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Warhammer Club

This week’s Thursday Warhammer club was busy again, so busy in fact that we didn’t have time to capture photos of it! The usual painting corner was in full swing as young hobbyists painstakingly brought their growing collections to life, and a small number of students had a run-through of the OnePageRules system for their finished models to fight each other. A special mention goes to Isla Senior and Anna Vaniak for their marvellous administrative efforts in chopping and laminating army cards for the club, and Grace Hardington for running to-and-fro to collect rules sheets for the OnePageRules game – thank you for your contributions! 

Last Friday’s Battle Hour was very busy, as Ben Meyers and his friend Blake were joined by Charlie at the last minute to get stuck into a much larger-scale battle than we can manage at lunchtimes. Mr Crabbe presided to ensure fair play was followed and everything was cleared away afterwards without complaint. Hurrah! 

Mr Ashfield was in for a tough game on Table 1 against Jasper Welton, a veteran player of the club who was keen to prove his mettle after many practice games in the new 10th edition ruleset. Last year Jasper played courageously in the Welly Warhammer tournament but, despite his best efforts didn’t place near the top of the board. As we aren’t running an official league at the moment, Jasper’s goal was to earn the coveted rank of Club Primarch – bestowed exclusively to those few students brave and daring enough to best a teacher in battle. A lofty goal! 

Mr Ashfield fielded the club’s new Orks army, a set of old models kindly donated last year that have only just seen the last restorations made and undercoats applied. Orks are notoriously random in their combat effectiveness, but undeniably ferocious in close combat! Jasper brought his Astra Militarum force, built around the mighty Rogal Dorn battle tank, supported by a motorised squad of elite Kasrkin warriors and a Command squad. 

Jasper won the first turn and screeched his Kasrkin squad down the flank to secure an objective with their Taurox transport, while his battle tank opened up with all guns blazing. Fortunately for the Orks, most of the tank’s firepower was out of range and they were still in cover, but regardless half a squad of Shoota Boyz were mown down by gatling gun fire. Jasper’s command squad, clearly having graduated from the same military academy as Blackadder’s General Melchett, secured the back corner of the board several feet away from the advancing Orks. 

Jasper’s Blitzkrieg tactics certainly gained ground, but Mr Ashfield’s sneaky positioning of his transport Trukk meant that it had been out of sight, and unharmed by the enemy guns so it was now ready to disgorge its rowdy Nobz squad directly into the Kasrkin! A fierce battle ensued with losses on both sides, leaving Jasper the narrow victor – mainly because the Orks had bogged themselves down at the wrong end of the Taurox transport and couldn’t contest the flank objective!  

 

 

The second, and final turn saw much of the same as Jasper’s tank blasted away at the Orks without causing significant harm (apart from nearly killing a jetpack-equipped Stormboyz squad) and his Kasrkin remained locked in combat. Gen. Melchett distributed complex orders to the nearby terrain pieces at the back of the board, panic setting in as the lone Stormboy approached for revenge… 

Mr Ashfield’s options were limited as his Nobz squad was still stuck in combat, their momentum drained; other battle-ready Ork squads had to remain in place to secure objectives, their comrades too shaken by losses from the Rogal Dorn tank to focus on holding key ground. As the game closed, both players conveniently forgot that whichever player goes second gets to score their objective points at the end of their final turn, not the beginning, meaning that the Orks should have had plenty of chance to score more primary points by claiming the centre objective, thereby forcing a draw for the battle (had Mr Ashfield remembered). Thus, there is a very shaky argument that Mr Ashfield won a moral victory (exclusively supported by Mr Ashfield), but in reality, as the dust settled over the whiteboard of results, Jasper led by 25 points to Mr Ashfield’s 20! 

 

A hard-fought game, and a very well-deserved promotion for Jasper to join Joseph Stockley as Wellington’s second student Primarch. Well done on your victory (but I’ll get you next time!) 

 Mr Ashfield & Mr Crabbe