Update Time

Things have been fairly quiet on the gaming front lately - mostly because things have been extremely busy on several other fronts! But here's an update on what I have been doing.

Modeling

I've got my first 5 Angels of Redemption marines almost done. Finally. I've even done the basing already. I've got a few little details left to do (including the chapter markings, which is another post entirely) and then I can seal them and move on.

Board Games

I haven't played anything for weeks. I've still got SmallWorld sitting unused and unloved in its box, but I'm vaguely hopeful there'll be a chance to finally break it out sometime in the next few weeks.

PC Games

I've been playing a lot of Race for the Galaxy, mostly because it only takes about 10mins to play. I'm still fairly rubbish at it, but it's fun.

New Stuff

I haven't picked up anything new lately - which, given the lack of free time, that's probably for the best. But it is end of financial year bonus time, which means I can do some shopping. The question is, what to get!

WHFB 8th

So this morning I have 3 emails from different companies all telling me that Warhammer Fantasy Batter 8th edition is about to come out, and suggesting that I give them some money for some finely sculpted plastic men.

Really not what I need a couple of days after doing a new budget...

I spent most of my free time this weekend playing Race for the Galaxy. It's a card game by Rio Grande games that is thematically right up my alley. You take the role of one of Earth's former colonies, now equipped with faster-than-light travel and ready to build a galactic empire of your own.

The basic game play is pretty straight forward. You have two types of cards - planets and technologies. To play a card, you need to discard cards from your hand - better cards cost more discarded cards. Each turn, you have a choice of 7 different options (the game describes it as 5, but really it's 7). Each player secretly picks an option and then all players get to perform that option.

I had be seriously tempted to buy it a little while ago, but at the last minute put it back on the shelf knowing that it would be a good 12 months before I actually got to play. But Race for the Galaxy AI is a free application that lets you play by yourself, and Rio Grande have the rules available online.

A game against the AI takes around 10-15mins, which makes it perfect for killing a little bit of time. I had a little bit of an issue resizing the window to be able to play it on my netbook, but now I've got that sorted, it's on all the computers I regularly use. I just wish there was an iPhone app.

This weekend has convinced me that I really do want to buy the physical game. So next time there's a sale on, Race for the Galaxy will be going into my shopping basket.

Is My Free Ghoul Coming?

I got a box of Elves from Mantic Games a little while ago, and was quite impressed with them. Since then, I've been lusting after more Mantic Games stuff. Since there's a lot of little army men I'm lusting after, and since I currently have more than enough to keep me busy for at least the rest of the year, I've been holding off.

But Mantic Games does sit fairly highly on my list of "stuff I want".

So I was quite pleased last month when I happened by the Mantic Games website and spotted an image for a free ghoul! All you had to do was sign up for the Wayland Games newsletter. Seemed like a good deal - I'm quite happy with Maelstrom Games as my FIGS, but I've heard good things about Wayland, so I might be tempted to make a switch. And besides, what's a little more spam?

The sign up process was a little bit strange, and didn't exactly fill me with confidence that it had worked properly. But then I started receiving the newsletter, so I figured it must have all been okay.

Today I got another newsletter in my inbox, but I still haven't found a ghoul in my mailbox. Normally I wouldn't be too bothered - it's free stuff! Obviously they're going to use the cheapest possible shipping. Plus, it's free, so stop complaining! But I'm just really not sure if my signed up actually worked. Should I sign up again? Is the offer still going? Should I just keep waiting?

Super Secret Project II: Announced

Super secret project part 2, that I've been working on for M's birthday, was finally finished and presented on the weekend. So I can now reveal that it was a Chaos Daemon Prince. Sadly the only photos I got of him all sealed and based came out quite blurry (taken at the cafe just after I'd given him away).

These are much better shots, but this was before I'd sealed him.

Overall, I was quite pleased with my work on this project. I was a bit disappointed by how much the matt sealer killed the shine on the gold areas. Next time I'll just leave the gloss seal. I also wasn't super please with how the basing ended up. I was trying for a contrast between the unnatural red/purple daemon and a normal, natural green field. But I'm not sure my flocking was quite up to it.

Anyway, that was fun, but it's nice to have it done. Time to get back to my other projects before I have to start on the next super secret project...

Gratuitous Space Battles

On the weekend I discovered the game Gratuitous Space Battles by Positech Games. The concept is quite simple - design your ships, deploy your fleet and then watch as it smashes into an enemy fleet.

Some of the reviews I read likened it to a tower defense game - once a battle starts, you don't have any control. I grabbed the demo to give it a try. I'm not going to actually review the game, other than to say I kind of liked it, but more for the idea than the execution.

What I did want to talk about is that it restarted my mental design processes on my own 4X game. So expect a few more posts about that in the near future...

Super Secret Project II: Almost Finished

As the title of this post suggests, I managed to get the next super secret project virtually finished last night. I ended up having an evening to myself as I'm currently the least sick person in the house, so I spent a bunch of time working on the finishing touches. Several times I decided that I'd done enough for the night and packed up, only to go back and do just a little bit more. Eventually I'd finished all the highlighting and detailing that I wanted to do.

It's interesting that getting sick seems to be the key to finishing these super secret projects on time - last time I only managed to get everything done because I got sick and had a day at home.

I still need to finish work on the base and seal the model. One of the big problems I've had working with this model was paint rubbing off from the hard edges. So if I ever expect this guy to survive even a little bit of handling, he needs to be sealed.

I'll post some pictures next week.