100 Days

Some new acquisitions came in the post last week - new 6mm buildings from Total Battle Miniatures. The buildings below are from the 100 Days range, so now I can finally host that Waterloo game I planned to do in 2015.

I guess the Waterloo fanatics will recognize some of the iconic buildings without blinking an eye ...

Rommel game

Last night we tried our second Rommel game. Bart had set up a large gaming board, so it was a bit of an experiment to try the rules on such a large scale. The scenario was based on Arnhem, using 6mm figures and 3D terrain. Many of the houses depicting the city of Arnhem were 3D printed, using Bart's in-house 3D printer.

What did we learn?

• It is important to have multiple objectives. Now the single objective was the bridge, so all forces converged on that point on the table. This by itself is not due to Rommel, but it is something to keep in mind for future scenarios.
• The rules engine is fluid enough, but it is a bit cumbersome to keep track (using markers) of the status of all units: tipped, wounds.
• We also used cards instead of a Command Post sheet (see previous blogposts). It worked a bit better in my opinion, but YMMV.

Pre-game pondering. The table is still cluttered with all sorts of things, not our habit!

Eddy is holding the bowl of crisps, Graham and Bart are discussing tactics.

Epic Armageddon game @ Bart's

After the inaugural game at Koen's place, Koen schlepped his collection over to my place and we set up a city fight game, where the Eldar would continue the conquest of the city of Ziterna'n'og, then still occupied by Blood Angel Space Marines.

Rules used this time were Epic Armageddon, which are apparently the fourth version of the Epic rules, which resulted in a much more manoeuvrable game. Units zipping across the entire width of the table were no exception.

The game was played over three turns and resulted in what we decided was an Eldar victory, with the sole surviving unit of the Space Marines -- their monster of a Titan -- squatting near a victory condition location, surrounded by the might of the Eldar army which still included sufficient firepower to deal with the Titan (I was told :)) .

Here's some pics from the game:

The city of Ziterna'n'og

Eldar tanks prowl the outskirts

A Space Marine Company under fire

The Titan rumbles into the game

The Space Marine left wing prepares to advance

The Eldar heavies: scout titans and heavy tanks

The space marine left wing under air attack

Main Eldar infantry host disembarks and is ambushed by a Space Marine company dropping on their position

The end of the game: the Titan is being surrounded by the Eldar

Inaugural game - 6mm Scifi

Last Friday we had an inaugural game at Koen D. wargaming mansion (i.e. his living room). Since Koen is known for his fondness of 6mm science fiction, he had chosen a golden oldie for us to play: Space Marine 2nd edition, published by Games Workshop during the early nineties. Koen is a SpaceMarine/Epic afficionado, so it was quite natural he selected Space Marine as the first game to be hosted at his place.

We used a few rules modifications, such as using hexes to count for movement and ranges. The scenario involved an Eldar force attacking an urban area defended by Space Marines.

The game went well, although we were a bit surprised by the special powers of some of the units. Eldar wave serpents seem brutal!

Nevertheless, the game was a lot of fun, although it also reminded us also why we moved away from GW rules in a distant past. But it might serve as a good basis to start developing our own 6mm scifi house rules.

Paper model of La Haye Sainte

The latest issue of MWBG (issue 386, the Waterloo special) contains PDF models of La Haie Sainte and Hougoumont (downloadable from the Goodies page).

Both models are cleverly designed - the buildings are not 3D, but only give the impression of being so.

The La Haye Sainte model was the easiest of the two to put together, and the results is shown below. I printed out the pdf sheet as is, and put some 6mm Napoleonic figures next to it for a scale comparison. Quite neat.

Rhino conversions

Following up on my current 6mm scifi project for our ongoing Antares campaign, I converted some epic scale Rhino vehicles. I have quite a lot of them - they came in the original Games Workshop Space Marine game, but apparantly I acquired a few additional sprues as well.

The conversions shown below are rather simple. I added some weaponry ripped from Mechwarrior Clix infantry bases.

Now I still have to paint them, but that's also rather easy ...

6mm Science Fiction Buildings

The coming months I plan to stage a few 6mm scifi battles as part of the developing Antares campaign setting. Hence, I brought out my 6mm stuff, mostly dating to the GW Space Marine days.

However, I also unearthed the buildings below, of which I do not remember the origin. I think I bought them around 2003-2004, but they might be much older than that.

If anyone can help me with identifying the manufacturer, I would be very thankful!

Update May 25, 2015: It appears these buildings are still available from Second City Games, or  SHQ Miniatures (although it is hard to confirm the latter, since there are no pictures on their website for 6mm scenery).

Funny detail: I named the city blocks in the picture above in true Judge Dredd style: James T. Kirk block, Harrison Ford block, and John Carter block.