Overpowered by Elite X-Wing Pilots

I finally made it out to a nearby game store last night to play a couple X-Wing battles with a few others that are trying to build local interest in this cool table-top game. I have not had an opportunity to play in over a month so I was rusty on a lot of the upgrade cards. I elected to play a list of imperial scrubs so that I could reduce the number of variables I needed to keep track of by eliminating special pilot abilities. This was the last list that I had played too, so it was already at hand and ready to go. I fielded 4 academy TIEs, a scimitar squadron TIE bomber with a seismic charge and a Firespray bounty hunter. Opposite of my squad were the three amigos, Luke, Biggs and Wedge in X-wings with several R2 droids on board.

The asteroids ended up in fairly uniform six-pack arrangement. I set up mostly towards one corner. With the higher pilot skills, my opponent set up second and chose the opposite corner to try and force me to spend more turns flying my ships in formation. I was really out of practice on trying to judge the distance and angles for my selected ship maneuvers and early on this caused me to split my academy squadron as I failed to successfully navigate around my bomber. As our ships engaged, I quickly lost a TIE to Wedge and had to focus fire on Biggs since he was drawing fire off of the other X-wings. I was unable drop Bigg's shield much and then I pushed my TIEs up into the X-wings...

...in hopes that my bounty hunter could swoop in for some flanking shots.

Moments later, I lost a couple more TIEs but a successful hit from my seismic charge and the effect of cumulative shots on Biggs looked like he might drop too. Since Biggs is about the same cost as 3 TIEs I hoped I might have a chance to even things up if I could get him off the board. But, my bounty hunter could not finish him. The X-wings then took out the firespray and with only a bomber and single TIE remaining, I decided to concede the match. Despite the thorough whooping, it was lots of fun.

Beantown Barking Spiders: Crazy as a Looney

Besides being able to field two trolls, the other entertaining thing that makes the goblin team in Blood Bowl unique is their use of secret weapons. If you saw my Barking Spiders conversions post then you might recall the conversion that I did for my chainsaw-wielding looney with a big, nasty saw blade reveling over the corpse of an unfortunate human, maybe a Norseman or Chaos Marauder. Because the chainsaw is the secret weapon positional of the most deranged and mentally unbalanced member of a goblin team I had to paint him first. Goblins might not be able to stand toe-to-toe with other teams in strength or skill, but no team can match their reckless abandon and disregard for the rules. To put it another way, they don't know karate, but they do know ka-razy.

Beantown Barking Spiders: Trolls

My league's Blood Bowl season for the Dungeonbowl championship officially starts tomorrow and I have been trying to convert and paint my goblin team for the opening event. Alas, I am only about half way through painting the team and it is going to pain me not to be playing with a completely painted team. Although they will not be fully painted at the season opener, I did get a few of the important figures on the team done, namely the two trolls. The models for these trolls are the Reaper Miniatures cave troll in the Bonesium plastic which set me back a measly 4 or 5 dollars for the pair of them. To help set them apart, and without having to get into any heavy conversion work, I painted them different purple tones, one more towards the blue spectrum and the other towards red. I also added a goblin to the raised hand of troll #1 so that it looks like he's getting ready to toss the little fella! On the goblin, you can see the team colors, purple and yellow, that I picked out for the Barking Spiders.

Beantown Barking Spiders: Conversions

Over the Thanksgiving holiday I managed to get a little conversion work done for the Beantown Barking Spiders, a new goblin team that I'll be trying out in my Blood Bowl league. As I mentioned in my previous post, I am using a selection of Reaper Miniatures goblins and trolls for this team. The Blood Bowl rules specifically prohibit players from bringing weapons on the field, and while goblins show disregard for this ruling by sneaking a few secret weapons into the game I disarmed most of them by snipping off the swords, spears and bows that they had used to arm themselves. However, there was one spear-bearer figure that was in a pose with the spear shaft across his body that could not be easily converted with a few simple cuts. I have two copies of this figure. With one of the cross-body spear-bearers, I chopped the spear tip off and replaced it by sculpting a boxing glove.

For the other cross-body spear-bearer, I decided to convert him into my team looney, a chainsaw wielding lunatic that can be an equal danger to the opposing team as he is to himself. In my box of bits, I found a saw blade that I believe came from an old 40K orc dreadnaught. I thought it would make a great chainsaw for my looney. It is a metal bit and I quickly realized that it was too heavy to be glued to the Bones plastic without something underneath it to support its weight. To remedy this, I chose to make a support for the chainsaw by modeling a sawed up opponent at the looney's feet. I built a basic frame for the sawed up corpse from some skeleton and marauder bits.

And then I green-stuffed some skin over the skeleton rib cage which provided the needed support to get the saw blade into place. The saw had a pretty terrible paint job on it. I think the previous owner might have used Testor's enamel paints. Normally I would have tried to strip it before using it, but since I intend for the final look on the chainsaw to be rusted and blood-spattered I think I'm just going to try to paint over it and hope that it adds to the final dilapidated look.

Now to the pogoer. Digging back into my bits box, I found a spear that had a skull staked on it and thought it would make a great pole for a pogo stick. First, I snipped off the top of the spear above the skull.

Then I used a pin vise to drill a small hole into the top of the skull.

I had selected a wolf-rider goblin to use for the pogoer. I removed the left hand that he was using to hold the reigns and carefully bent his right arm so that he was straddling the spear. Then I shaped the end of the spear into a narrow pin...

... that would fit perfectly into the hole that I had previously drilled into the skull to create the primary structure for the pogo stick.

Then it was time to break out the green stuff. I rebuilt his left hand so that it was grasping the pogo stick and I made a little support on the top of the pogo stick so that I could affix the top of the spear bit. I also used a small bit of green stuff to help hold is left foot to the side of the skull so that the pogo stick had another anchor point which I hope will give it some additional rigidity.

Finally, with a paper clip bent into a spring, and a crossbar added to the pogo stick, my pogoer is done being converted.

The last conversion that I wanted to tackle was that for my bombardier. This one was pretty simple. I started with the goblin warchanter.

I simply cut off the whip and short sword that she was holding and modeled a bomb into her right hand. Simple and effective.

We're Off to Paint the Wizard

I am still in the process of doing the conversions on my little band of Reaper Bones goblins to prepare them for the Blood Bowl pitch. While I am finishing that conversion work, I thought I would make a diversion to paint a test figure. Since I have not had experience painting on Bones plastic before, I thought that it would be prudent to do a quick paint job on another figure in this material to get a feel for how it behaves before diving in and painting my goblins. My first step was to reread the Bones FAQ since one of Reaper's claims with their Bones line is that they are "ready to paint right out of the package." I was curious to know if this claim would hold true. My instinct was to prep them with a spray primer as I do with metal figures, but I had heard multiple reports of spray primers reacting badly with the Bones plastic and did not want to repeat those mistakes.

After looking through my collection of Bones, I decided on a wizard to use as my test subject. I am not much of a fan for integrated bases on miniatures. I like the uniform dimensions of using "standard" size bases and find that it gives figures much more stability. I started the prep on my wizard by gluing him down, integrated base and all, to a 25mm square base. I considered snipping him off of the integrated base and mounting him without it, but I felt like just gluing the whole thing down would be quicker and less bothersome to make sure that he's standing straight. I added a small amount of green stuff around the edges to round things out.

With the prep finished, I started adding paint. With the first brush stroke, the hydrophobic nature of the plastic was evident. If the paint that you use for your base layer is too watery, then the paint will have a slight tendency to bead up. For the base layers, I found it best not to thin my paint very much but instead to use it closer to the consistency straight from the pot. This hydrophobic characteristic makes putting down base coats feel quite different than doing the same on a mini with primer. However, once a base coat is down, the painting experience is pretty much the same. For a very nice review of how paint behaves on Bones plastic, please reference this article: Painting Bones Miniatures: The First Coat is the Difference.

As an additional test for this wizard project, I wanted to test out "the dip" technique. "The dip" is a common speed painting technique that is used to quickly add shading to an entire model. It's not a method that provides instant Golden Demon caliber paint jobs, but it can provide very passable table-top quality results. The fundamental concept for "the dip" is to paint your figure by applying base coats only (usually lighter pigments are better) and then applying a pigmented varnish to the entire model. "The dip" terminology refers to the process of literally dipping the entire model in the varnish and then shaking of the excess. A less messy technique is to use a throw-away brush to brush the varnish onto the figure. This is a more controlled and less messy approach and is the way I'm going to do the application. Army Painter makes a line of Quickshade products that are directly intended for this dipping technique. They also have multiple tutorials in their Galleries that detail this approach with step by step instructions. Another popular product that is used for "the dip" is the Minwax line of PolyShades. Although intended as a wood stain, PolyShades is a similar product to Army Painter's offering and can yield similar results at around a quarter to a third of the price of the Army Painter solution.

Here is my wizard after applying the base coats. I did add a quick bit of basic highlighting before "the dip" since that extra step can help yield even better results.

And, here's the result after using "the dip" on the wizard and letting the varnish set up overnight. The approach that I took was to use a very inexpensive craft brush to apply Minwax PolyShades Antique Walnut satin sheen. The antique walnut sheen is a dark brown shade with a bit of red in it, very similar to Citadel's agrax earthshade. With my cheap brush, I was able to help prevent the varnish from pooling excessively in crevices and I did not have to find an area where I could shake the miniature about with reckless abandon.

The shading really brings out the detail on his cane, makes the pouches across his chest pop out, and adds a pretty good lining effect all over the model where there are creases, such as where folds of clothes meet and the leather bits on his wrists and feet. For many table-top applications, leaving him at this stage would be acceptable, but I would at least recommend applying a matte sealer to knock off some of the shine from the varnish.

To finish the wizard, I touched up a few areas and added some highlights to make the shading pop just a bit more. Finally, I finished the base using a little more of Citadel's texture paint and then sprayed the whole figure with coat of Army Painter's Anti-Shine Matt spray.

I'm satisfied with the results and glad that I took this journey, both to get familiar with the Bones plastic and to see the effectiveness of "the dip" method. The end result is a figure which, with the exception of the base and a few minor touch-ups, was painted in a single evening. Since the Bones plastic is very flexible these figures have the ability to absorb impacts and spring back to shape after being deformed. I think that gives them a leg up in the durability category over resin or metal figures which can break or become disfigured if they're knocked from the table or handled roughly. That kind of impact resistance is not something all gamers need to take into consideration, but between the Bones plastic and the dip varnish I don't feel like I need to worry about this figure breaking or the paint job getting chipped. To close out, here are some pros and cons about Bones and "the dip" that I identified during this project.

Bones Advantages:

• Cheap!
• Durable and can stand up to some rough handling.
• No need to use primer before painting.

Bones Disadvantages:

• Prep is difficult. It is hard to clean mold lines because of the elastic nature of the plastic.
• Figures often have warped bits out of the package that require reshaping.
• When painting over the white plastic, it is sometimes hard to see detail on the figure.
• Not as easy to convert as resin or more rigid plastics.

Dip Advantages:

• Quick way to add shade to an entire figure.
• Seals and shades with a single application.
• Provides a very durable seal after drying.

Dip Disadvantages:

• Do not have full control of what the shading will look like.
• Paint thinner is required for clean up. If brushing on, may wish to consider using throw-away brushes.
• Stripping the miniature if you want to repaint it is tougher.
• Takes a while to fully dry.
• Leaves a high-shine finish. Easily resolved by spraying with a matte sealer one fully dry.

Beantown Barking Spiders: From Bones to Blood Bowl #1

Last year, I backed the Reaper Miniatures Bones Kickstarter and when the Bones finally arrived I was a little overwhelmed by the volume of little white plastic minis that had ended up on my doorstep. When I backed the project I didn't actually have anything specific in mind for what to do with the miniatures. I just thought it would be reasonable to kick in support at the Vampire level to get enough cheap miniatures for almost any conceivable fantasy role playing scenario that I might come across in the future. However, without being currently involved in an RPG campaign I opened all of my Bones to take a closer look at what I had received and then boxed them up to wait for their turn on my workbench.

My local Blood Bowl league runs through four seasons annually that represent the same four major championships (Chaos Cup, Blood Bowl, Spike Magazine Cup and Dungeon Bowl) that are detailed in the Blood Bowl background fluff. With the start of each new season, I usually get motivated to start a new hobby project that will help me get a new team on the pitch that I haven't played before. Looking through the list of teams in the league over the last year showed zero representation for the litte, green-skinned cheaters so I thought maybe it was time to introduce some goblin mayhem into the mix. It's fitting for goblins to try to infiltrate the kingdom of the dwarves by any means necessary. A plan for a motley band of gobbo lunatics, the Beantown Barking Spiders, to play some Nuffle Amorical Football matches and earn their way into the underground dwarf stadium at Barak-Varr seems like the perfect way for them and their hooligan fans to overrun those hallowed dwarven halls.

With my goblin team in mind, I pulled out my box of Bones to see if I had anything that might be fitting. Inside I found the Pathfinder Goblins which look like they might be a perfect fit for the Barking Spiders.

If there's one thing that a goblin team in Blood Bowl needs it's a lot of players. I only had the 9 Pathfinder Goblins that came with the Reaper Vampire-level package, but I stopped in at a nearby game store last night and found that they had a blister-pack of Pathfinder goblin warriors in Bones plastic. The Bones plastic is very inexpensive and I picked it up for less that $3 USD to round out my team with 4 more goblins. One drawback to this material is that it is very common for the miniatures to warp. In the picture for the additional goblins that I bought you can see that one little fella looks like he is suffering the effects of an all-night bender. You can also see that some of the spears are a bit bent. I'm not at all concerned about the weapons since I'm going to snip them off to make the figures suitable for the Blood Bowl pitch. But, for our little friend with the hangover, I'm going to have to try giving him a hot water bath, repose him and dip him in ice water to give him new memory.

Next to a lot of players, the other thing goblins need for Blood Bowl are secret weapons. I plan on converting a few of the goblins into a looney, a fanatic and a bombardier. At the game store last night, I saw this pathfinder goblin and thought it would make a perfect pogoer. It isn't available in Bones plastic, but it was still pretty cheap and, being metal, I think will actually be easier to repose and convert into a proper pogoer.

And last, every goblin team needs its two trolls. I really couldn't find anything suitable in my box of Bones for these big guys, but I did notice that there is a troll from Reaper available in Bones plastic. In keeping with my Bones-inspired goblin team, and at only about $2 a pop, I decided to add two of these guys. I'll post more as this project continues.

A Minotaur Mess

I was inspired by Lou Rollins' recent post, A Harlequin Miss, about the restoration of a retro Eldar Harlequin miniature and decided to talk about a little project that I'm undertaking. I have had a Chaos Blood Bowl team on the workbench since the start of the year, back to when I made a post about basing some chaos warriors. My local league is currently finishing up its season for the Spike Magazine trophy and will start its Dungeonbowl season within the next few weeks. In preparation for the new season, I have resolved to finish my chaos team, The Brawnx Bleatboys. With my beastmen just a few touches from being complete, I only need one more player to finish filling out the team: a minotaur. The miniature that I've had in mind for my frenzied team muscle is an old Games Workshop minotaur from 1987 which is currently suffering under a caked on paint job that I gave it in that same era when I was in middle school. I thought that it would be fun and nostalgic to restore this miniature and put it back in to service on the table top. Before giving it a long Simple Green bath and stripping it down for a repaint, I thought that it would be fun to snap a photo for the archives. Stay tuned for a future post where I'll show the final results alongside of the complete Bleatboys roster.

Fond Underhive Memories

Necromunda was released in 1995 as a specialist game by Games Workshop while I was still in college. My circle of friends immediately found a passion for this wonderful skirmish game that was set in the seedy Underhive of the Warhammer 40K universe. There has always been a special place in my heart for Necromunda. It was both approachable and had depth to make it long-lasting to play. The small number of miniatures needed to field a gang created a low barrier to entry, especially for cash-strapped college students. The rules system was pretty easy to digest and there were not any gaping rules differences or power imbalances between the rival houses. But, where it really shined for me was in playing a campaign. The ability for gang members to gain experience and new skills or be wounded from session to session gave me a wonderful affinity for my gang and created a cohesion to the campaign story arc that I never received from battles in 40K. Having a close-knit group of friends and playing a semester long Necromunda campaign is definitely one of my fondest gaming memories of all time.

This trip down memory lane was courtesy of a handful of photographs that I found in a shoebox a couple of weeks ago. These photos are from 1997 and were taken at a house that my friends and I lived in while working on our degrees. The miniatures are my House Cawdor gang shot against the Underhive that consumed our kitchen table for the better part of a year.

Clempzen Razorcats vs Undead as a Doornail

The Clempzen Razorcats climbed one step closer to this season's Spike! Magazine bowl playoffs with a 1-1 tie against one of the league's most rotten teams, Undead as a Doornail. Undead as a Doornail currently holds the league's all-time records for longest win streak and longest undefeated streak at 9 and 16 respectively. Considering those kind of numbers and a strong team played by the most calculating Blood Bowl player that I know, escaping the match with a tie is somewhat of a moral victory. The lighting wasn't great for photos, but here is one that I snapped during the game which shows off my buddy's cool paint job on his undead team. Check out those gruesome bases.

Being the underdog, the Razorcats were able to enlist the aid of The Mighty Zug, a valuable strength 5 addition to help go head to head with the undead mummies. They also picked up a Bloodweiser Babe and a dirty trick to keep up their sleeve for an opportune moment. Losing the coin toss, the Razorcats had to kick off to the undead in the first half. Doornail had one of their ghouls pick up the ball and they aggressively pushed the right side of the field for a quick score. The 'cats were able to get a lucky shot on the ball carrier and pop the ball lose. It bounced out of bounds and the crowd hurled it back into the Razorcat's end zone. The Razorcat +AG blitzer, Brian Blockins, was able to scoop it up and rush it to the other, less pressured side of the field. This move left the slower part of the undead team out of the action, but the fast, dodge-happy ghouls were able to respond and caught up with Blockins as he was a few squares from scoring. Doornail recovered the ball, but neither team was able to come up with a desperation turn 8 score and the half ended 0-0.

In the second half, the Razorcats got the ball first and a quick snap on the kickoff gave them excellent position to punch open the Doornail defense. Brian Blockins raced through an opening that gave Doornail a downfield threat to contend with while the human thrower grabbed the ball and advanced towards the line of scrimmage. Blockins was mauled by a wight but there was still a scoring lane open on the field. The Razorcats made a couple less than optimal plays to advance the ball to the waiting hands of Ceejay Splitter who carried the ball into the undead end zone for a quick, two-turn score.

Doornail then went to work to make sure that their undefeated streak would not come to an end. They pressed the right side of the field and did a tremendous job blocking Razorcats near the sideline and crowd-surfing them. With the player numbers to their advantage and the clock running down, Doornail switched sides of the field. In the Razorcat's last turn, they clawed to try and stop Doornail player Augustus the Strong from scoring. They threw a custard pie in a zombie's face, and their ogre, Brains Haddums, blocked open a path to the ball carrier (after succeeding on a sketchy loner reroll to shake off an initial bone-head result). Unfortunately, Augustus the Strong was able to shrug off a hit and Doornail got the 8th turn TD for a 1-1 tie.

Clempzen Razorcats vs Couronne Crusaders

My spirited Clempzen Razorcats faced off against the Couronne Crusaders last night at our weekly Blood Bowl league night. The Crusaders are another human team coached by a veteran and well-respected friend who puts his fantastic painting skills on display at Lou Rollins Miniatures. There is also a blog post over there called Hobbyist vs. Gamer that features some more pictures that were taken during this match. The Razorcats are still pushing to get enough games under their belt to qualify for this season's Spike! Magazine bowl playoffs. They were around a 300K underdog to the Crusaders and spent their inducements on a team training reroll, a Bloodweiser Babe, and three dirty trick cards.

The Razorcats had to kick first and immediately played a Kicking Boots card on their lineman, Dakwan Bowzers, for more accurate kickoff results. The Crusaders scooped up the ball and began a push to their right. They looked to be in position to make a quick score when the ref was distracted and a 12th man, Nuke Dabomb, snuck on the field (Illegal Substitution card) to add an assist. The Razorcats were able to pop the ball out, recover it and switch sides of the field. The Crusaders backpedaled to halt the counterattack. They pressed the Razorcats towards the sideline, but the ball carrier, Taj Void found an opening and made a lateral move across the field. He was pursued by the Crusaders' nasty, break-tackling orge, Kalidorgrom, but ended up just out of his grasp. With the clock running out, Taj handed the ball off to an open catcher, Nuke Dabmob, for an almost certain go-ahead score. But there are no certainties in Blood Bowl. The catcher fumbled the hand-off and suffered the insults of 11,000 booing fans.

In the second half, the Razorcats got the ball first. The thrower, Taj, had the ball and the offense began probing the left side of the field for weakness. However, the line soon collapsed and the pocket was flooded with Crusaders. The Razorcat line was in disarray but was able to push defenders away from their thrower. Taj scrambled from the pocket and completed a pass to their strongman blitzer Ceejay Splitter who made a break for the end zone. The Crusaders made a last ditch effort to stop Splitter, but were unable to tear the ball from his grasp and Splitter blitzed his way into the end zone for a score.

The Crusaders lined up to receive the kick-off and went to work on the right side of the field. A bulldozing Kalidorgrom roared down the field and pummled Taj Void into the turf. The Crusaders botched picking up the ball though and the Razorcats began to believe that they would be victorious. The Razorcats were probably too aggressive in trying to pressure the loose ball as it stretched their defense a little too thin. The Crusader thrower snatched up the ball and completed a pass to their blodging catcher, Marneus, who rushed up into scoring position behind Kalidorgrom. The Razorcats' Taj had a chance at knocking the ball from Marneus, but was unable to pull the ball away from him. After that, the best that the 'cats could do was to create tackle zones that Marneus would need to dodge through for the score. On the final turn of the game, Marneus paid homage to the deceased Crusader Katica as he dodged through traffic and found his way over the goal line for a touchdown. The game ended in a 1-1 draw. A most enjoyable game.

Chewie Races to Han's Rescue

I got another game of X-Wing in over the weekend with my friend that had bested me earlier in the week. In that earlier game, his two bounty hunters managed to get the upper hand on Han Solo. After we selected our 100pt lists for our battle, it looked like the story would continue. I was playing Chewbacca in the Millennium Falcon with some upstart pilots in an x-wing and a b-wing. My opponent had Boba Fett supported by a couple of heavily armed TIE advanced fighters. The backdrop for the encounter was set. The bounty hunters had delivered Han Solo over to Boba Fett to deliver to the Empire. Chewie broke into an Empire impound yard to retake the Falcon. After blasting his way out of impound, Chewie chased down Boba Fett and his escorts in an attempt to rescue Han.

The early game plan for the Empire was to zero in on the b-wing with the heavy ordinance carried by the TIE advanceds and try to dispatch of it and its heavy laser cannon. As they came into firing range, the b-wing deftly rolled out of the firing arc of one of the two TIEs allowing it to trade shots rather than be instantly vaporized. Chewie raced along the mat's edge, maneuvering into the Empire's blind spot and adding support fire to help dispatch one of the TIEs.

The b-wing tried to navigate around the side of an asteroid in an attempt to get additional protection from the remaining TIE, but still was unable to survive the volley of shots aimed at it. Chewie and x-wing pilot then finished off the remaining TIE and turned their attack scopes towards Boba Fett who was altering his course to keep from flying off the table edge. The final turns of the match played out a story of Chewie and the x-wing chasing Fett around the edge of the mat. Some unfortunate piloting decisions helped Fett in taking down the Falcon, but the x-wing was able to remain fairly hidden outside of Fett's firing arcs and was able to knock the bounty hunter out to secure a win for the Rebels. Ah, sweet redemption.

The Bounty Hunters Found Solo

I got a few new minis for X-Wing Miniatures in yesterday and had a chance to try them out on the table top last night. I decided to field Han Solo in the Millennium Falcon with a B-Wing and HWK backing him up. My opponent brought a pair of bounty hunters in Firesprays with two supporting TIEs. It ended up being an incredibly close match with a few exciting swings in momentum. The TIEs were quickly destroyed in rounds 2 and 3. Eventually, Han and one of the Firesprays went down. It proved difficult for the B-wing to close on the remaining Firespray and finish him off. They traded shots, and though the B-wing was lost, the bounty hunter's ship was in critical shape and had the potential of exploding on any subsequent round. Hoping the critical damage could finish off the remaining hunter, Kyle Katarn in the HWK tried to put distance between himself and the bounty hunter. Alas, the Firespray survived the odds on his continuing critical damage and made a lucky range 3 shot on the HWK to end the game. Fun stuff even though I'm something like 1-3 in my Star Wars dogfights so far.

It is a dark time for the rebellion...

I remember starting to get sucked into the buzz around the time when the X-Wing Miniatures Game was being introduced. The early play tests appeared to demonstrate some nice game mechanics and I started to visualize building my own fleets. I am a child of the Star Wars era, the real Star Wars where there are no Three Stooges jokes, no digital muppets, and where Han shoots first. For someone who had their imagination forever shaped by A New Hope, what could be cooler than playing out table-top dogfights between the Empire and the Rebellion? But, at some point before the game's release I decided I had my interest fully invested in Blood Bowl and, at the time, Lord of the Rings LCG, so I let the X-Wing launch pass me by and avoided getting sucked in. Plus, I didn't have anyone else in my gaming circle that had really shown any interest in the game. Those space dogfights would have to remain in a galaxy far, far away. Until now, that is. This past week I acquiesced and purchased a X-Wing Core Set.

I don't think it's worthwhile here to give a full unboxing account. The game has been out for a year and there are plenty of unboxing reports and reviews around the web. But, it's new to me and I'm having a good time with it so far. The pre-painted miniatures are a very acceptable table-top quality, and before my first game I thought a proper game board was the appropriate thing to build to complement the miniatures. The simple board that I built was a made from a black 4' x 3' Elmer's tri-fold display board. I don't expect this board to have a tremendous amount of longevity, but at under $5 I thought it was a very cost-effective way to try out some ideas for customizing a play surface. The star field and nebula are the result of dipping an old toothbrush in paint and splattering the paint on the display board by flicking my thumb through the bristles. I don't think I spent but about 10 or 15 minutes painting the board and I was pretty pleased with the end result. I will probably use the same approach again when I build a more durable board.

After playing though my first game there seems to be potential here. I can certainly see how the strategic and tactical options will open up with the additional of a few more ships. Plus, I really don't see how I can possibly resist adding the Millennium Falcon and Slave 1 to my hangar. In the end, the worst thing that could happen by buying into this game a little is that I'll end up with some really cool Star Wars minis so I have no idea why I was holding out.

Lizardman Team: First Painted Saurus

With the skinks for my Lizardman team, the Scavengers of Scape Ore, completed, I've turned my attention towards painting the Sauri for the team. Here's a look at the first Saurus player that I've finished (except that I need to add a few tufts of grass to the base). I decided to keep the sauri painted with the same green-yellow color scheme that I used for my skinks where the scales are green and the underbelly is a vibrant yellow. I like how the yellow adds a bit of visual pop to the miniature and will hopefully make them somewhat unique on the table-top.

Lizardman Team: Skinks

These skinks are the first players that I've completed for my Lizardman team, the Scavengers of Scape Ore. I will be playing this team in my local Blood Bowl league's summer season. The models are those from the resin Sarcos Team #2 from Impact! Miniatures which I posted about previously. In general, the quality of these resin casts is pretty good, but I did find a few issues on some of the small details with the skinks (baby crocs). Most noticeably, the figure with an outstretched hand had a finger missing on both of the copies that I received. Despite the casting flaws, the sculpts are nice and show a lot of personality. And, at just $35USD for a whole team they're an undeniably good value. I had a lot of fun painting them. I kept a consistent green and yellow scheme for my rostered skinks and painted one skink in a yellow-brown scheme to use as a journeyman when necessary.