Monday 28 December 2009

Skavenmas!

Wot ho folks, did you have a nice Christmas? We had a nice one but very tired at the moment as ended up seeing loads of family and being all over the place.



Wargaming wise I've had a very nice set of Skaven Toys with a Battalion box set, Stormvermin set, and a Doomwheel. With the bits I've got already I should have the main bulk of the Skaven army I want to paint up. I'm hoping to get a bit done on my Lunch breaks at work this week, and hopefully I have all my Slaves and Clanrats assembled before the year leaps out of the door!

It also looks like 2010 is going to be a very good year wargaming wise as we've got the 8th edition of WFB coming out and I've also started getting the twinges for 40k again, and the new Nid release looks brilliant along with the rumours about Blood Angels and maybe Dark Eldar or Necrons coming out later in the year.

Monday 21 December 2009

Flames and Slaughter

Tonight, I shall be having my first game of Flames of War (I've dabbled with it in the past but never had a 'proper' game of it). I'm looking forwards to it even though I'm very anti-historical wargames due to my experiance of it when I was younger. The reason for this is the people I started gaming with often ended up turning the game into a simulation and would have 'discussions' during the game that unit X couldn't do that in real life, etc etc. Because of this, I've always been wary of historical games as I think they should be a bit of fun doing 'what-if' scenarios as well as having fun researching different eras of history while you assemble, paint and game with your army. So it's off round Stevyn's later to have some Americans batter Germans (or visa versa), while I scare him with horror stories about the new Skaven book.

Speaking of Skaven, I'm off to the Sheffield Slaughter in January. The Sheffield Slaughter is an yearly event held by the Dragon Slayers and is regarded as one of the best events in the calendar. It's got a very heavy composition rules set but it's still attracted 80 players. Me and Chris will be going, with Chris taking a varient of his Combat Dwarfs (but with no Runesmith on an Anvil as it's banned) and me taking Skaven. I shall be fielding the following....

Warlord
Plague Priest on Plague Furnace
Chieftain BSB with Shield
Warlock Engineer

23 Stormvermin with Shields, Full Command, and Poisoned Wind Mortar Weapon Team
25 Clanrats with Shields, Standard, Musician, and Doom Flayer Weapon Team
25 Clanrats with Shields, Standard, Musician, and Doom Flayer Weapon Team
25 Skavenslaves
25 Skavenslaves

25 Plague Monks with Full Command
6 Plague Censer Bearers
6 Gutter Runners

1 Doomwheel
1 Warp-lightning Warp Cannon

Now this is a big change for me as I've been getting used to my Daemons for the last three months, but Skaven are an army I've always wanted as I like the background and the new models look nice (proper 80's/90's style GW/Jes Goodwin!). It's a lot of models but with a can of Army Painter I should be able to do this.

Monday 7 December 2009

Highs and Lows

I went to the Destruction Derby over the weekend which was a nice one day event organised by the Derby Wargames Society, of which the Ben's from Bad Dice are members of and they helped organise the event. It was a fun event of random scenarios and meeting new people.We could take anything as long as we had the rules to back them up and we saw a nice variety in the armies. I took a slight varient on my Daemon list as it's the only thing I have painted up at the moment. I took....

Lord of Change who was a Level 4 Wizard and had Flames of Tzeentch and Tzeentch's Will
2 Heralds of Slaanesh with Etherblades and riding Chariots

2 x 10 Horrors
13 Daemonettes with a Standard
2 x 5 Flesh Hounds
4 Flamers
1 Fiend

Not the hardest list in the world but then again not the weakest. My army worked out to 2013 points which was the limit for the event and we were going to get a special prize. Predictably though, pretty much everybody brought an army bang on the points, so the Ben's weren't expecting this and gave out dice instead.




Game 1 - Luke and High Elves

Luke is one of my regular opponents from the Dudley Darklords and a very good player. Earlier in the week we had played a practise game of the scenario for game 1 and a won by a big margin. Little did I know the tables would turn. I had originally grudged another DD player (Adam Jones aka Tank) but he dropped out so I grudged Luke as he had taken his place. The Bens placed us on Table 1.

Luke took a Lord on a Dragon with a Halberd, re-rollable save and a ward save, Lvl 1 mage, 2 x 10 archers, 16 White Lions with Full Command and Immune to Psych banner, 5 Dragon Princes with the Ignore Terrain Banner, 5 Shadow Warriors, 2 Bolters and 2 Eagles.

The Scenario was beat the living daylights out of a goblin who was being naughty with the Kings daughter. The goblin sat in the middle of the board and the player who scored the most wounds on it won. You could only score a wound by rolling a 6. Luke was more prepared for this game and I deployed badly because I was worried about the Dragon and Dragon Princes (in our last game Luke though I had Siren Song and had deployed the Dragon facing the other way). Luke pretty much took apart my army with the Dragon and Princes (which half my daemons couldn't damage due to having flaming attacks) and then peppered the goblin to bits with his shooting. Game ended with Luke on 11 and me on 3 which was a reversal of our scores on Tuesday.

Game 2 - Richie and Ogres

Richie had travelled all the way up from London with Og Games (who had sponsored the prizes for the event) and he had brought Ogres. Both of us had been beaten quite badly and were on the lowest ranked table - 18. Richie had been spanked by Adam Hall who had brought a Skaven with 2 Abominations and other bits which ripped Richie to bits. Richie was a bit worried about facing Daemons with his Ogres but we both knew this was going to be a fun game whatever the outcome.

Richie had a Tyrant, Bruiser, 2 Butchers, 2 x 3 Bulls, 2 x 3 Ironguts, 9 Gnoblar Trappers, 2 Maneaters and 2 Rhinox riders. In theory this should be an easy game for me if I can pick my combats.

The Scenario was a normal pitched battle but the who battlefield was effected by the Rainlord spell and each player turn, your army got blasted by Forked Lighting on a roll of 1 for each unit (1 or 2 if you had a ward save). Game starts with me getting the first turn and I move everything ready for charges. My 2 Chariots face off against the Rhinoxes with a Lord of Change nearby to support with Gift of Chaos. Rich moves everything around but knows things will be bad next turn and I charge my Chariots in and move my LoC up. So I cast Gift of Chaos hoping for a few wounds and I miscast which causes a wound to my LoC. My Chariots then cause a couple of wounds from Impact Hits and I get ready to watch my Heralds have fun. With 8 attacks hitting on 3's and wounding on 5's should cause lots of damage and win me the combat. Lots of fluffed attacks and wounds later and the Heralds are bricking it as the Rhinoxes are unscathed! Then for the rest of the game my dice decided to not play properly and I started playing like a numpty. Richie pretty much took all my toys off the board while his army was all there apart from a unit of Bulls and Gnoblars. Richie won by lots and I put my models in the middle of the board knowing I wasn't moving tables. It was a fun game watching my army self destruct but a bit frustrating but Richie did make it fun as we chatted all the way through the game.

Game 3 - Lee and Orcs of Chaos

Lee had travelled up with Richie as part of the Og Games crowd and had brought his Orcs of Chaos. Basicly it was a Warriors of Chaos army converted up from Orcs and Goblins who had been seduced by the bloodletting for Khorne.

He had a Lord of Khorne on a Jugger, Hero on Jugger, Lvl 1 wizard, 2 x 5 hounds, 2 x 5 horsemen, 14 marauderers with MoK and Flails, 20 odd marauderers with MoK, full command and shields, 15 Chosen, 5 Knights, and a Chariot of Khorne.

This game was to get into my opponents deployment zone while the entire battlefield was effected by the Pandaemonium spell (miscast on a double and units can not use the generals leadership) while a Infernal Gateway was strolling around on the board. Both of us deployed our armies and we found I had weighted my Right Flank while Lee weighted his Right as well, which left the main bulk of our armies as far away from each other as possible. Lee asked my why I had charged the Rhinoxen in my last game and I said you'll see but I thought I could have them. Couple of turns later and my Chariots were in his deployment zone having gone through his Knights and he agreed that I should have had those Rhinoxes last game. The game was pretty much me getting my Chariots and Flesh Hounds into his deployment zone while the rest of my army acted as a speed bump to slow Lees down while my LoC could blast away with his magic (and strangely only miscast once all game). Game ended and we found that I had got 1300 odd points while Lee only managed 1100 points which game me a win. If Lee had been able to get his chosen into my deployment zone he would have won but I think a combination of deploying badly with them and me worring him with the LoC constantly zapping models off the unit, meant he didn't push them as far as he could.

In the end I came 29th thanks to my win (not bad in a 36 person event). It was a really good event and made a nice change from all the 'serious' warhammer the last few months. I really liked the scenarios and it was a good venue to play at and I shall be going again next year.

Friday 4 December 2009

Hi Ho!

Just a quick update. Just got back from playing Chris at a 2250 Pitched Battle of WFB, with him trying out his Warriors of Chaos army he is building and me trying out his Dwarfs because I'm thinking about giving them a whirl.

My Dwarfs were roughly - Anvil, Master Engineer, 13 Warriors, 2 x 10 Crossbows, 18 Longbeards, 18 Hammerers, 2 Bolters, Grudgethrower, 15 Slayers, 2 Organ Guns

Chris's Warriors were roughly - Sorcerer Lord on Dragon, Lv2 Mage, 14 Maraurders, 2 x 5 Horsemen with MoS and Flails, 2 x 5 hounds, 5 Chaos Knights with MoS, 2 x 3 Dragon Ogres, Warshrine, Shaggoth

Terrain scattered so we had loads of terrain in the middle of the board (a building and wood) and the only hill sat in front of these limiting fire/charge lanes. I deployed facing the other half of the board which was open and the game started with causing damage to the Shaggoth and Lord with my shooting and then Chris presenting as many targets as possible because if something got through it would hurt. Next turn I get a lucky scatter onto the Dragon and kill his lord and leave the Dragon on a wound. Chris then manages to get into my lines and starts smashing war machines to bits and scaring hammerers off with his Dragon. I then damage control by finishing off the half dead units and manage to charge the Dragon Ogres in the flank with the Longbeards and roll them up.Chris then manages to kill all of my shooting elements (apart from a unit of Crossbows tucked away in a building) with only loosing most of his Knights to the last Organ Gun before it got revenge and killed the Organ Gun. Game ended and totalling up the points I got a Massacre!

I'm chuffed with the win but too be honest I got really lucky killing the Dragon early on and I made load of mistakes. Quite seriously thinking about Dwarfs for Sheffield now but lets see what distracts me on the weekend!

Wednesday 2 December 2009

Real Life + Me + Hobby = BUSY!!!

I think busy is a understatement for what I've been upto recently. If I haven't been out at Beer Feastivals or Hotels with my Wife, it's being snowed under at work or playing lots of Warhammer. In fact this is probably the first night since the GT I'm having a night in as such.

Anyway, hobbywise I've again been playing lots of Warhammer and I've been practising for my last event this year - The Destruction Derby Three. It's run by the Derby Wargames Society (the Ben's from Bad Dice's local club) and the easiest way to describe the scenarios is silly and random! The event is basicly a one dayer with three scenarios of randomness and players are allowed to bring anything with a army points limit of 2013. So I'm taking my Daemons which I've managed to get to 2013 points!

Practise games so far have been scenario 1 and scenario 2. Scenario 1 is basicly we've got to cause the most wounds to a naughty goblin (he's been having it away with the Kings Wife), and the only way you can do that is by rolling a 6. I played Luke and his High Elves and we had a great laugh. I got a first turn charge on the goblin (he starts in the centre of the board) and lost my Lord of Change to a Dragon Prince charge (pesky Banner which lets them charge through woods) but got revenge when I charged Luke's Dragon and it got Charioted to death! The goblin got smacked around all over the shop and in the end I had scored 11 to Luke's 5 winning me the game. Victory Points it was a draw in Luke's favour but it didn't matter as I won!

Scenario 2 was basicly a Pitched Battle but with every unit on the board getting hit by Lighting each turn. On a roll of 1 it's hit (unless you've got a Ward Save then its a 1 or 2!) and it takes D6 S4 hits. First turn I loose a big chunk of my army due to this! I was playing Chris and his Dwarfs and managed a Draw in the end of the fighting and lighting.

The DDIII looks like it's going to be a really fun event and I'm really looking forwards to it!