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Sunday, November 30, 2014

We are the Champions


This friggin' HUGE rhino is courtesy of Mierce Miniatures.  He towers over his 60mm base!


It was fun to balance the various shades of gray... the fur, weapon, armor, etc.  You get to add lots of little color variations in there.  A bit more green in one place, more reddish in another.


I tried to use a few different purple mixes in the non-fur covered sections.  I took a seafoam green and mixed that with purple and also with a red to create a few of those shades.  What's nice about those colors is that they stand out from some of the more neutral grays, but not too much.


I will try to get some shots of this guy with more 'regular' sized figures, so you get an idea of how massive these big guys are.


Smokey and the Bandits


While I don't have any Outlaw figs to go with this at the moment, I thought it might be useful to see some other Wild West Exodus minis next to the Flame Truck to show scale.


I think this matches up pretty nicely!


The Interceptor on the left has a rider that is the exact same size/scale as the gunner on the main weapon of the Flame Truck.


Chasing down the Lawmen!!!  Dad gum Outlaws!


You really think your shootin' iron's gonna hurt that truck?


Comin' through!


We've got ya surrounded!  Come out with yer hands up!


Uh... maybe not.


Saturday, November 29, 2014

Gaming in another Age


Well, as some of you can probably tell, I don't often get the chance to play board games.  But, when I do... it's usually 'historical'.

You have seen a few posts now on History of the World, which I really love, and wish that Fantasy Flight would pick up and redo.

A few years ago, we picked up one of the Catan historical games, called Struggle for Rome.  I believe it is out of print now.


We thought it might be a nice change from the usual Settler's game, and it was!


We had lots of fun with it, as you can clearly see by Jeff's face!  I was surprised at how much depth there was, and how you actually felt like it was the time period, and you were, in a way, reenacting that era.


This is a game people have heard me talk about again and again.  That game would be Age or Renaissance.  It's another out of print game, and probably the most complex that we play.

It can take about 6-7 hours depending on how many people are playing, and how close the game is.


In this game of economic civic, scientific, cultural advancement, you play one of six 'countries', which you bid on before the game starts.  This mechanic was created because the six playable countries are not created equal.  Hamburg always struggles, while Paris and London are also challenging.  Genoa, Venice and Barcelona tend to have an advantage in the game.

So, if you want to play Barcelona, for instance, you would try to out bid your opponents to play it.

The downside of this plan is that you will now have less funds to start the game!

The early part of the game involves simple land grabs as countries expand.  A few of them run into each other right away, such as Genoa and Venice.


There are a number of other key features, such as resource cards and leaders.  The leaders can provide bonuses to your country by assisting you in researching new technologies.  Those new technologies are vital for your advancement, and even survival!!

The resource cards provide you with the funds to generate those advancements.  You never know when a commodity is going to pay out, however.  Someone may be holding it, or it comes up during a surplus or shortage, etc.  Depending on when it does, you can make a huge sum of money in a hurry.

This also puts a huge bull's eye on your back.


For whatever reason, the cats... like Boomer, love to curl up in my jacket as we play...


As I mentioned before, this is a very complex game.  You have a ton of things to take care of.  The ship chart in the upper left corner shows your exploration level.  That is, are you plying the seas in mighty galleons, or hugging the shore in rowboats.

The long strip on the right is your misery index.  That is influenced by disasters, technologies, loss of influence in the world, and more.  It will penalize you at the end of the game, or even throw your civilization into chaos!  That wipes you out of the game, as we discovered.

It is monitored even more closely after two players found themselves erased from the map in one game when the misery index reached critical!

Certain advancements in commerce, civics, science and exploration help with the misery index.


The very confusing chart on the lower left is the value of given commodities.  Is there a shortage or surplus?  I there's a shortage, and you have the most of that commodity, it's very nice.  You get a bonus card, and you can potentially make a ton of $$$ if that resource card is played!


You are also trying to expand your empire every turn.  You must balance your purchases between research, expansion, ship upgrades, card purchases, and more.  Unless you are very lucky, there is never enough for all of what must be done!

You can see various countries attempting to expand into the near east.  This is very difficult for Hamburg, Paris and England.  There are some event cards that make it a little easier, but normally you have to hope for a few good resource outputs to generate cash for exploration!


Das Boats.  Having advanced shipping is not a guarantee, as the more religiously inclined nations can declare a Papal ban on such things!

It usually happens to me just as I am about to research a technology to allow me into the near or far East!


Thumper was always fond of curling up in my jacket.  It made it warm before I had to go home!


The board tends to fill up rapidly.  Remember, this is a game of commerce, not warfare.  Fighting is very difficult, and very hazardous.

You can stack up some bonuses on your side, but when you buy lots of 'troop', the other civs take note, and try to thwart your invading hordes.


As the game moves on, certain commodities become less valuable, and others take precedence.  Silks and spices are the biggest let game resources, and those are found in the far east, of course!


The victor (in this case London!) can usually be identified by being at the top of the misery index, a completed Advancement Chart, and a big pile of cash!

This can be a laborious game... and if you are down early, you are pretty much done.  The early front runner is usually hammered and weakened enough for the second place player to take over in the end.

There are absolutely no guarantees in this game, however.  Even before the game starts... the game begins. :-)


Air Power!


Here we have a little comparison between some big birds.  One is the resin Gwaihir from GW, and the other is the eagle from CMON.


The CMON Gwaihir on the left was done years ago for my LOTR elf army... hence the expired Easterling at his feet.


The other eagle you will recognize from the first bark and branch post from a few months ago.  Both bases are 60mm.


I had a lot of fun with that base, and two more eagles are on the way!


The GW eagles will serve as 'regular' eagles, while the CMON bird will continue its role as Gwaihir.


Both of the new GW birds are flying like the one on the left, although the poses are slightly different.  I look forward to making more flying style bases with bark and branches!


It's hilarious how the tree bark looks so much like the rock base that came with the CMON eagle. :-)


Lots of additional bark will be used on the new bases.  I will be sure to take pictures for you!


I will also be adding the dried foliage.  The biggest challenge for each one will probably be finding that delicate center of gravity, as it was for the first GW figure that I based.

Stay tuned!!


Friday, November 28, 2014

Charging through the mall on Black Friday


Here are some group shots of the Rhinos!


As I have mentioned before, these lads are very large, with the bases measuring 60mm


I have also been attempting to vary the fur colors.


I have one more very white rhino on the way, and one even darker than these...


It's interesting how each of the weapons is so different!


The next two rhinos are even bigger than these guys, so it will be a challenge to fit them all in the photo area at once!


Stay tuned... much more on the way!!!


Thursday, November 27, 2014

Fire Sale!!! Black Friday arrives!!!


Here come the Outlaws, looking to create a fire sale of their own with the super nifty Flame Truck!


All kidding aside, Wild West Exodus has a smokin' hot 35 percent off everything in the webstore for  a massive 4 day sale.  There are a number of brand new items up for Pre-Order.


I had a lot of fun painting this vehicle.  All of the heavies like this are in minimal numbers of pieces, making them much easier to deal with than what you might normally find at this size.


I used some Secret Weapon dry pigments to finish off not only the weathering, but to feather out some edges, and even create some color variations in the brass, etc.  I have noticed that the pigments can be used for 'painting', and not just dirtying up something!!


I have more vehicles on the way, such as the Judgment heavy support, which will oppose this beast!


Fragility is also something that is not a concern for these models.  Very solid construction makes them practically unbreakable!


I will do another post showing some standard infantry sized WWX minis standing around this to give you an idea of scale.  The main weapon crew is the same size as an Iron Horse/Interceptor rider, so the scale matches up quite nicely!


So, be sure to visit the Wild West Exodus site over the weekend.  I know I will. :-)