Monday, September 24, 2012

15mm Madness!

The cooler weather is starting to set in and that means gaming season, at least for me. the evenings start to get dark earlier, the air is cool and heading towards just plain cold in a month or so, so this is the time of year I like to start playing games again.

I plan on starting up a role playing campaign using Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 3e continuing off with the adventure that was started some time ago over the annual Malifaux Weekend event, minus a couple of characters so it should be a more manageable group(at least by numbers!) of 4 players.

I also want to get in a number of miniature games probably starting with Force on Force with my friend Eric but I would also like to get in some games of Flames of War as I have yet to try out the 3rd edition rules, Dust Warfare, Warhammer Fantasy, Warhammer 40k(I haven't played the newest edition here either), Infinity, Lasalle, Trafalgar, Bolt Action WWII and perhaps some others. Of course I realize I am not going to get all these in, after all there is only so much time to game and there is always other stuff to do.

I have also gotten back into some console gaming mostly F1 on the PS3 and Battlefield 3 on the 360.

I have played a few board and card games with the family. We went camping and we played a few rounds of Once Upon A Time, a card game by Atlas Games in which you try to empty your hand of cards by telling a story that uses the words written on the cards. The cards have names of places, people, items, events and aspects(words of description). The other players can interrupt your story by playing certain cards and take it over spinning their own tale and taking yours in a new direction. The rules are very basic and the game plays fast and is a lot of fun.

We also played Gloom, another card game by Atlas Games. This is another story telling game but has a little more structure. The idea is to make your family of misfits as unhappy as possible before they meet an untimely death. You do this by playing a number of events on your family members that will make them miserable while you can play happy events on other families. The game ends when one family is all dead and then everyone counts the "miserable" points on their dead characters(only dead characters). The most miserable family wins!

Tristan and I also played a game of Rune Wars by Fantasy Flight Games. I like this game a lot and have played it quite a bit. Tristan won, getting his 6th rune while I only had 4. I was in a position to get my other 2 runes within a couple of turns so it was a close game.

I have done a little painting as well. One of the things I like to do when I am not gaming is modelling. It is one of the reasons I like wargaming because when I can't get together to game I can always work on some other aspect of gaming like building and painting the models, making terrain, reading rules, researching a period, making army lists or any number of other activities.

Anyways I have been working on some 15mm soldiers, a little smaller scale than I usually paint and they require a slightly different method of painting. When painting 15mm figures I usually block in all the colours on the figures and then apply a wash coat, done. I painted up a couple of units of Napoleonic British. I used a white undercoat when painting these so the colours would be nice and bright before the wash was applied. I have also started painting up my Flames of War Americans. I used my traditional black undercoat for these as this gives a good base for the earthy colours of their uniforms. Both projects are coming along fine and I plan on painting up some cavalry next for my Napoleonic force. This will give me some options to field using the Lasalle rules.

I hope everyone is enjoying some games and if I get in the game of Force on Force soon I will take pictures and perhaps write up a battle report.

See you then.  

15mm Napoleonics by Battle Honours. Colours blocked in.

A closer look.

A unit of 4 bases with Army Painter Shades applied. Flags still to be attached.

The same unit.
Battlefront 15mm American infantry primed with the painting just starting.

The company CO underway.