Warhammer Underworlds Battle Report: The Hunt Begins!

 Time for the first weekly gathering post the Halle tournament, so that means a first outing for the warband I want to run at Into the Under-Ekeren should I be able to play there as the TO.

And that is the Kurnothi warband of Skaeth's Wild Hunt with their Rivals deck, opposed on their kick-off by

A first look at their deck and abilities already learned these are not all-out aggressive warriors like Elathain was (in part due to the Nemesis deck I'd build for those), but rather what I call semi-aggressive.  Surely they must hunt down the enemy, but this is not their only scoring Glory route.  Cry of the Wild for example scores is Karthaen survives and blew his horn, while Hunt's End either let's you take out a 4+ wounds opponent OR hold three objectives, so both the hornblower and the archer can score while being held at the back.

 

And I also realised this is my third aelfic warband in a row I'm fielding...

 

 

So setting out to the Outpost, we had 5 players this evening and I sat down for the first game against Wouter and his Grinkrak's Looncourt.  Having learned my lessons from previous games, I immediatly rushed Skolko and Pronk with their catapult, taking it out by combined attacks from Althaen and Sheoch.  First blood to the Kurnothi!

But Sheoth in turn was being overwhelmed and taken down by the little grot's in return.  I did learn already that the first part of their Inspire mechanic, being charge, is easy enough, but the the staying alive until the end of the activation phase on the other hand is more difficult.  And so round one ended with a 2-2 on the scoreboard.

The second round began with the now inspired Althaen being taken down by a charging Grib da Wonky Lance, soon followed by Lighaen.  This wasn't going well at all as my band was now down to two members and a lot of grot's opposed me still.  As a result, I was 8-5 behind in this second round.

Karthaen started to infiltrate the enemy's territory, taking one of the goblins out with his Vicious Darts equipped spell attack.  being retaliated, he saved himself by defending with two criticals against an attack that rolled two criticals itself, and this was what I needed to pull it off after all for this game.

Skaeth charged Grinkrak himself, and using his Slashing Shield one shotted the grot leader.  Karthean in the meantime had moved himself onto the sole objective in the grot's territory, allowing me to score the objective where I needed to grab all objectives in a territory, and netting me 2 glory points.

As a result, the comeback was a success, with the Wild Hunt winning their debut game with 14 to 9, something neither me nor onlookers expected after being down to two fighters so quickly.  I guess the chance to combine objective captures and enemy kills of Skaeth's deck proved his worth here.

For the second game, I faced Peter (we have two Peter's in the group, this is not the one I faced lately with Ephilim) whom I actually played for the first time.  He had brought the Sons of Velmorn to the table with the Paths of Profecy rivals deck.  This also means that King Velmorn, since the FAQ, would be constantly supporting the three Grave Guard.

Peter longboarded the battlefield, and as I knew neither how my opponent plays, nor what his warband or deck actually does bar vaguely, I set up rather to the back myself, which proved to be a mistake.  The first round as such didn't see any action bar an arrow charge from Althaen to inspire her, and some objective capture cards on both sides.  Never the less, the Wild Hunt led this turn with 3-2 for some reason.

The second round saw Sheoth charge and wound dir Jedran Falseborn, but he was struck down in return.  I get it, he is the Fuirann of this warband: charge and die.  Concentrating on the big guy, Althaen also wounded him, leaving him open for a strike by Skaeth, who received the +2 movement upgrade.

 

 

He charged in, but the big dead guy managed to defend succesfully and as a result  I now trailed 3 to 6, as I couldn't score a single card.  Had I taken down Falseborn, I would have score a heap of things, but alas, this is Underworlds.

The third turn began with Skaeth taking down Falseborn, but he himself was then taken down by the combined assaults of the Graveguard.  It was down to Karthaen, but he failed to cast his spells for some glory and recycling for fresh objectives, and I was out of hitting power and out of scoreable objectives, so my game ended there.   I could only hope to take down one or two Graveguard and pray for a tie.

When the first Graveguard healed himself back up, this plan went down the window as well, and Althaen failed to push King Velmorn of the objective to prevent him scoring another card I knew Peter had as he mistakingly tried to score it the first round, but it counted all surviving fighters.  had I pushed him off, he wouldn't be able to use it after my activation and it would be a void card.

Peter then scored some more objective related cards, and the final result was a 9-6 victory for the forces of Death.

So the non-aggressive deployment bit me, as I should have rushed in the first turn to score some glory, but more over to get some of them Inspired faster and maybe score some points left or right.  Lessons learned, as while this Rivals deck does allow for some non-aggro scoring compared to Morgwaith and Elathain before them, they still have a failry aggressive approach to them.  

Well, I still have time to get the hang of them after all... and 1 up 1 down out of the gates is an okay result.

Den Teerling 12 - march 2024

 One of this year's goals is to read up on 50+ fanzines, clubmagazines, etc etc just because I love that sort of thing.

And this instalment, I'm looking over the march edition of the Tin Soldiers of Antwerp clubmagazine, Den teerling (which is flemish dialect for The Die).

 

This little gazette has a page count of 6 pages, and can be picked up at the clubhouse during gaming moments.  The main article in this issue is a satirical look at Napoleon Bonaparte, spurred by the, let's be polite here, not-so-great-or-accurate Ridley Scott movie.

 

The whole article fills up three pages of the gazette, and you are certainly in for some gniffling as the writer has a very light hearted style.

 

 

The second main article is a boardgame review.  Starship Captains is based on the adventures of the lower decks crew of the USS Cerritos, from the animated Star Trek series Lower Decks.  But the subtitle of the game, Don't Mention the Franchise, does of course betray the fact it is heavily based but not officially licensed.

 

The final thingies in this issue is an advertisement for the club BBQ in august, a puzzle and a comic.  

 

A nice little instalment of the gazette, and I had some good sniggers reading through it.

Saintia Sho volume 6 - Masami Kurumada and Chimaki Kuori

 Time for some more burning cosmo reading!

Picking up where we left in volume 5, when Skok's sister was selected to merge with Eris, the goddess of discord is gathering her powers to re-enter the stage.

 

 

At the abyss, Shoko is being pulled in to meet with her sister Kyoko, now fully merged with the spirit of Eris.  Kyoko tells her the world will soon be destroyed, and she wants her sister to join her in the paradise she is creating with the Tree of Life.  But Shoko refuses, unwilling to believe her sister is completely gone, and vowing she will save her from Eris.  Eris tries to trap her, but Scorpion Milo arrives together with Athena, forcing Eris to withdraw.

 

In the meantime in Eris's temple, Aiolia has infiltrated the place.  The golden Lion makes smooth headway towards it's centre, as Milo also starts to enter the temple, leaving Shoko behind to protect Athena.  Peacock Mayura contacts them, telling that she suspects that Mii and Xiaoling are caught inside, being swept into the temple when it formed. 

Aiolia breaks through the gate harboring a strong, evil cosmos, suddenly finding himself in the late Gold saint Saga's Another Dimension.  But it isn't the Gemini saint that meets him, but his deceased brother, Sagitarrius Aiolos.  He mocks the golden lion for how weak he is, before changing appearances to a mirror image of Aiolia.

Mii awakens in the temple, faved by Malice Emony, who has grown since the previous encounter where the Dolphin saint defeated her.  Stronger then before, she captures Mii in her Lunatic Bind attack, but Katya interferes.  Mii gets up, sending the ice saintia on her way to face Emony herself.  Strenghtened by her vows to Athena, she makes short work of the bratty ghost warrior, before collapsing from her sustained injuries.

Aiolia sees the true face of his opponent, the evil side of Saga that has been ressurected and who has his own personal goals, using Eris's offer as a means to reach those goals.  They engage in battle, as lower dryad warriors arrive at Sanctuary to capture it.  They are swiftly defeated by Jabu and the other bronze saints, Shaina, Aldebaran and Shaka.

And so this volume ends, the pieces being set in motion for the battle between Athena and Eris, with Shoko still being held back as the ace-in-the-hole versus Eris's host Kyoko.

Warhammer Underworlds: Cyreni's Razors

 The second Underworlds warband finished for the year, it are the Idoneth Deepkin from the recent Deathgorge core box.

And this time they don't come with a crab, but with a squid!

 

Totally different in playstyle compared to my Elathain's Soulraid, this warband is led by the Tidecaster Cyreni from the Abyss.  Her name also being the hint why I went for darker, grey bases, who comes with the excellent in my book Hammertide "ping" damage activation.  Yes, I can see myself standing back and just magicking away in the full first round with her to be honest.

Alathyrr and Renglaith, the two thralls in her warband, both come with solid 2 damage, 2 reach attacks which is always handy, especially with the warbands more excentric Inspire mechanic of a different phase in each of the three rounds, making positioning and timing key for them.

The final member is Cephanyr, the squid tank, who has a nice stagger and escape reaction when targetted by an attack action.  Especially since he doesn't have to use this on the actual fighter that attacked him!

I can definitly see a "chain" of sequence (in an ideal world) with this warband, as to stagger with Cephanyr, hit with one of the thralls, then finish off with Cyreni.  Staggering is a tool in this warbands arsenal, to provide better chances of taking down enemies, so something I will definitly look into.

 

Fun models to paint and they will be getting some on-table time for certain in the near future at the weekly gatherings of our little group!

 

 

 

The Haul Report 395: tournament loot and more!

 Well, tournament loot!

Last sunday, it was the tournament in Halle for Warhammer Underworlds, and that yielded some loot for the collection.

Every participant received one of these Deathgorge styled tiles for use on the gameboards as blocked hexes, awesome little titbit if you ask me, especially as it even comes painted.

 

 

But also this Tidecaster, as I actually won the tournament!

But apart from the tournament loot, I also received a small package from Vinted, as I managed to obtain two more dice sets for Underworlds, namely Zarbag's Gitz and Rippa's Snarlfangs, and this at 7 euro a set.

 

 

The next Archonia "MyBox" also arrived, meaning some fresh reading for the collection. 

 

 

So some nice little additions for the collection this week, lovely.

On the Painting Desk 277

 So, a good week for some painting, and as a result Cyreni's Razors are as good as finished.

They just need some more work on the bases and some varnishing, so they will pop up on the blog pretty soon.

But that also means painting will begin on the next warband, and this is one I look really forward to fielding: the Crimson Court.  Because what better to field in a skirmish game then a bunch of hungering vampires?  Definitly is a change of pace from painting a squid hehehe.

Check back next week to see if I've gotten anything decently done on them!

I have been rummaging as well, deciding on the next few paint projects, and that should normally be like this in the short term (short at my rate probably from now until the end of the summer vacation or so...):

1. The Crimson Court - Warhammer Underworlds

2. Akhelian King - Age of Sigmar

3. Horns of Hashut - WarCry (which I really should learn to play soon)

4. Ironsoul's Condemnors - Warhammer Underworlds

And that's the short term planning for the next weeks / months, so you know what can be expected in the little videoclips.

Hokkaido Gals are Super Adorable!

 Okay, I got this series in my Winter Anime League, for some reason I think / hope this could be the new My Dress-up Darling.

And if not, I at least got to watch a series filled with jokes and adorable girls.

When Shiki Tsubasa moves to Kitami City, he meets a "gal" or gyaru (a popular japanese subculture) at the freezing busstop.  Barelegged, she is waiting in the snow for the bus.  She is called Minami Fuyuki, and he immediatly is intrigued by her.  They take the bus together, as he tells her he moved from Tokyo just that day, reminiscing how nobody knows him yet.  They seemingly attend the same school, and she immediatly attaches herself to him in the cold... and he is so stricken he forgets to get on the actual bus, arriving to late at school.  

They are in the same class, where he learns he must bring his jacket or a blanket as he isn't used to the cold, but as she makes flirty remarks he doesn't know how to react to her extravert personality, especially when she invites him over to her house a day after they met.  Later on, he repays the favour after going on a kind of date with her to the Winter Festival, but as they have an awkward talk inside a snow fort, his grandma overhears them and draws wrong conclusions.  Yet when she sees Tsubasa smile over at the house, she decides to give Fuyuki a chance.

 

 

During a skying trip with class, Fuyuki tells Tsubasa she wants to get to know Akino, a closed-in gyaru in class, better.  As bith Akino and Tsubasa are the big beginners in the sky-class, they spend the day together and Tsubasa breaks into her shell, learning she is a gamer at heart that tries to fit in but is afraid of talking with people.  Later during a blizzard, after he met Fuyuki's mom, who sees her daughter brighten up near Tsubasa, they visit the shopping mall with Akino.  Fuyuki and Akino bond, and Fuyuki teases Tsubasa later that night as she takes a bath. 

When they all go out for karaoke night, the topic of Valentine comes up as it is rapidly approaching.  Akino wants to try to make chocolates for the first time, and is aided by Fuyuki, but an accident during the phone call ruins the latters chocolates.  This causes her to burst out in tears with Tsubasa, but he comforts her playing her favorite cheer-up song on the piano.

After a study party he hears from her mother she was all talks about what he did for her, as he spots a beautiful yet slightly odd girl in his neighbourhood.  This turns out to be Rena, the prettiest girl at school and winner of various pageants, and she lives next door to him.

 

 

Distracted by all the girls, his grandmother tells him that unless he ends in the top-10 ranking he must return to Tokyo.  Rena, who also happens to be the school's number one student, tutors him in exchange for a date if he achieves his goal.  He ultimately comes in third in the exams rankings, but as he and Rena go out he tells her he wanted to reach his goal to stay close to people he started caring about a lot.  But Fuyuki's mom spots them on their walk in the village.  Fuyuki and Akino follow them as they go to the arcade and a movie.  Having a drink later, Rena shares her insecurities with Tsubasa, but the others barge in as he tells Rena how important they are to him.  Fuyuki's mom arrives, taking them out for a Yakiniku dinner, after wich Fuyuki tells Tsubasa that his next date must be with her.

But White Day is arriving first, and tsubase helps Matsuo make up to Fuyuki and Akino for some mean things he said during Valentine's.  He goes smelt fishing with Tsubasa, only to find Fuyuki present on the lake as well.  Though they have a great time, Tsubasa comes down with a serious cold and Fuyuki comes to his place to take care of him.  He feverishly holds her hand, the next day wondering he imagined it all, while Fuyuki wants that feeling to last forever.  

As spring, and the new school year, is around the corner, Fuyuki fears she might no longer be in the same class as Tsubasa, a fear that proves unfounded as they are all classed together again.  Matsuo nominates Tsubasa as class president, and Fuyuki becomes his vice-president.  Later, she confides with him she did that to spend more time with him, and asks him to keep one day free during Golden Week for her, as she has to tell him something.

As the day comes, she takes him away from Hokkaido.  Here, they go enjoying various little things like driving karts, taking a friendship picture at a shrine, and enjoying the blossoming of the sakura fields with some icecream.  As Tsubasa gives her a friendship bracelet, he chickens out to tell her his true feelings, but she takes the word.  The important thing she had to tell him was that she is going abroad to study make-up.  When the day arrives, Tsubasa finds her hairpin in his backpack.  She had put it there after they had rented a hotel room on their day out due to the train no longer riding, but she had snuck out during the night.

He convinces himself to bring it back to her, arriving just in time before she boards the airplane.  As he tells her he will be waiting for her no matter how long she will be away... she tells him it's only for two weeks.

This was a fun innocent series, and some nice relaxing evening entertainment.  Just like Dress-up Darling, it just has that attraction that wants you to watch that next episode for reasons you can't put a finger to, and that makes something nice and enjoyable in my book.

 

 

Number One and the Tournament flyer for Into the Under-Ekeren

 Well, not that it matters that much, as it is the ranking of only a single tournament directory website, T3.

But still, after the Halle victory, I propelled myself a bit in the ranking, coming from spot 25.

It might not last long at all, probably until the tournament I organise myself in two months, but heck, it's one of those screenshots you just like to cherish for as long as it lasts.

They won't be taking that away from this Old Belgian Otaku now won't they.

Talking tournament organisation, here is the registration LINK.

 

 

Fafner Dead Aggressor - The Beyond part 4

 The final part of the The Beyond arc from the excellent Fafner series, and the fourth movie as such.

 

 

With the enemy barely held back, the island prepares for another, bigger attack launched against them.

 

 Malespero had tracked their movements, carefully avoiding detection.  Soushi asks for being teamed with Miwa, as the inhabitants prepare in their own way for the battle to come.  Then the pilots are gathered, and the operation begins.  Tricking the Mir fleet they pass the first line, but Maris gives chase, even though orders had been given to attack and assimilate the island itself by Malespero.  

The Fafners launch, defending against the enemy as they need to lead them above the water surface to lower their strength.  But then the Mark Raison arrives from orbit, proving to strong for the other Fafner, as one of them, Misao, is lost to it.  But as they tried to get to the island, the island came to them and they are greeted by Tatakemi.  Kazuki runs into one of the enemies, witnessing how he transformed his Fafner as Miwa and Soushi near the island, followed by Maris who engages them.

Maris overcomes the both of them, but as Miwa wants to use her selfdestruct to protect the island, Soushi intervenes. He beats Maris, and learns why he became an enemy of humanity, setting off in rage and fighting through the lines while metally entrusting Kazuki with guiding everyone to the future.  As the battle rages, Soushi and Miwa go to the core element Mir, putting the fate of everyone in their hands.

Miwa manages to communicate with the Mir, and as she tries to stop the battle launches herself with Soushi to the Mir moon, in order to show everyone everything.  As she shares the Altair, the fighting stops and the crystalization of the pilots stops.  The Festum retreat from the battle, lured to the signal in space, and going to the Mir moon in order to have it reborn anew thanks to the blessing of Miwa.

 

 With hostilities over for the moment, a time of healing begins for the survivors.  Negotiations take place for a lasting peace between the human factions on Earth, as well as the Human/ Festum survivors and Maris, who decide that hide under the radar and learn from humanity to better themselves.  

And so this story arc comes to a close, a highly enjoyable instalment in a series I really like.  Now to get to the various movies still from Fafner that I missed out on in the past.