Board games!

Hello all,

I've kept my posts on this blog primarily focused on miniature gaming, but I would be remiss if I didn't include some posts about board games ... besides, is there a single miniature gamer out there that doesn't also play board games?

One of the shows I really enjoy watching is "Tabletop" - which if you are not familiar with you must be hiding under a rock somewhere (in that case, come join me because that is where I live).  Given the number of board games out there it is difficult to find the ones that you'll really enjoy sometimes.  I generally dislike board games that take hours upon hours to play and favor the either "short" (call it 15-45 minutes) games or "normal" (call it 1-3 hours) games.

Here are some of my favorite games to play currently (I certainly enjoy many, many others, but these are easy to play games that don't get in the way of my other projects):

Zombie Dice by Steve Jackson Games.  This game plays incredibly fast --- and is a total hoot!  You are a zombie and you are trying to eat some brains.  Rolling brains is good, rolling shotgun blasts is bad.  First to 13 brains triggers the final round.  There are several other dice games along the same lines ... I also have Cthulhu Dice which plays even faster than Zombie Dice (most of the games I've played are about 5 minutes long).  You can see Zombie Dice played on Tabletop (click here).

Fluxx by Looney Labs.  This is a card game where the rules are constantly in flux (including how to win the game).  You can see Star Fluxx played on Tabletop (click here).  I have the Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail version of Fluxx ... much singing is involved.

Gloom by Atlas Games. A game where you are attempting to make your family as miserable as possible while making other families happier than yours.  Points are only scored once your family members meet an untimely death.  When one players family is completely deceased the game ends and he/she with the most points wins.  This is a game that many can enjoy --- you know what they say, you can choose your friends but you can't choose your family!  You can see Gloom played on Tabletop (click here).

Castle Panic by Fireside Games.  This is a great cooperative game that sees you defending your castle against advancing hordes or goblins, trolls, and more.  The expansion for this game, Castle Panic: The Wizard's Tower, is a must have with this game.  Not only do you get a great monster bag (to pull tiles from) but it makes the game even better with lots of expansion bits (but it does not make the game over complicated like many expansions).  You can see Castle Panic played on Tabletop (click here).

Tsuro by Tom McMurchie.  I very much like this game since you have to truly think 3-4 turns ahead if you want to win.  The rules are very simple.  You are a dragon flying along a line.  You draw titles and place them to keep your dragon flying on the board.  Players get stuck and fly off the board and the last one standing is the winner.  Tsuro of the Seas is another version of this game.  Many recommend you buy this one since you can play both the original game and the new ship oriented game which is a little different.  You can see Tsuro played on Tabletop (click here).

And if you have kids --- aged 4-6, there are options for you too!  I hit a wall with my 37th game of Snakes and Ladders with my 4 year old ... since then I've reached out and found some games that both he and I can play, and that don't make me want to slip into a coma:

First off, believe it or not, my 5 year old absolutely loves to play Zombie Dice ... and he gets it.

Spot It by Denis Blanchot, Guillaume Gille-Naves, and Igor Polouchine.  This is a game where you have a card with some images on it and there is a deck of other cards with images on them.  You flip up a card and the first person to correctly call the image on the flipped up card that is also on their own card gets that card.  Rinse and repeat.  Great for teaching kids to think quickly.

Monster Factory by Rio Grande Games.  My son loves this game as well.  You have a big box of tiles with various monster parts on them.  You draw a tile from the box (they are face down) and start assembling your monster (and sometimes, minions).  When all players have completed their monsters, each tile used it worth 1 point ... he/she with the most points wins.

That's it for now ... I hope at least some of these games are new to you and inspire you to check them out.  If you already know about all of these games, you can make fun of me for living under a rock.  Lastly, if you have young kids (age 4-6), hopefully you can stop playing Snakes and Ladders now! :-)

Quar Action (SOA) - 7/13/13

In addition to wrapping up the basing of my Crusader company, Anthony Brown from ZombieSmith came down to my humble abode to play some Quar with me.  The Quar world has two rule systems - a "full sized" game is played using This Quar's War (TQW) whereas the skirmish system is called Songs of Our Ancestors (SOA).  We played two games of SOA and had a blast.

The pictures below are primarily from our second game.  The first game pitted a Crusader section against a Coftyran section (nothing fancy there).  The second game we used the following:

Coftyrans
1 x Infantry Section.
1 x HMG
1 x Chyweethl light armoured tractor

Crusaders
1 x Infantry section.
1 x Sniper
1 x LMG
1 x Ailthean light armoured tractor

The first game went to the Crusaders while the second went to the Coftyrans (royalists).  Pictures of the games below.

The table setup - until I get my Quar terrain done I'm just using
my F&I terrain.

Coftyrans advancing

Crusader fire team with Is-Caerten.

Had a hell of a fight over the main building - it came down to
hand-to-hand fighting.

A Coftyran Chyweethl light armoured tractor advances
toward a waiting Crusader Ailthean light armoured tractor.

I hope to do more detailed battle reports in the future but until then, game more!

Quar - Crusaders

For those who may not be familiar with the Quar they are a race of ant eaters that live in a world consumed by the long war.  ZombieSmith created this universe and do all the models themselves - and spectacular world and just awesome miniatures.  I bought miniatures before they had rules for them ... they are that awesome (and of course, you can use them for many other rule systems if you want).  I have the benefit of living not to far from the home of ZombieSmith, so I've tracked their progress for a long time, and I've known the creators of ZombieSmith for some time as well.  They always have an excellent showing at the area conventions as well.  Probably most importantly is they have a unique set of rules - not just another cookie cutter approach - that offer a new gaming experience (for example, the 6/6 table dice mechanic).  I'll stop there since I could go on all day ... best to leave it that if you haven't looked at the Quar you should.

I recently finished up basing my company level army for my Crusaders.  I'm also working on my Coftyran (royalist) company level organization (about 1/2 done).  I just assembled all my armour as well - so the Crusaders are getting two x Baeliog armoured tractors and 2 x Ailthean light armoured tractors while the Coftyran's are getting 2 x Chyweethl - although I think I'll be adding a third very soon.  Once the armour is added to my infantry company below for my Crusaders they'll be fully complete.

Pictures below of the company.

The company arranged in all it's glory!

The command team (although technically short of
two pigs for the cook - they'll be added shortly).

First section (two squads of 10, four fire teams of 5).

Second section.

Command team.

Weapons support - two light mortars and two LMGs.

Cavalry support.

More to come on this front as I make progress.  I'm going to paint up the armour, and wrap up my old west buildings for Dead Man's Hand next.  I also have a custom Quar table in my plan and have plotted out how I will build that out.

Until next time - happy gaming! - or perhaps - given that I've been re-watching episodes of "Tabletop" - I'll actually agree with Will Wheaton's saying - play more games - and don't be a dick!

Dead Man's Hand Project - Update #3: Progress

Progress is being made - and in fact - some exciting news recent from 4Ground.  They've just released another wave of pre-painted buildings for DMH!  This is going to save me a lot of time, as the three remaining buildings I have to assemble from BattleFlag all require painting and assembly.  Rather, I ordered the new buildings from 4Ground the moment I saw them and given that they shipped yesterday I should have them soon.  My town needs 8 buildings with a gallows - and with the three new buildings from 4Ground and the gallows from 4Ground that will complete my town.  I will still build and paint the BattleFlag buildings, but no before my next convention.  Pictures of the new buildings are below.

County Sheriff's Office

Main street building

Marshal's Office

Gallows (boot hill time!)

I've also delivered my four gangs to a very skilled local painter to have them all painted up before the US labor day weekend (first weekend of September).  That is the weekend of CelestiCon - at which I'll be running demonstration games of DMH on Friday night.  I should have the gangs delivered back to me well before then, but if not then all the more reason to DMH it up all Friday night long at the convention!

I'm excited about being done and able to play DMH with my new gangs!

General Update - 6/19/2013

Hello all,

I've gone a bit quiet for the past couple of weeks.  Another work event has had me tied up and then of course I'm having my backyard completely redone, so I'm building out my deck myself as a part of that ... which has cut into my gaming and hobby time.  I'm still very much going to continue on my Dead Man's Hand project -- I've actually based the buildings I've put together on MDF bases and I'm in the process of painting up some barrels to blue to the bases before I sand/paint them.  I'm also going to be putting together the buildings from BattleFlag - although they are more involved then the 4Ground buildings since I need to paint them.  I going to use my air brush to paint the parts before assembly.

My friend Roy Scaife had some sturdy and removable legs laying around his house that I can use to attach to my custom table for Dead Man's Hand.  I have the next couple of days off so I'll be attaching those to the table and continuing work on my backyard deck.  Things at work quiet down in the summer so I'm looking forward to getting back in the grove on several projects.  I've signed up to run demo games of Dead Man's Hand and the Fort William Henry M&T scenario at CelestiCon this year (labour day weekend).

Couple of pictures below of the MDF based 4Ground buildings.

MDF bases on the 4Ground buildings.

MDF bases on the 4Ground buildings.

Dead Man's Hand Project - Update #2: Table Complete

Just a quick update today.  I've managed to complete the table - so now it is off to basing and details on the buildings ... then gang painting.  Making steady progress.

Sanded and ready for basecoat.

Basecoat of GW Steel Legion Drab
(colour matched at the local hardware store)

Drybrushing complete. Used Foundry "Base Sand" 10C
for this stage (again, colour matched at the hardware store)

Another angle - drybrush complete.

Added some buildings (which need to be based/detailed)

The town is founded ... more work to do though ...

Dead Man's Hand Project - Update #1: The Beginning

It begins!  I've got everything in that I need to complete my Dead Man's Hand (DMH) project.  I officially kicked it off today.  I have a mighty 8 buildings - 5 from 4Ground and an additional 3 from BattleFlag (plus a gallow).

To make the project and game special I decided to build a custom table.  The table itself would be a little larger than 3 foot by 4 foot (added 5" on each side to account for my stained wood lip).  I will build a stained wood (and sealed) lip around the edge, include an area between the wood lip and actual play area that is green felt (like a poker table), then finally at the center is the playing area - sanded and drybushed to a nice old west color.

Basic table layout.
(a little over 3'x4')

Table top and  frame completed today.

As you can see above I was able to finish the basic structure of the table today.  I've started cutting the wood for the "lip" and should have that done tomorrow in a addition to the center "raised" main playing surface.  I also have the felt for the dice/card area.

I've also managed to get the 5 buildings from 4Ground assembled (order the special deal for the whole set from Great Escape games). The guys at 4Ground have really outdone themselves with these buildings by including lots of cleaver little details and a much improved "hinged" door vs. the plug and pray doors included with the WW2 buildings I have from them.

All 4 gangs, cards, MDF markers, and the buildings,
all part of the "Legends of the West" offer
from Great Escape Games.

Great Escape Games as signs you can print off for the 4Ground buildings. You can download them from their DMH download page.  Only one of the buildings doesn't have a sign ... not sure why it was left out. That being said, I'm working on a sign I can use for the fifth building.  I'll also be putting the buildings on MDF bases with some extra details around them (like barrels and such).

Need to file a claim?

Gambling time!

Take a picture, it will last longer.

Mop chop.

No sign just yet, but I'm working on something ...

More to do, but need to get the
airbrush out for these buildings.

The buildings from BattleFlag are also truly excellent - and they include high quality signs!  The only downside is I'll have to paint them (although they'll do that for you if you give them enough $$).

I've managed to get one of the gangs (the Lawmen) cleaned, sanded, based, and primed --- ready for the paint brush.  I'm going to assemble all the gangs to the same state as the Lawmen so I can start playing some games to get familiar with the rules ... but paint is rapidly forthcoming for the gangs once I finish up the table and buildings.

Ultimately I'll be running demonstration games of DMH at CelestiCon in the fall (the labour day weekend in the US ... con is held in Fremont, CA - so just down the street).

Stay tuned - more updates to come.