Saturday 24 December 2016

A little bit remiss & Merry Christmas

I've been a little bit slow on getting my last couple of gaming batreps done.

So, I figured I'd combine them here.

Three weeks ago was Saga night. As my Saga force is still unpainted, I borrowed a Byzantine list from Nick.

IIRC, I had....

Mounted Warload
Mounted Hearthguard
Mounted Hearthguard with bow
Warriors
Warriors with bow
Levy

I'd be playing Nick (Byzantines, but the heavily armoured kind!), Paul (Anglo-Saxons) and Andrew (with his dirty Skraelings). We'd be playing A Feast of Crows. A nice brutal way to end Saga gaming for the year!

Deployment:



My Byzantines are bottom right...


We roll off for first turn and the carnage begins! Nick's Byzantines head straight for the Anglo-Saxons hearthguard using kronos(?).


Doesn't go to plan for Nick though as his heavily armoured Byzantine hearthguard fall...

I figure I'd try the same, but against the Anglo-Saxon warriors. Could I do any better.... nope. One hearthguard remains and ingloriously retreats so I at least keep the order die!


I slowly advance the rest of my force towards the Anglo-Saxons, but focus on shooting. The other Byzantine force has another go at the Anglo-Saxons (with similar results), but the Skraelings are also close enough now...




Time is running out though and I have hardly caused any casualties. Time to advance!


I'm nicely positioned and ready to launch my final assault, but what happens!? One of the Skraeling dirty tricks.... some resurrected warriors appear right behind my force!


This results in no choice, but to turn and fight. I still send my warriors into the Anglo-Saxons.


The end result is not good..... and this is about where the game ends. Always great fun playing A Feast of Crows.



Loads of carnage and I believe the Anglo-Saxons won... just! My rolling was rubbish in this game - twice I only rolled 1 and 2's for the dice for my battle board! I really must get my Vikings painted.

Our last gaming session for the year was Bolt Action and I'd be up against Brent. He was running American Para's - yay loads of vets!!

As neither of us were that familiar with Bolt Action V2 (this would be my first game with the new rules), we just played a meeting engagement. Our forces start to arrive....




I decided on a refused flank tactic...

 

First turn and the inevitable air strike arrives (I really am going to get that wirbelwind turret!!)


This strike, and the one next turn, effectively neuter my StuH42 and the squad next to them for most of the game.


Our forces continue to maneuver. Engagement opportunities are limited.




But, there is only one way to win. Aggression! My forces advance in the bocage and engage the Para's there....


My Puma and another squad engage a Para squad moving over to support...



Weight of fire takes its toll on both sides, but my Germans can bring more firepower to bear. Especially when the StuH42 finally rallied. One large HE shell put quite the dent in one of the Para squads.


At this point (end of turn 6) Brent conceded as he had little left and the majority of the German squads were still active. A fairly decisive victory to me and a great way to end the years gaming.

Great friends and great times! Roll on next year.

Since it Christmas Eve as I type this.... I figured I should do something Christmas related. So, here is my favourite Christmas carol. Enjoy :-)


Merry Christmas everyone! Enjoy the festivities and I hope everyone gets lots of new toys to play with!! :-)

Thursday 15 December 2016

More Crossfit

Last weekend, some of the guys from the Crossfit box I train at were competing in the NZ Fitness League finals (a 6 week regional competition).

After the previous 5 weeks, our box was placed top, so we got to host the regional final (Auckland South).

I popped along to capture the day :-)

A lot of the workout's weren't the most exciting to photograph, so I decided to play around with some lower shutter speeds for a bit of blurring plus a couple of different focus points....










Sometimes things just don't work out.... (115kg clean & jerk attempt)


He nailed it second time though :-)

All good fun (to watch anyway!) and something a bit different to play around with.

Oh and our team won the region, but weren't quite good enough to place nationally. Next year!