Wednesday 8 August 2018

Helen High-water

I have noticed that people have been asking for Helen and I had taken a few shots. In truth she did not cause me as much problems as she did to Mike. She did entice some of my people away for a little frolic, but no-one died. Alain De La Slaugher met his end with this lady in the final game - to everyones enjoyment!

I love the whole Les Dawson, hand pushing the boob thing.....

The Babe - Helen
A couple of other shots.

What are they afraid of?
And...

Oh my - am I the last person standing?

Sunday 5 August 2018

A day of gaming that will long live in the memory!

Its been a while. We have been playing board games and not so much war gaming. Little painting is happening and I am pretty OK with that. But today is different!!!!

This weekend though is the trip to Awdry Towers. Now you just know that this is going to be something extra special. It always is!!! The trouble that Michael goes to is unsurpassed. The models are sublime. The table a thing of joy and the detail, well the detail is just off the chart.

We had been sent our homework. The game is a crossover Witchfinder and Donnybrook with a very huge element of 'Awdry'. A combination of dice and cards and planned to be utter fun based narrative type stuff. I was just bursting with excitement. I awoke a good hour before the alarm clock and was ready to leave much earlier than planned, but I had to wait on the arrival of the Dark Templar. I was struggling to contain myself. Anticipation was off the chart. We drove down to Awdry Towers (an hour), parked up and walked to the house. I glimpsed the board though the front window and Oh My God!

Michael had just excelled himself. Truly.

I am sure the welcome was fantastic and I hope I was not too rude as I manoeuvred to see what the day would bring - just amazing.

I have taken far too many pictures and they don't do the piece of art that the table is any justice but I will share anyway.

The board
Michael supplied everything, the board, the models, the dice, the tea's, the food ...... everything.

Basically the villagers are about to be over run by ghouls and all kinds of ungodly foulness. We are set up on the outskirts of the village with field, roads, hedges, a wheat field, river and a working windmill!! The blades actually go around.

Windmill complete with a tied up Windy Millers daughter

So much to take in. A total joy to play on, but the detail ..... man oh man. My first 'jaw drop' was when I realised that there was a fox in the wheat field which actually had a rabbit in its mouth, I mean come on.

Well fed fox
And then there was the scare crow....

Scare crow
Did you spot the rats? I mean surprises around every corner and there were tonnes more, I promise.

But you gotta love this. The Witchfinder General has obviously been busy!!

Amazing. And just for fun.
We had a shepherd and a flock of sheep, in the background. No reason. Not part of the game. But just there to add layer of interest.

Shepherd and sheep
I played the 'bad guys' in the first game. My hero 'Alain de la Slaughter'!

Evil personified
Ably supported by...

Supporting cast
The Guardsmen of Bling Obedience marching with the guns and The Doom Riders mounted on horseback.

Nice field of fire from the bridge
Can you see how well painted the models are? I mean can you? I wish you could hold one in your hand. They are exquisite!

Gareth of Oldham and his trusty hounds
Gareth of Oldham and his hounds. Notice the babbling brook in the background. Sweet!

Ghouls
A band of Ghouls that were just a joy. Each one was fantastic with loads of unusual detail. Stunning, I mean stunning.

The detail
We should speak of chickens. For many years now we talk of units that run away. It follows them, always. The yellow stripe, the chicken. Once a unit runs it is never forgotten.  Don't care how hard they are, if they run they will be known 'ah thats the unit who ran from my grots when .....' It's a thing. So how could the master enter into the spirt of this gaming lore ? ..... I give you the yellow chicken!!!

Yellow chicken
Units that become 'shaken' and run away need a token. Michael had only gone and made some chickens, yellow ones, to act as tokens. Well I just lost it. I thought that this was the funniest thing I had come across. And it was fantastic to see them in play. And when they 'rallied' it was - take that chicken away!!

Look it was an amazing day. We arrived early and stayed late. We laughed and laughed because the game play just worked so well. The narrative element was key. It was chaos and it was meant to be. You thought you were doing well until your world fell a sunder. This is not competitive gaming, this is fun for the sake of fun with a top quality entourage. This is living life, this is a man putting on a gaming day that anyone on the planet would be privileged to be a part of. This, my friends, is Awdry Towers, a place to be revered, with a host that is generous and welcoming and has prepared to a level of detail that will blow your mind!

I thank you Michael for a spectacular day, well done sir!!


Friday 9 March 2018

Mobile, hostile, agile

So now to weaponry.

I am starting with my Leader and  contemplating what direction to take.

I think of him as my main support. I have given him Commanding Presence so I see him traveling with a group and shooting. I don't want him in hand to hand really.

He starts with a BS of 3+

A the beginning I gave him a Shotgun with salvo and scatter. I wanted him to have something with a bit of punch. The salvo rounds have a range 12" with a S4 doing D2, causing Knockback and it is Rapid Fire (1) which gives the potential for more damage.

Shredder is a Template weapon causing D6 wounds but only has a S2. I see it being good in a crowd to maybe pin a few people and then use Group Activation to really cause a bit of chaos.

Going forward I have been thinking about a Boltgun. The Boltgun is S4 with a range of 24". Its short range is 12", so decent, and there is a +1 modifier to Hit making it a 2+ to hit on the move. Aim gives a +1 modifier to Hit. This means that even at distance it can be a 2+ to Hit provided you stand still and make the Aim.

Boltgun
The main downside that I can see is the 6+ ammo check roll. There is a 1:6 chance of failing an ammo roll and then you would need to roll a 6+ to get ammo back. These are not good odds.

I would need to have a decent second weapon in reserve. Maybe I should keep the Shotgun?

I don't fancy giving him Heavy Weapons because it would change the play style and I have two Champions already so they should be up to that task.

The Grenade launcher looks cool and could be a good second weapon, giving lots of variety options.

Plasma weapons with scarce - hmm. When they run out of ammo thats it for the game. Can't be reloaded. High risk.

What about a close combat weapon? In the old days the trusty Power Sword was always sought after. There is much to consider.

Each character can only have 3 weapons. I wonder if grenades are considered to be a weapon? I like the idea of chucking a grenade when things are getting too close and then running away ;-)

All thoughts and suggestions welcome.



Thursday 8 March 2018

Orlock Savant Skills

The next set of skills to review is Savant. These are available to both the Leader and the Champions.

Orlock Champion
Ballistics Expert - this is a pretty cool skill. If you make an Aim action you get the opportunity to make an Int test, if passed you get a +1 modifier to the hit roll. That is significant. I have given this skill to 'Rivits', one of my Champions and in the first few games it worked out very well. Champions Int is 6+ and the Leader is 5+. A skill well worth having.

Connected - this is a post battle skill and allows an extra Trade action. I dismiss out of hand any skill that doesn't impact on the battlefield playing.

Fixer - another post game skill. You gain D3 x 10 credits if the character is not captured or in recovery. Dismissed again on the basis that it doesn't impact on the battlefield. Credits are good but its boring.

Medicae - Assist a fighter who is making a Recovery test, re-roll Out of Action one time. Due, dull, dull ;-)

Munitioneer - Re-roll ammo check. Now thats what I am talking about. It also applies to any model within 6". I have given this to 'Leveller', my champion with the Heavy Stubber. This weapon is Rapid Fire (2) which means that you roll 2 ammo dice increasing the chance of running out of ammo. This skill made a big difference in the recent games. Kept the big guy in the game. I was very happy to have it.

Savvy Trader - Another post game skill but it does looking interesting. When making a Trade action add 1 to the result to see if the item is available and also reduce the cost by 20 credits (to a minimum of 10 credits)

In summary I think that both the 'in game' skills are excellent and the Munitioneer is a top skill when using any weapon with increased ammo dice increase the chance of running out of ammo. I like the Ballistics Expert skill and it would be worth considering for the Leader if the plan is to operate at range. You have to stand still to get the best benefit though because you need to Aim. So that is a consideration. I usually move the Leader around a fair bit so to support ongoing actions. He offers more threat if the opposition sees him on the move.

Wednesday 7 March 2018

Orlock Leadership Skills

For the first game that we played I had not chosen starting skills before setting up. In order to get going I quickly chose some skills immediately before we started but I didn't have a chance to read my options fully. I have had a chance since, so this is the start of a short review.

Orlock Leader

Leader

I have learned that the Leader is a pretty important guy. He has 3 wounds so he can take a bit of punishment. He has Mesh armour giving a 5+ save. He has No equipment restrictions - none!
With group activation he can activate 2 other models at the same time. He can take 3 weapons.

Basically you need to decide to use him in combat or for shooting and then tool him up accordingly.

I have decided that Shooting is the way to go.

Skills

The Leader starts with a skill.
Primary = Skills are Ferocity, Leadership and Savant
Secondary = Shooting

The Leader is the only character to have access to Leadership as his Primary skill. So what options does he have? Lets have a look: -

Commanding Presence - for group activation add +1 model. This means a Champion can activate 2 models or the Leader can activate 3 models. Now this could be very useful and make for a very high impact turn.

Inspirational - If a fighter within 6" fails a Cool check then make a Leadership check, if passed then so is the Cool test. Not likely to be used much I think.

Iron Will - subtract 1 from any Bottle rolls when this model in on the field and not Seriously Injured. This seems very situational and specific to me.

Mentor - make a Leadership test for this fighter each time a fighter within 6" gains 1 XP. If passed then the fighter gains 2 XP. I like the idea of this but 6" is a very short distance. It could be a nice way to boost XP though especially in medium term.

Overseer - A fighter within 12" can make two actions and get his ready token back. Even the ready token was used they can take 2 actions. This is an extra turn. 12" is a good distance and having an extra turn would be amazing. There are no restrictions but I assume this would be once per round or once per game otherwise you could spam it. This is well worth considering.

Regroup - This is a Leadership test and if passed all Broken models within 6" recovers from being Broken. Again 6" is a very distance and this would be very situational.

My own choice here is probably Overseer. I think that having a model take an extra 2 actions is a really big deal. I would need to be clear about how often it can be used though. Commanding Presence would run it close. The thought of being able to focus 1 + 3 characters on getting a job done seems like a great tactic.

Monday 5 March 2018

Necromuda returned Woot Woot!

Well now we have just completed our first three games of Necromunda. Wow, what a blast. It was great to get back into it.


So first off I had to make some changes because at least 50% of the gang needed to be Gangers. I stayed with the two champions concept but now it was more challenging, credits wise. I also decided to take Blasting Charges. They have a bit more punch and I just was not sure what the scenarios might throw at me. They have a S5 making them the most impactful thing I have. Range is really low but still at least they are there, if needed.

I had to choose some starting Skills for my Leader and Champions. This was done in a hurry, but I like my choices.

1. My leader, 'Nighthawk' went for Commanding Presence. This allows him to activate one more person in group activation. I have learned that this can be a cool tactic in other games. When the time is right you send in a couple of guys to put someone down and then the last one does the finishing off. It can be devastating.

2. My Champion 'Leveller' has the heavy Stubber and this has Rapid Fire (2). He can be amazing but  he runs the risk of running out of ammo. A big problem to be sure. To overcome this I gave him Munitioneer. It means he can re-roll ammo checks. Anything to keep him in the game and dishing damage at distance.

3. My other Champion 'Rivits' only had a Autogun. Well I had no credits left so ..... He has a decent BS of 4+ so I thought I would boost this with Ballistics Expert which means that if he can pass an Int test he is +1 to hit. Now that is a pretty big deal!!

The Dark Templar had been busy with the scenery. I mean seriously.

Love it
This kit is from Red Beam Design and comes with magnets to hold it all together. I was seriously impressed. Really cool and very good value. I will be checking them out for sure. It was great to play on and gave the much desired height that you need in Necromunda.

There are always stories and as I look back, my Juve 'Frankio' had a great game. He was involved in everything.

The first game was a straight forward 'go at one another' game. The Dark Templar came steaming in and launched himself onto the platform with his leader and some support. Very intimidating. I sent 'Frankio' up to have a look see.

Frankio on the prowl
He was great. Stub gunning away. People being 'pinned'. It was just great fun. In truth he was well supported both from distance and relatively close range. Nighthawk was a beast and took out two of the opposition - DEAD. I 'bottled' early and took the victory points. Cool start.

In the pub that night the story was all about 'Frankio'.

The second game was a funny affair in that we started on top of one another, only 2"'s apart, and we were tasked with taking out a piece of enemy scenery, we used old fashioned gene stealers :-). We started with a small number on the table and then it was supposed to build with reinforcements.

Nighthawk opened up early dishing out the damage before getting hit himself. Frankio came to the rescue, again. It was cool.

Frankio to the rescue

However we both lost people in the first round and both failed bottle tests so the game was over before it started. Amazing!

And so to the third game. Oh wow.

The entire Goliath gang were on the assault. I had 5 sentries. The sentries were randomly moved depending on who rolled the highest dice. I mean this was mad! In the first two turn I controlled the sentries once!! I mean seriously.

I was surrounded as the Goliaths crept closer and closer. Their aim was to take down a centrally positioned structure. It was starting to look really cruel at one point and then 'Frankio' got his shit together. I had control of him twice in a row and he sounded the  alarm by facing down the opposition leader, go 'Frankio'.

I see you!
The rest of the boys came running and what followed was carnage. I mean blood on the floor. The mother of all battles. The Goliaths did what they had come to do but paid a high price! We had our own troubles too. A great game full of emotion with ebbs and flows. I have missed Necrumunda and I glad it is back in my life.

There are lessons to learn and credits to spend but this is for another day.

Tonight in the pub there will be stories to be told of heroes in the field and 'Frankio' has made his name. He was first to face down the Goliaths, he was first to pin one of them, he recused Nighthawk in the second game and raised the alarm in the third. I raise a glass - to 'Frankio'!




Wednesday 28 February 2018

Painting the Orlocks

I got the paints out and have been having some fun with my new gang. I have gone for that dark look with blues and browns.

Orlocks 2018
I am pleased with the progress so far. Lots of tidying up to be done and details to be picked out but they are starting to look the part.

I want to have a least one piece of strong colour on each model. I feel that it makes them unique. There is plenty of options to choose from. Hair colour, bandana, arm bands ... all kinds.

Next I want to get their names straight. This is always helpful and makes the game very personal.

Leveller and Rivits are my two Champions. I have settled into them with ease. Leveller is on the Heavy Stubber and Rivits is standing beside him with the Autogun held to his chest.

Nighthawk is my Leader at the front.

The rest have been christened but I have yet to get comfortable with them.

First game is on Monday and I am really looking forward to it.

Tuesday 27 February 2018

Orlocks, the old and the new.

I had a dig around in the garage for my old Necromunda models. Thought it would be nice to compare them. Brought all the old memories flooding back.

My old Orlock gang
They were lovely models. The young sprightly Juves, grizzled Gangers, hefty Champions and well armed Leader. I had started to rebase them a few years back....yet another unfinished project. The big thing with Necromunda was WYSIWYG. What you see is what you get. The models had to have the right weapons so we were regularly swopping arms and stuff. The wee Juve in the middle at the back had just been given a Laspistol in his right hand and I had turned it sideways for some fun.

They were a fun crew to play.

I have just assembled the new models.

New Orlock gang - Wreaking-ball
They fit together quite nicely. The shoulder pads are a bit of a pain and a few of mine lifted without me noticing. Not happy about that! But I will need to assemble more at some point.

All the models are the same height, weight etc. so they are less characterful. I wonder if they will bring out a Leader model in the future...? I really would have liked the guy with the Heavy Stubber to be a bit of a heavy-set monster.

Both spruces are identical which seems like a missed opportunity to me.

Weapons choices are very limited. I was very disappointed about that. You would think that there would be one or two decent weapons for the Leader at the very least. I would have liked a few more heads. I did not want to use the respirator heads as I have not spent credits on them yet.

Bearing in mind the game is all about character I feel like someone has been very lazy here.

On the up side I love the models themselves. There is lots of cool detail. I can't wait to get the paints out and spend some time with them. The bases are also nice. Here we go again.

Sunday 25 February 2018

Orlocks for Necromunda 2018

Just started back into Necromunda after many, many years. I'm having a look at the Orlocks. I am putting together a 1000 credit gang and have come up with the following: -

The Gang
I decided on a gang size of 9. That is 4 Gangers and 5 others.

Basic Leader with Boltgun, Autopistol and Chainsword. He should be able to look after himself and I will keep someone close to him at all times.

Probably the big decision is that I have taken 2 Champions. In the past it was nice for them to start building experience early. I have given one the Heavy Stubber and just gone Autogun for the other. What do people think? Is this sound thinking?

I have also taken some shotguns for the ranged Gangers and then a couple of basic close combat guys. Shotguns was just because they seem to be the thing for Orlocks. Might I be better with Autoguns?

Then I have some hand to hand Juves. Basic fodder to see if they advance. Nice Movement on them.

Has anyone been playing them?

Any tips or thoughts welcome.