Warhammer Underworlds wednesday 15th of april

 So, time for the final games before we are off to Maastricht next weekend for the Warhammer Open.

 

An event where I'm going to to get the experience, but don't have much ambitions as I feel like I reached my ceiling in the game, not willing to go to Vassal and the likes to churn out hours and hours of online games.

 

Also, this would be the last time for a year I'll be able to play on wednesdays, as the metro system is closing for 11 months for renovations.  That would mean to long a walk to and from the final stop before the Outpost to make it worth the effort before work... pity I forgot the christmas cards for the guys already... 

 

Facing me in the first game was Wim and Ironsoul's Condemnors, who played Hunting Grounds and Emberstone Sentinels, build around the fact of the inherent unpushability of the Stormcasts.  Last week, his opponent described it as one of the most frustrating games he ever played. And so it would be as well for me, but for totally different reasons...

 

 Both warbands deployed, my "expendables" to the front in order to do some early damage and allow the other two to inspire.

 

Only to have Valyssa immediatly charge deep to Brodus, but missing.  She pinged with her Dark lamprey, but this was immediatly negated by my opponent's Healing Potion.

 

Both Sylarc and Drusylla also charged deep into his half, targetting Tavian before he would inspire and go to two shields, yet once again, all attacks missed and the Condemnors remained unhurt.  I did score Get Stuck In along the way, oh joy!

 

My leader then did her teleport shennanigans and pounced on the isolated Ironsoul herself, striking her with cleave... and missed as well.  So four charges, one ping, zero damage on the board for the Stormcasts... I was in big trouble now!

 

The Condemnors scored their cards along the way though, and the first round ended with 1 to 7 on the score, and this game was lost unless I could quickly take at least one of them out.

 

But to no avail, as the attacks kept missing, and up until my 7th (!!!!) activation, I didn't do any damage on any of his models at all.

 

And then finally we scored a hit, allowing me to score a few cards, but this was by far to little to late as he kept scoring big time along the way.  Round 2 ended with a crushing lead for the Condemnors, 3 to 14.

 

There was no bettership though in round 3, and even though I did now manage to hit a few times, my warriors started to fall to the return blows, Brodus having a field day with his big hammer.

 

I could score some more meagre cards, but this was a crushing 6 to 22 defeat, with a full 4 hits done over 12 activations... at least I wasn't tabled lol, Slythael surviving with 2 wounds left...

 

For the second game, we went up against Thibaud and Mollog's Mob, bringing Realmstone Raiders and Reckless Fury to the table.  A combination I'm also eyeing, but then for my Knives of the Crone.

 

Both warbands set up, the mob clustering together on one side, while I put my two heavy hitters a bit back in order to prevent early raging troll charges.

 

 Sylarc went forward, his crossbowbolt missing Spiteshroom before pinging the toadstool with Dark lamprey.

 

 This was the queue for Drusylla to charge in and get inspired, as she mowed the fungus away.

 

 Mollog and his mob then started to charge my way, as the aelves started to concentrate on Stakagsquig, but the bad attack rolls kept coming and the stone survived the attacks.  At least my leader inspired, that's something...

 

 And this left Mollog in the lead after the first turn, Spiteshroom returned, and a 5 to 6 lead.

 

 In the second round, Slythael snuck up to the troll, wounding him with a Knife to the Heart in order to allow the others to go and inspire against the big one.

 

Sylarc however met his end against the big troll, as his club came crashing down on the aelf's head, and put him out of the game.

 

 A big melee erupted around the center, and Stalagsquig still held on...

 

... before Drusylla finally got him after once more throwing in way to many attacks then normally needed to take out a 3 wound minion.

 

Both sides snuck onto the Aqua Ghyranis tokens, and the second round ended with a 12 to 14 lead still for Mollog.

 

 Now, the third round would as such mean all or nothing, and I decided to go all out after the big guy.  Valyssa led the charge, wounding the beast.

 

 Before he smashed her to a measly pulp once resembling an assassin in retaliation.

 

 But then it was time for the heavy hitters to storm in, and this time hopefully start hitting stuff.  Drusylla chipped away more wound, inspiring Mollog and his minions in the process.

 

But that was to late for the troll, as Slythael, with Great Strength, finished the big beast off at last, and that tipped the score big time into my favour.

 

Some positioning by his minions was all there was left to do, but it resulted in a 21-18 victory for the Shadeborn after a hard fought battle.

 

So, two games more in the pocket and towards my yearly goal of 50 games played, and that meant it was time to get to work.  But not after strengthening the inner person, after training the mind for a few hours first...

 

Now off to Maastricht... and make preparations for a totally different game I'm starting together with Thibaud and Wouter soon, but more on that in due time.

 

 

Pillage: Ransack the Middle Ages

 Recently I acquired the new Victrix dark ages wargame rules, Pillage, and that looks like a good opportunity to shuffle the restoration of my SAGA figures a bit more to the front.

 

 

Okay, so "to the front" meaning probably near the end of the year, but a buddy of mine, Philip, is intrested as well so we are going to give this game a try for certain.

 

The book is just short of 140 pages, coming with great artwork and pictures, a really well done, high quality set on that regards.  I myself got the PDF version, but I have been looking through the physical one as well before biting the bullet and get them.

 

Seperated into various sections, like the Generalities, Game Turn, Advanced Rules (like pillaging, because guess what, that is a big part of a ruleset called Pillage), the Factions (currently you can choose between 7 to 11, depending how you count), Playing the Game which has the scenario's, and Collecting which has about all the hobby related things.

About those factions, what I mean is that the Picts, Scots and Irish are all covered by a single list with minor special rule twists, and there is a Generic list as well. 

 

The book also has a nice "history lesson" introduction, without it becoming way to big and boring for the non-historical player.  But it gives a good idea of the setting and the forces involved further then "Vikings!".  The game is usually played on a 48by48 board, but can be gamed for smaller encounters on 36by36 so I see the options here for an occasional solo game try-out in the future on my kitchen table!

 

The scenarios define the normal size of a force used there, and all models should be represented by WYSIWYGG, of which I can only agree to be honest.  Now, I played quit a few games and gamerules in my 30+ years of wargaming, and if I should have to draw a line to more well known sets in "my" usual field of gaming (aka Fantasy), I would say this set leans closest to the Lord of the Rings rules from Games Workshop.  Except like in the old days, no pre-measuring allowed.

The majority of the rules will quickly feel pretty familiar, especially if you played something else in your lifetime then "just one game".  There isn't anything really revolutionary or special in them, which is a good thing.  This just feels like a good, solid set of rules anyone can quickly get familiar with.

 

It also helps in this regard in that the armies generally use the same equipment.  Sure, things like Dane Axes are more prelevalent with Vikings, while Picts run around mostly unarmoured, but the forces are on the same levels generally speaking.   What sets them apart are their "faction special rule" and the gold cost (aka points) of models and equipment.  You can also purcahes Talents, which are special skills for your models, but these tend to become very expensive very fast, and you must weigh of if you are not better off with a warrior or two extra instead.

 

Talking models, for most scenario's you will be set with the contents of a single box of plastic figures out there, like from (ofc) Victrix, Gripping Beast, Wargames Atlantic etc... though for more specialised units, many manufacturers are out there.  Dark Ages has been a popular era for as long as I remember wargaming after all.

 

So all that remains for me to do now is to get 250 GP of figures restored to try the game out (which would be a skirmish on a 24by24 surface) and get a hang of the rules as such, and I'm looking forward to doing so.  After that, we will see how much GP of value we end up with once all models are done *cough* famous last words.

 

Now to get ready to do some Pillage-ing! 

Lord Ipsqueeck's Adventures: the first time to Bobbejaanland for this year!

 Here we go again, theme park season has begun, and to that end I kicked it off in Bobbejaanland, which is only half an hour drive from mommy and daddy's home.

 

And as such, it was time to do some fun rides again!

 

Of course, I love to share my adventures with you all, and for some videoclips, hop over to daddy's themepark YouTube where he will be upping some clips in the coming days and weeks about this journey! 

 

We can't start a day out without going to one of my favourite attractions, the Boatride.  These little boats sail around a cosy garden, and I just love this calm little attraction.

 

After that though, it was time to do some wilder attractions, and I took daddy on the Big Bang waterslide.  Though his cap decided to go solo on this trip...

 

After doing the regular slide as well, it was time for some more splashy fun, with the El Rio wildwater course.  And it really was daddy's day, as a big freak wave splashed right between the segments of the round boat, soaking daddy head to toe hehehe...

 

 

It was time for lunch after that, and we went to the Santa Fe village for some burgers and fries... and chicken nuggets!

 

To let our food settle, we then took a ride on the monorail, going around the whole park for some calm sightseeing. 

 

Ready for more adventure, I went on the double levelled carrousel in Kinderland with mommy, taming a wild tiger as it went around.

 

From there on, it was to the El Paso Special, which has had a clean up during the winterseason, all the animatronics working perfectly again if you shot them!

  

It was time to practice my driving afterwards, as I steered my train along the canyon rocks!

 

 

 

But as the weather started to change, as rain was predicted in the late afternoon, we couldn't end the day without going once more in my favorite ride... and I could even do 2 trips in a row thanks to the friendly operator!

  

And so the first visit of the year to Bobbejaanland for me ended, though I already heard from mommy we will definitly come back this summer for more adventuring in this awesome themepark.

  

Until my next adventure! 

 

Though daddy wonders what they are building there behind the Dreamcatcher, as a brick wall and all can be seen now... 

 

 

On Tour to the Frituur 22: Pure Frituur in Deurne

 In today's culinary fast food exploration, I'm going to a place recommended by friends for the excellent fries.

 

And that is Pure Frituur in Deurne, Antwerp.   

 

Located in a semi-busy shopping street, I went there on a sunday evening after a tournament, so it was okay to find a parking spot nearby.  Inside it was clean and there was a "bar style" seating against the wall to enjoy your meal, though seating is limited so don't take the whole team there or it will be a standing dinner!

 

My Order

 

I went for a small fries, a pot of home-made tartare saus, a berepoot (a fried meatball on a stick with fresh onion) and a smoked cervela.  Pretty basic and classic order as such for myself.  This cost me 14.60 euro, which are about the regular prices you tend to pay around frituur's here in Antwerp "suburbs".

 

The fries where excellently bakes, as was the meat.  They sure know their craft.  But, there was a downside.  They also offer online ordering apparently, which most people make use off to arrive and be able to pick up their order in minutes.  However, as a "dropped by accidentally eat-in customer", that meant my order kept shuffling more to the back of the preparation line.  A bonus though, eating in they give you metal cutlery!

 

As a result, I waited 27 minutes for my meal to be ready, and while I sincerly enjoyed the food, as I said above, it is truly well baked, this was a bit of a downer for me personally.

 

Conclusion

 

Quality wise, nothing at all to remark.  People where friendly, the place is clean and the food was excellent.  But the long wait time, that takes away a serious amount of points for my rating, so I'm going for a 6 out of 10 due to this.  I must admit, had I not be so "meugh'ed" by the wait, this would have been a 9 out of 10 stars rating for the quality.  

 

So if you want to enjoy these fries: order online and take-out! 

Warhammer Underworlds wednesday 8th of april

 Roight, time to put the fun deck of Benelux Clash aside, and start getting "back into" my Shadeborn to prepare for Maastricht.

 

And I immediatly started with a big mistake, but more on that in a moment... 

 

But, we got two games in, normally next week two more and then I guess it'll have to do for the gruelling time schedule of the Maastricht Open. 

 

The first game was against Peter and his Thorns of the Briar Queen, running Deadly Synergies with Edge of the Knife. 

 

Both warbands geployed, and we where off for some dicerolling and hopefully ghostbusting! 

 

And this is where I made the mistake.  Sylarc immediatly charged deep, wounding Vaclav, and about to ping the Queen with Dark Lamprey.  Which is something I don't do normally against the Thorns.  My normal plan is to try and take out 3 or 4 of the little ghosts immediatly in round 1 because neither the Queen nor her right hand man are a big thread and only go to 3 wounds inspired...

 

But it had been a while, and I fell in my regular pattern of immediatly taking out his leader, then Commanding Stride'ing back with Slythael.  It doesn't look much, but it will come back to haunt me as these are an undead warband that doesn't raise back.

 

Sylarc became the center of attention far off in enemy territory, as Drusylla took out The Silenced.

 

And my brave crossbow aelf soon fell as well to the swarming of the Thornqueen's servants.

 

The ghosts where driven into a corner, so normally in round 2 I should be able to start mopping them up while containing them in that corner.

 

And so round 1 ended, a 7 to 10 lead for the Thorns on the board, but that wasn't something I was worried about.

 

But in round 2's early activations, a dramatical roll happened.  Slythael hit The Ever-Hanged with 2 hits, one becoming a crit due to Raging Slayers.  But Peter rolled a double crit in return, and the ghost remained on this plane of existence, and that meant they would be able to start breaking out, and they managed to bring down Slythael in return.

 

Which they duly did, with Valyssa becoming the target so he could make some passive scorings in the process.

 

Vaclav was taken out however, and eventually the Ever-Hanged as well, but this was to little to late as two of the ghosts had now escaped the boxed in status of the board, and it was 10-16 at this point for the ghosts.  Here, my early mistake and the double crit save came to haunt me, as this meant I know lacked bodies to charge out and take out his remaining ghosts...

 

 I dispatched the Exhumed early in the round, but I was in to close a spot now to be able to get to them all in the remaining activations.

 

 While Drusylla managed to take over the Aqua token, even though the ghost survived the attack, his own ghost also snuck on the token at my side, and I didn't score any of my big hitters in the end as there was just one body to much on the table in the final round.  The Shadeborn as such lost 15 to 19, the initial mistake having cost me.  That freaky save prevented rectifying the situation, but not sticking to my initial plan is what actually cost me the game!

 

For the second game tonight, more flying tablecloths lined up against me, as Lady Harrow's Mournflight came forward, using the Realmstone Raiders and Hunting Grounds deck combination, piloted by Thibaud.

 

Both warbands deployed, Thibaud using the Locust generic scroll (Dark Majesty) for the banshees, and he had brought scenery to dress up his side of the board as well!

 

The regular flurry of my opening charges and moves ensued, and the Lady Harrow herself was immediatly taken out.

 

As the Shadeborn infiltrated into his half, the banshees prepared to counter attack those that disturbed their haunted mansion in Embergard.

 

 And Valyssa soon found herself beleaguered near the side of the field, and the first round ended at an 8 to 8 score.

 

 However, she slipped off while being vunerable, and thanks to her Haymaker managed to take down The Screaming Maiden.

 

But Caitha swiftly punished her doing so, the knifewielding aelf falling to her attacks.

 

The Shadeborn decided to "pull the trigger" though, and Slythael finished off The Anguished One, meaning three aelves would be out for the hunt on Caitha in the final round, with a 15-11 score on the board at the moment.

 

 Wherever the banshee tried to go, there was an aelf waiting for her, and as all my survivors had reach there was no safe place for her to get to.

 

And it was Drusylla who dealt the final blow, chasing down the final banshee.

 

Sylarc moved himself on the Aqua Ghyranis token in the final activation, and with Annihilation out, it became a 24-14 victory for the Shadeborn.

 

So, that second game was more how it should be, as I got my targets back in order compared to the first one.  Next week, I'll be able to get in one or two more games to get back in the slaughter vibes of death by a thousand cuts, and then it's off to Maastricht!