Warmachine - Cygnar Warcaster Nemo

Cygnar Warcaster Nemo off the table now. He's the last of the Cygnar splurge started from the Journeyman League in August.  The main difficulty I had was trying to decide what layers of armour should be what colour. So you can imagine how pleased I was after making all my decisions that he came out like everyone else's - oh well!

He signals the last of my official Cygnar models. There are a of trio dino-riders waiting to become Storm Lances (with similar Katherine Laddermore and Jeremiah Kraye), but they're another project for another day.

Tie Fighter Ambush

Up to MacSver's battleshed for another game of X-wing this week. He's going to an local Tournament in a few weeks time so we played a 100 point game so that he could test a rebel force list.

My Vader led Imperial Force (Darth's Advanced Tie and 3 other Tie Fighters) ambushing Han Solo in the Millenium Falcon supported by 2 A-Wings.

As the Tie's swoop in, one poor Imperial pilot
gulps as his craft is lit up by several weapons locks.

Badly damaged by the exchange of fire he zooms into the Rebel
ships to impede them and help his comrades.

"In Space no-one can hear you call your Insurance"

With the first fly past claiming one ship each everyone
quickly about faces for the next exchange. Han Solo can't but
isn't worried with his 360 firing arc.

The Falcon starts to turn, but Vader finally
destroys his foe.

And so it come to this: A face off,
both craft with 2 hull points left.

But a the crucial moment Vader forgets his left from right
and swerves away, robbing himself of a first shot...

...and the rookie A-Wing pilot blasts the
Dark Lord with room to spare!

Tardis, Master and WPC Pond

Next group from the table clearance. The Master (from Heresy) and Amy Pong in WPC mode (from Crooked Dice). Of course in the background is the Tardis, from Ainsty, I think.

I don't think I've enjoyed painting a set of figures so much for a while. Typically I've only just noticed that I've forgotten to do the handles - doh!

Urban War Reminder

With the Edinburgh Urban War Legionary, Sebigboss, looking to organise a tournament in December I thought that if I fancied attending I'd best be up to speed with the rules again, so put together a couple of forces and pressed Arabiansquire into action for a run through.

The table set-up: but I was being lazy (and last minute) so it was set to be a straight battle. Future Cube buildings free download from www.toposolitario.com and crosspiece ruins from Dave Graffam Models .

Arabiansquire's Vasa force advance. The archangel pops on top of a building to act as a spotter for the Suppressor Grenade Launcher tucked safely behind the building. To be fair the forces were slightly big for a "first game back" (250 pts), especially it almost felt like a demo with the wee lad having almost completely forgotten the rules. The aim was to add a couple of different units into the mix (like the indirect template weapon threat of the grenade launcher) and brain crunch through the rules.

My Viridian force use some vehicle obstacles as cover to move across the road. The sniper thought he could use his extreme range to take out some Vasa early doors. However he failed a climb (command check) test and didn't get into position early enough to be truly effective. He then proceeded to shoot poorly while his targets passed shock and cover saves!

We didn't manage to finish our game - too much time trying to remember\look up the rules again. But I want to have a few more games in the coming weeks which should help both myself and the wee lad. Best get the hobby shed table clear of all the rubbish so that I can set up!

Late Pledge

I've been quite happy with the progress of my paint table clearance month, so I've rashly decided to Pledge a Painting Oath for October.

Some of you may remember my rough, quick paint Mantic Marauder\Ork. Well I'm scaling up the number be an extra 7. Being quick and rough I hope they'll take me next to no time, but will also put me closer to having a warband for "In The Emperor's Name" to pitch against Arabiansquire's Space Marines.

Warmachine - Cygnar Grenadier Warjack

First of the October table clearance pieces finished, a Warmachine Cygnar Grenadier Warjack.

He's got one foot up a sandbag Bruce Dickinson style (at least in my mind). Partly because I don't like the "standard" pose for the 'jack right side (pick swinging back), but also because I was having so much trouble getting his leg to stay fixed on. Ready now though to take his place with his Trencher brethren.

X-Wing 3rd Wave Tested

Was up at MacSver's battleshed to try out his newly purchased X-Wing 3rd Wave models in my second proper game.

X-Wing 3rd Wave
Imperial shuttle, HWK-290, Tie Bomber and  B-Wing.

We played a 250pt game (which was really probably a bit high for a rookie pilot as myself) which was fun. I commanded the Empire forces whilst MacSver donned his white shirt, black waistcoat and trusty blaster to lead the Rebel Scum.

Rebel Scum approach the Emperor's Glorious Fleet

Collected thoughts on the new ships (bearing in mind my lack of experience with any of them):

The B-Wing was a pig to manoeuvre, even by Rebel standards. Really poor agility - the proverbial 'flying brick'. But it more than makes up with 3 attacks, 3 hull and 5, yes 5 shields! Add in some really good upgrade options and this is an interesting ship!

The HWK-280 (aka Moldly Crow). Hmm. This ships stat line is nothing outstanding. 1 attack, not offensive at all. 2 agility, not really that evasive. 4 hull, okay, it can take a few hits. And 1 shield so you can negate a crit or just have an extra hit. Not the most impressive stat line.

After passing through the first flypast the shuttle starts its
long and laborious turning maneuver. 

The Tie Bomber is a moving missile platform on a (slightly less maneuverable) Tie Fighter. 4 or 5 missile\torpedo slots and a weapons enhancement slot (the slot titles may be wrong as I was just looking to match up card symbols). The one drawback is you need weapons locks to your target to fire any off. Potentially powerful - one set of missiles had 5 attack dice, and when teamed with the "turn all focus rolls to hits" card - boom!

The Shuttle is slow, unmaneuverable and turns like a barge (it was going to take around 4 rounds to turn 180!). It does have 5 shields and 5 hull points however. It may be the cards I picked out, but it seems like a defensive options machine, carrying abilities to draw in and hamper the enemy and hopefully add some targeting to the friendly ships. Favourite new card was the prisoner\hostage one that stresses the first ship each turn that fires on you! The other cards I'd picked out all had to do with managing and passing on weapons locks. I hoped to be productive in combination with the Bomber - only worked once.

MacSver added that he thought that these new shuttle ships aren't here for their power output, but their overall group utility. It certainly added an extra dimension to the gameplay, rather than just buzzing around dog-fighting as per the previous game.

10mm Stonehenge

I was making an order to Amazon the other day and decided to treat myself with one of those miscellaneous things you find and wishlist. In this case it was a "Build your own Stonehenge" kit which I'd read about ages ago on some forum.

Quick scale shot with Pendraken 10mm Dwarf and Barbarian

Here is what I pulled out the box. The base is a thin jigsaw with markers on to place your stones. Aside from perhaps a rough guide it is of little use to me. A more durable one piece base will be used.

A view of the whole kit

The stones themselves are surprisingly solid and tough plastic. I doubt it they would chip or break without some serious effort.They are unpainted but should take paint well. Whether to completely base coat and paint or to just add a few drybrushed highlights will be the question.

I know that some of you will be happy to make a simple terrain piece from scratch, but for under £5 (including delivery) I doubt you can really go wrong.

Warmachine - Cygnar Stormcallers

September's Painting Oath has just made the deadline:

The Warcaster and 'Jack never made it into the final shots unfortunately. Too many nights making Home brew and plum jam cut into the painting time.

i don't plan to pledge this month (October) as I look to clear the paining table of a few things...