Relic Armor Legaciam

 Next on the backlog list, another oldschool mecha anime from 1987.

Created as a one episode ONA, this is another flashback to animation in "the good old days", even though I understand for newer anime lovers it might be something to get used to to watch.

 

Now, end of the 80s, Mecha was a very popular genre, and anime like Patlabor or Macross left a mark.  This one however, not so much, being just, well, generic.  Alcia is a young girl living on a harsh planet, that is warmed by the sunbeams being bend using big mirrors in orbit.  Her grandfather is building a mecha only she will be able to pilot, but he is kidnapped by a group that wants the machine for themselves.

 

 

Alcia and her friends set out to free him, and thanks to her ability to pilot the special heat shielded mecha, she manages to free him.  And well, that is basically all there is to this anime, a very thin, many times told before story with some generic animation for the day.  The main suit though I must say does look fine and sleek in design, but why for example a mysterious tower resides in the middle of Libertia, no-one knows.

Like the title kind of says, this anime is a relic of a long gone time, and unless you are someone like me actively sniffing out old and obscure mecha anime (I found this one on YouTube), there is nothing that will ever point you in it's direction as a must see or gem you might have missed.

So, if you are a fan of the genre and a completionist, go watch it.  If not, nothing lost...

Warhammer Underworlds: Drepur's Wraithkeepers

 Okay, I admit, I don't have any direct intentions playing these horse headed Nighthaunt any time soon.

But as I'm struggling to fullfil my Battle against the Gray challenge over on Chaos Dwarfs Online for this year, due to the large collection I obtained, they are a relatively quick paint project.

 

A sudden almost 100 models big collection haul does these things, so with the models being mostly a cloak and stone scenery elements, I figured I could do them relatively fast "in between" other projects. 

Though I must say, I thought these quick paint jobs, but they are far more detailed then seen at first glance, especially for the bases with the thorns, roses and mist all flowing around the broken fences and gravestones.  The Wraithkeepers themselves are basically just a black cloak with a large spear and a skeletal horsehead though...

So they took me a bit longer then projected (not that much, but still) and are ready now to face, well, the Fomoroid Crusher in some solo games as they aren't yet in the "official 33" for edition 2, but all honesty forces me to say, they wouldn't be played probably anyways in Underworlds by myself.  They are actually painted up to play the role of villains in the various solo game adventures I have laid out coming in 2025, so you can expect to see them featured for sure!

But for now, they where probably the final warband I finished this year (unless time permits to tackle Hexbane, also for other uses then Underworlds), clocking me off at 10 warbands painted in 2024, not to bad at all...

Warhammer Underworlds tournament report: Benelux Clash II

 Well, guess this has to be the first international tournament I'm playing for Underworlds, as the 3rd of november I journeyed with "Team Antwerp" to the vicinity of Rotterdam.

Here the second edition of Benelux Clash took place, the first one falling in the water for most Belgians due to being organised on election day this year, and in Belgium voting is mandatory.

But arriving at the venue, the Het Wapen van Alblasserdam in Alblasserdam near Rotterdam, there where 18 candidates for the glory, with 9 hauling from The Netherlands (technically 10, but the TO's played as a tagteam) and 9 Belgians.  No Luxemburgian to be spotted though...

Initially I wanted to take The Crimson Court combined with Path of Prophecy, but no matter what I tried I couldn't get it to work.  I then decided to take Hrothgorn's Mantrappers along, using Breakneck Slaughter for some sheer, pure brutality, and that played rather fun.  But when the dust of the casual night testing set, I just didn,t get the right vibes of them, and ended up taking my Elathain's Soulraid with Force of Frost after all.  Old habbits, great loves, you know the mantra's...  

My goals? End in the top half of the table, and above the other Elathain's Soulraid warband I read that would be attending.  But of course, one can not leave for a tournament without providing sustenance for the whole team!

 

 

Running paralel with the event, there was also a Heresy 30k tournament taking place, organised by the local club Rotterdam White Scars.

 

But with the lanyards for the participants divided and the briefing made, we where ready to go for 6 rounds of Underworlds best of 1 Nemesis format.

My first round put me against Simon, who brought his nicely converted Gnarlspirit Pack with Breakneck Slaughter.  Unfortunatly I lost 10-11 as I had to make a gamble in my last activation: move on an objective to draw thanks to my Chasm key, or guess on my objective cards.  I had three remaining, and two would win me the game.  Needless to say, I pulled the only one that wasn't suitable, Cold of the Void.

The second game was against Peter, from Team Antwerp and our driver, with Zondara's Gravebreakers and Beastbound Assault.  I lost heavily in this one with 6 to 13, tabled in round 2 bar Spinefin.  But the critical moment was when a wounded and trapped Ferlain made a crit save or he would be out.  After that save, he could start the reaction of attacking with every Zondara attack and munched (pun intended) through my warband instead.

 

The price support had been brought to the table in the meantime, with certificates and accompanying medals for the top 3, best painted and best sportmanship.   The winner will also receive an Embergard box donated by their sponsor TTK upon release in two weeks.  Furthermore the top 4 in painting would receive the special Giant Card for multiplayer games in first edition, while the person ending last would take home a set of Inspiration tokens for his models.  All participants also received a D6.  

Right before lunch, the Best Painted voting was done amongst (most) warbands, the majority participating in the display moment.  Yes, those are the Zondara's Gravebreakers featured last week on the GW Hobby Hangout on their channel, painted by Peter that had trashed me mere moments ago.

 

 

Lunch consisted of chicken sate with fries and veggies, and a Hertog Jan to wash away the disappointing result-wise start of the day...

 

 

 And then we where off to a hopefully more succesfull second part of the day, with still 4 games remaining and the realisation that if I wanted to reach my goal, I needed to win them all.  I started out as such at the total rock bottom table, facing Jaco and his Skabbik's Plaguepack, coupled with Breakneck Slaughter.  This was okay in my book, a warband I didn't fear at all from past experiences and a swift 13-7 win was scored.  Honour at  least was saved for today.

 

 Next I faced Peter, again from our Antwerp Team, with the Hungering Parasyte Skittershank Clawpack, a band I had real problems with in preparations.  But he also wasn't having a good day, hovering in the bottom regions.  The game ended in 15-15, but as I snuck Fuirann with her Chasm Key onto an objective in the last activation, I drew in glory but won on tie-breaker as a result, circumventing this hard cliff on my hopefully way up.

 

 

Another familiar face in the next round, as I went against Wouter from Team Antwerp with his Thricefold Discord, boosted with Force of Frost. I scored a 12-10 win, and there was this hilarious moment at the end of round 1 we realised he had 4 objectives in hand (neither of us had noticed), yet still couldn't score it.  A fun battle, and at the end of the tournament I gave my Sportsmanship vote to Wouter as this was the most hilarious game of the day for me, not only for the above reason.

My final game, now standing at 3-2 so I would at least win 50% today, was against Nico and his The Exiled Dead with Beastbound Assault.  I saw Nico play last week in our weekly gathering, and that warband is a glory scoring machine.  But a small mistake from his side, after I took out his Apprentice Markov, allowed me to reach and take out his Deintalos in activation 2 of round 2, leaving it a shambling horde and no threat anymore, netting a 16-7 victory.  The setup picture however was to shabby to use, but I'll come back to this warband in a moment.

So, that was 6 rounds of Warhammer Underworlds, and I was still amazingly fresh in the head.  I had feared metal tiredness kicking in around round 4, but it all kept clear and working, and I netted a 4/2/0 with 72 Glory points.  In the end this gained me an 8th place (games against each other being the first tiebreaker, so hence why 2 people with less glory ended above me), reaching my objective of the top half of the table, AND I jumped over the other Soulraid player in the final round.  So both tournament goals achieved.

And then it was time for the two excellent organisers (and world championship qualifiers!) Valentin and Jan-Willem, who ran the tournament together with Thijs and Peter, to start the awards ceremony under the listening ears and intense gazes of the people present!

Tim from Team Halle came out as Best Sportmanship award winner.

 

(picture by Valentin Hornik)

Now, then it was a bit of a personal shock, as during the top 4 of the painting, I was actually called forward in third place.  My pink fish seemingly drew some votes and I was genuinly amazed considering I even left Peter's Zondara behind me... especially as pre the ceremony, we had a talk about painting outside at the smokestack, and I told people I never make any illusions as my style of drawing lines like Kevin Dallimore did 25+ years ago is out of date and not suitable for Fantasy miniatures...

(picture by Valentin Hornik)

But remember how I would come back to The Exiled Dead?  Well, Nico won the Best Painted award, he had my vote as well, with his lovely warband.  So here is a better picture of them then what a set-up picture could have done them justice.

(picture by Valentin Hornik)

The "inspirational prize" for finishing last went to Steven, with perhaps the most hardcore warband present: the still unpainted after 7 years, Original Bad-asses of Garrek's Reavers!  I was a fan for sure!

And then we went to the top spots of the tournament!  In third place, normally the tag team of Valentin and Willy ended, so their spot shifted one down.  This meant Kevin with his Gorechosen of Dromm took home the bronze medal.

Second place went to Joep, who had brought Domitan's Stormcoven to the event.

But finally, the winner of the Benelux Clash II: Vincent from Team Halle with his Hedkrakka's Madmob, and scoring a massive 110 glory (also, the only player to go into the triple digets on glory scoring today).

Thanks again to the Dutch community for organising this great day in a lovely setting, and next edition I will certainly be back!

And so ended the saga of Elathain's Soulraid with Force of Frost, and for many the first edition of Warhammer Underworlds after 7 years of fun and games.  I am running a last huzzaah for the system the 23rd of november, a week after the release of the second edition, at the Tin Soldiers of Antwerp clubhouse, but I'll wave out the first edition there with my Dread Pageant.  So for those still looking for a few final casual tournament games in the Nemesis format, there are still spots available over on T3 to register.  

 

Won't be as luxurious though, our clubhouse being a rumoured survivor of the Slag Van Ekeren in 1703...

 

 

Tatakae!! Iczer-1

 Time for the next backlog series to be watched, in a desperate attempt to make at least something still of those 2024 anime numbers.

And Tatakae!! is a three part OVA series that was on the list for the backlog clearance, which aired from 1985 to 1987.

And it is centered around Nagisa, a schoolgirl who does the normal schoolgirly things, before she encounters a woman dressed in uniform.  Earth however is attacked by an alien race known as the Cthulhu, parasitic creatures infiltating society by taking over hosts.

When this is thwarted by a giant robot called Iczer-1, they go to plan a full invasion instead.  Iczer needs to find her synchronisation partner to unleash the power of the robot at the fullest, finding this in Nagisa, who quickly becomes a target and sees her classmates and parents transform into devilish creatures, forcing them to be killed.

One of the alien top rank officers, Cobalt, attacks in a giant mecha herself, but Iczer-1 stops her as Nagisa's rage over the death of her parents consumes her, and killing Cobalt in the process.  Lord Violet, ruler of the aliens, builds a Iczer of his own, piloted by Cobalt's partner Sepia.  As the world becomes a battlefield, Nagisa finds Sayoko, a young girl tending to her mother.  But they quickly are hunted by the aliens, and when her mother turns into one herself, as Iczer-1 is defeated in battle and regroups with Nagisa.

But when they try to kill Sayoko, Nagisa enrages and defeats Sepia and her robots.  She is captured by the aliens however and Iczer-1 must single handedly come to her rescue.  But under a strong mind control, Iczer-1 is forced to kill Nagisa.  However, her spirit merges with the machine, and for the first time it fully synchronises.  It is revealed she and Iczer-1 where created in tandem by an ancient wishgranting machine, as where the aliens part of an ancient prophecy.  

Iczer-1 overcomes the enemies and makes them fade from memory, as Nagisa returns back to the moment the series started, as time is being reset and the Cthulu never assaulted Earth, as Iczer-1 sets of to find a new homeworld.

Okay, there is something to be said for old anime, and not only the art style which breaths sheer nostalgia.  If this series was made today, you would find it instead on Hentai Haven with all it's nakedness and tentacles.  But overal, it was a so-so anime, so watch it for old school mecha heroines, but don't expect something special out of this...

Warhammer Casual gamenight: racing against the clock

 The last casual game night before Benelux Clash, meaning we had to implement the one thing we all dreaded: the timer clock!

Sunday, you will have exactly 1 hour from the moment you make the first roll-off to the counting of final glory, and that is something we are not used to in our casual games at all.

As we numbered 5 players tonight, everyone got two attempts to get used to this, so off we went to some speeded-up gameplay (and hence a few pictures less per game as I didn't want to interrupt to much).

In my first game, I faced Zondara's Gravebreakers with the Beastbound Assault deck by Peter.  Yes, those are the ones that the same night where featured on GW's hobby hang-out, way to go mate!

 

 

Peter immediatly longboarded me, which negates a part of my special movement rules unfortunatly and one thing I don't like for my basic gameplan.

 

 

Fuirann immediatly charges Toyle, but as he saves on a crit only manages to push the zombie back.

 

 

Tammael has more success, his harpoon puncturing Pikk and taking the first zombie of the board for now. 

 

 

The Soulraid infiltrates the oppossing field, and the scoreboard reads 3-3 in glory points.

 

 

In the second turn, being inspired now,  the attack began and soon Ferlain was wounded by Tammael's spear and stuck on the field.

Spinefin appeared next to the werewolf, and Duinclaw assaults the beast which had healed a wound back, wounding him again.  At that moment, Spinefin injected it's toxin into him, and the cursed lover fell.

Having turned the tables for now, even though Pikk returned to the table, the score was 7-6 to the Soulraid.

In the final turn, Fuirann went deep into the board, taking out Cracktomb as we where inspired again thanks to Fury of the Storm.

On the other side though, Zondara took down brave little Duinclaw.

Unfortunatly, in the final activation of the Gravebreakers, a combination of cards managed to take off the final wound from Fuirann, meaning I couldn't score the Dead or Doomed anymore I had in hand, and the Soulraid lost 11-12 to the Gravebreakers as I couldn't prevent his objectives being played in turn.

The second game brought me against Michael and the Brethren of the Bolt, coupled to Rimewyrm's Bite.

A band I never played before, but I wasn't longboarded so my higher movement could prove pivotal for this battle.

Tammael immediatly charged Arcus, taking the crazed lightning adorning follower down.

Friar Galvic though took revenge, hitting Duinclaw hard and knocking him back into a lethal hex, the Model of the Year succumbing to the damage before Elathain himself took down Yakob.

With the Soulraid now on enemy territory, and poor Spinefin punctured by an ice shard, the score read 5-4 for the Brethren of the Bolt after the first round.

As my inspired round now came up, Fuirann pushed back Galvic after wounding him, as Tammael made short work of Tazat.

Friar Galvic was taken down in a duel against Elathain, as the Brethren where seriously hampered by Forgotten Nightmares, refusing to discard and as such assaulting Spinefin, who survived... twice!

Pater Filius ran into my territory to make an attack on Fuirann, but she defended, and after the second round the it stood 10-5 for the Soulraid.

Going into the third turn, I knew I would score my full hand anyways in the end phase, so I was confident this was in the bag.  I just needed to make sure I had someone next to the Pater at the end, and as Michael had first activation I could always react to this as such.

The hunt began for the soul of the leader of the Brethren as a result, damaging him along the way, until Elathain stepped in and took the crazed cultist leader down.  Scoring as such a hefty 6 glory in the end phase as well, it ended 18-7 for the Soulraid... and all 3 times Elathain took one down, I forgot the Lurelight I had equipped from my first activation to offer a discard or extra glory, so it could have been even higher...

But, the gaming against the clock went smooth, and while it does prevent a bit of hex counting and upgrade deciding, I have a pretty good idea what my deck does *cough*.  I could have actually won both games, but undead warbands are always a bit harder for my objectives as they keep coming back, making it hard to either spread them out or mark them all, and like with the Hungering Rats last week victory slipped through my fingers by a last moment power card, but that is the name of the game after all.

So do I feel confident for the Benelux Clash now that I brought my beloved Elathain deck back?  Yes, in that manner that I aim to end in the first half of the table, and all the rest would be bonus.  But with 6 rounds, a lot can happen and two early defeats might find you suddenly in the basement.

Let's see next week with how I faired at the tournament, before having a final wave off for edition one and the Soulraid (they aren't part of the new 33) at the Ekeren tournament, after which the baton will be passed to those other Idoneth of Cyreni's Razors...