Not your regular Sunday session #2. Of gangers, competitors and winners

Getting wired in
Wednesday's first installment of this Conflict Scotland 2010 report was all about meeting people, seeing the sights, and loading up with swag. Today I'll be telling of how Andy and I fared when we joined in the fun, and of the results of the competitions: the event's purpose after all.

Underhive shootout
The game
Knowing that there was to be open gaming laid on, Andy and I took along some of our models for a game. Andy took his 1500pt, 20 model Space Wolf Wolf Guard army (Andy's tried this army out already- against David's infamous Tau: you can read Andy's battle report here). I'd considered taking a Penumbra's Talons army but decided against it in the end, preferring instead just to take along my gang for a game of Necromunda with Andy.

Now part of GW's Specialist Games range, Necromunda was originally released in 1995 in a big box stuffed to the gunnels in best GW tradition (a box whose contents included- IIRC, the first appearance of the now highly prized plastic bulkheads). The game was an instant hit and has since won itself a following whose fanaticism is matched only by that of Blood Bowl, another game hailing from the same period (Blood Bowl's definitive 3rd edtion was released just the previous year).

The gang
My Necromunda gang are Orlocks who go by the name of 'The Ivans'. I finally chose Orlocks after long and careful consideration because I had the original boxed set of metal minis; more in blisters; and the boxed-set plastics: a collection which gave me my best range of opportunities for conversions should the Ivans' adventures result in their picking up interesting new wargear. And the name? That was a flash of desperate late night imagination.

It was a few years ago. I was entering a Necromunda day one Sunday at my local GW. Battering through the inevitable late night Saturday session at the painting table to get the lads finished I realised I needed not just a gang name, but names for each and every ganger too. Readers who've been there will know exactly the brain meltdown against which I'd've been struggling at that point. The name 'Ivan' popped into my mind and there it was, a solution: call the gang 'The Ivans', and give them the schtick that all the gangers would be called 'Ivan' or some variant thereof.

What went down
The setup
Our scenario was the basic 'Gangfight'. I set up first IIRC and went for the 3-group deployment I use to maximise my fire and manoeuvre opportunities:

• Base of fire: Big Ivan, Deadivan and Hawkivan.
• Assault: Ivan, Red Ivan and Black Ivan, entering at the end of turn 1 via my tunnels.
• Manoeuvre: Everyone else.
  

My setup: the 3 Ivans you can just see to the right are off-table, awaiting entry via my tunnels

Andy's setup

Turn 1
I got first turn, which consisted of nothing more than moving everyone into positon:

• Base of fire and manoeuvre groups- picture right.
• Assault- picture below left.

All according to plan so far then.

Andy's Eschers responded with their own advances, and with an unexpected snapshot through the ruins up at the frontline (LOS verified thanks to Andy's handy laser pointer), which pinned Iron Ivan who thus began a day of not living up to his monicker.

The rest of the game went roughly as follows:

Turn 2

• Me:

1. I discover that my base of fire's high ground isn't quite as useful as I'd hoped, since my rifles were out of range- and in no position either to close for targets; still, Big Ivan drew first blood.
2. I boob bigtime with my manoeuvre group: they didn't run when I sent them up to the next level. D'oh! And they shouldn't've gone up there in any case: that access ramp into Escher territory would've been a deathtrap if I'd ever been in a position to chance a dash across it. Double d'oh!

• Andy:

1. Gets a flesh wound on Iron Ivan.
2. Puts Ivan 'the Stutter' down- picture right; this was enough to panic my 2 juves who promptly legged it to the cover down below- picture as before.
3. The Escher downed by Big Ivan went out of action, which was lucky for me.

Turns 3 and 4
With my support fire reduced to Big Ivan's heavy stubber; with my manoeuvre element pinned in plain sight of the Escher's own heavy; and with Iron Ivan and Ivan "the Stutter"' out of action by the end of turn 3; the rest of the game devolved into 2 separate but related actions:

• Big Ivan's efforts to take down the Escher heavy to save the Ivans in the centre before they were ripped to shreds in a hail of lead.
• Ivan and his lads' efforts to force an assault up front; this was hairy because they were outnumbered and Andy had an Escher closing in with a plasma gun, of all things.

Big Ivan managed to pin the Escher heavy with his first burst, then wounded her with the second (my last hit of a burst which put Big Ivan's heavy stubber out of ammo IIRC).

Meanwhile Ivan and the others were holding their own thanks to heavy cover, flamer templates and shotgun scatter rounds. Fortune favoured me and the Escher's first assault wave was held at bay. That incoming plasma gunner- who had announced her presence with a miss (thank goodness!) could still turn the situation round with a dice roll or two. So Ivan did the only thing: he charged. He might've been suffering from a flesh wound, but his chainsword still made short work of the hapless Escher. Andy promptly failed the Bottle Test thus forced and it was all over. Whew!

Score
The Ivans 1
"Eschers? OK, but which ones?" 0
:-)

Aftermath
The Ivans captured an Escher juve who went by the name of Emily. For some reason I decided to be generous: she was ransomed back for a pittance which included her being allowed to keep her weapons. Andy's comments reminded me not to make that mistake again. Ivan "the Stutter's" wounds left him blinded in his left eye. And fully 8 of my gangers picked up a total of 9 advances: levelling up, it never gets old. The Ivans: they'll be back.

Afterthoughts
It's been a long time since I played Necromunda and this game left me wondering why: I just love playing it, and last Sunday's game was no exception. The new rules are essentially stripped down from the original edition and retrofitted with elements from 40K4. These were the rules used in that GW event I noted above and I think they work very well. Necromunda is a game focussed on fast action; in which the small numbers of models in play mean that a single dice roll can make or break the whole game. There are gamers out there who bemoan this kind of randomness, but it's entirely appropriate in a game of gang warfare.

Our game also attracted quite a bit of attention from passing con-goers, so that I several times found myself explaining the gang fights, XP, and narrative gaming features which make Necromunda both such fun to play, and such a goldmine for the creative modeller and would-be storyteller. The interest this sparked was plain to see.

The tournaments
Conflict tournaments are run under a doubles format: teams of 2 with small armies- 500pts IIRC, playing 4 games; unlike Conflict 2002, which was single player, 1500pts, and 3 games. Some people prefer the larger games- hardly surprising really given the nature of the games and of the beast that is the GW hobbyist, but this format seems to me to enjoy several advantages:

• It allows more people to compete: the Braehead venue is smaller than 2002's Ingliston and space is further restricted because there is a 3rd game in the GW stable since 2002, Lord of the Rings, naturally enough.
• Smaller games play more quickly, allowing more games to be played on the day.
• More people can get in on the prizes.

So I think the doubles format shows the GW event organisers devising creative solutions to the logisitical problems associated with giving fans what they want.

Best painted armies
There were prizes up for grabs for best painted armies as is the rule at GW tournaments. The captions to the pictures below demonstrate another advantage of the doubles format: it offers scope for comedy team names! Flushed (again!) with the thrill of networking; and snap happy as I already was with my trusty digicam, I asked permission to photograph the Golden Griffon win-and-place display and the awards ceremony. Permissions duly granted I was able to get pictures of everything.

LotR: Try Your Luck

Try they did, and hobby skills won out over luck on the day it would seem.

WFB: Skaven Supremacy

The vile ratmen's dreams of glory are inexhaustible and ever futile. Still, they were well turned out on the day: maybe they brushed their fur and waxed their whiskers?

40K: Tau'va Baby

For the greater good? Who knows? But for the Tau's own for sure!

Unfortunately I didn't see any of the tournament armies- let alone the above winners, but I've been around the GW scene long enough to know that the winners'll've been the best of a strong field.

Tournament winners
I can present a full list of the places in the tournaments thanks to the efforts of a GW staffer who was scribbling furiously while I was snapping away at the awards ceremony.

Warhammer Fantasy Battle

WFB tournament winners: Team Sim-Lee

The full list of places:

1. Team Sim-Lee.
2. I Can't Believe It's Not Gunpowder.
3. Rubber Duckies.

Lord of the Rings

LotR tournament winners: Pointy-eared Shenanigans

The full list of places:

1. Pointy-eared Shenanigans.
2. Why Did We Not Take Space Marines?
3. Team Father and Son.

Warhammer 40K

40K tournament winners: Blind Guardians

The full list of places:

1. Blind Guardians.
2. Team No We Don't.
3. Tau'va Baby.

Honourable Mention: Sportsmanship
This award went to the Emperor's Avengers (sounds like space marines to me) who showed sportsmanship above and beyond the call of duty when they found themselves playing against a team of novices. They put their opponents' enjoyment before easy tournament points and made sure their opponents enjoyed themselves and learned some lessons which might stand them in good stead in the future. Outstanding conduct guys. I hope more of us can live up to your sterling example.

The Golden Griffon
The wittily named painting competition the Golden Griffon has been a feature of Conflict Scotland for several years now. This is great: if there's one thing that miniatures hobbyists like more than a chance to match their skills against the best in the hobby, it's the chance to see and pore over lovely work by the best in the hobby.

A surprise entry
As noted above Andy had brought along his terminators thinking he might use them for a game of 40K. Then he discovered the Golden Griffon and decided to enter his first fully painted squad of terminators from the new Space Hulk, work over which Gav and I had enthused only recently.

Andy: proud & hopeful

Three terminators from Andy's squad

Unfortunately my novice camera skills meant that my pictures only captured part of Andy's squad and that the quality of the pictures wasn't great. Still, thanks to the wonders of Picasa photo retouching 3 models from Andy's entry survived for the world to see.

A veritable flood of entries!

Notice the yellow tablecloths in the picture above? A staffer told me that was what he'd brought to cover the table for the expected number of entries. As you can see, the competition attracted at least twice as many as had been allowed for: a veritable flood indeed.

Winner: Lord of the Rings single miniature

Jardine Stirling with his Golden Griffon trophy

Win & place entries in the LotR categories; note that Jardine also won the Large Scale Models category, default on the day for squads/units in all categories

A good day for Jardine. If you look at the competition he had for the Large Scale Models category you can see how seriously the Golden Griffon judges considered a wide range of criteria beyond the immediate 'Gosh! Wow!' factor.

Winner: 40K and WFB single miniature, and Brotherhood of the Brush

Andrew Steel with his three(!) trophies

All the acclaim had clearly left Andrew a tad abashed by the time I took the picture of him with all 3 of his trophies, so I included an inset taken before it all got a bit too much for the poor guy.

Win & place entries in the 40K categories; Andy's terminator squad is at the back!

Win & place entries in the WFB categories

Win & place entries in the Brotherhood of the Brush categories

This Brotherhood of the Brush category is really neat: a specific model is chosen and everyone gives it their own interpretation. I think I might give this one a go next year. No promises mind.

Winners: Young Bloods and Diorama

Win & place Young Bloods

The GW hobby is also well known for the frankly sometimes mind boggling level of skills displayed by the kids, often enough to strike despair into the hearts of aging hobbyists like yours truly. GW's Young Bloods competition categories have done a lot to encourage these young'uns by giving them the chance for top-flight glory and GW deserve a lot of credit for this.

Winning diorama

The diorama category is one I always like, and 40K dioramas strike a deep chord with me because of my years as a teenage tankie. So it was nice to see this IG scene win out last Sunday.

Hip, hip!

And that that's for the award winners at Conflict Scotland 2010. As you can see from the pictures above everyone was proud of their achievements, and rightly so: GW events always attract strong fields, so any honour there garnered is a treasure indeed. Hearty congratulations to one and all.

Votes of thanks
I had a great day out at Conflict Scotland 2010, as- I'm sure, did many many others. A lot of people worked very hard to make this possible. I'd like here therefore to offer my personal votes of thanks to:

• All the staff- from Braehead Curling Rink and GW stores both, whose efforts- in the runup and on the day, were essential to giving us all a good time in a great atmosphere.
• Craig- whom I'd already met at Conpulsion 2010 back in March, Nick and Tom: these 3 troopers volunteered to run the open gaming this year. Thanks a lot all 3 of you. I'm sure Andy and I weren't the only gamers there who appreciated your efforts which gave me one of my personal highlights of the day, as I'm sure readers have already gathered.
• To everyone I met: the GW staffers, fellow gamers, and friends old and new (that includes you Jamie- it was cool to catch up with you again); meeting people like you is part of what makes our geek gatherings the pleasure they are. I hope we meet again sometime soon.
• And Andy. Thanks again for the driving. You make getting out to these events so much easier. I really appreciate it buddy. And congratulations on your success at coming 2nd in the Golden Griffin: you'll be picking up one of those trophies soon enough at this rate.
  

And that's it. ;)

Addenda
23/04/10. Andy dug up an interesting looking Necromunda resource site: Yakromunda. I've subscribed.
24/04/10. And here is Andy's gang: Girls of Old Town.
26/04/10. Andrew Steel (not Hood!) has his own blog: Dante's Inferno: CM Dante's Modelling Blog. You can get a proper look at his winning entries in his own Conflict 2010 report. Well worth checking out.

Related@RD/KA!
Not your regular Sunday session
- #1. Of GWers, gamers and swag

Not your regular Sunday session #1. Of GWers, gamers and swag

It's been a long time
With no gaming the previous week because we had decided to go for a walk in the lovely spring sunshine, last Sunday's session was also cancelled because Andy and I had chosen to accept our mission: to attend GW's premiere Scottish gaming event, Conflict 2010. My last Conflict- at which I was a competitor, was back in 2002, so it was nice to go to another and to see what had become of this event in the intervening years. Neither Andy nor I were competing this year so we had plenty of time to take in the sights.

The writer
The Black Library stand was the first thing Andy and I noticed on our entry into the venue- the Braehead Curling Rink, but we barely had time to register its presence as we were both making a rapid beeline for the bargain stand across the far side of the hall. On this first of several visits I spotted a shopworn copy of Heldenhammer: the Legend of Sigmar, the first in Graham McNeill's trilogy of novels about this founder of the Empire in the Warhammer Old World; a bargain at a mere £1. Result!

Andy, Graham McNeill & myself

Pausing only to pay, naturally enough, and accompanied by Andy I made haste thence to the Black Library's outpost, there to meet the author himself. A much more avid reader of BL than myself, Andy had of course brought a novel from his own collection for this purpose, one of the Ultramarines series. We did the signing thing and fell to chatting.

I've read the second of the Ultramarines series myself- Warriors of Ultramar, which I found in my local library a few years ago. Talking about the book with Graham I told him that my favourite scene was the barroom brawl which introduced the underhive gang; a scene in which the characters came instantly to life both as individuals and as a group with strong relationships with each other; and in which the action was depicted vividly and with a lot of humour. Graham explained that this was because he'd already written about the gang in a short story so that they were already well defined and alive in his mind when he came to include them in Warriors of Ultramar.

I also told Graham that I was a bit disappointed at the role the gangers played in the novel. Unfortunately I didn't explain this very well last Sunday. The thing about Warriors of Ultramar- as is the case with any space marine novel, is that it is difficult to make a sympathetic protagonist out of an ideologically-driven, genetically-engineered super solider who lives for nothing but war against heretics and xenos: there's just not enough humanity there. These difficulties are compounded when such a character is an Ultramarine- the most orthodox of the orthodox among the space marines; and when you put such a character where he belongs- on the battlefield: because these choices both further limit your options as a storyteller.

So when the hive gang appeared I was hoping for two things:

• A 'behind the lines' look at the 'reality' of a conflict as terrible as that which is the main thrust of the story in Warriors of Ultramar.
• Some unlikely heroes to provide a more conventionally redemptive twist to a story whose outcome I expected to be grim even in the event of 'victory'.

If I remember rightly: I got the first- albeit not as I'd wished for, the gang's naturally larcenous proclivities being what determined their main role in the story; and the second?- well that might've been there, but it's been a long time since I read the book. Thinking back to the story as I write this I realise that I was essentially the victim of unrealistic expectations. Looking for a humanistic counterpoint to the horrors of war? Then don't read 40K novels; after all: "In the grim darkness of the far future there is only war." And hoping that the hive gangers would turn out to be some variant on the Robin Hood archetype? Not utterly implausible per se, but rather unlikely given the nature of the beast.

All of which turns out to be a positive reflection on Warriors of Ultramar. Strange? Not really. If my only negative memory of the novel is that it didn't fulfil what turn out to have been unreasonable expectations then it must obviously have fulfilled my reasonable expectations. So I have to say I'm rather looking foward to reading Heldenhammer, to see what Graham makes of this epic character in the Warhammer canon.

Speaking of Sigmar, it seems as if Graham has been, erm... strangely affected by the experience of immersing himself in this character at the time when Sigmar and his army stood alongside the dwarfs in the battle to defend the young Empire against the greenskinned tide. I say this because later that afternoon I happened upon Graham calling out an Ork Stompa model for a 'square go'.

Like Gulliver in Lilliput, with added Glasgae!

Graham wouldn't be persuaded that his antagonist was beneath him figuratively even more than it was literally. Unfortunately he didn't enjoy script immunity in the ensuing carnage.

WAAGH! I win!

The doing dished out can't've been serious because Graham was seen back on duty soon enough. I suspect the application of Irn Bru was involved.

The games

As well as the impressive array of tables for the 40K, WFB and LotR tournaments, there were participation games laid on for the non-competitors. Here are some which caught my eye- photographed after asking permission, naturally enough.

Waagh! That sassafrassarassin' pigeon!

Alan Hobbs, John McGarrie & Kenny Hall

This is a racing game run by Glasgow club St. Aidan's Warriors and featuring the lovely Ork Deffkoptas from the Warhammer 40K: Assault on Black Reach introductory boxed set. John told me about the St. Aidan's Warriors- part of the Gaming Club Network, and explained that the game had been inspired by the Red Bull Air Race and the "Catch the pigeon" exploits of Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines in the old TV show (you can see the pigeon highlighted in the picture). This looked like a really fun game in the best tradition of club creativity. I was hoping to get a chance to play it but there wasn't enough time in the end. Another time maybe.

The Battle of Macragge
The Battle for Macragge in the First Tyrannic War of 745.M41 has long been a key feature of the mythos of the Ultramarines (it is mentioned as early as the 2nd edition Codex: Ultramarines, which dates from 1995). In fact I don't think it's going too far to suggest that this battle is second only to the Horus Heresy itself as a definitive battle of the Chapters Astartes in the 40K setting. As such it features regularly at GW events. The pictures below show the game which was staged by staff from GW's Gateshead Metro Centre store.

The Tyranid horde assails Fortress Macragge

As this picture shows, the high standard of modelling for which GW participation games are justly renowned has only got better with the recent spate of new plastic kits for terrain, Tyranids and space marines alike.

Celebration for the Tyranids, dismay for the Ultramarines

David, from the Metro Centre GW

GW participation games are also legendary for their shoutiness, for which I was long ago way too old I must confess. Still, David above was going great guns while I watched; narrating each dice roll with gusto, and with imagination with which any roleplaying GM'd've been only too pleased. I just have to wonder if there was an otherwise inexplicable shortage of throat lozenges in Glasgow on Monday morning.

Angelfall
With the recent release of the new Blood Angels range it was a cinch that there'd be a big BA game at this year's Conflict. The massive game seen below was laid on by a combined effort of the Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Livingstone stores and was GM'ed on the day by Neil- Edinburgh, and Rob- Aberdeen.

View from the Blood Angels' end

View from the Tyranids' end

Once again this table shows the lovely models available in the new range of plastic kits, as well as the fine hobby skills of the GW staffers.

Have you got a toothbrush and some mouthwash buddy?

The grinning beastie above- a Tyranid Scythed Hierodule, comes from the Forgeworld range of resin kits. I just had to get a close up because it was such an impressive looking piece.

The scultptor
As is typically the case at major GW events their design and production teams were also represented, in the person that Sunday of trainee sculptor Giorgio Bassani. Andy and I caught up with Giorgio late on in the afternoon and we had the time for a lengthy chat.

Giorgio Bassani

One of the younger generation who were weaned on GW, Giorgio was a freelance illustrator for 4 years before he won a place in GW's recent intake of 3 trainees into the miniatures development team. As someone who once tried- and failed, to get a job with GW as a trainee games developer (I believe Gav Thorpe was one of the people who got in that time) I can appreciate how thrilling it must be to come out at the top of what must've started out as a very long list.

We talked about how GW have continually raised the bar with the sculpting and production of their models to the degree that their plastic kits are now as good as any; with the added attraction that they are always designed with the gamer in mind, so that simplicity of construction remains a prime consideration. Similarly we discussed how much miniatures painting- in both the materials available and in technique, has advanced since the days when I was a teenage tankie. Giorgio was particularly fascinating when he told us how exciting it is to be part of the GW miniatures development team (21 people IIRC), brainstorming, and critiquing each other's work until the finished product fits the chosen vision just right.

Some of Giorgio's trainee sculpts

Inevitably, in the case displaying samples of Giorgio's work our attention was most attracted by the Tallarn Desert Raiders. Andy in particular was disappointed to hear that these were training sculpts- Giorgio's first 3 in fact, which are not part of a planned new plastic Imperial Guard range. I confess I too was a bit disappointed: the Tallarn are probably the coolest IG regiment awaiting the plastic kit revamp GW fans have every reason to expect we will see some time in the future, for one regiment or another.

I asked Giorgio if he'd had any of his sculpts released. He told us that he'd had bits and pieces in some accessory sets. It is a mark of just how seriously GW take staff training that someone can be working with them for 16 months and still be waiting for his first full credit on a sculpt. Giorgio was a pleasure to chat with- enthusiastic, interesting and interested, so I can only say that I hope he doesn't have to wait too long to see his name on a new miniature going out on shop shelves all across the world.

The surprise encounter
Passing by the BL stand again I got to talking with one of the staff about the legendary Gotrek and Felix of the Trollslayer series. The subject turned to Gotrek's doom and I had to confess that there is still only one person who can write this story as far as I am concerned. The talk moved on through the general subject of dwarfs and I expounded my theory that the Trollslayer is GW's unique addition to the dwarf archetype, which remained otherwise essentially unchanged throughout the 20th century.

THE Ragnar Karlsson

For some reason- your everyday friendly curiosity I imagine, I asked the guy his name after that. It turned out we're internet acquaintances: from the days when Bill King's Trollslayer site had a forum; and more lately from fB. So I took a picture, naturally enough.

And the ever cheerful...
The people who saw the most of me last Sunday were the staff running the bargain stand, to which I made several visits. As the day wore on and the stock ran down, the stand became quiet. And so I found myself talking to the cheerful gentleman below.

Charles

A former builder, Charles is GW's property manager, a post whose job description remains vague in my memory (was it managing the property portfolio, or managing the development of the properties themselves?). We had a good blether sharing our enthusiasm for GW and our different routes into the hobby. Charles was also good for a couple of last-minute special bargains with the few remaining scraps of the stock.

The swag
You can be sure dear readers, that I wasn't going anywhere near a GW event without an idea of something I wanted to buy. Last Sunday I'd decided it was time for me to get myself a Venerable Dreadnought. This is a lovely kit: beautifully detailed; three different guns which you can swap about; and lots of parts for the spares box, some of which I have already earmarked for my other dreads. This is one I've been looking forward to getting my mitts on for a wee while now.

Everything else I bought was from the bargain stand. What GW seem to have done was to tell all the stores participating at Conflict to empty their stock rooms of shop-worn or out of date stock; all the scrap sprues which couldn't be sold because parts had been used for store projects; plus any other old junk to boot. There were bargains galore, including 6 sets of the new Space Hulk (where did they find those?)- these were auctioned off; and- unbelievably, a copy of the 1988 game of highway combat Dark Future!

Apart from the Heldenhammer novel most of what I got was scraps, and sprues full of random bits which will prove useful for building myself some new terrain. Another choice pick was a cheap Necron Destroyer Lord. I don't play Necrons and likely never will: too many armies and too little time; but the techy parts are nice for conversion projects. I was also pleased to get my hands on a copy of the Warhammer 40K Wargear book. Although out of date now (it was for 4th edition) it was only £1 and I've already got an idea of the use to which I'll put it.

And that's it for today. I'll be rounding off this report on Conflict Scotland 2010 in the next day or two. ;)

Addendum
Andy has corrected me about the title of the book Graham McNeill signed for him.

Related@RD/KA!
Not your regular Sunday session
- #2. Of gangers, competitors and winners