August Goals

   Okay, so it has been a few months since I set any goals for painting. And guess what? Not much painting got done in those moths. You would think that the summer, what with me being a teacher and having the time off, would be a very productive season for me. You'd think wrong, but you would think it.

   Anyway, I am getting ready for school to start back up and back into the swing of things. And my thoughts turn towards painting again. So here's what I want to accomplish this month:

• 10x 25mm Martian Shield Gunners (RAFM, Space 1889 line)
• 10x 25mm Canal Martian Archers (RAFM, Space 1889 line)
• 5x 25mm Masked Minion Diabolical Weaponeers (Parroom Station, VSF)
• 2x 6mm Prussian Gun and crew
• 1x 6mm Prussian limber
• 24x 6mm Prussian Line
• 24x 6mm Prussian Jaegers
• 48x 6mm Martians (Mahdist infantry re-purposed with paint)
• Finish 6-8x Empire Flagellants (GW)
• Finish 5x Kislevite Horse Archers (GW)

   That's quite a good bit. I'm feeling ambitious. We'll see how it is going in a week or so. One other thing, if any of you has an extra Battle for Macragge force field pylon or two laying about, I could surely use it. Please let me know and we can work out details.

Terrain! And more... Terrain!

   I have been working on many things terrain-related recently, both for VSF and just in general. I thought it would be interesting to show what I've been up to. There is more in the pipeline right now, including a "how-to" on making a set of 6mm barbed wire. Look for that in the near future, I hope.

"Sun Kissed" 2-3cm Trees, by Woodland Scenics

   I found a package of these on sale at the local Hobby Lobby this week. They looked nice, and they were on sale, so I bought them. My wife would be so proud of me if she knew how I was saving money. This is the same justification she uses when buying a new purse on sale. The difference is mine started at $8.99 and hers started at $300. Anyway, they are a good size for 6mm (1/285) gaming. Here they are shown with a Battlemech just in the background.

6mm Rough Stone Wall, by TimeCast (37/060)

   I bought a small set of 6mm walls at Historicon, but I can't recall for the life of me which vendor had them. They had a lot of terrain. I think it was Battlefield Terrain Concepts. I got these to help with my new 6mm VSF project and BattleTech. I think they painted up nicely. The mat, by the way, is homemade, my "open fields" terrain (as opposed to the "urban", "jungle/forest" and "Martian" mats).

Resin Palisade, by Acheson Creations

   The palisade is something that the folks at Acheson make with their extra resin. When they make a batch and start pouring castings, tehre is always some left over. Anyone who casts their own stuff knows how that goes, right? Anyway, rather than waste perfectly good resin, they pour the excess into any of several small molds they keep. They make tons of the stuff, and then haul it to conventions. I got this piece for $.50. I bought about 16 more at the same time, and have purchased some previously. Finally got around to painting this first one up, and several more are in the pipeline. Two hints when working with this: 1) wash it thoroughly with warm water, detergent and an old toothbrush and dry it completely, and 2) prime it using Krylon Fusion for Plastic spray paint. I then hit it with a dark brown spray paint, dry brush two coats, and basing. GW's Purity Seal spray dullcote on top.

BattleTech AAR: Defense of Fintroll Dam

Scenario

Fig. 1: The Battlefield. The small tower is the powerplant, the large building a factory.

   On Bogenhafen IV, the small city of Fintroll is burning, nearly entirely destroyed by fires started by a fierce orbital bombardment. However, two key points have been left unscathed: the hydroelectric power station and a factory complex just south of the city. With assets stretched thin, two medium Mechs of the 2nd Talabheim Guard are sent to secure the structures. Opposing them, two stray Mechs, remnants of the 1st Imperial Engineers, deployed from the ruins of the town.

Forces

• 
  
  2nd Talabheim Guard (red and white): 1x PNT-9R "Panther" [35t], 1x PXH-1 "Phoenix Hawk" [45t]
• 
  
  1st Imperial Engineers (blue and red): 1x WSP-1A "Wasp" [20t], 1x RFL-3N "Rifleman" [60t]

Victory Conditions

• 
  
  Destruction of all Talabheim Mechs: Total Imperial Victory
• 
  
  Holding the Hydroelectric Plant: Partial Imperial Victory
• 
  
  Destruction of all Imperial Mechs: Total Talabheim Victory

The Battle

Turn One:

   Talabheim PXH-1 advanced directly up the road, into relatively ineffective fire from the Rifleman at extreme range. The Wasp and Panther maneuvered out of line of sight.

Turn Two:

   Already in heat trouble, the Engineer Rifleman moves carefully into the Fintroll River shallows. Again, his fire is ineffective. To take pressure off of the Rifleman, the Wasp pilot bravely dashes across open ground to draw opposing fire. It works - the Phoenix Hawk moves into close range and pounds the smaller Wasp. Large laser and a barrage of SRMs slam into the Wasp's arm and torso, reaching the Wasp's own ammunition supply, detonating the entire supply and vaporizing the hapless Mech. [Note: Used a Stinger model for the Wasp, as I don't have a Wasp.]

Fig 2: Phoenix Hawk burns down a Wasp

Turn Three:

   Now protected and cooled by the shallow water, the Rifleman's long range guns go back into full fire. The Panther approaches, bringing its PPC into play, and striking the Rifleman in the torso. Finished with the Wasp, the Phoenix Hawk returns to the roadway and advances toward the dam.

Turn Four:

   Both attacking Mechs advance down the road, directly into the Rifleman's fire, determined to eliminate this pesky remaining defender and seal their victory. However, the Panther masks the Phoenix hawk's fire, and takes the full fury of the RFL-3N's Magna Mk. II and III lasers and the pair of Imperator-A medium autocannons. Critical hits in the central torso destroy the Panther's gyro, causing it to crumple to the ground.

Turn Five:

   Daunted by the intense fire coming from the Rifleman, the Phoenix Hawk pilot moves onto a nearby hill. He plans a devastating "death from above" attack. In response, the Rifleman shifts his fire onto the Phoenix Hawk, blowing the left arm off, damaging the gyro, and causing the 45-ton Mech to topple off the hill, out of LOS.

Turn Six:

   The Phoenix Hawk tries (and fails) to right itself. With no other target, the Rifleman continues to fire on the downed (but not out!) Panther, causing serious damge to the useless legs of the unstable Mech. The Panther manages to prop itself up and fire its PPC at its tormentor, narrowly missing.

Turn Seven:

   The Phoenix Hawk continues to try to stand, again without success. The stricken Panther finally succumbs to the heavy and continuous stream of fire coming from the Rifleman. With its central torso totally shot away, the Panther simply falls apart. With the sun setting, the Phoenix Hawk pilot decides to sneak away, abandoning his damaged Mech. For now, the ruins of Fintroll remain in Imperial hands...

Fig. 3: Death of a Panther. Note the Rifleman is standing in shallow water.

RESULT:

PARTIAL IMPERIAL VICTORY

Wrapup:

   Honestly, once the Wasp blew, I thought I was in serious trouble. Dane had aggressively eliminated my manuever unit that I foolishly left vulnerable to a Mech twice its size. However, by advancing straight into the Rifleman's strength (long range gunnery), especially bulwarked by the cooling assistance of the river - which offset the massive heat buildup that is the RFL-3N's main weakness.

   I used some of our old Heroscape hexes to create the battlefield. It worked okay, but I think that a hex-pattern stencil may be getting ordered from Litko sometime in the near future if we start playing a lot of BattleTech. Either that, or I make a turning template and we go 'hexless' for it. Which, all things considered, might be easiest.

Historicon, Day Three (Final battle report)

SKYRUNNERS: Historicon Race Day

Saturday, July 10, 8PM

   The only game I played in on the third (and last full day) of the convention was in the evening. Most of the day was spent in shopping, shopping, shopping! And being peeved with the hotel for putting two holds on my bank account for the room, thus reducing the amount of $$ I had available to spend in the Dealers' Room and Wally's Basement.

  Anyway, all bitterness aside (ooo was I pissed off!), the last game of the con was a great one. The first round consisted of seven racers in two seperate heats, with the top two contenders in each heat going on to compete in  the final. Naturally, I forgot my camera in the room (I was really pissed off), but another participant took several photos and emailed them to me last week.

A Skyrunners "Scudder" Flyer, with complete Racing Crew

  The rules were Skyrunners, written by Bob Charette of Parroom Station Enterprises. Bob also ran the game, and sculpted the boats and figures. All around master of the ceremonies. The rules, ships and minis are all available through Brigade Games. The booth was already sold out of ships when I got there on Thursday, so I ordered a ship and all the crew. It should arrive in August (waiting for new ships to be cast by Acheson Creations, who do very nice work, btw...)

Yours Truly, indicating where my scudder (Blue and White) will be going.

   As far as the first heat of the game went, I came in second, and so moved on. One player was knocked totally off our course and into the other racing course, causing no small amount of confusion and lots of fun mayhem!

Another picture of Round 1

   In the Final Race, I earned the nickname "Vomit Comet" for my scudder and 'Swooperman' for its pilot, as I was forced to swoop over and under and over and under again to avoid collisions. My gunner also earned a nickname: 'Deadeye,' because after coming through a screeching 180 degree turn, he still managed to bullseye the target atop the scoring pylon. Another scudder got known as "Pinball Wizard" for the number of collisions it spawned! The final result was slightly disappointing: second again! Still, the game itself was  a blast and we all had a lot of fun.

   This one is going on the Christmas List for the boys, because I think they will enjoy it a lot as well. I figure four to six scudders is enough. Plus, they can do double duty as 25mm light Martian flying craft. I love when I can 'economize' that way. I'm not cheap, I just have a lot of projects!

Madness! Madness, I say!

   Really, I am getting too scattered. Far, far too scattered. Let's take a look, shall we, at just the minis by genre, scale and number of forces:

• VSF/Colonial, 25mm: British, German, Texicans, Turks, Japanese, Lizardmen, Automatons, Vardu, Martians, plus Skyrunners Racing Game
• VSF/Colonial 15mm: British, German, Texicans, Lizardmen (carryover!), Automatons (carryover, mainly), Martians, Vardu (some carryover), Zulu
• VSF/Colonial, 6mm: Martians, Germans, British, Lizardmen
• VSF, 2mm: Confederation of Italian States, British, German, Martian (Aeronef, SGoM, etc.)
• Fantasy, 25mm: Lizardmen, Empire (WFB)
• Post-Apocalypse, 20mm: Car Wars, Matchbox scale
• Sci-Fi, 6mm: Battletech, OGRE
• plus terrain for all of theabove, of course...

   And then there's the RPG projects with the boys, which we bounce around between. I am hoping to get a more coherent RPG schedule when my good friend Jim gets home in a few months after two years of active service in the Reserves.

   Oh, and I am considering adding 15mm Sci-fi to the mix. Just too many cool toys out there in 15mm. Any suggestions on rules for them? I am considering Future War Commander (I think that is the name of the rules). I want a sort of feel where most troops are like the Colonial Marines from Aliens, but there are armored troopers as well, like the real MI from the novel Starship Troopers. Plus tanks, flyers, etc.