It's My Birthday This Weekend

So this Saturday is my birthday and I have a weekend of gaming excitement to celebrate my 43rd year on this planet.  Lets start with the big stuff, what did I buy myself for my birthday.  Well I spent $200 on the Robotech Kickstarter, pledging $200 for the Battle Cry level.  I was lucky enough to take part in the play testing of this game and really liked it.  With the success they had running this campaign I am sure this game will be played in many communities.  Since that gift will be delayed I also picked up a new multi effect bass pedal.  I know it has nothing to do with table top gaming but it does help me with my video gaming, I play Rocksmith.  It is very cool and I have been having a lot of fun with it, however it has slowed my painting down to a crawl.

So what are my big birthday plans.  To start I took the weekend off from work.  Tie that it with Monday being a Holiday and I have the next 6 days off, then I go back to work on Tuesday (May 28th) then I have another 3 days off.  Yes I planned that to happen.  I like to maximize my PTO days taking time off around Holidays.  So here is my gaming schedule for the weekend.

Friday, hanging out at the game store all day with my friends playing Bolt Action. 

Saturday, going over to my buddies Jerry's house to play all the cool card games we like.  I enjoy Warhammer Invasion DC Deck Builder.  He also is going to teach me a few new card games.  We are also going to play some Dust Warfare/Tactics.  If time permits we might even break out Command and Colors, Napoleonics.

Sunday, I was invited to take part in a Black Powder event at one of the local game stores.  The day will be spent playing an ACW game.  I am excited about this because I want to learn this set of rules for that day in the far future when I finish painting my Napoleonic army.

Monday, originally I was going to take part in a Bolt Action game.  I decided I am not going to that event.  My wife and I decided to spend the day together for the holiday.  Part of my life people don't know about is my wife works for a local hospital.  Last week our community lost two heroes, a firefighter and a police officer.  Both of these heroes lost their lives in the line of duty at different incidents on different days of the week.  It was a tragic week for everyone in our community.  They were both taken to my wife's place of employment and their lives could not be saved.  So my wife and I decided that on Monday we will just have a somber day at home being thankful to the men and women that serve our country and keep us safe in our communities.  It is just going to be a quite day at home reflecting on others and how they sacrifice everything for our way of life. 

That will be the end of my birthday weekend. 


 

Bolt Action: Last 250 Points

Last night I finished painting my last installment of Bolt Action. Now I need to find some people that want to play it. I guess the game is lacking something for some members of our small group and they have moved on to other games. Jerry and I talked about getting together and playing a few games so we can form our own opinion about the rules. We haven't set a date because I want to finish painting the rest of collection. I still have about 10 models left over and want them to flush out my force list.  So below are the models I painted this month.

This is my 50 cal team.  I am missing the fourth member, it is drying.  I did make a custom base for the gun and I like the way it turned out.

This is my forward observing team.  I have one of the guys holding a shotgun.  I didn't notice any rules for shotguns but it looks cool and that is all that matters to me.

This is my 30 cal team.  I really like how these guys turned out.

This is a stray BAR guy.  He will be going into my next unit of guys.

Here is my next unit of guys.  I just dipped them last night so they are drying.  Once they are dry I will get the next 6 painted up giving me a full strength unit.

You know I want to be open and honest with something that took place during this challenge.  It appears that our small group has come to a cross roads.  Some things were said and some feelings got hurt over the past few months.  It has caused a divide in the group and I am not sure what the future holds for the group as a whole.  It is interesting how this group came together over one game, Lord of the Rings and has drifted away over one game, Bolt Action.  I know that my blog page is not the place to tell readers about our group dynamics however readers might have noticed some comments or tension within our posts, comments or lack of comments.  Maybe the group just needs time apart to explore different interests and gaming.  We no longer have that one game we all like, Lord of the Rings, and we are all looking for something different in gaming.  I feel that is what has pulled our group apart.  For me I will continue to look for that game I can get excited about and can have fun playing with my group of friends.     

Bolt Action: Third 250 Points

This month went by fast and I didn't get much painted.  The weather is really nice right now and I spent time outside having fun.  I did get my monthly painting done for the challenge and we only have one more month to go.  It is going to be really hard to meet Aprils deadline. 

So what did I paint this month, nothing but command and specialty units.  I wanted my command to stand out so I picked up a command blister.  I painted my commander with two support guys.  That blister also gave me a medic so I painted him up also with one support guy.  I will be painting up the last model in that blister for next month.  I might us him for a forward observer.  While I finished those two units I ran out of M1 Grands.  I still had a lot of models left over and didn't want them all to go to waste.  So I put together another bazooka team and a sniper team.  That gave me over 250 points and also gives me some different build options for my army list. 

Kickstarter: Arena Rex

I have never taken part with anything on Kickstarter.  I know that this is a great way to get games and miniatures out on the market for us all to enjoy.  It has just been hard for me to get excited by yet another new miniatures game and more models to collect.  Nothing has captured my excitement like Lord of the Rings did.  I have invested in many games, rules and miniatures just to find disappointment.  Then I saw Arena Rex on Kickstarter and I gave them my support.

I will admit, I have always liked Arena style combat games.  It started with Avalon Hills Gladiator game, then Anachronism (I still have all my cards) but I never could find a good set of miniatures rules.  Then not that long ago GW put out a set of Gladiator rules and I jumped all over them.  As quickly as the game came out GW closed their historical line,  big thanks GW.  With the rules no longer being on the market it makes it hard to get people to play. 

I am excited about Arena Rex and hope it will finally fill the void in my gaming life.  One thing I like about this Kickstarter campaign is that if you back the game at the Ludus level (which I did) you will get a PDF copy of the rules this summer.  I will get a chance to play the game and give feedback.  I felt it was a great move on the publisher to do this, it is more of a buy in for the backers.  If you are interested in this game check out this link: Arena Rex

       

Bolt Action: Painting Challenge Scond 250 Points

Its the end of the month and I kinda finished my second installment of Bolt Action models.  I say "kinda" because two of the models still need to dry before applying the dull coat. 

With that said, this months installment included a 12 man stick with a decked out M3 Half Track.  The unit has one BAR and the Squad Leader has a Thompson Typewriter. 

These models do require some skills to assemble and pose.  Warlord sells them as muli-part models which simply means you have a lot of parts to put together.  The models do have limited poses and not a lot of arm options for the M1.  So I had to do some creative modeling to use the different arms for the M1.     

The gaps between the arms was bugging me and having to reshape the torso using the different arms.  Then I remembered that GW put out Liquid Green Stuff because of the problems they had with Fine Cast.  So I picked up a bottle and I must say it is good stuff.  I was able to fill in the gaps on the arms and make the models look better.

I really need to take a small break from painting this army.  I was going to paint up a few Brits for Napoleonic army.  I just need some color in my life ever once and while.    

 

Renaissance Festival

Today me wife and I made our way to the Renaissance Festival.  This was our third annual pilgrimage to the festival and we had a blast.  I feel that we are very lucky in our community because this is a well run event.  I'm not sure how other Renaissance Festival compare however this one is 30 acres of pure adult fun.  They have built this town from the ground up, this is not just popup tents in a field.  They have buildings, stages and all the turkey legs you could every want to eat.  They are only open for about two months and it becomes the gathering place for many of the geeks or nerds in our community.  I like to see all the people dressed up in their costumes, especially the ladies with their corsets. 

One of the main attractions to this festival is the Ded Bob Sho.  This is truly an adult comedy show and kids should not attend.  Every show he takes a few members of the audience and makes them Zombies and they have to do what he tells them.  This year my wife was picked to be a Zombie and Bob had a blast.  The last picture shows Bob Bonking My Wife. 

One of the other great parts about this festival is the Jousting.  I know its all fake but so is wrestling and people still like that.  It is just cool to watch and adds a lot of flavor to the event.  We sat in the section for the Green and White Guy, I don't remember his name.  We did not stay to watch the final Jousting Tournament so I don't know if he won or not. 

I also snapped a few pictures of the King while he was walking around the festival. 

It was just a great way to spend the day with my wife.  It is unfortunate that the event is only open on weekends and this one holiday.  We both work weekends and can't go more then once.  I think it would be fun to dress in a period costumes and walk around.  Just to clarify that statement to my buddies, NO I AM NOT GOING TO START LARPing.  Maybe I will just paint up some fantasy miniatures instead.   

Bolt Action: Painting Challenge 2013 First 250 Points

That title says a lot

On January 1, 2013 I started painting up my American Bolt Action Army.  I am taking part in a painting challenge and each month I have to complete 250 points.  Below are pictures of my first 250 points. 

The Sherman tank I picked up in a trade.  It was a total mess when I got it.  The person that built it just glued the tracks on and slathered paint all over it.  I had to strip the paint and remove the tracks.  The tracks were not straight and the hull sat too high.  So I had to square up the tracks and remove material so the tracks fit better.  It was a lot of work but I like the way it turned out.  The bazooka team came from Warlord and they are plastic miniatures.  They take some time to get built properly but once they are built the paint up easily.

I was going to post up my list today however I decided against that.  My list was going to be a mobile infantry list.  So I was going to put two infantry squads in M3 Half Tracks and my HQ in a jeep.  Looking at the new army book I am not sure if I can use a jeep as a transport.  The rules state one transport vehicle per infantry squad.  My HQ selection is not an infantry squad so I don't think I can take a jeep to transport my HQ.  I know I really don't need to put my HQ in a jeep however it was just going to add flavor to my list.  So I am going to rethink my army list and when I figure out what I am going to do I will let you know.