A recent acquisition

On vacation earlier this month, I managed to visit a couple of game stores in between the sightseeing.  I picked up a whole bunch of fantasy miniatures (more on those soon), but only a single spaceship model.

As you can see, it's a Wagon Wheel frigate from Aerotech, the spaceship game that's a companion to Battletech.  As with most of my spaceship purchases, I probably will end up using this model as something else--the circular sections that rotate for gravity make me think this would make a nice antiquated passenger liner or colony ship.  Any suggestions on a paint scheme?

GuadaComaCon update

Just a reminder that GuadaComaCon will take place Saturday, August 17.  Admission is FREE--that's right, no cost--for all-day gaming at the New Braunfels Convention Center.

Some of the games on the schedule include Star Navy, Song of Blades & Heroes, a Hordes of the Things tournament, Axles & Alloys (a car-to-car combat game based on Full Thrust rules), either a Battle of Hoth or a battle of Helm's Deep game, and more.

There's still game slots available, so if you're interested in running something, let me know. And remember, it's FREE!

The return of OGRE minis

In case you haven't heard, OGRE miniatures are back in production.  Still no release of the ginormous Designer's Edition of the sci-fi tank combat game, but Steve Jackson Games has the models for the various OGRE/GEV units back in stock.  Grey Cat Studios is doing the casting.

While I have more than enough minis in my collection, I'm sure folks who missed out the first time around will want to pick up some more of these figures. 

Happy Independence Day!

Here's wishing my fellow Americans a happy Independence Day!  Enjoy your cookouts and your fireworks, and stay safe.

To those of you outside the U.S., happy July 4, and enjoy the upcoming weekend!

By This Axe in action

The other day Chris was kind enough to give me a hardcopy of his fantasy miniature wargame, By This Axe.  As you can see, it looks good in print, both front and back.  That reminds me, I need to post pics from our battle of last month.  I went over to  Chris's to play a quick game.  He had the forces set up, including judicious use of dungeon tiles as movement trays.

I had mostly humans, and some hobbits, against the lich's evil guys and monsters.

I had plenty of knights, along with a nice band of archers.  Each side also had a number of characters (leaders), including paladins, fighters, wizards, and clerics.

Several times our forces met, and retreated from each other.  It requires a leader to rally a fleeing unit, otherwise it proceeds off the battlefield.

There were some fantastic units, like this band of giant lizards that my knights managed to flank.

My band of elite gladiators fell to the group of  ghost minotaurs, summoned from the Hall of the Mountain King in the wilds of the Hill Cantons.

In the end, my band of warriors drove off the forces of evil, keeping the land safe until the next game of By This Axe.

My thanks to Chris for the copy of the rules and for hosting.  We're thinking of starting a campaign using these rules.  I'm looking forward to it.

Schwag from last week's Free RPG Day

I had forgotten that last Saturday was the day of the Free RPG giveaway.  In town on other business, I hit the game store not long after it opened and picked up a trio of products, gratis.

One book was a front-back combination, with Shadowrun on one side and a Battletech RPG on the other.  I haven't read it yet, but I might have to give both of these a shot.   

There was also Hall of Bones, an intro adventure and rules from Frog God Games, publisher of the Sword & Wizardry retroclone.  The adventure was pretty short, and not much potential for long-term play.  But it was free, so let's not conduct a dental evaluation of a donated equine.

The final book was Better Than Any Man, an adventure/sandbox setting for Lamentations of the Flame Princess.  This is a 96-page book that details part of what is now Germany during the Thirty-Years War.  It's a historical setting with some  magic and horror mixed in, and this thing could easily sell for $20.  It's also caused a bit of controversy.

Anyone else pick up some of these free offerings last week?  What did you think?

Iron Maiden?!? Excellent!!!!

From the Who'da Thunkit Department: Iron Maiden Heroclix.

These prepainted minis are based on Eddie, the mascot that appears in various incarnations on all the album covers and stage shows of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden.  They even come with a stats card, with powers based on the songs from the album on which that version of Eddie appears.

This particular figure comes from the Killers album--I was hoping for The Trooper, but since these are blind purchases, it's the luck of the draw.  Still pretty cool.

On reflection, it shouldn't be surprising that IM licenses a gaming property.  After all, Maiden songs come from some of the same sources as D&D and other fantasy/SF games: Conan, Dune, etc.