Lord of the Rings Mini-Campaign

  After a couple of fits and false starts, something I wanted to do final got underway....a Lord of the Rings Mini-Campaign! Using the "Siege of Gondor" book, I planned to run a game a month, using the linked battles in the book starting with "Act One: First Assault on Cair Andros" and ending with "Act Four: The Siege of Minas Tirith". To keep things simple and small, I skipped the "Prologue: Osgiliath" and "Epilogue: The Pyre of Denethor" battles.

  The battle took place at Aero Hobbies in Santa Monica, CA on June 25th. There were 5 objectives and if one side held 4 out of the 5 they would a and advantage in the next battle. The battle ended when the Evil forces were reduced to 50% or less or he Force of Good were reduced to a point they couldn't contest any of the objectives.

  The forces of Gondor decided to hold the wooden palisade against the Orcs in the opening part of the battle. The Gondorian Warriors and handful of Rangers along with Faramir and Damrod held the Orcs back for a while but were unable to stop the from getting over the wall, but at cost.

The Orcs send up their 2 handed axemen to chop the gate open

The gate is open...SURPRISE!!!!

  Finally, after much battle the Orcs are reduced to under 50% and a tally is made. The Orcs have 2 and the Gondorians have 3 of the objectives, thus a draw. No advantage to either side in the next battle, Act 2: 2nd Assault on Cair Andros.

  To see all the photos of the battle and the players, I have the link below to Photobucket:

http://s207.photobucket.com/user/juggernought57/library/Wargame%20Convention%20Photos%202016/LOTR%20Mini%20Cmpn-1st%20Game-1st%20Asslt%20on%20Cair%20Andros

TTFN

I'm Back!

  SO lets just get down to business and post some photos from the February Game Con I went to - Orccon February 2016 put on by Strategicon!
  As usual I ran a Lord of the Rings game both Saturday and Sunday. - Ogiliath - where Frodo and Sam go through the ruins, keep away from the Orcs and escape down the sewer towards Mordor.

                                  Orcs move down the street of the ruined city

                         Warriors of Gondor melee them at the grate over the sewer entrance

                                                              The melee continues!

                                        Gondorian archers fire from the ruins of a fountain

                  A large Orc Captain engages Damrod (Ranger Captain) in the upper center of the photo

                                 Our heroes run as fast as they little Hobbit can carry them!

  A lone Orcs archer, high on a ruined building, taking pot shots! This figure lasted several turns of archery fire to get him!
  

 

                               Some photos of a very nice looking Bolt Action game

                                          

And a game of "Team Yankee" was played Friday and Saturday Nights

  All-in-all, I had a great time and will post photos of the May 2016 Gamex Convention. For more info on Strategicon Game Conventions here in Southern California, go to: http://www.strategicon.net and tell them Larry sent you!

TTFN!

Photos from Strategicon Wargaming Con

OK - Here are the photos from the last war gaming con I went to:

http://s207.photobucket.com/user/juggernought57/library/Wargame%20Convention%20Photos%202015/Gateway%20September%202015

Some of the game were in Honor of a friend of many of us, Harold Hildebrand, who passed away this April suddenly. He was a good friend and game and was quite into Historicals, and enjoyed Flames of War and WarHammer Ancients. As WAB is no more...our group has moved to Hail Caesar.  And in his honor we had on Saturday The Harold Hildebrand Memorial Hail Caesar Open Lists Tournament. I was well attended with 19 players and great prizes.

If this link to the photos doesn't work, let me know and I will correct it.

TTFN

What are you Painting?

  Well, I have been getting myself back together (see last post) and working on painting figure for me and for fun (I have finished all my commissions). So I have painting stuff for either - "Songs of Blades and Heroes" or "Lion Rampant"!

  These figures can be used for either game, but I planned on using them with Lion Rampant as Yeoman (I think)

   I am quite happy with the look and using Army Painters Quickshade Strong tone which I use a paint brush to apply to the figures (to be fair, they are cheap brushes you can get from any 99 cent or the like store).

Red Sonja perhaps?

  Both the barbarian ladies are for use with "Songs of Blades and Heroes", which is a fantasy skirmish game using small war-bands. I have watched and play the game and like the rules. And as I have a fair amount of barbarian types from a previous failed project, I have quite a bit to paint up and use.

  And as far as Lion Rampant goes, I am going to be using Teutonic Knights (FireForge plastics) and Russians for that and yes, I have a Alexander Nevsky figure! But for right now, it's the march of the barbarian horde!!!

TTFN

Goodbye Mr. Harold...

   This post is dedicated to the memory of one of my Best Friends, Harold Hildebrand, who passed away April 18th. He lost his battle with illness that kept him in the hospital for (approx.) 18th months, from 2006 into 2007.

 

   I had met him through another friend of mine at the Strategicon Game Conventions but really didn't get to know him till later, when he was still in the hospital. I would go visit him there, get him something if he needed it to work on while he recovered. When he finally got to go home, I discovered he was living only 5 minutes away from me! And so we got together often, play games, painting miniatures, etc. Harold was one of those guys everyone would want to have in their game group/club as he was a gracious winner or loser. He was fun to play with or against and liked to just have a "fun" game. 

  My world is a little smaller without him and I will missed him dearly. Now who will I go with to "Mama's Sushi" during "Happy Hour"?

TTFN

Some Photos from the Game Con

OK - I have been gone awhile - Sorry! However, I thought I would at least post some photos of some of the games at Strategicon's Orccon 2015 in February. The following shots are from the traditional Friday night Flames of War game.

It was Early War - French vs. Italians

 And now let's get in the Way-Back Machine for some Lion Rampant! The Medieval Skirmish Game from Osprey....

And for those of you out there into Mecha and the like...the new Robotech boxed set....

I didn't get as many photos as I usually do because I was running my Lord of the Rings game (The Bridge at Khazad-Dum) and I was only able to attend the Con Friday Night and Saturday. However, next Blog will be about the game or actually 2 games as the first one ended quicker that I thought it would and some people wanted to play but couldn't be there when I started at 1 PM so I ran a 2nd time as well.  So how about a little teaser...

The Fellowship is falling back to the Bridge...

"Hold Them! Get the Hobbits across the bridge!!"

"AAiiee!" wailed Legolas. "A Balrog has come!" 

TTFN...

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