Archive for February, 2011
Hotgoblin Season 3, Round 8
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This week I am facing off against the winner of just about ever league he has played in, Carwyn and the Slann of the “Fifth Gen Rebels”. This team was highly skilled up and I had enough money in inducements to be able to take Ice Pelt and an extra re-roll. I’d been able to afford to purchase an Ice Troll before the game, so Mr. T joined the team. I was expecting this to be a very one sided match, not only because of the Carwyn’s high skill level but because I had very few tools to stop the leaping, dodging Slann. They also had a AG5 Catcher…what is with all the AG5 players around!!!
I drew the “Preferred Pitch” card allowing me to either increase or decrease armour values for one drive. I kept it to see how the game would pan out. Well for the first half my dice abandoned me and Carwyn’s frogs though they were Chaos Warriors and smashed me into the pitch. Carwyn scored in his Turn 2, got the ball off me quickly and had to do a Go For It to score….a brief glimmer of luck for me as he rolled a 1. After the game Carwyn realized he had the magic item “Teleporter Ring” and didn’t need to make that GFI in the first place. He gave himself a few RHKTTH for good measure.
Things were looking grim with three of my players off the pitch going into the second half. I played my card decreasing AV values for both teams…not really a good thing when you are already AV7. But, I needed to try and hurt him to stop him scoring as freely as he was. I received the ball and worked my way up the pitch. Mr.T and Ice Pelt went off and started knocking out and causing casualties. Luckily they knocked out his Kroxigor who decided he would stay off the rest of the game. I again tried to hold off scoring quickly as Carwyn can score in two turns and I can’t. But, with leap he was jumping into my cage almost every turn and eventually something he was trying was going to work , so I scored. Besides AV6 was starting to take its toll as his Blitzer’s both had Mighty Blow and I was losing players fast.
With only a few turn left I managed a scrappy defense and managed to hold the frogs out for the rest of the half. Going down 2-1 to that team was a moral victory for me. Importantly Mr.T did two cas, so was only one more cas away from a skill up. I was missing two players for the next round, but, my next game is against Halflings so I wasn’t two worried.
Hotgoblin Season 3, Round 7
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“Handsome” Dave, the handsomest man in Blood Bowl, and the Orcs of the “Black Crag Bash” were my opponent this week. Whilst Dave’s Orcs weren’t all that skilled up, I was worried that his AV9 would mean most causalities from the match would be on my side. Dave was worried that the power of Round House Kicks To The Head (RHKTTH) would still hurt his players so spent his inducements on an extra apoth, a re-roll and a babe. The card I drew enabled me to give one of my players “Catch” and “Diving Catch” for the turn…this card ended up winning me the game. My Gaspez Arts miniatures turned up before this game so this was the first game using my proper miniatures. Now to get stuck into painting them.
I kicked off, Dave collected the ball and proceeded to rumble down the pitch. This game was one of those games were nothing went right for either team. A combination of bad luck on Dave’s side and some cheeky one dice blocks (My use of one dice blocks has become so wide known that in our local area its known as “Doing a Chuck”), saw the ball change hands numerous times, but also meant I was able to hold the Orcs out for the entire half. There were no real casualties to speak of either….rather a poor showing for two supposed “bash” teams.
I received in the second half and managed to make some space and get a runner through the Orc lines. By my turn three I was ready to make my move. I was trying to hold off as long as possible to make it harder for the Orcs to score and tie the game, however, the Orcs were closing in fast and I was forced to make my move. I had formed a loose screen around this player until he was within normal movement of the end zone. I played my card and gave “Catch” and “Diving Catch” to the runner in position to score. My thrower of course needed to use his “Pass” skill to re-roll the pass, and with my runner catching the ball on a 2+ with a re-roll I was quietly confident. In the end there was nothing to worry about as my runner easily caught the ball and ran it into the end zone for the first Touch Down of the match.
So I kick to the Orcs and play a deep defensive game, probably too deep in retrospect as the ball scattered towards the halfway line meaning the Orcs were uncomfortable close to the their end zone for my liking. The bad luck continued as by Turn 4 neither of us had an re-rolls left, so the risky plays dried right up. The orcs played the slow grind and in their Turn 8 they were within striking distance of their end zone…they just needed one Go For It to tie the game. Dave of course rolled a one and the game ended with the Chuck Norse’s the victor!
Hotgoblin Season 3, Round 6
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This week’s game was listed as Dungeon Bowl. I’d never played Dungeon Bowl before and was looking forward to the game. I was facing off again Jason and the “Ying Yang Clan” Nippon team. I was most worried about the AG5 ninja who I was sure was going to leap in grab the ball and score before I even knew what was happening.
We set the Dungeon up and then went ball hunting. The first chest I opened exploded in my players face and Badly Hurt him. Great start fellas. The first chest Jason opened of coarse contained the ball. This was promptly handed off to the AG5 ninja and it was on. I was pushing his players into walls and teleporters all over the place until I was able to get another one dice block on that pesky ninja. Luckily my player had “Tackle” and the power of a RHKTTH was too much for the ninja who got knocked out. I scooped up the ball and proceeded to the end zone. Jason had positioned a S4 Sumo in the corridor leading to my end zone. The only player I had accompanying the runner with the ball was an Ulfenwerner without Block. I had no other choice……One dice block! Pow! Sumo is down and I score. In dungeon bowl as soon as one team score the game is over. Chuck Norse’s win again!
Clearing the Painting Backlog – The Beginning of the End – Part 3
Ok, so we have our project plan. Now the hard part….discipline. The idea is to work on this project until completion. The scattered application of my painting and modeling time up to this point has resulted in the “project clutter” that I currently have. Methodically working through these projects will give me sense of achievement and help to fuel my motivation to complete the remaining projects on my project plan. To aide in this I am going to be packing all my other projects away. This will also earn me brownie points with the wife as the garage will be way tidier!
As my projects are only fairly small, I’ve decided to mix the project types up a bit. Instead of working on successive Blood bowl teams, I plan to mix it up with some Anima Tactics forces and character models. If you are working on an army, you might like to switch between units in different armies that are included in your project plan.
Remember the project plan is only a list of projects to be completed this year, the order in which these projects can be completed to totally up in the air. For example if Games Workshop releases the Tomb Kings book next month, then my Tomb Kings army will get quickly bumped up the order to be the next project I work on. Should this happen to you, don’t stop the project you are currently working on! Remember the bigger picture.
It’ll be tough to change your mindset, but with a bit of focus and determination we can all have more completed projects than uncompleted ones by the end of the year.
Hotgoblin Season 3, Round 5
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This week was the side stepping Pro Elf nancies of Pete’s “Grand Master Fudge and the Furious Fifteen “. Due to an unfortunate series of circumstances Pete had to forfeit this match. League rules are that the other team gets 2 TD’s and 2 MVP’s. So the Chuck Norse’s get an easy win and two skill ups!
Clearing the Painting Backlog – The Beginning of the End – Part 2
Right, we now how much time we can devote to our hobby on a weekly basis. Next we need to look at the projects that are on the go at the moment and pick some that we are going to work on. At 10hrs per week I’m not going to be completing 6 Warhammer armies, a couple of Blood Bowl teams and half a dozen forces for skirmish games. I’ve therefore, had to prioritize my projects. Be realistic here, its better to underestimate and complete what we have set out to do rather than over estimate and be left with a heap of uncompleted projects still on our list. This is supposed to be a hobby for us, not something that stresses us out. Don’t be afraid to reassess your project plan as you go along either, things change. The project plan is just a guide to help us finish the unfinished.
When coming up with this project plan, it’s good to examine the motivation behind the project. If you are working on something just because it’s the newest, shiniest thing you have I’ve found this motivation will fade over time. However, a project fueled by a cool idea that really resonates within you will help you maintain the desire to finish the project.
Sometimes, however, you still need to look at the usability of the project. My Tomb Kings, for example, are staying on the shelf until the new army book comes out. I really love the TK background and my army theme, but, getting smashed every game and then having the possibility of some units not being usable in the new book makes the whole project less inviting. Additionally, I’m not playing as much Warhammer as I used too (all my gaming friends are playing other things at the moment), so I’ve decided to focus on completing some Blood Bowl teams. I’m playing a fair bit of Blood Bowl at the moment, so the motivation to get these teams completed for league and casual game play helps me to finish these projects.
River City Cup 6 – Painted Dark Elf Team Prize
As you might have guessed I love my Blood Bowl.
Having played in numerous leagues in Brisbane, I thought I’d give a Blood Bowl tournament a go. Mango has been running the River City Cup Blood Bowl tournaments for some time now and from all I’d heard he ran a good event. This was certainly proven correct on the day. I enjoy contributing to my local gaming community, so I thought I paint up a Blood Bowl team as a prize for River City Cup.
When the new Dark Eldar models from Games Workshop were released the first thing I thought was that they’d make a great Blood Bowl team. The poses are really dynamic and fluid, as I imagine a Blood Bowl team in action would look like. To create the team I used two boxes of Dark Eldar Wyches and one box of Dark Eldar Kabalite warriors. All up the team comprised 14 players, 2 Witch Elves, 2 Runners, 4 Blitzers and 6 Linemen. I also painted up a team ball as part of the prize.
For the Witch Elves, I chose female Wyches that showed the most flesh. I also used heads with big hair to make sure the Witch Elves were easily distinguishable on the pitch.
I used the bodies of the Kabalite Warriors for the blitzers, as they were heavier and better armoured. I imagine that the Blitzers would be more heavily armoured as they are always up in the thick of things. I also left all the spikes on the armour.
One of the coolest parts of of the Wyches kit were the full face helmets. I used these for the Runners. I also removed a lot of the spikes from the armour to make them look more lithe.
For the linemen I used Kabalite Warrior heads on the Wych bodies. I also removed a lot of the spikes from the linemen to try and make them look more expendable and easily distinguishable form the Blitzers.
The biggest problem using non-blood bowl figures for a Blood Bowl team is trying to make the different types of players look different and making them look sporty. To make the players look different a little bit of planning in choosing heads, bodies and other bits goes a long way. As to making them looking sporty, well that was harder. Painting the team colours in consistent places across the miniatures helps create the look of a team uniform. I also painted the player numbers on the chest plates of the Blitzers and Witch Elves and the shoulder pads on the Runners and Linemen.
Hopefully this gives you some ideas for teams of your own.