Having finished the borrowed copy of Halo3, and even going back to finish off the final stages of Halo2, I was bored. Even Dynasty Warriors, my usual fall back when other games just didn't cut the mustard.
I needed a new challenge. Something of the same level of intellect, skill and tactical planning that Halo3 gave me. The buzz of opening the door to a room, with no knowledge of what would be on the other side.
So what catches my eye? The brightly coloured menagerie-on-acid game that is Viva Piñata.
The premise is you have a plot of land that you cultivate (with your spade, watering can and packet of [short] grass seed). Cultivating in different ways attract piñata: fluffy, bouncy, huggable, black and white creatures that inhabit the area around your garden. They'll wander in, and become a resident if they like the look of the place. at which point they take on their acid-dream colouring.
Oh, yes. It's a kid's game. How difficult can this be?
It wasn't long before I had to break up a fight between a resident worm (or squirml, to give them their correct name) and some interloper badger-like thing. Pouring water on them didn't seem to help, and the tutorial suggest poking one malcontent with the spade to make it behave. What it didn't make clear was the subtle difference between "poke" and "whack" that were the options on using the spade (okay, there may have been an element of "button mashing"* here). Giggling as the little worm thing squirmed and writhed, I neglected to notice that (a) the fight had stopped and (b) the icon next to the squirml that looked like chunks of chocolate was reducing, until finally the now-dead piñata exploded in a technicoloured firework show.
OK, note to self: don't hit the piñata with the spade. At least, not repeatedly. And maybe aim at the interloper next time?
Time goes on in my little garden of almost-harmony.
A little later, I am alerted to the fact that another squirml worm thing is being hunted! No! Where is the evil creature that would hunt down so innocent a ...worm? A quick scan of the garden shows the culprit is none other than the little bird thing . This cute little tweetie pie of a bird had joined my little family and had been amusing me by hopping around and roosting on the squirml's house. These piñata EAT EACH OTHER?!?! This is supposed to be a kid's game, for crying out loud! Screw that - action is needed! However, before I can pull the spade out and dish out some broad bladed digging implement justice, the little worm explodes in the familiar firework display. Perhaps I should have noted the similarity of the bird-thing with a sparrow hawk.
OK, note to self: get another squirml. And fence the bloody bird things to keep them away from the squirml.
Time goes on. I notice that Squirml-1 and Squirml-4 (okay, so you can name them instead of using the oh-so-convenient default names - Squirml-2 should have been renamed as "Shovelhead" and Squirml-3 should have been re-named "Bird food", but it was too late) now both had little hearts over their heads. Aww, they are happy, I thought. No. The great Circle of Life exists in Piñata land. Life and Death are as one. Or something.
Get these two "romancing" as the game calls it, and I was treated to a cut scene of the events inside the wormery. Cue very dubious disco track that sounds like Barry White may have been involved, lots of bright disco lights and a dance routine as the little fellas (well, fella and fellete we presume now) 'get it on'. Some of those dance moves may have been in the Karma Sutra, but having not seen that, I can't comment.
Okaaay.
After a while, the stork delivers an egg, and in the fullness of time hatches into a bouncing baby ...worm. The new arrival then Macguyvered himself up a cocoon, and eventually emerged as a full grown fella (or fellette, it's really not easy to tell).
Unanswered question requiring more experimentation-1: were the game designers callous enough to allow baby piñata to be (a) attacked or (b) eaten, and can we (c) beat them with the shovel? Answers: (a) don't know, (b) haven't noticed yet and (c) no idea - how evil and cruel do you think I am?
Unanswered question requiring more experimentation-2: (a) Do piñata mate for life? (b) Any chance of hybrid creatures? Answer: (a) No. Any squirml will mate (sorry, Romance) with any other squirml regardless of age or non-existent sex - riiight. (b) No, cross-species breeding does not seem to be possible (just as well, given what the birds do with the worms).
And so time continues some more. Another lesson learnt is that whilst it is Not Good to beat up fluffy colourful 'Good' piñata, it is encouraged to beat up the 'Bad' piñata who are easy to pick out as they are red and black (unfriendly colours!) and spiky. They also look evil. Clearly eating a piñata squirml is not considered an evil act (BirdThing, we're watching you and have a spade handy). Appearing to be evil clearly is a crime and should be punished by Beating By Blunt Object (i.e. a spade) on sight.
Isn't it a good thing that our government system doesn't take the same sort of view point?
And so life goes on. I have various new piñata frolicking in the garden, trees give forth their bounty which I can hock for cash. Oh, and I can hock the piñata themselves. The bee-like ones are worth a 1,000 chocolate coins a piece. And yes, I do keep the little fellas (and, of course, fellettes) at it.
In the absence of not having the Master Chief's sniper rifle to hand to pick off the interlopers (or the sick, or the wounded, or the "known to be evil", or the "might be evil but I haven't done nuffin" or even the innocent bystander) I'll have to make do with the spade.
And so the piñata circle of life goes on...
*Button Mashing - the technique of randomly and repeatedly pressing every available button on the controller in the vain hope that the controller knows what action one wants to perform and will do it automatically. Frequently the result of one or more of (1) incompetence, (2) panic and (3) multiple enemies jumping out of the dark. Results of "button mashing" are numerous and frequently humorous to the casual observer. These can include: falling off a ledge; shooting a team mate; throwing a grenade at the intended target now standing right by you; selecting the missile launcher, pointed it at the nearest wall and pressed fire; rolling the vehicle; switching the handset off; quitting the current game or all of the above. At no point in recorded history has "button mashing" ever (not even once) resulted in the intended action occurring.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Quote of the Day
"When in deadly danger,
When beset by doubt,
Run in little circles,
Wave your arms and shout."
When beset by doubt,
Run in little circles,
Wave your arms and shout."
Monday, November 05, 2007
The Great Cheddar Heist
Thanks to Google Maps, the estimated journey time of 35 minutes to reach Wookey Hole from Akubra Towers turned out to be completely wrong, and so Blue and I arrived half an hour later than planned. However we were not the last to arrive, as Sky was lost somewhere between the M4 and the caves. That'll teach her not to bring Hoot to navigate.
Without too much further ado (but with much silliness) we bought our tickets for the Great Cave Tour, and joined the next group. I had forgotten (and it was probably for the best) what the tour was like. Think bad cabaret jokes
The caves themselves had everything a Hobbling could want. Deep, flooded sections that had not been explored, a wicked winking witch that ate children, a demented monk that tried to season the children with Holy Water (that may not have quite been the intention), stocks of cheese locked up in a dungeon and an evil manic laughter that permeated the caverns, making small children scream in fear.
Any suggestion that Myo may be the wicked winking witch of Wookey was entirely someone else's idea. However plausible it sounded.
Alas, we were not allowed to explore further to answer some of the questions we had. Like "Why was the cheese store not locked?", "How did that cheese get under Indy's hat?" and more importantly, "Where was the clone-o-matic kept?"
Instead, we moved outside to the Valley of the Dinosaurs, which merely raised more questions. Such as "Why would anyone build and assemble several dozen dinosaur s out of fibre glass and leave them outside Wookey Hole caves?". And "Why is King Kong here too?" Sky demonstrated how a bad King Kong should be chastised, which is going to come back and haunt her one day in the caption compo thread.
The Fairy Village was just surreal, although one way to keep Hobblings occupied is to hang shiny things from a tree. Worse than magpies, they are.
Skittles and Blue took a turn at papermaking. Skittle's attempt was, I have to say, far superior to Blue's.
The Mirror Maze showed why I should never be a parent. I couldn't help it. The sight of a small child running full-pelt into a mirror cracked me up (although, fortunately, not the mirror). Much fun was had in the Victorian Arcade, with the old penny operated games.
We wandered down through the village to the Wookey Hole Pub, and enjoyed a surprisingly good meal there. The local fur ball came to say hello, but for some unknown reason suddenly decided to leave us before lunch arrived.
We decided Wookey Hole had had enough Hobblings for the day, and we drove down to Glastonbury for the afternoon.
Without too much further ado (but with much silliness) we bought our tickets for the Great Cave Tour, and joined the next group. I had forgotten (and it was probably for the best) what the tour was like. Think bad cabaret jokes
The caves themselves had everything a Hobbling could want. Deep, flooded sections that had not been explored, a wicked winking witch that ate children, a demented monk that tried to season the children with Holy Water (that may not have quite been the intention), stocks of cheese locked up in a dungeon and an evil manic laughter that permeated the caverns, making small children scream in fear.
Any suggestion that Myo may be the wicked winking witch of Wookey was entirely someone else's idea. However plausible it sounded.
Alas, we were not allowed to explore further to answer some of the questions we had. Like "Why was the cheese store not locked?", "How did that cheese get under Indy's hat?" and more importantly, "Where was the clone-o-matic kept?"
Instead, we moved outside to the Valley of the Dinosaurs, which merely raised more questions. Such as "Why would anyone build and assemble several dozen dinosaur s out of fibre glass and leave them outside Wookey Hole caves?". And "Why is King Kong here too?" Sky demonstrated how a bad King Kong should be chastised, which is going to come back and haunt her one day in the caption compo thread.
The Fairy Village was just surreal, although one way to keep Hobblings occupied is to hang shiny things from a tree. Worse than magpies, they are.
Skittles and Blue took a turn at papermaking. Skittle's attempt was, I have to say, far superior to Blue's.
The Mirror Maze showed why I should never be a parent. I couldn't help it. The sight of a small child running full-pelt into a mirror cracked me up (although, fortunately, not the mirror). Much fun was had in the Victorian Arcade, with the old penny operated games.
We wandered down through the village to the Wookey Hole Pub, and enjoyed a surprisingly good meal there. The local fur ball came to say hello, but for some unknown reason suddenly decided to leave us before lunch arrived.
We decided Wookey Hole had had enough Hobblings for the day, and we drove down to Glastonbury for the afternoon.
Friday, November 02, 2007
There are people worse than me...
I've had the comment made that I have way too much time on my hands that I spend on gaming, model making, painting etc.
For the record, I would like to point out that things could be worse. Much worse.
http://z11.invisionfree.com/Work_In_Progress/index.php?showtopic=9485
For the record, I would like to point out that things could be worse. Much worse.
http://z11.invisionfree.com/Work_In_Progress/index.php?showtopic=9485
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Post frenzy!
Several new posts tonight of varying levels of intelligence. It's been a while, I know, but I do care, really!
Enjoy.
Enjoy.
Too funny not to blog...
I'm going to be in trouble for posting this one, but if you have seen Clue! you should get the reference. The name of the person concerned has been omitted to prevent total embarrassment.
Had a "Can somebody help me -- please" moment just now.
Was coming back into the office with a cup of coffee in one hand and a cup of water in the other when my crochet (holey) waistcoat caught on the doorhandle - self-closing door, so there I was, trapped inside the office with my waistcoat hitched on the door handle outside!
Naturally, no one was about (thank goodness!) Just had to drop the water and disentangle myself!
Had a "Can somebody help me -- please" moment just now.
Was coming back into the office with a cup of coffee in one hand and a cup of water in the other when my crochet (holey) waistcoat caught on the doorhandle - self-closing door, so there I was, trapped inside the office with my waistcoat hitched on the door handle outside!
Naturally, no one was about (thank goodness!) Just had to drop the water and disentangle myself!
From the Weirdshitorium
Whilst in Katoomba in the Blue Mountains, I found a little tea shop called "The Paragon". Most readers will immediately know why it caught our attention.
Anyway, I was reading another book today, and this time around I noted the name of a tea shop used - The Paragon. In the thanks at the end of the book, the fictional location is based on the one in Katoomba.
A random link between my two favourite series, via a random real-life location half way around the world.
Anyway, I was reading another book today, and this time around I noted the name of a tea shop used - The Paragon. In the thanks at the end of the book, the fictional location is based on the one in Katoomba.
A random link between my two favourite series, via a random real-life location half way around the world.
Friday, September 07, 2007
Hee, might be worth a try I guess.
Goats sacrificed to fix Nepal jet
Nepal's state-run airline has confirmed that it sacrificed two goats to appease a Hindu god, following technical problems with one of its aircraft. Nepal Airlines said the animals were slaughtered in front of the plane - a Boeing 757 - at Kathmandu airport.
The offering was made to Akash Bhairab, the Hindu god of sky protection, whose symbol is seen on the company's planes. The airline said that after Sunday's ceremony the plane successfully completed a flight to Hong Kong.
"The snag in the plane has now been fixed and the aircraft has resumed its flights," senior airline official Raju KC was quoted as saying by Reuters.
Nepal Airlines has two Boeing aircraft in its fleet. The persistent faults with one of the planes had led to the postponement of a number of flights in recent weeks. The company has not said what the problem was, but reports in local media have blamed an electrical fault.
Nepal's state-run airline has confirmed that it sacrificed two goats to appease a Hindu god, following technical problems with one of its aircraft. Nepal Airlines said the animals were slaughtered in front of the plane - a Boeing 757 - at Kathmandu airport.
The offering was made to Akash Bhairab, the Hindu god of sky protection, whose symbol is seen on the company's planes. The airline said that after Sunday's ceremony the plane successfully completed a flight to Hong Kong.
"The snag in the plane has now been fixed and the aircraft has resumed its flights," senior airline official Raju KC was quoted as saying by Reuters.
Nepal Airlines has two Boeing aircraft in its fleet. The persistent faults with one of the planes had led to the postponement of a number of flights in recent weeks. The company has not said what the problem was, but reports in local media have blamed an electrical fault.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Just Because.
37 years ago a witch done put a spell on me
A spell where when I'm talkin' I'm singin' it with glee.
When you're always singin' you got to live alone
That's why I made this mountain shack my home.
And when you're on the mountain, you got no guarantees
That life will turn up roses or turn out as you please.
When you're on the mountain, there's lots to be a'feared
That's why this here old mountain goat's prepared!
Be prepared, be prepared,
This lesson must be shared,
This lesson must be shared,
Be prepared!
Be prepared, be prepared,
And unless you got a spare,
You got one life, so handle it with care!
(goat yodelling)
I got horns that open bottles,
And I got horns that hold my keys,
I got horns that when you turn 'em right, they help me watch TV.
I got horns that open pickle jars,
And horns that come with hair,
I got horns that hang my other horns -
I always come prepared.
Be prepared, be prepared,
This lesson must be shared,
This lesson must be shared,
Be prepared!
Be prepared, be prepared,
And unless you got a spare,
You got one life, so handle it with care!
Yeeeheeeee! Keep your hands and feet inside of the vehicle at all times!
(goat yodelling and more)
Ooooooh, an avalanche is comin' and I do not feel prepared,
It's rumblin' like a mountain lion - I must say that I'm scared,
And if not for the witch's spell you'd hear just how I scream,
But since I'm only singin', I'll just yodel 'til we're creamed!
(goat yodelling...)
Baaaaa!
A spell where when I'm talkin' I'm singin' it with glee.
When you're always singin' you got to live alone
That's why I made this mountain shack my home.
And when you're on the mountain, you got no guarantees
That life will turn up roses or turn out as you please.
When you're on the mountain, there's lots to be a'feared
That's why this here old mountain goat's prepared!
Be prepared, be prepared,
This lesson must be shared,
This lesson must be shared,
Be prepared!
Be prepared, be prepared,
And unless you got a spare,
You got one life, so handle it with care!
(goat yodelling)
I got horns that open bottles,
And I got horns that hold my keys,
I got horns that when you turn 'em right, they help me watch TV.
I got horns that open pickle jars,
And horns that come with hair,
I got horns that hang my other horns -
I always come prepared.
Be prepared, be prepared,
This lesson must be shared,
This lesson must be shared,
Be prepared!
Be prepared, be prepared,
And unless you got a spare,
You got one life, so handle it with care!
Yeeeheeeee! Keep your hands and feet inside of the vehicle at all times!
(goat yodelling and more)
Ooooooh, an avalanche is comin' and I do not feel prepared,
It's rumblin' like a mountain lion - I must say that I'm scared,
And if not for the witch's spell you'd hear just how I scream,
But since I'm only singin', I'll just yodel 'til we're creamed!
(goat yodelling...)
Baaaaa!
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
LoveFilm
If any of the UK Hobblings are interested in getting film rentals, then I can benefit from referring you to LoveFilm. Just follow the link!
Any questions should be on the site, I've been using them now for several months and have had no problems at all.
Any questions should be on the site, I've been using them now for several months and have had no problems at all.
Archie sighting?
From Aero-news.net...
Kansas Aviation Museum Investigated By Paranormal Researchers
Looking For Things That Go Bump In The Night... And The Day, Too
Great Plains Paranormal Investigations recently spent a night investigating one of the burning questions of our time: Is the Kansas Aviation Museum haunted?
Ok, well, maybe it's not burning, exactly... but it is kind of interesting. Lead investigator Sam Tyree and his team had heard a lot of stories about the facility... like of the man wearing a fedora that appears in front of you then vanishes, 40s style music playing somewhere, voices of a crowd in a distance -- where there are no people.
At the Kansas Aviation Museum in Wichita, such goings-on are apparently pretty routine.
Tyree was so intrigued by the stories; he requested permission to spend a night at the museum. He also wanted to perhaps validate a picture he took there. It shows this wispy looking little orb that could be something on the lens or…maybe not.
Museum Director Teresa Day thinks that kind of stuff is fun.
"From my perspective, we are doing this out of curiosity," she said. "It could bring attention to this old building and make it more interesting. At the same time, I don't want people thinking we are off track from our mission."
Back in the day, the Wichita Municipal Airport (ICT) was a major stopover for the airlines and was one of the busiest airports in the nation with something taking off or landing about every 90 seconds in the 1940s, according to the Wichita Eagle.
Amelia Earhart and Charles Lindbergh have been said to have graced the facility, as well as Fred Astaire and Gregory Peck. The airport was eventually closed, after the military took it over and ran off general aviation first, then commercial airlines, and it was turned into an aviation museum.
So, Saturday night, Tyree and his team arrived and set up camp brining audio and video equipment and an electromagnetic field indicator and stayed until 4 a.m.
Tyree said they heard sounds like public announcements from another era.
"Stone buildings can sometimes get events recorded and under the right conditions will replay themselves," he said.
Is that all?
"We did have an exceptional experience," Tyree said.
He said the electromagnetic field indicator gauge needle began jumping when readings were taken near the skeleton of a 1931 Stearman. The aircraft went down in Alaska many years ago.
"We asked emotionally charged questions and it responded to our questions for 10 minutes," Tyree said. "We need to go back in and double-check but we believe it's the pilot who died in the plane. He was a crop duster and did not want the plane scrapped. He wants it restored to flying condition."
According to Tyree, the pilot said the accident wasn't his fault and a defective engine brought the plane down.
"It's definitely unusual," Tyree said. "You normally don't get that level of interaction."
Museum volunteer Cyndi Rhodes has had some weird experiences herself in the museum. She recalls one instance while working in the gift shop.
"It was quiet that day yet I could hear voices in the next room," Rhodes said. "It was a babble of voices. They were happy."
The she heard a door slam upon returning one night after closing, "like somebody was really irritated, but there wasn't anybody there," Rhodes said. "I decided we must have disturbed the ghost for whatever was planned that evening."
Tyree denies being a ghost hunter, he just uses scientific methods and equipment to rule out what has explanation and document what doesn't. Anything that cannot be explained is "preternatural."
"People talk about the supernatural," he said. "The supernatural only refers to God. Preternatural is everything else."
The team wants to return for further study.
Kansas Aviation Museum Investigated By Paranormal Researchers
Looking For Things That Go Bump In The Night... And The Day, Too
Great Plains Paranormal Investigations recently spent a night investigating one of the burning questions of our time: Is the Kansas Aviation Museum haunted?
Ok, well, maybe it's not burning, exactly... but it is kind of interesting. Lead investigator Sam Tyree and his team had heard a lot of stories about the facility... like of the man wearing a fedora that appears in front of you then vanishes, 40s style music playing somewhere, voices of a crowd in a distance -- where there are no people.
At the Kansas Aviation Museum in Wichita, such goings-on are apparently pretty routine.
Tyree was so intrigued by the stories; he requested permission to spend a night at the museum. He also wanted to perhaps validate a picture he took there. It shows this wispy looking little orb that could be something on the lens or…maybe not.
Museum Director Teresa Day thinks that kind of stuff is fun.
"From my perspective, we are doing this out of curiosity," she said. "It could bring attention to this old building and make it more interesting. At the same time, I don't want people thinking we are off track from our mission."
Back in the day, the Wichita Municipal Airport (ICT) was a major stopover for the airlines and was one of the busiest airports in the nation with something taking off or landing about every 90 seconds in the 1940s, according to the Wichita Eagle.
Amelia Earhart and Charles Lindbergh have been said to have graced the facility, as well as Fred Astaire and Gregory Peck. The airport was eventually closed, after the military took it over and ran off general aviation first, then commercial airlines, and it was turned into an aviation museum.
So, Saturday night, Tyree and his team arrived and set up camp brining audio and video equipment and an electromagnetic field indicator and stayed until 4 a.m.
Tyree said they heard sounds like public announcements from another era.
"Stone buildings can sometimes get events recorded and under the right conditions will replay themselves," he said.
Is that all?
"We did have an exceptional experience," Tyree said.
He said the electromagnetic field indicator gauge needle began jumping when readings were taken near the skeleton of a 1931 Stearman. The aircraft went down in Alaska many years ago.
"We asked emotionally charged questions and it responded to our questions for 10 minutes," Tyree said. "We need to go back in and double-check but we believe it's the pilot who died in the plane. He was a crop duster and did not want the plane scrapped. He wants it restored to flying condition."
According to Tyree, the pilot said the accident wasn't his fault and a defective engine brought the plane down.
"It's definitely unusual," Tyree said. "You normally don't get that level of interaction."
Museum volunteer Cyndi Rhodes has had some weird experiences herself in the museum. She recalls one instance while working in the gift shop.
"It was quiet that day yet I could hear voices in the next room," Rhodes said. "It was a babble of voices. They were happy."
The she heard a door slam upon returning one night after closing, "like somebody was really irritated, but there wasn't anybody there," Rhodes said. "I decided we must have disturbed the ghost for whatever was planned that evening."
Tyree denies being a ghost hunter, he just uses scientific methods and equipment to rule out what has explanation and document what doesn't. Anything that cannot be explained is "preternatural."
"People talk about the supernatural," he said. "The supernatural only refers to God. Preternatural is everything else."
The team wants to return for further study.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
The Apocalypse cometh
Thou art the whisper in the gloom, The hinting tone, the haunting laugh:
Thou art the adorner of my tomb, The minstrel of mine epitaph.
- Lionel Johnson, "The Dark Angel"
I haven't posted anything on here about the new release of "Apocalypse" that is coming this autumn. Partly as there were so many rumours on Warseer that it was hard to really see what the new rules would bring.
Recently, more information has been 'leaked' at the recent conventions in the US, and I'm finally getting excited.
Okay, those of you who aren't gamers (and that is probably almost all of the people reading this) won't get the attraction at all.
Anyway, most games use a fixed points limit for the game, usually up to 2,000. However, many veteran players have collected armies of considerably more points than this, from which we can pick selective forces for a particular game.
Games Workshop have realised that there are a lot of players out there in that situation; so they have compiled a variation on the game that does away with the points limit. Basically, you field as much as you have.
Enter Apocalypse.
The game is designed for games of 5,000 points upwards, and goes back to the basic gaming intention - lots of fun. Grab yourself a team mate if you haven't enough points, add some really nasty strategies (orbital bombardments, reinforcements...) to make up any shortfall and off you go.
To enjoy gaming you need a good imagination. From watching media like Starship Troopers, Halo, Halo2, Star Wars, Gladiator, 300, you name it, there is plenty of imagery of mass armies landing on the battle field from space-launched drop pods, troop carriers, multi-launch rocket systems firing salvo after salvo.
Now, I get to control them all.
I can launch a drop pod assault with the entire Fifth Company of the Dark Angels Chapter, over 110 men, supported by assault troops landing from low flying transport ships and batteries of tank weaponry.
I can defend against an unstoppable green horde of Orks charging the last stand of a heavily outnumbered force.
Yes, I am a sad geek, but right now I don't care.
I'm waiting for the Apocalypse.
Thou art the adorner of my tomb, The minstrel of mine epitaph.
- Lionel Johnson, "The Dark Angel"
I haven't posted anything on here about the new release of "Apocalypse" that is coming this autumn. Partly as there were so many rumours on Warseer that it was hard to really see what the new rules would bring.
Recently, more information has been 'leaked' at the recent conventions in the US, and I'm finally getting excited.
Okay, those of you who aren't gamers (and that is probably almost all of the people reading this) won't get the attraction at all.
Anyway, most games use a fixed points limit for the game, usually up to 2,000. However, many veteran players have collected armies of considerably more points than this, from which we can pick selective forces for a particular game.
Games Workshop have realised that there are a lot of players out there in that situation; so they have compiled a variation on the game that does away with the points limit. Basically, you field as much as you have.
Enter Apocalypse.
The game is designed for games of 5,000 points upwards, and goes back to the basic gaming intention - lots of fun. Grab yourself a team mate if you haven't enough points, add some really nasty strategies (orbital bombardments, reinforcements...) to make up any shortfall and off you go.
To enjoy gaming you need a good imagination. From watching media like Starship Troopers, Halo, Halo2, Star Wars, Gladiator, 300, you name it, there is plenty of imagery of mass armies landing on the battle field from space-launched drop pods, troop carriers, multi-launch rocket systems firing salvo after salvo.
Now, I get to control them all.
I can launch a drop pod assault with the entire Fifth Company of the Dark Angels Chapter, over 110 men, supported by assault troops landing from low flying transport ships and batteries of tank weaponry.
I can defend against an unstoppable green horde of Orks charging the last stand of a heavily outnumbered force.
Yes, I am a sad geek, but right now I don't care.
I'm waiting for the Apocalypse.
Thursday, August 09, 2007
More than meets the eye (spoilers - beware!)
I forgot to add a mention on here about Transformers. I guess you either love it or hate it, and I suspect anyone who loved the generation one toys and film will be in the former group.
Apart from the robots losing too much of their disguise (not enough bits that were obviously car body panels, and so on) it looked great. Getting the original voice for Prime was a Good Thing.
I've seen it three times now, and still enjoy it. Definately one for the DVD colleciton later.
Best bits...
- The Spectre opening a large can of whoop-ass on Scorpinock.
- Bumblebee dinging the door of the VW Bug next to him in the car sales. Take that, Disney!.
- Bumblebee going off in a huff when called a heap, then returning as the newer model.
- Those memorable lines from the original cartoons that found their way in.
- The Decepticon Jar Jar Binks taking it's own head off by mistake with a blade.
- Ironhide threatening the 'rodent'.
- The Autobots (including Optimus) trying to hide from Sam's parents.
Apart from the robots losing too much of their disguise (not enough bits that were obviously car body panels, and so on) it looked great. Getting the original voice for Prime was a Good Thing.
I've seen it three times now, and still enjoy it. Definately one for the DVD colleciton later.
Best bits...
- The Spectre opening a large can of whoop-ass on Scorpinock.
- Bumblebee dinging the door of the VW Bug next to him in the car sales. Take that, Disney!.
- Bumblebee going off in a huff when called a heap, then returning as the newer model.
- Those memorable lines from the original cartoons that found their way in.
- The Decepticon Jar Jar Binks taking it's own head off by mistake with a blade.
- Ironhide threatening the 'rodent'.
- The Autobots (including Optimus) trying to hide from Sam's parents.
Sunday, August 05, 2007
A call to arms
Finally, a glorious victory for the Order of the Raven.
1,400 points against Jay's High Elf army. He's taken an interesting approach to WHFB: large units. Very large units of troops. One of 35 spear, one of 16 archers and 16 heavy cavalry. Each led by a character.
Against him I had two units of Raven Knights, one upgraded to Inner Circle, led by Marcus himself (looking much better now he's mostly painted!). My usual unit of 20 spear, led by the Battle standard bearer and magician, with two hand gunner detachments. A unit of 20 swords, plus the cannon and volley gun.
With the speed of the cavalry, the Elves were close to my lines on their first move. In two ranks of 8, they were heading straight at the unit of spearmen in my centre. With one unit of knights on each flank (although with the Inner circle farther away on the other side of a wood) I was aiming to pincer the cavalry with my own. I advanced my Inner Circle knights and Outriders on the left flank, making sure I didn't block the view the cannon had at the flank of the Elven cavalry. On the right, I advanced the swordsmen and manoeuvred the knights there in preparation for a flank charge once the Elves arrived.
As against the Dwarves, magic against High Elves is pretty much a non-starter, and I wasn't able to successfully cast anything all game.
The cannon should have been able to bounce a round down the length of one rank, however the Dice Gods were not with me and the cannon misfired, killing the crew. The volley gun also managed to jam on the first barrel. My hand gunners were their usual useless selves and couldn't hit a thing.
Not a good start.
The Elven Cavalry charged my spearmen and one hand gunner units with both Hand gunner units standing and firing (but to no effect). My Wizard issued a challenge, which the General, laughing so hard he almost fell off his horse, allowed his champion to meet. Victor von Doom calmly revealed Van Horstman's Speculum. This rather sneaky, backstabbing and downright dirty little magic item swaps the fighters' Weapon Skill, Strength, toughness, initiative and number of attacks. As you can imagine, Wizards are not very good at any of these, whereas enemy champions and/or generals are pretty natty. Oh, and if the challenge is refused, the chickenshit has to skulk at the back of his unit, unable to fight or provide leadership. Alas, both managed to miss each other and not cause any wounds. However the rest of the Elves managed to kill 9 spearmen and hand gunners.
Both units broke, and were cut down by the Elves...who moved so far they left the field of battle completely. They would be returning on their next turn, in the same place the left.
The archers cut down several of my swordsmen, who broke and ran, panicking the hand gunners next to them. The knights, however, held their ground.
I prepared my revenge. The hand gunners and swordsmen rallied, and the knights manoeuvred to face the returning Elves. On my left, the Outriders fired at the approaching spearmen (spearelves?), killing a couple. More were killed by the volley gun, forcing a panic test which they passed.
In the Elven turn, the spearmen then charged the Outriders whom they wiped out in combat (not surprising, really, given the difference in numbers!). The knights turned returned from their tea and biscuits, and (unable to march) moved juuust far enough to be close to the knights, but outside the line of sight of the swordsmen.
My turn...and revenge is sweet. The Inner Circle Knights charged the spearmen flank. The Champion accepted the challenge from the character, and calmly took the blows on his armour. Meanwhile Marcus and the Knights butchered several elves. In a mirror of what had happened to the Empire on the previous turn, the spearmen broke, and were cut down by the cavalry.
The other unit of knights charged the Elven cavalry. The well-armoured knights were more of an even match (despite the numbers) and managed to win the combat, but the break test was passed by the Elves.
In the Elven turn, the knight combat remained again at a stalemate, both sides' armour proving too hard to cut through with hand weapons. The archers fired again, killing more of my hand gunners, who refused to break again. The volley gun crew were also wiped out by a spell.
Back to the Empire, and the swordsmen were able to charge the flank of the Elven knights. My Inner Circle knights reformed, ready to re-join the fray, and the hand gunners advanced on the archers.
The swordsmen were enough to swing the melee in my favour. The combat bonus from the flank charge, the ranks of troops and the additional unit standard were enough to reduce the Elves' leadership...coupled with a roll of 10. The remaining 14 Elven knights broke and ran from the field of battle.
This left the Elves with only the remaining archers. Taking a stand against the approaching Inner Circle knights, they were able to cut down one. The Inner Circle knights charged, losing another to the hail of arrows on the way in, but were able to butcher the entire unit, save the wizard. After a check to see if "Immune to Panic" also applied to "Your Unit was wiped out and you need to make a Break Test, bub" we decided the lone Elf should take a test. In the end, the issue was a moot point, as a double-6 was rolled and the pointy-eared one ran.
Marcus could have left the Elf alive, but he wasn't sure of the fate of Ulrik who had been leading the spearmen. Driven by anger, he spurred his warhorse forwards, and cut the Mages head off.
The field belonged to the Empire.
So...
I was left with the general and 3 Inner circle knights (from 5), 3 knights (from 5), most of the swordsmen, about six hand gunners. Not a lot, really.
Knights...Great! They more than made their points back in this game. They form the only hard-hitting units I can get (other than Great Swords). They held their own against superior numbers, and with Marcus to help out were not so much an effective fighting force but a natural disaster. Had I charged the front of the spear unit, things may not have gone so well (far more elves would have been able to fight back, and they would have received their full rank bonuses).
The pincer attack worked very well, however I should have swapped the two units of knights over. The Inner Circle and General would have been more effective against the Elven cavalry should things not have gone so well, and the 'basic' knights would still have been useful against the spearmen.
This tactic is something I'll be using again, especially against those Elves.
Hand gunners. I'm still not convinced these are of much use, but I am reluctant to retire them and leave me with no ranged foot troops. I think that in all the games I have played they have killed maybe 5 enemy, and have been wiped out in most games. In this game, I should have used the second unit to flank charge the Knights. This would have given me a +2 combat resolution, in addition to removing the Elven rank bonus. Perhaps enough to swing the result to a Leadership test that didn't require snake-eyes to pass. Had I fielded my usual unit of halberdiers, the strength bonus may have helped as well.
Artillery...well, some you win and some you lose. Have both the cannon and volley gun worked properly, they would have decimated the Cavalry charge, perhaps even wiping them out completely. The volley gun did redeem itself later in the game by killing several spearmen, then some of the archers. However these are clearly two items that I cannot reply on to win the game for me.
Spearmen...wiped out again! the Speculum was a great idea, just I was unlucky with the actual combat. Definitely something to use again. I'm tempted to go for a larger unit of 30 spearmen as my standard basic unit size. The additional four models in the combat will be useful. Keeping the Inner Circle knights closer, with the General's leadership, would also benefit the unit. I'm also tempted by the Griffon Banner, that doubles the rank bonus of the unit. Although it would leave Ulrik with no magic armour, or upgraded weapons, this would give a basic +8 combat resolution (2 standards, 3 ranks doubled). That would have meant my losing to the Elves by only 3. With the General's leadership of 8, and the re-roll from the Battle Standard, there is a fair chance the unit would have remained in play.
Swordsmen...these guys saved the day again. Despite panicking on the first turn, these guys helped kill the Elven cavalry and still had enough troops left to start advancing on the Elven archers! The shield/hand weapon bonuses are useful, and I think I'll be converting some of my left-over spearmen back into swordsmen.
Regiment size...The large units used by the Elves was an interesting idea, but it means when things go wrong, they *really* go wrong. I only killed maybe a dozen models in all the combats, yet wiped out the entire army as they broke and ran. The Empire can effectively employ similar numbers but are better off using the detachments for the flank counter charge.
Tactics...30 spearmen with Griffon standard and 10 hand gunners and 10 swordsmen detachment. Inner Circle Knights on opposite side of spears to the swordsmen. Spearmen get charged - the swordsmen flank charge. Wizard issue a challenge, using the Speculum and hopefully killing something nasty. The unit should be able to withstand the combat. On my next turn, the knights flank-charge, and should be able to cause enough additional casualties to win the combat. The two units of 5 knights can go a-hunting artillery and skirmishers. 20 swordsmen to cover the artillery and flank charge anything else coming at me.
1,400 points against Jay's High Elf army. He's taken an interesting approach to WHFB: large units. Very large units of troops. One of 35 spear, one of 16 archers and 16 heavy cavalry. Each led by a character.
Against him I had two units of Raven Knights, one upgraded to Inner Circle, led by Marcus himself (looking much better now he's mostly painted!). My usual unit of 20 spear, led by the Battle standard bearer and magician, with two hand gunner detachments. A unit of 20 swords, plus the cannon and volley gun.
With the speed of the cavalry, the Elves were close to my lines on their first move. In two ranks of 8, they were heading straight at the unit of spearmen in my centre. With one unit of knights on each flank (although with the Inner circle farther away on the other side of a wood) I was aiming to pincer the cavalry with my own. I advanced my Inner Circle knights and Outriders on the left flank, making sure I didn't block the view the cannon had at the flank of the Elven cavalry. On the right, I advanced the swordsmen and manoeuvred the knights there in preparation for a flank charge once the Elves arrived.
As against the Dwarves, magic against High Elves is pretty much a non-starter, and I wasn't able to successfully cast anything all game.
The cannon should have been able to bounce a round down the length of one rank, however the Dice Gods were not with me and the cannon misfired, killing the crew. The volley gun also managed to jam on the first barrel. My hand gunners were their usual useless selves and couldn't hit a thing.
Not a good start.
The Elven Cavalry charged my spearmen and one hand gunner units with both Hand gunner units standing and firing (but to no effect). My Wizard issued a challenge, which the General, laughing so hard he almost fell off his horse, allowed his champion to meet. Victor von Doom calmly revealed Van Horstman's Speculum. This rather sneaky, backstabbing and downright dirty little magic item swaps the fighters' Weapon Skill, Strength, toughness, initiative and number of attacks. As you can imagine, Wizards are not very good at any of these, whereas enemy champions and/or generals are pretty natty. Oh, and if the challenge is refused, the chickenshit has to skulk at the back of his unit, unable to fight or provide leadership. Alas, both managed to miss each other and not cause any wounds. However the rest of the Elves managed to kill 9 spearmen and hand gunners.
Both units broke, and were cut down by the Elves...who moved so far they left the field of battle completely. They would be returning on their next turn, in the same place the left.
The archers cut down several of my swordsmen, who broke and ran, panicking the hand gunners next to them. The knights, however, held their ground.
I prepared my revenge. The hand gunners and swordsmen rallied, and the knights manoeuvred to face the returning Elves. On my left, the Outriders fired at the approaching spearmen (spearelves?), killing a couple. More were killed by the volley gun, forcing a panic test which they passed.
In the Elven turn, the spearmen then charged the Outriders whom they wiped out in combat (not surprising, really, given the difference in numbers!). The knights turned returned from their tea and biscuits, and (unable to march) moved juuust far enough to be close to the knights, but outside the line of sight of the swordsmen.
My turn...and revenge is sweet. The Inner Circle Knights charged the spearmen flank. The Champion accepted the challenge from the character, and calmly took the blows on his armour. Meanwhile Marcus and the Knights butchered several elves. In a mirror of what had happened to the Empire on the previous turn, the spearmen broke, and were cut down by the cavalry.
The other unit of knights charged the Elven cavalry. The well-armoured knights were more of an even match (despite the numbers) and managed to win the combat, but the break test was passed by the Elves.
In the Elven turn, the knight combat remained again at a stalemate, both sides' armour proving too hard to cut through with hand weapons. The archers fired again, killing more of my hand gunners, who refused to break again. The volley gun crew were also wiped out by a spell.
Back to the Empire, and the swordsmen were able to charge the flank of the Elven knights. My Inner Circle knights reformed, ready to re-join the fray, and the hand gunners advanced on the archers.
The swordsmen were enough to swing the melee in my favour. The combat bonus from the flank charge, the ranks of troops and the additional unit standard were enough to reduce the Elves' leadership...coupled with a roll of 10. The remaining 14 Elven knights broke and ran from the field of battle.
This left the Elves with only the remaining archers. Taking a stand against the approaching Inner Circle knights, they were able to cut down one. The Inner Circle knights charged, losing another to the hail of arrows on the way in, but were able to butcher the entire unit, save the wizard. After a check to see if "Immune to Panic" also applied to "Your Unit was wiped out and you need to make a Break Test, bub" we decided the lone Elf should take a test. In the end, the issue was a moot point, as a double-6 was rolled and the pointy-eared one ran.
Marcus could have left the Elf alive, but he wasn't sure of the fate of Ulrik who had been leading the spearmen. Driven by anger, he spurred his warhorse forwards, and cut the Mages head off.
The field belonged to the Empire.
So...
I was left with the general and 3 Inner circle knights (from 5), 3 knights (from 5), most of the swordsmen, about six hand gunners. Not a lot, really.
Knights...Great! They more than made their points back in this game. They form the only hard-hitting units I can get (other than Great Swords). They held their own against superior numbers, and with Marcus to help out were not so much an effective fighting force but a natural disaster. Had I charged the front of the spear unit, things may not have gone so well (far more elves would have been able to fight back, and they would have received their full rank bonuses).
The pincer attack worked very well, however I should have swapped the two units of knights over. The Inner Circle and General would have been more effective against the Elven cavalry should things not have gone so well, and the 'basic' knights would still have been useful against the spearmen.
This tactic is something I'll be using again, especially against those Elves.
Hand gunners. I'm still not convinced these are of much use, but I am reluctant to retire them and leave me with no ranged foot troops. I think that in all the games I have played they have killed maybe 5 enemy, and have been wiped out in most games. In this game, I should have used the second unit to flank charge the Knights. This would have given me a +2 combat resolution, in addition to removing the Elven rank bonus. Perhaps enough to swing the result to a Leadership test that didn't require snake-eyes to pass. Had I fielded my usual unit of halberdiers, the strength bonus may have helped as well.
Artillery...well, some you win and some you lose. Have both the cannon and volley gun worked properly, they would have decimated the Cavalry charge, perhaps even wiping them out completely. The volley gun did redeem itself later in the game by killing several spearmen, then some of the archers. However these are clearly two items that I cannot reply on to win the game for me.
Spearmen...wiped out again! the Speculum was a great idea, just I was unlucky with the actual combat. Definitely something to use again. I'm tempted to go for a larger unit of 30 spearmen as my standard basic unit size. The additional four models in the combat will be useful. Keeping the Inner Circle knights closer, with the General's leadership, would also benefit the unit. I'm also tempted by the Griffon Banner, that doubles the rank bonus of the unit. Although it would leave Ulrik with no magic armour, or upgraded weapons, this would give a basic +8 combat resolution (2 standards, 3 ranks doubled). That would have meant my losing to the Elves by only 3. With the General's leadership of 8, and the re-roll from the Battle Standard, there is a fair chance the unit would have remained in play.
Swordsmen...these guys saved the day again. Despite panicking on the first turn, these guys helped kill the Elven cavalry and still had enough troops left to start advancing on the Elven archers! The shield/hand weapon bonuses are useful, and I think I'll be converting some of my left-over spearmen back into swordsmen.
Regiment size...The large units used by the Elves was an interesting idea, but it means when things go wrong, they *really* go wrong. I only killed maybe a dozen models in all the combats, yet wiped out the entire army as they broke and ran. The Empire can effectively employ similar numbers but are better off using the detachments for the flank counter charge.
Tactics...30 spearmen with Griffon standard and 10 hand gunners and 10 swordsmen detachment. Inner Circle Knights on opposite side of spears to the swordsmen. Spearmen get charged - the swordsmen flank charge. Wizard issue a challenge, using the Speculum and hopefully killing something nasty. The unit should be able to withstand the combat. On my next turn, the knights flank-charge, and should be able to cause enough additional casualties to win the combat. The two units of 5 knights can go a-hunting artillery and skirmishers. 20 swordsmen to cover the artillery and flank charge anything else coming at me.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
The Order of the Raven and Altdorf Raven Guard
This is dome fluff for my Nemesis Crown campaign army. Since I am fairly ignorant with regards to the official background to Altdorf and surrounding area, there may be some things here that are technically not possible. But I don't care.
Oh, and before any Hobblings read this, I never claimed to have an ounce of originality.
The Order of the Raven and Altdorf Raven Guard
The Order of the Raven, a knightly order based near Altdorf, is led by General Marcus Corvinus. His family have ruled land near to the city for generations.
Family legend tells the tale of Stefan Corvinus, who was the second son of the local landowner. With his elder brother as heir to the lands, nothing more was expected of him than to attend court and marry an Empire noble woman. Dissatisfied with this future and wanting something more exciting, he decided to run away and become an adventurer. Stefan was only marginally successful at this, joining various groups, mercenary bands and brigands over the next few years. Finally, whilst wandering through the World’s Edge Mountains dodging tribes of Goblins, he came upon a wounded raven being tormented by a Night Goblin.
Stefan killed the Goblin, and was surprised when the Raven spoke to him. It transpired that the Raven was in fact a powerful Wood Elf wizard, who had been turned into a Raven by a night Goblin Shaman the previous day. He told Stefan that he would be greatly rewarded for killing the Shaman and thus breaking the spell. Stefan agreed, and went in search of the Shaman.
Whether luckier than the Wood Elf, or blessed by Sigmar himself perhaps, Stefan did not suffer the same fate and was able to kill the shaman. True to his word, the Elf regained his normal shape, and as promised rewarded Stefan by enchanting his weapons and armour.
This was a turning point for Stefan. He decided that he would return home to his family, and raise an Order of knights in honour of the Raven shape the Elf had been turned to. With them, he would fight the evil creatures of the world.
The gift from the Wood Elf was handsome indeed. Stefan’s armour and weapons were all magically improved.
These include the Raven Armour, the Corax Sword and the Raven Arrows are fletched with raven feathers, and this gives the archer the same effect as if he held the Bow of Something. Stefan returned home, and started the Order of the Raven.
Over the following years, Stefan and his Raven Knights became famous for their support to the Empire army in times of need, as well as embarking on raids on the nearby tribes of Orks and Goblins. The jet-black armour became a familiar sight on battlefields and strike fear into Goblins in particular.
After Stefan ’s death, and with no direct heir, his brother’s second son took over as Preceptor of the Order. Thus began a tradition that continues to this day – the eldest son takes over the running of the family’s lands, and the second son leads the Knights. The second son dedicates himself to the Order.
In addition to the Order, the Corvinus family supports several regiments of foot troops to support the Knights in battle, and to join with Altdorf troops in time of need. Whilst maintaining the blue and red colours of nearby Altdorf for their uniforms, the troops often add black feathers to identify themselves as members of the Raven Guard, as the Corvinus regiments are known.
Today, Marcus Corvinus leads the Order of the Raven with Ulrik von Lederhosen as second in command. Ulrik fought alongside Marcus’ uncle when he was Preceptor, and the grizzled veteran trained the young Marcus from an early age. Ulrik usually carries the regiments Battle Standard, fighting on foot with units of spearmen instead of from horseback. He is trusted enough to act as leader of the regiment should Marcus be engaged elsewhere.
The Raven Guard are frequently supported by wizards from the Altdorf College of Magic, and by artillery from Nuln. The Order maintains links with the Wood elf tribe that Stefan helped, and will occasionally be joined by a unit of rangers in battle. If required to send troops to aid Altdorf against Wood Elves, the Order itself is permitted to decline to fight, however other troops are not exempt from supporting. No knight from the Order is permitted to raise a weapon to a Wood Elf – an agreement that is reciprocated by the elves.
Game rule notes:
Note that all the rules below confer no benefits to the army, bit do limit certain options over and above the Empire army book. They are merely to add a degree of uniqueness to the force!
Magic Items: the Raven Armour etc is taken in place of Dawn Armour – it would not be possible to field both at the same time, in the same way that two identical items cannot be taken. Similarly, the Corax Sword replaces the Sword of Justice and the Raven Arrows replace the Bow or Something or Other.
Preceptors: Units of knightly orders may not take a Preceptor as Marcus holds this position.
Marcus Corvinus: If fielded, Marcus will always be the army general. In addition, he must wear the Raven Armour and wield the Corax sword; thus no other characters will be able to take the equivalent items. He will always fight either on a barded warhorse, or his Griffon. Marcus will always join a unit of Knights if available, although if fighting with his Griffon this will not apply.
Ulrik von Lederhosen: If Marcus is fielded, then Ulrik, if taken, must be the Battle Standard Bearer.
Wood Elves: The fortune of the family and the Order itself derive from the favours of the Wood Elf mage; however occasionally the Empire is in conflict with this race and requires troops to be supplied. The Emperor does, however, respect the honour of the Order and their history and so whilst troops are still supplied in times of need they are not required to include knights from the Order itself.
When fighting Wood Elves, the Raven Guard may not include Marcus as General (or any other General of the Empire), Ulrik von Lederhosen or any units of Knightly Orders. All other troops, including Outriders and pistoliers, may be selected as normal. Other Lords choices may be taken as normal.
Wood Elf Rangers: Occasionally, Wood elf rangers support the Raven Guard. In the game, Wood Elf models may be used as foresters i.e. same points, stats and rules as per the Empire army list – it is only the models used that changes. The army will, of course, not include these if fighting against Wood Elves.
Oh, and before any Hobblings read this, I never claimed to have an ounce of originality.
The Order of the Raven and Altdorf Raven Guard
The Order of the Raven, a knightly order based near Altdorf, is led by General Marcus Corvinus. His family have ruled land near to the city for generations.
Family legend tells the tale of Stefan Corvinus, who was the second son of the local landowner. With his elder brother as heir to the lands, nothing more was expected of him than to attend court and marry an Empire noble woman. Dissatisfied with this future and wanting something more exciting, he decided to run away and become an adventurer. Stefan was only marginally successful at this, joining various groups, mercenary bands and brigands over the next few years. Finally, whilst wandering through the World’s Edge Mountains dodging tribes of Goblins, he came upon a wounded raven being tormented by a Night Goblin.
Stefan killed the Goblin, and was surprised when the Raven spoke to him. It transpired that the Raven was in fact a powerful Wood Elf wizard, who had been turned into a Raven by a night Goblin Shaman the previous day. He told Stefan that he would be greatly rewarded for killing the Shaman and thus breaking the spell. Stefan agreed, and went in search of the Shaman.
Whether luckier than the Wood Elf, or blessed by Sigmar himself perhaps, Stefan did not suffer the same fate and was able to kill the shaman. True to his word, the Elf regained his normal shape, and as promised rewarded Stefan by enchanting his weapons and armour.
This was a turning point for Stefan. He decided that he would return home to his family, and raise an Order of knights in honour of the Raven shape the Elf had been turned to. With them, he would fight the evil creatures of the world.
The gift from the Wood Elf was handsome indeed. Stefan’s armour and weapons were all magically improved.
These include the Raven Armour, the Corax Sword and the Raven Arrows are fletched with raven feathers, and this gives the archer the same effect as if he held the Bow of Something. Stefan returned home, and started the Order of the Raven.
Over the following years, Stefan and his Raven Knights became famous for their support to the Empire army in times of need, as well as embarking on raids on the nearby tribes of Orks and Goblins. The jet-black armour became a familiar sight on battlefields and strike fear into Goblins in particular.
After Stefan ’s death, and with no direct heir, his brother’s second son took over as Preceptor of the Order. Thus began a tradition that continues to this day – the eldest son takes over the running of the family’s lands, and the second son leads the Knights. The second son dedicates himself to the Order.
In addition to the Order, the Corvinus family supports several regiments of foot troops to support the Knights in battle, and to join with Altdorf troops in time of need. Whilst maintaining the blue and red colours of nearby Altdorf for their uniforms, the troops often add black feathers to identify themselves as members of the Raven Guard, as the Corvinus regiments are known.
Today, Marcus Corvinus leads the Order of the Raven with Ulrik von Lederhosen as second in command. Ulrik fought alongside Marcus’ uncle when he was Preceptor, and the grizzled veteran trained the young Marcus from an early age. Ulrik usually carries the regiments Battle Standard, fighting on foot with units of spearmen instead of from horseback. He is trusted enough to act as leader of the regiment should Marcus be engaged elsewhere.
The Raven Guard are frequently supported by wizards from the Altdorf College of Magic, and by artillery from Nuln. The Order maintains links with the Wood elf tribe that Stefan helped, and will occasionally be joined by a unit of rangers in battle. If required to send troops to aid Altdorf against Wood Elves, the Order itself is permitted to decline to fight, however other troops are not exempt from supporting. No knight from the Order is permitted to raise a weapon to a Wood Elf – an agreement that is reciprocated by the elves.
Game rule notes:
Note that all the rules below confer no benefits to the army, bit do limit certain options over and above the Empire army book. They are merely to add a degree of uniqueness to the force!
Magic Items: the Raven Armour etc is taken in place of Dawn Armour – it would not be possible to field both at the same time, in the same way that two identical items cannot be taken. Similarly, the Corax Sword replaces the Sword of Justice and the Raven Arrows replace the Bow or Something or Other.
Preceptors: Units of knightly orders may not take a Preceptor as Marcus holds this position.
Marcus Corvinus: If fielded, Marcus will always be the army general. In addition, he must wear the Raven Armour and wield the Corax sword; thus no other characters will be able to take the equivalent items. He will always fight either on a barded warhorse, or his Griffon. Marcus will always join a unit of Knights if available, although if fighting with his Griffon this will not apply.
Ulrik von Lederhosen: If Marcus is fielded, then Ulrik, if taken, must be the Battle Standard Bearer.
Wood Elves: The fortune of the family and the Order itself derive from the favours of the Wood Elf mage; however occasionally the Empire is in conflict with this race and requires troops to be supplied. The Emperor does, however, respect the honour of the Order and their history and so whilst troops are still supplied in times of need they are not required to include knights from the Order itself.
When fighting Wood Elves, the Raven Guard may not include Marcus as General (or any other General of the Empire), Ulrik von Lederhosen or any units of Knightly Orders. All other troops, including Outriders and pistoliers, may be selected as normal. Other Lords choices may be taken as normal.
Wood Elf Rangers: Occasionally, Wood elf rangers support the Raven Guard. In the game, Wood Elf models may be used as foresters i.e. same points, stats and rules as per the Empire army list – it is only the models used that changes. The army will, of course, not include these if fighting against Wood Elves.
Friday, July 20, 2007
A Fistful of Honey
At last, I finally finished painting these fellows.
The Good...
The Bad...
And the Cuddly...
The Good...
The Bad...
And the Cuddly...
Thursday, July 19, 2007
A call to arms - victory at last!
Finally, a significant victory for the Raven Guard!
Facing the Dwarves who had defeated me so soundly before, the Altdorf Raven Guard were eager to avenge their comrades.
Knights from the Raven Order, led my Marcus Corvinus himself, led the charge on the left flank into a unit of rangers. These were butchered to a man (well, dwarf) as they turned to flee after seeing their champion hacked to pieces by Marcus. In the centre, the solid line of foot troops advanced whilst on the right the Outriders advanced to take up position opposite one of the many bolt throwers, and the Empire artillery climbed the hill in front of them for a better field of fire.
As the centre advanced, one of the Hand gunner detachments was wiped out after almost every ranged weapon took aim at them. Embarrassingly, the spearmen unit panicked and ran, despite the best efforts of Ulrik von Lederhosen, bearer of the Battle Standard. The swordsmen unit held firm, however. The spearmen were to rally immediately in the following turn. The organ gun, however, decided to avenge the Rangers. The knights disappeared in a cloud of fire, smoke and debris. After a pause, Marcus charged through, unscathed but angered by the loss of the entire unit from around him.
The tone was set for the remainder of the game. The mounted troops attacked and destroyed one group of crewmen after another, whilst the foot troops engaged the Dwarf crossbow men and warriors.
Finally, as night drew in the remaining two units of dwarves withdrew from the field, leaving the Empire troops victorious.
Battle honours are awarded to:
- the crew of the 'borrowed' Dwarven bolt thrower, who finally managed to hit a target on turn five. This was, I believe, the first time the crew had hit anything in three games. They even managed to kill four spearmen, and narrowly missed Ulrik!
- the empire Volley Gun, which wiped out most of the Dwarven warriors unit with a final volley of 18 shots, from which nine kills resulted. The command squad that was left decided they would record the Grudge and withdrew.
- the crew of the bolt thrower that withstood the Outriders attacks for three rounds before being killed. The Outriders returned to the weapon after the battle, and buried the Dwarves with full honours alongside the bolt thrower the had been so protective of.
Facing the Dwarves who had defeated me so soundly before, the Altdorf Raven Guard were eager to avenge their comrades.
Knights from the Raven Order, led my Marcus Corvinus himself, led the charge on the left flank into a unit of rangers. These were butchered to a man (well, dwarf) as they turned to flee after seeing their champion hacked to pieces by Marcus. In the centre, the solid line of foot troops advanced whilst on the right the Outriders advanced to take up position opposite one of the many bolt throwers, and the Empire artillery climbed the hill in front of them for a better field of fire.
As the centre advanced, one of the Hand gunner detachments was wiped out after almost every ranged weapon took aim at them. Embarrassingly, the spearmen unit panicked and ran, despite the best efforts of Ulrik von Lederhosen, bearer of the Battle Standard. The swordsmen unit held firm, however. The spearmen were to rally immediately in the following turn. The organ gun, however, decided to avenge the Rangers. The knights disappeared in a cloud of fire, smoke and debris. After a pause, Marcus charged through, unscathed but angered by the loss of the entire unit from around him.
The tone was set for the remainder of the game. The mounted troops attacked and destroyed one group of crewmen after another, whilst the foot troops engaged the Dwarf crossbow men and warriors.
Finally, as night drew in the remaining two units of dwarves withdrew from the field, leaving the Empire troops victorious.
Battle honours are awarded to:
- the crew of the 'borrowed' Dwarven bolt thrower, who finally managed to hit a target on turn five. This was, I believe, the first time the crew had hit anything in three games. They even managed to kill four spearmen, and narrowly missed Ulrik!
- the empire Volley Gun, which wiped out most of the Dwarven warriors unit with a final volley of 18 shots, from which nine kills resulted. The command squad that was left decided they would record the Grudge and withdrew.
- the crew of the bolt thrower that withstood the Outriders attacks for three rounds before being killed. The Outriders returned to the weapon after the battle, and buried the Dwarves with full honours alongside the bolt thrower the had been so protective of.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Renegade's Magic
It's here!
After seeing a post on the board that Robin's "Renegade's Magic" had been sighted on a bookshelf in Scotland, I had to head over to my local Waterstones and see if they had it on the shelves early.
Luckily, they did!
So far (Chapter three) it's good. No spoilers here :)
:)
After seeing a post on the board that Robin's "Renegade's Magic" had been sighted on a bookshelf in Scotland, I had to head over to my local Waterstones and see if they had it on the shelves early.
Luckily, they did!
So far (Chapter three) it's good. No spoilers here :)
:)
Friday, June 22, 2007
Call to arms
The second practice game for the Nemesis Crown didn't go so well as the first.
1,000 points against an Ogre Kingdom army, played by someone who had never played at all. So, tactically speaking, fairly evenly matched!
My army is modelled on the Empire Gun Line, that is there are guns. Lots of guns. The army is designed to be more balanced than this - the larger army I have planned has half as many foot troops again, but no additional guns. However at this point there are the cannon, volley gun, Outriders and two units of hand gunners.
The game started well; I had a good terrain set up that included a hill to deploy some of the fire power on. The foot troops held position and waited for the ogres to move forward. As planned, the ranged weapons gave me several turns of fire before anyone was able to charge me. This wasn't as effective as I would have hoped; the cannon missed on the first turn, then jammed requiring two turns to fix. The volley gun was more use and was able to rout one unit of ogres. The hand gunners were also useful, hitting and wounding far more than I would have expected. However with each ogre having three wounds, they were only whittling away at the edges.
The wizard was more successful than in the previous game. He joined the spearmen for a little more protection, and was able to annihilate most of one unit of Ogres single handedly. Again, I had no magical opposition, so I'm still unsure how effective he might be against serious magic users with dispels.
I remembered a tactic from a battle report to prevent the ogres getting their bull charge. Basically, the sheer mass of the charging ogre causes impact hits - but only if they charge more than a certain distance. Advance your unit closer than this and you're only getting the normal combat.
I say normal combat, but Ogres are tough. Very tough. And strong. In addition to rolling badly and scoring no hits in almost every combat, the ogres were much luckier and tore through the spearmen and halberdiers. I won the combat through rank bonuses only; however the ogre general charged in on the following turn alongside the gnoblars(sp?). The general killed the entire halberd unit himself, and with the Gnoblars adding their rank bonus the spearmen broke and ran from the field.
On the other side, the lead belchers finally came into range, and blew away the outriders before charging the hand gunners. The ogre unit on this side, down to one ogre only after all the firing, charged the swordsmen. They lost the combat, and were cut down as they routed. The hand gunners met the same fate, leaving only my artillery left in the game after the final turn!
So...the empire gun line is a good, solid tactic, if a little unimaginative. Concentrating fire is a must, and deciding how many shots to commit to each target is going to be a necessary skill to acquire. The second cannon/volley gun plan is till sound, especially with the ever-present misfire rolls. I need to think about how to use the gunners I have; whether to continue to use them as two smaller detachments or to combine them into one unit on their own.
I can see that relying on the gun line to work on it's own is a recipe for disaster - unless the terrain set up is in my favour, the guns are going to have limited fields of fire past other units. Also, taking too many guns will limit the number of units that can then fight once whatever is left of the enemy reaches my lines.
The spearmen are a good solid unit. Perhaps increasing the unit size to 30 at some point down the line, instead of having two smaller units as I had planned. The swordsmen were again pretty useless, however they are still only 16 strong and need a little help in staying power. Keeping the core units closer together will be necessary, as the improved leadership from the general will be useful.
What I am missing is a hard hitting unit that can deal out some serious damage to tough targets. Just as well that I have the Knights then I guess! These will be equipped with cavalry hammers, giving them a higher strength; plus they have better armour than any of my other troops. If I had been able to charge an ogre unit with these, I am convinced they would have won the combat.
Word has it that there will be a General Meeting to be held at an inn somewhere in the Great Forest next week...these things have a habit of turning into a large brawl. Next on the "To Paint" list is the spearmen unit's champion, who will stand in as my general-on-foot, as the Griffon won't be allowed inside ;)
1,000 points against an Ogre Kingdom army, played by someone who had never played at all. So, tactically speaking, fairly evenly matched!
My army is modelled on the Empire Gun Line, that is there are guns. Lots of guns. The army is designed to be more balanced than this - the larger army I have planned has half as many foot troops again, but no additional guns. However at this point there are the cannon, volley gun, Outriders and two units of hand gunners.
The game started well; I had a good terrain set up that included a hill to deploy some of the fire power on. The foot troops held position and waited for the ogres to move forward. As planned, the ranged weapons gave me several turns of fire before anyone was able to charge me. This wasn't as effective as I would have hoped; the cannon missed on the first turn, then jammed requiring two turns to fix. The volley gun was more use and was able to rout one unit of ogres. The hand gunners were also useful, hitting and wounding far more than I would have expected. However with each ogre having three wounds, they were only whittling away at the edges.
The wizard was more successful than in the previous game. He joined the spearmen for a little more protection, and was able to annihilate most of one unit of Ogres single handedly. Again, I had no magical opposition, so I'm still unsure how effective he might be against serious magic users with dispels.
I remembered a tactic from a battle report to prevent the ogres getting their bull charge. Basically, the sheer mass of the charging ogre causes impact hits - but only if they charge more than a certain distance. Advance your unit closer than this and you're only getting the normal combat.
I say normal combat, but Ogres are tough. Very tough. And strong. In addition to rolling badly and scoring no hits in almost every combat, the ogres were much luckier and tore through the spearmen and halberdiers. I won the combat through rank bonuses only; however the ogre general charged in on the following turn alongside the gnoblars(sp?). The general killed the entire halberd unit himself, and with the Gnoblars adding their rank bonus the spearmen broke and ran from the field.
On the other side, the lead belchers finally came into range, and blew away the outriders before charging the hand gunners. The ogre unit on this side, down to one ogre only after all the firing, charged the swordsmen. They lost the combat, and were cut down as they routed. The hand gunners met the same fate, leaving only my artillery left in the game after the final turn!
So...the empire gun line is a good, solid tactic, if a little unimaginative. Concentrating fire is a must, and deciding how many shots to commit to each target is going to be a necessary skill to acquire. The second cannon/volley gun plan is till sound, especially with the ever-present misfire rolls. I need to think about how to use the gunners I have; whether to continue to use them as two smaller detachments or to combine them into one unit on their own.
I can see that relying on the gun line to work on it's own is a recipe for disaster - unless the terrain set up is in my favour, the guns are going to have limited fields of fire past other units. Also, taking too many guns will limit the number of units that can then fight once whatever is left of the enemy reaches my lines.
The spearmen are a good solid unit. Perhaps increasing the unit size to 30 at some point down the line, instead of having two smaller units as I had planned. The swordsmen were again pretty useless, however they are still only 16 strong and need a little help in staying power. Keeping the core units closer together will be necessary, as the improved leadership from the general will be useful.
What I am missing is a hard hitting unit that can deal out some serious damage to tough targets. Just as well that I have the Knights then I guess! These will be equipped with cavalry hammers, giving them a higher strength; plus they have better armour than any of my other troops. If I had been able to charge an ogre unit with these, I am convinced they would have won the combat.
Word has it that there will be a General Meeting to be held at an inn somewhere in the Great Forest next week...these things have a habit of turning into a large brawl. Next on the "To Paint" list is the spearmen unit's champion, who will stand in as my general-on-foot, as the Griffon won't be allowed inside ;)
Thursday, June 07, 2007
A call to arms -
The advance force from Altdorf weren't expecting to meet any enemy forces at the Tomb. The Empire forces were spreading out through the Great Forest taking and holding sites of interest so that a deeper examination could be made. Wizards from the Colleges of Magic would search for signs of the Crown. The tomb of Baden wasn't a high priority target, and so had only a small inexperienced force sent to take it. A couple of units, with supporting detachments plus artillery. The unit of Outriders were the most experienced troops in the force - the wizard "general" was little more than an apprentice.
As the column approached the tomb, the Outriders returned from scouting ahead to report. A small force of Dwarves, of similar size and power to the Altdorf troops, had been sighted advancing towards the same location. It was estimated that the dwarves would reach the tomb at the same time.
Word went out to the sergeants - prepare to engage the enemy. The raw recruits looked at each other nervously at the first sign of real battle. Suddenly, the sound of a dwarven horn came through the tree tops. It was answered by the Empire troops. The war for the Nemesis Crown had begun.
A small 1,000 point game against dwarves then. My opponent was a Dwarf player using the store army, but was not that experienced (at least he knew the rules - mostly). Helped by a couple of seasoned gamers on the rules advise, we were able to manage.
The tomb was located in centre of the battlefield, with woods surrounding it. A hill just in front of the Empire's left flank gave good visibility across the table and the far side of the tomb - the expected line of advance. I was expecting the two dwarf units of warriors to advance up into the gap between the tomb and woods (which they could do on either side of the table) and hold. This would protect their flanks, and the Grudge Stone carried by the commander would remove my ability to attack the rear of his unit. There was an organ gun and cannon opposite my left flank, and a unit of miners that would turn up at some point later.
I deployed my Outriders on the left flank, intending to move them forward as fast as possible to take out the artillery. They were supported by the swordsmen and hand gunner detachment that would advance over the hill; the hand gunners would then be able to see over the unit in front and fire at any incoming units. My artillery was located in the centre, the cannon with a direct line of sight to the enemy artillery, and the volley gun next to it (both the organ gun and volley guns would be out of range to fire at each other). The wizard was deployed with them, with a useful fireball spell that would help if the miners turned up unexpectedly. On my right was the main force; 20 spear men with the battle standard, and detachments of hand gunners and halberdiers.
Captain Ulrik von Lederhosen was the most experienced soldier in the force. General Corvinus had deployed him with the recruits in an attempt to add some degree of ability. Corvinus had been in no doubt as to the competency of Rinseuend the Wizard, "Ulrik, the man's an idiot. He'll get everyone killed if battle is joined. I can't put you in command, as I have my orders, but I can send you to carry the standard. Keep the men under control; once you are in a fight you'll be able to do what is needed to secure victory, but until then you;'ll have to do what the idiot orders, logical or not".
As Ulrik looked across the battle line, he realised what Corvinus had meant. His halberd detachment was barely able to manoeuvre, and their hand gunners were going to end up behind a nice safe wall, but would not have anything to shoot as the parent unit would be blocking the view. On the left, the hand gunners would be able to shoot over the heads of their comrades, but if the dwarf artillery could not be silenced quickly it was going to be a blood bath. Further more, the wizard had decided to stay with the artillery instead of with a unit. Wandering around making a target of himself was likely to end with him catching a cannonball with his teeth. Their forces were split, and if the Dwarven units stayed together they would be able to attack half the Empire force with their entire army.
I won the dice-off and elected to move first. The Outriders on the left charged forward, hoping to get out of the cannon's arc of fire. The swordsmen and gunners advanced over the hill, whilst on the right the spearmen and halberdiers advanced. The shooting was limited to the cannon firing at the enemy equivalent hiding in the wood. The gunner was spot on with his ranging, and narrowly missed the cannon, instead killing one of the gunners. First blood to the Empire!
The Dwarven army advanced, but surprisingly split it's force with one unit each side of the tomb to approach my two forces. The cannon elected to fire at my Outriders, and gave me my first important lesson of the day. The cannon shot either passes from front to back, or along a rank depending on the facing of the unit to the cannon. After checking, I realised to my horror that instead of the cannon hitting only one file as it passed through from the front, it was (technically) hitting from the side - and hitting every model. Unfortunately, the Dice Gods did not favour me at this time, and the shot did indeed bounce right through the unit, killing them all. The organ gun also opened fire at the swordsmen, but only two were were killed.
Turn two, and things were not looking so good. However, resolved to improve matters, the spearmen on the right manoeuvred themselves so that the halberdiers could support them when the approaching Dwarves charged (with spears, two ranks can fight except if they charge that turn - so my plan was to let the dwarves charge me, and counter-charge with the halberdiers). The swordsmen held their ground, as the gunners fired at the organ gun. The salvo only killed a crewmen, and they could see the remaining crew continue reloading the gun. My artillery was slightly more successful. Although the cannon again decapitated a crewmen, I was at least eventually going to silence the machine. The volley gun however was more successful, firing a dozen shots into the dwarf unit opposite. However the armour saved most of them and only a few were killed. The wizard sent a fireball rolling into the unit, but only singed a few beards.
The damn stunties continued to advance on their little short legs. the organ gun opened fire again, and the swordsmen disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Half the swordsmen ran panicking back towards the gun line - the rest had been slain. The hand gunners were unfazed and remained in place, taking careful aim at the volley gun, determined to wreak revenge on their fallen comrades.
Meanwhile the cannon returned fire at my artillery, a pattern that was to continue for the rest of the game. It was like watching tennis. The wizard wisely decided that being a valid target (albeit an ignored one so far) was likely to end his career prematurely, and that his presence was needed on the opposite flank and ran for cover. At least this time his fire ball managed to kill a dwarf, however this would be the last spell he was able to cast, as the innate resistance of the dwarves prevented him from casting through the remainder of the battle.
The volley gun, having seen the organ gun take apart the swordsmen, fired at the dwarven unit, determined to wreak as much havoc. Alas, a misfire was rolled on the second barrel, at which point all hell broke loose. Both remaining barrels loosed the maximum number of shots as the gun blew itself to pieces, killing the crew. however, the 26 shots at the dwarves resulted in the unit being decimated, leaving only the general, his champion and the musician.
"Bugger this for a game of soldiers!" the Champion said as the rest of the unit turned into a fine mist behind them, "We're out of here!". He turned, as did the musician on the other side of the general. The musician was looking at the remains of the horn he had in his hand - smashed to pieces by shrapnel that miraculously missed him. One look was enough. Without a word, each grabbed the General by an arm and ran, carrying him towards the safety of the woods, ignoring his angry cries "Put me down you bastards! Let me at 'em! Let me at em!"
On the other side of the tomb, the dwarves finally managed to get into charge range of the spearmen. They took the charge, as the halberdiers counter charged the unit's flank. The rank bonus of the swordsmen, plus having twice the numbers, meant that I won the combat; however the dwarves still managed to remain in the fight. Perhaps they didn't know what had happened on the other flank.
The second round of combat went more in my favour. In addition to killing more dwarves, they finally broke and ran. Both units ran them down, killing them all. However the miners had arrived nearby, and were in a position to charge the spearmen the following turn.
My gunners fired another salvo at the organ gun, now lining up at them. Their aim was true, and managed to kill the remaining crew, leaving the weapon useless.
The miners charged the spearmen, who elected to flee. The charge continued into the halberdiers, who were wiped out. The spearmen then failed to rally, and started making for the table edge.
Despite the victory over the dwarven warriors, the spearmen unit was ill-placed when the minors arrived. Threatened by a charge from the rear, the unit panicked and ran. It was all Ulrik could do to rein them in and return to something approaching order. Trust in their commander overcame the men's panic, and the unit reformed to face the miners.
With only the remaining miners effectively in play, verses the spearmen and two units of hand gunners (the artillery and Wizard not counting as scoring units), the Empire was declared victorious.
As the last dwarven warriors disappeared back into the tree line, a cheer went up from the Empire forces that, for now, drowned out the cries of the wounded. For now, they were the victors however each man knew it would be only a matter of time before they returned.
Ulrik walked over to the Rinseuend, who was still ducked down behind a particularly large tree. "Sir, the Dwarven forces have been driven away. They will return in greater numbers, so perhaps you should do whatever you need to do in this tomb." Wordlessly the wizard nodded, and regained his composure. He entered the tomb, whilst Ulrik posted pickets around the hastily formed camp.
It was going to be a long night.
As the column approached the tomb, the Outriders returned from scouting ahead to report. A small force of Dwarves, of similar size and power to the Altdorf troops, had been sighted advancing towards the same location. It was estimated that the dwarves would reach the tomb at the same time.
Word went out to the sergeants - prepare to engage the enemy. The raw recruits looked at each other nervously at the first sign of real battle. Suddenly, the sound of a dwarven horn came through the tree tops. It was answered by the Empire troops. The war for the Nemesis Crown had begun.
A small 1,000 point game against dwarves then. My opponent was a Dwarf player using the store army, but was not that experienced (at least he knew the rules - mostly). Helped by a couple of seasoned gamers on the rules advise, we were able to manage.
The tomb was located in centre of the battlefield, with woods surrounding it. A hill just in front of the Empire's left flank gave good visibility across the table and the far side of the tomb - the expected line of advance. I was expecting the two dwarf units of warriors to advance up into the gap between the tomb and woods (which they could do on either side of the table) and hold. This would protect their flanks, and the Grudge Stone carried by the commander would remove my ability to attack the rear of his unit. There was an organ gun and cannon opposite my left flank, and a unit of miners that would turn up at some point later.
I deployed my Outriders on the left flank, intending to move them forward as fast as possible to take out the artillery. They were supported by the swordsmen and hand gunner detachment that would advance over the hill; the hand gunners would then be able to see over the unit in front and fire at any incoming units. My artillery was located in the centre, the cannon with a direct line of sight to the enemy artillery, and the volley gun next to it (both the organ gun and volley guns would be out of range to fire at each other). The wizard was deployed with them, with a useful fireball spell that would help if the miners turned up unexpectedly. On my right was the main force; 20 spear men with the battle standard, and detachments of hand gunners and halberdiers.
Captain Ulrik von Lederhosen was the most experienced soldier in the force. General Corvinus had deployed him with the recruits in an attempt to add some degree of ability. Corvinus had been in no doubt as to the competency of Rinseuend the Wizard, "Ulrik, the man's an idiot. He'll get everyone killed if battle is joined. I can't put you in command, as I have my orders, but I can send you to carry the standard. Keep the men under control; once you are in a fight you'll be able to do what is needed to secure victory, but until then you;'ll have to do what the idiot orders, logical or not".
As Ulrik looked across the battle line, he realised what Corvinus had meant. His halberd detachment was barely able to manoeuvre, and their hand gunners were going to end up behind a nice safe wall, but would not have anything to shoot as the parent unit would be blocking the view. On the left, the hand gunners would be able to shoot over the heads of their comrades, but if the dwarf artillery could not be silenced quickly it was going to be a blood bath. Further more, the wizard had decided to stay with the artillery instead of with a unit. Wandering around making a target of himself was likely to end with him catching a cannonball with his teeth. Their forces were split, and if the Dwarven units stayed together they would be able to attack half the Empire force with their entire army.
I won the dice-off and elected to move first. The Outriders on the left charged forward, hoping to get out of the cannon's arc of fire. The swordsmen and gunners advanced over the hill, whilst on the right the spearmen and halberdiers advanced. The shooting was limited to the cannon firing at the enemy equivalent hiding in the wood. The gunner was spot on with his ranging, and narrowly missed the cannon, instead killing one of the gunners. First blood to the Empire!
The Dwarven army advanced, but surprisingly split it's force with one unit each side of the tomb to approach my two forces. The cannon elected to fire at my Outriders, and gave me my first important lesson of the day. The cannon shot either passes from front to back, or along a rank depending on the facing of the unit to the cannon. After checking, I realised to my horror that instead of the cannon hitting only one file as it passed through from the front, it was (technically) hitting from the side - and hitting every model. Unfortunately, the Dice Gods did not favour me at this time, and the shot did indeed bounce right through the unit, killing them all. The organ gun also opened fire at the swordsmen, but only two were were killed.
Turn two, and things were not looking so good. However, resolved to improve matters, the spearmen on the right manoeuvred themselves so that the halberdiers could support them when the approaching Dwarves charged (with spears, two ranks can fight except if they charge that turn - so my plan was to let the dwarves charge me, and counter-charge with the halberdiers). The swordsmen held their ground, as the gunners fired at the organ gun. The salvo only killed a crewmen, and they could see the remaining crew continue reloading the gun. My artillery was slightly more successful. Although the cannon again decapitated a crewmen, I was at least eventually going to silence the machine. The volley gun however was more successful, firing a dozen shots into the dwarf unit opposite. However the armour saved most of them and only a few were killed. The wizard sent a fireball rolling into the unit, but only singed a few beards.
The damn stunties continued to advance on their little short legs. the organ gun opened fire again, and the swordsmen disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Half the swordsmen ran panicking back towards the gun line - the rest had been slain. The hand gunners were unfazed and remained in place, taking careful aim at the volley gun, determined to wreak revenge on their fallen comrades.
Meanwhile the cannon returned fire at my artillery, a pattern that was to continue for the rest of the game. It was like watching tennis. The wizard wisely decided that being a valid target (albeit an ignored one so far) was likely to end his career prematurely, and that his presence was needed on the opposite flank and ran for cover. At least this time his fire ball managed to kill a dwarf, however this would be the last spell he was able to cast, as the innate resistance of the dwarves prevented him from casting through the remainder of the battle.
The volley gun, having seen the organ gun take apart the swordsmen, fired at the dwarven unit, determined to wreak as much havoc. Alas, a misfire was rolled on the second barrel, at which point all hell broke loose. Both remaining barrels loosed the maximum number of shots as the gun blew itself to pieces, killing the crew. however, the 26 shots at the dwarves resulted in the unit being decimated, leaving only the general, his champion and the musician.
"Bugger this for a game of soldiers!" the Champion said as the rest of the unit turned into a fine mist behind them, "We're out of here!". He turned, as did the musician on the other side of the general. The musician was looking at the remains of the horn he had in his hand - smashed to pieces by shrapnel that miraculously missed him. One look was enough. Without a word, each grabbed the General by an arm and ran, carrying him towards the safety of the woods, ignoring his angry cries "Put me down you bastards! Let me at 'em! Let me at em!"
On the other side of the tomb, the dwarves finally managed to get into charge range of the spearmen. They took the charge, as the halberdiers counter charged the unit's flank. The rank bonus of the swordsmen, plus having twice the numbers, meant that I won the combat; however the dwarves still managed to remain in the fight. Perhaps they didn't know what had happened on the other flank.
The second round of combat went more in my favour. In addition to killing more dwarves, they finally broke and ran. Both units ran them down, killing them all. However the miners had arrived nearby, and were in a position to charge the spearmen the following turn.
My gunners fired another salvo at the organ gun, now lining up at them. Their aim was true, and managed to kill the remaining crew, leaving the weapon useless.
The miners charged the spearmen, who elected to flee. The charge continued into the halberdiers, who were wiped out. The spearmen then failed to rally, and started making for the table edge.
Despite the victory over the dwarven warriors, the spearmen unit was ill-placed when the minors arrived. Threatened by a charge from the rear, the unit panicked and ran. It was all Ulrik could do to rein them in and return to something approaching order. Trust in their commander overcame the men's panic, and the unit reformed to face the miners.
With only the remaining miners effectively in play, verses the spearmen and two units of hand gunners (the artillery and Wizard not counting as scoring units), the Empire was declared victorious.
As the last dwarven warriors disappeared back into the tree line, a cheer went up from the Empire forces that, for now, drowned out the cries of the wounded. For now, they were the victors however each man knew it would be only a matter of time before they returned.
Ulrik walked over to the Rinseuend, who was still ducked down behind a particularly large tree. "Sir, the Dwarven forces have been driven away. They will return in greater numbers, so perhaps you should do whatever you need to do in this tomb." Wordlessly the wizard nodded, and regained his composure. He entered the tomb, whilst Ulrik posted pickets around the hastily formed camp.
It was going to be a long night.
Friday, June 01, 2007
Things not to say...
...to airport security: "I'm here to shoot a pilot"
From Aero-news.net
Report: Hollywood Director Detained By LAX Security
Ya Need To Watch What You Say Around Airports...
In Hollywood vernacular, a "pilot" is a proof-of-concept production to sell an idea for a TV show or movie. And what cameramen do with cameras is called "shooting" a movie. Perhaps airport security screeners in Los Angeles, CA need training on local vocabulary, or maybe they're just wound a little too tight.
Either way, Monsters and Critics reports a tale regarding director Mike Figgis, best known for his film "Leaving Las Vegas", in an encounter with security at Los Angeles International Airport. The story has Figgis being asked the purpose of his visit, and responding, "I'm here to shoot a pilot."
As you might imagine, completely un-hip security personnel are said to have detained the director for five hours until they finally consulted online sources to confirm the phrase's alternate meaning.
We're not completely sure whether this story isn't just an urban legend... but if it is, it's certainly a believable one!
FMI: www.lawa.org
From Aero-news.net
Report: Hollywood Director Detained By LAX Security
Ya Need To Watch What You Say Around Airports...
In Hollywood vernacular, a "pilot" is a proof-of-concept production to sell an idea for a TV show or movie. And what cameramen do with cameras is called "shooting" a movie. Perhaps airport security screeners in Los Angeles, CA need training on local vocabulary, or maybe they're just wound a little too tight.
Either way, Monsters and Critics reports a tale regarding director Mike Figgis, best known for his film "Leaving Las Vegas", in an encounter with security at Los Angeles International Airport. The story has Figgis being asked the purpose of his visit, and responding, "I'm here to shoot a pilot."
As you might imagine, completely un-hip security personnel are said to have detained the director for five hours until they finally consulted online sources to confirm the phrase's alternate meaning.
We're not completely sure whether this story isn't just an urban legend... but if it is, it's certainly a believable one!
FMI: www.lawa.org
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
A Call to Arms
Well, this will be another entry title to avoid if you aren't interested in wargaming.
With the re-emergence of the Nemesis Crown in the forests of the Empire, I have been persuaded to join in the Warhammer Fantasy Battle campaign over the summer.
The first problem was, of course, which army to go for. This was tricky.
My first thought was to go for Night Goblins. Completely unreliable troops, and lots of random-but-potentially-lethal special options (squigs!). They would have made an interesting change from the Dark Angels, however one thing stopped me. Night Goblins are green. And black. And I have painted a lot of green and black troops.
Okay...
I've always liked the look of the undead armies, and very nearly ended up collecting an undead horde when I first got into gaming. Nowadays, there are two routes, Vampire Counts and Tomb Kings. The latter is an Egyptian feel to things, and concentrates mostly on skeletons and variations thereof. Vampire Counts allows other undead, but with both armies you need lots of troops...which fall apart (literally) once your commanders are killed.
To cut a long story short* I've gone for Empire troops. Not the most imaginative choice, perhaps, but more scope for a different colour scheme to other things I have, and there are some tactical challenges to using them.
Over the last couple of weeks I've picked up a couple of cheap sets from eBay, and with the freebies I looted at the weekend I've now got a reasonable starting force of 1,000 points.
All the troops I have are assembled and undercoated and I'll make a start on them this week.
* Too late!
With the re-emergence of the Nemesis Crown in the forests of the Empire, I have been persuaded to join in the Warhammer Fantasy Battle campaign over the summer.
The first problem was, of course, which army to go for. This was tricky.
My first thought was to go for Night Goblins. Completely unreliable troops, and lots of random-but-potentially-lethal special options (squigs!). They would have made an interesting change from the Dark Angels, however one thing stopped me. Night Goblins are green. And black. And I have painted a lot of green and black troops.
Okay...
I've always liked the look of the undead armies, and very nearly ended up collecting an undead horde when I first got into gaming. Nowadays, there are two routes, Vampire Counts and Tomb Kings. The latter is an Egyptian feel to things, and concentrates mostly on skeletons and variations thereof. Vampire Counts allows other undead, but with both armies you need lots of troops...which fall apart (literally) once your commanders are killed.
To cut a long story short* I've gone for Empire troops. Not the most imaginative choice, perhaps, but more scope for a different colour scheme to other things I have, and there are some tactical challenges to using them.
Over the last couple of weeks I've picked up a couple of cheap sets from eBay, and with the freebies I looted at the weekend I've now got a reasonable starting force of 1,000 points.
All the troops I have are assembled and undercoated and I'll make a start on them this week.
* Too late!
White Dwarf XXX
It seems that a lot of things are marking 30 years this year. As well as myself and Star Wars (released last week in 1977) the White Dwarf magazine has been running for thirty years as well.
GW were holding huge events all weekend, including a mega tank battle at the Bath store. This was fun, albeit total confusion. Jasper and I managed to field 21 vehicles in total (mostly wrecks and works in progress from me) and even then didn't have the highest count.
Jasper:
Leman Russ
Rhino
Dreadnought (good ol' Bomb Magnet himself!)
Mine:
Land Raider
3 Razorbacks
1 Whirlwind
Dreadnought
2 Leman Russ
Chimera
Predator
3 Land Speeders
1 Attack bike
Wrecks:
Predator, 3 Rhinos, Vindicator
The game itself was manic; Jasper and I ended up overseeing our end of the table, as we had eight grots taking part who weren't to hot on the game mechanics. Fun, but hard work. We managed to stop one little tyke from bullying smaller players into using his (loose) interpretation of the rules - surprisingly this meant he didn't kill things as easily, whilst his opponents had a chance at killing us. Once we realised what he was doing, out losses began mounting at a more realistic rate. Total losses were around 5-6 of the above list, whilst we racked up something similar. This was despite our Slanesh allies going nuts and attacking us by mistake (losing a Razorback) and my total inability to kill a group of bikers (firing the entire arsenal from the Land Raider, Leman Russ, Whirlwind and two Razor backs at them, for no kills). Matt fared better, as he was able to successfully roll the dice.
"Man of the Match" has to go to the little girl who had 'borrowed' two of her Dad's Carnifex models to add to our side. These are biologically engineered creatures from the Tyranid army (think Alien) who scour planets for biological matter to use (think Independence Day). The creatures are usually nasty enough, but these guys ripped through at least five tanks without taking a wound. She had great fun rolling all the dice and removing the 'dead' tanks.
After two hours of play, and having helped our side take out almost all the enemy at our end of the table (mopping up, really, after the Carnifex rampage), our opponents decided they wanted to defect; so Jasper and I packed our force away, and left the survivors to it.
During the fun and games, I managed to get several Empire sprues of plastics (enough for a couple of complete units!) whilst Matt has now started his Tau (well, once he finds his feet).
So a fun day, even if rather geeky.
GW were holding huge events all weekend, including a mega tank battle at the Bath store. This was fun, albeit total confusion. Jasper and I managed to field 21 vehicles in total (mostly wrecks and works in progress from me) and even then didn't have the highest count.
Jasper:
Leman Russ
Rhino
Dreadnought (good ol' Bomb Magnet himself!)
Mine:
Land Raider
3 Razorbacks
1 Whirlwind
Dreadnought
2 Leman Russ
Chimera
Predator
3 Land Speeders
1 Attack bike
Wrecks:
Predator, 3 Rhinos, Vindicator
The game itself was manic; Jasper and I ended up overseeing our end of the table, as we had eight grots taking part who weren't to hot on the game mechanics. Fun, but hard work. We managed to stop one little tyke from bullying smaller players into using his (loose) interpretation of the rules - surprisingly this meant he didn't kill things as easily, whilst his opponents had a chance at killing us. Once we realised what he was doing, out losses began mounting at a more realistic rate. Total losses were around 5-6 of the above list, whilst we racked up something similar. This was despite our Slanesh allies going nuts and attacking us by mistake (losing a Razorback) and my total inability to kill a group of bikers (firing the entire arsenal from the Land Raider, Leman Russ, Whirlwind and two Razor backs at them, for no kills). Matt fared better, as he was able to successfully roll the dice.
"Man of the Match" has to go to the little girl who had 'borrowed' two of her Dad's Carnifex models to add to our side. These are biologically engineered creatures from the Tyranid army (think Alien) who scour planets for biological matter to use (think Independence Day). The creatures are usually nasty enough, but these guys ripped through at least five tanks without taking a wound. She had great fun rolling all the dice and removing the 'dead' tanks.
After two hours of play, and having helped our side take out almost all the enemy at our end of the table (mopping up, really, after the Carnifex rampage), our opponents decided they wanted to defect; so Jasper and I packed our force away, and left the survivors to it.
During the fun and games, I managed to get several Empire sprues of plastics (enough for a couple of complete units!) whilst Matt has now started his Tau (well, once he finds his feet).
So a fun day, even if rather geeky.
Friday, May 18, 2007
From the Front Line - Beginings
This was something I put together in preparation for a WH40K campaign running soon at the local GW. As the Dark Angels Commander, this is the background to our forces being present.
Beginnings
The Dark Angels battle fleet had been shadowing the Imperial ship for months. Years of investigation by the Dark Angels agents across a hundred worlds had led to a full third of the Chapter being re-deployed. The opportunity to locate another Fallen was too great to miss. However the Eldar surprise attack on their quarry had complicated matters.
Deep in the bowels of the ship, in the most sacred Sanctum, five cowled figures stood in a circle. The air was thick with incense, shrouding the men as much as their hooded robes. The glow of vidscreens added a haunting backlight that only made the faces in the hoods even darker.
The door hissed open, and another figure arrived. The swirl of air allowed a brief glimpse of blue power armour emblazoned with runes and psychic hexes.
“Is it true?” one of the hoods asked of the new comer.
“Brothers, it is confirmed. Some images were intercepted just before the Eldar attacked. They show a Mark I Aquila-class shuttle leaving the Corvinus as she came under fire. Markings are consistent with those used by the Legion.”
“Then it is one of the Fallen?”
“Unconfirmed.”
“What happened to the shuttle?”
“Our observerators saw the shuttle hit and enter the atmosphere. Assessment is that it was badly damaged, but not critically. A 48% chance of survival for crew and passengers. 89% for Adeptus Astartes. Best estimate for a landing point is ...” He gestured at a vidscreen, “Here. Close to this city.”
“Then the time for secrecy is over. It matters not that we are detected now.” One of the figure straightened up, and threw back his hood. “We should deploy forces before further Imperial forces arrive.”
“They may already be on their way. A distress call was sent before out Astropath could intercept it. There are at least two Imperial Guard fleets in the area, including Astartes reinforcements. The Ultramarines 2nd fleet is closest.”
“Very well. Send word to our brothers. Deploy the Ravenwing to the crash site. Prepare support forces to launch a drop pod assault and establish a beach head as soon as possible. And ready my armour. I shall over see this operation personally.”
“Yes, Master.”
Beginnings
The Dark Angels battle fleet had been shadowing the Imperial ship for months. Years of investigation by the Dark Angels agents across a hundred worlds had led to a full third of the Chapter being re-deployed. The opportunity to locate another Fallen was too great to miss. However the Eldar surprise attack on their quarry had complicated matters.
Deep in the bowels of the ship, in the most sacred Sanctum, five cowled figures stood in a circle. The air was thick with incense, shrouding the men as much as their hooded robes. The glow of vidscreens added a haunting backlight that only made the faces in the hoods even darker.
The door hissed open, and another figure arrived. The swirl of air allowed a brief glimpse of blue power armour emblazoned with runes and psychic hexes.
“Is it true?” one of the hoods asked of the new comer.
“Brothers, it is confirmed. Some images were intercepted just before the Eldar attacked. They show a Mark I Aquila-class shuttle leaving the Corvinus as she came under fire. Markings are consistent with those used by the Legion.”
“Then it is one of the Fallen?”
“Unconfirmed.”
“What happened to the shuttle?”
“Our observerators saw the shuttle hit and enter the atmosphere. Assessment is that it was badly damaged, but not critically. A 48% chance of survival for crew and passengers. 89% for Adeptus Astartes. Best estimate for a landing point is ...” He gestured at a vidscreen, “Here. Close to this city.”
“Then the time for secrecy is over. It matters not that we are detected now.” One of the figure straightened up, and threw back his hood. “We should deploy forces before further Imperial forces arrive.”
“They may already be on their way. A distress call was sent before out Astropath could intercept it. There are at least two Imperial Guard fleets in the area, including Astartes reinforcements. The Ultramarines 2nd fleet is closest.”
“Very well. Send word to our brothers. Deploy the Ravenwing to the crash site. Prepare support forces to launch a drop pod assault and establish a beach head as soon as possible. And ready my armour. I shall over see this operation personally.”
“Yes, Master.”
Bremen
I managed to wangle a two-day trip to Bremen this week, which allowed me an evening to wander around the Alt Stadt. I had dinner at the windmill.
And finally, the Musicians of Bremen
And finally, the Musicians of Bremen
Dyrham Park - Tulip Mania
A few weeks ago I went over to Dyrham Park for the Tulip Mania event. The house and family had strong links with tulips and the Netherlands, and so has a big weekend each May when the tulips flower.
Alas, many of the tulips are inside the house where I could not take photos, but here are a few from the morning's walk.
Looking across at the church.
I had to wonder where the occupant had gone...
A couple of shots of the tulips...
On the way back I managed to find the herd of deer.
Alas, many of the tulips are inside the house where I could not take photos, but here are a few from the morning's walk.
Looking across at the church.
I had to wonder where the occupant had gone...
A couple of shots of the tulips...
On the way back I managed to find the herd of deer.
Saturday, May 12, 2007
From the Front Line - The Great Squig Hopper Derby
The local GW store is running a series of events to mark the 30th year of White Dwarf.
One of these will be the Squig Hopper Derby.
The problem I had is that I don't have a squig. Or a rider for it. Easily resolved, of course.
I managed to paint these in a little over an afternoon, from undercoat to varnish.
So, here is Dodge, the Goblin Champion-to-be, riding his squig "Vyper".
One of these will be the Squig Hopper Derby.
The problem I had is that I don't have a squig. Or a rider for it. Easily resolved, of course.
I managed to paint these in a little over an afternoon, from undercoat to varnish.
So, here is Dodge, the Goblin Champion-to-be, riding his squig "Vyper".
Friday, May 11, 2007
From the Front Line - Movie Marines and Ordnance
Okay, last night was interesting.
First up...Movie Marines!
Some donut (sic) in the US WD team decided that the current Marine stats line didn't reflect the marines from the stories. So he created Movie Marines.
Each marine is an Independent Character with stats WS, BS, S, T = 6 and two wounds a piece and four attacks.
Bolters are Assault 4, S6, AP4, and Rending.
Bolt pistols are Assault 4, S6, AP4, and Rending.
Frag missiles are ordnance template, S6, AP3
Krak missiles are small template, S10, AP1
Chainswords are Rending.
Armour save 3+ with re-roll, 3+ invulnerable save.
Each Marine is 100 points (although perhaps 150 from later information)
With the month of fun to celebrate 30 years of WD, they were running a movie marine challenge - take on the squad of ten with a 1000 point army (upped to 1500 after my game) with a potential prize for whomever kills most movie marines before being wiped out.
I managed to nail one of them before I was wiped out. Fun to try once.
What really pissed me off was the GW guy running it, herein known as Dopey. He's from the Bristol store, and was all "oh, these are how marines are supposed to be!", having seen the issue of WD that contained the rules. He came in part way through my game, after Zak had started us off (hence the mistake in points values) and we were playing the scenario where each side is trying to get off the opposite table edge. When he mentioned the Independent character bit, I pointed out (with tongue in cheek and half my army gone) that the movie marines now had no scoring units. "Oh, but they're movie marines, you don't play scenarios with them, they just kill everything!" was the reply. He didn't like our questions about how "Movie Guard" or "Movie Eldar" would work, since they too seem to be far more powerful in the stories...
Whilst I did enjoy the game as a one-off, I wasn't prepared to play again, even as the Movie Marine player (far too one sided!).
Anyway, had a second game against George and his Eldar (the little fellow can really paint well!). We had to call it a day after turn three as Dopey (GW guy) wanted to cash up early. I lost, having lost the entire Ravenwing squadron...but that's another story. I fielded a heavy bolter in the tactical squad, and oh boy is that good at mowing down Eldar. I think the guy single headedly accounted for 10 kills. The rest came from the Whirlwind. Ohboyohboyohboy. Indirect fire, S5 against T3 troops. With a template big enough to nail 3-6 models per turn. Amazing against squads that are skulking behind cover trying to avoid be hit by a mad man with a heavy bolter! And all for 85 points. Me need more. I can see why they are so useful in Cities of Death (not what we were using). You just plonk it behind a nice big piece of scenery so that nothing can see you. And then point and say "Die!". Ahem.
First up...Movie Marines!
Some donut (sic) in the US WD team decided that the current Marine stats line didn't reflect the marines from the stories. So he created Movie Marines.
Each marine is an Independent Character with stats WS, BS, S, T = 6 and two wounds a piece and four attacks.
Bolters are Assault 4, S6, AP4, and Rending.
Bolt pistols are Assault 4, S6, AP4, and Rending.
Frag missiles are ordnance template, S6, AP3
Krak missiles are small template, S10, AP1
Chainswords are Rending.
Armour save 3+ with re-roll, 3+ invulnerable save.
Each Marine is 100 points (although perhaps 150 from later information)
With the month of fun to celebrate 30 years of WD, they were running a movie marine challenge - take on the squad of ten with a 1000 point army (upped to 1500 after my game) with a potential prize for whomever kills most movie marines before being wiped out.
I managed to nail one of them before I was wiped out. Fun to try once.
What really pissed me off was the GW guy running it, herein known as Dopey. He's from the Bristol store, and was all "oh, these are how marines are supposed to be!", having seen the issue of WD that contained the rules. He came in part way through my game, after Zak had started us off (hence the mistake in points values) and we were playing the scenario where each side is trying to get off the opposite table edge. When he mentioned the Independent character bit, I pointed out (with tongue in cheek and half my army gone) that the movie marines now had no scoring units. "Oh, but they're movie marines, you don't play scenarios with them, they just kill everything!" was the reply. He didn't like our questions about how "Movie Guard" or "Movie Eldar" would work, since they too seem to be far more powerful in the stories...
Whilst I did enjoy the game as a one-off, I wasn't prepared to play again, even as the Movie Marine player (far too one sided!).
Anyway, had a second game against George and his Eldar (the little fellow can really paint well!). We had to call it a day after turn three as Dopey (GW guy) wanted to cash up early. I lost, having lost the entire Ravenwing squadron...but that's another story. I fielded a heavy bolter in the tactical squad, and oh boy is that good at mowing down Eldar. I think the guy single headedly accounted for 10 kills. The rest came from the Whirlwind. Ohboyohboyohboy. Indirect fire, S5 against T3 troops. With a template big enough to nail 3-6 models per turn. Amazing against squads that are skulking behind cover trying to avoid be hit by a mad man with a heavy bolter! And all for 85 points. Me need more. I can see why they are so useful in Cities of Death (not what we were using). You just plonk it behind a nice big piece of scenery so that nothing can see you. And then point and say "Die!". Ahem.
Saturday, May 05, 2007
Lord of the 300
Went to see 300, or rather, Lord of the Rings (The Tarantino Edit).
A good film, don't get me wrong, I couldn't help spotting the LotR inspiration...
...the heroes are being followed by a lone figure with long fingers (first scene he wraps them around a rock). Cue "preciousssssss" comments.
...the cave troll was back. I guess he was one of the few people for whom LotR didn't really kick start the flagging career.
...the Oliphaunts had been given remodelled rider's stations, and a coat of paint.
...an amulet passed from one to another before departure.
Some of the Immortals even looked like Orcs.
Imagery that was clearly cut from the final edit included
- the Spartan king standing at the head of the gorge shouting "You shall not pass!" at the approaching Persians
- his wife reforging his family's broken sword...
Mind you, it was a whole lot better than the travesty that was Troy...
A good film, don't get me wrong, I couldn't help spotting the LotR inspiration...
...the heroes are being followed by a lone figure with long fingers (first scene he wraps them around a rock). Cue "preciousssssss" comments.
...the cave troll was back. I guess he was one of the few people for whom LotR didn't really kick start the flagging career.
...the Oliphaunts had been given remodelled rider's stations, and a coat of paint.
...an amulet passed from one to another before departure.
Some of the Immortals even looked like Orcs.
Imagery that was clearly cut from the final edit included
- the Spartan king standing at the head of the gorge shouting "You shall not pass!" at the approaching Persians
- his wife reforging his family's broken sword...
Mind you, it was a whole lot better than the travesty that was Troy...
Friday, May 04, 2007
New toy
I succumbed and bought a juicer. My only condition was that anything I drink must be made from mostly fruit. Veggie-based drinks just do not appeal.
I've only had a couple of days to experiment , but have so far found the following:
Things That Can Be Juiced:
Squishy fruit
Squishy vegetables
Not-so squishy vegetables
Things That Cannot or Should Not Be Juiced:
Squishy Fruit with Hard Centres (anyone know how to dig peach stones out of brick work?)
Celery (you can juice it, but it tastes like crap)
Cfer the Neighbourhood Cat (won't fit down the pipe)
In addition, I have learnt that:
(a) You need a jug to collect the juice. The worktop doesn't work so well for this.
(b) Even oranges will fire back up the spout and hit the ceiling if one neglects to use the pushy-downy stick thing.
I'm working on a way to make (b) an effective missile defence system. But I'm going to need more oranges, and a long handled mop.
I've only had a couple of days to experiment , but have so far found the following:
Things That Can Be Juiced:
Squishy fruit
Squishy vegetables
Not-so squishy vegetables
Things That Cannot or Should Not Be Juiced:
Squishy Fruit with Hard Centres (anyone know how to dig peach stones out of brick work?)
Celery (you can juice it, but it tastes like crap)
Cfer the Neighbourhood Cat (won't fit down the pipe)
In addition, I have learnt that:
(a) You need a jug to collect the juice. The worktop doesn't work so well for this.
(b) Even oranges will fire back up the spout and hit the ceiling if one neglects to use the pushy-downy stick thing.
I'm working on a way to make (b) an effective missile defence system. But I'm going to need more oranges, and a long handled mop.
International Star Wars Day!
Just wanted to remind everyone that today is International Star Wars Day.
May the Fourth be with you.
I'll get my coat before the beatings begin.
May the Fourth be with you.
I'll get my coat before the beatings begin.
From the Front Line - Dark Angels,Third Company
Following a conversation with Jasper a few weeks ago, I realised that I have a lot of marines. Many marines, if you speak Troll.
So I was thinking...a company of marines would be interesting...
For those unfamiliar with the space marines, each Chapter (e.g. Dark Angels) are organised into 10 Companies. Each Company comprises of 100 marines, in 10 squads. Yes, similar to the Romans.
Of these, the First company are the veterans, who wear the heavy Terminator armour (known as Deathwing for Dark Angels). T
The Dark Angels second company is the Ravenwing, different to other Chapters. These are the one riding bikes/Land Speeders and provide a scouting role.
The Dark Angels 3rd Company is Battle company, that is it comprises a mix of different troops for tactical flexibility. Six tactical squads, two Devastator and two Assault.
So far, I'm an assault squad and two Tactical squads short, but I do have a lot to paint at the moment! With the assault squad finally finished, the first Devastator squad is underway. At some point I also have the Ravenwing squadron to paint.
Finally, my Rhino/Razorback conversions are nearly completed. The Rhino personnel carrier is a chassis used in almost all space marine vehicles. The Razorback adds a small turret to the top, and the Whirlwind a larger MLRS-style rocket pod. Instead of buying a chassis for each tank, I picked up four second-hand rhinos and removed the top doors. This panel is a pair of doors in the Rhino, but is replaced by a turret mount for the other vehicles.
Instead of gluing the turret panel in place, I've left it loose. One way up, and it's a turret mount, turn it over and it's an access hatch. The turret itself can then be inserted, do far I have the option of Lascannon, heavy bolters or Whirlwind multi-launcher for two of them. I'll include some photos soon of them.
So I was thinking...a company of marines would be interesting...
For those unfamiliar with the space marines, each Chapter (e.g. Dark Angels) are organised into 10 Companies. Each Company comprises of 100 marines, in 10 squads. Yes, similar to the Romans.
Of these, the First company are the veterans, who wear the heavy Terminator armour (known as Deathwing for Dark Angels). T
The Dark Angels second company is the Ravenwing, different to other Chapters. These are the one riding bikes/Land Speeders and provide a scouting role.
The Dark Angels 3rd Company is Battle company, that is it comprises a mix of different troops for tactical flexibility. Six tactical squads, two Devastator and two Assault.
So far, I'm an assault squad and two Tactical squads short, but I do have a lot to paint at the moment! With the assault squad finally finished, the first Devastator squad is underway. At some point I also have the Ravenwing squadron to paint.
Finally, my Rhino/Razorback conversions are nearly completed. The Rhino personnel carrier is a chassis used in almost all space marine vehicles. The Razorback adds a small turret to the top, and the Whirlwind a larger MLRS-style rocket pod. Instead of buying a chassis for each tank, I picked up four second-hand rhinos and removed the top doors. This panel is a pair of doors in the Rhino, but is replaced by a turret mount for the other vehicles.
Instead of gluing the turret panel in place, I've left it loose. One way up, and it's a turret mount, turn it over and it's an access hatch. The turret itself can then be inserted, do far I have the option of Lascannon, heavy bolters or Whirlwind multi-launcher for two of them. I'll include some photos soon of them.
From the Front Line - More Plasma!
As mentioned in the battle report for this week, I fielded plasma cannons for the first time. Until now, I haven't done this, as I wasn't convinced of their usefulness, especially in light of the Gets Hot! rule, which gives a 1 in 6 chance of the weapon over heating when it fires. This means the marine gets hit by the weapons super-heated coolant as it vents to prevent the plasma exploding. An armour saving throw is needed to survive*. However, as we showed it's not too much of a problem as the marine usually passes his armour save. By taking two or three plasma cannon, the risk of losing all your heavy weapons this way is reduced further.
Lascannon are the ultimate (well, not so ultimate as they were in 2nd Ed) anti-tank weapon, at S9. Plasma cannons are S8, which doesn't make a lot of difference against lightly armoured vehicles.
Against troops, the plasma cannon is just as effective against those hit. My reluctance to use the plasma cannon was the logic that the small blast template would normally only cover one troop, assuming the enemy squad is spread out. Whilst it is generally good practice to ensure your squads are spread out to avoid ordnance/blast weapons, in practice there are always going to be cases where this isn't possible (teleporting troops for instance). Therefore you could reasonably expect to hit one model, maybe two with most shots, and if lucky three or four. Each hit is most likely going to result in a kill, even against terminators.
So, it's likely that I'll be putting the plasma cannon into the Tactical squads more often in future.
*I've seen on Warseer that some people interpret this rule as saying the weapon effectively hits the firer, and so no armour save would be allowed (AP2 weapon against 3+ armour). However, no one I've played against interprets it that way, and fluff-wise it's clear that it's coolant not an actual hit.
Lascannon are the ultimate (well, not so ultimate as they were in 2nd Ed) anti-tank weapon, at S9. Plasma cannons are S8, which doesn't make a lot of difference against lightly armoured vehicles.
Against troops, the plasma cannon is just as effective against those hit. My reluctance to use the plasma cannon was the logic that the small blast template would normally only cover one troop, assuming the enemy squad is spread out. Whilst it is generally good practice to ensure your squads are spread out to avoid ordnance/blast weapons, in practice there are always going to be cases where this isn't possible (teleporting troops for instance). Therefore you could reasonably expect to hit one model, maybe two with most shots, and if lucky three or four. Each hit is most likely going to result in a kill, even against terminators.
So, it's likely that I'll be putting the plasma cannon into the Tactical squads more often in future.
*I've seen on Warseer that some people interpret this rule as saying the weapon effectively hits the firer, and so no armour save would be allowed (AP2 weapon against 3+ armour). However, no one I've played against interprets it that way, and fluff-wise it's clear that it's coolant not an actual hit.
From the Front Line - A Multitude of Angels
Last nights game needed some fluff to explain the battle. Dark Angels versus Dark Angels. (we were the first two players to arrive, that's all!). Instead of admitting that Dark Angels could be conned into fighting each other by the evil machinations of Cypher, we agreed it was merely a training exercise. Using live ammunition, obviously.
1,500 points was a larger game than normal, but this did allow me to field the full 10-man assault squad (the additional five men being finally finished), the Deathwing squad and two full tactical squads (one with plasma cannon to try it out).
I won't go into a full write up, as it's tricky to remember in enough details. However, a few key moments are listed.
Opponent's Land Raider stops at the objective and out pops a squad of assault Deathwing. They can't my assault squad me due to the range, but I don't really want to let them charge me. Preparing to sell themselves dearly, every man and his dog opens fire at the Deathwing. When the dust settled, all five had been killed, two by the plasma cannon.
My dreadnought (with no close combat weapon) managed to blow away the oncoming enemy dreadnought (fully equipped for close combat).
My Interrogator Chaplain gets charged by his Librarian in terminator armour...I roll four hits and three wounds; the librarian trips over his force axe and misses complexly, then fails to save. Oops. :)
My squad of Deathwing finally arrive on turn four, in the middle of the enemy's deployment zone. Taking fire from three combat squads (including a plasma cannon), they calmly advance, take two of the squads down to below-half (i.e. non-scoring) with shooting and wipe out the third who was daft enough to charge them in an attempt to slow them down. On my final turn they march up to the objective.
Lessons Learnt:
Plasma cannon are useful. Of the three on the table, only one managed to kill himself from the Gets Hot! rule. This was despite on guy rolling a 1 to hit on every turn. Whilst I was pleased to kill two terminators (three were hit) with the plasma cannon hit, I was grateful not to lose any of my own when they were clumped together on arrival. My single plasma cannon was responsible for two terminator kills, a Land Raider and three marines. Not bad.
Remember the objective. My opponent seemed to forget what the objective was once his main assault force was gone. With careful fire control, I am sure he could have whittled my scoring units down so they would not count - instead he concentrated fire on squads that were already down below half strength. I caught myself almost doing the same, but fortunately remembered what we were trying to achieve. Whilst I was happy to wipe out the main threat, I ensured some fire power was directed at the combat squads to the rear of his deployment so as to prevent them from running forwards to grab the objective at the last moment.
Don't send assault squads into the objective on the first turn...I was carried away by the massive squad of ten men, and they ended up fighting around the objective with little support. They were ineffective against the Deathwing, and couldn't kill the Land Raider. Whilst they did wipe out one squad and the Librarian, this was what my 'usual' five-man squad would do. I should have sent them down one flank to take out the sniping heavy weapons. Here, they would not have been taking so much fire, and would have swamped any squads they charged.
1,500 points was a larger game than normal, but this did allow me to field the full 10-man assault squad (the additional five men being finally finished), the Deathwing squad and two full tactical squads (one with plasma cannon to try it out).
I won't go into a full write up, as it's tricky to remember in enough details. However, a few key moments are listed.
Opponent's Land Raider stops at the objective and out pops a squad of assault Deathwing. They can't my assault squad me due to the range, but I don't really want to let them charge me. Preparing to sell themselves dearly, every man and his dog opens fire at the Deathwing. When the dust settled, all five had been killed, two by the plasma cannon.
My dreadnought (with no close combat weapon) managed to blow away the oncoming enemy dreadnought (fully equipped for close combat).
My Interrogator Chaplain gets charged by his Librarian in terminator armour...I roll four hits and three wounds; the librarian trips over his force axe and misses complexly, then fails to save. Oops. :)
My squad of Deathwing finally arrive on turn four, in the middle of the enemy's deployment zone. Taking fire from three combat squads (including a plasma cannon), they calmly advance, take two of the squads down to below-half (i.e. non-scoring) with shooting and wipe out the third who was daft enough to charge them in an attempt to slow them down. On my final turn they march up to the objective.
Lessons Learnt:
Plasma cannon are useful. Of the three on the table, only one managed to kill himself from the Gets Hot! rule. This was despite on guy rolling a 1 to hit on every turn. Whilst I was pleased to kill two terminators (three were hit) with the plasma cannon hit, I was grateful not to lose any of my own when they were clumped together on arrival. My single plasma cannon was responsible for two terminator kills, a Land Raider and three marines. Not bad.
Remember the objective. My opponent seemed to forget what the objective was once his main assault force was gone. With careful fire control, I am sure he could have whittled my scoring units down so they would not count - instead he concentrated fire on squads that were already down below half strength. I caught myself almost doing the same, but fortunately remembered what we were trying to achieve. Whilst I was happy to wipe out the main threat, I ensured some fire power was directed at the combat squads to the rear of his deployment so as to prevent them from running forwards to grab the objective at the last moment.
Don't send assault squads into the objective on the first turn...I was carried away by the massive squad of ten men, and they ended up fighting around the objective with little support. They were ineffective against the Deathwing, and couldn't kill the Land Raider. Whilst they did wipe out one squad and the Librarian, this was what my 'usual' five-man squad would do. I should have sent them down one flank to take out the sniping heavy weapons. Here, they would not have been taking so much fire, and would have swamped any squads they charged.
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Doris' Diary
Although we have still not reached Weatherby, Boris and I have travelled and seen things you wouldn't believe. Cyrodill is a far more beautiful, and dangerous, place than I had realised.
The Oblivion crisis is over, it would seem. Whilst we knew Zauna was somehow involved in closing the gates, and knew she was something of a hero to the people of Kvatch, it is only now that I have realised just how vital she was to our victory. She left us a couple of weeks ago at the house in Skingrad. A nice place, paid for from her adventuring as a retirement home. She seems to feel the need to keep things on display, perhaps she grew up with very little of her own, and likes to remind herself how things have changed for her. Anyway, she has left on her own a few times before, usually for no more than a day or two at the most. This time she was gone for nearly two weeks. We had begun to worry, but she turned up. Somehow she was different than before. Darker.
I didn't find out until later that she had been part of a plan to destroy the great gate outside Bruma, and went on to Imperial City where she fought side-by-side with Chancellor Ottoca and Emperor Martin before Akatosh materialised and saved everyone.
We've seen the dragon statue in the Temple District, and find it hard to believe anyone there survived at all. The statue of Zauna in Bruma (take a look if you go there, it's near the north gate) has really captured her likeness.
Oh, I forgot to add - we have a new member to our little group. After Zauna's success in the Arena to become Grand Champion, there's this fan who seems to adore her. However, he's a complete pain in the backside. Always jumping around fawning after her and generally getting in the way. He's a total coward as well, and runs away at the first sign of trouble. Instead of telling him to beat it, Zauna seems intent on letting him stay. She loses her temper with him occasionally, and thumps him if he gets in the way. Doris and I are plotting on ways to get him into trouble - watching him jump into lava or waving his torch around in a cave to act as a decoy to the monsters inside. It keeps our spirits up.
Weatherby still awaits us, but Zauna has said it is not far now.
The Oblivion crisis is over, it would seem. Whilst we knew Zauna was somehow involved in closing the gates, and knew she was something of a hero to the people of Kvatch, it is only now that I have realised just how vital she was to our victory. She left us a couple of weeks ago at the house in Skingrad. A nice place, paid for from her adventuring as a retirement home. She seems to feel the need to keep things on display, perhaps she grew up with very little of her own, and likes to remind herself how things have changed for her. Anyway, she has left on her own a few times before, usually for no more than a day or two at the most. This time she was gone for nearly two weeks. We had begun to worry, but she turned up. Somehow she was different than before. Darker.
I didn't find out until later that she had been part of a plan to destroy the great gate outside Bruma, and went on to Imperial City where she fought side-by-side with Chancellor Ottoca and Emperor Martin before Akatosh materialised and saved everyone.
We've seen the dragon statue in the Temple District, and find it hard to believe anyone there survived at all. The statue of Zauna in Bruma (take a look if you go there, it's near the north gate) has really captured her likeness.
Oh, I forgot to add - we have a new member to our little group. After Zauna's success in the Arena to become Grand Champion, there's this fan who seems to adore her. However, he's a complete pain in the backside. Always jumping around fawning after her and generally getting in the way. He's a total coward as well, and runs away at the first sign of trouble. Instead of telling him to beat it, Zauna seems intent on letting him stay. She loses her temper with him occasionally, and thumps him if he gets in the way. Doris and I are plotting on ways to get him into trouble - watching him jump into lava or waving his torch around in a cave to act as a decoy to the monsters inside. It keeps our spirits up.
Weatherby still awaits us, but Zauna has said it is not far now.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
From the Front Line - Report
Another glorious victory for the Dark Angels, this time against Black Templars.
He had "The Mob", 18 models with a mix of marines led by a Chaplain and neophytes, a squad of 8 in a rhino led by an Emperors champion and a 5-man assault squad .
I fielded my usual force.
Take and Hold mission on a building in the centre of the battlefield.
My two Land Speeders nailed the Rhino on the first turn, then the marines that stumbled out on the second and third turns (I couldn't see them, unfortunately, as they came out of the vehicle on the first turn alas!). The Emperors Champion, however, disengaged from the unit and charged my Dreadnought. Not the sharpest tool in the box, that one. Although he could technically damage it (needing to roll 6 armour penetration) he ended up locked in combat with the Dread for the rest of the game. I counter-charged him with my Chaplain and assault squad, thinking I might have a chance through sheer weight of numbers.
Meanwhile, his assault squad landed and attacked my Rhino, only to find the hull tougher than expected. They then came under fire from my Tactical squads, losing two of their number, but were able to destroy the razorback. The final squad member failed his leadership test and started heading homewards, only to be unable to rally (I advanced the rhino to stop him from being able to!) then was finished off by the Land Speeders in the final turn.
The mob had moved forward at an astonishing rate during all of this, taking a couple of casualties from here and there. They charged into my assault squad to try and finish them off.
With only two turns to go, I had my two speeders as scoring units, plus one combat squad on the opposite flank to the fracas, all who could make it to the objective. I also had two combat squads on the right, close to the Mob, which at that point was still a scoring unit. So I did the only thing I could - the two combat squads charged in - not something that my opponent was expecting! In the ensuing mess that is multiple combats, I lost most of the two combat squads and all the assault troops, but I did reduce him to three marines and the champion.
Battle Honours go to:
One of my Veteran sergeants who had the coolness of nerve to extricate himself from the melee with his one surviving squad member, then recharge on the final turn...
The Dreadnought who managed to kill but one neophyte, yet kept locked in combat the Emperor's Champion for four turns.
The Land Speeders for killing the rhino, the squad inside it and then the assault squad almost entirely on their own. As usual, well worth their points.
Things learnt:
Units in multiple combats do not Sweeping Advance, so do not cut down opponents that break off from combat.
Black Templars move ridiculously fast, especially if you shoot them. If they take a casualty, they take a leadership test. If passed, they move toward the firing target, if failed, they break. This can, as you might think, be used to draw them away from your lines by shooting from behind, however the Chaplain means they can choose which enemy unit to move towards.
And They Shall Know No Fear allows the marines to not only pass their leadership test, but also to move and fire normally when they do (including charging!)
Emperor's Champions are nasty little buggers with a 2+ save.
Things my opponent learnt:
Take more anti-tank infantry. One hunter-killer as the only long-range weapon is not good. This particular one will henceforth be known as the "Thing that went ping"
Marines can (and will) fight in hand-to-hand if they need to.
Ignoring Land Speeders is suicide.
Don't let a unit of marines and neophytes with S4 and no power fists get into combat with a Dreadnought with Front Armour 12 (I recall us both learning that one the hard way!)
How To Use a Tape Measure. This was the guy who will move the front rank 6", then leap frog the second rank over the first.
Putting marines at the front of a squad, and the neophytes at the back for casualty removal doesn't work when the 12" range only covers the marines!
He had "The Mob", 18 models with a mix of marines led by a Chaplain and neophytes, a squad of 8 in a rhino led by an Emperors champion and a 5-man assault squad .
I fielded my usual force.
Take and Hold mission on a building in the centre of the battlefield.
My two Land Speeders nailed the Rhino on the first turn, then the marines that stumbled out on the second and third turns (I couldn't see them, unfortunately, as they came out of the vehicle on the first turn alas!). The Emperors Champion, however, disengaged from the unit and charged my Dreadnought. Not the sharpest tool in the box, that one. Although he could technically damage it (needing to roll 6 armour penetration) he ended up locked in combat with the Dread for the rest of the game. I counter-charged him with my Chaplain and assault squad, thinking I might have a chance through sheer weight of numbers.
Meanwhile, his assault squad landed and attacked my Rhino, only to find the hull tougher than expected. They then came under fire from my Tactical squads, losing two of their number, but were able to destroy the razorback. The final squad member failed his leadership test and started heading homewards, only to be unable to rally (I advanced the rhino to stop him from being able to!) then was finished off by the Land Speeders in the final turn.
The mob had moved forward at an astonishing rate during all of this, taking a couple of casualties from here and there. They charged into my assault squad to try and finish them off.
With only two turns to go, I had my two speeders as scoring units, plus one combat squad on the opposite flank to the fracas, all who could make it to the objective. I also had two combat squads on the right, close to the Mob, which at that point was still a scoring unit. So I did the only thing I could - the two combat squads charged in - not something that my opponent was expecting! In the ensuing mess that is multiple combats, I lost most of the two combat squads and all the assault troops, but I did reduce him to three marines and the champion.
Battle Honours go to:
One of my Veteran sergeants who had the coolness of nerve to extricate himself from the melee with his one surviving squad member, then recharge on the final turn...
The Dreadnought who managed to kill but one neophyte, yet kept locked in combat the Emperor's Champion for four turns.
The Land Speeders for killing the rhino, the squad inside it and then the assault squad almost entirely on their own. As usual, well worth their points.
Things learnt:
Units in multiple combats do not Sweeping Advance, so do not cut down opponents that break off from combat.
Black Templars move ridiculously fast, especially if you shoot them. If they take a casualty, they take a leadership test. If passed, they move toward the firing target, if failed, they break. This can, as you might think, be used to draw them away from your lines by shooting from behind, however the Chaplain means they can choose which enemy unit to move towards.
And They Shall Know No Fear allows the marines to not only pass their leadership test, but also to move and fire normally when they do (including charging!)
Emperor's Champions are nasty little buggers with a 2+ save.
Things my opponent learnt:
Take more anti-tank infantry. One hunter-killer as the only long-range weapon is not good. This particular one will henceforth be known as the "Thing that went ping"
Marines can (and will) fight in hand-to-hand if they need to.
Ignoring Land Speeders is suicide.
Don't let a unit of marines and neophytes with S4 and no power fists get into combat with a Dreadnought with Front Armour 12 (I recall us both learning that one the hard way!)
How To Use a Tape Measure. This was the guy who will move the front rank 6", then leap frog the second rank over the first.
Putting marines at the front of a squad, and the neophytes at the back for casualty removal doesn't work when the 12" range only covers the marines!
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Oblivion - Those who are about to die salute you!
Well, Zauna's progress has been ever going onwards and upwards, literally so with the Oblivion Gates opening up all over the shop. Several have now been closed, however not without incident.
Boris and Doris managed to get lost in one of the Oblivion Planes I visited. On popping out of a door to find that the narrow bridge ahead had not been lowered, it transpired that the lads had been placed where the bridge wasn't, if you see what I mean. Cue hysterical laughter as the two of them spend a moment frozen in mid air, cartoon like, before gravity remembers they are there and they drop several hundred feet. I didn't seem them again until leaving that plane, but I suspect they had great fun running around on lava and getting to know the various beasties wandering around. I think it does them good to go out on their own every now and then! Fans will be glad to hear that they turned up after the gate was closed looking rather sheepish. And strangely silent about the whole affair. Since then, jokes about looking before you leap have not gone down well.
Another gate of note was the Bruma gate, where the local constabulary are all up for taking out the gate, but need to know how to do it. If you have an Oblivion Gate problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire the Zauna-Team. Of course, the foray into the Plane had a terminal effect on most of the City Guards (apart from their invincible leader) Any allegations that the guards were killed by Blue-on-Blue friendly fire are untrue. It's not my fault the two magical staffs, one with an area-effect fireball and the other target-only, look identical. These things should be more carefully labelled so that mistakes aren't made in the heat of battle (no pun intended). Anyway, the people of Bruma seemed to be impressed, even if the official investigation into the incident continues. In Zauna's favour, however, is the fact that of the three surviving witnesses, two won't find their way home if they say anything and the third was unconscious after being clobbered by the Storm-atrach that was the real intended target of the giant ball of fire.
After those little jaunts, Zauna took a little R&R in Imperial City, and ended up as Grand Champion of the Arena in a little over two days. It would seem that starting these 'quests' at level 20 makes the whole thing a little easier - especially if you have a Paralysis-enchanted Wizards Staff. Yes, that's right. The gates go up, and the combatant runs towards you. One blast from the staff later, and they are on the floor. Finishing them off is then relatively easy (if a little one-sided). Of course, you can be given a nasty surprise by those that have some immunity to paralysis...
So Zauna (or Dragonheart as her fans call her) is now Grand Champion, and even has her own Adoring Fan. He's been tentatively christened Onion-head due to his hair-do, but I'll try and come up with something more catchy later. In the mean time, the little runts enthusiasm to lick clean my boots or give a back rub is going to get to me soon. I haven't the heart to send him on his way, as the scope for fun in devising ways to ...er... bump him off is too tempting (coming soon to this Blog! - a new miniseries titled Killing Onion-Head!). Yes, he's as un-killable as Boris and Doris! Alas, unlike the Thompson Twins, Onion-Head really is a complete wuss and runs at the first sign of trouble. However, since he insists on carrying a torch as soon as it gets dark, he makes a great decoy when exploring underground - any monster in the area sees the light and attacks on sight. Since Onion-Head's instinct is to run, and the monster's is to chase, it is therefore easy to wait for it to pass, then turn around and hit it in the back. Hey, it's not dishonourable to stab evil things in the back.
Along with a couple more completed side-quests, Zauna has also invested in the largest house available to buy. The manor in Skingrad is very nice, with the bonus of a hidden treasure in the basement. Expensive to add all the furnishings, however, which has led to an unexplained run of burglaries in the neighbourhood, starting with the weapons shop next door with the adjoining balcony. Damn cat burglars. A word to the wise, however; don't assume every house is going to be populated by one or two sleeping people at two in the morning. The house opposite the manor was full of undead! Not the sort of thing you want to meet when sneaking around without your armour on. There really should be a law against that sort of thing. Someone could get hurt.
The adventures continue...
Boris and Doris managed to get lost in one of the Oblivion Planes I visited. On popping out of a door to find that the narrow bridge ahead had not been lowered, it transpired that the lads had been placed where the bridge wasn't, if you see what I mean. Cue hysterical laughter as the two of them spend a moment frozen in mid air, cartoon like, before gravity remembers they are there and they drop several hundred feet. I didn't seem them again until leaving that plane, but I suspect they had great fun running around on lava and getting to know the various beasties wandering around. I think it does them good to go out on their own every now and then! Fans will be glad to hear that they turned up after the gate was closed looking rather sheepish. And strangely silent about the whole affair. Since then, jokes about looking before you leap have not gone down well.
Another gate of note was the Bruma gate, where the local constabulary are all up for taking out the gate, but need to know how to do it. If you have an Oblivion Gate problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire the Zauna-Team. Of course, the foray into the Plane had a terminal effect on most of the City Guards (apart from their invincible leader) Any allegations that the guards were killed by Blue-on-Blue friendly fire are untrue. It's not my fault the two magical staffs, one with an area-effect fireball and the other target-only, look identical. These things should be more carefully labelled so that mistakes aren't made in the heat of battle (no pun intended). Anyway, the people of Bruma seemed to be impressed, even if the official investigation into the incident continues. In Zauna's favour, however, is the fact that of the three surviving witnesses, two won't find their way home if they say anything and the third was unconscious after being clobbered by the Storm-atrach that was the real intended target of the giant ball of fire.
After those little jaunts, Zauna took a little R&R in Imperial City, and ended up as Grand Champion of the Arena in a little over two days. It would seem that starting these 'quests' at level 20 makes the whole thing a little easier - especially if you have a Paralysis-enchanted Wizards Staff. Yes, that's right. The gates go up, and the combatant runs towards you. One blast from the staff later, and they are on the floor. Finishing them off is then relatively easy (if a little one-sided). Of course, you can be given a nasty surprise by those that have some immunity to paralysis...
So Zauna (or Dragonheart as her fans call her) is now Grand Champion, and even has her own Adoring Fan. He's been tentatively christened Onion-head due to his hair-do, but I'll try and come up with something more catchy later. In the mean time, the little runts enthusiasm to lick clean my boots or give a back rub is going to get to me soon. I haven't the heart to send him on his way, as the scope for fun in devising ways to ...er... bump him off is too tempting (coming soon to this Blog! - a new miniseries titled Killing Onion-Head!). Yes, he's as un-killable as Boris and Doris! Alas, unlike the Thompson Twins, Onion-Head really is a complete wuss and runs at the first sign of trouble. However, since he insists on carrying a torch as soon as it gets dark, he makes a great decoy when exploring underground - any monster in the area sees the light and attacks on sight. Since Onion-Head's instinct is to run, and the monster's is to chase, it is therefore easy to wait for it to pass, then turn around and hit it in the back. Hey, it's not dishonourable to stab evil things in the back.
Along with a couple more completed side-quests, Zauna has also invested in the largest house available to buy. The manor in Skingrad is very nice, with the bonus of a hidden treasure in the basement. Expensive to add all the furnishings, however, which has led to an unexplained run of burglaries in the neighbourhood, starting with the weapons shop next door with the adjoining balcony. Damn cat burglars. A word to the wise, however; don't assume every house is going to be populated by one or two sleeping people at two in the morning. The house opposite the manor was full of undead! Not the sort of thing you want to meet when sneaking around without your armour on. There really should be a law against that sort of thing. Someone could get hurt.
The adventures continue...
Monday, April 02, 2007
Oblivion - Dear Diary
Dear journal,
Well, I thought that this journal entry would have been written in our home, Weatherby, but alas that was not to be.
Whilst Reynald and I were thrilled to be re-united, and further rejoiced at thinking Zauna would take us to our home, my enthusiasm is beginning to wane.
I am not sure Zauna knows where she is going.
I would not say a bad word against her; she is of a brave heart, and will make an effective and honourable Knight (assuming people can overlook her insistence of looting every monster corpse we come across). Also, she seems to be unable to remember names very well. She persists in referring to us as Boris and Doris, with no consistency applied to which of us is which. Sometimes she refers to us as Molly and Polly, and at other times as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. So strange.
She also has no ability at all when it comes to reading a map. She clearly has Weatherby marked on there, and yet we have been travelling for nearly two months and we haven't reached it yet. We've been from Bruma to Anvil to Leyawiin and back. We even ended up in an Oblivion plane at one point. From what we can piece together, she is on some sort of quest vital to the Empire, but what this may be escapes me.
She also seems to disappear at times. There have been times and places when I know Zauna had to have been with us, and yet I cannot remember her being there. Instead, I recall a figure in a grey mask.
One benefit both Renald and I have found is that our fighting skills are increasing! Whilst I was always keen to avoid combat wherever possible (and hence why we asked Zauna to kill the trolls at Weatherby for us) in these dangerous times it has been necessary to defend ourselves, and aid Zauna in exterminating the evil creatures that threaten our Empire.
Well, I must end this journal entry here. Zauna is sure the way to Weatherby lies to our west (an area I am sure we covered last week. Or the week before). Still, I have to trust that she will take us there soon.
Germain.
Well, I thought that this journal entry would have been written in our home, Weatherby, but alas that was not to be.
Whilst Reynald and I were thrilled to be re-united, and further rejoiced at thinking Zauna would take us to our home, my enthusiasm is beginning to wane.
I am not sure Zauna knows where she is going.
I would not say a bad word against her; she is of a brave heart, and will make an effective and honourable Knight (assuming people can overlook her insistence of looting every monster corpse we come across). Also, she seems to be unable to remember names very well. She persists in referring to us as Boris and Doris, with no consistency applied to which of us is which. Sometimes she refers to us as Molly and Polly, and at other times as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. So strange.
She also has no ability at all when it comes to reading a map. She clearly has Weatherby marked on there, and yet we have been travelling for nearly two months and we haven't reached it yet. We've been from Bruma to Anvil to Leyawiin and back. We even ended up in an Oblivion plane at one point. From what we can piece together, she is on some sort of quest vital to the Empire, but what this may be escapes me.
She also seems to disappear at times. There have been times and places when I know Zauna had to have been with us, and yet I cannot remember her being there. Instead, I recall a figure in a grey mask.
One benefit both Renald and I have found is that our fighting skills are increasing! Whilst I was always keen to avoid combat wherever possible (and hence why we asked Zauna to kill the trolls at Weatherby for us) in these dangerous times it has been necessary to defend ourselves, and aid Zauna in exterminating the evil creatures that threaten our Empire.
Well, I must end this journal entry here. Zauna is sure the way to Weatherby lies to our west (an area I am sure we covered last week. Or the week before). Still, I have to trust that she will take us there soon.
Germain.
Monday, March 19, 2007
Nervous? Moi?
Picture the scene. You're at home alone. You are in a darkened room playing Oblivion. Specifically, creeping around catacombs stalking vampires. They sneak better than you do. It's quiet. You are concentrating on the corner of the tunnel ahead, knowing there is something around it.
Suddenly, from behind you you hear "meow".
Not good for the nerves.
Blasted Microsoft Office Assistants ...
Suddenly, from behind you you hear "meow".
Not good for the nerves.
Blasted Microsoft Office Assistants ...
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