Painting Update - Middle Earth SBG

Since there's been a bit of a lull in actual gaming recently, here's a look at what I've been painting in the meantime.

I have to admit that I was pulled into a bit of a Middle Earth spree. I finally caved and decided to jump into the (relatively) new edition of the Middle Earth Strategy Game with the Pelennor Fields starter set. While I wasn't so interested in Rohan or the Dead of Dunharrow, the Evil models were more than enough to get a Mordor faction started.

The bulk of the Evil side of the starter set are Morannon Orcs - 36 of them, in fact! I basically block painted the lot the same as the ones shown above, so no need to repeat what would be the same picture three times.

The starter set also came with a Troll, which I suppose I could use as a Chieftain if I wanted to. To supplement the Morannons, I also bought a half dozen Orc Trackers, which are cheap and alright shots with their bows. Rounding out the troops are a Drummer and a Banner Bearer.

Unfortunately, the only Hero included in the Pelennor Fields box for the Evil side is the Witch-King, and only mounted atop a Fell Beast. As a new player I wanted something a little more basic for my first games, so I added a couple generic heroes - a Morannon Captain and a Shaman - along with Shagrat, Gorbag, and Gothmog (both Foot and Mounted versions).

That's enough to get several different 600 point lists! But I'm not finished there. I'm likely to add some more troops (like regular orcs and some cavalry) and heroes before the year's up. But this is a decent start!

4 Diamonds Cup 2019 - Blood Bowl AAR

This past weekend I drove out to Dillsburg, Pennsylvania to attend this year's 4 Diamond Cup tournament. It's a long-standing Blood Bowl event that raises money for the Penn State Children's Hospital! 

The event was held in a fire hall with plenty of space for the games, and the ticket price included a catered (and delicious) lunch.

And the prizes! Attendees could buy raffle tickets to try and win a variety of items. There were playmats and teams...

A really nice painted Lizardmen team, a fantastic looking dugout and a carved wooden box with the tournament's logo...

And a ton of miscellaneous items!

I ended up with a pint glass, a dice tray, and dice with logos for Keystone Kup 18 (looks like another central PA event that happened last year. I may need to keep an eye out for this year's event).

I decided to bring my Human team to the event. I've already played with the Chaos Dwarves and Slann, and I needed to play with the Humans and Orcs before moving on to other teams. And since I've already played with the Orcs in a league, I thought trying the humans out wouldn't be too bad.

In hindsight, well...

My first opponent was Ken and his Dwarves. It was a clash of older edition teams, and the Dwarves came away with a 1-0 win against my Humans. Ken ground out a goal in the first half, which I couldn't follow through to even get a tie.

As Ken pointed out, however, I was playing too conservatively and not using the Human's better speed against the Dwarves. He gave me some advice that I hoped I could use against Dwarf teams in the future.

However, my second game was against Jason, who had brought Pro Elves/Elven Union (depends on the age of the player). This was a rough game for the Humans, and even though I was knocking elves off the pitch left and right, the pointy-eared lads and ladies ended up with a 2-0 victory.

It's always impressive how elf teams and coaches are able to exploit mistakes with that AG 4, as Jason demonstrated with a pickup, hand off, pass and dodge that took the ball from one end of the pitch to the other.

With my expectations shattered, my final opponent was Ezzard and his Dwarf team! I was hoping to put some of my previous experience to good use. I managed to keep Ezzard from scoring in the first half, and scored myself halfway through the second. However, I wasn't able to keep the Dwarves from opening a line in my defense, which Ezzard was able to push through and clear a lane for a late second half score to tie the game 1-1.

So, two losses and a tie, which meant I ended up in 54th place out of 58 players. Not exactly a good first impression for the humans, and I expect they'll be gathering dust on my shelf for some time.

Unfortunately, while each of my opponents were fantastic both in and out of the games, some extenuating circumstances and the frustrations I was having with my coaching really got me in a bad mood, which affected my overall tournament experience. It's a shame, and I hope I didn't negatively affect my opponents' time too much.

On a more positive note, the event did raise for $6,500 in donations!

I'd definitely like to attend again next year and give a better accounting of myself.

Bashing Byzantines! - To the Strongest! AAR

Last month's South Jersey Gamers Association meeting featured a game of To the Strongest! put on by Bill Perry. The scenario was based on the Battle of Manzikert, where the Byzantines faced of against the Seljuks. Little did we know that Bill had implemented a few hidden mechanics that would help recreate the disastrous abandonment of various elements in the Byzantine army during the fight.

The Seljuk force largely consisted of either light or medium bow-armed cavalry and light infantry with bows as well. The Byzantines had some light infantry and cavalry, but also had more formed infantry with bows and spears, along with a deep unit of two-handed weapon wielding Varangian Guard.

The Turks had the initiative and advanced together for the most part, not wanting to close too quickly with the Byzantines and lose a change at loosing a few arrows. The Byzantines also moved forward cautiously, and then discovered Bill's nasty surprise. Each command had to roll a cup full of d10s. If the right colored die matched up with a unit on Bill's hidden sheet, the unit was removed and their Victory Medals awarded to the Seljuks!

While it only happened during the first couple turns, the Byzantines managed to lose a few critical units, which let the faster Seljuks run rampant around their lines.

That was the major advantage of the Seljuk's right flank, when a unit of Armenian spearmen decided to quit the battle before the enemy had even approached. 

The Seljuk's light cavalry darted behind the Byzantine's lines and raided their camp. While the Byzantine center held for a little while longer, they were eventually demoralized and unable to fight back.

The Byzantine center had fared a little better with its desertions, and even had a couple units in reserve. Their Seljuk opponents had their best cavalry in the army, accompanied by light infantry. 

The Byzantines did their best to avoid the axes of the Northmen, while targeting the Byzantine cavalry and archers.

The Byzantine right had the worst of the desertions, and their delay meant the Seljuks were able to advance across the table and pick their engagements as they liked.

The Seljuks plinked away at the inheritors of the Roman Empire for a bit, and skirmished with their cavalry.

Eventually, enough units had either deserted or routed that the Byzantines were forced to quit the field, following the historical outcome close enough! And while the Byzantine commanders certainly had the worse of it, they took the hits on the chin and kept fighting as best they could with their dwindling numbers.

Humans vs. Norse, Practice Game - Blood Bowl AAR

Since I'm planning to attend the 4 Diamonds Cup tournament in early May, I've been looking to get the cobwebs out of my Blood Bowl knowledge and get some experience with the team I'll be taking (Humans).

So Sam was kind enough to meet up with me for a practice game. It was also an opportunity for Sam to both get a better handle on Blood Bowl (having only played it once) and to use his excellently painted Norse team. 

With that, the Loch Rysk Warhawks arrived at Loki's Field to play against the Thor's Thunder!

The game started with the Thunder choosing to receive. Of course, some mushroom-and-mead fueled madman in the stands lobbed a rock at the visiting Warhawks and knocked out a Catcher. Somewhat worried, the Warhawks kicked high and the ball landed just short of the scrimmage, right in front of a Thunder player.

The Norse made for a quick drive up the side of the pitch with a loose formation, but couldn't stop the Warhawks from knocking the ball carrier down.

Undaunted, the Thunder launched a fierce counter attack, opened a hole and ran the ball in for an early score.

After both teams set back up, the Thunder kicked off, with the ball scattering off the pitch and handed to the Human's Thrower. The Warhawks moved up and tried to make an opening, while trying to avoid the rampaging Yhetee that had knocked down the opposing Ogre.

The Warhawks got a lucky break when the Ogre recovered from a single turn of being Bone-headed, blitzed the Yhetee and punched its lights out! This also opened a hole in the Norse line that the Warhawks' Catcher sprinted through. When the Thrower, however, tried to follow up, he got tripped up and went down hard.

Both teams scrambled for the ball, but the Warhawks recovered it first and sent it downfield to the waiting catcher, who moved to just outside the endzone. Feeling safe in their numerical advantage, the Warhawks took the opportunity to do some damage to the Norse before the end of the first half.

When the Thunder couldn't deal out any pain in return, the Warhawks scored at the end of the first half to tie up the score.

With the second half starting, the Norse found themselves down several players, with some unconscious and others dead.

The Warhawks were looking to knock out a few more players before pressing forward with the ball.

The Thunder coach, seeing his players getting knocked around, waved a few hand signals. The team took the hint and disengaged to a new line, waiting for the Warhawks to approach.

The Warhawks obliged on one side of the pitch, but the Ogre went Bone-headed again.

With the Ogre recovering its meagre wits, the Warhawks slammed into the Thunder defensive line, and finally made a move to hand the ball off to the Catcher and ready him for a run at the endzone.

However, in a move that had the Warhawks' coach chewing at his clipboard in anger, the players made a positioning mistake, which let the Thunder blitz the ball carrier, recover the ball, and sprint down the side of the pitch without any opposition!

The Warhawks managed to shove the ball carrier off the pitch (and their obliging fans beat the opposing player unconscious), but the ball landed nearly in the middle of the field - right where another Norse player could sneak through the Warhawks line and pick it up!

Scrambling to prevent a sudden loss in the last turn of the game, the Warhawks surrounded the Thunder player and stopped him from running the ball in. It all came down to a failed pass that scattered off the table and was thrown-in multiple times before finally landing back in the pitch just as the whistle was blown for the end of the second half.

The game ended in a tie, 1-1.

It was a close one, however! Had I waited maybe another turn, or better protected the Catcher, I probably would have had a chance to score and prevent Sam from scoring in a couple turns.

I do like my extra skill placement - two Guard Blitzers, a Tackle Blitzer, a Leader Thrower, and a Block Ogre. It meant that I had a decent armor threat with the Ogre, a 13-deep bench, and three re-rolls per half.

I'm not wholly confidant of my chances to win any game at the tournament, but at least I'll be able to scratch Humans off the list of teams that I have painted and need to play with (next will be Orcs, and then I'm free to get more teams!). 

Opening Festivities - Carnevale AAR

After getting back from Cold Wars, I met up with Kevyn, who I hadn't seen in a while. After catching up, we finally got a chance to play Carnevale. 

We both backed the project way back in the summer of 2017, before I had moved away for my current job. I decided to pick up the starter set and get most of the Guild, while Kevyn chose the Doctors (I was surprised he didn't pick the Strigoi, but as he explained, plague doctors beat vampires any day of the week). 

One of the coolest parts of the kickstarter campaign (and the two player starter) was the inclusion of 1'x1' paper tiles with canals and streets on them, along with paper bridges and actual 3D paper buildings of two different heights. With these and some 3D printed barrels and crates, it created a fantastic looking area to play in.

Kevyn's Doctors consisted of a Doctor of the Mind as a Leader, an Alchemist Doctor, Morgue Doctor, and a Warden for Heroes, and a Carrion and two Madmen for Henchmen. My Guild was lead by a Capodecina, along with a Barber, a Butcher and a Recruiter for Heroes, and three Citizens as Henchmen.

The scenario was Gang Wars, and the objective was simple - kill more of the opposing faction by the end of five turns.

My Capodecina, Barber, and Butcher each leaped across the canal using a gondola, and the Capodecina easily used his speed to reach the Carrion.

On the other side of the square, my Recruiter urged the Citizens forward as the Alchemist Doctors scaled a building.

The center devolved into a bloody melee. While my Capodecina took out the Carrion, the Barber and the Morgue Doctor got into a shaving-razor-on-scalpel fight.

It was at this time that Kevyn and I decided that his Doctors needed to get their magic, and quick. We had started the game thinking that we'd give magic a miss for the first experience, but quickly realized that without some thaumatergical backup, the Guild were going to roll over the workers of the Ospedale like a tidal wave.

So Kevyn quickly put together spells for his Doctor of the Mind and Morgue Doctor (Blood and Fateweaving Disciplines, respectively), and then used that magic to shred my Butcher before he could get to grips with the enemy.

As soon as they had the chance, my Citizens charged the Alchemist Doctor. While their improvised weapons weren't strong individually, there were enough of them that damage started to get through.

Not wanting to deal with that, the Alchemist Doctor fled, leaping to the bridge and throwing bombs behind him. Two of the Citizens managed to shake off the damage and charged again, but the third missed her leap and fell into canal.

The Capodecina ran towards the Doctor of the Mind, blades flashing, while the Warden charged the Barber.

While the Alchemist Doctor escaped again and had a Madman take his place against the Citizens, the Capodecina and his twin blades made short work of the spellcasting Doctor of the Mind, killing the Doctors' leader in turn four. 

At that point, we decided to call the game, since it was only going to end one way. 

Despite having to check the books a lot, and some confusion in the wording of the rules, Kevyn and I had a great time with the game. It's fun and the rules evoke a lot of the movement and speed that the models can pull off, leaping across canals and easily clambering up and down the sides of buildings. Combat is simple but can be brutal, and the Destiny Die adds an extra twist of fun when rolling to attack, jump, or to drown an enemy!

I'm glad that I picked up the two player set, as I can also paint up the Rashaar (i.e., Cult of Dagon) that came with it. Since the Guild is one of the armies/warbands I'd like to paint up this year, it's now on my painting table.