Tuesday 22 October 2013

Offboot 9 - The Dice Strike Back

I haven't kept a close track of how many Offboots there have been. But I do know it was high time I took part in one. After all, no point in having a chaos army if it doesn't go a-chaosing. 

This is what you get if you look for images of Offboot on Google.

I managed to take advantage of a paid work trip to steal a march up to MK, home of the Woff and Off Boots, and challenge the mighty hoards of General Kasfunatu to a swift 1600 point bout. Once we'd eaten a pleasant but dubious curry, partaken of the delights of Egyptian Laser Chess and soaked in the hot tub for three hours, anyway. Not that swift, really.

Warriors of Chaos

I immediately forfeit any claim to be using my own army. Ryanair baggage restrictions just couldn't hack a tub of minis, the cheap sods. Luckily, Kas has all the chaos troops you could possibly imagine, so I put together a list very unlike what I actually own. 

Demon Prince of Khorne (Acid blood, firebreath, wings)
Exalted BSB (horse, banner of improved battle results, shield)
Chaos Horseror (level one lore of Death, horse)
10 Horse Marauders
10 Horse Marauders
5 Knights (ensorcelled weapons)
1 Slaughterbrute (linked to the DP)
1 Chariot (the only Counts As model, played by a warshrine)

So it's a mobility-themed army, the very opposite of my massy blocks of troops back home. 

Vampire Counts

Kas had a number of premade armies, and having helped me build mine up, randomly rolled to see which one he got. I breathed a sigh of relief when he didn't score the Ogres, but it turned into a fatalistic groan when he drew this lot instead: - 

Vampire General (level three, relatively killy upgrades that include reducing enemy leadership)
Vampire BSB (comparatively naked Vampire with banner of better battle resolution)
2 Banshees (to take advantage of that reduced leadership)
28 Ghouls (to carry the Vampires around in)
5 Hexwraiths
5 More Hexwraiths
Another 5 Sodding Hexwraiths

Well goody. Goody goody gumdrops. Gummy gummy hexwraiths. Bah. I have precisely two units that can hurt them, maybe three if the wizard gets some missiles. This should be unpleasant.

Anniversary Gift

Last weekend was the 3rd Anniversary for Mrs Stylus and myself. According to Ancient Lore (wikipedia), the third year is the Leather Anniversary, so it would be normal to expect some kind of belt, or wallet, as my anniversary gift...

Leather dice cup and D6 dice.
... but seriously, what use is a belt or a wallet?

That's about as close to gaming as I get these days, but I'm hoping for a 'Woffnaissance' (or perhaps a 'Re-Boot') in the new year.

Monday 21 October 2013

Code Magpie

This weekend I partook in a 40k version of a WoffBoot arranged by Reinbowarrior.

My army of choice was Daemons, still reeling from the unlikely generosity of GW by allowing to have two armies for the price of one, I was determined to get some additional use from them.

I had, prior to the weekend, played 4 games of 40k in its current incarnation. Prior to that I remember a couple of games on the floor of Amen court with Kraken, which must make it about six or seven years ago!

My first game, I had been leant Reinbowarrior’s elite Terminator only deathwing – they beat his own Tyranid force.  For my second game, I took a large contingent of my own Nurgle forces and took down the Dark Angels showing them a beating they had never seen before (I had a lucky storm of chaos roll which made the librarian’s head explode, and a herald of knorne taking his place, in turn one). My third game was an abysmal offering from Tzeentch against ‘nids. I setup badly, misplayed the rules for combat and powers (both to my deficit) and got utterly trounced. Finally I took Khorne, and once my units had deep struck in had done enough damage for Reinbowarrior to concede the game (although time also played a part)….  So having won 3 of 4 games (or 2 of 3 with daemons) I was feeling buoyed for the campaign.