Recruits Gaming Convention - September 2016 - Part 2 - Axles and Alloys

After a rousing battle with some rival gangs in the old west, I was rushed into the not-to-distant future for some post-apocalyptic racing.  Think NASCAR with guns on the cars and racing on a dirt track and wrecked vehicles scattered around the track and no caution flags.  You know a fun version of NASCAR (that is a joke, please don't send me any angry emails).

Ted runs a variety of games at Recruits and has for many years.  I've had the chance to play in a few of them and they are always great fun.

This was no different.  The rules used for this game were Axles and Alloys (which are available free here).  These are a quick playing set of rules that aren't meant as a simulation, but instead try to allow you to play a cinematic version of a demo derby with guns thrown in.  If you've seen Death Race or Mad Max, you know what I'm talking about.

We started with 10 cars in the race and 3 were still moving at the end.  The winning car completed about 1 and a quarter laps.  It isn't the fastest moving game, but it is full of mayhem and explosions.  What more could you ask for?

This was the car I was driving.

Another angle of my car.

Overall, this was a great game.  As I said, it doesn't play very quick.  That is kind of a draw-back for a con game, but there were enough explosions and mayhem, that it still works.  I have downloaded the rules and will be testing out my skills at converting a few Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars in the near future.

Recruits Gaming Convention - September 2016 - Part 1 - Fistful of Lead

Several members of my local gaming group took the trip to Lee's Summit, MO to attend this years Recruits Gaming Convention.  This is hosted by the high school gaming club and has been going on for about 13 or 14 years.  It is a great convention (though on the small side) and we enjoy the trip every chance we get.

I didn't get to play a ton of games, but did get to take part in a few that I thought I would share with you.

First up was a demo game of Fistful of Lead.  This is a fast paced Wild West era game of gun fights on the American frontier.

The game I played in had 5 bands of gunmen battling it out.  Two groups were in town to rob the bank that happened to have just received the payroll for the local cavalry detachment.  I ran a group of outlaws that was there to rescue their brother from the local jail.  Another group was there to take the bother locked up in the jail with them so he could marry their sister that he got in a family way.  Finally, there was the marshals who wanted to keep the man in jail and protect the payroll.

Players all had 5 models armed with a mix of pistols, rifles, and shotguns.  Players were dealt cards each turn and initiative counted down from King to two.  Aces could be played as a wild.  Some cards have some special effects when played.

The game was a ton of fun and worked well with a large group.  Players were engaged throughout the turn because their actions are based upon the cards they have.

As you can see, the table looked great with lots of fantastic terrain and the models were all well painted.

I managed to get my brother out of jail and off the table so I won the game.  I had some lucky rolls and good card draws.

I enjoyed the game enough that I decided to purchase a copy of the rules.  I already have a collection of buildings and models painted up for this era, so it made the decision to purchase the rules easy.

I plan to run some games for my local group and see how everyone likes it.  I think I will need to add more buildings to my collection as my town could use a few more buildings.  So you might see some projects along those lines in the very near future on this blog.

In my next post I'll tell you about our game of Axles and Alloys at Recruits.

Painting Project for Toys for Tots Charity Auction - Update 4

I've made a fair bit of progress on the dreadnought and I've assembled and base coated the remaining mine tokens.

I was worried about how the big ship was going to look.  With just the base colors applied, it just didn't seem to match the other ships.  I am always surprised what a wash will do.  After the wash was added it looks great.

I've got a lot of highlighting ahead of me, but that should go pretty smoothly.