BERJAYA

Hotlead 2026 and the ALDG tournament

Posted on March 23, 2026 by mellis1644

Well this weekend saw the 30th iteration of the Hotlead convention in Ontario. I believe I have gone to at least half of those, which is not bad. One thing to note is that all the games (other than the tournaments) are participation games. So the games are run by knowledgeable GM’s who provide everything, but the general public/attendees actually play the games. I believe it is Canada’s largest miniatures convention, as every game is a miniatures game, althhough there are some RPG’s played in a different room I am told. Games covered everything you can think of – spaceships and sci-fi skirmish games, through pulp to historical and fantasy battle games. There was a good selection of airplane and naval games as well. There was even a dungeon denizens fight put on! It was a great display of all kinds of people’s interests and models. There was no blood bowl but that’s ok for me as I get enough of that in other ways.

It was well attended it seemed and talking some of the guys afterwards I believe the charity bring and buy did well making several thousand dollars for charity. This year I avoided that to a large degree – I got a few things but nothing that material for once. I have enough stuff to paint already…

I played in the ADLG tournament (more on that below) and spent some time chatting with old friends – there is never enough time for that really. The event had a DBA tournament and I know that was well attended and top spot was closely fought over. I got a few ideas of things I might want to investigate my gaming funds in from the various games on display as well – more on that at some point in the future posts if I get to those ideas.

The ADLG tournament had 14 players – it’s growing and there were some noticeable people missing from previous years. So next year I would expect that it may get even bigger. The theme was early Roman and their enemies.

The tournament format was 3 games between roughly 9 and 5 in the day – which made for a full days gaming. Rather than spoil my results it I will give quick summary of each game below. I have not really played my ADLG since the last Hotlead tournament, so decided to take something fairly easy to play- a Gaulish army. This was a simple army list as well. I had one command of chariots and a couple of light horse, and a second which consisted of sky-clad ( i.e. naked) heavy foot fanatics. The last command was a mix of heavy and medium foot with a good amount of light skirmishes as well. So the generalist command.

The Iberian’s

The first game had my Gauls invading the Spanish peninsula. The terrain fell ok but my opponent moved a steep wooded hill right into the centre of the battlefield. I believe he wanted to upset my deployment. This was where that mixed command came into it’s own as it could take advantage of the hill. So my mixed command went in the center, with the naked nutters on the right side of it and the chariots on the left.

In the centre my troops quickly took the hill and made it their own. They tempted in some of the Spanish and overwhelmed them through the game. On the left my chariots were also successful, driving back the Spanish cavalry and eventually destroying it and the medium on that side.

Meanwhile I held the fanatics back on the right. This made the Spanish at least initially have to move up to engage them. This worked out well for me as the Spanish came at them piecemeal and could not really use their advantage in numbers. The hill of my troops in the centre also gave me a secure flank to support them from as well. That meant the naked guys they could contain and even win the fights they got into.

So overall it was a good victory for me in the first game. The hill really helped me in the end and I managed the win with a reasonable level of casualties so was doing really well in the standings at this point.

The Campanian’s

In the second game I faced Steve – who is a really good player who has won this last year. He had brought the Campanians – one of the many non Roman peoples in Southern Italy who the Roman’s defeated and incorporated into their growing empire. Their army is very Roman – lots of good heavy foot with a slightly bigger mounted force than the Romans tend to have. They attacked into Gaul so I had to defend in this game.

I put down a waterway to reduce the width of the table but otherwise the terrain (mostly fields) fell badly for me – mostly on my side. This meant I was stuck on how to deploy my army. In the end the naked guys went behind field by the river and my chariot force was in the centre. That left my mixed force facing their mounted wing, but at least I had some fields to hide it. My aim was to try to delay and let them come to me through the terrain if I could. But the Gauls are too aggressive a force to really pull this off well.

They chariots moved forward to hassle the heavy infantry in front of them and throughout the game did a good job of putting hits onto the opposing foot. I held the naked guys behind the fields and those actually stopped them charging like mad at their enemy. So that bit of the plan seemed to be working out ok.

However, on the right the Italians did a good job of tempting my swordsmen out of position. There was little I could do there and there was not enough rough terrain for them all them hide in. I did not have the command and control to stop them running forward. In the open the Italian mounted and foot troops could use their mobility and numbers to destroyed my troops. I tried to move some of the chariots and light troops over to help but it was too little too late. So that flank was slowly destroyed.

I tried one last desperate charge with some of the naked guys and chariots in the centre. If they could break through the damaged units (from all the chariot shooting) they faced, I could turn this around. But this was at best and evens fight and a lot of it was just in their favour – the reason I had not done it earlier. Unfortunately, the die said no and that was an end to this game.

It came then as a defeat for my Gauls – but I was not surprised. The terrain did not help me but I was outplayed as well. I had done a good amount of damage to the Italian force though so it was not a complete rout.

The Pyrrhic

My last game was vs. a Pyrrhic army – yes the one where we get the term Pyrrhic victory. This is based on the armies Pyrrhrus, a King of a Greek kingdom just after Alexander the Great who fought Rome as it grew in power, This army was a wall of pikes with a good cavalry troops. My big advantage with the Gauls is numbers in this game – their advantage was they had better troops quality as well as better command and control!

It started well for me with my mixed command on the left flank moving around and then defeating the smaller number of medium troops on that side. This would allow me to turn the flank of the advancing wall of pikes, making them fight on both sides – which the Pikes hate. This also freed up one of my swordsmen to start a mad dash for the enemies camp.

On the other flank though disaster occurred for the Gauls. After the chariots had some initial success they ran up to throw javelins at the enemy mounted. This worked ok and as expected the greeks charged them. My chariots tried to flee from this – so they could run away and then return and throw more javelins etc. Unfortunately, I rolled for the chariots to run short and their opponents rolled to charge long. So the Gauls were caught and had to fight to their rear. It did not take many combats rounds for all my chariots to die. That just left me with a couple of light mounted troops on that side. This would allow the greek cavalry to support the battle line on the right hand side.

While this was occurring the main battle lines had clashed. The naked gallic nutters had charged into the pikes and we’re doing ok but not great. This made the centre a slow grind, but on either flank the supporting units were changing the fights and destroying units. On the left of that big battle line my swordsmen were helping my naked guys kill units, while on the right of the his cavalry started do the same. The ‘pike advantage’ meant that overall he was killing more units per turn than I was and this would only end one way so I needed my ‘flank roll up’ to be as fast or faster thas his.

It came down to which army would break first. My swordsmen were getting close to his camp, but his mounted units were doing the same to mine. Sacking a camp at this point would decide the game as well. In the end though, the deciding factor was my remaining light cavalry on the right flank. They ran around and avoided dying while managed to inflict some extra hits on the now widely scatter greek mounted troops. Those few extra hits were just enough to break the Pyrrhic army!

They had done more damage to my Gauls – but the large numbers in my army just allowed it to absorb those better to pull off the win. I fought to the end in this, but had predicted I would lose the game quite a bit before the end. So I was quite surprised to get the win. It has to be said though that both of us managed some awful die rolls in this game.

So, overall 2 wins and a loss put me 5th out of 14 people in the tournament. A positive record. I was very happy with that result, although I could and should have played a lot better in the third game. Running away with the chariots was a risky move and likely one I did not need to take. The main thing though was that games were fun and interesting. All my opponents were great and I believe a good time was had by all. So a well run and fun ADLG tournament.

Other games

As a last item, as mentioned there were many other games at the event not just ADLG. I did not get to look at many of those in detail. Here are a few photo’s of some of the games which were played in the Saturday evening. I have to say many were very impressive. I am sure there were many during the day which looked as good, if not better. It’s always a shame you can only do one thing at a time at these events – there were multiple games I would have loved to have played in during the day.

So thanks to all who attended and especially those who ran games and tournaments as well as the organizers (and bring and buy staff). Hotlead 30 was a great event and I’m already looking forward to hotlead 31 next year !

Posted in 15mm, After Action Report, Ancients | Tagged ADLG, After Action Report | Leave a comment

Sideline Report – Last Chosen vs Aldorf Bite Club

Posted on March 17, 2026 by mellis1644

OK another game report. This one is where my Chosen team face a developing vampire team, run by the league commissioner. Trev has been doing ok but not great with the vampires – a little like I did with them last season. The vampires in this version of the rules are the same as the old version, but their hypnotize has taken a hit – being a straight 3+ vs the 2+ but modified negativity by tackle zones. Both teams are reasonably developed at this point. My Chosen have a good amount of block and now a new frenzy dauntless goat lineman, while the vampires had dodge or block on most of their key pieces and good number of thralls.

Having played vampires last season I know their strengths and weaknesses. So my main aim was to try to hit as much as possible and keep them on the floor. When I had the ball, the plan was the use of multiple level screens vs a simple cage. That is harder to do but is needed vs. the vampires as they can dodge and hynogaze their way through cages with ease.

The vampires won the toss and decided to receive the kick off. The weather was perfect and the game was on. The plans for the vampires went astray straight away though. The kick was very deep and then Chosen got a perfect defense kick-off result, which stopped Bite Club really having any good hits on the line of scrummage.

The Bite Club did pick up ball and make a pass move to their runner, who sprinted up to within scoring range. However, even with the blitz the runner was isolated and out front of the rest of the team. The others in the Bite Club tried to screen off or mark all the Chosen. However, without any good hits or removals they really could not do this completely. This was a high risk move by the Bite Club to try to put a score on the books early, but was it too much of a risk?

As it turned out, yes it was. The Chosen knocked a hole in the vampires screen and the just skilled up frenzy lineman blitzed and knocked down the ball carrier. They then secure the ball with the vamp runner pinned to the sideline. After this this was done they hit a lot of the other Bite Club players – knocking many of those down as well

To recover the ball the vampires had a thrall mark the 3 Chosen lineman and did a 1 die blitz off the sideline with their runner. Unfortunately for them that only resulted in a push but it left the ball carrier marked by the vampire runner. Elsewhere the vampires tried to recover their positioning. The issue was they had no open players to really get to support that vampire runner. A small duel was developing between the Chosen Minotaur and the Club’s Varghast 0 whih would go on for most of the game. The Minotaur seemed to win this, but only by repeatedly knocking the vampire to the floor. Neither really did damage to the other all game.

The Chosen blitzed free the ball carrier and he moved up field. But just like the vampires, the Chosen could put only a poor screen around him for protection. This of course was not enough and the Bite Clubs next turn had the ball knocked loose. They soon had hold of the ball, but in another exposed position.

So for the second time, vampire runner with the ball was again taken to the floor. In fact she was taken to the KO tent to recover after the hit this time. This was the first removal of the game for either team. This allowed the Chosen to surround and eventually secure the ball. Again there was not a great cage but the overall defense was better placed this time, making it harder for the Bite Club – who were now down one vampire.

Vamps did try to break through the Chosen screen though. The Bite Club’s Blitzer tried to get to the ball carrier and throw the hit, after a failed hypnogaze to make it easier. This required multiple dodges and a rush to do the hit. This failed on the final dodge even with the use of the Bite Clubs last reroll.

That failure allowed the Chosen to run down field and screen off the ball carrier. The standing vamps again were mainly put on the floor. The Chosen safely controlled the remainder of the half, with their ball carrier moving to score on the last move of the half. During this runback the Chosen had again been very active hitting the Vampires and Thralls of the Bite Club. They kept them on the floor and away from the ball- but the Chosen still had no more removals.

So a defensive score for the Chosen and lots of hits to keep the vampires contained, but no long term damage done. Even the KO’ed vampire runner recovered and came back for the second half. This was a successful first half but there was still danger as the vampire’s are really good stealing the ball.

The vampires kick was to the middle of the Chosen half just on the marker for the wide zone. Being cautious the Chosen secured the ball and had an extra player with the ball carrier for support. Unlike the first half though they failed to put any Bite Club members on the floor. So they had to settle for a screen of players all across the pitch at the line of scrummage.

The Vampires this time were the ones doing the effective hits and quickly made a hole in that screen. They then race through enmass – marking the ball carrier and his assistant. This was a lot of pressure on the ball carrier, but they could not completely surround themm. This move also left a lot of the other Chosen players free to react.

Oh and react they did. The Chosen moved up players to support positions and threw a few choice blocks. This opened a path for the ball carrier to blitz out of the pressure and move up. The Chosen tried to build a good cage around the ball carrier. Unfortunately, it was not complete as a goat linemen failed to dodge free too made the final corner. But they had recovered to a level.

It was still a risky position though as the vampires were both behind and in front of the Chosen ball carrier with a clear 2 die blitz on him. If the vampire blitzer could get the ball loose, with a favourable bounce they had players free to run away with that for the equalizer.

The vampire blitzer did throw the block but was unable to take the ball carrier off his feet – even with a reroll. He just pushed the ball carrier back. The Bite Club had no one else who could hit the ball carrier. So the opportunity had slipped between their long blood stained fingers.

The Chosen were not going to miss this opportunity. A couple of good blocks freed up the ball carrier and he was again running up the field with a trailing screen of players. The Chosen reverted to their first half behaviour of knocking the vampires on the floor to avoid them getting too close to the ball carrier. But still they could get no telling hits.

All was not lost though for the Bite Club. There was still a possible hit from a thrall onto the ball carrier, This was their last line defensive player. The hits from Chosen was keeping the rest of the Vampire team on their back foot (or back side) and so he was on his own.

As had occurred before, the thrall blitz failed to take the ball carrier down, even with a reroll. So that left the Chosen to continue to move up the field and score. This was similar to the end of the first half with the Chosen hitting and keeping the Bite Club players on the ground. During this the Chosen finally made their first (and it turned out only) casualty of the game.

So the Chosen would kick to the Bite club, with them having 3 turns. Could they at least get a touch down from this game. Again it was a deep kick, which vampires collected and threw to their runner who ran deep. This looked a very similar play to the kick off. This time the Bite Club had done better on their hits. They even managed to do a casualty on the dauntless frenzy goat lineman. For a little while he was suspected to be dead, but in the end just had a niggling injury after the Chaos Apothecary worked on him.

Just as in the first half though, the Chosen again took down the vampire ball carrier – with a KO. The ball ended by the sideline and this time they did not try to get the ball. They did put more effort in just defending it. That said they did move a player up field so if luck happened they might be able to score though.

The vampires tried to get the ball and score but failed the pickup and so there was just the final turn for each side. This is where each site tried a wild risky set of moves to score. The Chosen first managed to pick up the ball and hand off to another player. They tried a long throw of the ball to the potential scoring player. This throw failed (just) but it did have the effect of moving the ball to past midfield into the vampires side of the field.

The vampires in their turn had a thrower pick up the loose ball and do the reverse. Unfortunately, they also needed a throw and then a handoff to score as well. Although their throw was good the thrall trying to catch the ball failed and so their attempt to score – and the game ended at that point. So both side failed ‘stretch plays’ ended in failure.

Overall, this was a good game for me as the Vampires can be a real challenge. They are never out of a game. The Bite Club were very aggressive in their play and that came back to bite them (oh the pun) in the end. But it could so easily have worked. The vampires are all about that controlled strikes and risks. If a few of their key rolls (hits) had hit home, or the Chosen missed theirs then this would have been a very different game, and likely score.

The other point is that number of blocks I succeeded at was high, but nearly all failed to result in any casualties was amazing. I rolled so many 7’s (or less) for both armour and injury rolls. I was hoping to get a few casualties to help skill up some more players and that did not happen. The successful blocks really limited what the vampires could do – which allowed for the victory, but removals would have made this so much easier. This meant the vampires were still in this game until well into the second half. The Chosen dominated the field but could not turn that into any player removals.

Interestingly, the random chosen MVP was my frenzy linegoat – which was correct. He definitely had a good game and managed to avoid dying as well! Unfortunately, he will miss the next game but we will see what happens to him and the rest of the Chosen team in future games.

Posted in 28mm, After Action Report, BloodBowl, Sideline Report | Tagged 28mm, After Action Report, Blood Bowl | 2 Comments

Blood Bowl – Underworld team big guys

Posted on March 14, 2026 by mellis1644

I have done quite a few game reports recently so back to some painting this time. I have started working on a 3D printed underworld team. They have a choice of a Troll or a Rat Ogre for their big guy. Both come with negatives and positives in team building but the printed team came with both figures so I had to paint them both. So that so that is what this post shows.

I not not decided on the team name etc but have decided a faded red/near Orange will be the main colour for the team, Most teams work best with multiple colours but the underworld is one where a single colour will work as they are such a diverse team.

So the first model to show is the Troll. I really like how this came out. It is very characterful model and perfect for the underworld team. The model has loads of extra bits – like using an human helmet as an elbow pad! It also has a little snotling asleep in a sling at its chest !

The Troll is subject to stupidity but bring the throw team mate option to the team which can be a big factor for their play. It can also vomit on opponents vs having to risk a block. All these are great items which need to be thought of when decided the big guy to use in a team. Added to that it is not that expensive, which allows for another goblin (or 2 snotlings) on the team vs the Rat Ogre.

The other option is a Rat Ogre. This was another fun model to paint. Again the figure has lots going on. He really has the look of an underworld rat ogre vs. a standard skaven one. Various bits of metal, chain and wood makes up his armour as an example.

I believe (until at least the FAQ in May) that the new 2025 version of the rules make the |Rat Ogre not quite as good. This is because they do not continue their activation if they fail even if they hit one of their team mates. Thus, they have gone from being one of the most reliable big guys (but also likely to kill their team mates doing it) to being less reliable but still a menace to their fellow team members. This means the Rat Ogre may not be my first choice of big guy. However, but is is great a getting removals which is what the underworld team needs, so I don’t rule it out.

Posted in 28mm, BloodBowl | Tagged 28mm, Blood Bowl | 2 Comments

Sideline report – Last Chosen vs Awood ArgoNorse

Posted on March 8, 2026 by mellis1644

Yes another game report. This one with my Chosen team facing the Norse. The ArgoNorse have done well – with 2 wins under their belt in their first 2 games. That said they have not really developed much and so got a lot of inducements in the game. They came into the game with their star player Skorn who did a load of injuries for them in the last outing vs Vampires. Basically Skorn is a second Yhetee with block and claw plus no frenzy or negative traits! He is a real threat. The only positive for me was they were low on rerolls, having only 2 and only had 1 str 4 Ulfwerener – who is unskilled. Neither of the real scoring threats of the Norse the Valkyries had any extra skills either.

My Chosen were a little beat up from the last game and had 2 journeymen goat linemen due to injures. So the Chosen had more stronger players. I few other advantages. That should give me few positive blocks in the bash, but they had a couple of real claw using big guy threats and more block across the team. So it was a fairly even match.

The game was played in the pouring rain – which makes pickups and catches harder. The Argo’s won the toss and decided to receive the ball first. A high kick allowed a Norse Valkyrie to get under it and catch the kick despite the rain. Both sides had refrained from the sidelines, as the both side had frenzy and neither was noticeably faster than the other.

Kick off – the Notse to receive in the rain

The Argos developed a drive down the near side of the field. They kept away from too close to sideline but started to make progress. To this the Chosen reacted and tried to hem them in.

The big guys of both sides were facing off around the line of scrummage – blocking each other and other team members. That had little effect though that putting each other down on the ground. The Chosen got the upper hand initially with the blocking game though. They soon had KO’ed the Argos Ulfwerener and a lineman.

The Argos did keep the move on though. Soon they had the ball half way to the endzone. This was with a a good push from their Valkyries supported by a couple of linemen. The problem was all their players were soon marked and so could at best block themselve free. They also had been pushed closer to the sideline. So their forward progress was stopped. With this scrum style play the Chosen strength and numbers advantage really started to tell. Meanwhile the big guys on both sides continued to underperform.

In their next turn the Chosen engineered a blitz on the ball carrier. The hit was good, knocking the Valkyrie down and the ball was loose. The problem was that the ball bounced into a good position for the Norse, safe away from the Chosen closer to the sideline.

Norse cage fails and the ball is loose on the side line- safe from the Chosen

The Chosen could not take advantage of this. But they continued to put pressure on around the ball. The Argos recovered the ball but were surrounded. They decided to move the ball back a little to the safety of their big guys. This though was a bit of a false hope as they could not move far. The Argos did start to even up the player numbers,a bit though with a KO of a goat linemen.

The Argos lack of numbers was telling and the ball carrier was again soon knocked down by the Chosen. Again the ball landed in between the Argos players though. This is when the Chosen started to play the odds and multiple times they pushed blocked players onto the loose ball, making it bounce around. The rain helped their odds of the ball bouncing free of the scrum vs being picked up by an Argos player – but it was their only chance of getting to the ball.

As they hoped the ball soon popped out into the open, actually in front of the Argos players. The Chosen swarmd it – but did not try to pick it up, as it was still marked by multiple Argos players.

Ball bounced around and now in the open between the teams

One final push of an Argos player onto the ball had it bounce onto the Chosen players who like the Argos could not catch it, but to the Chosen coaches delight it ended up in the open behind their players.

The Chosen bashed away any Norse too close and then used a secure the ball action to get the ball. They had done a good job again putting many of the Argos on the ground. However, the ball was not truly safe, but at least they were now in control of it.

Ball secured by the Chosen, but not a safe cage

The Choosen now had 2 turns to score if they could. Luckily for them they had a player who dodged free and ran upfield. It was one of the journeymen they had taken on for the game. It was now the Chosen who tried to hold the Norse who were now on the defensive. This they did and after a full stretch sprint with multiple rushes the ball carrying goat handed off the journeyman goat who ran into the endzone for a defensive score for the Chosen as the half ended.

So that is how Deathchest the journeyman Chosen linemen secured his place in the Chosen team on a permanent basis! A dodge out of the scrum and a catch and run in the rain. We shall see what his future holds now as a full time member of the team.

Most of the KO’s returned in the half time break allowing both sides to line up with 11 players for the second half. The ArgoNorse kicked to the Chosen and the ball was on the far side of the field. The Argos moved over to defend that side but the Chosen, after securing the ball made a cage in the middle of the field.

This is when several failures by the Argos big guys really hurt the Argos defense. Their Yhetee raged uncontrollably for 2 turns in a row – losing their blitz each turn and not moving. Meanwhile the Chosen continued their effective but not deadly blocking, By this time they had put multiple of the Argos players in the KO box so had a player numbers advantage again.

Second half drive – the chosen cage moves around the already outnumbered Norse front

Then Skorg the star who so far had not really lived up to his reputation in this game, double skulled a block and ended a turn early. This left the Argos somewhat out of position. This meant that the Chosen cage could move around the Argos defense and into their backfield. It allowed the Chosen to score with relative safety towards the end of the half. This gave them a 2-0 lead with time running out so they did not attempt to stall.

With 3 turns for the Norse they enough time for them to score but they could not waste much time. Again the KO’s returns allowed both teams to field 11 players for this last kickoff. The kick was short and ended right by the far line of scrummage. This and a perfect defence meant that Norse could not use a secure the ball action. The Argos hit some Chosen but did not remove any player, their claws again failing to hit home.

That when for the first time the weather really made an impact. The Valkyrie failed to pick up the ball in the rain and it bounced close to the side line and towards the Chosen. This allowed the Chosen to build a solid defnese on that flank and hem in the ball. They made no attempt to pick it up though. The Chosen continued to hit hoping to get a casualty vs look to score. They put the Argos players on their backs – but not out.

This put a lot of pressure on the Valkyries to try to make something happen to get a score in the final turns. However, the Argos were out of rerolls now and they failed to make any process up field to build a scoring threat.

Third drive – rain affects pickups and the chosen uses defense in depth

The game ended with both sides throwing some final blocks trying to get casualties. That failed and in a surprise for a teams with lots of block, frenzy and claw there were no casulaties ot injuries to either team.

Note, it is reported by the city watch that there were quite a few fan fights in the bars around the arena after the game. Fans of both sides like a little blood in the game and so not seeing it on the pitch they created it themselves.

So a good win for the chosen, but no casualties for either side. Still l’ll take the win. The odds of a zero casualty game from these two was very low. Too much block and claws but although there was a good amount of amour breaks nothing more than KO’s happened. Skorn especially dropped back to the average – after his 3 CAS vs the vampires he really was not a factor at all in this game. That was a big factor in this game and I was lucky the KO’s and so player numbers on the field always favored the Chosen in this game.

As a last comment, the Argos were a 3D printed chibi style Norse team. It is the first time I have seen those in person and I have to say I like the models. I have enough teams to paint but if I did not those would be a tempting team to get and paint.

Posted in 28mm, After Action Report, BloodBowl, Sideline Report | Tagged 28mm, After Action Report, Blood Bowl | 2 Comments

Blood Bowl – Last Chosen vs. Swamp Things

Posted on March 2, 2026 by mellis1644

Here is a write up of the second league game of my Chaos Chosen team, which was played last week. This was against Paul – another good coach in our league who I have faed multiple times. This time he is using his new and shiny Lizard team. My team was giving him loads of inducements as well – which he used to get a team reroll, a mascot and some coaching staff for. My chosen team has a decent amount of block now (which has become expensive in this version) but no bench. The Lizards team have the speed and strength advantage on the Chosen, so this was going to be a challenge in the game. If I could not get some luck on ball handling or ‘remove’ one of those advantages from him it would be an uphhill struggle of a game.

The Swamp Things got the ball first, and it was a long kick right into the back field of the lizards. The initial roll was Charge kick off result- so a couple of the Chosen goats ran into the Lizards backfield while the Minotaur took a free hit on one of the Lizards big Saurus – to no real effect.

The Skinks got picked up the ball and moved it to the right hand side of the field. But they could not form a cage and it was fairly easy for a Chosen Goat lineman to take the ball carrier down and to the KO box. The issue though was there was little chance of the Chosen claiming the ball. So all they could do was put a tackle zone or two on the ball and try to use their numbers to contain for now.

The Saurus moved to support their little friends and pushed the Chosen off the ball – which they did. This allowed a Skink to grab the ball and move to the other side of field with a single skink in support. . The speed of the Lizards made this possible and there were no chosen players who could match this pace. The Chosen though had a single goat in the backfield waiting such a move.

That Goat lineman ran forwarded and for the second time in the game sent the Skink ball carrier straight to the KO tent. That was 2 skinks in the KO box. Unfortunately the Lizards had been doing better in the bash game and had 3 of the chosen off the field at this point.

The ball bounced into the crowd who threw it around. In the end it landed near the Chosen end zone – on the opposite side of the field. You can see the result below.

Theball is thrown back in after the Chosen KO the ball carrier

The Chosen had no choice but to fall back and try to claim the ball. The problem was that the players were spread out and so the loose ball was close to the Lizards Kroxigor and a Saurus. There was little time for either team to really form a full protected screen. Still the Chosen managed a defensive position around the ball and one of the blockers did pick up the ball.

The lizards knew they had the advantage though and hemmed in the Chosen. The only positive for the Chosen at this time was that the Kroxigor hhad decided that now was a good time to get distracted by the crowd, so was not involved in the play. It would fail most of the checks for the rest of the half – there must have been something in the crowd which took it’s fancy.

Chaos Blocker surrounded by Swamp Things players near their end zone

After moving up to try to give the best ball safety, the Chosen Blocker dodged back and then threw the ball forward towards his follow players at the half way line. The Chosen crowd have never seen such a passing play from their team before!

It looked for a minute that this might actually work. It sort of did, as the ball did go forward. The throw was roughly in the right direction it was not on target. Unfortunately for the Chosen, the ball bounced bak towards their goal line – they had really wanted the bounce to go the other way. But this play did put the ball loose and in play again.

End result of the desperate throw by the Chaos Blocker

The Lizards were not phased by this second major shift in ball position though. They swarmed back to pick up the ball. Fortunately for them the throw had diverted back towards the Chosen endzone so they were still in scoring range without a handoff or needing to do really ‘risky things’. The Lizards blitzed the one Chosen who blocked their path and picked up the ball, The Chosen were not done yet though. In return again took the ball carrier down, but not out. In a classic case of trying to do too much, when trying to secure the bouncing ball a goat lineman took himself out of the game. This in the end making it a little easier for the lizards to score. So, in the end it was fairly simple for a skink to pick up the ball and rush into the end zone in their last turn.

The Chosen had their last turn before half time. It soon became 2 turns, as the ref’s rolled the clock back on a technicality. The Chosen hits also for the first and only time of the game worked as they had practiced. The Minotaur hurt a Saurus and the blockers KO’ed 2 more, So for the first time all game the Chosen actually were up in player numbers on the field. Their move to score was hopeful but not well executed. This was shut down clinically by the Lizards so the first half ended with the Lizards up 1 to 0.

The Chosen were lucky that the 2 KO’ed Saurus did not come back on the field for the second half. With the use of the Lizards Apoth though the player numbers were even as the Chosen had 1 Cas and 1 in the KO box after the first half, So the Chosen decided too try to make the bash work for them and see if they could get some more CAS – especially on the Skinks to get the victory. removing those would allow for a second score in this hhalf and the win – in theory.

They tried this with a slow, steady cage drive. This moved the ball down the field while taking hits at skinks at every opportunity. But none of this was effective and the lizards kept their 4 fast players on the field, In fact by the middle of the half, this tactic backfired as the Swamp Things got a couple of quick KO’s in succession in their turn. So the now the player numbers started to look really good in the Swamp Things favour.

This triggered Swamp Things to go seriously at the Chosen cage. This was to try to either hold up the score or even steal the ball and score themselves. They put a lot of pressure on the Chosen who now had to start to concentrate on getting forward and achieving their score. Both team lack of players was starting to tell a little now – but more on the Chosen side. The Chosen regrouped and caged up closer to the end zone. They needed one final blitz (and multiple rushes) to get out for the equalizing score toward the end of the half.

This gave 2 turns for Swamp Things to go for the win. Rerolls were in short supply for both teams, The kick was close to the line of scrummage, which might have been an advantage for the Lizards but also took out the chance of them securing the ball. As was fitting the game ended on a failed pickup. So in reality the game ended as it started – with a group of players bashing each other on the line of scrummage!

Overall, this was not a bad result for my Chosen. The game plan was to remove the skinks – the little fast guys who are the Lizard’s scoring threat. If I could get most/all of them off the field then the Chosen had a good chance. I failed materially to do this even though I kept trying. The best I got was 2 in the KO box which was in the first half and they both came back. Even with 2 Skinks the Lizard team is very dangerous. That said, getting 2 Saurus in the KO box was great and evened up the strength of the teams. I was lucky they stayed there as long as they did.

The core problem here was that the Lizards ‘out bashed’ my Chosen. I could get the Pow’s but could not reliably break armour and/or injury players. That sort of destroyed the Chosen game plan… what there is of one for a Chaos Chosen team anyway. As I lost the bash game then all that is left is trying to take advantage of the lizards ball handling errors. I did get the ball off them several times in the first hhalf but it did not fall for me. The issue is they never made any! Well other than right at the end, when it was too late. So keeping this a the draw seems an ok result in the end.

On to the next team – another one which I think I will be giving loads of inducement to as well..

Posted in 28mm, After Action Report, BloodBowl, Sideline Report | Tagged After Action Report, Blood Bowl | 1 Comment

Blood Bowl – Canadian Open 2026

Posted on February 26, 2026 by mellis1644

Well this last weekend I attended the Canadian Open. This is not my first tournament, but definitely the biggest I have attended and the first ‘major’ one. First, I should say it was a great event and I met lots of people. I had a good conversations and games throughout etc. It was well run and a friendly environment as all the Blood Bowl events that I have been to have been.

The location was a craft brewery in Toronto and that worked out very well in my opinion. Yes I do like a beer once in a while which helps… I did drive on the Sunday so did not partake of the beer then, but Saturday I had a few drinks over the day and more into the evening as some of us stayed around and ate/socialized after the event. They did food at the location, which was good as well. There was no coffee at the place though, but the cafe next door was where I got coffee on Saturday. On Sunday I did a coffee run as that did not open in time. On also Sunday the organizers had the Ice Hockey gold medal game on the big screen as well – but the least said about that the better…

Overall, the event was very well attended. Over the two days there was 66 players and most were there for both days. Here you can see the group photo shot after the event.

I took an Orc team which I have shown in the previous post. They had a multi-racial support staff with the rat coach and some elven Cheerleaders. It was a simple list of having block on all the positional which did not have it, and then a tackle blitzer and a guard lineman.

I will not do a full detailed report for each game – my memory is not that good… But I thought I would add some comments for each of them as can. I apologize if I get anything wrong here, as I did not take notes so going by memory alone and playing 6 games is quite draining on the memory. I have to say all my opponents were great to talk to and friendly. They were all competitive but not in a bad way.

Game 1 vs Dark Elves

Mike was the coach and flew in from Manitoba for the event ! Thats over 1,100 miles for those who don’t know the distance. He was a great opponent and played the dark elves well. Each of us scored on our drive after the other put up a good defence in turn – it was no easy score for either of us. The Orcs ‘bash’ was working towards the end of the game with the Dark Elves down 4 players after the apoth kept one on the field. There were 4 Casualties from the Orc hits and 1 from a failed dodge. However, even that was not enough to allow for my Orcs to get the win. So a fun game and it showed me Dark Elves in the new version are far from done – unlike some podcasts have stated. They are just different now…

Game 2 vs. Necromantic Horrors

Gordon was next coach up. He plays in our local league and we even had a practice game a few weeks ago with his team. His newly printed and painted team looked amazing – with a real cool theme. I was a little surprised it did not win best painted but there were some really well painted teams in the event. That as a voted prize can always be a little odd as well. Here is a quick shot of the team.

In the game though Gordon had bad luck in ball handling/control. He played well and pressed my first attack, but the Orcs managed to escape the undead swarm, which allowed me to score in my drive. But after this Gordons luck really went south. He started failing rolls left and right, which allowed me to score a defensive touchdown on his drive in the first half. Then in the second half I got the ball again due to a failed hand off. That led to the winning score for me. Once again, on this next drive again the Orcs got the ball due to a failed action. That was when time was called, and the Orcs were heading down for a 3rd score.

This game was decided by his dice vs anything I did. The dice just said a hard NO to the Necro in this game and thats it. The only thing which went in his favour was he did more casualties than I did.

Game 3 vs. Tomb kings

This was a slog of a game if I remember – but well played. By that, I mean both teams are typical slow grind scorers and from what I remember it turned out like that. We scored on our respective drives, with the tough defensive play making it difficult for the opposition. This was the 3rd game of the day and my memory is not great for the details of this game. Note the comment of beers being had which might not have helped with my memory…

I did concentrate on getting the weaker Tomb King players (the skeletons etc) off the pitch. The Tomb Guardians are just too much strength to deal with even for the Orcs without some luck. This worked to an extent but with their bench and regen they were never down players on a kickoff. The removals did help offset their strength in the game play though. I did get the casualty bonus for the game but as said I don’t have too many memories on this game, other than it being a tough well played game and challenge to even get and keep the draw.

Game 4 vs. Black Orcs

I faced Kent for the first game on Sunday morning. He is another member of the local league and there are multiple game write ups on this blog for some of my games with him. We usually have fun games – although I believe he wins slightly more of them than I do, However, this game was decided by the die – this time mine, which were very hot. That said he kept it a lot closer than I would have liked with great play until it got silly with the number of removals. He scored in the first half with a good drive but my dice were removing Black orcs and gnoblars. I tried to tie up the score at the end of the first half but an interception by a Black orc stopped that. By then he was down too many players to really complete. I scored quickly (for orcs) on my drive in the second half and then took the ball on his drive and scored again for the win.

Game 5 vs. Shambling Undead

The Undead had more guard and 2 blodging ghouls which were a pain to the Orcs in this game. The Undead took the first drive and although there was a good press from my Orcs it made no difference. The Orcs got through their cage multiple times but, the ghouls just kept making their rolls to escape and survive. They scored on their drive at the end of the half, but it required multiple 3+ rolls for this to happen.

My Orcs then put together a steady drive in return. The undead pressure and the hope for the win meant the Orcs scored early(ish), giving the undead multiple (4 I think) turns with the ball. The ghouls continued their survival even though my Orcs did have a couple of hits on the ball carrier. Luckily for me though, this time the pressure from the Orcs was enough to hold their drive back. It was close though and there had been a chance with multiple dodges and a blitz for them to score. So this game ended in another draw.

Game 6 vs. Bretonians

This was my last game, but it also was a memorable one – especially the ending to the first half. My Orcs took the first drive and looked in turn 6 to have an easy move to get a player with the ball free and in the clear. Unfortunately, the hand-off failed for that, but the ball bounced back to the orc thrower – who recovered the ball after failing to hand it off. That was not a turnover as the ball never hit the floor, so the Orcs could move to defend the ball carrier at least a little. The Bret’s swarmed the Orcs, but could not get a good hit on the Orc thrower ball holder. So, next turn one of my Orcs Blitzer’s broke free and stood in the endzone ready to catch the ball. The Orc thrower then threw to him. The throw was good but the Blitzer failed the catch the ball and it bounced into the crowd, The crowd threw the ball directly back to the Orc thrower – who caught the ball ! That was a turnover, but the Orcs still had the ball.

The Brets now really had their opportunity to get the Orc thrower – but he survived the multiple blocks thrown at him. He was pushed around a lot. At the end though he was still in scoring range, with 2 Rushes. So with a shrug the Orc thrower blitzed a hole through the Bret’s around him, made the dodge to get clear and ran in for the score himself !

So the Orc thrower had scored a TD, thrown and caught is own pass, plus caught his own handoff in the same half!

Anyway, in the Brets drive in the second half they were going well and then failed a critical dodge. This opened a hole in their cage and allowed a straight blitz at the ball carrier. The Orcs failed to execute the decisive block on the ball carrier though. So that was a huge miss and with this it was fairly simple for the Berts to recover and to move the ball to the other side of the field. Still it was not over and the Orcs put up a solid defence. It required the Brets to make multiple rolls and a pickup to score as the orcs had knocked the ball loose. However, they made it so evened up the score. That gave several turns for the Orcs to go for the win. However, we had run out of time. So it was a draw but such a wild, fun game.

Thoughts on the games

I think I played pretty well in the event. I ended up with 2 wins and 4 draws. Thats a very good record considering the level of opponents in the event. That record put me 16th out of 66. I’m really happy with that placement. I was lucky with the dice in couple of games (well I was really lucky in one and my opponent was really unlucky in another). I did not have any long period of disastrous die rolls which really helped, but did fail things as the last game showed. I must have done somethings right as I can’t remember having any opponents who had an easy score against my Orcs.

That said, there were far too many draws. The Orc play style is going for the 2-1 or 1-0 bash. It works but without either stopping the opponent scoring on their drive, or forcing them to score early, games easily go to a 1-1 draw. The Orcs can’t score fast without a lot of risk, as they just do not have the best movement. Without a lot of handoff’s etc it’s normally 3 or 4 turns for a score at best. I need to improve my offensive moves I feel. I also keep needing to speed up my play – it’s getting better but the quick moves and decisions comes with more experience I find.

Final thoughts ob the event

Overall, this was a very well run event and everything seemed, as an attendee at least, to go without major issues. It was fun and good to see some of the best players in the region (and beyond). I played well and had great opponents throughout. So thanks to all the attendees and the organizers for a good weekend.

There was a raffle and I even won a couple of things in it, which was a bonus for me as rarely win such things. I had bought some tickets but not a huge number so that was a nice bonus for me.

I would say that anyone into blood bowl should try a local tournament. They are a different style of game than league. The time pressure of games in 2 hours 20 mins is tough, but it is fun and challenging. You don’t have to go to big ones like this, but the newer players from our the group who attended this event all said said they had a good time. For me it was a great experience and I definitely want to do more tournaments in the future.

Posted in 28mm, After Action Report, BloodBowl, Sideline Report | Tagged After Action Report, Blood Bowl | 3 Comments

Blood bowl – Canadian Open Tourney preparation

Posted on February 20, 2026 by mellis1644

So this weekend (Feb 21st-22nd) is the Canadian Open Blood Bowl tournament – which I am attending. I am taking an Orc team for a change and using some very old Orc models for the team. I believe these models were painted before I started blogging so there are no pictures of them here. So I thought I would add one here and you can see them below.

The list I am using has a couple of goblins. These old models are so small that the current range of goblins look huge against this team. So digging around I have seconded a couple of snotlings into the black and white colour scheme to be their goblins.You can see them below. They do fit in size as goblins and will hopefully do the job.

For this tournament you need a coach and an mascot or cheerleader figure to get those advantages and I do plan on getting them. Ever little helps after all.

I dug through my lead pile and found a couple of figs I can use. I play an awful lot of rats aka ‘skaven’ as long time reader of this blog will know (although I do use other teams as well). So finding a couple of rat like figures allows me to use them as the coaching staff for the current Orc team. I have a feeling I may still play a little too rat like for my own good on the day anyway.

So first is the rat coach – with a cigar and a ball cap. I think in theory it’s a ref model originally but works well for the coach of this team. Of course with the he has to be John ‘Hannibal” Skaven-smith. Yes trying to get an A-team link in that name as the cigar just makes me think of that. He’s a coach brought in by the team owners to try to inspire some ball movement and skill in the game vs just bashing as Orcs like to do… But hey if the bash works I’ll take it.

For the mascot/fan I found an interesting little critter model which came along with the coach. I think these both came as gifts from a tourney I attended last year. With the D-fence foam finger and the ‘drinking hat’ he is here for the fun and blood whatever happens. A classic fan as well i.e. he has had a little too much drink and food for his own best health.

I likely will take some elf cheerleaders as well. After all Blood Bowl is an inclusive game and so my team having a few good looking elven cheerleaders seems apt. This has got me thinking more about support staff for my teams though – something I will need to work on in the future..

Well I plan to have fun whatever happens. There will be a lot of very good coaches there and I do not expect to challenge for the best painted etc but at least are reasonable on the table.

Posted in 28mm, BloodBowl | Tagged 28mm, Blood Bowl | 7 Comments

Battletech – Alpha Strike Starter inner sphere mechs

Posted on February 17, 2026 by mellis1644

So in this post I will show the last of the starter mechs. In fact you can see all of them all below.

A couple of posts ago I covered the smaller mechs from the inner sphere in the box here. So now here are the bigger ones.

I still have not played any game with these but they are done so that is one hurdle to getting a game in. Next is reading the rules…I have talked to a few people and the game does seem somewhat popular – which is a good sign. I’m not really into sci-fi huge robots alone but if it’s a good game I will play it.

I have been meaning to work on a naming label system for these but have not got to it yet. I would like to do it on the bases but the vertical biits are quite small so I need to see if names which fit there will be visible enough for use.

Anyway to the mechs. I think I have these right from the wiki and docs.

Warhammer

Archer

Wraith

Atlas

Posted in 6mm, Battletech, Sci-fi | Tagged 6mm, Battletech, Sci-fi | 1 Comment

Sideline Report – Last Chosen vs L’Anguille Landsharks

Posted on February 9, 2026 by mellis1644

Hi sports fans, it’s another blood bowl report. We have started another season of blood bowl here in Toronto. This season I’ll go back to ‘sports/game highlights’ vs the actual words from the two star reporters. I was not going to write up these games but I actually enjoy doing it. So what the heck I will do it this season as well. I’ll try to add comments and critic at the end of each report. I hope they are fun to read.

Game report

So we are here at the kick off of Season 22 of the Hobble league for the local team – the Last Chosen. This season we are following them ( i.e. I’m running them). They are a Chaos Chosen team of slightly Khorne leaning affiliation. They have had a mixed record in the preseason where they focused more on bashing than winning, but have built up a few decent players and a small fan following. Their first match was against the L’Anguille Landsharks a new Bretonnian team with fewer pre-season games under their belt.

The Chosen won the coin toss and decided the receive the ball, As the game started it seems the Chaos Gods had decided to shine on the game as it became bright and sunny – making it harder for the Lansharks widely fabled passing moves. The first half settled down to a punch up which seemed to be going more in the Chosen’s favour in the first turns. The Chosen soon got several removals. These were mostly to the KO box but a couple of casualties were caused. The Landsharks apothecary was in action early in the game, keeping one of their key players in the game. During this stage the Chosen kept the ball safe and moved it and the protective cage from the middle to the left side of the pitch and then back again. All this was no aid for them finding any easy way through the dogged defence of the Landsharks.

Last Chosen cage mid way through the first half

By the middle of the half though things started to turn around for the Landsharks. Their dauntless skill’s really started to play dividends. They managed to even up player numbers, including putting the Chosen Minotaur in the KO box. That is where he would remain for the rest of the game! With this pressure and the time starting to run out, the Chosen moved the ball up to just outside scoring range. They still had what looked to be a good defensive coverage as well.

But the Landsharks put a lot of pressure on. What had looked to be a possible stalling opportunity for the Chosen to score at the end of the half disappeared. So rather than risk loosing all their hard work, the Chosen ran the ball in for the score. The issue with this was that gave the Landsharks two turns to even up the score before half time.

The problem was the Chosen failed both their KO recovery rolls while the Landsharks made most of theirs. So the Chosen were down to 8 players vs. 10 Landsharks on the kick off. To add to their issues the kick was very poor – and went out for a touchback. So the Landsharks started with the ball at the halfway line, ball in hand!

The Landsharks made quick work of the opportunity given and moved the ball to a scoring position, marking all the Chosen player. The Chosen needed a beastman to dodge out and hit the ball carrier to save the score, but unfortunately for them it failed the dodge. This allowed the Lansdsharks to run in the ball for a simple equalizer as the half ended.

Things got worse for the Chosen as the Landsharks made their all KO recovery rolls at half time, so we’re back up to 11 while the Chosen failed theirs. So the Chosen were now down 3 players at kickoff. This looked to be a serious position for the Chosen and their coach feared the worse. The Landsharks did try to take advantage of their numbers – and even gain some extra star player points with safe throws in the back field but the weather did not help them with that. It was clear their aim was to delay and then score late in the half giving them the win and the Chosen no time for a reply.

Slowly though, the Chosen started to reduce the inequality in numbers by sending their opponents to the KO box. If not that then they kept them stunned on the floor. At the mid way point of the half the Chosen made a risky move, and made a blitz at the ball carrier. This worked and stunned the ball carrier. The ball rolled loose and was picked up by the blitzing Beastman!

Last chosen got the ball in the second half but can’t protect the ball carrier – top of the shot

There was no way they could protect the ball carrier though. What followed was a scramble around the ball with it changing possession several times, as each side tried to secure the ball only to be taken down. In the dying turns of the game a Chosen beastman made a run for the opposing end zone with the ball – but he was on his own. The Landsharks had free players so it was a fairly easy move for them to stop him, but that ending the game with a draw.

So a fun game and a close one. Note the biggest cheer from me, was when the MVP was given to my Minotaur. That means he can get Block skill for the next game – which will hopefully protect him and make him more useful, But he becomes a very costly player as well.

Closing Thoughts

Overall I think we both played well, with no glaring mistakes from either coach. Justin is a great coach and a good opponent. We both likely made a few minor mistakes and had good and bad luck, but if so they were not that costly. The disparity in KO returns really affects this game as being down multiple players always makes it a hard game. I was 0 for 4 KO returns – my team needs a bench, but adding block skills means my teams value is rising rapidly at this point, so that is a challenge for team building.

I think I defended the drive before the half wrong. Maybe setting up a player or two deeper may have helped – but that’s seeing the 3+ dodge with a reroll fail… Nuffle seemed against me on that drive and being several players down did not help. If the blitz had worked then I may think differently and it was not a bad play – it just did not work out… Comparatively, the defence in the second half held up well and was more than I expected – especially being down so many players on the kick off.

The other thing I will note is the Landsharks made a lot of dauntless based hits and various 1 die blocks – most of which went their way. The Bretonnian team seems set up for that, but it’s interesting theme for the team. At the same time the steady footing never happened and their wrestle was not as much of a factor as it thought it could be. So they look to be an interesting team but their weakness is the low armour compared to some. My chaos team did a good level of blocks and hits with removals which is really the chaos game plan. So that worked – it would have helped to have the Mino on the pitch more though for that.

Note, we did play a second game after this. That was where my shambling undead took on Justin’s ogre Mushroom themed team. It was another fun game, where in the first half the Ogres did enough to stop the undead drive – with a notable throw teammate taking out the ball carrier at one point. They did a great job in removing Undead players – with multiple CAS which did not regen and several KO’s who never returned.

In the second half I was again seriously down player numbers (it was 7 vs 11) but the Ogres were under a lot of pressure from the undead defence. However, I lost in the end. After a hit to take out a little gnoblar marking the ball, he use sidestep to fall on the ball, which bounced onto an ogre who caught it! I was trying to remove a little guy to give my ghoul a better chance to pick up the ball and score – as it was marked by both Ogre and a gnoblar… ah well. After that, I could not stop the Ogre from running in for the winning score. He never bone headed or went down from my uphill hits. He always had enough friend to push off any marking players I put on him. That said I had only 4 players left on the field by the end of the game, so the result was not that unexpected as the Ogres did what you want them to – hit hard and often.

Posted in 28mm, After Action Report, BloodBowl, Sideline Report | Tagged After Action Report, Blood Bowl | 4 Comments

Battletech – Alpha Strike Inner sphere first mechs

Posted on February 7, 2026 by mellis1644

So following up on my Clan mechs (my previous post) I have their opposition from the Alpha Strike starter box. Thjese are thhe Inner Sphere as I under sand it. I decided to use the same paint scheme for all the mechs so they look like a specific force vs. a random mercenary group. I admit that I likely won’t carry this on and will do any future models in different colour scheme. But this works for the first mechs I have.

I also noticed after I painted these that they do seem to look much more ‘Transformer style’ than I really wanted. Still this is a blue top and grey legs, with some metallic bits which I did see somewhere for batleteh I think.

I have half the starter mechs here and will so a second post with the remaining ones from the box. Again I have not played the game yet but having these all done makes it more likely I will get it ut and play.

So onto the models. Note, I still have issues identifying the different ones so may in the end print out some small lables and glue them to the bases so I can indentify which is which. I am sure some hardcore Battletech fans will hate that idea.