Bossing It

Hmmm another week between posts and Tharg knows how long since anything new has appeared on the WIP page, probably time to use it or loose it really :/ Just been busy with Life really, ....oh and the odd hour or two of skyrim :)

Last week saw a decent amount of gaming, another highly enjoyable evening of Warhammer Invasion though Stewart may disagree as I don't believe he managed a single win all night. I did at least TRY to feel vaguely guilty and am fairly sure I was less of a c0ck this time.

D&D on Thursday was a bit of a talky one and then some inter-party squabbling. This was mainly because, following on from last session's kill-steal banter, I decided to pocket the Paladin's magical ring, that summons his mighty other-planar steed Salsa-Queena, whilst he was sleeping.

When he found ou he was the only one that wasn't amused and my "Where's your horsey gone" song, in terrible Irish brogue, probably didn't help matters. This caused a number of minor recriminations and stamped feet. All sorted out in the end but guaranteed that we didn't get to the next combat so an early finish rather than get stuck halfway through.

Both sessions involved zero figures and I think its just that my attentions are elsewhere at the moment. No bad thing to have a break every now and then. Last night I did however manage to finish off the Orc Warlord and BSB on boars to a suitable for sale standard. Rather enjoyed painting these, especially the check on the banner and the ginger BSB boar :)

Technically at least 8 PPs due but i'll take 5 give the quick and easy intentions.

In an effort to clear the project the other 30 boy block is next up followed by the Boar Boyz which will definitely break the back of it. Manual 360 below.......

Mobbing Up

Waaagghhh.........I have finally finished the remaining 25 boyz to complete the first block of 30.

To be honest all the non front rankers got for highlights, post Devlan Mud, was a drybrush across the face followed by teeth and bone bits. Definitely more than happy with the result for a paint to sell job. Other than the front rank I wouldn't dare to try and claim 2 PPs a piece. 35 PPs for the remaining 25 boyz seems just about right :)

Can't tell you how glad I am to see the ladz finished. As a break I've already been working on the Warlord and BSB and quickly got them through to the standard wash of Devlan Mud. A happy diversion but now I'm on a bit of a roll the remaining block of 30 WILL be next pretty much breaking the back of the project.
Waaagghhh.........

Pieces of Eight

D&D Thursday night and Aaron got to flex most of his piratical muscles as we took to the river last night. What we later discovered was has inability to either swim or sail! Apparently its more about skills with a cutlass and the grog bottle.

Having brought home our recently  acquired column of refugees / life-contracted employees / indentured slaves we blagged some expenses form the Laird and then boarded our lift the south, The Salty Seaman.......ahem!

Settling in with the Seaman's three man crew our thoughts turned to.....well not so much mutiny more just outright theft. This was when the sailing credentials of our resident salty seadog came under s withering appraisal. So much so that we barely noticed the gale that suddenly blew up the river or the other sailing barge that suddenly veered across from the other bank and straight into our starboard side.

Picking ourselves up off of the deck we stood by to repel our demonic borders finding ourselves bereft of our regular formations, magical buffs and structure. It was a proper old scrap and as such probably one of most enjoyable and edgy dust-ups that we've had a for a while.

In amongst it all a bit of a kills competition developed  a la Legolas and Gimli. Originally between the unholy sworded Pirate and the holy sworded Paladin as the prime beef of the party. Mr Paladin bereft of his normal pack of buff spells, his 'roid rage, was struggling a bit while Captain Cutlass was having an easier time relying on his abilities as a purer warrior.

What wasn't expected was my Halfling Rogue getting in on the act but swinging amongst the rigging the broken nature of the combat allowed for plentiful backstab opportunities. A few decent dice later it was a run for the line between the Pirate and the Rogue with the Paladin having a bit of a lower lip wobble amongst allegations of kill steals. All good banter.

With the tide turned against the Rutter-Kin it was their winged herald that had been causing us most concern tying up the attentions of the Dwarven Priest and Elven Ranger. Hard pressed the herald dipped into his sack magic and pulled out Mirror Image which caught us flat footed at a critical juncture.

Much like Jon's Jedi Rob then checked his list of miracles and pulled out Dispel Magic which after a quick reference to the rulebook did the job. I couldn't resist highlighting the parallel as the Ranger belt fed arrows into the understandably piqued herald who suddenly found himself reeling and Rob with the chance of a major kill-steal. The roll came up a point short, despite Rob's search for every bonus possible only for the Elf to finish the job he started.

With both sloops rapidly taking on water we quickly boarded our opponent's vessel, looted it's hold and walked the water to the bank courtesy of the Cleric.

Final scores on the doors; Pirate 3, Rogue 3, Paladin 1/2 :)

Tough at the Top

Tuesday night was another dive back into the hive and it was raid-tastic as I took on Jon's Cawdor twice.

Attacking his water-still I found myself setting up on the far side of the table from the objective and,  more importantly, once again not taking the time to fully understand the scenario.

As such I quickly went for the less than stealthy firepower option, rolled a bunch of ones, a common theme for the evening, set off the alarm and got shot in the face by Jon's reinforcements. Taking a pasting, outnumbered, failing ammo rolls and half a table from the objective I quickly bottled.

In a bizarre twist the one Cawdor nutter I managed to drop, the stubber toting heavy, I captured whilst the Juve who dropped him almost died but, using his own Medic ability, ended up with a survived against the odds and extra D6 experience. Mental.

Feeling guilty via the turn of events I didn't want to just sell him into slavery and nick his stuff, a possibly crippling blow to Jon's gang so early in the campaign so he launched a rescue mission.

With just 3 sentries against his entire gang I was up against it form the start even before the dice and Jon's greater appreciation of he scenario rules took effect. His Bounty Hunter also did the business capturing two of my gangers. So despite forcing Jon to bottle he got his guys back and then traded me back my guys for his kit plus 35 creds.

So after an entertaining evenings battles we were pretty much even stevens plus some experience, in Jon's case plenty of experience so I guess he won. More than happy to do it again :)  

Tiny Tales

Scarily I've had a thought .....but just a little one!

A few of us have been playing a fair bit of SAGA converted for a Samurai campaign in 15mm and there's now talk of up-scaling to the intended 28mm Dark Ages, possibly as everyone likes to paint a bushy beard.

As documented Skyrim has been eating into my painting progress.

IDEA: Skyrim SAGA in 15mm

WHY: Relatively cheap and easy with plenty of figure options about the place. SAGA dice effects effectively work as spells and magic items. Blinding!

WHY NOT: Little bit too much / sad / worrying etc

And I'm done!

Playing Nicely??

Hello all, very busy at work including this weekend so no brushtime, though the odd hour of Skyrim to keep me sane(ish).

Following that vein of escapism Stewart dropped round Friday night for another evening of Warhammer Invasion. I put myself together a Chaos deck which also featured some Skaven, Undead units and some Neutral Buildings / resource cards.

Some of this was necessity rather than design, given the cards I currently have, but being a mixed deck I was interested to see how it might affect the resource curve and if the potential lack of loyalty would be a problem especially against Stewart's more experienced decks. In short I expected a wooping.

Game 1 was exactly that as his Dark Elf denial deck pinned me down and slowly pulled my legs off as if I was a spider. Eventually he put me out of my misery. After that, bar one other game, it was all one way traffic in my direction.

An undoubted bits and pieces deck I stuck to building my resources first and with Chaos having access to a number of cheap multiple power, minimal hit point units the curve was steep. I kept on pulling Marauder Chieftain and Warpstone Excavation in my opening hand which meant that on turn two I was pulling 2 cards on 4 resource whilst doing 1 indirect damage to his capital per turn. For the uninitiated it was AWESOME!!

Knowing Stewart well enough to give some friendly "banter" I did so until through the laughs the retort came back "So when are you going to stop being a c*ck?". Taken as meant we fell about and carried on as before before eventually calling the night slightly before Saturday.

All good clean fun but it did make me think how with different opponents the line is drawn differently. Plenty of advice / stories etc are written and given in terms of how to play at tournament but that's not the same as playing with your mates or at your local club......but, especially with the latter, should it be?

At the Enfield Gamers most of us have been playing together for a VERY long time. The social element is very strong and as a result there's often plenty of banter about. We're aware that it can be daunting and even off putting for someone new to walk into, especially given the social skills of many of our ilk. I've visited clubs that I've been put off for a number of reasons, normally the members, but each to their own. We want to be welcoming and inclusive but people need to fit with us to. A balance thing then.

Elsewhere I've got Wednesday off work and have it earmarked for painting Orcs, especially as I've just ordered my latest cycle of WI cards. I intend to be in front of the paint station by mid-day and then crack on. No skyrim until I'm finished, if I get finished.....honest!

Front Row Union

Just a quick post as I've finally made some, minor, progress on the Orc Boyz unit as part of the remains of the army to be painted and sold to fund / subsidise my previous and ongoing investment into Warhammer Invasion.

More specifically I've finished off the front rank who, as their status befits, have likely received a little more TLC than their rank bonus colleagues (do Orcs have colleagues?) are likely to receive. I'm happy enough with the furs and though the skintone looked rather too dark for a while detailing has provided a better balance.

Another 10 PPs in the bag to clear target for the month, not that I'm taking that as an excuse to disappear into Skyrim for he rest of the week.

There's also the oblique reference to the upcoming Six Nations during which I expect to paint a bit more with the non England games in the background. Somehow appropriate really.

Club tonight and Rich's Samurai SAGA campaign. As a gaming night isn't strictly a hobby night, at least in my head,  and given that I painted last night does that mean the Wednesday is a 'Rim night??

Answers on a post should you so wish :)