Another Pirate Game at Dave's!

On Saturday, Jan. 8, my son Lucas and I headed over to Dave's for a session of pirate gaming. Dace had cooked up another interesting and flavorful scenario.

This time, the marauding band of pirates wake from their alcohol-induced slumber in a tavern deep in the British town, far from their boats, and have the unenviable task of hauling their ill-gotten gains back to their ships before being stopped by arriving British reinforcements or bribed local militia deciding to go loyal again!

The game was played on Dave's huge gaming table, filled as usual with tons of awesome terrain. The one difference is that he was in the middle of playing a Napoleonic battle on the same table! So he covered the blocks of Napoleonic troops with cotton batting, and we played that those were banks of smoke rising from buildings that the pirates had torched during their pillagin' and lootin'.

The pirates began the game in a tavern, groggy from too much rum and ale. They could choose to use wagons to carry loot overland, or canoes to go down the river.

At the other end of the river, their ships await - ready to sail off as soon as the loot is loaded.

Oh oh! The first hurdle - one of the militia officers stops the pirates, and demand that they go back to the cemetery behind the tavern to collect that treasure. They'd need all of it to bribe the militiamen, so they decide to go back.

Meanwhile, closer to shore, the arriving British troops assault some of the turncoat militia in a small fort.

After that they advance on the main fortifications, defended by the bulk of the militia.

The pirates, meanwhile, begin their journey, deciding to hedge their bets by taking both the wagons and the canoes.

The militiamen took up positions in a cornfield and tried to hold off the advancing Brits.

After taking the small fort, the main British column continues their advance on the castle. The first unit to try the advance was shattered by the defenders fire, but succeeding waves of disciplined troops were able to take the walls.

The game was quite interesting, and took place on two completely separate fronts. On the one hand, the main pirate party was making good time down the river. The wagons went in a different direction as those pirates joined some militia trying to break through the British lines.

The canoes of the pirates arrive at the last obstacle, and will have to transfer the treasure from the boats to the mules for the last leg of the journey. They are accompanied by the militia officer, who decided to throw his lot in with the pirates rather than face British justice for accepting bribes.

At that moment, a British frigate decided to go a'piratin'.

At that point we ran out of time, with the pirates on one side of the table close to reaching their objective, while the other group found themselves in a stalemate against stronger and more disciplined British troops.

All in all, it was a great game, and Lucas and I had lots of fun. This was his first effort at a game of this type and scale. I think he did great, although I could tell he was getting a bit bored towards the end. By that time, though, we'd been playing for four hours, so I can't blame him. For being nine years old he was awesome!

I have a couple of observations - the biggest one being that the board was a bit too large for a small-scale game. It took too many turns for the pirates to come to grips with the militia on the one side, and make their way down the river on the other. Also, we're caught in a sort of middle ground between a full-blown large scale game, and a skirmish game. I think we're using too many figures for a quick and dirty pirate game. But not enough to justify using large-scale horse-and-musket rules. Some things to think about before the next gaming session...

'Til next time.

Malifaux Gaming Table and more pictures by Lucas

Sunday was sunny, and I was able to go outside and complete my Malifaux gaming table! So, in the first week of January I have already knocked one item off my 2011 to do list. Woohoo!

Malifaux Gaming Table

The table does stand a bit tall, as I neglected to take into account the height of the caster wheels when I built it. Having the wheels on it is key, since it allows me to just wheel it to whichever part of the basement I need it as I continue the larger project of organizing the entire basement. It works fine for adults, and since I come from a model railroading background I love the low-level point of view, where terrain actually does block your line of sight, but it is a tad high for the kids. I'll have to get a couple of barstools for them to sit on when we play.

The playing area is 3'x3', perfect for Malifaux and other skirmish games. It is set up so I can set a 3'x3' board in the top frame, or two 3'x1.5' sections (which is what is in there now) if I want to make modular gaming boards. I put a shelf on the bottom part so I can use that area for storage of bins containing unused terrain or other stuff (you can never have too many places to stash stuff!).

Left side "wing"

Right side "wing"

Removable terrain board

Another view of removable terrain board

I put a pair of "wings" on the table, because I think it is always a good idea to have a place for rules, figures, drinks, snacks, etc., away from the gaming area. On the left is a flat tabletop for books and food and even drinks. One advantage of having it set below the level of the gameboard is that if someone accidentally spills a drink, it won't ruin the terrain and figures. I am thinking about adding dedicated drink holders to the sides to minimize the chances of that happening. On the right, that tabletop is divided into three sections. The sections have a base of foamcore covered with felt to minimize the rattle of rolling dice. Each player can get one section for playing cards, rolling dice, etc, while the center section is used for casualty figures that have been removed from play. Or each player can keep their figures and reserves in a section and roll dice in the center. It all depends on the game.

With some Malifaux and Mordheim terrain

It seems as if the table will be quite practical, and it looks pretty good. The woodworkers among you may have noticed that it is a little over-engineered, and is probably a bit sturdier than it needs to be, but that is how I like to build things. I think I could probably climb on top if it and it would hold up just fine.

Overall I am very pleased with how the table turned out. Another purpose for it was a "proof-of-concept" or test run for a larger 4'x6' or 5'x7' table that I am planning on building later this year, and I learned a lot while putting it together. For example, work from plans! For this table, I had an idea of what I wanted to do, and started sawing, drilling and assembling from a picture in my head. It turned out okay, but I could have saved some effort by planning ahead.

Also, the entire table, except for the MDF board I used on the wings, came from scrap and salvage lumber. The frame for the tabletop came from a prior attempt at a 4'x4' gaming table. The lumber for the structure of the table came from the dumpster next door. They are building a new house on the lot beside ours, and they toss all their lumber scraps away - hooray for me. Several leftover pieces of 2"x4" and 2"x6" later - voila! A gaming table.

Now to finish my Guild Outpost and painting some crews so I can play some Malifaux! (This will include painting up some Gremlins for my son to play, as he has chosen an Ophelia crew and been picking up the figures one at a time with his allowance and getting them as gifts. He has almost the complete Ophelia crew and is looking forward to completing it soon. And I've already been commissioned to build him a Gremlin bayou swamp table for them to play on! Yet more for my to-do list...)

On the Dystopian Wars front, I posted Lucas' drawing on the Spartan Games forum and it was so well received, he decided to do several more:

Blazing Sun vs FSA

Covenant of Antarctica vs FSA

Covenant of Antarctica vs Prussian Empire

I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!

'Til next time!

Dystopian Wars picture

First of all - Happy New Year! I hope you all have a healthy and happy 2011.

I am looking forward to doing more gaming, modeling and painting in 2011. My goal is to get some fleets completed for Dystopian Wars (more on that below), as well as get at least two crews fully painted for Malifaux. I am working on a 3'x3' Malifaux gaming table which would have been completed today except for the rain. (I do my woodworking outside since my basement is rather cluttered...) In addition, I'd like to finish a larger 4'x6' or 5'x7' table as well. Which of course will require organizing the basement in order to make room for it... I am already behind and it's only day 1 of 2011!

So, as mentioned previously, one of my goals is to have some fleets for Dystopian Wars. I've been reading and re-reading the rules while deciding on which fleets to get. While initially leaning towards the Prussians because of their amazing sky fortress dirigible, I have now decided on the Federated States of America as my main fleet, with the Empire of the Blazing Sun as my second.

Why? Well the double-decker Saratoga fleet carrier for the FSA is an incredible model, and seeing pictures of it actually painted up made me fall in love with it. My son has decided he likes the look of the Blazing Sun models. I am eagerly trying to recruit him into the game, and the thought of a Pacific island-hopping campaign between these two forces is very appealing to me, so that is the direction in which we are heading.

I just need to sort some of my unpainted lead pile and decide what I can sell/trade in order to get into DW. We're on a tight budget, so in order to get into something new I need to get rid of something else. But the plan is to get that done as soon as possible, because I can see this game becoming a family favorite very quickly.

Anyway, while he was reading the book my son asks me what faction I will be playing and why. We talked about, and that is when we determined that the FSA and Blazing Sun would be our two fleets of choice.

The next day he gave me a drawing (inspired by the illustrations in the rulebook) of rocket-powered Samurai troopers assaulting an FSA carrier - it is his way of "talking trash" before we even get into the game! I especially like the kamikaze Samurai plowing straight down. I have it up in my hobby area, and it provides my inspiration to get my stuff in order so I can get into this game as soon as possible!

'Til next time!

Dystopian Wars, and updates

Well, it's been a while since my last post, and I thought "What better time to update than right after Christmas?" So, what did I get this year on Jesus' birthday?

First, God gave us a wonderful white Christmas, with about four inches of snow falling on Christmas Day. Not enough to make live miserable like they are getting in the Northeast, but enough to make everything look like a postcard and for the kids to be able to sled in the backyard! Thanks God!

My kids got me a Nerf gun (the Deploy) and a bandolier with extra clips and ammo, to take our Nerf wars up a notch. I had been quite outgunned before that, as my daughter has the Nerf fully-automatic machine-gun while my son has several Nerf rifles, while I was limited to a single six-shot Nerf revolver. But now I was able to give as good as I got as the foam dart gunbattles got downright ugly! Of course, my advantage was short-lived as my parents got my son true nightvision goggles for Christmas! So now my favorite tactic (Death from the Dark tm) is rendered ineffective! Arrrggghhh! (Though I have to admit the goggles are incredible – nightvision technology made into a toy! We tried them out at my parent’s house, and from about 50 to 60 feet away you could clearly see someone hiding behind a tree in pitch darkness.)

And lastly, for Christmas this year I broke two of my gaming vows:

1. I asked for a new set of rules before completing an army for my last set of rules (Malifaux).

2. I asked for a new set of rules that had just come out, rather than wait for the next edition to be released and all the mistakes to be fixed.

You’re probably wondering what set of rules would be so tempting that I’d break not one, but two of my gaming guidelines. Dystopian Wars by Spartan Games!

I’ve been curious about Spartan Games since they came out with their Uncharted Seas fantasy naval combat game. I’d read and listened to several reviews of the game, and I was intrigued, but not enough to dive in and get the rules and a fleet or two. Spartan followed up with Firestorm Armada, a space combat game. I thought the models looked cool, but I was not even tempted as I am not a fan of spaceship battles. But seeing pictures of the ships for Dystopian Wars grabbed my attention very quickly.

Victorian-era sci-fi a la Jules Verne? Giant aircraft-carrying dirigibles unleashing death from above against twin paddle-wheeled behemoths on the ocean’s surface? Gargantuan walkers with Japanese temples on top crashing through the jungle to scatter smaller tanks and vehicles? These were more than enough to get me interested, and a review of the game on The D6 Generation podcast (Episode 70) was enough to push me over the edge. So I asked for, and got, the rules for Christmas from my awesome wife! Dave at Giga-bites Café got in an order just before Christmas and was kind enough to hold a copy for me that I was able to pick up on Christmas Eve.

I have not yet played a game (I am now in that wonderful stage of picking out my army, where everything is possible and I am not yet locked into any decision), but here’s my first impressions on the book. First off, the production value is extremely high. It is a perfect-bound soft cover rulebook in full color. The front and back covers are great, showing scenes of huge tanks, ships and aircraft battling. Inside, almost every page contains some sort of illustration to flesh out the background, or an example of play or a photo of a beautifully painted model.

The background section immediately sucks you into the alternate world in which Dystopian Wars takes place. The year is 1870 and the great empires of the world are at war, facing off with enormous war machines on land, at sea and in the skies. History in that world has several significant changes from ours, aside from the discovery of a new element that has enabled the construction of giant airships and weapons of tremendous destructive capacity. For one, the South has won the Civil War, resulting in the Federated States of America (FSA). In the east, Japan has emerged as the Empire of the Blazing Sun, while they Empire of Britannia holds colonies around the world. The Prussian Empire holds central Europe in its steel grasp, and prepares to face the Russia. Each of these powers has its own style of war machine, loosely based on historical fact. The Germans use massive dirigible aircraft carriers to ferry their attack planes into battle. The Japanese have sleek warships capable of firing waves of destructive torpedoes. And the FSA ships are reminiscent of the Civil War ironclads, with massive armored paddle wheels for propulsion.

The rules themselves are well-written and seem quite clear on the basic points, which I suspect comes from the fact they are, in essence, the third iteration of the same basic ruleset (following Uncharted Seas and Firestorm Armada). Once I get the chance to put together and army and take it to battle I’ll have a better idea of how the rules fit together as a whole and how the game plays. At the moment I am leaning towards the Prussians – that dirigible carrier is THE flagship model of the line, and is an instant centerpiece for a terrific-looking force. I usually try to collect two forces for my games (so that there is one for me and one for my kids if they choose to play), but here is where I am stuck between two options – the FSA and the Empire of the Blazing Sun. Both have great-looking models, and both have their strengths in the game, so I am quite torn. Stay tuned for updates on that front.

As far as other updates, my Malifaux jail has been languishing, with all work halted as I dealt with holiday preparations. Between making sure everything got done for Thanksgiving and then Christmas, and it being busier than normal at work, I am still stuck on painting the jail. I have been able to get some gaming-related tasks completed though. My son has decided to field a Gremlin crew, and I did get Rami LaCroix painted up for him. I'll post some pictures next time as soon as I get him based. I began the process of painting a Cult of December crew, but that is still in very early stages. And I did build a 3'x3' gaming table for Malifaux which just needs some finishing touches to be complete.

The Reading Table:

I finally finished Cavalryman of the Lost Cause: A Biography of J. E. B. Stuart. A very good book that explains in detail the causes and effects of Stuart's disastrous "disappearance" just prior to the Battle of Gettysburg. It is a balanced look at Stuart, describing his strengths as well as his weaknesses, and most of all showing how much more difficult it was to wage war in a time of uncertain communications. A bit dry at times, but a very enjoyable read.

After that I read Munson's biography, Munson: The Life and Death of a Yankee Captain, which went very quickly. This was a very interesting book for me to read. Growing up in New York, Munson was my hero. He was and is my favorite ballplayer of all time. But I was a kid, and much of the drama and tension of the clubhouse and in his relationships with George Steinbrenner and Reggie Jackson did not register at the time. All I cared about was watching him get another game-winning hit! So finally reading the whole story, and learning more about Munson the man, in addition to Munson the player, was very enjoyable.

Following that, I polished off Robert Leckie's Helmet for My Pillow, his account of being Marine in the Pacific Theatre during World War II. I've read many, many books about the European Theatre, but not nearly as many about the Pacific. Leckie's story is both unique and common - his experiences mirror those of countless young men of that time, yet his views on it and how they impacted him are his alone. For me, this book took a little getting used to, as Leckie's writing is a little more flowery and descriptive than I am used to in a military account. But it is definitely worth the effort, and I was very moved to read of the sacrifices that Leckie and his comrades made for our country.

Next up: Easy Company Soldier by Sgt. Don Malarkey, made famous by Band of Brothers. And before you start thinking the name of my blog is totally misleading, after that I have a pirate novel lined up: The Blackbirder by James Nelson. It is the second book in the Brethren of the Coast trilogy, after The Guardship. It's been a while since I read the first one, so I may have to go back and re-read it before I start The Blackbirder.

That's it for now - hopefully next time I'll have more pictures of current and completed projects to share (especially if I ever get my Malifaux jail completed!).

'Til next time.

Malifaux Terrain - Update

Well, the siding on my Guild Outpost is completed. All that is left now is the roof, the front porch, and the open area on top of the cell that will from a sort of balcony. Oh, and painting it and finishing the base. Hopefully by this time next week I'll have images of the completed building to share.

View of the interior, without the second floor in place.

View of the interior, with the removable second floor in place. My next building(s) will either have just one story or not be open - having to worry about interiors is a huge pain!

'Til next time.

Malifaux Guild Outpost - Update

I was able to get in a few good hours of work yesterday on the Guild outpost I am working on for Malifaux.

One of the difficulties I am having is that since I want to be able to take the fighting indoors, it needs to have removable floors and roof. Next time, I think the fighting will stay in the streets since that makes the overall design and construction so much simpler.

The majority of the structure, besides the foundation and jail cell, will be modelled to look like wooden construction. I am making the shell out of foamcore and then gluing wooden coffee stirrers on as siding.

Here's the front view of the building. At this point, I've added a wooden floor to the interior, as well as begun the process of "framing" the exterior with wood.

In this three-quarter view, you can see the supports inside the building on which I'll place the second floor, while still allowing it to be removed for game play.

Here's a side view. eventually the jail cell will have a balcony/roof that can be accessed from the second floor of the building. It'll provide a nice place for snipers to get some elevation.

I've stained the floor using an alcohol ink I found at Michael's craft store. It came out a very nice shade of brown, with the exception of a couple of spots along the seam where glue got onto the wood. Solutions would be to either stain the wood first, or to be more careful with the application of the glue. Oh well, I think the stains add a little character. I can always say the Guild Guards got a little "enthusiastic" with their interrogation of a suspect, and had to use bleach to clean up the mess.

The last image for today shows the process of using the wooden coffee stirrers, cut to size, for siding. It is rather tedious, but I hope the end result makes it worth the effort.

'Til next time.

Bars for the Malifaux jail

A crazy couple of weeks have meant little progress on the Malifaux jail building. But I did get the bars completed - they just need to be painted up to look appropriately rusty...

I used styrene to make the frame, and styrene rod for the bars. They're clear since they are what I use to add lightsabers to my Star Wars minis conversions.

I will be making the basic shape of the building from foamcore - hopefully by this weekend - and covering it with wood to make it look "westernish."

'Til next time!