Salute 2016

This was the first time attending the event, and was something I was looking forward to! I was most fortunate to travel down with Warlord Games, (thanks to Andrew Chesney!), I was tasked with manning the Antares table for the day, running demo games for those who wished to know more.

The two tables were built to represent habitation domes either on the surface of a starship, or on a barren planet. The two games featured many bespoke pieces of terrain, all done by Richard Carlisle of Warlord,including a large skeleton of some gigantic creature (or office rat!). Sarissa Precision provided the buildings and impressive dome! 

Floating around the boards was the latest addition to the Antares range. The new C3M4 Combat Drone plastic kit really does herald the way things will go in Antares. The vehicle is used by the Concord and Freeborn forces and was a popular item on the day! Full review is due soon.

Among all the shiny goodness that Warlord had to offer was the magnificent looking Project Z game, which at £30 a pop, was selling fast!  Watch this space for a battle report or two!

As well as the Conflict 47 rules coming from Clockwork Goblin and Warlord, they had on show a number of impending releases as well as some of their current products, this a game that I cannot wait to get into, in fact I bought some stuff there and then!

Alongside the Antares table was a decent sized game of Tanks Wars, which ran for most of the day.

I did manage to get a few minutes to myself and went off to see what I could find. For those who have not been before, the event is truly massive.  Over 14,000 square feet and over 150 traders, it is the place to be!

Aside from running off to purchase some shiny goodies, I went to check out the Hawk Wargames stand, where they had their immense display. Cannot wait for Dropfleet to hit the shops! Their event only items sold out within minutes of opening!

Moving further about, I discovered the guys at 4Ground. The Gotham themed buildings looked amazing, and I will be grabbing some for a future Batman article! The Flames of War scale scenery was spot on, and cannot wait for more releases from their sci-fi range, great for Antares, 40k and many other systems.

I also managed to get a glimpse of the forthcoming Halo: Ground Command from Spartan Games, this looks set to be a great system to get into, and with these guys behind it, is set for big things! The miniatures are stunning, and I cannot wait to get a game in!

It was great to catch up (in real life) with fellow hobbyists and friends, and pretty much geek out about this wonderful industry!

Salute 2016 was amazing, and though I would have liked to seen more, it was a blast! The event is so big that you would be hard-pressed to see everything, but I do urge you all to go.

 Thanks to all at Warlord for the opportunity and it was a fantastic experience...bring on next year!

Salute 2016

So this year I will be at Salute!

It's my first time there (shocking I know!) and I am very much looking forward to it, the sights...the sounds...the... smells?!

Anywho, come find me at the Warlord Games stand, where I will be manning the Beyond the Gates of Antares table!

Be great to see some of you there!

Cheers

Sam

Operation Sand Dune

Here you will find a link to the first in a series called Operation Sand Dune, where myself, Andy Singleton of Volley Fire Painting Services and Carl Titterington of T's Foaming Terrain and all That are building up armies and terrain based on the Duel in the Sun supplement for Bolt Action by Warlord Games.

More articles, blogs and videos are on the way!

Operation Sand Dune Part Introdcution:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIRQ-ZY0tNU

Andy Singleton;

https://www.facebook.com/VolleyFirepainting/?fref=ts

Carl Titterington:

https://www.facebook.com/FoamingTerrain/?fref=ts

Beyond the Gates of Antares, The Xilos Horizon: Battle Report

With the Xilos Horizon boxed game in hand, myself and Dave Walker of House Lancaster decided to use some of the contents of the game, showcasing a 500pt force aside built from just the components in the boxed game. We decided just to wipe each other out as we were putting on a show for the benefit of our club. The Ghar have a special Distort dice, which can really put a spanner in the works for either side, however we opted not to use it for our demo game, as we wanted to keep things nice and simple.

Ghar:

Assault Squad x 3

Battle Squads x3

Concord:

C3 Strike Squad x5

C3 Strike Squad x5

Plasma Light Support Drone x 2

Turn 1:

The first dice went straight to the Ghar, who advanced up the left flank of the battlefield, keen to get the Concord in their sights. The plasma light support drones responded to this by maneuvering themselves behind some containers, while the C3 squads on the right flank sought to seek a better firing position. The Ghar assault squad advanced towards the encroaching C3, hoping to get their weapons into range, but found their line of sight blocked.

The Command squad of the C3 used his Follow special rule, taking the nearest available squad with them into cover, in a bid to deal with the Ghar threat quickly.

Turn 2

The C3 squad had a clear line of sight to the assault squad and let loose a volley of plasma fire into them. With the fire bouncing harmlessly off their thick armour plating, the Ghar advanced towards the floating plasma drones.. The Concord responded in kind, moving the drones out into the open and losing off six round of plasma fire, but the tough suits of the Ghar managed to shrug off the attacks.

The Ghar assault squad advanced further towards the C3 strike squad facing them, opting to fire a volley of their own, killing two C3 troopers and placing a pin marker on the squad. The Concord troopers, not to be outdone initiated a Fire fight, the C3 squad managed to take down a Ghar!

Turn 3

The concord drew the next dice, and opened up once more with the plasma light support, once again however the tough armour of the Ghar managed to withstand the hail of SV 3 shots! This would take their height Res value of 12 down to a 9, giving the support drones more of a chance to destroy them. 

The Concord moved the nearest C3 squad out in the open to pour fire into the encroaching Ghar walkers, placing another pin on the unit but failed to kill any.

The Ghar enraged, sought to take their fury out on the C3, moving into a better position to try and charge next turn, firing their weapons but missing their target. The C3 unit opted to charge into the Ghar! Opting to combine their plasma grenades to at least try and damage the Ghar, the C3 troopers bravely launched themselves at the behemoths, losing off a hail of plasma point blank. Despite the firepower, the Ghar crashed into the hapless troopers, wiping the squad out!

The other C3 squad fired upon the Ghar, managing to exact some revenge on the unit by killing another, and cooking its reactor off! The remaining Ghar managed to hold it nerve and its Res roll, staying in the game.

Turn 4

The Ghar managed to draw their own distort dice, meaning that one of the squads would be out of action! Opting to use the last assault unit left, the plucky Ghar charged headlong into the nearest C3 squad, killing one with its opening salvo, the C3 unit fire back but to know avail as the Ghar barreled into them, killing one out right. Down to three men left, the unit tried to kill the Ghar but failed, with them losing two men the squad failed their Command check and fled the field! With the last squad gone, the C3 drones tried to gun down another Ghar unit, but failed to cause any damage.

Turn 5

The Ghar gained the first dice, and moved the Assault unit further towards the C3 drones firing a round into their sides, destroying one.  The Ghar drew the next dice, launching into the last drone firing all the way and despite the drone managing to hit its target, exploded in the iron grip of the Ghar ending the game!

Dave;

With a better dice rolls and perhaps not charging into the Ghar I could have clawed back a victory, the best thing when facing Ghar is do not get close, they are slow and easy to hit due to their immense size, so a tactic of shoot and retreat may have been better! The C3 Plasma drones were very useful, as there are tougher than the regular squads and stand more of a chance. They also pack some serious firepower, enabling me to have a better chance at disabling those tough Res 12 battle suits!

Sam:

The Ghar are just walking tanks, able to oak up much of the firepower ranged against them. But I must remember not to get too complacent as they can still die! Pinning the Ghar down is key to success, which why it’s still a good idea to keep them in cover as much as possible,  A great game all round!

The buildings, walls and containers are mostly from Micro Art Studios, as is the wonderful gaming mat. The rest is from Mantic and Warmill.

http://www.microartstudio.com/

http://www.warmill.co.uk/

http://www.manticgames.com/