Catch up! - Adepticon wrapup and stuff.

Well ... hello there! Time flies when you are working 10 to 12hrs a day all week. It was my intention to post the requisite "Adepticon wrapup" post on Monday and with so much time having past I find it difficult to remember what happened. "That's alright" I thought, "I can post a couple cool pictures and some highlights from the games". Good idea me but you forgot to take any decent pictures. Instead all you took was this...

Here you can see the Furry Fatbacks in all their pre-deployment glory. Well not all of it - there are still quite a few rats missing from that photo, but if you were wondering what the tables for Fantasy looked like (including the terrain setup) there you have it.

So here is my super quick Adepticon run down. Apologies to my opponents who may be reading this, I am terrible with names so I have omitted them from this post. If you played me and want to call me out just leave a comment!

Game 1 vs. High Elves and Wood Elves.

• Army list was a mix of forest spirits (Dryads and Treekin) and HE shooting (bolt throwers and archers mostly). Both sides of the team brought one of their respective eagles.
• Deployment went really well in this game with our magic facing down the units of forest spirits in the hopes of cutting down on their numbers before CC. 
• Initial game went poorly for the FF (Furry Fatbacks) as shooting, skirmishers, and flying units took their toll. Both sides played it safe in the center of the board, waiting for a good moment to charge.
• Gorger arrived on Turn 2 and attacked a unit of HE archers on a hill. 
• Bruiser and Ironguts charged a weakened unit of Treekin (3 out of 4) with a unit of Plague Censer Bearers on the flank. Combat drew but the Treekin held. 
• Next turn the PCB were charged in the flank by Dryads. The Ironguts and Bruiser lost their Toothcracker buff in the magic phase, broke from combat (even with reroll), and were chased down and killed by the one remaining Treekin. 
• Meanwhile the Doomwheel began it's day of terror by driving around a nearby building, blasting some Fast Cav off the board, then proceeding to kill another unit of Treekin, and a HE mage hiding in the forest, before blasting off 16" into another unit of Dryads. 
• The one remaining Treekin slammed into a unit of Slaves which was near the table edge. The Slaves then won combat but the Treekin held. 
• Next turn the Slaves manage to land one wound on the Treekin who fails both saves and dies.
• HE Archers hit and wound the Gorger 3 times in one turn to kill him off. 
• Game ends on Turn 6 as a win for team FF!

Overall this was a fun game that went back and forth quite a bit. After my Ironguts and Bruiser died in Turn 3 I was convinced that was the end of the game. Luckily the Doomwheel thought otherwise and rampaged across the board - wiping out everything it came in contact with along the way. Our opponents were both nice gents with a good looking unified painting theme. We did run into a couple rules "discussions" regarding the Gorger and how he works but in the end it all worked out fine. On to game two!!

Game 2 vs. Lizardmen and Vampire Counts.

•  The composition of this force had me a bit worried - three units of Ghouls with two casty Vampires for support. Fighty Scar vet on a cold one, Engine of the Gods, another Stegadon, two Skink units, one unit of Terradons, and a big unit of Wraiths were all sitting on the table.
• Our main force deployed center with the PCB in a nearby forest to deal with the Wraiths if they moved into position. 
• Turn 1 the LM and VC shuffle up a bit, get into position, beef up the Ghouls (tons of single dice rolls coming up on 5 and 6), and begin to shoot. 
• Regular Steg fires it's bolt thrower at the Doomwheel rolling a 6 for the hit and scoring a poison wound. The Doomwheel takes 2 wounds from the bolt and takes two tests, rolling a 1 on the second test and shooting directly forward for 18" (three rolls of 6). 
• On the bottom of turn 1 the Doomwheel then goes 14" into the front of the EoTG before blasting both the Ancient Stegadon and the Skink Priest on top to death in the shooting phase. 
• With the EoTG destroyed the rest of team FF holds back and plays it safe in an effort to maintain points. 
• Regular Stegadon and Scar vet combo charge a unit of Bulls and a unit of Gutter Runners, both of which flee. The Stegadon then makes it into combat with a unit of PCB hiding in the woods. Steg fails its toughness tests and dies. 
• During the magic phase we blast off three Wraiths leaving one left to hide in a nearby building. 
• Gorger comes on in Turn 2, eats rocks from Terradons, and charges a unit of Skinks before finally dying. 
• Meanwhile a unit of Bulls kills off the other unit of Skinks and hides from the massive units of Ghouls. 
• Game ends as a win for team FF with the Skaven and Ogre units back near the table edge and well out of charge range of the Ghouls, Vampire, and Scar vet.

This game was really fun and tactical with two talented players from the Warmongers club out of NYC. Pretty sure I heard both of them talking about being a part of the US ETC team. Wish I could remember their names ... god I am such a loser when it comes to that. Hopefully I will come across them again some time as I play in the other IGT events around here and out east.

Game 3 vs. Dark Elves and Warriors of Chaos.

• This team's list was pretty nasty. Based around multiple hard hitting cav units and killy characters. It was something like two units of MoS Marauder Horsemen, two units of Nurgle Chaos Knights, Exalted Hero with Chaos Runesword on a Juggernaut, Chaos Warshrine, two units of Dark Riders, Harpies, a unit of Cold One Knights with hotek, reverse ward save, and the ASF banner, a unit of archers, Hydra, and a level 1 scroll caddy.
• Team FF deployed with a refused flank which put a house, forest, and a hill between the cav and our units. Really great deployment, if winning was based on this alone we would have had it in the bag. 
• The Doomwheel moved up turn 1 and got into position near the incoming Fast Cav behind a building before charging into the front of a unit of Nurgle Chaos Knights. 
• Doomwheel shot and wounded three times but the Knights only failed one armor save and stick around. In CC it killed another Knight with impact hits but then broke and was chased down by the Knights. 
• All of our team's magic was focused on killing the Exalted Hero on the Juggernaut as we had very little that could defeat him. The hero took one wound off of a warplightning but kept on coming right until the end of the game. 
• On turn 2 my Butcher miscast and lost the Bonespitter spell which he was using to try and kill the Exalted Hero. He eventually threw himself in front of the Khorne killing machine in an attempt at saving the Skaven casters and drawing him away from the Skaven infantry blocks. 
• Meanwhile the Gorger came on and charged into the unit of DE archers who again managed to hold on for several turns. The Gorger eventually succumbed but kept the unit busy long enough for the Gutter Runners to kill the DE scroll caddy who had ejected herself from the unit. 
• Gnoblar Trappers managed to stone a unit of Marauder Horsemen to death from a building. 
• A unit of Ironguts and a unit of PCB charged the Exalted in last ditch effort to kill him, dealing no wounds but eventually running him down after he broke from CC. 
• Meanwhile the lone Bruiser is brutally murdered by the second unit of Nurgle Knights in an attempt at keeping them away from the Skaven. 
• Game ends as a Draw on Turn 6.

This game started off well but my consistently bad rolls and a couple of impulsive decisions cost the Furry Fatbacks the win. Had we won the game I think we would have taken first in the event or at least placed in the top 3. As it was we finished in a tie for 5th place just 6 points short of first place. Oh well ... you win some you lose some. 

So what's next on my gutplate? Well first up is finishing the second issue of the Bellower! I was hoping to have issue #2 out yesterday but with the move, starting a new job, and Adepticon last weekend I am quite behind on completing the layouts. With any luck I should have it all done next week but I can't make any promises.

I'm also hoping to find time for a game or two with my VC this weekend, probably during the open gaming at Titan Games. While I love my Ogres I do need to get my head around these undead bastards - if nothing else so I can do something with the massive amount of models I have completed.

More stuff to come in the next few weeks including webzine and book reviews so check back in later!