Tuesday, September 27, 2011

My Little World 4th Anniversary

Another September 26th has come and gone for the Fourth Anniversary of My Little World Of Dementia. With the help of Chuckaroobob we have passed the planned one post a week goal three months early this year. Thanks for reading and here's to a better year next year.

ColKG

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Southern Front Convention Games Part 1

Southern Front is the best honkin' gaming con in North Carolina! Has been for the past 25 years! Bias? Darn tootin'!! It's where I was introduced to miniature gaming by Larry Brom and Ed Mohnmann with 25mm Napoleonics with a massive map-based campaign, a couple battles of which were played out on a 6'x12' table. I've been going since 1985. I did miss a year while I was in Africa, but nobody's perfect. There were probably between 150-200 gamers there. So why don't more people show up? Tell me and we'll both know..... This year they had a Flames of War tournament and games from all sorts of genre's; Sci-fi, fantasy, F&IW, ACW, WW2, Naval, Aviation, Steam, Ben Hur chariot racing, Napoleonics, ancients, zombies, colonials, Clint Eastwood, the list goes on and on..... Here's a sample of shots of the action:

Civil War naval, massive ships in massive numbers!

Heavy Gear mega-tank with supports. Don't forget the upcoming demo game in Heroes' Headquarters in Mocksville!




The doomed Zouves approach the church in the American Civil War. 25mm.

Flames of War Tournament Action! Typhoons dive on a fistful of StuG's.

FoW again, this time it's downtown, where apparently a division of T34's is preparing to assault. You know what I mean when I say "Assaulted?" I mean ASSAULTED!!!!!!

Whoa, how do you rotate a picture?



It's time for the big push during the War of Northern Aggression! Massive casualties await, especially for the Zouves in the center.

25mm Indians, ready to start hassleing the local settlers. Later in the game they were surrounded by militia and given a good kicking.

The Age of Fighting Sail, the Frogs trying to form line of battle. And you wondered where the term "ship of the line" came from.

The French Foreign Legion manning an outpost on Mars. The natives are restless. Or were they revolting?

Either way, they were too tough for the Legion at the outpost. Here's a shot of the lone survivor. The FFL did manage to hold out in other locations, one of which was the religious temple. The natives will no doubt take offense and be back with more guys!

Wings of War? Check! Some barrage ballons made an appearance, too.

The Battle of Guildford Courthouse played with 40mm figs. Here we have the Brits and some Hessians starting to push forward under the "Carnage and Glory" rules.

Warmachine Khador Jacks in a four way battle for King of the Hill, put on by the Gunbunnies of Raleigh.

Napoleon's retreat from Moscow 1812, using 40mm figs. Lots of random mayhem. I got the impression the French might have some trouble exiting the map.

15mm Cog Wars put to sea. A great simple game uncluttered by details such as wind speed or direction, tides or currents. Hey, are you supposed to be circumnavigating the globe or kicking butt? So get to it!



So did Cogs really ram each other? Every chance they got, buddy. How else are you going to board 'em and take the battle to the enemy?

25mm figs duke it out, guarding a supply wagon from interception. Looks very French & Indian War-ish, but you can never be too sure.

The Lord of the Ring sends his boys into Gondor. A nazgul tries real subtle-like to sneak around the north flank. Dude. Really. You're a nazgul. Full speed ahead and may hell take the hindmost!!!

Battleships go to battlestations as the enemy is sighted!

Look to your battle gear, and it will protect you. We guard it with our lives. Space Hulk, not for the squeamish.

Here's a squad of The Emperor's finest heading into the hulk. I'm pretty sure we all know what's lying in wait for them.

Why not strap on your X-Wing and give the Other Emperor another reason for heartburn?

A game of Firestorm Armada just getting started.

The action goes high-res with the Tron Lightcycle game. Four players duke it out!

Orange Stig is in trouble, as a series of bad dice rolls give the Yellow Peril two moves in a row! Boxed in, his only chance is an extremely difficult escape attempt, which results in another lousy dice roll.






That's me blasting along in top gear in the blue machine, past the spot where Orange Stig de-res'ed.





Trouble in paradise! My final moments as the dastardly Yellow Peril uses his special ability to create an extra section of wall which I can't avoid, just as I was about to blast past him and force him to de-res. The game was Obviously Rigged.


Stay tuned for additional shots and commentary in the not-too-distant future!

Friday, September 16, 2011

Ogre Kingdom Hunter Conversion

I have been adding to one of my Ogre Kingdom Hunter conversions. I had redid the models spear and turned it into a naginata styled halberd. I also wanted to add a oriental style bow based on a Japanese style Daikyu bow.

I drilled the hand and used a paper clip for the armature, then I added basic layer of greenstuff. I am still thinking on what I want for the final styling but I like the start.

The Naginata was just glued to the hand so I broke it off. I drilled the hand and shortened the long end of the shaft. Then pinned both sections back to the hand and touched the gap up with a little greenstuff. The Naginata is shorter now, a little more playable and more durable for the tabletop.


I decided to add a quiver for the Hunter's harpoons. After mocking up a couple different designs I went with an ogre sized box quiver holding two harpoon arrows. I roughed out the sides and then cut a center piece for the inside. I drilled two holes and then looped a piece of wire through it. The two ends of the wire will secure the harpoon arrows.



I used some 1/32 inch styrene tube for the arrows and scrap styrene sheet to make the fletchings.


I filled in the hollow part of the quiver with plastic contour putty then glued on a cover plate. I used some greenstuff to fill the gaps on the edges but still have more to do. I filled the end of the arrows with greenstuff and then sculpted some details onto the fletchings. Lastly I drilled some indentions in the front plate where I plan to sculpt some more detail later.


Here is a shot of the quiver tacked into place. I still need to add more detail.


A front shot of the hunter. I broke off the gut plate and will add a more stylish one later. I can see that it might have some problems on the table. The bow, arrows and spear all poke out a good way from the model and may get in the way when he charges into combat. I will worry about it more when I finish it and get it on the table.



ColKG

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Mystery of Anthropophagus Archipelago Part II

We return to the Cannibal Coast as the Battle rages. When we left "Ready" Freddy Roosevelt and his Roughriders, Lieutenant Xing and his Chinese soldiers and the mercenary Skull's Red Robed Cultists were fighting a three way battle over a strange Silver Flyer.

After shooting down several Chinese Skull takes a bullet in the eye and goes down.




Lieutenant Xing holds his smoking Broomhandle after dropping Skull with a well placed shot.




Two Red Robed troops charge out to take the fight to the Chinese.




And are cut down in the Chinese crossfire.




The Maxim team is gunned down, losing the machine gun duel with the Roughrider Gatling gun.




The Chinese squad close assaults the command bunker, destroying it.




Leading from the front Lieutenant Xing charges toward the flyer and he and his command squad are cut down by the Roughrider skulking in the woods.




The Roughriders break cover and close assault the surviving Red Robes, cutting them down.




The Chinese infantry mount the landing pad and try to start the Flyer.




The Roughriders hide in the ruined bunker and fire on the Chinese. Killing two and leaving another lone corporal.




The lone Corporal moves onto the landing pad and tries to start the flyer.




The Roughriders and Chinese exchange fire with the Chinese taking the worst of it, leaving them pinned beside the flyer.




Not wanting to damage the flyer the Roughriders break cover again and give the Chinese troops some cold steel, but the Lone Corporal tries to start the flyer again and fails.




The Roughriders gain the landing pad put can't stop the Lone Corporal.




Ready Freddy and his Roughriders mount the landing pad and prepare to run the Corporal out.




With no officer around to stop them the surviving Chinese troops fire up the RoughRiders and destroy the Flyer.




All the Roughriders are killed in the explosion but Ready Freddy and the Lone Corporal survive facing each other through the smoke.




The Corporal runs back towards his own troops and Freddy turns to run but is shot in the back.




The surviving Chinese leave the field to the Roughriders, what little there is left.




As the Chinese run and the Roughriders withdraw something stirs in the smoke and Skull walks into the wilderness.




This game was played at the Basement of Heaped Miniatures on 4 Sept 2011 using the Disposable Heroes rule set. the game was around a five hundred point game with Chuckaroo fielding his Roughriders based on the Riff War French list and me using the Chinese infantry platoon from Red Sun, Red Death.

Chuckaroo's List consisted of A command section, two rifle squads each with two submachine guns and a Heavymachine gun with two extra loaders. My List consisted of the command squad with one submachine gun, two rifle squads with a sub machine gun and a light machine gun, one rifle squad with explosives, a submachine gun and a light machine gun and a heavy machine gun team. I split the first two rifle squads into half sections and kept the explosives squad together and ended up using it to destroy the command bunker.


We wanted a pulp game so we added in the Red Robed cultists and Skull. The Cultists started with two sentries on the board. We had a system to decide what they needed to spot our troops but I rolled a one and raised the alarm early on so it didn't really matter. Once troops started coming out of the bunker we rolled a die to see if they came out and if they did a D6 for how many came out. then randomised their equipment from the models not on the board. Then a dice for which side they came out of and diced for how far they moved. We also decided that the Cultists would keep coming out until the bunker was destroyed. Writing it down, it sounds complicated but it actually plays rather quick.


We decided skull was a heavy and could take some punishment. So any shot that hit him had its AP halved. Lieutenant Xing got lucky and rolled a one on the first hit and put him down.


Last was the flyer. Both sides wanted it. We decided that a model in base contact could try to start the flyer instead of shooting. It would take a roll of a one to do it but we never had a success. The other rule was if anyone shot at a unit near the plane any misses would have a chance to damage it. I shot at the roughriders allot and missed most of them but did hit the flyer really good.


I had a really good time playing and look forward to the next installment.