Wednesday 26 June 2019

2019-06-23, SAGA Age of Magic, 2nd Test Game


This time we added the rules for Lieutenants and Creatures. Ulolkish brought his Dwarves and borrowed my two bears, and I fielded a force consisting of Moria Goblins and some Citadel Dire Wolves I bought painted a couple of years ago, as I only have two painted riderless Wargs, and needed four for this warband.

On my first turn (above) I let the Wolves advance fast on my right flank, while the rest of my warband manoeuvered forward.

The Dwarves (below) also advanced, but kept their Bears close to their flank.


On my second turn, my Wolves swept in and attacked the Bears. I annihilated the enemy Creatures (I rolled a bucket of dice, and we got the Resilience rule wrong), but two of my Wolves also bought it in the process.


Then the Dwarven Warriors killed off my Wolves (Creatures are really a glass hammer, even though we did not get the Resilience rule right), and both some Warriors and their Hearthguards advanced on my left.


My Warriors then fought the Dwarves who just killed the Wolves, but failed to defeat them and had to retire. My Hearthguards charged the Dwarven Lieutenant, killed him losing 3(!) models in the fight, while my Warriors an the left fell back behind the woods to avoid getting hammered 1-2 by the two units threatening them.


The Dwarves followed and charged my Warriors on the left, but the fight was a drawn, and the Dwarves had to fall back.

Then, I lost the game by the Dwarven Levy scoring 3 hits on 4 dice on my Hearthguards with their bows. I did not manage to save any if the hits, and my Hearthguards were annihilated. Sorely disappointing performance, but, well, it is Goblins...


The next turn, on the right my Goblins and the Dwarves decimated each other, and my Warlord finished off the enemy unit. There was some ineffective fighting on the left.


On the next turn, my Warriors on the right were reduced to 3 figures, and I would now had only my Warlord generating SAGA Di(c)e, and I did not see any reason to continue the fight. Again, one single roll completely statistically off was the main reason for the final outcome; had my Hearthguards unlikely demise not happened, they could have charged the Levies and probably dispatched them without being wiped out themselves, I would still have a SAGA Dice generating unit, and would have stood a chance against the Dwarven Hearthguards.

Conclusion:

We still need to play more times to get the rules properly memorized, but this game gave me some understanding of how this edition of the game works.

Tactics are not really important; you do not get a bonus from charging, and the 2nd Ed. rules have all members of a unit in combat fight, so you cannot out-manoeuver an enemy unit, hitting it in the flank to reduce the number of models fighting your charging unit (this was possible in 1st Ed.).

Instead, it is important to hold off, until you have those killer combos on your Battle Board, giving you an edge when actually duking it out with the enemy.

Characters, although packing a lot of dice for single minis, are not really fighting  machines. They are great for mopping up the leftovers from earlier scraps, but as the Warlord's ability from 1st Ed. to fight 'side by side' with another unit by using 'We Obey' has been left out of 2nd Ed., I find him too difficult to use in an offensive role, as his Hearthguard Bodyguards are often too far away.

I may suggest we go back to using some of the rules as they were in 1st Ed., to add more tactics to the gameplay, as games may otherwise turn into very defensive affairs, if none of the sides can get the SAGA dice results they want, and do not want to risk their troops without proper Battle Board support.

Saturday 22 June 2019

Repairing a Rogue Trader Era Space Marine Scout

When I dug out the Dark Angels I painted for In the Emperor's Name some years ago, much to my chagrin I found that a sniper rifle barrel was broken.

I am going to attempt to superglue it in place, but if that fails, I shall have to drill a shallow hole for the barrel to sit in.

Again, my Citadel Assembly Handle is coming to my aid, and it is actually fast becoming one of my standard go-to solutions for any kind of fiddly repair job - a sound purchase, as it turns out.

You will notice that I have added a rubber band - it is because the springs, or whatever it pulling the vise/clamp together around the mini's base, are not quite tight enough for smaller bases, but the rubber band is an easy and cheap way to mend that.



Operation Cleansweep - the Next Level!

My prepping station has been cluttering up again, lately, and I think my 3D printing is now offering me a solution: I found files for printing parts to turn empty filament spools into a drawer storage organizing box, and it struck me that without the drawers, it becomes a stacked series of turning shelves instead.

So when I had two identical empty spools, I printed the base, one spacer and two center pieces, as well as one cover for the top (I Think I shall source some other files for drawers when I want to make an actual storage box).

After assembling it, I started organizing some of the clutter, and I already have much more workspace on the prepping station - and when I add a third spool, I think that I can actually get the cutting mat and the newspaper off the surface and get it cleaned properly, for once!

I may ad magnetic sheeting to the shelves to keep washer-based minis firmly in place, but for now, I am more than happy to just get the prepping station tidied up (as it has not been for about half a decade)!

And then They were Two....

I speed-pained this very old Jes Goodwin bear (a Wood Elf Beastmaster companion) today, as Ulolkish may need a couple of Quadruped Creatures to go with his Dwarves in SAGA Age of Magic tomorrow.

Next time I get something from North Star Military Figures, I shall include their rearing bear in the order, to bring the sleuth up to three members (and probably enough for Sellswords & Spellslingers).









Thursday 20 June 2019

Moria Goblin 'Character' Re-based

Another metal Moria Goblin mini not painted by myself, but bought as part of a second hand lot.

I am going to use it as a 'Hero' in Age of Fantasy Skirmish, and a 'Lieutenant' in Age of Magic (if the list I use permits it - I actually have not checked it, yet...).

Again, his eye(s) need some attention, but that will be for another day.

I am trying to get a game arranged this weekend, so he has gotten ready just in time for joining the carnage!









3D Printed: Four Tyranid Capillaries


Finished the fourth one yesterday, and as I am now on a two-day print of a Tyranid Spyre/Chimney (or what ever it is called), I think it is time for cleaning some of them up for painting (I am going to print at least one more, so that I may have enough for the highest number of Objectives it is possible to roll up in Grimdark Future: Firefight).

Another Batch of Goblins Re-based


Another unit (not painted by me) for Age of Fantasy Skirmish rebased. Again. I shall probably have to go back and dot in some eye pupils, but right now I am too busy getting a bunch of minis re-based for AoFS and SAGA Age of Magic, and am about to paint a couple of models for the same purpose so I am skipping it for now.






Wednesday 19 June 2019

Some Loot from North Star Military Figures

This time it took 13 days for a parcel to reach my secret lab from Lenton, UK - seems that delivery times go up by a couple of days for each successive order 😆

I have been stockpiling rulesets lately, mainly because I need some small games to motivate me for painting a few minis here and there, and partly because the summer holidays is a great time for reading, as when sitting in front of the camping trailer somewhere in central France, I cannot rush off to search through some obscure box for some long forgotten mini I suddenly see a use for.

I have been wantint to get those (Frostgrave) Rangifers ever since they were released (I have a lot of ideas how to put them to use), and I took the opportunity to order them along with Thud & Blunder.

As soon as I have painted a Mines of Moria plastic Gandalf and a metal Moria Goblin Shaman, I shall assemble and paint the Rangifer Shaman (you can never have too many Magic-Users for small-scale skirmish gaming 😈), but I need a Wizard for my Gondor SAGA AoM warband (and also for Age of Fantasy Skirmish, for all that matters), and the Goblin Shaman is also sorely needed for both games.

All in all, I am pretty content with today, as I have both printed a lot, finished some re-basing (later post), blogged quite a bit, and received this little lot (and it is even hot and sunny outside!).

3D-Printed: Tyranid Capillary #3

This piece is 11cm high, and the third one successfully printed.

I am printing another piece of the first one with slightly different settings, to see if I can get rid of the stringing, and when that is finished, it is time for cleaning up all four for priming.

I intend to ink-paint them over white primer, to keep the production time as low as possible, as I also want time for painting a couple of character minis for Age of Fantasy Skirmish and Sellswords & Spellslingers, respectively (not that they are not both going to be used in both games, eventually, but, ya'know...).

The rest og the day, my printer will be churning out 3-man Mortal Gods sabot bases for use in Age of Fantasy Skirmish, as our games has reached a size where moving entire units in one go is nice and saving time.



















3D-Printed: Tyranid Capillary #2

I printed the second capillary - also found on Thingiverse - yesterday, and the third one (somewhat taller) should be ready later this morning.

I really like how these turn out, and I cannot wait to have enough to slap some paint on and get them ready for the table.

I cannot emphasize enough how much I enjoy being able to make low-cost themed terrain like this for my games, and I heartily recommend getting a printer for gaming and other hobby purposes!






















Tuesday 18 June 2019

3D-Printed: Tyranid Capillary

Printed this today, the file kan be found on Thingiverse.

Although not extremely apparent, I still have an issue with stringing (I have had that since I changed my settings to try avoiding the clogging problem I had for a while), I hope to get Cura dialed in again, soon.

I am printing some of these to use as Objective Markers in One Page Rules Grimdark Firefight, for when my Tyranids are on the table.

I have another one printing at the moment, and it should be done this evening, when I shall start a larger version to print over night.

As soon as I have four or five I shall prep and paint them, so that I can get them on the table.


Sunday 16 June 2019

Moria Goblin Characters NIB


I found these today (an also the War Drums), and I have already broken one of the Shamans open and started cleaning it up, as the last game of Age of Fantasy Skirmish told me that I have to bring a Wizard to the table.

I had to leave it half done, as the grass in the backyard needed mowing, and the weather was quite summerly today, and this evening we went to watch Dark Phoenix, but I expect to have plenty time for tinkering with little metal men tomorrow.



Saturday 15 June 2019

2017-07-05, Vacation 2017, Day 2: Vimmerby

As soon as we had checked in at Björkbackens Camping on the outskirts of Vimmerby, we drove into town to have a look around.

We parked not for from Vimmerby Church (where Astrid Lindgren is buried), walked right past it to the central square where something vaguely reminded us of that famous author's writings. 😏

Below you can see Anna and Lea having fun with a mini verion of a farm house from 'All of Us Children in Bulderby'.

Furtjher down is the Town Hall with the tourist office, and my family playing around with the bronze memorial to Astrid Lindgren aæso situated in the town square.












Back at the camping site, we set up for outdoor supper.


We had a rather rainy night, but slept safely in the camping trailer. We even had the electrical heater on, as summer nights in Småland are not all that hot.

2017-07-05, Vacation 2017, Day 1½: Sleeping near Höör, and the Road to Vimmerby

Because we spent a lot of money on getting the family land speeder's transmission box fixed, we decided that our 2017 summer vacation had to be shorter and cheaper than usual.

Thus we settled for about a week in Sweden, and as we had always wanted to visit Astrid Lindgren country (Småland), it was no big deal deciding on the destination.

just before crossing the Øresund Bridge, we had supper on a Monarch diner, and we shall never do that again; it took ages for them to prepare our (fast) food, and, frankly, it did not taste very good. Lesson learned.

Our first night in Sweden we slept on a large parking lot at a diner outside Höör. We had followed E22 until right after Hurva, where we took road 23 in the direction of Höör and Hassleholm, and quite late in the evening we found that large parking space and settled for the night.








Brushing teeth



Wr had some breakfast rolls at the diner  (which was held in 1950's style), and then continued our journey north.

We had lunch at a lake (this part of Sweden is full of them), and the girls quickly discovedred som quite tame ducks.






Most of the afternoon we drove north towards Vimmerby, but after settling in at the camping site, we had time for a little sight-seeing, which I shall write about in the next post about this vacation.