Warhammer World Kill Team Roadtrip

I had a great day yesterday down at Warhammer World with some chums, playing a bit of Kill Team and trying not to spend too much money.

It’s been a couple of years since I’ve made the short trip from Chesterfield down to Nottingham to the spiritual home of wargaming. Myself and three of my best friends arranged the day as a self-described ‘nerd road trip’ in order to play the second edition of Kill Team in the home of Warhammer.

Middle aged gents reading rules

First up we played across two of the excellent ‘sector mechanicus’ tables which were approximately 3 foot square boards packed with scenery – ideal for the game.

Secondy in terms of factions I was rocking a very quickly painted team of veteran Imperial Guardsmen (in the form of the Death Korps of Krieg models from the Octarius starter set). I painted these ten models up over the previous week using mainly contrast and speedpaints. I wanted to go slightly different in terms of colour scheme to the usual WW1 inspired trench warfare look.

My inspiration was actually the Red Shadows of Action Force fame, however I tend to think they ended up looking much more like a squad of Victorian firefighters.

The original intention between the four of us who went was to get a couple of games in. However with the majority of us having only played 2nd edition once before it took a bit longer than planned and we only got the one game in each. My guard went up against Darren’s Ork Commandos in what was effectively a battle of the starter set!

Now, I will admit to not being that impressed the first time I played last year, however this time round we got more of the rules right, set things up properly and (certainly in my case I think) used more interesting lists. I think the atmosphere of playing in the gaming hall at Warhammer World helped as well.

The upshot of this was that something clicked this time and I came away with a new appreciation for the mechanics of the game a real desire to play it more regularly. I’d still say that the rulebook in particular is not that well laid out or easy to understand in some cases, but the general flow and feel of the game is lot smoother and more refined than for example 1st edition Kill Team, and really appeals to me in a way that full on 40k doesn’t.

Meanwhile on table 2…..

Anyhow a great day of gaming was capped off with a bite to eat at Bugmans and a browse around the shop (coming only away with a set of Necormunda Zone Mortalis plastic tiles which I already have ideas for).

Although I am not a massive player of Games Workshop games, there is something quite inspiring about visiting and playing at Warhammer World and I suspect this might become a semi-regular thing. Booking a table was easy (and free) and being in the general company of other gamers and hobbyists doing what they enjoy is always a great feeling. Bring on the next visit.

(Oh yeah, I lost horrendously.)

Warhammer 40k Imperial Guard – The Sons of Skaro

Or should I say Astra Militarum?

I recently posted about my return to Warhammer 40k after a couple of decades off.  My faction of choice for both 40k and the smaller scale Kill Team are the Imperial Guard.  There is something appealing to me about the freedom that fielding a Guard army gives in terms of background and modelling (especially if you look beyond the official line of Games Workshop / Citadel Miniatures).  I also really like tanks!

As per usual I’ve got more than one related project on the go at once.  On the back burner are my ‘Empire of Men not Death Korps of Krieg’ troops.  I started off thinking I’d use this in a Weird World War game (and painted the armour accordingly); however since the Kill Team bug has bitten I think I’ll be diverting them to the front line of the Grim Dark.

Male Stormtroopers by Archon Studio – totally not Death Korps of Krieg

My Empire of Men Stahlratte – not quite the right livery for 40k!

In the meantime however I’ve been continuing to expand my basic guard force from a Kill Team to a full 40k army.  Having concentrated on tanks initially I’ve recently gone back and continued to flesh out the grunts.  Primarily using the standard Cadian models with some head swaps from the Tempestus Scions kit to distinguish my veterans.  I have stuck with the colour scheme that harks back to the original Rogue Trader plastic set.

I’ve also started to think about the background for my regiment.  So these guys originate from the planet Skaro.  In ancient times the home of a mythical race of metallic war like creatures….

Over the millenia mutations have come full circle and the inhabitants of this once irradiated world have come full circle and back into the light of humanity!

This has got me thinking though – Chaos Daleks……