Demos, Events, 'The Project!' and more ...

Me again.
Been a while but Ive been quite busy. Work. life and PAINTING! Yes me. Ive been painting!

Demos and Events
Today was the demo day at Mad for Miniatures in St.Austell, Cornwall.
Andrew and myself arrived aorund 9.30 to set up. Had 1 large table and an official demo table to play with.
A display was set up on the demo table with a selection of minis to showcase the sort of things Privateer makes.
The main table was then split in 2 with scenery. Warmachine on one side and Hordes on the other.
Khador v Cryx and Circle v Legion
Steve and a couple of other local club members arrived to help out and we were ready to go.
There was alot of interest early on. With 7 or 8 people asking to watch a couple of games and then wanting to give it a try. This pace kept going and before I knew it almost 3 hours had passed.
Afew of the younger players had to head of at this time but thier places were taken from members of the Truro TAGS gaming club and the fun kept going.
Matt, a local to the store, enjoyed his games so much he headed stright for the PP shelves and picked up a Khador starter. And Luke, another local, grabbed himself a couple of Cryx Casters.
The demos were obviously having a great effect on PP interest.
We were then joined by another club goer and his kids which picked up Hordes in no time and went off to see what they liked the most.
After around 5 hours we called it a day. Both ourselves, the store owners and the gamers were all very happy with the day and very thankful for all the gaming.
All in all, It went amazingly well!
Very sure we will be doing it again soon.

The TAGS members were also interested in another demo night after thiers in Jan. Today and the TAGS demos drummed up some interest with the members and date in March will be set for another run so people can give it another go.

PAW 2011 is only a couple of weeks away now and the boards are almost ready. Models all set to go and the excitement is building. Not run anything at an event that big yet. Cant wait for it though.

The Legionary convention run by Rygas Roughnecks contacted me this week. Looks like Im refing a Steamroller there now. These events keep getting bigger!

Shattered Grounds : Windless Wastes is almost upon us aswell.
NCBB will be having the first season of the year with 8 players registered so far and the final event is already being planned. Even ordered a second Mariner to use as a Navigator for the season.
The story is great and I want to run Fiona and her pair if Navigators like mentioned.
A 'beach landing' board is planned aswell. Half water and half beach. Time for some Amphibious fun!
Just have to finish of the landing boat so it fits in with the models. Still a bright toy at the moment.

A couple of fellow PGs have developed a fun little tournament style aswell. Imaging  unlocking acheivments on XBox games and then imagine doing it by completing goals in games of Warmachine and Hordes.
Sound fun? It will be!
Planned for the near future at NCBB.

To finish of the events section, there is some news on a new convention.
Cornwall Games Day will be making its first appearance on Sat 15th Oct 2011.
I will post more news of this as it happens.

'The Project'
Ever since I read the story in Forces of Warmachine: Pirates of the Broken Coast I had a vision.
A 2 ship game board that included the Talion and the Atrementous with thier repective crews exchanging blows.
I have a Mercs Pirate force Im building already. Around 70pts. So theres a start.
Then I had a prezzie from my lovely wife. 17pts of Undead Cryx Pirates. Yay! Second force started.
The final board will inclund 2 4x2 boards both containing a pirate ship. One fast and dangerous steam paddle ship and one glowing, undead and flaming Dirgenmast. Hitting each other side by side with both crews being able to use them as a fully playable game board.
Hoping to have it ready for Cornwall GD in October

Retibution Battle Engine
To finish off todys post there is no better way than to show the Retribution Battle Engine that Privateer Press have shown.

I love it. Its stunning. And it makes me want my Retribution army back. Looks like I know whats on my 'to get' lists next.

Thats all for now.
May the dice gods smile on your games. And turn all your 1s into 6s.

Cheers for now

Hendy

The Then, The Now and The Soon....

Its 2011 and Im back.
Apologies for the lack of posting recentlly but it has been a very busy holiday season. But thats all out of the way now.
"So,whats that title all about?"
In todays post Im going for abit of an overall look at whats happened in the last year, happening at the moment and whats planned for the near future.

The Then (2010)

Last year was a very interesting one.
Myself, my wife and a friend started the year off by creating a regular gaming club in a place that had never had one before. And then managed to join the GCN aswell.
We now have an average of 12-14 regulars every week and leagues, trips and more under our belts.

Then we found Privateer Press. Yay!
I started off with abit of Khador and some Retribution for Warmachine. I then found the Talion Charter Pirates. As you can see from my profile pic Im abit of a pirate freak as it is. So this were the obvious choice for me. And have been growing and great fun ever since.
Over the course of afew months we got a little PP community up and running. There are atleast 10 players at our club now. And a some others that are starting to look into the games.
We have also had visits to and from other clubs in the county that have PP players.
The South West PP community can be found on facebook.
Here - SWMH Group
And Here - SWMH Page

My latest army project has been Blindwater Congregation Minions. I was always a fan of the random, wierd and wonderful Minions. Then they put them all in a force together. That was my first Hordes faction chosen.

At the end of November I became a Press Ganger. I found a game I loved and now I can help both the game and the others players.
A couple of weeks later I ran my first Warmachine Demo night at TAGS gaming club. Went really well and there are now some people there that want to learn more, get more and play more.

To end the year I convinced the local hobby store 'Mad for Miniatures' to pick up and sell Privateer Press products. Its already going very well and there are even new players starting due to MfM having the models on the shelves.

The Now

As for the now, I got some new toys over the holidays.
Start of a Khador force
Start of a Legion of Everblight force
Grind box set
Monsterpocalypse 2player box set
Talion Charter Warjacks
Lots of new toys and lots of fun to be had. I will post pics and such as I work on them.
Its not all here yet. Damn UK post. Should have the last bits tomorrow though.

And tonight. The table beside the sofa. 3 Jacks, 2 Beasts and a Caster on it.
BANG! Top snapped off. All models and paints all over the floor. Thats not fun!
Where did this bit go?
Oh well, the wonders of clippers and super glue fix all.

On a personnal, non gaming, note. Lost my Gecko 'Bosun' yesterday. Wasnt well and had to be put down.
Then out of the blue was a call. Some friends are moving into a smaller flat and dont have room for thier pet 'George'. Wanted to know if we knew anyone that could rehome him. We could!
Picking up George the Bearded Dragon and full set up tomorrow.

And finally

The Soon

Theres alot of great plans for this year. From myself and from Privateer Press.

Warmachinre: Wrath will be arriving in June. The first expansion to the amazing Mk2.
Quite afew new models have been previewed on the PP site already. But theres alot more to come.
The 2 big changes at the moment are Faction Mercs Unit Attatchments.
A Khador , for example. charachter that can be added to a Mercenary unit and give them certain advantages. There are 3 so far. Khador, Menoth and Cygnar. All can be seen on the PP site.

The BIGGEST change is in the Battle Engines.
All 5 main WM Factions will be getting one each. 120mm bases each!
The first Model Shown is the Khador Gun Carriage.

And just to show how big it is compared to everything else

With the start of a Khador army now I am definatly going to be getting one of these.
The others are being shown day by day on Privateer Insider on the main site.
But only the artwork for now.
Cryx Wraith Engine

Love it. Like some twisted Giger inspired creature. And this will be on the same size base as the others. 120mm. Its going to be huge!
Already planning a Cryx force so I can get one. A Pirate Cryx force ofcourse.

And todays addition
Retribution Arcantric Force Generator and new Battle Mages

This could easily draw me back to the retribution. Rahn force I think. I do love the magic slinging angry elves.
There are still the Cygnar and Menoth Battle Engines to be shown.
No rules are known for any of the Wrath models yet. But I dont care. The models and art look amazing.

The Press Gang plans for this year are looking good aswell.
I will be runnign a Demo day at Mad for Miniatures on Jan 22nd. Hope it goes well and I will report all back here.
I will also be running demos at 3 big gaming conventions.
PAW 2011 in Feb
South West Model Expo in April and
Legionnary in May.
All will be reported on here. With pictures and everything!

A Breast Cancer Brawl Steamroller charity tournament is in the owrks aswell.
It will be at the Poldark Inn, Delabole, Cornwall.
March 26th.
16 places available and the sign ups will be open by the end of this month.
Lots of great prizes, a Think Pink model auction and hopefully ALOT of money raised for Breast Cancer Awareness.

To finish off, Im currently contacting alot of other clubs and stores in the South West. Trying as hard as possible to grow the game everywhere I can.

Thats all for now I think. Unless anyone has ideas for converting Pirate Jacks that is.

Thats all for now I think.


P.S. Anyone got any good ideas for converting Pirate Jacks?

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 >>>

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



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

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?