Friday, February 26, 2010

CAMPAIGN RESULTS

It has been a long, hard campaign, but we've finally reached the end.  I know I had an absolute blast over the past 8 weeks playing games, advancing my warband, and writing this blog.  I think it's safe to say that the other players feel the same.

The final standing for the campaign would not be based on a win/ loss record, but rather on the number of campaign points totalled at the end of 6 weeks.  The total campaign points looked like this:


Campaign Points
Jake9
Brian8
Mike6
Brandon6
Jeff3
Chris0
Todd0

Congratulations to Jake for being the Champion of the Winter 2010 campaign!!

First place received a $25 gift card to Village Games in Anoka, MN and a fancy trophy!
Second place received a $15 gift card to Village Games!
Third place received a $10 gift card to Village Games!

Thank you to all for playing!

A shot of the gang after the awards were given out.  From left to right:
Chris, Jeff, Todd, Mike, Jake, Brian and Brandon

We have learned a lot from playing this campaign, and are already making preparations for a second one soon.  We will be having discussions on where we would like to make changes and improvements, and I will share our discussions on this blog.

Week 6 Results

After the last rounds of play this was the final standings:
Week
6
NameWinsLossesDrawsByesTOTAL
Jake1130115
Brian960015
Mike650415
Brandon620715
Chris2120115
Jeff350715
Todd160815

More to come when I post the wrap up!

Week 6- Game 2

The league standings were quickly totaled to determine the final pairings. 

Brian and Jake were tied for first place, so they were paired up to determine 1st place.  The other pairings were determined randomly.

As these were the final games of the campaign, the gloves were off and no one held back!  Combat was brutal with games coming down to one side being wiped off the table.

Jeff vs. Brandon
Battlefield: Agimore's Sweep
Time of Day: Dusk
Weather: A Beautiful Day
Scenario: Sieze the High Ground
Rangers storm the hill and brace for the dwarven charge!

This game was over rather quickly due to some nasty cascading morale checks.

Mike vs. Chris
Battlefield: The Grass Ocean
Time of Day: Dusk
Weather: Calm
Scenario: Sieze the High Ground
Alezza's Horde of Horrible and The Harlaz Expeditionary force both clain the hill as their own!

 
Alezza defends the hill with her new friend; a dwarf leader zombie!


The battle rages on even after both warbands are well past their breaking points!

Jake vs. Brian
Battlefield: Grass Ocean
Time of Day: Day
Weather: Overcast
Scenario: Ambush
Jake's knights cautiously approach the ruins of the Snake People.  It is simply too quiet...


The River Runners spring their trap!  Jake suffers the Curse of the Snake People!


The knights seem to be disorganized and confused.  Or is this part of the battle plan?


Casualties are heavy on both sides, with both warbands valiantly passing morale tests!


Finally Jakes' Knights have the upper hand!  Or do they?


The final human falls, and the leader of The River Runners stands alone!


The ruins once again fall silent...

The results of this round are:

Brandon siezed victory!

Mike vanquishes his foe and secures victory!

The game between Jake and Brian was very, very close.  All of Jake's models were removed from the table.  Brian was left with only his Uber- leader; a Q: 2 C: 8, Lethal vs. Humans, Leader (amongst other things.) (*Brian quested with this model and received the Baneblade magic weapon.)

Once the final victory points were tallied the result was:
Brian: 19.3
Jake: 19.7

Jake one by less than half a point!!!  (Or by one point if you round properly, but that is much less dramatic!)


Week 6- Game 1

And here we are, in the final week of the campaign!  It has been a long, hard road full of pleasure and pain, joy and misery, victory and defeat.  These last two rounds would finally decide who would be crowned champion.

First pairings were determined randomly.

Mike vs. Brian
Battlefield: Ezule's Woods
Time of Day: Day
Weather: Chilly
Scenario: On Difficult Ground
The Harlaz Expeditionary Force Squares off against the River Runners!


Dwarves and elves dance around each other, trying to maneuver to the most advantageous positions!


The final standoff... Who will make the first move?

Jake vs. Jeff
Battlefield: Grass Ocean
Time of Day: Day
Weather: Breezy
Scenario: Sieze the High Ground

Knights pile onto the hill while rangers try to play catch up!


Jeff's rangers fire volley after volley of arrows into Jake's troops!

Brandon vs. Chris
Battlefield: Agimore's Sweep
Time of Day: Dusk
Weather: Snow
Scenario: Assassination

Alezza's Horde of Horrible charges the dwarf defenses!


Alezza finds herself a new toy... Zombie Bear!!


The undead slam into the dwarf battle line!

Round results were such:

Brian routed his opponent and claimed victory!

Jake siezed the high ground and victory!

Brandon drove back the attacker for victory!

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Battlefield Profile- Tremor's Pass

Today we'll look at Tremor's Pass, a battlefield from Brian.

9: Tremors Pass (Border Town)
Min number of terrain pieces: 7
Mandatory: 3 Buildings, 2 Woods
Normal: buildings, Fences, Woods, Hills

Located near the Dragonborn Mountains, the town is named after the
frequent earthquakes that seem to plague the area.

The trees for this battlefield are assembled from components by Woodland Scenics.
See this link for a quick guide on how they are made.

5"- 7" Deciduous Armatures
Clump Foliage

The tree templates were made using a grass mat from Noch.


Templates were cut from cardboard, and then a piece of Middlegreen gaming mat larger than the template was glued on top.  The excess mat was then folded over the edges of the cardboard template and glued into place to hide the corrugations of the cardboard.  This is such a simple and easy method for making templates I plan on doing it myself.

The walls are WarTorn Worlds.
Grey Brick Wall Set

Brian has given them a wash using Citadel washes to give them a more natural look.

The buildings are again done by Dave Graffam.   You can get these buildings yourself here:
http://www.davesgames.net/

Friday, February 19, 2010

Week 5 Standings

Here are the current standings for the campaign:
Week
5
NameWinsLossesDrawsByesTOTAL
Jake930113
Brian850013
Mike640313
Chris2100113
Brandon420713
Jeff330713
Todd160613


This was a tough week of play in the Dice Karma Department.  Everyone was rolling poorly, either during the game or afterwards. 

My worst point was rolling triple 1's for a Q: 2+ activation, using my "Retaining the Initiative" advancement, and following up with only one success on two dice!  And of course this was only the 2nd activation of my turn!

Jake managed to have the Centaur Hero he recruited from the exploration chart captured by Mike's dwarves. 

Brian I think faired the best, and he had a couple guys die.

Mike had the worst dice for the entire evening.  There was no one single catastrophic event, but he managed to consistantly roll turnovers on Q: 2+ guys, and rolled so poorly in combat I think he even managed to lose a round of combat to a C: 2 skeleton! 

Next week is the last day for the league.  I hope everyone can make it out!

Week 5- Game 3

And so begins the final round of the night.  So far the dice have been quite unfriendly to all parties.  Hopes are the last round will bring more fortune!

Pairings were assigned to assure that no two people played each other twice in the same night.

Jake vs. Chris
Battlefield: Tashia's Crossing
Time of Day: Night
Weather: Overcast
Scenario: Sieze the High Ground
Jake's humans and Alezza's Horde of Horrible close in on the clock tower!


Egads!  What manner of vile magic is at work here?


Knights gather at the hill to form a defensive line.


A might battle ensues, with the knights gaining the upper hand!

Mike vs. Brian
Battlefield: The Grass Ocean
Time of Day: Night
Weather: Strong Winds
Scenario: Assassination
The River Runners and the Harlaz Expeditionary Force see each other at range.


And now they're closer!


Elves defend a ruin from the dwarven onslaught!


Furious combat between elves and dwarves!

Results for the night's final round are:

Jake protected the hill and took home victory!

Mike crushed his opponents and claimed victory!

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Week 5- Game 2

More skirmish goodness, SBH style!

Again, pairings were random.

Mike vs. Chris
Battlefield: The Barrens
Time of Day: Night
Weather: Eerily Still
Scenario: On Diffiult Ground

Alleza's Horde of Horrible and The Harlaz Expeditionary Force want to claim the ruin as their own!


Dwarves do their best to quell the unstoppable assault!


Dwarves round up skeletons for the slaughter!

Jake vs. Brian
Battlefield: Tremor's Pass
Time of Day: Night
Weather: Clear and Warm
Scenario: Treasure Hunt

The River Runners and Jake's humans scour the village for treasure!


Found it!  Knights gather the gold!


The battle rages for the loot!


Elves stand their ground from a two sided attack!

Results for this round are as follows:

Mike leads his warband to a narrow victory!

Brian snatches the loot from the hands of his opponent for victory!

Week 5- Game 1

With the the campaign coming close to being finished, our attendance was the weakest yet.  One player was out with work, one on vacation and the last a no call, no show for the 2nd week in a row...

Never the less it was a great day of gaming!

With week 5 the season turned from summer to fall, opening up new opportunites for bad weather.

The first round started off as usual, with pairings generated randomly:

Jake vs. Mike
Battlefield: Shores of Esil's Ocean
Time of Day: Night
Weather: Strong Wind
Scenario: Assassination

The Harlaz Expeditionary Force heads for cover as Jake's humans charge!


Chaos ensues as mighty warbands clash!


Brian vs. Chris
Battlefield: Agimore's Sweep
Time of Day: Dusk
Weather: Cool
Scenario: Treasure Hunt

The River Runner's quickly scour the area for treasure while Alezza's Horde of Horrible muddles along!


The undead horde sets its sights on battle while elves scramble through bladegrass for the loot!


Alezza unleashes the big guns against the highly skilled elves!

Round one results are like so:

Mike continues his giant killer streak and takes another victory!

Brian beats back his foe and claims the treasure and victory!

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Battlefield Profile- Euzla's Woods

Let's take a look at Euzla's Woods, a battlefield by Chris.

4: Euzla's Woods (Forest)
Min number of terrain pieces: 6
Mandatory: 4 Woods
Normal: Woods, Ruins, Hills.
Fantastic: Cursed Ruins

The mad wizard Euzla is said to have made his home here. Even now, the locals avoid the ancient forest and the horrors lurking there.


The trees for this woods are store bought and are supplied by Life Like and by Noch.  The templated are just cardboard, with the edges taped over to hide the corrugations, painted black, and then flocked.

To see how the hills were made, go here.

The ruin is an old piece I've had around forever.  See how it was done here.


Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Battlefield Profile- The Dread Mire

Next we have The Dread Mire, a battlefield selected by Todd.

3: The Dread Mire (Swamp)
Min number of terrain pieces: 4
Mandatory: 2 Swamps Normal: Woods, Ruins
Fantastic: Quicksand

A once fertile area and home to a prosperous society, the Dread Mire
Is now a deadly morass thanks to a magical experiment gone horribly wrong.

The mire is a collection of hand made and store bought.  The trees are a mix of old Christmas village type trees and armatures from Woodland Scenics.

The woods templates are simply cut from cardboard, covered with masking tape, painted black, and flocked.

The ruin is a piece from the 2nd Edition Warhammer Fantasy box set.

The swamps were hand made by Todd and I, and were a bit of experiment in doing something fast and cheap.

Todd started off by cutting out the base from cardboard.  We then folded masking tape over the edges to hide the corrugation.

Todd then painted all of the bases in a dark green/ dark blue color to simulate the murky water of a swamp.  After this was dry a bead of super glue was run around the edge of the base, and a piece of cellophane was placed over the base to simulate water.  The edge was trimmed with a razor blade.

Todd then glued some pieces of dead tree branches to the bases as dead trees and logs.  We then applied a mix of ground cover flock and spanish moss to the base with super glue to complete the swamp effect.

I really enjoyed making these pieces and I think they turned out quite well for under an hours worth of work.