So I was planning on adding a Land Speeder to my 40K force as part of the 450 points that we are going to add as part of the Builder campaign. But after assembling the vehicle last night I may hold off as it needs a fairly significant amount of filling in order to hide some rather glaring spaces in the seams.
I have to say that this was one of the more annoying kits I have put together. But at least I know better now if I ever plan on building another.
Since I am going to take the time to fill the gaps in the seams I also have decided to do a bit of conversion work on the vehicle as well to help make it unique. Mind you if I had been thinking about it I would have tried to convert the Land Speeder into something more fitting with the background of my troops. Another alternate (with parts) is here.
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
More Confrontation gaming
Had another Confrontation game last night with Ryan and his Orcs. I used the same Griffin force that I had on Saturday when playing Tony and his Sessairs.
Much different result. Part of the problem was my seeming inability to roll anything other than a 1 and a 2 for damage. Its bad enough doing that with your Inquisitor but it really starts to hurt when you do that after getting off a successful masterstrike with Mira. :-(
The game went well with the exception of one issue that we had crop up but we worked around it. Ryan was eventually able to roll over me with a fairly large tide of Orc Bruisers. I think I should have
followed my initial thoughts and removed the Magistrate and replaced him with some Conscripts. Anything to help slow down that horde of Orcs.
But another fine game even with my crappy dice. Once I did managed to start rolling average damage rolls with my units I did start to mow through his troops (especially my Inquisitor...ouch!) but the damage was done and Ryan overwhelmed my remaining Griffins.
Much different result. Part of the problem was my seeming inability to roll anything other than a 1 and a 2 for damage. Its bad enough doing that with your Inquisitor but it really starts to hurt when you do that after getting off a successful masterstrike with Mira. :-(
The game went well with the exception of one issue that we had crop up but we worked around it. Ryan was eventually able to roll over me with a fairly large tide of Orc Bruisers. I think I should have
followed my initial thoughts and removed the Magistrate and replaced him with some Conscripts. Anything to help slow down that horde of Orcs.
But another fine game even with my crappy dice. Once I did managed to start rolling average damage rolls with my units I did start to mow through his troops (especially my Inquisitor...ouch!) but the damage was done and Ryan overwhelmed my remaining Griffins.
Monday, February 20, 2006
Tagged back
Well I'm not sure if it is kosher to tag back to someone but Maksim did it in his response to my original tag post.
Its sad to see that I'm only "somewhat infamous". :-) Oh well, gives me something to work towards I guess.
Maksim added his four favourite games so I'll add that in response as well.
Four of My Favorite Games:
Confrontation: I've become quite enamored of this game as of late. It has such a wonderful tactical feel and is so different from game to game that its a joy to play. And the miniatures really add to the feel.
Epic Armageddon
Flames of War
Vs. Its not a miniature game but its one of my favourite card games.
Its sad to see that I'm only "somewhat infamous". :-) Oh well, gives me something to work towards I guess.
Maksim added his four favourite games so I'll add that in response as well.
Four of My Favorite Games:
Confrontation: I've become quite enamored of this game as of late. It has such a wonderful tactical feel and is so different from game to game that its a joy to play. And the miniatures really add to the feel.
Epic Armageddon
Flames of War
Vs. Its not a miniature game but its one of my favourite card games.
Sunday, February 19, 2006
Weekend gaming
Well my rather impressive (edit: and rather undeserved really since I don't know how to play 40K very well) 40K record from last month has been shot into tatters. I have only one a single match in the last two weeks including two rather crushing defeats at the hand of Jamie the resident Tau player. Mind you losing to an army with 5 crisis suits in a 400 point game isn't difficult to understand.
It has though made me rethink my 750 point army list and I may be making some changes to it to include a Land speeder if possible. I need to have some sort of way to quickly cross the table and start to put fire onto my opponents troops so my other troops can move across the table without so much fire being placed on them. Mind you I also have a unit of bolter/heavy bolter equipped Scouts in that list as well so perhaps that will work out.
It does mean that I will be trying to test out my 750 point army before I settle on a final list.
I also managed to get a game of Confrontation in with Tony. He had a 400 point Kelt army and I tried out another variant Griffin force. I took two Thallions in the army and deployed them last in my deployment order so I was able to put them into position to attack his standard bearer and Khaelon. Not only did I manage to get in a charge on both of those figs but due to some luck on my part (and Tony rolling a 1 on a disengagement roll with Khaelon) I was able to tie up a significant portion of his force in his deployment area for the entire game. At the end of the game Khaelon and one of his Fury Warriors was still in combat with my remaining Thallion.
Damn good scouts. :-)
I also managed to remember to use the Magistrate's dice replacement ability and even did so in a situation where my Inquisitor was able to use the dice to put in an attack that killed the Kelt force's leader.
Once again a very good Confrontation game. I managed to pull off a win but I think that most of that had to do with the very good luck I had with my Scouts.
It has though made me rethink my 750 point army list and I may be making some changes to it to include a Land speeder if possible. I need to have some sort of way to quickly cross the table and start to put fire onto my opponents troops so my other troops can move across the table without so much fire being placed on them. Mind you I also have a unit of bolter/heavy bolter equipped Scouts in that list as well so perhaps that will work out.
It does mean that I will be trying to test out my 750 point army before I settle on a final list.
I also managed to get a game of Confrontation in with Tony. He had a 400 point Kelt army and I tried out another variant Griffin force. I took two Thallions in the army and deployed them last in my deployment order so I was able to put them into position to attack his standard bearer and Khaelon. Not only did I manage to get in a charge on both of those figs but due to some luck on my part (and Tony rolling a 1 on a disengagement roll with Khaelon) I was able to tie up a significant portion of his force in his deployment area for the entire game. At the end of the game Khaelon and one of his Fury Warriors was still in combat with my remaining Thallion.
Damn good scouts. :-)
I also managed to remember to use the Magistrate's dice replacement ability and even did so in a situation where my Inquisitor was able to use the dice to put in an attack that killed the Kelt force's leader.
Once again a very good Confrontation game. I managed to pull off a win but I think that most of that had to do with the very good luck I had with my Scouts.
Friday, February 17, 2006
Confrontation gaming
So I was finally able to get a Confrontation game in last night with my Dirz army. Despite having them for some time I've not been able to use them as I am missing a fair number of cards mostly, unfortunately, from the Characters in the army. I've got them on order from Rackham now but I am still missing cards for Salias Yesod as the English cards were out of stock on the Rackham website.
I recently got the Sentinels of Danakil set from the Confrontation initiation set that includes Thissen Ka thereby giving me a 80 point unit I can use to build a legal tournament army. So Zach came over last night and used my Griffin figs and we had a 400 point battle.
My damage rolls were disgusting. And not in a good way. I rolled 1's so often it was ridiculous. Zach on the other hand had an uncanny ability to roll a 5 and a 6 for his damage roll.
The funniest part of the game though had to be the fact that Thissen Ka and Mira both went down to lowly troopers. Mira was killed in a single round of combat with some clones (losing initiative can really hurt sometimes) and Thissen Ka was first shot and then slowly beat to submission by Fusiliers.
Its actually one of the things I like about the game. You can sometimes take out huge characters with smaller units. So the game does have its odd see-saw moments but in the case of Confrontation this helps to keep the game interesting.
We both spent a lot of time forgetting about special abilities. I failed to remember that the Sentinels had Survival Instinct and Zach failed to remember that Mira had Counter-attack and Assault Fire. Still it was a fun game and I got to learn a bit about how to use the Dirz army as well as how to use the Mutagenic rule.
I recently got the Sentinels of Danakil set from the Confrontation initiation set that includes Thissen Ka thereby giving me a 80 point unit I can use to build a legal tournament army. So Zach came over last night and used my Griffin figs and we had a 400 point battle.
My damage rolls were disgusting. And not in a good way. I rolled 1's so often it was ridiculous. Zach on the other hand had an uncanny ability to roll a 5 and a 6 for his damage roll.
The funniest part of the game though had to be the fact that Thissen Ka and Mira both went down to lowly troopers. Mira was killed in a single round of combat with some clones (losing initiative can really hurt sometimes) and Thissen Ka was first shot and then slowly beat to submission by Fusiliers.
Its actually one of the things I like about the game. You can sometimes take out huge characters with smaller units. So the game does have its odd see-saw moments but in the case of Confrontation this helps to keep the game interesting.
We both spent a lot of time forgetting about special abilities. I failed to remember that the Sentinels had Survival Instinct and Zach failed to remember that Mira had Counter-attack and Assault Fire. Still it was a fun game and I got to learn a bit about how to use the Dirz army as well as how to use the Mutagenic rule.
Thursday, February 16, 2006
Passing along the tagged goodness
Hyun at WeeToySoldiers has tagged me as part of a continuing series of referential blog posts.
I wonder where this all started. Perhaps even more interesting how did this meme get into the Wargaming blog communty?
Four Jobs I’ve Had:
Web Applicaion Developer
Multimedia Developer
Deli-counter worker
Press operator
Four Movies I Can Watch Over and Over:
A Bridge Too Far
The Big Lebowski
The Zero Effect
Groundhog Day despite having the insipid Andie MacDowell in it
Four TV Shows I Love to Watch:
Just a small note: are we actually this dependent on electronic entertainment? Why no list of four books we could reread? That said...
Corner Gas
DaVinci's City Hall (now cancelled)
Sportsnet's Saturday EPL broadcasts
Any football whatsoever
Four Places I’ve Been on Vacation:
Kelowna
Orlando
Victoria
Bremen (sort of...it was an exchange)
Four Favorite Dishes:
Sausage and bean Risotto
Pizza
Chicken Enchiladas
Fajitas
Four Websites I Visit Daily:
TGN
BBC Sports: Football
Warseer
Google
Four Places I’d Rather Be:
Anfield
England
San Fran
The local dog park
Four Bloggers I’m Tagging:
Brooke
Saint Rigger
Stu
Maksim
Hyun made a comment regarding his favourite books in the comments section of his blogso I thought I'd update my post with my four favourite books
Four favourite books:
To the Finland Station by Edmund Wilson
Good Omens by Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett. I'm also quite proud that I have a paperback version of the book (untouched) signed by both authors
Valis by Phillip K Dick
A Distant Mirror by Barbara Tuchman
I wonder where this all started. Perhaps even more interesting how did this meme get into the Wargaming blog communty?
Four Jobs I’ve Had:
Web Applicaion Developer
Multimedia Developer
Deli-counter worker
Press operator
Four Movies I Can Watch Over and Over:
A Bridge Too Far
The Big Lebowski
The Zero Effect
Groundhog Day despite having the insipid Andie MacDowell in it
Four TV Shows I Love to Watch:
Just a small note: are we actually this dependent on electronic entertainment? Why no list of four books we could reread? That said...
Corner Gas
DaVinci's City Hall (now cancelled)
Sportsnet's Saturday EPL broadcasts
Any football whatsoever
Four Places I’ve Been on Vacation:
Kelowna
Orlando
Victoria
Bremen (sort of...it was an exchange)
Four Favorite Dishes:
Sausage and bean Risotto
Pizza
Chicken Enchiladas
Fajitas
Four Websites I Visit Daily:
TGN
BBC Sports: Football
Warseer
Four Places I’d Rather Be:
Anfield
England
San Fran
The local dog park
Four Bloggers I’m Tagging:
Brooke
Saint Rigger
Stu
Maksim
Hyun made a comment regarding his favourite books in the comments section of his blogso I thought I'd update my post with my four favourite books
Four favourite books:
To the Finland Station by Edmund Wilson
Good Omens by Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett. I'm also quite proud that I have a paperback version of the book (untouched) signed by both authors
Valis by Phillip K Dick
A Distant Mirror by Barbara Tuchman
Thursday, February 09, 2006
New army, same old pricing
The Canadian Games Workshop site now has the Tau Army Box on advance order. While this is a good thing there is still the issue of the price.
The Canadian price is $310. The American price is $205. According to the Bank of Canada the exchange rate on the US price is $235. That makes a difference of $75.
If thats not bad enough, yet another opportunity to pay more for the privilige of buying in Canada, what makes the situation worse is the price of the same army box if you buy it from an online retailer. In that case you'll be able to save close to 47% on the Canadian price.
Once again, knowing this why would you buy the army box in Canada?
And knowing this why aren't canadian retailers up in arms over this?
The Canadian price is $310. The American price is $205. According to the Bank of Canada the exchange rate on the US price is $235. That makes a difference of $75.
If thats not bad enough, yet another opportunity to pay more for the privilige of buying in Canada, what makes the situation worse is the price of the same army box if you buy it from an online retailer. In that case you'll be able to save close to 47% on the Canadian price.
Once again, knowing this why would you buy the army box in Canada?
And knowing this why aren't canadian retailers up in arms over this?
Battlefront Marder IIs
So while taking some time away from my 40K army I decided to assemble the four new Marder II miniatures I recently picked up from Battlefront.
I have to say that they are perhaps the most disappointing Battlefront figs I have received to date. Not that the sculpts are bad but that the gun shields at the front of the tank don't appear to actually fit. And since this happened on all four of the miniatures I have I can't see it being a casting error.
None of the shields appear to be able to fit in the manner suggested by the photo on Battlefront's online store and the directions in the blister appear to be for a much older version of the Marder II as the gun shield in the illustration is different than the one shipping in the blister,
I'm going to try to bend the gun shields to see if they will fit that way but as it stands I may need to do some scultping/bitz hacking to fill in the rather obvious holes around the gun shield.
If you are in the market for Marders for your FOW army I might suggest looking at one of their other Marder figures instead.
Update: Bending the gun shields actually makes the situation worse. I've attached some tracks and jerry cans to the fronts to masks some of the worst areas and perhaps I'll add some shrubs et to the minis to further conceal the holes.
I have to say that they are perhaps the most disappointing Battlefront figs I have received to date. Not that the sculpts are bad but that the gun shields at the front of the tank don't appear to actually fit. And since this happened on all four of the miniatures I have I can't see it being a casting error.
None of the shields appear to be able to fit in the manner suggested by the photo on Battlefront's online store and the directions in the blister appear to be for a much older version of the Marder II as the gun shield in the illustration is different than the one shipping in the blister,
I'm going to try to bend the gun shields to see if they will fit that way but as it stands I may need to do some scultping/bitz hacking to fill in the rather obvious holes around the gun shield.
If you are in the market for Marders for your FOW army I might suggest looking at one of their other Marder figures instead.
Update: Bending the gun shields actually makes the situation worse. I've attached some tracks and jerry cans to the fronts to masks some of the worst areas and perhaps I'll add some shrubs et to the minis to further conceal the holes.
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
Razorback completed
So I've finally managed to finish the Razorback. I certainly learned a few things about vehicle painting so perhaps the Rhino I do next will look better. Click on the images below for a larger version. Not bad for my first 40K vehicle. So some of the lessons gleaned from this painting experiment:
1) Build stencils for larger symbols like crosses. I'm not a good enough freehand painter to do these without having to layer paint (as you can see in some of the shots) to the point where there are lines in the paint job2) I need to thin my paint more when doing design work
3) Stippling requires a darker paint and a smaller brush. Some of the weathering in this Razorbaack is a little harsh.
4) Drybrushing vehicles is a good idea for lare areas but not small parts.
I may try to drybrush the main areas of the Rhino I plan to do next to see what difference that makes in the texture of the painting and the shading in the recessed areas of the vehicle. I did the highlighting on this vehicle by hand except for one of the hatches and I wasn't happy with the contrast between the two styles so next time I will stick to one or the other for a more consistent look.But all in all I'm quite happy with this vehicle.
Sunday, February 05, 2006
FOW army comments
My army didn't do too badly in the FOW tournament. Quite a lot of my ability to place so highly was based on my opponents (both their play, dice luck etc. and simply just who I got matched with) and a lot less with my ability as a player. I managed to get draws against players against whom I could put up a decent defence.
I spent most of the tournament hoping and praying that I wouldn't draw a game against Brent and his all armour Soviet force. His army would have rolled right over me with little to no problem since I only had two armour units and not a lot of AT capability. Thankfully I didn't run into him although I was actually hoping that I could get in a game against Dan and his Italian armour horde force :-)
Some things I would do differently in another tournament:
1) Lose the IeIG18 gun section. The guns are only available in two gun sections for non-motorised formations and re-rolling hits on most targets isn't that effective. Pinning formations is good though but I can do that with mortars as well and with the points I save from not taking the IeIG18s I could add another two mortars.
2) AA is a good thing. I may substitute my current AT guns with 88s or perhaps trim down my infantry sections so I can take some quad 20mm AA guns. The one game where I did play against an opponent with airplanes I almost went from having a Stunning Victory to a Minor Victory simply from the damage done by his plans.
3) Quite paying for transports. I defended two out of the three scenarios and in the last I actually wanted to but didn't simply because I was playing against another infantry force.
4) Aircraft rule. The 100 points I spent on aircraft were well worth it.
I spent most of the tournament hoping and praying that I wouldn't draw a game against Brent and his all armour Soviet force. His army would have rolled right over me with little to no problem since I only had two armour units and not a lot of AT capability. Thankfully I didn't run into him although I was actually hoping that I could get in a game against Dan and his Italian armour horde force :-)
Some things I would do differently in another tournament:
1) Lose the IeIG18 gun section. The guns are only available in two gun sections for non-motorised formations and re-rolling hits on most targets isn't that effective. Pinning formations is good though but I can do that with mortars as well and with the points I save from not taking the IeIG18s I could add another two mortars.
2) AA is a good thing. I may substitute my current AT guns with 88s or perhaps trim down my infantry sections so I can take some quad 20mm AA guns. The one game where I did play against an opponent with airplanes I almost went from having a Stunning Victory to a Minor Victory simply from the damage done by his plans.
3) Quite paying for transports. I defended two out of the three scenarios and in the last I actually wanted to but didn't simply because I was playing against another infantry force.
4) Aircraft rule. The 100 points I spent on aircraft were well worth it.
Victory for Zim!
Through some rather fortuitous circumstances I was able to win the Best General award in the Flames of War tournament here in Vancouver on Saturday.
The entire victory came down to two rather lucky events. Firstly the two people above me in the standings (we were all within a point of each other IIRC) were paired off against each other in the final game and secondly I actually managed to make an insanely good series of rolls to allow my StuG F's to survive on the first turn of the last game.
My opponent had a platoon of anti-tank guns guarding an objective and I moved my StuGs to fire at them but then promptly forgot to use my Stormtrooper move to pull them back out of 16" or even behind cover. My opponent then gladly took the opportunity to fire on them and then rolled three hits. The only thing I could do was roll a 6 for my armour save to force a firepower check to get the tanks to bail out and I then promptly rolled three sixes to saved both tanks. He only managed to force one of them to bail and then next turn I succeeded in my Motivation check to remount the tank and promptly moved them behind cover.
What makes this story even more unusual is that I went on to win the game by having those same StuGs capture an objective.
Sometimes good dice can make or break a tournament.
This was my first experience with a "professionally" run tournament. Dan Miner, from the WCP Vancouver gaming club which ran the event, did an exceptional job organising it and running it. The tourney was also scored in a fashion similar (if not identical) to their Warhammer Fantasy tournaments and so the overall winner was based not only on the points achieved from the game itself but also from painting, sportsmanship and other categories (which I won't know until I see the results once they are posted since I've never played in one of the WCP tourneys before).
This is also very different from other, more casual, tournaments that I have been in so it was a bit unusual that none of the top three players won the Overall award but I guess that is the point, rewarding a person's total game as opposed to just their achievement in building a competitive army list and finessing it on the table.
I was also quite relieved to find out that I hadn't inadvertently screwed up the entire scoring of the event by misreporting the results of the final game to Dan :-)
I think it was a sign of a good tournament and a great set of players that we, literally, needed to know the results of the final game to determine who won the award for Overall Player.
I was also quite surprised by the number of fully painted armies and the quality of the painting. The Best Painted award went to a local Soviet player who had some very well done Soviets all in winter/urban bases that were decorated with discarded pipes and debris.
All in all a very fun day and I got to see and play against some new armies and meet some new FOW gamers.
The entire victory came down to two rather lucky events. Firstly the two people above me in the standings (we were all within a point of each other IIRC) were paired off against each other in the final game and secondly I actually managed to make an insanely good series of rolls to allow my StuG F's to survive on the first turn of the last game.
My opponent had a platoon of anti-tank guns guarding an objective and I moved my StuGs to fire at them but then promptly forgot to use my Stormtrooper move to pull them back out of 16" or even behind cover. My opponent then gladly took the opportunity to fire on them and then rolled three hits. The only thing I could do was roll a 6 for my armour save to force a firepower check to get the tanks to bail out and I then promptly rolled three sixes to saved both tanks. He only managed to force one of them to bail and then next turn I succeeded in my Motivation check to remount the tank and promptly moved them behind cover.
What makes this story even more unusual is that I went on to win the game by having those same StuGs capture an objective.
Sometimes good dice can make or break a tournament.
This was my first experience with a "professionally" run tournament. Dan Miner, from the WCP Vancouver gaming club which ran the event, did an exceptional job organising it and running it. The tourney was also scored in a fashion similar (if not identical) to their Warhammer Fantasy tournaments and so the overall winner was based not only on the points achieved from the game itself but also from painting, sportsmanship and other categories (which I won't know until I see the results once they are posted since I've never played in one of the WCP tourneys before).
This is also very different from other, more casual, tournaments that I have been in so it was a bit unusual that none of the top three players won the Overall award but I guess that is the point, rewarding a person's total game as opposed to just their achievement in building a competitive army list and finessing it on the table.
I was also quite relieved to find out that I hadn't inadvertently screwed up the entire scoring of the event by misreporting the results of the final game to Dan :-)
I think it was a sign of a good tournament and a great set of players that we, literally, needed to know the results of the final game to determine who won the award for Overall Player.
I was also quite surprised by the number of fully painted armies and the quality of the painting. The Best Painted award went to a local Soviet player who had some very well done Soviets all in winter/urban bases that were decorated with discarded pipes and debris.
All in all a very fun day and I got to see and play against some new armies and meet some new FOW gamers.
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