Drunken Gamers of Ottawa

Night Lords

2011-06-01T07:10:00.002-04:00

It has begun..

The move is underway!

2011-04-13T17:20:00.004-04:00

The site is moving - check it out!

TableTop Tacticians

Sisters vs Marines - 1750pts

2011-04-11T22:34:00.001-04:00

5 Objectives/Pitched Battle. Sisters commanded by Grumblebunny. SM led by Henshini.

Space Marine frontline; compact and centered on the table edge. The Sisters have each flank protected by a squad of dismounted infantry while their transports and Immolaters take up the center opposite the SMs.

The sisters push forward. The fast-moving (and raging) Repentia close on a rather surprised Land Speeder. I wonder how this meeting will end up?

The left-flank dismounted Sisters grind down the approaching combat squad over a couple of rounds.

The Ironclad attempts to flame the approaching raging Repentia after the approaching golden Rhinos pop smoke.

Eviscerators make short work of the Ironclad. However, the Space Marine battleline holds strong.

The Terminator Librarian teleports his squad across the board arriving behind the Sister's battleline. The dismounted sisters attempt to melta the smoke covered Rhino and Multi-melta the Vindicator.

The Sisters take their toll on the teleporting Termies.

Having popped the Sisters rides' the SM honour guard close on the dismounted Sisters.

The termies and outflanking scouts slow grind down the sisters on the hill top.

Having cleared the dismounted Sisters from the central objective, the honour guard and tac squad look to clear out the remaining Sisters threatening their brethren.

The damage has been done. SMs with 2 objectives, 1 contested, 1 unclaimed and 1 to the Sisters.

Overkill

2011-04-10T01:10:00.002-04:00

Overkill

Well, figured I'd show people what 4 solid hours of WWPD-listening (had to catch up, I am now on 2nd last episode) and assembling has given me:

Behold, the 20 gun battery of the Royal Artillery!

Things be a changing........

2011-04-07T08:36:00.001-04:00

So,

Where to start? The Drunken Gamers site is growing, and Friday Night Fights continues to be expand and bring in more players. With this, there has been talk of forming a "proper" club here in Ottawa, that will cover all the tabletop interests we share. With the club talk, inevitably talk of a "clean" name for our little club has been brought up. After much discussion, we have fallen upon the name "TableTop Tacticians" or "TTT". This name was chosen to reflect our love of miniature gaming, in the many forms we enjoy(FoW, 40k, Warmachine, Dystopian Wars, etc). You can expect the same great content to continue (and grow!).

With all this being said, we will be moving the Drunken Gamers blog over to a new site: http://tabletoptacticians.blogspot.com/

I will be moving all of our content there, and we will be registering on http://www.rankingshq.com/ and with BattleFront.

This is not so much the start of something awesome, but an evolution. We plan on sponsoring events here in the city, and with our escalation league gaining interest, bringing more people into our hobby. If any of our readers have any sage advice (pitfalls, issues you overcame) please drop the club a line at tabletoptacticians@gmail.com

I encourage our readers to follow us at the new site (once its all moved). Stay tuned for more info!

Cheers,

CA$H

Does this list make me a douchebag? :)

2011-04-04T21:48:00.002-04:00

(put this on while you read)

So.. obviously I'm not made to run a pure infantry list, so I might try something out: Maximum Artillery.

I'm looking at running Motor Rifle British, so that I can run a full 8 gun battery of 25 pdrs, and a full 8 Priests. I could then run Hurricanes as my final template unit, and then the 2 Motor Squads and command. It will probably suck, in that there is no way I can hide them all, and I have literally nothing else but artillery :)

Anyhoo, this is what I am thinking of doing, and so I will paint these 2 units up after I figure out how to set up all the gunners between my Arty and my 4 17pdrs... the 17pdrs came with no crew from Maelstrom.

600 pt Escalation comes to a close.

2011-04-02T14:07:00.003-04:00

Sorry to Marty: I should have posted our game much sooner, so we can see the finished US Paras.

And here are some vids

vs US Paras

600 Pt Total War mega battle, 3 x 600 point armies, vs another 3 x 600 pt armies.

SKIRMISH 2011 - Dates Announced!

2011-03-29T16:03:00.001-04:00

Head on over to http://www.gamesummit.ca and check it out. Expect the Drunken Gamers to be in attendance with full coverage of the event!

More to come!

Tier 1 Update - Total War approaches

2011-03-27T13:32:00.000-04:00

So, Tier 1 is coming to a close this coming Friday with the Total War game. There are still points up for grabs as the scoring system continues through the Total War game.

Head on over to the Escalation League page to see the current scoring. Dennis took some film of the games Friday, so stay tuned for those!

Cheers,

Ca$h

The Escalation Escalates - 26. Panzer-Division Support

2011-03-17T22:28:00.002-04:00

I am very happy to have completed a large portion of my support options for my Mid-War Fallshirmjager Company. I am holding off on gluing on the aerials until I figure a way to transport them so that they don't bend/break...

Front Row: 2 Panzer III L/Ms. 2 Panzer IV Gs, 2 Panzer III Ns.
Back Row: 2 Marder III Ms, 3 Tiger I Es

See more after the break.

Escalation League Games

2011-03-12T09:35:00.002-05:00

Last night saw some epic struggles take place in our Escalation League. Each of us played 3 games, with 2 of them counting towards the Tier 1 scoring. Check the Escalation League page here on the blog for the rundown of points.

Round 1, Chris' Radzeki (Scout) list vs my British, 600 points, and Duane's panzer's vs Tristan's Panzer Grenadiers, 600 points, kill the Enemy HQ

Round 2, Me vs Duane, Chris vs Tristan, Get a Unit off (the enemy board edge)

ARRs will be posted here as soon as Matt Varnish edits/uploads them - Stay tuned!

Lost FoW AAR, GameSummit Switcheroo

2011-03-12T08:26:00.006-05:00

(above) Tristan uses the infamous British Army, while Duane and I use my german panzer army. So basically, its win-win for me.. either I win on my own for once, or my Brits win, just not with me at the helm!

I thought I had posted this the week after GameSummit, but I was mistaken. Anyhoo, after the giant Battle for Ukraine, some guys had to leave, so we had a 3 player game here, Duane and I vs Tristan, and I played germans for the first time, and Tris played Brits for the first time.

German Artillery Park

Tristan's infantry defending the crashed Hurricane

-Duane commanded the 3 StuG's and the heroic Marder I's

Tristan's recce carriers murder my artillery

Here, the Marder's have helped destroy the 6 Pdrs, then clean up the Priests.. they weren't finished there though.. check the video below

(NOTE: my memory card was getting wonky, so I lost a few photos and some of the turns in the video are lost too.. I have since bought a new memory card for future games)

Panzer IV H Platoon

2011-03-03T21:02:00.001-05:00

My platoon of Panzer IVH arrived in the post on Tuesday and I got straight to work. Here are some shots of the completed platoon. I used the same camo colors across the platoon, varying the pattern on each tank to maintain unit cohesion, all the while adding uniqueness to each vehicle:

Click on after the break to see some more close up shots! As always, feedback is encouraged and appreciated.

Thanks for checking them out.

Cheers,

Need to Repaint German stuff... Le Sigh

2011-03-01T16:54:00.007-05:00

(above, 15cm Howitzer Artillery on french L37 Lorraine tractor)

I am doing 21 Panzer for my Germans, and they have a tonne of captured french stuff in their arsenal, in fact most of it is french with german weapons on it. The FoW team painted up the army box models in a generic late war scheme, and it turns out there are some interesting camo schemes to be had here.. sadly, it means redoing a lot of work..

U304 Utility halftrack, the french used these to tow their 105 mm guns.. the germans used them as halftrack chassis.. Note the very dark grey camo as opposed to the reflective green of the standard colors..

One of the StuG/Marder vehicles that Maj Becker built, this one a Hotchkiss H39 chassis.. how do I model on all that greenery?!

L37 Observer Halftrack for the Howitzers.. again, this paint scheme is completely different than the box art ones from FoW.. Itll be tough to do, but I like this more than the std green and yellow..

Somua PaK40 combination

Raketen Vielfachwerfers.. Rocket Mortar launchers.. I have 4 of these on order, and this paint job looks sweet.

Color photo of the Stug H39/Marder I in a museum in France.. I like the added brown

The infamous 'Bathtub" halftracks, based on the U304, with a tonne of bushes

Man, this'll be tough to paint, but will look awesome

Germans vs Soviets: 1000pt MW Tag Team (Demo)

2011-02-27T09:04:00.019-05:00

Lists:
Soviets -Moto HQ w/ 1 company with 3 platoons, 1 company with 1 SMG platoon, sappers, 4 AT guns, 5 T-70s.
Germans - GepanzertepanzerGrens HQ, 2 platoons, 4 panzers, 2 pak 38s.

Deployment: Soviet horde company on the right soviet objective. AT guns on the left Soviet objective. Soviets deployed first and get first turn. German AT guns on their left objective. One platoon of GepanzertepanzerGrens in the middle. Scattered Reserves for both sides.

Turn 1: Soviets fail to dig in. German Pak38s move to the rock wall.

Turn 2: Soviets bring on 5 T-70s on the far right flank with Scattered Reserves and they come down off the escarpment and line up with the infantry. Sappers come on at the farm house by the left Soviet objective. Germans get Panzers right in front of the Soviet light tanks an bail 2 T-70s and kill one.

Bottom of 3: T-70s have just doubled it away from the Panzers. Panzers move to the creek and kill a Soviet infantry base. Reserve german HTs race down the dirt road on the Soviet left flank (top right).

Top of 4: Soviet battle line. Notice the T-70s on the left still running from the advancing Panzers. The T-70 commander gets bogged on the fence and remains there for the game.

Close up of Sappers' aggressive push forward into the forest - suprising the Germans?

Bottom of 4: German Half-tracks drive towards the ass-back end of town.

German armour continues to push forward and grind away at the Soviet conscripts. 3 more soviet bases fall.

Bottom of 5: German Half-Track reposition after disembarking troops into the town square. Getting ready for the advancing sappers.

Wall of German machine guns attempt to uproot the Soviets holding the right Soviet objective.

Top of 6: Soviets push towards the objective in the town.

Soviets AT guns move to engage a German HT on the right flank. Kill it and its passengers.

Bottom of 6: Germans crunch Soviets under tracks. Push them off the objective. On the left flank, German HTs reposition into the town square and hit the advancing sappers with MG fire (see below image).

Top of 7: Soviet Sappers keep pushing towards far left objective. AT guns reposition to hit the HTs in the open. German conscripts try to get the lost objective back. Do nothing. Will last at least one more turn but its too little too late.

Bottom of 7: Germans will claim right-most Soviet objective in a turn or two. Game, Set, Match.

AAR: We ran this as a Tag Team-style demo with 2 players aside. Each side with one new player. As such we didn't use a proper scenario. The Defending side didn't have an ambushing platoon which may have made a big difference. Being able to place the AT-guns after the reserve Panzers showed up could have changed things. But in the end the main downfalls for the Soviets were: having all their AT in one place and not being aggressive enough.

FoW, Battle for the Ukraine, 7500 points total... GameSummit 2011

2011-02-19T19:09:00.023-05:00

Ok so this one is a doozy. 28 pics plus video, but then again we ended up getting 7500 pts for the Battle in the Ukraine. Sit back, grab a brew, and enjoy the fruits of months of painting in this huge battle.

Pregame shot, Russian players await the german push.. BTW, click pic for close up of Brett's 'Bitch please' face. Perhaps he just found out the official soap of the GameSummit WFB tourny is... NONE!!

Dug in Russians in the farmlands above and below..

.. while more Dug In infantry surround the urban objective. BA-10s can be seen as well.

Better pic of the BA-10s near the fountain in the town square

Sideboard... 8 T-34s and 5 KV-1s

More Red Army vehicles (SU-85 and SU-122 assault guns).. are there just too many targets for the '88s and Tigers?

Truck Motor guys (they have a real funny russian name) EDIT: Razvedki is what they are called.. I love that they hang off the fenders with their PPsh's, 1920's gangland style!

Chris' Maksim settles near the potted plants on the second floor of this house???

End of deployment pics, this is how the table looks from the Russian POV at start of game. Germans get first turn.

SS units advance up to the creek...

while in this shot you can see how close Mike's Panzers get to the russian lines after Stormtruppen moves.

View of the other Tiger covering the advance of the DAK troops up the open fields.. Not seen, Mike's '88s on a nearby hill, discouraging any armored presence in the field area..

BA-10s on fire in the town square.. they got hit by StuGs and Panzers.. lucky to only lose 3 to be honest.
Better shot of the Urban area, burning BA-10s, and Tristan explaining to kids why adults are lining up behind them all of a sudden! Reason? Beer Cantina open for business at 11am. Best table locations ever! Thanks Corey.

(above and below) Russians shoot and assault the German troops. Perhaps they went too far with Sturmtruppen? Tiger gets Bailed but not Wrecked.. Alex just has the devils own luck on keeping Tigers alive.

Gravy Train of Aufklarung vehicles threading their way up the road between PanzerIVs.. Mike play them aggressively.

Infatry still holding the wrecked T-34 objective from Tristan's timid Panzer units.. seemingly a single BA-10 scares them.. though after the BA-10, the dug in men are literally the only thing stopping the Panzers from taking the objective and winning, since the Red Army reserves all came in centre and farmland objectives..

Mike's '88s on the small hill.
Surveying the dead german armor and infantry..

This is all the Germans have left to send into the farm objective meatgrinder.. the Reds have a tonne of tanks to spare.

Tigers, Bailed, Bogged, but not out. Duane pulls the ole say "Anything but a one" as Chris rolls firepower test on top armor to shaft him.. way to Jinx it D!!

Tristans Panzers slowly move closer to the infantry. At this point I was running demos pretty much constantly, so check out the Vid for the ending. Also, lesson to everyone, stop filming if you go into the game, so you dont get a few minutes tacked on to the video.. sorry!

GameSummit 2011, Friday Feb 18th "UKRAINE NOT WEAK!"

2011-02-19T06:32:00.008-05:00

Communist Party Official building!

Well, another GameSummit is upon us, all the hard work of painting 2 FoW armies and terrain and so on has paid off.. Here are some shots of the FoW demo table that I'll be running with my 8th army Brits vs 21.Panzers, and the HUGE Ukraine table for tomorrow's massive 3000 pt per side Soviets v Germans. Not pictured: Beer... Beer is available at the Steve Yzerman Sportsplex.. HUZZAH!

Video below has all sorts of other shots of the event on the quiet night before the main days (Sat and Sunday) and of my terrible selection of beer..

Game Summit Prep Work

2011-02-18T10:33:00.010-05:00

I offered to help Corey out again with some prep work he needed done. Last event I helped with painting some boards. This time he asked me to paint up a Fortress of Redemption. Its a decent chunk of plastic. Lots of nice details. I had to cut a few corners as I only got the piece a week ago and had FoW models to paint up as well...I think it turned out OK.

Mid War Escalation League - update

2011-02-17T20:44:00.001-05:00

I added a new page to track the league, and posted the basic rules for tier 1 and such. I have posted the armies people will be working on, and will put the lists up once I receive them all, so no one can peek!

Stay tuned for Game Summit coverage this weekend - lots of pics and vids to come from our Eastern Front Mega Game!

Cheers,

USSR Heavy KV-1S

2011-02-16T18:13:00.003-05:00

Here are some newly finished KV-1S tanks supporting some infantry in there advance off my painting area.

Escalation league update

2011-02-16T08:51:00.000-05:00

Ok - escalation league update time.

I have made separate page for tracking the Escalation league. This will help keep the main page clear of clutter. Here is a brief overview of Tier 1:

Tier 1 - 600 points
The minimum requirement is :

1 HQ
1 Combat Platoon

Rules Overview:

Your list can change however you see fit, week to week, during each tier.
All games will be played on a 4'x4' board for Tier 1.
I will be providing 3 specific scenarios per tier.

For Tier 1, attacker and defender will be determined based on the lists used, and the scenario played. The battles will be logged on the Drunken Gamers site, as I will be tracking the outcome of each game.

We will have a "Total War" game at the end of each tier, fielding all the lists together.

The player with the overall highest points score at the end of Tier 3, after the final Total War game, will receive a $20 voucher towards the hobby. 2nd place receives $10.

More details on the Escalation page!

FoW Antenna Tutorial

2011-02-15T00:18:00.002-05:00

"Can you hear me now, over?"

Here is a close up shot of the Sherman III's with their new antennas. The key is what to use for the antenna.. I didt want to use brass rod, as any pressure would likely snapo it, or worse, snap and damage the resin model. Plastic thin rod isnt flexible enough. However, clothing tag ties from a dept store work perfectly, they have some bend to them, are thin enough, and are plentiful (ask for a handful)

Video below as well..

Hobby Day

2011-02-12T22:25:00.002-05:00

Well with Gamesummit a week away, we have stuff to paint, and we did just that.

Here is some stuff we worked on, then Brett's new unpainted Berlin terrain, then the state of my Germans......

FoW AAR 19: 21.PanzerDiv. vs 51st Inf Div., Roadblock

2011-02-11T23:02:00.010-05:00

Rob Kelly's awesome desert table.. Afghanistan/Italy. Though the white exercise ball in the background reminds me of the Rovers from Prisoner......

My escort unit is Panzer Grenadiers in the crazy french halftracks.. U304(f)'s Also.. anyone recognize those buildings with the thatched roofs? They are Marty's horrible Christmas dollar store buildings, with like 20 dollars worth of spackle, static grass and paint to cover up the snowdrifts on the roof!!

His target for Ambuscade? 510 points of StuG IIIG's.. his ambuscade unit? 6pdr's .. Here is hoping they do better vs side armor 3 than vs Chris' T34s last week.

That grape orchard is perfect scale for FoW, and the Desert Rats look great on this table

Rob chose Priest battery and the Recce Carriers as his on-table platoons, and deployed them on the hill overlooking the highway.

Recce moved his Carriers right up against the stone wall near the small farm, and I decided to get the SP Artillery set up ASAP as my first reserve unit.

Ambuscade was deadly, killed 2 StuGIII's and the platoon command hightailed out of LOS to them, only to get killed by...

.. the Priest Battery up on the hill. I had placed him out of LOS to one observer team, but failed to spot the second one, who ranged in first shot.. One platoon down on turn 1, out of 4 platoons, and its a third of my points!!!!

Side shot down the road towards my artillery.. they did nothing all game apart from pinning observers... which does nothing.

Game ends prematurely as my Marder's, AKA StuG Hotchkiss39's get vaporized on the far right flank, and I have nothing to contest that objective. Lose my CO tank, and promptly auto-lose the game, since I had 4 platoons to start, and Marders and StuG's were already destroyed.

Thoughts: Well, for the first game using Germans, they didn't do so hot, but losing 1/3 your points turn one will do that. My Arty did nothing, would have been better off with more tanks probably, like PanzerIII's or a few IVs.. who knows. Video below as always.

Fow AAR 17: Panzer Grenadiers v British, Fighting Withdrawal

2011-02-10T22:52:00.005-05:00

Board Overview, I'm just going to let the pictures tell the tale.. Video at the end.

This one shows the 2 6+ saves needed to save his Marder's from dying.. got 2 out of 3.......

FoW AAR 16: Roadblock, British vs Soviet Tanks

2011-02-09T09:49:00.013-05:00

"Hmm, perhaps we are reading these captured maps upside down, what do you think, old boy?"

We decided to finally try Roadblock. I was using my Motor Rifles with Priest and RAF support, while Chris rolls a d6 to select an army list to use, and gets all tanks... thankfully not the KV-1 list though..

I choose his unit of T34s as the target unit (bottom left on road), with the 6pdr's as my Ambuscade unit, and he decides the escort unit should be his BA-10's (bottom right) I question this until after his recce move, they are in position to wipe out my 6pdr unit.

Priests and Sherman IIIs deploy behind the large hill..

I decide to ignore the objective near the field (above).. to concentrate on the one that has a forest to cover my approach (below)..
Ambuscade: With 12 shots hitting on 2+, I hit 11 times. Str 10 vs side armor 5 SHOULD have killed more than 2 tanks out of 5.. but my ammo was clearly faulty, and Chris was pretty lucky with his rolling 6s for armor saves.. in the end, my Ambuscade kills 2 tanks, including platoon command, and bails another.

His reserves come in turn 1 from either end of the roadway, so his truckriders come in (above)...

While his Commanding Officer in a T34 (above) can appoint a new T34 command.. smart thinking.

My 6pdrs face the wrath of the BA-10s and T34 MGs..
They would lose enough stands to fail a platoon morale...

Meanwhile, his SU76s move off the road to threaten my Priests, forcing me to move them. I would bail most of them, and lose a Priest in return.

RAF Hurricanes pick off the last few T34s
My infantry assault and finish off the last SU76

RAF are unable to do much to these Stuart IIIs though.. In the end, this will be my downfall, as they cut down my infantry trying to move up to within 16 inches of the roadway objective. Victory to the Reds

Video Below, Enjoy!

FoW AAR 15 plus added TerrainGuys to the blogroll

2011-02-07T10:07:00.004-05:00

(Above) Marty placing 105mm Arty templates in an overview shot.

Hey guys, been chatting with Shawn Morris of the TerrainGuys blog, and so added their blog to the roll..

Alright, here are some shots from Marty's US vs Chris' Russians. Chris has a list of 6 lists,and rolled up a dual artillery list.
Marty's Shermans, sporting a new camo scheme, put the pressure on Chris' guns.

Chris has this blob of infantry guarding the US reserve deployment zone.

Yet another arty template slams into the russians.. I'll let the video tell the rest

FoW AAR 14: S vs S - Lothlann takes on Pripyat

2011-02-05T09:31:00.014-05:00

Deployment: Pripyat's force is on the bottom ("nearside"). Made up of scouts (grey bases), large conscript horde with attached sappers (brown bases) and flamethrowers (blackish bases). Both near objectives are straddling the large horde by the river and the hill (small infantry, AT guns and 6 T-34s in reserves). Lothlann's armoured force from left to right; trained moto-infantry along the road, T-34s behind small houses, Armoured recon amongst tall buildings (in reserve are 2 Su-85s, 4 Su-76s and a buttload of Stuarts). First turn passes uneventfully. Barely any movement. Both recon units move up slightly after deployment.

Top of 2: Pripyat gets two reserve companies. Tanks aggressively push up the left flank - 12 inches (top). Conscript horde is free to move forward as the arriving reserve AT guns move in to secure rear objective. Scouts step into the treeline. [Bottom of 2, Lothlann's tank company moves forward and fails to impress (bails one or does nothing). Transports engage scouts in treeline and kill one.]

Top of 3: Pripyat's nearside tanks advance and kill one and bail one or two. Infantry push forward.

Bottom of 3: Lothlann's tanks split fire at the advancing tanks and infantry. He manages to bail a nearside tank and with machine guns punishes the advancing infantry focusing on conscript horde on the right.

Top of 4: Nearside tanks advance and continue to punish enemy T-34s. Nearside infantry continue pushing forward. Two flamethrowers get in range and attempt to cook some tankers but fail to impress. Scouts weave right to give right flank some extra meat.

Bottom of turn 4: Lothlann's T-34s advance towards the enemy tanks and pop and bail nearside T-34s....and continues to decimate the advancing soviet horde. Armoured recon (top right) continue to punish infantry on Blood Hill.

Top of 6: Pripyat's tanks engage Lothlann's transports. Pop two and kill 3 embarked infantry. AT guns move up and attempt to take out a few enemy recon vehicles and manage to push them back (right).
[in turn 5 Pripyat attempted to snipe the 1ic by moving one tank forward onto the road (top left). He destroyed the enemy command vehicle but the warrior managed to transfer to a nearby conscript tank. The tank company then fled... BUT after having zero reserves arrive Lothlann finally had some luck and got two Assault Gun companies and lined them up behind the row of houses, facing the lone T-34...and slaughtered it. Lothlann's transports book it way from advancing tanks and continue to engage infantry.]

We called it after turn 6 or 7. Pripyat's advance had been stopped. The red tide was turning....

Site Design

2011-02-04T07:53:00.000-05:00

Please bear with us as I am updating the layout and design of the site - it may change sporadically until we achieve the desired result.

Thank you for your patience and understanding,

CA$H

FoW AAR 13: Canadians vs Desert Rats

2011-02-03T13:43:00.003-05:00

(Above) Overview of the map. The Royal Canadian Artillery decided to park behind the huge hill, and my Priests deploy behind the small forest. First of many Huge MistakesTM is made here. My Priests have shorter range than his guns, so he can hit me with impunity.

As evidenced here, wih my Shermans who are trying to rectify Huge MistakeTM #2, don't leave an objective open to a sherman rush with nothing to contest, thinking reserves come in turn 1 (Turn 3 really) and that you can pick where they come in (Scattered Reserves) and that your RAF and Arty can demolish them since if they move on the double, they get hit twice( They don't) READ THE MISSION PROPERLY NEXT TIME haha

My shermans from the above pic actually survived long enough to get into the Canadian Artillery park and harass. However, Huge MistakeTM #3: Don't stay in trucks if you don't have to, as the survivors of this arty barrage fled the field, forcing me into compay morale checks

Huge MistakeTM #4 and weird situation: Turn hull mounted MGs to face potential assaults!!

Video Rules question:

And lastly, the full Video AAR vs Drew's Canuckleheads..speaking of, check out Drew's excellent shots of this game on his FoW blog, Covering Fire: http://covering-fire.blogspot.com/2011/01/upstart-colonials.html

FoW AAR 12 Russia v Germans

2011-02-03T13:33:00.004-05:00

(Above) German Halftracks belonging to Tristan deploy near the Farming Collective vs Brett's Soviets

Overview of the Board. I didn't get many shots of this game or video, since I was busy playing AAR 13, maybe someone else needs to take some pics next time?

Brett's painted AT guns skulking on the edge of the forest there.. they are so used to shootig at Tristans all tank army, they don't know what to shoot at now that he is taking Grenadiers!

Brief Video of this game below

FoW AAR 11: Sov's vs Germans

2011-02-01T23:17:00.006-05:00

(above) Marder's Guard a flank in the best spot: Straddling a forest edge, so they are concealed.

Overview of the map, the Russians are charging up the center towards objectives..

Losing many men to the MG42's in the woods near to the Marders. Unfortunately, the first IL-2 bombing run fails to range in on the Germans at all.. too bad, they were clustered together nicely...

After getting the Strelkovy's unpinned, the 2nd Russian bombing run spots halftracks that have Stormtrooper-moved really close to an objective...
..And this time the ranging in is perfect.. massive casualties ensue
Russians make it to this objective near the crashed plane and burnt out building.. Video Below to finish out. Enjoy

FoW AAR 10: Team America vs Team Tigers

2011-01-30T22:34:00.010-05:00

Well well, what have we here coming into town?
Marty graces us with his presence for an afternoon FoW battle vs Alex's hastily assembled Germans.. If you'll recall, 2 weeks ago he participated in his first game, and now he gets to use his own stuff.. all 7 models of it.

(above) Here we have the main layout, Mission was Free For All, you can see the King Tiger model is the tiger HQ on the hill, another Tiger to its left, one near the main town, and 4 Panzerknacker armed stands guarding the town objective. Marty's Americans have fast movers coming down the left flank there, with the M10 Jeeps waiting for the perfect time to remove the tarps from the 4 Wolverines..

Marty's Shermans wisely stay in the trees, out of LOS to the Tiger coming down Haupt Strasse.. 40 inch range is very far, and all 3 Tiger's rolled 3 ROF skill.

Above: The center ground between the two hamlets is covered by a Tiger and HQ (King) Tiger, which is on the bluffs, in the shadow of the Blackthorn Cider-sponsored grain silo!

Marty's Rifle Half Tracks cozy up the hamlet, trying to stay concealed from the (barely visible) gun barrel of the Tiger in the town across the field..

Marty's Rifles

Marty's M10s spring a trap on the Tiger moving to claim an objective.. the Rifles had to also break cover to contest it or lose.. would 5 bazooka teams plus 4 Wolverines be enough to stop the german armor? Video Below

Flames of War Escalation league

2011-01-28T08:53:00.001-05:00

The Drunken Gamers of Ottawa are starting a Flames of War Escalation league!

With Flames of War picking up steam, all of us busily working away on terrain/armies, and more people showing interest every week. This is a GREAT time to start one!

Some of my inspiration comes from HERE

We will start out small, say 600 points, 1 HQ and 1 combat platoon minimum, and grow from there. This will encourage painting (which we are all pretty good at already) for newer players, and make all our games look awesome with always playing with painted stuff. It will also encourage small, faster, simpler games for use to really learn the nuances of the rules and tactics of this awesome game. It also allows us to keep playing regularly, and not burn out on trying to get loads done asap. Again, we can even encourage people to bring new players to test it out, knowing that games will be smaller and easier to "demo" weekly if needed.

I'm thinking we will have 3 stages, each of 4 weeks starting with 600 points, then 1000, then 1500. That gives people a month to paint roughly 500 point blocks of models, so we can work on other things (if we want) and still progress.

We can also be setting certain pre-determined scenarios for each point bracket, so as to ease the list building and make the games link together like a campaign. Each player will have to play as many different opponents as possible. I would also like to cap it off with a round robin tourney over the course of a Sat or Sun and the end!

I'm looking to kick things off in the next week or two so stay tuned to this space (keyword "Escalation League") to see people's progress and lists!

Cheers,

Russian Infantry

2011-01-25T21:54:00.003-05:00

Here are my 4 finished motostrelkovy platoons minus there commands which are next up. After that I have to paint up my BA-10M scout cars as well as a 4 razvedki squads, command and there transports.

The British Are Coming!!... along nicely that is.

2011-01-21T12:19:00.005-05:00

Overall shot of my progress.. thinking of switching to Motor Company from my usual Rifle Company lists.

Close up of the infantry stands of my Motor Rifle Platoon

HQ Command Unit, now with the 2IC Bagpiper model, and the staff jeep and Morris Truck (Motor Company, they need rides) The canvas-topped jeep is from my late war 7th Armoured box set, I think it looks awesome as the HQ jeep..

Last but no least are some shots of my Sherman III's.. Due to a really bad primer job, these models took 4 hours to paint.. the detail was mainly painted on. Also, I don't use decals, so the Desert Rats on the fenders are hand painted as well as the unit numbers.

Here is the list I plan on bringing to Game Summit:

British Motor Company, Italy, 1500 points

HQ: Company Command, Company 2IC, staff Jeep, staff Morris 15CWT Truck 35 points

Combat Platoons:

Motor Rifle Platoon: Command MG/rifle, Morris truck, PIAT
2 MG/rifle stands, CMP 3 Tonne truck
2 MG/rifle stands, CMP 3 Tonne truck 155 points
Motor Rifle Platoon: Command MG/rifle, Morris truck, PIAT
2 MG/rifle stands, CMP 3 Tonne truck
2 MG/rifle stands, CMP 3 Tonne truck 155 points
Recon Platoon: 1 squadron of Recce Carriers, with extra MG: 105 points

Weapon Platoon: Motor Anti-Tank, 4 x 6pdr Portees, Command Rifle, Jeep: 185 points

Support Platoons: Royal Armoured Corps 3 x Sherman III's with MGs: 450 points

Royal Horse Artillery, SP: 4 Priests, 1 Observer and troop command rifle, OP Carrier, Staff team, battery command, OP Carrier: 355 points

At this point I am at 1340 points. I have 3 options from here to 1500..

Option A: HMG platoon, 2 sections, command rifle, jeep: 130 points
Add 3 inch Mortar from HQ with mortar carrier: 30 points TOTAL: 1500

Option B: Add one more Motor Rifle Platoon, exactly as above, 155 points, 1500 Total

Option C: Make the Shermans Canadian, add 2nd gun troop of 4 more priests.. 1495 total

I am painting the things above the option line at the moment, the easiest for me painting wise would be 4 extra Priests, but wit so many Russian infantry armies out there, plus Drew's infantry heavy Canucks, the HMGs make sense too.. we shall see.

It looks like I can't make it to Friday gaming, so have fun boys, and I'll play next week instead

4th Fow AAR from last week: Germans v Canadians

2011-01-19T13:58:00.007-05:00

(above) Stage is set for Germans trying to Breathrough the Canadians.. German objective quarter is top left of map.

(above) Drew's Sherman III's of the Canadian Armored Corps, look great! Too bad they are facing the wrong way (check video)

(above) Tristan's Panzers, Kampfgrupped with a command panzer with shutzen

(above) Drew had an 8 gun battery spotters and Vickers teams overlooking the objective quarter from this hilltop.

(above)Commonwealth troopers doing what they do best: Sip tea in town in the middle of battle!

(above) This window is a popular spot for Artillery observer teams...

.. calling in devastating 'murders' onto the german tanks.

(above) The plucky Canadians repulse assault after assault from the german tanks to hold the objective. In the end, the Panzer Grenadier make a final push for the objective, but they will need to make a Stormtrooper move to pull off the win... Video Below

So: Instead of cramming multiple AAR's into one post, I've spread the love and added pics and commentary.. is this better for everyone>?

Tomorrow I will post my progress painting my Dessert Rats! (They like cake)

3rd FoW AAR: Soviet on Soviet!

2011-01-17T17:17:00.009-05:00

(Above) T70 light tanks head towards the inn near the potato farm... they make Vodka from potatos right?!

(Above) Always an epic battle, is Soviets on Soviets. Mission was breakthrough with Brett on the offensive. His objective quarter is top right in this pic, near the two burnt out cottages.

(above) Chris' plucky painted unit here would go on to heroic deeds for Mother Russia, killing tanks and drawing a good amount of fire away from the objective defenders.. all near/in the potato farm area!

(above) View downrange of Chris' guns.

(above) Reverse view, you can see Chris' guns near the brick ruins, Potato Inn in the foreground.

Here is where Chris' unit defeated and forced back a unit of T34s!

(above) all game long, the lone observer on the crest of the bridge called in artillery, and survived the fire from these T70s!

Brett's tanks eat a perfect ranged-in shot, again thanks to that well hidden observer team.

In the end, Chris had a tonne of stuff arrayed in a horseshoe of doom, awaiting Brett's reserves arriving on the objectives. In the end, I am told Brett squeaked out a victory despite massive casualties. Video is below.

FoW AAR: British 51st HD v Soviets

2011-01-16T20:05:00.004-05:00

(abiove) Overview of map, with a hamlet mid left, small creek down the middle right

(above) new units in my army for this one: 6 pdr portees, I also played with Priests for the first time.. however the hamlet proved to be a killing ground in this battle..

Brett had my Crusaders, Portees all killed in the hamlet, so I had to gun for the eastern objective, guarded by 5 T70s and some "mystery" infantry...

(above) In this side shot, you can see my 3 black Sherman III's moving up the farmers field towards the objective

I should have remembered that these half painted guys from last week were pioneers.. so when my 3 shermans tank assalted them and killed 2 stands, they Countered, killing all 3 tanks. With my Recce unit all bailed and the othe platoons dead, my 1IC decided to fold by rolling a 1 for Company Morale!!! Great game, video is below.

FoW AAR: Canadians v Soviets

2011-01-15T10:59:00.009-05:00

(above) Lothlann's painted Soviets

Last night, Drew aka BigWillie, and Chris, aka Moser aka Lothlann played 1 of 4 games fought. I had only one Video recording of it, and it wasn't good, because I was rushing my game vs Brett aka Pripyat. However, Tristan aka Ca$h (so now you know everyone..) was kind enough to snap a few shots of their game.

(above) Scenario is Breakthrough, so playing lengthwise

(above) Another look at the battlefield with all the new terrain that got ordered.. ignore the GW Urbanscape mat underneath!

(above) Dug in Canadians defend against the tide of Russians.. this is a good spot!
(above) More Canadians pour fire into the Soviets aided by the 8 gun battery....
.. which is being called down from this well-placed Observer team!
The russians press the advance, but being on foot and attacking with no armor, is an uphill battle..
(above) Sadly, the terrain is against Chris as the river that was placed to minimize effects in a normal battle, forces the Soviets to rush the bridge to cross the center line, all under the withering fire of the HMGs in the large house.

Chris gets men across th river to stave off defeat, but later concedes, acknowledging that crossing the river is well and good, but he was going to run out of men before he got anywhere near the 2 objectives.

'There is no Shelter, from the Steel Rain'

2011-01-13T19:56:00.003-05:00

So, as the title suggests, I have got my hands on some artillery, in the form of 4 Sextons and 2 priests. For now, I am using them as 6 x Priests from the Royal Horse Artillery, for much needed fiepower. I acquired the Sextons in a trade with Spanky100, for my Chaos Dwarf converted WFB army, he had 2 late war FoW army boxe sets: the British 7th Armoured and the 21. Panzer Division, "Rommel's Zirkus" of looted vehicles. I have ordered 2 more regular priests to make an even 4 priests, but can add in the 4 sextons 'count-as' when I want to get saucy with artillery.

I aso finally finished with all the little details, the game winning 2IC and his trusty Carrier, plus the Recon Squadron, painted in the proper 51st HD markings. I think they look great, but it was very time consuming to get everything done, like the bog-down gear on the back, the machine gun ammo boxes, etc. Pics below.

The Red Menace

2011-01-09T13:12:00.002-05:00

So last night played at Pripyat's (Brett) place vs his Soviets, then got to play vs Lothlann's Soviets afterwards.

No pics were taken, but the videos turned out great. Just crank up the sound a bit on the second one, as Pripyat's 3 month old 2IC was sleeping..

Enjoy

For King and Country!

2011-01-07T14:06:00.005-05:00

Well, got finally settled on a paint scheme for my Brits.. in the end I stuck with the classic desert look, but made it nice and dark so it fits into Sicily/Italy.

Infantry Color Scheme:
Khemri over everything but gun and skin
Tallarn over skin
Calthan over gun
Devlan Mud wash over whole model
Kommando Khaki for socks, helmet, webbing, backpack
Reaper Chestnut Brown for rifle
Boltgun and chainmail for metal parts

Vehicle Color scheme:
Khemri over everything
Desert Yellow for main, Adeptus for camo
Bleached Bone heavy drybrush over Desert yellow, lighter dusting over grey
Devlan Mud over whole model
Boltgun for exhausts, machine guns, etc
Insignia

I think they are looking good, I am doing the 51st Highland Division, also dubbed the "Highway Decorators" for painting their HD symbol everyhere they went. This is red over blue square, and is on the left shoulder as a blue dot, and is on the fender of the Lorry. The tanks attached to the 51st were the 2nd Derbyshire Yeomanry, and so they have the Desert Rats symbol from the 7th armored brigade on their fenders.

Gotta paint up the rest of the 2IC stand tonite, as well as the unit of MG Carriers that took me to victory vs Lothlann's Sov's last week!

Flames of War Video Battle Reports

2011-01-04T09:58:00.003-05:00

So on New Years day, we had some FoW action over at Ca$h's, here are a few pics selected at random because for some reason I don't have permission to preview my own damned photos.. thanks Microsoft, you're the best.. Videos after the pics..

Here we have the "Battle for Campobello", Cauldron mission, Sov's vs British. One day hopefully we will know what turn we are on for a battle report!

Encounter vs Ca$h's Germans... an important lesson learned here regarding mission objectives.. read them carefully, and deploy accordingly!!!!

Review: Flames of War Figure Case

2010-12-26T04:07:00.002-05:00

Well for my xmas gift to myself, I shelled out the $100 for a Flames of War case.

I play US for flames of war, specifically a tank company, and the start of a paratrooper army.

My first impression was WOW! The things is really well made, and is durable. There is a lot of room for models inside of all kinds (infantry, tanks, command teams, artillery, armoured infantry and vehicles, etc).

The only issue I have, is that the foam included is generic, so any army can use it. Now for any of the infantry or artillery, basically anything on a base this is no problem, as the bases sizes are standard and fit nice and snugly.

The problem is in the tank and vehicle areas. I play with shermans, stuarts, M10s and halftracks, and unfortunately, the US versions of these are smaller than other armies, which leads to lost turrets in general jumbling around if i am rough with the case (as I was on purpose to test it).

Now, I am in the process of magnetizing all my turrets so that should solves the problem mostly. And Battlefoam does make army specific trays, which I will likely invest in, in the new year, but for now, the bog standard case is what I have.

Final Analysis (or the TL;DR section): The case is very well made and seems ideally suited for German armour. All models on bases will be great in this case. Various factions tanks and armoured vehicles may see a bit of shuffling, though if you don't bang your case around they'll be steller.

Value: 7/10 - Good quality cases cost money, but this is even a bit pricier (on par with Battlefoams stuff)
Quality: 9/10 - Well made, durable, good construction.
Appearance: 10/10 - Looks great and with an army specific patch and a nameplate it would DY-NO-MITE!

Would I buy one again? Yes I would, but I would immediately shell out the cash for the army specific trays and sell some of the standard ones to friends/ebay.

:thumbsup:

Ultramarines: The Movie - The Sober Gamer Review

2010-12-22T14:04:00.008-05:00

(After reading several reviews of the Ultramarines movie created by Codex Pictures, I found that there are myriad viewpoints on the movie from the perspective of a Warhammer gamer, but none that I could find which reviewed the movie as what it is: a movie. My attempt here is to write something that any theater-goer can read - gamer or no - and get a sense of what they're about to watch.)

Before you know anything else about this movie, you need at least a cursory awareness of a table-top game called Warhammer 40,000. Created approximately three decades ago by Games Workshop, the fictional universe in which the game is played forms the basis of the Ultramarines movie. Since its inception, it's become an internationally-loved game and hobby in which fans build sci fi miniatures, paint them, and then play against each other in a table-top war-game involving dice and measuring tape. The most popular army to play in Warhammer 40,000 is the Ultramarines… and it's they who have inspired this film.

Ultramarines is the story of a small band of futuristic Marines, bound in thick armor and armed with powerful, oversized repeat-rocket launchers called Bolters… not to mention swords on their hips which are loaded with chainsaw blades. They are the elite and first-to-fight in the legions of the Emperor; an ancient and revered ruler who sits at the head of an interplanetary totalitarian imperium. Rule is absolute, paranoia is the underlying principle of law, and offenders are guilty until proven innocent.

This rag-tag detachment of steadfast Ultramarines investigate a distress beacon from a distant planet called Mithron, expecting to find brethren Marines there, holding the line. When they arrive, they find that things are amiss and the presence of demonic forces are seeking to rob the Imperium of sacred artifacts. Their military order is a religious one, where they refer to one another as "Brother" and carry aloft the standard of the Emperor, whom they revere as a Christ-like deity.

The first few minutes of Ultramarines set my mind at edge about what sort of direction this movie was going to take. I was afraid that the Dudley-Do-Right Ultramarine ethos would over-emphasize the Arnold Schwarzeneggerish action-hero element. Instead, the tone is quite dark from the outset. It's hard to pry the machismo out of the Ultramarine mythos, but this movie, its tone, its visual character and music achieve a deft balancing act of conveying the power and muscle of the genetically enhanced super soldiers while, at the same time, skirting the cliches which could have crippled this tale from the outset. Failing to achieve that balance would have ruined this picture for all except the most devoted fans.

I was pleased that Ultramarines is a movie first and a Warhammer wank-fest second. It's for fans, but there's care taken to allow the uninitiated access to the story. Though this isn't exactly Fried Green Tomatoes, there is generous attention to character development and plot advancement. The characters have names, personalities, strengths and weaknesses. It underlines my earlier point about the balancing act; a real movie is more than just pauses between action scenes. Again, Ultramarines will not win (nor does it deserve) any Academy awards, but there's care and artistry in its story that makes it quite watchable.

Due to the detailed, very specific source material, no review of Ultramarines is complete without mention of its faithfulness to the Warhammer canon. All fans of Games Workshop's lore will be happy to know Ultramarines is meticulously, uncompromisingly, even lovingly faithful to canon and crafts a story in which its universe is treated as scripture. From the precise formation of Marine squads, the religious relationship to their weapons and armor, the role that each Marine plays within the squad, the rules of the larger universe in which various Marine chapters interact with one another down to the blessing of ammunition itself… those who love the Adeptus Astartes are going to get a very special, geeky thrill from Ultramarines's devotion to it. This is no doubt due to Games Workshop's unflinching restrictions on licensing their IP and how they aggressively retain creative control. Hollywood could learn from Ultramarine's example and apply this level of respect for source material in movies based on popular comic books, video games, etc.

Though hardcore fans will be squeaking with glee over Ultramarine's "future of war" story, an uninitiated non-fan will probably blanch somewhat at the thick, unapologetic Judeo-Christian imagery that echoes the darkest chapters in real religious history. It's a pervasive influence on the Warhammer mythos that parrots an era of prejudice and persecution, despite how odious that reference can be. It's a strange context in which to frame "the good guys" of the tale, but devoted Warhammer fans have long since accepted it as part of the cosmology. To put it bluntly: Don't expect Ultramarines to make a fan out of those who have a distaste for what the Crusades meant to religious history. "The Emperor Protects" rings with the kind of fanaticism that modern thinkers find ugly… even as fiction.

Ultramarines is rendered completely in CGI, which is not only a cost-efficient way to bring fantasy and sci-fi movies to the screen, but makes a lot of sense for a movie like this one: The environments, effects, sets, etc. for Ultramarines would have been prohibitively expensive and difficult to do properly. It's interesting, however, how the movie is so visually inconsistent. There are magnificent scenes and effects which are so lifelike that you can almost feel the metal under your fingers or smell the smoke in your nostrils. Certain panoramas or sets are simply breath-taking and truly bring the gritty fantasy world to dim, dismal life (in particular, I was just stunned by Chaplain Carnak's armor, especially his ornate helmet). Sometimes, it's little more than a third-rate Shrek. At its worst? The motion and expressions are lifeless, wooden and utterly impossible to believe. In fact, some of the animation was so poor that I'm at a loss to explain how it came to be included in the final print. There's one scene in particular which I won't describe (so as to avoid spoilers), but it could have been a low-rent re-enactment of Buzz Lightyear having a fist-fight with another Buzz Lightyear. It was more disappointing than funny.

One of the glowing gems of this film - an aspect that too often goes overlooked - is its sound design. At every turn, the audio was utterly perfect, and the mood of the movie was greatly bolstered by it. During scenes when great battles were taking place, the crack of Bolter shells firing and armor clanking against melee weapons was flawlessly executed. In quieter scenes, footfalls and the whisper of voices were treated with deft expertise with clever attention to reverb and occlusion. It helps, of course, to have such a gifted cast lending their voices. Terrance Stamp and John Hurt, in particular, have distinct and characterful voices that resist all temptation to over-act or reduce the material by adding humorous subtext. In fact, many of the ideas and dialogue that Ultramarines serves up would probably fall flat if not for the capable cast.

A movie with plot and characters lives and dies by its story, and Ultramarines tells a tale which isn't likely to challenge or inspire many people… but it's a solid tale all the same. It's about heroism and brotherhood and honor and all that good stuff that warriors are supposed to stand for. Though there is brutal violence throughout, the violence is not the point of the tale. As the small band of warriors find their way across Mithron and discover its secrets, its tested by stress from within and attacks from without. It sounds truly epic, but this movie resolves its deepest human issues very predictably; nobody ever really believes that the honor of the Ultramarines will ever be sullied or that true marines could ever betray one another. Though an earnest attempt is made to put the question in the audience's head, there's no tension there. We know they'll never fail.

This is not to say there are no twists or curve-balls in the Ultramarines tale, but it's not a mind-bender. Most of your time will be spent watching plot developments you already knew were coming play out. And that's okay; few movies on the market these days will hit you with anything unexpected. Instead, let yourself luxuriate in the gratuitous machismo and violence for which the stage has been set. Getting the most out of Ultramarines is about the guilty pleasure of watching good claiming an exaggerated triumph over evil and thumping the living sh** out of it in the process. It's clearly inspired by (but doesn't steal from) great tales of war between the holy and the profane. You'll see echoes of 300 or Lord of the Rings at certain times. Ultramarines can take you there, and does. That, above all else, is what this movie is good for.

You have to respect a movie that knows what it is. It doesn't pretend to be anything but a fleshed-out exposition of a sci fi mythos that is normally brought to life on the table-top with painted miniatures and dice. There's no love story. There's no 11th hour morality tale. No Picard-esque sermons. It's just a very capably-crafted tale about sci-fi combat. There's an honesty about Ultramarines that hooked me not as a fan of the game, but as a fan of sci fi film. This is probably why I'm willing to forget (though not ignore) Ultramarines' many shortcomings and moments of abject "cheapness" to the production. The fact it isn't a movie for everyone really doesn't bear mentioning, but Ultramarines is no mere cash-in on a popular IP. There are limits to where you can go with the subject matter, but it's as honest as a movie as this sort can get.

Saturday Is Alright For Fighting - FoW

2010-12-21T17:07:00.013-05:00

1500 pts - CA$H's German Panzers vs J-O's US Tank Co. - FoW
Scenario - Encounter
Saturday, Dec 18th

Deployment. Left - US. Right - Germans. Germans get first turn.

Turn 1: Germans move forwards aggressively on their left flank.

US push forward. StuGs hang out with God.

Turn 2: US move up towards German left flank after Panzers bail a Sherman.

US move up the middle towards the StuGs.

Turn 3: US and Germans slug it out over left flank objective. After German reinforcements show. Both Co. Commanders are down.

Turn 4: Germans reposition to face Shermans on left flank.

German halftracks come from reserves and race to US side.

US bail or pop remaining Panzers. Germans down 2 platoons of 4.

Armoured platoon reinforcements force bail out on Gepanzerte Panzergrenadiers.

Turn 5: End Game.
German Co. morale test is auto failed as Co. commander is dead.

Cork

2010-12-19T10:13:00.004-05:00

So Dennis came over one day to do some painting and modeling and, when he did, he had a bunch of cork in a bag that he was using for some Flames of War scenery. I've heard of people using cork in scenery and bases, but had never tried it myself. Like far too many things, I just assumed there was some arcane black magic to making it look good. Dennis, who had brought lots of cork along (pulled from one of those cheap-o bulletin boards you get at a stationary/office supply store) left a chunk behind and encouraged me to give it a try.

Very simple:

- Broke off some cork chunks and glued them on (with a mind towards putting models on them later, so I did space and size them appropriately)

- Glued a little sand around them and on them to give them texture

- Painted Chaos Black

- Overbrushed Graveyard Earth

- Drybrushed Desert Yellow

- Drybrushed Bleached Bone

- Glued a tiny bit of static grass on for realism and contrast

It's almost too easy.

StuG III G Platoon

2010-12-13T18:25:00.000-05:00

Flames of War keeps burning strong with me, I can't stop thinking/painting/planing!! I just finished my small platoon of StuG III G:

I modeled the paint scheme after some examples I found of ambushing StuGs at Kursk in 1943. They were a blast to paint, and I think will look awesome on the table. I would love any feedback or comments on how I can improve. I plan to paint my 1iC and 2iC Panzer IV Hs and they will have a slightly different scheme.

Once those HQ panzers are complete, I will have 1500 points painted and ready for Game Summit. I will them be focusing on some terrain, roads, etc for our tables.

Before I forget, here are some pics of a small 1000 point game Lothlann and I played last Saturday, testing out some units. We learned a lot about the rules, and just played to roll some dice and get more familiar with the rules. We fought over a small town consisting of some dollar store houses Joyous_Oblivion picked up, that we play to strip and paint up for an Eastern Front table. The roads are bare black at the present, but will be painted and I have over 40' of them to play with! Watch this space for more!

Here are the pics:

Turn 1 - The Russians advance on the town, T-34 tanks moving up his left flank, with anti-tank guns on the hill with awesome fields of fire.

My Panzers sneak up the road, using trees to screen their movements as best they can.

My PanzerGrendediers disembark into the town, taking the left two buildings. We now wait for the oncoming Reds!

Turn 2 view from the Russian side. Lothlann decided to try the tank mounted infantry.

He quickly learned that infantry mounted on tanks......

..........die very quickly to incoming Panzer fire!

T-34s advance on the village, popping a half-track with ease......the rest hide behind the houses.

I keep pouring fire into the T-34s, destroying the platoon leader and bailing two more. Notice the severe lack of infantry riding on them now.

We called the game at turn 4, once the T-34s were broken and beaten. I called it a tie as Lothlann did manage to get a unit into the town (notice them behind the central church).

It was fun, and like I said, we got to try some interesting units and tactics - can't wait to play again ASAP!

CA$H out.

Flames of War Battle Reports

2010-12-11T09:46:00.006-05:00

Tristan worked his tail off to paint these PanzerGrenadiers this week

Alright, so FoW is picking up steam, and we have Pripyat (Brett) over and Marty to add to the usual crew tonite. I don't have my models yet from Drew so I played with a unit or two. FYI we are all total Noobs to this, which is part of the appeal. I've been playing WFB /40k for more than 10 years and it s refreshing to be see a new system with wide eyes again.

First game was Russians (Brett and Chris) vs Germans (Tristan and Marty/Me when Marty had to leave) 1500 points.

Here is Video plus some pics below:

And right after, we played a Russia vs Russia game, this time with the armor on both sides in Reserves, to force us to see those rules. In the End we get to see how an assault works, though due to my Camera's wonky showing of full battery bars in the morning then half when I get to Tristan's, I run out of Battery and we miss turn 2. Though it was just advance towards the objectives, get shot at :)

Here is second Video (Very Short)and a few more piccies of Brett's terrain:

Every Painful Detail 24 and 25

2010-12-08T22:32:00.002-05:00

The Mistake.

A little trick.

Flames of War terrain

2010-12-08T20:20:00.002-05:00

Well, for the Winter Game Summit Flames of War gaming, I picked up some TT scale rail model buildings.. they are PERFECT and were cheap as hell. Also pictured for scale , are teh old GW small trees, which I got from Bayshore, not pictured: all their hedges.

Also, priest thrown in to show scale.

Ill assemble my Priests tomorrow, so I have SOMETHIGN to use on Friday night when I show up after work...

Every Painful Detail, pt 23: Heavy Gear

2010-12-06T01:27:00.002-05:00

As Game Summit gets closer, work on the last of the Arena tables now begins.

This is kind of a reboot for the Every Painful Detail series. I'll be making more entries up until the last table is done.

And so it progresses..

2010-12-05T17:23:00.000-05:00

Flames of War has bitten my pretty hard, and I ordered some much needed 15mm terrain for our upcoming gaming this Friday. Here is some quick picks of it prior to being painted:

It is all from "JR Miniatures" ordered from the Warstore. Very cost effective at about $5 per piece ($7 for the bridge). Matt Varnish has mentioned a desire to start painting it this Friday while we get some games of FoW in. I will be posting WIP pics of my German PanzerKompanie tomorrow - Stay Tuned!

CA$H out.

Inspiration

2010-11-30T10:25:00.000-05:00

This is for Joyous Oblivion, who is working on his Mid War America force for Flames of War.

Check out the gorgeous models being turned out by this South African on his blog

Crac des Chevaliers

Awesome stuff.

Ca$h out.

Shoot, forgot to post 2 Bat Reps

2010-11-29T00:41:00.002-05:00

Here we go, these were from last week. Enjoy

Apparently Ive been using the Narthecium wrong, I can't use it if the model with it is in combat. However, he can be in any squad, so I might put the Narth in a squad that would hang back behind my command squad.

Also, no video for it, but I played Deathwing again vs Dark Eldar Wrack, Wych Raider Ravager spam. And won somehow. Wyches have been massively toned down since previous book.. I got triple charged and lived.

Flames of War!

2010-11-26T13:16:00.001-05:00

Hey all,

Just dropping a quick note to let you all know that we are starting into Flames of War and coverage will begin on the site in the next week or two. So stay tuned for battle reports, modeling, lists etc.

We are also ramping up for the 40k Tournament at Game Summit 2011. As a feeder tournament for Las Vegas, a lot is one the line and our armies are going to be built up to 1850pts. More info about Game Summit can be found here:

* For clarification, I do not represent Game Summit, this is just a link to the event.

Deathwing game 2

2010-11-18T11:18:00.001-05:00

vs Chimera's Tyranids.

200th Post, 2 VIDEOS!!!!

2010-11-13T10:28:00.002-05:00

Well I had a truly EPIC game of 40k over at Orbital's on Thursday. Tried out my Deathwing at 1850 for February's Game Summit Tournament, and he was using his tried and true dual foot council list (Video Battle Report 10 I think vs my Nids)

Enough Jibber Jabber, watch it.. Its in two parts because this game was so Epic.

I guess Eldar will just have to wait a while...

2010-11-11T19:03:00.003-05:00

'Cause Sobergamer's got a brand new thing going on:

Lurking Sucks...

2010-11-10T17:53:00.002-05:00

Ok so I am about to stop lurking on my own blog and begin posting. I've very recently purchased a new home with my fiance and we move in this week!

Yes I have my own hobby room, it will be soon upgraded with a couple desks and a lot of shelves :)

Pics of the new fangled hobby room will come next week, and some pics of my recently completed valkyries!

For now though I'll sit back and see what new goodies my compatriots mare working on...

JO

Night Lords 1st Company

2010-11-09T21:09:00.003-05:00

So, for Game Summit 2011 I am planning on taking Deathwing.. Pre Heresy Night Lords Deathwing.. with my all RTB01 termies no less. But the biggest thing stopping me was figuring out how to make Pre heresy shoulder pads. Ive seen plenty of tutorials on how to make them.. for the new plastic termies, loyal and chaos.. but nothing for models that have their shoulder pads already on... So today I hit up Hobby House and found some tubing and thin plastic stripping. Here is how they look.. keep in mind, the models are getting repainted, most of them are second hand, but the company standard is staying, its from my old command squad. Still need to rivet the shoulders, but Ill do them in batches of 10 models using the white glue drop method.

Video Battle Report: Eldar vs Black Templars

2010-11-06T10:28:00.002-04:00

So, a bit of info here.. Last week saw Lothlann try out Necrons, but in true fashion, has already switched armies, and decided on Black Templars. Not only that, he ACTUALLY GOT A CODEX and some BT models.. so maybe we will see this army come to life for real!?! I am using my old 1500 pt str 6 heavy list from way back. I need to find room for more long range anti tank, 2 twin bright lances just isn't cutting it.

About the Video, yes there are some turns missing, some files were corrupted. The only thing of note was at the end, in Turn 6, he tank shocked my Fire Dragons who promptly rolled a Box Cars for ldr test, and fled off the board. Loth pointed out that they could reroll that test, but it turns out I need an Exarch with TankHunters skill for that. Its ok, because reviewing the video, the rhino had been blown up by those same Fire Dragons in turn 3!! Revenge of the Ghost Rhino!

He forgot to even deploy 2 speeders, which evens out the above.

Lastly, we had an interesting rules question come up, and I'd like anyone reading this to chime in: When you see the video, you will see the situation: THere are Dire Avengers bravely cowering behind the burning wreckage of a Wave Serpent. Loth wishes to charge the one guy possible without rolling the difficult /dangerous terrain, so that he doesn't roll a 5 or less to not be able to assault nor take unnecessary wounds.. fine. Problem was, with Defenders React, we weren't sure if my guys HAD to move through the wreckage. Turns out on Pg 34, they DO, but do are not slowed down NOR do they suffer the effects. So that is solved, yet, in the subsequent combat, since my lone DA made his ldr test to stay, with Pile In moves, would his Crusader squad take dangerous terrain tests piling into my one guy? I'd say no, because the Defenders React part states the move is done exactly like Pile in, so reverse engineering of the rules seems reasonable to me.. your thoughts?

Tentacles, Eyeballs, Wave Serpent!

2010-11-05T00:05:00.002-04:00

With all this "new army" work going on, I decided to take a break from my Nids and Night Lords, and work on my Crone World Eldar.

I finally have a vehicle done, the Farseer will probably ride on this, keeping an "Eye" on things from inside :)

Orks in Progress

2010-11-02T18:54:00.002-04:00

So, Orks it is. I have officially started an Ork army! So far I have assembled 40 boyz, 3 Deff Copters, a unit of Nobz and a Warboss. I have also started building some custom vehicles for the lads to tour around in. First up is a rokkit buggy I made as a prototype out of a deff copter and some bits - I plan to make a full unit of 3 all similar. Take a look:

click to enlarge

I have also built a trukk, and what may become my first battle wagon.....

The first trukk was built from scraps. I had to build the frame, mounts and all, from plasticard and whatever I can find :

click to enlarge

Last up the the 2nd trukk, which may or may not become a battlewagon, depending on how my attempts to build one using a Bane Blade hull turns out. Stay tuned for the work with the Bane Blade hull!

click to enlarge

PS. I welcome all comments and suggestions for improvement to my creations, I am open to any/all crazy ideas!

CA$H out.

Splinters of Locara Tournament

2010-11-01T16:31:00.016-04:00

I know its a bit late but here is my tournament review from the splinters of locara tournament. I went 1-1-2 each game could have went either way. The tournament was well run and everything went very smoothly, All my games went very well and I had a blast.

My list was:

Company Command - bolt pistol, 4 melta gun, astropath

8 storm troopers -power weapon, 2 melta gun

70 Veterans - 3 plasma guns
chimera

platoon command - 4 melta guns
chimera

platoon squad A
platoon squad B

Vendetta

Vendetta

Vanquisher - lascannon

Vanquisher - lascannon

Demolisher

Game one: was against Just Dave as he became called (he doesn't have a game summit forum name). He played Tyranids his list had a hive tyrant, 2 zoanthropes, 2 large units of genestealers, a unit of hormagaunts, 2 units of termagaunts, 2 tervigons, 2 carnifex. I managed to pull down all his monstrous creatures and synapse creature but it was already to late, his genestealers were in my lines ripping apart the chimeras and I didn't have enough anti infantry guns to kill him as fast as he was killing me once he was in my line. It was a close battle the score was 9 - 6 so lots of bloodshed.

Game two: was against mysideofthemirror. He was playing space marines, with a very Dark Angels theme (obviously waiting for the new book to come out) It was nice to see an army that was shooting heavy, like dark angels should be. He had a librarian in terminator armour with a unit of 10 terminators, two 10 man tactical squads in rhinos, 2 devastator squads in razorbacks, 2 predators. There were 4 objectives and dawn of war deployment. By turn 5 it was a draw 1-1, turn 6 I was winning 2-1. But alas it went to turn 7 and i lost 1-0, my last infantry unit was wiped out by his terminators and i failed to kill his last infantry unit with my demolisher and 2 vanquishers. It was a close and well fought battle and it could have went either way with some luckier dice rolls.

Game three: I played against Missinglink, every time we play our games are close and there is always a pile of corpses and wrecked vehicles everywhere and this game was no different. He was playing blood ravens, I can't remember his list exactly, a couple of predators, a couple of land speeders, 2 tactical squads in rhinos, 2 dreadnoughts. By the end of the game there were corpses and vehicle wrecks scattered everywhere. I had left my demolisher, 2 vanquisher, my hq, a chimera with stormtroopers in it (which landed on a unit when they came in and he put them at the back corner of my deployment, though they managed to make make it half way across the table and blow up a dreadnought last turn) and a squad of 10 men that were sitting on my objective. He had left a 10 man squad sitting on his objective a few immobilized rhinos, a predator which he managed to flank my objective but wasn't able to make my 10 man unit run or get close enough to contest, he may have had one dreadnought left as well. Over all it was a great game and a blood bath as usual. The game ended in a draw.

Game four: I played Omega who played Blood Angels. He had a chaplain in a unit of assault marines with a sang priest, a librarian dreadnought, a unit of stern guard in rhino, a tactical squad in rhino, baal predator, and probably some more. The mission was victory points and pitched battle. I managed to pull off some lucky shots early on and the game ended at turn 5 which gave me a victory by about 160 points, he was unlucky that his main unit only came down on turn 3 so didn't get as many turns to crush my stuff as he had liked. We went on to play the last two turns as a what if game since we had the time. His assault unit went on to crush my army, turn 6 it was a marginal win for me only about 40 pts, and if it would have went to turn 7 he was winning by about 130-200 points. luckily it ended at turn 5.

Overall impressions of my army: Its a similar list to what I usually play, i wanted to go with russes instead of chimera chassis equivalent and IMO it paid off. Over the 4 games i lost 2 russes one in the first game vs nids and one in the last game from a librarian with blood lance. If they were Medusas I'm sure I would have lost them every game. The additions of the Valkyries helped a bit but looking back I should have taken Valkyries with rocket pods, I was very light on anti infantry and it hurt a lot. The stormtroopers were hit or miss, vs tyranids they managed to wound a tervigon a few times before being eaten. They killed a bunch of marines games two, they forced him to have to shoot at them for a turn. Game three they landed on a unit and ended up at the back corner of my table edge (his choice). Game four they managed to wipe out a 10 man tactical squad over a couple turns of shooting, I'm enjoying there ap3 weapons, i thought the str 3 would really hinder them but i managed to get some lucky rolls. Not sure if I would take them to another tournament but I definitely will use them in friendly games, I'm glad there finally painted. Other then that I was quite happy in how my army performed, the Vanquishers opened up many tanks and rhinos, much more then I thought they would only hitting 50% of the time on average. I definitely will stick to the vanquishers for a while.

Well that is it for my tournament review

Squats.. Vehicle markings complete

2010-10-31T15:35:00.004-04:00

weird the pic doesnt seem to show the white highlights on the fake NMM gold symbol on top of my Chimerhinos... must be the glare?

Video Battle Reports!

2010-10-30T23:37:00.002-04:00

Hey guys, forgot to post some of these older ones.

First one, VS Newborn BEFORE the Los Deimos tournament, he didnt want me to post it prior to, to keep his list under wraps, so here it is. Note, the tournament was running the old DE codex since its not out yet.

Next up is a quick report between the winner of the Tournament and Cleary...

Lastly, we have the post tournament Video of Ca$h and Lothlann, NOT USING their regular armies!

Splinters of Locara Tournament Review

2010-10-27T17:24:00.000-04:00

CA$H here,

So it was a blast gaming all day Sunday at the Splinters of Locara Tournament here in Ottawa. Check the tournament, campaign and pics here. This was run by our own “Sober Gamer” and was a stellar event to attend. Organized, great tables and even a lunch deal at a local deli really made for a wicked awesome day of 40k.

This is a long post, covering all my games. You can

I brought my freshly painted Space Wolves, which I painted in 1 week! Here are some pics:

This was the 1500pt list I brought:

Rune Priest
Runic Armor (Living Lightning and Murderous Hurricane)

Rune Priest

Runic Armor (Jaws of the Wolf and Living Lightning)

Wolf Guard Pack 1 (5 man)

2x Combi-melta, Power Fist

2x Combi-melta, Power Weapon & Melta Bombs

1x Terminator Armor, Power weapon & Storm Bolter

Grey Hunter Pack 1

8 Grey Hunters, melta gun, mark of the wulfen
Drop Pod

Grey Hunter Pack 2
8 Grey Hunters, melta gun, mark of the wulfen
Rhino Transport

Grey Hunter Pack 3
8 Grey Hunters, melta gun, mark of the wulfen
Rhino Transport

Grey Hunter Pack 4
5 Grey Hunters, melta gun, mark of wulfen
Razorback Transport with twin linked heavy bolters

Land Speeder 1

Multi-melta, Heavy Flamer

Land Speeder 2

Multi-melta, Heavy Flamer

Long Fangs Pack 1
1 Squad Leader, 4 Long Fangs with Missile Launchers

Razorback Transport with Twin-linked Lascannon

Predator 1

Autocannon, Heavy Bolter sponsons

1500 points

I played a total for 4 games, finishing 2-1-1. My sole loss was to Matt Varnish and his Tyranids, and it was a very close game, a chess match really. Took his whole army shooting, then assaulting my lone land speeder to break the tie to a win in his favor, and he finally pulled it off. My 2 wins were my first and last games, Eldar and vanilla marines respectively.

Game 1: Chooka’s Eldar. The Eldar army had a huge unit of wraith guard supported with a farseer on jet bike and a wraith lord. He has a Fire Prism and two wave serpents, one with Dire avengers, the other with Fire Dragons. My shooting was atrocious, and it didn’t look to good for me until turn 3, when I managed to get two Grey Hunter units into combat with the wraith guard. The mission was kills points, and it ended up 4-3 in my favor. So are one can imagine, not a lot of units were destroyed!

Game 2: Matt Varnish’s Tyranids. He had a solid list(as can been seen on the blog here) and I felt positive going into the game. Man did we slug it out! What a chess match. We had 5 objectives and Dawn of War deployment. Took his whole army shooting, then assaulting my lone land speeder to break the tie to a win in his favor, and he finally pulled it off. We really didn’t inflict large casualties on each other, both more focused on keeping the objectives clear of models until turn 5.

Game 3: “TROE” and his Imperial Guard. Awesome list, with a great paint job – and NO VALKARIES! We played capture and control, with Spearhead deployment. Turn one we both made mad dashes with our transports towards the enemy lines, only to be stopped dead by shooting. By the bottom of turn 2, we both had ALL our transport either destroyed or immobilized. With no hope of reaching each other’s objectives, the game turned into just a shits and giggles shooting match, which I was ill prepared to win. It was still a humorous game, with some lucky shots on both sides, and a general jovial feel as we were both out of contention. I always go to play for pure fun first, win second and every game so far had been just that!

Game 4: “The Lurker Below” and his Imperial Fists (vanilla marines). His star unit was a nasty looking land raider, carrying 5 terminators (3 lightning claw, 2 Thunder hammer / Storm shield) led by a Chaplain AND Librarian. He deployed in a refused flank, with the land raider closest, ready to head into my lines, and was set to go first. However………………………..I stole initiative! This allowed me to take a chance and land my Drop Pod right in front of his land raider, and pray my sole melta gun and combi-melta on the Wolf Guard in the unit could pull off a miracle. The pod landed true, and I popped the raider with the melta – I knew my unit was now toast. The game was pure victory points, so I figured 175pt Grey hunter unit in exchange for even a land raider was a fair deal. Here is where the game was really decided though. After bailing out, the termies assault me on their turn. I passed my counter assault roll, and in the ensuing melee (initiative being the same across the board) I focused on and killed the Chaplain, and wounded the Librarian! This changed the exchange of points from 175 for 250 to 175 for 400+. He was a great sport about the crazy luck I displayed on the last game of the day, and it made for some great story telling around the room that evening.

Overall I had a great time, and really enjoyed all my games. It reinforced why I attend these types of events, and was really refreshing to see well painted and well played armies on almost every single table. To finish my Space Wolves up to 2000points, I plan to add a unit of Sky Claws, a Land Raider, and Wolf Priest. But with Game Summit 2011 coming in February, I think a larger challenge is in order. I just assembled 30 ork boyz last night, and built this rokkit buggy out of a Deff copter:

More updates on both armies to follow!

CA$H out.

Los Deimos Tourney 2 days away!!

2010-10-22T13:50:00.005-04:00

Welp, 2 days left to go. Yesterday I ironmanned and rehilighted skin and carapace on 20 termagaunts, so that the army is done, just not the extra 20 spawnable termagaunts, which I still might do. I must say the army looks a lot better now, if you'll notice, the carapaces have all been redone on everything, and the skin has more depth, ie isnt just drybrushed white anymore haha

I am now working on new objective markers. In the campaign that kicks off right after Sunday's tournament, Tyranids can move around on the map like everyone else, or can use Sewers. Without even seeing the sewer map, I can tell this is going to be super characterful, since during the last Campaign, Los Deimos was long held by my Tyranids, then was swept clear by those dirty Eldar belonging to Silar of http://thefallenprinces.blogspot.com

So it is totally natural that some Genestealers hung around, underground, in hiding, for all these forces to swoop in for whatever important stuff is in the Hive Center. So I am working on some sewer entrances, with a few other goodies, in case I roll up the 5 objectives..

Here are some pics of the newly highlighted army, ready for sunday:

And last but not least, a video battle report vs Ca$h's secret project: He has been working on a new army, only this week. The challenge is, can he paint it on week, if so, he will use them, if not, he falls back and uses his Slaaneshi Chaos.

Final...Final List for Los Deimos!

2010-10-17T09:52:00.002-04:00

With less than a week to go now before the tourney starts I am scrambling to paint my army and find a list I like!

Without further adieu here is my final list, otherwise I won't have time to get it ready, and that just won't do!

Company Command - 3 Plasmaguns, Medic, Astropath, Officer of the Fleet, Plasma Pistol and Power Fist on Commander
Chimera - Multilaser, heavy flamer

Veteran Squad - Demolitions, 3 meltas, 6 shotguns, plasma pistol (on sergeant)

Veteran Squad - 3 meltas, 6 shotguns, plasma pistol (on sergeant)

Veteran Squad - 3 meltas, 6 shotguns, plasma pistol (on sergeant)

Veteran Squad - 2 meltas, 1 flamer, 6 shotguns, plasma pistol (on sergeant)
Chimera - Multilaser, heavy flamer

Veteran Squad - 2 meltas, 1 flamer, 6 shotguns, plasma pistol (on sergeant)
Chimera - Multilaser, heavy flamer

Vendetta - heavy bolter sponsons

Vendetta - heavy bolter sponsons

2 Valkries - heavy bolter sponsons, multiple rocket pods

-1495 points-

So I dropped 2 chimeras (at Matt_Varnish's recommendation) and added a 5th Veteran squad. I also dropped the Power Weapons and 1 Plasma Pistol in order to give the first Veteran Squad the Demolitions ability to allow for a potentially devastating first turn multi-vehicle charge and destruction with melta bombs a plenty :)

Splinters of Chaos

2010-10-14T19:25:00.004-04:00

CA$H here,

I just penned my final list for next weekend's local tournament "Splinters of Locara". It is being run by "Sober Gamer", and picks up right after last year's Locara campaign. For more info, please swing by HERE and feel free to take part! It really will be global, since games can be played anywhere. Without further mumbling, here is the list I have settled on:

HQ
Daemon Prince - 155 pts
Wings, MoS, Lash of Submission

TROOPS

Noise Marines x8 – 250pts
Sonic Blasters x 7
Noise Champion w/ Power Weapon and Doom Siren, Personal Icon, Melta bombs

Chaos Space Marines (10) - 255 pts
Aspiring Champ w/ Power Fist, IoCG, Meltagun(2)
Rhino

Summoned Lesser Deamons x8 - 104pts

ELITE

Chosen x5 - 165pts
Meltagun x4,Rhino

HEAVY SUPPORT
Vindicator – 125pts
Obliterator x3 – 225pts
Land Raider - 220pts

1499pts

I know it is a little heavy on points in the heavy support area, but the obliterators are all conversions, and I love me some Vindicator action (despite it rarely getting it's points back). So, what do you all think? I will be testing it out tomorrow for FNF(Friday Night Fights) and we shall see what I can accomplish with it.

I am open to suggestions and any/all input, but please keep in mind the idea wasn't to run a "net list" - I went with the models I love the look of, over functionality.
Oh, and pics of the whole painted army to follow tomorrow!

Cheers,

Los Deimos Final Army List

2010-10-08T15:25:00.003-04:00

Ok so I have literally waited until too late to figure out which army of mine I will be playing for Los Deimos, but I came up with a compromise and I'm quite happy with the results.

This is my 'Taros Force', meaning that it is comprised of Tallarn and Elysian Imperial Guard. It is designed to be like the Guard Alliance from the failed attack on the Tau Settlement on Taros (Imperial Armour Volume 3 from Forgeworld).

I would appreciate all comments/concerns/questions/death threats/marriage proposals etc!

Company Command - 3 Plasmaguns, Medic, Astropath, Officer of the Fleet, Plasma Pistol and Power Fist on Commander
Chimera - Multilaser, heavy flamer

Veteran Squad - 3 meltas, 6 shotguns, plasma pistol (on sergeant)
Chimera - Multilaser, heavy flamer

Veteran Squad - 3 meltas, 6 shotguns, plasma pistol (on sergeant)
Chimera - Multilaser, heavy flamer

Veteran Squad - 2 meltas, 1 flamer, 6 shotguns, plasma pistol and power weapon (on sergeant)
Chimera - Multilaser, heavy flamer

Veteran Squad - 2 meltas, 1 flamer, 6 shotguns, plasma pistol and power weapon (on sergeant)
Chimera - Multilaser, heavy flamer

Vendetta - heavy bolter sponsons

Vendetta - heavy bolter sponsons

2 Valkries - heavy bolter sponsons, multiple rocket pods

-1495 points-

New DE Battle Report!

2010-10-07T22:54:00.003-04:00

Welp, I went into the store to get away from the house for a few hours to get some painting in, and lo and behold, the Black Box had just come in. So I convinced Kairos FateWeaver to run a quick proxy battle with the new codex. We did 1000 pts, I took my 1500 point Los Deimos list and took away both Tyranofexes while he ran 2 units of raider warriors, with sybarites, agonisers, haemonculi and probbaly a bunch of other stuff I haven't read about yet and an archon and incubi in a third raider. It was Capture and Control, Dawn of War.

So here it is, first battle report with the new Codex!

47 Termagaunt kills... Can YOU Guess what inflicted this?

2010-10-07T02:38:00.003-04:00

Like the title says... I played Battle Report 58 last night, and lost 47 termagaunts to a single unit. It is the least likely of IG units too! This was a sick game: I spawned so many termagaunts with my Tervigons.. Started with 40, and spawned at least 35 more.

This video doesn't convey how epic this game truly was.. I made a bet that if "Knife Guy" aka, squad sgt in a platoon squad could KILL my Tyranofex in HtH combat, I would build him a chimera covered in spare Carnifex plates chained to it.

I also had the chance to quickly take some footage of another tourney list test game: Lurker Below's Imperial Fists vs Chimaera's incredibly painted Tyranids. More intel on lists.. Not filmed was Twin Linked and Royal Falcon played Los Deimos tourney tester game in the back room of GW too... on a Wednesday! I thought we'd be the only game on a quiet night!

Video Battle Reports x 2!

2010-10-02T08:00:00.003-04:00

Lothlann's Used Tank Emporium! the 40,011's must go, the new 40,012's are coming in!

Hey guys, I finally settled in on a list for the Los Deimos campaign tournament: Tyranids

HQ-
Tyranid Prime, Devourer, twin Boneswords, Regenrate

Elites-
3 units of 2 Hive guard

Troops-
Tervigon, Cluster Spine,Adrenal glands, Toxin Sacs x 2
20 strong unit of Termagaunts x2

Heavy Support-
Tyrranofex with Rupture cannon, Cluster Spine x 2

1500 points on the nose. I originally had the usual 2 units of ten termagaunts, but I found the big units to be more resilient, and I needed bodies on the table even in KP missions.

Here are some videos:
First up we have Seven Six with his aweseme orange and blue Nids vs the parking lot.

And then we have my Nids vs Ca$h's Noise Marines. The battle of the purple dice rages on

One thing to say...

2010-09-26T22:32:00.003-04:00

After seeing new Eldar tanks, a new Eldar titan, new Eldar Aspect Unit, Dark Eldar Warriors, Dark Eldar Skiffs, Dark Eldar Archons, Dark Eldar Wyches, I have only one response:

"Mine?"

Because Matt Varnish is a Whiny Bitch

2010-09-26T22:27:00.003-04:00

Storm Guardians. 20 of 'em.

They're not even completely done. A few extra little touches, but this is basically how they look.

Matt V loves to needle me about posting pics, so... here ya go MV. In all their Scaly Green glory.

Dark Eldar Reaver = Crone World Eldar jetbike!

2010-09-26T08:15:00.003-04:00

Since this isn't a news site, I won't bother posting the rest of the pics, unless you live under a rock, you've probably all seen the AMAZING new pics out of Gamesday UK. One thing that pisses me off about GW: So much awesome stuff never before seen is at the UK Gamesday, and in North America we got what? A few marine things. Apart from the DE unveil, there are also some very juicy tidbits for my Crone World Eldar:

The Hornets I don't know what I can make them into, but I tell you what: that Lynx, if it isn't too gigantic, will sure make for a BADASS fire prism.

30 days until Los Deimos Tournament.. what do I take??

2010-09-21T13:40:00.002-04:00

Man, its only 30 days away, and there is no way my Eldar are going to be done. Lately I've been running a different list for my Pre Heresy Night Lords, that relies on sternguard. I could run my Squats. Or I could run my Nids. Choices.

OH, also, for kicks: here is Bat Rep 55, with the Night Lords vs Ca$h's Slaaensh Chaos

Choices

2010-09-16T09:17:00.004-04:00

So, having started to paint a few orks, and ordering a ton of bits, I find my self at a stalemate. Reading through the Ork Codex, all I can say is that I am less than thrilled at what appears to be my options for an "effective" list. So many of the newer books allow troops to do so much more. I know Orks are really the "comic relief" of 40k, but I would also like to play something that gives me many tactical options on top of the modeling ones.

This brought my thoughts to the soon to be released Dark Eldar codex. This army has always intrigued me, as I tend to have a fondness for playing "bad guys" . Reading up on some of the rumors, it's looking like the DE will excel at fast, guerrilla style attacks (duh!) but also may shine in a heavy melee approach, with poison and such. It is making me really question the logic behind investing heavily into an army with an old codex (Orks) that have no rewrite in the near future(read 1-2yrs). Keep in mind I already play Chaos Marines (and love them!) and their codex is becoming less and less tenable with each new codex release. This isn't leading me to move away from Chaos, as it is fast becoming my go to army for painting, playing, and converting models.

So what to do now. I have a small, nominal investment in Orks, meaning the contents of 2 AoBR boxes, plus bits and plasticard. No real loss there. Dark Eldar are getting a whole new line and new book offering a very different play style to power armor just like orks. So what is a man with a serious case of uncertainty to do? I'm really open to ideas and feedback as to which direction to take - something in me REALLY REALLY can't wait to buy a brand new codex and BattleForce and just have at it!

Please, can someone give me some solid reasons NOT to leave orks until they get revamped and just do Dark Eldar?

-CA$H out.

school is cool

2010-09-13T11:09:00.002-04:00

not really,

So I've been pretty busy the last few days with the start of school and I don't foresee myself able to devote more than maybe 2 hours at a time to painthammering in the near future.

Trying not to lose motivation though, and trying to think of a good, realistic goal to set to make some more progress on my deathwing.

I was thinking of something along the lines of priming my AOBR squad and doing the first wash of graveyard earth or something along those lines.

I will try to do the above in the next few days. I probably won't bother posting pics though as once-washed terminators aren't anything special.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to convert a Belial model?

Yao

To5G: Changing it Up!!

2010-09-09T07:41:00.005-04:00

If everyone around you is making 40k their priority, and 40k is your favourite system, its hard to begin work on a brand new army for another system.

Thus I am changing my To5G army to be Imperial Guard. Specifically my Elysian 77th.

The army was mostly purchased second hand from a friend, but I have to assemble and paint all the air cavalry transports (8 Valkyries, 4 Vendettas and 1 Vulture), so there is a lot of work to be done.

Oh yeah...I am repainting all the infantry too...

Here is the first project...

A Heavy Bolter Section...

Quick Update

2010-09-08T03:17:00.006-04:00

Hey everyone, here's a quick update with some pictures I took a few weeks ago while i assembled and then later painted some of my Deathwing.

The army currently consists of 16 terminators and 2 dreadnoughts.

I actually have the armour done on all 5 terminators, will post pics soon, and hopefully get the rest of the doodads done on them (crests, metal etc.)

I'm undecided as to whether I should try NMM since there are so few models.

Yao

Space Marine!

2010-09-06T17:43:00.007-04:00

Holy Shit.

It looks simply stunning. I WILL be picking this up for PS3, and plan to write up a review on it here once I get my gritty little hands on it.

For info on the title :
GT developer interview and gameplay footage

Official Site

Check these out - Screenies!!
Screenshots

Release: TBA 2010.

First Update :)

2010-09-06T15:47:00.002-04:00

Hi everyone,

Being friends with the owner of the blog has its perks. Talking to Matt a few weeks ago, I had decided to blog the progress of my latest warhammer effort.

The latest army I'm working on is a Deathwing army. I was going through my stuff at school a while ago, and i found that i had 5 AOBR terminators, as well as at least 11 terminators assembled and primed white. Along with a FW dread and an AOBR dread, I decided to make a Deathwing army.

I started work on the army a few weeks ago and have pictures (not on the computer yet).

Will update again soon,

Yao

Pre-Heresy Night Lords??

2010-09-06T11:22:00.004-04:00

What happened to my Eldar? I ran out of greenstuff is what happened, plus, I was doing what Ca$h was doing and that was finishing off an army that was close to being done. This is an army that I played the shit out of the past bunch of years, basically retiring it after wining my second Staff GT. It even used to be Crimson Fists, but asurmen blue plus badass black wash after covering up the red fists... pretty easy. After chatting with VT2 over on the 3++ site, he had a pretty neat idea for an army, that relies on 3 units of Sternguard to do a lot of the heavy lifting, with only 2 units of Tacticals. I'm intrigued, and so will try out the list, with a few modifications to fit my model collection of course. Pics are below

Above are my 2 heavily converted old school "egg" lead dreads. Plasticard for the collar and shoulder plates, plus a plastic terminator head, make them look a LOT like the pre-heresy artwork for dreads. I'm really happy how they turned out. They come in drop pods in this list.

Old school Predator. My Squats army uses these quad guns as autocannons everywhere (because they look like Thudd Guns of course) so figured a good replacement for the plastic long las. Old Land Raider heavy bolters for the sponsons.
Old lead Lascannon dudes in a 5 man Sternguard unit. The Purity Seals denote veterans.
A fun model: chaplain with combi-assault cannon!! COnverted recently to have combi melta instead, leads a tactical squad now.
These 2 weird guns are I believe the old conversion beamers. I have two more coming from an Ebay auction. 2 each in 2 5 man sternguard squads in Rhinos
My last Rhino, finished last night.

I plan on taking this list to Conquest Toronto, so we will see how that turns out. I've never used a list not made by myself, but this one is different enough that it makes me think outside my normal marine comfort zone. Thanks again VT2!!

Tourney List Tune-Ups

2010-09-02T00:27:00.002-04:00

Well, with the Los Deimos Campaign Tourney just 6 weeks off, Ca$h, Lothlann and I decided to get a few games in today. Tourney is 1500 points, no allies , no special characters. Video Bat Reps below as well.

HQ
Farseer, Doom, Guide, Runes of Warding, Spirit Stones 135

TROOPS
5 Dire Avengers 60
Wave Serpent w/ Shuriken Cannon, Twin Bright Lances 145
5 Dire Avengers 60
Wave Serpent w/ Shuriken Cannon, Twin Bright Lances 145
10 Guardians w/ Scatter Laser 95
Wave Serpent w/ Shuriken Cannon, Twin Scatter Lasers 125

ELITES
5 Fire Dragons 80
Wave Serpent w/ Shuriken Cannon, Twin Scatter Lasers 125
5 Fire Dragons 80
Wave Serpent w/ Shuriken Cannon, Twin Scatter Lasers 125

FAST ATTACK
Vyper Shuriken Cannon, Scatter Laser 70
Vyper Shuriken Cannon, Scatter Laser 70

HEAVY SUPPORT
Warwalker, Scatter Laser, Scatter Laser 60
Warwalker, Scatter Laser, Scatter Laser 60
Warwalker, Scatter Laser, Scatter Laser 60

As you can see, it has a tonne of str 6 shooting and no assault capabilities. I am wholly reliant on eldar Mech to get me through to victory. This was only my 4th and 5th games playing Eldar, so I made quite a few blunders, which you will see below.

Well, don't know if I am going to tweak the list or not, but I am glad that during today's paintathon, I got the guns sorted out, now I have to tentacle up the vehicles before they get the bright color treatment.

Crone World Eldar

2010-08-29T21:53:00.004-04:00

Well, locally we have the Los Deimos Campaign starting up in October, kicking off with a tournament, and ending with a bang in February at Game Summit, Ottawa's largest 40k tournament and Con. I thought what a perfect way to get my ass in gear painting my Eldar army I picked up off of Ca$h, who got it from Lothlann.

Since I cannot seem to do anything 'normal' except maybe my Tyranids, I decided to look into the fluff of the Eldar a bit to find a unique spin. Exodites would be cool, but I'm not a fan of painting Lizardman stuff, like Steg's and Carnasaurs, so thats out. Dark Eldar, well, since Jes Goodwyn is doing them, I'm pretty sure the models will kick a tonne of ass, so I came across a little story box on pg 54 of the Eldar codex, stating that the Eldar lament the loss of their original homeworlds, sucked into the Eye of Terror at the time of the Fall, and that these worlds were hellish landscapes, and I knew I had found what my theme would be: The twisted remains of the Fallen Eldar, gone over to Slaanesh and mutated beyond recognition under their armor.

The Tournament is Oct 24th, and is 1500 points, no special characters or allies allowed.

Here are some pics of what I've been working on so far, for my part in Tale of 5 Gamers:

Another shot of the Farseer, converted from the Bonesinger model.

One of 2 squads of 5 Fire Dragons, tentacles made from greenstuff. Same with the Eye.

Brightlance platform for my Guardians. This will likely be switched to a Scatterlaser. BS3 is balls.

Guardians. I came up with this scheme by firing up DoW's army painter, and hitting 'Random' a bunch of times. A lot of em came up with lime green, but I really liked this one when it came up. The bright purple I just used for tentacles rather than trim. Bright colors are from the Vallejo FLUO line.. awesome looking, the WORST paint to work with ever though. Seriously, painting with maple syrup is probably easier.

Our Hive Cluster is Under Attack!

2010-08-27T14:57:00.003-04:00

Well.. Tried the new list, and saw how effective the Tyrannofexes were vs Newborn's Eldar army. I played pretty badly, not keeping my big guys in cover, while trying to get shots on those pesky Eldar tanks.. though the dice gods abandoned me as well. It's really frustrating dealing with the GW FAQ that rules Shadows in the Warp has no effect on psykers inside metal/ceramic boxes, while my Hive Tyrant takes 3 wounds from Runes of Warding, and the whole time his farseer is inside a Serpent.

Anyhoo, here is the video, Video Battle Report 50!

Right as I was about to leave, Tatz vs G-Ram had a deathstrike go off on turn 2, so I figured I'd record what happened, where it would land, and so on. Props to An00bis with the CLUTCH ringtone at around 1:50 !

Spawn More Overlords!

2010-08-26T00:59:00.004-04:00

This is a new 1750 list, combining my 1107 pt Golden Marine XV list with the 2 Tyrannofexes I've been working on. Added the obligatory Tervigons and termagaunts

Tervigons made from 90% Carnifex, 10% Trygon kit. Once the T-Fex/Tervigon kit comes out, I can repurpose these back to Carnifexes. Keeping my T-Fexes though.

This is the 2nd T-Fex I've been slaving over the past few days

And this is my original T-Fex. Carnifex plus Trygon or Hive Tyrant upper body to make the extend-a-cab body, Mawloc mouth parts plus barbed strangler bits for the guns, large scything talons and a lot of greenstuff and you are ready to rock.

Here is the how-to-make video from way back. Note, the old head was red terror, now its Mawloc stuff:

Maple Syrup time

2010-08-25T07:43:00.004-04:00

Well, we're in the House of Paincakes Blogroll now. What is this you ask? Just read the "Vision:" http://houseofpaincakes.blogspot.com/p/vision.html

Awesome.

I'd say more, but its not even 8 am yet. Although, looks like we might be getting 2 more writers on-board soon, so that rocks. Back to painting Tyrannofex number 2

TO5G Tyranid math too!

2010-08-23T09:00:00.004-04:00

Why have one Tyrannofex when you can have 2 for twice the price?

530 points of badass, 12 T6, 2+ save wounds. I made Catalyst (Feel no Pain from Tervigon) markers so I never forget which unit has it. THanks to Kairos Fateweaver at the Store for the second McRage orifice thingy. Soon-to-be-eaten Fire Dragon there for scale :)

Eldar Math

2010-08-22T23:22:00.001-04:00

These Warlocks...

Plus these bases...

Lost Empires.

...will = Win.

To5G: Empire

2010-08-22T15:38:00.004-04:00

Ok, I made up an acronym, To5G (Tale of Five Gamers), hope everyone uses it, i hate writing the whole shebang out every time!

So, going against the grain, as I was the outsider in this little competition, I have decided to stick to my gut and paint Warhammer Fantasy! I need a painted army and while my Gobbos...

They look ok right now at and although they are at 1000 points, I am inclined to paint Empire, most of which I acquired from fellow Drunken Gamer, Lothlann!

So to start I am painting some individual guys to work out colour schemes, and these shall all be used in my Mordheim league I run with friends..

First up is an Ogre Mercenary in the colours of both my host city (Talabheim) and the Woodsman theme I was going to use for my Kislevites (green, khaki, brown, black). He is still WIP, but progress is being made (what's done currently was done last night).

Comments welcomed and appreciated!

Orks?

2010-08-21T08:54:00.004-04:00

Wow,

Didn't really see this coming. Last nights FNF saw me scratch build/convert my final Obliterator for my Chaos army, and then promptly hum and haw for a good couple hours as to what 40k army to start afresh. Alas, I do plan to build a loyalist marine army at some point (Space Wolves or Dark Angels) but I just find I can not get motivated to paint ANOTHER power armored army. So after much mass-debate, I was goaded into painting a lone Ork boy (actually a Nob from the starter set) and I enjoyed it immensely. Not to mention the fact he was knocked out in about 20 minutes. I then proceeded to paint up a Deffcopter - and wow - only took me an hour and I am hooked. I think, apart from the pure joy of painting the models and the idea of playing an army for just pure fun, the main reason to play Orks for me has to be this:

Quote from: Ork Codex, Page 49, Bottom Right
"Orkses never lose a battle. If we win we win, if we die we die fightin so it don't count. If we runs for it we don't die neither, cos we can come back for annuver go, see!"

There is just no arguing with that kind of logic!

Check out the rush jobs on the two models I mentioned. I should be able to knock out models fast and still keep a nice look (for dirty orks).

Thoughts?

Odd Man Out Gamer

2010-08-19T18:40:00.004-04:00

Hmmm, you get sick for two days, miss one tournament and you're shunned from the group!

Well hopefully I can get in on the Tale of Four/Five Gamers and maybe make up a game or two from the round robin next week :)

Seeing as this looks to be a 40k thing I'll have to pull double time I guess, because I am working on my Empire now, but my Blood Guard/Angels could be picked up for this endeavour, as there wouldn't be too many to paint!

So fellow drunken, and Sober Gamers, what say you, shall we make this the tale of Five Gamers?

Tale of 4 Gamers

2010-08-19T17:08:00.003-04:00

So here is the deal: We haven't really been using this blog so much, apart from the awesome terrain segment by Orbital.

With no Grand Tournaments to look forward to, my painting has ground to a freaking halt

Time to change that up a bit.

Tomorrow, Friday Night Fights presents a 3 game round robin, featuring Lothlann, Ca$h, Orbital and yours struly, Matt Varnish.

The plan is to actually PAINT and chronicle the progress using the blog. We can meet up in a few months, get the round robin in again, etc.

We just need to settle in on a tournament we can set our sights on.

For me, I want to work on my Crone World Eldar, but since I'm using Tyranid bits for the tentacles and such, I kinda need to finish at least, assembling my Nids so I know what parts I can use. Therefore, I need to finish the 2nd Tyrannofex, and keep a few parts handy to reconvert the 2 tervigons back into carnifexes, since I reckon that were going to see a Tervigon/Tyrannofex kit sometime in the near future.

So tomorrow, I will be bringing the Nids, and working on them, then switching gears to my Eldar.

If Marty is still kicking it, he can feel free to join in the fun, once he unpacks :)

Every Painful Tournament: Golden Marine XV

2010-08-17T02:11:00.002-04:00

An Ottawa tradition: The gentleman's tournament where victory doesn't matter... only sportsmanship and presentation.

Personally, I think Matt V's videos are better, but this is more of a "from the top end looking down" perspective.

Golden Marine XV Videos

2010-08-17T01:01:00.003-04:00

Golden Marine, it used to be Ottawa's 2nd tournament, with Cangames being the only other one. It started off with humble beginnings, 8 guys in a townhouse playing for beers, and has grown, 14 iterations later, to 40 people in a hotel meeting room.

A few traditions: It has, and always will be, 1107 points, the founder made his list of stuff that was painted and mandated that points limit! And it has stuck. Secondly, this was always supposed to be a "Gentlemen's Event" so these days, generalship doesn't even factor in at all. In this day and age of "competitive events" its refreshing to see 40 people have a blast, and be able to bring wacky things. For this year, it is a team tournament, but with random pairings each game.

1st Video is of armies as people were unpacking, the next 4 were my games. The game ones were short, we were very pressed for time.

Enjoy