Battle record - Middle Earth Goblin Town Vs Uruk Berserkers #MESBG - 22/01/26

Afternoon #Warhammer Community I've been playing MESBG again in preparation for going to Warhammer World! 

I got my Goblin Town boys, while Otty had rounded up his Uruk Berserkers. 

Even the Orcs and Troll have been converted/painted to look like their bigger brothers.

We were set up on Otty's LEGO Helm's Deep board. It was the Assassin mission. So I chose Gollum as my assassin, with only and Uruk Captain as the target.

My first dice roll was a 6 to begin deployment. I wasn't even that cautious with it. I didn't win priority, but Otty gave it to me.

And turn 1, once again my dice were on fire! 🎲🔥 I managed to kill 6 Berserkers in the first turn, only losing 2 Goblins in return.

And that had a massive impact on the remainder of the game. Gollum put the ring on and went hunting the Captain, over the other side of the rough ground. But he has Mountain Dweller, so ignores difficult terrain.

However, the Goblin King got to him first, literally standing on the invisible ring bearer to get to him.

Otty came back strong to kill a lot of Goblins, but he was running out of  Uruks and Might points. We called it here

Again, my dice rolling was the talk of the night. Closely followed by Otty now unsure his low-model count would prove costly at the tournament. Decisions still to be made.

Meanwhile, Otty and Ben had set up the Adeptus Titanicus board for our next game in a week or two.

His Aeldari force looks amazing on his snow baord.

Even my red buildings look cool.

Just because they're red doesn;t mean they won't work on a white board.

I mean he's heavily outgunned in this cinematic set up.

We'll have create a fair list when we get to play.

Terrain is everything - Middle Earth Osgiliath Ruins from QP3D Wargames

Afternoon #Warhammer Community I've been #PaintingWarhammer on some MESBG terrain I was lucky enough to get for Christmas. These were all 3D printed sets on Amazon that my wife and my mate Pete got for me. Alternatively you can pick them up at www.qp3dwargames.co.uk I started with prime with of yellow primer, filler to help cover some of the FDM printer lines. I should have read the supplied instructions that recommends 2 to 3 coats of this. But I didn't. That said, for FDM, the lines aren't that bad at all and one coat managed this.

I then sprayed it with a cheap grey primer and then a zenithal white to get the pale grey/white Osgiliath colour I was hoping for. I even added some splatter spray effect, to give the impression of  mottled stone. Two further coats of spray helped with the lines even more, but if we were up to 5 coats with 3 filler/primer who knows how smooth they'd look.

Each piece was then washed with a grey/dark tone mix. Here the top building has already had a Stonewall Grey drybrush. Here I realised I'd need to mix a similar colour from cheap grey and white craft acrylics, as I'd use all my Stonewall otherwise. I was a little disheartened that a fair bit of my spray pattern and zenithal highlights were erased by the wash and subsequent highlights.

With my Stonewall mix I drybrushed the entire tower. Then used my Miniature Paints Cream to highlight to top. Realised the same issue about using up my good paint and actually switched to a B&Q emulsion tester pot of Ottawa paint. It's an off-white and was great,

I then added some AP Green Tone wash to create mildew stains on the stone, with some Basilicanum Grey Contrast paint added to make some variety in the colouring.

The rest of the tower was still to be done.

Here I added Vallejo Game Effects Dry Rust [similar to Typhus Corrosion]. Its a fine texture paint, which did an amazing job of smoothing out the FDM Lines - the entire model would look great in this after a prime. It would give it that fine texture on the stonework too.

Naturally I want to paint the dome as Blessed Verdigris🗽but that brown does look awesome as a dull bronze, challenging my usual proclivities. We'll have to see what comes next.

Battle record - Star Wars Legion - 18/01/26

Afternoon and once again we're back at Otty's shed playing Star Wars Legion, Wookies and Clones V's Droids. Thursday night's session had been postponed until Sunday due to work commitments. I didn't take too many pictures of the board but once again my dice were on fire! 🎲🔥

So much so it was pretty much the talking point for the night. When you're rolling is so good folk want to stop playing at 9:20pm it's not ideal. But it's not like I can help it. Or, that Liam also had some pretty good rolling.

His red defence dice were keeping a lot of his B2 Droids. I might manage 6 hits, but he rarely lost more than one of them in a turn. 

So, despite finally getting to grips with the game we're going to take a break. We've got a refresher game of MESBG next week, so I can remember how to play my Goblin Town for the Midweek MESBG in early February.

Then I have a week off, but the next time we'll all play together it should be a big game of Adeptus Titanicus. Finally getting to use the Warlords and maybe Otty will have his Eldar on the board?

Battle record - Star Wars Legion - 08/01/26

Afternoon and we're back at Otty's shed playing Star Wars Legion, Wookies and Clones V's Droids. As is the case with battle records my recollection is sketchy, but one thing was unforgettable - my dice were on fire! 🎲🔥

In lots of our games the topic of complaint is usually OP units, rules or the system itself. But this time it was just how often I was rolling good results on white dice [notoriously the hardest dice to roll well on].

It was not just the shooting, which is a D8, but the saving throws on D6s. There was a lot of shade being thrown at my success.

We're still finding a lot of issues with the rules and how they're written. I think there have been some FAQ's to help explain some of them, but much like 40k's shifting ruleset this is quite frustrating.

That's why I think the dice rolling appeals to me so much, regardless of the rules built around them it's what lands face-up that counts.

Not to mention the snacks and the great company. I mean the first part of the evening was Ben and Otty finishing off a previous game before we set up this one. I didn't mind as the shed is full of amazing figures.

Even just staring into the cabinets with the background noise of an Empire striking back, is balm to a hobby soul.

Unfortunately the paramedics among us are on night shifts next week, so Thursday is out. Maybe we'll get a postponed Sunday session.

Until then "game on!"

Battle record - Warhammer 40k - 01/01/226

Afternoon #Warhammer Community I've been playing Warhammer 40k! Shock horror. Anyway, 13 years agon my eldest son was still invested in the hobby. For 2 years he'd been buying figures, helping build and paint, playing a game and even went to Warhammer World for a Tournament! Of course that enthusiasm waned somewhat as my own grew. And for all this time he has shown little interest. However, he moved to Sheffield last year to take up a teaching job and the school has enrichment clubs for all students after school. He was supporting a cookery class initially but having jokingly mentioned the Warhammer Alliance programme he genuinely started to consider it. So much so he went into the Warhammer store, Element Games and there are a few more gaming shops there too. He got himself some Thousand Son's, paints, brushes and other hobby supplies. Even if he doesn't do the club he's actually having fun. So, he asked me for a quick game to get a handle on the rules. Annoyingly I'd left my 10th edition rulebook in the shed, but I made do with a 9th edition one. I wanted to use the Tyranids, as I have the Codex and it would be easy for him to read the rules. Death Guard for me, using the combat patrol stats. The plan was: 

• 3 Ranged Warriors
• 10 Termagants
• 1 Ripper Squad
• 5 Plague Marines
• 10 Poxwalkers

But I couldn't find the Poxwalkers, so chose another squad of 5 Plague Marines. I had no idea... It turns out Toughness 6 and Lethal Hits made it completely unbalanced in my favour.

I'd wiped half the Termagants out before he'd even got a go. It was only when he started to use the terrain for cover saves that he could weather the storm. The Rippers did not survive either.

Then the Tyranid Warriors managed to make some damage on the left side, but I could see that things were not going to end well. I hadn't spent any CPs, I didn't need to. So to help change the narrative I thought it might be fun for the Tyranids to bring on reinforcements.

With just the Warrior left a Psychophage appeared. Just 2 Marines remained in this squad, but the other squad had finished the Termagants and would be coming to reinforce what was left.

The Warrior has Fall Back, Shoot and Assault, which came in handy. The Psychophage was going to instakill any Marine it wounded. Plus it has Devastating Wounds.

But as Play On Tabletop like to say "dice tell stories". Although my 'old Yeller' dice had had some insane rolls - four 6's on ten dice, this triple 1's was jaw-dropping. It was one of those moments where we laughed and when I said "dice tell stories" he liked it so much he'll consider using it when he sets up the school club.

It didn't change things much. The Plague Marines had met their match, and although they'd been too tough for the weaker bioforms now they could not crack the Psyhophage's touch chitin armour. It had a couple of scratches but ultimately it squished the Death Guard.

This was SO much fun. I hope my enthusiasm was contained. He seemed to enjoy it and was inspired enough to get a Thousand Son's Codex with his Christmas money. I got to share some of my ideas about how a gaming/hobby club can go beyond the Alliance support. But apparently it's a structured programme that will give him plenty to teach them when he sets up the club and will cover multiple terms. I hope it does expand to include role-playing and terrain building.

I can't convey how happy and proud this made me. He's an amazing person who I love spending time with, watching TV shows usually. But this is a much more shared experience. As he lives elsewhere and he has his own interests; the fact I got to spend a few hours helping him build some figures, giving him tips and then playing a game with him was an absolute joy.

Hobby Spends 2025

Afternoon #Warhammer Community Following on from previous year's spending record I've kept another log for 2025 [and will do so for 2026]. The final figure was just under £427. Less than half of what I spent in 2024. But my net spend was £357 which is around £30 a month. Here's the breakdown:

I'm pleased with that and although I did buy a fair few new figures, the vast majority I have not yet painted, I don't think I bought too many. Every figure purchase is considered on the basis of why I'm getting it now. I have so much to paint it's hard to justify buying something else that may jump the queue. I know I've said it before but I will aim to reduce my figure purchases next year. Although it's worth pointing out I included the Tyranid terrain as 'figures' when we all know purchasing terrain is a 'hobby tax right-off'. Just as you get bonus hobby points the fact I'm buying terrain so everyone benefits means that £22 doesn't count! 😎

I also booked two mid-week MESBG tournaments, one of which will be in 2026. So, paying for these events are acceptable outgoings to me. As is paint - £95.74, which is about 30% of my hobby spends. I can never begrudge the outlay of paint as it is needed to get the figures painted! The Tyranid and Imperial Knight Codex [and data cards] might have been a waste of money. They got used, so maybe not but even so they will most likely have limited use and possibly be outdated when 11th edition hits. To be fair they were outdated before they were published, such is the relentless change to stats, points and rules. 😢 One thing to consider for 2026 is that 11th Edition 40k is coming out. The inevitable launch box, which is rumoured to be Space Marines versus Orks. I'm not sure I will need that, perhaps the rule book, maybe pick up a few fancy models when the boxes are inevitably stripped down and sold in parts, who knows? Other than that it's been a great year and I look forward to 2026

Battle record - Star Wars Legion - 30/12/25

Afternoon and we're back at Otty's shed playing Star Wars Legion, Rebels V's Droids for an all day 'twixmas' gaming session. I know from the date it was a Tuesday, but this liminal period between Christmas and New Year it could well have been any day.

Once again we fight, but Ben discovered we'd been setting the game up wrong, thinking it was more like a 40k set-up. In fact Legion means most units start off the board, with only those with the Scout or Prepared Positions special rule starting on the board.

With limited movement and fixed game lengths this felt like a downgrade, but in fact it means the first turn starts with just a few units on the board, so it focuses on what you can and can't do with the few models in play.

It also means that going deep into no-man's-land with rolling Droidekas is one way of getting them prioritised by Fluttercraft.

I think we ended up with a faction rules imbalance similar to when we played Adeptus Titanicus and I had Legio Gryphonicus bonuses and Liam did not. The rebels were from a specified Wookie faction, which gave us bonuses. Liam and Otty's Droids had no such buffs, which ultimately shifted the balance in our favour.

Otty's hospitality lunch was worth celebrating - nom, nom, nom!

My dice rolling was back on fire again, which meant the Droids began to have a really bad day.

But the game felt a bit more different thanks to the correct setup rules. I'm sure we played that way originally, we just somehow forgot.

We were finished by about 3:30pm which meant we could call it an early day. This was the last game we played in the shed of 2025. Of which I've been party to 37 this year! I know Ben and Liam have missed a few, but have been other times, in addition to the Thursday night sessions. I've not always been available either. But that's such a good record and it's been such a pleasure to spend time with these guys.

Genuinely the highlight of my week and I look forward to it and can't wait for 2026's round of gaming goodness!