Tuesday 25 February 2014

NZTC: 1/250th Legion of Doom The Underdogs?

NZTC: 1/250th Legion of Doom: Underdogs ? Or Antiheroes



 While I was away in Europe our team for the NZTC became 1/250th of the Legion of Doom


My knee-jerk was that this refers to the DC Comics Team of Anti-Heroes, but just to be safe I googled it, and came up with the following options: (Wikipedia):

Legion of Doom can refer to:

  • Legion of Doom (DC Comics), a group of DC Comics supervillains that appeared in Challenge of the Superfriends - Ok, thats possibly us
  • Legion of Doom (hacking), a hacking group that took its name from the supervillains.. No hacking skills I am aware of
  • The Legion of Doom (mash up group), a mash-up group... No mashing skills that I am aware of either. Music, I presume. We can mash up a Warhammer game though.


  • Legion of Doom (ice hockey), nickname for the line of ice hockey teammates Eric Lindros, John LeClair, and Mikael Renberg ... No skills here, so definitely not us
  • Legion of Doom, the name that the professional wrestling tag team, the Road Warriors, and their manager, Paul Ellering, used while in the WWF/WWE... I never went professional, and only did two years of amateur wrestling back in the 70s. Was no good at that anyhow.

Either way, I strongly suspect we may be the Underdogs in the tournament. We are tournament newbies, shaky on the rules, struggling with even getting our lists right, limited model availability and choice for out armies, we may appear a bit shaky. 

Having gone through the lists submitted I also have no hesitation in predicting that we may struggle against the big guns: Throgg Lists, Skull Cannon crossfire, Epidemius and Conga-lines of Beasts of Nurgle, Monstrous Cavalry Buses and Shooty and Magicky lists





Or will we simply be crushed?

So we're going to have to dig deep and hope to find the 1/250th shard of Kryptonite on the day. 
We are, however very motivated and ready to rumble!
Bring it on!

Gentlemen, choose you characters. Here are some suggestions. (13 to choose from): 

MemberAlter egoDescriptionPowersTraditional enemyPossible ID
BizarroBizarroTwisted doppelganger of Superman from Bizarro WorldSame as Superman, but often behaves in an erratic and irrational mannerSupermanErratic ? Irrational?  Who throws dice?  
Black MantaUnknownDeep-sea diver and would-be ocean conquerorEnhanced strength, water breathing ability (through artificial gills), high tech equipment, freaking laser beamsAquamanProbably Herman or Luc ?
We both scuba dive.
BrainiacVril DoxEvil androidSuper-intelligence, advanced technology. Who plays 40K. Dave, Rex...Superman
Captain ColdLeonard SnartBlue-suited master of low temperaturesFreeze ray guns. Dave? In Winter, opening the Club when its cold?The FlashOnly in winter when the heating's not on at the club
CheetahPriscilla RichCat-suit-wearing womanCat-like reflexes, claw-tipped gloves...NahWonder WomanNo gurlz in our team
GigantaDoris ZeulStole Apache Chief's magic powder to duplicate his powersAbility to grow, super strengthWonder Woman[2] and
Apache Chief
No big guyz in our team
Gorilla GroddGorilla GroddMegalomaniacal exile from Gorilla CitySuper-intelligence, super strength...The FlashIntelligenz yea, stength naw..
Lex LuthorLex LuthorFounder and leader of the Legion of DoomEvil genius, highly-advanced weaponry, plays 40KSupermanHas to be Rex !
RiddlerEdward NigmaUses riddles to taunt and confuse adversaries while committing crimesPuzzle creation, problem solving, super intelligent evil genius, puzzle themed traps and gadgets.Batman and RobinProbably Luc !
ScarecrowProfessor Jonathan CraneUses his fear gas to bring peoples' worst fears to lifeGas Weapon. Lethal in close confines: We have all been known to use this weapon of mass destruction. We will ritually eat cabbage, onions and beans before the tournament. Batman and RobinShhhh... Our secret weapon !
SinestroSinestroRenegade ex-Green LanternYellow power ring. OK, who took the Ruby Ring of Rhuin? Green LanternOK. Lets see your hands...
Solomon GrundyCyrus GoldA super-powered zombie born from the swampGreat strength, invulnerability... NawGreen LanternNo VC players in the team
ToymanJack NimballDresses as a jester; uses toy-based tactics to commit crimesCreates destructive toys
NEVER !
SupermanDave ? Herman? Luc? Rex?


Saturday 22 February 2014

Warhammer NZTC 2014 Coming up: Dark Elves Rising to the Challenge

New Zealand Team Competition looming: Dark Elves at the Ready


So with NZTC a week away, the sabres have started rattling, champions and heroes are strutting and posturing. Or is that the generals?
The crowd is not as vociferous as last year, but I suspect more scrutiny of lists and strategic planning is taking place. Last year a lot of matching-up took place on the day.

 This year a lot more of the heavyweights of the NZ Warhammer Fantasy Tournament are taking part.
The lists also reflect that. There seems to be a lot less "fun" lists around, with quite a lot of deathstars, filthy lists in abundance. Looks like it will be tough battle.

Kapiti Wargames Club is fielding two teams: Beauty and the Beasts and 1/250 of the Legion of Doom


I am playing in the latter with Rex Foote, David Oemcke and my son Luc. Compared to the other team we are the newbies and comparatively green. We tend to play more for fun than competitively, but that is just the reason we are going! I'm taking the Hydra Bitch Bus and Luc his Ogre Death Star, Dave Dwarfs, and Rex Wood Elfs.

So this is how the field shapes up in terms of armies chosen for the event:


Armies
Beauty & Beasts: Empire Warriors Of Chaos Daemons of Chaos Dark Elves
Ham: High Elves Dwarfs Daemons of Chaos Lizardmen
Nerdymen: High Elves Brettonnia Vampire Counts Empire
250th's of the Legion of Doom: Wood Elves Dark Elves Ogre Kingdoms Dwarfs
Grumpy Old Men: High Elves Dark Elves Ogre Kingdoms Lizardmen
Basiliers: Empire Warriors Of Chaos Vampire Counts Orcs and Goblins
Team with the Guy: Dark Elves High Elves Daemons of Chaos Empire
Nice Team: Lizardmen Warriors Of Chaos Dwarfs Skaven
Shirts Off: High Elves Warriors Of Chaos Orc and Goblins Lizardmen
Stonesfall Massive: Empire Warriors Of Chaos Daemons of Chaos Ogre Kingdoms
Buckethead: Beastmen Dwarfs Empire Ogre Kingdoms
DILF: Brettonnia Warriors Of Chaos Vampire Counts Lizardmen
Panel Comp FTW:  Dark Elves Warriors Of Chaos Empire Skaven
KrakTeam: Dark Elves Dwarfs Vampire Counts Lizardmen
WolfPack: Empire Warriors Of Chaos Daemons of Chaos Skaven
Von Trapp: Dark Elves Warriors Of Chaos Daemons of Chaos Skaven
 

Army Distribution:
Warriors Of Chaos 9
Empire 8
Dark Elves 7
Daemons of Chaos 6
Lizardmen 6
High Elves 5
Dwarfs 5
Ogre Kingdoms 4
Vampire Counts 4
Skaven 4
Brettonnia 2
Orcs and Goblins 2
Wood Elves 1
Beastmen 1
Tomb Kings 0
Chaos Dwarfs 0

Info from Pete Dunn's Fields of Blood

The Fantasy images are from Helmutt: http://helmutt.cghub.com/images/page:1
check them out for some great fantasy art work

Ps. Noticed that the Skullcannon numbers have just been nerfed in FOB-Lite. 
About time.

Sunday 9 February 2014

To the Dark Sphere and Back: Circumnavigating the globe

To the Dark Sphere and back: In NZ again after 30 days circumnavigating the globe

Back to blogging: I am back at the keyboard after 30 days of travelling the world, many great experiences and more additions to the ever growing pile of un-built models.

 Luc and I are now working on our lists for the NZTC Warhammer  Tournament (NZ Team Champs) coming up in March. He plans on fielding an Ogre list, and I am working on my Dark Elves (No surprise that, eh, with the great new rules and models)

Our trip took us around the world, from NZ to the land of cheap electronics (Malaysia), beach paradise no 1 (Koh Lipe, Thailand) The land of affordable Warhammer models and Anglophile history (UK), the land of Guiness beer, whiskey in a jar, and folk music (Eire), the land of great cheese, foi gras, garlic and red wine (and things Napoleonic and Francophile history) - France, to Tinseltown (US), and finally to beach paradise no 2 (Moorea, Tahiti) before winging our way back to Aotearoa (NZ)

One of the highlights of our trip was a visit to Dark Sphere, London's biggest gaming store, now in Lambeth, London. They recently moved, and are now situated a stone's throw from the Imperial War Museum.

This shop just cannot be missed! We arrived at this gaming cornucopia after a visit to the Natural History Museum. (Trade-off with daughter Lisa, as she didn't want to go to the IWM, and they are renovating for the 100th Anniversary of WW1 anyhow.)


The bulging shelves of the right hand side of Dark Sphere's new home.

The purveyors of joy at Dark Sphere were still unpacking, having just moved into the new premises. Boxes of models were piled up to 3 metres high in places, and it took great discipline to stay within budget.


Needless to say, being free of the mark-up we have to endure in NZ made the experience all the sweeter. We had to unwillingly tear ourselves away, as it was getting late, and as usual when fellow gamers meet, we fell into taking about our hobby with the store staff and fellow afficionados.

Looking forward to the next year of gaming the two of us had to discipline ourselves severely to stick to the agreed budget. We ended up buying a DE cauldron/medusa, warlocks/dark riders, and scourge runner for me,an Ogre fire belly and a unit of ogre bulls, an iron blaster (Yes, Luc felt he needed more ogres and another blaster!), and Gor Rok, and a Carnosaur /Troglothingy,for his Lizard army and he also spied a board game that retails for $120 here,all  for the grand sum of 150 pounds ($300) Would have been even cheaper had we ordered it online beforehand, and collected from thye store!

I had to refrain from getting more Chaos Daemons and Empire stuff, as we still had 2 weeks of travel expenses ahead of us, and I resolutely looked past the racks and racks of Warmachine and other 28mm Privateer Press, and almost any other model maker and scale you could imagine. Ok, I looked. Just a little.

Yes, Battlefront was also there, but with price equity in NZ$ (Funny that). Only Plastic Soldier Co was absent from the racks, and some of the more obscure brands, such as Wargods of Hyperborea (Crocodile games, which I had hoped to find there)

I have just calculated the cost of our GW haul if we had bought it here - $563NZ! (Not counting the $120+ board game, which would have brought the cost to $680+ had we bought these here)  We are talking almost a 100% mark-up. Surely this cannot be justified on transport costs alone.


Anyhow, we got the expected scolding from mommy dearest when we arrived back at our accommodation with 4 bags bulging with models and games. We swiftly de-boxed the models and posted them back to NZ for the princely cost of 15 Euros when we got to Dublin. (26-28 NZ$).


Lots of building and painting to be done now!