Crusty fame

Just a quick one today, and moving away from the recent spate of 28mm and Blood Bowl posts.

By Dagger or Talon, the first supplement for Tomorrow's War, was just released.

I'm chuffed to say that one of the many illustrations is of my humble GZG Crusties. There are many beautiful and inspiring pictures in the book, and it's really nice to be included amongst them!

'Crusty troops on patrol in one of the marshy jungle
regions common to the Marshborn Cantonment'

Eucalyptus Bowl 2013

Eucalyptus Bowl is Australia's, nay, the Southern Hemisphere's self-declared biggest and best Blood Bowl tournament. It's been running annually in Sydney since 2005.

The format is six resurrection games over two days, with a 1.2m roster including skills and inducements (no doubles; max. one skill per player; no inducement cards). This year, I took my new team, the Vampire Bite Club. Four Vamps (three with Pro and one Strip Ball), eight Thralls (two Wrestles, two Fends, two Sure Hands, and a Tackle), with three Rerolls and Fan Factor 1.

The venue is excellent; the function facilities at the Burwood Club. There were sixty-five coaches slogging it out to be numero uno (spoiler alert- it was Thomsy with five wins and a draw). On the large screens there was a slideshow updated with rankings, draws, remaining round time, etc. The organisers (Virral and Rabid) moved around making sure every table had a bowl of sugary goodies. Being a club, of course, there was cheap beer, coffee, soft drinks and food. Undoubtedly the highlight of anyone's Blood Bowl year.

Day one matches

Main arena before sixty coaches descend!

There was a table of glittering prizes, allegedly with a total value of $5000. After the winners have received their trophies, everyone lined up in their final rankings to take a prize of their choice. Noone left empty-handed.

Some of the trophies

Some of the prizes

Even before the prizes, all coaches received a pack with a custom dugout, a mini-printed rulebook, custom scatter templates, a frill-necked lizard miniature, a resin die marker, a set of Australian BB dice, a commemorative coin, and Eucalyptus Bowl 2013 dice.

Every coach received these goodies

There were "Unlucky door prizes" for the first coach to kill one of their own players, fail a touch-down on a go-for-it reroll, roll a triple skulls, roll double skulls- reroll- double skulls, etc. Every coach had to nominate a rostered player as 'Boggy', and there was a reward every round if you killed Boggy or if he scored. This means that even when you're losing, you're still in the running for fame and fortune.

All up, it ran very smoothly, and was great to catch up with all the other coaches I have met over the years.

But how was my tourney, I hear you cry? I think I may have muttered the word, "Dismal...", on several occasions, and asked many people to remind me never to take Vampires again!

I knew Vamps were going to be challenging, but thought if I played conservatively with plenty of Pro, lotsa rerolls, only four Vamps, and thoughtful placement of thralls and tactical use of Hypnotic Gaze, I'd give them a red-hot go. How naive... (When I told Rabid I was taking Vampires, his face turned from disbelief to pity- I kid you not).

My first game lulled me into a false sense of security. I played Carbrawn's Khemri, Tomb Raiders. In true Khemri style, he never picked up the ball and I was 2-0 up at half-time. I held this lead in the second half, and won a comfortable 6-2 casualties. This put me on Table 3 for Round Two. The high-water mark.

Bite Club blunts the Tomb Raiders' offfence!

Round Two was against Darquebus. His Halflings had trounced me embarassingly at Biff in the 'Riff two weeks ago, and now it was time for payback against his Orcs, the Organic Rekkin' Krew. But it wasn't to be. I had nothing. He smashed me 4-0, 3-1 casualties against. He went on to come second overall. Someday I will have my revenge...

The O.R.K. make mincemeat of the Vampires

I then went on to play Hacker's Chaos Dwarves, and again, nothing I tried worked. I 'only' lost 2-0, 4-0 casualties against. Suffice to say I was fairly downhearted by this point in time.

Chaos Dwarves confuse the Vampire play

Day 2, Game 4. I played Joe's Chaos, the Aurochs of Anarchy. Joe hadn't played for a very long time indeed, and (IMHO) made a lot of rookie mistakes. But that doesn't help when all I can roll are skulls and 1s. I lost that one 1-0, thankful it wasn't 2-0 because Joe forgot about scoring in the first half and was having too much fun injuring me. I lost the injuries 7-0. Yes, 7-0. Joe said two things that stuck with me: "It's like you're playing against my team, and also against your team!", and, "Why on earth did you choose Vampires?" Why indeed?

Sideline carnage!

My mojo returned in game 5, against Jason's Orc Black Fist Pack. This was the most enjoyable game of the tourney for me, and I won 2-1. It really should have been a 2-2 tie, as our teams were evenly matched, but in his final offence my defence held. I lost the casualties 2-1.

Bite Club punches a hole through the Black Fist line

My final game was against Babs' Nurgle, Shadows of Depravity. I didn't actually get a picture of this game, but Babs' beast won Best Single Miniature. He beat me 2-0, as yet again every play I tried just fell apart...

So I had two wins and four losses. If I had to re-do things (over my dead body) I'd take Pro instead of Strip Ball, and try to squeeze in an extra reroll- dump Tackle, Fend, and the Fan Factor. Overall, I came "about 50th" of 65, according to Rabid. And that takes me to thirteen different teams played at official tournaments- eleven to go!

 

Here's the prizes I won, for coming fricken' about 50th: some Scibor minis, a card game, special gold marbled E-Bowl 2013 dice, balls, and few other rare BB miniatures. Wow.

Loot.

Finally, check out this utterly amazing custom pitch. Every corner was a little masterpiece.

 

Photos by myself (blurry) & The Dwarven One (professional).

Blood Bowl- Vampires

More Blood Bowl! It's Eucalyptus Bowl this weekend, and I'm taking... Vampires!

I present my new team: Bite Club! If it's your first game, you will get bitten...

Bite Club

The Brides are from Westwind. The ethereal dresses were an interesting challenge, and I think the red-head's came out best.

Mary, Liz, Polly and Annie*

The coach/ head vampire is also from Westwind, and will stand in as Star Player Luthor von Drakenborg if required. He's on a 30mm base.

Interview with a Vampire coach

"Coach, when they say you suck, that's not a compliment..."

The Thralls are Corn Dolls from Crooked Dice. They're great miniatures, but I confess they're not very theme-y. Maybe the vamps have gone vegetarian? I almost rage quit from getting the arms to stay on. I should have pinned them. Painted up, they look really sinister and I may recycle them into another team...

The reroll markers are from Warhammer, and will hopefully see use in other games such as Fear and Faith.

"Three rerolls! Ha! Ha! Ha! I love to count!"

All up, this was a fun team to paint and I expect it to be a real challenge to play at Eucalyptus Bowl this weekend.

*If you can work out the name of the fifth vamp (green hair with the coach), give yourself a pat on the back.

Glorfindel with Asfaloth

Clearer and nearer now the bells jingled, and clippety-clip came the quick running feet. Suddenly into view below came a white horse, gleaming in the shadows, running swiftly. In the dusk its headstall flickered and flashed, as if it were studded with gems like living stars. The rider's cloak streamed behind him, and his hood was thrown back, his golden hair flowed shimmering in the wind of his speed.

The Fellowship of the Ring

This was for the One Ring's June painting challenge. I'll be honest, I didn't really feel the love while painting this chap. I picked him up dirt-cheap second-hand, already assembled and sprayed black. I oversprayed white and painted greys and blues, but realised as I went that there were a lot of mold lines etc. still remaining. I painted him in a hurry (in one afternoon!) and took shortcuts, and it shows, but at least he's done. I know I get stuff finished when there's a deadline involved, and I do appreciate these One Ring opportunities.

As bought

I may patch him up later; at a minimum the dodgy base rim. I also need to paint his dismounted version.

Blood Bowl- Undead and Necromantic

This is Playing Dead, my Blood Bowl Undead team.

Playing Dead

And these are the Zoombies, my Necromantic team. There's a lot of crossover between the two, so I've bundled them in the same post.

Zoombies

The ghouls are conversions of Warhammer figures, mostly with weapon snips. One of them was holding a rock which became the basis for a football, and I really like his pose. The Necromantic team can have up to two ghouls, while the Undead get up to four.

Ghouls

The zombies are quick greenstuff conversions I made a few years ago from plastic Warhammer zombies. I give them big shoulderpads like NFL players, and used paper clips to make the helmet bars. They're rough and ready, but a dark and dirty paintjob helps hide my failings.

Zombies

The wights are from Reaper, and I'm really happy with them.

Wights

I dislike mummies in my Euro-gothic horror, so on the Undead I used Frankenstein's monsters as proxy mummies, and haven't got any skeletons on the team. Eventually, I might get some. The monsters are from Reaper and Eureka. I greenstuffed over the Eureka jacket and gave it a bit more of a camouflaging paintjob. I would like to find two similarly styled figures for these two hulks.

Frankenstein's monsters as proxy mummies or Flesh Golems (Reaper L, Eureka R)

The Necromantic team gets two werewolves, which are from Westwind's excellent gothic horror range.

Werewolves

I use this fun figure as the Star Player Hack Enslash. He, too, is from Reaper.

Hack Enslash

This is my coach, the mad doctor, also from Westwind.

Coach

Finally, my gravestone reroll counters come from the Warhammer zombies box. I love the iconic fist.

No more room in Hell

Biff in the 'Riff 2013

I went to Biff in the 'Riff yesterday, a 120kgp regen one day Blood Bowl tournament at Tin Soldier Penrith. There were twelve coaches. I took Playing Dead, my Undead team. I didn't do particularly well, but had a lot of fun and caught up with old mates. It was a particularly relaxed tourney, with no time pressure, and as a group we decided to end it after three games rather than four to prevent the day dragging on.

I had two mummies, three ghouls (two with Block), five zombies, two wights, and Hack Enslash with a chainsaw.

In my first game, the stadium didn't come alive as my Undead faced Creature's Undead, Mortuorum Ambulantum. Creature had left his dice at home and had to borrow Sangraal's, which didn't really work out for him! I had a strong first half, stopping his offence and scoring, and he rolled more than his fair share of double skulls in the second. Hack hit himself with the chainsaw twice, then got sent off for fouling. I won 2-0, 2-0 casualties. Disgusted, Creature went home to get his own dice!

Ghouls advance, but can't break the Playing Dead defence!

In the second game I faced D'Arquebus' halfling team, Custard. I just couldn't stop him, or break his measly armour. Hack was on the pitch for only one turn. Also, he'd presciently selected Zara the Slayer (there were at least two Undead and a Khemri team). I suffered a 1-0 loss, and 3-1 against for casualties. Dismally embarrassing.

Zara coolly decides how to pick her way through the Undead

Finally, I played Gnome's Wood Elves, the Pink Panzers. He had two Wardancers, ten line elves with a fair smattering of Block, and a Treeman. I was able to score and foul one of the wardancers off the pitch early, but couldn't do enough damage to prevent a 3-1 loss, 2-2 casualties.

Hack Enslash leave a trail of Wood Elves behind him

All in all, it was a good relaxed meet and a nice warm up for Eucalyptus Bowl in a fortnight.

I didn't get as much enjoyment out of Hack Enslash as I would have liked, and could have got an extra six skills for the cash. Still, the potential for dismembering amusement was there...

More team pics in my next post!

I'm going slightly mad

I haven't got much painting in recently; instead, I've been gaming. I dusted off Mansions of Madness, and have played three of the new scenarios from the Call of the Wild expansion. (See my miniatures here and here). The Dwarven One took the pictures. There are no pics of the first one, but suffice to say the Dunwich Horror was nigh unstoppable. In the second game, the investigators had to deduce the murderer's identity before he (or she) struck again. Here's Amanda Sharpe, who had no luck in the game whatsoever, facing a cameo appearance from the Dunwich Horror. I'm pretty sure that shortly after this she fired, missed, dropped the gun, turned to run, tripped, and died, handing the game to the forces of unspeakable darkness.

We played the survival scenario, which has an automated keeper. Things got nastier and nastier. Here's Jenny Barnes surrounded by a Child of the Goat, two cultists, and a witch. Jenny gunned down a cultist and ran but the witch stunned her and the other cultist killed her by the
river.

Monterey Jack tried to hide in the water mill, but the monsters caught him and a Mi-Go put his brain in a jar. As Diamond Joe, I went swiftly mad well before that, and ran around the place setting everything on fire. Then I burnt to death.

It was awesome!