Blood Bowl: Reid Death - Sheogorad Saints

Tonight, league newcomers Reid Death (proxied by my Ferlangen Flyers) face the Sheogorad Saints!

My Saints, of course, didn't make it past the Vindaaagh Pulling unscathed: witch elf #11 Barenziah Targaryen is sitting this game out with a fractured arm, and I elected not to hire the MVP journeyman of my last game. So right now my roster looks like this:

#5 Jenassa Samarys - runner (7 SPP, Dodge)

#33 Raven Dren - assassin

#44 Irileth Targaryen - blitzer (6 SPP, Guard)

#55: Aralosea Romori, line-elf

#69: Darane Mencele, line-elf

#71: Hlireni Indavel, line-elf

#73 Brelda Quintella, line-elf

#77: Endroni Dalas, line-elf (1 SPP)

With three journeymen, we boast a total team value of 1,050,000gp, which means the Reid Death get a Bloodweiser Babe as an inducement.

**

The Reid Death arrived at the Dagon Fel Superdome amid a heavy snowfall, that grew into a blizzard by the start of the match. Five thousand Reid Death fans came to see their team play despite the horrible weather, and the Saints fans showed up in massive numbers, with over 12 000 present, continuing a league trend of hugely lopsided fan attendance.

Despite the terrible conditions, throughout the game, and in sharp contrast to the previous match, every kick landed right next to the waiting receiver.

With a throwing game ruled out, the Saints secured the ball, formed a box and started moving up the field.

When a gap opened up on the Reid left, the Saints went for it.

As the Saints linemen screened their runner, one of their number, #55 Aralosea Romori, was stopped dead in her tracks by Reid Death blitzer #88 Ernie R Jaurigui. Literally dead: Aralosea Romori, who survived repeated fouls by the Vindaaagh Pulling, did not survive the Reid Death, and became this season's first player fatality.

The show, of course, goes on, and the Saints cage advanced up the field and to the left.

Eventually, after some turns of back and forth with the Reid defense, a gap opened on the left, and Saints runner #5 Jenassa Samarys handed the ball off to assassin #33 Raven Dren, who made a run for the left backfield.

On the sixth turn of the first half, she scored her first career touchdown to put the Saints up 1-0.

At the next kickoff, the blizzard cleared and the kick, again, landed right next to the receiver. The Reid Death now had two turns to score an equalizer.

The Death secured the ball and sent their catchers around the Saints defense.

We did our best to stop them, but in the dying moments of the half, Reid Death catcher #19 Harry E Mitchell evaded the Saints' tackles and assassin Raven Dren's shadowing attempt, and went for it to reach the end zone. Then thrower #10 Randall Gnant found a gap in the defense and got the ball into Mitchell's hands with unerring accuracy.

The half ended with the game tied 1-1!

**

As the second half got underway, for reasons that remain completely obscure, both teams' fans assaulted the referees. The Reid Death were receiving to start the half, and again, the ball landed right where they wanted it.

The Reid attacked aggressively, again sending their catchers to weave their way through the Saints secondary. Meanwhile, in the central mêlée, Death blitzer #7 Jay Blanchard blitzed Saints journeyman #66 Lilith Llethri and took her out of the game with a smashed knee.

Saints assassin #33 Dren was marking Death catcher #21 Ed Ranger, and Ranger leapt up, blitzed Dren, and both players went down, but only one got up: Dren was out for the rest of the game with an injury.

With the Saints three players down, we did our best to set up a proper defense, but simply didn't have the elf-power to cover enough of the field.

The Reid Death were able to smash through the Saints line, set up a lineman in the end zone to make the catch, and sent the ball flying toward him - only for Saints blitzer #44 Irileth Targaryen to make her first career interception! Desperate to capitalize on the turnover, the entire Saints team made for the Reid end zone as fast as they could.

The game turned into a footrace for the Reid end, and while the Saints were intitially ahead, the Death started to catch up with them.

The Death brought down blitzer #44 Targaryen, and the ball was loose among their players. In an impressive individual feat of elfball, runner #5 Samarys dodged into three tackle zones, grabbed the ball and dodged out, making for the end zone as fast as they could.

With some of the Saints players staying behind to mark any Reid receivers, it was now a question of whether Samarys could make it to the end zone, or if the Reid Death could still salvage a scoring attempt in their last turn.

The Death caught Samarys, and fouled her to keep her down for the last Saints turn, but were unable to secure the ball and mount a scoring attempt of their own.

And so the game ended in a 1-1 draw! This was a tremendously entertaining game, and the fans certainly got their money's worth with the pure mayhem that was the end of the second half.

**

Even though I also thoroughly enjoyed the game, I have to say I'm a bit concerned that my dark elves are losing on average a player per game stone dead. I really don't think we can sustain this loss rate! It's also already cost us one MVP title.

Speaking of MVPs, though, I'm delighted that my assassin got a level. Since I'm afraid assassins don't live very long, especially on a team like this, I don't want to pick a sensible skill like Dodge or Block, I want something fun and annoying. I thought about Jump Up, as it would let me maximize the stabbing, but in the end I decided that since my team's weakness is on the defence, the most annoying skill to take would probably be Side Step.

Most importantly, I'm delighted to welcome another new player to the Turboleague, and believe it or not, there's more to come!

**

League table [pts, goal differential, casualty differential, fatalities, completions, interceptions, sacks]

Sheogorad Saints (Dark Elf) (1-0-1) 6 pts, 2-1, 0-4, 0, 2, 1, 0

Reid Death (Human) (0-0-1) 2 pts, 1-1, 3-0, 1, 1, 0, 0

Vindaaagh Pulling (Orc) (0-1-0) 1 pts, 0-1, 1-0, 0, 1, 0, 0

Touchdowns:

Harry E Mitchell (Death): 1

Irileth Targaryen (Saints) 1

Raven Dren (Saints) 1

Casualties:

Ed Ranger (Death) 1

Ernie R Jaurigui (Death) 1

Jay Blanchard (Death) 1

VIP#52 (Pulling) 1

Fatalities:

Ernie R Jaurigui (Death) 1

Interceptions:

Irileth Targaryen (Saints) 1

Completions:

Jenassa Samarys (Saints) 2

Randall Gnant (Death) 1

VIP#8 (Pulling) 1

Blood Bowl: The Ferlangen Flyers

Shortly after I faced the plastic orcs that came with my Blood Bowl box in a game, I had another friend express an interest in trying the game, so I painted up the starter set humans as well, as the Ferlangen Flyers.

The Flyers are the local team of the town of Ferlangen, in the Grand Principality of Ostland in the Empire. Starting out as a minor league team during the NAF era, the Ferlangen Flyers quickly developed a reputation for a surprisingly robust tackling game, and an intimidating home stadium, the Broad Street Arena. After the collapse of the NAF, the Flyers took on all comers, even hosting a pioneering exchange program with amateur teams from Kislev. These days, they're regarded as a competent journeyman team, unlikely to win any championships, but not to be taken lightly.

**

I had originally undercoated the models black and painted the uniforms orange, so I finished them quickly with Flat Brown equipment, Gunmetal Grey armor and Old Gold helmets for the blitzers.

The Blood Bowl box came with six linemen, two throwers, two catchers and two blitzers. Unless I've done my math all wrong, that adds up to an unsatisfying 760,000 gp, with starting re-rolls at 50,000 each. If we add Zara the Slayer as a proxy third blitzer, I believe that puts us at exactly 850,000gp, for the following starting roster:

#2 Markus How, lineman

#7 Katarina Schmidt, blitzer

#8 David "Hammer" Schultz, lineman

#10 Johannes DerKlair, thrower

#16 Robert Klark, lineman

#17 Robert "Hulk" Brand, lineman

#19 Mikhail Rendberg, catcher

#20 Derickus Hetzer, lineman

#21 Peter Kraftberg, catcher

#27 Ronald Hexstall, thrower

#80 Markus "Wrecker" Recker, lineman

#88 Erich Lindros, blitzer

#97 Jeremia Rönick, blitzer

3 team re-rolls

Blood Bowl: Vindaaagh Pulling - Sheogorad Saints

The Turboleague continues! After a full season, by which I mean one game, my Sheogorad Saints are back in action in 2021, facing the Vindaaagh Pulling (represented by my Orcland Wanderers miniatures).

Of course, the Saints are somewhat worse for wear after line-elf Methulu Ienith and blitzer Fieryra Targaryen were killed. Here's our current lineup:

 
#5 Jenassa Samarys - runner (5 SPP)
#11 Barenziah Targaryen - witch elf

#33 Raven Dren - assassin

#44 Irileth Targaryen - blitzer (3 SPP)

#55: Aralosea Romori, line-elf

#69: Darane Mencele, line-elf

#71: Hlireni Indavel, line-elf

#77: Endroni Dalas, line-elf (1 SPP)

Line-elf #73 Brelda Quintella is out with a strained groin, leaving me with a total of eight players on the roster. I used my earnings of 50,000 gp from the Ravens game to recruit an apothecary, bringing my effective team value for the game to a grand total of 820 000 gold. Since I had the Plague Doctors handy, I painted one of them up as an Apothecary:

With only eight players, we'll be using the services of three journeymen: #50 Cruelle Helbaron, #66 Lilith Llethri and #75 Morgiah R'zamenar. This meant painting at least two new line-elves; I had three models left over, so here they all are:

I have to say, I really like these Shadowforge miniatures! I also added these folks from Footsore Games' Mob Tertius to my stands.

With the stands and the goblin camera crew deployed, we were ready for action.

**

Six thousand Saints fans had made the trek to the Dagon Fel Superdome to watch the season opener, but to their surprise, they found themselves outnumbered two to one by a howling mob of Pulling supporters! The Vindaaagh team won the coin toss, and elected to kick the ball. However, the opening kick landed just beyond the Saints end zone, resulting in a touchback.

The Saints secured the ball, shoved the orcs back on the line of scrimmage, and assassin #33 Raven Dren knocked out Pulling line-orc #95 with a well-timed stab. In the right wide zone, witch elf #11 Barenziah Targaryen spotted an opportunity to blitz VIP#15 into the waiting arms of the capacity crowd. Sadly, all she managed to do was knock herself out for the rest of the half and cause the first Saints turnover of the game.

The game then devolved into a midfield brawl, much to the delight of the audience.

The Pulling players apparently decided that if they can't have the ball, at least they can stomp some elves: below, in what I believe is a Turboleague first, a halfling referee ejects Pulling #28 Jerry Ottaaagh from the game for fouling Saints line-elf #55 Aralosea Romori.

As the fighting continued, a gap opened up on the Pulling left.

Saints blitzer #44 Irileth Targaryen dashed into the Pulling zone, catching a pass from runner #5 Jenassa Samarys.

In a heroic effort to derail the Saints offense, Pulling blitzer #15 leapt up from the sideline, knocked a Saints line-elf covering him out of the way, and went for it to cover the Saints blitzer - only to fall down despite using a team re-roll.

The Saints secured the ball in the Pulling zone, while the orcs concentrated their ire on the two line-elves isolated in the opposite half of the pitch.

Here's a blurry action shot of our indefatigable halfling referee throwing Pulling lineorc #29 Big Boi Nick out of the game after they KO'd Saints lineman Romori, setting the league record for most players ejected by the referees in a half at three.

Finally, Irileth Targaryen crossed into the end zone for her second career touchdown.

In their last turn of the half, the Pulling scored a completion for their thrower VIP#8, and inflicted some gratuitious but inconclusive violence on the Saints line.

And so, the first half ended with the score 1-0 Saints and the knocked-out players returning to play, with the understandable exception of much-fouled Saints line-elf #55 Aralosea Romori.

**

After the rampant rules violations of the first half, it was obviously necessary to strengthen our officiating corps with Eureka Miniatures' orc referee and human referee to keep some semblance of order on the pitch.

Both teams came out for the second half short-handed.

Unfortunately, the masses of Pulling fans were enraged by their players being ejected, and the next kickoff was interrupted by a pitch invasion!

My witch elf, #11 Barenziah Targaryen, had recovered from the KO she sustained in the first half, trying to blitz a Vindaaagh player on the sideline. She now tried to blitz a Vindaaagh player on the sideline, got a Both Down result, and injured herself: she'll miss our next game with a fractured arm.

The Pulling set up a cage and started rolling down their right, and we set up the traditional Elfball defence, albeit two players down.

The action got a bit close at times, but we were successful in slowing down the Pulling cage until they were running out of time, and had to resort to desperate measures.

Sadly (for them), a series of desperate dodges by a Pulling blitzer, and in the last turn, the thrower carrying the ball, were unsuccesful in reaching the end zone.

And so the Vindaaagh Pulling ended a hard-fought league debut with the ball just short of the goal line, and the score 1-0 Saints.

**

In post-match matters, I was lucky enough to maximize my income, netting a total of 70,000gp, while the Pulling took home 40,000 gold. I might need it, too, because unfortunately the MVP award went to journeyman #50 Cruelle Helbaron, while the Vindaaagh MVP was VIP#75.

Both my runner and surviving blitzer levelled up, with #44 Irileth Targaryen rolling a double skill. I think that means I have to take Guard, while runner #5 Jenassa Samarys is getting Dodge; we're still so under-elved that she's going to have to pull her weight on the defense! Unlike her league debut, my witch elf was spectacularly useless, only managing to take herself out of the game twice. We'll see how we do without her next time.

Anyway, I'm absolutely delighted that the Turboleague is underway again, and this time we'll be seeing many more teams than mine and the defending champions! Stay tuned.

**

League table [pts, goal differential, casualty differential, fatalities, completions, interceptions, sacks]

Sheogorad Saints (Dark Elf) (1-0-0) 4 pts, 1-0, 0-1, 0, 2, 0, 0

Vindaaagh Pulling (Orc) (0-1-0) 1 pts, 0-1, 1-0, 0, 1, 0, 0

Touchdowns:

Irileth Targaryen (Saints) 1

Casualties:

VIP#52 (Pulling) 1

Completions:

Jenassa Samarys (Saints): 2

VIP#8 (Pulling): 1

Warhammer 40,000: Powerslave

In the valley of the kings
When the storm breaks loose again
Then the gods return to fight
For the future in their lives
In the valley of the kings
- Gamma Ray: Valley of the Kings

I blame Munchkin Warhammer 40,000 and Gladius - Relics of War for this. I've had a ton of fun playing Munchkin as a Necron, and the Annihilation Barge has served me excellently as a vehicle. We had one game where I think at least three of us drew the Necron army, and we kept referring to each other as "my fellow Necron". In memory of that game, I'm definitely painting my Necrons gold.

Therefore, my Necrons will represent the Nebew Dynasty, counting as Nephrekh for rules purposes.

**

What kicked off the actual collection was a Warlord Games sale. They used to do a miniature game based on Terminator: Genisys, and were selling plastic Terminator sprues at a clearance price. I got twenty sprues, which I recall set me back about £10 in total. They're good models!

Once I got around to playing Gladius as the Necrons, I finally got some kind of feel for the army, and bought the (8th ed.) codex. It vindicated my decision to paint my Necrons gold.

That's Old Gold with a wash of Black Glaze, and frankly, I'm very pleased! Ten of these guys make a minimum-strength squad of Necron Warriors, so if you like, here's two of them:

A battalion detachment would need a third troop choice. Like these Necron Immortals, for instance!

But to make any kind of detachment, we'll need an HQ unit. I mentioned that Annihilation Barge; the kit doubles as a Catacomb Command Barge, so building it as an Annihilation Barge leaves one Necron Overlord left over. Here they are:

I kept the dark green theme of my various armies going with the cloak, which I think worked out surprisingly well.

**

Finally, the Annihilation Barge. I ended up building and painting this kit in little bits over a fairly long time, but it was good fun, especially since it's quite different from anything I've made before. It's still a bit of a work in progress, so you only get a rubbish picture!

I've equipped it with what I hope is a gauss cannon. It's a very good vehicle in Munchkin!

**

So now I have a tiny army of golden Necrons. That was a fun little project; we'll see, maybe I'll even try fielding them in 40k one of these days.