Daily Chronicle: Two Weeks Till AdeptiCon 2017

Well, technically yesterday was two weeks until the official start of AdeptiCon 2017, but for me it is today.  I will not be attending any events on opening day and will be arriving on Friday.

This years AdeptiCon was kiind of last minute for me.  With moving back to the Midwest in the Fall, I knew I was going to attend just go visit some old friends and catch up.  This past winter I decided to get back into Bolt Action and there happen to still be tickets available for the 2 day US Nationals.  I thought why not, it will be a good way to get 5 games of Bolt Action in.  I know I will not win, or come close to winning, I am playing just to throw some dice around.  I asked my oldest son back in Arizona if he was interested in playing (like he was going to say no to going to AdeptiCon) and happened to find a decent price on a flight for him, it is a redeye, but heck it was under $200 round trip.  My son will be arriving early Friday morning, so I will pick him up at the Chicago airport and we'll continue to the convention.

Now I had to decide on which army I was going to play, my Germans or my Soviets.  I had decided I was going to be playing my Soviets.....until this past weekend.  Seeing how I was really close in getting my new British Army completed, I decided to email the TO yesterday my official list which was my British.  Now I just have to finish up my last unit of Infantry (which are currently on the painting table).

Our schedule for the weekend is pretty simple, Friday will mostly be vendor shopping and possibly some demo games, and then Saturday and Sunday we have the Bolt Action US Nationals.

For the second year in a row, AdeptiCon is using an app called Guidebook (it is really cool), it has all the events that you are registered in it and where they are located in the convention center, along with where all the vendor tables are and demo games that available.  You are also able to create a To Do List of things you want to do for the weekend.

Since Friday is our free day, this is my list I am shooting for:

Vendors:

Broken Egg Games (new war sticks for Warmachine/Hordes)

Privateer Press

Steamforged Games (check out some Guild Ball)

Warlord Games

Battle Foam (possibly a Guild Ball bag)

Grognard Games (old friend opened a new Chicago store)

Army Painter

Frontline Gaming

TableWar Designs

Demos:

Guild Ball Full Game Experience (Steamforged provides an army for a full game 1-2 hours).  I may be interested in this one, I asked about this at the LVO since they had it listed....and they kind of looked at me like what was I talking about.  So we'll see if they are a bit more organized for AdeptiCon.

Then we'll see what other games we come across while walking thorugh the rooms.  There also is a Hobbit demo session my son may be interested in (may be something he does whil I play Guild Ball if he does not want to).

Then the rest of Friday will be trying to find all my old friends and catchiing up.

Now that I am back in the Midwest, I will be better prepared for next year and plan to attend all four days.  My son and I are already looking into the WM/H TT and the Bolt Action TT (both of these are one day events) so then we can also get other games in.....like Guild Ball.

Back to painting my last Unit.

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Bolt Action: Great Britain 'Daimler MKI'

If you saw yesterday's post on my Cromwell Cruisers, you may have noticed this guy in the background in one of the pictures.  While I had the airbrush out, I wanted to get as many vehicles basecoated as possible.  I knew I could handle finishing three vehicles at once.

The Daimler MKI Armoured Car will make a nice addition to my British Army, especually useful in smaller point games where I feel a tank may take up too many points.  I never had a 'Recce' vehicle before in any of my armies, so this is a first.  I know they changed the rules on them in Version 2 of Bolt Action, I guess it's time to re-read that section.

Daimler MKI 

 Daimler MKI

Painting Points: 10

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Bolt Action: Great Britain 'Cromwell Cruiser MKVIII Tanks'

Well I am proud to say that my twins are born, 'Andrea' and 'Juno'!

This past weekend when I finished up Dahlia Hallyr & Skarath for my Hordes Minions, my plan was to continue painting another Minion model.  Then later that Saturday evening I was thinking about the upcoming AdeptiCon Bolt Action Tournament at the end of this month and started to play around with British lists for the event.  My original plan for the Bolt Action US Nationals was to either play my Germans, or my Soviets (was leaning towards my Soviets).  I was thinking what else would I need to finish for my British Army to have 1250 points fully painted.  I knew I have to finish my fourth Infantry Section, but what else.  Well it turns out I needed to get one of my tanks also completed.

When I purchased my British Army at the end of Decemeer 2016, the army deal I purchased came with 4 tanks.  2 Cromwell Cruiser MKVIII, 1 Sherman Firefly VC, 1 M10 Wolverine.  Well a Cromwell Cruiser would fit right into my list.  Also in order for me to get my list to work I need to run 2 Platoons in my list.  I have always played Bolt Action with just 1 Platoon, so this will be a first.  My Order Dice total came out to 16, which I feel is pretty good.  The Soviet list I have been thiking about using comes out to 13.  This would give me 3 extra dice to think of some strategies, plus with 2 Lieutenants in my Army, I can do a 'Snap to Action' with both of them.

I did not come to a conclusion if I will be playing the British yet (I have till this Saturday to submit my list to the TO) but on Sunday I decided it was time to build a tank.  Since I had 2 Cromwells, I decided to build them both at the same time and since I was going to have to break out my airbrush for the basecoat, I also decided to build a Daimeler Armoured Car.

The tanks assembly was completed later on Sunday and on Monday night the painting started and I was able to complete these two last night.

The Cromwell Cruiser MKVIII first saw action in June 1944 in Normandy, and at this time, all Allied vehicles were to have a 'white five-pointed star' painted on them for air recognition.

 Andrea & Juno

 Andrea

 Andrea

 Juno

 Juno

 Natural look to the eye with normal lighting.

Painting Points: 20

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Hordes: Minions Dahlia Hallyr & Skarath (Solo)

I've been having a busy weekend with my modeling and painting.  Friday night I finished third British Infantry Section, and yesterday I work on another Minion Lesser Warlock & Heavy Warbest, 'Dahlia Hallyr & Skarath'.

A few weeks ago I cam across a list for my Warlock Rack called 'Rask & Friends' where he is played with three Lesser Warlocks, I thought this list would be fun to play so I am been slowly working on it.  I already had 'Wrong Eye & Snapjaw' completed, soi it was time for the second friend.

When painting my Privateer Press moels, 99% of the time I try and follow the 'studio' colors.  Well the studio colors for this model was in shades of blue.   Maybe if I was using them for my Trollbloods army, but I wanted these guys to fit in with my Minion scheme.  So I used shades of green.

Dahlia Hallyr & Skarath 

Dahlia Hallyr & Skarath

Painting Points: 1+5 (6)

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Bolt Action: Great Britain 'Infantry Section 3'

Three down and one to go to complete the four Infantry Sections for my British Army.  All four units are equipped the same, M=NCO with SMG, LMG and his Loader, 2 SMG and 6 Rifles.  11 men (an extra SMG for Late Ware Veterans).

Once I finish the fourth Infantry Section then I can move onto some of the vehicles I have for the army.  I have a 650 point tournament coming up at the end of April where this army will make it's debut.  For that list I still need to paint up a Daimler Armoured Car.  I thought a Tank would be too many points in a 650 point game, but I still wanted a light vehicle just in case.  It will have a Light AT gun in case I do face any tanks and it also has a coxial MMG in case I face all Infantry lists.  I will also have my 25 pdr Light Howitzer which also can be fire as a Light AT (so two chances at any tanks).

When I paint vehicles, I use an airbrush to paint the base coat.  So I do not want to get my station all setup just for one vehicle.  So I think it may be till at least April before I get to the Armoured Car.  I'd like to get at least two of my tanks assembled also and then base coat them all at the same time.  We will see how we are on the time schedule.  The event is not till April 29th, so I still have some time.

Great Britain: Infantry Section 03 

 Great Britain: Infantry Section 03

Painting Points: 11

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Battle Report: Guild Ball 3/1/2017 Engineer's vs Butcher's

Last night I headed down south to South Bend, IN for an introductory 3vs3 game of Guild Ball at Fantasy Games. Of the three gaming stores I have visited so far, this one has the most gaming space and selection of models that I am interested.  On the plus side they also offer a customer rewards program so you can buy from them instead of an online site.  I am always an impulse buyer and want my toy now.

As of late, Guild Ball has kind of died down at this store, but hopefully I can resurrect some of that so I can keep getting more practice games.  I had a brief 15 minute tutorial at LVO, but last night was my first time to get an actual game in after I read the rulebook.

I wanted to use last nights 3vs3 more as a learning eperience and try everything that I can so I know how all the mechanics work rather than being tactical and trying to win the game.

I was playing my Engineer's starter box with Ballista as my Captain, Salvo at Wiinger, and Velocity as my Striker.  I was up against a team of Butcher's lead by Ox (and I do not recall what his other two models were).

Like I just mentioned above, for me it was more about the mechanics of the game.  I wanted to test Attacking, Charging, Kicking, Passing, Scoring, Character Plays and Legendary Play and I was able to accomplish all that.  Salvo even took some Poison so I could see how Conditions work.

The one part of the game that was throwing me off was, "I activate one model, then you activate one model".  I kept on thinking Warmachine/Hordes in my head where I get to activate my Team, then the other player activates their Team.  So some of the plays I was trying to come up with in my head may not work, since your opponent has a chance to counter before you activate your next player.  Their are some Team Work plays in the rule book that may help me accomplish some of these plays that I am trying to come up with.

I am really glad that I decided to go with the Engineer's since they are a pretty decent scoring team (and do not easily get Taken Out either),  My Striker Velocity ended up scoring both goals for me and winning the game 8-0.

Her first goal she sprinted towards a loose ball on my right side and continued her sprint towards the goal and just getting within her 8" range to kick.  With 4 dice to her Kick she easily made the long shot for the goal.

 

Her second goal was pretty sweet.....  Ballista had the ball just passed midfield and was engaged by a Butcher.  Velocity was about 9" away diagonally near the goal.  Ballista used his Legendary Play to increase the range of his kick (pass) from 6" to 10" and successfully made the pass.  At that point I could have used the Team Work play Snap Shot but that costs 2 MP and the only player left on the Butchers to activate was Ox and he was Knocked-Down (and could only stand up).  Once it was Velocities activation she moved towards the goal and did a Tap In kick (within 4" of the goal -1 TN).  With 4 dice and now only needing 3+ she scored the game winning goal.

Now I know my opponent probably could have really beaten me bad if he really tried (but it has been awhile since he last played and was also refreshing on the rules), but it felt really good to get a win in.

I am not one who plays with unpainted minis that often, so I need to get the rest of my Team assembled and get these guys on the painting table. 

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Bolt Action: United States 'Sherman M4A1 76MM'

I was able to squeeze in one more model for the month of February.  When my son and I first got into Bolt Action three years ago, he always wanted a 76MM Sherman for his United States Army.  We took most of 2015 and 2016 off from Bolt Action and we both recently got back into the game.

A few weeks ago while at the Las Vegas Open, Trenchworx was onsite selling a few of their models.  I myself picked up their soon to be released German Wirbelwind, but my son saw a M4A1 76M Sherman  sitting on their table and he had to have it.  Seeing how the box is not that big, I knew I could get it to fit in my suitcase with me so I can get it painted for him in time for this years AdeptiCon.  I also want to add, that these Trenchworx models are beautiful.  They were easy to assemble with great instructions and not much flash had to be cleaned off of them.

As I mentioned yesterday, when I got home from Las Vegas, I realized all my decals were still in storage back in Arizona.  So I had to do a quick order for some new ones.

Last weekend I airbrushed the basecoat of the tank, then late last week finished up the rest of the tank.  My new decals arrived yesterday and I applied them last night.  This was also my first time using Vallejo Decal Medium and Vallejo Decal Fix for applying decals, and I am quite happy with the process.

My decal order was also screwed up.  I had ordered a set of 'ringed stars' and just 'stars'.  I was shipped the 'ringed stars', but instead of normal 'stars', the second set was the 'broken ring stars'.  So I had to do my best and cut around the broken circles.  I had to use a little touch up paint where I could not get as close, but I think they turned out alright.

Now my son will be for sure adding this tank to his 1250pt US Nationals list for AdeptiCon 2017.

United States: Sherman M4A1 76MM 

 United States: Sherman M4A1 76MM

 United States: Sherman M4A1 76MM

United States: Sherman M4A1 76MM

Painting Points: 10

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Battle Report: Hordes 2/27/2017 Minions vs Trollbloods (50 Points)

Last night I headed out east again to Kalamazoo to meet TJ at Odyssey Games for another game of Hordes.  I met TJ the previous day on Sunday, but we did not get a game in so we schedule one for Monday night.  Even though the store is 41 miles away, it only takes me about 40 minutes to get to since it is all interstate driving for me.  I am just going to have to watch my number of miles driven on my new leased car.  We were planning on getting a game at his house, but a last minute change we decided on the store.  TJ wanted to place an order for his Trollbloods.  While I was there, I also picked up some tokens for Fire damage and such (since on Sunday I realized I had no Fire tokens).

Since I am still getting a feel for Hordes (I am used to the Warmachine playstyle) and learning what my Minions can do, we elected for another 50 point game.  I was using the same list I played on Sunday.  The more times I can play with those models, hopefully the better I can learn how they play.

I setup the gaming mat and terrain and TJ rolled for the scenario.  We were going to be playing 'The Pit' from SR2016.

 

 

I (Minions) ended up losing 5-1.  At least Rask stayed alive and was able to secure a point for me.  I still made some mistakes.  Forgetting to use his Feat  on my first turn (to prevent all the shooting damage I took in Turn 2), and sending my Croak Raiders around the forest terrain which took a lot of time.  I managed to kill some of his warrior models and a lot of damage on his Bomber beasts, but not enough to kill him.  The shooting he had from his Warcaster and the Bombers were incredible.  When his Warcaster hits with shooting, it causes a Knockdown, which them made it easier for his Bombers to hit.  I was contesting the Pit for quite awhile, then he managed to kill my second Wrastler and cleared out my remaining Posse in the Pit.  So a loss to the Minions.

Using my Feat would have helped.  But I though my Veil of Mists could have protected my Wrastlers, but some of the base was still visible.  If I could have kept them protected, I could have gotten charges in on his Bombers on Turn 2 and the outcome may have been different.

Just need more practice.

TJ's Trollbloods 

 My Minions

 Final Outcome (Rask at bottom left securing my Flag)

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Daily Chronicle: Weekend Roundup 2/24-26/2017

Since nothing was actually completed this past weekend, I thought I'd do a recap of the progress for the some of the projects I am working on. 

On Friday night I was able to mostly finish my sons US 76mm Sherman Tank for his United States Bolt Action Army.  He was hoping I was going to conplete it in time for this years AdeptiCon (at the end of March).  Well it's all completed minus the decals.  I realized last weekend that I did not have any of my decals with me, so I had to do a quick order for some.  They should be arriving today.  The plan is to get them on tonight, let them cure for a day, then I'll dullcote the tank and snap some pics.

Saturday saw me do a little paint room house cleaning and some prep work on some models.  First was the house cleaning.  When I was in Arizona a few weeks ago, I brought back all my P3 paints with me, but I was not able to bring with me the nice paint rack I had purchased for them last year.  So I had ordered a new MDF one from Gamecraft Miniatures (like the one I use for my Valejo paints) and some 5" risers I saw on website to raise my Valejo rack.  I was able to get the new racks assembled/glued and all my paint organized.

 

 

While I was waiting for the glue to dry on the paint racks, I decided it was time to assemble my Guild Ball Engineer's starter set.  I have an intro game lined up for this Wednesday night so I was hoping to get all my models assemble, but only was able to complete the three.

 

Then on Saturday night, the last item on my agenda was to prep my third Infantry Section for my British Army.  I was able to get the sand applied to the bases and primer my models.  When time allows this week I will start working on them.

 

Sunday morning saw me organizing my Guild Ball tokens and dice in a new tray in preparation for Wednesday night, then a little relaxing before I headed out to Kalamazoo to meet some new players for a game of Warmachine/Hordes.  I do not have any gaming stores super close to me, but I am in the middle of 3 stores that are all about 40 miles from me.  I have Heroes and Havens to the West in Michigan City, IN (where I play Bolt Action), Fantasy Games to the South in South Bend, IN (large WM/H crowd, and some Guild Ball players), and to the East is Odyssey Games in Kalamazoo, MI.   Odyssey Games is mainly a 'Magic The Gathering' store, but they have 4'x4' tabletops to be placed on the card tables for miniature gaming.  Their selection of miniatures is weak (unless you like X-Wing)(Fantasy Games has the best selection of miniatures, probably one of the best selections I have ever seen in any gaming store).

 

In the afternoon I headed out to Odyssey Games to meetup with two players I met in a local Facebook Group.  Since it seems like I only play WM/H like once every six months, I am always having to re-learn what my models do.  So to keep it a bit fast, we elected to play just a 50 point game.  I brought back my Minions with me from Arizona and I was going up against Thomas who was playing Cryx.  I also wanted to play with the death clock so I can work on the speed of my play (though we were not using it to 'end' the game'.  At 50 points the clock was set to 42 minutes per player.  I thought I was actually playing pretty fast, but the clock still expired on me (seems to happen every time I play with the clock).  I was also losing on Control Points when the clock expired 4-0.  We played the game to the end and I lost 5-0.  I made some mistakes and I am still learning my Minions (and Hordes in general).  I was to wrapped up in my game that I forgot to take any pictures.  I did get a picture afterwards of Thomas (Cryx) playing TJ (Trollbloods) while I watched to see how those two played.  The Tablewar gaming mat and Broken Egg terrain in the picture I had brought with me.

 

Well that was the weekend roundup.  I am hoping to get another game of WM/H in this week along with my Guild Ball intro game.  I think next weekend I will stay in to complete some models.

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Bolt Action: Great Britain 'Infantry Section 2'

This week I continued working on my Brtish Army.  For now I will have 4 Units of Infantry Sections, with one of them being completed last week and now the second one being completed last night.

Like I mentioned with the first Infantry Section  I modeled these Units with 11 men (max for a Unit is 10).  I wanted to have an extra SMG weapon in case I use them as Late War Veterans.

 

After I finished with these guys, I decided I wanted to find out how many points I have completed for the British.  With just using a Morale as 'Regular', I have 985 points completed.  This is spread across 2 Platoons at the moment (since a lot of Units are classfied as 0-1).  I think once I get around to completing all the vehicles I have for this Army, I am guessing it may be over 3000 points of British.

 Great Britain: Infantry Section 02

 Great Britain: Infantry Section 02

Painting Points: 11

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