Apocalyptic Kaissa Fair.

Some weeks ago (yes the Invulnerable have been that late) the Kaissa chain of stores held a games fair.
Kaissa has held games fairs repeatedly since their first ever back in ages past (it must have been 1991 or 1992) - I still remember it with us being boys back then enjoying a game of Battletech with my friends and several other players.

Kaissa has held a games fair every year since then and has been one of the two larger chain of shops that brought games of strategy and fantasy in our country, indeed Kaissa has been the first ever shop (the one in kalidromiou street) to ever bring the first fantasy game in Greece (if i am not mistaken).

This year's Kaissa Games fair hosted boardgames, card games (mostly that actually) and an apocalypse game between two teams of four players each with 5000 points (a total of 20.000 points each side, 40.000 points on the table) the Games fair has been hosted on the Stratos Vasilikos hotel (the same place where the first Independent club tournament was held and where the second also will be held).

Doubles tournament in Marousi.

Its been a week after the "Kathimerini Incident" and the players were still discussing the subject and i guess they still do until now, that - and the fact that a new shop has opened in Marousi - a fantasy shop that actually just got transfered from Kifisia led to a over-poppulation on the doubles tournament that was hosted in that day.

More than ten pairs were gathered to play and some had to be turned away because there wasn't enough tables to accomodate them all, while this is sad it is also a good hint that the days with the 6 and 8 players on a tournament are long gone now, the hobby and the community is facing a rise in its numbers, even with the bad economic situation in Greece.

People stay more in their homes instead of going to clubs and waste money (well we still go to them but not that much) - warhammer is an expensive hobby but buying an army today means that you will be able to play with it for years ahead with just some upgrades usually with each new codex, would you be able to say the same thing with computer games? and in any case sitting behind your computer chatting on text with your co-players is as much social as what is happening on our community? reasons like this are to explain the rise in the players numbers.

Anyway, enough with my mumbling, lets get to see what happened on the doubles tournament.

2nd Independent club tournament

Πριν λίγες ημέρες ήρθε στο mail του Invulnerable η ανακοίνωση για το επόμενο Independent club tournament, το θεωρώ ιδιαίτερη τιμή που ανεβαίνει στο Invulnerable, οι διοργανωτές ανέβασαν και άλλο τον πήχη αυξάνοντας της θέσης των παικτών στης 48. Θεωρώ ότι θα καλυφτούν η θέσεις και τον επόμενο μήνα θα γίνει το μεγαλύτερο τουρνουά warhammer 40k στην Ελλάδα (μέχρι, προφανώς... το επόμενο) καλή διασκέδαση σε όλους και καλή επιτυχία στους διοργανωτές.

(the following is also translated below)

Με μεγάλη μας χαρά σας ανακοινώνουμε την διοργάνωση του 2ου IC
(Independent Club) Tournament.

Ημερομηνία: Κυριακή, 08/01/12
Τόπος: Ξενοδοχείο Στράτος Βασιλικός
Ώρα: 09:30, Συμμετοχή: 15 ευρώ, Θέσεις: 48
Επικοινωνία: Τάσος Γρηγοριάδης, 6974877886 (anastasiosst@yahoo.com)

Πρόγραμμα:

9:30 – Εγγραφές
10:30 – 1ος Αγώνας
12:45 – Διάλλειμα 15 λεπτών.
13:00 – 2ος Αγώνας
15:15 – Διάλλειμα Φαγητού*
16:30 – 3ος Αγώνας
18:45 – Τέλος Τουρνουά, ανακοίνωση αποτελεσμάτων και βράβευση.

*Το φαγητό συμπεριλαμβάνεται στη τιμή της συμμετοχής και δεν φέρει επιπλέον
επιβάρυνση.

Κανόνες συμμετοχής:
1. Πρέπει να έχετε μαζί σας έναν πλήρως βαμμένο στρατό (ο στρατός πρέπει να έχει
τουλάχιστον 3 χρώματα και «μοντελισμένη» βάση).

2. Ο στρατός σας πρέπει να είναι μέχρι 1750 πόντους από οποιοδήποτε «τρέχον»
WARHAMMER 40k Codex (ή White Dwarf Codex) , και να τον έχετε
καταγράψει σε μια λίστα με ακρίβεια για το τι περιέχει (εάν χρησιμοποιηθεί
εκτύπωση από κάποιο πρόγραμμα που βοηθάει στην δημιουργία λιστών
παρακαλούμε όπως βεβαιωθείτε για την ορθότητα αυτής. Σε περίπτωση
σφάλματος τιμωρείται ο χρήστης και όχι το πρόγραμμα). Η λίστα αυτή πρέπει να
ετοιμαστεί εις διπλούν. Το αντίγραφο θα δοθεί στους διοργανωτές.

3. Πρέπει να φέρεται μαζί σας 3 objectives για τους σκοπούς των σεναρίων.

4. Όλες σας οι μινιατούρες ΕΠΙΒΑΛΛΕΤΑΙ να είναι «μοντελισμένες» με τον
εξοπλισμό που αναφέρεται στη λίστα σας. Οποιοδήποτε “Count as” μοντέλο,
unit ή στρατός θα πρέπει να εγκριθεί πρώτα από τους διοργανωτές πριν
χρησιμοποιηθεί στο τουρνουά. Παρακαλώ όπως έρθετε σε επικοινωνία μαζί μας
νωρίτερα από τις 30/12/11 προκειμένου να δοθούν οι απαραίτητες διευκρινήσεις.

5. Επίσης, θα χρειαστεί να έχετε μαζί σας, μεζούρες, ζάρια, «templates», το Codex
του στρατού σας μαζί με το τελευταίο FAQ του, το Rulebook της 5ης έκδοσης
μαζί με το τελευταίο FAQ του και ένα στυλό.

6. Δήλωση συμμετοχής μέχρι 30/12/11.
Διαδικασία Αγώνων:

1. Κάθε αγώνας θα διαρκεί 2 ώρες και 15 λεπτά, θα υπάρχει διάλλειμα μεταξύ των
αγώνων και το σύνολο αυτών θα είναι 3.

2. Το σύστημα διάκρισης θα είναι πυραμίδα (σε ισοπαλίες θα υπερισχύουν τα
victory points)

3. Extra points: Κάθε παίκτης στο τέλος του τουρνουά θα δώσει 1 πόντο σε έναν
από τους 3 αντιπάλους που αντιμετώπισε. Με αυτόν το πόντο βραβεύει είτε
καλύτερα βαμμένο στρατό που αντιμετώπισε, είτε fair gaming, είτε τον ποιο
ευχάριστο αντίπαλό είτε το fluff του στρατού του αντιπάλου του κτλ. Αυτό
σημαίνει πως οι παίκτες μπορούν να λάβουν από 0-2 πόντους επιπλέον. Θα
δοθούν απαραίτητες διευκρινήσεις σύντομα.

4. Κατά τη διάρκεια του τουρνουά οι διοργανωτές θα διαλέξουν τους 3 καλύτερα
βαμμένους στρατούς και στο τέλος του τουρνουά θα ψηφίσουν οι συμμετέχοντες
για τον καλύτερα βαμμένο στρατό.

Διοργανωτές:

• Συλλογίδης Άρης
• Κρομμύδας Γιάννης
• Γρηγοριάδης Τάσος

Συνδιοργάνωση: ΕΣΠΑΙΡΟΣ & Battle Bunker Club
Χορηγός: Τραχιώτης Μανώλης

And the call for the tournament in English: 

Dear friends, we are very happy to announce the second Independent Club Tournament
(ICT), taking place in Athens, Greece.

Date: Sunday, Jan 8th, 2012
Venue: Stratos Vasilikos Hotel
Time: 09:30, Fee: 15 euros, Participants: 48
Contact: Tasos Grigoriadis, tel: 6974877886, email: anastasiosst@yahoo.com

Timetable:

9:30 - Registration
10:30 - 1st Round begins
12:45 - Short brake
13:00 - 2nd Round begins
15:15 - Lunch Break *
16:30 - 3rd Round begins
18:45 - Games end, results are processed and subsequently top players announced.
*Lunch included in participation fee, no further costs required.

Requirements for participation
1. A fully painted army, with at least 3 colors on the miniatures and a modelled base.

2. A list, up to 1750 points of a legal Warhammer 40K Codex or White Dwarf Codex.

The list must be clearly written with points precisely allocated to models. If a
software program is used to create the list, it is highly recommended to double
check the validity/legality of your army selection. The list should be printed/written
twice as one of the copies should be given to the organizers upon registration.

3. All models MUST be modeled with the equipment corresponding to your list.
Any “count as” attempt must be approved by the organizers first. This is primarily for
historic/special edition/very cool miniatures. Please contact us before 30/12/2011 if
necessary for clarifications if you have a “count as” model.

4. Players should have with them a selection of 3 objective markers, required for game
purposes within scenarios.

5. Reasonable gaming paraphernalia are expected by the players such as: measures,
dice, templates, latest army Codex, latest army FAQ and a pen.

6. Last day to register your place, is January 30th 2011 (30/12/2011)

Round details:

1. Round duration is up to 2hrs 15 min, in total of 3 rounds for the tournament. Short
breaks will take place between rounds.

2. The structure of the tournament will be ‘pyramid’. In case of a draw victory points
will be taken into account.

3. Extra points: Each player in the end of the tournament will nominate 1 point to one
of the opponents faced during the day. This nomination is a form of recognition to
a fellow player that might involve: sportsmanship, fair gaming, well painted army,
interesting theme/fluff, influencing the end result of the tournament. Participants
will be contacted further on this.

4. During the tournament judges will select the three better painted armies of the
tournament and players are encouraged to vote for the best painted army of day.

Organisers

Sillogidis Aris
Krommidas Giannis
Grigoriadis Tasos

The third attempt to write about the "article"

Indeed, i tried three times to write something about the article in the Kathimerini newspaper, i just didn't knew what to write about it, plus my friend - Antipope in his blog - who discovered in the first place the article covered almost everything that there is to say about it.

In the case that you didn't read the article or you haven't visited so far Antipope's blog then do so here:
http://cadia122.blogspot.com/2011/11/bad-journalism.html?spref=fb

First of all lets see again the conversation i had with the journalist back then at the tournament, lets see what she (and me) had to say.

Taken from the 2nd part of the report from the independent club tournament.

Invulnerable Reporter (I.R): What do you think of all this?

Georgia Lemou (G.L) : All those things look extraterrestrial to me, completely.

I.R: it's a game that looks more like an advancement from chess.

G.L: If you see it that way yes, its more like chess, its a game that require strategy and brains, but if you see it ideologically - if you read the notorious "fluff" (yes she even mentioned the word: fluff!) you will discover that there is a world in it. And why this world has to be evil, disfigured and problematic? So far wars have been raged only by humans and there are wars who are justified and wars who haven't been justified, or an alliance of nations who go and wage war because of their perception of justice. In this story there isn't such a thing.

I.R: Everyone in this story has his version of right.

G.L: I don't know if there is a issue for right here, or anger.

IR: It's a racial war between the various races of the game, its more like Cortez exterminating the Mayans (and the Mayans fighting back in this case). Who you fight as a race in warhammer is totally alien to you (most of the time). They usually do not have political or cultural differences (there is no time for it).

GL: There is some cultural difference in this war, the Spanish waged war on the Mayans to get their gold and transfer it back to their king while the Mayans conceived treasure differently, in the case that you mention there is racist issue that is even more intolerable.

I.R: Yet it is presented on a game, look the situation on the Warhammer world is so bad that it turns out to be ridiculous. the bad guys in this story - actually everyone is bad in this world - are so bad that turn out to be more like cartoons...

G.L: ...Caricatures, from wherever they might be?

I.R: For example, humanity in this game, is so evil - that is unacceptable to us.

G.L: Its a bit idiotic (referring to humanity on the wh40k world) for example someone mentioned that the marine prays four times a day and has only 15 minuets of free time in 24 hours. How do you explain that?.

IR: they just present such information for the enjoyment of the fans. In the history of the game the space marine is so much an evolved human that ceases to be human anymore.

G.L: You are using positive words for something that is completely negative, someone told me that the space marine is more like a war machine, whats good on a human turned into a war machine?

I.R: they are evolved in regards to their biology, obviously they are not better as humans, mutants would be a far better title for their condition.

Our conversation continued about collecting the miniatures and their cost, someone mentioned to Miss Lemou that he would have got a very good car if he had not bought all the miniatures he has, that led me to ask her how she sees spending all this money for miniatures:

G.L: I am not troubled by this, it is a different choice to them - instead of meeting up every weekend and go for "bouzoukia" they meet and get to play their favorite game, its far more healthy and humane to spend your money to a social game even if this game in some of its ethics has its "bad turns" (μπάζει) than to go and spend your money to night clubs.

Our chat led to talks about my choice of an army, i told her i got Blood Angels and when she asked me why i chose them i told her that because they are red, interestingly enough she told me that i could have bought any army and paint it red - as i told her another reason was that the first thing i ever bought about warhammer was the second edition main box and that came with a lot of Blood Angels.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Obviously the journalist had (at the time?) a positive look towards the game as a board game and a completely negative attitude towards the fluff of the game - how the story is actually formed to justify all the wars that happen in this fictional universe and how it is perceived by the gamers (at least how she sees it).

The warhammer story (or fluff) is geared in such a way so that everyone can fight over anyone so that all the players can play against all the players without saying that in their "fluff" their armies wouldn't play (fight) against each other because they are allies, this is - i believe - the main reason behind the motto: in the grim darkness of the far future there is only war - and whatever goes with it.

There is so much "Hate" and "Anger" in this game for a reason, and that is not to make players hate more anyone or be more angry. It is shown is such a way and in so much density that a intelligent reader will not agree with it, I don't think that anyone who is at least a bit reasonable can agree with the ideas presented in the warhammer fluff.


Warhammer players know a little bit more about racism, xenophobia, war, anger and how bad a human can be because of those articles - the fluff - if they are intelligent enough they will filter it, learn from it, they will not copy it and wont agree with it, actually in most cases the exaggerated fluff has been used mostly for humor between the players - because it is so much exaggerated - as i also told her in our interview - so that it looks more like a dark comedy.


The best thing that people from the press should do is to make a more thoughtful search into the community, see what the majority of the players really are, the good things about the hobby and the good things that it gives back at them.

Sincerely yours
For the Invulnerable


Panayiotis.

Singles tournament in FS Kalithea 19-11-2011

I have to admit that from all the tournaments that i went to take photos and carve a post about the event, in that one i got as late as possible, the reason was staying wake late in the last night, a common problem i have with sleep, that is also the reason i play blood angels - vampires on power armor - as an aspiring vampire i hate i am getting trained to avoid the daylight and get more active on the night.

But anyway, you are not here to read my ranting about sleep and vampirism aint ya?
So here we go with photos and the usual... comments.

The invulnerable have been notified about an event that will take place at the Kaissa games fair that is going to take place next month, i received the rules and details about the event - an apocalyptic event as it seems and i am posting them as they came.

Warhammer Apocalypse at Kaissa Fair.

Ημέρα: 04/12/11

Ώρα: 10:00 εγγραφή, 11:00 εκκίνηση

Τιμή: 5 ευρώ.

Συμμετοχές: 12 άτομα

Βασικοί κανόνες.

• Κάθε παίκτης θα πρέπει να συμμετάσχει με 4000 πόντους στρατού ο οποίος θα πρέπει να είναι βαμμένος με τουλάχιστον 3 χρώματα.
• Τα βιβλία κανόνων που είναι εν ισχύ είναι: Warhammer 40k 5^th edition & erratas, latest codex per army & erratas, APOCALYPSE, APOCALYPSE RELOAD, IMPERIAL ARMOUR APOCALPYSE 2^nd Edition και όλα τα imperial armour books όσον αφορά τα μοντέλα.
• Οι παίκτες μπορούν να συμμετάσχουν με μοντέλα Warhammer 40k, Warhammer Apocalypse και Imperial Armour. Δεν υπάρχει organization chart. Οι Special Characters μπορούν να χρησιμοποιηθούν μόνο μια φορά από κάθε παίκτη.
• Οποιαδήποτε “count as” μοντέλα θα πρέπει να περάσουν από έλεγχο για να μπορέσουν να συμμετάσχουν.
• Οποιαδήποτε όπλα η εξοπλισμός θα πρέπει να απεικονίζεται επάνω στα μοντέλα.
• Οι παίκτες πρέπει να έχουν μαζί τους την πιο πρόσφατη έκδοση του codex του στρατού τους καθώς και εκτύπωση των πιο πρόσφατων errata. Για κάθε μοντέλο που δεν ανήκει στο βασικό τους codex, οι παίκτες θα πρέπει να έχουν μαζί τους το ανάλογο βιβλίο η εκτύπωση με τους πιο πρόσφατους κανόνες του.
• Οι παίκτες θα πρέπει να έχουν πλήρη γνώση των βασικών κανόνων του Warhammer Apocalypse, όπως κανόνες για super heavy vehicles, flyers, strategic assets κλπ.
• Κάθε παίκτης έχει δικαίωμα χρήσης ενός μόνο strategic asset. To asset αυτο κοστίζει 250 πόντους που θα αφαιρεθούν από τους 4000 που έχει στη διάθεση του.
• Τα strategic assets και formations που οι παίκτες θα χρησιμοποιούν θα πρέπει να είναι απο κάποιο official source (π.χ. Warhammer Apocalypse, Imperial Armour Apocalypse, White Dwarf) και θα πρέπει να υπάρχουν τυπωμένα.
• Οι παίκτες θα πρέπει να έχουν μαζί τους τον εξοπλισμό του παιχνιδιού όπως μέτρο, ζάρια, blast markers κλπ. Οι παίκτες δεν θα χρειαστεί να έχουν μαζί τους objective markers. Θα τα προμηθεύσουν οι διοργανωτές.

Για περισσότερες πληροφορίες πατήστε
http://www.espairos.gr/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2090&p=20669#p20669

Για συμμετοχή και απορίες επικοινωνήστε στο anastasiosst@yahoo.com

Y.Γ. Δεδομένου ότι υπάρχουν θέσεις για 6 XENOS και 6 IMPERIUM παίκτες με τη δυνατότητα και επιθυμία να παίξουν και τα δύο παρακαλούνται να μας ενημερώσουν προς διευκόλυνση της διοργάνωσης.

The GAME

Διαδικασία Έναρξης

• Οι παίκτες θα χωριστούν σε δύο ομάδες πριν το τουρνουά ξεκινήσει. Οι ομάδες αυτές θα είναι το Imperium και οι Xenos.
• Τα τραπέζια θα είναι όλα ενωμένα και θα δημιουργούν μια αλυσίδα.
• Kάθε ομάδα θα έχει στη διάθεση της 10 λεπτά για να οργανώσει μια γενική στρατηγική και στη συνέχεια πρέπει να καταγράψει κρυφά σε ένα χαρτί το χρόνο που θα χρειαστεί για να κάνει deployment όπως ακριβώς γίνεται στο Warhammer Apocalypse. Η διαφορά είναι ότι ο επιτρεπόμενος χρόνος θα είναι απο 1 έως 20 (αντί για 30) λεπτά σε ακέραιο αριθμό.
• Στη συνέχεια οι αριθμοί θα αποκαλυφθούν ταυτόχρονα και η ομάδα με το μικρότερο χρόνο να κάνει deployment πρώτη και θα παίξει πρώτη.
• Στο τέλος του χρόνου deployment θα γίνει έλεγχος των τραπεζιών. Όσα μοντέλα ή squadrons δεν έχουν γίνει deployed σωστά θα αφαιρεθούν από το τραπέζι και θα μείνουν ως reserves.

Game & Scoring

·         Σε κάθε τραπέζι θα υπάρχουν 5 οbjectives (3 στην no man’s land και 1 στην πλευρά του κάθε παίκτη).

·          Θα παιχτούν 5 γύροι παιχνιδιού για την κάθε ομάδα. Κάθε ομάδα θα έχει 45 λεπτά για να ολοκληρώσει το γύρο της. Όσες κινήσεις (shooting, close combat κλπ) δεν προλάβουν να γίνουν μέσα σε αυτό το χρονικό περιθώριο,  χάνονται. Απαγορεύεται αυστηρά κάποιος παίκτης εσκεμμένα να καθυστερεί προκειμένου να αποφύγει κάποιο close combat. Σε περίπτωση που προκύψει παράπονο από τον αντίπαλο του, οι κριτές θα παρεμβαίνουν και είναι πιθανό να αφαιρεθούν πόντοι από την ομάδα του παίκτη.

·         Πριν από κάθε γύρο, οι παίκτες θα έχουν 5 λεπτά χρόνο για να σχεδιάσουν κοινές στρατηγικές, να ζητήσουν ενίσχυση κλπ.

·         Κάθε παίκτης σκοράρει πόντους στον γύρο του αντιπάλου του. Παράδειγμα:  Στο τέλος του γύρου του Imperium, οι ομάδα των Xenos θα σκοράρει 1 πόντο για κάθε objective το οποίο έχει κάνει capture πλήρως.

·         Οι πόντοι κάθε γύρου για την κάθε ομάδα θα αθροίζονται και στο τέλος του παιχνιδιού θα καθορίσουν ποια πλευρά έχει κερδίσει.

  

Ειδικοί Κανόνες

·         Τα μοντέλα του κάθε παίκτη μπορούν να κινηθούν ελεύθερα πάνω σε οποιοδήποτε τραπέζι αφού πρόκειται για ένα κοινό πεδίο μάχης.

·         Τα μοντέλα του κάθε παίκτη είναι υποχρεωμένα να εισέλθουν στο πεδίο μάχης από το τραπέζι του παίκτη.

·         Μοντέλα που χρησιμοποιούν deep strike κανόνες θα πρέπει και αυτά να περιοριστούν στο τραπέζι του παίκτη στο γύρο που μπαίνουν στο παιχνίδι. Στη συνέχεια μπορούν να κινηθούν οπουδήποτε εάν αυτό είναι εφικτό. Το ίδιο ισχύει και για άλλα abilities όπως teleport κλπ.

·         Τα Flyers μπορούν να τοποθετηθούν κατευθείαν σε οποιοδήποτε τραπέζι από γύρο που εισέρχονται.

·         Το shooting των μοντέλων περιορίζεται μόνο από το range τους και όχι από το τραπέζι τους. Παράδειγμα: Ένα Βasilisk Τank της Ιmperial Guard μπορεί να εξαντλήσει το range του βασικού του όπλου πυροβολώντας σε άλλα τραπέζια.

·         Για shooting ενός μοντέλου πρός άλλα τραπέζια θα χρησιμοποιείται κανονικά το true line of sight για θέματα cover κλπ.

·         Διάφορα abilities που ο κάθε παίκτης παίρνει από τα μοντέλα του δεν μπορούν να επηρεάσουν και τα μοντέλα των συμμάχων του.

Good luck to all of the participants and the organizers, the invulnerable will be there of course, primarily for the Kaissa games fair - Kaissa is the oldest games fair host in Greece - and for this event in particular. 

For the Invulnerable

Panayiotis.

Aspiring League Warhammer fantasy guild wars. 13-11-2011

Last weekend the Fantasy shop in Kalithea had the priviledge of hosting the Guild wars for the aspiring league and in the following weekend the Exalted league will play on the same place, the best team in the aspiring league rises to the exalted league and the last team in the exalted drops to the aspiring league, it is a fair and needed system to accomodate all the ten 5-player teams that take part in those tournaments.

In this tournament together with the team from FS kalitheas - the Failed Chargers five other teams took part, the Knights of Saint Andrew, Demonic Sparrows, Meraklis Hammer, Purple Cobras and another team that just took part so that a team wouldn't wait without a team pair to play against.

Without any more waiting and pointless writing lets see the photos from the games!.

 

 Everything in this day will be done for this trophy, and for rise into the first league.

Genocide Chronicles 5.

Some months has passed since the last Genocide chronicles, the teams and their players returned on the 30 of October to play again against each other, the last time the Berks, the team from the city of Larissa won their 3rd trophy and this time they would be trying for their 4th.

The Knights of Saint Andrew came from the city of Patra again to play as did the several teams from Athens: the Imperial seals, the Red Corsairs, the Space Meraklides, Taratatzoum and the team i participate in: the Failed Chargers from Kalithea who would also host the event in the shop they play: Fantasy Shop Kalithea.

Our team, the Failed Chargers, had a good start in the Genocide Chronicles tournaments conquering the 4th place with 19 points and back then they were too close to the 2nd place, sadly in the 3rd and 4th tournaments the team from Kalithea managed to get to the bottom of the rankings.

To try and do better this time the team gathered twice in the days before the tournament to discuss pairings and team army lists, this led us to go to the tournament as a good organized team, we had almost every opponents army list at hand and we had chosen beforehand who would be the better player to face each opponent, our goal was to finish in a better position than the last times.

The teams and the organizer arrived quite quickly on the tournament with the exception of the Berks who got lost on the way to Kalithea when they entered Athens, one of the Meraklides the Chessmaster helped them (detected them with his auspex) and brought them in time for the games.

23-10-2011 Games Corps Tournament.

I have a big problem with sleep, my work as an illustrator means that i will get myself working until very late, thus usually i get up late on weekends, the weekend of 22-23 of October - that included another tournament on the Games Corps store in Halandri was no exception.

I ended up waking late and after another hour of traveling to the tournament i found ten warhammer 40k players already on the second round of the event, i was pleased also to find Dimitris, the owner of the Avalon shop that sadly closed some time ago, lets see what Dimitris had to say about the Avalon and his hobby experience and we will start with the tournament right after that with the tournament.

Looterz part four

Hello readers, this is the four and last part of the Looterz comic on the Invulnerable, read on, ill catch up with you later.

 And that was it... the grotz did it, not only they managed to save themselves from the squig but also annihilated an imperial guard unit and stole a leman russ tank, i hope you enjoyed this small story and if we might see another story in the blog in the future, plus i was thinking of showing you some behind-the-stage about comic making at some point.

See you soon, take care and have fun

For the Invulnerable.

Panayiotis.

Team Greece ETC 2012

The Invulnerable has taken a request from ETC team Greece members to post the following call for the next team to go to the European Team Championship, since i am very interested in the participation of our team on this tournament i am more than happy to relay their message.

 

Call for ETC 2012 Team Greece.

The European Team Championship 2012 will be held the following August in Poland.  

Greece will take part this year too with a 40k team, the first step for gathering a team is to know how many are interested and can participate. If you are interested please sign up.

The participants must have the following prerequisites:

1) Must know good or excellent English, this is very important for communication. 

2) They must do a responsible sign up, we cant afford for a player to drop out from the team at the last moment, this includes the coverage of the expenses, tickets and hotel rooms must be booked until March. 

3) They must be active players that participate in recognized tournaments that post their results in public, For the final selection of the team a ranking system will be used that will consider the player's results in the tournaments he participated.

Whoever is interested may communicate with an email on: info@hoplon.gr

 

8-10-2011, taking the train to Kifisia.

Someone could say that the blog so far haven't visited every single place where a tournament in Greece can be held, this is true as in its short life of 4-5 months the Invulnerable mostly has covered events in the Fantasy shops of Kalithea and Victoria and the Games Corps in Halandi that started its activity right on the same month as this blog has gone online.

Mostly this was the reason (to start covering tournaments somewhere else too) why i choose to take the train to the north part of our city all the way to Kifisia in a boring 47 minuets (counted with stopwatch) journey to reach the shop in time.

Another reason for going to the tournament was that i was planning to play in this tournament too, packaging your army and photographic equipment can be tricky and the SLR camera got cramped together with the Stormraven and the infantry with the IC recorder, i run out of space (and hands) for the video camera and the tripod so i couldn't record any video for this tournament (and you were cooking popcorn already huh?).

Someone told me a day before that i should bring my army too in case not too many players were to come and i was actually waiting for quite a few gamers to arrive too because of the distance the shop has to the city center, when i arrived on the mall where the Fantasy Shop is i found only the Overmind, Takis Valeontis who would be also the Judge for the tournament was there.

1-10-2011 Back to Victoria

It was nice getting back to Fantasy Shop Victoria for a tournament, it isn't just the fact that i have connected as a player the meaning of Warhammer 40.000 with the Fantasy shop in Victoria (we old players know why this place is important to the hobby) but it is also the fact that many of my old time wh40k friends are still there, including the hideous Tyranid-thing that so far masks itself as a human being and organizer of many tournaments, i am speaking about Takis Valeontis if you haven't guessed already - the Overmind.

This time the Fantasy shop announced the start of a ranking system for the players that take part in their tournaments, the players will keep their scores from every tournament that they will participate in and we will have a more general view of the players level and ability, the Invulnerable blog will follow closely the scores as they will be posted on a separate page on the blog that can be found here:

http://invulnerable40k.blogspot.com/p/fantasy-shop-ranking.html

With all that in mind i woke up quite late to get to the tournament, the first thing i did was call the Overmind and ask him to what round they were still in, he answered that the players were just finishing the first round and to my question of how many players were there the answer were twelve, i quickly grabbed my SLR and the video camera and headed as quickly as i could to the tournament!.

Voice of the Servo Skull - 01

What the Servo Skull says, no comment.

25-09-2011 Independent club tournament, part three.

The last round of the tournament started and the place was half full of players since almost everyone went outside for a snack, drink, burger or all three of that. A little bit afterwards we got back into the hotel and for the one last round that would reveal the best player in both gaming and sportsmanship.


The third mission was Annihilation and the deployment was Spearhead, with the armies deploying with their flanks covered by the edges of the battlefield players were able to defend their weaker units better and bring forward their more tough units.

So lets see the pairs on the third round.

25-09-2011 Independent club tournament, part two.

With the Players still thinking of the battle they gave some minuets ago the next round started, this time they had to compete in the Seize ground mission with a Dawn of war deployment. Seize ground means that the troops choices in each army will be the most valuable pieces and whoever has the most (and a proper transport for them) has a greater chance of victory or at least greater number of assets to use for his victory.

Dawn of War meant that in the first round all those troop choices will be - probably - safe from enemy fire, this means that the players have a good chance if both play defensively to get at least one or two objectives in the first rounds, the whole deal will be how they will be able to hold them and conquer their opponent's objectives.

What was also interesting in the second round of the tournament was the small encounter with miss Georgia Lemou, a Journalist (a real Journalist) from the Kathimerini newspaper (the Greek version of Herald Tribune) who came to make a report about this "Warhammer" thing, i have to admit that while i tried to take an interview from her she ended up taking an interview from me, you can read the interview in the end of the report.

The other thing was that the tournament included a best painted army award and the four best armies were exhibited in the end of the second round, there are photos of each of the four armies who were nominated from the players as the best and of course the one who got the best army award. See all of that in the report coming below along with videos, photos and the usual "comments".

25-09-2011 Independent club tournament, part one.

Usually shops run tournaments and events, the reason is quite obvious, a shop who sells warhammer and miniature wargames usually makes sure that it will have some tables and sometimes quite a lot of tables for the players who get to the shop to be able to play the games they buy from the shop, its a very understandable and successful method to satisfy the players need for gaming space and also promote the hobby.

What was different with this tournament is that it was held from independent clubs and not from a shop, while it isn't so rare for an independent club to run a miniature wargames tournament it isn't the most common thing, what is really an important thing here is that player clubs as Espairos (ΕΣΠΑΙΡΟΣ) and Battle bunker - the two clubs that organized the event are motivated completely by their love for the games, this the players know and they are attracted from it - hence the latest tournament attracted no less than 36 players and many people who just came to see the games making it one of the biggest ever tournaments to take place in Greece.

Espairos, one of the two hosting clubs for the tournament is an official gaming club for role playing games, boardgames and miniature wargames, they have their own gaming hall with multiple rooms ready for gaming. Espairos is the one of the oldest gaming clubs in Greece and in ten years of activity has housed more than three hundred souls that share the same passion for gaming. You can find their forum and community in the following website.

http://www.espairos.gr/portal/

Doubles tournament at Games Corps 18-9-2011

Last weekend we went to Halandri again for a doubles tournament, this time i had the privilege of playing  with my friend Antonis - Azrael and also a Failed Chargers team player. Βecause of me playing too on the tournament i didn't had the time to take many photos or cover the event as much as the last one (in the last one i took almost seven hundredth photos (battery of my Olympus E520 almost run dry) and notes about every player and match!).


In this doubles tournament eight teams or pairs - answered the call to arms, that is 16 players, including the shop owner!, lets see who those 16 players and their teams were.

Looterz part three

Hello Invulnerable readers!

I hope you excuse me for not seeing any posts this week since i had to do some running to get more equipment for the Invulnerable blog (a video camera, tripod - not the one from the war of the worlds movie) and some actual running for training and so i had very little time for writting, i hope to fill in the lost time in the week to come.
 
Apart from all that...  The third part of the Looterz comic is just below!, read it and comment the story if you like, by the end of this episode you must have some clue about what is going to happen. Do try to guess the end!


You can find part one of the Looterz comic here:
http://invulnerable40k.blogspot.com/2011/09/looterz.html

And part two can be found here:
http://invulnerable40k.blogspot.com/2011/09/looterz-part-two.html

For the Emperorrr!!!!

So here are the first humans in this comic! servants to the Imperium of man all of them as they seem, if you wonder what will happen with their "charge" and if they will find out that their precious tank (unit LR52 - Leman Russ 52) is filled with grots you will just have to wait until next week.

I have to note again - that everything appearing on this comic is the intellectual property of Games Workshop Ltd.


Anyway, have fun people, take care!

For the Invulnerable
Panayiotis.

LOOTERZ part two.

A week have passed since the last episode of the Looterz comic and here comes the second part of the story, i think i don't have to write too many things about it, just read the story and comment it. :)
Once again i would like to remind you that Looterz is free for distribution, you may post it everywere and anywere - if so doing thought please note the source - add a link to the blog.

You can find part one of the Looterz comic here:
http://invulnerable40k.blogspot.com/2011/09/looterz.html
In the end of the comic ill post for all of you a link to download the comic as a complete pdf.

And that's it! the Grots got another problem! and i guess the shadow running a bit away from the Russ is yet another one, and who knows what still awaits the four Grechin, you will find out next week on their next episode. :) thanks for reading!.

I would also like to note that everything (Grots, Grechin, Leman russ, Leman russ captured by Grotz, Squig, Imperial guard and even the Waaagh war-cry) depicted on the comic (maybe apart from the rocks in the ground i guess) is the intellectual property of Games Workshop (no kidding here guys - it is), and i am using them without permission.

Games Corps Tournament 4-9-2011

As the grots keep thinking if they have to charge and capture the Leman russ in the Looterz web comic, the Invulnerable Blog ventured to Games Corps in Halandri for yet another tournament report, the first one for the new season, included in this one - as for the rest of the tournaments for now on - with your request too from the Poll that we have in the previous months are some interviews - what the players have to say about their matches and even more some commentary on the matches from the organizer: John Parks Papadopoulos and the Invulnerable reporter.

Looterz!

Introducing Comics in the Invulnerable blog!

Looterz is a comic that will run in the Invulnerable blog for some episodes written, drawn and colored by yours truly...  It is a small story (about 12 pages) about four Grechin who just happen to be the sole survivors from an ork Warband, the small grots are in grave danger as a enlarged and mutated Squig is completely out of control (possibly even eat part of their warband too - the Runtherd for sure) and is now stalking the four remaining Grechin.

In their luck - or misfortune, the Grechin have come across a Leman Russ battle tank, who is not moving, swiveling its weapons and generally making any noise whatsoever. The grots are hiding behind a big rock observing the tank trying to figure out what to do.

What will happen (and how) is left on the comic pages. Enjoy.

(the comic will be updated weekly, until the end of the story)

Feel free to download the comic (right click / save image as, view it on windows image viewer or anywhere else) and to post the comic on your webpage, blog, wall, dungeon, spaceship wall, hibernating egg, etc, in case you do actually post the comic somewhere - please add credits and a link to the Invulnerable blog.

Interview: Stefanos Kapetanakis 40K ETC Captain.

Welcome back folks.

I Really didn’t knew what to write as my first words after one month of leave from the Invulnerable, i hope all of you are well and you had fun in your vacations or even better you are still in your vacations enjoying a beach somewhere, for the majority its time to get back to our work, studies and whatever awaits us in the months ahead.

August for me wasn't empty from Wargaming since I managed to play some games, all of them enjoyable since the air-condition machine was quite effective. Apart from that the most important Warhammer 40K event that happened in August was the European Team Championship in Switzerland, even better - for the first time ever players managed to form up a team and participated as the first WH40K Greek Team following the much successful Greek Warhammer Fantasy team, this post is all about that.

16-7-2011 Tournament for the Boxes.

E-Shopping in miniature war gaming is not news in Greece, it has been a fact for some years from the big shops who held e-shopping as an alternative method to buy stuff from them, what we didn't have was a shop completely based on the web.

The new e-shop that just opened its website some days ago came in to fill the space in the market of a completely web based shop and make another step into the merchandising of our hobby, this new shop named: Boxes of War, arranged and held together with the Game Corps shop a warhammer 40k tournament as an opening celebration for the Boxes of War website and for a mean to meet the people who run the shop who - as you should have guessed already are gamers and enthusiasts themselves.

A strike at the railway at the weekend almost stopped the Invulnerable camera from getting to the event, almost - but late enough to arrive at exactly the point where the tournament was starting and the Boxes of War tournament was already filled with players. Neither The strike or the heat stopped fourteen (14) players! and several spectators to come and take a day free of the normal fuzz of the ordinary world and sink deep into the enjoyment of the grim darkness of war (box of war?) that only Warhammer can provide.

Camera on, Battery full and a Free Beverage, everything is set for another photo report.

 

Find the Boxes of War e-shop here: http://www.boxesofwar.com/store/

9/10-7-2011 two days tournament - Day two.

With our heads still buzzing from the first day of the tournament we got all together again for the second day, two more games of warhammer 40k would bring up the winner of the tournament and much more gaming enjoyment for all of the participants.

9/10-7-2011 two days tournament - Day one.

Sometimes you like something so much that when it happens and even if it takes a complete day you sill want some more, so when you know that you will find the thing you like the next day too its even better, this goes as the truth with the two days tournament that was held last weekend on the Viktoria fantasy shop, if you liked the tournament as an event in the first day there was the second day for even more.

Even better with a two days tournament is that you can review your gaming and strategy from day one to play even better on the second day - see what errors you did in the first two battles with your army and try to do correct them in the next day. (The tournament had four battles, two battles on the first day and two battles on the second one, each player with 2000 points armies)

Kalithea tournament 25-6-2011

Last weekend on the 25th we held another tournament in Kalithea's Fantasy Shop, one of the most important factors of the day were the usual Greek Sunny weather who got the temperature quite high but it didn't stop the players from enjoying the game and i think we all gained - again - from the experience, including the shops who sold water bottles.

For the record the tournament brought 14 players, four of them playing Dark Eldar (the grim darkness is indeed very dark - and grim) two Imperial guard players, one loyalist guard and one heretic (one of the players were new to the 40k scene - you can guess who it was) one Ork player (they are rare, but they cause pain) two Grey Knight players ( i wonder if you add them if they would make one black knight, hmmmm) one Blood Angel (me) one Space Marine and one Space Wolf.

A Weekend of Tournaments, Part two.

The next day another tournament was held on Halandri, Games Corps, sleeping got me a bit late and i arrived once again - at the start of the second round.

A Weekend of Tournaments, Part one.

Hello.

First of all i have to note the results to the small poll we had on the blog, where the Invulnerable camera should focus, the players, the miniatures/battlefield or both, you guys decided that the focus of the blog should be evenly divided between both the players and the game pieces, thank you very much for participating.

This report is seperated in two parts, the first is about the Battle missions tournament in Victoria Fantasy shop, the other part with a tournament a day later in Halandri - the first tournament for Games Corps.

A Historical kind of tournament at Playscape.

Sunday 12 of June. 2011. 11:00AM

Me and John "Robomarine" stand outside Doukisis Plakentias Metro station, this station is quite on the other side of Athens, quite an hour away from Kalithea, we were dressed for the summer climate that our part of the city had so when we reached the surface again we weren't prepared for the worst possible weather that awaited us, the rain outside was so tense that we had to retreat back to the station, nonetheless we contacted John, our host for the day from Playscape shop to come and try to find a way to pick us up with his car.

We were going to the tournament, even if we were to get completely soaked wet.