July's Games

We did get in a few games in July....


Friday, 5 July 2019



On this first Friday of July our friend Laura came over for the evening and played Terraforming Mars with us. Finnegan even joined in!



We played on the Hellas board and... there wasn't a lot of ON BOARD developments - compared to some of our games! I can't believe how few cities there were! Amanda didn't have a single one!



I played Helion (Yellow) and just BARELY squeaked out a win in a very, VERY close game!! I took the Diversifier Milestone and the Magnate Prize (which I'd sponsored) and second place in the Space Baron prize with a total of 53 points.

Laura was second with 52 points! She had been playing Tharsis Republic (Black) and had taken the Polar Explorer Milestone and was in a three-way tie for second in the Cultivator Prize along with Amanda and Finnegan. Keira had won the prize. In fact, I was the ONLY one who didn't get any points for the Cultivator prize!?

Keira (Ecoline - Green) and Amanda (Phololog - Red) were tied for third with 50 points each! Finnegan (UNMI- Blue) wasn't too far behind with 46.

I felt like the game went too fast and that we had all barely just started getting things going and - boom - it was over...


Saturday, 6 July 2019



Finnegan was running his Dungeon Crawl Classics campaign.

I rode over to Dragons Den Games and bought Warhammer 40,000: Apocalypse!


Sunday, 7 July 2019



Played our first game of Warhammer 40,000: Apocalypse!



Amanda and Keira played a combined force of Asuryani and Drukhari.



Ian and Finnegan played a massive horde or Tyranids!

There is a full report of that action and loads more pics elsewhere on this blog:

The Defence of Elamdavar


Monday, 8 July 2019



On Monday we played a SECOND game of Apocalypse! This time it was ME and Keira combining out Eldar/Asuryani forces to battle the hordes of buggy things.



Again there is an After Action Report of the encounter elsewhere on the blog with loads more pictures...

Elsewhere on Elamdavar

 Wednesday, 10 July 2019



On Wednesday Other Tim came by to try out Apocalypse.

 

This game, lacking the BIG GUNS of Super Heavy and TITANIC elements, wasn't quite so epic...

 You know the deal...

Assault on Throshi Station

Thursday, 11 July 2019



Next it was Orion's turn to try out the Apocalypse - bringing his wolf lords to battle it out with my Eldar!



Game report... find it here:

Wolves Strike!


Sunday, 14 July 2019



On Sunday, Other Tim was back for another round.



Coming of the Comet!


Monday, 15 July 2019



Then... we took a break from the Apocalypse and played a game of Castles of Burgundy.



I won, but we've since learned that apparently that's a pretty common occurrence when playing with board #8...?


Wednesday, 17 July 2019 



Back to the apocalypse, and finally facing some substantial opponents! Orion brought his KNIGHTS!!



Aw, yeah!

Assault on Ynysafallon

Friday, 19 July 2019



This time Laura joined us for a game of Castles of Burgundy. Amanda totally won this one... with 222 points!



I wasn't too far behind with 221!

Laura, who was playing the game for the first time, finished with 201!!! Keira was a bit further behind with 187...


Saturday, 20 July 2019

 

My old friend Woody was passing through town - from his home in Calgary to visit his dad. He had some time in Saskatoon, though, so I set up a game of apocalypse for him. It's been a LONG time since I got to hang out or play games with Woody! Such a good time!

 

I played my Asuryani - and got a little help from Keira's Wraithknight!

 

Woody played with some Astra Militarum Tallarn armour and the Titans of the Eritque Arcus Maniple of Legio Amare Feles

 More pics and a detailed report can be found here:

Legio Amare Feles Walks...

THIS is what Apocalypse was meant for!!!


Sunday, 21 July 2019



I spent Sunday at Brent's house playing High Frontier with Brent, Keith, Darrin and April.



There is so much I just LOVE about this game, but damn does it take a LONG time to play and can be frustrating in the extreme... We played for eight hours. Not even close to finishing. I think around the five hour mark I realized the thing I'd been working at for a few hours already would probably come down to a 50/50 die roll (in ideal solar flare conditions)... at some point... and if that failed, it would effectively set me back to where I was two hours into the game. That die roll came at the seven hour mark. Luckily, I "succeeded". If I hadn't I probably would have just left as... well... what would be the point if I'd need another five hours to get to where I was before the die roll!?

I played the United Nations and ended with 11 victory points. Early in the game I'd shot a rocket out to an asteroid and successfully prespected it... but.. that didn't count for much... It took hours and hours to get all the right equipment to be able to launch a rocket back out to, basically the same space, with enough stuff to set down and build a factory. When we called it I had one rocket sailing around to other nearby asteroids, trying to prosect them... I feel like if I were able to play the game, like, ten times in a relatively short period of time, I MIGHT get to the point where I have enough of a clue that, playing with others who equally had enough of a clue, we MIGHT actually complete a game in less than eight hours... but who has that kind of time to invest in learning a game that well when there are so many other great games that can be played in two hours or less at the first sitting and be... well.. almost as satisfying.

Brent played China and directed us into a decade long war, which made everything harder and everyone paranoid that everyone else was going to steal all their stuff... which made the game drag on longer than it could have... 

April was playing NASA and managed to get some stuff on to Mars. When she did I actually suggested we just quit and play Terraforming Mars to see how Aprils settlement of the planet went. She seemed interested, no one else did...

Darrin was the ESA and Keith played Shimszu I think he won with 16 victory points...?


Friday, 26 July 2019

After a busy week of bike rides and getting Keira to and from Girls Rock Camp (You can still see some of the glitter-glam-make-up from the days activities on her face in some of the pics).

In the afternoon Amanda invited Kurtis to come and play games with us this evening.



We started off with Just Desserts.



I got pretty close - had two of both green and yellow customers (you need three of one colour or five different colours to win) - but Amanda won in the end.



Afterwards we played YET ANOTHER game of Castles of Burgundy! Kurtis had never played and always wanted to try it, and we've all been having fun playing it - Amanda, after our last game had suggested we play it every night for a week to learn it really well, like we had done for Race for the Galaxy a few years back. Unfortunately, Castles of Burgundy takes a bit longer to play than Race for the Galaxy... so we never really even tried to do that. WE DID get in three games of it this month and I think everyone is feeling like they have a bit better idea of how to play!



Amanda won this game with 224 points. Kurtis wasn't far behind with 221.

I had the board with a donut of yellow (Knowledge?) tiles in the middle, and I stuck my first palace right in the middle of it, thinking it would motivate me to fill that area and have a bunch of bonuses - or know what my end game points would be and that would give me some advantage through the rest of the game...? Well, that was the idea. I kept forgetting to USE the bonuses - like the +/-1 for placing green or blue tiles... I'm not sure I EVER remembered to use that!? I DID get four of the building I got victory points for and I did get all of the colours of goods (which I got points for)... but it wasn't enough to win! I was a bit behind the leaders at 205, and Keira was just behind me at 199 (so close to breaking 200!)

And... that was it...

The kids did do some the role-playing - on Saturdays, and Monday and Tuesday of this week... but that didn't involve "the family" or me, so... I don't really keep track of that stuff...


THE 10x10 CHALLENGE(s)

Well...



At this point, we should have played about 58 games... we've played 41...

Haven't played a single game of Blascktone Fortress - mostly because I have yet to finish painting all of the miniatures (or... any of them really, except for the Ur-Ghuls!), nor have we played any games of Shadowrun: Crossfire. It's Keira's game. I told her SHE needs to read the rules and say "okay, I've read them, here's how we play" and we'd set aside a month or so to play through a campaign - much like we did with her Harry Potter game...



Right now she's a little more interested in sewing and knitting and learning the guitar and not-so-interested in reading rules for games!



Very little movement has been made on the other Challenge as well... Although I DID get in ONE game on the list (High Frontier - a game by Phil Eklund!) I did play a LOT of Apocalypse (which isn't, but COULD be on the list...) I've played over 15 games of 40K so far this year - in addition to the half dozen games of Apocalypse I played this month. I should probably add Necromunda to this list - as I'm sure I'm going to play a lot of that in the coming months... then it will look like I got a bit more of the list games played...

Coming Soon to Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Probably more Necromunda stuff... I've started a new NECROMUNDA GALLERY in the pages section - where you can see all of the Gangers I've done so far.

here is a fair bit of Imperial Guard stuff (and Imperial KNIGHTS) on the workbench that I've been plinking away at... we shall see...

No immediate plans for any games... but hopefully we'll get in a game of Necromunda soon!!!

Killa Kans and the Game of Apocalypse that Never Was...

A couple weeks ago I decided to help Finnegan get some of his miniatures painted. I was experimenting with coloured primers and washes as well as the new Contrast paints from Games Workshop. I ended up knocking off one of his Killa Kans in a evening - while working on a number of other things as well - and thought "Well this is easy, I'll show him how I did this on one of the other ones, while he paints the third... and boom - the unit will be done!"

But I didn't get to that until a few weeks later...



Boom! Unit of Killa Kans complete... So, I basically ended up painting two of these for him, and he painted one... but, whatevs, they're done and we can play with them... (Can you guess which two I painted and which one Finnegan painted!?)

So I figured it was time we set up an Apocalypse game with his Orks!!

All last week we kept saying we should play a game. We finally got a game set up, maybe Thursday, but didn't end up having time that day.... or... Friday... and by Saturday, well, I needed to put everything away, because it was time to tear the big table apart and get on with the basement renovations...

I was going to play my Guaiacan Commandoes...

Elements of C Squadron, #4 Commando, Guaiacan Commando Regiment (as Catachans)

#2 Troop - Battalion Detachment
HQ
Company Commander - 2PL

Troops 
Infantry Squad (8 +Missile Launcher team) - 4PL
Infantry Squad (8 +Missile Launcher team)  - 4PL
Infantry Squad (8 +Missile Launcher team) - 4PL

Elites
Command Squad (+ Heavy Flamer, +Heavy Bolter) - 4PL
Commissar - 2 PL


#3 Troop - Battalion Detachment
HQ
Company Commander - 2PL

Troops 
Infantry Squad (8 +Missile Launcher team) - 4PL
Infantry Squad (8 +Missile Launcher team)  - 4PL
Infantry Squad (8 +Missile Launcher team) - 4PL

Elites
Command Squad (+ Heavy Flamer, +Heavy Bolter) - 4PL
Commissar - 2 PL


C Squadron Command and Support  - Spearhead  Detachment 
HQ
Company Commander - 2PL

Elites
Command Squad (+ Heavy Flamer, +Heavy Bolter) - 4PL
Commissar - 2 PL

Heavy Support
Heavy Weapons Squad (3x Mortars) - 3PL
Heavy Weapons Squad (3x Lascannons) - 3PL
Heavy Weapons Squad (3x autocannons) - 3PL


Vanguard Detachment
HQ
Company Commander - 2PL

Elites
Ratlings (10) - 3PL
Special Weapons Squad (Snipers) - 2PL
Veteran Squad (8+ Lascannon team) - 5PL


Vanguard Detachment
HQ
Company Commander - 2PL

Elites
Commissar - 2PL
Ogryn (3) - 5PL
Special Weapons Squad - 2PL
Special Weapons Squad - 2PL


Outrider Detachment 
Fast Attack
Scout Sentinel (Scatter Laser)
Scout Sentinel (Heavy Flamer)
Scout Sentinel (Heavy Flamer)

Elites
Sly Marbo

Orks

Battalion Detachment
HQ
Warboss 3PL

Troops
Boyz (20 - Sluggaz and Choppas) - 8PL
Boyz (20 - Sluggaz and Choppas) - 8PL
Boyz (20 - Sluggaz and Choppas) - 8PL
Boyz (20 - Shootas) - 9PL

Elites
Nob with Waaaagh Banna - 3PL
Burnaboys (5)
Meganobz (3)

Spearhead Detachment
HQ
Weirdboy

Fast Attack
Warbikers (3) - 4PL
Shockjump Sragsta - 6PL

Heavy Support
Gorkanot - 15PL
Lootas (5) - 4PL
Killa Kans - (3) 7PL

We'd set up ANOTHER pincer attack scenario - Finnegan had decided on it. Since I had more Power Level and was attacking, he thought it would be interesting if the Guaiacan Commandoes had surrounded a group or Orks in the jungle and moved in to annihilate them...



#2 Troop and supporting Scout Sentinels.



All tha Orks!



#3 Troop and elements of #5 Support Troop.

 

#3 Troop  and the Orks



Ratling and Guiacan Sniper Details and the Veteran Section.



Moar Orks...



Who is THIS lurking in the jungle!?

I was pretty disappointed that we didn't get to play it out... Ah, well... on to other things. Hopefully we'll set this up again in the fall when the renos are done and play it out!!


Coming Soon to Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog:

All sorts of stuff on the workbench these days... Necromunda, Eldar, Imperial Guard, Knights, etc...

Could be any of those...

House Cawdor Gangers

and back to Necromunda...

I finished up a Cawdor gang for Necromunda this week...



The New Minis

Well, newly painted... these are old Citadel metal minis for Necromunda. The more recent ones are all plastic now - and have quite different armaments! Luckily there are still rules for all (well, MOST) of these armaments - or something "close enough" that I should be able to do then.



The whole Gang (with the six others I previously painted). Almost enough for TWO Gangs... I briefly considered it, but the decided, since I only have one Heavy, I'd probably best just keep them all together. If ever I got a handful more (Including another Heavy) I might split them up - repaint the fringes of their tabards different colours to identify which gang is which.

House Cawdor is the stronghold of the Cult of Redemption on Necromunda. I didn't want to just do these guys in red and/or purple to match the Redemptionists... Somehow I came up with green...!?



The leader of the gang; Willem Campbell - a dour firebrand who leads from the front! He is equipped with Flak Armour and armed with a Hand Flamer, Bolt Gun and Chainsword. (It's actually an Inferno Pistol he's carrying - the figure came with the original auto pistol carved off and I had this in my bits box and thought it looked cool... There aren't stats from Inferno Pistols - which are essentially handheld Meltaguns - but there are rules for hand flamers and I figure this could be passed off as one!) 260 credits. Not sure what other equipment to give him at this point, but I think I'll give him the  Commanding Presence skill to start.



Two Champions; Rufus and Henry

Rufus is Willem's lieutenant and is equipped with Flak Armour and armed with an Autopistol, Bolt Gun and Chainsword. 185 Credits - he will start with the Combat Master skill.

Henry is the Heavy - equipped with Flak Armour and armed with a Heavy Stubber, Stub Gun, and Fighting Knife. 245 credits - he will start with the Head Butt skill.... because it seems fun...



Brothers Liam and Lex deadly in combat, if they can ever stop arguing and only time they stop arguing is when they are in combat - usually with each other....

Liam - Ganger - Flak Armour, Shotgun (Solid and Scatter ammo), Stub Gun, Fighting Knife -  95 credits

Lex - Ganger, Flak Armour, Lasgun, Fighting Knife - 75 credits

Muriel and Meredith, both are dutiful adherents of the Cult of Redemption. Their only desire is to purge the sins of others through bloodshed.

Muriel - Ganger - Flak Armour, Lasgun, Fighting Knife - 75 credits

Meredith - Ganger - Flak Armour, Reclaimed Autogun, Stub Gun, Fighting Knife - 75 credits

Babe and Gib are pics followers of the Imperial Creed. They have know each other since they were young lads and served as alter boys at the local basilica. Their devotion to their brothers and sisters of the gang and House Cawdor are second only to their devotion to the Emperor. Both can often be heard singing hymns in the middle of combat.

Babe - Ganger - Flak Armour, Lasgun, Fighting Knife -  75 credits

Gib - Ganger - Flak Armour, Lasgun, Fighting Knife - 75 credits

Bantu and Ernie are a vengeful pair. They have bonded together though shared loss and desire for revenge - both lost cherished loved ones to raids by mutant underhive gangers. They live for the hunt and will stop at nothing to purge the hive of mutants and avenge the loss of their loved ones.

Bantu - Ganger - Flak Armour, Reclaimed Autogun, Stub Gun, Fighting Knife - 75 credits

Ernie - Ganger -  Flak Armour, Shotgun (Solid and Scatter ammo), Stub Gun, Fighting Knife - 95 credits



Simon and Jonesy just didn't want to work in the factorum or scrounge through waste heaps for recyclables and holy relics. They are devout, to be sure, but are far more pragmatic than the rest of the gang.

Simon - Ganger - Flak Armour, Lasgun, Fighting Knife - 75 credits

Jonesy - Ganger - Flak Armour, Shotgun (Solid and Scatter ammo), Fighting Knife - 90 credits



Janet, Leeroy, and Travers - the youngest and newest members of the gang. Janet is Rufus' kid sister and he is very protective of her. Leeroy's got something to prove and has a big chip on his shoulder. Travers is somewhat of an egalitarian and true follower of the Creed - all are equals under the Emperor.

Janet - Juve – Stub Gun, Fighting Knife - 40 Credits

Leeroy - Juve – Stub Gun, Fighting Knife - 40 Credits

Travers - Juve - Stub Gun, Fighting Knife - 40 Credits

All together that would be 1610 credits worth of gang… plus any additional equipment, grenades, etc - beyond the most basic equipment that the models are armed with - they all have bags and pushes that could be stuffed with extra gear and grenades! As gangs normally start off with 1000 credits, this will allow a fair bit of options to start and further options for future growth.

The Cult of Redemption miniatures could probably also be fielded as a Cawdor gang - as there are no rules for Redemptionists in the current version of Necromunda: Underhive... That should work just fine, though. Perhaps I'll sort that gang out next.

I do have a handful of Delaque Gangers  that could likely be cobbled together into a force that could be put on the tabletop. I did purchase a leader off eBay (and few additional gangers I was planning to convert) but the parcel with the Leader and one of the additional gangers seems to have gone astray... I ordered it mid-June and it still hasn't arrived!

I do hope they come out with rules for a Ratskin gang... and Enforcers (I do know this is planned as they were revealed at the UK Games Expo 2019 back in May) - I have some old I-Kore Void miniatures that I will likely use for my own Enforcers (incorrectly labeled as Adeptus Arbites in the linked post...)

I do also have Orlock, Van Saar, and Escher gangs to paint up at some point - all old metal minis. I do have a plastic Goliath gang I could build and paint at some point as well... it came in the box set (the plastic Escher set I gave to Keira).


Coming Soon to Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog:

I have some Killa Kans that Finnegan and I painted up this week I'll probably post some pictures of, as well as a game report of an Apocalypse game he and I are going to play this afternoon.

After that...? Necromunda. After this last game (for the time being...) of Apocalypse, it's time to put all that stuff away and tear apart the big  game table - and other parts of the game room - and get on with the renovating... In the meantime, I hope to get a Necromunda campaign going!

I've also been helping Finnegan figure out how to quickly paint up some Genestealer Cult minis with the fancy new Contrast® Paints. They're looking pretty slick. Hopefully I'll get some pictures up of those once they're finished up - and hopefully we'll see them in action against the Cawdor Gangers above!