Happy Christmas!

I want to wish you all A Happy Christmas & A Happy New Year!

I hope Santa brings you all the gaming toys you asked for!

X wing League: Smash N' Grab (Epic Battle)

The X wing League at the Essex Legion drew to a close on the weekend. It was the last meet of the year and in celebration of the new Star Wars film an epic 500pt X wing battle was to be played.

To get you in the mood watch the video first before reading on...

The mission for the game was to get at least one of the Rebel transports to the other side of the board before they were either blown up or taken captive by the Empire or the on coming Scum ships..

Empire and Rebels are set up either side with the first wave of scum pilots in the middle.
Han in the Falcon was flanked either side by Luke and Biggs with Wedge on the right and two A wings leading on the left and the deadly formation of B wings on the right.

The Empire are flying a fleet with the Emperor himself and Darth Vader..... Dun Dun Dah!!

Rebels start first....

All the Rebel ships move forward at maxim speed with the A wings boosting forward.

The Scum meet the Rebel ships head on and they start to strip away the shields on the Falcon dealing a critical hit.

The Scum are delt some deadly damage to taking hits and suffering losses. Some ships fall to the might of the Tentive and are simply crushed by the sheer mass of the ship.




X Wings move in to try and help out the Falcon. Luke loses his shields while Biggs fly's at his side for support. An A wing is suddenly shot and damaged beyond repair as the Flacon begins to get swarmed by the sheer number of Scum ships. Sadly it just is too much for the Flacon to handle and gets shot out of the sky.

Luke crashes in to slave one and takes out one of the Scum ships. He then K turns to get behind Slave one but does not see Talon Bane who destroys Luke's X Wing.


Tantive starts to fire on the Scum taking some casualties as the Scum try desperately to fire back at the huge rebel ship.








The Empire on the other side of the board are slowly moving forward to meet the Rebels watching with glee as the Rebel fleet is slowly being picked apart when suddenly a second wave of Scum Ships meets them and start to attack the Empire.

The Rebels are nearly half way towards there goal as they start to encounter the other battle between The Scum and The Empire.



The last 2 ships of the first wave of Scum are left fighting the Rebels one trying desperately to hang on to one of the transports while the other dangerously close to the Tantive as the Rebels begin to engage the Empire..

The A wing shoots at the Hounds Tooth with its missiles and gets 4 hits and deals 1 hit to every enemy ship close by.

Not long after in revenge for the earlier attack the A wing is destroyed by the empire as the Reming X wings and B wings start to target the Empires fleet and remaining Scum ships.

The last remaining ships for the Scum drastically start to thin out and leaves the Empire and the Rebels to battle it out.

Just as the Rebels and Empire start to really engage each other in battle unfortunately time had to be called to the game as it was getting late....

It was an epic battle with huge ships and lots of dice rolling to be had. The Rebels managed to get half way up the table with out loosing any transports. Everyone enjoyed the game and it was so awesome to see huge ships on the table.

Here's Ed with his Favourite ship....

At the end of the night prizes were awarded to the players of the league. Ed and Macca came joint 1st in the league representing the Empire and the Rebels. Well done guys. Thanks to www.cogotwo.com for the prizes for playing in the league.

My prize for 5th place. These should help with my focus...

Well done to all that took part in the event and thanks to Phil at the Essex Legion for arranging the league and the epic game. It was really fun to get back into X wing and a great way to celebrate the new film.

As it was the last meet up at The Essex Legion for 2015 I have to say thank you to all the guys at club not only for the Christmas food put on this year but also making the long travel down these last couple of months worth it.

You guys are always welcoming and have created a great atmosphere and community spirt. I look forward to what you guys do in 2016.

Welcome To The Deadzone PT2.... Here Comes The Pain

In a box set the models are the main event for me so I was looking forward to begin building theses minis for Deadzone.

I started with the Plague faction. As I started to open the packets of minis I could see that my first inspection regarding the models needing a lot of cleaning came true. The models are made of a hard plastic a lot different from the normal GW materials I am used to.

The usual mold lines were present on them as well as some rough bits of plastic hear and there that needed snipping off.

I've Got Some Work To Do

With out any instructions it took me a little bit of time to figure out which arms fit to what model as some have pre made joints which made it a little easier to work. 

I would advise using super glue to stick these together as plastic glue did not seem to work.

On one of the models I had to repose jumping over the wall as his arm was to close to his knee.

I used some hot water and reposed the arm and fingers so it was out of the way of the way and managed to change it to a more dynamic pose by pinning the hand to the wall.

BOO!

I also changed the position of the arms on the model below from facing down which made it like a Hulk Hogan muscle pose and now its more of a bezserker rage pose.

Come At Me Bro!

The Gang

Next up were the Enforcers.

Again these needed the same treatment as the Plague with cleaning of mold lines and random bits of plastic. They seemed to need a lot more of a clean up then the Plague for some reason.

These models took a while to find all the right parts to fit especially the main troops as you had two arms that fitted a gun which need to be the correct length to work. Unlike GW plastics where they tend to stick in place with glue quickly these would not stay in place. They fell off before you could pose them in a shoulder socket and there was no real clue how far apart they needed to be to fit the gun in place.

So I had no choice but had to roll out the green stuff.  I had to use this for the arm joints as well as to help attach the body to the hip joints as the plastic did not connect right so glue would not work.

Thank You Green Stuff

The rocket launcher Enforcer was another challenge as I had to attach the arms in a way that left a huge gap.  I had to fill under the arm with green stuff.

Here Come The Boys

Well it was more difficult than I thought getting these made.  I have made lots of models before but with out instructions especially in a starter set made this less straight forward then it should be. I think even if Mantic could do a PDF guide this could be a big help. It became a case of trying to fit things a couple of times and then having to referrer to box art and the rule book to try and figure out the correct components for each model. 

There May Be Trouble Ahead.

I also just put these on to the bases and found some of them did not slot into the pre made holes which again needed to have some green stuff to help stick them in place.

I don't want it all to sound negative as the models once they are made look good.

The Plague models are what I am looking forward to painting as they do have a lot of character and I'm looking forward to playing a game with them.

It was just little things that could have been done to help make things go a little more smoothly.

So I am off now to start undercoating...

                               

Welcome to The DeadZone Pt 1

A few weeks ago it was black friday. The usually emails and adverts flew into my email in box and I browsed through for any good deals.

One email came to my attention was from Mantic games. Mantic's special offer was their board game come skirmish game Deadzone for more then half price off.
I have played the game once at a salute a few years ago and have some of the Mantic terrain already so I decided I would take the plunge.

2 weeks later it arrived.....

The Big Box

Apon opening the box I could see all the lovely shiny toys but the one thing I noticed was the box contents was not packed with any foam or bubble wrap to protect any of the contents.

I found some tokens all ready pooped out and a part of some the terrain already lose from the sprue in the box.


I am more used to a well packed product like the AvP game so I am not to sure why this did not include any protective packing especially when sending it through the post.

Lots In The Box

The contents includes:

1 Full Colour A4 Rulebook

6 Eight sided dice

130+ counters

54 Card Enforcers Faction Deck

54 Card Plague Faction Deck

Urban Battlezone

2’x2’ Durable Urban Gaming Mat

28 Modular Plastic Scenery tiles

20 Piece Plastic Accessory Sprue

48 Piece Connector Sprue

12 Plastic Enforcers Miniatures

1 Enforcer Peacekeeper Captain

4 Enforcers with Heavy Rifle

2 Assault Enforcers

1 Enforcer Engineer

1 Enforcer Sniper

1 Enforcer Missile Launcher

Lots Of Terrain

2 Enforcer Sentry Guns

11 x 25mm Round Bases

1 x 40mm Round Base

11 Plastic Plague Miniatures

1 Plague Stage 1A

3 Plague Stage 2A

4 Plague Stage 3A

1 Plague Stage 3A with HMG

2 Plague Stage 3D “Hellhounds

7 x 25mm Round Bases

4 x 40mm Round Bases

Phew........

The rule book looks good and not to long in length which hopefully will mean it wont take long to learn and get playing.

Lots Of Minis!

The models look like they will need a lot of clean up and one thing I am a little worried about is building them as there is no instructions.. So for beginners getting into this board game/skirmish game may be a little put off by this. There are pictures in the rule book and on the box so I will see how I get on later.

The 2X2 gaming mat is nice and heavy duty just like the playmates that are now readily available that use mouse matt material.

One element I am a little disappointed in is the quality of the print on the mat. It looks a little grainy and blurred and some of the colours look green like the printer has run out of ink. It may be the design but its hard to tell due to the print quality.

I am not sure if its a faulty product but if it is I would have thought QC would have checked this but it could be the technology has also advanced since the release of the game.

Did The Ink Run Dry?

All in all I am happy with what I received especially at the price I got it for. I have seen lots of videos on game play and terrain builds  using the contents of this box.
I can see this is going to be a fun game that can be picked up and played with little fuss and as its only on a 2X2 it wont take up to much table space.

The other factions look interesting ( The Rebs look cool) and as the new update of Deadzone and new terrain coming out soon due to another successful Kickstarter by Mantic this year it could be just the right time to start playing.

Now off to start building the models...

Bark At The Moon

During the last month while riding the bus to get to The Essex Legion or for work. I've been reading The Space Wolf Omnibus. It follows Ragnar Blackmane's rise through the ranks of the Space Wolves. I'm really enjoying it and would recommend any one to have a read if they get a chance.

So with this it inspired me to continuing my raid through all my miniatures and had a little look at my Space Wolves collection.

I have always like the Spaces Wolves as models and thought about making a Space Wolves army for a while now.

I got a box of Space Wolves and a Starter Army set of Space Marines I found cheap a while back and got to work on making some Blood Claws, Grey Hunters, Wolf Lords and some Scouts.

This week I also received a box of more Space Marines from Ebay which included another Rhino/Predator.

First thing was to strip some of these marines so I could make some Long Fangs which would all be using rocket launchers. As I had spare rocket parts from Rhinos etc I decided to magnetise some of them to the shoulder pads of the Space Marines.

I also went about making up 2 Rhinos/ Predators and used some of the spare marine accessories to stick on the Rhinos. I also tried to add some bullet holes to the side and front of one of the Rhinos by drilling out small holes and using a craft knife to add impact marks around the holes.

I also seemed to have collected a few HQ's as well.

I had to get my paint brush out and got to work on Ulrik the Slayer.

I need to get the latest codex so just going by an older codex for reference for now but I want to give the Sons of Russ a run out in the new year.

40K For A Change.... Daemon On The Loose.

After my trip to Warhammer World in October I have been itching to paint something 40k related. 

After digging through my Chaos collection I discovered my spare Daemon Prince (I love these guys) that was unpainted. Shock horror... Well I do have another two that are already painted so I do have an excuse.

I went for something different rather then my usual Nurgle colours. The model was undercoated green with some silver added to the armour. I then used a purple wash to cover the skin and some of the metal work as well as using some good old black wash.

The colours were chosen so that this could be more of a generic Daemon Prince that could be used in any Chaos war band.

I've also just added some touches to my Heldrake base. I have to get some water effects for this really (used PVA here) but through happy accidents of red paint spillage I had the idea to use my dead Space Marine as a feature. 

                                            

It always feels good working through you pile of minis that need to be painted. It is also great to be able to switch up what models and colour pallets to keep things interesting.

I am off to see what else I can find. 

X wing League. Game 1 Rebels Vs Scum and Villainy

Tonight is the first night of the Essex Legion X wing League to coincide with the build up to the new Star Wars film. There are 6 players and we hope to play at least 2 games each.

I have to admit I've not played in a while which is a shame as I've been waiting to use my Millennium Falcon I got at Salute this year.

The games are going to be a standard 100 point battle. As I am not great at making lists. I found a List Maker here where you can just click what ships you have and it creates a list with the extra equipment cards and upgrades.

I deiced to run with Chewbacca in the Falcon with marks man, Red Squadron X Wing pilot with R2 D2 and proton torpedoes and a Rookie pilot with R2 F2.

My opponent Paul was flying the flag for the Scum and Villainy using Two Star Vipers and a Kihraxz Fighter

We both are a bit rusty at the game so it was a good intro back into the game for both of us.

In Formation

We set up as so.

All ships turn towards the middle of the map trying desperately to avoid the on coming asteroids with the Kihraxz Fighter hiding behind the Star Vipers.

The Star Vipers acquire target locks against the Falcon and on one of the X wings.

The vipers manages to take off all the shields on the X wings while the Falcon gets two hits on one of the Star Vipers.

The Falcon moves forward while the Vipers and Kihraxz moves in for the kill. They distroy the Rookie X wing piolit dealing a double damage card and hit the Falcon which loses a shield. 

Luckily R2 D2 was on hand for the Red Squadron leader to fix both shields on his X wing.

The Kihraxz is hit by The Falcon and his weapons are disrupted which will not allow it to deal it’s devastating close quarters damage. (phew)

Sensing the danger The Red squadron pilot takes aim and destroys the Kihraxy pilot and target locks one of the Vipers. The two Vipers turn 180 to try and surround the X wing. The Falcon meanwhile does a full turn to advance into the battle zone.

The Falcon moves into the middle of the field as the X wing gives chase. The X wing fires on the target locked viper and destroys it.

The X wing carries on its pursuit of the last Viper while the Falcon decides to turn into an asteroid near missing (Chewbacca must be drinking something?) The Viper turns to engage its foe.

The Falcon shoots and hits the Viper and the X wing follows its lead.... Thus ending the game for a Rebel victory.

It was a very enjoyable game with very good dice rolls for both players. We were also lucky with the damage deck as my Rookie X wing pilot got a double damage card and Paul getting the worst card he could get which was weapons failure on his Kihraxz missing out on one of his biggest tools in close quarters firing.

So it was my first win in the league which is great but as Han Solo said “don’t get cocky” as its still early days and we will see what happens next time in a galaxy far far away...

It's A Month Till Star Wars! Crack Out The Clip Kits!

I have been supper busy this week and not had a lot of time to do any hobby related activity.

As it's only a month till Star Wars ( I've ready booked my tickets he he) and had an hour spare I thought I would dig out my Revell clip kits that I'd been given for my birthday months back and finally got down to making them

These are pre painted models which are hard plastic on a basic sprue that clip together pretty easily with simple instructions with no glue needed.

 X Wing complete with R2-D2

 Darth Vader's Tie Fighter (He is in there I promise)

Red Leader......Watch Your Six.

As easy kits go they are not to bad but I would add glue to the joints just to make sure everything holds especially if you want to play with them.

The scale of these models are pretty good and go well with the toy range that you may have.
The paint job on the X Wing is not the greatest and on the Tie Fighter it does not completely stick together flush but as shelf pieces for display or if you want to get some younglings into model making you cant go wrong and come on it's Star Wars!

Luxury Cruise... An Imperial Assault Mission

On sunday Macca brought down Imperial Assault to The Essex Legion. As a massive Star Wars fan I already play X wing and wanted to have a go at this!

I was playing along with fellow gamer Andrew who last week played a main mission but today was a side mission to the campaign Macca is working through.

Macca was controlling the Imperials for this mission. We were tasked to infiltrate an Imperial ship and steal a transport shuttle which was being repaired. We had to make sure all the main com systems were controlled by standing next to each of them and no other Imperial force adjacent to the square to capture it at the end of each turn. All Macca had to do was to wound all the Rebels which meant we were still alive but we had less abilities. If we got wounded again after that our characters would run off the board to fight for another day.

Andrew and I chose 2 charters each. I chose Jyn Odan a Sly Smuggler and Biv Bodhirk basically a dude with a huge gun! Andrew chose Mak Eshka 'rey a sniper and Fenn Signis a veteran.

Macca laid out the board with all the Imperials deployed

Story Time....
In a Galaxy Far Far Away.....

The rebels have been hiding in an Imperial ship for days climbing through sewers and hot vent systems to gain access to the main decks of the Imperial ship.  Finally the band of Rebels mange to find a loose vent and enter the ships decks..

The rebels begin to sweep the area and move to engage the unit of Stormtroopers before they are spotted while trying to gain control of the first com system.

The rebels managed to kill one of the Stormtroopers and begin to take control of the first com system.

The team deiced to split up (will this be a wise move?) An alarm sounds as the last of the Stormtroopers are killed and a shot rings out. Fenn is wounded... More Stormtroopers ahead!

Biv and Fenn decided to try and secure the corridor and at the same time wounding some of the Stormtroopers while Mak and Jyn try to sneak around the other side of the ships deck.

Suddenly an elevator bell rings.. (ding) in the corridor where Biv and Fenn are trying to hold off the advance of the Stormtroopers Dun Dun Da...  two Imperial Guard enter the battle.

Mean while. Jyn tries to sneak by and open the door to one of the side rooms but fails leaving Mak to do it. As the door opens to the surprise to them both a Protocol Droid begins to fire at them. The Droid cause the Rebels to act quickly and mange to destroy the Droid and gain control of another com system for the Rebels...

But little did they know Biv and Fenn were in trouble desperately trying to stop the onslaught from the Stormtroopers and Imperial Guard forcing Biv and Fenn back. They both manage to kill one Guard and Two Stormtroopers.... At the end of the round another Imperial Guard arrives. He begins to hack away and wounds Biv. The shear man power of the Imperials forces Fenn to flee along with Biv making it an up hill battle for the Rebels to complete their mission.

Jyn and Mak enter the main room wounding and killing an Officer and a Stormtrooper not knowing the fate of their fellow comrades in arms. Jyn and Mak are forced to take some damage after their encounter. Another lift bell rings (ding) more Stormtroopers arrive and the Imperial Guard hearing the commotion close in.

Jyn and Mak desperately open the next door and run from the incoming of reinforcements. As they do they secure the next com system.
Mak suddenly gets hit from laser fire and suffers more damage but Jyn and Mak take down 2 more Stormtroopers and another Imperial Guard before Mak finally has to flee the ship due to being wounded heavily... The Imperils are starting to close in on Jyn with only one com system left and Jyn only on a few more damage points left its a race against time..

The last Imperial Guard senses his chance and advances over to Jyn..... He then closes in for the kill which wounds Jyn ending the mission for the Rebels as all have now been wounded and hands a victory to the Imperials.


I really enjoyed this game you can senses the tension ramping up with each game turn and how the rebels have got the odds stacked agains them.

After the game we discussed that we should have really stuck together and cleared rooms out as a team. The Rebels work best using a more shoot and move tactic as the Imperials will just keep coming at you after every game turn.

I like the fact that this is a RPG style game in the Star Wars universe. I have not played many RPGs but this was nice and easy to pick up and play.

Even though we failed the mission we still had to do some end of game house keeping as the characters still get XP and money which we could spend to select new equipment  for the next missions as its only going to get harder.

As we packed away the board Macca showed me all the figure expansions that he had with him and I started to get shiny syndrome.. Every new figure expansion pack you get a unique side mission card and map which uses the main boxes tiles for new games in a campaigns. Thats not including the two box set expansions either...

The core box set is massive and was impressed with the figures and number of them you get as well as the size of the AT ST. Also included are a load of booklets for quick reference for the rules, the main mission book and one that I am excited about was the rules for the skirmish game!

Looking at the scale of the models I think I can use my toy AT AT and Millennium falcon for the Skirmish game. Whaoo!

I think this game might have to be on my Christmas list this year.... Hint Hint.