Saturday Gaming - A Two-Fer!

Wayne, Mark and I got together Saturday for a day of gaming. We got to play the Halloween-themed Batman scenario and we took Wings of Glory out because it's always a good time.

Batman featured the three monsters I painted for Wayne a little over a month ago, plus a couple of zombie assistants versus the GCPD, Green Arrow and Black Canary. 

Our cemetery - shenanigans are underway. Some teenagers and their pet  opened a door they shouldn't have and read something better left unread. When will these kids learn?

Gordon and three SWAT officers pull up outside Griffin Park Cemetery. The Commish got a tip that there was quite a disturbance.

It took no time for Man-Bat to locate Green Arrow and swoop down on him! Oliver Queen managed to evade the monster's claws.

Scarecrow moved to assist Man-Bat, running into Black Canary.

At the same time, Solomon Grundy and one of the zombies moved to confront the cops. The hail of gunfire from the police was already proving to be quite severe.

Oliver and Dinah put some distance between themselves and the monstrosities, while protecting "Sgooby-goo."

Man-Bat and Scarecrow rush at Arrow who is injured quite severely! 

Commissioner Gordon radios the helicopter which puts a spotlight on the monsters in the back corner of the cemetery. A hidden SWAT sniper looses a round which takes down Scarecrow!

Back over at the entrance, Solomon Grundy is finally taken down by the police who had been fortunate to suppress the beast before he'd been able to start smashing cops in close combat. 

For some reason, I stopped taking pictures late in the game and that's it for Batman. In the end, the good guys lost Green Arrow and the bad guys lost Scarecrow, S.G. and two Zombies. I played Green Arrow and Black Canary, Wayne ran the cops and Mark was the bad guys. Final score was 9-4 in favor of the good guys, Man-Bat did make off with one of the teenagers! Fun game for sure. We had a bite then set up for game 2.

Wings of Glory was set up for game 2. The Americans (Mark) has two B-25s with a P-47 escorting and two bombing targets. The Japanese (me and Wayne) had four Nakajimas intercepting. 

The targets are circled in yellow.

Mark attempts a serious face, while Wayne stares into the distance... the thousand yard stare...

My planes for the day - Spotty and "Heigh Ho" Silver.

Wayne and I utterly botched the initial contact as the bombers trundled past. The Thunderbolt flipped over to harass us.

Blue Angels  eat your hearts out! Four Jap interceptors perform quite a display of aerobatics to the dismay of the Yakatori Stand and Field Hospital about to get shellacked!

But as it turns out, the Americans have a nearly identical amount of trouble and whiff their bombing runs, overflying the targets!

The Jug takes out Silver!

Moments later, the Thunderbolt and one of Wayne's planes plummet to the ground! It's a terrible crossfire between those two bombers.

The final turn. The bombers have again fouled up their bomb runs, Wayne's second plane is taken out. 

WoG was a hoot. The game takes some real experience to fly planes well and judge your position. We all had difficulty piloting but it kind of added to the fun. Need to put it on the table more often for sure.

Infini-shed And Off-Topic

 I'm officially done painting all the Infinity models I had in the mountain. This lot were a gift from my Birthday back in June. They're more Combined Army troops - specifically Nox troopers. In all fairness, they cheap shlubs, but they can form a fireteam and with that army, that makes them a rarity. 

The painting is nothing spectacular. Color by numbers, black oil wash & wipe and a few highlights. I think the palette worked out nicely - the pastels look nice with the dark armor / equipment.

In other news, much of my creative energy over the last few months have been dedicated to designing and building this beast for my bride.

She wanted a raised garden-box, so after some thought and research, I put one together. It cost me as much as two good wargame armies and indeed is still taking my money, but more on that later.

Here it is with lettuce and other little things starting to sprout.This is Savannah, it doesn't get very cold here, if you're wondering why we're planting in September.

I drew up the design in Unreal Editor - a video game map design program I have significant experience with. I've spent hundreds of hours in my life building maps for Unreal Tournament and it seemed like a perfect CAD tool that at least I wouldn't have to re-learn.

Just a quick knock-up. The resulting planter is 5 x 3 and about 48 inches tall at the lip of the edges so the gardener won't have to wreck her back while working in it. Taller = better... I've learned that from hunching over low gaming tables for many years.

I'm adding a water pump to recycle rainwater runoff, lights and solar-powered battery system to run the whole thing. The electrics should be complete in a couple weeks. Before long, I should have a thousand-dollar thing in my back yard.The project has been incredible fun.

With the weather finally getting good, we had the extended family over last evening for a movie night... out door movie night!

A 6'x6' screen... the green table is for the projector and laptop.

Ta da! It was a fantastic evening. Mid 60's, breezy and the movie choice was "Cast a Deadly Spell."

Next week it's Halloween-themed Batman with Wayne, Mark and who know who else? Be well!

Recently Painted - Infinity Minis

I finished up those Combined Army Morats that I previewed a couple weeks ago. They turned out very nicely and I'm rather happy with them. Looking forward to seeing how they perform on the game table. For now, just pictures.

Left to Right, Top to Bottom we have four Yaogats, four Rodoks, Kornak  and two Assault Engineers. 

These fellas a bit heavier-duty than the slobs I normally field - a bit more on the level of the knights that Ziggy usually plays with. Should be an interesting change of pace for both of us.

Skellies on the Run!

This weekend summer decided to quit making outdoor life miserably hot here in Savannah. We've had highs in the mid-70s and evening lows in the low 60's. In short, freaking amazing weather. To take advantage of that I set up a game table on the back patio Saturday evening for a bit of Dragon Rampant in the dark!

Two sawhorses, two 2x4 sheets of plywood. Boom. Hey! There's the dining room I normally play in!

This was the debut of my Splintered Light 15mm Dwarf army. Left to right, here are some warriors, rangers and slayers.

Berserkers and Sorceress. The Dwarf Queen's retinue was not included in this photo shoot for some reason.

My wife used her Undead army, this time composed of Spectres, Nightmares, Skeletons, a Coven of Witches and the Bone Griffons.

My bride and her horde.

 Early on, she failed a lot of movement actions, allowing me to get my forces spread across the breadth of the battlefield. Now I just had to play "goalie" and stop some bad dreams from crossing the table!

Here's a picture of the Retinue. The Nightmares charged into them and lost three of their number, thanks in part to the Runecaster's "Sharper Blades" spell she'd cast on the Dwarf elite. The retinue only lost one of their number, their Mystical Armor proving its worth. Of course I managed to flub the courage test anyway (snake eyes) and the merry band fell back. 

On my next turn, the Retinue rallied then I failed my first action attempt. This gave the Spectres the opportunity to slip past my forces and off the board. Three VPs for the undead!

On the other side of the battlefield, the Griffons had also made a quick run past my troops. The skeletal beastmen and witches were also making great progress while I struggled to get any kind of momentum. 

The witches look like shepherds driving their flock of skellies!

The Nightmares and Retinue have another go. This time things worked out a little better of the girls with sharp sticks.

The Dwarf Rangers loose a volley at the Witches, causing a couple of wounds! Hurrah us!

The Dwarves are suffering though. The Griffons and Skeletons are off the battlefield and the Witches are mere steps from escaping. Slayers and Warriors close in as quickly as their little legs can carry them.

The Retinue finally dispatch the Nightmares! Hurrah, I'm finally on the scoreboard.

In some last-game drama, my Slayers attacked the Witches, causing them to fall back into the woods. The Witches passed a courage test (0+) at -10 on 2d6 and did not panic. My Slayers on the other hand failed their test and fled off the table. Oh goody.

The following turn the Witches waltz off the battlefield. Undead win, 10-2. Bah!

Regardless of the score, it was a darn entertaining game. There were big swings of fortune. In the early going I was able to get my troops into position while my wife's troops stalled. Then she got on a run of success while I ground to a halt.

Overall, I like the composition of the Dwarf army I put together and am glad to have another characterful warband. Not bad for $20.

I hope the weather stays tolerable on weekend for a while. I could go for another outdoor game or two. That was lovely! By the way, the wind had it's way with our trees and once or twice our stat cards got blown away. The table did get attacked by a black gum tree seed pod once. It was quite startling and sent dice and glass beads flying but the damage was superficial.

Painting Table In Progress

 I rarely post "in progress" shots of my minis but since I've taken pics along the way, I thought I might for a change. This is a group of eleven Infinity models I began assembling last weekend.

Super glue and patience.

And now with base texture added.

Primed dark brown and a few splashes of color here and there.

Painting Table "Really" Cleared

 The two hangers on I had left after the Batman and Dwarves were these two. They're micro-armor aircraft additions to the collection. The CH-53E is for the Marines who really could have used an extra CH-46 but given the trouble finding those models these days, I opted for the Jolly Green Giant instead. It's of course gray, but regardless, it is a giant! 

The F-117 is probably the most impractical wargame miniature I now own, but that doesn't change the fact that since my youth in the mid and late 1980's, it's been my absolute favorite plane ever. That sweet black triangle of doom is just amazing. I'm sure I can arrange a scenario-specific job for it. Ziggy's idea of just having a flight stand without the plane was top-notch, but ultimately less fun to paint.

No decals, but a few hand-painted markings. Kind of like impressionist insignia. The '53 is GHQ and the F-117 is from CinC, whose molds and castings are now owned and sold by LegionsIVHire in Canada.

Recent Painting - Table Cleared!

 It's always nice to clear a batch of models from the painting table. It feels like these sat forever, although really they barely hung out for a month or so. Most of the painting was done on Saturday and Sunday mornings so it's not like they really took a long time to paint. 

Twenty two models. Not bad for a month, I guess. 

A group of twelve more 15mm Dwarves from Splintered Light. This should round out the collection for Dragon Rampant. These are pretty typical warriors, heavy infantry by anyone's definition. 

A few members of Gotham's finest. I finally have enough SWAT officers for a proper GCPD force.

A new Riddler and some goons! Thanks, Wayne. These were a birthday gift. The blister included a Quelle model identical to the one I've already got. I spared myself the trouble. These guys will enjoy the company of the Riddler Bots I have.

Last but certainly not least, are these three baddies! They're Wayne's, he asked me to paint them. That's Solomon Grundy, Scarecrow and Man-Bat. We're planning a Halloween Batman game and these three will be pretty instrumental.

All in all, a fun group of models to paint up for August. September is shaping up to be Infinity-themed. I have eleven new Combined Army models to get assembled and done up.