Sunday 30 May 2010

The view from the cheap seats

Huzzah!!

Having completed MANY domestic chores this month i've occasionally felt a little like the chap on the right. I have however finally unpacked the hobby into the new household and got in some much needed brush time.

I can claim a full 2 PPs this month for the chalice and C.A.T. Space Hulk tokens, as shown below. I've also got the basecoat onto the final token, the aforementioned enthroned terminator.

Given that these are JUST tokens, i've been massively impressed with thier level of detail but that can has to be said about Space Hulk as a whole.

I wanted to go for something different with this chap and was forced into a rethink once i'd established the level of Blood Angel detail on the figure.

But with all the individual heraldry displayed on the Terminators within the source book I just decided to go for it and ended up with something between the Blood-Drinkers and the Howling Griffons that I used to have sometime ago. WIP for the mo.

Strangely enough, this does all get packed away in between painting sessions but its not a bad set-up at all. I'm a very lucky boy!
Other features of the weekend so far has been the establishment of a joint bank account and the Guiness Premiership final.

As a staunch Wasps fan the Leicester / Saracens line-up was probably the worst I could think of. I wouldn't have gone but tickets were offered as part of a big group and it was as much for a big day out as the game itself.
I honestly didn't know who I COULD support being a fierce rival of both teams. Leicester are the status quo, resorting to the grind all to often and it would be good to see ANYONE else win. Bust just not Sarries. As much as they've loosened up thier style of play in the last couple of months they've played just so much non-rugby.

I was genuinely concerned that it would be a horrible grinding game of boot on ball and very few tries, if any. How wrong I was, something of a classic.

Both sides came out and played a PROPER game. Leicester win again, just, which must be tough on Sarries fans but the Tigers have played the better rugby over the season as a whole so probably deserve the win. Probably......

Wednesday 26 May 2010

That SINKING feeling

It was club night again this week and I drew Jon's Orcs as my next opponent in the Uncharted Seas campaign.

Overall, i've been doing fairly well with a recent Major Victory propelling me up the table. Jon's dice have a reputation for letting him down at inopportune moments so I was feeling quietly confident.

I decided to try and counter the Orc's close-quarters agression by meeting that head on with a fairly agressive fleet list, featuring plenty of broadsides and an intention to close the range quickly.

I paid little attention to the wind direction slowing the majority of my fleet (doh') and soon found my Battleship out on it's own. I felt that it could happily survive Jon's dice, serving as a dangerous lure, to allow me to deliver a killer blow with the rest of my fleet.

One particuarly broadside against "The Noxious Pearl" of a dozen or so dice scored 23 hits, just one away from a double critical!!

I soon found that I had underestimated the strength of the wind and the jaws of my pincer simply served to fragment my force further in the face of Jon's juggernaught.

Using the dice that Jon lent me (DOH') my firing was patchy at best and a few desperate gambits failed to come off fully. Edging back towards a draw, Jon's final shots despatched my Battleship earning him a Minor Victory, missing a Major by just 5 points. He honestly deserved the biggy!

Lessons learned during an enjoyable game :)

Meanwhile, it has become obvious that the only real painting day of the month will be this Sunday and so to save a NIL result I shall stoop to painting a couple of Space Hulk objectives. Oh, the DESPAIR.

On the upside, should you creep to the end of OUR garden you will find The Games Room fully prepared and ready for dice to roll. A donated mini-fridge will soon be added :)

So with next Tuesday's roleplay being my Star Wars tie-up and Jon's D&D set-up i've decided to christen it's first use with a barbeque. The missus will be away in Germany on a business trip.

DOUBLE SIX ;)



Sunday 23 May 2010

All Hail THE KING!!

The king of biscuits that is.... the CHOCOLATE HOB-NOB :)

Last weeks Star Wars RPG session was moved from Tuesday to Thursday to accomodate Aaron and the GM, me, ruled that as such he was to provide offerings of a biscuit variety.
The boy dun' good!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch;

Unfortunately Charlie (Sindori) couldn't make the session at the last moment but this was good news for Mr C as his chap spent the whole session lying on the floor oozing various body fluids.

As such MrC "looked after" Sindori for the evening. Somehow dear old Sin' came through the ordeal in one piece, minor laser-burn aside!

A few well-placed shots and storming of a barricade, step forward Sin', did a job. Access was gained to the, relatively singed, main computer and a variety of data slices and spikes were attatched in short order.

The prior occupants of said control room turned out to be previous acquaintants of our intrepid heroes, the Zabrak biker Kid Zero and Rodain tech for hire Klint.

Aaron (Mormar) seemed to have some form of biscuit induced sugar rush and capped Zero a la Sindori, which greatly annoyed Jon's Jedi (Zhaan). Apparantly that's worse than not letting the Wookie win!!

Klint had meanwhile, shockingly, double crossed Zero and the sting in the tail / tale was a small horde of battle droids chasing the heroes /villians from the complex with many Gigabites of lovely data in hand.

They did however more resemble a first aid column at this point!

So, next session will be round at the house that myself and 'Er Indoors moved to at the weekend for myself to finish off and Jon to set the scene for the return to D&D. Should be good :)

Monday 17 May 2010

Reach for the Sky

After all my mock whinging it was a particuarly lovely weekend spent in West Sussex, just outside of Chichester if you must know.

We over-ate and visited Arundel Castle (hugely excellent), Petworth House and West Wittering beach.

At Petworth House we joined the National Trust and I was pleased that the welcome pack DIDN'T include a pipe and slippers, though I wouldn't have been surprised if it did!

Another highlight of the weekend was visiting the Tangmere Military Aviation Museum and thier English Electric Lightning.

Built during the cold war as an all-out interceptor to counter the hordes of Soviet "Bear" bombers it has been described as two rockets attatched to a fuel tank and a seat!

You may have already detected my boyish glee and I was, once again, quickly reduced to a gibbering childlike hyperactive state. As previously stated she's a very lucky girl!

As foretold no more hobby activity has taken place. Infact i've begun sifting and packing of all my painting stuff for THE MOVE on Saturday.

I have however bought an old extendable dining table and six chairs via E-Bay for the gaming shed for £22. We just need to go and pick it up on Sunday.

Meanwhile it will be the final roleplay session at the flat on Thursday and should bethe final Star Wars session before swapping back to Jon's D&D campaign. Re-arranged for Aaron he will be providing the biscuits.

New beginnings and all that :)

Wednesday 12 May 2010

Shoot the BIG ones

Target prioritisation, it's a big deal to gamers of almost every ilk.

So far this month I haven't picked up a brush in anger once and the DTs are beginning to hit. There are many reasons for this and its also a white lie but i've got the DTs and they need a fixin'. I didn't even get in any Games Club this week.

Why the missus couldn't have moved her ACTUAL birthday I have no idea. And tonight I have to go away with her for the weekend, AGAIN, somewhere NICE to spend QUALITY time together. Not a genestealer in sight. Sniff.....
I'll stop showing off now but this does happen to every gamer at some point.

We're actually moving in together next week and there's a large shed at the bottom of the garden carpeted with light and power.
Its called The Games Room.
Actually, my better half has been keen for me to have it for toys and i'm very pleased. VERY :)

As a result, i've touched up my Hordes: Everblight force (the white lie) and stuck them on E-Bay. Sell well my beauties and transform into Copplestone's resin lab scenery!!

So, whilst LIFE has struck i'm in relative danger of a non-scoring month PP wise. I have sprayed up the contents of Space-Hulk and if I should get so desperate I can paint the CAT token.
All will depend on how quickly I can get set-up and how much of the Bank Holiday weekend I can shut myself away for.

STAY ON TARGET!! :)

Thursday 6 May 2010

Welcome to the Dork Side

I know what you're getting for Christmas, for I HAVE FELT YOUR PRESENTS!!

Meanwhile the chaps committed themselves to the final mission of this chapter with great gusto but yet again, little stealth!

This innocuous complex is the location for an SIS (Senatorial Intelligence Service) covert data-dump! No..., really!!
With everyone looking at each other for leadership Charlie (Sindori) took affirmative action and opened the assault with a "subtle" grenade into an empty room. Rob (Perit) followed this up with a slighty more effective long-range shot to take off sentry 1's head.

That's another Goon family cruelly deprived of a loving Husband and Father. Shocker!
Sentry 2 legged it as Aaron (Mormar) crashed his skiff into and through the barn pitching out Mr Christian (I forget!) and getting both of them some hot laser love from Sentry 3, hiding out in the Undertaker's office.

Once he was "DEALT WITH" by Charlie a long and arduous search eventually (lots of single digit rolls) located a hidden airlock in the floor of the recently re-modelled barn and access to the subterranian data-dump was secured.
I've been getting great value from my Space-Hulk floor-plans though this time I denied the lads a map and made them tunnel-crawl through the murk.

Mr Christian's holy warrior style Quarren led the way until his poor perception dice and my natural 20 put him on the deck with a vicious head-wound.
Sentry 2 continued to apply shoot and scoot as the boys made the schoolboy error of SPLITTING THE PARTY :0

With the dice continuing to run my way the lads placed themselves neatly within my viciously planned crossfire and Aaron joined Mr Christian's membership of the Heavy Wound Club.
And that's where time beat us!

The situation is finely balanced and the break will allow me to modify plans appropriately. I had opened the evening discussing my wish to introduce some form of permanent wound system, ably balanced by access to professional medical care at a professional medical cost, of course.
It now seems somehow prophetic.
Maybe I should award myself a dark side point....... or three :)

Tuesday 4 May 2010

May the Fourth be with you......

..... always!

Hey, groan inspiring I know but it's Star Wars again tonight and after last fortnight's ill-paced lack of adventure we're in for a full-on fire-fight night :)

I finalised my fiendishly subtle and intricate plans last night for the boys to ignore, trample over and generally destroy at first contact. My only hope lies with the vaguries of the dice.

I shall return!!