8th June - Teaching the girls Stargrunt among other things

Well once again the regular gaming schedule is thrown out of whack. Had another chef at work leave on Friday, then just to make it interesting another one (who is also part of my gaming group) managed to get hit by a car on his bike on Tuesday. Luckily nothing too serious, cracked ribs etc but it means I'm back to 5 days for the moment. I'll give you a minute to share in my suffering....

Ok so pushing on I've managed to still get quite a few things in, playing a Capture the Flag scenario of Stargrunt with my daughters, a couple of games of Warage (a new dueling card game I backed on kickstarter last year) with my youngest and finally cracking the Settlers of Catan: Traders and Barbarians box. The only thing that's suffered has been my painting so my second group of warriors for Saga has been sitting surround by the paints they require to be finished... I can feel their bitter and judging glare on my back as I type.

So to Stargrunt. I managed to get a game in against my Uncle a week or so ago (no photos we were re-familiarizing ourselves with the rules) and decided to introduce the kids to it. Borrowing some terrain as I left we proceeded to setup the board after a breakfast run to Mount Tamborine while their mum was sleeping before her night shift. I knocked together a quick capture the flag scenario.

We were involved in a training exercise in a secret NSL location bring up the latest group of recruits to the require level of skill. Each side would consist of two 6 man squads all outfitted the same. Quality and Leadership value was deteremined by two die rolls, 1 - 2 Green Squad 3 - 5 Regular 6 Veteran. My daughters rolled a Green (my poor eldest) and Veteran (the lucky youngest), I got a Green and Regular squad. The leadership rolls followed with the Eldest rolling a lv 3 Ldr (my poor poor girl) and a lv 1 from the youngest (did I mention the luck?) I got a lv 1 for the Regs and a 2 for the Green. I just managed to beat the Youngest on a quick initiative roll so I began the game. I'd giving the girls a couple of basic ideas on how to go about getting the flag and getting it off the board and gave them a few minutes to discuss tactics.

The game went well. Both picking up the rules and had a good time. Unfortunately for my Eldest as they got to the point where they had the flag well covered, I manage to get the Younger suppressed and she proceeded to leg it into a nearby forest leaving the poor Green squad in the open where they proceeded to get cut to pieces and ended up breaking two turns later. The Younger eventually came out after skirmishing along the edge and refusing to break even unto "death" (Training excerise, dummy rounds, rigged armour etc). Her last two troopers proceeding to charge my Green unit killing two and driving them off, gaining the flag for one precious moment before being cut down by me Regs positioned just behind her.

They both enjoyed themselves though and the youngest has been scanning various sites trying to work out which faction she's going to buy once she finishes her Saga Irish.

NSL Power armoured support squad finished

Finally got it done :). Been a bit hectic at work with organizing stepping down and becoming casual, but I've managed to get a few games of Dreadball in and some organizing toward further games. I finally managed to get the NSL platoon finished, with this squad taking me almost as much chronological time as the previous 4, but that's the way it goes sometimes.

Now that they're done, I on to my WW2 German's, then to start on the massive amount of Deadzone and Dreadball that I've got lying around before the rest of my last years Kickstarters start turning up :)

20th Jan Finished Stargrunt NSL Platoon (Minus Armour Support)

Made a push and finished off the platoon over the last couple of days around work.

I still have to assemble the Power-Armoured Squad and paint them up but the bulk of the work is done now for this. I'm aiming to get them sorted out over the next week or so depending on work and then move on to getting my Bolt Action German's finished up.

Here's a few shots of the finished figures, I'm pretty happy with the way they've turned out (this being the 1st time I've made an effort with the basing previously I've been more of a bugger it paint it one colour and done kinda guy).

Update 19/11/13

Long time no post. I've been pounding my head against the wall for 6 solid weeks now thanks to work. It's looking like things might actually be settling down to the usual Christmas time mess so I may actually have a usable amount of spare time again.

But rest assured in the minutes I've had spare I have not been idle, I've still managed 3 out of the proposed 6 weekly board game nights and been back to my weekly gaming days with my brother and my uncle, although they've been board game days as well lately (not that I'm complaining a games a games as far as I'm concerned).

Still I've got a few pics of some stuff I've been working on and the games I got in this week. Hopefully a mini game in the next week or two as well.

 Got all the figures I was missing for my Stargrunt NSL Platoon (based on the Panzergrenadier example in the rule book) I had two squads from when I was around 12 and fleshed it out to the full platoon the other day. It's in a semi painted and assembled state, but it's my current "front burner" project at the moment. The Eureka Miniature bags in the back are the power armoured soldiers waiting their turn to be assembled.

I've also been working slowly on some building to help fill my Bolt Action (or any other appropriate period) games. Pretty happy with the way they're progressing as I've never really had a go a terrain/buildings before.

 Also this week got in a game of "The Call of Cthulhu" LCG with my uncle. I really enjoyed it. Fairly simple to pick up, quick easy game play. Definitely going to be picking myself up a copy at some stage. We've also been playing "Kingsburg" for the last couple of weeks. Another one I'd highly recommend and will be picking up :).

 Games night was "Zombies!!!". Build as you go map, simple mechanics, many, many, many opportunities to make zombie groans both male and female. What more could you want. After a couple of near wins for myself, my eldest (almost 2 weeks a teenager now) managed to snag the "The Keys are still in it" card letting her move 10 spaces instead of rolling the D6, then proceeded to kill the 9 zombies between her and the helicopter to win the game and earn the nickname "Helicopter Torrent" which she doesn't seem to like yet, but I assume it'll grow on her....

Then tonight a family game. "Small World Underground". Think Risk without dice rolls and a limited troop pool. During the game you put your race into decline and get new ones as required gaining victory points depending on areas controlled and the race's innate abilities or matched powers. I thought I'd managed to grab the game with 101 vp only to have my youngest snatch it from me with 116.


I'm hoping to get a minis game or two in next week depending on work and everyone else's availability and with any luck at least get my 4 base squads finished up.

Stargrunt 2 Game 7th August 2013

My Uncles upcoming holiday and my brother's last minute work call, meant a hasty re-assessment of the days game and put a time limit on this weeks game. We had decided on Stargrunt during the week, but had decided to change the scenario around slightly. What was to be an escort the "Insert Glorious Leader's Title Here" safely from the plane wreckage in gang infested territory, became a "Rescue" two scientists from Argus III and "Escort" them to the safety of the nearby Neu Swabian League fleet. Seeing as the last time we'd played a game of Stargrunt was when I was 12 (20 years ago...) we decided to keep the squad composition simple just taking the infantry squad set-up for NSL out of the back of the book for both factions, making them veterans and having rank 2 NCOs.

##*##*## Mission Briefing ##*##*##

It has come to our attention that the renowned anti-matter research team Dr s Newbody and Longfellow are currently on Argus III testing a new containment field. In view of the harsh environment on the desert planet and the current anti-war demonstration obviously directed at the UN's current harsh actions against our glorious nation we have decided to send your squad down to the planets surface to rescue the stranded scientists and bring them safely to our secure facilities back on Tau Ceti II.

Scanners have detected a force of local "Peacekeepers" heading towards the location to detain the researchers themselves, this must not occur.

You are authorised to use what ever force you deem necessary in protecting the scientists but are advised to keep civilian causalities to a minimum due to the presence of the Galactic News Service.

Turn one saw me rapidly moving my squad towards the main township to try for a quick lucky roll and escape off the board, however the anti war protesters and news crew quickly spotted me and began what was a never ending series of delays and road blocks for me this game. A few turns in had me searching 3 buildings with no successes and turn 4 ended with the press finally managing to come into contact with my squad and proceed to question me for 4 rounds, thanks to some terrible rolling on my part in regards to the supposed "slaughter" of "innocents" on Argus IV. This finally saw my Uncle's local force coming into the village and being attacked by the peaceful protesters as they shouted slogan's such as "Make love not war" and "Guns for Books man" all the while peacefully pelting them with cans, sticks, the odd cat... basically whatever was at hand.

 After several turns on searching with no results, one of the scientists was turned up by the local force. There squad leader deciding one anti-matter researcher in the hand was worth two in the protester infested shanty town, immediately headed for his edge of the board and the safety of his barracks. Sensing that searching peacefully was no longer an option the NSL squad commander stating that he'd "never even heard of Argus V before.... I mean IV, I've never been on a secret mission to Argus V" headed for a nearby rocky hilltop to set up to open fire on the retreating unit. Closely followed by the now incited new crew and calls of "Sir, Sir, Are you the infamous Christian the Butcher, Slaughterer of the farmers of Argus IV and Destroyer of the Argus V Icemen??"



Heedless of the protesters still resolutely and most assuredly peacefully assaulting the local troops the NSL squad opens fire on the enemy, killing there SAW trooper and wounding the trooper carrying the rocket launcher well enough to take him out for the game. The protesters shocked that some one would dare assault the targets of there peaceful barrage of filth and aluminium head toward the hilltop. A turn of being unhampered by the new crew allowed me one more round of useful fire resulting in the wounding of another trooper, but some incredible armour saves prevented the other two shots from killing the squad leader and winning me the game.

The last turns resulted in the protesters deciding that it was much nicer in town and my squad busily answer a string of questions with the phrase "No comment".

Not the result I was hoping for but was a rather enjoyable encounter. Once I got home I dug around through my childhood figures finding the remaining 10 or so unpainted NSL troopers for my non armoured portion of my platoon and quick search of the web to find Ground Zero Games still kicking although the main website is apparently currently down the store link suits my purposes for the moment.