More Goblin Spear for HOTT / Impetus

I have finally put the finishing touches on two more Goblin Spear elements for the HOTT and Impetus army. As well my first Troll Behemoth figure is completed. You had a sneak peek at this fellow during the HOTT game at EWG in my last post.

All the figures on the first Spear stand are a mix of newer GW plastic goblins and older plastic / metal ones.

The second stand is also mostly GW plastics with one metal.

The Troll is an older GW metal River Troll. I am quite happy with how he turned out.

Lastly here is a rear shot of the Troll.

I have two more stands of Goblin Spear elements to complete, then will be doing 6 stands of Goblin Blades.

I likely won't get any of that done until after the weekend as I will be spending my Saturday at the Bon Accord Town Wide Garage Sale, hopefullytransferring items from my garage to new homes and making a bit of money to boot.

HOTT Night at EWG

Last night we gathered for our 2nd club night of the Month & had a pretty good turn out!

Several of us gathered to play some HOTT, just to bring some new players into the system & refresh the memories of those who have played in the past.

This also gave me a chance to bring out my Goblin Army for a test run. At this point I don't have anything completed beyond some Spear, Shooters and 1 Behemoth, so my force was somewhat lacking in clout.

We got in two games. My first game was against Chris. He was playing a force with lots of Riders (4 stands), some Spear (3 stands), a Hero and a Magician.

Below is a sneakpeak at my Behemoth Troll, he will get a better image taken of him once I am done. He was glued together to allow me to cobble together 24AP's to play.

Chris smashed into my Shooters with his Riders and managed a quick-kill. This would become routine for his Riders. The Behemoth eventually knocked out the Hero with the assistance of a flanking Spear.

Meanwhile on the other flank, my force tried to hold the high ground, but was eventually whittled down. All the while the Magician kept harrassing my Spear General with bolts of arcane propaganda. The battle was won by the Humans.

My second game was against Andy, another neophyte to HOTT. His force consisted of lots of Blade, Riders (2 elements) and Flyers (3 elements). Not sure how my troops would fare against the flyers, I proceeded to swarm my Shooters into the woods.

Andy maneuvered his Blades and Riders to assault my Shooters hoping his sheer numbers would overwhelm them.

Shooters in woods gained a lot of protection from both his Blades and Riders, nullifying much of their damage mod's and putting them more on even footing. My Behemoth Troll did manage to smash into the flank of Andy's force, turning an element of blade which would eventually cause the death of a recoiling General and a win for the Goblins.

The Flyers did not see any action in this other than to keep my Spear off to the side. Flyers will be something we will all need to work through as they do have some rather interesting dynamics.

All in all a good night and I am sure we will be seeing much more HOTT  in the months to come. Bob who hosted the HOTT venue has more of this eve's adventures on his blog.

EDBAG Camapign 12 June 2012

Tonight we gathered for our monthly DBA evening. The Campaign is quickly coming to a close as most of the territory on the map is now controlled.

This evening was a good night for the Classical Indians. Its good to finally be able to maneuver my elephants, who so often in the past were left out of the battles.

First up was a battle against Chen's II/37 Parthians. I was lucky to have 3 turns of multiple command pips, so was able to move my line up quickly using the rough & woods to protect the flanks from Chen's rapid moving Light Horse.

I had 2 elements of bow in the Woods at the top of the image who although holding valiantly, were finally defeated by the combined Auxilia & Light Horse. This removal of my flank allowed Chen to make a run for the camp with his Light Horse. Luckily the camp repelled them. Meanwhile the Parthian Knights kept withdrawing and ended up bogged down in rough terrain.

The last turn was a massive success for the Indians, as several knights were knocked out giving a victory to the Indians of 6-2.

The second battle was against II/49 Marian Romans. Comprised mostly of blade, it forced my bowmen into the woods. The battle was pretty much a march forward crunch for both sides. The image below shows the lines crashing together.

The Romans had good success on my left flank, destroying one of my 2 bow elements. He also managed to bag one of my Cavalry elements. The initial engagement left both lines broken, which would require some good command pips to make sense of it all.

I had some good dice on the last turn of battle and was able to defeat the Romans 5-2.

As usual with DBA the dice gods had a lot to do with determining the victor. As this campaign is drawing to a close...we figure maybe 1 or 2 more nights, we are all preparing 28mm HOTT armies and are hoping to land a few more players.

28mm Goblin Spearman for HOTT/Impetus

As I've finished off with the Goblin Shooter/Archer elements, I've now moved onto the Spear. So here I have the first 2 of 6 Spear elements for my HOTT Army.

The first stand is with the banner, so that if I want this to be my general, he will be easily denoted. All of the figures on the stand are GW, with 3 being plastic & the last metal.

The second stand is a mix of GW plastic/metal and a RAFM goblin purchased many years ago, whose sword broke. I thus drilled a hole thru his hand and added a spear.

The Impetus Army list I have for the Orc/Goblins has up to 12 elements of Goblin FP (Light Foot). To add some variety to my army I've decided to make 6 spear only & the others swords/blades. This will allow me to field either blade or spear in my HOTT Army.

Our DBA group is planning on the next campaign being a 28mm HOTT. With the sheer number of goblin elements I will likely be able to field a purely Goblin Army.

Cangames Part 5

Originally on Sunday night I planned on getting into the DBA tournament, as up for grabs was a painted Pict Army in 15mm.

However during the afternoon I heard from a buddy that a game I wanted to try, but had a conflict with was going to run a Sunday Night slot...BOOM! I was quick to the registration desk to get signed up. Up until 5 minutes before it started I was the only player registered....hmm, could be bad, about 2 minutes before we started another player arrived to play. As soon as I saw whom it was, I almost wish he hadn't, more on this later

The game was very unique in that it was Computer Assisted World War 2. This system developed by Mike Van Ryssel and Tim Starke pitted the players against a totally hidden force, thus all the players were on one side. We would arrive on the long table edge to the left of the image below.

Our objectives were the Railroad building (top right of image) and the ends of two roads which crossed the map from left to right.

Below is a shot of our forces, in effect 2 platoons of infantry, 2 37mm AT Gun teams, 3 Panzer III's, a Field Howitzer and 2 Sdkfz 222's.

We split the force, deciding on the small recce with the armoured cars, 1 platoon of infantry and 1 37mm AT gun would capture the one road and then swing to join the others. This is the force I took, having given the other player the option. He then had the rest for the assault on the railhead & road.

Not seeing where the French were, made me cautious & I leapfrogged my armoured cars & AT gun team along both sides of the road using hedges as cover and camoflage. Most of my infantry I sent thru the woods with 1 MG, a Second MG was placed in the stone house to cover the open ground & ruined buildings on far side of the map.

Alas, on the other end of the table, the second player started off by sending troops across the top of the hill, where they were hit with a mortar barrage. He then drove his entire troop of tanks up the road & watched as all 3 were knocked out....He didn't see anything that shot him, as everything was taken out. To say he was pissed would be an understatement.

I haven't heard so much whining at a games table in quite some time, blaming everyone but his own stupidity for his failure.

The hosts then gave him a troop of Panzer 35T's and a PanzerJag 1, which he also proceeded to lose.

I did get most of my infantry & MG's into observation postions. As my 37mm AT Team ran across an open space between hedges, the Gun was smashed by a AP shell, destroying it. The crew then scampered back to the hedgeline & became more spotters for me. I did locate the offending 75mm gun & between my MG's and Autocannons, silenced it for good.

I did get the Field Howitzer, but as the crew dismounted to unlimber it, they were smashed by MG & small arms fire, wiping them out. With the loss of that & the dismal play on the other end of the table, it was decided to end the game, as we were unlikely to be able to complete the mission. The reality of course was that the game hosts were tired of listening to the other player bitching about the unfair scenario.

This was a unique game & I will be looking forward to playing it at the next Cangames. It totally changes your playstyle, when you have no idea where the enemy is hiding.

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As for my auction and vendor purchases, I picked up a copy of Heroquest ( love the furniture!), Battlemasters (using the miniatures for my HOTT/Impetus armies), some old GW Warhammer blisters, and my largest purchase pictured below

A box full of Colonials and African tribesmen / Askari's, perfect for some pulp gaming down the road!

Lastly I stopped by the  Army Group North booth to buy some National Markers / Blinds, and several 1/56 scale vehicles. I pretty much buy something from this vendor every year.

So there was Cangames come to a close for another year. Next on my plate is the Morinville Town Wide Garage Sale this Saturday.  Cheer`s!

Cangames Part 4

Sunday morning after a filling breakfeast I was off to the convention. The first game on the list for the day was;

The Great Redoubt, Borodino 1812. This game was run by my friend Todd using the Lasalle rules. I was playing as a Russian on the right flank beside the redoubt. Things were looking good off the hop as our artillery started making the French troops lives miserable.

Soon after our Dragoons and Cossacks arrived. The Cossacks crossed the first stream to make for the bridge on the right of the image above. As the Dragoons crossed the stream, the French on the end formed a square.

As the French waited in confusion it seemed, I started moving my troops forward. The French player, fearing the mounted forces, had pulled his Horse Artillery back, leaving me free to move without being under fire.

The image below is an aerial view from the far left Russian flank, seemed like the French were arriving in droves!

We did lose the Redoubt, and managed to pass our first break test. If we had 1 more successful break test we could have had the French testing their morale as well, alas, the die was cast & the Russians fled the field. This is just as the French left was crumbling under the Russians advance.

My afternoon game was 'All Things Zombie'. The setting was a hillbilly settlement in the 1920's, where there was word of an illegal still. This brought the Gangsters of which I was a part, to find this still & make it our own. If dealing with the local yokels wasn't bad enough, some Coppers arrived as well as .......ZOMBIES!

Initially the Gangsters came into town from 2 directions. Wayne and myself arrived in the red & light green car. We moved into the Church. The other 2 Gangsters moved in from the bottom right of the image above.

We entered the church and immediately had to deal with a Zombie Wedding. With reacted by pummelling the zombies, dropping all but the kid zombie, which proceeded to slay a gangster.

Meanwhile some old codger in a wheelchair started making for the church. Hillbillies started swarming across the street & were gunned down by the gangsters Tommy Guns. Of course all this firing had a side effect.....ZOMBIES!



The Hillbillies were certainly outgunned and were pretty much wiped out.





Then along came the Coppers! They exited their vehicle after receiving fire from some hillbillies.

 These Coppers were crooked to be sure as one ran up to the Church and started firing his pistol thru the window. As I reacted, my Tommy Gun made him change his mind. The Cops were then overrun by zombies and had to retreat.

I eventually made a pact with the Old Codger by having him give me the location of the Still and then I would take him with us when we left. Unfortunately I should have spoken too him away from the table, as one of the players playing the Cops, heard where the still was & ran one of his characters to its location, thus obtaining it & winning the game.

The image below is of the Force we had become. There were also 4 other Gangsters who had gotten into vehicles & were driving over Zombies.

All in all a very fun game, with great models & scenery. This leaves me with the Sunday evening game & my purchases from the vendors and auction. I will post those tommorrow or later this eve depending how I feel.

Cangames Part 3

Saturday afternoon, I played Speghetti Western, a homegrown ruleset run by Gilbert Collins. The game had 12 slots available, however as many of these games show, they usually have more people show up & generally they are allowed to play as well...the more the merrier!

In Speghetti Western each player will take a character from a famous Speghetti Western and try to shoot their way to victory. Usually the game is a 'last man standing' affair with gold & money bags being the objective. In this scenario the gold was in the building. Players who started near the building were thus required to exit off the end of the board (near to where this shot was taken from).

Characters were distributed randomly. In this game I got "The Mercenary". Alas we all only had pistols & my fellow was sort of a Jack of all, master of none. Some of the characters have 3 dice in pistol, making them deadly. Other dice are added and subtracted due to range, cover, etc.

Alliances were allowed however never binding. There were 5 of us who formed an alliance. Here are 2 of them, Glen & Rita. Glen was I think informing me I should duck, or put a feather in my hat... These two ended up being the only survivors of our alliance of 5.

Some characters had two actions per turn. Each action you could do 1 thing... duck, cock the pistol, fire, move, etc. Many of us only had 1 action per turn. This is something I feel the host needs to fix, as it leaves many players at a disadvantage & they have pretty much lost the game without even starting. I think starting each player off with 2 actions/turn is fair & the differences of skills will be what sets them apart. Rita was lucky enough to have 2 actions per turn & was a force to be reckoned with. I believe she bagged 5 or 6 players, 1 on the first turn.

The Mercenary was a 1 action/turn character. Generally when your hit, you drop your weapon, which will then require 1 turns action to retrieve. One fellow jumped over the wall and grabbed my dropped pistol, leaving me unarmed, however I quickly used my fists skill to lay the boots to him & knocked him out of the game. My glory was short however, as I was shot dead the turn later. Below is the shot of what became the killing grounds, as 4 players died in this area.

A young fellow was playing Tuco, a 2 action/turn character & managed to get the gold & hi-tail it off the far end of the board. Try as she might, Rita couldn't bag him in time, as she was held up by 4 players whom she had to clear out. Here she is making a dash to try to cut Tuco off.

And here is Tuco making his last dash to victory.

Saturday Evening:

Saturday night, I played in the ever-fun game by Todd Creasey. Normally the venue is "Rubberboots" something, named after a fellow who used to show up at the club in his rubberboots. This years venue was a SAGA themed event with Normans pitted against Scots. Each side had 4 players each with their warbands. I was one of the Norman players.

The other player and I decided to sweep our mounted units around the flank & roll up the line. It sort of worked, but our troops were whittled down by high rolling dice of the Scot Hearthguard of which he had 2 6 man elements.

Below is my foot elements (Crossbow and Warriors). These were held in place to await the arrival of my compatriots foot troops which included his Warlord, mine was riding around the flank.

My Warlord and Knights prepare to end a Scot Warlords life. In fact I was able to bag both the Warlords of the Scots on this flank in 1 turn. However as this was a scenario, the warbands did not leave the field upon the death of their liege...

The Scottish player was able to hit my knights on the flank, limiting my dice and forced the knights to withdraw, leaving my Warlord out in the open, his second Hearthguard unit then fell upon him & slew him. This flank was a bad place to be a Warlord. The other end of the table was a see-saw battle with forces being whittled down.

Saturday is also the day that the Vendors area & Cangames Auction starts. I will post a seperate entry of the stuff I snagged this year. It was a good thing I planned and only went to Ottawa with barely half a suitcase as it was sure full on the return.