Sunday 28 December 2014

28th Finished Nomads?.....

Put the finishing touches on the Icestorm Nomads today, only to make a rookie mistake and give them their flat varnish while it's still cloudy and sporadically raining only to have them end up with a frosted finish.

Still most of them ended up not too bad. The Mobile Brigada is the worst hit but for the rest it's just a little touch up coat here and there on the red areas with the Reverend Healer also needing a little work on her hood.

Not too worried about it, I'll be playing Combined Army once I get the models :).

Alguaciles
Mobile Brigada

Grenzers




Spektrs
Reverend Healer

Icestorm Nomad Force


Tuesday 23 December 2014

23rd Quick update and Ticket to Ride 10th Anniversary Unboxing

Been a bit hectic lately with work and getting ready for Christmas, so while I've got a few quick games in here and there I haven't got around to updating much lately.

I'm hoping to get some form of game in on Christmas day depending on what everyone else feels like, otherwise normal gaming and blogging shall resume come the new year.

It doesn't feel right updating the blog without a few photos, so I did an un-boxing of The Wife's birthday present yesterday. Ticket to Ride 10th Anniversary edition.

Modelling the box with style

Lovely giant size board to fit the...
...wait for it....








.....much larger sized carriage  pieces.

 Now when we play a game I'm always red so I was lucky and got the circus cars, complete with two giraffes sticking their heads up for a peek.


I've also managed to run my nephews through the first scenario in Operation:Icestorm as well as sit down with the five year old and get some painting done (I'll post a pic of his mini once it's done, I think it's a great effort for some one his age) he was doing one of my deadzone ork flamers though I managed to lose it's hat and forearm and I'm making a push on the Nomads from the Icestorm box.

Toby and myself also had our first game of Dreadball Xtreme, although we used his Orks vs my Veer-myn rather than the new teams. I have to say it's definitely a game where your going to want to mix and match your team (hell if you can why not) but it is playable with a solo faction if you know how to play to your strengths (although you can say that about almost anything really). Final result saw myself claw back from a 0 - 2 score line to win with a 5 - 0. The exploding crates are a great little feature, although they stalled Toby's Orks more than my nimble little rats and it was one amazing set of dice rolls that nailed the game down for me. It's not often a Veer-myn striker  can double up picking up a ball, then nail a 3 point strike with one dice with their skill of 5+, but good old Scamper not only did it he did it with his eyes closed (apparently it's easier to roll 5s on a d6 with your eyes shut, ask Toby I managed it every time I needed a 5 once I realised).

Anyway I'll leave it at that and wish you all a Merry Christmas or a what ever your particular poison is this time of year.

Monday 8 December 2014

8th December - Bolt Action Game, Dreadball Match and the Return of Games Night


Quite the week for gaming this week. Left to our own devices on Sunday myself and The Youngest got a game of Dreadball in, no photos I'm afraid but a rather nail biting match with my Veer-myn managing to score the winning three point strike on the last action of the last turn of the match after failing to score for the three previous turns beating her Female Corp team two nil.

I've just finished packing up the first games night in two weeks after a work enforced hiatus and it was a great game of Betrayal at House on the Hill. A full six player game with the Haunt not triggering until after a massive nine omen rooms and another haunt that we hadn't seen before (no spoilers here but Haunt 32 for those that have the game).

Sunday night also saw The Wife's first game of Bolt Action with my
Germans and her Japanese teaming up against Toby's Americans and Mr Anon's Soviets. We called the game around 11:30pm deciding that next time if we attempt such an undertaking we'll begin early or limit the order dice per side to 50% of their total units to speed things up (We had 38 order dice in the bag each round :) ). The Allies got of to a reasonable start, but I think we'd evened up the odds by the end of the third turn and it was called amicably a draw. Not a proper AAR this time as I was helping The Wife with the rules and a bit of tactical advice, though she had the basics down by the second turn and made some decent calls herself tearing up Toby's US when the opportunities arose. It was also the first game on Toby's newly built table and terrain. I have to say it's pretty impressive consider the speed in which he's organised it all, not as impressive as I hope my tables to be once I get the gaming area setup early next year, but damn good regardless.


 View's of the table as we setup


The Wife's Chi-Ha takes out Toby's M3A1

View of the table after first round Axis side

Allied side after round one

The Sherman advances and fires in retaliation

Aaannnd the Chi-Ha is dead

After my Germans kill a squad and the supposed medic the Soviet's retaliate.
The unit of four is in the building I just didn't feel like fiddling with the floors

And we called it, the final move would be my HQ taking a shot at the exposed
Soviet squad and killing another three of them

Really good game I felt and I'd like to have another crack at it when we have more time at our disposal now we've got the base platoon's sorted we've got armour platoons on the back burner at the moment though we're all concentrating on catching up with what we have, though some of us with slight Kickstarter addictions have slightly more than others.

Sunday 30 November 2014

30th November - Finished New Saga Vikings

I've managed to fit it around an hour and a half to two hours a day thanks to The Wife being on day shifts and her inability to get out of bed without waking me up (It's amazing how much painting you can fit between 5:30 and 7:30 when you've got to get ready yourself). Actually had these finished off yesterday but I didn't have time to get the photos done and the post up.

Thrall Archers

Newly Recruited Hirdmen

Another Mass of Bondi

All the New Recruits

The Current Whole Force (Seven Points Now)

Obligatory Warlord Focused Shot
I'm thinking it'll be the Nomads from my Operation Icestorm box set next as it's getting closer to the time I get my pre-ordered 3rd edition rule book and to be honest it's jarring looking at one fully painted faction and one undercoated one.

There was to be a game in today but The Brother and his Wife had some issues with their baby son last night so we've postponed to another day to be discussed later today after they've squeezed in some sleep on there end. To be honest I'm a little short of sleep myself with the combo of The Wife's previously mentioned day shifts combined with my holiday covering roster this week, So I'm off to sit and watch the Beasts of War weekender and have a cuppa.

Thursday 20 November 2014

20th November - Painted AtDE Adam's Family Gang & Based Trees

Had a roster change for the next couple of weeks, so after going back for a day yesterday back on days off for the next two. After spending a few hours getting the chores The Wife set me before she left for work I sat down and got stuck into the real goal of the day.... finishing off Adam's Family and some other bits and pieces.

First off the painting

The finished Adam's family along with the mercenary Crimson


Top to Bottom and Left to Right we have Drexyl, Ezra, Adam, Skylar, Crimson and Reggie,




 I also finished off my first batch of homemade trees. I used some marine epoxy for the trunks. It gave me a bit of time to work with it and add some detail without needing too much time before I could set it aside and leave it to set. I was tossing up highlighting some of the detail on the trunks, but I think the slightly thinned out Army Painter Oak Brown has giving a nice effect overall. I've based the size on a wood terrain choice for Saga, this one being roughly 12" long and 7"ish wide at the widest point but I working on the card base giving a distinct boundary for both movement penalty or LoS rules for which every system I'm currently playing.


Speaking of Saga, I've also base coated my new unit options to bring my Viking's up to a full six points and offering myself a bit of flexibility when it comes to what I'm fielding depending on opponent and scenario. So depending on the quantity of chores tomorrow I'm hoping to make a good amount of progress on these

Wednesday 19 November 2014

19th Novemeber - 18th Nov Saga Vs The Wife

Well what a weekend it was, three days (my new standard) and three games! Not bad stats at all. We had a builder out, so we'd spent the day at home and I'd managed to get in a lot of painting and expanded my Across the Dead Earth QRS to include a few more bits to save on rulebook flicking and corrected a couple of errors I'd noticed. But the highlight was The Wife deciding that we'd have another game of Saga after the girls were in bed, this time just a battle between the two of us. We decided we'd play the Sacred Ground scenario which is won by having troops in any of the three terrain features on the table.

At the moment we're still playing with the four point starter boxes, although I have purchased myself another three blisters, one point each of hearthguard, warriors and levies (I wanted a ranged option for my Viking force). The Viking and Anglo-Danish starters are basically the same consisting of a warlord each, two hearthguard options (one Hirdmen and one Berserker choice for the Vikings, two Huscarls for the Anglo-Danish one of which comes armed with the double handed Dane axes) and two warrior options (Bondi for the Vikings and Ceorls for the Anglo-Danish).

We setup the board with the central hill feature and two forest on the sides, one closer to my deployment and one closer to hers. The Wife had won the deployment which gave me the opening turn.



The Viking force surged forwards from the opening part of the battle streaming toward the objectives reaching them on the first turn though it was quite a distance and they arrived accompanied by a few fatigue tokens scattered among them. The Anglo-Danish moved up slower positioning themselves in readiness to drive their foes out of the sacred sites. I had begun to score points from this turn




The Vikings spent the next turn consolidating their positions and readying shield walls. While the Anglo-Danish moved up ready to smash into the Viking lines on the next turn.



The Vikings see their foes coming closer and a unit of Bondi surge forward to hold the forest they're currently occupying driving the Ceorls before back licking their wounds like the curs they are. The Berserkers charge forward into a unit of Huscarls with cry's to Frigg and Ullr (Referring to battle board abilities) but their foes prove to be Hard as Iron and one Huscarl is left standing leaning on his sword breathing heavily as the groans on the dying sound around him. The double handed axe wielding Huscarls head up the hill to pressure the Hirdman holding the top and the Anglo Warlord then rushes over to re-enforce his loan warrior on the flank.

Discipline reasserts it's self in the Viking camp as the warriors once again lock shields and brace for the coming onslaught. The Huscarls stream towards the Hirdman and they ready their shields and raise their voice to Ullr, holding their ground. Two men fall from both camps and the Anglo-Danes withdraw to ready themselves for another charge. The Ceorls seeing the now half strength Hirdman move to flank the hill readying themselves for a charge of their own.

 The Viking Warlord decides that in this case offense is the best defense and cry's for the remaining Hirdmen to charge the Ceorls with him. The hearthguard feel the touch of Frigg upon them but luck runs with the Ceorls and they push back the Warlord and leave both Hirdmen on the ground bleeding their last at the cost of just one of their own. The Warlord decides to quit the hill vowing to keep them from the forests for the day pushing himself to the limit to make the distance.

The next turns sees a lull in both forces movements as they rest and hold their positions daring the other to attack.

All the signs point to Raganarok. The Bondi overjoyed at the prospect of this launch at the Anglo-Danish Warlord with unbridled fury. He manages to pull down three of the warriors before they butcher him before the eyes of his helpless Huscarl. The tattered unit on the other flank draws courage from the proximity of their Warlord and push the Ceorls before them from the forest.

Their is a momentary flicker and the battlefield dims as the shadowy figure of Loki seems to move across the field as it goes so to do the final two Ceorls near the forest seemingly taken by the trickster. The tattered Viking force hold's it ground sensing an end to the days struggle as do the Anglo-Danish on the hill. But the loan Huscarl overcome with grief rushes the warriors to avenge his fallen commander and perhaps manage to drive the filthy Vikings from the forest but they run him through and secure the woods for their leader.

Final Score was 72 point to me and 32 to The Wife. She realizes giving me two turns of uncontested holding of terrain is what cost her the game and is keen to go again when we can fit another one in.