Blue Moon 15mm

I must say Blue Moon intrigue me.  GZG are the established old school, and Khurasan and Rebel are the vibrant new kids on the block.  Critical Mass Games and others such as Blue Moon tend to fly below the radar amongst the plethora of 15mm releases from the 'big guns.'

Some sculpts seem a bit hit-and-miss but a few in particular caught my eye -

The 15mm Plunge shows some nicely plained Vleta Reavers such as these:

Too often we have 'Star Trek' aliens - basically humans with rubber masks - and I feel we don't have enough 'inhuman' aliens with guns, and these cyclops-meets-termagaunts fit the bill. I do like the Gears of War locusts and whilst I might not get my wish in 15mm, minis ARE forthcoming.

There are some good photos on 4 Colour Figures and the Aquans will be useful to go with 15mm.co.uk  Octo-priests and Khurasan Karks and lampreys for an undersea-themed force. 

The other to catch my eye are the not-Dark Elf "Shivan Sisterhood".  . Although not terribly original, the hot-chicks-with-spiky-bitz is not a bad cliche to have. A 28mm 40k Ravager would be an awesome assault ship for them and would be an impressively-sized battle barge in 15mm.

The third Blue Moon line of interest is their "Orion Marines". My favourite paintjob is the MaK inspired theme by TinySolitarySoldiers, an example of which is below:

His purple Twanax werewolf aliens are also rather good.

I think the other Blue Moon lines are a little 'rough' or cartoony compared to the 15mm 'benchmark' manufacturers. John Leahy has painted squads for sale on his website which give a good feel for the other forces. 

15mm - so much shiny stuff - so hard to resist!

Strange Aeons: Co Operative vs Competitive gaming

 Strange Aeons is an interesting skirmish game, where Indiana Jones style pulp meets Cthulu horror. Werewolves, cultists, yeti, and nameless horrors are battled by heroic secret service agents in the 1920s-40s.

There is lots of good info on the Lead Adventure forums, where I got this pic:  LEF

I'm not going to review the ruleset - it has already been done well here: Anatoli's Game Room

Itt seems like it was a rulebook made by a gamer, for gamers. It has some bells and whistles, but is far more practical in layout and design than many of the beautiful-but-impractical-to-use rulebooks *cough Malifaux Infinity cough*.

CO OPERATIVE YET COMPETITIVE
What interests me is the co-operative-yet-competitive aspect to the game. BOTH players control teams of secret service agents, but neither side fights each other directly.  Each player takes turns controlling the lurkers/monsters/cultists.  
#1.   Since one player is not actually playing his own team but the joint-enemy monsters, there is no direct competition between player armies (or rather, skirmish 'teams') taking much competitiveness out of the game.

The player whose turn it is to be the cultits gets to match his opponents' points in monsters.  So as your warband grows, it faces more powerful monsters to match it.  If your warband is weak, it faces weak opposition.  

#2. All stats, weapons and abilties are valued.  Min-maxing equipment, wildly unbalanced warband matchups a la Mordhiem are unlikely due to the 'monster'  player receiving matching points.

I notice co-op/rpg style boardgames are becoming popular (usually all-players vs a GM) with FFG's Descent: Jouney's Into Dark in particular standing out. People often say "scenario games are better than points-driven army list games" but perhaps that is the wrong question. A better one might be

"Co operative or Competitive ?" 
Strange Aeons asks the question - can't we do both?

When Zepplins Ruled the Skies

Another shot of some aeronef ships:

I'm still thinking about rules for this. The official Aeronef rules are pretty generic but could be merged with Bag the Hun concepts to make them crunchier.  Full Thrust has proven fruitful ground for house rules in the past, as well. 

My aim: a game where each player has a squadron of 2-4 airships and about a dozen accompanying fighters, with pilots who can 'level up' in experience.  A simple mission generator (such as one modified from BFG) might make an interesting campaign.  Sky pirates ahoy!

Confrontation 3: A guilty pleasure

I discovered Rackham metals a year ago and have steadily been collecting them from random auctions and ebay.

They are quirky, characterful and definitely 'raised the bar' compared to GW sculpts of the time.  

They are somewhat finely built and I worry about breaking them on the table sometimes, but they are a joy to paint.

The simple but inventive fantasy warband game "Song of Blades and Heroes" has given these guys new purpose.  Below is an Inquisitorial warband.

They are rather crudely based but I tend to prioritize bases last, ahead of having painted models on the tabletop.  Along with my 'terrain crusade' of late it's time to properly base more than a few models...

28mm Modern - Red Star Miniatures

I have been reading about the Chechyen conflict, and came across these awesome photos.

Red Star

As a teaser, here is a sample shot. I swear some of them look like real war footage!

Red Star do a compehensive range of the 28mm conflict.  They are also a partner with AAG (makers of the rules Force on Force) which gives me a 15% discount... I feel an impulse purchase coming on...

Red Orchestra 2

It is rare I get excited about a PC game.  The last one that had me waiting anxiously was Shogun 2.

I have never played the original RO (a Unreal mod) as there is no Australian server per se; but I read some reviews which had the words  "brutal learning curve"  "realism"  "hardcore"  "simulated weapons physics"  "slower paced, cautious - keep in cover"  "teamwork essential" and similar things which got my hopes up.

This tends to indicate the game will NOT be played by 13yr olds with squeaky voices all twitchy and hyped up on Red Bull who run around pwning n00bs while bunny hopping and dual wielding .50cal sniper rifles  *cough* Call of Duty *cough*.

Well, I have the beta and I must say, based on the few limited maps, the game has lived up to expectation.  While less confronting than BF2's Total Reality mod, it definitely makes Battlefield Bad Company look like the puerile console port it is.

Some good features:
*Class limits. You don't end up with a team full of snipers.  In fact, you will only ever have 2 - out of 32!  Semiautomatic rifles, LMGs and SMGs are similarly limited to one or two per squad.  This means most players are carrying standard bolt action rifles.
*WW2 weapons.  Most modern assault rifles are pretty bland in their all-round utility.  In WW2, the weapon defines your role. SMG players run-and-gun, LMG players must set up their bipod and camp, laying down suppressive fire, and riflemen have the most versatility.  Marksman stay waaaay back behind the frontlines.
*A defined 'frontline'  exists unlike the confused spam and spawn camping of BF:BC or CoD.  I have never been spawn camped and the game respawns around 10 player simultaneously, resulting in a blob of players and a modicum of teamwork. 
*Weapons feel lethal and 'real'.  I.e. a 7.62mm rifle does NOT need 4 hits to down you; any hit to torso or head is an instant kill.  You can adjust the sights on your rifles just like a real gun.
*Russian vs Germans. Normandy is soooo old.  Some of the footage has been directly lifted from historic photos. Half the time I feel like I am in 'Enemy at the Gates.'

The game (beta) is not without its bugs (7 game crashes in 5 hours) and sometimes the gun would fire randomly when you finished sprinting.  However I am looking forward to the full release with great anticipation and this could give BF3 a run for its money in my summer holidays.

Infinity

Here is my Aleph. Their paintjob will need to be redone (they were all done in under an hour in order to make them table-top ready - I refuse to play with unpainted models) but I am generally happy with the scheme.  The silver-and-gunmetal feels more 'Cylon-y' then the white studio paintscheme and attempting to imitate the Corvus Belli studio paint schemes only leave me depressed.  

The lovely detail is more of a pain to paint then chunkier 'heroic' sculpts by Game Workshop and they do not lend themselves well to drybrushing raised detail.

This is the Cylon look I'd prefer :-)

I have a hacker, a pair of Asuras, a stealth Dasyu, a bunch of remotes including a drop-capable one, a sophoctect medic/engie and a sniper. 

I feel some fire support Rebots  and another hacker would round out things nicely, but that's another payday...

Next to do: my Yu Jing, once I decide on an alternate paintscheme...

NOTE:  I am very impressed with the Corvus Belli's 'how to play' videos here Infinity Video which I think shows great customer service and is a good way to get a grasp of their rules...