Warhammer World GT3 - Painting competition

While I continue to work on the battle reports I'll showcase the painting competition. Firstly the squad competition, as you would expect the standard was pretty high. I loved the style of the Noise Marines below, and was luky enough to play against them in game 5 :)

Custodes on Jetbikes, I warned Otty about them before the tournament started. He then had the misfortune to come up against some, whether it was these I'm not sure but he confirmed my warning. Meanwhile I found I;d broken an arm on a retro old-skool Space Hulk Genenestealer so instead of five the same I actually chose on of each of the eclectic mix in my brood. I had no expectation to win so used it as an opportunity to show variety instead. At the time it might have looked silly but seeing them now I actually think it makes a lot of sense, Like I'd tried to make each Steler completely different.

Liam's scratchbuilt chaos spawn maggots in the back. Love the chaos cultists too.

Primaris Marines.

Moar Primaris and Centurions.

Hero competition, my own Broodlord and Beliswaaargh-i-ork Kawl I believe ;) which went on to win

Liam's Typhus in the back.

I thought the pose on the bike was pretty spectacular

Here it is from the back.

And the 'icons' category - for monsters, vehicles and anything else that defies description. The Ork Freebooterz ship I think went on to win the category.

In which there were 3 Mortarions, including these two.

Liam's Mortarion and my own Hive Tyrant hidden in it's shadow.

Big tank!

And something very, very wrong.

Nominations for best painted army - Liam's Nurgle/Death Guard.

A krazy Ork Mekanikus looted army. The Grot Ruststalkers were particularly clever and not just a little disturbing too.

Beliswaaargh-i-ork Kawlwas leading them, I'm guessing they were run as Mechanicum in the game.

And the original Mechanicum.

With Gerantius the Forgotten Knight.

Aeldari

All kinds of wrong with the Dark Reapers.

These Drukhari had a really nice 'nature' theme.

The bases were particularly good tying everything together.

My own efforts in the cabinet, you've seen these guys before though.

Pretty amazed I fit the Skyshield in this time. Just before game 2 I did drop one of the Capillary Towers and chipped an inch long section of the clay on the base off. It'll be fine with a bit of glue but it was another example of how the nerves kicked in and the clumsiness prevailed.

The eventual winners - an insanely detailed Aeldari force by I believe a guy called Lee Bates [if wrong let me know].

The quality of the airbrushing - galaxies and planets, coupled with the thousands of stars was a marvel.

The Wraithguard that transitioned from purple to orange to blue, each helm featuring a tortured screaming skull learing out. I've no idea how this was done, it doesn't entirely look like it was monotone and then glazed as the black would be tinted too. It was beyond my comprehension.

As was this Wraith Seer, oh my!

Jetbikes and Hornets.

The planets on the Hornets were spectacular

The main guys again.

Amazing armies and I was just chuffed to be nominated again. There was always a chance but I went into the weekend with different aspirations and I was pelasantly surprised to achieve something not on that list and get this nice certificate/poster.

I'll try and get some Battle Reports done next.

Warhammer World GT3 - Interim report

Well the weekend is done and dusted and had a great time. Excuse the self indulgent photo-story but I suppose this is a personal hobby blog and by definition it's self-indulgent so I should be apologising with every post at this stage.

Anyway, we went Friday morning and after a minor route change ended up going through the Peak district.

Which still had snow on the ground, while Liam checks we don't get lost again.

While I take up the role of tailgunner. I was unbelievably giddy at this stage.

We arrive at GW headquarters.

And immediately met with a warm welcome. I believe they keep the Necron Tesla weaponry here.

In through the front door and a couple of displays are on view.

Tau

Age of Sigmar

Dark Imperium - Ultramarines V Nurgle/Death Guard.

And into the gaming hall!

Bugman's lunch! We then had a game, I played Liam I'll attempt a battle report but for the life of me have no recollection who won, perhaps the pictures will shed light on the result.

Warhammer TV Live, live! Ceri playing, will have to check back how that game went down on Twitch.

We then went to the Orange Tree in Nottingham for a 'few' libations. The cosy retro decor only mired by the fact we were by the exit for the smoking garden so it got a little drafty. Liam and Otty in deep discussion.

Ben and I partaking.

Weapon of choice. I don't drink much so the 3ish I had made me an absolute mess!

Day 1 and the big deal was this, obviously. Game two and when goign to my table Ceri came up and said "are you playing table 20?" I said yes and she asked me to hold on a minute. meanwhile Morgan [my opponent] introduced himself and we were chatting when she came back and asked "would you like to play live on Warhammer TV" I am not ashamed to admit I put both hands to my face, danced up and down and said "would I!?! Absolutely I would" Then remembered Morgan also had a say in the matter, thankfully he was equally excited. I won't spoil the result, I'll try and write a battle report but exists to be watched should you have a Twitch subscription. It was an absolute blast and Nick and Ceri said to us afterwards it was the best game they'd ever seen, high praise considering what actually happened.

That evening we returned to the Orange Tree and Scott, who'd pulled out of the Tournament joined us for the evening's repast and to watch a bit the next day.

Round about this stage I saw Nick Bayton tweet a pic of him, Ceri and Andy in Bugman's and I thanked him for the Live game, while dropping a hint about seeing Brian the Sewer Vent. Well you can see in the exchange that if I had have still been there, or perhaps asked earlier 2 of my 3 dreams would have come true.

Sadly it was not to be, maybe next time. I made up for it with the company of great friends

If you've ever wondered what the canteen looks like at GW, now you know.

And the Cumberland ring was exceptional :)

End result, Liam comes away with the Favourite Player award 4/5 Fav Game votes and 5/5 Fav Army.

He was also nominated for best army.

As was I!

The weekend was awesome, but very stressful. The guys helped keep me sane, but also made me a hot mess with booze. I lost all sorts of things [and found them], tripped over and knocked over things I was clumsy and clammy, glad to get home but incredibly envious of Liam and Ben who both qualified for the GT Final at Warhammer Fest in May. The plan is to get a day ticket to the Fest so I can go and show some support if they go, Ben's already bought his ticket.

I'll try and write the Battle Reports but everything is hazy at this stage and my note taking was erratic.

I had an amazing time, stressful as it was and it has made me think a bit more about how to approach the Warhammer World events as they test my nerves like no other event and I want to really enjoy them as I do smaller tournies.

A great weekend, great event, great games and great friends - old and new.

I'm going to be on Warhammer tv

I'm going to be on Warhammer TV watch live now on twitch

Warhammer World GT3 - Prologue

Right about now I should be at Warhammer World. Liam, Ben, Otty and myself went early in Otty's 'battle wagon'. Last time we went we got there in the afternoon and didn't finish our 2 Vs 3 match because of the earlier [than expected] closing time. This time we've got generic tables booked, so we can get in some last minute practice! Obviously I finally settled on my list a while back, which you can see below. It also forms a bit of a crib sheet and saves time with Psychic Powers, although I may amend this throughout the weekend if I find my chosen powers restrictive.

I had to print out 11 copies of these - one to give to the events staff, one for each of my five opponents to keep and then I use the other five to keep track of my games. That said it's a lot of work to create as I trim the pages of all the surround so they're all rough edged. But they got done and I feel 'cheap' not making the effort.

I've also stocked up the ever handy Kinder Surprise eggs. Gifting these to each of my opponents at  MKIV wound markers. Last time I gave them to each opponent before we began and most of them immediately popped them open at the first opportunity to use them in play which justified my decision to gift them beforehand. As there so easy to make it's no skin off my nose, or yours either should you be wishing to share the goodness at your own tournament, just a thought.

Obviously game-wise I've no aspirations apart from having fun, not to be too clumsy on day one [because I'll be a hot mess of nervous energy] and to try and be efficient/quick so I can complete a game and not be ending them after 2.5 hours on turn two. As I saw on reddit recently I will adopt the mantra of "if you're thinking, you're cheating". Painting competition, again no aspirations, the nids have been there before so no expectation and the separate categories are always strongly contested. 

Super excited to be there, I'll be wearing my 'eavier metal Facebook group T-shirt one of the days. So come say hi if you see me.

Amusingly I also got a backprint... It's OK I'll be getting a replacement sent through but if it didn't arrive in time.  

I've made a short term fix on this one though!

I do have some aspirations though - my main hopes are to see Brian the Sewer Vent first-hand, hopefully taking some pics with my nids on it. I'd also like some best game votes, I'm a nice guy afterall, well I think so. My army is never cheese and never win at all costs so the lack of best game votes has always pricked my sensitive side - I appreciate that sounds needy but it'd be nice is all ;) Ultimately I'm out to have fun and try and finish some games, hopefully that'll shine through and I'll have 5 great games with 5 great people and I'll remember to get selfies with them!

But my greatest hope is that I would be chosen for the GT3 Twitch feed if it's on - because one thing that always looks awesome top-down is my Skyshield and cooll to share it with a wider audience. I don't know what the selection criteria is, obviously last game will most likely be the leaders but I know they've asked the viewers for suggestions and chosen 'interesting armies'. It'd just be an absolute honour but I've no control over that either, so fingers crossed on Brian.

Regardless I'm sure we'll have a cool time, see you on the flip-side!

Deep Strike (or 8th Edition equivalent) measuring tool.

When I was watching a couple of live games, either on Twitch or the LVO I noticed some players had measuring tools for deep striking - 9" long. Now I do have one of those laser cut plastic 6" templates, which I never really use but I could see a real benefit for one of these, particularly when I'm bringing in Trygon and friends.

Initially I was going to print a 9" strip and stick it to card but I realised I could do better than that as 12" shatterproof rulers are only 29p at Home & Bargain. So I've just picked one up, cut off the last 3" and the bit at the other end and I now have a durable and cheap tool to speed up whether I'm within range or not.