We got some Lord of the Rings games in, and then he played some Warmachine with other players there.

While he was playing Warmachine, Ian had swung by and we got a game of Fantasy Battles in.  It was my first Fantasy game in 4 years, and the first with 7th Edition.  I had a great time playing and shaking off the cobwebs.  Ian was playing Orks with no Magic, and I was playing my Dwarves (obviously with no magic).  So with both of us without Magic, it was Move, Shoot, Combat, which I enjoyed.  I was never a fan of the Magic phase.  Well the Dwarves prevailed and like I said had a fun game against Ian.

Later in the evening, another friend of mine Gyan had showed up.  Gyan came by so I can teach how to play LotR and so we can get a game of 40K in.  In LotR he played my Wood Elves and my son played his Gondor force.  For Gyan’s first game he took down Gondor and seemed to enjoy himself.  Afterwards he says he will be building a Rivendell army.

After the LotR game, Gyan and I threw down for some 40K.  This was going to be my first game at 5th Edition.  I needed to get some practice games before 9/20/08 since thats when the next 40k Tourney I’ll be attending.  We played “Capture and Control on a Pitched Battlefield”.  Gyan was playing his Dark Angels Deathwing and I was playing my Dark Angels as Vanilla Marines.  The game ended up being a Draw.  It was fun playing Gyan, but it was an alright game.  Only because now everything gets a 4+ save.  Even tanks.

Well 2:00 am came around and it was a long day and time to get home.

We left for California early Friday morning and arrived in LA around 11 AM.  I drove by the Ontario Convention Center just to refresh my memory on its location and to see if I can register early.  Registration was not ready yet, so we would have to do that the next morning.

We then had an early lunch and headed for the Disneyland Hotel.  We arrived at 1 PM and they were nice enough to let us register early.  We brought the bags upstairs, unpacked the swimsuits and hit the pool.

Later that evening we went to Portillo’s for dinner ( a must for dinner since we used to always go there in Chicago, California now has 2 locations).  We got back to the room pretty early and I hit the bed.

Saturday 6:30 AM, Tim K swung by the hotel and picked my son and I up and we headed out to Ontario.  We arrived there around 7:15 AM and checked in.  Received our t-shirts, lunch money and vouchers.

Tim and I were working the Registered LotR Tables all day, and my son was working the Bag Check area.

We received 2-15 min breaks and 1-30 min lunch.  I did most of my shopping during my first break, and near the end of the show picked up some great deals on items that they clearanced.

Games Day ended around 6 PM and now it was time for the hard work.  We broke down the entire hall within a hour and a half.  My feet were really killing me that day, and I knew Sunday would be just as painful.

Sunday was Disneyland, what can I say woke up early and spent the entire day at the park, and yes my feet were sore.  I had to go back to the hotel room and I threw on my flip-flops in the afternoon.  They felt much better.

Monday morning we headed back to Phoenix and arrived home around 5 PM.

It was a fun and long weekend.

Now onto the Vegas GT in two weeks.

I actually enjoyed painting the Shaman and I think he came out quite nicely.  I enjoy painting the one off heroes because it gives a good break from the line painting when doing standard warriors.

Also been busy launching a new site.  http://www.lotrindygt.com “Your source for information about The Lord of the Rings SBG Independent Tournament scene in North America.”  Where we have created two sets of criteria for running Independent LotR Tournaments.  We just officially launched the site this week.

Games Day LA is two weeks away (8/23), my friend Tim K and I will be running LotR Registered Tables for that day.  Its going to be a long day, but it will be fun.  My family will be coming with so we will then visit Disneyland on the following day.

The GW Las Vegas GT is coming the weekend of 9/4-9/6 and I was asked by Dave Taylor of Games Workshop to help with the LotR Tournament.  It took a lot of convincing the family (since its my sons 13th b-day weekend) but I will be attending the GT to help GW.  I promised my son a full day of gaming the weekend before to make up for missing his b-day.  He took it pretty well and he realizes he will be getting alot of LotR models out of it.

I’ll try and take some more pictures this weekend of my armies and get the Army Sections updated.

Oldest son was playing Orcs w/Shelob
Middle son was playing Wood Elves w/Legolas

Scenario: High Ground (have the most models on the hill in the center of the table after 10 rounds)

The first 3 turns saw both sides charge for the hill.  By Turn 3 Shelob was already sitting on top of the hill.  The Wood Elves took 7 Bow shots on Shelob and managed to wound her twice.  Shelob was able to make both Courage checks to stick around.

The Wood Elves then sent 5 Swordsmen and 5 Spearman charging into Shelob (passing all Terror checks, got to love Courage 5 on the Wood Elves).  The Wood Elves had 10 attacks to Shelob’s 2.  Wood Elves managed to win the battle and their Elven Swords came crashing down on Shelob causing 4 more wounds to finish off Shelob.  The Wood Elves had 3 Swords / 3 Spearmen sitting at the bottom of the hill out of sight waiting to charge the hill at the right time.

The rest of the Orc army charged up the hill, the Wood Elves countered with the 6 in reserves and a mega-battle was about to take place on the hill.  After a few rounds Legolas was able to do 2 “deadly shots” into the Orc Captain and slaying him.  The other Wood Elf Bowmen were able to snipe out the Orc Banner.

By Turn 8 the Wood Elves slaughtered every Orc standing on the hill and the rest of the Orcs failed their Courage checks for being Broken.  The Wood Elves only lost 3 models in the game.

A Major Victory for the Wood Elves.

The next game saw Chris and Ben go at it.  Chris was using his new Wood Elf army he just put together led by Legolas, and Ben was using a Goblin army with a Captain, Shamen and Cave Troll.  They played 350 pts (to get ready for the 11/1 tourney).

Scenario: Storm the Camp (have more models with 12″ of the enemy deployment zone)

This was a hard fought battle for both sides.  The Orc Shamen had casted “Fury” (granting no courage checks for models around 6″ of Shamen, plus every model 6″ of the Shamen gets a 6+ save.)  That 6+ save really saved Ben quite a few times.

This game came down to the wire.  With both sides Broken and losing models fast, the Wood Elves managed to get one model in the Goblins deployment zone.  The Goblins countered and managed to also get one model in.  The game looked to be a draw, but Legolas was not liking that idea.  Legolas took one “deadly shot” (auto hit) at the lone Goblin in his deployment zone and scored a 4 to Wound (needing a 5).  He then used his last point of Might and changed the roll to a 5 causing the Goblin to be slain.  The Goblin was just out of reach of the Shamen to attampt a 6+ save.

The Wood Elves managed to capture the Major Victory.

Chris and Ben really got into this game and were having a blast.  Both of them really picked up the rules well, and really liked how the rules play out.

During the battle of Wood Elves and Goblins, my oldest son got a game in against Eric C (from the Indy GT) of Gondor vs. Gondor in the Scenario “Reconnoitre”.  Eric scored a Minor Victory getting 8 models off the board to my sons 4.  It was good to see Eric make it down to store also.

All in all it was great time.

So the Harad Warriors w/Bow hit the painting table. I now have a nice 20″ TV w/ DVD right next to my painting station, so on Saturday I watched “The Fellowship of the Ring”, and on Sunday it was “The Two Towers”. I accomplished what I wanted to this weekend and that was to complete the 10 Warriors w/Bow.

Here is one of the pictures on the Warriors. You can click HERE to see the others.

These Warriors were the first time I tried the GW Foundation Paints, and the new GW Washes. I really do like the Foundation Paints. I am still undecided about the Washes. I’ll finish out the rest of the Army with the Washes just so the Army looks coherent.

I also picked up a Legions army for myself and Skorne for my oldest son this past weekend. I think I will be doing Circle Orboros for my middle son. Hopefully I’ll have time to get these all painted along with all the LotR models I still have in the backlog.

Really looking forward to this game.

The Serpent Horde 350

1 Suladan
1 Haradrim Chieftain w/Bow
1 Haradrim Banner
20 Haradrim Warriors w/Spear
10 Haradrim Warriors w/Bow

350 Points
Models 33
Might 5

The Serpent Horde 600
1 Mumak w/Gnarled Hide & Haradrim Chrieftain
1 Suladan
1 Haradrim Banner
18 Haradrim Warriors w/Spear
9 Haradrim Warriors w/Bow

597 Points
Models 30
Might 5