Only War Session Trois

After the surviving troops manage to hold back the Ork advance they take stock of themselves. Unfortunately the Operator and the Medic expired in the aftermath of the attack, the surviving members of the team manage to patch themselves up as best they can, before radioing high command. They get through after a few minutes and after a sit-rep command informs them that they are being relieved and flown back to base.

Relief arrives in the form of three Valkyrie troop transports, that unload imperial war machines and troops as well as a number of Xeno experts to study the Ork technology. After informing the new forces of the countermeasures they installed they quickly away back to base.

They have a few days R&R before their talents are once again needed, in this time they are given new recruits and comrades to bring them back up to full fighting strength. After their time is up they are requested to report to the command tent for a briefing.

They are given a mission, the Orks are using the wreckage of the processing plant they visited earlier to make a huge war machine, they are instructed to destroy it. For this mission they are given a number of pieces of tank hunting gear, A Lemun Russ Vanquisher, a crate of Det-Packs and a Orbital Relay to blast the thing from orbit.

Unfortunately somewhere in the pipeline these gifts morphed into a Salamander Variant scout vehicle, two Missile launchers, a Melta-gun, a barrel of acid, and a bag of dirty laundry.

The squad was familiar with the operational area, of course,  having been present when it became a blighted dot on the landscape and somewhat of a firework surprise for the Imperium, so they found it again with a minimal amount of fuss. Once there, however, they were greeted by quite a view. The wreck of the Chimera was gone, as were the to wrecked Ork Trukks in front of the gates, as a result they could see right inside the ruined refinery.

Lurking in the blacked out ruin was a gigantic battlewagon, covered with guns and launches and covering it like a living carpet was a swarm of Gretchin. Over the vast squabbling sound of the mob, one voice could be heard, an Ork Mek shouting from a large command tower built on the ruins of one of the holding tanks.

The squad divide themselves up, a few men take a launcher and a Auto-cannon to the wrecked Hab-block nearby and another man takes a launcher to the rubble that used to be a shopping promenade.  They come up with the idea that they could roll the barrel of acid towards the tank and blow it with a missile so that the acid splash hits the tank. Unfortunately the thousand or so meters from the salamander to the Ork Compound was strewn with wreckage and rocky lumps so that when the barrel got to the last few hundred meters every jolt echoed loudly, a solution was invented, wrapping the dirty laundry around the barrel muffled it enough to close the gap, they were almost there, and then, they were spotted.

The Orks delight in a bit of target practise and spotting a lone barrel rolling slowly towards them made a game of it, unfortunately for the guard. Orks are terrible shots, but they make up for it with lots of guns and enthusiasm. The Orks eventually managed to hit the barrel and the splash of acid only grazes the guardsmen pushing the barrel, unfortunately wounding them and forcing them to strip off there armour to rid themselves of the acid. The other guardsmen take the opportunity to start firing missiles at the Battlewagon, managing to damage to drive system and take some guns online.

The Ork Battlewagon slowly crawled out of the compound to engage the guard, taking shots and the ruined building that some where camped in and causing a small amount of remodelling to the superstructure but otherwise nothing else. 
Until Next time!

David

5th April International Tabletop Day

 

Next Saturday is International Tabletop Day, a celebration for all the fans of tabletop gaming. A single day where the whole world is brought together in a common purpose of spending time together and having fun. It is organised by the online community Geek and Sundry and this is the second year that it has run.

Their website has a load of cool stuff, particularly the blog which covers all sorts of topics from game development and networking (in the social but not online sense) to playing games with kids and how to run your own games night.

We'll be running as usual so come down and say Hi. Bag of Holding are also running their monthly games night at Flirt on that day so there is the option of double gaming fun if you want it.

Fire in the Hole: Planning the Mordant 303rd

Having decided to build an Imperial Guard army and decided the armies theme, I have to decide upon what models to buy and what to arm them with. I'm not all that fussed about creating something that is completely legal to use in 40K games, more about creating something that fits the background and looks cool. I need to create an army that appropriately represents a force that is a veteran of five long campaigns against mutant rebels, Hrud infestations and Genestealer cultists. An army that is designed to fight in close quarters against the Imperium's many enemies, to cleanse the narrow sewers of ruined cities and corridors of spaceships.



No Tanks!

The first thing that is out for my army is tanks. Tanks don't really do narrow tunnels, so the mainstay of many an Imperial Guard army sadly isn't suitable for mine. Somewhere at home I already have a Chimera, so that may get used but anything else is out of bounds. Equally unsuited for small tunnels are Rough Riders and Ogryns so I won't be having any of those either, or any of the now ubiquitous flyers.



To fit the theme of a force designed to board a spaceship I'll have some troops with equipment for breaching bulkheads (las-cutters, melta bombs, demo charges etc) but the bulk will be armed with weapons aimed for short range combat. Primarily these will be weapons that wouldn't cause structural damage to the hull of a ship (so shotguns, las-carbines and flamers). For some more heavy support I'll have some rapid firing sentry weapons (heavy bolters and heavy stubbers). The troops will be festooned with grenades so that they fit with the background for the regiment that I created in Only War (I am currently running a prequel to the long standing Dark Heresy campaign that I played in, charting how my character became an Inquisitorial Agent).

One of only three bits of artwork for the Mordant

Acid Dogs. Copyright Games Workshop.

There are only a handful of pieces of artwork for the Mordant Acid Dogs these show the troops being armed with a variety of equipment but broadly dressed like Cadians with a vest rather than a sleeved top. The conversions I've seen so far of Mordant troopers use Cadian bodies with Catachan arms, however I'm not a fan of the ridiculous body builder arms of the Jungle Fighters so will be looking elsewhere for some sleeveless arms. I'm also planning to use a variety of head swaps to emphasise the rag tag punky element of Mordant Troopers.

I've already stocked up on a selection of models and bitz to make my conversions but you'll have to wait until my next post for the details.

Only War: Session Deux

The team dig in and quickly find and repurpose an old sentinel power lifter to be a mobile fire platform by rigging the flamethrower to the main console. They also find plenty of piping and barrels of highly volatile refined promethium which they make into murder hole like weapons and land mines. After a couple of hours of hectic work night falls and they begin to take shifts to rest for the oncoming battle.

Unfortunately for them they totally miss the Gretchin scout party and it manages to abscond with a detailed layout of the defenders emplaced fortifications and traps. The diminutive little runts are however spotted in the morning light and shot to pieces. This was the masta plan of Big Mek Lugnutz who used the diminutive Gretchin as a distraction while placing breaching charges at the rear of the compound.

Our heros take the bait and are caught completely unaware as the Orks storm the compound from the rear. A force of five Burna Boyz, Loota's ten Gretchin and one large Mekboy burst onto the scene and critically wound two characters before being pulped. The Mekboy takes on the Sentinel in single combat with his Electro wrench and almost manages to wreck it, but is ultimately pulped by the vengeful fire from the surviving imperial guard!

So, with the first wave defeated how will our brave Imperials cope with Lugnutz next wave?
Find out next week!

David

Only War Campaign Update

Here is the first in a series of posts detailing the heroics of the Imperial Guard squad in the clubs Only War campaign - Darren

-------------------------------------------------

We rejoin our heroes regrouping behind the wreckage of an old Hab block.

They have just managed the salvage the internal gubbins from a power Klaw and the remains of the wrecked chimera's vox set.  Having got a message out to a distant Imperial guard flyer, the sergeant decides that there best chance for survival lies in getting back to the imperial lines as soon as possible, so he orders the troops into marching home. After a day of forced marching they break and camp, exhausted.

Next they discover a clearing that was not on the mapslate their operator was using, and when they stop to smell the flowers they get pounced on by some six legged indigenous mountain cats. The cats are quickly dispatched thanks to a flamer burst, knife to the gut and a very precise burst of heavy bolter fire. Proceeding through the jungle they hear the sounds of heavy gunfire as a Valkyrie roars overhead and crashes to the ground some kilometres away from their position. They decide to check it out, in order to see if they can help any survivors. Unfortunately they only find one wing bearing the designation of the troop ship they came down on.

Finally they return to the imperial compound where they are berated and sent of to defend another refinery against the ork force they were supposed to have routed.

David

In the Game of Thrones You Win or You Die

It's no secret that I'm a big fan of Game of Thrones, and whilst it doesn't quite make it to my favourite TV show (that would be Firefly) it sits up at the top along with Rome, the Borgias and the X Files. The show does everything right in my eyes, to suspend your disbelief and make a fantasy show feel like it is all real life. I was put off reading the book as it's pretty long, the kind of doorstop that makes Lord of the Rings look like a bit of light reading.



Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

Available ftrom Bournemouth Library

When the copy of the book I ordered from the library arrived on my desk with a waiting list, meaning I would have to read it in 4 weeks, I was sceptical that I would finish it. I don't read much fiction, I get bored with it quite easily and find all the weird names in fantasy novels impossible to keep up with. Unless it's easy to read I get frustrated, the book feels like a chore and I go off and read a research paper instead (I know, who reads research papers for fun - I sound like such a nerd). What a surprise when I started reading that:-

a) it's really easy to read
b) the chapters are short, so great for picking up when you have a couple of minutes spare
c) its the best thing since sliced bread. Hear that kids, its almost as good as bread!

Its the best fiction I have read since The Shining by Stephen King, I'd go so far as to say it is shaping up to be one of the best novels I have read.

Also on the subject of Game of Thrones, last night my regular gaming group played the board game for the first time. I played as Lannister and got horribly slaughtered by being caught between the Starks in the North and Barratheon in the East. After a few turns of mustering our forces, the battles begun with a series of bloody conflicts over Riverrun between myself and the Starks and between myself and Barratheon over much of the centre of Westeros. At the end of turn eight a Barratheon victory was secure as he had control of six castles and had pushed me out of Harranhal, which he was then able to secure without any fighting at the start of turn nine to win the game.

A Game of Thrones Boardgame by Fantasy Flight Games

Overall we felt it was a good game, though one which was probably overly complex and with some balance issues (the Roose Bolton, Eddard Stark combo is horrible).



AGM Agenda - 29th March

(Disclaimer: we cannot guarantee any cake as fancy

as this one). Taken from Wikimedia.

As mentioned previously we will be holding an Annual General Meeting on 29th March. This will feature a couple of short presentations by me, the vote for our new committee, tea and cake and the opportunity to discuss the club with the volunteers and me. The agenda for this meeting can be found below. The Meeting will open at 12:00 prompt and should be finished in between 30 minutes and an hour depending on how many items are raised in the open floor session. There is only one candidate for each of the committee positions but there is the option of voting for RON (i.e. to re-open nominations).


AGENDA

1. Cake!
2. Apologies
3. An overview of the last year and looking forward to the coming year.
4. Why run a gaming club / What is the club for?
5. Election of the Committee
• Club Leader - David Currie
• Wargames Coordinator - Raphael Pimlett
• Roleplay Coordinator - Jonathan Dalton
• Board and Card Games Coordinator - Benjamin Currie
• Libraries Representative - Unelected Position (Darren Edwards + Lyndsey Collis)
6. Process for electing a new GCN President.
7. Open Floor.

The Mordant 303rd - My New Army

For my sins I have decided to start an Imperial Guard army. A foolish prospect given that I have played 40K twice in the last decade. I am going to collect a Mordant Acid Dog army....

I imagine a lot of you will be scratching your heads wondering what I'm on about, you think I'm confused with how to spell Mordian. But no I'm not going insane, Mordant are a regiment in the 40K universe and I didn't even make them up myself. The Mordant Acid Dogs featured in the Eye of Terror campaign that GW ran back in 2003 and renown as tunnel fighters.

You may wonder why pick a Regiment with about half a page of background rather than one the many regiments with loads of cool background. The reason for me collecting them takes us back to 2009 and the publication of Dark Heresy Ascension.



Darius Tarrantarm: Noble rogue and

chancer (and sometimes hero of the

Imperium)*

We had been playing Dark Heresy for a year or so and had a group of miscreants that bumbled around falling upon evidence of heresy in their service to the Inquisition. I played Darius Tarrantarm a noble born chancer and wide boy, my brother played Mercutio Harrigan a drug addled former ganger turned dubious law enforcer and our friend Chris played Kaarl Raga a smelly, feral world assassin. When Ascension came out we had the chance of adding some actually competent characters into the campaign. Chris chose to play Rhoda Roskruger, a hive gang boss, my brother Navonax, a Tech Priest Magos specialising in wave research, and I Rizpah Jair an Imperial Guard Stormtrooper.



A Mordant Acid Dog

Copyright GW

I had decided I wanted to play a female guard and had a quick look through my back copies of White Dwarf to find a suitable regiment. I stumbled across this picture of a Mordant Guardswoman and I decided it fitted the bill perfectly. A tunnel fighting specialist who find herself the other side of the galaxy as part of an elite Ordo Xenos Stormtrooper Killteam, fighting against the dreaded Tyranids.

Move forward 5 years and my Stormtrooper had moved on from fighting aliens to killing an Emperor's Children Space Marine with a Fury Pattern Laspistol (Stormtoopers in Dark Heresy are pretty hardcore). So it seemed the perfect choice to bring out some of my old Cadian models and create the ill-fated force that was sent to reconnoitre a space hulk leading to much death at the hands of genestealers and the induction of my character into the forces of the Inquisition. I might even play some games of 40K with the new army I create.

So over the next months expect to see more posts and photos cataloguing my progress in this modelling project.

* This picture was created using this photo fit web app provided by the Open University.

GCN EGM

NOTICE OF A GCN EXTRAORDINARY GENERAL MEETING

DATE & TIME: SATURDAY 26TH APRIL 2014 at 11am

LOCATION: THE MOOT, GAMES WORKSHIP, LINTON ROAD, NOTTINGHAM

This EGM is being held due to the untimely death of Mr A.W. Barnes which has left the position of the GCN President vacant.



The Election Process:

Initial Nominations

Any Member of a currently active GCN Club may apply for this position.

To become a nominee, the member will require a nomination from each of a minimum of three GCN member clubs.

A Nominee must complete a basic manifesto, no more than one A4 page, which must be submitted via email or post to reach the Treasurer, Steve Nolan by Thursday, the 27th March.

 
The Voting Stage

Voting Forms and Copies of Nominee’s Manifest will be emailed to all GCN Member Club Reps over the weekend of the 29th and 30th March.

Clubs wishing to vote must return their voting form, either by email or post to reach the Treasurer by the 24th April 2014. Alternatively, club representatives may attend the EGM and cast their vote at the meeting. One vote is allowed per Club.

 
The Extraordinary General Meeting

The meeting will take place at the Moot, Games Workshop on the 26th April 2014.

Representatives from all Current GCN member clubs are invited to attend.

All of the current Council will be in attendance together with the Nominees.

The Nominees will be invited to give a short presentation after which the attending Clubs will cast their votes. These will be added to the postal and email votes and a winner declared.

 
The President’s duties

1] To act as a figurehead for the GCN

2] To promote the GCN and its member clubs

3] To chair all GCN Council meetings

4] To promote the gaming hobby to the general public

5] To liaise with member clubs & GCN officials

 
Notes: Prospective candidates should be aware that this position does require a large amount of personal time and private expense. Most importantly as the head of the Council and the GCN, a President needs to have tact, diplomacy and a vast reservoir of patience.

Boardgames, Beer and Badminton

The eagle eyed amongst you will notice I wasn't around last weekend, this was because I went to Devon with a massive group of friends from Uni. In addition to all the sensible mainstream things that we did like archery, air rifle and pistol shooting, badminton and eating far too much cake, we played boardgames... a lot of boardgames. At last years trip I was introduced to BSG, Ticket to Ride, Race for the Galaxy, Cthulhu Gloom, Monty Python Flux and Wiz War. This year, as well as playing some old favourites, I also got to try out Robo Rally, Firefly, Game of Thrones, King of Tokyo, The Big Bang Theory Party Game, Yggdrasil and Red November for the first time.


Yggdrasil: A cooperative board game

In no particular order. Yggdrasil and Red November are both cooperative games where all the players play against the game rather than each other. They have a very different flavour though, Yggdrasil you take the role of Norse Gods fighting to stop the destruction of the universe at Ragnarok. You get to make a number of actions each turn to fight back the monsters advance or to power up your characters for later in the game. Red November is a bit less serious, you play the crew of a gnomish submarine desperately fending off various crises abroad the boat. The game mechanic basically leaves you trading off taking more time to increase the chance of succeeding, against the greater number of crises that time generates.

King of Tokyo

In King of Tokyo you take the role of a monster movie style baddy trying to take control of Tokyo. The game involves dice rolling which provides you with attacks to damage your opponents, healing to remove damage you have taken or power to purchase upgrades for your monster. It is easy to pick up and quick, therefore likely to be a great game for our club. Robo Rally is a bit like the classic TV show Robot Wars, you race your laser wielding robot across a factory floor in the aim of winning the race or destroying your opponents. You programme your moves at the start of each turn and then each robot takes each part of its move in turn, potentially disrupting their opponents as a result. With a low number of players its very quick but becomes a much longer when played with the maximum number of players (we played for several hours without getting anywhere near the end). The Big Bang Theory Party Game works by each player choosing an amusing answer to a category or description, e.g. the category "Often Leads to Disaster" could be answered with "Killer Robots". It is basically a toned down version of Cards Against Humanity, I'm not sure either game is particularly suited to our club as the potential for causing offence is pretty high.

The two big long games that we played were the new Firefly board game and the Game of Thrones board game. In Firefly you are captain of a ship looking for crew to complete jobs in order to make cash. The overall objective to win changes each game depending on a story card, ours was to simply make the most money. Each turn you get to make two actions, for example you can buy goods, take new jobs or move. Moving slowly has no risk but making a hard burn to move further comes at the risk of encountering the Alliance or Reavers. The game captures the feel of the Firefly/Serenity universe well and if you're a fan of the show you'll probably like this game. Game of Thrones is a bit of a beast of a game, the rules are fairly complex and it takes a long time to play. We played for 3 hours and got to the halfway point. You take control of one of the houses of Westeros and battle for control of the castles and citadels of the continent. The game has a variety of different mechanisms in place from placing orders for your troops, blind bidding for one of the positions of power and card drawing for random events at the end of each turn. Whilst it took a while to get into it felt like a well designed game and it was a shame that it took so long with half the players never having played before.