An Award and Thanks

My old blogging friend Space Jacker handed my a Liebster Award. Not sure where it originated from, but Thanks! and I'll play. The Liebster rules are 1) Link back to whoever gave it to you. 2) link to 5 other blogs with less than 200 followers that should be getting seen by more people.

Since I can't nominate Tiny Solitary Soldiers(it would have been my first choice), here's some I fancy to look at everyday:

The Baron's Blog - Well you guys knew this was coming. He is my bestest buddy and bestest gaming pal as well. He really has a great blog, and hosts the best game night every thursday, and has for 10+ years. He is the Founder of our gaming group, the Basement Generals, great painter, and terrific artist as well.

Dropship Studio - An active blog, that features a lot of GW content new and old. Content is great and I enjoy his painting and focus are also hallmarks of great army projects that get completed(sort of).

Miniature Miscellany - Another GW centric blog. His focus on EPIC over the last year(s) has really been a great thing to watch. He really knows how to paint and his 6mm stuff is crazy good.

Spaceman Spiff's - If you want Mech Zaniness and Inspriration, look no further. A dedicated Sci Fi gamer with a Mech slant, Spiff is a modeler, scratchbuilder and painter who loves all things with a targeting lens.

The Guns of April- A blog that chronicles the combined efforts of some stellar painters and gamers for their annual huge Con game. Last Year the Game was a Penninsular Nappy affair. You can see why I liked it. This year it is an American Civil War joint. All in 28mm, all with beautifully painted figs and terrain. Its as close as gets to the stunning English Club Demonstration Games that are legendary to those of us in the States. When you are done reading their blog, look at the blogs of the individual Guns. Great stuff.

There are more of course, Cluck Amok, the Orky 15mm, The Occassional Ambush to name a few.

And thanks again to Spacejacker. Keep Painting and Playing my friends. And Happy Turkey Day to those in the States.

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.

Gruntz 15mm - Upcoming Playtest

We have a mini con starting on thursday at the BAron's Chateau. So I offered up some flavor for the BAsement Generals to pick from to take some of the hosting duties off the BAron. Well they took the bait and looks like we are playing Gruntz on thursday night.

The BAron and I did one playtest with my unpainted Eldar army vs my unpainted Pig Iron army. It went fine, but we didn't really do some things right and we went too big to start. But I like the basic mechanic, even though I have most of 15mm armies mounted on FoW bases.

I playtested the rules this weekend solo, and I still like the basics. So we'll see how things go. Here's some pics of the forces that will be engaged, Aliens vs Humans:

 

R'lyeh Calls

I have been having fevered dreams and unwaking journeys feeling the strange call of R'lyeh. I don't know which of the Basement Generals feel this strange pull, but it is very hard to resist. Cthulhu you are truly a source of agitation.

I haven't sought out doing Eldritch Horror, but man some great stuff is out there. And I have seen some great figs and a lot of people who like the Strange Eons game as well.

So I dug through my existing stuff, and fiound I have some suitable stuff to get started in a reasonable and sensible way...But if we know oner thing, the Lead Addcit is not a reasonable or sensible person. So I spent some time sunday night cobbling some terrain together to scratch this odd itch. Here you go:

three Arcane Sources of Eldritch Power

Obelisk of Power

 

rear shot

 

Sacrificial Altar or Eldritch Gateway?



Rear shot

 

A gift from the Stars

Its always nice for me to get a quick burst of terrain stuff in. I am going to scratch this itch occassionally. I am going to get a few horrors and a few 'investigators' and also pick up the Strange Aeons rules. Enjoy.

Update - 10-25-12. Some things I have seen and liked

Since I have been far too busy to paint this week, I thought I would do a quick update on some things I have seen and I have liked in the gaming Blogosphere.

On with the show:

This is the Morgan in Biosuit sculpt for the Sedition Wars Kickstarter. Its absolutely amazing. This is as Fallout-y as it gets my friends. And that could be a plasma pistol he's weilding. Glad I pledged at the level to get this sculpt included.

Next is the Reaper Kickstarter. Since I and 17,00o other people pledged for this stuff, probably not a lot of surprises but a few things are making me glad I pledged. And this sculpt is one of them. Now that's how a fire elemental should look. Terriying if you have to fight it. The depth of the sculpt is exceptional. Love it.

And one of the big draws for me was the giants. I think we will have 3 sets of them between our group. I am going to use them with my Vikings and Ragnarok gaming and as true ginats in our 15mm Hail Caesar Fantasy Games. Can you imagine how great they will look with a 15mm unit standing there, instead of that 28mm shy elven lad. Awesome!

And then their is this mutha. Holy Crap. I don't do Cthulhu gaming, and didn't opt to get this guy, but jeeze. He's HUGE! I think that mysterious elven stranger is ready to get destroyed in mind and body. Kudos to Reaper for making huge things huge. I am really looking forward to some of these minis.

I have been really pleased with my Zombicide stuff. Delivered as promised. As well as my Goalsystem Delves rulebook. So for me, assumeing I get what Studio McVey and Reaper are promising, I am pleased with my foray into backing on Kickstarter. I am all Kickstartered out, so if you have a project coming out on Kickstarter, since there are so many now, you are just white noise to me at this point. 

Some blog Updates I have enjoyed:

The Fawcett Avenue Conscripts blog shows us what its like to build and get Khurusan's DOE on the table.

Good Ol Space Jacker has made so great looking hills and is still searching for a cinematic action movie game to skirmish with. He's modding Flashing Steel. I llok forward to here of his progress.

MCPhee's Miniature Men blog has some really well painted examples of Blue Moon's latest 18mm Napoleonics. These look like they are 28mm. I would take 28mm Nappies painted like this all day long. Great Job.

I have enjoyed the GW nostalgia and OldHammer movement on the Realm of Chaos blog. It's really fun to see the classic Citadel figs and blisters and seeing someone play the early versions of a game I once liked, and now abhor.

Carmen continues to march to the beat of his drum. His variety and creativity continue to amaze me.Always a fun look. If you don't look at his blog every day you are missing out on some fun stuff. His 54mm Apocolators are simply stunning. Here's a great paint of a Cthulhu priest:

That's enough for now. Keep surfin, keep paintin, keep playing. Later.

28mm Spanish Napoleonics for Black Powder - Irlander Unit

Here is the completed Irlander Unit for my Spanish Army for Black Powder.

I am doing the Spanish Units at 20 figs, instead of the 24 for my normal units. But I may go back and do the extra stand. Not sure.

Banners and Basing when I am done with the Army. I will do them at the same time with the British.

Regiment Zargossa(Green Facings) is next, Then the last unit will be Cordoba (Red Facings), and two extra grenadier stands from Regiment Princesa(Black facings, light blue jacket, red piping) for a converged grenadier unit, when you take all the grenadier stands from the other units.

I have a nice large militia unit to do after the regular infantry. So that's 4 line, 1 converged grenadier, and 1 militia unit. That's 1 big division, or two small ones for Black Powder. Add a couple of cannon and cav units and I am all set.

Thanks for looking.

A look back at my To Do List Spring/Summer/Fall 2012

So here is my Spring/Summer/ Fall To Do List I keep on the right column. Time for some introspection. 

0. 28mm Napoleonic Spanish

  0.1 Do (4) Line Units

  0.2 Do 1 Converged Grenadier Unit

  0.3 Do (2) Artillery Units

  0.4 Do (2) Cav Units

  0.5 Do (2) Militia Units

Well I just started these, but I have a good start. 1 unit of line complete, 1 unit base painted, 1/2 the grenadiers ready. 1. 28mm Napoleonic British

1.1 - Finish New Command Stand-COMPLETE

1.2 - Add 2 stands to existings 4 stand Units(6 units=12 stands)-COMPLETE

1.3 - Do (2) New Guard Infantry Unit-COMPLETE

1.4 - Do 2 New Highlander Units

1.5 - Do Light Dragoon Unit(Tarelton)-COMPLETE

1.6 - Do Hussar Unit(Tall Fur Cap)-COMPLETE

1.7 - Do 2 New Artillery Units

1.8 - Do Division/Brigade/Army Commanders-COMPLETE

1.9 Do 2 new Infantry Units(2 KGL)-LATER PHASE

1.10-Complete Basing and Flocking Much progress on the Brits. So much so that I am comfortable gaming with them right now. I have a few units to do ( a couple more cannon, a couple of highland units, anothe cav division, and some KGL infantry), but since I usually build an army of 12-15 units, I am really done. The rest is just for fun.

2. 28mm Napoleonic French My acquisition of 4 infantry and 2 cannon units, beautifully painted at that, plus another the BAron is completing, plus two more BG Scott is working on, we'll have a French Army in no time. Doesn't even seem possible.

3.15mm Fantasy for Hail Caesar Progress indeed this year. I painted at least 12 new units for the wood elves. And I made a huge acquisition of Demonworld original castings to go with my huge collection of original castings. So I am set on all things 15mm Fantasy. So much so that I may just sell all my 28mm except for some warband and RPG use. And of course there is that mountain of Reaper Bones coming in March.

4. 28mm ECW No progress. That's OK. With all the Nappy progress I am happy.

5. 15mm Napoleonics Rebasing-ON HOLD No progress either. This is a monumental task, and I just don't want to tackle it right now. I would rather make progress in 28mm.

6. 15mm Sci Fi Some progress this year. I am closer on a few things. I got the Alien Mercs based, got half the Humean Quick Reaction force Armor completed. But I waas really on other things. this is a huge project when I get to it.

7 28mm Post Apoc Much progress. Just search the post apoc tag. I am pleased that I am down to terrain and mutnats and monsters. Fun stuff. And Let's not forget Fistful of Lead:Wasteland Warriors. It will be a good winter for the apocalypse.

8. 15mm Sci Fi Tiles-INITIAL CASTS COMPLETED Really just playing. Won't be focused on it til I get into the 15mm Sci FI stuff in earnest.

9. 15mm Fantasy for Dungeon Tiles Finished the foam dungeon, finished many monsters, started on some Hirst Arts castings for some more tiles. Been a productive year for a side project. Probably won't see a lot of progress, until I get the bug to write some simple bash rules.

So overall, a good year, one of my most productive. I am hankering for my Fall/Winter List so it should be comin up soon, but I know its time to strike the completed stuff off the list, and get rid of a bunch of old lists still hangin around.