Eldar Alaitoc Farseer

Farseer from the early 2000s.  I painted this for my still unfinished Eldar Alaitoc army.  Sometimes used as a proxy for Eldrad Ulthran.

15mm Superhero Gaming - Star Flare Character Sheet

Star Flare is a mysterious female figure who commands fire, heat, and flame.  She says little, simply letting her actions speak to her wishes.  She hasn't yet joined a superhero team, but often appears to help out The Repulsers when assistance is needed.  Her power is matched only by her mystery.

She-Ra: Princess of Power Card Game

About nine months ago, I started work on a custom card game for my daughter who loves She-Ra: The Princess of Power.  After creating a template in Excel, using screen captures of She-Ra episodes from Hulu, and using my rudimentary Photoshop skills, the card images were complete last month.  Thankfully, Artscow had a sale on custom card decks a few weeks ago.  The three custom decks arrived from China earlier last week and we played for the first time a few nights ago.  The game is based loosely on the Star Wars CCG from the late 1990s.  We used just the basic rules, but each card has attributes for a more complicated game.  My daughters loved it, and we are looking forward to playing again soon.

Eldar Alaitoc Warlock

Warlock from the late 1990s.  I painted this more a decade ago for my still unfinished Eldar Alaitoc army.  I nicknamed him Gene Simmons.

Frostgrave - Elsa and Anna from Frozen

Last weekend I sat down to paint two miniatures I ordered from North Star Military Figures for Frostgrave.  The description is for Fire Elementalists to avoid potential legal action, (else Mickey Mouse "gonna' sue somebody").  Although they will work well for Frostgrave, I could use them for Warhammer Quest:  Silver Tower or Age of Sigmar....  I'm happy with how the snow bases turned out.

JeffCon 2016 Recap

We held the annual JeffCon up at Jeff's cabin at Lake Kachess last weekend.  We always bring a mix of old classics and new games to try out.  Here are some of the games we played this year:

• Colt Express - This was the 2015 Spiel des Jahres winner and I was excited to play it.  I wasn't expecting a pre-programmed move game, which I typically don't enjoy.  For what it is, it works well.  I enjoyed the random nature of the game, but also found it incredibly frustrating.  Part of the fun is the 3D cutout train, but I found it hard to see what was inside each car and would have preferred a normal board.  
• Deception: Hong Kong - This is a social deduction game where the players need to pick a pair of cards out from a huge supply.  One of the players is assigned to be the murderer and selects two of his or her cards to be the targets.  There is a overseer who presents clues to the team so they can pick out the cards.  It was fun (and we were successful in finding the items most of the time), but the game could be much faster and straightforward than the rules as written.
• Isle of Skye - This is a game I already reviewed.  I still enjoy it - good length of time, and hard decisions to make.  My only complaint is that if you make some bad decisions on bid prices early, it can be hard to recover.  However, the game does have a built in benefit if you are behind, which really helps.  On turn one, I had two great tiles, but each were purchased after my time to buy, so I ended up with no new tiles.  I did get extra cash, but was still playing catch up for the rest of the game
• Dark Moon - I was hoping this could be a faster-playing Battlestar Galactica, but so far, it has been hard to replicate the fun associated with the old classic.  It feels a little clunky, but I'm hoping to get a full game as we needed to cut the last game off early.
• Stockpile - This was the highlight of Jeffcon gaming this year.  This stock trading game is fast, fun, with good decisions.  It has some clever mechanics, and a great bidding mechanism.  It might replace Acquire as my favorite stock trading game.  The bidding phase makes the game really fun and interesting - there is bluffing and hard decisions to make.  My only suggestion would be a bidding mechanic for the character selections - I think some of the roles are more powerful than others.

15mm Superhero Gaming - Desert Rescue Session Report

Recently I ran a small 15mm Superhero gaming session for my daughter and nephew.  It had been more than a few months since our last session - Rise of the Dead and I was excited to use my Flames of War desert scenery.  Below are the details for this new adventure....

Desert Rescue

In the heart of the desert, Hydra agents have hidden away the captured Taffy Man deep in an underground bunker.  Nick Fury has selected two superheroes that will lead a clandestine rescue mission:  America Girl - leader of The Repulsers superhero team, and Plasma Man - its newest member.

Superheroes:
*America Girl
*Plasma Man (and Minions)

Avengers (NPCs):
*The Vision

Villians:
*Catoblepas
*Hydra Henchmen

Result:
The small team parachuted into the compound, avoiding being seen until the last minute.  They then descended into the secret facility by elevator.  Plasma Man summoned one Minion, and the team split up to find their extraction target.  They found some keys and hacked in the main computer before freeing Taffy Man from his cell.  Catoblepas attempted to block escape, but the team had found an auxiliary service elevator, and Taffy Man held off Catoblepas and the Hydra henchmen while the rescue team hacked the controls.  Now back on the surface, the team used the stolen keys to steal a Hydra vehicle.  Needing support, The Vision made an appearance to provide covering fire during the escape to freedom.

15mm Superhero Gaming - Plasma Man (and Minions) Character Sheets

Plasma Man is an alien adventurer who has made it his mission to help humans and his fellow superheros fight evildoers.  He can command energy itself and is often accompanied by his small minions that help him in his noble quest.  He is the newest of all the members of The Repulsers superhero team.

15mm Superhero Gaming - Ice Princess (and Snowflake) Character Sheets

The mysterious Ice Princess is a reluctant member of the The Repulsers superhero team.  She uses her cyrokinesis to summon her Ice Golem familiar, Snowflake.  Her ability to control the element of ice allows her to attack her enemies by hurling magical ice bolts and creating mystical blizzards of snow and ice.

15mm Superhero Gaming - America Girl Character Sheet

In the spirit of 4th of July, below is a patriotic custom character:

American Girl has many of Captain American's superpowers -- after getting a blood transfusion from him, she received many of the typical benefits of the Super-Soldier Serum.  She is the leader of the The Repulsers, a superhero team aligned with S.H.I.E.L.D.  She uses a vibranium alloy shield and bravely fights for liberty and freedom.

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.

15mm Superhero Gaming - The Vision Character Sheet

Below is The Vision:

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:

15mm Superhero Gaming - Captain America and Black Widow Character Sheets

Below are Captain America and Black Widow:

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:

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.

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.

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.