Hobby - Wargames Bingo - Another square

The only up-side to me painting the Rebel Speeder when I did is that I get to check off another box in the Hobby Bingo. In this case, I got the model and got it painted in 48 hours. That's probably a record for me, and this was a lot more model than I needed to check the box, but there you go.

Painting - Rebel Land Speeder for Star Wars Legions

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

Painting - Star Wars Legion Rebel AT-RT

This is a single model for Fantasy Flight Games' Star Wars Legion game. This is a rebel AT-RT.

Painting - Star Wars Legion Rebel Troopers

This is a unit for the Star Wars Legion game by Fantasy Flight. I've played a couple of small games, just learning the rules, and like what I've seen so far. I've loved Star Wars from the time the move came out - NOT a New Hope - it was called Star Wars. My father and I watched it, then walked out of the theater and stood in line to watch it again. I was five.

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.

6mm Sci/Fi Manufacturers

These are 6mm Sci/Fi manufacturers. Depending on what you are looking for you could also use 6mm historical models for some units, especially support stuff and artillery.

6mm Sci/Fi begins

These are the first models for the 6mm Sci-Fi project. I got some deals on eBay for some epic 40k models, but didn't care all that much for the rules. Rhys and I played a game the other day he liked it.

6mm Science Fiction

There was a post fairly recently on Delta Vector about his desire to develop rules to play Battletech in 6mm. That post has been percolating around in my brain for the last two months. I'm intrigued.

Old school metal mechs. Painted when I was 14.

One of the key pieces from the article is heat. This is one of the key factors of the old Battletech game. I used to love that game. I dove into the detail in the way that only a teenage boy can. I routinely fought company on company battles solo. That's record keeping for 24 mechs. I once played a game with two battalions fighting. That was 72 separate mechs worth of paperwork.

The very thought of that makes my brain blue screen now. It sounds like a night mare.  Still, I loved the game and I have the source books. On top of that, I need a game I can play with Rhys with mechs. There's no way I'm going back to the real rules, and even Alpha Strike is more record keeping than I want.

What to do? I could wait for Delta Vector to come up with his rules. I'm sure they'll be good since he's well versed in game design. On the other hand they won't be what I'm looking for, exactly.

I wrote my own. Two pages. Simple. No record keeping. They incorporate heat. I'll need to playtest with Rhys to see if he can understand them. They include rules for mechs, vehicles, infantry and flyers.

They use d20 to hit, a 20 is a crit and kills your target (head shot). Different classes use different size dice in an opposed roll against armor. Lights use d6 while Assaults use d12.

I think they will be pretty fast play and allow for the flavor of Battletech without the record keeping. There is a high level of abstraction since it's 6mm. I also have the old Battletech board game so we could easily use that for a campaign system.

As for 6mm, it has its attractions; not least of which is that it is cheap. I've picked up a bunch of Epic 40k Space Marine stuff on eBay for very little. There are some good manufacturers out there. The low cost also has the advantage of not meaning an arm and a leg in new terrain since that is just as cheap.

I'll get in a game with Rhys soon and see how the rules work. I'm sure some changes will be necessary.

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

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.

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.

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.

15mm Sci/Fi drop ship

One of my Christmas presents was a dropship for use with 15mm.  This is more of a terrain piece than it is a playing piece.

The drop ship with the fuel/water/liquid storage tanks visible.

Entry 8 - Vth Analogue Painting Challenge - 1 15mm Sci/Fi Vehicle

This next entry is for my son Rhys.  He's been getting 15mm Sci/Fi models as rewards for doing well at school.  He and I play Gruntz together.  Part of the deal is that I'll paint them for him, though he likes painting his models as well.

Light tank for Gruntz.

Gruntz Batrep - Rear guard action

This report is from a game Nick and I played a week ago.  Both of us were a little rusty, but the rules came back pretty quickly.

The Lt didn't like how this briefing was going.  By the look on his face, neither did Capt Al Tharki.  Things had been going great.  They'd fought the United Nebula Space Command (UNSC) peace keepers and pushed them back.  The Federation's own recon units were in other areas so they had been fighting mercenaries of one unit or another and more than holding their own.

The abandoned base.  Only the scouts and snipers are in residence.

Gruntz Batrep - Patrol action on Malvee

Rhys played his first game of Gruntz the other day.  He has been collecting his army slowly over the last couple of months and I've been painting them for him.  He gets units or vehicles as rewards for being good at school.  As I've mentioned before, Rhys is special needs and having that goal helps.  I print out a picture of the model he's aiming for that week and put it in his folder so the teacher can remind him of his goal when necessary.

The buildings are from the Ion Age line.  I need to take a moment to gush here.  I've seen them online, and they look good, but I was not prepared for the quality of what I got.  These are on a par with the best in the business.  Sharp, clean and clever.  Buy some.  You will not regret it.  the turrets that come with these fit on their vehicles as well, giving you a huge number of options for both vics and buildings.

The following battle report is a squad level game between Rhys' Raiders and the 47th Infiltration Company.  We played on a single 2ft x 2ft table tile.

Star Wars Armada - Coming soon

Fantasy Flight Games has just announced another game off of their Star Wars license.  Star Wars Armada, scheduled for release in early 2015, will bring fleet battles to the table top.

Picture from Fantasy Flight Games.  

Captain Raouf Al-Tharki - 47th Infiltration Company

Captain Raouf Al-Tharki, recently promoted from command of the 47th Infiltration Company's infantry platoon, now commands the 47th Company, 12th Al-Thani Infiltration Battalion.

Rebel Minis Sahadeen officer.

A bit of Star Wars Silliness

I came across this awhile ago and forgot to post.

What's your Star Wars name?