A Slippery Wicket

When I came to Canada, I understood that I was leaving several things behind me, some good, some bad. Meat pies, Passiona and Polly Waffles. Perpetual drought punctuated by flooding. VB and mateship. Blowflies and an assortment of lethally venomous wildlife. Rugby League and Cricket.

Now, this last one didn’t bug me so much – I’ve never been a huge fan of the sport. I understand its place in the cultural history of Australia, I acknowledge Sir Donald Bradman’s position at the pinnacle of cricket greatness, and I recognise several cultural icons of the sport, such as Shane Warne, Steve Waugh and Adam Gilchrist for their efforts in the 80’s and 90’s…

… but the last thing I expected to see on the cover of one of the local freebie newspapers was Toronto mayor David Miller playing Cricket in the snow.

Goodnight, Miss Brahms

WarmaHordes: Subjugation 500

Subjugation 500, by Scott

Hexeris stood among the corpses declaring his victory over these primitive forest dwellers. The woman seemed to ahve some magical power, but it did not match his mastery over life and death. The Wolf was interesting, he would have to mention this creature to the paingivers, perhaps they may capture some to use in this forested region.

Well, my 350 list worked out much better then I expected it to. It’s time to up the ante with 500 points. I played around with a lot of things I could go with for the 500 pts list. Ultimately though, time has forced my hand once again.

Tsuruchi or Utaku?

With the release of the large box Samurai edition starters, I dabbled in the mysteries of L5R. It was an alternative to VS at the time, a change of pace. The game was rooted deeply in a myriad of keywords and rules – you think VS is impenetrable to newbies? You ain’t seen nothing yet, pal…

… and yet I got stuck in and learned the basics, and promptly lost several games as I tried to get a handle on the Mantis clan.

Seafarers, Merchants and Archers, the Mantis had a singular appeal to me in that they were, in terms of backstory, a real underdog of a clan. As they were not one of the initial Great Clans in the game, they didn’t have the respect of the other clans. They were the blue collar nouveau riche who had managed to finagle their way into a mansion in Beverly Hills, surrounded by old money and the well-to-do who found these newcomers to be uncivilised and uncouth.

WarmaHordes: Lost Crusade 500

Lost Crusade 500, by Chris

The Reckoner shuddered as its cables were reconnected, restoring motive power to its arms. The attendant choir chanted hymns of purification as blighted Nyss blood was wiped from its chassis, the cloths immediately thrown into a brazier lest their taint spread.

The vassal wiped grease from his hands, nodding to himself as the Reckoner shook the stiffness out of its limbs. The successful repair may well have saved him a “ritual cleansing” at the end of a scourge that evening.

Severius himself was preoccupied with the newcomers, a group of faithful Menites from a neighbouring outpost. The were no Exemplars, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t serve a purpose.

WarmaHordes: Jungle Drums 500

Jungle Drums 500, by Derrick

For my increase to 500 I decided to flush out my army. I needed some advance deploy, and range and a little mobility would be nice.

First up, the little lady Deathstalker and her band of nasty bad attitude elven followers.

The Strider Deathstalker is a solo archer with great movement and long range. The pow of her weapon is not that spectacular but she is a sniper which means she can do an auto point of damage. As soon as she hit something she shoots a second arrow this is great for taking down high armour one point targets like leaders in shield wall, or nasty solo’s. With a move of 7 and pathfinding she can go anywhere quickly.

Cos Derrick’s a slowpoke…

… his 500pt upgrade post for Jungle Drums isn’t quite ready yet – he needs to take some pics of his peeps.

In the interim, here’s some more Chris Giarrusso awesomeness, in the form of an homage cover for our hero, Beta Ray Bill.

WarmaHordes: 350pt Standings

So the first stage of the WarmaHordes challenge is complete. Three victories, three defeats, and some successful picks from the peanut gallery. For handy reference, our standings:

Rank	Army	W	L
1	Jungle Drums	1	0
1	Lost Crusade	1	0
1	Subjugation	1	0
2	Borka’s Kegger	0	1
2	Naughty By Nature	0	1
2	Ninja Attack!	0	1

Lost Crusade (12) over Ninja Attack! (3)
Jungle Drums (11) over Borka’s Kegger (3)
Subjugation (13) over Naughty By Nature (0)

And of course, I’d be remiss if I didn’t let those who made picks know where they stood. Who’s in the lead to win a WM/H blister, some TPB’s or a stack of VS cards?

HK CCG Day & the joy of giving

Let me start off with a resounding huzzah and stuff for the folks who came out for today’s CCG day, with attendees from up to two hours drive away. It was great to have you at the Hobby Kingdom (or more specifically, in the hall attached to the Hobby Kingdom), and to be able to share the  joy of cardboard with you!

Let me follow that immediately with a resounding boo-urns for all those folks who said they’d attend, and then didn’t bother showing up. I shake my fist most vehemently at you all, and wish you missed 3- and 4-drops. Except Drake. I can’t stay mad at him, he’s dreamy.

Back to happier thoughts, we had a decent crowd – small by Event standards, I guess, but a dozen opponents, when I’m used to just Spud and Pablo, twelve possible opponents is an abundance - in attendance, with folks from neighbouring Hamilton, peeps from Toronto, and even a cadre from London.

WarmaHordes Feature: Kyle vs Scott

 

Naughty By Nature vs Subjugation

by Kyle

I was originally supposed to play Joe and his very scary Cryx for my first round of WarmaHordes fun. Life stepped in unfortunately and Joe could no longer participate in the Challenge. Scott offered to step into Joe’s position. Here is the recounting of our 350 point battle fought over a creepy cabin in the woods.

We randomly rolled for a scenario from week two of the Retaliation of the Wilds tour, ‘Cabin Fever’.