Creepy crawlies and undead things .. a HotT AAR

Played a game of HotT last night with Nick on his last night with us after his recent conference. Nick took the Spiders and I took the Undead.

The lists were:

Spiders

1 x Behemoth General
1 x Hero
1 x God (Spiderman)
10 x Hordes
2 x Land Lurkers

Undead

1 x Hero General
1 x magician
1 x Behemoth
2 x Blades
2 x Zombie Hordes
1 x Skeleton shooters
2 x Zombie dog beasts

Early blood went to the Undead as a wave of magic ensorcelled the Spider Hero.

From behind the Undead army .. the Spider Hero had been where the gap in the Spiders' line now sits.

The Spiders had sent a group of Hordes around their left top threaten the Undead right flank

The Undead magicians continued to cast spells in the direction of the spiders.

The Undead battle lines advanced

In an unexpected turn of events, the Spider hero shook off the effects of the web of magic, and reappeared behind the Undead battle lines There was however no sign of the Spider God!!

The Undead battle line hit the Spider Hordes in what became a game of push and shove.

However the Spider hero advanced and attacked the Undead necromancers.... and eliminated them.

The Undead hero general turned to stop the assault on the rear of his army. Success seemed at hand, as the battle of the behemoths had gone the way of the Undead.

In a battle of the giants ...

The Spider hero  was triumphant  .. and the Undead army disappeared into the ether

A damned fine battle with lots of twists and turns...

22 June ...

Tomorrow is 22nd June .. like the revelation? You're welcome. Of course the significance is that it's the 73rd anniversary Of the German attack on the USSR. I could imagine the construction of an argument supporting the notion that Hitler's decision to attack Russia may have been the single most momentous decision of the twentieth century. And there's nothing special about a 73rd, but it did make me m,ook back at what we've played over the past few years.

Looking back over my blog as a record of my 'gaming activity, I have tended to favour the eastern front in my WW2 Spearhead 'gaming.

We plugged the gap, repelled German armour at Prokhorovka, fought in the Crimea, tried to withstand Russian counter attacks, and more.

There have also been posts about the modelling and building required to play these games, and the construction of lists for the WW2 Spearhead forces.

There's quite a lot really.

GW painting tutorials

Whatever else you might say about GW, here's something pretty awesome.. their latest painting tutorials on painting flesh.

Click on the link and enjoy.

40K action.. slightly too late perhaps!!

You know, Adrian and I have been promising to play a game of Warhammer 40K ever since 6th Edition rules came out. A couple of weeks ago GW issued their '7th' edition. Guess what? We finally had that long promised game of 6th. We just took a 500 point force of Orks against Imperial Guard. My Lost and the Damned masqueraded as a couple of the Guard units, just because I like the models.

The game was limited because we are both 'packed up' for EQ matters, Adrian for repairs, us for our rebuild, so neither of us could find the Codices. Here are some photos, in order, with captions rather than a with a full after action report. I guess we mostly play this because of the beautiful miniatures.

Guard mutants advance into the ruins in the centre of the battlefield.

Another Guard squad occupies a wood on the Guard left, as a flank guard.

Meanwhile two Guard Sentinels advance on the Guard right flank.

The battlefield form the Guard right flank, with the sentinels in the foreground. With the first move the Sentinels destroyed the Ork buggy on the Ork left.

A warband of Ork boyz (slugga and choppa) rush ahead through more ruins on the centre of the battlefield.

... and a band of grots/gretchin sneak through more woods on the Ork right, approaching the Guard left flank guard.

Mid game.. two Guard squads hold the centre, one in the ruins. They have faced off against the orc slugga mob in on set of ruins, and a mob of shootas in the other. The Guard centre is supported by a squad of 3 autocannon, and another with 3 heavy bolters

Four Ork bikes advance around the OrK right to threaten the Guard left

Meanwhile the Ork sluggas charge across the last bit of open ground and into the ruins in which a Guard squad has taken refuge hoping to hold the centre. We had a feeling that this wouldn't end well for the Guard, as their 'First rank fire, second rank fire' order didn't inflict too many casualties.

The Orks were all over the Guard fellas.

Meanwhile there was a firefight going on next door, between two Guard squads, and the shootas. They were taking serious casualties

Vrroooommmm .. in came the bikes

The shootas decided to 'ave a go as well, so out they came.

Meanwhile the Grotz snuck up onto the top of some old entrenchments, and opened fire.. rats, Guard soldiers die even if they are being fired at by GrotBlasters

The Guard centre is reduced to a decimated squad and the company command, holding, just

The bikes roar into the Guard support gun line, 3 of the four die, and the remaining bike is stopped in its tracks.

The Guard centre is thinly held, but it has held, and victory goes to the Guard .. JUST!! Whew

So, that was out simple 6th edition game. We think we might take a time warp and go back to 4th edition. Only problem is that we need to find our rule books, everything is packed into boxes.. damn!!

Th game was  a bit of fun, although we are both still of the opinion that the rules are not that flash. That's our opinion. We are both frustrated by the rules creep that is a part of the GW business model. That's not a criticism of the business model, just the views of a pair of 'gaming curmudgeons who don't play this rules system often enough to cope with 3 a yearly rules overhaul. Hence we think that, as we generally only play against each other with 40K, we might go back in time to 4th edition and just stick there.

We'll see!!!

Let battle commence ...

What Mother Nature began with 14000 earthquakes, a large yellow digger finished in a few hours. Our house and garage/games room were demolished this week ready for our rebuild.

The new house, and garage/games room, shall rise phoenix-like from the metaphorical ashes.

Now we face the vagaries of the building industry matched rather nicely with a Christchurch winter. Let battle commence....

By the heavens Suh, this is indeed a glorious day ...

"Finally finally finally dear boy". Caruthers was swirling the brandy in the bottom of the large brandy balloon glass. 'Finally we shall see those cursed creatures from the face of this earth. Today's arrival shall herald my revenge" and he gazed out of the mess window with the enthusiastic smile of a ten year old by who had just been given both a spinning top and a hoop. Young Lieutenant Winstanley was trying to contain his own excitement, gulping his pink gin like a dog at a puddle.

For there on the field across the parade ground sat the wondrous flying machine of the famous adventurer Lord Chelting of Cheam. Many were the stories of victory that the newspaper columns of the Times had laid before the admiring population of this glorious England, stories of daring do, stories of  Lord Chelting's triumphs against the odds.

Finally Caruthers' ambitions for imperial glory would be achieved.

Lord Chelting of Cheam arrives at Caruthers' field headquarters with his wondrous flying machine.

Lord Chelting at the controls.

Caruthers and Winstanley greet Lord Chelting

Caruthers and Winstanley lead the aerial forces of the Caruthers task force in a fly-by.

This new flyer was made from a plastic container that I've kept safe in a box since the '80s. It originally contained  a chocolate treat that we'd bought for our kids, a treat the nature of which has long since been lost in the mists of time. I have another one in the spares box, after all we had two small children at that stage and we couldn't possibly buy for one and not the other. I was to some degree inspired by the concept of the old 'Bathyscope' as well. Chelting will most probably be used as an aerial hero. This isn't a troop type I commonly use, but it seemed logical.

It is perhaps not quite as 'steam punk' as I'd envisaged it, but .. I've now almost got the 72 points I need for the 3 command Big Battle HotT.. just 3 points to go. Another artillery piece I think. I have the gun, just a search through the spares box for a couple of crew.

Mysterious goings on with Major General Caruthers

http://science.howstuffworks.com/transport/flight/classic/steampunk-blimp-pictures.htm

Why is Major General Caruthers so keen to see Lord Chelting of Cheam? Why is Lord Chelting so famous anyway? And what could the latest order for 100 tons of coal and 1000 gas tight bags possibly have to do with Caruthers' planned spring campaign?

Keep watching.