Sometimes, it just does not work out…

I’ve experimented with a variety of 3D prints for terrain.  Generally the results have been sucessful with the various smaller files that I’ve printed at the local library.  A few months ago, I backed Real 3D Fantasy Printable Scenery on Kickstarter.  For a reasonable price, I received files for four small medieval style buildings.  The test files printed without issue, but I the full scale buildings just don’t measure up.  The building comes in 5 pieces: roof, 1st floor, 2nd floor and 2 support pillars.  The print grain is rough, and the large flat sections warped during printing creating large gaps between the sections (and a funny looking pillar on the left).  A second, smaller building failed to print at all.  And worst of all, I paid more than $30 for the printing.  At that price, I can get a sharp looking MDF building from any number of companies.

Norman Knights

“New” style Norman Knights from Foundry.  The figures display a few sculpting flaws (rough faces, sword hilts missaligned with scabards), but nothing that stops the figures from taking their place on the table top.

The ground work on the figures features grass tufts from Gamers Grass.  I rather like the tufts, the clumps are well formed, distinct and sturdy.  Tufts I’ve used in the past were thin and arranged like a spider’s web on the contact paper.

 

Harold’s Saxon Army

Harold’s Saxon army from my Adepticon game back in March.  Played in 2 ranks each, these figures gave me two divisions with a unit of Huscarls, two units of Coerls (and a small unit of archers not pictured here).  Most figures are Gripping Beast with the exception of the commander in purple with horn, which is from FootSore.

I need to thank my friend John, these were originally his figures which he gifted to me as part of his hobby clean out last year.  Having all these figures based and base coated saved me a huge amount of time when getting ready for Adepticon.

Rather than the lighter shades of my Crusader/Ancients armies, I chose to go with a darker/wetter looking ground effect.  Bases are rimmed with Bittersweet Chocolate with a Raw Sienna top coat, then flocked with pasture green grass.

 

Adepticon: Battle of Hastings

My third and final Adepticon battle of 2016.  The Battle of Hastings was fought in the Saga Hall on Saturday night with copious amounts of wine, women and song (or at least beer and pizza).  Nine players joined the battle with 5 playing the role of Harold and his troops and 4 fighting as William and his Normans.

The challenge with Hastings is that the Saxons have zero mobility and a strong defensive position, while the Normans have plenty of fast knights as well as a strong rank of bows/crossbows.  Given that combination, motivation needs to be provided for the Saxons to do more than sit there and take on arrows the whole game.  The motivation took the form of an objective marker place behind the Norman left flank.  The second element is the historical death of Harold and his brothers. This was solved by giving three of the commanders 5 attacks, with the rule that any wound taken would count as a kill.

As luck would have it, the game played out nicely with the Saxons coming off the hill to engage the Britions and capture the objective.  The lure of 5 additional dice proved too much and successfully lead to the glorious deaths of Harold and his brothers.  With the death of its leaders, the Saxon line was broken and victory was declared for the Normans.

Event Documents:

Adepticon Hastings HC Hastings Objectives

 

 

Adepticon: Battle of Arsuf

The iconic Battle of Arsuf almost did not happen this year at Adepticon.  I had a bit of an incident moving the armies into the hall.

Imagine this times four!  Took every minute I had before the game started to just get the figures back on their trays.

Despite the setback, we had a wonderful game with 7 players.  Bucking the trend from prior games, the Arab players pulled out a victory this year by taking the action to the Norman players.  King Richard was kept busy while the Saracens sent the Hospitallers packing.

Event documents:

Arsuf Objectives Adepticon 2016 – Battle of Arsuf

Adepticon: Battle of Kursk

We had very grand plans for Kursk in Bolt Action:  8 players, 8000 points per team, a 12×6 table with custom terrain.  Then 3 players and most of the German figures failed to show up.  We soldiered on with 5 players and 4000 points per team.  The game lasted five turns until a misplaced artillery barrage mangled much of the German assault on the Russian hill top.  Over all, the 8000 points and 70 some units was too much for the Bolt Action rule set, even with a team based dice draw system.  I think will try it again next year, after all – what else will we do with 2 dozen T-34s🙂

Set up day at Adepticon

Main hall and Vendor hall getting setup for Adepticon.

Kickstarter Report

Like a number of gamers, I’ve bought into a number of kickstarters.  My most current pledge is a set of 3D files for a medieval village from Real 3D Fantasy Printable Scenery.  During the campaign, they provided a number of test files which include an outhouse and a dog house.  The prints came out well and should paint up nicely.  The Brave Bricklayer will give me enough files to create a small village good for Saga or even WW2.  One of the advantages of a 3D file is that the kickstarter will be able to deliver in a reasonable time frame.

Speaking of unreasonable delivery times, 18 months after pledging, I will finally be getting my paints from the Reaper Miniatures Cav kickstarter this month.  The Bones kickstarter was a phenomenon, sadly the follow up kickstarters from Reaper all fall short.  I have a handful of figures in Bones 3 that will be my last kickstarter with Reaper.

Soviet AT Guns

Plastic Soviets from The Plastic Soldier Company.  This inexpensive kit contains parts for 2 guns, I chose a 45mm M1942 anti tank gun and a 76mm M1943 infantry gun.  The plastic is lighter and more flexible than most 28mm manufactures and the gun barrels do not compare well with other 76mm barrels found on Warlord kits.

Terrain Trials

Working on new terrain for the Kursk game at Adepticon.  Most Bolt Action games are in built up urban areas with short lines of sight.  The Kursk battles included fights on the open steppes of Russia.  We played a game using the old trick of foam under cloth and stuffing for smoke.  The rolling terrain provided excellent cover for the game.   The smoke clouds will be paired with wrecked tanks for the big game.

Farm patch – a brown table mat with lines of flock glued on.  Makes for a quick piece of eye candy on the table.  The glue warps the cloth and pulls up the corners.  Fortunately, the cloth stuck to the felt mat and laid flat for the game.