Back of Beyond

I've been toying with the thought of getting into this era for quite a while now, well over 3 years in fact.

At Hotlead this year, I stumbled across an excellent deal at the Bring and Buy. I found a package of Copplestone's Russian Sailors for $10.00. Retail is roughly $24.00. However, at a quick glance the package had more than 10 sailors in it. Upon purchase, I realized it also contained the Russian Sailor Command Pack as well.

A quick query on LAF and I landed some European Mercenaries, Chinese Bandits and Russian Cossacks.

My Russian sailors are out art the painters now. My plan is to add a second  10 man unit and a machine gun. The Cossacks will be their cavalry wing.

The Chinese Bandits need a lot more love. I want to field 2x 15 man units and have some cavalry also and vehicles and and and.....

I'm trying to do this on the cheap as new hardwood floors at home have depleted my funds.

Hotlead 2015

My favourite time of the year! 

I headed out to Stratford Ontario at 630am with 90 minutes of driving ahead.

I had to be home by 2pm and wanted to get a lot done there.

I set out several goals I wanted to accomplish. This was my 6th consecutive year and have always had a great time. This year I left feeling empty. I couldn't figure out why. Here are the goals:

1) Play 'Technical Difficulties' an imagination modern Africa game

2) Sell unwanted stuff (approx $500 worth of goodies)

3) purchase painted miniatures from a specific painter that fit into existing collections

4) purchase miniatures for either KKBB or RCW/Back of Beyond

5) purchase Viking/Saxon terrain

6) spend as little as possible (weird considering #3-5

7) speak with a painter about a commission (and drop off the figures)

8) be home by 2pm ( imposed by the wife)

I arrived at 8am and offloaded my stuff at the bring and buy table. I walked around the hall but as the tables were being set up, there wasn't a lot to look at. 

The vendors were set up but I usually avoid them until after the bring and buy (gotta grab the 'real' deals first)!

An announcement was made to line up to sign up for the 930 game slot. I managed to find myself about 40 gamers back from the front. I was pretty worried as the GM running 'Technical Difficulties' runs another game called 'Mongols and Mausers' which is always a fun looking but full table. After what seemed like a long wait I managed to snag a spot at 'Technical Difficulties'! Goal 1: achieved.

Next I went to the bring and buy and began looking ( despite not officially being open, whoops)!

The guy who flogs painted miniatures didn't appear to have dropped anything off Goal 3: denied but I found a pack of Coppletone Russian Sailors which was jammed with more then 10 figures. For $10. I snagged those.

There was nothing else that jumped out and grabbed my attention so I sat at the table where Technical Difficulties was being run.

I was in control of a small detachment of MILF troops (Morrowi Independance League Fighters or something like that).

Here are my troops in all their finest.

There were 3 main forces on the table divided into 2 groups which allowed for 6 players. There was a 7th 'special' force (think drones and snipers) who could deploy anytime and help monitor the balance of power.

My objective was to seize the compound and any diamonds inside.

Well, I failed miserably but had a good time doing so. However the game ran over until 1230.

Realizing I had a 90 minute drive home and exactly 90 minutes to get there (yikes!) I quickly went to the bring and buy to gather my unsold wares. I had sold $170 worth of goods ( Goal 2: small success). Next I spoke with the commission painter and dropped off some Foundry Darkest Africa archers and the &10 Copplestone Sailors (which was the 10 Sailors and 4 Sailors command pack valued at $38).

I sped home after hitting a drivethru arriving closer to 3pm. Goal 8: failed.

So I achieved some of my goals. But I think the crux was that given the time frame imposed (by my wife) I wasn't realistic about what I could do at the venue. I opted to play a game but in doing so, I missed out on looking at the other great games going on and didn't have time to even browse the vendors wares. The flip side is I only spent $30 ($20 entry + $10 Figures).

I think next year I will stay one night so I can do a bit if everything.

Zombicide "Completion-ism"

Just wondering if any one else suffers from this. I had a quick Zombicide game yesterday and after lookin through the boxes, I thought I should maybe do some organizing.

First, noticed I had a bunch of Season 2 actors still in the boxes. I like to keep the survivors and Zombivores in separate ziploc bags. I also keep each zombie type divided in ziploc bags by genre and class. ie. normal Zombie walkers are separate from normal Zombie runners and are separate from Toxic zombie walkers etc. it just helps locating pieces during game play.

I also decided to snap a picture of ALL the Survivors and Zombivores.

The Zombivores are on the left of the table break and the survivors on the right. This is every survivor ever made minus two family game night promos - Bill and Mr. Phal - which are both in various states of transit to me, and Season 3, which was held up due to the Longshoreman's strike on the West Coast.

8 rows of 7 plus 2 at the back totals 58 survivors and respective Zombivores...

For those with the keen eye, there are three primed survivors on the extreme right which I haven't stripped as I'm afraid of damaging the plastic.

Lastly, I organized the equipment cards and zombie spawn cards.

Here they all the equipment cards! 5 rows of 10 plus 6 extra totals 56 types of equipment (or wounds) you can carry.

I then culled some of the repeats to create a master equipment deck. Wounds and "plenty of ammo" cards aside, no item has more 4 cards in the deck. 

On one hand, I feel good as I organized some of the components a little better but on the other hand, became aware a literal treasure trove of things I may never use but have for the sake of simply having it.

Solo Zombicide Game

So I had a little free time today and decided to squeeze in a quick game of Zombicide while the wife and 1 month old slept.

I picked Scenario 10: Small Town from the Zombicide Season 1 rule book.

I usually like running 6 actors ( lots of actions) but decided to run 4 due to the narrow window.

I opted to use my 3 newest actors as I haven't had the chance yet. Union Worker 42 and Alyana Heska came from a Wrath of Kings Kickstarter Crossover. Thiago (Not Austin Powers) came from the Family Game Night #2 kit (via eBay). Lastly, dependable Phil (aka Rick Grimes from the Walking Dead).

Hindsight being what it is, the first 3 are all melee oriented with Phil is the only ranged specialist.

Turn 1 - lucky lucky lucky! Managed to get Phil the other pistol. Being able to dual wield them means he can shoot them together for 1 action.

The group moves towards the first building and breaks down the door.

After dispatching the meagre zombies. I made my first mistake and split the group. I NEVER split the group. Don't really know why I did. 

The actors moved up to the cross roads and set up shop. ( Mistake #2 - any spawn card with man hole cover spawns zombies on each man hole which means 3 extra potential spawns). Also 3 of the 4 actors have been wounded. Not looking too good for the good guys. Especially with those fatties ( legit game term, honest) coming from the north spawn zone.

The crossroads are finally clear. Time to move. 

Breaking into the bottom right building spawns more zombies. I don't have great equipment so move everyone (minus Thiago- who has been devoured) inside  to search. Not good. 1 actor down. 2 wounded.

Trapped! Trying to break free/whittle them down.

An Abombination enters via the north spawn point. I have nothing to kill it with and a large hoard surrounding Alyana after the space was cleared and she chopped open the next door. Luckily he had a chain saw and the dice gods were kind.

 

Alyana makes it back into the room unscathed. 

 

The actors clear out the room and begin to pray. The Abombination is getting closer...they empty the street and run across into the next building a growing horde at their heels.

Thankfully this building had a back door as the rooms are filling quickly with zombies. They escape the building and make a run for it. Only targeting zombies ahead, and leading the others toward the final building.

 

Outside the final building. Zombies all around. The runners just got an additional move meaning there are 9 within striking distance. The actors kill all the zombies in the spaces immediately north and south and move inside the building.

The actors make it inside and seize the final objective with runners standing on the door step. This one really came down to the wire.

The survivor cards at the end. All three had hit the red level and contiued again. Looking at the numbers, minus he objective tokens Phil and Union Worker 42 killed 48 zombies each and Alyana killed 38 zombies. Thiago added another dozen or so.

Afterthoughts:

I shouldn't have split the group. I possibly could have avoided some of the early wounds. I didn't use Thiago's reaper ability properly by having him fight single zombies.

I also didn't get to use Alyana's sword master ability but she and Union Worker 42 were melee monsters as the levelled up. 

By standing in the crossroads for several turns, I allowed extra zombies to spawn from the man holes.

I love Zombicide and hopefully I can get another game in soon. The season 3 Kickstarter can't come soon enough.

Ooh Shiny!

On March 6th, I placed an order with Nexus Miniatures for several Freaks of Nature - Dr. Makalay, Piascha, 2x "Not-Wolverine", 2x "Not- Cyclops" and 1 pack of alternate heads.

My plan is to paint them up just like the X-Men in a superhero/spy-fi crossover world.

Look what was waiting when I came home from work! Yay!

My initial impressions are:

Piascha - no mold lines anywhere, very crisp casting, shiny appearance 

Dr. Makalay - cape has some mold lines near bottom - but otherwise pretty crisp

"Not-Cyclops" - some mold lines under arms and head. Minimal work required.

"Not-Wolverine" - most mold lines, mainly under both arms and around hands.

The two "Nots" aren't very shiny in appearance either. Maybe some sort of mold release agent is still on the bare metal?

All in all, very nice and minimal work is required (excluding my grand conversions). 

Kudos to Nexus Miniatures on their new venture and I can't wait for more of the Freaks of Nature line.

Now that the weather is nice (10 degrees, isn't nice but better than -20s we've had) hopefully I can get these primed by the weekend.

Kickstarters

I received my Wrath of Kings (WoK) pledge the other day. There was a knock on the door and the postman had a parcel addressed to me! Weird, I didn't order anything. It was my WoK Kickstarter pledge. Where was my shipping notification? It wasn't until later that evening I received my shipping confirmation...oh well. Lmao.

I only backed WoK for the exclusive Zombicide crossover characters. But as (long story) I didn't back Zombicide Season 2, I couldn't just purchase the crossover figures, I had to spend $50 on WoK product.

I picked the Shael Han faction below but didn't really follow the rest of the KS. I also got a bunch of exclusives. Yes! I have ZERO plans of playing this game so hopefully I can sell it at a local convention (Hotlead) which is coming up in 15 days or LAF at a later date. Just looking to break even at best. Not including the exclusives of course. I'm not greedy.

Onto the Zombicide S.2 exclusives:

I haven't gotten around to opening the box but Elena looks pretty cool, model wise. Basically she and Charles (see below) are at a convention dressed in gear when the Zombies come. Interesting premise. Charles is also a pretty neat sculpt. IMHO, Probably one of the better of the "passive" poses. 

Stats wise:

Elena's yellow action is interesting. I can't think of another character who doesn't have +1 Action for the yellow. Elena has +1 Melee Action which really pushes the theme of her being a hand to hand specialist. As if double katanas doesn't give it away.

Charles is also suited for hand to hand combat. 

I tend to run more ranged specialists when I play.  But these look like nice additions.

Now just to have the "dock workers" strike finish that is delaying the season 3 shipment.

Descent: Journeys In The Dark 2nd Ed. - Forgotten Souls

So I picked up the (newish) Descent Cooperative Adventure titled Forgotten Souls from Meeple Mart about 2 weeks ago. And printed the rules at work (on the full colour printer -shhh!)

The package included Peril Cards, Exploration Cards (how the campaign gets laid out), Activation Cards (dictates how monsters activate) and track sheet (chances to get upgraded equipment or lose horribly).

The exploration cards contain an onset card ( initial encounter) three main encounters and 8 other encounters. Without failing miserably and being defeated, the game will run from 10-12 encounters depending on how you've dealt the cards.

I played a quick campaign and found it pretty enjoyable. I was a bit distracted though and only managed to make it halfway through. As you can see, with everything laid out, there's not a ton of table space. 

I had to turn the map and extend the table leaf to fit before I finally called it quits. I was distracted and ran out of time...

I also find I get caught up in whatever I'm doing and forget to take photos. 

Today, I thought I'd set up the exploration deck and draw the cards and lay out the tiles to show just how big the game can get.

I kid you not, this was a completely random shuffled and drawn layout. Due to a special rule regarding overlapping tiles, last main encounter is separated from the rest of the map. Otherwise it would actually be partially off the table.

Now imagine the table with player boards, act 1 gear decks, etc and this is huge! I suppose you don't need to leave the previous encounters spread out behind but I think it adds to the dungeon crawling theme.

Overall it's a pretty good expansion. It was good enough to get me to purchase  the 2nd coop expansion Nature's Ire. 

Pros: No Overlord/fully coop. Everyone wins or loses together. Ability for solo play.

Cons: only utilizes 4 monster classes. The activation cards control how the monsters activate and change each encounter but it's still only 4 monsters classes for the entire campaign. Only utilizes specific tiles. The exploration cards dictate the order they are played in but each tile has the same monster classes in it each time you play.

Definitely a good expansion. I'm a bit concerned about the replayability but Nature's Ire (hopefully) should utilize diff tiles monster classes and knowing Fantasy Flight Games' love of expansions, there are probably others in the works as well.