An awesome game from Fantasy Flight

Just bought an awesome game from Fantasy Flight Games:

Blood Bowl Team Manager the Card Game. It is great fun, a lot of replayability. If you are familiar with the fluff and the Blood Bowl game, you'll get the right intuitions and learn the game really fast. I haven't tried it yet with non gamers, we'll see how it is received by the average Catan players not immersed in the Old World universe...

Now off to buy the Sudden Death expansion... :)

AToFG Circle Orboros April painting Woldguardian

Here is the mini I painted during the month of April:

Set #4 Woldguardian Heavy Warbeast

Barely finished it in time on the 30th. I can't wait to crush skulls with it and Baldur in the next phase of the Warmachine Hordes Journeyman campaign of my gaming club at 25 pts.

AToFG: Circle Orboros March Painting Shifting Stones and Stone Keeper

Here is my painting set for the month of March for 'A Tale of Four Gamers' painting challenge:

Set #1: 3 Shifting Stones and Stone Keeper (unit and unit attachment)

AToFG: Circle Orboros February Painting Woldwyrd

Here is my painting set for the month of February for 'A Tale of Four Gamers' painting challenge:

Set #10: Woldwyrd (light warbeast)

Unboxing: The Hobbit Escape from Goblintown

As promised last December, I present in this post the unboxing of the Games Workshop boxed set for the Hobbit: Escape from Goblintown.

The box is the typical size of the starter sets from GW for Fantasy or 40K (it is the French edition that I have received):

The box is pretty full upon opening:

 There is a starter guide with quick start rules and introductory notions to the Hobbit the game. Also included is the A5 full rulebook. These are the complete rules for The Hobbit the Strategy Battle Game which is basically Lord of the Rings, the Strategy Battle Game 2nd Edition. Most of the rules are similar, there are a few changes for the Heroes with an increase of heroic actions possibles as well as some other changes (monsters, magic, etc):

 

Then there is a quick play reminder sheet, a special sheet for Radagst and a couple of assembly guides: 

 

In terms of minis, here is Radagast, a beautifully detailed plastic piece:  



 

Then the first sprue for the Good with Gandald and the whole company of Thorin. Again I was amazed by the details on the minis:

 



 

Then you get two identical sprues for the goblins. Personally I am not a great fan of their look:

On the last minis sprue you get the Goblin King in all its horror as well as some scenery pieces extremely detailed:

 

Then you get two identical sprues of boards and walkways to recreate Goblintown:

And finally you get baggies of bases, dice and a new type of ruler in inches (much better than the wippy sticks of old):

Overall, I like this kit very much. Even after 13 years in the hobby I was amazed by the details on the minis. The facial expressions, every nook and cranies scuplted lavishly all contribute to get looking models. Games Workshop really have surpassed themselves here. The only disappointment I have is the look of the goblins but that is really more a choice from the artistic development team of the movie. I hope this kit gets the fantastic LotR SBG a new breath of fresh air and new players.

AToFG: Circle Orboros January Painting Woldstalkers and Druid Stoneward

Following up on the previous post, here is the first painted set of the Circle of Orboros army I am building as part of the 'A Tale of Four Gamers' challenge with my gaming club.

I chose to start with set#2: Woldstalkers and Druid Stoneward for the first month:

Hobby and Gaming project for 2013

After several intro games and some fluff reading, I have decided to delve into the world of Warmachine and Hordes at last. During this year 2013, I have decided to participate in a painting challenge of the type A Tale of Four Gamers article series from White Dwarf magazine. I have also registered for a 6 months long escalation campaign for WarmaHordes.

The faction of choice for me is Circle of Orboros purely because of the aesthetics of the models, the fluff and the fact that I have received a free starter box at Adepticon 2011.

The theme for my Circle Orboros faction will be 'Seasons Osmosis'. It is based on the idea that each caster has a season of choice in which they thrive and others in which it struggles a little more (do Warpwolves hibernate? :) ). I have decided to start with pBaldur as my Warcaster and go for the 'Winter is coming' part of my force. All the constructs, rocks and twigs will look great covered in snow...

Each month I will be painting one of the following sets of minis (2 months in the year can be taken out as 'Joker months'):

-set 1: Shifting Stones + 1 stone keeper (4 minis)
-set 2: Druid Stoneward and woldstackers (6 minis)
-set 3: Woldwarden (heavy warbeast)
-set 4: Woldguardian (heavy warbeast)
-set 5: Woldwrath (gargantuan) :-O
-set 6: Baldur + Kaya (2 minis)
-set 7: 2 argus (2 light warbeasts)
-set 8: Warpwolf (heavy warbeast)
-set 9: Megalith (heavy warbeast)
-set 10: Woldwyrd (light warbeast)

This list is based on the aforementioned Starter Box and the PP Orboros Holiday Bundle

PS: on an unrelated note, I was lucky enough to get the Hobbit Escape from Goblintown box and the Hobbit Rulebook for my birthday and will be writing an unboxing post soon...