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!

A Little Painting

 I finished up a group of 10 Bombshell Minis old-school pulp models this week. They're "Buck Rogers" style jet pack troopers, picked up on a whim.

A fun addition to the collection and hopefully I can get a Pulp game together one of these day to feature all the sci-fi models I have!

Southern Front 2026

 I went up to Raleigh North Carolina last weekend for the Southern Front game convention. As usual, it was a wonderful get together with a group of terrific guys and gals. Mark from Savannah also made the journey - he's also become quite taken with the con.

The first game I'd signed up for was a LOTR War of the Ring game. The host, Mike, wasn't as up on the rules as I'd have liked and there was a lot of time spent poring through the rule book. That was a bit frustrating. The models and table top were top notch though and we all still had a good time pushing minis around on a Friday afternoon!

I got to command the Riders of Rohan and Gandalf on the far right flank.

A view further down the table.

Ugh. An unkillable monster.

And an unkillable troll. 

That did make for an easy excuse to start drinking early. Friday evening I hosted my game of Viking-flavored Nightwatch.

I had six players - one for each Viking and two guys shared the Saxon defenders.

Heck, the Saxons actually won the second scenario!

There are the two Saxon players!

The Vikings narrowly held on to win the third scenario, ultimately finishing ahead on the night, 2 to 1.

Saturday morning, Mark and I got into a game of Blood and Plunder.

There's our dead sexy table

My Frenchies skulking about in the sugarcane.

Although Mark's nasty pirates nabbed the prisoner and hurried him away, I got the better of the pirates in the fight that followed, nearly wiping them out! My teammates fared similarly - although the pirates won their objectives, the French won a sound military victory.

After lunch, the WW2 desert war game I'd signed up had been cancelled so I got in on a game of Test of Honor. I was sandwiched between two youngsters, 13 and 10. They were terrific. Sadly I didn't get any full table photos.

My Samurai leader charged into a group of monk archers. The rest of the monks sorted him out in no time. Grrr.

But my ronin with the big hammer and sweet leopard print trousers was an absolute wrecking machine. It was a very enjoyable game, but maybe too fiddly for a 6-player convention game. It just has a lot of mechanics that need to be explained. In a smaller situation, it'd be excellent.

After dinner, it was on to The Texas Incident. 1890's Pre-Dreadnoughts duking it out in the Philippines. My teammate and I commanded the Japanese contingent. I'd actually played this game, a creation of GM Bruce, a few years back and captained the same ship in that game.

There she is. Across the table are the two Americans, left and center and a Brit, right. The American mission was to reach the stricken Texas, board and make off with her. The mission, secretly assigned to us, was to sink the Texas - a very tall order indeed.

My teammate and the lead British ship manage to collide. Crimminy.

What a mess. Having the smallest ship, my tactic was to keep a low profile and let the big boys blast away at each other. I did get in quite a few nice hits on the USS Indiana and the Russian Potemkin.

Being a turn-template game, many years of experience with Dystopian Wars and X-Wing has served me well. I can drive. The others, not so much. 

Some shots of the players...

Another great weekend of dice and toy soldiers. Already getting prepared for 2027!

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!

Viking Terrain Bits

Since the playtesting lest weekend, I've been steadily working on a couple of bits of scenery for the games at Southern Front. I started these fence sections some months ago, but bending the cross-members was frustrating and I stopped for a while. I went back a couple weeks ago and got them knocked out. They turned out quite nicely I think.

And then there's this... Mark thought a bundle of scenarios called "The Pillage People" should include a YMCA sign. Always happy to oblige, Mark.

It'll be ready soon enough! 

 

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!