Games While Camping, Hinging My Land Raider Doors

The family went camping last week, we packed up the car and the tent trailer and headed to one of the national parks, Kejimkujik. While packing up I found room for a couple of board games.

So between the hikes, biking, canoeing and trying to relax (impossible with a 3 year old in the family) we managed to play a few games. We played a couple of games of Carcasonne by Rio Grande Games, a game we usually bring with us when camping. Even the youngest, Galen, likes to play this trying to get all his meeples out first.

We also played a game of Tribune by Fantasy Flight Games  after Galen had gone to sleep. We played this in the dark by the camp fire under the light of our lantern. We called it after a certain point as it was getting late. Tristan was declared the winner with the most victory conditions though in one more turn I would have been able to pull out the win anyways.

I also brought a rpg to play, The One Ring by Cubicle 7 but we didn't get a chance to play. I always think it would be great to role play while camping but I never actually get to. I brought along Death Angel  by Fantasy Flight Games as well but didn't get that out either.

And that's been it for the gaming. I've been keeping busy with other things and have not managed to fit in any miniature games but I have been doing some modelling.

In an effort to field a slightly larger British Napoleonic army for Lasalle, besides the basic defensive force, I have started painting up a couple of extra infantry units to allow me to go on the offensive and a attached cavalry force. Lasalle has army lists consisting of a basic force which is modified when you are the attacker. You can then pick additional attachments, each player picking the same number. After that I will pick away at units as I have quite a few minis still in the bags. They are all 15mm Battle Honors.

I have started to repaint some 15mm German vehicles for Flames Of War. I had originally done the camo pattern with a brush but wasn't happy with the look so I decided to redo them with the air brush. I always imagine the air brush is more work than it actually is.

I continued working on my scratch built Trebuchet and my Land Raider Crusader.

Adding Green Stuff details like steel rings around the weight basket...

and metal pivot points.

The first unit of Brits under way. I am painting these up with the intent to dip them.

So I used white primer to brighten up the colours before the get toned down with the dip.

The camo pattern applied by airbrush. Much more satisfactory than the one I applied by brush which you can see in a previous post.

The whole group I did.

How I hinged the Land Raider Doors.

First I cut out the center section of the two exterior hinges.

Here they are cut with a hobby saw.

I then finished the job with a hobby knife and then filed the cut smooth.

I then cut off to small sections of plastic tube.

And then made sure they fit into the cut out sections.

Next I cut off two pieces of paper clip the length of the total hinge section.

I then drilled straight through the hinges.

The paper clip pieces were then pushed into the hinges as indicated by the tool.

The hinges were then glued in place applying a small drop of glue to each section of white tube where it will contact the hull.

After the glue has dried. The door opens...

and closes!

Well that's it for now, hopefully I will have a game report next time.

Basing and More Basing

Hello everyone, I hope people have been enjoying their summer. I had to consciously not start with "Well it's been a little while since my last post" because it seems to be the way I start them all these days. Work is busier and it's summer so not the best gaming season. Being Nova Scotia summer is only a couple of months long so we have to enjoy it while it's here and this summer has been quite nice so far.

I haven't gotten in a lot of games mainly because of a lack of time to get together with people though I did manage to get in a couple of games of War of The Ring by GW with my son. This is GW's large scale battle game set in Middle Earth. I have only played it a couple of times before but the rule set and the idea of big battles set in Middle Earth intrigue me so we hauled it out again.

We put together a couple of 1000 point armies and had a go at each other. Ok so I lost both games and the second game I actually called after turn 2! (I failed 4 important rolls in a row losing Boromir to a rampaging Mumak and failing to get Faramir into a blocking position in time).  We did a few things wrong but nothing major and are ready to give it another try.  I really have to figure out the best way to use Might points to pull off heroic actions, and that Mumak is tough!(maybe too tough in a 1000pt game).

I have done some modelling lately, mostly basing figures(GW Lord of the Rings) which I painted awhile ago but never finished the bases. I am using a simple sand and static grass technique which looks good and I think a forgot how easy and quick they are to do, or I would have done them a long time ago. So I based all my good forces and will move on to the evil forces.

I also put together a GW Land Raider which I had sitting in the basement for a couple of years and I hinged one of the side doors and am going to hinge the other door as well. This was so easy and quick that I might post up some pictures when I do up the other door.

I also started to build a trebuchet for my Minas Tirith forces. This is a scratch built model as I probably won't be using it that much to warrant paying for one.

My son and I have made a list of the miniature games that we would like to play semi regularly, and plan on playing a game every 3 weeks rotating through the different games. They are(drum roll) War of the Ring by GW, Lord of the Rings Strategy Game by GW, Warhammer Fanatsy by GW, Warhammer 40k by GW, Malifaux by Wyrd Miniatures and Dust Warfare by Fantasy Flight Games. We will have to see how it goes. We've played War of the Ring so I think next will be 40k.

The set up of the first War of the Ring game. Minas Tirith on the right and the Fallen Realms on the left. I had some rangers hidden in the woods.

Same battle, other angle.

Set up of the second battle from the Fallen Realms edge. This battle was fought with the set up on the narrow table side.

Same battle from Minas Tirith side. I had an Ent hidden in the woods.

Minas Tirith getting based.

My rangers based.

The trebuchet under construction.

Land Raider Crusader under construction. This is the hinged door.

Door open!

View of the interior.

  That's it for now. The next blog should have a 40k 6th edition battle to report on.

2nd Annual Malifaux Weekend

It's been awhile since my last post and just about a month ago since I held my second annual Malifaux weekend.

I had 6 players plus myself and this time I ran it in a tournament format. I used a standard format from Wyrd Miniature's Gaining Grounds Tournament rules. 35 soulstone crews, one faction per player, 3 rounds and Domination scoring.

We all went to the local pub to kick things off on Saturday and then headed back to the house to play the first 2 rounds. My wife made  pulled pork for supper and then we played a session of Warhammer Roleplay 3e. That finished off the 1st day quite late(or early Sunday) so everyone turned in for the night. All the participants stayed over for the night and the house was a little cramped but we all managed just fine!

The next day we had a large breakfast and then played the final round followed by a BBQ and I passed out certificates for 1st, 2nd and last. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, the hardest part was playing the games in the allotted time as the local players have never really played to a timed session and we are all fairly slow.

So the players were(in no particular order) Shawn playing Arcanists, Tristan playing Arcanists, Ed playing Gremlins, Julian playing Gremlins, Ian playing Guild and Chet playing Guild.

The final results were Ian, Shawn, Ed, Chet, Julian and Tristan.

Everyone seemed to have a good time and I think, if I continue running this, I will probably stick to the tournament format.

And a big thanks to Michelle for the great meals and putting up with our home being invaded by my friends and a metric tonne of their minis!

Shawn and I also played a game of Malifaux towards the Wyrd miniature world wide campaign, unfortunately I severely let down the Resurrectionist cause.

Tristan and I also managed to get in a few games of Warhammer Invasion and The Lord of the Rings card game, both by Fantasy Flight Games .

I've also been putting together a load of Orks for 40k, what with the new edition out. As well I also finishing off the 1st few models for Infinity .  

table 1

table 2

table 3 TerraClips(sideways!)

Round 1. Clockwise starting from the left: Ian, Tristan, Chet, Julian, Shawn and Ed.

Round 2 (note Ian contemplating his next illegal move!)

Round 3.

The obligatory "Shawn studying a stat card" shot.

My first Infinity figures, PanOceania Fusiliers. I still have to decide what I am going to do with the bases.

That's about it for now, talk to you in a few weeks or so.

Rob