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NewsLetter May 1998 |
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South Auckland
Miniatures
Wargames Club
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NewsLetter May 1998 |
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NEXT MEETING: Saturday 9th May 1998 at St. Johns Church Hall, Norrie St., Drury,
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News |
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Well seems like I was talking through a hole in my head last month when I said that Epic
40K was being dropped by GW. However, GWUK Mail Order are selling stuff at a
discount to try and drive sales up a bit, but the game itself is still going to be around!
Other news is that all the Chaos Epic 40K miniatures are ready for release. This will
include some new Chaos Rhinos which are spiky - really, amaazingly spiky. There are 3
different hull variations, all on a generic Chaos theme with the eight pointed Chaos
symbol much in evidence. They are not dedicated to any particular Chaos power. Two of the
hulls can take a small turret, which mounts a storm bolter. This is positioned between the
two bolter hatches of a normal Rhino. There are three different pairs of left and right
hull/track sections. One has spikes pointing out of the top along the entire section.One
only has vertical spikes pointing out of the rear section, and one has no spikes at all.
There is a four spike ram, and a death roller type device, a maller version similar to
that fitted to the plastic Ork battlewagons.
A new, stand-alone game is coming out soon for Epic 40K. I don't know the name of it yet,
but it will involve Ork Fighta-Bombas, come with its own rules, and basically be a
completely
separate game from Epic 40k (meaning you don't need the Epic 40K boxed set to play it).
Now, let's face it - anything to do with Orks is totally cool so this should be a great
game! Remember you heard it here first!!
GW in town have now got in Bloodbowl boxed teams - this game is going to be big - get your
team now. Only problem is the boxed teams are $54.95 each (Ouch!). They have also got a
lot of the re-released Bloodbowl special characters - check out that goblin with a
chainsaw - awesome!!
More news about the new edition of WH40K, supposedly being released nearer Christmas this
year. Armies included will be Imperial Fists Space Marines and Dark Eldar, reference books
will be rearranged into just one, and wargear and vehicle cards would be all together.
Other hot news is the release soon (no date as yet) of a boxed set of multi-part space
marines (I mean, a box of sprues with legs, bodies, heads, arms, weapons and spare parts
to be combined) similar to that old box with 36 mark VI marines, do you remember them?
P.S. For all you Imperial Guard players the Assualt Cannon on legs is out next month !!
Last month's games
Some players kindly supplied the following battle reports from our April meeting:
Warhammer Fantasy Battle.
Robert Davies (Chaos Slaanesh Warriors) beat
Bryan Orsbourne (Chaos Nurgle Daemons):
A hard fought bloodbath, where the tides of fortune ebbed and flowed. Initial success
for the Nurgle army had the Slaanesh Warriors on the back foot. However the constant
chipping away at the Nurgle Plaguebearers finally led to magic superiority for the
Slaanesh wizard, who then let rip with Arnzipal's Black Horror which went through the
massed ranks of the Nurgle army taking out heaps! A timely charge by my Slaanesh General
into the Greater Daemon of Nurgle, a swift blow with a Frostblade and the daemon was no
more! I unleashed Arnzipal's Black Horror again and all that was left was the mopping up.
Peter Colson (Lizardmen) beat Michael Earley (Brettonians):
I am Quatl, captain of the guard, sent by my master, Lord Qtlar to protect his majesty,
master Djellibeybi (who was still suffering nervously from his defeat last month at the
hands of Gutflab Wormflesh, Greater Daemon of the Almighty Nurgle - Ed), although it
was quite unnecessary as he despatched the Brettonian general, his hippogriff, and the
main unit of knights with ease (it was so considerate of them to can our food so it
wouldn't get dirty for us!). We left the majority of Qtlars mighty Saurus legions behind
and took to the field with an army of skinks. We need not have even bothered bringing
these as Djellibeybi demonstrated his will (after taking some tranquilisers and a
laxative to try and help him get over his worst nightmares from Gutflab Wormflesh last
month - Ed) by dropping a mountain on the centre of the Brettonian army. The pesky
enemy bowmen were obviously inferior to our skink archers, our only casualty was a perky
young skink by the name of Kenni. They killed Kenni those b*st*rds, but our
venerable master ressurected him with Apotheosis after the battle so that was OK. All the
man-spawns were killed and the sorceress was wounded and was kept for slavery and, ahem,
other things!
Kevin Carberry (Dark Elves) beat Jarrod Finlay (Undead): Next time Kev you
will not be so lucky. Emissaries have brought word of a dark scuttling thing heading your
way! - Jarrod
Well, Dark Lord Angarack and his warband from the Black Ark got half way across the battle
feild and stopped undead began to rise from the ground all around them attacking from all
sides
The Witch Elves where cut to ribbons and the Corsairs where badly mauled but at the end of
the day we had won a victory although at great cost.
Glenn Orsbourne (Dark Elves and
Orcs & Goblins) along with Tony Morley (Chaos Dwarfs and Skaven) beat Leo Henderiks
(Brettonians and High Elves) and Andrew Brailsford (Dwarfs and Wood Elves):
On the left flank of the Evil armies the old ruse of attack, then run away, then
attack again with Rat Ogres worked well, destroying one unit of dwarfs and causing another
to flee only to be caught by goblins on wolves! Rat swarms and giant rats held up the Wood
Elf Wardancers and then the Grey Seer saw them off with a spell. In the centre the
Earthshaker slowed things up whilst the goblin arrer-boyz kept up a steady stream of
arrows. On the right flank the Dark Elves had a hard time but were able to make kindling
out of a nearby passing treeman with the help of some goblin wolf chariots! Orion got
screwed (would have preferred Ariel myself, but each to their own! - Ed) and diced
and sliced and that was the end of him. As per usual the best of the Dark Elves held back
and whimpered and whined to the Skaven for help. So he Skaven Vermin Lord strolled over to
the High Elf bolt-throwers to give their crew a bit of a talking to, and on the way dealt
to an impotent High Elf character on a griffon who got in the way, first by be-heading the
griffon and then taking the character up the backside. (That's it, these evil guys are
definitely queer! - Ed). On the other side the dwarfs missed every shot with their
stone-throwers, their infantry was slow as the Dwarf King posed too much and didn't get
stuck in (probably too scared he might get screwed - and not by Witch Elves either! -
Ed). The High Elves got shot up, leaving the Wood Elves to do the dirty work. The
Brettonians were shunned by the High Elves and were stuck behind a forest for most of the
battle. A very boring and un-imaginative game by the good guys and a brilliant, sneaky
game from the dark side. Rats root and rule!
Jarrod Finlay (Undead) beat Bryan Orsbourne (Chaos Nurgle Daemons): As I,
Manfreed von Carstein withdrew from the cowardly Dark Elves we were brought to fight by
the forces of Nurgle. It was a bitter contest to the death. As blades clashed on spawned
skin we were slowly pushed from the field. But we came about and dealt a blow that
shattered the Nurgle army at their very core (he means he used a scummy item from
Chronicles of War which is now summarily and totally banned - throw that COW away it's
outta date! - Ed). With Undead pouring from their positions underground we cut
of their escape, sealing their fate! It was a close 15 to 12vp game, and not a single
skullchucker misfired. In fact they did some serious damage to the Nurgle army instead!
Kevin Carberry (Dark Elves) beat Robert Davies (Chaos Slaanesh Warriors):
Fresh from his victory over the undead and with new troop from the ark to replace his
losses the mighty Lord Angarack sallied forth again to do battle. Things did not start
well with Ralakar the wizzard killing himself with his first spell. but when the
beastmen chariots began to rout the rot set in and from them on it was all down hill for
chaos .
Warhammer 40K.
Robert Groom (Chaos) beat Ivan Soo (Dark Angels): The Dark Angels set up a
concentrated force opposite their Take & Hold objective. Chaos swept down from the
flanks intent on assassinating Commander Azrael. The DA Terminator's assault cannon
started a dismal shooting turn by malfunctioning, with the rest being out of range! The
infiltrating Vet Marines charged and killed one unit of DA Tactical Marines. The Noise
Marines and Veterans lined up on a hill to form a large firing squad. The DA Terminators
managed to miss almost every shot, whilst their comrades fell to the frenzied attacks of
chain-axe armed Veterans and Kharn the Betrayer! By the time the sun set on the field of
battle all the Dark Angels were dis-membered corpses, blooding the earth, and Commander
Azrael was lying dead at the feet of Kharn!
Ivan Soo (Dark Angels) beat Allister Nicholas (Imperial Guard): The Dark Angels won
by 2vp. Chief Librarian Exodus went one-on-one with Commissar Yarrick, but it was a draw!
The Imperial Guard had control of the game at the start, but the Dark Angels came back and
won it in the end!
Electronic Wargaming.
These games used electronic circuits to calculate casualties and morale. As a result these
games were really quite fast, with most games over within an hour. In the first game
Allister, using Europeans, beat me (Ken), using Afghans (is that chocolate Afghans or
just plain ones, Ken? - Ed). Allister still managed to win despite having his cavalry
brigade badly beaten by me. The next game was a reverse match with me (Ken) taking the
Europeans and Allister the Afghans (must have been a big packet of Afghans! - Ed),
reaching a stalemate with almost all forces permanently halted. Next game Warren gave the
Europeans a go and eventually overwhelmed the Afghans. He only lost his horse artillery.
This was the longest scrap to date as European and Afghan infantry fought over the walls
and was only decided when re-inforcements arrived on the Europeans side. In the last game
the Afghans (Ken) versus the Europeans (Peter) was a total bloodbath with every unit
suffering heavy casualties. (For more details on electronic wargaming see Ken's
additional article elsewhere in this newsletter - Ed).