Two Months of Odds and Ends

So...back in the middle of January, I blew out my knee. Thus began a concerted 2-month effort to walk properly and climb stairs again. Arthroscopic surgery happened at the beginning of February and physiotherapy began shortly after...just in time to be walloped with a huge mid-winter cold. I've been laid up for some time. All of this to explain a lack of blog posting...it's been a while. Anyway, back in the saddle.

Here's a quick catch-up post.

Painting is a 4-Letter Word, episode 3 from January. Better late than never!

...and Go Knee!

I'd have to say that the best hobby time I've had over the past several months has been our monthly painting nights. We usually get five to seven local hobbyists (including a core of podcasters from Hobby Night in Canada) out for these events, and they've really been a good time.

Back at the beginning of February, I took a flight down to Vegas and attended the LVO. It was huge this year. The 40K tournament alone was well over 400 players.

And Vegas was good to me during the trip. Won a number of jackpots, including this sweet one for 2Gs...which really went a long way towards paying for some exorbitant hobby purchases!

Gaming-wise at the LVO, I was focused on Dropfleet. Played a number of games.

Including one against birthday boy, Ward Kapach.

Also attended a great painting workshop run by Aaron Lovejoy. Learned how to weather model surfaces with latex mould builder and acrylic paint.

More Dropfleet at the Tuesday Night Game Club.

 ...On multiple occasions.

And joined a Dropfleet escalation league up at Mission Fun and Games, run by our local Hawk Talon, Trevor. Our first game day saw 10 (!) players come out. Amazing.

While it's been pretty quiet for me on the painting front, I did manage to churn out some Dropfleet clusters with resin sector objectives from Hawk.

To finish up with this catch-up blog, I also ran a painting workshop up at Thunderground last Sunday. We had a good turnout, and I was able to share some fun techniques with the guys who came out.

Well, got lots of games in, despite being hobbled for the last several weeks. And Vegas was lots of fun.

'Til next time.

Scourge Dragon Battleship and Nickar (Ersatz)

So, the Las Vegas Open is coming up fast...next weekend as a matter of fact...and the Dropfleet list building rules for the tournament were just released a week ago. At 1250 points, I needed a Dragon battleship, pronto. 

They came into stock last week at Meeplemart, so I ordered mine and crossed my fingers it would get here on time for the convention. Got my shipping notice last Monday, and the model arrived on Friday. Built it Friday night (easy 16-piece kit), and here it is...Sunday afternoon and tabletop-ready.

In addition, to round out my list, I shoved in a 22-point Nickar corvette. Well, the kits aren't released yet, but tournament rules allow for kit-bashing...so I used a GW Screamer. Looks like a similar model, if a little on the big side, but I'm not going to complain. Models built and painted in time to get on the plane Thursday.

Carnage awaits.

'Til next time.

More Scourge for Dropfleet

In the race to get ready for the Las Vegas Open (Feb 3-5), I've been working on my Dropfleet stuff. Here is the contents of another starter set done.

Now I just need to complete one battleship and one more frigate to get to 1500 points. Hopefully that Meeplemart order will get here this week!

'Til next time.

Dropzone Buildings from Blotz

With my recent interest in Dropzone Commander, I figured it was time to start into some 10mm city terrain. I ordered a set of MDF buildings from Blotz in the UK, and they arrived just in time for Christmas. 

Here are the first four painted up (includes a carpark).

I got a set of 14 buildings...all at a reasonable cost: well less than $20 per building all in.

Assembly instructions for each kit are online. Convenient. And the instructions are very clear, with photos to aid in putting the parts together.

By the end of the first building session, three kits were done.

Elliot came over during the holidays for an introductory game. He had a set of the cardboard buildings, and a FAT Mat to play on. My new MDF buildings fit right in.

Dropzone is a good game, buy the way, if you haven't tried it. However, I believe that the biggest draw for the game is not its gameplay. It's the models and terrain. Lovely.

'Til next time.

Dropzone Commander...First Units

My buddy Elliot recently came into a large lot of Dropzone Commander miniatures. I traded him for a Scourge starter army, and painted it this past week.

This is the ground-based counterpart to the Scourge fleet ships I painted up for Dropfleet Commander last month. Here are the vehicles from the starter.

And the infantry.

And here, the dropships are loaded and ready for action. Looking forward to my first game of Dropzone.

Over a week ago, I finished up these accessories for the BloodBowl Skaven team.

Not sure what's going to take priority next on the table. We'll see.

'Til next time.

Scourge Ships for Dropfleet Commander

Well, with these Scourge ships completed, the Dropfleet Commander 2-player set is now painted.

These are the four Scourge frigate models...

...and these are the three cruisers.

And here are all 14 of the ships that come in the basic game. Speaking of which...I'm ready for one!

Now on to the Prospero boxed set. That's a big one.

'Til next time.

UCM Ships for Dropfleet Commander

I've finished painting the UCM (United Colonies of Man) half of the Dropfleet 2-player boxed set. First off...nice models. Great sculpts and very fine castings in hard plastic. No complaints. The assembly went fine, although there are some small parts to keep track of while you're gluing stuff together.

The three cruisers (Moscow, Berlin and Seattle class) can be built as any of the game's cruiser variants...so you're left with plenty of spare bits that don't get used.

The four frigates (two Toulon and two New Orleans class) come from a sprue that will build any of the game's UCM frigates.

For reference purposes, you might want to know how the Dropfleet ships compare in size to other game systems. Here they are with a few ships from Firestorm Armada...

...and here with some ships from Battlefleet Gothic. As you can see, the miniature sizes in both cases are pretty much identical to those other game systems.

Well, now there is a decision to make. Continue building Dropfleet ships, or move over to Burning of Prospero...which just got released today. In either case, I'm ready to play some Dropfleet!

'Til next time.

Dropfleet Commander

OK, the next big project is something I've been waiting for since last year's kickstarter was announced. Dropfleet Commander from Hawk Games. I just picked up my copy for $135 from Thunderground in St Albert (thanks to Roy for bringing this in!).

Opening up the box, we see that it's packed.

Seven "human" fleet ships with game bases. The faction is called the UMC.

Seven "alien" fleet ships with game bases. The faction is called Scourge.

All the game junk. Holy crap. Maps, quick reference cards, base stickers, fleet rosters, game markers, stands, dice and a tape measure (nice touch).

The rulebook is 224 pages meaty. High production values.

With...rules...

...ship stats...

...fluff...and plenty more.

Looking forward to digging into this big project. Will be starting to build ships tonight.

'Til next time.

10mm Sci-Fi from Hawk Miniatures

I ordered some of the very fine 10mm vehicles from Hawk Games for Dropzone Commander. Love the detail in the models. Nice designs too.

The camo was very straightforward to apply (if just a little time consuming). First, I sprayed down a few tones of the base color.

Then, I applied a liberal amount of putty and sprayed a few green tones.

Remove putty, and presto!

After that, I gloss-coated, applied a weathering wash, dull-coated, drybrushed on some dust and brush-painted in the final details. Textured and painted the bases, and that was that.

Six new 10mm vehicles, which include some pretty sweet mobile missile launchers.

'Til next time.