Battle at the Border: The Results

"We stand here today in honour of those that have fallen, giving their lives to save our mighty Empire. Once again, we have pushed back the forces of Chaos and ensured our safety for another year. Praise Ulric!"

– Victory speach after narrowly defeating the armies of Chaos

I finally did it; I beat Phil using my Empire army. He didn't take a Daemon Prince nor the Plaguebearers, and it looked bad for him early as I filled his troops with hot lead. But once they got into combat, things were much different.

Final Scores: Empire 1430 def. Chaos 1225.

Battle at the Border

"It's happening again. Every summer, it seems, those foul creatures from the north march down to the Empire, raping and pillaging as they go. They have already crushed much of Kislev again, and are now on the way towards the northern provinces of our beloved Empire. This year, however, will be different, for this year we march to meet them at the border. We will give no quarter, and should Ulric smile on us, we will send them fleeing back to their wasteland. For Ulric and the Empire!"

– Final entry from the journal of Freidreich, Knight of the White Wolf.

I like nice little back stories to my Warhammer games Phil and I are playing a 2000 point game this weekend, Empire vs Chaos. What each of us will take is anybodies guess; will Phil take a Daemon Prince like he hinted? Will the Plaguebearers show up? Will I take a Steam Tank or Volkmar? Or both? Will my cannons actually not misfire for once?

Warbands Round 3

Round 3 of our warbands campaign took place this weekend, and this time it was much more even.  This rounds matches were done with 400 point armies, which is now allowing much more variety.

Match 1 – Pauls' High Elves took on my Wood Elves and, true to form, I massacred Paul.  In fact, Paul didn't earn a single victory point!

Match 2 – Paul this time took on Phil's Lizardmen and this time, Paul got his first win in a 1 on 1 match up.

Match 3 – Having seen Paul butcher Phil's army, I was pretty confident of winning this match.  Typically, I then lost

Mega-Battle – This would be the first time the three-way battle would decide the outcome of the day, with each of us having a victory each.  After learning some harsh lessons during round 2, I was not about to make the same mistakes.  Paul, however, did, by trying to split his attacks between me and Phil.  All this accomplished was concentrated fire from me on to his troops and Phil advancing towards him as quickly as possible.  I did take a few shots at Phil, but these were more because the opportunity was there and my units had nothing else to shoot at.  In the end, I went on to win, with Phil second and Paul third.

Blood Bowl, again

I am totally addicted. This game is awesome, and I have even met knew people with whom to play the game.

I have now won 3 matches, drawn 4 and lost 5, and had some classic, tense matches along the way.

Match 1: As below.
Match 2: The Magpies lost embarrisingly to a halfling team, 3-1.
Match 3: But it got worse, losing again to the halflings, 3-0.
Match 4: They again lost, this time to a Khemri Undead team, 1-0.
Match 5: My losing streak ended, winning my first ever game, 2-1, against a Dark Elf team. Yay me! This game would have been a draw except for an absolute fluke of a long-bomb that less than a 5% chance of succeeding; yet it did, and won me the game in the very last turn!
Match 6: My all-female team, the Ramazons, debuted against Paul’s Heidelberg Packers, thrashing them 3-0.
Match 7: The Magpies took on an Orc team and lost 2-0.
Match 8: They then played against the Packers again, in the first re-match since the draw, this time winning 3-0.
Match 9: This is where my luck started turning sour, with important moves ending badly for me. This match saw the debut of the Midgets from the Moot against Paul’s Packers, drawing 1-1.
Match 10: My first Ranked match, and the debut of the Darklords of Helgedad, a Chaos team. Took on Paul’s Leverkusen Devils, and the match, which was played during a blizzard of all things, ended in a 2-2 draw.
Match 11: The first (and probably only) match of the World Wood Elves saw them lose 4-1 and in the process lose two of their players as well.
Match 12: The second Ranked match, the Darklords of Helgedad again drew, 1-1, this time with a human team.

Blood Bowl!!!

Man, I used to love this game. Mind you, I have never won a game, but hey, that's half the challenge

Blood Bowl is a fantasy version of American football, for those who are wondering what the hell I'm talking about. Last week I found an online version of it, and yesterday played my first game.

My Middenheim Magpies took on Coach Puser's Heidelberg Packers in front of 34,000 rabid fans. Before the opening kick off of the match, the Magpies fans decided they didn;t like the look of the ref and they clobbered him! He was so intimidated that he turned a blind eye to the antics of the Magpies for the entire first half.

The game started badly for the Magpies with their captain, Bucks, badly hurt in the opening few minutes. To make matters worse, Heidelberg's Hird passed to his team mate Johnson and scored a touchdown! All was not lost however, for moments later, Neon scored for the Magpies, levelling the scores at 1-1.

The rest of the half was uneventful, and at the half-time break the nice day we had in the first half suddenly turned dreary as the heavens opened. The second half saw both teams struggle to keep their footing and handle the ball, with Wallis from the Packers even slipping over whilst trying to dodge out of a tackle, breaking his neck and kicking the bucket in the process! Tazz of the Magpies tried, again and again, to pick up the ball, only to have the slippery bugger keep falling from his hands. With only moments left in the match, and the scores still locked at 1-1, Tazz finally picked up the ball. Looking downfield he saw one of his team mates free… if he could get the ball to him, the Magpies would win! Alas, the throw was fumbled, and the whistle blew to end the game at 1-1.

Best players were:

Wallis (Packers): 7 votes (and the Packer's MVP, posthumously awarded)

Pebbles (Magpies): 5 votes (Magpies MVP)

Neon (Magpies) & Johnson (Packers): 3 votes

Johnas Maximus (Packers): 2 votes

Hird (Packers): 1 vote.

I look forward to a rematch with Coach Puser in the very near future!

Bashball revision 6

After discussing it with Phil today, a few minor adjustments (and a couple of big ones) have been made to Bashball, with the intent of opening up the scoring and stopping those 0-0 draws that are oh-so-common.

Bashball revision 6

Again, feel free to leave comments. 

Warbands Round 2

Round two of our Warhammer Warbands is over and done and, I must say, I didn't do quite as well as in Round 1.  No matter, I still did better than Paul

Game 1 saw me massacre Paul's High Elves (again), 342-76 victory points.  

Game 2 saw Phil defeat me, 336-261 victory points.  A nice close game after I thought I had basically lost it in the first turn.

Game 3 saw Phil massacre Paul, 342-65 victory points.

The mega-battle saw Phil win with 481 victory points, ahead of Paul on 455 and myself on 296.  I was caught in a crossfire here and basically had no chance, although the highlight from my troops was my guys wiping out two units of Phil's Skinks in one turn (well, nine of the ten of the Skinks anyway).

I did learn a few things, especially in regards to Dryads and the mega-battle.  I am not going to post those here though, just in case Paul and Phil get any big ideas. 

Bashball, revision 5

Revision 5 of Bashball is now available for perusal.

Bashball revision 5

Feel free to leave your comments here guys.

There is also a Bashball page now (right hand column, under pages heading) that has all of the versions so far if you need them. 

Wood Elf Warband 320pts

I have finished putting the last touches on my army to tackle Paul and Phil this time next week:

Warbands Round 1

I thought it would be fun to write up a small background story for our Warhammer Warbands games. So, here it is.

In the beginning, the elven race was one, living upon their island paradise called Ulthuan. But as time went by, tensions mounted, and the elven race was split.

The Wood Elves severed all ties with Ulthuan and went to live in the land men called the Old World. There they found a home within the great sentient forest known as Athel Loren.

The Dark Elves made pacts with Daemons and waged war upon their cousins, but were beaten. They, too, left Ulthuan, sailing for the frozen wastes of Naggaroth.

The High Elves continued to live upon Ulthuan, content with their place in life. They wage war upon their Dark cousins, but do not have anything to do with the Wood Elves.

The three elven races have lived this way for millennia. Recently, however, explorers have returned from the jungles of the Southlands with rumours of a fourth elven race. Supposedly, this race is savage, attacking and killing anyone they come across. Reports say they are lightning quick, and have skin so pale it is almost translucent.

The High Elves quickly moved to deny the rumour, although this didn't stop them from sending a small party by ship to investigate. The Wood Elves also sent a band of warriors, for their legends tell of a Lost Kindred – maybe this was them? The Dark Elves, on the other hand, largely ignored the matter, though it is supposed they have some plan in store.

Coincidently, both the High Elves and Wood Elves arrived in the Southlands at the same time. The local inhabitants, a race of red-skinned Lizardmen, noticed this fact and decided that it was much more than a coincedence. The tribal leaders decided to send a small force of skinks, led by a well-respected shaman, to harry these forces and drive them from their land.

In a series of skirmishes, in which even the High Elves and Wood Elves faced each other, much blood was shed and each of the three warbands fought for their survival. The High Elves, badly beaten and shaken by the 'red-skinned devils of the jungles', retreated to their ships to regroup and replan. The Wood Elves, on the other hand, made great inroads into the jungles, frustrating the Lizardmen to no end. No sign of the mystery fourth Elven race has been spotted yet, and so the Wood Elves continue their exploration.

The Lizardmen, having beaten back one force but in turn been beaten back by another, have convened in a council of war to decide what to do.

No doubt all three races have something in store for their opponents.

Campaign Points (Round 1)

16 Shane

10 Phil

5 Paul