2014 Resolutions and The Three Kings of the Lost World!

It’s the New Year and everyone seems to be blogging about their hobby resolutions. I have to say I’ve never been one to make (or keep) resolutions, they’re a nice idea however its so easy to lose focus as everyday life takes over. However I decided to make two this year:

1. Quit coffee (I drink to much and I’m sure its given me an ulcer!)
2. Do not buy any more figures until the lead/plastic pile is gone!

So how am I doing? Well it’s the 8th January and I am typing this blog post while sipping on a lovely cup of ……….coffee!

Arghhhh - yes I’ve failed however I’m trying to achieve this resolution by slowly weaning myself off the dreaded black stuff rather than cold turkey (its fairer on my family this way!).

So that’s my first resolution broken however I am winning on my second one……..NOT!

As many of you lovely blog readers do I follow a wide range of blogs, one of which is the rather splendid Colonel of Truths Miniature Issues who manages to do amazing things with bits of tat and bargain store buys. So inspired by this and whilst wandering through Boyes Department store in Ilkley (looking for a toy car I’d promised my youngest!) I picked up 3 plastic dinosaurs for £2.97 with the thought that they would make a rather characterful addition to our Darkest Africa games of IHMN.

Now as soon as I’d purchased the aforementioned I thought “oh no I’ve broken my resolution” and so with a guilty conscience I set to getting them gaming ready whilst said youngest offspring enjoyed his favourite movie (58 mins of Thomas King of the Railway!). Below is the result of my efforts!

These shall be gracing the table tonight when Lt Col Johnsons company attempts to wrangle the beasts whilst being attacked by that barbarian Tarzan and his native allies! An update shall follow!

Note: As they never hit the lead/plastic pile technically I didn’t breach the resolution *cough* honest!

The Desolation Of Smaug - I’ve Finally Seen It!

Unfortunately I was unable to go see this earlier in the month as more pressing concerns took precedence (work, Xmas pressies and moving house). So with a little sweet talking we managed to convince my mother in law to supervise the offspring whilst SWMBO and myself went for a quick adventure into the city. 

On arrival we purchased two tickets for the 1pm 2D showing (3D doesn’t agree with SWMBO) and filtered into the large darkened room. The reel started rolling and after 30 minutes for adverts (the tickets were £9 each, why do they need so many adverts?) the familiar music started.

So what did I think? I'm sure many of you have seen it by now, in fact lets be honest I really don’t think anyone reading this blog will be unfamiliar with the story so I won’t be giving anything away if I repeat any of the story. This picks up from where the last film finished, in fact it pretty much carries on immediately with the story. I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it, the imagery was awesome, the pace was spot on, the acting was….err…… not that great actually. Or am I doing a disservice to the actors when its probably not their fault. I think my main gripe is that there were many occasions where the actors looked like they were acting. I don’t want to know I'm watching a film and unfortunately I felt like I was all the way through. I wanted to be caught up in the tale and it simply wasn’t the case.

Martin Freeman didn't have many lines this time and as such seemed to be reacting to everyone else, there were quite a few obvious pauses after a line was delivered where there was no dialogue. A few of the dwarves had lines that were clunky and badly delivered, they looked like there were acting. Now this sounds like I'm picking at technicalities however after four forays into the lands of Middle Earth where I have been dragged in as soon as the movies started I'm sad to say that I felt like I was on the outside on this one. Now don’t get me wrong I enjoyed the film, I’ll be getting the DVD and watch it through many times, it may even grow on me however that first experience was not the one I wanted.

I also felt that the inclusion of Legolas was a little bit forced, much like the first Hobbit film using Elijah Wood and Ian Holm, it is noticeable that Orlando Bloom has aged. I did like the interplay with Legolas and Thranduil and I was concerned that the creation of Tauriel would feel wrong however I liked her character, she seemed natural.

On a positive note the film does not let up, the pace is constant with many action scenes and it seems that this time seeing it in 2D does not mean you miss out on the panorama shots that would look better in 3D HFR.

So all in all a good experience, a few niggles but overall I’m happy. Middle parts of a trilogy are always problematic, they don’t often seem like stories in their own right. The Two Towers works on its own, this struggles a little however I shall see it again and may change my mind.

Been offline due to festivities!

I guess everyone has been a little preoccupied over the last two weeks, some kind of religious festival I believe. Anyway this merriment did in fact manage to finagle it's way into my household, without I hasten to add the accompanying religious connotations.

So as we have two young children the Christmas period is very much about them, presents, stories about Santa etc and just generally very silly in a good way. Both SWMBO and myself agreed to not get presents for each other this year, which obviously means that she ignored this rule and got me something. Now I have an ever increasing lead and plastic mountain so she knows not to add to this as she has to deal with the spread of pending items. In fact she decided to take matters into her own hands. The two images below are before and after xmas pressie exchange. Please note that we have just moved house so I haven't had a painting area set up for ages.

I'm not sure how Santa got this oak writing desk down the chimney however I'm glad he did it without destroying anything or putting his back out. Finding a fat guy with a large beard lying on the floor in pain is not something I want my kids to see on Christmas morning, the rest of the year its not a problem as I'm often lying there in pain after throwing them in the air and playing horsey!

The Arrival of Sgt Arthur Johnson and the Church of the Immaculate Goblet

As my previous post identified I'm in a little bit of limbo as far as my hobby time goes - the change of address has resulted in a very messed up routine with many things scattered around the new house. However I did find time to finish off and finally photograph the last member of my Scotland Yard for In Her Majestys Name.

This means I can now focus on another adventuring company for IHMN, Professor M and the Black Moon Brotherhood, a most immoral group of gentlemen with some rather unique skills. Stay tuned and I'll post up the details after the festive break.

And in the interests of any of you readers who are religiously inclined I also finished off my Warbases Church, however this may return to the painting table as I'm not 100% happy with it. It will suffice for the moment.

I hope you'll all enjoy the festive season and manage to get into 2014 without any alcohol related disasters!

Moving House Sucks

I hate moving house, it really impacts your free time and enthusiasm to actually do anything. Over the last two weeks my wife and I have been thoroughly absorbed with packing boxes and moving between two houses whilst desperately trying to amuse two young children. Now that we’ve finally done the shift, got all our possessions to the new house and almost got everything squared away we can restart our hobbies etc.

Now there’s the darn problem. I have lots of things on my to do list (IHMN buildings and board, my new adventuring company (Professor M and the Brotherhood of the Black Moon), Flames of War US Para company, Bolt Action DAK and many other things sitting on the sidelines. Unfortunately I can’t find the sidelines or identify a suitable place to set anything up. So all my mini’s are stashed in no particular order all over the house and I’ll probably spend most of the Xmas period trying to find them again.

So how am I going to amuse myself whilst sorting through the chaos….hmmmmm. I know, play a silly board game.

 

“Bleurghhhhhhhh” groaned the zombie as it shambled aimlessly through the open door of the prison complex followed by twenty six others.

“No problem” I thought nervously fingering my meat cleaver as I heard James running back from the control room to aid me.

“GWARRRRRRRRRRRRR” screamed the abomination as it battered its way  through the decaying corpses, eager to tear me limb from limb

“I need new trousers” was my next thought.

“Molotov you moron” shouted James as he finally cleared the corner and saw the nightmare waiting to engulf us.

“Ooooh, fire good!”

Yes we had a rather excellent five player game of Zombicide: Prison Break last night and I have to say I’ve never had so much fun whilst sober. Last night the club was at capacity with upwards of 40 gamers frantically rolling dice and looking serious whilst in one corner of the room a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade………….. oops, sorry. It all went a bit A-team there.

Seriously though I can see this becoming a staple of our gaming calendar as there are multiple levels to the game play, cooperative being the most rational however the temptation to attack other survivors when they find something good, or even deliberately tempt Zombies into a room and then close the door is a too much to resist.

I may lose friends!!!!

Normandy 1944 - A Bolt Action Campaign Day Report

On the 1st December 2013 a group of intrepid individuals, gamers one and all descended on the Belgrave Social Club in Halifax, West Yorkshire to rewind the clock 36,551,520 minutes and attempt to invade German occupied France, breach the Atlantic Wall and free Paris, and in doing so open up the road to Berlin! 

Ok, now that I’ve done the dramatic bit I’d better describe the event, which should prove tricky as I only attended for 2 hours (family commitments!). However I have been able to pull together the views of both TO’s, Geraint and Chris to give you all a flavour of the event. Unfortunately it turns out that you’re supposed to charge your camera before taking pictures so I apologise for the very poor camera phone images.

Anyway, on to the action.

The forces were gathered together and asked to assign a CiC for the day, whose responsibility it would be to allocate the available forces to each game.

Round 1: The Allies assaulted 3 beaches (doubles games) in an attempt to create a beachhead and link up with the air dropped troops who were furiously trying to capture Pegasus Bridge and a section of trenches just behind the lines. The Germans held one beach, fighting the assaulting allies to a bloody standstill. However in a reversal of history it would seem the CiC of the Axis forces rightly understood the value of Pegasus Bridge, assigning an elite unit to protect from any airborne assault and thus the British Para’s were unable to dislodge them. 

The beachhead

The Stuka Zu Fuss burns after demolishing the
assaulting allies!

The Commando's objective, the trenchline beyond the beach

And off they go to capture the bunker - tense stuff

Pegasus Bridge. That river looks choppy!

Result - The beachhead is made and an inland territory captured.

Round 2: With the allies unable to capture Pegasus bridge and only capturing two of the three beaches the options for the Allied CiC were limited. However they were able to take the initiative and thus the next games were played in countryside heavy with Bocage. However the Axis forces conducted an excellent defence and the Allies were unable to capitalise on their gains in the first round. 

Beyond the beaches - the Normandy countryside
turns out to be a tough nut to crack!

The Commando's attempt to capture a Norman hotel!

But what's this, the Germans sneak round the corner!

The 4Ground Hotel Complex is rather nice isn't it

And while the Commando's dally at the Hotel, an urgent
 rescue mission is launched to stop the Germans capturing
 a senior office stranded after a botched glider landing
 (it doesn't look that botched though does it!)

I wouldn't want to march across that field without cover.
But where else would a glider land!

And the fight in the bocage continues

Result - The Allies failed to expand the beachhead however they held their ground.

Round 3: With the Allies unable to push through the Axis forces in round 2 the Germans were able to make a counter-push. We swiftly discovered that Germans on the attack are not as strong as Germans on the defence as they attempted to bar the way to Paris and came a cropper. The Allies won a series of victories and as a result the Germans lost a whole handful of territories, opening the route to Paris for the Allies if they could win the initiative for the final round.

Under cover of darkness the Brits conduct a stealthy assault

And the Germans use those magical things called ears
 to hear them approach (how stealthy is a Jeep
full of troops?)

Armoured car controls one of the roads to Paris.

"ere Sarge, do ya reckon I can hit that squirrel"?
"t'aint a squirrel lad, thats Lieutenant Hughes"

GI's advance through burned out villages

Round 4: Things were now balanced on a knife edge. If the Allied General Rob could win the roll-off for initiative he would be able to assault Paris and potentially win the day. Axis General Tim, however, had been able to roll sixes for fun all day, so couldn’t possibly lose this one. Tim’s lucky pink dice was removed, the collective breaths of the room were held, and Rob won the roll-off, allowing the Allies to direct all their forces to attack Paris. 

The outskirts of Paris. Who wants to peer round the corner first?

And finally the Panzers arrive. This was the only vaguely heavy tank of the day.

Results from the last game, though, were exactly even. Both sides won four victories, meaning that again Rob and Chris would have to roll off to decide which of the two sides would lose their nerve and withdraw from the city. Again Tim’s lucky pink dice was removed and again Rob won the roll-off, granting the Allies victory. Cue victory parades, pretty French girls kissing the winners, and Tim returning to Berlin to face Hitler’s wrath.

All-in-all it was a really fun day. The games were played in a great spirit, the tables - thanks to the people who brought scenery - looked fantastic, and the armies were painted to a really high standard. Things didn't work quite as set out in the event pack - Geraint had to adapt on the fly to keep things moving (sort of a GM role) and learnt quite a lot from doing so.

Honourable mention goes to Warlord games for the collection of prizes, Rich for the donation of a lovely scratch built landing craft as a prize and finally Geraint’s family for the pie and peas, the staple of any wargamers diet!

Note: investigations are ongoing as to the make up of Tim’s dice which rolled a disproportionate number of 6’s, mainly whenever his Stuka Zu Fuss opened fire!

Sarissa Precision Gaslamp Alley

And finally they’re here. Not content with trying to build, accessorise and paint the Warbases Factory and Church I’ve finally received my Sarissa Gaslamp Alley buildings. Essentially the street that they had built and painted to promote the range! After a bit of an email chat with Steve at Sarissa I got a bundle deal for 10% off which I’m quite happy with and they arrived promptly and well packaged in two sturdy cardboard boxes.

Unfortunately they shall be sitting on the shelf whilst I finish the aforementioned Warbases buildings which are currently built and accessorised but without their base footprint.