Necromunda Game - Blackstone Progress - 3D Legacy

Necromunda
On Thursday last (14th Nov) we had a game of Necromunda, possibly our second 'real' game.

And the first using the new wall blocks. Also our first game for well over a month, aka, a bit rusty on the rules.

Put together a 6 section map and ran full 10 person gangs. We've kind of developed a liking for an 'under the aircon duct' area at Good Games, and they seem happy to have something different being played. Actually there was a game of SW Legion going on adjacent to us as well. Go tabletop wargames!!

Escher...

vs Enforcers...

At about turn 4 the Enforcers bottled out, having lost 3 or 4 casualties by then; then fleeing and leaving 3 models on the table, one of which was seriously injured. So we called the game there, wasn't much to be gained from continuing once an obviously decisive point is reached. Lots of pretty poor dice rolls by both sides.

Apart from scrubbing the rust off our rules knowledge were were also trying different rules and load-out options etc. Trying to push our (so far) limited knowledge. Overall it was educational and enjoyable. Looking forward to the next game.

The gangs looked the part, and the walls helped add a sense of 'enclosing'  or inside a hive (or maze even) IMO.

Added a splash of ink and dry brush here and there. Might end up adding a bit more to strengthen the effect.

The store manager was taking happy snaps of the game diversity going on during the evening. Fair enough.

Blackstone
Motivation for hobby stuff has been fairly low. Not that there's anything else significant taking it's place, but it seems that until there's an even requiring progress, not progress is happening. More or less of course.

With the new cultists and rogue trader hitting the board recently the sight of unpainted models made me cringe a little.
So the rogue trader is done. Standard 'looks better in real life' disclaimer applies.

The run-of-the-mill cultists are also done.

And these guys got left behind at some stage. At the moment i'm using the 'paint batches of colours' method.

Will get to these guys next. I did make a couple of really small adjustments here. The Fire Brand had an over the top flame from the flame thrower stick. I knifed this down to a more manageable size - it's just going to get snapped off in the box for sure. Similarly there was an wispy antenna on the tech-priest which has been smoothed over after it snapped off. Was to delicate - nice, but unmanageable.


Epic
I managed to pick up one of the original Epic Armageddon rule books over the last week, just for nostalgia sake. There's also interesting hobby stuff in there that is often overlooked when the rules stuff is referenced (online). I'm also researching alternative scenarios.

I've finally been making progress printing the stormravens - the final models for the Black Templars army.
They are proving problematic (wow, what a change). i think the vat film is a bit loose or something. Printing in the middle is causing a lot of warping and or lift, which is really unusual given how solid previous prints were. Printing toward the edge seems to be alleviating the issue (fingers and toes crossed).
This is a 3rd party model (i.e. someone else's) off thingiverse and i'm not entirely convinced of the underside which is the bit that needs to stick. Nice enough model though, just technically challenging to print (i think the landing gear makes a small sliver of space that creates a print gap).
Anyway, i'm getting results so far so just keep chugging away with it.

[update 20191119: the machine spirit was looking favourably on this project and i now have bodies and wings. Just tails to go which (famous last words) should be quick and painless.]
[update 20191120: aaaaaahhhahaahahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaar]

[update 20191121: got 18 tails printed and, 'oh yeah, bases'. which means... drum roll please... the Black Templar army is finally finished... printing. some assembly and painting still required but the 'unknown'/'tentative' aspect is done. so, this project took from 20190525 - 20191121 based on the first pic of a printed unit i have.]

Have assembled the attack bikes. Need to assemble neophytes. need to finish the landers. All the spray painted stuff is still 'curing'  :)   and will/may probably remain that way until the final models are ready for painting. Either than or a mad dash to finish pieces for Cancon (decided to play this year, well, next year).


Back to the model... when i was getting ready to print up the Stormravens i had a fresh look at thingiverse for a better model than what i'd done. And was happy to find something that looked suitable.

I noticed that it was 'based' on my old model. Fun!

Obviously a lot of changes between then and now and i'm not taking credit for their work etc (i'm sure if there was nothing there they could have started from scratch).
I guess the thought is that it's nice that models have/can develop and improve when they're shared and built together. Building something better (or more tech/resolution appropriate) based on the previous generations of models etc.

I'm also glad i didn't have to remodel the existing version.

Until next time...

CoD - November '19 Game Day - Megageddon

On Saturday 2nd November we had Company of Dice game day.

Megageddon was our scheduled event - aka   Epic Armageddon with  2 vs 2 player teams on (slightly) oversized boards.

Turned out well. We had 10 players all up which meant 2 tables with 4 players, and 1 table with just 2 players (though we still used the larger tables and ran 2 armies each).

Ship got a showing...

Another player kitted this table out fully...

And pipeline/church/forest...

Actually by the time the tables were set (above), i had zero terrain pieces left in the box which was a novelty (and somewhat satisfying).

The parameters for the games, objectives, setup, special rules etc all seemed to work ok. There were some suggestions for alternative options which seemed worthwhile (i'm happy to try them at future events) - but basically everything went as planned. 

Games started up around the 10-10:30am mark.

The first game was our two Newcastle visitors (both with flavours of chaos marines) vs guard (krieg) and imperial knights. This game finished off relatively quickly, somewhere between 2 and 3pm.
Here we had two of the country's most experienced players vs two virtual neophytes, so the results weren't entirely unexpected.
However, i'm reasonably confident that our guys will have learned a tonne about the game from their match up, plus hopefully garnered that epic people are pretty friendly where ever you go.
Many thanks to the Newcastle guys...

The second game was the 1 vs 1 table, which had ork gargants and chaos marines  vs  imperial titans and codex marines [my forces].  We called a draw on turn 3 at around 4pmish.

The third game was two eldar armies vs codex marines and imperial titans. This ran until 4:30-5pm before winding down.   Was called at turn 3 with a slight eldar victory.

Below... gargants/chaos vs titans/marines - just about to rumble...

Notes and Observations...

As far as i can tell everyone had a good time. I'd very much like to pencil this in as an annual event and the general consensus was 'aye'.

Probably too long to play team games frequently.
The double the players = double the time was probably true on average.
Rules lawyers took substantially longer and i guess more players = more discussions.
The 1:1 game we played (with experienced players) seemed to flow more continuously given less interaction and the requirement of combined decision making (i would still like to be part of a 2:2 at some stage).

With more flexibility as to match ups i could have come up with some better options but there were too many people who wanted to play in 'set teams' (which is fine as well).

The mission objectives worked as planned (read; perfectly). They'd work on regular size battles/tables and for 1 on 1 games. Looking forward to giving that a try. A worthwhile alternative to standard 'tournament rules'. 

The board extensions were solid enough. Have donated them to the club for future events - our or other games.

I would like to make proper sized mats to avoid the half:half looking tables which is !gak! ugly. however, one of the mats we used (borrowed from club) was the canvas/silicon that i had contemplated using. The dices skid and slide horribly on it so i'm not as sure about that anymore.  not an urgent project anyway. 

And that's about it. Was a good event IMO. Ran easily and without drama, which was more a testament to the players than 'the organising' which was minimal.

There is news in the wind of other players in the area who are interested. Based on prior experience i'll let that unfold as it may.  Maybe next year we can actually fill 3 full tables (maybe more!!).

Hopefully the spectacle that we put on will be enough to convince other players that not only is Epic something fun (and big) to be a part of, but also that the scene is alive, kicking, and growing in the area. huzzah!

Until next time...