Couple of Quick Game Updates

We had our first club night, almost 2 weeks ago now. Bruce brought out a Napoleonic battle using the Lasalle rules.

The battle was a French bridgehead attempting to dislodge the Austrian forces. Richard & I played the Austrians, while Bruce & Scott were the French.

As the French Guns advanced, I opened up with my battery, totally missing them. Well this is off to a crap start. Bruce then returned the favour & wiped the only artilery the Austrians had off the field.

The French pushed the centre with their infantry attempting to dislodge the defenders in the town. The Austrians gave a good effort on the left flank.
 

Alas, the centre crumbled, however the battered French units were having their flanks crushed. I believe we called it a draw.

Then it was off to Craigs house to have a go at Batman! This was the Monolith game Kickstarter. 

Craig had pre-determined the characters for each of us. I got Harvey Bullock with a group of GPD baton wielding officers.

We had 4 objectives to capture. We had already begun with protecting Witnesses (Orange figures). We also had to interrogate crooked SWAT cops, hack a computer console & retrieve a briefcase from one of the Main Criminals.

Harvey with squad in tow follows the Witness to the crime hideout.

As the Crooked Cops opened fire on the good guys, Harvey spelled off one of his officers with the Witness into a subway car. We opted to take out 3 of the 4 crooked cops (they were using Automatic Weapons on us), Harvey went after the remaining fella...he had a few questions to ask him.

It was then, that Clayface came out of another Subway car & made for Bullock.

Ignoring Clayface, Harvey continued after the crooked cop! Alas for Clayface, he found himself in a crossfire from the other forces of good & was taken down quickly.

By game end, we had gotten 3 of the 4 objectives completed. Mainly due to some lucky dice rolls.

The game is similar to Conan by using the track for the opponents. Dice pools determine the amount of actions a character can perform. With the stance of the character determining how much of his tokens he gets to return to his pool each turn. Resting obviously provides the greater return at the loss of doing much.

The guys are over tomorrow for our next Frostgrave game. Thanks for stopping by!

3D Printed Ruins

Just as we were wrapping up 2019. I had posted some images of the unpainted 3D building ruins I had printed.

With the barrels from that print run completed. It was time to tackle the building ruins.
  

I am still debating whether to affix them both to a base. That would allow me to develop some rubble clutter, etc. But kept separate allows more flexibility.

Actually I have been thinking of basing all of my ruins. Currently the base we are using often ends up as the floors as well. Thus basing them, would allow me to think of say...a raised structure with a basement. I will need to decide on the best medium for that. Something that won't warp & can be easily filed to better blend in.

I am in the process of preparing to print my first large piece from the Stormwatch Terrain Kickstarter. It's looking to take 23 hours for the run, so will need to plan that accordingly.

Chain of Command - 1939 Russia vs Japan

On Saturday, Stephan hosted several of us at his house to play a game of Chain of Command.

This was to be a border conflict somewhere in Mongolia, with Russian forces engaging Japanese troops.

At this stage, the squads were quite large & did not operate in teams, thus they would either all shoot, or move. The Russians deploy first, a couple of their BT-7 tanks also arrive. (Chris & Chen played the Russians)

As word spreads, the Japanese deploy to intercept the interlopers. (Andrew & I played the Japanese)

I played the armoured elements, with my first 2 tanks arriving. (As they enter from the road, it often leads to this situation, where tanks pile up side by side, not the most historical tactics).

 A Japanese squad rushes to the Kraal wall to catch the Russians in the open.

At the urging of a Senior leader, a loud URAAGHHH! is heard & the 2 Russian squads rush the Japanese troops.

As the slaughter was bloody, I chose not to show that footage. Both squads at the wall were decimated.

The tanks at the other end of the battle were slugging it out. Round after round was deflected from Sgt Ping's tanks. A shot managed to destroy the main gun of one of the BT-7's. It then surged ahead into the grain. As well a T28 trundled onto the field. 

Then with the arrival of a Russian Field Gun, the shock on the defending Japanese squad began to quickly mount. The Russian Infantry squad moves into the grain preparing for another assault.

The BT-7 Command Tank is knocked out. The driver of the 2nd BT-7 is killed.

The Russians pummel the Japanese squad causing it to break. They then managed to end the turn, causing the squad to rout.

The remainder of the Japanese tanks advance slowly (doesn't help when you continue rolling 1's for movement. The Japanese commander's tank (Top in photo) had been immobilized.

There was 1 further charge by the Russians & again the melee was bloody & deadly. Although the Russians won the fight, they lost both their Junior & Senior leaders. When the command hits were rolled, the battle ended in a draw with both forces dropping to 0.

Of course there was much after battle kibitzing about whom should have done what. But all in all it was a fun game & lots of death to both sides. Thanks to Stephen for putting on such a great table & game!
 

Happy New Year!

 Here we are! A New Year & a New Decade! As I continue my vacation...well until the end of this weekend, I managed to get some more work done on the hobby side.

As 2019 came to an end, I was starting to play with the new 3D printer. My first prints were complete & now it was time to get them painted.

I am still working on the ruins, however here are the barrel stacks.

I tried to use a technique showcased by Kevin using Liquid Mold Builder. My first attempt...well it needs some practice. Thinking I dabbed on a bit much & the base brown I used isn't dark enough.

I also snagged some old decals from 1/35 vehicle kits to add some 'codes'. I will be looking at some hazardous material symbols to scale down for future ones. I can see making a few more of these! 

 
 As part of the Black Friday Sales, I received a notice from Death Ray Designs that they were having a pretty nice sale! I ordered 2 sets of Dark & Deadly Dungeon Kits

I also snagged an extra set of walls with removeable panels & put those together to start. There are instructions on the site which do a good job of walking you through, however you must be cognizant of which pieces are facing which way...its easy to mix it up!

The base section done, now you slide in the insert. Nice option being able to switch out things as you desire

 Lastly as I went to get the Latex Mold Maker at Michaels, I happened on the remnants of their Christmas sale stuff & noticed this Lemax Gazebo. It was 80% off which was a steal! Best of all, it wasn't covered in snow, so can be used in all seasons! It will likely need a bit of weathering, but thats a fairly quick drybrush.

 That's about it for my first post of 2020. I am heading off to Stephens for some Chain of Command on Saturday, so should have some photos from that to share.

As always, thanks for stopping by.
 

Down the 3D Rabbithole!

With the arrival, setup & testprint of the 2 owls now completed, it was time to get started with the 3d printing.

So for those of you whom are savvy with the 3d printing environment, you will see these as the newb errors, learnings. I will be speaking from a perspective of this is totally new to me...& at times may seem a bit daunting.

OK off we go...first prints of a Gas pump from a Urban & Industrial Printable Terrain kickstarter I participated in, that provided 150 very useful small terrain bits. Everything from fire hydrants to sewer covers...sweet!

Of course not having read the small print on many of those "small" bits I loaded Cura, created the gcode file, & off it went.

Within about half an hour the first fail (on the left) occured, as I didn't have the heat bed hot enough...the whole bit was sliding around stuck the the extruder as it kept splurting out more plastic. Good thing I was home.

The second (on the right) did complete, but was...well....what is it again? Then I went & learned that these were meant to be printed on what I assume to be a resin type printer....oh bother. Since I have seen that perhaps I can define a 'profile' within the cura software that will make it possible for me to print it again correctly. We shall see.

Having seen that a lot of those small bits were going to be a challenge, I moved to another of the Kickstarters I backed (yes I was grabbing quite a few stl kickstarters by this point). This was for Warlayer, a Sci-fi themed set. He had a sample set on Thingverse which is what I figured would be a good start.

The first piece which if I recall correctly was about 10 hours without changing any of the settings on the software. Of course this is where I learned that when I installed the Cura software I had the wrong printer choice selected. This was showing the item as being too large for the bed. Reading through the manual I noticed the one I should have selected & fixed that issue.

After that run & seeing that the printer is actually quite loud when running beside my computer.. I realized that I will be doing a lot of overnight printing.

Now when I placed the 2nd ruin on the bed, I figured I would try adding a 2nd model (the barrels). Having moved it around I saw there was still room, so added the file again for a third model. This round took about 16 hours, but I did figure out that I can maximize the bed surface if I needed too. Will just need to remember to not get right at the edge as the objects have the base layer used to stick it to the hot print bed added (not sure at this point if its part of the image on the Cura software) 

With the items printed, they are now on my paint table & will likely be my first painted post of 2020. Lord knows I have a LOT of stl files to get printed, some numerous time (Space Hulk) to make the terrain I will need.

So now my 3D printing has just begun...still so much more waiting to be learned, so 2020 looks to be an exciting & busy hobby year!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

It's come quick this year it seems. Here we are at Dec 24th, preparing to hunker down with our loved ones to enjoy our Christmas traditions! 

 

 

I am sure we will all be doing a bit of over-indulging & groggily awaken Christmas morning to discover what awaits us under the tree. Just avoid anything containing a tentacle!

With the break, it allows some time to rest, recoup, & hopefully get some hobby time in before the new year dawns.

I do admit that I become somewhat spoiled when December comes around. Between our Anniversary, my Birthday & then Christmas, it's a busy time.

This year I bought myself a 3d printer during the Cyber Monday sales. I've a few gaming associates who have also recently bought printers & have been showcasing their results. Some have been funny as everyone starts as a newb & we try to wrap our heads around just what went wrong. Rest assured, as I make these same beginner mistakes, I will be reaching out to those folks for assistance.

I chose an Anycubic Mega-S. What prompted this decision? Well apart from reading some of the reviews of the various printers that would fall into my pricerange. I liked that it came with a spare 1kg spool of PLA. So much for research!

So having put it together, I ran the test print that comes with it. These 2 owls from Thingverse.

My first couple tries of small scatter terrain pieces did not go well. Then I noticed that the files were meant for resin type printers. <Insert Face Palm Here>

Now its onto my first terrain piece designed for the FDM style printer I purchased. But we will have to wait for that result...yep it shows as about a 9 hour print time. So just like Christmas I will be waiting to see what is there on the morrow!

Merry Christmas Everyone!
 

Frostgrave Campaign - Time Rot

A week ago we played our 3rd Forgotten Pacts campaign game. This time the 2nd half of the warbands made an attempt to grab the Amulet of Constancy.

Again we have 5 warband groups vying for this.

Roach the Witch

Venkman the Sigilist Apprentice

Martinus the Summoner Apprentice

Diinsec the Summoner Apprentice

Kalissa the Summoner

We played the scenario Time Rot, but I will let the comic tell the story.

So as stated none of the bands made it to the centre to grab the amulet. Venkman managed to get the closest, even getting on top of the platform.

 Other wizards were focussed on trying to get a body count over the scenario's goals, however there is nothing wrong with some good rivalry's

The aftermath for each of the bands looked like this

Venkman (Chris) - 140xp, 50gc, Ring of Will, Null Blade

Martinus (Scott) - 40xp.  Marcellus Badly Wounded (Miss Game)

Diinsec (Chen) - 145xp, 100gc, Potion of Invisibility,Construct Oil (Sold)

Kalissa (Andrew) - 60xp. Kalissa Badly Wounded (Miss Game)

Roach (Terry) - 280xp. Jenkin Killed; Kegan Badly Wounded (Miss Game)

So thats it for our campaign until the New Year, which really isn't that far off.

Thanks for stopping by.