The Waaagh Cast Cup! Season 2

The Waaagh Cast Cup! Season 2 has officially begun!!!!!

Watch here for updates every week as I publish our newsletter to keep everyone abreast of the goings on and you can follow the games and root for your favorite teams!

This weeks games are as follows:

Division 1
Danger Zone vs. Bogenhafen Bell Ringers
Hairsstyle Hero's vs. The Snowflakes
Skurvy Scavengers vs. The Outer Gods

Division 2
The Northern Knuckleheads vs. Hellpitsburgh Steelers
The Kalima Killers vs. Cranky's Crazy Clansmen
Da Bone Breaka's vs. Skavenblight Wolf Rats

I hope everyone digs it!  Now go crush some heads boys!

Bretonnian Test Model

So I slapped a test model together over the last couple of days and mostly finished him.  Can't decide to freehand the heraldry or use decals.  Still, I think he's looking okay.  I'm only 30 and swear I have onset of palsy which disgruntles me because the lines aren't quite a straight as I'd like them, but I'm not sure if I can correct that without basically doing it over again.

Board Game Review: Through The Desert

Since it's been a while for a post and I don't have much Warhammer to report I thought I'd drop a little board gamer view on ya'll, hopefully you like it.

 

Through The Desert
Contents:
Board: Upon opening the box (remember this is KOSMOS edition) I noticed a few things immediately. For one this is an actual Board Game. Not a simple little thing but a thick heavy well made Board.

Tokens: The tokens/counter/chits whatever you want to call them were not only numerous, but made of fairly sturdy card and good printing. I approved.

Pieces: TONS of little colorful camels. I was immediately impressed. I particularly like the little oasis tree's. Truly get you into the feel of the game. The parts are good quality plastic; nothing seems like it will break easily although being small they could disappear rather quickly if you were to drop some on the floor.

Extra?: Having purchased this as a lightly used copy I must say that it was in awfully good condition. I think if it was ever played it was only played once. The board doesn't sit flat yet, not from warp or anything but because it appears to have never been unfolded. The extra I speak of is this. My copy (don't know about retail copies) came with 7 small Ziploc baggies to contain the camels, chits, trees, etc... It also came with 1 large white drawstring bag to contain at least my assumption is the water hole chits so that you can randomly draw them and place them on the board.

Overall: I approve! I've read somewhere that the FFG (Fantasy Flight Games) version of the game isn't as nice. Considering how nice this box is I can only imagine what worse means; but I'll state that I am very happy with this purchase as far as the components are concerned.

Set-up and Game play:
Okay so after hunting down and printing out the English rule set for myself I read it about 4 times. Not that it was complicated; but when introducing a new game to my wife I want to make sure I have the rules down pat so that I can answer her questions. It only takes one screw up to get your wife to nix a game forever and ban it to the pile of games that don't get played. The rules are quite simple. Each player picks a color rider and takes a seat. The camels are divided into piles and some removed depending upon the number of players playing. I'll diverge for a moment to say that I feel this game scales quite well. Designed for 2-5 players I've thus far played it with 2,3 and 4. Haven't heard a complaint yet.

You setup the board by pulling random water hole chits from the bag and placing them on spaces indicated on the game board. The oasis tree's are also placed at this point on designated spaces on the board. Then you determine starting players.

So after determining starting player which we've done by pulling chits from the water hole bag each player places one of their colored camel riders on one of each color camel. These are your caravan leaders. You then place them on the board going clockwise obeying some simple rules. Cannot place next to other camels, oasis, on water chits. Otherwise you can start them on any open space.

After all the leaders are placed play begins again with the starting player. To develop the caravans on each players turn they place two new camels. Any color they want may be chosen, so 2 of 1 color or 2 of 2 different colors. It's up to the player to decide how they want to develop. The only exception here is that on the first turns in a 2 player game the 1st player only places 1 camel. 3-5 players the 1st and 2nd player only place 1 camel. On turn 2+ they place as normal 2 camels. This is a design I guess to keep the 1st players from gaining an unfair advantage; but I can't see how. Perhaps I'm just not smart enough to figure it out.

The goal during development is to score points. You do this by developing caravans and capturing water holes, linking to oasis or sectioning off areas of the desert as your own. It's a very simple game. To capture a water hole you simply build a caravan towards it and during one of your placement phases put a camel on that chit. You then pick it up and claim it as your own. To link to an oasis you simply need to place one of your camels near an oasis tree. Sectioning off the desert is the most difficult. You must use the board edges, mountain ranges or a single color of camel to completely lock off an area of the game board. This area cannot contain any other camels of any players or colors. It can contain oasis and water hole chits. This is one of the best ways to garner big points in the endgame.

Game play ends when one of the color camel piles runs out. You at that point count up your total victory points to determine the winner. Points are quite simple. The water hole chits are worth 1,2,3 points as indicated on the markers themselves. Every caravan linked to an oasis is worth 5 points. For the sectioned off area of the desert you earn 1 point for every space inside the area that doesn't contain an oasis. There is also a bonus 10 points awarded to the players who have the longest of each color caravan. Quite simply you just add your points and the highest point total is the winner. A tie literally results in a tie. You could come up with your own tie-breaker rules if you want, but via the game rules a tie is simply that; a tie.

Overall: Very easy and fast! The big reason I got this game was because it looked simple, fun and I thought my kids could play it. Of which I have found success on all levels. I think this is a great gateway game. I play lots of games myself and my wife does too; but she'd never venture into the realm of Descent:Road to Legend or Axis & Allies. This game is just heavy enough on strategy to get her interested and light enough on gameplay to keep her coming back. As the title says however you will have to get your friends/family past the initial stage of disbelief. When I first obtained the game after reading the rules I said to my wife one night "Were going to play the candy camel game." to which I recieved a look of pure confusion and I would almost go so far as to call it disbelief. She couldn't fathom it. She thought outloud at me that "Surely this isn't an adult game that I'm going to enjoy." but she was won over. She approves of the game as I think anyone trying it will.

So that's the review, hope you all got something out of it. Thanks for reading!

ToTG: 2,500 Point Final Game

So last night Ryan and I got together for the completion of the ToTG article and our 2,500 point game!  How exciting.  The lists:

Joe
Empire General
-Full Plate, Shield, Helm of Skavenslayer, Ogre Blade, Potion of Foolhardiness, Gryphon (TWo Heads, Bloodroar)

Battle Wizard Lord
-Level 4, Lore of Shadow

Empire Captain
-BSB, Full Plate, Shield, Sword of Might, Dragonhelm

Battle Wizard
-Level 2, Dispel Scroll, Lore of Fire

Warrior Priest
-Heavy Armor, Shield, Ironcurse Icon, Obsidian Lodestone

Warrior Priest
-Heavy Armor, Shield, Warhorse, Barding

14 Handgunners

40 Spearmen
-Shields, Musician, Standard Bearer

9 Knights of the Inner Circle
-Full Command, Steel Standard

24 Flagellants

Great Cannon

Steam Tank

Hellblaster Volley-Gun

Ryan (I don't know the exact gear on the models)
Slaughtermaster
-Lore of Death

Bruiser
-BSB

Butcher
-Lore of Maw

72 Gnoblars
-Trappers

2x6 Ogres
-Full Command

8 Ironguts
-Full Command, Dragonhide Banner

2x1 Sabretusks

3 Leadbelchers

Scraplauncher

Ryan tried something new with a massive unit of Gnoblars which he then mis-deployed.  I suppose had they been put in the right place they could have really chuffed the Steam Tank up for as long as he could want, However they ended up on there own across from my Knights and Flagellants.  I set up fairly strong on my left flank to start which Ryan then set up across which is what I wanted.  I dropped the Knights and Flagellants on the right being my two hittiest units which I wanted to bring into his flanks.  The Gryphon I dropped way out right to go after the Scraplauncher.  Probably the worst misdeployment on my side.

I moved a quite a bit forawrd turn 1 and threw a little magic and shooting.  Ryan gunned forwards as fast as he could ensuring that turn 2 would see the beginning of combat one way or the other.  He shot a couple of wounds onto the Gryphon but otherwise the 1st turn was nothing of consequence.

My 2 had me declaring a charge on the Scraplauncher with the Gryphone which failed.  The Knights made a hard turn in front of the Gnoblars to go for the flanks of Ryans big units while the Flagellants moved forward to try and ensure the Gnoblars couldn't get the back of the Knights and hold them.  The Spears reformed deep for the steadfast against the inevitable charge.  The Cannon and Volley Gun did some wounds while the Handgunner took a woulnd off the Giant and the Fire Mage fireballed the Sabretusk off.

Ryan declared his Guts and Ogres against my Tank and Spears respectively but failed both charges giving me a huge advantage for later.  His Giant moved around to flank my Handguns/Cannon on the hill.  Moved his other Ogre unit up toward the Gunners as well.  He threw a Purple Sun at the Tank which I managed to survive.

My turn 3 had my Tank and the Knights hit hit the Guts together.  The Gryhpon finally made contact with the Scraplauncher and the Flagellants hit the Gnoblars.  My dice then went super hot and Ryans really abandoned him.  I cast the Fire Claok onto my Handgunners, knowing the Giant would be on them next turn.  I shot the Ogres in front of the Handguns and managed to do 6 wounds for a panic check which Ryan passed.  The Flagellants ate the Gnoblars who then failed their Leadership check as they were too far away.  The Gryphon beat and ran the Scraplauncher off the board.  The Tank and Knights beat the Guts and the Knights ran them down and hit the unit of Ogres who had previously failed their charge on the Spears.

Ryans 3 the Giant charged the Handguns, and the Flame Cloak did 12 hits on 2D6 and managed to pull 5 wounds finishing the Giant off.  At least in recompense the Giant fell on the Handguns killing 1/2 the unit forcing a flee for casualties.  The Ogres hit the Cannon and kill it then overrun on the Handguns and kill them. The Ogres against the Knights lose but hold.

Turn 4 the Tank hits the Ogres fighting the Knights.  I turn to face the Ogres with my Spears, the Gryphon turns to go after the Leadbelchers as do the Flagellants.  The Ogres lose the combat and are ran down by the Knights.

Ryan shoots the Gryphon for I believe the 3rd time he's shot at them but has still over the course of the game only managed 1 wound on the Lord and 1 on the Gryphon.  He turns the Ogres toward the Spears as well as gets a Gorger up on the table next to the Spears as well.

Finally on 5 I 6 dice Mind Razor and push the spears into the Ogres breaking them and the final Ogre runs off the table.  We call the game.

A big win for the Empire army in this game.  Its nice to see the army come together and the Knights finally do something worthwhile in a game.  I think the Gryphon for as expensive as he is was poorly used on my part.  I'm still quite happy with the army overall.  Its been a long experience putting this army together and now its mostly done.  Sadly I must now put it down and start work on my Bretonnian project.  I'm going to try and finish the Display Board for these guys though so that I can start taking them to touranments.

I think the most exciting part of this though is that I now have 3 armies up to 2,500 points that I can use.  Not only that but they are all painted to a damned fine standard and have display boards, etc...  It gives a real sense of accomplishment, particularly since both the Skaven and the Empire have been done in a 12 month period.  Happiness is a warm blanket and a finished army.

ToTG: Joe F. 2,500 Point End

Okay, so for those who've been keeping up the goal was to basically put together a 2,500 point army of Empire in a 5 month period.  We started in June and while technically I don't have every unit or model I want I have managed the 2,500 point list.  Actually I can throw just a bit over that but I'm still missing the unit of 25 Greatswords that I'd planned on doing for the army.  However, yet another army has come up!  I am putting together a Bretonnian Force for the Adepticon 2013 WHFB Team Tournament.  I'll be going with my friend Ryan who has been helping me all these months and we'll be teaming with his African Ogres so I'll be doing a Crusades of Araby paint scheme.

Still that isn't what this post is about.  This post is a recap of the Stirland River Patrol army that is now basically done.  One day I may finish that Greatsword unit, but not until my Bretonnian force is complete for the TT.  So in the end here's what I have!

Characters:
General of the Empire on Gryphon
2 Wizards
Engineer with Hochland Long Rifle
Witch Hunter
Warrior Priest on Warhorse

Core:
40 Spearmen with Shields and Full Command
14 Handgunners
9 Knights with Full Command

Special:
24 Flagellants
2 Great Cannon
Mortar

Rare:
2 Hellblaster Volley Gun
Steam Tank

Other:
I at one point slapped this together for a tournament that was hosting a terrain contest too, but I painted in the Stirland colors so it really does go with the army.

Display Board:
The faltered part.  The Display Board has yet to be completed and as this army isn't in the pipeline for a big tournament it will end up waiting until the Bretonnian project completes.

There it is folks.  Hopefully I've given you something to look at.  By far my favorite thing about this army is all the classic models.  Those Knights are great, the old War Machines I think look superior to the new stuff and other than the current size difference between the two I still like the old Gryphon a lot.  To really wrap this army up I will be playing the 2,500 point game tomorrow night with Ryan G. so expect to see a report on that in the next day or two.

Thanks for reading!

The Waaagh Cast Cup! Season 2!!!

Well folks, the time has come!

Are you ready for some BLOOD BOWL!!!!!!!!!!!!

Announcing Season 2 of The Waaagh Cast Cup! on-line Blood Bowl League!

We are now officially taking sign-ups for Season 2 which makes us super happy!  We're not playing favorites either.  While we really appreciate everybody who participated in Season 1 this is totally a first come, first serve deal.  We are accepting 11 teams for Season 2.  (12 Counting my own)

The League will be divided into two divisions of 6 teams, with each team playing everyone in their division twice.  This will result in a minimum number of 10 games per team.  At the end of the 10 weeks the top 2 teams from each division will play for their ticket to the finals where the top team from each division will play for the overall cup.  It’s very exciting.  Each game will consist of 16, 4 minute turns with no overtime.

Participation in the League will require a few things on your part.  We play every week for 10 weeks straight and expect you to make your absolute best effort to do so.  You need to contact your opponent through e-mail and schedule your game.  I should be carbon copied on all correspondence so that if a player makes an attempt to contact for a game and is not responded to by their opponent I can give a due forfeit.  Also, players must talk amongst each other to pick one of them to write up a small article going over the games that they play.  The purpose of this is that I will be releasing a weekly newsletter just like in season 1.  The Weeks will start on Monday and run through Sunday.

Even more exciting is that according to Cyanide Studio, the Chaos Edition of the game will be entirely compatible with the Legendary Edition.  You must own at least Legendary Edition to participate in the League.  If the League is entirely setup before release of the Chaos Edition (supposed to be this month) we will roll on without the expansion.  Should it release however please know that while we are aware a lot of people may like to play some of the teams from the Chaos Edition such as the Underworld Pact or the Demons the only team we will be allowing into the League from this version of the game is the Chaos Dwarfs.  The reason for this is that we are attempting to stay equivalent to the actual tabletop which contains no Demon team and Underworld Pact is not part of the actual rules but a N.A.F. addition.

Anyone wishing to enter the league must choose one of the following two options.

A: Build a brand new team and enter into the league.

B: If you played in a previous season of the league (we know, small number as we've only ran one season) you may bring in a previously participating team.  The only restriction here is that a previous team must have a team value of no more than 1500.  If your team is above this number you must make cuts to bring it under that value before signing up.

That's it everybody!  I'm looking really forward to Season 2 and a ton of fun!

To sign-up please send e-mail to: waaagh.cast.jf@gmail.com with the Subject Line: Bloodbowl Season 2 Sign-up!  The body of the e-mail must contain your first and last real name.  After I have all 12 players a form letter will be sent out with instructions on how to get into the league.

Thanks a lot and I'll see you all on the pitch!

The Stirland Update...

So you can tell from looking at the dates between this post and the last (almost 20 days) I've been hitting a small wall.  Still, I've been slowly plugging away on things and I've managed to get something together to show for it tonight.

I've completed my unit of Knights Panther.  Nine guys with Full Command.  Also an ad-hoc Warrior Priest on Warhorse out of some stuff I had in the bitz box.  Finally an old school Mortar and Crew.  I hate the fact that the Knights don't line up perfectly on the movement tray because they just weren't made to fit right it seems.  Big pelts on their backs, as well as all the feet that basically bump into eachother.  I even made the tray larger than standard on purpose to give a little extra room and it seems like it just isn't enough.

Excitedly I have played the army in a small 1,600 point tournament since my last post.  I performed amiably winning 2 of 3 games.  Win against High Elves and Skaven but unsurprisingly yet another loss to Ogre Kingdoms.  Still, I'm happy that the army seems able to perform.  I'm also still completely undecided on what Lores to use in magic.  I had built the army with intent of Shadow, but ran only Fire in that tournament and did well.  I've also used Metal with some decent results.  Nothing says love like Spearmen with a 3+ armor save.

Anyway, I am now left with very little to paint before pretty much finishing the army up.  I have a unit of 21 Greatswords with a 4 man Unit Filler in it.  A War Machine Crew (I'll have 4 crews and 5 machines oddly) and an Engineer with Repeater Handgun.  I imagine the Crew and Engineer will be done quite soon, like a week soon.  The Greatswords however require a TON more work.  They all have to have their tabs cut off and then get pinned into the wooden bases I'm using for the ship.  After all that I still have to build a display board.  Sigh....  Back to the grindstone.