Thursday 31 March 2016

40kaddict Terrain Competition Deadline


As stated the end of March is the deadline for entries, but fear not it's not so much a 'dead'line as a 'zombie'line. Should you not be able to get your entry to me by the close of plat today I will not exclude you from the competition. I'll still be accepting entries next week but you'll obviously be at a bit of a disadvantage with the voting. I've currently got 8 definite entries, but I know of one WiP entry that is still to come in [Nick, this means you ;) although I've included 'Where's Weston' so far].

The competition page will be the voting and then a selection of supplied imagery, all anonymised so you can peruse the efforts then vote in the poll. As mentioned in a previous comment the poll itself is preferring landscape images so where appropriate I've doubled some images up. I think it looks better so hopefully you all will too.

I have to say I'm over the moon at the variety of entries so far and really appreciate the effort you've all gone to and how inventive you have been in showcasing them. I actually think it's going to be a difficult choice for us all. Can't wait to find out who's won.

Throne of Skulls March 2016 - Epilogue & moar random pics

I just worked out I've written 116 Battle reports over the course of this blog and although I'm really pleased about the result I am questioning how worthwhile Battle Reports are. They take a really long time to write and not an inconsiderable time to read either. I try to be brief but it never happens - the amount of pictures dictate this alongside those events that actually require more in depth coverage.


I wonder if my efforts are better spent elsewhere? The pictures were much better than usual though this time so even if folk don't read everything there's plenty to look at. Bottom line is if I'm ultimately doing this as a record of my games is it worth it? And if anyone else reads them that's just a bonus...


But that's just an observation post Thrones, I know it appears a little down but the actual event was great and the weekend away was so much fun. Not having been for two years, when Escalation had only just been introduced it was interesting to see how to open army choices faired and it did raise the issue of 'best game votes' in potentially a more favorable light. It was clear from Scott winning that his 4 favourite game votes were the deciding factor, this fits with the organisers view that it's not the winning that's important. Now I know this arbitrary measure is an issue with some people but I actually think it works now. When you open up the amry choices to abuse, with all kinds of beardy, spamalot, cheese-fests then win at all costs becomes inevitable. BUt if it's at the cost of someone having a rubbish game, then how do you prevent that?


Well if you're going to slaughter everyone you face then you have to find a way to do it with a smile and personality that will win over your victim. Alternatively you can bring a sensible list win some games but also behave in a way that's going to win friends. Now I only got the one best game vote and from experience I can see that that's often your last game, it's the most fresh in your mind things are usually relaxed and the event is winding down. I understand how Scott got four, he's sucvh a fun guy to hang with but it can be a fickle decision so on the one hand it's something definitely out of your control, I mean I'm a nice guy, people like my army, I have fun when I game and play cinematically above competitively. I bring sweets and free wound markers, they're marketing tools as well as bribes ;) but that's no guarantee either way But it's definitely a tournament leveller, it means those WAAC lists don't dominate.


So however frustrating it can be, and I've looking at the score sheet and how I faired over the weekend against Scott with the scouts from my third game. He scored 233 Carnage points and 49 VPs over the weekend. In comparison I did 215 and 42 VPs. Our positions were vastly different though as I got a favourite game vote meaning I finished 61st and he finished 96th. Game wise though his force was more successful. That obviously doesn;t sound right but I guess it's not how you win but how you play that counts. Incidentally that's why they no longer have a list of Best Army and Favorite Player plaques in Bugman's, because it's not about winning.


So although I get why this mechanic has issues I think on balance it's probably for the best. You can't have total freedom in army choice without something to balance it out. As for the rest of the event I was a little disappointed about the limitations for display of best army, I hope that's just a temporary thing. I;ve seen more nominations in recent events so three seemed a little harsh. I definitely thought Liam deserved a shot, every time he;s been he's taken a different army painted, converted and scratchbuilt in places to amazing standards. Honorable mention is nice but I thought it deserved more.


Given the new shops I was actually surprsed the venue still felt so big, there's far more room than I gave it credit for, which was a relief.


My only other issues - the food wasn't quite as good as previous years. It all looked freshly prepared on site, I had a burger and I'm sure it was 'scratchbuilt' but the actual patty wasn't great. Unfortunately the other options didn't appeal to my delicate stomach. I'm sure a lot of efffort was put in it just wasn't up to the standard of previous trips.


We were also a little disappointed to discover that the exhibition is not included in your ticket price. Now folk said the £7.50 was worth it but given the only free time to look at it was after the event there was no way I was going to fork out for it and have to rush through. I'm sure pictures don't do it justice but having not experienced it in the flesh I honestly can say the pictures work fine for me right now.


However, this Age of Sigmar table was awesome and goes some way to get an additional hobby fix without going to the exhibition, rushing round and failing to get my money's worth



I loved this table, the colours and the extra details made it really good. I was little disappointed about the early closing though. I'm surprised they shut at 8, although Wednesday it's 9 and the remainder of the week its 6pm! I think they're missing a trick but then they know they're customers/business model.


All that said we came away with renewed faith in the events held there. The events team put in a lot of effort and despite the time since our last visit they were extremely helpful, supportive and friendly. I even got name checked during the awards ceremony thanks to my repeated failing in being able to do simple mathematics on my scroing sheets.


Not to mention the playful banter the staff had at my expense for my army lists that had hole punches a few millimetres offset from their intended positions. I can't thank them enough for their patience and hospitality, they make the evnt special, of course so did the beer and the company of my gaming buddies too.


It was a great weekend and we'll be back again


Wednesday 30 March 2016

Throne of Skulls March 2016 - Battle 0, Tyranids Vs Tau, Eldar and Orks

For the life of me I can't remember anything about this game and I can;t find my notes either. We'd travelled don on the Friday and arrived to play on the Spyral Prime table, Otty and I using nids, Ben, Scott and Liam with the holy/'unholy' alliance of Tau, Eldar and Orks! 

We were using the City Fight Maelstrom cards I'd got from a couple of White Dwarfs long time back - glad they finally got some use. We also had some sewers we could come out with and the other guys booby trapped a number of buildings. Also, because of the table I didn't take my Skyshield but had Deathleaper instead, a bit more points but he is pants. Ultimately though we never finished the game. Warhammer World closes at 8pm so we had to pack up, which was a shame. Anyway these are just pictures to enjoy mostly, if they sparek any memories I'll drop em in but for the most part just sit back and enjoy the pretty pictures.
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My Genestealer literally got outflanked by these Boyz and slaughtered.



Bring on the big boys!


For the most part the Tau were ignored, Otty concentrating on the Eldar while I dealt with the Orks.




My Purestrains climbed on top of this landing pad, discovered it was booby trapped and then found out it was a dud!



I loaned Otty the Hive Guard as I felt they'd be more effective against the Wave Serpents, which they were. Meanwhile my Purestrains got oblitereated by the Riptides.


'Sons of Anorky'



I think we got beaten in the end, I recall Otty had tried to kill off a Riptide with Devourer gaunts. He had 60 shots and managed to put a few wounds on one. It was the sensible thing to do as anything else wouldn;t have allowed them to utilise they're guns. However, that did mean the Tau held the centre objective for two turns scoring them a VP and ultimately winning the game. At the that stage though we porbably didn't know the game was going to be so short but it was good fun and some nice pictures too

Monday 28 March 2016

'nids part 192 - Termagants - baker's dozen - TO DONE!

Obviously I got these done, I probably need to start using these as my defacto big brood, they're much nicer than the 30 I first did, then again I can be pretty rough and ready with those. I actually just upended the foam tray they were in at ToS as the quickest way to remove them, then put 6 back in and I was good to go.



Still, I'm pretty impressed with these and it's nice ot have something completed.








It's also nice to mix in the Hormagaunts for a bit of variety.



Here are some comparissons between the three generations of adrenal gaunts, oldest on the left to newest on the right.



There's a marked difference between oldest and 2nd gen, but less noticeable between 2nd and 3rd.


All the gaunts.


"They're flocking this way"






You can at least see the variety the HOrmagaunt bodies bring in this shot.



The Genestealer donor head.


Bounding leap.


Some phone shots too, for comparison.







.
So, there we go another big green tick. It may have been off list but they're doneand it's nice to add a bit of quantity [ten is still significant to me] to what I can only say is quality, although the Imperial Knight could be considered volume...