12mm MechWarrior Minis for Battletech

(4) Hatchetman - Left, (1) Black Hawk - Middle, (3) Zues - Right

  It has been a while since any goals have been completed and I will be (have been) rushing to complete what I can before the end of the year. I have finally finished the "G03 - Base MechWarrior Minis" goal. I have found another set of MechWarriror minis that I want to base and include in future games, but those may have to wait until I get some of the other goals finished.

  Anyway, for those of you not familiar with the MechWarrior miniatures game from WizKids, it features mechs, infantry and vehicles in 12mm pre-painted and mounted on a click base. When I first got into purchasing this collectable set I had every intention of using the figures to play Battletech, but I didn't realize it would take me almost 10 years to get there. :-)

  I popped the figures off the click bases and mounted them on 2 inch hexagonal tiles from Home Depot. I also have a hex grass mat, hex terrain (background), trees and several buildings to throw into the mix. Goal 4 (playing with the new minis) has been planned for the middle of December, so the the after action report should be up just before Christmas.



(3) Rifleman, (2) Griffin



(2) Panther - Rear, (3) Centurion - Front

Dungeon

Image compliments of Scott Finfrock and Boardgame Geek

  Over the weekend I played one of my favorite childhood games. I probably haven't played Dungeon in over 25 years. I played with my two nephews (8 and 7) and my brother. My nephews seemed to enjoy themselves and I can only hope the game will leave the same impression on them as it did on me so long ago.

News: Announcing PyMapper version 5.2

 A few months ago I posted an entry about a mapping program called PyMapper. A new version is now available. The big addition is the random dungeon creation using pre-defined geomorphs. Below is the announcement from the yahoo group:

Posted On The Yahoo Group: 

PyMapper version 5.2 adds the long awaited random dungeon generation functionality. After much development (and much frustration and finally inspiration) a workable randomizer methodology was developed for the program. Random dungeons are based around the concept of a geomorph, which is a fancy way of saying "a collection of tiles that fit together." Each geomorph is 12 squares wide and 14 squares high. Each geomorph has a series of 'connection points' defined to tell pymapper how they align next to other geomorphs. The dungeon randomizer takes a group of geomorphs and fits them together according to these connection points. A sample set of geomorphs is included in this release. Users are highly encouraged to submit new geomorphs so that we can get a wide assortment of options. The randomizer can be found in the Maps menu. A tutorial file is also included in the /geomorphs/ folder where you installed pymapper.

I have created a library of geomorphs to be used with pymapper. The zip file is also located in the pymapper folder. I strongly encourage the community to send in their own geomorphs to expand our choices. Please send geomorph files to pymapper (at) hotmail.com and I will compile and distribute them.

Super System Character Generator

  The SuperSystem Annex web site is very handy for the SuperSystem gamer. Along with other game play odds and ends there is a Character/Team Sheet Builder and a Character Generator. The first item allows the user to print pre-defined SuperSystem characters for gaming. The sheet for Sabertooth, shown above, also happens to have a picture and some flavor text. The tool prints multiple sheets per printed page if multiple superheroes are selected. The second link, the Character Generator, allows the user to define custom superheroes which can later be printed in the same manner as the pre-defined characters.

  I have made extensive use of this site while compiling and designing the character sheets for my SuperSystem characters. I would like to thank Dave for making this available to us all.

Bench Update

  Doc M. delivered the miniatures today he has been painting for me as promised. There is 7 pulp figs, 11 WWII gun crew figs and 15 US moderns. With the holiday approaching it will probably take me until after Turkey day to finish basing and dullcoating. You can see the last 4 stands (chariots) in the background for My New Kingdom Egyptian DBA army and I am working on character sheets for Super System too.

Downing of the Sun Sword: The Game

  Tom did a fantastic job on the playing surface. The same company that made the software for printing the mech sheets also makes a mapping program called HeavyMetal Map. He used this program to make the map. The addition of trees and hills makes for an awesome setting.

 

Our dropship landed near a patch of trees to the south west of the objective. As we were unloading we saw another dropship landing to the east of our location just over the ridge. The race was on.



The first turn saw little action as everyone's forces spread all over the map. A small fire erupted in a light woods near the objective and one of the mechs defending the Sun Sword crash site was destroyed. It didn't fight back so it was probably a decoy.

  

Our competition does not appear to be worried about the mine fields, hidden mechs and ship's weapon arrays and have run full strength to the objective. My mechs have advanced cautiously to the west of the objective while my teammates have opted for a more direct approach attempting to stop the other team from running away with the game.

 

The competition up close and personal with the downed ship's defenses. The communication beacon toward the upper left part of the picture is about ready to be destroyed.

  

One of the defensive mechs was hiding in a stand of light woods and activated just as our forces were rounding the north western part of the lake. Much to our dismay the two mechs in the foreground stumbled into a mine field and were lightly damaged and had to stop their advance giving the rival team more time we didn't have to give. 



We caught a small break when one of our mechs was able to get to the communication beacon just before it was destroyed by the other team and was able to finish it off securing 7 victory points.

One of our mechs who was watching the line of retreat of the other team was unlucky enough to receive a Gauss Rifle slug to the head and prematurely end the game for that mech. This will leave their line of retreat unhindered.



Unfortunately we ran out of time and could not completely finish the scenario, but the rival team had accumulated twice as many points as we had and also had the data core in their possession.



A great time was had by all participants and I hope we can do this again soon. Many thanks to our host. :-) 

Downing of the Sun Sword: Lance Composition

  So, we are allowed a 240 ton lance for each participant and we get victory points for taking stock mechs. It will have to be stock mechs for me because I simply don't have the time to create 4 or 5 mechs from scratch before the game. I do have a program called Heavy Metal Pro for printing out the mech sheets and it assists in selecting the right type of mech from the correct timeframe as well as other filtering selections. This program comes highly recommended from myself and they have several other programs for various aspects of gaming.

  The briefing mentions a swamp, but we have no idea what percentage of the total layout will be swampy. I think mechs with jump jets will be in order for this mission. The briefing also states the data core can only be retrieved by mechs with their hand actuators intact. So there we have it, I need 240 tons of mechs with jump jets and hand actuators. Narrowing the list down to the right tech period with jets and hand actuators proved to be the most difficult task of the whole ordeal. Here is what I came up with:

Downing of the Sun Sword: Mission Briefing

  My buddy put together a scenario for Classic Battletech and he transmitted the mission briefing to all players prior to the game. He did an awesome job on the briefing and it looks like it will be a good time. I guess I better start working on my lance composition.

Fantasy Rules! 3: 1000 Pt Orc & Goblin Army

 Another pre-painted fantasy army. I just finished basing these a few days ago. All of the figures are from the D&D Minis line of pre-painted fantasy figures and I think this army is the best looking of all the pre-painted fantasy armies I have done or plan to do. I also have an addtional 500 points for fighting the wars of Middle Earth to fill out the ranks against the free peoples. Enjoy!



Cave Troll



Characters Left to Right: Goblin Warg Rider Captain, Orc Hero, Orc General, Orc Fire Shaman

 

Orc Hand Weapons



Goblin Warg Riders



Orc Elite Hand Weapons



Hobgoblin Archers

Wolf Swarms 



Goblin Mobs



Goblin Skirmishers



What's On The Bench and A General Update

  Ok, so it has been more than three months since I have posted anything on this blog, but one cannot live upon gaming alone. The weeks of canning garden goodies, a trip to Europe, several minor local trips and many posts on other blogs have led me back here. I always come back to gaming. Don't we all ....

  The thing that amazes me most about my absence is the number of world wide visitors since I attached the new hit counter. Twelve countries in all. The internet really is an amazing thing. And all the new content from my fellow gamers to while away the hours is a treat to be sure.

  So I just finished flocking a 1000 pt Orc and Goblin army for Fantasy Rules! 3 and as soon as eveything is dry I'll do a photo shoot. There are a few straggling Supers figures needing a good flocking as well as a few lances of BattleMechs and a pair of bridge ends that need finished. A few months back I sent several pulp, WW2 and modern figures to Doc Merkury for a paint job and he informs me they are almost done. These are all figures that never even made the goal list this year, so I will be very happy to finish those. They will help to offset the 1 or 2 items from my goal list that will likely not get completed this year. I have a little less than two months left in the year. I'll have to concentrate on the items that have been started to get them all done before the end of the year. If I can keep focused until then I should be able to finish all the started items on my list. Look for some new eye candy within the next week or so.

BTR