KOW - WIP of Mutant Rat Fiend

 Over the past week I have been working on my new Mutant Rat Fiend for my Ratkin army.

My aim is to get him on the table tomorrow , even if not completely finished.

The sculpt is from Archvillian Games "Affliction Outbreak" and is a model Jack printed for me on his resin printer. 

I painted it up in a classic mole rat skin suit 😊. Generally during the process, I like to take a few photos as it highlights the work I need to do....my rat now has some nice red eyes....and provides detail I have missed (some of the metalwork on the leather yoke).

Not shown - and definitely not ready for tomorrow - are the crew for the howdah. I started work on them this morning prior to work.

The base is 75mm square to give some idea of scale. Since these pictures were taken I have worked up the river of ooze flowing from the sewer.

Hobby - NZ Masters "Missing" This Week

 This week has been tinged with a little sadness. For the past fourteen years the first week in December has seen me preparing for the NZ Masters. Unfortunately the Covid response has put paid to that this year.

Organising the Masters has been one of the highlights of the year for me. I set the NZ Masters up as a "reward" for those people who supported the NZ tournament scene by attending events through the year. Qualification required attendance at at least three events to get the necessary ranking points. I have no doubt that the existence of the Masters helped overall attendance at events throughout those 14 years.

When the Masters kicked off it encompassed 40k, WHFB and Fields of Glory (Ancient/Medieval). Over time, as games fell in and out of favour, we saw Flames of War and Kings of War added and dropped. That 40k was a constant is a testimony to its popularity

Of course, it wouldn't be NZ wargaming without politics, and the Masters suffered from that from time to time. But dickheads will be dickheads - and they were....in the end ruining it for their game.

Thanks to all those people that have attended in the previous years, it was great to be able to facilitate something that people obviously enjoyed. Hoping we can see it back in 2022.

KOW - Return of the Ratkin

This weekend I will be having my first game of Kings of War in four years. Since I last played the edition has changed and the supporting army lists have also been updated. 

I am going to use my Ratkin and so have spent the last couple of weeks painting the necessary new models and basing where required.

Decided to go with a pretty straightforward list rather than to get too "cute" while trying to re-learn the game. Here is the list I am using:

• Warrior Horde - Plague Pots
  
• Shock Troop Horde - Plague Pots & Brew of Strength
• Shock Troop Horde - Plague Pots & Caterpillar Potion
• Wretches Horde
• Vermintide Regiment
• Vermintide Regiment
• Mutant Rat Fiend
• Mutant Rat Fiend
• Brood Mother
  
• Tangle
• Daemonspawn
  

So all the units have Unit Strength of 1+, with a total of Unit Strength 21. I have 11 drops....which is possibly on the light side.

Looking to have some pictures of the finished army later in the week.

40K - Open War Mission Pack - Narrative Campaign Use

On the weekend we used the Open War Mission Pack cards to generate the missions used in our campaign games.

The cards give a number of different deployments, objectives and twists to provide a unique game.

However rather than have a totally random scenario, the guys in the group have adapted/created a mini-game around scenario generation.

This works by creating a grid of three cards by three cards.

The top row are Deployment Cards, the middle row Objective Cards and the bottom row are the Twist Cards.

The default selection is the most LHS card in the row.

DEPLOYMENT	D1	D2	D3
OBJECTIVE	O1	O2	O3
TWIST	T1	T2	T3

Each Player has two opportunities to remove a card (however they can choose to pass. You may only remove the most LHS card in each row. 

e.g. Player A can choose to remove D1, O1, T1 or he can pass. Assuming he removes O1 then when it passes to Player B then he can remove D1, O2, T1 or pass. It then switches back to Player A and then finally back to Player B.

After both players have chosen/passed twice you the most LHS card in each row is the specific card in play.

This gives you the opportunity to get the Objective you want, for instance, but then you have to accept you have no control over deployment and twist. 

creates an interesting game of bluff before the battle starts.

Hobby - The Week Ahead

 Well last week I managed to paint up both my Brood Mother and Tangle and got approximately 50% through my Mutant Rat Fiend. I'm keen to finish the beast this week ahead of a game on the weekend.

The other thing I did was order some MDF bases from Battle Kiwi. A few of my Ratkin units are now on different base sizes while others function in smaller units. The service from Battle Kiwi was great....ordered 8pm Thursday, with me lunchtime Saturday. Fully recommend them. Check them out here

I have a KoW game set up for this weekend (with the hope of a second one), and then one next week - so I have a deadline to get the basing done!

The Hellions are still waiting....

40k - Planetary Empires: First Forays

 On Saturday we had the first chapter of our 40k narrative campaign - The Battle for Kithrup - played using the Planetary Empires system.

The first forays were all about Chaos.

The Word Bearers ensconced in the Monza Hive City managed to seize a manufactorium back from the Necrons landing on the surface. This was then followed up by the Death Guard making planetfall and seizing territory from the Tyranids and then occupying an unoccupied hex adjacent to their territory.

In other conflicts, the Necrons in Hive City Boca pushed back the rapid response Ultramarines while the Tyranids and Dark Eldar battled to a stalemate.

The matchups played so far:

		Word Bearers - Josh	Death Guard - Jordan	Necrons - Harpreet	Tyranids - Alastair	Ultramarines - Kent	Custodes - Nick	Necrons - Louis	Dark Eldar - Pete
	Word Bearers - Josh
	Death Guard - Jordan
	Necrons - Harpreet
	Tyranids - Alastair
	Ultramarines - Kent
	Custodes - Nick
	Necrons - Louis
	Dark Eldar - Pete

And the current scoreboard:

	Force	Tiles
	Word Bearers - Josh	7
	Death Guard - Jordan	8
	Necrons - Harpreet	5
	Tyranids - Alastair	5
	Ultramarines - Kent	5
	Custodes - Nick	6
	Necrons - Louis	7
	Dark Eldar - Pete	6

To emerge successful in the campaign you must play the seven other players at least once and hold 10+ tiles.

The next round is scheduled for the weekend of 11/12 December.

Hobby - The Vagaries of International Post

 "I've seen things you people wouldn't believe"

Everyone will know the difficulties currently being experienced with global logistics. Here in New Zealand we are now living with a "no-delivery" directive of US Postal Service, meaning that the only shipping options involve the use of couriers.

Against that backdrop, I got a surprise yesterday. A parcel turned up from Elrick's Hobbies in the US Midwest, which contained some of their resin bases. I placed the order for these in May and they were dispatched (with tracking) on May 28th.

Prior to yesterday's arrival, the last information around this parcel was that they had arrived in Ho Chi Minh City on the 4th June. Since then, nada, 

So whether they have been sitting in a postal facility in Vietnam for the last 5-6 months or more likely sitting at a NZ Post facility in Auckland, there is no doubt that they have seen some shit.

As always, the product from Elrick's Hobbies is first class and I now have the bases for 30 Death Guard Poxwalkers....now where are those models 😁

Hobby - World's Best Varnish - Black Friday Sale

 In my opinion, VMS varnish is the best I have ever used. Goes on either with brush or directly through the airbrush and available in Matt, Satin and Gloss.

You can check out their range here

They are currently having a Black Friday Sale giving 35% off with the code: 

BF-VMS

If you haven't used them then you really should try them. You won't be disappointed.

KoW - Wellington Kings of War Facebook Group

 I recently set up a Facebook Group for Kings of War players here in Wellington (or those interested in what we get up to).

You can access the page here

The Group is Public so anyone can join - currently it has 12 members.

The purpose of the group is to arrange games and share hobby.

If you are at all interested in playing a rank and flank Fantasy game please jump in. 

Now is a good time to get into the game. The rules are 2-3 years into their 3rd Edition so most of the rules interactions have been well ironed out. It has also been supported by two Clash of Kings books (the latest just out) giving greater depth to the base rules and expanding the number of races/list to 28, each with their own character.

Hobby - Opportunities Are Endless

 Every now and then I like to take a moment, step back and see where my hobby is.

I first started wargaming at the age of 14, taking a break once I turned 20 and coming back almost 22 years ago.

In the time I've been back in the hobby I have played DBM (historical Ancients & Medieval), Warhammer 40k, Warhammer Fantasy, Kings of War and then Warhammer 40k again. During all those periods, I played (and organised tournaments for them).

Earlier this year, having played/organised tournament 40k for the past 3-4 years, I dramatically fell out of love with it. The reason behind this was my perception that the mission structure in 9th Ed was incredibly bland - effectively you played the same mission over and over again (YMMV). This coupled with an accelerated power creep and enormous rules bloat made the game incredibly unenjoyable for me. So I stepped away.

Now I have no doubts that with time things will rebalance, added superfluous complexity will be stripped out and the game will become attractive to me again.    

What this space has given me is the opportunity to look at other gaming options. I have dusted off - and built - Ancient/Medieval armies and units, focused on more narrative 40k and even rediscovered Kings of War for Fantasy RnF action.

And that's the thing. There are so many different ways to enjoy your gaming and games to play.

We are really living in a golden age as far as hobby goes.

• It's more mainstream. More people are playing than ever before. It is less of a geek "secret shame" and more an outlet for creativity and competition. This has been helped by the rise of video games.
• There are so many more games/figure ranges. More manufacturers, more purchasing options etc. The rise first of Kickstarter and then of 3D printing has opened a myriad of creativity in the hobby.
• Different ways to play. Twenty years ago everything available fell largely into one of two camps - role playing or army combat. If there is anything that has characterised the past 10 years it is the rise of skirmish games that have a lesser model count than the traditional army conflict.
  
• Content creators. A dozen years ago there were probably 3-4 wargaming podcast, now there are hundreds and alongside them have grown the "Youtubers". Now if you want to watch a tutorial on how to do something or a battle report for entertainment then you truly are spoilt for choice.
  

The biggest constraint now for me is time, rather than options.

Already this year, I have stopped myself on multiple occasions from buying a 3D resin printer - "You neither need nor will you paint all those figures you paint!". I've also had to stop myself buying Necromunda and Kill Team forces - after watching how much fun the guys playing it at my local club are having. Again, a time issue.

We do really live in a golden time for hobby and sometimes if you are not enjoying your current iteration then it really is just a case of looking around and doing something different. You'll never lack for opportunities.