Tuesday 21 December 2010

Tales of a PG blog now on BOLS and TGN

As it says,
Tales of a PP Press Ganger is now listed on Bell of Lost Souls (BOLS) and Tabletop Gaming News (TGN)

Yay!

Links to both to your right >>>

Friday 17 December 2010

The latest news

Hi again all,
I know if have been abit quite this week but its been a manic one.
Got afew bits of news today.

Press Gang News
I have spent the last week trying to find and contact as many clubs and stores in my area.
Still waiting to hear back from most, as expected this time of year, but I have had great news from one.
Mad for Miniatures in St.Austell , Cornwall  MfM Website Link
This is a hobby store that has mainly card games and WH40K,
After talking with the store owner Vini he is happy to start stocking PP products, but only with proof the players are out there. Thats a fair deal in my eyes.
Each of the local players around here is going to put thier next orders in with MfM to help him start out.
And a great thing about these orders is that he will match the 10% UK online discounts and free postge over £10. And with a 10% deposit your can order now and pay the rest when you pick it up in store.

With this support MfM is going to order items for the store ontop of what we want and then keep expanding thier range with each order placed.
They are also happy to let us run Leagues, Tournaments demos and events there on a regular basis.

Mad for Miniatures is quite central in Cornwall so will be a great hub to promote PP and run the events from.
But, thats not the best bit.
There is NO other PP stockists in Cornwall at the moment and there hasnt been before.
That makes MfM the FIRST and ONLY PRIVATEER STOCKIST in the COUNTY!!!!!!! Big Yay!
I will update the news with this store as it progresses.

Now to the Tournaments.
A fellow PGer has come up with a brand new format. Instead of the usual Steamroller rules he is calling it 'Acheivment Unlocked'
The usual tournament rules apply but the scoring is much more fun. Each player gets a list of achievments ranging from first Caster kill through to the most facial hair (real or fake) while playing. And a huge amount of serious and fun one inbetween.
Each then has a point value and the winners of the tournament are the ones with the most achievment points at the end of the day.
Sound fun?  Fancy giving it a go?  Any ideas for new achievments?

We will also be running a Breast Cancer Brawl charity Steamroller tournament in Delabole, Cornwall on the 26th March. 16 places open with great prizes all round
Email me HERE for more information.
I will post up the full info as soon as its all finalised.

Hendybadgers News
And on to the local Warmachine League being run at North Cornwall Beasts and Bionics gaming club.
Had my 4th game last night. Versus Epic Caine. It was a very interesting and fun game but was over quite quiclky. A Cygnar shooty force that tore my Talion Pirates to pieces and made short owrk of Captain Shae.
But leasons have been learnt for next time. Made mistakes in deployment, movement and placment. And paid the price for it.
No matter how hard it is to hit Captain Shae, dont leave him infront of Epic Caine with full focus. Bang! Bang! Your Dead!

Either Menoth or Khador next. Cant win now (unless Andy loses the next 3 and I dont. He hasnt lost yet) but cant still pull 2nd.

Been trying to up my painting skills aswell. Stopped on the characters for now to try the schemes out on the Warjacks.
What do you think of Privateer Warjacks in Burgandy, Light Blue and Brass?
Trying to tie them in with Shae and Bartolo. Will post up pictures when I have the final base colours down. (Sunday?)
Not sure what to do with my 2 Buccaneers thought. Do I paint them to same or swap over the blues and reds on the second one?
Still awaiting the arrival of my 2 new Jacks. The Freebooter and the 2nd Nomad.

And to finish off for today
Privateers New Model Preveiws

Circle Orboros Warcaster
Kaya thw Wildborne (alternate sculpt)
I have wanted to start a Circle force for a while now. But not keen on the old Kaya mini or the Argus in the Warpack box.  This new mini is exaclty what I want! And she looks great.

Retribution of Scyrah
Dawnguard Destors Cavalry

And in my opinion, the best one of the batch
Mercenaries Solo
Ragman

Even if my Pirates have to become Four Star or Highborne I WILL be getting and using this model.
You can find out more on all the new preveiws on the Privateer Press main site LINK

So there we have it
Hope you all have a great holiday season
And get many many new toys!

Hendy


Friday 10 December 2010

TAGS Demo Night + other wonderful stuff

I did it! My first official demo night as a Press Ganger.
It was at the Trelawneys Armies Gaming Society in Truro, Cornwall. Club Site Here.
There was quite alot of interest from the club members for the week or so before hand so I drafted in assisstance from my wife and 2 friends.
We got there around 6pm and set up 2 4x4 basic tables to run some Warmachine demo games.
And also layed out a whole range of rulebooks and magazines for people to take a look through and a some WM quick start rules sheets for people to take away with them if they wanted to.
Out of 16 quick start sheets I ended up coming home with 2!

For starter demo games we kept the game area abit smaller and laid out a range of other minis in the corners and around the tables so people could see exactly the sort of things Privateer make.
The games then began. Myself and friend Andrew played on one side on the set up and my wife Coleen and friens Steve played on the other.
As soon as the dice started rolling so did the interest and the questions. I didnt mind at all because thats what we were there for. 3 or 4 people then took a big interest in what we were doing each turn and with each move. Which was great.
Over the course of the first few demo games quite alot of people we coming to and from to see what all the fuss was about. Most walked away at the least with the WM rules and Battlegroup card copies on them to take and try out.
Col and Steve then upped the game size abit to run a full game betwen themselves so people could start to see what the units and solos were and  how they worked in conjunction with the Jacks and Casters.
Andrew and myself ran another small game for people to get involved in and talked them through step by step with what we were doing and why we were doing it.
That was it then. Some seemed hooked! Namely Rob and Mike.

After a couple of hours of watching the games, helping out a little and going over the rules Mike wanted to play. I dont think he could resist the temptation any more.
Still with the onlookers and questions he took charge of some Cygnar and took on myself. Wow. He picked it up fast. Afew turns later my Caster was surrounded by broken friendly Jacks and some bad tempered Cygnar killing machines. Even with some spell boosts I didnt last any longer. I was dead before i could even realise hat was going on.
Mike was a very happy man and (Im sure) took home a Menoth Battlebox to build and paint.

Talking of Mike, He is a wonderful painter. Golden demon standard and has painted minis for people all over the world.
If you have a special model, or even army, or a great conversion that you want to look the best it ever could then take a look at the Cornish Mikey Painting Site or send him an Email Here

By the end of the night we had quite afew heading off to look into minis and Factions for themselves.
And even people starting to look at Hordes, MonPoc and Grind aswell.

I had some great feedback from the club during the evening and even on thier forum afterwards.
They have even pre-booked another demo night for next month so more can give it a go and others can try out thier own Battlegroup that they have or are going to buy from seeing the game.

All in all I think it was a great success. The TAGS members enjoyed themselves, my friends and myself enjoyed ourselves and I cant wait to do anouther one.

There was one slight problem though. With some of the people saying how nice my Talion Charter Jacks and conversions were I accidentaly clicked onto Maelstrom (link at bottom of page) when I got home and ordered myself a Freebooter and a second Nomad. Oh well. Just going to have to use them now I guess. :)

Finally for today there is some huge news.
I got to home to see an email from Loveless (forum member) that conatnied a picture of the legendary
Retribution Dawnguard Destors.
After all this time they really do exist! See!
Now we have a problem. Ian has started looking at the Retribution again!
But thats for another post.

Keep sacrificing paint brushes to the dice gods.
And may they be on your side.

Cheers
Ian

Monday 6 December 2010

Talion Charter force for NCBB 40pt League

For any that are interested my 40pts in the North Cornwall Beasts and Bionics League look like this

A Pirates Life theme force Tier 4

Captain Shae
Buccaneer
Buccaneer
Nomad
Mariner
Sea Dogs x 10 + Mr Walls + 1 Rifleman
Sea Dog Deck Gun
Lady Aiyana + Master Holt
Commodore Cannon + Crew
Lord Rockbottom
Bosun Grogspar
Dirty Meg
Doc Killingsworth
First Mate Hawk

I wasnt too sure about this list when I first started. But I have found them to work amazingly well together.
The whole force is almost in the middle of the board by turn 2. With Captain Shea right up there with them.
The 2 Buccaneers work well for covering open areas, Tieing up dangerous Jacks for a turn or 2 or even just being sacrificed to open the way up for something bigger.
The Nomad and the Mariners are the hard hitters. The Nomad is a beast in combat and the Mariner takes Meg to load and causes alot of ranged damage before hitting even harder with it anchor.
The Sea Dogs and the ONE POINT solos are the heart of the force. On the charge with the right backing they can easily take down a large Jack. And then there are the little extras from Rockbottom, Bosun and Doc to add some ranged support. Great for taking out both units and stray solos.
Aiyana and Holt seem hit or miss. Sometimes they are rubbish but sometimes they are amazing. (I think thats just my rolling) His shots are more dangerous than people think. Especially with the +2 damage from Aiyana.
Captain Shae is very decieving. He doesnt look like much but with the Storm Rager upkeep on him and abit of focus he gets nasty. The couple of comabt skills he has work wonders against most man-sized Casters and I think he has only lost 1 Caster v Caster battle before.
And his feat, his Feat! Look great? No. Work amazingly? YES! A free 3 inches for everyone combined with Pathfinder and no free strikes can really be a game changer when used at the right time.
Even though he is one of the greatest pirates in the Iron Kingdoms and an amzing Caster he his still not my favourite part of the Talion Charter. That prize goes to ........
The Commodore Cannon.
Its amazing. Never EVER run Shae without it. When it hits, it hits hard. As Vlad found out. But even if the enemy stay away from it then its still doing a great job. They try and kill it from behind ,which leaves the killers away from anything else or they avoid it all together, which means I can almost plan where they are going to head and place my dangerous units accordingly.
There is my Who, How and Why for Talion.

What do you think?

Sunday 5 December 2010

Its all starting to fall into place ...

Hello there people.
I have finaly got some events planned as a PG.

Next week afew of us are going to to Truro in Cornwall to visit Trelawneys Armies Gaming Society (TAGS)
A couple of people there have some Warmachine models but havent played since Mk1 and want to give Mk2 a look and a try.
The plan is 2 tables. 1 with 2 starter Battlegroup sets on. Khador v Menoth probably.
The 2nd will have a Cryx starter and some Talion Charter Pirates. (dont have access to 4 starter sets yet)
There are usualy quite afew people there so I am hoping to drum up some interest with a couple of nice looking games backed up by afew rulebooks and Forces books, Some recent issues of No Quarter and a pile of Mk2 quick start rules that they can take to try out.
If all goes well, and people get really interested I will have the models to maybe up the points for one of the tables aswell. Throwing, Trampling and Slaming with some heavy Jacks always pleases people.
I will report back on how this one goes after Thursday night. And hopfully be able to post what I have learnt from my first official demo evening aswell.

There are also some events booked up for next year.
I wil be running demo/ participation games for Warmachine and Hordes (a table each) at

Plymouth Association of Wargamers show (PAW 2011)
on Feb 5th and 6th at the YMCA Sports Centre, Honicknowle Lane, Plymouth, Devon
PAW Link

Exeter Legionnary 2011 gaming show on May 7th at the Matford Centre, Exeter, Devon
Legionary Link

and
The  South West Model Engineering, Model Making and Hobbies Exhibition 2010
At The Royal Bath & West Show Ground, Shepton Mallet, Devon
30th of April to 2nd of May
SWMEE Link

Those are the confirmed plans for now.
Im am in the process of contacting other club in the south west aswell to try and organise more demo events.

There are also another couple of things being planned in the near future.
North Cornwall Beasts and Bionics gaming club will be running a Breast Cancer Brawl Steamroller Tournament on March 26th. (Details to be confirmed)

And a Cornwall Wargaming Expo is being planned for October 2011 to be held in Kingsley Village, Fraddon, Cornwall. (Again, Details to be confirmed)

On personnal news, I have played my latest 40pt league game against Khador with my Talion Charter.
A good game that ended in an amazing way. Commodore Cannon directly at Vlad and bouncing him off of his pet Drago. Full health to none in one shot! (sorry Cal but it was enjoyably piratey)
This puts me in second place in the league. Played 3, Won 3.
Behind Andy who (i think) has played 4 and won 4. And I think his Cygnar Epic Caine force is going to be my next game.

For any that are interested my 40pts look like this
A Pirates Life theme force Tier 4
Captain Shae
Buccaneer
Buccaneer
Nomad
Mariner
Sea Dogs x 10 + Mr Walls + 1 Rifleman
Sea Dog Deck Gun
Lady Aiyana + Master Holt
Commodore Cannon + Crew
Lord Rockbottom
Bosun Grogspar
Dirty Meg
Doc Killingsworth
First Mate Hawk

Thats all for now folks.......
I will be back soon.

Friday 26 November 2010

This week I have mostly been doing.......

I thought I would add a little update about the things Im working on at the moment.
To start with we have the Characters from my Talion Charter Merc force.
They are all currently half way through laying down the foundation colours. And trying to work out where I want which colours.

Next we have the other Units and my 2 Buccaneer light Jacks

My Vanguard (which is going to be reposed) and my favourite Talion/Privateer model, the Mariner

I have tried my first warjack conversion with the Nomad. I wanted it to look abit more pirate like so replaced the buckler with a metal ships wheel I picked up and the sword has been replaced with a plasticard hilt and a plastic Orge sword. I think its looks good and fits well. What do you think?

All the above models are only pinned to thier bases at the moment because I wanted to do something abit different with them. I have got my hands on a shed load of wooden coffee stirers. After using PVA to create large sheets of wood I can cut bases from I wondered how to paint them. Putting them in before the undercoat wood (sorry) have lost all the grain detail. So I then decided to stain them and add them to the bases as inserts after the minis were painted. I tried a couple of different inks and washes and settled on the 3rd one (shown below)

 Here is the next project. More Blindwater Minions! The bases in there are deep resin bases I got from Fenris in the 3 different Hordes sizes.
Seeing I was going for different bases on the Talion pirates I decided to go for something different on the Gators aswell. With the extra deep bases I had I tried out some swamp bases. Using different types of sand, flock and static grass I came up with the below tests. I know they look a little cloudy but I now know how to make them look better by doing the water in much shallower layers.


There we are.
My current projects. There will be more added to these and also a couple more projects started soon.
Open to all comments, thoughts and ideas.

Thursday 25 November 2010

And So It Begins!

The date - 25 Nov 2010
The E.mail - Welcome to the Press Gang
The mood - Very Very happy

So there we go. I am now an official Privateer Press PressGanger. So many plans and ideas!

Lets go back and start at the begining .

Me and my Toys!
My name is Ian Henderson. I am a 26yr old Wargamer and member of North Cornwall Beasts and Bionics gaming club.
I used to play Wargames when I was around 13 but stopped for quiet a while.
5 years ago I met my (now) wife and she took me into a model store. I have been collecting, building and playing since.
I starter playing Warmachine and Hordes about a year ago around the start of Mk2. After a play around with Khador I went for a large Retribution force. I then found my real love - PIRATES!
As you can tell by my picture I am abit of a pirate fan in general. I currently have a Talion Charter force of around 50pts with Captain Shae. And still afew minis yet to be built for it, including 2 other Casters.
This is and will always be my main army. I already have plans to take it up to 100pts and even further.
Thats without expanding into the other Merc contracts. I keep looking at Seaforge!
I am also in the process of creating a Blindwater Congregation Minions force. Over 20pts at the moment and waiting for more models to turn up / be released including the Forces book.

My next model plans include Grind and Monsterpocalypse which myy wife is getting me for Xmas. So many MonPoc models I like already and want to pick up. (This is going to get expensive)

As for Warmachine I want to expand my little Cryx force into a large 100pt+ force based on PIRATES! The more the better. Unsure on the Satyxis yet but I cant wait to get started on the Revenants and Ogrun.
I also want to expand the Khador into a Jacks, Mechs and MoWs only force because I love the models.
Hordes is going to the same sorts of sizes. Gators will grow and maybe get Farrow added.
Legion Beasts + Creatures and Circle Druids, Wolds + Wolves are also in planning.

Game wise I get to play atleast a couple of times a week at home or at our local club. And now Im a PGer I hope to play even more at other clubs including demos and intros.
The NCBB club has a WM/H league running at the moment. I am in 2nd so far but have only played 2 games with my 40pt Shae Tier 4 army. Won both though!

The Future
The club is planning a Breast Cancer Brawl tournament for March which I hope will go well.
And I also plan to run PP based games, events and intros at some of next years big gaming events.

So thats all for now I guess
If you want help with any events or intros ect please feel free to contact me
Have fun and Play like youve got a Pair!

Ian out...........
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