The Battle of the Blood Orange

 

 

Prize Haul: Wooden Spoon and "Best Blood Orange" trophy. I'm sure you will agree that my interpretation perfectly matches the brief.

Just in time for Christmas, here's a heartwarming account of Wargaming Seasonal Cheer from, erm, October. I had the fortune to visit distant Nottingham to take part in Andy2D6's 2nd Battle of the Blood Orange 1-day tournament.

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.

It's the Taking Part that Counts

Once again, it's almost a month since the tournament and I've only just finished the write-up. In January I went to Stockport again for Northern King's Kings of War tournament, four games and a very substantial lunch. Once again I set off without my phone charger, so sadly pictures are only available for the first two games.

No Scrubs

After the somewhat ironic title (I've finished quite a few bits of scrub) I hereby present part one of my painting progress.

Marauders marauding amongst 20mm scale scrub.

Werewolves of London

I've not got a full army photo yet as I spent this evening wrestling my 40mm x 40mm based figures into my new carrying case inserts. I absolutely refuse to attempt that feat again without good reason so you'll have to wait until after this weekend's tournament.

Mierce Miniatures werewolves. Gorgeous models, but at £15 apiece only for special occasions.

A Quick One Before 2019

Merry Christmas, Happy new something etc. Have a blog post for Christmas. I've got plenty of things 'almost done' so I thought it would be nice to show some works-in-progress for a change as I haven't done that for a bit.

I'd also like to mention the recent Meeples and Miniatures podcast where they are brave enough to discuss their mental health issues in detail. I thought this would be worth a mention as I've mentioned my (still ongoing) mental health stuff before and men need to talk about it more.

Peltasts almost finished, including two spare bases to fill out a 100 mm x 40 mm unit for Kings of War. Lovely uncomplicated miniatures from 1st Corps.

CoK Loot and Plans for Next Year

A morose air hung over the camp after the tournament. Two figures sat by a campfire, one a human with both arms in enormous plaster casts and the other a great beast-man with a bandaged lump on his head as large as an extra horn. One turned to the other and said: 

"It's no good. Next time we're going to have bring a competitive army list."

Gaming paraphernalia freebies. Tape measure not included as I'd lost it down the sofa by this point. 

Clash of Kings 2018: The Other End of the Score Table

Very late to the party on this one, but I've finally collected my pictures and consulted my notes on Mantic's Clash of Kings 2018 (held on the 13th & 14th of October). I think my perspective offers an excellent contrast to the (comprehensive and informative) account from Andy Ransome, mostly because he finished 6th and I finished 79th. Oh yeah, spoiler warning for poor performance.

I call this picture 'oh dear'. Other names removed for privacy.

... and let slip the dogs of war!

Image description: a scoreboard. Your blogging hero is placed 24th out of 26.

It's not the winning, it's the taking part that counts. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

I Need a New Spray-Varnish

Unlike many of my photos, the poor quality here is due to too much varnish blurring the models rather than shoddy camera work

My spray-varnish broke a nozzle late last year, and I thought I could use up the remaining varnish by holding the nozzle bit over the can and pressing down. This was good enough for the last round of varnishing, but this time I massively overdid it on a couple of models and ended up with fuzzy grey patches. Argh. Now I have to not only spend money on more varnish but also repaint these chaps to fix the harm as best I can.

Keep reading, there's more news under the break.

Not a Complete Disaster

Here follows  my account of the Haven from the storm tournament at St. Mary's church, Leigh. I would make more fuss about this, but as games were on the clock I was too busy generalling and strategering to take photos. Not that it helped. The three pics shown here were taken during our lunch break.

The chaps (and chappettes) on parade during the lunch break. I had to take every single model out of the carrying cases and individually place them in ranks. 

Build Me an Army Worthy of Morcambe

Well, actually the tournament is in Leigh, but that wouldn't work as a pun.

Command group for my Beastman Gors (Tribal Longhorns in Kings of War) with Chieftain on the right with the big axe.

1,200 point challenge...COMPLETE!

I've done it!

This shot, while an impressive view of the army, isn't very detailed or well lit.

Battle reports pt 2

As you might remember, the last time Joey and I played Kings of War, Bishop Frodo of Tryeaux was soundly trounced, and suffered the humiliation of having his lawn mower dragged away in triumph by the neighbours in Isengard. But he was not idle in the following months: rebuilding his forces and enlisting his allies. When Captain Lurtz marched into the bocage* of Normandy to claim Isengard's tribute, he found himself opposed...

The armies line up. The masses of infantry face each other on my left flank while my light cavalry face Joey's infantry on my right

The 1200 pt. Challenge

Five months after assembly, I've finally got some models painted, based, and varnished. Plus I can at last post my Crusader Empire knights in full battledress. I can now announce my 1200 point challenge: Paint 1200 points of chaps for Kings of War by the time of their Autumn global campaign. As you know, it was going to be 2000, but I haven't got time. Stupid jobs.

You know what, the shields look pretty good now they're in use.

Journey Into Base

A Miracle! I manage to post the blog update on the same day I did the painting! I've been very bored today. As you can see below, I've put the static grass on the bases that had already been flocked, flocked the bases that had already been gritted etc.

My bases are the regulation 'Old School' green

Sick as a Parrot, Odo.

Two more games against Joey and I'm still without a win. If Arsene Wenger managed like this he'd have been out long ago. Still, I present for your viewing pleasure my complete and utter humiliation.

Game one was a Scenario from the Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring rulebook. I prefer scenarios to pitched battles: mindless bloodbaths are fun, but they can get very same-y. Joey's objective was to get over half his force across the finishing line, and mine was to stop him.

The Battle: Evil (left) has to get half it's force past the ruins to win.