Yellow workers!


Two more Tactical Marines finished since my last update. I've been working away diligently on them, along with three other projects that will eventually see the light of day on this blog or another. I'm pretty happy with the consistency I've been able to keep with the yellows. I think once I'm finished with the squad I'll be able to go back in and wrap up the final shading with a glaze or three in the right spots.

There's a slight difference you might notice about these two guys, and it's the sword icon on their left shoulders. I decided when I was assembling the squad that five of the models would get this icon on their shoulders, and they'd form one of the demi-squads should I decide to use their "combat squad" option. To further enhance that look, this group will have their "4" in black.

And then I have another two underway. The Marine on the left is the demi-squad leader, denoted by the chalice on his backpack. The Plasma Canon Marine has been a lot of fun to work on, with such large areas of yellow needing to be shaded in some way.

Empire of the blazing sun... Mofafucka!!!

Awesome.
It is a really cool game.
The core mechanics are relatively straight forward..if you've played a tabletop wargame before.. which we all have.
Bringer of Death and I got our first game in on Wednesday and it really is cool.
The 6'x4' looks really good with the two fleets on it, manouevring for position and range...
The first few turns took us a little while as we figured out what we were doing with our ships and which of them had the ability to take out others/were vulnerable to other stuff.

But lets start at the beginning:

- We decided to play an "open" game with 6 fixed turns.
- Size was "starter box" as these are balanced for points, this is even an option in the rulebook before you escalate up to higher point value like 1000points to 2500pts.

Deployment:
Pretty simple. Roll 2D6 and pick which board edge you want to deploy from.
Deployment zone is 8" on from that edge.
We went from short edge to short edge so we had the whole length of the 6' to play with.. I like to take a length lol
You take it in turns with the person that won the roll of to go first and deploy one squadron.
A squadron is essentially just a unit.
This is similar to how WFB used to be I think, and allows for some sort of strategic balance of forces but also for the occasional surprise deployment.

The game itself..
At the start of the turn you roll 2D6 and whoever wins MUST go first.
From here it is a system of alternative activations of units until both players are out of units.
For the first 2 turns, as I said, we just moved up the board trying to get our squadrons into the right position for a preemptive strike against the enemy battle group.
The term Alpha Strike is really quite apt in this game, except that it does not really exist. A crippling slavo fired before the enemy is able to react, then sweep in and finish off the pieces.
I play a Empier of the Blazing Sun (read: Japanese) fleet, it's principal feature other than manouevrability is that its principal weaponry is large quantities of rockets.
Rockets that work best in longer range bands (side note: Range bands are up to 8", 16", 24", 32" - making 32" the maximum theoretical range and you get a certain number of attack dice in each band.) having the greatest number of dice in that range.
I thought I could therefore Alpha Strike Bringer's British fleet, but he also has a long range weapons system.. the more traditional Naval weapon.. the Torpedo!

So matched in range and both able to shoot down the enemies primary weapon - Bringer with dakka dakka (or Ack Ack as it is called) to gun down my rockets with AA guns and myself able to deploy my Concussion Grenades which are basically just counter measures.
Both systems are cool as fuck.
At one point, my Cruisers linked their fire against a Bomber flier of Steve's, which was already struggling due to a fusion reactor leak caused by a critical hit earlier in the game..
I hit with a mighty 7 rockets, only for them all bar one to be negated as they were gunned down by his ships guns! Damn that 'exploding 6' mechanic (a roll of 6 counts as 2 hits and you get to reroll the dice..creating the possibility, however slim, of cancelling or generating any number of hits!)

Damage was the other thing we found tough. in order to cause damage to a boat or any other vehicle in Dystopian Wars you need to meet or exceed its Damage Rating (DR), this is effectively it's armour rating. To do this you roll your attack dice and any 4+'s hit (with 6's exploding as I just talked about). Your hits must equal or beat the DR and in doing so you cause a reduction in Hull Points (HP). When there are 0 HP left, the boat is dead.
Critical Damage can be caused by beating the boat's Critical Rating, which indicates that you have absolutely smashed through the armour of the vehicle, or hit a sweet, weak spot in the armour. This can cause the vehicle to just explode horrendously in one hit.
Damage can be negated through the use of Counter Ack Ack (gunning down the rockets before they hit for example) or through the use of Counter Measures (vs torpedo's) or the use of shield generators etc to save the damage (think popping smoke or flicker fields in 40K).
Each boat gets a certain number of Attack Dice (AD) for each gun depending on which range band you are in. For most ballistic weapons/gunnery weapons..the further away you are the less dice you get to roll.
Worked example, Frigates have guns which shoot up to mark band 3 (24") and decrease in AD from 4,3,1 in each range band respectively. Unless their fire is combined you can see that it is statisatically very hard to cause enough hits on an average vehicle to actually damage it with one boat.
Up clsoe and personal, this is another story.
There are no restrictions, other than LOS and fire arcs, about which guns can shoot ..so your frigate can move it's 12" and then shoot all its guns.
This is love. Far better than in 40K for example, where movement shuts down the capability of most tanks to actually shoot.. for the most part, limited movement = limited shooting. Which sucks.
Dystopian Wars seems to be a very violent game.
We found this out very quickly in turns 3 onwards as we were both close enough to lay the smack down on each other with buckets of attack dice.
Awesome!
Lots of dead boats and frigate squadrons..

Flying stuff is cool. my Jap Bombers are equipped with Rockets that fire 7 AD in Range Band 3, they can move 10"..so my Bombers have an effective range of 34" where they can unleash a large volume of shots. They can link fire from the squadron to roll 10 AD together against a single target (link fire allows the squadron to shoot at the same target, but the second onwards member of the squadron shoots at half AD rounded down, so 7+ 7 goes to 7 + 3 AD). Link fire provides an excellent statistical chance of smashing through Damage Ratings and even Critical Ratings.
We also learnt that fliers have very different roles in the game. Steve's British Doncaster Bombers, for example are armed with Torpedo's.. these of course can only target Naval vessels and therefore Steve had nothing to shoot down my planes, other than his naval fleet of course, and therefore usung range to my advantage I could gain aerial dominance and rule the skies mwuhahahahaha!

The final thing I want to talk about is tiny fliers. They are so freaking cool! You can get 2 Wing Squadrons for free (points) in a Naval Battle Group and they are up to 5 strong.
They have limtied fuel which you have to conserve (losing fuel for flying fast, launching an attack or aborting an attack run due to incoming fire) or they fall into the sea. They can unleash a hellish amount of dakka.. and we all know from 40K that weight of fire is so very often more effective than quality of fire.
They ping about the table as either Escorts to large ships (like your main Battleship) or they cruise around as their own little squadron..
I think however, we are playing them wrong.
We had it so that on a roll of 6 for incoming fire one dies, on 4+'s they were hit, but save that on a 5+ due to 'Big Fuel Tanks' special rule.. that they resolve their Ack Ack (range 4") against their target simultaneously as the counter attack AA, and that they have to use combined fire rule - wherein they use linked fire but with the full amount of attack dice.
So they always get to shoot at full capacity, but are very fragile as each hit causes an 'Abort' result, meaning a loss of fuel.. when they suffer a total loss of fuel..they die.

On a new game... and great victory with flying saucers!




War Rocket is a fast-paced miniature space combat game set in the retro sci-fi future of the 24th century. The brave Galacteers fight to protect mankind from sinister alien forces. Will you command a fleet of Galecteer rockets or choose the forces of the domineering Valkeeri, the brutal Imperium of Marduk, or the enigmatic Zenithians? You can play a game of War Rocket with fleets of 10-20 ships in less than 90 minutes with minimal use of tokens and absolutely no paper record keeping! The 78-page War Rocket rulebook also includes 8 scenarios with specific objectives to encourage tactical decision making and narrative campaigns. The rules also include advanced rules include special actions such as boarding and ramming, space stations, and space objects such as planetoids and asteroid fields. Rocket customization rules allow you to upgrade your rockets with options such as force fields, lucky pilots, and disruptor beams. You can also use these rules to create your own new fleets.


Full Thrust... Great game!


Full Thrust is a science fiction strategy wargame written by Jon Tuffley and published by Ground Zero Games of England. Unlike many games, the publishers encourage the use of any miniatures rather than only "official" ones, though Ground Zero Games does also sell an extensive miniature range.



The official universe is an example of a military space opera with numerous stellar factions fighting for control of the known space. The main political entities include four major human powers, dozens of smaller human powers and three alien races. The game is set around the year 2188.
Major human empires:
NAC — The "New Anglian Confederation" was formed in 2057. The NAC colonies fall under a constitutional monarchy. Their Royal Space Navy descended from the British Royal Navy, and is an amalgam of former British, Canadian and United States forces. Their official language is English and their capital is on the planet Albion. Their symbol is a stylized "A" shape with three bars of red, white and blue in the center.
NSL — The "Neu Swabian League" was formed in 2101 after the split of the European Space Force. Their official language is German and their navy is known as the Kriegsraumflotte. Their capital is located on the planet Neu Salzburg. Their symbol is a stylized black eagle with spread wings on a field of red.
FSE — The "Federal Stats Europa" (aka "Federated States of Europe") was formed in 2101 after the split of the European Space Force. Their colonies fall under a democratic council core government. Their official language is French and their space navy is known as L'Astromarine des FSE. Their symbol is stylized gold bull's head with a gold star between the horns upon a field of blue.
ESU — The "Eurasian Solar Union" was formed in 2079. Their colonies fall under a primarily communist republic government made up of an amalgam of former Russian and Chinese societies. Their naval fleet, literally Military Space Fleet is known as Voyenno-Kosmicheskiy Flot in Russian and Taikong Jiann Dwee in Chinese. Their capital world is Nova Moskva. Their symbol is a red star with a gold edge on a red field. Minor human powers — There are also many smaller powers, such as Free Cal-Tex, the Pan-African Union, the League of Latin American Republics, etc. Other human powers also include various mercenary units allied to the highest bidder and numerous smuggling and pirate gangs operating within and outside the territories.
Alien species:
Kra'Vak — The Kra'Vak, (their name translated as "People of the Sorrow Killer"), are clan-based bipedal anthropoids with a mix of reptillian and insectoid features. They communicate with a guttural language that is hard for humans to comprehend thus making relations with them very difficult. Relations are complicated further by the fact that Kra'vak pass through several gender and behaviorial stages as they age which make them somewhat unpredictable as members of one stage are more aggressive and territorial than those in another stage. Kra'vak technology is similar to humans, but in some cases they are not as advanced. They favor powerful non-energy based weaponry such as railguns and missiles, and they also lack shield technology.
Sa'Vasku — The Sa'Vasku are extremely long-lived semi-aquatic lifeforms resembling giant nearly-immobile jellyfish. They are an ancient race that has seen many space-faring species rise and fall. Little is known of their race except for the fact that they seem obsessed with balance and are fearful of change. They believe young space-faring races like humans are too naive to be left unchecked and they ruthlessly oppose their expansion into space. Sa'Vasku technology is biosynthetic and their spaceships are alive, genetically created and grown for specific purposes. Their construct ships are equipped with various "weapon organs" that generate energy beams or launch spore projectiles.
Phalon — The Phalons are a carbon-based, oxygen-breathing species, somewhat humanoid in physique however they have multi-jointed limbs, exoskeletal hides and flat triangular-shaped heads dominated by single tri-lensed eye. They have three sexes, fertile males and females, and a more numerous asexual group that comprises most of their military force. Like the Sa'Vasku, Phalon technology is bio-synthetic in nature however they use genetically grown materials like humans use metal and plastic, building snail-like spaceships that are made from organic components but are not "alive" in their own right. The Phalon thinking-process is similar to humans, and the two species can carry on meaningful conversations, however Phalons are completely amoral. They take what they want without considering payment, and do what they wish without any regard to consequence.

Full Thrust (FT) uses six-sided dice, or d6, for all combat resolutions. Typically, a game of FT requires lots of six-sided dice. In the version 2.5 rule set, measurements in FT are based on Movement Units (MU), which can be equal to whatever measurements the players wish to use. Usually they are either inches or centimeters, but this depends on the sizes of the models used and the size of the battle board. Normally, rulers or tape measures are used to measure distances between models, as in most traditional figure-based wargames; FT can also be played on a hex-printed battle board where each 1 inch hex represents one MU, but the rules do not explicitly support this. FT is a turn-based game: each player secretly writes down his movement orders, then all players move their ships simultaneously in accordance with those orders. Combat is played in several phases (missile movement, fighter attacks, direct-fire weapons, etc.). A game may be played until one side is wiped out, or for a set number of turns, but most commonly an explicit objective is set for each side, with victory determined both by this and by the remaining forces at the end of the game. [edit] Point valuesFor a pick-up game rather than part of a more extended campaign, players build fleets of warships based on point values. Opposing forces decide how many points they will be using before play; larger and more powerful ships cost more points, so this is a reasonable guide to the length and complexity of a battle. [edit] Mass factorsEach ship has a Mass Factor which represents the size of its hull; all systems (weapons, drives, defences, etc.) must fit inside this. As the ship gets larger, its classification could change. The smallest ships are usually Scouts, Frigates, and Corvettes (9 - 28 mass); medium mass ships are Destroyers and Cruisers (30 - 90 mass); and the heaviest ships are Battleships, Dreadnoughts, and Carriers (up to about 270 mass). The game is capable of handling "Superships" which have Mass Factors over 300. Adding weapons and systems costs points as well as mass. [edit] Thrust ratingAll ships need sublight engines with a Thrust Rating. This number represents how many Movement Units (MU) on the battle map a ship can change its speed per turn. Speed is incremental, so for instance a ship with a Thrust Factor of 3 can increase its speed up +3 MUs per turn: from a speed of 3 one turn, to 6 the next, then to 9 the next, and so on. It can also slow down its thrust rating per turn as well. If it were at speed 9, it would take it 3 turns to slow to a dead stop. Two movement systems are available: the default "cinematic" system, in which ships move and turn in the style of wet navy vessels as seen in space opera film and television, and the "vector" system which is a rather more realistic representation of movement in space but is somewhat more complex. All movement of ships is planned ahead of time, before the miniatures are physically moved. These movements are written down on a Movement Orders sheet and kept secret from other players until the turn begins. Players must move their ships as they have written them down on their orders sheet. Movement orders must also include the launching of any missiles and fighters. [edit] FTLMost ships also have FTL (faster-than-light) drives; the only ones that don't are in-system defence ships, orbital stations, or "battle riders" brought into combat via an FTL tug. The FTL is normally used not for tactical but for strategic purposes, allowing a damaged ship or an outnumbered fleet to flee from battle and preserve its remaining strength. Due to the physical nature of the FTL system, it can (in desperation), be used as a weapon itself although it has as much a chance of destroying the ship that deploys it as it does an enemy vessel. Variant settings, such as the one based in the Star Trek universe (Full Trek), may have different technology rules. In Full Trek, the nature of the Warp drive allows ship-to-ship combat while in warp.







Firestorm Armada






I've got a copy of the Firestorm Armada rulebook along with some of the miniatures and the cards. I hope to have more details up soon but my initial impressions, after a first look through the rules, are very positive. It is a mix of previous games and the influence of Battlefleet Gothic and Babylon 5: ACTA is very evident, but it is still a new and unique system of its own. It places emphasis on ship-to-ship combat but also integrates fighters and attack aircraft in a seamless and logical way. The cards are an optional component, and must be purchased separately, but I highly recommended them. They add a lot of flavor to the game.

Sorylian Fleet
The miniatures are very well done. They are crisply cast resin (some of the smaller ships and bits are metal) and are a bit larger than the BFG minis but are also beefier overall and in some cases, especially the battleships, much larger. There are four races available now: the Aquan Prime, Terran Alliance, Sorylian Collective, Dindrenzi Federation and the rules detail two more that will be released in the future. Our favorites are the Sorylian Collective and the Dindrenzi Federation. The Fleet Boxes also include a sheet of fighter counters and generic play counters that are printed in full color on glossy card stock and have to be cut out.

The Firestorm Armada site has lots of goodies for download including assembly guides, tactics tips, fleet rosters, and wallpaper. There are even full color fleets you can print out to get playing right away without need for the miniatures. Spartan now has both errata and clarification sheets for the game.

Age of Conan, the board game






I like Conan, I just always thought parts of it were silly, and I thought Howard was kind of a crappy writer. So while I was interested in a Conan board game, I wasn't quite as giddy as some of the guys I play games with now and then. I'll be hard-pressed to turn down a good game with friends, though, so we rolled that puppy out last weekend and I have to say - it's a tall glass of pure distilled Kentucky awesome. Even if you're not a Conanophile, even if you never bothered to see that second Conan movie, Age of Conan is going to rock your face off. Hell, just the components are ten pounds of gorgeous in a five pound bag. There are different sculpts for every group (as there should be - even I know that Aquilonians don't look like Stygians, though until I played this game I didn't even know Turan existed). The board is huge and beautiful, and the cards are amazing, and even the freaking dice are nice. I'll grant you that the colors are a tad garish, but when you sit down at the table and this behemoth is set up all over the place, you're going to be glad you decided to drop a car payment on a wargame. And there can be no mistake - this is definitely a wargame. Even if you only know about Conan from stories your friends told, you still know a Conan game has to have some pretty considerable violence. Heck, there are counters called 'Crom! Count the dead!' and at the end of the game, the player with the most of them gets a pretty nice little point boost. You can send out emissaries to make allies, but if you want to win the game, you have to stomp other kingdoms into the mud.

Age of Conan also includes one of my favorites gimmicks - dice that tell you what you can do on your turn. I love when a game does this. You roll a bunch of dice, and they have different symbols on them, and you choose one and do that. Like you might choose a military die to start a war, or choose an intrigue die to try your hand at some politics. If you're close to the end of the pool, there won't be as many dice left, so part of the strategy behind choosing a die is trying to remove options for the guy who comes after you. This particular mechanic is brilliantly executed, and ensures that to be competitive, you have to balance a long-term strategy with short-term flexibility. Plus one of the dice lets you take turns with Conan. The Conan part of this game is continued genius. It's an extended tantric orgasm of genius. Every so often, everyone will bid to try to control Conan and profit from his adventures, and having Conan on your side can be a powerful help. Plus if Conan is in your country, you don't want your neighbor to be able to control him, because he can also do a pretty slick job of slapping you around like a vampire witch. The theme in Age of Conan is executed with what approaches flawless integration of game and source material. Sorcery will help the Stygians turn the tides of battles, while military superiority will push the Aquilonians to victory. Conan may show up and run roughshod over a region one day, and then be helping to repel invaders the next. And to round it all out, the game ends when one brazen player attempts to make Conan the king (or when nobody does and Conan gets bored and moves into a trailer with his old lady to make handcrafted wrought-iron sculptures). Crowning Conan is unlikely, risky and difficult - but it can be done, and while it doesn't necessarily guarantee a win, it's pretty close to it, because the player who can make Conan the king of his country gets a pile of points. The downside is that if he tries and fails, Conan chops off his head and turns it into a cereal bowl, so you really don't want to blow this if you decide to give it a shot. And that brings me around to some of my complaints. Just because it's a concentrated espresso shot of kick-ass does not mean the Age of Conan is without flaws. My biggest beef is that a couple good swings of luck is all a crappy player needs to win. You can play with a genius unrivaled since Napoleon Bonaparte and still lose because another guy happens to pull the right card at the right time. You can roll the action dice and wind up without one single thing you can use to further your plans. You can set a gigantic army against an incredibly tiny one and be completely repulsed. I may be old-fashioned, but if I play better than anyone else at the table, I want to win. Part of the reason that I mind the luck in this game is because it takes so long to play. It's one thing to lose a game after an hour because the dice flipped you the bird, but it's a real whip to lose the game after five hours just because the wrong card hit the table at the wrong time. But two complaints are not enough to make Age of Conan anything but white lightning kick-ass. This is still one hell of a fun game, and even if you're not a fan of huge Austrian barbarians with lantern jaws, Age of Conan is one of the most thematically perfect, deeply intelligent, and just plain thrilling wargames I've played in my whole life.

In what Player's guide ???

Half orc female naked... That's the terrible monster for my next session!

Photo trip.





Yes I know it's a bit morbid and you panic and say "god, he wants to end, will pay a claim and get it!" actually no, I passed by there by chance and I found the light cool!

Fyreant, a great penciler!

AKA Anthony S. Waters, a huge drawer on DA who make Magic cards and Dragon mag covers! His monsters are so creepy, and always alien, in compare of others more classical! Look at his elemental beasts! I watch all the artworks of this great artist and hope to find it on store!

Ready for battle !




End of job! I complete my urban warfare playground for this sunday! My troops are grunty!!!

Thank you, you, for the discover!

Lights




This is a personnal project for two years now. I'm proud of the results and show you some of them! Speak to me about that stuff!

Torstein Nordstrand


A great artworker for Wizard of the Coast and many other publicators! I like this kind of illustrations, mostly for my favorite games! This is Torstein Nordstrand, an artist from Norway!!! He's web gallery HERE.

Linebarrels of iron


Fourteen-year-old Kouichi Hayase’s life has always been a mediocre one, if not dismal. However, those days of being bullied by classmates and escaping to a fantasy of being a hero are put to an end when a certain “accident” bestows on him a girl and a gigantic humanoid robot called “LINEBARREL”. The extraordinary power that Kouichi obtains puts him and everything around him on a sudden rollercoaster ride of battles, intrigues and friendship! During the course of his adventure, the boy starts to learn what life has to offer; he meets new friends, bids farewell to the old ones, but most of all he now has considerable responsibilities and is forced to confront the world around him.


Water turbins


These are stream tidal power installations that use submerged rotors in areas with high-speed tidal streams or in deep rivers to generate power. Putting a shroud around the turbine can increase output though confines the turbine to generating power only in one direction. The turbines in tidal and river streams move relatively slowly, thereby presenting a lesser danger to fish than a faster moving device might. Nevertheless the relative density of water gives each turbine more power per unit area and speed.

Notable stream tidal power projects in the US are in New York City’s East River and I think it's pretty cool for civilian uses of electric power in the same time of respecting mother earth! News about that by Nile.


This is a new me


Hi everybody, I'm John, and I try a new experience here, with more of me and my family, so,

welcome in my new greenish world !