Thoughts on the Mighty Armies Campaign

We now have the first three campaign games under our belt for the Mighty Armies Campaign I'm running with MBB, Orc and Goblin. Following these games, and some discussion on the nature of the special rules, we decided to tweak them a bit.

Firstly, here is the standard campaign map. I've added an extra node before each players homeland just to extend things slightly. We've also added a limited form of attrition into the game, in that each player has a starting treasury of 400 gold pieces that they have to pay for lost units out of, so some areas now give a gold piece bonus per campaign turn. The map shows the battles for turn one where there are two symbols in a territory. The addition of gold pieces also means we can do some nifty random events like mercenary troops turning up that the players have to bid for or a bazaar with some wondrous items.

At the moment there are four special areas:

Mill - gives +2AP to each battle fought

Fletcher - gives archers Shooting 2 or Long Ranged for free, or upgrades to artillery range if archers already have Shooting 2 and Long Range

Volcano - 50% chance to get a dragon for 1/2 price (5AP instead of 9AP) but -2AP if the roll is failed

Wizards Tower- 50% chance to get a wizard for 1/2 price but -2AP if the roll is failed

Alchemist - Explosive artillery ammunition. If an artillery piece destroys an enemy unit an adjacent enemy is also killed on a 4-6

MBB and Orc both failed the roll to get the Wizard and Dragon, so both lost 2 AP's. They both commented that the mill and the Fletcher gave decent bonus's without any risk, but the Wizard and Dragon could bot result in losses to the army. So, to that end we are modifying the dice roll to be 1-2, you lose 2 AP's of army, 4-6, you get the special character.


Extra Spells
I've also had a thought about some extra spells as well, prompted partly by a post I saw on making thorny hedges from an old loofah, which is something I want to try.

Barrier: Create a length of terrain that blocks line of sight and movement. It could be a thorny hedge, a wall of stones thrust up from below the ground, a flaming barrier or just a magical wall of force. Each MP spent will produce 2 x 40x20mm (that's the base size I use) sections of impassable terrain that blocks line of sight. Terrain lasts until the end of your next turn, but can be maintained by the expenditure of 1 MP by the magic user for every 2 sections of barrier as long as he remains within line of sight of it. Barrier has no effect on flying units.

Sunder: Used to destroy a Barrier. Spend 1 MP and roll a dice against the owner of the Barrier. If you roll higher, one stand of barrier is destroyed. If you want to try and destroy all stands of barrier, roll at -2.

Swift of Foot: Spend 1 MP and make a shooting 2 attack against a friendly unit. If successful they gain +1 inch to their movement (the shooting 2 attack is required because I want it to be harder for heavy units to move faster).

Sure of Foot: Spend 1 MP and make a shooting 1 attack against a friendly unit. If successful they gain the Mobility trait for this turn only (again, I want it to be harder for heavier units, and i wanted it to be harder to get than Swift of foot, as mobility is arguably more useful).


Favoured Units
I've also thought about the favoured units that we are going to use and have come up with the following special abilities table. After a battle, each player is allowed to make a single roll for a unit that took part in a battle and survived. Only one favoured unit of each type is allowed. If a group is destroyed in combat, it is lost and any replacements do not carry over the abilities.

Infantry:
1: Toughened Armour - Ignore the first failed combat result result once per battle. Instead treat it as a draw.
2: Perfect Drill -  Only needs 1MP to activate if group consist of 5 or 6 stands.
3: Tortoise! - If the unit suffers a casualty from archers, then roll a dice. On a roll of 6 they instead survive. This is in addition to any other rolls that might affect the result (i.e. scouts roll 5+ for their scout ability and if they fail can then roll again at 6+).
4: Wall of Blades - Enemies charge bonus is reduced by 1 (so a normal charge gives no bonus, a chariot gets +1 and a flying unit with a lance gets +2) 
5: Shock Troops - For the first round of combat roll one additional dice and pick the highest result.
6: Shield Wall - Unit is not subject to the -1 penalty if attacked in the flanks.

Cavalry/Chariot
1: Barding - Ignore the first failed combat result result once per battle. Instead treat it as a draw.
2: Horsemanship -  Only needs 1MP to activate if group consist of 5 or 6 stands.
3: Fine Steeds - Movement is increased by 1 inch.
4: Dragon Forged Lances - Charge bonus is increased by 1 (so a normal charge gives +2, a chariot gets +3 and a flying unit with a lance gets +4) 
5: Shield-breakers - For the first round of combat roll one additional dice and pick the highest result.
6:  Skilled retreat - If forced to retreat from combat, unit may ignore any single stand that would otherwise block it's path of retreat. If more than one stand blocks the unit or groups path, normal effects apply.

Monster
1: Tough Hide - Ignore the first failed combat result result once per battle. Instead treat it as a draw.
2: Well Trained -  Unit only counts as one stand for determining the size of a group for activation purposes.
3: Quickened - Movement is increased by 1 inch.
4: Dire Charge - Charge bonus is increased by 1 (so a normal charge gives +2)
5: Savage attack - For the first round of combat roll one additional dice and pick the highest result.
6: Terrifying Howl - once per battle your monster may spend 1MP to attempt to bind a unit or group as though it had cast the Bind spell.

Archer/Artillery
1: Pavaise - Ignore the first failed combat result result once per battle. Instead treat it as a draw.
2: Rapid Fire -  Artillery may move and shoot in same turn. Other units gain one re-roll per battle.
3: Skirmishers - Movement is increased by 1 inch.
4: Heartwood Staves - Range is increased by 1 inch. 
5: Defensive fire - When charged the group or unit may make a single shooting attack at the charging units before they enter combat. Any units destroyed are removed immediately. May not target units attacking from flanks/rear.
6:  Arcing fire - Archers/Crossbows may attack from rear rank of a group as though they had the Long Ranged ability. Units with Long Ranged already gain 1 extra inch or range. Artillery units gain 1 re-roll per battle.

General
1: Inspiring Banner - Rally actions now only cost 1MP
2: Personal Herald - May Rally a group or unit within 3" without being part of that group
3: Enchanted Armour - Ignore the first failed combat result result that would target this unit once per battle. Instead treat it as a draw.
4: Blessed/Cursed Weapon - May roll one extra dice in the first round of combat and pick the highest result.
5: Art of Waaaaagh! - You may roll two dice for initiative and pick the best result.
6: War chest - Before each battle roll a dice. On a 1-4 there is no effect, on 5-6 you gain 2 extra AP to buy troops with.

Spellcaster
1: Spell Gem - Spell Gem gives d3 extra MP's at the start of a battle that may only be used to cast spells. Only one extra MP may be spent per turn.
2: Scrye - Once per battle you may force an enemy to re-roll one dice and you can pick the result you prefer.
3: Homunculus - Ignore the first failed combat result that would target this unit once per battle. Instead treat it as a draw.
4: Wand of Power - Range of all spells (including Ring of Teleport) is increased by 1 inch. 
5: Dancing sword - Support is increased by 1.
6: Ring of Teleport - Once per game, and at any time (even during the enemy turn), you may move the spellcaster 5 inches in any direction to a location that they can draw line of sight to.

Mighty Armies Campaign Game 2

We managed to get the next next two battles in for our Mighty Armies campaign this weekend.

First up was a clash between the Barbarian Hordes and the Lizard-folk nations over possession of the Wizards Tower. The Barbarians, the owners had already petitioned the wizard for aid, and he had declined, frying two AP's worth of the hapless Barbarian envoys. Clearly he does not like to be disturbed. This, then, was a 42 vs 44 point battle. It should have been a 42 vs 46 point battle, as the Lizard-men have possession of the Mill, which should give them +2AP's, but I forgot I had it when constructing my army....

I didn't get a set-up picture of the first battle, so I added the unit names to the picture for the end of Turn 1 below.

Turn 1

Both sides got a good quantity of MP's this turn, and mostly moved into position. The Lizard-men made an advance on the right and left with cavalry and monsters, and the Pterosaurs riders headed straight for the wizards tower. The Barbarians advanced across the board too, with the Hawk man swinging in to support the Bison.

Turn 1

 Turn 2

The Lizard-men won initiative on turn two and repositioned the Pterosaurs to fire on the advancing Bison. They managed to bring one of the shaggy beasts down with a flurry of javelins. The Lizard-man general advanced to support the flank of the raptor riders towards the standing stones.The Barbarians were hampered by getting just a few MP's this turn, something which plagued them all game. The catapult crept forward and hurled a boulder at one of the Lizard-man generals flanking bodyguards, squishing them with a volley of well placed boulders (I missed the star off below, I notice).

Turn 2

Turn 3

The Lizard-men won initiative again this turn. The pterosaurs advanced on the catapult and felled it with a hail of javelins. The swamp beast and it's handlers advanced on the left and the general and his remaining bodyguard advanced behind the inn. The barbarians again had only a few MP's. The hawk man advanced towards the centre and avenged the catapult crew by shooting down one of the pterosaurs. The king and the shaman climbed up onto the hill crest on the left.  

Turn 3

Turn 4

The Lizard men again won initiative this turn. On the right the raptor riders charged the bison, with the general and his warriors just being able to join in to support. The combined weight of the raptors, with their charge bonus and the support of the general and his bodyguard were enough to massacre the whole unit. We used an optional rule that instead of the whole unit being destroyed if you double your opponent, you lose 1d6 units instead. As it happened the roll was a 3, so all the bison riders will killed anyway... The pterosaurs engaged the hawk man in air-to air combat, but he managed to evade them both. On the left the swamp beast and handlers ascended the hill, ready to take on the Barbarian king The Barbarians got a decent amount of MP's this turn, so used them to good effect. The shaman called on the spirits of the elements and blasted both of the swamp beasts handlers with bolts of lightning. The general and the Shaman then charged the swamp beast and the Barbarian king gained much glory by slaying the beast. The dire wolf, seeing the threat on the left flank was ended, turned around and loped back up-table to support the warriors in the centre.

Turn 4

Turn 5

Turn 5 saw both armies consolidating and manoeuvring  The Lizard-man general reorganised his army so he was leading from the front, then swung them around to face the Barbarian warriors. The pterosaurs and the hawk-man continued to wheel and dive in the sky with no casualties. The Barbarian king and shaman advanced down off the hill and the warriors wheeled to face the Lizard-man cavalry. The battle was now at a tipping point. The barbarians only had to lose one more unit before losses became too much and they had to quit the field, but the Lizard-men only had to lose 2 and they'd be in the same situation.

Turn 5

Turn 6

No picture for turn 6. It was all over very quickly. The lizard-men only got a few MP's this turn, but only needed one. One of the Pterosaurs riders disengaged from the fight and  hurled a flurry of javelins down at the nearest Barbarian warriors, felling them where they stood. As the Barbarians had lost over half their army, they were forced to quit the field. The lizard men rejoiced all night and fed on Bison, whilst Barbarian prisoners glumly watched in wooden cages, pondering if they would be next on the menu.

A couple of shots of the Lizard-men troops, since I didn't take any close-ups during the game. They are all from Pendrakens Tribal Lizardman and Newtman ranges and are the first 10mm figures I ever painted. I tend to do my bases differently now, so they don't quite match the game board. They are also based 3 to a stand mostly, whereas most of my other armies have 4 to a stand for regular troops and either 2 or 3 for heavy infantry. There is a nice variety in the Tribal Lizardman range, so I have plenty to mix and match if i choose to re-base.

Pterasaur rider. Or possibly a pterosaurs. Or possibly a pterodactyl.

Heavy infantry.

Three flavours of infantry.

Mighty Armies Campaign game 1

I had Orc and Goblin over at the weekend. MBB was due to come over too, but a scheduling mix up meant he wasn't here at the same time as the younglings. They both said they wanted to play with the armies that AGG and I had painted for them at Christmas, so we set up a quick 44 point game, with flying units. Whilst choosing armies, we also decided to start up a quick campaign. Between the three of us we worked out a nodal campaign map for four players (Me, Orc, Goblin and MBB). I'm working on a campaign map for us, but we decided that certain locations would give certain benefits. We worked out the following:

Mill - extra supplies. Gives owning player 2 extra army points for each battle

Fletcher - Archer units get Long Ranged for free, or if already long ranged can use artillery range.

Volcano - You can try and persuade a Dragon to join you for 1/2 price. Roll a dice. 1-3 he eats 2 army points worth of troops, 4-6, dragon for 1/2 price (flying monster)

Wizards Tower - you can try and persuade a wizard to join you for 1/2 price. Roll a dice. 1-3 he turns 2 army points worth of troops into frogs, 4-6 buy a magic user for 1/2 price (can't also be general)

Town - Alchemist. Your artillery gain exploding ammunition. If a unit is destroyed by an artillery shot, roll a dice. 1-3, no effect, 4-6 another unit adjacent to it in a group is also destroyed.

We decided that the campaign would be over once one player owns the majority of the locations, and that if a players home location was destroyed, he'd carry on playing but as a vassal of the conqueror. To keep it simple we assume that each empire always has enough troops to field an army, so there are no rules for attrition or supply. We did say that each player can nominate one Group that can gain experience from game to game, but haven't decided how that will work yet.

Here's a rough draft of the campaign map:

Still a work in progress....

The players are:

Orc - The Barbarian Hordes

Goblin - The Undead Legions

MBB - The Orcs of the Red Hand

Me - The Lizardfolk Tribes

We started the campaign turn off by each player selecting a territory to advance into. The board quickly filled up until there were no empty spaces left and we had to advance into enemy territory. This resulted in three battles this turn:

Barbarians vs. Undead in the town.

Lizards vs. Barbarians at the Wizards Tower 

Orcs versus Undead in the mountains

We decided to play the first battle in the town. The Barbarians had claimed Wizards Tower, and the Undead the Fletcher, so they built their armies accordingly. The Barbarians petitioned the Wizard to join them, but Wizards being the cantankerous things they are he declined and blasted away two of The Barbarians army points, so they started with 42 instead of 44 (we normally play with 44 point armies and flying units as standard).

The armies lined up:

Initial setup

The river was impassable except at the two fords and the bridge. The fords were difficult going. The town blocked line of sight and the forests blocked line of sight and were difficult going.

Turn 1

Turn 1 saw initial manoeuvring on both sides. For the Undead the bone beast and wolf pack moved along the Eastern flanks into the woods. The Barbarians moved their Bison Cavalry to the west and advanced the warriors towards the eastern ford. The pictures were all taken with my phone camera, so apologies for the  variable quality:

Blurry turn 1

Turn 2

Turn 2 saw the Barbarians continue their advance. Their Shaman got line of sight to the mummies on the western flank and bound them in place. The Undead began to put their long-ranged archers in place to cover the western ford, and the wolf pack and bone beast moved through the forest. The flying Vampire general took to the field and moved up to support the eastern thrust.

Turn 2

Turn 3

Turn 3 saw the Barbarians gain initiative again. The Barbarian King had the Tactician skill, so gained +1 to his initiative roll each turn. The Bison Cavalry moved up and crossed the western ford. In the centre the King and Shaman advanced into the town, and the catapult slowly advanced. On the east the warriors held position  just out of range of the wolf pack, and the dire wolf moved up to support them. The catapult took a pot-shot at one of the wolf packs, but to no effect.

The Undead only had a few command points this turn, so had to pick carefully. The archers wheeled in place and fired on the Bison, killing one of them.

Archers in position...

The wolf pack and bone beast moved up towards the ford, but couldn't quite reach it.

Turn 3

Turn 4

Turn 4 saw the Undead win initiative. They only had a few maneuver point this turn, so on the western flank they finally roused the mummies into action to try and protect the archers, but it seemed to be too little, too late. They also diverted the bat swarm to bolster the archers and fired on the Bison to no effect. The wolf pack and bone beast held their ground as they were blasted by lightning no less that three times by the Shaman, fired on by the artillery and then charged by the barbarian warriors. They warriors, hampered by the difficult terrain of the ford, lost the battle and had a stand killed and were pushed back. The wolf packs rampage meant that they could follow up, and their mobility meant they were unhindered by the difficult terrain of the ford, so they immediately chased the fleeing barbarians down.

In the west the Bison riders charged the archers and bat swarm and emerged victorious. One stand of archers was killed and the rest recoiled.

Barbarians flee, chased by the wolfpacks.

Turn 4

Turn 5

I forgot to take any pictures on turn 5, so my colourful prose will have to suffice. The bat swarm flew back to support the Vampire, who moved into the town ready to confront the barbarian king. The wolf pack attacked the barbarian warriors in the rear and destroyed them. The archers wheeled in place and fired on the bison riders to no effect. The bison in turn charged and killed the archers. The catapult fired on the wolf pack and killed one, and the hawk man conducted a surprise attack on the rear of the group and the other!

Turn 6

I've included the casualties for turn 5 and 6 in the picture below. The barbarians won initiative this turn. The king advanced onto the bridge with the shaman. The bison cavalry wheeled around the village and the catapult fired on and killed the bone beast. In the Undead turn the vampire advanced onto the bridge and the bat swarm flew and landed behind the Shaman and the King. Caught between that Vampire and the Bat Swarm, the Barbarian king and his Shaman were both killed.

Turn 6

Turn 7

Turn 7 was mostly consolidation for the final battle. The vampire flew north to join the mummies and single stand of Skeleton Warriors. The hawk man and Dire Wolf moved up ready to join with the Bison Cavalry. The catapult fired on the landed bats on the bridge and killed them.

Turn 7

Turn 8

Turn 8 saw the Barbarian forces link up as the undead shuffled about in place.

Turn 8

Turn 9

Turn 9 saw the barbarian forces charge, with the hawk men diving to the rear in a surprise attack. Unfortunately for the barbarians, even with the assistance of the dire wolf and the hawk man surprise, the might of the vampire and his Mummies was just too much. All of the bison cavalry, and the hawk man, were destroyed. The Dire wolf made his death save and loped off howling. With just a catapult and the Dire Wolf left, the Barbarians had been roundly defeated.

 This was a really fun and exciting battle, and the fortunes wavered back and forth several times. With the Undead now in control of the town and the fletcher's, next campaign turn will no doubt see a very shooty undead army emerging (although Goblin has enquired about undead, flying, heavy cavalry - a scary thought!). We realised afterwards (well, I realised) That's missed off a few important rules, like the proper victory conditions, and how armies react when generals are killed, but we'll fold them in for the next game.

Montana Space Port Part 1

A recent post on TMP about adapting the Hannah Montana Mall Madness game to various zombie rule sets inspired me to pick one up off ebay. I've been travelling for work quite a bit recently and whilst passing through various airports have been thinking about them as a venue for skirmish games. Upon seeing the game, shown below, I thought was that the central area and the raised perimeter reminded me of the jet ways for an airport, and the lower deck the apron. It also slightly reminded me of Docking Bay 94 from Star Wars.

£1.99 plus £4.00 P&P got me the ultimate evolution of the consumer culture - a board game aimed at young girls training them to enjoy shopping. I'm mildly disgusted by the premise, and I've never seen AGG so keen for me to start a conversion project as she shared my loathing for the sentiment behind the game.

I stripped the components down, and removed all the electronics from the central module. I lightly sanded the glossy cardboard game board with coarse sandpaper to key the surface and then painted the cardboard with a mix of 50/50 water and PVA to strengthen it and help stop it warping once I painted it. It didn't help. The cardboard almost immediately began to warp. I let the first coat dry and then pressed it between two MBF boards with piles of books on to straighten it out. This helped, but eventually I had to glue it down to MDF just to stop it curling up. Once glued I painted it with several coats of cream coloured exterior, textured masonry paint and left to dry.

Meanwhile, the nasty purple shop sections got two coats of Halfords Rust Red primer. This has excellent coverage and leaves a nice finish. I may try the white and black as an alternative to my usual GW sprays.

The central module was then lightly converted with the addition of a cargo arm made from bits of clicky Mechwwarrior construction mechs and some "granny grating" for a safety fence. I also added a blanking plate over the speaker with an upturned bottle lid in the centre as a planter. I'll add various greenry to it later.

The cardboard upper and the modified central part then got several coats of Plasticoat grey primer. I've had variable results with Plasticoat paints in the past, and this grey primer did nothing to swing me for or against. It covered well and the cardboard upper didn't warp at all, but it took AGES to dry, even though I mixed well and sprayed in good conditions. The finish now is excellent, though. Smooth and scratch resistant.

Whilst that was drying I cut some 1mm plasticard to size to replace the card entrances at each of the corners. I'm going to add some bunker doors I picked up from Antenoceti's workshop to these to make entrances. At the same time I cut a few blanking plates to go over the protruding middle sections of the purple shops, but I cut them too large, so they need trimming. I may leave them off all together.

Here's how it looks at the moment:

Overview. Missile turrets are Old Crow, Rebel Miniatures Sabre Dropship at the top and figures are GZG OUDF. Hexen transport at the bottom, kitbash by me.

Central unit with scratchbuilt arm and empty planter.

These are the insides of asthma inhalers that I'm considering using as fuel tanks.

The upper level still has a few burrs on it that I should have trimmed off before I painted it.

Bunker doors not yet fixed to the plasticard inserts.

I'm considering two options for the lower deck. Firstly it'll get a coat of black paint with some grey and brown highlights to make it look a bit more like it's a well used, concrete surface. I'm then considering adding some aluminium car mesh to make an actual landing pad, either directly onto the cardboard or as a "wrap around" on some foamcore, plasticard or MDF. I'll have to experiment and see what I can come up with. 

The other addition will be a few blast shields, something like this:

A simple rectangle of cardboard with a couple of supports behind it, maybe with some detailing on the face, painted with nice warning stripes, that can be used as scatter terrain in the two landing pits.

Overall, I'm really please with progress, and am looking forward to finishing it off. I just have to work out how to store it now...

Kitbash Part 7 - VTOL Shuttle.

A while ago I picked up a real bargain at Modelzone. It was a Bigtrak Jr. on the reduced shelf because it was faulty and was missing a part. As it turned out, the missing part was a rubber ring around one of the wheels that gives it traction when it's moving. The fault was that it went round in circles - obviously because only one of the wheels had any traction. It usually retails between £29.99 and £34.99 depending on where you see it. This was marked down to 99p! I snatched it up, if only so I could cannibalise it for bits!

Bigtrak Jr

Originally I was going to stick some weapons on it and use it as a big battle wagon for maybe my Felids or Protolene, but then AGG gave me some of her old Ventolin inhalers for my bits box. I had one on my desk and was idly playing with it whilst I was on the phone one day when I noticed that the ends looked a lot like steerable nozzles:

Inhaler

Jump jet nozzle?

After this revelation I decided to convert the Bigtrak to a VTOL lander of some kind. It then lay dormant for a while as I waited for AGG to use up sufficient Ventolin inhalers for the project to proceed.

We've just had a long weekend here in the UK, and I took advantage of it when AGG delivered a bumper crop of inhalers. The Bigtrak got bathed in Dettol overnight to remove the stickers and glue, and then lightly sanded all over. I blanked off the rear deck with some 1.5mm plasticard, and did the same to the two side sections, after carefully sawing off the fixed axles at the rear.

I then cut down and cleaned up the inhaler nozzles and marked out their positions to make sure they would all line up. After they were added I was going to add some GZG building accessory large doors to the side, but instead remembered I had some large cargo doors by The Scene (although having just looked on their website, I can't find the doors, so maybe it was someone else). I split these down the middle and added one to each side as a loading ramp. I then tried to add some detail to the hemispheric dome at the top by adding  cockpit windows from thin strip styrene. This went badly, and every window I cut seemed to be a different shape and end up in a different place. I picked these all off and sanded the dome smooth again from where the superglue had mashed it up. Instead I bent some metal windows I had to match the curve of the hull (it curves in both directions, so this was quite a trial):

I then added additional bits and pieces from the bits box, including windows and Hatches from The Scene, vents, hatches, radar domes and circuit boxes from GZG and various other odds and ends.

The landing gear was scratch built from some left over IMEX Platformer connectors  with styrene tube and rod added for the legs and hydraulics. Detail was then added with small strips of styrene. The red transparent and purple thing on the upper hull needs to have some filler added around the edges to blend it in a bit more - it's going to be another sensor dome of some kind.

The engine bells are the caps from the inhalers with wheel rims from the re-purposed Androidz pull-and-go motors. I also just noticed my camera was on the wonk when I took the above photo - the ship actually sits level.

Seconds after I glued the top and bottom hull sections together, I noticed the hole left behind by the on/off switch. I was looking for something to cover it over and dropped one of the Platformer pieces in the hole whilst I was offering it up to check the size. I then spent 30 minutes trying to rattle it back out of the hole. In the end I had to grab it with my side cutters through the hole and cut it into smaller pieces to get them out...

As you can see, it's a substantial beast. I deliberately didn't/t arm it, as I see it more as a civilian cargo/passenger lighter. I'm going to TRY to paint it with a weathered, battered kind of look, with plenty of bumps and scratches, as though it's had a long, hard life. A basic grey/white look, with maybe some red and yellow details on it. The kind of look I'm going for is something like the battered aesthetic in the new Battlestar Galactica, or the hunk-a-junk, lived-in look of the Millennium Falcon.

Salute Loot

I attended Salute 2013 at the Excel centre in London last weekend. I failed to take a single picture, but many of my co-bloggers have written fine write-ups. I'd point you to The Angry Lurker and Wargaming Girl for two with plenty of pictures.

I managed to pick up a few bargains at the show, and came away well within my budget, which was nice. All images below are from the respective vendors websites (aside from the first one, obviously).

First off are some extra laser cut 15mm pre-painted building from 4-Ground Designs. I managed to get these at a show discount of 20% off, which was nice. I've also had some super service from 4-Ground in that our new puppy, Buster the Destroyer (title added by me), a springer spaniel, managed to get hold of the roof of one of my previously constructed building and chew it up. I contacted 4-Ground and they have generously agreed to send me a replacement!

Buster The Destroyer and AGG. Buster on left.

I picked up the semi type 2 and terrace type 2 as well as the stone walls set. Very nice buildings that fit together well, and once you have the hang of construction, go together quickly and easily. I plan to use them for Bolt Action in 15mm with my old, re-based Flames of War figures. Next pay packet I'm going to pick up another couple of sets, probably the shop and terrace type 1.

I also picked up a bargain haul of  Uncharted Seas ships from Spartan Games. One of the dealers, and to my annoyance I didn't remember which one, was having a clearance sale on all their Uncharted Seas stuff. I got Shroud Mage starter and Orc Starter (second wave of models) for £10 and £15 each, both at least 50% off. I also picked up a brace of blister packs as well at between £3 and £6 each, again, savings of between 25% and 50%. I was most chuffed with this. I have decent sized Orc and Shroud Mage fleets, and these will bulk them up nicely.

My next set of purchases were from Ground Zero Games. Some of their new Ranger and Rover vehicles, which will be painted for civilian use as explorer and survey vehicles. I also picked up one of the Fan Vans, which I have been lusting after for a while. This will get painted in the same grey/Blue as my other security vehicles.

Next I picked up some bits and pieces form Antenociti's Workshop. First was a pair of Zebu Patrol cars, once again for my security forces. These are really nice little miniatures full of an amazing level of detail and character. I really like them. I also picked up some of the Medium Advertising Screens and plasma screens, which are designed for 28mm, but work just fine for 15mm. They include some nifty graphics to attach to the screens showing nicely hi-tech and futuristic displays.

Lastly I picked up some of the Star Marines and Praesentia RAL Phase Shifters 1 and 2 from Critical Mass Games. I also got a set of their MaskFX sheets with Hexagon shapes on them, which I am really looking forward to using on my ZAS forces from their recent Kickstarter.

A nice haul of loot which I am really looking forward to painting up and gaming with.