Model holder

Model Holder

I am not sure if any of you suffer the same problem that I have when painting over a long period of time, that your hand starts to cramp up and starts to effect the grip on the model. This was something that did not effect me as young gamer so I can only assume that father time is yet again catching up on me.

So the Mrs's needed to go shopping for some Christmas Cake decorations, so down to the local craft store. I had a peruse of things on offer and came across these.

Polystrene Bells which found fitted perfectly in the hand. Now the sharp minded of you out there will notice the problem straight away. For those who have 1 to many Christmas tipples it is the top of the bell which will cause them to fall over.

So out with the saw 

So after a few cuts I was left with 4 table looking model holders. A bit of double sided sticky tape and hay presto.

Well that's it for today.

Catch you on the flip side

IMPERIAL ASSAULT

IMPERIAL ASSAULT

'The Galactic Civil War rages on. After the destruction of the Death Star, the Galactic Empire's power is threatened. Stormtrooper legions surge across the galaxy in an effort to reassert their dominance, while elite Rebel operatives battle them at every turn. Against impossible odds they engage Imperial forces in their struggle for galactic freedom.'

Imperial Assault is Fantasy Flight Games latest release in their ever successful Star Wars Licence. It is a board game that allows 2-5 players to choose either the Imperial forces or the Rebel operatives. The game can be played as an ongoing campaign or as a series of Head to Head Skirmishes. 

So with the over view done time for the unboxing.

The first thing that you notice about this game is the size and weight of box. It certainly is taking front and centre on my gaming shelf.

Packaging

So with a large box and it feels sturdy and will take many a trip to gaming nights before you start to see any wear and tear. The artwork on the cover is fully of imagery and action certainly a draw on the shelf.  On the rear is the usual box shots and for the first time on an FFG box it is displaying the Disney logo.

I hope that this bodes well for the future and that FFG have managed to get a continual licence with the new franchise owners.

For me the packaging scores a solid 4 out of 5

First Impressions

Well I am going to start off by saying a I am Stars Wars fan, I always have and I always will. So there is a certain amount of bias. 

From collecting my box from Chimera Games  last Thursday after work I was almost giddy. But Thursday nights being our regular gaming night with my gaming buddies, we had already penciled in Cards Against Humanity and Betrayal in the House on the Hill. The box sat patiently in its bag until gaming had finished.

I think all through the evening the Emperor was quoting the immortal words ' You Want This'

With the patience of a Jedi I focused on the gaming at hand until the end of the evening.

Upon opening there were lots of OOOOHHHHSSS and AAHHHHHHHHHS. Ok not really but gotta make it sound good,

The figures were handed out and all of us were impressed with the sculpts. 

A quick flick through the books and the cards and I was sold that this is going to get played a lot.

Like I said I am biased but 5 out of 5 for me.

Entry Point / Getting Started

We all know what it is like when you get a new game. The owner runs off and reads through the book and then spends the first gaming session teaching the group how to play and answering the questions that they do not quite know the answers to.

So how well does Imperial Assault introduce new players?

There are 4 books in total in the box:

1. Learn to Play 

As the title suggests this is the book that you read first. 15 pages with a handy contents page so that you can see if you are missing anything. Then it takes you through your first game in a tutorial along with some extra rules.

2. Rules Reference Guide

This is a 28 page full colour rules book with a very good index on the rear cover. This gives detailed rules on how each of the rules work. Very useful for the person teaching new players.

3. Campaign Guide

This is a 44 page full colour campaign booklet.No Spoilers are being given. If you are going to play as the Rebels you are warned to STOP reading after the first page. But suffice to say there are 50 missions in there to make your campaign unique and repeatable.

4. Skirmish Guide

This 8 page full colour guide is where I think a lot of players will spend their time gaming. After all we all know that FFG love competitive play and support it very well. This is what you will be p;aying when you enter your Local Game Store tournaments. Very easy to read rules and a lot of fun.

To sum up I think that FFG have taken a long look at how to bring new players into the world of Imperial Assault, and cover it very well. So far I have played a couple of solo games just to get the pace and feel of the game and I so far have not come up against any rules issues. The books are very well laid out and very easy to read, supported by great examples to allow you to see the action on the table. One small thing that I would change would be the addition of 5 play sheets so that all the players can reference for themselves.

Score 5 out of 5

Contents / Value for Money

At £79 minus some discount for buying on day of release from my local games store, this on the face does not look like a cheap game.

But take a look at the pics below and see what you get for your money

A total of 34 figures including the AT-ST which is stunning. even if you just worked out the box price on the figures alone that would work out to be £2.32 a figure. With the quality being up there with some of the top companies very good value.

You then have the 4 rulebooks, 59 reversable map tiles, dice and over 200 cards and tokens. 

Having not put in much game time yet, but I feel that most games are going to take around the hour mark, I feel that I am going to get my monies worth.

And for those that play Edge of the Empire or Age of Rebellion you can also use this for table top battles as well.

Score 5 out of 5

So total score 19 out of 20.

In conclusion this is another great game from FFG and you can certainly see that they love the Star Wars universe and background as much as the fans do. I am certainly looking forward to playing this next year with the gaming group and seeing the future releases from FFG.

If you have any comments then please feel free to post them below. 

Catch you on the Flip Side 

Cerberus Unboxing

CERBERUS UNBOXING

Yawn yet another unboxing web blog I hear.

I did initially think that there was far to many of these around and I am a reader of a good many. However I do feel that there is room for more.

So I will be adding myself to this list. It will not be a weekly or regular blog section. More however on items that I have purchased and think that you will find interesting to see.

Unlike other sites I am going to score my unboxing's so that you can get an idea of the product. You may not agree with the unboxing. That is cool just leave a comment to say why, just keep it civil :)

So I will be scoring on the following areas out of 5.

Packaging:

Style of box and does it keep the contents protected. If on first opening I do find a broken component or piece, then I will go through the customer service channel of that company. As I do understand that picking errors can occur.

First Impressions:

So was it a wow factor like when Nan puts the Sunday roast on the table or does it make you feel all limp like at a speeding awareness course.

Entry Point / Getting Started

Is there a book that has READ ME FIRST over the cover so you know which one to ignore first. Or do you have to taken an evening course to break in.

Contents / Value for Money

So you have poured your hard earn wages into your latest purchase. Did you get Bang for your Buck? or are you left feeling like you should ordered another cheese burger for lunch.

So this will give a total of 20 points for each unboxing. I will also try and provide as many pictures and links that I can so you can get a good feel for the product.

This will be a work in progress so any feedback please feel free to leave a comment.

Infinity Paint Off

Infinity Paint Off

2 of the same figure

2 Painters

1 Month to paint

5 Judges

So this little challenge started as it did as in many of our ideas, through plenty of email and text banter. With it finishing up with I can paint better than you.

With the gauntlet thrown it was now time to choose the figure. We wanted something that neither of us had painted before either as a range or manufacturer. With the wide range of figures that we both have in our collections it took a bit of searching.

Then a Eureka moment hit me.

Infinity.

It has been a range that I have always admired from a distance, the wide range of beautiful sculpts has always drawn me to want to pick up a couple but never found time to take the plunge. So with a cup of tea I sat down and flipped through the pages.

Eventually I settled on the Knights Hospitaller from the PanOcenia faction.

I am not sure if I will be able to match the striking paint job that is shown on their website but it will certainly push my skills. So with the models ordered and arrived in 5 days from their store in Spain, it was down to the prep work. One of the things that struck me was the lack of flash and mold lines. Certainly a lot of care and attention has been put into how this model is going to be cast. 

The model itself came in 7 parts that have locating pegs and slots to allow for very easy assembly. The only real fiddly part are the vans on the side of the helmet, and I  can also maybe some issues in the future if not handled carefully.

So the model is now assembled and ready for its undercoat. I would normally use a grey primer, but as I want my colour's to really pop from the model I am going to use a white undercoat.

Well that is it for today's post, I will see you guys on the flip side.

X- Wing Range Rulers

X- Wing Range Rulers

So tonight I got my head down to finally getting these painted up for a tournament that I have this weekend. Not the most inspiring of things to get painted but it needed to be done. 

When they arrived, I carefully measured them up against against the card ones supplied with the game, and they are a perfect match. They come initially with a protective cover on the front and back, so no unsightly scratch marks. 

The painting itself was dead easy, I just grabbed a bottle of Vallejo White and then used the protective cover as the guideline. It took a couple of coats to get a nice even finish. Then it was just the matter of letting it dry then peeling off the protective layers. 

These range rulers artwork was created by Rodent Mastermind and are sold by cogotwo. They have a great range of gaming pieces not only for X-Wing but also Star Trek Attack Wing. Check out their site by clicking on their name above

Next purchase will be the Red Imperial Range Rulers and the Premium Token Set.

Stay Frosty and catch you on the Dark Side

Dead Man's Hand

“Your time is over and you're gonna die bloody, and all you can do is choose where.”

So another new game that I recently picked up. Dead Man's Hand to no surprise allows you to select your gang and fight it out in the Wild West. So far I have only picked up the rules and a couple of the buildings from 4 ground. So I will follow up this blog with musings on the game and some pictures how how the builds came along.



If you want to find out more click on the link Dead Man's Hand

Images taken from Great Escape Games.

Death from Above - Часть вторая

Death from Above - Часть вторая

 

 

'Da Comrade we go jump from a plane in big metal walkers'

So in my last post I was making the decision on if my force was going to be painted up in winter camo or hit the beach ready for Babylon.

I mused through the Operation Babylon Kickstarter again, planning out my future next force and it dawned on me that for the rest of the year I would be fighting in the desert. So to avoid the inevitable hobby comments 'Why are your troops on snow bases when we are fighting in the desert?'

'Comrades it is hot'

I have gone with a desert scheme. This is going to be my first time looking at painting desert bases and troops so thought a little research might be in order. 

So with a bit of hunting around the web I found this great article on the Battlefront Website all about Desert Basing. A great set of step by step guides for different desert style bases.

Seeing that Babylon is probably closest to Egypt and Libya in terms of terrain (I am no Atlas guru so I might be a few miles out) I have chosen that for my basing.

So with the basing decided next to look at the vehicles and infantry. After a bit of Google Foo I tracked down a few images that I was happy with. To give me the balance of having an army paint scheme that would stand out from the bases and the table top, but still also looking like they have been equipped to fight in the desert.

The Russian walkers I think will look great still being painted in their Russian Green and then using the colour's used for the basing to weather them up to show that they have been moving and fighting.

For the Striker and the Carrier Helicopters I am going to spend some more time on these as they will be a focal point in the army. One of favorite helicopters when I was growing up was the Hind, so I will be using that as my inspiration for the camo scheme.

So with my basing and paint schemes decided time to crack out the hobby tools and get started.

Part 3 to follow.........

Any comments please add them below.

Death from Above

Death from Above

My SSU army was inspired by the comics and the huge shells plummeting down to earth from the huge bombers to be slowed by their chutes enabling the KV's to rain fire down on the enemy forces. So when I saw the new Smersh KV-47 Platoon that made the core of my new force an easy choice

My Death from Above list

Koshka 15 points

Grand'Ma 11 points

Nadya 9 points

Natasha 9 points

Carrier 11 points

Marlen 9 points

Striker 16 points

Natasia 9 points

Carrier 11 points

Total of 100 points

My entire force is focused on getting in close to the enemy forces as quickly as possible through the use rapid deployment and transports. Then pouring on lots of focused fire and close assaults. With it being such a small elite force they need to be wary of the enemy bringing  to much fire-power to bear.

To keep the heavy walkers and tanks of the enemy hunkered down and not have free reign on the table I have taken a Striker attack helicopter, with strong Anti-Tank fire-power it can also cause infantry some issues if they get to close.

To back up Koshka with keeping the army alive I have taken Marlen who not only can keep the walkers in the battle, but also deal with any fortifications on obstacles that the enemy might deploy.

Catch up with the next blog as I decide on if they will be painted up for winter battles or prepare for deployment to Operation Babylon.

Winter Pea Dot-Camo Part 2

Winter Pea Dot-Camo Part 2

So for those that have read my first post on looking to finding a Winter Pea Dot Camo for my Axis Dust Tactics models. This is the follow up part where I start to explore the background behind the camo and how and why it was used.

So what is Pea Dot Camo?

Here is an example of a find strapping re-enactor wearing a Pea Dot smock. As you can see there is a 4 tone disruptive pattern to the smock and then alternate dots featuring on the background colours. This was mainly to break up the nature shapes that the human eye expects to see and make it harder to spot enemy troops trying to take advantage of cover.

So with the base format of the Pea Dot in my mind I am going to look to replicate this is a winter style scheme.

Follow in the next post where I aim to show my first efforts into the new camo scheme.

Comments as ever are always welcome.

Winter Peadot Camo- Part 1

Winter Peadot Camo

Before I dive into painting schemes etc. I thought I would ramble on a bit on how and why I choose this scheme.

I have for a while now been thinking about what colour scheme that I was going to use for the my Dust Tactics troops. Very early on I was drawn by the Axis troops, cool gas masks, lasers and nice winter style uniforms. Through the early stages of planning i was drawn into Hydra- HAIL HYDRA- uniforms, but through hunting the web found plenty of examples of this already being used. 

Dramascape

http://www.paintedfigs.com/

Then one night hunting around on the Dust Studios website I came across this 1/35 German Raketentruppen figures.

German Raketentruppen

Having found two things after finding this page that one my wallet was going to be lighter after buying a couple of boxes of these I secondly have found my army paint scheme.

Follow part 2 as I start to research Pea Dot painting.