Success off the tabletop, and failure on the tabletop (again).

Last weekend, I managed to do something that happens to be improbable. I successfully sat down to paint. I got my 14 Ratskins painted to a very basic standard, although not completely as there are still some white bits. Once done, I'll probably give them a wash and then finish the bases and leave it at that. I don't have an incredible hunger to paint, but I have to get them finished. I actually want to move onto painting my new Infinity stuff. It will be nice to see some different models. After that I want to finish painting my Warmachine models. Then and only then, will I start to tackle my Imperial Guard and Dark Angels.
Last night's visit to the club involved a bit more Necromunda. While my campaign action was postponed, I looked for a casual game. I found one against Pete and his Van Saar gang. We opted to play a Shoot-out scenario which are always good for a laugh. When rolling for how many gang members would participate, I rolled only two while Pete rolled four! This wasn't looking good to start with. As our groups shuffled towards eaach other on the tabletop, we kept rolling to see whose nerve would break first. It turned out that Pete's gang lost it first, which was good for me as it meant some more experience at the end. We established the order of shooting, which saw my two Ratskins shoot second and joint third. Pete's first ganger missed with his shot and then so did mine. My other Ratskin failed to shoot which left them both at the mercy of the Van Saar's Heavy Stubber. This jammed after two shots (Pete rolled five shots for sustained fire) which didn't change things as it took my guys out. One of my Ratskins did get up only to be put down again.
This was a very quick game indeed. One of my Ratskins, Eecheyakee, picked up multiple injuries but survived, but both gangers picked up a stat increase. I also picked up a bit of income which enabled me to buy another ganger a Blindsnake Pouch which is always useful.
I now have to wait a week for my next game (my exploratory campaign action involving ZOMBIES) and my first taster of Infinity. I shall be reading the rules (for once) and will let you know if I like it.

Necromunda! I'm back!!!

Tonight’s the night for reliving my teenage years. I get to play Necromunda after such a long, long time. This time it will be in a pub basement with other grown men. It won’t be on a large slab of MDF supported by two trestle tables in my best friends room.

When Necromunda first came out, we played practically non-stop. We played with the Orlocks and Goliaths from the box. We didn’t know any other gamers and, most of the time, couldn’t be bothered to go to a Games Workshop to play. So we played each other, over and over again. We would usually disband our gangs from time to time and start again. This kept things a little fresh. In the end, we both brought ourselves a new gang each. I plumped for Van Saar while The Dude bought Cawdor (he also got a Delaque gang too). This saw the rising of my Reservoir Frogs and The Dude’s Witch’s’ End Receptionists. As per usual with the other games that we played (it’s also true today), I was mostly on the losing end. Mr Brown could not get his Van Saars to hurt the likes of Beelzebub and Barabbas in a truly bad way. In fact, Barabbas became a one-man gang in the end. He was a highly skilled machine just loaded with weapons (including a Mono-sighted Missile launcher)! The Dude’s tactic was usually sit back with everyone except for Barabbas, who would race forward and severely bruise my jump-suited wimps.
But tonight, it will be like starting over again. It’ll be like opening the box to reveal the cardboard scenery and those static-looking Orlocks and Goliaths with anticipation of this new game. Except that beer would be involved this time. There’s about a dozen players, including myself, in this campaign. I’m having to take over from another player who will be away for the next couple of months. I’ll will be using his Ratskins which should be fun as I’ve never played with an Outlaw gang before. It shouldn’t be so different, but this will be someone else’s miniatures. They will have a little character already as they have gone through a couple of preliminary missions. They will most likely have been painted already. As mentioned in the previous post, I will be getting my own Ratskins so that I may carry on with them after I give them back to Bill.
But still, the next couple of months might give me the impetus to bring the Reservoir Frogs name out of retirement. Hopefully this time, they can actually do the bruising.

Why do things happen at the same time?

I ask this because there is going to be a Necromunda campaign going on at the club. Seeing as I have committed myself to the Planetary Empires campaign, I don’t think I’ll have the time take part. I would have loved to taken my Van Saar gang along.


Hallow’d Way’s Reservoir Frogs were an unlucky gang, losing most of the time to their only opponents at the time. Due to a lack of interest in fighting from other gangs in the area, they took it as a sign to retire. Now there is talk of a comeback and potential participation in a campaign. Youngsters have now taken up the names of these legendary (useless) gang members, and hope to do Mr Brown, Mr White, etc, proud.

Knowing my luck, they will perform just as badly as their predecessors (and my Necrons, and my Menoth, and my…), but there’s no harm in trying.