More Gaming

Not much of an update, but I got in three games this past week. A week ago Wednesday I got in a good game of Starship Troopers. It was Priority Level One which means 1000pts per side and limited troop selections. I had two squads of MI, a Chickenhawk, and an Ape. I faced two swarms of warrior bugs, some hoppers, and a tanker bug. We played on a table left over from a 40k game. It looked nice and was filled with terrain – too much most likely. There was a chemical river running down the middle which proved to be the bug’s downfall. The bugs were funneled to the river crossings which slowed them down and gave me points to concentrate fire. As such, the biggest threats to me were the hoppers and tanker bug. With the hoppers being the faster and more flexible of the two, I concentrated on them first. After taking them out, I worked on killing bugs until the tanker became a threat. At which point I took it out.

On Saturday I had the privilege of playing in a 28mm pirate game called, “Queen Anne's War, A Pirates Paradise.” This game was run by John Cusack and it was awesome on every level - beautifully painted miniatures, gorgeous terrain, and great scenario design. John will be helping run more of this game at Rock-con as part of the Battlefield Hobbies team. If you are at the con, seek these games out. Year in and year out, the Battlefield Hobbies’ games are normally the best of show.

Lastly, I got in a game of the new Ravenloft board game. It is a co-op game and it is quite fun. The figures that come with it are very much like the Descent figures. They are nicely detailed for board game plastics. The game itself seems well designed and easy to pick up. And scenarios seem well balanced. We ended up losing our first game but had we lasted one more turn, we would have won. I’ll be playing this more in the near future and will have additional comments afterwards.

Some 28mm Sci-Fi Comparisons

While waiting to get my hands on AE-Bounty (another article) I’ve been building up my collection of non-GW 28mm Sci-Fi figures. My current purchases are an eclectic collection with figures from Regiment Games, Four A Miniatures, Darkson Designs, Pig Iron Productions, and Zombie Smith (links at end of article). All the figures are top notch. They all required minimal cleaning, have a nice dynamic about their sculpting, and are well proportioned. I would recommend them to anyone.

Below is a picture I took comparing a selection of miniatures from the above ranges. Now I realize the usefulness of such a picture is limited. Even among humans we have a wide variety sizes and once we toss in the alien and mutant, things get even further eschew. Couple that with the fact these figures will mostly be used in skirmish or squad level games, who cares how well they scale together? It is not like we are comparing ancient Romans for a legion – a group of people most likely from the same region and fairly homogenous. Still, there is some intangible use for such a picture. It shows these figure do feel ‘right’ when used together.

The measurement scale was placed to start at the top of the base. Each figure's base is practically the same height. The only problem, both the Pig Iron and Regiment Games figures have cast on bases. The thicker bases on the Regiment games figures slightly skew the comparison, but isn’t that big a deal. The Pig Iron base is relativity thin and is almost no factor at all.

Darkson Designs: http://darksondesigns.com/?page_id=135

Zombie Smith: http://www.zombiesmith.com/collections/a7-d12-airlock-7-docking-lvl-12

Four A Miniatures: http://www.fouraminiatures.com/

Pig Iron: http://www.pig-iron-productions.com/

Regiment Games: http://regimentgames.com/