Monday, September 5, 2016

Pacificon Game Expo 2016 Convention Report

Well, another convention completed. I was really looking forward to this with all the work I crammed into the last couple of weeks to prepare.  I played/ran several games and had a blast.  The miniatures room was extremely busy all weekend, which is great to see.

Before jumping into the many pictures I took, I did take a short video while I was playing in a Sharpe's Practice game. It pans around the room and you can see it is busy - even though this was during Saturday afternoon, this was representative of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  I'd even argue that Sunday was the busiest.



Russia Resurgent

This game was based around a small French forces positioned at the edge of a French town on the border.  The Russians managed to break through the Fulda Gap and pushed to the French border before the NATO nations could get reinforcements into the European theater of operations. The Russia orders where simple, use superior numbers and rapid advance to overwhelm the enemy forces - or suffer the ill report of the political officer!  The French had to hold the town and slow down the Russians as much as they could.

You can see all sorts of new stuff I did for this table: high tension electrical power lines, new trees/bases, paved roads, French armour, playground (needs more work), and more!








































Downtown Baghdad

This scenario was different from what I've been running for Operation Iraqi Freedom.  A senior Iraqi official for the newly created provisional Iraqi government is attending a "hearts and minds" event - trying to make things look like they are getting better. The press and many civilians are in a small park/square with a mixed USMC and British Army contingent providing a security perimeter. The former Iraqi army and insurgents have planned to start their insurgency by capturing the Iraqi VIP so he can be executed in a video for propaganda.  The coalition forces must evacuate the VIP to safety if the situation becomes too dangerous.

The primary egress route was compromised by an IED, so the VIP had to be evacuated through the secondary route.  The coalition suffered several casualties, including losing a Warrior IFV, but managed to pull off a minor victory.


























Sharpe's Practice

This game was put on by the famous Adam Clark (http://adam-clark.com). I played as one of three French players, running the left flank with Dragoons, Lancers, and a small Grenadier unit. My flank saw a lot of action early, with my Lancers jumping out early to route the British Hussars, but then being shot into oblivion by British infantry and riflemen.  The battle then shifted to the other sectors, with the final action taking part in the center.  British victory.































WW2 Late War (Bolt Action)

Roy Scaife ran a great game for Bolt Action WW2. This was late war, with the US forces advancing into Germany and facing mixed German resistance. The US pushed hard but in the end the Germans managed to push them off for the day.  The US, pushed back by superior armour, fell back and called in the air corps. I was a bonehead on this one and completely forgot to take lots of pictures, so I only and a small number (also, my phone was charging at the time).












54mm Wooden Wars Imaginations

The awesomely creative Thomas Foss (http://skullandcrown.blogspot.com) ran his 54mm Imagination game (essentially WSS).  Every single miniature in this game, and game aid, is laser cut. It is a truly unique game, plays easy and fast, and is very fun. I played a brigade on the left flank, helping defend a city.  I was rolling hot (using someone else's dice, not mine!) and managed to roll the advancing flank opposite me.  Had a blast - as is guaranteed at a game Thomas is running.














Other Games

Below is an assortment of some others games I took pictures of - two key ones being an impressively large and outstandingly painted Wargods game - using the Clash of Iron rules.  Another great game was Alamo - which you can see below and in the video at the top of this post.



















Well, that is about it ... also played lots of board games.  I hope you enjoyed all the pictures.  Now I can get back to some regular projects and get more gaming happening!

Saturday, August 13, 2016

Modern Paved Roads - Cheap and Easy

Thought I'd share this with you all.  As I continue to fill out my modern terrain, I am working through my paved roads this weekend.  I've seen all sorts of different approaches to paved roads over the years but there is one way to do it that I actually picked up in the 80's when playing WW2 with my Dad back in Nova Scotia.

Black shingles.  Yes, shingles you put on your roof.  One pack, which at the local hardware store here in California costs about $30, will give you enough paved roads for your table and likely one to two of your friends.  The black shingles I use are pictured below ...

Black Roofing Shingle
This is the underside, it is the perfect pavement colour.

Black Roofing Shingle
Top side, with the pebbled surface.

Now, why black roofing shingles?  Well, first off, they are black.  The "pebbled" side is **NOT** the side you want to use.  It is the underside of the shingle.  The tar and smoother (relatively speaking) side.  Some key benefits here:


  • The underside is the perfect pavement colour blend - so you don't have to paint it!
  • Shingles are flexible and just heavy enough to "settle" into mild variations in your tabletop.
  • Other than the pebbles, the core of the shingle is soft and easy to cut with an exacto knife.

A single shingle for me can yield 6 x 12" x 5" roads.  For 28mm I'm using 5" wide roads - plenty for me.  If you are using smaller scales then you are in luck, because you'll only be able to make even more roads out of a single pack - enough to start a business if you are playing 15mm, lol!

You'll notice on the bottom of the shingle there is a dark black line down the middle.  This is an important feature!  The outside edges of the shingles are not square, making measuring a challenge.  Fear not, that dark black line is the perfect straight edge.  I cut down either side of it - and the result is a perfectly straight edge - which one I have that, I can use a square and ruler to cut straight lines and right angles.  I highly recommend cutting all edges of your roads so they are straight and line up with each other well - getting lazy and using the rough edges will lead to alignment issues.

Picture below of the flexibility of the shingles ...

Black Roofing Shingles
Flexible and heavy enough to settle on the tabletop.

My roads will consist of 12" straight sections, a T junction, and a 4-way intersection.  The measurements I used are below ...




Alright, with my material selected and my measurements ready, I used some cardboard to create some stencils for the road markings.  Cardboard works for me - but of course you can use anything that is "stencil" worthy.  You can see the two stencils I created below.  This is the most difficult part of this entire project.  Once you have the stencil done though, you can reuse it for all your roads.

Road Marking Stencils
(Top View)

Road Marking Stencil
It is helpful if you build a lip that the road
can fit into so you don't have to muck around
with alignment before spraying.
(the yellow part is the lip under
my stencil that I fit the road
into before spraying)

I decided to do the markings rather generic.  I bought some white spray paint but you could of course use different colours.  I also decided to do the intersections with the cars driving on the left side of the road ... I'll also do intersections for the right side of the road as well - and - because of the way I marked the straights, they'll work for both types of intersections/junctions.  

A little bit of cutting and spraying later and I had a good start into my paved road project ...

Putting the sections together.

SUV from Spectre Miniatures for reference.

As you can see from the pictures above, they don't look too shabby!  The texture and colour of the underside of the shingle is perfect.

You don't need to be a modelling expert to pull this off.  Other than cutting out the stencils (which, if you want, some companies sell them for you), easy peesy lemon squeezy!  Now, back to making more roads.