Can you believe it is December? I can’t. It seems like only yesterday I was lounging at my computer pretending to look for employment. Now twelve months later, I am shelling out for a house. Crazy. Now seems like a good time for an Underdark Campaign update.

Things have been going from bad to worse for my faction, the Twilight Host. The Deathcave Syndicate is systematically annihilating both us and the Chosen. We have our problems, but the Chosen are being hit hard. I’m not too sure what their strategy is, or what they are planning, but on our end we have almost universal indifference. To be fair, 90% of the players in our faction have been eerily silent or coldly blasé since turn 2. So I don’t know why, by turn 7, things should be any different.

I am having fun, though. As a writing challenge alone it is quite challenging. Trying to make the uncontrollable and largely unscripted happenings in each turn morph into a single, cohesive story is proving quite the task. Lump on top of this the almost palpable air of desperation that has permeated the Dark Host and Twilight Host, and you have quite the thriller of a game. It is sad that so many people couldn’t keep with the program.

On the one hand, I can see why so many have dropped out or just lost interest. But on the other hand, these players made a commitment, and should be boiled alive for dishonouring it.

Sorry, I’ve been on a megalomaniacal streak lately.

It is quite possible the campaign is finishing up soon. If the Syndicate doesn’t fragment, and manages to wipe the map clean, then that is game over. Everyone gets a warpstone token and a pat on the head. Job well done. Another sordid page of the UnderEmpire history books successfully spoiled.

It occurs to me that although I haven’t been posting recently, I have been doing a lot of gaming related activities, so now’s the time to catch up. The most noteworthy of these activities is the start to my new Skaven army.

Skaven Plague Monks. This unit took about 12hrs to assemble and paint.

And why would I start yet another WHFB army?

I have a full HE and TK army – I have remnants of OK, Chaos and Demon armies (thanks GW for splitting them up) and I still have Lizardmen models, believe it or not. So why Skaven? When Skaven were released, I got nostalgic for my old O&G horde army – an army I sold off more than 3 years ago now, and it was the right thing to do at the time, because the new O&G book was out, and it totally undermined my almost all Goblin units. The new Skaven models were cool plastic kits, and the most important of them were plastic – I just wanted to paint some! A modest investment got me the army book and a box of ClanRats and I was off.

Skaven clanrats unit. This took about 12hrs to assemble and paint.

The New ClanRat Models - The new ClanRat models are a huge step forward for GW. I remember with the old Night Goblin models that piecing a regiment of 20 guys together was brutally time consuming for what they were – 2pts apiece! ClanRats on the other hand are 2-part models, superbly done. Their bodies (head to toe) are 1 piece – you only have to attach the right wepon arm. DONE! If you want, you can add a shield for 3 parts, but I only do shields on my first rank anyway – they’re so small, they’re not easy to see in successive ranks of rats. There’s also very little flash on the models – probably the least of any kit I’ve bought from GW – which is great for me, as I want to get units painted quickly, and really resent the time wasted de-flashing models.

The second best thing about the new ClanRats are how easy they are to paint. The high detail lends itself really well to tidy paint jobs and a covering wash. DONE! Maybe a bit of highlighting with the original washed colour afterwards, but only if the rat doesn’t look good enough as it is, which is most often the case. Awesome models all around. Quick to assemble and easy to paint – that makes us horde army guys really happy.

Plague Monks – These guys have been plastic for a long time now, but they were my second choice of unit to paint, because with a unit of these guys, you can get a Hero level Plague Priest to accompany them, and therefore put a Plague Furnace on the table. With a horde army, I’m all about getting big points on the table whenever possible – high cost units are very welcome indeed.

Like the ClanRats, the Plague Monks were easy to paint, although they’re made from 4 parts each. Their robes are smooth, and their weapons plain, so you can blast through these guys on the painting table, in about a day – that’s 8hrs kids – that’s a “billable” day for me. Yes they’re that fast.

The Skaven Promise – I promised myself I wouldn’t buy additional Skaven units until I painted what I had, and so far it’s been quite fun to stick to that promise. I’m excited to finish a unit, as not only will it look good, but I eagerly search the book for my next, most logical purchase. (Which I can then buy guilt free!) I’ll let you know how that comes along…

A hores d’ara tothom sap com son les partides de Dioni i, molt especialment, la de Q3. Doncs be, per si a algú li quedava algun dubte, ahir varem poder confirmar que les partides de Dioni no es poden oblidar, per molt que vulguis lograr-ho.

A la partida del mes passat (en la que, per no variar, tampoc varem pujar de nivell) varem pensar que Dioni no podria sorprendre’ns més després de tindre que matar una Hidra a base d’hòstia pura (sense tallar caps i cremar-los i coses així que es com es suposa que es maten) després de (càlcul aproximat) haver-li fet un total de 400 hp de ferides entre el que aguantava i el que es regenerava. Be, com ja haureu imaginat, estàvem totalment equivocats…

Ahir (be, aquesta matinada), després d’un parell d’encontres “tontos” d’aquells que deixen tiritant a tots i en els que al final no t’expliques com no ha caigut la meitat del grup, varem tindre el combat estrella de la nit. Quasi 4 hores de temps real per resoldre un combat (Miguel, ¿tu mujer te dejó entrar en casa a pesar de volver a esas horas? ) contra 5 morts vivents que hi havia a una habitació, més 5 morts vivents iguals als anteriors a la habitació del costat, aquests liderats per un Guerrer de 7e nivell que a més era vampir.

Quin va ser el problema? Doncs la veritat es que teníem tots els avantatges de cara: érem uns afortunats jugadors amb personatges de 3er nivell tot just “upgradejats” a Pathfinder (Hurraaaaaaah) i abans de la primera hòstia varem tindre tot el temps del mon per “bufear-nos” i atacar el primer torn per sorpresa. Lamentablement, a més del guerrer de 7e amb els seus x-tres per ser vampir i estar en terra dessacralitzada, els morts vivents en qüestió eren de 10HD i, com a bons morts vivents, immunes a crítics; a més, segons les circumstancies, podrien arribar a regenerar hits, també els beneficiava la terra dessacralitzada i poseien una intel·ligència que els permetia coordinar de forma intel·ligent els seus atacs (que per cert, baixaven punts de constitució amb certa facilitat; en total crec que es van xuclar uns 15 punts de CON). M’he deixat alguna cosa sobre aquests angelets? Ah si! En total els 10 bitxos aguantaven 1700 hp (si, no m’he equivocat al sumar, cadascun aguantava aprox. el mateix que tots nossaltres junts, sumant hp i CON).

Que com varem lograr-ho? Doncs quan ja havíem neteixat la primera de les habitacions i estàvem començant amb la segona, varem contar amb l’ajut d’una arxi-maga de 17e nivell que, després de llençar 2 Delayed Fireball i 2 Fireballs més (el mal no el varem tirar, es va aplicar directament una tirada promig calculada), amb la major part dels bitxos fallant les seves tirades de salvació, no havia aconseguit cargar-se mes que a un d’ells, i perquè nosaltres ja l’havíem deixat ben estovat a osties (be, això i perquè va fallar dues tirades de salvació, que si no no hauria caigut). El vampir, per la seva part, va ser més fàcil, només va caldre un Disintegrate.

I la recompensa per tot això… unes desenes de monedes d’or, una gema de 6000mo, i finalment (després de més d’un any de temps real jugant) pujar a 4t nivell pels pèls (Yupiii!) Ara per pujar a 5e només ens calen tants punts com per pujar a 8e en el grup de Ptolus, ara que Pau ho ha posat més difícil perquè pugem més poc a poc.

Un altre partida dioni(-síaca)-sàdica.

With the arrival of the new Skaven book, I’m revisiting my ratties. I kit-bashed a Poison Wind Mortar team (plenty of bits at hand) and have brought out the parts for my own Warp Lightning Cannon.

I’ve had the parts and designs for my version of the Cannon since the previous edition of the Skaven book, but I just never got around to it. The old points value also dissuaded me, but the lower cost (as well as lower cost of many things in the army) mean I’ll finish it and give it a go on the table. The pics of the Cannon are in-progress, so are missing parts and wires.

Somehow I managed to finish off the slaves today. I also gave 15 of the 30 Clanrats a base coat. Then I ran out of spray. Aaargh!!!

It is quickly becoming one of those weeks, and the week hasn’t even started yet. Our landlord called up, and our place is going on the market in two weeks. Right in time for Christmas. Thanks a lot, jackarse.

We have decided to bite the bullet and actually purchase a house. Of course, such a large expenditure coincides with me wanting to buy some new skaven stuff. Fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. Things just keep getting better.

Dark Heresy

Master: Jordi Ferré

Jugadores: Skaven, Arturo, XAS, Andrés, Iolanda, Marta

Horario: Domingos Semanas B2

Star Trek Academia

Master: Jordi Ferré

Jugadores: Isa, Miguel, Dioni y Skaven

Horario: Viernes Noche Semanas A1

Ghost in the Shell

Master: Jordi Ferré

Jugadores: Isa, Miguel, Fiber y Skaven

Horario: Sabado Noche Semanas B2

Q-3

Master: Dioni

Jugadores: Pau, Miguel, Skaven y Jordi

Sistema: Dungeons & Dragons 3.5

Horario: Sabado Noche Semanas B1

End of Time

Master: Enric

Jugadores: Cris, Skaven y Andrés

Horario: Sabados Tarde Semana A

Esta partida se juega cuando Cristian no puede venir a Babylon 5

La humanidad ya había empezado a colonizar la Luna y Marte, ya tenía una colonia orbital enorme en el punto de lagrange 1 y hasta existía alguna base de investigación en las lunas de Júpiter cuando sucedió la catástrofe. Al principio nadie se dió cuenta. Era algo sutil, difícil de detectar. Cuando se descubrió ya era tarde, una gran parte de la población había contraído la enfermedad. Una enfermedad “benigna” ya que no mataba al individuo. Ni siquiera lo ponía enfermo. Pero lo volvía loco.
La tercera guerra mundial se desató a manos de militares y políticos afectados por la locura. Llovieron las bombas nucleares por todo el mundo y la guerra se generalizó. Actualmente la guerra continúa, con los medios que quedan, pocos ya. Sólo han sobrevivido las colonias donde un fragmento de la humanidad sigue aún intacto pero ¿Por cuanto tiempo?

Bienvenidos al Fin de los Dias.

BABYLON 5

Master: Enric

Jugadores: Cristina, Skaven, Cristian y Andrés

Horario: Semanas A por la tarde

Good morning Intarwebz, how are you doing?

I am sure that you, like me, are aware of just how awesome a resource the Internet can be. Not just a repository for media of the female of the species in various states of undress doing unusual things with various food groups, but a fount of information and communities of like-minded individuals. Normally a hobby that is stereotypical filled with either pre-pubescent youths or sweaty, bearded old men locked away in their parents dungeon comes into the (normally shunned) bright lights of socialism and we find many places where we can engage with others, finding (shockingly) that the majority of gamers are just normal folks with a liking for half-naked elves, or whatever.

However, there is also a feature of Internet communities that are not so positive. While this medium has, in a way, brought the hobby to a more mainstream audience there has been an effect born of forums that does not just take place within our favoured pastime. This follows on from my post earlier in the week regarding the eagerness and excitement you can feel when a project clicks for you and I feel that this behaviour is increasingly prevalent. I’m willing to admit that we see perhaps a subset of the community who are active participants online and this may skew the results but we can deal with that.

What I am talking about is the negativity that seems pervasive sometimes when discussions of armies come up. Taking for an example the newest Fantasy army, the Skaven, I have read discussions that on some occasions are downright damning of various units and their abilities. I’ll also admit that these discussions seem to revolve purely around what will be viable for a tournaments and while I commend the fact that tournaments are more frequent and better established these days I would hazard that this is not the preferred way of gaming for the vast majority of gamers. I have read threads posted that could completely crush enthusiasm if you were planning something that is being discussed and these discussions rarely touch on those things that are positive. This isn’t purely the case with the latest armies, this can be anything at all, it really does seem that the more negative the person the more vocal they are when the Internet beckons.

Luckily for most of this I can try to ignore what is being said. I’m not a tourney player, I enjoy the quiet competition between friends gathered around a suitably transformed dining table. I’d also like to point out that this isn’t something only linked to Games Workshop’s games but is present among other companies as well. Any game involving an army list obviously will have some units that are seen as sub-par and others perform way beyond their points cost, however, I’m a keen believer that the game is what you make of it and all this negativity is unnecessary. We should enjoy trying things out and experimenting, not merely talking about which unit are auto-includes or that you should never take unit X because player Y reckons it sucks donkey wang without having ever actually used it.

I haven’t really had much time to do all my regular Warhammer stuff the last week or so. Why this is can be revealed soon. Very soon. In the interim, though, I offer up a brief battle Brad and I had the other day. He popped around with his Ogres so I decided to give the new Skaven a run against them.

Ogre Kingdoms – 1500 points
1 Bruiser
1 Butcher
4 Bulls
4 Ironguts
3 Ironguts
3 Leadbelchers
3 Leadbelchers
3 Bulls
1 Gorger
10 Gnoblar Trappers

Skaven – 1500 points
1 Cheiftain
1 Cheiftain Battle Standard Bearer
1 Warlock Engineer
30 Clanrats
25 Stormvermin
20 Slaves
20 Slaves
25 Plague Monks
3 Jezzails
1 Doomwheel

So the Ogres were a pretty standard ogre list, while the skaven list I have taken is pretty much a cut down version of the one I used at Dogs Breakfast.

The ogres took the first turn, moving forward in a V formation, with Bulls followed by Leadbelchers and then Ironguts. My Skaven were deployed with the bulk of their hitting power on the left flank, with a unit of slaves and the Globadiers on the right.

To be honest, the specific details of the battle are a haze. The Gorger appeared on turn two and tried to harry the right flank, only managing to put the hurt on the Globadiers. A unit of Leadbelchers and the Bruiser also managed to get a charge on the Plague Monks, breaking them in two rounds of combat. However, by pursuing them they were left in an opportune spot for the Clanrats to charge and overwhelm them.

The Gnoblar Trappers really failed to do anything, only drawing a 40 point slave unit away from the main battleline. The Stormvermin too contributed little to the battle, though they did soundly pummel the Bull regiment they flank charged.

Reprising its role as ‘man of the match’ from Dogs Breakfast, the Doomwheel performed amazingly. This instrument of destruction consistently put the hurt into the Ogres, either with massively powerful blasts of warplightning or with precision close combat attacks. Even misfiring once didn’t seem to phase it. I think, of any army in Warhammer, Ogre Kingdoms is the one that the Doomwheel will be able to do the most damage against. The warplightning attacks are extremely focused, doing D6 wounds on single models. Against such a small multi-wound force like the Ogres this is bad news. Ogre Kingdoms players be warned! The Doomwheel is your number one opponent in the new Skaven list.

So there wasn’t really much in this Ogre Kingdoms list the Skaven couldn’t handle. I think if Brad had attacked with a little bit more focus the result would have been very different. Obviously the Doomwheel should have been his first target, maybe keeping some Leadbelchers back to fire on it, rather than trying to bring it down in combat. When left one on one against ranked unit the Ogres did fairly well, though obviously faltered badly when Skaven flanked charged into the combat. I think some more Gnoblars might be needed to cushion the Bull units and protect their sides. Angle charging flankers off away from the Bulls, rather than destroying units.

In the end we didn’t bother totalling the results. I had lost the Plague Monks and Globadiers, while all Brad had left was a single Leadbelcher. A pretty decisive Massacre, I think you will agree.

I’ve finished the Poison Wind Mortar for my Skaven army. The other pic has a couple of the older Weapon Teams (Warpfire Thrower, Jezzail, and Ratling Gun from left to right). The last pic is an in-progress of my converted Doom Flayer. Yes, that’s a chainsaw.

The Mortar was a return to my rats. I haven’t actually painted anything in the Skaven army for 3 years, as I got to a good stopping point (at the time). With the new rules, I’m converting up new units, and rethinking some of my oldest paint jobs. Some of the clanrats were painted almost 15 years ago!

HAWKMOON

Master: Enric

Jugadores: XAS, Dioni y Skaven

Esta partida acepta más jugadores. Hablar con el master.

Horario: Sabados tarde, semana B

I’ve done more work on the Warp Lightning Cannon for my Skaven. Lots of scratch building and bits diving. Parts from everywhere, and plenty of drilling, pinning, and bending of plastic rod. I had a general idea of the end result, but I sort of let it come together ‘organically’, adding bits as I went. Hopefully I’ve stopped before it got too ridiculous.

Now it’s ready to paint. This is going to be time-consuming…

I just got the new Skaven book yesterday, and have been looking over it quite a bit.  It definately seems to be a very solid book, but most likely not too crazy.  There is some stuff that is really good, and a lot of stuff that is just really neat.  All the Plague Monk stuff being specials limits the amount of crazyness, but whatever.  I think you will see the Hellpit Abomination in every tournament list, but at least it is a lot of points.

The list I am planning on doing will be Clan Verms.  They are like Moulder, but obsessed with bugs and other creepy gross stuff.  I want my giant rat packs to have a mix of insects, worms, and rats.  I guess I should run lots of swarms and rat ogres as well.  This is the list I have wrote up to try out.

Chieftain
-Shield of Distraction

Plague Priest
- Lvl 2, Plague Censer, Warp Scroll

Clanrats x29
- Shield, Spears, Full Command
- Poison Wind Mortar Team

Skaven Slaves x20

Skaven Slaves x20

Giant Rat x10
Packmaster x2

Rat Swarm x4 (Maybe two units of two)

Plague Monks x19
-Full Command

Rat Ogre x2
Packmaster

Poison Wind Globidiers x5

I really always liked playing a Grey Seer, but I guess it would make more sense to play a Warlord on Bonebreaker Rat Ogre in my 2250.  I want to play bigger units of Giant Rats, so I guess I will once I find a way to convert them the way I want.  The Hell Pit Abomination is a must, as it even fits the theme, and the Plague Furnace is very likely.

Tomorrow is Dogs Breakfast, and I almost reached my goal. Almost.

Slaves are finished. Clanrats are painted to a bare tabletop standard. Giant Rats are painted. Doomwheel is also painted to a bare minimum.

Nine Globadiers have been converted but are unpainted. Five Jezzails are unpainted also. At least these have base coats on them. The new plastic Screaming Bell hasn’t been released yet, and I have had to temporarily glue my old metal bell together. Bare metal. Shocking.

I’m going to go out on a limb here, but I don’t think I’ll get best painted army.

A quick post today, I am wiped. 39 degree heat, and almost eight hours of solid modelling and painting. Not to mention roughly the same regime yesterday.

I picked up the new plastic Doomwheel yesterday. When I have some time I might do a little model review on it. It is a good piece, and I am quite happy with how it looks.

The other side, and after basing.

This is where it is at as of today. These are all base colours, and tomorrow I’ll do a Bedab Black wash when I get home from work. This should do for Dogs Breakfast on Saturday. After that I can do all the proper highlighting and what have you.

Same goes for the Clanrats. Just need a Bedab Black and Devlan Mud wash and should be very rough tabletop ready.

Got all the converting done on the Glabadiers. This took quite a while, but I think they have come out well. The one with the sword is my Bombadier. Unfortunately I don’t think I’ll have them painted at all for the tournament. Shame.

It has been a while since I breached the subject of the UnderDark Campaign. With good reason, really.

Things haven’t been doing so well. In the last couple of turns the Dark Host has taken a pasting from the Chosen, while the Surface Warlords became the punching bag of the Syndicate. With Darkpit, the Dark Hosts base, taken and the Surface Warlords losing all their warrens, it looked dire. So dire in fact that members of both factions decided to do something drastic and merge the two flagging entities. And thus was born The Twlight Host.

While I was against the idea, and still am, it has bore some interesting fruit. I now have a bunch of like-minded individuals on my side. True they are pathetic surface-things, but still, you take allies where you can. The aim now is to, well, not die a horrible, horrible death.

Saturday saw another Uncharted Seas event. This time hosted at the domicile of the erstwhile Servitob. We had a new player with his fledgling Dragon Lord fleet and another new player waiting for his own Orc flotilla that had to make do with my Human upstarts. The new Dragon Lords took on Servitob and his new Iron Dwarves in the first match with the new fleet. Servitob then proceeded to display the devil’s own luck with the volume of high rolls he made. Hopefully he will be along later to spin his own tale of hirsute midget derring-do.

I’ve got the new Skaven book for Warhammer which I may ink a review of once I’ve finished reading it, although now that Dragon Age has been released I’m running round acting like a Warlock which is 17 kinds of awesome and well over 9000!

In other news I have also found my favourite Internet icon ever. I present it to your here for your appreciation;