Village Games' Blog

Fighting in the Underhive

NECROMUNDA ON THE HORIZON

Several of the regulars have been busy recruiting for a Necromunda league they are going to run this summer at the shop. Necromunda is a skirmish game from Games Workshop set in the 40K universe. The premise is rival gangs fighting in a ruin industrial city (the “Underhive”), on a world abandon by the Imperium. The gangs are fighting for every resource they can just to survive. After each fight, the players can add to their gang member’s skills, equipment and so on in preparation for the next battle.

Two of their tables side-by-side.

And when I say they have been recruiting, they have definitely been recruiting. They have taught four or five new players how to play who, all of whom are planning on joining the league. Because of the simplicity of the rules, and the fact that everybody loves a campaign game, it should be fun just watching them play.

A little blurry, but a shot of one of the gangs in action.

They are still willing to add players, so if you are interested stop by the shop and see if you can get in on a demo game (who are we kidding, these guys would teach a dead guy if they thought he wanted to join the league). Anyways, stop by on a Thursday night and get involved with a very entertaining, and highly addictive, game!

Well, until next time…

Happy Gaming!

Dan

Messing Around With The Picture Machine

A STEEP LEARNING CURVE – BUT AN EXCELLENT SUBJECT

I have been playing around with our new camera some more. There seems to be a rather steep learning curve on the technology and skill of taking good pictures. Have no fear though, gentle reader, for I shall persevere and learn how to do this right (or I will just get fed up and return to the camera to the store… J).

Anyways, here are a few shots of an M4 Sherman Tank I just finished for my 15mm American North African/Italian campaign WWII army. I am especially pleased with how it turned out as I used some new techniques for it. Specifically:

MiG Pigments were used to weather the tracks and road wheels. This is a product which come in a powder form (which is how I used it for this application) that can also be mixed with different mediums to create washes, caked on mud, etc.

Woodland Scenic’s rock molds were used to create the rocking outcroppings on the base. I only have a couple of the molds, but they are very easy to use and produce great results. I didn’t even paint them, that is just washes (including the Woodland Scenic’s Earth Wash) over the casting material!

The base was prepared with Valjello’s Grey Pumice and then given a light base coat of tan. After that it was just a quick series of washes to get a great realistic ground look. I didn’t even drybrush or highlight it!

I used Testor’s Decal Set on the star decals, which really helped take the shine off of the decal and allowed it to be successfully weathered and blended in to the rest of the model – the lack of being able to do that has always put me off of using decals in the past.

The vehicle was given a wash of my house “Magic Dip” solution, which I thought gave a great tone to the underlying colors. I will be doing that on all of my vehicles in the future as well.

I hand painting the tank’s name (“Birdshot”) on the hull. It wasn’t that hard, and it opens up a host of possibilities for futures projects.

All of these steps were surprisingly quick and easy to do. The tank, with 17 stands of infantry, were done in about a week with these results. In today’s world the name of the game is speed, and yet still having really great results. I think we are really developing these at the shop these days.

Anyways, I am very please with how the tank turned out, and I will be giving this kind of treatment to all of my vehicles in the future – and hopefully, even getting better at doing them. If you have any questions about the products (which we do carry) or techniques I used please stop by and I would be glad to talk more about them!

Well, until next time…

Happy Gaming!

Dan

Another Mega Battle for the Lucky 13's...

RUMBLE IN THE DESERT

The 40K crowd participated in another mega-battle a couple of weeks ago related to the Lucky 13’s Campaign that GW is hosting this year. This time the battle was fought over the rocky spires of a vast desert expanse.

Custom Made Terrain for the Event by Ryan F.

As always with these Apocalypse events, there were lots of models on the table – with a fair amount painted to quite a high standard. There were about ten players for this game, which did cause it to bog down slightly, but in the end everyone seemed to have a good time.

For the next battle though, the organizers came up with some ways to improve things to assure a faster moving and more exciting game. It should be interesting to see the forces for the next one, given that everyone seems to be coming to each battle with more and more stuff painted really nice.

Well, until next time…

Happy Gaming!

Dan

Zombies, Zombies and Yet Even More Zombies...

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

The Beauty Can Come Through

NEW CAMERA

We just got a new camera for the store – one that can take great zoom and close-up shots as well as a host of other neat features. I need to get some special lighting equipment to take the best shots, but here are a couple of pictures just to test it out.

The first is a close-up of one of the 1/72 scale British paratroopers I painted a while back (see the previous post on painting these). The shots I had of the fig’s then left a lot to be desired. While this one still needs some lighting work, you can get a much better idea of how they turned out. He is Sten gunner from the Red Devils:

The other shot is of some 15mm WWII German paratroopers that I just finished up. They were painted in the camo smocks that were issued in North Africa, and more importantly for my purposes, in the Italian/Monte Cassino campaign. Again, the lighting isn’t the best but you can see a lot of the detail. (Note: These guys were base coated with my airbrush and then speed painted in the same fashion as the paratrooper above using the “Magic Dip” method):

I have thrown out a challenge in the shop for someone to paint up a matching New Zealander, Indian or Polish force to take on the Germans in a Cassino mini-campaign, but so far no one has risen to the occasion. I still have hope though…

Until next time…

Happy Gaming!

Dan

Football Fantasy Style

BLOODBOWL BREWING

A few of the regulars have been kicking around the idea of running a Bloodbowl (the old GW game) League at the store. Several guys already have teams – that are painted quite nicely – which they break out periodically to get in a few games.

I took a couple of pictures the last time they were playing, and I promised that I would mention it in the blog. So if you are interested in joining in the league, go to the Forums and check out the posts. I would also suggest posting your interest to give them an idea of how many people might be interested.

Until next time…

Happy Gaming!

Dan

Boardgames in Miniature

INTERPRETING A NEW WAY

Recently one of the regulars (Doug M) and his friend (Terry) were playing a miniatures game at the shop that they had adapted from a board game. With the cool looking terrain tiles and well painted armies, it definitely caught my eye.

The original game was World at War: The Battle of the Eisenbach Gap from Lock ‘n Load games (which we carry), which is about a Soviet invasion of the West during the Cold War. Doug and his friend really liked the board game, but being miniatures players, they were looking for a way to translate it into a tabletop version.

Using some pre-printed hex tiles, and drawing from their extensive 6mm Micro Armor collections, the pair played a couple of great games that afternoon. Now with a new version of the game coming out (“Death of the 1^st Panzer”) they have even more reason to utilize the rules and expand their armies relative to the game’s scenarios.

After a great afternoon of combat, both agreed to come up and play it again. It appears though, that they are going to start using the new Oddzial Osmy 3mm miniatures for the pieces (that way a stand that represents a platoon will actually have 3-4 tanks on it, and yet will still fit in the hex).

Until next time…

Enjoy the pictures!

Dan

Let's Try Try This Again

WHAT’S GOING ON?

It has been a while since my last entry, but this has not been for a lack of things to post about. We have been going through tremendous changes at the shop - new and expanded check-out area, a dozen new upright racks, new product lines and expansion of existing lines. There is even new terrain and terrain tables on the way!

Of course all of this has to be designed and built by us (Dan & Carl) - with a lot of much appreciated help from our regulars at times. In addition to all of this, I have been working on a 6mm Afrika Korps army, a 15mm German Paratrooper force from the Cassino battles in 1944, and now a 3mm Oddzial Osmy modern force. I have also been building proficiency with my airbrushes and other modeling tools in preparation for giving classes and workshops to support the modeling supplies (Tamiya paints and modeling supplies, X-Acto tools, Mig Pigments, Badger airbrushes, etc.) that we are bringing in more and more. All of which has resulted in my not quite having as much time to post as I would like.

I am going to try and get back on track here though. There have been some really neat and creative games going on at the store and I want to share that. There are also a lot of exciting new genres, scales, campaigns and leagues being kicked around in the shop and I want to try and get the word out about those as well.

So bear with us as we grow and expand, and hopefully it will result in more interesting, creative, and fun (& accurate for you historical buffs) gaming and modeling in the shop!

Until next time…

Happy Gaming!

Dan

Hills Suck...

FIGHTING OUR WAY OUT OF THE HILLS

The other day I got in another game of WWII Micro Armor with Mark. I was the Americans launching an assault on a small French village from a series of hills to the north of the town, while Mark was a very small German force trying to delay the Americans long enough for other German units to escape.

I set up in a staging area back in the hills, while the Germans set-up anywhere in the village. The American objective was to push through the German lines as quickly as possible and get as many units past “Phase Line - Green” (a road running through the village parallel to the American front) before the end of the game. The Germans objective was to hold the Americans shy of their Phase Line for as long as possible. For rules we were using the Combat Cards.

The American Attack Moving from Left to Right

The game started out beautifully for the Americans – if you are a fan of chaos and confusion. The rocky, hilly terrain proved a nightmare for launching an attack from. Units had trouble getting clear of one another, as well as getting to their jump-off points for the attack. Then a wave of panic spread through the American forces about an imminent (but non-existent) enemy spoiling attack, which resulted in numerous commanders relocating their command posts further to the rear creating more chaos.

The Americans Finally Getting Out of the Hills

Finally, and despite sporadic German sniping fire, the Americans were able to get their act together and start mounting their attack. Unfortunately, the primary axis of advance for the American attack along the northern edge of the front became bogged down by an aggressive Panther tank which wreaked havoc on the spearhead.

German Defenders on the Northern End of the Village

Fortunately for the Americans, on the southern edge of their front the artillery came reigning down fast and furious on the German positions, disrupting their defensive plans and giving the Americans an opportunity for a daring dash through the German lines. The Americans, desperate for any kind of an opening, seized the moment and sent everything they had through the gap in the German lines (was that a kitchen sink that just went by?). And they needed all of it!

The Americans Poised to Assault the Village

Realizing that he was in trouble, the German commander quickly responded by beginning to reposition his remaining Panther tanks to counter attack the American breakthrough. However, in a very fortuitous break for the Americans…er, I mean through excellent planning, time ran out on the Germans. The game time was up and victory points were awarded, which resulted in a very narrow victory for the Americans.

The Final Assault Into the Village

In reality though, the push through the German lines had cost the Americans so dearly that a couple more turns would have resulted in the Germans sealing the breakthrough and essentially ending the American’s hopes for a breakthrough this game.

All-in-all it was a great game which really went back and forth! I am left with an excitement for the next game and a chance to apply the lessons I learned from this game.

(UPDATE: I was so motivated after this battle, I prepped and finished another platoon of American infantry, Sherman tanks and M3 halftracks after this game in preparation for the next battle.)

Until next time…

Happy Gaming!

Dan

40K - GOOD FOR THE EYES

GOOD LOOKING 40K

Pretty much every Thursday now, there are Warhammer 40K games being played at the shop. With the regularity of play, we are starting to see more and more of the armies getting painted and finished up. Recently there were a couple of real big multi-player games played at the shop – one on a ruined urban table, the other on a rocky green wasteland.

As you can see the quality and creativity of the players in finishing their armies is really getting good. And now with some of the players being inspired to start new armies, I can’t wait to see what hits the table next!

Until next time…

Cheers!

Dan

SATURDAY WARS AGAIN

ANOTHER COLD WAR GAME

The Saturday modern micro armor regulars were up again for another battle using Cold War Commander. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to grab more than a single picture of the game, but it looked like a pretty cool scenario anyways.

Until next time…

Cheers!

Dan

A NEW SOURCE OF TERRAIN

FAST & EASY

Recently the store brought in some of the terrain kits from Pegasus Hobbies. They do a variety of sci-fi type plastic kits – power stations, pumping platforms, etc. While I snagged one of the kits to create some store terrain out of, one of our regulars (Mike Z.) grabbed one of the power station kits for himself.

I haven’t had a chance to work on the store one yet, but from what Mike said they are a breeze to put together and even easier to paint up. Mike said that he also broke his set up to get three separate terrain pieces out of it, rather than one big piece. The picture give you some idea of how nice the set turn out in the end.

Seeing him finish it up at the shop the other day convinced me that these sets are really pretty cool. With our next restock order we are going to get a few of the other sets as well for the shelves.

Until next time…

Cheers!

Dan

BATTLING THROUGH THE STARS

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

'Ard Boyz Qualifier Tournament

‘ARD BOYZ TOURNAMENT 08 – PART I

Recently, Games Workshop sponsored a Warhammer Fantasy tournament as part of their ‘Ard Boyz Tournament circuit. We were one of the shops that hosted a tournament.

We had eight players who played three rounds apiece, three hours per round. By the end of the day all of the players were exhausted! All had a good time though, and asked if we would be hosting another of these in the future.

Skaven

Unfortunately I took a lot of pictures of the tourney and the armies being used, but almost none of them turned out. The only one that even remotely turned out I posted here.

The winners were Kevin Bruins, John Grover and Ric Davis. Everybody walked away with at least a blister though, so I think everybody sort of considered themselves a winner in the end (fun time + prizes).

Until next time…

Cheers!

Dan

Closing Falaise

TRYING SOMETHING NEW

The other day Chris and I played a game of 6mm WWII micro armor using the Combat Cards. This time we tried something a little different with the scenario – it was set up to reflect a more specific real world mission for each of our forces.

Looking West to the Village

The setting was northern France 1944, near Falaise. Chris was playing the Americans and was in command of a Task Force (a battalion strength combined arms force). I was playing the Germans with a rather pathetic Kampgruppe acting as a rearguard/flanking screen.

THE FORCES

Chris had two full strength companies of M4 Shermans, a company of armored infantry, an M10 tank destroyer platoon and a battery of M7 Priests in support. I had two under strength Panther platoons (for a total of five tanks), an under strength assault gun platoon (three Stug III’s) and two remnant infantry companies (for rifle platoons and one weapons platoon between them).

The Americans Amass before the Village

There was a village at the western end of the table, and rolling country to the east. The Germans were tasked with delaying, and if possible destroying, the rapid American advance which would allow more of their comrades to escape through the Falaise gap. The Americans were ordered to either secure the village, or rapidly flank it and keep the advance moving in an attempt to rapidly close the gap and trap the maximum number of enemy forces.

THE BATTLE

The game was very fun, with lots of back and forth momentum. The Americans made several probing attacks to determine where their best attack option was. Eventually they found a vulnerable point in the German defenses, which were spread very thin, and were able to push much of their armor through the gap. They were also able to make a strong push on the village by utilizing their infantry and artillery with great effect.

Fighting in the Village

The only thing that really helped the Germans was the confusion on the American side as units got redirected during the attack, and a pair of Panthers situated on the dominant heights. Besides accounting for numerous kills, the Panthers drew much of the American’s attention and concern.

The Americans Breakthrough

In the end the Americans just weren’t quite able to push the attack through at the speed required so the Germans eked (and I mean eked) out a victory point win. All in all, it was a very entertaining game with the usual amount of trash talking and corresponding humility as the battle flowed.

Shermans in Action in the Village (An Action Shot!)

Using the historically researched and realistic scenario and objectives really provided a great game. I think I am going to try and incorporate those elements into as many future games as I can.

I can’t wait for the next battle!

Until next time…

Cheers!

Dan