Fall In 2015 Con Report, Part 2: X-Wing, A Whole Lot of X-Wing

 Steve and the WWPD crew ran a lot of X-Wing games at Fall-In based on the user created campaign "Heroes of the Aturi Cluster". "HAC" which is a co-operative style game where the players are all on the rebel side and the Empire is controlled by a set of very clever rules that have some randomness (a D6 roll) which makes them hard to predict.

To be honest, I wasn't a big fan of X-Wing but this campaign was a pure joy to play and I think I played in 7-8 games over the course of 2 days.  A player's pilot progresses in skill level over the course of the campaign by earning experience points for various actions.  My pilot, who was given the call sign "Dozer" for my less than graceful flying style got to level 5 by the end of the weekend. It reminded me of my first game with character development and how much fun it was to plot the skill progression.

The first picture shows the hand of Dano pointing out where we should go in his typical understated way.  Dan is a blast to play with but I've yet to face him as an opponent in any game - maybe one day in the future if Bolt Action ever gets fixed.

 To be honest, I can't remember all the games but this one required us to search the ion filed to find some data.  We barely won.

 One of my favorite games was a trap scenario where the rebels were luring the Empire is with a decoy shuttle (the one to the right).  In this game I stayed in formation with Steve's friend Sean (we're in the upper left of the photo) and we cleaned up.  I managed to bring down the Empire's shuttle.

 The afore mentioned Sean reading out the mission briefing before the start of the game.  You can see Steve in rapt attention while looking at his phone

 Oops - an urgent communication for HQ

 Another game with Paul's son Reilly, who was quickly given the call sign "Magnet" due to his unerring ability to draw fire from our Empire foes.

 Steve and Sean should be getting commission s from Fantasy flight games as more than a few X-Wing are likely to be purchased as a result of the fun.  Here we see Paul and his son adding up the tally for they "need" to get.

 Uh-oh - I'm getting a dirty look from Paul after the final figures have been tallied - looks like the Australian navy may need to sell off a ship or two.......

 More fun

The final game I played in (which ended at 2:20am Saturday night) was a rebel assault on a star base and it was epic.

I did learn never ever to believe Steven when he says "don't worry, this will be a quick game"

I had a great time playing the game and really appreciate Steve, Sean and the rest of the WWPD crew for the efforts they put in to run both this game and all the other ones at the convention.  Well done guys.

Fall In 2015 Con Report, Part 1: Overall Thoughts and the FOW Doubles Tournament

 Fall In 2015 is done and I've just returned home.  To be be concise, it was a blast and a hearty "Bravo Zulu" to the HMGS staff for doing a superb job managing the event.  This con was one of the best HMGS cons I've attended in years.

Without a doubt the highlight for me was the chance to meet Paul O'Grady (of the Man Cave blog) and his son Reilly in person and gets some X-wing gaming time in with them.  Paul is a fantastic fellow and his son is a most impressive young man (and, by the way, a newly minted Eagle Scout!).  I was very pleased to see that parents from the southern hemisphere of our planet take the same great pride in their children that those of us from the Northern one do.  More importantly, these Southern Hem parents both excel in and take great delight from embarrassing their teenage offspring in public with goofy behavior.  There really are traits we all share on a universal basis.  I've now got a great excuse to find my way to Australia!

The con mainly consisted of meeting and getting to know Paul and his son, playing in the Flames of War doubles tournament with Luke of Friday and then playing X-Wing, lots and lots of X-Wing but more on the in a following Fall-In'15 post.

One thing I do feel compelled to comment on is the con's venue, the Host Resort in Lancaster.  I have been extremely critical of the Host in the past.  While I didn't stay there this con, I did think the facilities management and food service was much improved.  They place was kept clean and the staff seemed to be a lot more motivated.  All-in-all they did a good job and should be recognized for the significantly improved efforts.

FOW Doubles Tournament:

 I really like playing in a Flames of War doubles tournament and Luke's a fantastic partner.  The tournament's theme was Italy (my favorite on the FOW book sets) and we brought a US Inf and Mech Infantry list.  Out list structure meant we'd be on the defensive for all our games and that suited our playing style.  The first game was against a German tank and infantry company which had some Brumbars who you can see by turn two had advanced very far forward...

 Maybe a bit too far forward, as they got shellacked by one of our M-10 platoon and some 57mm AT.  I think this turn of events may have broken their player morale.  We ended up winning that game 6-1

 Our next game was against another German tank / infantry pairing with Brumbars and Elephants.

 This game we tried to show our sportsmanship since we technically "won" the game but the other side was in possession of one of the objectives so we elected to give them the win.  Winning on a technicality isn't a good way to advance in the rankings.  We marked the game down as a 2-5 loss

Our last game was against another German tank / infantry list (but with FJ's).  This was a great game and the two house with the roof's removed became a bit of a fortress and withstood 5 rounds of being hit by 150MM artillery and 120mm mortars.  It was a really fun / tight game and I learned that the threat of "popping" an ambush is often more impactful that the ambush itself.  This  game was a 6-1 win which placed Luke and I in third place for the tournament - not a bad showing for a very rusty FOW player.

Secret Santa Wish List

It's been suggested that participants in this years secret santa gift exchange list a few things on their blogs as suggestions.

I'm always a bit uncomfortable with the whole "asking" thing but will try to comply.

My new project for this year is the American War of Independence and so I'd like to suggest to whoever was assigned me that anything AWI related in 28mm will be greatly appreciated.

Plastic, resin, metal - any material will do.  If I was to specific a manufacturer, I'd lean to either the Perry Brothers or Fife and Drum, but will gratefully accept any other manufacturers product.

I will promise that whatever I receive will be painted as part of this years Analogue Hobbies painting competition!

Fall-In is just a few days away!

The Fall-In gaming convention is just a few days away and I'll be attending all three days and I'm very much looking forward to it.  The theme of this year's con is the 100 days campaign.

To be honest, I was originally planning on skipping this one but then heard that most of my gaming friends were going and also Paul of "the Man Cave" fame would be in attendance.  So I'm off to join the herd for several days of gaming geekery.

The one thing I couldn't do is stay at the decrepit Host again so I've got nicer accommodations and will figure out how to make that work.

My schedule is fairly packed - I'm playing in the FOW doubles tournament on Friday with Luke and then plan on playing a bunch of X-Wing with the WWPD crew and their re-ignited passion for the game.  I've also got a few games scheduled in with Paul.  All-in-all it will be a fun three days.

Workbench Part IV - Just about done!

 Daylight savings time worked to my advantage as a lot of work was done on the bench and it's ready to start churning out terrain.  As you can see from the first picture I added a removable base for both my router table (pictured) and table saw that is flush with the rest of the workbench.

 The extension is removable by taking out the 2 carriage bolts that hold in in place.  It's not the most wieldy thing to move about but I can hang it on the wall when not in use and store the tools under the bench

 It's really important that this tool support shelf be both level and strong.  I can stand on it (and did!) and look it's perfectly level.  Just like I planned it.....

 OK, you caught me, I had to shim the right leg 1/4 inch to get the platform level.  You thought I knew what I was doing for a little bit!  Ha, I'm just winging this project!

 The router table is flush with the workbench which will be very useful for working with longer stock.  I'm going to be making a gaming table for a friend and want to to some inlay work and will be working with 6 foot long boards.

 A temporary home for some of my clamps.  They can't stay there as the one outstanding to do on the project is to build some drawers to go in the space under the bench top.

Clamps are like miniatures, one can never have enough.

 My wife has been after me to fix this lamp for years (literally) and it's just been quietly waiting in the shop for some attention.  I decided it would be the first project on the bench in order to curry the favor of executive management.  The lightbulb fixture needed to be replaced so a little bit of wiring work and

 Let the light shine in!  The Boss Lady was actually appreciative of my humble gesture and has labeled the workbench not a complete waste of time.  Ahh sweet victory!!!

I may have forgotten to mention to her that the main purpose of the bench is hobby related - it's probably best not to bother her with such mundane topics..

As for the holes in the work surface - those as 3/4 inch in diameter and there are 40 of them at regular intervals.  Why? the holes are for "bench dogs" (the blue dots in the upper left) which are removable anchor points that help with fixing something in position for sanding or planing.

With the lamp fixed, the new router was just crying to go out for a spin.  I loaded a 1/2 inch straight bit and did some test passes on some scrap.  Hmmm I wonder what I'll build with this tool?

The safety goggles in the picture have reminded me that I don't spend enough time talking about shop safety in these posts.  I wear eye protection whenever I'm in the shop and also wear ear protection when running a loud tool like a router or table saw.  If you're thinking about doing a similar project, please read all the tool safety instruction and if you're unsure ask for help.

I hear chicks dig guys in safety goggles too....

If you are in the states and like woodworking there are a few companies I recommend:

Rockler

Kreg Tools

McMaster Carr (more hardware but lots of cool stuff and the best customer service I ever experienced)

Last Sail for 2016

 On Sunday, October 25th, I sailed the Bucentuare across the Chesapeake to Annapolis to put her up for the winter.  It was a grey rainy day with light winds and 50 degree weather.  But a day on the water always beats a day on the land.

 I did get templet with the navtronics on my newly installed B&G system.  The chart can plot the most efficient direction to go based on wind speed / direction and final destination.  I need to enter the specific factors for my boat (hull size/shape and sail configuration but it's a pretty cool tool!

There were lots of freights to dodge!

 Anf here she is, tied up on the floating dock at the boatyard where she'll winter.  The boatyard crew will lift the Bucentuare out of the water with a giant fork lift and place her of stilts to ride out the winter.  After a bit a re-fit she goes back in the water in late March of 2016!

I did spend a little time on the work bench planing the top.  Lots more to do!

Visiting with Royalty while in London

 War-Gaming Blogging royalty that is....
I just got back last night form 5 days in London on business.  The highlight of the trip had nothing to do with business but rather my chance to meet in person Tamsin, Ray and Big Lee - 3 glitterati of the gaming blogger world.

We met for dinner Thursday night and had a wonderful time.  One of the unexpected joys of combining a hobby interest with social networking is it does allow you to both meet and become friends with people who share the same passion but are located in areas that you'd never be aware off without the intersession of the internet.  Maybe there is something to this whole internet thingy?

Sadly, I was was a bit late to dinner due to my underestimating how angry the London traffic gods can become and arrived after dashing the last mile and a half on foot as it was faster than the cab.  That's saying something as I tend to have a bigger issue with "wind resistance" than the average person when trying to move "fast".

Anyway, dinner was great and I really enjoyed getting to know them person and will try to make sure to stay over a weekend on one of my next trips to see if I can worm my way into a game at the legendary Postie's.  I've also decided that I will be attending Salute in 2016 so need to go about adjusting the board meeting calendar for purely "business" reasons.

Many thanks to Tamsin for picking the place and to both Ray and Lee for making the trip all the way into central London.  It was a great pleasure to meet you all.  If any of my blogging friends fins their way to the DC-Baltimore area here in the states please let me know - I'd look forward to meeting you.

Most of the week was focused on one company in particular but at least I got to spend some time in a conference room with a very interesting view of the Royal Academy of Arts.

Workbench Part III

 A good bit of progress this morning on the terrain workbench.  The first picture shows the bench top planks in the process of being planed.  I just focused on the sides to ensure a tight fit.  I'll do the top next week.

 Second test fit of the workbench top - all looks to be in good order except the second to last plank from the right - it's warping up in the upper right corner of the picture so I replaced that one with a straighter board.

 Attaching the top - the sides are glued together and then screws into place.  It's a bit tedious but will be very stable and removable if I damage the worktop and need to replace it.

 I'm making very rudimentary drawers to slide under the top and used exceed 2x4's to make a crude guide.

The worktop is attached and level - the board clamped along the top ensure not bending.

Next up on the project list

(1) planing the work surface
(2) Building the drawers and shelves
(3) Attaching the vice (pictured to the left)
(4) Drilling 3/4 inch holes at 6" intervals for the bench dogs
(5) Sanding, sanding, sanding....
(6) Decising on what finish, if any to apply
(7) Cleaning out the garage so the bench can be moved to it's proper place (I'm dreading this step the most!)

New Recruits for Green Squadron

 Finally a little painting work (just a little).  The guys over at WWPD have been having a re-go at X-Wing and seem to be having a great time.  I decided to join in and will be playing in their upcoming campaign game at Fall-In.  It all looks a bit silly and a whole lot of fun - usually a good combination.

 I've done some minor painting of a X and Y wing so they can fit into the eclectic paint schemes of "Green Squadron".

 Not the most elaborate of paint schemes but it gets the job done.

Here's a shot of the ships before being dabbed with some green and orange paint.

I've got to pop over to the UK again for business next week so not a lot of painting progress

Any London based gamers up for a diner Thursday night?

Work Bench Progress

 Some progress was made on the new workbench I'm building.  Technically the workbench is designed for building cabinets and other assembly heavy projects but I suspect it's main use will be in the building and scenicing of sectional terrain panels.

 The support frame is almost finished.  You can see where I was practicing making pocket holes of the center brace.

 I still need to add some support braces on the legs - they'll go in between the to long rails to ensure the workbench if very sturdy.

The overall workbench will measure 38.5 x 72 inches.

 Arrgghhhh!!!!! the lower left corner is slightly out of plumb.  The easiest way to fix that is a bit of shim material and we'll be all nice and square.

 The two gaps created by the three rail work top support will be used for some drawers I'll build.  This is where most of the wood working tools and bits will be stored.

 All of the length's of wood for the workbench top have be cut.

Quitting time!, the next step will be attaching the workbench top pieces and then a lot of hand planing of flat surface.  I got a good wood vice on sale that I still need to figure out where to attach.  Decisions, decisions....