Playing with the Castle

Been playing around with my DwarvenForge Castle stuff. As you can see, it is for sale on the Dwarvenforge website.

This is the Count's Castle with the Watchtower on one corner and some other added parts.

Large corner tower on the cliff.

The hanging parapet on this corner is a cool item, in my opinion.

Model's eye view.
Looks impregnable to me...

The Mountains of Erinthor set allows me to raise the castle up, making it more imposing on the tabletop. I threw this set up together the other morning, so the cliffs aren't perfect. I had to use a lot of pieces under the castle to hold it up, including some stuff from my caverns set, but I made it work. Part of the fun of Dwarvenforge stuff is building and solving the puzzle of how to do what you imagine. It's a bit like Legos that way.

This week I bought a 4'x8' sheet of 2 inch insulation foam for a home improvement project. That will give me lots of 2 inch foam to use to make risers for beneath my builds. Once the foam is cut to some appropriate sizes and painted matte black, it will be perfect for building on. That will give me more pieces to use for the parts of a build that actually show.

Anyway, until next time, carry on!

Count's Castle

Last week I said I received my Dwarvenforge Castles Kickstarter. Here are some shots of the Count's Castle being assembled in all it's glory...

Gate House.
The lighted LED torches are a nice touch.

Everything is modular.
The corner towers can be broken out to be free standing with the add-on I bought.

It's a lot of parts.
It took me a while to figure out how it all goes together, which is part of the fun.

Getting there!

Voila! The Count's Castle.
This an amazing addition to my collection.

Drone view.
The details are superb. We will be having much fun with this stuff for years to come.

My daughter's Reaper Druid takes aim from the parapet!

Well, that's it for this week. Until next time, carry on!

Castle in a Box

I received my Dwarvenforge Castles Kickstarter stuff the other day.

Main pledge and add-ons.
Couldn't wait to haul it to the basement.
Had to start unboxing in the kitchen.

It's a pile of stuff and this isn't even all of it.

All the add-ons unboxed and spread on the table.

Suspended Parapets set.

Small Tower Batter Bases.

Small Tower Breakout set.
(Allows you to make a free standing tower from a castle corner tower.)

Ruined Walls set.

Stone Bridge set.

Ruined Large Tower set.

Larger Tower Batter Base.

Large Tower Transition set.
(Allows you to add a Large Tower to the corner of a castle.)

Of course that is just all the add-ons that allow me to have some variety in my castle layouts. My main pledge was the Count's Castle...

Count's Castle boxed.

Next week I'll show you what this looks like when it's all put together.

Until next time, carry on!

Hexes and Counters

I had the original version of Squad Leader back in the late 70s and really enjoyed it. Somewhere along the line, I ended up selling my copy of the original and the two expansions I had. Why I do things like that, I'll never understand! Inevitably my interest circles back around and I regret selling off the collection.

Anyway, I picked up a second hand copy of the Advanced Squad Leader Starter Kit #1 recently. I discovered an extensive online community supporting the game and found some great tutorials for learning how to play. It's made for some very enjoyable evenings playing solo.

The iconic silhouette on the cover is what grabbed my attention.
Memories of days gone by. : )

The beginner's scenario.
I always loved these mission cards.

Old School hex and counter game.
I love the look of beautifully painted minis and terrain,
but something about the graphic art of this game appeals to me also.

It has some serious "crunch", but it flows well and is an enjoyable challenge.

Some argue that Advanced Squad Leader is more of a simulation of combat than a game. Not having been in combat, I cannot speak to this. But I do know it's complex and I'm enjoying that complexity. With the current trend in games to simplify everything, it is refreshing to experience a real mental challenge. I figure if I keep playing games like this, it will help stave off senility as I age! : )

I'm looking to pickup the other two Starter Kits when the publisher restocks them at the end of the Summer. I'm imagining further enjoyable evenings this Fall and Winter.

Until next time, carry on!

Game Cabinet Display Idea

As stated in a previous post, I'm using these IKEA cabinets for storage/display in my game room.

At the suggestion of a friend, I've begun experimenting with creating dioramas for my displays on a few shelves in each cabinet. I can see that I will need to paint or otherwise scenic the shelf and backdrop, but the potential here is good. With some good lighting effects I might be able to come up with some cool displays for my minis and terrain.

Dwarvenforge City Builder and Reaper Fantasy minis.

The party defends the village from the goblins.

The goblins on the offensive.

This is all of my current zombie/survivor collection.
Miniatures, anyway, not all my terrain.

So, I guess another project to work on but once it's finished it should add interest to the room. If nothing else, it will make for fun conversation with my non-gamer type friends.

Until next time, carry on!

Game Room Refinements

I've been slowly refining my game room....

Work space, unfinished model storage, and paint table.

Added a base for the mini-frig.
It's an old end table I found that someone had tossed out.
I stripped it and repainted it. Need to put the doors back on.
Gets the frig off the floor so it's easier to access and adds storage for drinks and snacks.

If you're gonna have a mini-frig, better have one of these.

Coat/bag rack.

I added a second IKEA bookcase.
As you can see, I'm still organizing it in this pic.

That's it for this week.

Until next time, carry on!

Kickstarter Loot

I pledged the Ganesha Games Kickstarter, Psi-Paladins, for Mutants and Deathray Guns. Got my loot last week. It was a good haul and some cool figures. Good sculpts. Lord knows when I'll get around to painting them, but I like the look of this stuff. Reminds me of the good old days of 1st edition Gamma World.

The loot displayed on the loot - game mat was part of the KS.

Wide shot of the mat.
Very nicely done, much like the grasslands mat I showed a while back.

These are the Combots. I really like them.

And the Psi-Paladins, of course. Not to be confused with Jedi.

These are the Techno Barbarians. I especially like the Lion dude on the left.

This is Lord Phalag and his minions.
These were a stretch goal. I will have some fun with these.

Everything came with a clear acrylic base, which, if you've read my blog, you know I'm into. I'd like to get these painted up and do some kind of Gamma World-esque RPG-lite campaign. The Mutants and Death Ray Guns ruleset looks like it'd be fun to play.

Anyway, that's it for this week. Until next time, carry on!

The Toddler Has Game

This is my youngest, Liam. He is three years old.

Vanilla ice cream cones are one of his favorites.

This is his first game.

Candy Land, the game that has dominated the toddler gamer market for decades.

This is Liam on a recent rainy Saturday afternoon.

Double red! Nice move. I didn't see that coming.

Getting that in situ view of the Ginger Bread Man  mini.

Here he contemplates his next critical move.
In the end, he managed to draw the Ice Cream cone card, leap far ahead of his opponent, and win.

We all started somewhere, sometime, with some game. This proud daddy is pleased to be raising another gamer.

Until next time, carry on!

Dads And Daughters D&D

Last weekend I hosted our Dads and Daughters D&D group in my new game space. I'm probably beating a dead horse hear, but allow me to say once more how much I LOVE my new house and game room!

As I think I've shared before, Dads and Daughters D&D started back in 2014 when, on a lark, I invited some of my old high school buddies to get together for a weekend and play the new 5th Edition D&D. We played through an adventure I had written, drank beer, relived the glory days, and had a fine weekend together. We enjoyed the game so much in fact, that we decided to do it again. Schedules being what they are and us living several hours drive apart meant that it was a few months before we could get together.

At our second gathering, one of my friends asked if he could bring his high school senior daughter along. Considering these friends are like family, we were glad to have her join the game and once again we had such fun we decided to set another date. For the 3rd gathering we decided we would all bring a daughter, step-daughter, or niece along and, BOOM, Dads and Daughters D&D was born.

It has been such a cool thing to introduce these young women to a game (and a gaming hobby) that typically includes only about 30% women and girls. In what is too often a sexist, misogynist gaming culture, we have taken great delight in empowering these young women to "take a place at the table", literally and figuratively, and enjoy the game as equals. It gets a little crazy with 9 (!) player characters, but it has been well worth the effort. It has been amazing to see these young people go from shy, sometimes skeptical, hesitant players to full on, sword wielding, spell casting, monster bashing, bad asses. We dads (and uncles) couldn't be more proud of how our "girls" have taken to the game.

One of the young adventurers went off to college this year. We expected her interest would decline, but she has consistently made arrangements to travel long hours by bus just to make it to the quarterly games. She's also started bringing a boyfriend (insert eye roll here). But, I have to admit, he's a great young man. After all, any guy willing to give up his weekend to play D&D with his girlfriend's father and his old high school buddies must be a stellar individual! Besides, he's pretty good at the game too...for a noob.

The college kids and their Yorkie-Poo familiar.
(that's my little dog, Charlotte. She was there for the snacks.)

Massive battle in the keep as the party is besieged.

Grognards and their offspring.

Thanks to my wife, you also get a shot of me, DMing at the head of the table.

So, the break-in game session in the new space was a complete success. A truly spectacular day was had by all. I'm so grateful for these friends, for the time and space to do this, and for you all for caring to read about it.

Until next time, carry on!