some interesting new stuff over at wargames factory

back  in may of this year, wargames factory released a preview of the work they had been doing on their line of shock troops:

as you can see it's an equal mix of futuristic gribbly bitz and gothic accoutrement. i like the additional helmets, the french style kepi, the fur collar on the officer/command(er/ant).  i also love the mauser-style pistol and the extra set of hands that has the cigarette. though how one is to enjoy the pleasure of what i am sure is a "galactic gauloises" while in full protective gear is still beyond me...

like many of the other internet opinoineers, i felt the single claw foot of the tripod was a bit much, but all-in-all the models work for me.


today wf has released a cool 3d rendered preview of the heavy energy cannon, and it looks great! it looks like they took onboard all the feedback that was provided and went to town on it! you should check it out here: new shock troops heavy energy cannon preview.

preview image property of wargames factory

neuroshima hex

another board game that wasn't originally on my list for 30 games in 30 days.  xenite from "little green monsters" introduced this one to me. 

based on the polish role playing game neuroshima, in neuroshima hex, you control one of several factions battling for survival in the post-apocalyptic ruins of north america.  in the simple one-on-one battle games, the action takes place within the black outlined area in the middle of the board.   

between your specialist actions and your troops' abilities, the middle board area is just big enough for a battle or two in the space of an hour.  here is the board at the start of the game: 

xenite (who is playing the moloch, a vicious machine intelligence that specializes in armor and ranged combat) has placed his hq on the board edge and i've place mine smack dab in the middle.  the reason for this is that my troops (the mutated borgos) are more deadly in close combat and my hq can improve their speed in melee, which is the reason for this deployment only a few turns later. 

 

as you can see the number of forces on the board wax and wane as infrequent combat begins taking it's toll on our troops.  

for most of the game, xenite controlled a good portion of the board and kept my forces contained with his shooting.  if not for one of my troops allowing me to negate the power of his hq, xenite would have completely wiped me from the board.

but some clever deployment and sacrifice on my part in the late game meant that the battle was a draw, and my borgos would live to fight another day. 

take that you moloch bastards! 

even though our battle took place in just a small part of the board, the game designers actually encourage you to create your own scenarios to take advantage of the rest of the board, and with the variety of images beneath each hex, you're only limited by your imagination as to what sort of scenario you could create!

i liked neuroshima hex quite a bit, and i don't think i'd pass up an opportunity to play.  

box image of neuroshima hex is property of portal games, all other image property of little mens

it's pretty much an homage to the entire sci fi ourve.

before last night’s game, i had only played race for the galaxy once before, and while i enjoyed the game, i didn’t really grasp the way that the rules and the cards worked together.  that point of view changed last night. 

at its core, race’s game mechanic balances card management and action choice, but there is a synergy between the various cards that a player can have in their tableau and the actions chosen by all players at the beginning of a round that rewards smart choices and flexible planning. 

playing are aaron, jacob, and i.  here you can see aaron explaining the various actions to jacob.

as we started and the game progressed, i continued to get more and more development opportunities…

… while jacob made a run collecting alien-centric worlds and developments…

…and aaron pulled some military, but seemed to miss out on the cards he really wanted. 

at the end of the game, jacob was the winner with a massive 54 victory points.  i was in second place with 34 victory points and aaron had 32. 

now that i’ve got a better grasp on how race for the galaxy is played and the various interactions possible, i think that this one will be a game that i play a heck of a lot more.

race for the galaxy is property of rio grande games.  all other images property of little mens.

electralux in the 41st millennium?

the advance orders for the blood angel stormraven gunship went live today.

as far as i'm concerned the jury is still out on this one.  personally, i think it looks like someone added wings to a vacuum cleaner, but blocky is the style for space marines.

 

regardless, gw is getting really good at these second wave releases.

now if only they could perfect their pricing...

+edit/update+

thanks to xenite for his link to this image:

which correctly identifies the aerodynamic inspiration for pretty much all space marine vehicles.  of course, any suitably inebriated rocket scientist will inform you that even a brick will fly provided you strap enough engines to it...


all images property of games workshop except for that last one which is all xenite, baby!

i'd say "just like a rat"...

 ...only the ship's not sinking.

i am, however, jumping ship.  i've been a little bored with the stuff i've been working on for games workshop for a while now.  that doesn't mean that i won't pick it back up later, but right now i've got to do something new.

so i've decided to build a force for privateer press' warmachine.

even though bad guy (insert air quotes) armies don't usually appeal to me, i picked up the new plastic cryx battlegroup,

one of the new plastic helljacks,

and the rulebook. 

i've already got the battlegroup painted and ready to play.  and i'm going to make a vow with this game:

"i do solemnly affirm that i will not purchase more warmachine products until i have what i currently own fully painted and have played at least 5 games."

here are pics of my cryx battlegroup thus far:

the battlegroup cleaned and assembled:

here is the warwitch deneghra and a couple of deathripper bonejacks:

here are the reaper and slayer helljacks.  i did a bit of extra work to the brass "hood" around the head to give each a bit of a different appearance:

the funny thing is that i was able to pump these out pretty quickly, but it's not like the paint scheme is too difficult.

keep an eye out here for future warmachine updates!

is that a space hulk in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?

i didn't go to gencon.  everyone of my friends rave about how awesome it was.  it's kinda annoying really, but i'll probably wind up going next year.  even though all the footage online show huge lines of fat bastards wheezing over copies of games that no one else can buy yet.

and i can only image the magnitude of gamer funk and steampunk costume desperation...

but one good thing did come of it.  i had a friend (thanks mike!) pick up a copy of fantasy flight games' death angel.

the game is a cooperative endeavor for 1 to 6 players, who take on the role of imperial space marines tasked with clearing a xenos infestation from the space hulk sin of damnation.

folks familiar with the games workshop property that inspired this little silverline game will know all about marines versus genestealers (or 'stealers).  for the rest of you, imagine this:  space men fight nasty aliens in a derelict ship.  sold yet?  you should be.

i tried two solo games today, and i have to admit it's a helluva challenge and a lot of fun!

here are my thoughts broken down:

pros:

• small and portable like the rest of the silverline.  great quality in the printing of the cards and all components.  as usual. 
• nice length of game (about an hour to play)
• gets the environment of space hulk right.  great atmosphere, art, and very tense gameplay.  unlike the board game, the card game has location cards that are marked to illustrate areas where 'stealers are more likely to appear than others, but this doesn't reduce the amount of tension, and as you start to lose marines, it really does become harder and harder to manage your fire lanes and kill the 'stealers before they eat your face.
• simple gameplay that is pretty straightforward and easy once you learn the way the cards work.
• a nice cooperative mechanic that allows for a variety of choices for actions that are resolved in a particular order.  fail to be a good team member, and you could be killing not only yourself, but the rest of the squad as well. 
• nice variety between the various marines allowing a team that is good at shooting and close combat. 

cons:

• the rules booklet.  the layout is awkward and requires some flipping back and forth in the booklet to get a grip on the way the various cards work within the rule system.
• would like to have either a small zip top bag or tuck box for the components included. 
• would like the marines have more than a 50% chance of killing something when attacking.  imperial space marines are genetically engineered killing machines.  i would probably suggest having the kill pip (a skull) on 4 of the 6 faces (taking it to 66%) of the die.  to compensate for this the blip piles could contain more 'stealers and each location could "spawn" an additional 'stealer during the event phase.    

overall, it's a lot of fun, and definitely worth your hard earned gaming dollar!

shock troopers mount up!

for those of you who have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of these guys:

your wait is almost over.  wargames factory has announced that their new shock trooper models are in the process of being boxed up over this weekend and will be shipped on monday to fulfill their preorders.

additionally, the previously unreleased armored and unarmored saxons are shipping immediately!

now you can have those viking and saxon raids you've been dreaming about!


all images property of wargames factory

Furioso Update

been doing some painting on the furioso dreadnoughts.  as you can see i got the second one built, and most of the effort has been in priming and washing with some basecoating and blockcoloring. 

i used the army painter red spray primer to start with, and after achieving a nice even coat, i let it dry and cure for about 24 to 36 hours.  after that i applied a 50/50 wash of games workshop's badab black and devlan mud.

once the wash was dry i began working the red with vallejo's blood red.  the metal is a base of vallejo's tinny tin.  the front armor plates and the legs are tinny tin with a thinner than usual coat of gunmetal over it (i like the depth that thin layers of metallics create).  the blood talons are mordian blue.

more work forthcoming soon!  please feel free to comment and if you've got questions, i've got answers.