40k - Six Spots Left for The Long War #1

There are only six spots left for the first of the Long War events being held at the Warlords on 19 May.

If you are keen to play in a three round one day event then you can download the Players Pack from the Event Calendar under the banner.

Gives a chance to run your army in a "safe space" 

40k - FOB 40k NZ Rankings Updated For Equinox

The results from Equinox held in Auckland at the beginning of the month have been uploaded into the Rankings.

Scot Paterson won with his Index Tau while the incursion of the various Hivefleets into the sector was evident.

Since the event both the Tau and Necron codexes have been released. Following that we have Harlequins, Deathwatch and Imperial Knights to be released.

Next event is NatCon being umpired by Haydn Korach in the 'tron.

Weekly Hobby Update

This week I got the Players Pack for The Long War finished and posted. As of this morning half of the available places have been filled with eight still open.

I managed to get a couple of games of 40k in over the course of the week. In the first I played Sean's Adeptus Mechanicus (and managed to kill my first ever Imperial Knight). The second I played Josh's Imperial Guard where I got to walk down the table into the teeth of his fire. Both games saw me eke out narrow wins getting me back to a 4-4 record with the Emperor's Children.

This Wednesday I'm off to Adepticon for the weekend. I get to fly 26 hours each way for the four days of the convention. This is the third Adepticon I've been to and I'll be spending most of my time doing hobby classes. I'll try and get photos from the various events. Taking an empty suitcase which I'll look to fill at the various vendor stalls.

40k - Game Tracker - Fear This! Kustoms

I'm a sucker for game aids and I have been trying to get myself something to help with in-game tracking.

Recently I was reading the Spiky Bits blog and saw the following game tracker. It was cast in resin having been 3D printed. Dimension wise it is approximately 6" x 3" and 10mm thick.Costs USD15 and tracked postage was USD8.

Arrived in NZ in approximately 5 days though NZ Post took 7 days to get it from Auckland to Wellington. Well packaged in layers of bubble wrap. The tracker is very crisply cast.

I sprayed mine with black primer and then a purple spray to match my Emperor's Children. Then I painted the dice wells (fit 12mm dice) black and filled in the lettering. To complete the finish - and ensure I don't scratch my wooden table surround - I glued felt to the bottom.

Happy with how it turned out and having used it now in my last two games it certainly helps me stay focused on the prize.

40K - The Long War #1

HERE  is the Players Pack for the first of the Warlords "The Long War" series.

To sign up to "The Long War" you need to be a full member of the Warlords or pay the $25 entry fee.

Email me your interest and I register you for the event. At the same time let me know whether you whether you are a Warlords member, wish to become one or just want to pay the $25 event fee. Warlords membership is $50 for the full 2018 year so you effectively get 50% entry if you attend four events plus membership that entitles you to free attendance at fortnightly meetings.

40K - Speeding Up Play - Skirmish Trays

For those that use Horde armies it can take an awful long time to move models.....especially in the first few turns of the game.

Recently I have been using a large unit of Chaos Cultists and can see how a big unit can slow down your play. Early on I like to string them out for board control or screening whereas late in the game their role may switch to more offensive.

To allow me to do this and still play with reasonable speed, I recently purchased a series of skirmish trays from local firm, Battlekiwi. I bought a five model "LINE" tray comprising two pieces of 3mm MDF. They were very economical....I got 12 for around $20....and they were in my hands in just over 24 hours. You put them together using PVA and I had them all constructed in 10 minutes.

I intend to have 3 models per tray in the early game.....this gives me separation of approximately 1.5 inches between models so I meet coherency requirements.

Over the weekend I will flock them to match my Cultist bases.

I see this as speeding up a lot of movement helping the game progress.

40K - Assault Dice App

For those of you looking to speed up your play, I can recommend the GW "Assault Dice" App.

This is an iPhone/Android dice rolling app. It is powered by a Vegas-approved physics engine that allows you to roll up to 120 dice at one time.

The app lets you do re-rolls of certain results (e.g. 1s; Misses etc). You can also set up specific tables for certain units. For example I have my Sonic Blaster table where I roll 24 dice for 8 Sonic Blasters.

For those of you using Horde armies or weapons with extreme Rates of Fire this app is a godsend.

The one thing that you have to do is read the "Tutorial". It shows you how to do re-rolls without it affecting existing dice. Done properly existing dice are unaffected.

I am going to allow the app to be used at the FOB NZGT as I think it allows Horde players to speed up their play. Personally I would only use it when I needed to roll more than 30 dice and would have those units set up as a separate table.

And the best thing? It's less than the cost of a cup of coffee.

Weekly Hobby Update

The past week has seen an allround hobby effort.

First, I finished painting my extra Warp Talons. They made it out to the field on Saturday for a couple of games. I also received the game tracker I purchased from Fear This! Kustom. This has now been painted to match my EC - I'll post pictures tomorrow.

Planning for the FOB NZGT continues and I purchased two sets of terrain - one from Frontline Gaming, the other from Gamemat.eu. The intention here is to ensure that there is a series of high quality tables for the event. I'll also have my eye out at Adepticon for any further potential purchases.

Also have agreed with the Warlords details of THE LONG WAR 40k series. This is an initiative to provide regular gaming events at the Warlords with a view to driving both attendance and membership.

Finally, I got two games in down at the Warlords. The first was against a new member Chris's Thousand Sons. We tried out a Maelstrom mission from the book and it ended in a tight 13-12 win to Chris. I then played John's AdMech andthough the scores were tied when we called it, I believe it would be again a narrow win to John. That means my Emperor's Children are currently 2-4 for the year.

40k - The Long War Super Series

This year I am organising a series of 40K tournaments for the Wellington Warlords. This builds on the Warlords Super Series I ran for Kings of War for the past two years (now being picked up by Josh Barton).

THE LONG WAR will be four one day 1750 point three round tournaments run at the Warlords venue in Ganges Road, Khandallah. The dates are:

• 19 May
• 7 July
• 1 September
• 20 October

Each of the tournaments will be limited to 16 participants. Entry is open to all, whether you are a Warlords member or not.

The cost for each event is $20 but free if you have a full Warlords membership. Given that membership is $50 for the year there is no reason not to sign up to the Warlords. Not only do you get four one-day events, you also can attend 26 meetings a year at no additional cost.

The tournaments have been put in the Events Calendar below the Fields of Blood banner. I'll be posting up a Players pack in the next few days and will open registrations for the first event next Monday 12th March. If you'd like to know how to become a Warlords member then drop me an email here 

Become a Veteran of the Long War!