Monday, October 20, 2014

Road Kill Corpses!

Road Kill Corpses!?! Yes indeed. From Johnny Borg Castings. But Larry, you say, why do I need these? Good question. To add ambiance to your gaming board. Or maybe you are running a skirmish game with people trying to steal cattle/sheep/etc. and some of the getting shot. Or maybe Space Aliens are killing cows, etc. for fun? He also has vultures, which are fun to move around the board as people die. I have done it during some of my Colonial games.

Anyway, go to:  JohnnyBorgCastings.com  and check out the dead critters and other goodies he has!

By the way, these dead animals do NOT have tire marks on them....

TTFN

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Bird House Buildings from Michael's

  Quick one this time just to show two Bird Houses that work as Wild West, etc. type builds I got from Michael's, the Arts & Crafts store. One of the war game magazines I get, "Miniature Wargames with Battlegames" has an article every issue by Diane Sutherland, the "wargames widow" on making great terrain/building piece yourself for a minimal cost with stuff you might have around the house/garage or get from a arts/crafts store. When I saw these pieces, I knew I had to get them to paint & use (at a later date), something she has done in her articles.



The Log Cabin



Saloon/ Store?

    The figure I believe are from Monday Knight Productions Desperado Figures line and are 25mm. Sure some of the parts of the building are a wee bit out of scale (it is a birdhouse after all) but each building was $9.99 (assembled) and with a quick paint job will fill the bill quite nicely (IMHO).

  Also, if you have not checked out "Miniature Wargames" magazine, please do so. Great articles & photos every issue.

TTFN

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

"A Balrog of Morgoth....What did you say!?!"

  You bet! But it looks like I will have to postpone the Bridge at Khaza Dum till the February 2015 Orccon convention. I was cutting it a bit close thinking about making a gaming board for the September Gateway con but my Mother is having her gallbladder surgery on August 15th, so I need to be free to help take care of her. This just gives me more time to get things done for February.

  Anyway, I have done a cardboard mock-up of the game board in order to see how the scenario plays and to help with making the game board.

   

















       The photo on the left is the exit board, that blue line is the exit the Fellowship have to go out of. The right photo show the 3 entrances the Goblins and the Balrog may com in on, their choice. It is the full Fellowship vs 24 Goblins & the Balrog. 10 Goblins a turn may come in after the Fellowship sets up (Turn 1), then on turn 2, 10 more Goblins and on Turn 3, last 4 Goblins and the Balrog. The original scenario was published in the first rulebook in the first boxed set. The Fellowship of the Ring (pages 70-71). So far I plan to use the Fellowship and the Balrog as written up in the hardbound rule book, The Lord of the Rings - A Strategy Battle Game. 

  Having not been able to play games recently I ran a couple of solo games of the scenario, trying different strategies. This led to the following sets of photos....Oh and the brown patches are piles of rubble.

Boromir has won (!?!) a fight against the Balrog and pushed him back off the bridge - a lone goblin is running toward Gandalf
Gimi! Keep them moving, I have a plan.....

Run Frodo, run!
"I, Boromir of the Gondor fear you not, foul Balrog!"
"You hold him Boromir.I'll get the bridge....1...2...3...SORCEROUS BLAST!!"
"BLAST WHAT!?! Oh bugger...."

    And so Boromir, Captain of Gondor, fell in battle against the Balrog and saved the rest of the Fellowship (and winning the game!!) I played out the combat of the Balrog vs Boromir, who was cut into many pieces....
The Good side had to exit with over half the Fellowship still alive (especially Frodo) and destroy the bridge, which Gandalf did. Being a gamer I was sure that is how many people would have done it....Sacrificing Boromir for the win as Legolas and Aragorn had already fallen. Bit of fun that!

TTFN

Almost forgot....here are some photos of a terrain piece a friend made for me...can you recognize it?  :)






Wednesday, July 30, 2014

I'm Back!!!

  And I thought I world post a review of a wargaming book....

  "The Wargaming Compendium" by Henry Hyde. First off, this is a hardcover book with lots of art and great photos. It covers wargaming from where we started to where we might be going. Also how to pick-a-period (Ancient, Dark Ages, etc) to wargame, painting figures, figure scales (i.e.10mm, 15mm, etc) and much more. 3 rule sets are included, a gladiatorial game, The Wild West and a Pike & Shotte set. A lot is stuffed into this book (including a Resources Chapter) and IMHO is well worth the money! So take a look at "The Wargaming Compendium", you'll be happy you did!

  And as for my gaming, I am going to do some play testing in order to run a old scenario, The Bridge at Khazad Dum using Lord of the Rings SBG, at the next gaming con in September. I have a card board mock-up to use right now and if things go well, I'll be making a gaming board for it.

TTFN

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Orccon 2014 Sunday LOTR Game

As promised, photos from the Sunday game - which look alot like the Saturday ones I am afraid...

 Forces of Mordor set up for the attack

 Evil players plan their next move....


 Archery line of Rangers hold the road while armored warriors attempt to flank the orcs

Damrod leads the Gondorian Rangers

MORDOR!!!!!

The Orc Captain Bosk leads his forces as Gondorian archery downs one orc

Can we come on yet?  NO! Not till turn 4

For some reason a battle started over these ruins - You can see Gondorian Warriors moving up through the doorway

Orcs under cover from archery fire. During the first part of this game the Good Forces archery was telling

Faramir leads Fordo, Sam and Gollum (hidden in this shot) forward

A long shot of the table as the orc reinforcements move up

A fight for the sewer entrance begins. The battle for those ruins (bottom right) continues

The Gondorian Captain Cerik leads his men against the orcs..

"FORWARD!!! For Gondor!!!"

Good forces are pushing the orcs back, away from the grate

Fordo & Sam move up, hoping to make their escape from Osgiliath

The way is almost clear...

The fighting is furious and unyielding

"MY PRECIOUS!!! GIVES IT TO US!" Gollum makes his move

And Gollum lost that fight, so Frodo & Sam move away, leaving Gollum to his sad end...."NASTY HOBBITS, FILTHY BAGGINS, WE HATES IT....(sound of swords hitting flesh)"

Nice shot of some Gondorian Rangers

The gate is almost clear....

But the Orc reinforcement finally make it up to the battle! 

 The players called it at the end of this turn (long game and people were getting hungry) that the forces for Gondor couldn't keep the grate clear long enough for Sam AND Frodo to get clear so Frodo put on the ring, sang "Happy Trails to you" to Sam and made it away into the sewer for a draw. (Note to self - Keep notes on Con games) Once again, most of the players had never played a miniatures game (just board games) but all said they enjoyed it and had a good time, which makes it all worth while!

TTFN

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Returning to Gaming

  Now that the holidays are over and some of the "real world" has calmed down, I am hoping to get back to gaming again.

  The February war gaming convention. Orccon 2014 has come & gone at a new hotel, the LAX Hilton, for next 3 years it looks like. It's a great new place to have a con at with more room and 100% better lighting! As I just couldn't my head are doing something new, I went ahead and did something I had already done, Osgiliath using Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game rules. I had everything already together and ready to go, so it was a no brainer.

  I had 3 people on Saturday and 6 (!!) on Sunday almost all of them had never played a miniatures game before. So things took a little longer, but both days everyone said the had a great time and gave me some great feedback on how to improve my Con games (which I always want to do). So on to some pictures!

SATURDAY

 Good view of the table Turn 2

 Another view of the table


 Gondor defends the entrance to sewers so Sam & Frodo might have a change to escape

More Orcs pile into the melee and snipe from surrounding ruins (Orcs however, are poor bow shots!)


 The Orcs push the Warriors of Gondor back, Orcrish banner bearer aiding their fight

The Orc Captain Hurg  smashes Gondorians to get at the Ranger Damrod


 The battle continues around the sewer grate

 Gondorian Warriors move around a flank as the Orc Captain Hurg continues his attack!

 Gollum attacks Sam - Almost kills him but Frodo sadly kills him with a Gondorian Warrior next turn to protect his friend.

The Gondorian forces are almost spent and Orc reinforcements are almost there - Good loses this one
  
  The objectives for the Good forces were to get Sam & Frodo down the sewer grate and away (a Good Win) - If just Frodo escapes it is a draw and the Evil forces win if Frodo is slain or 2 Good Heroes before Sam & Frodo escape. Not sure how Sam & Frodo were going to get into Mordor's hidden paths without Gollum (no AAA maps available I'm sure).
 
I took a lot more photos of Sunday which I will post nest time!

TTFN