A Triumphant Return

 Welcome all!  Merry Festivus!  It is so good to be back!  I know you're all wondering where I have been for the last year, and I wish I could give you the whole story... but I am under orders.  All I can say is that I was on a mission for the Emperor, and though long and hard, that mission was a success!  All is right with the universe, and I am free once more to continue with my Duty Log!  Huzzah!  And I can think of no better way to resume my duties than with a review of our long awaited Japan Open Warmachine/ Hordes Team Championship!  This year was another successful event, with much fun and camaraderie for all, but this year we had several big changes.  The biggest change was that this year, for the first time, the JOTC was held in November!  A lot of thought went into it, but it seems like it was a good change for everyone... not too hot, fewer other obligations (like Sports Festivals and such), all in all a good change!

But before we get on with the tournament...

Announcements - 

This year, for the first time, Japan sent a team to the Warmachine/ Hordes World Team Championship in Brussles!  It sounds like everyone had a great time, and did their best!  So, a round to thanks to DTB, Micho, Kirill, KT, and M for representing Team Ronin Onigiri!

Also, the next meeting for the Fukuyama Gaming Club will be December 28, which is a Saturday... pretty close to the end of the year madness that plagues Japan, but if you're free and looking for something to do, drop on by and get a game in!  January turned into a scheduling nightmare, so our first meeting of the next year will be February 2nd.

And now, on to the JOTC!

Getting ready!

First, let's take a look at our teams for 2019!  Due to a defective camera drudge, we were not able to get any individual army photos... but fear not!  A requisition for a new drudge for next year has been filed, and this mistake will not happen again... with that in mind, here are the teams!

Team Dead On Arrival
Two members of the last few years' Band Of Heroes teams have reformed with a new member into this new group from Osaka!
  Chikua, with his Cryx army, using Lich Lord Venethrax and Asphyxious the Hellbringer
  Genki, with his Cygnar army, using Captain Kara Sloan and Major Victoria Haley
  Tabibito, with his Trollblood army, using Kolgrima Stonetruth and Madrak Ironhide, Thornwood Chieftain 

Team Grim Evil Robots
This team, you guys... ugh!  Three members of Team Ronin Onigiri that fought at the World Team Championship, all together here to try and muscle their way into a JOTC victory!
  DTB, with his Grymkin army, using The Heretic and The Wanderer
  Micho, with his Mercenaries army, using Cognifex Cyphon and Exulon Thexus
  KT, with his Convergence army, using Iron Mother Diretrex and Axis, the Harmonic Enforcer

Team Hand of God
Another great team from Osaka, some of our favorite guys came together to make an appearance at the JOTC!

   Kaerumaat, with his Minions army, using Sturm & Drang and Lord Carver BMMD, Esq. III
   Sencho, with his Protectorate army, using The Harbringer of Menoth and Thyra, Flame of Sorrow
   Vrada, with his Khador army, using The Old Witch of Khador and Vladimir Tzepesci, Great Prince of Umbrey

Team InterRegional
My very own team!  The other two players were both new to the JOTC, but very experenced players... Kirill himself was on Team Ronin Onigiri at the WTC, and Paul is also an exceptional player... so, lots of pressure for me!
   Kirill, with his Skorne army, using Dominar Rasheth and Supreme Archdomina Makeda
   Paul, with his Mercenaries army, using Fiona the Black and Ashlynn d'Elyse
   Kommissar Koala, with her Protectorate army, using the Testament of Menoth and High Exemplar Cyrenia

Team Kyushu
Our Kyushu team, back again!  We're always glad to see this great team come up to join us!
   Ryo, with his Infernals army, using Omodamos, The Black Gate and Zaateroth, The Weaver of Shadows
   Zwiefel, with his Cygnar army, using Colonel Marcus "Siege" Brisbane and Captain Jeremiah Kraye
   Yamanaka, with his Mercenaries army, using Ashlynn d'Elyse and Magnus the Traitor

Team Trick Or Treat re:Universe
It just wouldn't feel like the JOTC without our favorite team, Trick or Treat, from Osaka!  These guys really bring the fun with them!
   Niwaniwa, with his Retribution army, using Issyria, Sibyl of Dawn and Garryth, Eye of Vengeance
   Redobii, with his Grymkin army, using The Dreamer and The King of Nothing
   Enzo, with his Circle of Oroboros army, using Krueger the Stormlord and Baldur the Stonecleaver

Team Enjoy and Exciting
This is a team of heavy hitters, and no mistake!  A mix of Hiroshima and Tokyo, this team is definately here to win!
   Rantei, with his Skorne army, using Dominar Rasheth and Makeda & the Exalted Court
   Souichiro, with his Convergence army, using Axis, the Harmonic Enforcer and Aurum Lucanum Athanor Locke
   Tetsu, with his Mercenaries army, using Ashlynn d'Elyse and General Ossrum

And Now, a Word from Our Sponsors

We would really like to give a shout out to our sponsors, as well!  We had a huge amount of prizes donated by some really generous companies!  From mats, zones and measuring sticks to gift certificates, our sponsors really game through for us!

Frozen Forge Goodies!

     - playmats.eu - playmats.eu
          Playmats gave us several mats and zone sets!

     - Frozen Forge - frozenforge.com
          This year Frozen Forge came through again with several beautiful sets of magnatized measuring sticks!

     - Discount Games, Inc. - discountgamesinc.com
          Discount Games also came through for us again with a huge gift certificate for each member of our winning team!

Mats and zones from playmats.eu

Round 1 - 

And now, on to the Crash at the Castle!  Match-ups for this round!

     Enjoy and Exciting VS InterRegional

     Hand of God VS Kyushu

     Grim Evil Robots VS Trick Or Treat

     Dead on Arrival had the pass this round.

A devastating round for my poor InterRegionals team... we had gone in with very high hope.  I, for one, was sitting on a team that would get me as close to the top as I had ever been!  Expectations were high!  And then all three of us were dealt second/ third round brutal assassinations... oof!

Winners for the round - Enjoy and Exciting, Hand of God, Grim Evil Robots!

Round 2 - 

After a quick break for rations, the battles continued, fiercer than ever!  Match-ups were...

     Hand of God VS Dead on Arrival

     Enjoy and Exciting VS Grim Evil Robots

     Team Kyushu VS Trick Or Treat

     InterRegional had the pass this round

Taking the pass, we kind of knew that we were out of the running as far as finishing towards the top was concerned, but we turned it into a chance to me to get a game against Kirill, so that was amazing!  I've never gotten to play against him before, and he gave me a lot of good advise, that hopefully I will put to use in Round 3! (I was, of course, slaughtered in that game, but in the nicest way possible, haha!).  

Winners for the round - Dead on Arrival, Enjoy and Exciting, and Team Kyushu!

Round 3 - 

At last!  The final round!  And soon, a victor!

     Hand of God VS InterRegional

     Grim Evil Robots VS Team Kyushu

     Enjoy and Exciting VS Dead on Arrival for the championship!

     Trick Or Treat had the pass round.

What a great round!  In our battle against Hand of God, I got to get a game in with Kaerumaat and his Minions army.  I've never gotten to play against him OR against Lord Carver, so I was super excited.  He was a great opponent, and with ten seconds left on his clock took a swing at Cyrenia, but she managed to tough it out with one health point left, and with that, his clock ran out, leaving me the win!  

Winners for the round - Grim Evil Robots, Team InterRegional, and ...

                                                                                                                   and...

                                                                                                                              and...

Results - 

Team Enjoy and Exciting WINS!!!!!!

Yes, congratulations you guys!  Well fought!  You totally deserve this honor!

In second place - Grim Evil Robots

Woot!  Three of my favorite players, all together in one team!  Good job!

In third place - Hand of God

 Well, well, well.  Just inching out my own Team InterRegional, Hand of God managed to snag the coveted third plae!  Congrats!

And finally, the winner of the painting contest....Vrada, with his Khador army!  Well done!

Thank you everyone for making this another great Japan Open Team Championship!  Again, I humbly apologize for the disturbing lack of photos... the new drudge should arrive in plenty of time for next year's battles!  Until then, keep gaming!

AAR - Bumps in the Night

Happy New Year!!!!

Did everyone have a great vacation?  I had so many, many plans for my two weeks off, like getting my Exemplar Errants completely painted, taking part in the traditional Japanese big cleaning of the house, more blogging since I fell behind a little bit last year (oops, sorry, everybody!).  Sadly, a dislocated thumb and a slipped disk in my spine made sure that I did nothing but a lot of sitting at my kitchen table, unable to do anything but sit still and pray for a miracle!  No painting, no blogging... no nothing!  And well just in time for real life to return.  Curses!  At least my second half was around to help with the poliwogs, or else I would have been completely out of luck!

A few weeks before the end of the year, the Fukuyama Gaming Club had our last meeting of 2018, and we got in some great games.  Leland and DTB look like they're heading to Osaka for a tournament in the middle of January, and are really working hard on getting their lists ready for a good fight!  We didn't just get in some Warmachine/ Hordes practice, though... oh no!  Take a look at what got thrown down on the board!

Ghostly warband FTW!

That's right!  The Thorns of the Briar Queen, the ghostly warband from Shadespire (or actually Shadespire's expansion, the Night Vault) is now mine!  Muahhahahahahaha!  This time, Sarge, DTB, Leland and I got in a four player game of Shadespire.  I'm not totally sold on multiplayer games yet, but I could see how it might be fun.  At the moment, I don't think we're quite getting 3 or 4 player games just right.

This month, DTB and I paired off for a Warma/Hordes battle, leaving Sarge and Leland to their own battles, and was I in for a surprise!  Instead of pulling out his tried and true Trollblood army, he threw a whole new bag up on the table... one with swirling purple patches... and I knew that DTB had fallen to the Defiers!  Perfect!  My Menoth worshipers were just dying to get their hands on these heretical nightmares!  But in reality, I love love love the Grymkin, and was super excited to see a new army across the board from me!  I guess DTB wanted to surprise everyone, so he put the army together and painted it up without telling anyone, until he had a fully painted, complete army up and ready to go.  Amazing!

So, without further ado, your army lists for today!

Army List, Grymkin:

A scattered bunch of Nightmares!

     Defier - The Child
          Cage Rager
          Skin & Moans X 3
          Rattlers X 3
          Crabbits X 2
          Gremlin Swarms X 3
     Lady Karianna Rose
     Death Knell
     Glimmer Imp

So, this is the Dark Menagerie theme force, which is pretty much like most Heavy Metal themes.  Ultra beast heavy, no units, and a couple of solos are what DTB has to work with, but in return, the theme allows him to take Gremlin Swarms, usually not acceptable in the theme force, and the Gremlins get Serenity, that will help him with Fury control.  Also, all non trooper models that can carry corpse tokens begin the game with one, so his Skin & Moans and the Death Knell are already tough coming out of the gate.  The good news for me and the bad news for DTB is that while the Gremlin Swarms would be devastating to most armies, my force is literally awash in magical weapons, so getting rid of them won't be AS tricky as it could be for most opponents.

Army List, Protectorate:

Line up for a fight with the darkness!

     Warcaster - High Exemplar Cyrenia
          Judicator
     Exemplar Bastions
     Exemplar Bastion Seneschal
     Exemplar Cinerators
          - Officer
     Exemplar Errants
          - Officer & Standard Bearer
     Exemplar Errant Seneschal
     Exemplar Warder
     High Exemplar Gravius
     Visigoth Rhovien
     Vassal Mechanik

This is the new Exemplar Interdiction theme force that I wanted to try out, along the the brand spankin' new caster, Cyrenia!  Woo, is she a great addition to the Protectorate!  I've only played her in a few games, but MAN!! I love her!  This theme gives me the benefits of having all warjacks (so, only the Judicator, who already has it naturally.... sigh) Blessed on all their weapons, meaning that they will ignore spell buffs to ARM and DEF, and also gives me a +2" on my deployment zone.... now, usually that would be invaluable to me, but this army is surprisingly fast!  Cyrenia has a spell to move her troops along, and Gravius also has an action he can take that also gets Exemplars moving... but still, I'll take it!

Setup, Grymkin:

Things that go bump in the night

We came up with the Mirage scenerio, so that means two large, unit scoring zones, one on each side, with an objective in the middle of it, and three flags across the center of the table.  This is going to be a difficult scenerio win for DTB, because wow, Dark Menagerie does not get a whole lot of models and NO units!  DTB started with a Gremlin Swarm off to the far left, next to the Blue Rattler and Blue Skin & Moans (did that thing skin a Trollkin???) Lady Rose was off the line just a bit behind the S&M, and next came the White Rattler and the White S&M protecting another Gremlin Swarm, the Black Crabbit hiding behind The Child, and the Glimmer Imp on the other side.  Next, the Death Knell, the White Crabbit and the Red S&M and Red Rattler lined up, with the Cage Rager on the end.

Setup, Protectorate:

And now for the fastest list in Menoth

Yikes!  I know the Judicator is an amazing 'jack, but I don't know how I feel about having only ONE warjack in the whole army!  Still, Cyrenia has other things she need to do with her focus, so I guess we'll try and make it work.  I had to use a couple of proxies in this battle since I haven't quite gotten all of the new models yet, so I have Kreoss 2 as Cyrenia, Durst as the Cinerator Officer, and Reznik as the Exemplar Warder... bear with me, haha!

I started with Cyrenia and her Judicator in the center.  To their left, I placed the Cinerators and Gravius (he's going to help them along since they're SO SLOW!!!) To the right I had the Mechanik behind Cyrenia and the Warder next to her, then the Bastions with their Seneschal behind them.  Since DTB doesn't have any advanced deployment, I went ahead and put out the Errants and their Seneschal in the middle of the field. 

Our Story:

Shudder

On a mission to Tower Judgment, Cyrenia, followed by her interdiction of Exemplars, came upon a small girl standing in the shadows of a copse of trees.  Smiling at the little girl to try and calm her, Cyrenia knelt down and extended a hand to lead her from the darkness.  The little girl regarded her quietly for a moment.  "Are you a one of Menoth's?"
"To be sure," Cyrenia replied.  "Are you lost?"
A dark light flashed behind the child's eyes.  "I'm not lost.  Dolly's with me."  Behind her, something huge began to push through the trees.  The girls features twisted in a horrible grin.  "And Dolly HATES the worshipers of the false one!"
Cyrenia moved back towards her forces as Dolly loomed behind The Child, and the Exemplars prepared their weapons as the chittering, moaning horde of Grymkin appeared, ready to rend them all until they joined the Wicked Harvest.


Round 1,  Grymkin:

Oh, man, they're coming!

The Glimmer Imp ran 12" to in front of the rubble.  The Child put on Tantrum, then Abused the White S&M for 1 damage and also Abused the Blue S&M for one damage.  The White S&M then ran behind the lake, and the Blue S&M followed it.  The White and Blue Rattlers ran to keep up with their buddies.  Lady Rose ran to just behind the White S&M.  The far left Gremlins ran over the wall, the middle Gremlins ran behind most of the pack, while the Black Crabbit walked behind Dolly and then Lept to next to the Glimmer Imp.

You don't want to meet these guys down a dark alley!

The Red S&M moved next to the objective, while the White Crabbit walked forward and then Lept into the zone.  The Cage Rager ran 8" to lip the zone.  The Red Rattler also ran to the objective with its buddy.  The far right Gremlin Swarm moved between the S&M and to finish up, the Death Knell walked 6", then repositioned into the zone.

Round 1, Protectorate:

For the Flame and the Wall

Cyrenia started off as she likes to do, giving Heroic Call and Inviolable Resolve to the Errants before moving forward and casting Dash.  The Warder moved forward next to her before the Errants moved up, shooting A WHOLE LOT at the White Crabbit and failing to kill it.  The Errant Seneschal moved onto the flag, the Bastions ran forward, and Gravius on the other side moved behind the cloud and gave Desperate Pace to the Cinerators.  The Judicator moved forward and sent two rockets at the Grymkin.  They deviated since the target was too far, but managed to kill Lady Rose!  First blood to me!  Woot!  And then I forgot to make the damn thing get it's second bound... damn!  Cinerators ran into the middle of the table, and Rhoven & Co finished to round by running forward.

Round 2, Grymkin:

Fear not the darkness!

In the maintainance phase, DTB moved the Cage Rager due to Tantrum, and the Gremlin Swarms removed two fury from the S&Ms, and then round 2 began!  The Glimmer Imp ran to the flag and stared down the Errants giving them a -2 DEF.  The Black Crabbit moved and Lept to the front of the zone.  The Child Abused the White S&M for 2 damage, then healed the White Crabbit, fixing all of its aspects, and then moved forward.  The Red Rattler charged an Errant, killing it and triggering Berzerk... sigh... my poor Seneschal hanging onto the flag, and no one close enough to die for him...three more lost their lives to the Rattler...that thing is scary!

Mmmmm, Errant, nom nom nom

The White S&M charged over the lake to an Errant, killing it, but it was TOUGH thanks to Heroic Call!  Yes!  But, sadly, he died to the monster's second attack.  It bought another attack on the next Errant, and the Errant WAS TOUGH!!!!  Woohoo!  And it died on the S&M's last attack.  The White Rattler ran up to another Errant, while the Cage Rager moved to the edge of the zone.  The Red S&M walked in front of the objective, and the White Crabbit walked and the Lept into the cloud, biting an Errant, but could not break his armor!  The Blue Rattler moved behind the lake, put up it's animus "Still As Death," which gave it Countercharge.  The Blue S&M walked behind the lake, and the Grymkin finished up with the Death Knell moving forward next to the objective.

Round 2, Protectorate:

Stand strong, guys!  They're only as scary as they look!

Well, to start, I forgot all about my Vengence movements and all the good stuff that I got to do in my maintenance phase... what a waste!!!  That's okay, it's my first time with this army.  I'll have to remember in the future, though!  The surviving Errants pressed forward, putting damage on the Red Rattler, White Crabbit, White Rattler, and killing ONLY the Glimmer Imp... What???? How did I only kill one tiny solo!  Rhoven moved forward and shot Cleansing Fire on the Gremlins scoring the Flag, but MISSED on a roll of two 1's.  Sigh.  Gravius ran around to the wall behind the front lines.  The Cinerators made a charge order, putting the pain on the White S&M before the Officer used his Defensive Formation ability and allowed them to use a second order in the activation, falling into a Shield Wall for more DEF on DTB's activation.

Casualties of war!

The Bastions charged the Cage Rager and the Red Rattler, bringing the Rattler down to 3 damage and giving 6 damage to the Cage Rager.  The Warder charged the Rattler (I had to murderize that thing!), finally killing it.  The Judicator moved forward, bombing the Blue Rattler, leaving it barely alive (and again, I FORGOT THE SECOND BOUNCE!!!) Finally, the Mechanik moved up behind the Judicator just in case, and Cyrenia stepped forward to...... BEEPBEEPBEEP!  Time over!

Conclusion:
Victory for the Grymkin!

This monster must not be allowed to survive!

The Child giggled maniacally as her monsters tore through Cyrenia's Exemplars as though they were untrained chaff.  Unwilling to risk more of her brothers-in-arms, the High Exemplar sent the signal to withdraw, a vanguard taking the brunt of the retreat as the monsters continued their depraved games.  "Go hide behind your wall, little knight,"  she heard the voice of the Child call over the wails of the dying.  "We'll see you soon enough."

A very fun game with DTB!  The Grymkin play style is still a little unfamiliar to me, and I had a great time learning just how devestating a Rattler on the lose could be!  I made a lot of mistakes, forgetting important rules and tricks of my models, but most of them I'm using for the first time, like the Errants, and I'll pick it up soon!  I'm looking forward to more Defier Vs. Menoth fights in the future!  Thanks, DTB!!!

RNR - Shadespire

At the beginning of October, the 6th Annual Japan Open hit the streets of Fukuyama, and everyone had a great time!  But even though it was amazing, it is kind of nice to have the pressure off!  I have to admit, having to focus on tournament training for the past six months to the exclusion of side games and goofing off, I was going a little stir crazy!  Now that it's December, it's time for having some fun and not worrying about lists, painting, and tactics.  Phew!  In fact, there's a little something that I've been hoping to get going in the Fukuyama Gaming Club, and hopefully we'll get a chance to do it (and I'll let you in on the secret then!) in the next two months!

A surprise visit from a good friend!

Now, I'm a commissar who enjoys a surprise now and then.  And the last meeting of the FGC before the tournament had a little gem... As we were setting up, DTB told us that after our first game we were going to have to walk down to the train station to meet a new player who wanted to see if they wanted to join the group.  So down we went, and who through the crowds should appear, not a new player as we had thought, but our old friend Javi!  OHMYGOSH!!!  Javi is a former member of the FGC, way way back when we actually used to play on the floor of my apartment!  Oof, I can't even describe the backaches!  *shudder*  While he played a great game with his Retribution army, he was even better known for being one of the best Warhammer 40K players that I have ever known.  Like, in my whole life.  Several mentions in White Dwarf Magazine, and a powerhouse in tournaments all over Japan and Europe, and through it all, he is one of the best sports that I have ever had the honor to play against.  In fact, this is going to bring us to another installment of....

Don't Be A Jerk
Yes, with Javi's triumphant return to Fukuyama, I was reminded of one of my favorite stories of playing against a jerk.  Let me take you back, long long ago, to a Warhammer 40K tournament here in Japan at a local civic center.  DTB and Javi were both there, fighting it out for the Emperor, but DTB's final opponent was a little... off.  Lots of complaints, grumbling, things like that.  In true DTB fashion, he made several amazing deviation rolls in a row, and then suddenly, his die vanished.  Poof.  Just like that.  After the game was over, he found it tucked INSIDE a piece of terrain.  Ugh.  A little suspicious, but hey, no one thought too much about it.  Well, the tournament went on, and that guy and Javi made it to the finals.

There was only one problem... Javi had to catch a train in a few hours, and as anyone who has played 40K knows, games can take much, MUCH longer than that!  So, it was agreed that their game would finish at a certain time.  After only two rounds, it was already clear that Javi was going to prevail.  He offered to leave the game as it was, claiming the victory... but this guy... THIS GUY... refused, insisting that everything was about to turn into his favor, and becoming increasingly aggressive towards Javi.  Four rounds in, Javi finished wiping the board clean.  Ah, if only this guy had agreed to finish the game early... his loss would have been somewhat less complete...Anyway, angry about his defeat, he proceeded to put his fist through the wall!  He put a hole in a wall in a public building because he lost a game!  So now all anyone can remember of him was his multitude of hissyfits, that he hid someone's dice because they were "lucky"(allegedly), and that he was a bad sport.  Long story short, don't be a jerk.

Anyway, Javi wanted to bring his Warmachine force on his trip, but it was a little to much to try to bring his Retribution army with him from Spain and still convince his company that he was coming for work.  Luckily, there's a whole bunch of games that are easy to play as a pick-up, and so I got my first ever game of Shadespire in with Javi while DTB and Leland got some tournament practice in, and I have to say, for being out of Games Workshop for a few years, it was pretty fun!  Let's take a look!

Shadespire:

The basics

This was actually a pretty easy game to just run through.  Each player has only a couple of models, depending on the faction they use, each with some special abilities.  You also have a deck of cards that control things from what your goals are to upgrades for your models.  The trick to becoming a great Shadespire player is to make a killer deck.  Of course, I borrowed a pre-made deck from DTB along with his Steelheart's Champions while Javi used his Garrek's Reavers.

Steelheart's Champions, ready to kill some Khornate scum!

Warbands:

There are 12 different "Warbands" in the Shadespire game, each with different abilities, faction specific goal cards, upgrades, and benefits... let's take a quick look at the different bands you can use as you battle your way to the top!

     Garrek's Reavers: 5 models.  Human worshipers of Khorne, the Blood God.  They are crazed berzerkers, so they don't use that much armor, prefering instead to bathe in the blood of their defeated enemies.  Of course.

     Steelheart's Champions: 3 models.  Once long dead heroes from across the realms, Sigmar has collected their essence and re-animated them as immortal fighting machines, the embodiment of all that is heroic and good.

     Sepulchral Guard: 7 models.  Skeletal undead that retain their memories of their former existance, they have devoted themselves to the service of the God of Death in hopes that at some point he will see fit to free them from their horrible existance.

     Ironskull's Boyz: 4 models.  An Orruk warband, they like fighting and fighting.... and some more fighting.  Really, that's it.  Oh, make sure that you put at least a little red on them as you paint them up... never forget, the red ones go fastah!

     The Chosen Axes: 4 models.  Originally the defenders of Shadespire, these Dwarven mercenaries feel shamed that Shadespire has been cursed, and are determined to destroy the curse, free Shadespire, and redeem their honor.

     Spiteclaw's Swarm: 5 models.  Like all Skaven, Spiteclaw leads his clan in deviousness and looting, hiding in the shadows until he can swarm over unsuspecting victims, either to steal all they have or enslave them into service.

     The Farstriders:  3 models.  Another group of Stormclad Eternals like Steelheart's Champions, the Farstriders are in Shadespire searching for a cure to their ailment of slowly losing their humanity the longer they fight as Eternals.

     Magore's Fiends:  4 models.  Two words... Chaos Marines.  These are worshipers of Khorne, determined to hunt down all the warbands of Stormclad Eternals, drowning the Mirror City in blood until Khorne himself looks down in favor on them.

     Stormsire's Cursebreakers:  3 models.  Yet more Stormclad Eternals, the Cursebreakers are a group of wizards!  That's right, they can all use magic, and not only that, they get stronger when they do!

     Thorns of the Briar Queen:  7 models.  Once a death mage of unimaginable power, the Briar Queen's soul has been trapped beneath Shadespire for centuries, leading her to madness.  Now, the god of death has released her to protect the Mirrored City.

     Eyes of the Nine:  6 models.  Devotees of Tzeentch, the Lord of Change, these demons are searching for relics around Shadespire in order to connect the Mirrored City and the Realms of Chaos, allowing Tzeentch to rule.

     Zarbag's Gitz:  9 models.  Goblins and Squigs, these little Grots are in infestation that can never be truly gotten rid of.  Accidentally falling into the pleasure gardens of the former rulers of the Mirrored City only to find them overrun with fungi and Squigs, Zarbag is determined to bring as many of his kin as he can into the city.

The Story:

All good games have a back story, and Shadespire is no exception.  Long long ago... no, longer than that... nope, keep going.... There you go!  Long long long ago, Shadespire was a wonderful city that made a miraculous  substance called shadeglass, which could trap the essence of people as they died, thus preserving them in the glass and keeping them from descending into the realm of the dead.  As you might imagine, this REALLY pissed off the god of death, who decided that to simply kill everyone would be to easy a punishment, and instead inverted the shadeglass, making the Mirrored City a trap from which none could escape!  Trapped in its own reflection between the light and the dark, the inhabitants cannot leave, which means that they can't get back to the realm of the living, but also can't get out to the land of the dead either.  They're just... stuck there!  Forever!  Some warbands, like the Stormclad Eternals, are searching for a way out.  Others, like Khorne's boys, just want to kill stuff.  And even more just want to snatch what they can, like the Skaven and the Gitz.

Don't mind us, just looking for a way out

The Setup:

The players start by taking turns picking out and laying down a board.  There are a whole bunch of different boards to choose from, and they all have different layouts, thing like traps and obstacles and starting spaces and the like.  The spaces on the board are hexes, and these will count for movement and range for weapons.  You can lay the boards down however you like!  The only restriction in that 4 hexes have to be completed where the boards touch.  Then, objective hexes are randomly arranged around the completed boards.

Off center boards are the best!

Once the boards are set, the players set their two decks of cards:  one deck is for objectives, goals that you will complete in order to get points that lead to your eventual victory, and a second deck is full of upgrades for your models and actions that you can take at the end of a round.  The decks get shuffled, and then each player draws three objectives and 5 upgrades/actions.  Finally, the players take turns placing their models on the boards in designated starting hexes.

Begin!
Game play is fairly straightforward... there are three rounds in the game.  Each player will take 4 actions per round.  There are a lot of actions to choose from, and while Warbands with only three models have an easy time deciding on what to do, those with five, six, or even seven models will have to decide which models to activate each round.  Some of the Warbands have special rules that will let you sneaky move extra models each turn, and that is going to be a really important perk for larger bands.  Some potential activations each turn are:
    - moving, once per model per round (each character has a movement stat that tells you how many
              hexes they can go)
    - attacking (each character has fighting stats, including how many dice you roll and how much
              damage each attack will do)
    - charging (if you charge with a character, you can't make any other attacks with that model)
    - drawing a card (you can choose to discard a card and draw a new one instead of taking an action)

This Khorne berserker can't move again this round.

After one player takes a turn, there is a chance to use any of your card actions.  These cards can give bonuses to your next activating model, deal sudden misery to one of your opponents, cause a cave-in of shade glass, heal your models, or various other effects.  Some cards are general cards, others are Warband specific.  Again, this is where the tricky part of the games comes in... it's so important to build a good deck for your team!

Card decks, character cards, models and turn counters

At the of the round, when all players have taken 4 turns, it's time to see who gets some glory!  Collecting glory points is the goal of the game, and whoever has more at the end of the game wins!  You will get a glory point for each enemy model you destroy, but also at the end of each round players have a chance to get even more.  For each of the three objective cards that you drew at the beginning, you will receive glory points for accomplishing.  Easy objectives, like, "Hold objective marker 3" and the like, will give you only one glory point.  More difficult ones, like, "At the end of the round there are no enemy models in your area" are worth three, and incredibly difficult ones, like, "Murder all other models on the board" are worth 5!

Once each player has gotten their glory points for completed objectives, you can use them like money for any upgrades you've drawn from your upgrade/action deck.  Some of them can be used by any of the models, and some are model specific, but they all are helpful!  You can get new attacks, more wounds, better defense, all kinds of upgrades!  But again, it all goes into the deck you build for your warband, so make sure to put in a lot of thought as you select cards for the decks!

Glory points for me!

Conclusion:
Since it was my first game, and Javier is a great guy, he decided not to completely stomp me into the ground!  We had a great time, and I'm looking forward to getting my own Warband together!  I'm thinking the Thorns of the Briar Queen look like great fun, though it will be interesting to see how effective 7 models are in a four turn round!  Shadespire seems like it's going to be a great little palate cleanser between larger games, or as a nice pick-up while we wait for early morning stragglers!  I've been interested in the Age of Sigmar recently, but I don't have the extra time to devote to a whole new game system, so this is a nice way that I can just dip the proverbial toe into that world!  Cheers!

Commissarial Snap Inspection - Astral Games

Well, well, well!  Back again after a long, well deserved vacation in the States.  Some of it was amazing!  And some of it was... well, less amazing, but all in all, a successful holiday visiting family and friends.  I will say this, almost nothing in my life has been more stressful than hustling two very small children across an ocean all on my lonesome.  Yikes!  I do NOT recommend that.  Definitely not for the faint of heart.  Luckily for me, I am an Imperial Commissar, and not one to fail in my duties!  Ergo, everyone made it there, and everyone made it back, all safe and sound.  Success!!!  All praise the Emperor.  But before I get into what an amazing trip it was, a few things.

Working Hard or Hardly Working
What's a vacation without a little painting, am I right?  Okay, no I did not bring my models with me all the way to the other continent, but I did do some for a stress relief after returning home... I give to you the last of my Paladins!  With him out of the way, a single model stands between me and two fully painted lists in October... well, I guess a single character with two models.  The Champion of the Order of the Wall is the last to go, with both his mounted and dismounted forms.  And then we shall be complete!!!!  Mua-hahahahaha!
     Working Hard:  Paladin of the Order of the Wall

A third Paladin?  Don't mind if I do!

Man, I love these models.  This is hopefully the last one I'm going to have to paint though, since even with the Paladin theme force, three seems to be the limit.  Add to that Dartan and the Champion, and my TOM list is simply lousy with Paladin strength!

     WIP:  Champion of the Order of the Wall

One model to go!

There he is!  The last of the models for this year!  A few more painting sessions and he should be all finished!

Announcements:
This is it!  October is literally right around the corner, and so it is time to start seriously turning our thoughts towards the upcoming 6th Annual Japan Open Team Championship!  It'll be held October 7 in Fukuyama at the community center behind the castle!  Spaces are starting to run out, so NOW is the time to register your team!  After the tournament will be a nomikai (drinking party) and the 8th will be a free gaming day.  And remember, if you couldn't find a teammate, let us know and we can help match you with a team, or you can be a stand-in in case we have a no show.  And at the very least, you could get in some games during the free day!  So hurry and register, it's going to be great!

In preparation, the Fukuyama Gaming Club will have it's last meeting before the tournament on September 9, so stop by if you want a game.  

Right.  Well, with that out of the way, it is time for trip details!  I saw lots of good people... ate lots of good food... enjoyed being in my home country for a welcome change of pace... and got to hang out at some amazing places, two of which were our local gaming stores.  The area I live in is called the Rogue Valley (I know, it's the best name for a place to grow up, right?  Guess that explains my love of pirates, haha!) and in the valley are a collection of several smaller towns.  The two biggest each have a gaming store... Fun Again Games in Ashland, which I visited with my dear Inquisitor, and Astral Games in Medford.  So today, let's take an in depth look at one of our friendly neighborhood gaming stores, Astral Games.

Snap Inspection:  Astral Games

Astral Games

125 S. Central Ave. Suite 110, Medford Oregon  

Awww, I love to see that logo!

Astral Games... if I still lived in town, they would be taking a whole lot more of my paychecks than they rightfully should.  Since I don't, I make sure to drop a significant amount of cash there whenever I find myself in town.

Astral was opened years and years ago by this guy...

Imperial Selfie!

Aaron.  Aaron is one of my best friends from many many years ago.  More years ago than I care to remember, to be honest, haha!  We even were housemates for a while before I made the big move across the ocean.  He opened Astral Games in it's original location in 2008.  After doing amazingly, he relocated it to it's current location... near the local college.  Oh man!  What THAT a good decision.  Since he moved there, he's doing so well that he was able to rent out the whole space NEXT TO THE SHOP, and doubled the size of the place, adding a video game corner, since, you know, college kids literally within walking distance!  So here we are,  years since the new location opened, and Astral is one of the strongest gaming shops I know!  Allow me to show you around!

First off... introductions!

Astral Games is now staffed by a whopping 5 people.  Here, you have almost the whole team.  From the left, Sean (Board Game Specialist), Aaron (King of All He Purveys), Emily (Magic Specialist), and Crystal (Store Management).  A delightful crew!  Not seen here is Josh, the Warmachine Specialist... I just missed getting him in this shot!  Too bad!

The shop is separated into several areas to ease your ability to find stuff!  First up, as I already mentioned, the video game room!

So roomy!

So, here we have the video game alley.  You can hang out on these comfy couches for $5 for the whole day.  The.  Whole.  Day.  They have all kinds of systems and all kinds of games, so go nuts!  On the right, we have rows of card/ board game tables, and way WAY in the back are a couple of Warmachine/ Hordes tables!  But that's not all!

VR and Arcade Games and Wamachine tables, oh my!

The room is topped off with a couple of arcade games, and two (that's right, TWO!!) virtual reality consols!  Haha, I want to try it!  These bad boys are $5 per hour, and they next time I'm in town, you can bet that I'm going to try it!

Southern Oregon Warmachine Group

Warmachine tables!  And a bunch of people to play with!  It's like a dream come true!  More on the Warma/Hordes community here in a minute!

Board games and card games take up the front of the store.

Back in the main room, you are confronted with a veritable wall of board games!  So, so many board games to look at.  There's only about ten or so that I'm desperate to try, but it's a little too hard to carry them back to Japan, so I'm going to have to try resist the urge to buy them!  Also in this corner are a couple of displays for magic, Monster Hunter, and a couple of other card based games and accessories for them, like card mats, carrying cases, and so on.

You need a plushie... and YOU need a plushie!

Woot!  Who doesn't like plushies!  Also, comic boxes, and on the top shelf is art from local artists.  This was a part of the store that I didn't know about before this trip back home, but Astral Games is doing a whole lot of partnerships with local artists, which is an amazing thing!  Art prints, leather dice bags, and a whole bunch of other items are on sale, giving local artists a great stage to offer their goods to more people!

Mmmmmm, new comics!

New comics!  Once a week (Wednesday, I believe) the new comics are unbundled and rolled out onto the racks!  It's been a long time since I liked any comics enough to collect them, but after an incredibly long hiatus, Neil Gaiman has restarted his Sandman series, and I'm back in the game!  I managed to be just in time to snag the first one, but looks like I'm going to have to play catch up from here!

Guess how many characters there are!

The center floor space is given to many many displays of Funzo Pop figures, and my mind is blown by how many there are!  From comic book characters to cartoons, movies and games, any characters that you might be into are probably in Pop form.  I even managed to score a Death Pop from the old Sandman comics (mostly due to the fact that Aaron and I and a group of friends went as the Endless in New Orleans one memorable Halloween). 

Warhammer... my first love

Ooooh, now we're getting closer to the good stuff!  Warhammer from Games Workshop, the gate way drug to wargaming!  Like most people, I'm sure, I began my wargaming life in the 40K universe when I was sold a Grey Knights army and my friends started teaching me how to play.  Since then I've worked on several Warhammer armies... a Sisters of Battle army I got from the previously mentioned Inquisitor, a Lizardman army for the Fantasy game, an Escher gang for Necromunda, and a Norse Blood Bowl team.  I turned away from Games Workshop for a couple of dubious business decisions they made, but now the company seems to be rectifying it's former mistakes, and the Nighthaunts from the Age of Sigmar game are calling my name!  In a seperate room from the Warmachine tables, there are several Warhammer tables set up with some really spectacular terrain!

And finally the good stuff!

Ahh, yes!  There it is!  The Warmachine/ Hordes wall!  Woot!  While I have dabbled in other games, Warmachine is where my heart lies!  I was lucky on this trip to meet the Warma/Hordes group that meets here once a week, and man, am I jealous!  Once a week!  The Fukuyama Gaming Club only can get together once a month!  I can't imagine how good we would get if we could meet more often.  And not only that, but there seems to be a whole lot of events, like Caster Drafts, Tournaments, and possibly narrative leagues?  Not to mention that they have a whole lot of members.  I didn't manage to get a game in, but several of the players have multiple armies, and I was offered a loan of a Menoth army, but alas, due to timing I wasn't able to work it out.  Now, thought, I have that most important of assets, contacts!  Thus, when I come into town next, I'll be able to get in some games for sure!

Southern Oregon Warma/Hordes group

Believe it or not, this isn't everyone!  Jealous!  I'm looking forward to having some good times with these guys next time! 

Conclusion:
Since this is the first ever Commissarial Snap Inspection, let me explain the rating system.  The spectrum ranges from "Warp-storm Spawned Disaster" to "Imperial Excellence" with several middling levels in the middle that include "Industrial Hive World" "Inquisitor Hang Out." And now, drumroll please...

Astral Games will receive the grade of .... "Imperial Excellence."  Congratulations, Aaron!  This store is amazing, roomy, friendly, full of goodness, and has a strong customer base of people that enjoy gaming and having fun.  Until next time, Astral!  I'll be back to spend all of my money next time!

If you want to check it out for yourself, you can find out more here! www.Astralgamesonline.com

Widower's Wood, The Final

Well, well, well!  My trip to the USA is looming ever closer!  I can't believe that in just a few short days I'll be on a plane and heading out for a long trip home... gonna get some games in with some old friends, gonna do some shopping, and eat lots of my favorite snacks!  But I'm most looking forward to spending a lot of time with some of my favorite people.  Before I can get on that plane, however, I have a little more Commissar business to take care of... and at last, what you all have been waiting for, the Fukuyama Gaming Club finally took a swing at the final chapter of Widower's Wood!

To tell the truth, I was a little sad to see the game come to an end... seven chapters and three kickstarter exclusive missions, and I never got tired of the game.  I had such a good time playing!  I'm really looking forward to playing the Dead Men Walking expansion sometime next year, and I'm debating whether or not to pick up the Undercity game that is the urban parallel to our swamp romp.  For this final chapter, Sarge joined us, making it so that no one had to double up on a character, and we could all focus on beating up on some immortal booty!

A fourth player for our final chapter

Announcements:
The Fukuyama Gaming Club will be meeting next on July 22 and August 5.  I myself will be absent from both meetings since, you know, America!  So come and get a game to fill in my absence!
October is fast approaching, and with it the Japan Open Team Tournament, so make sure that you are registered and ready to go, since space are filling up!

And now... drum roll, please... the final chapter of the Widower's Wood campaign.  I know you've been waiting with baited breath, and here we finally are, at the knife's edge between success and failure.  The characters have been upgraded as far as we could get them... the players are on edge and ready to roll... the dice have been promised first born children for good rolls in the game... and... GO!

Invincible Deathless, Invincible Schmethless

The Story So Far:
As our last chapter ended, the characters had successfully interrupted the ritual that Rasheldonak was performing to resurrect an immortal Deathless.  As the group was sharing a high five on a job well done saving the swamp, one last prayer from a dying Mist Speaker cracked the seal on the the Deathless' prison, and he appeared.  The good news... Rasheldonak I guess took a blow to the head and realized what a mistake he made.  Full of shame, the Gatorman Witch Doctor strode forward to banish what he had summoned, but bad news... he can't control the Deathless, and to show its displeasure at Sheldon, it promptly cut him in twain.  Oops, well, that's what you get when you try to control and ancient evil!  Time to send it back to sleep!

Chapter 7, More or Deathless:

Even the villains are after it!

Time to get to work!  So, the Deathless, living up to his name, is in fact immortal, unless you can tempt him to come over to the Druid Stone circle on the opposite side of the board from where he starts.  As he passes over the Druid Stones, he becomes vincible, and it's time to lay the smack down!  Once he's not invincible, you roll a dice, and then place that much XP on the clock tile.  Each time the Deathless activates (and if you pull an Impending Doom event card you roll a dice and remove that much XP).  When the XP runs out, the Deathless is once more invincible, and then the whole thing starts again with you having to lure him across the stones.  The good news is, he hates everybody on the board, so he'll kill Gatormen just as much as he will the heroes.  In red priority rounds, he'll target villains first, and in blue rounds, he'll target heroes first.  While it seems that we'll never get him across the board in 10 rounds, he will move the direction of anyone who attacks him, so I think it's time for Skarg to show off his ranged attack skills!  And in addition to the big baddie bearing down on us, we also have to worry about Stranglevines and Cane Leeches!  Truly, a finale of epic proportions is in the making!  Let's get to it!

Menacing Ripples, I hate you!

 Round One - Our old nemesis, Menacing Ripples!  DTB and Leland tied, spawning 2 Gators in our place.  Olo started us off by throwing a glue bomb in the Bog Trog/ Gator space, killing the Trog and gluing the Gator in place!  Vaskis stepped in to help out, killing one of the buddy Gators, before Skarg burst out the big guns and killed a Trog and a Gator.  Agata FLUBBED her first attack!  Gah!  But she did kill one Gator on the second attack!  The villain action had a Gator charge at Olo!!  Oh no!  Luckily, Olo's poisoned glands were working in fine form, and killed off the Gator.

Brave little Croak staring down an eternal Deathless

The next round brought another Menacing Ripples, and Leland took the Gator this time.  Olo moved into the swampy area and used his Fettershot Rifle into the Deathless and Gators surrounding him, killing the Gators!  Yes!  Awesome work, Olo.... oh no!  Those undead eyes are turning your way!  Look out!  Vaskis noticed a couple of Shamblers heading our way, and shot a Chain Lightning at them, killing one.  Skarg moved up one square and shot the Deathless TWICE IN THE FACE!!!  Too bad it's invincible, that was great shooting.  The good news, the Deathless moved twice, once after each shot, leaving little Olo out of the line of fire next round.  The bad news... he's literally standing in the square with Skarg!!!  Agata put her sights on two Gatormen and sent both of them off to Kossok.

Skarg is FEARLESS!

Skarg, Skarg, Skarg... the Boss event card activated the Deathless, who attacked Skarg twice for 3 damage... ouch!  Olo moved up to try and keep the Trogs at bay so they wouldn't distract the Deathless, but on his villain action he got charged twice!  Luckily, he had some traps handy to get one of the Trogs, and the other one missed him!  Vaskis followed suit, but missed his charge attack.  Then, the Deathless again attacked Skarg, dealing another  damage, leaving Skarg stumbling with only one left.  Skarg then decided to get the heck out of Dodge, but he got caught on the free strike, and went down in Olo's square!  Nooooooooooooo!  Hang in there, Skarg, we're gonna help!  Seeing her buddy in arms go down, Agata moved in and slammed the Deathless closer to the stones.

The Gators tried to stab it in the back... no luck!

Olo took his action to revive Skarg!  Phew, it's lucky that he had an alchemical restorative on him!  Vaskis continued his attempt to keep the Shamblers at bay, shooting more Chain Lightening into the bunch, knocking down 2 and outright killing one!  The Deathless stood and moved up into the space NEXT TO THE STONE!!!  So close, but how are we going to get him to move onto the stones themselves... 

Out of the way, Trog!

 Skarg moved out of combat (taking no damage this time!) killing a Gator and a Trog cowering in the forest, trying to keep the path for the Deathless clear.  Agata Hoofed It into the forest, killing off the last Trog and Shambler anywhere near the Deathless. 

How does Olo always get in these situations?

A Perilous Journey card brings out some Cane Leeches, but we're going to try and ignore them for now... Sadly, Olo is in a bit of a pinch... trying to get out of trouble, he dropped a Corrosive Slime bomb in his own square, since he's immune to poison, and amazingly DID NO DAMAGE!!!  Oh man!  How is that possible!  Let's hope he's slippery enough to survive!  Vaskis moved into Agata's square, on the other side of the stones from the Deathless, and cast Razorwind, hitting him and causing him TO MOVE ONE SQUARE CLOSER TO VASKIS, STRAIGHT INTO THE STONES!!!  Yesssss!  He's vulnerable!  Let's go!   We rolled a 4 on the dice, so we've got 4 Deathless activations to get this done!  Then, to show off a little bit, Vaskis used his Hand of Glory to knock down everything in a square next to him, so of course he knocked down the Deathless and the Trog standing with it.

Down, foul creature!

In the villain action, the Trog stood up, and a Shambler charged the Deathless!  Hahahaha!  Take that!  3 damage from the undead villain on our right!  Thanks, Shambly!  The Deathless, on his turn, stood and killed both the Trog standing with him and the Shambler that just shanked him in the guts with its bony fingers!  Skarg took aim and shot the Deathless twice for 4 damage, leaving it with only 3.  As the Deathless moved toward Skarg, Agata used Pursuit to get out of the forest and into charge range of the villain!  Then... the moment we've all been waiting for... our Queen of Carnage, the great finisher, charged the Deathless!  With the Finisher ability, she'll roll an extra dice against models that are already damaged, so all she has to do is hit!  First attack... makes it!  Three dice on the damage... and she rolls a zillion, which means SUPER DAMAGE!  So, that means two points on the Deathless... one attack to go.  She hits... and does the final damage, winning the game!

Conclusion:
VICTORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Back to sleep, Deathless jerk!

With the threat to the Widower's Wood vanquished, our valiant heroes go their separate ways.  But as Olo returns to his nest, his mate, and his polliwogs, a human is waiting for him, an old friend in need of his help... a professor from the university in Corvis...

And thus, we can't wait to play the expansion, Dead Men Walking.  I'm so looking forward to it, but with the tournament and everything coming up, I'm not sure when we'll get to it.  I promise, you'll all be the first to know!  Widower's Wood was a great game, and I think could have a pretty high re-playability.  All in all, I give this game and its campaign a flat 9.5 out of 10!  Go play it, people!  Enjoy!

Well, that's all for now.  Hopefully I'll be able to hit up a computer in the States to keep you up to date on all the good gaming I'll be having, but if I can't then it's going to be a couple of weeks until next time!  Fear not!  Another Duty Log will be up in the not too grim future!  Until then, keep facing forward... you never know when the Commissar will be along!