Merry Happy to all, and to all a good Haul!

Hope all of you who celebrate the holidays have done so, survived, and enjoyed. So first to all my fine readers, I wish you all health, wealth, happiness, and TOYS!!!!!!!

Time for the annual haul report on toys that the Queen hath bestowed on me(even if I doth give her a handy linked list):

First from the good folks at GZG:

The two Aliens Mercs sets. These would go with my already painted Alien Mercs Sets for needed back up against the Human Hordes. Or they would I deal to use for Space Orcs for In The Emperors Name. I am torn. Good thing I am not painting them soon. But I love them.

I have lusted after this set since it was released. These shacks are awesome. I need to add a couple of the full size buildings and I have a nice ruff town for anything 15mm scifi.

Ahh Drones. I love them. I finally got to add the spider drones to my collection. They will be squad support drones for my Aquan Hegemony troops. Who are first on the list for painting after the Spanish are completed...maybe.

Next up is buidlings from Proxie Models. I got a nice mixture of their ruined buidlings, and generic sci fi buildings to further flesh out my 15mm games. I envision the ruins being used for Fallout style games, and the Sci Fi buildings for my Colony I am building(in my mind at least). Great m,odels that are not done very good justice by the pics on their website. If you want to see the potential of these models go to Spacejackers site(scroll down and look at his poto roll on the right side). What he is doing is amazing and really shows the potential of these very nicely done terrain pieces done by a one man shop. I have been very inspired by his work to pick these up.

Finally, the 1920's Eldrict Horror pulp rules set - Strange Aeons. I love the era, I love the literature, and I even built a few places of power for terrain. It should be a nice diversion and not much to paint.

I did get Farcry 3. It should be a real time eater. SO I want to get some painting done before I fall down that rabbit hole.

Hope you all had a great Christmas. Much love, friendship, and good wishes to all my friends(cyber and otherwise) for the coming year.

Gruntz, Pike and Shotte, SAGA, and Mutant Future Weekend Gaming 11-8-12

Had a great weekend at the BArons gaming Thurs-Fir-Sat.

Thursday was a mega Gruntz game. We had 8 players and 35 units a side. And it was the first time we have played it. It was a lot of fun. We played for 2 1/2 hours and with one more turn we would have had a full conclusion. It was a simple meeting engagement. armor, ifv's, mechs, specialists, power armor, infantry. On one side, the Aliens fron the Korden Quadrant, a hegemony of vicisious mercenary worlds. On the other, The Quick Reaction Force of the Humanist Protectorate. Lots of carnage. Pics below:

A lot of fun was had and Gruntz got a lot of positive reviews from the BG's. We will definately be playing more. And based on how monster a game this was, compared to all the other examples and battle reports I've read, I was impressed that by putting gruntz on a single base speeds up play. I am based on Flames of War bases so no individual bases for us. I can't fathom moving single 15's in a game this big. No way. Figs are a mix of GZG, CMG, and DP9. Terrain is homemade, Kato, and AT-43.

Next up was Friday Night. Just me and the BAron. That never happens. It was pretty fun. We played a game of Pike and Shotte with his gorgeous Italian Wars stuff. It was quick and deadly. And fun.Pics:

Pike and Shotte is quick like Black powder so you need a ton of troops. The BAron has a ton, but we didn't want to go crazy just yet. HE is also in the middle of the great rebasing, so no finished bases.

Once we finished Pike and Shotte, we broke out SAGA to give it a whirl. Honestly I had never read the rules, didn't understand them very well, although the booze at this point may have been clouding my judgement. I think they are a good set, I need to read them. They seem like a set that rewards you mightily for knowing your troops, the rules, and the game boards. Not a pick up and go sort of game for multiple people, or those who haven't read the rules. It was fun to see my horde of Vikings finally get on the field. Couple of Pics:

Finally, on Saturday we played Mutant Future. It is the Retro-Clone RPG of Gamma World nuttiness. We had a couple of new players, so we had to fold them into the story. Hope they enjoyed the chaos. I know that most of you are not interested in tales of RPG gaming, so I won't digress too far. In summary, the group, consisting of a Mutant Anteater, A Mutant Wolf-Eagle hybrid, A Mutant Sunflower who is a badass, a mutant human, and a Pure Strain Human, rescued a Mutant Bat-Fox hybrid and released a deactivated Combat Engineering Synthetic from his slumber since the 'big one'. They detroyed a hungry, floating, gamma ray shooting, Gamma Eye that was hunting them for food. Also they got further dragged into the territorial disputes of the goose stepping, jack boot wearing, facist, hated Pig Men Cabals. Fun was had by all. 

For me, as much as I love classic D&D(red cover basic, blue cover expert, or Labrynth Lord), I find myself falling back into easy tropes while game mastering. Mutant Future keeps me on my toes. And my great love and the vision I have in my head of the Post Apocalyptic setting really forces me to be creative. Its a lot of fun if you give yourself over to it. My style is no-prep. Everything is on thefly, with maybe a few whispy plot threads dangling around. A sandbox. Go play.

So it was a fun weekend. Much gaming. I am off gaming this week and next, until schedules for basketball settle down and the rhythn of the holidays is in full force. Happy Gaming.

Memorial Day - A Little Progress and a Tangent

So on Memorial Day, I got to do several things that I love. I got to paint, watch movies, and be with my boys.

Painting-Well some progress there. I got my GZG High Mobility Force base painted and washed. Snapped a wheel off one of my MBT's , but I will rig it so it stays.

Pic is a little dark, but they are ready for wet brushing then highlighting and detailing.

I also got a squad of Power Armor for my NAC Tropers cleaned and put on paint sticks. They are Blue Moon Orion Power Armor guys. A little Pulpy, but not out of place for the NAC guys.

Next, since I was Memorial Day, and I like to paint something related (at least somewhat related) I decided to build and prime my GRindhouse Games, Incurion American APE suit guys. Great Box Set. 6 guys, tons of character. Made me feel like I did when I put together my box of Classic GW metal Terminators. Really wel sculptaed and easy to put together. No flash. I am very pleased. They were a gift from the wife for xmas this year and I am glad I finally got them built and primed.

 You can see the squad base and primed, ready for a base coat. In the background you may notice a couple of walkers. Well they are AT-43 walkers. Everyone I have seen paints these as german walkers, but I kinday liked them to go with my americans, so I did a little work, and voila, american WWWII walkers.

 Here's a small one that will be a Scout Walker. I am going to add a .50 cal mount somewhere and a fixed light cannon.

 Here is a Heavy Tank Destroyer Walker. A long gun and sheild added from a Tamiya M-41 Walker Bulldog Kit, along with a .50 call on a swivel mount and a couple of gas cans. Tarps, and netting to be added too I think. I kept the 2 rocket pods. I think it takes the tech level down to an acceptable level.

APE suits included to see size comparison. I am excited about painting these because Agis has just released Victory Decision WWII rules, and since he is a big fan of WWWII, I just bet a supplement is coming for WWWII somtime in the future. And just add a couple of super heroes, and you got a wild and woolly WWWII game. And it gives me a chance to use my painted 28mm WWII guys and paint some of unpainted hordes of WWII guys I have.

I will paint these guys up as an aside then get back to my GZG Armor.

Movies - Well, I watched the whole box set of Band Of Brothers. One of my all time favorites.

Boys - While the 2 oldest were off doing their thing, the youngest hung out with Dad a little bit. We built a Snap Tite kit of an A-10 Thunderbolt II (Warthog). It was one of the prepainted on the sprue kits. I cut off the peieces, he assembled them. It was great. Growing up I was a model junkie, so I was glad to see it. I pulled out another snap tite kit to try (a skill level 7 Master Grade Mobile Suit Gundam 1/100 scale) but it was crazy. And the boy couldn't really do any of it. It took me an hours to assemble the arms. HE got bored. So I said maybe later and he ran off to play with his friends. The Warthog was fun. I will get him some more kits to try. I have about a hundred or so mixed plane and armor and figure kits, but they are all glue kits, and he's not quite ready for that he said. 

Thanks for looking.

GZG NAC Infantry

Well, the GZG NAC Infantry is cleaned and on paint sticks. I should be able to get them primed this weekend. But I am going to paint the Hi Mobility Vehicles first to finish off the Recon force and be done with an army.

Here's a look at what I have . All photos from GZG's new webstore. http://shop.groundzerogames.net/
15mm NAC Infantry packs. Two of each. Need to pick up a couple more of the basic rifle packs(pics 1 and two). And will probably add a couple more drones to the force.

Another two hours...

Another two hours and this...

I got my entire GZG Grav force built last night. 2 MBT's, 4 MICV's, 4 Gun Sleds(LT Tank/scouts), 2 Remote support platforms(1 Gatling, 1 Guided Missle). This is a main force type of army. I need to add mechs (Heavy Gears of some kind, probably Northern, or the new Valkrye mechs that have been getting some play are nice too), and a few Heavy Power Armor Guys as well. I will be using the GZG NAC troops for the Main Force Infantry.

2 stands of CMG Light Recon are shown for scale.

Here is the completely built GZG Hi -Mobility force, adding the last MBT. They have fewer units than the Grav Sled Group, but the infantry will be better armored and trained as a quick reactionary force.  (CMG Light Recon Troops) 

Here is the GZG NAC Infantry in there little plastic homes. Should be getting these out and organized and on painting sticks for priming tonite. about 16 bags of assorted infantry, comm, specialists, and hvy weapons. And Jon threw in a RAM mortar and a set of the new trikes for me as well on my last order. Great guy, that!

Here's a couple of Mules for the High Mobility QRF, even though they have NAC uniforms. A driver/rat patrol version, and a remote controlled version.

Hope to begin the priming by the end of the week, painting as possible over the weekend. Hope to be done with the Hi-Mobility force in 2 weeks. I would love to have the Main Force done by the end of June.

We've been talking about rules to use, and are going to try out Future War Commander, Dirtside II(a small version), and even a home grown set I have been working on. Robofire would work too, if we can get some more emphasis on Infantry and less on Robos (I know that's not what you intended Scott, but we like the system). Any others we should try? Not sure if Tomorrows War will work because of its focus on individuals, not fire teams or sections(which is how I have based all my infantry), but we shall see. the Ambush Alley guys are coming to Recruits for the big rollout for Tomorrow's War this fall, so I will get a chance to quiz them on it.