Oldhammer in the Jerz

Well, this past weekend was Oldhammer in the Jerz (in the New World) and it did not disappoint. Last year was my first Oldhammer event and was hosted in a games store in Ashburn, Virginia. I had such a good time that I promised myself that I'd be back the following year. This year's event was held at the Little Falls Lodge in New Jersey. The venue was great (thanks for Nigel Wood et al for organizing) and it had a very homely feel with plenty of gaming space.

I got to the event on Friday afternoon and there was already a gathering when I arrived. I met the gracious organizers as well as a few Oldhammer friends including Blue in VT. After some hanging around, one of the local gamers graciously set up a game of Space Crusade for us and explained how to play. What a blast! Very reminiscent of Space Hulk with the 3-dimensional terrain and blip counters. The mission involved a dreadnought who was tough as nails to kill. I swooped in at the last second to take the final wound off the monstrous machine. This scored me a bunch of points but not enough to win. It was great fun, though. 

With one wound off and a missile launcher less, the dreadnought is still kicking butt

One of the real treats of the weekend was seeing this beautiful Mordheim table with custom terrain from Rusty Goldman. Amazing!

This great looking Ogre army was built and painted specifically for the Oldhammer event. Nothing like a self-imposed deadline to get the work done. I should take a leaf out of his book

Saturday saw the running of another Space Crusade game, and I was all in again. My performance was dismal and I lost 4 of my 5 Blood Angel marines in the first few turns, but it was still a great time.

I also got to see a very cool multi-player Rogue Trader game in which Orks threw down against Space Marines and Squats in what looked like an assault against a robot factory!

Orks assume a defensive position on the hill and let loose with their gunfire

These sneaky bastards are trying to get around the side. One of said robots can
be seen in the background 

A shot of the room, with painting for the Old World Army Challenge happening in the background
to the left, and a game of Space Crusade in the background to the right. Rusty can be seen scouring for
old lead behind yet another one of the beautiful tables that he has created. 

Some shots of a cool epic game happening on Saturday night. I've never really gotten into that scale of figures, but I have to say that the battlefield looked mighty cool all set up.

In between games, there was much trading to be done. I found my Khorne Blood Slaughterer a good home with Chris McCandles who, I am told, was singing it's praises just the day prior. Special thanks to Bulldoglopez for the Oldhammer miniatures this year: 2 casualties (one ork and one imperial, I believe) who will be decorating my Ork bases very soon.

All in all, the event was great and the organizers were very welcoming. I didn't do as much gaming as I wish I had (do I ever?). I guess that gives me a good excuse to go to the event next year!