So, once again I've failed to post much at all, although this time it hasn't been so much due to time constraints as content issues; insofar as I don't actually have anything to post about. This week, I haven't managed to get any games of... anything in, really, I ended up postponing the (probably penultimate) Dungeons and Dragons session I had planned on Wednesday, and I wasn't able to get to my gaming group for Friday for our Call of Cthulhu game in the evening. Furthermore,I've had some fairly bad luck with eBay sellers in that three out of four lots I've purchased this month have failed to materialise meaning I haven't even had much stuff to model.
I might be able to get a game or two in tomorrow, but as it stands I won't have a whole lot to talk about until next week. But now for the good news! Firstly, I have next week's D&D session planned, and it's going to take a lot to prevent me from running it after the distractions I've had for the past few weeks. This'll prompt me to make another post getting the story up-to-date so that by the next session, the blog is up to speed on the happenings so far. Secondly, I've got a couple of projects planned at the moment with tentative beginnings already, and despite the aforementioned setbacks due to evilBay, I'm still going to be going ahead with all of them. And finally, there is now a high possibility that I'll be getting an actual real life camera that works for Christmas, meaning that I can actually do nice looking battle-reports whenever I get games in! Huzzah!
Until then, that's it for now! I aim to get up at least one more post before Wednesday in the form of a D&D story update, and possibly more depending on what I have to talk about. But until then, happy gaming!
-Mike
Saturday, 29 November 2014
Wednesday, 19 November 2014
Dungeons and Dragons | 3.5e - The Adventure Begins!
As the adventure stands, the party is in a bit of a tight spot at this particular moment in time. But more on that later, because for now, we have some catching up to do!
The adventure begins with our somewhat-intrepid heroes being corralled into the centre hall of their village, Stonehouse. As they are pointed out to a large, long table towards the back of the hall, they notice there is another table already populated by four others. Taking their seats at the indicated table, they begin to chat to one another, and Einki and Klaus grab themselves flagons of mead from the bar area at the back end of the hall. As they finish catching up, and making introductions as needed, the great chieftain Ural storms in, a look of anger upon him.
"You may wonder why I have gathered you all here at this particular moment, when you could instead be going about your normal business. Well, I've had you all deposited before me because I have a... task that requires completing, and you are the most suitable candidates for doing so. As some of you will probably already know, recently we lost contact with the town to the North, Aberdeen.
"Trade caravans due to come from there never arrived, and we heard no word from any messenger about the mystery. So, I took it upon myself to personally dispatch a trusted scout to visit Aberdeen and find out what he could about it's situation. The information he came back with was... more troubling than I had expected. He informed me that Aberdeen was no longer there. It has simply vanished."
Both tables were highly startled at this news, and a the Elf sat at the other table demanded that, if this were true, something had to be done about it. The others at his table nodded in agreement, whilst the party's table remained fairly quiet, intent on hearing out Ural more fully.
"Silence!
"Now, while I have no reason to believe that the information my scout has delivered is false, I want a party to head out and travel to Aberdeen. It's a mere 2 days from here as you well know. If my scout proves correct, and the village has indeed disappeared, your job is to find the people who belong to it. My scout didn't report any signs of battle or even bloody murder, so it seems that the inhabitants of the village were alive when they left the area.
"At this point, some of you may be wondering why there are two groups of you. Well, now would be a very good time for me to mention that there is a bounty out for whoever finds either the village or it's owners. That bounty is One Thousand gold pieces. Each. More than many of you will earn over several years of your lives. However, this Stonehouse isn't made of money, and therefore there is only one bounty that can be claimed by one group. Consider it a little... friendly competition.
"For those of you who have never been to Aberdeen, you simply follow the road North alongside the river. Even a brain-dead kobold could manage such a trip. So, you all have your task, I recommend you buy anything you may need from the town general store, and then get out of my sight! I don't want to see any of you again until you have some worthwhile news for me."
And with that, Ural left the great stone hall, as the two groups began discussing their plans for completing the task before them. As the other table got up to leave, Klaus sneakily cast a Grease spell at the front door, which resulted in the two Humans of the party slipping over as their Dwarf poorly disguised a chuckle, and the Elf glared at the party's table as if trying to discern the cause of this immediate mockery. For their part, the party simply sat and laughed as the others picked themselves up and left.
Not wanting to walk out through the now-Greasy door at risk of ending up like the others, the party instead decided to break and climb out one of the windows (???) by having Yal throw Einki through it. This resulted in:
- A very upset barkeep witnessing one of his windows getting completely smashed to pieces by a Dwarf-cannonball.
- Yal rolling a crit to make sure he didn't miss the window when throwing Einki through it, ending in the Dwarf being thrown so hard he sailed clean through the window and straight into another building on the other side, giving him a minor concussion.
- Klaus and the Druid following Einki and climbing out of the window after him, much to the chagrin of the now-bemused barkeeper.
-Yal then looking towards the back of the hall, noticing the back door, and leaving through that, leaving a highly confused barkeep and a small, unnecessary mess behind him.
With that, the party headed to the store to stock up on provisions, rations and the like, before finally leaving Stonehouse and heading North, with Aberdeen firmly in their sights!
As I'm not a fan of overly-long posts, I'm going to leave it at that and finish the catch-up in the next D&D post, leaving the post after that free for the latest action as it unfolds! Until then, take care, and happy gaming!
-Mike
The adventure begins with our somewhat-intrepid heroes being corralled into the centre hall of their village, Stonehouse. As they are pointed out to a large, long table towards the back of the hall, they notice there is another table already populated by four others. Taking their seats at the indicated table, they begin to chat to one another, and Einki and Klaus grab themselves flagons of mead from the bar area at the back end of the hall. As they finish catching up, and making introductions as needed, the great chieftain Ural storms in, a look of anger upon him.
"You may wonder why I have gathered you all here at this particular moment, when you could instead be going about your normal business. Well, I've had you all deposited before me because I have a... task that requires completing, and you are the most suitable candidates for doing so. As some of you will probably already know, recently we lost contact with the town to the North, Aberdeen.
"Trade caravans due to come from there never arrived, and we heard no word from any messenger about the mystery. So, I took it upon myself to personally dispatch a trusted scout to visit Aberdeen and find out what he could about it's situation. The information he came back with was... more troubling than I had expected. He informed me that Aberdeen was no longer there. It has simply vanished."
Both tables were highly startled at this news, and a the Elf sat at the other table demanded that, if this were true, something had to be done about it. The others at his table nodded in agreement, whilst the party's table remained fairly quiet, intent on hearing out Ural more fully.
"Silence!
"Now, while I have no reason to believe that the information my scout has delivered is false, I want a party to head out and travel to Aberdeen. It's a mere 2 days from here as you well know. If my scout proves correct, and the village has indeed disappeared, your job is to find the people who belong to it. My scout didn't report any signs of battle or even bloody murder, so it seems that the inhabitants of the village were alive when they left the area.
"At this point, some of you may be wondering why there are two groups of you. Well, now would be a very good time for me to mention that there is a bounty out for whoever finds either the village or it's owners. That bounty is One Thousand gold pieces. Each. More than many of you will earn over several years of your lives. However, this Stonehouse isn't made of money, and therefore there is only one bounty that can be claimed by one group. Consider it a little... friendly competition.
"For those of you who have never been to Aberdeen, you simply follow the road North alongside the river. Even a brain-dead kobold could manage such a trip. So, you all have your task, I recommend you buy anything you may need from the town general store, and then get out of my sight! I don't want to see any of you again until you have some worthwhile news for me."
And with that, Ural left the great stone hall, as the two groups began discussing their plans for completing the task before them. As the other table got up to leave, Klaus sneakily cast a Grease spell at the front door, which resulted in the two Humans of the party slipping over as their Dwarf poorly disguised a chuckle, and the Elf glared at the party's table as if trying to discern the cause of this immediate mockery. For their part, the party simply sat and laughed as the others picked themselves up and left.
Not wanting to walk out through the now-Greasy door at risk of ending up like the others, the party instead decided to break and climb out one of the windows (???) by having Yal throw Einki through it. This resulted in:
- A very upset barkeep witnessing one of his windows getting completely smashed to pieces by a Dwarf-cannonball.
- Yal rolling a crit to make sure he didn't miss the window when throwing Einki through it, ending in the Dwarf being thrown so hard he sailed clean through the window and straight into another building on the other side, giving him a minor concussion.
- Klaus and the Druid following Einki and climbing out of the window after him, much to the chagrin of the now-bemused barkeeper.
-Yal then looking towards the back of the hall, noticing the back door, and leaving through that, leaving a highly confused barkeep and a small, unnecessary mess behind him.
With that, the party headed to the store to stock up on provisions, rations and the like, before finally leaving Stonehouse and heading North, with Aberdeen firmly in their sights!
As I'm not a fan of overly-long posts, I'm going to leave it at that and finish the catch-up in the next D&D post, leaving the post after that free for the latest action as it unfolds! Until then, take care, and happy gaming!
-Mike
Call Of Cthulhu - A trip to New Mexico!
Intrepid adventurers, eccentric scientists, and brave soldiers, all men probably willing to dive head-first into a world beneath the one we perceive as normal. However, more often than not, it isn't these such people who find themselves thrust into the eldritch unknown, but more likely just the incredibly naive or unlucky, those who have displeased the gods that be so much that they are karmically punished with exposure to the things that most of mankind is blissfully unaware of. Many such people are often drawn in entirely unknowingly, usually due to investigating something comparatively innocent, or even in some cases "normal."
One of these such investigators is the charming-yet-slightly-bonkers Lt. Tiddles Kenneth Alexander Hamilton II. An Antiquarian and collector of questionable heritage, and a tall but somewhat-slender man of 34, he is never seen in anything less than a fitted suit and his trademark bowler hat. Originally having owned an antique shop in a small town somewhere in Yorkshire which had, amongst other historical pieces, a large amount of militaria - this being the area of antiques in which he shows the most interest, his education shows he possesses a degree in Ancient Occult from Oxford University, although any information on his earlier life he chooses not to disclose. He was called up during the Great War, and served for 3 years firstly as a supplies transporter, and then as a frontlinesman where he quickly gained distinction and promotion, and fought with valour for his country. As his apparent interest in militaria may suggest, he is a great collector of firearms of every ilk - the more unusual and rare, the better.
This pattern of collecting has continued even after the apparent arson of his antique shop during his investigation of local rumours of hoodlums in the local graveyard in connection with the then-recent attacks and murders of lone individuals in the night. After meeting several like-minded individuals during the investigation, and unearthing, and indeed experiencing, evidence the likes of which the mind boggles to comprehend, and of course the burning down of his shop to boot, he decided to end his career as a full time antiquarian and instead turn his attentions to investigation and removal of all things that may threaten the sanity of those less mentally sturdy than himself.
The ex-Lieutenant now has several cases under his belt, each somewhat more harrowing and dark than the last. He has taken to wearing a specially-tailored overcoat to hold the many handguns he carries, which are partly for comfort and partly as he enjoys marvelling at the rare side-arms he is able to employ. Whilst most of his inquests have taken place in England, and indeed mostly near his birthplace of Yorkshire, his line of work has inevitably taken him to several exotic places. Most recently he travelled with his fellow investigators to a small Italian island, to aid the Duke of said island in resolving an issue he was having in which many of the vessels travelling to and from it were inexplicably lost at sea. At this current point in time, he finds himself deep in the wilderness of New Mexico in a small mining town, investigating the apparent murder of an associate's friend of a friend. Having met this long time pen-pal correspondent at Miskatonic University beforehand, and formed a fast friendship with him, they have all travelled down to the fairly isolated town in order to inquire into recent events that may have some relation to the most recent untimely death.
That's where I'll leave it for today, a quick biography of my CoC character and a teaser for the adventure that we are currently a few sessions in to so far. I'll continue this series with a catch-up on the events as they stand in the current adventure over the weekend, after our next session. Until then, happy gaming!
-Mike
P.S. Sorry for the long time between posts so far. I've been very busy with a big upcoming deadline for my college work, however as of this weekend I will be done with it and free to post a lot more, as I had originally intended. Peace!
Monday, 10 November 2014
40k | Dark Eldar - More raiders for Commorragh!
Finding myself heavily burdened with work the past couple of weeks, this weekend I decided to spend some of my spare time sitting down and getting some models assembled. This is probably my favourite part of the hobby for me, perhaps even in front of gaming itself - I find it highly relaxing to sit back in a comfy chair and hack my fingers to bits with a sharp knife, inevitably spilling poly cement everywhere, and somehow end up with half decent models at the end.
First of all, as I already talked about, I've started working on some Ancient Germans for use in various historical tabletop systems. Whilst they aren't the most detailed plastics I've ever seen, they are definitely enjoyable to assemble while watching some rubbish or other on the computer. I'll make a full post (with maybe a bit of a review on the models themselves) once I've gotten them all built and have the time to look them over properly - for now, I'm just modelling them as a means to unwind from stress.
Secondly, I finally got around to assembling some of the final dregs of my current Dark Eldar collection. This consisted of a box of Wyches, 5 Hellion Riders (their skyboards have long been used rider-less) A finecast Lelith Hesperax, and a couple of kitbashed Succubi. Again, I apologise for the poor picture quality - I'm definitely going to be investing in a decent camera after Christmas (assuming I don't get one for the event itself)
First of all, as I already talked about, I've started working on some Ancient Germans for use in various historical tabletop systems. Whilst they aren't the most detailed plastics I've ever seen, they are definitely enjoyable to assemble while watching some rubbish or other on the computer. I'll make a full post (with maybe a bit of a review on the models themselves) once I've gotten them all built and have the time to look them over properly - for now, I'm just modelling them as a means to unwind from stress.
Secondly, I finally got around to assembling some of the final dregs of my current Dark Eldar collection. This consisted of a box of Wyches, 5 Hellion Riders (their skyboards have long been used rider-less) A finecast Lelith Hesperax, and a couple of kitbashed Succubi. Again, I apologise for the poor picture quality - I'm definitely going to be investing in a decent camera after Christmas (assuming I don't get one for the event itself)
The pair of Succubi are made quite simply from the venom crew (the ones that hold on to the wings) given various arms from my bits box - two Scourge arms, a Raider crew weapon, and a converted Archite Glaive using a Hellglaive and a Razorflail arm - and then balanced on a piece of leftover sprue which will end up being part of a bunch of rubble on the base.
Next post will likely be about Call of Cthulhu (our last Friday session was sadly cancelled at the last minute) so be sure to stay tuned for that! Until then, happy gaming!
-Mike
Friday, 7 November 2014
Update time - one hectic week later!
Well, it's certainly been a busy week for me, and one in which I just haven't found the time to blog, or even partake in the hobby itself all that much. However, after a long week of work, I've finally gotten the time to sit down and write.
So, what have I been up to this week? Well, I've managed to get some Dark Eldar guys built for my army, got a couple of games of Saga in on Wednesday, and have had both D&D and CoC cancelled on me. I was hoping to post up a battle report for the second Saga game, but sadly due to time constraints and a very angry phone that didn't want to upload pictures, it never happened. I might attempt to upload the pictures again tomorrow when I have the time as it was a cracking game, so we'll see!
Tonight, in order to unwind after a fairly stressful week, I've gotten my mitts on some Wargames Factory Ancient Germans that I'm going to spend the evening assembling whilst watching some batreps on the good old internet. I picked Ancient Germans as they will work equally well for Saga and Hail Caesar - being included in the starter set of the latter - so expect to see them fairly often once I've gotten them built (and perhaps requisitioned myself a superior camera!)
So, what have I been up to this week? Well, I've managed to get some Dark Eldar guys built for my army, got a couple of games of Saga in on Wednesday, and have had both D&D and CoC cancelled on me. I was hoping to post up a battle report for the second Saga game, but sadly due to time constraints and a very angry phone that didn't want to upload pictures, it never happened. I might attempt to upload the pictures again tomorrow when I have the time as it was a cracking game, so we'll see!
Tonight, in order to unwind after a fairly stressful week, I've gotten my mitts on some Wargames Factory Ancient Germans that I'm going to spend the evening assembling whilst watching some batreps on the good old internet. I picked Ancient Germans as they will work equally well for Saga and Hail Caesar - being included in the starter set of the latter - so expect to see them fairly often once I've gotten them built (and perhaps requisitioned myself a superior camera!)
Until then, happy gaming!
-Mike
Saturday, 1 November 2014
40k | Deathwing - A new army, for a variety of reasons
So, I haven't really talked about wargaming much at all so far on this blog, which is somewhat ironic as that's the reason I started it in the first place. So in this post, I'm going to talk a bit about my newest current project - a Warhammer 40k Deathwing army.
About a fortnight ago, I decided that I really needed to get my painting into gear. Like many other wargamers, the number of unpainted models I own far outweighs the number of painted ones, however my collection is a little worse than most others in that regard. You see, I actually dislike painting a great deal, and from a gameplay perspective I find no problem in fielding the classic grey plastic or spray undercoated armies that I've become fairly well known for locally. But deep down, my vast collection of unpainted minis has always troubled me. And so it was that I decided that something had to be done about it.
And so in step the Deathwing. An army based on (very) low model count, like the Grey Knights, and with a paint scheme that - while not overly complicated - is fairly easy to mess up. Count in the fact that I can pick up a Deathwing Terminator squad from Dark Vengeance for a mere £9 off eBay - as opposed to the 35 quid that Games Workshop sells the boxes for - and as a result I find I've come upon the perfect army to finally flex my underused painting muscles without bankrupting myself, and at the end of it having a pretty good army that I can use fairly effectively and most importantly have fun with.
Not only will they be serving as my painting impetus, the Deathwing are also going to be acting as my crash-course in magnetising models. It's not something I've done before, as I haven't really found the need to do so - big models like Dreadnoughts have arm tabs to push the arms on to, and I know what I want from Tactical Marines and the like in terms of equipment so I've built them with the wargear I always give them. However, the Terminator-armoured warriors of the 1st company offer me a good opportunity with which to experiment, both with wargear combinations and of course with magnetising such items on the models.
On the tabletop front, I've had a couple of proxy games with them so far, and I like their playstyle; turn 1 appear in the enemy's deployment whilst your mate asks why you bothered setting up a full 6x4 table for the battle. It's not a tactic that always works, but then again, what tactic does? I'm not looking for a super competitive army - my Chaos boys have that covered, an army with which I've only ever lost 2 games since 7th edition came in.
And so, I have myself a shopping list, which currently stands as
- 3x 5 man Deathwing Terminator squad - DV models most likely.
- 3x Deathwing Terminator boxes - from which I'll be making a Command squad, 8 Deathwing Knights, a Terminator Librarian and, of course, Belial himself.
- 3x Venerable Dreadnoughts along with;
- 3x Drop Pods - both of which will be for practising vehicle painting techniques, and also because Dreadnoughts are fun and offer some variety from Terminator-only lists.
- Appropriate paints - I've read/watched quite a few painting tutorials, and I have a pretty solid paint scheme planned out for the Deathwing guys, although the vehicles will require a little more improvisation.
I also have a couple of DV Terminators which I'll probably be using for test models, along with a very old and fairly haggard plastic Dreadnought which probably needs retiring from my Blood Angels by now. The next update for these guys will probably come when I have enough models in the process of building to show off! Until then, happy gaming!
-Mike
About a fortnight ago, I decided that I really needed to get my painting into gear. Like many other wargamers, the number of unpainted models I own far outweighs the number of painted ones, however my collection is a little worse than most others in that regard. You see, I actually dislike painting a great deal, and from a gameplay perspective I find no problem in fielding the classic grey plastic or spray undercoated armies that I've become fairly well known for locally. But deep down, my vast collection of unpainted minis has always troubled me. And so it was that I decided that something had to be done about it.
And so in step the Deathwing. An army based on (very) low model count, like the Grey Knights, and with a paint scheme that - while not overly complicated - is fairly easy to mess up. Count in the fact that I can pick up a Deathwing Terminator squad from Dark Vengeance for a mere £9 off eBay - as opposed to the 35 quid that Games Workshop sells the boxes for - and as a result I find I've come upon the perfect army to finally flex my underused painting muscles without bankrupting myself, and at the end of it having a pretty good army that I can use fairly effectively and most importantly have fun with.
Not only will they be serving as my painting impetus, the Deathwing are also going to be acting as my crash-course in magnetising models. It's not something I've done before, as I haven't really found the need to do so - big models like Dreadnoughts have arm tabs to push the arms on to, and I know what I want from Tactical Marines and the like in terms of equipment so I've built them with the wargear I always give them. However, the Terminator-armoured warriors of the 1st company offer me a good opportunity with which to experiment, both with wargear combinations and of course with magnetising such items on the models.
On the tabletop front, I've had a couple of proxy games with them so far, and I like their playstyle; turn 1 appear in the enemy's deployment whilst your mate asks why you bothered setting up a full 6x4 table for the battle. It's not a tactic that always works, but then again, what tactic does? I'm not looking for a super competitive army - my Chaos boys have that covered, an army with which I've only ever lost 2 games since 7th edition came in.
And so, I have myself a shopping list, which currently stands as
- 3x 5 man Deathwing Terminator squad - DV models most likely.
- 3x Deathwing Terminator boxes - from which I'll be making a Command squad, 8 Deathwing Knights, a Terminator Librarian and, of course, Belial himself.
- 3x Venerable Dreadnoughts along with;
- 3x Drop Pods - both of which will be for practising vehicle painting techniques, and also because Dreadnoughts are fun and offer some variety from Terminator-only lists.
- Appropriate paints - I've read/watched quite a few painting tutorials, and I have a pretty solid paint scheme planned out for the Deathwing guys, although the vehicles will require a little more improvisation.
I also have a couple of DV Terminators which I'll probably be using for test models, along with a very old and fairly haggard plastic Dreadnought which probably needs retiring from my Blood Angels by now. The next update for these guys will probably come when I have enough models in the process of building to show off! Until then, happy gaming!
-Mike
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