Holiday Starkillers Casually Serious X-Wing Tournament 2015

Back on December 12th, I had the privilege of playing in the Holiday Starkillers tournament at the Anacostia Arts Center in Washington, DC. While I had played with friends a few times at home, this was my first foray into the world of Tournament Play. It was a blast, and I did better than I expected I would. I flew the most basic list you can think of: 8 Academy Pilots. Basic, no frills, and thoroughly Imperial. 

Because this was so long ago, I have no idea what rounds correspond to the photos. So just enjoy the ensuing dogfight photos! 

When the tournament was all said and done, it was time to announce final standings and dole out the awards. I ultimately ended 15th or 16th place, but was surprised to learn that I'd killed the most Rebel ships of all the players present. For this, I was awarded the 2015 Force Choker trophy! To quote a great man, "It's a major award!"

::cue Throne Room music::

Overall, this was an awesome event and a great introduction into the world of X-Wing Miniatures Tournament Play. Many thanks to the players who were kind and patient enough to put up with my newness and general inexperience. It was greatly appreciated.

Over the Hills and Far Away...

Greetings all! It's been a while since I last posted, and I do sincerely apologize for that. Things have been busy and I've not had the time to work on much of anything until recently.

I've been on a terrain kick these last few days, and I'd like to show off my latest creation: stylized wargaming hills!

I'm currently building a Napoleonic Peninsular War force, which means I'll needs quite a bit of terrain to go along with my troops (some of whom can be seen above). 

As you can see above, stylized wargaming hills actually work pretty well for Spain! So I tried to base my terrain off these images as best I could.

It all became with a board of pink insulating foam. Unlike when I was living in California, this stuff is readily available in Virginia. I followed (as best I could with my given supplies) the tutorial put together by the ever-helpful Terrain Tutor on YouTube. The video I used can be found here: http://youtu.be/JX1I4M7V2Eg

Using a steak knife, I made cuts into the foam and gradually worked it until I was satisfied.

Once the top piece was cut out in the same manner, I used white glue and stakes (made from one of the hundreds of wooden coffee stirrers I've collected over the years) to connect the two pieces.

After adding texture and priming, the piece was painted using acrylic craft paint and given several black washes. This done, static grass and small tufts were added. Once sealed, this was the result:

Considering this was the first time I've worked on something like this, I think it turned out pretty well. So well that I made two additional pieces to accompany this one.

Thanks for reading! Any questions or comments? Please comment and I'll respond.

Flames of War: Romanian TACAM T-60 Tank Destroyers

After being recently sucked back into Flames of War, I became incredibly interested in the Romanians. It started when I picked up a copy of Red Bear with the intent of building a Soviet armored force. That's still happening...but I noticed something interested with the Romanians. Not only can you take them as Axis, but since the country switched sides in late 1944 you can also play them as Allied forces. I was drawn to the versatility of this idea...and I was hooked.

As such, I've just finished my first Romanian platoon. It consists of three TACAM T-60 tank destroyers. Romania lacked a solid industrial base and had to be creative when it came to armor. This particular vehicle utilized captured Soviet equipment: T-60 light tanks and dismounted M-1936 F-22 field guns. Records show that 34 of these were completed between 1943 and 1944, seeing service until the Soviet Union repossessed them after Romania defected to the Allies.   

Battlefront, the company that produces Flames of War, made these wonderfully detailed models. My local game shop had a discount bin of older products and so I was able to pick these up for $7.50 per vehicle. Score!!

Here's a view of some of the crew before I glued them into place. It's been a long time since I've done an entire 15mm figure and I was worried that I'd gotten really rusty. Thankfully this was not the case. These Romanians were a breeze to paint up!

A view of the tank hunter platoon from the front. Note the different positions of the crew inside each vehicle. 

The platoon from the rear. Although Battlefront makes some spiffy Romanian decals, I opted to not to put them on the vehicles. Of all the period TACAM T-60 photographs I examined, only one vehicle had any sort of national markings. This leads me to believe that the practice was quite uncommon (but I will be including them on an objective marker I'm working on...but more on that later).  

So that's my first Romanian platoon! After the Soviets repossessed the TACAM T-60s in October 1944, the country once again needed to find an adequate tank destroyed. The solution? Take an old R-2 tank - better known to the world as the Panzer 35(t) - and replace its turret with a Soviet supplied ZiS-3 field gun. The result was the TACAM R-2. This will be covered in a later update.

Capture the Triton!

The other night my friend Kyle came over, bringing along some recently acquired ships from eBay. Using the Trafalgar rules from Warhammer Historical, we established a scenario set in 1778. The French have stolen a marine chronometer from the British and are transporting it back to Paris aboard Triton. The Admiralty has received word of this and dispatched a small force to retrieve it. Kyle elected to play as French, and so I played British.

We assembled a few extra boards in the basement to make an impromptu gaming table. Not ideal...but I'm working on a solution. That, however, is a post for another time.

The French ships move to attack the oncoming British.

With HMS Diana in the lead, the British sail towards their French foes.

While Diana sails off to engage and distract the French, Bellerophon and Drake sail around the far side of the island in an attempt to surprise the enemy.

While maneuvering to counter the British, Marquis collides with Revere! Both ships are temporarily out of action until their crews can sort out the mess. 

The French ship Venus opens fire on HMS Diana, initiating the battle!

Diana returns fire!

Venus and Diana pass close together...

With the British ship distracted, Triton attempts to make a run for it.

That is, however, until HMS Bellerophon finally rounds the island and opens fire! The French ship takes some damage but continues sailing.

A lucky shot sets Venus ablaze! Before long her crew has either died or abandoned ship, leaving the French vessel to drift aimlessly.

Revere turns to engage Bellerophon. Severely outgunned, how will the French ship fair?

Revere broadsides both Bellerophon and Diana! The latter ship is disabled and out of action.

Meanwhile, the chase is on! HMS Drake spots Triton through the billowing smoke from Venus. Her captain sets sail in a desperate attempt to stop the French ship. Revere's captain orders a pursuit.

Clearing the burning wreckage of Venus, Triton begins cutting across the bow of Drake.

Before the British can do anything, however, Revere's captain rams HMS Drake in the stern! This action causes major damage to both ships. 

"Go between them? Are you crazy?!?"

Seeing no other means of escape, Triton's captain boldly decides to sail his ship between Drake and Revere.  

"I said DON'T go between them!!"

The bold move failed, as soon Triton was also involved in the collision. Damage sustained to Drake and Revere is enough to sink them.

Though seriously damaged, Triton is eventually able to clear herself of the wreckage and make a dash for safety. With Bellerophon too far off to catch her, the French have won the day. But Bellerophon's captain will not forget. It's still a long way to Paris...

All in all, this was a really fun game! The rules made it so the ships had to move each turn. This did a great job of capturing the nature of naval warfare. Since there was a great deal of movement, there was a great deal of strategy required. This is a game that we will definitely be playing more of!

Step Aside, Spray Primer!

I've finally had my fill of spray primers. 

You have so many factors you have to deal with while using them: humidity (a big issue here in Virginia), wind, atmospheric pressure, and the lunar cycle. Okay...maybe not that last one, but I wouldn't be too surprised if it had an effect too. In my experience, spray primers are just not consistent. The last figures I primed had coats fuzzier than Fozzy Bear's by the time I was done. So they went into the Simple Green for some stripping. Even if you do make it past that and paint your figure up, it easily scratches off. Teresa can tell you I've cursed many a time while spraying my figures.

No more.

Several people mentioned their success with gesso on miniature forums like TMP and DakkaDakka. For those unfamiliar, gesso is a paint mixture that's traditionally used to prepare canvas and other artworks. One brushes it on, which was a big plus to me.

Michaels sells it, and I went out and picked up a bottle after work. It cost about $15...but that's a small price to pay for what people were saying about it. Gesso comes in both black and white. As per usual, I opted for black because I really like the dark, gritty feel it gives my figures. While it  unfortunately doesn't come in grey, one could very easily mix the two colors and create it.

The black gesso comes in just one size. The white stuff comes in a wide variety of sizes. I settled on Liquidtex because it's made in France, so you know it's quality! Not to mention it was the only black gesso in the store.

The test subject: a War of 1812 British officer from Knuckleduster Miniatures. I will speak more of their (superb) figures in the future.

The gesso has the consistency of regular craft acrylic paint. It's somewhat thick, but that's okay! The gesso shrinks as it dries, which makes it hold onto the figure better. This should hopefully prevent some of the scratching issues I've been having with other primers.

Experienced folks said it's okay to gob the stuff on a figure. I decided to err on the side of caution the first time out and used the stuff a little more sparingly.

Nearly done! I much prefer brushing the primer onto the figure. Not only do you decide where it goes (unlike spray primer that has a mind of its own) but I also found it to be much more satisfying. It maybe took a two minutes to prime the whole figure...not bad at all. I'm willing to take my time and do the best possible job.

Fully dried! Although the bottle says to let the gesso "cure" for 24 hours, I found that it was dry within 15-20 minutes. It did most certainly shrink in the process. Gesso does an amazing job of maintaining a figure's features and details...another bonus!

As you might have been able to tell, I really like the gesso. I look forward to painting this chap up in the near future and see how the primer holds up.

So...does anyone want some spray primer? I have plenty. ;)

Moving the Command Post

Greetings all! I apologize for the lack of activity, but things have been busy with school and work. They're going to get busier too as my girlfriend and I are moving from Washington, DC to Alexandria, VA. It's an exciting (yet stressful) time!

For those interested, here's an exterior view of our building. According to some research I've done, it was built between 1891 and 1896. A real gem with tons of original character remaining!

"That's great, Zach," you may be saying to yourselves. "But what does this have to do with miniatures?"

Well, I'm certainly glad you asked!

There's a pretty good sized basement in the building, which my girlfriend has graciously given me domain over.

It needs some sprucing up to be sure (and a dehumidifier), but there's lots of potential here. I have some grand plans for this area, so please stay tuned in the coming months!