After using nothing but cloths for years I decided to make a terrain board from polystyrene. Nothing fancy, I bought a 4X8 sheet of the stuff from Home Depot, and painted it with Kilz to start. Followed that with a coat of textured paint, and then painted brown over that. Finished it up by dry-brushing a very light tan over the brown. I have to say it looks pretty cool, and if definitely looks a lot better than using a piece of felt.
Next up I'm going to make some hills using the same technique, and after that I plan on making another terrain board. The new one will be made to look like grassland.
I'll post some pics later.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
After Action Report
As promised months ago, here's a little description of my modern Africa game that I ran for the Army of Central Maryland.
To begin with, after some solo play-testing I modified the game as follows: I placed the Zamundan rebel compound closer to the center of the table and started all of the rebels inside the buildings. I found that if the American/British Humvee column had to travel from one end of the table to the other, and if some of the rebels were allowed to start the game outside the buildings behind their barricades the Humvees would just get shot up too much.
So at the beginning of the game one AH-6 Little Bird carrying 4 Delta operators and one UH-60 Blackhawk carrying 8 US Army paras flew towards the compound while the Humvees rolled up the road in the same direction. The Zamundans held their positions inside the buildings, wishing to avoid being targeted by the coalition's well-armed helos. The Little Bird landed on the roof of the target building (they were given intelligence before the game revealing the location of the rebel leader they were supposed to capture) while the airborne inside the Blackhawk roped down towards the deck. Unfortunately, one of them lost his grip on the rope and fell. At this time the Zamundans in the target building emerged and opened fire on the paras, which were hard pressed trying to form up and drag their wounded buddy to cover.
Things got worse for the Americans as they suffered another casualty and were out of the game for a few turns, unable to support the Delta on the roof. Said Delta were exchanging some fire with another group of Zamundans who had come out of the target building. Both sides got pinning results on the other, but the Deltas easily recovered while the Zamundans could not. However, disaster struck the coalition when another group of Zamandans who had been moving among some crates in the middle of the compound opened up on the Deltas with their AK-47's and wiped all of the American elite counter-terrorists!
From there on out it was a tough road for the coalition forces. While they still had their airborne troops and a number of British SAS who had ridden to battle in the Humvee column, they were out of position as by now the Russian APC had arrived to rescue the Zamundan rebel leader. The Deltas had been the only troops close enough to stop him from making a dash to his former communist saviors, but they were all casualties. So, Papa Booya escaped, victory to the Zamundans.
A pretty clear cut victory, I might add. The squad of Russians the Zamundan players had access to didn't even have to fire a shot.
Obviously I have to count this game as another play-test, but I won't take anything away from the Zamundans who played a good game. Maybe the other side should have gotten the airborne and SAS into position first before the Delta landed and assaulted the building. As it was they were exposed and paid for this mistake with their lead lives.
One thing I will change (maybe) is that I will allow the Delta guys to blow through the roof of the building they land on. We'll see.
Anyhow, everyone seemed to have fun and hopefully I will run the game again at Fall In.
To begin with, after some solo play-testing I modified the game as follows: I placed the Zamundan rebel compound closer to the center of the table and started all of the rebels inside the buildings. I found that if the American/British Humvee column had to travel from one end of the table to the other, and if some of the rebels were allowed to start the game outside the buildings behind their barricades the Humvees would just get shot up too much.
So at the beginning of the game one AH-6 Little Bird carrying 4 Delta operators and one UH-60 Blackhawk carrying 8 US Army paras flew towards the compound while the Humvees rolled up the road in the same direction. The Zamundans held their positions inside the buildings, wishing to avoid being targeted by the coalition's well-armed helos. The Little Bird landed on the roof of the target building (they were given intelligence before the game revealing the location of the rebel leader they were supposed to capture) while the airborne inside the Blackhawk roped down towards the deck. Unfortunately, one of them lost his grip on the rope and fell. At this time the Zamundans in the target building emerged and opened fire on the paras, which were hard pressed trying to form up and drag their wounded buddy to cover.
Things got worse for the Americans as they suffered another casualty and were out of the game for a few turns, unable to support the Delta on the roof. Said Delta were exchanging some fire with another group of Zamundans who had come out of the target building. Both sides got pinning results on the other, but the Deltas easily recovered while the Zamundans could not. However, disaster struck the coalition when another group of Zamandans who had been moving among some crates in the middle of the compound opened up on the Deltas with their AK-47's and wiped all of the American elite counter-terrorists!
From there on out it was a tough road for the coalition forces. While they still had their airborne troops and a number of British SAS who had ridden to battle in the Humvee column, they were out of position as by now the Russian APC had arrived to rescue the Zamundan rebel leader. The Deltas had been the only troops close enough to stop him from making a dash to his former communist saviors, but they were all casualties. So, Papa Booya escaped, victory to the Zamundans.
A pretty clear cut victory, I might add. The squad of Russians the Zamundan players had access to didn't even have to fire a shot.
Obviously I have to count this game as another play-test, but I won't take anything away from the Zamundans who played a good game. Maybe the other side should have gotten the airborne and SAS into position first before the Delta landed and assaulted the building. As it was they were exposed and paid for this mistake with their lead lives.
One thing I will change (maybe) is that I will allow the Delta guys to blow through the roof of the building they land on. We'll see.
Anyhow, everyone seemed to have fun and hopefully I will run the game again at Fall In.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Lead and Cardboard Volume 2
Attending Historicon + new baby sleeping through the night = return to gaming!
Actually I've been gaming a lot, what I haven't been doing is posting here or painting.
So obviously here's a post and in the basement I've got 20 WW 2 German 15mm figures being painted. Once finished they will join the ranks of the storied Herman Goring division.
But like I said I've been doing lots of gaming. My buddy and I have played about 6 games of Hammer of the Scots and it's become one of our favorite games. We also tried Columbia Games' Liberty but were less impressed with it. We've got a number of Columbia's block games waiting to be played, but we're the most excited about their new one Wars of the Roses.
I finally played one of my most anticipated games the other night: Die Macher. Loved it. Admittedly a game's theme is very important to me and there's something about trying to win German political elections that I find fascinating. Even if the theme doesn't excite you like it does me, I think this game has a lot to offer. It's got two auction phases! What more could you ask for! I'm going to try and set up a five player game in the near future. We only had three the other night.
My other future plans include painting up more German infantry and armor along with building some terrain boards. I also plan on collecting and painting a Skaven army for Warhammer Fantasy Battles. Warhammer was the first miniatures game I ever played, and for years the only one. I played Orcs and Goblins, mainly because the boxed set I bought came with them and the Elves, and my friend wanted to be the Elves. But I always thought the Skaven were the coolest army, but I was too poor to buy all those models. So after listening to the Podhammer podcast (highly recommended) I was itching to get back into Warhammer (haven't played in 10 years) and I decided to buy the Skaven army I always wanted. Ok, I've only bought one boxed set so far, but I figure that's a start.
Actually I've been gaming a lot, what I haven't been doing is posting here or painting.
So obviously here's a post and in the basement I've got 20 WW 2 German 15mm figures being painted. Once finished they will join the ranks of the storied Herman Goring division.
But like I said I've been doing lots of gaming. My buddy and I have played about 6 games of Hammer of the Scots and it's become one of our favorite games. We also tried Columbia Games' Liberty but were less impressed with it. We've got a number of Columbia's block games waiting to be played, but we're the most excited about their new one Wars of the Roses.
I finally played one of my most anticipated games the other night: Die Macher. Loved it. Admittedly a game's theme is very important to me and there's something about trying to win German political elections that I find fascinating. Even if the theme doesn't excite you like it does me, I think this game has a lot to offer. It's got two auction phases! What more could you ask for! I'm going to try and set up a five player game in the near future. We only had three the other night.
My other future plans include painting up more German infantry and armor along with building some terrain boards. I also plan on collecting and painting a Skaven army for Warhammer Fantasy Battles. Warhammer was the first miniatures game I ever played, and for years the only one. I played Orcs and Goblins, mainly because the boxed set I bought came with them and the Elves, and my friend wanted to be the Elves. But I always thought the Skaven were the coolest army, but I was too poor to buy all those models. So after listening to the Podhammer podcast (highly recommended) I was itching to get back into Warhammer (haven't played in 10 years) and I decided to buy the Skaven army I always wanted. Ok, I've only bought one boxed set so far, but I figure that's a start.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Nice Pretty Boxes
I haven't had the time or inclination to post for awhile, but I have been gaming. Haven't done any miniature painting lately, though I have some 15mm German armor on the way.
I'm going to paste below an email I sent to some friends of mine on the topic of board games vs miniatures games.
"Obviously miniatures and board games have their respective pros and cons. I think what makes me have the opinion that board games are better than miniature games is that when I play a board game I am more likely to have fun than when playing a miniatures game. Of course now you all are saying no shit Sherlock! So let me explain."
"Both board games and miniature games have an equal potential for enjoyment. It's just easier for a board game to reach that potential. There's a lot more that can go wrong with playing a miniatures game. And a lot of what can go wrong is tied up in the fact that who you are playing with can make or break a game. I really like Command Decision, but I doubt I will play it at a convention anymore. I played in a CD game at the last Fall In, and the game as far as the scenario and miniatures went was fantastic. But I got stuck playing with someone who probably should be committed to an institution and it's one of the worst times I've ever had playing at a con. At the same Fall In I played in a Russian Civil War game that had beautiful miniatures and used a pretty cool set of rules that I had never heard of. Should have been a great game but I was sitting between two jackasses. The guy on the right kept doing dumb shit (which I didn't really mind) and the asshole on my left kept getting mad about it (which I did mind)."
"So great miniatures games can be ruined by the numbskulls you have to play with. It seems the best times I've had playing games is when we all play together. Case in point the Carnage and Glory game at the same Fall In when me and Kevin were on one side and John and Scott were on the other."
"Obviously a game where there are flaws in the rules/scenario/playtesting/figures/general preparation isn't going to be that good."
"Board games don't suffer from these problems since you generally don't play on the same side as any of the other players. And a good game has been playtested and refined before you play it."
"And they come in such nice pretty boxes."
I'm going to paste below an email I sent to some friends of mine on the topic of board games vs miniatures games.
"Obviously miniatures and board games have their respective pros and cons. I think what makes me have the opinion that board games are better than miniature games is that when I play a board game I am more likely to have fun than when playing a miniatures game. Of course now you all are saying no shit Sherlock! So let me explain."
"Both board games and miniature games have an equal potential for enjoyment. It's just easier for a board game to reach that potential. There's a lot more that can go wrong with playing a miniatures game. And a lot of what can go wrong is tied up in the fact that who you are playing with can make or break a game. I really like Command Decision, but I doubt I will play it at a convention anymore. I played in a CD game at the last Fall In, and the game as far as the scenario and miniatures went was fantastic. But I got stuck playing with someone who probably should be committed to an institution and it's one of the worst times I've ever had playing at a con. At the same Fall In I played in a Russian Civil War game that had beautiful miniatures and used a pretty cool set of rules that I had never heard of. Should have been a great game but I was sitting between two jackasses. The guy on the right kept doing dumb shit (which I didn't really mind) and the asshole on my left kept getting mad about it (which I did mind)."
"So great miniatures games can be ruined by the numbskulls you have to play with. It seems the best times I've had playing games is when we all play together. Case in point the Carnage and Glory game at the same Fall In when me and Kevin were on one side and John and Scott were on the other."
"Obviously a game where there are flaws in the rules/scenario/playtesting/figures/general preparation isn't going to be that good."
"Board games don't suffer from these problems since you generally don't play on the same side as any of the other players. And a good game has been playtested and refined before you play it."
"And they come in such nice pretty boxes."
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Cardboard and cardboard?
Where's the lead? Still packed away in all those bins you can see in the photos of my basement.
Tonight I had every intention of preparing some 15mm German paras for painting, but I never went downstairs. Granted, the Stanley Cup Finals were on, but mainly I just didn't feel like messing with miniatures.
Well, I figure I'll get to them eventually. Or maybe just send them to Sri Lanka.
Actually, speaking of Sri Lanka, I'm sorta planning on doing a 28mm Russian Civil War game for Cold Wars 09. I figure I'll buy the figures at Historicon and ship them over to Sri Lanka (Fernando). My reasoning for having them painted is that it would be much faster and also look better than if I did the painting. I say sorta planning on doing this because it's possible that by the time I get to Historicon I will have changed my mind. Either way, I think it's a cool idea.
And it's Cardboard and Cardboard because I've been playing a lot of board games lately and I'm really enjoying it. More on that later.
Tonight I had every intention of preparing some 15mm German paras for painting, but I never went downstairs. Granted, the Stanley Cup Finals were on, but mainly I just didn't feel like messing with miniatures.
Well, I figure I'll get to them eventually. Or maybe just send them to Sri Lanka.
Actually, speaking of Sri Lanka, I'm sorta planning on doing a 28mm Russian Civil War game for Cold Wars 09. I figure I'll buy the figures at Historicon and ship them over to Sri Lanka (Fernando). My reasoning for having them painted is that it would be much faster and also look better than if I did the painting. I say sorta planning on doing this because it's possible that by the time I get to Historicon I will have changed my mind. Either way, I think it's a cool idea.
And it's Cardboard and Cardboard because I've been playing a lot of board games lately and I'm really enjoying it. More on that later.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Recap
Very busy this past weekend. Made a trip to Maryland on Friday for my wife's Aunt's 99th birthday. Saturday I took care of some chores around the house before heading up to West Virginia for a game of Twilight Struggle. Then Sunday it was back to Maryland to run my Zamunda game in the afternoon followed by a Dungeons and Dragons session. Got home around 1 am and spent Monday relaxing.
I can't praise Twilight Struggle enough. I love the theme for one thing. It's funny, I'm reading a book about Vietnam post WW2 through 1990, and I was just reading about the beginning of U.S. involvement there and what we were doing to de-stabilize the North and prop up the South, and I found myself picturing influence counters being placed on the Twilight Struggle map. But beyond the theme it's just so much fun to play. The back and forth between the two players is awesome. In the game we played Saturday, around turn 5 or so I was 1 victory point away from winning, but then Europe was scored and I was back down to like 12. By turn 8, I was at 10 or so points, but I was so far out of it in Europe that I realized that when the game ended and all of the regions would be scored, the Americans would have control of Europe which is an automatic victory. Then, I get dealt the Wargames card, which, when played as an event, allows the player to end the game as long as the Defcon level is at 2 and he gives his opponent 8 victory points. So basically I ended the game and won by two points. Great game.
I'll try and post an AAR of my Zamunda game later this week.
I can't praise Twilight Struggle enough. I love the theme for one thing. It's funny, I'm reading a book about Vietnam post WW2 through 1990, and I was just reading about the beginning of U.S. involvement there and what we were doing to de-stabilize the North and prop up the South, and I found myself picturing influence counters being placed on the Twilight Struggle map. But beyond the theme it's just so much fun to play. The back and forth between the two players is awesome. In the game we played Saturday, around turn 5 or so I was 1 victory point away from winning, but then Europe was scored and I was back down to like 12. By turn 8, I was at 10 or so points, but I was so far out of it in Europe that I realized that when the game ended and all of the regions would be scored, the Americans would have control of Europe which is an automatic victory. Then, I get dealt the Wargames card, which, when played as an event, allows the player to end the game as long as the Defcon level is at 2 and he gives his opponent 8 victory points. So basically I ended the game and won by two points. Great game.
I'll try and post an AAR of my Zamunda game later this week.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Packed Up
Tonight I packed up my modern Africa game for the trip to Maryland on Sunday. It's a few days early but my wife and I are going to her Aunt's 99th birthday party tomorrow night, and on Saturday I've got some chores to attend to and I'm planning on playing some boardgames up in West Virginia. So, I figured I might as well get it ready to go now.
While I was down in the basement getting everything together, I was thinking of what I was going to work on next. First off, I have several tree stands littering my one table that only need some dry-brushing to finish them off. They've been sitting there for a month now. So first off I'm going to finish them up and pack them away. Then, I'm going to do a general clean-up of my work area, since it's gotten pretty messy over the past couple of months.
When that's all finished, I think I'm going to do a mass painting of 15mm Germans for Command Decision.
I plan on posting some reviews on here of games and rules sets that I've played in the next few weeks.
While I was down in the basement getting everything together, I was thinking of what I was going to work on next. First off, I have several tree stands littering my one table that only need some dry-brushing to finish them off. They've been sitting there for a month now. So first off I'm going to finish them up and pack them away. Then, I'm going to do a general clean-up of my work area, since it's gotten pretty messy over the past couple of months.
When that's all finished, I think I'm going to do a mass painting of 15mm Germans for Command Decision.
I plan on posting some reviews on here of games and rules sets that I've played in the next few weeks.
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