Kath Scarlet Repaint Video - DiceHate part 3 - Darksun 40

via IFTTT So Kris Sherriff from DiceHate and I have collaborated over a mini series on the Firespray. This repaint is part 3 of the series, and it turned out that I went for a green and white design! You can find the other videos in this mini series on Kris' channel (DiceHate) but just in case, here are the specific links: Part 1 - (where we waffle on about the paint jobs): (TBC) Part 2 - (Kris' painting video): https://youtu.be/ApUXoFPXsE4 Part 4 - (where we waffle on about lists): https://youtu.be/63NxVvSHn_Q As you can see, I've gone for a faux Kath Scarlet scheme, to tie in with the rest of my scum fleet, and i'm reasonably pleased with the way its turned out. Really enjoyed collaborating with Kris, if this format proves popular then we might look at repeating it again in the future. We potentially could start moving onto more current ships. Music kindly provided by www.bensound.org

Blood Bowl Battle Report - Elven Union VS Dwarves Darksun 39

via IFTTT So a quick battle report from a pre-season game that I had this week with Matt Sheffield. His Dwarves faced my Elves. Suffice to say, lots of tense rolling of dice followed. My over thoughts? Special play cards are fun, and damn im rusty at this game! My Team was: 1 x Thrower, 2x Catcher, 2x Blitzer, 6x Linemen, 2x Reroll, 1 Apothecary Matts Team Was (I think): 2x Runners, 2x Blitzers, 2x Troll Slayers, 5x Linemen, Lots of Rerolls, 1 Fan Factor Music by Ben Sound. (www.bensound.org)

Blood Bowl Paint Jobs - Darksun 38

via IFTTT Getting ready for the new Blood Bowl Season - finishing off paintign some extra catchers and an old school wardancer. Im probably gonna give Elven Union a try, and so im not sure what the Wardancer model will be. I need to dig out my Squig as hes the Head Coach. So the Wardancer might end up being an extra fancy lineman, or maybe the apothecary. With thanks to www.bensound.org for the music :)

Blood Bowl Paint Jobs

So been painting up my final dudes, with some nicely highlighted glutes. Particularly pleased with the cloak on the wardancer, turned out way better than i'd hoped. Wet blending really helped!

Bolt action league results

So last night I won my bolt action league! Here is the proof: 

I went 7 wins with 1 draw and 2 losses over the last couple of months. Very pleased with the overall result obviously, but also since I've not really played bolt action prior to this term, exstatic to have a the juggernaughts trophy for a short while. 

You can watch my latest vlog about bolt action here:  

X-wing Nationals - Top 32 Cut and beyond! Darksun Life

So not only did I make the top 32 cut for the UK nationals of X-wing, I went almost as far as i could possibly go! I won't ruin the surprise for you (although, trust me id be shouting myself hoarse if i'd won the whole thing!) but I hope you enjoy the Vlog!

I know the blog side of things has been a little lacking lately, TBH I'm really enjoying vlogging and sharing my hobby in that fashion! Plus I don't think i've picked up my 40k stuff much in the past couple of months. Im planning to start seriously getting into my Bolt Action in September, so expect to see pictures and battle reports from that! I havent forgotten about my hobby season pledges, and in all honesty i think this bad boy gets the biggest, baddest completion stamp that i can find! So here it is:

Until next time,

UK Xwing Nationals Tournament Part 1 - Darksun 27

Here it is! Part 1 in all its Glory :) Which of course, means that there will be a part 2! coming hopefully later this week! Subscribe to my YouTube Channel for more vlogging goodness here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9yiSXV2P-tTpPb1b2n30PQ

X-wing Spring Kit Tourney Report - Wild Ways Newark. Darksun 26

So i went to Wild Ways at newark last weekend, and (spoilers) finally managed to get my hands on a spring kit challenge coin. I put together the video footage and its here for your viewing pleasure, just click the image of my face above :)

Wednesday night gaming - how to I cheated my way to victory

Yup. That's right. On reflection I'm pretty sure I unintentionally cheated at game club this week. We'll get to that, see if you can spot it on the way through. 

 

Nom nom nom

So on Wednesday I played topher at 40k, and in a habit that happens after every 40k tourney I played with my salamanders, because I like them, but they just aren't as competitive. Here's the list I ran:

Vulkan He'stan 190
Librarian 65

4 Tactical Marines: flamer; + 1 Space Marine Sergeant (power weapon) 90
• Drop Pod 35
4 Tactical Marines: flamer; + 1 Space Marine Sergeant (combi-flamer) 85
• Drop Pod 35

4 Assault Terminators: 4× thunder hammer and storm shield; + 1 Terminator Sergeant (thunder hammer and storm shield) 225
Venerable Dreadnoughts
• Venerable Dreadnought: power fist (built-in heavy flamer) 135
• Drop Pod 35

1 Thunderfire Cannon: + 1 Techmarine Gunner 100
Land Raider Redeemer: multi-melta 250

Inquisitor Coteaz 100

Callidus Assassin 145

1,490 points

So a pretty fun, pretty non competitive list. Toph had lots of big tyranids, 2 flyrants, a tervigon, a big squad of zoanthropes, some squads of gaunts and squads of gargoyles. 

The mission

We played an interesting mission which I've never played before but thouroughly enjoyed. Basically, there are 6 objectives evenly spaced on the board. 3 on each side, with them 16 inches on and 18 inches apart. They also 18 inches in from the sides. You score one point for each you control in your turns only but right before scoring them you roll a d6. The number objective that this corresponds to moves 2d6 plus scatter. If it's a bt symbol you choose the direction. If they go off the table, tough. It's really fun! And also means you can't camp your shoot stuff on them turn 1. 

The game

I got first turn, and deployed basically nothing. Just the land raider (with terminators and vulkan) and the thunderfire cannon. Chris deployed evenly opposite me, with lots of horde everywhere, supported by bigger scarier things. 

In my first turn I burnt some gargoyles (scoring me first blood) with my drop pod marines and moved the rhino up. Then Chris basically charged me with everything. I was surprised not to loose everything, although I think this was in part because i was invisible on one of my squads. Because Chris had charged his gaunts into both small squads it was one massive combat that involved a flyrant, tervigon, and a big squad of gaunts. 

 

They were picking on Coteaz and the one remaining marine so I duly obliged and charged in the assassin and thunder hammer terminators. This combat lasted for a good long while, probly 2-3 game turns. It was eventually won by me, with the Eversor using his fleshbane&shred&power weapons to basically kill everything. 

Whilst his was going on Vulkan had tried to kill the 2nd flyrant and got stomped on. In return im used my multimeltas to fry the big bug before it got away. By the time the combat had finished there wasn't a whole lot left on either side. My thunderfire cannon was chasing objectives unsuccessfully and the zoanthropes had zapped my land raider. 

 

The assassin, Coteaz and two thunderhammer terminators proceeded to slog through the cornfields towards the zoanthropes, and reached them locking them in combat (Although coated blew his own head off on the way in). The mawlocs contained to try to Sarlec pit my poor marines and assassin, but failed miserably. One of them did charge the assassin who over two combat ohases efficiently sliced all his wounds away using power sword+fleshbane+shred. 

The game ended with the 2 remaining zoanthropes locked in combat with an assassin and thunder hammer terminator whilst my dreadnought claimed objectives. I think one of the mawlocs may have been burrowing around somewhere. I rolled out a 12-8 victory on the evening. 

The mission

I actually really enjoyed the mission, it's a lot of fun without being to much hassle. I might reccomend it to Alex if he's looking at new style of game for double trouble. 

Where did I cheat?

Where did I cheat? Well, if you've read all the way through you may have figured it out. The Eversor has a power sword, and a weapon that's fleshbane with shred. But not a weapon that's both! So I'm pretty sure I should have been choosing one or the other. Instead I was wounding, with a re roll and not allowing a save! Rematch needed. Sorry toph! 

Jumpmaster repaints - Finished!

I've started, so I'll finish

Good day to you dear readers! Whilst the nerf bat has in some small way fallen on the Jumpmaster 5000 combo, I was in fact half way through finishing my third repaint. So in the best mastermind tradition I decided I was going to finish what I'd started and get my third Jumpmaster finished. 

 

Here it is, in all its glory! I'm a really big fan of the chequerboard, it gives it a retro feel. It's mostly down with my new bff, masking tape. But the smaller pattern is all free hand. So it's a nice mix of both. It's definately very striking compared to the previous 2 jumpmasters. The effects on the other 2 are much more muted than this. Ironically it's probably the easiest of the 3 (because of the masking tape) and the one that will catch the eye from a distance because of the colour contrast.

 

I highlighted the black as best I could (hopefully it shows up in this photo) as it draws your eye to the squares and tricks it into thinking the paint job is super good. At least, that's the idea!

 

The engines came out well again.  I think I've got this down, which sounds simple but actually isn't because of the 3 different planes on which the engine glow needs to appear the same. The first time I was constantly putting the paint in the wrong place because I couldn't get my forth perception right!

 

The hull is my trademark foam dusted paint effect, which has turned out quite nicely. Pick and pluck foam has been a revelation with these guys. I've used it on all three and it ties in really well. Here they are flying in formation:

 

And again, u-boating off into the distance. 

 

So there we are! If you wanna see how to magnetise like this, go here! Otherwise, tune in soon for more hobby related shenanigans! 

YV-666 Repaint - Darksun 25

Screw your meta

So, in less than 12 months this ship has gone from being the laughing stock of the meta to something that many Scum players value. It's a pretty tough ship, with many options that have certainly seen play in our local area. Thanks in no small part to Shane :) I've repainted mine, and completed the following vlog for all to see :) I hope you enjoy it!

Blog hits! A June record!

A nice little side note - June was the third most highly visited month I've ever had! At nearly 2,500 hits it was only a few hundred behind the time my army got featured on bell of lost souls in 2012! My most successful month is still the month in which I posted my jumpmaster magnetisation article. 

I honk in part it's due to better self promotion, but also with double trouble there has been a lot of linking from other people's blogs, so thanks for that :) very much appreciated! I'm hopeful that I can keep up this momentum and break 50,000 hits before the end of the year. 

Sanctuary Games Tournament Battle Report - Darksun 24

Watch Out - Imperial Veterans is out!

Another weekend goes by, another vlog of me moving toy spaceships around a 3x3 mat. Back at Sanctuary Games in Sutton-in-Ashfield for this one, great fun as ever. Thanks to all my opponents, and to Richard for hosting us. Looking forwards to going back there soon!

Army Review: Double Trouble

The hobby continues! I'm keen to review the performances of the units within my army on the blog! Partly because I enjoy the reflective process, but I'm always interested to see what others think. Its a bit like chasing the White rabbit - it can be a deep hole to fall down!

 

Librarian on a bike (original model!) 5/5

This guy was pretty badass. In the first game he didn't do a great deal, but then tbh most of my army didn't do a great deal in the first game. Games 2&3 taught me to love the psychic power Terrify, as units left the board in both games. I'll definitely be using that more often. 

He has intrinsic value to the list in that he makes the bikes objective secured. This saves points elsewhere in the list and gives me two very fast super scoring units. Overall I would keep the librarian. 

Boltgun Scouts & Landspeeder Storm 4/5

These guys performed well, needlessly dying in the first game but in the second and third game they really put in a shift. In the second game, they helped play a part in the refused flank tactic that contributed to our successes in that game, before flying away rather swiftly.  

 

In the third game their scout and infiltrate is limited by the deployment, but they could have gone in my partners deployment zone. However! They did well, using their scout move and our first turn to "drive by" a unit of dark Eldar, rapid firing them to their doom. The objective secured landspeeder is a huge boon to the army, I would definitely take these guys again. 

 

2x Grav Gun Bikes (3 man units) 4/5

These guys are really what made my list tick. They are also objective secured thanks to the biker librarian, and have lots of grav. Whilst their shots aren't as reliable as the centurions, I really like these guys. Being able to move 24 inches in one turn is something that again really helped with securing objectives. 

The one issue for me is their size. At 3 models you only need to blink at them and the lose their effectiveness. Perhaps at next year's double trouble I'll try bigger squads, but I don't know if they then loose their points efficiency.  The funny thing is that I could broke the rules a bit by having a command squad on bikes. That would have given me three squads of bikes and been totally legit. 

 

Grav cannon Centurions in a drop pod 2/5

So these guys are badass, and i got called all sorts of things for bringing them. Spending 1/3 of my 750 points (plus the cost of the drop pod) on them is the closest I've ever come to fielding a "Deathstar" in the late 5th early 6th tradition of death stars. I was worried that I would be surrounded by fluffy, deliberately teeth less lists and look out of place, but there were some equally competitive lists, so I didn't feel bad. 

However, in the 3 games I played they didn't feel useful to a 285 point equivalent. They killed a lot less than normal, i'm not sure if that's because they are to far towards being a white elephant at 750 points. I faced a reasonable amount of armies where their grav weapons would have been useful, but they just weren't quite all that. That could be situational, we'll have to see!

Tactical Squad with missile launcher (original models!) 3/5
These guys performed reasonably, mainly just holding an objective and being in the backfield, allowing us to double up on points all the time. They were the only unit to get destroyed in the first game. In part I think that's due to them being 5 marines with a missile launcher (and therefore not a threat) but their presence meant that we always had an objective, in every turn of every game.

For me there was something very encouraging to use these models. They are "me", they're a massive part of where my hobby started. To use them where my hobby is now was a big encouragement! And I've gotta say, I got a real kick out of seeing other people's 1st time models there.

Conclusion
So there you are! my short review of something that happened 2 weeks ago. Overall, I think the army performed well, as you can see from the ratings. Nothing was that big a suprise, the faster units were really what allowed me to do so well. I'd be tempted to trade the grav cents out for maybe 2 units of something. Perhaps a bike command squad and something arriving from reserve. Maybe even wheel out the legion of the damned! Love those guys. 

The big learning point for me was how much i like terrify. I'm going to be using terrify a lot more i think! I've already fielded a librarian conclave once since. I'll be fielding it a lot more in the future! 

Battle Report Double Trouble Round 3 - Darksun Life 23

Watch out! You're playing the TO!

So, final game of the tourney and who do I end up facing but Alex Brown and Dave Weston. Their respective blogs (http://fromthefang.blogspot.co.uk/ and http://www.40kaddict.uk/) are part of the reason that I blog and I've never played either of them before, so it was a really cool suprise!

My partner Mathew had some very nicely painted Tau, and we did pretty well, executing our plans and our oppenants forces with a bit to much enthusiasm. Anyways, enjoy the vlog!

Battle Report Game 2 - Darksun Life 22

"Drop me near them, I want to hit them with my Grav Cannons!"

Yeah. The heading pretty much says it all. In a continuing theme for these Battle Reports, my Grav Cents spent most of the game in combat with Grots who repeatedly refused to break and run away. I mean, I can't be bitter because we did pretty well all things considered. But those were some mighty, mighty grots.

Double Trouble Round 1 Battle Report

"Don't get cocky kid"

If only I'd listened to Han Solo before this game. It may have gone better... opps, spoilers! Thanks to Rob, Ian and Matt for a great game :) Tune in over the weekend for the 2nd installment!

Don't worry! It's on its way! Battle report updates

Apologies for the delay in posting my battle reports from double trouble. I've decided to go down the vlog route, but break it up into a mini-series and have a 2 min vlog for each game. Which means more editing, more topping and tailing, more introductions. And more time! 

I've got some time on Friday night, so I'll or ably work on them then and "release" them over the weekend. How that's ok with you guys :) for now, I'll leave you with a picture from my second game :)

 

Double Trouble Interviews Vlog - Darksun 20

As you may be able to guess from the title, this is a Vlog from Double Trouble on the 10th of June. Its basically a bunch of fellow like minded geeks chatting about how the day went for them. A short Vlog at only 3 mins, hope you enjoy :)

Missile launcher conversion: to done!

Finally! A painting update. This major project has taken months of my time and has been a real labour of love.

 

So just in time for Double Trouble, I've painted this missile launcher rack to indicate that my old school Ultramarines have a missile launcher. 

 

I've used blue stripes as a spot colour to tie it into the first founding chapter, but ive painted the base a yellow colour to tie it in with the Howling Griffons.  

 

The base, coupled with the little dots on the control panel all help to brighten this model up a bit, I was concerned that it was all just shades of mechanical gray to start with but the spot colours have worked that out nicely. In a pinch I might be tempted to use this as some form of fortification add on or something. It's generic enough.  I can't find the 2016 "40k addict" hobby stamp that indicates this is "to done", but I'm signing this little project off as completed :)

Guest Blog: Yavin Open Battle Report by Jon Browne

So I wasn't able to attend the Battle of Yavin (at least I got sunburnt instead!) but several of my friends from Weekend Warlords in Loughborough (UK) were able to go. Jon Browne was kind enough to write a guest blog for me on his experience of the day, so without further preamble i'll let him take it away.............................. 

Hello everyone! I was lucky enough (read: masochistic enough) to be able to attend the Yavin Open on Saturday at the UK Games Expo. With Over 400 players, this was by far the largest ever X-Wing tournament!

I’ve been playing the game casually since around wave 3 but have only recently dipped my toes into the competitive scene in the last 12 months or so, attending just a few tourneys at my FLGS, the excellent Weekend Warlords.

The Yavin Open was my first tournament outside the cosy confines of my local scene; I had no expectations of doing well at all, particularly as I’ve been falling down the standings recently.

I set my aim low: avoid going 0-6.

The Chosen One

I always make a habit of choosing a list that’s quite different to my last, for each tournament I attend.

Back in February I settled on a list and decided I would run it exclusively up until the Expo – allowing plenty of time for practice. This is easily the most I’ve ever flown the same list – around 30 or so plays, although only two small tourneys.

I liked the idea of flying something totally out of my comfort zone and that meant fragile aces. Palp Aces was the obvious way to go, but I didn’t like the idea of ‘only’ 3 ships and I’ve loved Wampa ever since he was spoiled.

That led me to the now well known, 4 ship version of Palp Aces – simply known as 4-ship Imps or more aptly “Imperial Assholes”:

The general idea is that there’s no obvious targeting priority: go after the shuttle and get flanked by some aces, go after the aces and get flanked by the shuttle, or go after Wampa, and find that he’s only a TIE fighter worth 14 points.

Of course I had been running a skinny 31 point Vader (Title, ATC, VI), but he really missed Engine Upgrade and was promptly replaced by the Inquisitor as soon as he became available. For the same 31 points he’s got boost, and Autothrusters so is pretty much strictly better in this list.

Omega Leader is arguably the best endgame ship right now and great against other aces. She turns off so many tricks.

Everyone knows how good Palpatine is and in recent test games I was flying him more aggressively – it’s easy to forget that he’s on a 10 HP, 3 attack ship.

Wampa is my favourite part of this list though. I just love that little guy. He’s such a great tool to have in your list. His ability coupled with Palpatine is bonkers and occasionally you’ll get a natural crit on his roll too. Being able to deal damage to anything, regardless of how many evades they have is so useful. This would be great on its own, but when you bring it to bear against a high evade, low hull target like Whisper, Corran, Fel, Poe or Red Ace, it’s amazing.

Of course, your opponent will know that, but you can still use him to herd people out of his firing arc. 

“You’ve taken your first step into a larger world”

 So, here we go, the largest ever X-Wing tournament – 414 players!

I was paired with Jonni, running Triple Jumps, with a slight variation of one Jumpmaster having a flechette torpedo in place of an Extra Munitions. This wasn’t going to end well. As we all know the Jumps are a pretty bad match up for everyone right now, and not having played many tournaments recently, I’m very inexperienced against them. In my few practice matches against them I never knew what to do against them.

I set up Palp in my left corner and he set up to joust him. I tried my best to slow roll in and keep my aces at the correct distance, wanting to flank the Jumps through the rocks. This kind of worked, as Palp got through the first salvo with 2-3 HP remaining, and by the time he was down, he’d soaked up all of the munitions, but for 1 Plasma and the Flechette.

I didn’t really push much damage through in the initial exchanges and by this point my aces were too close, Jonni managed some neat flying through the rocks, avoiding a couple by a whisker and blocked me up.

From then it was a pretty simple job of picking off my aces, and the Jump’s manoeuvrability meaning I had to split my fire and couldn’t get any half points.

So an expected, but bad start. I was also happy to tell Jonni that he could indeed use the target lock gained from R4 Aggromech in the same modify step. His list just got even better for him!

Result: 0-100

 “Ready, what know you of ready?”

Next up was Alex White, with a bit of an unusual list, though not without its dangers. Juno was well set up to outfly my aces and dish out some hurt to them. The Gamma could wreck stuff and after that he still had two decent Interceptors.

We lost around 10 mins at the beginning of the round, because unfortunately Alex was missing one of his Direct Hit cards. The TO said I wasn’t obliged to wait and could have a match win, but of course we waited for a replacement damage deck and got to gaming. (Great job there! - Luke)

He set up to joust Palpatine, with the Emperor creeping forward with a 1-Straight, staying out of range of the 4-speed bomber. Palp then speed up with a 3-Bank to the left, getting into range 1 and avoiding the torps. This also blocked some of the Interceptors.

Meanwhile I’d slow rolled in with the aces, with the use of 1-Turns to wiggle along. I wanted to flank around the rocks. Wampa had zoomed into the rocks, his obvious sniping target being Juno. Wampa did his ‘thang’ and the Inquisitor finished Juno off the following combat.

I got a bit lucky, one-shotting an Interceptor, the other following  soon after, with the Bomber picking away at stuff. Wampa and Omega Leader were lost in the exchange, with ‘Lockdown’ rolling a ton of fickle green dice to go down faster than expected.

Palp stayed out of the fight, whilst the Bomber and Inquisitor danced around, the game going to time with 2 damage on the Bomber.

Result: 76-55

 “Great kid, don’t get cocky!”

OK, so I had a win, and I wasn’t going to finish 0-6. Hurrah! In round 3 I was surprised to see someone ballsy enough to be running 5 naked Kihraxz – fair play Mike! (Unfortunately I didn’t get your surname…)

But I was also weary of 15+ attack dice being chucked at my aces, and knew they could just melt Palp.

He won, the initiative roll, but gave it to me, presumably to make me deploy Palp first, so he could joust it. But when it came to deployment he put 3 together in the corner diagonally opposite to Palp and 2 together in the middle of his edge. I tried to keep the rocks as tight as possible, hoping to either cause some bumps if he came through them, or to force him to the edges, giving me more time to position.

I went in slow, with Wampa deliberately getting in Palp’s way to slow him down. The group of 3 Kihraxz came down their edge fast and the group of 2 came through the middle of the board.

Wampa and Omega Leader then zoomed forward with some 5-Straights, dodging some arcs and the Inquisitor turtled up, leaving me unscathed in the first engagement and one Kihraxz badly wounded. I turned Palp into the fight ASAP; I knew I needed all of my guns against his 5 ships. 

The block was on for the group of 3 Kihraxz if they all 2-Turned to their right, through the rocks (which they did do!) and Inquisitor was in a bad place with not many options. He did a 3 bank to his left and a boost to the right, which got around the rocks and just dodged all 3 arcs. Tasty.

After that it was pretty simple dogfighting to pick off the Kihraxz one by one. I felt like this was definitely my best flying all day, but I was pretty lucky to not lose a single ship, with Mike’s dice rolls seemingly always being cold.

Result: 100-0

  

“I’m not afraid.”

“Oh, you will be. You will be.”

I was feeling a bit better after that and going 2-1, but then came the dreaded announcement: “Jonathan Browne, please report to the streaming table”.

To be fair I was excited and terrified in equal measure! And I was definitely a bit spooked in the first 15 minutes or so of the round. I just kept visualising the chat log on the stream bemoaning my mistakes! “Don’t make a mistake, don’t make a mistake” became my internal mantra.

If you’re interested in watching any of it, you can find it here (https://www.twitch.tv/firstearth/v/70448779) from 6hrs 45mins – 8hrs 05mins.

(Alternatively, here is a timelapse GIF that Jon's put together - Luke)

View post on imgur.com

I wasn’t too happy to see the swarm, not only was it a bad match up – all those guns and crack shots could chew through Palp and/or all my defensive tokens, but I had gotten hardly any practice in against them.

I camped out in the corner diagonally opposite the swarm and slowed right down, as he wiggled across the map with 1-Turns. I managed to delay the engagement, keeping just out of range. Next the Inquisitor could have 1-Turned to his left around a rock and had a range 1 shot at range 3 with his ability, but I didn’t want him taking 6 guns to the face. So instead he did a 3-Straight away from the swarm and a boost towards the TIEs, getting an approach that would allow him to flank. At the time I thought this was a mistake, but having watched the game back, it was actually a good move, that could have been even better with a 3-Bank instead, followed by Boost and Barrel Roll to improve the angle. Without that, it left him with a worse approach.

I then made the biggest mistake of the match, and 2-Turned Palp into the fray, rather than staying put. The turn put him into Range 1 of pretty much the entire swarm, and he dropped in 1 round of shooting. I was hoping to block him, but the turn just wasn’t anywhere near big enough. The stop would have kept him out of range 1, he probably would have lived, had some return shots and then been able to get behind the swarm. D’oh!

I felt compensated when I rolled triple crit at Howlrunner that combat round and she rolled all blanks. One crit went on the FO with Draw Their Fire, but I still had hope of a one-shot, when the first crit was Major Explosion, but unfortunately Howlrunner lived, to give her re-rolls to the swarm, helping to kill Palp.

From this point I knew my only chance was to arc dodge and plink away at whatever I could get in my sights. The Inquisitors poor approach from early meant he missed a combat round, and Omega Leader got blocked up and almost took down. Wampa got a neat range one shot with a K-Turn that just made it past the swarm, but got all blanks. Wampa went down soon after.

The game was poised at 22-43. I had another great shot with the Inquisitor getting triple crit for the second time, against a tokenless TIE, and Mishary pulled out 3 natural evades matching it. I had no option but to offer a begrudging fist-bump. That was a blow. Eventually a TIE finally went down, as Omega Leader has zoomed out of the fight and then K-Turned to come back in. In the final round Mishary missed out on a full win, as Omega Leader survived two shots from some TIEs. Losing just under 10 minutes to the stream didn’t help (although it also cost him his full win), but Mishary played a faultless game and the best man definitely won.

Result: 37-43

“They’re coming in too fast!”

Oh deary me! This didn’t look good at all. I’ve always had trouble against Decimators with my list, all that HP to chew through with my low damage output aces, and to compound things Steve’s particular loadout was tailor made to take out aces.

Steve set up his whole list to joust with Palp, and I put my aces off in the other corner. Palp turned in to run away, along my table edge, and the aces tried to come through the rocks. I managed to one-shot a Blackcrack and Steve’s Wampa went down soon after too, Palp taking some heavy damage from the Deci.

After Palp was gone, it was left to the little guys, who didn’t fare well. Omega Leader and Wampa pushed a bit more damage onto Chirpy before they went down themselves and soon it was a full health Inquisitor vs a 2 HP Blackcrack and the 10HP Deci.

The situation was virtually impossible. Pursued by the Rear Admiral, I also had the choice of going after the TIE, which was made for me when I pushed a Blinded Pilot crit through onto the big guy. This was my chance to get the TIE off the board, whilst the Decimator couldn’t fire. Steve didn’t anticipate my change of targeting priority and so I got a range 1 shot on the TIE, but alas, I didn’t get any damage through.

From there, Steve simply got Inquisitor in range and killed him with the Gunner/Vader combo.

Result: 57-100

“You can't win. But there are alternatives to fighting”

I was amazed to be paired with Sim in the final round, he’s a great player from my local area, but unfortunately he’d had a bit of a bad day, hence why he was playing schmucks like me on the bottom tables!

You might think with that quote up there, that we ID’d, but we didn’t. That quote just sums up our feelings by this point. Both being 2-3 and after a long day, to say our heart and soul wasn’t in the game is a massive understatement. I was fed up of Triple Jumps, Sim himself was fed up of playing them.

We went through the motions with this one. They came in Alpha-striked, I kept targeting shield tokens and ended up with half points before I lost.

Result: 64-100

In Summary

So all in all, I had an absolute blast! I avoided going 0-6, won a few games, was privileged to get on the stream and all of my opponents were true gents.

I didn’t hear any bad stories about other players and the event was run incredibly smoothly considering the scale of it. Thanks to Vince, Alec, Frank and Zach for a brilliant tournament. 

And well done to my round 1 opponent, Jonni Reeks, who finished 16^th – bet those extra target locks helped!

The chance to briefly chat with and thank Frank Brooks, Christian Petersen, and Steve Horvath was awesome, and I also got to meet Paul Dean and Quintin Smith from Shut Up & Sit Down too!

Finally a massive shout out to our Weekend Warlords group, with George and Kevin making day two and both finishing in the top 100!

Thanks for reading and Fly Casual!

Wow. Thanks Jon. A great read and actually really engaging story of the day - I really related to your highs and lows! A BIG thank you for writing that up and getting all the images sorted as well. X-wing is such a big part of my life and this blog that i'm glad Yavin featured on here in some way! 

Darksun 19 - Double Trouble Vlog Preview

Hey Guys! A short vlog today featuring what units im taking to Double Trouble this weekend. Enjoy! 

X-wing mini tourney pre Double Trouble

By now, some of you may have read the from the gang blog post that talks about me running an X-wing hunger games event the night before double trouble. It'll be free to enter, and everything you need will be provided. I may have to cap the numbers but we'll see! Hopefully it will cater as an intro event but also a nice way to experience new forms of playing X-wing, beyond the competitive scene. There may be a prize for the winner, thou it depends on numbers how that will iron out!

 

Without giving the game away too much, a Hunger Games style event copies some of the battle royal feel of the films and books. You, in your single spaceship will go toe to toe with others in similar small plastic spaceships. In the centre of the battlefield there will be a cornucopia where you can grab upgrades to attach to your X-wing, tie fighter or y-wing. These updates will be random and may be something you couldn't normally put on your ship type. For example, a mangler cannon on an x wing or some torpedoes on a tie fighter.  Ships will be deployed around the edge of the board, facing inwards. The winner will be the last man/woman standing. 

 

I'm hoping that the event will allow those who haven't played before to learn the ropes and also test themselves in a swirling cross fire of events. I think the unfocused nature of it will help people get a taste for the game. They can just take things slowly whilst others destroy each other, but they can also dive straight into the thick of the action. For the experienced player it offers a chance to prove their mettle in a new form of space combat. No practised formation flying here!

So, if you're around the night before and would like to get involved, let me know! I know that some of us from Leicester will be there, along with some of the usual suspects (Mike, Dave, henni?). Comment on this post or email me at: lightningmuppet(at)hotmail.com

EDIT- provisionally putting the start time down as 7.30, but this does depend on when people are available! 

Double trouble update

 

Hello! An update of some fashion on the various 40k aspects of my hobby from this weekend. Firstly, I've submitted my list on time to Alex for Double Trouble, a 40k tourney with a twist! Basically you get randomly paired a partner each round and then fight against another partner. It's the first time he's run it, and should be great event! Stay tuned in the next week for a video run through of what I'm taking and why. 

 

Secondly, as you can see from this photo my forces were in action for a training game ahead of the aforementioned tournament on the 11th. Was obviously a training mission because we all had space marines. So at least 1 in 9 lists will be "good guys" in Power armour, though I imagine it's way more than that. Second time I've played 40k all year, went reasonably well. The dual nature of the missions as you rush to compete objectives is great fun. 

 

Thirdly, on submitting my list i realised that I do have a model to paint! This missile rack. My old ultramarines are taking a rocket launcher with them so that they aren't completely useless on the battlefield. Holding objectives and taking hull points! Yay! I used these guys in the practice game and there was something deeply satisfying about using my first painted models!

I've decided that if I enter the whole army into the painting competition, I might do a little before and after version of the tactical squad, comparing them with some extra howling griffons marines. Hopefully Alex won't mind. Now that all the lists have been submitted, Did anybody take up 

my challenge about using some of hire first painted models? I'd love to get a group photo on the day :)

Darksun tease

Just a little tease of what I'll be Vlogging on over the next couple of days... What do you think?  

How to: Magnetize X-wing bases

Dear readers! This is what I've been working on for the last few days. A suprise project that makes my ships look great! Magnetised flying bases. This one in particular is for large base ships. I'm still working on the small base ships, that'll follow in the future. I can't take any credit for the idea, I pretty much got step by step instructions from a good friend (George), even to the point of checking I was buying the right things on Amazon! Here is a suitably dynamic pose of the two jumpmasters I've done so far!

 

Whilst I've been doing a lot of Vlogging recently, I wanted to go a bit old fashioned with this and write a blog instead! Plus, it was so quick I didn't have time to think about recording it! So I've got a few steps written down here for you to follow. 

To complete this hobby adventure you will need the following:

• 10mm steel ball bearings (https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00TIG8JNW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_Z2Sqxb7WMGBK2 ) 
• 10mm countersunk rare earth magnets. (They basically have a dip in them to allow the ball bearing to rest on them snugly).(https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B007UOXRY0/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_y4Sqxb6E8TH7A )
• 10mm metal tube. I picked up some aluminium admonished tube from wickes. (Top tip, straight copper tube doesn't seem to available in that size)
• Some way of cutting said metal tube
• Green stuff (other cheaper vareities are available)
• Hobby clippers 
• Some files
• Decent super glue
• Black spray paint
• A loving and understanding spouse who will be impressed that you have magnetised it correctly

Step 1 - the prep work

Select the length of tube you want, and cut to size. I wouldn't go above 6 inches if I were you (but that's for another time). File off the ends to make sure they are smooth. Then using your hobby clippers cut away the two smaller squarish bits on the large ship base. If you're unsure which bits I mean, look at the shape of the peg hole relative to the bits I've cut off. In the end, I didn't take the peg triangle out btw. 

 

Once you're happy that both these bits are smooth, get some green stuff and fill the holes in the flying base. 

Step 2: the flying stand

In addition to filling in the holes with green stuff,  I added enough that when I put the tube in the green stuff supports it on either side. So about level with the remaining raised circular bits. 

 

Using the tube, gently create a groove for it to sit into the green stuff. Then remove the tube, add a decent amount of superglue and re-apply the tube. This step is really important, make sure that the tube is at the correct angle (dead straight). Once you've done this leave it to one side an let it dry. 

 

Step 3: the ship

Get whichever large base ship you are using and  either remove the peg insert by pulling it out, or clipping it off. Either way, in the same spot where you just removed the peg, make sure you've got a nice flat surface corresponding to the approximate size of the countersunk magnet. It's important that it's in the same spot as the old peg insert because that's where the ship is designed to balance from. (Note: I think the ghost may be different due to its size, you may need to mess around with where you put the magnet).

When you're happy with the place where you are going to put the magnet, superglue it in place. You may need a tiny bit of greenstuff to give it a good surface to bond onto, but use that sparingly. 

Step 4: spray paint and ball bearings

Whilst the superglue for the magnet is drying, take a can of black spray paint and spray the base that you've made. Once the spray paint is dry, spray some varnish ontop of it to make sure that the paint doesn't chip off. 

 

When this is dry, get your ball bearings and superglue them to the top of the tube. With that, you're done! The really handy thing is hat you'll only need to make a handful of bases for standard play. More will be required for epic play or flying swarms of ships of course. I'll leave you with a couple of shots of the jumpmasters flying at fancy angles!