Path of Damnation: What a load of bull!

With the recent addition of several hard hitting characters and monsters, I figured I should probably get another unit on the table.

This also gave my another reason to procrastinate about the standard bearers and musicians that are needed for my Chaos Warrior and Marauder units.

Therefore, I took a different bull by the horns.

This unit of Minotaurs with function as Chaos Ogres in my Warhammer: The Old World army because the teaming hordes of Chaos have a somewhat rigid structure dividing them into Beastmen, Warriors and Daemons.

I, however, refuse to be bound by such restriction, and also don't have that many more options regarding units to add to the army.

I'm not sure how useful just three Minotaurs/Ogres will be, but that's what I have.

 

 

The unit champion is a lightly converted Warhammer Quest Minotaur, and these were a truly feared sight for adventurers, particularly when you drew three of them in the first room of the dungeon and immediately died.

The light conversion is a hand replacement, giving him an Ogre spiked gauntlet I had left from making a Bloodbowl team many years ago. This is to give him two hand weapons to match the rest of the unit.

I actually have two more Minotaurs like this one (although one has a club) but opted not to use them because I want the army to have no duplicate models in it. Also, the fact that he's bigger than the other two makes him an imposing champion.

The other two members of the unit are metal second edition Bloodbowl Minotaurs, hence the large pads and spiked gloves (additional hand weapons).

They are significantly smaller than both the Warhammer Quest model and the 'modern' plastics (which I hate, btw, just for reference). These were the 'big guys' of their time but stand no taller than a Primaris Space Marines.

This was from a time when something being the equivalent of seven or eight foot tall would be rightly viewed as imposing.

The final model is a curiosity, because I have no idea what this pose is meant to be representing. As a single piece model I'd that he's just a natural consequence of having to sculpt in a flat plane and try to make him visually different from the other guy.

He's also the reason why I didn't try any conversions to give the unit double handed weapons as I have no idea how I could go that on this model and make his pose look remotely natural.

This unit was unbelievably quick to paint and leaves me with about half a dozen metal models left to do from my initial plan to complete the army.

Acquired: -73

Painted: 400

Lead Mountain: 372

Meeting targets without mushroom to spare...

Told you I'd get them done:

Apologies for the rubbish picture. These are my re-roll, score and turn markers for my new Blood Bowl team, all ready for my first defea...erm...game of the season on Sunday.

These were very kindly sculpted by Andy from air-drying clay and had a typical 'splosh' paint job from me. I may, if I can be bothered, go back and highlight up the red as I over-egged the pudding with the wash and so they look a bit grubby - however, they are fungus.

I sense that the re-roll counter will get more action than the score counter...

The End of the End of the Beginning...U.S. Triumphant

The club Flames of War campaign spluttered to a appropriate finish with Matt leading his hard charging Americans to victory over Pete's combustible Germans.  This allowed the Americans (Matt and I) to capture Tunis before the British, and before the Russians had even got within the same timezone as their target of Kursk.

To be honest, the victory is a little hollow for me as I only actually used my Americans once, and got beaten. So the campaign was actually won by Matt on his own, however I did contribute a bit with two victories over the Russians and one over the British, helping keep our rivals in check.

Overall, there were a number of lessons learned by all:

• Americans need to be used in a blood and thunder manner, charging hard and turning flanks
• Genuine mid-war British tanks struggle against the wall of heavy tanks that non-desert lists throw at them
• Pete's tank fixation can be exploited for an early finish
• Panthers in mid-war are bent as hell
• Matt actually knows what he's doing (in the context of our club)

 Thoughts now turn to the annual Blood Bowl tournament that kicks off this weekend. My money is on Aneurin's Orcs, da Nu Ork Jets; despite his Vampire induced collapse last year, he's actually a pretty handy player, is running a good team and is out for revenge.

January Targets Met (...well, sort of)

So my target for this month was to paint and base my Blood Bowl team - the  Mushington Redcaps. That's fifteen little guys and two big guys. Here they are with their bases finally done.

If I'm honest, I also said I'd get my re-roll, turn and score markers done as well, but I've had them made for me by Andy and so will be picking them up tonight. With luck, I'll succeed in getting them done by the actual end of the month.

I'm really pleased that I've got these chaps done as their first game is next Sunday against JP's Necromantic Team with the most convoluted name I've ever encountered, the 'Shhh....Arrggh! Noooo! Scares'. I'm hoping that I can hold them to a whitewash!

As for next month, I'm off to Vapnartak in York at the weekend, and I've got a few purchases in mind. Primarily I want to get some terrain for my superhero gaming, and possibly some models for my 1812 Americans. I've also got some miniatures on order, their for the new Batman: Arkham City game from Knight Models - Killer Croc and some Policemen to be precise.

These models are absolutely gorgeous, although I'm a little uncertain as to whether the scale (nominally 35mm) will match some of the larger Heroclix models I've got, so I've help back on ordering more for now. If they do match, I'll probably end up only buying the minis for characters I don't have decent Heroclix sculpts for (Catwoman and Nightwing spring to mind), as the range is somewhat pricey. If they don't match, I will have a bit of soul searching as to whether to pursue expensive quality or stick with what I've got.


Anyway, those decisions will come later - for now my target for February is:

• Paint and base Killer Croc and the two Gotham Policemen to a higher standard than my usual
• Rebase and repaint/touch up at lease three Heroclix characters
• Construct and begin painting my first piece of urban terrain

That's quite a big target, but February does include a half term. However, I'll work on things one at a time and that last target is suitably vague as to allow me to prioritise effectively.

Bloodbowl Champignons!

Presenting...the MUSHINGTON REDCAPS!

This is my new Blood Bowl team for the coming season. As a Halfling team, I don't have the highest hopes for victory (or even scoring), but I felt like that at the start of the season a couple of years ago when I eventually won the club league with my Ogre team, the Tiny 'n' Titans.

The models are from Rapier Miniatures, one of those old school eclectic miniatures manufacturers, which I stumbled upon amidst all the corporate stands at the Derby World Wargames show last year. I'd highly recommend having a browse around their site, especially the Witches and Beastmen sections, as there are some really original models in there - I did consider a Pumpkinman Undead teams...maybe next year.

The team was a doddle to paint in my usual 'hurl-paint-from-across-a-darkened-room' style, and as you can see, the only need the bases finishing. I'm waiting for the weather to improve a bit because I need dryer weather to get them varnished before I add the static grass.

I've gone for a thematic numbering system with the white spots, although it began to get tricky at the higher numbers due to limited space, so I invented the 'Fungal Numeral' system. A spot with a black outline is worth 10 so the numbers below are 8, 2 and 13 (not the best picture...).

My goal for the season is to win at least one game (probably Matt's Gobbos), finish above at least one team in the table (probably Matt's Gobbos) and to gloat over every touchdown I manage to score over 'proper' teams (everybody except Matt's Gobbos).

In other news I played another campaign game of Flames of War on Sunday, and it turned out to be the fastest game I've ever played. I rolled out the mid-war Pantherkompanie (8 CT Panthers...and that's it!) because I'd forgotten my Ostfront book and could remember everything's stats and ran them up against Pete's Red Arm Tankovy (15 T-34's, 2 SU-somethings and a unit of motorised infantry) in a No Retreat scenario.

I was attacking so Pete had to leave two units off the table as reserves (the T-34's) and could put one unit in ambush (the SU's). I took the opportunity to put my objective as far as possible from the one Pete placed, thus forcing him to dig his infantry in around one of them and use his ambush to protect the other.

To cut a long story short, I rushed forwards with the Panthers to put pressure on the 'unprotected' objective. Pete sprang his ambush and across two turns, managed to bail two Panthers. In return I managed to destroy both heavy tanks and land on the objective by the end of my turn 3. Pete had been unlucky with his reserves, none arrived until turn 3, he had been (understandably) reluctant to run his conscript infantry across open ground towards the threatened objective, and he'd also placed his objective too far forward for his T-34's to even contest it when they did arrive.

Unable to do more than scratch my front armour, Pete was forced to concede defeat. It was possibly my most convincing win ever. Admittedly, there were a number of factors in my favour - the scenario, Pete's list choice, his objective placement (unfamiliarity with the scenario caused this), his reserve rolls - but ultimately, it was one of those rare reminders that a Pantherkompanie has it's cheesy moments despite being hideously one-dimensional.

This week holds hopefully varnishing and basing the Mushrooms, and perhaps a start on a project which I hope will see me trying to demonstrate a significant improvement in my painting. I'll also try to get a final campaign game in with my Americans as Matt and I try to win the whole damn shooting match.

It's not easy being green...

Last Thursday saw my quarter final match in the club Blood Bowl match. I'd finished fourth in the league and so was drawn against the fifth place team, JP's Nurgle team, the Rottenham Tight 'Uns. To say that I was wary of this match would be an understatement. The Nurgle team seem to have everything that is required to really make a mess of the Slann. Not only can they pummel to frogs into the ground (like most teams) but the disturbing presence of the Nurgle Warriors prevents the Slann from moving the ball effectively, and as annoying as Leap is, it doesn't help put distance between squishy Slann Catchers and slow-moving crumpers. Being unable to move the ball, as I found out in our league game, means that the Slann have to get up close and personal much more than I'd like to.

Despite this, I was determined to try to play fast with the ball and aim to score quickly and avoid the worst of the pummelling. We'll see how that went...

The 49ers recieved the ball and began to head down the left flank. The Nurgle team moved to block and so the 49ers switched to the right and caged up only to be fireballed. A beastman came pummelling through to grab the ball, but his following cage trip on a go for it leaving him exposed. The subsequent block sent him flying and the Slann had the ball again and switched over to the left flank once more. The putrescent tide swept across the pitch again and the Slann were forced to go for a pass into the end zone. The pass was successful (despite the disturbing presence of two Nurgle Warriors) but the catch was dropped. The Nurgle players again surged towards the ball and managed to get two tackle zones on the ball, the the third player tripped, fell and injured himself. With the ball still sitting in the endzone, the Slann Can't-Catcher leapt over the intervening Nurgle players and scooped up the ball from beneath their noses. 1-0 to the 49ers, two turns left in the half and ominously, three Slann were already in the injured box...

The teams set up again and the Nurgle team realised that they'd have to go for something ostentatious to equalise. Beastmean rushed through the line, Rotters scurried back for the ball and Warriors smashed faces. The Slann were able to hop their blitzers through the lines to strip the ball away and spoil any chance of the Tight 'Uns equalising this half.

Once again the teams set up and the Slann were bracing themselves for a beating. However, their fans stormed the pitch, stunning all three Nurgle Warriors on the line. The 49ers had a window of opportunity. Realising that they were vulnerable, for the only time in the match, the Tight 'Uns elected not to hit frogs and moved to protect the ball.

This was the chance. Slann hopped in to removed assists an the Blitzer leapt into the cage to flatten the ball carrying Beastman. The ball went flying...straight into the arms of a rotter. The half then became predictable. The Nurgle Team moved slowly down the pitch, breaking things as they went, whilst the Slann threw increasingly desperate leaps into cages to go for one dice blocks and began to run out of players. By the time the Tight 'Uns ambled into the endzone there were only five Slann on the pitch, and another two in the injured box. 1-1 with two turns remaining.

It would be tricky, but it was possible. The Slann recieved deep in their own half and rushed two players into positions where they could score (the Tight 'Uns could only hit one). The Catcher was flattened which meant that victory required a Blitzer to run to the end zone and then a long bomb to be thrown. The Blitzer tripped on his first square of movement, was injured and the game was going to over time.

The ball was once again kicked to the Nurgle team. Vainly throwing leaping blocks at cages, the Slann were powerless to stop their opponents taking the lead. When they set up with four turns of over time to go, there were only five Slann remaining. There just weren't enough of them, and even though one lone lineman made a death or glory rush towards the end zone, he was flattened and injured and the Tight 'Uns trotted in another touchdown.

With most of their team injured, the 49ers go out of the tournament and into retirement. The Tight 'Uns go on to the semi-finals and potential glory.

Rottenham Tight 'Uns 3 - 1 Slann Frogcisco 49ers (Casualties: 7-1)

OUCH!

I took a beating and there's no denying it. I could complain about dice, but that would ignore the fact that JP took exactly the right approach to cause me as much trouble as he could. I also had a (slim) chance to win but couldn't bring it home. In the end, the mounting casualties meant that I just couldn't compete in overtime.

This is the second time I've used the Slann in a league and I have to admit that they are hard work. To get the most out of them, you have to take risks and risk-taking is always punished in Blood Bowl. Unless someone drops out of the inter-club Chumpions' League then the Slann Frogcisco 49ers will be put away for a long time. However, they will keep the honour of having the best team name I've ever thought of...

Next year, I'm going for a team that can hit folks. There's some payback to be had!!!

They call it 'winning ugly'

The final game of the regular season. I was already guaranteed a place in the play offs, but I was playing for league position and (theoretically) an easier game in the quarter finals. Kelly, my opponent, was still struggling to secure qualification. After a rough start to the season, his Wood Elves had slowly shown improving form and he'd won his first game the previous week.

Slann Frogcisco 49ers 2 - 1 Barrowman's Ball Benders (Casualties 1-2)

In front of a packed house of their own fans (all Slann, no Elves) the game was delayed by a riot which began at the snack bar (they'd run out of flies). The 49ers, who'd elected to kick because they expected to have time to respond to the Benders' inevitable score, were suddenly very worried. Their worry deepened when a Treeman came crashing through their lines shortly followed by half the Wood Elf team and the ball.

A desperate defence began and ball was stripped from the Elf Catcher's hands, however it bounced to a Slann in the middle of the scrum and so the 49ers were forced to leap in to the ruck to even the odds. The Elves then uncharacteristically began to put the boot in. Three Slann were stretchered off but the ball stayed safe in the 49ers' grasp. However, up field a lone Slann Lineman was mobbed by a pack of Elves (I think the collective noun is a 'pretention of Elves') who proceeded to jump up an down on his head.

Realising that scoring was out of the question, the 49ers set about keeping the ball from the Benders. A series of extremely flimsy cages were formed, with the Blitzers forming the major impediment to agile elves. Wardancers twice leapt into cages but were unable to claw the ball from Slann flippers and the half ended as it began at 0-0.

The Elves found themselves a two player's short at the beginningof the second half and so were naturally concerned at their ability to hold back the 49ers. Ever conscious of the leaping Wardancers, the frogs took up a formation known as the 'safe' (it's a bit stronger than the cage) and began to barge their way slowly down field.

With the Treeman stranded away from the action the Benders were unable to offer any real threat to the safe as it scraped along and so busied themselves with ambushing lone catchers and fouling them. One of the elves was sent off for a particularly nasty foul and the normally cold-blooded Slann lost their cool and began to respond in kind. Stupidly, this enabled a plucky Wardancer to launch a desperate block to shove a Slann into the ball carrier and knock him off the pitch.

The ball was thrown into the centre and a mad scramble began infront of the Elf touchline. Elves and Slann scrabbled for the ball and twice the ball was knocked from Wood Elf hands. Eventually pass was fumbled and a Slann Catcher was able to grab the ball from under the nose of a Wardancer and jump into the end zone.

The Elves, even further depleted, set up to recieve the ball. Three went back for the ball, the Treeman and two others stayed in the centre and the Catcher and a Wardancer went long. The Slann Blitzers went for man marking on the Wood Elf recievers and the Kroxigor and Linemen traded blows with the Benders' centre. A Lineman and a Catcher went deep for the ball (which was still on the floor) but were unable to reach it and had to settle for putting tackle zones on it.

The Benders looks set to go for a big play, but the Treeman made a mess of a block and suddenly the Slann had an opportunity. The Catcher grabbed the ball (again under Elven noses) and hopped away to score and take the 49ers into a completely undeserved 2-0 lead.

One turn remaining and Barrowman's Ball Benders were feeling justifiably robbed. However an in depth coaching discussion came up with a strategy to restore some pride. The ball was recieved and passed to the catcher. A single Slann lineman was then pushed and shoved from pillar to post until hi bundeld the Catcher forwards. The lithe Elf then broke into a run, skipped through the Slann defensive line and danced into the end zone for a consolation touchdown.

The game ended a 2-1, but the Wood Elves were showing signs of developing into a bigger threat than everyone had previously had them marked as. The Slann we just happy they'd got away with daylight robbery.

Kelly was right to feel a touch robbed in this game. He'd taken advantage of mistake I made well and was unfortunate that bouncing balls and key blocks didn't work out for him. I was also aware that I wasn't burning my rerolls at my usual rate (partly because I was trying to avoid taking risks as dropping the ball against fast teams can hurt). The game felt like a draw, and it certainly wasn't a 2-0 win so the last turn touchdown was well deserved.

I've now done for the regular season and I'm guaranteed to finish at least fourth. However, as this will 'win' me another game against the Rottenham Tight 'Uns and their annoying disturbing presence, I'm hoping that my rivals (Matt's Chaos team and Tom's Dwarves) slip up in their last games so that I can avoid such a tricky game.

A Rotten First Half...

This week I took on JP's Nurgle team, the Rottenham Tight 'Uns. Before we went into the game, I knew that the oppostion would play havoc with my passing game, but I wasn't aware quite how bad it would be...

Slann Frogcisco 49ers 2 - 2 Rottenham Tight 'uns (Casualties 3 - 2)

It must have been the stench that distracted the Slann as they were caught horribly flat-flippered by the Tight 'Uns in the first half. The Rotters received the ball and began laying about the frogs and pummelling them into the crowd at a breakneck pace. The 49ers' response stumbled and the team from Rottenham got another turn to flatten some frogs and push another one into the crowd).

When the Slann finally got their act together, they were able to get inside the Rottenham cage fairly easily and send the ball carrier flying. However, they were unable to capitalise as the Nurgle team retrieved the ball and headed for the wing, and ensured that another Slann was stretchered off. Another flying blitz into the cage sent the ball bouncing again, but again the Slann couldn't get to it. Antoher 49er was ploughed into touch and the Tight 'Uns got the ball back. By this time there were only five 49ers left on the pitch, and they were all on their backs. The Nurgle team trotted in to make the score 1-0.

With limited time available on the clock, the Slann panicked and were called for illegal procedure. They then forgot about the effect of the Nurgle Warriors' disturbing presence and a pass into a cage was fluffed. Rottenham closed in again, bt couldn't reach the ball. With time ticking away, the Slann Catchers hopped towards the end zone. The only way to get the touchdown was to go for a throw, again disturbing presence was forgotten and the throw was failed. However the ball came down adjacent to the Catcher who made a spectacular diving catch to score on the stroke of half time. 1-1.

Aware that they'd been lucky to equalise, the Slann decided to go for a calmer approach to the second half...right up until the pesky Tight 'Uns blitzed them. However, the ball was under no pressure as the Catchers flooded down field and a cage was formed in the middle. The Rotters and Beastmen were drawn off to the Catchers, and only a thin line of Warriors opposed the cage which rolled to the flank whilst the Catchers escaped their markers.

However, there was suddenly an explosion. A fireball had decimated the cage and the Slann all lay sprawled about. The Tight 'Uns closed in but their star Beastmen fumbled the ball which bounced to another Beastman. The Slann Blitzer came in to strip the ball away and it bounced amongst the Nurgle players. A Slann Catcher had to dodge into the cage, manage to retrieve the ball from amongst three players but failed to leap out to where h could pass to an open retriever.

The ball scattered off the pitch an was thrown in to the centre of the field. The sure-handed Beastman again went for the ball and again fumbled it in a position where one Slann Catcher could finally grab the ball and pass it to his compatriot in the end zone. 2-1 to the Slann.

The final drive and Rottenham had the ball. The kick was short, reducing the distance it needed to travel to the end zone. A cage was formed and the Nurgle team once again began battering their way down field. The frog tried in vain to leap into the cage to hit the ball carrier, but were unable to slow it's progress. An inevitable drive took the ball into the end zone leaving the 49ers no time to reply. Final result 2-2.

A tough game that really went badly to begin with, however, I'm not going to complain about dice (although I was a touch grumpy at the time) as it swung in the second half and a series of 1's when the Beastmen tried to pick up the ball, really got me back into the game. What I did notice is that the addition of a few skills has really changed the situation with the Slann and they're becoming a very dangerous team. The only way the JP could find to stop me attacking the ball was to knock all my players down. I'm beginning to feel a bit more confident that the frogs can now give any team a run for their money.

My final match of the regular season is against Kelly's Wood Elves. That should prove to be a bot of a shoot out as both teams play in a similar way.

49ers Strike Gold (up to a point)

With the extra time that half-term brings and n an effort to get caught up, I've managed to fit in two games of Blood Bowl this week. On Thursday I played Trevor's Undead team, Rest In Pieces, and on Friday I went to Andy's to play the Stilton Stealers, his Skaven team. Both of these teams are battling for qualification at the foot of the table, however Trev is a wily veteran of several Blood Bowl leagues whilst Andy is a Blood Bowl rookie who has been catching more experienced coaches off guard. I was taking nothing for granted.

Slann Frogcisco 49ers 4-1 Rest In Pieces (Casualties 1-2)

A game that saw the very best of the Slann and the very worst of the Undead began with a pitch invasion that left five players, including both Mummies, stunned. The first drive began with the 49ers receiving the ball and rolling a cage round to the flank whilst Catchers leapt into the Undead backfield. In an attempt to stop the bouncing Slann, R.I.P. sent half their team to cover the Catchers whilst the others tried to stop the cage. However, they learned that the Slann can’t be held back with conventional tactics and Pascal leapt out of the cage and passed to Antoine (who’d shaken off his marker) for the first touchdown.

The teams lined up again, with the Undead intent on causing some pain. However, the slippery amphibians caught them on the hop with a blitz and once again the Catchers were over the line and threatening the ball. The Wight managed to get hold of the ball and punch his way free, but was left exposed to a blitz from a Line-frog. He went down, the ball bounced away and the Catchers once again did their thing, with Gilles passing to Thierry for the second touchdown.

With time running short, the Undead did what they could to equalise. The Wight gathered the ball again and a Ghoul slipped through the 49ers line to be in with a chance of scoring. However, with only one Ghoul as a scoring threat the Slann were able to put him in a position so tricky that he would have to work miracles to escape and score. The brave Ghoul tried to punch his way out of the hole but tripped and fell. 2-0 at half time.

The second half began with R.I.P. beginning to put good play together. The Wight got the ball and ran up the centre to where a cage was being formed out of crumpled Slann Line-frogs. Meanwhile the Ghouls once again ran through the flimsy frog line. Revealing the rather surprising Undead passing game, the Wight passed to the Ghoul and he was away and free. However, in his excitement, the Ghoul tripped on the line, face-planted, broke his neck and died! The ball bounced into the crowd and was thrown back in. Pascal grabbed the ball, threw a long bomb to Antoine who ran for the corner to score. 3-0.

It’s fair to say that the Undead were having a bad day. Unable to cause serious damage and suffering from misfortune after misfortune, they realised that the game had slipped away. However, there was still pride to play for. Once again, the Wight grabbed the ball, the Mummies bashed a hole, the Ghouls scuttled through and a pass was followed by a touchdown. That was how it was meant to happen.

With only a couple of turns remaining the Slann set up for another assault on the endzone. The Undead set up deep, but the Catchers were able to rune free. A cage rolled round the flank again and Pascal passed the ball to Thierry who hopped into the safety of the cage. Unbale to get to the ball, R.I.P. did what they could to stem the green tide, but Thierry was able to hop over the defence to complete an emphatic win.

To be fair to Trev, in the first half if it could go wrong, it did. He also wasn't helped by a complete inability to harm my players until the last few turns. However, for me it felt like something clicked with the Slann and I was finally playing effectively with them. Not risking too much, but relying on them to foil the opponent's cunning plans with their 3D strategies. Next up were Andy's Skaven...could I keep the improvement in form going?

Slann Frogcisco 49ers 2-2 Stilton Stealers (Casualties 2-0)

A game of two halves.

The game began with the 49ers receiving. They formed a cage in the middle of the field and then rolled to the flank as the Catchers flooded downfield dragging Skaven out to mark them. The Stealers tried vainly to block the inevitable leaps, but Antoine ran in the touchdown. 1-0 and all was going to the Slann plan.

The Skaven received the ball and began their move upfield. Typically moving the ball with grace and ease to a cage in the centre of the field. However, the Slann Blitzer leapt into the cage, stripped the ball away from the Gutter Runner and the Catchers moved in to scoop up the ball, pass it wide and run in a second touchdown. 2-0 at half time and the frogs were in command.

The Stealers began the second half with the same plan: pick up, hand off, pass and the ball was once again in the centre of the field. A fluffed blitz by the 49ers new signing (a Kroxigor) gave them another turn to move the ball, and another handoff saw a Gutter Runner scooting down the edge of the field. Although the side-stepping rat couldn't be pushed into the crowd, the Slann Blitzer once again came in to do his work. However, a fluffed block (with a reroll!) saw the Blitzer down and the Skaven free to skip past the last frog and score. 2-1; the rats were back in it.

The Slann received the ball and began the now familiar process from both teams; pick up, hand off cage. A two-headed Skaven then pulled off a deft move and dodge into the cage and flattened the ball carrier and the ball then bounced around to settle outside the cage. Aware that the Skaven had a wizard lurking in the crowd and that they couldn't form a cage properly, the Slann opted for the risk move to go for a long pass to a Catcher waiting in the end zone, however the sunny conditions played havoc with the pass and the ball scattered. The Skaven then did what they do best, the ball was scooped up by the thrower, passes to a Gutter Runner who scooted down the flank again. Only a single line-frog could get to him but the blitz failed and the Stealers ran in to equalise.

Three turns remaining and the frogs were still aware that a wizard was lurking. Once again; pick up, hand off, cage...but the fireball didn't come. The Skaven vainly assaulted cage, still no magic. The Slann rolled left and formed a wall along the edge of the pitch, still not a sizzle. Las turn, the Skaven ran in to close with the frogs and make moving the ball difficult...suddenly there was an arcing bolt of lightning and the ball carrier was down. The ball scatted into three Skaven tackle zones. Without a reroll the Slann began a series of once dice blocks to clear the ball. Only two tackle zones remained when a Catcher went for the ball...it was enough as he failed to scoop up the ball and the game was drawn.

As I said, it was a game of two halves. In the first half, everything went to plan and had my Blitzer succeeded in stripping the ball away from the Gutter Runner (literally a 99% chance of success with a reroll) then I think I would have been away and clear at 3-0. I'm more irritated that I broke one of the cardinal rules for playing against Skaven by taking a risk and throwing long. This allowed Andy to do a standard Skaven 'steal & score' move to equalise. I panicked at the ease with which he'd got into my cage and was concerned about the wizard. I should have concentrated on protecting the ball again and risked the wizard. As it was, I not only allowed Andy to equalise, but had he remembered the wizard in time, he would have won. I almost threw this one away.

The upside however, was once again the team functioned as I intended and a fluffed block and a mistake from me were the reasons my lead was overturned. I'm cursing the team any more - I think I've got the hang of the Slann.

However, the good news is that these two results have guaranteed my progression into the play offs. I've now got two games to play to secure league position and a favourable draw. My next opponent is JP whose Nurgle team, the Rottenham Tight 'Uns, are currently on the same points as me (although I have a game in hand). Win this one and I think that I'm certain of being in the top half of the draw.

So close...

This week saw me begin my push to catch up on the Blood Bowl League games I’ve fallen behind on. It’s a bit embarrassing that as League Commissioner I’ve played less games than anyone else, however, I am limited to one game per week and the leagues been so well supported that folks have been getting game sin throughout the week.

However, despite a decent start, the slip up against the Vampires and the bore draw against the Dwarfs had seen my progress halted. Additionally, other teams had used their additional games to overtake me in the table. It was time for action!

Sadly, the game I’d arranged for this week was against the run away league leaders, Crouching Vermin, Hidden Rodent; Stu’s Skaven. Stu has been trouncing everybody, and not just in results. His rats have been giving good account of themselves in casualties as well. There was almost a 250,000 difference in team value and I was doubtful of my ability to compete…

Slann Frogcisco 49ers 1 – 1 Crouching Rodent, Hidden Vermin (Casualties 0-2)

The Slann got the first drive but an all too familiar handling error saw the ball turned over deep in the Skaven half and the rats scurrying back up the field like lightning. They seemed certain to score. However, a trip on the line caused the ball to scatter into the crowd for it to be helpfully thrown back up field by the crowd into the waiting flippers of a Slann Catcher. A hop, a skip and a jump saw the ball carried to the edge of the end zone, but a quick check over the shoulder saw not enough Skaven within reach so the frogs stopped for a chat (to howls of derision from the Skaven coach). The Skaven scurried back in tie to see the Slann hop over for a touchdown. 1-0 to the 49ers.

The Skaven had limited time to score and the Gutter Runners burst down field. The 49ers got as many players close to the shifty little rats as possible and a lightning bolt arced out of the crowd to fry the fastest. The remaining Gutter Runner was unable to escape the amphibious net and the 49ers took their lead into the break.

A determined Skaven team set up to receive the ball again, secure in the knowledge that there were no more wizards to contend with. However, they were caught off guard by a blitz and one of the 49ers' Catchers hopped over the line, grabbed the ball and almost succeeded in passing it into a cage on their left wing.

The Vermin grabbed the ball back and set of at pace down the opposite flank, a lone Gutter Runner breaking free. A single Slann Linefrog was in reach; he hopped after the scurrying rodent and slammed him in the jaw, knocking him flying. The ball once again bounced into the crowd and was once again helpfully thrown long to where the rest of the Slann team was.

Scooping up the ball again, the Slann began a slow cage walk up their right flank, each turn doing just enough to keep the greasy quick rats from the ball. However, the march was costing them and they seemed to be losing a player every turn. The Blitzer and a Catcher broke free, however, the blitzer sprawled on the floor after failing a leap and the Catcher was suddenly the only target for the rats.

The Vermin pounced and the Catcher was knocked flying and the Skaven thought momentarily that their end zone was safe and surrounded the cage again. However, they'd reckoned without the Blitzers ability jump up and he leapt over his markers and looked set for the end zone to receive a game winning pass. To gasps from the crowd, the Blitzer failed to dodge away from the last rat and suddenly the ball carrier was vulnerable.

Knocked flying into the crowd the ball once again was flung back in, however, with only four Slann players left on the pitch there was nowhere that was helpful for them and the Skaven duly picked up the ball and ran in for the equalizer; the only consolation being that there was no time for either team to score again.

The 49ers proudly managed what no other team has this season, they held the rampant Skaven in check. They were helped a bit by the crowd, a wizard and a Skaven shoelace, but could also look to their own missed opportunities and feel somewhat heartened that they were the team that had come closest to winning the match.

A good game, and sadly for the rest of the league, it was clearly Stuart's duff game for the season, his next opponent can look forward to a drubbing. We both suffered from duff dice, but I feel that Stuart experienced his at more crucial moments, and the crowd were clearly on my side with the throw-ins. I at least feel like I've got back a bit of the pride I lost for losing to the Beaten By All Ravens.

My schedule is now due to pick up with Trev’s Undead and Andy’s Skaven next week. Both teams have been struggling to find form so I can’t look forward to any magical trickery helping me against them. On the up side, my team have begun to pick up skills at last and I now have Guard on a Lineman. Trev’s going to discover what the implications are of a Slann with Guard…

Back to Black

Final post of the month and EVEN MORE progress!!!

VBCW

With a three-way game lined up this week, I returned to the B.U.F. infantry to try to match the horde of socialist sailors (seriously) that are heading my way. I've added a couple of riflemen, a five man assault squad armed with sub-machine guns and an officer.

These are the last of the Plastic Soldier Company Russians that I'm painting, partly because I've run out of models in forage caps, but also because painting a drab colour scheme onto less than brilliant models is no fun. However, I am rather pleased with how the officer has turned out and I need to come up with a suitable name for him...something appropriately caddish (suggesstions welcome).

Which leaves me with a picture of the final force. The more eagle eyed amongst my readers will notice that not only have I sorted out their bases, but they've not been done with my usual boring basing technique. Admittedly, all I've done is add another type of basing material to contrast with the static grass, but I think it looks better than my usual efforts.

So there we are, a complete squad of the South Yorkshire Cohort of the B.U.F. This squad has been tasked with blocking one of the passes across the Pennines to their stronghold in Manchester. They struck lucky recently and intercepted a socialist convoy smuggling Russian weapons to the reds in Sheffield. Being practical fascists, they've armed themselves with the Russian armaments with the intention on turning the guns on their intended recipients as soon as possible.

My royalist faction is going to grow, however, I'll be stepping away from the B.U.F. to add some more characterful militia units. More later...

Blood Bowl

Slann Frogcisco 49ers 2 - 2 Bugman's Bar Wenches (Casualties 1-1)

The game opened with the Slann team catching the Dwarfs on the hop (so to speak). A well aimed rock from the crowd flattened a Dwarf Blitzer and the 49ers leapt to exploit the opening, bursting down the flank towards the end zone. A spirited pursuit from the surprisingly nimble Dwarfettes briefly halted the drive as Pascal the Catcher went sprawling. However, his was able to hop up and away with the ball and bounce in to score. 1-0 to the 49ers.

The Bar Wenches received the ball from the kick off and set about defying public perceptions of Dwarfs, moving quickly, passing and even selling the Slann a dummy as they deftly crossed the pitch. However the frogs proved difficult to outdistance as a series of brave leaps knocked the ball from the Dwarfs' hands twice and the 49ers were able to steal the ball. Bugman's girls only chance was for a Blitzer to dodge past her marker and sprint to plant one on the Slann with the ball. She succeeded but was only abe to push the Slann back. However, it wasn't over. The Slann fluffed an attempt to block the Blitzer (double skull) and gave her a second chance. She flattend Antoine, scooped up the ball and trundled in to score. It was 1-1 at half-time.

The Dwarfs looked to be in control as the second half began, however, a rush from several Slann players hopping over their lines really put their Runners under pressure. However, once again defying convention, the Wenches completed a pass to safety and began to drive up field. The 49ers hopped, skipped and jumped all over the place in an attempt to slow the rumbling cage but were unable to halt the drive. 2-1 to the Dwarfs, two turns remaining.

The clock was running out and the Slann were running on empty (no rerolls), but there was still a chance to score. Two catchers leaped into the opposing half in an attempt to get within striking range of the end zone, whilst the third scooped up the ball and ran up to the half way line, the linefrogs forming a rough cage. Knowing that they had to stop the catcher, the Dwarfs caged one and then knocked the other into the crowd in a frenzied attack. With nothing to lose, the caged Catcher, hopped and dodged to the endzone to await the ball. Slann forced a passage for Pascal to close the distance for his pass. He ran, he threw, the ball was caught, touchdown, game over!

A very tight game. I made a mistake blocking rather than dodging at the end of the first half. Tom made a mistake by sportinglty not castling at the end of the second. There's nothing between these two teams. We're currently third and fourth in the table and separated by a single casualty.

My next game is against the runaway league leaders, Stu's Skaven team, Crouching Rodent, Hidden Vermin. He's demolished everybody he's met so far and even with the return of my dodging Catcher and the development of a passing Catcher, I'm not holding out much hope that my inconsistent amphibians will be able to do what every other team has failed to do.

Progress

It's the end of the month and time to show off my progress to my fellow Tale of Gamers bloggers. Amazingly this month doesn't involve just a single picture. What follows is all the stuff that I've done some work on this month (not including the fascists above), from basing to full painting:

This not setting targets lark seems to have suited me...

I'm feeling justifiably proud of myself this week. I've made another significant lump of progress towards my secret target...more on that when I've actually achieved it. However, on this weeks blog there's the staple diet (for January at least) of Flames of War, Blood Bowl and a Very British Civil War. So, on with the show...

Flames of War

Following on from completing my two platoons of Panzergrenadiers last week, I've painted an entire platoon of Pioneers including a 3-Ton Supply Truck, a Flamethrower stand and a Goliath Demolition Carrier.

This platoon will be representing 11 Pioniere Kompanie who fought alongside SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 26 just outside Fontenay-le-Pesnel in Normandy, 25th June 1944, when General Montgomery launched Operation Martlet just prior to Operation Epsom. This is the action I mentioned last week and these units fought against (and severely mauled) the Hallamshire Battalion (a future project). In creating this force, I'm doing what Battlefront always seems to do in their scenarios and having each platoon represent a company. For the initial force, I still need to add a Mortar Platoon, another Infantry Platoon and some PaK40 Anti-Tank Guns.

Next up will be the PaK40's due to the fact that I got an Amazon voucher for Christmas and discovered that I could get reduced price Flames of War stuff from there. I've also noticed that with a bit of luck, I might be able to squeeze enough extra models out of the PaK40's to enable me to bring my two Panzergrenadier platoons up to full strength.

Painting this unit also involved constructing a 3-Ton Supply Truck to allow me to field Barbed Wire and Minefield when defending. The model I used for this is a Zvezda Opel Blitz German Truck. Although not as detailed as their Battlefront counterpart, this is a plastic model that costs the princely sum of £2.75. It's a bit fiddly to put together, and the rear wheels don't seem to fit the axle at all (I had to do some cutting and gluing), however at fraction of the cost for something that will be sent to the rear on turn two (if it isn't blown up on turn one), this is a bargain. With FoW3 apparently making transports better, Zvezda could be sitting on a little goldmine. I will certainly be buying Zvezda trucks should I decide to add transports for my platoons.

Finally on the Flames of War front, some good old-fashioned Cheaphammering. My funds are severely limited at the moment and I wanted some HMG's for my Germans. However, the list I'm using allows for HMG Nests to be purchased even when not playing a Fortification mission and given that the Germans were dug in and defending during Operation Martlet, I thought "let's make some!" These were simply made with cocktail sticks cut up and laid around a GW 20mm plastic base. A bit of wire for the HM sticking out and Bob's your uncle. I think that they still need a bit more in the way of camouflage (some static grass and suchlike), but I'm wary until I have a clearer or how not to ruin them. However, I'm really happy with them and they should play merry hell with the screaming hordes of US Paratroopers I've been plagued with in the past.

Blood Bowl

This week saw the Slann Frogcisco 49ers take on Aneurin's struggling Bite 'Em All Ravens Vampire team. I knew that I'd got a bit lucky in the last two games and was due some payback. And boy did I get paid.

The first half seemed to go well, despite my star Catcher (the only player with a skill so far) getting injured and missing the next game, I was somehow able to keep the Vampires out of the end zone. I was severely helped in this by the Vampires' propensity to fail their Bloodlust tests and have to knock out their own players rather than move where they wanted to. However, a few daring blocks helps affairs and I even got the ball at the end of the first half but hadn't left anyone in strike range of the opposite end zone (I needed them all to defend) and the half ended 0-0.

The second half began with me receiving the ball. Here's were I screwed up. I should have caged around the Catcher with the ball, however I was too busy failing to wound thralls and so ended up with a thin flat line defence. When not succumbing to Bloodlust the Vampires are scarily good and with deft use of Hypnotic Gaze they were through my lines. This was where the Slann revealed their big weakness, in a key moment, I succumbed to bad dice without re-rolls (no Dodge, Pass, Block, Catch or Sure Hands) and was unable to clear the ball. A Vampire grabbed it and scurried in for a touchdown.

I then had to go through the same mess again, but this time with only one Catcher. This time I did it right. I caged up and began a slog up field. The Vampires were impossible to keep away from my ball carrier (damned Hypnotic Gaze) as I didn't have enough players to run interference, but I was burning re-rolls like there was no tomorrow. I did managed to get into range of a touchdown on the final turn, but with no re-rolls left I was asking a lot to try to get a Leap, a Dodge, a Pass, a Catch and two Sprints off in one turn. Needless to say, I failed.

I was really annoyed with myself after the game as not only had I played stupidly at the beginning of the second half, but I'd also gifted Aneurin an additional 60,000gc to his inducements by forgetting to deduct my missing Lineman from my Team Value. Anuerin played the game well, and actually coped with worse dice than me. He used Hypnotic Gaze to make sure that he always had the initiative.

The most annoying thing? I didn't get a single SPP from the game beyond my MVP (which of course went to a player who didn't have any points already). Next week I'm playing Tom's Dwarfs with only 3 Catchers. It's small comfort that by having the Catcher with Dodge out of action, he won't get to use the Tackle skill at all. How do you like them apples beardy?

VBCW

Just a quick update here to show off another vehicle for the B.U.F. This is a fuel tanker which, although not tactically useful, could find itself being an objective in several games. Really easy to paint and quite effective looking.

With one more week to go in my record breaking month I'm feeling quite chipper. This painting on a whim thing is working out for me. I find that the key thing is to not let painting become a chore. This week I might be doing some more Fascists for an upcoming VBCW game (and this could include another vehicle) and, depending on the post, could see me get started on the PaK40's. It will also see a very tough game of Bloodbowl as Tom and I are sitting joint third in the table, I'm pretty sure that I can't stop him scoring, however, can I score twice?

Another Week, Another Lot Of Progress...

I think I must be ill. I'm posting for the second time this month and for the second time I've done a significant amount of painting (note that 'significant' for me is the same as 'a little bit' for other people). Not only that, I've played another game.

Flames of War

I have a funny relationship with Flames of War. Even when others at the club were playing it a lot, it took me a long while to dip my toe in the water of this game. I have to admit that this was mainly to do with the fact that WWII just doesn't interest me as a gaming period that much, and I also didn't have the knowledge to know where to start.

This all changed when we had a club swapsies night a few years ago and I swapped the Dwarfs from the Battle of Skull Pass set (unpainted), the Dwarf Army Book, and some Star Wars Miniatures spaceships for 8 painted Panther Tanks. Suddenly I had a full (very full) Flames of War army and so I started to play, and I actually found that I really liked the game - it plays better that it looks.

However, this still left me with a dilemma. It turns out, rather unsurprisingly, that 8 Panthers does not a balanced force make and I repeatedly got smashed to bits by artillery or swarmed by infantry. However I didn't know how to expand the army as I'm a bit funny about building optimised historical lists. Although I did some more swapping and painted up a single platoon of infantry, I just couldn't find a direction for me to hook my interest in to.

Fast forward three years and shortly after our excellent Christmas game (reminding me what a good game Flames of War is) I'm doing some research into VBCW and I come across the Hallamshire Battalion (a local Territorial Regiment) and their actions in Normandy and I discover that the Hallams ran into SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment-26 in June 1944 and that the German unit and its supporting tanks could be represented (in part) by the models I already owned. An army had finally picked me (see Cheaphammer Rule #1).

I little bit more digging revealed that Battlefront had kindly made available a free PDF Briefing on their website that would suit my purposes perfectly and so without spending any money, I suddenly had a project.

I already had my tanks (of which I probably won't use more than three) and six stands of infantry painted, and so my first port of call was to paint up two more infantry stands and three command stands so that I can field a Panzergrenadier Company at its simplest level.

Following this I also needed to finish off the basing on the rest of the infantry stands, which was little more than adding flock in some swirly patterns.

A HQ, two platoons of five stands of Panzer Grenadiers, and three Panther A tanks suddenly gives me a force of 925 points. A couple of Panzerfausts makes it 945 points, and finally a Sniper gives me 995 points of painted troops.

I quite pleased by this as I've never been able to field a 1000 point army before as the Panthers' cost is too prohibitive. I've usually been restricted to games of 1750 points. I'm looking forward to a different dimension to my games of Flames of War and I can now expand the force one unit at a time according to the historical OOB. I suspect that next will be a platoon of pioneers from the Panzer-Grenadier-Regiment-901 who were stationed alongside Regiment 26 in the action at Fontenay-le-Pesnil. This is mainly because I've already got the makings of a Pioneer platoon.

Bloodbowl

Thursday also saw me play my second game in the club's Bloodbowl league. I was down to 11 players as one of my linemen was missing the match and I was up against the league leaders, Craig's Chaos Dwarfs.

Slann Frogcisco 49ers 2 - 1 Karak Dur Bruisers (Casualties 0-1)

Travelling away to Candlestick Pond, it seemed like the Bruisers brought the entire population of Karak Dur with them to a very loud match (Craig got +2 Fame) and initially it seemed like the 49ers were overawed by the Bruisers' travelling support, slipping and tripping during the opening phases (double 1 on first roll of match) as the polyglot opposing team bore down on them and threatened to turn the ball over for a touchdown. However, some desperate hopping saw the Frogs manage to switch the ball across the field and run the ball up the field to register the first score halfway through the first half.

The teams set up again and the first of a series of extremely wayward kicks (it seems flippers aren't suited to the task) saw the ball pitch up in the opposing end zone. The Bruisers pushed forwards leaving a lot of space between the Hobgoblins with the ball and the rest of the team. Into this space hopped pretty much the entire Slann team who rushed down towards the ball carrier. The big-nosed greenskin tried to pull off a throw to his team mate up field, but fumbled allowing the Slann Catchers to scoops up the ball and rush en masse to the end zone. The 49ers were 2-0 up with two turns remaining in the half.

Another, even worse, kick resulted in a touchback and the ball being handed to one of the Bull Centaurs who proceeded to very simply power down field by himself, batting the Slann out of his way as he went. At half time it was 2-1 to the 49ers and the surprisingly free scoring game was poised on a knife edge. The Slann knew that they were struggling to stop the free ranging Bull Centaurs and the Bruisers were concerned that they had not been able to remove any of their opponents from the pitch. Things were tense...

Indeed, they were so tense that emotions boiled over in the excitable crowd and the away fans began attacking each other, with Chaos Dwarfs blaming Hobgoblins, Hobgoblins blaming Chaos Dwarfs and Bull Centaurs just enjoying a good ruck. The enigmatic Slann fans looked on rather bemused as they were used to showing their support with polite (if slappy) applause. After the riot calmed, the second half was allowed to begin, although almost half the time on the clock had been lost.

Once again the 49ers kick was sliced into a corner and the touchback was awarded. Again the ball was handed to a Bull Centaur who snorted his pleasure at another imminent score. However, the Frogcisco coach had an ace up his sleeve, and as the four legged beast powered up the wing again, a bolt of lightning arced out from a tame wizard in the crowd and brought the juggernaut thundering to a halt.

Things then got desperate. The 49ers scooped up the ball and bounced it to the other side of the other side of the field, Hobgoblins in hot pursuit. The Frogs then formed a cage by hopping into the centre of the field, and were quickly set upon by Chaos Dwarfs. The few Slann that could escape the maul then leapt over to the right to form another cage, this time incomplete. The terrifying form of a Bull Centaur came galloping around the rear and brought the ball carrier to the floor.

What followed was a series of handling errors as both teams grappled for the ball. The Bruisers failed to get to the loose ball and so the Slann again scrambled it up and attempted to throw it down field, only for the pass to go wide and bounce at the feet of a Hobgoblin. Blocks were flying all over the place as the greenskin grabbed the ball and attempted a desperate last ditch throw to the Bull Centaur, which also failed. the game still wasn't over, and the 49ers once again treid to move the ball to their man waiting for a pass to seal the game at 3-1. However, once again the pass was failed and the result remained as it had at half time.

A tough game where I have to admit that the combination of a riot, a wizard and Craig's inability to inflict meaningful damage kept me in the game. Despite the appalling opening for me, it also became apparent that when the dice are kind, Leap an Very Long Legs is an awesome combination with AG 4 as I was constantly able to get out of trouble. I think I only threw three blocks all game and without the wizard I would not have been able to do anything about the Bull Centaurs.

I got away with that one, even more than last week!

This weekend has also seen me knock up a very simple turn marker for my Slann Bloodbowl team. A simple construction using the standard from a skink unit from my old Lizardman army and a two-pence piece. All I need now is a score marker and the team will be complete.

All in all a very productive week for me. If I keep this rate up this is likely to be my most productive month since I started the blog. I've got another game of Bloodbowl too, this time against Aneurin's Vampires. Aneurin has been getting soundly stuffed in his opening games and has been complaining about a lack of Team Value. I suspect that my purchase of a Blitzer may present him with a significant amount of inducements to spend and so I'm not overly confident.

Flames, Frogs & Facists

Happy New Year!

After another hiatus due to excessive festivity, I'm back again with a mahoosive post about my doings in wargaming. Be warned, this one includes bucketloads of photos, two game reports and two (count 'em) lots of painting progress. Yup, I've got my mojo back.

First, I'll begin with the club's big Christmas bash, a six player game of Flames of War. Later one I'll introduce my now completely painted Slann Bloodbowl team and the opening salvo of this year's league campaign. Finally, my VBCW B.U.F. unit have now received some motorised transport.

Flames of War

We decided to play a big game of Flames of War for our Christmas all day bash for several reasons. Firstly, it's a game that most of the club have armies for, secondly we had enough suitable terrain to fill a big table and thirdly it's a game that many of us haven't played for a while.

We were playing the Total War (is that correct?) scenario from Das Book and each fielded 1000 points. The setting was late war on the western front, with the Germans facing down a combined command of British and Americans. As you can see below, the terrain was fairly open with lots of fields roads and hills in the centre, and woods and marshes on the flanks (out of picture). The objectives were spread across the table but there was a concentration in the vicinity of the ruined church and so we were all pretty sure that this was where most of the action would be.

The forces were as follows:

Allies: U.S. Paratrooper Company (Matt), British Para Tank Company (JP), British Armoured Company (Trev, CinC)

Axis: Heavy Panzer Company (Me), Grenadier Company (Stuart), Grenadier Company (Craig, CinC)

With the concentration of objectives around the ruined church, both Stuart's and my commands were deployed opposite it. Facing us were Matt's paratroopers supported by some British light tanks. Our centre and left flank were manned by Craig's hodge-podge force and he was going to go toe to toe with both Trev's tanks and JP's paras. To our rear was our only artillery, a detachment of Nebelwerfers. However, our major advantages were the fact that were had armoured superiority in the form of my four Panthers and Stuart's King Tiger, and also for some reason the airborne allies had been deploy without air support and so our Stukas could run amok.

The game began with Stuart and I making a big push for the church and capturing the objective there (something we wouldn't release all game). My Panthers managed to snipe Trev's HQ tank and so began the great duck hunt as I would look to shoot at any armour that revealed itself, in full knowledge that I was immune to anything but the M10's to the front and my guns would mash anything they hit.

Although he initially didn't advance his infantry, Matt began a flank attack with the tanks the British had loaned him (something I had feared) and so I had to send my StuGs after them. In combination with the Luftwaffe, I made short work of the medium tanks (please don't ask me to name them) but didn't realise quite how fast the pesky little Tetrachs were, and I was quickly flanked and savaged by the nippy little buggers. Matt's tanks actually succeeded in their flank attack and managed to capture one of our objectives by the end of the game, but took too long for the Allies to amass many victory points from it.

Matt then began his assault on the church with his Fearless Veteran Paratroopers. I've faced these fellas before and know how difficult the are to stop. However, I'm usually playing with tanks, it turns out that infantry supported by Panther MG's can actually pin and whittle down the toughest of troops over time. I was worried for a long time, but Matt's assault never hit home and eventually they were driven away from the church.

Over on the left Craig assigned his Marders and infantry the task of battling the Paras in the marshes. Although the Para infantry are good, there weren't many of them in a tank company and weight of numbers eventually told and Craig was able to capture the objective he was after.

In the centre things initially looked bad as we were heavily outnumbered and an early barrage from the British artillery and tanks took out an entire platoon of Panzer IV's. However, after machine gunning the U.S. Airborne for a couple of turns, my Panthers turned their attention to Trev's tanks and swept one of the two central hills clear of tanks.

This not only allowed the King Tiger to begin a slow advance to capture the central objective, but also destroyed the tanks that were close enough to hold it and so reduced the amount of points the Allies were getting per turn. The King Tiger was eventually popped by the M10's (not sure of this detail) but they in turn were bitch-slapped by my Panthers.

We called time at that point but the Allies were not only behind on victory points, there were also close to breaking properly as all three companies had taken a mauling. In contrast, although I'd lost one of my platoons, the infantry companies were still strong and had the game continued we looked good to sweep them from the field.

All in all a great game, mainly for the company. Flames of War is a funny game in that it plays more exciting than it looks. It was nice to get a game again (it's been over a year since I last played) and it was interesting to see just how powerful my Panthers can be when they are in support rather than having to do the attacking themselves. It's actually got me looking at Flames of War again and you may find me blogging about it again soon...

Bloodbowl!

I love this game. It's the single most tactical and engaging tabletop game I've ever played and it stirs the deepest reactions in me (I've been know to be a bit of a whiner when the dice go bad). Therefore the start of a new season required a new (well, almost) team. And so I sat downto do some painting this weekend to finish of a team I began two years ago: my Slann team, the Slann Frogcisco 49ers (I'm congenitally required to use bad NFL puns to name my teams).

I first used this team in an abortive league two years ago and I found them difficult to use due to their lack of the core skills of Block, Dodge, Pass, Catch and Sure Hands. This means that they are very vulnerable to bad dice and bur rerolls quickly. Last time I got the wrong team set up and was struggling from game one. This time I've ignored the expensive Troglodyte and Blitzers for know and focused on playing a fast strategy that prioritises my Catchers.

So I needed to paint two more Catchers and so I got the remaining six models painted this weekend. Two Catchers, two Blitzers, a Lineman and a Coach (who'll be used as a reroll marker). here they are:

Last week also saw me play my first game of the season against Matt's Chaos team, the Shadowlands Chargers. I forgot to get a picture of them (something I want to do for each report), but I'll get one when I next see him.

Slann Frogcisco 49ers 2-1 Shadowlands Chargers (Casualties 1-1)

A clumsy and nervous first half from the 49ers saw the ball dropped or fumbled four times as the Chargers bore down on them ominously. However, despite their slippery fins, the frogtastic fellas in red were able to stumble the ball up the pitch and score almost on the stroke of half time.

Despite an early error almost allowing the 49ers to steal the ball, the second half saw the Shadowlands boys behave completely unchaotically and follow the rather predictable drill of forming a cage and marching up the field, splatting frogs as they went. Some rather inept defending resulted in Slann players literally throwing themselves on in front of the cage in a futile attempt to slow it down. The Chargers took slightly longer than they wanted to score (nothing to do with the other team), but the match was tied with three turns to play.

With the ball back in their flippers, the 49ers knew that they had to go for it. Sending their catchers forwards, the Slann team loaded the flank and did their best to drive up the wing. Pushing back Chaos Warriors enough to allow the ball carrier through, the 49ers once again fumbled an attempt to move the ball to another player (four times in one game), and it looked like a draw unless the Chargers could pull off an outrageous long bomb.

They couldn't; and the ball was dropped.

With moments to spare, the 49ers managed to push a Beastman away from the ball and another catcher scooped it up to hop into the end zone and steal the game.

A hard fought an scrabbly game with little to write home about in terms of exciting play. Both teams suffered from a host of handling errors, I think I held it together well to not concede in the first half (it was touch an go for a couple of turns), but I was a bit lucky to not take more of a battering and be men down in the second half.

A Very British Civil War

I have to say that this little project has really got my interest. I've found myself reading up on lots of little details about the local area and have coincidentally been led on to a few little bits of history that will also inform my renewed interest in Flames of War, more on that later.

Back to VBCW. I've donae a simple repaint on a Matchbox Model T Ford to turn it into a B.U.F. recruiting van. A simple colour scheme is lifted by the addition of some fantastic posters kindly made available from the blogs of 6milPhil and Port Sunlight 1938. Great stuff.

I decided against adding any armour to the van for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I'd seen the posters and had the idea of a civilian vehicle. Secondly, according to the VBCW background sourcebooks, the B.U.F. would be well supplied and so would have actual armoured cars rather than having to cobble them together. Finally, my opponents in this period are all just getting started and turning up with an armoured element at the moment just doesn't seem like cricket. I know my boys are a bunch of rotters, but there's a limit.

That's it for now. This week holds another game of Bloodbowl and maybe some more painting. I've decided to not set any targets as I'm in a good mood and feel like painting on a whim for a while - I suspect I might be more productive in this month than I have been for the last three!