Battle report: Cryx vs Khador

Since oldie Warmachine is back in action again (you might have noticed recently Privateer Press stuff got pile of shame rescuing priority) my One True Foe and I decided to bring some full metal minis to the gaming bunker for 50 points skirmish battle, on ancient dragons boneyard. 

To be honest it was kinda special event:

not only it's been ages since we were playing Warmachine, but also most or my opponent's army has actually been painted! Not by himself, but apart from Doom Reavers squad and a war dog, whole army was properly painted, based etc. Because of that I decided such a special battle also deserved special setting. For years I was looking for any idea what to do with these old bones, and as it turned out - these are great dead ancient dragnon's skull proxy 😁

It's been lots of fun - hope to play some more Warmachine soon, especially because I've been working on another pair of Deathripper bonejacks recently...

So here they are: both armies circling around ancient dragon's remains trying to get opportunity to strike:

Scrap thrall got itself under deadly Spriggan's grenades volley:

Cryx advancing:

Kodiak taking defensive measures against Reaper's harpoon:

Cryx's steel fist turned into heaps of scorching metal after Butcher's furious charge:

The final duel: this time Asphyxious was much better swords... eee... eee... forksman! 

Pics enchanced by my One True Foe - looking forward for re-match so I can hopefully see burning Khador junk!

Unknown episode of WW2 (part 2)

Last Friday night history of World War II took another surprising turn and had a pleasure to re-enact another unknown episode of war: battle between US and Italian forces against Soviet and French menace. It's another game we had to play at Rilian's place - last time it was Italian vs US and since then we were still kinda hungry got more WW2 gaming.

Since the last game Rilian also found 2 more commanders willing to start Bolt Action adventure, so we had 4 armies on the table - each 1250 pts worth. Must say no matter how much I like the game, the size of battle was just too big: the battle started about 20:30 and the last bullet was fired after 2:00 a.m.
My side clearly lost but we didn't manage to bring game to the 6th turn.

Any post-battle conclusions?
Not realy: it's Bolt Action so no matter what brilliant plan you prepare the dice drawing and rolling is true god of war. Because all other armies were early war, I also had to adjust my force to this period. Sadly that made my unit choice very limited but still it was fun.

Also I tried to upgrade some photos with AI so make the report more eyecatching but I'm not really sure it was good idea. I got feeling the upgraded photos look like taken from WH40000 battle of video game 🤔 Here's the material anyway - judge for yourself:

Below: brave G.I.s defending crucial supplies...

And here: Rilian's seld made aerosans:

That's it. Hope the next time I get opportunity to field proper mid/late war stuff 😎

Unknown episode of WW2

Last weekend I had a pleasure to re-enact one of unknown episodes of World War 2:
deadly struggle of my trusty (winter) Americans against Rilian's supercool (desert) Italians...

The idea to face our armies was spawned quite a long time ago actually, but sadly until now we couldn't synchronize the calendars to make thing happen. 

War is mostly logistics after all... 🙄

Since we decided to sactifice whole evening for the match decision was made to prepare larger then standard armies: 1500 points each side. Italian force was early war period army, so I did my best to keep Americans on similar level. Sadly I don't have any vehicles strictly from early war - maybe it's the sign straight from mighty Cosmos to start assembling another force 🤔

The battle was fun - we were playing Key Positions scenario, so once again I was really glad I decided to field solid squads of trusty G.I.s: now tese are double cool thank to Fire and Manoeuvre special rule. During the game we were trying to take some photos, but sadly it's pretty hard to take nice battle report quality pictures in heat of battle and without dedicated lighting. Hammering beers to make crucial strategic decisions easier didn't help much either... 🤪

This was our playground - the buildings were designed by Rilian:

Swarm of saracens advancing towards US positions:

Some supercool Italian toys:

Italian damn scorcher crawling to obliterate squad of G.I.s. with a single, deadly strike... 😖

And war-rugby match: US tanks attacking Italian assault squads at point blank range!

Hope next time I can provide better quality material. But until then - over and out!  

Warhammer The Old World - battle report

Well, kinda... 🙄

After 3-years long break from Warhammer (and before that there was like 10-15 years gap...) I finally got opportunity to take Chaos warriors army for a walk through Empire's north lands. To my surprise instead of hordes of defenceless peasants I found angry mob of Undivided Chaos warriors - also looking for easy prey...

All in all both lords decided to discuss differences between gods of Chaos and their views on the manking. Strength of arguments was supported by enchanted blades, charging cavalry and and savage beasts fighting alongside Chaos warriors. Result of the debate was almost perfect draw: 940 : 900 for the guests, which is pretty amazing since I haven't read rules 😊

I was hoping to make nice battle report but the flying reporter managed to paint only single war-picture while circling the battlefield on wyvern's back (above) so having only limited resources the report isn't something as epic as Slaanesh would appreciate.

The game was 2000 points battle, no magic items used. The reason for this was it was my very first Warhammer The Old World game, so it was just casual game with some beers around instead of regular match or some sort of powergaming bullcrap.

So here're some piccies:

First epic clash of claws and paws: Chaos poochers vs Chaos poochers:

During the game I recalled why I quit Warhammer ages ago. The rules changed (surely for better) but whole logistics and army transporting is still just pain in the ass - especially if compared to Bolt Action. Game is definitely more balanced then editions I played before but again - it's not much compared to BA. Apparently skirmish games work better for me... 🤔 

Apart from that bitching is was nice to see models on battlefield instead of just in display case (staring on my back while I work). Watching these toys fighting in the name of Dark Gods reminded me what got me into wargaming ages ago. Despite all flaws the game has and Games Workshop's attitude, Warhammer Fantasy world is just cool. 

And the game was opportunity to meet old buddy who is actually regular Warhammer battle player, master of rules and armybooks and it was his idea to confront army of Slaanesh against horde of Undivided Chaos. Thank you for the meering, Dr Satan - hope for re-match anytime soon.... 😈

Road to Berlin - 2025

After 5 long years of waiting battlefront once againt moved to Berling and it's outskirts. Once again guys from 3-City Bolt Action team led by Oberst Maciej did grat work bringing this incredible event to existence.

Exactly like duiring 2018 and 2019 event it's been tons of fun. It was not a typical tournament though, but series of friendly games. With no unhealthy pressure to win, f#cked up powergaming or any other crap like that. This time there were 12 battlefields to choose from, each with different winning conditions. There was no V-1 rocket launcher time but there detailed trainyard, Göring's forest residence (I think), submarine dock and of course legendary Reichstag building among others. 

Duing the event I've played 4 battles - 3 agains German army and the last one agains Finns defening submarine in Kiel. Apparently lots of weird shit was going on during warld war II 🤔

So here's what was going on - at least what I've manage to catch before battles started and between the games. First - battlefields unspoiled by military actions:

The legendary Reichstag building:

And some shots from the battles:

Some shots from the battle between Americans and Finns - probably one of the most exciting but surely the weirdest Bolt Action game I've ever played:

And the gathering of generals - once again big thanks to organizers for making is happen!