Sunday 19 April 2015

recent events

Managed to get a few games in over the past few weeks and as such got a few pics of whats been going on with my forces, so though I would share them on this fine blog. really need to get my table finished to make it all look perfect but that takes time and I would rather be painting models. 
 


Never regarded scouts as much of a threat but this guy was a royal pain in the balls. he only got a few kills but completely dominated the centre of the table and I had very little room for movement when he was about.
My most recent Pan O Minis I have painted,.I let someone else use them to bump up some pts. Was a bad Idea as the Total reaction HMG made a complete mess of my Wildcats in the first turn.
 
 
I had to try and sneak into the enemy lines, while my opponent had to keep them clear. Every time I walked into what I thought was the safest area Some Heavy Infantry unit was waiting to chop me up. only so many times you can throw a mine on the floor as a reaction and survive.



First time I used my Hacker orc and he did bugger all. "Son I am disappoint"


these guys both got man of the match, the Orc with HMG saved 6 out of 7 amour saves and pummeld any enemy forces he could get his eyes on.
 
 
Wooden spoon award goes to these guys, the guy on the left seems to be confused and is still wearing a life jacket, and my Orc just pranced about doing nothing until he got shot in the back by a para commando, who to be fair fought hard to get into a good position to do so.
but shooting someone in the back is just un gentlemanly.

 
A couple of guys were having a refresher game for N3. Haqislam vs Morat. I’m not that clued up on either of these forces so not sure how many pts they were playing. I had to leave before the game was done so no idea who won.

 I got this mini from hassle free. Normally used as VIP for enemy’s to look at with secret objectives but was the civilian in this game, unfortunately for him we both had to make sure he was dead so was a loose loose situation in this game for the little guy.

 These two snipers set up for a face off, accept one is a coward, can you guess who?

Friday 10 April 2015

So long and thanks for all the crisps.




Well it’s happening - Fab Café is leaving us. At least for a short while, anyway. In a way it feels like your best mate from secondary school is going off traveling for the summer before going to uni. He will be back - but who knows when and who knows where and how much will they have changed when they come back?
This bar has been the staple - my bread and butter if you will - when going for a night out in Leeds for the past 6 years. Having come from a small place with about a million “old man pubs” and nothing but a Wetherspoons for Friday night entertainment you can imagine what the cogs turning in my brain were conjuring up when a friend of mine who had been in Leeds a year before once told me, “Bruv its sick! You got some Hans Solo thing on the wall when you walk in, and it’s got House Of The Dead and Space Raiders and stuff”.
Suffice to say I was not disappointed. Other alternative venues have changed over the years since I have been in Leeds. Fuel still goes strong but has way more pop music than ever, God knows how many coats of paint Dry Dock has had since I arrived in this city and as much as I don’t want to admit it, Cockpit is just plain gone - but Fab Café always stayed strong and true to its calling. Nights out there could be fickle at times, being somewhat surprisingly quiet on some and then on others rammed, but it never disappointed.
This is the kind of place people could dress and act how they wanted without giving a crap, dance like monkeys, chat some grade a waffle and play some games. There are some rumours saying that you can go in the early evening and have food, though I’m still not convinced about that one, but it always game birth to some awesome nights out in Leeds regardless. As a result, whenever someone came to visit Leeds, Fab was the place to take them with its cheap drinks, late licence and decent mix of rock, pop, emo and metal - an instant recipe for success.
I was pretty proud of myself when we did the quiz and I managed to get 10 points for figuring out that the answer was Walt Disney when the clue was “some people called him a Nazi” although I was pretty let down by myself when I completely sucked at the video game themed quiz. I think my crowning moment in this place was when me and a friend managed to finish the House Of The Dead arcade machine - yeah that’s right, you read it right, your eyes do not deceive you - someone actually completed an arcade game. . . and yeah it cost about a tenner. Each! We were struggling at one point and this random guy joined in feeding the greedy machine with us until we had slugged through the whole thing. He then walked off into the crowd dancing in front of the UFO DJ booth never to be seen again. It was a beautiful moment the three of us shared.
However, the beauty of this place is within the amazing collection of random action figures, plushies and comics. I can’t count the amounts of times I have been propped up against the bar with a mate and said “Doode I had that Sonic cuddly toy when I was a kid!” and then promptly try to chat up whatever unfortunate bar maid had the pleasure of serving me using the exact same line 2 seconds later.
Anyway - I hope you all join me for a drink this Saturday and I think that I can say on behalf of all of us, “Thank you Fab Café, we will miss you. Please don’t be gone for very long. So in the wise, wise words of Vinnie Jones – ‘it’s been emotional’.”

 



 








Tuesday 7 April 2015

Space ORCs, Infinity style.


As you may have guess from one of my past blogs i'm a big fan of the Pan O Heavy Infantry and as a result have way more than I can use in any one game. However this did not stop me from managing to convert and paint up 3 ORC troops. As far as Heavy Infantry go they are nothing to rave about. Pretty basic stat line similar to most factions equivalent, boasting nice BS and above average amour. These guys come with the standard options you might imagine, HMG, Hacker and Lieutenant etc. Its not often I will use all three in a game as it chews up a fair amount of points and does not leave enough left over to squeeze in many other toys. I like the image of three of the same elite unit traveling around as a small squad where ever they are needed in the Pan Oceanian empire. Reminded me of the Colonial marines in Aliens or the "Rapid Response Tactical Squad" in the Doom film ( another classic example of a game made into a film that will forever be remembered in history's halls of fame ) lead by the almighty Dwayne Johnson. I wanted to have enough versatility in the models to field them as what ever I wanted and have them look the part. As good as Infinity is it still lacks a lot of models for the profiles provided but I think it worked out alright in the end.

The one holding the HMG is just compensating for his short man syndrome
"Got your back bro"
 I originally picked up a bunch of Pan O of a mate who was getting rid of them cheap but with the catch of some parts "might" be missing. But considering they were all in a box and the guy never played the game or stuck them together I was not that bothered and took the risk ( Might I mention I had only played about 2 games with my Nomads and didn't really know what was going on half the time) . Everything was pretty much as you would expect it but the original ORC with a multi rifle was missing . . . well, his Multi rifle. I considered sending corvus Belli a message claiming that I bought it form them and it had an arm missing. But for some reason my moral compass kicked in and I decided not to be a dick and instead to sacrifice the arm of a Sikh Commando. I always thought giving one of them a HMG was a waste of points anyway as every time someone uses one they die within a turn, for some reason people don't seem to like it when an enemy model drops behind them and blows half the order pool away. As a result I got a slightly unique miniature, standing in a some what of a "come at me bro" pose and ready for action.


The second ORC I put together was the Female with a Shotgun, I chopped off a few bits to make it look less clunky and more stream lined, then added a box feed for the ammo that I Got from Anvil Industries, the same place I got the HMG weapon upgrades. I think the Box makes the gun look like it has way more of a punch and adds a little uniqueness to the miniature. I like this pose a lot even though its quite static but considering the model is clad in amour. Why would you not fire a shot gun from the hip, bullets feebly bouncing of you as you lay waste a room out the back of a bar full of information dealers?






Lastly I got this hench guy from the Icestorm set. This gem will probably get used the most as I can take him as either a Lieutenant, Hacker or standard ORC with a Multi Rifle. I decided to put the blue screen of death as his hacking prop because I found it amusing in my head that a unit would be shut down in the middle of a battle as this guy hides behind a wall winding him up and shutting him or her down constantly with his hacking device and making them rage out. In comparison to the other ORC troops this guy looks way beefier. Not unexpected considering he is a way more recent sculpt and Corvus Belli have been up-scaling all the models. About time, when you look at the original Brigada and the new one that comes in the Icestrom box you can see how far they have come and how much quality they have improved on over the past 9 years.


A few shots of the team together.










Totally forgot to add this to my last blog at the Leeds Night Owls.