Da Night Before Orksmas

It wuz da night before Orksmas,when all thru da hut,Nuffin' wuz stirring,'cept for some grot.

Da holstas wuz hung byda smoke-hole way up,In hopes dat Yellowsquig would finally show up.

Da gretchin wuz curled-up,all crammed in da hall,While dreams of sugar-squigstromped in dere skullz.

And da boss in 'eavy armor,and me in my flak,Had just settled our brainzan jumped in our sacks.

When out by da dropsdere wuz such a big fuss,I jumped from my rackta shoot wot it wuz.

Over to da gunportI stumbled wiff a crunch,Tore open da shutters and threw up my lunch.

Da spotlights wuz shining wif a eye-hurtin' glow,Lit up bright as dayda drops below.

When wot did my wandering eyeball should shows,but a 'uge battlewagonand eight right hard boyz.

Wiff a gnarled old kaptin,and a toof box so big,I knew right offdat it must be Yellowsquig.

Faster than Speed Freeks,his flash gitz dey came,An he growled an shoutedan called out dere names

Now, Chinwart! Now, Chopgob!Now, Bogbreff and Bigzit!On, Stumpy! On, Stinkfoot!On, Lardbutt and dat other git!

To da top of da pillbox!To da top of da wall!Now dakka-dakka dakka-dakkadakka-dakka all!

Like a war boar dathas been shot in da gut,When dey sees sumpin move,dey charge and dey butt.

So right for da hut dagitz stomped dere shoes,With a wagon full of teef,and Kaptin Yellowsquig, too.

An den in a bit,I heard on the walls,Da pounding and pinginguv lotsa bolta shells.

As I pulled in my skulland took my bolta in hand,Down thru da roofYellowsquig came wiff his band.

He wuz fitted wiff bioniks from'is skull to 'is foots,An his gear wuz all grimeywiff wot wuz left of da grots.

A bag uv loot he hadtossed over 'is back,And he looked like a mekboywiff 'is favorite tool pack.

'Is eyes- how dey glared!'Is teef how enormous!'Is hide wuz like leather,'Is nose like a fungus!

'Is great gaping gob wuzgivin' out a smelly blow, And da hair-squig on 'is chinwuz yellow like da snow.

Da hat on 'is headwuz fancy an' blue,Wiff a big Jolly Orkstuck on it wiff glue.

He had a ugly mugan' a cast iron spleen,Dat growled when he laffed,like a face-eater wotz mean.

He wuz nasty an' vicious,a right hard old git,An' he laffed when he saw uz,an spit in 'is mitt.

A squint of 'is eye an'a kick from 'is boot,Dat let me knowzhe wuz after our loot.

They didn't say much,but got stuck right in,An' took our jools an' our teef,then gave da boyz a thrashin'.

An' putting 'is fingerway up inside 'is snoot,An' givin a belch,gave da door his boot.

He tromped to 'is wagon,an' to 'is boyz gave a yell,An' away dey all went,like sum bats out of hell.

But I 'eard him bellow,as he drove outta sight...

"Shooty Orksmas ter all,an ter all a good fight!"

Visit To GW Melbourne

On a recent trip to Melbourne I stopped by GW Melbourne while looking through the shops. This is a major achievement in it's self as it's buried in the basement of a large shopping mall down an alleyway with no sign!. Hard to imagine a GW store without one of their trademark illuminated logos.

Still the guy in the store, Alex (hope I got his name right) was really helpful. Not only that they had several Golden Daemon winning minis in the display case.

The converted Skullhamma above was part of his ork army and very cool. My photo through the display case doesn't do it justice. It was converted from a Baneblade and immense. Basically if you cross a landing craft with a dirty great gun this is what you get.

The rest of his army had the similar colour scheme Iyandian Sunset and Boltgun Metal with washes applied over the bare metal areas. This was simple but very striking and effective. Pity the Dethkoptas photos didn't turn out. A similar treatment to his Orks skin.

He was developing techniques basically using just the foundation paints then washes and standard colours for highlights and it worked really well. He was applying the process to some Chaos Knights and Marauder Horsemen and and although simple it looked really well. Just depends if you want your minis to have a slightly darker look.

Nice to talk to a staff member who was willing to experiment with things and share his ideas.

Chaos Warriors First Outings

Well after my first two battles with my new Chaos Warriors they seemed to be pretty cowardly. Maybe they've been hanging around my pink Emperor's Children Marines. No largely it was down to my rustiness with the rules, getting mixed up with 40k and lastly lousy dice rolls.

I'm playing in part of a local escalating points tournament. First round is 750pt, then 1500pts and finally 2250pts. Ask anyone and they'll tell you fielding a competitive Chaos Warrior List under 1k pts is almost impossible let alone 750pts.

Needless to say I was massacred twice by Bretonians and then Dwarves.

Still it's good practice and a steep learning curve and that's why I entered the tourney. Before long my brave men of the North will cause the enemy to tremble in fear it's only a matter of time. Dice willing!

Return To The Game Of Pixies And Elves

After two year hiatus I've decided to start a Fantasy army. Things have changed a bit too since my Ogres thundered across the battlefield. For a start they were sold to someone down the line and are no more. Secondly there's a new version of the main rules since I last played.

So this time I've been lured by the immortal souls and dark gods of tthe Chaos Warriors. Mainly because I like the cool new minis and secondly I originally thought I could make use of the 20 Bloodletters I have that are used in my 40k Chaos Marine army as lesser daemons. Well the models are cool but thanks to GW marketing the daemons can't be used anymore unlike the old Hordes of Chaos rules.

Still cool models though and I'll post some progress pictures soon.

Bogged Down Again

Aargh rivers again!

Why is it I choose to cross rivers when playing FOW when there's a perfectly good bridge normally causing my tanks to get bogged down. Well for two reasons actually.

The first is that although bridges are quicker they also form a natural bottleneck making it easy for the enemy to ambush you. Secondly crossing the river itself means that more armour is available and in some circumstances makes the hull down. Of course the risk you run is each tank becomes bogged down on a roll of 1 on the dice thus making it useless and a bit of a sitting duck (pardon the pun) until the next turn.

Yesterday my brave panzers nearly made it across but no forsaken by the dice gods yet again. When they did make it out they were ambushed by a platoon of Allied M10 tank destroyers and massacred. Still it was a risk worth taking and if it had paid off would have lead to a brilliant flanking manouvre.

Unfortutunately I had to leave early leaving my German collegue in sole command of our forces. He was having better luck on the other flank with his Tiger tanks and no river. Hopefully he sent the Brits packing back to old Blighty with their cucumber sandwiches and lashings of ginger beer.

A Good Deed Gone Bad

The other day one of our club members was playing in our local gaming store when he noticed a young guy really interested in a Space Marine Tactical Squad. The young guy couldn't afford to buy them so our good natured club member made him a deal. He'd buy them for him to keep on two conditions.

The first was that the young guy had to assemble them and paint them up the best he could. Secondly he had to come along to our club for a game or two try them out. So really it was a pretty sweet deal. The kid was really happy and went away to show his dad who was waiting outside.

However not long after in storms the kids dad who was pretty annoyed at this kind gesture and angry at our club member. Telling him he's got a nerve and to get stuffed amongst other things and storms off with his kid in tow. Needless to say our club member was speechless as were the others in the store.

Some people are so ungrateful and hearing this really annoyed me. In this day and age it's nice to know that there are those good natured people out there though. Too bad some people to take it and says something about the society we live in.

A Dark Foggy Night

The Emperor's Shield Tank Company came up against an Ultramarine armoured column on a dark foggy night. Communication failure resulted in both sides for the enemy and carnage prevailed. Maybe the dark forces of Chaos has a hand in it.

Both sides fielded 4500 points of vehicles only. Setup was lengthways on a 10' table. The Night Fighting and Fog severely limited the range of any guns. Not only that the guard found the moisture jammed affected the ammo resulting in less shots hitting home.

The Ultramarines made good use of suicidal Rhinos and rammed several armoured vehicles before having them destroyed. Trying a flanking manuvre the guard deepstriked 3 squads of Sentinels at the rear of the marine lines in an attempt to blunt their artillery. They caused marginal damage before the marines responded with deepstriked speeder squadrons.

The Ultramarines ended up winning but both side looking for a rematch under normal conditions.

Cadian Macharius

Here's something from my workbench. Being to cheap I decided to build my own Macharius instead of buying a Forgeworld one. Started off with a Landraider Terminus and a Baneblade turret.

Club Website Update

Our club is recently nominated a new committee and renamed. A new website is currently being developed.

Battlefront Miniatures Factory Tour

Here's a rare glimpse of the Battlefront Miniatures production line in Malysia for all those interested. Plenty of spare parts and resin there. Just glad I'm not the one grinding it down.

http://web.mac.com/imagine_newszine/Site/%3E_FoW_Factory_Tour.html

Bug In The System

The Corsairs of Khorne teamed up with the Tau to take on the Eldar and Ultramarines last weekend. The Ultramarines bought quite a few armoured toys with them including 3 Landraiders in a squadron and a a squadron of speeders with assault cannons.

All was looking good until the Corsairs and Tau allies discovered that the Eldar had been conducting mind control experiments on a group of Tyranids. The big bugs supported the Eldar and smurf advance. All the while Ultramarine Devestators poured fire into the Tau armour. The Tau took heavy casualties and the Corsairs lost their much revered Defilier in the first turn. The Corsair's Landraider and a Tau Hammerhead bravely had a shoot out against the 3 Ultramarine Landraiders. Little did they know an Eldar Wraithlord and Carnifex was looming up behind the smurf tanks. The marine tanks parted and the Carnifex hit the Corsair's battle line smashing into the Noise Marines. The Slanesh fought against the large Nid bravely despite wearing hot pink power armour but were no match in the end getting gored by the beasts tusks.

With the loses to the Tau it was only a matter of time before the Corsairs crumbled against the onslaught. Kharn could see the battle was lost and jumped over the side of one of the objective bridges into the river below. Landing in front of the waiting genesteelers. These provided just to fast for him and cut him down before he could return in blows with his poweraxe.

It was a good game but too many heavies on the opposition proved difficult.

Kharn will return!!

Touch Up That Camo Paint Soldier

Well it's been a little while since my last post.

I've been busy repairing my Cadian armour for an upcoming 4000pt a side tank battle at the club. There might be a few new editions too but I'm keeping them under wraps at the moment. Plus the fact they still need a bit of work on them. Then there's the running repairs and touch ups to other vehicles such as missing heavy stubbers. So it's go, go, go.

My pirate warband for Mordheim has arrived and they're pretty nice looking minis. I'm busy preparing the bases for undercoating. With a bit of luck I might bring these along to our club with the tanks in a couple of weeks.

Photos to follow.

Well Shiver Me Timbers!

Ok, so maybe I haven't seen the end of Warmachine. Privateer Press have some really nice minis and their facial expressions are so detailed.

I've liked the new pirate range in their Mercenary range ever since they came out. Then I had a brilliant idea why not get a small warband together and they can be used for a Mordheim Pirate Warband as well!. So I've ordered a rag tag group of blister minis and wait in anticipation for them to arrive. I'm thinking around 10 guys and of course no warjacks. Two of them are from the Devil Dog range so I can use the oversized musket as a swivel gun (a bit of artistic/gamer licence there). They'll be lead by the Notorious Broadside Bart. Hopefully the right minis come in the blisters!

Who knows in future I might get three Warjacks to finish off the warband for Warmachine but for now I just plan on using them for Mordheim. Maybe a Mule, Bucaneer and Vanguard but that's in the future.

Apocalypse The Next Mission

The Battle of TarrinV was a close and bloody battle. 16,000pts a side. On the side of the Imperials were Ultramarines, Sisters of Battle, Vanilla Marines and Cadians. On the side of the Xenos were 2 Eldar forces, Tau and Chaos (who perhaps had something more sinister in mind). The 4 objectives were an Administratum, a large Cathedral, a crashed Aquilla Shuttle containing gene seed and a promethium refinery.
The Sisters were stylishly late and didn't arrive until the second turn because they were too busy applying make up. This left the imperial forces who heroically blockaded the city eitherside of the Cathedral. They fought a brave fight too the end and the Cathedral was closely contested. This was helped by the early losses of the 2 Chaos Landraiders to the 9+ lascannons.
The Emperor's Children were too busy polishing there hot pink armour and didn't notice the advancing marine forces who cut them down. But not before an Avatar came to there aid and slaughter the remaining Imperials. The Chaos Hell Talon swooped in and cleared the board of the newly deployed Smurf snipers and speeder squad (best 135pts spent). The Eldar Phoenix strathed the forces in the city whittling them down.
The Nuns with Guns arrived via flank march behind the Xenos forces. However unknown to them the Xenos had expected this and waited in ambush. Half the nuns were wiped out before even firing a shot thanks to the combined gunfire of the Tau and Eldar. They claimed the Chaos Defiler but it was too little to late. The battle was over for them.
The Cadian Hellhammer had fired shot after devestating shot at the Xenos before finally falling to the deathblow of an Avatar. The Eldar Cobra slinking away to snipe elsewhere.
In the end the Imperial Blockade proved too strong and the Chaos/Xenos forces were unable to push through. Chaos fought a hard fight holding the marines back on the flank and were in the end survived only by Kharn and his loyal Beserkers. Left facing Marnius Calgur and his remaining Ultramarines.
The battle may of gone differantly if the two orbitting frigates had performed the Orbital Strike. However in the confusion of the orbitting battle both commanders recieved conflicting intelligence so the bombardments didn't happen for either side.
Good game and it was great playing on the long 4"x18" table. Pity about the uninvited roving rules lawyer how insisted at correcting players at the top of his voice. I hate people like that but that's a differant topic. If any of the players are reading this then thanks for playing guys and making it an enjoyable game.

Curse That Cursed Dreadnought!

My Red Corsairs Dreadnought has done me no favours since it was made. I'm beginning to seriously wonder if taking it is a good idea. It's armed with a close combat weapon and a removable twin linked lascannon. I armed it this way in case it decides to fire frenzy in which at worst it could kill a marine.

Well I've learnt the hard way about positioning it close to my vehicles. It seems to be pro at rolling those Crazed 1s on a D6 (fire frenzy). So far it's claimed my Predator, Vindicator and most recently my Landraider. These losses happened at different points of the games. So from now on if it's going to battle the only thing it's going to be close to, of mine, is some humble marines hopefully in cover!. They will no doubt be keeping a very nervous eye on it. Maybe they should have a summary execution rule on it similar to the commissars of the guard. The first sign of it going nuts they put a lascannon round through it.

Though it did do quite well in close combat with practically no weapons left recently. So maybe that's the secret send it to battle with no weapons and it can just headbutt the enemy to death.

I like the look of it and will probably keep using it. But might have a Predator back just in case it keeps it's friendly fire habit.

New Terrain 40k - Ork Barricades

I found this picture of the new GW Ork Barricade set on BOLS. They are supposed to be made from resin like the imperial ones and just need painting. I think they look very Orky and appeal to me in a kind of Mad Max way. Sure you could probably make them if you have a decent bits box. But any self respecting Ork player would much rather use his gubbins for vehicle conversions then wasting them on barricades. These will probably sell for the same price as the Imperial versions.

FOW Jagdpanzers WIP

I decided to add a couple of tank destroyers to my German army. These have the same firepower as a Stug and have a really nice and menacing low profile. Ideal for sneaking up on an Allied tank and opening fire on it. They're better armoured than a Marder but not as powerful or expensive as Hornisse or Jadpanthers. They should be a menacing mid range tank destroyer. I might look at getting another one depending on how these two go.

FOW Stukas Nearly Finished

A bit of help from the Luftwaffe comes in handy from time to time to help support the troops and provide cover for the advancing panzers. I've always like the Stuka as an aircraft especially the version with the tank buster cannons. So I couldn't resist adding a flight of them to my German FOW army. They're almost done and just need a clear coat. Unfortunately one plane has no undercarriage due to crash landing on the concrete floor of the our garage bugger!!

WIP 40k Bridge

A Cadian squad moves in support of a Basilisk.

This is the latest piece of 40k terrain I'm working on. It's a couple of Technobridge kits by Pegasus Hobbies and stretches nearly 7" x 2 foot long (Easily drive my Baneblade over). It's made of nice rugged injection molded plastic that's sectional and slot together so you can join kits to make longer bridges. The kit itself requires minimal cleaning and is nicely detailed with rivets and cast iron lattacework. The bridge itself is in 4 sections 2x ramps and two straights.

These kits are hard to find at the moment with most places on the internet being out of stock. Hopefully it's a short term thing and the manufacturer's will churn out some more. So if you see any on line it's well worth grabbing yourself a couple. It comes in a painted dark mettallic silver but can be easily repainted. Mine is currently undercoated in Chaos Black awaiting the top coat. It will go really nice with the GW city ruins terrain. and make a cool objective.

40k Apocalypse

A few of us couldn't resist giving Apocalypse a go when it came it out. It's been out a while now and we've had a few games. The biggest issue about it is time limits on turns and making sure you get all your close combats done. Guess it pays to prioritise attacks to get the important ones in. Don't forget to use those Assets as well. It was all too tempting for us to open fire with 40+ battletanks on the enemy. Take that pansy Eldar!

Cya Warmachine

After much deliberation I decided to to sell off my Khador Warmachine Army. It's a great game if anyone's thinking of playing just nobody around here does. Maybe I'll find a way to sneak the odd warcaster into my Imperial Guard Army.

Gaming Club Frustrations

I'm one of the organisers of the local gaming club.

It's a reasonable size, we have about 35 people on our email list. But we only have a handful turning up from month to month. It's so frustrating trying to encourage people to come along. Main reasons are that it conflicts with other things like sports, families and work. But seeing as it's on a Sunday you wouldn't think it would be so bad.

We're pretty social and definately not competitive. Though it would seem local players prefer to play in they're own little groups hidden away in their homes. Well I guess that's gamers for you! but come on if you are looking for a game then support your local club or play at your local store. We've been going now for a couple of years and hopefully things will change but that remains to be seen.

Introduction

This is my blog space about wargaming and my collection over the years.

My armies are Warhammer 40k and Flames of War based. Before I get too carried away here, I'd like to say thanks to my tolerant wife and kids who have put up with obsession, I mean hobby over the years and have been understanding. In return I have agreed to make enough room in our garage to park our car.