Adepticon - Here We Come!!

So off to Adepticon tomorrow afternoon. I'm traveling with Jeff Kent of Kiwihammer fame and for us it is just over 24 hours getting there.

Jack is meeting up with us on Saturday and Mark "Monty" Skilton is also making the trip. My games start Thursday with Horus Heresy. On Friday I have the Teams Championship and on the weekend it is Singles.

Hopefully the armies will all arrive in one piece. I'm taking a Battlefoam 720 with the Pack Plus zip on extender. Unzipped these should both fit into the overhead locker. Display boards are wrapped and in suitcase...I'm a little worried bug what can you do.

I intend to take photos throughout and post from the event, so check back later in the week.

Death Guard Legion - Heresy Era

I have finished my Death Guard Legion for Adepticon. Here are a few pictures of it on its Display Base.

Flames of War Rankings Updated for Equinox

The FOW rankings have also been updated for Equinox and two new icons introduced.

The Jeep - for most tournaments played

The Yang Kyoungjong - most different armies

Horned Rat VII - May 24/25

The Horned Rat VII will be held in Wellington on the weekend of 24/25 May.

The event will use the latest draft of ETC composition and the associated rules and FAQs. Again this is an opportunity to provide  variety to the local gaming community.

For out of towners there are currently  flights available via Auckland and Air New Zealand for $130 return. So really there is no excuse!

A Players Pack will be available by the end of the month.

FOB NZ Rankings Updated for Equinox

Both the Warhammer 40K and Fantasy rankings have been updated with the Equinox results.

In Fantasy Dan Butler comes straight back to #2 and Antony Kitson pushes into the Top 10 (and is the DILF's Best Player). No icons changed hands but surely it is only a matter of time before Dan prises the Warriors icon off his Wolfpack teammate, Ross Hillier Jones.

The most loosely held icon is the Dark Elf one where Sam Whitt has only two results. A concerted push by the other Dark Elf bandwagoners will see it move. For mine the best battle is that between Phil Wu and Peter Williamson for the High Elf tiara. I can see that changing hands a few times over the year.

In 40k, Chris Ward continues to hold the #1 ranking. However there are now a lot more people having played the requisite three events to be fully ranked. A glance at the Army Rankings reflects the common world view - Eldar, Tau and Daemons are the top three.

Big thanks to the respective TOs for getting the results up so quick.

Big Milestone For The Blog

Sometime this week Fields of Blood will experience its 1,000,000th visit.

Not bad for a narrow focus blog from the Antipodes.

Thanks for your continued interest.

Equinox Results

Over the weekend Equinox was held in Auckland. This is the fifth time it has run and by all accounts it was enormous fun.

 

The results I have are as follows:

 

Warhammer Fantasy

 

1st - Dan Butler (Warriors of Chaos)

2nd - Nick Munn (Daemons of Chaos)

3rd - Russell Simister (Vampire Counts)

 

Warhammer 40k

 

1st - Charles St. Clair (Tau)

2nd - Mark Buttle (Eldar)

3rd - Josh Diffey (Chaos Daemons)

 

The next major event is NatCon at Easter in Christchurch and then Runefang here in Wellington on 26/27 April. The numbers for Runefang are starting to build.

If someone sends me the Equinox results I'll get them in the Rankings. 

What Jack Has Been Up To - New Rankings for Australia Fantasy and US FOW

With the demise of Rankings HQ earlier in the year I had a number of enquiries about the Fields of Blood Rankings. As you will remember this was set up last year to provide a local solution to ongoing rankings needs.

Over the past month Jack has been working with gaming groups in Australia and the US to help them produce local based rankings to fill the gap left when RHQ stopped providing the service.

Firstly, the new Oz Warhammer Fantasy Rankings can be accessed here. These follow the same format as the Fields of Blood rankings available on this site.

Secondly, the WWPD US Flames of War Rankings can be seen here

The benefit of this is twofold. One, these communities get continuation of a rankings solution and two, we get access to a community that can propose new ideas/concepts to improve the Fields of Blood rankings.

We are currently talking to another couple of communities re their rankings needs and hopefully we'll be able to help them out.

Display Board for Adepticon - Part 2 (Skaven)

As promised here is a walkthrough of the making of my Skaven display board for Adepticon.

Upfront there were a few things that I needed to achieve:

• it had to be light (air travel does that to you)
• it had to fit into my suitcase (see above)
• it need to fit the theme of my existing Skaven basing
• it needed to be flexible - ie able to be used for more than one army configuration. 

So with that in mine let's walkthrough what I did.

Step One - I needed to use a material that was sufficiently light for air travel and was big enough to display the army. I worked out what I could fit in my suitcase and quickly determined that wouldn't be big enough. Therefore I settled on a split board.

Step Two: I purchased a set of 30mm yellow foamboard from a local insulation company. I then used a jigsaw to cut two pieces that fit together. Each piece is 28" x 20". Their flatness will allow me to wrap them in bubble wrap and carry in suitcase for trip.

Step Three: My Skaven army is based using a paving/wall theme. Therefore I wanted to recreate it on the board. I took a sheet of cardboard 3mm thick and drew up paving stones 20mm by 40mm. I then cut them out - no easy task given the thickness of the board. This gave me 484 paving stones....in the end I only needed 268....here are the remainder in all their unfocused glory.

Step Four: Using PVA I glued them all to the foamboard leaving a 1-2mm gap between the individual stones. Two major gaps were left. When you do this make sure you have a plan before you start sticking things down. I did :-)

Step Five: Again using PVA I glued coarse sand into the gaps to represent the dirt between the slabs.

 Step Six: Both boards were given two coats of matt Black paint. You can buy test pots from Resene for $4 each which do the job perfectly.

Step Seven: I used anonthe Resene test pot "Mako" to paint all the individual flagstones. I then use Resene "Creole" to paint the intervening dirt. This was drybrushed with GW Zandri Dust.

Step Eight: Each flagstone was drybrushed with Resene "Mako". I picked up a black photoframe 5" x 7" from local shop for $5 and made an army nameplate. This was stuck down into one of the gaps I had left.

Step Nine: I randomly stuck static gras into the dirt gaps to break up the paving. It gives it a more natural feel and fits what I've done with my Skaven.

 Step Ten: The one thing the board lacks is height. Due to transportation issues this is an unfortunate constraint. To get over this I decided to use one of the terrain pieces that I had purchased from Tabletop World - The Abandonned Factory. This reinforces the theme - where else would a Skaven army set up HQ in an Empire town - and breaks up the flat nature of the board. I can wrap this piece and put it in my case.

Finished Board: Here's the finished board with my Skaven army placed on it. I think the board complements the army and together they sell the story of a Skaven force emerging into an Empire town.

Equinox This Weekend

This weekend we have Equinox occurring in Auckland. As I understand it this will be largest Warhammer 40k since 2010 which is amazing  and great testimony to the organisers.

 

The fantasy event is smaller this year than in previous years. In 2012 it was the largest Fantasy singles event since the early 2000s and last year it attracted just shy of 40 players making it 2012's largest. I've previously attended twice - in 2010 my Skaven came 2nd to Dave Stent's Daemons when Ant Kitson rolled over for him in the last round; and in 2012 my Ogres won it finishing ahead of Ross H-J and Tim Joss. The last couple of years the re have been some organisational problems - in particular very late Players Packs and venue changes - and I have given it a miss.

 

All that said, I'm sure that we will see a very hard fought Fantasy event. Two of the 2014 ETC team are playing - Dan Butler and Mal Patel - and I hope that they get six really brutal games. Treat them mean guys! Jeff Kent is travelling north - in his words "to pick up easy Rankings Points" - with his Lizardman "army".

 

In 40k I understand this is Charlie St. Clair's "Farewell Tour" where he looks to repel the Australian invaders more successfully than occurred at the NZTC.

 

Hope it all goes well and looking forward to the war stories.

Panzerschreck 2014

Jeff Kent has forwarded me the following in relation to Panzerschreck. Last year this was a great event and this year I expect more of the same (without the earthquake hopefully!)

Hello everyone, it gives me great pleasure to announce that WHFB will again be run at Panzerschrek 2014 by the Manawatu Duellists! We felt that this was a success last year with a great time had by all and are keen to grow it a bit this year and already have 6-7 locals on board.

What: A 6 round WHFB tournament using the ETC rules

When: 12th/13th July 2014

Where: Riverdale School, Palmerston North

How Much: $25 paid in cash on the day. This gets you BBQ on the Saturday.

Who: 7-8 Local Gamers and hopefully plenty more from around the country.

Extras: Armies will be available for loan and there are accommodation options available to keep costs down. Also if anyone flies/buses we'll be able to help you get to where you're staying.

Bottom Line: A great chance to play a different Comp system for kicks, find out what ETC-Hammer is like and enjoy the vibrant cultural hub that is Palmerston North. Most importantly though there will be complementary warhammer themed baking for all competitors.

For more details you can find the Player's Pack at: 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/oljwgslfde7ngd9/Panzerschrek%20Player%27s%20Pack.pdf

Adepticon Display Boards - Part 1

When I was playing tournament 40k, the hobby elements as well as gameplay and sports were an integral aspect. This meant people spent far more time on Army Presentation than is the norm now. Certainly to maximise your potential points haul you needed to "present" your army and that meant that at the top end a display board was the norm.

 

Over the past few year's the NZ tournament scene has moved to a threshold number of points for achieving a minimum standard and this has seen a lot of people forgo the extra touches they previously would have included. The introduction of the FOB checklist system was a way to give people more opportunity to be creative in their army presentation.

 

The USA is very different from this - well the Midwest is anyway - and one of the key attractions of an event like Adepticon was the coverage of the fantastically cool armies I saw last year. Presentation - and the extra mile - is encouraged and that results in some staggering armies being on show.

 

Now while I don't pretend to be in the class of army presentation that wins prizes at Adepticon - check my blog roll "GMM Studios" to see the batshit crazy stuff that can be created - I did think I'd be missing out on part of the experience if I did not participate. To this end I am creating two display boards to take to the event.

 

The first is for my 30k Death Guard army and the second for my Skaven. The key problem here is that I am in New Zealand - 8500 miles from Chicago - and I have to get boards there. That creates its own problems.

 

Over the next couple of weeks I'll be showing my work to create the boards and detailing how I went about it.

Does Hard Comp Make You A Better Player?

On the Saturday evening of the recent NZTC I had a conversation with a number of the Australian players as to whether heavier comp makes you a better player.

I've always been of the opinion that comp just shifts the goalposts from one place to another. This view is predicated on my absolute adherence to the "Efficient Market Hypothesis" that for any given set of circumstances and situations, there exist a set of optimal solutions. In the risk markets these are known an "efficiency envelope" and you try to approach this barrier where you maximise reward for risk.

How does this manifest itself in Warhammer? Essentially for a given set of rules, scenarios, victory conditions, terrain, a normal distribution curve and a given set of composition rules, there are a series of optimal armies.

This generally is the whole premise behind netlists - and the key reason why netlists don't necessarily work (parameters change as does player skill).

Obviously when applied to Warhammer it is a very imprecise science as the sample size is not big enough at any one event. But you can see why it works in a more closed system like "Magic the Gathering".

So let's look at the view put forward by our Australian visitors. Does harder comp make you a better player? The general premise was that having to work with less optimal lists, the player has to rely more on their inherent skill and so develops into a better player. When the comp shackles are removed then that inherent talent blooms and suddenly you have an unstoppable force.

First of all, winners are grinners. Having acquitted themselves extremely well at the NZTC you'd be foolish not to consider their views and determine whether they have merit. I'm pretty sure they won because they were good players. However I'm not sure you can then draw the conclusion that they are good players because they generally play under harder comp. The second premise doesn't necessarily support the first.

I understand their argument - that without what they perceive to be sledgehammer they have to develop scalpels - but don't necessarily think it supports their conclusion. I believe instead that you can say that for any given "system" there is a different set of sledgehammers and scalpels i.e. shifted goalposts. I'm unconvinced with the premise that harder comp = better player. What I think may be supportable is that playing under a variety of comp system leads to a more flexible or rounded player. This is because they are used to adapting to a new set of situations.

In the end I think this may be a key learning. That variety in comp is better than playing under one single system - be it hard or soft comp.

Current Podcast Listening

I listen to quite of few of the available Warhammer podcasts that are available through iTunes. I generally go through phases where I enjoy one more than another but in all cases I appreciate the work that the creators put in.

At the moment my favourite listens are Bad Dice (particularly the Daily) but I think that the fortnightly has been very good over the past 12 months as well. Heelenhammer relaunched last year and while I had reservations about it, I have definitely warmed to it in recent months. I think that it is far more tightly structured than it originally was and this structure keeps it focused.

Podcasters - The Hipsters of the Warhammer World

Over the past year I find that I follow a lot more North American casts. Garagehammer and Ohiohammer are at the more "serious" end and while Garagehammer can always be counted on to ramble a bit it certainly is excellent company when painting. Ohiohammer, like Bad Dice, comes in two formats - the main show and the Xtra Points (5-15 minutes) and the mix of topics means there is generally an episode on the iPod that pricks your interest. 

For general fun I can't recommend Pointhammered and Skull Bros Awesome highly enough. The guys don't take themselves too seriously and the self-deprecating humour is always a good listen. And then there is Jaded Gamercast. I don't think it has the listening figures of the others and it strays into 40k and other games but what carries it is the opinionated nature of the presenters.

In this neck of the woods I really like the infrequent World's End Radio. Again it is multisystemed but the production is tight and structured and I'll generally learn something or have some inspiration every show.

Obviously there are others but in a quite crowded market there are only so many hours in the week so time gets rationed. I download others but they can build up on your iPod if there are competing casts.
The biggest flaw I find with some casts is what I call "and then I rolled a 6" syndrome where there is an exhaustive tournament report. In part I suspect this is not knowing the individuals involved but generally I find it doesn't make great radio.

At the end of the day it's all about opinions and podcasts (like blogs) cater for an indeterminate audience. Some people love your output others not so much.

Triumph & Treachery (and Ganging Up On the Good Guy)

Yesterday I organised a game of Triumph and Treachery at the Warlords. The aim was to start getting some more Fantasy played and the T&T format is great fun at including as many as possible.

Four of us turned up to play:

Kent Jackson - Wood Elves
Lincoln Hely - Ogres
Alastair Allan - Dwarfs
Myself - Daemons of Chaos

We had advertised it as 1000 point armies which I think probably works best for this type of game.

The scenario paid out 300 GPs to the person nearest the centre at the end of each turn. We set up with Kent between Alastair and myself and Lincoln to my right.

The action started right away with Lincoln's Maneaters charging the flank of a Dwarf Quarreler block, breaking them and running them down. Kent tried to cast Dwellers on one of my Horror units and I played the card that made him miscast on a double. This resulted in him doing enough damage to panic towards the back board edge. In my turn I charged his Warhawks with two Beasts of Nurgle and they fled into his back corner. Alastair relentlessly pushed his Ironbreakers towards the centre where they claimed the gold.

In Triumph & Treachery, it's all about the gold. The rest is just conversation!

In the second turn I executed a Final Transmutation on the Ironbreakers removing 6 of them. They were then charged by Lincoln's Ogre Bulls which resulted in a flurry of cards from all four players. I'm pretty sure Kent's motivation was the same as mine - that the Dwarfs and Ogres inflict maximum damage on one another in the hope that they weaken one another to allow us to capitalise. The ironbreakers won the combat and fled. When Kent went to rally his General and archers I played the auto-fail card and they disappeared off the board. This left me with the only magic offense. Again Alastair claimed the gold by being nearest to the centre.

The next few turns consisted of me picking away points with my magic in particular reducing Ironbreakers and eventually (after 3 attempts) killing Lincoln's Maneaters. The pivotal moment in the game came when Lincoln charged his Ironguts into the Runesmith (the sole remaining Ironbreaker and BSB Thane heading off to preserve points). He also charged his Sabretusk at the remnant crossbowmen. This proved to be a mistake as the cat was killed panicking the Ironguts. The Ironguts ran but the rallied Bulls very able to charge the Runesmith and kill him. Unfortunately they then suffered Gateway, Blue Fire and Bolt of Change and were killed. A Beast charged and contacted the fleeing Ironguts picking up big points before being killed by a Gorger (this was more of a cripple fight to be honest - took 3 rounds).

The remainder of the game had the Daemons bravely and heroically holding the centre and picking up gold while the three other armies formed some cowardly alliance against the Denizens of Chaos. As I'm sure you all hoped, the Dark Powers saw the day through leaving the weaker races to trudge off home.

All in all it was a really fun way to fill in an early afternoon. The game took approximately three hours  but during that time everybody was involved even if just plotting and scheming.

I'm keen to do more of these.

FOB-Lite Comp - Small Tweak

I've made a small tweak to Fields of Blood Lite Comp, specifically Daemons of Chaos.

You can now once again take multiple Skullcannons but only if you have a Bloodthirster or Herald of Khorne and a unit of Bloodletters in your army.

The thinking behind this is that allows people to field an army with a significant investment investment in Khorne elements to continue that theme.

Adepticon Lists - Horus Heresy, WHFB Teams & WHFB Champs

Over the last few weeks I have been working on my lists for Adepticon. I am playing in three events and am taking three different armies.

A. Horus Heresy Death Guard

Suffice to say I have no idea. I haven't played a game of 6th Ed 40k, a game of Horus Heresy or more than a dozen 5th Ed games. So I'm going very much with a fluff army with signature Death Guard Legion units. I have to bring a 1000 point and an 1850 point list for the event.

1000 Points

Typhion
2x 10 man Legion Tactical Squads with Power Fist Champion and attached Apothecary
2x Contemptor Dreadnaughts with Multi Melta

1850 Points

As above plus:
Spartan Land Raider Variant
8 Deathshroud Terminators
5 Grave Warden Terminators

So the list fits the Deathguard fluff of signature units and vehicles, reliance on Walkers and Tactical Dreadnaught armour. Not expecting much but it will look nice. Now have to finish LTS, one Apothecary and Typhion - as well as a display carry tray.

B. WHFB Teams

Here I have to bring 1000 points that forms a fighting force with my teammate's force (Ogres). Fue to work commitments my original partner has had to withdraw but he has got me a replacement team mate.

I've decided to go with a variant of Tom's tried and tested Daemons of Chaos force from last year's Warpfire.

Herald of Tzeentch - General, Level 2 (Tzeencth)
Herald of Tzeentch - BSB, Level 2 (Metal)

2x 10 Pink Horrors - Standard, Musician
1x 10 Pink Horrors - Musician

3x 1 Beast of Nurgle

Skullcannon

I think it is about as good as you can get at 1000 points....Blue Fire, Gateway for the win.

C. WHFB Champs

This is interesting as it is 2400 points with a win being worth 15 points. However you only need margin of 100 points to get the win. The extra points are for claiming objectives and I've made adjustments to my normal list to reflect that. Adepticon has stated criteria that Grey Seer must state his lore before the event so I'll be going with Ruin (Boo Hiss....I thought you guys played by the book).

Grey Seer - General, Level 4 (Ruin), Screaming Bell, Earthing Rod, Dragonbane Gem, Skalm

Chieftain - BSB (Standard of Discipline)
Assassin - Weeping Blade, Potion of Strength
Warlock Engineer - Level 1, Doomrocket, Warp Energy Condenser
Warlock Engineer - Level 1, Dispel Scroll, Ruby Ring of Ruin
Warlock Engineer - Potion of Foolhardiness

39 Clanrats - Full Command, Shields
22 Stormvermin - Standard (Storm Banner), Musician
2x 40 Slaves - Champ, Muso
1x 39 Slaves - Champ, Muso
2x 2 Rat Swarms

1x 6 Gutter Runners - Slings, Poison
1x 5 Gutter Runners - Slings, Poison

Hell Pit Abomination
Warplightning Cannon
Ratapult

This is basically a tweaked version of my Masters list. The event is no comp but I've resisted the temptation to take two HPAs or multiple WLCs (yes I was sorely tempted to take two cannons). Hopefully the list is well rounded given the - currently hidden - scenarios. But I'm also mindful that in the Mid-West Sports = Comp so I wanted to veer nearer the centre of the pack than the extreme.

I'm tidying up the two Fantasy armies this weekend looking to pick up the checklist painting scores.

Only 2.5 weeks away.

FOB NZ Rankings for Warhammer 40k - Updated for OTT and Battlecry

The rankings for 40k have been updated to reflect the results of recent Over The Top and Battlecry. Thanks to Nikola Jaksic for sending them through.

If you have any results you want added please send them through and we will input them.

Future Investment in FOB Events

One of the things I do with the events I run is look to "invest" any surplus back into future events.

Selling out the New Zealand Team Championships meant I was able to purchase:

• Tabletop World Coaching Inn

• Citadel Scenery Pack

• Two Sheets of Foamboard for LOS-Blocking Hills

• Nineteen Tabletops of my Own

This last purchase will stop me having to borrow the Warlords tables and make setting up a little easier.

So thanks to all for supporting the events through the year. Hopefully the fruits of the harvest will be on show for Runefang VII.

BTW if any locals would like some 4 foot x 2 foot boards let me know. Three together make an ideal home table, easily stored under a bed.

Runefang VII - Catch The Worm!

EDIT: Today (Friday 14th) is last day for Earlybird Registration. At present there are nine players signed up. I'm suspect that number will likely double over the time up to the event. Looking at 16-20 people target.


Just a reminder that Earlybird Registration for Runefang VII finishes on Friday. You can grab the Players Pack here

This will be your only opportunity to use Swedish Comp at a Fields of Blood event this year so if you are keen to try it out then sign up.

Why is this so dear Peter? I hear you ask.

Well let's just say the numbers registering don't really support another Swedish event. Rather than the influx of people keen to try the diversity and variety of Swedish Comp, the numbers registering have been decidedly underwhelming. At present seven people have signed up which suggests a final number in the 16-20 participants. This contrasts poorly with the normal 24-30 that I get at FOB events so I am making the assumption Swedish is not as popular as I've been led to believe and people are voting with their feet.

Certainly it seems as far as the "Kevin Costner Edict" goes something is lost in the Scandinavian translation.

Adepticon Planning

Next cab off the rank for me is Adepticon at the start of April. I am playing in three competitions - Horus Heresy, WHFB Teams and WHFB Championships.

I have no expectations for the HH event, rather I am using it as the motivation to get my Death Guard army largely finished. This is taking up my hobby time and I am hopeful I'll have all bar Typhon finished painting this week. I had disaster over weekend and had to strip my half painted LTS after I wasn't happy with state of primer and armour base coat.

The Teams event I am playing with John Mathews and will likely run a small DoC list. Easy to transport and pretty much plays itself. List is written, I just need to tidy up models.

Finally there is the Championship. I'll be using my Skaven and have been looking at lists that best fit the scoring of the comp. It is WDL with only 100 point margin required for victory. However there are objective points so I need to be able to claim them. Reading old scenarios has helped the process. The other consideration is that while the event is no-comp the Midwest has this quaint habit of marking comp through already subjective sports scoring. I've decided to err on the side of safety when constructing list. The good thing is that there is not much to paint....unless I decide to do display board which seems almost mandatory.

ANNOUNCEMENT - The 3rd Annual New Zealand Teams Championship

I'm happy to announce that the 3rd Annual New Zealand Teams Championships will take place on the weekend of 28th February - 1st March 2015 at this year's venue the Khandallah Town Hall, Ganges Road, Khandallah.

All the feedback I have received so far was overwhelming positive for the venue and the format. Using this year's event as a benchmark, the event will be limited to sixteen teams of four playing over six rounds.

More details will emerge over coming months with tickets to go on sale early September. If you are keen to attend please mark it in your diaries and start constructing your teams.

Look forward to seeing you there.

As GW says "This is great news".

Triumph & Treachery at the Warlords

On Saturday week (15March)  I will be running a game of Triumph & Treachery at the Warlords (Ganges Rd, Khandallah). This is an opportunity for all those interested to come along and stick their mates in the back! The game will start at 10:30am and all are welcome.

Please bring along a 1000 point army and be prepared for some murder and mayhem. Be warned though, you never know who your real ally is......and never, ever trust a Dwarf.

Fields of Blood Painting Checklist v2

I have revised the Fields of Blood Painting Checklist that caused such mirth in the lead up to Skitterleap 2013.

You can find the updated version here

This addresses some of the feedback I received after the event. You have 45 possible points and need to get 36 of them to get maximum points.

Now people have seen how it works and given its new iteration I am hopeful that we will see a greater percentage of participants at or near the cap.

And if you're not then you've only got yourself to blame. You've got six weeks including Easter to achieve the checklist standards.

Runefang VII Approaches

We are now only about six weeks from Runefang VII on 26/27 April here in Wellington. This is Anzac Weekend so a great chance for out of towners to travel to the capital for what I’m hoping will be another excellent tournament.

The event is using Swedish Comp – the first Wellington event to do so – with armies to all be 11+ under the latest iteration. It will also be the first Wellington event where the new Dwarfs will be on the field so we’ll be able to see how they perform.

The registrations are starting to come in but remember the Earlybird rate runs out in around ten days.

A Call for "ETC Comp" Opponents

With the NZTC out of the way – and what a fun weekend it was – my attention now turns to Adepticon and the ETC. Adepticon is a month away and I still have a lot of work to do – finish the Death Guard, learn how to play 30k etc – to be ready in time. Busy weekend coming up. I also have to work on a list as I venture into the land of No-Comp but quirky scenarios.

However my gaming focus is now very clearly on the ETC. On Monday we had a Team NZ boot camp at Chez Dunn where six of the team got together to work on lists and start to switch to ETC mode. It was a great day in that it is far easier to communicate face to face than to do everything remotely. Lists were tried, new builds looked at and everyone went away with a better appreciation of the road ahead.

Being the only team member here in Wellington, I am putting out the call to any locals that would be able to give me some practice games. All races – even stunties, in fact especially stunties – are welcome. We have downloaded last year’s maps, have the correct size and type of terrain, I just need opponents. I can provide the latest draft of Comp so you can construct list.

Just let me know on my normal email. Happy to host (as I said I have terrain, tables, maps) or visit. My intention is to play at least 50 games before I leave so let me know if you’d ever like a game.

New Zealand Teams Championship Results

The 2nd Annual NZ Teams Championship was run over the weekend in Khandallah Wellington. This year I hired the Khandallah Town Hall as the venue and it proved to be a winner with the attendees.

Peter Williamson did a great job umpiring the event and it all seemed to go well from his point of view. A big thanks to him for all his efforts. The event attracted 16 teams - matching the hall's capacity - including two from Melbourne.

Here are the results:

Congratulations to the "Team With The Guy" for sweeping all before them and winning all six rounds.

The Winners 2014 - Team With The Guy - James Brett, Sam Morgan, Nick Hoen and Greg Greenfield

Second Place went to Shirts Off Wargamers - James Milner, Sam Whitt, Mal Patel and Ben Wadsworth - while last year's 3rd Place team "DILF" - John Willenbruch, Glenn Tibbles, Antony Kitson and James Brown - repeated that performance.

The Most Sporting Team went to the "Grumpy Old Men" with the von Trapps winning "Best Painted Team".

The individual painting awards went to:

1st - Sam Whitt (Warriors of Chaos)
2nd - Graeme Fry (High Elves)
3rd - Dan Butler (Warriors of Chaos)

This morning I totalled up the individual results and here are the Top 10:

The tiebreaker used was "Under the Bus". If you finished on same points higher place went to the person who's result was the smaller percentage of their overall teams (team b4 self). Looking at the results I'd say Basil Moskovis was "Chief Bus Driver" this weekend with his score making up a whopping 39% of his team's score!

A big thank you to all for attending and especially to all of you that travelled to get here. Hopefully see you back in 2015.