Is this the start of a campaign? Probably not but you never know …

DK and Steedo popped over a for a game (although most of the evening was spent bimbiling and put the world to rights). I had picked Hordes of the Things (HotT) as a simple game to get some miniatures to the table. Also I recall playing some great fun games of HotT back in the day. The sides were Steedo and I with the Hobgoblins verses DK with the Humans. We were playing 36 AP armies (which worked well with the rules). 

The lands of Mortonia has been quiet for many years, but there has been stirring in the lands of the Hobgoblin Khans - the human Kingdom of the Sun moved their experienced general Davio Kaie up to the border river lands. Just in time to, as he was able to intercept on the river a force of Hobgoblins led Steez Khan … battle commenced!

The initial dispositions put the humans in a line - the Hobgoblins had tried to counter the humans with heavy wolf riders backed up by ogres on the right opposing a spear phalanx. Then beasts archers and a chariot versus the human cavalry and riders on the left flank. 

The centres had the hobgoblin warbands and blades facing off against the human knights. 

The river caused many problems for the hobgoblin’s as they are repeatedly repulsed as they tried to force the centre … the phalanx was able to break first the heavy wolf riders and then the ogres …although the artillery (ballista) did a lot of damage supporting the phalanx … 

On the other flank the hobgoblin’s did manage to force their way across the river - the beasts causing lots of problems for the human cavalry… also the hobgoblin archers also managed to break their human opposites … but …

Unfortunately the human centre and left had held firm and many missed opportunities where the humans  had fought off attacks against the odds (ridden their luck - 3 times DK had rolled a 1 and all I needed to do was roll a 2 or more for a quick kill but I all I managed was to roll a 1 as well…). Eventually the hobgoblins had had enough and pulled back from the border … the question is will they be back … and has the attack caused the other powers to prepare for war and conquest?

We had a really good game - some cinematic and frustrating moments and it was a tight game for quite awhile. I am hoping to get another HotT game in and perhaps continue they story/narrative which has started.

Morts

Trajann Valoris - Painted

For my birthday I was given Trajann Valoris figure for my birthday. I have managed to assemble and paint the lord commander of the Custodies of the emperor of mankind. 

I am happy with the red cloak (although I didn’t get the filling of the gaps as well as I could) - I have tried to get the various golds to be different but I am not sure that I have managed it. 

Along with a couple of other things he needs finishing off with a coat of varnish and bases need completing. 

Morts

A flying visit and a couple of games

Last week my Bro and Nephew came over for a couple of days from Denmark. Quite a change from frozen to soggy - but apparently it was nice to see some colour. 

We played a game of Raiders of the North Sea - a solid game with clear mechanics and theme. We were playing with the Hall of Heroes expansion. My nephew went for the good crew and raiding the high points monasteries and fortresses - and was doing rather well. I went for the usual (although not always successful), raid harbours and outposts then score the offerings - and getting your crew killed. The expansion’s quests helping out here. My brother was doing a hybrid strategy. As it was although the visitors did pull out to a decent lead, it was not enough to counter the offerings and points from the Valkyrie track - I out Viking-ed the Danes! We also managed a game of the King is Dead, which due to surprising placements was a win to my Brother.

The plan was to visit Dartmoor for a walk but due to some (more) rain that was shelved for a tour of Isca instead. I took then around part of the city walls (Roman, with some rare Saxon repairs in Northernhay gardens), Rougemont castle - where the last witch executions in England took place, Exebridges, the house that moved (which was inspiration for Bree) and the Cathedral. Some of the places my Brother couldn’t ever remember visiting. Exeter could be a spectacular historical city, but has suffered some massive cultural losses - most of which is self inflicted by the city itself (can’t blame too much on the Baedecker blitz).

We also took the opportunity to visit some games shops, were my nephew picked up some Sternguard and I picked up some Sister of Battle (with my Christmas voucher).

For my recent birthday the Danes had got me Trajan Valoris - commander of the custodies - so that will be an interesting painting exercise. The Sisters of Battle will be making a Kill Team squad. 

Speaking of Kill Team - we had a game using the 2018 rule set. A three way fight between Eldar, Nercons and Space Marines (in retrospect I should have read the rules first and then just facilitated the game rather than being part of it). Also needed a better objective … nevermind it was a good game.

My nephew to suffer a lot of combined fire from the Eldar and Nercons - because the Marines were so difficult to kill … that 3+ save was really frustrating for the Eldar Rangers (well me actually) who were hitting, but not damaging. Also me nephew picked figures based on the rule of cool and then didn’t use them as expected - again more guidance here would have been helpful. The game saw the marines shooting a lot and killing the most enemy fighters, But eventually being forced back and becoming broken - the Eldar had the most figures out of action, but due to the vague objectives managed a draw with the Necrons. 

Off the back of this I have picked up the Kill Team 2019 Annual off eBay (typically I got a good offer just after buying one … aggghhh!), as I think I will go back to this edition as it allows more customisation of the teams. 

A good couple of days - I hope the my visitors enjoyed themselves. 

Morts

Ogryn Destroyers for Ad Mech - painted (and played Battlestar).

With the immanent arrival of some Danes (who seem to have drifted into 40k via lore videos on YouTube) I managed to get back on the painting wagon with the 3 Mantic Ogres which have been converted into Ad Mech Ogryn Destroyers (might be Breachers but I’m not sure). 

Overall pretty happy with these (will need a wash on the lacing on the back of their legs) - tried to do some chipping on the armour - not sure that it fully worked. Also hoping that the backpacks look ok. The Ad Mech have quite a powerful force - I have to sort the servitors out a bit - I will have 2 units of 10 - one melee focused and one shooty. But quite enjoyed these once I got going. 

On Friday Steedo invited some of the collective over for a game - Snake-eyes game. A stripped down (no expansions of Battlestar Galactica. And a quality experience was had by all as humanity tried to escape the chrome toasters!

As it turned out I was a cylon … I am a poor liar and they sniffed out BUTR quickly to - however, BUTR revealed himself before he was put in the brig - and I revealed myself out of order (see below) but the others were unable to put me back into the brig for a couple of turns, so I used them trying to put humans in the brig … Anyway good bants was had by all and the Cylons won - so say we all. We did spot a problem with how we play the game, in that we don’t give the Cylons enough time to read their card without making it obvious that they are a Cylon - it’s not like you can go back and look at the card again without it being obvious that you’re a Cylon. Next time we play every will have 30 seconds to look at their card (although this was not the reason I was outed as a Cylon).

We then played a few games of Perudo -  or more exactly Davrudo using DK’s house rules … where either the “number of” or “number called” had to increase. We did adapt in the last game so one of the numbers had to increase - so 3 “fives” could be followed by a call of 4 “threes” which seemed to work well. 

Morts

A little bit of work on some knights

I have got to work on the horses that arrived in a huge package last week. 

An ancient Chaos knight that I have had for years but never had the right horse for. It is possible that the modern-ish GW Bretonian one is a little big, but I think he looks ok on there. Going to have to make sure that there is a good contrast between the horse barding and the knight himself - so will think on that. 

Now the elf general has been taken off the Ral Partha horse (and the original elven knight will go back on - see the Drakon rider saga for reasons). I need to sculpt a new tail and fix up the General before painting.

Not painting but some work done. 

Morts

Update for February

Last week was my birthday, so have been a little bit busy. I got some lovely presents including this one. 

This is a game based on Danish folklore - although my Danish in-laws didn’t recognise any of the names … but that could be down to poor pronunciation on my part. The aim of the game is to defeat the devil’s minions to win and avoid being caught by him. You get to use various folklore creatures, but in playing them that can move the devil closer to you …

It can be played solo - which I have tried but lost to the devil … I will have another go.

To sort out some knights and things I picked up a couple of horses from eBay. They came very securely packaged ….

Wrapped in tissue paper, in bubble wrap within a box, within styrene chips in a bigger box. Possibly overkill for the plastic I ordered ….

Today I have been out on the moor - a nice day checkpointing. 

The weather was actually quite good - some rain but manageable. The mossy stone was a near impossible to find boundary stone (I think this was the stone - I couldn’t see anything else) which was one of my checkpoints - I made sure my checkpoint was obvious.

Plan to sort the desk and get some paint on this week and play Skoventyr (and win).

Morts

Confrontation Goblin Archers

I present 3 Confrontation Goblin Archers by Rackham (long out of production). I have had these lads on and off the painting table for ages. 

These are lovely figures with lots of detail. I hope I have done them justice - not sure if I have over done the skin highlights. I have to varnish these - do I use the gloss varnish like the rest of goblins or do I use the matt varnish? 

So on to something else now!

Morts