Translate

Wednesday, 26 January 2022

I wonder why I sometimes can't find things in my gaming room...

 


Actually, I wonder how I ever find anything!

So, my desk and room are never the neatest, but after 5 weeks of the painting challenge my room has massively deteriorated. Every week I am in a mad rush to get stuff painted, based, flocked, photographed, upload to the blog and words added to describe what I have done. Four out of five posts have gone right to the deadline on Tuesday, before 6 pm. The minion that oversees my posting day lives in England, and given the 5 hour difference I try,  to get my stuff up early so that she does not have to stay up too late. As a result I just keep plugging away at that weeks projects letting other things lie where they drop, literally! 




Sunday, 23 January 2022

Outpost fort 4ground

 

So, this arrived sometime before Christmas and was quick;y assembled.  It was an easy build, and despite coming from 4ground will require additional painting, and 'sanding'. While it has some texture on it and some colour it is less than what one normally see from a 4ground product. Now to be fair it is a line of products sold through 4ground so is different. What is also different is it comes with several packs of powder that one is expected to apply to the surface of the model.  

Oh how I look forward to that!

However this project is on the back burner for now as I continue to work on the Analogue challenge. Then again,  it would be worth 80 points...

 




 

 

Friday, 21 January 2022

Analogue challenge update March 16th

So far so good!

This challenge has really got me painting stuff, maybe not so well but certainly quicker than I normally do, and are, at least, tabletop ready.  Four weeks in and I have almost equaled my entire output for all of last year. Further more I am, mostly, enjoying it. I say mostly as there have been late night sessions to push myself to finish off stuff before the posting deadline of Tuesday, so those moments maybe are not the best times. However even the pressure and the late nights ultimately leave me elated as I see the results!

My gaming room is a disaster zone as I keep pulling out more and more stuff to potentially paint. At the start of this event I had laid out a selection of miniatures that I hoped to tackle, however this has not entirely worked out as planned. While I have worked on some of this stuff, I have pulled out far more items covering a wide selection of genres. Right now on my table [Friday January 21st] are at least 100 figures, while surrounding my work area are maybe another 100 or so figures. 

All these figures are in various stages of completion, which is normal for me. Sometime between now and Sunday night I will have to narrow down my focus to what can be done for Monday/Tuesday. My target day is to have stuff done for Monday night, my actual deadline is Monday before 6pm (at the latest) As I said I have quite a few items nearing completion so I hope to have another good 300+ posting. 

Amazingly I am currently sitting with the most points, but it is a staggered event, with posting dates throughout the week so it is a very ephemeral thing and not a focus of mine. What I really want to do in this challenge is not only to paint as much stuff as I can but to also establish a painting habit that I can maintain after the challenge is completed.  

Stuff in the pipeline:

  1. 70 points 14 Women's naval unit
  2. 180 points 4 islands with 17 add on buildings
  3. 80 points 4 Dystopian wars landing barges
  4. 165 points 33 Sanwar Martian warriors
  5. 70 points 14 Martian female fighters
  6. 85 points 17 Female Nazi she wolves
  7. 135 points 27 Spy-fi Henchman 
  8. 75 points 15 Super alien host figures
  9. 25 points 5 super alien host figures
  10. 100 points 20 Spy type figures
  11. 25 points 5 Jack o' lantern figures
  12. 80 points 4 out of 10 tanks/armoured car
  13. 25 points UNIT troopers
  14. 100-200 points 20-40 super figures 
  15. 75 points 15 Ice warriors
  16. ? points for assorted polar explorers.
  17. 8 Eldar titans
  18. 200 points 40 Chaos in Carpathia



Wednesday, 5 January 2022

Waterloo Solitaire Bookgame

 


 So, new year, new game, actually played!

Picked this up after Christmas on a whim with no knowledge of what to expect. Well there is not much to the game, simple rules, needs only a pencil and a single 6 sided die and you get to play either the Allied armies or the French.

The book is laid contains 24 maps, 12 with you commanding the French, and 12 where you control the allies. There are 3 levels of difficulty for each option (4 maps each) with a 'bot' controlling your opponent. As you play the game you mark off items on the map in play to keep track of what you have done in each turn. There are limitations on how many times you can command a unit to act, and units cannot act two turns in a row. Should you run out of activations for a given unit, you may still activate the unit by using your commanding general. You also have access to a limited number of combined actions that allow you to launch an attack with infantry or cavalry in the lead, and include support from whichever arm you did not use as the lead, or artillery.

Throughout the game random events may happen such as the arrival of the Prussians. When enough of them arrive they will attack the French right flank.


Bad image here, but this would be the view from the Allied side. At the bottom of the page are your command options, the small white boxes indicate the number of time that you can command the unit to activate. Each unit has a limited choice of options all related to their placement on the battlefield. You do have reserves that you can deploy to either flank and the French have the Imperial Guard who have more flexible options, but fewer troops. 

As your corps take damage you mark off one red or blue box/unit. Mark off all boxes and the Corp is eliminated. Lose two Corps and you lose the game. The elimination of enemy Corps offers new options. For the French, should they eliminate the British right flank they can then attack the British reserves. If the French attack the British right wing without first taking Hougoumont they will do so at a disadvantage. Taking Hougoumont can be done, but is not an easy thing to do, much like the actual battle. 

Overall rating

The game does not take long to play, so for me I did not have that empty feeling that I had wasted a lot of time for nothing. It is deceptively challenging, the limitations built into the game can frustrate (in a good way) your plans. A single die to roll gives you a randomness that can be frustrating (in a bad way) or maybe that is just my bitterness over a series of attacks that I launched as Napoleon that saw the French lose unit after unit without causing any damage to the British.

It certainly has re-playability, at each level, just make certain you use pencil to mark your maps. The bot worked well enough to cause me problems. I suffered from counter cavalry charges against my planned cavalry charge, and I had Wellington retire behind slopes just as I opened fire with my artillery. Certainly there were times where the bot did not stymie my plans, but the times the bot seemed to react to my moves were much more memorable and adds to my positive feeling for the game.

In closing, I enjoyed it, the game did what it was supposed to do and I had fun playing it. I am not certain it is worth the price, only time will tell if I get my moneys worth in play time but I do know I will play this again!