Australian New Year's Eve Gaslands Championship 2019

Phil hosted another year of good food, drink and company in his backyard with a chaotic game of Gaslands thrown into the mix.

Same limitations as last year, with each team being capped at 25 cans and sponsors or perks were not available. I took a tan car with a forward facing machine gun, and two bikes (the white helmeted rider also had mines).

We played Death Race with Walter (black car with a heavy machine gun mounted on a turret), Alex (black performance car with two forward facing mini-guns) and Mitch (white pickup truck with a ram and a forward facing mini-gun).

None of us had really played a game in a while (or at all), so we stumbled our way through the rules to the first gate (where each car's weapons would become live), and then the real carnage ensued (up until this point Wal's car kept getting love taps from us as we tried to ram him).

Mitch wiped out before getting to the first gate, and slept like a grandpa at the wheel for most of the game (he managed to wipe out in the first gear phase for that turn).

My bikes with their high speed were prime targets and soon fell (didn't help that I rode my second bike through the mines I dropped...).

Alex was blown to bits by shooting from Wal and myself.

Wal thought he had it in the bag on the home stretch before I (totally) risked on a corner ram (which due to the Rule of Carnage became a head on ram) to stop him. We both died in balls of flames to hand Grandpa Mitch the game and the tournament. It really is a fun game.

Wishing you all a Happy New Year, may 2020 bring you everything you want. 

Australian New Year's Eve Gaslands Championship 2018

After a recent surge of interest in Osprey Games' 'Gaslands', this year saw the inaugural Australian New Year's Eve Gaslands Championship at Phil's place, in nice summer weather with plenty of food and drink.

We were required to build vehicle(s) worth no more than 25 cans and sponsors or perks were not available. I took my recently completed blue car with two forward facing mini-guns and smoke.

There were two qualifying races before a Grand Final Race. The first qualifying race was Death Race, where in my inexperience (this was my first game!) I managed to get rammed twice by Tyler's red rammer, die a couple of times, but still finished second (no one came even close to catching Andrew's bike). Walter (dark blue car), Paul (pink Mini) were left driving in circles, while Andrew's blue car provided support.

The second qualifying race was an automatic pass for the two cars left (some late drop outs), so it was straight to the final - Saturday Night Live! More carnage with Andrew, Andreas and Scott, and therefore only one photo. I will need to read up on the scenario, as sometimes killing another car isn't a good thing.

Lots of explosions, an oil slick, along with some cunning and plenty of back stabbing. I managed equal third (there were four of us) and also best painted car. I love the chaos in this game. Thanks for hosting Phil - bring on more in 2019!

Car Wars Conversions 3

I finally finished the sixth toy car conversion today (while I've been home with a chest infection). This time a Hot Wheels 1968 Oldsmobile 442 that I bought back in September and converted at the time.

It got the same treatment as the others:
https://donnerundblitzenwargaming.blogspot.com/2017/05/car-wars-65-pontiac-gto-and-63-chevy-ii.html
https://donnerundblitzenwargaming.blogspot.com/2017/05/car-wars-conversions-2.html

And I painted it blue to match the set (which can be all part of the same faction or with the Volkswagen and Land Rover in a sub-faction (paired off against the earth coloured "wolves").




Some of the decals are 20+ years old, so there was a bit of swearing when I applied them, but by adding some weathering to them too (and not just the body work), I think it's come out okay. Although as I type this I see in these photos that the blues are a little off. I doubt I'll go back and fix it, as on the table it will be hardly noticeable.

The car has the giant circular saw to deal with wire lines across the road - I think I'll finish this project off with a pair of 20mm WWII bikes to act as dispatch/outriders. Currenly AB Figures WWII will be the easiest to source.

Cars Wars First Game

So played my first Car Wars game the other night.

All I can say it was in game a few seconds of complete brutality and chaos, while real time was a few hours of fun and hilarity (one guy flipped onto his roof after ramming another player, continuing to shoot at anyone that crossed his sights).

Car Wars Conversions Painted

I've finished painting and basing the five cars that were converted earlier. Superglue was used to stick them onto a 3" x 1.5" piece of 3mm MDF followed by a PVA and sand mix for the basing material. They were then spray painted black, followed by Vallejo black acrylic and brush for any bits that were missed. They didn't get a particular special paint job, just simple highlights and some weathering to get them done (to be honest they were a lot more fun to convert).

1965 Pontiac GTO, the leader:

1963 Chevy II with a flamerthrower:

1984 Oldsmobile Hurst/Old, ram car:

Volkswagen SP2, light car to act as a sniper:

Land Rover Defender 90, support truck with turreted grenade launcher:

The flags look a little more pixilated in the photos, while from a normal distance they look fine. I'm planning a game or two of Car Wars in a week and I'll take some pictures of them in game.

Overall I'm happy with them and something I've always wanted to do - and for me to go from purchasing to a game in 4-5 weeks is pretty fast. Finally, there's room in the storage tin I found for them for one more car, so I'll probably do one last conversion at some point in the future.

Car Wars Conversions 2

Following on from last weekend's quick Car Wars conversions, I finished off another three this weekend. This is all I have planned for this project.

The first one I converted was a Hot Wheels 1984 Oldsmobile Hurst/Old:

The collection of cars I'm putting together are fairly eclectic (though I'm going to paint them to be cohesive), but they'll have a mid to late 80s vibe. I was happy to get this one, as it's quintessentially a mid-eighties American car for me. It'll also add a "modern" vibe to the classic models I converted last weekend.

The Olds will be my rammer, so I added plenty of armour ready for it to cause some real damage.

The next one is a Hot Wheels Volkswagen SP2. This one was a happy discovery, being both German and Brazilian and would suit my need for a quick little blitzer:

The SP2 would be a light car to speed around the flanks and snipe from a distance.

 The final purchase I got was a Matchbox Land Rover Defender 90:

Not totally happy with this one, the scale seems a little off (though it's apparently 1/62), but I wanted something bigger than the sedans to support them. I'm hoping painting and a flag will help to blend it in (my feeling is it's too wide, but not sure exactly what's putting me off about its scale).

The bits are again mainly Games Workshop 40K weapons, along with plasticard (sheets and I-beams). I added mesh on these and the two other cars. I've also based all of them on 1.5" x 3" MDF bases as per the Axles and Alloys rules. Painting-wise I'm going to go with blacks and greys for a wolf pack theme, but the SP2 will have a white rabbit theme and the Land Rover will have a red bear one. They were more expensive, at $11 for the three, but that's only $15 for all five cars, so it's still a pretty cheap wargaming project.

Now I just need to paint them!

Car Wars '65 Pontiac GTO and '63 Chevy II

A few weeks ago on Lead Adventure Forum the post on the 2017 Granite State Challenge (using Steve Jackson Games' Car Wars) was shared:
http://imgur.com/a/YwdUK

I've always wanted to convert Matchbox / Hot Wheels cars for something like this, but it's never been a front burner project for me. Well, that post above changed all that and I thought it'd be a nice little weekend project. I bought two Hot Wheels cars (at AU$2 each!) on Friday from the Reject Shop. The first was a '65 Pontiac GTO:

And the second was a '63 Chevy II:

After an hour or two the Pontiac turned into a mean looking interceptor:

While the Chevy was a nice little flamer:

The bits are mainly Games Workshop 40K weapons, along with plasticard (sheets and I beams). I think I might still add some mesh to the unarmoured windows once I find that in my modelmaking stash. I'll also need to use Greenstuff to fill in a few minor gaps.

Rules-wise I'm not sure yet, I've downloaded the free set of Axles & Alloys II here (off to the right hand side):
http://axlesalloys2.blogspot.com.au/

But Car Wars might be the other option. I'm probably going to buy another 2-3 cars to make a little squadron, most likely American muscle cars or pre-1985 cars. Haven't decided on a colour scheme yet, either blacks and reds for a speed demon crew or blacks and greys for a wolf pack.