Gaming nights alright for fighting

I got on down to my friendly neighbourhood gaming club a little earlier than usual to ensure I got a game but that didn't work out because I still arrived after everyone else so those that were playing 40k had already set up and started so I had to wait until someone finished before it freed up a player.

On the plus side I got to watch Roy and his Imperial Guard utterly demolish 1000pts of Necrons. His four Vendetta's filled me with an all consuming dread. Lookignn at the 1000pt 'nid list I have just what have I got that can get to those and punch a hole in them without them flitting off to pick them apart with combined twin-linked las-cannon fire? And that's not even considering the troops inside or the big blob of guards and heavy weapons teams shooting from cover!

Anyway, the game ended quick and I opted to face the Necrons to allow my opponent, who I'm ashamed to admit I don't recall catching his name, a chance to regain some pride. Dawn of War deployment with four objectives, one in each corner of the board. Now unfortunately I only took one photograph. The new bigger hall we use does not like pictures on my phone, just not enough light. So I took one pic and seeing the result didn't bother although some tweaking with the colours isn't so bad, here's a before and after.

So how did the match go? I won, at the 5th turn. I had two objectives to his one and one contested. The list itself is some usual stuff -  my standard Warrior unit with Deathspitters and Barbed Strangler and a prime with Deathspitter, lash whip and Bonesword. They sat on an objective and rained fire down on anything they could see. Not the most effective use of 210pts but the unit only lost 2 wounds for the game. I had a Trygon, instead of a Prime, who deep-struck which sucked because 6 St5 BioElectric Pulses aren't half as good as 12 Containment Spines [technically they are except for a 12" range versus 18" but that was irrelevant in this case]. The end result was that he had no less than three models with 'mind-shackle' scarabs so having a Monstrous Creature do D3 damages to itself on a 3D6 leadership roll [at least the Prime has Ld10] isn't pretty. He did tarpit a unit for three turns though but it's not what you hope for it to do.

The mind shackle scarabs were a royal pain in the a$$, causing not only tthe Trygon but a couple of Hormagaunts and the Tervigon to self harm. I was incredibly fearful of these things and having three characters wielding them it was a nightmare to try and whittle the unit in an attempt to get to the danger zones. As it was the relentless fire of the warriors and the devgaunts did the most damage but it wasn't totally successful as the warriors kept getting back up.

The Tervigon also deviated a load of cluster spines on top of the Hormies so it was the Tyranids pretty much eating themselves that night. The Tervigon only spawned 14 termagants in the first turn and pooped out. They captured an objective but were then slaughtered by scarabs. Outflanking Stealers came in on the left, which I didn't want but in actual fact given the loss of the Termagants the Stealers rampaged through the scarabs with the Broodlords adrenals insta-killing a base at a time. In the end the Stealers secured the objective and the objective in the building just out of shot top left was secured by some Immortals that never fired a single shot all game!

Ultimately I'd be happier with a Trygon Prime if it's going to deep strike but I don't know what 40pts to shave off to get it abd looking at the Guard army I'm really surprised and concerned as to what I could be facing in June. I don't expect 'nids to be competitive  and even though I like small battle points lists this 1000pt army feels barebones and weak even though a few of the gribblies have upgrades. Much to think about.

Terrain is Everything - Tournament Terrain

One of the last suggestions I had for other people's Old Stuff on Old Stuff Day was synaps3 guide to Terrain at synaps3 I had though about doing a post about terrain and 'tournament terrain' but after reading his post I thought he'd pretty much said it all. However, I then entered into my first tournament and also read SandWyrms's review of the Indy Open and thought there may be a little bit to discuss.

My local friendly neighbourhood gaming club had the following tables set up [although I think one is missing] and for the most part I think the terrain is suitably diverse and sufficient. The first three tables are the actual tables I played on and as such I was quite happy. This one had plenty of terrain, not sufficient to hide a Monstrous Creature but I got plenty of saves off it so that wasn't too bad.

Equally I had some nice things to hide behind here and finally playing on one of the 'red planet' boards was a treat.

This Cityscape was deceptive in that the amount of cover anything in the middle a sitting duck but the variety by this stage was quite welcome and although I struggled to find a way around the board, especially with deep striking Trygons and Spores it was great fun to have so many buildings on display.

Not so sure how I would have got around this table, most of the terrain is hugging the edges but I suppose if you're fighting for objectives the board may end up playing very differently.

As a bog-standard tournament board I think this is probably a better set up. The terrain isn't all hugging the edges and the central bastion blocks enough line of sight to allow those with an assault foot list to actually cross the battlefield without being totally shredded, at least that's the impression I get from it.

As you can see without that central piece there's a killing zone in the centre of this board but the other terrain is sufficient enough to allow you to flank in cover. From my perspective that cover in the bottom right is wasted but I imagine a Devastator squad may find it useful to hang around there. Without any hills to worry about high ground isn't too necessary and although the building on the left would make a good vantage point you'd probably still have to move them first turn to get up to the roof edge. 

Oh dear!? The very though of this fills me with dread and I have to admit I'm glad I didn't play on it

However the club did take a picture of this table during a battle and perhaps the fact it is very short on terrain allows a certain type of army to benefit, where boards like the Cityscape reduce that effectiveness:

So what's my beef? None really, the tournament we held had a variety of terrain, some that was uniformly spaced, some that had adequate cover, some more or less so but ultimately there was diverse battlefields much like reality. How many historical battles have been won and lost thanks to mastery of the terrain and invariably that didn't amount to a large piece of LOS blocking in the middle and four or six pieces surrounding it. Of course if we go back to the Indy Open pictures you will see a lot tables with far less variety and imagination in the setup but there were 64 entrants so that terrain has to go a long way.

My big question is - why the importance of uniform terrain layout to create a 'balanced' playing field is a primary consideration? I think I'd much rather have variety and a challenge from using the available cover than rock up to the same pieces in the same positions table after table.

Gaming night 2nite

I'm only here because I'm smiling with having done some painting.

 Given it's my youngest's birthday next Tuesday and he's been harping on about it since the day after his last one I kind of have to go tonight or it'll be April before my next session. Thanks to the bumper crop of attendees last week the club is upgrading to a bigger room so again it's best I go to show support.

Although I don't fully equate my membership of the Lost Boys Gaming Club to being a member of my kendo club I think 'giri' still applies, in some small way. Giri 義理 is a Japanese value roughly corresponding to "duty", "obligation", or even "burden of obligation" in English.

Unlike kendo where my very attendance was sufficient to help others and support the club if I don't attend Lost Boys no one will suffer because of my absence. However, the club needs to pay for the facilities so that is important to have sufficient numbers to break even. Of course in this day and age we all have to economise so my two visits a month goal is, I think, a decent commitment to the club. Anyway, with more room I think I'm more likely to get a match tonight than last week so I'm looking forward to it.

Meanwhile, last night I got in some painting while watching some episodes of Modern Family on the Sky Go. I finished the first set of highlights on my elf Blood Bowl team [except for the Blitzers] and I haven't even introduced them to you yet! I also did a load of Tin Bitz on my AoBR Tac Squad weapons. Not a huge amount of progress but it's one more hurdle overcome, onto the next one and only time will tell if it's easier or not.

'nids part 29 - More Rippers [WHY?!].

I honestly I don't know, we just have the figures for two more bases and with many of the battles I'm doing now being points intensive I've got to spend them somewhere if I'm going to fill out a large battle force. I've even got so far as to make them sky-slashers and add spinefists! Anyway, I've been painting up this base and my son has been doing the other four Rippers for the 5th base. Just before the turquoise goes on...

When I originally looked at Rippers I couldn't see the point and I'm not entirely sure if that opinion has changed. I've played them as sky-slashers and the increase in speed is useful but they didn't do anything first time and second time with Spinefists they deep struck, fired off 16 shots and did nothing. I think their only contribution was that amount of fire power makes people notice them and so they got assaulted which meant they tar-pit a unit for two or three turns thanks to their wealth of wounds. 

So I'm thinking they make a decent delaying unit. Just put them somewhere to distract the opponent to a slightly more immediate force. Perhaps they'd do better against Eldar or Guard? One other option is using the Parasite of Mortrex, although I think he's exorbitantly expensive but who's going to shell out for all those ripper bases it spawns? WELL, if you look at what's just been released by GW

Ripper Swarm Brood 1 Mini £8.50 Finecast

REALLY? We've waited for years for a Tervigon and Tyrannofex but we never realised we were desperate for Finecast Rippers in the Old Style and all for a measily £8.50! There's only one base by the way, you'll need 3 for a Brood...

So they must be good right! Right?

For that price you may as well get the Forgeworld models, if you absolutely must have Rippers, they're much cooler looking even if the rules are rubbish

Gaming Night -Zombies!!!

This week at my local friendly neighbourhood gaming club was it's busiest ever. Only one table was playing 40k with the majority Warmachine, a Warhammer Fantasy Battle and one of Malifaux. I hoped the 40k battle was going to end quickly as it was only 1000pts but it was an introductory match to someone who hadn't played in 10 years. It was really interesting to watch though as the experienced guy really helped him through the rules and it seemed one of the most comprehensive explanations of the rules I've come across. 

In the end time was ticking on and I didn't really fancy a game once it turned 21:00. Good old PeteB finished his Malfaux nonsense [only because it made no sense to me whatsoever and at one point I was going to shout "numberwang" it was so convoluted] and suggested a game of Zombies!!! [please note three exclamation marks, you never need more than three dammit!!!].

I'd never played but my neighbour and car sharing buddy Mark was convinced it might take a while but joined in with Nathan, PeteB's Malifaux opponent. It's a simple game, you have a stack of 3x3 grid town tiles, some have numbers of Zombies!!! lives and bullets on. You start the game in the town square with 3 lives and 3 bullets. You draw a tile and place it next to another tile and populate it with Zombies!!! etc. Roll D6 and move, if you enter a square with a Zombie!!! roll D6, 4+ kills it. If you get a 3 or a 2 you can spend 1 or 2 bullets to take it out or lose a life and get a re-roll. The winner is either the person who kills 25 Zombies!!! or gets to the helipad.

Throughout the game you also have cards that you can use. They're either situational - making Molotov Cocktails in the Gas Station or can be played any time - you get to move another player their D6 spaces. Of course this opened up wonderful opportunites to force Nathan, because lets face it he was the one on the receiving end of our naughtines ;) to plough through piles of Zombies!!! with only a couple of lives and bullets to save him. In the event of your death you go back to the town square, give up half your Zombies!!! but get your 3 lives+bullets back.

This was such a laugh, unfortunately the above picture misses off the helipad just to the right, with 9 Zombies!!! in residence after those 8 lining the road in front of it. We had so much fun and the banter was hilarious, even my carefully honed Zombie!!! impressions went down well and much amusement was had by my constant movement rolls of less than 3 spaces. I think my little yellow guy was actually pretending to be a Zombie!!! like in Shaun of the Dead to save his a$$!

A good laugh and a nice way to get more than two people round a table, I look forward to another game - "BRAINS!"

'nids part 28 - Ymgarls and a FREEBIE [free STUFF!]

With my local friendly neighborhood gaming clubs tournament I needed to maximise the figures I've got to make the 2,000 pts I was going to fight with, so out come the Ymgarl stealers to bulk out my force. Having that assault from 'dormancy' is really useful and their turn-by-turn mutation makes up for lack of adrenals or toxin sacs, not to mention everyone seems to think their SO much better than their standard bretheren.

But what to do to remind you which mutation they're experiencing this turn? How's about some handy Ymgarl genestealer mutation markers?

And if you need more than three here's six handy cut out and keep ones here. I just print them out [click for full size, they should be 2cm tall], add double sided tape on the back and Sellotape on the front. Attach to mounting card and cut up. If the mounting card has a white core then I use a black marker to make them look cool.

Here's what they look like when they're done

Having used them on the day I may make an amend to add the stat bonuses [somewhere] as it's more helpful to know slashing claws are S+1 than have to keep referring back to the book but please use them now if you can't wait.

Usual step-by-step:

1. Print
2. Apply double sided tape to back
3. Stick to mounting card
4. Carefully apply sellotape to top if you want them pseudo-laminated
5. Cut out with craft knife/scalpel
6. Amaze your friends and enemies with these cards
7. Tell them to visit 40kaddict.blogspot.com for their own free markers.

 And of course while you are at it you can do the same for my free Wound Markers

Due to popular demand [as well as my own playtesting] now with 'buff' notation:

John Carter (of Mars) FREEBIE, FREE STUFF

I had the absolute pleasure to go and see John Carter at the cinema this weekend. The wife let me and the eldest go see it together and even paid and provided nibbles. It was also the full 3D version, how cool is that? If you don't know what John Carter is about then I wouldn't be surprised. It would seem Disney invested massive amounts in a story everyone could relate to and identify with and then promptly forgot how to get that across.

John Carter is based on a series of books written by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the guy who wrote Tarzan, The People that Time Forgot and At The Earth's Core, amongst others. Amazingly you can get all the books, and the others mentioned electronically, for FREE at Project Guttenberg

A Princess of Mars
Gods of Mars
Thuvia, Maid of Mars
Warlord of Mars
Chessmen of Mars

I downloaded these books years ago onto my Palm Tungsten T PDA. I can't remember why but I was impressed they were for free and I enjoyed them for the 'pulp' sci-fi they were.

At it's core the story is about a civil war veteran who gets transported to Mars and there becomes a hero in the war between the people and aliens living on that planet. It helps that on Mars Carter's Earth-born bone density and muscle mass allows him to 'leap tall buildings'[yes he inspired the Man of Steel] and have superhuman strength. Of course there's a love interest, the Princess of Mars and if you do an image search of her name NOT AT WORK then you will discover this buxom wench has a slight aversion to clothes but otherwise in the film she's slightly more attired, though no less captivating

John Carter is based on a book nearly 100 years old that brings about the Sci-Fi concepts of flying craft, teleportation, alien creatures, energy weapons and so much more. Concepts that have been borrowed by Star Wars, Aliens, Flash Gordon and Avatar to name but a few, but this was the originator. I can't recall a film recently I've enjoyed so much. Indeed you will see those elements that are from Attack of the Clones and feel a little frustrated because you've seen it before but this is handled so much better and you will wish you'd not seen the poorer version. Ultimately though I felt John Carter had more in common with Flash Gordon than Star Wars and actually the premise is even a little bit like Shrek, a Princess destined to be married to someone else, an anti-hero who wants to cut himself off from the rest of humanity, desperate to get back to his home [swamp]. There's even a donkey...

I loved this film, of course I had pre-conceptions about things because I'd read the books. Dejah Thoris wasn't red, just tattoed, Mars isn't red enough, although tthere are some stubby yellow bushes that look suspiciously like Ferron Bindweed. But overall these are minor annoyances compared with Disney's lack of faith in their film. John Carter deserves a massive audience, it's comparable to any of the big sci-fi epics we've had in years and the only way that can happen is for people to go see it, then perhaps we may get the sequels. At this stage I think that's doubtful but maybe there will be a surge of people discovering this film and it may slowly grow momentum, I hope so. If I've not encouraged you enough try the trailer on for size: