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.

The Battlefields of France

So I have come back from visiting France and Belgium on a Canadian War Memorial tour which proved to be a interesting and sobering 10 days. We were in Caen, Juno Beach area (including some of Gold and Pegasus Bridge), Ardennes abbey, Dieppe and then north to numerous WWI sites such as Beaumount-Hamel(the Somme), Vimy Ridge (I found our name on the Vimy Memorial which I knew was their but of course had never seen it) and Ypres. We also saw a V2 site near Calais then on to London seeing Churchill's war room before catching our flight home.

I did not take any pictures of my 28mm Canadian soldier on any of the sites we visited as it did not seem right to do so.

Gaming wise it has been fairly light for obvious reasons but I did get in a few board games with my son. We played War of the Ring by Fantasy Flight Games and we used the Battles of the Third Age expansion for the first time. I really enjoy this game and I think this was the funnest game of it I've yet played with many cinematic moments and it came down to a military victory for Sauron(commanded by my son) with Frodo climbing up of Mount Doom almost within reach of his goal. It could have gone either way right up to the last so even though I lost I really had fun. The other game I played was a couple of scenarios of Dust Tactics which I have played before and though I could see the potential in the game it hadn't really grabbed me with it's lack of depth out of the box but since then I have added a couple of units to the mix and the game was a blast to play, quick and deadly.

I have also managed to get some modelling in building a platoon of 15mm M4's by the Plastic Soldier Company which I will be using for Flames of War and also working on the Napoleonic French fleet which is coming along nicely. I will post some pictures shortly.

Well I guess that's about it for now though as I was looking through my unpainted lead and plastic I realize I've got alot of catching up to do but don't we all!

Plastic Soldier Company M4 Shermans.

The platoon of 5.

A Battlefront miniature in the background.

My first squad for Dust Tactics.