A quick update. …

Sorry it’s been a quiet month on Tales From The Mancave….the girls have been excitedly preparing for Christmas and I’ve been kept busy with shopping, wrapping, chopping, cooking and playing games that sadly aren’t the kind I’d usually post about. So I’m going to give a quick update to keep your all advised of what’s been going down.  Let’s keep this simple. ….

I managed to grab three Star Trek Attack Wing Reinforcement Blind Booster Bricks for the forthcoming Temporal Cold War OP Series. I’ll be trying to post about each vessel and stick some pictures up as soon as I can.

Sticking with a space theme I’ll move next onto Star Wars.  I managed to grab a viewing of The Force Awakens on opening day and was like a child in a sweetshop with Daddy’s credit card!  Lol. Gaming wise I managed to pick up the last remaining ship I required to complete my Star Wars X-Wing collection. …the Tantive 4. Now onto Wave 8.  Being a massive Imperial fan I also wanted to get my dirty hands on the impressive Gozanti class Imperial Assault Carrier to swell the ranks of my Imperial Fleet.  I grabbed one for a very good deal of £39.67 (including P&P) from boardgameprices.co.uk which I was very happy about!

Sticking with Star Wars Christmas was very kind to me and I managed to get a whole heap of Star Wars Imperial Assault goodies from my girls.  I received Dengar to add to my wretched hive of scum in IG-88 & Boba Fett. I’m aiming to put together the whole line up of Bounty Hunters from The Empire Strikes Back. …so I need 4-Lom, Zuckuss and Bossk.  Then I’ll have then go toe to toe with my other games worth of hunters….the Predators from Prodos’ AvP.  I also got a copy of the latest expansion for SW:IA Return to Hoth. Finally I was given a load of Villain and Ally packs to build my SW:IA forces; – a Royal Guard Champion,  Kayn Samos, Chewbacca, Han Solo, R2-D2 & C-3PO and Princess Leia. So I can now assemble the whole gang from the films.  Happy gamer!

I did post a while ago about me returning to the Judge Dredd fold at NAGA to have some games with Brent Jay and Co. Well I was watching some very good deals on EBay and add luck would have it I did manage to scoop up the whole lot for a very decent price of £37 (including P&P). I ended up winning auctions for gangs for Judge Cals Personal Retinue, Justice Dept. Mega City Judges and Specialist Judges. So they’ll go onto the gaming table for use at some point in January against Brent.

The Hairy Gamers (me and Tris) took a little road trip to Dragonmeet in London during December to collect our AvP Wave 2 pledges and boy was there a whole load to struggle through a busy convention with.  I now have 3x Alien Warriors, 2x Alien Queens, 2x Royal Guards, 2x Alien Crushers, 2x Predaliens, 2x Alien Eggs, 2x Berserker Predators, 2x Predator HellHounds, 2x USCM Powerloaders and 1x each set of Dice (USCM, Aliens & Predators). I also bought an extra two boxes of Alien Warriors from Asylum Wargames Online Shop for a great price of £10 each. You can grab some too by visiting them on http://asylumwargaming.tictail.com/ . These guys have great deals on all sorts of goodies residual if you’re interested in Macrocosm or AvP.

This takes me neatly onto Macrocosm. Despite the awesome Chris Nicholls being very busy with his adventure into fatherhood for the second time he managed to go above and beyond to send out my Macrocosm Malignancy pledge.  Once the chaos of Christmas has subdued I’ll try to take some pictures and post more about this! Thanks Chris.  If you too are interested in Macrocosm then you can find more details on the website at http://www.macrocosm.co.uk/

Whilst we were on our road trip I managed to teach Tris the rules for The Devils Run and we even managed to grab a couple of demo games on the stand the Word Forge Games team were using.  Both of us are mad keen for this game and with any luck I’ll be able to help Mark Rapson with some more play testing and reviewing of the game in the build up to shipping.  With so many ideas for this game, with me posting regular bat-reps and reviews and with Mad Max Fury Road available on Blu-Ray and DVD it was inevitable that others would be drawn into the TDR:R666 game. Recently Tris and I expanded the Hairy Gamers family by inviting Gareth Mosley and James Hall to join our ranks. Both have the R666 bug and are busy trash-bashing and scheming for when R666 drops.  James has been busy using any and all HotWheels and Matchbox cars he can get his busy hands on to bash together some cars to use.  I myself am waiting until my pledge drops to see what gaps I have in my collection before getting too busy with trash-bashing. My ideas are mainly for scenery and game tiles based on British Roads rather than the American ones in the game.

Guildball now. ….as some of my regular readers will recall I play in a local Guildhall league at Black Dragon Games in Hinckley. Sadlt this has not been going to we’ll for my Fishermen who have lost their opening two encounters against Craigs Mort-Union team (12-8) & Andy T’s murderous Butchers (12-4). This week I have a double header of games planned against David Mustin and Mark Southerd in store on Tuesday so watch this space for that.  I’ve gone in half’s on a Union Starter with David to get me a copy of Avarisse and Greede to add to my Union Starter of Blackheath, Decimate and Gutter. I also added a Harry “The Hat” Hallahan to my Union line-up this month as well as hopefully getting the miniatures I’m owed by Jay Finnegan in the form of Fangtooth and Hemlocke. At some point I’ll have to grab me a copy of Coin,  the Union Mascot, so I can play Union too. I’ll do a “Gaming on a Budget” post later to cover my Guildball activities.  Having seen a couple of demo’s at Dragonmeet and spoken to one of the brains behind Guildball, Rich, Hairy Gamer Tris had also picked up a great deal on a Masons team for Guildball so we’ll probably throw down at some point even if it’s just to teach him the rules.

Lastly im going to talk about Frostgrave. Not the game or any bat-reps or warband stuff but mostly terrain.  I managed to grab myself two of the old Games Workshop Mighty Fortress plastic kits from EBay as a starter for my planned scenery. I wanted to build the walls of Felstadt. I also picked up 84 Lemax Snow Covered Wintery Pine Trees, a Garden of Morr kit from GW and some rather large Amera plastic moulded kits for their F204 Large Hill Top Ruin (Fantasy Realms page) & Z236 Corner Ruined Building  (Future Zone page). You can take a closer look at thier range on the link below;-

http://www.amera.co.uk/product.php?range=f

Once I get the chance to do anything with any of the above I’ll post something.

Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year to you all!

Panzerfauste – a 28mm Historo-fantasy wargame of Gnomes, Dwarves, Orcs and many others fight a war of attrition across a mythical landscape.

Panzerfauste Banner

Today I’m going to be taking a look at Panzerfauste, a recent successfully funded Kickstarter for Hysterical Games, the wargaming vehicle of Rob Alderman and Steve Blease.  Heres a link to the Hysterical Games website for you all to go take a look:-

http://www.hystericalgames.co.uk/

And, for all the latest updates and news, please ‘Like’ Panzerfauste on Facebook:-

https://www.facebook.com/HystericalGames

Players can also download the free, quarterly magazine from Wargame Vault!:-

http://www.wargamevault.com/product/151341/Panzerfuste-Quarterly-Issue-One

So what’s it all about?

Welcome to The Land and the world of Panzerfäuste, our exciting game of mechanised warfare in a fantasy world. Enter a world where Dwarves, Orcs, Gnomes and a plethora of other creatures continue their millennia long struggles, but with modern advances of tanks, sub-machine guns and grenades. Fight on battlefields where death is impersonal and only a heartbeat away. March your troops across green fields, through muddy trenches, over snow-capped mountains or into dank caverns… Come fight in the world of Panzerfäuste and see if you can reign supreme in The Land!

Panzerfäuste is a fun ‘Historo-Fantasy’ miniature wargame setting, in which 28mm scale miniatures are used to depict the everyday struggles of standard ‘Tolkienesque’ fantasy races such as Orcs, Dwarves and Elves fight out battles with 20th century weaponry.

Ok so this game should appeal to the historical wargamers and fantasy wargamers alike.  If you’ve never played either the humour and setting may appeal to you on a comedic level as armies of “French” Gnomes, “German” Dwarves, “British” Orcs and “Polish” Troglodytes battle in a twisted fantasy world set in and around WW1 & WW2.

Firstly the game comes in two variants:- the Skirmish (think Batman/Judge Dredd/Malifaux/Necromunda scale forces) and the Mass Battle (think Bolt Action/KoW/WH scale forces).  This gives players an oppotunity to invest at a very manageable level.  They do not need to spend hundreds of pounds to get involved which is always a bonus!  The beta rules are available for Download so getting hold of rules is free, easy and couldnt be simpler!!

You can download the Beta rules for Panzerfäuste: Skirmish here: SKIRMISH BETA RULES
You can download the Beta rules for Panzerfäuste: Mass Battle here: MASS BATTLE BETA RULES

The game can be played using the Skirmish rules, with a Section of infantry or played using the Mass Battle rules which cater for collections at Platoon to Company level, with two or three Sections of troops, armoured support and a character or two making up the bulk of most games. This means that the average game of Panzerfäuste requires no more than 30 or so miniatures.

The miniatures for Panzerfauste will be manufactured in a high quality and resilient polyurethane resin material, perfect for miniature gaming figurines by PRODOS Games. Hard-wearing and capturing excellent detail, these miniatures truly pop.

I’m going to attach a Gallery of images so people can see just what the sneaky nefarious plans and scheming minds at Hysterical Games are plotting for this game.  Go take a look on the links themselves and let me know what you think.

This game is currently funded at 340% via Kickstarter but remains open until 08-11-18 at 8pm.  Its currently collected £17,000 worth of pledges and is smashing stretch goal targets on a daily basis.  I’d strongly suggest you go and pledge.

Pledges can be anything from £1, the “Private” level pledge which gets you in on the Kickstarter and grants access to the post KS goals and add-ons all the way upto £750 which grants access to “Field Marshall” level pledge.  This is a collosal pledge which is Limited to only 5 Pledgers (one per current planned race….hmmmm…mysterious 5th race!?) allowing you to design your own character and get yourself in the game! Hysterical Games will work with you to create a new, named character to fit into the setting and create a miniature of it. This figure will have a likeness to you, but mixed in with the race of your choice! Choices will be first come, first served, so if you absolutely MUST be an Orc, pledge soon!

You will also receive x10 of your custom character, as well as Two REINFORCED Infantry Platoons!

A total of:
6 x Section Sets
2 x Command Sets
2 x Support Weapons Sets
(from any of the unlocked races) plus a copy of ‘Panzerfäuste: Skirmish’ AND ‘Panzerfäuste: Mass Battle’ and get access to purchase any of the add-ons this project has to offer.

This is the pledge level for any serious Panzerfauste-a-holic looking to play huge games.  Pledge quickly before these pledges are all gone!

What are you waiting for?  Go get involved!

Crowdfunding – why gamble with your money?

As some of you may know I have backed the odd Kickstarter project in the past and even an Indiegogo project.  These are crowdfunded projects which rely on backers to take an estimated gamble to make them happen.  But what exactly is crowdfunding and most importantly how does it work?

Kickstarter and Indiegogo Logos

Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising monetary contributions from a large number of people, typically via the internet.  Crowdfunding is a form of alternative finance, which has emerged outside of the traditional financial system.

The crowdfunding model is based on three types of actors: the project creator who proposes an idea and/or project to be funded; backers, individuals or groups who support the idea; and a moderating organization (the “platform”) that brings the parties together to launch the idea.  Moderating organizations include Kickstarter, FundAnything, ICrowdFund and Indiegogo.

In 2013, the crowdfunding industry raised over $5.1 billion worldwide.

Kickstarter is one of a number of crowdfunding platforms for gathering money from the public, which circumvents traditional avenues of investment.  Project creators choose a deadline and a minimum funding goal. If the goal is not met by the deadline, no funds are collected, a kind of assurance contract. Money pledged by donors is collected using Amazon Payments. The platform is open to backers from anywhere in the world and to creators from the US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, The Netherlands, Denmark, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Spain, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg and Switzerland.

There is no guarantee that people who post projects on Kickstarter will deliver on their projects, use the money to implement their projects, or that the completed projects will meet backers’ expectations. Kickstarter advises backers to use their own judgment on supporting a project. They also warn project leaders that they could be liable for legal damages from backers for failure to deliver on promises. Projects might also fail even after a successful fundraising campaign when creators underestimate the total costs required or technical difficulties to be overcome.

Indiegogo users/project creators can create a page for their funding campaign, set up an account with PayPal, make a list of “perks” for different levels of investment, then create a social media–based publicity effort. Users publicize the projects themselves—through Facebook, Twitter and similar platforms. The site levies a 4% fee for successful campaigns. For campaigns that fail to raise their target amount, users have the option of either refunding all money to their contributors at no charge or keeping all money raised minus a 9% fee. Unlike similar sites such as Kickstarter, Indiegogo disburses the funds immediately, when the contributions are collected through the user’s PayPal accounts. Indiegogo also offers direct credit card payment acceptance through their own portal. Those funds are disbursed up to two weeks after the conclusion of a campaign.

So why would anyone in their right mind risk their money to use a crowdfunding website to back a project?  Well there are perks to be had.   Backers usually buy into a project using a “pledge”.  A pledge can grant access to restricted or limited edition products and more usually reduced prices on the final product being backed.  As money is raised “stretch goals” are achieved and more options are made available and more freebies on each pledge awarded.  Occasionally early backers can get favourable treatment by getting access to things even later backers cannot receive.

My experience of Crowdfunding is mainly in the gaming and terrain spheres.  Some of the big games companies such as Corvus Belli (Infinity), Mophidius (Mutant Chronicles), Mantic Games (Warpath), Battlesystems (Sci-Fi, Dungeon and Post-APoc Cardboard Terrain) and PRODOS (Warzone Resurrection and AvP:The Hunt Begins) have all used Kickstarter to generate funds to get a project going.  Some of these could have run projects without Kickstarter and use the service as a glorified pre-order service.  I’ll be honest….I’ve had a mixed bag when it comes to the results of Kickstarters Ive backed.  Some have been unmitigated successes and others have been a little questionable or badly managed, leading to delays and negativity.

Recently I’ve backed two Kickstarters run by friends of friends with good reputable backgrounds based off thier times in other companies…..The Devils Run:Route 666 by Mark Rapson (ex-PRODOS Games Ltd) of Word Forge Games and Macrocosm:The Next Races by Chris Nicholls (ex-Tor Gaming) of Macrocosm.

The Devils Run:Route 666

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/wordforgegames/the-devils-run-route-666/description

http://www.wordforgegames.com/

The Devil’s Run: Route 666 is a fast-moving and hard-hitting vehicular combat board game (for 2-6 players) set in a post-apocalyptic America.  Each player runs a gang of cars, trikes, trucks and characters racing on post-apocalyptic Americas highways to beat each other to resources and objectives.  Its very much a boardgame/wargame version of Mad Max

Macrocosm:The Next Races

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2076383099/macrocosm-the-next-races/description

http://www.macrocosm.co.uk/

Macrocosm is a 28mm Sci-Fi Skirmish game set in a future galaxy of excitement, rayguns, weird aliens and wonder.
Players take on the role of a group of adventurers and explorers, represented by a group of miniatures, where they play out scenarios and campaigns to determine the fate of the colonies and to further the glory of their chosen faction… and of course… to have fun!

I’m very happy that both projects have met their funding limits and are now fully funded so I can look forward to the goodies arriving through the door soon.  I need to select the extras my pledge credit bought in TDR:R666.  I’m due about £125 worth of goodies and think I’m going to buy into the Brit Attack Gang and maybe The Hunters.

I also really need to get my sh*t together and sort out my Macrocosm pledge and any extras I want to buy.  I backed the Malignancy and really really like the models offered in that range.  I think I will increase my pledge and buy more stuff.

In truth not a single project I’ve backed has failed to become funded and despite the negativity surrounding one of the projects I backed I’ve actually been treat very well by PRODOS and have had things delivered exactly as originally indicated,  Sure Im still waiting for Wave 2 but so are the vast majority of backers regardless of location or Backer number.  Im happy enough that AvP will fulfil as promised and I’ll receive what I pledged for.

So….what do I think about crowdfunding?  Well its a gamble, you could lose your money but for some truly awesome products I’m willing to take that risk.  Ive had mixed luck and you could argue I should quit whilst Im ahead but as an entry into a new game its always worth pledging £1 to become a backer.  I can always increase my pledge at a later date.  All I ask from Project Creators is that you talk to us, the Backers.  Yes its your vision but you haven’t spent the money to make it happen.  We are Customers and without us you have a failed crowdfunded project.  I can absorb a delay or even a change but you MUST MUST MUST give us the information we need to back and continue to back your projects.  If you expect a leap of faith you have to give us something to believe in.  Talk to us and keep us engaged and involved.  Your future in directly linked to the success of your games………it is a symbiotic relationship between Backer and Project Creator.  We are no bottomless pocketed cash cows to be milked as and when it suits you….we deserve better.

My final piece of advice is as follows and directed to Backers….if you cannot afford to lose the money do not Back the project.  No matter the success of a project your money can dissappear off into the sunset and I would advise checking out the company or people involved before you commit.  Worst case is pledge £1 to get involved and then upgrade the pledge later if necessary.

Mancave update – Birthday and stuff

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.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Airbrush-Dual-Action-Paint-Spray-Gun-1-6hp-Compressor-Kit-Needle-Air-Brush-Set-/181327198835?hash=item2a37f17a73

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!

Mancave update

Apologies to everyone in Mancave-land as I haven’t posted in about a week a lot has happened.  Firstly its been the birthday of two important people in my life in the last week.  Last weekend it was my youngest daughter, Phoebe’s, birthday and this weekend just gone it was my better half, Lucy’s birthday.  Happy birthday ladies!

So what has been going on then?  Well firstly after nearly two years of waiting my copies of AvP:The Hunt Begins finally arrived in the Mancave following a haphazard and uncommunicative Kickstarter.  I’ve enjoyed limited success with Kickstarters and to be honest this entire experience has left a rather bitter aftertaste for me.  I’ve watched as “limited edition Kickstarter exclusive” copies of a game I and many other have funded and made possible made their way to retailers before we’d even been given a sniff of the game….so much for our Limited edition copies eh?   Everything that made our game exclusive is now anything but.  Regardless of that fact my two copies eventually arrived…only 9 days after I could have walked into a FLGS and bought it cheaper.  I’ll do a full review some other time as I’ve now punched all the card elements and started assembling models from one of my copies.  The other copy I gave to Hairy Gamer and long term geek-mance Tris who is still waiting to receive any semblance of notification for his AvP Kickstarter.

Monday saw the monthly Imperial Assault campaign swing into action again.  Dave returned to the fold to pick up his sniper and get his kill on.  Recently we had enjoyed moderate success in the campaign picking up a few close but hard fought wins.  This session our objective was to attack and deactivate a secret Imperial Research Facility and achieve this within 5 game turns.  The Facility was heavily fortified with armoured doors and Stormtroopers defending it.  With no idea what was within we had to clear any resistance to us from outside and get through it as fast as possible.  To be honest we were not expecting success and thought Alan, our GM, may have some nasty surprises in store for us inside.  By the end of turn one our organised teamwork had allowed us to kill five Stormtroopers and Stun and destroy the Probe Droid guarding the door.  Next turn we blasted through the door and my smuggler stressed herself to race through the structure and see what was lying in wait.  Everything was going to plan as everything Alan deployed got very quickly destroyed by our Soldier with his Havoc shots.  Everything happened so fast I didn’t even get a chance to take pictures and for that I apologise again.  We were outrageously successful this month and I’m sure that next month Alan’s Imperial’s will come back stronger and nastier.  With only 3 sessions left until the end of the campaign I have to say that I’ve really enjoyed participating in it and will hopefully run one of my own once this is finished.  Dave Baxter and I were also chatting about the skirmish variant of the game so with any luck you may see some reports of that on the Mancave as things progress.  Watch this space!

Other things have been going on though…..it seems like pretty much everything I do is sponsored by the letter T.  So much like Sesame Street todays update will be sponsored by the letter T.

T stands for TIE-Advanced.  This week saw me finally get my dirty Imperial hands on Darth Vader in his TIE-Advanced for my Star Wars X-Wing collection.  I’ve been after a TIE-Advanced for a while as it was one of the few ships I was missing plus with the Imperial Raider inbound in August it was going to improve the Imperial Navy.  I may even get to use it next week in the NAGA X-Wing League match I have scheduled with Brent Jay on Wednesday.

T also stands for Terminator:Genisys.  Recently I deboxed and reviewed this game by RiverHorse Games in a blog post but hadn’t up until last night had the chance to do much more to it.  During the May trip to Salute 2015 Hairy Gamer Tris and I watched in awe as Warlord Games ran a competition to see who could assemble the Terminator Endoskeleton miniature from this game in the fastest time.  I don’t know what the final timings were but people were able to assemble these snip and clip miniatures in about 40-50 seconds each.  Armed with my snips, some files and a camera I set about assembling the 10 Terminator Endoskeletons, 5 Crawlers, 16 Resistance soldiers and 1 Limited Edition white metal Kyle Reese (athough it should be resin) in their varied configurations.  Sadly only 2 variants of the Terminators are supplied but the Resistance have a reasonable amount of customization with 4 different poses and 6 different weapon options.  .  I wasn’t really trying hard to do it quickly but a little under an hour later I had a full set of assembled miniatures that I was happy with and could game with.  I must admit that they were very easy to assemble and get to grips with.  Once assembled they do have the look of little green Army men about them.  They aren’t without their issues (some of the faces look a little like Nuclear disaster victims) and its nothing that a spot of glue here and there and maybe some green stuff filler cant fix but for a first pass they will certainly do.  Next will be to get some paint onto them.  I imagine painting Terminators will be as easy as painting Xeno’s from AvP and Resistance fighters will be similar to USCM Marines from AvP.  I can use similar techniques and styles for both although I imagine the results will be very different.  I posted pictures of my progress on my Facebook page last night.

Lastly, my final T stands for Trek.  Tonight I managed to debox my last few ships – two copies each of the Federation USS Prometheus, Klingon IKS Ning’Tao and Bajoran Ratosha from Wave 15 of Wizkids Star Trek Attack Wing.  I had previously previewed these ships on Mancave so all that is left for me to do is post some pictures and total up the damage.  I would post the same pics in this blog post but for some reason WordPress is being a bit funny with me so I may use links instead:-

Bajoran Scout Ship, Ratosha.

Klingon B’rel Bird Of Prey, IKS Ning’Tao.

Federation Prometheus class, USS Prometheus.

I find myself sitting on 287 ships now including at least 2 of every ship (some as many as 4 and one 15!!!) and 3 of every prize and Limited Edition release available.  I have 21 ships awaiting purchase of a new storage cabinet/display case so they can be put away properly.  So a little trip to Ikea may be required this weekend to buy another Detolf Display Case although I have been trying to source some spare shelves to mod my existing units.

The Devils Run: Route 666 Kickstarter by Word Forge Games

As part of the Hairy Gamers on Facebook I get to see a lot of Kickstarters for various games made my friends and companies and if Im honest I very rarely ever commit to these unless they truly interest me.  Recent investments include the Battlesystems Sci-Fi Terrain and PRODOS AvP:The Hunt Begins, one of which has been delivered and the other is in the final stages of delivery following approval by Fox.  Im happy with both.  I like Kickstarter as a mechanism for funding projects and its good that backers can receive exclusive content and artwork etc that your average joe-gamer buying via retail wont receive as a thank you for backing the project.  Kickstarter works.

Recently a game appeared that made me sit back and take notice, and I’ll tell you all why.  As a younger gamer I played Games Workshops Gorkamorka and Necromunda.  I also played a Steve Jackson game called Car Wars.  It used cardboard vehicles and had a rather complicated rules system.  Some small part of me wished I could combine all three into one awesome game using customisable miniatures involving gangs attacking eachother on the road in a post apocalyptic world…..a bit like Mad Max.  Nothing ever really filled that void for me as a gamer….until recently.

GW’s Gorkamorka.

Gorkamorka contents.

GW’s Necromunda.

Necromunda contents.

Steve Jackson Games Car Wars.

Steve Jackson Games Car Wars contents.

Via the rather excellent friend of the Hairy Gamers, Mark Rapson, I became aware of a new game about to hit Kickstarter.  It was perfectly timed given the reboot to the Mad Max franchise and the success of Sons of Anarchy.  It had everything I had been waiting for…..cars, guns, gangs, combat, crazy post-apocalyptic characters all in one neat package and even better the miniatures would be produced by PRODOS a company well known for its resin miniatures and excellent customer service.  Seemed like everything was in place was a successful Kickstarter.  The product?  Well its The Devil’s Run: Route 666 by Word Forge Games.

           

The Devil’s Run: Route 666 is a 2, or more, player family game of post-apocalyptical mechanical carnage set in the near future; a dark and barbaric place, where World War 3 has seen the demise of the USA and Russia. Twenty years after the war, those that have survived must fight for everything. Post-apocalyptic North America is a feudal land run by numerous gangs, the most powerful of which control the interstates and rush to win control of the aid-drops (ADs) delivered by the new superpowers; the SRI (Super-Republic of India), the UCE (United Countries of Europe) and Brazilia (formerly South America). Each player controls a gang of ramshackle vehicles and their characterful drivers as they race across the remains of America to lay claim to the aid drops and the riches they contain. Each gang will do whatever it takes to get to the drops first…murder, death, kill, race, win!

  

Its a 20mm (1:72 scale) vehicular combat game based on the major interstates of a post-apocalyptic former USA.  You build a gang and fight for control of the roads running your rivals off the road and destroying their bikes, trikes, pick-ups and buggies as you strive to become the most dominant gang.  The game utilises resin miniatures and dice to create a customisable combat game.

There is a Facebook group dedicated to this game, if you’re interested I suggest that a good starting point!

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Devils-Run-Route-666/370271359846875?fref=ts

You can also find a growing community dedicated to custom models and updates and spit-ballin’ ideas for The Devils Run on Facebook too:-

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1620950651452093/

There’s also a YouTube video giving some background behind the game, the look and feel of the product and showing some of the awesome characterful artwork for this game:-

https://youtu.be/SvfrsDEN6RY

Go take a look!  Get involved and make a pledge!  I have!

#borntobewild #highwaytohell

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.

Warzone Resurrection Demos at Overlord Games Show

So Sunday morning Team Coventry (Allan Powell & I) headed off to Abingdon in deepest darkest Oxfordshire with an ex-alumnus of Abingdon Games Club, Rob Alderman of PRODOS to run some demos and generate more interest in PRODOS’s fantastic game Warzone Resurrection.

It was a long day, a hard day but all in all I feel a very successful day.  There were a steady stream of visitors through the shows doors from 10-00am (opening) to roughly 3-00pm when the show started to quieten down.  The stall had a lot of visitors and people looking for demo games and Allan & I duly obliged.

I came away with the Cybertronic Mega deck and some new dice for demos.

I think all in all we ran 6 demos to new players of various ages and levels of experience.  A great day and we would definitiely do it again!

Same time next year chaps?

Lessons learnt as follows:-

Rob Alderman has an unhealthy addiction to jaffa cakes

when asking a younger player to roll small you mean numbers not how far the dice rolls *LOL*

children with a will to defeat their parents can miraculously pay very close attention, be very focussed and make amazing rolls!

for some reason I am considered a bit of an SME on Cybertronic (maybe I buy too much?)

I need to make so much more terrain than I currently own but not nearly as huge ideas as my current plans

There is always room for more dice!

I love demoing!

The demo table. Dark Legion vs Imperials.

The PRODOS stall.

A display case full of WZR minis. Top to bottom – Bauhaus, Brotherhood, Cybertronic and Capitol.

A display case full of WZR minis. Top to bottom – Dark Legion, Mishima then Imperial.

The PRODOS stock. I think we only left with 3 starter boxes in the end.

Allan demoing to a new player

The crowd gathers. The little lad in the front then had a demo and won resoundingly.

Some Imperial trenchers in a crater fire upon Dark Legion Undead Legionnaires.

A wounded Razide emerges from the crater to attack the Imperial Trenchers holding the left flank.

A WZR game in all its demoing glory.

The game in progress as Rob sells on the stall.

Deep in thought pondering his next actions

“Fire, Fire Fire!” orders Brigadier Rist to the Trenchers as they open up on Alakhai, the Warlord from Dark Legion

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.