Urban Renewal

 Merry Christmas Eve!

After last weekend's "no terrain" mishap for the Alpha Strike game, these are welcome addition to the collection. I actually ordered them a couple of weeks ago from gcmini.com but of course there was no way I'd have been able to get them ready in time. A couple of early mornings this weekend got them sorted though.

These are 6mm "grayboard" buildings from their sci-fi collection. Assembly was easy with white glue. They're all mounted to 1/8 inch plywood.

I used aluminum foil inside the these brick red buildings to make the windows pop a bit. 

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and that Santa brings you good health and lots of nice goodies.

Battleships and Battletech

 The Space Cadets had our last big gathering of the year on Saturday. We played a couple games and overall had a fine time. I set up the first game - Victory at Sea Age of Deadnoughts... the WW1 variant. The encounter was an Italian convoy being intercepted by an Austro-Hungarian task force. Although the two fleets never really got into it during the war, they make for a nice pair for this kind of gaming.

The large Italian group in the center commanded by me, Mike and Ziggy. Mark and Wayne helmed the AH ships. The AH ships arrived from both sides. They had many targets to choose from. I barely took any pictures.

The scrum later in the game. Mark made a mistake by having his best battleship get behind our convoy instead of plunging it right into the middle where it could use its plentiful armaments to their fullest.

At the end, the Kriegsmarine sank five transports and crippled two others but lost four of their five warships.  Not a good rate of exchange.

I think the scenario is presented improperly in the Mongoose VaS rulebook; the convoy has too many warships and the raiders not enough. Live and learn!

Next up we played a six-person game of Battletech Alpha Strike. Wayne put together the scenario and provided the minis. Scenery / terrain was a whole 'nuther thing but we cobbled together enough to make a game of it.

Kurita and Eridani Light Horse forces advance towards the downed dropship. 

We did have some cool Samurai-inspired mechs on the Kurita side.

I got "last licks" on the enemy Warhammer.

And then finished off the Marauder.

Due to some scenario victory conditions that were the subject of much debate, the Kurita side lost with very little chance of winning. It was a darn entertaining game though, so victory conditions notwithstanding, we all had a fine time. 

The Halfling Ladies Auxiliary

Another unit joins the Halfling ranks. This is a group of twelve halfling women with a mix of melee weapons. Minis are from TT Combat - 28mm resin. I used 25mm mdf bases like the rest of the collection. These minis were an absolute pleasure to work on and a welcome addition to the collection. 

A Spot of Battletech

 Ziggy and I got together Saturday for a straightforward 1 v 1 200 point game of Battletech Alpha Strike. We've played some group games but with Wayne or another GM present, it's tough to really LEARN the game as opposed to playing. With no really experienced players handy, Ziggy and I were forced to figure it all out on our own. It's not a complex system, so the game went smoothly and we each now have a better understanding of things, particularly combat.

We played on a 4' x 4' table. Plenty for a 200-point game. I had 6 mechs in my Kurita group including a Copperhead, Wolfhound, Rifleman, Shadow Hawk, Catapult and Shogun. Ziggy had a heavier group with five mechs.

A nice eye-candy shot of my right flank forces starring the two lights and the Catapult.

My Copperhead disappeared as soon as it made itself a target. It did do a masterful job of drawing fire! The Shogun steps in to help out a bit though.

Ziggy's stupid Locust did a fine job of nickel-and-diming my Rifleman down to a thin veneer of hit points. Here it dares a Cyclops to engage. The Shadow Hawk at the lower left had just finished off the Locust.

But before long, my Kurita force was on hard times. My Wolfhound and Shadow Hawk were proving to be quite annoying for the Eridani Light Horse, but the balance of my force had been wrecked. We called the game. 

And there they go! Run, Forrest, run!

An entertaining game for sure, but boy oh boy did we roll some garbage dice. It was a feast of 3's and 4's on 2d6. At least it kept things hanging in the balance and neither one of us simply ran away with it.