Goodbye 2011. Hello 2012

Well it’s the New Year and hopefully 2012 will be a gala gaming year for da Gobbo.  Santa was very kind to me and brought many goodies to drool over.  A horde of zombies invaded the Grotto (well 28) a good start at least although now they are on the board (I’ve managed to paint 20 of them!) they look a little lost - even on a 4’x 4’ table; so many more required me thinks.  To balance the beasts, some beauty followed and a new Blood Bowl team arrived under the tree – the Alzuri Angels an all girl team of High Elves!  These plucky gals have been painted as well (I really got a lot of work done while off for Christmas), at least the starting 11 have been completed and are good to go when I finally get back to the games club.  The new boxed set of British Hussars galloped in and will be put on the painting back burner along with the other Black Powder stuff; at least until I can shift the other 8 zeds and 2 Elf catchers.  The project that will take the longest time to clear (especially as I’m now back to work!) will be the new 40k army – The Tau. 

Yes I’m now determined to fight for the “greater good” and have joined the growing fledgling empire of the plasma wielding, battlesuit wearing, jet pack using Tau.  Just writing that last sentence justifies why I fancied the Tau as my new 40k army.  Plasma guns, jet packs, skimmer battle tanks, giant mech suits and a brand new codex scheduled for some time this year – it’s all good!  The army suits my style of play with lots of ranged combat, reliance on technology and some really cool models.  A battleforce was the start and already I have painted the Devilfish and undercoated nearly all the rest!  I also got loads of vouchers so off down to the hobby store and a Hammerhead battletank has been added (got to have that railgun!) I had to have the codex even though it will be replaced early this year so I got onto Triple Helix war games and ordered one and another battleforce to finish the bulk of my army.  That should leave me in a relatively strong place with 24 F/warriors, 24 Kroot, 2 Devilfish, 6 Stealth suits and 2 Battlesuits as well as several gundrones.  With the Hammerhead it rounds out to about 1300 points which leaves me some points to spare on some other goodies such as pathfinders (already got the transport) or Vespids to kick some marine a**! I think though that I will wait to see what the new codex comes up with before committing any more gaming tokens toward it.  The models that I have got and those that are on order should keep me painting for a while anyway and it’ll give me some time to play with and get used to them (I have never even faced the Tau let alone fought with them….)

All in all it’s an exciting time hobby wise and I get wait to get stuck in!

Happy New Year

Tournament time

This weekend I played my first competitive tournament since I got back into the hobby.  Not that I have been a prolific tournament player in the past either so it was interesting to take part in as well as a learning curve.  The game was 40k – not on the top of my list of fave games having cut my teeth on WFB and now with the Napoleonics looming and my continued obsession with Zombie Apocalypse games; but still I’ve enjoyed playing some small games with Rich.  The problem is my lack of 40k models and a distinct lack of codexes.  I have got an Eldar army but it’s a bit light in the vehicle department and I don’t have a codex.  So I had to “compete” (I use that in the loosest of terms) with a makeshift space marine army with a borrowed codex from Rich.  The army was terribly unbalanced and I lacked the tools to do a decent job - very little anti-tank, almost no vehicles and no mobility.  It was all a little piecemeal and added to that my lack of competitive experience and 40k games under my belt I only managed a single draw!  That coupled with two losses meant that I was rock bottom on the day.  A very lowly position to find myself in indeed considering I have been gaming for ** years; in fact longer than at least two of the competitors have been alive….

Still the experience is all and I do love to play no matter what the outcome!  It was real fun playing against new opponents and new races/armies.  I got to see first hand how powerful the S/Wolves, B/Templars and the Necrons are and how important it is to have an army that you have created with the tactics you favour in mind. Da Gobbo has retreated back to his grotto to plot and scheme and paint an army ready for the next time.  Maybe a change is order though, something different, something which reflects me a little…..

Step forward the Tau!!

Busy, busy, busy!!

Very scarce in the old blog posting at the moment.  Other blogs are updated on an almost daily basis but sadly not this one.  Not because I haven't anything to say - because I have, but literally because I haven't had time to breathe let alone post about it!  My other great passion is St John Ambulance and I've been clocking up the hours on duty as I look toward ambulance crew training in the not too distant future (I hope).  This has had a bit of a knock on effect on my gaming time.  Of course I've still been doing bits and pieces and I'm steadily working through the backlog of british redcoats on my painting table; a task not helped by the addition of 60 highlanders and a trio of artillary.....  I've also just finished building the first half of my games table - a 4'x4' section mounted to the Grotto wall, I'm still waiting for some cash to finish it off.  I've also been creating some terrain - a waterfall and 2 hills, pics will follow...

I've also been to my local wargames club.  Now in my neck of the woods we have a choice of two clubs, both meeting on the same day however they are poles apart in their ethos.  One club is very much GW in its game choices, predominantly WH40k with a sprinkling of WHFB here and there.  Nothing wrong with that I know but my love of GW is waning in direct relation to their lack of commitment to their hardcore fans.  I still love the games and the genre but my fanatacism has taken a bit of a beating.  Fortunately for me the 2nd club will not play any GW product and instead offers a plethora of other systems and minis -excellent!  My visit saw me involved in a FOW game (my first) and it was cracking, alongside from me a couple were playing Warmachine and along from them was a game of Gods of War (never even heard of it!) outside in another room a gameof heroscape was in full flow.... I think I've found my spiritual home!

Thanet at War

This weekend just passed I was on duty with St John at an event called Thanet at War.  it was a fascinating festival with dozens of military vehicles from the second world war.  Being a bike fanatic this was my fave display - what I wouldn't give to ride one of these bad boys home!!!

Absence makes the heart grow fonder....

A severe lack of posting recently - oops!  However circumstances have conspired against me (it's bloody busy at work) and all sorts of distractions at home have meant that I've not had time to put together battle reports of the ultimate battle of the Skull Island campaign - High Elf victory! or of the squad level 40K games we played out - one win each!  I have however managed to paint 16 of the 92 napoleonic figs I snagged for the princely sum of £36.  i have also got hold of some polystyrene board that will become hills and have sparked an idea for a permanent table with carved river beds and other scenic features.  Some pics of the redcoats will follow as will the hills/board in transistion.

these boys are from the 3rd regiment of foot - The old Buffs.  A Kentish Regiment founded only 20 miles from my town!!

Up Guards and at them again! - Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington

I have expanded my horizons!  Last week I won a competition and received a copy of "Grand Battery" a Napoleonic historical wargame.  I absolutely love this period of military history and am astonished i've never pursued historical wargaming before.  So inspired by the book was I that I rushed out and spent 36 of my gaming tokens (pounds sterling) on 3 regiments of 28mm British Redcoats, this equated to 92 minis - 92!! compare that to GW where you'd get between 30 and 40 minis.  The Redcoats were sculpted by the Perry brothers who also sculpt for GW so the quality is great and the detail admirable.  So why the price difference?  Anyway it means I can afford a decent size batallion and dive into the history of the Pennisular War.  Not sure whether I'll stick with the rule system in GB; i'll give it a go but there are tons of other publications out there so no problem there.

I'm so looking forward to this.  For the glory of King George!!

Zombie Hell !!!

played the first little trial run for my ZA game.... and it sucked hard!! combat system was far too slow and clunky, TBF it was designed for RPG and was too detailed for a skirmish game.  Hacked it to pieces the next day and played a stripped out version with an instant kill rule and it flowed like a river, it was cool... yaay!!

I'll be fleshing out the whole system now I know the combat basics work out.  It still needs refining but lets face it if it takes you 20 minutes to kill a single Z then somethings wrong! The newer version still has an RPG feel to it with PC generation and a detailed critical damage for your own guys but when you go toe to toe with the undead you can reap you some skulls - woohoo!