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.

Battle Report - Harad vs Elves

Sunday was Father's Day, here in the states.  For me it meant a new grill, with a smoker, gaming, family time and no responsibilities.  It was a great day.  The Traveller and I smoked some ribs and brisket and got a game of LotR in during the intermissions.  Sadly, my shade monkey was not out helping me.

The, self described, shade monkey.  It wasn't even Father's Day yet. 

On the workbench

I haven't had a lot of hobby time lately.  I had almost two months of leave when I got back from Afghanistan, which meant that I got a lot of time to work on my minis.  Now I'm back to my real job, which is not leaving me much time, while I get locked back in.  Stuff has been piling up, but I have this weekend to start nailing some of it down.

I'm actually working on all of that right now.  It totally makes sense in my mind.

Four month plan +

There's a lot I want to do this year, since I'm trying everything that catches my fancy for twelve months.  I've called it the year of rules but I'm also dabbling in scales, mediums and genres.  The only real rule I have is that all of my gaming activities have to be games.

This year I'm deliberately being a gaming magpie.

Offering of Toy Soldiers for no cost.

A quick note for two give aways going on right now.  One is guaranteed and the other is a prize draw.  The first one is from The Assault Group.  If you go to their Facebook page and like them, they will give you a free mini of your choice from the Freebies section of their website.  Just like them, put a comment on their page and they will contact you and arrange to send you your free mini.  Great stuff.


The second give away is a prize draw.  This one is from Frontline Gamer and involves the usual, become a public follower of his site, make a comment, get entered for a new model.  Good stuff.  In the interest of full disclosure, I now get to entries in the bag.  Details can be found here.  This prize is for reaching 700 followers.  He has two more in the works, at 750 and 800, so, really, this is just a win-win since his blog is worth reading on its own merits.

Edit - I changed the title of this post as it was obviously attracting scum sucking spammers.

Battle Report - Harad vs Gray Company

Thursday night is club night, though there were only two of us there, as is usual these days.  Jonathan brought his new Gray Company list, which I have never played against before.  This was a real nail biter of a game, and one of the closest I've ever played.  We played a straight up fight.  Kill to 25%.  First one there loses.

Initial set up.

Product Review - Sabre Dropship from Rebel

I took advantage of Rebel Minis sale, last month, and picked up a couple more Sahadeen weapons teams as well as four more Vipers and a Sabre drop ship.  It was quite a bit of swag for not much money.

Image from Rebel Minis

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.

Monthly Retrospective 4

Another month is done.  I'm still having a hard time keeping up with how quickly this year is going.  It's time for my obsessive compulsive side to kick in and take stock of May.  Considering I was on vacation for two weeks, with no internet or hobby access, I'm pleased with how it went.

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.

Prize Draws

There is something interesting that goes on from time to time in the gaming blogosphere.  Bloggers give out prizes for reaching certain goals on their blogs.  This is similar to the custom, here in the states and in the Shire, of giving gifts on your birthday.  I have two little boys and every birthday party we put on we put together gift bags for all of the invitees.  It's a nice way of saying, "Thanks for helping me celebrate my birthday".

These prize draws are the same sort of thing.  They usually go at, either, a certain number of followers or a certain number of hits.  I think it is quite nice of these people, "Thanks for coming by and reading my stuff".  They get the kick of knowing people value what they do so they give us the kick of, perhaps, winning something new and shiny.

I quite like this custom.

Right now the king of prize draws, at least on the blogs I follow, is the Frontline gamer.  I have mentioned his blog in the past, as I quite like it.  Jody writes well reasoned and thought out articles which are well written.  He does a lot of product reviews, which are quite nice.  He also has connections with some of the coolest manufacturers out there right now.

His latest draw is this:

For reaching 575 followers:  Freebooters Fate rule book.

He has several more in the offing, each awesome and all dependent on reaching a certain number of followers.  He has the full list of his goals on the above post, so go check it out and become a member.

Memorial Day

Here in the States, today is Memorial day.  For most people it is a Monday off work.  There will be lots of grilling, parties with families and friends and the opening of swimming pools across the country.

Captain John W. Maloney

The real purpose of the day is to remember the sacrifices of our service men and women in all of our wars.  As I do every Memorial day, I'm going to put up information about my good friend John Maloney.  We were Sgt's together, almost twenty years ago now.  He was a great man, and the best of us.  John is what we, in the Marine Corps, call a Mustang.  That means he was enlisted before he got commissioned as an officer.  He was a mortar man in the 5th Marines, arguably the Marine regiment with the finest fighting record, which is saying something.  When he got his commission he went back to the grunts (infantry), rising to command of his own rifle company, perhaps the most coveted position in the Marine Corps.

John left behind his wife, Michelle, and his two small children, a son and a daughter.  Please take the time to read the articles and learn more about what this day is about for those of us who have served.

http://www.militarytimes.com/valor/soldier/926995/

The Constitution, Cassin Young and Breed's Hill

We visited Boston on our way to Ireland and spent the morning at the Charleston Navy Yard.  This is the home of the U.S.S. Constitution and the U.S.S. Cason Young.

The Constitution is the oldest commissioned naval vessel afloat anywhere in the world.  As such it has an active duty naval crew.  One of their duties is to serve as tour guides aboard ship.  We got to see the main deck, gun deck and berthing deck.  You can peer through locked doors at officer country.  The galley is forward of a “do not cross” line (rope) so you can look at it from a distance. 

The Constitution from the rear.  She has her name painted on her and everything.

Rebel Vipers - Product Review

Product Description:  Rebel Minis recently released their small class of Mech in resin.  The VIPER comes in three different variants with two versions of each, one standing still and one advancing.  Each kit comes with the legs, the body and a sprue of the appropriate weapons options.  They stand approximately twice the height of a 15mm figure.  These are definitely light mechs.

Vipers, ready for action.

15mm Sahadeen

The Sahadeen have arrived.  They will form part of the second faction for my 15mm sci/fi universe, which is slowly taking form.

"Don't go anywhere".

A brief Adieu

No, I'm not shutting down the blog.  I'm going on vacation.  The family and I are going to Ireland for two weeks.  It should be quite the change from sunny Colorado (300 days of sun a year).  I have a couple posts queued up, if I find internet access.  I may also have some time to tap out some of my ravings musings while I'm gone.  I'm certainly planning on taking lots of pictures for terrain inspiration.

 I may even take some of the family.

Again, pending internet access I'll be viewing all of your brilliant blogs while I'm gone.

Have a great two weeks.  I will.

Year of Rules - Gruntz 15mm Sci/Fi

This is the Year of Rules, one new set checked out every month.  The Rules set for May is... Duh!  Duh!  Duh!  Gruntz!

The cover of the PDF rules v1.0.

One read through and a couple of solo practice games down and this is what I think...

Defiance Games UAMC

Look what came in the mail.  I've been waiting for this package since February.  Defiance Games has finally sorted out their production issues and gotten their production line in order.  My order of USMC, now re-named UAMC due to copyright issues, is finally here.  (Yes, you read that correctly, the United States Marine Corps has copyrighted USMC).

Look what just came in the mail.

The box, looking remarkably like what it looked like on the Defiance web site. 

This box holds twelve sprues.

Romans Completed

I have finally completed my Romans.  The last bit to be done was the shields.  The transfers gave me fits, but are worth it, in the end I think.  I also added some flowers, while I was avoiding dealing with the shields.

Command.  Additional, flowery, tufts for added awesomeness.