The next couple of weekends are pretty busy as far as the Bolt Action scene in Auckland goes with a couple of single day tournaments coming up. Quite a number of TCOW'ers will be attending and popping their BA tourney cherry so expect some reports from those. For those of you with BA army's who dont know about whats happening, the details are listed here in one convenient place for you!
Sunday 12 April (This Sunday) - Hobby Master Ellerslie BA Tournament
Where: Hobby Master Ellerslie
When: 10.30am - Registration from 10.00am
Cost: $20.00
Details: 750 points, single reinforced platoon.
More Info: Click here!
Sunday 19 April - Auckland Open
The entries for this one are closed, but if you're wanting to head on down and have a watch and support the guys, the details are in the link below. This one is a 2 day event with Bolt Action and X-Wing as 1 day events and Warmachine and 40k as 2 day events.
Auckland Open
Good luck to all the TCOW'ers playing in these events!
GAME ON!
TCOW is a club. And typically, a club has members, right?
You are ABSOLUTELY right! TCOW is no different and you too, can become a member! (Not to be confused with a tool)
So, what are the terms, prices and all that jazz, I hear you ask? Well, its all pretty simple really. There are a couple of options:
Option 1: Basic Membership
Cost: $25.00 per year
Benefits: $2.00 per meeting cost ($1.00 per meeting saving), awesome personal membership card.
Option 2: Awesome Membership
Cost: $50.00 per year
Benefits: Same as basic membership and you also get the OFFICIAL TCOW cap as seen on the head of El Presidente.
How can you go about joining? Simple really! Contact El Presidente for account details and all will happen from there.
If you don't want membership, then there is nothing stopping you playing casually at TCOW. We welcome all games and gamers with open arms. It will just cost you more than it costs a member and you wouldn't have a card or a hat.
So what are you waiting for? JOIN US!
"And on the third day of the long weekend, they met. For gaming was the order of the day. And lo, they arrived at the appointed place and time. And they saw the tables and terrain and decreed it was good."
A great day for gaming and a heap of people had shown up to get their Easter fix of toy soldiers and other assorted toy pushing. The NatCon tournament was being held over the weekend as well, so we expected a few less than normal. We were pleasantly surprised to get one of our biggest turnouts for the year so far and with a vast array of systems being played! I think it was the promise of chocolate eggs that drew them in...and boy did we deliver!
So, what did we manage to get played this club meeting. So, 5 different systems running at one point or another. We had Deadzone, SAGA, Flames of War, Bolt Action and Outrider! Pretty diverse lot of games there.
Now, I was playing Bolt Action so didnt get too much of a chance to wander around and see the other games in action which was a little disappointing as I was very interested in having a watch of Deadzone. Oh well, maybe next meeting once I've brushed up on the rules.
In the corner, the Outrider game looked like a heap of fun. I really like the idea of taking some of my son's unused Hot Wheels and turning them into hundred mile an hour machines of destruction!
Gav and Nod kicked off an 1800 point LW game of Flames of War next to the Outrider game. Russians vs. Germans and given the points level, it sounded to me like they were getting in some practice for WolfCry...hmmmm....
The SAGA game in action was an Anglo-Dane vs. what appeared to be Byzantines. Massed ranks of cavalry pitting themselves against the hordes of angry Danes.
And finally, three games of Bolt Action played at varied points levels. With the Auckland Open fast approaching and the Hobbymaster store tournament next week, people were wanting to get some practice in and fine tune their 750 point lists. Bolt Action is quickly becoming a favourite system at TCOW and with good reason! The cinematic nature of the game, order dice coming out of the bag with no knowledge of whats coming and having to formulate plans around the random nature of the dice... just brilliant!
And anything could happen...
Very shortly after this was taken...my Sherman died. #sadface
And not long after that, we packed up and called it another TCOW in the can. A heap of different systems played and homage paid to Zombie Jesus. Ramen.
Many of us will have started our gaming careers just pushing figures around someone else's garage or playroom. And sometimes, its just fun to get back there and do it again.
Friday night saw Dan, Damian, Faizal and myself head on over to Monkey's place. I took 750 points of Bolt Action 'Muricans with me. Everyone else had done the same so with Monkey having 2 tables at his disposal we had a couple of games going.
My first game was against Damian and his FJ supported by a "Tiger" and my Americans supported by that stalwart of the American armed forces in WWII, the Sherman. With higher-priced, more experienced infantry squads and a heavy tank, I had the advantage as far as order dice went but as we all know, anything can happen when the hand goes into the bag!
So, the game pretty much went like this.
1. Americans advance toward the objective.
2. Americans get lucky and range in their mortar, begin FJ squad decimation.
3. Tiger Russ shoots Sherman and misses. Shoots American infantry to try and keep them off the objective.
4. Rinse and repeat.
Unfortunately, the one time my Sherman managed to hit the Tiger and PEN the armour, I only managed to shake the crew. It wasnt long before the Leman Tiger sighted right and my Sherman took one to the balls.
The FJ squad on my right, having been the attention of mortar fire, Sherman fire and other small arms fire wasnt feeling too well....the just wouldnt bloody die!
Turn 6 hit and with the Yanks on the objective, thats a win to me! Currahee!!
On the other table, Monkey's SAS were pretty much giving Faizal's Soviets an education in what to do in war. Despite not having a tank at their disposal and a T-34 heading toward them, the steely resolve of Britain's elite were too much for the Red Horde.
Time for a swap! Dan and I decided to play some Yank vs. Yank while Faizal and Damian moved on to a game of Warmachine. Butch3r was in the house!
My game against Dan was probably to most fun game of Bolt Action I've played so far. I managed to knock out Dan's Sherman on the first turn and from there, I felt in control of the game. I'd managed to remove all of Dan's infantry around the objective of Capt. Mannering but took a lot of fire in doing so. With turn 6 wrapping, we rolled a die for another turn....and got one.
Weight of fire on my unit holding the objective was just too much and they routed leaving Dan in control. Bugger!! I was 50/50 for the night.
The Warmachine game was also a barrel of laughs. Damo was all set for Butch to assassinate Denny. All he needed was 14 damage on a boosted damage roll and the game was his....
So close!
So what to do? Easy! Throw one of Denny's troops at her! If it deviates right, she's gonna cop it right in the face! And with only 2 damage left, that would be the end of her! But that failed as well....damn it!
Faizal's turn and Denny went for the jugular...3 attacks, 20 damage needed....
And 19 scored.... Faizal wasn't feeling too well...
Luckily for him, he had another unit in charge range and despite Butch3r's dogs being close enough for an intercept, they weren't enough to stave off death. Faizal won this one...just!
And that was that! Garage gaming at its finest. A few guys in a garage, toy soldiers and a heap of fun!
That's right team! The Easter Bunny is coming and so is another TCOW meeting! This week we'll be running the club as a "bring an easter egg" day, so make sure that as well as bringing your gold coins for El Presidente, you bring an egg for the bowl.
There are no Journeyperson league games planned, so jump on Facebook and hook yourself up with an opponent and a game and get into it! Auckland Open and the Hobbymaster Championships are coming up for Bolt Action, so now is the time to fine-tune that 750 point list!
Don't forget that the latest episode of the Behind Enemy Lines podcast is available for your listening pleasure. Check it out here
See y'all on Sunday!
GAME ON!
