrall by Thrall, my force was getting carved.
Then Deneghra popped her feat…
…there was just no way I was going to pull it out now. I conceded the game to Mugu. Man, what a feat she has!
My initial thoughts on Vlad: He’s alright. I’m sure he is probably top-tier compared to Strakhov, but while playing him, he just didn’t excite me I guess. Having 7 focus was a major boon though! Despite only being one more than Strakhov’s, I felt like I had focus to burn each turn! I was hoping to clear the way for a Blood of Kings fueled murder run, but it just didn’t happen. Mugu’s forces were just too much. I really needed some AOEs. Note to self…
Unrelated Sidenote!
Speaking of games…does anyone play Infinity? I really like the models and was just curious on what peoples’ thoughts about the game were. From talking to some people at various game shops, Malifaux is supposed to be the current hot shit, but I just can’t get behind the models outside of maybe 2 or 3 of them. But Infinity looks pretty cheap and easy to pick up. I may just pick up some models just to screw around with.
Miniature armies, huge time sink. 
Hey, you made me work for that win! It wasn’t easy and you forced me to deal with your ‘jacks, which wasn’t what I was hoping you’d do. I really enjoyed the game and the list for the most part, though I might change out some of my ‘jacks.
AOEs may be your biggest weakness, but the amount of bodies you have on the field is superb! Plus that feat!
Deneghra does that. It tends to be worth casting Blood of Kings anyway with Vlad just to offset the inevitable debuffs, but I get that that leaves you starved of focus to do anything else with…
Her debuffs are just so brutal! And they stack!
To answer your sidenote, Infinity is an interesting game. It’s Reaction mechanic makes you wish you owned more terrain, and you can get away with your force consisting of 10 or less 30mm models.
Download the free rules from the official site and take a look. It’s a bit to get your head around when you’re used to the relatively simple rules in Warmahordes, but they aren’t too bad.
I’ve been going over the rules this week and I think I am finally
getting some kind of grasp on the rules, but you are right it’s a lot
to take it. Lots of little things.
The relatively cheap cost of fielding a 150-300 point force and the
look of the models are really drawing me to take it as a side-game to
Warmachine/Hordes.
Also this week, I found there is a LGS about 15 minutes from me now and
they are holding a demo day on Feb. 4th, including Infinity. I’ve
already registered to go!
If I don’t end up liking it, I think I’ll still get some models just
because I think they are that awesome.
I’d suggest grabbing a few models and proxying a 2v2 or 3v3 battle, just to get a feel for how it works, but waiting for the demo day is a good option too. There are a lot of niggly rules, but I recall seeing a Quick Reference sheet available somewhere that listed the important stuff.
Here they are: http://www.infinitythegame.com/infinity/en/downloads/ (under Rules)
And yes, the model are some of the best out there. They can be a little fragile, but that just means you treat them with more care (and try not to bounce dice off them).
The only thing I really worry about that game is lack of terrain to make it interesting, but I guess I’ll see on the demo day and see how the scene is.