Gladiator School - Month 2 (Part 2)

Caecilianus (Small Rep 3 Hoplomachus) vs Rep 3 Murmillo
Turns 1&2: Dice Pool: Hoplomachus(15), Murmillo(15), Init Murmillo

• Both advance towards each other

Turn 3: Dice Pool: Hoplomachus(15), Murmillo(15), Init Hoplomachus

• Hoplomachus retires 1". 
• Murmillo advances full distance (gap now 4")

Turn 4: Dice Pool: Hoplomachus(15), Murmillo(15), Init Hoplomachus

• The Hoplomachus advances 3" and attacks, trying to take advantage of his superior weapon reach, but the attack come to nothing.
•  The Murmillo steps up toe to toe and engages his opponent, but the two fighters are still evenly matched.

Turn 5: Dice Pool: Hoplomachus(10), Murmillo(12), Init Hoplomachus

• The Hoplomachus makes a thrusting attack, but his lack of size is causing him problems and he gets hit in the lower left leg. Fortunately no wound is made but he staggers backwards 1"
• The Murmillo follows the Hoplomachus and attacks, but the attack fails to have any impact on either side.

Turn 5: Dice Pool: Hoplomachus(4), Murmillo(6), Init Hoplomachus

• Starting to get tired, the Hoplomachus makes an attempt to flank his adversary to the left, but his slow tired effort is easily spotted and the Murmillo steps across to block the maneuver.
• The Hoplomachus still has his attack though and scores a hit on the Murmillo's belly, not wounding but crucially knocking his fatigued combatant to the ground.
• The small Hoplomachus follows up the knocked down with a second attack. Both fighters are near exhaustion, and the felled Murmillo hasn't the strength to prevent himself being wounded in the chest. He surrenders, spent and bloodied. Caecilianus just manages to stay on his feet to be declared winner (+3 AP, +3 Fame)

Dacien (Rep 4 Thraex) vs Rep 3 Murmillo
Turns 1&2: Dice Pool: Thraex(20), Murmillo(15)

• Both advance towards each other

Turn 3: Dice Pool: Thraex(20), Murmillo(15), Init Thraex

• The Thraex advances and attacks.
• The ferocity of the attack catches the Murmillo by suprise and takes a fatal wound to the chest.
• With his opponent lying dead at his feet Dacien is declared winner and also receives a laurel wreath for his clinical victory (+3AP, +53 Fame)

Eborius (Rep 4 Provocator) vs Rep 3 Hoplomachus
Turns 1&2: Dice Pool: Provocator(20), Hoplomachus(15)

• Both advance towards each other to finish 6" after turn 2

Turn 3: Dice Pool: Provocator(20), Hoplomachus(15), Init Provocator

• The Provocator retreats 1", wary of the Hoplomachus' spear and looking for a chance to get in range.
• The Hoplomachus advances 3". (4" gap)

Turn 4: Dice Pool: Provocator(20), Hoplomachus(15), Init Hoplomachus

• The Hoplomachus sees his chance, advances and attacks his cautious opponent, using the superior reach of his spear to his advantage. A hit is made, but it is only to the heavily armored head of Eborius, not wounding and only knocking him back 1".
• The Provocator rushes forward with a bash attack, trying to knock the Hoplomachus to the ground, but the man with the spear stands his ground.

Turn 5: Dice Pool: Provocator(12), Hoplomachus(10), Init Hoplomachus

•  The Hoplomachus gets the next attack in but is clumsy with his longer spear and is knocked to the ground, a nasty wound bleeding on his chest.
• The Provocator presses home the advantage on his felled opponent, striking and wounding again, this time to the exposed belly.
• The second wound to the torso is too much, and the Hoplomachus slumps back dead.
• Eborius is declared winner with a laurel wreath (+3AP, +53 Fame)

Caius says: "It was always going to be difficult to follow up the success of the first month. Sometimes the Gods smile on you sometimes they have other plans. Poor Abercius didn't get a roll of the dice his whole match. He's probably lucky to only escape with a wounded leg. Hopefully it'll heal for the matches next month. But with three laurel wreaths and an exciting close call fight I can be happy. THe retiarus' net showed it's worth this round. With a fighter ability hindered (-2 Rep) when ensnared the man with the trident can really press on, especially at this low level where any disadvantage is huge. That is why my smallest warrior, Caecilianus, still amazes me with his wins."

(Total cash : 3260 aurei) 

Gladiator Stats:

• Abercius: Rep 4, AP 3, Fame 3, wounded (leg)
• Balbillus: Rep 4, AP 7, Fame 57
• Caecilianus: Rep 3, AP 7, Fame 7
• Dacien: Rep 4, AP 6, Fame 56
• Eborius: Rep 4, AP 6, Fame 56

Gladiator School - Month 2 (Part 1)

Abercius (Rep 4 Secutor) vs NPC Rep 3 Retiarus

Turn 1: Dice Pool: Secutor(20), Retiarus(15), Init Retiarus

• Both advance towards each other

Turn 2: Dice Pool: Secutor(20), Retiarus(15), Init Retiarus

• Retiarus advances full distance 
• Secutor advances full distance hoping to get initiative and attack next turn.

Turn 3: Dice Pool: Secutor(20), Retiarus(15), Init Retiarus

• Retiarus makes a net attack and ensnares the Secutor, who manages to stay on his feet. 
• The Retiarus makes his follow up attack but it is ineffectual. 
• The Secutor makes a return attack, but the hinderance of being ensnared lets the Retiarus pick his spot and wounds him on the upper left leg, causing the Secutor to stagger back 1". Having moved away from melee though, if he can get initiative next turn there's a chance he can lose the net and try to salvage the fight. 

Turn 4: Dice Pool: Secutor(4), Retiarus(8), Init Retiarus

• Before the Secutor can remove the net, the Retiarus moves in to attack, but the struggling Secutor manages to parry the attempt. 
• A near exhausted Secutor makes a last gasp effort to flank the Retiarus to his left, but the flank fails and as the Retiarus turns to face his opponent the Abercius surrenders: spent, wounded and tangled. 

Balbillus (Rep 4 Retiarus) vs Rep 4 Murmillo
Turn 1: Dice Pool: Retiarus(20), Murmillo(20), Init Murmillo

• Both advance towards each other

Turn 2: Dice Pool: Retiarus(20), Murmillo(20), Init Murmillo

• Murmillo adavnces full distance. 
• Retiarus advances a couple of steps (inches) and makes a net attack, catching the Murmillo and pulling him to the ground, face down. 
• The Retiarus makes a follow up attack but only manages to hit the murmillo's helmet, causing no damage. The Murmillo rolls half an inch to the right and is now face up, so he can use his shield if need be, but is still ensnared.

Turn 3: Dice Pool: Retiarus(13), Murmillo(13), Init Retiarus

• Before the Murmillo can stand and remove the net the Retiarus moves in and attacks, but can only hit his opponents thick helmet again and the murmillo rolls off an inch to the right.
•  Having rolled away from melee, the Murmillo has time to stand, manages to remove the net and turns to face his opponent. 

Turn 4: Dice Pool: Retiarus(10), Murmillo(5), Init Retiarus

• The Retiarus steps up to hoping quickly end the battle and attacks. His trident bites into the Murmillo's chest, wounding him and sapping the last of his strength. Balbillus is declared winner and also gets a laurel wreath for his performance (+ 4 AP, +54 fame).

ArabianSquire's day of Gaming

It's been a day of a few gaming landmarks for Arabiansquire.

We went to our local gaming club this morning, Battleground Livingston, where he won a game of All Things Zombie (which will be written up soon), although there was nothing new with that. However, having just had a birthday he was able to become an associate member in his own right and get a proper members badge! Being "old" you forget how cool it is to become old enough to do certain things (I spend half my time thinking that I'm too old for certain things!)


To add the the milestones he sat down this afternoon and finished his first proper mini - One of the Space Marines he'd received for his birthday. He modestly rated it as "OK for his first one", although I think that can start thinking about organizing that holiday placement at Wizards painting sweatshop for the summer school holidays!

One down quite a few future ones to go! (If his Dad is anything to go by!)

Switch to Plan C

(I've already used Plan B)

One day David will get to start running his D&D 4e adventure. I suspect all those embittered 3.5 player's voodoo sessions are starting to finally kick in. After we'd finished our fun XCrawl adventure David was lined up to run a D&D 4e adventure. He's been patiently waiting between Lothian Gamers usual Sunday Sessions and our fortnightly midweek game for probably a couple of years now and finally a slot became available. Unfortunately it is are proving to be as frustrating to get through as the Doors of Durin. Since November we've had to call off due to illness, weather, christmas, broken technology, dementia and even invasion force from France! So I shouldn't have been suprised when this Monday's session fell foul of the 3.5 players Hex as well.

As luck should have it, though, the one person who could make it plays Warmachine, so we managed a quick game to re-start the Bronzed Steam Punk Wheels in my head for the upcoming WM League at our local store. The fact that we both play Cryx and are actually each others first League opponents meant that there were probably quite a cards being played close to the chest, but as both us had new units to try out we grabbed hold of the opportunity. In my table prep before the game I got a bit excited when reaching to the terrain shelves (it's been a months since my last game) and put FAR too much scenery on the table for a warmachine game, but you live and learn - at least it looked good. I'm afraid I was too mentally strained to take any pictures or notes for a battle report, so a evening summary will have to do.

Poor MacSver was looking to test out his Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters unit but became stuck between some hedges and an Epic Asphyxious Caustic Mist barrage and never came into play much (although the a couple of LOS rules were cleared up - so not wasted) also blocking off his mechanithralls. I got to see my newly painted Mechanithralls in action for the first time, which was nice, but I still don't know how to set-up and use my DeathJack properly (despite reading loads of guides on the web!). I did learn that my Skarlock Thrall isn't particularly useful with eAsphyxious. And the combo of Denegrha's feat and a Pistol Wraith almost killed the big warcaster! Again lessons learned in the battlefield stick longer than those on paper!

The end result was not important (although I technically won ;-) ) and I must thank MacSver for his patience as I floundered through each turn trying to remember what each unit could do.

Lich Lord Asphyxious!

Just finished constructing Cryx's Epic Warcaster Lich Lord Asphyious. What a bloody awful experience from start to finish. No joins fitted, everything had to be snipped off, filled and pinned or are so blooming fiddly that I've had to break out the super glue activator for the first time. I even doubt these parts (souls) will stay on.
There's a special place in hell for the person who made this model!

Grump over......

The Hobby Shed Sale is now open

As proposed in the 2011 Plans post, I'm having a clear out to create space and bolster funds.

At the top of this blog you'll now see a For Sale link which will conveniently take you to a sale page. I shall be adding items as I dig them out, with them going up on ebay with no set schedule. Rest assured they will be up here for first dibs...

Warmachine - Cryx Mechanithralls

If there was something my Cryx force was missing it was a first wave unit to take the flak as the rest of the force make their way somewhere towards melee range. So here are the Cryx stock and trade bullet magnets, the Mechanithralls. This also lets me play with the idea in the future of adding a Necrosurgeon or Necrotech.

Slow start to the new year

It's all been a bit quiet in gaming land, at least on the surface. Hopefully now the end of the holiday season (which for me means the school holiday schedule) everything can get back to a normal routine.

Arabiansquire potentially has an interesting year. He's just had a birthday which means he can join the local gaming club as an associate member in his own right, technically meaning I don't have to supervise him. In theory he can find a couple of friends to play with  if a common game can be agreed upon (and I can play against adult opposition). This may require a bit of education for the other club members, as they are all stuck with Games Workshop armies that they spend the whole session setting up, palying 2 turns then running out of time or interest. I'm sure they'll see the light when we find a game that can use they're figures AND play an entire game... There's no rush for this though, it's just nice that he can become a member of a club that he's been attanding on and off for over 2 years for now.

Part of his birthday haul was a Games Workshop 40k Starter paint set, which he's seen a couple of times in store and asked about (yes, yes I know the irony/hypocrisy of this from the last paragraph!). I had put him off, saying I had more than enough figures and paints for him to use if he wanted, but the hours of painting were never forthcoming. I hope that this gift will start him, as he'll have all his own equipment and figures to relax and get going with instead of gingerly using Daddy's.

As for me? Well having signed up for a Warmachine League at the local store in Livingston, I've started painting up a few new figures to hopefully field - a DeathJack that's been sitting part painted of months and a new unit of 5 Mechanithralls to act as early round bullet magnets. The league officially starts this Saturday, so I'll need a couple of practice games first to remind myself of what everything does!

Looking Forward to 2011

If I was doing this whole thing properly I'd be review the past year first, but I fear turning into a pillar of salt for looking over my shoulder so we'll just plough on regardless into 2011.

The aims for the the coming year will split into 2 categories - Game Play and Gaming Practice.

Game Play

• Warmachine: in the last 6 months I've managed  to start (and paint) my main Cryx army and have only half a Death Jack to paint to have all my models painted up. Well almost. I've put my name down for a league at the new local gaming store, Worlds @ War, in Livingston, Scotland which has slightly brought forward the purchase of another (Mechanithralls) unit by a couple of months. No big deal. Oh and I did also buy Cygnar battle group (& proxy additional forces) but they aren't on the painting list yet.
• 20mm WWII: This is the biggy this year. I've already managed to pick up a selection of Airfix 1:72 figures and scale vehicles (mostly on the cheap) and this year sees the glue and paint hitting the plastic and the results hitting the table.
• Gladiators: Having started a Gladitorial School RSBS solo campaign I aim to play a months gametime each month.
• Songs Of Blades and Heroes: A much delayed (due to Warmachine) campaign has been in the offing for months now - I hope to get my skaven into action this year in an extended run of games.
• 10mm Dungeon Crawl: I need to finish off the10mm Dungeon pack I've started and get some good old fashioned crawling done.
• Projects: I've a few half finished projects left over from 2010: Sci-fi tunnel complex, modular spaceship, Racing Pods to name just 3. I will be aiming to get these finished in the first 6 months of the year, or at least before I start any other projects.
• Modern/Zombie/Horror: After making roads into this last year I hope to continue with a few more painted mini's.

Gaming Practice:

• The Second Great Scottish Clearances: It's sad to say, but I have had to finally agree with Mrs AK. that the Arabian Towers Hobby shed is too full of "stuff". I'm going to have to take that tough, heartbreaking journey to ebay (and in some cases the charity shop) to make the space more habitable. On the up side this'll hopefully bring in some cash and assuming that the British Goverment don't start an new hobby tax (best not joke, actually) this'll help balance the books.
• Open Accounting: which seemlessly brings me onto my second grand plan. Although I try to keep costs down I've never been brave/bothered enough to keep note of what I spend on my hobby. Some stones are best left unturned as they say. Well it's time do bring out the lifting gear and tip this mighty menhir over this year. In an attempt to see what the true cost of gaming is I'll be keeping a running spreadsheet of comings and goings. What's more I'll be airing this dirty laundry in public with a linked page from the top this blog. Here's hoping that I don't end too many months with my head in my hands muttering "Oh no, what have I done. The wife'll kill me!"
• Playing more games: This isn't just a bid to wrack up the hours spent rolling dice. To get full "Value For Money" the gaming resources need to be used, so I'll be looking to play a variety of games to get the most from my figures. To start off I've joined a league at the local store which will force me to play at least a game of Warmachine each month. Good start.
• Bought v Painted ratio: Which start of year list would be complete without this old chestnut. I think I did OK last year but without having accounted it I can't be sure how well. So this year I'll be keeping a note of that as well in the accounting page.

Well, watch this space...