A long time coming!

Today was the day.

I finally decided to take my Empire of the Dead stuff around to games today. I'd kinda gone a little crazy with the kickstarter and then with buildings to use with them (when added to Rob's buildings, it made quite the table).... It was just one of those games that caught my imagination.

I'd made a few lists.... Lycons, Criminal Gang, Gentleman Club and Nemoian's (a crew that Rob had bought).

We decided on a 3-way battle first up. Rob would run Nemo & crew. I made the mistake of letting Mark pick one of the other factions first. Since he was feeling a little hairy... Lycon's it was.

I decided to pick the Criminal Gang.

We went for just a basic beat every up to try and get the hang of the rules.

Unfortunately I didn't take too many pics.

The table:

Nemo and crew arrive...

Lycon's sneak in around the back...

My criminals reckon they are pretty 'ard, So the Guv just sends them straight down the middle of the road...

Soon Rob and I have models in combat. All that we seem able to do discombobulate each other and it seems a struggle to deal any real damage.

That is until the werewolves arrive...

And they promptly start eating everyone. Far to easily.... (note to self.... buy some silver next time).

I finally cause a couple of downs on Rob's gang -

But the damage is done. My force breaks and Rob's follows not long after. Pretty convincing win for the Lycon's. The game flowed pretty well and we picked up the rules pretty quick, although we realised a little later in the game that we weren't quite doing everything right.

Game 2 was Rob vs. myself. I switched to the Gentleman's Club to give them a try.

But mainly because I'd outfitted that list with a couple of hunting rifles..

Suffice to say the rifles and large number of pistols coupled with some very good rolling made short work of the Nemoian's. Very short.

Overall, a very enjoyable game. Relatively simple to pick up and play (reminded us of games like Legends of the Old West etc).There's already talk of more play and even potentially starting a campaign. I think I'll need to be doing some list revisions to deal with werewolves... :-)

So, something that will definitely get some more game time.

As it was my birthday on Friday, the guys also surprised me with a birthday gift which was quite unexpected.

I'm looking forward to trying it. Thanks again for the gift guys! :-)

On a more somber note though. Some of you may be aware of my interest in history, particularly the Gallipoli campaign and my family connection there. My Great-Grandfather had long been evacuated, but 100 years ago today the campaign effectively ended. A lot of what if's, missed opportunities and unnecessary causalities, but I guess that is the same with any war. The evacuation was at least a masterpiece in planning and with how it was executed.

Taken from the only NZ history:

"The evacuation of Anzac began on 15 December, and 36,000 troops were shipped out over four nights. Support troops and reserves went first, then the fighting units were thinned out until only 10,000 remained on 19 December. They moved out that night in a coordinated withdrawal from the front-line trenches. At 4.10 a.m. on the 20th, the last men left Anzac Cove. Suvla was evacuated the same night, but British and French forces remained at Helles until 8-9 January 1916. Then the campaign was over."

Lest we forget.