PrairieCon XL Horus Heresy Siege of Terra Game

For PrairieCon this year I ran a Horus Heresy game set at the Siege of Terra. I had previously created two imperial wall sections to represent a breach in the wall. The legions involved were Imperial Fists and Blood Angels trying to hold the breach while Sons of Horus and World Eaters stormed through. The mission was a modified Blitz mission from the 40k 8th Edition rule book. The traitor forces earned 1 victory point for having models within the first line of defense. If they got models within the second line of defense they earned 2 points per unit. The game looked great and we got to showcase some models that we don't normally use in a game. The only downside was the game was set late in the day on Sunday (Father's Day!) and several of us had to get back to Winnipeg , so the game was cut short. Here are some pictures of the game:

The Loyalists set up everything behind fortifications. The World Eaters started on the board and got fist turn

The Sons of Horus moved on the board first turn, but were mostly mounted in transports.

The Imperial Fists scored some early kills, but the arrival of the Fellblade was an ominous sign.

This was the first game for the Cerberus. I knew its fate was sealed, but Conscript Curt valiantly commanded it to destruction!

The Cerberus has an unstable reactor rule which has a chance of exploding catastrophically! It of course exploded catastrophically during the game and killed several loyalist models.

The Sons of Horus hit the first line.

The Fellblade goes to work.

By the time the game was called, it was basically a draw. The Traitor Legions had several units in the first line, while he Loyalists had killed several Traitor units and earned victory points for each. However, the Traitors had a clear path to the second line on the right flank and would likely get into the Blood Angels lines. The Fellblade was also going to be a problem that the Loyalists didn't have a solution for. I guess that outcome is basically how the siege went down. Horus had the material to win, but he ran out of time!

Gaslands at Prairiecon XL, Plus More Gaslands Terrain!

Well, last weekend was the epic gaming event known as Prairiecon XL - yes, the fortieth (!) running of western Manitoba's oldest (and greatest) gaming convention. The Conscripts were well-represented there too, with Conscript Greg staging an amazing-looking Adeptus Titanicus game with an assist from founding Conscript Curt, Conscript Mike wheeling out his incredible "Walls of Terra" for a Horus Heresy 30K game, and yours truly debuting my Gaslands game, times two.
 

I have to say that my Saturday was not the best planned, as it comprised running a Gaslands game (9am-1pm), a stint on the registration desk (2-4pm), auctioneering in the famous Prairiecon game auction (7-9pm), and ANOTHER Gaslands game (9pm-12:30am). Wow! Although 15-year-old me would've licked Saturday and likely gone to a party afterwards, 40-something-year-old me was thoroughly beat after running 7 1/2 hours of games and volunteering for four more hours.

Murdercycle at top lines up another two-wheeler...

...and wipes him out with his Gatling MG. Good times!

Anyway, the first running of Gaslands at Prairiecon had seven players brand-new to the game, and I think they all had fun. The last man standing was Dan from Niagara Falls, Ontario (!), who took home a copy of the game, three Hot Wheels cars, and some guns and other bits courtesy of Winnipeg FLGS Maxx Collectibles. Thanks Garth!

Our 9pm session had another seven players, including Conscripts Mike and Greg. Again, all except the two Conscripts were new to the game but everyone picked it up quickly.

Eventual game-winner Kevan confabs with Prairiecon luminary Craig D.

Carnage was the name of this game in both the 9am and 9pm sessions.

Good sport Murray (for I think it was he) nabbed the booby prize (some Pixar "Cars" toys) for first player to have both cars eliminated from play. Attaboy!

Did I mention there was carnage? This is the aftermath of an out-of-control car careering into (and destroying) a pickup truck. Fun! 

 

You can see in the pics that I've added some new terrain - these are 3mm MDF Shipping Containers from Lasercraft Workshop.

They were a snap to assemble, and although they're designed to have opening doors, I ended up gluing them shut. They were designed without a "detente" to keep the doors from swinging backwards and it was just too much of a pain to fix that.
 

After assembly, I painted the containers in block colours, washed them with Nuln Oil, and did some sponge-chip weathering.

The branding was printed off from the Internet, cut out and applied with white glue. I lightly traced the "character lines" from the container onto the paper with Nuln Oil, just to give the impression that the logos were painted on. I think it worked OK.

Here's a pic with a typical Hot Wheels car, for scale.

The containers come eight to a pack, four large and four smaller ones.

In a pinch they might even do for 15mm games - here's a pic with Battlefront West Germans and a PSC Leopard 1.

The containers were a great hit, but Gaslands went over even better. It's the perfect convention game - visually impressive, easy to pick up, and fast playing. I'll definitely be adding it to the regular Prairiecon rotation!

Adeptus Titanicus at Prairiecon 2019

Loyalist Titans stalk the land at Prairiecon XL in Brandon, MB.

Did another Prairiecon just happen...? Why...yes, yes it did! It is indeed that time of year again, when a number of Conscripts travel to the lovely city of Brandon, Manitoba, to participate Prairiecon - Prairiecon XL, in fact! 40 years! That's just tremendous, what a fun tradition to take part in!

For 2019 there were a number of Conscript-involved games at the three-day event, and I'll share some photos of one of them in this post - a game of "Adeptus Titanicus", the re-boot version GW released last year.

View of the table, the opposing Titan battlegroups all lined up...

The scenario was a very basic clash, intended to show off a few models and the rules.  The fight involved an isolated station where the Warmaster, Horus Lupercal, kept a "summer home".  A loyalist battlegroup from Legio Gyphonicus wanted to secure this location so valuable intelligence could be gathered.  The rebel forces, comprised of a Legio Mortis battlegroup, were determined to stop them - after all, who wanted to be the one to explain to Horus that loyalists had captured his summer house???

A close-up of the objective...Horus Lupercal's "summer home".

As a wrinkle, the players were not allowed to deliberately fire on or destroy the buildings (again, the loyalists wanted to preserve the possible intelligence finds, while the rebels feared the consequences of Horus finding out any of his stuff was wrecked because their efforts were lacking...). Two buildings in the centre of the table were found to have strange, dark-age-of-technology shielding that blocked all fire - even indirect shots that would go above them - and so the opposing Titan commanders would have to maneuver with these restrictions in mind.

Warlord Titans anchor the loyalist battle line...Curt's awesome Lucius-Pattern model in the foreground.

The opposing battlegroups were identical and balanced, intended to give a general flavour of the game - two Warlords, one Reaver, one Warhound, and a full-strength banner of Knights on each side. Curt was kind enough to travel to Brandon for a visit and bring some of his amazing Adeptus Titanicus kit with him, including his awesome third-party Lucius Pattern Warlord, which looked amazing on the table.

The Legio Mortis engines move toward the centre of the table...

Reactors were powered, orders issued and battle joined! Over a few turns, the rebel side had the low-end of the luck with the dice...in particular, one of their Warlords had its shields blown out on the first turn, followed quickly with a number of serious blasts from opposing Volcano Cannons, blowing off arms, punching holes in the body and in the head. Yikes!

Heavy fighting in the centre of the table, Knight banners on both sides going head-to-head

Another view of the clash among the Knights.

As the fighting continued, the rebel Warhound was destroyed, its weapons blasting away randomly before it went critical and exploded.  The opposing Knight banners traded blows, with the loyalist side bearing the brunt of the losses in that confrontation...but overall, the Loyalists had the edge by the time we called the game - although one of the loyalist Warlords was nearing critical status on its reactor after heavy use of the volcano cannons - that might have been interesting if we played one more turn...

"What happened to my arms???" Things got rough for this Legio Mortis Warlord after its shields blew out...

What treats, we wonder, would the loyalists find in Horus' summer home? Might have to play a "Part 2" for this game sometime, maybe an Epic 30k game? We'll see!

Congratulations to Prairiecon for 40 years! That's quite an achievement.  Hopefully Dallas and Mike will post some more photos from their games over the weekend as well.  Thanks to everyone who attended, and to Dallas, Mike and Curt for making another trip to Brandon for some great gaming. It's a great tradition, and I wish the Prairiecon folks all the best for the next 40 years! 

PrairieCon XXXIX (yes that's "39")

This year, in accordance with ancient tradition, we loaded up the wagons and headed out to PrairieCon in Brandon, Manitoba. Conscripts Greg, Byron, and me each ran a game, and we were pretty chuffed to meet up with Original Conscript Curt who came out from Regina to play in our games and run an amazing game of his own just for us!

Here's a view of the Assiniboine Community College gym, which hosted many of PrairieCon's miniatures games. Fortunately for us, our games were tucked away in a quiet corner of the cafeteria upstairs :-)

First up on the weekend menu was my Battlestar Galactica fleet-scale game using the Colonial Blattlefleet ruleset. Due to a bit of confusion in the convention program, some of the people who signed up thought they would be playing the BSG boardgame which is... quite different from Colonial Battlefleet (they assured me that they had fun anyway).

The scenario fit into the general PrairieCon theme this year, which was "It's a Trap." The Colonials had grabbed a breather to refuel and refit but were surprised at anchor by a Cylon fleet and had to make good their escape.

The Colonials were deployed roughly around the planet with the Cylons split between the long table edges. The Colonials had to escape from either or both of those long edges.

As in the TV show, once the fleets were engaged the missiles began to fly fast and furious!

Battlestars launched their Vipers!

Then it really got fun - close quarters battle between man and machine! We found that the Battlestars were pretty impregnable though - the amount of point defense and flak they could throw out made it very difficult for the (admittedly far more numerous) Cylon Raiders and Heavy Raiders to deal them much damage.

However, as someone once said "quantity has a quality all its own" and if you get enough Raiders (red dice) into action...

...stuff is bound to blow up!

The ended as a Colonial victory... if you can count the loss of one of the three Colonial squadrons as a "victory". The fact is, every Colonial ship destroyed and crewman killed is a loss that can't be replaced. Cylons can always produce more robots and ships...

Conscript Byron ran a game of the Two Fat Lardies' "Through the Mud and the Blood":

The year is 1915, the Germans have just launched their first chlorine gas attack and pushed the Allies back.  The Canadian forces of the 10th and 16th Battalions have been ordered into Kitchener’s Wood in a counter attack in the middle of the night with no reconnaissance.  What could possibly go wrong?

Here we see the French holed up in a ruined farm, ready to defend against the German attack / bug out (delete as appropriate).

Byron ran the game with a masterful hand...

The accessories he made for the game are outstanding in quality. Here we see one of his custom cards. The unit blinds are also pretty striking.

Next up was Greg's game: Team Yankee based on the battle of Blickheim in Macksey's excellent book "First Clash":

The year is 1986, and the forces of the Warsaw Pact have invaded West Germany.  NATO allies respond, Canada among them.  The 4th Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group moves into position to counter the advance of the Soviet 1st Guards tank division.  Leopard C1s and infantry of the Royal Canadian Regiment will clash with T-72s and Soviet Motor Rifle troops! 

In keeping with the convention theme ("it's a trap", remember?) Greg's scenario had the Soviets advancing pretty much unopposed towards a town, only to be ambushed by a mighty Canadian armoured squadron! Here are a couple of photos but Greg has done a comprehensive battle report, found here.

One last thing... I was pretty pleased to be able to pick up almost 30 classic AD&D modules from the collection of an old buddy and his younger brother. Nice eh? They were expensive, but I'm sure I could get something back from the duplicates if I wanted (I now own three copies each of "Tomb of Horrors" and "Expedition to the Barrier Peaks") and buying them all in one go saves future time and effort in looking for the ever-elusive "bargains"... at least that's what I told myself at the time :-)