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