27 September 2019

September Hobby Update

Well, that was a quick month and no mistake: a holiday in Norway and a stack of gaming has left little time for hobby progress. Not an entirely horrible state of affairs I must admit!  I'm slowly getting my painting mojo back though with a return to some favourites.
First up: Noway was fantastic with 2 weeks spent with friend in both Bergen and Oslo.  A great time touring the fjords, climbing mountain and catching up with great friends.  I really enjoyed the museums of Oslo too, with the Viking Ships museum being a particular highlight.

I coudn't resist!
Gaming wise we have played a bit more Mortal Gods which has been great. Reilly has now requested an army of his own and we are ready to start playing bigger games with some different scenarios.
Aled's first game, discovering how fragile slingers can be!
I caught up with Comrade James and the Canberra lads recently, and played my first game of Kill Team against Patch using Reilly's old Salamander Space Marines. Quick, thematic and lots of fun. Not sure why it took a year to get around to playing it, but there will definitely be more!
My plasma gunner and medic take up a flanking position in the ruins
While a Heavy Bolter and auspex fitted marine take Overwatch positions!
Another example of Patch's lovely painting
Comrade James and Adam enjoying some Blood Red Skies action!
Reilly has also ben continuing his weekly D&D campaign, playing weekly with his friends.  He designed his own character figure using HeroForge, which was excellent. He plays a Turtle Warrior (of mature years, neither Teenager or Ninja!) named "Sir Reggie" and it was all there on the site for him to build and arrived quickly.  I enjoyed painting it with him and together we finished it in a day to wreak havoc on the table in style.

Our Hero victorious over an evil denizen!
https://www.heroforge.com/

I'm also getting back into my FIW army, expanding it so that I can use it for bigger games and also on the continent for broader SYW engagements.  I have a friend with French Armies for the period so it will be good to get double duty from it next year. It could be triple, if I can find someone with a Jacobite Army for the '45!

I started with a Mounted Grenadier Officer (Front Rank model) to get me in the groove, and am now doing the first of two more Grenadier units for him to Command.  Once they are done, a Highlander Regiment looks at me expectantly but the tartan and striped sox have me concerned...



In the meantime, I have been moderating a Napoleonics campaign using Sharp Practice set during the Peninsula Campaign and it has been a hoot!
We are 3 battles in now, but that deserves its own post soon.

Hope you are all well out there in the blogosphere!
I hope to catch up with some Aussie bloggers at MOAB early next month in Sydney

18 August 2019

August Hobby Update

The last few weeks have been good hobby wise.  I came home to find Alan had painted us up matching forces for Mortal Gods so we have been enjoying that a great deal, pitting his forces of Megara against my polis of Melos:
Naturally, all the aegis shields are hand painted


Alan laments a very rare setback on the battlefield

Reilly and I rediscovered our Blood Bowl treasures and had a few games. 1 win to him and 1 tie but lots of fun all round. Now considering playing in the upcoming MOAB tourney...


A painted a couple of fun things from 1st Corps:

There is a black sheep in every family!
I just had to have this priest for an Objective marker in Mortal Gods



And now I'm off on a holiday to Norway for a few weeks - cant wait!


28 July 2019

Home Again

Many adventures were had on the seas and over the beaches during the last two months.
All very exciting but its always wonderful to get back to hearth and home.

07 June 2019

Zeppelin Raider

A few years ago I came across a U-Boat board game series which I loved : The Hunters.

Indeed, it captured my imagination so much that I had long email exchanges with the author Greg. I subsequently assisted the development of a Pacific theatre version (Silent Victory), and contributed to the research for a potential future Italian Navy expansion in the Med.  We also met up at Fall-In one year as well which was brilliant (https://tasmancave.blogspot.com/2016/04/silent-victory.html)




So after a few years of research and playtesting, the game has now been published by Compass Games.  Always great to see one's name on a game box and I cant wait to get my copy delivered.

You can read more about the game at BGG, where there are a number of reviews, AARs and errata:
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/256939/zeppelin-raider-imperial-german-naval-airships


And if that interests you, its available here:

Thats it for me blogwise for awhile - away again with work for a few months.
A small pile of hobby books will keep me company in the interim.