Tau XV25 Stealth Battlesuits

I recently finished painting up some Tau XV25 Stealth Battlesuits for use in One Page Rules (Grimdark Future: Firefight) and Warhammer 40,000: Fireteam.   

I wanted to build a squad of transparent troops to reflect the cloaking technology of the Tau.  I painted the other miniatures (markerlight drone and the a homing beacon) in a mottled pink camouflage pattern (using a small piece of sea sponge) to match the surrounding landscape, complete with pink flower tufts from Shadow's Edge Miniatures.

Games Workshop Announces "Blitz Bowl: Ultimate Edition"

On it's Warhammer Community page, Games Workshop has announced Blitz Bowl: Ultimate Edition, (along with a number of other games).

According to Games Workshop, Blitz Bowl: Ultimate Edition includes "two new teams are ready to tussle in a tumultuous try-out – six Human players form The Reavers, while six Skaven make up The Scramblers"

On close examination of the picture, it is hard to make out the main changes to the game, other than the inclusion of the Skaven as a team, the color of the plastics, a new format for the cards, a new board option (with fire pits), and pink dice.

Based on prior releases (that were first shown at the New York Toy Fair), we can expect Blitz Bowl: Ultimate Edition (and the other games previewed) to be released this fall.  The first Blitz Bowl was previewed at the New York Toy Fair on March 1, 2018.  It was first available for purchase at Gen Con 2018 (in August of that year).  It later was available for purchase (from Barnes and Noble stores) in early September 2018.  Blitz Bowl Season 2 was announced on February 22, 2020 and had an official release date of Monday, September 21, 2020.

One other thing to take note of is that while in the past these releases were "available in select independent retailers in the USA, Canada and Germany, including Barnes & Noble stores," there is no mention of Barnes & Noble in this year's announcement.  There have been rumors that the games previewed will be released through Games Workshop stores and not be limited to Barnes & Noble (and a limited number of other select retailers) that prevented many from buying them.

Team Yankee - Yugoslavian Aérospatiale Gazelles

My Team Yankee JNA (Yugoslavian) force is now complete after recently painting up two Aérospatiale Gazelle attack helicopters, which will join the T-55s, BTR-60s, and infantry that I have already painted.

Soko was a Yugoslav aircraft manufacturer based in Mostar. The company was responsible for the production of many military aircraft for the Yugoslav Air Force. Originally, twenty-one French-built Aérospatiale Gazelle were bought by Yugoslavia, but after that, the Soko factory started serial production. 

I plan to use the Iraqi rules in Oil War for them....

Classic Warhammer Fantasy Miniatures: Dryads

I recently again painted a few classic Warhammer Fantasy Battle miniatures, this time the Dryads sculpted by Trish Morrison back in the mid-1990s.  

I won these off of Ebay about a year ago and they had been sitting around primed Army Painter Leather Brown until a week ago.  I picked out some simple details, washed them with Army Painter Dark Tone, and then lightly dry-brushed them.  I aligned the style of their bases to join my pack of Wood Elves by added some pink flowers in an attempt to tie them all together.

Team Yankee - Yugoslavian Army Infantry

My quest to make a JNA (Yugoslavian) force for Team Yankee is getting closer to completion.  I recently completed painting up the infantry.  I painted them up quickly, using a dark gray-green spray primer and then dipping them using MinWax PolyShade: Tudor after adding some detail.  These will join the T-55s and BTR-60s I have already painted up.

I ended up using Plastic Soldier Company's 15mm Modern Russians, although they are not the best match historically, at 15mm they were close enough for my purposes.  Originally, I was going to use Battlefront's own East German miniatures as those more closely matched the helmet style used in Yugoslavia at the time.  However, I decided to create a larger force and instead painted those up a blue Cobra force from GI Joe.

I plan to use the Iraqi rules in Oil War for this force when finished, and I hope to get them on the table as soon as I add some Gazelle helicopters to round things out.

15mm Croatian Infantry

Almost a year ago I painted up some 15mm Polish Paratroopers for a custom game we will be playing, (based on both the One Page Rules and NetEpic rulesets).  To add another faction to the mix, I just finished some 15mm Croatian Infantry.

The 369th Croatian Reinforced Infantry Regiment was a unit of the German Wehrmacht that fought on the Eastern Front in World War II.  The regiment was raised from volunteers drawn from Croatia and was commonly referred to as the Croatian Legion (Hrvatska Legija). They became 369th (Croatian) Infantry Division (Wehrmacht).  They fought Tito until "desertions worsened particularly after the capitulation of Italy in September 1943".

The miniatures were all extras from my stock and are from a mix of various manufacturers, including Forged In Battle, Peter Pig, and Battlefront.  I worked to paint them up relatively quickly.  I based them on pennies, added sand, then primed them with a dark green color, which I then highlighted with a very grayish green.  After a few details, I dipped them using MinWax PolyShade: Tudor, (which is a little darker than my normal Royal Walnut Satin dip).

Unfortunately, I realized only after sealing them that I think I placed the red and white "checkerboard" patch on the wrong shoulder for each of them... but mistakes happen.  I'm looking forward to getting these on the table.  Next up are some 15mm partisans that will be used to either support the Polish Paratroopers, or act as its own force.

Flames of War 'Nam - Hot LZ

Due to Covid, it's been almost two years since playing a miniature wargame on the tabletop.  And, it's been almost five years since our last Flames of War Vietnam game, (back from before even the 'Nam book was released).  In 2016, we played the Fair Fight scenario, with Strom playing the Local Forces.  This time, it was my turn to take my (now fully painted) VC Local Forces army into battle for the first time.

We decided on the Hot LZ scenario, with Strom playing his US Air Mobile force.  My 50 point Vietcong force included:

• Two (maxed-out) Local Forces Infantry Companies (with rifles),
• One Anti-Air Platoon,
• Front Artillery Unit (with six guns),
• A Front Artillery Observer,
• Six Local Resistance Teams,
• Three Machine Gun Bunkers, and
• Five Booby Traps.

For the Hot LZ scenario we each placed one objective, and the winner was the player to capture the opponent's objective.  Strom placed his objective near the road and I placed mine in the village.  Some of the US forces started on the table (defending their objective), while the remaining units would come onto the board as reserves, delivered by helicopters.  The VC forces would enter the game, randomly, using Guerrilla Reserves.

 

 

My first Local Forces Infantry Company entered the table in the dense jungle, and engaged the US forces near their objective.  The forces traded fire, and each side took casualties.  The US forces called in artillery, and the strength of my force was slowly winnowed down over the course of the game.  Later, they would launch a futile assault on the objective. 

 

Meanwhile, my other Local Forces Infantry Company entered the table and secured my objective within the village.  

 

They were attacked by two US helicopters - a Huey and a Loach.  They took a few casualties before finally digging in.  They were later joined by the Anti-Air Platoon, which scored a victory by taking down the Huey with anti-aircraft fire.

The US touched down three transport helicopters, which soon landed a sizable US force outside the village.  It was a short slog into the village, and the VC forces would do their best to delay their movement toward my secured objective.  The village was now also occupied by Local Resistance (villagers), with questionable loyalties....

 

 
 

 

With the villagers observing for the VC artillery, fire rained down on the US forces as they marched toward the village.  We traded artillery fire back and forth, and both forces slowly took casualties.  The Loach avenged the destroyed Huey by eliminating my artillery observer unit, (which had unwisely tried to get a better view at the advancing US forces).

Booby traps delayed the US force's attempted march into the village, and then the VC machine gun bunkers entered the game....  The machine guns further complicated the US's efforts to attack.  My opponent's Navy SEALS would attempt to neutralize one of the bunkers, silently advancing in the jungle flanking around its firing arc.

Finally, my Local Forces Infantry Company which attempted to overtake the US objective after a failed assault finally failed its morale roll, and was destroyed.  It failed its roll to recycle and re-enter the game.

With both forces now well dug in around their own objectives and only limited ability on both sides to formulate any competent attack, the game could have lasted many more turns just trading artillery strikes until one force had the advantage.  But instead, we called it a draw, as dusk fell over the battlefield....

All in all, it was a fun game, and helped us become re-accustomed to the rules.  Unfortunately, we found the 'Nam rulebook to be not very well organized, but we soon had most of the special rules for our forces memorized.  Many of the rules questions we had were addressed in the official "Our Man in Saigon" FAQ document.  Although we will likely play Team Yankee ("World War 3") for our next Flames of War game, we are looking forward to future 'Nam games.

A Half Price Books Rant

When I visit thrift stores or used books stores, I always check for out of print wargaming miniatures and books.  Over the last few years, I've had occasional good luck at Half Price Books, once finding a copy of 'Ere We Go for under twenty dollars.

However, since that time I've noticed a disturbing trend at HPB - many wargaming books are now tremendously overpriced.  HPB's own "Pricing Policy" states:

The great majority of books and other items we sell in stores are priced at half the current list price or less. Here are some exceptions:

• Select current releases and other NEW items
• COLLECTIBLES and out-of-print materials

I understand not all rare or collectable books can be priced at or below list price, but some of their prices are now just absurd.  On Sunday, I stopped by HPBs in Tacoma and found the worst example yet of this - Warhammer: Warriors of Chaos (published in 2013)... for $79.99.

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.