Journeydudes: the Dudening (part 3)

Week three of the Shed Journeyman League; With the rise to the 25pt level everyone's armies are starting to fill out,  Only 4 of our 5 tables were being used, making for a relatively quieter night than previous nights, but games started to take a noticeably longer amount of time with moremodels to activate. This was handled well by our newer players, and it was awesome and enlightening watching people encounter the different rules interactions that come into play, particularly seeing Jordan's discovery of how awesome Gatormen Posse are in Skorne.

Also, as more and more order of activation interactions are becoming available, I'm noticing just how the shift to 25 changes the game for my Cephalyx. Now having two full units of drudges available to play alongside two Agitators and my Monstrosities. I am over the moon. Ecstatic. I can't shut up about those guys. They are the absolute business, so many options and tricks. I'm positively gushing. PP, you've outdone yourselves. Some of the interactions came as surprises, like the interaction between the Subduer and Wrecker. Previously it seemed two Wreckers were an obviously better battlegroup, but over several games now  the Subduer has proven itself a fantastic piece to set up for assassinations or knocking down high-def pieces. I feel this is just the beginning of exploring the depth of these models.

Just a few snaps, this time of people smiling as I was annoyed at the blandness of my previous photos. The players were potentially straining under the pressure to appear joyful, and some even put in the effort to lift their thumbs in an upward direction.

And here are our standings after week 3:

Dan creeps ahead, nabbing a couple of hobby points for painting Aiyana and Holt, and racking up a total of 4 games over the night, more than anyone else. His rampage with Butcher was finally stalled however, when faced against my Cephalyx. Things are still pretty tight however, and heaps of people had painting done but elected to hold out before counting them for hobby points till they had done more work. The Shed lads are a disciplined bunch.

We meet again on the 7th of September, 25 points again, but this time you are all welcome to change your 'casters/'locks to try someone different. Remember, you got to hold on to your original battlegroup. One further change I am making will be to introduce the steam roller scenarios for our games. The recommended scenarios from the journeyman pack have been interesting to play, but I feel they have now outlived their novelty. The steamroller pack provides far more relevant and dynamic scenarios for us to learn with. 

Painting update x2

Where I've got up to with my Cephalyx- Almost all 15pts done, just some touching up and arcs to do for the Drudges. The push to 25pts will probably see the unit grow to max size, with another Agitator and a max unit of Mind Benders. All the troops.

Journeymandibles: Rnd 2

Week 2 of our journeyman league, 15 points now, more beasts, more jacks, more solos, more units oh my! - Action shots!

Nothing more awe inspiring than a pic of people bent over tables rolling dice. Such grace. Much majesty. Wow.

It was a pretty packed Monday night, 5 games running simultaneously, with Matt Bissel and his trolls on the sidelines ready to drop in and out. There were a few new drop-ins including someone no one was actually expecting to show up. Word of the Shitty Shed League gets around.

Anyway, more pics of people's games:

And the results!

I pushed to the top of the pack having painted the full battle box and a solo. Dan powered through all his games, steamrolling everyone with Butcher again. Dave W decided to make the switch to circle, so unfortunately his points have reset. Plenty of time to climb the ladder though.

Next time we meet on the 24th, and shift our lists up to the 25pt mark. Joy!

Painting update

A quick post to track my painting progress with my Cephalyx for the Journeyman League - Ralph is done, and as of today the Subduer is close to being finished and Exulon is slowly coming together, where I'm toying with a few ideas of how to approach his colour scheme. To bring the list to 15pts I have one min unit of Mind Slaver and Drudges based and washed, alongside an Agitator.

Really enjoying painting these guys, I love the aesthetic of the Cephalyx models and getting more of these done over the course of the Journeyman.

Journeymayngs: Rnd 1

Report of Day 1 of the Official SHED Journeyman League, a mild Monday evening disrupted by backs cracking as they bend over tables, wrists creaking as dice are rolled, and the characteristic shuffle of plastic against skin as models are moved. Ah yesss, the smell of 8 men packed into a barely insulated space. The stuff dreams and shattered hopes are made of. And much learnings.

After a last minute recruitment drive, Luke Harvey managed to net two more fresh and naive players in the form of Ray and Jordan. Welcome to the Shed boys.

welcum

My first game was played against Ray who had turned up an hour early. +1 for enthusiasm Ray. He was running the basic Skorne BBox, and we managed to hustle two games as other people arrived and started their own games. Overall, we had 4 games running simultaneously, with most sneaking in 3 games each.

Morghul gets Wrecked

da fuk?

Ret vs CoC 

Morghul's revenge

Deathripper being mates with Kreoss

My own experience was one of feeling rather refreshed by the games. Approaching the game again with a stripped down number of options and exploring a new faction,meant the freedom to try out different moves and tricks, and order of activations. I hope the others felt the same, and that when we meet again in a couple of week's time we get the same chances, except this time with 15pts worth of stuff. An Agitator is definitely the first thing to go into the list.

As for results, here's where everyone is currently ranked based off my recording of the collected game and hobby points.

So Ray leads the pack, to no small part due to having his BBox painted. Jordan was the other person to have done some painting and follows up in third, and Dan sits at 2nd having somehow snuck in 4 games, and winning them all with an Iron-Fleshed pButcher.

You can tell he's stoked about the whole thing.

Or at least, Nikola seemed to be

Oh dear lord...

See you in 2 weeks guys!

Journeymayngs

Just a quickie to begin the documentation of a small journeyman league I'm running out of my garage. The idea came from David Smooth-Hands Wilson, who would sporadically show up for our regular gaming and cuddle nights on Thursdays. He had a conflicting sports commitment which meant he had trouble finding time to game with the rest of us. This was further compounded by his relative unfamiliarity of the game, so starting from the battlebox level seemed like a great way to start over, relearn the basics of the game, and really see what sort of stunts you could pull out of the bag.

For myself, this seemed to be a great way to approach the game anew, and really test what could be done with a limited palette of options. Additionally, a bunch of us have a backlog of minis that we have neglected to attend to, so the Journeyman becomes a way to start painting our models from a modest and manageable base, and to expand the forces over the next few weeks in a steady and reasonable pace. We're also opening things up to allow people to make their own battleboxes with 11pts. We'll try to keep that under control so there hopefully won't be anything too heinous but #yolo.

We'll be doing this unofficially due to having no easy access to a press ganger and a journeyman kit, so we won't have swish badges to show off to our respective partners, girlfriends, and pets. But using this blog I'll document and chart our progress, so while there won't be badge prizes there will be the very real and tangible shame of being exposed for being a slack fuck on the worldwide web.

SO WHO'S UP FOR IT?

First we have Mr Wilson himself

I think he mentioned at one point wanting to use Convergence. I guess we'll find out if he is.

Then we have Luke H bringing his own variation on the Kaelyssa battlebox. 

Next up to the plate we have Dan L, running an eCaine battlebox. I predict all his games end with a top-of-two-feat assassination. 

I have no idea what's up with your profile pic Dan, 

Nikola will be pThagging it, though I think he's making his own variation on the suggested bb.

Only guy playing Hordes. Oosh.

Ol' Greg F is doing something with dwarves. Gorten I believe with all the lights.

This post allows me to reuse this gif I made of Greg two years ago, bonus.

And we also got Peter H, bringing along the obligatory pDenny bb. Someone has to be that guy.

There are few snaps of Pete on the interwebs, so here's one of him I took, on his way to go for a piss.

And then there's me.

My backlog of models has included a full 50pt Cephalyx force, so Exulon Thexus and his boys it is.

Looking forward to giving this guy a spin; the monstrosities are such neat models, and the tricks Thexus has available for him will likely make my face implode. I had my first go at magnetizing too, making the Wrecker's face and arms interchangeable with the Warden's. The Subduer on the left I thought would be too tricky to magnetize, until I fully assembled him and glued him together, and saw that his net launcher arm would have been fine magnetized.

*oh well*

Huh. I said this would be a short one, didn't I?