Now that Cangames is over, its time to get cracking on my bookshelf terrain for the Frostgrave scenario.
I saw some excellent foam core shelves at Cangames (see previous post), however I had already set my mind to doing them with popsicle sticks & foam core books.
I completed my first prototype this past weekend & have several more in various stages of completion now. Always a bother waiting for the glue to dry, so I am hoping to get this phase done before heading to bed each night, to give it a chance to dry.
First up, the cut pieces of Popsicle (Craft Sticks) are glued together. I am using some lego as a guide
Once that dries, a piece of cardstock backing is added, & then its painted up.
For books, I printed out numerous "Old Book Covers" which I searched for online. These were then cut to wrap around 1cm x 1cm foam core books. Thus the book cover was cut to 1cm x 2.5 cm to account for the spine.
The pages portion will then be painted with Old Parchment colouring.
The shelf is then loaded with books.
The completed shelf with figures for scale. Yes these would be more like tomes than books. I may dabble with making some smaller ones. We shall see. Time is the killer at this point, as I have quite a few of these to build. I can always add more later. Also as the base is thin, I may add them to a base which I can further litter with books. Just thinking on how best to do those.
The scenario also calls for piles of discarded books. More food for thought.
Lastly we hit our first Town Wide Garage sale this past Saturday & I found this old pencil sharpener curio for 50 cents, which although large, will make an interesting centrepiece. I am thinking I will build it up with a platform around it. We shall see.
Thanks for stopping by.
I've finally made it home from the Cangames Convention. Certainly a milestone as this was the conventions 40th Anniversary!
I warn you now, that this is a long post covering my weekend of gaming goodness. So please, take a pause & get yourself something to drink.
As usual the Convention started on Friday afternoon. So to start things off, what better than some Frostgrave!
I used a pre-built warband. Our first scenario was a co-operative effort with each of us playing the Wizard & 2 soldiers. We needed to get past the Deathguard at the far gate & off the board. We decided at the beginning of the scenario to split the spoils.
It's always a pleasure to play on outstanding terrain! As our host had forgotten to bring cotton for the fog, a tissue was employed.
We quickly advanced, taking out any skeletal warriors that appeared. The Deathguard also fell to the group effort. As we split the spoils, Todd managed to get a Grimoire of Telekinesis...
This next scenario pitted Todd's warband against my own. Remember that Telekinesis.. it allowed a very easy victory as you will see.
In this scenario, there were several raised platforms within a fog enshrouded bog. Visibility was limited to 12" unless a member was within 3" of one of the torches, they could be seen by everyone.
I quickly deployed a fog to limit any incoming missiles.
Todd easily used Telekinesis to pull 3 of the chests, including the middle one to his warband & was able to run off the board. My Templar & an Armoured Skeleton managed to match numbers during a melee & felled one another.
My warband continues to withdraw. We were able to take out Todd's wizard however, & though he suffered a bad wound, was able to pay to recover.
One of the fellows had an excellent layout for the Library scenario. I was checking out his pieces, as that is the next scenario in our own campaign & I need to build a bunch of bookshelves, etc.
I recall his mentioning the use of something like Sculpy to make the books
Friday Evening:
I got into the game of Chariots, wherein I rolled boxcars in the first corner & rolled my chariot, thus removing me from the game. Due to the horrible wounds inflicted, there are no images of this event.
Saturday Morning:
I got into the follow-up event of Hail Ceasar from the previous year. This scenario entitled 'Bagotrix Strikes Back' was the attempt to recapture the dyke lost the previous year.
I played one of the British factions this year. Below our mounted units bypass the tower leaving the foot units to deal with the Romans there.
My British command moved to the top of the Dyke, then climbed down & advanced on the 4 units of Roman's who were having a horrid time activating. (He kept blowing his command rolls). This proved lucky for me as I was able to get out of the pit & reform.
I was able to charge his formations, catching one of them in a flank.
After a couple turns he was down to a single unit, whilst my force suffered 1 shattered unit. The remaining were in quite good shape.
As in most convention games, time had run out & I believe it proved to be a Minor British victory as the tower remained in Roman hands, though their supplies would dwindle. The Reinforcements for them had been decimated.
Another game occuring during this timeslot was a WW2 "Operation Veritable" scenario which I managed to take a couple of photos of before they began.
Saturday Afternoon:
A Game entitled "Cangames the Apocalypse" had caught my eye when I was registering. A home grown rule set of a Zombie Apocalypse which I just had to play in!
I am glad I did
Each of us played a survivor & was given an objective card. I ended up with Mr. Moose!
And my miniature.
The table
He had a good mix of vehicles, many of which I am still searching for to add to my own collection.
We all started in the same building & exited heading off on our various missions.
One group of us stuck together, while several smaller elements headed out in one's & two's.
We got swarmed quickly and after a tough fight with several wounds & the loss of one of our members were able to continue on.
His rules had several Zombie variants, which were degraded when taking wounds until they were finally removed. "Ankle-biters" were children sized zombies & the lowest form of them.
He also drew from a deck of random events. In the case below the "convicts" were forced to fight amongst themselves until only 1 remained.
Another view of his terrain set-up
We were finally able to make it off the board, having dodged feral dogs, cultists & a crazy clown zombie. This game was a lot of fun & I hope to see it again next year.
Saturday was also our unofficial Red Shirt Day, where all the Ottawa Red Shirts, in attendance wears their colours with pride. We snapped this photo before Rita ran the Monster Mash event.
As I waited for the evening timeslot game I grabbed a couple photos of Ed Burley's "Siege of Fort Beausejour" 1755 scenario.
Saturday Evening:
Every year I look forward to the Rubberboots event. This chaotic mashing of numerous players vying to achieve their secret objectives is pulp goodness!
The scenario this year entitled "The Mask of Agamemnon" - In 1876 a Temple of Apollo is rebuilt near the British Museum. As artifacts of the Trojan War are brought there under heavy security after threats from the mysterious Order of the Magii.
I played the Austrian Mountaineer Selberhorn, who arrived with some rather large friends whom he found in the alps & was able to persuade to join the Prussian Army.
The location for the scenario.
As the game begins, everyone begins to move towards the central courtyard. My mission was to engage & destroy the French Aeronautique forces who were claiming to be filming a movie...sure they were.
There were forces representing Austrians (me), French, Anarchists, British Constabulary & Sherlock Holmes. Also making an appearance were a group of Persian scientists & of course...Rubberboots.
The French Aeronautique were having lots of problems with numerous groups trying to take them down.
The Anarchists were pretty much killing everyone, though they left my faction alone.
At the end, Rubberboots was found to be posing as the film crew & was able to get to the temple & with the Persians, made a run with the Mask of Agamemnon.
Sunday:
Another event I look forward too, is the Doctor Who Miniatures Game.
This year we played Doctor Who - The Day of the Daleks scenario, which is of course based on the TV show. The 3rd Doctor is investigating strange events at Apsley House, the site of upcoming peace talks to avert Nuclear War led by Sir Reginald Styles.
I chose to play the Daleks with 2 other players.
Having chose our Time entry locations, we arrived & began moving towards the manor. Each Dalek arrived with a pair of Ogrons. There was also a guerilla faction which were the mortal enemies of the Daleks. They too were after Sir Reginald to kill him.
One of the Dalek groups was immediately engaged & a long brawl ensued between Sgt Benton & one of the Ogrons.
The Doctor used his invention skill to modify his Sonic Screwdriver to return the Daleks to their time. (This caused them to miss a turn before being able to attempt to return). When they did return, they arrived at the Railway tunnel.
My Dalek force engaged the Mortar team, while the remainder of UNIT & the Doctor approached.
Meanwhile the 13th Doctor had appeared & was slowing the arrival of any reinforcements. He was also sending Daleks back to their timestream.
As all the Daleks had been returned to their time, The Brigadier had an easy time of getting Sir Reginald out the back gate with little in the way of opposition.
Another game that was occuring during this time slot had a large container ship with numerous forces attempting to capture it. I believe they were 15mm troops
I wandered over after the Doctor Who game & heard that there were Zombies on the ship!
If this was the normal convention, the games would have ended Sunday night. However as it was the 40th Anniversary, it hearkened back to the years that there was gaming on the Holiday Monday.
So, on Monday I played in Chariots Imperium, an often discussed change to Chariots. This added Gladiators & chariots pulled by Beasts. Each chariot had a Driver & Gladiator to begin, however as chariots became damaged or destroyed, the players could move & jump onto other chariots passing them & fight for possession to continue the race. A trophy was given to the first Driver & the first Gladiator to cross the finish line.
I didn't get any photos of the event, however I was able to be the first Driver to make it across the finish line, riding the beasts that had been pulling my chariot after it crashed in the last corner.
At one time, almost every game had a trophy attached, but over the years this has become less & less which I find kind of sad. Its nice to return home with something to show for your victory besides a piece of paper, but perhaps this is a sign of the times.
Regardless, this little fella will join my others on display in my miniature cabinets.
Of course no convention is complete without buying stuff from the vendors who take the time to showcase their wares at the con. This year I purchased several things, but was still able to keep my suitcase below the weight limit...whew!
This year I was able to buy several painted dark age era buildings, the new Warhammer Quest, some figures to use in Frostgrave from the Pathfinder Miniatures & a copy of How to Paint Warhammer Miniatures.
