Jodrell.org

Regular readers will undoubtedly be aware that Battlefleet Gothic is currently my jam (although I am still regularly playing Legions Imperialis and BattleTech, and other things).

Earlier this year, I participated in the “Damn The Torpedoes!!” event hosted by Tnavah Cluster Events. On the drive home, a plan was hatched for my local BFG group in North Kent to host our own BFG event. And so The Perseus Crusade was born.

This is the first wargaming event that I will be involved in organising, and I am very excited! We want it to be a relaxed and fun day of gaming, where more than just aggression in the combat zones will determine who stands above the rest.

If you’re interested in participating, you can RSVP to the event on Facebook, then buy your ticket on Stripe.com, and I will see you in April!

The long summer holiday has just finished; the kids are back at school, the warm weather has abated, and we are looking forward to the change of seasons. As is normally the case, over the summer, hobby has taken a back seat, due to the warm weather, holidays abroad, and later bedtimes.

So here is a round-up of what did happen in the last couple of months!

1. Battlefleet Gothic
2. Legions Imperialis
3. Warhammer 40,000
4. Looking forward

After 48 hours I’m more-or-less recovered from the physical and mental onslaught of A Sector Ablaze, however I’m still struggling to find the words to describe it. So rather than writing an essay, instead please enjoy this photo diary, which begins below the fold.

I had a fantastic time, despite several calamities, and despite only managing one draw and four losses, I had loads of fun. It was also really cool to meet online acquaintances face to face, notably Tetsugakusan (aka Miles), TKEPaints (aka Rick) and The Unrelenting Brush (aka Chris), whose work has appeared on this site before ([1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]). I was lucky to have four* very pleasant and very good opponents, who were very nice while they wiped the floor with me.

I did not have the best start to the event: upon arrival at Warhammer World I realised that on my way out of my house, I’d left behind a box containing a Warhound titan, and the Xiphon Interceptors and Forward Operating Bases I mentioned in my last post! That left my lists in disarrary, and did not enhance my calm. However, after five minutes of swearing I was able to rejig my lists (made more difficult because I’d only brought the models I thought I was going to use, which gave me very few options) and get back into the swing of things.

I was also very, very lucky that another competitor, the estimable John, lent me a Warhound to replace my missing model, which made a huge difference.

If you’re interested, check out the campaign pack and the missions. I wasn’t a big fan of the secondary objectives (or of secondary objectives in general) but I quite like the Battle Honours, although I think if I were going to do something similar, I’d issue laminated cards at the end of each game to reduce the amount of paperwork players needed to do. But these are minor complaints.

Anyway, enough of the waffle. Photo dump below!

In about 72 hours, I will arrive in Nottingham, ahead of the start of the 2-day narrative Legions Imperialis event, A Sector Ablaze, happening this weekend at Warhammer World.

As a lifelong fan of the Epic scale, being able to participate in this event is a dream come true, and I have been getting progressively more hyped about it as the date of the event has drawn closer!

I have been busy getting the Covenant of Ruin ready for battle. This has mostly involved painting new models to replace the 3D-printed models I started out with, for example, these Xiphon interceptors:

While I was at it, I also finished off this pair of Fire Raptors:

Participants in the event have been asked to produce a pair of custom objective markers representing Forward Operating bases. These are mine (still a WIP):

Apart from finishing my objectives, I’ve also got to finish lists (I need four), pack a bag, and re-read the rulebook so I don’t make a total arse of myself on the day.

On the slim chance that anyone reads this who’s going to the event, drop me a line, let’s hang out!

This year was the fourth time I've travelled to the Excel in London for Salute, the world's biggest wargames show, which celebrated its fortieth birthday this year.

As always there was so much great stuff to take in, far more than I can easily recall, so here are some of the highlights for me:

• The amazing 10mm SF miniatures produced by Hawk Wargames for their forthcoming DropZone Commander game. Some of the finest quality miniatures I've ever seen.
• Curis's amusing "Avengers Assemble" cartoon on the Ninjabread stand
• Robin's amazing Gruntz tables, whose creation I've been following on his blog. There seemed to be a lot of 15mm SF games this year, featuring GZG, Old Crow, Brigade and many others, but Robin's tables stood out for me
• Finding a very cheap Warmachine battlebox and splitting it with a friend, so now I have another game to learn! Looking forward to painting my Khador battlegroup.
• some really nice (and surprisingly cheap) accessories and components from Anvil Industry, which would be very handy for someone wanting to create a pre-Heresy Space Marine army
• The completely batshit insane ApORKalypse game put on by the South London Wargames people

I didn't take many photos this year, but my esteemed colleague Steg took a bunch, and I've put my favourites below.

Big day today. Quite apart from it being Warhammer 40,000's 25th birthday, it was also the first time I've played in a tournament: against strangers (sort of). Also the first time I've used my destroyers, scarab, Imotekh, Annihilation Barge and Monolith.

I don't have time to give a full report but I'm pleased to say that I came 9th out of 14, with two losses, a draw and a win, against Dark Eldar, Space Wolves, codex marines and a rival Necron dynasty. Playing against Necrons was a lot of fun!

Check out the photos below and look out for the special spectator who came along! (I'm not talking about Ty the Wonder-Dog.)

A couple of friends and I went up to the Excel centre this weekend to attend Salute 2010. This is the second Salute show I've been to, and once again, I had a great time. The demonstration games were all amazing, and some of the display boards were simply incredible!

One of the stands I was most keen on visiting was that of Critical Mass Games, and I wasn't disappointed. Their gorgeous 15mm SF miniatures were on display on their stand, and on their fantastic display board, entitled "The Battle of Kyushu Bay".

There are more pictures on Dropship Horizon. Of course, I caved in and bought a bunch of ARC Fleet miniatures, the prototype of which I've already started working on:

At 40p each (plus a penny for the base!), they're excellent value for money! You can buy them online here.