Ahhhh... late spring and almost summer, at last...
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The pause that refreshes. No coke in this cocktail
to spoil the pure, dark rum goodness. As I contemplate
my drink whilst basking in the sun in my backyard,
it hit me. Egad, shouldn't I be blogging... |
After a looong absence and a break from travelling, I felt the need to get back into the swing of things with my much, alas, neglected blog. Without getting into any details suffice it to say that life gets in the way of the more important things: lusting after miniatures, collecting (or amassing) new miniatures, painting your miniatures and playing with your miniatures. Of course, not necessarily in that order.
I was fortunate enough to be able to attend one of our local Houston gaming events held this past April 14-15 in New Caney a tad north of H-town.
I got to sample a few wacky games. Two of them are worth mentioning because one) someone finally made this game that I dreamt of after seeing Monsterpocalypse and being disgusted by this wanna-be and two) this other game got my imaginative juices flowing and will put me back on the road to creative pursuits (i.e. making terrain).
First up is Godzilla: Kaiju World Wars. Now this boardgame, that comes with *gasp* ubercool miniatures is truly after my own heart. This no gimmicky, ripoff, collectible, miniatures game, thankyouverymuch! This is the real deal with the original Japanese monsters and every thang!! Andy Blozinski hosted and ran the game for 6 of us lucky and wacky gamers.
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| I got to play as Godzilla with Mecha Godzilla in the background! |
Like some gamers (myself included), Andy supplemented the original game with added 3d components for the eye-candylicious 'look and feel' that counters just can't do justice to (e.g. jets, APCs and tanks). Some of you might recognize the ubiquitous Gale Force Nine flame markers, as well. To be fair, the original game comes with four pre-painted, drool worthy miniatures, the iconic: Godzilla, Gigan, Rodan and King Ghidorah (better known as the 3 headed, long necked dragon from Monster Zero). It's ready to be played right outta the box. Then Andy (God bless 'im) found and included Mothra and Mecha Godzilla to this monstrous rogues gallery for the ultimate showdown and city bashing destruct-fest!
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This is more like it. Pick a monster and be
the monster. Fight with the puny tanks and
jets of the Japanese Self Defense Forces, other
Monsters and wreck Tokyo! Oh no!! |
A few games later Mike brought out Full Thrust. This is an old miniature game set in space that's simple and fun and reminded me a little of Silent Death. Incidentally, many of you know my obsession with eye candy on the gaming table. I mention this b/c we played this game as a test lo those many months ago and without a star map as shown below, I just couldn't get into it. What a difference a star map makes...
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Mike West's EM4 space ships on a
star map by Hotz Mats. |
So the part that got me (which isn't pictured above) was a planet and asteroid field that Mike added to this mat thereby enhancing my gaming experience. Four of us played with a pair of ships each and within an hour only two ships remained amongst a litter of space debris and wreckage floating against a backdrop of asteroids...
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As I pictured this, I then decided to make some
asteroids for a quick and easy project. Main
reason being: start creating again. |
Asteroids coming soon to a space mat near you...
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