Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Isle of Skye

A few weekends ago Sund brought Isle of Skye, a tile-laying game from Mayfair Games, to our gamenight.  Not being a huge fan of Carcassonne, I was a little suspect.  However, there is much more going on in this 2-5 player game than the simple old classic.  I very much enjoyed how the scoring worked and what really made the game fun was the auction phase, where you have to make very difficult decisions on what price to place on two of your tiles.  Too high of a bid and you are forced to buy your own over-priced tile.  Too low, and another player gets a great deal.  The end game is frantic and even with all of us making some early less-than-optimal decisions while learning the rules, the score was quite close at the end.  With the myriad of different scoring options and tile placement, you will have a unique game each time.  I'm looking forward to playing it again.

Wednesday, June 15, 2016

15mm Superhero Gaming - Taffy Man Character Sheet

The story of Leroy Taff is a cautionary tale.  Once a simple confectioner, Leroy lead a solitary life making candy.  But his attempt to bring life to his candy creations had dramatic effects that would forever alter his destiny.

One afternoon, after leaving his shop, Leroy saved an old Roma women from being hit by an out of control car.  For saving her life, she offered Leroy one wish.  Leroy explained that he wished he could bring "joie de vivre" to his taffy making craft.  The Roma woman nodded and provide Leroy a charm with specific instructions for completing a magic spell to fulfill his wish.

Due to an unfortunate translation error, instead of bringing the joy of life to Leroy's taffy, the attributes of taffy were bestowed upon the closest living thing - him.  Leroy found that he had gained extraordinary powers - the attributes of taffy itself.  Leroy found that he could contort and stretch his body into any shape.  From that day forward, Leroy was Taffy Man.

Below is... Taffy Man, an original character:

Saturday, June 4, 2016

Sunday, May 22, 2016

15mm Superhero Gaming - Guardians of the Galaxy Character Sheets

I use modified Flames of War rules for my 15mm Superhero gaming sessions.  I used some simple prototypes, but have recently created more detailed character sheets that track health and energy, as well as list of out actions and special rules for each character.  I constructed the sheets in Excel, exported them to Photoshop for some detailing, then digitally printed them as 5x7 photos at Costco (for $.57 each).  I think they turned out well and look forward to using them in future gaming sessions.

Below are the Guardians of the Galaxy:





Sunday, May 15, 2016

X-Wing Miniatures Game - JumpMaster 5000

I met Juice at Mox Boarding House on Wednesday for some dinner and X-Wing miniatures.  He had just bought the Mist Hunter Expansion Pack (Zuckuss and 4-LOM) and the Punishing One Expansion Pack (Dengar), and so he brought a two-JumpMaster 5000 / one G-1A build.

I brought my Fat Chewie with Wedge build (98 Points):

Wedge Antilles / X-Wing (29)

  • R2-D2 (4)
  • Veteran Instincts (1)
  • Shield Upgrade (4)

Chewbacca / YT-1300 (42)

  • Predator (3)
  • C-3PO (3)
  • Luke Skywalker (7)
  • Millenium Falcon (1)
  • Shield Upgrade (4)


We ended up playing two games.  In the first, Wedge was defeated early, but Chewie hunted down each opposing ship one by one, using C-3PO to block a ton of damage.  The Falcon had a majority of its hull damage left when the game ended.  In the second game, even though Wedge lived a bit longer, the game was much closer.  The game ended with just four hull left on the Falcon.   Juice brought Boba Fett on one of the JumpMaster 5000, and had he rolled one critical hit, I would have lost C-3PO and that would have been the end of my damage blocking.  I used the Falcon's maneuverability to my advantage, taking into account the unique lack of symmetry on the JumpMaster 5000 dial.  I was fortunate that my build matched up well against Juice's list, so I'll be curious to see how m other builds do against it in the future.

Thursday, May 12, 2016

15mm Superhero Gaming - Rise of the Dead Session Report

Last year at Halloween I GMed my first 15mm Superhero gaming session for my family.  We used the Flames of War rules, modified for Superhero adventures and also used my Flames of War scenery.  Below are the details from that session.  I posted this on DakkaDakka a few months back, but wanted to add in a few more details and some better pictures....

Rise of the Dead

Herr Kürbiskopf has completed his dark ritual in an abandoned church near a small village, raising soldiers from the dead to be his minions.  Nick Fury has quickly assembled a small team of new superheroes to confront Herr Kürbiskopf and his undead horde.  The mission: to protect the villagers, stop the zombies, and defeat Herr Kürbiskopf.  

Superheroes:
*Ice Princess (and Snowflake, the Ice Golem)
*Captain America
*America Girl
*Black Widow

Galactic A-Holes (NPCs):
*Groot
*Rocket Raccoon
*Drax

Villians:
*Herr Kürbiskopf
*Zombies (many, many Zombies) 

Result:
Victory!  The superhero team needed to call in some US Army (NPC) reinforcements, but the village was saved from the zombie horde and Herr Kürbiskopf was defeated!  Along the way, some Galactic A-Holes joined the fight....








Victory!
At 15mm, I can quickly create new adversaries and superheroes as needed, so I'll be holding similar gaming sessions in the near future.  I also created some character sheets for use in the game - I'll post them shortly.

Friday, May 6, 2016

Flames of War Vietnam - Reliable Intel Mission


Yesterday after work I went over to Strom's house for some Vietnam-era Flames of War.  We played the Reliable Intel mission which simulates a US Navy SEAL squad deep behind enemy lines.  I played the SEALs and Strom played the VC.  The game was small - just 300 points per side.



We set our scenario on an island in the middle of the muddy Mekong delta.  The five objectives (red boxes) were placed around the island.  The extraction points (blue boxes) were the escape routes for the SEALs to end the game.  The VC started in the village (in white), while the SEALs (in black) were inserted near the first objective.  I choose to attack at night.


Strom put on some Creedence and we began....

The SEALs quickly secured the first objective.  The Patrol Boat engaged the VC, with little result for either side due to the darkness and distance of fire.  The SEALs moved quickly to the next objective while the VC moved up.  The SEALs were still searching to find the intelligence at the second objective when the VC emerged from the jungle.  A firefight ensued and the SEALs took heavy fire from multiple sides.  It was not the finest moment for the SEALs, who only caused a handful of casualties against the vastly more numerous VC.  The injured and surrounded SEALs tried to mount a defense, while the Patrol Boat raced to provide escape.  Finally unpinned, the SEALs boarded the Patrol Boat.  The VC fired on the Patrol Boat as they exited the battlefield via the extraction point.










The SEALs ended up gathering just one of the five objectives and only left the table with two teams remaining - both injured.  The Patrol Boat extracted the SEALs, allowing for a Major Defeat for the SEALs, (as opposed to a Stunning Defeat).  We stretched the rules to allow me to pickup the SEALs with the Patrol Boat away from the extraction point, which helped save me from the worst outcome.

Saturday, April 30, 2016

Eldar Alaitoc Wave Serpent (Mottled)

A few years ago I finished my Wave Serpent for my Alaitoc Eldar force.  The army is not close to being fully painted, but this is one of the few models that is.  I used a mottling technique using a sea sponge.  I went into my gaming storage this morning and the sun was out, so grabbed my camera to test out a few photos with different lighting techniques (flash, sunlight, etc.) and background colors.









Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Relic Knights - Cerci Speed Circuit

I recently finished a number of Cerci Speed Circuit models for Relic Knights by Soda Pop Miniatures.  Again, I used the dipping method, using Minwax PolyShade.







Sunday, April 10, 2016

Emerald City Comicon 2016

Yesterday my daughter and I took a trip into Seattle to attend Emerald City Comicon.  It was our first visit and I can only compare it to other large conventions I have attended, such as PAX Prime or Gencon.  The vendor hall was huge and interesting, and it was certainly the convention with the highest percentage of people in costume.  I'm used to seeing Deadpool cosplay at conventions, but this time he was almost overtaken by Rey from Star Wars as the most cosplayed character.

Some other thoughts and highlights:
  • We attended a panel hosted by Ashley Eckstein, the voice of Ahsoka Tano from Star Wars: Rebels.  She was promoting her new book publishing company, Her Universe Press.  Afterwards, we waited in the autographing area to met Ashley, who is friendly and was interested that my daughter has been a huge fan of her character, Ahsoka, for many years.  She is one of the most authentic celebrities I've met - its obvious she loves her job, and Star Wars and its fans.
  • In Artist Alley, my daughter was drawn to the booth of Camilla D'Errico, an artist from nearby Vancouver, B.C.  I'd describe her art as a mix of manga and fantasy - she has fun, colorful, and unique designs that are full of mood. We picked up a print of her work, Neo New York.  Camilla was easy to talk with and really engaged my daughter, which was great.
  • There were a few limited gaming exhibits and I picked up some sheets of PennyGems from ImprobableObjects.  The founder demonstrated the product to me last year at ETX.  The PennyGems are stickers that you fix to both sides of a penny to create a high-quality gaming token.
  • I caught a glance at a number of celebrities at the signing booths:
    • Sean Patrick Astin (Samwise Gamgee from Lord of the Rings),
    • Norman Reedus (Darryl from The Walking Dead), and
    • many others, such as the Foggy from Daredevil and even the Weasley twins from the Harry Potter movies!
While standing in line to meet Ashley Eikstein, we heard a huge cheer erupt throughout the hall. Puzzled, I shot a questioning glance at another person in line.  She just replied... "Nathan Fillion...".
 

Friday, April 8, 2016

Children of the Hydra's Teeth

One of my favorite movies is still Jason and the Argonauts, released way back in 1963.  And my favorite scene of course is the climax of the movie featuring the Ray Harryhausen stop-motion skeletons.  A few years ago I bought some Wargames Factory Skeletons to try and replicate the skeletons from that scene.  Assembling these models was a painful experience.  Even once assembled, they are extremely fragile.  However, I think they are the best-looking skeletons on the market.  I dipped them a few weeks ago and bought some Peddinghaus Decals 1/72 Greek Shield Emblems EP1168 for the Greek shields.  I finished them up with flock two weeks ago.