Summer of GW?

Hi all,

You've got to love Halifax weather.  The Cub and I set up a game outside a few days back, and a fairly big one too.  Weather was perfect, forecast good.  Then the clouds rolled in ;)  We were doing fine, until a massive gust of wind blew in out of nowhere, and took out the terrain, and both our army boxes, scattering Khorne Daemons and Salamanders all over the yard.

*sigh*

After a few days to recover from the trauma ( ;) ), we relocated indoors, for our first official game of 9th edition 40k.  We played 75 Power Level, which probably translates to about 1500ish points, and it felt about right for an afternoon or evening game.  I got the Beloved to take some pictures, but they're all from the start of the game.  Enough to get the flavour, anyways.

Most of the Daemons (some still lurking in the Warp).  I'm enjoying the Soul Grinder, he's due a paint job.

I took a pure Khorne Daemons list.  It's not going to be setting the competitive scene on fire, but it does fine for a casual game at home.  Cub took his Salamanders, and it was a good match up - he had the edge in shooting, I had it in close combat, but neither of us was completely skewed.

Daemon prince lending his re-roll aura to the Soul Grinder and a Skull Cannon.  

In the new edition, scenarios are tied to game size.  We played "No Man's Land", which is one of several progressive objective-holding games (you get more points the more of an advantage you have in controlled objectives), and which has the option to take a secondary objective giving bonus points for holding the centre.

Tried deepstriking Bloodcrushers for the first time.  It worked pretty well - there used to be a unit of Hellblasters there ;)

Secondary objectives are now a big part of the game.  I took ones that encouraged me to control the board and get into Cub's deployment zone, while he took the scenario one (control the table centre) and one which gave him points for taking out my Warlord (my Daemon prince).  It meant that in addition to the normal fencing over objectives, he spent a bunch of the game trying to zone me out and chasing units around his backfield, while I had to be very cagey with how I used my DP (which is one of the hardest hitting units in my force).  It made the game much more "thinky", but not in an oppressive way.

A good chunk of Cub's backfield, and at the bottom, his Warlord, a Salamaders character, "Vulcan He'stan"

We started fairly late in the day, so had to call it at the end of turn 3 for time.  I was winning on points, but Cub was due to pull ahead the next turn, and the game was going to come down to a couple of clutch fights on Cub's side of the table.  Could have gone either way, but things were tipping in his direction.

Gratuitous shot of bloodletters.  Slowly working through the latest batch I picked up.

It turned out to be a really fun game, and I wish we could have played it out.  There's been quite a few small, but cumulatively significant changes to game play, many of which seem to have been designed to counter "gamey" rules exploits.  I have no doubt new ones will be found, but for now, we're still working through what we don't know we don't know about the new rules, and exploring new missions etc.

Things have been a little slow on the historicals front.  My painting mojo has slumped in the last month or so, particularly for historicals (I've had a unit of 6mm Austrian dragoons staring at me accusingly from the desk for some time).  Although I've been picking away at GW stuff, that's slowed a bit as well.  Not sure if just busy with work, the weather, or one of those occasional slow patches, but I've long since learned not to try and force things.

On the plus side, things are looking up for the local historical scene in general.  I may be getting in some "virtual" gaming on Tabletop Simulator in the next little while, and I've been chatting with one of the local players about working towards a post-Covid project.  I could use a spur - the Victrix Carthaginians I picked up a while back are mostly still sitting in their box, mainly due to analysis paralysis over basing and rules.  With a clear objective / plan in mind, either they, or one of the half-finished 15mm projects, might get a spur.  Further info as things develop.

Hope everyone is doing okay out there.

FMB

Hitting things. For Khorne.

Hi all,

Fear not, those of you who pay attention for the historical content, all is not lost.  I've still been puttering with the 6mm Russians, and have some updates in the queue.  If late, however, most of the gaming has been of the GW variety, including a couple of games of 40k with my mixed Khorne, one against the Cub and his Salamanders, and one against a local gaming buddy, Dustin, who ran a rather nice Genestealer cults army.

Cub and I played a fairly straightforward game: three objectives, whoever controlled the most at end of game won, if anyone controlled all three at end of the turn, they won.  Story of the game was the bloodletter "bomb" I set off fairly early in the game.  There's a stratagem in the Daemons codex that lets you "deepstrike" a unit onto the table.  I use it to drop a max unit of bloodletters (which are good in close combat) and a Khorne Daemon character (which lets them re-roll charges, and makes them better) on the table, with an item that lets them charge further than normal.  Basically, it lets me guarantee eliminating 1-2 units, and tie up several other for a turn or two, depending on how an opponent deploys.













In our game, it meant tearing a whole through the middle of his army, seizing the objective on Cub's side of the table, and putting him on his back foot in a big way.  Although he pushed back pretty hard (taking out my unit of berzerkers, which are arguably even better in combat than Bloodletters), the impact of "the bomb" meant I could get the rest of my army up the table and into the fight, and in close combat, Khorne has the advantage.  We called it after about turn 3 when it was clear the Marines weren't going to pull it out.

I also got in a larger game (about 1750 points, nearly double the usual with the Cub) down at the GW.  We played "The Scouring" scenario, with 6 objectives.  This one was interesting for me, in that Genestealer Cults essentially deploy their entire army either in ambush (you know something is there, but not what) or deepstrike, which meant that I was more or less reacting for the first couple turns - something I'm not used to doing given how my army works.









By the end of turn one, I was more or less surrounded, with my more isolated units facing an uphill battle, and the core of my army taking fire from multiple units, while a LARGE unit of genestealers (super-killy close combat unit) and a GS patriarch (even more killy, and a buffing unit) up in my grill.



Thankfully, Khorne is mighty; while he pretty much gutted my berzerkers  (seeing a pattern here?  they tend to be priority targets), Dustin managed to flub just enough rolls to keep my Daemon Prince in the game.  This was good, because my Daemon Prince kills things rather reliably, as do the other Khorne characters, all of which were in range to give each other synergistic buffs.  One dead patriarch, and several dead Genestealers later, and the initiative shifted over to me.





I then brought in my own reserve units, including the bloodletter bomb and some obliterators to tie up his backfield fire support.  The bloodletters proceeded to carve through the centre of the table, while out on the flank, a unit of chaos marines supported by a Lord of Khorne shot up, then chopped up his remaining threats, assisted by the Daemon Prince (who was hanging on by a thread).





This one we called top of turn 4, but it could have easily gone the other way.  If I hadn't have caught a couple of lucky breaks, or he had better rolls when he needed them, he probably would have taken it.  Even losing my Prince a turn earlier might have done it.  As it was, many skulls were reaped for the Brass Throne, and I suspect a grudge match is in order.

I'd forgotten how much fun "kitchen table" 40k is.  In both these games, we were looking to win, but none of the players brought armies designed to break the game.  Under those circumstances, 40k is still pretty fun ;)

FMB

Mixed bag

Hi all,

Bit of a hectic weekend in Monkeyland, but all good stuff.  The Cub's school had their big, annual Hallowe'en fundraiser, which took up a good chunk of Saturday, and the Fall geek convention, Halcon (which was super fun - got to meet, and have a book signed, by Guy Gavriel Kay), took care of Sunday.  Despite all the hustle and bustle, Cub and I managed to get in the inaugural 40k game at our new digs.



We played a 50 PL game, his Salamanders vs. my mixed Khorne (World Eaters + Daemons).  We both went infantry heavy, with the Sallies fielding 2 full tac squads and some Primaris, along with Vulcan, a librarian, and a Contemptor dreadnaught.  I brought a maxed unit of bloodletters, 2x10 cultists, some berzerkers, and a mix of characters (DP, Lord, Dark Apostle, Champ, and Bloodmaster).  The Champ was pretty much filler - probably would have done better to add another 10 cultists as meatshields.  I was pretty stoked to try out a new artifact, Skullreaver, which amps up the Demon Prince to pretty ridiculous levels.



We used the Open War cards, which I still think are the best accessory GW has put out in ages.  Scenario had a "long" deployment (we were on the short table edges for deployment), with a random, game winning objective to be determined part way through the game.  It put a premium on board control (interesting given the small size of the game).  I used some of my CP to put the Bloodletters and Bloodmaster into reserve (via the warp), and gave the former the banner that makes charging the turn they arrive much more reliable.





Much of the game activity took place on the two flanks.  I put my berzerkers and most of the characters on the right, behind some cultists, and stuck the other cultist unit fairly far back on the left.  With the bloodletters bursting on the scene end of my turn one (after the Cub blasted one of the cultist units off the table), the pressure was on.  Despite managing to do some serious damage on my right (massed bolters knocked out my Berzerkers before they could engage), the bloodletter bomb tore apart two of Cub's units before bogging down most of his remaining stuff in combat.  Turn three, the objective came down on my side of the table, and there was no way the Cub could extricate what he had left to get over and challenge for control in time.



The axe was super-fun, and the bloodletters did what they usually do if you get them into combat relatively safely.  I think what the army really needs is a) more berzerkers) and b) some transports, probably rhinos, to get them to combat faster.  Against any kind of competitive army, I'm likely to struggle (in that I'm pretty much literally bringing a knife to a gunfight), but any game where my guys contact the enemy is a fun one.

The long (big) war

Hi all,

Got down to the GW on the weekend for a big game with the Cub.  And I do mean big.  We both had more than 110 Power Level, so maybe 2500 points, give or take?  I pretty much took all the Khorne stuff I had, and he took a space marine force to more or less match it.



We were both about half painted, but there was enough stuff done up on both sides it still looked pretty good, and, as it turned out, it was a smashing game.  Cub's Salamanders have the edge at range, but my Khorne has it in close combat, although both forces have "good stuff" in the other category.  It makes for a nice match-up.





We used the open war cards, as per usual in our games, and ended up with a sort of chevron deployment, and an objective of "kill the other guy" - although you only got credit for taking out whole units.  I had a slight edge in Power Level, so Cub ended up with a Ruse, in this case, his army was immune to battleshock, as long as his Warlord was on the table.  We also drew a twist for a metoric bombardment, but completely forgot to use it in the game ;)

Turn one saw me weathering a fair bit of firepower (between shooting an battleshock, he wiped both my 20-man cultist units off the table), and then, on my turn, drop in and charge most of my daemons.



Playing this big a game, I had plenty of Command Points to throw around, and actually got to use some fun stratagems (including the one that lets you deepstrike dameon units).





The Cub played really well, cherry picking my softer units, and picking up points at a fair clip.  I think he could have used his knight a little more aggressively, like he used his land raider, but otherwise, he played a tight game.  We ended up almost rotating around the table, both of us sweeping the opponents left flank.





I was really impressed by my Bloodcrushers this game.  I deepstruck them for the first time, and thus actually managed to get them into combat.  They just had an upgrade to their profile, getting a little more durability, and were a solid little unit for me in game.



In the end, it pretty much came down to a couple of rolls.  I managed to get in both Anghre Bh'aB, my cc Hellbrute, and Anubarak, my Dameon Prince, onto Cub's knight.  As both charged, they got to fight before the knight, and the combo is pretty killy.  Even so, one more armour save, or one less wound, would have done it, and Cub would have edged me out for the win.  As it was, the old man took this one.

Super fun to get in a game with my boy, and I find when we don't have to rush, bug games like this can be quite fun.  I'm jazzed up to paint some Khorne now, which is always a sign of a good game.

FMB

Ruminations and Illuminations

Hi all,

We are digging out post-Christmas, and having used some vacation time from work, I'm in that odd existential state where I seem to have lost track of what day it is, and the fact that there's even odds on any given day that the kids won't change out of pyjamas isn't helping clarify things ;)

Christmas was a little lean on the geek front, although this is fairly normal.  I picked up a copy of the new Chapter Approved with some cash I got, but the Cub seems to have absconded with it, and I didn't get much further than reading the one page on orky stuff before it vanished.

Geek activity has also been slow - yesterday the Cub and I went down to the store (he wanted to spend some of his Christmas money), and had planned on a game, but he decided at the last minute to work on hobby stuff instead.  I ended up painting some Space Hulk terminators, which I've picked at on and off over the last several months, and the Cub ended up forgetting the plastic glue at the shop.  Not sure if this was part of a nefarious plan (oh, no, now we have to go back!), or just being absent minded, but it does mean his hobby has slowed for a few days.

The plan is to use the BA as a core for a "I like the models" mixed Imperial force.  Hence the Guardsmen.

Brother McPointyfinger.

This has been a pretty crazy year.  Work was a roller-coaster, and went from me applying for a long-term position, to being the recommended candidate, to the job being cancelled, to a second position opening up, to getting the job I've worked towards for most of the last couple of decades.  For the first time in my life, I have stable work, in my chosen field, at a place where I enjoy working.  Add in the fact that this means we can be a regular and predictable part of Cub's life, and it looks like a happy ending.  Of course, my work load has increased even beyond pre-existing levels of gonzo, which seems to have placed me in the "have money and energy, but no time" phase of the geek life-cycle ;)

Add in some health scares (emergency abdominal surgery for me this summer, and my mom almost died . . . ), and the year has been a whirlwind.  Next year also promises to be interesting, in the proverbially Chinese sense, but I find I'm also getting better at weathering the storm.

Hobbywise, the year's been more active than the blog would suggest.  Cub and I got in a bunch of games, mostly 40k, but he's showing increasing interest in historical gaming, and there's a decent chance of us getting some simple Napoleonic skirmish gaming in in 2018 (looking at something easy like Song of Drums and Shakos to break him in gently).

I did a pile of painting for Age of Sigmar, and it was probably my most-played game for 2017.  While part of me misses the Old World (and the viability of my Brets as anything other than an exercise in nostalgia), I have more fun playing AoS than any prior version of Warhammer, playing my Khorne is a blast, and it was the one game where I got a good paint-play-paint dynamic going.  I even got some stuff done for Bretonnians, like my Lord on Griffon.

Side shot was most in-focus ;)  Khorne for the Khorne god!

Captains of Infamy

I kept a hand in with historicals, actually completing another stand of 1/72 French, and a little more than half of my British and Hanoverian 6mm army for the SYW.  Pre-Christmas crazytime put a crimp in my painting rhythm with them, but they're high on the to do list, and I imaging they'll be finished up before summer.

Hard to get detail, and the whole army, but the Brit-Hanoverians are steadily expanding.

2017 also saw the resurgence of Blood Bowl, and my (somewhat abortive) participation in an actual honest-to-God league for the game.  Given how much I enjoy it, I've high hopes of playing some more in the new year, the only barrier being that BB games are scheduled the same night as AoS at the local store.

2017 was also the first time the Puddin' got in on gaming action.  She's become a big fan of the card game "Munchkin", we've painted minis together on several occasions (mostly Reaper Bones stuff), and she's curious about mini-gaming.  Fingers crossed.

Plans for 2018 are typically ambitious and wide-ranging, but I'm slowly learning to a) not try to treat this hobby as a required "to-do" list, and more as the source of relaxation and sanity-restoration that it is for me.  So, instead of a  "priority" list, or whatever, the following are organised by what's most likely.

Things I will almost certainly do in 2018:

1. Play more AoS with my Khorne, play more Blood Bowl with my orks, play 40k with the Cub.

2. Paint more orks.  They should be getting their codex for the new edition this year.  I live in hope.

3. Take some of my Deathguard from basic table top to "good".

4. Finish painting a basic list for SYW British in 6mm.

Things I will probably do in 2018:

1. Paint more Khorne.

2. Buy stuff, plan to paint it, not get around to it ;)

3. Make a start on SYW Russians or Austrians.

4. Paint and / or play Blood Angels (Cub has become entranced, and we're talking about doing it as a team hobby project).

5. Paint some Bretonnians, out of spite, if nothing else ;)

Things I'm thinking about doing in 2018, but may spend the whole year just thinking about:

1. Get some terrain together.  While Cub and I have some basic stuff, I've been spending a bit of time online looking at ideas and sources.  Terrain for 6mm, 15mm, and better terrain for 28mm are all a growing priority.  I've never been much of a terrain guy, but stability means I'll not have to move the stuff around much, and I can see spending some time developing this underdeveloped (for me) branch of the hobby.  Cub got Necromunda for Christmas, so that's another possible driver.

2. Paint some 15mm stuff.  I have ancients up the wazoo, stuff for the Acadian project, and the start of a nice 18mm AB Russian force. I've also been itching to paint in this scale for months.  The lack of play outlets is the major barrier here, but effective as the "get them on the table" spur is,  I'm learning to paint for painting's sake.  Maybe this is the year that lesson takes?

3. Get in a game with the local historical players.  There are some out there, although they tend to be scattered both geographically and by period / system / scale.  Some of them are even super-hospitable (hi Ross, of http://gameofmonth.blogspot.ca/).  For whatever reason, however, anytime someone's put a game together, it's either been far enough out of town to make logistics difficult, or at a time I couldn't go - case in point, I was invited to a game on Boxing Day, which was also the day Cub was being dropped off at our place.  It would be great to put faces to names, so this is something I'd like to make an effort on this year.

4. Start collecting some Beastmen.  I love this range from GW, always have - as much as anything does, it screams "chaos" to me.  With the new allies rules, I can even take them in my Khorne army.  I can see breaking down, and picking some of these up this year.  Might even do it just for gits and shiggles.

5.  Paint, and even play, some Lord of the Rings / Hobbit.  I've loved this range since the original Elrond fig, have always been intrigued by the mechanics, drooled over the tables that used to appear in White Dwarf, and even own a chunk of Rohan.  Local gang is looking to start it up with the Battle Companies release.  Hey, it could happen . . .

I think that's about as much as I can reasonably expect.  Work and family will be exceedingly busy this year, and I'm learning my limits (if slowly).  With a few more days of holiday to go before re-emerging in the real world, I might get a little more painting done.  Also planning to see the new Star Wars movie with the kids (no spoilers!).  Beyond that, it should be relatively quiet in Monkeyland until the new year - of which I wish you all, all the best.

FMB

Time flies. Has flown. Flew.

Hi all,

Long time no speech, due more to apathy than anything else.  I've actually been getting a fair bit of hobby done, at least compared to the snail's pace of winter, but haven't made time to grab pics or draft much in the way of posts.  Mostly been working on some stuff for Age of Sigmar and 40k.
The release of both the Khorne book and the Skirmish rules for the former seemed to get my juices going, and the imminent release of 8th edition for the latter has me rather excited.  While the Cub and I have been playing some games of 40k, I've enjoyed them more for the time spent with him than the game - but the new rules look great, and I'm looking forward to spending quality time with him on a game I enjoy.

The new edition has also got my eye wandering at some non-orky options for the game (not that I've not been pumping out stuff for da boyz), and I dug out some models I've had kicking around for the last few years.



The new edition has adopted the keyword mechanic from Age of Sigmar.  Armies are legal as long as all models share at least one keyword - which can include such broad ranging ones as "Imperium".



At the same time, the backstory of the game has moved forward to an extent not seen in many years.  One bit of this is that a good chunk of the human imperium has been cut off, including several key Space Marine worlds.  Among these is Baal, home planet of the Blood Angels - who were already on the back foot, barely staving off an invasion by a Tyranid Hive fleet.



The prospect of doing a combined imperial army - some Blood Angels, imperial guard (Baal Planetary Defense Force), a little inquisitorial presence, etc., seems fun, gives me an excuse to paint minis I  like when I want a break from orks, and will get me to paint up some of the stuff stashed away in the drawers of shame.  I'm looking forward to it.

Broken Silence

Hi all,

Been some time since my last post, mostly a mix of winter doldrums, painter's block, and a life that just seems to keep getting busier.  That said, the boy and I got in a Kill Team game yesterday ( our first game in AGES), and had ourselves a fine time.

Note the new bridge on the right - thanks Secret Santa!

It was orks vs marines, with an objective based mission.  Cub ha first turn, but thanks to my (randomly determined) leader ability, I stole it ;)

I used the opportunity to push forward my deffcoptas, and seized the first objective.  Objectives in this scenario are "mysterious", ie., they have a randomly determined characteristic that's not determined until someone moves to control them.  In this case, the outcome was anti-climactic, as objective 1 turned out to be entirely mundane.



On his turn, Cub moved up his marines, taking over the objective closest to his deployment - which, rather than a dud, turned out to be a bomb!  We'd be rolling at the end of each turn to see if it went of, something that let to a fair bit of hilarity as the game proceeded.



On my turn, I took the third objective, which turned out to generate a mysterious cloaking field, and got a point for first blood, when one of my deffcoptas sniped a marine.  Adding insult to injury, one of my gretchin (unpainted, no less) took out one of Cub's marines.  That little guy is getting painted post haste ;)



On his turn, Cub started to turn the tables, taking out a Deffcopta, bringing in an outflanking force, and cutting down the presumptuous grot in a hail of bolter fire.





Thing now started to get hectic.  Both kill team had closed to close range / assault distance, and models were dropping all across the table.





Marine armor began to turn the tide.  Cub did a good job focusing fire, and thinning out the ork swarm.  I lost my other Deffcopta, several orks, and most of my grots.  He seized the second objective, and by turn 6, had me below my break point, which meant I started to bleed models quickly.



As it was, I squeezed out a win (3 points for 1 objective, leader kill, and first blood, vs Cub's 2 objective points), but things were very much going his way - had the game gone on another turn, he'd almost certainly have had it.

Cub had fun, and seems to like Kill team.  I might see if we can find some kind of capaign / team xp rules to use, as they're often fun.  A high point for me was getting the new bridge into the game - it was my present from Ian and Cath's Secret Santa this year, and is very much the business.

Hopefully this'll break the slump, and I'll be posting a little more frequently than once every 3 months ;)

FMB