Something New: Battlefleet Gothic

Carrion Squadron, ready to harry the lapdogs of the false emperor

 One of the many Games Workshop Specialist Games I dallied with in my youth was Battlefleet Gothic, the game of heavily armed gothic space cathedrals in the grimdark future. I recently got in touch with someone online who re-ignited my interest in the game and agreed to make a pilgrimage to Warhammer World in Nottingham to get some action in. Watch this space...

Waltzing Matilda (2)

 

It's been a while, certainly. Rather than dwell on that though, I have a new model for you: the Airfix Matilda 2 kit from the 70s in its original packaging. A wonderful Christmas present, thank you, family.

I was a little tempted to leave it pristine in its packaging, but the entire purpose of a toy is to be played with.

Ready for the Great CoK-Up

It was a close-run thing, but I find myself packed and ready for Mantic's very own Clash of Kings tournament with a whole day to spare. Hopefully my ranking can match my punctuality and achieve the dizzying heights of 90th of out 100!

The army in all its dubiously-lit glory. I've gone for a smaller number of big units this time.

What I've let myself in for

A whole 5 models complete! 4 of them weren't painted before lockdown!

 

I'm sure like many of you, my initial optimism about the effect of lockdown on my plastic pile has faded. Not only does painting time still seem hard to make, but self-medicating my mental health by buying models has made things even worse. So, some months before the publication of this update, I found myself needing to paint a dozen knights and two cannon in time for the Clash of Kings in October.

Steiner Recon Action

 

The assembled forces: 24th Lyran Guards (left) and assorted Word of Blake militia (right)

Months after the last instalment and months after I actually played the battle, I bring you the next episode in my Tharkad Battletech campaign. As the name suggests, for a "recon" mission I chose to deploy forces more suited to a frontal assault.

Running the Gauntlet

 

Today we return to my Tharkad campaign, where my first unit (a mercenary company, the "Acing Blazes") has been rendered combat ineffective and we've switched focus to "Zebra" Company of the 24th Lyran Guards (plus stragglers from the Blazes, such as Gabriel Zabinski and their Phoenix Hawk). The Word of Blake has launched a counter-insurgency campaign against loyalist forces on Tharkad around the Tatyana Islands with the elite 40th Shadow Division and mercenary backup. Fortunately for the resistance, the counter-insurgency forces have already been infiltrated and the planned kettling has turned into a confused brawl, with our particular merry band looking to slip the net while giving the "Wobblies" a bloody nose.

Group shot of the deployed force. L-R: Phoenix Hawk, Commando, Griffin, Thunderbolt and "Super-Sub" Phoenix Hawk from the Lyran Royal Gaurds.

The Clan Invasion

 

You remember the '60s, right? (the 3060s...) When a wave of Skiffle bands swept over the Inner Sphere with their mop-top hairdos and Burrock and roll music: The Rolling Stone Lions, the Jyde Falcyns, The Totem Animals, the list goes on. What I'm trying to say is that I've finally painted some more Clan 'mechs and wanted to make an extremely strained pun. I've also got a new SAD lamp for Christmas and while no mental health benefits have yet been observed it does improve my lighting setup a lot.

Mist Lynx (left) and Timberwolf (right). Or Koshi and Madcat if you swing that way.