Some Armada action!

Hey all!

Got a good game of Armada in last night... well, good in that we had fun, but NOT good in that I got completely wiped off that table... I lost every capital ship, and my Imperial enemies lost none!  The shot below gives you a good feeling for how it went:)

Anyway, I am including some photos from the game, some random eye candy photos, just so you have something to look at!

This was the opening... I never got my MC30 into combat:(  I wasn't used to the ISD moving so quickly!

X-Wings, Y-Wings, and Han move in!

Another shot of the Rebel fighter screen...

This was the center mess... the squadrons really got stuck in EARLY.

Here we go...

IG-88 was really, really impressive this game... he killed Luke in the shot above, and Han Solo later... I couldn't dedicate capital ships to hitting him, and couldn't get enough squadrons on him to kill him:(

TIE fighters attack the Falcon and some Y-Wings.

Slave One and IG-88 prepare to blast some Rebs out of space!

Cleaned the painting table

Well, I finally cleaned up my painting table!  It was a MESS, but thankfully now is a bit more accessible.

I have to say, I am SO stalled on my "Retreat from Moscow" project... I've got to get myself motivated again!:(

Built shelves to hold gaming tables

Hey all!

Thought I would share... I have a few smaller game boards, including for X-Wing (which needs a 3x3 space) and for some games that I've developed... namely the moderns game and my new naval game (which got another play test yesterday and is holding up great!).  But the thing is, I want to be able to game those while still having the ability to do big games as well on the 6x4.

So I went ahead and put some boards in under each of my tables to act as "holding shelves" for the small wargaming tables if I have a game mid-way but want to move it out for another one!

At the start of this post you can see the naval board tucked away under one of my rolling war-games tables.  The shelf for it is above.

And here is the modern game, tucked away under the other table!

So I am glad to have these done... now I just need to FINALLY get to actually putting shelving into the actual shelf legs of the darn table!:D

My repurposed "Pirates of the Spanish Main" fleets

Hey all!

Well, I thought I'd share my repurposed "Pirates of the Spanish Main" fleets!

I made up two fleets, with bases, for a new set of rules I am cobbling together (which, so far, are working out well!)  It makes use of the Star Wars: Armada movement tool.... hence the notches in the bases.  Above is the Pirate fleet... one First Rate ship, two Third Rate ships, two Fifth Rate ships, and two Sloops.  (Note: those are designations I use in my game, not strict naval history ones!)

Here is the other fleet, the "fleet of Civilization" (i.e. Brits and Spanish.)  It has the same breakdown as the Pirate fleet.  Honestly, you wouldn't use them all in a game; you'd probably only use three or four ships or so, but it is nice to have some variety available.

An Armada game up at Highlander Games and Comics

Hey all!

Well, a week or two ago I met up with a guy named Mike to play a game of Armada up at Highlander Games and Comics in Boonton, NJ.  I have to say, it is a great place; there is the main store, which is jammed with games, and then an entire gaming annex with one whole wall that is windows... very nice place to play!

So Mike was a "random" I got in touch with through Highlanders X-Wing/Armada group, but he ended being a perfect opponent... relaxed, funny, and an all-around good dude... hopefully will get in plenty of games in the future!

Plus he is a tourney player, so I got to learn a bit!

Now, I don't remember the exact lists... I purposefully went away from the Rhymer ball, and went with a Glad, a Victory kitted out to be a carrier, a Raider, an Imperial II, and some squadrons... I think two or three TIES, two bombers, and a Firespray.

Mike brought a pretty nutty list; two MC30s with Assault Proton Torpedoes, and then about a million Corvettes with Turbo Laser Reroutes.  Oh, and two A-Wing squadrons.  It was clearly a fast list, although a bit fragile... but when you have eight glass cannons, it ain't so bad.

I think we played the opening salvo objective, but we just played 'till everything died, rather than 6 turns, because why not?:)

Anyway, deployment at the top!

We got stuck in quick... well, most of us did, although the Vic didn't:)  My Glad spat out some punishment, but got just hammered in return.

Here we are farther along... the Corvette at the bottom was down to one hull point and had a burning engine that would blow him up if he went more than speed 1 or something... I was hoping to hunt him down with the TIE.  Honestly, I was killing what I could get my hands on, but DAMN I was slow, and a critical that took away a click of turning on my ISD didn't help matters.

My Raider was chasing this damn Vette the entire game.  I just could never give the raider first activation to finish it, because the ISD needed it to obliterate enemies each time.

Big old scrum in the middle!

Near the end... those damn Vettes with the Turbo Laser Refits were just CRUSHING my Vic I, which just couldn't get close range guns on anything... and the Vettes double evades made sure I couldn't land much damage while STILL pumping out at least two hits a turn... but often three.

In the end, maybe because Mike was taking it easy on me, I managed to blow up the last rebel ships, but good God almighty it was a mess:)

Anyway... it was a fun game, and best because it is nice to meet a possible new Armada mate!:)

Built a fort for my son

Hey all!

Well, my son has REALLY gotten into Legos.  He isn't building anything yet, but he has several hundred Lego knights and the like.  

It actually all stems from a story that I tell him every night (and have for about a year).  I realized soon after I started that, not only could my generic Lego knights stand in for the random soldiers of the story, but I could order piece-by-piece from eBay to construct his main characters!  So now he can HEAR the story at night, and then play with the characters during the day!  And when major new people are introduced into the story?  He gets the Lego version that night!

He has one fortress already (my old Mighty Fortress, fixed up) but I had to make his BAD guy (Lord Tatum) a place to hang out!

Now, the castle keep itself is three layers deep.  There is a roof that lifts off.  Then, underneath it, is the top floor (complete with rug).

And under that is the bottom floor, with another rug!  The flag is mobile.

I did this all with foam core, pins, and glue.  The pin heads are covered with the bricks (which are just chopped up cereal box!)

Overall I am happy with how it turned out.  It is sturdy and looks good.

First naval game played

Hey all!

Well, a buddy came by last night, and we played two games of a new set of naval rules that I am working on.

The fight was pretty simple... each of us had a 1st rate, a 3rd rate, a 5th rate, and a sloop.  He sailed the the sloop "Defiant," the 5th rate "Bounty," the 3rd rate "Headstrong," and his flagship was the "Argonaut."  I had (in the same order) the "Surprise," "Venus," "Harpy," and "Dauntless."  Crews were of average size; he had some pirate crews, and I had some marines, but otherwise it was the same.

Above is the first turn.  My fleet is on the left.  I sent the Venus around the smaller island with an idea towards boarding the enemy (the Venus gives you a reroll on boarding, and I had some marines on board.)  The Harpy and the Dauntless went towards the middle, while the Surprise headed off towards the other flank.  

Turn two.  Uh oh... the Argonaut and Bounty all head towards my poor sloop, who hopes to sneak by without getting too badly hammered.  I get the Harpy and Dauntless into line to cross the T on the incoming Headstrong and Defiant (which isn't as terrible as it could be for the Headstrong, which gets to roll double dice for its bow chaser.)

The Surprise tries to get past the oncoming enemy, firing away as it does.

The Dauntless and the Harpy prepare to fire.

I forgot to take photos for a while!  Well, this is later in the battle.  The Harpy has the Headstrong and Argonaut cross right in front of her, and gets absolutely pummeled by cannon fire.

Here that fight is again.  I eventually rammed the Argonaut and tried to take it, but unfortunately it didn't work out, and my crew was decimated and eventually surrendered.

So the rules seemed to REALLY work.  They need a little tweaking (I am thinking about changing up a tiny bit how many times you can fire/do stuff, and the crew is a little vulnerable right now to shooting.)  But overall I was really happy with them, ESPECIALLY with how movement, speed, and damage to sails is represented... I made some FANTASTIC little markers that I am not ready to share yet (they aren't all painted up) but when they are done, I'll share them and maybe the rules too.  Super, super simple, but they seem like they really work.

Anyway... a new era for The House of War, and I hope people enjoy!