I went over to Chris' tonight as his pre-order of Space Hulk had arrived. It took us quite a while to punch out all the board sections, counters etc and to get the figures off the sprues. What a lovely box of toys it is! We played one of the early missions (Cleanse and Burn, I think) both ways - he played the terminators first, while I commanded the genestealers, then we swapped over. Chris won both games, testimony to his greater experience of the game (he didn't miss this game first time round) and some astonishing dice rolling. In particular, the sergeant armed with thunder hammer and storm shield was (for Chris, not me) absolutely monstrous - a one-man swathe of destruction, utterly invulnerable and quite deadly. The game plays so well, I love it!
I got home fully decided to buy my own copy (and then flog the included figures on ebay as I prefer the 'old skool' figures I recently acquired), all my plans from the previous post discarded, but they've sold out from the online store!!!! I may be able to snag one from our local GW store, but as I won't be able to get there for opening on Saturday I may have to ask a favour of the manager who I know a bit...
What a strange position to be in - I now want to give GW money (!), but they don't seem to want it!
3 September 2009
31 August 2009
Excuses, excuses....
Ooooo-kay, first off - the admission: I haven't picked up a brush since my last post.
Now - the excuses: family holidays, friends coming to stay, drinking more at supper so I don't want to start painting and screw it up, more holidays.
So what's next? I'm carrying on with my Impetus painting, but I'm going to intersperse that with some larger scale stuff again, particularly some Bloodbowl star players (skaven ones for an exciting and quick-play variant that Chris has come up with), and I fancy trying a cowboy or two having caught the second half of Once Upon a Time in the West on telly the other day.
Obviously, my butterfly mind has alighted on a new (well, old but resurrected by the re-release) gaming idea:
I just missed out on this first time round (it had gone out of print before I realised what a great game it was), but have occasionally costed up getting the various bits off Ebay. Now, I can't justify ~£60 for a boardgame at the moment, and a limited edition means they'll likely be all gone before I put, say, a tenner a month aside and save up. My plan, therefore is to take it step-by-step:
First - get some 1989-edition metal terminators.
I snagged a job-lot off Ebay for under £2 each; they haven't arrived yet, but if they match up with the photos then a bit of paint-stripping and I reckon I've got a bargain :) Any spares will then be resold on Ebay or traded with James, whose son is Blood Angels mad.
Second - genestealers
Metal 'stealers are rarer than hen's teeth it would seem, but the plastic ones are not too pricey (by GW standards), and show up cheaper on ebay fairly regularly.
Third - the tiles
These are rather expensive on ebay, and I don't want to shell out so much for something that will probably be a little worn (at least with figures you can strip and repaint, or even greenstuff if necessary). My plan is to order the space corridor tile-sets from Litko. They even sent me .pdf templates of the tiles so that I can resize some Space Hulk-esque artwork I found on the net to fit. I'll then print them off onto stickers so that I can just cut, peel, and stick for instant board pieces.
Fourth - the counters
More Litko stuff, here. They do custom counters for a good price, and their quotes hold for 90 days so I can get these in a month or two's time.
Fifth - the rules
This is the tricky one. I can't see any legal way of getting the newest rules, but I know they're based on the 1st Edition very closely. These are available (or at least, until the new release) as a free download from the GW site and I do have a copy. I'll have to keep thinking on this one.
So, that's me, getting ready for school (back tomorrow) and ready for a bit of escapism which will get me back into the painting groove, I reckon.
Now - the excuses: family holidays, friends coming to stay, drinking more at supper so I don't want to start painting and screw it up, more holidays.
So what's next? I'm carrying on with my Impetus painting, but I'm going to intersperse that with some larger scale stuff again, particularly some Bloodbowl star players (skaven ones for an exciting and quick-play variant that Chris has come up with), and I fancy trying a cowboy or two having caught the second half of Once Upon a Time in the West on telly the other day.
Obviously, my butterfly mind has alighted on a new (well, old but resurrected by the re-release) gaming idea:
I just missed out on this first time round (it had gone out of print before I realised what a great game it was), but have occasionally costed up getting the various bits off Ebay. Now, I can't justify ~£60 for a boardgame at the moment, and a limited edition means they'll likely be all gone before I put, say, a tenner a month aside and save up. My plan, therefore is to take it step-by-step:
First - get some 1989-edition metal terminators.
I snagged a job-lot off Ebay for under £2 each; they haven't arrived yet, but if they match up with the photos then a bit of paint-stripping and I reckon I've got a bargain :) Any spares will then be resold on Ebay or traded with James, whose son is Blood Angels mad.
Second - genestealers
Metal 'stealers are rarer than hen's teeth it would seem, but the plastic ones are not too pricey (by GW standards), and show up cheaper on ebay fairly regularly.
Third - the tiles
These are rather expensive on ebay, and I don't want to shell out so much for something that will probably be a little worn (at least with figures you can strip and repaint, or even greenstuff if necessary). My plan is to order the space corridor tile-sets from Litko. They even sent me .pdf templates of the tiles so that I can resize some Space Hulk-esque artwork I found on the net to fit. I'll then print them off onto stickers so that I can just cut, peel, and stick for instant board pieces.
Fourth - the counters
More Litko stuff, here. They do custom counters for a good price, and their quotes hold for 90 days so I can get these in a month or two's time.
Fifth - the rules
This is the tricky one. I can't see any legal way of getting the newest rules, but I know they're based on the 1st Edition very closely. These are available (or at least, until the new release) as a free download from the GW site and I do have a copy. I'll have to keep thinking on this one.
So, that's me, getting ready for school (back tomorrow
27 July 2009
Henry, 1st Lord Scrope of Masham
Henry, 1st Lord Scrope of Masham, was born on 29 September, 1312, in Masham, England. Henry figured prominently in all the wars of Edward the Third, and in 1350, was summoned to parliament as Baron Scrope of Masham. He fought at Crecy, Poitiers and Najera. He died on the 31st July 1932. The Scropes of Masham were a cadet branch of the Scropes of Bolton family, hence the use of the white difference or cadence mark over the Scrope arms of azure, a bend or.
Anyway, scene set (real history, by the way, fact fans!), I actually chose Henry as he had a nice simple coat of arms, and I was able to download his flag (free, gratis, and for nothing) from the rather excellent krigspil.dk website. If you want a flag for pretty much any period, then check them out before spending any money.
I based these on a 30mm un-lipped base (i.e. a slightly larger version of the bases like those sold by GW), which handily is within a gnat's crotchet of the same thickness as my standard bases for the rest of the army. I think I'll base all my commanders like this. If I'd planned ahead a little better, I'd have put the banner-bearer on the other side of him so that I could stretch the flag out to the right and it wouldn't look (to the casual or uninformed viewer) like I'd painted his bend or going the wrong way!
The main reason I did him now, as opposed to later, is that I've been finding it rather more difficult than expected to get nice horse-flesh colours on the mounts of my hobilars. However, the English summer is doing its rainy best, so I'm off for another attempt.
Anyway, scene set (real history, by the way, fact fans!), I actually chose Henry as he had a nice simple coat of arms, and I was able to download his flag (free, gratis, and for nothing) from the rather excellent krigspil.dk website. If you want a flag for pretty much any period, then check them out before spending any money.
I based these on a 30mm un-lipped base (i.e. a slightly larger version of the bases like those sold by GW), which handily is within a gnat's crotchet of the same thickness as my standard bases for the rest of the army. I think I'll base all my commanders like this. If I'd planned ahead a little better, I'd have put the banner-bearer on the other side of him so that I could stretch the flag out to the right and it wouldn't look (to the casual or uninformed viewer) like I'd painted his bend or going the wrong way!
The main reason I did him now, as opposed to later, is that I've been finding it rather more difficult than expected to get nice horse-flesh colours on the mounts of my hobilars. However, the English summer is doing its rainy best, so I'm off for another attempt.
22 July 2009
Archers
Managed to find a few moments (i.e. it was raining) and got these fellows polished off this afternoon. As mentioned before, the green and white livery is that worn by troops raised by the Black Prince.
Next up, some hobilars:
I also came across an article in the paper today, mentioning a website www.medievalsoldier.org which carries a database of the soldiers who fought for England against the French between 1369 and 1453.
TTFN
Next up, some hobilars:
I also came across an article in the paper today, mentioning a website www.medievalsoldier.org which carries a database of the soldiers who fought for England against the French between 1369 and 1453.
TTFN
20 July 2009
Oh yeah, baby, it's the holidays!
Nothing new to report, geek-wise, apart from a few splashes more paint on those archers from the workbench a couple of posts back. It is, however, now the school holidays :) Hopefully I'll pick up the pace a bit, but if it's sunny then I'll be down the allotment. So, anyone who likes seeing the geeking I'm up to needs to pray for rain in East Anglia.
The weather at this moment? Glorious sunshine; I'm off to get weeding...
The weather at this moment? Glorious sunshine; I'm off to get weeding...
6 July 2009
Carrot Crunch
No, not a new type of breakfast cereal but the name of the Bloodbowl tournament I went to this weekend. I had an absolute whale of a time; the Sudbury and District Wargamers did a superb job organising it. There were forty coaches - some very experienced, others at their first tourney - and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves throughout, no matter how their games were going. The continuous flow of free food, soft drinks and beer throughout the weekend may have helped towards that cheerful glow ;)
Game 1
Opponent - Amazons
Score - 0(1)-3(4)
First game was against Dave ("Lycos"), the current president of the NAF - the world Bloodbowl coaches organisation. This top bloke, aside from his other talents (gaming and organisation-wise), has the most remarkable memory for people's faces and names. He goes to pretty much every tournament running and has quite the results record, but we've never played each other before so I was pleased to see we were paired up for the first game. I really enjoyed the game, even if I was hopelessly outclassed, and I got a casualty with my chainsaw player...
Game 2
Opponent - Goblins
Score - 2(0)-0(1)
After the spanking I got in game 1, I headed right down to the bottom table where I met Emrys, another goblin coach. We were prepared for a game full of dirty tricks, secret weapons and fouling, and neither of us were disappointed - marvellous :) The picture shows the field in turn 7 of 8 of the first half when I had removed ALL of his players from the pitch. I scored in turn 8 to finish the first half 1-0. The second half was a highly entertaining repeat of the second, with poor Emrys reduced to one standing and one prone player before I scored at the end of the game to go 2-0 at the end. A win? Hurrah!
Game 3
Opponent - Humans
Score - 0(2)-3(5)
A picture of munson's human team (the lovely Greek-themed miniatures from Impact). Despite him still suffering from the night before, munson's aggressive style made absolute mincemeat of my little guys.
The roll at the beginning meant I got to receive the ball and therefore go first. Mwahaha - I fired up the chainsaw and killed his Ogre straight away before he even got to move :) This was about the best moment of the match, however, and I ended the half 1-0 down (not too bad), but with only two big (and stupid, needing to roll 4+ before they can do anything) trolls and one goblin left. As this left me no defence, another three TDs rapidly followed, with me down to one troll by the end who still managed to run, pick up the ball (!) and head for his end zone. To no avail. I have now been officially 'munsoned'. Funny though!
Game 4
Opponent - Humans
Score - 2(1)-2(2)
An awesome first half for me against Jason saw me score twice to end the half 2-0 up. The goblin on the pogo-stick (I told you they were a silly team) scored both of them, Leaping over the astonished humans and speeding towards a risky ball snatch and sprint for the line each time. The photo below shows Jason putting a brave face on things as I wound up to score the 2nd.
The problem was that for the 2nd half, all my Secret Weapon wielders got sent off leaving me somewhat reduced in numbers (down to 8 compared to his 11) and unable to defend (have you worked out the theme of my weekend yet?) as is standard for Goblin teams. He scored twice and then went for the winner. First up he cleared the pitch (including a very sneaky set of Crowd Pushes) so that I had no players for my turn 7. On to his turn 8. With the ball carrier being 7 squares for the end zone and having a movement of 6, Jason took the least risky option of the 2+ roll (with a reroll to hand) needed to Go For It one extra square. Breath held until the dice came to rest, I gasped as he rolled a 1, then I have to admit whooping when his reroll also came up as 1. The moment of his disaster is captured below, where you can also see all my players in the KO'd or Dead and Injured boxes.
Game 5
Opponent - Wood Elves
Score - 0(2)-5(3)
A game of endless misery. Sense of humour mismatch with my opponent, coupled with him managing an astonishing twenty-one succesful dice rolls in a row in a single turn, compared to me rolling eleven 1s in a row!!! Least said, soonest mended.
Game 6
Opponent - Chaos Dwarfs
Score - 0(0)-2(2)
My opponent (Val) really entered into the spirit of carnage and disaster that my dice-rolling wreaked upon my own team with great humour. By the end we were giggling like schoolchildren as we worked out more and more outrageous things that his team could attempt.
The pic above shows the ball coming to rest after I failed to roll a 3 on two attempts. The number of my players on the pitch reduced very rapidly from this point onwards. Only the truly unlikely (5+ dodge, 5+ dodge, 3+ dodge, 2-dice his choice block, pick up on a 5+) things worked for me, but it wasn't enough. My tournament ended with great hilarity, if little actual gaming success.
I will definitely be going to this one next year!
I will also definitely be taking a team that doesn't get smooshed so easily. Lesson learned.
Game 1
Opponent - Amazons
Score - 0(1)-3(4)
First game was against Dave ("Lycos"), the current president of the NAF - the world Bloodbowl coaches organisation. This top bloke, aside from his other talents (gaming and organisation-wise), has the most remarkable memory for people's faces and names. He goes to pretty much every tournament running and has quite the results record, but we've never played each other before so I was pleased to see we were paired up for the first game. I really enjoyed the game, even if I was hopelessly outclassed, and I got a casualty with my chainsaw player...
Game 2
Opponent - Goblins
Score - 2(0)-0(1)
After the spanking I got in game 1, I headed right down to the bottom table where I met Emrys, another goblin coach. We were prepared for a game full of dirty tricks, secret weapons and fouling, and neither of us were disappointed - marvellous :) The picture shows the field in turn 7 of 8 of the first half when I had removed ALL of his players from the pitch. I scored in turn 8 to finish the first half 1-0. The second half was a highly entertaining repeat of the second, with poor Emrys reduced to one standing and one prone player before I scored at the end of the game to go 2-0 at the end. A win? Hurrah!
Game 3
Opponent - Humans
Score - 0(2)-3(5)
A picture of munson's human team (the lovely Greek-themed miniatures from Impact). Despite him still suffering from the night before, munson's aggressive style made absolute mincemeat of my little guys.
The roll at the beginning meant I got to receive the ball and therefore go first. Mwahaha - I fired up the chainsaw and killed his Ogre straight away before he even got to move :) This was about the best moment of the match, however, and I ended the half 1-0 down (not too bad), but with only two big (and stupid, needing to roll 4+ before they can do anything) trolls and one goblin left. As this left me no defence, another three TDs rapidly followed, with me down to one troll by the end who still managed to run, pick up the ball (!) and head for his end zone. To no avail. I have now been officially 'munsoned'. Funny though!
Game 4
Opponent - Humans
Score - 2(1)-2(2)
An awesome first half for me against Jason saw me score twice to end the half 2-0 up. The goblin on the pogo-stick (I told you they were a silly team) scored both of them, Leaping over the astonished humans and speeding towards a risky ball snatch and sprint for the line each time. The photo below shows Jason putting a brave face on things as I wound up to score the 2nd.
The problem was that for the 2nd half, all my Secret Weapon wielders got sent off leaving me somewhat reduced in numbers (down to 8 compared to his 11) and unable to defend (have you worked out the theme of my weekend yet?) as is standard for Goblin teams. He scored twice and then went for the winner. First up he cleared the pitch (including a very sneaky set of Crowd Pushes) so that I had no players for my turn 7. On to his turn 8. With the ball carrier being 7 squares for the end zone and having a movement of 6, Jason took the least risky option of the 2+ roll (with a reroll to hand) needed to Go For It one extra square. Breath held until the dice came to rest, I gasped as he rolled a 1, then I have to admit whooping when his reroll also came up as 1. The moment of his disaster is captured below, where you can also see all my players in the KO'd or Dead and Injured boxes.
Game 5
Opponent - Wood Elves
Score - 0(2)-5(3)
A game of endless misery. Sense of humour mismatch with my opponent, coupled with him managing an astonishing twenty-one succesful dice rolls in a row in a single turn, compared to me rolling eleven 1s in a row!!! Least said, soonest mended.
Game 6
Opponent - Chaos Dwarfs
Score - 0(0)-2(2)
My opponent (Val) really entered into the spirit of carnage and disaster that my dice-rolling wreaked upon my own team with great humour. By the end we were giggling like schoolchildren as we worked out more and more outrageous things that his team could attempt.
The pic above shows the ball coming to rest after I failed to roll a 3 on two attempts. The number of my players on the pitch reduced very rapidly from this point onwards. Only the truly unlikely (5+ dodge, 5+ dodge, 3+ dodge, 2-dice his choice block, pick up on a 5+) things worked for me, but it wasn't enough. My tournament ended with great hilarity, if little actual gaming success.
I will definitely be going to this one next year!
I will also definitely be taking a team that doesn't get smooshed so easily. Lesson learned.
30 June 2009
Mustering musings
Being on a real Impetus kick painting up my HYW miniatures from Corvus Belli, I realised last night after posting that I haven't shared my intended army list. I've roughed out a 500 point list, and then sub-selected a 300 point list from that. There may be some tweaking (I may swap out the Hobilars and the Levies for some Cannon), but for now, here goes:
Command:
Average CS, Fair Commander
32 pts
Cavalry:
1 x King and Household
1 x English Men-at-Arms
1 x Hobilars
82 pts
Missile Troops:
5 x Longbowmen
115 pts
Melee Troops:
2 x Dismounted Men-at-Arms
1 x Welsh Spearmen
1 x French Levies
71 pts
Total = 300 points
On a side note, I probably won't get much further on those archers for a few days as I'm off to another Blood Bowl tournament this weekend. Given the lack of a podium finish with a super-competitive team, I'm going to go for the ultimate joke team - goblins. I had fun painting these guys up a couple of years ago, and will be aiming for the Stunty Cup instead of 'real' victory.
In fact if you look here, my team is in the gallery on the Stunty Cup site. Scroll down to the seventh picture, I think.
Command:
Average CS, Fair Commander
32 pts
Cavalry:
1 x King and Household
1 x English Men-at-Arms
1 x Hobilars
82 pts
Missile Troops:
5 x Longbowmen
115 pts
Melee Troops:
2 x Dismounted Men-at-Arms
1 x Welsh Spearmen
1 x French Levies
71 pts
Total = 300 points
On a side note, I probably won't get much further on those archers for a few days as I'm off to another Blood Bowl tournament this weekend. Given the lack of a podium finish with a super-competitive team, I'm going to go for the ultimate joke team - goblins. I had fun painting these guys up a couple of years ago, and will be aiming for the Stunty Cup instead of 'real' victory.
In fact if you look here, my team is in the gallery on the Stunty Cup site. Scroll down to the seventh picture, I think.
29 June 2009
Green and White
Beautiful wife was sorting through photos of beautiful son (18 months tomorrow!), so I got started on a base-worth of archers. I've chosen a green and white colour scheme in honour of the archers raised by Edward of Woodstock, the 'Black Prince', from Cheshire in the mid 1300s.
Just a quick snap from the workbench:
"But Stephen, one of those archers has a hammer, not a bow!"
"That's right, Skippy, but someone has to drive the stakes in to keep those naughty French aristos at bay!"
I was sorting through the great pile of sprues of CB figs in my lead pile and found him in the 'Armed Peasants' pack and thought "Ah-ha!" I hope it works out...
Just a quick snap from the workbench:
"But Stephen, one of those archers has a hammer, not a bow!"
"That's right, Skippy, but someone has to drive the stakes in to keep those naughty French aristos at bay!"
I was sorting through the great pile of sprues of CB figs in my lead pile and found him in the 'Armed Peasants' pack and thought "Ah-ha!" I hope it works out...
24 June 2009
In harness, and ready for action
I'm a happy geek! I got my first base of English dismounted Men at Arms / Knights / whatever you want to call them completed and based tonight (thanks, Jet, for the basing advice).
It's late and real world work is going to be heavy going tomorrow, so that's it for now, I just wanted to show off my handiwork. Not perfect by any means, but for a first go, and as a gaming piece, I'm pretty chuffed. Just another couple of hundred to paint!
These are Corvus Belli miniatures and are 15mm scale, based for Impetus.
From the front:
and behind:
and an crossbow bolt's eye view:
A little bizarre, perhaps, but my favourite is the trumpeter; I really like the linen colour I got on his coif.
It's late and real world work is going to be heavy going tomorrow, so that's it for now, I just wanted to show off my handiwork. Not perfect by any means, but for a first go, and as a gaming piece, I'm pretty chuffed. Just another couple of hundred to paint!
These are Corvus Belli miniatures and are 15mm scale, based for Impetus.
From the front:
and behind:
and an crossbow bolt's eye view:
A little bizarre, perhaps, but my favourite is the trumpeter; I really like the linen colour I got on his coif.
17 June 2009
GT photo
I couldn't find any pictures of any of my games from the GT, but I did find a photo of me taken by my last opponent, Frank. I grabbed it from his website, so here I am looking particularly snazzy (read: knackered after two days solid gaming and liquid refreshment) in my spectacularly geeky club BB gaming shirt:
Over my shoulder you can even see a girl!!!! She was geeking away with the rest of us. It may not surprise you that out of 170-odd coaches, there were probably fewer than half a dozen ladies. You can also see the cod-medieval way the hall is set up. I'm only gently mocking, because it does add to the atmosphere hugely.
Oh, and I fixed my last post with the proper results from my games.
Over my shoulder you can even see a girl!!!! She was geeking away with the rest of us. It may not surprise you that out of 170-odd coaches, there were probably fewer than half a dozen ladies. You can also see the cod-medieval way the hall is set up. I'm only gently mocking, because it does add to the atmosphere hugely.
Oh, and I fixed my last post with the proper results from my games.
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