Anarchy Reigns - My BOYL 2015 Experience

I spent most of my Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the weekend just gone attending events linked to the Oldhammer community’s ‘Bring Out Your Lead 2015’ event, hosted by Foundry in Newark.

The year’s event was the 3^rd year it has run, evolving from a small and informal gathering of folks, playing a handful of games in 2013, to a much larger informal gathering! The main thrust of the event is the playing and mutual admiration of Games Workshop’s games from the late 1980s and early 1990s, with figures from the same era or ethos. A dozen participation games were planned across the weekend, using rules as diverse as Warhammer 3^rd edition, Rogue Trader, Space Hulk, Mordheim and Blood Bowl, not to mention fantastic large-scale games using custom rules, such as Warhammer Ahoy and the Deathrace. There also seemed to be plenty of pick-up games taking place over the course of the weekend, including Space Crusade, Heroquest and Necromunda.

Friday

My weekend started pretty early on Friday morning when I collected Irish Oldhammerers Paul S (cheetor) and John (Just John) from East Midlands airport. We made the run up to Newark to drop off cases at hotels, before heading back down to Warhammer World for a pre-BOYL meet up and game of Inquisimunda. After food and a good natter with Aussie traveller James (Captain Crooks), we ended up playing an entertaining 9-player game with two factions (radical and slightly less radical) competing to activate / destroy a teleport homer device. My Ordo Malleus crew teamed up with Graham (Greater Harlequin) and his genestealer cult, John with Space Santa plus little helpers and Chris (antipixi) with his ash waste nomads. Facing us down were Gadge with his rogue trader, Colin (Whiskey Priest) with an inquisitor, Paul (cheetor) with another inquisitor and JB (Asslessman) with his Sensei.

 

The lay of the land. Teleport homer located at the top of the tower.

JB, Colin, Chris and Graham in action.

Graham’s genestealer cultists forged  ahead strongly, looking hot favourites to reach the objective first for the radicals, only for Graham to play a sneaky mission card and turn traitor and suffer the combined firepower of my Malleus crew and John’s ratlings. Latecomer Paul E joined in, and further decimated the ranks of the cult. Meanwhile, Paul S and Chris exchanged firepower, using their mission cards to try and earn points through big game kills.

Cheetor's miscellanous Ordo Xenos crew.

Eventually, with other characters hot on his heels, Graham’s genestealer managed to enter the objective tower and coordinate its limbs and claws to destroy the teleporter and win the game.

Graham's genestealer wins the day!

The fine leaders of the forces, enjoying a post-action soiree!

Saturday

Fast forward to Saturday morning, and Paul E picked me up bright and early to get down to Foundry. After arriving at around 9.30, I had a quick mooch round, purchased a pack of the lovely previously unreleased RT adventurers, grabbed a coffee, and got set up for JB’s fun ‘Electric Goats’ game. I must confess, I largely missed the prime objective, overlooking entirely that my main aim was to go and activate some computer consoles to get some points…instead I ended up in a series of firefights with Ashley’s replicas. A series of poor dice rolls, and my poor Mafia gang got slaughtered.

The crew start setting up.

Chris' gang wonders if the nearby citizens are replicas.

Paul's detectives start on high walkways.

My mafia meet Ashley's gang. It doesn't end well, but that serves me right for opening fire first!

"Watch out lads! An electric goat!"

Next on the hit list was a visit to Kev Adams’ stall, where he very kindly sculpted a 28mm approximation of my face on a ratling in return for a donation to his charity (I’m 6’ 4”, so there’s some ironic scale reversals going on there!).

Kev's interpretation of my face - he specifically gave me a big nose, long chin and sideburns!

And while the micro-me was curing, I enjoyed a leaf through the wonderful artwork brought by Tony Ackland, chatting to the great man himself about the iconic images he drew for RT, Rogue Trader and so on (incredibly over 30 years ago!).

Photo of me viewing Tony's artwork shamelessly stolen from Ashley's blog - Little Lead People.

The early afternoon was devoted to a game of al fresco Blood Bowl in the sunny stable yard with Paul E. We played a nice, amiable game, with little bloodshed and a single score apiece.

Paul plots out the moves for his Undead team.

Then along came 5pm, and the inaugural game of ‘Anarchy in the UnderHive’. Paul S (cheetor), JB (Asslessman), Graham (Greater Harlequin) and Chris (antipixi) all brought a small gang of fortune hunters prepared to risk their necks in pursuit of cash, by aiming to escort a VIP to safety out of the Underhive, by reaching a lift shaft in the centre of the table. Each set their gang up in a corner of the board, needing to navigate a cargo area, shanty town, market place and hab units to reach safety. James (Tatsujin) and Jocham (Nibbl) gleefully took charge of the rioting anarchists, aiming to wipe the miscellaneous gangers off the face of the board. The game used a simplified system of Space Hulk 1^st edition, with points for kills (10 per rioter, 50 per rival gang, 300 for escorting the VIP to safety). 

The multi-coloured tiddly winks were used to record kills.

Initial confidence of the gangers was reined in as wave after wave of rioters started whittling their ranks. Chris was getting  swamped, JB was largely unscathed, and Paul was cautiously making progress.

Paul's 1980s kids action TV series based gangers. Pity the fool.

Chris' ash waste nomads.

James deliberates on where to send the rioters next.

Graham's genestealer cult, looking for something to burn!

Graham was getting a real beating, but by using his flamer with abandon, he was racking up the kills. And then the tactics turned…Graham raised the stakes and first dealt critical blows to Chris’ and then JB’s gangs.

JB's gorgeous Venator gang.

As the game drew to a close, Chris, JB and Graham all were overrun, leaving Paul as the only gang to achieve the objective and see his VIP to safety. When the points were tallied, Paul and Graham tied on 430 points each. I judged Paul to be the overall winner as he a) achieved the objective and b) wasn’t a dirty double-crossing cheater! We finished off Saturday with some beers and chat, before Paul E and I retired for the evening.

Sunday

Sunday morning came round bright and early. I watched the Deathrace guys set up the fantastic track, rather envious that my second outing of the Anarchy game meant I couldn’t participate.  The second run-out of Anarchy was as much a blast as the first. I felt a bit more relaxed as the first session had gone to plan. This time Paul E, James (Tatsujin), Jim (butchboy73) and Chico took on the challenge of escorting the VIPs, while John O (Just John) and John marshalled the riotors. 

Ready for the off.

The two Johns carefully co-ordinated the rioters, overrunning James early, and leaving the other gangs more intact.

James' gangers are swamped.

Paul E ramped up the pressure by knocking out Jim’s gang with his flamer. Chico in the meantime, was on the brink of being overrun, but was nailing rioter after rioter, first shot each time. As the game reached its climax, Paul made a run for the exit point, only to be shot up by Chico’s gang. In a stunning round of shooting, Chico rolled 6 after 6 to  clear the plaza around the lift shaft, and exit the board unopposed. At the final tally, Chico had blown away all rivals, scoring over 800 points!

Chico's deadeye Pit Slaves.

The Anarchy game was the first time I had run a participation game at an event, and I’m really pleased at how well it went. Graham was kind enough to spend a day playtesting, and it was well worthwhile – by and large we ended up with a fast-paced game, with minimal grey areas. The objective was challenging, but achievable, and even with 6 players involved, both games took just an hour and half to complete. The Space Hulk cinematic touches were really engaging too – every blip reveal or overwatch jam was greeted with the appropriate cries of disappointment or glee! Thanks to all 11 guys who joined in and made it such a fun experience.

If anyone wants to give the game a tryout, the rules we used were adapted from Space Hulk 1st edition and can be downloaded here.

 With the Anarchy game completed, my gaming commitments for the weekend were done. I enjoyed the opportunity to spend a few hours as a flitting observer, and dipped in and out of Deathrace, 3D Chainsaw Warrior, Advanced Space Crusade and some of the Blood Bowl games. 

Painting Competition Results

With the Deathrace completed, and lunch over, the final significant event of the day was the results of the painting competition. All through the weekend, folks had been putting some of their finest work into a display case for consideration in the competition. There were some exceptionally fine entries on show, with a delightful mix of models old and new, scifi and fantasy.

I didn't take photographs of my entry in the display cabinet - this is by Tony Yates of Shadowkings.

I was delighted when it was announced that I had won the open category with my entry I self-indulgently titled ‘Enter House Ulanti’. Regular readers of the blog will recognise all five of the figures here – Lord and Lady Greiss from my Colony 87 Kickstarter, Eduardo Murat (bodyguard), Barossus (tutor/advisor) and Lope (huntsman). I’ll cover the little display base in a future post. I was even more delighted to receive a fantastic prize from Foundry – an unreleased Marauder Wizard plus a very generous store credit note which was quickly and easily spent!

The other winners of the painting competition that I can remember were:

• Sci-fi Single: Chris Webb’s Warzone figure
• Sci-fi Unit: Drew Williams’ Space Marines
• Sci-fi Vehicle: James Armstead’s Manga bike
• Fantasy Single: James Taylor’s chef
• Fantasy Large Figure: James Armstead’s giant

I don’t recall who won the fantasy unit unfortunately.

Just before 4pm, I packed up all my bits, said my farewells, and headed back home with my stash of new toys and trades.

My haul from the weekend!

 

I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend, enjoyed meeting and spending time with folks familiar and new. The Foundry team are accommodating and generous hosts, and everyone involved in the organisation and scheduling of the weekend programme deserves a medal!

I can’t wait until 2016!