A Couple of Terrain Sites

I was on Terragenesis the other day. I am a bit addicted. And, I found a couple of sites that I thought worthy of sharing.

The first one: Matakishi's Tea House has a page which shows a game board built primarily out of cork. A material that some of us use quite often and effectively. Worth taking a look at. It also includes detailed plans to make some of the buildings.

The other terrain site is dedicated to Colonial-era wargaming but has an interesting terrain page that has quite a bit of terrain made from interesting items such as yogurt containers. I is a bit desert-y but could be adapted.

Cheers!

CAV game in San Angelo with MWebber

Hey everyone,

These are some pics of the CAV game that I had this weekend in San Angelo.  The mission was for the Forlorn Hope Mercenary Company (in snow camo) to upload a virus at a Terran (forest camo) station.  Failing in this, the Hope was to blow up the power generator.  The game was not fought to conclusion, but instead became a ranged slugfest, with both sides taking casualties.  As the sun set on this far-away planet, both sides had taken casualties and victory was still up in the air.

A Terran Cougar leaps into action, deployed only seconds before the arrival of the Forlorn Hope.
Just after this move, the Rhino (front) took the hill and completely destroyed the Cougar before it could advance any further.  In CAV, advancing forces often use a smaller recon CAV or vehicle to cover their advance with ECM.  Here a Puma does this for the Rhino.

The Forlorn Hope advances in three separate groups, firing and advancing.

One of the Forlorn Hope's Armor sections -- two Falcon's (front) are supported by the anti-aircraft guns of a Sabretooth (rear), while a Puma provides ECM and a small Stiletto fighting vehicle moves with them.

Two Dictators advance on the other front.  A small Nomad vehicle provides ECM for their advance (see it behind the front CAV's leg.

The advance of the Hope.

The Terran line awaits their assault.  Here a Falcon (left) is supported by a Wraith (center) and a Katana (right, out of frame).

Objective one: the Terran station.

Naginata Tanks protect objective two, the power generator.

Another shot of the station, with the Terran line and two advancing Kikyu gunships.

The vehicles surrounding the station - these were converted from old plastic Mechwarrior minis, which are the same scale as CAV.

Another shot of the Naginatas as the delpoy to protect the power generator.

Bit of Fun

So, classes started this week as I am sure they did elsewhere. As a result, there has been a lot less to report on the gaming front. Have some works in progress but nothing as nice as RC. However, I ran across this pic on dakkadakka.com the other day and thought it was pretty funny and worth a share.

(I have no idea who the creator the image was. Pretty good though.)

a brief respite from heavy work: delaque and obliterator

Oi! I have a bit of a break now and I thought I might post these photos.
The first is a series of images of a finished Delaque Juve from the Necromunda range. I am slowly building a gang as a side project for no particular reason other than the fact that I like these minis.

Next, this is an unfinished obliterator for the CSM 40K army. Flesh over armor is challenging stuff: wash, drybrush, wash, etc. I have a good bit of work left to do not only on the flesh but, also, on the armor. So far, it seems to be coming along nicely.

Romans versus Ostrogothic federation in the 5th Century (San Angelo). This is a long one - apologies if it is long winded!

Hey everyone,

Today a fellow gamer here in San Angelo and I went at each other with Ostrogoths (supported by Huns, Alemani, and renegade Gauls) on one side and Late Romans on the other.  The narrative featured defense of a town, but the objective was to route the enemy.  I designed both forces as a kind of introduction to Warhammer Ancient Battles, so the game was pretty vanilla, and ended up as a straight up class between the battle lines.  Lots of fun, though, and I liked the way the sides looked all drawn out.  What follows is a brief AAR with some notes on how the game unfolded.  WAB doesn't focus as much on characters, of course, so the points tend to go pretty far.  This was 1800 point, but the vanilla troops made these points go a bit further than normal, perhaps.

The battle lines drawn, Romans on the right and Goths on the left.  Skirmishers defended and threatened the town, and the Gothic Cavalry lined up to try to scatter the Roman light troops and Scorpios, which held the Roman left flank (lower frame).

Ostrogothic medium cavalry begin their assault on the Roman left (going for the Scorpios).

The Gothic center with the renegade Gauls held in reserve.

Roman light troops held the town, supported by the villagers, who were led by one veteran Pedes troop (infantryman).

Roman Heavy Cavalry - these promised much paint to the Gothic left flank, as their movement promised iniative on the charge, and their armor makes them very difficult to kill.

The forces approach each other.  Here we see the Gothic warlord, supported by his comitatus (bodyguard), charging at the Roman heavy infantry in the Roman center.

The Roman heavy charge, attack, and inflict casualties, but cannot break the formed unit of Goths, especially because they are lead by a Priestess to Wotan, who inspires high morale and vigor in the Gothic foot.

Roman light Cav charge to throw their javelins, but against the Gothic front the casualties that they inflict don't cause enough damage to stop the momentum.  The priestess threatens with a crow and a skull from the front rank.

The Scorpios slay and route the Germanic light Cavalry, but the Medium cavalry makes it to the flank of the Roman left, preparing to charge the scorpios despite sustaining casuyalties.

And they charge in, blowing through the Roman archers and then carrying through to the scorpios.

Then the lines clash in earnest, Germanic aggression matched against Roman stoicism and a stiff upper lip.  At this point the mechanics of the game have encouraged what the authors take to be the historical truth of this kind of battle.  If the Germanic charge can hit hard enough, then the Roman line can fail, but the Romans are better trained and better equipped, so they stand a good chance of weathering the storm.  Michael did a great job of positioning his general so and army banner so that a large portion of his center gained leadership and morale bonuses from its pesence.

Closeup of the clash of the lines - play Conan soundtrack here.

Unfortunately, Wotan came through and despite good placement, Michael couldn't seem to roll very well.  In fact, his rolls were exactly opposite of what they needed to be:  low "to hit" and "to wound" rolls, and extremely high leadership rolls (e.g. failing two shots at a 9- on two dice, then failing two shots at an 8-).  How could the Romans stand when Boethius's teachings of the Christain God are played out so fully on the field? (Boethius demonstrates in the Consolatione de Philosophia that the world is ruled by chance, this is God's will, and it serves the completely good ends for which God works).

The rest of the Roman lines crumbles, also the victim of unlucky dice rolling.

The Roman flight, pursued by the Goths in the center.  The end of the game came with the agreement that the Goths had taken the day.  In truth, we were out of time, and the Romans could still have rallied and come back.  Their general was still alive, and they hadn't lost very many men, despite their breaking.  So a nominal victory for the Goths, but it could have gone the other way had we played the game to conclusion.  Lots of fun, though, and it was really great to play a game with Michael (whom IMS is really happy to find in San Angelo), and to get out all of these minis, some of whom hadn't swung a sword in anger until today.

It's not you; it's me; or, why does my paint want to break up with me?

Ok, I am not sure if I am dealing with something everyone does or perhaps (and more likely) I am doing something wrong. My paint -- which is GW and recently purchased -- doesn't work like I would like it to. It seems thick and I feel like I am pushing it around on the plastic rather than spreading it. Plus it seems to gather in the recesses -- which defeats the purpose of the black base that will still show through. I will end up having to go back and use a wash anyway. Can the paint be too thick and gather in the recesses at the same time? At one point, Sherwood had said something about his paint "seizing up" but I have no idea what that means or if it is similar to what is happening to me!

Is my paint old?

Am I using it too thick somehow?

Is there a better way to get it to stick the plastic?

Should I be drybrushing? Would that reduce the number of coats I seem to need?

Or, is this someone everyone has a problem with?

IMS previously suggested colored spray paint and I will definitely look into that but the nearest Hobby Lobby (with Testor spray paint) is an hour away and I have to finish at least this unit with the paint.

I have much to learn about photographing soldiers yet, but here are a few pics of Necrons: troopers, lord, and destroyers. As you can see, too, I'm still pretty much a paint-by-numbers painter. I've wasted a number miniatures and a lot of time testing color schemes for all of my armies, though. Once I decided, though, the army grew relatively quickly. I'm assembling more destroyers and some Immortals at the moment; I'm considering deviating from the universal scheme for the Immortals as befits their status in the army (and to quicky distinguish the little buggers on the table top). No doubt any varient scheme will come from examples int he codex as well.

CAV in San Angelo

Hey again everyone,

CAV was a project that was really enjoying last year.  I thought I would post it now because Southpaw is in a "must buy" death spiral and I know he doesn't like sci fi with giant mechas.  CAV is the sci fi game from Reaper Minis, but has basically become a grassroots movement from some of the players with pretty good, if slow, online support.  It is in 6mm, which makes the mechas between 35 and 50mm tall, I would say.  Unlike Battletech (which has a similar aesthetic but is in a smaller scale), CAV is really a fastplay set of rules, and so speed of play and constant action mark it rather than a reliance on details.  I really like this, and think that imagining the game in the right way makes for a very "real" game that is exciting and plays well in under two hours.  Unfortunately, my partner in this project moved away, but some of the gamers in Big Spring ran with CAV for a while, so there is a chance yet that games might happen...

This is one of the light "recon" cavs, very fast and equipped with jamming equipment.  In general, his job tends to be to accompany a larger CAV and jamm possible locks on the duo.  This is a "Puma," and I have tried to balance snow camo with a heavy black-lining technique.  Kind of works, I think.
This is an admittedly wide shot of the end game in one of our last games together.  As ofetn happens in CAV, many of the vehicles get disabled, so te end game is between those who are left.  Here my Falcon and my Dictator (both light heavyweights), close on a heavy weight tank that holds the scenario objective.  The green markers show how long he has held the objective, and the dice by his tank and my Dictator indicate damage.  In this game, each CAV and vehicle functions differently with damage, and so the player looks at a different "damage track" according to how many "hits" are indicated by the damage die.  Kind of like Heroclicks, but without the clickies.
This is the advance of my Rhino (a superheavyweight CAV) and the Puma, who is providing ECM cover.  The Dictator provides covering fire.
Here is the merc force I was playing with - the Forlorn Hope.  The infantry, in the back, come on stands of 6 or so models.  The game has an interesting roks-paper-scissors dynamic, in that Vehicles, Infantry, and CAVs all work really well against one other type, but not so well against the third type.  This makes the game interesting, as it requires good use of different kinds of unit types with different kinds of weapons systems.
Sabertooth, a light-medium CAV, but really useful in that it carries weapon systems that work well against hard targets (like CAVs) and also for soft targets (like gunships).

Another groups shot.  This is before the addition of some more vehicles and the Rhino, my big boy.

Lizardmen

I picked up the pre, preview release Lizardman book for WFB from Lytles. Nothing too objectionable so far.

Slann are level 4, period, now! The magic items (weapons, wards, banners, etc.) have increased exponentially; I don't know if this is a trend in all the revisions so far (haven't done a comparison yet), but it is satisfying to see a thoughtful take on what should always already be the most magic heavy race in WHF. Ilan can testify that I griped incessently about the shocking lack of magic juice in the previous book.

Of interest too . . .
No more sacred spawnings: a saurus is a saurus (same stats).

If I understand right, Temple Guard are no longer limited to use with a Slann. They are their own troop type (another of my pet peeves from the last book), but if TG and Slann appear in the same army, they must go together. Its an either or choice situation.

Kroxigor and Skinks are again able to rank up together: Ilan never thought this made a particularly effective unit. The Skinks that surrond the big 'uns are only there for rank bonus.
I liked the latest that allowed skinks to form a skirmish screen that Kroxigor could declare a charge through. That no longer seems an option--pity.

A new type of hunting pack that shoots, are you ready for this . . . ? Spines! Ugh!

I could ramble on to no account, but instead, if you are interested in the Designer's Notes that are sure to be apperaing on the web and in the Feb. White Dwarf.

This will keep me busy reading for a while.

Board game anyone?

In the spirit of World Wars, I take courage to publish a few photos from one of my favorite boards games. It's called 'Tide of Iron' by Fantasy Flight Games. Here, the Germans are desperately trying to hold off a British and American assault in North Africa.

New Release for Warhammer Historical: The Great War

Hey everyone, check out the Warhammer Hsitorical minisite for their new release:  The Great War (http://www.warhammer-historical.com/great-war/minisite/default.asp?content=default).

It looks really cool, and I think they will be using a version of the 40K rules.

They have a gallery at the site as well with some more pics (this is where these came from).