Dan's Basement

Gamer On the Move

2009-06-10T10:57:00.013-05:00

The short version is I got laid off on May 1 and we are moving to Houston, TX. I left for Houston on May 28th to find an apartment. This is a brief post to update friends, family and those bored enough to look.

I loaded up the minivan with my clothes, a pillow and random gaming stuff and headed south.

St. Louis!

Arkansas!

It was dark when I crossed the Texas state line so no picture. I stopped for the night in Lufkin, TX so I could start my apartment search fresh and alert.

Houston!

I met with an apartment locator (thanks Rhonda) who drove me around to look at 5 or 6 different places. I decided I liked the Villas at Edgewater the best and thanks to Shawna's hard work I was able to sign the lease and move in that Friday night.

The billiards room in the clubhouse

Giant dice, my kind of place (billiards room in the clubhouse)

Fountain in the clubhouse

My wife has been trying to train me that if you didn't take a photo it might not have actually happeneed so here are a few photos of the apartment before I unloaded the van and after. I thought I had brought quite a bit of junk but it doesn't seem like much once unloaded.

Washer/Dryer (yea, no laudromats!)

The kitchen

From dining area into living room

Master bedroom, walk-in closet and master bath

Living room stuff

Kitchen

Bedroom

Walk-in closet

A welcome gift from the Villas at Edgewater

and opened

This is a company "car" in Texas!

Sail Ho!

2009-02-16T20:33:00.004-06:00

I have completed painting my Orc fleet for The Uncharted Seas. The models are resin castings with white metal sails. I'd like to find some 1/600th scale crew to put on them to give a little action to the models. Crisp detail and a clean casting with few or no blemishes or bubbles. Being resin they are a bit fragile and small details can break off. No problem for Orc ships that look a bit ramshackle to begin with. Perhaps I'll get better pictures in a bettle with Jeff's fleet (when he finishes painting it).

Little Wars 2009 After Action Report

2009-02-09T21:22:00.009-06:00

We spent the weekend at the Marriott Resort in Lincolnshire, IL to attend Little Wars. Let me start by saying that this property continues to disappoint. It just doesn't seem to be a good value, we will likely stay at the Courtyard next door in 2010.

The convention was inside the hotel for the first time since being in this location. I liked it much better than in the tennis club. I think attendance was down, it just didn't feel like the usual number of people. Of course it is harder to judge with the new facility. The dealer area was nice but again I am sure there were fewer booths than I remember from years past. I just couldn't find things exciting enough to spend my money on (but I persevered and was able to empty my pockets and fill the trunk).

I only played in two games over the weekend. Friday night I played in a 50's era alien attack. I played the little green men. Here are a few photos I took with my phone.

The initial invasion and my ally to my left.

All is quiet at the drive-in and my ally to my right encounters the civil defense.

A helpless victim and Mars needs women.

The, ahem, Inseminator and and a failure to launch.

Reinforcements arrive (the drive-in screen is a portable DVD player built into the scenery).

Ultimately we all failed. The National Guard kept shooting all the women before we could capture them. Martian high command decided to blast the town after our failure. Though, I'm sure the Army would have nuked it to stop our taking over the Earth if we had been more successful.

Saturday morning I took command of His Majesty's forces in North America as General Howe in an American Revolution Battle of Brandywine what if? scenario. Though most of the forces under my direct command took quite a beating my overall plan succeeded and the British earned a well deserved victory. The commanders on my left and center flanks did very well and even followed my orders when they weren't convinced of the plan. Eventually they shattered the American center and sent Washington's army packing. We won't discuss what happened on the right (where I and another commander took charge of the dice) other than to say that the Americans fought well. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of the battle. The guys from the Last Square always put on an exciting and visually appealing games and this was no exception.

I really didn't buy as much as I usually do at this convention. I am most excited at having bought The Uncharted Seas and an Orc Fleet. Jeff already has it and an Imperial fleet and he picked up the Elven Fleet. You can see some of the ships at his blog Jack of All Games. I hope to finish my Orc fleet before he finish his second ship (yes that is a challenge). Picked up a couple of resin trucks from Ramshackle Games. Nice kits with a lot of extra parts, highly recommended. I really enjoy Battlelore and the way it plays, so on an impulse I picked up Commands and Colors Ancients. It focuses on the Punic Wars and I hope Jeff will give it a try with me.

Overall I enjoyed the convention though I wish I played at least one more game. Of course this is a can't miss event for me. There is no question if I'll be back next year. One of these times I should run a VSF game.

Inspiration or What I do Instead of Updating my Blog

2009-01-14T09:39:00.004-06:00

I've started following a couple of new(er) gaming blogs. The first is my friend Jeff's blog Jack of All Games. A regular opponent of mine he will hopefully finish a project before we are too old to play (like I can talk). The other is A Year of Frugal Gaming. Like most of us who have been in the hobby for more than two days he apparently has more figures, bits and projects than any reasonable person could finish (of course this is not a hobby for reasonable people).

A Year of Frugal Gaming would do all of us a bit of good. I have been doing my best to cut down on my gaming expenses. I have enough stuff around here to have a decade of frugal gaming (seriously, I have a lot of stuff in the basement). The best goal of a year of frugal gaming is to play more games. I can't agree enough. The reason I do this is to play games with my friends. The cost of getting together to game is relatively low. Maybe a six pack, a bag of chips and a couple of gallons of gas. No more than $10-15. In addition there is no better motivation than an upcoming game to finish a few more models or a piece of terrain.

I will be watching both of these blogs for inspiration, ideas and to see if I can keep up with Dave and his Frugal Gaming. Good luck to us all.

Mission Failure: The Year in Review

2008-12-06T19:52:00.005-06:00

The first thing I've learned this year is that in the heat of a game I forget to take photos for a battle report. I've had the opportunity to play many games this year but haven't taken any photos. My friend Dave often takes many pictures and about once a year he gives me a CD filled with snaps from our games. I really would like to update more often here. I find that documenting my progress keeps me motivated.

I set four goals for myself this year. Overall I failed to complete them though I made progress on most of them. First I planned to organize my VSF collection. I made fair progress on this project. I finished an aeroscaph and airship complete with crews as well as generally sorting out my unpainted figures. I am certain I can field an entire British battalion if I painted them all. I hope to sell off most of my unpainted stuff at the Little Wars flea market next year.

My second goal was to finish my late war German grenadiers for Flames of War. I did make some progress. I based most of the infantry and started painting the few vehicles needed. I haven't played any Flames of War this year which is probably why I didn't get them finished. I find that having an upcoming game provides inspiration.

My third goal was to reorganize and finish one Warhammer army. I consider this one a partial success. I recently hosted a 6000 point per side Warhammer game. In preparing for it I got my High Elves together and found I had well over 3000 points ready to go. I still have a few things I'd like to paint up for them.

My last goal was to rebase my 12mm American Revolution figures. I didn't get any farther than pulling out my rule books and reading some books on the period. I plan to jump into it after the first of the year.

Overall, I am happy with what I did get done this year. Most importantly I got plenty of gaming in. Several of our friends join my wife and me to play boardgames. I cannot recommend Trailer Park Wars enough. It's a great laugh.

Hopefully next year I will update more regularly and start posting battle reports.

What I did on summer vacation or Gen Con 2008

2008-08-20T09:57:00.004-05:00

Lucky for me I have a customer in Indianapolis, IN. I went to visit with them the week of Gen Con and stayed for the weekend. I brought my wife and daughter with me. After working in the mornings I was able to make it to the convention in the afternoon and of course all day on Saturday. I had decided to not stay Saturday night and we got home about midnight. I started to regret that decision about 4:00 on Saturday when I decided we had not yet enjoyed enough gaming goodness but I'm sure we saved several hundred dollars by leaving Saturday night.

It's been five years since we've been to Gen Con. I think it has really improved in the intervening years. I don't remember the show floor (dealer area) being quite as big or professional looking. The quality of the booths was impressive. It is more like a professional trade show than a dealer area. The only complaint I have is that the costume contest needs a bigger venue. The old Plank Theater in Milwaukee always had plenty of seating. We just got lucky and sat in the second row at this years contest held in the Westin (not so) Grand Ballroom. There were apparently many (maybe hundreds) who did not get in.

For plenty of photos and good commentary on the show check out my wife's blog at http://bombadee.blogspot.com/.

Now for my favorite part of Gen Con: What was cool/new (to me anyway) and what did I buy? Monsterpocalypse was the big hit of the show. With this and Privateer Press's other popular games it was hard to even get near their booth. Every time I walked by the line to the registers was wrapped around the booth and up the aisle. However there must have been a chainmail bikini sighting nearby mid day on Friday. I was wandering by when I noticed only two or three people in line. I asked the booth attendant if this was really the end of the line. He said "yeah, it's the first time I've seen it this short. You might want to jump in now if you want anything." I gleefully did so purchasing my one per day allowed starter and some boosters of Monsterpocalypse. When I turned around the line had reformed all the way around the booth again. Apparently I had scored a critical on the purchase die. Incidentally it was the first purchase I had made for myself at the show and it really brought the edge off the gaming OCD.

Fantasy Flight had a huge booth packed with new games and lots of demos. The coolest part was that they were running a ton of games that they are working on and are not available yet. From what I heard they were even making rule changes based on player feedback right on the spot. I hope this idea catches on, it is really cool to play a game with the developer and help to shape its rules. A new Battlestar Gallactica board game was released in limited quantity. They sold out on Friday and I regret not snatching up a copy when I had the chance. I picked up a starter for Mutant Chronicles. I like the figures and think it could easily be a big game.

Simply Fun had a large booth and we bought Penguin Rescue for our daughter. We played it that night in our hotel room and had a lot of fun. We have other games from them and play them often. If your not familiar with them I highly recommend checking it out. They catagorize their games by type and age group that we have found to be spot on. If you want to play games with your kids other than candy land and go fish this is the place. Also, Simply Catan is a great variant (much faster set up for casual games).

I couldn't resist buying Trailer Park Wars from Gut-Bustin Games. Pink flamingos, SPAM and PBR are always a winning combination. A beer and pretzels game about managing a trailer park. This game takes about five minutes to learn and looks hilarious. I may have to pick up their other game Redneck Life this Christmas. If you watch My Name is Earl you should find these games funny.

Unfortunately I didn't make time to play any demos longer than about five minutes. I always feel so pressured to see the whole thing I don't want to sit down for an hour or so to play a game. The Indiana Convention Center is a great venue with plenty of space (except maybe for the costume contest). We never parked more than three or four blocks away, paying $10-$12 per day. There are plenty of good restaurants in every price range within easy walking distance. Not to mention there is plenty to do outside the con as well.

All in all an enjoyable trip. I had forgotten how much fun Gen Con can be. We are hoping to return again next year. Here's a photo of most of the stuff we bought or picked upat Gen Con 2008.

The Auction Haul

2008-03-16T19:49:00.004-05:00

A highlight of my gaming obsession is the twice yearly auction at Games Plus in Mt Prospect, IL. Every spring and fall they hold a giant games and figures auction. Sunday is minatures and I plan my weekend around it (I did mention that this hobby was an obsession right?). Before Ebay was so popular there were many great figures at bargain prices. Now it tends to be hit or miss. I still enjoy it as I can often find a few good deals and I usually pick up quite a few books and rules sets for next to nothing. So what will $250 get you? (see below)

Here is my new treasure trove fresh out of the car and ready to be unpacked. Being utterly mad, I actually have a spreadsheet with a catalog of my purchases at the auction. Here is everything unpacked and ready for... whatever I might do with all the crap I have. Mostly it gets shoved into a box for a future project.

Highlights fo my take are a couple of painted squads for future 5150 games and a number of rulebooks. I picked up the books for Infinity and Rezolution along with a number of less popular games. I really enjoy reading as many rulesets as I can to pick up scenario ideas, rule innovations, etc. The artwork, photos and background are always inspiring.

I am now counting the days until Little Wars in Lincolnshire, IL. Flea market, dealer area and games galore! Hopefully my checkbook will have recovered by then.

February Figures

2008-03-16T19:21:00.004-05:00

Overall, I didn't make much progress on my VSF Project in January or February. However I did work on cleaning up my painting table and finished up a number of figures in February. Below are Skateboarders from Copplestone Castings Future Wars range and a couple of civilians from Superfigs. They were originally purchased for my Gang Wars but will probably also serve in All Things Zombie games. They pose in front of a Plasticville apartment building.

Below are several zombies for All Things Zombie, of course! The females are D&D Strahd Zombies. The other shambling messes are from Final Days by Kenzer & Company. The zombie menace keeps growing. They mill about near an Ertl 1/64 machine shed.

Free Parking

2008-02-10T16:34:00.000-06:00

Many years ago my friend Dave gave me a bunch of toys and bits when he left for the Marine Corps. We moved the boxes of stuff twice, Dave served six years in the USMC and has returned to northern Illinois. This Fisher Price garage has been waiting patiently to be finished.

It was sprayed black before I got it (I found the picture above on Ebay). Over the last few weeks I took it apart resprayed it gray and painted it as below.

We play a couple of games using a city layout I have using Lionel and Plasticville O scale buildings.

We play a near future gangers game using Shockforce and we play All Things Zombie. I think the O scale buildings work well with 28mm figures. You can get a glimpse of the city layout in my earlier post showing the basement. I will post more pictures of the city when we next play those games.

VSF Part 1 or An Extraordinary Undertaking, First Act

2008-02-06T19:02:00.000-06:00

I am thinking of running a VSF (Victorian Science Fiction) game at the HMGS Midwest convention Little Wars in April. I need to decide soon if I want to make it into the program. This dovetails with my goal of organizing my VSF collection and I find that an impending game deadline is a great motivator.

Here are a few photos of my collection.

There are about 350 figures there that I bought five or six years ago that hadn't even been out of the boxes since I bought them. The figures are mainly Zulus, Egyptians and a fair number of British.

These boxes contain another 150 or so figures. The box in the center is filled with Ex-Confederates, the wooden tray contains African tribesmen, the box on the right has about a third of my painted Martians and the other more British.

These shelves contain the parts of my collection most recently used. There must be about 150-200 figures per shelf. From top to bottom: more Ex-Confederates including Dr. Xavier McGillicuddy and several of his infernal machines; Egyptians, Zulus and other Africans; Mostly British; and finally, mainly Schutztruppen and a few more Zulus (there is no such thing as too many Zulus in a game).

This pile of boxes and bits are the unpainted parts of the collection. There are at least a thousand miniatures in the boxes. In the back are the fun parts that will be the inspiration and motivation for getting this project moving. VSF, at least for me, is all about the contraptions, improbable science and steam power. There is a British Gunboat (from Merrimack Miniatures), a Parroom Aeroscaph, a toy dirigible, a Wright Flyer model and other odds and bobs.

As you can see I gladly mix "eras" and manufacturers. Red coated Brits can easliy serve next to Spanish-American War Americans (if that doesn't mean anythin to you that's okay). Of course there is less historical wrangling over which uniform is appropriate for soldier on a Martian campaign (whichever is most servicable of course, supply lines are very extended). I am less concerned about historical accuracy than visual and visceral appeal.

Most of my games have focused around the machinations of one Dr. Xavier McGillicuddy (from Eureka Miniatures). An Ex-Confederate who is using his considerable fortune and scientific talent to orchestrate a rebirth of the CSA. He escaped to a hidden lair in the Sudan where he set about building his steam motivated fighting automatons (robots). In our first battle British agents in Egypt had heard about his arms trading with Sudanese slavers and sent a force out to locate him. In that encounter Dr. X drove away the attackers with his automatons but the Egyptian/British force were able to capture a few of the machines for later study. A number of months later the British government (with the advise and support of the USA) sent a raiding force to capture Dr. X. The attackers found Dr. X attempting to evacuate his "plantation" and move his workshops to a new location. Ultimately, Dr. X narrowly escaped on a Nile steamboat. Most recently, Dr. X was found out trying to rendevous with his brothers at a Red Sea port. British forces spoiled the reunion and drove Dr. X back into the desert and scattered his mercenary forces.

More to come...

A Look Around

2008-02-03T13:49:00.000-06:00

This view is looking from my "board game" table toward the wargaming area proper. There are two 4' x 6' tables back there. We live in an old church so the basement is about 2000 square feet. See what I meant about an indulging spouse?

This is looking across the two 4' x 6' tables. There is a 4' gap between them to set another piece of plywood to create a 6' x 12' surface. I just recently did this as I found that we rarely used the entire area and it was hard to reach. Now we can play two games at once!

This is a look at my work area. The game tables are on the other side of the shelves on the left. I usually use the table on the left to build terrain and such. The table along the wall is my painting desk.

Behind my work area is this storage space. The shelves are filled with mostly unpainted figures and bits for terrain.

Let's see how it looks again at the end of the year. Hopefully it will be much more organized.

Welcome to my basement

2008-02-03T12:46:00.000-06:00

Inspired by Matakishis' Teahouse I created this blog to document my wargaming projects. Hopefully it will serve to motivate me to finish a number of projects that have languished, some for years now. It will also serve to document some of the battles that take place.

I have been a tabletop wargamer for a little more than two decades. Like many my age I played AD&D and other RPG's as a Junior and Senior High student. In the late 80's my friends and I discovered Games Workshop's Space Hulk. It wasn't long before we started playing Warhammer 40,000 and Space Marine. After high school I discovered Warhammer Fantasy Battles and fell in love. Eventually I started playing other games and began playing more historical battles with a group of new friends in a neighboring city.

Lucky for me in college I started dating a girl who would indulge my hobby. She was familiar with AD&D and had painted a few fantasy minatures before we met. We've been married for more than 11 years now and she still tolerates my hobby fairly patiently.

My interests these days are very eclectic. I still love Warhmmer Fantasy, but have given up 40K. In no particular order some of the other games I play are Flames of War, Victorian Science Fiction (mostly with The Sword and The Flame with house rules) and All Things Zombie. There are more but I will document them as they resurface in my game playing.

I want to set four "project" goals for this year and try to complete at least one each quarter. This years hobby projects are:

1) Inventory and organize my VSF collection.
I have, literally, thousands of 25mm and 28mm Victorian era figures. After determining exactly what is piled and boxed up around the basement I want to cull the herd, as it were, and sell off the unneeded figures.

2) Finish my Flames of War Late War Grenadier force.
I started them last summer and I want to get a 1500 point force battle worthy.

3) Reorganize and finish one Warhammer Army.
I finally played a game with the new rules recently and want to get a 2000 point army finished. I haven't decided which army to work on yet. It will be High Elves, Tomb Kings or Brettonians.

4) Rebase and get battle ready my 12mm American War of Indepence collection.
I bought a 12mm painted AWI collection on Ebay two or three years ago and need to reorganize and rebase them to start playing some battles.

Well, that's enough to get me started. Next I'll post some pictures of the current condition of the basement and get started on the VSF collection.