Wings of Glory - photo

I missed this from yesterdays post...

Wings of Glory:

Fantasy Flights: X-Wing Miniatures Game really appeals to me. It’s a fast and fun game, with stuff to collect, a massive universe to play games in and a large community of gamers. You can play with adults, kids and big kids alike. Skill counts for a lot, but there is still a place for relying on the Force.

I started to think about the whole movement mechanic to the game, which I had assumed was a new concept. Turns out I assumed wrong... Wings of War is a game that has a very similar approach and was first released in 2004 and has been published by a few different companies. 

There have been versions of the game that are totally driven by cards whereas some versions have small detailed models like X-Wing.

It’s almost the same concept as X-Wing with a World War 1 or 2 setting (which I have opted to try WW1). Basically, if you’ve played X-Wing you’d pick the rules up very quickly. Rather than have a dial and a movement template there is a set of manoeuvre cards specifically designed for each classification of aircraft. You designate a sequence of orders to your force and watch the game unfold. Predicting your opponent and their movement can be tough. The combat is driven by cards, rather than dice. You inflict a certain number of hits depending on range and firing arch. You take a damage card for each hit, which can be minor or critical damage. As these cards are only seen by the pilot player that received the damage, there is an interesting element where you never really know how badly your opponent is hurt. 

So far I have picked up these two duelling packs:
Pack 1 - Fokker Dr.I Vs. Sopwith Camel Duel Pack;
Piloted by the aces Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen and Roy Brown

Pack 2 - Albatros D.Va Vs. Spad XIII Duel Pack;
Piloted by the aces Paul Bäumer and Frank Luke

Each pack has two model airplanes and all the cards and counters you need to start playing a one on one dog fight. The box also includes some scenery cards that add to the missions and scenarios you can play. Example, there are cards that represent tranches and anti-aircraft artillery. The rules are basic enough to be fast and furious, but with enough scope to build on the basic rules to make this a very engaging game.

From what I can tell, it’s a little more tricky to expand your collection than X-Wing. If you buy an additional plane you’ll need to be sure you have enough movements cards and the right damage decks. And I’d also suggest that as there is such a reliance on cards to play the game, it could become unmanageable if there are a lot of models in play on the same table. Between 2 and 4 each side seems right to me. 

When I grow up...

I want to be an A-Wing pilot...

The Book of The Game – by Mike Hood.

I don’t read anything like enough, but I really enjoyed this book. It’s about four different races; Man, Elf, Dwarf and Orc. Through the narrative you get a real feel for the difference in these races and their unique perspectives on power and influence. There is a strong story thread that focuses on what I’d call the evolution of the Orc as this race becomes a bigger threat to the others.   

It has some heavy topics in there where it plays with some concepts around religion that are more than offset by lighter moments of wit.

Although this is a self-contained story you get a real sense of the fact that the author has created a well considered universe where there are many more tales to be told. 

I will be keeping an eye out for more.   

There is a sample on the website.

Amazon: linky

Space Hulk update

Over the last week or so, I did some more work on my SPACE HULK project. There are two threads to this; 15mm and 32mm.

15mm Update:
I have been planning a 15mm version of the game for ages. I am using Khurasan Space Demons for the Alien force. So far I have two bags. The quality of one bag was fantastic, the other had few duff mis-casts. So I’ve ended up with 23 of them (only 1 I couldn't save). The below picture is a little blurred and the bases still need some work, but here you go…

Forgetting that one bag of Space Demons wasn’t perfect, I am very happy with the figures from Khurasan Miniatures. Next painting project: 10 x Puritan figures. These will be my terminator figures for the 15mm SPACE HULK. Highly recommended figures.

As for tiles for the 15mm game, I am working on some basic templates:

32mm Update:

My only real problem with SPACE HULK is that the Marines are all in Terminator armour. That means the scale of the Terminator becomes meaningless. I think I’ll need some house rules that sees the Terminators mixed with Imperial Guard.  

Most the figures I’ve collected for the 32mm project are waiting to be assembled. I am very torn regards what Chapter to paint them. I hate painting red, but in my heart of hearts I know these figures should really be Blood Angles. I may review the Chapter Approved pages of my WH40k first edition.

I watched the Ultramarines movie during the week. The film it’s self left me wanting more as it really felt like a video game where my joypad had lost connection. BUT: it did make me think perhaps I should paint my termies blue. We’ll see….   

The weekends gaming exploits

Just a few very general updates:
I managed to get a game of X-wing in over the weekend, 150 pointer so it was nice to see a good number of ships on the table. It was the first time I have seen the Rebel Transport fielded. I was a bit disappointed how easily it managed to destroy my Firespray, that accidentally managed to get in it's path (won't be doing that again in a hurry).

I saw this on eBay and was very tempted to put a bid in:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Unique-Star-Wars-AT-ST-Walker-Cardboard-Costume-See-video-Home-made-/251545339303?pt=Adult_Fancy_Dress_UK&hash=item3a914545a7

Space Hulk

Space Hulk: what have I got so far?

• Complete box set of the second edition (including the rules)
• The Space Hulk Bible (I think is the first edition rules)
• 3rd edition rules
• 3rd edition counters
• 3rd edition tiles
• 3rd edition Genestealers (I think all of them except for the Brood Lord)
• A stack of plastic Terminators (a combination of Black Reach Termies and the current Space Marine Terminator Squad)
• One box of the current WH40k Genestealer Brood

So there are only a handful of miniatures on my to buy list to complete my Space Hulk collection. 

I painted this squad up two years ago (my take on Deathwing). Since then they’ve brought out some fantastic miniatures. The biggest problem I see with them is that the bases are a little large for the normal Space Hulk tiles.