April Hobby Roundup and a Skully gift

Well what a month or two its been!  For many around the world it has been a very challenging times for a myriad of reasons. Great to see that some have had both the opportunity and inclination to do some hobby and I have enjoyed watching the various projects.

I have not been one of those - indeed, I have been very busy being part of the Government response here.  Extremely busy but wonderful to be part of the solution and helping the many State and Commonwealth authorities and agencies.  Along the way I have gotten a few little things painted and the odd game in too. Reilly and I have have been upgunning some of our Kill Teams to play narrative 40k games - particularly the incremental Path to Glory system.  Its been a hoot, pitting Ankhep the Unliving and his Necron horde against Chaos Warlord Drok the Blooded and his World Eaters.

This week I got something very special in the mail from Barks in recognition of my win in our AHPC X "Skully McSkullface" side challenge.  Most appropriately it was... a servoskull!  So awesome, thanks Barks - I love it !

There is only one thing to do when you get something this cool in the mail - use it on the table immediately.  We found a good scenario where the servo skull would be the focus of the whole game: the next adventure of Drok and Ankhep was afoot!  Ahhh, the joy of a live in opponent in isolation.

What followed was a tense tabletop tug of war in which I grabbed the Servoskull early and played keepings off for the rest of the game, staying very narrowly ahead of the Necron hoard that was after me. It was more like a game of Blood Bowl really!

My Warlord and his Red Butchers wade into the fray

My berzerkers made lots of blood flow (mostly their own it must be said) 

One must always play 'Duel of the Fates' on your phone when warlords clash like this

When they work, berzerkers are awesome. Mostly I cant make them work, so its a treat when they do!

My Rhinos made highly effective LOS blockers - then both exploded and killed lots of enemy troops. Cool!

 The game just didnt end, going for 7 turns in unceasing nail biting endgame. At the last, it came down to this - my last 4 figs (still with the skul) facing off against Ankhep the Necron Overloard.
If he only killed two of my guys in the upcoming melee I would win, 3 and it would be a draw, 4 and he would claim the skull for the Victory...

Barks - the basing on the skull even matches my army, how cool is that!

And he rolled double 1s for the charge, tripped over his own feet and I managed to crawl away with a win! A down to the wire nail biter! What a hoot, and all because of the new Servo Skull.  

Thanks Barks for the great gift and inspiring a really enjoyable game! :-)

Hope you are all well out there in blog-land. Stay safe!

ANZAC Day

ANZAC Day with a difference this year for my 30th year in uniform: distanced but not forgotten.

No masses gathering for the traditional Dawn Service. No Marches, no beers with mates at the pub, no playing 2-Up.  Instead there was a big push on social media to stand at the end of the driveway or be in a prominent place to stand and remember.  My family did so and I felt it was very genuine.

Dawn over Sydney Harbour from my balcony

It was a very still morning, and one could hear bugles and trumpets playing Last Post across the water. Very poignant.

Mrs Man Cave replicated the traditional post Dawn Service big slap up brekkie we usually have at the pub, God bless her

This is the ANZAC display at my current Joint Task Force - a small but meaningful spot to reflect on our Service and the Service of others before us.

Lest We Forget