Termies with Inks and Washes

Yes, another Termie painting tutorial, but this one (from the latest edition of the Astro Mag) concentrates on the use of inks and washes:

http://www.astronomican.com/pdfs/Astro-Mag-Issue-7.pdf

Deathwing Librarian

Ron's put together a great DW Psyker in his 'grimy' style  using subtle highlighting - its a great effect I think.

http://fromthewarp.blogspot.com/2010/03/deathwing-librarian-lame-bear.html

HULKEX Battle Report

Today was the day. Anticipation was high.


Weapons were oiled, armour was polished,


munchies and coffee were prepared.


One Brother was redirected to another combat theatre.


and Four thus entered to do the Emperor's work....

With one player dropping out, I was faced with a choice - 3 SM players or 4 with no GM/Stealer player?
I went with the latter, using the solo 'Stealer rules from 1st Edition, though it did mean I had to modify some of the surprises I had in store.

The board was based on one from BGG here:
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/filepage/48558/space-hulk-multiplayer-scenario
but slightly modified to use 2 full sets of 3rd edition tiles.  I had planned to not lay it out and build it two sections at a time (due to scanner malfunctions) to build tension but that wasn't feasible in the end.

Excited Blood Angels SGT gears up for the game!

There were 20 entry points in all - all numbers so a d20 could determine where they came in each turn.
This made it very hard to guard against all avenues of approach...


The players selected their squad composition and entry points, and in we went...
2 Squads of Blood Angels (Lad and Pete), one from Deathwing (me) and a squad of Wolf Guard (Ken).

The foe revealed himself quickly...

...though more commonly down my and Lad's end of the table it seemed.

Still, that allowed us to build our kills up....

For the Emperor!

Vents and grates allowed the enemy to approach with stealth and cunning...

 And sometimes in massed waves:

But the Emperor's finest were ready for them!

(flame token by Litko)

Meanwhile, the race to the cryochamber was on - the Honour of three Chapters was at stake!

 It was at this point I revealed a sticking point: while this was an Honour duel, it really wouldn't do to start shooting at Brother marines, no matter what colour their armour.  Any marine who fired at another would be declared a Heretic - and the new primary target for all players...

And so in the spirit of Blood Bowl, shoulder charges were the non-lethal option of choice!  For 1 Action Point, a marine can charge any marine in the front square - a d6 roll off, winner can shove the opposing model 1 space.  Many such brawls broke out!

 

Then it was discovered that the cryo room had 3 target areas, all needing to be destroyed.  Brother Pete managed one of them before a random event saw multiple cave-ins (all players could place one) with predictable results...

Then the Dark Angels showed up and it became a real 3-way standoff...with more pushing and shoving!

And in the end, the genebank was cleansed, one by each Chapter too! All Honour was satisfied and everyone was the winner....except the Xenos of course!

The random events worked really well, not too powerful but made life very interesting, and the marines certainly didn't have it their own way at all.  Many marines went down, including the Lad's assault cannon marine who had a spectacular malfunction with triple 1s...

A great game and well worth the additional prep time, which did take awhile, but the extras really made the difference.  And the Marine players really did cooperate well together.

Following HULKEX we had a BBQ lunch outside with some Man Cave Brewery beers, then an afternoon playing Zombies!!! (which I won) and Cave Troll (which Pete won) - great fun and good times!

HULKEX

This weekend, its time for...

HULKEX 2010

Primary Objective: Destroy the Cryo-tubes in the compartment at the centre of the mission area.

Secondary Objective: Destroy the Alien threat.

Overall Winner will be whoever achieves the Primary Objective or if not, whoever attains the greatest number of kills.   The Cryo-tubes can be destroyed by being flamed or destroyed as per an attack against a door.

Marine Forces

Each player will command a Space Marine Terminator squad, comprising one of:

- Sergeant with Power Sword, a Heavy Flamer marine, and 3 Storm Bolter marines; OR

- Sergeant with Power Sword, a Lightning Claws marine, an Assault Cannon Marine and 2 Storm Bolter marines

Optional: a Thunder Hammer & Shield marine can replace any storm bolter or Lightning Claw marine

Each Marine squad will enter the board at a separate area.

Command points will be represented by each Marine player rolling a D6 at the beginning of their turn and placing it front of them.  Additional Command points may be allocated by the Company Commander onboard the Chapter’s Battle Barge.

Each Marine player must complete all actions within a time limit of 3 mins.

Enemy

Our Brother-Librarians have detected a vast horde inside the hulk, though they are not yet fully awakened.

The genestealers will receive 2 reinforcement blips per SM Player, per turn, maybe more….

Ready your weapons Brothers!

                                                   

Random Events

At the start of each Genestealer turn, roll d4, on a 4 a random event occurs.

(if not enough game tension is evident, the result is always a 4!)

d6 result	Random Event
1	Command Direction: The Space Marine Captain gives additional support from the Battle Barge – each Marine player gains an additional d4 Command Points in their next turn.
2	Obstruction: A randomly selected player may place a crate tile in a location of their choice.  May be placed to block a corridor.  Crates may be destroyed like doors.
3	Inhuman Speed: All Genestealers have 7APs this turn only
4	Power Fluctuation: d6 even- all doors open; odd – all close
5	The Foe Awakens: Genestealers gain 2 additional blips this turn.
6	Reinforcements! Marine Player within least number of marines has a replacement Marine (Storm Bolter and Power Fist) teleport in as a reinforcement.  Must be placed 6-10 squares away from other Marines in the squad (if squad wiped out, place in entry point).  If all Marine squads are at full strength then no effect.

WWW2 Japanese

One of the things im medoately evident about all the WWW2 rules and figs are that they are all Europe-centric: No banzai charges, Pacific island invasions or brave, stoic Aussie types...

...but it would seem that thats about to change with the new AE-WWW2 Pacific Module:

Welcome to the first army list from our upcoming Pacific War expansion. The rules in this issue cover the Imperial Japanese Army. This list is well past the beta testing phase, but we are still very interested in what players think about the mechanics and play style of the Japanese in AE-WWII. We hope you have as much fun trying these guys out as we did writing and play testing them.
http://darksondesigns.com/?p=121

I dont think its going to change my complete inability to play Aussies in a game though - the odd hero of course, but not an army.  I just couldnt retain my cool, good-sport demeanour!

Incursion reviews

Its becoming a bit of a review link fest here lately, but there is now Incursion game review posted here:
http://superflycircus.blogspot.com/2010/09/incursion-is-it-wrong-to-love-crushing.html

and a review of the models here:
http://wargameguru.weebly.com/review---incursion-models-from-grindhouse-games.html

I really enjoyed this game, and now you have no excuse not to go hunting Nazi zombies in the catacombs under Gibraltar too!

Death Angel Video Reviews

Just to whip Comrade James and I into further frenzy....

here is a video review of the game:

and a video review of the game's components:

Death Angel Review

With both Tas and I awaiting the impending delivery of our respective copies of the Space Hulk card game, this review has been posted on The Hopeless Gamer blog just in time!
http://thehopelessgamer.blogspot.com/2010/09/review-space-hulk-death-angel-from.html

30,0000 Hits

In the last hour, the Man Cave has clicked over 30,000 hits since it was established Jan last year!

Thanks for all your support, comments and interest as my attention wonders from WWW2 to Space Hulk to brewing beer and finally general silliness.  And of course special thanks go to Comrade James and Obsert Owen for their submissions - after all this is about their gaming as much as mine usually!

Loyalists vs Traitors in the Hulk

Back in the day, 1st Edition Space Hulk had rules for running chaos Terminators around hulks and having a good old standup fight against those loyal to the God-Emperor of Mankind.  Cool.

l always loved that concept but never quite got around to doing it.  I even bought a set of the orginal GW Chaos termies in 1989.  Remember them? Much more like the loylists without all the ridiculous horns, tusks, trophy racks and excessively spikey bits.  These are the them, though sadly I've lost my Traitor Captain in the Warp along the way:

Pic from Stuff of Legends: http://www.solegends.com/citcat911/c2019smtraitorinqterminator-h.htm

Well I've unearthed them, stripped off the poor initial daubings of paint and have started preparing them for operations in 3rd edition SH as warriors of the Black Legion!

So far they have been cleaned up, assembled, undercoated black and basecoated with Chaos Black (naturally!).

One of the issues of course is the limited mobility and flexibility of these original castings, but I think they have a charm of their own.

More to follow!

Talk like a Pirate Day!

Yes its here again -and its something of a tradition to have a saucy pirate wench:

Have a yaarrrggghhh of a Day me hearties!

http://www.talklikeapirate.com/

Sci Fi Sound effects...moved

You may remember the free SF Sound effect simulator, perfect for exploring Space Hulks
 http://tasmancave.blogspot.com/2009/09/sci-fi-sound-effects.html

And this is what it can do:


Well its still at Beasts of Warsite, but it has been moved.  Those looking for it will find it at:
http://www.beastsofwar.com/board-games/free-download-deep-space-assault-console/

Urban Terrain Tutorial

This looks simple but effective - wonder how I could make a detachable style of 'decoration' for the front - an easy way to turn it from WW2 to SF and anything in between....

http://cadia122.blogspot.com/2010/09/easy-to-built-urban-terrain.html

Blood Splatter effects

Another handy Cool Mini or Not tutorial I just came across - nice!

http://www.coolminiornot.com/article/aid/469

or get a more cinematic effect by the GW Tutorial here:
http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/article.jsp?catId=cat410002&categoryId=1100020§ion=&pIndex=0&aId=1400009&start=1

FTW: Hulk Collaborative Post

A collection of great SH articles at FTW - modelling, painting, tactics and tips.
http://fromthewarp.blogspot.com/2009/06/space-hulk-tips-and-tricks.html

Space Hulk on FB

Was doing some rare FB surfing and foud some awesome fan made pics- good stuff!

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=573041305#!/pages/Space-Hulk/116209029436?v=photos

Speed painting Deathwing termies

A tutorial at Cool Mini or Not.  Pretty good I think, though I prefer a grungier version myself.

http://www.coolminiornot.com/go.php/go/articlephp/aid/909?

300 Litres and still going strong!

Big weekend of bottling here in the Man Cave- 30 or so 750ml bottles each of these two beers:

That makes in excess of 300 Litres of Man Cave Brewery products this year!!! huzzah

I'm also trying a bit of an experiment- my non-alcoholic Ginger Beer earlier this years wasnt somuch of a succes, very sweet and the kids didn't like it much in the end.  So I'm poured it back into  vat, aded more yeast and am fermenting it for an alcoholic version!

Oldest Beer in the World discovered

In a Baltic Sea wreck off the coast of Finland - 200 years old!  The cold temp and lack of light are the main reasons for its survival.

I love how one of the bottle happened to "break" during retrival- I hope the boys enjoyed it :-)

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/4/20100904/twl-probably-the-oldest-beer-in-the-worl-41f21e0.html

http://momento24.com/en/2010/09/03/finland-divers-found-the-worlds-oldest-beer-at-the-bottom-of-the-sea/

http://www.worldrecordsacademy.org/drinks/oldest_beer_world_record_set_by_a_200-year-old_beer_101853.htm

Beer - its good for you!

Even the Ancient Egyptians knew!

http://news.discovery.com/archaeology/antibiotic-beer-nubia.html#mkcpgn=rssnws1

Black Legion Painting: ideas and tutorials

http://masterdarksol.blogspot.com/2010/04/step-by-step-chaos-space-marines.html

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/article.jsp?start=1&articleCatId=&aId=1100023&categoryId=cat1300079&catId=&pIndex=0&communityArticleCatId=&section=&singlePageMode=true

http://www.heresy-online.net/forums/showthread.php?t=11013


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RK0lLmJWl4&feature=channel

Conversion tutorial for chaos LC termies
http://www.heresy-online.net/forums/showthread.php?t=27661

Space Hulk Basing II

Another take on home made Hulk style basing - very effective:
http://wargt.blogspot.com/2009/08/bug-bitten-part-2.html

Nuklear Winter '68 - WWW2.5

Just came across this, from Lock n Load- alternate reality, platoon level gaming in the nuclear wasteland of the former Third Reich!



http://www.locknloadgame.com/Section_Cat_Content_Detail.asp?SCAT=91&SID=33&ID=105

Man Cave simple Home Remedies

1. TO AVOID CUTTING YOURSELF WHEN SLICING VEGETABLES, GET SOMEONE ELSE TO HOLD THE VEGETABLES WHILE YOU CHOP.

2. TO AVOID ARGUMENTS WITH THE FEMALES ABOUT LIFTING THE TOILET SEAT-    USE THE SINK.

3. FOR HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE SUFFERERS ~ SIMPLY CUT YOURSELF AND BLEED FOR A FEW MINUTES, THUS REDUCING THE PRESSURE ON YOUR VEINS. [REMEMBER TO USE A TIMER.]

4. A MOUSE TRAP PLACED ON TOP OF YOUR ALARM CLOCK WILL PREVENT YOU FROM ROLLING OVER AND GOING BACK TO SLEEP AFTER YOU HIT THE SNOOZE BUTTON.

5. IF YOU HAVE A BAD COUGH, TAKE A LARGE DOSE OF LAXATIVES - YOU'LL BE AFRAID TO COUGH.

6. YOU ONLY NEED TWO TOOLS IN LIFE - WD-40 AND DUCT TAPE.    IF IT DOESN'T MOVE AND SHOULD, USE THE WD-40.     IF IT SHOULDN'T MOVE AND DOES, USE THE DUCT TAPE.

7. IF YOU CAN'T FIX IT WITH A HAMMER, YOU'VE GOT AN ELECTRICAL PROBLEM.

Weathering vehicles without powders

A very useful tutorial by Pirate Viking Painting:
http://piratevikingpainting.blogspot.com/2010/08/workbench-tutorial-basic-tank.html

And another good tutorial on paiting rust here:

http://piratevikingpainting.blogspot.com/2010/06/orks-sir-thousands-of-em.html

Death Angel - rules online

All the reports from demo games at GENCON sound very positive, maybe out in time for Christmas???

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=1509

Ep 63 of the D6G podcast (released today) has a review too....havent had time to listen just yet though.

Fathers Day

Spent the day being spoiled, as well as visiting my Dad.
Conveniently, he lives near a brewshop so there were a few extra goodies in the present pile!

So I celebrated by setting off another beer, this time trying my hand at a Mexican Cerveza (aka Corona):

Hope all the other Dads out there had a great day too!

1st SPEARPOINT 1943 1 Night Tournament

Read all about the recent Spearpoint 1943 tourney here:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/560188/spearpoint-1943-1st-one-nicht-tournament


I'm really enjoing this game, just need to find a regular opponent!