The Viking Invasion - well a Kings of War battle.

So for this festive season my brother and his family are over from Daneland. My nephew the little Dane was keen to try some miniature games (I have bought him the GW mini starter sets for Age of Sigmar and 40k for the last two Christmas'). 

So I set up a 1600 point elves versus orcs (Hobgoblins) in a Kings of War battle. 

Initial set up the little Viking's wolf-riders on the left flank with the trolls in the centre. 

The next few moves were manoeuvring and the elves shooting enough arrows to remove an Ax unit and exchange a troop of Silverbreeze cavalry for a regiment of Wolf-riders. 

Top stop the elf knights getting a charge on the second regiment of wolf-riders the Hogoblin hero charged - this was a key moment. 

The elf infantry got the first charge in on the trolls - causing significant damage. .. But not enough to rout them!

After getting a couple wavers on the trolls the elves finally routed them - but the regeneration was a pain to deal with. But the Hobgblin hero and the wolf-riders overwhelmed the elf Knights and a regiment Spearmen......

The hobgoblins surrounded the last of the elves - the King, Standard Bearer, Mage and a regiment of archers. At that point I had to concede as there was nothing more that could nbe done for the elves.  

So the first win to the little Dane .... 

Then we played a quick game of the Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game - quick because I hadn't read the rules or played the game in years and years .... Anyhow the little Dane's  2 warg riders and Uruk scouts defeated the 3 warriors of Rohan and to rangers of Gondor. 

Hopefully the two wins with encourage my nephew in the cool and in no way nerdy world of wargaming and boardgames......

Morts

Its nearly Christmas ...... Where has all the time gone.

Well Christmas is nearly upon us and what have I been doing ..... Well on the gaming front not too much. I have started painting some Chaos Barbarian types (not too pleased with the paint job to be honest).

A couple of weeks ago Steedo and I played two games of the Kings is Dead. One a standard game - win to me for NOT playing the last card. Second game with the Mordred rules - win to Steedo for playing the last card (the change in the rules in the Mordred variant). 

The King is Dead is a cracking little game - probably best with 3 players to make it more challenging, as Steedo and I matched the followers counters in both games.  

Last weekend was the better half's works do in Isca with my good self on driving duties, so I took the opportunity to organise a session in Board with Steedo and Sylon (DK was on his works do and Snake-eyes didn't give a reason ....). 

We played Betrayal at the House on the Hill - a first for all of us (apparently Snake-eyes has had an unplayed copy in the year for a couple of years). 

The initial ground floor and upper floor layout, until it was pointed out we had space out the different floors (making the game take up a lot of space). 

The floors more spaced out. 

The game plays fairly easily to start with, the players placing tiles and investigating rooms, collecting equipment and hopefully improving stats. The game changes with when the 'haunt' starts when the number of Omens is rolled on 6 dice - then one of the players becomes a traitor trying to stop the others reach the objective. In this game I was the traitor, with impossible to stop assassins - Steedo and Sylon tried to wrestle the spear (I had picked up earlier in the game) from me and needed for them to win ... But I killed them. Go me - a win! 

There is quite a lot of replayability with this game and it was fun, but with the 'haunt' we had pretty much impossible for the others to win - which is a criticism of the game. It is also quite a light game - mechanics are simple and I think it is accessible for non-gamers, sharing some similarities with Dungeonquest and 221B Baker Street the Master Detective Game. But there wasn't massive amounts of stategy required.

Then we played Pandemic the Cure - a dice based game. Played it twice, mashed it the second time. 

Nice game - plays well, but I found the original more challenging and fun (but probably not really a fair comparison after only 2 games). 

Then we moved on the intellectual giant that is Rhino Hero -Super Battle (photo off inter web as I forgot to take one as we were under time pressure as the call to collect the better half had come in). 

It was alright .... Sorry didn't add to the madness of the original in my humble opinion. We didn't actually finish this due to the need to be elsewhere, but I was the highest up the structure, so I'll count that as a win. 

Might try to get something else on before the end of the year..... If not Merry Christmas and a happy new year!

Morts

Arrived today! New Skitarii Kill Team

Well my eBay bargain arrived today!

Now got to plan it and build it.

But got all the cards and tokens. 

Morts

Kill Team - finally finished one.

Right so I have completed my first Kill Team - A Militarum Tempestus Scion (Imperial Guard Stormtroopers in English). 

They are based on Starship Trooper Models (which to be honest are an pain to paint - a lot of fine detail, but not that clearly defined in my opinion) - hopefully these will see some action before the end of 2018. 

Kill Team - Rico's Marauders/Bug Hunters

Tempestor Bolt-pistol and Chainsword 10

Scion Gunnar Melta-gun 10 + 3 = 13

Scion Vox-caster 9 + 5 = 14

Scion Gunnar Plasma-gun 10 + 3 = 13

Scion Gunnar Flamer 10 + 3 = 13

Scion Gunnar Hot shot Volley-gun 10 + 3 = 13

Scion 9 

Scion 9

Total 94 points 

I also plan to use then in the Starship Trooper setting as well as the grim dark of the 40k universe. 

I have a 3 or 4 figures to get the Imperial Guard Kill Team finished (Light Armour Mobile Infantry) - Recon Section of the 17th Klendathu Regiment. 

Also painted a sacrificial goat thing for Fantasy/Dark age games .....

A few figure prints on the base. Oops.

Morts 

Imperial Guard/Starship Troopers Kill Team

So this Kill Team is made up of the Light Armour Mobile Infantry that I have already painted - well apart from a heavy weapons trooper and another sniper. 

Sergeant 5

Guardsman Gunner sniper rifle 5 + 1 = 6

SW Gunner sniper rifle 5 + 1 = 6

SW Gunner grenade launcher 5 + 2 = 7

SW Gunner grenade launcher 5 + 2 = 7

Guardsman with Vox-caster 5 + 5 = 10

Guardsman (11) @ 5 = 55

Total 91 

From reading some forums on Kill Team Imperial Guard should be spammed with as much plasma as you can but I only have 2 rocket launcher and 2 sniper figures (pictured without the unpainted sniper - last seen in the loft) - and although I do have some spare minis I am a little loathed to cut some up for (especially as I can still use these for Starship Troopers the miniatures game) to make more plasma or sword for the sergeant. 

If I used the launchers as plasma that would increase the points to 93 - I could also add another trooper or drop a couple for extra command points. So I reckon I'll lose a trooper count the kneeling guys as plasma .... Still thinking about cutting up a mini ....

Steedo gave me the following scenery from his Deathguard start set to paint. 

What a pain to put together and I reckon it will be a pain to paint!

Morts 

Making a Kill Team

Right so cos I'm a cheap skate I have been working on converting some old Starship Trooper power armoured plastics for a Kill Team using some GW parts that DK picked up for me years ago at a show. To be fair I was going to use the bits for making an elite Starship Troopers squad - which they still will be but Kill Team has got me off me backside a little quicker. 

These lot are going to be a Militarum Tempestus Scion team (Storm Troopers).

Early stage with the Plasma gun/Flamer/Melta guns - and chain sword. 

The Tempestor, Flamer and 2 Scions - basically done but needing green stuff touch ups. 

Needing a bit more work the Plasma/Hot-shot Volley and Melta gunners and a Scion Vox-caster - but I'm having some trouble with the radio part .... Also I had 8 shoulder pads with skulls on which I have semi-replace the usual Starship Trooper pads - I have missed laid one so I have press moulded  one - but I might have taken it out the mould too early - hopefully I will be able to sort it.

So the "Bug-Hunters"* Kill Team is;

Tempestor Bolt-pistol and Chainsword 10

Scion Gunnar Melta-gun 10 + 3 = 13

Scion Gunnar Plasma-gun 10 + 3 = 13

Scion Gunnar Flamer 10 + 3 = 13

Scion Gunnar Hot shot Volley-gun 10 + 3 = 13

Scion Vox-caster 9 + 5 = 14

Scion 9 

Scion 9

Total 94 points 

Not sure how competitive they will be but it's a start. 

Hopefully more later when they are ready for action. 

Morts

*Provisional - might ... Probably will change.

Catch up ......

Been pretty busy with work and some gaming recently, so thought I should post an update.

A couple of weeks ago the team headed down to Snake-eye's in Kernow and restarted our Pirate RPG with Steedo as the GM .... But it RPG so I don't want to talk about it ..... Good fun but some appalling decisions made by DK and Snake-eyes, the fools. Almost killed a character for some perfume! Madness I say!

Then last week it was DK's birthday bash - approximately 11hours of gaming (drinking and gorging on pizza and a very rich chilli - Thanks DK). 

So what was played during this marathon session?

First up was Dune the boardgame. 

DK has been wanting to play thus for ages (years and years) and he has be banging on about how good it is .... Even after 40 years. We ran through the set up with DK getting the Bene Gesserit (can use the voice - stops other players using certain cards), Slyon the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV, Snake-eyes - House Atreides (can look at treachery cards), Steedo - the Fremen (can move around more easily) and myself House Harkonnen (get extra traitor cards). The game is quite involved with plenty of negotiation and back stabbing - with traitors being picked in the set up. We played without the Navigators Guild as there were only 5 of us - however the Spice they would have be paid for transporting troops would have balanced the Spice Sylon was getting as the emperor from the bidding and purchasing of Treachery cards. Alliances can only be set up with when a sandworm card is drawn from the Spice deck. 

Roughly the game turn runs something like move the sand storm, place Spice from the spice deck, bidding for treachery cards (used in combat and other situations - money goes to the Emperor, deploy and move troops (might have bought troops first) to the planet (pay Guild if there is one), fight battles - heroes first - if killed then the winner gets their value in spice - compare combat values, loser loses all troops and winner loses the number they committed to the battle) - or if the hero is revealed as a traitor it is an automatic loss .... Then check for victory conditions - 3 strongholds for one player, 4 strongholds for an alliance of 2 players and all 5 for and alliance of 3. 

Our game ran for about 4/5 hours and I think we completed about 5 turns - early on we got a sandworm card and alliances were sorted - almost matching the books with the Harkonnen, Bene Gesserit and the Emperor aligned against the Fremen and the Atreides. The power of the Emperor's money and the use of traitors caused Steedo to have a board flipping moment .... So a win to Sylon, DK and me.

The game is very involved and I did enjoy it and the banter - but it is an event game needing a fair amount of time put aside to play - it was ok. Might be better with more plays, but I'm not sure. 

After Dune it was a quick game of the classic brain burner Rhino Hero (which I lost), then down the pub for more drink and pool - where Steedo and Snake-eyes got some revenge ....

Then back to DK's for chilli and a Cthulhu cooperative game which name escapes me for now - but the monsters won (even though my character was kick-ass). 

A good days gaming .....

Morts

What have I invested in?

Well Warhammer 40k - Kill Team!

But as usual I've tried to do it cheap - I had had a discussion with DK about investing in the game, perhaps splitting a starter box. But we didn't get any further than that. Then on my return from holiday GW were advertising a part work of 40k stuff. Issue one was cracking value 3 marines and 3 pots of paint for £1.99, so I picked up a copy - worth it for paint alone. I was planning to get issue 2 as this had a board, dice and some other stuff (plague marines and more paint), but I couldn't find it ....

Then while trawling on Lead Adventure Forum (LAF) someone put out a Space Marine Kill Team which had the 3 marines from issue 1 of the part work and 3 from issue 3 (£7.99 - but more paint) - so I set out for issue 3. A quick look on on eBay got a copy of the rules for under £20 incl P&P (could have picked up a copy cheaper in the summer ....).

So my haul for under £30!

Things to do - decide the colour scheme for the Space Wombles..... Which is harder than I thought, quite like the idea of the Raven Guard or Morticators (or something like that), but concerned about the black armour being a pain to paint.... More thought needed. 

Also planning to use Starship Trooper Mobile infantry as Imperial Guard proxies - voids duplication of similar types of minis. Probably plenty of printing of tokens which are needed as I don't have a starter set. 

And read the rules - that will be important. 

I am also tempted by a special offer on Kings of War - Vanguard. The skirmish version of the game which is half price at the moment..... Currently I have the attention span of a flippery gibit! New new .....

Haven't been in the painting grove due to back at work - but I will .....

Morts

Been busy and New Angeles

Well what have I been up to .... Been to Greece (Kos actually), plenty of history there.

Some anicent in K's Town ..... 

Some Middle Ages - the castle of Antimachia. Built by the Knight Hospitaller I believe. 

And more recently built by the Germans  ...... Some a little close to the sea. As I understand it the battle of Kos was fought around the village of Antimachia near the castle in 1943 - a win for the Germans as after a British Invasion Eisenhower didn't want resources diverted from the main theatres. 

Anyway a splendid holiday. 

I have also been watching all .... 7 seasons of the Walking Dead on Amazon Prime. There are 8 but I'm not going to pay extra to watch season 8. Hopefully Steedo will sort out a game of The Walking Dead All Out War (purchased a couple years ago I think). 

I did start by watching Fear the Walking Dead - I managed the first two seasons but found some of the characters a bit annoying (Madison mainly). I might give season 3 ago sometime. 

On Friday the collective got together for a game of New Angeles .... Snakes-eyes purchase from GamesExpo 2017. It's first time out .....

The game plays well but was a bit of an event game in that it took about 6 hours to play. 

The basics of the game are that you have a proposal for the city - the other players then decide if they are going put in counter proposals. The winner of the vote wins an asset which can be used to gain credit. The game is won by having more credit than another player (a secret objective). But there could also be a player working for a Federal take over of the city. Bribing and back stabbing seem to be encouraged - as is chucking toys out of the pram (well throwing away a card which would have helped the team) to make a point when the vote does go your way .... The final upshot was that Steedo won as he was the Federalist and Snake-eyes, DK and myself lost because we weren't. Although I did achieve my secret objective of beating Snake-eyes, so a moral victory for me. 

Overall a good game but I think that 5 players would be a better game as the voting was a little odd with only two voters (Sylon you need to put in more game time) - however this would increase playing time, so it becomes more of an event game .....

Hopefully another game soon.

Morts

The Necromancer's Tower

So Snake-eyes and Steedo came over for a game, so I decided that it would be another go with Sellswords and Spellslingers! As our second game we chose the EXPERT scenario The Necromancer's Tower for a number of reasons:

1 - I didn't have any goblins (or lizard men or ratmen) available for some of the others.

2 - Steedo is still scared from the beating he got from the Orcs last time out. 

3 - I did have plenty of Skellies and stuff.

After the last game Steedo decided to go with 2 characters a Brute (Brutus) and a Rogue (Jackal). Snake-eyes followed suit with a Fighter and a Wizard - named after passed D&D characters ( but I can't remember the names at the moment). I continued with my warband I started in the previous game with a replacement Fighter - Brunhilda. 

TL - initial set up, TR - my warband advancing towards the tower - I should point out Snake-eyes had started out very well lots of successful activations, only for Brunhilda to fail all three of her activations  - getting caught in a trap and bringing a whole load of Skellies down on Snake-eyes Wizard ... Who did a cracking job of killing them. 

BL - The parties close in on the tower, BR - Snake-eyes Fighter has smashed down the door to the tower to find it filled with Skellies and set off the Necromancer firing energy bolts on the party ... and levatate beer out of the top of the tower!

TL - Jackal is surrounded by ghouls and put out of action, meanwhile the party, well mainly Brutus fought through the Skellies and took on the Necromancer. The most challenging part was getting through the door! With Snake-eyes fighter tripping twice I think. TR - the wizard is surrounded and taken down. BL/BR - the Necromancer is down and the party start exiting the tower. With the Necromancer we had to roll for each Skellie a 1 improved them, 2 or 3 did nothing and a 4 they crumble to dust.... So what does Snake- eyes roll! 

Once we killed the Necromancer we decided that no more Skelllies could be placed (no power to animate them) once the last Skellie was dead the ghouls would lose interest and run away. Brunhilda with her Whirlwind of Death taking out a whole load - but unfortunately Woody the woodsman from my gang was killed ..... All the other characters put out of action will be back for the next game.

Another good game of Sellswords and Spellslingers - Steedo and Snake-eyes parties are complete with some silver, spells, scrolls, potions and 8XP to spend. I have to created a new ranger type for my party (and I got some of the above). RIP Woody ....

The game was very tense - it went from this seems easy to we might not make it. I think we were lucky with how the cards came out - very few Wandering Monsters came out until the end so the ghouls did have much of an impact. The Skellies seemed to be rather easy to kill. 

Hopefully another game soon.

Morts

The Worm Hunts ....

Steedo came over and we created a warband each for a game of Frostgrave. Steedo chose a Chronomancer, a barbarian, 2 infantrymen and 2 crossbow men. While I picked Sigilist 2 archers and 2 men at arms - using my Sea Elf team as a theme. 

We used the 3x3 mat - but in future I plan to play 1 vs 1 games on a 2x2 mat to be more intense....

The scenario was the Worm Hunts. 

The dice rolling was dire for both teams when it came to casting spells - I think we managed 6 successful casts between us - however my rolling was spectacularly bad. I don't think that I inflicted a single point of damage against Steedo's warband or the monster. 

The game started ok for me with a crafty use of telekinesis spell, but from then it went down hill. Steedo's crossbow man killed off one of my archers. Then the worm appeared next to my wizard ... To be fair Steedo did inflict significant damage on the worm - but it still managed to "kill" my wizard and a man at arms, before Steedo killed it for 100XP. While this was going on Steedo managed to "kill" my other archer!

I found this a really tough game - a bit like Steedo's last game of Frostgrave. There was literally nothing going right and the dice were against me and once I was behind I couldn't match the numbers in Steedo's warband. I did try 3 different dice to try and change my luck.... But it didn't. 

We only had one monster - the worm arrive in the scenario, a few more would have helped ... If they were on Steedo's side of the table. The crossbows extra damage was very helpful to Steedo damaging my warband and the worm. 

We will play again and upgrade the warbands - my wizard only has a permanent injury -1 on movement, but my magic item is boots of speed or something. Unfortunately Steedo has more to spend so it will be a another tough day at the table. 

I have another set of scenarios I hope to use with the rest of the collective. 

Morts

Dragon Guard and Adventurers!

Well after a bit of effort I managed to finish off the Dragon Guard! Hopefully the scale metal armour is mirrored by the leather scale on the crossbow men. A tough little band!

Some general adventurers who had been laying around for years ......

A Ranger/Assassin and the barbarian - the Mullet! And a couple of Viking types. 

A bit of varnish and basing and they will be wandering around in Sellswords and Frostgrave. 

Started some more wizards!

Morts

On the painting table.

Having played Sellswords and Spellslingers recently I though I should paint (read finish off) a few more minis for RPGs and similar things like Frostgrave.

Top pictures show the final recruit to my Sea Elf "Seals" squad, who apart from varnish and basing is finished. I like the idea of "themed" warband said for Frostgrave (Song of Blades and Sellswords). I reckon 6 figures gives a good base for the group.

The bottom pictures show WIP on the Dragon Guard with their supporting crossbow men (supplied from fireforge plastics), again I think these will make a nice little basis for a warband. The others are "oldies" but goodies from the Citadel Runequest range and others to make up more generic warband - but themed on Runequest/Greek or Barbarian/Vikings. Hopefully I'll get these finished off before the end of the summer holidays. 

Morts

Through the Badlands - Sellwords and Spellslingers

DK, Steedo and myself got together to play the first scenario in the Sellswords and Spellslingers book. 

This was also an opportunity to use the table with minis for the first time. 

The table is set ....

We all produced parties of three PCs - well Steedo picked the dependant negative trait so he ended up with 4! Basically we all had a wizard of sorts and a couple of fighters types as bodyguards. 

The initial set (TL) up for this game put a lot of foes on the table! And mainly on Steedo's side of the board. TR shows the situation after the first turn - which involved some spectacularly poor dice roll on the PCs part, so plenty of wounds taken and very little movement across the Badlands! This could be a long night! DKs wizard has been taken out and is in a coma! No fire balls from him then. 

We also realised that we had taken a lot of anti-missile defence, but the Orcs weren't throwing or shooting anything - d'oh.

BL - more bloody Trolls and my party all have 2 hits out of there 3! But finally getting some hits. This was where the "free disengage" on my "weak" Spellreader came in very useful as she escaped a Troll. 

BR - Steedo has had a PC put out of action, but his leader figure has gone back and killed a troll to rescue him. His Spellcaster has also gone back to rescue her dependant - very in character. There must be some XPs for this ......

So some final shots of the game - mainly of Steedo's party. TL the Spellcaster has cast Deathcloud and taken out two hordes of Orcs, as she runs to retrieve her child. Meanwhile Steedo's other characters has been cut down - who's going to rescue them? 

TR she reached the child - who recovered a bit -2 on all rolls only to put out of action by an ambushing Orc - tears in the eyes yet? 

Bottom picture - the child injured can't carry his parent (or anyone else from the party) makes a break to the northern edge..... Successfully fights off one Orc, only to be hacked down by another ... Cue the sad music and tears!

To be fair pretty cinematic - good roleplaying Steedo. 

I didn't take mainly pictures as we were having fun and a laugh at the poor dice rolling and desperate situation the parties (mainly Steedo's ) were finding themselves in. 

But to summarise DK managed to pick up his Wizard and carry him off the board, earning 4XPs for the scenario and then 1XP for his Dwarf (carrying the Wiz off) and 1XP for his Elf for killing a monster. All the party off well done DK. 

My party left their fighter to die and just legged it off the board 4XP, so I have create a new character.

Steedo with his excellent roleplaying, got no one off the board, his party are either slaves to the Orcs or lunch (as is one of my characters). He gets nothing, apart from the joy of creating a new party.

The scenario is tough - the Orcs were on us from the start and we would have been better off with just a pair of characters as the number of rolls we were making meant we were making the game harder with each failure to activate. But it was fun, which is the most important thing about play a game. 

Hopefully to the table again soon. 

 

Morts

Sellwords and Spellslingers - something new.

Well I've now sorted out the cards for Sellswords and Spellslingers. 

Must resist buy Kobolds - although Reaper Minis do some nice cheap ones in the Bones range. 

I was going to laminate the cards, but I haven't printed the backs (yet) and it would have been a bit of a pain to do. Cutting the cards out was a faff to do and having to do it 3 times for laminating (front, back and laminate version). So I bought sleeves which means I can put the backs in at a later date. 

One thing I wish I'd done was print on better quality paper as the stuff I have used is a little thin and almost see through. 

The plan is to get this to the table soon for a trial game. Sellswords and Spellslingers character generation is similar to Rogue Stars (not surprising really as the same author), but the games are co-operative and  competitive respectively. They also both scratch the RPG itch like Frostgrave. Both Rogue Stars and Frostgrave need to get to a table soon .... 

Hopefully a game report in the next week. 

Morts

Making the games table - Part 2

So the cream paint and varnish went on. A little mixing of wood dye so that the new wood didn't stand out too much. Not looking too bad. But I did hav a couple of issues at this point - when I had reattached the top to the base I managed to split one of the middle edges a bit when flipping the table. Which I compounded when I then tacked the edge back on .... Aggghhhh again! If I can get a short piece of angle edging I might try to replace that bit.

The table in situ and with new mat on - only one leaf up. Looking good - there are a few problems with the table in that size wise it is a bit small for "standard wargames" - being 3ft by 5ft (90cm by 153cm) fully extended rather than the usual 4ft by 6ft (120cm by 180cm). This will only really effect Kings of War and Starship Troopers, as I play Maurice, DBA etc on smaller boards anyway - many newer games are being played on a smaller footprint now. 

DK came over to christen the "new" table (well he came over for a game) - I was hoping to get a minis game on the table, but due to the time spent reassembling the table, doing other chores (watering the pots, walking the dog etc,), I wasn't ready to set up a game. So after a pleasant chat we managed a couple of games of Iron Curtain (2 wins to me) and a play of Odin's Ravens (another win to me). 

I was rather nice to get these to the table, as we don't do many two player sessions anymore or any sessions at the moment. I like these games.

We also discussed GW's new Kill Team as a game for the group to invest in, and the possibility of splitting the cost - as Starship Troopers Mobile Infantry could be pressganged into service as proxies for Imperial Guard. 

Another thought I had was weather (like the better half's book club) pick a day in the month to meet up and play a game(s) - like the first/second Friday of the month .... Obviously this wouldn't preclude other sessions but would make things more regular. The collective will need to meet and discuss and check with other halves. Just a thought. 

Morts 

Making the games table - Part 1

A while back I purchased a folding table when the better half decided that we were having a move ar ound. For the princely sum of £12.50 I picked up the following .... But have since been busy with work, decking and car shelters. 

But today I managed to get started. 

So folded in situ, up before the ends got squared off - discovered that the folding leaves are a cm difference in length. Starting the sanding!

Primed the base unit - legs removed for sanding and oiling/varnishing. 

Then the underside as I put the frame around the top (the angled wood cost more than the table!). The frame goes approximately 5mm above the table top. Bottom right the top of the table framed - a bit annoyed as I manage to lift a bit of the ply with a panel pin when tidying up the corners - agggghhhhh! Not a lot I can do about it now. Hopefully the varnish will put some moisture back into the ply - which was very dry when I squared off the ends. 

I have given the first coat of paint to the unit now - so with luck the table will be finished tomorrow. 

Morts

Arrived in the post - gaming mat!

As a treat I purchased myself a 3 by 3 gaming mat from Loke Gaming Books - which arrived very promptly. 

With its own bag for transporting it! Nice.

The design is their Highlands one - but I thought it looked like good scrubby northern climes generic lands. 

The picture above shows how it matches with my general basing style. Might need to darken the edge on some of the sand bases ... But not a priority. 

Next job is to get the gaming table done - sanding, painting and varnishing. Hopefully next week. 

Morts

First Kings of War battle in 6 months!!!

Wednesday saw Steedo and I manage to get a game of Kings of War in for the first time since Christmas. It was also fought on the kitchen table as the games room is full of other stuff (bedroom furniture from one of the girl's room). 

This was a smallish battle of 1500 points a side - approx 1400 of troops and 100 points of artefacts. It was the Undead vs Hobgoblins (Orcs). 

We were also using the Kings of War Battlefield Cards - the conditions limited shooting to 18 inches and shooting over 9 inches had a -1 modifier (but neither army had much shooting). The objective cards were getting base and field objectives - but Steedo and I just battered each other and ignored them .....

From top left clockwise - initial deployment, end of first turn - the Soul Reaver (vampire) infantry getting into trouble - but both Skulk (Orc skirmishers) troops have been destroyed. Bottom right and the Soul Reavers have been forced back. The trolls and werewolves are starting to trade blows!

(TL) The undead centre has been destroyed - a two on one cleared out the Soul Reavers and the Gore Riders chewed the bones of a skeleton unit to little pieces! But some skeletons and zombies flank a unit of Hobgoblins. (TR) The battle lines are being reset. (BR) The Hobgoblin left flank is destroyed leaving just the Wizard and Warleader - but (BL) the undead's left flank has also ceased to exist! Well there was a Necromancer over there. 

The field at the end of turn 6! Where the game ended. The Hobgoblins about to march over to smash the remaining skeleton unit and mop up the remaining two Necromancers. So looking fairly one sided if counting points "killed", but then we looked at the objective cards ....and as we had forgotten these neither of us were controlling any - d'oh! I did have more points within the centre of the board 3VP to me, but Steedo had put "bounties" on my 3 most expensive units and managed to kill one so got 3VP too!

Apparently it was a draw ..... 

The Battlefield cards were interesting and I would certainly use the strategy cards again - for in game changes. We will need to check the objective cards out again as we sort of ignored them for the duration of the game. 

Morts

World of Tanks -Rush ..... Bargain game play through.

Managed to get two games played last night -.Steedo and I had a Kings of War battle (report on that later), then DK joined us to have a run through of my bargain buy of a few months ago World of Tanks -Rush. 

Now as the game was picked up very cheap and doesn't have the best reputation as a card builder expectations were pretty low (I hadn't read the rules, but had watch a play through on YouTube). 

However we were pleasantly surprised with the game. 

It played through relatively quickly and had some interesting machanics for getting victory points and ending the game. The basics were start collecting tanks (duh!), use them to defend bases, attack other players or use their special abilities. I need to use the special abilities more next time we play.  We found that to gain medals (a source of victory points) you needed people to defend their bases with their tanks but on occasions no one did .... So no medals issued that turn, but a captured base was worth 3VP. It could be frustrating watch the card you wanted disappear into the "graveyard" pile or not having the right amount or sometimes type to buy a card. The amount of cards we were collecting meant it was difficult to kept track of who had what in turns of victory points. So it was a close game 18 to me, 16 to DK and 11 to Steedo. 

The hour or so that we spent playing this certainly covered the pitiful outlay I made on the game. And we are up for another (hopefully in the near further). The downside of the game NO BRITISH TANKS! Shocking we invented the bloody things - they are in the expansion ... But my google-fu have failed me and I go can find a copy. 

Morts

The Elves of the Second Age

Well I have rebased my Lord of the Rings 2nd Age Elves - so now they can be played as GW intended as individuals for the "Battle Strategy Game" - well large skirmish game, or as a force in Dragon Rampant (planning to run them as reduced model units so the units are smaller than the Orcs) or with sabots HotT. Of course there is nothing to stop them being press ganged into Kings of War - but that would indicate that. Actually played some of the games I have .... Haven't been doing too well with that recently as work has been pretty busy, weekends taken up with weddings and parties .... It's been a tough time (the less said about the "dancing" the better). And the hot weather and the World Cup (it nearly got home) isn't exactly conducive to painting and gaming. 

That and the "gaming table" needs sanding and painting .... Along with the decking and garden furniture. 

Anyway I managed to rebase Gil-galad, Elrond and their forces (at some time these will be supplemented by some Elves from Lothlorien when they get painted). 

The Elven Lords and their forces arrayed..

  The Lords themselves. 

The light horse. Mainly conversions of the plastic Elves and Riders of Rohan. 

The Spear Phalanx. All metal - with a few press moulded shields. 

The Archers. Mainly plastic apart from the command figures. 

The army need some light troops, but as already suggested they will come from the forces Lothlorien. 

Hope you like them. 

Also got a lot of rebasing of Orcs to do ....

Morts