Bring Out Your Lead 2016

Well, the fourth Oldhammer "Bring Out Your Lead" event has come and gone. I wrote about the previous year's event here, but to summarise, this is a weekend for enthusiasts of older games and miniatures to get together, hear tales from industry veterans, admire lovely miniatures, and play games in a spirit of relaxed amity. Where there is competitiveness, it is sporting.

Aaanyway, this year I was mainly interested in two events: a Rogue Trader (that is, first edition Warhammer 40,000) campaign organised by the talented and generous Curtis Fell of Ramshackle Games and a massive Rogue Trader scenario organised by Aidan of Warfactory. Both of those were on Saturday, so on Friday I mostly stooged around saying hi to people, buying a figure or two and taking pictures.

Many of the photos here are from games that spanned both Friday (setup) and Saturday (play), mainly a "Coldhammer" game that pitted an attacking goblin horde against the defenders of a Dwarf hold in a game of, I believe, Warhammer 1st edition and an almighty 3rd edition battle that must have included literally thousands of beautiful models.

I don't think I got too many Coldhammer snaps, but I did get some pictures of the lovely colourful dungeon that was the interior of the Dwarf hold and a few of the battlefield:

The front of the hold. 

Siege giants lead the attack. 

Goblin warbeasts protect the scaling ladders. 

The first orcs through the breach are met with a storm of shot. 

Miners stage a desperate defense of a narrow tunnel. 

Some of the dungeon tunnels. 

 Here are some pics of the big game. This doesn't even begin to capture the number and variety of miniatures on display.

Giants, dragons and elementals hit the board during setup. 

Creatures of chaos. Inspirational. 

Minotaurs, including the Huntik megataur I have used myself. 

A scorpion with dinosaur legs, because why not. 

I think this dragon is one of those collectible dust magnet things. 

I think this may still not be complete. 

The war mammoth of chaos is on the march!

The sheep of chaos are on the march!

The poultry of chaos are on the march!

The evil artillery battery is ... well, staying right where it is, actually.  

It's beginning to look a lot like fishmen ... 

Undead swarm around the stone circle. 

A view from the evil starting line. 

That bridge is about to get reeeeeal ugly. 

The dinosaurs of Chaos ... well, you get the idea. 

Two can play at that mammoth game!

I just can't take enough pictures of that magnificent bastard. 

Things get started. 

Behold their mighty steeds!

I'm starting to run out of cool captions. 

Who wouldn't attack hanging off the side of a charging woolly rhinoceros if they could? 

Dah dah, dan dah da DAH dah, dan dah da DAH da, dan dah da DAH da, dan da da DAAAAAAA 

Chaaaaaaaaaarge! 

So, yeah, pretty spectacular, as you can see.

But these are games I saw -- what about the ones I played?

Well, my first RT game was against Alex of Lead Balloony, whose 215th Pretorians were racing the Orks of Waaaa-Badlug to retrieve samples of a, well, a waste deposit. Of possibly paranormal origins. It went right down to the wire, but in the end he gunned down my fleeing sample holders and escaped with his own.

Led by shallow tech junkie Badlug, the Evil Sunz go looking for loot.

The stout lads of the 125th pile into their Chimeras and roll toward the sound of the guns.

Praetorian heavy weapon teams deploy in whatever cover they can find. 

A mysterious Ork projectile stops the advance on the Imperial right in its tracks. 

Gunnut the Mekboy fires up his new invention with a resounding VWORP VWORP. 

A direct hit on the enemy Chimera fills the hull with noxious Snotling farts. 

The disgusted crew bail out. 

A few turns later, the accumulated combustible flatus blew the vehicle to pieces in an expanding cloud of brimstone and razor-edged metal fragments that, frankly, killed as many Orks as humans. But farts or no farts, it was not to be, and the puny humies got away with all that luvverly poo. After the smoke cleared, disloyal voices were heard to wonder whether it couldn't be to do with the fact that the humies were actually, well, redder than we were, and therefore faster. These reasoned objections were addressed in the traditional fashion, in a free and frank exchange of views (an ancient Orkish euphemism for a shoein').

Later that day, I was playing, together with Alex and many others, in Aidan's Inquisitor Cynole and the Temple of Gloom game. This was a big multiplayer Rogue Trader scenario, with different factions competing for a mysterious artefact on a primitive world. I played the natives, and started off in a bit of a sticky situation, which made me grumble more than perhaps I should have. The whole thing got resolved by the GMs (Aidan and his young helper) nudging things a bit, which I felt a bit embarrassed about, but that's what GMs do in scenarios like this one. There are so many unpredictable variables that sometimes you have to put your thumb on the scales a little.

In the end, the whole thing was tremendous fun. Here are some photos from the game:

Ornithopter and shuttle on the landing pad. 

Some of the rest of the board. 

Mercenaries guard the power generator. 

Native scouts infiltrate the compound. 

Nobles and guild members break into a fight near the entrance to the ruined temple. 

Natives approach the temple past the wreckage of the generator. 

Ogryn bodyguard Bigger Bob fights off native wildlife. 

The professor examines the temple inscription. 

Local fauna causes trouble for the mercenaries. 

Mercs pour into the temple to help out the Inquisitor.

Strange things are afoot in the artefact room. 

A Guild merchant finds himself in a sticky situation. 

Mechanist acolytes guide their hover-sled into the temple. 

All the bloodshed in the artefact chamber release the evil spirit within ... 

After that it was time to head back to the hotel for a pint and bed.

My last game was on Sunday, another entry in Curtis' campaign. This was against a small but potent Marine army played by Oldhammer forum member Niibl. The whole army had only 10 models in it -- but three of them were Dreadnoughts and two were Terminators. Most of my boyz lacked weapons that could even scratch these brutes, but the Shokk Attak Gun and Pulsa Rokkit might do some work. Nonetheless, I resolved to focus on the mission objective -- retrieving a VIP and escorting him off the table.

The ten-man wonder team. 

I am not one of the great generals, but my Pulsa Rokkit range-estimating game is on point. 

The Orks develop an attack on the left flank, despite a pulse from the Pulsa Rokkit smushing their own Dreadnought between the parked Squat Land Train and a rock.  

Badlug and Snacky the Snack Gretchin round up the weirdo. 

By this point this was more or less what was left of the Marines. 

The attack squad takes cover in the rubble and prepares to blast the Apothecary with massed pistol fire.

Gunnut launches base after base of Snotlings from Artillery Point.  

Rabid snotlings bite a Dreadnought's legs off. 

The Orks and Gretchin open up on the Captain ... to pretty much no effect. 

But although the captain was smashing his way through the boyz, Badlug and Snacky had made it off the table with their "package" and victory was secure.

The only other game I played this weekend was a quick game of Advanced Space Crusade, which is a really interesting design I'd never played before.

Other games I saw being played included:

Other games of the Rogue Trader campaign. Here Curtis' Plague Marines clash with another Ork warband. 

A recreation of the Battle of Maughtrond Pass from the Warhammer 4th ed. boxed set. 

Space Fleet!

Adeptus Titanicus!

I don't know the game but apparently this castle is a toy that cost only £15. Not bad!

A Judge Dredd game set in ... is East Meg the name I'm looking for? 

... and many more. Plus a painting contest, many other models on display, and the acquisition of some miniatures, including a custom Kev Adams conversion that's going to play a role in my painting challenge with The Responsible One. But those will be for another time.

I had an absolute blast at BOYL, just like last year, and I'm looking forward to next year already. I have some big plans in mind.