I unwrapped & opened all my Historicon toys this afternoon and wanted to share some pictures here. These photos were snapped using my cheap cell phone, so they’re nothing fancy, but it gives you a good idea of the new figures joining my collection.
Without further adieu, here are several slideshows taking a closer look (click the back/forth arrows to scroll through pictures)…
It has been exactly 3 weeks since my little fur buddy departed this world. I’ve begrudgingly come to grips with it and am starting to interact socially with other people again. Enjoyed lunch with an old friend, saw the latest Indiana Jones movie, and went to a nearby winery with my wife & another couple and listened to music on-the-lawn while drinking wine slushies. All of that was very good stuff and great for my mental health.
This week, I took a couple of days off work to travel down to Lancaster, Pennsylvania with two close friends to play games and shop at the Historicon 2023 miniature wargaming convention. We had a blast. Man, I really needed that.
This year’s convention T-Shirt
On Thursday, we played in a grandiose Gnome Warsgame (Assault on Fort Lockhart) that was run by Jim Stanton, the game’s designer and Education officer of HMGS East. I was on the side of the Bad Guys (mostly German Gnomes) and was commanding a unit of Russian Gnomes and a small detachment of Gnomo Sapiens (cavemen) accompanied by an angry Stegosaurus. Our side’s goal was to advance longways across the battlefield and take the hilltop fort. Yeah right, like that was ever going to work. Our C-in-C had all of us march out in a slow and careful March Column formation. The lead units got shot up and blown to pieces by enemy mortar fire. After three turns, most of us said “Screw It”, broke formation, and advanced towards our foes. The results weren’t much better. My personal highlight was charging my Stegosaurus through a massed band of Swiss Gnomes, trampling 7 of them in the process. The carnage was glorious!
In the end, it was a Good Day for the Good Gnomes, and a miserable day for the Gnomish Kaiser, the Russians, and everyone else on my side of the table. Still, it was a helluva lot of fun playing with nice people, on a truly beautiful table, with a great GM who keeps things moving and has a terrific sense of humor.
Yours truly (middle guy in top-row) looking sideways as a German ally plots his next actionMy friend Kevin brought his French Gnomes, plus Russians and Scots Highlanders.
On Friday morning, the three of us played our first ever game of Wars of Ozz, which was run by Chris Palmer of the H.A.W.K.S. This is basically a Napoleonic mass-battle game set in the world of a post-apocalyptic Ozz, featuring Munchkins, Quadlings, Gilikins, Winkies, Whim Whim, and more duking it out against each other using black powder weapons.
It was an interesting game. For my group, who most often play fantasy games with a wider variety of troop types, special powers, and heroic characters, playing a game focused on just infantry/cavalry/artillery mostly differentiated by their core stats was a big change of pace. On the plus side, I enjoyed the Command & Control rules, the simplicity of combat, and the nice variety of reactions that troops had based on their race/morale-profile. I’m less fond of the endless reaction tests, which feel fiddly and often result in utter chaos. While I love fog-of-war in wargames, I prefer games where players make more decisions & decide on counter-actions, rather than having the game dictate them. That said, I did enjoy Wars of Ozz overall and would gladly play it again.
The Wars of Ozz figure range, made by Old Glory, are unique and really cool. Kevin played the Whim Whim and his cavalry, mounted on what looked like a Camel crossed with a Lizard experiment gone awry, were just fantastic. I was also fond of the green-skinned Winkies, but I wasn’t fond of how they whomped my rotund Quadlings and routed two of my units. It was not that surprising since my Quadling Artillery couldn’t hit the broad side of an elephant’s ass from 10 yards. Gah! Not appearing in our battle were any of the Land of Harvest figures; the pumpkin men are terrific.
Me (lower left) contemplating how my fat Quadlings should fend off the methodically advancing Winkies.
I made some nice purchases during my 3-day jaunt down to Historicon. I wasn’t looking for anything specific, but I’m always on the lookout for nicely painted, reasonably affordable 28mm minis to use in fantasy, dark ages, medieval, pulp, and sci-fi games. Off the top of my head I snagged:
16 painted Vikings
14 painted Huns (infantry)
13 painted Anubis warriors
8 painted Norman infantry
3 painted Wizards/Clerics
1 painted Dwarf Hero
1 painted Earth Elemental
1 painted Catapult + crew
3 painted Rocky Ground terrain pieces
1 painted swampy pool
6 Monster Fight Club trees (3 Green, 3 Snowy)
1 unpainted unit of Late Roman Archers for SAGA (Gripping Beast, 8 figures)
2 unpainted Warlords for SAGA (1 Late Roman, 1 Norman)
1 unpainted unit of Sleazoids (Star Schlock, 5 figures)
1 unpainted unit of Beefheads (Star Schlock, 5 figures)
I plunked down some dough, but I’m pretty satisfied with all that. And it feels good to get back to gaming again. Until next time, peace out!
I haven’t felt like posting anything fun, or engaging with people much over this past week. That’s because one week ago, we made the agonizingly painful decision to put Jinx, our 16.5 year old Maine Coon cat to sleep. I’m devastated. He was my constant companion, cuddle buddy, dining “supervisor”, and my wife and I loved him like crazy.
Jinx was diagnosed with nasal lymphoma back on March 1. We only expected him to be around for another 1-2 months at that point, but he fought the good fight and stuck around until early July. The last few days of his life, he was struggling to breathe, didn’t want to eat anything, and hid under the dining room table.
It was time to do right by him and end his pain. We were able to do it at home, with a very compassionate vet from Lap of Love performing the medical procedure. I got to hold him in my arms one last time. It was heartbreaking, but dignified.
The house is eerily quiet. When Anna goes into the office for work, it’s just me there. I’ve been used to having at least one cat around for 21 years now, so it’s going to be a very big adjustment. We’re not ready to take on the responsibility of a new pet. Perhaps some day. But Jinx is irreplaceable. He was the best cat ever: gentle, playful, loveable, and such a handsome boy. To say that I’ll miss him is an enormous understatement.
Rest well little buddy, until we meet again in a better place.
My good friend Kevin and I played Sword of Severnia last Sunday (June 25). Here’s a brief recap of the game with some early, post-deployment photos. Lately, we get so caught up in playing that we forget to stop and take more in-the-midst-of-battle pics along the way. Sorry about that.
Kev’s Greenskins (Orcs & Goblins) faced off against my Barbarians (Krones, Gnomes, Dwarves). We played a scenario where the Attackers (Barbarians) were escorting a prisoner to a Sacrificial Site to be offered up to the gods. The Defender (Greenskins) were trying to stop this from happening. In the end, once both armies started fighting, the scenario goal got lost in the shuffle. It was just one of those battles.
The Battlefield. My Barbarians army on the right, Kev’s Greenskins on the left.
Kev had not played SOS since at least the Fall of 2019, so this version was very new to him and there was some getting up to speed required. After a 30 minute rules refresher, followed by setup/deployment, we got the battle started. We took our time and I carefully explained rules along the way to help Kev learn the new stuff (I’ve refined the SoS design a lot since 2019).
Foreground: My Krones (Vikings), Wylderlings, and a supporting Ogre regiment with a Druid attached.
I was shooting for a vaguely Norse themed army anchored by Krones (Vikings) and Dwarves, but I decided to swap out a few regiments of Ice Trolls so I could get some Gnomes into action and add firepower (Gnome arquebuses) and speed (Gnome cavalry riding Giant Rabbits) to the mix.
Mo
Kev has been steadily amassing Greenskins over the last few years. He doesn’t get to play them often (it’s usually me), so he was eager to unleash some Orcs & Gobbos against my Barbarians. It was really fun to face-off against them.
Kev’s Goblin Brigade occupying his Right Flank.
Our battle lasted roughly 3 hours. It was a bloody battle and would have been even bloodier had the Greenskins not had such a Bad Day rolling attack dice. Their lone bright-spot was when Chonkk the Cave Troll hero smashed Ruggles the Ruffian (my Dwarf hero) into the ground, killing him during a 1-on-1 duel to the death.
Kev’s lone bright spot.
Other than that, it was a runaway victory for the Barbarians. The combination of winning initiative every turn, smart troop deployment, effective outflanking maneuvers, and good use of their large battle-groups was a big difference maker for my guys.
The Barbarian army was tough with solid discipline, but lacked in overall numbers compared to the Orcs & Goblins. What positives the Greenskins had in numbers, hard-hitting melee power, and several nasty monsters, they lacked in toughness and morale. They were never able to mount as many devastating hand-to-hand attacks as they should have. Losing an Orc Lord was bad enough, but when Orc General Bugfart the Filthy eventually fell in battle, everything else quickly crumbled.
It was a fun game. Despite the lopsided outcome, Kev said he enjoyed it and we had a great post-game chat. My game has come a long way since I created Version 1.0 over 15 years ago. Version 5.x is a vastly different experience, more fluid, less downtime between players, plenty of interesting decisions, more decisive, and just more fun. I’m really looking forward to our next SOS game (hopefully in July).
Tiny Painted Heroes 