Other stuff of interest .....

In the run up to Christmas I have managed a couple of interesting things .....

First up myself Fish went to see the Wonder Stuff in Exeter - sorry for the poor picture.

An absolutely brilliant gig - started off with a few new songs - I particularly liked their first song Feet in the Fire .... They then went on to play the albums HUP and 8 Legged Groove Machine in their entirety. I will be looking out to see the Wonder Stuff again. 

I have also binge watch the 4 season of the Expanse - a cracking series and well worth the time investment watching it.

I have read the books on in series so I knew what to expect and what is being set up ....... Season 5 will hopefully be awesome. If you have the time read the books too.  

On a somethings just aren't going your way - after just having had the brakes on my brand new (well 4/5 weeks old) Specialized Rockhopper I was out on the beacon on a quick test ride and have now managed to rip off the derailleur ....... I don't seem to be much luck with it at the moment.

Happy Christmas 

Morts

Kill Team - Massacre in the ruins.....

Steedo and I had a quick game of Kill Team (I had asked DK but he was too busy and stood me up) - set in the ruins. My Skitarii versus his Deathwatch. The objective was to hold objective markers at the end of the game.

We managed to play the scouting phase which resulted in Steedo taking out of action one of my Rangers. Man down and the game hasn't started yet.

First turn was both of us advance - I was trying to get around the flank. Steedo's heavy bolter was causing more causalties for me, while my fire was hitting the 3+ saves for the Deathwatch meant I wasn't making the hits count.

Around of charges and shooting meant I was more Skitarii down and I was not getting knocking any of Steedo's marines. My Sicarian managed 3 out of 4 hit only to fail to wound ..... I kept rolling high on the Flesh wounds/Out of Action table.

We then suffered a power cut for about 30 minutes - but this didn't stop the game (phones and a DIY lamp kept us going, although I should have called the game over, as it wasn't going my way....).

In desperation I had my leader charge Steedo's and in a titanic struggle the Skitarii Vanguard cut down the Deathwatch and for the only time in the game Steedo rolled high! It was the end of turn 4 and the game was called over with 1 out of action for Steedo and 6 out of action for me .... A real massacre of my Skitarii Kill Team ......

We only made one mistake in this game, which was taking nerve test for flesh wounds - but this wouldn't have made much difference as the Deathwatch's nerve scores were 8 or 9. My team struggled because I wasn't getting the key rolls for hits and wounds which would improve either AP and damage, but I was rolling high when I didn't need too on the out of action table.

A very good win for Steedo ......

Morts

4 way Kill Team

So the collective (minus DK, who said he had to work) got together for a pre Christmas game or two....
We were starting off playing Kill Team - using the gathering intelligence 4 player scenario from the core rule book. Sylon and I set up the table with a fair bit of terrian - going for an abandoned fracking site in a jungle look.

The teams we took into the jungle were Skitarii - Morts (3rd game, but first with the Skitarii 1 win and 1 loss with the Imperial Guard); Deathwatch - Steedo (2nd game, first with the Deathwatch); Drukhari - Snake-eyes (2nd game, but first with his newly painted by DK wytches); Sylon - Imperial Guard in his first game.
The objective was to collect data (points) from controlling objectives. So at the end of a round you gained points if you had undisputed control of a objective market - 1 pts for  those close to to your deployment zone, 2 for those further away and 3 for the one in the centre. Starting places were rolled for (and we promptly forgot to do the scouting phase! But I don't think this had an effect on the game. Then we rolled for initiative and the game was on!

My Skitarii Rangers did a great job of getting some good fire on Sylon's team - managing to take out of action (OOA) his leader before he could issue any orders (which should have limited his teams abilities). Snake-eyes kept his Drukhari hidden, while Steedo and I  advanced and exchanged fire.
No victory points as we hadn't reached the objectives.
The second turn started with Sylon attempting revenge on me - getting a flesh wound, but also taking out is own plasma gunner. Steedo and I exchanged OOA in a continued firefight. Snake-eyes unleashed his wytches out to the objectives ..... Only to get them shot! I think I picked up a victory point.

The third round saw positioning for the objectives - I was gutted that my sicarian Ruststalker failed to even score a hit on Steedo's Deathwatch leader (only needed 3+ and managed to roll 1, 1, 2, 2) and then be cut down. The Drukhari were scoring hits, but Steedo was getting the saves!
The final round (4), saw a rush for the objectives with Sylon and Snake-eyes disputing one marker. Myself and Snake-eyes losing objectives to Steedo's Deathwatch..... But Sylon's rush with 2 guardsmen to the central objective was key - as we only managed to take out one of them!
The final scores on the doors were 5 Imperial guard, Deathwatch 3, Skitarii 2 and Drukhari 0.
We did finish the game at turn 4 as we were running out of troops - the game did play well (we were a bit slow, so we will have to have another game soon) and managed to play with the command points and specialist rules. Sylon was a bit frustrated by not being able to issue orders due to his leader being taken out in turn one - but he won so tough! The Deathwatch were difficult to kill - the saving throw particularly difficult for the Drukhari with low or no AP modifiers. I think a couple of Kalabite warriors with longer ranged weapons would be a good addition to Snake-eyes team.

After the epic Kill Team game we squeezed in a game of the Settlers of Catan (using my 90s German edition!), which we should play more.

And rather nicely I won, with Steedo coming in 2nd.
A good days gaming - hopefully I will get a few more games in over the holidays..... When they start.

Morts

Dwarf Army - Completed

So for years I have had some Dwarf miniatures from Citadel and Asgard (plus a couple of others makes). Recently I pick up a few axe dwarfs and crossbow from SHQ to finish off the units into groups of 12 figures, so they can be used in Dragon Rampant and for Kings of War (on the sabot bases). 

First up the whole army and the leaders (Asgard Lord, Reaper Cleric and the very old Corbett Shortstuff from the Dwarf Kings a Court). 

Then the Spear and Pike units (almost exclusively Asgard), a couple mixed warrior and crossbow units (warrior unit an even mix of Citadel and Asgard, while the crossbow unit was mainly Asgard). 

This is the heavy unit with the new SHQ axe warriors - the Red/Blue painted helmets was done to try to match in the very old Citadel armoured dwarfs in the front rank. I think it works pretty well. 

All based at the same time, so they match up pretty well. I was planning to put them on a gaming mat rather than the table top .....

I am planning to make a steam tank (steel behemoth in Kings of War) for extra power - just realised that I forgot to include the dwarf cannon (d'oh!). The other option is to use the Earth Elemental with the cleric.

Need to get to the table .....

Morts

Barbarians - Finished .....

Another months (possibly years) of hanging around the painting tray I have finally finished the sodding barbarians (apart from basing). They are a mash up of Frostgrave barbarians and GW Chaos bits. The plan was to get them as an additional unit for a Dragon Rampant/SAGA forces with the Gripping Beas Viking/GW mash-ups I did a while ago. Unfortunately I am not happy with then at all.

Group shot and then some close up pictures.

I have to say that like the Skitarii Vanguard, these were not the painting experience I hoped for - in fact they were a chore to paint. Oh well will try something else to paint.

Morts

A Game of Maurice - First game time in a while

Steedo and I had a quick game of Maurice in the afternoon (with copious cups of tea, rather than the copious amounts of alcohol). As it was the first game in a while, we played with identical armies (no special abilities) and mirrored terrain on each side of the river. The objective was to control both bridges - this was going to be a tough game for both of us.
The game started with the myself setting up first as the defender and Steedo as the attacker. I had set most of my army in column formation (Steedo had set up his whole army at one bridge) - but I didn't have any march cards to change formation or move, so I had to pass on the first few turns.
Steedo managed to get his cavalry across the bridge on my right flank while I still had my troops in column - and fortunately his attack was held off.

Meanwhile I had managed to get my cavalry across the other bridge and held off Steedo's cavalry (having almost been caught in the flank!). Steedo then resumed his attack on my right flank, which eventually led to the the loss of two cavalry regiments each and neither of us holding the bridge. We then returned to my left flank - where I managed to get both my cavalry units into an attack - one slightly disadvantaged my a ploughed field, however I had used the "Confusion" card to drag in one of Steedo's units to equal out the mud. This engagement was a win for my forces! Unfortunately for me we had ran out of cards and the game was called.

The final tallies were Steedo - 4 units lost, one objective held, 7 on the army morale. For myself 2 units lost, one objective held, 5 on army morale (but this was down to Steedo playing "Death of a Hero" twice, for 4 morale off me and later playing "Rousing Speech" to put 2 back on his!). In th spirit of the enlightenment we called it a draw and discussed who might win if we continued - possibly me as I might have be able to get around the back of Steedo's artillery, but the infantry fight would have been very attritional. In retrospect the capture of both bridges without any other way of get across the river made this a challenging battle in which the infantry played little part. Although I think the game played in a very historical way.
It was  really good to get Maurice back to the table - will need to get an Imagi-nations campaign sorted....... Too much to do and too little time .....

Morts

Kill Team - Skitarii Vanguard

Well after a month or two I have finished painting the Skitarii Vanguard for my kill team (not finished basing them, but that might take a couple more days). I was really looking forward to painting these, more than the Rangers, but I found them a real pain to paint - lots of fiddly details. I couldn't seem to get their overcoats highlights right (this is the second attempt on those). Not a joy to paint - hopefully they look ok and when the basing is done, they'll pass muster. No doubt when I'll spot some mistakes and details I've missed.

I went for a soviet style colour scheme - which I think works well as they work as cogs in the great machine. When the basing is done I will get a full shot of the complete kill team.
Of course now I don't have a reason not to finish the barbarians who have been haunting my desk for a year or so ..... They have not quite been the painting experience I hoped or assumed they would be. - perhaps I need at paint so individuals for a bit to get the paint vibe going again. This has been quite a frustrating time at the painting table.

Morts