Skellies and Miniature Minotaurs

 It's been slow painting the last couple of weeks, but I did finish some plastic 1/72 critters for an upcoming game. Models are Dark Alliance line from The Red Box, same as the witches I finished up very recently.

First up, a herd of twelve Minotaurs:

Couldn't resist having a Toro Rojo in the mix. 

And the other group is twelve skeleton troops:

A fun little side project for sure. This minis were great to paint up and I wish I'd stumbled up them long ago. 

Recent Gaming + Travel

 I've been bad about porting Batreps on the blog recently and figured I owed it to myself to document a couple of recent outings. Back on October 3rd I put on a game of BelloLudi Crossbow. BelloLudi is sort of an open template ruleset and game mechanic system that is suited to a lot of different gaming periods and styles. I chose the Crossbow variant as a starting point for my 28mm fantasy battle game, since the basic weapon technology and fighting style pretty much matched my idea and intent. The publisher has a magic and monsters supplement that bolts onto all of their games. We didn't use that for this first game and we were just figuring out the rules.

I got to put most of the toys on the table, halflings and elves fighting goblins and orks. Ziggy commanded the 'flings and elves while David led the gobbos and kin. It ended up being a fairly even affair and after about the first hour we were pretty comfortable with the rules in general. David and Ziggy both rather enjoyed it, I enjoyed watching as a GM. My hope is to run a game of BL WW2 for Tanksgiving , but to add the magic rules, turning the game from just a typical 1942 eastern front battle into World War Witch with a bit of strangeness heaped on top of the T-34s and Panzers.

In between that game and the next one, my wife and I went our to Bachelor Gulch Colorado for a business conference I had to attend. We did get to stay in the Ritz Carlton and holy cow, that was amazing. We also got to see son #1 on Friday evening in Denver. He moved out there in July and I had not seen him since.

The view from the hotel.

Vail. We hung out here for a couple hours shopping and having lunch.

Red Rocks outside Denver.

The famous Red Rocks amphitheater. They were setting up for an EDM show that evening.

Obligatory visit the the state capitol building. A few years ago we decided we'd visit these whenever we get the chance. They're usually quite interesting. New Hampshire has so far been my favorite with its massive collection of AWI treasures.

I can't remember if this is the House or Senate chamber.

I'm a sucker for a gorgeous doorway.

We especially enjoyed the window propped open with a book. It's an old building.

And dinner with most of the fam at a Brazilian steakhouse!

Last up on the gaming front was yesterday (October 24th). I got with Mike and David for another installment of Star Fleet Battles. We played at Starbucks out in Pooler close to where Mike lives. It's not a visually interesting game, so I'll spare you lots of pictures. The scenario I put together was this:

A small Hydran group is trying to save some travel time by skirting through LDR territory. An LDR patrol of course noticed the Hydran vessels and confirmed this was an unauthorized intrusion. The LDR patrol was cleared to engage and stop the intrusion. The Patrol caught up with the Hydrans in the dust cloud outside the Armanhammer system.

Victory Conditions:

Hydrans: Exit one of the freighters from the 0xxx hex row. Each additional ship exited results in additional bragging rights.

LDR: Prevent the Hydran from completing their objective.

David commanded the LDR ships while Mike and I split the Hydrans.

Mid-way through. David had mis-timed his ESGs which kind of hampered his options for a turn. Mike and I decided to sacrifice our plucky little police ships, keeping the LDR DD and FF occupied while the two freighters slinked away. The plan worked nicely.  An unfortunate tractoring of my ship then resulting in me shoving David's DD further away from the freighters. 

AUDITS IN SPAAAACE! Don't look so excited, Mike :)

And the fortunate Hydran freighters make their escape. Interesting game, worthwhile scenario and great gaming buddies. What a great way to kill an afternoon!

Back to the painting table I suppose. Be well and good gaming, everyone.

Tis The Season

 The season of the witch, that is. I'm on another tangent right now and have dipped my toe back in the 1/72 pool. The models are from Red Box's Dark Alliance range and what better place to start - Witches!

There are eleven variants in the box and four sprues. I can't imagine a need for forty-four 1/72 scale witches, but you never know. I picked out eight for my purposes and whipped them up over a few painting sessions. Very enjoyable as always.

So is there a purpose to this madness? My only 1/72nds are WW2 eastern front things. Yes, I plan to incorporate the spellcasters into WW2 leveraging BelloLudi WW2 and BellowLudi Spellbound which is compatible with all their rules. The idea is interesting and pretty "out there." We were impressed enough with BelloLudi Crossbow the other day to want to continue with the rules. That reminds me, I probably should post that Bat Rep. It was a banger for sure!

Orks, Meet the Y

 Two projects for this update. First, a follow up from last weekend's post. The YMCA sign is done and came out nicely IMHO.

and the other thing... I finished up the other half of the Oathmark Orcs box set, joining the fifteen I finished up in July.

They certainly look the part. Rough and ready and thoroughly dirty. Ready to bash some elf heads!

More Elves with Sharp Sticks

 I put the wraps on additional 28mm Oathmark elf infantry yesterday. I did some archers and sword-armed infantry many months ago and this lot completes that box set. Nice models and enjoyable painting for sure.

Twelve heavy infantry with big poke sticks.

And two extra archers to pad the unit of eight up to ten.

And here they are with their new squadmates.

I need to arrange a game for these models one of these days. Maybe this weekend, I've got time, it's Labor Day!

A Few Models More

 I've been busy knocking out some more models and minis recently. I completed four more Saxon fighters to help protect the village, some 28mm fantasy orcs and a couple of 3d printed 1/72 scale Soviet AFVs.

Tooting their own horns... 40mm Sash and Saber sculpts.

Fifteen Oathmark orcs in heavy armor with two-handed weapons. These were fun builds and equally fun to paint up. I do have a banner I need to get on to that standard bearer. His goblin compatriots are also lacking banners and I've got a some for those fellas as well.

And finally a couple reinforcements for the Soviets. These were Etsy pickups. 1/72 scale single-piece models, perfect for the gaming table. easy to prep and paint up. 

Lizards II

 I finished up the second lot of Wargames Atlantic Lizardmen this morning. This group is armed with some very 19th century-style firearms and should make for a neat Sci-Fi or Pulp force. Other than the weapons, I did everything the same as I did with the previous 12 spear-armed Lizzies. Cheerful and colorful for sure!

 

 

 

Wayne, Mark and I are supposed to be getting together for a game of Shakedown tomorrow, my modern What A Cowboy customization. Looking forward to that for sure and I'll of course get some pictures for the blog. Be well!

I Am Lizard, Hear Me Hiss

 I picked up a box of Wargames Atlantic 28mm Lizardmen a week or so ago for a "change of pace" painting project. I figured they'd be fine multi-purpose model for Pulp or Fantasy gaming. Like all other WGA plastic kits I've worked with, the sprues are generous and the models are brilliant. With 24 models in the kit, I decided to equip 12 as melee troops and will do 12 others with low-tech firearms. I poached shields from some Oathmark Goblins for this first group of fighters.

Gloriously colorful! I went with the Chameleon-style heads and picked up some inexpensive static grass flowers on Amazon to really make them pop. I really like the finished look. The next 12 are in the assembly queue now and should make an appearance here soon.

Ziggy and I are supposed to play Dystopian Wars on Saturday. It's been close to a year since we had those toys out. I'll of course post an AAR; Dystopian Wars is one of the OGs (Original Games) on this blog and has been a constant presence here since early 2012.

More New Completed Painting

 I finished up a handful of other models that have been hanging out on my painting table for months, halfway done. Some Brigade Games Pulp minis:

And a Reaper Bones witch of sorts and a fox familiar that come with another model but was easy to finish up.

 

I'll post Sunday's games recaps later today or tomorrow.

Frostgrave Campaign Game 3

 David, Ziggy and I got together on Saturday for the third game in our Frostgrave campaign. For this outing we played a relatively straightforward scenario - The Well of Dreams and Sorrows. We did place seven loot markers rather than five which keeps it to where everyone should get at least two treasures and we really fight over that third mystery box.

My group, Billy Thorpe's Children of the Sun are in the lower left corner, again surrounded by Ziggy forward and David to my right. Three games and that's three times I've been the monkey in the middle. It sucks. ;)  We did deploy in corners for a change instead of along edges.

We went heavy on the wandering monsters this time, with two arriving on turn 1 and one more every turn for the duration. We rolled a Large Construct and a Snow Troll right off the bat and they went after my crew and Zig's. At least they're slow!

Of course Z ended up with a giant spider in his back-court a turn later and things got weird for his crew. Yes, the troll is bright green and had googly-eyes. 

So, David rushed loot markers with his Wizard via Teleportation and a Thief went after another. Ziggy and I took a more traditional slow march to the treasures, mostly keeping our groups clumped up. We also had strong monsters pressuring us which forced us to press forward. We also wanted the XP for having our magic users drink from the well. David sort of ignored that. I marked loot locations on the image above. The blue one became quite the focus for Z and D, being the coveted #3.

The Tiki Monster (large construct) bears down on Sweet Dee while my apprentice. My Thief grabs a loot marker.

Ziggy and I have a temporary cessation of belligerence while we get our experience points from the well with our wizards and apprentices. In the upper right you can see a wall that's been thrown up by David's gang to shield his guys from Zig's.

There's ol' bug eyes and the spider! 

David goes with another wall to completely block off Zig's group. Frustrating for sure but hilarious for a third party in my position!

I threw a Wizard Eye on a distant wall overwatching the well, daring David to drink from it. The eye also had LOS to the hot corner where D & Z were fighting over that last loot marker.

Ziggy's Wizard casts Plane Walk to get through the walls. Now in the hot zone, he pops off a Destructive Sphere spell, seriously wounding three of David's characters including the apprentice. Really, it was pretty bad ass.

Late in the game... another Large Construct appeared where the last one had been dispatched. I also had a Frost Wraith appear on the other side of my group. Good thing I was just about to leave!

All in all, a heck of a game. I was terribly successful - 300XP again, two loot and no permanent casualties. David KO'ed my Crossbowman but he recovered after the match. David did lose an Archer KIA and Ziggy had one of his guys get seriously injured and they'll have to miss the next outing. 

After the match and my three level-ups, this is where my group stands:

I have 325 GP in the bank. I think I'm going to hire a Barbarian to replace Katanga the thug. I'm a fan of the two-handed weapons. We'll see... I'm still on the fence.