Month: December 2016

Christmas Report

On 28th December 2016

Well Christmas came and has now gone, and I had a nice few days. This year instead of going away, Megan’s family stayed up north, so me and Lindsay got to spend the day with them.
We did the traditional Botterill thing of waking up and having bacon and mushroom stotties, although a lot earlier than usual, 7am to be exact! And then we opened our presents. I was a bit worried about what I got Megan and Lindsay, but they both loved what they got, so that made me happy.

I got some quite cool things, a pack of Wulfen for my Space Wolves and some Haemotrope Reactors as well as a Stormsurge, Pandemic – Reign of Cthulhu, Fallout 4, Ghostbusters (2016) on Blu-Ray, some drill bits for the drill I got for my birthday and an amazing pair of Joker Converse High Tops!

We then travelled down to Megan’s parents where we had a lovely dinner of beef and turkey, piled high, not quite as high as my Nana’s, but pretty high. In the afternoon we played some games and watched a bit of TV, then had a tea of party food, including some low sugar cakes and gingerbread that Megan made especially for me.

When we got back home that night, we had left the wrapping paper on the floor, purposefully, so we sprinkled some pellets in it and let Gandalf dive into it and make a mess like he loves to do!

Boxing Day I spent in the house on my own, which gave me a bit of time to just chill out in my own, and with that time I did a of reading, and some painting.

All in all a really nice Christmas, different from the Christmas that I have developed over the years with Lindsay, but sometimes it’s nice to mix it up a bit, and I have promised the Ruffell’s a Botterill Christmas next time they stay up north for the 25th December.

What I am Modelling

Still working hard on the Word Bearers, but I need to really get my arse into gear if I am to have all 3500 points read for the 22nd January.

Over the past week I have finished up a Praetor for the list, it’s the event only mini, which I picked up at Warhammer Fest, armed with a Combi-Volkite and a Thunderhammer. Absolutely love this model and feel like it’s full of character. I have the same one painted up for my Ultramarines and am tempted to get another to paint up for Space Wolves.

I also painted up a squad of Cataphractii Terminators for which is used a few bits form the Special Weapons Upgrade Kit, specifically the Reaper Autocannon and the Power Maul. I didn’t think that the Power Sword really suited the Word Bearers whereas the Maul really did. The model was inspired by a piece of artwork that SN Battle Reports have been using for their Horus Heresy event, it really captures what I wanted to express with my model and I hope you can see that.

Then there is the lone MKIII Marine with a Meltagun. One of the things I want to do with the Word Bearers is to use them as Chaos Space Marines for 40k, but I can’t simply plop my Legion Veteran Squad in as a squad of Chaos Marines, sadly they can’t take two heavy weapons. So that’s what this guy is for, he will substitute for one of the Missile Launcher Marines to give me a 10 man squad of Chaos Space Marine armed with a Missile Launcher and a Meltagun.

On Boxing Day, I was left to my own devices as Megan and Lindsay were off elsewhere and I was able to paint up a Spartan Assault Tank and a plastic Contemptor Dreadnought armed with a Kheres Assault Cannon. I also built and primed a squad of Ashen Circle which I shall begin painting tomorrow.

What I am Reading

In audiobooks I listed to Perpetual, a story by Dan Annett which formed part of the Black Library advent calendar subscription. I really enjoyed it, was nice to catch up with some characters who are off on one of these side missions which will probably not finish up until the Siege of Terra. I did have one issue with it, and that was that the actor voicing Ollanius Persson seemed a little too old. The artwork of him from Know No Fear shows a man of middle age appearance but still quite vigorous, and his voice actor in the audiobook of that story I think captured him perfectly, whereas in this one he is just a tad too old, more like Robert De Niro, old and retired but still with it, than Liam Neeson, if that makes an sense.

I also listened to Children of Sicarus in which we got a bit of historic information about the home world of the Word Bearers and a bit of character building for Kor Phaeron. We also were introduced to the first Kairic Adept in the 30/40K lore which makes me wonder if they will be introduced when GW get round to do some more Tzeentch models for the game. We got to see what a self-serving got Kor Phaeron truly is, how he puts himself ahead of everything, even the will of the Gods he claims to serve.

A criticism would be that it describes M’Kar as a member of the Gal Virbak, when I just listen to the story of his assent to the ranks of the Daemon Princes in The Mark of Calth, and he is quite well established as such in the rest of the lore, typical GW not keeping tack of its own more I suppose, LOL!

I got finished reading Sons of the Forge, and overall, I didn’t enjoy it all that much, it was very jumpy and filled with plot holes and dead ends, which is a sad thing to say because it had lots of potential.

I then moved on to a few of the recent shorts that were released during the Advent event, The Painted Count, Exocytosis and The Last Son of Prospero, all of which I enjoyed a lot. But Last Son of Prospero was a tad weird, it’s an interesting ending and I am wondering where they are going to go with it, but it does seem to have undermined all that had been built up around this character up to this point.

What I am Playing

On Christmas Day, I played a couple of games with Megan’s mum and sister along with Lindsay and Megan. We started off with Joking Hazard, we played to 5 points and Lindsay won it, was a lot of fun and we made some very funny comics. We then played a game of Timeline British History, which I had gotten Megan for Christmas, and Lindsay won that, after declaring at the beginning of the game that she wouldn’t win because she is rubbish at British history!

Durham Raiders had an all day gaming session today, but sadly I was unable to make it until much later on, by the time I arrived most people were either leaving or had just started another game, so I sat with Aidan whilst he was building his Sylvaneth for the slow build Age of Sigmar and I built the Genestealers from Lost Patrol.

But after I had done that Phil and Gareth had finished their games of Age of Sigmar and The Horus Heresy, so we played a game of Gorechosen with Christopher. I had not played Gorechosen up until this point, although I had always wanted to pay a game, and it was really really good. I even won, but very early in the game I took a real beating from Gareth’s character until he and Phil realised that Christopher hadn’t taken a single wound, and they then ganged up on him! It’s a really brutal game and I had a lot of fun, so much so that I intend to get a copy at some point, as much for the minis as for the game itself.

What I am Backing

A Bahá’í friend Jody Cooper is running a Kickstarter to fund a concept album of songs he wants to produce, it’s called Serenades and Odes to a Cracked World. He is a rather talented musician so I suggest you check it out.

What I am Spending

Well all the Christmas presents I needed to buy were bought, so I treated myself, I did some demo work last month at the Newcastle Film and Comic Con, so with my pay for it, I got the Tau Empire Targeted Reconnaissance Cadre battleforce box set, a Tidewall Rampart and Stormcloud Attack. With my normal hobby budget I bought a Ghostkeel and a Broadside. So I probably spent a bit much on the hobby this month than I should have done considering my backlog of projects.

I also got a killer deal on an old box set, the Blood Tide of Khorne from my FLGS, they found it at the back of the storage area, it had arrived damaged and unsellable a few years ago when it was sent in by Games Workshop, and they were sent a replacement, so I was given it for a steal, the only real damage I could find was to the box, the sprues themselves are in perfect order, so I snapped up the offer, and this will form part of my slow build Age of Sigmar Khorne army.

Blood Bowl, Bloodbound and Calth

By michael

On 17th December 2016

In Blog

I will be honest I have had quite a boring week, other than a night away in Newcastle with Megan it’s been all rather dull and ordinary, with that last part of the week taken up with a little bit of a tummy bug.

What I am Modelling

I finally finished the Heavy Support Squad for my Word Bearers, might go back to them and add some scripture, but I am actually rather happy with them. They were built using the Forgeworld MKIV Legion Heavy Support Squad with some of the Word Bearers torso and head upgrades, which I regret using as the size of the Missile Launchers make it hard to see them. But these knock off something from my January list which is nice.

I also finished a unit of five Blood Reavers from the Storm of Sigmar box, which will begin my slow build Khorne Bloodbound. For the entirety of next year, the Durham Raiders are going to be running a slow build Age of Sigmar campaign where we all build and paint things to eventually get to a list of 2000 points. I have decided to do Khorne Bloodbound because it’s more than likely a number of players will be doing Stormcast Eternals from the starter box, so I figured I would be a little different. Plus it’s more of a challenge to me, they represent something very different from what I normally paint. It also had my first ever attempt at Dark Skin in there, and I think I did ok with it, well I am happy at least.

I have a squad of Word Bearers Cataphractii Terminators which have just hit the table, tonight I have finished the red armour, something I do by first of all painting it with Mepheston Red, then washing it with Nuln Oil, tidy up with Mepheston Red again, then a dry brush of Astoreth Red followed by a lighter dry brush of Kindleflame.

I also have the Cataphractii Praetor at this stage as well, this is the event only model with the Combi-Volkite and Thunderhammer.

What I am Reading

I have started reading Sons of the Forge, I must admit I have not been the biggest fan of the Salamanders books by Nick Kyme, I don’t know what it is, but I just can’t follow them as easily as other books, and this is proving no different. I suspect it’s the very large cast in it, a cast with names which are not as easy to remember because they are unusual names, I never used to have this kind of trouble but that’s what a brain injury will do I suppose.

On the audio book front, I just finished listening to The Honoured and have just started The Unburdened, so still very much on the Calth stuff. These two books themselves were ok, they didn’t really do much bar fill in a bit of the background of Kurtha Sedd. But then again they were tie in novels for the Betrayal at Calth game and follow the scenarios in that game, so they are rather limited in nature, but seeing the same events from two different perspectives is interesting.

What I am Playing

Played my first game of Blood Bowl in about 20 years on Tuesday at club, I played David, who had his Skaven and I had the Orcs. I chose to kick first after winning the toss, which in reflection may have been a mistake.

The Skaven were able to swamp my Black Orcs with a Rat Ogre, which let the Gutter Runner through to score a touchdown very quickly. I then readjusted my strategy and decided to make it as difficult as possible for him to get his Gutter Runners down the wide zones as had been his tactic when scoring and trying to get the ball and throw it upfield to an awaiting Lineman.

This actually worked for me, bar the fact it ended up being a Blitzer I had upfield, but still I got a touchdown and the game looked to be headed to a draw.

But then in the last few turns of the last half, disaster struck, David got so very lucky, he set himself up so that he could get a gutter runner in my half, and swamped players in his so that they couldn’t assist one another in attempting to take his down. And with some very lucky dice rolls and more sixes than I have seen in a long time, he passed the ball to his Gutter Runner, who then passed through two players tackle zones to fly downfield and score a touchdown for the final moment of the game, meaning I lost 2-1.

I really enjoyed the game and it was a lot of fun, but the Rat Ogre was very hard to play against, so my thoughts at the moment are that it’s a little difficult for the initial basic teams to come up against some of the extras that players who never stoped playing have. But given time I am sure that will be resolved. My loss in all honesty was down to me simply not being able to take out those ruddy Gutter Runners, they were just too fast.

What I am Backing

Nowt right now, but I am eagerly hoping that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:- Shadows of the Past game will be with me by Christmas, currently I am not confident it will be.

What I am Spending

I think I am finally done with Christmas presents, so I treat myself to a meal at Laus 202 in Newcastle, and a second hand copy of the updated Tau Empire Codex from eBay.

Challenge of the Word

By michael

On 11th December 2016

In Blog

My good friend Graham, is organising a 30k event in North Tyneside on the 22nd January, and I have decided to challenge myself to have the Word Bearers read for it.

It’s 3500 points and this is the list I am building.:-

+ HQ +

········Legion Centurion [Artificer Armour, Burning Lore, Jump Pack, Melta Bombs, Plasma Pistol, Refractor Field]

············Consul [Chaplain]

········Legion Praetor [Cataphractii Terminator Armour with Combi-bolter and Power Weapon, Combi-Weapon, Digital Lasers, Iron Halo, Master of the Legion, Thunderhammer]

········Lorgar [Lorgar Transfigured, Master of the Legion, Primarch]
+ Elites +
········Contemptor-Cortus Class Dreadnought Talon
············Cortus Dreadnought [Twin-linked Volkite Culverin, Twin-linked Volkite Culverin]

············Cortus Dreadnought [Kheres Pattern Assault Cannon]

········Contemptor-Mortis Dreadnought [Havoc Launcher, Two Kheres Pattern Assault Cannons]

········Gal Vorbak Dark Brethren [4x Dark Brethren]

············Dark Martyr [Artificer Armour, Melta Bombs, Power Fist]

+ Troops +

········Legion Tactical Support Squad [Legion Rhino Armoured Carrier, Legion Sergeant, 9x Legion Space Marines, Plasma Guns, Support Squad]

········Legion Terminator Squad [Cataphractii Terminator Armour with Combi-bolter and Power Weapon, Chainfist, Legion Terminator Squad, 4x Legion Terminators, 3x Power Fist, Reaper Autocannon]

············Legion Spartan Assault Tank [Armoured Ceramite, Dozer Blade, Flare Shield, Frag Assault Launchers]

············Legion Terminator Sergeant [Grenade Harness]

········Legion Veteran Tactical Squad [9x Legion Veteran Space Marines, Legion Veteran Tactical Squad, Veteran Tactics: Marksmen]

············Additional Wargear [2x Heavy Bolter and Suspensor Web, Legion Vexilla, Melta Bombs]

············Legion Rhino Armoured Carrier [Dozer Blade]

············Legion Veteran Sergeant [Artificer Armour, Bolt Pistol, Bolter, Lightning Claw]

············Standard Wargear [Bolt Pistols, Bolters, Chainswords/Combat Blades, Frag and Krak Grenades, Power Armour]

········Legion Veteran Tactical Squad [9x Legion Veteran Space Marines, Legion Veteran Tactical Squad, Veteran Tactics: Machine Killers]

············Additional Wargear [Legion Vexilla, Melta Bombs, 2x Missile Launcher and Suspensor Web]

············Legion Rhino Armoured Carrier [Dozer Blade]

············Legion Veteran Sergeant [Artificer Armour, Bolt Pistol, Bolter, Power Fist]

············Standard Wargear [Bolt Pistols, Bolters, Chainswords/Combat Blades, Frag and Krak Grenades, Power Armour]

+ Fast Attack +

········The Ashen Circle [Iconoclast, 4x Incendiary]

+ Heavy Support +

········Legion Heavy Support Squad [Hardened Armour, Legion Heavy Support Squad, Legion Sergeant, 4x Legion Space Marines, Missile Launchers]

+ Legion +

········Legiones Astartes [ XVII: Word Bearers, Traitor]

········Rite of War [Primarch’s Chosen]

At the moment I have built and painted the Veteran Tactical Squad with the Missile Launchers and their Rhino along with the Chaplain, so I have a long way to go in a little over a month. On the table at the minute the Heavy Support Squad are all done bar their bases and I have just finished building the Terminator Squad and Praetor.

I will try and keep you guys updated with the progress of the project, and hopefully they will be ready in time to lose some games!

First Game of Dropfleet

By michael

On 8th December 2016

In Blog

On Tuesday, Hawks lovely Talon, Ken travelled all the way up from Hartlepool to show me and Madison the ropes of Dropfleet Commander.

We played the starter scenario straight from the two player box set with those fleets, the UCM and the Scourge. My UCM fleet consisted of three battlegroups one with two Toulons and a Berlin, one with two New Orleans and a Moscow and the last one with just a Seattle. Madisons Scourge fleet also had thee battlegroups, one with two Harpys and an Ifrit, one with two Gargoyles and a Shenlong, and a final one with a Wyvern.

My strategy was to try and take out his cruisers with mine from a distance allowing my strike cruisers to take the ground clusters, well they say a battle plan rarely survives first contact with the enemy and in this case that was 100% accurate.

On the left hand side, I sent in my Berlin and two Toulons to try and stop his Shenlong and Gargoyles, but Madison ran his Shenlong under silent running the whole way, so by the time I had closed in on the centre of the board, I was just out of scan range, which allowed him to open fire on me and send my Berlin hurtling into oblivion, before picking off my Toulons as they pursued his escaping Gargoyles.

On the other side of the table I threw both my other two battlegroups to try and take the clusters on the far right, but Madison threw in both of his two remaining battlegroups. I easily picked off his Harpys, but the devastating close combat attacks of his Wyvern crippled both my Seattle and Moscow, before his Ifrit dealt the final blow to my Moscow which set off a series of explosions which took out my Seattle and his Wyvern.

My New Orleans were able to take the far right clusters and then turned to the centre cluster where Madison was also sending his ships after taking the far left clusters. The game ended with us destroying each other’s ground forces in the centre leaving us in control of one set of clusters each, so the game was decided on kill points, and sadly my ships went down easily and fast to his

The UCM were fun to play, but the key with them against the Scourge is to keep distance, the Scourge are fast and are very lethal up close, despite their lacking in long ranges attacks.

Overall I am really pleased with the game, and I am looking forward to getting some more in. It’s very much like submarine warfare in space with much of the tactics of the game dictated towards keeping your ships from developing spikes and marking them easier to kill.

Like Dropzone Commander it’s a game about combined arms and you can’t simply min/max your lists, they really do have to be balanced in order to win.

Update for the Last Few Weeks

By michael

On 6th December 2016

In Blog

It’s been a whiles since I last posted, in that time I have been to Warhammer World, been to a wedding and done very little else really, oh but we did put up the Christmas tree, a bit early, personally I prefer to wait until after my mums birthday partway through the month.

So here is a general update on what I am up to.

What I am Modelling

Gotten through a bit of the to do pile the past few weeks so let’s look at them project by project.

– Ultramarines

Got painted up three squads, a squad of Cataphractii Terminators with Lightning Claws, a squad of 10 Legion Breachers including a Vexilia, Nuncio Vox and two Graviton Guns, and finally a Legion Heavy Support Squad all armed with Ryza Pattern Lascannons. I am a really big fan of these Lascannons, the MKIII arms needed a little shaving before they fit, but they look really good and look like a nice step from the shoulder mounted Lascannons of the Great Crusade to the 40k Lascannon.

– Word Bearers

I painted up the rest of the Legion Veteran Tactical Squad for the Word Bearers and their Rhino. The two special weapons guys from the squad were armed with Proteus-II Missile Launchers. Now originally when Forgeworld first revealed these I thought they looked a tad daft, I just didn’t think they looked right and swore I would never use them.

That was up until I decided to do a MKIII Veteran Tactical Squad with Missile Launchers, and well the MKIII pack doesn’t come with its own Missile Launchers like the MKIV kit. In my mind I headcannon this as the ordinary MKIII armour isn’t suitable to carry shoulder mounted heavy weapons. Now I could have gotten a pack of MKIII Heavy Support Marines and a pack of Missile Launchers, but that would have been rather expensive, and a bit wasteful. So I went to eBay and bought two of the Proteus-IIs and when I actually have them in my hands, they aren’t too bad. They remind me of the Space Crusade Missile Launchers, and when given to a Veteran Squad, it seems like yeah, this could be the variant of the Missile Launcher that a Suspensor Web is easily fitted to.

The Rhino had been long in the making, when Dark Vengeance came out, I was all for doing Word Bearer Chaos Space Marines, and I bought three sets of Word Bearer Rhino upgrade kits from Forgeworld , anyway, bar two squads and a Dark Apostle, my Word Bearers then never amounted to much because life got in the way. But I am glad I ordered the doors as Forgeworld no longer make them, and I think for my Calth themed Word Bearers they look so much more appropriate than the Legion upgrades do.

– Dropfleet Commander

Now I have my Commodore Pledge for Dropfleet Commander I have been slowly building up some of the starter fleets for it. I have built and painted three out of the four starter fleets, those for the UCM, PHR and Scourge. I am actually going to be playing my first game of this at club this week, where Ken, our regional Hawk Talon will be showing me and Madison the ropes.

I am currently thinking that UCM and PHR will become my main fleets, I just found them so much nicer to paint, but even then, my paint jobs were really basic and terrible.

What I am Reading

For some reason I couldn’t actually get myself to pick up my Kobo for a few weeks, but a few nights ago I did so and finally at long last finished the Ahirman series, and I have to say I found it a little anticlimactic. Which is a shame as I enjoyed the rest of the series, but that said the ending was actually rather hopeful and uplifting in a universe of Grim Darkness.

It just feels like there is more story to tell, in a way because this was more of an ensemble book and you spent a lot mor time amongst the supporting cast than you did with Ahriman himself, and that’s no bad thing, I enjoy Ignis and Cetsias, they are very interesting characters, especially Ignis who is very unusual for a Thousand Son, and to me seems to be more like a member of the Iron Xth than the XVth. I do hope we get to hear more about Asteroes though, I hope his story is not at an end.

I have however had better progress with audio books and have smashed through Scars, Know No Fear, and Mark of Calth plus various shorts set around these books, this evening I just started on Garro – Oath of Moment, which features the awesome Garro and Rubio and I am enjoying that so far.

What I am Playing

Not much as seems to be the usual these days, every time I arrange a game at Club it falls through, which is kinda getting me down, but I am looking forward to playing Dropfleet this week.

I have started a game of Dark Heresy 2nd Edition of Heaton Games Society, I have had l the books for some time and have been meaning to start up a game for a long while.

We have just done character creation, and will be meeting every two weeks, my character is a Seeker from a Garden World who previously served in a Rouge Trader Fleet. I don’t know what the GM has in store for us, but we have been told that initially we are being sent in by the Inquisitor to investigate irregularities with the worlds Imperial Tithe and taxation records.

What I am Backing

Nothing, I was backing Ogre Minitures and Ominoes, but alas money is tight and I have had to abandon this pledges.

The Teenage Mutant Nina Turtle board game is apparently going to be shipping to me in the next couple of weeks, I backed that back in February, it was meant to be delivered in the summer, but there was a perfectly reasonable delay, the only negative is that the Yanks have had the game for over a month at this point, and I am a bit annoyed they couldn’t have gotten the boat for the States and the EU on the water at the same time.

What I am Spending

Mostly just buying Christmas presents, but I did but Blood Bowl, Death Zone Season One, the Skavenblight Scramblers and the Skaven Dice. I also ordered a UCM Battleship to add to my fleet.

Although I had to think long and hard about that purchase. After sharing a photo of my unopened projects (there are a few), I got a bit of a backlash from friends, many of whom were annoyed that I appear to spend more on the hobby than them.

I, as many of you will know, don’t work, due to disabilities I am paid the benefits ESA and PIP to support me while I am physically unable to work, and it was said that I shouldn’t be able to afford these things whilst on those benefits.

Well I don’t really drink, I don’t gamble, I don’t smoke or do drugs, I live in a three adult household with rent that is quite cheap, even for the north east, and I have no debt payments bar the mortgage on the flat me and Lindsay own in Newcastle. I have no children to support, just four cats and a rabbit, and on occasion I get paid to demonstrate board games and stores and conventions. My wife also earns a decent wage for the region and takes on the lions share of bills for us. I have a disabled persons bus pass so I don’t pay bus fare to get anywhere.

So yes I do have a reasonable amount of disposable income each month, and I spend that mostly on things for my hobby or books, and I am told I should feel guilty for that.

I don’t feel guilty, why should I, just because I am disabled doesn’t mean I should live a life like a monk. I don’t get a huge amount of money a year, just £9,807.20. Okay so I also get a car which if I took the cash instead would be another £2,987.40 a year, so as you can see I don’t get the full time equivalent of someone working full time on the National Living Wage would get, and that’s quite right, why should I get what someone who works gets.

But I am good with my money, I manage to make the £65 a month I spend on my hobby stretch quite far, sometime I add some money from my weekly budget and not go out that week, but generally that’s all I spend.

I get that’s more than some others, but then again it’s less than others, but just because some of my friends who work feel like I get to spend more on the hobby than they, should not affect me. It’s gets to me emotionally when I am told that I should not be so shameless about claiming disability benefits and buying what are luxuries, it’s like I am being told that I don’t deserve the money I am given.

I have been told before that the disabled should only be given food vouchers and bare minimum to pay utilities before, because we are scroungers, and that hurts. I worked all my life, ever since I was 13 and got my first paper round, and bar 7 weeks of unemployment I worked continually right up until I got ill, I paid my taxes and national insurance. So why should I not be able to claim now when I need it? And why should I be punished and penalised because I can’t work?

I got kind of lost with this rant, but this is the kind of thing those of us who are disabled have to put up with all the time, we are judged and abused constantly because of general assumption by some people, encouraged by the shit-stirring ultra right wing gutter press, that disabled people like me sit around all day drinking, watching Jeremy Kyle and raking in the money for it.

For the record, Jeremy Kyle is rubbish.