The end of the war to end all wars

I attended an interesting public talk today by my gaming friend and academic Dr Nathan Wise. It was on responses by Australian soldiers to the announcement of the Armistice, one hundred years ago today.

Illustrated by diary and letter extracts, their response was not as jubilant as you may have thought. There was a bit of initial doubt and skepticism due to previous rumours and furphies of peace. There was a sense of loss of direction or purpose, which officers tried to control through reconstruction and non-war employment tasks.

Most importantly, soldiers wanted to know when they could go home. When they did get there, their long-established mateships and unit cameraderie were at risk of being lost.

Lest we forget.

Kill Team- first games

I had my first games of Kill Team recently. The skirmish size made it a fascinating prospect as I have no proper size 40K army, but handfuls of models here and there which are suitable for grimdark gaming.

My Genestealer Cult Kill Team:

• Leader- Neophyte with Bolt Pistol and Chainsword
• Zealot- Aberrant with Power Pick
• Veteran- Purestrain Genestealer
• Medic- Neophyte with shotgun
• Acolyte with Rock Saw
• Neophyte with Flamer
• Neophyte with Grenade Launcher
• Acolyte with Autopistol x2
• Acolyte with Icon
• Neophyte with shotgun

My opponent had four of the new Primaris Marines, which are lovely models. He also took three Scout Snipers. We played a simple kill-'em-all non-campaign learning game.

Kill Team about to break cover

Sniper nest

Primaris (Primarises? Primarii?) on the high ground

Cultists advance

Om nom nom on the snipers

Marines trapped on a walkway

My opponent was great, explaining rules patiently. I had some excellent dice rolls and his were appalling- the game didn't go how I expected! I survived a hail of shots and chomped my way through his force.

My next game was against the Adeptus Mechanicus, a steampunk-aesthetic force. My plan was to charge them like the first game, but I got utterly mown down for my troubles.

Cult advance across rubble to the defended ruins

Flanking 'stealer gets shot by overwatch

Cult gets stuck in open and is gunned down

The flamer is great, but the grenade launcher less so. Shooting is not my strength. I'll beef up some of the close combat options.

I’m conflicted about this game. The setting and models are great, and the main drawcard. It has been fun to revisit my ill-spent youth again. But the game mechanics are clunky and not as elegant or polished as other games I’ve been playing. In particular, the hit-wound-save-effect roll sequence is tedious, the weapon options and skill trees are overwhelming, and movement and line of sight can be a source of disagreement and slows the game compared to a gridded board. The lack of any suppression is off-putting. It has the advantage of being popular and thus it is easy to find opponents and games. I don't think I would enjoy this competitively, although of course this would depend on my opponent. Ultimately, I do look forward to making more teams and will be playing more.

It allows me to get my toys on the table. I will be playing again. I'll name and come up with a backstory for my dudes, and hope to participate in a campaign which will give me even more investment in my team.

Space Hulk- Heavy Weapons

Giving that little extra offensive edge, the Heavy Flamer and Assault Cannon give the marines some iconic firepower.

I had a practice game while these were not fully painted- in desperation, a surrounded Brother Zael immolated himself to try and save the day- and survived! A classic Space Hulk moment.

Heavy Flamer

Everybody's favourite gun- the Assault Cannon. I tried to give a heat bloom effect with graduated pale brown, purple, and blue washes- I didn't want to overdo it and it is a little subtle, but I'll be doing this in the future on other similar weapons.

Assault Cannon

Assault Cannon- heat bloom

Skullometer™:
Zael 8
Leon 8

Space Hulk- the rebasing commences

I just can't help myself leaving well enough alone- inspired by Tim from Saskatoon's excellent work, I've started to rebase my Terminators. I got some 32mm GW Sector Mechanicus bases off eBay, and crudely carved the existing base off Brother Claudio. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

I also added a rare earth magnet underneath with cyanoacrylate superglue, as part of a bigger basing effort underway at the Barks Bunker. And I'm putting the genestealers on 32mm bases as well. The Space Hulk board squares are about 31mm, so they don't cause serious problems with overlapping.

Claudio Skullometer™: 9

Space Hulk- more Terminators

Here are the remaining Terminators with Stormbolters. For faceless grimdark warriors, they've really been able to give each figure character.

Valencio has a Chainfist, which I didn't hesitate to paint in hazard stripes. I like the crisp whites on his bolter wing thing, which is also reproduced on his right pauldron.

I love Goriel- sometimes in Space Hulk hand-to-hand fighting, the dice come up your way and you win the fight against overwhelming odds. He's clearly had a brutal fight and suffered damage to his armour and lost an eye, but he's very happy with himself. "I beat one of you in hand-to-hand! How many more to go? Oh- bugger..."

Omnio is the squad geek. I'm not sure if he's checking his social media feed or taking a selfie.

Scipio is the lateral thinker, who has clearly decided that remodelling is better than shooting.

(I didn't come up with the names.)

Skullometer™:

• Valencio 7
• Goriel 12
• Omnio 5
• Scipio 4

Do you have a favourite marine?

Space Hulk- first Terminators

I've finished my first two 'proper' Terminators. I keep finding new cables, gems, skullz etc that I have to paint... but I think I've nailed the reds and am making strong progress with the rest of the squad. It is just the plethora of details now.

Brother Deino

Brother Noctis

I regret choosing to paint all the gems as gems...

Skullometer™:

Deino 9

Noctis 3

Conan: Hunting the Tigress; and many other boardgames

I had the opportunity to take some time off and play many boardgames last month. In particular, some longer and more complex multiplayer games with up to six players.

Conan was a fun success with two new players. We played 'Hunting the Tigress', where the pirate queen (and Conan's lover) Bêlit has been cornered by her pursuers. Either the enemy captain or Bêlit has to die by game's end!

Bêlit and Conan and friends start at opposite ends of their ship

Peppered by arrows, Conan and Bêlit clear their ship of attackers

Conan leapt onto the enemy ship ,but could not overcome the captain and his demon.

Filled with rage, Bêlit slays the enemy captain herself!

A great introduction to this game system. I was the sorcerer Hadrathus, and I used my spells to drain my life to support Bêlit- pleading with her to use my gift wisely! It really came down to the final rolls, with Bêlit and her foe clinging on and attacking each other.

Other games played included:

Falling Sky, about Caesar and the Gallic revolt

Mansions of Madness

Time of Crisis, about 3rd century Rome

Middle-Earth Quest

Scythe, about pastoral Europe with steam mechs

Twilight Imperium, a space opera

And finally, Here I stand, about reformation Europe. I was England, and very stressed about having a son before Mary Queen of Scots comes along. Heretics were burned, Ottoman raiders were at the gates of Vienna, the New World was plundered, it was suitably epic.

The intense boardgaming was a success, allowing us to get longer, more complex, and multiplayer games to the table. We intend to do it again. I got a bit happily gamed out and have only just picked up a brush again!