Tis the season ...

... for deeply discounted holiday decorations that can be adopted for gaming. I purchased two 18" x 36" Lemax landscape accent mats (pictured above with Heroscape figures for scale) at Michael's craft store for 60 percent off.

The mats, intended for a Christmas village display, will work great as paving when laying out frozen ruins for Frostgrave or terrain for Song of Blades and Heroes. At $10 each after the discount, I picked up the last two on the store shelf. I also grabbed two of these brick and cobblestone road packs, from the same company, for less than $3 each. The cobblestones are sort of setting-agnostic, while the bricks will fit right in with modern scenery for All Things Zombie.

Christmas decor can be a great help to terrain makers. So what other holiday scenery have you found that is easily adaptable to miniatures gaming?

Frostgrave at MillCon

I'd been hearing good things about Frostgrave, the fantasy skirmish game from Osprey, so when I saw a game for newbies on the schedule at MillenniumCon, I quickly signed up to play.

The GM was John, and he had warbands ready for all the players. The idea behind Frostgrave is that you play a wizard seeking magical treasure in the frozen ruins of a great city. 

You have an apprentice and hirelings--thugs, men-at-arms, treasure hunters, etc.--to help you find and carry off loot.

Hail Caesar at MillCon

One of the advantages of attending a wargames convention is that you get to try out rules you've never played before. And since MillenniumCon is put on by the Lone Star Historical Miniatures group, there were plenty of games that focused on past battles. One of these was Hail Caesar, by Warlord Games.

The GM was Pete, and he and his friends had set up a six-player game with Romans facing Carthaginians and other enemies of the Eternal City. No actual scenario was involved, just a big battle to teach us the rules.

I took a legion of Romans that included skirmishers and field artillery, while the soldiers of Carthage brought a war elephant.

The minis all looked fantastic, and my legionnaires and those of my two allies fearlessly marched into battle against the barbarians threatening Rome. The game played easily and quickly, with rules to differentiate different troop types as well as different nationalities.

The Romans held the field against the barbarians, so hooray for us. More importantly, Pete and his friends are locals, so I have some more folks to game with. I'm looking forward to playing this again.

The Siege of Monopolis at MillCon

OK, now that Thanksgiving is over, I have a chance to tell you how my Siege of Monopolis scenario for Ogre went at MillenniumCon on Veterans Day weekend. Turnout was great--seven players had preregistered, including my brother, and we ran into an old gaming acquaintance from our hometown and convinced him to fill the eighth and final slot. Other players were a mix of those I knew, those who had played Monopolis the last time, and those new to the game. In addition, another wargamer buddy who is one of the convention organizers was able to play some reinforcements toward the end of the game, giving me nine players!  

The scenario used the Ogre Designer's Edition hex-and-counter rules, but with miniatures, 3-D terrain, and a few tweaks and custom units. The map was my four-inch hex mat from Corsec Engineering. The terrain came from cardboard beer coasters, model railroad landscaping supplies, and Monopoly game pieces. The railroad track and train (which ended up not playing a part in the game) came from Micro Machines.

Three players operated the green forces defending the city of Monopolis. The other five played the gray attackers. Each side had a mix of cybertanks, conventional armor and infantry, custom units, and cruise missile crawlers. Oh, the cruise missiles. Each side also had objectives to seize or to hold, which each player drew from a deck of cards with photos of the targets. One of the participants on each side was designated the commander, and drew an extra objective. The players were free to assign objectives as they saw fit. I didn't expect the players to achieve all their goals; the idea was to force both sides to make tough choices. I knew I got it right when one of the attackers remarked that he didn't have enough infantry to take his assigned objective. When I told him, "Don't blame me, blame your generals," he replied, "I spent 24 years doing that."

Loot from MillenniumCon

As always, part of the fun of going to a game convention is getting stuff: Buying new products, receiving prizes for playing in games, and scoring bargains at the flea market. MillenniumCon was no different:

For playing an introductory game of Frostgrave, I received these playing aids, a couple of figures, and some terrain. More importantly, I met some local players who have a weekly game at Dragon's Lair:

From a vendor with tables stacked high with old Citadel Minis, I tracked down some additions to my Oldhammer skellies and some Halfling mercenaries to join my Bretonnians:

 

At Ed the THW Guy's table, I bought a couple of rules to try out, and for inspiration in my own designs:

At the flea market on Sunday, I couldn't resist this Star Wars diecast spaceship for one buck:

Also at the flea market, I found some more Bretonnians for my Oldhammer project, as well as Kings of War (and other games):

The same guy also had some movement trays, templates, and tokens:

Finally, another flea market vendor had some Warhammer 5th edition sourcebooks, which will provide inspiration:

Lots to keep me busy over the next few months.

All Things Zombie at MillCon

I had the chance to play in a massive game of All Things Zombie at MillenniumCon last weekend. My brother and I were part of a 12-player scenario called "A Walk in the Neighborhood." Jeff was the GM, and he had a massive cardstock city set up on two tables in an 'L' shape. He also had Ed the THW Guy, whose vendor table was right next to us, help out with running the game.

The scenery looked great, and so did the figures, which recalled various characters from popular culture, including the mini that I selected.

My brother picked another figure carrying a firearm to join my wasteland warrior, and we entered the neighborhood. Our goal was to get as much loot as possible, and then get out.

Oops!!

This is what happens when your cruise missile gets shot down one hex after launch and then detonates. Details to follow.