Upcoming Event - Toy Soldier Doubles

Another quick post, whilst scouting for upcoming events I found that the Northwest Gaming Centre are hosting a doubles event.

Copied from Warhammer.org.uk

Toy Soldier Doubles 24th-25th Nov

Toy soldier doubles will be held again at the Northwest gaming centre on Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th of November.

Ticket price will be £25 per team (not per player) where solo play with two forces are aloud ticket price will be £20. Tickets can be bought in the northwest gaming centre or via PayPal marauder.games@googlemail.com

flames of war tournament pack
http://www.mediafire.com/view/?2o5tf98g4cn36q2

warhammer 40k tournament pack
http://www.mediafire.com/view/?zcbimu5dx1bdd0z

warhammer fantasy tournament pack
http://www.mediafire.com/view/?l8s6brwcygksyfv

hordes and warmachine tournament pack
http://www.mediafire.com/view/?9dgoi31enptazf5

At the moment the 40k rulespack link isn't working but I've asked if they can sort this out to look at.

From what I believe, it's 1000pts per player and 2000pts per team although I could be wrong (that might be Fantasy). That's according to Unseen Lerker's listing for the tournament anyway.

Myself and Sanguinius went last year, which you can read HERE along with Angryman and Col. Straken forming their own alliance HERE.

In past experience, as with most tournaments there has been good experiences with some really exciting games against enjoyable opponents, followed by some really bad experiences - flat out cheating, lists not being checked properly, arguments over rulings "that's how we've always played it here" etc. But hey, that's the same with any tournament I suppose.

As I've said before, I always prefer Doubles Tournaments as they take the pressure off me and it's more of a social thing.

By the sounds of things, allowing individual players to buy a "Team" ticket is a bit iffy, I'd rather there be less teams than flood the field with solo players.


So is anyone interested? I'm not sure if I can make it or whether after past experiences it's worth me going, but I'm looking for events to attend either way.

Cheers,
SB

Phalanx 2012 - Aftermath

Morning folks,

Last blog I wrote was a precursor to the Phalanx 2012 event last Saturday, and I've only just managed to get the time to write this follow up and chuck some pictures up.

I was hoping to Tweet whilst at the event and post pictures, however, my mobile internet was playing silly beggars and I managed to get only 1 tweet sent, 4 hours after I originally sent it.

Demo Games

We ran 2 demo games over the day, the first being a change from the previously announced Ork heroes v Chaos Daemon waves and instead swapped to a large Apocalypse game.

It featured Orks vs the Imperial Guard and allied Dark Angels, with a host of Chaos Daemons spawning from the Temple of Skulls in the middle of the board to harass both sides.

We didn't get much played, due to a lot of interest around the show at stalls and traders, but it looked nice on the table and got a lot of interest from passers by.

Imperial Deployment - Lots of tanks, 3 Valkyries and support from Heavy Weapon platoons and Dark Angels space marines.

Ork Deployment - "Put da Fastest over derrr and the smashiest over 'ere!". Plus, Big Daddy Kan (Potato head stompa) looking after his Baby Kanz

Having a game like this was also an excuse to get my converted Ork planes out and use the new WD flyer rules for the Dakka Jet.

Uh-oh. Khorne Daemons show up from the Temple of Skulls as the Orks hit the middle of the board. Looted Carnifex Deff Dred is surrounded by Bloodletters.

View from above with the Ork Dakkajets, Loots and Warbuggy Squigs nearby.

VBCW
The other demo game we ran was a Very British Civil War scenario, called "The Road to Wigan Pier", which gathered a lot of interest also, especially from a nearby larger demo game of VBCW too.

It also featured a really ace demo board that Adam made specially for the scenario (and many a sleepless nights in the run up to the event).

And since it's set in Wigan, it rained through the entire scenario causing line of sight and To Hit roll modifiers.

The Wigan rugby team take up arms.

Using the courtyard walls for shelter was a good plan, but the bottleneck at the exit proved to be the most bloody area of the battlefield.

 

Lots of people enjoyed it, and Adam had done fantastically well on the scenery and the paint jobs on all the figures. It looked ace alltogether.

Bargains
Now then, down to the meat of the show - the bargains. For me personally, there wasn't much on offer from the trader's stalls. There were the usual bits bags, 20% off RRP stuff, but the second hand and junk bags weren't as good previously. Found a lot of them that wanted RRP (or thereabouts) for stuff just because it had been painted to a decent standard.

Personally, I'm never likely to buy anything painted and leave it as is. It'll end up coming home and getting stripped, so I would rather save myself half the money and get it bare plastic.

If I would have brought more than just a tenner with me, the trader's stalls would have probably been a bit more use. I think next year I'll have to get saving up in advance.

Anyways, the real bargains were to be had on the Bring and Buy stands (if you could fight your way in). Since it was lashing down on the morning and there were people waiting to get in early, they opened up the doors about 15 mins before the show was due to kick off. Meaning that the bring and buy got raided quite quick.

Personally, I spent my £10 on a unit of 10 assembled bare plastic Dire Avengers in decent condition and also, the major bargain, 20 Cadian Guardsmen, in the box and on the sprue, for £5. Only thing missing was the bases, but I've got plenty at home for those. Not sure what exactly I'm going to do with them yet though, but I thought for £5 I couldn't pass those up.

Some other bits and bobs I saw around but didn't have the cash for:
- Blood Angels army of about 1500 - 2000pts part painted, with Codex and special characters for £90.
- Grey Knight army with 20 Grey Knights, 5 termis, Termi Librarian, Techmarine and some other odds and sods for £45.
- 40 Goblins, 10 Orc Arrer Boyz, 2 Orc Chariots and 2 Spear Chukkas for £8 (I did pick this up, then put it back down and now regret it...)

Conclusion
Phalanx 2012 was fantastic, great atmosphere, awesome looking demo games and lots and lots to spend your hard earned cash on.

I better start saving for Phalanx 2013, and get to the Bring and Buy at 10am on the dot!

Cheers,
SB

[EVENT] Phalanx 2012 - June 16th

Morning folks,

This Saturday, there's an extremely good event on called Phalanx 2012 in St. Helens which we're running some demo games for, so I thought I'd shed some light on it.

A bit about the show itself - you can find the full information here: http://www.phalanxshow.co.uk/

Demo Games. 

Last year there was about 10 demo games running throughout the day (along with ours) from all sorts of different systems, themes and backgrounds. Some ranged from Nazi zombies inspired survival, to a Roman Gladiatoral arena run by MAWS Black Panthers section.

They were all fantastic and looked great throughout the day with lots of very interested spectators and people joining in.

Buying Stuff!

The bit that most people came down for were the trader stalls and the hall was packed with them, ranging from brand new GW stuff at a decent % off RRP, to historical figures, hard to find books and second chance models (like a converted Captain Tycho that Sanguinus of MAWS picked up).

There was also a smaller hall filled with Bring and Buy stands, with people coming to sell their models off. There were some cracking deals going about, it was just unfortunate that I didn't have any money in my wallet at the time (or very fortunate, if you're Mrs. Badger). 

So this year, the MAWS lads are back again after 2011's big Apocalypse game, we've decided to make things a bit smaller in scale. 

Last year we had 10,000pts of Orks v 10,000pts of Blood Angels and Imperial Guard, which looked absolutely fantastic on the table and my Killa Kans and Stompa got a lot of attention from passers by.

This year we're running 2 games across the space of the day:

For 40K it's "The Endless Waaaaaaagh!", based around the story of Warboss Tuska from the Ork codex and a Very British Civil War Game "The Road to Wigan Pier".

The Endless Waaaaaagh!

The premise of the Endless Waaaaagh! is simple, 3 Ork heroes stranded on a Daemon World try to kill as many Khorne Daemons as they can before they are defeated and re-born at the start of the next day to fight again, trapped in an endless battle, for which they've never been happier.

We ran this as a practice the other night, made some tweaks and are happy with it. It should look fun on the table, withough being too heavy on the space and set up. 

Hopefully people will also be able to join in on the game, choose an Ork hero and see how long they can survive.

The Road to Wigan Pier

This is a scenario for Very British Civil War run by Adam from the club for which he's painted a lot of figures for and is making some awesome looking scenery:

Desperate to relieve pressure on the Liverpool Front, the Liverpool Free State reluctantly takes the decision to provide arms via canal to the beleaguered Wigan enclave of Trade Unionists and Socialists. Commanded by a former journalist hoping to join up with the forces defending Wigan, a small escort force - made up of an uneasy mix of communist Liverpudlian sailors and Wigan miners and rugby players - encounters resistance from a Royalist force detailed to defend the waterway..

This will be the first time I've seen Very British Civil War (or VBCW) in action, after Adam's run and helped in a few other Demo games for it in the past.

When and Where?

Phalanx 2012  

Saturday 16th June 

Sutton Community & Leisure Centre in St. Helens

Opens to the public from 10am to 4.00pm. 

Adults £3.00, Children £1.00, accompanied children free.

Cheers all! Hope to see you down there, and I'll have a blog up some time afterwards with lots of lovely pictures of it all - along with some Tweets throughout the day if you follow: @MAWS40K

SB

Demo Games for 2012 pt.2

After my post yesterday, he's some more ideas that I forgot to add onto the list. I thought I'd do them as a separate blog post, rather than add them onto the previous list.

Lord of the Rings
LOTR has a fantastic amount of scope for a scenario to be as big as you want (using War of the Ring) or as intricate and small scale as you would like with the Skirmish game.

 One thing I do like about LOTR is the scenarios and content from the books and films that can be used, as well as the background and models being recognisable to many people.

There's a few ideas I had, one of which being Balin's Tomb, which can easily be done with the starter set (especially if there's a cheap deal on eBay). A few years ago I actually made (never painted) a Balin's Tomb scenery piece made from 4 cork tiles. Unfortunately, I've chucked that away since.. but if I remember right, it cost me about a tenner to build the scenery piece.

Another option is some of the other scenarios from the film and book, or even expand on this and do some stuff from The Hobbit?

Cops and Robbers
Now, this one stems from me getting a bit hyped up over "Payday: The Heist", a game which is on PC and PS3, where 4 bank robbers have to complete a heist on a bank or other location, whilst under attack from SWAT teams, helicopters, security guards, snipers and all sorts of other things.

Whilst playing it, I then started to think how this could be reflected in a tabletop game, with random events using a deck of action cards, heavy emphasis on cover and objective driven scenarios (drill into the vault, place C4 at locations, capture hostages).

Have a nosey at a gameplay video, or buy the game if it's on offer (I got it for £5 on Steam yesterday!)

So yeah, there's a few more ideas to get involved in. I figure a lot of this could share usage, so for example, the Left 4 Dead ruleset could easily be modified to the Cops and Robbers game. Metal Gear Solid and Batman have a lot of crossover too.

And then there's stuff like LOTR and 40k with it's own actual ruleset.

What do you guys think?

SB

Demo Games for 2012

Morning all,

Over the last few days I've had some emails from The Spartans Wargames Society in St. Helens, who are responsible for running the Phalanx show (http://www.phalanxshow.co.uk/) which we attended with our first demo game for the club.

Now, I really enjoyed spending the day running a demo game, rather than playing in a tournament. Last year we ran an apocalypse game loosely based on the 2nd War for Armageddon (since it features Orks, Guard and pretty much every Blood Angels special character that Sanguinius had models for!). 

We got a lot of good feedback and comments from people, especially for my Mr Potato Head Stompa, but one of the main problems I had was the amount of set up and clean up time afterwards. It was an extremely impressive sight to have two 10K armies face off against one another, however. You can read and see some pictures of the demo game here http://maws40k.blogspot.com/2011/06/demo-game-battle-for-hades-hive-2nd-war.html to see what we took and how it looked.

Now then... I've recently recieved some mails planning for Phalanx 2012 and asking if we would like to book to run another demo game. Me personally, I'd definitely like to do one again but I'm asking around for what ideas people would have.

The problem with running a 10k Apocalypse game, was that whilst it looked fantastic on the table, there wasn't much interactivity from passers by (we tried to rectify this by having a Kill Team game on a smaller table next to the main game) and as I've said before, it took a LOT of set up time and transport between cars.

So yeah... Here's some ideas I have. I'd like to try and make a decision by the end of January, since most will require buying some bits, building some scenery and painting time - which by that point, there'll be 3 MAWS babies around and there won't be too much time left to get stuff done.

1. Apocalypse - Famous 40K Battle

This is a quick solution option since we already have most of the scenery, know the rules well enough and there's plenty of background info to go off of. I've not got many ideas I can think of, other than the Armageddon scenarios, or maybe branch out a bit.

I don't know anyone at the club who has actual Sisters of Battle models, but the massacre at Sanctuary 101, where the Necrons first re-emerged, would be nice.

Or what about the final stand of the Squats against the Tyranids? Or keeping in the Tyranid theme, you've got Malantai and the birth of the Doom when the Eldar there were destroyed... Or even Macragge?

Urien Rakarth's double cross of the Tau, when his "payment" from the Tau was Fire Warriors he secretly turned into Wracks and Grotesques?

2. Smaller Scale 40K
Here I'm thinking there's a couple of options:

We could run a Planetary Empires campaign on Black Reach, where we start the day with the contents of the boxset, play 500pts(ish) games and each win counts as a territory for each player.

This could also be expanded to multiple Combat Patrol armies and get a mini-campaign weekend on the go, battling for a planet in the 40k universe.

Another idea is Kill Teams with event cards, try and ramp up the narrative aspect and allow for cool cinematic things, like jumping off buildings (Dangerous Terrain test, for every floor you jump, -1 on the roll) and other such things.

3. 40k Last Stand
If you've not played Dawn of War 2, play it and play the Last Stand mode. 3 players control a hero each and take on waves of increasingly difficult enemies.

I thought this would be cool to run and see who can get furthest through the waves. We'd have to come up with a list of waves and bring all the relevant models for if someone were to get that far, but I think it'd be pretty fun to try and build a replica of the board from DOW2.

4. Zombies
Everyone loves Zombies. We've played a game at the club with some Zombie survivor rules, and I'd like to do a lot more work on that to make it work better and flow more freely.

The main idea I'd like to do is based on Left4Dead and a tile generated map. I can remember when I played Lord of the Rings there was a scenario where Frodo and Sam were travelling through the Sewers of Osgilliath and each time they left a tile, you rolled to see what the next tile was and if there would be enemies or items in it. This'd be cool to do with Left 4 Dead using some cork floor tiles to mark out a Map or city.

Thing we'd need:
- City scenery
- Survivor models
- Lots of Zombies.

5. Alien v Predator
Back when I was in college, I started writing up some AvP rules and never got very far with them. A couple of days ago, I made a start working on some fresh ones and if there's interest, could work on them enough to get a Demo game going.

The plan would be that there's a lot of emphasis on the facing of a model and suspense / terror factor. There'd be 3 playable groups in the game, each with their own objectives during the game. Maybe even adapt this to be able to play solo, or have the third faction able to work on it's own (so Marines v Predators, with the Aliens as hazards).

Things we'd need:
- Some sci fi lab terrain
- Converted Aliens
- Marines and Predators from casting company.

6. Batman
Like Zombies, everyone loves (or should love) Batman and I've been playing Arkham City recently and thinking about the Predator stealth sections of the game and whether this would make a cool Dungeon crawler stealth based game.

We could expand it to have several playable characters for however many people plan to join in. Batman, Robin, Nightwing, Catwoman, etc. Each could have a few of their own cool unique abilities. Basically, it's all just an excuse for me to read, play and watch more Batman stuff...

I've seen Heroclix stuff, but I'm thinking more of making / tweaking my own rules for it and being able to expand it with what I want to add at the time.

Things we'd need:
- An environment (scenery or tiles)
- Heroclix Batman and Hero miniatures
- Generic Goon models.

7. Halo
Halo is pretty similar to 40k in terms of sci fi shooter, but what I'd think of doing here is smaller scale, respawns and more video game style modes like Capture the Flag, Juggernaut, etc.

There'd be 2 factions, your UNSC and Covenant teams. Each would have basic marines and Grunts, then a Spartan and an Elite per team. I'd imagine it functioning similarly to Warmachine in a way, with the Spartans and Elites issuing orders to the lesser figures, keeping in closer range stops them from running away when outnumbered, etc.

Completing certain objectives could reward the teams with things like the Covenant being able to call in a Hunter, UNSC could bring in a group of ODST troopers, Air support from Banshees and Pelicans and whatnot.

Things we'd need:
- A Map
- Converted UNSC miniatures
- Converted Covenant miniatures

8. Metal Gear Solid
The last idea I've got is similar to the Batman one, with a Metal Gear Solid theme - mostly because I want a reason to convert a Solid Snake miniature.

Again, heavy emphasis on stealth, takedowns but with rules for gunfights and gadgets.

Things we'd need:
- Map / Scenery
- Converted Solid Snake
- Genome Soldiers

Opinions!


So, what do you guys think? Any suggestions or feedback on my ideas? Any ideas of your own to chip in with?

Hopefully we can get a plan together over the few weeks and decide what we're doing for 2012 demo games at shows!

SB

FREE Tournament 600pts 30th September @ NW Gaming Centre

Hey all,

Spotted this and thought I would share: http://warhammer.org.uk/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=64&t=92292

There is a free tournament going on a week on Friday at the NW Gaming Centre. It's 600pts, free and consists of 3 games over the night.

Figured it was worth sharing with people if they want a quick and easy tournament to take part in!

Cheers,
SB

Toy Soldier Doubles @ NW Gaming Centre

As promised, rules pack and more info can be found here: http://www.northwestgamingcentre.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Toy-Soldier-Doubles-40K-draft.pdf

19th and 20th November at the North West Gaming Centre in Stockport.

I'll be attending and teaming up with Sanguinius. Let me know who is interested in playing and we'll try and get a few MAWS teams paired up!

Peace,
SB.

Demo Game - Battle For Hades Hive - 2nd War for Armageddon

Ello,

On Saturday we ran 2 demo games at Phalanx in St Helens. It was a really good event, and I'd urge those who didn't go this year, to check it out next year. I've not got any pictures of the actual event hall and stalls, but there were a lot of really great traders, along with a bring and buy. (So next year, I'll start saving up some pennies a couple of months before!)

So, we decided for our MAWS 40K demo game, we'd like to do one of the Armageddon battles, but it was dependant on who would be going as to what one we'd run. Eventually it was decided that we'd do the 2nd War for Armageddon as we had Orks, Guard and Blood Angels.

We did it at 10k for the Orks and 9k for the Imperium, but loooking at the table we had, we vastly underestimated how much stuff we had to fit on the board - although it did look epic! But actually trying to play the game and move units was a nightmare.

So yeah, here's some pictures of it all...

Pre-Game shot of the terrain on the table, courtesy of Sanguinius' hard work.

View from the ultimate Vantage Point. No cover saves from up here folks!

The Green tide descends!

"Who suggested 10,000 pts? Look how many Orks I've got to move!"

Tycho and Corbulo become a road block, to prevent the Stompa getting to the Land Raider.

"Fire EVERYTHING at the Stompa!"

Mr Stompa Head finally topples over after 3 turns of Imperial shooting.

Sly Marbo takes aim...

Ork Fighta Bommas emerge amidst the Imperial Guard's backline.

The Killa Kans attempt to avenge their father... "Nooooooo! Daddy!!"

(Young) Commissar Yarrick takes on Warboss Ugulhard, ultimately defeating him and claimining his Battle Klaw!

Dante and the Sanguinary Guard take on the Meganobz and Warboss.

We called it at the end of Turn 3, as we needed to make a start on packing up. It was good fun, just a lot of models for the table size we had, especially playing 1 v 1.

The Imperium held back the advancing green tide (no thanks to the amount of terrain on the board!) succesfully defending Hades Hive for the time being. But we all know that Orks never truly lose!

We've got a few plans for future demo games, (all of which will be reduced in points!) based on feedback and other demo games we saw around the hall.

Big thanks to everyone who helped out beforehand and on the day (Sanguinius, Col. Straken, Farseer Jordan) and also a big thanks to St Helens Spartans for organising a fantastic event, and allowing us to play the demo game.

Peace,
SB

P.S. Everyone LOVES the Stompa. He'll definitely be at the next show.

[Event] Phalanx 2011 - St Helens

Morning All,

Thought I'd point out Phalanx 2011, since it's happening not mega far from us.

Saturday 18th June 2011

Welcome to The Phalanx Show website. In it you will find information about the clubs and the traders that will be attending Phalanx 2011 as well as directions and timetables making it as easy as possible to find. Phalanx is the premier event for wargamers in the North West and now in it's 18th year. Phalanx 2011 will be on Saturday 18th June at the Sutton Community & Leisure Centre in St. Helens and opens to the public from 10am to 4.00pm. Adults £3.00, Children £1.00, accompanied children free. You will find over 40 top traders, bring & buy, demonstration, participation and display games. There will be prizes for the best game in each category. You can print a Bring and Buy form here if required, fill it in and bring it, together with your goodies with you on Saturday!

Catering facilities are available for most of the day.
There is also plenty of FREE parking and easy disabled access.
You can contact the Sutton Leisure centre on 01744 810910

The St. Helens Spartans are proud to support

Please note that all photographs on the website are, to the best of our knowledge, used with permission. However if there are any problems please contact us and we will do our best to come to a solution.

For Trade information and Bookings: email phalanxtrade@gmail.com
For Club information and Bookings: email phalanxclubs@gmail.com
To find out more about the club visit http://www.spartans.org.uk

Anyone else looking at going? There's the possibility of some MAWS demo games going on from other members of the club, but with plenty of retailers and a bring and buy, it might be worth a trip down!

I've added it to the MAWS40k website HERE

Peace,
SB

[Event] Warboot 5 - June 19th

Hi everyone,

Thought I'd do a bit of shameless promoting via the blog for an event that MAWS is running - Warboot 5!

First off, for those that don't know what a "Warboot" is, it's exactly like a Carboot sale but for Wargamers. People show up, rent a table and flog off their wargaming stuff.

I've been to all but 1 now and I've picked up some excellent bargains along the way (although the one I went selling at, I ended up spending more than I made in selling), and I know other MAWS members have picked up some excellent deals from sellers.

The event will take place at the club hall (Location Here) on June 19th between 12 and 4pm (sellers be there earlier to set up!)

If you'd like to sell, then it's £5 per table and to book one, drop Paul an email (email address in the image - to stop spammers!) if there are any still available.

If you'd like to come down and view what's on sale, then it's £1 entry to get in and have a walk around. There'll also be some food and drink served on the day.

It's definitely worth going to, we've had some awesome bargains in the past... and also some that have slipped by us. It depends entirely what's there and who shows up to sell!

Any questions, drop us a line and I'll do what I can to help!

Peace,
SB