Archive for the ‘Gaming’ Category

#Paddyfaux – Weekend Gaming in Cork

Posted: March 19, 2015 in Gaming
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Well last weekend seen our annual trip to Cork on the South West coast of Ireland for Paddyfaux, so-called as it is run over the St Patrick’s Weekend street party in Cork. Hosted by the great Mike Foreman and held in the luxurious Imperial Hotel in Cork the event is always a lot of fun and highly anticipated event in our gaming calendar.

Day 1

Setting off from Belfast it took just under 5 hours to reach our destination and that even included rush hour traffic in the one-way system of Cork’s main streets. Some of our friends from the United States made the trip across the Atlantic for the event and we met up with them in the family-run bar of the host Mike. Dan Lowrey’s Bar is a great location serving fantastic local ales and ciders and with wonderful home-cooked food it really is worth the trip. Sitting down with a few pints of Chieftain IPA we caught up with the Americans, Tera and her husband George, over a few bowls of traditional Irish stew. Then it was back to the hotel for gaming.

Our Americans brought some gaming goodness from their game store Mastermind Miniatures and Models which included a lot of X-Wing ships for the guys and some Cthulhu expansions for me. We broke out Luchaodr Mexican Wrestling Dice, played some Munchkin Loot Letter and snacked on authentic american jerky! It’s all good!

Elder Sign – Solo Play

Posted: February 20, 2015 in Gaming
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So tonight I got home from work early and decided to crack out this great little game. With the latest expansion on the way I wanted to get back into the feel of the game.

The base game involves investigation around Arkham Museum as the investigators go on adventures and try to achieve Elder Signs in an attempt to seal the gates and prevent a Great Old One from destroying Arkham, and consequently, the world.

Each turn an investigator will pick an adventure, whether it’s ‘Don’t go near the Windows’ in the dinosaur exhibit or a visit to the Koi Pond. Each adventure will have a series of objectives, achieved by rolling dice and matching symbols. Each successful roll will help you achieve victory. Failing will result in penalties to your stamina or sanity and can even increase the Doom Track to bring the Great Old One out. Succeeding at an adventure will gain items, spells and unique abilities to help in the fight.

After every adventure the clock is advanced 3 hours until Midnight strikes. At midnight a new Mythos card is flipped and it’s affects will last for the following day. Some can be good but most are bad for investigators with monsters turning up to spoil the fun.

Tonight I played a solo game with 3 adventurers battling to prevent Hastur, The King in Yellow from emerging. After some initial success the adventures became more difficult but i was still racking up the occasional Elder Sign while gaining some key spells and common items (dynamite adds 2 special dice to your dice pool for the round).

Finally Dexter Drake opened a portal directly to Ry’leh. With 10 Elder Signs already Dexter knew a last gamble would gain him 3 more but it would not be easy. Gambling all (dynamite and having a clue token available to re roll any or all dice) he went for it. Gaining enough for the first line Dexter braced himself and rolled again – Lore,Attack but no Terror. A re roll later and 4 dice came to rest with a Terror symbol showing! Dexter and the team had done it and no one would ever know their plight.

Great game and more importantly a quick game.

Bushido Demo Night @WeeGamersNI

Posted: February 6, 2015 in Gaming
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So last night seen a great demo of Bushido to the hungry gamers at Wee Gamers. A quick overview of the cards and stats and away we went. Bushido is a tabletop skirmish game set in the pseudo-fantasy Jwar Isles with a distinctly Japanese feel to it. A group of between 4 and 7 models will make up your typical warband and put you straight into the numerous battles in the Jwar Isles.

Each model or group of models will use a stat card to list their characteristics: melee and shooting ability, movement and Ki generation each turn. Ki is an important resource as it allows models to boost their attacks, defence or perform Ki feats at times in the game. Also listed is their Traits that can include Armour (1), Martial Prowess (2) or Light-footed. Each trait is explained in the rules and gives models a distinct flavour.

Combat is quite unique in that a model’s Melee Skill (MS) determines the dice pool for each combat. This pool is then secretly broken into attack and defence dice and all rolled together (2 sets of coloured dice are required). The current attacking model will compare his attack dice to the defender’s defence dice. If the defender survives he can then compare his attack to the other player’s defence. The difference between the 2 will determine the success level of each attack. A further 2D6 are rolled, added together and that will determine the number of damage sustained. Armour (1) will reduce this dice roll by 1, Armour (2) will reduce it by 2 etc.

Wee Si and I set up a quick game of 19 Rice Cost (RC) which for Si was Takeji and his 2 Jade Mamba Guard. I took Saratoshi and Kenzo Ito in response. The first 2 turns were tactically moving for a turn 3 strike. The melee was swirling around when Si with a model advantage managed to get a surprise charge which put me on the back foot. Some quick thinking and armour (3) I managed to weather most attacks but numbers proved the winner and Si eventually won the day.

Good times in Jwar!

The Arcanist Menace: A Malifaux Tournament #agoodyeartogamehard

Posted: February 5, 2015 in Gaming
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So Sunday seen my first tournament of the year and the beginning of my year of #Rainbowfaux. Deciding to get the Arcanists out of the way as the crew I have least models for I thought I would also use it as an opportunity to try new models. Deciding to run Mei Feng (my favourite Master) all day it gave me a good grounding for using new models with unique abilities in the games.

Game 1: Turf War vs Hamelin

Mat was playing Hamelin for the first time and I was facing Hamelin for the first time. With a buried Killjoy and Ama no Zako in his crew I knew I would be in a tough spot from the outset. With the amount of rats and stolen he was summoning I was soon on the backfoot for activations. Knowing that I would be ok if I could survive past turn 2 I concentrated on my schemes – Breakthrough which was easily achieved with a strike from the Mechanical Rider and Frame for Murder on Willie who exploded on Turn 3. Ignoring Killjoy by feeding him Hard to Kill models I was able to lock Hamelin down and deny him scheme points. 9-3 victory

Game 2: Reckoning vs Seamus

Myk is an expert at all Ressers and taking an unusual lineup of 4 belles meant I had to avoid any and all lures. Mei can put up a great aura for negative flips to all casts keeping my guys safer. A small elite crew meant that I was denying Reckoning points and effectively we danced around each other. I scored a VP for Vendetta while he scored 3. That was the key difference. 7-4 loss.

Game 3: Squatter’s Rights vs Tara

Another tough matchup that would decide final rankings. I was on the backfoot but knew I was fast enough to achieve Power ritual so I announced it. Taking Glen by surprise I had the Mechanical Rider in his backfield in turn 2. He kept the flank busy pooping out constructs for the rest of the game which was enough to swing activation order to me denying Tara her ability to reactivate. Cursed Object was handy to take with large Melee ranges denying the opportunity to remove the condition. 10-8 victory.

With the results in somehow I managed to come second. Chuffed with that. Gunsmith, fire gamin and Mechanical Rider are all now firmly in my good books.

#agoodyeartogamehard #imperialassault #starwars

Posted: January 23, 2015 in Gaming
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So Imperial Assault – first up thanks to those who braved night 1. After a shaky start bringing all the little rules together we all got running quite smoothly.

I have to say I enjoyed it and found it surprisingly good.

The initial map was deceptively small. The mission quite simple and the imperial force appeared quite small.

The team quickly realised that appearances are deceptive.

With heroes having good much broader skills and options as well as significantly more health one could think the odds very much in their favour.

The Imperial force however packs quite a punch , even the spy droid carries a hefty punch. One quick notice was the Imperial defence. Rolling a much better odds on black. Presumably accounting for military training (we noticed the Rebel Trooper had this too)

While heroes can ‘flip’ their downed character for a second chance, they can also rest to recover wounds and stress. They can also take stress to perform special feats. Significantly more life than the average Trooper of the Empire. But the Empire gains threat points every round allowing reinforcements to be summoned.

The players tonight fought their way violently through the imperial patrol towards the becon station. But before they reached the door a re enforcement squad of troopers emerged from the forest. Thankfully they were cut down quickly. Though the imperial Officer was still shooting even as the bloodied heroes blew the doors wide open.

Sirens cried as they stormed inside the base to be met with a surprise. The base staff themselves. With a huge cannon right in their faces a couple of characters found their sheets flipping as the damaged piled on.

Two terminals down and the signal still broadcasting the heroes now faced the main control room filled with Troopers and another officer. A brave charge went out and while the Troopers dished out some harm they still met their doom, but their departure only hearalded yet another squad coming up from the Lowe level. Blaster shots flew in all directions, the heroes resorted to blasting the terminals in the last to action phases. Very bruised and with more than a few wounds the signal was in the very last roll silenced. Victory to the Rebels as the Empire fell back.

While licking their wounds they discover the signal was nothing more than a trap! Some vital Intel earned and some Xp the victors headed home on board their shuttle, ready to face the next threat…..

There was tension, cinematic feeling and some good old heroics. All in all a good session.

#FridayGeeknight #agoodyeartogamehard

Posted: January 12, 2015 in Gaming
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So Friday seen the first geek night at our place this year. On the table we had Zombicide, Luchador and Titcket to Ride Europe and some fresh blood who had not played any of the games, other who had played some and me, the gaming Buddah who had played them all. The BBQ meats had been eaten, the beers were cold and the Doritos were open. Let the carnage commence…

We started with Zombicide, everyone using the iOS app to keep a record of their characters. We played scenario 4 which involved walking down a main street with 2 large buildings either side. We needed to get objectives in each building then escape through a spawning point.

With an abomination spawned early on we were hard pressed to achieve victory and when a second showed up it was all over. As the pics show we had 1 Abomination coming each way for us. Good times! We would suck so much in The Walking Dead.

Next up was some light relief in the form of Luchador – Mexican Wrestling Dice. Now, we did some alpha testing on this 2 years ago and I am so pleased that I backed the Kickstarter for version 2. The game has come on leaps and bounds over the years and the new version has updated rules for tag teams, royal rumbles and special moves for your wrestlers. Great game.

To round out the night we played a 3-way Ticket to Ride Europe. Again another new game for 1 of our party but he soon got to grips with the rules and we were merrily on our way building railroads across Europe, racing for our destinations. A battle around Brussels and Paris erupted but a convenient placement of a station ensured I punched my ticket and scored big points heading North East towards Moscow and beyond.

Salvaging a Deus Machina

Posted: January 11, 2015 in Gaming, Painting
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The advance scouting drones came back with reports from Syphonia Prime. Their discovery caused an immediate scramble and a titan dropship was dispatched to the co-ordinates identified in the report. Before the dust had settled from the landing pod the salavge team were off. Coming upon the blasted hulking mountain of metal the tech priest accompanying the team slowed his transport and sent out his nooshpere to see if any readings were still be transmitted by the damaged titan. They had discovered Valoris Rex. An ancient Lucius pattern Reaver Titan from the Cockatrices Legio Titanica, Valoris Rex had been thought lost and destroyed. Not so, it seemed.
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This Reaver titan was painted initially in 2009 as a support element for my Mantis Warriors Space Marine Chapter as part of a ‘Tale of Painters’ blog. I went with Cockatrices as they are quite a unique colour scheme and complimenting the green and yellow of the Mantis Warriors. However, after painting up 5 titans for Legio Gryphonicus “War Griffons” over the years I decided it was better to repurpose this beautiful model for my current titan legion.

Luckily both legios have a lot of yellow in their colour scheme so it won’t take too much effort to get this titan re-inducted into a new Legio. I will keep the heraldry however to honour it’s original titan legion.

#Epic #Minigeddon #Armageddon Games last night

Posted: January 9, 2015 in Gaming
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Continuing my resolution from last year I got in not 1 but 2 games of Epic last night. Granted, it was Minigeddon 1,000pt games and we only played 2 turns each game but it was enough to get 2 new players into the game mechanics and another to relearn the system.

We played Orks, Imperial Guard and Space Marines at 1,000 points

Orks

  • Boyz Mob, 2 nobs, 2 grots and battlewagons
  • 3 Stompa mob with 2 dreadnoughts
  • 8 warbikes
  • 5 Gub wagonz with Oddboy

Space Marines

  • 2 Tactical Formations with rhinos
  • Land Raiders

Imperial Guard

  • Steel Legion Infantry company with chimeras
  • 3 Hellhounds
  • Baneblade
  • Warhound titan

It was enough to show the mechanics of using infantry, vehicles, transports, war engines and characters and was an absolute blast. The guys learned the benefits of last minute marching to grab objectives, laying down just enough blast markers to break formations, engagements and supporting fire and rallying and regrouping. Good times.

  • Guard vs Space Marines – 2-1
  • Orks vs Space Marines 2-2
  • Orks vs Imperial Guard 0-2

#Malifaux #Reckoning Somer vs Somer

Posted: January 7, 2015 in Gaming
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Last night was another gremlin v gremlin for control of the Bayou. We flipped and got Reckoning with Line in the Sand, Bodyguard, Assassinate, Entourage and Make Them Suffer. Quite a lot of killing was anticipated, expected and resulted from the ‘Killing Zone’ table layout.

I took:

  • Somer
  • Lenny
  • 2 Warpigs
  • 2 Slop Haulers
  • Skeeter
  • 2 Bayou Gremlins
  • Entourage (Revealed) and Assassinate

while David had:

  • Somer
  • Lenny
  • Gracie
  • Burt
  • 3 Bayou Gremlins
  • 2 Slop Haulers
  • Bodyguard (Gracie) and Make Them Suffer

David started quite aggressively having Somer ‘Git yer Bro’, healing around him and Lenny throwing Gremlins up the table followed by Gracie saddling Lenny up as well. I summoned Gremlins but with scenery was forced to either hug cover or risk getting exposed in death valley. I ran the warpig on the right up in preparation for a pig charge in turn 2 and the pig on the left ran to the mouth of death valley and got shot off the table early turn 2. My skeeter landed in the middle of the alleyway to cut down some shooting but not enough.

Turn 2 earned both of us Reckoning points as the warpig destroyed a lowly gremlin and in return Gracie walked in and took 4 wounds off the pig. Lots of shooting and David declared Make them Suffer as he shot a poor gremlin off the table.

Turn 3 David continued to whittle my forces down earning another Reckoning and Make them Suffer. Somer shot Burt away but I couldn’t get the slop haulers to land any damage to earn the Reckoning point. Somer had positioned himself over the halfway point and I knew I could get to the enemy deployment zone for the full 3VP.

Turn 4 and Lenny smack David’s Somer who had no soulstones left. A cheated severe took the 5 wounds needed to put Somer out of the game for Assassinate. Gracie and the other Lenny charged my poor slop haulers who were mauled. David declared Bodyguard on Gracie who was also healed by the slop hauler.

Turn 5 seen my Somer take a shot at a slop hauler, missing and judging to be just out of single walk range of the enemy deployment decided not to shoot again and double walked behind a wall.

With a failed card flip to see if the game continued or not we called it. 8-6 to David. Great game.

#Hobbytime #Epic #Agoodyeartogamehard

Posted: January 6, 2015 in Gaming, Painting, Resolutions
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So 5 days in and 350 points of 1 Epic force assembled, painted and based. Not bad. Guardian Formation and transports completed. These were the first epic models I had painted in 5 years but by the end I was getting back into the way of things with extreme highlighting to make the effects noticeable from a distance. Looking forward to painting some Aspect Warriors next.

Also tonight is our first club night of the new year. Going to get my Malifaux fix for the week. Thinking Molly this week for some fun (and the new plastic Rogue Necromancy 😉 )

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