Blog Wars 6 - result

Saturday was great at Blog Wars 6, Alex put on a great event, probably one of the friendliest and relaxed tournament atmosphere I've been to. That didn't stop me getting my usual nerves or clumsiness but it did mean a lot of fun was had. Ultimately I came 4th out of 32 which wasn't bad considering I lost my first game quite foolishly. I also won best painted army, as you can see from the poor scan of my framed (!) winning certificate, I also came runner up in the best painted character.

With my winnings I treated my Dark Angels to one of these as it was only 30p more:

Big question is how do I paint it:

1. Dark Angels Green
2. Ferron Proxima red
3. Matt Black Honored Imperium Verdigris Copper
4. Combination of 2 for the walls and 3 for the metal reinforcements

Anyway, I'll post some [less than comprehensive] battle reports when I get chance but first game was against Tyranids, which was a similar list to my own but in the hands of Adam who had only 10 games under his belt. I threw that one away somehow - too many conservative approaches to current games when I should have gone uber aggresive, he did and won.

Second game was against, erm, 'nids and Phil from Armoured Sentinel. This was the most fun I've had gaming in a long time. There were some absolutely hilarious moments and Phil was a real sport even when things started going comically wrong for him. It may not have been as much fun for him on the receiving end, the 25:1 score line implies he was practically tabled but there was a lot of give and take, I just ended up in objective scoring positions.

Last game was against 'nid... killers - Dark Eldar with Eldar allies. Daniel's army was heavy on the Reavers and light on poisoned weapons but again I made a tactical error in the first turn and spent a lot of time trying to catch up. Somehow I was able to be in objective scoring positions as the time ran out, we were 15 minutes shorter to try and get finished on time. I didn't get my full turn but if we'd have had the extra 15 minutes I may well have lost in turn 5, swings and roundabouts.

I'll get the reports done asap, thanks to everyone I played. Incidentally PeteB managed to fill in for a 'no show' and came 26th. He was hoping for the wooden spoon at one stage but managed win one, fortunately/unfortunately depending on how much he wanted the wooden spoon and £5 booby voucher!

Blog Wars 6 prep

I should be hip deep in gaming right about now, hopefully my back will be able to take another day leaning over the table. Anyway it's Blog Wars 6 today, I'll be there with my son and PeteB and his son. PeteB didn't think he'd manage a complete list in time so wasn't able to enter but he's there to soak up the ambience and have some quality time with his son. I on the other hand am forcing mine to engage with something other than digital content, although not so successfully as he'll no doubt be taking a Nintendo DS and probably his iPad. Still the two boys get on well and they're taking some board games too, so there's hope.

Anyway, I nipped round to PeteB's the other night for a practice game, I've another Space Marine report to write up and I wasn't fussed about 'prepping' per se but we haven't played a big 1850pt battle and he'd just painted his boards red to go with my terrain so why not? Anyway, we tried to play the game to the 2.5 hour time limit and eventually I realised taking pics wasn't going to help with that so this is no battle report because I stop after the top of turn 2 [coincidentally when the ship hits the fan ;) ], which is a shame as the game was a doozy. I'll do a bit of a lead in though but it makes me realise the upcoming reports may be thin and lacking in pics. The last thing I need is not to finish a game because I was taking pics.

Anyway we played one of the scenarios - Emperor's Relic/Vanguard Strike - three objectives, one each at 5VPs and a 10VP objective in the centre of the board - like the Relic but you don't have to pick it up. After the last game against PeteB's eldar I was a bit worried and then to see two Wraith Lords, a Wraith Knight, Wrath Guard and an Avatar, this was scary stuff.

Thankfully I had a lot of terrain to hide behind and pretty much all the psychic powers I needed to get the job done.

PeteB had first turn but I'd made it difficult for him to get any shooting in so he advanced.

I spawned out on the CC Tervigon, it's gaunts getting round the Bastion and running into the outpost in front.  I also spawned a dozen or so with the plain Tervigon to secure my objective.

My gaunts nice and secure in their outpost.

PeteB headed further into the centre and secured the Tau objective marker.

The Wraith Knight jumped over onto my flank - so jump troops take a dangerous terrain test if they land in difficult terrain but Monstrous Creatures are immune to dangerous terrain tests - oh well, lets just go wherever the hell we want then!

And so with one shot with his Distortion weapon insta-killed my plain [still spawning] Tervigon. I failed the FnP [which I later found out you don't get with insta-kill] and failed my 5+ cover save and he was ripped apart 6 wounds and all! I thought this was going to go so bad from there.

What followed was quiet a battle though. I stopped taking pics and then all my reserves arrived. The Doom was taken down to 2 wounds through the Quad Guns interceptor but sucked the life from four units and PeteB's Leadership rolls were appalling, although his invul saves weren't too bad to mitigate the problem. My Spore pod bomb worked super effective and I was able to take out quite a lot, probably doing more damage than PeteB had done in his turn.

In retaliation the Doom was targeted and his one save failed leading him to be insta-killed on 10 wounds! Eventually the Avatar was killed but my Devgaunts behind the Eldar Defence line were slaughtered. The Wraithknight was also destroyed, with I think 3 turns of assault from one of my Flyrants. Eventually the game hinged on a Wraithlord with 1 wound contesting the central objective. Warp Spiders contesting my objective [with no way to shift them in the time remaining] and my Warlord Flyrant just alongside the Matt Black Honored Imperium statute. I swooped him across the board to kill the Guardians behind the Defence Line, tried to kill them but they went to ground and only two died, saving their objective. I tried to kill the Wraithlord with my two remaining Hive Guard and they failed. The game was lost, PeteB had won

As soon as the Flyrant had fired I'd realised my fatal mistake, I'd chosen the wrong target - a 24" swoop to engage fortified Guardians or a 12" jump to engage the Wraithlord. Realising the error we played out what would have happened, the Flyrant would have shot and it wounded just once [one 6 out 11 dice? I'd already had that off 14 and 15, my rolling was well below the odds in some circumstances] but he failed the save and would have died, even so I could have got into assault and would have most likely died, leaving my dev and spawned gaunts to capture the objective.

I have to say, even though I lost, I was amazed how close I came and if only I'd made the right call [thanks pressure] I could have stolen it. Ultimately it did put some faith back into my list. I was terrified at what the Eldar could do from our last game [I mean Dark Eldar fear] and I saw some new tricks that didn't make me any happier but I still think I've got a list than can perform even when something goes drastically wrong. Ultimately I need to be playing quick and decisive and having fun so lets hope that's what's happening right now. With mainly Space Wolves, Eldar and Nids I can look forward to the sort of things PeteB has plus Wave Serpents, or Long Fangs and their Priests opening up cracks in the earth :( or face my own medicine against the Doom - which is always am interesting challenge on who knows how to play the codex better. Or, it could be none of the above, I'll let you know.

'nids part 106 - Scratchbuilt Tyranid Capillary Towers

Happy Hallowe'en and here's to my mojo! Yeah baby I've turned a little corner on this, although I may stall progress as I've got Hallowe'en tonight and Blog Wars at the weekend which always results in post tournament apathy. Anyway, as you can see I cut me a load of pop bottle ends and even managed a shandy and a Sprite bottle for a bit of clarity.

Here are my 6 chimney spines made from foamboard that the pop bottle plates will be attached to. The largest is the same height as the tallest spine on my Bastion, the other is about 5cm shorter and the remaining four 5cm shorter still.

It actually took me a long time to get here. I'd sourced some Plywood discs for bases, experimented with some cork ones but noticed they were just slightly thicker and I wanted consistency. Beveled all the edges with my Dremel-alike, hence the scorched edges. Before I started the chimneys I'd already spent about 3 hours, cutting the pop bottles foamboard, and discs.

 The tallest chimney has 5 chitin plates made from the pop bottle ends, the second tallest has 4 plates and the smaller ones 3. That will be 21 plates in all compared with the Bastions 20, of which these will probably be all the same thickness as the bigger plates. Considering the smaller plates on the Bastion can be half the thickness I may well be able to start estimating how long this will take to make, should I feel masochistic enough...!

 Each plate is pinned to the foamcard and then I used masking tape to try and hold all the pieces together. It doesn't matter too much what they look like, I'll be filling the insides in a bit with tissue paper or tin foil and then coating the entire chimney with adhesive tile grout, like I did with the Bastion.

   

The grout makes the entire structure stronger, then the bottle plastic won't flex as much when I apply Milliput or air drying clay. I'll sand it back so it has a consistent surface but still sufficient enough to act as a 'key' to the sculpted surface material.

   

Lastly I hot glued some foamboard strips either side of the chimney spine just for added support at the base. They may not need it when all the sculpting material and 'crater ruptures' are added but I thought I'd build it up just in case. This was another 1.5 to 2 hours, so I'm on about 5 hours work so far.

So, next up a bit of filling the interior of the chitin plates so they're more substantial and I'm not wasting sculpting materials.

Terrain is everything - White Dwarf Warhammer Fantasy Barn

Another one of the gems from my treasure trove of lost White Dwarfs. This was one of the first modelling workshops that I can recall being in the magazine but more importantly was the first tutorial that I followed. I actually made this barn, I'm not sure if I made the optional 'lean to' but I did make the barn [you can even see the pin pricks in the template where I sued it to mark the foamboard].

For some reason I based it on a very thin piece of card, something no thicker than an expanding card folder, it was nonsense. Then I made the mistake of cutting the card too close to the barn in a number of places.

But the barn was complete and painted, the roof too. Not sure where it ended up, perhaps I left it in the loft at my parents. Anyway, it's super quick to do and the balsa wood panels make a really cool finish even without any effort to distress them. I'd recommend giving it a go if you're after Warhammer terrain. The link is below.

Barn: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B97Rk-BalgZbakNkOHBTNzdCdU0/edit?usp=sharing

EPIC! Battle Report - Horus Heresy Skirmish

A week or so ago I saw an ebay bargain to die for. A near complete set of 1st Edition Epic Space Marine for £28 Buy it Now! I couldn't believe it, more importantly I could justify getting it, not with a number of gaming purchases already made and a new tyre for the Micra due. But PeteB can see a bargain and snapped it up and he got even more than he bargained for with a bundle of extra miniatures - Orks, their battlewagons and the Space Marines that included bikes, Land Speeders, Terminators, Assault and Devastator units. I think he'd probably recoup a third of his outlay by selling the Orks but we'll see.

With a new game in hand we decided to have a knockaround, we'd spent 2 hours just gassing about the game and I showed off my old copy of Rogue Trader and we giggled. Anyway, we went simple, a Warlord and Warhound each [I swapped around the weapons so PeteB had the plasma and I had the las so we could experience the other side. 3 Barrels on each and Chainfists I also had a Multi-launcher and PeteB had and auto-cannon]. We also had 6 Land Raiders each, and two stand of Devastators, Tactical and Assault troops.

This is after turn 1 [although my Warhound needs to move]. I was trying to flank with my Land Raiders, it's worked on the left but the right is very exposed.

My assault marines jump behind the Warhound.

More of PeteB's infantry disembark and the Land Raiders position to shoot.

His Warhound goes to stomp on the Assault Squad, missing one.

But then as he passes he uses his head mounted Heavy Bolter and Plasma Gun to kill one the other.

Devastator and Tactical squads occupy the buildings.

I manage to blow the Auto cannon off his Warlord Titan with my own.

The building occupied by the Tactical squad takes two damage from my Land Raiders. 

The building PeteB's Warlord was taking cover from is destroyed leaving it exposed.

But his Titan manages to get a Plasma Cannon shot on the Warhound and two Land Raiders.

Leaving the Warhound to stand above the molten slag of the Raiders.

By this time it was getting late, I'm not sure who was winning and didn't really care to be honest. We'd had some real fun and it was a completely different tactical game. It eventually became apparent PeteB had missed the bit where I said all the weapons on the Titan had 3 barrels except the Plasma Cannon. He'd been firing only one shot whit his Heavy Plasma Gun. The Auto Cannon had gone quite early so it wasn't too bad but still, a fair few Land Raiders may have been destroyed other wise.

We're going to be playing this again next week but I'll be bringing my 2nd Edition rules and Expansion so we can take some more interesting models and see what does what.

3 up - safe!

Another year under the belt and the blog is now 3! How did that happen? Without a doubt this has been the most successful yet, the blog goes from strength to strength, in no small part thanks to the continued support of the readers, followers and commenters. Thank you one and all for making this blog have a purpose.

Admittedly I've had a fair amount of decent content to share, mainly my Tyranid Bastion which managed to win best Fortification in it's first outing at Warhammer World. That trip in itself was the biggest success ever. Through my efforts to spread the word on various forums I answered a call from a complete stranger to pair up at Warhammer World. Not only did I take the Best Fortification prize, got nominated alongside my Battle Brother Dan for best army but we won all three games and game 2nd overall in 68 pairs. Best of all though it made me realise that there are great people out there and we all share a common interest and even if you've never met someone before you can have some really good fun thanks to the hobby.

I also came second in a local tournament and came away with my first tournament winnings - in cash [vouchers]! Paints too for best painted army. And lets not forget me and my buddies travelling for Throne of Skulls. Nor my win for Armies on Parade or even our Apocalypse battle! I'm also going to round out the year with another day tournament - Blog Wars 6, so that should be fun.

Granted the blog has suffered a little over the last month or but 'content is king' and my 'mojo issues' has meant a poor harvest for content. I'm currently beset by a number of more appealing distractions but I do have some great things planned so when I start back into it there's going to be some really cool stuff to share. As I approach two big milestones - 200 followers and 300,000 page hits I need to make sure I'm providing something worthy of the faith entrusted to date. That adds a certain amount of pressure and we know there's absolutely no point feeling uncomfortable blogging, afterall it should be fun or you shouldn't do it. But I've been here numerous times, short on content and with lacking in motivation and every time I've bounced back.

In the mean time remember I am open to any suggestions you may have, for the content you like most or content you'd like to see. Additionally I'm still on the lookout for other new blogs to share, I've a couple of beauties I've found that I know you'll love. Equally anyone wishing to share their efforts with my STCs or even show my their battle reports with my wound markers in use I'd love to see them. Here's to another 3 years!

ebay sales I don't regret - Battle for Macragge

I recently had the fortune to secure a near complete Battle for Macragge on ebay for a little over £14 all in! I never got 4th edition, actually I only ever got Rogue Trader and I think I was hobby sober shortly after 2nd came out, so it's nice to have something to close the gap.  

The thing that impresses me is there is terrain and having skimmed through the rule book the terrain features in all of the scenarios. Sure there are less figures than in the current box set but I think that's a shame. I think a big regret is the lost opportunity GW had to bundle a terrain mat in their box like they did with Dreadfleet.

For my £14 I got the terrain, the blast templates, dice and even transfers as well as the rule book.

I got all 10 Termagants [always handy] and five of the Genestealers and one old skool original Space Hulk stealer to make the 6th. It also had the hive nodes and spores mines too. I'm definitely going to make some more Ymgarls just for variety but these were just bonus items for me. I wanted Tyranids for sure, but I promised myself I should be purchasing Marines.

And here's ten of them, the only problem is the pale grey guy on the bottom right, who is a 2nd Edition kitbash. Still I had a spare Marine come with the Land Speeder I also got off ebay recently. So this diminutive marine will be given to my youngest to paint. My only other opinion of note is that the moulding on them is quite bad in places with mis-register in the two halves. It shows how much their plastics have improved since 4th. Still, the sergeant is an awesome model and I look forward to adding some bits to make them less generic.

I also got the Aquila pilot, his teleport homer which is handy, the fuel cell and three of the four force field generators. All in all, £14 is an absolute steal for everything and I may well keep an eye out for this sort of collection again in the future. I don't think I'll get a bargain like this again but it's good to keep checking.

Anyway, I have plans for some of these items, the Tyranids in particular. I don't want to be purchasing anymore nids but if I can pick some up for buttons then I will. We'll see what I can add to this in the next few months, it's a fun idea I have ;)