Ladies and gentlemen I am pleased to announce the that I am now restarting my painting service. I am under no illusions to my painting skill it is gaming+ standard at best but my prices are reasonable. Unassembled plastic models will be assembled, cleaned, sprayed and painted at the models cost. While metal models will be done at cost +10%. (this is due to the extra effort required) Models that are assembled and sprayed already will be painted at 75% cost. I also offer an assembly & cleaning service at 20% cost of model for plastic and 25% for metal.
If you are intrested in any of the above services you can contact me through this blog or through my email colinmurray56AThotmailDOTcom.
Till next time
KD
PS: Please note all prices will be rounded to the nearest euro for ease of payment.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Blood Bowl Match Report
This is a Game report between Explicit Virtue and my own 1st Airborne. It was written by Explicit Virtues Manager (Ken Savage) who kindly gave me permission to post it here.
So my next game is vs 1st Airborne managed by Khorne Dogg.
Block as the single skillup on his ogre is nasty, and the strip ball blitzer might be annoying. For the most part, I'd keep the ball on my runner so dump off will negate a bit of that strip ball terror. He has two blodge catchers - even though they're ST2 they'll still be bloody hard to take down. One good thing is that he's only got 11 players, so any KOs/injuries I can inflict will leave him shorthanded as I'll be starting with 12 players.
Speaking of which, I have 140k of inducements and I decided to plump for a mercenary witch elf (110k+30k) as my 12th player.
Start of game, we roll very sunny for weather - so -1 to all passes.
Khorne Dogg rolls 4 for fans +4 FF = 8000 fans. I roll 8 +1FF = 9000 fans. First blood to me with +1FAME. I also roll higher for kickoff and choose to receive. I decide not to risk my kicker, so he starts the game in the reserves.
Turn 1 and Khorne Dogg puts the ogre in the middle of the pitch, funnily enough I keep all my players well away from him. kickoff result is a riot which pushes the timer forward 1 turn to turn 2. I start by knocking a few LOS guys down, getting the ball and moving it back a few squares. Highlight for me is my witch elf blitzing a catcher. She not only knocks him off his feet, but also KOs him! Nice start. The WE and my #17 blitzer move into the human backlines. The next couple of turns involve me moving for a better position to move forward, and Khorne Dogg getting good coverage on my players each time. Oh, and me dodging away from the ogre any time I can!
On turn 4 my #9 lineman puts the human #7 lineman down and it's a casualty - a roll of 38 means he's fine. Khorne Dogg's starts his turn 4 by counting the squares for his ogre to get to the ball carrier - 7, so 2GFI just to put a tackle zone on. He opts not to do that, instead choosing to blitz my defensive blitzer. This requires 1 GFI and he rolls a 1 just before the block! The ogre goes down in a heap and the humans are caught out of position! I go to move the runner forward with the ball, but realise he's 8 squares instead of 7 away from the receiver - so I need to pass instead of handoff. I need a reroll for the pass, but make the completion and blitzer sprints down the field with the ball with 3 lineman forming a cage around him. Khorne Dogg tries to move to cover and succeeds in KOing a journeyman lineman, but not able to get near the ball carrier. Turn 6 and I can score, but choose to stall on the line - MV8 blodging catchers can score ok in 3 turns, I don't want to make it too easy! Khorne Dogg responds by KOing my merc witch elf on his turn 6. On turn 7, Khorne Dogg launches an assault on my ball carrier's cage to try and put a tackle zone on the ball carrier. He only gets a push when he needed the defender to go down, which leave a 6+ dodge to get a tackle zone. He tries but the 4 leaves his lineman on his face. On my turn 8 it's time to score, but I can get a 3 dice blitz on a catcher first. Figuring I have a reroll anyway, I try it and my blitzer scores a casualty on his #3 catcher - a roll of 17 means he's ok. No point in risking anything else, and my #2 blitzer walks in the turn 8 touchdown for 1:0 to the dark elves.
Human turn 8 and we roll for KOs, but all the players are quite comfy in the KO bin and none come out. KO result is a 7 so the weather changes - a little more cloud comes out and it's perfect weather, which will make those passes a little easier. Not much happens apart from the human thrower making a completion for a SPP and the half ends with my Dark Elves 1:0 to the good.
2nd half and KOs are rolled - my JM lineman wakes up but the witch elf stays down. Unfortunately, the human catcher manages to rouse himself too. So we start the 2nd half with my 11 players vs 9 for the humans. KO result is brilliant coaching. I roll a 3, with +1FAME means I'm guaranteed another precious reroll - Khorne Dogg rolls 5 so gets one too. My kick skill finds the touchline and stays in, giving Khorne Dogg's catcher a scary GFI roll in order to get the ball - but he succeeds and passes it to the catcher. With the numbers advantage, I start moving forward and send two blitzers into his backlines and keep his other players covered. Turn 2 and it's a 1 for bonehead, so the ogre stands stupidly. Khorne Dogg moves the catcher forward and covers him with a makeshift cage. With the ogre boneheaded - I spy a way through for a blitz with my blitzer. I get linemen to stand beside the catcher and the blitz comes in - only to give a both down when both have block. I dodge away, not wanting to use a reroll so soon. Turn 3 and Khorne Dogg spies a route through my defence. He throws one block which puts a dark elf down (1+1 for armor). He then tries to dodge the catcher out, rolling 1 then another 1 for the dodge reroll. Five 1s in a row now for the humans. Worse comes for the catcher as his armor breaks and he's injured - 47 means he'll miss next game. Dark Elves are very good on the break, my #5 runner gets the ball, passes it forward to #1 blitzer who sprints up the pitch 3 from the line - Khorne Dogg has nothing that can get that far back even with GFIs. I spend the rest of the turn throwing blocks and I manage to put every single human down (except the ogre, of couse) though they're all OK. Turn 4 and Khorne Dogg's only standing player is the ogre. He decides to blitz and rolls 1 for bonehead. He burns a reroll and passes the loner roll with a 4 so he can reroll bonehead - and gets another 1. That's seven 1s in 8 rolls now, Nuffle has truly deserted the poor humans in this half! On my turn 4, I get a 2 dice blitz on the ogre and he goes down but doesn't break armor. I take pity on the bad luck of the humans and don't stall - my #1 blitzer takes the TD to give the humans a new start on a new drive. It's 2:0 to the Dark Elves.
Turn 5 and the kickoff result is Get the ref - that could be nasty if either side decides to use it! My witch elf also wakes up, so i have my full 12 to choose from again against only 8 humans. After throwing some LOS blocks with nothing worse than 1 defender going down, the thrower goes to get the ball and throw it to the catcher. Pickup 1, surehand reroll 3. Pass 1, pass reroll 1. That fumbled throw means it's TEN 1s in 14 rolls with the number dice - truly unbelievably unlucky rolling. I'm starting to think that poor rolling is all in the name, as our northern Khorne Dogg gets truly bad rolls too! I sent a stream of dark elves rushing upfield towards the ball.
Turn 6 and my charge was obviously ill advised - his thrower does get the ball and throws to a lineman, who runs down the field through the middle. He then covers my avenues to get back to defense, I sent way too many people up the right wing. My turn 6 and I move back a bit, my turn ends when I 2d blitz with a lineman and get bothdown/att down. I notice he's a JM, so I roll loner and pass - and I get the exact same bothdown/attdown on the block dice. I can hear the human blitzer chuckle as I go down.... Turn 7 and the human lineman runs forward and gets 4 squares from home, though he's a little exposed if my dodge rolls can hold! I do move men back and get a 2 dice blitz. First roll is bothdown - which is ok as both players are linemen and it would stop the score. I reroll it though and get defender down which ends Khorne Dogg's chances of scoring. I move a blitzer 7 squares from home, considering a turn 7 or 8 pass action. My runner dodges and does get the ball, moving forward to stand safe behind a wall of dark elves. However, I lose my last reroll to an illegal procedure by forgetting to move my turn counter - so I'll have to do the turn 8 pass without rerolls!
Turn 8 and the humans move to try and cover my obvious plan, finishing with the ogre throwing another blitz which fails to break armor. The whole game, the ogre failed to break armor even once - which I was ecstatic about after the pro elves carved me up in the last game without mighty blow! My turn 8 and I blitzed the human marking my planned receiver, knocking him down. I then blocked another lineman out of the way who threatened an interception. Putting the final plan into action, the runner ran forward for a short pass. He makes the 3+ throw and #2 blitzer makes the 2+ catch and runs into the endzone for a turn 8 touchdown for 3:0 to the dark elves.
Well, the first half was a tense tactical battle where I was quite happy to go in 1:0 up. The ogre was a bit of a pain, but thankfully his mighty blow was misfiring and he did get a couple of 1s which reduced his effectiveness.
Where both sides were getting rolls going well in the first half, the second half introduced the worst run of dice I think i've ever seen. Even being 2 players down, I think the humans did have a good chance of getting an equaliser in the second half. That is, of course, until the run of ten 1s in 14 rolls. The first couple, we could laugh at. The next few were "no way, that's really unlucky". The last few, I was actually wishing for my opponent to start getting better luck. Still, luck does balance out and I feel sorry for Khorne Dogg's next opponent as they're sure to be on the wrong side of some very strong rolling by him!
A few skillups for me. My #1 blitzer scored the critical second touchdown so I gave him the MVP for his first skillup - he got a normal skill which will be dodge. With two touchdowns, my #2 blitzer got a skillup too - he got a normal roll too, so dodge for him as well. Khorne Dogg gave the MVP to his #7 linesman, who got a normal skill which he's going to consider.
Winnings, Khorne Dogg rolled a 6 - so 60k for the losing team is always good, maybe the bad rolling is turning around for him? I rolled a 1, which I rerolled for winning into a 5 giving total winnings of 70k. I now have enough to replace my dead blitzer, which i'll consider. I might save up for a witch elf though.
For fan factor, I had 3 dice to roll and had 1 to beat - which I did easily.
Final action of the game, Khorne Dogg had 4 fan factor and had to roll above 4 on two dice to avoid losing a point.
I don't think anyone reading will be suprised to hear that he rolled a 1+1
So as you can see things didn't go exactly to plan but there is always next time.
Till next time
KD
So my next game is vs 1st Airborne managed by Khorne Dogg.
Block as the single skillup on his ogre is nasty, and the strip ball blitzer might be annoying. For the most part, I'd keep the ball on my runner so dump off will negate a bit of that strip ball terror. He has two blodge catchers - even though they're ST2 they'll still be bloody hard to take down. One good thing is that he's only got 11 players, so any KOs/injuries I can inflict will leave him shorthanded as I'll be starting with 12 players.
Speaking of which, I have 140k of inducements and I decided to plump for a mercenary witch elf (110k+30k) as my 12th player.
Start of game, we roll very sunny for weather - so -1 to all passes.
Khorne Dogg rolls 4 for fans +4 FF = 8000 fans. I roll 8 +1FF = 9000 fans. First blood to me with +1FAME. I also roll higher for kickoff and choose to receive. I decide not to risk my kicker, so he starts the game in the reserves.
Turn 1 and Khorne Dogg puts the ogre in the middle of the pitch, funnily enough I keep all my players well away from him. kickoff result is a riot which pushes the timer forward 1 turn to turn 2. I start by knocking a few LOS guys down, getting the ball and moving it back a few squares. Highlight for me is my witch elf blitzing a catcher. She not only knocks him off his feet, but also KOs him! Nice start. The WE and my #17 blitzer move into the human backlines. The next couple of turns involve me moving for a better position to move forward, and Khorne Dogg getting good coverage on my players each time. Oh, and me dodging away from the ogre any time I can!
On turn 4 my #9 lineman puts the human #7 lineman down and it's a casualty - a roll of 38 means he's fine. Khorne Dogg's starts his turn 4 by counting the squares for his ogre to get to the ball carrier - 7, so 2GFI just to put a tackle zone on. He opts not to do that, instead choosing to blitz my defensive blitzer. This requires 1 GFI and he rolls a 1 just before the block! The ogre goes down in a heap and the humans are caught out of position! I go to move the runner forward with the ball, but realise he's 8 squares instead of 7 away from the receiver - so I need to pass instead of handoff. I need a reroll for the pass, but make the completion and blitzer sprints down the field with the ball with 3 lineman forming a cage around him. Khorne Dogg tries to move to cover and succeeds in KOing a journeyman lineman, but not able to get near the ball carrier. Turn 6 and I can score, but choose to stall on the line - MV8 blodging catchers can score ok in 3 turns, I don't want to make it too easy! Khorne Dogg responds by KOing my merc witch elf on his turn 6. On turn 7, Khorne Dogg launches an assault on my ball carrier's cage to try and put a tackle zone on the ball carrier. He only gets a push when he needed the defender to go down, which leave a 6+ dodge to get a tackle zone. He tries but the 4 leaves his lineman on his face. On my turn 8 it's time to score, but I can get a 3 dice blitz on a catcher first. Figuring I have a reroll anyway, I try it and my blitzer scores a casualty on his #3 catcher - a roll of 17 means he's ok. No point in risking anything else, and my #2 blitzer walks in the turn 8 touchdown for 1:0 to the dark elves.
Human turn 8 and we roll for KOs, but all the players are quite comfy in the KO bin and none come out. KO result is a 7 so the weather changes - a little more cloud comes out and it's perfect weather, which will make those passes a little easier. Not much happens apart from the human thrower making a completion for a SPP and the half ends with my Dark Elves 1:0 to the good.
2nd half and KOs are rolled - my JM lineman wakes up but the witch elf stays down. Unfortunately, the human catcher manages to rouse himself too. So we start the 2nd half with my 11 players vs 9 for the humans. KO result is brilliant coaching. I roll a 3, with +1FAME means I'm guaranteed another precious reroll - Khorne Dogg rolls 5 so gets one too. My kick skill finds the touchline and stays in, giving Khorne Dogg's catcher a scary GFI roll in order to get the ball - but he succeeds and passes it to the catcher. With the numbers advantage, I start moving forward and send two blitzers into his backlines and keep his other players covered. Turn 2 and it's a 1 for bonehead, so the ogre stands stupidly. Khorne Dogg moves the catcher forward and covers him with a makeshift cage. With the ogre boneheaded - I spy a way through for a blitz with my blitzer. I get linemen to stand beside the catcher and the blitz comes in - only to give a both down when both have block. I dodge away, not wanting to use a reroll so soon. Turn 3 and Khorne Dogg spies a route through my defence. He throws one block which puts a dark elf down (1+1 for armor). He then tries to dodge the catcher out, rolling 1 then another 1 for the dodge reroll. Five 1s in a row now for the humans. Worse comes for the catcher as his armor breaks and he's injured - 47 means he'll miss next game. Dark Elves are very good on the break, my #5 runner gets the ball, passes it forward to #1 blitzer who sprints up the pitch 3 from the line - Khorne Dogg has nothing that can get that far back even with GFIs. I spend the rest of the turn throwing blocks and I manage to put every single human down (except the ogre, of couse) though they're all OK. Turn 4 and Khorne Dogg's only standing player is the ogre. He decides to blitz and rolls 1 for bonehead. He burns a reroll and passes the loner roll with a 4 so he can reroll bonehead - and gets another 1. That's seven 1s in 8 rolls now, Nuffle has truly deserted the poor humans in this half! On my turn 4, I get a 2 dice blitz on the ogre and he goes down but doesn't break armor. I take pity on the bad luck of the humans and don't stall - my #1 blitzer takes the TD to give the humans a new start on a new drive. It's 2:0 to the Dark Elves.
Turn 5 and the kickoff result is Get the ref - that could be nasty if either side decides to use it! My witch elf also wakes up, so i have my full 12 to choose from again against only 8 humans. After throwing some LOS blocks with nothing worse than 1 defender going down, the thrower goes to get the ball and throw it to the catcher. Pickup 1, surehand reroll 3. Pass 1, pass reroll 1. That fumbled throw means it's TEN 1s in 14 rolls with the number dice - truly unbelievably unlucky rolling. I'm starting to think that poor rolling is all in the name, as our northern Khorne Dogg gets truly bad rolls too! I sent a stream of dark elves rushing upfield towards the ball.
Turn 6 and my charge was obviously ill advised - his thrower does get the ball and throws to a lineman, who runs down the field through the middle. He then covers my avenues to get back to defense, I sent way too many people up the right wing. My turn 6 and I move back a bit, my turn ends when I 2d blitz with a lineman and get bothdown/att down. I notice he's a JM, so I roll loner and pass - and I get the exact same bothdown/attdown on the block dice. I can hear the human blitzer chuckle as I go down.... Turn 7 and the human lineman runs forward and gets 4 squares from home, though he's a little exposed if my dodge rolls can hold! I do move men back and get a 2 dice blitz. First roll is bothdown - which is ok as both players are linemen and it would stop the score. I reroll it though and get defender down which ends Khorne Dogg's chances of scoring. I move a blitzer 7 squares from home, considering a turn 7 or 8 pass action. My runner dodges and does get the ball, moving forward to stand safe behind a wall of dark elves. However, I lose my last reroll to an illegal procedure by forgetting to move my turn counter - so I'll have to do the turn 8 pass without rerolls!
Turn 8 and the humans move to try and cover my obvious plan, finishing with the ogre throwing another blitz which fails to break armor. The whole game, the ogre failed to break armor even once - which I was ecstatic about after the pro elves carved me up in the last game without mighty blow! My turn 8 and I blitzed the human marking my planned receiver, knocking him down. I then blocked another lineman out of the way who threatened an interception. Putting the final plan into action, the runner ran forward for a short pass. He makes the 3+ throw and #2 blitzer makes the 2+ catch and runs into the endzone for a turn 8 touchdown for 3:0 to the dark elves.
Well, the first half was a tense tactical battle where I was quite happy to go in 1:0 up. The ogre was a bit of a pain, but thankfully his mighty blow was misfiring and he did get a couple of 1s which reduced his effectiveness.
Where both sides were getting rolls going well in the first half, the second half introduced the worst run of dice I think i've ever seen. Even being 2 players down, I think the humans did have a good chance of getting an equaliser in the second half. That is, of course, until the run of ten 1s in 14 rolls. The first couple, we could laugh at. The next few were "no way, that's really unlucky". The last few, I was actually wishing for my opponent to start getting better luck. Still, luck does balance out and I feel sorry for Khorne Dogg's next opponent as they're sure to be on the wrong side of some very strong rolling by him!
A few skillups for me. My #1 blitzer scored the critical second touchdown so I gave him the MVP for his first skillup - he got a normal skill which will be dodge. With two touchdowns, my #2 blitzer got a skillup too - he got a normal roll too, so dodge for him as well. Khorne Dogg gave the MVP to his #7 linesman, who got a normal skill which he's going to consider.
Winnings, Khorne Dogg rolled a 6 - so 60k for the losing team is always good, maybe the bad rolling is turning around for him? I rolled a 1, which I rerolled for winning into a 5 giving total winnings of 70k. I now have enough to replace my dead blitzer, which i'll consider. I might save up for a witch elf though.
For fan factor, I had 3 dice to roll and had 1 to beat - which I did easily.
Final action of the game, Khorne Dogg had 4 fan factor and had to roll above 4 on two dice to avoid losing a point.
I don't think anyone reading will be suprised to hear that he rolled a 1+1
So as you can see things didn't go exactly to plan but there is always next time.
Till next time
KD
Thursday, October 14, 2010
The First Heretic, A Review
It’s fairly safe to say that the Black Library’s ‘Horus Heresy’ range has lifted Warhammer 40K fiction (and probably fantasy as well) off the ‘tie-in’ shelves and firmly into the view of people like you and I. The ‘Horus Heresy’ books deserve all the good press they’ve been getting as well; you don’t get a lot more epic than a decade long, galaxy spanning war that has massive ramifications ten thousand years into the future. (Okay, the ‘Malazan’ books totally win on the epic stakes but you know what I mean...)
A large chunk of the reputation these books have garnered is down to only the top Black Library writers getting to work on them. These are the guys who know the universe, and its lore, inside out and have been turning out quality books for a number of years. And now there’s Aaron Dembski-Bowden; he hasn’t been around as long as the likes of Abnett, McNeil and Swallow but he’s swiftly proven himself to be bloody good at what he does and his meteoric rise through the ranks sees him about to turn out his first book for the Black Library’s flagship series. I’ve had a read and it’s good. Not as good as I was expecting though...
If you’ve been following the ‘Horus Heresy’ series, or following me while I follow the ‘Horus Heresy’ series, then you’ll know how the Warmaster Horus gave in to the temptations of the Ruinous Powers and declared war on the Imperium that he helped to create. That’s not the whole story though, there’s a pretty important gap (right at the beginning) that Dembski-Bowden is about to fill...
The Word Bearer’s Space Marine Legion is loyal to the Emperor to the extent that they worship him as a God, indoctrinating entire planets into a religion that has no place in the new secular Imperium. The Emperor chastises them for this and punishes them in such a way that the only course left open for them is to seek a new object of worship. The Word Bearer’s quest will see them conquer worlds in an unprecedented display of bloodshed. The quest will end in the farthest reaches of space where choices will be made that will shape the future of an entire galaxy...
Aaron Dembski-Bowden excels at writing Warhammer 40K fiction that is swift, sharp and utterly brutal. ‘Cadian Blood’ threw the terrors of the Warp at raw unaugmented humans. ‘Soulhunter’ shows it’s reader why they should be wary of the shadows at the edge of the Imperium when they see just what is ready to come bursting out in a flurry of claws. ‘Helsreach’ makes you live every single bloody footstep taken in the defence of a Hive City. Just three books and Dembski-Bowden’s reputation for turning out quality 40K fiction, of this nature, is pretty much assured as far as I’m concerned.
It’s a shame then that the ‘Horus Heresy’ books aren’t the sole preserve of these themes.
If you pick up a ‘Horus Heresy’ book then you can be assured of the military set pieces that make Black Library books great fun to read. What you also get though is a long and slow build up to a climactic event right at the end. Politics happen and characters are manoeuvred about the board as a result. The series itself is a jigsaw that gradually takes shape with each new book; each new book is that same jigsaw on a smaller scale. It’s a great exercise in world building that more than makes up for the fact that long term fans know full well how it all has to end. What it isn’t though is the ideal venue to let loose with the guns and attitude in the way that Dembski-Bowden likes to do best. Aaron is working on a different playing field now and, despite the overall quality of the book, it does show.
The bottom line is that Dembski-Bowden doesn’t have the time to really kick off with the explosions and mayhem; there are other things to be done first. To be fair, it’s all done very well. The world building and scene setting really grounds the reader in the setting and events like Lorgar’s meeting with the Emperor can really blow you away. That event in particular is awesome, fans will love it and even casual readers will be left in no doubt as to the sheer immensity of what is taking place. There are also moments that will have you doubting the essential ‘goodness’ of the emperor and shed new light on the fate of the Primarch Project. Or do they? You can never trust the wiles of the Chaos Powers...
The Word Bearer’s gradual fall to Chaos is recounted in great detail and given a degree of humanity with the introduction of characters that you want to see develop. It’s also interesting to see a particular planet of no great significance in the 31st millennium that will assume a far great role ten thousand years hence. A real fanboy moment there!
Despite all of this though, I came away with the feeling that Dembski-Bowden was constrained by continuity rather than being able to get on with what he enjoys the most. The ending is set in stone and he had to work with that ending in mind. As a result, his characters couldn’t have that spiky attitude that he does so well because it was more important to get the events sorted out first. There wasn’t the room for so much full on warfare as politics and philosophy had to be arranged just so... When things do kick off in that vein Aaron shows that he’s lost none of his ability to really show his readers what war is like in the 41st millennium (well, the 31st millennium this time round); I just got the feeling that he wished he’d been able to do it sooner... The book felt like it was going through the motions at times and the pace suffered as a result.
‘The First Heretic’ is an eye opening account of a key moment in the Imperium of Man and a book that fans will devour. I couldn’t help but think though that it was a book Aaron had to write in a certain way. He made the transition well, from how he normally writes, but I got the feeling that perhaps he wanted to do things slightly differently and in his own way. Perhaps ‘The First Heretic’ would have been even better if he’d been able to do this...
Eight and a Half out of Ten
Again like the previous Book Review this was taken directly from:
http://www.graemesfantasybookreview.com/2010/09/first-heretic-aaron-dembski-bowden.html
I do not claim ownership or credit for the above.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Irish 40K ETC Captain Paul Quigley Interview
This is an interview with my good friend, the outgoing Irish 40k ETC Captain Paul Quigley.
KD: Hey Paul, Thanks for taking the time to talk to me I suppose we had better "start at the very begining as its a very good place to start" as the famous song states. So how did you get into Table top wargaming?
PQ: Oh Lord, peering into the mists of time there KD. At the grand old age of eleven I got an old school battle in a box set named “Battlemasters” it was something of a gateway drug to folks having a complete hodge podge of the Warhammer World (Empire, Orcs and Chaos). Well after playing my long suffering Dad for the first time on Christmas evening I was absolutely hooked in! That same year one of my school friends showed me a copy of the 40K second edition rulebook and that was all she wrote as they say. I was a gaming addict from that day forward
KD: Obviously you play 40k but what other Games/ Systems do you play?
PQ: Ha...where do I start. Games Workshop wise I have armies for Battlefleet Gothic, Bloodbowl, Mordheim, Necromunda and Warhammer Fantasy Battle. I also play Warmachine/Hordes and Ive got a couple of fleets for the Spartan Games system Firestorm Armada not to mention a Panzer Grenadier company for Flames of War...So as you can see, just a few systems!
KD: Since you have been playing for so long and in so many systems you must have some collection of armies would you mind giving us a quick list of them?
PQ: Is this blog now called name and shame KD??? Well army wise for 40k I have currently Marines (of all variants), Dark Eldar, Tau, Eldar and a small Chaos army I promise myself I’ll use at some point. For Warhammer Fantasy my army of choice is Lizardmen (mostly for the Slann and Stegadon Models if I’m honest). For Warmachine I have Khador and Cygnar and for Hordes Trollbloods. BFG I have every current fleet, I also have 8 different bloodbowl teams ranging all accross the boards from elves to norse and orcs and back to elves again! Delaque gang in Necromunda, Sisters of Sigmar in Mordheim, Germans in Flames of War and last but by no means least I have an Aquan fleet for Firestorm Armada. As you can see I really and truly need help as I’m something of a completist once I start an army I tend to get every unit they have. I don’t even try and justify this lunacy anymore.
KD: Now a little bird tells me you used to be a "Pressganger" for Privateer Press would you mind just telling us how that came about and what it entailed?
PQ: I was indeed a member of the Press Gang for 4 years or so. Essentially when I first started Warmachine there really wasn’t anyone playing the game beyond my immediate group of 4 or 5 mates. The best way to change that was to become a PG and go out to different groups and spread the gospel of Warmachine (Hordes at this stage didn’t exist). So I used to run demo events for different games clubs around the area (along with Richard Tighe, who signed up with me as a PG). Soon enough there were enough players to run small tournaments and then bigger league events, which has led to the pretty solid scene that exists today. It was fantastic to be a part, but 40k began taking up so much time from an organisational perspective it was time to step aside and let the new breed of fanatics take the reigns. Guys like Ciaran Bolger and Owen Conlan are now busy doing a great job of keeping the system going. Which is great to see....and now I get to play in tournaments instead of running them!
KD: So now onto the important stuff. How did you become Captain for the Irish 40k ETC team?
PQ: Oh lord now thats a question. When the idea of sending a 40k team to the event was had in the derranged mind of Nigel Kavannagh he was given my name as a possible person to get on board as I head to a large number of events and seem to know people in most of Irelands clubs. So when Nige Kav had but together his core group of 4 attendees they decided I’d do an okay job of being the skipper. Either that or they knew how much work it’d be and didn’t want the job!
Paul at this years Vaticon
KD: What qualities do you think you brought to the role?
PQ: Pretty much I’d describe myself as a people person. Being social and good natured is essential for getting interest up with people for the team and for making the team a good place to be for people involved. So I commited to being at almost every 40k event for a year (no small undertaking) and being as good an Ambassador for team Ireland as humanly possible....It also meant communicating and getting on with every other team captain in Europe from which I made some great mates so was chuffed to be able to do!
KD: In your opinion what do you think makes a good tournament player?
PQ: Well thats a good one KD! In my humble opinion the following are key.
1. Pick a good list and know it inside out, you need to be aware of what each and ever unit in your army can or can’t do. This involves playing a lot of games with it! Also sometimes you have to grit your teeth and keep going with an army. 5 games is not enough to decided wheteher you like an army, 50 would be closer to the mark. I’d also avoid lists that the internet tells you are great. They are most of the time based on one opinion and what you can make work vs others is different to what anyone else can. Too many times I’ve seen guys grab a “net list” and epic fail with it simply because they lack the nuance of the original player to make it work! Be your own gamer and you’ll find things a whole lot easier.
2. Don’t allow yourself to get swept up in the game and merely find yourself reacting to whats going on. Keep your focus on what you want to achieve and how you want to do it. The plan will change as you go on and the game evolves but your objectives rarely will
3. Have fun! If you don’t play the game with good nature and with an eye to fun I don’t consider you a good player, pure simple. The great players are those that can if you pardon the expression “bend you over” at the table but you still remember of it as a great game
KD: Now you and the Irish team have recently returned from the ETC in Munster, Germany. How did yiz get on?
PQ: I think we did okay KD, finishing with 1 win, three draws and two losses. All in all we were a little disappointed with our overall performance but as a team we set high standards for ourselves so I’m not sure how fair we are on our own performance. As Nigel himself told me, the achievement was getting a team from nothing in less then a year and not only that but one that actually did okay!
KD: So to put you on the spot; who was the best player on the team this year?
PQ: Ha don’t pull your punches there eh. To be honest I don’t think you could ever have a best as all of us were equally capable of beating each other on our day. The team did have some of my favourite players from a personal point of view. From Darragh Cullens ultra agressive go and get em style, to Joe Cullens absolute determination to get the job done, right through to Barra MacNiocall’s speed is the key list. It was a great cross section of differing 40k talent!
KD: and looking back was there any changes you would have made to the personel or army selections this year?
PQ: Not a one....simple as that
KD: Say there was someone reading this who wants to try and qualify for next years ETC what advice would you give them?
PQ: First and foremost good on them! Secondly the best way of doing things is to simply go to events and play hard and have fun. If you qualify after that I’d pretty much describe that as gravy!
KD: You recently purchased a lizardmen army for WHFB. (That God-Damn birdy again) How do you think you will get on with the transition from "Ray-guns" to "Pointy-Sticks"?
PQ: Ive had a great time playing with my lizards in 8th ed. The completely different style and way of thinking has been great! I also pretty much suck at it so its nice to have to learn a game from the ground up so to speak
KD: Well thanks again for doing the interview Paul. It's been a pleasure as always.
PQ: The pleasure was mine KD, any chance to waffle on about games is always greatly appreciated!
Till next time
KD
KD: Hey Paul, Thanks for taking the time to talk to me I suppose we had better "start at the very begining as its a very good place to start" as the famous song states. So how did you get into Table top wargaming?
PQ: Oh Lord, peering into the mists of time there KD. At the grand old age of eleven I got an old school battle in a box set named “Battlemasters” it was something of a gateway drug to folks having a complete hodge podge of the Warhammer World (Empire, Orcs and Chaos). Well after playing my long suffering Dad for the first time on Christmas evening I was absolutely hooked in! That same year one of my school friends showed me a copy of the 40K second edition rulebook and that was all she wrote as they say. I was a gaming addict from that day forward
KD: Obviously you play 40k but what other Games/ Systems do you play?
PQ: Ha...where do I start. Games Workshop wise I have armies for Battlefleet Gothic, Bloodbowl, Mordheim, Necromunda and Warhammer Fantasy Battle. I also play Warmachine/Hordes and Ive got a couple of fleets for the Spartan Games system Firestorm Armada not to mention a Panzer Grenadier company for Flames of War...So as you can see, just a few systems!
KD: Since you have been playing for so long and in so many systems you must have some collection of armies would you mind giving us a quick list of them?
PQ: Is this blog now called name and shame KD??? Well army wise for 40k I have currently Marines (of all variants), Dark Eldar, Tau, Eldar and a small Chaos army I promise myself I’ll use at some point. For Warhammer Fantasy my army of choice is Lizardmen (mostly for the Slann and Stegadon Models if I’m honest). For Warmachine I have Khador and Cygnar and for Hordes Trollbloods. BFG I have every current fleet, I also have 8 different bloodbowl teams ranging all accross the boards from elves to norse and orcs and back to elves again! Delaque gang in Necromunda, Sisters of Sigmar in Mordheim, Germans in Flames of War and last but by no means least I have an Aquan fleet for Firestorm Armada. As you can see I really and truly need help as I’m something of a completist once I start an army I tend to get every unit they have. I don’t even try and justify this lunacy anymore.
KD: Now a little bird tells me you used to be a "Pressganger" for Privateer Press would you mind just telling us how that came about and what it entailed?
PQ: I was indeed a member of the Press Gang for 4 years or so. Essentially when I first started Warmachine there really wasn’t anyone playing the game beyond my immediate group of 4 or 5 mates. The best way to change that was to become a PG and go out to different groups and spread the gospel of Warmachine (Hordes at this stage didn’t exist). So I used to run demo events for different games clubs around the area (along with Richard Tighe, who signed up with me as a PG). Soon enough there were enough players to run small tournaments and then bigger league events, which has led to the pretty solid scene that exists today. It was fantastic to be a part, but 40k began taking up so much time from an organisational perspective it was time to step aside and let the new breed of fanatics take the reigns. Guys like Ciaran Bolger and Owen Conlan are now busy doing a great job of keeping the system going. Which is great to see....and now I get to play in tournaments instead of running them!
KD: So now onto the important stuff. How did you become Captain for the Irish 40k ETC team?
PQ: Oh lord now thats a question. When the idea of sending a 40k team to the event was had in the derranged mind of Nigel Kavannagh he was given my name as a possible person to get on board as I head to a large number of events and seem to know people in most of Irelands clubs. So when Nige Kav had but together his core group of 4 attendees they decided I’d do an okay job of being the skipper. Either that or they knew how much work it’d be and didn’t want the job!
Paul at this years Vaticon
KD: What qualities do you think you brought to the role?
PQ: Pretty much I’d describe myself as a people person. Being social and good natured is essential for getting interest up with people for the team and for making the team a good place to be for people involved. So I commited to being at almost every 40k event for a year (no small undertaking) and being as good an Ambassador for team Ireland as humanly possible....It also meant communicating and getting on with every other team captain in Europe from which I made some great mates so was chuffed to be able to do!
KD: In your opinion what do you think makes a good tournament player?
PQ: Well thats a good one KD! In my humble opinion the following are key.
1. Pick a good list and know it inside out, you need to be aware of what each and ever unit in your army can or can’t do. This involves playing a lot of games with it! Also sometimes you have to grit your teeth and keep going with an army. 5 games is not enough to decided wheteher you like an army, 50 would be closer to the mark. I’d also avoid lists that the internet tells you are great. They are most of the time based on one opinion and what you can make work vs others is different to what anyone else can. Too many times I’ve seen guys grab a “net list” and epic fail with it simply because they lack the nuance of the original player to make it work! Be your own gamer and you’ll find things a whole lot easier.
2. Don’t allow yourself to get swept up in the game and merely find yourself reacting to whats going on. Keep your focus on what you want to achieve and how you want to do it. The plan will change as you go on and the game evolves but your objectives rarely will
3. Have fun! If you don’t play the game with good nature and with an eye to fun I don’t consider you a good player, pure simple. The great players are those that can if you pardon the expression “bend you over” at the table but you still remember of it as a great game
KD: Now you and the Irish team have recently returned from the ETC in Munster, Germany. How did yiz get on?
PQ: I think we did okay KD, finishing with 1 win, three draws and two losses. All in all we were a little disappointed with our overall performance but as a team we set high standards for ourselves so I’m not sure how fair we are on our own performance. As Nigel himself told me, the achievement was getting a team from nothing in less then a year and not only that but one that actually did okay!
KD: So to put you on the spot; who was the best player on the team this year?
PQ: Ha don’t pull your punches there eh. To be honest I don’t think you could ever have a best as all of us were equally capable of beating each other on our day. The team did have some of my favourite players from a personal point of view. From Darragh Cullens ultra agressive go and get em style, to Joe Cullens absolute determination to get the job done, right through to Barra MacNiocall’s speed is the key list. It was a great cross section of differing 40k talent!
KD: and looking back was there any changes you would have made to the personel or army selections this year?
PQ: Not a one....simple as that
KD: Say there was someone reading this who wants to try and qualify for next years ETC what advice would you give them?
PQ: First and foremost good on them! Secondly the best way of doing things is to simply go to events and play hard and have fun. If you qualify after that I’d pretty much describe that as gravy!
KD: You recently purchased a lizardmen army for WHFB. (That God-Damn birdy again) How do you think you will get on with the transition from "Ray-guns" to "Pointy-Sticks"?
PQ: Ive had a great time playing with my lizards in 8th ed. The completely different style and way of thinking has been great! I also pretty much suck at it so its nice to have to learn a game from the ground up so to speak
KD: Well thanks again for doing the interview Paul. It's been a pleasure as always.
PQ: The pleasure was mine KD, any chance to waffle on about games is always greatly appreciated!
Till next time
KD
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Battle Fleet Gothic - Mini Report
Wednesday night is club night for me so I played BFG last night for the first time in about 2 years. I was using my Chaos fleet vs Oriels Tyranids. A slight miscommunication lead to me having a 2000 point list as follows:
Repulsive Grand cruiser (BoD upgrade, Chaos Lord Ld 9 & MoT)
2 x Hades Heavy Cruisers
2 x Devestation Cruisers
2 x Slaughter Cruisers
2 x 3 idolators
2 x 3 Infidels
While Oriel had only brought 1500. A quick dip into my spares gave him the models required for the points difference. His list was:
3 x Battleships
5 x Cruisers
2 x 4 Escorts (2 different types)
Sorry I don't know the proper names but I forgot to ask him. As it had been a while for both of us we decided against any of the missions and played a straight Cruiser Clash. We set up as normal with each of us taking turns to deploy a capital ship or squadron of escorts. Once deployment was finished I rolled for the Ld value of all my ships and then we rolled to see who would go first; Oriel won.
Now I am not going to do a detailed turn by turn report for one major reason. Like I said, we both hadn't played in a while so we spent a lot of time looking up the rule book and rectifing mistakes so it wasn't possible or practicle for me to be stopping again to take notes or photos.
Oriel issued Full Speed Ahead orders to his entire fleet in the first turn and due to this and the distance remaining between the 2 fleets his shooting was pretty ineffective. I lost 1 escort and had a couple of blast markers put on one of the Devestation cruisers. In my turn I issued Lock On orders to most of my fleet. The effect was incredible, I managed to destroy one escort, cripple a cruiser and inflicted heavy damage to 2 other cruisers and one of the battleships. In Oriels next turn he moved up again and opened fire again. This time even though he had to brace for impact with alot of his ships because the distance had closed his firing was alot more effective. He took down both shields and inflicted 1 point of damage on my Grand cruiser which was a critical hit causing a shield collapse, which of course means that ship would have no shields for the remainder of the battle. He managed to destroy some more escorts and do some light damage to some of my cruisers. In the ordenance phase one of his cruisers "ate" 2 more of my escorts leaving me with only 1 full squadron and 2 squadrons with only 1 ship remaining. My next turn was the turn of the match. My 2 Hades cruisers moved up in between some of his cruisers and between them and the one of the 1 ship escort squadrons managed to destroy 2 escorts, finish off the crippled cruiser, damage his second battleship and another cruiser. Meanwhile my Grand cruiser one of the Devestation cruisers and the last intact escort squadron managed to cripple (and nearly destroyed) the damaged battleship while damaging another cruiser. In his next turn his nearly destroyed battleship "Ate" my the whole intact escort squadron while while his 3rd battleship crippled one of my slaughter cruisers and one of my. Hades Heavy cruisers was crippled aswell. The damage to both sides continued for a while until the tyranids decided to retreat.
Final Score
Chaos Losses:
10 escorts destroyed, 1 heavy cruiser crippled, 1 cruiser crippled, 1 Grand cruiser, 1 heavy cruiser and 3 cruisers damaged, 2 escorts undamaged.
Tyranid Losses:
1 Battleship destroyed, 2 cruisers destroyed, 4 escorts destroyed, 1 Battleship crippled, 2 cruisers crippled, 1 battleship damaged, 1 cruiser damaged, 1 squadron (4) escorts undamaged.
Result:
Chaos Victory.
Till next time
KD
Repulsive Grand cruiser (BoD upgrade, Chaos Lord Ld 9 & MoT)
2 x Hades Heavy Cruisers
2 x Devestation Cruisers
2 x Slaughter Cruisers
2 x 3 idolators
2 x 3 Infidels
While Oriel had only brought 1500. A quick dip into my spares gave him the models required for the points difference. His list was:
3 x Battleships
5 x Cruisers
2 x 4 Escorts (2 different types)
Sorry I don't know the proper names but I forgot to ask him. As it had been a while for both of us we decided against any of the missions and played a straight Cruiser Clash. We set up as normal with each of us taking turns to deploy a capital ship or squadron of escorts. Once deployment was finished I rolled for the Ld value of all my ships and then we rolled to see who would go first; Oriel won.
Now I am not going to do a detailed turn by turn report for one major reason. Like I said, we both hadn't played in a while so we spent a lot of time looking up the rule book and rectifing mistakes so it wasn't possible or practicle for me to be stopping again to take notes or photos.
Oriel issued Full Speed Ahead orders to his entire fleet in the first turn and due to this and the distance remaining between the 2 fleets his shooting was pretty ineffective. I lost 1 escort and had a couple of blast markers put on one of the Devestation cruisers. In my turn I issued Lock On orders to most of my fleet. The effect was incredible, I managed to destroy one escort, cripple a cruiser and inflicted heavy damage to 2 other cruisers and one of the battleships. In Oriels next turn he moved up again and opened fire again. This time even though he had to brace for impact with alot of his ships because the distance had closed his firing was alot more effective. He took down both shields and inflicted 1 point of damage on my Grand cruiser which was a critical hit causing a shield collapse, which of course means that ship would have no shields for the remainder of the battle. He managed to destroy some more escorts and do some light damage to some of my cruisers. In the ordenance phase one of his cruisers "ate" 2 more of my escorts leaving me with only 1 full squadron and 2 squadrons with only 1 ship remaining. My next turn was the turn of the match. My 2 Hades cruisers moved up in between some of his cruisers and between them and the one of the 1 ship escort squadrons managed to destroy 2 escorts, finish off the crippled cruiser, damage his second battleship and another cruiser. Meanwhile my Grand cruiser one of the Devestation cruisers and the last intact escort squadron managed to cripple (and nearly destroyed) the damaged battleship while damaging another cruiser. In his next turn his nearly destroyed battleship "Ate" my the whole intact escort squadron while while his 3rd battleship crippled one of my slaughter cruisers and one of my. Hades Heavy cruisers was crippled aswell. The damage to both sides continued for a while until the tyranids decided to retreat.
Final Score
Chaos Losses:
10 escorts destroyed, 1 heavy cruiser crippled, 1 cruiser crippled, 1 Grand cruiser, 1 heavy cruiser and 3 cruisers damaged, 2 escorts undamaged.
Tyranid Losses:
1 Battleship destroyed, 2 cruisers destroyed, 4 escorts destroyed, 1 Battleship crippled, 2 cruisers crippled, 1 battleship damaged, 1 cruiser damaged, 1 squadron (4) escorts undamaged.
Result:
Chaos Victory.
Till next time
KD
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Collection Pt II - Chaos Blood Bowl
This is the second in the series of the army/team articles. In this one I will go through my Chaos Bloodbowl team. from here you may sense a pattern with my collection. Especially when I talk about my Chaos BFG Fleet, my Warriors of Chaos & beastmen armies for warhammer Fantasy and my Chaos Marine 40k collection not to mention the Chaos Daemons I can use for both systems.
My Chaos Warriors
My Minotaur
But I digress most chaos bloodbowl teams are about crippling the opposition so they cant stop you from scoring. But when the first 2 skills I rolled were +1AG for a chaos warrior and +1 movement for a beastman a new tactic emerged. I gave the +AG chaos warrior Strong Arm and gave the +movement Beastmen Extra Arms making them the almost perfect passing/ catching combo. When another beastmen rolled +AG & dodge it gave me the second receiver I needed. The rest of the team follows the typical chaos pattern with various combos of Block, claws, guard, tackle and Mighty Blow.
My Beastmen
Since they started I have lost 1 beastman and 1 chaos warrior to death while I retired another warrior after he lost a point of Armour. These Have all been replaced and I have also added an additional beastman and a minotaur now bringing the team value to just over 2m credits.
The Cheerleader
Team Shot
Till Next Time
KD
My Chaos Warriors
My Minotaur
But I digress most chaos bloodbowl teams are about crippling the opposition so they cant stop you from scoring. But when the first 2 skills I rolled were +1AG for a chaos warrior and +1 movement for a beastman a new tactic emerged. I gave the +AG chaos warrior Strong Arm and gave the +movement Beastmen Extra Arms making them the almost perfect passing/ catching combo. When another beastmen rolled +AG & dodge it gave me the second receiver I needed. The rest of the team follows the typical chaos pattern with various combos of Block, claws, guard, tackle and Mighty Blow.
My Beastmen
Since they started I have lost 1 beastman and 1 chaos warrior to death while I retired another warrior after he lost a point of Armour. These Have all been replaced and I have also added an additional beastman and a minotaur now bringing the team value to just over 2m credits.
The Cheerleader
Team Shot
Till Next Time
KD
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