Gnomeward Bound (2016)

The last two days I've spent at Gnomecon - Savannah's very own little Gaming, Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Geekery convention. My family and I had a terrific time and I think I've officially made up for lost gaming time caused by work recently.

Friday a ran my game Star Dust: Ground. I was again relegated to "the wargames room" far from the main area, but it was quite OK since we didn't really have to "mind our manners."

Mark grins while pushing the Dogs toward the bridge into our village. Wayne (right) was my teammate.

Much like the last time through this scenario, the Dogs have little trouble crossing the bridge.

Turn SEVEN was the first turn of clear visibility!

This kind of sums things up - my AA vehicle is pulled apart by the two Predators.

A solid victory for the Dogs and a statistically insane ONE turn of clear visibility over the course of nine turns. 50% chance each turn...   : /

After that, I packed my stuff and me and the fam watched an Odd Lot show - they're a local improv troupe . Their show's a lot like Who's Line is It Anyway? We enjoyed it immensely.

When they'd wrapped, about 11:00pm, we settled into a game of Shadows over Camelot. David and his son showed up so we had a bonkers 7-player game. 

The girl who was teaching us to play was the only one who saw me take this picture... Four of the knights (me, David, Christian and Kylie, our teacher) died but we did manage to win the game and stop Camelot from falling! We finished around 1:00am or so. Off to Nod...

On Saturday, Cameron and I arrived at 9:30am for a King of Tokyo tournament. He and I played SUPER aggressive and died quickly. We played another round, then a game of King of New York. From there it was on to a seven-player game of DUNGEON with some family friends. Our friend Justine won as we had to end the game a bit early since they were short on time. She'd managed 65% of her goal. I died twice.  :(

Then it was onto Star Fleet Battles! This has been a highlight of Gnomecon for me and this year's was no exception.

Mike used Cadet Rules and had it set up with a Fed CA and a Gorn CA versus a Klingon D7 and two Romulan KRs. The Fed/Gorn team gets a decoy they can deploy during the game. 

I got a Romulan, Mark (from the previous SDG pic) got the Klingon and his brother (a different Mike), the other Rom. Gamemaster Mike took the Fed and James captained the Gorn.

Our formation. Me in the lead (they made me boss since I'm the most experienced). The green one is the Klingon.

Our prey. Our first plan was gang up on the Gorn.

But as things wore on, the Fed was the better target more often than not and suffered appropriately. Big badda boom.

We played on a bit more after this but it was a foregone conclusion. Coalition win! In all fairness, Mark's D7 was pretty messed up and my ship had taken a good bit of damage. The Gorn and the other Romulan were in great shape.

After that, it was on to HOTT with James!

In game one, my Farm Animals were attacking his brand-new Pirate army. That river across the center of the battlefield was complete bullcrap, and my Behemoth General Bessie the Cow would know!

Something you don't see everyday.

Once Bill Grogan's goat (Blades) crossed the river, it went haywire and slaughtered Pirates in a terrifying display. I won, 12-11.

Next up....

My Narnians were attacking the Dinosaurs this time. The terrain was still cripe.

But Beasts don't care! They're always fast.

Gorgor, the Dino King!

Gorgor and King Peter face off, but neither could gain an advantage.

Dino herding. I'd eventually force it off the edge of the table for the win!

Next game... X-Wing. 8-players.

We used low-end craft so it wasn't tough to manage.

My two 13-point TIE fighters. My buddy's Interceptor got too far ahead and was killed quickly.

 A epic bad pair of dice rolls.

The next rolls. Wow.

TIE #17 is the last Imperial craft on the table. I spin it around to fight no fewer than FIVE X and E-wings. Glory!

I hit two of them before becoming a memory. It was a terrific time for everyone and for a few minutes, my crummy TIE fighter game Rogue Squadron all they could handle!

Gnomecon V was a great time. My family had a wonderful time... it was just great all around. Can't wait 'til next time!

The Farmy

OK, so I disappeared for over a week, then three posts in a row. Making up for lost time...

I got the painting gear back out this evening and took the opportunity to knock out a loooong-lingering project (first appearance - early last April). I put the finishing touches on my HOTT farm animal army - the Farmy.

The whole shebang

 The Stronghold. First time I've ever had to apply weathering to a pig!

Cluck Cluck...

And the heavy hitters.

So the list in HOTT terms is:

1    Dog        Paladin
2    Ducks        Lurkers or Water Lurkers
2    Sheep        Knights
1    Donkey        Cleric
1    Cow        Behemoth
5    Chickens    Hordes
1    Goat        Blades

Whether or not they're worth a toot in game term is irrelevant. It's all about assembling something off the beaten track of toy-soldiering.

This evening's work...

I haven't had much time to paint this week - it's been busy in the Ski household. Tonight I got some brush-time in. I finished off a batch of MCC militia and the President's Air Force attack helicopter for AK47 Republic and slapped a base color coat on the Farmy for HOTT.

26 Shlubs and a Little Bird. No two Shlubs are alike! I suck at windows, thus the helicopter's windows are a bit wonky.

The Farmy so far. 

A goat                                    Blades

two stands of sheep                Knights

a donkey                           Cleric (general)

a dog                                   Paladin

a cow                                Behemoth

two stands of ducks          Lurkers or Water Lurkers

five stands of chickens                    Hordes

The Silliest Post of the Year

So I found a cheap bucket of farm animals at Wal Mart the other day. A little trimming and a tiny amount of cleanup (next to NO flash or mold lines!) was required. I hand-made HOTT-compatible bases and got an army put together in less than two hours.

Loads of chickens, ducks, sheep, etc...

The bucket o' animals also included some lovely connectable fences with which I made a pig-pen to be their stronghold.

I've primed the lot and although they won't be painted properly, they'll be usable for a Friday night game!

While looking for a proper dice-rolling box for Megablitz last evening I stumbled across some old Blood Bowl stuff. 

Some long-lost miniatures. 

  

Coach Garrett the Goat. This guy came out of a Happy Meal - I think it was Disney's "Hunchback of Notre Dame" related so he's from 1996. My repaint featuring no pupils was quite disturbing. Garrett stalked my sidelines for at least 12 seasons with many different teams.

Assistant Coach Stone Head. Also features the team's treasury.

Buckaroo Banzai. This is a very old BB Chaos Warrior model. He joined the Horus Heresies in their second season and a "That Boy's Got Talent" card. Free CW courtesy of the crowd! The paint scheme inspired the uniforms of my Human team a few seasons later.

Mighty Zug. Star Player for The Revolution, my first Human team. His eyebrows could use a touch-up.  Ol' Zug was always a welcome addition on a Humie team, 120,000 gold for 5 strength, block and mighty blow - I'll take it!

HOTT Friday Evening

Wifey and I played a couple games of HOTT Friday evening. Because I play so infrequently, every game of HOTT is a learning experience. It was still a fun time even though a few mistakes were made.

The first game featured my Narnian good guys facing the Halloweenies.

Our set ups. A river ran through it. I was the attacker.

King Peter led the Fauns up the road through the woods. The scarecrow knights formed a greeting party on the other side.

Due to a clerical error, Peter was ensorcelled. I didn't realize until later he couldn't be targeted since he was in front contact with an enemy. He also shouldn't have been "frogged," he should have been removed from the board entirely.

In any event, I rolled a "6" and got to bring him back on my next bound. Another mistake - he should have been placed back against the stronghold. The spear-fauns held up well, running off the scarecrows.

Pete didn't hold up nearly as well, rolling a 1 against the scarecrows and getting himself killed. Game set and match.

When it boils down to it, the Magician error really didn't affect the outcome - it simply delayed it a turn.

Since that game took very little time, we had another go. I used Junior's WW2 Soviets this time and my bride stayed with her Spooks.

Again, I was the attacker. 

She rolled a "6" right off the bat and summoned Grave Digger, a god.

As much as she wanted to sit back and play defensively, I convinced her that Mr. Digs was best used offensively, so she relented and destroyed my artillery in short order.

Digs moved onto my KV-1, the behemoth general.

The rest of my rabble was getting offensive - 5 warbands up the middle and two riders on the left. I cheated by having my Yak-9 airboat flank Grave Digger, even though it put my aerial unit in a BUA.

As my warbands closed, I suggested that her knights engage me OUTside the woods so the punkheads did just that. Her rat hordes synched up and also attacked me. I split one of my riders off to assist my general against the god.

Minor cheating by me. Since the tank wasn't behind the god's back edge I shouldn't have engaged it like that. It backfired terribly anyway. You'll also notice that I killed off the rats and pushed back the knights (forgetting to pursue : /  )

The witch eases off the stew and joins the fray. A unit of knights has broken free and engaged my tank I cheated with earlier. 

Grave Digger tells the airboat where to go (the behemoth had been pushed back prior) and the knights kill off my riders easily. Feh.

Finally she rolls a "1" for PIPs. Good gravy that took forever. I really thought Things were swinging my way now. I wasn't doing math in my head though - art (3), riders (2), wb (2) - 7 dead.

The witches and some scarecrows keep working on my airboat as another unit of knights charges into my last rider. My warbands had managed to kill off a knight unit a turn prior! You'll also see the rats had returned.

She really liked this picture.

Similar activity against my beleaguered airboat.

The knights brought down the airboat (illegally since she shouldn't have been allowed to engage it) and the witches zzzap a stand of riflemen, bringing my losses to 12. Game over. : (

Some altogether different mistakes that time through! It was a much more closely fought affair - I actually killed a couple of stands. We were going to play a third game but that's going to require a rain-check - we had a lot going on Saturday to prepare for. Wifey really liked the games and wants to play more, so - her words - she can become proficient - at it. Sweet. She mentioned a farm animal army, so I've got a project to get cracking on.