31st July - Star Wars X-wing game, more papercraft building and WIP Dreadball Robots

The title says it all really. Still slotting in the hobby where I can. Still madly focusing on the light at the end of the tunnel even though the blighter keeps moving further off each time I think I'm getting closer.

Had the guys round for a games night back on the 21st. The Daughters had received many new X wing ships for Christmas presents last year (The Millennium Falcon, an A wing and a B wing for The Youngest and The Slave 1, a Tie Interceptor and a Tie Bomber for The Eldest) but we'd yet had a chance to get them out on a table. A quick family pre-games night discussion and we decided it was the perfect time for Toby's second game of Star Wars X wing Miniatures and to introduce John to the delights of the game and House Rules (chu chu laser noises and ship engine noises). We ended up with the Falcon piloted by Chewie (Youngest) supported by the A wing with a mid range pilot (Toby) vs the Slave 1 piloted by Boba Fett himself (Eldest) with a Interceptor again with a mid range pilot (John) along for the ride.

I gave them two options for victory, they could either blast each other out of the sky or they had to shoot a canister filled with vital..... nope I can't remember but it was vital to the rebel movement I swear off their starting board edge, all tractor beams being on the fritz.

Everyone enjoyed themselves but victory ended up on the side of the Imperials. Some of the highlights were Chewie heading in the opposite direction to everyone and hitting not one, not two but three asteroids on the way around; the A wing getting flanked and blasted out of the sky; the canister resisting almost every shot fired at it except for two which landed it exactly back to where it started thanks to amazing similar rolls and exact opposite lines of fire; the Falcon doing a U turn just before flying off the board to then turn around and crash into the Interceptor and then you guessed it another asteroid before finally after narrowly missing one final asteroid being passed over to Toby with 2 points of hull and no shield left because The Youngest was suddenly "It's late, I'm tired Toby can finish". He heroically took a laser blast to the rear and blew up in the very next turn.

Hobbywise I've finished another one of the paper craft buildings from the Ravenfell Kickstarter I backed at the start of the year. This time it was the Dragonshire Guard Post and Armoury bonus building. Went together quite easily although I'm pretty sure practice helped (along with some scoring before folding etc). I've placed a few of my Saga Vikings around for a sense of scale.

Currently on the painting table I've got another Dreadball team on the go. This time it's the Robots. I haven't got a lot of work done of them so far, but I'm leaning towards a darker blue on the armoured areas, finishing with an almost black or black on the guards third layer of armor. The movement points (springs, coils and shoulder joints etc) I'm firmly settled on copper, which gives me another named team the "Cyberdyne Copperpots"

Finally if anyone's interested in a steampunk miniatures game I recommend taking a look at the Infamy: Welcome to the Big Smoke campaign currently running on Kickstarter. I'm in for a Full English Breakfast pledge although if I had the funds I'd be upgrading to the Insider pledge when it comes out but it's a little out of my range at the moment. I'm also pre-ordering the new Infinity: OperationIcestorm two player box set. If your interested in checking out I recommend the current week worth of videos on Beasts of War at the moment.

Star Wars X-wing game 15th September 2013

It's been a while between games, but it's starting to look up.

Got a game of Bolt Action lined up with a mate for Wednesday and tonight I decided to pull out Star Wars X wing and teach my wife how to play. Now before you say anything no I did not have to force her she's been asking about it for a while now..... probably due to my out load musings about moving the funds around to purchase another couple of expansions for it.

We set up using the basic game (2 tie fighters and 1 x-wing) as well as two of the expansions I've purchased for my daughters (1 x-wing and 1 tie advanced). She opted to play the rebels, so I chose to represent the glorious empire (May Palpatine live forever).

You'll have to excuse the shoddy photos on this one, there from my phone rather than the camera but it was downstairs and it was just too far this time.

Now I have to stress I gave her the tip not to let me get behind her but after some interesting opening maneuvers on her part the game turned into a chase the x-wing scenario and only her amazing ability to roll dodges kept us going, tho she did perform a well timed korogran turn in the last turn vaporizing one of my fighters before being finished off by the remaining one.

She enjoyed herself and (As I'm a bit of a purist so I insist that spaceship noises must be made for moving, firing and explosions) took a light hearted approach to being demolished.