Tactica 2019 – Part 2
The coverage of Part 1 continues with the prominent guests of Tactica.
The twin brothers Michael and Alan Perry were at the show, sculpting, having a chat with the guests and even added one of the show miniatures. But they weren't alone, they had Aly Morrison (who sculpted the Great War Miniatures range) and Peter Dennis (artists of multiple box artworks, Osprey and Warlord Games published works, and of Peters Paperboys).
BLOOD BOWL – Journey of the Maulers: Team Logos
In my article, Blood Bowl: Solo Campaigns, I've talked about how the backstory of a team contributes significantly to the immersion in a solo campaign and that I'm actually following that method in the Journey of the Maulers series. For the fans I already did this, as each of them got a few lines of background. These are usually rather short as they serve as a basis for their character development and can be expanded both narratively and throughout the campaign.
Today, I lay the foundations for the background story of the Maulers as a whole and at the same time I deal with the logo of the team. Draw again a parallel to the real sport template of American Football, it is noticeable that many teams are recognizable by a certain symbol, similar to the heraldry of a knight's house.
I should warn you - today's post does not contain any miniatures, just a few scribbles that have sprung from my twisted, creative vein. But if you like a bit of story about Blood Bowl teams, you can sit back and enjoy the first real chapter of the Maulers' journey ...
Tactica 2019 – Pleasant Anticipation!
It is actually happening! I'll be at Tactica in Hamburg for the first time! I've been to Hamburg multiple times, but never made it during february, when the well known German wargames show Tactica is hosted.
In 2016 we headed with a motley crew to Stahl auf der Heide, the open day of the tank museum at Munster.
Oldhammer – The hunt
The journey through Oldhammer continues. I gave the introduction and the first part of choosing and preparing an retro-project. Next step, get yourself some old miniatures.
But before you start buying, make sure you know what you're looking for. I suggested SoLegends for their vast amount of catalogue pages and beyond that, there are dedicated pages like Collecting Citadel Miniatures, if you're looking primarely for rare or limited miniatures.
One important to thing, when you're buying second hand / used miniatures, especially multi-part, that you're aware that they are multipart. To stay with the example of my Imperial Guard project, it is not that useful to buy a cheap griffon without the crew or a Yarrick without his banner and then spending more money and time on looking for that missing bit. Therefore it makes more sense to buy the complete model and save yourself the hassle. But in somecases it is difficult to be aware, that there are missing pieces, for example with the commlink operators, often the commlink backpack is missing, or the turret armour of the hellhound.
Blood Bowl: Solo Campaigns
First of all, I have to make it clear that you cannot play Blood Bowl alone (except virtually on the computer). In a solo campaign you play against other players too. So how does a solo campaign work then? At the end of 2009 I had the idea to use leftover parts from my bitzbox to reduce my enormous pile of miniatures a bit. After a brief look, I realized that I had a lot of skeletons, a few zombie parts, the old model of Ramtut, and a few 3rd edition human players left.
After putting together one of the models, I tried out the color scheme I had in mind. As I liked how it turned out, I decided to paint one model completely before each game, so after ten games I would have a fully painted team of eleven players without losing motivation on the go. In short, this was the basic idea of what would later become known as the Challenge.
Oldhammer – Choosing and preparing a project
To continue the Oldhammer series, introducing on how to tackle such a project. If we compare it to restoring an oldtimer / classic car, you would decide for a brand and car, narrowing it down which build and mark you are looking for. I suggest a similar approach to an Oldhammer project.
Especially for the beginning, it might make sense to narrow it down to a smaller core and later on extend the project. Of course Oldhammer isn't limited to 40k, you could do this with Warhammer Fantasy, Rogue Trader, Blood Bowl or any other game system that Games Workshop covered before 1992-98. One of the army bundles would be a solid starting ground, as they cover a determined and tractable number of miniatures, thus being not that costly (of course, varying what army you go for, Chaos Dwarves are a total different book than Space Marines).
I for example went with the Imperial Guard range from the 2nd edition, and focus on a squad of each of the regiments / units available during that period, using the old Codex supplement as a guide.
BLOOD BOWL – Journey of the Maulers: Fink da Fixer
Since I rebuild the Maulers with a narrative approach and would also try to follow that in play, I've of course taken a look at the new rules and discovered the section for (in)famous coaching staff. The nice thing about the section is that the new staff are not optional but official rules, which means that I can use models for the staff at any time, as long as I have something to represent them.
Fink da Fixer is a perfect example of the twisted trickery and cleverness of a Goblin. For a staggering 50,000 gold pieces, Fink brings the equivalent of three coaching assistants to the team and a re-roll for failed bribes on fouls. Also, if you get caught in the act and are argueing with the referee, you can keep your player on the field at a 5+ already. He is available to all Ogre, Orc, Goblin and Underworld teams.
Having played a couple of games with my Underworld team, the Skycastle Titans, I've gotten a taste for fouling and intend to use Fink more often when I reach the next step of building the Maulers up again. However, until then Fink will take over command of the fan club of da Kneebreakaz.
Warhammer 40.000 Killzone: Sector Fronteris
A bit unexpected a new Killzone was released, the Killzone Sector Fronteris. So far, the existing Killzones were based upon already released terrain kits and repacked them with a solid bargain. The Sector Fronteris makes use of the STC Ryza Pattern design, that were first introduced with the Realm of Battle Moon Base Klaisus and later in a smaller kit as the Ryza Pattern STC Ruins. The later I already covered in a review on here.
What does STC Ryza pattern mean in this case? A STC is a standard-template-construct, that enables the Construct Machines of the Empire to produce specific objects, to a certain standard, equally and easily all over the Empire with the local ressources. These STC aren't just covering buildings like the Ryza pattern, but vehicles, like the Rhino, generators or shelters.
This kit comes at the regular price tag of 65 EUR for the Killzones. It is a bit tricky to calculate the savings on this kit, the other kits usually have a value of at least 110 EUR. Beside the last before this one, the Wall of Martyrs, where the saving dropped by quite a bit. This box covers the large frame from the Moon Base twice, but none of the smaller ones (those were moved towards the Killteams Starn's Disciples and Theta 7), so a new sprue was added to the box. But more on that below.
Warhammer 40.000 Urban Conquest
Today I'm covering the Urban Conquest supplement for the 8th Edition of Warhammer 40,000. Games Workshop is starting 2019 strong with a new campaign boxed set for their main game in the grim dark future of the 41st millenium.
Urban Conquest picks up the city fight theme of its predecessor from the 3rd edition City Fight and 4th edition Cities of Death. But unlike the older supplements, this is a boxed set, covering not only the rules, but a bit of terrain and a modular campaign map.
Oldhammer – The Imperial Guard
After the short introduction to Oldhammer earlier this month, we want to stick with the 2nd Edition of Warhammer 40,000 and highlight one particular army - the Imperial Guard.
If you think of Warhammer, especially 40k, you think of Space Marines. But the Imperium and its forces is not only made of Adeptus Astartes, but simple men defending their homeworlds and holy Terra as well. The Imperial Guard existed in Rogue Trader as well and is not something new, that came along with the second edition. But the diversity was surely brought to that army with the new miniature range introduced in 1994.
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