Journey of the Maulers: Vultures in the sky
The regulations for Corona are tightening again and the next Blood Bowl edition is just around the corner. Reason enough to put my foot down and give you a short summary of the pre-to-last game of the first season of the reformed team of the Maulers.
As usual, I used as many special rules as possible in this match and so it took place in a rpough and ready stadium. Our league reporter Mocky Python has remarked that the Blood Bowl games of ambitious teams in the lower leagues are not for a continuous broadcast, so you'll only see a highligtreel here.
Rough and Ready Stadium
Unclear Markings: The kicking team can move the center line one field forward or backward. Also, as many players as you like can be placed in the side zones.
Slave Ogryns Mechanics and Pit Slaves
I already talked about the possibilities of this kit in the review on the Slave Ogryn Gang for Necromunda, but now it is time to let some actions follow those words.
These are not the first ogryn sized models within the Warhammer range, and as we how quite the few bits to choose from for some kit bashing it was time to see, what would work.
The most obvious kit to look into would be the Ogryns / Bullgryns kit from the regular 40k range. The heads fit the size, but need a bit of green stuff on the neck, as the connection is different. A fist from the Kastellan Robots could be interesting to mix up the augmented power fists, and with the Slave Ogryns being often pit crew or mechanic, a few tool bits from the Genestealer Cultists or similar items from the Orks (in this case the biker) a good choice as well.
Necromunda – Slave Ogryn Gang
After expansions for the regular houses with special gangers, the latest plastic kit for Necromunda covers the big guys - Slave and Servitor Ogryns. Games Workshop offers these in two variants, as the Jotunn H Grade Servitor Ogryns or as a full Slave Ogryn Gang. And after roughly half a year, after its initial announcement in February 2020, the unit as part of the House of Chains is available.
Ogryns are a new addition to the underhive (if you exclude house rules or experimental rules from the Fanatic magazine and such), but a very fitting one. A lot of the gangs have access to brutes, and what is more brute than an Ogryn? There are two choices, you can either go for a double pack of Servitor Ogryns for 32,50 EUR or the Slave Ogryn Gang of 6 for 65,00 EUR. The pieces are in both cases identical, the double-sprue is simply covered three times in the gang box.
Aeronautica Imperialis – Avenger Strike Fighters
The Imperial Navy received a huge update in the second wave of Aeronautica Imperialis. We've seen two new plastic kits in the new starter Skies of Fire and the Arvus and Vulture as resin kits, and now even another plastic kit, the Avenger Strike Fighters.
Throwback – Lead Belt Nottingham 2010 – Day 1
In August I have written about my anniversary in "professional" wargaming, and during my time as editor-in-chief I visited a lot of shows and convention, and we did some tours to meet with some of the manufacturers. Our first large tour of that kind was exactly 10 years ago (well in the night from the 14th to the 15th), towards the lead belt.
For those of you not familiar with that term, the lead belt describes the greater Nottingham area / Midlands, as due to Games Workshop sitting there, a lot of other tabletop companies were founded in the surrounding area - many by former Games Workshop employees.
As we were already in touch with the bigger companies for coverage, news and such, we arranged a couple of meetings in and around Nottingham and booked our stay in a hotel in Nottingham (Jury's Inn, proper stay, can only recommend). When I say we, it was Christian/Darkover (my former second-in-command), his wife Sarah, and two friends of mine from the local wargaming club; Andre (the albanian national coach, more on that later) and Lukas (my flatmate from my student days).
Journey of the Maulers: The Corona Games
Meanwhile probably everyone has felt the effects of this virulent plague, no matter in which area. Unfortunately this has also had a strong influence on the season of the Maulers. I had already planned a few matches that cannot take place now. As a father of two children, grandparents as neighbors and a pregnant woman who is not allowed to take medication, I had to find an alternative for the remaining three matches of the first Maulers season to avoid exposing my loved ones to unnecessary risk.
The fans want to watch games, Corona or not
Coincidentally I have three painted teams standing here and so I tried something that I usually only do to learn rule mechanics - I played against myself. At first it seemed strange to me, but with the new edition on the horizon, time to finish the season is running out and playing a video game on the computer isn't really different.
A trip down memory lane … my first Games Day
Games Days (the predecessors of the Warhammer Fest) were a format of an event, organized by Games Workshop for the first time in 1975, originally in London, and covered the broader range of products that the company imported and distributed, like role playing games or miniature boardgames. Later the event was moved to Birmingham, to the NEC and the focus changed according to the company's range towards tabletop wargames.
With Games Workshop growing internationally, the Games Days were not only held annualy in the UK, but in many European countries like Germany, France and Italy, and on other continents, like Australia (Sydney) and North America (Atlanta, Baltimore and Chicago) as well. The first German Games Day was hosted in 1999, with many of the international events joining in the early 2000's.
I went to my first Games Day exactly 17 years ago on August 24th 2003. But why do I write about a Games Day that was so long ago? The same day I found the tickets from my first trip to Warhammer World, I came across my ticket from the 2003 Games Day in Cologne.
Back in the day, the German one was held in Cologne, at the Gürzenich. Quite an impressive location for such an event, as the Gürzenich is a representational building in the heart of the city, which was first opened in 1447 and has a classic late Gothic façade. And is it used as a festival theatre, it easily covers enough space for a wargaming events.
Aeronautica Imperialis – Arvus Lighter and Vulture Gunship
In the second wave of Aeronautica Imperialis Forge World supports the range with two new resin aircrafts, the Vulture Gunship for the Astra Militarum and the Arvus Lighter of the Imperial Navy.
These are multi-part resin (not Finecast!) kits, available only through Forge World. Each clamshell blister covers two flyers, along with the accessories needed for use in Aeronautica; flying bases, clear rod and status cards with profile. The inlay covers the assembly instructions as well.
Adeptus Titanicus – The Defence of Ryza
After Titandeath and Doom of Molech in 2019, and Shadow and Iron in 2020, The Defence of Ryza is the fourth campaign supplement published for Adeptus Titanicus, and we're going to cover it today.
The supplement is either available as a 108 page hardcover for 29 EUR or as an ePub3 through Warhammer Digital for 25.99 EUR.
Adeptus Titanicus – Cerastus Knights Acheron and Castigator
Along with the Defence of Ryza campaign supplement, Games Workshop released the two of the missing Cerastus Knight variants - the Acheron and Castigator.
Among the Imperial Titans is a class of smaller and less powerful versions of the god-machines - the Imperial Knights. They are piloted by a single Knight commander, called scion, and not by a crew of princeps and moderati. With the knights being much smaller than Warhound Scout Titans, they can only to a limited amount carry titan weapon systems into battle. The Knights were introduced to Epic / Space Marine in UK White Dwarf #126 in June 1990, and a few years later in December of 1994 updated as part of the new editions of this game, Epic Titan Legions. Some of the new classes even derivate from the old names and types. There were Paladins, Lancers and Wardens, and those came back in the current variant as well. In addition knights had tiers, Squire, Knight and Lord, along with Senechal. Something that was picked up in the latest rules for Warhammer 40,000 to a degree.
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