Order of Battle - 2009/01/31 - UPDATED

It turns out that Marc is ready to start playing Old West. We've decided to start the ball rolling tonight. Note the following changes:

1. Ken will take on those challengers in Warmachine. Come ready for action (Bring your battle boxes if you got'em)
2. On the other half of the table, Marc and I will be playing Legends of the Old West. I'm so excited I may pee myself.
   
3. As usual, we will commence with a Puerto-Rico-a-thon. If we get tired of that, Race for the Galaxy will be our "come down."

If you have any complaints or concerns about this arrangement, please acquire and complete a pfo-211 in triplicate and file it for processing. We should have the complaint resolved by Summer. Otherwise, we'll see you on Saturday.

JET

Huh,

I'd be curious to see how the contents differ from the CB DBA boxes. Any idea who is going to carry them?

I got my first batch of Cryx in the mail today. Dennie, Gaspy, arc nodes, pistol wraiths, and bile thralls. The breakfast of champions.

We're such trend-setters!

Keir,

I thought you inparticular would appreciate this. Venexia Miniatures, in conjunction with Corvus Belli is releasing these boxed sets:

This reminds me, I'm going to start my painting around a 300 point goal with one command. That means around 40 - 50 points for the English army and the rest on troops. I wonder if this pre-boxed army thing will increase the number of gamers doing Impetus medievals? My understanding is that the game is growing slowly, yet steadily in Europe.

Later,
JET

Au Revoir

So, in a fit of house-cleaning, I'm putting up some of my 6mm for sale on Evilbay. I thought I might as well post a few pics here before they head out on their way. These are all Baccus 6mm, and are French seven years war figs based for Age of Reason. Auction is here: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=160312670142











I seem to do this on a fairly regular basis. I should know by now that despite my best intentions, in the absence of regular play, I tend to stall on large projects. It's one of the reasons I have trouble with games with a heavy front end before one gets to play. Much as I like painting, I get distracted far too easily by other ideas, and lose the zest that brought me to the work at hand in the first place.

I've spent the last few days browsing some historical eye candy, thinking about possible projects, but there's a little voice warning me not to start another army I'm never going to get to play.

One thing I'm considering is doing something for Impetus with 1 / 72 plastics. The better ones (Zvezda, HaT) are surprisingly good, and they are dirt cheap - cheap enough that if I do get bored I'm not out a bunch of money. The question then becomes what to do. Three main choices are Indo-Greeks, Carthos, or some flavour of Roman - the latter inspired by the HBO seriies, I'm afraid ;) The first two have variety and heffalumps, the latter two a wide range of availability.

Reply to JET

Excellent post Jason. I have to say I am very interested in the Impetus rule set, and I am very much looking forward to getting a copy as soon as I can.

Last night I listened to a portion of episode 4 of THACO and to a good part of episode 23 of the D6 Generation. There was an interesting story on the D6 Generation about a new product called Foambuilder which allows for a made-to-order foam storage cases for upwards of 2 or 3 times the number of miniatures currently able to be stored in products by GW and other companies. For just one example of their product, 12 Khador jacks including the Behemoth were stored in one section of 5 inch deep foam. The material itself is purported to be firmer than anything available at this time, and customization (name, army, symbols etc.) is also an option.

That said, THACO is very much about roleplaying and the anecdotal history of 4 guys that have roleplayed for a good few years, and so I am pretty well finished with that (Mark and Jim from Fell Calls are on it) and the D6 Generation is becoming very long. I could be a misanthrope I guess.

The best podcast I have listened to lately is episode 45 of Meeples and Miniatures, in which Neil Shuck interviewed/discussed the 2008 world of miniatures with Henry Hyde of Battlegames magazine. Great podcast.

While I was listening to Podcasts last night I hand primed, and then painted the first coat of various shades of brown onto, 20 or so horses for my Roman cavalry, including the first coat of leather on the saddles and trappings of 10 of them (a unit of Newline Designs (now SHQ) EIR cavalry. Pictures of these to come.

Impetus, the Old West, and other geekly projects - general musing

Gentlemen,

It's time you had an update of what has been and what is about to be going on in geek land. I'm thinking especially of the GAP... no, not the overpriced clothing outlet, but the slightly less known Geeks Abroad Program. As two members of our group depend on this worthy organization for survival (i.e. Keir and Markus), I thought we should support it, and at the very least, and general update was in order.

First of all - Impetus. What an absolutely splendid game. It's everything I had dreamed it would be and more. It is specific in all the right places, and it abstracts in all the right places. There is chance involved, but like Warmachine, it rewards smart play. However, where Warmachine is very "stacky" in its system, Impetus is more about making the right move at the right time. Especially worthy of note would be the reaction system. In short, a unit may be ordered to go on opportunity. As you would expect, the unit can react out of turn to the enemy by either charging or shooting anything that comes into range. In addition, if enemies enter or conduct certain activities within a units zone of control (a 5cm frontage from the base), units can often react on the spot. There is so much action-reaction going on, that a marker has to be passed back and forth, because it's actually possible to forget whose turn it is.

My last word on Impetus... disorder. The way this concept has been woven into the rules is the icing on the cake. In short, being disordered has a myriad of effects on a unit. A disordered unit can't react to the enemy, it's easier to damage, and it's harder to motivate or and is less effective itself. However, if you want to take the initiative to enact daring plans, you must continually risk causing disorder amongst your units. It's so brilliantly simple, I'm not even sure what else to say about it.

My 6mm Romans are nearing completion. I've had a slower week than usual this week. In any event, I'm working on the last few bases to play 500 points, and I'm painting one more batch so that I'll have some choice within my list. I've learned that it's nice to have options in Impetus, as you will most definitely want to tailor your army against your foe. As in history, the Roman army that can take on the Parthians is not the same army that can take on the Gauls. However, I like how in these rules such list planning is not an arms race affair. In the end, more than any other game I've played, it's the choices you make with your units that decides your fate, and far less so the exact units and how many of each you choose.

The very next project on the block - Legends of the Old West. I believe Marc is working hard at this. I've made up a starting posse consisting of nine models. This involves a small amount of painting, but I really want to finish my last few buildings and incidental terrain pieces. I doubt I'll have all of the bits and pieces finished for our first game (next weekend), but Ill be ready to start the ball rolling for sure. I think LOTOW will become a standard in the group over time. More importantly, there are numerous Old West rulesets which allow multiple players (i.e. 5 or 6) at the table simultaneously. This would be quite rewarding for the group, and that leads to my next point.

We have lots of projects for the present, and I'm not suggesting any new ones for some time. However, it wouldn't hurt to start thinking of multi-player mini-games that can handle more than two players. This could mean trying new games (Gutshot, Triumph & Tragedy), and coming up with multi-player alternatives of old favourites (Warmachine)

I've rambled enough for now. I hope this brings everyone up to speed concerning my week in geek. Keep me informed of new projects and ideas.

Later,
J

....ok Warmachine is Good

So my Khador unit is built, primed(the hard way with a brush)and the metals are almost finished. I know I should be doing the stuff for VVV 09 but...but...they are big and cool and... and Jack smash stuff. Tomorrow I have to go into Time Masters and get some better red paint or maybe a wine colour.

I did finish one of my guard squads tho. I made a big mistake with the jacks I put the bloody arms on before painting them which is going to hurt me.

Any who where's a pic of the squad

VOR

VOR seems interesting but I'm kinda on the fence. Not haveing read tons of the fluff, the fluff for this seems a little uninspiring. Oh look the Americans have cool tech and the Communist use dirty weapons and chemical troopers. This I've seen before as well as most of the ideas in it's fluff (all but for the Growlers).

The thing that keeps me on the fence is the mechanics it uses for combat,movement and force list. It's Different with a capital D. I won't say anything more about it till I've had a good into and game from Chris U.

All in all I'll give it a try if Chris asks me.

Hurley

And now I think I'm going to watch Titan AE and think about the Shard.

Order of Battle - 2009/01/24

Tonight we will be engaged as follows:

1. Stu and I will start the evening with a game of Impetus at 7:30. Those interested please come and watch. If Stu is a no-show, we'll jump straight to number 2...
2. I'll roll out the full game mat and we'll play two Warmachine battle-box games simultaneously.
3. Finally, we will proceed with five or six-player boardgaming, depending on attendance. Puerto Rico? I'll have Ken bring six-player Settlers in case we all show.

See you tonight,
JET

Erm Battle-Machine-Story?

A friend of mine sent this along to me. I figured it was kind of a cross between Battletech, Warmachine and Toy Story.

What do you think?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2ylO7GoMMw

Reply to Markus

You know you like the Cryx, but most importantly, most exceedingly, excessively, presumptively and overwhelmingly, the Cryx likes you back. So are you the kind of geek that likes to love, or to be loved? I'm in the first camp, but you should heed the call of Deneghra. Don't deny her any longer. Lie down again with that maggotty wench. Be corrupted by victory. Nothing succeeds like success.

And if you want to keep the strengths of your playstyle, but you really want the novelty (and goodness) of another faction, you should play Legion, not Skorne.

I have Cryx. Do you have a Rhinodon? ;-)

Geek E-Intervention (Re: Back to Black)

Mr M.,

I think you're suffering from "readingrulebookswithoutregularopponents-itus." Maybe without a regular game, you are trapped in the world of Theorymachine? I went through this type of thing back in the 40k days as you may re-call - Space Marines led to Witch Hunters lead to Orks led Tau led to Imperial Guard, and finally, Lost and the Damned. I think in the absence of painting (which I was avoiding at the time), I filled the void with thinking, which is always dangerous for a geek. You spend a lot of time thinking about the game now, probably because you aren't playing regularly.

However, with all of that said, you have to go with what suits your playstyle, especially with Warmachine, as we all know. Loving the models and the fluff just doesn't cut it with this game. For a model game, I find Warmachine far more about the actual game than a lot of other war games. It would be fun, I'm sure, to try another paint scheme on Cryx models. There's also something to be said for learning from experiences the first time around. You should know at this point precisely what you do and don't like playing in a Cryx force.

In other news, Stu and I plan on playing our first game of Impetus tomorrow night. It will be a 300-point game; Romans vs. Parthians of course. I can't wait to learn the rules and start playing regularly. I think we are both pretty pumped.

One last Cryx-y point. Have you thought of a list?
JET

Back to black?

Right. I'm a warcaster and a unit in, and I'm stalling on Cygnar. I've had Skorne kicking around for a year, and I've yet to paint anything other than the stuff I sold to Ken.

I'm bored.

And I keep looking longingly toward Cryx. What it boils down to is that I've never had as much fun with this (or any mini) game as when I played Cryx. They just fit how I like to play games - wait, delay, and then pounce for the win. Those of you who've played games with me should be nodding your heads around now.

I'm giving serious thought to simply liquidating my cygnar and Skorne at stupid prices in order to get ahold of a hardcore list for this year. And, God willing, I want to take it to hardcore at Gencon.

That said, its been a while. I've posted in the PP forums, looking for some input here: http://www.privateerpressforums.com/index.php?showtopic=168966

If anyone has ideas on this, please chip in, either here, via email, or on the forums.

M.

First 300-point Impetus Game - I'm almost ready!

Ladies and Geeks (and especially Stu),

Here's the 300-point Early Imperial Roman army I'll be trying out against Stu's Parthians this week (click to see the full size force)



It is comprised of Expert General w/re-roll x 1, Roman Cavalry x 1, Legion x 5, Auxilia x 3, Aux. Archers x 2.

I'm sure St will run circles around me, but our primary goal is to start learning the Impetus rules. I'll obviously be basing these guys, and hopefully will have them completed before the game this week.

Later,
JET

P.S. Marcus, what color(s) blue was used on Seige?

Cygnar start up

So, after much talk, I'm finally getting around to working on my Cygnar. I think there's a something inevitable about playing a 'caster with the same name, so . . .



Obviously, his base needs a little cleaning up, and I'll hit him with another coat of Matte, but I figured to post him sooner than later.

A few more angles.





Seeing him close up, there's a few things to fix - some of the bolts could be better defined, the tubes / coils nedd work, and I'll clean up the exhausts a little. I might also bring up the blue another shade or so, just to it doesn't fade out on the table.

Siege also has some friends to keep him company. Gun Mages are what attracted me to Cygnar in the first place, and I figure Siege can defend them better than most.





I'm aiming to add some 'jacks next, starting with a Centurion. I'll post as I finish them, but progress is likely to be slow - time for painting is at a premium right now. Baby steps . . . .

Keir... what do you think of this guy?

This is the new Elf Lord by Hasslefree. Considering your current WFB project, I thought you might be interested in seeing it (and Marcus as well, considering his love of Hasslefree minis in general). You likey?

Uploading photos in posts

Welcome Keir. We'll have to chat to see how this works from you end. Then, I can add another couple of guys to the author list.

For now however, just a quick mention about photos. Normally when blogging, we tend to store uploaded photos in our blog space. That won't work for this blog, since all uploads would go to (and quickly fill) my blog albums. Here's how to avoid this.

When you want to add an image to your post, you must first upload the image to some free image provider (I use http://www.photobucket.com) Then, after clicking the Add Image button in your blogger post editor, choose "Add an image from the web" instead of "Add an image from your computer." In most cases, the free image servers (like photobucket) give you the exact code of the image url that can be cut and pasted into the blog. Any questions, write or call.

Later,
JET

Of hammered gold and gold enamelling

Ah, the forge of memory. And yet another blog for Ken to avoid.

My news: I am painting again, and I will post an update later this week on The Carpasian Wars.

As well, I just completed a little trade on Bartertown:

I traded this:
Bane Knights (4) - $32
Soulhunters (leader+2) - $45
Soulhunters (2) - $30
Terminus - $50
Skarre - $10
Total - $167

For this:
2 x Carnivean - $80
Blighted Legionnaires (leader+5) - $33
Flameguard Cleansers (leader+5) - $33
MOW Shocktrooper - $17
Legion Forsaken - $8
Piper of Ord - $10
Total - $181

Now I can finally complete my Thagrosh force with 3 Carniveans, 2 Forsaken and 2 Shephards. I do regret trading Terminus away because it's such a classic miniature, but there's so little chance I'll paint it that it had to go.

As well, I won an auction today for the Great Bears of Gallowswood for $25.00 with free shipping. Even at that price they are quite dear (MSRP is $38.00) but I just had to get them. It's an illness. Only Markov left (and maybe the Koldun Lord...and Drago).

I am toying with the idea of picking up a couple of boxes of plastics. Specifically, the Perry Napoleonic French, and the Victrix British Centre Company box for Waterloo. The Victrix box was just painted up by a bloke in Blighty and very tasty they are.

See: http://www.gjmfigurines.co.uk/

Where it all Began...

I'm trying this side-blog for a short while. I'm setting this up to be a mini-forum for members, past and present of our gaming group. Remembering our beginnings, I refer to John Street in the title; the fertile crescent where the original group started gaming together. As the first year or two sped by, others joined the ranks. I thought a place where we could all post might be interesting and informative. The primary audience would, of course, be ourselves. However, if others take interest in our ramblings and editorials, so be it!

So gents - Give us your opinions, your projects, your plans, your surmisings.
JET

P.S. Invitations to follow