snake eyes september 2016 issue
TRANSCRIPT
ISSUE # 30 SEPTEMBER 2016
GARAGE GAMERS GROUP
S N A K E E Y E S
2
And another issue is complete. I wonder
sometimes whether two months is too much,
too little, or just right. I have taken out too
much advertising by date for this reason.
MOAB is on right now, which means gamers
will be enjoying themselves in Sydney, New
South Wales.
We have several major tournaments in
Australia. MOAB (or Mother of All Battles),
held in Sydney normally during October,
CanCon in Canberra, usually held over the
Australia Day weekend in January, and
BrisCon which is held in Brisbane over the
May Day long weekend.
New columns have appeared in this issue,
with new columnists on regular features. It
might not be as soon as next issue, but
SnakeEyes is getting a layout change
coming soon.
A very talented painter has joined the
ranks, and gives his view in Off The Palette.
PentaCon 2016 has been and gone, and
Glen speaks about the history of the tourna-
ment and how it all went on the day.
Andrew Wylie has given us another view
into creative gaming, with a follow up article
to his Legion Vaubecourt with Corporate
Feudalism.
I have a talk about LeadShot the game and
how it all came about.
Happy Gaming
Anything that you want to share or promote,
be it club news, tournaments, stories, your
games and/or your miniatures, please send it
on to us here at Snake Eyes. As long as it is
miniature gaming orientated, (and appropri-
ate), then we will show it off for you. Send it
to;
If you are a merchant and would like to
advertise with us it is a free service. What I
would ask is that you submit a one page
advert, or we can make it up for you, that can
appear in Snake Eyes as a full page advert.
These ideally will be rotated through each
issue, to maximize exposure for all of our
stores and suppliers.
SEE YOU THERE
Garage Gamers Group (GGG)
G A R A G E
G A M E R S
G R O U P
SNAKE EYES S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 6 I S S U E 3 0
Cover: PentaCon
2016 Winner
Simon Machin
Editorial
Reviews on the Run
Playing for a Reason
The Collector
Off the Palette (New)
Misfire Comics
Member Spotlight
Special Features:
Corporate Feudalism
PentaCon
LeadShot
S N A K E E Y E S
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Playing for a reason With GGG Member Darian Chase
P A G E 4 I S S U E 3 0
ghost army. (undercoated only - ED)
If you break the hobby down into acquiring, prepping and assembly, painting and then gaming, and follow this regime in the same order, we would all be enjoying the miniature gaming hobby so much more than not. I know of many gamers who still have entire armies sitting in boxes in cupboards that have been there for years. Not that there is anything wrong with this but what is the point of the purchase of expensive miniatures when they never see the gaming table.
If you are one of these people, then I challenge you to go and get that neglected box set, irrespective of whether you’re playing that army or indeed, that system right now or not, and break it open and start clipping and assembling. Whether you want to do this on a box by box
or entire army it’s up to you, but if you go too big you might not make it, so I suggest just the one.
Once you have assembled the box, play a small game with them, to see how they work on the table.
Grab an undercoat and give them their basecoat after your game. After that’s dry why not start on their first layer.
I start with a black under-coat, wet brush the base layer of colour, touch up with the same colour. I then re black any weapons, and then begin the details. Technique is again up to you.
Unless you’re rushed for a tournament, I am betting that you probably won’t want to play with your miniatures in the half way stage of painting, so keep going, it’s only one box set. In the end it is well
strong suit), but I HAD to have the whole set, otherwise it was incomplete.
This led to a war between my collecting needs versus my wallet. Now I think that this has been covered before, but if I could go back to my younger self and convince him what a task I was setting for myself in the future I would tell him this.
Pick a manufacturer that makes a game that you like, or think that you might like to play. Go to a store that sells them and if you can’t play in store, get contact details of where you can have a game to TRY before you BUY. Have as many games as you need to determine what force or
forces that you like, but careful here. If you like more than one, pick two armies maximum. One for you and a friend or partner to play. Buy to complete one or both of your armies only. Don’t be swayed by other products, you can buy them later. Buy only the paints and brushes, that you need to paint your forces. Buy, or even better, make your terrain that covers one gaming table. Join a club if you have no room at home and use their terrain and tables. If you like the gaming magazines, only buy the one that covers your system. Don’t invest in anything else, until both armies are com-plete, as in collected and painted, and there is nothing more to add to them. Then, only then, you can start again. Your collection will
I know the editor has had a few people write for this column, so I will try to do it justice. Probably why there is never a permanent name to the articles. (You guessed it -
Ed)
I have gamed since the late nineteen-nineties, and fell into a love of collecting everything. Miniatures, rule books, paints, brushes, board games, dice, terrain, magazines, and everything game related was fair game to my collecting bug.
Maybe because I have a touch of OCD regarding my collecting, I wanted everything complete. Paint brushes had to be the whole set, whether I used them or not wasn’t the point, (and I would have to say that painting isn’t even my
From the Collector’s Vault
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Leisure time can mean different things to different gamers. Some gamers like to do their gaming on their days off. Some use them to paint, or assemble miniatures or terrain. What’s interesting is that every gamer must fit their hobby around their normal life.
Unless you are lucky enough to work within the hobby world of miniature gaming, then like the rest of us, your hobby is squeezed in somewhere during the days off of your working or studying week.
Here is where your hobby dedication comes into play. How many of you don’t paint your miniatures until suitably motivated by say, a tournament that you’re attending next weekend. How many of those same gamers are painting the night before? It goes without saying, that playing with a fully painted army is much more satisfying than playing with a
The Collector is a
gamer with many
years in collectable
games and wargam-
ing...
worth the effort, because it gives you more nicely paint-ed miniatures to play with, AND, opens up that storage space for even more minia-tures...a win-win in anyone’s book.
I urge you to start this project if you don’t already follow some sort of a system, as the hardest part is to begin, then it becomes fun, seeing your army come to life, even if only for the moment before they go to join those figures in the display cabinet, waiting for you to play with them once again.
Unboxing and assembling that box set that was in the cupboard may even reignite the hobby for some of you, and once you have set up the area to do all of these processes, you might find it hard to stop at just one. Enjoy yourself.
look great, and may your wallet stay fat.
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out to the box this game comes in. It
looks like a big book, and when I un-
packed the box, my mate said to me
“Oof, it’s like a big book.” And I’m not
really sure why it’s so cool that it looks
like a big book – but it is. It’s cool. It’s like
a big book, that box, and that’s cool. I like
it a lot.)
Old-school. A barbarian. An elf. A dwarf.
A wizard. There’s something classic about
that set-up that is difficult to hate, right? I
think I love it because players know al-
most instantly how they should be play-
ing the game. The spellcaster and the elf
hanging back, attacking from range. The
barbarian up front with the dwarf, with
the barbarian hitting hard and the dwarf
soaking up the hits. It’s natural and right
and I’m glad a game trying to capture
that old-school simplicity went this route.
The enemies are typical too – zombies
and skeletons on the whole, with four
boss monsters that fall into typical fanta-
sy/undead character classes. The wee
bookcases look right. The wee chests look
right. The tiles (although a little bit
thinner than I would like) are well il-
lustrated and look just right.
How does it play?
Well, the heroes all take a turn and
then the bad guy takes a turn. In the
heroes’ turn, they can move and then
attack, or cast a spell.
When the baddie takes a turn, he
uses commands to order as many
enemies as the scenario will allow. He
REVIEWS ON THE RUN With GGG Member Tim Prenzler
also has a deck of cards that lets him do
additional stuff, and occasionally boosts the
number of commands he can make.
So far, so simple. You’ll notice that the
turns don’t even contain any of the basic
complexities of games like Descent, where
characters can move-attack-then move
again.
The heart of the game is in the combat
rules, and while there is nothing ground-
breaking here, there’s a lot to like. Each
character and enemy has a combat skill
value, telling you how many dice to roll.
These dice are then modified by the
situation. If a model is outnumbered
(engaged with more than one other model)
it loses a die. If a model is injured it loses
another die. Once modifiers are taken into
account, the dice are rolled for both
attacker and defender. Any dice that don’t
beat the opponent’s armour value are
dismissed. And then attacking and
defending dice are paired off, with the
higher dice scoring hits.
It’s a fast, fine way of conducting combat,
and you’ll find that the whole outnumbered
thing becomes a major part of play. What
you’ll miss, though, is the stuff that modern
Mantic Games - review except by Robert Florence
What Dungeon Saga: Dwarf
King’s Quest tries to do is strip
back the dungeon crawl to those
old-school basics we all loved
back in the day. There’s one
player as the evil Overlord,
setting up the map as the players
explore their way through it, and
the heroes have to bash, kill and
search until they find the way to
victory. The game looks, as you’d
expect from Mantic, very beauti-
ful indeed and it’s excellent to
see all those little plastic doors
and chests and tables and book-
cases. Cardboard counters just
don’t compare. They just don’t.
(I want to give a quick shout-
Dungeon Saga - Dwarf Kings
Quest
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one to just create their own maps and adventures. The system is so basic (not in a bad way) that it’s going to be easy to fling a few skeletons and zombies into a board set-up of your own imag-ining and just have at it.
Dungeon Saga really does nothing
special. It does nothing special at all. But
weirdly, that’s why I kinda liked it. This
could be a game you bought 20 years
ago. It lacks so many of the features of
modern board games. But because of this
it feels like a real nostalgia kick. A flash-
back to a simpler time.
This isn’t the best Dungeon Crawl game out there. Not by a mile. But it’s a lovely production, with very solid rules and a set of fun scenarios. It feels beautifully traditional. It’s pitched at a family-friendly level. And isn’t that the kind of thing that makes a great Christmas gift? This won’t be a huge review as
LeadShot will be talked about elsewhere in this magazine, but suffice to say, I had
REVIEWS ON THE RUN Continued
a few games of this, in play testing and at the launch during the PentaCon 2016 tournament. LeadShot is a game for two or more players, with options of quick play rules, and campaign rules, set in a old western environment. Using the quickplay rules, players can choose to play as a Legend or use a five man/woman gang, in a variety of scenarios, or just go head to head and try to take the other down. The campaign rules add experience to the mix, that both Gangs and Legends can earn and spend on skills, to further advance their capabilities. Leaders of gangs can become Legends. Gangs start with a Leader, two Veterans and two Greenhorns. Players equip their gang with one rifle and one shotgun. All of them have pistols and knives. The Legends start with two skills that are chosen by the controlling player, but outside of a quickplay game, will have to earn experience to gain more skills. A Legend can go up against a Gang, but I am yet to fight that battle. The rules allow for both foot and mounted Gangs and Legends, and include riding in carts, wagons and stage coaches. Players can choose from Cowboys, Mexicans, Outlaws, Lawmen, and Indians at this stage and future plans are to include special rules for each group. Gameplay is on a 2 foot by 4 foot area, with rounds being rolled for who has the initiative. Then starting with the player who won the initiative, Gangs are activated one character at a time. LeadShot rules are available from [email protected]
dungeon crawl games often have
– things like surges in Descent,
that activate special abilities
through die rolls. In fact, there’s
no real feel of critical hits in this
game. And that’s a pity. But hey
– old-school is as old-school
does, and this combat is nice.
Ranged combat is much the same as melee, except for a nice clean line of sight system and the fact that characters can duck behind bookshelves and stuff. Did I mention that I really, really love that plastic furniture?
THE CAMPAIGN;
There are a set of scenarios for
you to play through, and you can
easily just pluck out a couple of
favourites and bang your way
through those. If you want to do
the campaign thing, though,
you’re really only going to be
getting a linear story told
through those same scenarios.
The set-up is that the good
guys have, essentially, 15
attempts to get through all the
scenarios in the book, which
allows for a number of retries. I
don’t really think Dungeon Saga
is designed to be a great cam-
paign game. It feels very much
like a board game to be pulled
out when players fancy knocking
their way through some
skeletons.
In fact, I’m going to say that this is a perfect game for some-
8
S N A K E E Y E S
Corporate Feudalism and the CCRG by GGG Member Andrew Wylie
Background
When the Empress Fujiko, (The Little Mother), inherited the
Yamato throne in 2130, Japan was in dire straits. Bitter rivalries
between the various Corporations, had escalated the gang wars
and “industrial espionage” of the previous century to the brink of
outright revolution. The radicals were calling for an end to the
Corporations, a move that would have been economic suicide.
The police forces, outgunned and overstretched, were supporting the army in calling for
marshal law. The army were also suggesting conscription and mass mobilisation. A move which
Japan could not afford, financially or politically. The traditionalists were pointing to the Samurai
Wars of the 16th Century as a “Golden Age” and demanding a return to “traditional values”.
Outside of Japan, the situation was equally worrying. The Eurasian Solar Union, which had
been steadily expanding since its creation back in 2047, on the eve of its centenary, now
stretched from Silesia, in North West Poland, to the Pacific Coast of China. Colonial worlds
notwithstanding, the ESU could easily claim the title of leading “Super State”.
The Indonesian Commonwealth had “annexed” most of South East Asia from 2039-2054 and
was suspected of involvement in the brutal “Mercenary War” as a means of getting revenge on
the OUDF for defeat in the Papua New Guinea War of 2112.
With a full scale war brewing between the ESU and the NAC, Japan could find herself used as
a stepping stone on the Indonesian conquest of the Pacific. The combined Japanese and OUDF
surface fleets may delay the onslaught but, with the internal chaos, Japan was wide open to
invasion from the ESU, should the NAC lose the coming war. The OUDF would be Japan’s only
ally in the Pacific. With little to offer in such an alliance, Japan would be forced to watch
Indonesian and ESU forces mop up the OUDF. As a defenceless spectator, it would be a matter
of time for the hammer to fall on Tokyo and Kyoto.
After lengthy discussions, with her advisors, and private meetings with the rival factions and
“interested parties”; Empress Fujiko, created a solution that was typically Japanese. Radical as
well as traditional. Supporting army, police and industry, without giving any organisation too much
power. “Protecting Japanese interests” without resorting to conscription or antagonising her
foreign neighbours. The solution was “Corporate Feudalism”.
By combining the varied requirements of modern Japan with the model of the past, Fujiko
resurrected the Samurai clans within the structure of the industrial corporations. By Imperial
S N A K E E Y E S
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The Date Family Mon
decree, the Corporations would
raise Ashigaru for security at their
various installations.
A maximum strength of one
platoon per thousand workers would
be decreed and the separate
platoons could only combine in the
service of the Empire. When in
Imperial service, they would operate
alongside units from rival
Corporations, under command of
the Imperial Navy.
The Corporations, by the terms of
the decree, would also be required
to sponsor Starfighter squadrons
and provide personnel for the elite
Power Armoured Samurai squads,
serving with the Imperial Navy
Interface Force. Sponsored units
would only serve alongside
Corporate Ashigaru by special
dispensation from the Empress. All
personnel, Corporate or Navy,
would swear allegiance to the
Empress. All weapons and
equipment would be contracted out
to those Corporations best able to
produce it. Nothing would have a
single, central, supplier.
As way of ensuring the loyalty and
prestige of the corporations, all body
armour and, indeed, mecha fighters,
would be in a colour scheme
chosen by the sponsoring
Corporation. Thus came about the
birth of “Corporate Feudalism” and
the “Corporate Competitive Re-
sponse Groups” or CCRG.
Japan would be able to defend
herself, and her corporate interests,
against outside interference and by
creating the CCRG but making any
S N A K E E Y E S
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acts of aggression between Corporations treasonable, end the
Corporate Wars. Within a few short years, aided by
commercial and mercenary contracts, Japan went from “The
sick man of the Pacific” to a major Colonial power.
Vehicles, Technology and Equipment
Japanese weapons and equipment are a reflection both national heritage and the unique nature of security contracts. Note: the Personal Assault Weapon detailed on the next page is a Flechette weapon ideally suited to urban or spaceship combat. The Smart Gun Support Weapon is an extremely advanced targeting-controlled weapon not commonly seen in even the best equipped armies. Shiva: Air-Transportable Tactical Fire Support Vehicle The Shiva began life as a fire team sized infantry transport. Faster than most ground transports because of its use of lift fan technology to achieve hover, nevertheless, a vehicle devoted to transporting only four or five team members was deemed too expensive. Weimar Aeronautical bought the rights to the Shiva design, and production, and began tricking the vehicle out in various configurations. The most effective became the Shiva Fire Support Vehicle. Its 6cm railgun main armament could be used in direct or indirect fire modes, while the twin Gatling guns and rocket pods gave infantry commanders a wide range of fire options previously unavailable to air dragoon squadron commanders. The defence pod launchers protect the vehicle from incoming kinetic and energy weapons. With the Shiva, the Bumblebee light transport can deliver a powerful sting that stays on the battlefield long after the
assault transports have left.
Infantry
Personal Assault Weapon (PAW) “Misaki M10” The PAW is a semi and select fire weapon that fires a dual purpose flechette round. A 4mm densely packed core of 2mm carbon fibre flechettes nested in an outer core of loose flechettes provides an effective dual purpose round. The loose outer core acts as a sabot allowing the inner core to accelerate to high speed ensuring accuracy at long range. The sabot spreads like a shot gun round at close range. “Misaki M56” Minigun SAW The M56 Minigun is a tribarrell rotary weapon with infra-red “smart” targeting system. This innovative target and control system has been swiftly adopted by many Japanese Corporate groups. Firing a 10mm case-less round from a dorsal mounted cylindrical magazine, this semi-intelligent weapon system can be programmed for personal identification beacons, making it ideal for anti-siege/hostage release work. Traditional Katana (sword) May be carried by some personnel in command positions as a traditional mark of authority. They are a fear-inspiring sight in close combat. Multi Shot Rocket Launcher A six-shot disposable anti vehicle weapon firing a 30mm dual purpose HE/HEAT unguided warhead. Interestingly, the MSRL may fire rockets in pairs. “Misaki M64S” Sniper Rifle (laser) Although some CCRG Marksmen employ the standard NSL designed LG24 Laser Sniping Rifle, some CCRG are field testing the new Misaki M64S. The M64S, as the name suggests, is a Japanese built variant of the M64 light support laser used by some Marine units. Although the long barrel has
S N A K E E Y E S
11
little practical effect on a laser weapon, Japanese snipers find it more “natural” to handle and easier to aim. Body Armour Akira-Tetsuo Industries produced, and field tested the prototype, full body, flexible Teflon based ballistic weave and plate armour, which came to be known as Tosei-Gusoku. Light weight and very effective against projectile/blast damage it is not well ventilated and will induce heat stress if worn in hot/humid climates for prolonged periods. The helmet includes a fully comprehensive C3I and targeting suite; due to the bulk of the systems it has a resemblance to 14th C Samurai equipage!
Organisation
For most assignments, CCRG’s are employed as
individual fire teams or standard three squad platoons.
Heavy equipment, including the H.E.M.E suit, is either
hired locally or lifted in as required.
The Models
Japanese Corporate Ashigaru are by Ground Zero
Games. The Shiva is from the Tactical Air range by
Finger and Toe Models.
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Set in Mantic’s Warpath Universe, Star Saga: The Eiras Contract is a science fiction dungeon crawler for 1-5 players,
with optional rules for solo play.
Featuring strong story-telling elements and immersive game scenarios, Star Saga: The Eiras Contract will see players
guide a team of mercenaries on a mission to retrieve stolen technology from a highly guarded research facility deep
beneath the surface of the planet Eiras. In Star Saga you’ll take on platoons of minions and powerful alien bosses, and
quickly discover there’s more to your mission than a simple case of corporate espionage. As the game unfolds you’ll
be forced to make difficult decisions to stay alive as the story takes unexpected twists and turns. Star Saga is the
successor to 2014’s Dungeon Saga, praised for its simple core mechanics that provided a perfect opening for new
players. Star Saga will introduce refined and more streamlined rules, and feature both ‘learn-as-you-go’ gameplay for
novice adventurers and more advanced mechanics for seasoned gamers.
With completely new solo gameplay and deeper narrative elements, Star Saga delivers a true RPG dungeon crawler
experience… in the depths of a subterranean base on a far-off alien world! Further campaigns and expansions will
utilize the full scope of science fiction settings, from space stations and starships to alien landscapes and beyond.
Greetings. I am back to share the event run by Garage Gamers
Group, now in it’s fourth year. A brief history lesson is required.
PentaCon is a mini tournament, re envisaged from the original
tournament DecaCon, in which twenty players played ten
different games over two days, and none of them against the
same person. Club Warhounds hosted the event. GGG Admin
Nick Chase, who ran the original DecaCon, started PentaCon in
2013. The only differences being the number of players, and the
number of games, and that it was now hosted by Garage
Gamers Group.
“At PentaCon every player knows in advance what game they
will be playing, but many will not necessarily have played
them,” explains Nick. “The great thing about PentaCon is that
gamers are introduced to a system which they may or may not
be familiar with, and play after a quick tutelage of the rules, in a
tournament environment. While not everyone’s cup of tea, it is
a novel idea, and allows the players to experience a game that
they may not have had the opportunity to play, and also pro-
motes the game itself.”
The tournament Winner has their face on the next cover of
SnakeEyes as part of the prize. They also had their name on a
brass plate which was in turn attached to the GGG Sword, a
perpetual trophy, held by the winner until the next PentaCon. In
every tournament all players have walked away with something
of value. This year was no different, but yet it was...
PentaCon 2016 ran on Sunday September 18, at GoodGames
Ipswich. The games included FFG’s Star Wars X-Wing, Mantic
Games Kings of War, Mantic Games DeadZone, Warlord Games
Bolt Action and Enarian Games LeadShot. With the exception of
X-Wing, all tables had a table ref on hand to explain any rules
and oversee the game.
Players are formed into two groups (A group and B group).
Each player would start at one of the game tables, and at the
end of the game, A group would move down the list to the next
game, B group would move up the list to the next game. This
system ensures that everyone plays all five of the games over
the day, and against a different opponent. All games would run
for an hour and ten minutes.
This was the first PentaCon to have the table refs, as previous
ones had used game rules that were simplified to a point where
most games could quickly familiarise themselves with the game
enough to have a 70 minute session. This was an issue for new
gamers, and the table refs would alleviate that issue.
LeadShot was launched on this day.
Eyes Around the World
With GGG Member Glen Taylor
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Courtney explains to Sean F, why Star Wars X-Wing is his
favourite game.
Adam Storey explains a rule to Stephen and Sean O, in
DeadZone.
Sam and Trevor, regular opponents, start the tournament
on the Kings of War table.
At the end of the day a happy group of gamers emerged
from the depths of the gaming tables to gather for the
award ceremony. All players and table Refs received a
LeadShot Cup. Even store owner, Allen Love got one. Every-
one above also received a first print copy of LeadShot rules
to take home with them.
Unfortunately no pictures were available of the individual
prizes winners receiving their winnings, but in order of
merit; Simon Machin was the PentaCon Winner. Trevor
Youngblood came Second and Tony Arthur won Third. The
Encouragement prize went to Courtney Halvorsen.
A big THANKS to the prize support. Prizes included three
vouchers from Warlord Games of 50GBP value, and 2 of
30GBP value, a $50 voucher from GoodGames Ipswich, and
a Board Game worth $60, a voucher from The Last Stand
Miniatures valued at $30, a voucher from Company of Dice
valued at $30, a Kings of War rulebook from Mantic Games
and of course the Mugs and Rulebooks from Enarian
Games.
A HUGE THANKS to Refs who gave up their day to help
out, and bought their own game essentials for the players
to use, Ken Yorks, for Kings of War, Adam Storey for
DeadZone, Alistair Currie for Bolt Action, and Nick Chase
who had to cover LeadShot AND Star Wars X-Wing.
A Grateful Thanks to Allen Love, store owner and who
allowed PentaCon to be played at his store, Goodgames
Ipswich.
And of course, last but not least, a Special Thanks to all of
the players who paid their $12 to play;
Sam Rounsevell, Stephen Randall, Sean Federoff, Simon
Machin, Trevor Youngblood, Shaun Cassidy, Tony Arthur,
Sean O’Hanlon, Courtney Halvorsen and Tim Prenzler.
S N A K E E Y E S
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Simon awaits Shaun’s
next move in Bolt
Action & another view
of LeadShot
Sean F, awaits Tony getting his models eye view in, in LeadShot,
while Stephen is amazed by his dice roll in X Wing vs Trevor
The Players The Refs
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S N A K E E Y E S
16
With GGG Member Brush Talent
A Hobby Workstation Re-thinking
There are a lot of companies out there who claim to offer quality hobby tools which will enhance your hobby station to improve your painting, though the initial and upkeep costs of some of these have put off many who may of looked into it. I've had countless questions regarding what I myself use, when I paint at home and people are sometimes surprised as to what I do actually use. Some of the items you may already have at home will be more than sufficient for use, so there’s no excuse for not giving it a go and saving some serious cash for even more models. Some of the gamers out there who are more inclined towards gaming, building or conversions etcetera, and rarely paint or generally don't care about painting, this article wouldn't really matter too much to you. Still I would encourage everyone to have a go at trying some of these ideas to make things easier for yourself if you really enjoy painting or just want to get paint on a model and have it finished. Firstly and most frustratingly: Palettes. Everyone uses them in one form or another whilst painting, unless you're one of those hobby savages who paint from the paint pot ***shudders***. There are so many gimmicks out there that try to get the consumer continuously buying, for example; shiny cardboard pallets or cheap (quality) plastic pallets with those little bowls moulded into them for mixing paints. A clean smooth white tile as pallet would suit paints, mixes, washes and stains just as well if not better. For starters a tile will never break up and release little paper fibres to contaminate your paint should the paint be thinned down too much and break down the cardboard or scratch and warp if you scrub it with hot water like those plastics. More than likely only one tile will ever be needed should you choose to use one, it's a one off buy that's not the cost of a blister pack and will outlast anything out there that claims to be 'make painting more convenient'. Next up we have the 'wet pallet'. A subject with as many different preferences to configurations as there are painting techniques. You have to really ask yourself though, do I really need to drop an initial outlay and upkeep purchases to get a plastic container, foam and waterproof paper? Having tried pretty much everything out there I can tell you it's a definite no, chances are you have everything you need to make a quality wet palette in the kitchen. A shallow container to hold everything in, foam/paper towel, a sauce bottle with a small nozzle to refill the pallet and baking paper (yes, baking paper not those expensive 'professional painting pallets paper'). To start, a take-away container lid will suffice or if you're a regular attendee at tupperware parties, a shallow microwave lid. Then simply lay down some thin foam or paper towel, cut out some baking paper to fit with the foam/paper towel area, add water, push out any air bubbles and its ready for use. Here are some tips to go from having a functioning wet pallet to a really 'painting friendly' pallet. From experience I would recommend paper towel for full contact between water to baking paper to paint over foam because some foam has air bubbles on its surface which will affect the 'drawing' of moisture from under your baking paper to the paint. Make sure to use the worst quality paper towel you can buy, don't bother going for the branded stuff that actually retains moisture better cause it wont release moisture to keep your paints wet, it's only there to hold the water to feed your paints not retain it. Please don't use tissues or toilet paper instead of paper towel, please for the love of the Emperor don't. We go the opposite way with our baking paper, find the best you can get because this is where we want durability for when we mix colours or stir water to thin down paints/washes/glazes/stains. As a last point don't forget to keep adding water as required (especially in winter/dry climates), not to drown, but enough to keep the palette and paints 'wet', then when you're done for the day simply re attach to the bottom of the take-away/microwave container bottom to cover it up. These next few are seen generally as pretty obvious yet some are still unsure as to what to buy/use. Branded hobby tools such as files, pliers, blades drills, all look nice and professional and ergonomic. But they all cost the price of a small detachment. Alternatives to these can easily be found at a fraction of the cost if we really have a think about it first. Pliers. Do you really need 'hobby pliers' that only cuts plastic but distorts when cutting into metal models or paper clips, when an industrial strength quality set of pliers with thin sharp cutters meant for an electrician at a hardware store can be had for two/thirds of the price of what my hobby store was asking for.
Drills meant for heavy duty work is another I've found to be excessively expensive, I've had my 1mm titanium tip for over 5 years which I use quite regularly, which again was purchased at a hardware store. Yes it was a few dollars (AUD) more yet there's been no need for replacement buys compared to other hobbyists I know who have to pur-chase them after 3-4 uses of pinning medium (walkers, beasts) sized models. Then we have hobby blades. Why buy 'designed for hobby/models' when again a saving can be made with a cheaper alternative at a hardware store or sewing supply who will always have products of quality and fairer prices. Lastly I want to talk about paint brushes. This is where we don't go on the cheap. We go for the best our wallets will let us buy. This is where we connect with the model as a painter, an extension of us to apply what we envisage in our mind's eye and turn into reality and even if you've kept your paint consistency and quality to a high standard, a poorly maintained or low standard of brush quality will unravel everything. !!!REKT!!!. Having a decent selection of brush sizes in your collection is never a bad thing, and having back-ups too if you're more heavily inclined into the painting aspect of the hobby is even better. From my own experience, I would generally ignore synthetic brushes unless you're dry brushing ***tear rolls down cheek*** because they're artificial, their strands will be almost perfectly strait without splits to retain paint pigments and release the pigments when applied roughly to a surface. As far as anything else I would highly recommend you purchase quality sable brushes like Windsor and Newtons, Raphael, and even Games Workshop even though they're quite costly. When we paint we never want to force the paint on only ever guide it on to the area we want, that's where the sable is much more suited as it's fibres are soft, and they allow a painter to apply as much or as little force as is necessary to guide the paint on. Synthetics however are too springy and often they splay out and smudge if we accidently apply too much pressure when applying paint. There's also the longevity factor, synthetics might be cheaper and yes sable wears out faster, but if you accidently bend the tip it can be re-straitened, whereas a synthetic brush will have a permanent bend or curl so you've lost that crucial tip which is even more important to a painter the smaller the brush size. Also don't forget, a good quality brush cleaner or soap will go a long way in maintaining and extending your brush's life, and always keep the caps/tube cover and store them in a safe case or wherever they're not in any risk of being damaged. I hope this little article helps with some ideas for you hobbyists out there, especially the intermediate people who might still find what's available a bit daunting. If it saves you some money and give you all a small heads up on things, that’s great. For you more experienced hobbyists this was probably just common sense to you but if you've picked up some-thing too than that's more than enough for me. Hobby well, hobby smart, hope you enjoyed the rant and hope to be back soon.
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LeadShot started as an idea to try and re capture the
excitement of a Western themed game, that years ago as a
club campaign, we ran for several months. For the
Warhounds, or more officially Queensland Miniature
Gamers Club, the Western campaign named ‘Dogtown’ was
one of the most successful club events ever held.
From then, I have always collected Old West miniatures,
and with the release of the fantastic MDF wild west build-
ings now available, anyone can create a western themed
gaming table.
At Warhounds, the rules we used were a set interestingly
called “The Rules With No Name”. The rules allowed
individual character advancement of skills, which used a
differing dice, to represent the skills. So, out of six or seven
basic skills, players could enhance their character creation
by a certain amount a pre set points, that in turn paid for
higher level dice for that particular skill. For example; skills
available included Draw, Shoot, Dodge, Brawl. Each of these
skills started with a D4, so a very basic skill, which would be
rolled off against an opponents skill (also represented by a
die). When you created your character, you paid points into
upping the Die. So you could upgrade your characters skill
set by buying a higher Die to roll from a D6 right up to and
including a D12. Because you started with limited points,
you could only afford so many such upgrades. Draw
represented a similar function to an initiative roll and was
quite important, so it wasn’t uncommon for a D10 or D12 to
be bought for this skill. Shooting was likewise important,
but the starting points didn’t allow anymore than one skill
to be upgraded to a D12, so allocation of points might have
been D10 for Draw, D12 for Shoot, D8 for Dodge, D6 for
Brawl and so on. Another player may have put their points
into their character in a different way, so you wouldn’t
know who had what until the shooting started. Experience
points in the rules allowed the player to advance their
character skills, creating some very deadly skill sets. So a set
of rules which had character expansion, but also meant that
someone could walk into he club on any given meet, roll up
a brand new character, and play straight away against the
experienced characters. In a very short space of time,
Dogtown became the Club Game, and players built a town,
mapped out and allotted building sizes, elected a town
Mayor, Sherriff and assortment of roles, and even built a
racetrack. Play continued out of club times on the internet
forum, (Pre Facebook), creating almost an RPG style of
gameplay and unique storylines and character histories
were created. But, like most campaigns, eventually a new
focus of gaming lessens involvement in the original
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campaign and it ceases.
Garage Gamers Group runs a yearly tournament called PentaCon,
(see Eyes Around the World with Glen Taylor), at which a Western
game has been played in every one. To date it is four years old, but
it was at the 2015 PentaCon that a solid set of rules were played for
the first time, originally titled as ‘ShootOut’, but changed to
‘LeadShot’ just days before the tournament.
After receiving the feedback of the success of the quickplay
element of LeadShot, I set about working on what would allow the
game to grow. Most Western rulebooks have lots of rules for every
encounter or situation. I wanted to simplify this, so I locked the
gangs into a group of five characters with limited access to ranged
weapons. Movement options were grouped where I could.
I wanted tokens for the game to reduce or eliminate players
having to write down notes during gameplay.
Gamers had to be able to create a gang in a short time, so pre
selection made this happen, with the player still having a choice of
who was who in the gang and who had what. Adding skills and
experience allowed the game to morph into where the player
wanted to take it. Legends were then created, allowing the player
to run with a Legend OR a Gang. Initially the Legends were a
campaign only option, but with the choice of two Legend Skills, the
players can start from scratch with a Legend in a Quickplay game.
Essentially, the game had to allow for a options that allowed a
player to use a Gang or Legend from the start, but also enhance the
Gang or Legends with skills from the campaign games. The Quick-
play rules were exactly that. No points, just run in and shoot.
Because the Legend had to potentially face down a gang, they
started with the same skills of a Gang Leader, plus two Legend
Skills. Therefore a player using a Legend, would not know what
they were facing until the shooting started. The only restriction was
that a player could not use a Gang AND a Legend, unless the
scenario allowed for it.
I have thought about the potential for online RPGing with
LeadShot, where players could log their Gang or Legends
movement to a central GM who could advise who that player might
have encountered by referencing the move on an old west map,
but outside of a club environment this is a lot harder then it
sounds, as players would have to meet at a central location to
battle it out. Not possible in a global spanning group BUT, you could
make this happen at your local club.
In aiming for simplicity of the rules, LeadShot allows the gamer to
By GGG Member Nick Chase
come onto the table needing only one miniature. Of course
you’re opponent will need one as well. If you want a Gang
then you will need to maximise your collection to five
miniatures.
With the simple rules I also wanted a bargain price.
LeadShot is now available to purchase, with a digital PDF
copy being available for $15 AUD. A hard copy will cost $25
which includes postage in Australia, and $30 AUD for
postage anywhere in the world. For any purchases or fur-
ther information please contact [email protected]
The model used in the main artwork for LeadShot is
Darian Chase. The pictures on this page show the page art
production.
Still in production are the Tokens for the game. The pack
will include a LeadShot Dollar, for flipping for Initiative,
tokens for wounds, Aim, Reload, Hit the Dust and Run
actions. Price for these TBA.
Enarian Games already have the framework for the rule
set for the first expansion of LeadShot, titles Bounty. This
will include more scenarios, rules for using gold and more
weapon choices, more skills for Legends and Gangs, and a
base skill for choosing a particular style of gang. Also
beginning production are two other rulesets, one for the
American Civil War titled Shades of Blue & Grey, and a
fantasy based one, styled on monster hunting called either
’Slayer’ or ‘Monster Slayer’.
This is similar to what the coin token
will look like once produced, which will
be in the LeadShot Game Token pack. It
also became the Logo for ENARIAN
GAMES.
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My first real foray into Miniatures War gaming was Space Hulk back in 1987/8 after being introduced by mates into gaming and roleplay (specifically Advanced Dungeon & Dragons) when I first started high school in 1986.
At the time, we were playing all sorts of board games, including Talisman, Mighty Empires and D&D, and it was a friend’s older brother who owned an awesome Blood Angel army for 40k that really caught my eye and he suggested we play a few games of Space Hulk to get a feel for the 40K Universe and basic mechanics of rolling dice, player turns and a ‘non-roleplay’ style of playing games.
We did this, starting off small with the basic missions in the rulebooks. We were hooked and pretty quickly the games evolved into something far larger than we ever anticipated, combining multiple sets of Space Hulk tiles and using expanded rules for standard Marines, Imperial Guard and even Harlequins in our games. At one point, I recall us playing a huge game with at least four or five sets connected together over a ping pong table. It was quite Epic for a game of that type and after it was over, we realised that we had essentially prepared ourselves to play the ‘real’ game of 40K with all it’s interesting rules and vast background.
We played the original Rogue Trader rules and I started off buying some of the old RTB01 Space Marine sets and painting them with a sort of red over yellow tiger stripe camouflage pattern and a black base. I still have these figures to this day! At the time, you could basically make your own vehicles and rules based on the points system in the book and I came up with a few weird and wonderful machines. I even made a scratch built Capitol Imperialis!
Again, our games grew bigger and more complicated often taking several weekends to complete. Many a game was played on the floor of a rumpus room in a pre-Apocalypse version of Apocalypse (before it was a ‘thing’). Some of those games I still remember including one particularly contentious game which the result hinged on a ruling about power points spent in a Librarians psychic rod of all things. I still remember it because I was on the cusp of winning the game against the ‘Master’ (the elder brother’s mate with the Blood Angels…) that I had never managed to win a game against. It truly was an epic game…
Our gaming group then also delved briefly into the actual Epic game and while we found it fun for something different, it didn’t hold our attention too long, we always kept coming back to 40K. The old Realms of Chaos books also provided a huge amount of inspiration and fuelled many a game where some truly spectacular in-game events occurred (does anyone remember the old spell Vorpal Hurricane of Chaos..?). Some of the combinations and random things that happened from rolling on the mutations charts or daemon weapons charts were both hilarious and utterly unpredictable.
Try explaining to a new player these days that your Chaos Champion needed to be modelled as a giant rolling head for example. No arms, legs, weapons - nothing. Just a giant rolling head! We played a game where this result was rolled and as we didn’t have a model to represent it, the nearest thing we had was a miniature green tennis ball (about the size of a golf ball) which a face was drawn onto with a felt pen! Sounds crazy and ridiculous, but it was all part of the fun and showed that it was a game requiring improvisation at times and a bit of resourcefulness.
Over the next few years, I joined local gaming clubs, (including the infamous Warhounds!), and I began to participate in tournaments and honed my knowledge and game tactics. I learnt an incredible amount by playing against many varied armies (and the players themselves). I also began to concentrate more and more on painting my armies to a better standard. The aforementioned Blood Angel player was always my yardstick to aspire to and I eventually reached a point where I thought I had reached the level he was at. It was a huge compliment at the time when I showed him my latest mini and he stated that it was better than anything he had ever done. It meant a huge amount to me and encouraged me to push myself even harder.
Some of this hard work began to pay off as I began to pick up painting awards at the
MEMBER SPOTLIGHT - Marcus Blackman
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MEMBER SPOTLIGHT - Marcus Blackman
tournaments I attended, first occasionally and then more frequently. I still have my Eldar army which I think picked up a Best Painted award of some type at every tournament I had entered over about a 4 or 5 year period, with one exception – Cancon, in Canberra. One day I’d like to have another crack at that .
By the early 2000’s I actually found my interest in tournaments was waning as my interest to push my painting further increased in equal measure. Whether it was coincidence, I also found during this time that the tournament scene was changing and not entirely to my liking, so I stopped attending gaming tournaments and instead focussed solely on painting, specifically Golden Demon Australia.
I was very happy to have had a good level of success there over the next ten years or so, although sadly for me, I never managed to win a sword! A few years back, GW inexplicably decided to kill off the Golden Demon competition in Australia and that killed off my motivation to paint to a high standard for quite some time (OK in all reality becoming a father of two boys during the same period also diverted my available time to pursue what is essentially a very time consuming and solitary past-time).
During the whole period, I dabbled with sculpting my own miniatures, starting and stopping with regularity and picking it up every now and again when I needed to do something creative. I even had delved into creating my own line of miniatures and game for it involving Elementals and their armies, but sadly, it became too much of a huge job to do successfully while still working full-time (so it was abandoned). Maybe one day in retirement I might be able to dust off the cobwebs and start back on it!
I still have my first sculpts (a goblin and a dwarf made out of Milliput back in the early 90’s) and have only just recently decided to get some of the things I have done actually cast and available for others to get hold of. In fact the last thing off my painting desk is the first cast of a figure I sculpted 8 years ago! Watch this space with what my plans are there, but suffice to say, it is my newfound interest and something I can do in my spare time without being overwhelming.
I don’t game much these days, I’d like to have a few more games semi-regularly and I’ve seen online that there is a bit of a movement for playing the old 2nd Ed rules of 40k (which I remember with great nostalgia). I also collect Rogue trader minis and am constantly on the lookout for figures from that era to add to my collection.
The armies I currently own:
Biel-Tan Eldar (my pride and joy and the largest army I own), Ultramarines (all Rogue Trader Era), Squats (I still have more unpainted than painted – I must attend to this …), Dark Eldar (my cheesy tournament army back in the day), Orks (again, far, far more unpainted than painted – and again, mostly Rogue Trader models, still looking to add to it if anyone has any old orks they want to offload…), Chaos (all 4 Powers, probably my second favourite army – not a big fan of much of the large plastic kits released over the last ten years if I’m honest. Still collecting some of the old Jes Goodwin sculpted Champions if anyone has any…).
I also owned an Imperial Guard army back in the 90’s which I swapped/sold off and I quite regret it now – as well as some Fantasy armies (Undead and High Elves). Warhammer Fantasy was one system I never really got into, I only dabbled in it. I think I found the whole ‘blocky units’ and manoeuvring a bit restrictive and predictable – maybe I should give AoS a go as it seems more suited to my style of play?
I am looking forward to introducing a new generation of gamers into the hobby over the coming years (my two boys, aged 4 and 7) and gave them their first taste of a ‘wargame’ only the other day using a single D6 and a handful of Star Wars figures. I think I had more fun than they did, but I’ll persevere!
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Snake Eyes Creators & Contributors
Editor: Nick Chase
Regular Contributors/Columns:
Glen Taylor, John McDonnell,
Brian Solomon, Andrew Wylie,
Tim Prenzler, Darian Chase,
Steven Azzopardi
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