Patrick's Hobby Shed

SWAT team quells thuggery in slum zone of NHC

2012-01-22T12:08:00.007-05:00

Played a quick game of Chain Reaction 3.0 with Jack. Got to use my new card stock buildings I have been working on. I am a recent, serious convert to card stock buildings. They are cheap, fast to get on the table, fun to build, and frankly I think they look good. Still working on my technique, but the turned out pretty good.

Here is the table... (click to en-biggen)

The tall building is from World Works games, I am completely digging on their products. They have great card stock tutorials here.
The smaller buildings are the new 28mm ones FREE from Germy's world. If you are new to card stock buildings, try these first to get some practice. Thanks for these, Germy!!!
The ruins are the great set of Kartagrad ruins from Finger and Toe models. They are very easy to assemble and can let you cover a table in ruins cheaply and easily.

Ok, back to our story... Most of the pictures did not turn out well, so not to many to show. We used just Chain Reaction 3, with the proviso that hard body armor reduced weapon impact by 1. (not quit ready to pull New Beginnings out yet.)

The scenario was a heavily armed SWAT team venturing into the slum zone (a once prosperous area of the city, burned out by riots and fallen into some decay after the bankruptcy of Futur-ron Corp. a few years ago, the major corporate sponsor of that part of the city.) Intel has been received by the police that a gang is going to scavenge the reactor core of a power substation, which would reduce the already scant services provided to the citizens for this zone.

The SWAT team consisted of a REP 5 Sergeant with assault rifle, four REP 4 officers with assault rifles, and one REP 4 with an LMG. All are wearing hard body armor.

Here is a shot of part of the team making a dash across a street.

The game consisted of some mechanically enhanced gangers:

REP 5 leader, fierce, machine pistol and laser pistol
REP 4 ganger, Bionic legs (12" normal move), laser pistol, machine pistol
REP 4 ganger, bionic arm, BA Pistol
REP 4 ganger, bionic arm, laser rifle
REP 4 ganger, bionic arm, machine pistol

Here is the gang leader by the reactor...

The battle started well for me, but rapidly went Jack's way. I blew a couple of critical In Sight tests, towards the end of the game, I had killed one of his troops, but I had lost 2 guys OOF and one OD. He got the drop on my leader next to the power station with an assault rifle armed trooper and here is what he rolled...

My leader went down obviously dead with multiple hits to the torso. A very good and quick game, took 38 minutes from start to finish. I feel more forays into the slum zone coming in the future.

Cheap 28mm Caverns

2011-12-11T20:26:00.009-05:00

I am sure this has been tried before, but I recently made some really, really cheap underground cavern terrain. It will initially be used for Song of Blades and Heroes, but will probably see service in sci-fi games, too. Bugs, anyone?

So, here we go....

Step 1:
Go to craft store and pick up 2 inch think high density foam from the upholstery section, a can of cheap black spray paint, and a can of "stone" type spray paint. In retrospect, you can probably get away with a cheap can of gray paint.

Step 2:
Cut out rock looking bits with scissors. The sloppier you cut the better, because it will look more like rock!

Step 3:
Sray paint it black! Just go nuts! You want to make sure that later none of the green (or whatever color of your foam) shows through. Unless your cavern is running through a uranium deposit. Which may actually be cool... I did two coats to make sure I had good coverage, hence the cheap paint. Do this step outside to avoid brain damage.

Step 4:
Spray paint it stone! There are several brands of this available in the United States. It really took a bit of paint as the foam naturally acted as a sponge. At about $9 a can, in retrospect it may have worked just as well to use cheap gray spray paint. But the effect is pretty neat. I did a coat and then went back and spot painted areas that were kind of thin.

Step 5:
Let it dry, slap it on some gray felt, and play! It does not look half bad, better in the flesh than in the pictures. Cheap and very, very durable.

Just how cheap? below, you can see how much I could squeeze out of a 2' x 2' piece of foam. I used One can of the stone and once can of black when it was all said and done.

This is going to be terrain for my next convention game. And worst case, can serve as a pillow. Enjoy!

My new favorite song...

2011-10-26T19:35:00.001-04:00

For all of you Cuthulu fans out there. Based on my favorite Lovecraft work, "At the Mountains of Madness."

McMurdo Boogie by Humanoids

5150 Cyborg Gang

2011-10-16T20:51:00.003-04:00

I still need to collate all of my pictures from Southern Front, but needless to say, the convention was a blast.

In the meantime, I have painted up a gang to use with 5150: New Beginnings. These are a pack of GW Necromunda figures I got in a bargain bin . I am rather happy with the way they turned out, I used Army Painter quick shade for the first time and am pleased with the results.

I have rolled up a character and formed a crew (not this one) and will start posting a blow by blow of the campaign shortly, including a step by step of the mechanics.

Click to enlarge..
TTFN!

Song of Blades and Heroes

2011-08-30T20:30:00.003-04:00

Got in some games of Song of Blades and Heroes this past weekend. Jack and I worked up a scenario with an Eeeeeevil temple in the center, with the different factions vying to obtain a magical gem in the statue. To obtain the gem, a figure must spent an activation in front of the statue, not engaged in combat, and pass 3 quality die rolls in a single turn to pry it out.

(click on pictures to enlarge)

We play tested it on Friday night. Jackson too his Necromancer war band, which consisted of a Magic User and 10 skeleton warriors. Here he is with his crew...

I took a Lizardman war band that consisted of a Lizardman war chief, 4 warriors, and 4 light skirmishing archers. He handily defeated me, here is a picture of the final moments, with my chief being set upon by a couple of skeletons.

Tom came over Sunday and we did a three way battle with Jack with his Necromancer, Tom playing the lizard men and I with a band of blood thirsty orcs. All went well until I lost my leader and EVERYONE failed their morale tests...

Tom and Jack duked it out over the temple, with Tom pulling out a win despite grievous losses.

Here is Jack be moaning a horrible activation roll..

And here is one of the final moments as the undead forces made a final push...

I am still totally digging on the Song of Blades and Heores rules. I am going to clear the table and give their "shooty" rules, Flying Lead, a swing. I am a dyed in the wool Two Hour Wargames fan, but I think the Ganesha Games rules are easier for folks to get their heads around. Going to set up a table and try them for a sci-fi shoot out.

Ok, I am back to the painting table!!!

Been painting a bit...

2011-08-10T22:17:00.003-04:00

Ok, been quiet around here for a while, I have been up to various bits of work and skulduggery. But I have not been completely off painting. I have been fiddling with to many projects in my magpie-on-speed like fashion, including:

1/600 scale moderns (Got fairly along on that one)
6mm Sudan
28mm SciFi skirmish stuff
28mm Fantasy

I have taken to playing Song of Blades and Heroes from Ganesha games with Jack for Fantasy Skirmish. I was a bit skeptical at first, as I think Warrior Heroes is a bit more cinematic. But the activation system works nicely, the games are fast, and I like the measuring sticks. I have taken a shine to them and am pondering a VSF conversion for unit sized battles...

Here are some of the recent figures I have completed, including an oddly exposed one of a couple of hobbits. The 40k Orks will be used for 5150 from Two Hour Wargames. The rest are just random figures I had laying about, I am kind of fond of the way the dwarves turned out, I think they are Crusader Miniatures.

Enjoy! (click to en-biggen)

Eastern Front NUTS! Action

2010-09-06T11:08:00.004-04:00

Had a great game yesterday! Tom and Jason Came over and I introduced them to NUTS! version 2 from Two Hour Wargames. Also made this yummy spinach and artichoke dip.

We played an Eastern Front game, with the Germans defending a village and the Russians ordered to clear it.

Photos are kinda funky, as my flash stopped working again, you can click them to enlarge if you wish. In this photo the bulk of Russians were entering from the short table edge on the right side.

The Germans has two understrength Grenadier squads. The Soviets had an understrength platoon with two squads and a squad of scouts, who got to enter from any edge they wanted to. Here are the commanders...

From left to right, Jason commanding the Germans, Tom commanding the Soviet platoon, and Jack commanding the infiltrating scouts.

Here is the only photo that turned out even halfway ok, Tom's troops rush the buildings on the edge of the village.
The game was a lot of fun, house to house fighting is BLOODY once everyone started tossing grenades around. One highlight was when Jason dropped a grenade down a flight of stairs and killed or rendered out of the fight all six members of a Soviet squad!

The Russians managed to push out the Germans, with only one Grenadier escaping! But they took grievous losses themselves, taking 13 casualties out of a total starting number of 24.

Good times, so happy to actually have gotten a game on. Next gaming event will be Southern Front the weekend of the 24th-26th. Hope to see some of you guys there! I am planning on making gaming at my house a regular event, once a month, so will pick a date on October soon.

Game at my house today!

2010-09-05T09:03:00.003-04:00

I am very excited, I have some guys coming over for a game today and I will actually get to have a game, rather than sitting around thinking about playing.

Expect a full report, we will be playing a Eastern Front Skirmish in 28mm using NUTS! 2.0 from Two Hour Wargames.

In the meantime, I ordered [GASP] a board wargame from Lock and Load publishing called World at War: Eisenbach Gap. I am 37, and as a lot of gamers my age I started playing D&D and Avalon Hill board wargames in the 80's. I also spent a LOT of time with my best friend Dave writing our own board game on a hypothetical WW3 in Europe. Think Team Yankee, The Third World War, or Red Storm Rising. Well, I finally found a professionally developed version at the same scale and on the same theme...

Here is what you get in the box:

Production values look high, and the scale is exactly what I was trying to play 25 years ago, 1 counter = 1 platoon. Perfect scale to command a Company Team or Battalion Task Force.

I have played only once solo, but the rules kinda feel miniatures like for a hex and counter game, pleasantly so. You can find detailed reviews on Board Game Geek. I hope to get some more games in.

Will post photos from today's game tonight!

Gaming at Arsenal Hobbies

2010-07-11T08:22:00.004-04:00

I went to open gaming last night at Arsenal Games and Hobbies in Augusta, GA. Mike, Norman, and Jim have an outstanding store with a wide range of Games Workshop, historical miniatures and boardgames.

When I arrived a large Flames of War game was going on and everyone seemed to be having fun. Tigers were on the table, but they were all smoked by the end of the game.

I brought some of my 28mm WW2 Eastern front troops and ran a game using Chain Reaction 3. This was the first time any of the players had seen the THW rules. There were 4 players and I used a simple scenario.

The Germans had two 7 man (understrength) regular infantry squads, each with an MG 42, defending a farmhouse. The Soviets had a full strength, 9 man, squad, and a squad of 7 experienced scouts. I was excited, as this was the first actual game my scouts had ever been in! I told the Germans what side the Soviets would be entering from, had them set up, then I let the scout squad enter from wherever they wanted to! MWAHAHAHA!

After the first few turns the players had the hang of the rules. I made a custom quick reference sheet for WW2 for C CR, you can find a copy here. The feedback on the rules was positive, they really liked how fast the game moved and how the inactive players were constantly engaged in the game.

By the end of the game, the Soviets had lost 12 men dead or out of the fight from their original 16, the Germans only 3 out of 14. The highlight of the game was the Germans winning initiative, recovering an MG42 from being stunned, and shooting a scout who had a ready grenade. Who dropped it when rendered OOF. Which killed another guy with a ready grenade. Who dropped it. Which killed another guy.

In retrospect, the game was unbalanced for the Germans. Even with the unbalance, the Soviets had a good time and I think will play again. We discussed it, and next time the Soviets will bring an extra squad and a Maxim. Or maybe a flamethrower, too....

Here is a photo pf the happy players:

I will bring this back to Arsenal the next time I come. I also had everyone keep their QRS with the Two Hour Wargames URL so they can download the full copy of CR 3. All in all a very fun game.

Afterward, Mike talked me in to trying a quick intro scenario of the board game Conflict of Heroes. It was a blast, the mechanics are very smooth and the components are beautiful. I shall probably pick up a copy next pay check. This game might actually get me back into hex and counter games.

Looks like I am getting more gaming in these days, let's hope I can keep it up!

Starting Firestorm: Armada

2010-07-02T21:22:00.005-04:00

I have finally moved back into my house, and have decided I shall never move again.

In the meantime, inspired by the guys at the D6 Generation podcast and their review, I decided to briefly stop being a curmudgeon and try a popular game for a change. So, I bought Jack and I the rules and two starter fleets for Firestorm: Armada.

Jack decided to go with the Aquans, and I was able to get his fleet painted up rather quickly.

I picked Sorylians, but have not quit finished them up. Jack and I did give the rules a brief spin, with each side taking a squadron of two cruisers and another of three frigates.

Here you see the Aquan commander plotting his next move....
All in all, we really liked the rules on first outing. They flowed smoothly. I liked the way damage is handled, and the exploding dice and critical hit mechanics make for a lot of excitement.

I destroyed all three of Jack's frigates with my crusiers, but his cruisers ganged up on one of mine and scored a critical hit on the jump drive. Bad scene....

I have a feeling we will be playing this a lot, just got to get my painting table set up and finish of my ships.

Neal at the Warstore will probably be getting more orders from me for escorts and carriers and other goodies... Once again he provided fast, friendly service.

I am still working on basing my 6mm Napoleonics from Reinforcements by Post, hope to have a mini-review of them up soon.

Back from the Wilderness

2010-06-03T17:10:00.008-04:00

Jack and I just got back from Jones Gap State Park, spent two nights there. We had a great time, it is a real gem. Kind of hard to find, but worth the trip. I was worried about rain, but it was not to bad.

Here are some photos, enjoy! (click on controls to browse or on photo to go to Picasa album)

On Monday evening, we drove up and spent the night in Spartanburg. Got an early start on Tuesday morning, and rolled into the park around 9. We hiked to our site, set up our camp, and had a nice lunch.

We then hiked up to Jones Gap Falls on the main Jones Gap trail. It was great, and it started to rain on us right when we got back to camp. We spent the rest of the evening holed up in the (slightly leaky) tent, and came out afterward and had a nice fire.

Wednesday, we got up and drove to Sun Rift outfitters. I did not bring extra socks like an idiot, so we cruised over to the store in Traveler's Rest and had an early lunch. We then drove up to Caesar's Head.

Rain threatened again, but we took our chances and made the 2.2 mile hike to the Raven Cliff Falls in 50 minutes flat (jack set the pace), had a good look at the falls and got back to the truck right as the rain started. It poured rain, so we stopped in Traveler's Rest for dinner to wait it out, then back to camp.

All in all a GREAT trip, we did a lot of hiking. I think we will be going back there in the future.

Meanwhile on the hobby front, I got my magic box from Neil at Reinforcements by Post, so stay tuned for a review of their 6mm figure paint jobs.

Camera Fixed, Askaris, Porters, and a Vampire!

2010-05-27T20:06:00.003-04:00

Re-soldered the connector in my camera battery charger. Been doing a lot of canoeing with Jack, we have also been playing Memoir '44 Eastern Front Expansion... click photos to enlarge.

Jack won playing the Russians, here you can see his counter attack. I had him on the run for a while, almost cracked his line, but a well timed riposte with his armor won the game for him.

Here we have some figures I painted a couple of months ago. 28mm Porters from Foundry and another West Wind vampire.

Also knocked out 10 Askaris to guard the caravan through the jungles of Africa, Venus, or Pellucidar.

Camera deadlined

2010-05-03T09:02:00.002-04:00

A wire has come disconnected on the battery charger for my camera, so until I can lay hands on a soldering iron, no pictures.

Jack and I did go down to Charleston a few weeks ago, watched the Blue Angels from the deck of the USS Yorktown, and picked up a canoe. We are going to be doing a LOT of canoeing this summer, so in lieu of miniatures pictures, here is a happy young man out on the water.

But I have been painting a bit. Finished up the following over the last few weeks:

6 modern ruffians from Mega Miniatures
Another West Wind female Vampire
10 Foundry Darkest Africa Askaris for my expeditions into the interior
3 Foundry bearers to bring along essentials, like Dr. Bronner's soap

My magpie syndrome has taken hold and I started reading "Through the Mud and the Blood" again from Too Fat Lardies again. I have been interested in WW1 as a period since reading Battle Tactics tof the Western Front by Paddy Griffith. So, I pulled out a big box of plastic 1/72 scale WW1 figures I have been dragging around for at least 6 years.

Currently I am working on my British platoon, they are primarily made up of the HaT Canadian Infantry box. I strongly recommend you get this if you are considering WW1 in that scale. One box will give you a platoon or so plus plenty of support weapons, all for about $15. I should have the platoon done by the end of the week, will post photos when camera is operational again.

What ever shall we do with this goat?

2010-04-05T10:01:00.003-04:00

Here we have a West Wind Vampire, a cultist from the Hell Boy Villains box, and a spare goat I had left out of my last block of painting.

Still fiddling with the camera, getting to much reflection from the light and it seems that the settings on the camera either make the photos turn out to red or to blue and I have to adjust the color settings in GIMP.

95th Rifles down on the farm

2010-04-02T16:12:00.005-04:00

I have gotten some great advice on taking photos and am experimenting some more. Still putting brush to metal and plastic as well. Here we go, click to enlarge.

First up are ten Falcon Figures 95th Rifles that will do nicely as a certain literary hero and his companions, fighting the dastardly French in the dusty hills of Spain. I did NOT paint these, just did the bases. Bought them last year at Southern Front.
Next up, I bought a couple of packs of figures from a range of Gothic horror type figures. I cannot remember the manufacturer, but they are not West Wind (I think.) [CORRECTION: Tim has ID-ed these as West Wind models.] These three will do nicely as Spanish civilians, the local petty noble, his daughter (whom Sharpe will woo and rescue of course), and the son.
Of course they live on a farm, which will need livestock. Livestock are very important figures to own, as many scenarios revolve around foraging as well... Here we have Mega Miniatures goats and cows.

And now for something completely different, a pair of .45 Adventure Smilodon's, denizens for my next VSF lost world or Venus game.

Enjoy!

A-Team and Company Men

2010-03-28T10:20:00.002-04:00

These pictures did not turn out as well as I had hoped, but here are six more 28mm figures I have painted over the last few weeks. Click on photos to enlarge.

First up is the A-Team, a set of figures from Foundry that I intend to use in Sci-Fi games.

I assume that the Army cryogenic-ally froze the A-Team, and now, 1000 years later, they have been unfrozen and travel across the galaxy righting wrongs and helping those who cannot help themselves. While frozen they were psychically updated, so Murdock can of course fly any air or space craft, BA can act as an engineer or mechanic for any modern vehicle or machine, and Hannibal's military genius was updated with knowledge about modern weapons.

Face's special skills are universal and required no updating...

Here we have two corporate enforcers, also from Foundry.
Still fiddling with the camera, have Darkest Africa askaris and porters on the table right now.

The Grey Wizard

2010-03-27T16:22:00.003-04:00

Been off to Arkansas for training, just got back. I am actually getting some painting done these days and am trying to catch up on taking photos. Been fiddling with lighting and my camera settings, here is the first result, click to enlarge:

More pics coming, I have a dozen or so figures done just waiting to be photographed.

CR 3.0: You have the right to remain... dead

2010-02-27T13:55:00.011-05:00

Jack an I played a great little Sci-Fi skirmish using the free Chain Reaction 3 rules from Two Hour Wargames. I made a few minor modifications to the rules pulled from the 5150 rules:

Figures with hard body armor when hit reduce the impact of the weapon by 1
Added Magnetic "Mag" rifles, with a range of 24", ROF of 3, and impact of 4

The scenario was an attack by Federation Law enforcement on a group of smugglers / rebels. The Lawmen consisted of four REP 4 officers in hard body armor armed with Mag Rifles. They were lead by a REP 5 Sergeant armed with a laser pistol.

Their orders were to eliminate the smuggler camp and deadly force was authorized. Insertion would be via teleport, which raised some tactical issues. Unless the individual being teleported is sent to another teleport station, there is a certain randomness as to exactly where they will materialize.

To simulate this, Jack an I determined the start locations for the officers by randomly tossing beads onto the table. The facing of the officers was also randomly determined. Similar to an air drop, the officers would be scattered and potentially in an uncomfortable situation, as the smugglers would be able to take an in sight test against any officers that materialize in front of them.

The smugglers consisted of six individuals:

REP 5 leader with assault rifle and hard body armor
Two REP 4's with assault rifles
REP 4 with shotgun
REP 4 with two BA Pistols
REP 3 with pistol

The smugglers also had access to hand grenades.

Two of the smugglers were on guard duty, while the others were in the buildings.

Jack ran the Lawmen and I ran the smugglers. Click on photos to enlarge...

As you can see, the officers were fairly well scattered, with one even materializing behind a smuggler guard! Except he wound up facing the wrong direction.

The guard did pass his in sight test against the officer who materialized in front of him, but he missed. The officer returned fire and the guard went down hard, obviously dead, with a mag slug in his chest.

The other guard passed his in sight test and nailed one officer with his shotgun, out of the fight. The other smugglers started coming out of the buildings, with the REP 4 assault rifle taking down another officer after an exchange of fire.

The action then got hot and hectic. Jack took down my shotgun guy and my female with the two BA pistols. I managed to take down another officer by having the REP 3 toss a grenade, stun him, and then have another guy with an assault rifle run up and finish him off.

In the end, my leader faced off with the sergeant, and lost out, taking a laser pistol shot to the head. My last two smugglers went down when the other officer managed to pop out and shoot them both in the back.

The Law officers lost 2 dead and one wounded, while the smugglers lost 2 dead and 4 badly wounded. The wounded also had an uncomfortable court date to look forward to...

A VERY fun game, it only took us 30 minutes, we'll probably play it again tonight. I highly recommend CR 3.0 for any skirmish games, it is easily adaptable, and the period specific rules (NUTS!, 5150, etc.) are really good and worth the price.

Some of the neat terrain features (the stack of pipes and rubble piles) were picked up from a dealer at Siege of Augusta. The figures are my usual mis-mash, with the police played by SST Skinnies, and the smugglers from West Wind, Warzone, and Hasslefree.

Siege photos, Finally!

2010-02-27T11:15:00.005-05:00

Finally, here are my pictures from Siege of Augusta, well over a month later! My only excuse is that I took the Level 1 Combatives course at McCrady Training Center a few weeks ago and managed to crack a rib. I did graduate though, and I have to say it is the physically hardest thing I have done in 20 years. Very rewarding though.

I will not be attending Spring Fever in March, unfortunately I have to work. I hope everyone has a great time.

Siege was a great convention, Jack and I had a marvelous time. My battery dies on my camera, so I only got shots of Friday night and the Alamo game we played Saturday. We also picked up a copy of Memoir '44 and have played 10 games so far. Jack is ahead 6 -4.... Great game, just got the Eastern Front expansion.

Here are the photos, I hope you enjoy them! Click photo to go to my Picasa album,

Siege of Augusta 2010 Friday

I have slowed down on my 6mm Sudan project, hope to get it started up again. Also, I am finally getting around to taking pictures of the stuff I have painted over the last 6 months and will get them up over the next few weeks.

At Siege of Augusta!

2010-01-22T12:19:00.001-05:00

Been busy at work, but boy and I just checked in to the hotel. Off to lunch, then roll some dice this afternoon. Wh00t!!!

I will take plenty of photos and try to post the rapidly.

On another note, I am 2/3 done with my 6mm Sudan project, just no photos as I have not done the bases yet.

Good gaming to everyone in the new year!

Southern Front 2009: Sunday Morning

2009-11-25T18:38:00.008-05:00

Been almost a month since my last post, been pretty darned busy. Just rolled off a 3 week phase with the course I instruct with the 218th Regiment (Leadership) at the McCrady Training Center. We have a great group of students, and I taught Cisco switches and routers for the first time.

So... I am finally getting around to posting my last crop of pictures from Southern Front. Sunday morning I played in "The Movie Cowboy Game." It was a blast! We used home brew rules that were (obviously) very cinematic and moved along quit well.

There were about 6 players, each with a faction. Mine was the temperance league, and we were helping the good guys escort the sheriff's brother's casket to the church. We also had the workers at the local cat house on our side as well as the law.

We were opposed by the Mexican banditos, renegade comanches, and the local Chinese tong gang members.

The game was a hoot, my personal high point was when one of my characters, a little old lady armed only with a camera bag, killed the bandito leader with one good swing that apparently caught him in the temple. No one expects the little old lady from the temperance league to be the deadliest close combat fighter!

Enjoy the photos. Many thanks to the GM for a great game, and thanks once again to the entire Southern Front crew. See you guys at Spring Fever!

See also photos from:

Ok, I have a new project I am working on that I should have done by the end of the year... wait for it... 6mm Colonials for the Sudan! I have been inspired by Bob Cordery's "When Empires Clash" gridded rules. They look like a lot of fun. Plus I am doing enough troops to give Piquet:Field of Battle and TFL's They Don't Like it Up 'em a swing. They are painting up fast. I am off to Arkansas for a class for the army, when I get back, I will post photos. I have also made a 2 x 4 foot gridded and textured board for Bob's rules, stay tuned. Thinking about a solo campaign, tossing around some rule idea in my head.

Southern Front, Saturday Night

2009-10-31T23:23:00.004-04:00

See also Southern Front Saturday afternoon and Saturday morning.

Sorry for the delay posting these, busy preparing for our next training cycle. We are in processing our next class tomorrow, I will be on the podium most of next week, and looking forward to it.

Below is a gallery of photos I took Saturday night. I played in a Lord of the Rings Battle game and had a great time. I was part of teh forces of evil, and we managed to kill Merry! Filthy hobbits...

Enjoy these, one more batch of pictures left to post from Sunday morning.

Southern Front, Saturday Afternoon

2009-10-15T12:44:00.004-04:00

Also see Saturday Morning at Southern Front

(Note Sorry for the delay getting these up, busy at work preparing for our next training class)

Saturday afternoon saw Jack and I play in Brian's Air War:C21 game. It was set along the Inter German border in 1958 and saw a Nato v. Warsaw Pact standoff with F86 Sabers fighting MiG 15's and MiG 17's. Don't forget to click photos to enlarge...
Here brian explain the rules. They are very straightforward and give an excellent game. As it was 1958, we did not have any pesky missiles to worry about. And to top it off, known only to the NATO players at the beginning, one of the Warsaw Pact GDR pilots was going to defect! We had to escort him off the table.

The action was fast and furious!

Jack ponders his next move....

We wound up with a marginal NATO win, as both defecting MiG's were shot down, but one of the pilots bailed out in West Germany and was recovered. A VERY fun game, thanks, Brian!

I shall probably purchase these rules from Wargames Vault. I have an older copy somewhere, but the new version is supposed to be even more streamlined. I also have some F-4's, A-4's, MiG-17's, and MiG-21's for 1973 Arab-Israeli war dog fights in 1/600 scale somewhere that I may pull out now, just need to find them.

Next time, the evening game and lots of shots of other games!

Southern Front, Saturday Morning Part 1

2009-10-12T08:40:00.015-04:00

Just got back from Southern Front 2009 yesterday. First, let me say a huge thanks to all of the folks who organized and ran the event, particularly Ed, it was an outstanding convention. Also a huge thanks to the guys who were GM's, there were a large variety of beautiful and fun games to play.

I'll post my Southern Front story in 3 parts, remember to Click Photos to enlarge them.

Jack and I arrived around 7pm on Friday night, and were frankly to tired to do any gaming, so I did some shopping and we went to bed.

We woke up refreshed on Saturday morning, had a good breakfast, and hit the hall. Here you can see games and dealers setting up.

Here are some photos of Chris's great looking 6mm WW1 game with LOTS of tanks. I did not get a chance to play in it, but I think the highlight was when the German's Martian allies showed up....

There was also a GREAT looking American Civil War Fire and Fury regimental game going on in 28mm. The figures were absolutely beautiful.

I played in a very fun 40mm AWI game. It was set immediatly after the fallfor Fort Ticonderoga to the British. My side, the Rebels, were fighting a rear guard action and had been caught wrong footed getting ready to march off down the road while the British spearhead caught up. Our mission was to hold off the British for a certain number of turns and hold the road open.

The rules were home brewed by the GM and worked VERY well. There were three commanders on each side, each of us commanding a regiment. The photo below shows the general layout, it was taken about halfway through the game. Click to enlarge.

The 40mm figures were amazingly well painted and combined with the terrain made the agme a joy to play.
In the second half of the game, Hessian reinforcements arrived...
The British drove back our left flank and center through the woods, but took horrible casualties. I commanded the center regiment, and struggled to fall back while maintaining contact with the flanks. Our right flank regiment began to pour fire into the advancing British, but on the left, British Grenadiers moved down a forest track and threatened to turn our entire flank and cut off the road! We had held long enough to allow the rest of the army to escape, but could we now escape ourselves? (Click to enlarge)
A small, rag tag force of militia amazingly held up the British advance on the left flank hill, preventing them from cutting off our entire force! Kudos to my fellow commander, otherwise, my entire regiment would have been lost.

We managed to get our troops off the table by the skin of our teeth as the British still worked around the left flank.
We managed to win a marginal victory, and it was a real nail biter. It was a perfect convention game. The rules were fast the action started early, and the scenario was a lot of fun!

While I played in the AWI game, Jack played in a fun looking Star Wars pod racing game. Unfortunately, I did not get any photos of it.

We broke for lunch and ate some not very good ribs in the hotel restaurant.

Stay tuned for more Southern Front action!

Space Marine Terminators

2009-10-06T21:42:00.003-04:00

As promised, here are my painted Space Marine Terminators for Space Hulk. I have not completed the entire set of them yet, but certainly enough to play. Click to enlarge.

These are the first Games Workshop 40k figures I have ever painted, and I must say they are a joy to do. I am starting to get into the fluff, plus listening to the D6 generation, is tempting me to give 40k a try, plus I think I can get some games here in Columbia.

I will post Gene Stealers later this week. Off to Southern Front this weekend with Jack, photos of that will follow as well. I have budgeted some pocket money, let's see if I only buy stuff to flesh out current projects or succumb to the magpie syndrome.

Space Hulk is back and Southern Front

2009-09-30T14:10:00.003-04:00

A few quick updates...

We just graduated out first class of 25B Information Systems Specialists from 5th Battalion (Signal), 218th Regiment (Leadership)

Here is your intrepid reporter during the CAPEX playing the role of G6 for the students during the exercise.

Next cycle starts 1NOV, we're going to be pretty busy through July. I will be attending Southern Front on a couple of weeks, though really looking forward to that.

I received my copy of Space Hulk, and have most of the figures painted. No photos, alas, as I cannot find my camera, will post them as soon as I do. I have played a couple of games and I love it! I look forward to playing in one or two at the convention, and hooking up with some GW players here in Columbia and playing some more.

Next project after I finish the last of the Space Hulk figures, 28mm Napoleonic figures for skirmish games. I am gluing my Victrix figures together now, they are a little fiddly, but I am used to metals. I cannot wait for the French Dragoons to come out.

TTFN, hopefully have Space Hulk pictures soon!

I am back!

2009-09-07T12:25:00.003-04:00

I appreciate all of the kind comments while I have been away from blogging. I have had some serious personal items to deal with in my life, but things are settling down.

Ok, let's start with another major life update. I have been called to active duty with the South Carolina Army National Guard for 1 year, so I am taking a military leave of absence from my day job as an IT manager at Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina.

I am not deploying, but I am an instructor in the new 25B (IT Analyst) course with 5th Battalion (Signal) / 218th Regiment (Leadership) We are just completing our first training cycle and are still spinning up the course. We have 3 cycles in FY10 and will be training 100+ soldiers. I am very excited to be able to contribute my 12 years of IT experience, and will be in uniform every day at Camp McCrady.

Back to gaming related topics...

Jack and I visited the battleship USS North Carolina a few weeks ago in Wilmington, NC and had a BLAST! If you are in this part of the country, I highly recommend it. We spend 4 hours crawling over the ship. Click photos to enlarge.

The view as you walk up the pier to the ship, bristling with 5 inch secondary batteries. These things were great for shore bombardment or anti-aircraft work.
Jack inside one of the 16 inch turrets looking through a still functioning spotting periscope. The complexity of these systems are amazing and the crew required to feed and fire these monsters is amazing. They could throw a shell over 20 miles!

Jack and I in front of one forward 16 inch turret/

The ship is fascinating, especially the amazing complexity of the analog computers used for fire direction.

Later this week, more updates! Jack and I have been playing Battlelore and we have just finished our first game of Space Hulk.

Going on painting hiatus again

2009-05-04T20:20:00.002-04:00

I want to spend more time practicing the fiddle, so I think once I am finished with what is on the table, I will put away my brushes for a while.

I will, however continue to play, so be on the look out for many skirmish battle reports over the next few months. Ed just came out with Chain Reaction 3.0: Swordplay and I plan to give it a spin this week using the same terrain for the partisan project. Give it a look, it is FREE!!

Vive le Resistance!

2009-04-27T20:43:00.003-04:00

"It's quiet, to quiet"

Jack and I played a quick game this past weekend of Chain Reaction 3, free here from Two Hour Wargames.

The scenario pitted a brave band of French Resistance fighters against a German Patrol.

The resistance consisted of two REP 5's with SMG, one REP 4 with SMG, one REP 4 with Bren LMG, one REP3 with SMG and one REP 3 with a rifle.

The Germans had two Kubelwagens patrolling a country road. The first had a REP 5 NCO with SMG, and two REP 4's and a REP 3, all with rifles. The second had a REP 4 NCO with SMG, a REP 4 with rifle, and 2 REP 3's with rifles. (The Germans were a mix of Ostfront veterans and raw recruits assigned to garrison duty in France.)

The French place spikes on the road and blew out the tires of the Kubelwagens, forcing the Germans to stop. As this was a common harassing tactic, the Germans were not to suspicious that there might be an ambush. They got out to check the vehicles and set uf a loose perimeter.

The partisans were arrayed as indicated below, click photos to enlarge.

The rifleman in the ruined farm opened the ambush with a shot at the German squad leader. He missed and was cut down by return fire from the SMG. The other partisan in the house took one German Out of the fight.

Chaos ensued as bullets flew towards the hapless Germans in the fire sack. Two dead, including the leader and 4 OOF over the course of several turns. The lone partisan in the woods was killed by a German rifle.
A few more shots exchanged and the lone German survicor hightails it out of there to the woods.
End of the fight, the Germans had lost 3 dead, 4 severely wounded, and 1 ran away. The victory was not cheap to the partisans, who lost 2 out of 6 members of their force dead.

This is a neat little scenario, we will play it again, but with more REP 3 partisans.

French Resistance

2009-04-25T09:14:00.003-04:00

Click to enlarge

Here are some brave WW2 French Resistance fighters from West Wind. They are on the table right now about to ambush a German patrol... a battle report should follow.

Still not happy with the way the pictures are coming out. I am using the macro setting, I did not have these issues with the old camera.

Starship Troopers

2009-04-25T01:49:00.004-04:00

Click to enlarge

Here is a small squad of Starship Troopers figures I painted in vacation. They'll be used as Star Army types for 5150 in hard body armor with assault rifles, a heavy grenade launcher, and a rocket launcher. And... jump pack as well.

I am going to use them for a small scenario versus a PDF style force as an anti-armor ambush team.

Not to happy with the photo, still trying to figure out the new camera. Also, my new can of sealer is not as matte as I would like it.

Dungeon Terrain

2009-04-23T00:30:00.002-04:00

(click to enlarge)

"I winder what's in the chest?"
"I wonder what's in the well?

Here are some terrain pieces I painted on vacation from the GW Mines of Moria set. They will do nicely for any dungeon adventure.

Starship troopers are next.

Time is a choice

2009-04-19T03:43:00.002-04:00

I was listening to episode 29 of The D6 Generation and was struck by the latest installment of "The Hollywood Minute" by Raef "Hollywood" Granger. The question was "how do you find time to game?" and his theme was "Time is a choice." This is a lesson that I need to relearn periodically. Give it a listen if you get a chance, it is thought provoking. So, I am choosing to game more...

Still working on the bases for the guys I painted last week. In the mean time, here are some pre-painted figures that I based up. (Click to enlarge)

Here are some AT-43 Karmen's. Apes - In - Powerarmor, 'nuff said. I think I'll treat them as being in EXO armor with jump packs for 5150. The guy on the right is obviously the ship's engineer. I love the aesthetic of these figures.

Here are some AT-43 UNA figures that I'll use as Planetary Defense Force troops in body armor. The walker will provide fire support with rapid fire lasers.
Here are a mix of D&D and Mage Knight figures, next to a couple of human figures for scale. These are a grab bag of dungeon creatures and baddies, some fo which would probably work in a Sci-Fi or Victorian Sci-Fi setting.

Until next time, game on!

Back from vacation and painted skinnies

2009-04-11T09:34:00.005-04:00

Back from vacation, I had a nice relaxing time and recharged my batteries. I painted twenty 28mm figures last week and will be posting them over the next few days.

Until then, here are 6 Starship Troopers Skinnies I painted a few weeks ago, I just finished the bases.

(Click to enlarge)

I will run these using the Dran army list in 5150. Still not much time to play, but I am setting up a 5150 game on the table I hope the play next week.

28mm WW2 Germans

2009-03-28T20:29:00.003-04:00

Still very busy at work, but I have knocked out 4 more WW2 Germans. I have a few figures left to finish fleshing out a platoon sized force.

Here is an MG42 team, this gives me 3 total, so I can field 3 full squads.

Here's a flamethrower to root out those pesky Ivans from bunkers and buildings.
And a sniper to pick off Tommies as they advance from hedgerow to hedgerow.
Some 28mm Starship Trooper skinnies are getting base treatments now, and should be up this week. I shall be going on vacation the week after next, and plan on getting some serious painting done, have not decided on the project yet, perhaps 6mm WSS.

Until next time, good gaming!

6mm Germans and Very Busy...

2009-03-22T20:05:00.003-04:00

Going off line for a few weeks, between duty with the National Guard and a project I am on at work (7 day work weeks), no time to do any updates.

Here is my 6mm German infantry battalion I have recently finished, with two platoons for PaK 40's and a company of STuG's attached. Click on enlarge.

I'll be back in about 3 weeks!

No update this week

2009-03-08T20:09:00.001-04:00

I had drill this weekend with the National Guard, so no time for hobby stuff. I have a couple of items in the bench almost done, should have photos next week.

Warrior Heroes: Tracking the Orcs

2009-02-27T07:47:00.009-05:00

A few administrative notes before we begin:

Episode 11 of Bert's Noisemaker podcast is out, give it a listen!
Speaking of which, I have added links to the regular podcasts I like to the right hand side of the page.
Ed at Two Hour Wargames has just released a new, FREE, 3rd edition of his great Chain Reaction rules. They are a good intro to the basic rule mechanics that Ed uses in most of his rules, give them a look if you have never tried THW rules before.

OK, on with the story, part 2 of Jack's Warrior Heroes campaign...

When we last left Sir Leland and his border patrol party, they had just learned from old man Otto, that orcs had kidnapped his granddaughter. The party patches up the old man and set off hot on the trail of the orcs. Fortunately, Otto turns out to be a REP 6 wizard as well.

As the party chases after the orcs, a group turns on the pursuers and a short, sharp clash results. I had a camera malfunction, so missed the first skirmish as one PEF turned out to be a party of 6 orcs.

After the first clash, the party carried on...

Only to be set upon by another party of orcs.
Another clash ensued, but the heroes prevailed. Sir Leland did great damage to the vile raiders, and soon the party was back on the trail of Otto's granddaughter.

This time, we remembered to roll for increase in stats after the encounter, and Leland is now a REP 6 and Mistman the thief is now a REP5.

The next encounter will be a raid on the orc village.

Home Made Bug Holes

2009-02-22T12:03:00.003-05:00

We have been doing quit a bit of Sci-Fi gaming in recent months using the bugs from the Starship Troopers box set and 5150 from Two Hour Wargames.

The bugs have been either entering the table from the edge or emerging from the cutout holes that came with the set. I decided that my bugs needed better digs, so I set out to make a few bug holes. Remember to click on photos to enlarge them.

I decided to use as a base the most common material on the planet, old computer CD's. AOL CD's work well for this. I covered the hole in the center with a bit of card, and the smeared on brown caulk (or mastic as I think they call it in the UK.) I sculpted it with my fingers to get the shape I want WHILE WEARING RUBBER GLOVES.

After sculpting the holes, I let them dry. The caulk was so thick, overnight was not long enough, so I set them on a shelf and forgot about them for a week. Although the material does take a while to dry, using caulk was the best choice I think. It is still flexible after drying, so will not crack under normal wear and tear.

After they dries, I painted on thinned white glue (PVA / Elmer's) and sprinkled it with sand I pinched from the local playground. After that dries, I undercoated with thinned black craft paint, then dry brushed using burnt umber for the center and two different shades of grey for the edges of the hole.

Here is the final product.
"Did you guys hear somthing?!?!?!" Here is a hole next to some 28mm figures and bugs.

I think they turned out well and will add some class to my next bug hunt. The same technique would work for making craters for 28mm figures as well.

Warrior Heroes: Border Patrol

2009-02-21T16:34:00.005-05:00

Jack and I finally started our Warrior Heroes mini-campaign, got our first game in last weekend. Here goes chapter one...

Sir Leland has been hired by Duke Sigfried to lead a patrol on the borderlands. Recently the Duke's lands have been plagued by orc raiders, and he has hired extra help to try to defend his holding.

Sir Leland's party consisted of (From left to right):

Mistman the Thief (REP4, AC2, Hardiness 1)
Sir Leland (REP5, AC6, Hardiness 2)
Sir Root (REP4, AC6, Hardiness 1)
Gak the Hairy One (REP4, AC2, Hardiness 3)

While patrolling the forest, the band sees smoke rising from a house in the woods, home of the old hermit Otto and his granddaughter. [Click photos to enlarge]

[The group entered the table with the mission of investigating the column of smoke. There were 3 PEF's (possible enemy forces) on the table]

The party saw some suspicious movement in the woods to their front, but it turned out to be nothing. They moved a bit closer when suddenly, six orcs burst from a copse!

Quit a skirmish broke out, with Leland dispatching 2 of the orcs, Sir Root and Gak taking care of one each, and the other two hightailing it out of there.The party finally made it to the farmhouse, where they found 3 orcs bludgeoning an old man. A sharp fight ensued, with the orcs rapidly going down.

"You must help me find my grandaughter!" the old man gasped, "They took her!"

After cleaning up the old man, the party set off on the trail of the raiders...

A very good game, we have already fought the next encounter, stay tuned!

Fantasy Spearmen

2009-02-15T19:26:00.003-05:00

A couple of administrative notes first...

1) Deano C. Ware is back in the podcasting saddle with another episode of The Solo Wargaming Show. Give it a listen, he reviews Donald Featherstone's Advanced Wargames. I am seriously thinking about picking up a copy from John Curry.

2) If you like the fantasy genre at all, check out Tim's latest battle report.

Ok, on with the show.

Got a little more painting in, finished 6 fantasy spearmenI picked up in a trade last year and a Boromir from a LOTR box set. Looks like a nice sized patrol to go hunting for orcs.

Click to enlarge....

MG42 Team

2009-02-11T19:03:00.002-05:00

I have added a tripod mounted, sustained fire, MG42 team to my 28mm WW2 collection.

I think these are West Wind. It it will be very useful for skirmish games, one shoudl be able to dominate quit a bit of tabletop.

Click to enlarge.

Jack paints his first figures

2009-02-09T19:44:00.003-05:00

I have been teaching Jack how to paint, and he has finished a 28mm barbarian and an air elemental. Not sure the manufacturer, he picked them up at Siege of Augusta. Not bad for his first paint jobs! Click to enlarge.

Firefighters arrive on scene

2009-02-04T20:54:00.003-05:00

These are Mega Miniatures firefighters I bough to use in zombie outbreak games. Their axes can be very useful against the undead. Of course, they could see service in any modern, near future, or heck Sci-Fi setting. Click to enlarge.

Currently on the table I have a set of fantasy spearmen and a MG42 team finished, just going through the basing process and some 6mm Germans to face off against the Americans I painted. All in all, I am maintaining my painting pace for 2009 and slowly reducing the backlog.

There is a min-convention coming up on 2/28 in Clemson which I'll be attending. I am going to tighten up the Bugs on Sectem Sempra scenario and bring it along as a backup game if the organizers need it.

Good gaming!

The Crew of the SS Lightspeeder

2009-02-01T09:18:00.004-05:00

I have painted up a band of rough looking Free Company types for a 5150 mini-campaign I am planning on running with Jack. Click to enlarge.
Here the crew pf the star ship Lightspeeder escorts a VIP.

I think these are old Warzone figures, I picked them up at Siege fo Augusta last year in a big box. The guy on the far left had an odd looking (cursed? diseased?) weapon, I added a heat shroud to it. I am not sure what I'll call it in 5150, maybe a heavy rapid fire laser with ROF 6? What do you guys think?

Siege of Augusta - Game Shots

2009-01-29T20:08:00.003-05:00

I did not take to many photos of other games, to tired, but here are some photos of the other fun going on.

Also, see the morning and afternoon sessions. Click photos to enlarge.

Here's CPT Jake's great looking 15mm Ambush Alley game.

Here's the fantastic food fight game, I am osrry I did not get a chance to play.

A fantastic looking Star Wars game.

There was also a nice 28mm Regimental Fire and Fury game.

And finally a Combat Commander game.

There were many more great looking games, kudos once again to the organizers. I look forward to next year!

Siege of Augusta - Afternoon Session

2009-01-27T19:37:00.005-05:00

Also see the morning session here.

I set up my game right after lunch, and had a lot of interest. I wound up with all young men playing, ranging in age from 11 to 19, with most being 11. It was enormously fun, they picked up the rules quickly and all were perfect gentlemen, as befits a Victorian Science Fiction game.

The game ended after two hours in a Anglo-Prussian victory, and I was hoarse and worn out from keeping things moving. Some of the guys wanted to play again, and I let them run with it, as they had the rules figured out by that time.

I hope they all had a good time. The rules and scenario are availible on this blog, and here.

Click on photos to enlarge...

Here is the salwart group, the two lads on the left are Denny and my son, Jack.

Here they are getting down to business

Here we have the Italian walker "Garibaldi's Egg" in an uncomfortable position in teh temple surrounded by the forces of teh Queen and Kaiser.

Here is a closeup of a desperate melee between the Royal Rocket Marines and mercenary Confederate Colonists.

All in all, a rollicking good time. I will be posting some random snaps from the evening session in the next few days.

Siege of Augusta - Morning Session

2009-01-25T14:44:00.004-05:00

Got back from Siege of Augusta late last night. I took my son and his friend Denny, and both of them had a blast! I managed to stay in budget for what I planned on spending, and just picked up a couple of items from vendors that directly relate to projects I have in progress.

We rolled up to the hotel at 7:30 after a hearty McDonald's breakfast. I was scheduled to run my game in the morning and the afternoon slot, but a snafu with the tables left me without a place to set up. This was not a big issue, as I assured the organizers, it just gave me a chance to play in a game!

I must give kudos to the guys who pulled this together, running a convention is a thankless job, but so very important to our hobby.

The boys and I got to play in a beautiful game of "The Sword in Africa." I unfortunately cannot remember the gentleman's name who ran it, but it was a spectacular terrain board with hordes of beautiful figures. Here is an example (click on photos to enlarge.) Please leave a comment with the game master's name if you have it.

The scenario had the boys and I playing a Belgian column bent on the destruction of a Zanzibari compound. We had several units of askari's, a field gun, a Nordenfelt, and a steamer.

Here the boys puzzle over strategy.
Native warriors used canoes to delay our advance. These chaps overran the field gun and captured one hapless gunner for a fate worse than death.

Here you see the steamer with a unit of askari's in, err, "borrowed" native canoes.

We had to break off the action at noon, the boys and I were starving, having had breakfast at 5:45. Thanks so much to the organizer of the game, it was great and the terrain rivaled than seen in any UK glossy magazine.

Next time, I'll show you the game I ran during the afternoon session. (See the afternoon session here)

Leaving for Siege of Augusta

2009-01-24T05:22:00.002-05:00

Woke the boys up, about to get in the car. It is 5:30am... I am like a kid before Christmas, I woke up before the alarm. A photographic report will follow.

Roll well and game on!

Play test for Siege of Augusta

2009-01-20T19:21:00.005-05:00

Siege of Augusta is only hours away! The boy and I did another quick play test of the rules and scenario. I made a couple of last minute tweaks to the melee rules, and now the figures are packed and ready to go! He seemed to like the new order markers as well.

Here are some scenes from the play test, click to enlarge, see you guys there!

Here is the table setup.

And the Saurian defenders of the temple.

The Italian officer somehow managed to defeat the bug eyed monster in close combat.
Jack looks on with relish.And this is why I play Victorian Science Fiction games... Velociraptors fighting giant steam robots!

Stay tuned for a convention report next week.

More Askari's and Frugal Thoughts

2009-01-18T15:47:00.004-05:00

I have painted another batch of 10 Wargames Foundry Askaris from their Darkest Africa range. I have also done up some very useful pack mules from Mega Miniatures. These guys will work for either fantasy games, or Colonials and will do well in many different scenarios as objectives or supplies to be protected. I shall probably pick up another pack, as that will give me enough to build a nice sized caravan that needs protecting in Warrior Heros.

Click on photo to enlarge.

Here we see some askaris making a resupply run on Venus. What's that lurking in the trees?!?!?!?

I have also been following the blog A Year of Frugal Gaming. Dave has a thought provoking recent post, on how do we game frugally, yet still support the hobby? My answer is that I shall spend most of my hobby dollars this year at the two or three conventions that I attend. This will help encourage vendors to attend the conventions, and hopefully make me more thoughtful about my purchases.

What are you guys doing to be more frugal this year?

More bugs on Sectem Sempra

2009-01-14T19:50:00.009-05:00

In the last couple of weeks, the boy and I also had another go with the 5150 rules from Two Hour Wargames. I cannot speak to highly of these rules, Jack has picked up most of the basics.

The scenario was a bit different from the last one. This time, a party of survivors with a small military escort had to make it across a mostly featureless table to reach an LZ on a high, where they will be picked up. Per the rules, I set the bug rating of the planet at 2. Click on the photos to enlarge.Here is the party of survivors, a military escort lead by a REP 5 with assault rifle, two REP 4's with assault rifles, and a REP 4 with LMG. The civilians are a REP 4 with assault rifle, a REP 3 with a pistol, and an unarmed REP3.

It did not take long for the first bug hole to appear!

The party poured fire into the on rushing horde. Two bugs made it into melee, but both human targets got lucky and rolled high...

A second hole appeared not long after the first, but only had 5 bugs emerge

Here is the happy commander with his troops at the LZ.

I am now embroiled in getting ready for Siege of Augusta. Until next time, good gaming!

6mm Infantry Battalion

2009-01-13T19:34:00.006-05:00

Been a busy couple of weeks at work to start, so I have fallen behind on my posting. I shall make up for it with two or three this week.

First, I received a comment on my last post about podcasts from none other than Craig from the D6 Generation. My first celebrity sighting in the old Hobby Shed! Keep up the good work guys.

Second, I'll be running my Victorian Science Fiction scenario The Crystal Mirror of Venus at Siege of Augusta on 1/24 in the 9 -1 and 2 - 6 slot. Come on out, folks seemed to have lots of fun with it at Southern Front, I can take from 2 - 6 players. See the links on the right for the rules and scenario, I have streamlined them quit a bit so the action should be even more furious, yet with a stiff upper lip in Victorian fashion.

Now on to the show.....

I have finished my first batch of troops for the new year, a 6mm US Infantry Battalion for Blitzkrieg Commander. I think this will be large enough to at least get some trigger time with the rules, I am running the Battalion commander as the CO stand and have an HQ for each infantry company.

The figures are from Heroics and Ros, and are not as nearly detailed as the 6mm lovelies I get from Peter Berry at Baccus, but the price was right as I got them in a trade. Not sure about the armor. I went for an impressionistic painting style, and used only 5 colors on each infantry figures. I am more interested in getting them on the table. They are based on Litko small flames of war bases, I just like the size and the rounded corners.

Click on Photos to enlarge.

Here is the battalion from left to right:

Weapons company with HMG platoon, 81mm mortar platoon, and Anti-tank platoon
Three infantry companies, each with 3 infantry platoons, an MG platoon (representing company heavy weapons) and an HQ
An attached company of M4 Shermans
The Battalion CO leads from the front.

Here is a closeup of the Shermans, quick and dirty paint job.

Here is a closeup of the heavy weapons company and CO stand.

I did get another bug battle in with the boy, I'll post photos tomorrow.

Podcast Roundup

2009-01-04T21:45:00.004-05:00

I hope everyone had a happy New Year. No pictures this week, I have gotten some good painting in, but nothing camera ready yet. Ten more askari's are awaiting the dip and a 6mm US 1944 NWE infantry battalion is done except for flocking.

I am maintaining my frugal wargamer status so far. No new purchases, but I am trading some lead and rules for lead, so technically that should not count. I am saving (yes, saving) up for a batch of stuff from Mega Miniatures. I have some pack mules, but I need another set, and I'd like to get some more bits and bobs for fantasy or Sci-Fi games. Even so, I am looking at spending <$30. This week,I thought I would share some of the wargaming podcasts I listen to. Many will be familiar, but some are less well known. I listen while I paint, helps keep me motivated. Many discuss games that I do not play, but I like listening to wargamers talk about their projects. I subscribe to all of these via RSS feed to my Google reader, but some are available via iTunes as well. In no particular order:

Noisemaker's Podcast : The unique wargaming views of Bert. I love this guy, he writes his own rules and does a bit of solo gaming as well. I highly recommend you listen to his whole archive.
Meeples and Miniatures: Probably one of the best known podcasts for historical miniature gamers, Neil Shuck provides news, review, interviews, and ramblings from a distinctly British perspective.
What are you working on? (WAYWO): A group of friends at a game store discussing, well, what they're working on. They put episodes out irregularly, but I love it. It reminds me of sitting around chewing the fat with my gaming buddies back in Austin.
This Week in Wargaming: Weekly topics from across wargaming. A huge variety of topics are covered, one of the hosts runs Tabletop Gaming News.
The D6 Generation: The guys are are machines! Three friends discussing their gaming activities, doing reviews, and interviewing hobby personalities. They produce sometimes three hours of content pretty much every week, I do not know how they do it. "When Wives Attack" is not to be missed. I don't actually play any of the games they frequently discuss (40K, Warmachine, etc.) but their love of gaming shines through and I never miss an episode.

There are many more podcasts out there, especially if you are into 40K or Warhammer.

Until next week, good gaming!

2008 Roundup

2008-12-27T09:31:00.007-05:00

Been a busy few weeks with the holidays. Before I dive in to my 2008 retrospective, I have a major announcement to make...

Eleven years after leaving the Army, I have returned to the colors and enlisted in the South Carolina Army National Guard. I have 4 years prior service in the guard and 3 years active duty, where I was stationed at Ft. Hood with the 313th Signal Company (Range Extension.) The company is now deactivated, I believe, as current doctrine pushes TACSAT and Tropo long range assets down to lower echelons.

Recently, while attending a Veteran's Day event at my son's school, I ran into a buddy of mine who had been in the guard with me way back in 1990. He's a CW2 now and told me they needed IT trainers. This is right down my alley, as my day job is managing a software test and test automation team. So... a week ago I found myself at the Charlotte MEPS taking an entrance physical at the age of 36. The kid sitting next to me on the bus had not been born yet the first time I had an entrance physical.

I'll pick up some snazzy new ACU's soon, and should start drilling in the next month or two.

Ok, back to gaming...

2008 in Review

Ok, first off, I did not follow my painting plan for 2008 at all. Not that it is a terrible thing, but I did not follow my plan. Even so, I had a good painting year and a better gaming one.

I attended two conventions and pushed a bit of lead around the table with my son, so all in all a good year. My final painting totals for the year were:

63 = 6mm Mounted
206 = 28mm Figures
7 = 28mm Equipment / Vehicles

Paltry by comparison to other bloggers, but not bad for me. The photos below are all of the figures I painted in '08, you can see my gamer magpie tendencies. Lots of Fantasy figures, mixed with Prussians, Sci-Fi aliens, WW2 commandos, Dinosaurs and other random stuff. Click to Enlarge.

I expect 2009 to be a good year for gaming. I should be attending 3 conventions this year (Siege of Augusta, Spring Fever, and Southern Front.)

I have also decided to take a rather drastic step. Inspired by Dave at A Year of Frugal Gaming I have decided to have a frugal wargaming year.

I will purchase no new figures in 2009 with the following exceptions:

Purchases from vendors at conventions is OK (I want to encourage them to attend, and shopping is part of the fun.) Since I attend few conventions, this should be a major impact.
Purchasing rules, books, magazines, is OK
Purchasing bases, markers, etc. is Ok (i.e Litko)
SMALL purchases to make project viable is allowed (i.e. buy command figures, etc.) This can be potentially abused, you'll have to watch me...

My sceret project for 2009 is... 1/72 plastci ACW! Why such an odd scale choice you ask? because I got piles of boxes from Hobby Lobby and Hobby Town for CHEEEP. I can field two decent sized forces for about $80. I probablyw on't start painting for a month or so. I am not commiting to a schedule (that did notw ork well last year) but I may go ahead and base them so I can get soem practice games in a experiment with rules.

I hope everyone has a spectacular 2009 and Happy New Year!

Bugs on Sectem Sempra!

2008-12-09T20:17:00.008-05:00

Well, I am finally back in town. I got a little bit of painting done while I was in DC for training, half finished 20 African askaris, I should have them polished off next weekend.

I did get a game in with my son tonight, we played a quick bug attack game of 5150 from Two Hour Wargames. The scenario was modified from one in Issue 1 of the THW fanzine, InSight.

A scientific party, escorted by a few soldiers, is at a small research station in the hinterland of the planet Sectum Sempra. The leader of the party, Professor Laura Dawkins, has detected bug sign while collecting geological samples. The party has summoned a drop ship to pick them up, it will be on station in 30 minutes.... Meanwhile, bugs are spotted on the horizen.

The party consists of:

Professor Dawkins (REP5, two BA pistols)
Cindy Lou (REP3, two machine pistols) (grad student)
Sparky (REP3, unarmed) (grad student, he is in the radio shack summoning help)
Corky (REP4, assault rifle) (Mechanic / maintenance man)
Sgt. Braddock (REP5, Assault Rifle)
Pvt. Smith (REP4, Assault rifle)
Pvt. Jones( REP3, Assault Rifle)

The 2d6 bugs will appear on any turn doubles are rolled for activation on a random table edge, game ends on turn 30 when the drop ship arrives. Click on photos to enlarge.

Here Jack plots his defense of the compound.
The first few turns, two groups of bugs appear.

In the ensuing gunfire and carnage, both of the REP3's go down, out of the fight.
Many rounds later, the 4 survivors manage to beat back the bugs, and hang on until help arrives.

Here are a few shots of the solo games I played before vacation mentioned in my last post.

A British patrol on Venus..

And brave knights and archers fighting Orc raiders...
I am still pecking away at my 6mm WW2, and I have a secret project in the works I am trying to get off the ground. Until next time, good gaming!

Offline for a couple of weeks

2008-11-23T23:59:00.002-05:00

Headed out of town Tuesday for Thanksgiving and off to DC on business the following week. No updates for a while. I am taking the Askaris to paint, and my 6mm WW2 battalions are slowly coming along, and another batch for 6mm trees are on the bench.

Hopefully I'll have some photos when I get back.

I did get a couple of solo games in, one of Colonial Adventures and One of Warrior Heroes, not much else to report.

TTFN

Fantasy and Sci-Fi batch

2008-11-20T19:02:00.006-05:00

Finally finished painting some figures I have had on my table for a while, click photos to enlarge. Also I am selling several board wargames on eBay, please buy my stuff!

First up, a set of Blue Moon Manufacturing Neptunian Infantry, perfect for 5150 or pulp games.

Next up a halfling and nonchalant ranger face off against 6 skeleton warriors. Adventureres from Mega Miniatures, Skeletons by Games Workshop.
Finally a noble Games Workshop knight charges the last 3 Lord of the Rings Orcs I had left to paint from my box.

On the table right now is my small 6mm WW2 force, based and primed. I have not had time to put brush to metal yet. I am going on a business trip the week after thanksgiving and have not decided weather to take them to paint for some 28mm Foundry colonial askaris, opinions?

WW2 update

2008-11-15T23:09:00.001-05:00

I have always loved WW2 wargaming, in fact it was the 2^nd period I stared playing, after ancients. Prior to moving from Austin, I was BIG into 15mm WW2. While it was not my favorite ruleset at the time (Crossfire held that distinction), I had tons of stuff for Flames of War. I could field Germans, Americans, and Soviets using infantry, armored infantry, and armor for all 3. That is a LOT of T-34's in 15mm.

When we moved, I liquidated most of it, and traded the rest away after we moved to Camden for a pile of 6mm WW2. Here, two years later, I am finally ready to get back in to the period.

I am organizing my troops, and will be targeting German and American forces for the NWE theater, 1944. From Normandy through Operation Cobra. As usual, I have multiple purposes for the forces, and will be playing probably 4 different scales:

1 stand = part of a squad or 1 tank for IABSM! Company level actions (I want to be a Captain and command a company)
1 stand = 1 squad or vehicle for Crossfire (I want to be a company or battalion commander)
1 stand = 1 platoon for Blitzkrieg Commander (I want to command a regiment / brigade with attachments)
1 stand = 1 company for Field of Battle:WW2 ( I want to be a Division commander)

This of course does not count the other rules on my shelf (Battlefront:WW2, Spearhead, Command Decision, Tacfire, PBI2, and lord knows what else.)

I am sorting through the boxes of troops I got in the trade and am fleshing out the gaps with orders from The Last Square.

I am going to start with forces for BKC and FOB:WW2. I have just managed to glue down an Infantry Battalion (BKC sized) and hope to get the primed and painted by the end of next weekend. I'll probably get a game of BKC in with them before FOB, simply because it takes fewer bases.

I have about 15 28mm figures finished on the table, but not quit ready for pictures yet, as the bases are not done yet. Maybe tomorrow.

Photos up and Land Ironclads

2008-11-09T19:45:00.005-05:00

I finally have my new camera operational, below are photos of the last batch of figures I painted. I need to work with it some more and get the macro setting working properly.

I also actually got some gaming in this weekend! Tom came up from Aiken, and introduced me to Land Ironclads. No photos, alas. We got two games in, I won the first, he won the second. Both times we played a Hun assault on plucky British defenders(me.) It was a fun game, I am considering picking up a starter pack, but my current project queue is full for the next year or so.

Enjoy the photos! (click to enlarger)

Here are my latest batch of fantasy figures. The background is my quick and dirty dungeon wall set I made with a 1 x 2 and a can of fleckstone spraypaint.

Here are my bugs, with a photo to give you an idea of their size (human figures from Hasslefree and AT-43)

Am I losing my historical bona fides?

2008-11-02T01:49:00.003-04:00

Still no photos, bought a new camera, but had to order a charger for the battery. Should be back up next week. Meanwhile, check out the Hardcore History podcast by Dan Carlin. Very interesting stuff, I like his idiosyncratic style. He is just finishing up a 3 part session on the Punic wars, I recommend you give them a listen.

While I wait, here is a question for you. Am I losing my status as a historical gamer? Over the years I have been an avid student of history, and ancient wargaming is what got me into the miniatures end of the hobby. I even prided myself in being something of a curmodgeon, ocassionally known to say "harrumph!"

But, over the last few years, I have been doing primarily a lot of non-historical stuff: zombies, fantasy, sci-fi, and Victorian Science Fiction. Sure I paint the occasional stand for my never ending War of the Spanish Sucession project or some 28mm WW2, but it has mostly been VSF.

Does it matter? I am playing games ocassionally and having fun. I don't know why it is bugging me.

So, to get well rounded again, my next mini-project will shift gears. I sold off all of my vast horde of 15mm WW2 Flames of War collection a couple of years ago, and part of the proceeds went to a trade that netted boxes of 6mm microarmor. As soon as Litko deliveres the bases, I will do two small forces for Piquet Field of Battle:WW2, maybe a reinforced division per side. I'll convert inches to centimeters, then I can play on a reasonably sized table.

Painting update

2008-10-26T13:41:00.003-04:00

No photos this week, the camera finally gave up the ghost. So until the new one I ordered from eBay shows, you will just have to assume that my paint jobs are awesome!

I have had a productive few weeks, and wanted to update my numbers. Finished up a total of 39 28mm miniatures (WOOT!)

5 Demons for fantasy games
4 skeleton warriors
3 adventurers (a cleric, fighter, and thief)
1 large Kithix Hunter from Hydra Miniatures. I bought this one for Jack at the convention, he HAD to have it.
6 more Orcs
20 (yes 20) bugs from the Starship troopers starter set. (These almost should not count, they were a breeze to paint)

I got in a solo 5150 game using the bugs based loosely on the scenario in Insight magazine issue 1. The humans survived, but with 1 dead, 5 out of the fight, and on lone guy with an LMG killing the last bug on turn 30.

I'll get photos up next weekend after the new camera arrives.

The Colonel and Co. Version 3.0

2008-10-19T08:39:00.007-04:00

I have made a major overhaul to the rules based on the 3 games played at Southern Front. This is all in an effort to streamline them even more while retaining Victorian Science Fiction flavor. Note that these are designed for multi-player convention games where speed is vital. As a rule of thumb, if a rule slowed down the game without adding fun OR was even forgotten during the heat of battle, it got whacked.

I borrowed heavily at Tom's suggestion from the Maxwellian variant of TSATF for firing and melee.

Changes include:

Printing the thing in a bigger font!
Switching to all d6's and modifying all of the charts and armor save process accordingly.
Eliminating saves for troops in open and a corresponding reduction in firepower to even it out.
Morale is now just baked in to vehicle hits and melee. Units under 60% take a simple pluck test when fired on, and morale is "stateless" so no extra markers on the table. Units just react when the event happens.
Explicit mechanical reliability rolls. On failure, you just cannot move that turn, so it is stateless as well. Vehicle accumulate mechanical damage from hits, I will be using small hex nuts mark these.
Updated "The Crystal Mirror of Venus" scenario to reflect the changed rules, and tweaked it a bit in the process.

Give them a read and let me know what you think, I'll be running the game at Siege of Augusta in January.

The rules are here: The Colonel and Co., version 3.0
The Scenario is here: The Crystal Mirror of Venus, version 3.0

No pictures this week

2008-10-18T12:27:00.002-04:00

The wife is out of town and took the camera with her. I have gotten a bit more painting done, more Orcs, adventurers, skeletons, demons, and one big monster. Next week, I post pictures and update my painting progress counter.

The boy and I have been playing more Warrior Heroes, his party raided a ruined wizard's tower. They defeated the orcs camped out there, and skeletons and a petty demon down in the dungeon. This weekend, he'll be investigating the goings on around Seawell.

Currently on the table, Neptunian Infantry, bugs, more skeletons. I am not sure what to paint next, Colonial Adventures from Two Hour Wargames is coming out soon, so I may dig out my Masai I bought last year.

Orcs, oh my!

2008-10-06T19:31:00.004-04:00

Getting caught up on my latest painting, here are the fruits of my efforts. I am knocking out figures for Warrior Heroes, the boy and I are going to have an adventure next week.

I really must get a new camera...(click on photos to enlarge)

First up are batch of 15 Orcs from Games Workshop Lord of the Rings line of figures. I cannot over state what a great deal these figures are, a box of 24 retails for $25. And did I mention they were Perry sculpts? Pick some up, I plan to flesh out my Warrior Heros hosts with more from this line.

Here is a knight and his retinue of archers, I think these are Warhammer figures, got the lot for $10 at a convention last year.

Here are some more Mega Miniatures adventurers, with a D&D prepaint that I based up. One or more of these figures will probably play a pivitol role in our next adventure.

Southern Front 2008, Part 3

2008-10-04T10:20:00.003-04:00

Saturday afternoon, I had the opportunity to play in one game, and chose Tom's French Foreign Legion game. The scenario was a fort in Syria under attack by Druze tribesmen, three of us (plus Tom) played the natives and two played the defenders. (click on photos to enlarge)

Here Tom explains the rules. He used a very elegant set called "The Damned Die Hard" which are modified from an Alamo set in the old MWAN. Obviously very specialized rules, but fast and very flavorful.
Here is a shot of Tom's great looking fort, the wall under attack by my tribe. Somehow I managed to throw 5 1's in a row for movement, allowing the defenders to decimate me during the first couple of waves of attacks.
And here we are later in the game, when my guys finally made it inside. You can see my comrade crawling over the other walls as well.

A VERY gun game, thanks Tom!

All in all, we had a smashing time and plan to attend Spring Fever in April. The organizers did an outstanding job.

A couple of observations on my rules, The Colonel and Co.

Modifying the shooting using the Maxwellian varient of TSATF. (Tom's idea)
Adding an explicit and simpler set of mechanical checks for contraptions. We tended to forget to do the checks prior to movement
Switch to d6 across the board
Simplify all of the tables
Print the charts in LARGER type, many players had trouble reading the charts during the game.

I'll be making updates over the next few weeks and post them, and I plan to rerun the game at Siege of Augusta, Spring Fever, and maybe even Southern Front next year.

Southern Front 2008, Part 2

2008-10-01T20:43:00.006-04:00

We awoke Saturday morning to a fine breakfast and hit the table with gusto. I had 4 players, including Jackson, and streamlined the scenario a bit by putting the Italians and Prussians back in the box.

Click on the photos to enlarge

Here the players make their opening moves...

The players managed to wipe out the Saurians in the temple with concentrated artillery fire. I modified the scenario somewhat and ruled that any saurian archer ambushes would flee after the last temple guard was killed.

About the time of this photo, all heck broke loose, with the Confederate steam power suit wreaking havoc among the Rocket Marines. Close assaults see-sawed back and forth in the temple itself. The Confederates scored a win and managed to get the Crystal Mirror off the table despit horrific losses. Captain Kershaw-Jackson personally carried it off to safety.

And here are the intrepid players. We reached a conclusion in 2 hours, which gave time for some shopping and sight seeing.

We started up the second game on Saturday with 4 players again, the British this time facing off against the Russians and Italians.
Here the crafty Italians and stoic Russians plot their course of action.

The Russian player had the worst luck of the day. This one small copse of trees held two saurian ambushes, a T. Rex and a pack of velociraptors! But with aplomb, he actually charged the beasts! Unfortunately, his commander was chomped on by the T. Rex. He also had singularly bad luck with the Tesla rifle, which refused to fire 4 turns in a row.

And here are the players. The British managed to squeeze out a victory and retrieve the artifact. It was a good show all around.

Next time, I'll post photos of Tom's great French Foreign Legion game I played in, as well as some random photos of other games and thoughts on what I'll tweak in the rules next time.

Southern Front 2008, Part 1

2008-09-30T19:34:00.006-04:00

I finally got my PC back up and running, and now can share Jackson and mine's adventure to Southern Front 2008. We played hard, so I'll post this in sections. We had a spectacular time, kudos to the organizers.

We arrived Friday around 1, and I intended to play in a game, go to bed early, and get up and run my scenario the next day. But, there were several cancellations by other game masters. It appears that there was no gas available in Charlotte, stranding several of the guys. So, I volunteered to run my game on Friday night as well.

The scenario is posted here, the rules we used were The Colonel and Co. Lite. Click on the photos to enlarge.

Here is the table setup, we had 4 players and I left all 6 factions on the table.

Here Chris and Tom (The Russian / Italian / Confederate Entente) plot their master strategy.

Here the Prussian Player removes many, many casualties.
And what would be a jaunt on Venus without a dinosaur attack? Things like is is why the Gardner gun almost never, ever gets to fire. Jackson was the lucky one who drew this card.

And here is the table towards the end of the game. The game ended when there was no one left to carry the objective, the fabled crystal mirror! Infantry casualty rates were 100%, the vehicles refusing to shoot at each other and shooting at the soft, squishy infantry instead.

Despite the outcome, everyone seemed to have a grand time, and I went to bed that night one tired game master.

Next time, I'll regal you with tales of the games played Saturday.

Perils of technology

2008-09-28T16:34:00.003-04:00

Got back from Southern Front in Raleigh, NC yesterday, I ran my game 3 times, and fun appeared to have been had by all. My son and I had a great time, we will be attending next year.

But, alas, my galvanic difference engine has bitten the dust and until I am back up, I will not be able to post any photos. Stay tuned, I should be back up again in a few days.

I also have about 20+ 28mm figures painted in the last few weeks that I need to post as well, should the next post should be a big one.

The Colonel and Co. Light v2.0

2008-09-12T22:04:00.003-04:00

It has been a long week, my mother-in-law passed away this week at the age of 87. I have been mostly helping my wife the last two days.

As a distraction, I sat down to review my rules for Southern Front in two weeks. I have been tweaking them since the game in January in order to streamline them. They are designed for large multi-player convention games, and I want it to move fast. So, what have I done?

Eliminated cover modifiers and replaced them with saving throws. I think this just moves faster, and honestly, saving throws are fun!
Vehicle mechanical rolls are now "stateless." If you fail a roll, you cannot move that turn, but can roll again next turn to move.
Simplified Vehicle hit chart
Vehicle hits are now saved using opposed die rolls, less math and should speed it up.
All small arms hits now cause non-penetrating hits, but non-penetrating hits are now much less damaging.
Fewer morale modifiers.
Added the idea of disorder to simplify the morale results.
Eliminated turn rating for automatons

Give it a look over and let me know what you think, they are posted here. I promise a full report from the convention. After I get back, I will post the scenario briefing as well as photos.

100th post and Soviets finished!

2008-08-31T21:44:00.009-04:00

I have finally hit the century mark, thanks for letting me share my wargaming projects with you.

In celebration, I have gone in to painting overdrive the last 2 weeks and finished 25 28mm WW2 Soviet infantry. Not only is this a major accomplishment for me, but I have finished the whole batch! I have actually completed a project. Don't worry about my health, though, I have plenty more lead in the chute waiting to be done.

Browse through my photo album below, click on it to view photos close up. The force consists of:

Platoon Leader
2 x Flame Throwers
Maxim MG team (firing and moving)
4 x Infantry Squads (Each consisting of 2 SMG, 4 Rifle, 1 DP LMG)
1 Scout Squad (8 Men)
2 Snipers
T-70 Light Tank

Now I have to go and build some Stalingrad terrain. Until next time, roll high and live!

Adventuring we will go...

2008-08-24T09:00:00.005-04:00

Got some gaming in this weekend with the boy, we played Mayhem: Warrior Heroes, which is available free from the Two Hour Wargames Yahoo Group.

We set up a simple scenario, with three adventurers setting out to raid a lizardman temple. The party consisted of Sir Leland (REP5 fighter), "Mistman" (REP4 Thief), Gandalf (REP4 Wizard.)

As soon as the adventurers arrived on table, a REP4 Lizardman chief emerged from the trees, followed by three REP3 archers.

Leland charged in and did great execution amongst the lizardmen, slaying the leader and forcing the rest to flee. So, to spice things up...

A dinosaur suddenly burst forth and charged the wizard! The wizard fortunately failed his being charged test and ran away.
The dino ran for the thief next who kept him distracted while Leland circled around behind him. Together they managed to get in a killing blow.

We set up for a second game (the first lasted 30 minutes), this time with the dino on teh table with all the lizardmen.

This time, the wizard cast a "summon great cat" spell. As I didn't have a any lion models, I used a velociraptor... Leland got lucky and dispatched the big dino again, while the raptor charged the lizardmen.
The lizardman leader was chomped by the raptor, while the rest either ran away or were easily dispatched by Leland and the thief.

Two very fun games. I did have to make up thief specific rules as we went through the game (sneaking, dodging out of combat, etc.), so I finally decided to get the new Warrior Heroes: Armies and Adventures, which contains complete rules for skills, etc. I am working on a dungeon for the boy now, and I think I'll pick up a box of LOTR Mordor Orcs, as the boy wants to play again.

New Tank

2008-08-16T22:51:00.002-04:00

Not much painting this week, just finished up a light steam tank from Ironclad Miniatures. (click to enlarge) I went with a camouflage scheme inspired by a WW1 pattern.

Southern Front is in a few weeks, help me pay for my hotel room! I am liquidating my board wargame collection and also have some Foundry and Warzone 28mm figures listed on eBay. See my auctions here. I also have some stuff for my wife listed, so don't hesitate to buy some of the dishes, too.

10 WW2 Soviets are in the hopper, I just finished their flesh, uniforms, and helmets, so they should be done next weekend.

The fruits of Krupp

2008-08-10T21:02:00.003-04:00

Despite spending all of the last 10 days moving and working on the old house (still not done unpacking), I have finished another batch of figures. These are the last of my Foundry Prussians, and include a 150mm siege gun, a 210mm siege mortar, crews, and my Prussian officers (with sharply dressed courier.)

I am priming a WW2 Soviet Maxim machine gun team, and some fantasy figures for Warrior Heroes. I hope to have them done in a week or so.

Meanwhile, go check out the "What are you working on?" podcast. WAYWO is basically a bunch of friends sitting around discussing their current projects in a game store. Their enthusiasm shows, it is inspirational stuff to listen to while you're painting.

And now we've moved...

2008-08-02T12:11:00.002-04:00

Moved back to our other house in Camden this weekend, so it has put a cramp in my painting. Almost done with my Prussian guns and gunners, plus another light steam tank.

The upside is we have a LOT larger room for me to set my hobby stuff up in, with the ability to leave my 48" x 80" table set up. I aim to play a game with Jackson next weekend, and will include photos.

I need to put the last touches on my VSF game for Southern Front, I want to have that ready to go well in advance.

Back from Vacation

2008-07-25T18:58:00.009-04:00

Been back for a week, but just had a chance to post. We have a wonderful time at our house. We went to Chichen Itza, and other than that just hung out, swam, snorkled, and watched the sunset. See below for a few snap shots.

The final batch of Prussians are on the table, starting to get my painting groove back. Probably some more 28mm WW2 after that, we'll see where my whims take me.

All quiet....

2008-06-30T22:05:00.002-04:00

Probably no new posts for the next 3 weeks. I did finish up 10 more Prussians, but between work and getting ready for vacation, I have not had much time. We are headed to the beach house in a week, and I'll spend another week drinking Sol, seeing Chichen Itza, and snorkeling.

Have a good 4th of July weekend, even to our British comrades!

NUTS! game and In Sight Tests

2008-06-15T21:28:00.005-04:00

Not much to report that last couple of weeks. Been pretty busy, I have just been promoted to manager, so settling in to that has taken quit a bit of energy. Hopefully, with the raise, I can afford more figures!

I cleaned up the play room and set up my new gaming table, which consists of two 24" wide doors set across my two folding tables. It makes a nice area, is sturdy, and light weight. See below, here it is set up for a solo NUTS! game, Eastern Front 1944. (click photos to enlarge)
The Two Hour Wargames Yahoo Group has been abuzz the last few weeks with the NUTS! 2.0 updated In Sight table. This brings it in alignment with the other THW rules. I did a solo game to give them a spin, with a single German squad defending a ruined farm against two Soviet squads. Check out the new tables in the files section of the group.

Here, some Soviets creep in to position.

The Germans are vigilante....
The game was great, with the Soviets taking the farm. It ended with lots of grenades and close assaults, like this one. (I use the red bead to indicate OD figures, like the German on the floor.)
The new In Sight table worked well. I was skeptical at first, there was an intermediate version I though would work better, but the current incarnation works well.

I also bought a copy of the Sci-Fi rules 5150 and they look great! I am redoing my VSF THW inspired rules to use 5150 as a base, I should have something presentable in a few weeks. I am also tempted to stock up on Sci-Fi miniatures, maybe even buy some AT-43 pre-paints. Must resist....

Painting is going OK, I have 10 more Prussians on the table, pretty much done, just need to be touched up and dipped. The next batch will be Prussian artillery and gunners. At that point, I will be DONE with Prussians. It is not exactly a whole project complete, but I'll take what I can get.

TTFN!

Prussians advance onto the field

2008-06-02T22:54:00.003-04:00

I have finished up a batch of Foundry Prussians, the last troops I needed to paint before Southern Front. Now I can spend the next few months focusing on rules and the scenario. I hope you enjoy these, I am rather happy how they came out. I am not a magnificent painter, but these were fun to do.

I am going to hang up my brush for a while, and focus on playing for a change, even if it is mostly solo. So, the next few posts will probably be battle reports.

Click on photos to enlarge

Something lurking in the Jungle

2008-05-24T21:34:00.004-04:00

I have veered again and am back to painting figures for VSF, mostly fauna for any lost-ish world. Click on the photos to enlarge.

Here a Nano T. Rex from Copplestone Castings is about to chomp on a sailor, also from Copplestone.

Possible more of a threat are the savage packs of Utahraptors. These are also from Copplestone.

The best defense against raptor attacks is LOTS of firepower. Here we have a Royal Navy Gardener gun from Old Glory, with a Copplestone officer supervising.

My table is now covered with Foundry 1870 Prussians, I hope to have a few for next week.

More Commandos

2008-05-19T20:33:00.003-04:00

Running late with the update this week, finished another batch of commandos. Something fun in the works for next week. Click on photos to enlarge.

Here some sneaky raiders creep up on the unsuspecting sentry.
Here we have a Bren team that can lay down some covering fire, with a couple more raiders with Lend-Lease Thompsons.

Lizardmen and Catapults

2008-05-11T16:17:00.002-04:00

I finished off 10 more Lizardmen for Venus. Above is the current total of all of the large Venusian Saurians I have finished. Click to enlarge.

I have also added some heavy firepower for the lizardmen. While they do not possess gunpowder weapons like the Martians, their society does have a high level of mechanical sophistication. They frequently deploy a range of catapults in battle that throw flaming projectiles that can even damage landships. Catapults are by Mega Miniatures.

The Colonel and Co. Lite

2008-05-08T20:05:00.002-04:00

I have published to the web site a stripped down version of the Colonel and Co . for use at conventions. Frankly, I mostly removed rules and modifiers that were usually forgotten in the heat of a game! I also clarified the sequence of events a bit and added saving throws for shooting targets. The goal is a fast and smooth flowing game. They can be found on the web site here.

Stay tuned, I intend to use these at Southern Front in Raleigh in September, and Siege of Augusta in January.

Party of Adventurers

2008-05-03T08:25:00.003-04:00

Click to Enlarge

A few weeks ago, I heard the words that would make any father of a 10 year old proud: "Dad, how do you play Dungeons and Dragons?" We have played a couple of times and had great fun, using the old 1st edition rules. To enhance the experience, I purchased a pack of "Swords for Hire" from Mega Miniatures. These are neat figures and a great value.

We should do some adventuring here in the next few weeks, until then, the party clashes with Lizardmen!

British Commandos

2008-04-26T14:53:00.004-04:00

As promised, here are some plucky commando raiders, ready to scale the walls of Hitler's Fortress Europe and raise some heck. I have 8 more on the table right now, to be followed by French partisans.

Click on the photos to enlarge.

Return of the Lizardmen

2008-04-19T08:41:00.003-04:00

Click to enlarge

I am getting back into the painting groove and closer to my habit of weekly updates, hopefully I can keep it up. The trick (for me) seems to be to target about ten 28mm figures a week or the equivalent in 6mm strips.

I have gotten back to painting Warhammer Lizardmen for Venusian VSF games. I'd like to run a few convention games this year and next, and need to bulk up the troops. These guys are big, ugly, close combat troops, unlike their skink bretheren, who tend to skirmish from cover with their short, powerful bows. I have 30 more to do, but they paint fast.

Next week, British Commandos! I have totally gotten off of my painting plan for the year and am now just working on whatever strikes my fancy on Saturday mroning. But, I am staying strong and not buying and new troops for new projects, although I have made some trades to bulk up my colonials and VSF troops.

Prototype 6mm Trees

2008-04-13T20:46:00.005-04:00

I am getting back in the saddle, and will have several updates over the next few weeks. I will eventually need rather extensive forests for my 6mm troops, but cannot afford a pricey solution. So, I hit Hobby Lobby and picked up a couple of packs of "bumpy" pipe cleaners and wooden circles and ovals for bases. Add olive drab spray paint, white glue, sand, and bam! Here are my first prototypes, with a battalion of French Infantry for scale, click to enlarge.

I will post a how to article as I build the rest of the forest. Coming soon (just waiting for flocking) are more VSF Venusian Lizardmen and a team of intrepid British Commandos.

Chain Reaction Shootout

2008-03-09T12:30:00.007-04:00

Been a busy few weeks at work again, and I have been itching to play a game. So, I decided to follow Ed Texira's advice and "Just play the game!" I set up a quick game of Chain Reaction 2 last weekend. A simple scenario set in your generic post-apocalypse landscape. Mercenaries have captured a scientist and a group of plucky freedom fighters have set out to rescue him.

The Mercenaries consisted of 5 mercs, 4 x REP 4 with a REP 5 leader. The freedom fighters had a REP 5 leader, 2 x REP 4's and 2 x REP 3's. Click on the photos to enlarge.

The mercenaries move down the street.
The mercs head down a side street and a firefight erupts. Two mercs go down hard (but not obviously dead) and one freedon fighter is knocked down.
Meanwhile on the main street, the merc machine gunner fends off 4 freedom fighters, killing one and forcing the rest to duck back.
Two manage to circle around the machine gunner and shoot him in the back (no in sight test for the unfortunate merc.) They come up behind the remaining mercs, one of which recovered after being checked out by a comrade. More fire had been exchanged in the alley, killing one of the freedom fighters.
The freedom fighters fired on the mercs and took down the rest of them, loosing another member.
The freedom fighters had won, but lost two dead and one seriously wounded. A fun game, took about 45 minutes to play.

Now back to the WSS painting table.

WSS Progress Report

2008-02-24T11:29:00.006-05:00

Been very busy since getting back from Siege of Augusta. My wife was out of town for two weeks and the house fell into chaos, the sea turned to blood, but on the upside, I had control of the remote and got to watch MythBusters.

I started falling off of the rails on my 2008 painting plan. I got excited re-reading the WW2 company level rules IABSM and started basing my 6mm troops for it. Then I started to jump ahead and primed my Royal Navy Gardener gun teams. This weekend, I have taken a deep breath and ceased fire to get re-focused on the War of the Spanish Succession.

In the last 6 weeks, I have finished up 3 more bases of French horse and 4 bases of French Dragoons. Here are the results (click to enlarge):
I have cleared my table and now only need to finish 4 bases of artillery, 2 bases of Bavarian Cuirassiers, and 3 generals for the French before I can dive in to the Anglo-Dutch.

Back from Siege and VSF Scenario and Battle Report

2008-01-27T19:08:00.000-05:00

Jackson and I had a smashing time at Siege of Augusta 17 this past weekend. We rolled in early Saturday morning, and met up with a few members of SCHGS. We played twice in Tom's Space Hulk game and had a great time! Jackson played the gene stealer's both times. Here he is deciding how to chomp on the Space Marines, Tom is in the red hat, orchestrating the game. (Click on photos to enlarge)
Space Hulk is a great little game. I had never played it before, but recently heard it described on the Meeples and Miniatures podcast. It is a very fun little game, and Jack and I came back determied to play at home. I will have to make some modifications, as I have no Space Marines, but will re-do the game with zombies and survivors in an underground military base.

The convention was very well done and well attended. There were lots of nice looking games, unfortunately, I neglected to take photos! Here are some from CPT Jake. I managed to stay within my spending budget, and picked up a couple of tanks for 28mm WW2 skirmishes, a ton of Wargames Illustrated magazines at $0.50 a pop, and a bag of mech warriors that Jackson and I need to make rules for.

Sunday morning, we woke up early and headed to Tom's house in Aiken, and I ran a game of The Colonel and Co. I have made a few tweaks since Bill and I played last. The scenario pitted the Anglo-Prussian alliance (the Kaiser is teh Queen's son in law after all) against the force of an Entente consisting of the Russians, French, Italians, and renegade Confederates. The entire scenario is posted here for your viewing pleasure.

We had a good group, and I apologize that I cannot remember everyone's name! This is the first time I have seen these guys face to face. The motley crew included Tom, Ben, Chris and his son, Mike, and my son Jack. Click on the photos to enlarge...

Here the commanders jockey for position to seize the Seeing Stone in the valley of the Therns.
The Royal Rocket Marines attempt to close assault the Russian land monitor. Turned out that was not a good idea...
Here the British army, commanded by Chris, advances on the temple supported by their Prussian allies.

Here is the best scene anyone running a game can see, a table full of engaged players! Everyone seemed to have fun, and for many of the guys, this was their introduction to Victorian Science Fiction. I hope we made some converts. As soon as the British obtained the stone, the packs of war beasts emerged in a frenzy! Here they munch on the Prussians...
And they swarmed the HMLS Pellew, doing some amount of damage...
Here is the final endgame. Chris won a sterling victory, spiriting the stone off the right side of the table. You can see the Russian land monitor smoking in the background after taking a catastrophic hit from the HMLS Pellew.

It was a great game. Many, many thanks to Tom for graciously hosting at his house and providing lunch. Tom also has some great scratch built contraptions, next time I much capture photos, but this time my batteries ran low. I look forward to our next game and will certainly be attending Siege next year.

Getting ready for Siege of Augusta

2008-01-21T10:53:00.000-05:00

Siege of Augusta is this weekend, and the boy and I will be attending. I have not actually pushed lead in so long, I can't wait!

I will also be helping run a VSF game the Sunday afterwards with the guys of the SC Historical Gamers Society in Aiken. We will be using the latest incarnation of The Colonel & Co., I will post the scenario and a report when we get back. I will also do a quick review of the convention.

Other than that it has been quiet on the gaming front. I have been chugging away on my 6mm WSS guys from drawer #1. Six bases of French horse and dragoons are now complete (56 figures) since the first of the year. When I finish the rest of the French and have the base treatments done, I'll post photos and update the tally board.

We build a siege engine

2008-01-02T11:56:00.001-05:00

Jackson and my New Year's project was one we have been mulling over for a while. Back in 2004, Jack and I attended the Austin Celtic Festival and picked up a book called The Art of the Catapult. It contains all sorts of directions for making various catapults and I highly recommend it if you are interested in the topic. We got our directions for making a staff sling from this book.

We have been slowly gathering the pieces to build a human powered trebuchet made from PVC pipe, and New Year's eve and New Year's day saw us out at my dad's house, hard at work.. (click on photos to enlarge)

Here Jackson puzzles over the instructions.
Here, Jack and my dad pose before the finished weapon. Tremble in fear!!! (it was quit a bit colder on the 1st)
Here, Jack loads the trebuchet, while my dad prepares more ammunition.

My dad demonstrates how to rain destruction on your foes. We made several throws using tennis balls for ammunition, but the results were less than spectacular. Then we switched to rocks (mwahahahah!) The best throw of the day sent a rock slightly bigger than a hen's egg about 45-50 yards down range. This photo was taken with Jack standing at the impact point.
All in all, good fun. I think next we may get a big bag of potatoes and chunk them into the lake.

Happy New Year!

2007-12-31T11:32:00.000-05:00

I have started on my resolutions... Worked out the last two days and am on the road back to my former John Carter of Mars-like physique.

I have also sorted the six chuncks of work into drawers, here is my evidence:And here are the contents of drawer #1....
I also just received an order from Grandiosity, two magazines and a Old Glory Gardener Gun pack. I might adjust the contents of drawer #2, but am trying to fight the temptation.

2007 was a pretty good year for painting, see sidebar on the right. Not quit as good as 2006, but I was unemployed for a couple of months that year. I also ran out of steam around May, as that was when my big project ramped up at work.

I am looking forward to attending Siege of Augusta in January, and should get several games in., I will take photos and post my impressions. This will be the first convention I attend other than Millennium from my old club in Austin, and the first con where I am not running a game. I love running games (my wife says because I get a captive audience!), but just being able to relax and play/ shop will be nice.

Have a happy and safe new year, roll high and live!

Skirmish before Aberdeen

2007-12-28T16:24:00.000-05:00

Two weeks ago, I played a quick solo Victorian Science Fiction game using Chain Reaction 2 and my in progress Colonel's Boiler Plated Brandy Snifter add on for VSF battles.

In 1872, the Tzar's putative expedition landed in Scotland to given the cheeky Brits a good thumping in retaliation for various offenses to his honor.

The expedition landed near Aberdeen and marched towards the city. The first line of defense for the empire consisted of former Confederate's settled in the area. A delaying action was fought by these Johnny Rebs in a small village on the way to the city...

The Russian advance party consisted of:

2 x Infantry companies, with a REP 4 Captain and nine REP 3 conscript riflemen (breach loading rifles)
1 x REP 4 Tesla gunner with body armor

The Confederate delaying force consisted of:

1 x Infantry company, with a REP 5 Captain and nine REP 4 riflemen (breach loading rifles, Allin conversions)
2 x REP 4 Steam power suits with steam grenade launchers (count as body armor)

The Rebs were charged with delaying the Russians in a small village that had previously been bombarded by the Tzar's guns. The Russians advanced with one company (with Tesla gunner) in skirmish order and one company sheltering in the woods.

Click on photos to enlarge.

The left company entered the outskirts of the village, and the right company gingerly swept through the open towards the next copse of trees.
Suddenly, rifle fire crack out as three rebs fired and dropped three Russians. The rest scurried back to teh shelter of the trees. Fortunately for them, the steam grenadier in the woods had a misfire and did not get to lob a grenande into their ranks.
The left company was not as lucky, as the other steam grenadier lumbered out from behind a building and fired into them, ignoring the ineffective rifle fire. The blast killed two and sent the rest diving for cover.
Rebel snipers on the second story of the farmhouse fired a few round at the Tesla gunner, but to no effect. The terrible weapon was fully charged, and its force was unleashed, frying the gray riflemen.
Meanwhile, the Steam grenadier lumbered forward again, hoping to catch the Russians bunched together. But, luck was not with him as a rifle round found its way into a chink in his armor and shattered his knee cap.

The rightmost company took two more casualties in the wood, as the confederate steam grenadier repaired his weapon and began lobbing projectiles in among the trees. The Russian Captain decided to vacate the killing zone with the rest fo his men.

The leftmost company sent a man out to dispatch the steam grenadier and began to cautiously advance into the village.
The advance continued, with the right company hugging cover and the left company taking ineffective fire from a reb sniper in the barn they were approaching.
The Russians sought cover and moved their Tesla gunner into a position to flank some of the confederate riflemen.
The leftmost company now rushed the barn, bursting into the downstairs. The three riflemen upstairs decide to high tail it out of there by running down the stairs and into the farmhouse.
The Tesla rifle forced the riflemen outside the farmhouse to seek shelter and killed two more Confederates who were firing through the windows.
At this point, the Confederate Captain decided that honor had been served, and decided to withdraw.

The final tally was 8 Russians killed versus 5 Confederates (including the steam grenadier.) A fair showing. It was a great solo game and took me about an hour, not counting setup. I will continue to work on the rules over the next few days, and hope to do a solo play test with automata.

New Years Hobby Resolutions

2007-12-28T11:57:00.000-05:00

Going out on a limb here....

But I need to make some New Year hobby resolutions. I had a pretty good first half of 2007 for getting stuff painted, but not many games actually played. A large project at work consumed my soul in a Cuthulu-like tentacled way.

So here is my plan:

Make no new figure or rules purchases in 2008, but I may buy magazines. (And I can download all of the free stuff I want off of the web.)
Paint figures in the following order. This will take an ENORMOUS amount of discipline, but I think will make a good goal. I am not committing as to when each batch will be painted, just on the order. To assist in this goal, I have sorted them in my miniatures storage system (aka the card catalog) with each batch in a drawer.

WSS 6mm: Finish all of the Allies and French from the Baccus army packs
VSF 28mm: Unit of 10 Russian Cavalry, 7 Civilians
WSS 6mm: Finish all of the booster packs
VSF: 2 x Units of 20 big Lizardmen
WW2 28mm: 8 figure unit of Soviet Scouts, plus a Maxim MG team
VSF: Two big Lizardman Dino's

Actually follow and participate in some of the Yahoo groups I am am member of. I am trimming the list considerably from 30 I am am a member of and aim to actively participate in 3 or 4.
Play more! Play at least one game a month, even if it is solo.
Do one blog or web site update at least every 2 weeks.
Never miss a Monday night fiddle lesson again! Also, practice at least 3 times a week.
Exercise (any kind) at least 4 times a week.

Ok, I will chronicle my results here, we shall see how I do.

New dog and new web site

2007-11-25T22:44:00.001-05:00

We have acquired a new member of the family from the animal shelter. Her name is Lucy (Jack named her after the Peanuts character) and she has been with us for over two weeks now. She has a great temperament and is very happy. We took her to my dad's today and Jackson walked her down to introduce her to Aunt Betty.

After blogging for a couple of years now, I realized that I have quit a bit of content built up. So, I have decided to launch a new web site as an adjunct to the blog, it is located here.

Not much yet, but I have started adding how to articles that previously appeared on the blog and am working on a gallery. It is very much a work in progress, as soon as I have a decent amount of stuff up, I will post to The Miniatures Page.

I also intend to add a short summary of how I envision my Victorian Science Fiction universe. I am also going to collect all of my homebrew rules into one place and get them posted, stay tuned.

A quick note, why did I go with Google Page Creator? Yes, I am adequate at web site design, I built the one for our beach house rental using Dreamweaver, but I wanted to get stuff up fast. Darned if page creator didn't let me do it and worked like a champ. I spend all day in front of a monitor for a living and would prefer not to for fun. That leaves more time for painting!

A good cat...

2007-11-05T07:23:00.000-05:00

We lost Sassy this morning, hit by a car. She was an amazing cat, we rescued her as a kitten three years ago from the street in Falfurrias, Texas.

My wife and son are pretty upset, going to bury her today at my dad's house on the lake.

She was the best cat I ever had, loved to play, and very affectionate. Liked to sleep with us.

We tried to make her an indoor cat, but when we tried to keep her in the house, she would be miserable and get bladder infections. My consolation is that she had a good life with us, and we loved her.

First game of Warmaster Ancients

2007-11-03T22:14:00.001-04:00

I have been itching to get my 6mm ancients out and looking for a battle sized game to play with my 10 year old son. We tried DBA, but it just did not seem to work well with him. Nothing wrong with DBA, it is the first miniatures game I ever played in 1995, but he did not get into it. So, tonight we tried Warmaster Ancients.

I have had the rules for a while, they really took off in Austin right when we moved to SC, but have never given them a try.

Turns out they are a blast. We played a very small game with one general a piece just to see how they work. I gave Jackson the Romans with:

1 CV( General
4 units of Legion infantry
1 Unit of Triarri
2 units of Velites
1 Unit of Cavalry

I took a small detached Carthaginian force consisting of:

1 CV 8 General
4 Units of Gauls
1 Unit Gallic Cavalry
1 Unit Numidian Light Horse
2 Units foot skirmishers

The games played very smoothly and he was able to pick up the basics very fast. And, he liked rolling buckets of dice.

The Tribune plots his move

The clash in the center. Both of us rolled generally rolled poorly for issuing orders, so the battle was decided in the center.
In the push of battle the Romans generally had the upper hand.
Plus the kid had hot dice....

In the end, he wiped out 3 of my 4 infantry units, and I had damaged two of his. We did not really do pursuits, but I think we got a feel for the game. Next time we will add more rules and work our way up to a full 1000 point game.

This will be our rules of choice, lots of movement, and the buckets of dice for combat,love it or hate it, is quit intuitive for a 10 year old.

French Infantry Complete and New blog

2007-10-27T10:08:00.000-04:00

Malbrook has posted the link to his blog on TMP, you can see it here. He is also working on a 6mm WSS project, but is going for more ranks per base, very nice mass appearance. Cracking good stuff to inspire me back to the paint table, please give it a look.

I have finished 4 more battalions of French, here is my total French army so far, the new bases in the front. (click photos to enlarge)

Here is a closeup pf the new units. I painted one as Clare's Irish Regiment in red coats to add some variety and break up the sea of light gray. Not to fear, though, phase two of the project will see some Swiss Guards for the French.

I have also completed a couple of bases of English dragoons, this is my full English force so far.
And here is a closeup.
On the table right now are 2 bases of French dragoons, 2 French horse, and 2 Bavarian Currasiers. Also have 2 bases of guns and some command figures. That will wrap up my phase 1 French force, should be done in about 2 - 3 weeks. Then on to the Allies, mostly English with maybe a couple of bases of Dutch infantry and horse for phase 1.

Free Edgar Rice Burroughs Audio Books

2007-10-22T19:37:00.000-04:00

Check it out here!

I am currently listening to A Princess of Mars. Good stuff to listen to while driving to and from work, plus it is primary source research for my VSF games. Search LibriVox for more stuff, they have Lovecraft, Conan Doyle, and more.

Found this via the "Dial P for Pulp" podcast, I highly recommend you give it a listen as well.

Work got in the way this weekend, but I am in progress on the bases for my latest WSS French. Photos coming soon.