Merry Christmas!!!

Well it's finally that time of year again and the club is of course closed through the festive season. Stuart asked me to let everyone know that the club starts up again on the 9th of January 2010.

Thanks to everyone for making the club a big success and great fun especially after the long lay off through the summer when we had to search out a new home.









You better go run
You better go hide
You better not shout
I'm telling you why
Zombie Claus is coming to town!

He'll eat you when your sleeping
He'll eat you if your awake
He'll eat you if you've been bad or good
so go hide for goodness sack!



So from Zombie Claus and myself see you in 2010.





Lets hope we get all the wee metal men for Christmas that we want!

Wolves in the Snow

I know technically there is no snow in these pictures but there was a hell of a lot of it outside. Besides we are wargamers so try and use your imagination!

Well it was great to see the youngsters made it along to the club despite the fields of snow. Even more impressive considering some of them come from places were salt hasn't been invented yet!

So the battle of the day was a very nice looking 40K battle with Space Wolves, Black Templars and Ultramarines up against the mighty Necrons.

Some beautiful looking kit on display, take a look at this baby! Space Wolves Rock Grrr!!!!!

Not sure how this 1 was played out as I had just finished night shift and was bogged down in a bloody ACW battle but it looked the business!

Young Craig had his mad looking Tardis type thing (that I believe is pretty indestructible) but Young Thomas and Martin had some powerful Imperial Armour on the table.

Some flying Necron dudes. Apologies for the picture quality (for some reason each time I take pictures of Craig's Necrons barely a single closeup comes out clear?) I put it down to fear as they do look terrifying!

To finish off here is 1 for the future, I look forward to seeing it finished off. No pressure Jon but pull the finger out and finish it ;-)

Figures

Necrons : Craig

Black Templars & Ultramarines : Thomas

Space Wolves : Jon B

Necron Invasion 40K

Every now and then someone comes along to the club with some figures or an army that you haven't seen painted up before and the WOW factor hits you, and this Saturday Stuart appeared with these babies!

Even more unexpected as Stuart was going to be playing a game of Warhammer Fantasy and his opponent didn't appear. However as young Craig was without an opponent Stuart stepped in and nipped home to get his Necrons.

Look at this guy, big Arnie would be right at home amongst these lads!

I knew Stuart had painted up some Necron Warriors for young Craig and this is how they turned out.

I guess these will be the foot soldiers of the army and Stuart has found a source for some excellent bases. Same place Stuart got his lava bases for his Demons

In mass they are 1 of the nicest 40K armies I have seen.

No idea what these little characters are but they are really nice.

Sarah Connor watch out! They're organised and they're coming to get you!!

Figures

Necrons in burgundy : Stuart L

Necrons all metal : Craig

Lessons in Defeat

The second DBM battle on the go on Saturday was the Sassanids controlled by myself and a Greek army controlled by Robert. It was a replay of a game a few weeks prior with the addition of some rules we had overlooked.

I already new I would be up against it as the Sassanids last time were well and truly humped but I wanted to try it out with the exact same army as last time to see if there would be any change in the outcome. And the answer was a big fat NO!

Despite looking like a rather taste army the Sassanids don't appear to be a good army to fight massed spears.

I'm new to DBM and it is well worth getting beat to see the deficiency's of each troop type as well as their positive aspects.

The little white sheeted dudes doing what they do best. Making up the numbers!

Lesson 1 : I now know what the point of the little white dudes are (and it's not just to get massacred) they increase your numbers in each unit so you can take more casualties.

Lesson 2 : Elephants although pretty have their time and place and it is not fighting Greek spears and pikes!

Lesson 3 : I need to build a couple of DBM armies of my own that have different abilities that can fight different opponents.

Lesson 4 : Greeks are pretty tough opponents especially with superior troops spread amongst them.

Robert menacing little Greek dudes with the Spartan superior troops displaying their red upside down V's.

Robert and I managed to squeeze in 2 games on the Saturday afternoon. The 1st was a crushing defeat however the 2nd I decided to ditch the elephants and set out a bit better. and used the little white dudes properly.

However although I wasn't getting massacred in droves neither could I make the breakthrough.
The Greeks were just too damn strong and even when I was rolling 6's my opponent rolled just enough to save them or the superior troop factor would save them. In the same vain my cavalry would flee then return to the battle and it took a long time for Robert to kill enough of my guys for the game to be over.

In the end all I was killing was the Greek skirmishers.

So 2 defeats on the trot but I feel I learnt a lot and would like to learn more about the flank march that can get the cavalry behind the Greek troops.


Figures

Greeks : Robert T

Sassanids : Stuart L

It's all Greek to Me!

This is the 1st of 2 DBM battle reports of the day with a Greek army in action. Actually probably Macedonian but it's roughly the same period and I'm sure there were Greek mercenaries in the army?

For a nice change JP brought along a different army to fight David's growing Roman legions.

And very colourful it looked too.

As well as all the spears and pikes JP had included 2 nice efelumps.

David's Romans with skirmishers out front ready to do battle with the enemy.

And his new Roman auxiliaries that I persuaded him to buy up at Kirriemuir.

The sabre rattling begins.

Combat breaks out.

Alexander and his merry band.

A face off with Alexander and David's Roman cavalry.

Davids 1st attempt at taking down the efelumps that ended in failure.

Davids 2nd attempt at taking down John's Elephant and this time successful.

In the end it was a victory for John. A very nice looking DBM battle.




Figures

Macedonians : John P

Romans : David P

Imperial Shoot-em-up

Well it was a late start for the Johns today, I think a warhammer fantasy game was planned but some confusion on times and what to bring ended in a 4oK battle with the good guys versus, well the good guys! Personally I was a little glad as I got to see a Bane Blade all painted up. A rare site outside of a Games Workshop Codex or Website.

Young Martin (assisted by John) was in control of the Imperial Guard dudes.

While Thomas the baby face (assisted by Jon) was in charge of (my personal favourite) the Black Templar's.

I don't know much about what happened in the game as I was busy getting humiliated on another table but it sounded really fun. Here is the Black Templar's Champion painted by Thomas.

And I think a Commissar of the Imperial Guard (correct me if I'm wrong guys) painted by Jon

Here is a little snap of what was going to be on the go today. It would be nice to see a full battlefield with these characters

Saturday Afternoon Nap(s) 3

And of course their Austrian cousins who also wiped the floor with my cavalry. However it was not all lost as the Hussars had to go back to their own lines and the Dragoons were not too close. Perhaps we would have time to execute our assault and knock the Austrians out of the battle before the Allied cavalry could come into play?

The target for the day, the Austrian 48 man unit in the centre of their line. If we could break this baby the rest would surely fold!

On the far right the 1st brigade was holding together and had managed to stop the Prussian advance with a double 6! (at which point I did my fancy double 6 dance). However his general survived unharmed. Grrr!

Everything was going to plan as our French battalions in the centre prepared for the final assault.

Young David shifted his Prussians around frantically to try and outflank my 1st brigade.

To David's delight his Cuirassiers did exactly what it says on the tin and sent both Austrian cavalry regiment off for an early bath which meant in time they would be able to threaten the rear of the Austrian lines.

It was nail biting stuff as the battle hung in the balance. In the centre the main French thrust had fired off a volley last turn and 3 battalions had combined to executed the charge with the Austrians causing minimal damage the the battalions as they went in.

1 battalion failed to charge home but the other 2 went in and it felt like the glory days of 1805 and 1806 had returned,

Vive L'Empereur!

It was all down to the melee and the last roll of the dice with the French starting ahead. My 1st roll was poor but my second was good and it was now Roberts turn to see what would happen to his 48 man unit. If they failed the whole Allied centre could collapse.

And what did the big lad roll?

A puffing double 6!! not only that he also managed to kill my general!!!!!Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!! My French battalions just fell apart and over the course of the next round everything went into rewind. (you know for about 20 minutes there I actually thought we had them!)

To finish off a picture of my brother and nephew (the Davids) with the final positions at the end of the battle.

Every other game had finished while ours went right to the wire. It was another excellent game of Naps enjoyed by all and we had a good laugh too.



It just goes to show it ain't over till the fat lady sings! I now know why Earl Hickey made his list! In those 20 mins when I thought we had them and let my double 6 bring my guard down Karma had other ideas!

My brother David having a final shifty at Robert's very pretty Austrians. Maybe he wouldn't have noticed if we sneaked off with a battalion or 2?

Figures
Austrians : Robert T
French : David P snr & jnr & John P
Prussians : Paul P