Happy Valentine's Day!

Blitz Bowl - Female Humans

Lastly, these are some female humans I use in Blitz Bowl games. They are actually the Valkyries from Impact! Miniatures, again sculpted by Phil Bowen. I painted them with my standard color scheme of blue and red, which tends to provide a good result.  Like the last two Blitz Bowl teams, they were also dipped.

One thing I've done for Blitz Bowl miniatures is paint a white line for any Linesman - this makes it easy to identify them apart from the other players, especially when using alternative miniatures such as these....

Blitz Bowl - Female Dark Elves

I painted up some female Dark Elves for use in Blitz Bowl games as well. They are the Black Widows from Impact! Miniatures, sculpted by Phil Bowen. I painted them up fairly simply, and enjoyed painting them in a color combination of green and pink. They were then dipped, giving them a grimy appearance.  I used a metallic Sharpie for the few pieces of metal.

Blitz Bowl - Female Dwarfs

About a year ago I painted up some female Dwarfs for use in Blitz Bowl games. They are from the Sister Sledgehammerers set from Warlord Games, sculpted by Wojtek.  I think they turned out well and were fun to paint up.

Blood Bowl Player - Warhammer Quest

Although we haven't played the new Warhammer Quest in a while, a few months ago I finished up an Ex-Blood Bowl Player for that game.  For the miniature, I used an old Blood Bowl human player (that I now use as a proxy for games of Blitz Bowl).

I based the rules mostly around the old Ex-Blood Bowl Player for the original Warhammer Quest, created by Jason Hill, whose rules were originally published in Citadel Journal #16 back in 1996.

Blitz Bowl - Another Four Player Crossroads Match

Over the holidays I was able to introduce Blitz Bowl to more members of my family - my daughters and my nephew.  We played another four player crossroads game, but as it was a learning game, we played a variant where each team only had three linesman.  It was the female Humans, the female Dark Elves, the Stitchpunks (using Halfing rules), and the Goblins.

In the end, it was a great way of teaching the rules of the game.  The Humans won with a breakaway play which scored a touchdown and ended the match....

Grimdark Future: Firefight - Ambush at the Farming Colony

We played another game of One Page Rules - Grimdark Future: Firefight over the holidays.  We are really enjoying these quick and cinematic games (that we place in the Warhammer 40K universe), and hope to play some more over the course of the year.

A small fire team of Ultramarines has been dispatched to investigate reported rebellious activity at a small colony on a remote farming world.  The colony's administrator has sent a contingent of snipers to ambush the team of Space Marines at the local landing port, foolishly thinking this may discourage future Imperial meddling.  The landing ship takes off, and soon after, the snipers open fire....

250 Points - Ultramarines (Battle Brothers):

• 5 x Battle Brothers: 3+ Quality, 2+ Defense, Assault Rifle (24”, A1), CCW (A1), Fearless.  One was upgraded with a Flamethrower (Flamer), and one with a Missle Launcher....

250 Points - Local Militia (Human Defense Force):

• 10 x Snipers: 6+ Quality, 6+ Defense, Sniper Rifle (36”, A1, AP(1), Sniper), CCW (A1), Scout, Stealth

It was quality vs. quantity, and quantity won this time.  Vastly outnumbered, the Space Marines intended to concentrate fire on the left flank, hopefully reducing the numbers of snipers in early rounds to even the odds before the other snipers could take part in the battle.

Unfortunately, due to the range of the sniper rifles, a massive barrage of early sniper shots took out some Space Marines.  There wasn't much hope for the Space Marines at that point, even after one of them made it into close combat with a small grouping of snipers.  The large number of objectives meant it was impossible to keep the snipers from overwhelming and securing the small landing pad.

The colony's administrator smiled when informed of the devastating defeat inflicted upon the Ultramarines.  As he clutched his triple-circle medallion, under his breath he whispered "I shall help spread his virulent gifts across the false Imperium, and watch its final rotting...".

Blitz Bowl - Proxy Team (for Halfings)

I recently painted up a proxy team for Blitz Bowl and will use the Halfing Player Cards for the team's rules.  I wanted to create a team for Blitz Bowl that I could use with the miniatures from a few smaller teams I created for a 3-4 model variant of Blitz Bowl that I call Sudden Death.  It is still in development.

I figured the Halfing "Hefty" works well for a washed-up, Bloodbowl Veteran whose time on the field should have ended a decade ago, (but just wants one more shot at returning to the big league, post-retirement).

The Stitchpunk miniatures are from the Puppet All-Stars Team by Meiko Miniatures, and the Imps are from Impact Miniatures.  I felt that they were an adequate match for using with the Halfing rules.

15mm Polish Paratroopers

I recently painted up some 15mm Polish Paratroopers for a custom game we will be playing, (based on both the One Page Rules and NetEpic rulesets).

The 1st (Polish) Independent Parachute Brigade was a parachute infantry brigade formed in Britain to help liberate Poland.  The unit was sent into action in support of the British 1st Airborne Division at the Battle of Arnhem in September 1944, under the command of Major General Sosabowski, (played by Gene Hackman, in the exceptional 1977 war movie, A Bridge Too Far).

The miniatures are from Forged In Battle's excellent B-PARA-01 British Paratrooper Platoon pack.  I based the miniatures on pennies, and worked to paint them up relatively quickly, although the camouflage took more time then I liked.  I based them on the pennies, added sand, then primed them with Army Painter Desert Yellow, which was then left, as is, for the trousers.  I tried to follow the great guide from Crac des Chevaliers.  I cheated by using both a green and brown Sharpie to help with the camouflage, as well as a metallic Sharpie for the silver parts.  I dipped them using the reliable MinWax PolyShade: Royal Walnut Satin - my usual dipping media since 2008.

The Poles used the British battledress, but instead wore blue greyish berets (instead the striking scarlet red).  I originally used a bluish grey color, but went over it after dipping with a normal old grey, as the dip had darkened it too much.

I'm looking forward to painting up some 15mm Polish Armia Krajowa (Home Army) partisans, as well as some 15mm Croatians (Army of the Independent State of Croatia) in the near future....

"Happy Holidays from Wild Weasel, you Christmas turkeys!"

Best holiday wishes to you and yours....

https://youtu.be/I2wowb5B0gc?t=40

"Painting" 40K Eldar with Sharpie Pens

I tried to speed paint some Eldar Guardians a few months back, using just a quick purple wash and metallic Sharpie for the Shuriken Rifles. This was before the release of the new Contrast Paints, but I think they turned out well despite not spending much time painting them....

Halfing Player Cards from Blitz Bowl Halfing Expansion

In addition to the Undead team, Games Workshop has also released an expansion bringing the hungry and plucky Halfling team to the game to Blitz Bowl (now exclusively available at Barnes & Noble).

These two previously unreleased Blitz Bowl teams provide hope that Nurgle, Lizardmen, or other unreleased teams may show up within the next few years....

The Halfing team comes with six Halfing players: one Hefty, three Hopefuls, and two Runners:

 

 

Undead Player Cards from Blitz Bowl Undead Expansion

Just in time for Halloween, Games Workshop has officially released an expansion bringing in the slow but durable Undead team to Blitz Bowl (now exclusively available at Barnes & Noble).  Undead were the team I originally played in Blood Bowl back in the 1990s, but I never expected for there to be a Blitz Bowl expansion released for them; I'm excited to get them painted up and try them out....

The Undead team comes with seven Undead players: one Ghoul, one Mummy, two Skeletons, one Wight Blitzer, and two Zombies:

Wendy's RPG and the Critical Role Backlash

Wendy's recently released Feast of Legends, a tongue-in-cheek role playing game (RPG) set in a Wendy's-inspired fantasy world.  Appropriately, most gamers were simply amused and dismissive. Yet, some others in the gaming community could not pass up an opportunity to express serious concerns about a game sponsored by a fast food restaurant....

Enter the folks at Critical Role, a popular RPG gaming group.  Critical Role suffered an uproar from within their own community over how Wendy's does not treat their farm workers fairly, (in addition to a number of other things troubling to their fanbase).  The RPG session that Critical Role recorded for the game has now disappeared from their Twitch channel and all mention of it totally erased, just as if the sponsorship had never happened.

Apparently, RPG gamers want their free fast food role playing games to be served with a side of social justice....

Disney Villainous

Disney Villainous is a board game in which each player takes control of one of six Disney villains, each from a different Disney movie.  The quality and production value of this game is very good, and I was excited to try it out.  One thing I was looking forward to was the various and unique win conditions that each player is given.

Unfortunately, I have played this twice with various family members and and each time the game was not enjoyed by all other players.  I have enjoyed it, but others said the game felt tedious, unfocused, and inane, even after they knew the rules and had played for more than a few turns.

I'm excited to try it out with a larger group of my friends, who as experienced gamers may have a different take on what I felt was a strategic and involved game....