In case anyone missed this ...

... there's currently a Kickstarter project for a Robotech miniatures game.  Robotech, of  course, is a franchise based on several anime (including Macross) that helped launch the giant stompy robot craze in the United States and was one of the inspirations for the Battletech franchise.

Palladium Books is doing the Robotech RPG Tactics game--a set of miniatures rules that comes with a whole bunch of 1/285 scale plastic mecha models.  That's the same scale (and some of the same designs) used for the Battletech game! 

While the Robotech RPG Tactics game looks interesting, I'm also thinking about all the other rules you could use these models for.  In addition to Battletech, there's Dirtside, Future War Commander, and 5150: Star Army (especially if I ever get around to writing some company-level armor rules for that game).

Go check out the various pledge levels--the game's a little costly, but you get a whole lotta minis for your money.  And if the price is too steep, you can always get some friends to chip in and then split up the goodies.  Better hurry though, the funding campaign ends on May 20--just one week left!

Playing Song of Blades and Heroes with robots

I'm late to the posting, but I thought I would share my perspective of the day-long gamefest at the home of Holdfast, known as Man-Summit 2013.

You can click on that link for a detailed report (or see what Da Baron had to say), and I will just talk about the Song of Blades and Heroes games we played on this great-looking table.

The first game was a campaign written for use with any set of wargames rules.  Two teams move from sector to sector searching for objectives and encountering surprises like terrain hazards or nonplayer warbands.  SoBaH such a dynamic game.

However, because of the nature of this scenario, there was only a single combat between player forces, and at close range it eliminated a lot of the maneuver that makes

So we wrapped up that game, rearranged the table slightly, and set across from each other for a 2-on-2 battle--me and Da Baron against Holdfast and John.

I had my Heroscape robot warband, Da Baron had his mercenaries and wizard with elementals, Holdfast had his assassin team, and John had a goblin warband featuring some of my Pathfinder minis.

Holdfast's assassins held off the lava creatures for quite some time before eventually falling to them.

The robots' shooting was ineffective, so they decided to close the gap and fight the goblins close-in.

Holdfast's dark elf leader holed up in this Mage Knight tower for awhile, but then came back out to melee with the robots.

An elemental got a gruesome kill on one of the goblins, forcing the leader and the rest of that warband to flee.

While the goblins' spider proved tough, it eventually died.  The dark elf got up and fled, handing victory to the robots (and their allies).

It was a very fruitful day of gaming.  My thanks to our gracious host and our fellow players.  I can't wait to play Song of Blades and Heroes again.

Back to basics

Because it's been way too long since I've posted about something related to this blog's original focus, here are some spaceship pictures.

These pics come from my 5150: Star Navy demo I ran at last fall's MillenniumCon.

In addition to my usual Starfleet Wars/Galactic Knights minis, this game included ships from the Star Frontiers and Stardate: 3000 miniatures lines.

Look carefully, and you might also spot a Silent Death model or two.

I hope to get a game of Star Navy in this weekend.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Mounted units in HotT

As you can see, my Hordes of the Things opponents such as Johnny with his Romans and Mark with his GW Empire have several conventional mounted elements in their HotT armies.  Indeed, my skeleton army is entirely foot--Lurker, Magician, Artillery, Spears, and Shooters.

While I do use primarily mounted elements in my Sons of Muspel army, they're Behemoths and Beasts, as opposed to "conventional" mounted such as Knights or Riders. 

What about you, dear readers?  Do you prefer mainly foot armies, mainly mounted, or a mix?  Or something different, like aerials?

The Compleat Enchanter

A bonus find at Half-Price: the collected Harold Shea stories by L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt--tales of a 20th century American who gets transported to worlds of Norse mythology, the Faerie Queen, and other literary/mythological settings, on clearance for one dollar.  As a bonus, this compilation includes a short forward by David Drake, another author I enjoy.

Anyone who plays Dungeons & Dragons could mine a treasury of adventure material from this series.  Giants, dragons, knights, wizards, there in the mythological or literary roots of their settings.

It's easy to see why these works were listed as inspirational reading in the first edition Dungeon Master's Guide--mentions of cockatrice and griffons, dragons that smell of chlorine or spit poison, even a modern day-professor describing magic spells as having verbal and somatic components!

I'm about halfway through the volume, and it's a great read.  Y'all should track this down and read it if you get the chance.

Artist: H.J. Ford

"'Yes, it must be that,' said the Troll"

I found an art book on the clearance cart at Half-Price Books that introduced me to an illustrator who seems to have had (directly or indirectly) a great influence on how we visualize the monsters of Dungeons & Dragons.

The book is Maidens, Monsters & Heroes: The Fantasy Illustrations of H.J. Ford.  The images and captions in this blog post are all from this volume.

"Grumedan's Lion Fetches in the Princess"

The artist Henry Justice Ford illustrated some dozen books of fairy tales published in England in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  These pictures would fit right in with those in the first edition AD&D Monster Manual.

"The Griffin"

In addition to the black & white work, Ford did a number of color paintings as well for some of the later volumes.  He illustrated all types of stories for the publisher, including fairy tales, Arabian nights, history, and (Fr Dave of Blood of Prokopius take note) stories about saints and heroes:

"How St. Anthony met a centaur and a satyr"

There's even a reference to one saint who inspired a major figure in the World of Greyhawk setting:

"The man on the white horse comes to heal St. Cuthbert"

Pretty good find for just three bucks.  These pictures intrigue me.  Now I need to track down some of the stories collected by Arthur Lang that inspired them.  Anyone know a rare book dealer?

Hero killer

The Nightmare Legion's Artillery element, supported by double-ranked spears on each side, would like to invite your Hero general out to play.  Briefly.

I almost always seem to do well in Hordes of the Things when using Artillery against enemy armies with Hero elements, especially when flanked by Spears.  What's your preferred method for dealing with Hero units in HotT?