Cangames 2013 Day 1 - preparing for my first convention game.

Last night was volunteer training. I am on service desk this year so more talking and less hot glue. The shifts are long but one gets you a day pass refund and two gets you a full weekend refund and of course you are helping out the local gaming community. This year I will take the refund since that will be my toy money.  After watching the kids standing around while the old guys moved table last year, I decided I wasn't able bodied this year and besides - I had final preparations to carry out.  

Because tonight's the night. I will be running my first ever convention game.  With life revving up at home and work over the last few months, I have not been able to put in as much time or to be honest money as I would have liked into the project. However, as an old mentor said about teaching, the participants will leave with more than they came with.

So some samples:

Martian artillery

Yes Bob, they are regulars so get the shaken state. ;)  I am calling them European trained Askaris who have gone over to the rebel side. Loyalties can be changed by swapping the rammer figures. A roogie is a small pack hunter. I have decided that the martians will use banners since they have bannermen in their to&e

Hill Martian Light Cavalry

The only true cavalry unit on the table for this game.  I have some Sikhs to paint up for the Earthers.  

Colonial Rifles

Not quite my old regiment but close. I left the field craft at 2 because we didn't do so well at Cutknife Hill.
Part of the reason for going with big earth units was to allow for a square formation because: You yellow  yellin', yomper - for you broke a British square!

Pictures and full report to follow. 

The Push Part III More Paper Work

Since I am aiming at a potentially newbie audience and Soldier's Companion is an older more dice intensive rules system, I wanted to put together a QR sheet. It's not perfect and I have intentionally omitted a few things but I hope it will help make matters clearer.

Some of the formatting could be better and I caught one spelling mistake as soon as I printed it - always the way. On the whole I am quite happy with the results.

One interesting discovery was how working methodically through all the little details brings up some of the finer points of the rules that you don't see when playing. The morale rules in particular have some subtleties I hadn't noticed in the heat of it. Next up Unit Cards again.

The Push - Part II

This last weekend was spent finishing up the last of the figures for my game at Cangames

On the Painting Table

I while back, I had ordered up a pair of Whitworth 12 pounder Rifles to reinforce the Martians. They will count as rod guns but being breech loaders will have an improved rate of fire of 1 and will be able to fire shell. Their back story is that they are American Civil War ex-CSA surplus sold on to the natives by unscrupulous Yankee traders. To support this, I decided to paint them up some what accurately. The included instructions said the carriages were painted "olive" a somewhat vague description. I went on-line and poked around various historical and re-enactor sites then mixed up a batch of something fairly close. The whole process took a bit of time but I felt it was worth it. Later in the day, I was rummaging around in the paints box and came up with a pot of GW Catachan green - an almost  identical match for what I had mixed up. Live and learn.

After painting was complete it was into the dip for everyone. I really like the block paint and dip method. It doesn't always do justice to the sculptors' art but then neither does my level of painting skill.  What the dip does do is encase every model in a hard wearing shell that is unfortunately glossy. I am cheap so my dip is Future floor polish with a healthy dose of brown paint. To kill that gloss the next step is:

Form up for Dullcote!

I use Krylon Matte Finish rather than Testors Dullcote mostly because it is what I have. For me, painting is something to get out of the way so I can play the game. For others, painting and basing is central to their enjoyment. This is one of the things I like about the hobby, there are many ways to enjoy it.

Onward to the play aids!