Firefly!

My only gaming related present I received this year was a copy of Firefly from a friend of mine. Yesterday I got a chance to try it out and it was awesome.  In the game you play a captain of a Firefly class ship, your fly around the 'verse, get a crew, carry out various jobs and try to complete an overall story. The game just exudes the Firefly theme.

The components are excellent and the cards are well done. The game only covers the Firefly series and not the Serenity movie. This is Gale Force Nine's second board game (the other being Spartacus) and in my opinion they're batting 2 for 2.  My only beef with the game is how long the approximate playing time is compared to what's stated on the box. The box says 2 hours, it took us about 4 hours. I suppose you might be able to do it in 2 hours but you'd have to be racing through everything and you're not going to enjoy it like it should be enjoyed.  If you're a fan of Firefly, you're going to love this game.

Eldritch Horror & Forbidden Desert

Last night I went over to a friends place and got in a few new game plays. First up is the new Fantasy Flight game Eldritch Horror.  If you like Arkham Horror then you'll feel right at home playing Eldritch Horror.  But this time instead of trying to save the creepy little New England town of Arkham, you're trying to save the world. Players travel all over the world solving various tasks to collect clues, close gates and wipe out monsters.  As it was our first time playing it we didn't do so good and the world was consumed by Azathoth. Erg.

Probably the thing I found the most different from Arkham Horror is the way the rules are set up. There's a rules booklet and there's also a reference guide which basically further breaks down and explains the rules in more detail. Kind of odd why they went that route.

I'm expecting FFG to start cranking out expansions for this game quickly.  For Arkham there's both small and large box expansions. The large box expansions (with the exception of Miskatonic Horror) added a whole new board and a pile of new cards. I can see expansions for Eldritch Horror following the small box route as there is only one world so it wouldn't need new boards. I can see FFG following the Mansions of Madness expansion route where each little pack would have a new Elder God with it's corresponding cards and a few extra cards such as gear thrown in.

We also got in a few games of Forbidden Desert. This game is a cooperative game where players race to find parts for an airship so they can get out of the desert before they die of thirst. This game is very similar to Forbidden Island and also bears a lot of similarity to Pandemic.  We got in two games in a little over an hour.

War of 1812 - 54mm Natives

Tonight I finished a large batch of Native Americans for my War of 1812 project. There figures are soft plastic and are manufactured by Armies in Plastic and sold by All The Kings Men. This is the first time I've actually painted soft plastic and I'm really rather impressed with how they turned out.

As the weather has turned especially cold, I'm not going to able to get any priming done, so all I've got on the table is some 15mm Hittites. The next batch of 54mm figs will be a small cannon and crew and a small unit of British Grenadiers.

War of 1812 - Canadian Voltigeur

Today I finished up two small units of Canadian Voltigeur.  The pic shows both units combined.

The Voltigeurs were light infantry units raised by Lieutenant Colonel Charles de Salaberry in Lower Canada on the eve of the war and distinguished themselves in battles such as Chateauguay and Chrysler's Farm.

Next up will be a pile of Hittites and the next 54mm figures will be a large number of Indians.

War of 1812 - 54mm Militia

Today I finally finished off some more figures for my War of 1812 project. First is a unit of British/Canadian militia. Figures of course are All The King's Men.

Realistically you could swap out the British officer and standard bearer with their American counterparts and the unit would be the same.

Next is a pair of mounted British generals.

I'm still not really satisfied with my pics. Maybe I need a better camera or something.

Since this post covers a unit of militia, I'd like to point out an excellent article I found linked on The Miniatures Page about the "militia myth" and the involvement and sacrifice of Canadian militia units in the War of 1812. Thanks to Armand (Tango01) for posting the link and to Robert Henderson for researching and writing it. Here's the link: http://www.dorchesterreview.ca/2013/10/01/the-myth-of-the-militia-myth/

Next up is a pile of Hittites(chariots and heavy infantry) and two small units of Canadian Voltiguers.

Hittites Part 5

To finish  off the month of October, I completed another batch of 15mm Hittites.  Al figures are Old Glory 15's.  First up is 6 bases of light infantry Hittites with spear (FL).

Next is 4 bases of Hittite chariots (CGP).

Next up for the Hittites is 4 bases of chariots and some other stuff I haven't decided on yet. But first up will be some more 54mm War of 1812 stuff.

54mm War of 1812 British Part 2

Tonight I finished up a pair of cannons for my War of 1812 project. Figs are from All The Kings Men. First up is a double-trail 6 pounder and 6 crew.

Next is a single-trail 6 pounder and it's 6 crew.

These 12 figs put me over the 500 mark (510 to be exact) for the first time, mainly thanks to all the 15mm figs I've done this year. I should easily make 600, but I'll aim for 700.

Next up for this project will be a unit of militia and a couple mounted generals. Next off the paint table though will be another batch of Hittites.

54mm War of 1812 British Part 1

Today I finished the first batch of figs for my War of 1812 British. The figs are from All The Kings Men (ATKM). These are two units of regular infantry. The first unit has stovepipe shakos and I have them painted up as the 89th Foot (black lapels and cuffs).

The next unit has Belgic shakos and is painted up as the 49th Foot (green lapels and cuffs).

Please excuse the pics as I'm still getting used to my picture booth.

These figs had virtually no flash and were fun to paint. A lot bigger surfaces to paint compared to 28mm and especially to 15mm. I also did significantly more black lining than I have done before. Initially I gave the figures a black ink wash right after priming and once I was done painting the figure I went over them again with a fine black ink pen/marker to fix anything that was messed up during painting. I used Pigma Micron Archival Ink pens 01, 03 and 05. You can pick them up at Michaels for around $5 a piece.

In my research of the War of 1812, I came across this webpage: http://history-uniforms.over-blog.com
Unfortunately it is in French and my French is virtually nonexistent. Regardless if you pan down and through the pages there is numerous superb colour plates of uniforms for all sides and units. I would highly recommend it.

Next up is two units of British artillery and I've also got a pile of 15mm Hittites primed and ready for painting.

Hittites Part 4

Tonight I finished off a small batch of 15mm Hittites. All figs are Old Glory 15s. First up is a pair of chariots.

Next is a chariot general and a pair of foot generals.

I'm waiting for an order from Old Glory 15s to get here so I can get this army finished.  I'm trying to get enough painted up to take a double size Basic Impetus army for both the NK Egyptians and Hittites to game night but I'm not close for the Hittites mainly due to my lack of chariots. Oh well...

So next up on my paint table is the first batch of 54mm War of 1812 British.  Here they are primed and ready to go. They're actually over half done by the time I've posted this.

Hittites Part 3

Last night I finished off another batch of Hittites.  These are all Old Glory 15s. First up is 5 bases of Syrian Light Infantry (FL). These guys can also function as Canaanite FL.

Next is 4 bases of Anatolian skirmishers with slings (S).

Next up is a couple chariot bases and the general markers.  Today my 54mm War of 1812 British and Canadians from All The Kings Men arrived. I'm really looking forward to digging into these. 

Samurai Interlude

Taking a short break from painting 15mm, today I finished 2 bases for my Impetus Samurai army.  These are two bases of Warrior Monks (FL). Figures are from Kingsford Miniatures.

Next up is another batch of 15mm Hittites.

Hittites Part 2

Today I finished off a pile of units for my 15mm Impetus Hittite army. All figs are from Old Glory 15s. First up is 8 units of Syrian Bow (T).

Next is 3 units of Syrian heavy infantry (FP).

Pics aren't the greatest. I think I'm going to have to invest in some sort of small picture booth or something.

I'm taking a short break from painting more 15mm figs to paint up a couple units of monks for my 28mm Samurai army.  I don't want to burn myself out some I'm going to change scale for a short while.  Also I'm thinking about getting into 54mm War of 1812.  Zooming around the All The King's Men website http://www.allthekingsmentoysoldiers.com/index.html has my interest peaked and I've wanted to do something for the War of 1812.  So...

Thunderbolt Apache Leader

This week I picked up a copy of Thunderbolt Apache Leader from Dan Verssen Games (DVG) from a local seller on Ebay. I've had my eye on this game for quite a while and I was able to pick it up at a decent price. This is a solo wargame.

The premise of the game is you pick a campaign such as Iraq in 1991, North Korea in 2011 or World War III in North Atlantic in 1986, you make your squadron of planes/helicopters and go on various missions. I've started with the Iraq 1991 introductory campaign. Here's my setup for my first mission: destroy an Iraqi Support battalion.

An A-10A Thunderbolt in the process of dropping a Mk.20 Rockeye cluster bomb onto a group of Iraqi infantry, SCUDs and mobile artillery. Win.

The components are top notch and the game has loads of eye candy. I played out 2 missions and it took me a couple hours total. There's a number of games in this line and I look forward to picking them up also.

Miniaturewise, my next batch of Hittites is coming along nicely and I'm actually hoping to maybe get them done this weekend.

First of the Hittites

Yesterday I finished the first of the 15mm Hittites to combat my NK Egyptians. Figures are all Old Glory 15s. First up is 4 units of light infantry (FL) Hittite spearmen.

Next is 4 units of Anatolian Vassal skirmishers.

It'll probably be a while till I post again as the next batch of figs is substantial, I believe it's 11 bases worth of heavy infantry and missile troops. I've also got 2 units of Warrior Monks for my Samurai army waiting for paint sticks to be freed up.

Spartacus!

Last night I was finally able to get my copy of Spartacus that I got last Christmas onto the table.  I like this game, it's simple, fun and suits the conniving back-stabbing nature of my group quite nicely. I'm looking forward to getting this on the table again.  We were able to also get in a game of Puerto Rico. It's probably been almost two years since I've played this one. A great Euro game.

Presently on my paint table is the first batch of Hittites and they're nearing completion.

Last of the NK Egyptians

On Tuesday I finished the last of my 15mm New Kingdom Egyptians.  These figs are all Old Glory 15's. First up is 2 units of light chariots.

Next is 4 units of light infantry Sea Peoples. I still have another pack of these guys and can have a pile more, but I'll do them up at another time.

And lastly is a chariot general.

There's only a handful more units I need to paint up before I've maxed out every category in the list, but I'll do them at a later date. For now, next up is the first of the NKE opponents, the Hittites.

NK Egyptians - Almost done!

Last night I finished another batch of New Kingdom Egyptians for my Impetus army. All figures are Old Glory 15's.  First up are 3 bases of Canaanite light infantry.

Next is a base of heavy infantry Shardana Guards & Elite.

Next is a base of heavy infantry Royal Guards.

And finally are 3 general bases or markers.

On my paint table right now are some Sea Peoples bases and the last of the chariots.  After that the only thing I have left is some more Sea Peoples but I might start doing the Hittites instead.

Happy Canada Day!

Stone Age and Satellites

Last night I got in a couple games of Stone Age by Rio Grande Games.  The premise is you guide your Stone Age villagers in building up their village. It's got a number of similarities to games like Puerto Rico and Agricola. You place your villager meeples onto certain spots (or jobs) on the board and they collect resources in which you can use to advance your village.  Visually a nice looking game with lots of little wooden bits and it took us about an hour and a half with 4 people per game. If you like Eurogames, then I'd recommend this one.

Also this past week, I completed a group of 6 figures for a friends X-Wing game. These were from Spartan Games Firestorm Armada range and are a pack of their Communications and Point Defense satellites.  Unfortunately I didn't get a pic of them.

On my paint table right now is a collection of assorted figures for a number of different units for my NK Egyptians.  I need to allocate more time to painting as I'm finding it hard lately to get anything done.

More Egyptians

I finally finished up another batch of assorted 15mm NK Egyptians. These figs are all Old Glory 15's. First is a group of 4 chariots.

Next is a group of 4 line infantry.

Finally there is 3 bases of skirmishers. The one on the right is a unit of Nubian short bow and the other 2 are "Asiatics" with slings.

I'm not sure what I'm going to work on next.  I've still got as bunch more Egyptians to do but I might take a break and start working on my 1/200 scale Robotech models.

MayDay 2013

This past Saturday we had our annual MayDay convention. Here's some pics of the various games.

First is a pic of the Gaslight game. Evidently it featured multiple war bands, camels, a steam tank, a giant spider and even a dinosaur. I'm not sure which group won but apparently it was a hoot.

Next is a pic of Chen-Song's Tomorrow's War game. I believe the insurgents won this game.

This next one is a pic of a Dark Age Apocalypse game. This was one of three games Warren ran, which was quite impressive. I didn't get a good look at the figs but the terrain was really nice.

Next up is Dave's War & Conquest El Cid game. I participated in this one on the Christian's side.  We narrowly got the win over the Muslim raiders. There's some really nice figs in this game.

Next is a Command Decision 4 game, the Battle of somethingorother. I'm thinking it might have been in Italy. This game went on for two time slots and I have no idea who won but it looked impressive.

I ran a game of War Rocket pitting a Zenithian force against a force of Pirates that were in the process of looting a crashed Zenithian mothership. The pic doesn't really show the ships very well but I believe Terry's blog has better pics.

There were a couple games of X-Wing run. Here is Bob telling someone that he is strong with the Force.

X-Wing is a great convention game as it's quick and easy to learn, doesn't bog down with lots of rules and the prepainted figs are really nice. I'm expecting we'll be seeing this game at next year's convention.

There was a game of 6mm FUBAR. I didn't get a chance to actually look at hte figures but the terrain was really nice. Stu will have to bring this one out to club night again as I wouldn't mind giving it a go.

The other game I participated in was the third game run by Warren: 15mm Gruntz. I was eager to get in on this game as I'm still looking for a good 15mm sic-fi ruleset.

The terrain was superb and the figs really nice. The game pitted some colonial marines fending off a horde of aliens so the colonists can escape.  In the end most of the colonists made it off but the marines died to the last man. The aliens won due to the sheer numbers of kills they got.  I think I'm going to pick up this ruleset as it may be what I'm looking for.

Next is a game of Age of Piracy. Terry had painted up some nice ships and figures for this one.

One of the highlights of the day when it came to terrain was Justin's game of Charlie Company. It was very green!  I believe the US troops won this one.

Also taking place all day was a Warmachine/Hordes tourney.

Kevin provided all the terrain for the 19 players which is pretty darn impressive. Hopefully we'll see another one next year.

Like the Warmachine/Hordes tourney, there was an all-day Warhammer 40K tourney. Lots of infantry, tanks and flyers.

The last tourney was a DBA tourney that I think Mark Wall won, but I'm not 100 percent on that.

I was not able to get a pic of the Battlemasters game, Axis & Allies game or Zombicide game.

Overall it was a great day of gaming and everyone had fun! Thanks to everyone who helped make this day possible.