Road to Adepticon- Fresh Paint

Road to Adepticon- part II

Here's my newest finished pieces for my Empire. First up my mounted Battle Standard Banner the Ludwig Scharzhelm model, thou I just use him as a Empire Captain BSB. This model is one royal pain in the ass to work with..it unwieldly enough that you can't really paint it unless its in two pieces, and assembling the two pieces is tough as its top heavy. as glue wont hold it well accelerator was useless it took quite a bit of work and I won't be suprised if it falls apart. I ended using Super Glue, green stuff and pins to attach the banner and upper torso to the horse.



Painting all the detail on this guy took some time, I could still spend more time on him if I had it but I settle on it as is..I am overall happy with where its at, it completments my army well.


I am going to do some inking on the KF side of the banner, it needs a bit more pop. The letters aren't quite crisp enough.







Here are my Flagellants...I spent some time on these guys too...probably almost as much as the mounted BSB and this is 20 guys!



I love these guys they are money, they can't take charge from 5 Blood Knights with a Vampire Lord..but can hold just about anything else..Ancient Stegadon, No problem.

Speaking of VC, Bill came over today and we did a 2250 tourney style practice game. VC crushed the Empire hard...I made a bad call with my greatswords early and had another stupid dice debacle. I think I am projecting a pyschosematic mojo on myself when ever I play VC, as I just cannot beat these guys with Empire...I think the Stank is the only answer..too bad I won't have one on the table until the summer. Anyway more on mine and Bills game later..just wanted to put some pics up.

Plastic Legions Forums!

In light of recent events I've set up some free forums in order to centralize a meeting/discussion place that allows for better feedback than blog commentary. As for right now it's geared toward our club night members, the users of this blog and it's followers . The forums can be found here.
I'll be approving all user accounts so go on sign up and will be activating accounts ASAP/
Thanks guys!

also please say who you are in your forum profile so we know!

Games Workshop meet the recession

I got a phone call yesterday that the club night at our local Games Workshop retailer was being shutdown. One casualty in part of a series of trickle-down cutbacks being ordered from Company (UK) Management. Over a dozen new employees in the Chicago Metro area got their walking papers to boot and as far as I know the lay offs were based on seniority and had nothing to do with any sort problems with the newly unemployed (which is the worst way to go.) Less hours open for business, less staff, less benefits = less operational costs. The part GW seems to be overlooking was this also means you sell less product, but more on that in a moment.

A brief history on our local club night. In June 07 when our local shop opened, the Store manager (Jeff) at the time had the brains and good sense to reach out to people over on the Adeptus Windy City Forums (the people who bring us Adepticon) Jeff got alot of positive response from area gamers. Myself and a bunch guys via AWC and former gamers who hung out at the former Hobbytown location all showed up for the grand opening. Alot of the online talk with jeff concerned the potential of having a "Club Night" where veteran games could come in after work and get a chance to play during the week..have the table space and feel comfortable there that the other folks there where serious gamers and not there to screw around. Initially it was invite only which we all liked. The genius of "Club Night" was it offered something to both sides. It offered us (old gamers/ vets) a great place to play and introduced to store to a bunch of players with expendable incomes. Attendance grew for just a couple to 6-8...to a dozen.

When we started running our fantasy campaigns and things just blew up. Not only did we increase the player base of club night but we easily turned a dozen or so 40K guys on to WFB and they all started WFB armies. In late summer of last year Club Night hit the saturation point where it was too big for the store. 30+ people in the shop after hours with 5 tables was just too much. People couldn't get table space and showed up thinking they could..too many people in the store led to difficulties in organization, people trying to reserve tables got nasty. Invite only had disappeared and random people where just showing up..many not to play to just hobby/hang out but there wasnt enough room for that either and people would be hanging out on the street in front of the shop 1/2 the night. In turn they had to reign things in a bit, tables began to get reserved for ongoing Fantasy campaign games, people just "hanging out" were kindly asked not to. Things returned to a more moderate weekly attendance of a dozen-15 people or so.

Initially under Jeff's management club night operated under his supervision and it was unpaid..meaning it was being done as a business tool, extracurriculary for him, as time went on he had to assign staff to it and even they willingly supervised it unpaid for a time period as they were playing too (they were off the clock andjust there to make sure we didn't burn the store down) We had some awesome games then staying there absurdly late in evening with just few of us finishing some epic game. Eventually full-time staff had to be paid to run it and the overtime pay hours caught the ire of GW command who wanted to know why they were keeping the store open late on Tuesday...overtimes a no-no in retail. It was allowed to continue given new hours (we had to be out by 10pm) and once it became an issue most of the core players on Tuesday help contribute by making all there weekly/monthly purchases on Tuesday night so the shop could show the sales to back up its existence, Once my current pal and manager Anthony took over he even amended the schedule on tuesdays so the store incurred no overtime staff costs. In the end it fell victim to economy and nothing we can do can change that.

GW's retail mindset in the Chicago Metro is pretty simple you have a bunch of small hobby centers to get people introduced, get them hooked then send them out to the Battle Bunker for games, tourney's, events etc. Problem is perception isn't reality and the Chicago Battle Bunker isn't in a centralized location for the Chicago Metro it's on the very Western fringe an hour drive if you live downtown or on the popular Northside, it could easily take you 2 hours to get there in traffic between 4-7 weekdays. That was the beauty of the Oak Park store close enough for the city guys and suburban guys like. The staff was very consistent with new employees often being people who had frequently hung out there so it was very easy to build a "community" of like minded gamers there. IF you know anything about business you know that when/if a community develops around your business you will inevitably be successful.

I know this from personal experience as this same thing happened to me in the early 90's around my first business..it became wildly popular due local support with a hot economy behind us..we expanded into my own current operations. (we bit off more than we could chew, being over ambitious but that's a whole other story)

Let's recap GW-OP sales were solid, community growing, long term staff, popular store, as far as I have been told its the best performing store in Chicago Metro outside the Bunker. What should we do?, let's throw a wrench in the mix, can 1/3 of the staff, cut back hours and try to make it like a crappy Mall retail location (who like all mall retailers are most likely getting creamed by the recession ) then lets cut the staff down to one guy alone on weekdays (this will be an utter hell for that individual in our store for sure) making the customer service complete shit.

The disconnect here makes absolutely ZERO business sense to me especially when you read GW's recent financial report where the CEO comes right out in a notice to stockholders and says, "As a niche business we are not effected by the usual macro economic factors" what that means is people will buy their plastic crack no matter what- over paying their rent, paying their cellphone bill, even over eating..its like being addicted to real crack. (There is a guy whose is a recent hanger on at clubnight whose unemployed racking up his credit cards buying GW product. Bill and I were joking around on the phone yesterday about starting a GW detox program for people) What that illustrates is sales are based on health of the brand name not on any individual product. When the brand is hot people are always willing to give it try even in light of bad press or a bad economy. Meaning if your operations aren't over extended you are recession proof. If you do have some bad apples shut them down and devote those resources to the good apples. Like expanding Oak Park to a mini-bunker was great idea that got shot down hard when space next store became available. (so instead of an extra 10 tables and potential huge scene developing around the shop we got a yogurt shop.)

We (Club Night Gamers) will make out ok, we have great group of players and email lists to stay in touch...a couple of us have the ability to host 6-8 people at our own places and for me yes this will mean more forced trips to the bunker. Which I dont mind, I just hate that staff is always different, and I have yet to see my pal Eric (who got transfered out there)

I know alot guys who had the motivation to buy exclusively at the OP shop, its was our FLGS, so it needed support..now that there's less motivation (no club night) So those 20% discounts all over the internet are a lot more attractive. Between this and GW killing it's own organized tournament scene in 2009 Games Workshop is 0-2 for the year...not looking to good. I feel sorry for Jeff, Anthony and Eric who started the OP shop and developed it into something special as they had the good sense to find out what their customers wanted, listen to them and adjust..they've done the right thing for the customers and the company but instead of being rewarded for a good job they get shit on for it.

Ancient's Update

Lo and flipping behold, my Celt Warbands from Wargames Factory which I pre-ordered over a year ago finally showed up yesterday..Quite the deal for those of us that waited it out..as my two boxes of 24 turned into 4 boxes of 32...(they increased the model count per box, and double the order free of charge for the people who stuck with the pre order thru the delays) Couple things of note they are less detailed and slightly larger than their Warlord Games counterparts. That's not necessarily a bad thing the scale totally works combined together and they will be quick to paint which is a good thing because between Warlord Games, Renegade, and a few other loose figures I picked up I know have well over 200 Celt Warriors to eventually paint, not to mention one the free swag models at Adepticon is a Celt Warchief..sweet. Sounds 150 into 6, 25 man blocks...then maybe 50 as Skirmishers, plus my 4 Chariots....then all I need to is 2-Dozen Cavalry and might have close 2K in points...seriously Warhammer Ancient Battles..makes the upcoming War of the Ring look it has a low model count...LOL! I'll post some comparison shots of my built models soon!.

Men and Daemons

Road to Adepticon, Part I

In preparation for Adepticon. I adjusted my work scheduled so I could get a few free weekdays this month to try to get a ton of practice games in. With two different events to compete in...and rusty as hell with my Empire. (I've only played 4 games with my Empire since late October) I knew yesterday was going to be rough, and I was right. I managed to squeak in 4 games yesterday and man where they brutal- as they should be in prep for a tourney environment., I tried out a new list yesterday featuring the Emperor of the Empire himself, Karl Franz. I've run Karl before and my results are pretty similar...while his static bonuses (18" leadership 10, Magic Resistance 3, 4+ Ward Save) are great, they become awesome when combined with presence of the Imperial Banner, which allows re-rolls of any psychology tests for everyone in range. So with both the BSB and Franz in the same unit, your looking at re-rolling Break Tests, Panic, Fear, and Terror on Leadership 10. For an army whose main problem is that it runs away easy being an enviroment where asll the top tier Armies are immune to psych and cause fear, terror ..etc., this is huge benefit. Not to mention the Emperors legendary Hammer Ghal Maraz..hit most things on a "3" as auto wounds with no armor saves with unsaved wounds being d3 wounds. All this sounds great except that he and the banner are 1/4th of your army.


The reason I mention Daemons is that in my playing Daemons last the 4 months I've played 15 games and only lost 3 games outright and 1 that was an objective win for Bob's Ogres even thou I tabled him. and one was the fluky auto-kill of my GUO via the Blade of Realities in my last game with Nate. The other versus Bills Wood Elves in 1500 pt painting challenge match up.
My tourney record for 2008 playing the Empire was 3-7-2..... So my soft Daemon lists (soft vs tourney standards, they aren't easy by any stretch) are winning about 85% of the time while my Tourney Empire is good only about 40% of time. So it was no suprise yesterday that playing Daemons had made me Lazy...it dulled my thinking on the fragility of my Empire, even with Great Emperor himself...if you don't use your brain your going to get crushed...hence some recaps from yesterday.

My List

Empire
Karl Franz, BSB with Imperial Standard, Captian on Pegasus, Warrior Priest
Swordsmen, Greatswords, 4 detachments, Flagellants, 1- Handgunners w/ HLR, 2- "Vanillia" Knights, 2 Great Cannons.

Game 1. Vs Alex's VC
VC Lord on a Dragon, Blood Knights with Vampire Hero, 2- Zombie Blocks, 2- Skeleton Blocks,
The Black Coachs, 2 units of Hounds, Bats.

Bad Deployment, Both cannons misfire on turn 1, Dragon in my rear, blood knights in my face..
massacre by turn 4....we reboot so I can pull my head out.

Game 2 vs Alex's VC

Much better deployment makes for a much better game, again dice rob me of key hits on the Dragon from my cannons, a long overrun killing some dogs exposes my Greatswords to a flank charge from the bloodknights.. while my Flagellants frenzy pulls them to far away and they got locked with some Skeletons all game. The Emperor can't handle the Dragon and VC lord alone with addtional support from the GS or Flaggies. I stick it out 6 turns but cant protect my cannons, another massacre but a decent showing despite.


Game 3 vs Ken's DoC
Bloodthirsters, 3 Heralds (Khorne on Jug, Nurgle, Tzeentch, ) Horrors, Letters, and Plaguebearers, pair of Fiends, Fleshhounds and Nurgling.

Brutal list but my head is in the game this time....BT eats a cannonball turn 1 takes a pair of wounds...Flys behind my big block Flank charges Karl Franz's unit. while the Khorne Herald charges in my face....despite counter charges...the Juggernaught killing blows the Emperor and I fail my ward save he's dead before ever getting a swing, BT eats my BSB...unit breaks and is destroyed..however the leaves the BT open to alot of shooting next round and my lowly handgunner gun the big guy down...despite losing my point soak..its pretty even at turn 4.
Greatswords chew up the dogs...but both my units of knights tied up by Nurglings they whole freaking game...I kill them and keep both units on the table..but sure could have used else where in the game. My Flagellants tie up plaguebearers all game but eventually die but my Peg Cap kills both fiends with detachment support. In the end Ken's get solid victory soley by the point cost of his Heralds..I needed to kill the Tzeentch herald and I couldn't too much magic with the Hellfire banner was tough combo with only 3 DD.

Game 4 vs Anthony's Orcs and Goblins

Orc- Grimgor, Block of Black Orcs, 2 big Blocks of boys, 2 block of Night Goblins with 3 fanatics each, pair of Shamans on Boars...10 Squighoppers, 4 Bolt throwers, 2 Doom Divers.

Anthony rolls the "Waaggh" spell which is brutal as both his Shaman have powerstones , thanks to an irresitable force he gets Waagh off 3 turns out of 6 and and it would have been four if I didn't roll boxcars on the dispel pretty solid game outside of that...flaggies kept Grimgor tied up long enough to keep him and the black orcs out of the game since they were postioned on the flank side to help protect the doom diver, Fanatics wreaked absolute hell thru both our lines
Franz slaughtered in the minor combats he was in but I couldn't get the unit into anything other than Goblins, My Greatswords got hit by both units of Boys and so went down after a while
all in all not a bad game...but with a 1000 point block left unscathed, I only killed about 800 pts of his stuff vs his 1600 of mine..with supplementals he pushed it up over 1200 and a massacre.

Notes: rough day but all fun games...I don't think I will run Karl Franz as the extra 200 I get back helps me get what I was desperately lacking today , a 4th block..even better a hammer block unit. I've had the most success with my 3 Priests giving three blocks all hatred plus other options with Flagellants in for good measure....plus the magic defense goes up to 6 dice.
Captain on a Pegasus has got to go all well as at 150 points he didn't earn them back at all
even thou in some circles he's a must a have for me...it's not working, unfortunately for me
the new steam tank isn't out until may...but you will see it on the battlefield for me this years.
I'll update my progress on my next mega game day coming up 3/24.

Mighty Empires V- Final

3/10 @ Games Workshop, Oak Park


Standings after 7 Rounds

Bill- Wood Elves - 13- Best General
Bob- Ogres - 9
Chris- Bretonnians- 9
Nate- Lizardmen- 7
Leo- High Elves -5 ***

Good Team Score- 43-

Good Teams Wins the Campaign!!!- congrats guys, congrats Bill!!!

***-Leo's game vs Joe is still outstanding but matters not to overall score Leo can improve his personal score however.

Kenny- Daemons of Chaos - 12
John- Daemons of Chaos- 8
Billy- Skaven- 6
Andre- Tomb Kings- 6
Joe- Warriors of Chaos- 4

Evil Team Score-36


Another Mighty Empires campaign concludes 7 rounds, 69 games with one outstanding match the last round really crushed the Evil teams hope of victory. Overall I enjoyed the change upswith version of rules but with time contrainsts of Club Night and the organizational difficulties of this more complicated rules set, next time I plan on following things up with a back to basics Mighty Empires, with open challenges and only strategic events, I'll looking at combing the favorites of the strategic and campaign events table into one "events" table with lots of options. It will make for a shorter turn and more choices..we embark on a 2 month Lord of the Rings Campaign next month..so look Mighty Empires VI-this summer!

Final Map will be posted tonight!

3/14 - Sorry it took so long to get the map up!

Mighty Empires V- Round 7

Standings after round 6


Good Team- 38

Bill- Wood Elves - 13
Bob- Ogres - 7
Chris- Bretonnians- 8
Leo- High Elves -5
Nate- Lizardmen- 5

Evil Team- 41

John- Daemons of Chaos- 12
Joe- Warriors of Chaos- 4
Kenny- Daemons of Chaos - 11
Billy- Skaven- 5
Andre- Tomb Kings- 9

Round 6- Evil Teams Wins again!


Strategic Events

John- Headhunter
Ken- War Tax
Bob- Sabotage
Bill- Land Grab
Billy- Building Boom
Nate- No Guts, No Glory
Leo- All or Nothing
Andre- Diplomacy
Joe- Scouts
Chris- Survey the Battlefield

Campaign Events

John- Famine loses 250gp
Bill- All is Well
Billy- Corruption -100
Andre- All is Well
Leo- Raid + 160
Bob- Harvest Moon +250 gp
Chris- Raid +100
Joe-All is Well
Ken- All is Well
Nate-Raid +100


Revenue

John- 155
Bill- 325
Joe-350
Bob- Buys Point (250) +250
Billy-125
Chris- 250
Ken-240
Leo-360
Andre- 250
Nate- 250

Games
Daemons of Chaos vs Bretonnians
Result: Daemons Massacre 5- Brets-1

Wood Elves vs Tomb Kings
Result: TBA

High Elves vs Warriors of Chaos
Result: TBA

Lizardmen vs Daemons of Chaos
Result. Lizardmen Massacre 5- Daemons 1
Daemons lose Tower Fortress.

Skaven vs Ogres
Result: Ogres Massacre 5- Skaven- 1


Our recent Mighty Empires Campaign concluded this evening and I went out with a huge thud..dropping from 2nd place overall to who knows where after getting sandbagged by the new Lizardmen tonight..I ran my Nurgle core for the 1st time tonight and it was a Disaster. I played and beat Nate once already when he ran the Slaan..and he came back with a Killy Old Blood on a Carnosaur with the Blade of Realities...If people where worried about New Lizzies being soft on VC and Daemons..don't fret... the Great Unclean One with 10 wounds, 4+ armor ,4+ regen and 5+ Ward....get's killed in one hit with an auto kill vs leadership check and I roll and "11"...pretty stupid..I hate save or die items. Bottom line is its my fault I knew he had the thing and I should have kept the fatman behind my Herald and Plaguebearers..and not thought my Dogs could hold the turn (he got into me on an overrun) Anyway another one of those Murphy's Law type games I hate. More in the Campaign log coming tomorrow. Oh did I mention I miscast 3 times in the 1st, two turns!!