DW Campaign Season 1 Game Turn 2

The Tripp's Ottomans battled Jason's French.

Mission

• Ottoman's mission was to 
• French's mission was to 

Results: The Ottoman broke through, with an intact flagship.
Ottoman's casualties:

• Sunk: 
• Damaged: 3 cruisers, 2 scoutships, and 1 frigate.

Ottoman casualties:

• Sunk: 
• Damaged: 

The Casey Prussian battled Huan's American.

Mission: both forces were out to capture the objective
Results: tie
Prussian casualties:

• Sunk: 2 cruisers, 2 frigates, 3 escorts
• Damaged: 1 carrier, 1 battleship, 1 cruiser, 1 frigate

Antarticans casualties:

• Sunk:  3 cruisers, 4 frigates
• Damaged: 1 scoutship

The Brian's Prussians battled  Jason's French

Mission: both forces were out for destruction
Results: minor victory for the Prussians
Prussian casualties:

• Sunk: 1 scout airship, 4 frigates
• Damaged:  1 sky fortress, 1 scout airship, 1 cruiser, 1 frigate, 1 corvette

French casualties:

• Prized: 1 battle carrier (Sabre)
• Sunk: 1 destroyer
• Damaged:  1 battle carrier(Glaive)

GW The Hobbit:Desolation of Smaug releases for December 7th

Here is what is coming
Link to pictures on dakka
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/90/565131.page

A book at $33-probably a journey book with profiles

Plastics at $25 a pop
Legolas
Tauriel
Really?, a PLASTIC hero in a clam pack for $25 dollars?  Better be mounted as well-no they are not, but they are standing on a log! It rolls down stairs alone or in pairs!

Plastics at $40 a pop
Palace Guards
Mirkwood Rangers
Probably still 12 to a box- aaannnndddd NO it is a box of 10.  

Finecast at $20 a pop
Thranduil King of Mirkwood
Thrain the broken
Still expensive, but should have better detail than the plastic heroes

Finecast at $25 a pop
Mirkwood Ranger Captains
Palace Guard Captains
Beorn
Same as above

Finecast at $35 a pop
Mirkwood Spiders
Better be at least three spiders, will probably only be two though.  If they are big enough then they will be worth it.

Finecast at $65 a pop-Direct only
Barrels out of bounds
No idea what this is, but it is priced that same as the white council set is.

I am surprised that legolas and tauriel are plastic, where they meant to be part of something else?  $40 for 12 models in this scale is really stupid.  It is cheaper to buy dark eldar regular troops(bigger, more options) and those are some fantastic models.  


Here is an update with some hints about the rules
- Thranudil - stays the same - just base cost is 16 Moria Gobo with shield and he can buy armour and bow
- Tauriel - stats seems to be the same as Lego in armour, but she has Aragorns attack value, elven coat, bow and special rule that gives her +1A for each enemy she's fightin with(my guess that with each in base contact but thats just info), cost 19 Moria gobowith shield
- Guard Captain - stats as HE cap for 15 Moria Gobo with shields. If he's in 3" from Thranduil he get's +1F. Also bodyguard.
- Ranger Cap - cost the same as above, stats as WE cap, seems to have bow and TW, the same rule as Tauriel but only 3 attack(dunno if only +3, or total max 3)
- Palace Guard - cost the same Ghaladrim pics - stats as HE and the same special rule as their cap
- Ranger - the same cost as erebor with shield, and the same rule as their cap, dunno whats their eqipment.
Special rules of the Mirkwood AL - if the Lider is Thranduil, Lego or Tauriel then can have 100% bows
- Beorn - Dwalin stats but Dale Man with shield defence value and Glorf like M/W/F. He's resistant to magic, burly and fearless and woodland creature. Costs as Gulavhar. He can change into bear on 4+ in his move(model is on 60mm base and seems to be nice - pic in book). In bear form the same Wounds and M/W/F, the same special rules + terror, but rest of stats change into Threebeards. Elf Gero Courage value and Move 8"(as a bear). In this bear form he dosn't have SF, and his heroics are only his. Has special BPA - when he wins he can strike with S10 - if it wound's(enemy won't fury/fate it) he cas strike again with S10 and so on. Radagast Alliance AL.
- Thrain the broken - cost as WE with bow and spear - low stats - F dwarf like, S Hobbit like, C Orc Captain like and on every start of turn he's to pass C test. If he pass it it's ok, if he pass it twice(dunno I just translate from polish) he's got +2 to A,S,F values, but if he fails he acts like a enemy model.
- Bard - cost as full no-name nazgul on horse - stats simillar to Lego(my source don't remeber fully) and he's got a great bow. If he shoot and kill he can shoot again to the target in 3" from the last one - up to three times. Black arrow - ones a game - can reroll to hit, ITW and to wound.
- Dale hero that hac +1 on wounding flaying monster(my guess Girion)
- some lake town hero who costs 4 MG with shield that has Aragons Will value wills - for each will he can regive some hero(dunno the radius) might - on 6 k3 mights, 2-6 one might point, 1 nth
- some new Dale(laketown?) troops
- Yaznag - seems to have bad stat line - he's 10 Gobo with shield, can have lance. He's special rule - if there is Azog in the same army, then the pale orc can kill yaznag and pass all C tests, and him and rest of heros can rerolls missed to wound rolls.
- Gundabad Orcs(pic are supposed to be in book) - cost as erebor with shield, have S4, can buy pic and shiels(dunno if in combination). Special rule the same as Blackshield gobo
- Spiders - cost as 5 Gobo with shield - F as gobo, S and D as Dale man with shield D value and Elf Cap A value. Not a monster, can split poison(dunno how that works) on 4+. The warband doesn't have to contain a hero(don;t know if there is any)

DW Campaign Season 1 Turn 1

The Tripp's Ottomans battled Huan's Americans.

Mission

• Ottoman's mission was to break through the American line.
• American's mission was to capture or destroy the Ottoman's flagship.

Results: The Ottoman broke through, with an intact flagship.
American casualties:

• Sunk: one battleship, 3 cruisers, 1 scoutship, and 7 frigates.
• Damaged: 3 cruisers, 2 scoutships, and 1 frigate.

Ottoman casualties:

• Sunk: 4 cruisers, 2 frigates?
• Damaged: 1 battleship

The Casey Prussian battled Joe's Antarticans.

Mission: both forces were out to destroy
Results: tie
Prussian casualties:

• Sunk: one gunship, 2 destroyers, 3 frigates and one escort
• Damaged: one dreadnought, one Metzer, one gunship, one bomber, and one escort

Antarticans casualties:

• Sunk:  1 cruiser, 2 destroyers, 2 medium flyers
• Damaged: 1 battleship, 1 cruiser

The Brian's Prussians battled Eric's British.

Mission

• Prussian's mission was to sink the Brits.
• British's mission was to break through the Prussian line.

Results: Minor victory for the Prussians
Prussian casualties:

• Sunk: 1 cruiser, 1 frigate, 1 corvette
• Damaged: 1 fleet carrier, 1 scoutship, 1 cruiser, 1 frigate

British casualties:

• Sunk: 2 cruisers and 2 scoutships
• Damaged: ?

December 2013 desolation of smaug release white dwarf information

So, we ringers ( hobbiters?) do not get a lot of rumors before releases from Games Workshop.  So we have to haunt the fantasy and 40k blogs and boards for scraps and the moans of disappointment about anything other than the "main" 2 games.

So far we hear that The DoS release will be a journey book as well as plastic legolas and tauriel.  There will probably be others but that is what we have now.

Things I have learned in the not so distant past

While playing dystopian wars you should always make every available attack, no matter how unlikely you are to succeed.    Who knows, maybe your 45 pt destroyer really can board and take over that 240 pt dreadnaught.  Which was crap...... I mean could be bad for the dreadnaught.

A five model linked team in infinity can make even a combi rifle deadly.  It makes a heavy machine gun a dealer of death.  Doing a parachute drop-in has to be some of the most fun, if least effective strategies in the game.  

It is hard to get back into painting when one has taken several months off.  Until you see all your friends newly painted miniatures.  "Cough" fracas "cough".

DW Campaign Season 1 Rules Updated

FORCE ROSTER: 

Each player starts with 3000 points of naval and air units. The player does not need to be able to field all his model on his force roster for the campaign but will need to be able to field what is needed for battles (games).

Force roster format:

Campaign turn #

Each ship: name, class, current hull points and planned Action for the turn

Each player should maintain a copy of each turn force roster for the game records. If desired, they could be hosted on Richmondwarmancers.blogspot.com

ACTION OPTIONS:

Battle. The model is available to field in a table top game against another player. Most games will be 500-1000 points per side. Uneven matches are acceptable and VPs will be adjusted by ratio of opponent's forces to own force fielded.

Convoy. A squadron of 3 small models is assigned to protect the supply lines. 

Port. The model is in port for repair. Depending on available Resource Points, a model can regain lost hull points. Per model: one Resource Point can rebuild one lost hull point per turn, three Resource Points can rebuild two lost hull points per turn, five Resource Points can rebuild three lost hull points per turn.

Raid. A squadron of 2 medium models or one large model is assigned to raid enemy supply lines. The player to be raided must be designated. Multiple raiding squadrons can be assigned against a single or multiple opponents.

Destroyed. The model is permanently eliminated from the campaign. However, the model and its status as destroyed should be maintained on the roster for game record purpose.

REINFORCEMENT: whenever a player's force roster falls below 1500 points, roll a D6. On a "4-5" three small models are added to the roster and on a "6" a 3 small models and 2 medium models; roll another D6. On the second D6 a roll of 5" signifies a large model is added to the roster and on a "6" a large or massive is added to the roster. Reinforcement is the only way new models can be added to the force roster.

RESOURCE POINTS: each turn a player may repair 6 hull points every campaign turn. The total is modified as below:

+2 if the player achieved a decisive victory that campaign turn (100% more enemy points destroyed than lost).

+1 if the player achieved a marginal victory that campaign turn (more enemy points destroyed than lost).

1/2 of prized models' starting hull points 

All tokens are automatically replenished and all critical hits are repaired without resource points expenditures.

A player's Resource points will always be a minimum of one per turn.

Up to 6 Resource points can be saved from turn to turn.

RAIDS & CONVOY: raids and convoy actions are resolved before the game to be played that campaign turn.

1. For each raiding squadron against an opponent the raiding players rolls a D6: a roll of 4 or 5 is a single hit and a 6 is two and allows an additional roll.  Total the raiding hits. For each submersible squadron raiding a bonus of one additional hit is added to the raiding total (thus a minimum of one).

2. The defending player rolls a D6 for each convoy squadron: a roll of 4 or 5 is a single hit and a 6 is two but does not allows an additional roll. Total the convoy hits. Each convoy squadron gets to defend against each raiding players (raiding players rather than raiding squadron).

3. For every hits the raiding player has over the defending convoy hits, the defending player's total available resource points is reduced by the same amount for the next turn. 

GAMING:
1 v 1 games are ideals, though 2 v 2 games are also acceptable.
2 v 1 games should be avoided and should be played as 3 ways 1 v 1 v1 games instead.

SCENARIOS:
Each player should be dealt 2 cards from a standard card deck. Choose one to play; discard the other. All games will also feature an objective at the center of the table.
Club = cause more enemy hull points damages than loses: Victory Conditions = major win if destroy more than 100% the hull points lost, minor win if destroy more than 50% of the hull points lost
Heart = sink or capture the enemy commodore model: Victory Conditions  = major win if captures the enemy commodore model; minor win if destroy the enemy commodore model
Spade = capture the objective: Victory Conditions = major victory if the player board and hold the objective till the end of the game; minor win the player boards and control the objective at the end of any game turn. The objective has 10 AP points.
Diamond = exit the enemy deployment edge: Victory Conditions  = major victory if the total number of hull points exited exceeds 100% of the hull points lost; minor win if the total number of hull points exited exceeds 50% of the hull points lost
Joker = choose one of the above at the end of the game

CAMPAIGN VICTORY: 

The campaign ends after: 

~ a minimum of 6 campaign turns has passed

~ when the majority of the players decide (which may be longer than 6 campaign turns)

~ when one player has been eliminated

The player with the most Victory Points win (2 for each major victory, 1 for each minor victory). Ties are decided by the player with the largest remaining force roster points.

Raids and Convoy rules are on hold for now.

DW Campaign Turn 0.5

The Ottomans battled the Americans.

Mission

• Ottoman's mission was to break through the American line.
• American's mission was to capture or destroy the Ottoman's flagship

Results: The Ottoman broke through, with an intact flagship.

American casualties:

• Sunk: one battleship, 3 cruisers, 1 scoutship, and 7 frigates.
• Damaged: 3 cruisers, 2 scoutships, and 1 frigate.

Ottoman casualties:

• Sunk: 4 cruisers, 2 frigates?
• Damaged: 1 battleship

The other game of the night was a 2 on 1 game of Prussians against Antarticans. We have decided this was an inappropriate format and will likely nullify the result. Going forward with we have an odd number of players we will play a 3 ways game instead.

DW campaign season 1: 2013

FORCE ROSTER: 

Each player starts with 3000 points of naval and air units. The player does not need to be able to field all his model on his force roster for the campaign but will need to be able to field what is needed for battles (games).

Force roster format:

Campaign turn #

Each ship: name, class, current hull points and planned Action for the turn

Each player should maintain a copy of each turn force roster for the game records. If desired, they could be hosted on Richmondwarmancers.blogspot.com

ACTION OPTIONS:

Battle. The model is available to field in a table top game against another player. Most games will be 500-1000 points per side. Uneven matches are acceptable and VPs will be adjusted by ratio of opponent's forces to own force fielded.

Convoy. A squadron of 3 small models is assigned to protect the supply lines. 

Port. The model is in port for repair. Depending on available Resource Points, a model can regain lost hull points. Per model: one Resource Point can rebuild one lost hull point per turn, three Resource Points can rebuild two lost hull points per turn, five Resource Points can rebuild three lost hull points per turn.

Raid. A squadron of 2 medium models or one large model is assigned to raid enemy supply lines. The player to be raided must be designated. Multiple raiding squadrons can be assigned against a single or multiple opponents.

Destroyed. The model is permanently eliminated from the campaign. However, the model and its status as destroyed should be maintained on the roster for game record purpose.

REINFORCEMENT: whenever a player's force roster falls below 1500 points, roll a D6. On a "6" three small models are added to the roster; roll another D6. On a second "6" 2 medium models are added to the roster; roll another D6. On a third "6" a large or massive is added to the roster. Reinforcement is the only way new models can be added to the force roster.

RESOURCE POINTS: each turn a player may repair 6 hull points every campaign turn. The total is modified as below:

+2 if the player achieved a decisive victory that campaign turn (100% more enemy points destroyed than lost).

+1 if the player achieved a marginal victory that campaign turn (more enemy points destroyed than lost).

- Raids and Convoy outcome.

1/2 of prized models' starting hull points 

All tokens are automatically replenished and all critical hits are repaired without resource points expenditures.

A player's Resource points will always be a minimum of one per turn.

Up to 6 Resource points can be saved from turn to turn.

RAIDS & CONVOY: raids and convoy actions are resolved before the game to be played that campaign turn.

1. For each raiding squadron against an opponent the raiding players rolls a D6: a roll of 4 or 5 is a single hit and a 6 is two and allows an additional roll.  Total the raiding hits. For each submersible squadron raiding a bonus of one additional hit is added to the raiding total (thus a minimum of one).

2. The defending player rolls a D6 for each convoy squadron: a roll of 4 or 5 is a single hit and a 6 is two but does not allows an additional roll. Total the convoy hits. Each convoy squadron gets to defend against each raiding players (raiding players rather than raiding squadron).

3. For every hits the raiding player has over the defending convoy hits, the defending player's total available resource points is reduced by the same amount for the next turn. 

CAMPAIGN VICTORY: 

The campaign ends after: 

~ a minimum of 6 campaign turns has passed

~ when the majority of the players decide (which may be longer than 6 campaign turns)

~ when one player has been eliminated

The player with the most Victory Points win (2 for each major victory, 1 for each minor victory). Ties are decided by the player with the largest remaining force roster points.

BFG Night: IN versus AdMech

I played a 1500 points game with my new IN fleet against my friend (Jobu) AdMech fleet the other night. My fleet consisted of an Apocalypse (the Kandinsky), 2 Dictators (the Still and the Newman), 2 Lunars (the Kline and the Hofmann), along with 2 squadrons of Falchions (the Dehner and the Callery). Jobu's consisted of a battleship (Retribution class?), 2 AdMech Tyrants, 3 AdMech Endeavors, 3 Cobras and 3 Hunters. At the end of the night i lost the Kandinski and four Falchions with no other ships crippled. Jobu lost 2 Cobras and 2 Hunters with the battleship crippled as well as one of the Tyrant.

What I learn:
1. The Apocalypse should go all ahead full the first turn in order to position itself in firing range of its lances.
2. Bombers, even when combined with torpedoes are fairly ineffective against battleships. I should have sent them against the light cruisers preferably if not the against the cruisers.
3. the Dictators have in essence 2 combined strikes at 20cm so save a fleet reroll for the reload.

I submitted the result to the Draco Sector Campaign

Now for something completely different

I picked up another miniatures game at the beginning of the year, and have been hobbying with it ever since. Some of you have probably heard me talking about Malifaux, but I've finally gotten around to finishing my 2 crews. Well Seamus is my wife's crew, I normally play the Viktorias.


Seamus and crew


Malifaux is a 32mm miniatures game set in the world of Malifaux, and has an ongoing story describing the setting, how the world came to be. The story also explains the interactions and some dynamics between factions and their leaders which adds to the fun. Wyrd Games also publishes a periodic web magazine which includes FAQ's, discussions, strategies, etc and it is free to download. I won't go into any detail on here, but it is very fun to read, and always getting better as they hire new writers and creative geniuses.


The Twins or Viktorias crew


The one distinguishing factor between Malifaux and other games that I've played, is that it is not a dice game. It uses a standard 54 card deck of playing cards(including jokers), or one of their custom decks of cards. In addition to that, players alternate "activating" or playing the actions of each model, which always leads to thinking about new strategies and ways to maneuver to get objectives accomplished.


Card Suits changed to Tome, Mask, Ram, and Crow


There are currently 6 factions, with multiple leaders in each faction with different playstyles and feels. One thing about Malifaux is that movement, terrain, and cover are used throughout the game, and are very important for certain crews's play style. It is also very objective/strategy oriented and not just another move to contact and hulk smash the opposing force, although that can be part of the strategy too. Starter box sets range from $32 - 43 and most of the old boxes contain models and stat cards to play a 25 "Soulstone" game. The newer boxes contain enough models to play a 35 point game, which is normally the average points to play a 1-2 hour long game.

Stat card front and back have abilities and descriptions of abilities

If you are looking to start miniature gaming again, or just want to mix it up and add a new game to your arsenal, let me know through email or google+ and I will setup a demo.








For more detail on gameplay:  http://malifaux.com/Gameplay.php

The rules manual is available for free online here if interested: http://malifaux.com/Downloads.php

Size Comparison, alternatives to GW

So, I wanted some Men of Dale but I refuse to buy them from GW, specifically because Men of Dale only come 10 to a box.  Really?  Ten?  Were these for some kind of special set and then just sort of thrown into a  box, with the rules?  I am sure Peter Jackson probably screwed GW's plan for The Hobbit by changing from 2 to 3 movies, but really?  Ten?  Your entire army building rules revolve around groups (warbands) of 12 warriors lead by a hero.  Not even an option to build a captain.  Anyway, I wanted Men of Dale, so with a little help of another blog I found out about Thunderbolt Mountain.  You can read about them on their about us page, but I was blown away by their great miniatures, and I found my Men of Dale.  The byzantine warriors with spear and shield fit the bill.  So I ordered some up.  While trimming away the base is a little painful it really only takes about a minute with clippers.  So far I am happy with them, they are a little skinny but are the right height which to me is more important.  Below you will see a size comparison of some Games Workshop Lord of The Rings, some Thunderbolt Mountain, and a Red Box Games mini( soon to be my Men of Dale Captain).

Reward for the campaign

The diligence of participating in our current campaign will be rewarded.  Winning the most hex tiles, and therefore having the most Kingdom Points will bring you fame and fortune throughout Middle Earth!  Which means we will know who won.  To that end I wanted to bring in something that was unique and allowed everyone to have a shot at the ultimate reward.  Okay, maybe not ultimate but a prize anyway.  So at the end of the campaign we will raffle off a pair of unique dice.


Every KP you have will get you one raffle entry.  They are machined out of a single piece of aluminum and are slightly smaller than your typical 16mm dice.  Not a lot, but I thought it would be a nice unique piece to add some incentive to the bunch.

So We are starting up a campaign

I tried to be creative, while keeping this not only simple but allowing everyone to play everyone else.  Basically not letting the map dictate who can fight who, but being a little restrictive to army lists.  I think I was successful (pats self on back).  I know there will be some kind of issue at some point, because, well I can not think of everything.

Campaign Proposal

Hero/Army selection

A player may pick an army from any of the currently available source books, with the following exceptions/additions(basically including The Hobbit armies into the sourcebooks profiles):

Angmar list: Azogs hunters, The trolls

Moria List: Goblin town

Durins Folk: Army of Thror

Eregion and Rivendell: Elrond's Household

Wanderers in the wild: Thorin's company, radagast's alliance

Rohan: Men of Dale

Once a player picks an army list, they may play any hero in that army and may ally with any other army list IN THAT SOURCE BOOK.  Ex.  If I pick Harad and Umbar, I may ally with any other list in the Fallen Realms source book, but not out of Mordor ( unless you have enough Kingdom Points, which we will cover later ).

The goal, like it is every thursday night, is to take over the world!  How do we do this?

Expansionism, Imperialism and Conquest!  The lands to the east and south of Mordor are ripe for the picking!  It is time to build your empire abroad and bring wealth and honor to your western kingdom.

The people who inhabit this eastern land are drawn to power, you must defeat your competition in combat in order to earn their trust, and more importantly their trade.  Every western lord is on a stealth campaign to gather as many trading partners as they can, without going to all out war with their neighbors back home.  To that end you are secretly fighting battles in the east, and, the politics in the western lands are tricky so neighbors come in and out of alliances as everyone strives to become the imperialist power in the east.

Each player starts out with a three hex area on the western side of “known” middle earth, these may never be lost to or annexed by another player.  To gain renown, and lands, your secret army must defeat your “friends” to gain hex tiles in the east.  Every hex tile brings one Kingdom Point, which are calculated every week, and are not cumulative.  You may freely swap tiles with other players,  negotiate at your own risk.

A win will allow players to claim up to three hex tiles that are unclaimed, a loss means you gain nothing.  If there are no free hex tiles that you wish to claim, you may annex up to 2 of another players hex tiles.   Players may also do both, a win will allow a player to annex 1 tile and grab 1 unclaimed tile.  That is it though, a ? v1(win) allows:

1)Grab up to 3 free tiles

2)Annex 2 of another players tiles

3)Annex 1 tile and claim 1 free tile

a 2(win)v ? allows:

1)The winners may grab up to 2 free tiles each

2)The winners may annex 1 tile

Hex tiles MUST be in groups of three or more to be stable.

But why annex then Jobu?  Well, if you win the next week after annexing tiles from another player, then you can annex another two or grab free tiles that connect to the annexed tile(s).  If the player does not win, or somehow negotiate a tile swap, those tiles revert back to free tiles.  Only tiles with some land on them may be claimed.  Open water may not be claimed unless it is an inland lake.

Each tile in your favor gains you 1 Kingdom Point (KP), at the end of the campaign the player with the most KP's win.  Kingdom points are calculated once a week, on friday.

What do KPs bring you?

They allow allies, they allow buying priority once a game, they allow an extra fate to be given to a unnamed/named hero, they allow you to deploy a specific terrain piece, and maybe something else if I can think of it.  You may only pick two of the following and they may not be from the same list:

1)A force of renown(based on # of models, no points values) allows allies outside the sourcebook, still limited to good with good and evil with evil:

Spend 3 KP's and you may ally up to 25% (or one warband, whichever is larger) with another force using only unnamed heroes.

Spend 9 KP's and you may ally up to but not over 50% with another force using only unnamed heroes.

Spend 15 KP's and you may ally up to 25%(or one warband, whichever is larger) with another force using a named hero.

Spend 30 KP's and you may ally up to 50% with a named hero.

2)I swear it was Deja-Vu:

Spend 6 KP's and you may automatically have priority for one turn, must be used before priority dice are rolled – NO EXCEPTIONS

Spend 30 KP's and you may do it after the dice are rolled.

3)Luckiest Red Shirt:

Spend 3 KP's to give an unnamed hero an extra fate

Spend 20 KP's and give a named hero an extra fate

May only be given to native heroes. i.e. no allies

4)Brick in the wall:

Spend 3 KP's and you may remove one piece of native terrain from the table before armies have been deployed.

Spend 6KP's and you may place one small ( about the size of a DVD) non-native terrain piece anywhere on the board.

Spend 9 KP's and you may place one medium ( about 2x DVD ) non-native piece of terrain in your deployment area.

Fortunes/Fates

Hero of renown-You may nominate one hero in your army, that hero now acts as a banner for native troops( not allied ones).

Heroic Intervention-One nominated hero may call heroic fights without using any might.

Courageous charge-You may nominate one hero, during the game all units who begin the turn within 6 inches of that hero will automatically pass all courage tests.

War Chant- You may nominate one hero, during the game all models who begin the turn within 6 inches of that hero cause terror.

Faltering nerve-Before priority and for the duration of the game you may nominate one enemy hero, if that hero wishes to use might the controlling  player must role a d6, on 4+ nothing happens and the might is used normally, on a 3- the might does nothing and is lost.  This is only effective on the first might that hero spends each turn.

Ancient Lore-If a model or hero is the victim of a magical power, any native or allied hero within 12 inches may expend will points to help the model resist, the dice are added to the regular resist roll.  This is only allowed to be spent to resist magical powers.

Good Counsel- Before priority and for the duration of the game you may nominate one friendly hero, if that hero wishes to use might the controlling  player must role a d6, on 3- nothing happens and the might is used normally, on a 4+ the might is free.  This is only effective on the first might that hero spends each turn.

Counterspell-Nominate an enemy spellcaster, during the game if a spell is successfully cast that caster must reroll all the dice used to cast.  The second roll stands.

Mithril Coat-At the beginning of a turn declare this fortune/fate.  All wounds during the turn may be rescued on a roll of 5+.   Use this before rolling fate on heroes.

Last nights game

Eight brave souls showed up to fight mighty battles

GW and the great patent war.....

If any reader here follows some of the more popular US/UK forums about tabletop war gaming( it has even happened on this blog) you may know about Games Workshop's pattern of intellectual property protection.
As in, we will send out cease and desist letters to anyone who may use any common term that can describe anything we make.  Now they have had a book about "Spot the space marine" pulled from amazon because apparently GW owns the words "space marine".
For some more info head on over to Plastic Legions
This is bullying plain and simple, they are attacking people not ideas.

To Learn more about the author of Spots the space marine go here.  She has updated her site with more information.
The ebook has been returned to the ebook store on amazon.  Show her some love if you can and purchase a copy.

SBG Campaign.

Plans are currently underway for a SBG (Hobbit-LotR) campaign, perhaps as early as March. Jobu and I have solicit the aid of Aristo to manage the campaign for us. Aristo is a very good SBG competitor who have not been a regular gaming night participant for family (wee ones) reasons. This way we get someone firstly who know the game, secondly a neutral master, and thirdly allow him to continue participation in our gaming activities.
We all want a campaign to tie our games together, but effort in the past has failed in large part due to a lack of consensus on how to structure the campaign. This time the majority of us have decided gamers consensus is like herding cats. Thus we will provide suggestions to Aristo as our individual thoughts but in the end, will abide by his decision. Aristo will be our Campaign Master. I encourage all of you to do so.


My thoughts are here.

Last week's roundup

If you haven't had a chance to stop by FTW Games in awhile, I recommend trying to make a Thursday game night some time soon. There's always fun to be had, and this past Thursday, we had an action packed game! The game was a total of 4000 points between 4 players.



 I originally started collecting the GW Lord of the Rings miniatures as a hobby to paint and play SBG. I never got around to playing SBG much, and after 7 years in mothballs I resurrected what I could find of my collection and started to finish painting and collecting them again. My wife purchased me a box set of Riders of Rohan after I broke my collar bone as a way to ease the pain of not mountain biking, and the addiction started again!

 

These pictures include models from the battle that took place on 1/24/2013. It is always fun to watch the armies of Middle Earth clash together and see the outcome of an army build against someone else's.



I hope this inspires some of the "retired" folk to come out of their Hobbit holes and get down to FTW this Thursday for an adventure in Middle Earth again!



An album of all pictures taken during the game.

Februa...wwhhhhaaatttttt!!???

So, here we are nearing February and GW has put up some advanced order for The Hobbit.  Now, let me say these are some nice looking plastic models, you can't tell from the paint jobs ( especially when you compare them to the Warriors of Chaos ) but looking at the sprues shows they have a great level of detail.
Great job GW, those elf cavalry look great, as do the grim hammers.

Now, if only I could afford them. Okay,I can afford them, but I can not justify them.  Wargames factory offers 12 cavalry or 32 infantry models for less than $20.  Gripping Beast offers 44 infantry for @ $30 and Perry miniatures offers at least 12 cavalry for @ $30. True mulitpart, variable models.  Do they look as good as GW do in relation to the Hobbit?  No, but they are more than usable, and a good paint job will take them far.   We also do not play in a GW store, so no one cares what miniature represents rohan, elves or orcs.

I can not, for the life of me, figure out how 6 Rivendell Knights can be more expensive than 6 Morgul Knights when they are all made out of the same material.  They are almost 30% more, where does that price difference come from?  Those 2 dead extra models? I was really looking forward to these, was planning on buying them too.  Will I now? No.  I simply can not justify the price.  I thought the grim hammers might be less expensive than the hunter orcs. I know, I know that was a pipe dream but I really wanted them, I still want the hunter orcs on wargs, but I will not pay this price.

Some will say, " just go on the internet and get them for at least 15% off".   No, If I do that then there is no reason for Rob to have a game store, he could just stick to internet sales.  Then I will not have a place to throw dice.  My friends and I do not have the space to hold all the warmancers and game at the same time.

More to come.....

Hobby stuff yeah!

A little bit of painting going on, still have not had a chance to play the new SBG rules yet. However I have had time to paint. First up is a figure from Red Box Games, which will be utilized as a black numenorean Marshall. The figure was fun to paint, it is a little warhammery skully but does stand out among the regular black numenoreans.
Next up is a Great Beast of Gorgoroth. This was a quick paint job, a true finecast nightmare. There were so many air bubbles in the figures that I lost count. The actual beast came out pretty well. Each figure is removable via a pin. I am looking forward to using this with the new monster rules. At some point anyway.