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Hurricane Matthew is now a memory and it's on to normality for a little while here. I got a bit of painting done Saturday, finishing up a couple of Steampunk characters. The first is Master Queeg, a Malifaux model who I thought would make a fine "Indiana Jones" type. The other is just a neat Reaper Aquanaut who I thought would be an interesting addition to the collection.

A couple of weekends ago David came by to help playtest Rubber and Lead, my destructive car racing game. Junior also joined in the automotive mayhem.

David is a miserable driver. Here he is clipping Junior moments after the race started.

A bit later, Junior serves up a bit of revenge by dropping some mines right in front of Dave's truck. My yellow car had just been taken out by David's side-mounted flamethrower.

 Race 2. I drew the blue milk truck. Junior got Copper Top and ran away with it.

Witness more suspect driving by David, whipping right in front of my truck. His car took a ton of damage from the ensuing wreck. Junior won the race easily as David and I couldn't get out of our own ways.

Race 3. I drew the Jack O Lantern. David was in the convertible. Junior again schooled us. David tried to drive fancy and got me all hemmed up.

There was much oil on the track in race 3. It made for a very aggravating race for we in the back.

The R&L playtest was very successful and well-received. I'm extremely happy with the way it works and it will definitely get playtime at Gnomecon in March.

Last evening, Zig and David came over for a big game of X-Wing. We each used 120-point forces. I used Imperials, Ziggy the Rebels and David was the Scum and Villainy group.

Our deployments.

 The Imperials.

The Rebels.

 

And the Crooks.

We had quite a brawl for a couple of turns but my ships zipped and crashed stupidly. But then my Punisher got it's act together and dropped this beauty of a Seismic Charge, clipping itself and the entire Rebel group. Kath Scarlett and Boba Fett dueled in their Firesprays.

A second very-well placed Seismic Charge hits four more targets on the next turn. David and Ziggy were officially sick to death of my bombs. Kath finished off Boba Fett's Slave 1. Huzzah!

And a turn or two later, Valen Rudor snaps off the last couple of hit points from Dash Rendar's YT-2400. The Imperials score a major win, woohoo! I'm still in love with the TIE Punisher. It's "The bomb."

Automotive Painting

I finished up those nine Hot Wheels / Matchbox cars from once upon a time. Not only that, but I've had my inspiration for the game mechanic so these things should get a trial by fire soon enough!

 

 The Jack O Lantern may be my favorite.

The convertible will be named "Wear A Helmet."

That's a hell of a gun riding "shotgun."

Flamethrower exhaust on the yellow streak!

They were cheap and much fun to put together. I hope my game rules do them justice.

Goings On

Hi all. Things have been quiet here lately. I have actually been keeping up with my hobby stuff though. I finished off some more 6mm Dwarves for our Memorial Day game and was inspired to put together some "Cars Wars" type Matchbox / Hot Wheels cars. I threw together some simple enough rules that need a testing.

Not the best picture ever taken, to be sure. More pics as progress is made. The best thing about these cars is the fact that they're a buck apiece.

I also got in at least one game with my youngest son, Cameron. We're using Dystopian Legions minis and some simplified home-brew rules. His robots easily handled my Frenchies.

We use a popsicle stick to measure movement distances. He's got a retired 'Mech as an enforcer in his force.

Our commanders meet in close combat. Mine fared better, but I was still routed.

My wife and I played a playtest game of With Sword and Shield on Saturday night. I didn't take pictures. I needed to see a) how effective the Demon army is and b) how well the Dwarf defense will hold up for the big Memorial Day game. The Dwarves won and I got good playtest info. First time I've beaten my wife in a game of anything in I don't know how long. It figures there's no actual pictures or documentation.

Next weekend is Brunswick and Star Fleet Battles! Woo hoo!