Village Games' Blog - Sci-Fi Games

BATTLETECH TO THE Nth DEGREE…

nospam@example.com (Dan Hobot) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 00:05:00 -0600

Pretty much every Saturday a battletech group comes up to the shop to indulge themselves in their favorite hobby – trashing giant mechs! The thing about the Saturday ‘Techers (as we affectionately call them) is that they play Battletech in just about every facet you can. They have a long running Battletech role-playing campaign; theY play the miniatures version with 3-D terrain; they play it on the original maps – you name it, they either play it, or have tried it.

They are a fun group of guys Jim, Paul and the others – and they are very entertaining to listen to! Comments range from ‘Rip his arm off!’ to ‘I am going to sneak attack into the cockpit…’. Occasionally they play a D&D game instead, which is equally entertaining to listen to, but most of the time it is their favorite - Battletech!

If you ever find yourself in the neighborhood on a Saturday, stop in and ~~stare~~ say ‘hi’. I am sure the guys would love the added pressure of an audience…J

Until next time…

Never underestimate what can be done to a mech in battle!

Dan

BATTLING IN THE DARK REACHES OF THE FUTURE...

nospam@example.com (Dan Hobot) — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 00:08:00 -0600

Recently a bunch of the regulars put on a Battlefleet Gothic game. For those who are not familiar, that is the space combat sister game for Games Workshop’s Warhammer 40K. The fleets were all painted and looking good, and there was even terrain (check out those mighty asteroids!).

The group really seemed to have a good time – with a few games being played that night – so plans were made for several more games in the future. If you are interested, check out the Forums as I believe there is a guy (Jay J.) who has been scheduling demo games of Gothic for anyone who wants to learn. And, of course, the shop can hook you up with any of the materials or fleets you may want to collect!

Until next time…

Cheers!

Dan

WIERD STUFF...

nospam@example.com (Dan Hobot) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 00:37:00 -0600

Around the shop, a bunch of the guys have really been getting into WWII ‘Weird War’ stuff in 25/28 mm. They have even been converting pieces from other games to fit into their armies (see if you can pick out the converted pieces, and guess where they might have come from…).

The guys do a great job on the stuff which, combined with some spiffy looking terrain, really makes for a nice looking game. I am not sure exactly what rules they are using, but I believe it involves a lot of home-brewed stuff. In any event, they always seem to have a great time with it.

I am kind of curious as to what they will be adding to their games in the future, as there has been talk of zombies, aliens and other bizarre stuff.

Until next time…

Cheers!

Dan

A PROMISE FULLFILLED...

nospam@example.com (Dan Hobot) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 00:29:00 -0600

A while back I promised Ben R. that I would feature his Tyranid army (made for 40K) in the blog as it was one of the best looking ones we have seen at the shop in a long time. We set everything up and took the shots, but somehow I don’t think they ever made it to the actual blog – so here they are.

Ben really did a nice job on these guys and their swamp theme. The figures have a multitude of color layers on them, as well as various terrain materials and other bits and pieces to round out the effect. In addition, I believe a few of the pieces actually have their limbs attached with rare earth magnets to allow some flexibility in weaponry and storage (always important!).

If you stop by the shop on a 40K night, and you ~~beg~~ ask Ben real nice, he would probably be willing to go into greater detail on how he made this great looking army.

Until next time…

It is never a good idea to go into the swamp!

Dan

VISITORS FROM ABOVE...

nospam@example.com (Dan Hobot) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:18:00 -0600

Recently one of our regulars (Doug M.) at the shop hosted a very special micro (6MM) armor game. He invited his players, telling them only that they were going to be playing out one of the ‘special’ side battles at the battle of Kursk in WWII. He was providing all of the terrain and minis, so all they had to do was show up.

When the players arrived they found that for the most part he had been true to his word, there was a table set up for a WWII micro armor battle. However, it turned out that there was a third party involved with the battle. Apparently during the night before the big battle, an alien race had landed in an attempt to crush both armies in one fell swoop and start their conquest of the earth.

Naturally the scenario was a surprise to the players, although it didn’t seem to faze them much (maybe they suspected something was up?). In any event everyone seemed to have a great time, as all we could hear at the front of the shop were lots of shouts and laughter during the entire game – I think someone even mentioned that a T34/76 had been melted by a death ray…

The rules they used were the most excellent Future War Commander, with the minis being from a variety of manufacturers including GHQ, C-in-C, and Games Workshop among others. I hope you enjoy the pictures even half as much as they appeared to enjoy the game!

Until next time…

Remember, not all bright lights in the sky are shooting stars!

Dan

Zombies, Zombies and Yet Even More Zombies...

nospam@example.com (Dan Hobot) — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 19:34:00 -0600

CAN YOU REALLY EVER HAVE ENOUGH ZOMBIES?

We were lucky enough to have Chris L. run one of his world renown Zombie games at the shop the other day. He was using the All Things Zombie rules from Two Hour Wargames. They are very good rules for the zombie hordes scenarios, which give very entertaining results without too much effort.

The Town - Note the Prominent Dance Club. That is A Chris Trademark...

A Close Up of the Sacred Church - Note the Cool Long Grass Around it by Yours Truely

I was playing a pair of hostage rescue team members that I had from the Copplestone Future Wars line. Most everybody else was playing some sort of law enforcement characters (with varying degrees of dubious abilities – note the slice ‘o pizza in one officer’s hands…). The one notable exception was Jay, who was playing the parish priest and nun who were definitely on a mission to destroy the unholy. J

Can You See the Slice?

Another View of the Chris Trademark...

Some of the Rescuees

All in all, as always, it was a thoroughly entertaining game full of bizarre twists and turns. It was also chock full of Chris’ far too large zombie collection – and I guess he has been adding to it too!

Who Are These Studly Hostage Rescue Fellas?

Fighting From The Rooftop

Needless to say, having played in my share of these warped scenarios, I managed to keep my guys alive. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for everyone else though. I believe the final body count ended up being fairly substantial on both sides!

Zombies, Zombies...

... And More Zombies!

Well, until next time enjoy the pictures…

Happy Gaming!

Dan

BATTLING THROUGH THE STARS

nospam@example.com (Dan Hobot) — Sat, 03 May 2008 00:14:00 -0600

CARDS IN SPACE

At the request (and challenge) of a couple of players of the Combat Cards we have developed a variant of the cards for space combat, which we have been recently testing out at the store.

The game has the same fast paced style of play as the other Combat Card games, and yet still results in lots of tactical thinking and plenty of destruction and mayhem. These are just a couple of shots from a recent game (noticed the flaming, severely damaged vessels – who said you can’t burn in space…).

There are even aspects of the game to allow boarding actions, landing ground forces on planets and other scenario driven actions. Hopefully this will lead to many exciting and interesting games!

Until next time…

Cheers!

Dan

Battlin' in No-Man's-Land

nospam@example.com (Dan Hobot) — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 00:08:00 -0600

SKIRMISHING SIDEWAYS

The other day Chris L. and I fought a little sci-fi skirmish game at the shop. We were using the generic Combat Cards so we could use any figures. Chris used his Starship Trooper models, while I broke out some of my AT-43 models.

Chris' Troopers Advance

We decided to fight the battle on a 4’x 4’ section of the awesome trench terrain that Chris donated to the store. Instead of fighting in a standard fashion – with a defender in the trenches and an attacker approaching the position – we decided to fight sideways across the board. This made it extremely interesting, with troops running down the length of the trenches, bunker firing ports facing the wrong way, etc.

In the end we had a great game! Fragmentation and smoke grenades were flying, heavy weapons were kept pinned down and crazed squaddies rushed their foes for hand-to-hand combat. We are definitely going to try it again and maybe (we say it all the time, but hopefully this time it will stick) even put together a small campaign game of it. Time will tell…

Those Blasted Troopers Keep Coming

Until next time, enjoy the pictures!

Dan

Battletech 3-D

nospam@example.com (Dan Hobot) — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 00:39:00 -0600

I just wanted to post a quick shot of this 3-D Battletech layout that the Saturday night Battletech players were using the other day. The basic terrain is from Heroscape, with bits of other stuff thrown in. I believe these guys play their games as part of a much larger Battletech roleplaying campaign. They are blast to listen to when they play due to their passion for the setting and the adventures.

Until next time…

Happy Gaming!

Dan

Here Come the Romulans...

nospam@example.com (Dan Hobot) — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 13:50:20 -0600

The Star Fleet/Federation Commander gang (didn’t know you guys were classified as a “gang” now did ya?) had their monthly game the other night. It was all heavy ships like dreadnaughts and battleships, with prolific amounts of damage being done to everyone.

The Slugfest in the Middle

Can the Clustering Getting Any More Confusing???

As always, everybody seemed to have a great time with lots of laughs and trash talking all around!

I Believe This Was Mark's Ship Damage Record - I Think There is an Undamaged Box in There Somewhere

Well, until next time…

Happy Gaming!

Dan

And Even More AT-43...

nospam@example.com (Dan Hobot) — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 16:52:00 -0600

BATTLING THE APES

Most of the AT-43 games at the shop lately have involved the Karmans – the space apes of the AT-43 universe. At first the monkeys were having a heck of a time even coming close to winning, but lately as more units have been released for them they are starting to see some success.

Time will tell if our simian friends will come to dominate the battlefields of the far future. In the meantime, everybody has been engaging in battles of all shapes and sizes. These are just a few pictures from the games being played.

Well, until next time, enjoy…

Cheers!

Dan

More Battles Among the Stars

nospam@example.com (Dan Hobot) — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 10:44:35 -0700

AT-43 TOURNAMENT

Recently we had another AT-43 tournament at the shop. While the turn-out was a little lower for this one than last time (four players vs. 7 last go ‘round) everyone still had great time.

One of the Tables for the Tournament

The tournament was three rounds, each a unique scenario devised by the tournament director, Mike Z. And despite the relatively lower entry fee ($5) the prizes were quite nice (a unit box for the winner and a couple of gift certificates for runners up). In any event everybody had a great time - the battles were close and the laughs were plenty!

As for the next tournament, with such a low turn-out Mike was going to wait for a while until people get a little “hungrier” for it, so he is thinking sometime late summer or early fall maybe.

Red Block Heroes

The Red Block Confronts the Therian Threat

Anyways, enjoy the pictures from the tournament!

Until next time…

The Therians Pose A Problem...

Cheers!

Dan

More AT-43

nospam@example.com (Dan Hobot) — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 23:36:00 -0700

THOSE DARN THERIANS…

We had a relatively new player come up to the shop and join one of our regulars in a game of AT-43 the other day. I got a couple of pictures of their game since it looked really interesting as the center of the outpost was filled with Dragon’s Teeth that actually prevented the striders from crossing through, as well as four fortified bunkers!

The guys seemed like they had fun though, especially since they made a table reservation for the next week as soon as they were done.

Well, until next time…

Cheers!

Dan

The Future Just Keeps Coming

nospam@example.com (Dan Hobot) — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 00:02:00 -0700

MORE FIGHTING IN THE INNER CITY

Just a couple of quick shots of another AT-43 game at the shop the other night. One of our members (Mike G.) hosted a game with his brother-in-law. They had requested the urban terrain for the game, and looked like they had a great time.

I believe Mike was the Therians, while his brother-in-law was the Red Block.

Until next time…

Cheers!

Dan

The Big Guy Gets In On The Action

nospam@example.com (Dan Hobot) — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 00:48:00 -0700

I GET TO PLAY

The other day I finally got a chance to get in a game again – AT-43 to be exact. Me and Jeff P. played a combined UNA force, while Mark and Matt were the traitorous Red Block.

The game got off to a horrible start for Jeff and I. We didn’t have nearly enough leadership points and the dice just weren’t in our favor. Well, we kept on persevering (actually more accurately “whined our way through”) and things finally started to turn in our favor.

For me, my strategy of leaving my Fire Toads on a hill in a perpetual state of disorganization (without enough leadership to activate them) and soaking up as much abuse as the Red Block could dish out paid off. We slowly whittled away at the Red Block striders until the last one failed its morale check and fled.

This left a lot of Red block troopers against few UNA troops, but a couple three striders (including two Cobras). Due to time constraints, we had to call the game but I sure we could have still found a way to loose it. J

Until next time…

Dan