Tonight we played some warm-up games of HOTT as we had one of our players unable to make it for the launch of the HOTT Campaign.
We've also brought an old friend out to play again. Chris squared off against Chen. I hear it was a close won battle with Chen winning the field. I am sure once the cobwebs are brushed off Chris, he will make a come-back.
Dave & Dennis had a battle, with Dave taking the field. They were developing their strategies for using flying elements.
I was busy setting up the campaign map & then joined in on a 3 player HOTT battle. Well in fact it was more a 2 vs me battle. The battle took quite some time as I refused to die...again & again, but was eventually whittled down, & now that I think of it...rather than fight it out to the finish, they were just happy to have defeated me & the game ended...hmmm.
I've finished 3 more of the Descent consignment.
Up first we have Nara the Fang. He appears to be some sort of acrobatic goblin.
Next is Jonas the Kind, an Elfin Paladin.
Lastly is Truthseer Kel.
I am quite happy with how Kel's flaming head turned out.
A rear shot. Unfortunately Nara has one of those long flimsy soft plastic spears.
I have 3 more of this consignment to do before the end of next weekend. I will then be focusing on all the Pirate miniatures I need for Mayday.
I brought out the Sergeants - Day of Days for another go to the club last night.
Gord & Justin played while I hosted.
Gord was new to the club & played the US Paratroopers, Justin played the Germans. Below we see both forces strung out, discovering that with the 3 square spotting range due to it being night, wasn't allowing for a lot of spotting.
Eventually the Germans moved forward & were able to kill one of the Paratroopers. Then the game moved into a mass of melee battles.
Things were really looking good for a German victory, when the cards turned on Justin. Alas the Germans lost yet again. I am thinking that with the 8 games I've witnessed or played in now, the Germans have yet to get a victory. They really need to stay away from the Strudel!
The Red Devils Kickstarter is almost over, but there is still a day or 2 to get in on it for those inclined.
Scott came out for a visit to give the Sergeants game I recently purchased a try. We actually ended up playing about 7 games, as a couple were quite deadly with one side wiped out within 2 rounds.
We found some of the instructions regarding spotting & being able to take cover a little confusing due to the scenario instructions & such, but managed to work it thru. I will be reading up on the game company FAQ's about our concerns.
We also discovered a few other things... we only had 1 hand grenade thrown & it was only because the designated soldier had too.
Having the initiative when it comes to opposing forces within melee distance of one another isn't always a good thing.
Just because your leader is Uber, he can still die with 1 shot.
Watch your arcs of fire, lest you be flanked.
The US troops are much better than their German counterparts...well to be fair the German troops are 2nd line quality, so that stands to reason.
This core game box gives a good opportunity to learn the rules, but I would agree with other posts I've read in that getting the first expansion gamebox when starting would be a good idea if you can afford both at the same time.
I will be bringing this game to the club to give it some more plays Tuesday.
Continuing to work on my consignment of Descent miniatures as well as more Pirate Crews.
Up first are Brother Gherinn & Hugo the Glorious. Both these guys really like red!
Brother Gherinn appears to be some sort of undead Cleric. Hugo is...well...Hugo.
Next we have some more of the first crew of the Pirates. Here we have the second Marine & 2 crewmen.
And another 2 cannon crewmen
It was just after I looked at these images on my computer that I noticed the one fella needs to have his belt painted still. He is back on the table for that minor touch-up.
I just have a couple more crewmen left to finish off. I have already started prepping the second ship's crew. As well there are another 5 or 6 consignment figures to complete.
WOO-HOO! I picked up my copy of Sergeants - Day of Days at the Post Office today. Needless to say I could hardly wait to open the box & check it out.
Now I know this game has been around for a year now at least. The only way I discovered it was due to a new Kickstarter promoting Red Devils by this same small company - Lost Battalion Games.
I have a friend at the club who shall remain nameless who has the habit of doing horribly with dice, so when I was reading about this game I thought...Hey! Heres a game for He who will not be Named & he won't have to roll any dice.
So I decided while I was waiting for the Kickstarter to complete I would look back at what existed from this game system. There are several expansions already & from what I have read & watched on various sites, this game was getting good reviews.
The game however is not cheap. The company is small & from what I can see from the contents, are pulling out all the stops to ensure your getting Bang for your Buck. Most boardgamers will cringe at the price, but having been a gamer for the many years I have, I am not afraid to support a company that believes in quality & is willing to go the extra mile.
An example is the miniatures that come with the game. There are only 10 of these guys, but all are metal, come pre-painted & they even go so far as to give you glue-tabs to use for mounting the figures on their bases.
The map boards are double sided for multiple options based on scenarios.
As well each soldier comes with his own action deck of cards showing his stats & abilities. If the soldier is wounded, the card is flipped to show the modified abilities.
As club night is next Tuesday I will reading up on the rules for this to prepare.
The last ship needed for the Mayday Pirate Game is now finished. As well a couple more of the first crew figures are done.
Here is the finished Sloop. I had to get some more sails as I realized it was equipped with the wrong one.
Next up are the Navigator & a Marine. This crew is from a well equipped ship & the crew are dressed in a style of Uniform to define the officers from the crew.
When I begin on the actual 'Pirate' crews, their clothing will have a more rag-tag look
Continuing with working on my pirate crews.
Here are the first 3 crewmen. All are plastic from the Weapons & Warriors Game Box.
For the first crew I am trying using the same colour pants for them all. I will likely have a couple of these figures per crew as I have quite a few of them.
I've also completed Tobin Farslayer from the Descent Game.
Overall his colour scheme is quite drab, which gives me the impression he likes to skulk in dark places.
Up next, I am just finishing the sails of the last Sloop, & more Pirates including a Navigator & a Marine.
I've just finished off the first of many Pirates. As well another of the Descent miniatures has been completed.
Up first is Krutzbeck, a Dwarf Berserker of sorts.
A nice simple, solid model.
And next we have the first of many Pirates. This Captain model is actually one of the plastic ones from the Weapons & Warriors Pirate Boxed Game. For a hard plastic Gamebox figure this guy turned out fairly well.
I had to do a quick touchup on the back of his coat as I discovered a brush hair had decided to leave its dollar store brush & remain on the model as I was painting on the dip.
I've decided to try some cheap brushes for my dip painting as I need to use a brush cleaner to washup after & dreaded the thought of using expensive brushes for this. I will just need to keep a closer eye on the model once the dip is brushed on to ensure no errant hairs remain on the models.
The black dot on the back of the base denotes that this is a Captain figure. I was going to use a white swatch first, but then after looking at the rules noticed that no browns are used to depict specail characters.
The rest of the first crew are primed & currently in various stages of completion. As well there are more Descent figures on the table as well.
Last night at the club Bruce brought out his 15mm miniatures for a game of Maurice.
Dennis & Bob played the Prussian forces while Bruce & I fielded a mixed Austrian / French force.
We started with hidden setups, so neither side knew exactly how the opponent would deploy.
We also had cards that gave us a National Advantage & then a Special General Card. My National Advantage Card allowed my troops to March Obliquely, being well drilled. The Hero card would have given me some other nice abilities, but they were very short lived, as on the first turn, Dennis poisoned him & he left the battlefield.
Our deployment saw me set up a holding force to guard the sheep (Objective) on the hill with cannons & 2 militia units. The rest of my force would swing around the flank of the hill.
Dennis counteracted by moving 2 Infantry units around behind the bad going & moved his Cavalry up. I then played a card allowing me to move one of his units, so I moved one of his Cavalry up by itself.
The next turn I played my favorite card of the game 'That's not on the Map!'& plunked a bad going terrain feature in front of his other Cavalry units.
Dennis & I had to spend a couple turns maneuvering & passing to get more cards in our hands, during that time he moved his Cavalry unit back somewhat, but I was able to take it out with 2 of my Cavalry units.
Dennis then brought all his Grenadier units to bear, in line. I attempted to charge & shatter him, but he rolled some fancy dice & got 6's on all of them, so I was repulsed. He then shot one of my Cavalry down. The other I was able to retire.
I did manage to swing my Infantry Columns out in front of the hill & the next turn, they all reformed into line & swept towards Dennis's force. A see-saw battle ensued with volleys & charges. I lost one of my Regular Foot units, while Dennis lost one of his Grenadiers.
For 2 turns Dennis tried to drive his Cavalry thru the bad going & into my lines flank, but I was able to stop his both times with cards preventing his move.
By this time we were at endgame with just what cards we held in our hands, both of us were on the ropes with many units suffering disorder hats, but I was able to knock Dennis down to the point where his command broke. Above is the image of endgame. I will need to leave it to Bob to post the battle from his end of the table where he vied against Bruce.
This morning I finished the last of the Zombicide Core Box Characters.
Here we have Katana Wielding, Goth Girl - Amy. Her double barrelled sawed off shotgun is also something one should not ignore.
This was my first attempt at doing fish-net stockings. It worked OK, though I can see that if I do more of this type of thing, I will need some finer brushes.
Tonight I am off to the Edmonton Wargamers Group Club night, where I will be playing some Maurice. I will post the AAR later tommorrow most likely.
Finished up 2 more of the Zombicide Characters today.
Here we have Doug (name that movie this character is based on) whose had enough of the worlds Zombies & Phil a Cop who is hellbent on keeping the Law.
Again for soft plastic miniatures, these are excellent. Lots of detail & no really flimsy pieces that bend.
I am now working on the last Zombicide character. Still pondering how best to do her torn fishnet stockings.
