A Little D&D

A neighbour and I have been trying for a while to do some gaming. I think he might have come to one of the game nights I was more or less in charge of planning a few years ago. Last year we considered trying Edge of Empire, but that didn't really go anywhere. This time, he got a group together to play Dungeons and Dragons and invited me to join.

He's played before, but this time he is trying his hand at DM for the game. As I have no clue how comfortable the players are with their names being published online, I will refer my neighbour as DM from now on.

I might have said before, I have never played D&D. There are two others in the group who are noobs like me, a father and son duo. I believe the DM's daughter and nephew, who are also joining, have played before. And there is possibly a sixth player whom I don't know anything about. In any future posts, I will refer to these people as their characters.

My character is a human ranger (so imaginative). The DM thought I was going to pick a wizard. I guess I tricked him!

He had some minis for us to use and I painted mine as soon as I could get the time. So here I post it now, all painted and ready for questing.

I tried a new idea I had for basing. Using my "circle cut from fake plastic rocks" I attempted to melt the figure base to my homemade one. It didn't work. What did work was melting the 'rock' base and moving the molten plastic into the figure base. Makes for an interesting sort of surface. I may do something to spruce it up, but I also kind of like it how it is. I should probably do some kind of wash to it. Maybe when he has a bit more experience under his belt...

Ha!

Anyway, just wanted to post after so long a drought. Cheers!

Edit: In case some reader likes this guy, he's available at The Dragon's Lair in a 2-pack (here).

Painting MtG: Elf Rangers

The next instalment in my painting practise is the group of elven rangers or archers from Arena of the Planeswalkers.

Part of this particular project was to experiment with some new-to-me paints I received a while ago. My mom in law had done some paint by number pictures and had a bag of leftover paints; those small plastic pots that come in the sets. They were acrylic so I thought it couldn't hurt to try them for painting minis. It was an interesting experience.

I may have mentioned before, but I may not have, that there's a little rule about free stuff: it's not free. You may not have to pay money for it, but more than likely you'll have to spend time

First off, the paints were very thick. It took quite a bit to thin them, for which I used water and Future Shine. It worked well enough, except for one pot where the paint acted like I was trying to apply it to a grease splattered area. It really took a lot of mixing, adding small amount of water or Future, mixing, adding, mixing... So, unless you enjoy mixing paints to the consistency you like, I guess I wouldn't recommend buying these ones if you have access to something else. It has also made me wonder if I should get a mixing medium as well.

The paints also seemed to stay tacky longer. I happened to touch one of the archers as I was transporting them to a shelf to dry and it was a bit sticky, even after sitting on the table for about 10 minutes. I wonder if it is an effect of the paints or of the Future I added.

The really nice thing about these paints is that there was a large variety in the bag. I'd guess she gave me about a hundred of these little pots and I don't think any two of them contain the same colour. I could pick three greens from about ten and two browns from seven as well as a good colour to use for fair skin. So, I guess at least part of the time I used for thinning the paints was made up by not having to mix colours.

Also experimenting with sticking moss to the bases. The glue I tried will probably not work out, but it's Testor's plastic cement, a liquid glue that looks and acts just like water, and I'm sticking moss to primer.

The finished paint jobs came out pretty well though and I'm pleased the effort didn't just go to waste like the wasteland cars I took a stab at (they look like someone drove them through a septic lagoon, of course, maybe someone did). I may still add an all-over wash just to pick out some detail, but here they are:

Organization is key!

I've decided I want to clean up and organize the games shelf a little bit. It's a floor to ceiling affair that's just over 8 feet wide. I've been placing random minis and sculpting/painting tools and materials all over amongst the board games and I think at least one shelf could be cleared of the present clutter if I modify the space to maximize the storage area. My first move is the installation of some drawers.

This bottom drawer houses my entire WH40K collection, consisting of Imperial Guards and Tyranids purchased at a thrift store, and a few Heroclix that I have rebased. The middle drawer is the Heroclix to Star Wars mods and some other minis. Top drawer is Pirates of the Spanish Main ships.

You can see the process at my Instructibles posting: www.instructables.com/id/Old-Drawers-Relocated/

Marrying Mr. Darcy (AAR, Solo Play)

A few days ago I wanted to get a solo game of something played, but my table is currently holding some Arena of the Planeswalkers figures all primed and ready to paint as well as a half-built Chickenhawk drop ship I printed from toposolitario.com. Thus, the game needed to be short enough to finish and clean up. We had brought up a number of games for our game night on Sunday and we played Space Beans, which the two oldest picked up on how to play quite quickly and Jeanette won.

One of the other games brought up, but not played at that time, was Marrying Mr. Darcy. The box caught my eye as I was contemplating what to try solo. Since it's mainly pick a card and do what it says, solo play is not that hard.

Intro

I laid out the Suitors. For the uninitiated, the suitors are Mr. Wickham, Mr. Collins, Mr. Denny, Col. Fitzwilliam, Mr. Bingley, and Mr Darcy. I randomly picked six of the eligible bachelorettes. They were: Lydia, Mary, Georgiana, Jane, Elizabeth, and Caroline.

For those who haven't played, players take the role of one of the eligible ladies from the Pride and Prejudice story. They use cards to build up their character's traits in the areas of Beauty, Wit, Friendliness, and Reputation, in order to attract one (or more) of the suitors. The suitors each have different trait combinations that they are attracted to (for example: Mr. Darcy likes witty women, but Mr. Wickham will take anyone with a bit of money). Some cards also allow the player to increase their Dowry (some of the guys want to know you have money). Others allow them to increase their Cunning (helps increase chance of first pick at suitors) or decrease a trait of one of the competition.

Each woman's card has a list on the back that gives end game point values for marrying certain suitors. Each lady's list is different.

Players draw event cards and follow the instructions on them to drive the game.

The Play

Lydia was doing quite well in her character building, but couldn't bag the money needed to attract Wickham. It suddenly didn't matter any more when one of the cards and required dice roll saw Mr. Wickham elope, permanently removing him from the line-up of suitors.

Mary, Georgiana, and Caroline really upped the competition as all were able to rack up enough of their stats to attract Mr. Denny and Mr. Collins.

Elizabeth had a really hard time getting the necessary level of Wit to attract Mr. Darcy. It just didn't seem to be in the cards and about half way through she had traits enough for some of the others as a back-up. Very late in the game, she finally got the Wit level needed and started adding to Cunning to ensure she gets first shot at Darcy.

Early in the game, Jane had received a card that would have given her 10 points just to end the game a spinster. It was so early in the game I thought there was still plenty of time for her to build up for Bingly. Should have kept the card because Jane was quite unlucky and quite unable to build up enough character for any of the guys.

Late in the game, Lydia scored the "Visit Pemberly" card, which lets you choose Darcy, regardless of your stats, and gives you crazy good points. So on her last turn, knowing Elizabeth would beat her in Cunning, Lydia drew a card to remove Wit from someone! Played it on Elizabeth, stealing any chance Elizabeth had with Darcy! Three cheers for sibling rivalry!

"Lady Catherine was extremely indignant on the marriage of her nephew"

Elizabeth did have first pick of suitors, and a re-roll on a proposal. With Darcy suddenly out of the picture, she turned to Col. Fitzwilliam (12 points) and found a very agreeable union with many happy days. Final score: 20

Next pick was Mary. While she had become a very well rounded and accomplished young woman, the suitors were wont to remember their first impressions of her and thus, withheld any proposal. Her kind and wealthy family take her in and she takes to spinsterhood in good spirits, becoming a famous author (Old Maid score: 10 points). Final score: 22

Georgiana and Caroline were tied with Cunning points, so preference goes to highest Dowry, which Georgiana won. She accepted the proposal of Mr. Denny (8 points). A pleasant enough arrangement, but overshadowed by a feeling that something wasn't quite right. Final score: 19

Caroline was left with only Mr. Collins as a suitor, since her personality did not lend itself to Wit enough to attract the glances of Mr. Darcy. Her pride and station must not have been agreeable to Mr. Collins as no proposal was made. Caroline went on to become a governess to a wealthy family (Old Maid score: 4 points). Final score: 15

With her introduction to Mr. Darcy at Pemberly behind her and Wickham's influence out of the picture, Lydia stocked up in the Friendliness and Wit departments. Mr. Darcy proposes (16 points, as per card) and she accepts. They lead a full and happy life. Final score: 30

Finally, perhaps due to her shyness, Jane catches the eye of no-one. She is taken in by a resentful uncle. But his children are not of his negative disposition and they ensure that Jane leads a happy enough life (Old Maid score: 8). Final score: 18

I'll include the end of game picture, despite the fact you can't read anything on it.

Painting practice

So a little bit of a break from any work on minis. In the summer I found a cheap-ish box of Magic the Gathering: Arena of the Planeswalkers. I bought it solely for painting the minis and finally got around to doing a couple of them. I chose the zombie ogre things (officially called blighted reavers). And here they are. Well, two of them, I seem to have misplaced one.

"Hey Blorg, you seen Blarg lately?"
"No Blerg, it's been a while. Maybe we should check out that new diner down by the theater, he was tellin' me about it the other day. I could use bite anyway!"

Cheers!

Wooden Bookmarks

Made for my sister-in-law, who happens to like sharks. All wood pieces cut/shaved from an oak (I think) piece of a discarded crib.

Very simple one on the left, just carved her first initial, very light wood stain, and attached shark with a leather strip. On the right I got a bit more creative: applying a blue wash and painting the boat over top.  Used an actual fish hook and line to attach the shark, which I just painted gray. Both treated with a spray-on varnish.

Star Fighter Battle - Full Thrust Style

I just found a set of rules I want to try out for starfighter minis - particularly the Star Wars fighters I have available to me. What has me most pleasantly impressed is that they are based on the Full Thrust system, which I am somewhat familiar with having played the fighting sail off-shoot, Full Sail. Now, this rule set doesn't seem to have an official name, but it is found at this link (choose the Keith Jordan set), along with a bunch of other Full Thrust related stuff!

I dug out four A-wings and six TIE fighters for a simple skirmish.

The Battle

I think this is more or less how I set up a similar scenario to try out the Silent Death rules. Both sides are travelling with velocity 6.

The contestants close for battle!

I think the camera is catching up to the massive amount of acceleration as the A-wings and TIEs come at each other head on. Of all the shots fired, only the one TIE fighter was hit.

Every one flies past each other and nobody is in anybody's sights.

But the A-wings are able to come about to take some shots at one of the Imperial fighter groups, scoring some hits with each shot.

Again, no shots fired as the fighter groups try to gain favourable positions.

All fighters at this point have decelerated in order to make tighter turns. Some real damage is done to one of the TIE fighters as it has to make a threshold check and it loses fire control and both engines. One of the A-wings receives a hit, but it's minor.

TIE fighters in score some hits, but nothing major. And only one hit on that defenseless TIE as the other A-wing group avoids his wingmen.

Another all-too-brief respite with no-one in position to fire.

The Rebels catch two TIEs in an inescapable arc of fire and, through a series of lucky rolls, manage to eliminate one and severely damage the other, leaving him just one HP away from exploding, one laser cannon inoperable and one engine dead. He uses what control he has left to flee the battle. Meanwhile his remaining wingman on the far right will drift off the battle area after three unsuccessful attempts at damage control.

With one TIE squadron broken up and running, the other Imperials turn in for revenge. The targeted A-wing at the bottom of the image lost its shields and fire control system.

Oops, forgot to indicate hits on those A-wings.

A picture missing here, but no worries, not much happened!
But then:

Final round of fire sees two A-wings and two TIE fighters eliminated!

The last Imperial pilot in the battle decides to head for home as fast as he can, increasing velocity to the maximum gets him just out of range of the Rebel ships. This dogfight is over. 

The winner? Tough to say. Both sides lost 50% of their fighters. I guess I could say the Rebels win it by forcing the retreat of Imperial fighters by loss of control (thrust points).

Final Thoughts

Like I said, I'm already somewhat familiar with the Full Thrust ruleset, so outside of the changes made specifically for dogfights, I spent very little time in the rules. I could have streamlined turns by measuring movement for squadron leaders, then moving wingmen into formation positions, instead of measuring movement for each fighter individually as I did.

I did misunderstand the rules for dice rolled when firing for the first few turns. Don't know if it would have affected the outcome much. Fighters seemed to disappear quicker once I started playing it correctly. Another thing I may or may not have done correctly is to carry over the turning rule I am used to from Full Sail, that being to make a 30 degree turn takes 2 thrust points. Still think it worked well this way regardless. I guess I should still try out one thrust point per 30 degree turn, which would give the A-wing the possibility of a 270 degree turn in one move. Maybe a minimum speed should be required; one MU per 30 degrees.

I was also wondering if I had balanced the opposing forces well enough. The A-wings have more HP, shields, and an extra thrust point when engines are fully functional. This outcome would suggest that a 3:2 ratio is a close match, at least with A-wings and common TIE fighters. Though, probably would have been different had I played with rotating guns on the A-wings, which comes up in the Star Wars lore and in the Silent Death: Star Wars rules, which I might write a comparison about since I keep thinking about the differences between the two rule sets.

My son (6) came in during the last couple of moves and was very interested in the game. I'm thinking next time I'll try teaching him the rules. Should be simple enough for him to grasp, I think.

Update:

Due to feedback received, here are the SSDs I used:

These come with the rules modification document at the link provided above at the start of the post. It also includes SSDs for the X-wing, Y-wing, B-wing, Millennium Falcon, TIE Interceptor, TIE bomber, Lambda shuttle, Slave-1, TIE Advanced, and a stock freighter. Also included is a Cylon fighter.
Actually, the download does not include the SSD for the vanilla TIE fighter, so I altered the TIE Interceptor to create one. Also, the images come in .sh2 format, but a google search will yield links to online converters.
To download right now: Fighter Rules and records sheets for FT