The gaming effect.

I'm sitting here after a long day at work. I'm an introvert who doesn't get enough time to recover between days. I've fed the boys, cold cereal tonight; sometimes it's all I can manage. Rhys is at his desk next to me. He's got his head phones on as he watches a minecraft play video. That means he can't really hear himself as he plays.

His desk is covered with Lord of the Rings models and Star Wars models and 15mm Sci Fi. He has a drawer full of d6. He's playing a mixture of miniatures and role playing with rules of his own design. I'm not at all clear on how it works but he's describing each model's actions, "He uses his shield" "He swings his sword". The dice rolls have some hidden significance that escapes me.

 An hour of this is worth ten hours of introverted recovery.

Edge Campaign - Quest for the Torkral Sphere - Session 4

This session was played on February 29th 2016.

DM - Josh

Arbach - Half Elf Ranger - Aaron

Farrow - Human Paladin - Nate

Peter - Tiefling Rogue - Jared

Farrow woke up confused and dazed. He was laying down and was lightly restrained. He flexed and easily broke loose. Looking around he realized he was laying on a litter with all of his gear. He sat up and saw peter laying on another litter next to him. He rolled over and slapped Peter awake.

Peter’s mouth was full of sand. He saw a worm crawl out of the sand and into his mouth. He could feel it burrowing into his brain; driving him mad. He felt a slap on the face. He opened his eyes and saw Farrow standing over him.

Edge Campaign - Quest for the Torkral Sphere - Session 3

Session 3 

Arbach awoke half buried in sand. He looked around, trying to figure out where he was. He could see the remains of the crashed gasbag. There were bodies everywhere. As he watched he saw movement in the wreckage. Kizmet came staggering out of the piled wood and canvas that had once been a flying machine.

Art by Brent Nienberg at  https://girlsandbots.com/

Edge Campaign - Quest for the Torkral Sphere - Session 2

Session 2

Following the first session we all decided that we wanted to continue playing, and a couple of others wanted to join as well. Josh runs an open table. If someone can't make it we play anyway and their character is hand waved out of it. If new people want to play then they are integrated back into the story.

Edge Campaign - Quest for the Torkral Sphere - Session 1

Back in January of 2016 I got a call from a friend. It was his birthday and he wanted to get some of the guys from the old unit together and play D&D for the night. We gathered at my house, ordered some pizza and got down to figuring out this 5th edition stuff.

The rest of them had played together before but I had not. One player was a high school friend of Josh, the birthday boy and DM. The rest of us had been in the Marines together. We got my character rolled up and started playing.

Josh has built an incredibly fleshed out world. It's interesting and compelling and makes you want to explore. The group gelled immediately and we realized that we wanted to keep playing and not just make this a one night deal.

Here's the writeup from our first session.

Role Playing

I haven't posted much lately because I haven't been doing much gaming or painting. What I have been doing is playing a some D&D 5E and doing some world building. I'm playing as a player with some of the guys I was in the Marines with. I'm also running an adventure for my sons and a guy I work with and his daughter.

A little bit of map making to add to the fun.

I do have some painting I need to get done for people, for the games. I also have my lead pile to work through, so there should be painting coming up again soon. It's just so hard with the beautiful summer weather.

Memorial Day

It is Memorial Day in the United States.  It's a three day weekend and Americans traditionally go camping and have BBQs on this day.  It's also the day we honor those who have fought and died for us.  As always today I'll be presenting you with my friend John Maloney.

WW I Airplanes

While we were in New Zealand we visited the airplane museum in Blenheim. This is partially owned by Peter Jackson and has an extensive collection of flyable WWI airplanes as well as some amazing exhibits and collections.

Holy cow.

New Zealand Army Museum

Driving south to Wellington, passing though Mordor (or at least where they filmed it) we passed signs for the New Zealand Army museum. After half a second of thought I pulled in.

The museum covers the anglo military history of New Zealand from the earliest days of colonization to today in Afghanistan.

M41A1 Walker Bulldog

6th Annual Analogue Painting Challenge - In Review

The Challenge is over. Whew! What a ride! Here's the last three months of painting.

The first entry was six Uruk-Hai.

Entry 1.

More characters for RPGs

These are two more characters for D&D. One is Bones and one is a GW Ranger of the North from their LotR line.

Visit to Hobbiton

We are currently on a two week holiday in New Zealand.

Today was the day. The Day. The day that Owyn and Rhys have been waiting for. Today we went to Hobbiton. I was not at all sure what to expect, and was a little worried that they would be disappointed.

Owyn after the tour. Better than Legoland. High praise indeed.

Early Imperial Roman Auxiliary Medium Infantry

This is my final post of the Challenge. Eighteen Early Imperial Roman Medium Auxiliary Infantry from Victrix. The savvy among you will recognize that Victrix doesn't make that set. These are actually their Republican armored infantry. I cut the feathers off of the helmets and used them as is from there.

Early Imperial Roman Auxiliary Javelin men (40 points)

This post is eight auxiliary javelin men from Victrixj. They are from the Republican Romans with Armor box. They'll be part of my EIR army for Hail Caesar.

EIR Romans from Warlord Games

This entry is nineteen Early Imperial Roman legionaries from Warlord Games.

King Theoden of the Riddermark

This entry is King Theoden of Rohan from Games Workshop's Lord of the Rings game.

The king.

Orc spears from GW

This post is twenty spear Orcs. These are 28mm models from Games Workshop.

Orcs for Kings of War

This entry is twenty Warhammer Orcs from Games Workshop. These were some of the first models I bought. In fact the archers were in the starter set which was the very first model set I got. They are finally painted.

Four Orc heroes.

ECW artillery and crews

This is another entry for the Analogue Painting Challenge. This is two ECW cannons and thirteen crew. Some of these are crew for a mortar, but I haven't gotten that painted yet.

All three crews.

28mm models for role playing

I've recently started playing D&D for the first time in 25 years. I spent a little money on the first Reaper Bones Kickstarter, so I have a lot of fantasy figures. I offered the guys the chance to pick a model and painted the figures for them. One player wasn't here that night, so he'll have to get one next time.

Peter and Farrow.

A little gaming - Lion Rampant

Nick, of Little Nicky's Gameroom, came over on Saturday and we played a couple of games. He wanted to try out Lion Rampant, and we followed that up with a Star Wars Armada game.

The lines close.

Twelve ECW cavalry

This entry is twelve 28mm ECW Cavarly from Warlord Games (despite the misleading title to draw you in).

Twelve horse.

Fireforge Men-at-Arms

This entry is 24 Men-at-Arms from Fireforge games. These are made from the Foot Sergeants box set. Slowing down a bit. I spent the weekend gaming rather than painting so this is all I have this go round.

Twelve swordsmen and twelve crossbows.

Isengard - 54 Uruk-Hai

This entry is the majority of the remainder of my Uruk-Hai. As before these are 28mm Isengard models for Lord of the Rings by GW.

First weekly entry - Warlord Games 28mm ECW Infantry Regt

My next entry was 20 28mm ECW infantry from Warlord Games. These are the Green Regiment.

Most of a regiment

Nostalgia bonus entry for 5th AHPC - 28mm goblin spider chariot

This is my entry for the first bonus round of the 6th annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge - Nostalgia.

I wasn't sure what to paint for this bonus round, and honestly had decided to give it a pass. Over the last week I've been reading through people's end of year/beginning of year posts (I love 'em). As I was preparing my own, something came to fruition in my tiny little brain. The death of Warhammer this year had made me (and many others) sad. It got me thinking to when I first started formal wargaming, with GW and Warhammer 6th Edition.

More Guardsmen

This next set of models were not part of the Challenge, since I had started them years ago. I finished them up while I was working on the 21 models for the last Challenge entry.

A rifle squad and a heavy bolter team

Entry 3 - Painting Challenge - 21 Imperial Guardsmen

My next entry in the Challenge was 21 Imperial Guardsmen from GW. These are 28mm models, mostly plastic. I can't stand the 40k rules. I bought an army of these guys before I realized that though. They've sat, assembled and undercoated for years.

A friend and I are planning a campaign for 2016. We'll see if it gets off the ground, but if it does, these will be the core of my ground forces. We'll be using the Chain of Command rules for the ground combat. To start we'll just play them out of the box. Once we have a handle on them we'll mod them for Sci-Fi, things like hacking, ECM, teleportation. They are candidates.

The full group

2015 in Review and Plans for 2016

2015 was a good year for my hobby. My goals and predictions for the year were not far off of reality. I accomplished a lot but did not play as much as I had hoped. I think things are well positioned for a good 2016 though, even better than the year past.

I'm terribly, terribly excited about this.

First off, a retrospective on what I planned for the year.

Entry 2 for the AHPC. Twelve 28mm Celts

My second entry of the Challenge is 12 Celt warriors from Warlord Game. These are 28mm miniatures. The three heroes are metal, the rest from their Celtic Warriors plastic box set.

Twelve Celts, angry and dirty.

Entry 1 of the Painting Challenge - 28mm Uruk-Hai from GW

In keeping with tradition, my first entry is six models. It's a nice easy number that breaks the rust off without being overwhelming.

A free book

I am getting Osprey's Fighting Sail for Christmas. My wonderful wife thought I would enjoy it so much that she ordered me two copies of it. Amazon does not want it back.

X-Wing with the boys

The boys and I have gotten some more gaming in. This time around they both wanted to play some X-Wing. All things Star Wars are popular in my house right now.

The boys plotting their nefarious schemes.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Gaming with the boys

I've been playing a few games during the last few months. My main opponent for X-Wing moved to New Zealand. I haven't had a lot of time to get down to the shop. My main opponent has been Rhys.

Rhys, prior to deployment. He set up the terrain.

Accepting the challenge

It's that time of year again, the annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge.

I've thrown my hat in again this year. It will be my third go around. My first year was acceptable. Last year I seem to have had assistance from painting elves in the middle of the night; blowing through my goals several times. Counting on the same elves to show up this year I put myself in for 1500 points, even though the Challenge is slightly shorter this year.

I'm looking forward to seeing all of the spectacular models my fellows will produce, and hoping not to bring down the general tone of the affair too much.

Time Travel

I looked up today and realized that it is the last day of October. I'm flabbergasted at how quickly this year is passing. I have not been hobbying a lot this summer. The extent of it has been reading blogs, playing a few games with Rhys and assembling and priming models for the winter, in hopes of Curt running another Analogue Painting Challenge.

I need to get back in the habit of posting here, clearly. That means I need to get in the habit of playing games and painting, which seems like a pleasant obligation.

Conway Castle

So as a place holder, here's a picture of Conway Castle, looking out over the river, taken from the highest point of the town walls.

A blog prize and some insight

I recently won a blog giveaway from Jon at the Palouse Wargaming Journal.  Jon is one of those very generous gamers that you always hear about.  He has personally broadened my hobby horizons, beyond the first class content of his blog.

The prize I selected was Henry Hyde's The Wargaming Compendium; a book I've heard a lot about, but never seen.

Rebel Minis release the Widowmaker

Rebel Minis, a company that I talk about quite a bit, has a new release this week that looks perfect for 15mm mechs.  The Earth Force Widowmaker.  These are being released as 28mm battle suits, but look to be well sized as light/medium mechs for 15mm.

Picture from Rebel minis.  Used without permission.

Visiting Blighty

Off to the airport for a visit to England and Wales.  At least for the next week and a half I'll have an excuse for not posting much.  If I get to a computer then I'll put up some pictures of whatever we're visiting, though castles in Wales are a given.

Cheers!

Memorial Day

It is Memorial Day in the United States.  It's a three day weekend and Americans traditionally go camping and have BBQs on this day.  It's also the day we honor those who have fought and died for us.  As always today I'll be presenting you with my friend John Maloney.

An amazing gift

I recently received a box from Japan.  I have ordered a couple of models from over there before but this was something very different. Aaron from Here's not great matter saw my interest in some of the Japanese models for 15mm Sci/Fi and picked up a bunch of stuff from his local model store.

Plastic goodness from across the Pacific.

Entry 20 - "It's Alive!" Curt Geld and Anti-Hero bonus round

This entry is both my entry for the Anti-Hero round and my Curtgeld.  I did quite a bit of research on this one.  First off was just making sure I had a good definition for anti-hero.  Once I had that it was a matter of researching the available models to find one that was appropriate for this theme.  While I had great fun perusing the catalogs of my favorite manufacturers I didn't find anything until I got to Eureka USA's site.  As soon as I saw this set I knew it was my entry.

Dr. Frankenstein and his Monster.

Entry 19 - 24 Celtic Warriors

This entry is twenty four Celtic infantry as a four element warband for Hail Caesar.  These 28mm figures are a mix of Black Tree, Warlord and Wargames Factory.

24 Celtic warriors with spears.

Entry 18 - 3 Wargames Factory Celt Chariots

This week's entry is three 28mm Celt chariots from Wargames Factory.  This is the contents of a single box, so good value for money, but craptastic sculpts.

Three chariots for Hail Caesar.

Entry 17 - 12 Fireforge Men-at-Arms

As a change of pace, this next entry is 12 28mm Men-at-Arms from Fireforge Games.  I've painted these up for Lion Rampant, but with another eight models they'll work for Bretonnians for Warhammer as well.

Fireforge Games 28mm Foot Sergents.

Entry 16 - 11 28mm Dwarfs

This entry is the rest of the army from last week.  These are the eleven models that I wasn't able to prime until right before the weekend.

Eleven Dwarfs.

Entry 17 - Vth Analogue Painting Challenge - Hot Bonus round

Agent Lake is a 28mm model from Brigade Games (US), Pulp Heroines.

Agent Lake,

Entry 15 - Vth Annual Analogue Painting Challenge - Dwarfs

This next entry is 28 28mm Dwarfs from Games Workshop for Lord of the Rings; that being the unofficial theme of this year's challenge apparently.

Gimli leading a bunch of short and nasty Dwarfs.

Bonus round - Myth - 28mm Mumak of Harad

My entry for the myth bonus round was a Mumak of Harad for Lord of the Rings.  This is a huge model and dominates any table it is put on.

The base is amazing.

Entry 14, Part 3 - Vth annual Analogue Painting Challenge - The Raisuli

This last model was not part of the plan for the Challenge.  Of course once I hit my goal everything is extra, but I had no intention of painting Boromir any time soon.  I don't have anything against him.  He's pretty great in the game, but he's also very expensive.  I tend to shy away from the uber heroes and try to bring more guys.

Boromir.