August 2012 Game Night

Last night was our club's monthly game night. I've been having some issues with my back so I didn't play in any games but I did stop by to drop off some boat kits for a few who needed them and I was able to take these photographs. There were three great games hosted. These photos are of Phil's Pacific air-to-air game using the new Angels 20 figures and rules from Axis & Allies.

Earl and Mark hosted a War of 1812 skirmish game using Brother Against Brother rules. When I left there was action all over the table on this one.

 Charlie hosted a Normandy WWII game using "Ain't Been Shot Yet Mum" rules. I watched this game for a while and the rules seemed interesting although they do have a bunch of British mechanics and terms in them that might take some getting used to for us 'yanks'.

 Finally Gordon brought in his Islands and boat for us all to see in person. They look even BETTER in person than in the photos he sent earlier in the week. Earl brought his Old Glory 22 gun warship which is partially painted now. The photo below right shows it next to the smaller 8 gun cutter. I think somehow I did OK with the scaling. Everyone is excited for September game day which will be our first run of the pirate game. Arrrgh!

First Painted Boat

My friend Gordon has poured on the gas on getting his boat finished. Here it is painted and equipped with eight 9 lb. guns. Looking REALLY GOOD Gordon! I can't wait to see it with some crew and sails on it.

Pirate Project Continues . . .

Last weekend a bunch of my fellow club members got together to build some of my laser-cut boat kits for our big upcoming pirate game. I was so busy helping everyone build their boats that I completely forgot to take photos. Well my friend Gordon just sent us some photos of the Islands he's making for the game. The islands look AWESOME. As an added extra surprise Gordon used his finished boat as part of the photos to lend some scale to the islands.

Gordon's boat, like mine, still needs to be rigged and painted, but I'm super excited to see another person's completed boat. This is going to be a super game. I can't wait.

Old West Outlaws

This is my band of outlaws for our old west gunfight games. They'll be competing with my banditos for loot from the local stagecoach, bank or saloon as the case may be. I'm not sure how far my collection will grow. For now two squads seems to be plenty. It's always great when you can finish a project by only painting up twelve figures!

Ships boat (Dory)

You can't go ashore to plunder or bury your treasure without a ship's boat, aka dory. This was created to be able to carry a few based figures (hence the lack of a middle seat) from your pirate ship to the shore. Laser-cut plywood and balsa. We needed a bunch of these in a hurry and I think this will fit the bill nicely. 

Four Gun Sloop

This is the second pirate boat I've designed to be cut on my laser for our club's upcoming pirate wars club project. This one is a four gun sloop. I've kept the stern decorations generic so the builder can embellish the circular area with any design they like. I imagine creative use of bits from the dead lead box would be applied here.

On the deck are four Old Glory 25mm 9-lb. deck guns and a Pirate captain for scale. 

Continental Line

This is a unit of figures that I purchased from a gentleman named "kendobear" on ebay.  They appear to be Old Glory figures and are nicely painted. I couldn't resist picking these up as there were exactly fifteen figures which means I could base them up as two massed and one skirmish stand. I'm feeling like these would do well as PA or MA state troops as well as continentals. I'm mostly showing these here as filler as I just returned from a week's holiday at Acadia National Park and didn't do a lick of wargaming-related activities while I was there.

My total contribution towards the completion of this unit was to re-base the figures to 3" Volley & Bayonet basing convention. 

July Game Night 2012

Last night I attend our club's July game night. We had three great games hosted. I played in a French Wars of Religion Renaissance game using a set of home-brew rules written by my uncle called 'Nexus'. More information about Nexus can be found on his website here.

The game was a French attack on an Imperialist defended bridge. The game had the French advancing through three defiles lengthwise on the table. The Imperialsts played well including good use of their forlorn hope in one of the woods separating the approaches and an aggressive pike charge as the French closed. Wonderful figures, beautiful teddy bear fur terrain and a set of good fast play rules. Can't ask for much more in a wargaming evening.

The second game was a 28mm Seven Years War game using the rules "Ancien Regime".

The third game was a 15mm American Civil War game using Fire & Fury rules.

Escarpements

Sorry I haven't been posting much. I've been down with a nasty sinus infection. This is a pair of escarpments I bought recently. They're the GaleForce9 'Battlefield in a Box' offering. The only thing I did was add some meadow glen mix turf to the hill sides. The box set comes with two kinds of static grass, but I prefer to use the turf mix I use on all my miniatures instead. The small packets that came with these were stirred into my big mix canister.

Not much to say about these. They're a good value in my opinion. They come ready to use, or with a few minutes time can be dressed up a bit further as shown here. They're appropriate for both 15mm and 28mm scale games and can be used for any gaming period. Sorry about taking the photographs on my gaudy indoor-outdoor carpet. It's the best I could do on short notice.

Fistful of Lead - Old West Gun Fight (2)

Last Saturday a bunch of us gathered at Adler Hobby to celebrate their anniversary with an EPIC Old West gunfight game using the Fistful of Lead rules.  I'll refrain from coming up with a write up as is the case with most western gunfight games the action was fast, furious and completely chaotic....i.e. tons of fun.

My Mexican 'Banditos' did ok. Three died, three lived and they gave about as good as they got. Six Gun Sancho put a pistol into the gut of two enemies in hand-to-hand combat sending them to 'Boot Hill' only to be gunned down by a distant rifle man with a bullet between the eyes. Pancho Pete got a kill, and kept Hacienda Hosé alive like he always seems to do. The two unnamed men of the crew suffered the fate of a red shirt crew member of the Enterprise. It's never good to be an un-named character in such a drama.

 Congratulations go to Don Piro for winning the door prize of a bottle of Tequila....er Whiskey. Don was my fellow Mexican in crime and standing back to back in the middle of the street we put many of the 'Gringos' in their place....the ground.