Thursday, May 31, 2012

To Be a Master

So surprise, surprise, I woke up this afternoon and logged onto Facebook only to find an invitation to the Irish Warhammer 40k '11/'12 Masters. Needless to say, I was surprised and pleased both, and have accepted without needing to put much thought into the matter.

Incidentally I re-entered the world of 40k last night with a doubles practice game in preparation for Skibbcon, with great success. I am eager now to get my Grey Knight skills (i.e. show up and roll dice :p) back on the table in preparation. I am beginning to work on a list and have started painting Grey Knights again along side the two commissions I'm working on. Most likely I will play a list similar to what I ran last year, and will have my list finalised by this evening.

Until then however, I have work to do.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

War Afoot

I've neglected this blog for awhile now however now I'm back to make more promises I won't keep and another string of posts that is sure to end in me disappearing again :)

As a return post I'm going to talk a bit about the campaign that just started in the LDC gaming group. Mighty Empires style hex map campaign with a sophisticated system for character development with a very RPG like focus on making career decisions; will your Captain of the Empire go on to the height of his potential to lead armies as a General, or lead a Knightly Order as a Grand Master?

We have 9 players playing this campaign, but unfortunately a rather small map (56 hexes) so blood is assured. I myself am playing Tomb Kings, while we also have Kevin Rynne on High Elves, Dave Butler on Greenskins, Gag Griffin on Ogres, Dave Russell on Daemons, Mike Murphy on Warriors of Chaos, George Lombard on Dark Elves, Tony Gleeson on Vampires, and Gearoid Madden on Skaven. We began last night with a strong insistance from the Ogres to start in the middle of the map so they can fight everyone.

Settlements were found all over, some with mild conflict. Up north the mountains proved treacherous as a pack of mountain lions attacked several banners attempting to pass through, driving them back. One even slew a few Bloodletters. Elsewhere a High Elf scouting party stumbled upon a venom thicket losing 3/4 of their numbers to the poisons only to return later and found that the presence of their mages unearthed a magical fulcrum from the land and it gave off a great magical aura. After returning from the mountains, a Dark Elf scouting party rejoiced as they discovered a wayward tavern in the middle of nowhere. They were weary from their tussle with the lions, and though they had killed a few, they did not leave without casualty. Down south Skaven did what they do best, and razed a village to the ground despite pleas of fealty from the locals.

As the world awakened so too did the bloodlust of the Greenskins as they decided they wanted a fight and so struck out both North and South, attacking the Vampire Counts and the Warriors of Chaos near their home turf. Little did they know another Chaos warband lay nearby and the sounds of battle attracted them. In the north the Dark Elves were set upon by their high brethren, who stormed from their castle, adamant to take the fight to the nearby enemy. Not caring for the taste of food or thirst they felt for eternity, the Tomb Kings entered the village razed by the Skaven and decided the rat-men were not worthy of their world.

So for next week we have two Battlelines to be fought at 1000pts, where the Orcs and Goblins must face the Vampire Counts and the Warriors of Chaos on two fronts. The two elf armies will fight a Dawn Attack, as will the Tomb Kings and the Skaven. It will be interesting to see who comes out on top in such a different environment.