Breakthrough at Mordheime Casino

Tonight I went to the TSA club for a game of Mordheim versus my Nemesis, and to plan our tactic *kuch* IF the Duo Tournament in November should indeed be with fixed partners.

Both our gangs had received a bloody nose in their single battle before as the `wimps` in multiplayers with highly experienced bands, so at my 72 rating vs his 67, one could say we would be evenly matched.

Making use (thanks for allowing this Bruno) of a Monte Casino model as central piece, we rolled the Breakthrough scenario, and with both bands at 7 members, causing 2 out of actions would be enough to cause routing tests.  I was confident if I could take out some of the cultists, I could force him to take the tests and hope he flunked one, as my lower speed put me in a serious disadvantage.

I would be receiving the multiple charges as he outpaced me, and he has 3 models with 2 wounds.

The game started very well, as his Magister cast Eye of God on a cultist, and rolled a 1 putting the bloke out of action.  One more to go!

But there it all ended.  As he tried to force his way through my right flank, the Possessed charged the Gaoler and put him out of action.  A warrior countercharged and managed to wound the beast, but the retaliation put the brave little guy out as well.

 

My archers managed to be unable to even hit a door in front of their noses, and my Sorcerer just couldn`t beat the Difficulty 9 of his Spirit of Hashut, even though he had juicy targets constantly lined up for the spell.

The Possessed charged an archer, and down went my boy.  I was taking tests already, and couldn`t seem to be able to even hit his forces.  When in the penultimate turn that bloody Possessed also took down the second warrior, it all came down to a drop of a chance.

If I could kill a cultist lined before my Sorcerer, I could pray he would flunk his rout test right before the finish line.  I finally after two games managed to beat the difficulty... only to roll a 1 to wound and victory went to the Cultist band of Nemesis.

My Gaoler didn`t survive the encounter, but luckily with the money saved I could immediatly replace him AND buy an upgraded with the experience second spearman again, so on a numerical side I actually went up 1 model again after this battle.  Only the Bull Centaur to replace now before saving for the Chaos Engine, in the vain hope that my characters would stop dying all the time.

The only upgrade roll actually turned up something useful this time, as the Sting of the Dragon, the spearmen, gained one extra attack, so at 2 attacks a piece they might stand a chance against anything that actually charges them.  If my rolls start to improve that is...

Gundam Unicorn - Brush Slave League round 6

Okay, obligatory painting contest Mecha entry in the BSL, and as I said before, with a warhammer minded forum expectations where low, and I got completely trashed...

... and rightly so to boot.  My opponent, who was leading the tables after round 6, made an ab-so-lu-tely stunning entry, and I have no sour taste in my mouth over the loss at all.

He was just better.  Bit like our Red Devils vs Scotland past Tuesday, but me being in the scottish position.

Anyway, see the round here

One more round to go in season 1 of the League, I wonder how the end result will turn out!

Golden Hat XVIII announced

Following in the wake of the Artisan`s Contest, Chaos Dwarfs Online in-house painting competitions next Golden Hat has been announced.

The theme for this edition is `Hobgoblins on foot`, so this is going to be the ideal point for me to start work on the planned 20-man strong archer unit, and perhaps even get the whole unit done in time for the Duo Tournament in november.

Full rules for this edition can be found here on the Homepage of CDO.

Heroes for Hire

Well, following the Goddamn Andy post about how he quit miniature gaming, and as such resulted in the total collapse of any chance of playing Superhero games over at the Tin Soldiers of Antwerp, I`m going to liquidate my collection of repainted Heroclix models.

Here are the models I got standing in my cabinets, and are looking for adopitve parents, if you see anything you like, just drop me a line or post a reply and we can work something out.

Mind you though, belgian shipping rates aren`t cheap as you can see here and as the painted models need tobe packed in a box, your starting rather expesive.  Fortunatly, heroclix weigh not much, so fifty would be about as expensive as a single one...

Anyways, here are all the models looking for a new home:

The Year Everything Changed

Well, it's not often I use my blog for serious talkings about myself, as I prefer the closed book approach about real life, but for once I guess I can make an exception.  

My life took a change for the better in 2012, azs my 'lightswitch' relation has gone steady now and we're celebrating 6 months yesterday.  Which is for me a longrun performance already as I tend to loose myself to fanatically in my hobbies.  Yes Rejects-posse, it's the same one I talked about on Salute past year.

But as the Spider-man saying goes (or better, kind off heheh), With Real Life comes Real Responsibilities.

And the one small downside is that a relationship cuts seriously in your hobbies freetime.  Even though it isn't an actual downside, as I can perfectly live with that.

The biggest victim is turning out to be my wargaming part of the hobby, as paint time is reduced to the evenings she has the late shift, and I go to my place then since I have to get up early each day for work myself and she can sleep in late that way.  These days, we live 'semi together', generally meaning I'm 3/4ths of the time at her place and ther is really no room to move the whole man-cave over, that and a curious 7 year old doens't help either ;-)

But a second PS3 system and Vita do help though surviving and not having withdrawal symptoms hehehehe...

But one thing that does mean, is that I have to focus even more on the hobby side of wargaming, and I had some serious talks with my personal advisors on this, being my girlfriend obviously, and my mother.  Yes, I talk hobby things with my mom, she knows nothing about the whole thing and doesn't get the craze it can generate, making her the perfect advisor for an outsiders view in.

And I asked and received my decommission at work, meaning my employment will end around May 2013 and I will be going into a new venture, including actually going back to school in a way as well.   From expedition and administration to IT, it's a big change, but by then I'll be 35 and if I don't do it now, I won't be able to do it anytime anymore I fear.

The conclusion is that I'm going to focus more and more on the Chaos Dwarf things only, as I want to use my limited paint time now to finish and keep working on the 30000+ points of Dawi Zharr I possess.  I'm going to finish the Journeyman League (at least on a paint level, more of that a bit later) but once that is done I'm not going to get sidetracked again in other projects and the likes.  I, and this sounds odd to those that know me, can't spare the extra time anymore.

These are all still on my to paint list

On the other hand, I WILL be playing a lot more of Magic the Gathering.  And yes, this is also on fridays; but bear with me here in the reasoning.  My gaming club, Tin Soldiers of Antwerp, is located on the very outskirts of Antwerp and there is no public transportation to basically the very other side of the city after 23hrs.  The Outpost, where the FNMs are held (Friday Night Magic) is drop dead in the centre.

Now, the other half likes taking a dance and drink with her girls.  I HATE this personally (not that she does that, but my partying days are long behind me, ever since my leg accident I can't keep standing longtime, and I don't drink anymore since they took my galblatter out), making me very boring going out companionship.

So we readched a compromise; like every relation is build on taking and giving, and now she goes out to dance and I go out to play Magic, to take a cab together afterwards from the city centre to our place.  Still needs some finetuning in certain parts, but the first test went relatively well ;-)

And I'll be attending the Magic GT London next year; because it's the weekend before Valentine, and little minion is with his dad that week.  We'll be making it a four day trip, three for the sightseeing and stuff, one for this geezer to go cardchucking.

Practical Consequences

* The final phase of my cleanout will now include everything bar my Chaos Dwarfs and anime Gashapons.  Meaning most of my gaming in 2013 will de dictated by this book as the core of the hobby:

* I won't be going often to TSA, and most likely to play Warhammer / Blood Bowl / Mordheim when low-time pressure leagues are run for those systems

* I WILL be playing any WFB tournaments though at TSA and related clubs

* I will be upkeeping this blog, just expect to see more of the 'silly hats' then other things.   I'm also going to try and run in both the Brush Slave League and the Lead Painter's League with models tied to them.  Even if that means missing some bonus points left or right...

* I won't be attending Salute 2013.  Nothing to do with the whole chitchat above though; but because just two days prior I'm having this tattooed on my upper arm:

Ciao ciao and till the next post!

Artisan`s Contest XIII

Okay, as expected I ended shared 5th on 6 entries, with 1 vote (thanks to the anonymous voter!)

My personal vote went to this entry, which ended third:

I wasn`t to happy with my own entry, as the roll used as a pillar would have been painted black marble with green lines, but time restraints had me going for grey and it basically wans`t what I liked to turn out.  On the other hand, I was happy with how the asterix lass turned out, and the `smoke melt effect` of the lava imbued items.

In the end, the model is going to serve as the stronghold for my 15mm force once completed, so the 15mm Godzilla included by Khurasan should be in scale more or less hehehe

Anyways, here some more WiP pictures:

The 400th

It doesn`t always have to be some big war machine or special character that `clicks` the mileage of painting row, as the 400th model painted this year is a lowly rank and file Sneaky Git, one of the unit of 30 I`m currently building.

This also means I`m only nearly halfway my goal of paint more then buy, but I can sleep well at night knowing that no-one in my local gaming group even comes near that number of painted models...

Now, back to some in between cards brushworks...