Warhammer buildings

Well, it only took three-and-a-half years from the time I purchased the box to assemble the cardboard buildings that came with the fifth edition Warhammer boxed set.

Here you can see the results, pictured with the commander from the Nightmare Legion for scale. These aren't diorama models, but they will do nicely for wargames.

In addition to the tower, there is a large house or inn as well as a small shed. I would like to find some more old Warhammer scenery like this, but this type of thing is relatively rare and expensive on eBay.

The buildings were relatively straightforward to assemble--just punch out each die-cut section and use some white glue to fasten it. I also used scotch tape on the inside to ensure the pieces stayed together. Pro tip: line the edges of each piece with an appropriately colored permanent marker to make it look less like paper and more like a building.

These three structures will make a nice area to fight over or around once I have some Oldhammer forces to put on the table. They will also go well as terrain for Song of Blades and Heroes games, or even Book of War.

Marlinko, man

The latest installment in the Hill Cantons canon arrived in my mailbox this week: Fever-Dreaming Marlinko. I've had the PDF for awhile, but I like my games in print, not just pixels. This product, the result of a stretch goal from the Slumbering Ursine Dunes kickstarter, describes the city of Marlinko (nee Marlankh--you can still see a couple of serial numbers that didn't get filed off), which served as an adventuring base for our tabletop group of adventurers.

It's chock-full of adventure hooks, colorful nonplayer characters, numerous cultural references, and great art--including the front cover pictured up top and this city map on the back cover. So go check out Fever-Dreaming Marlinko, and tell 'em Mandamus sent you!

Stopping the Ogre AAR

Last weekend I took along my portable Ogre setup to an out-of-town family gathering. Defending the command post against my brother's Mark III, I managed to stop the Ogre before it could destroy the CP! It was a rare victory for me as the defender.

My setup was different from my usual: no howitzers, just six GEVs, three heavy tanks, and a trio of missile tanks. I had the heavies and four hovercraft to the south, The rest of the armor and my infantry, grouped in squads of two, was further back.

My brother drove the Markk III straight for the target, and I sent my fast movers in to take out his weapons. Some good shooting destroyed the cybertank's main and one secondary batter early on. And because he refused to take the bait and kept heading toward the command post, my GEVs were able to scoot out of range behind him.

Some of my armor did get too close and ended up crushed beneath the treads, but my GEVs and missile tanks were able to bombard the Ogre's treads and slow it down, enabling the infantry to pace the monstrous robot tank.

In the end, I stripped the treads and weapons while the Ogre was well short of the command post. I feel good now that I have another victory against the Mark III. Now it's time to start mastering the Mark V defense ...

Scatter terrain for Zombieville

I picked up some scatter terrain for my brother's All Things Zombie work-in-progress. These are all from Reaper Minis' Bones line. Here you see them with some Heroscape minatures for scale.

The shipping containers and dumpsters are all made from hard plastic. I just gave them a coat of spaypainted color, and they look pretty good next to Agent Smith (or is that Agent Coulson?). The only problem is that the dumpsters are a lot bigger than they are in real life--almost as high as the shipping containers.

This weapons locker is also made from hard plastic and just took a coat of spraypaint. It looks even better now that I painted some black details onto it.

These wooden crates were made of the softer Bones material. I painted them a tan color with a brush, then drybrushed a lighter shade of tan, followed by an ivory white. The Bones terrain offerings are pretty cool, and I recommend them for your modern and sci-fi gaming.

Portable OGRE

OGRE Designer's Edition is a pain to transport because of its size. OGRE Pocket Edition is a pain to manipulate because of its size. My solution: The deluxe-sized classic cardboard counters from SJG, played on my old Deluxe Ogre and Deluxe GEV maps, with the rules from those editions for reference.

A plastic Plano model 3750 storage box has enough room for all of the components, although I couldn't give every counter type its own compartment--you can see the Ogres and buildings all jumbled up in their respective spaces. But it makes it easy to quickly set up your forces when you want to play a game.

These counters are substantial enough not to get blown around by a sneeze and big enough to pick up and move without much effort, unlike with the microgame. However, I also came up with a system to make it easier to set up and break down the counters for the Pocket Edition.

Instead of sorting through a jumble of chits in a plastic bag, I put each type of counter into a separate compartment in a pill container from Walgreen's. Note that I have two of them, one for the black counters and one for the white (I have counters from two copies of Pocket Ogre, in case I want to play a large battle on a tiny map). The pill containers fit with the map and rulebook inside a plastic videocassette box that an Ogre miniatures set was sold in.

Simple to transport, and simple to put away. Although I enjoy playing the big boardgame--or even larger games using Ogre miniatures--I like having ultra-portable versions to take on vacation. Anyone else make their own Travel Ogre set?

Super Galactic Dreadnoughts

It's been far too long since we've seen any Super Galactic Dreadnoughts for which this blog is named, so here are some photos of four of these vessels on maneuver near the Pleiades.

The red starship in the foreground is a Terran Transsolar Federation Victory-class SGDN.

That green colossus is a Gryphon-class warship from the Avarian United Worlds.

The iridescent craft is a Swarm-class Super Galactic Dreadnought of the Entomalian Empire.

And the yellow vehicle ready to pounce is a Polecat-class ship from the Carnivoran Republic.

I'm still missing one class of Super Galactic Dreadnought from the Five Powers: the Aquarian Alliance's Typhoon. The manufacture doesn't make these huge castings in metal any more--just resin. So if anyone knows where I can get myself a metal version of the Typhoon, please let me know.

Lizardman hero for Oldhammer

I've decided to build an Oldhammer army. OK, several armies. One of them is Lizardmen, since I got a whole bunch of them really cheap one time. And while I have plenty of rank-and-file, I needed a suitable hero figure. I didn't want to pay premium prices for a Games Workshop model, and browsing my local game store I came across this guy:

He's a Lizardman Warrior from the Reaper Bones line of minis, and I think he fits in nicely with the GW plastics. Here he is posing with a Skink and a Saurus:

Suitably imposing, as a hero figure should be, and he fits in style-wise to me. Once they are all painted, they should look good as a cohesive force on the tabletop.