And Yet Even More HOTT Goblins!

After a busy weekend, I've finished up 3 more stands of Goblins for the HOTT/Impetus Army.

First up I have the last of the Blade elements for the HOTT Army. As with my other elements, there is a mix of GW metal and plastics, as well as a Ral Partha model.

I finished painting the first two Goblin Riders for the Wolf Rider element.

Here is the Hero Element. I am going to guess that all of these models are Ral Partha, however the Hero Figure himself may be a Reaper miniature. If anyone knows for sure, please let me know so I can correct it.

Up next on the painting table is the stand of the Goblin Magician. I should have those completed by the end of the week.

Edmonton International AFV Model Show

Today I was off to the city to check out the EIAFV Model show. As my wife was coming with me, we didn't get out of the house til later than expected. This wasn't a bad thing as it would allow for all the entrants to be on display & hopefully the mad rush will have thinned out a bit.

As it turned out there were not many people there at all when we arrived. We were able to walk up to every display without a lineup which was nice for taking the photos. Unfortunately there were not a ton of models on display. Of those present I just took some random images of mostly diorama's.

I think part of the problem with entrants may have been the fact that its Fringe time here in Edmonton, so a lot of people are down taking in those shows.

The two images below are from a Romanian WW2 force brought by a vendor from High River who is a fan of Rapid Fire.

I ran into Scott there and after talking with him, he noted that the previous show had a lot more to it.

One of the great things about checking out these types of shows is that it gives you ideas for your own gaming stuff. Bits of terrain, or buildings can inspire you to make some of your own.

The diorama below had some very nice details inside the ruined building.

The owner of this diorama did a very nice job on the windmill & I liked his trees.

 When I saw this diorama depicting a Canadian Lynx, it took me back to my military days, when I was qualified to drive one of those. Of course they are now all museum pieces...time to change the subject.

One person had some busts on display & I must say, he did a fantastic job on them!

There was also a military artist present, selling some of his prints, a company that made themed uniforms and a couple model kit vendors.

I will look forward to the next show & hope to see a lot more models on display.

SPARTACUS!

Last night Kevin brought his new game of Spartacus which he picked up at Gen Con. He hosted Bob, Will, himself & I in the game and we got in 2 short ones.

Each of us plays a house (so its a 4 player game). The goal is to get your influence to 12 to win the game. We each started at 7 influence. The house also has slaves (earns gold), gladiators (costs gold) and guards who will attempt to block schemes others attempt on you.

Each Gladiator has 3 stats Attack, Defence and Speed. The value listed determines the number of dice rolled. As you take hits you lose dice.  Also players hold a hand of cards (the number held is based on your Influence). These cards consist of schemes (ploys played on others), Reactions (played to block schemes) and more guards which you can keep hidden so players may think your defenceless to schemes.

Each turn there is a market where new items/slaves/gladiators will become available. Each player then places a number of gold into their hand & all players then put their hidden amount over the board. When all players have done so, the bids are revealed. The winner then takes the item/individual. If there is a tie, the highest bidders then bid again. If on a second round there is no additional bids, the auction fails & the card is discarded.

The game comes with plastic figures of the gladiators, but Kevin brought out his own beautifully painted ones for us to use.

When arena games are announced all the players may place wagers on the table for either gladiator at 1:1, an Injury 2:1 or best of all Decapitation at 2:1.

Even the best laid plans can fail as we saw Kevins uber Gladiator fall to one of Will's lowly slaves.

I think all of us had a lot of fun playing this. I would definately like to play a longer game, as we found some players with the right cards could fly up the influence track. There is a lot of opportunity for interactions, backstabbing & battling in the arena.

Bob has also posted an article on this game.

Bitz Swap

I spent Sunday afternoon at a Bitz Swap hosted by Edmonton Onslaught. I think there were about 16 people swapping/selling stuff of which I was one. The majority of the tables, as can be imagined were buried under Games Workshop product. The nice thing was that this was an opportunity for those unhappy with the Finecast product to snag some of the older metals and plastics.

My goal was foremost to get the rest of the Goblin Chariots I needed for my Orc/Goblin Impetus Army. As well I would be watching out for Orc Boar Riders and Orc Chariots as well.

As a fellow kitty corner to me was setting up his table I noticed these. Yes they are just cardboard ones, but when you need something to fill a space quick, I doubt people will complain. The price was good as was the "You have to take all of them at that price!"

As expected there was a bit of a surge at the start, so I was unable to wander around much. Eventually Scott came by & was kind enough to spend the day and watched my table as I wandered.

 I did find what I was looking for. This fellow had a metal box with both Orc Boar Riders & 3 Orc Chariots. He was also kind enough to run home & grab his 2 Goblin ones for me. To top it off he threw in the metal box (as most of the bases were magnetized) and 4 stands of gobbos.

I then purchased some more wolf riders from the same fellow. This now gives me plenty of wolves for beast elements or Wolf riders.
 

 As the venue was drawing to the close this same fellow started giving away bags of orcs that didn't sell for him. He was kind enough to throw the bag of the figures below at me. So the one figure of the Orc Shaman will be in my Impetus & HOTT Orc Army.

 The host of the venue - Ward was interested in a large Sorscha figure I had from Warmachine. This model was more of a Display figure. So he traded a whackload of Ellyrian Elf Cavalry & some cash for it. I am glad Sorscha went to a good home. I think I am now good on Elf Cavalry
 

 Continued wanderings got me buying some Khandish Cavalry & some various Warhammer blisters including an Orc carrying a pig! That will be fun to paint.
 

As well I picked up a bag full of the Skaven forces from the starter set, another Goblin Chariot & Wolfrider boxset & a box of Mantic Zombies for $5.00!!!! Can you ever really have enough Zombies?

A real surprise find was a copy of Warhammer Quest. The box is in bad shape but when the fellow who had it gave me the price he did, it was a no-brainer!

As the day was drawing to a close, I repacked the items I had not found new homes for & loaded my car. I walked about saying my good-byes when  I saw the item below. Being a sucker for all things Lord of the Rings, I had to have it!

 My very last purchase of the day was actually on the trunk of a car. A foam tray with painted LOTRO figures consisting of Elves & Men of Gondor.

 All in all a good day. I got to chat with some folks I hadn't seen in quite some time. Found new homes for items I would never get around to using, and of course helped others with their no longer wanted items.

Thanks Ward for running this event! I look forward to doing again next year.

Hott/DBA Stronghold/Camp

Today I finished up an old Battlemasters Tower for use as a Camp or Stronghold. I have decided to go with a standard 12cm x 12cm basing for my Camps.

For some strange reason I seem to have a bunch of Warhammer 40K decals from many years ago. Its strange as I've never played 40K. Ah well, they have been making appearances on my goblin shields. I have also used a couple on the banner for the tower.

 The model itself was designed to come apart to be put back into the box after a game, so it doesn't hide its seams well. I did use a bunch of old putty along the corners, but obviously didn't use enough on the capstones.

I will have to go back and touch up the capstones, filling in the cracks with some filler and smoothing it out. Otherwise this tower is ready for the table.

More HOTT Goblins

I am just about finished 2 more stands of Goblin Blade and another of the Wolves for the eventual Wolfriders. (It was after I was outside taking the photos, that I realized I hadn't done the flocking & labelling to finish them off...that I will do tommorrow. But for now here they are;

The element below was actually designed to be used as a Blade General, with an extra mean looking Goblin atop a rocky outcrop & a banner bearer. Most of the figures are GW, however the last on right as your looking, is I believe from Ral Partha. 

This next element also contains a mix of GW metal/plastics and a Ral partha model.

And lastly here are the next two wolves who for now can be used as a Beast Element.

I am thinking once the army is completed I will need to paint the base edges in a colour specific to it, or perhaps just make it the same colour for all my armies to help it blend.

Any thoughts on this before I take the plunge?  Thanks.

Legends of the Old West at EWG

This evening we played Legends of the Old West at the club compliments of Will. I think he was surprised when others showed up with their terrain pieces to add to his game, so that our 1 horse town became a major urban centre.

We had Will (hosting), Bruce, Dan and myself bring out our posse's to hijack the stage in the centre of town. The premise was that it would take 2 men to push the stage 6" a turn to try & get it off the table. Of course when you do something like this, it rarely comes to fruition.

It wasn't long before the shots started ringing out and people started dropping. It may be time to start finding some western themed casualty figures to lay around.

I did manage to get one of my tough's into the stage where he spent the next several turns making Bruce unleash a barrage of bullets trying to nullify him.

In the end, the law won out as Dan's Lawmen were the last posse standing.

A fun evening of gaming, with rules that are fairly easy to grasp. There are a great many addition rules we didn't bother with as it was a one-off game.

HoTT Goblins

Today I finished up a couple more stands of Goblin Blades & the first stand of mounts for my Goblin Wolfriders. Until the riders are finished they can serve as a stand of Beasts.

As in the previous stands, this one contains a mix of GW plastic, metal & Ral Partha models. I like the variations of the stands vs all the same figures.

Ditto for this stand.

Just to paint something a little different, I picked up a boxset of the Goblin Wolfriders. This is the first of 4 stands total I need for my Orc/Goblin Impetus force. The riders will be finished likely next week sometime so these Camera Canines will be back!

As well as getting my HOTT army painted for the fall campaign I have been rummaging thru my crawlspace gathering miniatures and other items for the upcoming Bitz Swap on the 19th of Aug at the Aldergrove Communtiy Centre (8535 182 St) hosted by Edmonton Onslaught. Hope to cya there!