It's a long weekend and that means one thing...

And rain it did.

In spite of the weather there was still a strong turnout at T.C.O.W. Around 30 people playing many games throughout the afternoon. We even have a couple of Hamiltronians visiting for the day.

There was also a selection of product from B.I.O. Games available for sale, which drew the interest of attendees. The magnets were especially popular, with several people picking up packs. The table also drew the attention of one peculiarly-dressed person...

"Sartorial" isn't the word that comes to mind when thinking about Damian.

This week saw the return of the ongoing Warmahordes Journeyman League. The time around it was the second round of 15 point games. Giving budding generals some more experience before we all move on to bigger 25 point games in a month's time.

There was a bit of concern when League organiser Matt was a little late arriving, but he turned up eventually and the search teams were told to stand down. The players were not deterred, and four games were underway soon after. As a bonus, he'd bought with him official League patches. I guess we'll figure out how best to affix them to our clothing/model transport bag/pets later.

Faizel's Legion vs Molly's Searforge

Martina's Trolls vs Peter's Convergence

Xcerus's Trolls vs Francis' Circle

I even managed to sneak in a game of my own later in the afternoon. My first three league games had been against Hordes armies, so I decided to change things up and take on Molly's Searforge dwarfs. It was a bittersweet battle for me. On the one hand, my Trolls were outnumbered almost 2:1 with a solo that could do little against Molly's Warjacks. On the other, I have my own Searforge list at home, so it was good to see them on the tabletop.

The battle was relatively short, but exceptionally violent. Molly's Grundback Gunners were quick to remind me just how effective they are when they opened fire on my Warlock in the first turn. A couple of turns later, I'd managed to draw Gorten into the open and bent all my efforts to assassinating the Warcaster. Unfortunately, the dice were against me and Gorten ended the round on a single point of health. Next turn, Molly reminded me how nasty Gunners can be by using three of them to finish off my own Warlock. One failed Tough roll and it was all over.

Molly's Searforge, complete with helpful numbering

Meanwhile, fierce battle raged on a pair of Dropzone Commander battlefields near the doors. Invading Scourge clashed with valiant defenders of the United Colonies of Mankind amongst buildings of an abandoned human city, and super-advanced Post-Human Republic took the fight to the tribal Shaltari.

Watching the game being played it's easy to see why it's become so popular. The models are top quality and each faction is stylistic different from the others. It will be interesting to see if the upcoming space game will be as popular, but I suspect it will be.

The forces of the Scourge prepare for battle...

...and the UCM do the same.

The Post-Human Republic advance towards the Shaltari...

...while a massive Hades Super-Heavy Walker lurks ominously under the table.

I missed most of these battles, but there was one particularly noteworthy moment. The Scourge were attempting to destroy a build (and the UCM infantry inside it). Their heavy tanks poured eight shots into the building over two turns, needing 2+ to hit. The number of shots that ended up hitting? One.

That will be the last time anyone borrows my dice.

Nearby, a demonstration game of Outrider was taking place. I missed out on this the last time it was played at T.C.O.W., so I was interested to see how it played. Based on what I saw, it's sort of a combination of Wings of War and Mad Max, using cards to determine both vehicle stats and movement. It also provides you with the opportunity to customise your own vehicle - taking a cheap Hot Wheels car from The Warehouse, giving it a suitably rough repaint, and adding a weapon or two (don't worry about WYSIWYG, that's handled by the cards). I've not taken the plunge yet, but it's tempting.

So. Many. Cards.

Next stop: Valhalla.

Finally, the back corner was devoted to the eternal struggle of light vs dark, good vs evil, American accents vs British accents: Star Wars. First up was X-Wing, with Darth Vader and a pair of TIE Advanced taking on an alphabet soup of Rebel ships.

Darth and his cronies

Mid battle against an A-Wing, B-Wing, X-Wing, and Y-Wing

Unfortunately for Darth, the firepower from the Rebel ships was too much for him and he was out of the battle faster than Jek Porkins.

Once the battle was done it was time to bring out the big ships. Literally. It was time for some Star Wars Armada. Now, you'd be forgiven for thinking the Empire would have a considerable advantage in this game, what with the Rebels not having much in the way of decent combat-capable capital ships. It's always seemed like the strength of the Rebel fleet was in its fighters. Turns out this isn't always the case in a game. From what I saw, the Rebels were more than capable of holding their own against the Imperial aggressors and managed to pull out a win or two.

*cue John Williams score*

The Imperials and their cheese wedges of death

The rag-tab Rebel Alliance displaying a greater reliance on smaller ships

And that's it for this fortnight. It looked like a good time was had by all, even those of us with useless dice. Tell ya what, it was such a success let's all do it again in two weeks time.