Sunday, October 30, 2011

Deathbowl IX: Year of the Elf summary

Here I just wanted to compile a quick Deathbowl IX summary.  My apologies for how long this has taken, I had no opportunity to post anything while in Ottawa for the tournament due to all the drinking and shenanigans - and once back I had an extremely busy week so this was really my first day with a solid chunk of free time I could devote to compiling the recaps.

Game 1 recap

Game 2 recap

Game 3 recap

Game 4 recap

In the end I went 1 win/2 losses/1 tie, and finished in 15th place (out of 20) - so another game would have put me on the bottom table!  I finished just behind my opponent Colin (orxymandiuz) from game 4 even though we tied so I`m guessing he had less losses than me.  Happy I managed to stay above the new kid Kohl who joined us for his first tournament (who won the rising star as he was greatly improved across the tournament) and considering who my losses were to I don't feel too bad about my performance.


Slann are definitely a strong team for the deathbowl format, getting Leap + Very Long Legs is a potent combination.  I think next year I may need to try having a super player like Leathan does when the tournament rules offer than option.  I will need to practice keeping that player alive too.

dual posted on Merry Mayhem News

Deathbowl IX (year of the elf): Game 4 tweet recap

Sunday had the final game - I was all the way down on table 4 for the first time all tournament.  Was playing against Colin, who I had never met before - very classy dude - I got a little amped up when everyone on the table thought he'd dodged without being next to my blitzer with diving tackle (he had, and it saved me getting a 3rd loss as diving tackle knocked his chance to score down) - and he took it with class and good sportsmanship! Nothing less than I'd expect from most blood bowl coaches!

Mark (halflings) was to my left and Chris (dwarves) was to my right.  I've played them both before so there was plenty of trash talking and joking.

#db9g4 final game, slann vs slann and halfling vs dwarves gonna be a stoooopid game lol #bloodbowl
initial setup
#db9g4 fuckin halflings have scored twice, both thanks to throw team-mate :-@ #nufflelovestheunderdog
joked with the guys how all my pics were the setup - AFTER something happened
#db9g4 freaking dwarf intercepts my pass #damnyounuffle #whydoesnufflehateme
damn dwarves intercepted two of my passes
#db9g4 both slann teams manage to score, our game is tied, halflings still leading dwarves 2-0 #bloodbowl
more setup pics lol - blame the Chelsea game!
#db9g4 opponents slann intercepts a dwarf pass, then dwarves intercept my pass #nuffleowesmebig
second dwarf interception
#db9g4 dwarves scoring preserved my tie, just trying to screw the halflings chance to 1TT #dickmove
dick move complete!

So final tournament results for me were 1 win/2 losses/1 tie. Considering the two losses were to 1st/2nd place finishers I am happy with that.  Always difficult when you start tournaments with convincing wins, as it puts you against the better coaches.

Deathbowl IX (year of the elf): Game 3 tweet recap

A quick recap of game 3.  By this time was pretty exhausted and it was taking most of my energy just to pay attention to the game.  A few quick updates were all I had in me.  After the first few updates I needed to focus on the game - only my opponent and I scored all game.  Unfortunately instead of ending up as a 3-3 tie, my opponent (Pat from my right in game 2) managed to score an extra touchdown in the last round of turns instead of going the other way (up until that point we'd been trading scoring). Well played to him.

#db9g3 on table two, against elves. #bloodbowl still trying to get the ball
back on the normal deathbowl boards
#db9g3 turn 6 hoping to work my way into scoring position /bloodbowl
pushing up the right side
#db9g3 managed a score passing to a lineman, all tied up 1-1. #whutupshun #bloodbowl
woot, managed to score passing to a lineman
#db9g3 only me and my opponent have scored, it's 3-2 to him right now. 1 turn to go, will take a miracle to get a tie
he managed to score again instead of me, grrrr

So after this game I was 1 win/2 losses (losses were to 1st place - Leathan and eventual 2nd place winner - Pat) so I didn't feel too bad about them but they definitely hurt me in terms of ranking/tournament place.

Deathbowl IX (year of the elf): Game 2 tweet recap


Recap of game 2, had a bad feeling at the beginning.  Leathan is a notoriously tough opponent, because he generally takes a single super player and protects him very well making it terribly difficult to get to grips with him.  I knew I would need help against him but with two elf teams going horizontally couldn't see much help coming from them.  Good ol' Tom "Cat" (dark elf) was sitting to my left and Pat (pro elf) to my right.

#db9g2 been a tense match, losing 1-0 but have a chance to score in my turn 8 #bloodbowl #pleasenuffleplease
had the ball on the left, needed to stay on my feet - didn't happen
#db9g2 slann can't leap or dodge this game, had later turn in both halves, not good at playing reactive game #bloodbowl
going last definitely didn't help
#db9g2 slann tripping all over themselves. made one successful leap all game :-@ #nufflesucks #damnyounuffle
I think this setup was after Tom's TD
#db9g2 made a rerolled leap only to fail a 3+ dodge with reroll. lots of rerolls failing. #nufflesucks
picked up the ball in 3 tackle zones too!
#db9g2 a chance for a consolation touchdown, but it's in nuffles hands. #notexpectingmuch
got knocked over again!
#db9g2 getting whooped, might get scored on again, 6 failed leaps, 4 failed dodges, might be frogs legs for dinner
yup, he scored a third time :(

So after this game, I was 1 win/1 loss (to the eventual champion) and hoping my next game might see my leaps/dodges work.  I ended up playing Pat who was to my right in game 2.

Deathbowl IX (year of the elf): Game 1 tweet recap


Here's my recap of game 1.  I was fortunate enough to start on the top table (absolutely sweet table to play on) and it was my slann vs. Robs necromantic (no flesh golems) and Peters pro elves vs. Philippes wood elves.  I've played both Rob and Peter before, but this was Philippes first tournament (deathbowl to boot!).

A bit of his inexperience showed, and benefited me greatly - after winning the roll to go first, Philippe failed a "go for it" with reroll moving his second player - basically giving me first turn (though his treeman had a tackle zone on both balls)

#db9g1 game 1 of #deathbowlIX begins. went with the slann, it's all about leap baby!! #bloodbowl
first setup, pro elf on left, wood elf on right
#db9g1 slann in early control - holding both balls #whutupshun #bloodbowl @GDubToThaFeetUp
going first really gave the slann a huge edge
#db9g1 slann score on turn 4, possibly the earliest touchdown of the day #whutupshun #bloodbowl setup again already
pro elf & necro still have their turn 4, 1-0 slann!!
#db9g1 almost pull off the craziest pickup after scattering ball can't be caught by a bunch of pansy elves. #bloodbowl
at least four failed 4+ catch rolls by elven players
#db9g1 huge scrum in the middle of the board. nobody can hold onto a ball for long. #bloodbowl
slann are always a threat - even with few players on the pitch

Peter managed to score vs. Philippe in the closing turns of the first half, putting us both 1-0 over our opponents.  Things are a little hazy now but I think I recall trying to stop him as well because I'd protected myself from getting scored on by Rob - but it could be the other way round and I helped him to score so Rob couldn't!

#db9g1 setup after 3 turns due to slann pulling off a crazy passing play #whutupshun ps. I still had the other ball
only 7 slann left standing, still 2-0 up
#db9g1 2 elf teams going sideways controlling the balls. necro team can't win, just failed another go for it #bloodbowl
Rob just couldn't get any rolls to go his way this game
#db9g1 slann pull off another insane passing play, bringing the ball all the way across the pitch #whutupshun
if I had counted better I could've pushed one more last turn and scored a third.

After the above pic, Peter managed to knock over my player (the ball scattered into the endzone) and put three tackle zones on the ball, he then pushed for his own touchdown and failed with a "go for it" (2+ with reroll).  I nearly made it 3 touchdowns on my last turn by leaping onto the ball but failed the 5+ pickup with a 2.  That was ok though because Peter failed to get a second touchdown by failing another "go for it" (2+ with reroll) which brought a mighty cheer to our table.
twice Peter failed 2+ with reroll for a 2nd touchdown to tie me for the table

So after game one, I won 2-0 tied on casualties and stayed on the top table to face Leathan (the eventual tournament winner) and his norse team (with 2 ST5 Ulfs and a MV9 Sure Hands, Sure Feet, Dodge runner!!)

Friday, October 21, 2011

It's almost MAYHEM time aka off to Deathbowl IX

Well I completely failed at doing any painting at all on the team I wanted to bring this year (that I started painting immediately after last year - can you say EPIC fail???) but I feel I have sufficient excuse with how busy things have been (buying a house, staging our condo to sell, being the only guy left in our department at work) so I don't feel too bad about it - there's always next year!!  For any NAF members you can check out the NAF thread for more info if you are interested!

In the end I couldn't even decide on a single roster, so I am bringing both the slann and elf models and will see how things pan out over tonight.  I have 3 of my preferred rosters printed out (1 slann / 2 elf) which should be pretty sufficient to make a choice tonight.  If anything the slann would only change a single skill on one catcher so I can just cross that out.  If I end up re-doing the pro elf roster completely I could be in for some last minute scribbling!
who wouldn't wanna get their hands on this trophy!!
Just a quick update to remind everyone I will be doing some live tweeting during the games (should be easy when I have 3 turns to do nothing!!) probably with more pics since it's hosted at the T.O.s house - so wifi should be available.  Depending on how quickly my games finish I will either do individual game recaps, or possibly day 1 / day 2 recaps on both blogs. My goal is to try and improve upon my 6th place finish last year, note to self (if using slann) - diving catch provides +1 to catching accurate passes!!

dual posted on Merry Mayhem News

Thursday, October 20, 2011

BB downloads: Free Endzone!

Generously offered for free (and combining well with the upcoming Impact Miniatures dungeonbowl tiles) by the awesome guys at Merry Mayhem News is a custom endzone for use in dungeonbowl games.

Merry Mayhem News: Freebie Endzone!

Thursday, October 13, 2011

The Chaos Manifesto: 100th post and a give away!

HOTpanda over at the Chaos Manifesto is having a little give away to mark the anniversary of his 100th post. All it takes is a follow to be eligible and if you pimp his post, you are entered for a secret prize too! I'll take the mystery box!
"it could even be a copy of dreadfleet"
Check it out here => The Chaos Manifesto: 100 Post by ME and a Give away from ME!!!

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Space Hulk genestealer minis - 4 days left!


Four days left on my auction of some nice Space Hulk 3rd edition miniatures! Tell Infect your friends!

22 Space Hulk Genestealers rare oop

Space Hulk Broodlord rare oop

Monday, October 10, 2011

Deathwatch Session 1: tau, spores and the unknown!

Yesterday I got my first taste of RPG'ing in any form since about grade eight! I have been pretty excited to try out the Deathwatch RPG from Fantasy Flight Games.  Who doesn't want to be a Space Marine!  The group was Jason (playing a Blood Angel assault marine, Sepheren) Lorand (playing an Imperial Fist tactical marine, Alexander), Matt (playing a Space Wolf long fang, Baldur) and myself (playing a Flesh Tearer apothecary, Marius - thanks to my fiance for the vampire name to "borrow") and Mike acted as GM.
Marius - Flesh Tearers Apothecary
To start off with, we're playing pretty fast and loose with the rules.  At least to begin with it's easier than trying to apply that whole huge rulebook from the start.  We're all previous GW employees so our GM (Mike of shiftedmatrix) was pretty comfortable avoiding things like demeanours, since Matt knew how to act like a Space Wolf, etc. (aka  Awwooooooooooo) We had 60 points of Requisition (to get equipment) which was spent on a chain-axe for me, heavy bolter suspensors for Matty, an auspex for Lorand (became a running joke all day long) and some special bolter rounds.

The background for this mission was a previous uninhabitable death world "Taros" on the fringe of Imperial space has suddenly spurted life in terms of some heavy vegetation and other life signs being detected through long range scans.  We've been charged with a recon mission to determine what is occurring on this planet.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+ + + + + + + + | INTERCEPTED MESSAGE FROM TAROS | + + + + + + + +
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

************************************ static ***************** chatter ***********
***** crackle ************* static *************** for the greater good ****

We were dropped for deep strike in a land speeder by Techmarine Aros (one of Mikes old characters) from a Storm Raven gunship and flew in towards the solitary radar ping we'd managed to pick up.  Pretty quickly Baldur was able to smell blood and we found some near mutilated cattle like animals.

So after landing several hundred metres away from the blip we track in on foot to find a tower with a radar dish on top (we actually knew it was a tower before entering the clearing thanks to a slip of the tongue by Mike - lol).  Alexander and Sepheren examined the terminal at the base of the tower, but managed to fail their tech-use attempts so badly that they did nothing but set off the alarm and release 4 gun drones!
investigating the tower, attacked by gun drones
Alexander took some damage from one of the drones while Matty took one out, Sepheren took out a couple in melee and I blasted away ineffectually.  During the scrap the radar started turning to point off into the forest so we decided to book it (not directly but generally in that direction) in case we were about to be ambushed but to ensure some confusion was sown Sepheren decided to jet over the tower and drop a krak grenade on the radar equipment.  Recon mission achieved LOL (We began to use the term "RECON'd" from this point to basically mean blow the crap out of it!)  I also tried to heal Alexander and failed spectacularly (calling into question my ability to tell between my chain axe and the narthecium!)

Through the forest Sepheren was alert enough to spot a huge log trap swinging down in time to easily perform some evasive maneuvers and save our asses.  Regardless of Alexander wanting us to all jump out of the flying land speeder to investigate we decided to hang tight until we came upon a small farming village.

We investigated all the buildings, finding more murdered cows and a dead Tau civilian, finally in the final building we found a power generator which when turned on powered up a computer system of some sort.  Alexander had more luck with this version, finding a projected path for something to land nearby and an actual path along with a countdown showing somewhere between several hours and perhaps up to two days before the object landed.

I'm throwing the map in here to break up all the text.  We landed near the X with the red circle, we almost got ambushed at the small x between there and the red square (the village we investigated) near the circular "danger" area (where we get ambushed!)
map of the newly vegetated area of Taros
When we tried to make our way back to the land speeder, a Tau piranha flew some warning "strafing" runs between us and the speeder.  Alexander tried to take out the engine and only succeeded in convincing the gun drones they should disembark.  Sepheren used his jump pack to scamble for cover.  Matty missed the gun drone he fired at completely and I blasted one out of the sky.  Sepheren then managed to jump and land right on the piranha with a threatening krak grenade and force the Tau to land.

We "negotiated" with the Tau, they were pretty insolent and I wanted to just end them, but in the end we followed them to this area they were too scared to investigate (wussys!!) and promised between ourselves we would go back and xeno-cide those rude cow faces!

They led us to the obviously scary dark area (we could have found it, should have shot them!) and took off like the scaredy cows they are!  Being space marines we weren't worried at all and flew in on the land speeder.

We found these green "cloning" sacs in a large patch, many empty but some appearing full. We couldn't tell much from the outside so I blew one open with my bolt pistol so I could investigate.  I was able to determine there was some similarity to Orks in the spores I found.  At that point a giant cross between a troll and an ork crashed into the clearing howling and slammed into the land speeder.  For the first time I had a really high initiative, so once Sepheren had maneuvered the speeder out of the way I charged in.  Throughout this battle we fought three of these "trollorks" - the first I cleaved a huge chunk out of him before Baldur blasted him to bits.  The second got the drop on Alexander and hurt him pretty bad.  Marius kept showing up Sepheren as I had several headshots with my chain axe causing large amounts of damage and dodged all their attacks back while the assault marine was somewhat ineffective.  The final trollork landed on the speeder causing a bunch of damage to it and sending Baldur flying.  After smacking Sepheren a bit, Baldur and Alexander were able to take it down with combined weight of fire.
strange spore sacs, ambushed by crazy troll/ork hybrids
I then managed to heal Alexander completely and Sepheren flew us outta there back to a clearing in the forest.  Our plan was to head back to the Tau settlement we had found but we called the game there due to the Leafs game starting pretty soon and we didn't want to end in the middle of an encounter.

All in all a very satisfying re-introduction to RPG'ing.  Looking forward to our next session!

ps. I called this Session 1 as it was my first time, but the other three characters had played a bit before - so if any of them ever write anything up I'll link to it and call it Session 0 ;-)

Space Hulk bugs for sale



I picked up an extra copy of Space Hulk recently to bulk up my Flesh Tearers terminators. I've sold the librarian and a 5 man squad already. Had no nibbles on bartertown though so I've put the 'stealers and broodlord up on eBay.

Had to relist the items as apparently the image I stole from google was of a resin copy!  Sorry to anyone who was watching the previous auctions!

22 Space Hulk Genestealers rare oop

Space Hulk Broodlord rare oop

Sunday, October 9, 2011

more painted stuff I had nothing to do with!!

Except providing the fig itself (in some cases!!)
left to right by; Axt, hakomike, AbraxiS
Here's a quick snap of three (count 'em, 3!) harlequins painted for me by others.  You can see who painted them in the caption, and likely know already - but in case you don't - the one in the middle I've posted about before, and was generously painted by Golden Daemon Winner Mike Howell (check out his blog / follow his twitter) and the others were generously painted by my good buddies AbraxiS (follow his twitter) & Axt from over at Merry Mayhem News. Thanks again Gents!!

These are added to my other two harlequins (1 needs some touching up) to form my Spire Brat pack for Necromunda (based on Anthony Cases rules). Five gives me a good start and considering how expensive their equipment is, could be enough for a whole gang - but if you know me at all I like choice!  There are at least four (count 'em 4!!!) harlequins out there around the world with some amount of paint on them and eventually headed for me!
Finally a special bonus was included in the package from those crazy Portuguese @ Merry Mayhem News.  Axt took it upon himself to build me a couple blood bowl counters/tokens.  I was surprised and excited to see there was more than the harlequins in the box that arrived.  The hand coming out of the ground even glows in the dark!  Am looking forward to using both of these at the upcoming blingtoof tournament here in Toronto (a goblin themed tournament where I am going to bring my undead with a few goblins, the orc counter will be my bribe!)
custom torne bane flaming ears counter & random orc-y counter
If you haven't tried it, I highly recommend trading some painting with people.  You end up with some pieces that are truly meaningful and have huge sentimental value, and you get the chance to paint up some stuff that may be outside your usual wheelhouse (I painted a cowboy and a "anime/manga" looking character for Dave of mini painting for free)

Currently on my dock, I have;
  • A goliath looking near future ganger type for arabianknight (from E4 miniatures I believe)
  • A zombie for Axts massive zombie collection (will be a "fan" of my Torne Bane Flaming Ears blood bowl team)
  • A skaven warplock engineer that arrived with the harlquin painted by Mike Howell.  Will definitely be using some staining methods for his fur!

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Dread Drop Pods



Just wanted to get a quick post up about the two custom drop pods I picked up from Ashton (redfinger). They are converted with plasticard from the standard pod kit. One will go to Ric (ricalopia) for my Flesh Tearers (obviously the red one) and the other will be the final drop pod for my Novamarines.

Heard there's some new rules in the updated apocalypse book, looking forward to testing them out!

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Deathbowl in 2 week(end)s!

Well the weekend of Oct 22nd/23rd is fast approaching.  Unfortunately due to real life I have had zero opportunity/motivation to get painting on the team I was hoping to bring this year.  It's still sitting with 3 models mostly basecoated and that's it.  I might be able to get some work done on it this weekend - but I really wanted it to compete for best team the tournament I introduced it so it's kinda 50/50.  I had my folks bring my Dark Elf team as well as my "Jawbreakers" (counts as Slann) to dinner tonight (most of my stuff is still packed and at their place while we resolve buying a house/moving) as a fail safe so I have options in case I don't get the other team painted in time (highly likely!!)

Please vote on the deathbowl poll, options are;
Pro Elves (bring new team even if just basecoated, failing that dark elves)
Pro Elves (if new team isn't shaded/highlighted, bring dark elves)
Slann (who doesn't love jawbreakers)

I still have (and love) the Slann roster from last year.  Leap in deathbowl is freakin' awesome.  Also a little nervous to use the dark elves as I'd end up using witch elves as catchers and other silly near proxying, which could annoy opponents but also mess me up!!

My goal will be to try to get some more figures basecoated this weekend and see if getting the team fully painted is a possibility.


EDIT: I can't get the poll text to display as white so it makes it pretty pointless.  Just let me know in the comments what you think!!
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