Well, this has been a busy weekend. You readers will only be interested in the first half (unless for some reason you want to know about Mother’s Day celebrations which is, bad news, not the topic of this blog). Instead, lets talk about some wargaming things!
On Friday, I finished work early and drove over to York. For a change, it was not for my usual reason (go play the Dastardly Regular Opponent) but instead to go meet the team behind Flytrap Factory who are in the process of touring around the UK on holiday. If you don’t know Flytrap, you’ve probably seen some of the figures Anton has sculpted in his time in the industry, some of which I have included on this blog in the past. Anton is definitely an old hand in the trade, with lots of experience on the other side of the hobby from myself. This was the first time we’d actually managed to meet face to face, and always handy putting voices to faces to names.
I had a really good time chatting over a few beers about modern wargaming in general as well as hearing some fantastic stories. I also got to hear about what we’ll be seeing from them soon in their recently announced Gunslinger range and I have to say, Anton said all the right things to make me want to get home and get the printers up and going again so they are ready for when we see them!
The final comment from that evening though – nothing is more terrifying than meeting someone for the first time and hearing “oh yeah. I was just talking to (major person in the industry) about you!”. I still see myself as but one guy and his blog, so hearing people know about it is always a bit of a thrill. For one thing, it’s definitely making me look at what I have on the to-be painted pile and shifting it around!
No time to rest though – Saturday dawned early as I made the trip down to Warhammer World to meet up with the former housemate (who has cropped up a few times before) and the wargames club he has constructed at his work. After the traditional drive to Nottingham (I’m two for two for torrential rain on the drive down), I made my trip to the shop, met up with the group and we got a game going.
The group has formed to play Necromunda and so we broke out a four player game. Enforcers, Delaque, Orlocks and Ash Wastes Nomads were fighting through that Underhive and attempting to escape to the upper levels. Everyone started with 3 gang members (their leader and two randomly chosen buddies from the roster). As the man providing the Enforcers, I assisted the newbie player who actually controlled them with the basics of the game and pulled out the roster cards as well as providing several players with Tactics Card advice. My former housemate was GM’ing, while some people not playing directly were called upon to provide dice rolls during special events. After all, someone has to work out which of the tiles would be removed as the walls slowly closed in…
As you might guess from it being Necromunda, the result was a glorious mess. The Nomads managed to get away with the win, making up for their loss of two to the crushing walls by taking out a chunk of the Orlocks in a straight fighter. The Delaque got hit hard in the early game (including an exploding barrel that started a fire that would be a problem throughout) but managed to be one of the last groups standing. The Orlocks themselves were boxed in and beaten up but still managed to get some good hits in. Finally, my Enforcers did some sneaky moves to get up to the objective, even preparing to do a full on “stack, breach and clear”. They then proceeded to have mix fortunes once they got inside – when they reached combat they absolutely stomped what they touched (the robo-dog is worth his weight in creds) but but fell foul of the webber the Delaque player threw around like it was going out of style. The important thing was that everyone around the table had a good time – the rules flowed as well as Necromunda can do and the outright madness kept us entertained.
As well as the game, we also had a trip around the exhibit. I went back in 2021 and there have been a few changes and additions, as well as. Age real shifting around of objects (Necromunda getting 3/4 of a room right at the end was cool to see). I also managed to escape with only a two items in the carts (final parts of my Escher gang I’m building) although being from Forge World there was a touch of heavy breathing. Still saved on postage!
The day then ended with a trip to Bugmans, the eponymous burger (yes, two patties, pulled pork and mozzarella AND onion rings are good burger choices) and then a drive back home that took an extra hour due to an accident on the M1. I basically collapsed into bed when I got back, a day well enjoyed.
At the end of the two days, I can feel a lot of my hobby juices flowing back in, that excitement about doing wargaming again. Warhammer World provided it for the hobby in general – seeing well painted models, sitting in the hall gaming surrounded by the whole span of the Games Workshop hobby, chatting about ideas and plans. The meet up with Flytrap filled me with excitement about what’s coming next for Moderns, the possibilities of just what might be coming up.