Blogger's for Charity

Several prominent UK gaming bloggers (Loki, James and Kev) has come up with a capital idea of doing a game for charity and trying involve as many of us as they can.

The concept is to have a large number of gaming bloggers paint some figs for a large Muskets and Tomahawks game in 2014 and then auction of the figs to raise fund to support some very good causes.

I think it's a grans idea and will be helping out where I can - go take a look and think about pitching in.  Your painting's bound to be better than mine!

Bloggers for Charity

All Quiet on the Martian Front Playtest

 I had an opportunity to play test Alien Dungeon's new game "All Quiet on the Martian Front" tonight.  As you may have seen from the kickstarted this is a 15mm scale game of a second Martian invasion - take a look at the Kick-Starter here.  Gameplay is best described as "A BLAST".

The first picture shows a the imposing line of martian Tripods approaching the outskirts of Memphis.  The next picture show the human forces.

The humans spring a trap with a clamp tank and the Tripod antitank gun.  We succeeded in damaging the tripod but didn't kill it.  The Anti-Tripod gun was very effective and will be added to my human force list when the game comes out.

 The martians continue to close on the city....

 Success! the first tripod kill - from a the Anti-Tripod gun

 Carnage in the city!

 The game ended in a human victory but it was very close

 I'll post a better AAR in a few days but wanted to get some pictures up of the game

Historicon Games F-295 and S-296

The Historicon PEL is up and the two games that Mike and I will be putting on for Architects of War are listed as F-295 (Friday at 6:00pm) "Sink the Tennessee" and S-296 (Saturday at 1:00pm) "Prelude to Vicksburg"

The first game F-295 is a ACW skirmish game using the new "Uncivil War" ruleset and will be based on a Union calvary and amphibious raid to sink a confederate ironclad.  Oh yes the game will feature a 28mm scale model of the CSS Tennessee, complete with interior to fight over!

The second game on Saturday (S-296) will be a large ACW battle using 28mm figures and the Black Powder ruleset.  You may have seen some posts of me painting some Rebs and Yanks for that game on this site.  The battle will be directly influenced by the results of the raid game on Friday night. I wonder if that mean old ironclad will make an appearance?.....

Take a look and register - the games will be fun and there'll be beer!

Basing 28mm ACW & 300 Posts!

 It's a rainy and gloomy day here in Maryland - that's perfect weather for painting and basing mini's!  I made some good progress today and finished all my painting and then turned to basing the units.  Pictured are 2 calvary and 3 infantry regiments in the process of having their bases sceniced.

I use a very simple 4 step process from bases:

(1) Paint the base and sides a medium brown
(2) Dip in fine play ground sand
(3) Add a few drops of diluted matt medium
(4) add ground foam or turf tufts

Here's a shot of the rest of the armies - there are 20 x 24 fig infantry regiments, 4 x12 calvary (with dismounts and horse holders), 9 artillery batteries and 12 command stands.  I still have to finish basing 9 Union infantry units (center right of the photo).

By the way - I just noticed this was my 300th pos here at the Lair of the Uber Geek!

All Quiet On the Martian Front Preview

 Yesterday afternoon I got to spend sometime previewing the new game "All Quiet on the Martian Front" (AQMF) with Ernie over at the Alien Dungeon HQ.  Alien Dungeon is the sister company of Architects of War and is focused on Fantasy and Sci-Fi products.  The theme of AQMF is the Martians have returned and in greater numbers in 1910 and the world fights back with pre-WW1 weapons PLUS some things that have been reverse engineered from the previous invasion.  The game is available now via Kickstarter: AQMF Kickstarter.  The first picture shows a column of US Mark II tanks rumbling past their trench lines to engage the dreaded invaders.

 

 Here's a closer shot of the Mark II tanks.  These are resin models and have A LOT of customization options.  The game scale is 15mm but some of the vehicles are very large (bigger than 28mm Tiger tanks!

 A close up of one of the Martian Assault tripods, which are the mainstay of there forces.  They can be armed with a heat ray, green gas and a black dust dispensers.  The Martians are a rather nasty lost but a hoot to play.  Other Martian units consist of scout, grenadier and harvester tripods, drones and human cadaver slaves (a form of infantry used to dig human infantry out of trenches and buildings).  The tripods will be available as plastic kits which is one of the reasons for the kickstarter to raise capital for the tooling.

 This picture features two of my favorite US units the Mark IV Monitor tank (center) and the Tesla Lighting Gun (middle right).  The Mark IV is a beast of a model and is much bigger than a Tiger 1 in 28mm.

We did play a few turns yesterday to refine another favorite unit of mine - the "clamp" tank.  The clamp tank is a single purpose vehicle that's engineered to rush out and clamp onto the leg of a tripod and immobilize it.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't....but in either case it's a lot of fun.

I'm really excited about this game and the miniatures.  The game play is very well thought out and, well, just plain fun.  Ernie will be revealing more about it during the Kickstarter so I can't really go into details here.  All I can say is you should get this game 'cause it's a blast!  Please go check out the AQMF kickstarter!

Confederate Army Review

 Historicon is only 2 months away so it's probably time to take stock where my preparations are for the two ACW games that Mike M and I will be GM'ng.  First up is the Confederate army, which is pictured to the left.  There are 8 completed infantry regiments (out of a planned 10) and 4 artillery batteries (more on the last two infantry regiments in a bit).

A closer look at one brigade that has it's flags attached.  All of the figures are either Perry plastic or metals.  I made a decision for my ACW project to use only Perry Miniatures - they have a very large ACW range and I find the Perrys to have the best quality overall.

 Here's a shot of my Confederate Zouaves - it's a really big unit (36 figs vs 24 for a normal regiment) and will feature prominently in the big battle game at Historicon - more on that in another post.

The last two regiments are still on the work bench.  The one in the back is completely painted and I just need to scenic the bases.  The one in the foreground is 20% painted and will get down over the course of next weekend.

What about the Union?  Well, I cheated there and ordered a bunch of figs from MMPS - they arrived a few weeks ago and all I need to do is base them - 10 full regiments and two calvary.  They are hiding in the white boxes in the upper left of the first picture in this post.

I'll need to turn my attention to some confederate calvary, union artillery and command stands for both sides, which should get done over the next 4 weeks.

All Quite on the Martian Front Kickstarter GOES LIVE May 7th!!!!!!

Hold the Presses!  Big news from the Lair of the Uber Geek.  I've just learned that the Kickstarter for Alien Dungeon's new game "All Quite on the Martian Front" is going live tomorrow (may 7th) at noon Eastern Standard Time!!!!

There's been A LOT of buzz about this game and I can tell you that buzz is well deserved.  I've seen the mini's and may have some knowledge of how the games plays.  Without violating any confidentiality agreements, lets just say this game and the mini's ROCK!

I'm very much looking forward to this game!!!

Wooooo-Hoooooo!!!!!!!

Robotics Ends

 On Sunday we returned from competing in the FIRST robotics World Championship with my son's two teams.  What a great event and outing for both teams.  We didn't win either event but Sean's FTC team was nominated for some awards and he personally won a special "Inspire Me" award from the judges - only 20 were given out to the over 10,000 students participating.

 Here's a shot of Sean and his FTC team preparing for inspections.  The FTC level competition was both very fierce and brutal as there was a lot of damage to the robot - all of it was entirely within the rules and, honestly, in good spirit, but we spent a lot of time fixing the 'bot!

 Like in this shot - the boys are looking for a cut wire while they're replacing the middle motor of the left side drive train - it got "smoked" during a competition.  Getting "smoked" is a literal term - the motor superheats and then emits a ball of dense white smoke about 2 feet wide that drifts up to the ceiling.  It's not much use after that (all the internal gears are fused)!

 Here's a shot of Sean's other team - FRC 4067.  This is the frisbee shooter.  The team decided to get artistic and added an arch shaped structure to the top of the 'bot in honor of our host city, St Louis.  It also served to help block opponent frisbees.  The team did great and went 2-3-1 in their qualifying matches, which is fantastic for just a second year team

 Two team members had birthdays during the event - my son, Sean, turned 18 and Sarah turned 17 so cake was in order in the pit areas at the close of the competition.  Cake and public embarrassment for a teenager (due to the very loud singing of "Happy Birthday") - what could be more fun?

Some of you have asked how does one travel with rambunctious, super smart teenagers AND retain one's sanity?  My answer is simple - well planned logistics.  I travel on the plane and they get packed in the shipping crates!

Sorry for the quality of the photo's, I was too busy coaching to take a lot.  Some of the parents who travel with us took a lot more and I'll post some in match photo's when I get them.

To be honest, this event was a bit bittersweet for me.  We had a great time and did extremely well (especially Sean's "Inspire Me" award) but at the same time, this event marks the end of Sean's participation in FIRST robotics as a competitor.  Robotics have been a huge part of our lives and something we've developed a shared passion for.  I'm still planning on coaching the teams next year but it will be very different not having Sean as a team member.  I've been very blessed to have found something to share with my son that we both love doing and that he excels at.  As a father, I couldn't ask for more and can only hope that those of you who are parents can find a shared passion to experience with your children.

On the plus side, Sean has decided to mentor a team through his college next year so there is the real likelihood that we'll be coaching against each other next season - I'm in big trouble if the happens!

We're also thinking of pulling together a pumpkin-chuckin team over the summer (Trebuchet category).  What's pumpkin chuckin?  It's best described as redneck physics but it's a whole lot of fun!  Come on WWPD-land what say you on joining a pumpkin chucking team.  Team registration opens on June 1st!

The Aftermath

I now know what an Medieval city must feel like after the Mongols have moved on.  Mary Beth had over 40 students attend her function this year and from what they consumed one would have thought it was more like 400.

Look at the prowling around the kitchen, waiting to grab the food.  Yes, this was a very dangerous pack of lady dental barbarians.

 Sure they look benign - sugar and spice and all that stuff.  Don't let that fool you - these young ladies are scarily efficient professionals.  OK they're actually very nice and seem to put up with the very odd husband of their favorite professor.  Some even professed an interest in seeing the robot and the "cute little soldier dolls".

 Here are my wife's interns, two off who have just started their rotations.  The one of the left is Greek and brought homemade spanikopita and baklava. She is now my favorite and I will be lobbying Mary Beth to give her A's.  The spanikopita was really, really good.  Is there nothing that feta cheese doesn't make better?

Here's an action shot of the assault on the dining room table where the buffet was laid out.  No doubt some of the keened eyed of you will notice similarities to the attack of Hougemount or the Alamo.  The Buffet put up a valiant defense but in the end was overwhelmed by the sheer numbers and the savagery of the attack.  Only a few bread sticks escaped to tell the tale.

Yes it was rough duty being surrounded by my wife and her wonderful students.  I need to make sure we schedule this event at a different time than Salute is next year!

And so it begins, Part Tres....

I may have missed out on Salute this year, but at least I'm not missing out on my wife's annual spring party for her Women Dental students.  We're expecting a bumper crop  of the young ladies this year and I'm hoping the food holds out.

 Here are some of the early arrivals getting trained by the caterers.  The theme this year is provincial French.  I'm hoping there are some scraps left for me and the boy.

And lastly, here's the Doc, herself, in a rare jovial pre-festivitity mode.  Perhaps she has stumbled upon yet another menial errand for me to perform.

These are trying times in the Geek's Lair - surrounded by a horde of twenty something young ladies and mounds of french cuisine.

What could go wrong?

Pray for me....