Heroscape is Back!

Over the years my friend and I have been playing Heroscape. The game is still fun and fast to play. To speed things up, he has made thematic teams that also combine models that have rules which support one another and with the rest has made leftover squads.

    Heroscape, licensed through Renegade Games, has started making revamped terrain hexes, new models, and new factions. We have found that the new items are well made and the new models are very fun.  

    The unfortunate thing is that Renegade isn't reprinting the classic Heroscape models. Fortunately there are lots of resellers out there that do, but you have to do some research to ensure they have a good reputation. Sometimes you can get lucky at a garage sale, flea market, or charity store.

    Websites are out there that provide a community and information for folks who play or want to get into it again, like Heroscapers, Gary's Heroscape Site, and Board Game Geek (under the files and forums sections).

    I have my heroscape items, purchased during a few years ago, specifically for the tiles. I have used them for Battletech: Alpha Strike games, but not for Heroscape. My friend has almost everything for the game so no need to double up.

A Look Back at 2023 and Ahead to 2024

 Well I have been busy this year but not with painting models and terrain. Recently retired, I hoped that I would have more time and opportunity for playing games of all sorts. Unfortunately there were many things that needed to be done and things that popped up that needed doing. Fun was still had as the following will show.

A total of 51 boardgames were played, just under one boardgame a week. Something I always want to play more of. In order from most to least played are: Heat (9), Death May Die (6), Marvel Champions 3player (5), Crib (3), Dominion (3), Axis and Allies (2), Beyond the Black Tower (2), Carcassonne (2), Cascadia (2), Command and Colors: Ancients (2), Masters of the Universe (2), Kingdomino (2), Wingspan (2), Carcassonne 20th Anniversary edition, Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers, Eastern Empires, Red Storm Rising, Settlers of Catan, Splendor, Terraforming Mars, Thunder Road Vengeance, and Twilight Struggle.

Not many solo boardgames were played, only five, another thing I wish to change based on the amount of them I have that can be played solo. Cascadia (2), Heat, Marvel Champions (2).

Of the computer games I have, nine were played and all of them were Terraforming Mars (2 multiplayer and 7 solo). I really like this game and it handles the math so you don't forget anything.

For miniature games, thirty-two were played including a new one; Marvel Crisis Protocol (MCP). I will be posting more about that game in 2024, including painted miniatures. In order of most to least played are: Marvel Crisis Protocol; Avengers (7) and Cabal (3), Malifaux; Outcasts (9; Arik, Hannah Lovelace, Jack Daw (2), Parker Burroughs, Scion of the Void (2), Tara, Von Schill); Heroscape (7), Battletech: Alpha Strike (4); Dystopian Wars (4); Guildball: Morticians (3); Gaslands (2); Star Wats Legion (2); and Car Wars: Convoy Adventure.

For painting miniatures I did abysmally with 25-40mm scale (Guildball Gaffer and new and old Iron Man for MCP), but did well for other scales with 48 10mm scale (Planetfall Relthoza), 6mm scale (Battletech; 41 Federated Suns and 24 Patchwork Guild Mercenary company). Zero terrain painted was also unfortunate. Definitely want to paint more next year (Terrain, MCP, Battletech, Relthoza, Malifaux, Star Wars Legion). 

For physical games, three were played and they were all boules while my wife and I were camping.

Sadly, life happens and roleplaying games suffered. Sickness and requirements meant that many sessions had to be cancelled because of lack of players. Therefore only twelve sessions occurred. ten of them were for the Savage Worlds: Thrilling Tales setting and was great fun. Two sessions were with the Pendragon starter box and were run by myself. I also played through the solo adventure in the box to get more acquainted with the rules.

For gaming books read, there was the following read: The End: Dogs of War RPG supplement, Conspire RPG, Microscope RPG, Marvel Multiverse RPG, Pendragon RPG starter box, and Shab-al-Hiri roach RPG.

In summation I would like to play more games, and paint models, but with myself starting school for two semesters this year time will tell.

Car Wars

 Car Wars has been around since 1980 and is a marvelous game for fun in a world setting where the second amendment of the United States is taken to the next level. That might not sound like fun but to a teenager like myself and my friends it was perfect. The main point of the game is to choose or build your vehicle and match them against other players with the same budget. With films like Death Race 2000, Mad Max series, and Damnation Alley around there was a lot of inspiration for vehicles and scenarios. It also improved my math skills and soon I was able, on long car rides, to build vehicles in my head by choosing the chassis, suspension, handling system, weaponry and gear, armour, and tires. Fun times were had playing arena duels with a bunch of friends. Hard choices always had to be made with maneuvering at high speeds as your handling score was reduced with difficult maneuvers.

There were additional supplements for additional vehicles frames, weapons, equipment, and doodads. Uncle Albert catalogues were always sought after for the latest and greatest. Over time it was like memorizing sport statistics but immensely fun. 

Additional pre built vehicle catalogues and Autoduel Quarterly magazines also added to the world of Car Wars. There were also a series of geographic area guides detailing who's who and what's what for making scenarios and story lines for friend to play in. I have not played it for a few decades, as Gaslands became easier to set up and play, but the system still holds a dear place in my gaming heart. 

The best of the scenarios is Convoy. Made shortly after Car Wars was released is one of the best miniature scenario books I have ever played. It got a lot of use by myself in my later teenage years, as I had moved far away from my friends, and is playable with 1-6 people.

I recently played it with a good friend and we finished the adventure in a day through a series of situations and combat. It plays like a choose your own adventure except combat is decided by playing a Car Wars game based on the adversaries and setup.

It was a hoot to play it through after so many years and to play Car Wars again. It makes me want to pull out my other solo and multiplayer adventures for Cars Wars. Great fun.

A Gaming look back on 2022 and looking forward to 2023

2022 was another year of not being able to get together for games as much as I would have liked. Hopefully retiring will be able to increase the number of games played of all genres: RPG, Board, Miniature.

For miniature and RPG games read, I got through 11: Battletech: Alpha Strike, Call of Cthulhu (Starter Box, Investigator's Book, Keepers Book, Keepers Screen & Adventures, Keepers advice; Pulp Cthulhu Book), One Ring (Starter Box, Main Rulebook, Screen/Rivendell), and Rangers of Shadowdeep.

Role Playing games played were only four: D&D 5E Eberron (3) and One Ring Starter (1).

Solo boardgames played were a whole lot. Epic Tiny Dungeons, This War of Mine, and over one hundred of Marvel Champions. Going to continue to play more Marvel Champions and some of my GMT games. 

Boardgames played in a group were 52. In order of most to least games played of them are: Crokinole (19), Marvel Champions: (2p: 3; 3p: 2), King Domino (4), Wingspan (3), Carcassonne (2), No Thanks! (2), Seven Wonders (2), Terraforming Mars (2), Unstable Unicorns (2), 1989, Dice Throne, Great Western Legends, One Small Step, Puzzle Competitive Game, Robinson Crusoe, Settlers of Catan, Space Hulk Death Angel, Splendor, This War of Mine, and Villainous.

For computer games, twelve were played solo of Terraforming Mars and eighteen in groups: Terraforming Mars (15), Carcassonne, Dominion, and Splendor.

Only twenty miniature games were played. They are listed in order of the number played: Star Trek Alliance (7), Malifaux: Hamelin (6), Battletech: Alpha Strike (3), Bot War (3), and Baines Nebula (independent playtesting space fleet combat). 

For miniatures painted there were 264 painted: eight for Batman Miniature Game, 53 for Battletech, 10 for Bot War, 105 for Enlightened Dystopian Wars, five for Malifaux, and 58 for Relthoza Planetfall. I want to paint more Battletech, Malifaux Outcast and Arcanists, and finish off the Relthoza Planetfall models.

Rangers of Shadowdeep

Like the game designer Joseph A McCullough's Frostgrave, Rangers of Shadowdeep has scenarios that the players go through in order to gain experience and uncover resources. Though in this game the players are cooperating with their own groups and are uncovering clues to defeat a big evil spreading across the land. 

The rules for creating your band's leader, always a ranger, are very similar to Frostgrave. You can have alterations though: magic wielding, melee focused, bow focused, etc. 

There are enough scenarios to get you going and wanting more. There have been many new ones produced are are available at many places, including the author's website.

Once I finish my Frostgrave solo game through all 20 scenarios, I will give this a try. There are lots of fan made extras on BoardGameGeek, official miniatures at North Star Figures but you can use any minis, can get more scenario packs from the game designer at his website or DriveThruRPG.

Citadel Painting Handles

As I get older, I realize that holding modals with my hand gets uncomfortable after a while. I was skeptical with these painting handles I have seen in hobby stores but others have exclaimed loudly about the benefits of them. So I picked up two of them, both from Citadel: the regular (for 25 to 40mm bases) and the XL model (for 50 to 170mm bases). 

I have enjoyed using them on Bot War models to finish off the detail work, which is when you really have to move around the models to get in the corners and fine points. The grip is perfect for a natural fit. I will be using these from now on.

"The Masters" Brush Cleaner and Preserver

This product has been a great rejuvenator of my older brushes. I recommend it for all artists, whether miniature, terrain, or canvas painters.  

It is quite simple to use. Available locally at Gauntlet Games in small size and Opus in all sizes.

I have been using this for a few months but a little goes a long way.

Back to Gaming

 Recent days were action packed for miniature and detailed board gaming, since before the pandemic. Firstly I played Guildball with a friend and although we didn't have time to finish it, because we had not played in over a year, we still had great fun. Although Steamforged is no longer making models or updating rules, Longshanks has begun the process of providing player errata and plans to move to more corrections and such.

At another friends place we had both taken the day off and started games early till supper. First we played the Middle Earth Strategy game by Games Workshop. It is not rank and file but more robust skirmish game. It was fun, fast, and had easy to understand rules. I'd play it again.

We then played two boardgames: SpaceCorp 2025-2300 and Men of Iron Agincourt intro scenario in the Tripack box, both by GMT. They were also good boardgames that I would play again, in particular SpaceCorp 2025-2300 because of the three era of space exploration and expansion.

Light Box

I picked up a cheap light box from Aliexpress. It was around $24 and will be fantastic for taking pictures of models I have painted. No longer do I have to wait for the right amount of daylight and manipulate a mirror for the right amount of light on a model. Even came with a spare LED strip.

Here is all you get with the box folded out. Comes with multiple felt backgrounds to compliment the model just right. You have to plug it into a USB port for the lights.

The light is nearly daylight quality.

Even has a circle hole in the top for above shots.

The company is Puluz.

Here it is all folded up. I should have thought of this years ago.

Small Scale Islands

From the Pirates of the Spanish Main Wizkids/GallForce9 line is the six small island set. It came prepainted but it was improved by some drybrushing with dollarstore paints.

 I will be using it for age of sail miniature games (Fighting Sail or Trafalgar or Black Seas) with my Pirates of the Spanish Main ships.

 I can also use it for my Dystopian Wars models.

Basius new Website

I have been using my Basius products for a few years now and really liking the results I get from them. They have now opened a new website for ordering many of their products and bulk greenstuff.

Warriors Weekend 2019 Tables and Models

There were many inspirational scenery and models at Warrior's Weekend. Here are some pics.

Lava rock terrain made out of styrofoam.

 Nurgle army for Warhammer 40k

 Ice terrain made out of styrofoam.

 15mm "Small Sci-Fi"

 15mm scale computer consoles made out of LEGO!

 Infinity Tournament.

 Adeptus Titanicus

Warriors Weekend 2019

Held at the Bay Street armories was the second Wounded Warrior gaming convention, with proceeds going to the charity Pilgrim Bandits. I participated last year and this year I helped set up, run demos, and helped tear down.

They had an upstairs area as well as another room for role playing games.

Here was the table I gave Horizon Wars demos on. I played one game with someone and ran two people through two games. A moderate success.

 I also played one demo of "Small Sci-fi", a working title for a local home brew 15mm near future miniature game. Simple rules but complex strategies with them. Superb scenery.

 On the second day I ran Gaslands. Unfortunately nobody participated but did have interest. Also sold $5 worth of cars for the Pilgrim Bandits charity.

 I did play a demo of Star Wars Legion, which was quick with simple rules with depth. By participating I also was entered into a draw for a starter box and two boosters...and I won! I'll add them to my painting schedule.

If I am in town I will participate next year.

Osprey's Fighting Sail

Fighting Sail, published by Osprey and written by Ryan Millar, is a miniature game ruleset for ships during the age of sail. You can do single ship-on-ship combat up to small fleet actions.

I like the simplicity of the rules that permit flexible maneuvering and tactical actions. So far, through initial reading, it will allow fun and deep games.

I have many Wizkids Pirates of the Spanish Main ships that I kept for nostalgia and glad I did. It will be perfect with this ruleset, once I figure out how to differentiate the plastic ships into different ships of the line.

X-Wing Campaigns and Scenarios

I have been playing an X-Wing miniature game campaign off and on for over a year with a friend, called "Heroes of the Anturi Cluster". We picked it up again this past week with another four games.

My friend also let me know that there is a plethora of other campaigns and alternative scenarios, both for the first and second edition of the rules. Here is a small assortment:
1.0: Galactic Civil War, Defenders of the Empire, Flight Group Alpha, Alternative Play Scenarios, Aftermath of Hoth, Objectives for X-Wing
2.0: None seen yet.

Miner Creations and Muse on Minis Templates/Steppers/Gauges

I had the pleasure of purchasing templates from Miner Creations recently at a game convention. I bought them specifically for Guildball but will be using them for any game that uses 30/40/50mm bases.

The steppers are perfect for determining how far you can go when weaving in and out of your opponents models. I also got two sets of melee gauges which are really handy for determining how close you want to get and better assist in movement.

I also chose the colour to go with my other range templates from Muse on Minis that I bought early this year. Also shown are the base markers (left side) so that you can mark where your model is before moving it around.

Now I just need a good universal case to have these in with some other doodads.

Heroes of the Aturi Cluster for X-Wing

A friend and I started a cooperative X-Wing campaign called "Heroes of the Aturi Cluster". X-Wing is a tabletop spaceship dogfighting game set in the world of Star Wars and made by Fantasy Flight.

It made an immense impact on the tabletop gaming world when it was released and is still as popular today. The campaign is also free to download and enables you to start off with rookie Rebel pilots as they engage in missions to gain experience and save the galaxy. 

We have played two missions and it is a lot of fun. The charts that determine what the Imperial ships do is logical and well thought out. The only downside is that it benefits the group, when some or all the participants have the ship miniatures required for the missions. I'm looking forward to playing more games.

Old School Miniatures

So I have been going through my basement/crawlspace and looking for things to downsize and organize better. I decided to go through all my miniatures, which I know would take a long time. Not only because I have a bunch, and more than I realized. It was also because I would reminisce on the where and when I purchased them and used the older ones. I thought I would show you a bunch of them so that others could also gain that old time nostalgia. Enjoy!

I'll be using quite a few for Kings of War armies and the rest I will probably store and pair down on Ebay someday if a use does not pop up.