Adepticon! Part 2: Armada Tournament

Back to back posts!

This year I did some minor convincing and got no less than seven friends to sign up to play Mantic's Armada this year at Adepticon. I didn't need to do much cajoling because they saw how absolutely fun it was to play when they swung by last year while I was playing. It's a super fun and simple rules/deep tactics kind of game, and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to shout "Yarrr, run out the guns!" and push around fantasy sailing ships on the high seas. It uses d10s for good variation in shooting and attacking and overall is just awesome. Play it.

This year the tournament had a lot of participants and tables, and I told everyone that stopped by my table or in my vicinity that they need to go demo the game at Mantic's booth. The majority I would see later walking away with armfuls of resin ships to play and I was excited. I did this Thursday night, Friday during the tournament, and Friday night when we got together again for another 4-player free for all, because we couldn't get enough. Maybe I should be a Pathfinder...

What did I bring to the tournament? Orcs!

My 200 point list consisted of the following:

Smasher - veteran crew, morax, brew of strength, orc grappling hooks

Smasher - regular crew, morguns, war drums, Yinn Greythunder, orc grappling hooks

Blood Runner - regular crew, sturdy construction

Blood Runner - inexperienced crew, sturdy construction

Rabble - regular crew

Rabble - inexperienced crew

Players playing boaty boat games!

Game 1: In Hot Water

Ah, round 1 vs my good friend Caleb Bailey again, just like last year! He decided to not bring the Dwarves again and instead brought some Orcs, just like me!

He had a Smasher with Yinn Greythunder, Hammerfist, Blood Runner, two Bomb boats and a Rabble, with various upgrades. 

I set up my five sailors on one half and closer to me, while he did the same on the other side. I then sent my objective takers (the Blood Runners and the Rabbles) to pick up the sailors, and my Smashers to go steal and destroy what they could.

I sent my objective grabbing team to go start doing their job, with only an enemy Blood Runner set to annoy them. Meanwhile my big ships pushed hard on the left. He did the same, pushing nearly everything to get those sailors, though his bomb boats stayed steady to lob some rounds at me (only one hit). His Smasher swept across my bow and raked one of my Smashers for some decent damage, however, since he went first that turn I was able to respond doubly in kind:

My Smasher in the rear rake pounded it for a devastating 70 damage, leaving the one in the front arc just needing to do 5 damage, which it easily did with the x2+1 rake. The two sailors it had picked up dropped in the water, and the ship that just fired picked one up. How convenient!

In later turns, many of my ships went off the edge of the board and came back on at fresh angles to attack anew. He wasn't able to overcome my advantage at this point though, so I pulled away a 7-3 Victory!

Game 2: Plant the Flag 

Round 2 I was paired with Adam Ballard wielding a very strong Empire of Dust fleet.

Monolith - regular crew, balefire, additional broadside (IDW), boarding nets, ocarina of korgaan

Khopeshii - veteran crew, fire oil

Dust Chaser - inexperienced crew

Dust Chaser - inexperienced crew

Dust Chaser - inexperienced crew

Slave Squadron - inexperienced crew

It was a chase to the other islands! We set up and off we went! 

Early on he sent his Dust Chasers to get in my way, but Ramming is fun so I did what I could there. I didn't take any more pictures here-on, kinda forgot. So I was holding my own decently, and I was set to do a couple of point blank prow rakes on his monolith in the middle of the table. He activated first and set my shooty Smasher on fire on just the first hit. I really wanted to get this rake off, so I risked it and naturally rolled a friggin 1, detonating half of my killing power. After that it was downhill for me and I soon lost my other Smasher to overwhelming firepower. He overestimated his ships' speeds and sent too many off the table at the wrong time at least, resulting in a minor win for him, 5-3.

Game 3: X Marks the Spot

Well, I guess I got bumped all the way down to the bottom table since I only had 10 points. That's okay, I got to play a pleasant German known as Volker Jacobsen and his Dwarves.

His list was nice and simple:

Dreadnought - regular crew

Orc's Bane - regular crew

Fury - regular crew

Thunderer - regular crew

Hunter - regular crew

In this scenario, like all others, all the islands were teeny tiny, which wasn't fun. Just like in the first game, I sent my Smashers to make a mess of my opponent's objective plans on my right, while my objective grabbers went to the other island on my left.

My Smashers surged forward around the island on the right, collecting treasure as they went. They then blasted and boarded their way through the Hunter, Fury, and Orc's Bane in just two turns. On the left though, my small ships had to play cat and mouse with the Dreadnought and Thunderer, hugging the island as best they could while just raking in the treasure points. They eventually escaped though it was a very close thing (one Blood Runner was carrying 16 treasures alone and just 2 damage from needing a Nerve test). Then end result was a solid victory, 36-4!

I finished 2-1 with 46 victory points, in 5th place out of 23 players. Not bad, and indeed a finish I'm happy with! But most importantly:

 Hooray, they liked my paint job and themed display board!

Afterwards we all went out for dinner and shared excited stories about the cool things we did. And then we went to play again! This lasted late into the night again, and I caught even more friends so we all jammed for a while, while drinks were mixed and enjoyed and stuff blew up. Plus we convinced like 3-4 more people to check out the demo the next day. Win!

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for more Adepticon action!

Adepticon! Part 1 - The Beginning

Hello?

Are you still there?

Am I still here?

I AM RETURNED!!!

It's about time I resurrected this blog, as I'm finally getting back into gaming and the hobby and everything that's great about life post-pandemic. I've been raising my boy, working, and getting my groove back. What better place to gashmorglishboard than at Adepticon!

I 💗 you urbie

My first couple of days (Wednesday and Thursday) consisted mainly of spending all my money on toys and more toys. Battletech (their booth opened Wednesday night), Games Workshop of course (their booth also opened Wednesday night, after the preview so I scored the event exclusives with zero crowd), then the bits guy (Toledo Game Room). Between them all, I was...just getting started.

The preview was pretty fun. The audience went wild when 10th was revealed, like Marvel Endgame wild. People seemed to be very happy with what was shown, and of course I'm a sucker for terminators, my favorite unit in the game.

On Thursday after a good day of conning, my wife and friends and I got together and played a 4-way game of Armada to warm up for the tournament on Friday. 

Our 5th friend had yet to finish painting his fleet, so while we jammed and rolled dice, he was on the next table using speed paints to get his ships all colored in. We had a grand time!

Here we are midway through an Orcs vs Dwarves vs Dwarves vs Empire of Dust, while #5 churns through his backlog in the background.

Late game, everyone was rampaging everywhere, especially the Orcs. We wrapped up after midnight, and our friend finished his coloring project so it was off to bed and rest for the Friday morning excitement!

Conversion Corner: Necron Monolith LED (no putty, soldering, or programming!)

Greetings!

Oi! I've been too far gone from the keyboard. I meant to at least write up this one after Adepticon, but between a move and new job I haven't been as mindful of this as I should have been. I have new things to write about now that things have settled down though, so let's start with a bright one! A light up Monolith.

The kit I used to light up was an unexpected and happy find at Meijer: spokebritz by Brightz . It was on sale and I thought "hmmm, Necron green..." So I got it.

Because this totally says "Warhammer stuff" to the average Joe.

What you get in the package is a strap (to attach to the bike) and the actual lights, along with some mini zip ties. It's not much, but for $10 I wasn't complaining. It actually has two settings: blinking, and constant on, so if you want to give your opponent a seizure you can go for the cheap win! (not recommended)

There are multiple small LED's embedded in each string, which should spread out the light well enough.

To start with, I built the model without its base plate. This was tricky as it didn't have the nubbins there to help keep the shape properly. Still, all I had to do was use a bunch of rubber bands and some items to help square it up and it was fine.

I sprayed the inside of the monolith white so as to better reflect and intensify the lighting, since I only had one package to work with. I then sprayed the outside black and then painted it to completion so that I wouldn't get any spray on clear parts or LED's. I cut a hole in the bottom just big enough to fit a strand of lights through, as I didn't want much light leakage. As well, that's where the battery housing and switch will go, so you don't want to remove too much.

I also cut out the center of the top plate right under the light, to allow it to shine up through the crystal. I don't have a picture, but to cover it I simply took some clear packaging such as from GW's clampacks and painted it clear green (used an airbrush so it'd be a smooth coat).

Since I wanted decals and multiple clear coats on the finished model it had to be totally done before adding the cool stuff, including the clear bit in the top.

This end down. I just took a pic of it to remember what replacement batteries to get.

I threaded one strand up into the interior. One nice thing about this product is that the strands are partially metal, so you can shape it to your desire, allowing it to stand up inside without any support.

To keep it in place, I superglued it on the left and right column tops as you see here. This optimizes the support and shape of the strand, and it really doesn't need anything else.

The other two strands I used to wrap around the bottom. Conveniently the model base is already perfect here, so I wrapped the lights to my preferences and superglued them in place. Using two strands down low gives plenty of underglow like how you see in Dawn of War. I also superglued in the battery housing, since it fits perfectly in that slot on the bottom. One thing to remember is to keep enough space between the model and the bottom so that you can sneak a finger in there to turn it on!

That's all there is to it! After you install the lights, all you have to do is glue the top to the bottom and stick all the clear green bits on, and you'll have an eerily glowing piece of xenos technology, which looks ace on the table.

It's aliiiiive!

I hope this article has been helpful in lighting up your own Monoliths (or other Necron vehicles). Til next time, dear readers!

Showcase: Forgeworld's Carmine Dragon

Greetings!

I painted something!!!

It's been too long, dear readers, but I finally have some new content for you to feast your eyes on. 

This week (as in, it took two days start to finish, because I'm in the process of moving and needed to get it DONE), I painted up Forgeworld's Carmine Dragon as a commission piece. 

Rawr.

He wanted it to go with his Wood Elves army, mainly as a Green or Forest Dragon scheme, so that is what I strove to achieve. He wanted a more whiteish highlight on greens, so I took to Sybarite Green and Gauss Blaster Green to make that happen.

I otherwise stuck to some classic techniques that I personally enjoy using, especially for the horns and teeth, while trying out a couple other new ones.

Don't touch my egg.

I had fun with it for sure, as I'd never painted a dragon before, especially a big one like this. 

Spikes for daaaaaays.

Oh hai, I see you.

From above.

From slightly more above.

Since it was to be an epic dragon though, he wanted it to have a rider. And here he is!

I don't always take good pictures.

You can't see it, but I did even pick out the eyes, because I'm that kind of nutter. So, with a pointer on where to stick him, I glued him on at the end and this is how it turned out:

You wish you could dragon surf like this guy.

Elves care not for physics. 

Sweet elvish bootay.

  

He's stabbing this caption.

"Hi-ho, Silv-I mean Green, away!"

So that's the final product! The client absolutely loved it, so I'd call that a success for a couple days of painting!

Here are my stages for painting over a black primer, for anyone curious enough to give it a go:

Dragon
Scales layers:
- Caliban Green base
- Warpstone Green layer 1 (overbrush)
- Sybarite Green layer 2 (drybrush)
- Gauss Flayer Green layer 3 (drybrush)
- Waywatcher Green (wash)
- Sybarite Green layer 4 (drybrush)
- Gauss Blaster Green layer 5 (drybrush)
- 1:1 Gauss Blaster Green : White Scar White layer 6 (drybrush)

Belly layers:
- Caliban Green base
- Loren Forest layer 1 (overbrush)
- Straken Green layer 2 (drybrush)
- Nurgling Green layer 3 (drybrush)
- Ushabti Bone layer 4 (drybrush)
- Screaming Skull layer 5 (drybrush)
- Waywatcher Green (wash)

Bone layers:
- Rhinox Hide base
- Bestial Brown layer 1 (layered)
- Snakebite Leather layer 2 (layered, slightly lined)
- Bubonic Brown layer 3 (layered, lined)
- Ushabti Bone layer 4 (layered, more clear lined)
- White Scars White layer 5 (layered, distinct lined)

Mouth/Gemstone layers:
- Khorne Red base
- Emperor's Children layer 1 (drybrushed/spotted)
- Thinned Purple Ink wash
- Emperor's Children layer 2 (same as ^)
- White Scars White layer 3 (spot highlight)
- 'Ard Coat gloss

Eyes:

- Yriel Yellow base

- Red Ink glaze

- Yriel Yellow touch up

- Black (pupil)

Elf

Gold Armor:

- Balthasar Gold base
- Reikland Fleshshade wash
- Gehenna's Gold layer 1 (layered/drybrushed, depending on location)
- Mithril Silver layer 2 (same as ^)

Skin:
- Dwarf Flesh base
- Reikland Fleshshade wash
- Dwarf Flesh layer 1 (layered)
- Elf Flesh layer 2 (layered)

Eyes:

- Pallid Wych Flesh base

- Black (pupil)

Boots/Belt/Packs:
- Zandri Dust base
- Seraphim Sepia wash 1
- Reikland Fleshshade wash 2
- Ushabti Bone layer 1 (layered)

Green Cloth:

- Straken Green base

- Athonian Camoshade wash

Speartip:

- Boltgun Metal base

- Coelia Greenshade wash

- Mithril Silver highlight

Base

Tree:
- Raw Umber base
- Celestra Grey layer 1 (drybrush)
- Ushabti Bone layer 2 (drybrush, inner rings)

Moss:
- Castellan Green base
- Nurgling Green layer 1 (drybrush)

Ground:
- Rhinox Hide base
- Mournfang Brown layer 1 (overbrush)

Rocks (as per Ground, then):
- Celestra Grey layer 2 (overbrush)
- Longbeard Grey layer 3 (drybrush)

Thanks for reading, I'll see you again soon enough!

Battle Report: Battlefleet Gothic on Vassal, "Raid on Kittery-804"

Greetings!

Time for another battle report! In the ongoing campaign for the Armus sub-sector, the Chaos fleet led by the Lord Kol Sarat takes on the Imperials once more, this time in a punitive raid on Kittery-804. Not participating in the raid himself, he sent the Warmonger, Agony, and Hellblade to reconnoiter in force. Patrolling the far flung penal colony system at that time fell to the Brazen, Valiant, and 711th Squadron.

Cruiser Clash

Chaos (subplot - Enemy Plans)
Hades Class Heavy Cruiser Warmonger
Slaughter Class Cruiser Agony
Slaughter Class Cruiser Hellblade

Imperial Navy (subplot - Experimental Ship)
Lunar Class Cruiser Valiant
Gothic Class Cruiser Brazen (+2 HP, -1 Ld)
5 Firestorm Class Frigates 711th Squadron

Turn 1: Chaos

The Agony's captain, fresh from repairs within the warp and eager to spill blood, ordered his squadron to close as fast as possible with the enemy. With gusto and blazing engines they shot ahead 57(!) cm (the roll was 6, 6, 6, 6, 3). The Warmonger followed along leisurely behind, coming into extreme range with its heavy lance armament. At long range the gunners showed their metal, scoring three hits on the Brazen. This is where I found out the ship actually had 10HP to start the game with, hoi!

Turn 1: Imperial Navy 

Holding their discipline in the face of the insane bravado of the Slaughter squadron, the Imperials took advantage of the close range to unleash their particular brand of hell on their enemy. Linking their fire, the 711th and cruisers bracketed the Agony, stripping shields, sundering the hull, and damaging the thrusters, resulting in several hull breaches. Torpedoes screamed into the Hellblade, and while the turrets took out an average number, they still scored a hit. A telling turn of events, and the Agony's captain was cowed...

Turn 2: Chaos

Bleeding heavily into space, the Agony attempted, and failed, to disengage. The Hellblade turned into the enemy's rear and peppered a weak broadside into the Brazen's aft quarter, taking down the shields and scoring a hit. The Warmonger locked on, bringing all guns to bear (as I'm writing this, I just realized I didn't reroll my misses due to lock on, gosh darn it!) on the Firestorms and the cruisers. Still, the weapons batteries scored three hits and the lances two, resulting in two destroyed frigates. The prow lances missed the Brazen, and since I forgot my orders, I passed the turn...

Turn 2: Imperial Navy

The remainder of the 711th squadron swung around to light up the Agony, while the cruisers were poised to make use of both broadsides. The Agony's captain suffered the final humiliation for his hubris, and his ship was rendered combat ineffective. It proceeded to drift out of the engagement area, and his fellow captains saw fit to not retrieve his hulk. Despite the weight of fire, only shields sustained hits during this turn, though the Hellblade was also crippled. The Emperor's light seemed to be shining on the Imperials now!

Turn 3: Chaos

While the Hellblade came about for another gunnery run, the Warmonger closed in on the Brazen for an exciting boarding action! The result was a crushing victory for Chaos (he rolled a 1, I rolled a 6), and it took a huge amount of damage! I also succeeded in uncovering the enemy's battle plans during the action (I was after his lucky charms!), completing my subplot.

Turn 3: Imperial Navy

Well, the 711th disengaged at high warp, while the cruisers unfortunately remained, due to low leadership values.

Turn 4: Chaos

The Warmonger continued her persecution of the Brazen, targeting her with available guns and hulking the ship, while the Valiant finally escaped. A fine prize indeed...



What a back and forth game! First he smashed me, then vice versa. I thought I was in trouble, early on. The Slaughters definitely overshot where I wanted them to go; they were supposed to be the ones to board an enemy ship, but they definitely got too close, then wreckfaced because I was thinking "I only need one to do what I need to...right?" Poor choice, as his Firestorms went bananas and scored a bucket ton of hits all at once. Oh well, live and learn right? The boarding action swung the game back in my favor, no questions there; a 1 to a 6 is always going to hurt. Just wasn't expecting it, though I can't complain about the result.

Would you have played it any different? Spot anything we missed? Let me know in the comments section!