The BARRAGE '18 Webpage is Up and Running!

   The HAWKs' have launched the BARRAGE '18 Webpage today!  Time to register to run a game or two, or just come to play.

   For those who have never been, Barrage is a low-stress event, focusing on having fun with miniatures games of many different genres, scales, and sets of rules.  In the past the con has had a half dozen dealers, a few flea market tables, as many as 200 attendees, and thirty or more miniatures games. 
   To learn more, be sure to visit the BARRAGE Webpage: BARRAGE '18

Reaper "Finaela, 1/2 Elf Pirate" Figure Painted for Ghost Archipelago

  This past week I painted the Reaper metal figure, "Finaela, 1/2 Elf Pirate".  While I usually paint their Bones figures, it was a nice change of pace to paint one of their metal ones.   While she will probably see more immediate use in Ghost Archipelago, I have a long term plan to eventually do a Fantasy Tavern Battle with "Blood & Swash".

Historicon 2018 HAWks Room Photos

   I was only able to get up to the Historicon miniatures gaming convention for a short while on Friday to visit the HAWKs room and get some shots, and was selling in the Historicon Flea Market all day Saturday.  I was able to squeeze in running a game in the HAWKs room on Saturday night, so got some photos then as well.  Even though I was only there for a short while, I had a great time at the con.
  For photos of my game, see: The Dwarven Loot Train
     

The HAWKs room was already hopping when I got there Friday morning.

First stop for me was the Dealer Hall.  The facelift on the tennis barn is really starting to look nice.

One of several Sea Lion games run by Buck Surdu and Greg Priebe, using "Combat Patrol" rules.

Dave Wood's "Bear Yourselves Valiantly" Fantasy game, using his collection of beautiful old school 25mm figures 

Don Hogge's "Congo" game

James "Tank" Nickle's popular train heist game. 

Duncan Adams' Peninsular Napoleonics game using "Combat Patrol: Napoleonics"

Another of Buck and Greg's Sea Lion games.

Pz38ts storm the beaches of  Little Basely by the Sea during Sea Lion.

Harry Kogelshatz brought back his ever popular large scale "Aliens" game

Using action figures for "Aliens"

Geoff Graff's Plastic Pirates Lego game, is a perennial favorite with the kids

David Schlegel's Fantasy game using "Bear Yourselves Valiantly" rules.

Dave Wood's Zulu game using Combat Patrol: Colonials

Duncan Adams' helmed this year's Armies for Kids game.

Some of the armies the kids got to take home with them in this year's Armies for Kids game.

Historicon Game Report: The Dwarven Loot Train

     On Saturday night at Historicon, after I spent the day selling in Wally's Basement (the Flea Market) with my wife, Jennifer; I ran a game in the HAWKs room called, The Dwarven Loot Train, using the underdevelopment "Combat Patrol: Medieval & Fantasy" rules.

An overview of the table at the beginning of the game.

     While the game was sold out in preregistration, I only had two ticket holders show up.  I think the HMGS preregistration system needs an overhaul, or to be scrapped altogether.  Luckily, I was able to recruit my wife, Jennifer, and HAWK, Mike Thomas, to fill two of the empty spots.

The battle kicks off with one of the Dwarf units getting pin-cushioned by a Goblin archer unit that got 3 fire activations before the Dwarves got a chance to run for cover; which happened when they failed morale.

      The scenario involved a force of Dwarves that were escorting three loot wagons, and who were camped overnight in a small village.  the Orcs have caught wind of the loot, and have planned an early morning raid.  Whoever has control of two or more of the loot wagons at game's end is the winner.

The fear of the Goblin Archers resulted in two of the nearby Dwarf Units running for cover within a walled field, as the Orc troops advances.  

      The game started off poorly for the Dwarves when a unit on their far left got caught in the open by a unit of Goblin Archers who proceeded to pelt them with arrows for 3 activations, before the Dwarves broke and headed for cover.   A seesaw battle then developed in the middle, and it looked like a bold counter attack by the Dwarves might turn the tide and save the day, but the Orcs were eventually able to overpower them.  In the end, the Orcs were the clear dominant force on the table, but they had come nowhere near the loot carts; so while it was a technical Dwarf victory in scenario terms, the Orcs surely would have won in the long run.

The pieces are moved into place: on the left, as the Dwarves' allied Stone Giant advances, the Goblins start massing to attempt to overwhelm him with numbers. In the center the Dwarven Commander, mounted on her Warbear, commits herself  to battle to counter the Orcs' Swamp troll as it advances towards the walled field. A unit of Dwarves hops the wall to support her, as a unit of Orcs advances near the clump of brush near the field.

        I had a great time running the game, and players enjoyed themselves too.  The rules worked really well, and after a few turns the players were pretty much running the game themselves, with me simply flipping activation cards and answering questions.

The Goblins begin their wave attacks on the Giant.  They lose a soldier every attack, but with a hit here and a hit there, the wounds start to add up on the Giant.

The battle of the wall heats up, as Princess Snow and her Dwarf Miners charge over the wall.  The Dwarf Commander sends the Orc's SwampTroll reeling back to the woods from where it entered the battle, after it gets a bad morale result. 

The townsfolk spent the game guarding the loot wagons.

The beginning of the end; the hits are starting to added up on the Dwarf Commander, and she and her bear can only do so much.  The Orc archers have arrived and start to add their deadly shafts to the carnage.  Before the Cave Troll (foreground) can enter the fight, the Dwarf Commander falls, and panic sweeps the line. (All units become pinned when the commander dies.) Her bear continues heroically, but doesn't last long.

On the Dwarf right, the Giant falls in a final wave of Goblins attacks.

Scratchbuilt Hanging Pirate Cages for Ghost Archipelago

    These past couple weeks I worked on building some hanging pirate cages for our Ghost Archipelago table.   Awhile back I saw someone else's post about making these, and though I couldn't remember where, they are simple enough that I thought I'd attempt them from memory.

    I started out by getting a pack of hair rollers at my local Dollar Tree store.

     I also went to my local craft store and bought some necklace chain and jump rings in the jewelry section.

     Then, back in my workshop, I retrieved a pack of Dollar Tree mini ornaments I had bought last year to make some 10mm Sci-Fi fuel tanks.  I planned to use the caps off them to hang the cages.

     I cut the rollers down to a size I felt suitable to hold a 28mm human sized prisoner, and then glued a washer to the top, and one of the ornament hanger tops, with the flanges cut down, to the top of the washer.

     I the constructed a scaffolding to hang them on, and glued that to a cut-down old CD.  I added some bracing bracket bands to the top piece using paper strips, as well as a couple wire loops to hang the cages from.

     For the bottoms of the cages I just used a couple more washers, tough on these I glued round stickers to cover the holes in the washers.  Also, on one I assembled a skeleton to represent a long forgotten prisoner, using the parts from a GW skeleton set, and an arm from a Frostgrave cultist set.  I applied white glue to the CD, and sprinkled it with sand.  Also, I attached a short section of chain to the top of each cage.  Then, when everything was dry, I sprayed it all black.

        When I sat down to paint the cages, I suddenly realized I hadn't included any kind of door n them!  (A hazard of being a cut and glue first, ask questions later, type of crafter. ;-D )  So, on each cage I carefully cut out some sections of the roller, and added two vertical bars and a balsa lock to each, to give an impression of a cage door.

     After that it was simply a matter of painting everything.     I'm really happy with these, though if I had them to over again, I think I'd make them a little shorter in size by about two of the horizontal rings.