HOTT at Gnome Con V

Last weekend was Gnome Con V, our own game convention here in Savannah. Because of my work schedule I was only able to attend the first two days and I wasn't able to game much. Friday I arrived to late to take part in any games but I did stay to watch Christian's Star Dust game, with the Red Guard vs. the Dogs.

The next day me and Christian sat down for a few games of HOTT. The first being my drunk pirates vs. Christian's giant mutant farm animals.

I started out strong with good activation rolls, and I manage to take out several high powered units like his paladin and knights. My water lurker was especially useful, despite being out numbered.

Unfortunately, Christian was just able to squeak by a victory by points.

The pirates really hated the giant goat. 

The next game was between my Dinosaurs and Christian's Narnians.

Here General Gor Gor gives his troops another motivational speech.

Things went well at first, but due to a mistake a made in choosing the terrain Christian was able to push a couple of units off the table to win the game.

I wish I had more time to game last weekend. My new Megablitz unit is well under way. I've gathered the troops and equipment, cut the bases, and started gluing the heavy equipment to the bases. I hope to have pictures of the new unit up next week, then I'll be making some more terrain.

We're the Pirates of the Whiskey Seas!

Getting ready for Gnome Con, I decided to turn my attention to my long neglected Pirate army for HOTT. I'm planning to used this army on Saturday. Here are pictures of the new unit.

Here's the army all together. All these guys are by Rebel Miniatures.

A close up of my blade/war-band units.

The army also has a good amount of shooters. Note not all these stands would be used in a game.

Next up the Hero/Generals. From left to Right we have the Disney Pirates, Bonnie Anne and her raging bitches, and the Crips.

Of course it isn't a pirate army without a cannon!

Finally we have the special units a trio of sea witches and a water lurking Mermaid.

That's the new army next week I should have some good pictures from Gnome Con. After that I not sure what I'm doing next ether some new terrain of a new Megablitz unit, we'll see.

Buyer Beware

   While I haven't been playing or painting lately, I still occasionally buy the odd war gaming item, every now and then. One of the latest things I have brought was this item.

   Now despite knowing that Battle Front is quickly becoming the GW of 15mm I was excited about this product. I thought 'Awesome they finally took all their painting guides and put them in one book'. Unfortunately, it wasn't until after I brought it that a realized a problem. Unlike the guides in their previous rule books that used Vallejo paints, the color call outs in this book are only for their new Color of War paints and those paints only.

Paint that can also be used as ammo in the zombie apocalypse.

    Not only do these paints have different numbers then the Vallejo paints, but also different names as well. It doesn't give any type of conversion chart between the two. While the book does have some good information on basing and painting techniques, it was made mainly to sell paint. So unless your planning to by a whole new set of paints, this book will not be as useful as it could be.

   Now that my rant is out of the way, I can tell what I've been doing the past few weeks. Most of the war gaming stuff I've been doing is on computer (Making up house rules, ship sheets, vehicles stats, etc.) I hope to be able to do some games in time for Gnome Con in March. To get ready I've started cleaning off my old work table so I can start painting again.

Ahh yeah, wish me Luck!

Gnome Con (Part 1)

Last weekend we had Gnome Con here in Savannah again. I was able to time off from one of my jobs so I come every day. Friday I was looking forward to Christian's Star Dust ground game. This was I miniatures system that he had made himself and he was promoting it at the con. Unfortunately because of bad traffic I arrived too late to join the first game and because I still had to work at night so I couldn't play in the second game. Still I did managed to get some good picture of the Red Guard fighting the Dogs.

Early in the game the Red Guard's VTOL was shot down. Troops from this crash would be able to climb the hill and activate the defense turret.

The dogs tanks and infantry moving towards one of the objectives.

Meanwhile the Red Guard's hover tanks occupy the other objective.

When one the locals was asked he said, "I only believe in one God and lives in that lake back there."

The Dogs combat walkers attack the hover tanks.

The dogs gunship arrives. This unit would go on to dominate the game.

The Red Guard hover tanks are attacked by the Dogs AA

Things come to a head as the dogs occupy the second objective, after holding off several assaults the Dogs would win.

Christian and his kids promoting the game. To the right is the Red Guard commander Ziggy.

Unfortunately for Christian, the planners at Gnome Con stuffed most of the miniature games in a annex with no foot traffic. Thus there a less people to see the game than there should have been.

If you're interested in Star Dust you can find out more at Christians blog at
http://skisgames.blogspot.com

or write at Stardustgame@outlook.com

Starfleet Battles

Last Sunday I managed to get the time off to participate in the monthly SFB game. The scenario was the continuation of last months fighter game. It had the Orions trying to pick up their fighters as the Federation, Lyran, and Kzinti are closing in for revenge. I was playing the Federation which had a pretty powerful frigate. Mike was controlling a less powerful Kzinti frigate, and Bill was controling a Lyran frigate. On the other side Christian was controlling the Orion Salvage Cruiser and Alan was controlling an Orion Light Raider. Here are the pictures of the game.

My Federation frigate and Mike's Kzinti frigate at the start of the game.

The enemy Christian and Alan with their two ships close together. Bill's frigate can by seen in upper right corner. Unfortunately he had to use a substitute ship because of a broken stand.

The Lyran frigate and Orion Light Raider go at it. The orions got the better of this engagement.

Me and Mike Close on the Lyrans. I was following a swarm of drones Mike had launched. The Kzinti was not in a good position to support my attack as he wanted to take a few pot shots at the Lyrans.  

Bill frantically running away from a large group of drones.

The Kzinti and the light raider fighting it out, as the salvage cruiser tries to make a getaway.

In the end I was able to use some long range phaser shots to take out a third fighter thus giving our side a minor victory. Overall it was a fun game and I'm definitely planning to get back into SFB. On other news I started painting my pirate army a couple of weeks ago. It's been slow going, but they're starting to take shape.

One of the worst things to paint in this hobby is an irregular unit.

HOTT game

A couple of weeks ago me and Christian played a couple of games of HOTT. Unfortunately because of work and car problems, I've fallen behind and I'm only now getting around to posting the pictures from those games. So here are the pictures.

The first game was Christian's Romans vs. my Dinosaur army, Gor Gor and the Daring Beast of the lost world.

Christian's Roman army
4 blades
4 spears
2 riders
1 hero (General)

My dinosaur army had
3 riders
3 knights
2 beast
1 lurker
1 Cleric
1 Behemoth (General)

My forces lined up to face the Romans.

General Gor Gor gives his troops a motivational speech before the battle.

General Gor Gor attacks the Roman riders, while Christan's hero attacks my Cleric in what would be a protracted battle.

Meanwhile my Raptor lurkers ambush one of the Roman blade units.

The Roman hero and my Cleric continue to duke it out.

Meanwhile on the right flank. My carnivor riders engage more of Christin's blades and my horned knights engaged his spears.

The battle with the blades was indisive, while my knights and Christian's spears exchanged casualties.

Christian's hero fanally chases my Cleric off the board only to be confronted with Gor Gor himself.

My knights shift to engage Christians blades. Unfortunetly I lost too many stands and Christian won the game on.casulities.

The second game was between my dinosuars and Christian's Halloween army. This time I was the defender.

Christian's new army had the following:
1 magician (General)
2 shooters
2 blades
2 lurkers
2 riders
2 hordes
1 God

I was using the same troops as before.

The initial setup. My army set up on either side of our stronghold the plattoe.

Christian's ghost lurkers attacked my beast but they weren't afraid of ghost.

Gor Gor, who likes horse meat, eats some of Christian's cavalry, while his rat hordes move through the woods.

The Halloween army's god appear, and like many overpowered units disappears the next turn. Unfortunately, as is a bad habit of mine, I didn't get any pictures of the end of the game. Which is a shame as I had won the game by inflicting more casualties.

 Over all I enjoy the game and will probably play again once I have some more armies up. Anyway I've started on another Megablitz unit. I've actually finished painting it and I'll have the pictures in the next post. Here's a sneak peek.

Year in Review

With New Year's approaching I've decided to reminisce on what I've done for the past 12 months. So lets take a look back.



In January I played my first Shipwreck game with Christian. The Greeks verses the Turks.

In February we played a Shipwreck game with larger forces and more players. This time it was China verses Vietnam and India. That was a good game. We played another game sometime after that at Christian's house. That game was NATO verses Soviets and Libyans. Unfortunately I can't find any of the photos I took of that game.

In March we played yet another Shipwreck game. This game took place in 1963 during the early Cold War period, with the Soviets fighting the Dutch. I hope to do more early period scenarios next year.

April was Gnome Con in which we played Shipwreck again this time using Christian's toys and his awesome new table mat. I played in the first game with the Soviets verses the US off the coast of Syria.  

In June I finally manage to branch out a bit with a game of Victory at Sea. The scenario was the Battle of the River Plate. The game was a little too short so we ended up playing several games of Munchkin later.

In July I tried out Christians Stompers game which had the troops of a small African nation fighting hordes of bugs.

In August we played our longest Shipwreck Game yet with the Soviets invading Norway.

If the Shipwreck game in August was the longest then the one we played November was the bloodiest. Of the eleven ships that started the game only two survived.

So that's what I've done in gaming in the past year. For next year I hope to do more. I have several Shipwreck ideas in the works including Russia vs. Japan, Indonesia vs. England, and another carrier scenario. I also what to try and do a Megablitz game and some more Victory at Sea.