Games!: 2nd Edition 40K and Battlegroup: Kursk

 Just some pictures from two games over the past few days (and I missed taking pictures of some games over the past few weeks).

 

Soviet deploying to counter a three-pronged German assault.

Soviet armour is caught by Stuka dive bombers and artillery, pinning and sowing chaos.

Soviet armour and infantry being blasted by artillery and bombs.

Though I lost the game, my final moment was a lucky AT rifle team firing a round at a Panzer IV, needing an 11 to pin it, and a 12 to kill it....mission: accomplished!

 

Late in the game...things looking dire for the Dark Angels as they retreat toward the landing platform.

A poor shot of the table.

The Eldar Exarch lands to assist the Dark Angels - protecting the Tarantula turret from the nearby Genestealers.

A Carnifex ignores the dangers of the acid lake and attacks two Shining Spears.

On the other side of the table, a squad of Fire Dragons stands their ground against a Carnifex - buying time for the Dark Angels and other Eldar.

Early in the game, the Swooping Hawk Exarch skirts along the acid lake, firing at the Genestealers.

Early in the game, the Dark Angels withdraw as the Tyranids chase them onto the table.

A second unit of Hormagaunts is hurtling at the Dark Angels as they withdraw toward the platform.

The Tyranids swarming toward the Dark Angels.

Flying from the other side of the board, the Swooping Hawks land, dropping grenades and breaking the Hormagaunt unit - and then opening up with lasguns.

After defeating the Hormagaunts, the Swooping Hawks grenade a unit of Genestealers...making one mistake; leaving one alive.

The Inquisitor Chaplain and Techmarine organize the retreat to the landing platform.
 

Chaos Beastmen, 2nd Edition styles.

 So, back when I was playing 8th edition I picked up several sets of the Blackstone Fortress Chaos Beastmen because I was going to write up a datasheet for them and run them as auxiliaries to my Chaos Space Marine force.

Fast forward a year...and while I painted the four I originally obtained with my box, the other eight were sitting idle as I'd lost all interest in 8th edition 40K as it ran rampant into nonsensical territory.  Then...2nd edition revival.

What's this?  A competently written codex!?  A Chaos Cultists list which includes actual Chaos Beastmen!?  Boom.  Motivation to finish the other eight.

Modified and equipped for 2nd edition (where they could actually take wargear and decent weapons).

 

Yes, the picture is a bit crap, but you get the point!  I armed five or six with Bolt Guns and made two "Champions" who can lead squads of Beastmen.  One is armed with a bolt pistol, power axe and chainsword...while the other is armed with a plasma pistol and power glove.

Wonderdraft Maps (for links)

 Don't mind this, just posting some Wonderdraft maps I did for some role-playing games.  Using the blog to link images!

Games!: Caverns, Crypts & Catacombs

 I rounded out the week with two games of Caverns, Crypts & Catacombs (actually three, over two days!).  I don't have pictures of the first game, sadly...only the table and a few pics from the second day.

An elaborate dungeon with some new pieces being used.

A couple of different routes and options as we had to locate the Quest Room.

One end of the dungeon was open to the void...meaning Adventurers and Creatures could be flung off to their death if they were unlucky...

A re-do of my convention game from several months ago, the quest began in an unassuming Tavern...

The Hero Party discoveres Hygthumpus, Goblin King and his imprisoned Giant...much to the doom of all of us. :D

The table after two games and many hours of dungeon crawlage.

Games: Shoot N' Skedaddle....four-way madness.

 I also ran a four-way game for some friends of mine; resulting in a game where two Lawmen posses and two Outlaw gangs all ran rampant across the table.  Some players joined forces, while others turned on each other.  Each player was given a secret objective - and upon completion would have another one handed to them.

One of the Lawmen Posses makes a run for town...

One of the Outlaw Gangs engages in a running gunfight with some Lawmen.

One Outlaw 'Crazy' grabs a hostage whom he uses as a shield for much of the game.

Lawmen and Outlaws charge for objectives - unknown to each other.

One of the Lawmen Posses, shortly before it came under withering fire from Town Hall.

The table mid-game.

Games: 40K 2nd Edition!

 Well...I managed to take advantage of Thanksgiving week with so many friends off work.  We started a week's worth of gaming, and I am here to present a handful of mediocre pictures!

Dark Angel Space Marines smash into the Tyranids, hoping to buy the Eldar Pirates time to align and power up the communication satellite.

A large swarm of Tyranids of all types hurtles at the satellite control station.

The first Dark Angel rhino on the scene drives straight into the Tyranid lines, marines firing out of every hatch and door.

Using the distraction of the Dark Angels the Eldar Pirates make a run for the control station.

In an effort that will see them sacrifice themselves, one of the Pirate squads moves up to engage the Tyranids while the other squad heads for the station's access door...

 

In the end (we played 1,000 pts. cooperatively facing a similar Tyranid force) we managed to achieve our objective and fire off an emergency message using the planet's communications satellites.  Only the Dark Angel's Techmarine and the leader of the Eldar Pirates survived - fleeing in a rhino.  Every other marine and pirate were killed.

Tariq, Nefsokar Sergeant (Reaper Miniatures)

 Yet...another adventurer!  Another Reaper metal miniature - one of the ones I found from 2005-ish.

Quinn, Iconic Investigator (Reaper Miniatures, Pathfinder Line)

 Another random Pathfinder miniature I wanted to paint.  Admittedly...he's a bit too Steampunk for a lot of my generic fantasy games, but....I just dig the mini.  Will be a great addition to the collection.  Maybe serve as an agent, investigator, a witch hunter, etc.

Ignore this...

 Just posting these here for some miniature ID's on a forum!

More Dwarven Forge pieces...

 I'm trying to finish up my dungeon collection (a handful more sets from DF and then maybe some WarLock stuff in the future). 

I picked up some additional floor pieces, the bridge I've been coveting for some time...and a pair of the nice larger double-doors.  I have a handful of additional door options that can slot in those, but I'll keep these for now.

Rivani, Iconic Psychic (Reaper Miniatures)

 Just finished up another adventurer/NPC, a really nice levitating miniature.  She'll go really well with the other two Arab/Indian-esque miniatures I've done (at one point I was going to do an Arabic/Indian themed Mordheim warband...which is why I picked up these minis!).

Really liked this miniature, super easy to paint - definitely a digital sculpt if I had to guess.

Caerindra Thistlemoor, Reaper Mini

 Another optional hero for the dungeon crawl, this time a lady warrior figure; Caerindra Thistlemoor.

Unfortunately there was some flash/mis-casting on her face, but it's not super noticeable.

We survived two quests in a row. No, really.

 As I'm narrowing down the card designs for my dungeon crawl game, it's been time to start moving onto writing the rulebook, the scenarios and most importantly the story-driven campaign element.  To this effect, I've started playtesting intro scenarios, etc.  So today my buddy Josh and I started a "campaign".

We ran the first quest, then went through the story elements to run a second quest...and we actually survived!  Admittedly it was down to sheer luck, mostly, but we did it!

I actually took a few pictures this time - not many, because...you know I'm terrible at taking pictures mid-game.

In Quest run, our party runs into cultists of some nameless God.

The Wizard, lagging behind is cut off and jumped by two cultists.

At the front of the party, the Warrior and Barbarian fight back to back against this new devilry!

After a decent scrap, the heroes finally corner the last cultists in a narrow passage and slay him!

In the second room of Quest two our party runs into tentacles and goblins...a lot of goblins.  We actually survived this somehow and completed the quest!

I forgot, I also finally painted up this Wyvern I'd picked up a while ago - nice critter though I struggle to get a decent picture of it!