Painting Update - Blood Bowl

Take my last couple weeks of silence as a lesson against putting all of your post-eggs in one month-basket when it comes to blogging. April saw this blog inundated with posts - more than any other month previously - which quickly dried up as May came about. Scheduling conflicts and other obligations has seriously hampered my hobby time.

That said, I've finally gotten around to putting another project to bed, with the finishing touches finally applied to the Loch Rysk Warhawks, the perennial rivals of the Baltimork Reavers. 

Like the orcs, I created this team so that it would have enough players to be able to fill out all the positional players, with lots of linemen as reserves.

 I haven't had to chance to play with the human team yet, but I'm glad to have them painted to accompany the orc team, for use just in case anyone wants to play a quick game of Blood Bowl. 

The Battle of Clontarf, 1014 - Community Game AAR

Last weekend, Bob Fanelli put on another one of his homebrewed community games, this time focusing on the Battle of Clontarf. 

Fought in 1014, Clontarf saw the clash of the aged High-King of the Irish, Brian Boru, against a Irish-Norse coalition, led by the kings of Dublin and Leinster, Sigtrygg Silkberd and Máel Mórda mac Murchada. The end result of the historical battle saw the Norse-Irish forces broken, and the power of the vikings in Dublin curbed. Brian Boru lost his life in the fighting, however, along with his son and grandson. 

In our fight, six Norse-Irish warbands fought against five Irish warbands. A sixth group of Irish fighters - the Uí Néills - waited on the Irish right flank, hoping to see which way the battle was swinging before heading into the fray.

Unfortunately, I accidentally deleted the picture of the initial positions, so we'll have to jump right into the fight. 

On the first turn, many of the clans issued challenges to each other, hoping to generate Wut points, which would later be needed for combat. Luck seemed to favor both sides - while my Dal Cassian champion was cut down on the far left flank of the Irish line, the Irish champions in the middle of the line managed to cut down their Norse-Irish counter parts.

The two shield walls advanced towards each other. Across most of the lines, warbands crashed into each others fronts, but thanks to the non-involvement of the Uí Néills, the group holding down the Irish right flank was charged not only in the front, but in the side as well.

Combat in Bob's rules involved a deck of cards that represented actions that units could perform. These were Kill them All, Take their Standard, Drive Them, Amuse Them, Disengage, and Rest. Depending on what card each side played, results could range from both sides slaughtering each other, to gaining points of fatigue, or backing off. Spending Wut points added to the amount of casualties caused. For each enemy model killed, a unit gained a Wut point back. And after each turn spent in combat, a unit gained two fatigue points. Fatigue put a negative modifier on the amount of casualties spent, meaning more Wut points were needed to cause casualties.

By the end of the second turn, both sides had bloodied each other, tallying up and collecting Wut.

Of course, it was at this point in time when the Uí Néills decided to join the fight - on the side of the Vikings.

And then, the third turn. Notice anything missing? In two combats, both warbands wiped each other out to the last man. One of the Irish warbands pushed their opponent into the bay, killing them and generating a massive amount of Wut.

But the Irish were essentially gone on both flanks, with the Dal Cassians down to three men and the warband on the right slaughtered as the Uí Néills attacked them in the side.

With a bit of maneuvering on the fourth turn, and the Dal Cassian champion killed in a challenge, the the group reached a consensus and decided to end the game there. The end result was the exact opposite of the historical situation - while the Irish lost the battle, Brian and his family survived and escaped.

We found the rules for the game interesting, although there were some concerns regarding Wut generation and potential limits for units. Additionally, it was only at the end of the fight that we realized that using the Drive Them and Amuse Them cards was much more dangerous than simply trying to kill as many of the enemy as possible - it's difficult to cause any casualties when your unit is completely fatigued.

Painting Update - All Quiet on the Martian Front

Today's update is a quick look at the last units for my All Quiet miniatures. 

These units are the last for the humans, and get them up to 700 points (to match the 700 points of Martians that come in the starter set).

The Rough Riders are a pretty awesome unit, reminiscent of the snowspeeders from the Battle of Hoth. They speed around the battlefield, firing grappling hooks and wires at tripods, either slowing them down or tripping them for massive damage. This is the second unit in the human force, added to the first that came in the starter set.

The other two units are commanders. The infantry command squad allows units to rally if infantry units fail a morale check. The command tank is another tank, but can act as a field commander, allowing the player to spend command points during the game.

Unfortunately, as AQotMF is currently dead, this project is probably going right into the "To Sell" pile, and I'll hope its general rarity will increase the price that buyers are willing to pay.

Next, I'm moving onto the Loch Rysk Warhawks, the human Blood Bowl team that'll be the counterpart to the Baltimork Reavers.

Like a Fist to the Throat - Warmaster AAR

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Dave was kind enough to put on a demo game of Warmaster. I've been looking around for an alternative to Kings of War, and the Warmaster rules are one set that has been paraded time and time again for their design and overall quality. Kevyn, having arrived at the store to play some KoW, but not having an opponent, was roped into playing as well. 

Dave had brought two armies - Chaos and High Elves - of 1500 points, with relatively simple lists as to not overtax our first games. We used some changes to the rules that Dave's group uses, but I'm not sure which of those I'll want to keep using, or if I want to instead try some errata recommend by the Warmaster Podcast crew.

The table was covered in scattered woods and hills, which constricted the placement of our units - neither one of us wanted to take the command penalty for pushing our troops through the trees.

I took command of the Chaos force, which consisted of:

• General
• 2 Heroes
• 3 Chaos Warriors
• 2 Chaos Marauders
• 2 Chaos Knights
• 1 Marauder Horsemen
• 2 Chaos Hounds
• 1 Chaos Chariot

I deployed my troops in four large brigades, with the infantry in the center and the cavalry on the flanks. For purposes of the demo, we rounded down when calculating the army's break point, so my army would break when I lost five units. 

Kevyn's High Elves had quite a few more units than I did:

• General
• 2 Heroes
• 4 Spearmen
• 5 Archers
• 2 Silver Helms
• 1 Reavers
• 1 Chariot
• 2 Bolt Throwers

Two large groups of spearmen anchored Kevyn's right, and archers on his left. Inversely, his cavalry deployed opposite my Chaos Warriors. The High Elves had a break point of seven (eight normally, but dropped down by one for the demo's sake). 

Kevyn won the initiative roll, and opted to go second - obviously hoping that my units would come forward into bow range during the first turn. I obliged, with all my units advancing. Kevyn's ranged fired was somewhat desultory, only pushing back the Marauder Horsemen back a half-inch.

I began turn two by charging the Chaos Hounds into the Archers on the right. Unfortunately, a string of bad command rolls left my Marauders far behind the Warriors, and left my Warriors and Knights out in the open for retaliatory strikes from the High Elves. The Hounds killed one of the Archer units, but took heavy wounds in return.

Kevyn then charged his cavalry brigade right into the Warriors, and used his bolt throwers to force a units of Chaos Knights to break off from their brigade and retreat. The elven cavalry, however, broke against the Warriors, losing one stand from the Reavers and Chariots each, while causing no wounds against the heavily armored infantry.

Now, with plenty of my units within initiative distance, I no longer needed to worry about making command rolls to get my units into combat. The Hound and Horsemen units went into the archers again, while the Warriors charged into the remaining elven cavalry units. My hero on the left sent the Knights and Chariots into the Spearmen at the base of the hill, and also brought up the Knight unit that had retreated earlier. The General brought up the Marauders, but failed the second command roll when trying to send them up further.

While the Hounds and Horsemen were rebuffed, the Warriors slammed into the prancing horses, killing off the Chariots and Reavers, and getting rid of one of the Silver Helm stands. The combined cavalry charge on the left reduced the two spearmen units down to a single stand, but the supporting archers managed to keep the Chaos cavalry from winning the combat.

Hoping his Silver Helms could break the Chaos Warriors, Kevyn used their initiative to charge them in. Meanwhile, his second brigade of two spearmen units charged the Chaos cavalry brigade in the flank, along with the last stand of the other spearmen unit. Although the single stand unit was wiped out, the Chaos cavalry lost the combat, a stand each from the Knight and Chariot units, and was forced back. Kevyn decided not to pursue, not favoring his chances of an archer unit against the Knights.

With only a few units away from his break point, I sent my Warriors in again, along with the last stand of Chaos Hounds. The Knight, Horsemen, and Chariots also went in on the flanks. The Horsemen took out another stand of the archer unit, but was pushed back. The game was decided in the center, however, when the two stand unit of Chaos Warriors and the Chaos Hound stand took out the Silver Helm unit. The Warriors then advanced into the Bolt Throwers and tore them apart, ending the game as the High Elves reached their break point.

Kevyn's deployment seriously impacted his ability to bring the High Elves' superior shooting ability to bear. Concentrated fire from the bolt throwers and archers could have possibly done more damage as my units approached. Relatively untouched, my units were able to slam home into the elven lines, especially the Warriors. As I said to Kevyn, the Chaos Warrior brigade hit the elven cavalry "like a fist to the throat." As the two brigades traded blows, and while the High Elves were ground down over time, the Warriors came away with only the loss of a single stand.

I also noticed, after playing, we had also skipped other rules for expediency's sake. For example, infantry can't pursue after cavalry. I've got a copy of the Warmaster rules being printed at Staples, so that'll make for some reading material. 

This game has me invigorated to play more Warmaster, which may become my mass-battle fantasy game of choice. The fact that I can print out counters and have an army for less than $15 is certainly appealing, although it seems as though that the amount of companies producing 10mm fantasy miniatures is increasing.

Shootout in Stomptown - Fistful of Lead AAR

Last week, I reviewed Fistful of Lead: Reloaded. This week, I got the chance to play a game between two gangs. 

Kevyn took the Bad Guys from Knuckleduster Miniatures, and came up with the "Empty Jugs" gang.

• Jughead (Boss, Pistol, Deft, Deadeye)
• Proper Joe (Pistol, Quick, Lousy Shot, Greenhorn)
• Bottleneck (Pistol)
• Hipster (Pistol)
• Scruffy (Pistol)
• Two Pistol Pete (Pistol)

While I had the Heroes from the same manufacturer, who became the "Aces Wilds" gang.

• Jake Wilds (Boss, Rifle, Gunslinger, Medic)
• Buddy Wilds (Pistol, Deft, Lousy Shot)
• Ezekiel (Pistol)
• Dusty (Pistol)
• Wayne (Pistol)
• Miguel (Pistol) 

The two gangs set up on opposite sides of the small settlement of Stomptown.

The first turn saw both gangs advance, safely outside of pistol range. Even the elder Wilds brother couldn't draw a bead on anyone with his rifle.

Ezekiel was pinned done in the doorway of one of the buildings, but Wayne and Miguel came around in support, along with Jake and his rifle. A hail of fire cut down Proper Joe.

The drunkards weren't going to take that sitting down, however, and Wayne was shot and killed. Hipster and Bottleneck, however, caught a wound and pin marker, respectively.

It seemed that the combat in the center of the town was going in the Aces' favor, as Ezekiel turned the corner and shot Jughead dead besides the outhouse. Buddy was stuck, pinned down by Bottleneck's shots.

Scruffy and Pete were locked in a fight with Dusty. Miguel had survived of fire that saw Scruffy's pistol click on an empty chamber, but took a wound from Two Pistol Pete, who knew a good opportunity to gang up on a good-for-nothing do-gooder when he saw it.

Dusty's next action was to keel over, stone dead. I guess his wound was worse than he thought!

Suddenly, the tables turned against the Aces. Ezekiel was killed by a long range pistol shot from Hipster. Buddy, guessing at how thing things would turn out, turned tail and ran for the hills outside of town. Only Jake and Miguel were left, stuck in the center of town.

Scruffy and Two Pistol Pete came around from the side of the town, and suddenly Jake and Miguel found themselves in close-combat with the enemy. Miguel got away, only pinned, but Jake was killed.

The remaining members of the Empty Jugs closed in on Miguel, who desperately tried to crawl away as the dirt around him exploded with multiple impacts, as well as blood from rapidly gained wounds. Kevyn had quickly learned that close combat could easily go either way, and was particularly bloody - so he was happy to gun down the last hapless lawman.

Finally, the roar of gunfire stopped, and Miguel's perforated body laid slumped on the ground, his blood watering one of Stomptown's wicked looking trees. The Aces were wiped out, and the Jugs went back to the saloon for another drink.

This was a fun game, and the activation mechanic with the cards worked exceptionally well. I may have to pick up some more miniatures from Knuckledusters to represent gunslingers with rifles and shotguns, however.