Tuesday Poll

Missed the Monday poll due to a game of Bloodbowl that I narrowly lost (1, re-roll, 1! Laces out, Dan, laces out!!!) so here is the belated blurb.
We've all played a game and been struck how ridiculous/gamey or outright wrong a rule is, right?
But which is the worst of the lot?
Vote on!

Last weeks results below.
WW2 was an expected leader though moderns showed stronger than I was expecting.

Tanks!!! Mr & Mrs Zed

Just a quick and simple post this.

Tanks to Mr and Mrs Zed I got a nice little present for looking after smallest Zed when they had to take small Zed to hospital. When I came home from work on Friday evening there was the box from Maelstrom Games, there was me thinking the wife had brought me my wedding anniversary present early but then remembered she knows nothing about where to buy models, so opened the box to find a box of five Sherman tanks from Plastic Soldier. A quick call to Zed and a thank you later and out came the clippers, knife and glue.Now after a couple of hours work the below are ready for paint.

Now I know they may not have the right guns or kit but who cares when they are on the table, which ever way you look at it they are spot on. All I can say is yet again TANKS Mr & Mrs Zed.

Flames of War V3 Changes

I copied this from the WWPD forum

MOVEMENT*Wheeled bumped to 12" off road, 18" on road.
*Jeep bumped to 16" off road, 24" on road.
*Light Guns move 6" off road.
*Medium Guns move 4" off road.
*Terrain is classified much better
*Can Dig in while Gone to Ground
*You may mount up and THEN move transport teams in the same turn
*Transports sent to the rear may return later

SHOOTING
*Guns that are GTG get a 3+ save.
*MG Teams are ROF 2 while pinned
*Most weapon systems get half (rounded down) their ROF on the move. HMGs get 3 shots, US LMGs get 2.
*Bunker Buster weapons that moved cannot shoot at moving vehicles
*Goliaths can auto hit 1 team- that is either bailed/bogged or dug in (else requires a skill check to hit)
*Flame Throwers only bail an AFV on a firepower check. Otherwise, AFVs hit cannot defensive fire
*Turret Facing now comes into play. When turrets are rotated it's a 4+ to hit the different armor ratings
*Weapons with FP 2+ generally have Heavy Breakthrough Gun
*Guns that unlimber can fire at full ROF


ASSAULTING
*All teams within 8" of an assaulting team participate in the assault. And no one else.
*Cavalry can still ride down their opponents unless they get into a building, behind a wall, or other Very Difficult Terrain

MORALE
*Transports do not count against morale


ARTILLERY
*Smoke now only blocks LOS outside of 16" rather than 6"
*Batteries with a staff team can combine for bombardments (Need rules for how to determine AT/FP)
*Batteries with 6+ guns can choose to fire a double width or re-roll misses on a single.

RECON
*No more forced to disengage
*Skill check by team to lift gtg
*Unarmored recce vehicles save on a 3+

AIRPLANES
*Auto range in on targets in the open
*Template can't be placed even partially over a building
*Must have room to place the stand
*AA adds 8" to range for shooting planes

NATIONAL RULES
*GERMAN Kampfgruppe is now by team


MISSIONS AND SCORING
*9+ platoons means you can ignore the first lost one for VPs
*Fortified companies may not start with any armored platoons on the board in missions with reserves
*Infantry companies can only start with one
*Mech 2
*Tank 3
*New missions in general

Plastic Soldier Company Half Track Assembly

The box

The sprue

I built the halftrack as sub-assemblies. Remove surplus sprue and flash at each stage.

Start with the main chassis, sub assembly; test the fit of the stowage bins before gluing (poly cement) in place to ensure the correct orientation.

The tracks are designed to fit on the correct side so there should be little problem in fixing in place correctly
The front axle lines up easily but flip over once you have put the wheels on to ensure that they are the same level as the tracks. You may need to pull down slightly to ensure they touch the ground. Also ensure the wheels are vertical at this stage and leave to set.

The next sub assembly is the crew/passenger compartment and seats.

Glue the bench seats in position before inserting the vehicle floor into the chassis sub assembly above

Glue the floor into place and when set, glue the seat backs in place. The driver and co-driver drop into place.

I felt it would be easier to fix the gun shield in place but I doubt it makes much difference if you do it later after the armour is fixed in place.

I wanted to be able to remove the passengers when the teams are dismounted so I cut strip of clear plastic from a blister and with a smear of blu tac to fix temporarily in position whilst I glue the passengers to the plastic. Take care to not use to much blu tac so as not to raise the floor. Use a small dab of the poly-cement on the feet of the passengers. When dry you can remove the passengers and add a touch more glue if you are concerned about a secure bond.

Finished with passengers removed

Finished with passengers on board

Rumoured release poll

Results are in!
Really quite surprised by these given the current relative interest in FOW and 40K in the garage. I thought FOW would storm it! Well, at least be on par.
Guess we're all more excited about new 40k than we let on!?

Scenary WIP

Hello one and all, it's been a while since I have put anything on here so sorry if it doesn't work out right.

I've always wanted the club to start playing Mordhiem again for a few simple reasons: 1 only a few models to convert and paint (even I can do that), 2 it's an easy game to play from what I remember.

So with this in mind and the fact that some of the guys are play DH with fantasy scenery I thought it would be a good idea to look at getting a town built for multi use.

Having played Mordhiem in the past I still had the old cardboard buildings and put them to good use as templates for extra buildings.

All 3 of these houses are on the same sized base but as it's a town I thought a larger building would be needed for the local pub and thus building 4 was constructed.

So as a start for the clubs town it's going well, looking at getting about another 6 houses and a church with graveyard sorted. As and when this happens the blog will be updated.

Tales from the paint station part 1

My 2012 resolution is to finish all the armies I have before looking into starting a new one. First on my list was my Necrons. I already had a very large Necron force, but with a new codex came new units and so I invested in purchasing some new models as well as converting some units to save some cash.

 

 

Doomsday Ark

Annihilation Barge, with Necron Overlord

Catacomb Command Barge (Necron Overlord is magnetised to either go on a round base or the barge)

Second unit of converted Immortals

Converted Deathmarks

Converted Triarch Praetorians

Converted Crypteks

I also repainted one of my three Monoliths to fit in with the red scheme of my new vehicles

White Dwarf Poll Results

Adding results here for posterity, you never know it may come in handy?

I'll Besieging You

Weds night saw Binx and I duke it out on the tabletop with revamped (no, that's not a pun he was his using savage orcs!) siege rules from Blood in Badlands.

So I wanted to drop some thoughts on the new rules.
Note this is not a review, I wouldn't dare cross into Ballboy's official territory!

Lots has changed in the rules, firstly the speed of the game. Siege used to be quite ponderous. We were able to read the rules and play a game (including multiple rules checking and referencing rules for the other tables) in about 3 hours.
3 of the wall sections are noted as objectives and if the attacker controls at least 2 by the 5th turn he wins. Simple!

Once you've decided who will attack and defend (roll a dice!) the defender sets up in the castle with as much of your army left off as a relief force.
The castle force has to make starvation rolls - each model loses a wound on a 5+.
My Elves had clearly not stocked up their supplies as I lost a LOT this way!
The relief force comes on when a 2D6 roll + turn number = 10+ rolled at the start of the turn.
If a unit from the relief force is able to walk through the gate the defenders win automatically.
I think choosing what goes in the relief force will be quite key. Too much in the castle and you could lose out to starvation, too much in the relief force and the walls could be undermanned.

Deployment for the attackers has them setting up over 8" away from the walls which pretty much means a first turn charge, this is tempered by the fact the defenders get 2 free turns of shooting before the game begins proper.

Both attackers and defenders get a list of items to choose from to help in their roles such as boiling oil and siege towers.
All defenders come with rocks and all attackers are equipped with grapples/ladders.

As the defender it really does feel like you're under the cosh from the start and there is no way to win. That is until you realise you can stand and shoot with rocks each time the charge comes in and the attacker halves their WS and I.

Overall I enjoyed the game and thought the rules worked well. A few bits had to be discussed as they seemed "odd" but we came to amicable conclusions and carried on!

On the night it looked as though the Elf castle was about to be overrun as a tower was taken but a gallant defence by the (wiped out in the end!) phoenix guard and white lions kept the orcs from consolidating their position.
The savage orc shaman getting sucked off sped the result to a win for the brave High Elves!

Siege - give it a go! Especially before the campaign starts later in the year and things get serious!

Mo(re) Hawk

There is a third mohawkee

Soap McTavish RiP

No-hawk

After Wednesdays reveal of me trying to "rock" a Mohawk...i have been thinking that really only two people can get away with this particular hair cut......neither being me!

"I pity the fool who dares to copy my hairstyle"

Wreck and Ruin

I know it's not much, but I thought I'd show some evidence that I'm still painting stuff in 2012.

This is a cheap die-cast toy car that I've taken the wheels off and painted as a wreck for my first zombie apocalypse game of 2012 (it's going to be set in a junkyard, but I also think this piece will be useful as part of a barricade in a city game).  I think that realistically, the spoiler would have been made of plastic, and so wouldn't rust, but I didn't think it would look as good.

 I notice that the car looks like it has a smiley face in this picture, so here's a more serious side-on view (The base looks a bit odd in these pics, a side-effect of using cork floor tile as a basing material):

And a couple of zombies that I finished last year, just to add something a little more interesting...

Tanks to the Left of me.....

Its been a while since I've posted any finished painted stuff, largely because I've had less time to do any painting and also because the camera keeps roaming around the house!
Having managed to lay my hands on it I thought I'd best drop a picture of one unit I did manage to finish over Christmas.

Soviet T70 light tanks.


I got these from Gamodls, $4 (£3ish) each for any vehicle seemed worth the risk.
I'm pleased with the models but you do get what you pay for.
The resin is slightly pitted in places and they're not massively detailed. However when placed on the tabletop from 3 foot away they'll look pretty good and do the job perfectly well (same goes for the paint job!).
One slight error (my fault) was I asked for the tanks to be unpainted (they normally come with a basic paint job). This meant that the mold release etc hadn't been cleaned from the models and despite a warm soapy bath the paint didn't really take to the models well.
Several layers of varnish above and below the paint will hopefully fix any future issues though.
If I were to order again (and I would!) I would stick with the basic paint scheme and just re undercoat when I got them.

Yes, they are patrolling the Bathroom sink. It seemed appropriate as my first FOW attempts were photoed there and it really is the best light in the house this time of day.

Artillery units next in the queue......

2012 Gaming League

Its started as just a bit of interesting research into how many games members of the club actually win during the year, but its slowly turning into a contest....

Anyway, the league is over there on the right, and will be updated for every game played between club members

Finecast Review

Evening all, some of you may remember my comprehensive Liquid GreenStuff review last year, I feel it was received very well by you all so I have decided that my contribution to the blog in the future (among other things) will be more reviews of other war gaming related stuff!

Well the first review of 2012 is: Finecast

To be honest, its shit.....its covered in bubbles, doesn't join right and the flash on it is ridiculous!

Im putting it out there in word form....i wish metal was back....ok FC is light, and easier to convert and no need to pin (hurrah) but you have to use half a pot of Green stuff to make it look normal!

Look at my Sabertusk i got it out of the box like that......shit!

So to conclude......Finecast is shit!

Keep you eye on the blog for more reviews from BallBoy!

Ogres Thundertusk

Here are some pics of my finished Ogre Thundertusk.....and the other bits in my kitchen!

Didn't like the finished product so covered the ogres in blood! Its how they would have liked it!
There he is in all its glory.....
I've decided with this Ogre army to stop trying to make them look like they came straight out of WD and just make sure they were good table top quality, hopefully you will agree.

2012 Wargaming resolutions!

Happy new year to you all!!

Just thinking of some Wargame based resolutions for 2012.

2011 was the year of sporting play which i think went very well!

Do any of you have any specific resolutions for 2012?

I am going to try to stop asking questions...and figure things out for myself....which in turn will help me learn!

And more importantly win with my ogres!

Ring Pirate

Wanted for Smuggling

Contraband? - unknown; where? We have our suspicions but don't want to look!

And the Winner is??

So 2012 is upon us (Happy New Year!!!) and Binx will be collating all results across Wednesday games to find out who has the best win rate etc.
This seems like too good an opportunity to miss out on awarding a Mug (a la royal gaming day) for 2012 champion.

How should the Champion be decided?

Also note the second poll with potential extra awards.

Don't forget to add comments!

Vote Ahoy!

Frenzied finish to 2011

They're done; finally finished; the Savage Orcs are complete ( well until I decided to add some forest goblin stuff later in the year)

2400pts in all their glory

 

 

 

 

My Warboss, with duel spears, leaping over a scared Empire soldier

A badly focused chariot, err just because I did.

Next on the painting table is the handful of converted Necrons I have been dabbling with since the release of the new codex.

Say hello to Zed

Happy new year! ( I'm writing this on the 26th of December, so if the world has ended or WW3 has broken out then drop the happy part)

In the 1st of a new collection of posts I present below a few questions I posed to Zed about the hobby we all love. Over the coming year I'll be posing questions to all of the Lone Wolves so get thinking of your answers, although not all the questions will be the same.

1: How and when did you start wargaming?

A: It was about 1990 and I was the Night Orderly Sergeant.  A knock at the door and a trooper said "you are the dwarf" my immediate thought was, you're getting dropped!  Turns out they were playing advanced heroquest and the NOS always played the dwarf. 

2: What was your 1st wargaming purchase?

A: My first purchase was Space Hulk, quickly followed by Rogue Trader

3: Do you remember you 1st painted models? How bad/good were they and do you still have any examples?

A: My first figures were the Terminators from Space Hulk; I didn't like the bone white on the box so painted them green.  A lot of dry brushing; I had read a few issues of White Dwarf and some of the painting articles.  I don't have them any more, they weren't that bad though.  My first marines were worse, layering and highlighting took a long while for me to get. I have a couple of them somewhere.

 
4: How long have you known the other Lonewolves/how did you meet?

A: I have known Matt the longest, over 18 years.  He used to work for me. I think it was Chris next, a couple or three years later, due to my high level of visiting the Games Workshop Bristol and Cribbs stores, Simon the same year I think by association with Chris.  Then Jon about 12 ish years ago; again he used to work for me.  Neil I think was a little before Jon brought along by Chris and Si.  Tom about 10 years ago he sent an email when we used to have our contact details on the Clubs section of Games Workshop Site.  Lastly Elliot who was a couple of years ago vouched safe by Neil.   Somewhere in there is Dave who I knew through Fred and was more involved with the pre Wolves RPG days.

 

5: Do you have a game that sticks in your memory (for good or bad reasons) that you'd like to recall?

I'll try one of each.  The bad; Playing at Dark Stars against a boy who appeared to be about 18 but had the high pitched voice of someone of about 10 and unfortunately the social agility of someone much younger, he had an awful space marine army of badly painted silver, which is saying something.  He had named a lot of his figures including " this one is called Kenny as he always dies first"  I lost the game because rules were just an inconvenience to him moving figures and rolling dice.  It was all I had in me not to abuse those less fortunate than myself.  Good; there have been a lot of good games over the years, more than is easy to recall which is nice.  One that stands out is an early game with my Dark Elves following the Tale of some Gamers.  I was struggling to understand how to make them work against the other armies I was facing.  Neil suggested that I use a hydra.  I'm not one for buying my way out of trouble (at least not any more) I had the model from the army box and it was built.  So I painted it and added it to my army.  The irony was that I think I was supposed to be playing Simon or Tom and they dropped out so I played Neil and the Hydra just rampaged through his High Elves.  The irony was not lost on either of us.

6: What’s your all time favourite games system?

A: Tricky.  All time I would have to say 40k I have played it the most, have the most armies for it but with version 5 I felt its star fading.  The new version is out in 2012 maybe that will help. 

7: Any wargaming regrets/ things you would have done differently with hindsight?

A: Being bad tempered for so long, I can still have a moment but I am much improved.  I think a lot of my 'blow outs' were more to do with other stuff going on that wasn't hobby related.  My life is less stressful and I am better at separating the two.

8: Any wargaming experience/ army/ model/ story that you are most proud of/ like to brag about?

A: There are a number of things that I am proud of, mostly it is trying new things; whether they are new games, new techniques such as dipping or airbrushing etc.  My Scottish blood bowl team and my Dark Elf Army as a cohesive whole.  As for bragging, I think it will have to be the Royal Round Robin, zero losses.

9: What do you see happening to your wargaming wise over the next 5 years?

A: I think there will be more branching out into historical games.  I am sure there are some other good sci-fi and fantasy games to play but I think they would just be another flavour of 40k and WFB.  Historical gives plenty of scope for modelling, converting, collecting and painting against a back drop every bit as fantastic as the GW'verse.

 

10: Any final thoughts?

A: I've made and have some great friends through gaming and can only see that continuing.  Who would have thought that Wednesday would be one of the highlights of the week?