Battle Report - Adeptus Titanicus 05/03/26

Afternoon and we're back again playing Adeptus Titanicus in Otty's shed. This is week/turn 4 over a 5 or 6 week period! 🤣

When we left it our Reaver in front of the Warlord was in the red on its reactor. The Plasma Cannon Warhound was leaking plasma and at risk but a good couple of repair orders might just save our bacon. What actually happened is that everything that needed a repair order failed their command checks. Both Liam and I rolling 2s. Our appalling dice sticking with us.

We managed to immobilise the Eldar Reaper/Reaver, thanks to some Thermal Mines - a strategic asset we actually got to use in the game! The damaged Warhound taking even more damage having been charged, but then ducking out of the combat and fire arc. It's squadron mate moving to the centre.

With so much critical damage the Warhound was vulnerable to even Knight small weapons fire and blew up, damaging the Reaper and barely scratching its twin. As the game went on I think we played this catastrophic damage incorrectly but the rules are so difficult to follow. We spent so much time going backward and forwards. There's literally a section in the advanced rules that refers you to the basic rules, which then immediately refers you back to the advanced rules. It is so frustrating.

So our bad luck was further compounded by Otty and Ben's good luck. This roll was four 6's and a 1, but whichever weapon fired had re-roll 1's and wouldn't you know it another 6! In balance there was very little damage to whatever it hit but what can you do? At about 10:30 in the evening both Liam and I were utterly deflated. It felt like it was midnight and although I expected to suffer early on when we restarted the fact we'd weathered that storm only to get pummelled for still standing was sapping our will to carry on.

Then the immobilised Reaper managed to clip the back of our Reaver with Shuriken Cannon [Gatling Cannon] fire. It was just enough to tear through the leaking reactor. A catastrophic failure that exploded in a 9" fireball. Having been berated by Liam from the very beginning for the poor position of the VSG I knew the first thing I had to check. Lo and behold the VSG was vaporised in the explosion. I literally couldn't see for laughing. Luckily there were two paramedics in the room because my chest hurt too.

But it didn't end there. The chain reaction took out an Eldar Questoris knight, damaged the Reaver and Warhound, which blew up too. 

This explosion then blew up the Reaver [thanks to this insane roll] whilst also damaging the two Revenants, destroying one.

As the nuclear fireball dissipated all that was left was a Lancer Knight and a revenant that has managed to secure its lost crew for 20 Victory points. Plus the multiple VPs for the engine kills. I think they were on 42 or 44 points.

To go from such a low, lose so many engines but in such a rewarding why was exhilarating. We were so close, convinced we'd got 37 VPs ourself so all we needed to do was either destroy the revenant with the crew. The Immobilised Reaper, or the Phantom to win the game. We chose the Reaper as it was already damaged and just needed some leg shots. But the Volcano Cannons added 4 plasma, taking it into the red, but it was going to be the last turn anyway and ultimately the Reaper survived. I suspected it would end with an anti-climax after such a roller coaster. 

Then we looked again at the scores and it turns out I'd totally overestimated the Eldar units we'd destroyed in the meltdowns and we barely got over 20VPs from the damage caused. So we were far from being in contention.

What had been a painful experience became hilarious and exciting. 4 weeks of gaming, struggling with the rules but ultimately having fun. We need to find a better way to play the game though as it's far too difficult and awkward to play. We all want to give it a rest but we know that that will just mean it's as difficult to play again down the line.

We'll see what happens, hard, hard work, but thankfully rewarding at the end. The dice G.O.D.s may not have favoured us, but they certainly put on a show when it most mattered.

Battle Record - Adeptus Titanicus 19/02/26

Afternoon and we're finally back playing Adeptus Titanicus in Otty's shed. Ben was working so it was just Otty, Liam and myself to continue the game. As it had been a while since we saw Liam we spent a good portion of the evening talking about our trip to Warhammer World

So, when we got to the actual game we only managed one additional turn! It wasn't just the chatting, we were just very, very slow. We'd left the game quite concerned as our Warlord was almost out of void shields and the Reaver was in the orange on its plasma reactor. I did then discover the reactor table is only a D6 test at this stage. We did survive. But we pushed the reactor on the Warhounds and the Warhound with the Plasma Blastgun went up 2 spots, which given it had gone maximal last turn put it in the red! Next turn will not be good.

But Otty could not roll to save his life! He'd been using our bronze dice and then remembered to switch to his Eldar ones only for them to desert him.

And again! Not to mention he pushed the reactors and ended up doing more damage to his units than we did in the shooting.

He was able to take down and Atrapos and Questoris Knight but his own knights have almost no structure points left and his Revenant [Warhounds] had their void shields dropped and taking damage.

The Phantom titan had awakened its machine spirit, moving forward and inch and then turning to meet the oncoming Warhounds. They weathered the storm thanks to the poor dice rolls but I think one will have to go into Damage Control Orders next turn. We were still in a precarious position but I think we'd done far more damage to the Eldar than we had any right to. 

Sadly I won't be able to make it next week. so I'll have to get feedback from them, when they play. But it may only be a turn I miss out on anyway. 😂

Anyway, I have got a few extra Titan weapons - Conversion Beam Extirpators and Quake Cannons to paint now, courtesy of Liam. 😎

Battle Record - Adeptus Titanicus 05/02/26

Afternoon and we're finally back playing Adeptus Titanicus in Otty's shed. Firstly an apology, there aren't many pictures, you can barely even get a sense of the game. In fairness we only managed 2 turns over the whole night. It's a complex game and it's been a while, so remembering how to play was a challenge in itself

Otty was using his Eldar Titans for the first time. I was trying to use new stuff too, with a Warlord, my Atrapos and Questoris Knights.

Otty's Questoris Knights in the bottom right did attempt to make a move toward the middle. But once again with these things [a bit later on in the game rather than this setup shot] they got hit by a Plasma Cannon on Maximal Fire from one of the Warhounds and wiped a lot of them out. We'd also done some damage to void Shields, but I think they'd managed to get them back up.

So, Otty and Ben had lost a few Knights along the way but in return managed to do wipe out the Void Shield on Liam and my Warlord. I think the Reaver also went into the Orange on its Reactor. So when we get back to the game I suspect we're going to have a rough activation.

My dice had abandoned me with a few command checks failing, leaving our titans less effective. Luckily the maniple at least allows you to attempt further orders. It was a good game, but we need to get better at it.

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.

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!