BoB: Triffids

02/01/2013

Ok, well I bought these ages and ages ago for Back Of Beyond, but finally got them assembled and Painted for Xmashammer 2012 as they fitted well with the Lustrian background.

Triffids in BoB ?:

The 1981 TV series and some editions of the book have Masen speculating that the triffids were the creation of the real-life Soviet biologist Trofim Lysenko. According to Masen’s narration, the triffids first came to the attention of the Western world when a man named Umberto Christoforo Palanguez presented the Arctic & European Fish Oil Company with a mysterious vegetable oil originating from Russia.

So they must have had some root (ha ha) stock to have developed them for the oil, so these Triffids might be their precursors, hidden away in sparsely populated reaches of Central Asia, or maybe they are precursors developed by the Reds as bio terror weapon (cue spooky music). So I forced myself to watch the BBC TV series from the 1980’s [1] that I watched as a kid to see what they were like.

The actual miniatures were from HLBSCo (The Honourable Lead Boiler Suit Co) and are no longer available. 😦

Yes, you’ve guessed it, the stinger is separate and fitted into a small notch in the “flower” at the top

So they had to be taken to Rich’s Pinning Service (c), to be pinned and also have some greenstuff added to support the weight of the sting. Luckily I’d put them on metal washers for the base, which helps “weigh” them down as otherwise they’d be falling over as they are quite top heavy.

I then painted them to match the TV series ones:

The sting itself is a bit more purple than appears in the photos.

Here’s the rules I hastily wrote up for Xmashammer 2012:

M = 2
Ws = 0
BS = 5
S = 5
T = 4*
W = 2
A = 1
I = 2
Ld = n/a / 10 immune to psychology

Triffids cause Fear.
Poisoned attacks on a to hit roll of 5-6.
A Triffid counts as a Skirmisher (-1 to hit)
They cause a single Stomp attack, S2.
They may make a single missile attack in the shooting phase with a range of 4″. This ignores any armour unless the model has a helmet on (WISYWIG).
In combat, they make a single missile attack. They may not choose targets, they must attack the model directly in front of them with the greatest base to base contact.

* Halve all mundane missile weapons’ strength, except those caused by warmachines

In the game they were a nuisance but delayed at least one of Gav’s Arrer boy units for a round or two.

[1] Not the abomination of the remake from a few years ago !

Filed under Painting, RCW / BoB, Warhammer Tagged with ,

WHFB: Xmashammer 2012 Day One

01/01/2013 2 Comments

On Day One, each general was allowed to field up to 4,000 points from their 5,000 points army. Byakhees Jim and Gavin fielded Skaven and Orcs, and then Rich and Anthony fielded Empire and High Elves respectively. As host for two days, and as GM, I did not field an army on Day One as I have found it very difficult to host four players and attempt a semblance of order on the games as well as trying to play my own army.

Here’s the table, showing the ruins of Copalotothat:

First surprise was Rich’s deployment of the Folding Fortress of Fozzrick:

Meanwhile, the players were unearthing their treasure troves of figures, including Jim whose wife had bought him yet more Skaven for Xmas:

Nominally the players arrived at 11am, but it was not until gone 1pm thatb we actually started the game – its takes a lot of time to deploy 4 x 4,000 points. Rich deployed a unit of X-bowmen in the tower, and then both he and Anthony deployed a lot of heavy cavalry. Jim had lots of plague monks and a screaming bell as well as sundry war machines, and Gavin’s Orcs had several massed hordes.

And their opponents the Empire & High Elf alliance:

With Pistolier outriders:

These, along with the Drakwald Greencoats,flanked the Skaven and Orcs hoping to get at their artillery, only to be driven off.

In the centre, the armies headed straight for each other.

The fleet of foot Empire and HE armies seized the objectives early on. The secret surprises started to be revealed, with the Rich being able to summon triffids from the jungle terrain.

Whilst the Orcs & Goblins squabbled, the Skaven entered combat with the enemy.

The Skaven caused a lot of damage whilst the Trolls finally got into combat with the Steam Tank.

There was a lot of cobat, a lot of shooting, and units were runing hither and thither, and this after only two turns, but then a large surprise happened, the entire Skaven army fled the scene of battle, and my Dark Elves had arrived pursuing them for a hitherto unknown reason, to find their hated enemies locked in battle with long time “allies” hte greenskins…

(AKA: Jim had to disappear for domestic reasons so I took over, with the 2,000 points Jim had left plus the 1,000 points for Day Two)

More to follow tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Clawed was deeply unimpressed with all this:

Filed under Scenery, Warhammer Tagged with , , , , , , , ,