JeffCon 2021 Recap

We just arrived back from our annual long weekend of gaming at Lake Kachess.  JeffCon was a four or five night event this year, as we extended our long weekend even more due to missing last year's JeffCon due to COVID.

We once again brought a mix of old classics and new games to try out. Here are some of the new (or newish) games our group (of six attendees) played this year:

• 1812: The Invasion of Canada - Not an 18XX game, but a light wargame by Academy Games that has the British Redcoats, Canadian Militia, and Native Americans fighting the American Regulars and American Militia along the northeast US-Canadian border.  I enjoyed the movement mechanic (using cards).  Like many Academy Games, it uses blocks for forces and custom dice for combat.  We played the two turn introductory scenario, and enjoyed it's straight-forward nature.
  
• Dune - This was the first time playing the Gale Force Nine remake of the forty year old classic, (originally released by Avalon Hill back in 1979).  I was concerned that the game mechanics may show their age, but I was mistaken - playing this was one of the highlights of the weekend.  Each player is a faction working to control the planet Arrakis. The game board is split into a number of territories, five of which are strongholds.  The normal winning condition is to control three of the strongholds alone, (or four held by an alliance of two players).  There are faction-specific victory conditions as well.  It is asymmetric, unbalanced, allows for creativity and treachery - and it all works.  In our game, the Bene Gesserit player won using their unique victory condition, which was a surprise to all of us -- especially that player's ally!  Six is the perfect number of players for this game - I wouldn't want to play it with any less.
• What A Tanker! - We played a 6mm tank battle using the Too Fat Lardies ruleset for the first time with six players - two teams of three tanks.  I finally got to use my 6mm desert scenery.  The dice rolls were fun, random, and many times brutal.
  
• Tzolk'in: The Mayan Calendar -  This worker placement game has a unique game mechanic as players place their workers on giant connected gears.  The gears rotate and take the workers to different action spots.  It requires planning ahead and prudent resource management.  This was our second play, but first time playing with five players.
  
• Aliens: Another Glorious Day in the Corps - We played this Aliens-themed co‑operative survival board game, which to me seemed like a mix of Space Hulk and Star Wars: Imperial Assault.  We played the introductory scenario where we needed to rescue Newt and escape the board.  The game has a card management component that I was not expecting, but helps provide a sense of pressure and constraint.  Our mission was mostly successful and we learned much strategy for future sessions.
• Ethnos - This was our second time playing this game, but it was the first time playing with six players.  This fantasy-themed area control and card matching game scales well with the number of players.  I went with the "Halfling strategy" once again, which put me far head in victory points after the first two rounds.  But in the final round, I pressed my luck and ended up not banking any Halfing armies, and lost to a player using the "Orc strategy".  The game rewards flexibility and taking advantage of the opportunities that arise.
• Pyramid Cards - This now relatively hard-to-find card game was released way back in 1977.  It is a trick-tracking game, with five suites in its 52 card deck, (each deck has 5 suits numbered 2 through 12, along with 2 wild cards). We used two decks and played a modified ruleset where players predicted the number of tricks they would win.
• Road Kill Rally - This risk-management racing game was a blast to play.  Each player takes one car, modifying and customizing it using accessory cards.  Then the death race is on.  Points are awarded for kills, destruction, and finishing the race in the top three positions.  Points are lost for wiping out.  Card management is a key piece of the game, as your hand of cards is used for measuring the fitness of your car.  I really enjoyed the trade-off between speed and safety on turns.  I enjoyed it more than our games of Gaslands, although it is more constrained and lacks the customization of a miniatures game.
  

RIP Ral Partha 77-706 White Paint Bottle (1993-2021)

One of my last two Ral Partha paints was thrown in the trash today.  The bottle of "White" (just... White) had been with me from the beginning of my hobby journey in the mid-1990s.  As we are facing a severe heat wave here, I decided to check all my acrylics, ensure the seal was tight on all the bottles, and reconstitute them with some water if needed.  When I opened this bottle to add a few drops, I found a black mold growing inside.  I seriously considered just removing the mold and continuing to use the paint, but as a white paint, I realized this was a sign that signified the end of line for this stalwart.

 

Surviving 77-706 White... is 77-707 Gray, which becomes my last remaining Ral Partha paint bottle.  I'm hoping my Gray bottle will remain usable for the next few years.  Kinda as a reverse Gandalf situation, which is poetic as the Ral Partha company itself was named after an old wizard character played in the founder's RPG gaming group.

Blackstone Fortress Spindle Drones

A few months ago I finished painting up eight Spindle Drones, found in Games Workshop's Blackstone Fortress game.  These metallic-organic arachnids help defend Blackstone Fortress from intruders.  I primed these robotic war machines in metallic silver, then washed them with a purple Army Painter wash.  I finished up their bases simply, with some crackle media and flock.

I may have a few uses for them - they could be used for 15mm "tri-pod" aliens (a la War of the Worlds) in a superhero game, for One Page Rules: Grimdark Firefight as proxies for Snipers (Rebel Guerrillas faction), or for an additional small unit add-on in a game of Warhammer 40,000. 

15mm G.I. Joe Cobra Infantry (and H.I.S.S.)

Once I changed my mind about which miniatures I wanted use for my 15mm Team Yankee Yugoslavian infantry force, I had a few extra metal East German miniatures that I didn't know what to do with.  I decided to prime them blue and then quickly paint them up as Cobra infantry  I didn't dip these models, but instead used Army Painted washes as there were so few bases.

These miniatures may come in handy as a small group of generic bad guys for 15mm Superhero gaming, as NPCs in a game of 15mm "What A Tanker!", or as something else I haven't yet considered.   The H.I.S.S. Tank is out of scale, but close enough for my needs - it was produced by Running Press and released back in 2014.

Classic Warhammer Fantasy Miniatures: Bloodletters of Khorne

A few month ago, I picked up some mid-1990s Khorne Bloodletters from Ebay.  This iteration of Bloodletters are much more chunky than the 1989 originals (the arched, lithe Alan Perry versions from the Slaves to Darkness volume of Realm of Chaos).  

The models that I won were sculpted by Aly Morrison and Colin Dixon around 1996.  I repainted them, adding in a deeper, more vibrant red, along with some blue highlights and over-brushing.  I then rebased them to match a small, fully painted Chaos army I also won off of Ebay.  I think they match those models fairly well and combined they will give me a smallish Chaos force to meet my Wood Elves in future skirmishes....

BattleTech: Clan Invasion Box Set - Painted

I recently completed painting my BattleTech: Clan Invasion Box Set in anticipation of some post-COVID restrictions gaming.  I painted them green with gold, red, and blue accents, and used Kroma Crackle to provide a broken mud effect for the bases.

Despite being a kid in the 1980s (and wargaming since the early 1990s), I have not yet ever played a tabletop game of BattleTech.  Although one of the wargaming industry’s most important and longest-lasting science-fiction universes, I'm sadly much more familiar with its computer game version, MechWarrior.  My best BattleTech / MechWarrior memory was at the now defunct Wizards of the Coast Game Center, which was located near the University of Washington's main campus in the late 1990s.  The Game Center featured a BattleTech virtual-reality game with twelve simulator pods, and I played in more than a few sessions with my friends back then....

I'm glad that Catalyst Game Labs has released a new version of BattleTech - and I'm excited to again jump into some battles in the BattleTech / MechWarrior universe - this time on the tabletop!

Unreleased Blood Bowl Miniature Sells for Thousands on Ebay

On the day that the New York Times has an article titled Here’s How Bored Rich People Are Spending Their Extra Cash, I noticed that an unreleased Witch Elf Referee miniature has sold on Ebay for $2,425.  

Which begs the question - what does one do with an unpainted miniature purchased for this price?  Flip it?  Paint it?  Have it pro-painted?  Proudly display it?  Giddily gaze upon it each morning to start your day?

Collecting Citadel Miniatures has more on the history of this particular miniature which was a Fanatic Games miniature that was never released.

Classic Warhammer Fantasy Miniatures: Ariel, Mage Queen of Loren

I painted up another classic Warhammer Fantasy Battle miniature, this time it's Ariel, sculpted by Gary Morley, again from back in the mid-1990s.  She was one of Citadel's "super-sized" Warhammer models -- similar to other Morley sculpts such as Nagash and Ariel's Wood Elf companion, Orion.  I won her off Ebay in a steal of a deal, and repainted her over the course of a few months (as a side project alongside other painting projects).  

Ariel will lead a pack of Wood Elves that I also purchased off of Ebay, for which I only did some very minor enhancements.  I aligned the style of all their bases, highlighted each model with pink, and then added some flowers in an attempt to tie them all together.  They should be a very small (but fun) Wood Elves force to play with down the road.

A Billion Suns: Petite Blocks Starter Fleet

I recently obtained the rulebook for A Billion Suns and immediately desired a starter fleet to try out this great new miniatures game from Osprey (which is designed by Mike Hutchinson of Gaslands fame).  My good friend came up with the idea of using Petite Block (miniature, off-brand Legos) to build some starter fleets.  A trip to Daiso was made, and just a few hours later my starter fleet was complete:

• 5 x Light Utility Ship
• 5 x Corvette
• 5 x Medium Utility Ship
• 1 x Monitor
• 4 x Destroyer
• 1 x Carrier
• 1 x Cruiser

I used the train car Petite Blocks to build my fleet, as I found the train sets have the most flat pieces, which I wanted for my designs.  For only spending just $9.00 (plus sales tax), I feel it is a good value.    The number of hours spent building the fleet was enjoyable, but the time and effort needed for this approach must also be taken into consideration... it is a heavy time investment.  Petite Blocks can be obtained for just $1.50 per pack at Daiso Japan stores.  

Carrier

Corvettes

Cruiser

Destroyers

Light Utility Ships

Medium Utility Ships

Monitor

A Billion Suns: Tutorial with Light Utility Ship

A Billion Suns is a newly released space fleet miniatures game from Osprey.  Its author is Mike Hutchinson (of Gaslands fame).  I received the rulebook yesterday and tonight tried out the simple tutorial, (changing it up a bit by using a Light Utility Ship instead of the recommended Fighter Wing).  The game has no specific miniatures, so I tried it out using starships created from Petite Blocks (off-brand miniature Legos).

Prelude - The Sea Rider:

The captain of the MezCorp Light Utility Ship "Sea Rider" was ready for action, planning to engage and destroy two different hostile facilities.  Although they appeared closely adjacent to one another via long range scans, due to a fold in the space-time continuum, the facilities were located on different tables, and would thereby require a "jump" to traverse the two sectors.

Turn One - Jump On It:

Two jump points were placed early in the turn (using up two of the five CMD tokens).  The Sea Rider jumped out of hyperspace (at a cost of one credit), close to the first of the jump points, using a third CMD token.  An opening round of volleys missed on both sides....

Turn Two - Don't Panic:

The Sea Rider used its CMD tokens in the second turn to issue Power To Weapon Systems, scoring a direct hit - a critical.  Although the facility had rudimentary shields, they did not deflect the damage from the Sea Rider's Light Blasters.  The Facility was destroyed, earning one credit for MezCorp.  However, the Sea Rider took one damage in the preceding exchange of fire, its shields not offering any protection from the facility's Laser Turrets.

Turn Three - Coming in Hot:

The Sea Rider decided to Jump Point Hop to the other jump point in the other sector.  The Sea Rider suffered another hit, causing one additional damage to its hull, but inflicted one damage on the facility.  Sensing victory at hand and still at 50% operational capability, the captain of the Sea Rider ignored his crew's pleas for repair actions and instead commanded Power To Weapon Systems.  The captain was shocked when its Light Blasters attack on the facility missed entirely.

Turn Four - So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish: 

Partly due to the Sea Rider being an Easy Target (for not having moved), at the start of the next turn, the facility scored a critical hit on the Sea Rider.  Its shields did nothing.  The Sea Rider was destroyed.

Epilogue - Life Is But A Dream:

Luckily for the captain of the Sea Rider, this was only a very realistic simulation -- part of MezCorp's officer training program.  But even had this been a real mission, MezCorp would have come out even on the ledger.  The cost of the Sea Rider was 1 credit, but the destruction of the first facility earned MezCorp 1 credit.  All in all, it's a wash.

Conclusion:

The tutorial was helpful to better understand the rules and turn sequence.  I like the interplay between the Mass, Silhouette, and other stats.  I also like the mission-based approach the game takes.  It will take some getting used to wanting low rolls of the dice, but I think there will be much to enjoy here.  I look forward to playing a real game in the future.

Blood Bowl: Repainted and Re-based 3rd Edition Orcland Raiders from Ebay

I've been fortunate recently to land a few great deals for 3rd edition Blood Bowl Dwarfs and High Elves that were both painted well and posted for very reasonable prices on Ebay.  I bought an Orc team from a seller based on how well painted his High Elves arrived, and similarly his Orcs arrived painted very well too.  With just a couple hours of effort I was able to spruce them up, dip, and re-base all of them.

The Orcs were my original Blood Bowl team back in the mid-1990s.  They have a special place in my heart and I'm very happy now to have a nicely painted Orc team (along with Varag Ghoul-Chewer and some Goblin Special Players!) that match the aesthetics of the rest of my Blood Bowl teams.

"Painting" 40K Plague Marines with Sharpie Pens

One of my more recent attempts at painting with Sharpie pens was some Plague Marines to help support the Nurgle Poxwalkers that I completed some time ago.  After priming them green, (with a zenithal overprime of a lighter green primer), I used Sharpies to paint them.  The metallic colors were used for all metal areas on the models and this effect was the most successful.  I dipped them using Royal Walnut Satin Mixwax Polyshade.  To match the Poxwalkers, I used normal acrylics to paint the the bases and added the same flocked foliage.

This approach saved some time over painting them with acrylics, but they turned out pretty messy.  But once again, because the models are Nurgle this method definitely works better than it would have on other types of models.  They match the Poxwalkers pretty well, and together they make a great Havoc Brothers (Disciples of Plague) skirmish force for Grimdark Future: Firefight.

15mm Superhero Gaming - Nevermore Character Sheet

Nevermore the cyber-raven is Blue Raven's new sidekick and loyal companion.  Released from evildoers during a dangerous mission, the cyber-raven's programming was reset.  He now obeys, protects, transports, and accompanies Blue Raven on all her operations.  Nevermore can lift her to normally unreachable heights, or transport her quickly across any theater of engagement.

15mm Superhero Gaming - A Christmas Crisis Session Report

I ran a holiday-themed 15mm Superhero gaming session for my daughters, nieces, and nephews last year.  It had been many months since since the last of our most recent three sessions - Rise of the Dead, Desert Rescue, and When Aliens Attack.  Below are the details for this holiday adventure....

A Christmas Crisis

At the North Pole, the mistletoe was hung, the elves were busy... and trouble was brewing.... Herr Kürbiskopf's hatred of Christmas - only exceeded by his love for Halloween - threatens the holiday itself. His dastardly plan - kidnap Santa and destroy his North Pole workshop so that Halloween will be the most popular holiday. The Repulsers superhero team has been called in to safeguard Santa, protect his workshop... and save Christmas.

Superheroes:
*America Girl
*Ice Princess (with Snowflake, her ice golem)
*Star Flare
*Blue Raven
*Major Blasto

NPCs:
*Santa Claus
*Santa's Elves

Villains:
*Herr Kürbiskopf

*Zombies

Aboard the Quinjet, the team (led by America Girl) discussed the mission and formulated a plan to inform Santa about the threat.  They will prepare his elves to mount a defense of the workshop and then engage and eliminate Herr Kürbiskopf along with his zombie horde.

Ice Princess warns Santa and his elves, who are very worried and consider abandoning the North Pole.  America Girl promises to protect them and and starts mounting a defense perimeter.  Meanwhile, Blue Raven eliminates the first few zombies encountered around the defensive perimeter.  Ice Princess, Star Flare, and Major Blasto engage the zombie horde, fighting their way to Herr Kürbiskopf.  They know if they can defeat Herr Kürbiskopf's and stop his sinister magic, the zombies will all cease their macabre walk toward the workshop.  After heavy fighting, America Girl engages Herr Kürbiskopf, defeating him and the zombie threat.

Christmas is saved and Santa is safe, along with his elves and his workshop. As a reward, Santa provides a gift to each of the superheros:

• America Girl is presented a single pulse glove, providing her with a new "Pulse Glove" ranged attack,
• Major Blasto is gifted a new transport shuttle, providing future air/space transportation for the team in future missions,
• Blue Raven is provided a new companion - a cyber-raven named Evermore,
• Ice Princess is granted karate lessons, allowing her to perform a new melee attack called "Frost Strike", and  
• Star Flare is handed the keys to a fighter jet, allowing her to provide in-air protection for Major Blasto's transport shuttle, give close ground support in ground engagements, and arrive quickly to future battlefields.

Best Moments:

*America Girl demonstrates her leadership skills by rallying Santa's elves to hold the line against the zombies.

*Snowflake the ice golem, no longer suffering from the effects of his "Melting" special rule, crushes zombies left and right.

*Major Blasto lures some the zombies to the center of a frozen lake, at which point Star Flare uses her magical flame powers on the lake surface, melting the ice. The zombies fall into the lake and then are trapped beneath the surface by the surface ice, which was quickly re-frozen by Ice Princess.

Ice Princess warns Santa and his elves about the imminent danger!

America Girl holds the line against the zombies....

The zombies march toward Santa's workshop...

Snowflake - in his element - crushes the zombie invaders!

Santa provides gifts for saving his elves, his workshop... and Christmas!

Blitz Bowl Season 2 - Official Errata and FAQ!

Games Workshop has released a Blitz Bowl Season 2 Errata and FAQ on its Warhammer Community website.  It answers a wide variety of rules questions and includes a few rule changes and clarifications.

The hosts of the The Crush! podcast were officially involved in the publication - and it shows!  Matt and Jody were authors of the Santa Cruz Blitz Bowl League’s rule changes which slightly tweaked and clarified things for both balance and fun.  Their changes were heavily influenced by both their expertise and experience with the game.  These rules tweaks and clarifications have now made it into an official errata for Season 2.

You can learn more and also hear Matt and Jody discuss the Blitz Bowl Season 2 Errata and FAQ document in their podcast's Episode 24: The Official FAQisode.  I highly recommend all of their podcast episodes - each is informative and fun if you love Blitz Bowl.  As the hosts are school teachers, the style and approach of each episode is professional, educational, and interesting.  It is one of the few podcasts I listen to in normal "1x" speed in order to savor every second....

Blood Bowl: Repainted and Re-based 3rd Edition High Elf Galadrieth Gladiators from Ebay

A few months ago, I got a great deal on Ebay for some 3rd edition Blood Bowl Dwarfs that I touched-up and re-based.  Then, just a few weeks ago I came across an entire High Elf Galadrieth Gladiators team, along with Prince Moranion, that were painted well and posted for a reasonable price on Ebay.  Seeing that they were painted in the same colors scheme as the Seattle Seahawks sealed the deal, and I purchased them.

After they arrived, I realized they were painted even better than I had thought from the pictures.  I did some slight touchup, added a few details (mostly highlights), and then dipped, re-based, and flocked each model.  With just a few hours of effort, I now have a nicely painted Elf team that matches the aesthetic of the rest of my Blood Bowl teams.  I'm very happy with the results, and even bought another (Orc) team from the same seller based on how these turned out.

Classic Warhammer Fantasy Miniatures: Dark Elf Army

Over the course of the last many months I've been collecting a number of painted units from Ebay with the intention of creating a small Dark Elf Warhammer Fantasy Battle army.  Most of them were painted to a good standard, and I simply needed to touch up each unit, adding some details, re-basing, and dipping (using my normal method) for some consistency.  I added the Dark Elf Assassin I painted a few months ago, and also added a Dark Elf Repeating Bolt Thrower that I painted up a couple of weeks ago.  Finally, I printed some appropriate banners from Kinko's, and the army was complete.  I'm very happy with the minimal painting time and cost.

The figures are a mix of Citadel and Marauder Miniatures from the mid-1980s to around the mid-1990s.  My favorites are the two Doom Drakes - proto-Cold Ones - that have a more primal and fun look, (at least to me).  Finding square bases of the appropriate size will continue to be a big challenge, but I've already started buying painted units from Ebay for small Chaos, High Elf, Dwarf, and Empire forces (when the price is right).