Last Game I Didn't Play - NYE Battletech

  

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year!

All the best for 2021, may it be better than this year; more painting, more face to face gaming and more hope.

Scythe and Kris Kringle Part 2

Played Scythe for the first time last night.

I didn't read the rules or watch any online gameplay videos, instead  letting the others (Ara, Jack and Liam) explain the gameplay to me... more than once as I learnt what the symbols meant.

Everyone's player mats change each game and your faction bestows different abilities. It took a little while for me to determine the strengths and weaknesses of my particular combination. But the steep learning curve was worth it - and like everyone else I agree it is a beautiful game.

This complexity starts off with a slow pace, that gets noticeably faster about mid-game. It makes you realise you didn’t plan at all. And gets you to compare all the strategies everyone was working on (Ara was speeding through the tunnels to pick all the Encounter Cards and avoiding combat).

As the Rusviet Union (Soviet) and a new player, my strategy was very basic - create workers, then work towards building mechs, then expanding out. A better strategy is to be working on several goals concurrently - and leveraging the synergies off that.

With all that our final placings was relatively closely grouped together - but Liam still managed to win again (the third times the others had played, and the third time he'd won). I would play Scythe again - but it's definitely not a game for a group that doesn't play a lot of board games.

Nic dropped in to see a little of the game and exchange Kris Krigle presents. Ara got a Necromunda fighter from Liam (the photo doesn't do justice of the detailed camo Liam painted on the pants), Ara painted some wild west gunslingers for Jack, who in turn painted the Salute 2019 (Mother Eureka) miniature for Nic (I didn't get a photo), Nic got me a hilarious-looking German game (translates as "which butt is where?") and an updated 28mm deer that will go well with my Scots Montrose project. Jack also gifted my some zombies from Mantic's The Walking Dead: All Out War game - almost all being sculpts I didn't have.

This year definitely ended better than I thought - Merry Christmas to you and your family, may 2021 be bigger and better!

Kris Kringle Miniature 2020

After playing The Football Game a few weeks' ago, Ara, Jack, Liam and I cemented what we would want from a Kris Kringle. We kept it simple and decided we would paint a single miniature to match what the person we were gifting to had in their collection.

Using the app Elfster (as drawing from a hat had Jack pick himself), I got Liam - who stated he was doing a fantasy chaos army or fantasy in general (Frostgrave, etc.) or something for Zone Raiders.

I had a rummage around in the lead mountain and found this tribal tracker from Parroom Station Miniatures:

I added a backpack (with grenades, an antique pistol, etc.) from Games Workshop's Kroot plastic kit to make it look more like it was a sci-fi raider. Liam also mentioned that he'd wouldn't be doing the basing so the receiver could match it to their collection. So I did the same.

I finished it in two short sessions, using a mix or earthy colours (to suit the post-apocalyptic setting), but adding a blue face mask to reflect the domination of Covid-19 in 2020. Would definitely do this again (Kris Kringle, not the coronavirus. Obviously).

Monday Knights' Christmas Party - Battletech!

Every year the Monday Knights wargaming club in Melbourne runs a light-hearted tournament for their end of year / Christmas celebrations. This year I put my hand up to run the tournament.

To keep the organising simple I ran a poll between bringing a mech for Battletech or a car for Gaslands and then randomly allocating these to each player. So there was a chance you could get you own mech or car, but you'd more likely to be facing off against it. The Battletech option won out unanimously. The rest of us were just happy to drink and talk about the year that was.

Basic rules were:

1. Each player brings 1 mech and corresponding data sheets (no BV or date limits; piloting 5 / gunnery 2; clan mechs were fine).
2. The mechs are pooled and each player is randomly allocated a mech (and to respect using someone else's miniature).
3. Swiss draw, either 1 vs 1 or 2 vs 2 (teams are temporary and during that game a player can’t attack a teammate).
4. Players start the game by rolling for initiative for corner selection (4 player game any corner, 2 player game the second player deploys at the opposite corner).
5. Victory Points are per internal damage inflicted, with +20 points bonus for each mech destroyed OR +50 point bonus if it was by a head shot.
6. Three rounds, with games limited to 50 minutes.

Phil brought a Widowmaker to the party. That's like bringing a tank to a knife fight. While the match ups between rounds weren't perfect, it was more to limit the damage it caused (both on opposing mechs and on team mates that were unlikely to score victory points that round). A full list of mechs are in the final scores below, with the Widowmaker and Nova being paired up on the kiddy table far away from the other two games in the first round. After that I used it for the mid-tiered players to have a quiet(er) game.

Games were over relatively quickly, and hopefully were fun to those that weren't facing the Widowmaker at the time. If I was to run this format again, I'd have a list of mechs players could select from, and would probably include everything above except the Widowmaker, Nova and Thorn.

Best quotes of the night:

"I’ve got more armour in my back than my front"
- Leadgend running away with spider and stating it was the best tactic to keep his mech standing.

"It’s f***ing geometry"
- crudboy after three games of plodding across the table to get some shots off and being told there wasn't line of sight (when there was). This was against a player who's a mathematician.

Completed Downed MiG-19 and Some Brown Cows

Following on from my previous post, I painted the Mig (basically a random mix of Vallejo Natural Steel (70.864) and Army Painter Plate Mail Metal) and added decals (overpainting a 1/144 WWI RAF roundel and some numbers from Revell 1/100 Mil Mi-24 Hind kits). I'm not sure now what colour I painted the pilot's uniform in, I think Vallejo Khaki (70.988), but I gave it a heavy brown wash as the Albanian uniforms were more brown than green.

Images of Albanian MiG-19 / J-6s to see how run down they are:

https://www.google.com.au/search?q=albanian+j-6&sxsrf=ALeKk037V4Epky3FcatrMGvC6mt_Af6vjA:1608334389732&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjMhOu_2NjtAhVvwjgGHYJHBckQ_AUoAXoECAYQAw&biw=1920&bih=919

This was followed by cleaning up the edges of the decals, and adding weathering (brown and black washes). And then static grass and tufts. I think the Noch Spring Meadow static grass (50210) is a little too bright to replace whatever I've been using for years (Games Workshop or Gale Force 9 light green static grass), but it's definitely better than the Woodland Scenics Light Green static grass that is nice - but a very dull green / grey that I'll be using for desert / post apocalyptic settings instead and not for my temperate and tropical zone-centric armies. I've used it on these pieces to see what it looks liek side by side.

I then also finished off some 1/100 architectural model cows I bought years ago from an art shop, and painted them brown as Buša cattle (a Balkan breed of cow - noting they're a small sized breed) to add as battlefield tat or ambush markers/jumping off points (with 1, 2 and 3 standing cows on the bases to differentiate them).

Did you know there's a lot of breeds of cattle?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cattle_breeds

Some simple additions to the battlefield terrain, but will add to the Balkan and Caucasus theme of my modern games.

The Football Game

Board game night at Eureka had Nic, Ara, Jack, Liam and myself try out 'The Football Game' by London Board Games:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Football-Game-Board-London-Games/dp/B074FZXTJR

The game is a little chaotic, as you deal with the random allocation of players (some great, some not so) and the rounds dice (deciding which players perform well and those that are injured).

I had the 'Crowd Pleaser', that scored each round as his colour was neutral - but that didn't force me to more aggressively upgrade my players earlier in the game. When I did, I didn't leave enough players for when knocks and injuries sidelined some of my newly purchased star players.

The joint winners of the night were Nic and Liam, who clearly knew what they were doing. 

Next time I have a more sound strategy of taking calculated risks to rise to the top tier leagues.

Downed MiG-19

I picked up this 1/100 Tamiya MiG-19 in Japan a few years ago. There's not many instances in my current projects where I can use this, but the Albanians were still flying these (well some were still able to fly) at the time of the Kosovo War in 1999.

I decided that instead of a flying model it could act as a focal point for a mission or just battlefield tat by being a downed aircraft (and a quick search confirmed that not all crashed jets end up as a crater and charred frame!).

I based it on an old CD and ripped one of the wings. there's also battle damage at the rear to represent an S-125 (SA-3 Goa) missile strike, same type that shot down the F-117 in Kosovo.

I added the pilot (a 15mm WWII Soviet tanker from Battlefront) so I could easily play a downed pilot scenario for any rule set, like the one Warlord Games has for Bolt Action:
https://www.warlordgames.com/special-mission-downed-raf-pilot/

And this all ties in nicely to the film 'Behind Enemy Lines'.

Roadblock on Highway 120 in the Mukha Valley

Jakalistan, 29 November 2000: There have been reports of an escalation in violence in the east of the country when an United Nations-led checkpoint was ambushed by militia from an unknown faction.

The UN peacekeepers were accompanied by police from Serbia, who are working in collaboration with the UN-stabilising mission as part of JFOR. The international forces were overseeing the recent elections , the first since the country was plunged into war following the breakup of the Soviet states, in the Mukha Valley.

The attacking force included armour, most likely T-55 tanks, along with infantry armed with RPGs and mortars. The official death toll has not be confirmed, but unofficial reports are stating around 20 men were killed or seriously wounded.

Serbian Prime Minister Minić, also facing turmoil back home since the Bulldozer Revolution, denounced the attacks and vowed to send more troops to support the humanitarian response in the tiny republic nestled in the Caucasus mountains.

Jack, Liam and I met up to play an introduction game of Crossfire, using the 'Roadblock on Highway 120' scenario from the 'Hit the Dirt' scenario supplement. With Jack umpiring (of sorts) Liam took on the role of attacker, with myself defending the roadblock. But as we were all so excited to wargame for the first time in months (as Melbourne had been in lockdown due to COVID-19), we forgot the minefields and barbed wire I was supposed to have to help me defend. That didn't bother me.

Some photos of the game (Liam attacking from the top of the screen towards me):

I defended in depth, which worked to a degree, but my fields of fire weren't as good as they could of been. The mortar and HMG on my left flank held up Liam's attack there all game. I also found it challenging (in a good way) to really think about the sequencing of orders (like in Blood Bowl), there was many frustrating moments the initiative passed between us.

Dinner was a chicken wrap from Knafeh Nabulseyeh, a Palestinian place up the road. Perfect modern conflict-themed interior and great food. Will definitely go back.

Eventually the weight of Liam's attack broke me, as his T-55s pushed their way down the road, weathering the completely ineffectual RPGs (they needed 6s to hit - we proxied them as Panzerschrecks - this worked well). Worked out to be a slight victory to Liam, I needed to have a little more reserve to counter this punch.

A note on the name of the valley the battle took place in our imagi-nation - Mukha is "Oak" in Georgian to match the location of the game (Oakleigh/Hugesdale) and I substituted "Valley" instead of "-dale".