2D6 Sword and Sorcery

 Time for another ruleset I had a look at, and thatis 2D6 Sword and Sorcery by 2 Hour Wargames.

Amd this set can be found pretty cheap on the DriveThru website.

Written by Ed Teneira, this is a so called beer & pretzels game focussing on fun and ease to play, aimed at causal and new players to get a game in swiftly without to much work beforehand.  And as the title says, you onle need 2d6 to roll...

The game allows for a variety of modes of play, like a loner that goes on encounters with monsters, or leader of a warband, and these both in solo, co-op and opposing forms, and it plays on a 12x12 area.  The game is of course, like so many indendant game systems, miniature agnostic.

Every figure is classified as either Grunt or Star, the grunts being controlled by the system, and the stars by the players, who have two advantages: Star Power and Free Will, which can make for some really hollywood style heroic actions.  They also have a Reputation that show how experienced the models are, and it can go up and down during the course of a campaign, depending how succesfull you are.  Every model also has a class, which can be either Missile, Melee or Caster.  And of course, one of them will be the Leader.

The warband contains a number of models equal to your Rep score, so the better you fare, the bigger your warband becomes, determined by a roll on the table to see what you obtain.  The game uses a simple system of a d6 versus the Rep, with a natural 6 always failing.  Movement is unlimited, as this is basically a gladiator style game and you can go into combat at will.  Spellcasters have three spells at their disposal, which can be their action for the turn.

Shooting follows a similar system of hitting, with cover depending on the type of encounter that might generate terrain, before coming to the bread and butter: melee.  After a succesfull charge, again measured against your Rep, you can engage your enemy.  But even if your combat goes badly, you can still recover out of fight models, hence the willpower of your star.

 

Once the dust settles, you roll on the After the Battle table to see is anyone returns from the fallen soldiers of your warband.   

Next you get the rules for the "AI" of the game system, and how encounters will happen, being the same for solo and co-op modes.  The various types of Encounters are then explored, before going to the short army lists of models you can either recruit or face on the table.

So, it looks like a nice little game, and in the not so close future I will definitly give it a solo try.  So once that happens, you will of course read all about it on here!

Service announcement, Crisis wargame show is back

 It has been a few years due to circumstances.

It will have a shift in focus.

But the Crisis wargame show is coming back in 2024, at the 2nd of November.

I can`t say much more yet of location, format and more, apart from the message the club shared with it's members yesterday evening.

But it looks like I will be busy in a short years time wandering a show and doing some bargain hunting!

Age of Sigmar Kruleboyz Killaboss with Stab-grot

 So, time to start Age of Sigmar in earnest, and the plan is a 2000 points for the game.

And I opted for the Krulebiyz Orruk warclan, because I like the look, and they have Hobgoblins, I mean Hobgrots, in their force.

 

An additional benefit of picking Orruks, is that with the suited movement trays, they can just as well service as slave troops in "square based" Chaos Dwarf forces.

So, I started with a modest set first, the Killaboss with the Stab-grot, which is the pointswise cheapest leader for the force.  I did draft a rough army list so far, but we will see by the time I`m finished how relevant that still is.

 

For the colourscheme, I went for the red shields as they have lore-wise, because it provides a good contrast, while for the rest, and mainly for the reason above, stayed with the colours I use on my Chaos Dwarfs.  

 

So that was a fun model to paint, and slowly I`ll be adding to the army as time goes on.  Not really a priority at the time as I won`t be joining events anytime soon anyways.

 

 

The 9th Age: Infernal Dwarves Citadel Guard

 The latest regiment for the rebuilding of a force has been completed, and it brings some ranged firepower to the force in the form of the Citadel Guard.

Armed with flintloque axes, these boys are good all-rounders for the main battleline.

I opted to go for a blue and gold colourscheme on the Chaos Dwarves, breaking away from the more traditional red.  The reason being two fold, one it contrasts with the other colours in the force, and secondly for some reason I just like painting blue.

Numbering 20, this unit was purchased from Norba Miniatures in Spain and cast in resin, so a bit of carefull handling was needed of course.

 

 

By the way, the rune on the banner is the old GW "language" rune for "Stronghold", which I found only fitting for a Citadel Guard regiment. 

The one downside, they don`t line up closely in two or more ranks due to the length of the rifles.  None the less I will be ordering more of them in the future, as I love the sculpts and the price is super, but that will be for a regiment based on round bases for Age of Sigmar, and probably a unit based on 25mm bases square for The Old World!

Now, onwards to the next unit to paint!

The 9th Age: Infernal Dwarves Titan Mortar

 Aaaah, my beloved Earthshaker, how have I always loved both the looks and the playing style of these big cannons.

And for the resurgence of my Chaos Dwarfs, one of these big boys just has to be added to the force.

Though I did steer away this time from it's regular colourscheme, and went for the blue and gold that I`m running through my whole force instead.

Called a Titan Mortar in the 9th Age game, it can just as well wreak havoc with the movement of enemy troops due to it's slowing effect, even if it isn't as insanely good as in the old days where I tended to bring two of these along to really make my opponents movement fase's miserable.

But in T9A, as that part is slightly less impressive then back in the WFB 6th days, I settled for one Mortar in my force, also in part to the more limited amount of cannons and rifles the Infernal Dwarves can bring to the table, especially in bigger battles with the army restrictions.

So that is the second unit of the force completed, next will probably be the second war machine planned for the force, before I`m starting the big jobs of the blocks of rank and file troops.

RX-78GP01 Gundam Zephyrantes 1/400 scale gachapon

 The first gachapon for MechaTop I finished this year, it is a variation of the original Gundam, the RX78GP01 Zephyrantes.

Piloted by Kou Uraki, this Gundam was the main suit of the Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memories series, a 13 episode series linking the original Gundam to Zeta.

 

A bit of an upgrade aimed at ground combat of the classic RX78-2, he differs a lot in tabletop looks due to the white and blue instead of red shield, giving him a totally different asthetic.

The figure is as usual one of the many 1/400 scale gachapon I own, repainted for the tabletop to look better then the bland one tone scheme the soft plastic figures come in.

 

 Painting of these models always goes rather smooth, the panels usually being the hardest part on them, bar of course the (not always totally succesful) trick of hot water cold water to try and unbend parts that got deformed from being stuck in a plastic ball for a long time.

 

 

But that is the first one for this year's batch completed, now to keep the momentum and start on the next model soonish!

Nobel Gundam 1/400 scale gachapon

 As I recently completed the Shining Gundam from G Gundam, I couldn't forego of course to paint up that other known Gundam from the series, the Nobel Gundam of Sweden.

Which was designed in a time Sailor Moon was incredibly popular, earning it the nickname of the Sailor Gundam here and there, with it's uncanny resemblance to the antagonist of that series.

The models is a very dynamically posed 1/400 scale, and she is leaping and saluting forward.

So that is probably the last one I'll get finished this year for MechaTop, I won`t have achieved my goal of 15 models for the game painted, but we did make some progress at least this year.

Now to work on some kits in the near future first...

 

 

Shining Gundam 1/400 scale gachapon

 This hand of mine glows with an awesome power!  It's loud roar tells me to defeat you!  Take this!  My love!  My anger!  And all of my sorrow!  Erupting... burning... FINGER!

Yes, it is finally time to paint the Shining Gundam, Domon Kasshu's martial arts Gundam from the G Gundam excellent series.

The first series to come out in a seperate timeline, it featured Gundams representing several nations of the world, in a tournament to become the leading nation of Earth.  And the Shining Gundam, with it's excellent protagonist Domon, was the suit send to fight for Japan.

So of course, when I had the bottlecap figure ready, I couldn't forgo the well known quote in the series, which is probably as famous as Heero's "I`ll kill you" or Setsuna's "I am Gundam" within the community.  Except it is way longer and far more epic.

A lovely model in it's simplicity, and a good piece in the game as well!

 

 

Zeta Gundam 1/400 scale gachapon

 Zeta Gundam, or Z Gundam for short, is probably my third favorite gundam series after SEED Destiny and 00.

So it was more then normal that I painted up the titular suit for use in wargames.

This 1/400 scale bottlecap figure as such got the touch up treatment, and now it is ready to bring justice to the solar system at the hands of Kamil Bidan, perhaps the most tragic hero of the whole franchise, ending mentally wrecked as we see in ZZ Gundam afterwards.

I aways liked the design of this mecha, with it's elongated faceplate and how it's transformation parts blend in nicely in the mecha form.

So that is another one finished to play MechaTop with, bar a octagonal base, but those aren`t uber necessary, just handy to help out measuring arcs after all.

 

 

Wayland Games Black Friday sales have started

 For those looking to save some extra dimes, Wayland Games has begun it's Black Friday sales already.

Some range get massive discounts, up to 60%, so go check it out!

 

 

To get there, just click that banner at the top of the blog, and help this Old Otaku out as well!

GAT-X131 Calamity Gundam

 Not only is this the first figure of the year I completed, but also the third one only since the AHPC of last year ended in March.

But, we are back into it, aided by some much needed glasses.

And for the first model of the year, as well as the first one of painting 15 mobile suits to use in Mechatop, it was my 1/400th scale Calamity Gundam, a suit from Gundam SEED I always loved the look of.

The turquoise artillery suit has a bright appearance, and lethat weapons with the two huge cannons on it's back, and shares the same design frame as the Strike after all.  A successor of the Buster suit, it was piloted by Orga Sabnak.  In the end, it was destroyed by the Justice Gundam at the second battle of Jachin Due.

So now with the first model complete, I`m going to try and finish some more this month, and finally get the painting tally up and running again!

MechaTop DLC 1: Challenge Game Mode

 The first of the so far released three small expansions for MechaTop, and downloadable through their webstore.

 

 

And this first volume, a 22 page sized PDF, handles about gaming in Challenge mode.

 

Challenge mode can be seen a bit as your online gaming arcade and the likes, in that it puts three difficulty levels, being Easy, Normal and Hard into play.  The game itself consists of a Stage 1, Stage 2 and Final Boss encounter for example for easy, and each player notes down the scores they obtained.

 

Yes, and it can be played SOLO as well with the solo card deck, a great thing I find personally to play, being like the only anime nutter in my group.

 

The games are progressive, meaning you can do a few things with your force between stages, but repairing isn`t one of them.  This means some thought has to be put in the battles, as going in all guns blazing might decimate you by the time you reach the finale... if you even get that far... 

The harder the level you choose, the bigger the points pool you can have (Normal for example has the standard 1800 points score) BUT also the more scenarios you need to survive.  In the earlier stages, you have a serious point advantage, but this gradually diminishes, and at the final level it's equal points... but you can already have lost some forces and as a result might actually be at a disadvantage by then!

The first scenarios are usually pretty basic, fighting off some generic war machines, before confronting ever bigger and stronger opponents and mecha.  The booklet as such contains all the scenarios for all the levels and the needed forces.  And at the end of the trail, it's a matter of who got the furthest and scored the most points... simple and effective!

I for one will certainly undertake the Easy one once I 3d printed some planes and tanks in my 1/400 scale gaming, and will report back on those soonish!

GAT-X207 Blitz Gundam

 Its the beginning of november, and it finally happened!

I picked up my paint brush again for some wargame models.

The lucky model in question being a gashapon model of the 1/400 scale Blitz Gundam from Gundam SEED Destiny, to be used in either Future War Commander or in MechaTop, but that is something for next year when we hopefully can get back to the club.

But for now, he stands ready.  He will get an octagonal base once I get the printer up and running again at last, but he is already suitable as he is right now to play some games with.

Now to slowly but surely start painting more of them again, and maybe, just maybe, I might end up with some kind of decent tally in the end of the year after all...

Wargame Hobby Bingo: the 2020 start

Last year I did the Middle-Earth Hobby Bingo, and managed to cross off over 2/3ths of the squares or thereabouts, and it was great fun.

So for this year, I`m going to try the Wargame Hobby Bingo instead, though the tile making squares I already know I won`t be completing due to lack of space.

But there are some very intresting, and especcially motivating, squares on that roster, that *might* force me to finish some other projects at long last.  And that is after all the whole goal of the bingo.

I will be posting about 6 updates during the year, the first which will come somewhere around the half of february normally, when the results of the AHPC will hopefully begin to influence the selections as such.

Going top left to bottom right, I guess some are quite feasible, while others will require serious effort or even unattainable considering the space I have. So let's have a look at those I will definitly try to scratch off this year, all the rest I'll be considering a bonus if I get them done:

Break out a game or army: surely attainable, I still have that Underworlds s2 lying around to try out, while s3 has already been released and bought.
Paint all of the models in a faction starter box: Underworlds again comes to mind, but I have others lying around as well like the Cruel Seas Regia Marina.

All miniatures in a boardgame: on the planning, probably the chibi's of one of the many CMON games we have here.

Sculpt something on a model: definitly no problem with all those MESBG captains I still need to convert
Re-paint a pre-paint: easy peasy, how many gashapon Gundams you want?

Paint a vehicle: another easy score, in a lot of scales if needed
Paint within 48 hours: did it for the ME last year, should be able to do so again
Freebie based models: certainly, I'll pick one of the MESBG army goals to obtain this one
New painted unit before playing: another freebie for me, as I never play unpainted

Scenery kit: in the ever growing Middle-earth, this is definitly happening
Paint a Monster: hellooooo Moria Dragon
Convert a model: more MESBG captains shall make this happen

Paint a new version of an old model: with all those lovely new MESBG plastics coming out, this is bound to hapen soonish.
Build and paint accessories: I still need to make objective markers for my MESBG forces anyways
Finish an unpainted model from over a year: this defines about half my MESBG collection, some even back to 2001...
Paint a model of an army not played yet: that again describes almost a quarter of my MESBG collection, so the first army I start now will tick this off.  Probably Khand or the Fiefdoms I guess...

So that means 14 out of the 25 squares this year should mean "sure-shots" to complete on the roster, we'll see how it goes though and how fast it will all be achieved then...

Have fun reading the updates, or even try the bingo for yourself this year!

Crisis 2019 Show Report

It's november again, and that means it's time for our annual wargames show, Crisis.

Taking place once again in the Waagnatie venue in Antwerp, it was a bit of a special show for me, resulting in this "light" edition of a show report.

You see, I'm a bit on two minds for this year.  I spend most of the day in the Bring and Buy section, dumping models at fleamarket prices in order not to have to move them next week to the new appartement.
But that also meant unfortunatly that by the time I could do a tour, Ipsqueek was making Noshi very, very tired, so I did my shopping, snapped some pictures, and then went home already at 16.00, so I don't have pictures of all the games as usual, nor of the big picture of the show.

Though I'm quite sure our appointed photographer took more then enough,so you'll see them pop up on the net in the coming days.

But let's have a look at the thingies I did see this year, and some words to go with them of course...

As always, there was a large variety of traders and games on show, though the Brexit ghost has caused a shift towards more "continental" traders as some regulars from the UK didn't make it this year.  A pity though, as I really wanted to go heavy "in" at Baccus 6mm.

Now, on the level of the games, I noticed two trends continuing from previous years:

1. World War 2 is by far the most demonstrated / played period, as can be seen from this variety of pictures.

2. Small scale skirmish games seem to be the other big popular item, games requiring a handfull of figures and can be played on the kitchen table.

Of course, there where some other games that caught my intrest but as I said in the beginning, I probably missed a heap, and did not have time to make long picture series for each of them.

It seems long gone are the days of the mass battles, though it is still around as rank upon rank of gorgeous uniforms march over the battlefield, but it is becoming less with the year it seems...

And then there was this gem:

One other thing I saw at the convention, but didn't buy just yet, was this mdf rack for paints, which might be my saviour for the newer, smaller paint desk in the new place.

So to round this short report of this year's show out, here are some more random snapshots of things that caught my eye, and drop by monday to see what the loot of the show has been...

Until next year, where I can be more involved again in the whole show, from the organisation to the build up and break down, and the day itself of course!