Monday 31 December 2018

Last Post

Hi!

Just a quick post before the end of 2018 with a quick pic of my newest sculpts!

Ork Nobz in 'Eavy Armour

I had originally planned on the guy in the centre being Orko Fatbelly, the Badmoon warboss for my Farpoint campaign but have decided on something more impressive for the chunky fellow involving a walker or palanquin...

These chaps are going to be forming a Nob mob for my Badmoons as their power axes, grabby powerfists and rapid firing dakka gunz they will give me some solid assault troops for my fledgling warband.

In other news, I've got plans of spending tomorrow playing as many games as I can as a good way to start the new year including some Rogue Trader, Leviathan and Star Mogul, not to mention Song of Blasters and possibly even Epic 40k!

Games and Gubbins

I've got lots of bits and bobs on the go hobby wise and am looking forward to having a go at getting to my target of 52 games for 2019 and 12 squads or formations painted too. I hope you all have a fantastic new year and here's to an exciting new year of hobby related shenanigans!

All the best!

Monday 17 December 2018

Looking Forward

Hi!

It's hard to believe that there's only two weeks left of 2018 but with the festive period upon us and a combination of work mentalness and family visiting, I doubt I'll be able to get much done hobbywise before the end of the year.

I have, however, taken a few minutes to think about what I want to do in the coming year and have got a bit of a plan...

Lookin' Forward Ladz!

2018 has been an interesting year for me in the hobby as I've tried for the last time to get back into 28mm gaming and failed utterly. I had a painting slump early on in the year and it's only really been the last few months that I've really got into the swing of things and it's all thanks to smaller scale gaming!

I've really engaged with 15mm and 6mm over the latter part of the year and painted some gubbins and more importantly played and enjoyed some games (12 no less, which is more than I've played in the previous three years combined!).

Gaming table at last!

Admittedly having finally got my gaming table put back together after moving house a year ago has helped greatly but I want to try and keep my motivation going and have decided to set myself a bit of a challenge for 2019!

First up, I want to put together and paint my 2nd edition 40k in 15mm project which is something I've been pondering for a while. The number of figures required isn't too much and I think with a bit of luck I can actually complete it!


80 miniatures and 20 pieces of scenery. How hard can it be! But seriously, I'm challenging myself to paint up 1 squad or vehicle a month in 15mm or a minimum of 10 bases of Epic scale gubbins for the year and I'm also aiming to play an average of one game a week using whatever system catches my fancy. It sounds like a big ask but I did manage to play half a dozen games over the course of a couple of weeks recently so over the year, I should be able to manage and as for the painting, I'm keen to give it a go!

Now the first thing that will need doing is the 2nd edition 40k stuff and I already have all the marines I need for that project but still need to grab enough Orks and Grots to give me the Greenskinned force which I will be trying to source in the new year.

Following that, I plan on sorting through my lead and plastic pile and painting whatever catches my eye in an attempt to deplete the stack of gubbins that I've had for ages!

We shall see what the new year brings but I am rather looking forward to getting stuck in with some small scale shenanigans but in the meantime, All the best!

Saturday 15 December 2018

Tales From Farpoint on Facebook!

Hi!

Just a quick update this evening to let folks know that I've started a FACEBOOK PAGE for Tales from Farpoint!

Ork Boyz

I'll be adding much the same sort of content I do here but thought it would be handy for folks to peruse who don't do the whole blogging thing!

All the best!

Friday 14 December 2018

Epic 40k!

Hi!

I've managed to play yet another game, this time a 250 point skirmish using Epic 40k!

Epic 40k

Now Epic 40k is possibly the game I played most back in the day and have very fond memories of playing epic battles fielding my Orks against my friends Imperial Fists and I've always found it a shame that folks didn't warm to the ruleset.

Sadly my mega Ork Waaargh got flogged off many years ago but I thought I'd use the opportunity to play a game using the smaller warbands I have kicking around and while the game wasn't very long and the detachments were a bit wonky, I really enjoyed playing the game for the first time in about a decade!

Sneaky Xenos lurking in the undergrowth

The Eldar won the game rather quickly by winning the initiative for both movement and shooting and proceeded to use their Falcons to blow up my Landraider and it's speeder outrider while the main Eldar force lurked in cover and their Dreadnought and Dark Reapers sniped the Imperials as they approached.

Ultramarines deploy

After killing my Imperial flankers, the Eldar Falcons started shooting up my main detachment of Marines and the Imperials couldn't get close enough to the nippy Eldar to give them a taste of bolters and the survivors were forced from the field.

Snipe!

The game was great fun and very nostalgic but I did find that I could have done with a more balanced force on each side rather than whatever I had painted at the time. I'm tempted to use the approach that they showcase in the rulebook and form small detachments based on 2nd edition sized armies:

An Epic 40k Detachment

I'd highly recommend folks take a second look at Epic 40k as it's a wonderfully simple and streamlined ruleset that allows you to have a decent sized game in a short time. I love the effects of blast markers resulting in pinned units which then can force them to retire, the short range and deadly firefights and the brutal close combat phase!

Compared to earlier and later editions of the game, there's less crunch in the rules with most units having a Firepower rating instead of lots of different weapons but I must admit that I really like this approach as it makes for faster and more fluid games.

Sadly while Imperial, Chaos, Tyranid and Orky armies are getting lots of lovely new proxy miniatures, the Eldar seem to have been largely overlooked so I've added an EPIC WANTED PAGE for the odds and sods that I'm missing from my collection. It's mostly infantry that I'm after so if you've got some spare Epic Eldar gubbins, I'm more than happy to trade! I've got lots of Rogue Trader era Eldar and an assortment of painted stuff I'm willing to trade for them!

Sadly I'm now having to head out to work but I'll try to get another 15mm scale skirmish played this evening and another battle report soon but in the meantime, All the best!

Thursday 13 December 2018

Assault on Glazers Gulch

Hi!

I've managed to try out Song of Blasters in 6mm scale using some of my Epic figures and thought I'd post a quick battle report!

It had started with panicked calls over the vox from the small settlement of Glazers Gulch and then silence had fallen despite Imperial comms repeated attempts to contact the township. Suspecting an Orkish raid, especially following the recent skirmishes with the local Badmoon tribe, Captain Vaughn of the Ultramarines has dispatched a squad of troops to find out what has befallen Glazers Gulch.

As the Rhino's approached the outlying buildings, they found a scene of devastation, the settlers slain and the buildings wrecked. This isn't the work of rampaging Orks and then in confirmation of his suspicions, the main settlement comes into view and groups of red and gold armoured forms can be seen. Traitor Marines!

Vaughn issues a prompt command to attack the despised Sons of Titan!

In game terms, I was trying out the smaller scale to see how it worked so this was more of a playtest than a real battle and featured a few stands a side but it actually went rather well and resulted in a fairly bloody skirmish!

The Ultramarines rolled well to win activation and speeded forward past the ruins of the outlying buildings of Glazers Gulch while the Sons of Titan seemed shocked by the sudden appearance of their Imperial foes and while the loyalists surged forward, the traitors failed to activate for the entire first turn!

 Imperial troops deploy (Vaughn's standard was lost to the jaws of a furry predator in an earlier incident and still needs replacing)

The Ultramarines also won the initiative in the second turn and opted to deploy from their Rhinos and let rip at the Sons of Titan before they got to activate. Their concentrated bolter fire shredded one of the traitors APC's but the rest survived the fusilade.

 Sons of Titan amongst the ruins

The following turn saw the traitors let forth a bellow of rage and storm towards the Ultramarines and in the ensuing carnage, Vaughn was killed and one of the Ultramarine Rhinos was badly damaged having been rammed by the Sons of Titan spiked APC.

In return the Ultramarines managed to slay the traitor champion before retreating with the body of their commander.

 Early on in the battle

All in all, the game lasted about 20 minutes and ran to about four turns. I need to tweak how transports work but it was rather good fun with the Ultramarines being excellent at short to medium range before getting a bit of a pasting in close combat from the Traitor marines.

Hopefully I'll have chance to play a somewhat larger game in the coming week with my Ultramarines facing off against my Eldar raiders and I'll see how Song of Blasters copes with multiple units, flyers and heavy tanks!

I've also been thinking of using my Epic stuff to try out 40k 8th edition as it looks like it could shoe horn in quite well but we shall see how we go...

In the meantime, All the best!

Wednesday 12 December 2018

Small Scale Shenanigans

Hi!

Sadly I've not managed to get any more games played in the last couple of days as work has been getting SO busy with the run up to Christmas that I've not had the energy to set up and play a game when I get home. I've not been entirely idle though as I've been going through my Epic collection!

With my tinkering with Song of Blasters, I've been pondering the possibilities of using it to play slightly larger games than the small skirmishes I've been posting about and while I think I can get the 15mm scale gubbins up to about 2nd edition 40k level forces before the board gets a bit packed, my Epic goodies could allow for something a little grander...

 Ultramarines strut their stuff

I've got an absolute ton of unpainted Epic stuff lying around in boxes in our library/man cave/spare room and if I aim to paint up forces of around the size of your average 8th edition 40k army, I think it would make for a decent project, especially as the change of scale would stop me going mental and suffer painting burnout with my ongoing 15mm stuff.

Khorne Renegades

Sadly the move of house and the interest of our cat Mab has resulted in my command stands needing new flags (especially after finding Mab carrying the bases through to the living room and proceeding to bap them around the floor!) Fortunately the large lipped bases seems to have done the trick in stopping the miniatures themselves from getting damaged.

I've thus far given them a good dusting with a soft brush as for whatever reason, 6mm figures seem to pick up more dust than larger stuff! My next job will be to repair and replace banners and finish flocking some of the bases before having a rummage through my boxes to see what I have and what my tiny armies could do with to make them more playable (just looking at my Eldar, I realise that they are woefully short of Aspect Warriors for example!)

Saim-Hann Craftworlders

Game wise, I think I will start the ball rolling with a couple of squads plus a vehicle per side to see how things go and will try to post some reports here.

I'm also keen to keep up the momentum with my 15mm 40k projects and plan on fleshing out the assorted forces there too as time allows, namely getting the second of my Sentinels painted and finish my Ultramarine squad who have sat primed and unloved for almost ten years.

That was like, Ultra!

Much like my Epic stuff, I have a lot of 15mm gubbins sat in boxes awaiting painting so I think I'll be spending a bit of time looking through my leadpile to see what assorted stuff I have that I fancy painting!

It's interesting that the amount of games played in the last few weeks has really got my interest in painting and sculpting going and I'm hoping that 2019 is going to be a bumper year for me in all things hobby related!

In the meantime, All the best!

Sunday 9 December 2018

Hostile Takeover

Hi!

I've managed to get a quick game in this evening pitting my fledgling Bauhaus force against the Battleaxe Brigade Mercenaries!

Bauhaus Megacorp has limited resources on Farpoint as it's largely arid landscape is far from the lush forested worlds that they usually occupy but the rich Promethium finds in the tropical equator region of the world has caught their attention. Sadly they aren't the first to arrive and the scout team has discovered a Con-Am Megacorp facility that has seen recent signs of being put back into operation. As they close in on the facility, they realise the place is being guarded by the infamous Battleaxe Brigade, a heavy power armour equipped force that is more than a match for their light infantry.

Unfortunately the Battleaxe Brigade's sensors have spotted the Bauhaus Jaeger squad and it's supporting mech and has engaged them before they can retire now it's vital that the heavily outgunned Bauhaus force retreat from the heavier armoured force but before they go, they want to give the mercs a bloody nose.

I tried out this combination of forces to see how A Song of Blaster would cope with a heavily outgunned force that had the advantage of cover and rather enjoyed playing around with the rules and although the Bauhaus were rather feeble in comparison to the mighty Battleaxe Brigade, they gave a very good account of themselves!

The Bauhaus force lost the initiative early on and never really got it back with the heavy mercenary force splitting up to catch them in a pincer movement using their superior maneuverability and armour. Early on the Bauhaus troops moved forward into the cover of the forested area but with their Forester skill, they moved unhindered through the heavy terrain which provided them with extra cover against the mercenaries guns.

Battleaxe troops score an early kill taking down the Bauhaus mech and a Jaeger with heavy fire. 

The Bauhaus mech was rather heavily armed but got itself shot to pieces by the two mercenaries in the ruins who piled rapid fire into it before it exploded. It could have easily gone the other way though as the Bauhaus mech scored hit after hit on the mercs with both it's assault shotgun and beam but poor dice rolling saw it get taken out before it did much more than chip the oppositions paint.


 Battleaxe positions early in the game

At this point, things were looking pretty grim for the Jaegers, especially when the mercenaries hit them with repeated rocket volleys but they weathered the storm of fire and in a withering return of fire, managed to blast one enemy trooper to pieces and badly damage the second.

 Battleaxe Drones do nothing!

Possibly the worst unit in the game was the Battleaxe Brigade's drone support which consistently failed to activate for most of the game. I suspect Bauhaus tech's managed to jam their CPU's!

Dakka Dakka! Kaboom!

Sadly despite their best efforts, the second mercenary unit swept around the Bauhaus troops rear and a withering volley of fire from the damaged but still shooting trooper in their front saw the squad lose two more troops at which point they were forced to withdraw before being wiped out.

Drone view of the battlefield

Despite getting beaten, the Bauhaus did remarkably well against their heavily armoured opponent and I suspect that a second squad toting a missile launcher is going to be getting added to my fledgling force soon.

The Battleaxe Brigade on the other hand worked very well together and I really need to add a fifth member to the squad to round out the force. I've also got a couple of techs and some security types to paint up to represent rear echelon forces for their opponents to shoot up when the opportunity arises!

 Crossfire!

All in all, I had another good fun game with the rules I'm working on and better yet, it's inspiring me to keep working on it and add to the forces I currently have, not to mention giving me ideas for new units to add to the mix in the coming year!

Hopefully I'll get another game in tomorrow evening as a game of A Song of Blasters generally runs for 20-30 minutes!

In the meantime, All the best!

Monday 3 December 2018

Incident at Promethium Plant 17

Hi!

I've just managed to play a couple of really quick little skirmishes using my Song of Blasters test rules and thought I'd post the results here!

Seething at the loss of his snazzy new lander last month at the hands of some uncouth Badmoon Orks, the Governor General has dispatched a combat team of Ultramarines of the second company under the command of Marine Veteran Harland to punish the clan responsible for the loss of his prized ride.

Having tracked the warband for some time, Harland has finally caught up with his quarry near an abandoned Promethium plant. The Orks have realised they have been followed and turn to face the numerically inferior humies...

The Battlefield

In Song of Blasters, each side rolls for initiative with a D10 with the highest getting to try and activate first. Activation requires the unit to roll over their Quality score on a D10, something the Space Marines did repeatedly early on in the battle (quite an achievement as their Quality is 2+!).

The Orks on the other hand had a better time of it in the early stages of the skirmish, rapidly closing on the Marines position in a typically forthright manner by charging forwards chanting and shooting wildly in the air.
Ere We Go!

The Marines soon regained the initiative and their better Quality began to show as they were regularly getting activations when the Orks flubbed resulting in the Marines reaching the ruins before their foe.

 The dash for the ruins

Despite reaching the cover of the ruined Promethium plant, the Orks scored a lucky hit with some wild bolter fire resulting in a Marine taking a wound having been shot in the face while peering through a ruined window.

In shooting, the shooter rolls a D10 and adds their Shooting stat, in this case a 4 for the Orkish blasters. The defending player rolls a D10 and adds their armour rating, in the case of the Marine, this was a 6 reflecting both his heavier armour and superhuman skills. The Ork hit with a 10 while the marine rolled low resulting in him taking a wound!

On the other flank, the second Ork unit approached the Promethium tank with caution, aware that the Ultramarines had a rocket launcher which had the range to hit them at a considerable distance. 

 The Promethium tank

The next turn saw the Orks luck run out with the first Marine element rapid firing their Bolters at the now exposed Ork Boyz wiping them out in a blaze of explosive shells. (I realised at this point that Rapid Fire was probably a wee bit overpowered as it allowed the Marines to shoot twice. In future, I will change this to them adding plus 1 to their shooting stat).

 Eat Bolter shells alien scum!

Meanwhile on the other flank, the Orks had taken a casualty from the second Marine element but the remaining visible Ork resisted Bolter fire and a direct hit from a rocket launcher

DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA! 

The remaining Orks, enraged at the loss of their fellow, broke from cover and let rip with everything they had at the rocket launcher unit but only managed to cause a single wound. The final turn of the game saw the other Marine element close in on the Orkish position and pepper them with shot, forcing them to retire and lick their wounds.

All in all, the game went well and was lots of fun but I need to tweak a few things here and there to make it a bit less overly shooty.

I even managed to play second game using the same units but with the revised rules and stats. The result still saw the Orks vanquished and driven off but with much closer results. I think in future, I may need to bulk up my Ork units to 6-8 strong to counter the might of the Marines who waded into the battle and survived pretty much unkillable.

 'Tis but a flesh wound.

I'm trying to tweak the game so that Marines are dead hard and shooty and rather killy in close combat but are going to be badly outnumbered so will need to shepherd their resources as even a single loss will be felt badly. The Orks on the other hand will be more inclined to get stuck in quickly, using their somewhat ineffectual shooting to weaken their foes before getting into close combat.

Maybe another try with the addition of a unit of Grots might spice things up a bit...

The final Ork position

Harland glanced at the rusted yellow armoured bodies that lay scattered around the old Promethium plant. It had been a short and bloody engagement which saw the Xenos driven off with significant losses in return for only two injured. Yes the Orks had been chastised for destroying Imperial equipment and attacking the Governor Generals forces but Harland knew the warlike Orks wouldn't take this lying down. 

Still it had felt good to get back into combat following months of travel from their last deployment and his squad had operated well together and if the Orks sought to make war on the Imperial presence on Farpoint, Harland knew his troops were more than a match for the savages. 'Let them come!' he thought. The Ultramarines will drive them back to the badlands humbled and bloodied and show the rebellious frontier what Imperial might really meant.

Hopefully I'll get chance to play a larger skirmish soon but I first need to paint up more Ultramarines and finish the Power Armoured Ork Nobz and Warboss I've been sculpting!

In the meantime, All the best!

Sunday 2 December 2018

Project Challenge: 2nd Edition 40k Small Scale

Hi!

I've been humming and hahing about a post for the last couple of weeks and have even typed up a couple extolling the virtues of small scale gaming but haven't posted them as I suspect I've already posted similar articles over the last couple of years.

Instead I've decided to set myself a small scale challenge to round out the year and set me up for next year in the form of 2nd edition 40k!


I've really fond memories of 2nd edition 40k with it's monopose plastic figures, cardboard scenery and flimsy paper rulebooks and thought it would be a good idea for a project to replicate the contents of the 2nd edition 40k boxed set for a smaller scale. I can then potentially use it as a springboard into larger armies for both the Blood Angels and Goffs that the game came with.


The first thing I need to do is sort out figures for the set and looking at the contents list, I will need the following:

20 Orks with axe and bolt pistols
40 Gretchin with autoguns
2 Space Marine Sergeants with bolt pistol and chainsword
2 Space Marines with missile launchers 
2 Space Marines with flamers
14 Space Marines with bolters
1 cardboard Ork dreadnought


Now the plastics for 2nd edition were pretty naff to be honest and painting 40 Grots with autoguns, all in the same pose used to be an utterly dreadful chore but in 15mm scale, I think I can manage it!

Looking around the Interwebs, the best choice appears to be VANGUARD MINIATURES who actually do packs of 20 not Space Marines and 40 not Gretchin and 20 not Orks which have the added bonus of them not all being in a single pose which will be a major plus for me.

The other option is to make it all myself with the help of some sculpting and casting but we shall have to have a ponder on which I want to do as there's something rather tempting about the thought of casting up my own sculpts!

The next thing I will need is scenery. The original boxed set came with some rather nice cardboard ruins which should be fairly easy to replicate:


I'm fairly sure I've got a scan of the original ruins somewhere and plan on printing them out at about 50% scale and with the application of some foamboard, I should have some nice sturdy terrain. I must admit I do like the fact that in the 90's even ruins were rather brightly coloured!

There's also a plethora of templates, tokens and cards to deal with but I shall cross that bridge when we get to it. I'm fairly sure I actually have quite a few of these gubbins kicking around but I'll need to have a rummage to see what I have and what I need to sort out...

Hopefully this project will keep me entertained for several months to come so watch this space for updates!

In the meantime, All the best!