Let's Talk About Mechs, Baby! (Part 1)

 

Ahhh Battletech. I picked up Battledroids from my local comic book store back in '84. We had a good time with it, and picked two or three of the twin pack of plastic 1/144 scale mechs. A name change and  year later second edition was released. This was the core of modern Battletech. I played it obsessively for the next five years or so. Loved the expanding lore; the Clan invasion was one of the highlights of gaming. 

Alas Battletech's super detailed game system was a two edged sword. It felt great tracking all the damage on a full 8.5x11 sheet (per mech) you could really fine tune the tactics to the mech(s) you had on the table.

But...It was a slow game. Like, a really slow game.

It took a few hours to fight a 4 v 4 battle with experienced players. Any more than that and your whole weekend is gone. Which also meant there was a real shallow pool of viable scenarios, mostly just matching different types of Lances against each other. 

I guess it is a hyper detailed skirmish game? 

Still, I loved it. Painted a couple of companies worth of metal mechs, read all the novels, tried some of the variant games (Aerotech, Succession Wars, Battleforce, et al) still my number of plays kept going down. Then three things happened in the early '90s: The amount of good Battletech product releases approached zero, Good PC video games arrived and, of course, Warhammer 40K.  More specifically  Adeptus Titanicus, a giant mech game with (ahem) truly epic battles. That much pretty ended my tabletop Battletech gaming.

However, I never totally abandoned Battletech. I still picked up the novels (such as they were at the time) Played Mechwarrior 2, 3, and 4 a whole lot, and hoped for some kind of makeover of the game system.

Then came the Kickstarter...  To be continued! 

 

Go Roll Some Dice

Giant Robots Make Everything Better

New Paints for Painting

As I've said many times before, I'm an average painter. I do think I've done up a few models that verge on really good, but for the most part I'm painting for the battlefield. My skill has improved over the last five years or so, and I'm pretty happy of where I am at. But that doesn't mean I take don't take small steps forwards, and try new things. 

Waaay back in the early '80s when I was building plastic model airplanes I was painting out of the Testors Model Master paint jars, and it was good.

So it wasn't much of a culture shift when I got into miniature wargaming. I gradually shifted over to Citadel paint pots, mostly for the more appropriate color range, but the water wash-up was new and awesomely better than cleaning my brushes with paint thinner.

The dropper bottles came onto the scene, but I never really cared for them, mostly because I didn't use a pallet, and it just kinda seemed like extra steps for no good reason.

Well, I've slowly come around. I really do like the new Army Painter Fanatic line of paints, and I see the usefulness of the dropper bottles as well. Now that I am expanding with some non-40K minis, the available colors matter as well again. So now I have a mixed arsenal of pots and bottles with a truly wide range of colors to pick from. There are many choices out there, don't limit yourself just because you haven't tried something.

Go Sling Some Paint

Fun Comes in Many Shapes

 

Escape from Projekt Riese Lands

 

Well it took a long time, but my Deluxe version has finally arrived. It has the base game and all the expansion minis in a very nice two box slipcase.

The base game game comes with full color standees and is completely playable without any kind of miniature. The flip book full of maps and scenarios makes for a compact and fast set up/playing game. 

But...

I'm a sucker for minis. WW2 weird war Nazi zombie monsters? Oh my yes. The figures are pretty good. Softer plastic than I would have preferred, but nice sculpts with good details. I'm sure they will paint up just fine. 

I'm going to read the rules and get it on the table this week for festive zombie slaying.

Go Roll Some Dice

Try Something New

Spooky Season Gaming

 

While I wait for my Deluxe version of Escape from Projekt Riese to arrive (next week, juuust missed Halloween) I thought I would throw together a quick list of horror themed games we have played recently.

The new kid on the block. The first game in Rayobx's WW2 zombie games, it is a compact and fast playing solo/co-op zombie killer. 

Fourth(!) in the Horrified series, we have only given it a couple of plays, but it is quite good, and you can add in the monsters from Horrified Greek Monsters (which our current favorite of the lot).

Great for a group of like minded folk, it's silly and fast paced culty fun!

While mostly being long over playing Munchkin, I do like to drag out the Cthulhu set for the Halloween party.

A very fun game, and very thematic, it does a good job of making the player feel hunted. It is a solo only experience, but a very good one. Huge amounts of replayability, and I have a few expansions I've yet to try out.

Still my favorite of the Zombicides, fast and fun, great with 1-4 players. Now if I could just get around to painting the minis...

My new Number One horror game! It's kind of a tower defense style game, but you are trying to get the hell out of there. I will do a review of it soon-ish. 

There are a few classics I didn't mention because they did not hit the table in the last few months. Maybe next year!

Go Roll Some Dice

In Costume!

Dorn On Deck

My Rogal Dorn Heavy Tank has finally reached completion. It had been sitting around waiting for a little bit of touch-ups and decals. 

The main hold up was that my stock of Imperial Guard decals had been consolidated and moved to a safe location. 

Like, really, really safe. So safe I had been mindwiped of where that was. At least that is the story I'm going with.

Eventually, while I was looking for Space Wolf decals I discovered the Guard decals. Such is the way.

Overall I'm very happy with how it turned out. It is a beast on the tabletop, and now looks to match.

Go Finish Something

If you Can Find It.

 

Imperial Walkers on the North Ridge

 

I just had to paint the minis from the Battle of Hoth boardgame. They are really good sculpts with nice lined detail. Which means they should really take a wash well. And that they did!

Task Force Blizzard in all its glory. They look great on the map.

Echo Base Defenders hold the line, in winter style. 

Yes, one of the Snowspeeders has grey stripes. That is Rogue Leader (Luke). I watched the battle scene far too many times to try and pick out details like that. Mostly, I found a bunch of continuity errors. Making movies is hard. But painting these minis was easy! I'm still amazed at the details on these small minis. 

 Now to print up some 3D terrain...

Go Paint Something

And Increase the Immersion    

Visit Scenic Hoth, and Battle for it!

 

Battle of Hoth (Days of Wonder) was just released following a far amount of hype. This new Star Wars wargame joins the many fine games that use the "Command & Colors" system. Memoir '44 being the most popular, but I do love me some Battelore 2nd edition.  

BoH easily deserves the hype. Take one of the most iconic sci-fi ground battles, marry it with one of the best wargame systems, and add really great minis=instant classic. 

It features a slightly smaller map area compared to Memoir '44, but this just gets the action moving quicker. The art on the Command Cards is very good, and the card holders work well.

We've played about six games at this point and have loved it. Fast play time means more games! I've always liked games that you finish a battle, and then say "That was great! Now let's switch sides." 

The game has 17 scenarios plus an Epic battle that uses two sets. Plus a couple of campaigns that add new cards to both sides. 

Each side has three different kind of units. Represented by very well done minis. Nice sculpts and good detail. Yes, they are getting paint next week, how could you not? I may be looking at some 3D printed terrain as well. 

Very highly recommended. 

Go Play in the Snow

Wampas Not Included.

 

Surprise Inquisition in grey!

 

I have just received the Warhammer+ subscription figure, The Cool Guy and his Weird Friend, so I got a hankering to build some new style Inquisition forces to go along with them.

Oddly, there are no rules at all for these figures. Kinda weird, but the figs are cool.

Using the Inquisitorial Agents Kill Team box I made six agents and servo skull mascot. I added Inquisitor Greyfax to make sure they had some supervision.

But now I have a bunch of parts left over for the optional agents. Seems like a waste.

Luckily, The Necromunda Hive Scum 4-pack box works well enough with the spare parts to fill out my roster.

Now for some paint, and heretics to burn.

Go Build Something

Try Not to Leave Them Grey for Too Long

Yet More 3D Printed Terrain

 Somedays, you just wanna rock! Sorry. I'll see my way out.

Maybe I watched too many Road Runner vs Wile E Coyote documentaries, but I had a need for desert landscape with just rocks. I scoured the internets and came up with a nice selection of STL files to print.

The real winner here is the amazing filament we found: Rock Gradient PLA.

That's the way they printed. No paint at all! The future we are living in does have a few high points.

Go Make The Robot Do It

Just Pick Well

Arkham Horror The RPG

 

I have played various Arkham Horror games over the past few decades, and since Fantasy Flight re-published the original board game, they have expanded upon but kept the base lore for their setting across books, card games, and other board games. 

The very first Arkham Horror was a board game based off of the Call of Cthulhu role playing game. It was really difficult to win. Kinda like Call of Cthulhu I guess...

No surprise then that it comes full circle back to a role playing game and Edge Studio has brought us the Fantasy Flight version of the Mythos. The starter box set is crammed full of goodness: player and monster cards, GM screen, handouts, two double sided maps, a bunch of counters, and rules.

It's been quite a while since I've done any RPGing, but this system looks fun and easy to get into, so I may be roping some people into giving it a go soon.

Try Something New

Loosing Sanity is Never Out of Fashion

Free Helpful Files

 

Just a reminder that a few helpful STLs that Mrs. Blackheart has done are over at her Printables page:

And a few others. Check it out!

Go Print Something

That Helps You Do Other Things Slightly Better

Fresh Habs in Action

 

Of course if one has new terrain, you must battle upon it! 

Someday I'll try to get more pics during a game. Or maybe just do a battle only for the pics?

New Terrain, Fight!

Just Remember the Camera