I have just ordered a Combined Army starter set for Infinity. I don't know why. I think I hadn't woke up properly or something. I don't know when I'll get time to start playing with everything going on at the club.
I also boosted my MonPoc forces as well with a few more units. I also need to get into playing game. Why do I want to play all these different systems? Life was certainly more simple before I started attending Charing Cross Gaming Club.
Friday, 26 February 2010
Thursday, 25 February 2010
Another game, another loss, another round of run!
Despite my first game of Necromunda in well over a decade ending in a rather bad loss, I had fun reliving the past. I was amazed that I remembered anything from that time at all and didn’t need much help remembering certain rules.
I turned up at the club, which was quite busy as all of the table were booked, all excited like my old teenage self. I put my coat and bag down and got my self a pint of bitter (I was a little early). I got to talking to another gamer who is selling pretty much all of his models (he is leaving the country soon). We had arranged for me to buy some Necrons from him (this little lot takes my army total to nearly 6000). Once I bagged my purchase, I watched some of the other Necromunda games being played. I actually missed my opponent playing his first game, but I caught his post game (rolling for injuries, generating income, etc). Once Dezul (real name Chris) had finished, he called me over to begin play.
Now Bill (the guy who dropped out of the campaign) had forgot to leave his Ratskins behind. This meant that I had to use a handful of zombie models to use as proxies to add to the few models that I had received from evilBay. Once I established which model was which ganger (the zombie with the bone club has a lasgun while the zombie with the green trousers has a shotgun), we got down to setting up. I had challenged Dezul and his Eschers to a Loot and Pillage scenario. This meant that he had to set up just a few of his gang (the remainder coming on as reinforcements) and set up the loot tokens which I would be after. I then set up my large gang (14 members) in 4 smaller groups in the hope that if one was hurt, their buddies could still carry on the fight.
To start off, the only thing I could do was to race towards the lovely loot. Then Dezul took a pot-shot with his leader (she was on overwatch) and took out my leader straight away. He also failed his reinforcements roll.
The next turn saw more running on my part. Those Ratskins that were under fire had frozen and pinned by enemy fire, couldn’t shoot back because they were mostly carrying muskets and blunderbusses (very short range weapons). This time Dezul managed to get some reinforcements to come on. They came on behind on behind my leaders’ group and toasted them with a Flamer! Just one Ratskin was left standing from that group, amazed that he survived. The amazement didn’t last long as he was taken out by the flamers’ buddy. Dezul’s Wyrd took shot at the Ratskins on the other side of the table and missed. His leader did much better and took out another scout.
I raced forward some more and grabbed some loot. Dezul’s turn saw some more reinforcements enter play. This brought another flamer, which in turn brought some pain to a couple more of my gang.
One of my braves then raced forward to grab some more loot, while two of my guys took out the newly arrived flamer and pal. This time Dezul’s Wyrd performed a little better and used his telepathic power to knock out one of my guys. Then the Escher leader had the best shot of the game where she shot one of my guys at long range. While this only caused a flesh wound, it was enough to make him fall two stories onto another one of my gang (thankfully he wasn’t hurt).
I spent the next turn trying to retreat back to my table edge in order to regroup. My shooting was ineffective. Dezul then led a charge with his Eschers. The first hand-to-hand combat of the game ended with a draw.
With the vast majority of my gang either down or out of action, I decided to tactically ‘bottle it’. It was clear that I wasn’t going to get anything more from the game.
So we both did our end of game stuff. I had a bit of bad rolling on the Serious injuries chart with two Dead results, one Capture and a couple of Head Wounds. With everything updated, my gang (Bill’s gang) were looking a little shell-shocked. There were unlucky to have a flamer sneak up behind them, but it didn’t retract from the fun. I later learned the Ratskins are resilient. This means that they can re-roll on the serious injuries chart. I can actually save my dead Ratskins and maybe get rid of the head wounds. One thing that I’ve agreed not to re-roll is the captured result as Dezul and I had already resolved the issue (he gave me back the brave in return for the loot I took). Any changes to this would prove slightly chaotic for Dezul in his next game.
But still, it was great to get back into the game. It has been a long time, but the wait was worth it. One good thing about this campaign is that the players can add some back story to it. So everyone has been writing some fluff for the narrative. I wrote a piece for the game against Dezul. I think I will centre my writing on two of the gangers (they are twins) rather than the exploits of the leader. The first piece was of fluff was about harmony within the warband and how it is disrupted by other gangs in the underhive. It has also shown a disruption in the harmony between the two brothers. Hopefully I can keep the fluff going in order to enhance my gaming experience.
I turned up at the club, which was quite busy as all of the table were booked, all excited like my old teenage self. I put my coat and bag down and got my self a pint of bitter (I was a little early). I got to talking to another gamer who is selling pretty much all of his models (he is leaving the country soon). We had arranged for me to buy some Necrons from him (this little lot takes my army total to nearly 6000). Once I bagged my purchase, I watched some of the other Necromunda games being played. I actually missed my opponent playing his first game, but I caught his post game (rolling for injuries, generating income, etc). Once Dezul (real name Chris) had finished, he called me over to begin play.
Now Bill (the guy who dropped out of the campaign) had forgot to leave his Ratskins behind. This meant that I had to use a handful of zombie models to use as proxies to add to the few models that I had received from evilBay. Once I established which model was which ganger (the zombie with the bone club has a lasgun while the zombie with the green trousers has a shotgun), we got down to setting up. I had challenged Dezul and his Eschers to a Loot and Pillage scenario. This meant that he had to set up just a few of his gang (the remainder coming on as reinforcements) and set up the loot tokens which I would be after. I then set up my large gang (14 members) in 4 smaller groups in the hope that if one was hurt, their buddies could still carry on the fight.
To start off, the only thing I could do was to race towards the lovely loot. Then Dezul took a pot-shot with his leader (she was on overwatch) and took out my leader straight away. He also failed his reinforcements roll.
The next turn saw more running on my part. Those Ratskins that were under fire had frozen and pinned by enemy fire, couldn’t shoot back because they were mostly carrying muskets and blunderbusses (very short range weapons). This time Dezul managed to get some reinforcements to come on. They came on behind on behind my leaders’ group and toasted them with a Flamer! Just one Ratskin was left standing from that group, amazed that he survived. The amazement didn’t last long as he was taken out by the flamers’ buddy. Dezul’s Wyrd took shot at the Ratskins on the other side of the table and missed. His leader did much better and took out another scout.
I raced forward some more and grabbed some loot. Dezul’s turn saw some more reinforcements enter play. This brought another flamer, which in turn brought some pain to a couple more of my gang.
One of my braves then raced forward to grab some more loot, while two of my guys took out the newly arrived flamer and pal. This time Dezul’s Wyrd performed a little better and used his telepathic power to knock out one of my guys. Then the Escher leader had the best shot of the game where she shot one of my guys at long range. While this only caused a flesh wound, it was enough to make him fall two stories onto another one of my gang (thankfully he wasn’t hurt).
I spent the next turn trying to retreat back to my table edge in order to regroup. My shooting was ineffective. Dezul then led a charge with his Eschers. The first hand-to-hand combat of the game ended with a draw.
With the vast majority of my gang either down or out of action, I decided to tactically ‘bottle it’. It was clear that I wasn’t going to get anything more from the game.
So we both did our end of game stuff. I had a bit of bad rolling on the Serious injuries chart with two Dead results, one Capture and a couple of Head Wounds. With everything updated, my gang (Bill’s gang) were looking a little shell-shocked. There were unlucky to have a flamer sneak up behind them, but it didn’t retract from the fun. I later learned the Ratskins are resilient. This means that they can re-roll on the serious injuries chart. I can actually save my dead Ratskins and maybe get rid of the head wounds. One thing that I’ve agreed not to re-roll is the captured result as Dezul and I had already resolved the issue (he gave me back the brave in return for the loot I took). Any changes to this would prove slightly chaotic for Dezul in his next game.
But still, it was great to get back into the game. It has been a long time, but the wait was worth it. One good thing about this campaign is that the players can add some back story to it. So everyone has been writing some fluff for the narrative. I wrote a piece for the game against Dezul. I think I will centre my writing on two of the gangers (they are twins) rather than the exploits of the leader. The first piece was of fluff was about harmony within the warband and how it is disrupted by other gangs in the underhive. It has also shown a disruption in the harmony between the two brothers. Hopefully I can keep the fluff going in order to enhance my gaming experience.
Tuesday, 23 February 2010
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.
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.
A flurry of activity.
After some absence from gaming, I'm back. But I find myself troubled.
My gaming brain has been led astray by the many gaming systems I wish to involve myself in. This year, I’m starting off with Necromunda as there is a bit of a campaign going on at the club. I was fortunate to be part of it as I started while I was away on my honeymoon. But then someone dropped out. A fellow gamer, Marcus, immediately put my name forward as a replacement. The organisers said yes, but only if I took over the Ratskin gang of the guy who dropped out. I accepted, but was disappointed not to be able to use my Van Saars. So now I’m playing with a totally new gang (but having said that, even if I used my Van Saars’, it would be like playing with a new gang because I haven’t played Necromunda for over a decade). But then the idea struck me, that when the campaign is over I would have to give the gang back to their rightful owner. I would have a small gap in my heart without them. So I did something bad. I went to evilBay and scored myself a lot of Ratskins! This means that I can replace the gang with my own models (maybe change the names) and keep the gang alive. I hope this isn’t a foolish thing to do. At the same time, I am also thinking about beefing up my Van Saars. I am most likely going to add some reinforcements.
Next on the list, is Monsterpocalypse. I have been building up my Terrasaurs and Empire of the Apes forces at a very steady rate. I now have more monsters to choose from (including a lot of Mega forms and Quantum King Kondo!!!) and a fairly flexible amount of units. I am hoping to get some games in down at the club soon. I now have made the conscious decision to not spend anything on MonPoc until Series 5 is released in a couple of months time. This is because I would like to get back into Warmachine.
Recently I purchase the Warmachine MKII rulebook and Menoth MKII card deck. All I need now to carry on the momentum would be a new warjack or unit. This would be ideal when the Necromunda campaign finishes. But then, this will be undermined by yet another gaming system. Infinity.
I have seen a few games of Infinity being played at the club recently and it looks to be a slightly more tactical game. I’ve been looking at the models for the various forces and have been taken in by either the Combined Army or the Yu Jing (most likely Yu Jing). This would mean getting a starter box and possibly the rulebook (I may just keep with a pdf that I printed). But starting with a new gaming system, means less time for 40K.
I will be adding some Destroyers and Warriors to my already large Necron force. This would be really great, as I like playing with an armada of Destroyers. They can really cause some problems during some games. While on the subject of 40K, I am still waiting for the Dark Angels to get a new lease of life in the shape of a new Codex (hopefully). Until then, I have quite foolishly entertained and old idea to have a small force of Deamonhunters. There have been a couple of deals recently (one at the club and one on evilBay) that I just missed out on, that really could have started this off. So now this idea goes back onto the shelf in the back of my mind. With all of these gaming paths to follow, I almost forgot about Warhammer Fantasy.
At the end of last year, I bought a load of Dwarfs that will make my own small force (heh) into a much larger (and legal) throng. I even bought the rule book as well. Who knows when I‘m going to get the time to learn how to play this amongst other games.
As a result, I just have no idea how this year is going to pan out. I think I have worked out a priority list of what I want to do, but that might be thrown out the window fairly quickly. One thing is for sure, the year will start with Necromunda.
My gaming brain has been led astray by the many gaming systems I wish to involve myself in. This year, I’m starting off with Necromunda as there is a bit of a campaign going on at the club. I was fortunate to be part of it as I started while I was away on my honeymoon. But then someone dropped out. A fellow gamer, Marcus, immediately put my name forward as a replacement. The organisers said yes, but only if I took over the Ratskin gang of the guy who dropped out. I accepted, but was disappointed not to be able to use my Van Saars. So now I’m playing with a totally new gang (but having said that, even if I used my Van Saars’, it would be like playing with a new gang because I haven’t played Necromunda for over a decade). But then the idea struck me, that when the campaign is over I would have to give the gang back to their rightful owner. I would have a small gap in my heart without them. So I did something bad. I went to evilBay and scored myself a lot of Ratskins! This means that I can replace the gang with my own models (maybe change the names) and keep the gang alive. I hope this isn’t a foolish thing to do. At the same time, I am also thinking about beefing up my Van Saars. I am most likely going to add some reinforcements.
Next on the list, is Monsterpocalypse. I have been building up my Terrasaurs and Empire of the Apes forces at a very steady rate. I now have more monsters to choose from (including a lot of Mega forms and Quantum King Kondo!!!) and a fairly flexible amount of units. I am hoping to get some games in down at the club soon. I now have made the conscious decision to not spend anything on MonPoc until Series 5 is released in a couple of months time. This is because I would like to get back into Warmachine.
Recently I purchase the Warmachine MKII rulebook and Menoth MKII card deck. All I need now to carry on the momentum would be a new warjack or unit. This would be ideal when the Necromunda campaign finishes. But then, this will be undermined by yet another gaming system. Infinity.
I have seen a few games of Infinity being played at the club recently and it looks to be a slightly more tactical game. I’ve been looking at the models for the various forces and have been taken in by either the Combined Army or the Yu Jing (most likely Yu Jing). This would mean getting a starter box and possibly the rulebook (I may just keep with a pdf that I printed). But starting with a new gaming system, means less time for 40K.
I will be adding some Destroyers and Warriors to my already large Necron force. This would be really great, as I like playing with an armada of Destroyers. They can really cause some problems during some games. While on the subject of 40K, I am still waiting for the Dark Angels to get a new lease of life in the shape of a new Codex (hopefully). Until then, I have quite foolishly entertained and old idea to have a small force of Deamonhunters. There have been a couple of deals recently (one at the club and one on evilBay) that I just missed out on, that really could have started this off. So now this idea goes back onto the shelf in the back of my mind. With all of these gaming paths to follow, I almost forgot about Warhammer Fantasy.
At the end of last year, I bought a load of Dwarfs that will make my own small force (heh) into a much larger (and legal) throng. I even bought the rule book as well. Who knows when I‘m going to get the time to learn how to play this amongst other games.
As a result, I just have no idea how this year is going to pan out. I think I have worked out a priority list of what I want to do, but that might be thrown out the window fairly quickly. One thing is for sure, the year will start with Necromunda.
Monday, 11 January 2010
Meet the Radicals.
At the head of the family is King Kondo in his Alpha and Ultra forms (Mega form is currently sitting on my desk at work in all of his golden shinyness). Next to him is Gakura, again in his Alpha and Ultra forms.
Then the little children are made up of:
1 x Howitzer Ape
1 x Howitzer Ape Elite
1 x Command Ape
2 x Airbourne Apes
1 x Airbourne Ape Elite
5 x Glass Airbourne Apes (not pictured as they arrived on my desk this morning)
1 x Stealth Ape.
5 x Pteradactix Elites
3 x Pteradactix
3 x Pteradactix Shadows (just arrived today)
1 x Carnidon Elite
5 x Carnidon
2 x Bellower Elites
1 x Brontox
1 x Spikodon
1 x Raptix Elite
1 x Raptix
2 x Green Fury Van Elite Shadows (just arrived)
I've only played one practise game so far but think I have concentrated on flying units a little too much. Hopefully I can make it work once I get back to the club and playing every week.
Monday, 4 January 2010
No games over the Holidays, and now no games for a couple of months.
After making several calculations, I can safely say that I will not play a single tabletop game until late February. This is due to my Honeymoon at the start of February and the need to save every penny for a bit of spending money. Having said that, this didn't stop me from buying the 40k and Warhammer rulebooks and a dozen Monsterpocalypse models as soon as payday came around. But this could probably have been spent on going to the club every week.
Now all I can do is go home after my French classes and go through the rulebooks. Which is actually a sensible thing to do as I don't think, in all of my gaming history, I have ever entirely read any set of rules and got them stuck in my head. I might actually win every now and then if I do.
Now all I can do is go home after my French classes and go through the rulebooks. Which is actually a sensible thing to do as I don't think, in all of my gaming history, I have ever entirely read any set of rules and got them stuck in my head. I might actually win every now and then if I do.
Thursday, 17 December 2009
State of Play 2010.
The festive holidays are here, which means a fair bit of must be devoted to family. This, in turn, means a lot less time devoted to gaming. Which is a shame really as I do not want to end the year with a loss (damn those untrustworthy rusty Necrons). Having said this, I think that another game between now and New Year is not going to happen.
So it has to be time to look to the future. In the coming year, I seriously hope to not lose as much and I aslo seriously hope to actually read some rulebooks and get things to stick in my mind. I also hope to take part in another tournament or two. This would most likely be for either Warmachine or 40k (the Tanelorn London Riots was good fun), but I would be open to other themed tourneys. Campaigns at the Cross Gaming Club will be a must and I hope to take part in as many as I can.
As for the collecting side of things, I will be hopefully be making a few purchases here and there:
So it has to be time to look to the future. In the coming year, I seriously hope to not lose as much and I aslo seriously hope to actually read some rulebooks and get things to stick in my mind. I also hope to take part in another tournament or two. This would most likely be for either Warmachine or 40k (the Tanelorn London Riots was good fun), but I would be open to other themed tourneys. Campaigns at the Cross Gaming Club will be a must and I hope to take part in as many as I can.
As for the collecting side of things, I will be hopefully be making a few purchases here and there:
- I'm not going to add to my Dark Angels. They don't need anything else, unless a new Codex comes out with some spanking new must-have models.
- I want to add some more Destroyers and Heavy Destroyers to my Necrons. Maybe some Warriors as well. I think I have enough Elite units to cope.
- As I have just made a significant Dwarf purchase, I now have a LEGAL force that I can use. New units here and there will be a must.
- My Protectorate of Menoth have what sounds like a cool unit to be released soon, so I may have to get me some of those. I still want a Castigator and a Fire of Salvation, and possibly a new Warcaster too!
- I will definately add to my Terrasaurs and Empire of the Apes for MonPoc. I will hope to play more games in the New Year.
- One of my friends has a blister of Van Saar Gangers and one of Juves that I'm hoping to take off of his hands. May try and find a Bounty Hunter and/or Scum to add to the fun.
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