Sorry Mancavers….its been a while since I last posted because its been crazy here recently. Most of August has been crazy busy with work and child summer holidays etc but stuff has been happening so bear with me whilst I try to paraphrase everything and start anew.
Firstly August was my birthday and my girls know me really well! I was given a copy of Twin Shadows, the Tattooine expansion from Fantasy Flight Games for Star Wars Imperial Assault. I also managed to get a set of extra dice for running my STIA campaign. Both the girls seem to love it too….Phoebe has a thing for rolling dice and taking them in and out of bags and Grace has a worrying knack of rolling Evades on Defence dice. I knew there was a reason I didn’t play her often!
Star Wars Imperial Assault Twin Shadows
The birthday also brought other goodies to the Mancave. I invested in an Airbrush and Compressor for painting miniatures. I opted for a deal from eBay and even though the airbrush provided isn’t the greatest it should allow me to develop my skills and improve.
Ooooo….a big white box…what could it be?
Well well well….its a Compressor for my airbrush.
My new Airbrush Compressor…just waiting on my Iwata Neo now!
I also bought an Iwata Neo Airbrush for when my mad crazy lack of painting skills improve enough to warrant a better quality airbush, then I’ll use the cheap one provided with my compressor for things like priming and painting scenery. The two brands and models highly recommended were the Iwata Neo and Badger Patriot 105. I opted for the Iwata Neo.
Iwata Neo Airbrush
So I’m definitely looking forward to getting involved and practising with my airbrush. To prompt me to do more I’ve also entered a monthly painting competition with some of the PRODOS guys on the Warzone Facebook page. Each month we’ll be taking a mini or unit from sprue to final painting. Its more of a painters support group rather than a serious competition. Damn you Evans!
Lastly as an impulse purchase the Mancave has received an upgrade……..we bought a Barcrest Aliens Fruit Machine!!!! Yes we have a fruit machine in the Mancave. Its crazy awesome!
The Mancave – before…..
The Mancave – after by dark…..
The Mancave – after by light…..
The Aliens Fruit Machine
I have actually managed to get some gaming in this month too. Ive been getting involved with Star Wars Armada, building fleet lists and tweaking my builds but only managed 1 serious competitive game. I grabbed a cheap Gladiator Class Destroyer off eBay to help me build something I’ve been planning. I’m considering running a swarm of Gladiators rather than using the Victory Class Star destroyers as they’re more maneuverable. One of the Admirals available to my Imperials, Admiral Motti, will grant extra hull points to each of them so they can be a little tougher when engaging those Rebel Assault Frigates.
Star Wars Armada Gladiator Class SD
I’ve had my first competitive game of Star Wars Armada against Dave Baxter at NAGA. My Imperial Fleet comprising of two Victory Class Star Destroyers with upgrades, 6 squadrons of TIE Bombers and 2 Squadrons of TIE Interceptors as Escorts managed to eek out a technical victory against Dave’s Rebel List of an Assault Frigate, two Corvettes and 8 squadrons of X-Wings. It was a tight game but after one of my VSD’s was destroyed by focus fire Dave’s Assault Frigate was forced off the board and unable to turn quickly enough he lost it. 178-165 to the Imperial Fleet!
Last night saw a defence of my position in the NAGA X-Wing League against a very determined Scott Russell and his Psycho Tycho and Outrider Dash combo. As soon as Scott sends me his fleet list I’ll post it as a comment on this post. My Imperial Fleet consisted of the following:-
Darth Vader (32) TIE Advanced (29), TIE/x1 (0), Calculation (1), Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1), Advanced Targeting Computer (5)
Colonel Jendon (43) Lambda-Class Shuttle (26), Fire-Control System (2), “Mangler” Cannon (4), Emperor Palpatine (8), ST-321 (3)
Lieutenant Colzet (25) TIE Advanced (23), TIE/x1 (0), Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1), Advanced Targeting Computer (5)
Colzet’s TIE Advanced (left) and Vader’s TIE Advanced (right) flank Colonel Jendon’s Lambda bearing Emperor Palpatine.
My Fleet less the Twin Ion Engines (unshown)
The idea was to advance slowly using Jendon to Target Lock the biggest threat and pass his Targets Locks off to Vader and Colzet. With the constant Target Locks and ability to K-turn and close quickly using soft 3 greens I could try to slide past the rebel ships and take down the biggest threats. Scott’s fleet closed very quickly using 2-3 actions per ship and stressing itself to ridiculous levels allowing his two ships to strip shields from Jendons Lambda but my twin TIE Advanced’s both assaulted Tycho and closed quickly not allowing Dash’s Outrider to use its Heavy Laser Cannon at R2-3. The setting of dice from Palpatine really saved the day as neither TIE Advanced even took damage. My three ships destroyed Tycho in a couple of turns even with his ridiculous numbers of evade dice. He parked on an asteroid and without a shot Colzet and Vader tore him to pieces as Jendon stopped dead and caused Dash to smash into the back of him. Now with three ships versus Scotts 1 it was merely a matter of time before Colzet and Vader did the business and finished Dash off. After 5 turns with Dash whittling a few hits off the Lambda every round it eventually fell and was destroyed onto to have Colzet sweep in and finish it off for the win. Victory to my Imperial fleet.
So all in all its been a really busy time here. I have made a vow to attempt to post more often following a super bust August including my daughters Summer Holidays.
I started painting my Xenos from my AvP core box set. I’m not going with anything clever just a nice clean table quality paint job. Grace, my eldest daughter, wanted to have a go at painting one herself so I helped her assemble and glue one of the Xenos before helping her prime it and drybrush it. All her won work but once its based and finished (during her next visit) I’m sure that it will be very difficult to distinguish between hers and mine. She’s better than I gave her credit for!
I’m hitting them up with a Black Prime basecoat, then drybrushing the highest points with Pure Silver from the P3 range, following that a wash of Nuln Oil from GW to add depth before spraying a Satin Varnish all over to protect the paint. Only once this is dry will I start to paint the domes of the Xeno heads with GW’s ‘Ardcoat to add a wet look. Heres some WiP shots of my work so far.
Next week I’ll be getting a demo for Guildball from Mark Southerd at NAGA so I’ll finally get a chance to play my fishermen team against his Alchemists. he’s not only a very good player but also a professional demo guy for it so I should be on the wrong end of a beating! Im still doing my “Gaming on a Budget” series of articles and will be posting one as soon as I decide what this months purchases will be.
Over and out for now Mancavers!
Watch this space for more Mancave updates. There will be Star Trek Attack Wing updates as the new waves drop, Star Wars X-Wing updates including hopefully a glimpse of the new core set from Fantasy Flight Games for The Force Awakens, a review of the new Smash-Up:Munchkin and hopefully more updates on painting all my AvP stuff. With so much going on its going to be a very busy time!
talesfromthemancave 