DanCon II : Cake or Death

It's a tough life doing the math and playing toy soldiers

Just this past Monday was Auckland anniversary weekend and I took the opportunity to run DanCon again however this time I though lets make it different....I went for 700 points and it was going to be a random partner for the whole event however one genius said "Why not a random partner every round?" and with that DanCon II was solidified and the days began to countdown to the event.

Initially I had set up for 24 players however 2 where no shows and this would mean we'd be stuck with 21 players until I stepped up to the plate making it 22 players (although this would mean two folks would be playing each other on a 4x4 table each round).

I didn't go in with the intention of doing super well having this list made off the cuff by the same chap who suggested random partners each round but hell I got a King Tiger and Jet Fighters in my list.

 YOU...SHALL NOT...PASS!!!!!

We played 4 rounds and by all accounts everyone had fun I was partnered with 4 great players over the weekend it was also a real learning experience for the newer players a lot of the time being partnered up with a National Champ or a 10 year veteran would help them learn the game and the rules (One of the rules was if your partners army broke so did yours, so protecting your partner was essential) 

 Oh you pass motivations on a 2+? Here have some 1's

With all being written it was also important to note with all this going on there would only be a first, second and third place so basically what could theoretically happen is a non-power gamer type could be carried to victory but that couldn't happen now..could it? *ahem* Scary Biscuits: Carried to Victory pictures were also stolen from Scary Biscuits Studios & the T.C.O.W blog page T.C.O.W : DanCon II 

 Fun Times

 Pointing at toys to make them fight better

 Me  winning Mike Haught's Game for him

 Mike Haught winning first place 23 out of 24 victory points

Patrick Gribble coming Second using New Zealanders!

 Kit "Don't KINGTIGER" Goldsbury coming 3rd

Hot as hell but at T.C.O.W we have A/C 

Results were passed onto our Rankings HQ equivalent here in New Zealand results below.

1st Place: Mike Haught 23 points

2nd Equal: Patrick Gribble (Winner of fist fight for actual Second Place) 20 Points

2nd Equal: Kit Goldsbury (Runner up in fist fight for Second Place) 20 points

2nd Equal: Mike Haycock (Knocked out of fist fight for Second Place) 20 points

3rd Place: Daniel Linder 19 points

4th Place: Rob Sadler 16 points

5th Place: Charlie Mair 15 points

6th Equal: Damian Caulfield 14 points

6th Equal: Greg Lockton 14 points

6th Equal: Gavin van Rossum 14 points

6th Equal: Peter Welsh or Walsh 14 points

7th Place: Andrew Paul Haught 13 points

8th Equal: Sofia Chambers 12 points

8th Equal: Andrew Duncan 12 points

8th Equal: Damian Reid 12 points

9th Equal: Steve Eyles 11 points

9th Equal: Jonathan Carryer 11 points

10th Place: Faizal Mohammed 10 points

11th Place: Howard Mair 9 points

12th Equal: Wayne Arthur Turner 8 points 

12th Equal: Paul Monk 8 points

13th Place: Francis Hambrook 7 points

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Product Review: Battlefronts New Plastic British Shermans/Firefly boxset

I had another opportunity to pick up some more of Battlefronts new awesome plastic range this time it's the British Sherman Armoured Platoon. Like most other medium tank boxes it contains enough parts to build 5 Sherman V's or 5 Sherman Firefly VC tanks.

The box itself is about double the thickness of a regular box but that's not really an issue unless you're pressed for space. It has a colour coded semi-assembly guide on the back and comes with a British decal sheet that appears to look like it's for a guards division but it lacks magnets (XX105 Rare Earth Magnets - 1mm x 5mm $7 for 40 magnets) but that's not an issue for me.

Now lets take a look at what you get in the box 

So there's your full plastic Shermans which are very crisp and one part tracks the sprue is laid out very well and I had no missing parts and 2 left tracks are impossible another win here.

 Now these guys will go great with the plastic paratroopers from Open Fire or the new plastic Brits which are not out yet but they too look awesome.

Thanks for reading!

    

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Product Review : Battlefield in a Box Shattered Battlefield

While picking up Battlefield in a Box: Large Craters and Ruined House I got myself a a Shattered Battlefield. This box like the previous one was designed for use with the Great War supplement which as you know is designed to be played on a smaller table. I will most likely (read as I will) be using to supplement my already quite large terrain collection.

I like this set because it adds a bit more variety to the battlefield than just complete forests and happy wheat fields. The shattered woods and muddy ground should create a hazard for tanks and some concealment for infantry.

Just looking at the box and looking at what's inside it seems you get 4 shattered woods and muddy grounds and as I'm writing this I had an idea. If you were lucky enough to get BF's pine forests or a set of the plentiful autumn woods you can take one of the trees out of the set and add one of the shattered wood (We generally count everything on the brown oval things as forest) thus stretching your forests even further and saving you money to buy more tanks.

Or you could make your own terrain...

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Product Review: Battlefronts new Plastic Stugs

I jumped at the chance to get my hands on these since I sold my old Stugs but these new plastic ones are just so much better and for $45.00USD (much better than the old $62.50) you get a lot more options include five plastic StuG III G sprues (with 7.5cm & 10.5cm gun options), one plastic Tank Commander sprue & one StuG III decal sheet.

It's a very well made unit and with the correct use of really little rare each magnets you could have a quick change out between hulls and guns. I've also burrowed some of the sexy new plastic tank commanders for my Panthers I'm currently working on.

Some generic decals which are great because you don't want to limit yourself to one company or army

Sprue close ups so,so pretty

If you're thinking about picking up some Stug G's for your Mid war or Late war lists they are worth it. They're cheaper than the old ones and twice as many options.

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