Painting Update - Samurai, MESBG, Battletech, ACW

Since everything has been shut down due to the ongoing pandemic (from the SJGA monthly meetups to the local shops daily gaming), I haven't had much to do hobby-wise apart from painting. It's actually a nice change of pace; I felt like I was approaching some hobby burnout before the shutdown, so the pandemic is a good excuse to take a break from gaming.

Apart from painting updates, I may post some solo game reports or even try to write some reviews.

I received a couple promo models when I bought into the second edition of Test of Honour. I finally got around the painting them. One model is an armored samurai, and the other is an unarmored wandering samurai that will fit in well with my previous bandits warband.

When Games Workshop announced that they were releasing a collected pack of the Mordor Uruks for the Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game, I decided to pick them up. Six models for the same price that Ebay sellers wanted for just three? Why not! And so the horde of the dark lord grows.

I also painted up and did a little conversion work on a Hunchback HBK-7R to make it a HBK-6S model. This really just involved a little drilling to make an SRM6 launcher in the left torso. I also added a flag, since what self-respecting Solaris pilot isn't going to add a little bling to his mech?

Since my 10mm ACW kickstarter pledge arrived from Lancer Miniatures, I decided to start with the Union. I painted up two brigade commanders and six artillery stands, representing 10-pounder Parrott rifled guns (although I may just use them for any artillery type, with various labels from Regimental Fire and Fury). I've got six regiments of infantry to complete, which these guns and commanders will be split between. 

Painting Update - Warmaster, Gangs of Rome, Konflikt 47, Test of Honour, Kill Team

Let's take a look at the last bunch of painted minaitures I've finished during the year. 

First off is a big project that I've been working on for some time now - a 10mm Ogres Kingdom army for Warmaster Revolution.

These miniatures come from Black Gate Miniatures, which I got over the course of two kickstarters.

The bulk of the army consists of a mass of Bull Ogres and Ironguts. They're the workhorses of the Ogre Kingdoms; no fancy rules, but good stats for relatively decent points cost.

The second kickstarter helped flesh out the range. While the Leadbelchers in the back were from the first crowdfunder, the Yhetees, Gorgers, Gnoblars, Rhinox Riders, Scrap Launcher, and Giant were all produced from the second. The same goes for most of the commanders.

I also finished a bunch of extra miniatures from a few games that had been sitting on my table while I worked on other projects. This includes two more fighters and two Incola for Gangs of Rome, a German Heavy Infantry command squad for Konflikt 47, and the last of the ninjas for Test of Honour.

(I realized after taking the picture that I hadn't shown the other ninjas, but they're pretty easy to imagine - a bunch of guys in black clothing with various sneaky-looking weapons.)

Continuing with Test of Honour, I painted up the Bandits and Brigands boxset.

These are pretty well made miniatures, but they're huge in comparision to Warlords other Test of Honour miniatures, and the Perry miniatures I use. Not to the point of being unusable in the game, but it looks odd if I want them alongside other miniatures in the same warband.

One game that never got included in the blog this year, but that I've been playing, has been Kill Team. It's fun enough - although I think I enjoyed Shadow War more as it's campaign system was more detailed - and I got roped into buying some Thousand Sons. However, I looked at the miniatures and though, There's no way I'm going to take the time to paint all these details.

The solution was to take the "Ghosts of the Warp" squad quirk to the logical extreme and paint all the miniatures as ghosts! And I just so happened to have a bottle of Hexwraith Flame sitting there...

Since Games Workshop doesn't like to give options that aren't in their plastic boxes, the Thousand Sons and Tzaangor boxes were enough to make a full killteam.

And that's it for 2018. Luckily I've got plenty more to paint next year.

Zen 10 Challenge - Test of Honour AAR

This past weekend, Bill ran an event for Test of Honour at Half Day Studio. Each player would bring along a 24 point list and play in up to three scenarios, each with a different points level and objective. 

As one person unfortunately couldn't make it, Bill decided to step in to even up the number of players. 

My first game was against Sam, in a 15 point game where the objective was to control the bridge at the end of five turns.

Our warbands were identical - a Hero Samurai with an accompanying samurai, along with a Sergeant of Archery and a Bowmen group.

Both sides had their samurai advance to the bridge while the bowmen engaged at range.

After a flurry of blows in a ferocious melee, Sam's Hero Samurai took a heavy wound and failed his Test of Honour to continue on. As his blood dripped from the bridge to the river below, I declared victory.*

*Which, to my great shame, was wrong. Technically, the game should have continued to turn 5, but I made the mistake of assuming that a lost Hero Samurai caused the warband to flee. Not catching that turned out to be a bigger problem than expected...

My next game was against Bill in an 18 point scenario in which the two opposing sides would need to capture the retainer, who was resting at the entrance to a shrine. The game took place in darkness, and only the area between the fences was considered illuminated by the moon - although the lanterns to either side of the gate also provided light.

Poor luck on Bill's part meant that when his Hero Samurai failed her test to take control of the retainer, he fled directly towards my own warband. My Hero Samurai passed the test and led the retainer deeper into the woods.

With the objective in hand, my warband stipped their advance and began to target Bill's Hero Samurai with ranged attacks, hoping to kill her and end the scenario quickly (like I said, problems...). Bill continued to advance, hoping to get past my two samurai and retake the retainer.

However, that put Bill's Hero in range of both of my own samurai, who teamed up to strike her down. Again, I thought this ended the scenario, which was reinforced by Bill's concession. The only consolation to this mistake was that it was unlikely that Bill's commoners could take down the two samurai in the remaining turns, thanks to the differences in action amounts and abilities scores.

The last game was against Kai, and we were back at the bridge-control scenario (which Kai hadn't played yet. This meant that I didn't get a chance to play the 24 point scenario control objective game).

A feature in this tournament were quest cards. Players weren't supposed to have any in their skill decks - instead, each table had its own objectives. For this game, each player was supposed to draw a quest. To my great misfortune, I drew the quest which meant I had to play with 13 points instead of 15. This meant I had to drop my Sergeant of Archery from the game.

I played conservatively with my points and activation disadvantage, which was likely a mistake. Kai managed a long range shot that took out one of my bowmen

Kai's Samurai Hero quickly charged over the bridged and cut down my supporting samurai.

Now it was a two-on-one fight, with my Samurai Hero desperately trying to fend off both of Kai's samurai.

Kai also brought his lone spearman over the bridge, as if I didn't have enough problems as it was!

My only hope was to move my Samurai Hero onto the bridge and hope to contest the objective and end the game in a draw. However, Kai's Samurai Hero cut down both of the remaining bowmen, causing my Samurai Hero to take, and then fail, a Test of Nerves, which forced him back off the bridge and into the river.

Kai's Samurai Hero, scoring a critical success on the last damage roll against the bowmen, used the Follow Up move to get onto the bridge, securing both it and victory.

The final game was a 10 point battle royale between the four warbands.

While I advanced cautiously, the rest of the samurai quickly moved to the center of the table.

Kai's samurai was the first to be cut down, causing his warband to flee the battle (yes, that was actually in the scenario's rules this time!).

Sam's samurai exchanged blows with Bill's before a failed Test of Wits meant that my musketman targeted Sam's samurai instead of Bill's, breaking our under-the-table truce. While Sam's Samurai Hero slew my musketman, the warrior fell to a lucky set of rolls from my Bowmen.

The next few turns was spent with my own Samurai Hero trying to strike a fatal blow against Bill's. However, I failed, and my Samurai Hero was cut down like a bamboo stalk, leaving Bill's warband victorious.

With all the games over, and the points tallied up, the winner of the event was... Bill! Since he was the one running the event, however, the title went to the person next in line... me! Regardless, Sam, Kai, and I each got a chance to pick from the prize pull. I decided to grab the Ninjas of Iga boxset, as it would allow me to run a Ninja warband in future games.

I had a great time. Bill's scenarios were cleverly planned out and his tables filled with appropriate scenery. While it may be time to put Test of Honour away for a little bit, I'm looking forward to revisiting the game in the future and seeing what other expansions Warlord has planned.

Bandits & Brigands - Test of Honour AAR

For last night's games of Test of Honour at Half Day Studio, I decided to put away Jiro's warband and instead used the miniatures from the Bandits & Brigands box. 

My first game was against Bill. We've been discussing Osprey's Ronin rules, especially since everyone basically has a Buntai warband ready to go thanks to Test of Honour. I had asked Bill if we could try a Samurai only game, and he agreed.

We had 20 points to spend. Bill took his custom Lady Yoshikira, a Devoted Samurai, and a Ninja Lieutenant. I took the Bandit character hero, Kojiro, two Bandit Bruisers, and a Bandit Lieutenant armed with a bow.

The objective was to control the Torii gate by the end of five turns.

Both sides rushed for the gate, with Lady Yoshikira leading the charge. While my Lieutenant couldn't hit anything with his bow and arrows, a Bruiser managed to cut down one of Bill's supporting Samurai.

The dueling continued as Lady Yoshikira managing to fend off three attackers!

Unfortunately, Bill's warband couldn't recover from the activation imbalance, and both the Ninja and Lady Yoshikira fell, ending the game early.

The game basically confirmed what I had thought - Test of Honour is best used for warband sized games, while the smaller skirmish sized games should be left for Ronin, which does a better job of making close combat more interesting than just activating and rolling dice.

My second game of the night was against Sam. Using the Bandits again, I made the largest sized warband possible (16 points), which Sam then met.

Our warbands were:

Bandit Samurai Hero Character
Bandit Bruiser
Bandit Group
Bandit with Bow
Bandit with Musket

Samurai Hero
Wise Samurai
Sergeant of Archery
Loyal Bowmen Group
Spearman

The mission was simple - whoever had the last Samurai standing, won.

With half of Bill's warband armed with bows, most of my initial activations were spent on Cautious Moves, which gave my warband free Evades in case of attacks. Sam's hero, hoping to get into my warband's flank, charged forward and used the terrain to block my Bandit archer's line of sight.

However, luck quickly turned against Sam when my Bandit hero managed to wound, then cut down his Samurai hero. Since I rolled a critical with the damage (at least 5 swords), my Bandit Hero was able to follow up and charge the Sergeant of Archery, who was also chopped into pieces.

The game ended the next turn, when Sam, unable to roll enough swords to evade, lost his Wise Samurai to my Bandit Bruiser.

This was a rough game for Sam, and my victory was secured more through lucky rolls on my part (and unlucky rolls on Sam's) rather than any kind of tactical genius.

I do have to say, the sculpts for the Bandits are fantastic, since they're all original, compared to the plastics that Warlord bought from the now-defunct Wargames Factory.

Tides of Fortune - Test of Honour AAR

My last game of Test of Honour was against Kai. We played a 24 point game (the first full sized game since we started playing) with the Escort mission. 

Since Kai won the roll-off, I started with the objective, who I would need to escort off the opposite side of the table. I decided that my Devoted Samurai would be capable enough to handle the job.

This is also a pretty good shot of one of the tables Bill has set up in preparation for the upcoming Test of Honour tournament at Half Day Studio.

Both sides exchanged fire in the first turn, while my Samurai Hero led the charge into Kai's warband. I attempted to move the Devoted Samurai up the edge of the

I'm forced to admit that I may have gotten a little cocky during the second turn. With the samurai able to move so quickly, and most of Kai's warband too far to reach the Devoted Samurai and escort in close combat, I thought the scenario would quickly end.

Kai and his luck put the kibosh on my plan, as he managed to strike down both of my samurai in rapid succession. The escort decided to hide on the opposite edge of the hill - surrounded by Kai's soldiers.

Kai's Samurai Hero and his men decimated a unit of Loyal Spearmen. Things were looking pretty dire for my warband.

At the end of the fourth turn, Kai's warband still hadn't managed to secure the escort, but I was forced to concede. It was highly unlikely that my remaining commoners would be able to stop Kai's Samurai Hero and his supporting units, not to mention the other half of the warband on the opposite side of the table.

It was a fun game, with plenty of action, and a definite "win big, lose big" mentality.

Painting Update - Blood Bowl, Test of Honour, DBA

Recent changes in location have made painting a little more difficult, but I'm still trying!

I finished another Blood Bowl team - the Zharr-Angkor Immortals! These miniatures are from an Impact Miniature kickstarter that produced resin versions of Rolljordan Volmarian Dwarves and Necromantic teams.

I also finished the rest of my Test of Honour warband. Since I have a group to play with now, I shifted a group of archers from the other planned (and now unnecessary) warband into the one I'm using now. I also completed all the support commoners - the two sergeant types, a bannerman and a musician - and four samurai with a variety of weapons.

Another project that I finally wrapped up was an Ancient British army for DBA. This is the old Corvus Belli set that I picked up a couple years ago at Fire in the East (NJ Con). Since DBA is one of my 6x6 games for this year, I'm making an effort to get all of the armies I have for it painted. Their opponents are an Early Imperial Roman army from Rebel Minis.

Ghosts in the Ruins - Test of Honour AAR

Last week's game of Test of Honour was against Bill and Lady Yoshikira. 

The table was set up as the burnt down ruins of a town after a battle.

Both sides needed to search the ruins for supplies and wounded comrades. When discovered, those points would then become objectives that needed to be held to the end of the game.

There was a catch, however. If a unit failed a search, then the ghosts of the slain villagers (or a crafty ninja using smoke and mirrors) would rise up and scare away the unit if it failed a Test of Nerves.

Both sides managed to call up the unquiet spirits. While my samurai managed to regain his nerves and chase away the supernatural interloper, Lady Yoshikira and her warband decided to press on for the objectives further into the ruins.

Both sides advanced into the ruins, with Bill's ninjas taking up the flanks.

Lord Jiro managed to slip around the side and slay a lurking ninja, while Lady Yoshikira and commoners from both sides clashed in the middle of the village.

I managed to clear the flanks with my two samurai, chopping down Bill's commoners left and right. Bill, however, wasn't going to let me off the hook so easily, and Lady Yoshikira quickly carved up two of the three ashigaru in a group. 

Lady Yoshikira then went on to skewer my musketman and engage my second spear ashigaru group. While Lord Jiro returned from dispatching a ninja archer, my other samurai engaged the spear ashigaru unit holding the center objective.

Commoners on both sides were busy attempting to avoid the flashing blades of their enemies.

The game ended on turn six, with my warband in control of two objectives, just beating out Bill and his single objective.