Warhammer in The Hammer! Part I

   The Warnasium of the Sinclair Memorial Home for Incurable Tyrants has been silent these last two months. A trip of a life-time to march on the fields of Waterloo, and a brief turn under the surgeon's knife, have kept me away. But, now, the mountain of Hamilton once again reverberates with the roar of laughter and tiny, tiny war. I am proud to present Warhammer in The Hammer!

  

   On Saturday, July 25th, a horde of veteran gamers descended on the Warnasium, bringing with them their collections of Warhammer figures. Our goal was simple; to celebrate the launch of Warhammer: Age of Sigmar with a massive battle, using as many of our Warhammer miniatures as we could squeeze onto my 3.5' x 7.5' gaming table, festooned with freshly painted scenery!

The table, ready for battle

   The forces of Chaos were lead by John Cote fielding Ogre Kingdoms, Scott Kelly with his Cult of Slaanesh, Chris Alten commanding his Warriors of Chaos, and Jason Russell leading a horde of the Vampire Counts. Facing off against them was the forces of Order commanded by Craig Alten and his Lizardmen, Bill Murphy heading up an Empire battalion, Connor Angus with his own swarms of Skinks and Saurus, and my own humble Bretonnians.

The gang, ready for war (and snacks)

   Our army selection system was simple, taken right from the Age of Sigmar rules themselves. Each side could set up whatever they liked, as long as they could physically fit their miniatures in their set-up zone. When we were done putting figures on the table we hand 207 Order models facing off against 176 Chaos troops! The table was packed!

Chaos and Ogres and Cultists! Oh my!!

   Leading the army of Order was the ancient, half-dead slaan Lord Kroak. His many powers, not least his ability to generate re-rolls, would prove critical in the upcoming carnage. Opposing him was the General of the Dark Army, a Chaos Lord on Foot with the terrifying ability to summon endless hordes of Slaves to Darkness.

Lord Kroak - The fat floating frog of doom

The General of the Dark Army, horns and all

   The table was set, and the players were thirsty for battle! Stay tuned for Part II of Warhammer in The Hammer!

...and thanks again for visiting the Sinclair Memorial Home for Incurable Tyrants!
-Andrew

'What a lovely May' -- S.M.H.I.T. goes car-crazy, Mad Max style!

   On Saturday, May 16th, the quiet neighbourhood of Ancaster Ontario became a scene of vehicular chaos as the streets were lit up with four-wheeled death machines sporting after-market firepower! In short... Mad Max: Fury Road came to town.
  
   To celebrate this momentous event S.M.H.I.T. style, Scott Kelly, Rob Rabey, Bill Murphy, and Craig and Chris Alten joined me for a day of gaming and movie!

The Usual Suspects.

  We opened up with a vicious and hilarious game of Road Kill Rally. This is an out-of-print Z-Man game from 2010 that was given to me by that veteran road warrior Jay Griffiths. In essence, this is a boardgame version of the classic 1975 movie Death Race 2000. Each player races to complete a twisting course through city streets and country roads, all the while trying to score points by shooting other racers and running over pedestrians!

Carnage in the corner!

   Here you can see the pack of racers screeching through a tight turn filled with pedestrians potential points! Each segment of the race is designated by a road tile, and each race unfolds differently as the tiles are drawn randomly. My favourite tile is 'Euthanasia Day', where the doctors and nurses at the old folks home wheel out all the geriatrics... Bonus points!

   The race was fierce, but in the end Scott Kelly emerged as the victor!

Victory row!

   After heading over to the Ancaster Silver City to see Mad Max: Fury Road, (in my opinion, the best movie in years!), the boys and I returned to the S.M.H.I.T. Warnasium for a throw-down death match of Dark Future!

  

My Dark Future gang, The NoGo Dogz!

  
   Dark Future is a Games Workshop classic from way back in 1988. My preferred way to play it is with the revised tournament rules featured in White Dwarf magazine. It captures the flavor of the full game, but in a fast, fun-to-play system that can be picked up quickly.

Death race at Donut Alley!

   Squaring off in our death race was Rob and Chris, driving the sooped-up and deadly Sanctioned Operative Interceptors I converted up just for this event. One is a vintage 1969 Matchbox Lamborghini (The Black Knight), and the other is a Hot Wheels Oldsmobile 442, driven by The Kid. Both sport heavy after-market firepower.  

'The Kid' and The Black Knight ready to ride.

   Early on I took my flimsy renegade and played chicken with The Black Knight. This ended in a my fiery death, symbolized by the donut...

Blamm! Icing sugar everywhere!

   The Interceptors continued to dominate the match, until the 442 collided with a wrecked motorcycle, driving The Black Knight into his rear bumper at top speed! A couple of failed rolls later and The Black Knight had crashed and burned!

Tailgating kills!

  Despite this mishap, the renegades couldn't compete with the heavy laser firepower of the 442, and the last survivor fled the track.

   Thanks very much to all the guys for a great day of automotive mayhem and gaming! And thank you for visiting my little corner of the web!

See you soon!
-Andrew

The March to Malifaux

   To paraphrase an old adage, games are what happens while you're making other plans.

   Being passionate about miniatures and games means I have, for as long as I can remember, been susceptible to what my friend Jay calls Hobby ADD. Basically I'm easily distracted by shiny new toys. This past March saw a perfect example of this phenomenon. Right in the middle of gearing up for my Shield of Baal gaming, I suddenly made a right-turn and jumped back into Malifaux with both feet.

   About three years ago I first played Malifaux, and I was enthralled by the dark mix of the steampunk, gothic horror and good ole' fashioned Western genres. Excellent stories and background combined with characterful models and an innovative game system... Really, what more could you ask for?

   When the fine folks at Lords of War hobbies in Oakville announced they were running a Malifaux League in March, and that several of my friends were joining in, I decided it was time to try out the new, second edition of the game. And, of course, paint up some new models!

   Jay, wanting to work on some of the excellent new plastic Malifaux models, gave me his old Hoffman crew. He had bought the old edition box set, and painted up three of the steam robots. I gratefully took these plus the unpainted Hoffman figure, and hunted down some of the other figures from the crew.

My Hoffman crew, with custom Scheme markers.

  

Hoffman with soul-powered robo-crutches!

Hoffman's half-dead machine brother, Ryle.

A Warden steam-bot with Robot Punch!

The diminutive but dangerous Governor's Proxy.

Scheme markers made from old Citadel chests.



 

   Every Friday during March we gathered at Lords of War to battle it out. They have excellent scenery at the shop, and a great selection of Malifaux products. Here Kevin and I duked it out amidst the buildings of a Guild outpost, somewhere in the wilds of Malifaux.

Fightin' ninjas in the alley!

   Thanks to Jay for the gift of the models, and thanks also to Lords of War for hosting this fun event. I look forward to adding even more robots to my crew, and throwing down in the next league!

   And thank you for visiting my little corner of the web!

   See you soon!
   -Andrew