Moving house

My wife and I are soon going to be moving to a new house. This is excellent as we've been stuck in a 'merely adequate and even then not always' flat for the past four years. But it also means the blog will be shut down for the next couple of months as what would usually be painting and gaming time becomes packing time...

If anyone has any great ideas about how to safely move box loads of miniatures and terrain, please feel free to share. At the moment my plan merely consists of shoving bubble wrap around things, putting the box files in moving boxes and then hoping for the best...

And don't even get me started on the amount of junk I've accumulated. All those scraps of card, bits of plastic, articles torn from magazines and various bits and bobs which 'might come in handy'. Argh!

The move should be taking place sometime in September, probably towards the end of the month, so I expect to be in a position to post again in October. I'll have to plan something special!

Thanks all for reading and commenting on my blog. See you again soon!

Saga Normans

I managed to finish my 4 point Norman warband for Saga last week. It was all ready for a game with Mr M at the club on Thursday, but I was struck down by a migraine and had to stay at home instead. Very disappointing, especially as it turned out Mr M was going to surprise me with a Scot warband I hadn't played against before! Still, there will be other times.

So here is a picture of my boys arrayed for battle:

Plastic knights from Conquest Games, metal crossbowmen from Crusader Miniatures

My chosen 4 points consists of 8 warriors with crossbows and 12 mounted knights. The knights I plan to use in two units of 6 to combine versatility with striking power. Ever since the first time I tried that with my Vikings I have always been ready to sacrifice a saga die for fewer, but larger, elite units.

So with the Normans ready, I set up a test game against my Vikings.

The idea was to test a combined arms approach with the Normans. The crossbows would fire on the Vikings as they advanced and then retreat back, allowing the knights to charge a weakened foe.

The Vikings were to use their standard tactic of "CHARGE!"

Of course, it didn't quite work out like this...

NORMAN TURN 1

Norman Turn 1 Battleboard selection

The Normans got some poor dice, so could not use their better shooting abilities. In addition, they were out of range of the Vikings. So they opted to move the warriors forward, fire and then move back again. The extra dice were used to boost their attack dice. Unfortunately the general had deployed too far back to give them the benefit of his free activation.

End of Norman Turn 1

The Normans only managed to inflict a single casualty on the Vikings. What's more, when I look at the picture again I see the crossbows are missing a fatigue. The shoot have two as they moved, shot and moved again.

VIKING TURN ONE

VikingTurn 1 Battleboard selection

I mulled over the Viking turn for longer than usual. I was toying with hurling the hearthguard the length of the board, but then they would have no abilities to use in the melee and I also saw the distance was far enough that the Normans could probably use their fatigue gained through movement to slow them enough to prevent contact! So I opted for a surprisingly restrained first turn moving them forward in a steady line, while keeping a couple of abilities back to use against Norman shooting and an unlikely early charge.

A tentative advance

NORMAN TURN 2

Norman Turn 2 Battleboard selection

Slightly better, but not a lot. I managed to get the two dice I needed for a 'fatigue-free' shooting. But the extra volume of fire did little. It was at this point that I started to wonder if I should have kept the knights in smaller units as I would have been happy to roll more dice to try and get the rather tricky to roll shooting abilities...

A couple more dead Vikings. Nothing else!

VIKING TURN 3

Pain...

This was when it all kicked off. The heathguard rumbled forward and used a free activation form the warlord. They managed to roll enough dice for the 'Activation Pool' ability to get 7 on the board when they were done.

So, due to their dispersed formation, two of the Norman crossbowmen were not able to contribute to the melee. I did have some kind of idea they were shielding the knights, but to be honest that was a bit stupid of me... So the white dice on the left were what the Normans had to roll. Needing 4+ (Normally 5+ but a viking ability reduced their own armour).

The Vikings on the other hand started with two dice each for being hearthguard (the red ones). You'll notice there are only 4 figures, but I had removed one to power the Valhalla ability by the time I took this picture.The black dice are what they gained from their abilities. 19 in total. And they only needed 2+ to hit. Normally 4+ but crossbowmen lose a point of armour and the Vikings also spent the Norman fatigue marker to reduce it again. The two saga dice pictured are to remind me that the Vikings could also re-roll all their misses (again from an ability)!

So no surprises in the next picture...:

SMASH!

In fairness to them, I think the Normans gave a good account of themselves by taking out two of the Viking hearthguard!

NORMAN TURN 3

It was at this point I noticed a significant tactical error... Just out of shot at the bottom of the above picture was the Viking warlord. He had advanced with the hearthguard and was now sitting by himself within 12 inches of the mounted Norman warlord. So, if activated, the Norman leader had no option but to charge his foe. But of course, he could take his pals with him...

Norman Turn 3 Battleboard selection

Not where you want to be when you don't have a horse.

So the inevitable happened and the Normans rode into battle and trampled the Viking warlord, thereby winning the scenario. It was a bit of a letdown when you make a mistake like this in an actual game, but it also reminded me how fast the Normans can be.

The Bitter End

So what did I learn from this? Well, I think I might want to consider returning the hearthguard to 3 units of 4 and see how it affects the dice I get to use. I also really want to get some bowmen levies as they have access to an ability which lets them fire at double range, something the crossbows can't do. I still like the idea of massed fire with my Normans.

So with that in mind I think I want to set the game up for another go!

Small London Trip

Happened to be in London today with the wife and found a few moments around doing the essentials of the visit to pop into a couple of places. As we were looking for Forbidden Planet (I chose an unusal direction for our approach!) we came across the now in administration ModelZone. That was god as I managed to pick up a couple of paints at 30% off. Worth a trip if you are around there.

I also popped into Orcs Nest (as you have to do) and found they were selling Army Painter basing materials at £2.99 a tub, vs the £4.27 on the Army Painter website. Don't know how much of a bargain that was compared to other retailers, but it was good enough for me...

I also spend much of the train journey down ordering free samples of artifical grass thanks to this post on TMP. I think I ordered from 5 or 6 companies, so it will be interesting to see the results in a few days!

Why I love ATZ

I love All Things Zombie. I just want to be clear on that...

What the kids these days call an OMG moment...

Let me explain the above picture...

I decided to take The Mad Axeman out on his first trip. Nothing too strenuous. All he was planning on doing was clearing a rural area of a few zombies and claiming a farmhouse as a base of operations. Simple stuff really.

Set up: Only two zombies, placed 12cm away. 3 potential encounters placed behind cover at various points. With an Area Encounter Rating of 1 they would probably be nothing to worry about.

Turn 1: Zombies activate and move 6cm towards The Mad Axeman. He has failed his activation roll and apparently doesn't notice the threat.

Turn 2: Okay, slightly worried now. The Mad Axeman failed his activation roll again but the zombies didn't. That meant they could charge into combat. The charge rolls were not too great. No problem at the front, but the penalty for being charged from the rear meant the Axeman counted as unarmed against one attacker. Very luckily, the Axeman was able to knockdown both his opponents, although he didn't kill either.

Start of  Turn 3: Of all the things that could happen I roll a double 1. This was the only roll which could cause a random event in a rural area (i.e equal to or less than the Encounter Rating). The event roll results in a barking dog (clearly from the farm) run up to the Axeman, pursued by 4 more zombies (the other ones in the above picture).

Now to reroll the inititive dice and hope the Axeman can retreat!

But first I just had to write a quick blog post... This game is nuts and really throws up some interesting situations when you least expect it! 




UPDATE: Well, The Madaxman escaped the zombies. But he also twisted his ankle. He encountered a solitary civilian who emerged from the woods but clearly couldn't decide if she wanted to approach an axe wielding man dressed all in black. Finally something happened in the farmhouse which caused it to catch fire, rendering the whole reclamation of it as a base of operations pointless. 

Got to love how the narrative creates itself during play!

Too... Many... Projects...

Over the last few days I've tried to be good and spend as much spare time as I can afford painting figures. But this afternoon I sat back and realised I had actually been working on lots of different ones, a few figures at a time, instead of my main one at the moment. Part of this is due to getting distracted. Whenever I think of a set of rules I would like to play a game with, or worse, a new set I have just got, I always end up rummaging around to see what I can paint next. If I had actually spent all of my painting time on one thing I would probably have at least finished something properly this weekend. As it is, I still have a table full of half complete projects!

 Normans!

This is the one thing I should have been concentrating on... I guess knowing I didn't have a game of Saga at the club next week meant I felt I could put off finishing my Norman warband, but that should not be an excuse. I've base painted the 8 crossbowmen and they are ready for dipping. In the background are 13 horses for my knights and warlord. I'm fairly sure I could have completed everything if I had just remained focused!

Pirates!
 

I recently got my copy of "And a Bottle of Rum" by Two Hour Wargames in the post and am really keen to try it. While I could just dive in and play with the pirates I've got, I want to go for the 'full experience' which means I'd like some soldiers, civilians, smugglers, natives etc. Part of what is good about THW rules is that there are several markers representing a chance of an unknown encounter on the table at the start and I want to have some kind of surprise to it rather than just getting 'more pirates' each time. So I am going to hit eBay later to fund this! But that isn't what this picture is about. I have a lot of Old Glory pirates, which are fair enough, but not dripping with character, and decided they might be an efficient way to put together a 'ghost pirate' option for if I want a supernatural element to my games. The chap pictured above is a go at painting 'ghostly' colours. I think it might work okay, especially if there is a group of 4 or 5 of them.

Zombies!

 The figures I was waiting for from 15mm.co.uk arrived safe and sound, so I wanted to waste no time in painting the 'Mad Axeman' for my zombie games. It'll be interesting to play a couple of games with him and see what happens...

 I had also ordered a zombie hoard (well, a pack of 16) at the same time. Now, while these are supposed to be fantasy/medieval zombies, I think they work just fine when you paint them up in 'modern' colours. And as they are pretty generic looking, it makes them easy to paint. I got the above finished today no problem. There are only 11 pictured above as I am keeping 5 for a Hoards of the Things element.

Rooting around in my 'zombie box file' I realised that I had a lot of half finished figures. So I picked an armed civilian and a couple of government agents and finished them off. The government agents, especially, will be interesting for the Mad Axeman to encounter! All of these figures have not had their bases finished as I am going to buy some of the easy, no, I mean lazy, coloured sand from The Army Painter. I get so bored painting grey urban bases!

Hoards!

One of the joys of HotT is that you only need a few figures to get a new element together. This makes it perfect for working on a few figures while I am waiting for other stuff to dry. So I was able to complete an undead bone giant and two units of death knights. With the addition of a few more elements, I'll have a fair sized undead/chaos army ready to go. Which brings me to...

The Tray!

Precariously balanced on a pile of boxes is my Dark Dwarf army from Irregular Miniatures and also several bags of unpainted 15mm figures which represent the start of projects I have hardly mentioned on this blog! Sigh....

Naboo!

Well, between all the above going on and various other commitments, I didn't even get a chance to play a game of The Queen's Gambit, which a friend had generously lent me. But I did get to set it up on Friday! Unfortunately it is now Sunday evening and I really should put it away again...

Now what?!

This has all got me thinking... Hang on, no, let's start again, because 'thinking' is actually part of the problem! When I am happily working away in the man-cave, I'll be mulling things over and getting new ideas as I paint. And it is this which leads me to take a break from whatever I am doing and paint just a few figures for another project. I think what I need is a more focused approach. A target. I should be saying to myself: "Right, if you paint this group of figures over the next few days, that will be enough to play an interesting game of [insert name here]." After all, I certainly don't enjoy the painting side of things as much as the playing. Knowing what I need to paint and how that will actually work in terms of a scenario for a game should keep me both motivated and able to produce something I can actually use, rather than an assortment of figures for various games... at least, that's the idea...

I think I'll have to test that out and see what happens....

15mm.co.uk Hooded Executioners

Sometimes some new figures come out which just inspire you and you have to get them! That's how I felt about the Hooded Executioners from 15mm.co.uk.

I did delay for as long as possible, but they just seemed to call to me. Partly because I figured they would be perfect Warband elements for my chaos forces in Hordes of the Things, but, as they come in a pack of sixteen, I can get 5 warband elements (3 per base) and have one left over.

What?! A left over figure, what's the use in that?!

Well, it gives me a groovy character to use in All Things Zombie!

I've been toying with using card makers for Magic The Gathering in order to create ATZ character cards (as many seem to do) and have just had a first attempt.

This is just a first draft, banged out in a couple of minutes, but I like how it is heading and it seems perfect for making character records for one off games.

For those of you interested, I used this free software: http://magicseteditor.sourceforge.net/

Now, I just need to wait for the figures to arrive!

Random roundup

Phew, where does time go?! Between this that and the other I haven't had much time for any kind of painting or gaming for ages, but am trying to scrape together a few moments to get various projects back on track.

I went and visited my parents for my Dad's birthday and Father's Day last weekend, which was a perfect excuse to get some DBA in! We played Rome (Dad) vs Carthage (Me) and the game went something like this:

1) The Carthaginian army approaches the Roman battle line.

2) Contact is made and a lengthy melee ensues

3) I lose really badly...

In my defense I was suffering from a really bad cold, which I had picked up the Friday before, but it was still a pretty poor show on my part...

In other news, my wife's Edward Monkton 'Madness Hamster' keyring broke. It was pretty old and battered by that point so it was not greatly mourned, but, being a wargamer who plays Hordes of the Things, I immediately thought "Oooh behemoth for my ratman army"...

One quick paint job later....

I thought it was a fun inclusion for when I want a 'less serious' kind of game.

To round up other events:

1. I went back to the club after an absence of several weeks and had a good couple of games of Saga. I was planning on using my Normans, but illness prevented me from finishing them. On the other hand, playing again has spurred me to try and complete them.
2. No pictures yet, but I now have a 15mm Dark Dwarf HotT army from Irregular. I will be reviewing this in the same style as the ratman army a while back.
3. We saw World War Z a while back and, I have to say, very much enjoyed it. It seems a lot of the criticism seems to stem from it not being very closely tied to the books and also that it is only a 15 rating. Ultimately I would say it is less of a zombie film than 28 Days Later etc, but works better if you view it as a thriller rather than a horror film. It was certainly tense and exciting (although it helps if you overlook a few large plot holes!). Basically it made me want to play more zombie games with fast zombies, so I guess it did its job there!
4. I have two more 'secret' projects on the go at the moment. Won't say much about them right now as it will probably just mean I lose focus on the things I need to finish first...

Right, better go. The postman just arrived and by the sound of things he has delivered my recent order from 15mm.co.uk!

Have a good weekend, everyone!