PAX AUS Day 1 - Maximillian 1934 and Tribal

Went to PAX for the first time yesterday, to demo some Maximillian 1934 and Tribal games with Ara from Mana Press. Below is the set up of the two tables, with Max34 in the front (a "U" shaped race track) and Tribal at the back (Eureka Miniatures' Maori and Denisovans facing off against each other on an open field):

 

Some close up shots of the Max34 table (the white barriers are new from Battlefield Accessories and part of the Max34 box set available from Eureka Miniatures):

As the crowds slowly trickled in from 10am, Ara and I played a few games of Max34 to test some racing scenarios:

Things weren't going too well for my junker, until I realised ramming Ara's buggy was one way to win.

We also played a game of tribal, where I wasn't able to maneuver well enough and Ara was able to take out my Maoris with well placed Strike cards.

At this point members of the general public had found the wargaming tables, and we played a few demo games (Brendan also joined us to assist later in the day bringing along his stratch-built cars that are lovely things to behold).

I wasn't quite sure what to expect - I knew that there would be a lot of people (and there were - but a lot less than there are on the Saturday apparently), and that it would be full on (was actually okay - everyone we interacted with was really chilled). Unlike other gaming conventions I go to, this was mainly console/PC gamers who didn't always know what wargaming was all about. Introducing them to the hobby was fun (who doesn't love ramming and shooting up your opponents in fast cars?).

Pax Practice Game - Maximillian 1934

Had a quick playtest with Ara and Nic of Mana Press' Maximillian 1934 for next weekend's PAX AUS convention. Was a pretty simple scenario, but we wanted to make sure we all remembered the rules (particularly Ara!) and agreed on what we were hoping the punters would get out of the experience.

Warm up beers was La Sirène's Citray Sour. A zesty number to give us a bit of a zing as we fired our Lewis guns at each other.

Game was relatively quick (even though it was actually my first game of Max34), I didn't do enough damage on Ara's racer to stop him running over the finish line first. Looks like it's going to be a long, but fun day. You can also see the new bases to help get a bit of consistency in the game.

I also picked over some random stuff from Nic to fix up, including a camel rider that I'll be painting up as the fictitious Sheikh Nic. I've just spent the last hour designing his flag:

It's based on the Palestinian flag, with a version of the Somalian flag blue (to tie in with the Yorkshire flag) and the Arabic inscription from the Saudi Arabian flag - the shahada (Islamic declaration of faith): lā ʾilāha ʾillā-llāh, muhammadun rasūlu-llāh (There is no god but God; Muhammad is the Messenger of God). The flag features the White Rose of York, as Nic is from Yorkshire (North Riding to be exact).

(Mad) Maximillian 1934 Part 1

Yesterday I dropped into Eureka Miniatures and picked up (among other things) the Mad Maximillian Flyer car, running versions of the crew miniatures and the turning template for the Maximillian 1934 rules by Mana Press.

Even though (like most of us) I have other projects that need to be finished (planned games, tournaments, etc) I was keen to get started what I got:

The above photo shows all the parts you get with the Mad Maximillian Flyer (100MMX003), swapping out the driver for the female one, the female driver foot figure (100MMX009), the bareheaded male running with flimsies (100MMX010) along with the turning template for Maximillian 1934.

I also added the Double Armed Heroine, based Louise Brooks photo with the two pistols:

Not sure if she's available yet from Eureka, but she's a beautiful little figure. You can read about Ms Brooks here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_Brooks

Late last night I managed to glue the car together and started painting the template. A little fiddly, but a lot of fun!

The only mod I need to do to the resin hull was file some groves on the left and right hand side directly behind the grille to allow the front axle plate fit:

The rear gunner arrangement was the most fiddly. I decided to glue everything together, as I could tell I'd need to fill gaps with Greenstuff. Particularly at the join between the support and the hull. I was impressed how well everything fitted together, it only took 30 minutes or so.

I then glued car (that'll be dubbed the Bull of Dudley Flats) onto a credit (well gift) card base and will now need to plaster the base along with those for the figures on foot:

The man holding the Lewis gun will need to have his have sculpted, and I'll probably add a few things on each of them to make them unique.

For those wanting to get their template done, instead of following Mana Press' video:
https://www.facebook.com/tribalgame/videos/1891941354153823/

A quick alternative would be just to use a black felt tip pen. I decided to go ahead with another alternative and paint mine raw umber with a highlight instead, as I wanted to do something with chalk (as the Mignola Avenue building had turned out so well).

These parts still need a spray of matt varnish, which will dull down that dustiness they now have.

I also haven't full decided on the car's colour scheme, I'm currently thinking of dark grey or black and call it the Black Bull.