Soldiers through the Ages

This past weekend I participated in one of my favorite events. Every Memorial Day there is a Soldiers through the Ages timeline at Old Fort Niagara in Youngstown NY. There are reenactors portraying soldiers from the French and Indian war up to and including WW2. There is a representative display for each era of soldier stationed at the fort at one time or another. Throughout the day we have interactive demonstrations as well as question and answer sessions.

For us its a relaxing time, seeing old friends and making new. The downside is I don't get to take any photos, as I am usually talking with the public. I am sure some of the guy in my unit have taken some and as I see them I'll throw them on here.

Apparently the local news was there filming us as well. Though I didn't get to see the report.

Next up is the Buffalo Naval Park.

Shameless plug....

The story.... If you have read my profile you would have seen that I co-wrote a set of rules called Arena Games. Back when the movie gladiator came out my buddies wanted to get into the gladiator craze that was going on.

We played a number of rules sets out there but couldn't find a fun set of rules that gave us what we wanted. There were rules that were very technically challenging, and some that only went so far. Many of the games we play are based on a "feel" of what we are doing. If I'm playing a pirate game, I want it to feel like the old Errol Flynn pirate movie. Swinging from the rigging, etc. Same goes with the gladiators. So one night I show up for a game and my buddies Mike and Jim are banging their head over a set of rules. In the time it took them to play one turn, we hashed out the basics of what we wanted.

Anyway, we wrote the rules for ourselves and moved on. We had played them a number of times with our local group and it became a regular event. One day our friend Walt shows up with a huge box. He opens it and inside was this........

The Colosseum. Over 300 painted figures that have nothing to do with the game. Thank god hes retired..... So we start taking the game to conventions for a pick up game, and to our amazement it becomes a hit. It was awarded "Best New Ancients Game" at Historicon, along with a battle streamer for a "Game for young players". People started asking where they could get the rules. Hence we began publishing them for sale. Here we are presenting the award to Walt for his amazing work.


Now for the plug.......

Recently we updated out website which you can find here. Also recently they have been offered for sale at Wargames Vault. If your looking for a fun, fast game, give it a shot. I think you'll like it.

15mm Quar.

I have to say, ever since the Quar came out I have been itching to paint up some. They remind me of characters from underground comics from the 60's. Primarily those by Vaughn Bode.

However my gaming space has shrunk, so I am forced to look at smaller scales. So when Zombiesmith announced they were releasing the Quar in 15mm, I had to jump on them. I am waiting for the rulebook and some more figures. But, I painted up my first batch. Here are some pics of what I've done.


The first batch I have painted up into 2 different sections. One in a khaki uniform and the other in a feldgrau. I haven't worked on fluff for them yet. But once I read the rulebook I can figure that out.

Here are the rest of the pics....





These have been a blast to paint, and I cant wait for the rest to show.

See ya.

My poor neglected blog.....

Its been a while since I made an update. I have been busy doing things, unfortunately too busy. Much of my doings revolve around the WW2 reenacting end of things, more so than gaming. Though I do find time to work on projects. I will post some pictures of what I have been working on recently over the next few days.

See ya.

My God its June!

How time flies. Back in April my WW2 season began. It started with 2 back to back events. One I was a participant, the other I was a Coordinator/Participant. I came to the realization that I can only do one or the other. The coordinator part takes way to much time and work to actually try and enjoy yourself.

Since then I've had a timeline at Old Fort Niagara. If you've never been it is a definate must see if in the area. You can see their website here. www.oldfortniagara.org

And I'm currently getting ready for an event at the Buffalo Naval Park this month. We plan on staying for the weekend in the USS Little Rock. We plan to have displays in various parts of the ship. Their website is. www.buffalonavalpark.org

I have been busy with some miniatures. I just finished painting some stuff for Flames of War. I have a small group of Stug-G and Marder II's painted to support my Fallshirmjagers. I'll try to get pics up when I can.

Now I have to get back to printing off paperwork for my living history display......

Scott

So little time....

Hi Folks,

I'm sorry I haven't posted anything recently, but I have been going crazy in real time. As far as updates to projects, I have been busy. Hopefully I can post some pictures later. Here is some of whats been going on.

Underworld:

I haven't really done anything with this lately. I did pick up some pink board so I can begin making tunnels. I'm waiting for nicer weather so I can use the basement workshop.

Starship Trooper:

I recently finished painting a Plasma Bug, a Rippler unit and Hopper unit. I've picked up a M8 Ape and another box of CAP Troopers. I plan on painting these in the mars pattern uniform. I am also continuing to write down ideas for the campaign of Helios Epsilon 50. More to come on that....

Other than that, I have been gearing up for the upcoming reenactment season. One of the things I do is I am a coordinator for a big WW2 event that takes place at Odessa NY. in September. Not only am I a coordinator, I have also been put in charge of the event website. No problem, I can muddle through HTML. You can find my muddling at www.odessaevent.com

Also this coming April we are running an Eastern Front event for the first time. So a good portion of my time has been setting up web information for that. And as the CO of my GI unit..... (do you see a trend here) we will be attending the Torrance Pa tactical the weekend before the Ost Front Odessa. So I'm preparing for that. It should be a good season.

With that, I will hopefully get to posting more things as I go. The trick is finding time to just sit..... Anyway, until next time.

Underworld, The Playtest

So this weekend we played a quick playtest of the rules. We had a large Austerlitz game waiting to go, and were waiting for the rest of the gang to show up. So we set up a number of tiles a friend made to represent hallways and tunnels. I apologize ahead of time. I planned on taking the camera, but on my way out the door...... I left it on the table. Dooohhhh! I did take a couple crappy cell pictures though. Next time I promise photos.

Game 1.

We set up the game as Selene and 4 Deathdealers had to make their way out of the tunnels. As it was a playtest to try and see if it would work, we used a pseudo Spacehulk generator for the Lycans. Here is a quick splash of what happened.

Turn 1
The game started as the Deathdealers used their first move to enter the first room. And then went on "ready status". Two Lycans burst into the room on their first move. Due to the Lycans entering into the 10" ready alert area of the Deathdealers, the Deathdealers were able to use their Ready Status and fire their weapons. Well they must have been so suprised because they didnt hit either Lycan. At this point the Lycans finished their second move by charging into the first two Deathdealers. After rolling their attacks and causing hits, the Deathdealers were able to make their saves. Since they saved they would have to flinch back 2".

Turn 2
For their first move the Deathdealers went on ready status. For their second move they used their "Speed" to move away from the Lycans while firing their weapons. At this point the Lycans received multiple hits from gunfire. One of the Lycans also received a hit from Selenes pistols with the Silver Nitrate bullets. After saves were rolled there was one dead Lycan and one with the specialty round in it. At the beginning of the Lycan round, a save was rolled against the "Persistant" trait of the silver nitrate. As the silver coursed through its body the Lycan succombed to its wounds...... ( I was happy to see my theory as to how this would apply in the game worked. I just wished as the Lycan player it wasnt that fast.)

The next turn the deathdealers moved into the next room with no Lycans appearing.

Turn 4.
The Deathdealers moved into another room and went on "Ready". Three Lycans entered the room. Two from one entrance, and one from the other. The Deathdealers since on ready alert were able to fire on the Lycans. The lone Lycan received no hits. The two Lycans received hits. After allocating the hits. One was killed outright by Selene and her pistols. While the other was forced to flinch back 2". For their second move the Lycans charged into contact with two Deathdealers. After rolling to hit and saves, one deathdealer was dead and the other flinched back 2". The Deathdealers decided to shoot then go on Ready Status. After rolling for hits and saves the original lone Lycan was killed. As soon as the Lycan began his first move the Deathdealers react. Three of the Deathdealers move away while the one closest to the Lycan charges into close combat. After rolling for hits and saves the Lycan flinched back, Selene finished him off with her pistol.

At this point others had shown up and wanted to see the game from the beginning. So one of the guys wanted to replay the ending of "Evolutions". So we broke out the William figure along with the "Cleaners" of Alexander Corvinus. So as the guys were standing around we explained how the game worked. At this point I remember I had the camera in my phone....

Selene and crew moved into the room and go on "ready status".

William burst into the room for his move. Immediately everyone fires. William shrugs off the hits. Selene, however leaps over William and tries throwing shuriken. She hits causing 1 point of damage on William. William continues to make contact with a couple of the Cleaners. William rolled his attacks and killed outright one of the humans. The other backs up. At this point I secretly rolled to see how long before the "transformation" would take place. Rolling a D6, I determined it would happen in 4 turns.


For the next turn Selene and friends go on ready status so the shotguns could reload. (After this turn we decided to change the shotguns from a pack weapon to a squad weapon. Thereby not needing the ready to reload.) They then fired against William. Multiple hits were scored, but William again shrugged them off. Selene managed to hit with her pistols, but William didnt take damage. Though he now has to roll for the persistant.

William deciding to regroup before continuing, so he goes on "ready status". His second move is to "Jump" through the door away from Selene.
As he leaps through the door, he claws at the nearest human. After rolling hits, William kills another human outright. And then finishes his move. (The die roll determined the human would regenerate in 1 turn.)

The final turn, Selene goes on "Ready". She leaps across the room throwing a Shuriken Grenade at William. She rolls and causes a hit. This weapon has the "Killshot" trait. All hits against his target number are considered against his kill number. That means if William saves it would still cause a hit, but if he fails it will kill him outright. Needless to say, William failed.

At this point we broke for the big game. I am pleased that it worked. There were some minor snafus that we had to work out, and some modifications to the stats that had to be made. But most of all I am pleased that the actions used by the players and their execution through the game deliver the simulated action in the movies. And in my minds eye I can see it happening.

Now I really have to get working on terrain..... I hope you enjoyed the show.

Scott