Wargaming with Barks: August 2014

Sunday, 31 August 2014

Blood Bowl- Gosford Gauntlet 2014

The Gosford Gauntlet! (and wooden spoon)

This is a roughly annual event on the Central Coast, about an hour north of Sydney. This year it was held at the Dark Dimensions comic store.

I took my new goblins, whose special rules push the limits of the ruleset (not to mention good taste and sportsmanship!). They were predictably unpredictable and there was mayhem!

The details: four rounds, resurrection, 1.2m including 1FF, max 1 star, plus six basic skills. The Little Green Streaks were two trolls (Guard, Strong Arm), Chainsaw with Dodge, Ball & Chain with Mighty Blow, Pogo-er with Sure Feet, Bombardier, 8 Goblins (one with Sneaky Git), 3 RR, 4 FF, Cheerleader, Assistant Coach, Bloodweiser Babe, and 3 bribes.

The Little Green Streaks

First game was against Georgiechristo's well painted Orcs, Da Waaaghndaraz. My Bombardier got me off to a good start by knocking over his ball carrier, and I took it away to a 2-0 win, despite suffering 6-0 casualties.

In the distance a lonely gob goes for the TD!

Next games was against Creature- who'd also brought the Orcs! Waaagh Futbol took me down 2-0, but it was still a lot of fun with a 6-5 cas count his way.

Pogo-er has the ball, it went downhill shortly after this.

Third game was against D'Arquebus' Nurgle, The Malingering Misfits, and I couldn't wade through their defence. I almost scored, but a Pestigor with Tackle took me down on the line. 2-1 cas to D'Arquebus.

Pogo has the ball as the Fanatic slaps the Beast of Nurgle!

Final game was against Sumbloke, who capitalised on some of my early bad luck to win 2-0 with his Dark Elves. 1-1 casualties despite my best efforts.

Dark Elves skip around the goblin defence

So, how was my first outing with the gobs? 3 losses to 1 win was about as well as I expected to go. I never felt I got the most out of the secret weapons, which have their distinctive quirks. Maximum bribes is recommended! Stunty dodging is always fun, and the Trolls take a bit of getting used to with Really Stupid and Loner. All up, not for the faint-hearted or ultra-competitive!

There were eleven players. My Goblins, and Ogre, Chaos Dwarf, Dwarf, Dark Elf, Pro Elf, Human, Underworld, Nurgle, and two Orc teams. Rabid, Creature, and Sumbloke took out the top places, then D'Arquebus and Sangraal. I think I came seventh or eighth.

Some other pictures of other games:

Dark Elves vs Underworld

Rabid's Chaos Dwarfs vs Humans

Creature's Orcs vs Sangraal's Dwarfs

Vimes' Ogres and Snotlings- Polar Bears and Penguins!

Saturday, 30 August 2014

Blood Bowl Goblins

The Little Green Streaks

It's been several years (2010?) since I got this team, and I finally got around to finishing painting them for a tourney which kicks off in ten hours. I struggled with the difficult colours red, white, and yellow, not to mention this first foray into green skin, along with the eclectic armour and equipment not suiting a factory-line painting process. Thank goodness for deadlines, otherwise I'd get nothing done. I'm very glad to have them finally off my painting table.

These were the chaps who spent two years in paintstripper... The goblins are from Neomics (with some exceptions noted below), and the trolls are from Willy. The goblins have such great cartoonish character- dopey, terrified, cruel, sneaky, lunatic! The trolls display this brutal, hulking, stupidity.

Goblin linemen:

I won this figure at a tourney many years ago. He's from Goblinforge: Peewee Cyprus. There's a fine piece of nylon paintbrush bristle in there, I don't think he'll stand up to the rigors of gaming, but he's a great character sculpt.

Goblin with tackle

This chap's Fatgoblin from Hasslefree. He's my coach/ veteran player.

Secret weapons:

Trolls:

I enjoyed painting not one but two big guys, but did find the sculpts a little busy. I filed down and greenstuffed over the ornately sculpted faces on the knees and shoulderpads on the troll who isn't tossing a goblin. They're on 30mm bases.

I'm taking these to the Gosford Gauntlet tomorrow- I've never played goblins before- I'm going to get smashed..

I'd like to add some more details like numbers, and maybe some red stars like on my coach- what do you think?

There's a few more sculpts I haven't painted yet- I just did enough for my tourney team- these other sculpts will eventually show up here, but don't hold your breath!

Sunday, 24 August 2014

Our Town Model Show 2014

My town, Newcastle, is sometimes (confusingly) referred to as 'Our Town'. Hence, the Our Town Model Show (organised by the Our Town Scale Modellers' Association and the Our Town HO Model Railway Club), an annual event for scale modellers, model railway-ers, and us hanger-on gamers. I stuck my head in this year and took some pics.

The highlights are the model railway displays. I really like the ones which showcase country Australia, but there are so many other good ones as well.

Newcastle Railway Station

The real deal, c.1956

Can you spot the 'roo? Vegetation as, well, vegetation.

Hot Fuzz!

I like a bit of whimsy, but 'Traintasia' goes a bit OTT...

I would love to do an American horror game on this setup...

There were lots of ship models, including radio control ships in a huge paddling pool.

There were scale planes, vehicles, and some sci-fi stuff. There were also lots of diecast vehicles.

1:6 scale radio control tanks

Battlestar Galactica

Lots of floor space is given over to retailers, principally for model railway bitz. Model railway hobbyists may have a larger community than us gamers, but by gum their stuff is expensive.