Vengeance!

This coming weekend sees the return of the biggest Guild Ball event. 128 players!  Jay Finnegan of GBI is once again hosting Vengeance at the Element Games North West Gaming Centre.

One of the many benefits of living in Stockport is now my close proximity to the gaming centre which means this event (which was 250 miles away) is now on my door step.

In this article, I am going to go through my chosen 10 players for this event.


Guild: The Union
Anyone who has played me before knows I am a big fan of the Fisherman's Guild and their silky footballing skills. Having played them since Season 1 and with the release of Seasoned Brisket, I decided to give the Fisherman a bit of a break and try my hand with the dastardly Union.
They have a wide range of players which makes for a more varied play style as it opens up the option of 2 Take-outs, 2 goals which the (Shark led) Fisherman struggle to do.

Captain: Seasoned Brisket
I've always wanted to use Brisket but never really liked the Butchers so this was a perfect excuse. I have been using Seasoned Brisket almost exclusively since she was released. As a primarily football player, she immediately appealed to me. Great character plays and a fantastic legendary that when used well, means she can get anywhere on the pitch.

 Mascot: Coin
Coin was a no brainer to add in. His Bag of Coffers brings a valuable extra influence meaning when Brisket takes her full 6, there is still enough to go around the rest of the team.

Player 1: Mist
Again, another no brainer. Mist comes in as the primary striker. He has a massive threat on goal which increases even further as he gains Shadow Like when within 6" of another Solthecian model. This makes him a perfect partner for Seasoned Brisket.

Player 2: Harry 'The Hat' 
A fringe player in previous seasons, Harry has stormed into almost every team in Season 3; including mine. His Inspiring Hat makes playing football so much easier and preserves that precious momentum that I need to score/ keep Brisket out of trouble. Harry is also great at clearing out a mass brawl in the middle as his 2" melee and momentous pushes allow him to disengage enemy players at ease.

Player 3: Minx
Another player who was relatively under-used last season, Minx is now seen in many a Union and Hunter team. She gained access to Snared and Back to the Shadows in season 3 allowing her to deal out damage and snare her opponents before disengaging (meaning she can charge again for free next turn). Having Furious also means you can use Minx as an influence battery on those turns when you really need your strikers to have max influence.

Player 4: Decimate
Decimate has been a mainstay of many Union teams for the last few seasons despite losing that fabled 2" melee. Able to do consistent damage and generate plenty of momentum, it wasn't a hard decision to bring her in my 9. What makes her super useful in this team is her T<< play book result (that's a tackle combined with a double dodge for those who don't speak Guild Ball). She is also incredibly quick so is often sent to retrieve the ball (also makes her a good target for Briskets Worthy Sacrifice).

Player 5: Avarisse & Greede
Avarisse & Greede, the dynamic duo that everyone loves to hate, These guys are a great pairing and combined make a fantastic striker. However, I always struggle to use these guys to their full potential so they haven't seen much action in my team recently. That should hopefully change this week as I squeeze in a few more practice games with these guys.

Player 6: Grace

No pretty photos yet so this stock
image will have to do.

Originally Grace was not going to be in my 9 but the announcement that Steamforged Games are going to pre-release both her and Benediction at Vengeance changed my mind. She has a great chance of being included in most of my games as her ability to speed up Mist and Brisket will be invaluable. She can also throw out healing AOEs if the match starts to go against me.

Player 7: Benediction
I won't lie, Benediction is in because he looks so damn cool. From the theory hammer in the office, we came to the conclusion he probably works better in a Veteran Rage team than Brisket but I think (if he comes in) he has his uses. He can dish out Sturdy to Brisket making her tougher to knock down and similar to Harry, he provides a 2" melee with plenty of momentous pushes.

Player 8: Snakeskin
Sneaking in at the last minute (thanks to the change in the OP doc) Snakeskin is my final pick. She is a great ball carrier thanks to Clone and Nimble. Combine that with her Charmed Male and Shadow Like and she can reliably get the ball back to Brisket or Mist.

General Thoughts:

I was toying with the idea of running two captains (probably Veteran Rage) but ultimately decided I wanted more flexibility in my players. Plus after running Brisket for the last month, I am out of practice with Vet Rage so it's unlikely I would even pick him in my team. I'm sure he will return to claim ownership of the Union soon enough. I am fairly confident that I can get the job done with Brisket against most teams; Obulus being a super tough match up. In an ideal world (one where I receive the ball first turn) I am aiming to get at least one goal, possibly two, in turn one using Mist and Brisket's Legendary. If my opponent kills the ball then I just have to be patient. Given a turn or two, Brisket or Mist (maybe even Avarisse and Greede) can go fetch the ball.


Failing that, The Union will just have to bloody their knives.





Happy Wargaming!

A Pair of Clever Girls Joined the Drowned Earth

A Pair of Clever Girls Join The Drowned Earth

    

Forget riding a motorcycle along side these beasts – ride a raptor in The Drowned Earth!

The Drowned Earth KS has started with a bang – 9 stretch goals unlocked with many more to come. They recently added one of the coolest models I’ve seen in awhile…

Meet Nix, the leader of the Artifacters faction, a group of adventure archaeologists, explorers and rogues. We’ve already seen her on foot at the start of the campaign, but now a mounted option hints at the suggestion we might see mounted versions of other models too?
She was unlocked a few days ago, and has caused quite a stir!

They’ve also added some companions for her… 

Become a Backer Today!

James Baldwin has kindly agreed to come to MSWG once the game has landed to showcase the game. Keep an eye on the blog for further announcements regarding this. 

Return to Rivenstead 2017 Tickets now on sale!

Tickets are now on sale for our next Hobbit/ Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game tournament. 

Date: 24-25 June 2017
Where: Dorset Arms, East Grinstead
Cost: £30
Points: 1000, 1 Army
Games: 6
80 GBHL Points

Tickets can be purchased by sending £30 via PayPal to Midsussexwargamers@gmail.com. At time of writing, there are 4 tickets remaining so please email to confirm there is a spot left or if you are on Facebook, send Sam Page a message. 

The rules pack for this event can be found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_RGEH0PqyFwxYDv9gLB2NoNpLE9sNWX0ReCOHkKaMY0/edit

Happy Wargaming

Tale of Many Gamers: Sam's Azog's Legion Army Month 4 Update

"What does the eye command?"

After a bit of a delay, I have finally caught up with my Tale army. Turns out moving half way up the country and starting a new job has a big impact on your hobby time in the short turn.

After missing my month 3 target I was desperate to try and meet both targets. And I am happy to say, I have done so.

This month I have painted:

Month 3 Target (warband + hero)
Orc Captain w/ Shield
5 Mordor Uruk Hai
3 Hunter Orcs - 1 Hornblower)
Gundabad Ogre
3 Spectres

Month 4 Target (paint up to 750pts)
Gundabad Troll with Scything Gauntlets.

My 750 point army now stands at

Bolg - Leader
6 Gundabad Berserkers
2 Gundabad Ogres
1 Gundabad Troll w/ Scything Gauntlets

Gundabad Captain with Shield
6 Gundabad Orcs - 3 with Shield, 3 with Spear
3 Hunter Orcs - 1 with Horn

Mordor Orc Captain
5 Mordor Uruk Hai - 2 with 2H weapons

As I mentioned in my last blog post at the end of month 2, I have had to deviate away from a pure Azog's Legion army in favour of painting up some of my backlog. I now have warbands from Azog's Legion, Dark Powers of Dol Guldor and Mordor. The 3 spectres I painted up will be added to the 1000 point army in Month 6.

For month 5, the target is again to paint another warband plus hero. The warband of troops is relatively easy to choose. I have 2 Spectres, 1 Mordor Uruk Hai, 3 Hunter Orcs with bows left over which need painting so they are automatically in. I am also planning on purchasing 3 more Gundabad Berserkers for a tournament in the middle of June so they can be added. The remaining 3 spots will be taken by whatever I can find when I dig around in my various boxes.
For the Hero it is a little tougher. I have the Knight of Umbar on foot and horse ready to paint or I could convert an old Ugluk into a Mordor Uruk Hai Captain. Now theme is out the window, I could also paint a Mordor Orc Shaman on warg. Post below on what you would paint/ want to see painted.

Anyway, enough waffle. Onto some pretty(ish) pictures.

Happy Wargaming! 

The Drowned Earth - Available on Kickstarter now!

The Drowned Earth: First look at the Game

If you've heard about The Drowned Earth Kickstarter lately then you're certainly not alone! In this article we're going to take a brief look at what sort of game it is, and discuss some general points.

The first and most obvious point is that this is a low model count, character based miniatures game. Billed for games of 5-15 models (and working equally well with anything within this range) the game is played on a 3x3 board.

Terrain

Like a lot of science fiction skirmish games, cover is important, or your models will shoot each other to pieces in no time! The game has been advertised with loads of beautiful, jungle ruin themed terrain, but the creators say it works perfectly well with less terrain, provided there's lots of cover to hide behind! In a game with a name like this, water is also a big feature, but again, not essential. It's fun to leap off tall buildings, guns blazing, and then landing safely in water. Swimming slows you down, as you might expect, and provides some cover too. But not all areas of The Drowned Earth are under water, and there's no reason not to fight on dry land.

So while the game might look like the terrain is a bit of a barrier to entry, I think most people who play games at home will have enough terrain to get by. This is especially true considering the board size is under average.

Turn Order

Lets have a brief look at the activation structure. The game is alternate activation, meaning that you each take turns in activating a single model. Each model has a personal pool of Action Points which they may spend during their activation.

However, models can also use these action points out of turn, to react against their opponent's actions, provided they have line of sight to the action. This, combined with the alternate activation gives the game a really involved, immediate feel: you're constantly interacting with your opponent, facing off in "firefights" and "duels". What's more, the orders are somewhat fluid when it comes to moving and shooting: you can shoot in the middle of a move, which creates a very cinematic feel, and often creates those wonderful moments of epic story, where an important objective is contested in a split second of furious action!

Movement

So this is probably the "Unique Selling Point" of The Drowned Earth wargame. Movement is pretty different to most other games: it's very easy to climb, leap, jump off things, swim and otherwise be awesome. Remembering that you can shoot in the middle of these forms of movement, this is a game where some pretty epic things can happen!

Honestly, when reading the movement chapter of the Beta rules (the rules are still subject to some change, although the creators have indicated the core rules will only need a few tweaks here and there), it can seem a little complicated, but actually its very simple:

You declare your chosen movement path, and if it includes "dynamic movement" (leaping, climbing, jumping down) you make a test. Each model has two movement values: if you get one success you move the short distance, and if you get two successes (called "Nailing It" in the game) you move your full distance. It doesn't matter how many different types of movement you encounter, you just test once, and measure.

Of course you can fail as well, and what happens when you fail depends on the type of movement you are encountering. Typically you just move as far as you can, and stop at the terrain which made you take the test.

Rarely, you can critically fail, when something REALLY bad happens (like falling off the edge of the building), but these really don't happen all that often.

Other cool stuff!

There are a few other rules which really give the game character, which don't fall under the above headings. All models have special rules, which is where the tactics of the game really come in. Most characters also have a "class role" such as Mechanic, Medic or Leader. These are accompanied by special rules such as infiltration, repair, heal or, in the case of the leader, Command.

Command allows a leader to take a free Command test (it doesn't cost an action point to do this) to move Action Points between friendly models (including himself) provided he has Line of Sight to them. This can be extremely useful when building a turn strategy, especially as the leader can do this multiple times until he fails a Command test.

We should also talk about the "Feat" mechanic: when taking a test there's a special symbol which overrides any other results rolled on other dice: it's an automatic success AND grants the model another Action Point. This can suddenly give a model the boost he needed to achieve something significant, or even just to duck down out of danger.

There are also the usual flame templates, stealth mechanics and other little bits of fun... including...

Dino models?! (editor - sold, where do I sign?) Well yes, indeed, apparently in The Drowned Earth, provided you rear them from egg, it's entirely possible to train and even ride dinosaurs. This isn't currently represented in the Beta rules (except for the odd tantalising reference to "troop" and "beast" models, and these will have to wait till the faction starter boxes and rulebook are unlocked. After then? Who knows!

I hope you've enjoyed this brief look at the game. To find out more head on over to check out 

http://www.kickstarter.thedrownedearth.com

https://twitter.com/thedrownedearth/

http://www.thedrownedearth.com/

https://www.facebook.com/thedrownedearth/

MSWG: Just want to say a massive thank you to James and his team at The Drowned Earth for taking the time to write this article. I am in for at least one starter team and some Dinosaurs when they are unlocked. If you wish to arrange a game at MSWG, please email midsussexwargamers@gmail.com

Quote of the Day: "Throw pound coins at me! I don't care if it hurts!"

Tale of Many Gamers: Sam Month 2

''Send in the war beasts!''

Better late than never, here is my army showcase for Month 2. I did get these complete on time but real life has got in the way of taking photos.

For those who didn't read the battle report between myself and Chris, my 400pt list was:

Bolg
5 Gundabad Berserkers
Gundabad Ogre

Gundabad Captain with Shield
2 Gundabad Orcs with Shield
3 Gundabad Orcs with Spear

In total I had painted:

Bolg
6 Gundabad Berserkers
Gundabad Ogre

Gundabad Captain with Shield
3 Gundabad Orcs with Shield
3 Gundabad Orcs with Spear

For month 3 I have to paint another hero plus 12 models. My target for this month is to paint an Orc Captain, 6 Spectres, 5 Mordor Uruk-hai and another Gundabad Ogre. I am having to deviate from Azog's legion for two reasons. First is the cost. Forgeworld isn't cheap and while I'm happy to pay the prices, sometimes the wallet just needs a break. Second is my ever growing backlog. I've decided to utilise this Tale of Gamers to try and reduce that backlog so expect to see a variety of evil models over the remainder of this tale (also the new Gundabad trolls will definitely make an appearance).

Now on to the pretty photos...

....maybe later.

Tale of Many Gamers: James G Month 2

''East rode the knights of Dol Amroth driving the enemy before them''

Finally completed my 400 point Fiefdom force for Month Two. This month I added a Mounted Captain of Dol Amroth (with dismount), a Captain of Dol Amroth on foot, three Axemen of Lossnarch, three Foot Knights of Dol Amroth and a Blackroot Vale Archer with Horn.

Forlong the Fat

Complete force

The foot knights of Dol Amroth

The Archers of the Blackroot Vale

This month also saw them take to the field of battle for the first time. They took on Michael MacDonald's Goblin Town force in a randomly selected scenario. The Goblin Town army consisted on the Goblin King, The Scribe, Grinnah, a Captain and four warbands of goblins.

The game selected was Hold Ground and annoyingly I won priority. It didn't start well with Forlong's warband consisting of the Axemen & Archers not turning up. The Captain on foot entered on the eastern edge of the board with the other foot knights with the lone mounted captain appearing on the opposite board edge.

I was able to place the Goblin King behind a ton of scenery at the furthest point away from me with the scribe choosing to appear alongside him.

The remaining two warbands of goblins appeared directly behind my foot knights!

Needless to say I promptly lost priority and was surrounded.

Despite having a banner in the centre of the formation, the combination of overwhelming numbers and being trapped led to four of my knights falling to the chittering hordes while only managing to kill a single goblin in return.
Forlong and his warband turned up adjacent to the fight to lend support while the mounted captain continued his charge across the battlefield. By the time the mounted captain arrived I had lost another three foot knights (including the banner) and two axemen. Although I was able to whittle away at the goblin numbers, the goblin scribe managed to pass every single one of his reinforcement roles with another three goblins being thrown into the mix every turn.
The presence of the cavalry made an immediate impact with ten goblins falling beneath his lance. This proved to be a little too late though to stop my army breaking. With the game ending on a 1 or 2 now, with nobody on the hill things were starting to look a bit tense.

In an attempt to score some VP's the mounted captain charged the Goblin King who had finally made it to the fight. After each heroic struck their opponent the Goblin King and seven supporting goblins were able to cut down the valiant knight.

With the death of my knight, any realistic chance I had of winning the game went up in smoke. With the Goblin King and two warbands worth of goblins swarmed onto the hill, the game ended. The goblins had won.

I had finished the game with a quarter of my starting army with only Forlong, an axeman, a knight and 2 archers remaining. None of them on the hill. The goblins had ten models seizing the objective. Neither general had been wounded but the goblin force had broken my army without being broken themselves. Goblin Town had won 13 - 0.

As with most games, deployment is key and no more so than in Hold Ground. My force had been separated early which allowed them to succumb to Goblin Towns superior numbers. My attempt to reinforce the foot knights with the archers also meant that I wasn't able to utilise their abilities as I would of liked. Six archers re-rolling to wound the Goblin King during his long trek to the battle could have been key.

Despite the loss it was a hugely enjoyable battle and I'm looking forward to learning from this game and growing my army. Next up is Prince Imrahil who will make a huge difference to the way the army plays. With him will also be another 8 Axemen and 4 Archers.

Thanks for this great article James! Until then, Happy Wargaming!