Gaming Room Update

More work on the gaming room- electrics are done and I'm working on the gib and finishing off the windows (more to be done this afternoon) but at last it is a useable space.

So we have gone from this...

 To this.

 Balloons are a left over from my daughter's 14th birthday the other week so it will be a family utility/gaming room- that way it keeps SHMBO happy.

Craig

More Jungle Terrain

Last night I added a couple more stands to my Japanese force: a second juku MMG and a sniper team (placed on a round base for ease of recognition on the tabletop).

Tonight I made another 5 of bases worth of my jungle terrain- same method as last time:

1. Cut out an MDF base with a jig-saw. Then used a wood rasp to round the edges of the base.
2. Add plaster and place the jungle base into it.
3. Once the plaster is dry paint the base with PVA glue and cover in sand to texture the base.
4. Once the PVA is dry paint with black then drybrush dark brown followed by a light yellowish shade.
5. Once the paint is dry cover in static grass and add a few small pieces of clump foliage.
6. Done

 I am very happy with the way that they are looking.

Finally a bit of progress on the man cave/gaming room. Lights were finally hooked up last week and the power switches today so I finally have power. I have bought some LED lights from China to keep running costs to a minimum- about $3 ea and should last about 100,000 hrs apparently. Still a lot of finishing off to be done but the room is getting there.

Craig

A game... at last

I've been a bit slack lately, I haven't done any gaming (apart from a game of Twilight Struggle board game- one of my favorites, it is extremely well done and is a great cold war game) last week. I have been doing some work on the gaming room- putting down carpet and picking up a pool table from Christchurch. Hopefully next week the power will be on and then I can start lining the walls.

Tonight though, Dave and Stephen popped round for a 500 pt per side game of Impetvs. Stephen's Militant rabble vs my stalwart defenders of Armenians and some rather smelly and dodgy Frankish allies.

The game started well for Dave and I and on turn 2 we were full of confidence but by turn 3 things had taken a turn for the worse- Stephen's Crusader knights had got the drop on Dave's troops and were smashing units of knights left, right, and centre. I tried to support him but alas rolled double ones and my general was found wanting at the critical moment and the Hospitaller knights charged home and routed our armies- not a good start in the new room!

Full of confidence the Armenians/Franks alliance deploys for battle. 

 The Hospitaller host, keen to claim new lands in Armenia, deploys.

 

 Dave's Franks, formerly Kent's troops, are arrayed and briming with (over) confidence.

 Dave throws his knights forward but Stephen's own Crusades manage to hold (VBU 7 vs Dave's VBU 6 being the deciding factor in the longer term)

 

  Both sides throw extra troops into the developing melee.

 The Hospitallers are still waiting the order to advance- it looks like the battle will be over before they can get involved as the regular Crusaders are crushing Dave's forces.

 A typically chaotic scene mid battle as the battle devolves into several skirmishes.

 Stephen's VBU 7 knights smash through everything in their path and are nigh on unstoppable.

 Dave's general tries to stop the rot but too little too late, his army is broken and routs off the table.

 My own troops are paralysed by the indecisiveness of their commander and fail to act to support Dave's Franks at the critical moment. 

 Leaving them wide open to the hospitallers final charge for glory.

 Run away. The words "hot knife" and "butter" spring to mind.

A good fun game even if we ended up being thrashed.


Craig

Games Room Update

The windows went in yesterday and so now the space is really starting to take shape. Still lots to do but it is now weather proof (and considering our rain in the past week, that's a good thing!)

A few before and after shots. 

 Craig

Painting Apathy

My apathy towards painting continues and I haven't painted anything in the past two weeks or so- yikes. Yesterday a shipment of Reaper Bones arrived- a few gnolls, bugbears, trolls, ogres and minotaurs for our RPG games so tonight I hope to paint up some bugbears.

On the games room front some movement at last. The windows arrived this afternoon but now my builder is up in Twizel for the rest of the week so it will be next week before I can get them put in. Oh well, we are still making headway, if somewhat slowly.

Each window is about 3m wide x 1.5 m high- so will let in plenty of light. 

 The doors.

 Had a couple of days off last week so put in the pink bats (insulation) and am now just waiting for the windows so I can get the walls lined.

Other gaming news
Kent and I were planning a game of Impetus tonight but he had to cancel so not sure when we ill get another game in, he's a bit busy at present. However, Simon popped round for a few games of DBA using the V3 rules. He ran Maygars and Mongols vs my own 15mm Mongols (or what is left of them I'm nearly out of 15mm armies these days). We both enjoyed the game on a larger (3ft square) board as it allowed the horse armies to do what they do best- whip around the flanks and avoid head to head combat. Very enjoyable and the v rules (or the version of them we had) seemed to have removed many o the gamer issues of earlier editions.

Craig

Operation Gaming Room- update #3

A bit more progress today. Will be a couple of weeks before we get the windows and doors in and make it weather tight but the space is shaping up nicely...

And with the walls going in.

 The window are nice and big to make the most of the views

 The tradesmen entrance so my wife doesn't need to see the great masses of unwashed geeks. 

Craig

Update + ACW

Today the floor was finished ready for the concrete which will happen next Wednesday, weather permitting.

 Tonight Stephen, Kent and I got together for a game of ACW. 12 battalions of infantry each, 2 of skirmishers and 2x batteries of artillery. We used 8" for infantry moves and all units were veterans (saving in a 3+)  and i think those factors were the reason we didn't get a result- next game we will revert to normal moves and only allow 1/3 of units to be veterans.

The union deploy.

 My brigade fails to move on turn 1.

 Kent advances towards Stephen's brigade.

 Stephen's entire spent much of the game unsupported as I failed to keep abreast of his advance.

 A rather ineffectual firefight develops we added an additional -1 to hit at over 50% range.

 Kent's brigade opposite mine also forms a firing line.

 Meanwhile Stephen had been making good progress, breaking a couple of regiments. 

Stephen's Virginians advance.

 The first melee. Kent managed to charge Stephens regiment but after 3 rounds of drawn combats Stephen drove off the yankees. 

 Meanwhile I kept nibbling away. The regiment in the bottom of hot was about to charge Kent's regiment but was disordered and destroyed as they tried to charge home.

 Things were looking a bit grim for my flank so I gave a follow me order to reinforce Stephen' flan. Stephen had all but broken the brigade he faced but we just could not force the final regiment to break and thus force the entire brigade to retire.

 Our final attempt to break the deadlock before we ran out of time.

Another fun game but we probably were guilty of too many changes to the standard rules and intend to go back to more "standard" Black Powder.

Next week we are hoping to have another crack with the Carthaginians and Gauls using Impetvs.