Not quite……

Been a while since…..ok a very long while since I posted on the blog.  Life has a way of giving you moments of happiness, then kicking your backside real hard.

Essentially after July/August, things went down hill personally and it impacted on my gaming to the point that I lost interest in it completely (nearly left the Gang too).  It’s not perfect even now, but slowly bits and pieces are coming back.  Main news though, is that I will be posting up pics of models I have painted in this period (not many I admit), but also I’ll be covering the formation of Dystopian Wars tournament scene in Scotland.  10th Anniversary of WM this year, the possibility of a SmogCon/Lock and Load style event in the UK, novels….possibly computer games.  So much to do, damn it’s good to be back again.

#PP Heap – Pedal to the Metal Mayhem

Well the game isn’t officially out yet, but to help get the game exposure; Privateer Press have allowed the Press Gang to pre-order a set.  This is really exciting as it is for me, the first time of getting something ahead of the general release (in August).  I’ll be doing demo’s of the game, which looks like a lot of fun; at my LGS as well as Claymore next month.

So what is Heap?

It’s a card game for 2 – 4 players, where players attempt to build; bodge and scrap together the ultimate scrap yard vehicle.  With 4 different vehicles to choose between, the race is on to upgrade them from the scrap pile of parts; while fending off your opponents for all the best scrap.

The Vehicles

Doombuggy, Gyrohopper, Scrap Hog and the Bigg Rigg.  Each one has strengths and weaknesses, which can be helped by adding parts from the Heap.

The Parts

From the Heap, each player gets to upgrade (add cards to) their vehicles; to help in their quest to win the Pile Up.  Each card has different abilities and could affect the player or their opponents. However with the game being every player for themselves, watch out for underhanded tactics that could damage your vehicles parts.

Why take my word for it, watch the video to see how this madness plays out.  Look out for demos in your local gaming store in coming weeks.

 

ETC 2012 – The Event

(I will post random pictures from the event, as I took over 140 during the weekend).

There are some things you get to do once in a life time, some you take the chance while it is going.  When the call went out for PG’s at the European Team Championships, I was eager to get my teeth into something big; but daunted by the enormity of the whole prospect.

I want to say this now, that without the backing of my wife; I wouldn’t have gone.  She was fantastic about me doing this, even encouraging me to take this step in the first place.  As it was, it turned out to be the longest, most rewarding and enjoyable WM/H weekend I have had so far.

To give you the scale of this event, there was (in the end) 54 teams; of 4 players each.  That is 216 players all in the same place, playing the same game; at the same time.  GenCon, Lock and Load; I hear you all cry.  Well yes they are bigger with multiple events (Masters, Hardcore, Iron Arena, etc).  ETC’s is the largest single WM/H tournament in the world, to have been part of that is mind blowing in itself.

Held at Maelstrom Games, the venue was ideally suited to this large numbers of players.  With onsite shop, bar and catering; it was an ideal base for players.  Between games players from all over Europe, could socialise and catch up with friends they had made previous years.  Or like me, make new ones; or put faces to names from the PP forum/WH forum.

I’ll finish this post with a big thank you to Tim King, the Event Organiser for Maelstrom Games and all the staff there.  Without them, the weekend would have been chaos (probably was for them); their hard work made it run smoothly.  Would I go back next year?  I’d love too either be a PG at the event, or even take the plunge and enter a team.  Who knows what will happen, I am just glad I was able to be there THIS year.

#ScottishWMH

Just updated the Upcoming Events list, which some of you will notice there is little time to breath between events at this time of the year.

This is in part due to the fantastic player base that is building up in Scotland for Warmachine/Hordes.  The Colossal Launch event on 15th July, was posted up on our Scottish WM/H pages; within a week we had 12 players signed up.  We now have 17 and with just over a week, we can’t fit any more into the shop (12 player spaces max).

With other venues/stores opening up, this is a great time to be getting into the game.  We even have another Press Ganger in Glasgow, Scott Burry; who will be working with Spellbound Games in Glasgow to promote the game there as well.  For those going to the ETC’s at the weekend, I’ll look forward to meeting some of you.  Just look out for The Mad Scotsman, sans the kilt.

Worlds Gaming Day – Report

The day after, the sun is shining and the whole event seems to have been a blur of organised chaos.  I would first of all like to thank all the WM/H players that came along, 17 eventually made it; which is a great turn out for this event.  What was really good was the age ranges of players, from kids up to the more mature players.  There was a great sense of being there for the games, rather then the real reason of raising money.

Frank and myself, busy getting the players logged into the system; honestly the laptop is my wife’s.  Between the three games, there was 48 players taking part in Flames of War, Warmachine/Hordes and Warhammer 40K.

There was a range of tables for the Flames of War, with some thematic ones like the recreation of the Monte Cassino.

There was also a table for the Battle of Starlingrad

Dave Paterson, was kind enough to loan some of his terrain for the use in Warmachine/Hordes.  With some really stunning houses and medieval paraphernalia to accompany them.

But it wasn’t the scenery that was getting the attention, the models themselves were in some ways the highlight of the show.

With so much going on, there was always something to look at; so I’ll post up the rest of the pictures later.

Suffice to say, the day finally did end and our winners were found.  For the Warmachine/Hordes the standings at the end of a hard fought day; were as follows.

1. Alisdair Johnstone – Cryx
2. David Kane – Khador
3. Michael Dick – Legion of Everblight
4. Tom Young – Retribution of Scyrah
5. David Grant – Circle of Orobos
6. James Stevenson – Protectorate of Menoth
7. Luke Mason – Cryx
8. Kevin Curran – Khador
9. Steve McConnachie – Legion
10.David Flynn – Retribution of Scyrah
11. David Brown – Cryx
12. Est Mount – Cryx
13. Ryan Hunter – Cygnar
14. John Sinclair – Trollbloods
15. Jonathan Mitchell – Skorne
16. Allan Gibb – Cygnar
17. Irving Kerr-Smith – Mercenaries

Top three got prizes donated by Privateer Press, as well as an art print from Privateer Press and freelance fantasy artist – Florian Stitz.  He was kind enough to send over from Germany, a number of signed prints; to be used as prize support.

So it only remains to thank everyone again, for all their hard work, effort and time into coming to the event.  As a TO, it was rewarding to see some good games, plenty of banter and of course winners at the end.  Here’s to the next one!