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...

 

 

 

Warhammer Underworlds: Hedkrakka's Madmob

 Well, it is Orktober, so that means I at least needed to paint up something for the large brutes this month.

And my choice fell on the Warhammer Underworlds warband of Savage Orruk's, namely Hedkrakka's Madmob.

A band that actually, despite it's age, still holds it own these days, mainly thanks to the fact they are the only ones still using the Primacy token from the Beastgrave / Direchasm days.  And the fact they are huge brutes specialised in smacking things up...

One thing I didn't want to do with them is make them greeskins, going for a reddish brown instead with parts of their equipment done green jade instead.  I also opted for a heap of soft, rather pastel colours for added visual impact.

I also opted for bone weapons, to better represent the savage nature of these, well, Savage Orruk's, to show they are all about smashing in heads, no matter which tools they have at their disposal!

So that is another warband done for the (impossible to obtain) yearly goal, as soon two more will arrive when the new edition box is released after all...

 

 

But we keep on painting valiantly!

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

 The latest movie Noshi and me saw, this little 2016 box office hit is a fun family fantasy movie.

Though according to our Netflix, we have already seen it, yet neither could remember this, odd...

Jake was told stories by his grandfather about how he battled monsters and spending his childhood at Miss Peregrine's House for Peculiar Children, a magical place on the small island of Cairnholm in England.  All possessing paranormal powers, but when one day Jake finds his grandfather dying with his eyes removed, he is told to go to the loop of September 3, 1943.

The traumatic event causes him to start following therapy with Dr Golan, and together with his father Frank he travels to England to find closure.  He discovers the home destroyed from a Luftwaffe raid back in 1943, but when he enters the ruins he finds the children from his grandfather's stories.  They take him through a portal that wisks him back to 1943, with the house still intact.  

Miss Peregrine explains she belongs to a class called Ymbryne, who can transform into birds, and she and the children hide in a timeloop she created to not being prosecuted in the outside world.  This allows them to relive the same day all over, and prevent them from aging as long as they stay inside the loop.  Jake learns he is also a peculiar, being able to see invisible monsters called Hollows.  These hunt peculiars to consume the eyeballs, in order to maintain a human form, albeit with mily white eyes.

A wounded Ymbrine, miss Avocet, arrives, telling she was attacked by the head of the Hollows, Barron, in the 2016 Blackpool loop and he killed all her children.  Barron manages to get inside the loop, and reveals he has been nursing Jake to find and bring him to this loop, posing as his therapist and all.  

As another Hollow attacks, killing miss Avocet, Jake and the children escape and go after Barron and the captured miss Peregrine to Blackpool, restoring a sunken boat to do so as the home is destroyed by the Luftwaffe this time, breaking the loop.  They catch up to Barron and his monsters, and overcome them, Barron getting killed in the process.  

Jake says goodbye and goes to find his grandfather, as due to Barron being killed in an early loop, he never got to go after his grandfather.  He finds them and receives a map with the international time loops, using it to travel through time, serve in WW2 and eventually reuniting with his friends in 1943, where they go and seek a happy timeloop to live their lives in.

So this was one of those really amusing films to watch in the couch, and of course Eva Green adds that extra touch to everything, but I might be biased on that account.  But if you haven't seen it yet, surely go take a look at it, it's worth the time.

On the Painting Desk 302

 Roight, so I have been rearranging cabinets and shifting around the paint line.

And of course, that means a serious overhaul on the painting desk as well, so let's have a look at the current models I'm working on.

 

With a nice heap finished, it is time to round off Drepur, which will mean that for the next couple of weeks focus will be taken off Underworlds.

 

 

The Blood Bowl team and the artisan contest entries are more urgent, as are the still to assemble Moonstone models.

 

So let's see next week how far I got on the sporty players, before making plans to slowly start rounding out the paint list for the end of the year... which is approaching fast!

The Expanse season 6

 Long overdue, but I finally watched the final season of the excellent The Expanse science fiction series.

Those backlogs are becoming a drama to be honest...

But counting 6 episodes, this rounds out the story of the Rocinante.  In which it all starts to getting tense onboard when the crew make a startling discovery on an asteroid.  In the meantime, Marcos keeps launching asteroids at Earth and Mars even though he is faced with an internal struggle with Filip, who more and more becomes a sex crazed power abuser.

Bobbi is send out by chairman Avarsala to join the Rocinante in an undercover mission, as beyond the rings a young girl discovers that a local species brought back a dead bird-like creature mother to life.  Drummer decides to make an uneasy alliance with Avarsala, making part of the Belt fight alongside the Earth / Mars alliance versus Marco.  They take the war to Marco, as it becomes personal for Holden and Naomi when they face his vessel, Holden disabling the killshot against the enemy at the last moment.

This finds him at odds with his crew, but he confesses he doesn't have what it takes to be the man that kills her son.  On Ceres, the Earthers must see to contain a growing humanitarian crisis as Marco, becoming more power hungry and delusional, destroys their water supply.  

Beyond the rings however, a young boy gets killed, but is brought back to life by the being.  However, this turns out to be a sort of protomolecule reanimation, and the now black eyed looking boy is locked away by his parents, yet escaped with the help of his sister into the forests.

The war itself reaches a critical highpoint, as the Rocinante takes out the last line of defence of Marco, a railgun station that secured the rings.  As Marco tries to escape, his engine is overloaded and he dissolves to an atomic level while entering the rings.  Filip had escaped though, unknown to Naomi, in a repair skiff he was piloting at the time of the fight, setting out into space.  The Rocinante crew take on their future roles, Holden made president of the newly founded transport union with the Belt.  Only to resign immediatly as his first act and installing Drummer in charge instead.

So the season ended on a high note, and as such the series, even though there are still some loose ends.  What becomes of Filip?  What plays out behind the rings?  Maybe I should really start reading the books (the Leviathan Rising series), but I must say, looking back on the series it has changed a LOT from it's initial who dunnit mystery and the protomolecule business.

But, it remains one of the later years better sci-fi shows, and something you should seriously watch if you haven't so far!

Warhammer Underworlds Casual Night: Back with the trusted

 So over the course of the past months, I tried several combinations for the Benelux clash in 10 days.

And nothing really got my fancy, so I decided last moment to go back to my trusted combination of Elathain's Soulraid with Force of Frost (yes, that is that deck that was reviewed on the Critical Focus Channel).

If I am to end up in the bottom half, at least I will do so with a combination I feel comfortable playing.

Going into game 1, I faced Peter and the very effective combination of Skittershank's Clawpack paired with Hungering Parasite.  Previous efforts I stood chanceless, so let's see how we did this time round with something I know how to pilot.

 

 

The warbands deployed, and Fuirann immediatly charged Skulck but missed her attack for a fast point of glory. 

This resulted in the brave Akhelian being swamped by the vile ratmen, being pushed back onto Spinefin's shoal token wounded.

Duinclaw comes to her rescue, and he fares better, his mighty claws cutting the little rat into two pieces.

 

 

But retaliation comes swiftly, as Snyp Padpaw takes Fuirann down in revenge for his lost brethren.

 

 

Elathain joins in the big melee, wounding and pushing Snyp back with the aid of Spinefin and Duinclaw.

 

 

The result however after the first round was a 4-5 lead for the Skaven assassins.

  

In the beginning of the second turn, Elathain charged Snyp again, taking him out this time.

 

 

In the meantime, Slynk Skittershank, who now carried the Bane of Heroes, infiltrated into my territory, away from the charge crazed aelves of the Soulraid.

 

 

 Krowch't is taken down by a valiant Duinclaw once more, the mighty crab having a field day today it seems.

Spinefin appears next to Slynk, injecting his Spinefin Toxin to prevent him from being able to grab the objective and potentially score, as I knew there is such a card in Peter's deck.

 

 

But he managed to bring Kreep Kinwhisper over, and transfer the Bane of Heroes to him instead, still allowing him to score the objective.

 

 

Pinging Spinefin away as a result, the second round stood at a 10-10 score, the Soulraid putting up a much bigger fight then all my previous efforts.

 

 

 Elathain charges Slynk now, as a battle of leaders errupts.

The Ill-faithed is victorious, but his fate is indeed ill as in a reaction from a card, the falling Skaven leader manages to ping off the final wound from the Idoneth leader as well.  And one that yields 2 glory due to him being a large fighter with Born from Agony equipped.

This leaves only Kreep to deal with, who is at one wound remaining... 

Duinclaw charges and pushes the ratman closer to the lethal hex, hoping Tammael can take the rat out as he had just healed himself two wounds with another ploy.  This meant the rat was back on a single wound remaining.

But Tammael is shot down first unfortunatly, yet it didn't seem lost as the rat would ping itself dead if I prevented Duinclaw getting near.

Keeping Spinefin of table for a bit, Duinclaw moved to the edge of the board outside the rats range, but Peter drew Divine Fortitude in his 3rd activation.

This allowed Kreep to survive, but also to let him score no less then 5 glory in the end phase.  While I scored Cold of the Void, this also meant I couldn't score Dead or Doomed anymore.  Had he not drawn the card, the points would not have been 15-20 as the game ended right now, but 19-15 as I would have scored 3 from the objective and 1 for the dead rat, and he losing the 5 of the end phase.  But alas, it was not to be.  Still, a VERY tense game that could swing any way and that gave me serious confidence for the returning of my good old Frosty Soulraid.

In the second game, I faced the other Peter who brought along Hedkrakka's Madmob with Breakneck Slaughter, so that means some furious Orruk aggro comming my way!

Now, considering I have recently been toying with this combination as an idea as well, I had a vague idea of what to expect as both warbands deployed.

 

 Fuirann advanced into the cover hex, only to be wounded and piushed back by Wollop Da Skull.

 

 

In the meantime, Duinclaw, who really had a blast evening, took down Toofdagga, who had already been wounded by Tammael's harpoon.

Dakko Sharp-Stikka advanced, overcoming Forgotten Nightmares and taking out Fuirann with a well-placed arrow to her chest.

Both warbands now huddles around No Man's Land, the score was 3-5 in favour of the Madmob.

In the second turn, with the Soulraid inspired, Elathain charged the big axe wielder, dispatching him with ease.

Hedkrakka attacked, sliding away though afterwards with his momentum counters, as he had missed his attack to boot as Duinclaw defended on a critical.

 

 

Another charge came from the crazed shaman, Duinclaw again saving his carapace, and the shaman slid onwards into a lethal hex, and wounded by Frozen to the Spot.  This allowed for a charging Tammael to harpoon the enemy leader down... and give me that Primacy token.

This left Dakko now surrounded by the Soulraid... and at that moment the score was 8-5 for Elathain and Peter yielded the match, making it a 15-0 victory for the Idoneth Deepkin in what was an avelanche that started to roll out (I would have scored at least, including the Primacy token, 5 more points in that end phase with Chill of the Grave, Tides of Death and Unseen Menace in hand) and would have sealed the deal anyways in favour of Elathain.

So, a good night, even if I lost the first game, it felt like a guinene chance (heck, if it comes down to a single power card being drawn, that is a serious chance) and boosting morale a bit for Benelux clash, to at least see and end there around the halfway mark of the table!

Maybe I can get another few practice games in next week, but if not, it doesn't matter that much as I have enough experience with this warband anyways.