MagCon II - Better late than never

Whew! Time for an after holidays breather... 


Earlier this month I attended Mag Con II held in New Caney, Texas a bit north of Houston. Good times were had by all. I was fortunate enough to run a couple of games. And before the doors opened I had a chance to walk around and snap some pix.

Beautiful eye popping Stalingrad Factory Complex buildings and terrain all scratch built by Mario Smith of Precision Design Models.

 

King of the Ring is a beer and pretzel fighting game which is also a free public domain game from France provided by Mike West.

World at War: Blood and Bridges hosted by me. 

That's me in the Soviet shirt.

My urban ruins table set up for Willy next table over to run his WWII Flying Lead and Nuts! scenarios. Read the batrep it on his blog post: http://tacticalminiaturesgaming.blogspot.com/2010/12/mag-con-2-aftermath.html

Merry Christmas from all the gang!

Well, tis truly is the Season and the toys ALL wanted to get together and do an obligatory group photo. I said to the guys, "Are you nuts?! There's no room to fit y'all - I don't care if you are all minis. And besides the coordination nightmare, we all have to make sure that everybody gets along. This'll be just like herding kittens." 


But a few nano seconds later I felt the sting of a humbug and relented. "OK, fine, let's go ahead do a photo but y'all have to pick representatives from each group..."

"Here we go, no crowding around and everyone squeeze together."

Take 1: Here' s the gang (or at least a SMITTERING of them as my Cuban gaming buddy, Uncle Greasy, would say). That pretty much represents most of everyone, I thought.

Take 2: OK, a few more lumbered in and flew by...

Take 3: ...and rode in...

Take 4: ...crawling thru...

Take 5: Now the ships came in!

Take 6: "Droids! We don't allow your kind here..."

Take 7: But of course, if the Droids join then the rest of the Star Wars knuckleheads have to crowd in... "And, I thought they smelled bad on the outside..."

Take 8: Finally. Cheese! MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!

Incursion 3D Board - REVISED, PART 1A

HOLD THE PHONE!

In my never ending quest for better ways of creating terrain for games I enjoy and play I must say that my last post on using ceramic tiles needed to be improved upon.

 I realized that I could do better.

For lots of reasons including weight, ease of constructibility and (my personal favorite) COST this would be the way to go. So without further ado...

(click on the pix to enlarge)

Same old masonite panel except this time I'm substituting 12"x12" self-stick VCT (vinyl composition tile) from Armstrong for ceramic tile.

Using a fine line pen for creating the 2" grid.

VCT tiles with 2" grid that have been adhered to the masonite boards.

Another test fit and so far looks "Wundebar". Of course those wall sections need to be redone.

Stay tuned...

Incursion 3D Board, PART 1

After a short hiatus and recovery from this past Thanxgiving holiday, I couldn't wait to get back and gather the materials needed to start my 3D Incursion board.

If you recall from a previous post, I created wall sections (both concrete and stone) to represent what was on the board and give it an added dimension. 

(click on the pix to enlarge)

AT-43 TacArm for scale reference next to 2" high x 1 1/2" thick concrete and stone wall sections.

This was just a mockup and my intent is to enlarge the board using 2" squares in lieu of the game's 40mm. I found that this increased square area would lend better to using over-sized models in the future.  

2"x2" Tiles

Tiles laid out on 1/4" Masonite

New wall sections will have to be built to match the 2" incremental lengths however the wall thickness I'll keep to about 1 1/2".

Beautifully sculpted lab doors and general control panels (GCP) by Fenris Games. Door frames will have to be built to nestle the lab doors between wall sections.

 Here's my scratch built versions of the game Objective markers; Left to Right: Doomsday Machine, Zombie Pinger and Caved In markers. 

Test fit using AT-43 Red Blok Mechs and Horrorscape Zombies as proxies

This'll work for the actual Incursion APE and Hans the Hunter over-sized models.

Coming up: details, details, details...

Mongols of The Golden Horde

When I was a wee lad, knee high to a gaming table, back in the 60's I remember seeing a movie on the big screen that made an impression and contributed to my passion as a gamer.

1965 Hollywood epic that was typical of it's time.

Needless to say, I had to paint Mongols. I initially started this army a few years back for WAB (Warhammer Ancient Battles - which I don't play anymore). The nobles and heavy cavalry contigent were figures exclusively from TAG (The Assault Group) while the rank and file are from Old Glory with some Pechenegs thrown in for variety. 

My paritially completed Mongols of the Golden Horde
Back Rank: Noble Heavy Cavalry, Middle: two blocks of Human Shields, Front: Foot Command

I also chose to supplement my army with the 'Kharash' aka 'Human Shields'. These units were made up of prisoners of war both civilian and military from recent conquests. They were put on the front line as literal shields and were essentially canon fodder (an anachronistic metaphor) during battles and sieges.

Arabic Human Shields (throw away units) which are a mix of TAG Chinese prisoners and Old Glory Arab peasants

More Arabic Human Shields (throw away units)

TAG General and Standard Bearers (the right two standards were scratch built) 

TAG Heavy Cavalry Nobles

TAG Foot Command Unit with General, Drummer and Standard Bearer (again with a scratch built standard)

 Old Glory rank and file in assembly.

Finally assembled and ready for paint.

Coming soon to a town near you: The Golden Horde!