tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73773652491772610072024-03-15T01:23:02.235-07:00Antipodean Gaming AdventuresCharliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04300302571612280107noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377365249177261007.post-7997305130164158932016-12-05T01:39:00.003-08:002016-12-05T01:39:55.225-08:00Building a wargaming riverFollowing on from my last post where I made a table for SAGA, I have decided to make a river to add to my table.<br />
<br />
One of the main scenarios in SAGA involves crossing a river with two bridges/fords, and my collection was lacking a river which meant I wasn't able to host this scenario. I looked at several of the commercially available options:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://pegasushobbies.net/catalog/p89/%235220-River-set/product_info.html" target="_blank">The Pegasus Hobbies river</a>: I don't like the paintjob, it's probably a little narrow, and is also too short (I need a 4' river). Not a bad product though, if you're looking for a quick and easy way to toss a river on your table, and very hard wearing.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOFs6c6V-JmHmoXaL7oPoVxwpyJvNsXNFkNFGAmhmPoQevc6ZkQ9QIJ-TFq85oQVa3R9RX8e3I_I13Q0e_dovjN8Gj_sQq3mlL6HoO0PYwMK9wevfqGtOR2buBiZQUz1nHCG2wGR2QKD8/s1600/5220-lg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOFs6c6V-JmHmoXaL7oPoVxwpyJvNsXNFkNFGAmhmPoQevc6ZkQ9QIJ-TFq85oQVa3R9RX8e3I_I13Q0e_dovjN8Gj_sQq3mlL6HoO0PYwMK9wevfqGtOR2buBiZQUz1nHCG2wGR2QKD8/s320/5220-lg.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
The <a href="http://www.amera.co.uk/product.php?range=f" target="_blank">Amera</a> river: Not a bad product at all, and I was extremely tempted by this one! However, being that it is vacuum formed plastic means there is a fair bit of work involved in getting it ready for the table top. You need to cut a base board to size and glue the river down, then trim the edges, sand the whole thing so it will take a coat of glue/paint, then texture and paint it, etc. Frankly, I think there's just as much work involved in making your own river from scratch.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3oLyWPr0haD7VjAy98y9rUh8XuzzKKjEMsCzCl0P839oKuw_BR1HsCvaGGXdeNDaoLug0q-lRsw137S0aZYrjehhd6G42Z4tdrAkdsE2Qd62zvn6I2WB9rItFltSaY_jRF2JJRqBQCeE/s1600/37_7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3oLyWPr0haD7VjAy98y9rUh8XuzzKKjEMsCzCl0P839oKuw_BR1HsCvaGGXdeNDaoLug0q-lRsw137S0aZYrjehhd6G42Z4tdrAkdsE2Qd62zvn6I2WB9rItFltSaY_jRF2JJRqBQCeE/s320/37_7.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Flat rivers: There are a variety of flat rivers available printed on neoprene sheets that you just lay on your table. Obviously the images are very nice and the river just rolls out where ever you need it, but they're also two dimensional with no depth and that's a deal breaker for me. Have you ever seen pictures of Warmachine tables using nothing but 2D printed terrain? It's just <i>sad</i>.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.gf9.com/Default.aspx?tabid=348&art_id=2028" target="_blank">The GF9 river:</a> Much the same as the pegasus hobbies river, I avoided this one for the same reasons. A very nice product though, and one I was sorely tempted by.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjU340fGK1n1GJFbE4PK8xjWqka_u1vir1b8dqVwD7xM9oAtUoV4r2VfN0h0xAF48tpUUQaI9HAOWnuiia1s42cezc8-cV_M2spg3gFSUEFJvL6UCsmA-xHJJ3mgA2orC_-VzIm4kqpiE/s1600/BB105.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjU340fGK1n1GJFbE4PK8xjWqka_u1vir1b8dqVwD7xM9oAtUoV4r2VfN0h0xAF48tpUUQaI9HAOWnuiia1s42cezc8-cV_M2spg3gFSUEFJvL6UCsmA-xHJJ3mgA2orC_-VzIm4kqpiE/s320/BB105.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
In the end, I decided to build my own. I was being quite fussy about the width and the shape of the banks, so rather than buy something and spend ages trying to adjust it, I decided to just make my own.<br />
<br />
I bought a 900 x 1200 x 3 MDF board, and drew a large river on in, between 6" and 7" wide. I cut it out using a handheld coping saw, then used a dremel with a sanding attachment to bevel the edges.<br />
<br />
I bought some acrylic builders caulk (it's important to use acrylic! Silicone is NOT suitable for modelling purposes!) to make the banks with. I put two or three layers down, letting each one set before I did the next, and smoothing them out as I went with a spatula and a wet sponge. I would lay a thick sausage entirely along one bank, smooth it to shape with the spatula, and let it dry a bit. Then I would add the second layer, blend it into the first, and use the damp (not dripping) sponge to smooth out some of the bumps and ridges. You really need to let the caulk set for a two or three days before you sand it. This is the first time I've used this material, and it's great stuff, easy to work with and dries hard. And if you buy an earthy brown one like I did, then it's very forgiving when it comes to painting.<br />
<br />
For the water itself I considered several options. There's the resin option, the acrylic artists gel option, varnish, and plain old paint. I discounted the resin due to the size of the project, and after looking at several on-line tutorials I decided I liked the look of the artists gel the most. Unfortunately, the product I used (Derivan artists medium gel) didn't perform quite the way it was advertised. The container said any depth less than 3mm would dry clear. False. While some patches did dry clear, they were MUCH thinner than 3mm. Anything over about 1.5mm stayed cloudy to one degree or another. Also, during the curing process the product develops tiny air-bubbles inside it. Probably not noticeable on a smaller project like a thinner river or a fountain, but for a large 6" wide river it was quite noticeable.<br />
<br />
Luckily, the supplies I had bought for the first attempt were more than enough for a second attempt. I decided this time I'm going to try varnish. Resin is the other option but in the amount I'd need it's quite expensive and it would be an unknown entity. I don't know if it will react to the paints I'm using, how much it would shrink, if the shrinkage would warp the MDF I'm using as a base, and at the end of it all you get a gloss mirror finish which isn't very river-like. So I decided to use varnish. Again the width of the river presented some problems, because on such a wide surface any brush-strokes would be very visible. So I opted for a can of spray varnish, and put down several coats. In the end, this didn't provide quite as much coverage as I had wanted, but I can always go back and apply some varnish with a brush, before coating it with spray varnish again to even the texture out.<br />
<br />
First I undercoated the entire project in black. Then I sprayed the river a dark green, leaving the centre of the river black the darkest to simulate depth. Then I airbrushed a sandy brown colour on the edges to simulate sandy/earthy shores. At this stage the river looks like this:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWzgQUEuOUvT995akUieHmaZdD5b5Z3X2aFuTVsPNwNzm-rFGyz4c-jBqf5gmp8_s2JfcIklsSMq_wA2fmpqalbAtkyf1GtwLlrlWZxzXt9K55aC5tzCq3FQqKM7347J5znn91cu81t9M/s1600/20161202_141619.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWzgQUEuOUvT995akUieHmaZdD5b5Z3X2aFuTVsPNwNzm-rFGyz4c-jBqf5gmp8_s2JfcIklsSMq_wA2fmpqalbAtkyf1GtwLlrlWZxzXt9K55aC5tzCq3FQqKM7347J5znn91cu81t9M/s320/20161202_141619.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMWMg8jFO-DUD4gJw_9GifCwNhDsCjb2_YwERwwxf2fhE226EAFluY856RjZL-Hr4ZWkdCMPCUw6aqpMnUVOT9OKWGpriJ1bpFvLxEF6bDLOchlw-GYwQzRM1aUjd_79K3KFPV2Q-EgXM/s1600/20161202_141628.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMWMg8jFO-DUD4gJw_9GifCwNhDsCjb2_YwERwwxf2fhE226EAFluY856RjZL-Hr4ZWkdCMPCUw6aqpMnUVOT9OKWGpriJ1bpFvLxEF6bDLOchlw-GYwQzRM1aUjd_79K3KFPV2Q-EgXM/s400/20161202_141628.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-iOwLpudcadjAZxtNeXwr7CNkuMculsF7DFqI72nWRLxJ041Raa9IwB-oSAeHUsy5WSYyYVs9q7lNxAg6IQNiS3oPkQGP5jhB2wD54vW_zD1g-g9l_taGMWjsjgpe42FOHwPwPrrUgCg/s1600/20161202_141641.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-iOwLpudcadjAZxtNeXwr7CNkuMculsF7DFqI72nWRLxJ041Raa9IwB-oSAeHUsy5WSYyYVs9q7lNxAg6IQNiS3oPkQGP5jhB2wD54vW_zD1g-g9l_taGMWjsjgpe42FOHwPwPrrUgCg/s400/20161202_141641.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Then I followed the same basing technique I use for everything: Paint the shores (which were covered in sand to provide texture prior to commencing any painting) in dark brown, drybrush in light brown, then bone. Then apply static grass, leaving patches of earth showing through, before applying foliage, tufts and flowers/weeds. I used tufts from <a href="http://www.gamersgrass.com/" target="_blank">Gamer's Grass</a> which I am really happy with. I've been using these tufts for basing models and terrain for a little while now and have no complaints at all.<br />
<br />
Here you can see the finished product, a small village nestled against the banks of the river:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-NiqKmK33YeUXWDPV588uGQHHCAotpp-9woQZ0vVlyQR0MIemf7ymabk-B7aItOeS7kajpMFTDd7j1kE91iclNcyAORDfPceAsgB19s19PgC8_cJFMwSWzNCfTZKRtBFwgI5wOVwrxMM/s1600/20161205_164253.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-NiqKmK33YeUXWDPV588uGQHHCAotpp-9woQZ0vVlyQR0MIemf7ymabk-B7aItOeS7kajpMFTDd7j1kE91iclNcyAORDfPceAsgB19s19PgC8_cJFMwSWzNCfTZKRtBFwgI5wOVwrxMM/s640/20161205_164253.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQne8sNYu2_KfgOJlTPR07qX0styjYeAfn_vtNMqc3EfCofsL8ASyYL_dN_ec21axY7vBtwUwhdsxcNGQNGbfB7MWRLnTJlJVHYB45wWYNSrNW9ZbTMepEA1ckUw0WbYCVebGpW7apSaQ/s1600/20161205_164306.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQne8sNYu2_KfgOJlTPR07qX0styjYeAfn_vtNMqc3EfCofsL8ASyYL_dN_ec21axY7vBtwUwhdsxcNGQNGbfB7MWRLnTJlJVHYB45wWYNSrNW9ZbTMepEA1ckUw0WbYCVebGpW7apSaQ/s640/20161205_164306.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfPvLiBlhS7mghA7N0-HOfwAzRofcf9b0ggFQgTKVZtwCGetBO-mGLvja4z75USEM3U-EDsKTdAc9Q1c2VQoaPDOBYpv9MrCc3Rukk-En3w6QJ87G5YmvEz9hy2CnuuVnK2W-rRpdFSaA/s1600/20161205_164320.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfPvLiBlhS7mghA7N0-HOfwAzRofcf9b0ggFQgTKVZtwCGetBO-mGLvja4z75USEM3U-EDsKTdAc9Q1c2VQoaPDOBYpv9MrCc3Rukk-En3w6QJ87G5YmvEz9hy2CnuuVnK2W-rRpdFSaA/s640/20161205_164320.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />Charliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04300302571612280107noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377365249177261007.post-19775584530180683442016-10-01T17:09:00.004-07:002016-10-01T17:09:45.693-07:00Ragnarok 2016A few weekends ago I had the pleasure of attending Ragnarok 2016, a SAGA tournament in Melbourne hosted by the <a href="http://www.leagueofancients.org.au/" target="_blank">League of Ancients</a>. This was a really terrific event, with a laid back atmosphere, and a great <a href="http://www.germanclubtivoli.com.au/" target="_blank">venue</a>.<br />
<br />
The tournament was held on the Sunday, as it was timed to coincide with League of Ancients regular monthly meeting, held on the third Sunday or each month. The wife and I stayed in Melbourne for the weekend, and she did some shopping while I played toy soldiers. A win-win weekend away!<br />
<br />
I had wanted to take an Anglo-Saxon warband led by Alfred the Great, but the Northern Fury sourcebook that contains the Anglo-Saxon list is currently out of print and my copy didn't make it to me before the event. So I went with plan B, which was a Viking warband led by Harald Hardrada and including 8 Varangians. I had wanted to include 12, but in the week before the event Studio Tomahawk released a new FAQ/Errata and reduced the maximum unit size for Varangians from 12 to 8. Oh well, them's the breaks!<br />
<br />
My warband was:<br />
<br />
Harald Hardrada<br />
8 Varangians<br />
2 x 8 Warriors<br />
4 Berserkers<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwbfytv2wOOjTnDmakYF4C5Wm42Hj8tKAUkul4qNNtFSyUD_jWZChWJfU_nr3D3BdbrrZYBM595tVHXNp1NfAXxOyxbf0TU1ciPhQFRF7GAaJOY0JODZdfnZn9h14LjyO0LINrfbjyfjA/s1600/IMAG3670.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwbfytv2wOOjTnDmakYF4C5Wm42Hj8tKAUkul4qNNtFSyUD_jWZChWJfU_nr3D3BdbrrZYBM595tVHXNp1NfAXxOyxbf0TU1ciPhQFRF7GAaJOY0JODZdfnZn9h14LjyO0LINrfbjyfjA/s640/IMAG3670.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Game 1 was against Pip's 'Anglo-Danish' warband. Pip had elected to take Hereward the Wake ('the wake' meaning 'the watchful') as his warlord. Hereward unlocks Flemish Mercenaries for your warband, and gives them access to the AD battle-board abilities. The Flemish Mercs natural defensive abilities (armour 5, and always counting as being in hard cover) coupled with the naturally defensive flavour of the Anglo-Danish battle board makes these warriors formidable to say the least.<br />
<br />
Our scenario was Clash of Warlords, which is basically a straight up battle with the condition that you lose the game if your warlord dies. Pip made the mistake of deploying one of his units of Mercenaries far off to his right flank, and since Flemish Mercs can only move S, I was pretty confident they were out of the game. In the picture below you can see the table as it lies after the first turn. You'll have to forgive the photos, the lighting wasn't great and I was using my phone.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0yQRx4vcdm0RjSBLLNx0YrsquKAg64sq-bnpuOC03CJR7ciqGKsZb9bZM9piNKFdmH5G307ASYGfuuA_INinMoldQ4Hz1oEaZ_fwGRNPz46QHyVDriI0CE0_qiILthziM9cQTMRh6Q4w/s1600/game+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="419" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0yQRx4vcdm0RjSBLLNx0YrsquKAg64sq-bnpuOC03CJR7ciqGKsZb9bZM9piNKFdmH5G307ASYGfuuA_INinMoldQ4Hz1oEaZ_fwGRNPz46QHyVDriI0CE0_qiILthziM9cQTMRh6Q4w/s640/game+1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
I deployed centrally, hoping to get a big haymaker in and knock out Pip's warlord early in the game. Pip deployed Hereward surrounded by two units of Mercenaries. I had hoped to be able to draw Hereward out by placing my warlord at M of him, while being outside of S of his bodyguards. But Pip was a canny opponent and kept Hereward well shielded. I made the mistake of charging Harald and his Varangian bodyguard into some Flemish Mercs with a loaded battle board, and the result was from my 21 attacks, I landed 17 hits. Of which Pip saved 16. Now sure, he had some pretty good abilities loaded, but still! 16 saves from 17 hits! The picture below shows my Varangians and Warlord having bounced off the Flemish shieldwall, fatigued and isolated. Oh dear.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg25gQLQHj1tr1WxpZCcrFgPM3GkEHFy3l7uV62zqE3oeLRS2Xq4638yIyFuGmh-cVsMbQQtE9ttIg3zbX_eiknipe29Wt4SuvR2VXfeGb0ahTXcPIIX_gPs7aNngLTq_IY9G6jHB1NsGc/s1600/Game1.1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg25gQLQHj1tr1WxpZCcrFgPM3GkEHFy3l7uV62zqE3oeLRS2Xq4638yIyFuGmh-cVsMbQQtE9ttIg3zbX_eiknipe29Wt4SuvR2VXfeGb0ahTXcPIIX_gPs7aNngLTq_IY9G6jHB1NsGc/s640/Game1.1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Needless to say, my haymaker swing come unglued pretty quickly and the game evolved into a cat-and-mouse match with each of us trying to pin the others warlord down. In the end, our warlords dealt each other their death-wounds in the same combat, and the game ended in a draw. The picture below shows the board on my final turn. From here, the Berserkers (behind the spear armed Bondi warriors) were moved up and charged into Hereward alongside Harald, both of whom were slain in the ensuing combat.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKgYHkq7ZcKaHAQufKupECkrUo22BojHbf-3_fkegDf4MGXrTbOD-ypG81b_pwNwz6NLaP4W4N5_TL7v8UG-dxrm6jnFv1oHwjZgx1nbIAF1Z8zd7tpuDWlEbwdlmdF8stQu9Na48D1_I/s1600/game+1.2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="554" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKgYHkq7ZcKaHAQufKupECkrUo22BojHbf-3_fkegDf4MGXrTbOD-ypG81b_pwNwz6NLaP4W4N5_TL7v8UG-dxrm6jnFv1oHwjZgx1nbIAF1Z8zd7tpuDWlEbwdlmdF8stQu9Na48D1_I/s640/game+1.2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Due to the constraints of the dice and the need to win this round or have my warlord slaughtered in the next, the Berserkers had to accompany Harald. In the end, I used Valhalla on them and sacrificed three of them for extra attacks. It turned out to be overkill, and also fatal for Harald since he had only a single 'bodyguard' on whom he could redirect a wound, and as a result Harald fell, turning a potential win into a draw. Well played Pip! In hindsight I probably could have kept Harald back from the fray and just let the Berserkers do their thing, but I got caught up in the theme of the game and the heat of the moment, and so Harald went in swinging!<br />
<br />
Game 2 was against Steve's Scots. Our scenario was a pure victory points knock-em-down and drag-em-out game. Steve deployed in a solid line of warriors with hearthguard support, which gave me pause. Any unit that I isolated and picked on would probably be destroyed, but would also leave my units isolated and surrounded. You can see our deployments in the picture below.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-fAKLeYyLtMLL48PGZAQTjVmH5hmaS-VJ3Ne2SlHeTPGvypapECtGipiezmQ3GquhQVQ5OPkrpb9EQB3APvl47u6JN4PFrK35kDHp38DnZ0X5nPdnyaSW2DnhaTW_Nf49mWhDqoPVj9Q/s1600/game+2.3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-fAKLeYyLtMLL48PGZAQTjVmH5hmaS-VJ3Ne2SlHeTPGvypapECtGipiezmQ3GquhQVQ5OPkrpb9EQB3APvl47u6JN4PFrK35kDHp38DnZ0X5nPdnyaSW2DnhaTW_Nf49mWhDqoPVj9Q/s640/game+2.3.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
As it turned out, I managed to get a triple activation going in my turn which resulted in the destruction of a Scottish Hearthguard and Warrior unit, and also left his warlord within Warlord's Pride range: when a warlord activates for a 'move' and he is within a single move of the enemy warlord, then he MUST engage the enemy warlord. Due to some lucky positioning on my part, Steve's warlord was unable to activate any of his units for a Side by Side move, which is where the warlord drags a friendly unit with him to fight in the combat. You can see the situation in the picture below. Steve's warlord, if activated, must engage my warlord. His hearthguard are too close to my Varangians to do anything except charge them, and his warriors are too far away to accompany his Warlord.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpjVe3DLLXUqVHFEcZtE6XinMqg2fBsWoyrLgrO_jQhShP44jOSAhoSLbIVbDdZlN-aFOd7sSOdCngpOzb_Wqw9Ddsxk-HLALpgaPhEublL-weE9RBKhEVgEJ9MNLkwZG8M9psTRAJIHU/s1600/game+2.1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpjVe3DLLXUqVHFEcZtE6XinMqg2fBsWoyrLgrO_jQhShP44jOSAhoSLbIVbDdZlN-aFOd7sSOdCngpOzb_Wqw9Ddsxk-HLALpgaPhEublL-weE9RBKhEVgEJ9MNLkwZG8M9psTRAJIHU/s640/game+2.1.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Nevertheless, the ensuing Scottish counter-attack was bloody. Steve's warlord was slain, and his warriors defeated and forced to withdraw. The Vikings took heavy casualties, with only a handful of models surviving, but a handful was more than the Scots had remaining and with the death of last of the Scottish warriors, the Scots lost their ability to generate SAGA dice, and therefore lost the game. NB: When your warband is unable to generate any SAGA dice, then you automatically lose the game.<br />
<br />
Game 3, the final round, was the Feast for Crows multiplayer scenario vs Christian's Jomsvikings and Tylers Saracens. Clearly two separate bands of Norse mercenaries fighting for the Byzantines, with their own grudge to settle! Early game sees my Varangians take out a unit of Saracan HG, but then become entangled with an unwinable war of attrition against Bedouin mercenaries. Among their other abilities, these can activate for as many times as they want, for free, until they are exhausted. And if you end a move within M of them (and did not engage them in combat) then they get a free move (which also allows them to throw javelins).<br />
<br />
Importantly they CAN'T make this free move when exhausted, so the owning player needs to be careful not to leave them exhausted in his own turn or they can be caught and killed.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1n17JLBqrXjUEOWWQOPp3cSo0DCEwYPu8-Q8PcMHDQoe9Vbtsmr6bNSUMCO_d9SqHaxFx5k7uTWe8KxsY922bCq50mrOu9dy0VgBs-mjrpHORx2XIjCuzjl7Wty6HZ5KfhNqkbFk6C70/s1600/game3.1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1n17JLBqrXjUEOWWQOPp3cSo0DCEwYPu8-Q8PcMHDQoe9Vbtsmr6bNSUMCO_d9SqHaxFx5k7uTWe8KxsY922bCq50mrOu9dy0VgBs-mjrpHORx2XIjCuzjl7Wty6HZ5KfhNqkbFk6C70/s640/game3.1.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
The Saracens and Jomsvikings slug it out, and by the end of the 7th turn there is only a handful of models left on the board, with the Saracens being ever so slightly ahead in points. Tyler finishes on 23 points, I'm on 20, and Christian on 17. As the game was finishing I realised there was a priest in the building you can see in the picture, and my Varangians had spent many turns just sitting outside the building doing nothing when they could have been inside butchering the priest! Oh well, something to remember for next time!<br />
<br />
Overall I think the Vikings finished in fourth or fifth place, from a field of 14 or 16 or something like that. I forget exactly. I was happy with my performance, and can see where I made mistakes and where I will need to pay attention in the future. I also met lots of great people, played three fantastic games, and got to use some models I'd never used before. And the wife got to do lots of shopping and we got a nice weekend away in the city, so everyone was happy! I'll definitely be marking this one on my calendar for next year, and hopefully I can drag a few of the local gamers along with me as well.<br />
<br />
Final thoughts:<br />
<br />
1 - Ragnarok is cool.<br />
2 - The <a href="http://www.leagueofancients.org.au/" target="_blank">League of Ancients</a> seem like cool guys.<br />
3 - Don't take unnecessary risks with your warlord.<br />
4 - Be well aware of what all the pieces on the board are, and where they are. Charliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04300302571612280107noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377365249177261007.post-69160185117311205312016-09-26T01:49:00.002-07:002016-09-26T02:03:46.320-07:00Making a gaming table for SAGA<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6fg11tnxt-e_dwF6-Q9Tp10WpSYZ0EdStty0HG4WQSltMpGfzIGOzmaow8iGQG6KEt9EYeF1qUkZZqVB8XziHo2NmjFWuRSegeLUogkCkmYu1Al8CiMG0ytfI-jecfFI6Rh7AU-HuwhE/s1600/IMAG3584.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="355" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6fg11tnxt-e_dwF6-Q9Tp10WpSYZ0EdStty0HG4WQSltMpGfzIGOzmaow8iGQG6KEt9EYeF1qUkZZqVB8XziHo2NmjFWuRSegeLUogkCkmYu1Al8CiMG0ytfI-jecfFI6Rh7AU-HuwhE/s640/IMAG3584.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
To play SAGA, I've been lugging my large 6'x4' table out of the shed and laying it on the table in my dining room. This is because my shed isn't climate controlled and frankly it's starting to fill with junk, so it doesn't make a great playing space. And moving that large board around is a pain, usually requiring the aid of my darling wife. So I decided to make a smaller 3'x4' board, which is the size for most SAGA games and would make it easier to move it in and out of the house.<br />
<br />
My large board is covered by a static grass mat. You can buy these from a couple of suppliers, and they look very nice, if a little uniform IMO. Since most of my terrain was based to match my current grass board, it was the natural choice for my 3 x 4. Now, my current board was actually a hand-me-down from a friend, so I can't say for sure exactly how he glued the mat down, but I seem to remember him saying something about PVA glue. I had previously put together <a href="http://antipodeangaming.blogspot.com.au/2015/06/making-table-for-x-wing.html" target="_blank">a table for X Wing</a> so I figured I would have a pretty good handle on this one.<br />
<br />
Apparently I was wrong.<br />
<br />
I bought a 900 x 1200 MDF board from Bunnings, and a grass mat from eBay. A proper 3 x 4 is actually 914.4 x 1219.2, but finding a board large enough and having it cut to the exact size seemed like a lot of work, so I compromised and got a board that's a tiny fraction smaller.<br />
<br />
My mistake was to try and use some spray adhesive I had left over from my X Wing table. This stuff is great, works just as advertised and provides a very strong bond. For my X Wing table, using a printed vinyl space mat, it was perfect.<br />
<br />
For gluing down a paper grass mat it was not.<br />
<br />
Firstly, the grass mat doesn't 'roll' as nicely as the vinyl, leading to lots of creases in the table and secondly, the bond created by the spray adhesive is so immediately strong that I was unable to tug the edge of the mat to remove the creases. This wasn't a problem with the stronger vinyl mat, since I could pull quite hard on it to get the creases out. But pulling that hard on the grass mat would have simply torn it. It was about halfway through the application of the mat that I realised the project was doomed and aborted it, with much cursing and a foul temper. In hindsight I should have used PVA glue watered down and through a spray bottle. The less adhesive PVA glue would have allowed me to adjust and remove wrinkles and creases as I went. Also, I could have been more careful with the application, trying to avoid wrinkles in the first place. As it was, I assumed it would be a similar process to applying a vinyl sheet and was a bit carefree with the application.<br />
<br />
Anyway, after much cursing and deliberation, I returned to Bunnings and bought some paints (A light brown spray can, and small tins of green, bone and yellow) some painting sponges and a spray can of satin topcoat. This turned what should have been an ~$80 project into a ~$150 project, much more than I wanted to spend, but I was angry and wanted the project done. The paints were expensive, but I didn't want to use cheap poster paint since the table would be getting a bit of wear.<br />
<br />
Once home, I sanded the glue off (mostly) from my MDF, then flipped it over and started painting on the 'clean' side. I sprayed the whole thing brown, then dappled bone all over it with a sponge to give a dead grass/dry earth impression. Then I worked it over with the sponge, mixing up different shades of green as I went. If you're working on a project like this, it's essential to have a large working space that you don't mind if you get some paint on. And don't be afraid to experiment with the application. If it doesn't look like how you wanted or imagined, you can blur it out with the sponge and try again. Try out different pressures with the sponge, different grips, different amounts of paint, etc. You are trying to mimic a 'realistic' grassland effect, so you want different patches of green, but you want them to blend into each other subtly.<br />
<br />
I wound up with an effect I was pretty happy with, and after a few topcoats of satin varnish to protect the playing surface, the board is ready to go. And a good thing too, since my 6 x 4 is starting to look a little haggard.<br />
<br />
Here is the finished board, with some terrain:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgem9bKzxPH4TTt7697uuvPjnqkD18GG2kRJo7GEPymhfB9Jm_2dqpXlYV93UAfczcXinlLK3o2_G5BStsa3VbAS18A_ViOMIM76Gb3TxiwalxXUIW5XY0JgEmp8YRgBVZvRDrjxoisWAE/s1600/IMAG3585.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="356" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgem9bKzxPH4TTt7697uuvPjnqkD18GG2kRJo7GEPymhfB9Jm_2dqpXlYV93UAfczcXinlLK3o2_G5BStsa3VbAS18A_ViOMIM76Gb3TxiwalxXUIW5XY0JgEmp8YRgBVZvRDrjxoisWAE/s640/IMAG3585.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
I didn't take any pictures during the painting process, it's a bit of an organic development and once I was in the zone the thought of pausing to take some photos never occurred to me. There's a bit of glare in the photo, but under normal lighting there is much less glare. If I'd gone for a matte varnish there would be less glare again, but a matte coat tends to get grubby quicker and isn't as hard wearing.<br />
<br />
Stay tuned in the future for some more terrain related blog posts!Charliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04300302571612280107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377365249177261007.post-33246398333425284652016-07-04T21:25:00.000-07:002016-07-08T04:45:01.715-07:00SAGA at PandaconThis weekend I got to play some games of SAGA at a great new little convention in Melbourne.<br />
<br />
The <a href="http://www.pandacon.com.au/" target="_blank">Pandacon</a> is the product of <a href="http://kayjays.com.au/" target="_blank">Kayjays</a> games store and café, and this was the inaugural event. There were a couple of teething problems as happens with any new event. Namely some issues finding my name on the list of attendees, and the venue operators didn’t arrive until just after 9 when the rounds where scheduled to start at 9. By the time you factor in all the ‘where are we playing?’ ‘where can I get a coffee?’ ‘does anyone have a spare battle board?’ and the other essential pre-tournament negotiations and pleasantries this meant we were probably an hour or so behind right from the start, which would have ramifications for the rest of the day.<br />
<br />
The tournament was 4 points, to be played over three rounds between 9am and 1pm. I had taken Vikings as the idea of running a Vikings warband was what attracted me to SAGA in the first place and I have still, to this point, only played them in about six games. My list consisted of my Warlord (free) two points of Hearthguard, one point of Berserkers and one point of Warriors. Berserkers in SAGA are Hearthguard, who trade two points of defence (lowering them to 3+) for two extra attacks per model. Their low armour makes them extremely susceptible to return attacks and incoming missile fire, so they’re not always the best choice tactically speaking, but they’re very cool and I like them so I took them.<br />
<br />
My first game was the Sacred Ground scenario vs Richard’s (nearly) all mounted Milites Christi. This was the first game Richard had played with his Milites Christi, and I haven’t much SAGA experience full stop, so this was a learning game for both of us.<br />
<br />
Sacred Ground is a scenario where there are only three terrain pieces. A central hill, and a piece to the left of it and a piece to the right. I chose a forest to be placed to the right of the hill, and Richard chose a piece of scrubland to be placed to the right. The name of the game is to get as many of your models into those terrain pieces as possible, and to keep them there as long as possible. I rushed my right flank, stacking models into the forest while Richard rushed my left, stacking his troops into the scrubland. I also moved my unit of Warriors onto the central hill.<br />
<br />
Richard’s warband featured a unit of eight crossbow armed warriors, who now started to fire their bolts into my warriors who hunkered down behind their shields to weather the storm. At this point I realised that I couldn’t afford to simply hold the central hill, since Richard’s crossbowmen would tip the balance in his favour. So I rushed my Hearthguard unit out from the forest where they were sheltering on my right flank, and caught a unit of Richard’s mounted warriors unawares. They then used several activations to get back into position on the central hill. The crossbowmen continued to be a problem, but through judicious use of the Odin ability (turning a shoot into a move) and manipulation of fatigue I was able to keep casualties to a minimum. I still lost all my warriors, and eventually had to charge my berserkers into the crossbowmen to end their threat once and for all.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx2NY0UHvrQZpSZdbqVrpTOG815N72KNtonpx6cDfCPQBYjug8T-R5bx7s5nGSUDs7pvAyfwqaJTp5bRC7XiP0b8eu0lGcvJKxTICLDDfRSZWvXNis2ZKRvst7QpL3Dsn_2f24BzXB1vM/s1600/IMAG3515.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="356" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx2NY0UHvrQZpSZdbqVrpTOG815N72KNtonpx6cDfCPQBYjug8T-R5bx7s5nGSUDs7pvAyfwqaJTp5bRC7XiP0b8eu0lGcvJKxTICLDDfRSZWvXNis2ZKRvst7QpL3Dsn_2f24BzXB1vM/s640/IMAG3515.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The state of the board in the mid game. You can see my Hearthguard on the right, having destroyed some of Richard's mounted warriors, and you can see my lone Warrior and my Berserkers on the hill, being threatened by the Milites Christi crossbowmen to their left. Unfortunately during the heat of the moment I neglected to take any more in-game photos on the day!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
I had initially wanted to send my Berserkers into the eight man mounted Hearthguard unit that Richard was keeping in reserve on my left. But after taking a couple of casualties from the crossbows they were too depleted for that task, and the crossbows were presenting a thorn in my side and needed to be dealt with. So with a cry of ODIN! My berserkers went charging across the table and after a furry of axes and a spray of blood, not a single figure was left standing.<br />
<br />
By now I was slightly ahead in points since my warriors had died while standing on the hill earning points, while Richard’s had died standing in open ground. Yes, he’d forced my hand, but not until I’d earned a handful more points than him.With the last turn looming Richard sent his eight man Hearthguard cavalry unit crashing into my eight man Hearthguard unit occupying the central hill. It was to be a pretty even battle, but since I was ahead on points I only needed to not die, while Richard needed to defeat or at least heavily deplete my forces. I traded in as many of my attack dice for defence as I could, and kept the melee to a draw forcing Richard to withdraw. Final tally of points was 55.5 to me and 52 to him, a VERY close game!<br />
<br />
My second game was against Tyler with his all cavalry Saracens. Our scenario was the Challenge, and the objective was to slay the enemy warlord. In this scenario, both warlords deploy in the centre of the table, while the rest of your warband deploys normally.<br />
<br />
Given that Tyler’s entire warband was mounted, AND he would have the first turn, I was worried that he would gain a strong advantage in the first turn. But luckily for me the dice were not with him and his forces inflicted only a handful of wounds.<br />
<br />
In my turn, I managed to triple activate my Berserkers into his warlord, using Ullr to re-roll misses, and Frigg and Njord to shed fatigue. After the dust had settled, I had inflicted 11 wounds on Tyler’s warlord. Just 1 shy of killing him! Now that Tylers warlord was so close to death he had to be very careful with him, activating his units to shield him from harm and not being confident enough to send him into combat. This gave me an edge that allowed me to engage the rest of Tylers warband piece-meal in decisive engagements. Once again the Bersekers were wiped out, but they had more than done their job and went to Valhalla with a smile on their faces.<br />
<br />
By the mid-game, Tyler’s entire warband was destroyed bar his Warlord, where I had six Hearthguard, my Warlord and eight warriors. In a last ditch attempt to take the last four hits off my warlord, Tyler engaged me in combat but it wasn’t to be, and his warlord was cast down and a pagan banner raised over the battlefield.<br />
<br />
Now, there was to be a third round for the event, but given that we had gotten off to such a late start and we had another group wanting to utilise the space after 1pm, we decided to call the event there. As I had won both of my games, I was declared winner! I have to say I was pretty surprised and excited to have taken home the top prize at my first ever event, no matter how small it was! Both Richard and Tyler are members of the <a href="http://www.leagueofancients.org.au/" target="_blank">League of Ancients</a>, a historical wargaming society that meets once a month in Melbourne. They are hosting another, larger event in September and I’ll definitely be attending that one as well. They were both great, laid back opponents and I learned a lot about the intricacies of the rules that I hadn’t previously understood and I hope to be able to make it to some of their monthly meets! <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0vPIkeZlW4V-Ia31QraxPD5Z5gw6miuz3N0bi1v3G5YBR5D0_LAvnQugkdcGfNSptGnccR-y-GQPbdb8T3pgKNEco3pbraZqfswbB2HRbdB6FeRVcWOUZUY8-tzyRbAdpZEJXTRzDcEo/s1600/IMAG3516.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0vPIkeZlW4V-Ia31QraxPD5Z5gw6miuz3N0bi1v3G5YBR5D0_LAvnQugkdcGfNSptGnccR-y-GQPbdb8T3pgKNEco3pbraZqfswbB2HRbdB6FeRVcWOUZUY8-tzyRbAdpZEJXTRzDcEo/s400/IMAG3516.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
The overall feel of Pandacon was great, very laid back and relaxed with
an in-house café and bar, easy to get to with plenty of parking space. I
really hope this thing gets some more promotion next year and can draw a
bigger crowd!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
Charliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04300302571612280107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377365249177261007.post-62517914502666067142016-06-04T16:48:00.004-07:002016-06-04T16:49:48.256-07:00SAGA!<h2>
SAGA!</h2>
<br />
If anyone has actually been reading this blog, it might seem that the only game I play is X Wing. This is not the case! I love X Wing and Star Wars in general, but have been playing wargames since 1994 and I was lining up my little Napoleonic soldier and making pew-pew noises long before that!<br />
<br />
While I have models for a wide range of games, if I'm honest I really only play a handful of them. Most of the models sit in storage, hopeful of one day being the flavour of the month again. My current passion is <a href="http://www.grippingbeast.co.uk/Saga.html" target="_blank">SAGA</a>, and now that I have a regular opponent I'm hopeful of it being one of my gaming mainstays since I absolutely love it. The game play is simple, the application of the different factions battle boards is complex without being complicated, the forces are small enough to be easy to prepare and reasonably priced, it plays on a small board (36" by 48") and it features Vikings, Saxons, Franks and other Dark Ages factions for which I have a passion.<br />
<br />
Basically, SAGA is a dark ages skirmish game. It features anywhere from 25 to 73 figures (one of which will always be your Warlord) in units ranging from 4 to 12 models. Models for all factions are broken down into three broad types. Levies are your conscripted peasants, unwilling warriors forced to fight for their lord. Warriors are the men who form the backbone of your force, stern and determined men. Hearthguard are the born warriors who love to fight, the elite and highly trained core of a Warlords forces. These are your <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hird" target="_blank">Viking Hirdmen</a> or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thegn" target="_blank">Saxon Thegns</a>.<br />
<br />
Each faction shares these three classes of warrior, but many have some small variation within them. For instance, the Welsh may take lots of javelins on their units, the Normans may mount their warriors and hearthguard on horses, the vikings can take one unit of hearthguard as berserkers, etc. Further flavour is given to each faction by their battle-boards.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxFw-5c3HF8hN8t9oYIeO4GZUykaoo2PuM9j2UnR1bfwBuYLchw_-XurxKKKJUQpu5IPaWLQe92tH9tfI9sJzVl1M5_NV3gwoZIHzbAcmUY3gPNvynLonJ5KUIOyY9FSQzvZU-Wie1ipY/s1600/Picture+206.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxFw-5c3HF8hN8t9oYIeO4GZUykaoo2PuM9j2UnR1bfwBuYLchw_-XurxKKKJUQpu5IPaWLQe92tH9tfI9sJzVl1M5_NV3gwoZIHzbAcmUY3gPNvynLonJ5KUIOyY9FSQzvZU-Wie1ipY/s640/Picture+206.jpg" width="476" /></a></div>
<br />
Each faction has SAGA dice. These dice are rolled at the start of each turn, and may be placed on the corresponding box on their battle board. This gives a player a range of choices to make, varying from how many dice to roll (you get one dice for each unit, and two for your warlord to a maximum of 6 dice. Levy units don't generate dice) to where to place those dice after they're rolled. Activating a unit costs a dice, so you need to balance the cool abilities on your board with the need to activate your units at all. And each faction has wildly varying battle board abilities so, despite sharing common troop types, each faction plays very differently and in many cases each faction can be played in a variety of ways, depending on which types of builds you prefer and which battle board abilities you favour.<br />
<br />
SAGA is not a dry historical simulation game. The game and it's effects are gamey, but never so much so that they break the theme. If you're looking for something historically accurate, this game is not for you. But if you're looking for a tight, fun skirmish wargame where your Vikings can plunder and pillage the Saxon lands, then SAGA is right up your alley.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
And one of the things I love about SAGA as opposed to X Wing or Armada is that not only is it a much more traditional wargame (no faffing about with tokens and upgrade cards!) but I get the opportunity to make my own terrain and paint my own figures! Yes, I know I can do this with X Wing but there's much less motivation when all the bits are provided pre-painted with press-out terrain. I've been happily putting together all sorts of plastic soldiers and buildings and forests and stuff:</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyDovJUQbWTcXvaTZ6RkCQ0QK47AXAfQ5zSGsRtft_oWbGiQmLVC9GRUwHxGp9sgDuFj7VMDc3OwiOaMbzeLuKqBARiThF16cfnl64dp9FUYDoV4yt0_WxZv3LMRM77oRaGdJ4CY75QkU/s1600/ymWE6Kp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyDovJUQbWTcXvaTZ6RkCQ0QK47AXAfQ5zSGsRtft_oWbGiQmLVC9GRUwHxGp9sgDuFj7VMDc3OwiOaMbzeLuKqBARiThF16cfnl64dp9FUYDoV4yt0_WxZv3LMRM77oRaGdJ4CY75QkU/s640/ymWE6Kp.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
This church was built using plaster bricks made from <a href="http://www.hirstarts.com/molds/moldsfield.html" target="_blank">Hirst Arts</a> molds, with a roof made from cardboard tiles and mounted on an MDF base.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7e8tZtjNHCLkMRgrAvT7vISz_nwmU-FYAq_ZLOIifn48FyhZnYGvdkD-zjtPC8EBaK-jPlxmH-DuUJH901Lvm2P_XADsYSLRC8cXZa887O1eRJXpBZLtTqFfbPh3rMcb2ErvjOHweT-M/s1600/IMAG3425.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7e8tZtjNHCLkMRgrAvT7vISz_nwmU-FYAq_ZLOIifn48FyhZnYGvdkD-zjtPC8EBaK-jPlxmH-DuUJH901Lvm2P_XADsYSLRC8cXZa887O1eRJXpBZLtTqFfbPh3rMcb2ErvjOHweT-M/s640/IMAG3425.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgezV1oT3TajvC14DRCgMx8WEs-PGm4N6aqrnGvjeuoD6KKfJh-WoC51yXoJTW0IpvgB-W9kWcJQvhtV8YSJXD-1aX-cr0qZAZT0hfQRhszMuyHUDhrHzbEGQeqWsoG6-8gnB4qAMYPXLU/s1600/IMAG3426.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgezV1oT3TajvC14DRCgMx8WEs-PGm4N6aqrnGvjeuoD6KKfJh-WoC51yXoJTW0IpvgB-W9kWcJQvhtV8YSJXD-1aX-cr0qZAZT0hfQRhszMuyHUDhrHzbEGQeqWsoG6-8gnB4qAMYPXLU/s640/IMAG3426.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV2jSdM91-VwKGn4OMsEFfDqa1lX5iwQ1Sncq-MQ9orkkir43wcxsOkT7UYte4oDHXRfNxtfaSOpZWmW8AADOxJV_GB_HD3QcVAvAojkOBbCFU75wHqlblimeCE45cANBVVNJ4TPnfPvI/s1600/IMAG3427.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV2jSdM91-VwKGn4OMsEFfDqa1lX5iwQ1Sncq-MQ9orkkir43wcxsOkT7UYte4oDHXRfNxtfaSOpZWmW8AADOxJV_GB_HD3QcVAvAojkOBbCFU75wHqlblimeCE45cANBVVNJ4TPnfPvI/s640/IMAG3427.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPr6rfnUY-pbekKw3yKjXD9SrmbH_8g8BYONlDJIH36WBd3x_818m051M0W2wVMd5BXYYvYZ9TB60iVEhU6IOGzxpRueJDwsyuLfCkXtSI-d-tVdVTqb3_OzdntkbsGBAgKNwrHcZBJo0/s1600/IMAG3428.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPr6rfnUY-pbekKw3yKjXD9SrmbH_8g8BYONlDJIH36WBd3x_818m051M0W2wVMd5BXYYvYZ9TB60iVEhU6IOGzxpRueJDwsyuLfCkXtSI-d-tVdVTqb3_OzdntkbsGBAgKNwrHcZBJo0/s640/IMAG3428.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
These four buildings form a village which was the scene of three battles last weekend, with my Vikings being victorious twice, but then get trounced in the third game by the Irish!. They're made from balsa wood for the frame and walls, with teddy-bear fur roofs and MDF bases.<br />
<br />
The bases aren't finished, since I ran out of tufts and flowers and what-not, and they need some extra detail like spears leant against door frames, shields hung on walls, stacked firewood, etc, but they're finished enough to see some action on the table top. <br />
<br />
And of course, there are the models themselves!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWZ7VJGXrFyTzp1vxZDIEwCsw1Et0wqObX8wJKNGCRULaiLWPXjbQjBNERg88-4tP2gOvV_BDk6CBT3PxMcrpgAG8H0GSOrqcQ1UvkfSkbsqniYMhJixvSVGImLatt4OB-7yY4W24PLrM/s1600/mZLAwZT.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWZ7VJGXrFyTzp1vxZDIEwCsw1Et0wqObX8wJKNGCRULaiLWPXjbQjBNERg88-4tP2gOvV_BDk6CBT3PxMcrpgAG8H0GSOrqcQ1UvkfSkbsqniYMhJixvSVGImLatt4OB-7yY4W24PLrM/s640/mZLAwZT.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
My Viking Warlord and his faithful banner bearer.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgARM5H9zy1fWYS95PYBjn7jmDaxa4NAE20Y2a0Yrf7IVEJZw1CkXEkkfBFL9EOq2tnao6sdCQ1tCyP0CqDeLIPkaxRki37wVk3uLtP5fE27FFfY_UzTEnsgilpvPhAlEQ0qyItwCdGX4U/s1600/u8yr8vP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgARM5H9zy1fWYS95PYBjn7jmDaxa4NAE20Y2a0Yrf7IVEJZw1CkXEkkfBFL9EOq2tnao6sdCQ1tCyP0CqDeLIPkaxRki37wVk3uLtP5fE27FFfY_UzTEnsgilpvPhAlEQ0qyItwCdGX4U/s640/u8yr8vP.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
His loyal retainers, 8 Hearthguard.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4yfhhySZgS2Jyofr6IkXGU_XNHpoeWOJiufsQarnA34pSa2Ni_YuKx-HdYJiT-vnDmEnd2u82jkKnQU0eKLoNUq-7AvSEHoyBn7MtqdTUYGFKmoFLgNqKIO-9QsyuCvMW3KYvFeOB804/s1600/iExSXV9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4yfhhySZgS2Jyofr6IkXGU_XNHpoeWOJiufsQarnA34pSa2Ni_YuKx-HdYJiT-vnDmEnd2u82jkKnQU0eKLoNUq-7AvSEHoyBn7MtqdTUYGFKmoFLgNqKIO-9QsyuCvMW3KYvFeOB804/s640/iExSXV9.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
And some frothing loonies, 4 Berserkers! I've decided to go with the 'warrior cult of Odin' interpretation, rather than naked lunatics with wolf-skin hats. These guys have an increased attacks value, but reduced armour.<br />
<br />
Overall, I've gone for a darker palette with the Vikings to make them look more menacing. Their opponents, the valiant Anglo-Danes, have some brighter colours:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm4oeL9hCJeJErdLoqGj9zWj_2TyK-1xVrhrcKWeNhMgCVs51RnvyVOUOwfSunVY5eI8r9ojuwc3kE_BIgwYxgoJpZEAAynQVoYM8WsRyIl1Nd7Zhf_-vinDINMLbQai9Nu_AA4a4hdb8/s1600/QPNTD6d.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm4oeL9hCJeJErdLoqGj9zWj_2TyK-1xVrhrcKWeNhMgCVs51RnvyVOUOwfSunVY5eI8r9ojuwc3kE_BIgwYxgoJpZEAAynQVoYM8WsRyIl1Nd7Zhf_-vinDINMLbQai9Nu_AA4a4hdb8/s640/QPNTD6d.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipMosTqKvALnItGlnI98NlegXorBCkBuRWIphat2w6nROgTqXFR1I0-zzPzRJJL61Ql3S94nlvNhZgaYGFYAl1SKOJpqWMWDskD24hRAG-rzSPKSwubLal9FoIA8NsLE9o52MUWsm8aiw/s1600/LM8ke5h.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipMosTqKvALnItGlnI98NlegXorBCkBuRWIphat2w6nROgTqXFR1I0-zzPzRJJL61Ql3S94nlvNhZgaYGFYAl1SKOJpqWMWDskD24hRAG-rzSPKSwubLal9FoIA8NsLE9o52MUWsm8aiw/s640/LM8ke5h.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Here are my Anglo-Dane Warlord, and his noble Thegns.<br />
<br />
The models are all plastic from <a href="http://www.grippingbeast.co.uk/Plastic_Figures--category--32.html" target="_blank">Gripping Beast</a> and the shields make use of transfers from <a href="http://www.littlebigmenstudios.co.uk/catalog/" target="_blank">Little Big Men Studios</a>.Charliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04300302571612280107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377365249177261007.post-20685128935860597062016-05-08T21:17:00.002-07:002016-05-08T21:17:59.165-07:00Heroes of the Aturi ClusterSo some time ago I worked up a campaign system for X Wing. After that, I discovered the brilliant <a href="http://dockingbay416.com/campaign/" target="_blank">Heroes of the Aturi Cluster</a> co-op campaign system which I have since downloaded, printed, played, and absolutely loved. There are some similarities between this system and my own, but there are also significant differences not least of which are an obvious talent for design and extremely high production values. The fellow who created this, Josh Derksen, has immense amounts of talent and skill and has invested a lot of hard work.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzXLZOeKOTq-sq1NLxIrN2eMUiycm2xlIj9vcnkop7ykrtTJacpnNQ9kezyfKNW6f-6WK4lraYt3u81dPjpvPBJ8lwHPRZSXpaKcr_TQGNUhs8Fzf4hlIcpI3zJMxCH1WtPlJgwk54p38/s1600/687474703a2f2f646f636b696e676261793431362e636f6d2f77702d636f6e74656e742f75706c6f6164732f323031352f30382f43616d706169676e5370726561645f313030302e6a7067.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzXLZOeKOTq-sq1NLxIrN2eMUiycm2xlIj9vcnkop7ykrtTJacpnNQ9kezyfKNW6f-6WK4lraYt3u81dPjpvPBJ8lwHPRZSXpaKcr_TQGNUhs8Fzf4hlIcpI3zJMxCH1WtPlJgwk54p38/s320/687474703a2f2f646f636b696e676261793431362e636f6d2f77702d636f6e74656e742f75706c6f6164732f323031352f30382f43616d706169676e5370726561645f313030302e6a7067.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div>
<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Heroes of the Aturi Cluster is a completely new way to play X Wing. It sticks to the basics (move with a dial, roll red dice to attack and green dice to defend) but introduces a host of new mission objectives and several new actions (like jumping to hyperspace or defending a target). The missions tend to start with a handful of Rebel ships on the board, and a handful of TIE fighters. The TIEs are controlled using a brilliant AI chart:</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2z0Uh3B3mQbXJQsuH_SrMXbTiRmvccw0tTUlQIWJNzmXWVsEXnzPQiG8LA0IdeOgP4M_oCntWdOmspImy7QkuPiY9bkFMAthmOQwFh_wJ_5CKTxa_xwPUFjyozaZFQNB0j_xMFVl6sbU/s1600/X-Wing_Heroes_of_the_Aturi_Cluster_6.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2z0Uh3B3mQbXJQsuH_SrMXbTiRmvccw0tTUlQIWJNzmXWVsEXnzPQiG8LA0IdeOgP4M_oCntWdOmspImy7QkuPiY9bkFMAthmOQwFh_wJ_5CKTxa_xwPUFjyozaZFQNB0j_xMFVl6sbU/s320/X-Wing_Heroes_of_the_Aturi_Cluster_6.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
You follow the steps on the left, roll a D6 and see where the TIEs will end up. Charts in the same style exist for a variety of different AI controlled ships, and contain an immaculate blend of random and predictable moves so that even the most seasoned X Wing player will sometimes be caught out by the AI. Using the AI chart seems complicated to start with but it's very intuitive and once you've played a mission or two it will come easily.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
As most missions progress, more and more waves of TIE fighters will enter the fray, keeping the pressure on the Rebels the whole time.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
My local group has played probably half a dozen missions and so far only been successful once. We've come very close a few times, and had to end some missions early because of time constraints at the local store, but we've never really felt like we didn't have a chance. And now that most of us are a level or two into the game, I think we've got a really good chance at rolling along now.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I took the files downloaded from <a href="http://dockingbay416.com/" target="_blank">Dockingbay416</a> and had them printed at <a href="http://pazzaz.com.au/" target="_blank">Pazzaz Printing</a> in Morewell, Victoria, which is near where I live. These guys were very professional, and got the job done quickly and to an extremely high standard. I then spent two evenings watching Star Wars movies and cutting the various components out. I initially tried to get the files printed by Office Choice or Office Works or one of those printing services, but unless you literally just want to print a Word document, these places lack the facilities and experience to do the job. You will need to go to a professional printing shop. To get the booklet, all the cards and the various terrain and stuff printed cost me ~$150. This is pretty expensive compared to some of the prices from America that I've seen posted online, but after getting quotes from several Aussie printers, it seemed to be pretty competitive. I can only assume printing is just more expensive here.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
In our specific campaign we have allowed two players to use scum ships, fighting alongside our rebel squadron for personal gain. There's a long history of scum and villainy aiding the rebellion after all. Han Solo himself was a smuggler before he was a rebellion general! So we've slightly modified the rules, allowing our Scum players to start in Z-95 Headhunters, and upgrade to Scyks and Starvipers as they desire. We've allowed one player to upgrade to an E-Wing despite them being the ugliest thing to ever fly, because they're his favourite ship and it felt a bit mean to disallow it. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
For the Starviper and E-Wing, because their stats and actions are straight up better than a lot of other ships, we insisted that a pilot must be level five before moving into them, as opposed to level four to access A-Wings, B-Wings and HWK-290s, and that moving into an E-Wing or Starviper would impose a 5 point fee. This means they can have their favourite ships, but it'll take them a bit longer to get all the flashy upgrades to go with them.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
We've got another games night this week so hopefully will get two missions in. Maybe we'll get lucky and get a win this time!</div>
Charliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04300302571612280107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377365249177261007.post-79595744944326235892015-07-08T05:08:00.000-07:002015-07-08T05:08:05.476-07:00Campaign<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've played a lot of games over the years, and no matter what game I've been playing the games I've enjoyed the most have been campaigns. From skirmishing in the streets of Mordheim to enormous battlefleets clashing in the space of the Gothic sector and everything in between, the ability to string games together and develop units as they earn experience, the ability for each player to tell his own story and have an effect on his own future as he progresses through the campaign is what I really love about gaming. I realise that X Wing caters to a slightly different crowd than traditional wargaming, drawing from CCG and LCG gamers as well as board gamers, and that it has a very strict competitive scene with only a single type of mission played so a campaign like I'm about to outline below might not be for everyone. I want to outline right at the start that some missions will be unbalanced and asymmetric. This is not a pure competition like most X Wing games are, instead it attempts to reflect the vagaries of war in a fun and engaging way on the tabletop. So without further ado:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<b><u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">An X Wing campaign.</span></u></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 - Build squads.</span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Each player in the campaign may choose a single squad of no mare than 200 points. A player must choose the lowest possible pilot skill version of any ship he wants to include. For example, if he wants to take an X Wing he must take a rookie pilot and if he wants to include a TIE Fighter he must take an academy pilot. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Each player may take one generic pilot who has access to an Elite Pilot Talent slot. This ship may be any pilot skill but cannot be a unique ship. This ship is your squad leader. He automatically has the Squad Leader EPT. This EPT does not take up an EPT slot (and may be taken in addition to another EPT)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ships may take any titles they are allowed to, and may purchase any ordnance they wish, but no other upgrades are available for purchase at this time. The only ship permitted to take an Elite Pilot Talent is your squad leader. If you want to equip your ships with Mangler Cannons or Shield Upgrades, then you will need to request these upgrades from sector command during the campaign.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From this 200 point pool, players will select smaller squads in order to complete various missions. If a ship is destroyed during a mission, it is replaced for free by the generic version of itself at no cost. However, it will lose all titles, modifications, upgrades or EPTs that it had when it was destroyed. In the opening stages of the campaign this will mean little, but during the later stages losing an experienced pilot with a heavily upgraded ship might be disastrous.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 - Reputation and Renown.</span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This campaign represents two or more squadrons operating in a single area of space. They will cross paths many times and their reputations and renown will grow over time.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After each battle, squads earn renown points for the following:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> + 3 points for winning a game</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> + 1 point for losing a game</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> + 2 points for destroying an enemy ship</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> + 3 points for destroying a large based enemy ship</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> - 1 for losing a large based ship</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> - 1 for losing your squad leader</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> + 1 for fighting a squad with a higher reputation and losing</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> + 2 for fighting a squad with a higher reputation and winning</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Renown points can be spent exactly like squad points to purchase upgrades, ordnance, modifications, titles, etc for your squad. These points can even be used to buy new ships if you want, although those ships must adhere to the same rules for squad selection outlined above.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Reputation: Reputation is the running total of how much Renown a squad has earned over the course of the campaign. Keep track of how much Renown a squad has earned after each battle.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">IMPORTANT NOTES:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> - Only ships that have PS4 or greater can purchase Elite Pilot Talents. The only exception to this rule is the Squad Leader.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> - A squads total renown earned for any given battle can never be less than zero. A TIE swarm that is obliterated without killing any enemy ships will earn renown of 0, not -8.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 - Damage and Experience.</span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Each time a pilot survives a battle, roll a D6. If the score equals or exceeds their pilot skill, then that pilot may either increase his pilot skill by one point or, if they do not already have one, they may add an EPT slot to their ship. A score of a 6 always counts as being higher than their pilot skill. Note that even if he has an EPT slot, a pilot may not purchase an EPT unless his pilot skill is 4 or greater.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ships may spend renown to repair damage points. Both hull and shield points cost 2 renown points to repair. This represents both damage to the ship, damage to the squads renown, and injury to the pilot.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This brings us to an important new rule for the table top: Disengaging.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A ship may disengage at any time by executing a maneuver that takes it off the edge of the play area. If a ship moves off the table, move the ship backwards along the movement template (in the same way you would as if it had collided with another ship) until it's base is touching the edge of the play area. Leave the ship in place. It may execute any action, except those that would cause the ship to re position (so no barrel rolling or boosting). If the ship is still on the table at the end of the turn, it has successfully disengaged and is removed from the table.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This ship does NOT count as destroyed for the purposes of calculating victory points. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 - Playing the campaign.</span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Players may play each other any number of times during the campaign period. There is no requirement for players to play an equal number of games. The only limitation is that players may not play blue-on-blue matches. Simply arrange a game with a friend, and play it. Make sure to keep track of your renown after each match.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The player at the end of the campaign period (say, six weeks? Pick a limit that is applicable to your own club) who has the highest reputation is the winning player.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">SCENARIOS:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Campaign uses several different scenarios instead of the normal dogfight.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Unless otherwise stated, all scenarios use 100 point squad lists.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">NOTE: When a ship receives an upgrade, adjust it's point cost accordingly. However, increases in pilot skill are free. For instance, a rookie pilot is 21 points. If it buys an Engine Upgrade then it's point cost goes to 25 points. However, if it's pilot skill increases from 2 to 6, then it's point cost remains 21 (or 25 with an Engine Upgrade). Increases in pilot skill are free.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Before deployment, but after selecting squad lists, players must roll a D6 to determine which scenario they will be playing.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 - The Bait</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 - Escalating Engagement</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 - Blockade Run</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 - Escort</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5 - Furball</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6 - Furball</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 - The bait. One squad has spotted a lone enemy ship and has given pursuit. But they've been lured into a trap!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Players pick even sized squads, and roll off to see who is the pursuing player and who is the fleeing player.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The fleeing player must deploy one ship in the centre of the table, facing directly towards his own board edge. The rest of his ships start the game in reserve. The pursuing player deploys all his ships within range 1 of his board edge. At the end of the first turn, the fleeing player deploys the rest of his ships anywhere on his board edge, in ascending pilot skill order. These ships must be placed with part of their base touching the board edge.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Normal victory conditions apply.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 - Escalating engagement. Two squadrons are patrolling an area looking for each other. One element from each squad encounters the other and signals for reinforcements.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Each played divides his squad as evenly as possible in half. He randomly selects one half of the squad to start on the table, and the remainder of his ships start in reserve. Before deployment, each player randomly selects one of the neutral board edges to be his reinforcement edge. At the end of the first turn, roll a D6 for each friendly ship that was in reserve. On a 4+, that ship may be placed anywhere on that players reinforcement edge, in ascending pilot skill order. Second and subsequent ships placed in this way must be placed within range 2 of the first ship.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Any remaining ships in reserve are automatically placed at the end of turn 2, and must be placed by the same method.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Normal victory conditions apply.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 - Blockade run. Your ships are trying to push past an enemy blockade.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Randomly determine one side to be the attacker and one to be the defender.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For the purposes of deployment, each defending ship counts as having a higher pilot skill than any ship on the attacking side.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If an attacking ship disengages via the defending sides board edge, the attacking player may add that ships value to his victory points for this match. When the defender destroys an enemy ship, the attacker must subtract that ships value from his victory points.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For example, the attacker flies a rookie pilot off the defenders board edge. He scores an extra 21 points. However, another of his rookie pilots is shot down, so he subtracts 21 points from his total.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 - Escort. Your ships must push vital supplies through an enemy attack.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Randomly determine one side to be the attacker and one to be the defender.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The defender must deploy a GR75 touching his board edge. If he can move the freighter off from the attackers board edge, then he wins the game. Players without access to a GR75 may re-roll this result.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5-6 Furball</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is the basic 100 point, 6 rock deathmatch</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A final note:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are many ways to score this campaign and many potential ways to win. You could have the side with the highest total reputation being the overall winner, or the player with the highest individual reputation being the winner, or the player with the highest reputation <i>on the winning side, </i>or you could have awards for the winning side, the top individual scorers on each side... there's a lot of potential ways to decide on the winners. Really, it doesn't matter too much because the really exciting thing is watching your pilots learn from their battles and grow over time. You'll remember the battles long after you've forgotten who won.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The ideal market for this campaign is groups of three or more players. With only two players interested you can get much more involved in terms of narrative. With more players you need to keep the campaign loose enough that any time two players meet up for a game, they are able to play.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And finally, I do not own these rules. They are just ideas, so feel free to adapt them or change them as you see fit. I've tried to keep the mechanics simple and easy to remember while still encouraging the narrative aspect of the game.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm hoping to bang together some rules for two player narrative campaigns in the future so stay tuned!</span>Charliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04300302571612280107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377365249177261007.post-83459024722872288432015-06-14T01:47:00.001-07:002015-06-14T15:39:30.805-07:00Making a table for X Wing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI2iVPwuGpjfZe_19MzFHavOtvuGFSsWaWZVGltzjTC-ASFWkNdN_6Q50CudRqCzm1ehhj2CI6qu80pIJTiUDqzA_uh8IaUBTUPAVLZVNnVpAZm1p9SmII3U1VwvKctc2QQsX2wWDFAcw/s1600/SDC11165.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI2iVPwuGpjfZe_19MzFHavOtvuGFSsWaWZVGltzjTC-ASFWkNdN_6Q50CudRqCzm1ehhj2CI6qu80pIJTiUDqzA_uh8IaUBTUPAVLZVNnVpAZm1p9SmII3U1VwvKctc2QQsX2wWDFAcw/s640/SDC11165.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
So I recently had a friend over to play a game of X Wing. Normally when either my wife or I have some hobby time planned, we plan it so the other is available to look after our daughter. And failing that, we can usually arrange a babysitter but today I had no option but to game at home while I looked after my little girl. No problems. This would mean I wouldn't be able to play in the shed where my gaming table is set up, but would instead have to play in the house on the dining room table. Luckily, as you <a href="http://antipodeangaming.blogspot.com.au/2015/06/gaming-mats.html" target="_blank">might remember</a> I had a star mat on which to play!<br />
<br />
Slight problem though. My dining room table is only 33" wide, and an X Wing board is 36" wide. So the mat was hanging off the edge.<br />
<br />
Oh well, not to worry. I head off down to Bunnings to get a sheet of plywood to lay over the table, so that I can sit the star mat on it. But when I get to Bunnings, they don't actually sell 36" wide plywood. 36" comes to like, 910mm and the closest they have is 897mm. I know, weird size, right? Anyway, what difference is 13mm going to make? I buy the wood and take it home.<br />
<br />
But now, the wood isn't flat. It's slightly warped and rocks on the table.<br />
<br />
Sigh.<br />
<br />
Ok, not a problem. I head back down to Bunnings and get some 18mm by 30mm pine batten to attach underneath the plywood as a frame to straighten it and give it some rigidity. I get a bit... perfectionist with this. I'm not a very good woodworker so I tend to do things the long way around and make a lot of mistakes. I attached the pine to the bottom of the plywood by gluing and screwing it. I pre-drilled the holes, measuring to get the in the right place, and countersunk the heads by drilling a larger hole where the screw heads would go.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyRktyl_ALMqhoFrl1t4iovzsUEtEdGS2pImo8lF7iEWYO7kunlgOI8zFdmNfqZCq_Lc5NxAKzLhY_E4TypFcZp-Li13HdaHiCEVi7z-9my-2nfpekRYo9F1lUyf6w0m4SQwQ4JO2RSb8/s1600/SDC11155.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyRktyl_ALMqhoFrl1t4iovzsUEtEdGS2pImo8lF7iEWYO7kunlgOI8zFdmNfqZCq_Lc5NxAKzLhY_E4TypFcZp-Li13HdaHiCEVi7z-9my-2nfpekRYo9F1lUyf6w0m4SQwQ4JO2RSb8/s640/SDC11155.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Once I'd come this far I decided to go the whole hog and glue the star mat to the plywood (you might recall, I received two of them, so I had a spare) and glue down some felt on the ends to make it look all pretty.<br />
<br />
The plan was to glue the star mat in the middle of the table. Since the plywood I bought was 1200mm long, this would leave me about 140mm on each end to glue some felt onto, just enough room to put some ship cards, upgrades, dice and damage cards etc. So I would glue the star mat in the middle, glue some navy blue felt on each end, then secure the edges with some 10mm by 20mm pine batten.<br />
<br />
So I went back to Bunnings to get the pine, some more screws (I needed smaller ones because screws that were too large would split the timber) and some spray adhesive to stick the star mat and the felt to the table. Then I went to Spotlight to get the felt, and some black ribbon to glue down as a border between the star mat and the felt. As a bonus, the extra 20mm width on the table from the pine batten would make up the difference from the plywood being that bit short to start with.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRc5y39BEPKxATQJ-xm1DdOasuKWUN42O5hT_m1FWYlif1RBmMv7_zpm6tyh-uXbZeWfJjY2SzWUVRIqvdxl3IVOKbOmdK5-UyQGcX3mm8qeBN5VddpQSw1B-7I_IbMv63VLZWdv_j_vk/s1600/SDC11159.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRc5y39BEPKxATQJ-xm1DdOasuKWUN42O5hT_m1FWYlif1RBmMv7_zpm6tyh-uXbZeWfJjY2SzWUVRIqvdxl3IVOKbOmdK5-UyQGcX3mm8qeBN5VddpQSw1B-7I_IbMv63VLZWdv_j_vk/s640/SDC11159.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
I got a bit carried away with it all and forgot to take some photos of the early stages, but you can see here I've glued the star mat and the felt down, and am in the process of gluing the last piece of felt down. What I did was mark out 140mm from one end, then place some masking tape there. Then I placed the felt (which I had cut to size and ironed first, to get the wrinkles out) against the edge of the masking tape, then used MORE masking tape to tape the felt in place. Then I could fold the felt up, leaving the underside of it and the table underneath it exposed. I covered the rest of the table surface in newspaper to avoid getting glue on it, and I hit the table and felt with the spray adhesive. This stuff was great. It says 'safe for indoor use' but I would NOT use it indoors. Even spraying it outdoors I could feel it sticking onto my arm hairs and just getting all over the place. Outdoors only for this one.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8hGgnKQrL3bzizP1D0QstumVfLmRnAXo1-uMzHoUj2ulPUUsRWRkeXqLMRTL4Yw6OmgSGyaS-r_BcFjYYpK_Q501dwYdBnsi1nusTAA9aUP1vXWGkuwPuHG4QI1fqCokqk1lFo_A_S5w/s1600/SDC11162.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8hGgnKQrL3bzizP1D0QstumVfLmRnAXo1-uMzHoUj2ulPUUsRWRkeXqLMRTL4Yw6OmgSGyaS-r_BcFjYYpK_Q501dwYdBnsi1nusTAA9aUP1vXWGkuwPuHG4QI1fqCokqk1lFo_A_S5w/s640/SDC11162.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The spray adhesive I used</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Once I had sprayed both surfaces, I let the glue go tacky as per the
instructions on the can, then folded the felt down gently and pulled it
to remove any wrinkles. Jobs a good 'un. I forgot to apply any glue to
the edges, so I used some PVA applied with an old paintbrush to glue
down the edges.<br />
<br />
Then I repeated the process for the
star mat, but this time I used the edge of the felt as my guide for
where to place it (thus making sure all of the table was covered) and I
remembered to glue the edges of the table as well.<br />
<br />
I
really should have used a manual stapler to fix the star mat in place
after I glued it down, but I felt like the glue was holding it in place
well enough. It wasn't. Now that the table is finished, there is a
slight 'bulging' effect along the edges of the star mat, it's not
perfect but it's still acceptable. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPm0NuVAQQ17A7FC0Y-hRH66kyjvyH2FNQ-nnrO9A1fOjN0518Ca6sIi51GVGlVOaXn3gehcWynz__07w6L2yMTmxz0hYns8N5jmyvZeawz29Dqpd3xP8UJrogexmCIZeXqXR2gwmHDy0/s1600/SDC11160.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPm0NuVAQQ17A7FC0Y-hRH66kyjvyH2FNQ-nnrO9A1fOjN0518Ca6sIi51GVGlVOaXn3gehcWynz__07w6L2yMTmxz0hYns8N5jmyvZeawz29Dqpd3xP8UJrogexmCIZeXqXR2gwmHDy0/s640/SDC11160.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The felt taped in place, ready to be glued down</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3_-oHMJnKjpYvymnamMXzATPbM-6XdZE7IHbNbJH8vYeroZ-NUxg_ZzZNTRAUGsuygoPfhrxOSYEs6Gz8OJLondMU7Nr9Az-kB-OppAyvKKsUx_ezFczKFUVmHmAOaBbxbasegaS4PHc/s1600/SDC11161.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3_-oHMJnKjpYvymnamMXzATPbM-6XdZE7IHbNbJH8vYeroZ-NUxg_ZzZNTRAUGsuygoPfhrxOSYEs6Gz8OJLondMU7Nr9Az-kB-OppAyvKKsUx_ezFczKFUVmHmAOaBbxbasegaS4PHc/s640/SDC11161.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The felt folded back, ready for the spray adhesive to be applied</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
Next step was to affix the pine battens. I used a mitre saw to cut the ends at 45 degrees so it would look nice, but I was a bit clumsy and some pieces were a touch short, and some were a bit rough. Never mind, a bit of paint and some filler will cover a multitude of sins. I measured and predrilled all the holes for affixing the battens, and then clamped them in place while I was screwing them. I also glued them before I screwed them. But the holes at the ends, probably the most important ones because they're the ones that pull the corners into each other, I didn't drill those holes deep enough and when I went to screw them in, the pine split. But I didn't have any spare pine so I had to take the screw out, re-drill the hole and then put the screw back in gently, <i>just</i> putting some pressure on it before stopping. Close enough.<br />
<br />
<br />
The rest of the battens went on more smoothly because I learned from the first one and went back and drilled all the holes a bit deeper. I then filled all the holes with rapid set filler and I plan to paint the whole thing with a gloss black.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNu-YoRDxXp3OAKYr7OFkbncTRLsDqroQhDeNQ-hCKOipx3ECvCngnZZFkBr-KE7Nz81vcutsPNxIbJb7-B99R0lpNnCeJGGefc-E93Nd40wOwzASXeqBX_u1YFO7pFCTPxu-9vQsMUmI/s1600/SDC11166.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNu-YoRDxXp3OAKYr7OFkbncTRLsDqroQhDeNQ-hCKOipx3ECvCngnZZFkBr-KE7Nz81vcutsPNxIbJb7-B99R0lpNnCeJGGefc-E93Nd40wOwzASXeqBX_u1YFO7pFCTPxu-9vQsMUmI/s640/SDC11166.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The table in use!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
Until next time, happy gaming!Charliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04300302571612280107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377365249177261007.post-26669435984993578772015-06-08T00:19:00.002-07:002015-06-08T16:01:00.188-07:00Gaming MatsMy local games shop has a table that is painted in black paint, given a star scape with a toothbrush and some paint, and then a clear coat finish to protect it. It's great to play on but it means only two people can play space games at a time. Since we're running an X Wing round robin league at the moment (with yours truly in third place at the moment!) we really needed a second playing area.<br />
<br />
So I started looking at play mats. Now, if you're at all interested in space play mats, you're probably already aware that there is a huge selection, in a variety of types from a range of manufacturers. You've got felt mats, vinyl mats, cloth mats, neoprene gaming mats, DIY solutions, etc. I ended up deciding to make my own from a banner printing website. And once again, the choices available are myriad. I went with <a href="http://www.bannerbuzz.com.au/" target="_blank">bannerbuzz</a>, mostly because they had an Australian website (which I hoped would save me on shipping) and because the other website I was going to use didn't have an option for a 3'x3' banner.<br />
<br />
I didn't want a felt mat because I don't like the texture and because I'm a clumsy bloke who would sooner or later spill something on it. I really liked the idea of a neoprene mat (and will probably try one for my next mat) but couldn't find one with a design I liked for a reasonable price. So in the end I went with a printed vinyl banner from bannerbuzz.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNSNzLbQow-cHnDQwoCDYmXTbx3e-dXNm3KspMU3e6d_jfZRYSxFFP9wqqh5g_TQHuxgT_MHhlvQOdhyphenhyphenVfrOtfZQ0oJfqe15yc5sMy7GZrcjyxCtHyCLuehfZR_4mLBsAdkFxlysLJPZE/s1600/SDC11131.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNSNzLbQow-cHnDQwoCDYmXTbx3e-dXNm3KspMU3e6d_jfZRYSxFFP9wqqh5g_TQHuxgT_MHhlvQOdhyphenhyphenVfrOtfZQ0oJfqe15yc5sMy7GZrcjyxCtHyCLuehfZR_4mLBsAdkFxlysLJPZE/s640/SDC11131.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAIjeOhBL8VRNB3mANLcqeg9NQnvkIQrEYaXPN3XRUGIG-Cp-RjGi7oY6aFivT7y8V3jwHpYVsu8JNBGL3Eq_HF3zg1941x0f0OQk8zgfeNXmOPs_LBiZBB-xekj8MTqhKnI0KeSaulyg/s1600/SDC11130.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAIjeOhBL8VRNB3mANLcqeg9NQnvkIQrEYaXPN3XRUGIG-Cp-RjGi7oY6aFivT7y8V3jwHpYVsu8JNBGL3Eq_HF3zg1941x0f0OQk8zgfeNXmOPs_LBiZBB-xekj8MTqhKnI0KeSaulyg/s640/SDC11130.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
And here it is. I ordered mine to be 3.1' square, and lucky I did because it's only <i>just</i> 36" along one edge, and slightly longer (37") along the other. I ordered a light GSM (for those not in the know, GSM means Grams per Square Metre. The higher the number, the thicker the fabric) as a trial run. For an image, I jumped onto google and just searched for 'stars' and set the filter to the second largest image size. A large image size is important for a project like this because a small image stretched over three feet will look blurry, and not very nice. A larger image can always be shrunk, but a small image cannot be stretched. So if you're going to give this a go, use the largest image you can find. There are literally thousands of suitable images, some including planets and nebulae and all sorts of cool space imagery, but I really wanted a plain star scape.<br />
<br />
I opted for no hem, no image protection (which I think is some kind of protective spray they put over the finished product) and no eyelets or anything like that. The final price came to about $55 which was more than I really wanted to spend, but I was also kind of curious to see how it would turn out and I liked the idea of having a unique mat as well, so I soldiered on.<br />
<br />
Their staff were very good. The first image I sent had a thin blue line that was difficult to see on the computer screen but would have stood out on the table top. They noticed it when putting together a proof for my order and I resubmitted a new image. But I accidentally sent a small version of a larger image. Again, they noticed this and asked me to submit a new image. Third time was the charm and I finally got my image to them. I have to say, this was a bit of work since the uploader on their website didn't work and the file was too large to email so I had to upload it to google drive and then had to chase them by email a bit before they got back to me and confirmed that yes, they had received the image.<br />
<br />
I got the mat about a week later. When it arrived, the return address was in India so I guess that's where their production facility was. Either way, shipping was only $7.95 so I wasn't too concerned.<br />
<br />
When I opened the box, I got a nice surprise because they had sent me two mats, rather than one! Happy days! I considered contacting the company to see what they wanted to do about the error, but decided against it since they would have no use for it, I wouldn't want to pay for postage to return it, and it could get some poor schmo in trouble for accidentally sending two instead of one. Plus I'd be lying if I didn't say getting two for one was pretty cool.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxezMjWRZjUCoPGjMLLOPyNhuBqTPS4e9jiLRDCsP-qagEAywAKyMmecDiNVB4SsU0YTAVNIhtR7yI6hPQp1_WuPEgMo40NkPiERtA-TiN-beaKDgPipjam3UNgC4EDEX-S9Bw08pqhto/s1600/SDC11132.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxezMjWRZjUCoPGjMLLOPyNhuBqTPS4e9jiLRDCsP-qagEAywAKyMmecDiNVB4SsU0YTAVNIhtR7yI6hPQp1_WuPEgMo40NkPiERtA-TiN-beaKDgPipjam3UNgC4EDEX-S9Bw08pqhto/s640/SDC11132.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The mat in use. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
The mat itself is pretty good. Some people complain about ships and tokens slipping on the vinyl surface, but this is only a minor problem IMO. I've played a few games on this mat now and accidentally nudging ships hasn't been a significant problem. It is a bit shiny, but not so much that it glares. It rolls up easily enough, although I store it flat to prevent it from curling. However, due to the light weight material it does tend to <i>fold</i> rather than bend when you pick it up, and I quickly noticed some cracking and fraying on the edges where it was folding. So I picked up some 50mm fabric tape from Bunnings and taped over the edges, as you can see in the pictures. This protects the edges and serves the dual purpose of adding some weight to the mat to prevent it from curling up. Only took ten minutes to tape them up and I used the tiles on my kitchen floor as alignment marks so I get the tape on evenly. Well, mostly evenly.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSpHTVO9QiQ1O3sWnpqin6ArPjcE7m0kY6ZAMqTfJymLD7Fcv_084hTE2qBVhy6C1qIzKFEla9XJGYCRq32nPzSWWmPTpqoCBD-0_nidqhV_D0IxR8QQDfnE9uGqzepAHeZeaUXMq1YGY/s1600/SDC11128.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSpHTVO9QiQ1O3sWnpqin6ArPjcE7m0kY6ZAMqTfJymLD7Fcv_084hTE2qBVhy6C1qIzKFEla9XJGYCRq32nPzSWWmPTpqoCBD-0_nidqhV_D0IxR8QQDfnE9uGqzepAHeZeaUXMq1YGY/s640/SDC11128.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The back of the mat with the tape visible. You can see the second mat underneath.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3mjlBHFfkkHuNTD7rjDg0ZtSjo6GXG-q4_z2zSn30IxoLn2c8kYFj7FT2t6Y-f3xSPuTPvUl4AZaf4YkdyiDt7IBvcSG5dMIAoLIOGBqpSwxbVys9puxtffihrkalT9i9pBgRB-8TVTs/s1600/SDC11129.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3mjlBHFfkkHuNTD7rjDg0ZtSjo6GXG-q4_z2zSn30IxoLn2c8kYFj7FT2t6Y-f3xSPuTPvUl4AZaf4YkdyiDt7IBvcSG5dMIAoLIOGBqpSwxbVys9puxtffihrkalT9i9pBgRB-8TVTs/s640/SDC11129.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here you can see a closeup of the tape. From the star side, it's almost invisible.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
In the end it's probably not a purchase I would make again. I love the mat and the image is printed very well in a high resolution, but I think for my next mat (a 3'x6' for <a href="https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/products/star-wars-armada/" target="_blank">Star Wars: Armada</a>) I will be getting a <a href="http://www.gripmat.com/" target="_blank">Gripmat</a>. The price is reasonable, it advertises a neat 'grippy' surface, it has neat printing and it looks like it will be easier to store and transport.<br />
<br />
Until next time, happy gaming!Charliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04300302571612280107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377365249177261007.post-87809087299203148532015-05-30T03:29:00.001-07:002015-06-08T16:04:56.478-07:00Aetherworks Acrylic Tokens ReviewToday I received a parcel!<br />
<br />
I had very quickly decided that the cardboard icons and templates provided with the X Wing core set would not suffice. I mean, I'm certain they're more than adequate and have the added benefit of being free, but they just don't have the <i>pazazz</i> I'm looking for. So I jumped on the net and looked around through the various manufacturers of acrylic tokens and templates. The frontrunners were Corsec Engineering, Applied Perspective or Aetherworks. In the end, I went for the <a href="http://store.aetherworks.com.au/index.php?cPath=176_269_1711&sort=2d" target="_blank">Aetherworks</a> ones because they're an Australian manufacturer and I liked their Target Lock tokens the best. So I ordered a bunch of stuff.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqNXgR3eh2G55Lcwq06YSY9O_E8CWxuef0Jk4zKHZBv1ciWgt9wuCaxS9HpsYt5bSck4gPwwFoYf1P0RdhpUmJLBICo3n9w_pCeVSM7t4ImS6TxOSXRPRglTTn-J7jOFRpaYQziSR-kVA/s1600/SDC11122.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqNXgR3eh2G55Lcwq06YSY9O_E8CWxuef0Jk4zKHZBv1ciWgt9wuCaxS9HpsYt5bSck4gPwwFoYf1P0RdhpUmJLBICo3n9w_pCeVSM7t4ImS6TxOSXRPRglTTn-J7jOFRpaYQziSR-kVA/s640/SDC11122.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aetherworks tokens</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
I decided to do a comparison between the FFG tokens and the Aetherworks ones to see how they match up. <br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8PIbJMz8OOF7S-M8nqsiOR2ommAh31kDJWRPlYkZhoXXldpDXEEkYH1tRwR7JcZXD-L0xarEO4KcnzYrI0T2S2Ooz-N50y1vjDoyZW1OrOWCli_c77T7la5hg-LIEY1HmNZQPjXiddyI/s1600/SDC11124.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8PIbJMz8OOF7S-M8nqsiOR2ommAh31kDJWRPlYkZhoXXldpDXEEkYH1tRwR7JcZXD-L0xarEO4KcnzYrI0T2S2Ooz-N50y1vjDoyZW1OrOWCli_c77T7la5hg-LIEY1HmNZQPjXiddyI/s640/SDC11124.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aetherworks Maneuver Templates</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Here you can see the Maneuver templates. Well, the ones that made it in frame anyway. I'm still learning this whole 'photography' thing. As you can see, they are identical to the card ones. No surprises there, maneuver templates that didn't match the official ones wouldn't be much use.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoyURrZfSMq-wXwM5Gk7-jQQWwnI4bfPK9PfekIWEez0ZiEwyorPhA2bGQd8kjjmVHuCifDKTbHW2WXE5AYB1n9rSWkdJNU-k4P01sirVX77hHTPwg3Ntd5B1vdY4hBRzd5I2jALkZXvc/s1600/SDC11125.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoyURrZfSMq-wXwM5Gk7-jQQWwnI4bfPK9PfekIWEez0ZiEwyorPhA2bGQd8kjjmVHuCifDKTbHW2WXE5AYB1n9rSWkdJNU-k4P01sirVX77hHTPwg3Ntd5B1vdY4hBRzd5I2jALkZXvc/s640/SDC11125.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aetherworks Asteroid Templates </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
Here are their Asteroid Templates. To be honest, these feel a bit phoned in. They're a match for the FFG ones in terms of outline and size, but the images are just little geometric shapes etched into the acrylic. I think I'll just end up using the card ones.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVC66_VFeZoKiJxq81hirxQ_tEMeKXtiK6TWZBBqsBUndrui0dCXEGOM68OmcB-QO-LutW7CDbOWDOhUen5CEuPrDPMqyxsyYmd976-9p-Wf18dH1X5LIuhiEt25Why2zulXfy7UbnA0A/s1600/SDC11126.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVC66_VFeZoKiJxq81hirxQ_tEMeKXtiK6TWZBBqsBUndrui0dCXEGOM68OmcB-QO-LutW7CDbOWDOhUen5CEuPrDPMqyxsyYmd976-9p-Wf18dH1X5LIuhiEt25Why2zulXfy7UbnA0A/s640/SDC11126.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aetherworks Tokens</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
Here you can see the rest of the tokens. I'm very happy with these. The Target Locks in particular are nice, and just a touch smaller than the FFG ones (smaller is better IMO since a lot of these can end up on the table at once) and I probably would have preferred that the Ion and Stress tokens were red instead of being a bit orange, but I can live with that.<br />
<br />
Overall a good product at a good price that I'm very happy with. Not pictured are the range rulers I also got, one in each size (range 1, 1-2 and range 1-3). I highly recommend these to anyone interested in 3rd party tokens and templates.Charliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04300302571612280107noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377365249177261007.post-52568201360264078472015-05-25T00:30:00.003-07:002015-06-08T16:07:50.670-07:00KR Multicase reviewSo for my first proper post I want to talk about storage. Specifically I want to talk about storage and carrying cases for X Wing.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLv68XPn6gALv7W0RYBCISDMNUmRsSdDmycoWr7Q43VD9N8UVnSzuDBW5wNVECm1E3P4L8TNCcPNtLW88aJe4tU12RnZPgaRTBdrT1REo3y2VMvyQnVu490xBbFM3RYdBtp20aWAqc3LQ/s1600/SDC11112.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="KR Multicase for my X Wing" border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLv68XPn6gALv7W0RYBCISDMNUmRsSdDmycoWr7Q43VD9N8UVnSzuDBW5wNVECm1E3P4L8TNCcPNtLW88aJe4tU12RnZPgaRTBdrT1REo3y2VMvyQnVu490xBbFM3RYdBtp20aWAqc3LQ/s640/SDC11112.JPG" title="KR Multicase for my X Wing" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">KR Multicase</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
This is a standard black aluminium case from <a href="https://www.krmulticase.com/buyarmystorage.aspx?system=STAR&army=XW" target="_blank">KR Multicase</a>. They are a mob operating out of the UK but with distribution centres in the USA as well. They also have stockists in Australia but I ordered directly from their website.<br />
<br />
The case fits a lot of X Wing stuff. I mean, I don't have as much as some people but this fits it all comfortably. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdBm1ebOvwKKwz4CvK5nP-dFts_gMxZwIJBcvsEWFQXnS58y5jqvbChFE0KiIuLFuWgbwS_54jOwkJprKMMCmUA1IdqwR2seCumBVwXGzmPUmZz6fHdmKYGERA6wikFFbrLooDSCwj454/s1600/SDC11106.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Plano case for X Wing cards, tokens and templates" border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdBm1ebOvwKKwz4CvK5nP-dFts_gMxZwIJBcvsEWFQXnS58y5jqvbChFE0KiIuLFuWgbwS_54jOwkJprKMMCmUA1IdqwR2seCumBVwXGzmPUmZz6fHdmKYGERA6wikFFbrLooDSCwj454/s640/SDC11106.JPG" title="Plano case for X Wing cards, tokens and templates" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Plano fishing tackle box</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
This is a Plano fishing tackle box model 3705.You can probably get it from BCF or Aussie Disposals or any sort of camping/fishing store. As you can see it has removable inserts to build your own compartments and comfortably fits all the tokens and dice I would need for a game of X Wing. It fits all the movement templates except the 5 straight, which can sit inside the KR case.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZEGGKArjWkHcgMhyphenhyphen34dkRc3autLLJBfUXW2uuLKIr4be74sS8ad0mmJCfIa0rEQ8Jl2-GvLGENmghmyzqZW8pKc92MF1LChbE_LRgzaRxDGnxtqBDkFaMmDh_2LlSB90MH2L8eru2XfA/s1600/SDC11116.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Inside the KR case. Models inside the foam trays." border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZEGGKArjWkHcgMhyphenhyphen34dkRc3autLLJBfUXW2uuLKIr4be74sS8ad0mmJCfIa0rEQ8Jl2-GvLGENmghmyzqZW8pKc92MF1LChbE_LRgzaRxDGnxtqBDkFaMmDh_2LlSB90MH2L8eru2XfA/s640/SDC11116.JPG" title="Inside the KR case. Models inside the foam trays." width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Inside the KR case</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
The KR cases are designed so that you can fit multiple foam trays inside them. There are many cases on the market that share this design philosophy, and some of them are probably cheaper but I really like the look of the KR cases and I have no self control, so these are the ones I went with.<br />
<br />
These trays are designed to hold X Wing fighters. As you can see, the base fits into a slot and the ship is held in place. This tray fits 8 ships, and is modular (you can remove some pieces) to accommodate taller ships (you can see I've done this for the B Wing on the top row). Now, the other fighter tray from KR is advertised to hold ten of any fighters, but in actual fact the TIE fighters are too tall to fit in them. If you plan on putting your TIEs in KR cases you'll need the one pictured, that only holds 8 fighters. No big deal but a bit annoying if you ordered the other tray to put your eyeballs in and they didn't fit. <br />
<br />
Now, that Plano case I mentioned before happens to be just the right size to fit inside a KR tray...<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjojmnzXFR0BtRbN_UYDBw4_7eJ4wGftHaEu_ZCkc07xNe8NnRvbxafyWPjGfpSZN4DNLfLeK4JrYGpuRGYG_nzvpFTBTVP3mQrXFJAyRY5DQy4rBopxR7YZ4KHbnHnwLlXf2Ant2w0jao/s1600/SDC11108.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Fitting the Plano inside the KR case." border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjojmnzXFR0BtRbN_UYDBw4_7eJ4wGftHaEu_ZCkc07xNe8NnRvbxafyWPjGfpSZN4DNLfLeK4JrYGpuRGYG_nzvpFTBTVP3mQrXFJAyRY5DQy4rBopxR7YZ4KHbnHnwLlXf2Ant2w0jao/s640/SDC11108.JPG" title="Fitting the Plano inside the KR case." width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Plano inside a KR tray</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
This means that I can fit the case with tokens etc inside the KR case, minimising the amount of stuff I need to carry. My plan for the future is to buy another KR case (half depth this time, looks like a slimline briefcase) and use it to carry the tokens and dice and cards, along with the dials and ship bases for both factions. Then I can get ANOTHER KR case so I can use one to house my Rebels and one for my Imperial ships. By this point I will have spent significantly more on KR cases than on the models inside them.<br />
<br />
I regret nothing.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi9GYJFbU0py4sVElK8-RCvZPDX55CCyH81solKWBGFzet5Onq4exPujkNL3ibHX2uJn2Qc4VIdsUSAOe3VWVLJcFtjqgk4sJrn71X4Cgzc5UPFcSHKwqs4IXJCoSO0Fn6CdPuCRX2Ou0/s1600/SDC11113.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="X Wing models inside the KR tray." border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi9GYJFbU0py4sVElK8-RCvZPDX55CCyH81solKWBGFzet5Onq4exPujkNL3ibHX2uJn2Qc4VIdsUSAOe3VWVLJcFtjqgk4sJrn71X4Cgzc5UPFcSHKwqs4IXJCoSO0Fn6CdPuCRX2Ou0/s640/SDC11113.JPG" title="X Wing models inside the KR tray." width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The 10 fighter tray</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
This is the tray I mentioned above that holds ten fighters. It easily fits the Interceptors, X Wings, and A Wings that make up the rest of my collection. Worthy of note is the fact that the Y Wing is slightly too long for the trays, so when it's store conventionally it's nose sticks out a bit. This isn't a huge problem since the foam trays are soft enough that they absorb the difference, but I was worried that over time repeatedly opening and closing the trays the paint on the nose of the Y Wing would wear off, so I removed it from it's base and stored it separately in another compartment. Again, hardly a deal breaker but something buyers should be aware of.<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi13cYlR8BSUtCIVlSFZDK4JYpSivZsQSJBHUVpaCJWL9Rye1Visf2ypL-m74YlH1AC5odh_Ab2jakU97rT93yupsBDCX7PKaRctQOTbuhjO7VtwpZkLx56WE3ugmqNexShO74OG-Bq9KI/s1600/SDC11114.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Ship bases and movement dials." border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi13cYlR8BSUtCIVlSFZDK4JYpSivZsQSJBHUVpaCJWL9Rye1Visf2ypL-m74YlH1AC5odh_Ab2jakU97rT93yupsBDCX7PKaRctQOTbuhjO7VtwpZkLx56WE3ugmqNexShO74OG-Bq9KI/s640/SDC11114.JPG" title="Ship bases and movement dials." width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The dials and bases</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
This is the slimline tray that houses the movement dials and ship bases. Even with my limited collection it's a bit crowded, but I have another one sitting in the cupboard ready for my second KR case. I think one tray should easily handle an entire faction. I don't plan on buying the more esoteric ships like TIE Phantoms or K Wings so my collection should be relatively limited.<br />
<br />
But Charlie (oh, that's me. I'm Charlie. Hi.) what about the cards?<br />
<br />
Ah, I'm glad you asked dear reader.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy2Zz7RlmAISGhScD2_rPGxAaOro-uIQug-8nLCYOYDQrmJ0QdSdqdXP8lIU5Ztq3QIx89YDk0Up3FugbVWby3AEAD28KJliLCRRpLNWcyRHWnD9_kO8jodrYK3hi7884sCV1p-YQoZh4/s1600/SDC11110.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="X Wing cards in Ultrapro sleeves." border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy2Zz7RlmAISGhScD2_rPGxAaOro-uIQug-8nLCYOYDQrmJ0QdSdqdXP8lIU5Ztq3QIx89YDk0Up3FugbVWby3AEAD28KJliLCRRpLNWcyRHWnD9_kO8jodrYK3hi7884sCV1p-YQoZh4/s640/SDC11110.JPG" title="X Wing cards in Ultrapro sleeves." width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cards in their sleeves</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
I picked up some Ultrapro card sheets and sleeves from the news agents. For overseas readers, an news agents in Australia is a shop that sells newspapers and magazines and assorted stationery. The binder is just some $1.50 binder I picked up while I was there. I want to get a dedicated card holding 'folio' but haven't seen one I liked yet.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXHwTCAdX-CBN9GtBJwvc1qMTd5dpwSmV0cWgxQ8aemhITxpc3jFe4v2WFx5u9tim91SF4Lr32mW5B1D9GoxzjgY9TUu7l8KsjT78QBMRwj0YIHuHjIDCg0RzesNLqd7hb_yi2e7GHnJc/s1600/SDC11111.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="X Wing upgrade cards in side-loading Ultrapro sleeves." border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXHwTCAdX-CBN9GtBJwvc1qMTd5dpwSmV0cWgxQ8aemhITxpc3jFe4v2WFx5u9tim91SF4Lr32mW5B1D9GoxzjgY9TUu7l8KsjT78QBMRwj0YIHuHjIDCg0RzesNLqd7hb_yi2e7GHnJc/s640/SDC11111.JPG" title="X Wing upgrade cards in side-loading Ultrapro sleeves." width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Upgrade cards in side-loading sleeves</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
I also sourced some side loading Ultrapro card sleeves from eBay. These were a bit more expensive but when you've already dropped more cash than I'm comfortable admitting on cases for your models, what's a few extra dollars? The cards slide around a little bit in these sleeves since they are standard sized pockets but half sized cards, but it's not unacceptable.<br />
<br />
On a related note, when I ordered my half depth case from KR they accidentally sent me a half WIDTH case. Not the same. Due to the structure of the case it would be more difficult to carry and not really suitable for the purpose I intended. When I contacted KR to solve the problem, they sent me out a new case (yet to arrive at the time of writing) and told me to keep the old one as well. Extremely generous of them, I thought!<br />
<br />
And finally, I apologize for the low quality of the pictures, I'm working off a very cheap camera at the moment. I plan to upgrade at some point in the future when I'm not spending every spare dollar on small plastic space ships.<br />
<br />
<br />Charliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04300302571612280107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377365249177261007.post-23750838573351828132015-05-24T19:19:00.001-07:002015-05-24T19:19:13.804-07:00Hello there!Well. I've always been told that if you're unable to find the content you want, then you should create it. So, here it is. I've spent more hours than I care to admit trawling the internet for blogs, forums, pictures, reviews, information and communities to share my wargaming passion with, but sometimes I come up short. I find bits and pieces of information that I want spread all over the place, and I find myself making longer and longer posts on various forums expressing my views and generally taking up space and wasting time. So I've decided, in an attempt to condense all that waffle and information, to create my own blog.<br />
<br />
This is my first post so it will serve as an introduction, both for myself and the blog in general. I'm a wargaming enthusiast from rural Australia. I am in my thirties, married with a family, and generally just your average Joe Wargamer trying to fit my games of toy soldiers around work, family commitments and other bothersome interferences. I am a bit of a wandering wargaming floozy, flitting from one game to another as the mood takes me. My current passion is <a href="https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/products/x-wing/" target="_blank">X Wing</a> by <a href="https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/index/" target="_blank">Fantasy Flight Games</a>. For those not in the know, X Wing is a dogfighting game set during the Star Wars galactic civil war. Which is to say, during the original trilogy. It's a very tight, balanced game that has only a handful of rules and the miniatures come pre-painted, which is awesome if you've got a tremendous painting backlog like I do.<br />
<br />
My intention for this blog is to share the wargaming, painting and modelling knowledge I have so others can use it (and not incidentally, so I can keep it all in one place). Expect reviews on products, hints and tips for modelling and painting, ways to pimp out your games, and hopefully most of my articles will contain an Australian point of view. Which means that products recommended and stores mention should be available for Australian readers to find, which isn't always the case!<br />
<br />
That's it for now. Expect updates sporadically when I can be bothered, and pictures when I can find my camera.Charliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04300302571612280107noreply@blogger.com0