Thanks to everyone for their support and comments along the way. I wouldn't have believed back at the start that we would have over 400 followers and almost a quarter of a million hits - thanks so much!
31 January 2013
Man Cave turns 4!
Today this Man Cave blog is 4 years old!
Thanks to everyone for their support and comments along the way. I wouldn't have believed back at the start that we would have over 400 followers and almost a quarter of a million hits - thanks so much!
Thanks to everyone for their support and comments along the way. I wouldn't have believed back at the start that we would have over 400 followers and almost a quarter of a million hits - thanks so much!
30 January 2013
Australian BB Championships - Part 1
Right Stuff is writing up his match reports for the tournament, but in the meantime I'll bore you briefly with mine. Actually, I didn't enter per se but helped out the Commish with the seemingly endless array of things to do. However, there was an odd number of coaches so I stood in for two matches so there wouldn't be a 'bye' round.
I was there for a giggle and a bit of fun, so what did I play? Ogres. Not just any Ogres though, here was my 'death or glory' 1 million gp team build for my Capital Crushers team
6 Ogres
5 Snotlings
Apothecary
No Rereolls!
Game 1 vs Cody's Vamps
This whole game was played in a Blizzard - the first time I've had to deal with that! The Vamps elected to receive and came scooting down the pitch with the ball, when Blood Lust kicked in and an Ogre punished the ball carrier badly. A Snotling scooped it up and was tossed down the pitch to scramble into the end zone- 1 up to the Ogres!
The second half saw a bunch of Thralls entered the KO and Cas box and the vamps got isolated, but impressively did not fail a single blood lust roll all half. Surrounded by big bodyguards, a snotling ball carrier made it over the line again to put the Ogres 2 up with just 2 turns to go. The vamps lined out for a push down the left side, pulled off a good passing play and squeeked over the line as the siren blew.
A 2:1 Victory to the Ogres!
Game 2 vs Conan's Slann
Just as things went well for me in game 1, this was where Nuffle took his revenge and my crafty opponent took every advantage of it. After a promising start Badly Hurting the only Slann Blitzer with a well timed snotling foul, I was totally shut down by the leaping frogs who made every advantage of Boneheaded Ogres and their lack of TZs. After they scored first, I managed to fling a snotling during play to equalise, but the Slann scored again ebfore half time. In my turn 8 I pulled off a dazzling array of rolls (no rerolls remember?) for the 1 turn score, only to have Nuffle spit in my face when he tripped over the line!
The second half went worse, with no casualties coming despite my best efforts and the Frogs scored twice more. In the dying stages of the game I took 3 Slann off Badly Hurt (one was done by a Snotling who took down the Slann Linefrog who blitzed him and ended up with a Both Down result - Awesome!) but it was all too late and Conan took a well played 4-1 Victory.
At that point I wasn't needed anymore as a sub coach and I scuttled gratefully away with my 1-1 record proclaiming that "Real men don't need re-rolls!!!"
I was there for a giggle and a bit of fun, so what did I play? Ogres. Not just any Ogres though, here was my 'death or glory' 1 million gp team build for my Capital Crushers team
6 Ogres
5 Snotlings
Apothecary
No Rereolls!
Game 1 vs Cody's Vamps
This whole game was played in a Blizzard - the first time I've had to deal with that! The Vamps elected to receive and came scooting down the pitch with the ball, when Blood Lust kicked in and an Ogre punished the ball carrier badly. A Snotling scooped it up and was tossed down the pitch to scramble into the end zone- 1 up to the Ogres!
The second half saw a bunch of Thralls entered the KO and Cas box and the vamps got isolated, but impressively did not fail a single blood lust roll all half. Surrounded by big bodyguards, a snotling ball carrier made it over the line again to put the Ogres 2 up with just 2 turns to go. The vamps lined out for a push down the left side, pulled off a good passing play and squeeked over the line as the siren blew.
A 2:1 Victory to the Ogres!
Game 2 vs Conan's Slann
Just as things went well for me in game 1, this was where Nuffle took his revenge and my crafty opponent took every advantage of it. After a promising start Badly Hurting the only Slann Blitzer with a well timed snotling foul, I was totally shut down by the leaping frogs who made every advantage of Boneheaded Ogres and their lack of TZs. After they scored first, I managed to fling a snotling during play to equalise, but the Slann scored again ebfore half time. In my turn 8 I pulled off a dazzling array of rolls (no rerolls remember?) for the 1 turn score, only to have Nuffle spit in my face when he tripped over the line!
The second half went worse, with no casualties coming despite my best efforts and the Frogs scored twice more. In the dying stages of the game I took 3 Slann off Badly Hurt (one was done by a Snotling who took down the Slann Linefrog who blitzed him and ended up with a Both Down result - Awesome!) but it was all too late and Conan took a well played 4-1 Victory.
At that point I wasn't needed anymore as a sub coach and I scuttled gratefully away with my 1-1 record proclaiming that "Real men don't need re-rolls!!!"
28 January 2013
Cancon 2013
Right Stuff played in the Australian Blood Bowl National Tournament, and I helped out where I could and played a few substitution games. More detail on the Blood Bowl highlights later, this is an overview of the show in general.
The show appeared very well attended, but the venue was big enough not to be too packed. Apart from the usual tournaments, which included SAGA and Bolt Action by the way, there were some great demo games including this spectacular Isandhlwana game in 28mm with over 600 Zulus! I looked at this with interest as I passed and it had broadly historical results, but the gallant British held out on at least one occasion!
Also capturing my attention was this lovely 28mm War of the Roses participation game with massive handfuls of Perry figures:
This wonderful setup was a miniatures version of the Cold War Commander, and saw a US led NATO force try and stop a Soviet Tide from shattering the front
I quite liked this 1/600 game in Stalingrad, which used a city block grid style for area movement.
However, I have decided that 2mm is just generally too small for an infantry based game - for me anyway
Most of the usual vendors were there and it was great as always to see our old friends Nic from Eureka Miniatures - who promised me a line of 28mm Sacaren figures by October for Crusade Games! (I'm going to hold him to it as well!), Mike from Battlefield Accessories who supplied me with another few tubs of his great basing mixture, and Glynn from Fernvale Speciality Scenics who is doing up a set of desert rubberised hills for me fr our new Crusades project. It was also great to put a face to a name by meeting Ian from War and Peace Games, who allowed me to give me lost of my money for even more great stuff including the lovely FireForge Crusader figures (curse you and your persuasive ways Alan!). I can't recommend all of these guys strongly enough for their excellent service.
Finally, I both Right Stuff and I got a Demo game in of Dreadball which was fantastic - a "first impressions report" will follow shortly.
Highlight for me was catching up with friends, some old and some new, and meeting some fellow bloggers including the Lead Farmer (of The Thin Lead Line blog) and Barks (of "Wargaming with Barks"). Barks took lots of pics at CanCon too and you can see them at his Blog here: http://wargamingwithbarks.blogspot.com.au/2013/01/cancon-2013.html
Overall a great couple of days and as always I shall look forward to next year's event.
Blood Bowl and DreadBall reports to follow!
14 January 2013
Achtung Schweinehund!
I bought this book 5 or so years ago while visiting London and laughed my whole flight home reading it before giving it to Comrade James. After recommending it to Alan aka Dux H late last year, I decided it was time for a re-read. Its a hoot.
As an example, in describing his Games
club the author says: 'We would do something that was intellectually undemanding,
trivial, pointless and involved limited commitment and minimum communication
skills. In short, something truly masculine. Instead of making
spectacular food like the women did we would buy snacks from the local
garage; we would not discuss anything meaningful; we would not address
the big themes; we would sit around drinking beer, eating bright orange
cheese-flavoured corn based snacks, rolling dice, moving hundreds of bits
of plastic around big map boards and yelling "And now all of Turkey
falls to the mighty forces of the Yellow Emperor. Look on and despair
you puny weaklings!" (Although not every utterance would be quite
an intellectual as that.)' Now that sounds pretty much describes
every good gaming session I've ever enjoyed!
The author goes on to make other wonderfully self mocking commentaries which apply to all of us gamers really. For example, after recording the time it took to paint 28 20mm soldiers (43hrs, 27mins - a full working week with a bit of overtime) he observes 'I thought of all the figures I had painted in my life.How many years it had taken to paint them. If I had put it into some sensible activity I might now be a lawyer, architect or neurosurgeon and you'd be reading a book by somebody sensible like John Grisham, Bernard Cornwell or Alain de Botton.' Certainly a perspective most gamer wives would agree with, even if only from a financial perspective. Nonetheless you can feel the love and enjoyment of modelling and gaming all the way through the book.
Another of my favourite quotes from the book is 'There was nothing more guaranteed to put you off wargaming than to go to a wargames show. Yet I was drawn back to them like a salmon to its spawning ground. Or a dog to its own vomit.'
'This book is about Toy Soldiers and the men who collect and fight battles with them' the Acknowledgement says, but its really is so much more. Achtung! also includes wonderful anecdotes about growing up making endless Airfix models, reading Commando Comics and the adventures of their cliche spinning colourful characters, and the pitfalls of engaging in discussion with military re-enators (including a U-Boat crew who, without a submarine, simply get together and re-enact shore leave!). It also speaks from the heart of being a closet geek, having a circle of hobby friends who are quite different and distant to all other acquaintances and fighting to ensure that never the twain shall meet.
Younger, GW focused, gamers who have never known life without a Playstation or XBox probably wont identify much with this book, but if you are older then this will hit a chord with you in many ways.
I found something to chuckle at on pretty much every page. Highly Recommended.
The author goes on to make other wonderfully self mocking commentaries which apply to all of us gamers really. For example, after recording the time it took to paint 28 20mm soldiers (43hrs, 27mins - a full working week with a bit of overtime) he observes 'I thought of all the figures I had painted in my life.How many years it had taken to paint them. If I had put it into some sensible activity I might now be a lawyer, architect or neurosurgeon and you'd be reading a book by somebody sensible like John Grisham, Bernard Cornwell or Alain de Botton.' Certainly a perspective most gamer wives would agree with, even if only from a financial perspective. Nonetheless you can feel the love and enjoyment of modelling and gaming all the way through the book.
Another of my favourite quotes from the book is 'There was nothing more guaranteed to put you off wargaming than to go to a wargames show. Yet I was drawn back to them like a salmon to its spawning ground. Or a dog to its own vomit.'
'This book is about Toy Soldiers and the men who collect and fight battles with them' the Acknowledgement says, but its really is so much more. Achtung! also includes wonderful anecdotes about growing up making endless Airfix models, reading Commando Comics and the adventures of their cliche spinning colourful characters, and the pitfalls of engaging in discussion with military re-enators (including a U-Boat crew who, without a submarine, simply get together and re-enact shore leave!). It also speaks from the heart of being a closet geek, having a circle of hobby friends who are quite different and distant to all other acquaintances and fighting to ensure that never the twain shall meet.
Younger, GW focused, gamers who have never known life without a Playstation or XBox probably wont identify much with this book, but if you are older then this will hit a chord with you in many ways.
I found something to chuckle at on pretty much every page. Highly Recommended.
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