CWF Game Cast Episode 61: Bailey Records Music to Game By

CWF #61: Bailey Records Music to Game By Download (741)

Host Jonathan J. Reinhart and guest host Drew McCarthy begin with the usual week in gaming. Drew mentions dropping from a weekly RPG he was participating in. Jonathan announces dropping from the the monthly Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition he played with Drew McCarthy and his friends. Additionally, he discussed the many painting projects he is completing.

The duo talk about the informal Saturday gaming social Jonathan set up at Battleground Games & Hobbies in Plainville. At it Drew learned how to play War at Sea using the 2010 Starter. Cort N. stopped by the event, showed his 25mm Old Glory AWI Redcoats and numerous 15mm Napoleonics and 6mm GHQ WWII models. Plus, he showed off the Napoleon’s Triumph board game. Thoughts are bantered as to why the event was sparsely attended. Jonathan mentions wanting to do another one of these and promises to better research what other events will be taking place at the same time. A Magic: The Gathering release took up most of the space in the store. Drew highlights an upcoming Warhammer 40k Singles Tournament held by BG.

Jonathan then mentions the monthly Painting Social at BG Plainville along with similar events held by Adler Hobby in Hollis, New Hampshire and The Whiz on Rte 9 East in Westborough. A short discussion ensues covering the hobby side of gaming, i.e. assembly and painting. The co-hosts both declare their dislike for assembling models and Jonathan shares that he nows enjoys painting. He lists his pile of painting projects for Black Powder and what he hopes to work on at the Painting Social. Thankfully most historical figures require no assembly. Dystopian Wars is also mentioned and weighed in regards to assembling and painting the models.

The two discuss painting and painting setups. Jonathan mentions his Ott craft light and using cork to affix models that he is painting. Drew discusses how different lights alter how models look whether one uses sunlight/Ott lights, fluorescent, etc.

The show moves on to reviewing Bailey Records and their gaming soundtracks. Bryan K. “Stratos” Borgman generously donated the albums: Autumnal Slumber, Warlands The Soundtrack, and Cybernet Official Roleplaying Soundtrack.

Drew disliked the heavy Jazz influence that permeates throughout the Cybernet album. At first listen the Warlands album was something that Drew would like but then it turned into more techno, which Autumnal Slumber also did. Drew felt they were good albums but not his favored genre. Technically speaking he felt they were beautifully crafted and he enjoyed the Eastern feel in some of the titles.

Jonathan counters saying how much he enjoyed the albums. Both agree that the albums would be perfect for the right setting and right type of game as a means to set the mood for gamers. Autumnal Slumber is cited as Jonathan’s favorite and it was the one Drew “disliked the least.” In Jonathan’s opinion Warlands was his least favorite. It has a purposefully disjointed feel to reflect the post-apocalyptic setting it depicts. Many apologies for the loud drinking noises from Jonathan’s bunnies during this review.

Both agree that they want to listen to more music by Stratos. To quote Drew, “I want to listen to everything he has.” Concluding the music discussion Drew gives the albums 3 out of 5 stars and Jonathan gives them 4 out of 5 stars citing the low purchase cost as increasing the value. There will be an album to accompany Bryan’s forthcoming miniatures game titled Kaiju Kaos.

The Name The Podcast Contest Deux is mentioned. Submissions are coming in but it is still possible to enter your ideas! Please e-mail them to cwfgamecast@wargamingforums.com, leave a comment on Facebook or on this blog. One person will win a prize basket that includes a 1 YEAR SUBSCRIPTION TO BATTLEGAMES MAGAZINE (courtesy of Henry Hyde, Editor of Battlegames Magazine), plus other prizes. Please check out Name the Podcast Deux for full details and information.

The Huzzah Con T-Shirt Giveaway, shirts courtesy of Dean Emmerson and the Maine Historical Wargamers Association, lasts until the last shirt is given away. The first 5 people to e-mail cwfgamecast@wargamingforums.com win a FREE Huzzah 2011 Viking Dawn T-shirt. The available sizes are 1 XXL and 4 Larges. Include your t-shirt size and mailing address in the e-mail. Take a peek at this picture of Jonathan wearing the con t-shirt.

The show’s remainder is devoted to the Mailbag. Listener feedback, mostly focusing on painting, is shared. Giles Allison’s Tarleton’s Quarter blog is cited as an inspiration for painting AWI figures. Jonathan talks about how the podcast is connecting local gamers. Both Cort N. and new listener Aonghus have given feedback on this subject. Drew and Jonathan compare and contrast the GW metric with historical gaming. Each has its benefits and their faults. One makes it easy to find an opponent whereas the other offers freedom to use any rule set. This is the iPhone vs. Droid debate of gaming.

The show winds down with the the Music to Game By segment with Bailey Records’ “Prelude To Armageddon” from Stratos’ album Warlands The Soundtrack along with the Battlegames Magazine promo.

As always we conclude with a message from our sponsor, 12-7-Games.com, contest sponsor Battlegames Magazine, our Creative Commons license and contact information (find us on Facebook and Twitter).

We hope you enjoy this episode of the CWF Game Cast and are eager for your feedback (both positive remarks and constructive criticism). Send it all to cwfgamecast at wargamingforums dot com. Find us on Facebook, Twitter, or Xbox Live with gamertag cwfgamecast.

Our intro song is “Downtown” by Matthew Ebel. Please give his other music a listen at www.matthewebel.com.

FREE Huzzah Con 2011 T-Shirt Giveaway

What’s this? FREE t-shirts from Huzzah Con 2011! ZOMFG! You can have your very own FREE t-shirt from Huzzah Con 2011. These are the very last t-shirts from this con that anyone, anywhere on the planet, can get their hands on.

If you want one of the t-shirts follow these easy steps.

What You Need To Do

  1. E-mail cwfgamecast@wargamingforums.com
  2. Include your Mailing Address
  3. Include the t-shirt size you want

The first FIVE people to contact me will receive a FREE Huzzah Con 2011 t-shirt. Since these are the last available t-shirts in existence sizes are limited. If you can’t wear the size maybe a friend or family member can.

The Sizes

  • XXL (only 1 of these)
  • Large (4 of these)

This is first come first serve so please act fast.

I want to give a HUGE thank you to Dean Emmerson and everyone at the Maine Historical Wargamers Association (MHWA) for donating these t-shirts.

See the below picture of your’s truly modeling the Huzzah Con 2011 T-shirt and the t-shirt proof (it shows the back).

Saturday Historical Gaming

In an attempt to try something new I set up an informal historical gaming gathering at Battleground Games Plainville for today. A few people popped in but sadly most were unable to attend. There is a small number of people interested in historical gaming. Most had other commitments such as reenacting, two do AWI, vacations, or being with their families.

What was lacking in numbers was made up for in enthusiasm. My buddy Drew McCarthy of The Gate Stormers, stopped in asking for me to “show him one of [my] history games.” I knew WoTC’s War at Sea to be perfect! It is a casual, yet historical, beer & pretzel game with pre-painted miniatures. The rules are easy to pick up and the game provides lots of blow ’em up action.

To save myself from devising balanced fleet lists I used the units from the 2010 starter. We played two games. For the first game Drew fielded the American/Australian force. With the American power I thought he’d have the best chance of doing well. Plus, that force provides a good cruiser, two good destroyers, and a nice torpedo bomber that has a Special Ability allowing a dive bomb attack. I fielded the Japanese force, which focuses on long-lance torpedoes.

Drew’s Fleet Game 1

  • USS Montpelier
  • USS Taylor
  • HMAS Nizam
  • TBF-1 Avenger

Jonathan’s Fleet Game 1

  • Haguro
  • Teretsuki
  • I-25
  • G4M1 “Betty”

With the USS Montpelier’s Flagship 1 bonus Drew won almost every single initiative roll of the game, which lasted eight turns. In the first turn he destroyed the I-25 with depth charges from his Avenger. Subsequent turns saw heavy damage inflicted on both sides with both the USS Montpelier and USS Taylor destroyed in Turn 2. The HMAS Nizam was crippled in that very turn. The “Betty” was shot down and the Teretsuki sunk. The game progressed with the Haguro racing for objective markers as the Avengers spent alternating turns failing to sink her. The game ended when the Haguro captured the final objective marker.

For the second game we swapped sides. This gave Drew a chance to experience the awesomeness of the long-lance torpedo.

Drew’s Fleet Game 2

  • Haguro
  • Teretsuki
  • I-25
  • G4M1 “Betty”

Jonathan’s Fleet Game 2

  • USS Montpelier
  • USS Taylor
  • HMAS Nizam
  • TBF-1 Avenger

Game 2 ended very quickly. In turn 1 the Avengers went after the I-25 and failed to inflict any damage on the submarine. The HMAS Nizam forgot to lay it’s smoke screen and the “Betty” spent the turn uneventfully. Turn 2 saw a successful smoke screen and the USS Montpelier missing the Haguro with its main guns. So much for making use of it’s extended range. In a subsequent turn all of the Allied surface ships were sunk. Some damage was inflicted onto the Japanese strike force but not enough. Game 2 went to Drew.

Afterwards Cort. N showed up with his daughter. He brought a ton of 6mm WWII Micro Armor and his completed 25mm Old Glory AWI figures. He’s fielding British for our AWI battles and will be adding French to his collection. This will provide the opportunity to play whatever is needed. You may be asking why he is collecting 25mm when the rest of us are collecting 28mm. The answer is cost. He can get a lot more of 25mm Old Glory than he can get of 28mm Perry Miniatures. We’re unsure how we will mix his 25mm and our 28mm figures in the same battle but believe them to be close enough that the Black Powder rules will not need to be adjusted. If he was using 20mm or 15mm then that would need to be taken into account.

His models look amazing! I took pictures of them (see below) to share with everyone. He told me which unit his Brits are but all I can remember is 30 something of Foot. 33rd perhaps? The Old Glory figures are very nice sculpts with plenty of detail. If I didn’t start with 28mm I would be tempted to go with the 25mm Old Glory.

Afterwards he showed off a board game by Simmons Games named Napoleon’s Triumph. It looks stunning! This Napoleonic era board game portrays the Battle of Austerlitz. We didn’t play this but intend to. With a quick glance the rules look interesting. According to the game there are two scenarios to play. The first is December 1st at 7am. It features “Historical Allied advance. More lines of play, longer playing time. Two Allied corps start in play. All others enter as reinforcements.” This scenario has a 3 hour playing time. The second option is December 2nd 7am. This features “Historical day of battle. This is the game’s main scenario. All Allied pieces are in play at start.” Playing time runs to two hours for this scenario. The game costs $59.95, which seems like a fair price for all of the components. After we play this I will have feedback.

That ended the day. It was a lot of fun and I look forward to doing it again. Some talk was had about doing another next Saturday. I have to put the kibosh on that because my father and I will be touring the USS Salem (CA-139). I got a Groupon for that and it will be a good time exploring the vessel.

Panzergrenadiers Reporting For Duty

For a change of pace I painted my Panzergrenadier Platoon for Flames of War. I’ve had Flames of War models since the game first came out back in 2002. But, I’m now finally finishing my first army. Other projects caused this to be pushed back. A gaming buddy, John, is helping me out by assembling the remaining few items I own, which I will then paint.

I am playing with a Panzerkompanie intended for Mid-War. Back in the day the list was out of the Ostfront book. Now, it is from the Eastern Front book and is a Mittlere Panzerkompanie. Comprised mainly of tanks, which I assembled and painted from 2002-2009, the remaining units are a Panzergrenadier Platoon in trucks (no points for halftracks), a Scout Platoon using BMW bikes, and a Famo recovery vehicle. John cleaned up and glued all of my infantry onto their bases. This past Tuesday he gave them to me and I gave him half of the BMW bikes and the Famo.

Having never painted 15mm infantry posed a challenge. That was further complicated with the change of time period from 18th to 20th century. Exactly how would I paint the Wermacht troops? The Flames of War website shows the helpful Evan’s German Army Painting Guide Infantry 1939-43. That provided a lot of inspiration for what I do and do not want to do. Maybe it is unfair to say but I don’t care as much how my FoW models look. Whereas I greatly care how my American Revolution models look.

A few rules were set.

  • The models would be painted in historically accurate colors…or close enough to that for my satisfaction
  • A quick and dirty method would be used
  • Each model would be primed, basecoated, inked/washed, highlighted/drybrushed, gloss varnished, and matte varnished.
  • The models need to appear to belong with my existing Flames of War models

Everything else was up for grabs. I completed, excluding matte varnishing and basing, the 12 bases of Panzergrenadiers in a single evening. At most I spent 3 hours painting them.

Everything was primed with the German Armor Mid/Late spray. Almost all of the paints used were Vallejo (the German Infantry Paint set was used) with inks coming from Games Workshop. They were then basecoated with German Fieldgrey (830). Once dry I used Badab Black as a wash. This creates a nice shadow effect as it gets into the dark recesses. Using Green Grey (886) I drybrushed the entire model. This covered 80% of each model.

I like to work my way from the largest area and the darkest color to the lightest color. This way any mistakes I make are easier to fix. Every gun and metallic device, like explosives, were next on my agenda. Boltgun Metal followed by Badab Black got the job done. I could have also used Chainmail for a highlight color but doing so would have made me crazy.

That last thing I wanted to paint was skin. Faces and hands, to be exact, needed distinction. Tallarn Flesh, thank you GW foundation paints, served as the basecoat. An ink of Ogryn Flesh made the skin more realistic. Finally, a quick drybrush of Elf Flesh finished the job.

Everything was sealed with GW’s ‘Ardcoat and will be sealed with Testor’s Dullcote. I could have done a lot more with these models. But, as I mentioned earlier, I want to get them done and on the table. The goal is for me to play casually, learn the rules, and have fun. Flames of War will be my secondary historical game, Black Powder being the first. All that remains is to base the models. I’m thinking of using sand, painting it green, and adding some tufts of static grass or lichen and twigs.

Pictures of the post gloss varnished/pre matte varnished models are below. What do you think? Don’t forget to check out my First Flames of War Game (yes, those are my panzers) and also Spotlight on Flames of War Fuel Dump Objective Marker.

Artillery Barrage at the Ready

The 6pdr’s lure was too much for me. The intention was for me to finish the first Militia unit chronicled in numerous Painting articles. I would paint the remaining militia for the first unit, including the unit leader with his accompanying musician and standard bearer, and then reward myself by painting the artillery battery. That plan didn’t last very long.

The problem resulted from laying out the militia and the artillery battery side by side. Everything was primed with Chaos Black and then I picked up the cannon. Examining each detail was as transforming as holding the One Ring. I knew that the evening would not end without my painting the cannon. Still, I had a plan to follow so I struck a compromise. I would paint the cannon but not its crew. That seemed fair.

Looking back at the comments on Painting AWI American Militia Update provided a partial paint scheme. Cort N and Henry Hyde suggested a historically accurate look produced by using Shining Gold as a basecoat, Devlan Mud as a wash, and Burnished Gold as a highlight. That covered the barrel but didn’t do anything for the carriage.

Luckily, I found two great examples from Giles Allison (see his blog Tarleton’s Quarter and in particular American artillery (6)) and Tilman’s Conquering the Lead Mountain (in particular Royal Artillery 6pdr (2nd ed)). Giles should be familiar because his models have been depicted in Warlord Games’ Black Powder rulebook.

Both Giles and Tilman adopt a historically accurate paint scheme. Instead of travelling that road I decided to go my own way but keep it historically plausible. A very important thing to note is that the entire cannon was painted before assembly. There are too many parts of the model that will be obscured and difficult to paint after assembly. Do yourself a favor and paint this before you put it together.

The carriage, wheels and all, would be brown. GW’s Foundation Paints are a joy for all basecoating. Calthan Brown did the job nicely. An ink of Devlan Mud, keeping things uniform, followed. The carriage was finished with Desert Yellow, with my thanks to Adrian for mentioning it the other night. This covered the wooden portions but there remained some metal areas. Bracers, rivets, bands, etc needed to be covered. All of the non-barrel metallic areas were basecoated with Boltgun Metal, inked with Devlan Mud, and then drybrushed with Chainmail.

Two coats of ‘Ardcoat and then one coat of Testor’s Dullcote finishes the model. This is perhaps my favorite piece I’ve painted, but the FoW Fuel Dump objective marker is a close second, and I’m very happy that I rewarded myself in this manner. Now I can finish the Militia necessary to finish the first regiment. They’re already primed and have all of their trousers basecoated.

Adhering to my rule of not buying anything new until I’ve painted models already in my possession is working out nicely. In fact, Neil Catapano received an order from me for 1 blister of Southern Militia firing line in shirt sleeves and bayonets (AW134), 1 Southern Militia marching in shirt sleeves and bayonets (AW136), and 1 blister of Continental Mounted Infantry (AW037) to serve as my army general. Those models are on the way and I anticipate finishing my existing militia sometime this week.

I hope you enjoy the below pictures, some are not of great quality, of the 6pdr cannon. They were taken before it was varnished. All paints used were Citadel Paints.