NEW GAME!!! Battlestar Galactica Starship Battles

Howdy folks,

As advertised, I bought a new game!! And being a big long time fan of Battlestar Galactica it was kind of a 'had to'...and let me be clear, by long time fan, I can remember being a young guy watching my first episodes on a very small black and white television.  And if you're curious, I am in fact a fan of Ron Moore's BSG reimagining as well...personally, I think having Richard Hatch on board was an excellent touch and nod to his talent and passion for Battlestar Galactica as a whole...

ARES Battlestar Galactic Starship Battles

 

Anyhow, I saw the game advertised last year and was pretty excited to see how it would look...I checked out a couple of unboxings online and was pretty impressed.  Thanks to one of my LGS I was able to order in a copy of the starter box (<cough...I did also just recently pick up a second...cough>).

 

The lad and I decided to give a quick go a few weekends back...while the box comes with a 2v2 combo, we elected to go a 1v1 game for speed and focus using the basic rules.  Like many games these days, there are the basic 'get you in the fight' rules and the more advanced 'watch me do this' type rules.

 

The box itself is pretty high end quality...the ships come pre-painted and actually look really good! The game pieces are fairly solid using thick stock, the cards are nice as well, I'm curious to see how they will hold out in the longer run and am pondering copying them and having a 'grubby hands' set and a 'I like nice stuff' set.  We'll see.

 

 

The game went well (pics and stuff below) and with the second box, I think I may give this a go as a game for CanGames in May...either as quick demos or scenario game...

 

Anywho, enjoy the pics...take care.

 

The general idea is to track your speed, heading, and 'altitude' -- for the basic rules, we just used speed and heading -- including inertial drift, etc.  My son and I messed around with the manoeuvre cards to get familiar with them as well.  On one side is the picture of the spacecraft (viper or cylon) and on the other is an image of the manoeuvre.  On any given card you can have the manoeuvre with 1-4 variations depending on your speed.  The idea is to line up the card with the base of your spacecraft and then move the vessel along the line finishing where the track of the manoeuvre finishes (I'll try to get a pic for next time to better demo). 

 

This is kinda nifty and maybe gimmicky...ala Battlestar, the cards have no top or bottom corners and look a lot like a pyramid deck (for you Battlestar geeks...).

 

All of this to say...we messed around with the cards, got familiar with the basic mechanics...and then tried to close in and do some damage, ala picture above...

 

...picture below...a far-er out look at the scene...the Viper is closing in for first shots... 

 

As you can see, each spacecraft is very nicely detailed and REALLY nicely painted!! A big bonus...I'm not sure I could have replicated either scheme and I know I would have angsted and OCD'ed over it..

 

First gun pass is over, the Cylon takes some damage...some good shooting on my part...the lad preferred the look of the Cylon raider over the Viper

as you can see in upper right...there are measuring sticks...they show the range constraints and modifiers...on the back side, they even account for slant range when you are using the advanced rules with 'altitude'...very cool...in this pic, we both moved as quickly as possible from each other and are setting up for another pass.

More setup...

The lad does some bold manoeuvring to line up a shot...and gets 0 damage for his piloting...good for me!

He sees me, he shoots me...I see him, I...well you know.  For my efforts I get 4 more points of damage on his Raider. 

For the folks in the nose-bleeds...overview...

We each push our vectors and pass out of each others arc of fire...it is fairly narrow, approx 30 degrees...so if you want to do damage, you gotta steer like you mean it.

a bunch of cards later and no pics to show for it...the lad lines up very nicely on me...takes his shot...I'm feeling pretty good about this because he hasn't tagged me yet and I have about 12-ish (1 or 2 points higher than the Cylon IIRC)...

2 more cards later and I can't shake the bugger, he gets 2 shots in a row...I take 14 points which kills my ship...I suppose in a campaign I would punch out at this time and wait for the CSAR Raptor...the damage markers indicate total damage which are drawn from bag...or in our case a Starbucks mug (subtle right?)...with the idea you are not picking the damage, it is still some bit of chance.  As well, when you draw one, if there is a plus (+) on it, then you draw a second.  In the advanced rules, if there is an icon (i.e. the pilot helmet above) then there is also some additional modifiers to be applied.

While my first shot really hurt him, 8 points, my second fell short, and I could not get a third...the boy pulls a victory in our first engagement.

 



Overall, a very enjoyable game, fairly easy to grasp...certainly the basic rules were quick to get down...and we both had a great time...the figures look outstanding and I can't wait to see what expansions are coming.

 

Take care. 

First Painting Update of the Year

Howdy folks,

In the interest of getting eyeballs on figs, please enjoy this very short post...

As promised I am finally getting to putting up pics of the first painting update of the year.  While I have posted painting progress, it was just to close out some painting updates from the last year.  This post is certainly a mix of genres and miniature companies and all figs were completed by the end of January.

Hope you enjoy the pics...

These two figures were from a line called Ral Partha...I'm not very familiar with it and if I recall correctly, I purchased this pack of 2 Banditos in a clearance bin...maybe in North Bay.  They did paint up quite nicely and are a little on the 'epic-y' side of the scale, but they should fit in nicely with my other figs. 

 

 

I cannot recall where Clint came from...I remember getting a little plastic bag thrown my way from my buddy Mike, but other than that...that's all I got.  The figure is a little on the small side of 28mm, especially when compared with the two amigos above...however, just like them I elected to keep the basing fairly simple on this one.  For the most part, the inspiration for Clint's paint scheme came from the Good the Bad and the Ugly.

 

 

These two are from Hasslefree Miniatures from their human sci-fi range...inspired from the Battlestar Galactica reimagined series, I couldn't wait to get to these two.  Nailing the exact colour of their uniforms was a challenge as screen shots from the series shows a wide variance in tone depending on lighting conditions...I'm pretty happy with the results and can't wait to add some more of these BSG inspired models to the fray. 

 

Another Hasslefree figure, I bought this zombie Doc on a whim and figured that I could add him in wherever in my gaming 'verse.  I took a little extra time to get some shades on his labcoat and show some good 'zombification' on him...I also took some extra time on the basing to get the look of post-apoc...

 

Finally, the last two are remainders from another blister of knights from Crusader Miniatures that I used for my SAGA Crusader army; in this case I themed them rather generically and based them for some Frostgrave-y type locales.  I thought I'd try my hand at some sculpting of extras using milliput.  I also was curious how my new painting technique would look on these figures as my previous knights were painted when I relied heavily on a base coat and a dry brush.  I'm pretty happy overall with the results, I really like how the painting came out...and I know that I certainly need some more practice on sculpting, but with fairly non-critical additions like furs or bags, the sculpting can be pretty forgiving.

 

 

 

2019 Expedition up Mt. Lead.

Painted:
28mm          8 (+8)

Bought:       0

Progress:   +8


WHATS NEXT

1. some pics from a new game I just picked up...

2. a few pics trying out Warlord's Cruel Seas...

3. a Star Wars Legion update...

 

Past Games...Part 2 - Walking Dead and SAGA!

Howdy folks,

Another post, another new month, another snowfall, lol...I think we're supposed to get about a half a foot of snow today, and maybe some rain later this afternoon.  As promised from my last post, here are some more pics of games gone by...this time a little Walking Dead that we played in November/December timeframe and most recently some SAGA in the new year.

The Walking Dead was entertaining as usual; Duncan had an opportunity to showcase some more of his terrain...it looked very cool...and this time he tried out setting up some alternate objectives for each player rather than the usual slug/shoot fest.

The layout from my perspective...my crew (a lost family) had the task of searching for some family members who had become separated; we entered from the bottom of the table and headed towards the Blue Motor Inn.  Mike's team entered table right...I think they were a bunch of bikers, etc...and Ed's team entered table left, they were a bunch of rough and tumble convicts looking to make a break for it.

 

From this angle you can see Ed's crew decked out in orange...their leader looked a little rough so I immediately took the opportunity to put a few rounds into him. I think I put him down after turn 3 or 4...a little proactive defence.

 

From here you can see Mike's crew...if I recall, for the most part we kept each at length with no exchange of gunfire. The family makes its way to the second floor to look for their lost members.

along the way we find a supply cache with a desert eagle in it...good find!

We successfully find the twins in one of the rooms, but there are zombies to deal with before we can make our egress.  The twins take care of business and the family is reunited.  Over at the gas station, Mike and Ed are having a small tete-a-tete punctuated with shotgun and grenade blasts.

Final shot of the game before I departed...I had a party to get to at my house...Ed's cons rushing into the gas station and contending with some distractions at the same time.  All in all...a very good game.

Early this year, I had the chance to try out SAGA 2.0...it had been some time since I tried it out, but it was great to try the new rules and to get my Crusaders on the table again.

Initial setup...Duncan on my left with a very mobile cavalry type force (can't remember who he was fielding); MIke on my right with a mix of foot and horse (again, can't remember who he was leading); me occupying the difficult to pass "high ground" with my foot heavy force of Crusaders.  Crossbowman deployed in an L with apex facing the bad guys...hearthguard hanging with the boss behind them, and 2 groups of soldiers/knights armed with shields and one handed weapons.  No levies for me.

Looking right...

Looking left...

We really like this hill...

I mean, it feels very comfortable...

And funny enough, first charges and moves look to be directed straight at me...

throwing some bolts at Mike...taking some in return as well...Duncan and Mike sparing outside of my range but well in front of my line.  Mike pushing horse traversing my 6...

Duncan and Mike mixing it up at my 1 O'clock...my own knights mixing it up with Duncans troops as well pushing from our sacred hill...

troops moving back and forth...starting to get the hang of the battleboards...

Duncan getting ready to let loose with his cavalry at my stick of knights...

horse everywhere...some mutual swipes at each other...

Duncan heads his cavalry over to do battle with Mike's horse...via my lone stick of knights...it was a little punishing.

starting to take some noticeable hits...

Cavalry furballs behind me...

My leader and Duncan's leader drop the gloves and have a donnybrook! If I recall, I rolled fairly well for this and I took his horse and leader down...chalk one up to the grunts!

 

All in all, another fun go at SAGA...and two excellent games in the end and beginning of the years.

WHATS NEXT

1. some pics of the first painted figs of the year, completed in January and February

2. some pics of a new game I just picked up as well...