Tuesday, 19 May 2015

9th Ed: Waiting for the Hammer to Fall

A Visit from Nurgle (or the Night before 9th Ed WHFB)



So with mixed emotions we all wait with bated breath for what 9th Ed brings.
The anticipation is almost like Christmas, with the very real fear that we may just end up with coal in our stockings...

A Visit from Nurgle (or The Night before 9th Edition)

- With Apology to Clement Clarke Moore

'Ts been months  before 9th Ed, and all through the web
Not a creature was blogging, not even a pleb;
The rumours had run dry, does anyone still care?
Feels if Fantasy Battles 9th Ed will never be here

The gamers are nestled all snug in their beds;
Elves on round bases dance through their heads;
End Times, speculation and rumours, so sick of this crap,
I’ll  just settle in for a long winter's nap.

The faithful departed to Warmachine: that’s bad
Or Star Wars X-wing, to me that is sad
The End times left us stunned and confused
GW’s marketing policies are oh so obtused

Does all the anticipation still matter,
When my Ogres, Lizards could all just go splatter ?
They squatted the Elves, my Druchii lament
What does combined stats, KFC and the Glottkin portend?

Down to my man cave I flew like a flash,
Tore open the doors and looked at my stash.
The moon on the figures like new-fallen snow,
Gave Lustria’s denizens a sad sorry glow

What else to my wondering eyes did appear,
But a unit of dwarfs drinking Bugman’s sad beer,
My Warhammer world once lively and quick,
Now gone? In Bubbles?  I’m feeling so sick.

More rapid than eagles my feelings came,
I cursed and I shouted called them all names:
"Now, Dashit! Now, Hashit! You Pratts and You Vixens!
Oh, come on, how stupid ! Oh, Donner und Blitzen!
From the top of the porch! From the top of the wall!
Now dash it all! dash it all! dash it away with it all!"

As leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
I wonder about 9th Ed and look to the sky;
So up to the workbench the modeller withdrew
To his pile of plastic models, of paints and of glue

The stump of a brush I clenched tight in my teeth,
And bent down to Flames of War, now stored underneath;
With Tigers and Panthers, with StuGs  I made merry
Painted Russians and Germans and Brits (and a dairy).

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of a harpy’s hoof ?
As I swung my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney I spotted a green Nurgle hound

Please nerf him, I thought, as hard as my Kroot
And his mates conga-lining behind him to boot;
A bundle of misery he had flung on his back,
Nurgle’s herald was just opening his sack...

The stats - how broken:  poison, challenge, regen, how scary!
Line ‘em up, smell the roses, oh look, oh how merry!
My Daemon army, at least this I know,
May still remain useful come the 9th Ed blow.

Nurgle was chubby and plump, not quite a dour Dark Elf,
But I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head
Soon gave me to know I had everything to dread;

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
Of  poisoned blogs and of rumours; then turned (what a jerk),
Pulled the finger, and blew snot out his nose,
And passing wind, up the chimney he rose;

He sprang to his palanquin, to his nurglings a whistle,
And tangled me quick in bramble and thistle.
As I screamed he exclaimed, ere he drove out of sight—
“There will be no 9th Edition, and F@ck you, Good night!”

Monday, 4 May 2015

Chunuk Bair ANZAC Diorama Opens. Pictures from our preview on Friday night

The ANZAC Diorama of the Battle of Chunuk Bair 1915 Opened today.


I was lucky to have a tour of the NZ room on Friday night before it opened:




Clicky to my (non-fantasy) wargames blog for photos:

Wednesday, 15 April 2015

Tuesday, 14 April 2015

More from the Weta Cave: Behind the scenes at the WW100 ANZAC Diorama

More work at the weekend on the ANZAC Diorama of Chanuk Bair

Turks attacking.

I had the wonderful  opportunity to again work on the WW100 ANZAC Diorama project:

Full write-up on my Wargames Obsession blog (clicky)

Tuesday, 7 April 2015

Miniature Heaven: Working with Sir Peter Jackson on the WW100 Gallipoli Project

Miniature Painter Nerd Heaven: We get to work with Peter Jackson and The Perry Brothers


OK, I know this is off topic, but I just have to share with my fellow Fantasy players the joy of being involved in the WW100 ANZAC Defense of Chanuk Bair Diorama:

Link to my Wargames Obsession Blog: Working with the man


Unashamed nerdiliciousness. Me and the man.
In the Weta Workshop.

Saturday, 14 March 2015

While I was up the Mountain GW quietly slit WHFB's throat

Is GW about to let Fantasy bleed out?


While I was climbing Mt Kahikatea on the South Island with a hundred 11 and 12 year olds last week, GW did something unspeakable to it's fluff and rules.



30 years of fluff about to bleed out into the dust?  (Click to Pete's blog article on this)

Speculation is now hotter than ever with the leaks and hints, and the direction that GW seems to be taking. Rage quitters and fanboys alike now wait with abated breath for 9th Ed.

Interesting (End) times indeed. The last End Times book, Archaon. Wrath of Khorne (yay!)
But:
Rip out the restrictions on army builds (with exception of having only one Army standard) Ouch... what about  tournaments and gentlemanly play. This is not cricket. Let all hell break loose!
Free-for-all is now the new black! May be something akin to a bar fight:


Khorne release: 

Some nice new models BUT with my growing insecurity about WHFB's direction, I am staying that hand that is straying to my wallet.
Looking to Saga on Gripping Beast and Wayland games websites instead for my monthly fix of plastic crack (Thanks for that term, Tim).

Really great new Khorne models, but I think no purchases from GW until 9th Ed comes and shows its true colours. I do love the Skarr and wrathmonger/skullreaper kits and the Skarr model, none the less.



Skarr Bloodwrath:
M4 WS8 BS3 S5 T5 W3 I7 A5 Ld8
Bloodstorm Blades: Magic weapons, +2S first round of combat, and grants Impact Hits(d3)
His Bloodborn rule is great.









Stat lines:

 

Formations in the last book brings us Boom-boom-shake-the-room-multishot dwarf canons 
(Last hurrah for the stunties before they join the Lizards, Orcs and Ogres on a trip into oblivion ?)



Bit of nerf in this one for Elves. Would rather dust off them dwarfs. Boom boom!

So, for me...I'll just sit and wait.

Paint some Turks or ANZACs to while the time away while we wait for 9th Ed and the things to come. 

Maybe some Saga when the books arrive. Maybe some FoW... 


Been watching the 3rd season of Vikings on Lightbox (The 1st 4 episodes) 


I would recommend it if you are a dark ages fan!


...Adding some impetus to my leaning to Saga.

Full image of Caravaggio's "Abraham sacrificing Isaac" (Uffizzi, Italy) 1603



Devine intervention stopping Abraham from sacrificing his son. I'm hoping something similar will occur to prevent the demise of WHFB as we know it.
Some viewers may have found the cropped image unsettling. Apologies if any sensitivities were disturbed, that was not the intention








Monday, 2 March 2015

NZTC 2015 Photos and Winners

Warhammer Fantasy Battles New Zealand Team Championships 2014

The Kapiti Wargames Club fielded 2 teams: Legion of Doom and Pants Off!

Day 1: Gloves off, or was it shirts of and pants off?
After a brief kerfuffle to find a replacement player at no 99 when Rex took ill, Team Legion of Doom (LoD) arrived to take on the big guns of the NZ Warhammer world.

Roundly tipped to take the wooden spoon, as we had come close to in the preceding years, we proceeded to do battle.

Many thanks to Lockie Reid who stood in for the incapacitated Rex, ably fielding his Wood Elf army!
Hope you're feeling better, Rex! You missed a great tournament!

Not much time to do a write-up of my experience or the event (I will do it next week)
I am now hurriedly packing to go off on a school camp at the crack of sparrows tomorrow...

So, this is really not much more than a photo-dump.

May thanks to Pete and Tim for a fantastic event!

And no, we (LoD) did not take the wooden spoon either!

For full results check The Fields of Blood.

Pete and Tim, feel free to right-click and use my photos for your blogs
(It would be nice if you linked back to my blog or acknowledged some way)

Apologies for poor quality of Day 1 photos- taken with my phone



And the gaming is on!



The Field:

Artful Dodgers
DILF
Grumpy Old Men
Legion of Doom
Nice Team
Not Afraid to use Comp
Pants Off
Petes Pot Luck
Shirts Off
Stonesfall Massive
Team Bucketheads
Weekend Warriors



Heroic stand of my Corsair Master in my first game - Team DILF
Druchii Civil War.



Kapiti Teams Comparing notes after the first clash


And then we're off again


Some lovelies that caught the eye...






The Nice Team. Tane and Luc doing battle


Ironblaster in hard cover






Team Pants Off (Also from Kapiti) going hammer and tongs...




Day 2: Artful Dodgers fist up: 



Then Weekend Warriors


And Grumpy Old Men...




Ladies and Gentlemen: Tim announcing the winners:



Aesthetic awards:: 




Best Sports:


Not Afraid to Use Comp


The Inaugural Van Trapp Invitational Trophy 
(Sorry Pete, you've got yer eyes closed: but it's the only shot I got)




Third place


Second Place



And Overall Winners: Team DILF (with a Phoarrr)


Very relieved that the Wooden Spoon passed Team Legion of Doom by (again)!
You will notice that it is a slotted wooden spoon...
 To represent all those attacks allowed to come through!