Daily Chronicle: NOVA Open 2018 Day 1 8/30/2018

Well Day 1 is now complete for us and we are exhausted from the car ride and getting in some games of Warmachine/Hordes in the Team Tournament.

We arrived to the hotel just before noon and decided to check out the Vendor Hall before we prepared for our event, once we were done looking around and did a little shopping, then it was time to get ready for our event.  All 3 of us were tired and had a feeling we were not going to do any good.

Well after Game 1, all 3 of us won our games, myself and TJ won by Control Points and my son won by Assassination, and after Round 1, our Team had the most Control Points and Army Points killed, and we were placed on Table #1 for Round 2.

Round 2 was not as good for us as Round 1, TJ won his game by Assassination, I lost my game on the clock but it was a close battle and I was up 10-6 in Control Points and was just about to Assassinate his Warlock.  My son got beat up pretty badly in a Cygnar vs Cygnar battle.

After Round 2 was over, we decided to call it quits and get some dinner, we were all tired and hungry by now.

I am really really glad tomorrow is an open day for my son and I.

Here is a few pics from today.

Daily Chronicle: 1 Day Till The NOVA Open

In 24 hours we should just about be pulling into the Hyatt Regency Crystal City and checking in for the 2018 NOVA Open.  We are leaving tonight and driving straight through, so tomorrow is going to be a very long day playing right into the Warmachine/Hordes Team Tournament.  Luckily I do not take tournaments too seriously and I am just playing for fun.  Who knows, maybe after 2-3 rounds we may retire (but we will have to see with our teammate first).

Am I ready for the events? Not really...but who cares if I win or lose, lets just through some dice.  Saturday and Sunday events I am really looking forward to ("Breakfastmachine" and "Speedmachine") these events do not take the whole day and leaves some time to do some other things.  I am still glad I dropped the Guild Ball event on Friday to open a day of gaming (I am even bringing a few Batman miniatures and may do a quick demo).

I plan on posting some pics each night when I get back to the room, we shall see how that goes...stay tuned...

Arena Rex: Beasts 'Leo'

Well I actually got around to getting 'Leo' completed before heading off to the NOVA Open, he will make a nice addition as a Living Hazard in our games of Arena Rex.  'Leo' is considered a Beast, he can be played as part of a cohort, included in the arena as a living hazard, or used as a scenario objective.

 Leo

 Leo

Leo

Painting Points: 5

Arena Rex: Pits Terrain

As I mentioned yesterday in my post about the Barrels I painted, my 3D printed Pits had arrived.  I had found them on eBay for a reasonable price being sold by Horizon Creations 3D.  I was not sure if I would be able to get to them before leaving for the NOVA Open, but yesterday I sat down and I was able to get them completed.  The actual square pit is a little smaller than the card board version from the Starter Sets, but not by much.  When playing with these Pits, we are only going to actually count the Pit itself and not the sand base that it is on.

A Pit is considered a Lethal Hazard: If any part of a model's base touches a Lethal Hazard, that model is defeated.  Mark any remaining vitality boxes and resolve their effects (if any).  Then remove the model from play.  Any additional successes after a model is pushed into a Lethal Hazard are lost.

 Sand glued to the bases.

 Spikes primed.

 Gates primed.

 Pits primed and base-coated.

 Pits lightly dry-brushed.

 Sand base-coated.

 Finished Pits

Finished Pits

Painting Points: 15

Weekly Chronicle 2018 #34 (NOVA Open Week)

Well I finally made it to the week of the NOVA Open.  The NOVA Open starts in just under 3 days, and we will actually be leaving this coming Wednesday night.  All my Warmachine Khador lists have been uploaded to Conflict Chamber (just waiting on some more in to come in so I can finish printing them), my Arena Rex models/terrain is all packed and ready to go for some friendly games (although there are no official Arena Rex events at NOVA Open, we are hoping there will be some space available for a few games), and my shopping list is ready for the event.  That list is not too long or expensive, just depends if we decide to pick up the new Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game Rules Manual, or wait until we get back home and pick it up at my son's store.

Unfortunately this past week I did not get in any practice games of Warmachine/Hordes, I only have one more night available and that would be tonight, we'll see how that goes.  Last Friday night my son and I did get in a game of Arena Rex, although it was short on my end, it was still good.

I ended up finishing the Starter Set for the Legio XIII models and I continued on a bunch of terrain for the game, so I am very happy with that progress.  Once we get back from NOVA Open, I need to decide which models will hit my queue next in case I need to get ready to attend the tournament at Dragon Fall.

That is it for now, I do still plan on blogging the rest of the week, and stay tuned for pictures from the NOVA Open.

Games Played: 1
Models Completed: 3
Terrain Completed: 7

Arena Rex: Barrel Terrain

Last week I ordered some terrain Pits for Arena Rex from Horizon Creations 3D.  The Pits came in the other day, and packaged with them was a set of 3 barrels.  Right away I thought I would glue these onto a 40mm base and they can be used as another Hazard in the game.  Unfortunately, I was painting them so fast that I forgot to take any pictures during the progress.

Here is the finished product:

Painting Points: 2

The Pits themselves more than likely will not get to my painting table until I return back from NOVA Open.

Battle Report: Arena Rex 8/24/2018 Ludus Magnus vs Legio XIII

Last night my son and I played another 3v3 game of Arena Rex, and this one really flew by.  I tried to play aggressive and forgot how easy it is to Push in this game.  I had two models too close to the Pits and they easily fell to their deaths.  It was another loss for my Ludus Magnus.  Next time I need remember more about them.  Besides falling into the Pits, I think the rules are starting to come around for us, there are still a few things that I am looking back into the rulebook or my reference sheet.  Once we get back from the NOVA Open, we should be ready for the larger 5v5 or even tournament size 6v6 games (as soon as I get the rest of our models assembled).

Scenario: Munus

A classic match evolved from funeral traditions, the Munus is a standard combat between equally matched cohorts.

Deployment: Cohorts deploy in base contact with their controlling player’s arena edge.

Cohorts: Both players bring cohorts of equal value.

Restrictions: None

Victory Conditions: The last player with models remaining in the arena is the victor.

Arena Rex: Legio XIII 'Ban-Luca'

Onto the final model of the Legio XIII Starter Set, and today it is 'Ban-Luca'.  Now all my models for my Ludas Magnus and Legio XIII Starter Sets are completed, I plan to possibly tackle 'Leo' next before heading to the NOVA Open next week.  Once I get back from the NOVA Open, I need to decide which models for each of the Ludus' will be in my queue next.  I am still thinking about playing in the Dragon Fall Tournament in October, but they just moved the day from Saturday to Friday, and I am not sure if I will be able to take the day off.  I'll give it some more thought while I am away.

 Ban-Luca

Ban-Luca

Painting Points: 1

Arena Rex: Legio XIII 'Aquila'

With NOVA Open fast approaching, I did not want to get too caught up in painting projects, but I decided to continue on with the Starter Set models for Legio XIII, and up next is 'Aquila'

 Aquila

Aquila

Painting Points: 1

Daily Chronicle: 7 Days Till The NOVA Open

We are only one week away from the start of the NOVA Open in Arlington, VA.  My son, my friend TJ and I will actually be leaving late Wednesday (29th) evening and driving through out to night to Arlington.  The plan is to arrive sometime late morning and freshen up, relax before the Warmachine/Hordes Team Tournament starts at noon.

Here is a recap of my schedule for next weekend:

Thursday: Warmachine/Hordes Team Tournament

Friday: Open Day, Iron Arena and some Arena Rex

Saturday: “Breakfastmachine” in the morning and then some open play.

Sunday: “Speedmachine” and then travel back home.

TJ is signed up for the same events (our 3rd team member), but on Friday he added the Warmachine/Hordes Masters Tournament.  Originally my son and I were signed up for the Guild Ball Tournament on Friday, but since we have not played in awhile, we elected to drop that event and have a little open time.  When I attend these conventions, I like to have a little down time and not have it be tournament after tournament.  With the long drive Wednesday night going right into the Team Tournament on Thursday when we arrive, I thought Friday would be a nice day to sleep in and relax a bit.

This year at NOVA Open for the Warmachine/Hordes events, they are using Conflict Chamber to submit lists.  Besides the Team Tournament, we actually have right up to the event to submit lists, but since I know what I will be playing, I decided to submit mine early.

As of now, I have submitted my “Breakfastmachine” and “Speedmachine” lists.

Saturday August 30th “Breakfastmachine”

Sunday September 1st “Speedmachine”

Since I am really bad with using the death clock and clocking out, I was looking for lists that would allow me to play at a faster pace.  So I elected the “Jaws of the Wolf” theme for my Khador army.  My Team Tournament list will be a variation from the above 50, that way I have most of the same models through out the weekend, but with different Warcasters so that I could have some fun with them all. I am no great player (probably not even average), but I wont to play at these events and just have a good time.

Daily Chronicle: Litko Movement Template and Fatigue Tokens for Arena Rex

I have been using Litko for nearly 15 years now when it comes to having custom tokens made.  Way back in the day I had used to them to make some LotR tokens, and then also some fire tokens (which I re-purposed in yesterday’s post).  So when I recently got into the Arena Rex game, I was looking for movement gauges and Fatigue tokens.  Each model comes with a resin Fatigue marker, but I was worried I may lose them and wanted some in a little bit more bulk.

I came across a few sites that make movement gauges from laser MDF, but I was not looking for wood, I prefer acrylic for my gauges/tokens.  I then headed over to Litko to see if they made anything specific for Arena Rex.  I did not find anything specific for the game, but came across a movement gauge for AoS that can be customized.  The gauge came with 6”, 3”, 1” and 1/2” sides, I thought that would be perfect.  Since these were customized, I was able to upload a logo for Arena Rex and include some custom text, I decided to make the custom text match the Ludus’.

Next I looked for something that can be used as Fatigue tokens, there were a lot of options available that could be used, but I wanted something simple.  I took a look at their custom tokens and decided that I would just use a circle token with the letter “X”.  In Arena Rex, one side of the token is usually blank and marks you as Fatigue 1, the other side is Fatigue 2 or Exhausted, I thought just a “X” would be perfect for Exhausted.  Nice and simple.

Today my gauges and tokens arrived, and I am very happy with how they turned out.

Ludus Magnus

Legio XIII

Arena Rex: Legio XIII ‘Gaius Pallidus’

Now that the Starter Set for my Ludus Magnus is completed, it is time to move onto the Starter Set for Legio XIII.  For now my son is playing with the Legio XIII models, but in the future we may mix and match the models to form our own Cohort, although if at least 75% of the Gladiators are from the same Ludus then you gain access to that Ludus’ bonus abilities and tactics, know as Ludus Benefits.  So for now we are playing with the same Ludus and benefiting from their abilities.

First up for the Legio XIII is ‘Gaius Pallidus’.

Gaius Pallidus

Gaius Pallidus

Painting Points: 2

Arena Rex: Fire Terrain

Doubling up today on my Arena Rex terrain posts.  Earlier today I posted about the Columns I finished for the arena, now I also have some Fire Hazards to post.

Fire considered a Wounding Hazard: The first time during each attack a model is pushed into base contact with a wounding hazard, it suffers 3 damage.  This damages ignores ARM.  A Wounding Hazard is considered a hazard.

I thought about just using some Fire rings (which I still may in the future), but I had these Litko fire tokens just sitting in my drawer (from years ago when I used I used them for Lord of the Rings) so I thought I would take them and glue them up on a 40mm base.

Litko tokens

40mm bases are painted with base color

Next they are drybrushed with two colors of sand

A little red to make them look “red hot”

Tokens are glued to bases

Quick and simple and it add a some Fire Hazards to the arena.

Painting Points: 4

Arena Rex: Column Terrain

It was time to get back to work on adding some terrain to our arena for Arena Rex.  We have been using the card board Pits that come with the Starter Sets, along with the new Spikes that I had worked on last week, now it was time to add some of the trademark Columns to the arena.

Columns are a Hazard: The first time during each attack a model is pushed into base contact with a hazard it gains fatigue.

Before starting on this project, I knew exactly what I had wanted to use for my Columns.  Years and years ago I helped my middle son with a volcano school project.  Since at that time I had worked on a lot of Warhammer Fantasy terrain, I had the tools to help him with his project.  Instead of just a basic volcano, we modeled ours after Mount Vesuvius near Pompeii, so of course we had to have some columns in the area.

These are the same Columns I was planning on using for Arena Rex and they are called “Wilton 5in Grecian Pillars”.  They can be purchased at your local Michael’s store (as of this writing, they are out of stock online, but your local Michael’s may still have some) for only $5.99, you can always find a coupon for 30-50% off to same even more.  When I purchased mine, I had a 40% off coupon so the package came to just under $4 with tax.  The pillars also come in 3in and 7in sizes, but I thought 7in would be a little to tall.

One of the dislikes about these pillars (Columns) is that they are hollow with a hollow top (they are also very hard to cut through if you decide to model some damage ones).  One of the first things I did was to cut some squares out of left over plasticard (from my train hobby) and glue them to the tops.

Hollow top Column

Hollow top covered with plasticard

Next thing I wanted to do was to find a base that I could mount them too.  I could have left them as is, but one, I wanted a little more stability and two, I wanted to have an even base so when a model gets pushed into a Column, the distance is equal around.  So I elected to mount them on a round base.  I had some left over 50mm Privateer Press bases, and since the Privateer Press bases are lipped, I needed an insert for them so that it would be easier to glue the Column.  Luckily I still had some Bolt Action bases boxed up that I could use.

Insert for Privateer Base

Column glued to circular base

Now it was time to paint them.  I added sand onto the base like I do with all my models first, and then I primed the model grey.  I had some left over “Granite” color spray that I used for these Columns.  After I let the grey dry, I then drybrushed the entire Column with P3 Menoth White Highlight and proceeded painting my sand bases the same way I have been on my other models (2 coats of P3 Rucksack Tan, then drybrush Vallejo Iraqui Sand, light drybrush of Vallejo Pale San).  Once the bases were dry, then it was time for my Testors Dullcote and my Columns were finished.

Primed Columns

Finished Columns

Painting Points: 8