As per a Facebook (Ben) request here are some pics so far:
And a final picture of what happens when someone takes the terrain away and folks really want to play Cutlass.
Lucky dice
Gonks
Sunday, 15 May 2011
Girls in Primer
Well, as part of the new project for Cutlass by Black Scorpion Miniatures, I have been assembling my crew of female pirates. I have used all but one Black scorpion model in my starting crew. After swapping out some weapons and changing a few poses I have now sprayed them in primer ready for painting.
As per a Facebook (Ben) request here are some pics so far:
And a final picture of what happens when someone takes the terrain away and folks really want to play Cutlass.
Playdoh terrain, it's the next best thing!
Lucky dice
Gonks
As per a Facebook (Ben) request here are some pics so far:
And a final picture of what happens when someone takes the terrain away and folks really want to play Cutlass.
Lucky dice
Gonks
Wednesday, 11 May 2011
Cutlass by Black Scorpion
Hi all, well in order to keep my sanity at reasonably normal levels I decided to do a quick review of these new rules.
I picked up a copy of Cutlass at Legionary in Exeter at the weekend and I can say that on first inspection the book looks very nice with a good mix of colour photographs and artwork. The book is pleasing to the eye and at just over 100 pages it's a good investment for £20. The cover art is exceptional (and yes you can get "Her" as a figure) even though she is currently sold out......Bugga! Written by Gav Thorpe and Adam Clarke, it instils good expectations from the cover.
The game is a land based fantasy pirate skirmish game, a bit like Necromunda mixed with a turn system similar to bloodbowl. The players start a gang with between 5 and 8 models, so it's good as a break in game and for those who can just never seem to get an army painted. The models from black scorpion are also very nice, but the game allows for a very custom approach to your gang and weapons and equipment can be tailored to meet individual likes or dislikes.
Play is not by the normal my turn then your turn structure. Players roll their leaders Authority at the beginning of the game and this total is the amount of action points that player has. Players then nominate actions for their models to do, which could be move, shoot or combat. There are also several special actions such as reloading or hide, which can be undertaken by other models in the gang whilst some move for instance. A player spends one action point to make the number of actions equal to the current action point total. So for instance, a player rolls and gets 6 action points, he spends his first and 6 models can perform the nominated action, or a special action. The player can then spend his second point but this time on 5 can perform actions and so on until he/she decides to pass active status to the other player or they run out of action points. Some of the reports I have read have remarked that this system is to reliant on a good roll at the start, and situations when one player gets say 8 and the other gets 1 would lead to a bad game. Having played a few games now I can say that this very rarely happens, and when it does, you just have to say "it's a game, and next turn it might be the other way around".
According to Newton's third law of motion, for every action there is a an equal and opposite reaction. this is very much the case with Cutlass. As players perform action your opponent has a chance, within certain guidelines to react to the actions of their opponents models. This is a great part of the game and makes the active player think hard about the order in which they conduct their actions. Should your opponent react, not only do they get to perform an action with the reacting model but they also steal the activation. This is very similar to a "turnover" in bloodbowl, hence the reference earlier.
The combat and shooting actions are well thought out and work quickly, once you remember your stats.
Cutlass can be played as a one off game and so far that is all we have done, but it's true potential is in it's campaign system. Gangs will progress as they go through encounters and gain wealth, new members, skills and will either become more famous or infamous. I will be running a campaign throughout the summer down here, and will post updates here.
My only gripe is that between the different sections of the book, there are 2 pages of repeated filler artwork, which tends to just serve to get in the way, whilst flicking through to check rulings. This is a minor thing but worth mentioning.
So, all in all Cutlass from black scorpion miniatures is a worthy addition to any pirate lovers shelf and I would recommend checking it out.
Cheers for now
Gonk
I picked up a copy of Cutlass at Legionary in Exeter at the weekend and I can say that on first inspection the book looks very nice with a good mix of colour photographs and artwork. The book is pleasing to the eye and at just over 100 pages it's a good investment for £20. The cover art is exceptional (and yes you can get "Her" as a figure) even though she is currently sold out......Bugga! Written by Gav Thorpe and Adam Clarke, it instils good expectations from the cover.
The game is a land based fantasy pirate skirmish game, a bit like Necromunda mixed with a turn system similar to bloodbowl. The players start a gang with between 5 and 8 models, so it's good as a break in game and for those who can just never seem to get an army painted. The models from black scorpion are also very nice, but the game allows for a very custom approach to your gang and weapons and equipment can be tailored to meet individual likes or dislikes.
Play is not by the normal my turn then your turn structure. Players roll their leaders Authority at the beginning of the game and this total is the amount of action points that player has. Players then nominate actions for their models to do, which could be move, shoot or combat. There are also several special actions such as reloading or hide, which can be undertaken by other models in the gang whilst some move for instance. A player spends one action point to make the number of actions equal to the current action point total. So for instance, a player rolls and gets 6 action points, he spends his first and 6 models can perform the nominated action, or a special action. The player can then spend his second point but this time on 5 can perform actions and so on until he/she decides to pass active status to the other player or they run out of action points. Some of the reports I have read have remarked that this system is to reliant on a good roll at the start, and situations when one player gets say 8 and the other gets 1 would lead to a bad game. Having played a few games now I can say that this very rarely happens, and when it does, you just have to say "it's a game, and next turn it might be the other way around".
According to Newton's third law of motion, for every action there is a an equal and opposite reaction. this is very much the case with Cutlass. As players perform action your opponent has a chance, within certain guidelines to react to the actions of their opponents models. This is a great part of the game and makes the active player think hard about the order in which they conduct their actions. Should your opponent react, not only do they get to perform an action with the reacting model but they also steal the activation. This is very similar to a "turnover" in bloodbowl, hence the reference earlier.
The combat and shooting actions are well thought out and work quickly, once you remember your stats.
Cutlass can be played as a one off game and so far that is all we have done, but it's true potential is in it's campaign system. Gangs will progress as they go through encounters and gain wealth, new members, skills and will either become more famous or infamous. I will be running a campaign throughout the summer down here, and will post updates here.
My only gripe is that between the different sections of the book, there are 2 pages of repeated filler artwork, which tends to just serve to get in the way, whilst flicking through to check rulings. This is a minor thing but worth mentioning.
So, all in all Cutlass from black scorpion miniatures is a worthy addition to any pirate lovers shelf and I would recommend checking it out.
Cheers for now
Gonk
Wow, how time flies!
Just realised that it's been a while since my last post. Have been super busy with sorting out the first half of operation 'Carboot Courtyard', which is to be West Cornwall games Club's big summer game. The idea came from Martin, the bastard, I didn't know they could do that, Smith, after he decided that in order to properly satisfy his inner nerd we should reduce down 63 miles of Operation Market Garden ( Holland - September 1944) into a 16 foot by 8 foot table for his birthday at the end of July.
Having agreed to this extreme idea, it was tasked to me to do the following:
Build the board! Aaarrrggghhhhh!!!!!
I must say that at this point I decided that I needed help (fellow builders, NOT Psychological). I recruited Big Al and Smiffee to assist. So over Easter weekend we started with 16 linear feet of hedges and a few old woods that needed some repairs.
So we set to task turning this:
Into this:
Amazingly, we managed this over the long Easter weekend. Fuelled by wine and pizza we pulled 14 hour days, but what a result.
We have taken the board to Swmee (Shepton Mallet) and to Legionary (Exeter) and at both shows it has been well received.
Oh, forgot to mention the 2 platoons of Waffen SS (52 figures) that I had to build in a day, then get painted in 2 days for the shows.
That "Smiffee" What a bastard!
So that's half the board, next up is Nijmegen and Arnham, both with rivers and bigger bridges.
A final massive thankyou has to go to Big Al for scratch building Veghel bridge the same weekend, that man is a P-card dynamo.
Veghel Bridge:
Lucky dice
Gonks
Saturday, 19 March 2011
Doing a little bit to help out!
All the club subs from next weeks club meeting will be going to Shelterbox in Helston, Cornwall to help with their efforts in Japan. I would like to ask all members of West Cornwall Games Club to attend next week so that we can raise just a few quid to help out. We will obviously accept additional donations.
The Japanese authorities have officially accepted the offer of assistance from this little known Cornish charity. Shelterbox are often the first oversea's aid to reach natural disasters around the globe. They can pack and dispatch up to 1000 boxes per day from their Helston site, and they have teams of trained operatives ready to drop everything and go to these disaster area's.
It would be great if other games clubs and/or individuals would follow this and do similar.
God bless to the people of Japan, in their time of need
Neil
The Japanese authorities have officially accepted the offer of assistance from this little known Cornish charity. Shelterbox are often the first oversea's aid to reach natural disasters around the globe. They can pack and dispatch up to 1000 boxes per day from their Helston site, and they have teams of trained operatives ready to drop everything and go to these disaster area's.
It would be great if other games clubs and/or individuals would follow this and do similar.
God bless to the people of Japan, in their time of need
Neil
Wednesday, 2 March 2011
Sleeping Gods highlights
Hi all, for those who missed this excellent weekend, here is a short video which captures the highlights.
Huge thanks have to go to Richard for being head honcho on this one and to my other fellow (dis) organisers, Dan and Dave. A gooid laugh had by all, and without doubt one of the best campaigns by far.
Finally, it has to be said that the quote of the weekend must go to Smiffee when he uttered this brilliance " I didn't know they could do that" shortly after getting his caster ass kicked for the 2nd time. He later went on to win the award for most caster deaths.
Well, enjoy the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZ67WQtFHqA
Neil
Huge thanks have to go to Richard for being head honcho on this one and to my other fellow (dis) organisers, Dan and Dave. A gooid laugh had by all, and without doubt one of the best campaigns by far.
Finally, it has to be said that the quote of the weekend must go to Smiffee when he uttered this brilliance " I didn't know they could do that" shortly after getting his caster ass kicked for the 2nd time. He later went on to win the award for most caster deaths.
Well, enjoy the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZ67WQtFHqA
Neil
Wednesday, 9 February 2011
Ferryhead
Hi all, well as some may know I am attending the upcoming Warmachine campaign weekend at Triple helix wargames, which is being run by the legion of snake eyes. Having been talked into becoming a member (curse my inability to say 'NO') of said club, I have also taken on the task of building a themed board for the event.
It all started with an idea to make a dock / harbour for my club, so that we could use it for warmachine and various other games. I just so happened to mention this to my fellow Legion member Dan, and he suggested that I build the board. So that was about 2 weeks ago, and so far I am just under half way through this mamoth task.
To drive my enthusiasm a bit further I thought I'd post up some pics of the board so far:
First building on the first harbour pier, the flooring is all cast from a custom mold that I made.
Top down view of the water section, showing recessed steps at the back and the side of the slipway.
View accross the harbour towards the first building
The first pier, showing the building in the background with the harbour gallows on the end of the pier section.
I still have a lot to do, and I will work on the detailing of these parts also, like bollards and rope along the edge of the piers, well we wouldn't want any Jacks falling the 6 1/2 inches into the murky depths below (or would we?).
Well, watch this space for updates on this project and with a bit of luck I'll get it finished on time.
Lucky dice
Neil
It all started with an idea to make a dock / harbour for my club, so that we could use it for warmachine and various other games. I just so happened to mention this to my fellow Legion member Dan, and he suggested that I build the board. So that was about 2 weeks ago, and so far I am just under half way through this mamoth task.
To drive my enthusiasm a bit further I thought I'd post up some pics of the board so far:
First building on the first harbour pier, the flooring is all cast from a custom mold that I made.
Top down view of the water section, showing recessed steps at the back and the side of the slipway.
View accross the harbour towards the first building
I still have a lot to do, and I will work on the detailing of these parts also, like bollards and rope along the edge of the piers, well we wouldn't want any Jacks falling the 6 1/2 inches into the murky depths below (or would we?).
Well, watch this space for updates on this project and with a bit of luck I'll get it finished on time.
Lucky dice
Neil
Tuesday, 8 February 2011
PAW 2011 - Show report
Hi all, well what a weekend. Two drives to Plymouth and back at 87 miles each way, phew i'm knackered.
The show was very well attended with slightly more visitors on the saturday than the Sunday, but generally there was a constant stream of enthusiasts throughout both days.
The show hosted several tournaments including 40k and Flames of War, which all seamed very active. The main hall was full of demo games, with trade stands around the sides. The traders all reported a good return on there investments of time and energy, and I certainly noticed plenty of trade occuring.
I was there in my capacity as a GCN rep, and we had the GCN stand with us, which helps to draw folks closer to see what we're up to. This year we were demoing the Relics system by Tor Gaming, and I must say that it was very well received. Most folks liked its quirky design and figures. We ran over 20 demo's throughout the two days, ranging from short games for a couple of 6 year olds right up to 3 way games for the veterans. I must thank Smiffee for all his help in running the table whilst I was off networking and securing support for The Cornwall Gaming Expo, in October this year (more on this soon).
I managed to sign up another new club for the GCN and a potential disabled wargames club in Plymouth, which I have offered my assistance with. I also completed the paper work for Cornwall Miniature Wargames Association, who joined the ranks of the GCN late last year.
So all in all, the show was a great success, and here is some pics to prove it:
Main hall with Demo games
A very ammusing Monty python quest for the holy grail game in Lego
A fantastic Warhammer fantasy game from Cross swords club
Another fun game, entitled "Eat Hitler". This game found the players trying to eat German soldiers with dynosaurs!
Mid way through a demo game of Relics, with some Varriers lurking in the undergrowth.
Lucky dice
Neil
The show was very well attended with slightly more visitors on the saturday than the Sunday, but generally there was a constant stream of enthusiasts throughout both days.
The show hosted several tournaments including 40k and Flames of War, which all seamed very active. The main hall was full of demo games, with trade stands around the sides. The traders all reported a good return on there investments of time and energy, and I certainly noticed plenty of trade occuring.
I was there in my capacity as a GCN rep, and we had the GCN stand with us, which helps to draw folks closer to see what we're up to. This year we were demoing the Relics system by Tor Gaming, and I must say that it was very well received. Most folks liked its quirky design and figures. We ran over 20 demo's throughout the two days, ranging from short games for a couple of 6 year olds right up to 3 way games for the veterans. I must thank Smiffee for all his help in running the table whilst I was off networking and securing support for The Cornwall Gaming Expo, in October this year (more on this soon).
I managed to sign up another new club for the GCN and a potential disabled wargames club in Plymouth, which I have offered my assistance with. I also completed the paper work for Cornwall Miniature Wargames Association, who joined the ranks of the GCN late last year.
So all in all, the show was a great success, and here is some pics to prove it:
Mid way through a demo game of Relics, with some Varriers lurking in the undergrowth.
Lucky dice
Neil
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