(40k) Blue Moonz Waaagh!, Good Games Brisbane, Shadowfist, Flames of War

Apologies for the lack of updates over April - I've been gaming and painting fairly solidly but not reporting any of it. Slackness.

Blue Moonz Waaagh!
The side-project for April was to get a small 1000 point Ork force organised, built and painted (for me, that's a big job!). Having mostly completed the first two objectives Marc and I had a small 600 point battle in the garage; Orks versus Orks!

Orks need a 5 or better to hit their target when shooting, this image shows a lack thereof as rolled in the heat of battle :(

Blue Moonz Meganobz (progress; left to right) Blocked, Inked, Detailed.

Good Games Brisbane
Meanwhile a new game shop has opened two blocks away; Good Games Brisbane. This has become the new HQ for all of my gaming - it is central, well lit, comfortable and the owner/managers are wonderfully friendly. I do however feel a need to mention my good friends at Ace Comics in the city; I would game there but rental prices in the CBD prevent them from having a sufficiently spacious gaming area, which is understandable. Support Good Games, support Ace Comics - they are both local stores supporting the hobby. Soapbox over.

Good Games 22/04: Justin digs out some Chaos Terminators while Marc shakes his fist at me, presumably due to my criticism of his footwear. Marc and I have joined our Ork forces together; my bright blue Trukks advance aggressively with a Battlewagon full of Mega Armoured Nobz (led by no less than Ghazghkull Thrakka of course) while his black and red Boyz hold the right flank to deny a Chaos push into our rear.

The J-Dawg

Confusingly we have a second Justin who has joined the group with Tau (ordered from UK, not yet received). "The J-Dawg" sub-commanded some Blood Angels with a surprisingly inaccurate Las-predator and an objective seizing Razorback full of Red Thirst Assault Marines (who never needed to get out of their ride). He assures us he had fun despite the Dreadnoughts and Killa Kans stealing the spotlight for much of the game! Everyone is looking forward to seeing his Tau hit the table once they are delivered... and built... and painted...

Good Games 29/04: Putting the Blue Moonz aside I try my hand at a Blood Angels Drop Pod Assault, with satisfyingly results. My unpainted grey drop pods land behind Marc's advancing Orks and unload unpainted grey Furioso Dreadnoughts. His undercoated Orks are understandably surprised and begin to spin in furious circles of confusion.

Shadowfist
So, one of the many advantages of Good Games is that (too my surprise) the old Shadowfist gang who I know and love have chosen it as their preferred venue for games. Shadowfist is a collectable card game that I have had an on-again/off-again obsession with since it was released, fifteen years ago. Thursday nights is the (current) regular night for games and I've dusted off my old Architects of the Flesh deck for some abomination shenanigans. For variety I also put together a simple Seven Masters deck based on a design I was tweaking the last time I dropped out of the scene. Of course as I continue to modify both decks I will inevitably stuff them up!



Flames of War
As if all this wasn't enough Matthew has begun collecting Flames of War! Blowing even more dust off even more gaming bits I have consolidated my collection which had become spread across many storage boxes under piles of accumulated stuff. I still have my old Fallschirmjager (German Paratrooper) army and the various half-finished and unconstructed bits of a Panzergranadiers (German bad guys in halftracks or trucks) to field as Axis.

Of course no collection is complete without some Allies, so I have slowly added to my small set of Shermans (United States tanks) over the past few weeks with Armoured Rifles (US version of Panzergrenadiers) and M10 Tank Destroyers (ambush tanks with big guns).

Of course, this means more building... and more painting!

Project: Reaver Titan (5) -&- The Reclamation of Galimimus IV

Project Reaver Part 5: Body assembly complete
All that remains now are the weapons and decorative bits such as pistons and plates... oh, and painting of course

With the torso added I can see for the first time the full size of this beast

Towering over the kitchen bench!

Size comparison: 40k Forgeworld Reaver beside vintage Epic Citadel Reaver

Size Comparison: The little epic Reaver is smaller than the footprint of the 40k version!

The Reclamation of Galimimus IV
Last night my garage hosted a 4000 point Apocalypse battle which saw Marc (Orks) and Justin (Chaos Marines) vs Matthew (Deathwing) and Troy (me! Imperial Guard).

As host I set the table up with a ruined Imperial city on one edge and an abandoned Feral Ork village on the other. In the center was the last remaining forest of Galimimus IV (once a world covered in woodland)... a tiny clump of trees.

{Click on images for larger versions}

Setup: The empty Imperial city (West table edge)

Setup: The empty Feral Ork village (East table edge)

Deployment: Matthew claims the Feral Ork village with his Imperial Guard auxiliaries.

Marc and Justin continuously choose to deploy zero units each turn, allowing Matthew and I to put models on the table wherever we like. Our suspicion that they have both chosen Flank March assets seems to be confirmed.

At the start of our third turn we are forced to deploy whatever we have left in reserve. We reveal that we have both chosen Flank March and place the Reaver and Baneblade wherever we like... but our enemies have yet to reach their third turn and so still have nothing on the table!

The forces of Disorder finally deploy onto the table in turn three, as suspected they too have both chosen Flank March! A Stompa appears beside my Reaver close enough to ignore the void shields and manages to remove a structure point and damage the titan's drive. Marc's other Stompa appears on the other side of the table and peels a few void shields off my Reaver, allowing Justin's Chaos Reaver to continue applying fire. I make an accounting error whilst adjusting my remaining structure points and attempt to correct the mistake but Justin is having none of it an insists the damage is correct. Sensing an argument growing I yield and wear my mistake - in future we will not be using dice to record shields/damage!

My heavily damaged Reaver concentrates on Justin's Chaos Reaver, managing to do some damage and wreck its drive. Again there is dice/damage confusion but we push on.

One of my Vendettas zooms across the table to ping the Chaos Reaver from point-blank range, close enough to ignore the void shields although no damage is caused. It is however ready to land and help contest the nearby objective. Meanwhile the Deathwing continue to quietly claim and hold objectives while the Reavers and Stompas blast away at each other. My Reaver takes a destroyer hit while his void shields are down and loses his last structure point. Matthew's Baneblade also goes up in a mushroom cloud.

Vendettas take a few shots at big targets and prepare to land near objectives to unload passengers.

The game ends next turn with Matthew and I on every objective while Marc and Justin are contesting two.

Deathwing/Guard: Four Objectives (Victory)
Orks/Chaos: Zero Objectives

Notes: As mentioned above we must stop using dice to indicate damage effects, remaining shields and remaining structure points as this is causing confusion and arguments. I will be making sets of tokens which clearly indicate "Structure" and "Shield" with values. Also, explicitly stated damage effects will also be required. Gone are the days of "just put a dice on it" - fishing out the correct token may be slower than putting a dice down but the clarity gained will be worth the wait...
Notes: Reviewing the rulebook, we cannot take the same Strategic Asset twice on the same team - so no more double Flank Marches!

Project: Reaver Titan (4)

Part 4: Leg construction.
There are a million points of articulation on the Reaver's legs - making it quite tricky to hold all the bits in position long enough to get some glue on!

Dry build, laying the major leg bits out on the bench so I can get an idea of how big it is - and how it will fit onto the base.

Left leg as seen from rear. I decided to keep this leg fairly straight with only a little bend at the knee.

Leg construction almost complete, view from the front. There are FIFTY bits all glued together in this shot (with still more leg bits to come before this stage is complete) ...and of course my fingers are covered in glue!

I placed a blob of spak-filler within the pelvis to help keep the legs in place, although there are pistons which reinforce the joint I wanted a little extra support while adjusting position. Spak-filler was also applied under the left foot so that it had a solid point of contact with the knobbly base (rather than being perched up on the tips of rocks it now rests flatly on a little plateau which cannot be seen - adding a LOT of stability). The right foot sits flatly on the roof of the wrecked Chaos Rhino so only a little glue is needed - although I may drill and pin this in the future if it comes loose.

Spak-filler was also used to plug up gaps in the craters so they will hold a little more Water Effect when added much later in the project. I found the gaps simply by filling the craters up with water and watching where it ran out... :)

Project: Reaver Titan (3)

Project Reaver III: The Washening
How did you spend your Saturday night? I stayed in and scrubbed all the resin parts of my Reaver Titan... there are many many more bits than expected, even after going through them when the big box first arrived. Scrubbing every one of the components with a toothbrush has given me an intimate understanding of the kit!

The largest piece of flash is found on the rear of the Turbo-laser (resting on my pinky finger in this shot). This badboy is going to need to be cut off with the unfortunately named Bone Saw hobby tool.

Upon initial inspection I was concerned by the confusing block of flash attached to the Laser Destructor's capacitor. Consulting the construction guide the distinction between flash and pipe can be determined.

In the sink; all the many leg bits

The upper leg bits suggest Victorian/Steampunk gun turrets when resting out of context

The Moderatus Princeps does not seemed pleased with his soaking. He is accompanied by the superbly detailed Tech Priest and various optional decorative bits.

Shoulders, Armour plates and Internals; including the rather disturbing installed servitors
(there's another one in the roof under the carapace weapon mount)

Scrubbing the carapace. The murkiness of the water convinces me all this scrubbing is doing something good.


As promised in an earlier post; the size comparison of Reaver head to Rhino tank - almost the same!

My reward for an hour or so slaving over the kitchen sink; a restorative dram of Highland Park *grin*. Sadly this finished the bottle - although gave the perfect excuse for opening my waiting bottle of Glenmorangie.

(40k) Battle of the Receeding Inundation

On the last Friday of January we journeyed to Matthew's house for a 2000 point 40k game. Justin and I shared command of a Chaos Space Marines Force while Matthew and Allan unleashed a motorised Ork waaagh. Matthew set up a rather nice urban board using a laminated Cities of Death map to which we added a few buildings.

For our first match of the evening we consulted the Battle Missions book and rolled dice; the result came up as an Ork Blitzkrieg. In this mission three objective markers are placed on a diagonal axis across the table and only Fast Attack can deploy - everything else is in reserve.

The first few turns clicked over quickly as not much was coming from reserve - and when it did arrive the only option was to march onto the table and twiddle thumbs (or claws... or tentacles...) as the enemy were distant. We did manage to get into some carnage in the last few turns as the looming Ork tide reached the center of the table and engaged the scattering of Chaos stuff.

Matthew, Troy and Allan discuss Battle Missions, Terrain and Painting while Justin is on cameraman duty.


Justin's World Eaters Chaos Dreadnought plows into some Ork Boyz while their Looted Land Raider Battlewagon manoeuvres into a position to scoop them back up if they survive.


Nurgley Defiler (proxied with a Soulgrinder) and Khorne Bezerkers charge into Ghazghkull Thraka and his bodyguard of squishy Ork Boyz... meanwhile an unpainted Typhus lurks on the edge of screen.


Endgame: Orks hold two objectives, Chaos holds zero - Ork Victory!

...

For our second game of the night we decided to leave the terrain as it was so that we could get another battle started quickly. Having played with objective markers in our first battle we decided that this game should use kill points... with a shot of Vodka for every point earned!!!


Chaos deploys in a clump around a solid building to break line of sight with our crazy Dreadnought and maintain concentration of force while Orks choose a more balanced deployment allowing more options. I seem to be simultaneously stroking my beard and measuring march distance for Typhus.

Justin's Dreadnought charges maniacally into Ghazghkull Thraka and his entourage while my Nurgley elements cough and wheeze trying to keep up. Vodka shots all round!

Khornate Chaos Terminators step through the warp to arrive directly in the midst of the Ork lines. From here they threaten Allan's Looted Basilisk Wagon (even with an unfinished paint job it looks great).

From beyond a Vodka-fuelled haze I am reliably informed that Chaos won with 7 kill points vs Orks with 4 kill points. Chaos Victory!

...

Next month we are making the long trek to Justin's to play in his shed, now with power. I have challenged Marc to a 1000 point battle on the baby table while Matthew, Allan and Justin will play on the big boys table with 2000 points. Well, that's the plan assuming everyone can make it!