Club Life!

Sometime, a picture can say more than all the words you write with them. Now, with that philosophical tripe out of the way....here are a few words and then a few more photos.

Club day on Sunday was a full bloody house, and that's an understatement! Unfortunately, some of our members took to a secret location to get their X-Wing fix as there just wasn't the room. Sorry guys.

With the Warmahordes JML attracting a dozen or so players and three games of Flames of War in practice for up coming events, namely WolfCry and Panzerschreck, there wasn't a lot of space for walking around and looking at things. To give you a sense of how cramped it was....here's a photo from up on high:

This was taken before the madness really took hold...

JML moved to 4x4 tables this round and points levels were increased which made for longer and larger games. Really good to see so much interest and activity on the JML. Just awesome!

Three games of various sizes and flavours of Flames of War also materialised. 1800 LW for WolfCry practice and 2000 LW doubles (although Pat was a single) practice for Panzerschreck. Germans, Soviets, Brits and 'Muricans all featuring in the games.

There was a great moment in the "doubles" game with Pat shooting Mike's IS-2's with his King Tiger. 3 shots, re-rolling misses and getting 2 hits is pretty good. Mike has the weaker IS-2's so he needs 6's to bounce the 8.8cm shells....

We also saw a game of Star Trek: Fleet Commanders Captains being played. Keeping with the current Star Trek love at club...

And more Trek with Damo taking Francis through an intro game of Attack Wing. Borg on Klingon action!

So much fun...that's the name of the game at TCOW!

Good luck to all our members mixing it up at WolfCry this weekend. If you're free, head on over to the Remuera Bridge Club and support our boys as they search for glory and the SPOON!

With Panzerschreck on during the next club weekend, there will be no club so we'll see you all in a month or so.

GAME ON!

Star Trekkin' at FTW....

The rumours are indeed true. Yet another system has started assimilating itself into the TCOW fold...Star Trek Attack Wing. Similar in play style to X-Wing this should be an easy pick-up, right? Well, for the most part it actually is. So much so that Damian has gone all out and just amassed a Borg fleet with plans for more...

I'd already bought a Constellation-Class ship to have a look over the components before committing to getting the game so Damo said we should get a game or two in at FTW and see how it played. As we're both new, it would be a good learning experience. What's the worst that could happen...?

Pretty easy game to start with, Damo's Scout Cube with some toys vs. my Galaxy-Class Enterprise with Riker and some Photon torpedoes (not to be confused with Star Wars Proton torpedoes). Should be a lock for Riker! Yeah....right! 

The Borg are damned tricky bastards! They don't turn like other ships, rather they just move straight in any direction and change their facing...so they can just shoot anyone! So Riker was gonna have to chase down the Cube and blaze away with his Photon's and then get close for the finisher...

Fortunately for me, I can fire Photon's out my ass...! 

Federation 1: Borg 0

So let's step this up a notch then...this game seems easy! So now, Damo gets his BIG BORG CUBE (Tactical Cube 138) and loads it up with all the toys getting it to about 90 points worth. 8 shield and 9 hull with Borg Ablative Armour means I need to hit him 21 time to kill....not much at all.

I'll need reinforcements....so how about Kirk, Spock, Chekov and Ilia on the Constellation-Class Enterprise...with more Photon's. Yeah, that'll do....

We'll just go ahead and put a classic pincer move on the damned thing and start blasting it with Photons. Need to get the shields gone real quick so I can start making a dent on the hull. This is around the time we figured out the whole Enabled/Disabled mechanic with crew, weapons etc....and I figured out that Spock is a bad ass for torpedoes. Damo also has a wee trick that means he can split fire with his 9 attack dice.

Riker and the TNG Enterprise are taking most of the Borg heat and with their Photon torpedoes being assimilated, only had their main weapons to assist the struggle. Best thing to do then...get in close! Riker has the ability that when he's shot at at range 1, he gets 2 shots back....even if he blows up!!!

The damage is being done to the Borg Cube and its getting down to the wire. The TMP Enterprise is on her own and down to her last hull....its Hail Mary time...Photon style!

The Cube moves away...and the Enterprise manoeuvres...

And fires...

Federation 2: Borg 0....but only just!


So, what's the worst that could happen? We realise that this is a bloody cool game and agree that we should buy more...DAMMIT!

So, you think that would be enough gaming for one night, right? WRONG! Scott has had a copy of Blood Bowl: Team Manager lurking for a couple of years and wanted to give it a whirl. Why not?! I remember playing a lot of Blood Bowl as a younger gamer and still have my Chaos All-Stars at home. The game is by FFG so you know its gonna be a good one!

Four of us played, Scott, Damo, De-Ron and myself as the Dwarfs, Orcs, Elves and Chaos (respectively). It is a very good game which gives you all the feel of playing games of Blood Bowl but also incorporates some coaching and luck. Definitely worth a look...and once its laid out on the table and you're really into the game...it looks AWESOME!

So, as always, a great night of gaming down at FTW!

GAME ON!

GW Returns!

We'll get into the details of the title shortly. 

The doors opened promptly at 2.30 and we strolled in and started getting some tables set up. There were a couple of Flames of War games planned and Bolt Action as well, so 15mm and 28mm terrain hits the table and waits for scale soldiers to start roaming and seeking cover.

And by the doors, two spacemats hit the table and X-Wing gets rolling. 2 games start with all kinds of ships floating around space trying to lay-zohr each other into oblivion. There is a bit of list tweaking happening here by the looks as there are some Regional championships coming up soon.

Some more action shots of the X-Wing action as it happened, including the reappearance of Monkey's Alphabet Soup...mmmmm!

Big D and the Ijits approach the Soup.

Thick Soup....

Damian C (Pablo) had arranged an 1800 point Flames game against Jon but it looked like someones opponent was gonna be a no-show. Gav arrived a bit late so rather than let the terrain that Pablo had setup go to waste, we just jumped in and took it. (Had Gav been 5 mins later, I would have played Damian so it was all good).

I just needed some practice as I hadn't played Flames for some time so came up with a little German list from Nachtjager. 7 Panthers, 2 Jagdpanthers and some Panzersturm with jet planes for goodness. Gav had a Soviet list with Motostrelk, SU-100's and IS-2's. Gav was the defender in Pincer.

We had a bit of a chat before the game and I had about 50 points left over so decided why not try one of the things that Nachtjager is all about. So, I gave a Panther platoon some IR and an Uhu and called down the night! I've never played a night game of FoW so this should be interesting!

So with Panthers rolling forward under the cover of night in a classic Pincer move...I light up the Motostrelk with the Uhu and take some pot shots at them. Which was a bit of a mistake really. It gave Gav the opportunity to pop his SU ambush and start taking shots at them...I could be in trouble here...SU-100s with Cat Killer...yikes! Thanks Mike Haught....

Fortunately for me, Gav was rolling like poop with his SU line and even with the re-rolls couldn't get anywhere near my Panthers!

I wont make this a full AAR (I have a podcast to do that on!) but the effective run of play was:

- Gav's IS-2s kill one of my JPs. My remaining JP and a Panther platoon break the IS-2 platoon and they run away.
- Gav's SU platoon finally scores 2 hits on my Panther Nightfighers, killing 2 forcing me to test...which I pass!! Reluctant Vets!!
- I heap fire on to the Motostrelk to send my infantry in to assault them and clear the objective. The MS are pinned so only get 6 shots in defensive fire. Gav rolls....4's to hit as I'm Vets.....and gets

Fuck.

That was pretty much all she wrote from there, Gav takes this one 5-2 but I may be reconsidering my list for WolfCry....Night fighting Panthers are cool!

Go home Sturmovik, you have too much Vodka

Pablo did manage to get a game in though...Armada vs. Token. I hadn't seen this played yet so was quite interested. Looked pretty cool to me!

And here it is folks, the moment you've been waiting for. I teased it at the start and here is the proof. GW made a valiant return to TCOW and we welcomed it with open arms and a small amount of mockery.

So we were just sitting around talking shit for a bit and realised that we had a hour left! Was there anything we could play in an hour? Munchkin? Wasn't there...

Then Monkey says.....I've got Elder Sign in my car...and off I ran!

6 players vs. Azathoth. Easy right....? You obviously haven't seen TCOW'ers roll dice brah! This one came down to the wire on time, but we banished him back to the Depths.

And that was time! A smaller turnout this week but still 5 systems played and a great game of Elder Sign! What an awesome club!

Until next time....GAME ON and Felicia Day.

BLITZ! PEW-PEW!

Looks like this weekend is panning out to be a DreadBall and X-Wing weekend...some of the guys must want to get some exercise in or something!

For those of you that don't know, DreadBall is Mantic's sci-fi sports game and its a brilliant game to play! You can find out all about it over on the Mantic DreadBall page...just click the link here ---> DreadBall

Who knows, there might even be some interest in getting a league going...? So if you're interested, come and have a look at a game and don't forget that our good mates at Mighty Ape carry a great range of DreadBall teams and bits. Don't forget to use the referral code to net the club some cash as well!

Also being played will be a few n00b training games of X-Wing. We've seen a bit of a resurgence in popularity of this great little game of late which is great to see. It was the game that reintroduced me to gaming and got me down to TCOW to start with. So, if you've wanted to pilot an X-Wing around the galaxy, this Sunday is the day for you!

As always, whatever you're wanting to play, we can accommodate you! Head on down to TCOW this Sunday and get your...GAME ON!!

The Planes....THE PLANES!!!! Hobbymaster Bolt Action Tournament 31 May

Sunday saw the regular Hobbymaster Bolt Action store championship being held and given the way the weather was behaving, being inside playing toy soldiers seemed to be an outstanding idea!

As it was a long weekend (Queen's birthday here in NZ) and NICon was being held in Thames, we expected attendance to be down on the last tournament. 6 guys played with a variety of forces in action. Americans, Finns, Soviets, Germans, Marines and Brits. Not a single double up on the forces which was awesome to see!

The missions we were playing had already been pre-determined and definitely added some variety to the norm! We played, in order. Max Attrition, Envelopment and Top Secret. Four different tables were set out and we'd be randomly assigned one each round but try not to have anyone play twice on the same table.

My first game was against Mark and his Brits on the trench table. Hard cover for a heap of infantry in Max Attrition...?! This should be pretty easy, right?!

The first couple of turns were basically our forces advancing and trying to get a line of fire on the other guy. Pot shots from the snipers rang out across the battlefield with Mark's biting the big one before mine. With massed ranks of Brits taking residence in the trenches like it was 1914, it was time to call in the Air Force....

Who, in true American fashion, proceed to drop bombs on their own guys heads! 

With one squad practically decimate and the other ducking for cover, it wasn't looking good for the Yanks.

Fortunately for me, Mark's die rolls in activating his heavy hitters were pretty abysmal and his Cromwell wouldn't unbutton. My Chaffee was piling the shots in, adding pin markers where I could, but not able to destroy the damn thing! On the other flank, the recce trucks were also trading fire and keeping each other busy while the infantry sorted out the centre.

With turn six approaching and my chances of victory slipping away, I start piling fire into the until in the middle of the table. Despite heavy fire, I just couldn't get rid of them. Mark took this one 5-2.


Game 2 was Envelopment and I was drawn to play Scott on the snow table. I was the attacker for this mission so needed to get my guys into Scott's deployment zone fast while minimising my own losses. Too easy!

I started on the far side of the table and should be able to use the hills on my right to sneak through and dodge fire while my other units hold down the other flank. My preparatory bombardment really did some damage, pinning most units on the table and killing Scott's sniper! First blood!

My units all walk on rather than being deployed so seeing most of Scott's troops laid out on my left, I rub my hands a little and start running my infantry squads through the hills on the right with cover fire from both my Chaffee and Greyhound. I send my Lt. and Medic along to help with any problems as well.

Scott has a ZIS gun and his mortar sheltering close together in a wood off to the left. Perfect target for a strafing run from my Mustang! My FAO calls in the fire but they don't show up. They're delayed by the snow....will have to wait and see. I know that he has a T34 waiting to come on as well and he has called that he is flanking. I just hope it doesn't arrive in the middle of my lines!

Scott's troops start advancing on the left flank, trying to make some ground and get in behind my lines before I can get too far into his.

And then arrive the T34 does....on my left! Whew! I get my Greyhound into position to try and take care of it while still being able to recce away. 

And then, the Air Force arrived....and once again they decide it would be a GREAT idea to bomb their own guys! Brilliant! So of course, Scott directs them to the centre unit of my advancing lines and the start piling on the pins and kills. Just perfect really! I still have another one up my sleeve though and a VERY JUICY target in Scott's T34. So once again, my FAO draws a bead on the target and calls in the support....and yet again, lets bomb our own guys, huh?! Seriously, what the hell is going on at TACAIR?!!

I do manage to get a few units into Scott's lines though and as we finish, I have 2 there and have killed 2 units. 6 points to me!! Problem is though, Scott has taken 4 of my units out....8 points to him....

So Game 3 was going to be the Battle for the Spoon and I'm drawn to play Saul and his Finns. I've never played against Finns before so this should be a heap of fun! We get the Teddy Bear table to play on.

The mission is Top Secret so we set up an objective in the centre and start deploying. I have the bottom edge (right in the photo) as my area to come on so start deploying infantry units and running them behind cover. My plan is to sneak out and grab the objective while my mortar, MMG and vehicles provide cover. My FAO sets up to call in some fire once the Finns start advancing...and promptly gets a sniper's bullet in the eye. 85 point that bastard cost me....and he did NOTHING!!

My plan actually worked in this case and despite heavy fire, losing their NCO and BAR, my short infantry squad manages to grab the plans and head off the table! A win and the spoon avoided!

So, all in all, a great day was had by all. Lets face it though....for us, how can a day playing soldiers not be great!

And the results...

First place: Garth and his Germans

Second place: Mark and his Brits (not including the Cromwell)

Third place: Phil and his Marines

And, most importantly, the SPOON! Saul took this one!

And there was even a special spot prize! And this went to the most terrible FAO rolling anyone has ever seen...yep, yours truly!

And the obligatory group shot...

So another great event and more BA tournament games up my sleeve! Next time is going to be Tank Wars....rolling steel for the win!

GAME ON!