Höbbit

Another late battle report, this. So some things that should not have been forgotten won't be lost, etc etc.

While General Kas was over in the summer, we cracked open The Hobbit for an evening's entertainment. Not the film! That would have made entertainment impossible.

Masters of the tabletop as we are, we were able to fit in one round of each of the introductory scenarios that come with the rules. These gradually introduce variant weapon rules, special actions, morale, magic and so on. They aren't bad, although some of them seem to have a distinct bias in how they play out.

Kasfunatu took the roles of Thorin and Company throughout; I stayed on my usual side of the Good/Evil divide and took Goblins.

No photos or maps for this, I'm afraid, you'll have to use the power of your imaginations. I was recently reminded how much we do that in our hobby anyway. During a game of George R R Martin's A Game Of Thrones The Board Game (2nd Edition) - the title is at least a quarter of the boxed weight - we were having a fierce political debate on who would be the next holder of the Iron Throne.

"It's just a piece of cardboard," observed one player, a novice to the whole board games thing. He went on to lose, obviously.

Nurgle vs Nurgle: Bored of the Flies

It's that time of year when we all delight in seeing a jolly fat man who brings gifts for all.

If you think that's disgusting, wait until Slaanesh comes down the chimney,

Paying a visit on Casa Kasfunatu, I partook in a couple of OffBoot games with Generals Kasfunatu and East (and my God, was it really January when I last did that?). Wanting to branch out from my traditional army selection, I was fortunate enough to be loaned a Daemon army to field.

I took the Nurgle faction, as they're my Chaos god of choice (and not because I hear they make the hardest list).

Daemons of Chaos (Nurgle)

• Daemon Prince of Nurgle (General, Level 3)
• Herald of Nurgle (BSB, Lv 1)
• Epidemius, Tallyman of Nurgle
• 27 Plaguebearers
• Beast of Nurgle
• Beast of Nurgle
• Beast of Nurgle
• 3 Plague Drones

-1600pts

Facing them was General Kasfunatu with his newly-acquired Warriors of Chaos army, the core of which were Warriors of Nurgle - so it was to be a dust-up at the Weightwatchers club.

Warriors of Chaos

• Chaos Warrior Lord (General)
• Herald of Slaanesh (BSB, Hellstrider)
• Festus the Leechlord
• 16 Warriors of Chaos (Nurgle)
• 5 Hellstriders
• 5 Chaos Hounds
• 5 Chaos Hounds
• Chimera

-1600pts

Heroquest - 25th Anniversary

I don't mind that Doctor Who is celebrating 50 years. It always seemed so established that it was just waiting for milestones to be checked off.

But has it really been 25 years since Scott and Charlene walked down the aisle to the heartbreaking tunes of Angry Anderson? Yes, it has: Scott and Charlene from Neighbours are now celebrating their Silver Wedding Anniversary, and if that doesn't make you feel old, here's another:

It has been 25 years since I saw this commercial on telly, and knew what was going at the top of my list to Santa*.

*Yes, that would make me 10 years old at the time. Yes, I still believed. I have a vivid and magical imagination. Go and watch The Polar Express and stop looking at me like that.

Let's just dwell on that memory:

• Christopher Lee is narrating. Because of course Christopher Lee is narrating.
• Why does the child with the Broadsword card sound like Clive Owen?
• The player line-up doesn't match the ones of my experience (several family members dragged to the Boxing Day table, humouring me, dozing off or just complaining loudly)
• I think the 'Fire of Wrath' caster's voice is about to break.
• At the end, the kid in the DM chair becomes a monster (making it the most accurate disclaimer ever added to a commercial).

I still have my trusty Heroquest set (plus Ogre Kingdom expansion), although most of the furniture has been pillaged for spares, and some vandal has daubed all the miniatures with a crude enamel paint.

However, I now learn of a Kickstarter campaign to create a Heroquest 25th Anniversary Edition that looks absolutely cracking. I've never been led down the crowd-funding games route before, but at around £55, I might very well be tempted by this.

For no other reason that to atone for my very first paint job...

"What have we become?"

Wood Elves, ready for tournament

Hi all, Hope you are all well.

Here is my painted Wood Elves, ready for a tournament in December.

Hope to see you all soon.

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...

... 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.

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.

Double the tentacles, quarter the price

Wibble wibble.

Okay, I didn't actually count all the tentacles. But I'm sure I'm giving the official Mutalith Vortex Beast a run for its money. I'm helped in this by the twin facts that it can't run, being a model, and it costs far too much.