“The rewards of tolerance are treachery and betrayal (but at least those fishmen have taken the liberty of fertilizing your caviar Sergeant).”
theottovonbismark and I got together to play some daft and highly entertaining skirmish games set in the 40K universe last weekend.
Uzgob proves that there are some high speed pursuit advantages to having ones torso welded to army surplus vehicle parts.
The scenarios were many, varied and unlikely and not a point value was used for the duration. The games that we played were largely dictated by a desire to use some of the many miniature projects that we have been working on recently. That meant that theottovonbismarks 1989th Necromundan “Death Ferrets” Regiment allied with Inquisitor Verhoeven, some fishmen and avian scouts in the hostile jungles of Krellborn IX, the Death Ferrets went toe-toe-toe with the Ursa Miners Squat Brotherhood and also got ambushed by orks of the Bigdogz tribe and Vim Petrol babysat Gordon Schumway in a hair raising, high speed collision filled pursuit across the wastelands near Standard Falls. Hilarity ensued.
Although we plucked the occasional stat line or other rule from some other sources, we predominantly used the Necromunda Underhive and GorkaMorka rule sets for the weekend. A pictorial record follows:
The jungles of Krellborn IX. Putting the “death” into “Deathworld”.
Giant spiders prove unpleasant to find in the bath, but easily dispatched via banned xeno-tech Inquisitorial combi-weapon fire.
However Ferro-beasts love high tech armament, for breakfast. Many guardsmen return to the LZ wearing only their underwear.
Aerial Kroot kindred and local icthyo-sapiens wait for their comrades to stumble through the undergrowth. The jungle is indeed massive.
Bigdogz orks prove that they have brains to match their good looks, setting up an ambush for the Death Ferrets detachment.
The orks fail to convince the Necromundans of their close combat prowess.
“Oi Goruk, I fort we wuz Weapon Skill 4?!” Not today Waznut, not today…
A clockwork nag skeleton proves to be the Bigdogz undoing.
Esse virens facile non est.
“Doggone it if them Duke boyz aint at it agin!”
Its not actually Bo and Luke. The stolen trukk is being driven by an Ursa Miner while Vim Petrol performs bodyguard duty for a Melmacian who must be kept alive at all costs for frankly unlikely cat-eating reasons.
Yeee-haw!
Vim Petrol ponders the life decisions that have led him to this point.
Mr Darcy the gyrinx psychically impels Frangk and Carrot in the pursuit of the comic relief man-in-a-suit that ate his litter mate.
VRRRRMMMMM – WHUPWHUPWHUPWHUPWHUP – WHOOOSH – BOOOOM! etc.
Kronkie never wore his seat belt, although if he had known that he would face-plant in a Venus Man-Trap, then things might have been different.
Vims penal system education proves ideal for dislodging homicidal, green, axe-wielding monsters from speeding jalopies.
As it happens, we had far more miniatures, terrain and scenarios ideas than we could squeeze into a single weekend. But thats a good complaint to have 🙂
A trip to a local toy soldier manufacturer to purchase supplies rounds out the man-date. Huzzah!
Filed under: Games in Progress | Tagged: 2014, 40K, 40K Skirmish, Gorkamorka, Necromunda, Rogue Trader, Sci-fi, theottovonbismark |
sho3box 
Some day that Alf might get his comeuppance, but I suspect it will be a long time coming.
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That guy is plot armour personified 🙂
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Great fun. Absolute brilliance! This is what it’s all about!
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Thanks Whiskey priest. We had a fun couple of days.
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Actually, I forgot to say that we plan to get the VWFDXMPCOWPC scenario played out this summer (once my Battle Systems terrain gets here). I blame priests for lots of things, and you are at least partly to “blame” for that plan 😉
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Great stuff. I love it. Wargaming as it should be – fun!
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Thanks mattblackgod. It was definitely fun. I know that things have worked out well in a session like that when immediately afterwards I enthusiastically jump right into related miniatures projects.
I also hear that theottovonbismark has begun work on another sub-project as a direct result of the weekends gaming. If the rumours are true then it can at the very least be described as “amusing” 🙂
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Great pics!
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Thanks Barks. Advances in mobile phone technology and cloud storage are making documenting this sort of thing a lot easier. Its not National Geographic standard, but it conveys the gist I think.
Of course buying, assembling and painting the miniatures and terrain is a bit more time consuming and awkward, but we are getting there 🙂
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This looks positively bonkers all the way. I’ll echo the commenters above, you’ve definitely hit a sweet spot here!
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Thanks Mikko.
Like the real world, the 40K universe is a totally absurd place, full of things that dont really make a lot of sense when you take a proper look at them. What earlier editions of 40K had that seems to have been lost somewhere on the way to the modern day is a dark sense of humour about observing that fact. theottovonbismark and I generally choose to emphasise that aspect in our games.
Despite the shenanigans and stupid caption filled photos above,Im actually not a fan of zaniness just for the sake of it. Im not the sort of person who owns a “You Dont Have to be Crazy to Work Here But it Helps!” mug.
While it is essential that my games are fun – and humour is a large part of that – I do like them to be mechanically sturdy too. I find games unsatisfying if everything is simply made up on the spot: I like to have a solid common ruleset to work from. I also dont play “tape measure” games in a competitive manner – they dont work. I play other games if I want to properly compete as part of the fun. Toy soldier games are for generating narrative as far as I am concerned.
I feel slightly sorry for anyone who looks at the 40K universe and cant see the funny side of it though. And there are loads of guys like that out there.
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Looks crazy awesome! Love the Alf miniature. I wasn’t even aware they made those. The photo story is excellent and would make a good story for a short movie ….my favourite part is obviously the guy being devoured by a Venus Man-trap. Serves him right driving without seatbelt on :P.
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The Alien Life Form is available to buy from the redoubtable “Four A Miniatures” and Andy C. seems to be a nice guy. I strongly suggest that you give them loads of your money.
The Man-Trap collision was pretty hilarious at the time. Much like those famous “genuine” insurance claim documents, rolling road scenarios have a way of making it feel like the scenery leaps out in front of the vehicle. It certainly caught Kronkie with his proverbial pants down.
Thanks for the feedback.
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Brilliant! Sounds like a blast was had by all. This is wargaming perfection to me
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The first rule of Rogue GorkaMunda Club is painted miniatures. The second rule is redundant as its the same as the first. The third rule is that Rogue GorkaMunda Club has to generate a lot of laughs or I really couldnt be bothered.
A game with a good theme and bad mechanics is as useless to me as a game with good mechanics and dull theme. All that said, the best games always feature exploding robots on the cover.
Thanks for the feedback. That gaming session scratched a lot of itches.
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Fantastic. That’s how these games should be played.
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Im glad that you approve wachinayn. Mileages vary, but we find that this approach gives us the best return on investment 🙂
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I more than approve! Suber and me always play this way:
http://oldschoolworkshop.blogspot.com.es/2014/01/playing-2nd-ed-hunt-for-red-host.html
I’m very happy to find that we’re not the only ones that enjoy this kind of games.
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I hadnt put it together that you are Subers partner-in-crime wachinayn. Im preaching to the choir in that case.
Are you the guy who broke his Arbites Arvus 😉
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No! He broke it himself! Doing funny sounds and moving the Arvus in the air.
I’m the owner of the horribly cheesy 90s Chaos Marines, painted in contrasting and bright colours.
It’s a shame that you live so far. I’d love to have a man-date with you guys.
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The closest thing that any of us will get to a proper group man-date (ahem) is the Oldhammer weekend in Foundry on August 9+10th next.
The ottovonbismark and I plan to attend, even though it is a plane trip away.
As for dropping things because I am waving them around and making sound effect noises, no comment.
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Interesting…
I’ll check if I can make to that date. It’s in the realm of possibility. 🙂
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Ill see you guys there then 😉
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A lesson of fun !
Good models on a good table with a good story wih no point values, looks like the percet recipe for brilliant buddy time !
We may only have a 10th of the fun you had with the photos but it is still very enjoyable.
Oh and Vim Petrol…seriously 😀
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Thanks Asslessman! It was hobby time well spent for sure and getting all of those miniatures on the table together was a specific pleasure all of its own.
As for Vim Petrol, I subscribe to the Stan Lee policy of character naming: if I cant remember it then its a bad name. Vim Petrol is so idiotically derivative that it should stick.
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Yum. Everything looks so sumptuous. Looked like top fun.
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As a connoisseur of the sumptuous in miniature yourself, I appreciate your comment 🙂
I have a load more Deathworld jungle items 90% completed, but I am waiting for some final supplies to be delivered before I get them properly finished. Hopefully I will get an opportunity to boot some of your exquisitely modeled and painted genestealer cult miniatures through the jungles of Krellborn IX in the not too distant future.
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That, sir, is a date, and possibly the kick up the hoop I need to actually get in gear and make the buggers. Your focus on narrative/laughs is exactly what I game for, and that deathworld table looks like a tremendous amount of fun to game on.
Looking at those Imperial guard troopers makes me want to put some of my own together. I’ve always loved that kit, and the newer lasguns and such look well on them.
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So many tiny temptations 🙂
I have a small number of guard types in the pipeline – the Last Chancers in particular look like fun – but for now I am content to let theottovonbismark work on those while I stick to orks, squats, Arbites, Inquisitorial retinues, Fleet landing parties, etc ad infinitum.
The plastic guard have a charm for sure and Sean has done a great “period” job on the 1989th. The miniatures from that kit always looked a bit huge alongside space marines to me. Then again, its probably the space marines at fault: they really should be a little taller IMO. Space Marines, who needs the overexposed, goofy little guys anyway? There are plenty more interesting things going on in the 41st millennium.
I always game for narrative and laughs, but getting the balance between common rules mechanics and airy-fairy, amorphous group storytelling is important and a bit of a challenge I find. I am very interested to see how your upcoming Knavecon event will work out. Im certain that it will look lovely, but the phrase “herding cats” always comes to mind when I game like this, so I will be interested to see how you guys run it.
And then after that you can put away all that fantasy nonsense and get stuck into some proper sci-fi stuff. Im thinking Arbites versus genestealer/mechanicus/coven in a deathworld jungle will give a lot of bang for buck 😀
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You’re not kidding. I have half a dozen projects I REALLY want to do right now.
I’m looking forward to seeing how it will work out at KnaveCon too…
Now I want to go bits hunting for hybrids. Argh!
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“Now I want to go bits hunting for hybrids”
Well, thats obviously what I want to happen 🙂
The other thing is that in order to play the sort of stuff that I play you only need about ten miniatures. You could rattle off a test piece for each of the coven troop types over six weeks or so surely, right?
😉
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I’ll certainly put that on the teetering to-do list…
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It’s all very awesome, but the last pic makes me misty-eyed with nostalgia. Prince August was my first source of lead addiction… it all began with cast-at-home flats. When I started role playing at the tender age of 10 or so, I moved on to their cast-at-home fantasy moulds and also buying the factory cast player character tripple-packs.
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Snap. I figured that there had to be someone reading this who had a similar experience who might get a kick out of that photo. In many respects its not a surprise that person turned out to be you Mattias 🙂
When we visited Prince August theottovonbismark and I were each pointing out the various moulds and figures that started us off in the hobby. Mine were goblins, wolf riders, zombies, wood elves of some description and a catapult. TOVB pointed out a casting of the very first miniature (a dwarf) that he ever painted. Retro grooviness of a the non-Oldhammer variety.
The factory visit was a fun add-on to an already very entertaining weekend 🙂
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Nope, not really a surprise – eh? =)
I had the troll and goblins, hobgoblins and one of the orc moulds. My cousin had the female adventurers and ghouls… Looking at the catalogue pages over at Lost Minis I get a stupid, stupid urge to collect and paint an army consisting of PAM-figs… I’m sober enough (what with being at work and all) to realize that won’t ever come to fruitition but still. Would be cool, to paint them up in flat colours with little to no shading or highlighting.
Seeing that factory is actually higher up on my wish list than anything in Nottingham. PAM and Grenadier were my suppliers before I had even heard of Citadel.
BTW, this must be the most commented upon post on here? No wonder – some great photos! =)
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I dont involve myself in a lot of miniature fantasy stuff, but I could imagine myself getting a warband (not an army) of Prince August figures. theottovonbismark painted a few Prince August vikings or norse in 2013 actually.
If you make it to Prince August then you will have get in touch. Its about an hours drive from where I live 🙂
This is the most commented on post on the blog Id say. The photos are fun, but decent miniatures and terrain, a fun narrative and the crucial ingredient – nostalgia – is a potent mix for the grognard set.
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You have some really nice models on that board and it looked like great fun.
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Thanks 40kterminatus. Although there are always things that can be improved on in terms of terrain and miniatures, last weekend was probably as close to what I have been aiming for since I was a teen as I have got. So its good to see that some of our enthusiasm translates into the post 🙂
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Woooo, everything there is soo lovely! The aspects of everything are great and it look like it was tons of fun!
Can’t tell about the Oldhammer Day yet, but I’ll talk about that with Wachinayn (oh, er, and the wife; yup, I totally should do that, glubs). That could be fun!
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Well, we will be dead long enough and who knows how long the “Oldhammer” scene will actually stick around in an organised sense, so its time to commit.
Im looking forward to it 🙂
Thanks for the feedback, the games were very enjoyable.
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Absolutely fantastic. I can almost hear you both making ‘whoosh’ and ‘boom’ noises as your toys move about the board. This is definitely Doing It Right.
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Thanks Argentbadger. It was one of the more enjoyable gaming sessions that I have had over the years.
We played the sort of games that a tournament mentality had somehow been holding us back from for years. The weekend was full of the sorts of games that I dreamed of having when I first read Rogue Trader as a kid. Judging by the response it struck a similar chord with a lot of people.
Im looking forward to the next opportunity to do similar.
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Great to see both your eclectic collections in action! I am inspired to collect more crazy fauna and critters. And paint them, ideally.
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theottovonbismark and I have differing attitudes to toy soldiers in some respects, but we are definitely pulling in the same direction at the moment, which shows I think. TOVB tends to convert his oddball stuff, while I tend to be more interested in accumulating painted oddball characters and factions at a faster rate to supplement the more familiar stuff. The table was full of fun figures 🙂
As for Deathworld Flora & Fauna, thats a project of mine that was on the to-do list from 1989 until 2013, so its very satisfying to have made a serious dent in it. Im currently working on some astro-vegetation that should be ready for posting up within a week or two.
I have a lot more space beasties in the “collected” state, waiting to be painted. I like to keep my painting subjects varied to avoid burnout, so having some peculiar space aliens to quickly paint helps to keep things interesting.
Thanks for the feedback!
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