Those crazy guys over at www.thrallblacks.com have been at it again with their latest event, Choptember, being completed over the weekend.
Why don't you head on over to their page and check out the news...
http://www.thrallblacks.com/2014/09/choptember-2014-results.html
They also have a heap of info on the NZ Warmahordes scene, so if you're interested in playing, its a valuable resource.
Now, where did I put that Redeemer.....?
Mighty Ape
Sunday, 28 September 2014
Thursday, 25 September 2014
FlamesCon 2014
Now is the time and the time is now! The players pack for FlamesCon 2014 is out and had all the information you need to know about THE Flames of War convention!
Head on over to www.flamescon.co.nz for more info!
Wednesday, 24 September 2014
So many games, so little time #1: Simple painting to good effect - Part 1
Hello everyone,
My name is Damian Caulfield and I am a plasticrack addict.
Like most wargamers I have a mountain of unpainted minis and am too easily distracted by new shineys to make much of a dent in it. I will be writing a long series of posts on the new T.C.O.W blog detailing my never ending journey (wah-oh-ah-oh-ah-oh-ah-ee-oh) of getting things painted. This should help keep me on track and hopefully impart some wisdom to newer painters. I don't claim to be a great painter but I do find that I get decent results using very basic techniques that anyone with basic brush skills should be able to pull off.
For my first lot I will be painting the Axis Super Heavy Walker Sturmkönig from the Dust Tactics game made by Battlefront.
I have picked the colours Red Brown, Green Ochre and Green Grey from the Vallejo range as the main colours of this force so I will be using these heavily on any Dust related posts.
So here we go...
1, First step I decided I was going to airbrush all of the armour plates so I removed the armour plates off the legs (Dust minis come pre-assembled) and primed the large metal areas black (Vallejo Black Surface Primer).
My name is Damian Caulfield and I am a plasticrack addict.
Like most wargamers I have a mountain of unpainted minis and am too easily distracted by new shineys to make much of a dent in it. I will be writing a long series of posts on the new T.C.O.W blog detailing my never ending journey (wah-oh-ah-oh-ah-oh-ah-ee-oh) of getting things painted. This should help keep me on track and hopefully impart some wisdom to newer painters. I don't claim to be a great painter but I do find that I get decent results using very basic techniques that anyone with basic brush skills should be able to pull off.
For my first lot I will be painting the Axis Super Heavy Walker Sturmkönig from the Dust Tactics game made by Battlefront.
I have picked the colours Red Brown, Green Ochre and Green Grey from the Vallejo range as the main colours of this force so I will be using these heavily on any Dust related posts.
So here we go...
1, First step I decided I was going to airbrush all of the armour plates so I removed the armour plates off the legs (Dust minis come pre-assembled) and primed the large metal areas black (Vallejo Black Surface Primer).
2, Next I used a technique I call "wet brushing(tm)" which is similar to Damian Reids infamous "dry brushing(tm)" but I use it to cover large areas with a solid colour but leaving some of the recesses the base colour. If you follow any old drybrushing tutorial but actually load up your brush with paint and not get rid of it all you follow the same method of mostly trying to only hit the raised areas with large sweeps of a big brush (I use Army Painters Monster brush in this article). You don't need to be too careful as this will be followed up with a heavy ink which will bring back any recesses you painted.
3, I used the P3 colour Pig Iron on the legs and radar followed by a heavy wash of Army Painter Strong Tone Ink (not their dip) over the entire area. Leaving it overnight to dry.
4, I then picked out some details on the legs, in this case it was the hoses and pistons. The hoses were painted up with a few shades of blue/purple/magenta and the pistons were painted with P3 Cold Steel. The body was painted with Red Brown.
5, I then took my airbrush to the main hull and guns giving them a solid Red Brown coat all over.
So that's where it is at currently. If you are a new painter you should be able to tell there is nothing scary there, no wet blending, no enamels, oil washes etc... I do a little bit of weathering at the end t get rid of the factory new look but even then you will see how keeping it simple can be very easy and effective.
Keep the paint flowing.
-Damian
Sunday, 21 September 2014
Club Meeting - 21 September 2014
With dark clouds looming over the Waitakeres, it seemed like a pretty good afternoon to be inside and pushing toy soldiers around the board. We had about a dozen general-types keen, we got some tables out of the closet and got some terrain on the boards. A couple of tables set-up for Flames of War and one for DUST. There was another ready to go for either Malifaux or Warmahordes (both of which were played).
The desert table was brought along by David from Mighty Ape who had PAINSTAKINGLY ground all the skulls off it to make it multi-purpose.
So, 2 games of Flames under-way, a game of DUST, one of Malifaux and some WMH in the corner....a multi-system orgy as it were.
Ryan and I had a bash at 1500 LW for Flames while Steve and Jonathon also had a whirl. I had planned a wee list from Desperate Measures which I wanted to try out with a bunch of Hero T34/85's and some heavy tanks with air support. Ryan had his Panzergrens from Grey Wolf. PaK-40's and Nebs in tow with a flying cannon harassing my Russian Steel.....
Despite the attention from the Luftwaffe, my T34's were making good progress toward the objectives...until the PaK40's opened up and halted my advance.
The rest of the battle was short-lived from that moment. An assault through the corn fields was halted and it was only a matter of time until I had nothing left. This would have been a 6-1 were it not for a hail-Mary shot at Ryan's Panther platoon to force a motivation test....which he failed!
I didn't get to see a lot of Steve and Jonathan's game but as I understand, Steve's Soviet horde rumbled over Jonathan's Germans but not before some lucky shots and a timely assault had laid waste to Steve's ISU-122 platoon threatening through the corn.
I ducked over to the desert table where David had just finished a game of DUST against Francis and talked David into another...Axis on Axis.
Free for all it was and we preceded to send our troops toward each other. Laser fire and heavy MG bullets whirred around and troops dying on both sides. I took the bait of David's Recon Grens sitting in the middle of the table in the open and brought my Ludwig on to blast them....only to have him lasered to oblivion in the next activation! Things weren't looking good for me....until Stefan got angry...
He flamed almost a whole trio of Monkeys, Faceless Death and Flak Boys before he met his end. A hero of the Fatherland he'll be remembered as.
The battle ended in a rather anti-climactic fashion..... David couldn't kill Lara and her remaining Panzer who took an objective. A great game and a heap of fun!
The clock wound down and it was 6.30.....another successful club day at TCOW!
The desert table was brought along by David from Mighty Ape who had PAINSTAKINGLY ground all the skulls off it to make it multi-purpose.
So, 2 games of Flames under-way, a game of DUST, one of Malifaux and some WMH in the corner....a multi-system orgy as it were.
Ryan and I had a bash at 1500 LW for Flames while Steve and Jonathon also had a whirl. I had planned a wee list from Desperate Measures which I wanted to try out with a bunch of Hero T34/85's and some heavy tanks with air support. Ryan had his Panzergrens from Grey Wolf. PaK-40's and Nebs in tow with a flying cannon harassing my Russian Steel.....
Despite the attention from the Luftwaffe, my T34's were making good progress toward the objectives...until the PaK40's opened up and halted my advance.
The rest of the battle was short-lived from that moment. An assault through the corn fields was halted and it was only a matter of time until I had nothing left. This would have been a 6-1 were it not for a hail-Mary shot at Ryan's Panther platoon to force a motivation test....which he failed!
I didn't get to see a lot of Steve and Jonathan's game but as I understand, Steve's Soviet horde rumbled over Jonathan's Germans but not before some lucky shots and a timely assault had laid waste to Steve's ISU-122 platoon threatening through the corn.
I ducked over to the desert table where David had just finished a game of DUST against Francis and talked David into another...Axis on Axis.
Free for all it was and we preceded to send our troops toward each other. Laser fire and heavy MG bullets whirred around and troops dying on both sides. I took the bait of David's Recon Grens sitting in the middle of the table in the open and brought my Ludwig on to blast them....only to have him lasered to oblivion in the next activation! Things weren't looking good for me....until Stefan got angry...
The battle ended in a rather anti-climactic fashion..... David couldn't kill Lara and her remaining Panzer who took an objective. A great game and a heap of fun!
The clock wound down and it was 6.30.....another successful club day at TCOW!
Wednesday, 17 September 2014
Club this weekend!!
This weekend is a club day so if you want to come down and check out what's happening on the gaming tables, we open the doors from 2.30.
If you want to have a game, it's gonna cost ya though! $3 for casual crowders and $2 for members. If you just want to watch, that's a little creepy.....but you can do it for free!!!
From what I hear, there's gonna be some DUST and some Flames. Maybe even some Malifaux and Warmahordes!
Come and check it out. All are welcome at the Mighty TCOW.
Sunday, 14 September 2014
A TCOW-er Goes to GuardCon or The Search for More Spoons!
So this weekend I attended my first FoW GuardCon tournament. Held out at El Presidente's old stomping grounds at James Cook High and fought over 2 days and 6 games with a 1650 point limit, this Late War jaunt should offer some fun.
Now, I'm not one for taking massive power-gamer lists, I really like just running stuff that I like so when I got told about a little Snapshot Army list called Kampfgruppe Kerscher and that it was pretty much just cheap Tigers....I wanted to run it!
So, I set out with this little list:
HQ - Oberfeldwebel Kerscher in his Tiger 1. He trained with Carius....say no more!
Schwere Panzer Platoon with 2 Tiger 1's.
Reserve Schwere Panzer Platoon with 1 Tiger 1.
Reserve Schwere Panzer Platoon with 1 Tiger 1.
506. Scwhere Panzer Platoon with 1 Konigstiger.
Confident Veteran Grenadier Kampfgruppe Platoon with 2 squads and:
1 Panzerschreck team
1 Weapons team
(The weapons team is pretty cool. It can be either a PaK 40, 2cm AA, HMG or Mortars. You choose just before deployment.)
Game 1 - Breakthrough
So, game one saw me pitted against Isaac's Yank tanks with Patton lurking behind the lines meaning that they spearhead and get in my face real quick and then they're Fearless as well. This one could be a problem! With the spearhead getting the tanks into my lines pretty quick, I lose the benefit of range and sheer weight of numbers is going to be an issue. I just haven't got enough tanks to cover everything.....
End result....lots of dead Tigers and Kerscher is dead as well. 6-1 Loss.
No photos of this one, I forgot I was a blogger.
Game 2 - Pincer
Game 2 saw me up against Steve's Italy FJ. Oh goody! Dug in FV infantry with a heap of PaK 40's....awesomesauce! So, as I'm a tank company, I start steaming for the objectives....
Just after I took this photo, Steve flamed my KT with his pioneers and then captured it. Not happy....
Kerscher and his Tigers were heading up the other side to try and flank in. Knowing that Steve has no tanks, I need to get them there as quick as possible and also avoid the line of fire to his PaK 40's as well.
Kerscher and his Tigers managed to get into the town with some infantry support so I set to trying to whittle them down and get into the objective. I have 2 more Tigers heading in to help and had the FJ pinned. Next turn, ASSAULT TIME! Until Steve went and unpinned his FJ....with a re-roll and I forgot that he did. In I go and defensive Faust and Schreck fire sorts me out. Bloody rookie...... 6-1 to Steve.
Game 3 - Encounter
This game was against Rob's SS PG Totenkopf. He's got a unit of Panzer IV's as his armour....and thats all! PaK 40's, Mech Infantry and some heavy arty. We're playing on a very busy table....lots of houses!
Turn 1 saw OfW Kerscher pop out and murder a Pz IV straight away. Concealed, Long Range just doesn't mean what it used to! Unfortunately, thats ALL he did....he was dead on Rob's turn 1. Bugger!
I managed to get my reserves on pretty quick and started trying to get some objective clearing done. Tigers and the KT were roaming through the town with the KT going PzIV hunting....and not being able to catch-up. Once I did, I hit them 3 times and failed all my firepower tests! Not cool!
(Aerial shot of Tiger Town....)
Panzer hunting!
Once again, I make a rookie error leaving an objective open. Rob trundles his mech infantry toward it. I have a Tiger in range....so I think and move in....I shoot at the Hanomags and miss....I make my Stormtrooper roll.....and end up an inch short. AAARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!! 6-1 to Rob.
Day 1 finishes with SFA points and me questioning (again) my tactics and dice.
Day 2 dawns with rain......typical!
Game 4 - Dust Up
This one is against Nick's 7th Armoured. Shermans, Jumbos, Stuarts and Planes. Fun and games! Again, we have a table that has a few houses. I plonk my KT down next to the objective and buildings so he's harder to hit for the planes. Tigers are covering the other and Kerscher is lurking....
Nick's Shermans start rolling in, using the cover to hide from the sights of the KT and Kerscher. I start sniping away where I can and still am failing FP checks. Dud bloody rounds! The USAF swoop in.....and one dead KT. Horrible planes! I'm still holding the objective, so Kerscher heads to cause some trouble on the other. He has a couple of friends in support and start sniping....with a Jumbo bailed, the regular Shermans start weathering the Tiger storm....and of course....I fail more FP checks! DAMMIT!
Meanwhile, on the other objective, some sneaky 76mm Shermans get around my other Tigers flank and pile in rounds. I should be able to save these, no sweat! NOT! Boom goes the Tiger and bye-bye goes the objective.... 5-2 to Nick. But OfW Kerscher survives!!!
Game 5 - Counterattack
I'm pitted against Surf's SU Horde here. The whole list is Zis guns (12 of them!!!!) and SU-122's (10 of them!!!) with some recon. I do get an ambush so pop my Tigers in hiding. My infantry hide near both objectives and OfW Kerscher lurks....
The Red Horde starts moving in. No shots though....
I get my reserves straight away and on comes the big lumbering brute KT to cause some havoc. Kerscher takes a pot shot at an SU platoon and scores a kill! The KT heads toward the fray and fires....missing. And then, in swoops the Sturmovic....and bang goes the KT....again....
The rest of the game is guns moving closer and Tiger shooting SU and Zis guns. I take a platoon and Mike's CiC with me....but its not enough. 5-2 to Mike.
Game 6 - Hold The Line
Last game and last chance. I'm facing another Totenkopf list, this time Paul's tanks. 2 full PzIV units, mortar h/t and.......2 Sturmtigers! Yikes!
I get 2 ambushes so pop my Tigers and KT in hiding with OfW Kerscher waiting to shoot. The PzIV's roll in....Kerscher shoots and takes one out. The ambushes pop and start hitting the PzIV platoons. My KT is sitting on the close objective, so I feel pretty safe....
In flies the flying PaK 40 and BOOM goes Kerscher! Typical really! My other Tigers take out one of the PzIV platoons and the other barrels toward my KT. They get in his side and bail him. No problems! That'll be fine! Roll to remount......fail. Objective gone, just like that. 5-2 to Paul.
Final Thoughts
So, that was my first GuardCon. A good little tournament and heaps of fun running Tigers everywhere! I was miles off the pace in terms of points, but...meh...I play for fun! Paul took out first with Surf second. Nick took best sports and Rob had best painted. I also saw my first ever 8-0 loss when Paul 6-1'd Isaac and killed Patton.....funny!
Next stop.....FlamesCon!!!
Now, I'm not one for taking massive power-gamer lists, I really like just running stuff that I like so when I got told about a little Snapshot Army list called Kampfgruppe Kerscher and that it was pretty much just cheap Tigers....I wanted to run it!
So, I set out with this little list:
HQ - Oberfeldwebel Kerscher in his Tiger 1. He trained with Carius....say no more!
Schwere Panzer Platoon with 2 Tiger 1's.
Reserve Schwere Panzer Platoon with 1 Tiger 1.
Reserve Schwere Panzer Platoon with 1 Tiger 1.
506. Scwhere Panzer Platoon with 1 Konigstiger.
Confident Veteran Grenadier Kampfgruppe Platoon with 2 squads and:
1 Panzerschreck team
1 Weapons team
(The weapons team is pretty cool. It can be either a PaK 40, 2cm AA, HMG or Mortars. You choose just before deployment.)
Game 1 - Breakthrough
So, game one saw me pitted against Isaac's Yank tanks with Patton lurking behind the lines meaning that they spearhead and get in my face real quick and then they're Fearless as well. This one could be a problem! With the spearhead getting the tanks into my lines pretty quick, I lose the benefit of range and sheer weight of numbers is going to be an issue. I just haven't got enough tanks to cover everything.....
End result....lots of dead Tigers and Kerscher is dead as well. 6-1 Loss.
No photos of this one, I forgot I was a blogger.
Game 2 - Pincer
Game 2 saw me up against Steve's Italy FJ. Oh goody! Dug in FV infantry with a heap of PaK 40's....awesomesauce! So, as I'm a tank company, I start steaming for the objectives....
Just after I took this photo, Steve flamed my KT with his pioneers and then captured it. Not happy....
Kerscher and his Tigers were heading up the other side to try and flank in. Knowing that Steve has no tanks, I need to get them there as quick as possible and also avoid the line of fire to his PaK 40's as well.
Game 3 - Encounter
This game was against Rob's SS PG Totenkopf. He's got a unit of Panzer IV's as his armour....and thats all! PaK 40's, Mech Infantry and some heavy arty. We're playing on a very busy table....lots of houses!
Turn 1 saw OfW Kerscher pop out and murder a Pz IV straight away. Concealed, Long Range just doesn't mean what it used to! Unfortunately, thats ALL he did....he was dead on Rob's turn 1. Bugger!
I managed to get my reserves on pretty quick and started trying to get some objective clearing done. Tigers and the KT were roaming through the town with the KT going PzIV hunting....and not being able to catch-up. Once I did, I hit them 3 times and failed all my firepower tests! Not cool!
Once again, I make a rookie error leaving an objective open. Rob trundles his mech infantry toward it. I have a Tiger in range....so I think and move in....I shoot at the Hanomags and miss....I make my Stormtrooper roll.....and end up an inch short. AAARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!! 6-1 to Rob.
Day 1 finishes with SFA points and me questioning (again) my tactics and dice.
Day 2 dawns with rain......typical!
Game 4 - Dust Up
This one is against Nick's 7th Armoured. Shermans, Jumbos, Stuarts and Planes. Fun and games! Again, we have a table that has a few houses. I plonk my KT down next to the objective and buildings so he's harder to hit for the planes. Tigers are covering the other and Kerscher is lurking....
Meanwhile, on the other objective, some sneaky 76mm Shermans get around my other Tigers flank and pile in rounds. I should be able to save these, no sweat! NOT! Boom goes the Tiger and bye-bye goes the objective.... 5-2 to Nick. But OfW Kerscher survives!!!
Game 5 - Counterattack
I'm pitted against Surf's SU Horde here. The whole list is Zis guns (12 of them!!!!) and SU-122's (10 of them!!!) with some recon. I do get an ambush so pop my Tigers in hiding. My infantry hide near both objectives and OfW Kerscher lurks....
I get my reserves straight away and on comes the big lumbering brute KT to cause some havoc. Kerscher takes a pot shot at an SU platoon and scores a kill! The KT heads toward the fray and fires....missing. And then, in swoops the Sturmovic....and bang goes the KT....again....
The rest of the game is guns moving closer and Tiger shooting SU and Zis guns. I take a platoon and Mike's CiC with me....but its not enough. 5-2 to Mike.
Game 6 - Hold The Line
Last game and last chance. I'm facing another Totenkopf list, this time Paul's tanks. 2 full PzIV units, mortar h/t and.......2 Sturmtigers! Yikes!
I get 2 ambushes so pop my Tigers and KT in hiding with OfW Kerscher waiting to shoot. The PzIV's roll in....Kerscher shoots and takes one out. The ambushes pop and start hitting the PzIV platoons. My KT is sitting on the close objective, so I feel pretty safe....
In flies the flying PaK 40 and BOOM goes Kerscher! Typical really! My other Tigers take out one of the PzIV platoons and the other barrels toward my KT. They get in his side and bail him. No problems! That'll be fine! Roll to remount......fail. Objective gone, just like that. 5-2 to Paul.
Final Thoughts
So, that was my first GuardCon. A good little tournament and heaps of fun running Tigers everywhere! I was miles off the pace in terms of points, but...meh...I play for fun! Paul took out first with Surf second. Nick took best sports and Rob had best painted. I also saw my first ever 8-0 loss when Paul 6-1'd Isaac and killed Patton.....funny!
Next stop.....FlamesCon!!!
Tuesday, 9 September 2014
XXX Corp - On the Move!
Our good friend Mike Haught (@mikehaught), you might remember him from such things as Flames of War books and such, has been posting up details about our current FoW Firestorm campaign over at his blog, www.scarybiscuitsstudio.com
We're up to turn three and XXX Corp is slowly wrangling its way up toward Arnhem, despite the best efforts of the German forces. We haven't had to blow up any bridges yet.....but its still early days.
Check out the action and why not pop in and see the fights in the flesh?!
We're up to turn three and XXX Corp is slowly wrangling its way up toward Arnhem, despite the best efforts of the German forces. We haven't had to blow up any bridges yet.....but its still early days.
Check out the action and why not pop in and see the fights in the flesh?!
Sunday, 7 September 2014
Welcome to the OFFICIAL T.C.O.W Blog!
So, after a bit of a chin-wag yesterday, Dan decided we should have a blog. Seemed like a good idea to me, so I've decided to give it a crack and this is what I've come up with....
So here it is, the first post to the T.C.O.W blog!
What are we gonna be doing here?
- Updates to Club Happenings.
- Info about exciting new games on the horizon.
- News from the Gaming World
It's kinda like the Facebook page, but with a bit more of a clubby feel. Don't worry, we haven't sold out to the man......
So here it is, the first post to the T.C.O.W blog!
What are we gonna be doing here?
- Updates to Club Happenings.
- Info about exciting new games on the horizon.
- News from the Gaming World
It's kinda like the Facebook page, but with a bit more of a clubby feel. Don't worry, we haven't sold out to the man......
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