Well I am just back from a weekend of gaming down in Calgary. As I took quite a few images, I've decided its likely best to break it down into a couple posts.
I picked up Mark & headed down to Cowtown on Friday. We arrived a few hours before Fallcon launched so we could head down to Sentry Box.
Then it was off to Fallcon!
This was a banner year for Fallcon as it was the 25th Anniversary!
The game I played Friday night was a 15mm, WW2, Disposable Heroes scenario set in New Guinea. The scenario pitted Australian Forces having to either clear the Japanese defenders from being able to fire upon the road or exit 10 of their number off the end. They had 20 turns to do this.
The Australians were coming in from the far end of the battleboard.
The defending Japanese of which I was one, had a couple sections with an addition of a sniper and HMG. We spread these out so as to cover as much of the map as possible, using the hills to provide a good field of view. There were 3 zones of terrain, the light green band on either side of the road was cleared, the next band which is somewhat hard to see, consisted of high grasses. The outer band was dense jungle. The beige areas with trees provided the best defensive cover.
The Australians took their time initially and lost some time. Both sides were relegated to trying to spot one another. Eventually they got close enough and gunfire was exchanged.
It didn't take long for both sides to begin having to deal with getting pinned and losing men.
Eventually the massed Australians trying to sneak past on the left side were engaged and slowed down. This came with a cost to the Japanese however as there was only the HMG, a pinned LMG team and one rifle squad which was on the far side of the map keeping what remained of the Australian forces there held at bay.
As time ran out, it became a minor Japanese victory as they were not removed from being able to bring fire upon the road.
Saturday Morning
Chen was kind enough to volunteer to host the HOTT Breakfeast event as the original host backed out. As it turned out, the game I had signed up for was also cancelled & so I was able to get in on this.
As we had 3 people whom had never played HOTT, we decided on a large multi-army battle with 3 armies per side.
I pitted my Goblin Army against an opponent with 3 Behemoths.
The rough going hills in the centre though slowed his behemoths down enough that mine along with the beast element surged into his horde and shooters. This poor fellow had no luck whatsoever with his dice rolls. Before long my now out of command behemoth and beast were able to sunder and break the centre army. His behemoth general lost against my Blade General after he had the door closed on him. Chen tried to support his forces with his own Dwarf Hero, but the bad going prevented him from being of much assistance.
Eventually the time to shut the game down was drawing close when the game was called. Below is the field as it ended.
On the tables beside us, there was a huge Napoleon at Waterloo venue occuring. Lots of nicely painted miniatures...and I mean Lots! I would be playing on this table Sunday.
I will post part 2 tommorrow night.
As Fallcon is drawing closer, as in this weekend, I have finished up a couple more stands of Goblins for my HOTT/Impetus army, as well as some stuff for a game at the convention I will be participating in.
Up first I have another pair of wolf mounts for a Goblin Wolfrider unit...yes the Riders are still awaiting their turn at the table. These are more of the plastic GW figures.
I picked up a bag of Gnoblars at one of the swapmeets a couple years ago & after looking at their dynamic poses thought...'These would make good warband figures'. These are all GW plastics.
While digging around in the crawlspace looking for stuff for the last Swapmeet, I came upon an old Grendadier Orc Champions chariot boxset. As it was being pulled by wolves I decided to make it into a Goblin Chariot instead. I also went from a 4 wolf to a 2 wolf pulled chariot. As such I made a new crossbrace from a piece of sprue.
This all metal model (except for the sprue) is quite hefty in weight. I am currently picking thru my various goblin miniatures to decide which I want to be the crew.
Lastly I painted up a pair of Mummies from the Heroquest game. These plastic figures are going to be in a game of Pirates! I will be playing in at Fallcon.
Of course now that I've pulled out my Pirates, its got my excitement up. So I've decided to run it at our upcoming Edmonton Wargame Club Games Day. I've already begun pulling out more ships and miniatures to start working on after Fallcon to prepare for it.
At the moment I am modifying the ships from that big Weapons and Warfare Pirate Edition to add to my fleets. The cannons that come with it are quite huge, easily twice the size of the ones used on the current ships. They will however be good for shore batteries and such, with an extended range. Never a lack of things to do...
I will be posting my Fallcon stuff upon my return. Hope to see some of you there!
Last night we played a game of Warhammer Ancient Battles 2.0
The scenario was based on a Roman camp surprised by a Briton raid as they were preparing to encamp. This battle pitted Mark, Dan & myself as the Britons vs Kevin, Chen and Scott as the Romans. North is the far end of the table.
We had a hidden deployment and decided to come in from 3 sides. Our main hammer was 3 warbands supported by 2 units of slingers on the flanks. Dan controlled these elements and was given the battle standard and a shaman.
Mark played all the mounted units, which were going to come in from the NE.
I played a holding/delaying force of 2 units of skirmishers and a warband. I don't think the words holding or delaying work for warbands as they are not in their vocabulary.
The 3 warbands from the east surge into the camp. They smashed the roman line and caused the romans to break and fall back, this caused other units to fail their morale and also begin to fall back.
After the first turn, things were looking good for the Britons. The troops on my end of the table got excited & rushed forward to close with the romans...so much for waiting for the right time.
The Britons in the centre continued to plow thru the camp, flattening the tent and causing Ceasar to enter the fray (in the form of leadership boosts)
At this point the Romans got themselves under control & were able to tie up & begin the systemic destruction of the ragtag Britons. All of our mounted forces were nullified and destroyed without really being able to contribute to the battle.
On the south end, the Warband and both skirmish units clashed with the light troops. A melee ensued but the Britons were repelled.
As the battle drew to a close (its all about morale) most of the warbands had fled the field, though Ceasar had lost his tent.
Thanks to Dave for bringing out his miniatures and hosting the game.
Today Christie & I went to the yearly Model Train Show held at the Mayfield Trade Centre. As always, this is an enjoyable event, with lots of fantastic layouts and displays to see. Of course this is always a good opportunity to see ideas for terrain pieces and to find odds and ends for gaming.
One of the displays both my wife & I enjoyed the most was this one of a 1930's street scene at 1:24 scale.
The elderly gentleman who built it, stated he had spent 20 hours a week working on it.
He also sculpted several of the figures in the scene. Awesome work!
Seems some things have never changed, including the use of alleys as quick opportunities to relief oneself.
We continued wandering aroud and I came upon a KISS Concert. Only thing missing was the sound of music, as he had a light display occuring as well.
If you thought the bank was the safest place on earth, I would think again. Never stand between a police officer and his donut!
These next couple images were taken of some displays handbuilt from kits. The fellow basically said you get a box full of individual planks and some guides, then off you go. He also then coloured the various pieces with coloured chalk, pastels.
I have taken many more images than shown here, but for the sake of not having the Blogger explode, have limited them to what I've posted. The various displays showed the ingenuity and love of their builders. The amount of time, effort and sweat that goes into these layouts are commendable.
The show continues Sunday, so if you have a chance to drop by, it is well worth the effort.
Tonight we started our new HOTT campaign. We have 10 players who have joined this campaign which made things a bit tight at the loft, but was managed.
The premise of the campaign is to capture 4 of the 6 mountains to win. Details can be found on Mark's blog.
I started off against Mark, who was defending the Mountain terrain I had targetted for acquisition.
His army of 3 Magicians made short work of my Behemoths. My pip rolls were horrendous for the first 3 turns, and I was unable to close with his force. Once I did manage to close, his Knight General defeated my 2 spear elements it was game over. Below is a shot of the endgame. Not a good start for the Goblins, as 1 of my Behemoths chose not to participate in the next game.
After the first game, Dennis was the only player to capture a mountain.
Round two, Mark this time was trying to capture a mountain. As everyone else was already engaged, I had to face him again. This time I was the defender however & quickly placed some water terrain to try to nullify his Magicians. He chose to mass on one side & quickly rushed his Magicians three up the side.
He had some bad luck with pips & was unable to exploit. My Behemoth and Beast elements engaged the 2 magicians who were trying to make for my Stronghold. Meanwhile I was able to swing my Hero & Rider element across and catch his 3rd Magician.
His other magicians forced my Behemoth to flee, so I was forced to pull back the beasts, less they be overwhelmed.
I was able to turn his Knight General & squeeked out a victory thanks to my Riders overlap. His General was forced to recoil & slammed into his other Knight causing his demise.
Both of our games were quick, so we got the opportunity to watch some of the others in progress.
Up next is the Model Train show this weekend at the Mayfield Trade Centre. Always a good oppotunity to grab some new terrain making stuff.
Last night, or should I say early this morning I finished my Zuzzy battlemat for the HOTT campaign.
If you have never seen one of these products, let me say, they are fantastic for the travelling wargamer. Being made of some rubberized material, they hold acrylic paints very well. They are rugged & can be rolled, folded, stuffed in a box, etc & will still lay flat for your next battle.
I bought several of these a few years ago with the intent of having 4 (4'x4') game mats. As the HOTT uses a 3'x3' version I cut one down. The remnants of the mat I will likely use to make rough ground terrain pieces for DBA/HOTT.
The shot below is the basecoat of Burnt Umber going down.
The finished battlemat with the hilighting of Yellow Ochre, Sandstone, Thicket and Olive colours to define the various textured features. It was now 2am. See how time flies when your having fun!
I am now ready to go for our HOTT campaign which starts tommorrow.
We were up early this morning to head over to Gibbons for their Town-Wide Garage Sale. This is the finale to the garage sale season for me. Of course it is the last of the town wide sales of the season that are close enough for us to attend.
After spending the day walking in fantastic sunny weather and spending a total of about $25 which included my food I think the day went well.
The very first vendor table I got to had quite a few older hardcover books. Two that caught my eye were these.
I then came upon a table with quite a few action figures (Alien vs Predator, Indiana Jones, etc). I then saw a bag containing the Harry Potter Chess Set. Of course my first thought was not to play chess, but rather how cool these figures would make for statues for Mordheim and other Fantasy themed games.
My third purchase was a copy of Weapons & Warriors "Pirate" version. This is going to give me 2 more ships to use in my Pirates games. I will see what else the box will provide in the way of gaming parts. And yes, the price on this game was $1.00.
Eventually I found a person selling some GW miniatures. I snagged their metal Empire Greatswords and Middenhiem Teutogen Guards figures. He had a bunch of Dark Eldar which I had no interest in.
At the same spot I grabbed these 2 sprues of Dryads.
As the day was drawing to a close (ie: we were getting hungry & tired) one of the last houses we stopped at had a box of Necron Warriors, still on their sprue for $1.00. How could I resist?
Another good day at Gibbons, a pizza and beer for supper afterwards & now the rest of the weekend to spend relaxing.
After waiting until the roofing crew finished up their job, I have finally grabbed a photo of my Goblin HOTT Magician element.
The models are a mix of Ral Partha and GW Plastic.
I think I have what I want for the campaign starting next Tuesday (11 Sept). There are several other elements I am working on (Warbands, Chariots, more Riders & the Airship crew), but I wanted to get some terrain done as well.
As well, when the roofers were loading up the bin with the old shingle, I noticed a bunch of styrofoam sheets amidst the debris. I spoke with the crew leader & he agreed to set aside what they got from the new shingle boxes for me. There were 4 sheets per box.
Now I have a whole pile of foam sheets & decided to start using some of it. My initial run was a rapid job I completed for Will's game at EWG last Tuesday. You can see them in the previous post. As Will has lots of Colonial miniatures, I gave him those hills to keep with them.
As I thought about how I wanted to do the hills, the idea of creating "nested" hills came to mind. Make multi-level hills that would be able to stack or be used seperately. One of the big issues with hills is the ability of a stand of miniatures to be able to stand up while on the slope.
I decided to do a run of 3 hills for a start. On their underside I will code them & add an arrow to define the common end. I think for the second round I will tack down all 3 levels and cut their sides with 1 pass of the Hotwire cutter.
I then used water downed white glue and sandbox sand to give them texture. After drying overnight I painted the base coat in a colour called Coffee Bean, the hi-light drybrush colur is Sandstone. Both paints are the Folk-art ones from Michaels.
I started drybrushing the Sandstone colour on, when I noticed I was having some minor issues, in that the previous colour had broken down the glue mix & was now causing the grit to peel off. I think my lesson from this is to wait a night for the first colour to dry thoroughly.
Thus I have left the bases of the hills in their base colour for the moment.
Another thing I got from the roofers was a small pailfull of the old Ashpalt Shingle grit which had filled my eaves when they ripped up the old roof. This stuff was perfect for some larger 'grit' pieces.
Up next is the Gibbons Town-wide Garage Sale. This is one of the best sales of the year in the area I live, with lots of Burger/Sausage vendors and many participants offering their old treasures. If I get anything good this year I will post it, though last years box will be hard to beat.
