More photos from Maelstrom IX

Thanks to Aidan Corlett for supplying these photos (taken with an actual camera, not by some hack with a Samsung i.e. me)

Also, Wellington City Mission really appreciates everyone's generosity in donating via the raffle, notice was posted on their Facebook page. Good work!

That's a nice feeling...

Thanks to Mighty Ape for the prize, and thanks to all those that bought raffle tickets. The money has gone to a place it is needed.

Maelstrom IX Disjunction... the TO's report

Maelstrom IX 'Disjunction' was held over the weekend 11/12 June.

32 players from both Wellington and all the way from the deepest darkest Palmerston North (or thereabouts, Levin is just a suburb of Palmy, amiright??) descended like a horde of... umm... wargamers to the local primary school hall to battle it out over 5 rounds.

The players pack, if you have not read it, is located here.

The armies that participated can be found also here.

Breakdown of armies attending
Imperial Knights: 2
Adepta Sororitas: 1
Astra Militarum: 2
SM: Grey Knights: 1
SM: Space Wolves: 1
SM: Blood Angel/BA successor: 2
SM: Dark Angel Ravenwing: 1
SM: Iron Hands: 2
SM: Imperial/Crimson Fists: 2
SM: White Scars: 2
Chaos Daemons: 2
Chaos Space Marines: 2
Khorne Daemonkin: 1
Necrons: 1
Dark Eldar: 1
Craft(y)world Eldar: 3
Tau: 2
Tyranid: 2
Orks: 2

So a 50/50 spread between the Holy Defenders of the Imperium and <insert Chaos/Xenos> scum.

Here are some photos from the event

Day 1 Round 1

Fantastic Ork-themed table

WTF are these old fishing line weights? JUST KIDDING... 

Monsty Tyranids Flying Circus

Imperial Knights getting confused about who is the enemy (tip: Not Imperial Space Marines!)

Non-crafty Eldar... lovely paint job!

A great table that was brought along

Aquila winner Sam Whitt's crazy Death Co

John Murrie's BLOODTHIRSTER

That's a nice looking Guard army if I do say so myself

2nd Place army... doing sneaky Xenos 'stuff'

Somethingorother is about to Get Real

Mighty Ape Hobbies supplied me with a copy of Imperial Knight: Renegade, which was raffled off with all money raised from this being donated to the Wellington City Mission.

The lucky, lucky ba,,,, winner - Brendan Dee

All I can say is...

The final results

And here is a picture of the prize winners

What went well

• Getting 32 40k players to a tournament in Wellington was a good result I think. Great support from the community, especially the core cadre of people that make the trip down from Palmerston North/Levin/Kapiti. Great stuff
• Getting some of the old warhorses of the local 40k community out and playing again - the comp aspect appeared to appeal, and they all seemed to have a good time
• Everyone attending appeared to embrace the 'just take one army' ethos, at least I didn't hear anyone complain they couldn't take their White Scar/Raven Guard/Tau/Eldar combo.
• Missions were good... the scoring appeared much more variable.
• After getting my head around the fact that 30 minutes to turn around the scores/next round matchups was different with 32 people as opposed to 20-odd, things got easier for me (second game started 15mins later than scheduled...)
• No dramas, minimal questions... and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

What will I change

• The scoresheet. Round 1 is always a challenge with the multiple VP's but I could actually make it easier for the players... so I will. Next time. 
• Comp scoring - in hindsight I think the penalty for the 3x Detachment/Formation might be too harsh. Nobody took 4 Detachments/Formations so.. maybe... ditch it?

Big thanks goes to Peter Dunn who supplied all the tables, plus cloths, and three tables worth of terrain. And for being the independent person that drew the raffle winner. Thanks too to all those that helped set up. who brought terrain, and helped pack up. These are probably the least fun aspects of a tournament weekend but having people able and willing help out really means a lot.

Call to Arms, run by the Wellington Warlords, is next in the Wellington calendar. The next tournament I will be running is Warpstorm IX on 29/30 October at the same location as Maelstrom (players pack, points etc. TBA).

Maelstrom IX... update number... err... yeah.

Firstly, something arrived in the mail this week!! 

Oooooohhh.... shiney!! 

Thanks again to Mighty Ape for supplying such a neat kit.

Secondly, I've had a couple of queries regarding the draft GW FAQs that are up on the GW Facebook page, and whether I would be using them at Maelstrom IX.

Nice piccy of Ulrik the Slayer there... that reminds me... I need to be putting Space Wolves together...

The answer is... no. They are currently draft FAQ so I am quite comfortable to wait for them to be refined and published as 'official' before they are used. If they are  made 'official' prior to 30 May (which happens to be 4 days before lists must be in for checking i.e. 3 June) they will be used at the tournament.

One of the interesting things the FAQ has clarified is that in the BRB it states in bold that 'only one grenade (of any type) can be thrown by a unit per phase'. Assault (fight) is a phase therefore assault units/units mobbing vehicles with melta/krak grenades can only use the one grenade per unit. So I guess we were all playing it wrong! 

Maelstrom IX Update... rules clarification for Death from the Skies and a sponsor announement

A quick update today!

Death from the Skies
Death from the Skies will be released by GW prior to the cutoff date outlined in the Players Pack. While it probably adds complexity, its use fits within the constraints of the players pack.

So:

• The onus is on those who what to bring flyers to purchase a copy of the rules (making sure they are available at any time during the game for reference), and explain how they work to their opponent prior to the game.
• All other composition rules and restrictions from the Players Pack remain in effect (Allies, Formations/Detachments)
• The Dogfight/Duel subphase rules will not be in play

Sponsorship

I am pleased to announce that Mighty Ape are providing sponsorship for Maelstrom IX!

(See the updated Maelstrom IX announcement)

What the team at Mighty Ape have done is provide me with a copy of Imperial Knights: Renegade - how awesome is that.

To give anyone attending a chance to win this amazing box set, I am going to raffle it off at Maelstrom IX. All proceeds of the raffle will be donated to the Wellington City Mission. Tickets will be $2 each, with a maximum of 20 can be purchased per person.

The resurrection of... Tjalfe Helmreaver

Enthused and inspired by the return of the Wulfen - and also the Deathwatch Overkill models - and given that it's Easter... I made a decision to resurrect an old Wolf Guard Battle Leader that I had 'killed off' in my army background fluff many years ago (after one too many thumpings at the hands of Angor Bok, a well known local Iron Warrior despot).

A quick purchase of some bits and pieces from BitsandKits (a Dren Redblade model, and a Wulfen head), a bit of a kitbash with things like the Space Wolf accessory sprue, Krom Dragongaze's axe, and a tiny bit of green stuff and voila! 

Here is the original piece of artwork that inspired me

I could not for the life of me find a copy of this image on the internet... my search skills rolled a '1'

Here is Tjalfe back in the day(<2008)

Nice 'stache

Suffice to say he's risen from his sus-an slumber and the effects of the Canis Helix are a bit more pronounced...

"I am a bit annoyed that I got hit on the head by that bad man, by jingoes"

"I got axe for you!"

Loving the dynamics of the Dren Redblade model

In actual games of 40k I intend to give him the Black Death if I have the points, otherwise Bolt Pistol + fancy CCW and a very angry streak will see me through I'm sure!

At last, I painted something

Remember this?  December 2014

And this?? March 2015

Frustrated at my complete lack of progress on any painting front, and given it's a long weekend, I sat down yesterday and (after doing my best impression of modern parenting i.e. 'watch a movie and let me play with my dolls please') proceeded to immerse myself in paints and brushes and haphazard eyesight.

And after several hours of slow progress (how much f#%&-ing detail is on these models, seriously), and 12 months (!!!) after the last post on the topic, I have produced Grey Knight Librarian Appolyon:

"Throw me my brewski Sam! Hurry! I've got some daemons to administer holy hops on!"

Fiddly...

Note I haven't gone down the silver route, I always preferred the dark scheme that appeared in the old Index Astartes article way back when. I originally used Vallejo German Grey but being a simple soul and only wanting to use GW paints for consistency/availability/loyalty/whatever I switched to Eshin Grey as my basecoat - a lot lighter but I am ok with this.

Olde Skool Grey Knight colour scheme

Might take some more (better) photos when it's daylight... and after he's had a bit of a varnish.

Progress, YEAH!