Modular space station

Another painting project: some space station modules from Monday Knight Productions.  Again, these aren't for me, but for Ed the Two Hour Wargames Guy. 

 

Like with all the Galactic Knights (formerly Starfleet Wars) minis line, there's tons of detail on the top and bottom of each unit. 

 

 

Notice the dense amounts of detail on these miniatures.  They make very nice space stations, either alone or linked to other modules.

Completed fighters

Here's a flight of Terran Comet light starfighters from Monday Knight Productions.  They're not in my usual Terran scheme because I painted them for Ed the Two Hour Wargames Guy, to match the painted spaceships he acquired some time ago.

They're mounted on some "Flare" fighter bases, also from MKP.  Frankly, I'm not impressed with these stands--you can see pitting and even holes in the surfaces of the bases in these photos.  I prefer my own stands made from nails, wooden discs, and steel fender washers.

I don't know how close the paint job on these fighters will resemble that of Ed's Terran fleet (we'll have to wait until they're side-by-side), but I think they look fine for tabletop gaming.

Today's catch from Half-Price

Half-Price Books has a sale during just about every three-day weekend here in the States.  I got out of work early for the Labor Day holiday, so I stopped off at the HPB on my way home. 

I didn't find anything game-related, at least not directly.  I did, however, pick up this history book for three bucks, with an additional 20% off for the store's Labor Day sale.

The book is Bayonets for Hire: Mercenaries at War 1550-1789, by William Urban, and it focuses on the use of troops for hire in Europe during that time period.  I don't really game historical periods, but I thought the subject matter was interesting, and I would like to learn some more about European history.  Besides, the book might serve as inspiration for some scenarios or background that could translate to a fantasy or sci-fi setting. 

I haven't started reading the book yet, so I can't tell you whether it's worth the read (but for less than $3 on sale, I bet it is).  If nothing else, I have some reading material for the long weekend.  What about y'all?  Any purchases you will enjoy, or other plans for the holiday?

How I hurt my hand

I'd like to say I got a cut while fighting ninjas or something, but no--it was because I was careless with a sharp knife.  During GuadaComaCon, Kutalik's Special Lady Friend needed help cutting plastic ties off a new stroller, and she didn't want to handle the blade herself.  She asked if anyone had a knife, and I quickly borrowed my brother's multitool, which contains a wicked sharp cutting implement.

So I grasp the stroller in my left hand and use the blade to cut the plastic.  But like a dumbass, I held the stroller with my hand in the direction I was cutting.  Those plastic ties were thick, so I mustered my strength to force the edge of the knife through the strap.  Of course once the razor-sharp blade broke through the plastic, it continued on into my hand, about a half-inch deep.

It hurt like hell and started bleeding profusely.  Luckily, my brother's a registered nurse, so he was able to patch me up pretty good.  The cut still hasn't healed completely, but at least I didn't have to get stitches.  The injury did kind of put a damper on the rest of the day, though. 

I hesitated to tell my wife about my injury at first.  I don't know why; I guess I didn't want her to freak out or anything.  When I did tell her, she took it very calmly--and threatened me with bodily harm if I ever tried to hide another injury from her.  I'll be sure to let her know right away if I ever injure myself again.  In the meantime, I'm staying away from sharp objects.

Clay-O-Rama at the con

Like I said earlier, the Clay-O-Rama game was a great hit at GuadaComaCon.  We had five or six players in the game run by Jason Braun.

I was feeling lazy, so instead of sculpting legs on my creature, I just took the round shape of Pla-Doh out of the can and squeezed a couple of limbs.  That and some detailing of the eye/sensory organ and mouth, and I was good to go.

But without legs, I couldn't move that fast, and everyone else ended up in combat before I did.

The losers were mercilessly smooshed.

In the end, this lovely trophy that Jason sculpted went to Brad of the blog Skull Crushing for Great Justice.

They should have this event at every game convention

DBA and HotT at GuadaComaCon

GuadaComaCon had a lot more miniatures games this year, thanks in part to the Lone Star Historical Miniatures guys, who drove up from San Antonio with all their De Bellis Antiquas gear. 

They played several games using that set of historical rules throughout the day, including a Napoleonic DBA variant.

Unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to play any Hordes of the Things matches against the SA contingent, but I did manage to get in a quick introductory game with Maj. Diz Aster (who recently started his own blog on the subject) to the HotT rules.

I loaned the Major my fire giants as I deployed my skeleton legion.  Unfortunately, we were playing on a smaller mat (2.5 feet square) intended for 15mm armies, not the 3x3 for 28mm forces.  This meant my opponent didn't have as much room to maneuver as he should have had, and so it wasn't really a good example of how the game plays out.

So it seems like all the miniatures games at the convention either DBx games or Two Hour Wargames events.  But don't worry, there were roleplaying games too.  More coming soon about all the other con events.

GuadaComaCon report

Why have I taken a week-and-a-half blog break, when everyone's waiting to hear about GuadaComaCon?  Well, a combination of post-convention crash, a self-inflicted injury, stress at work, and training for a marathon have all sapped at my mental energy, leaving me nothing left for blogging.

 

Still, some people might want to hear how the New Braunfels game convention went, so I'll share a little of it right now.  We had a pretty good turnout, nearly twice last year's attendance, and everyone found something to do.  One big hit was Clay-O-Rama, where you build a creature from Pla-Doh and fight everyone else's monster in a free-for-all.

The really fun part is what you get to do when you reduce another player's critter to zero hit points:

One attendee brought these shot glasses, created by his wife.  If you look carefully, you can see they have images of polyhedral dice etched into them:

I will post more pics and game reports later on, but I just wanted to let everyone know I'm still here.  My thanks to all who attended the con, and we hope to make it bigger and better next year.  I'll leave you with this photo of my hand bandaged after my injury, and I'll share the story with you later.

How did y'all think the convention went?  Let me know in the comments.