Hawken Card Game

Found this in the LGS today - looks like a Battletech themed duel game like the old Ace if Aces game
Anyone tried it out?

Happy Towel day!

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy has a few things to say on the subject of towels. 
A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have" 

                 - Douglas Adams, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Towel Day is an annual celebration on the 25th of May, as a tribute to the late author Douglas Adams (1952-2001). On that day, fans around the universe proudly carry a towel in his honour.  

Have you got yours?

http://towelday.org/
http://towel.org.uk/towelday.html

A towel, [The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy] says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value. You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapors; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a miniraft down the slow heavy River Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (such a mind-boggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.

King of the Monsters!

Yep, its awesome!  Comrade James, Right Stuff and I enjoyed it tonight with extreme popcorn feasting.

Liebstered!

Last week Randroid over at Drinkin' and Modellin' nominated me for a Liebster Award this year - thanks fellah!  Then to make me feel even more special, before I could respond Brendon the Kiwi from The Gamer's Table also nominated me.  Well shucks, its nice to feel the love! The rules go something like this:

Copy and paste the award on your blog linking the blogger who has given it to you.

Pass the award to up to 11 blogs by listing them on your own blog.

Answer the Questions

Sit back and bask in the warm fuzzy feeling that you have made someone's day.

There is no obligation to pass the award on to someone else but it is nice if you take the time to do so.

For the on forwarding of this Award I humbly nominate:

Dux Homuculorum: Alan's great blog, in which he sometime discusses the wargaming club he runs at his school.  A brave effort indeed my friend.

GW Pertinent: Tristan from Canada's laid back musings on Blood Bowl, gaming and other fun stuff.  

Merry Mayhem News: A collection of Blood Bowlers from across the world, sharing he love, and the odd boot to the face!

Sarcophagi; a fun little blog with Eldrich horrors, Star Wars and a nice guy

A Wargaming Odessey - David's impressive meanderings between projects, further by his being a gamer unafraid to write his own rules for seemingly any period at all!

Michael's 28mm Victorian Warfare - a very highly talented gamer who never fails to amaze

The Historical Miniaturist: Another very talented guy whose projects produce fantastic results.

And with Seven being a lucky number, I'm going to leave it there.

For Questions bit I get to wax lyrical :

1. Why did you start blogging? - Initially to share some of the nonsense I got up to, then to share some of nonsense my friends did, then nonsense that my Lad and I did together.  Now I find it just as useful as my own record of links and activities for me to reflect on.  I also find it inspiring when I set myself a goal to be finished something by Monday so I can post it on the blog, and then the feedback from that gets me more motivated for the next piece.  When you are on a roll, its a self sustaining positive cycle.  Arent too many of those in life!
2. If you could change one thing about the wargaming hobby, what would it be? I'd have more time to indulge myself in it.  The irony of young gamers having lots of time and no money to make the most of it with, and more mature gamers having money and no time to enjoy it, is rather frustrating!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            OK I'm going to cheat and add a second answer to this one: I'd make more of the Hobby like the Hobby "Blogosphere".  How is it that we have a great online community around the various blogs, but suffer flame trolls on various forums and TMP, and a higher proportion of overly competitive asshats at conventions? Not sure.  So all modesty aside, I'd make more gamers like bloggers: tolerant, interested and fun to communicate with.
   
3. What is best in life? Its a little cliche, but Crushing Your Enemies etc is rather fun... And when else do you get to use the word Lamentation?  Seriously though, the best thing in life in companionship, be it with a special someone, child, good friend or someone you find interesting - like the guy you just met across the gaming table who seems a good fellow and will make the next few hours fun.  Its people who make life fantastic.  Of course crushing a few along the way (on the gaming table) is fun too :-)
   
4. Do you want to live forever? Sounds good to me, but all the movies and books I've read say its bad.  I'm not convinced though...
5. Fame or fortune? - Like most things in life, a balance of everything in moderation is best.  Excepting beer obviously, particularly if you have made it yourself.
6. What miniature are you most proud of having painted? - That seems to shift as my interests wander.  Sometimes is a particular Viking, other times its a 15mm tank or Blood Bowl player.  Whats important to me is trying to improve.
7. How do you deal with burn out? - Start a new genre or period to be interested in.  If I'm really over gaming I focus on Scouting, work or something else for a bit until that familiar itch returns, often unexpectedly like in a cool movie when you say to yourself "WoW, I'd love to do a game of that"
8. Why is a raven like a writing desk? 42
9. Star Wars or Star Trek? Star Wars is the Action fans' SF, Star Trek the thinker's SF, so it depends what mood I'm in.  If I have to take just one it would be the Starship Enterprise NCC-1701 in all her glory.
   
10. If you could only buy from one miniature company from now on, which one would it be? Again this will change as my interests wander.  One week it will be Impact Miniatures with all their Blood Bowl figs, other months it will be Bacchus and their 6mm ranges or Plastic Solder Company's expanding WW2 ranges.  A fickle mind indeed!
11. What is your favorite take out? Thai Pad See Yew with chicken.  I just have to get one large enough to share with my darling wife, who also adores it!
    

There you have it! If you found yourself in my list of blogs to receive a Liebster please answer these same questions (or something similar that you want to answer) in a blog post of your own. Of course participation is voluntary but it would be interesting to see what you come up.

Round 4 Matches

The Darkland Decimators prepare for a Chaos onslaught!

 The weekend saw our Rookie season round 4 matches. On Friday Night Right Stuff's Elves took on Peter's Necro Necromanga team, while my Chaos Dwarves played James's Chaos Team, Fatal Femmes, (the team Right Stuff beat in Round 2) on Saturday.

Sherthor Scorchers vs Necromanga

You know how sometimes all the dice roll your way and the game is filled with golden moments, fun and Star Player Points? Well for Right Stuff this wasn't one of those games at all.  The match went from bad to worse with an unfeasible number of 1s being rolled by the pointy ears.  It looked like Right Stuff's luck was changing when in desperation he dodged a player into two Tackle Zones, picked up the ball, lobbed an accurate pass to a downfield receiver who caught it nimbly, only to have him sprint downfield and trip on the line with no rerolls left! The necro won 3 nil but Right Stuff took it on the chin.  You don't have to like the result but I was impressed with how much he has grown up in this respect and being a good sport.

On a positive note, he didn't have any players permanently maimed or killed !

Darkland Decimators vs Fatal Femmes
When Chaos Dwarves meet Chaos on the pitch the result is...Chaotic! I kicked to the opposition and lost a Hobgoblin early on (while dodging away, how embarrassing) but then caught a lucky break, managed to turn over the Femmes near the endzone and complete a pass with some Hobgolblins to be 1 up at half time.

James's Fatal Femmes were very nice fawn type fantasy characters.  "You wouldn't hit a girl would you?" he taunted!

Receiving in the second half, I was in a good place to be hopeful but I made some dull positioning errors in my drive and was turned over, enabling the Chaos team to equalise.  With only 3 turns left I setup for my drive but fumbled the ball twice in the backfield and was in defensive mode, just holding out to the end for a 1 all draw.  I managed to get 3 casualties of my own (including a Hobgoblin taking out a Chaos Warrior!) but in return the Chaos team took out my rising star Bull Centaur and left him with a Niggling injury.  Arrrrgggghhhh.

After the match I skilled up a Chaos Dwarf with Guard (I've being really waiting for that) and a Hobgoblin got another double skill, but I went with Sure Hands instead - I'm sick of using rerolls to just pick up the ball.  3 Draw results in a row is frustrating but better than 3 losses to be sure (and technically I guess I'm - somehow - undefeated), and my boys are doing well at the top of the casualty charts too!

Season's Top Casualty inflicters

list Nº	Player	type	team	cas
1	Khahrdi Mandi	Mummy	Unforgiven	4
-	Rahlad the Spiky	Chaos Dwarf Blocker	Darkland Decimators	4
-	Suh'ulk Laz-buth	Chaos Minotaur	Fatal Femmes	4
4	Gorkh the Unpleasant	Chaos Dwarf Blocker	Darkland Decimators	3
5	Isirii	Chaos Warrior	Fatal Femmes	2
-	Bhrukka	Orc Blitzer	Brutomax Broots	2
-	Raging Bull	Dark Elf Blitzer	Team of the Century	2
-	Jedan Ghoulsmasher	Bull Centaur	Gargoth Gargoyles	2
-	RhoaAzz	Black Orc Blocker	Brutomax Broots	2
-	Ariesah	Chaos Warrior	Fatal Femmes	2

The Campaigner Issue 7

Recently Issue 7 was released, which includes another "Gamer Dad" article by yours truly.  I have really enjoyed writing this article series, but for a range of reasons this will be my last contribution to the magazine for awhile.

The Campaigner is now looking for a new Gamer Dad to fill the gap so if you have a few thoughts you want to share on playing gaming with younger gamers, drop Matthew the Editor a Line.

Get your free digital copy of Campaigner 7 here:
http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/715390

Star Ogre and Aerial Goblin

If you are a Blood Bowler and haven't seen Impact Miniatures's kickstarter yet, you need to go check it out.  This cool stretch goal has just been unlocked: Brick'farth and Grotty anyone?

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/674003445/17-fantasy-football-teams-new-pro-elves-and-orcs-a

Foul Play!

After playing a little BB Team Manager card game earlier this week with Comrade James, we were excited to see that a new expanion has been announced by FFG!  The following is from their website here

You know, Bob, with the addition of the Putrid Players’ Guild, I think this season is going to be very interesting!

I think you’re right, Jim. We’re definitely going to see a lot of new tactics on the pitch.

If by tactics you mean absolutely filthy, illegal and sometimes disgusting moves, I couldn’t agree more!
Fantasy Flight Games is proud to announce Foul Play, an upcoming expansion for Blood Bowl: Team Manager – The Card Game!
Prepare for a dramatic increase in cheating, fouling, and lowdown maneuvers with the newest Blood Bowl: Team Manager expansion. In this expansion, the Putrid Players’ Guild joins the Blood Bowl tournament season as a new subdivision of the Team Managers’ Union. With three new teams and no inhibitions about how they win, the PPG is certain to make quite a splash.

But that’s not the only change you’ll find in the newest season of Blood Bowl. For the first time ever, you’ll be able to roll the week’s highlights with the stadiums where they belong! Stadiums grant extra rewards to managers that win there, but some stadiums have rather peculiar rules as well. Another first in the Foul Play expansion is a referee, who moves freely from matchup to matchup. But never fear, team managers, this ref is comfortably corrupt, and he’s more than willing to help you cheat your way to victory. Even a corrupt ref won’t keep you safe from everything, though. New penalty cards bring stiff reprimands for cheating players, but in the chaos of the tournament season, who doesn’t cheat?
New Teams in the Running
The introduction of the Putrid Players’ Guild introduces three new teams into the competition for the coveted title of Blood Bowl champions, and you’ll need to get to know them, since you’ll certainly be seeing a lot of them!

Nurgle’s Rotters: The Nurgle players are a vile bunch, constantly spreading disease and oozing their way to victory. They can even turn opponents into more Nurgle players! With disease tokens that lower other players’ Star Power, the team can only be compared to an unstoppable plague.

The Zharr-Naggrund Ziggurats: The Chaos Dwarfs are masters of destruction and revenge. Not even being downed can stop these players from fouling their opponents. With thick skulls and packs of intimidating centaurs, this team is all about victory, even in the face of death. They always fight to the last breath, and sometimes even beyond.

The Lowdown Rats: Blood Bowl is known for its fair share of sleazy players, but these goblins take the cake, bringing chainsaws, bombs, and pogo sticks to any given game. The Lowdown Rats never even consider fighting fair. They play to win by any means, but failing that, total mayhem will suffice.
Penalty on the Play
In an effort to provide some sterner punishment for cheating players in the Blood Bowl, penalties are being introduced for the first time in the Foul Play expansion. These penalties can be received in several ways, such as by drawing one of the new cheating tokens with the penalty icon, or by losing the new Goblin Tribal Leeg tournament. Whenever you receive a penalty, you must draw a Penalty card and resolve the effects, which are nearly always unfortunate. Whether you lose fans or have a player ejected from the season due to a Penalty card, you’ll need to find some way to deal with penalties.

You may find a corrupt ref can help you dodge penalties in this expansion. The corrupt ref moves back and forth between matchups, helping players cheat and punishing managers who refuse to work with him by handing out penalties. When you commit a player to a matchup with the corrupt ref, that player immediately receives a face-up cheating token, allowing you to know exactly what the consequences of your cheating may be. After your player has been committed, the corrupt ref moves a number of spaces equal to the Star Power of your committed player, taking his double-dealing ways to other matchups.

Another update to the Blood Bowl tournament season is the introduction of stadiums. While it may seem shocking that Blood Bowl games are played in anything as structured as a stadium, managers won’t be surprised to see the range of treacherous environments used as stadiums. Your team might clash with others in the punishing Nehekara Death Dome, the Ogham Stonefield, or within the walls of Castle Waldenhof. Stadiums remains constant throughout the season, and they offer additional payouts for teams. Be warned, however, that some stadiums enforce truly strange rules. Certain skills may be banned in a given stadium, or there may be a limit on the number of players a manager may commit to a matchup there. There might even be minimum or maximum Star Power requirements! You can always break the rules, but each offense will result in taking a penalty, and you’ll need to weigh your options carefully.
Foul! Foul!
The Blood Bowl competitive season will take on a whole new shape with the release of the upcoming Foul Playexpansion. Pick your players, head to the pitch, and get ready for a rousing game of Blood Bowl: Team Manager! Look for the Foul Play expansion at your local retailer in the third quarter of 2014.

Last Levy

I've been wanting to do a "Fall of the Reich" style German force for Chain of Command/Bolt Action so was excited to see this last week:

NEW: LAST LEVY, THE DEFENCE OF BERLIN

May 2, 2014 - Bolt Action, Bolt Action - German, Latest Products - Tagged: Bolt Action, Featured, German

In the last days of Germany’s war, many desperate civilians were drafted into the Volksturm to defend Berlin. Armed with whatever they could lay their hands on, old men, wounded soldiers, and even those too young for regular service were expected to hold back the unstoppable Red Army.

This new metal boxed set brings you the rag-tag elements of what would be forever called ‘The Last Levy’.

The Volkssturm (literally, ‘People‘s Storm’) were militia recruited from amongst the old, unfit and young. Many were drawn from the ranks of the Hitler Youth or from amongst veterans of World War I. They were ill-equipped with a variety of weaponry including crudely made Volkssturm MP3008 submachine guns and Volkssturmgewehr rifle. Others carried weapons captured from other nations earlier in the war or guns dating back to the previous century. Most did not have a uniform, but wore civilian clothing with just a black armband emblazoned with Deutscher Volkssturm Wehrmacht to show their allegiance. Volkssturm battalions were theoretically formed only for the defence of their own military district, but many ended up being sent to the frontline.

A paramilitary organisation, the Hitler Youth was set up by the Nazi Party to promote its ideology to the youth of Germany, and thus indoctrinate the next generation of Party members. They were not trained for combat, but by the end of the war were being conscripted into military service. Teenage boys were given basic weapons training and expected to fight and die in defence of the Fatherland. Often the NCO was a veteran or a formerly invalid soldier returning to duty. Despite their age, these boys often fought with great courage and tenacity, sacrificing themselves for a hopeless cause.

As you can see from the miniatures shown above, there is a wide variety of uniforms and equipment used by these proud defenders of the German capital.

This boxed set contains 20 highly detailed and characterful metal miniatures:

HQ: NSDAP party official with pistol

HQ: Bund Deutscher Mädel (German League of Girls) medic

Infantry: Hitler Youth Squad. NCO with MP40 SMG, 4 ‘men’ with Kar98K rifles/panzerfausts

Infantry: Volksturm Squad. NCO with Gustloff VG 1-5 assault rifle, 4 soldiers with Kar98K rifles and panzerfausts.

Infantry: Volksturm Squad. NSDAP party worker NCO with Beretta SMG. 1 soldier with MP40 SMG, 3 with Kar98K rifles and panzerfausts

Soldier with Krummlauf assault rifle (fires around corners!) and panzerfaust.

2 soldiers with Luftfaust hand-held anti-aircraft rocket launcher and assault rifle.

Separate Figure Heads: Heads with Volksturm caps, German fire brigade helmet, and regular German army headgear.

http://store.warlordgames.com/products/last-levy-the-defence-of-berlin/