Elvington 2010 show pics

First up I'd like to apologize for the lack of activity on the site lately, have just been too busy to put anything up. Secondly I'd like to welcome all the new followers, thanks for joining and hope you enjoy the site.
Right, onto the main subject of this post. The Elvington show was on the 8th and 9th of May. The YCW bunch went there both days to put on a series of games demonstrating the range of stuff we do.

We started the day off in the usual manner of refuelling ourselves for the day ahead with the traditional "fat boy's breakfast".


We then set about getting the table ready, here's Tim's "Toy Soldiers" game, notice the Briton's cows in the field, a nice little touch I think.

This was an interesting little game near to ours, it aimed to compress the whole of WWII into a tactical map based game, quite nifty.

Here's a few of the other games that were being played in the hanger.


















Back on our table we set up a range of other games including, WWI, Colonial, Fantasy and ACW





Here's the backdrop to the show, rather impressive, I can't think of any other shows with a backdrop to match.
To cap off what was already a great day, our group was awarded runner up for the best participation game. Here's Tim accepting the prize.

and finally a close up of the trophy.
Well, I hope you all enjoyed the pictures and I will try not to leave such a large space of time between posts next time lol.

Warmachine Khador

Well, it's been a while since I posted anything up so time to start I think. Hope everyone had a good new year.

These are some figures from a game called Warmachine. Basically it's a fantasy game involving big steam powered machines called Warjacks. These are from a faction called Khador which seem to be loosly based on Russia.

This first picture shows the two Warcasters, these lead your army and control the Warjacks. The first picture is of Kommander Sorscha and the second is The Butcher of Khardov. In regular games of Warmachine you use just one Warcaster, but you can have apocalypse sized battles with more. Even so it is highly unlikely that these two would be used together as according to the fluff in the rules they are sworn enemies.



The next picture shows some Iron Fang Pikemen, these are pretty tough and can be used to charge forward and soften up the enemy for the Warjacks to finish the job. They can also form a shield wall for extra protection against incoming attacks.


Then finally is the best part about Warmachine, the Warjacks. These are basically your main force in the game and come in many forms. All the factions apart from the Khador get a choice of either light or heavy Warjacks. The Khador only get heavy warjacks. Until recently the Warjacks were only available as metal models, now the main heavy Jacks are produced in plastic and come as a boxed set containing parts to make any of the heavy Jacks.

and here's a group photo of my Khador so far.

There's more to come, I'm currently painting up some Winterguard which are the basic troops for the Khador, then I've got a Manhunter which is basically a scout. Finally I've got a unit of Widowmakers to start which are an elite sniper unit.
Hopefully my order with Space and Myth should arrive soon so I can make a start of them, as well as getting some stuff off my mate who works there.

LOTR Arwen

OK time for a change methinks. This is my GW Arwen figure. I painted this up so long ago I'd forgotten I had it until it came time for a major clearup of my room. I painted this up when I was practising my shading techniques. I only tend to do this on character figures as I think they require a bit of extra attention to make them stand out. When it comes to just basic troops, as there are often so many of them I usually just settle for a basic scheme.

War of the Ring

OK, I'm sure everyone knows Games Workshop, and I'm pretty sure you'll all agree their prices leave a bit to be desired. However, in my opinion the best value range the do is the Lord of the Rings range. For example, in 40K a box of Assault Marines costs £15 for 5 figures. In Lord of the Rings the same price will get you 24 warriors which for Games Workshop isn't that bad.

War of The Ring is the game of massed battles in Middle-earth; it's the way to recreate the epic encounters described in The Lord of The Rings. In War of The Ring you collect an army of warriors and unleash them on the field of battle in a size and scale never before attainable with Games Workshop's The Lord of The Rings miniatures.

In this article I'll be taking a look at how to start preparing for the oncoming War of The Ring and examine the best ways to begin or expand your The Lord of The Rings miniatures collection.

You might have already formed a couple of questions, so I'll take a stab at the two most commonly asked ones before I push on:

So, does this replace The Lord of The Rings Strategy Battle Game?
Absolutely not! The Strategy Battle Game is the perfect format for recreating many of the thrilling scenes that take place throughout The Lord of The Rings - the blistering fight in Balin's Tomb, the daring escape through Dwarrowdelf, the Ambush at Amon Hen and more besides. Much as we love that system, however, (and I really do, with a massive collection of miniatures that grows ever larger) we realised we wanted something that let us fight the greatest battles in The Lord of The Rings - so we invented some rules to play big battles, and the War of The Ring was born.

So, if you're a fan of the Strategy Battle Game, it's all good news! War of The Ring has given us even more enthusiasm for our range of The Lord of The Rings miniatures and of course everything we release for one system can be used for the other (so keep your eyes peeled over the coming months for even more great releases and rules). Meanwhile, if you're interested in fighting massed battles in Middle-earth, you might find that War of The Ring is just what you've been looking for.


The first thing to learn about War of The Ring is how models interact with each other. Unlike the skirmish game, miniatures are grouped onto bases called a company (eight infantry models or two cavalry models form a single company). These fight as formations, which are several companies all chosen and grouped together. The warriors in a formation are generally all armed in the same way. Monsters are considered big enough (and dangerous enough) that they aren't grouped into formations.

In this picture we've arranged two formations and a monster. You'll notice that the infantry companies each have eight models (and are all armed in the same fashion) and that the cavalry companies have two models. The monster is on his own.

Generally speaking formations can be anywhere in size from one company to six companies in size, although a few particularly elite, or weak, formations can be smaller or larger in size.

If you're looking to collect a War of The Ring force, it's worth thinking in these numbers - the plastic box sets for The Lord of The Rings are generally packaged in a manner which lends itself to these numbers too, so it's fairly easy to get started.



So, what are those bases all about?
Well, companies in War of The Ring are mounted on movement trays. This makes them easier to move about the table, and also helps us to keep track of the space that they take up on the battlefield. We're releasing moulded plastic movement trays (on the 28th of February), which are ideal for mounting your miniatures on, but there's nothing to stop you making your own out of cardboard, plasticard or some other suitable material - I've used plasticard to make my own bases.

To make the game fair, and to keep things consistent, there are minimum sizes for these movement trays:

Infantry: Infantry companies are mounted on bases at least 110mm wide by 60mm deep.
Cavalry: Cavalry companies are mounted on bases at least 90mm wide by 50mm deep.

If you're making your own bases, it's important that they adhere to these minimum sizes, and they probably shouldn't exceed those measurements by too much either - the game is fairest for everyone if the movement trays are all equally sized, but a few millimetres at either side isn't going to be a problem.

So how do Captains, named Heroes and Banner Bearers fit in?
The Lord of The Rings is a story about heroic acts, sacrifice and glory - and the heroes of the story feature heavily in War of The Ring. Generally speaking Heroes are added to a company within a formation at the start of a game (and Epic Heroes can move from one formation to another during play). While they are part of a company, it benefits from some of the Hero's statistics, and the whole formation will gain access to certain special rules.

The same is true of unnamed Heroes such as Captains - in fact, as you play War of The Ring, you'll soon come to realise that Heroes, in all their shapes and sizes, are essential if you're looking to get the best from your formations.

Banner Bearers (and other models such as Drummers, Hornblowers and so forth) each confer additional benefits to the formation, and you'll probably want to add some into your collection once you start playing.

DBF

Just got back from Peeler's place after having a good natter and a game of 10mm fantasy DBF. Thoroughly enjoyable, fast playing game with easy to learn rules and good company. Just what wargaming should be about. Needless to say I lost but that's not important to me. For more info on the game why not head of over to Peeler's blog.