Geek Exile is over! Im back!

Ok folks, my geek exile is over.  I took the month of April off to have a holiday with the family and look after my daughter over Easter break.  I’m now back!

I did manage to sneak an appearance at Salute 2015 into my month off but mainly to support PRODOS and pick up my Imperial troops for Warzone Resurrection.  Thankfully whilst some of the items I really wanted were out of stock I did manage to pickup two Imperial Wolfbane Starter Boxes, a Morten Oakenfist, a set of Grey Ghosts, some Imperial Special Forces and the Freedom Forever Salute exclusive diorama. Lots to be done here.

The Cybertronic Voltigeur was also released during April and rather than miss out I ordered a couple to add to my Cybertronic forces.  These really need “the Matrix” treatment as I really think Voltigeur Drones need some awesome mechadendrites as they skulk and crawl across the battlefield.  I created a Pinterest board showing my inspiration for my Cybertronic:-

https://uk.pinterest.com/jasemarden/cybertronic-inspiration/

A slow by steadily increasing pile of awesomeness has been developing in the Mancave and I’m working my way through it.

Whilst at Salute I managed to grab some images of the models for AvP.  Anthony Evans aka Anton from the Blog The Anarchy of Anton was demoing a fantastic looking jungle temp table using AvP minis and a “homebrew” set of rules based off WZR rules.  I stepped in to run a demo whilst he was away and the minis are generating quite the buzz.  The same question kept popping up over and over again “When will I get my KS minis?”.  Poor Hairy Gamer Tris wasn;lt even volunteering or demoing and he still had to face these questions.  With final approval in the pipeline and only a matter of a signature from FOX to get things moving its an exciting and stressful time for the guys at PRODOS and for all us AvP KS backers at the same time.  It was commented that they hoped to have retail copies available for UK Games Expo at the end of May.  I’m going to cross my fingers for that!

I added an Oversized Borg Cube to my Star Trek Attack Wing as it was a peach of a deal from Tritex Games at £50.  I also managed to grab hold of 10 x IRW Praetus for my Romulans which adds 10 sets of cloaked mines to my 4 sets I already had.  Im seriously considering a very Cloaked Mine heavy build for something in the future.  I think it has to be done….maybe in a pre-TOS era game?

Wave 13 Star trek Attack Wing also arrived in the Mancave.  I added 2 x ISS Enterprise, Constitution class starship from Mirror Universe, 2 x Reklar, Galor Class Warship from the Dominion and 2 x Goranus, Gorn Ship from Independants faction.  With Wave 14 not that far away and my Peak Performance & Q-Continuum OP kits on their way I really need to pick up some new display cases from Ikea to house the huge amount of ships I now have.  I think I’m in the 270 region now.

I also have a few Star Wars X-Wing goodies to open up.  My YT-2400 arrived along with 2 x Z-95 Headhunters and a B-Wing for my Rebels.  The Empire was reinforced too in the form of a pair of TIE-Bombers.  Lastly my Scum and Villainy picked up a third M3-A Scyk Interceptor and a Starviper.  Happy days indeed and a good way to celebrate Star Wars Day (#maythe4thbewithyou).

More Star Wars goodies arrived in the form of Star Wars Armada and luckily Hairy Gamer Tris and I managed to squeeze in a quick game at Salute 2015 when we attended.  A minor victory was mine as his Rebel Scum were taught a lesson by the might of the Galactic Empire.  I just need to debox and review my Armada.  Better late than never eh??

So, I guess you can look forward to more content from me as the weeks go by now I’m back.  More battle reports from NAGA, more STAW OP events run by yours truly and Scott Young at Youngs Hobbies.  If you want to see anything please do let me know.

Cybertronic Faction Inspiration

As part of building my Cybertronic troops for PRODOS’ Warzone Resurrection wargame I have started a Pinterest detailing all the images and ideas I’m using as inspiration.  It includes but is not limited to:-

Gort from The Day The Earth Stood Still

Cylons from Battlestar Galactica

ABC Warriors from Judge Dredd

Borg from the Star Trek Universe

Jaeger crews from Pacific Rim

IG-88 from the Star Wars Universe

Sentinels from The Matrix Trilogy

Necrons, the big bad robotic army in Games Workshops, a certain other gaming companies, flagship wargame set in the Warhammer 40,000 Universe

I’ve invited others to participate and they can add images as they see fit.  I’ve extended that invite out to other WZR players on the FB Page:-

https://www.facebook.com/groups/357812617583537/

Here is the link to the Pinterest:-

https://uk.pinterest.com/jasemarden/cybertronic-inspiration/

I hope you agree with my suggestions and ideas, if not feel free to suggest some of your own.

General Gaming Update/Name and Shame

Its been about a week or so since my last update and whilst nothing of earth shattering importance has occurred I feel I should still do a bit of an update to keep people up-to-date with where we are.

You could also view this as a bit of a warning…..of late I’ve bought lots of stuff and some online retailers are very suspect in their service and ability to do simple things….name and shame time.

Warzone – well Wayland Games messed up my Armoured Chasseurs order sending me two boxes of the Old Version rather than two boxes of the New Version (released 31-01-15).  So I contacted them and they insisted i raise a Helpdesk ticket to resolve their mistake.  So now they’ve contacted PRODOS and advised them to ship some new ones to me.  Well despite having a very clear order and the information in front of them they only advised PRODOS to ship 1 set so yet another helpdesk ticket and another phonecall later and they have asked PRODOS to send another set. *sigh*

I did manage to pick up two squads of Mirrormen to join Pieter Diamond so lots of models for assembly.  Thank you Black Dragon Miniatures

Lastly I ordered a Mishima Starter Box force from Wargames Miniatures on EBay, who seem to have the same service team as Wayland and have, since 2nd February, failed to dispatch my order despite two messages requesting they do.  They have until the close of play today for it to arrive or I will be raising a dispute against them and using Paypal to get my money back.

Allan Powell and I will be attending Overlord Gaming Convention/Show on March 1st in Abingdon to run some Warzone Demo’s so please do come along and grab a game with us.  It would be great to expand the community and get others interested in what is an excellent product.

I’ll also be going over to Leicester on Wednesday evening to join Anthony Evans as he demos Warzone Resurrection at Tabletop Tyrant/Gifts for Geeks.  Im looking forward to getting some more WZR gaming time.  I may even have to book some tickets for the UK Games EXPO Warzone Resurrection tournament (sadly I fear it clashes with Empire 1 2015)

Lastly in WZR I bought some excellent resin bases for my WZR models from bases4war (http://www.bases4war.com/).  I went with the Battlefield Debris range and picked up 40 small (30mm lipped) and 10 medium (40mm lipped) for basing my Cybertronic on.  These are excellent bases and will really unify my Cybertronic forces.

http://www.startrek.com/article/first-look-attacking-wing-kazon-ogla-razik-expansion-pack

http://www.startrek.com/article/first-look-attack-wing-wave-12-tholia-one

Star Trek Attack Wing – The previews for the new Wave 12 ships begin to find their way online so its time for an update.  Well my Wave 11 ships arrived quickly and reasonably cheaply from Chaos Cards without issue.  I *think* they worked out as £9-95 per ship, which was cheaper than using one of the American traders and cheaper than most if not all of the FLGS.  Looking forward to another Romulan ship in Wave 12 which sadly hasn’t been previewed yet…..the IRW Haakona.

Taken from Memory-Alpha:-

“The IRW Haakona was a Romulan D’deridex-class warbird that was in service with the Romulan military in the mid-24th century.

In 2365, Subcommander Taris was the commanding officer of this ship. In that year, the Haakona covertly downloaded logs from USS Yamato and then followed the USS Enterprise-D to the planet Iconia. However, the warbird had acquired the same malevolent Iconian software transmission in the download as the Enterprise-D, and was experiencing similar system malfunctions, which Taris blamed on Starfleet sabotage. Nevertheless, on the warnings from the Enterprise-D the Haakona destroyed an Iconian probe before it could make a scan, prolonging its survival.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard escaped from the surface of Iconia onto the Haakona using an Iconian gateway, and was shortly after beamed back to the Enterprise-D. By that time, the program had activated the Haakona’s self-destruct sequence. The Enterprise-D transmitted instructions on neutralizing the Iconian program to the Haakona before its departure, saving the Romulan vessel. (TNG: “Contagion“)”

Speculation abounds as to what we’ll be seeing on the Haakona but I’m going to go with a Subcommander Taris card, maybe a CS6 or 7?  An Iconian Gateway/Probe?  A Romulan version of Self Destruct perhaps?  Maybe some generic Romulan Security Officers as many were used in this TNG epsiode (and later went on to become named STTNG CCG characters/cards.  Lets hope for a decent ship for the Empire this time around!

Star Wars X-Wing – Due to a recent expansion at NAGA I now find myself on the Star Wars X-Wing Club League table in a lowly 7th position.  I’ve made an official challenge for the 5th place position after the forthcoming game between Alan Mathieson and Mithell Dunton, so we’ll see how that goes.  It could be my usual list or I could mix it up and go with dual Phantoms.  This depends on whether my second Phantom arrives in time. *crosses fingers*

So Bases4War, Chaos Cards and Black Dragon Miniatures all get the thumbs up from me this week but sadly Wayland Games and Wargames.Miniatures both need to seriously up their game or risk further naming and shamings and loss of custom.

New Cybertronic troop releases from PRODOS for WZR

New Armoured Chasseurs for Cybertronic.

Pieter Diamond, Cybertronic Mirrorman posterboy and Hero.

Seems like I got involved with Warzone Resurrection and especially Cybertronic at just the right time.  Some conversations with various people about some of the older models had prompted me to go out on a limb and say they simply didnt have the “look or feel” of Cybertronic as I understood it.  Then lo and behold the guys at PRODOS reveal that the new models shown in the pictures above will be released at the end of January.

We Cybertronic guys can look forward to seeing a Pieter “The Shield” Diamond model and a new set of models for Armoured Chasseurs which are awesomely sculpted and in super fine detail.  I for one cannot wait to add these guys to my forces.

The former Bauhausian Cybertronic Mirrorman Pieter Diamond has an interesting backstory bringing him to the Cybertronic fold.   He is a Squad Commander upgrade for a single squad of Mirrormen in your Cybertronic army, or a great figure to use as a Create your own warlord.

‘The unbelievably handsome Pieter Werhowen was once a highly esteemed Jaeger Korps officer, but his station and masculine beauty had a price, he was regarded with an insatiable envy by friends and enemies alike. Little did he know that one day this jealousy would bring him his final Bauhausian breath. On the ice plains of northern Venus, Werhowen led a shock assault on a Cybertronic Research Facility. The three sins of covetousness: jealousy, cowardice and envy, converged under the watchful gaze of Semai; Werhowen’s
friend and protégé, Paulo Kilermann, blasted the unsuspecting officer in the back. As Werhowen breathed his last, a solitary tear ran down his cheek and he mouthed ‘You will pay!’ to the turncoat. The death of their leader routed the Korps instantly, each and every one to be cut in twain by Cybertronic lasers. Only one man, the damned man, survived.
Pieter ‘The Shield’ Werhowen was Diamondised and enhanced shortly after by his foes, bringing the fallen Bauhaus hero back from the dead. He is now regarded as ‘the’ poster boy of the fifth megacorp. His media-darling status is continually furthered by his acts of heroism on the battlefield; where he fights with an utter finesse, wielding his CSA404 Heat Sword and Mirrorshard Shield in a perfect unison. He is a media-savvy man that knows what he is doing, using stealth and his camouflaged suit to appear out of the shadows as a visage of Cybertronic excellence exactly where the media cameras are pointing. Once he has their attention he turns on the chrome, dazzling and delighting his fans to a heady euphoria. Little do they know that behind his perfect public façade, one thing and one thing alone drives him; a passion from his past too powerful to forget, his unrelenting and unending thirst for revenge, ‘Paulo Kilermann will pay!’

Thanks to Rob Alderman of PRODOS and Gamewire for the fluff above.

Welcome to 2015

Uuurrrggghhhh…….so alarm clocks are ringing all over the country to signal a return to work for the masses.  Christmas and New Year are over and I sit here trying to formulate the first talesfromthemancave update of 2015.

Firstly I hope the Christmas holidays brought you all happiness and cheer and that Father Geekmas and his Elves (no not the High, Dark or Wood varieties) delivered you all sacks bulging with geeky goodness.  It certainly brought me more work to get cracking with over the next few weeks.

Starting with Necromunda…..well after a good rummage in the loft some 18+ year old scenery was discovered loitering in a stack and store box so I resolved to clean it up and take stock.  I now have 82 original Plastic Bulkheads and the scenery from two Necromunda boxes and an Outlanders box.  This should be enough to get a decent sized game going.  I do need to flatten out some of the cardboard components as some have warped slightly over the 18 years.  Not a huge problem though!

This also meant that other goodies were found.  A whole heap of older miniatures which will need a good clean up but can be used or will fetch a few pennies via Evil-Bay.  A 11 player Naggaroth Nightmares Dark Elf Blood Bowl Team, a full 5 man squad of Adeptus Arbites for Necromunda, three Catachan Imperial Guard troops which will sub in as Orlocks and join the Orlock Heavy with Heavy Bolter.  I also found some very badly painted Skaven Blood Bowl players, an original Commissar Yarrick model, two Eldar Warpspiders and some Dark Angel models (a Captain and a Deathwing Terminator).

Some old school boardgames were found in various stages of completion and to be honest the only salvageable ones were MB’s Battle Masters and Waddingtons Key to The Kingdom.  I’m going to try and get the kids to play these at some point.

Santa (courtesy of my girls) brought me some Star Wars X-Wing Minitaures to add to the Mancaves collection.  I was lucky and received a Starter/Core Box, an A-Wing and an E-Wing for the Rebels but knowing me very well the bulk of my goodies were Imperials.  I got a TIE Bomber, a TIE Defender, a TIE Phantom, a TIE Interceptor and the Imperial Aces Expansions.  So I was a very happy geek.  I also received some pennies to go and get a good deal on some other ships so I managed to add a Decimator (£23), a Lambda Shuttle (£18) and a further TIE Fighter (£9.50) expansion.

It seems that every geek who didn’t already own a copy got a copy of the game of 2014 left in their stocking too….Cards Against Humanity.  My stocking was no exception as it contained a copy of the core game and the first expansion.  Lessons have been learnt.  Played a couple of games and my only advice would be never play it with your parents and definitely never play it with a recently remarried parent.  I am going to need therapy.  Cheers Dad!

I didn’t manage to get a great deal done with regards to advancing the many projects I currently have but I certainly managed to expand existing collections and start new ones.  Courtesy of an Amazon Wishlist and relatives who cant decide what to get you I managed to end up with some X-mas pennies and some Amazon Vouchers.  Knowing that 2015 will bring me some PRODOS Crusading to be getting on with I invested some of these pennies in a Warzone Resurrection Starter Force Boxset (Cybertronic) and a rulebook which over the coming months I shall be adding to and bringing you reviews and more information on via this blog.  My aim is to add a unit every month until I have a well rounded force to use in demo games and against more experienced players who will be teaching me to play along the way.  More about this in a later entry.

I received a 3ft x 3ft gaming mat from Gale Force 9 from my better half and kids too.  So I will now be able to take some better pictures of the items I receive and update my Star Wars and Star Trek collections with so look out for that!

In terms of games played well we visited friends and had family visit so we managed to get a few games in.  The game of the moment Cards Against Humanity was played lots and provided me with a therapy inducing insight in my fathers private life.  We also managed to teach my Dad and his new wife Smash-Up.  We had Bear Cavalry Spies vs Magical Monstrous Creatures vs Vampiric Ghosts vs Zombie Ants.  After 4 hours of playing the Vampiric Ghosts came out on top closely followed by the Zombie Ants and leaving the Bear Cavalry Spies trailing in third with the Magical Monstrous Creatures in last place.

I attempted to teach my daughter (and Step-Mother) Family Fluxx and Munchkin.  Whether the gin made this prohibitively difficult or she genuinely didnt get the premise I dont know but Munchkin was a disaster.  Family Fluxx was easily taught and small enough to carry other places and take on holiday etc.  So that was successful.

Overall a happy restful and enjoyable Xmas break at Hairy Gamer HQ.  I feel refreshed and ready for the assault on my various gaming projects.

Bring on 2015, bring on AvP, bring on Warzone Resurrection, bring on the Necromunda and bring on Star Wars & Star Trek.  Happy gaming guys and gals!