Merry Christmas 2014

Heres to you all. I hope everyone has a wondeful Christmas and a great New Year. Enjoy your time with family/loved ones or just the people you want to be with.

If your anything like me you should be getting lots of new shinys to game/read/paint and play with so heres to 2015 and MOAR Sci-Fi, MOAR Fantasy, MOAR Modern, MOAR Superheroes just MOAR WARGAMING!!!

 

 

 

 

HAPPY CHRISTMAS

 

 

Batman Miniatures Game Tournament - Report

What a day out at Titan Games in Lichfield. As mentioned in my previous post, I was attending the first major UK Batman Miniatures Game Tournament and was very apprehensive as never played the game before and was worried I might annoy people due to my sketchy understanding of the rules.

I didnt have to worry that much as once I arrived and met the organizer Dan (who I then realized I used to compete with in Star Wars Miniatures tournaments at Waylands Forge in Birmingham) as well as kieron from the great blog Cheaphammer as well as a few others, it looked like I was in the same boat, alot of novices with the same concerns.

So on to the games - 3 rounds and the winner would be the one with the most tournament victory points at the end. Ties decided by head to head match up results and game VP's.

Titan Games had set out some lovely boards with very themeatic scenery and named them inline with the Batverse.

Game 1 vs Marc Potts and his Two Face Crew.
Board layout -The Narrows. Scenario - Chance Encounter.

This scenario saw members of each crew deployed by rolling a D6 on random board edges or if you rolled a 1 not deploying till next turn.

Turn 1 - Two Penguin Henchmen don't arrive. Smg armed Penguin gunned down by Deadshot and Two Face. Elite Chain penguin knocks down a Two Face Mook.

Turn 2 - Elite Chain Penguin kills the mook and Sickle is wounded by Deadshot. Sickle then fluffs hitting a mook whilst Assault Rifle Penguin guns down another mook. Cat woman along with The Penguin and a henchmen managed to all collect some Loot.

Turn 3 - The Penguin Henchmen with loot runs out of the combat zone and then uses lets go which allows Elite Chain Penguin to attack a Two Face Mook, he fluffs the hit and is taken out by the Mook. Assault Rifle Penguin takes revenge and guns down the Mook. The Riddler rushes behind the large truck in the centre and looks to gain the Enigma Objective.

Turn 4 - Sickle clobbers a Mook and KO's him. Elite Baton Penguin moves in and stuns Two Face whilst hes sitting on an Ammo Crate. The Assault Rifle Penguin slams in his last ammo clip and gets a bead on Deadshot and manages to gun the Assassin down.

Turn 5 - Sickle murders the prone KO'd Mook and Catwoman rushes in to confront the Riddler, she misses and The Riddler fluffs his return attack. Two Face turns to have a go at the Elite Penguin and again is stunned in return by the electrobaton.

Turn 6 - Two Face manages to knock down the Elite Penguin with the baton just as the Assault Rifle Penguin manipulates an Ammo Crate, reloads and takes a single shot at Two Face, it hits and Two Face collapses dead, bleeding out. In revenge a Mook moves in and kills the Elite baton weilding Penguin. Catwoman continues her battle against the Riddler and hits him with her whip.

Time was called and the Game was over, in counting up the victory points gain, I with my Penguin Crew had achieved a TOTAL VICTORY.


Game 2 - vs Simon and his Watchmen Crew.
Board layout - Gotham plaza. Scenario - Patrol.

Simon had also scored a total victory last game with his Watchmen absolutely destroying his opponent. I was in for a very hard lesson! The game started with corner deployment and laying out the objectives. Si's Watchmen had Nightowl in his ship who could teleport down any turn, anywhere and Rorsarch who sets up hidden anywhere on the board!

Turn 1 - Rorsarch pops up right near the loot objective closest to my deployment area, claims loot and then batclaws it away, right to the top of a building. Cat woman who was looking at the loot manages to solve a Riddle instead. Ozymandias moves up and takes another Loot. My Penguin crew move up ready to confront the Watchmen.

Turn 2 - A quiet turn with mostly movement until Rorsarch confronts my SMG Penguin who gets too close and KO's him.

Turn 3 - Elite Chain Penguin attacks Silk Spectre and bloods her, Silk Spectre counter strikes and damages the Henchman. Catwoman attacks Rorsarch and Knocks him down. Sickle charges into Ozymandias but completely fluffs his attack and is taken out in return. Nightowl teleports down ready to back up Silk Spectre and Ozymandias.

Turn 4 -  Elite Chain Penguin swings and misses Silk Spectre whislt Rorsarch gets up and manages to KO's Catwoman. The Comedian shoots and misses the Penguin and Nightowl is smacked by The Penguin who bloods him. Nightowl recovers enough to arrest the prone Sickle. Assault Rifle Penguin who is finally in range lets rip and guns Nightowl down in a hail of fire.

Turn - 5 and 6 mostly see the Watchmen crew take out a couple more Penguin Henchmen with the Comedian blasting the Assault Rifle Penguin in the face, killing him.

With the game over the Watchmen had secured a total victory in VP's giving me a TOTAL LOSS.

Game 3 - vs John and his Commissioner Gordon/GCPD Crew
Board layout - Amusement mile. Scenario - Skirmish.
A straight out fight this time with my Penguins against Gothams Law Enforcement finest. Commissioner Gordan and his Police/SWAT backed up by Nightwing and Talia.

Turn 1 - GCPD and Nightwing run forward towards the nearest objectives whilst Catwoman on the opposite flank runs forward and gets some Loot.

Turn 2 - Gordon calls in a Helicopter to spotlight the Elite Penguins and then the Swat open up shooting Elite Chain Penguin. In retaliation Elite Chain Penguin darts forward and throws his grenade hitting a SWAT Officer and Gordon. Sickle moves up and manages to KO a GCP Officer after Nightwing whiffs his attack. Another GCP Officer moves close and tasers Sickle. Shotgun Penguin lets rip with a lethal spread and hits a SWAT Officer and Gordorn. Gordon in return uses his firearm and KO's ShotgunPenguin.

Turn 3 - SMG Penguin forgoes shooting and uses his knife to slice Nightwing as a GCP Officer tries tasing Elite Baton Penguin but fails. Sickle kills the KO'd GCP Officer but is in turn KO'd by Nightwing.

Turn 4 - Sickle recovers from his KO, gets up and gets some Loot. Elite Baton Penguin KO's a GCP Officer and Talia darts across a kills Sickle! Assault Rifle Penguin now postion, opens up and kills a GCP Officer. The Penguin, who has been biding his time, trying to get close to confront Gordon is forced to shoot his umbrella at a SWAT officer in the way, he hits the SWAT and KO's him.

Turn - 5 - Talia KO's the Elite Baton Penguin and takes a Loot. The Penguin moves in to kill the prone SWAT but fluffs his attack.

Turn 6 - A Penguin henchman doses up with Titan and KO's Talia!!! whislt Nightwing KO's SMG Penhuin.

The game ends with both crews licking their wounds but at the end its the Penguins who come out on top gaing a MINOR WIN.

So two wins and a loss in a tournament for a game I have never played before. Not bad going and I was quite chuffed with myself. I made some glaring mistakes in all the games, forgetting certain abilities (mainly on Catwoman, who could have done so much more and gained me extra VP's) but its all learing. Most of all it was damn fun and all my opponents were great to play.

In the end I managed to come 3rd!!! with Simon and his Watchmen winning the tournament. My prize for 3rd was a Limited Edition Talia Card (everyone got one of these) and a Riddler miniature Blister.

An excellent day and cant wait for the next one. Below are some of the crews used in the tournament.

 

My Penguin Crew

Green Arrow Crew

 

Johns GCPD Crew

Kierons Joker Crew

 

 

Simons Watchmen

Marcs Two Face Crew

 

Batman Miniatures Game - Penquin Crew and forthcoming Tournament

 

Titan Games in Lichfield are hosting a Batman Miniatures Game Tournament on Saturday and I am speedily trying to get a crew finished so I can attend.

I have chosed the Penguin Crew to field and this is my attempt to produce a competitive crew. The build restrictions are 350 Rep and $1500.

Penguin – Leader – Rep 75 $0

Sickle – Sidekick – Rep 67 $0

Catwoman – Free Agent - Rep 66 $0

Conqueror Penguin – Elite – Rep 35 $200

Emperor Penguin – Elite – Rep 31 $0

Savage Penguin – Henchmen – Rep 26 $300

Ice Penguin – Henchmen – Rep 25 $200

Royal Penguin – Henchmen – Rep 24 $600

2 x Ammo $400

2 x Laser $300

Total Rep – 349

Total $ - 2000 (Penguins Lord of Business allows extra $500)

 

Sickle, Conqueror and Emperor Penguin

The crew

Penguin and Catwoman

Savage, Ice and Royal Penguin (Axman is axed as miscalculated points)

These were quick undercoat pics. Most have now been painted - pics to follow.

A Veterans Battlefield Tour Part 2 - Ranville War Cemetary and Merville Battery

Part 2 of the recent battlefield tour I frequented early this month. For Part 1 click here

First off a visit to the War Cemetary at Ranville.

 

 

The a brief visit to Merville Battery - this was a German held Heavy Artillery emplacement which could have caused series havoc on the beaches during D-Day if it hadnt have been taken by airborne forces.

 

 

For more on the story of Merville click here