Giving Civilisation the Bird

Doing some good

izza111s — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:51:49 +0000

Well, the Quake Dice project has been a roaring sucess.
While all the dice have not yet sold, I thought it best to get the money raised so far out to the people of Christchurch do some good for Christmas.

In the weekend of 17th Dec I was in Christchurch for a wargaming tournament (Hordes), and I managed to meet up with some guys from the Christchurch clubs for a little presentation.

I was able to persent Basil, President of the Christchurch Wargaming Club (CWC), with a cheque for $459.

And the same for the Christchurch Cavaliers, presented to Committee Member, Adam.

Then on 23rd December I was able to make a donation of $919 to the Red Cross. So hopefully that was able to bring some Christmas cheer to the people of Christchurch, I know the fresh quakes on 24th December certainly didnt.

Thanks to everyone for your support, its been a great project!

over the k!!

izza111s — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 07:19:40 +0000

Things are going amazingly well with the Quake Dice.
We have now raised over NZ$1000!!

Thanks to everyone who has purchased some. Dont forget to spread the word to your friends!
I have around 100 sets left and once they are gone thats it.

Fire off an email to quakedice@gmail.com to place an order.

I “heart” Heart Pie

izza111s — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 09:35:29 +0000

So the next event I will be playing in will be Conquest at the end of October.
Conquest is run by Comics Compulsion in Christchurch every year. There was some doubt this year if it would go ahead because of Earthquake damage, but it has the green light!
I’ve decided to take a different approach this year, inspired by the boys at Lost Hemisphere, I thought I’d rock along purely to have fun, and with some Theme Forces to boot.
Being a Press Ganger, I am usually running events at my local club, the Timaru Armchair Generals. So when I do get to play in a competitive environment I usually try to go for gold. Trouble is, I’m not terribly good. lol
So for me this time, Conquest is going to be themes, beers and fun!

The games at Conquest will be 40pt, a little unsusal, but a nice change from the usual 35pts we have in our area, but not the big scary 50pt level.
So what to forces to take? Looking thru the Theme Forces pages of the Circle Orboros book, I comtemplated my options.
The first theme force would be Epic Kaya – Call of the Wild. I already have all the models painted I needed for this theme force, and Kaya is my favourite character in Circle Orboros, so that was a given.
The second choice for Theme Force was a bit more difficult. I had everything I needed for a Tier 4 Cassius list, except Cassius. hmm
pBaldur, again a favourite Warlock of mine, needed 2 units of Woldstalkers. pKaya requires Morraig and Reeves, and besides I was already taking eKaya.
pKrueger needed another unit of Druids and Morraig. Mohsar needs a unit of Woldstalkers and another unit of Druids.
Then we came to Kromac.
I had recently picked up kromac and have been having a BLAST with him. He’s such a useful warlock, whether he’s supporting his beasts, infantry, denying the enemy or just just laying 14 fury worth of attacks into the enemy caster.
Lets see, I need Tharn, lots of Tharn. What Tharn do I have? Bloodtrackers and Nuala, cool. Wolf Riders, cool. Ravagers, nope. White Manes, nope.
Bugger.
Screw it lets do it!

The thing that tiped me over to rocking out Heart Eaters was a quote I saw on the Circle section of the PP forums.
Originally Posted by vagabondaeon
Kromac: Well… it’s Kromac, whaddya expect. It’s a Tharn everywhere, axes flying, women crying, men dying, heart-pie makin’ slicin’ and dicin’ son of a gun Theme Force. “We’re gonna take you for a ride on Wurmfall Mountain!”

That sums it up nicely, Sure its got some flaws, but a horde of axe wielding barbarians, coming screaming across the table at you, wanting to eat you heart? thats cool!

So lets quickly go over the requirements and benefits of Kromacs Heart Eaters.
Restictions: Circle non-character, living Warbeasts, Tharn Units, Tharn Solos, Lord of the Feast.
Tier 1: Only take the models above, able to get more Ravagers and White Manes.
Tier 2: Take two units of Ravagers, get a Chieftain Unit Attachment for FREE.
Tier 3: Take two White Manes, get Advance Move for a heavy warbeast, more solos, more advance moves.
Tier 4: Take Lord of the Feast, Battlegroup get Stealth for the first turn.

So its a fairly solid tier, a free UA is always worth it, and advance move on the beasts, combined with all the AD I’ll have, makes it fast too.

So lets draft up a list
40pts – Heart Eaters T4
Kromac -4wb
- Warpwolf Staker 10pt
- Pureblood Warpwolf 9pt
Tharn Ravagers 6pts
-Tharn Raveger Chieftain UA FREE
Tharn Ravagers 6pts
-Tharn Raveger Chieftain UA 2pt
White Mane 3pt
White Mane 3pt
Lord of the Feast 4pt

39pts

I think this Theme Force would work better at 50pts, letting me max out the Ravagers, add in some flankers (Bloodtrackers/Wolf Riders) or some more beasts.
I could drop it down to Tier 3, but if you gonna do it, you might as well go all the way, right?

So far I have picked up 2 boxes of Ravagers and 2 Cheiftains. And will hopefully pick up the 2 White Manes in the next month.
Conquest is the last weekend of October, so that gives me 3 months to get it done.
So far I have one unit of Ravagers and a Cheiftian built

I’ll kept this updated with painting progess and some reports on practise games.
cheers

and here they are….

izza111s — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 08:45:50 +0000

Yes the Quake Dice have finally arrived.
After a small vaction with the New Zealand Customs service along the way, they are here.
It has been an anxious and stressful couple of months and it is a relief to have them here and last. I’m looking forward to getting them out to everyone.

Here’s the box:

Opened:

The dice! Time to start baging them into sets of 6.

A closeup of the dice. I’m really impressed with them, they look great in person.

One…. This may take awhile.

For those of you who like numbers, the parcel was 13.2kg, and contains 2400 dice, enough for 400 sets of 6 dice.
I will start mailing these out of everyone who has ordered dice. I will also be taking them with me to local wargaming events. Or you can order online by sending me an email at quakedice@gmail.com

Quake Dice Update

izza111s — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 21:40:47 +0000

Great news everyone,

Chessex are begining production of our dice this week!
woot!

They estimate it will take a couple of weeks to complete the production run.

It’s great to have some positive news for everyone.

Yes, I’m Shaw we can be Friends

izza111s — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 08:49:01 +0000

Next up in the Army of Friends was Rutger Shaw.

I offered a selection to my next painting Thrall and Jeremy chose Rutger.
Jeremy used to live here in Timaru and game at our club, the Timaru Armchair Generals.
He moved away with work, first to Kapiti Coast, then Tauranga (and now Palmerston North). We used to have many a great game of 40k. His Guard, Tau or Sisters vs my Eldar. Funny thing was I had met his wife briefly at University before they met (?), I had her old room in College House the year after her, good old Wilford No. 7. That was long before I got into gaming. Ah good times. Funny how small a place the world is.

After Jeremy moved away, we each changed games systems; I moved into Warmachine, he moved into Flames of War. So doing a 28 fantasy miniature was a nice change for him.

I’d never considered a Rutger with white hair, but I really like it.

One cool thing about this type of painting exchange, you never know what your going to get back. How each person will put their own style onto a model.

Its quite exciting opening up a parcel, not knowing exactly what the latest creation looks like.
Thanks Jerry!

Elves need friends too.

izza111s — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 21:09:12 +0000

When I came up with the idea of The Army of Friends I knew exactly what the first model I’d send away for painting would be. Everyones’ favourite soulless eleven hooker, Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios.

I had sent in my 3 coupons from the No Quarter magazines, and received the special edition model. When she arrived, I looked at, and while being amazed, I was also apprehensive, “I’ll never be able to do her justice” So when Army of Friends started, she was first on the list.

I sent her north to Auckland, where Haydn (PG_thesharian, http://lyossisburning.blogspot.com/) had volunteered to paint her for me. I had been chatting to Haydn on the internet for a couple of years, via the Kiwi Gamers Battlegroup (KGB) thread on Warseer (which has since been closed :shakesfist:). We met up in Easter 2008 at the NatCon (National Convention) tournament. It was in Christchurch that year, I’d travelled up for my 2nd ever Warmachine tournament, Haydn had come down from Auckland. We had a great game, my Circle vs his Cryx. Krueger vs Deneghra. It was pretty brutal, with only a handful models left on the board. I think time was called and I won on scenario? Or was it Points killed? I forget. All in all it was a great weekend, I came 2nd overall. We’ve kept in touch since via email and the Kiwi WargamerAU thread.

NQ Eiryss painted by thecsharian

When Eiryss arrived back, my jaw hit the floor. Haydn had done an amazing job. Cheers mate!

Quake Dice – Delays Ahead

izza111s — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 07:50:39 +0000

Hey guys, I sent this email around eveyone who has ordered already and will be passing the word around everywhere else as well:

Unfortunately there will be long delays with ALL orders, including the first 100.
Chessex have completely run out of the colour design I chose, and do not have anything similar in the bulk numbers that we require.
They hope to have them restocked by the end of April. It will then take several weeks to manufacture the Quake Dice, and then 1-2 weeks postage to get to me.
The dice will not likely be ready until early June.

I will endeavour to keep everyone informed as much as possible.

Again, I apologise for this situation.

Quake Dice update 1 – second run

izza111s — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 07:30:59 +0000

Well the response to my Quake Dice idea has been amazing!
The first batch of 100 sets has sold out, and they havent even arrived yet!
I will be ordering another 100 sets, and maybe even more if there is demand.
I’ll let you know more early next week.

cheers

Quake Dice

izza111s — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 07:07:44 +0000

As you may know, Christchurch, New Zealand was hit by a 6.3 magnitude earthquake on 22nd Feb, causing substantial damage and some loss of life.
I live 2 hours drive away, but for 8 years Christchurch was home. My wife is from Christchurch, all her family live there and we have alot of friends who also live there.
Christchurch is where I started my interest in wargaming, and is very close to my heart.

When an earthquake hit in September last year, I organised a series of charity Wargaming events, (a gaming tournament, a raffle and some online auctions) we managed to raise $555 for the Red Cross Earthquake Relief Fund.
This time other people are organising Wargaming events in my area, so I have been trying to think of another way we can raise money for charity.
So I was lying in bed the other night, when a bolt of inspiration hit me (and it wasnt my wife digging me in the ribs because I was snoring either!).

“How about doing a set of custom dice to raise funds?”

So I approached Chessex dice about getting some dice made.
The dice are a nice mix of Red and Black colours, their Gemini design with gold pips.
Then on the 6 pip side, we have a seismograph. The quake was a magnitude 6, after all.
Red and Black are the traditional colours for Christchurch based sports teams, and is reckonised thoughtout New Zealand as being the colours of Christchurch.

100% of profits will be donated. 50% will go to the Red Cross Earthquake Appeal, with the other 50% going to the 2 wargaming clubs in Christchurch (the Christchurch Cavaliers and the Christchurch Wargaming Club). The gaming clubs are still closed, and they have not been able to get in to see what the state of their terrain, table etc are in, but I have a feeling there will be alot of repair work needed.
I think its kind of nice for gamers to be helping gamers.

These dice will be sold in sets of 6 for NZ$12 plus postage.
For non New Zealand orders, payment can be made via PayPal

So send an email to quakedice@gmail.com to place your order.

Cheers
Owen Payne
(PG_Izza)