Painting - Rebel Land Speeder for Star Wars Legions

This entry is a rebel land speeder for Star Wars Legion, from Fantasy Flight Games.

The Games that Define Us - Re-post

This is an old post of mine, from 2012, that I just re-read. It made me think, again, about the influences in my games as well as how Rhys has been influenced as he grows up with gaming.

The idea is to talk about ten games that define you as a gamer.  Some interesting things have come out of it.  More North American gamers seem to have gotten in through RPGs, whereas the UK gamers seem to have come into it through GW.

In my case, I definitely follow the trend, coming to GW late in my gaming life.  There are some on my list that I have not seen anywhere else.  Others seem to be on every list.

LotR Battle Report - Harad vs Dol Amroth and Wood Elves

A couple of weeks ago four of us got together to play some Lord of the Rings.  This was not an ordinary gathering.  Keith, who introduced me to the game, and Tim, who used to manage Collectormania were both there.  As well, Steve, a long time denizen of the shop.  This was a special night because Keith has been working out of town for the last two years.  I haven't seen much of Tim or Steve in the same amount of time.  It was great to sit down with three old friends and just play a game.

My battleline with Steve's Mumak on the right.

Battle Report - Harad vs Gondor

Last Thursday night was club night down at Collectormania.  Russ was the only other person there so it made the line up easy.  He brought his Gondor army, with some new models that he wanted to try out.  I had my tried and true Haradrim, who are about to undergo a major revision.

The battle lines meet.

Hail Caesar Battle Report - EIR vs Carthage II

Today was another game of Hail Caesar.  Jonathan and I have both added to our armies, though he has actually painted his units.  As usual we met down at Collectormania, arriving just in time to get a table.  The place was packed today.  We had a fair amount of interest with quite a few people stopping by to see what we were playing.  This game went much more smoothly that our last one.  We did not bother with points, just using the special rules from the army lists and bringing whatever we had ready.

Battle Report - Harad vs Gondor

I've now played my first game of the year.  It wasn't the 1st, but pretty close.  I met Russ down at Collectormania and we took the new Hobbit rules for a spin.  We are both very familiar with the LotR rules but we still had to flip through the book a fair amount.  It was a fun game, only slightly marred by my loss.

Faramir and his Osgiliath veterans. 

2012 In Review and 2013 Plans

How's that for an inspiring title.  I love seeing what everyone else plans for the year, and how last year's plans panned out (or more often did not).  Since a large part of my keeping this blog is to keep track of my hobby, I also look forward to seeing what the last year held for me.

This was the biggest accomplishment of the year.

End of year frenzy

I've been out of action for the last two months.  The blog's been quiet because I have not done anything hobby-wise.  My shoulder is starting to feel better, at the same time that I have a week off of work.  I'm trying to get a whole bunch assembled so that if the weather gets nice enough, I can get it primed.  I have a fair bit primed already, but most of it is not for any current project; rather they are artifacts of past attempts to paint armies.

Several of my kickstarters have come home to roost in the last two weeks.  First through the door was Fanticide.  This was the rules, cards and a Liberi war band, as well as a sample pack and the unicorn.

Star Wars X-Wing

This is not a game that I had any interest in playing.  I have not been looking forward to the release.  It has not been on my radar at all.  Lots of the guys were excited about it.  Not me.

A box of pure gaming fun.

Boy was I wrong ...

First Mini Ever - Part 2

In this post here I narrated the story of Rhys' first mini.  He has finally finished painting it.  I dull coated it today so it is as ready as it is going to get.

"The Master" in all his glory.

Battle Report - Harad and Isengard vs Wood Elves

Last night was the Thursday night club night.  As so often recently, we only had three players.  Since we had two good and one evil we decided to have Tony and I split our armies in half, each fielding 300 pts vs Jake's 600.  We rolled up a meeting engagement.  This scenario is a kill 'em all battle.  It was bloody and unpredictable with some awesomely funny moments.

This is near the end of the game.  The Elves have done surprisingly little in combat up to now.

Product Reveiw - GF9 Blood Crystals

I've bought a fair amount of GaleForce nine Battlefield in a Box terrain.  There were the two hills earlier in the year and now a box of Blood Crystals.  In all three cases I've been very happy with the product.  The hills are works of art.  I had to move them out of my office because I'd just sit there and stare at them.  My wife even liked them.

The blood crystals box.

Battle Report - Harad/Dwarfs vs Easterlings/Gray Company

This game doesn't lend itself to my usual narrative battle report style; so it's a good thing I've already decided to just do it as a pictorial report.

This game was a four person, team game.  Nick and I had just finished our game of Force on Force and were going to start a game of LotR when Jonathan and his brother arrived.  This was perfect as it let us play four on four.  We played the same scenario as the last two reports.

Since the brothers wanted to be on the same team we ended up with odd match ups, good/evil on each side.

I'm on the left with the Easterlings, and some rangers, opposite me.  I parked in the ruins for most of the game.

Battle Report - Force on Force

I finally got in my first game of Force on Force.  Verdict?  I loved it.  The game was fast and furious, very tactical and had plenty of room for cinematics.  It seemed to capture a realistic, but fun, simulation of combat, not getting bogged down in details.  It has a quick mechanism for including variables that makes attachments and weapons count, but doesn't slow the game down.  I ordered Tomorrow's War last night based on how this game played.

The setup.  Two infantry patrols meet in a destroyed village.

Battle Report - Harad and Corsairs vs Wood Elves

Last League night we had four players for the club night.  We were prepared for a three person game, with each of us bringing a 300 pt list and a 600 pt list.  Happily that was not necessary as Jake joined Jonathan, Tony and I for the game; and a real corker it was too.

This pretty much sums up this game for me.

The Games that Define Us

An interesting tide is sweeping our small section of the blogosphere.  I refuse to use the M word (meme, there I did it, but only this once).  It started with the Frontline Gamer, whose blog I've pimped out before.  Several others have done it as well.  The topic has been bubbling around in my mind for a couple of weeks now, and it's finally germinated into something.

The idea is to talk about ten games that define you as a gamer.  Some interesting things have come out of it.  More North American gamers seem to have gotten in through RPGs, whereas the UK gamers seem to have come into it through GW.

In my case, I definitely follow the trend, coming to GW late in my gaming life.  There are some on my list that I have not seen anywhere else.  Others seem to be on every list.

First Mini Ever

Rhys is in love with the Lord of the Rings.  It's no Star Wars, mind, but it's a very close second.  When I play on Thursday nights I usually have him with me at the store.  He used to call it Daddy's store.  Then he started calling it Rhys and Daddy's store, which we still do.

 Collectormania is a very friendly store, where they have known Rhys his whole life.  It is under the second set of management, in the time we have been going, but it has kept the same vibe.  They have a box of star wars minis, the soft rubber pre-painted ones, that they keep around for kids to play with.

I take Rhys in and he plops down at a table, out of the way, and plays with the star wars guys on some un-used terrain.  He will also take breaks and watch me play LotR.  He loves the Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game.  He desperately wants to play.  I've worked with him on the basics, moving guys, counting pips on dice, that sort of thing.  He needs practice, but he's getting there.

SWMBO brought this haul home last night.  I'm so excited.  For the boys, of course.  Not me.  That would be silly.

He also loves the minis.  Sadly, he likes to play with them like he does with his Legos, which is bad for the minis, to say the least.   Two years ago the manager of the shop gave me some Celtos minis which weren't leaving the shelves.  They were, explicitly, for Rhys to paint.

He's a fairly splendid sculpt.  I hope he appreciates the sacrifice he is about to make.

This year he has finally decided that he is interested in painting.  He has been badgering me to let him help me when I am painting.  Nothing presentable would come of that, but there are other answers.  I remembered the Celtos models and pulled them out for him.  He was very excited by that, but saw the flaw, in that they weren't based.  All models have bases of course.

The "Master".  I went with a lighter primer so he could see the detail more easily.

Rhys first had to pick a model to be the "Master", (he loves him some Star Wars).  Once he had that task completed it was just a matter of prepping the model.  I glued it to the base, then I helped him get the mold lines off.  He missed a couple, but I left them so he could see exactly why "flash sucks".  I primed it for him yesterday.  This weekend we are going to set up a small painting station for him, next to mine.

I'm really looking forward to seeing what he does with this, and to spending the time with him.

Deals and Specials

There are a lot of sales and deals going on in the brave new age of wargaming that we are living in.  The 15mm Sci/Fi manufacturers often have nice sales.  "Tuition is due for my daughter, 20% off on everything."  It's nice doing business with a small company.

This is what twenty random sprues look like.  Awesome.

Then you have the big players.  Not GW big, but second tier big.  Folks like Mantic.  They recently had one of their wacky sales; for twenty five pounds you got twenty random sprues and a messenger bag.  That is a heck of a deal in my book.

Battle Report - Harad vs Corsairs of Umbar

Nuradan knew something was wrong when he saw the Corsair ships approaching.  The Haradrim had fled south, crossing the river above the falls and force marching through Ithilien.  He was planning his return to Kharna when the two ships were spotted tacking up river.  The feeling of foreboding became a certainty of battle when a bolt, fired from one of the ships, killed his messenger.

As Nuradan arrayed his forces for battle, the Wraith was focused on the ships.  Nuradan would have said apprehensively, only Wraiths didn't get apprehensive.  Two boat loads of Reavers and Corsairs left the two ships.  He also saw the black hearted Numenorians of Umbar, and even horses, being ferried ashore.  Then he saw what had held the attention of the Wraith.  The Corsairs had brought another one of the Nine with them.  This day was looking darker and darker.

The battlefield.

Monthly Retrospective 3

Month four of 2012 is over.  This year is going blindingly fast, to me at least.  This was a productive month in some respects and not so much in others.

I started 15mm for Sci/Fi this month.  That's a big step.  I prefer 28mm models, and I'll still game in that scale.  The reasons I finally succumbed to the dark side of gaming are probably pretty familiar to all those that have already made the leap.  There is a huge, and ever expanding range of models.  They are dirt cheap.  They paint up quickly.  The terrain is much cheaper than 28mm.  There is freedom to build whatever force you want. (Technically this exists with 40k as well, but GW would have you believe that is not the case).  There are a ton of different rule sets out there.  I bought some test models, ARC fleet from CMG.  I liked them, even the infantry.  So I ordered a bunch of Sahadeen and two Vipers from Rebel Minis.  Those arrived yesterday and look very nice as well.  I'll be doing a review on them as I assemble them.  I'll need to put in another order to CMG to flesh out the first order, but that will give me two armies to game with.

Painted CMG ARC Fleet