Showtime, A-Holes: Guardians of the Galaxy with the Milano

A few years back I picked up the Galactic A-Holes from Highlander Studios.   With the recent release of Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2, I thought I might go back and add their plucky starship - the Milano.  I think it scales pretty well with the 15mm miniatures.  The sci-fi landing pad mat is from Soda Pop Miniatures (for their Relic Knights game).  I'm looking forward to playing 15mm scenarios with it -- I'm planning to base one on the already classic opening scene from the movie.

Relic Knights - Black Diamond: Diamondback and M8-Blitz Auto-Tank

For Diamondback, I used zenithal highlighting to achieve the glowing effect, again doing this in the priming step.  I hit the model with Crystal Blue Army Painter primer from the angle of its axe.  His axe was painted light blue and white after painting over the dipping media, which provided the splattered texture that appears on the axe - the paint beaded-up due to the water-proof dipping surface.  The M8-Blitz Auto-Tank was painted simply as well, but I'm considering adding decals to it down the road.

Shadow War: Armageddon - Kill Team Kraken Omega 3K3

Last week I picked up the new Shadow War: Armageddon rulebook from Heroic Knight Games.  I promptly made a new Kill Team with my Tyranid Warriors.  The Shadow War Zone website lets you easily build and customize your Kill Team and also allows you to track your Kill Team's progression as it gains experience in battles.  I'm looking forward to trying out the rules with my new Hive Fleet Kraken Kill Team - "Kraken Omega 3K3", which you can find over at the Shadow War Zone website.

 

Relic Knights - Black Diamond: Sophia Drake and Black Dragons

Sophia Drake and Black Dragons were painted using zenithal highlighting during the priming step.  I first primed the models using black primer, then hit them with grey primer just on the top of the models.  I did a quick hit of light grey primer directly over top before adding color and painting the guns.  Then, I used the same dipping method that I used on the rest of the miniatures in my Black Diamond force.

Relic Knights - Black Diamond: One Shot

I recently started working on my Black Diamond forces for Relic Knights after becoming re-engaged during the latest Kickstarter campaign for Relic Knights 2nd Edition.  I painted most of the models simply and used the dipping method to add some depth.  Although One Shot's relic has limited contrast and is rather stark, I think it makes One Shot herself really stand out, based on her colorful outfit and dynamic pose.

Relic Knights - Cerci Speed Circuit: Princess Malya, Mr. Tomn, and Pit Crew

I recently completed a few Cerci Speed Circuit miniatures for Relic Knights.  I once again used the dipping method, using just a few base colors and a simple color scheme.  I finished Princess Malya, Mr. Tomn, and Pit Crew, completing the models I wanted to paint from my faction starter for Cerci Speed Circuit.  Now that my Cerci models are complete, I plan on posting some complete cadre pictures soon.

 

Star Wars: Risk

I have played Star Wars: Risk a number of times now with my Dad - it's a great two-player game, and not like Risk at all. It's based on the old "Star Wars: Queen's Gambit" board game, but the theme is the attack on Death Star 2 from ROTJ. The designers also designed the classic Buffy the Vampire Slayer Boardgame (another great game) and like that game this is also a very fun and fast (30 minute play time) game with a great theme.

Our first game was much like the movie. Shield Generator came down, Death Star took out a few capital ships, Luke turned Vader, but the snub fighters (Y-Wings) destroyed the Death Star in the end. Rebels win. Second game was different - Luke was killed by Vader, Falcon blew up, and the Executor engaged the Rebel fleet head on. Rebels were delayed taking out the Shield Generator with simply terrible die-rolling, but finally did it -- just as the last Rebel Capital ship was destroyed. Still a mass of X-Wings and B-Wings still had a chance to take out the Death Star, but were annihilated before they could initiate the final attack run. Close, but Imperials win.

In the plays since, the Rebels have often won, but many of the games have been close.  At the end, when the Rebels need a "6" to blow up the Death Star, there are a number of fun "stand-up and pay attention" dice rolls being made.  It appears that the Rebels are favored balance-wise, but a run of bad die-rolls for the Rebels can balance things out quickly. A few simple rule modifications can also help balance things out.
 
Components could be better (thin cardboard and cards). There is a "Black" edition that upgrades some of the components from cardboard to models.  Its about $25 and sold at the big-box stores and Amazon too.  I highly recommend it as a good, fast two-player game.

Wen-Con 2017

Yesterday I was able to visit Wenatchee and attend Wen-Con for a few hours.  On Friday night I saw an advertisement in Leavenworth at the Krampus Kave, as my wife and I were spending the weekend nearby.

On Saturday morning, I arrived shortly after the doors opened at 10:00AM.  I enjoyed walking through the exhibition hall and visiting the vendors.  The floor was full of cos-players, and the exhibition hall included artists, game stores, comic shops, and a variety of other relevant pop-culture vendors.  My favorite was the film-accurate replica of the Back to the Future Delorean.  There was also a great Ghostbuster and a Star Wars Scout Trooper.  I enjoyed browsing the old miniatures and spent some time in the video gaming room.

It was a fun way to spend a few hours and I think Wen-Con had a great inaugural event to build upon for future years.

Flames of War - 7th Armored Division

A year or two ago I painted some US Army miniatures for Flames of War.  I painted the infantry up as the 7th Armored Division, with the primary color patch on the left shoulder.  I painted them fairly quickly, just basecoating the main colors and then using the dipping method for highlighting.  The tanks are pre-painted Sherman tanks from Point of Contact.

Winter Tabletop Gaming Scenery by "crowin16" (Ebay)

I was looking for some winter scenery for skirmish games such as 40K Kill Team, Age of Sigmar, (or even Frostgrave down the road).  On Ebay, I noticed a seller named crowin16 selling stone scenery using high-density foam.  I won one of his auctions and was very pleased with the quality and detail.  I completed the table with:

• 3x3 foot winter mat, made from white felt (with sparkles) from Joann Fabric, and
• Winter-themed evergreen trees from Michaels, (with small white felt mats to define the area terrain).

I'm hoping to try out Age of Sigmar using this board in the near future.  I'm also currently assembling some Chaos Space Marines for a Kill Team game down the road.

Batman Miniature Game - Bane vs. Batman

Strom and I played our first game of Knight Model's Batman miniatures game a few weeks ago.  The game uses 35mm miniatures and was released a few years ago.  Strom used Batman, and I took Bane.... 

Batman started out the melee using his Batclaw (grapple) to distance himself from Bane.  Once in position, Batman unleashed a volley of Batarangs, slightly wounding Bane.  Batman then closed in for the melee.

Bane took some punches from Batman early, but shrugged most of the damage off with his Desensitized skill, (allowing him to fight as normal after taking damage).  Bane struck back, wounding Batman.  It was a long, drawn-out battle - one to rival the infamous scene from the movie They Live.

Then - it happened.  With a sudden punch, Bane knocked down Batman to the ground with a lucky roll on the critical dice, (when the critical die matches one of the damage dice, it knocks the opponent down).  Bane prepared to finish Batman off.  However, as Bane strutted over for the finishing blow, Batman regained his footing, standing up, and attacked Bane with a swift kick.  

Bane fell to the ground, knocked-out.  Batman was victorious.

Overall, it was a good learning game to understand the basics of the rules.  Batman's defensive skill vs. Bane's power and toughness was a good match.  We are looking forward to learning the rules and introducing more models into future games.

Emerald City Comicon 2017

On Sunday, my daughter and I took another trip into Seattle to attend Emerald City Comicon. This was our second time attending ECCC. This year it was held a month earlier and the signing booths and photo opportunities were moved to the Sheraton, allowing for more exhibits and artist alley space.

The biggest change from last year was that Rey from Star Wars was replaced by Eleven (from Stranger Things) as the most cosplayed character .  In fact, the highlight of the day was my daughter's photo with Millie Bobby Brown - Eleven from Stranger Things.

I caught a glance at a number of celebrities at the signing booths:

• Anna Silk (Bo from Lost Girl),
• Gates McFadden (Beverly Crusher from ST:TNG),
• Jason Momoa (Khal Drogo from Game of Thrones... and Aquaman), and
• many others, such as Stan Lee, Evangeline Lilly, Alice Cooper, and even Draco Malfoy from the Harry Potter movies....

I was standing right next to Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca) - in his scooter - on the main floor.  Vincent D’Onofrio (Wilson Fisk / Kingpin of Daredevil) passed right by me as he entered the photo area - it was fun to hear his interactions with his conventions escorts - very gentlemanly persona.

Relic Knights 2nd Edition Kickstarter - Upcoming Free Stretch Goals

So far the Relic Knights 2nd Edition Kickstarter is off to a good start.



As we enter the mid-way point of the campaign, the unlocking of stretch goals is starting to slow down. However, based on the spoiler sheet that was released earlier in the Kickstarter, we know that there are a number of planned Free stretch goals still to be announced.

I'm looking forward to the new stretch goals as we enter the weekend, and into the second week of the Kickstarter!

Soda Pop Miniatures: Relic Knights 2nd Edition Kickstarter

Soda Pop Miniatures started their Relic Knights 2nd Edition Kickstarter on Monday.  I have collected a number of the Relic Knights miniatures, but did not participate in the first Kickstarter by CoolMiniOrNot. As a result, this is basically a automatic pledge for me:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sodapopminiatures/relic-knights-2nd-edition/description

I listened to the Q&A that was posted on the rule changes, and it sounds like many rule changes were made to make the game more straight-forward and fix some broken mechanics.  One exciting piece of news is that backers who participate in the Beta by submitting at last three game reports will receive their name in the credits.  I may try to play a few games in response to this offer.

I'm excited to see what models are unlocked over the course of the campaign, and seeing all the new versions of current models are getting me anxious to finish painting my cadres before they get upgraded!

Relic Knights - Cerci Speed Circuit vs. Shattered Sword

Last weekend we pulled out my Cerci Speed Circuit and my daughter's Shattered Sword faction.  With the upcoming Kickstarter campaign for Relic Knights: 2nd Edition starting on Monday, I thought it would be great to try a 35 point encounter of Relic Knights with two painted factions.  Below is the battle report:

Setup:

Cerci Speed Circuit (34 Points):

• Marie-Claude and Esmee (13 Points)
• Betty (10 Points)
• Lug (11 Points)

Shattered Sword (34 Points):

• Jeanne Romee and Gallant (14 Points)
• Isabeau Durand (14 Points)
• Purifiers [3] (6 Points)

35 Point Encounters are played to 8 Victory Points, and the flips for the objectives were the exact same for each side (potentially from a lack of shuffling with two brand-new, never-used Esper Decks):

Primary Condition (Objective) - worth 5 Victory Points:

• Entropy - Tear It Down - destroy opponent's primary objective token, or both of opponent's secondary objective tokens.

Secondary Condition (Objective) - worth 3 Victory Points:

• Entropy - Carnage - destroy three enemy units.

The 2x2 felt gaming mat was setup with stone castle terrain I purchased from a seller named crowin16 on Ebay, completed with custom-made Cthulhu and Valkyrie statues that I created.  I added some purple Gale Force Nine crystals, a few large trees, and a pond.  Each team placed its objective markers and units.

Relic Knights is unique in that there are no predefined deployment areas - units just need to be placed no closer than 9" from enemy units and enemy objective markers.

Early Game:

Each team went for the opponent's primary objective from the start.  Cerci relied on the combined damage of Lug, Betty, and Marie-Claude to damage the objective, while Shattered Sword used Jeanne's Guidon power to boost the damage that Isabeau did each turn.  The Purifiers worked to defend their objective, but were ultimately destroyed by a volley of fire from Betty, giving Cerci the first points of the game.

Cerci Speed Circuit - 1 Point

Shattered Sword - 0 Points

Mid-Game:

Cerci focused on destroying the primary objective, but Jeanne Romee kept compelling Betty and Lug away from the objective with Hearts & Minds, keeping them out of line of site and range of the objective.  Cerci destroyed the Shattered Sword primary objective (gaining 5 points), but missed out on gaining 2 points for "Lap Time" - its faction condition, because they exhausted their Esper Deck just one turn before.  One turn later, Isabeau's focused attacks destroyed the Cerci primary objective (for 5 points).

Cerci Speed Circuit - 6 Points

Shattered Sword - 5 Points

 

Late-Game:

Isabeau ran to engage Betty, hoping to gain 3 points to win the game (1 for destroying a unit, and another 2 for accomplishing the "Justice" faction condition for Shattered Sword, which provides points for destroying a unit that defeats the first friendly unit).  Jeanne compelled enemy units away from Isabeau to allow her to focus her attacks against Betty.  Lug was defeated, taking redirected damage for Betty through her "Faithful" power, and giving Shattered Sword 1 additional point.

Cerci Speed Circuit - 6 Points

Shattered Sword - 6 Points

End-Game:

Isabeau's Mercy Strike, along with its Lifeleach press, allowed her to withstand attacks from both Betty and Marie-Claude while winnowing down Betty's health.  Jeanne supported Isabaeu, using her Guidon power to boost Isabeau's damage, and compelled Marie-Claude away from the fight.  As an Esper Master, Esmee used his Esper Cleaning ability to remove the Guidon marker, returning Isabeau's damage to normal.

But it was too late.  Lug was no longer around to act as a bodyguard to Betty.  Eventually, the damage output caught up to Cerci, and when Betty was defeated, Shattered Sword was victorious.

Cerci Speed Circuit - 6 Points

Shattered Sword - 9 Points (Win)

Conclusion:

In all, it was a close game - down to just a turn's worth of difference in the outcome.  Cerci missed "Lap Time" by one turn, and they would have won the game early had they gained the extra 2 points from completing their primary condition.

Overall it was difficult for Shattered Sword to match the damage output of Ceri, with Marie-Claude, Betty, and Lug.  However, although Jeanne Romee can't attack directly, her support abilities - the ability to enhance damage and move opponents - had a big impact on the game.

I found Relic Knights to be a fun distraction from my normal miniature games.  The models are fun to paint, and the gameplay is unique, dynamic, and cinematic.  A small cadre game was exciting and fun to play.

I'm looking forward to the Kickstarter to see what it will offer....