Launch the Fighters!

This is a preview of my spring modeling series. I am short a few TIE fighters, but I shall press on. 

All fighters launch!

What are we looking at? 16 Bandai Star Wars model sets, in 1:144 scale. I really like this scale for gaming. In reality, this is 26 different models, not counting the 2 I already completed. 

I figure I'll kick out 2 a week for 13 weeks, then revisit when I paint them. Behind the scenes, I'll be building one of each first, then painting them as examples. As I said, I am rather light on TIE fighters and heavy on TIE Advanced models. 

I really wish they made B-Wings in this scale. 

Like I mentioned the last time, unless these models are on sale on Amazon, you are better off elsewhere. My personal preference is Hobby Lobby due to the 40% off coupon. But they only have X-Wings and TIE's. For a bigger selection, try The Big Bad Toy Store. They are super consistent with pricing and shipping, but I go with Amazon for the random price drops. 

I do get remuneration from Amazon and DO NOT get anything from the Big Bad Toy Store or Hobby Lobby. It's just straight shooting on good prices.

1001st Post (or not) - The Countdown Is On

Edit - It turns out I goofed. This is not the 1001st post, its actually 950 something. I have 43 draft posts for upcoming reviews I planned for this year. Sorry about that. Carry on...

I have couple of projects coming up. As promised before, this spring I will be doing a series on the Bandai Star Wars Models. These are 1/144 scale models, except for the Falcon which seems to 1/350. I almost have everything I need, I want to get a few more TIE Fighters and X-Wings. 

The list so far is: 

Y-Wing, 
4 A-Wings, 
2 First Order TIEs, 
2 Classic TIEs, 
2 New Style X-Wings, 
2 Falcons, 

2 AT-STs, and
2 Snowspeeders. 

I'm going to be real honest, Amazon's prices are not the best at first look. They fluctuate so some days they are a steal and others they are a rip off. If Amazon isn't working for you, try out Hobby Lobby or The Big Bad Toy Store. They are super consistent with pricing and shipping, but I go with Amazon for the random price drops.

Spring is 47 days away and summer is 91 days long. That puts me on a schedule of one or more models a week. I figure in fall I can do a series on painting models. 

In the meantime, what am I doing with those 47 days until spring? I am getting seeds ready to plant. I'm doing a garden this year. I hope to do some gaming garden side as I really enjoyed my outside posts last year. I figure the garden will be a suitable place to play some D&D. All I need is some chairs and a small table and we'll be set. 

Now I have one more mystery picture to share. 

What are they? 1440 3 mm rhinestones. What on earth could I do with those? You'll see. 

Rare Find! Giac My

Title: Giac My: The Game of Tactical Combat in Vietnam
Author: F. MacCrae, B. Lutz, and M. Ratner
Illustrator: F. MacCrae, and R Foerster
Rule Set: Unique
Year: 1978
Pages: 48
Number of Players: 2+
Rating: Not Yet Read.

Today, someone asked me to look at my comicbooks for an old ad. I couldn't find it, but I did find this: Giac My.

Excuse my thumb. This little treasure is from way back in 1978 and is clearly a mix of handwritten, hand drawn images and a typewriter. I have no idea how I came by it. It was stuck in the center pages of X-Factor Annual 1.

I can't wait to read this one. Required equipment are a way of generating numbers between 1 and 20, several 6 side dice, a tape measure, figures or paper counters. That's old school.

On the back page, there is an ad for other games by FanTac for Space Marines, Orbit War, Space Assault and Space Force.

Cleaning up and decorating

I'm cleaning up after making a mess with styrofoam this morning and getting some artwork ready for my new game room. Little touches right now. 

This is a book by Nate Treme and you can get it from his website. I am not sure if there are any physical copies left, but you can print your own. It's great, check out my review, here.

Right now, I just caught a newsflash that The Midderlands Expansion by Monkey Blood is free today. I was going to take a pass on it, but the article mentions that it contains a new map. Ah... more artwork for my game room. Check it out, but hurry!

Some Assembly Required

Nothing says awesome like having enough minis on a custom play surface.

This video is my dad's standard set up for the game Tanks & Yanks. Which is far from "standard". You can read an overview here or go ahead an buy it on DriveThruRPG. Some assembly required.



If you want to see how he does all this, take a look at this video.

Miniature Mayhem

My dad calls his rec room, "The War Room". Ah, dad.

Let's rewind for a funny true story. Before my dad wrote his Classical Hack or Knight Hack rules, he played WRG. One convention took place in Hamilton, Ontario so he packed me, all of his figures up and drove. I think we lived in Lockport, NY at the time. It was a supposed to be a short hop, a nice day trip for the boys. 

You know what makes a short hop really long? Tell the border agents that you are going to "a war game in Hamilton, ON". They couldn't find any guns or ammo, but they kept coming across all these little figures.

That was back in the 1970s. Have a look at his "War Room", circa 2016 on Youtube.

Oh... Miniatures for Sale

Over on Classical Hack, I noticed my dad is unloading some of his massive armies.

Some of my favorites are the Macedonians. Check them out.

Knight Hack Review with Reflections

 Title: Knight Hack
Author: Philip J. Viverito,
(1st edition by The Jogglers, which also included Ed Backer, Richard Kohlbacher)
Rule Set: Hack Series
Year: 2005
Pages: 52
Setting: Western Europe, North Africa, The Near East and Eastern Europe 1000 AD to 1400 AD
Number of players: 2+
Rating: ★★★★★

The original Hack series was born in 1991 and it was a reflection of the times. Knight Hack, Third Edition was born in the 21st century and is also a reflection of now. The game has a evolved so much, it is hard to see how 1st edition relates to third, except on first principles. This is a game for gamers, written and tested by gamers.

As the person responsible for supplying the art for original book, I have to say third edition is by far superior. Most of the clipart is gone, replaced by full color images of the game in actual play. The rules have been simplified with a new D-10 system, which reduces the rule length from 52 to just 19. This is accomplished by the removal of the concept of troop type and the premade Q.R.S. or Quck Reference Sheets for each era and type of army. The rules now have a proper table of contents and an index in addition to the required charts and 38 pages for the Q.R.S.

I hate to say it, but everything I knew about and all that I did for the first edition is gone. And the rules are better for it.

I've posted about my first Con in 1977. I still have the brochure. It was a formative time for me. I would have been all of 5 years old, and there I was watching WRG, Tractics and most importantly to me, D&D being played for the first time.  It left quiet the impression.

Fast forward a few years and I was in to all of these Games Designer's Workshop and Task Force products. I had Robots, Striker, Traveler and Federation Space. I still have them.

At the end of the day, knew that something like Knight Hack would be made. My parents made sure that I knew enough about games, the importance of play and of inspiration to know that things change and usually for the better.

Tonight, I stumbled across one of my first coloring books: Camelot.

The copyright is 1967, by the Whitman Publishing Company. You know, parents who make something like this one of the first coloring books is instilling a love a play, games and history. 

Drive Thru RPG carries the first edition rules here and Third Edition here.

Game Review - Knight Hack

Title: Knight Hack
Author: The Jogglers, Philip J. Viverito, Ed Backer, Richard Kohlbacher
Spearpoint Article: Lynne Viverito
Cover Art: Me
Rule Set: Hack Series
Year: 1991
Pages: 52
Setting: Europe, 1000 AD to 1250 AD
Number of players: 2+
Rating: ★★★

And now for something completely biased.

Way back in the 1980s I was very privileged to belong to a gaming group called the Jogglers. I wasn't even an official member, I was more like a mascot and computer nerd. I can't tell you how many games I played between 1988 and 1992. I recall a couple of occasions where a local mall was rented out for play testing, but then turned into mini-conventions to play dozens of rule sets. The Joggler's love their games. When I wasn't play testing this or that, I was editing clip art for the book. My brush with fame came from being able to use this:

The layout of the book was exceptional for the time. We used a Thunderscan and Imagewriter II to process photos. Clipart from 3.5 floppies were the source of much of the line art. The text was written in MacWord, MacDraw and MacPaint were the tools for maps and diagrams.

Knight Hack was born a fast playing historical miniature game. Initially, each turn takes about 15 minutes. After a little play, adept players can get this down to just a few minutes or less. Whole games can be played out in as little as 2 hours. The rule set allows for 15 and 25 mm figures. It was game made by players for players.

So why do I give a game that I play-tested and contributed to only 3 stars? The game evolved and improved with age. Second edition obviously merits 4 stars and Third Edition receives 5.

Drive Thru RPG carries the first edition rules here and Third Edition here.

J5T - Classical Hack

The links below are paid ads and will take you to DriveThruRPG, respectively. Funny that my site is missing a reference to Classical Hack.

Classical Hack is a full gaming system created and published by Lynne and Philip Viverito. As a kid, I watched epic battles play out in my living room, dining room, basement, garage, and bedroom. At first I was an outsider, then I was a participant.

My parents engaged me in creativity and gamesmanship from a very young age. Castles and knights lurked in every corner of our home. Every house and every apartment we ever lived had a game room. And if it didn’t, any room and every room could be transformed into one.

One of my earliest memories was of a convention in Lockport, New York. My dad had constructed an amazing castle of incredible detail, complete with a custom table to hold it. The whole construct seemed amazingly tall, I couldn’t reach the top standing on a chair.

I recall sitting on the edge of tables as dice were rolled and Romans met barbarians with swords and spears. People played, laughed, and cursed late into the night.

Which brings me to Classical Hack.

ClassicalHack.com is a website dedicated to historical miniature gaming, created by lifelong gamers.

The game system is very period-specific. The series includes:
Holy Hack Hacking by the Book Biblical Warfare,
Homeric Hack Warfare in the Age of Homer,
Classical Hack Warfare from 600 BC to 250 AD,
Hack In The Dark Warfare in the Dark Ages 250 AD to 1000 AD,
Knight Hack Warfare in Middles Ages 1000 AD to 1450 AD,
Pike Hack The Road to Dunbar Warfare in the Age of Cromwell.

To support these rules there are two scenario books:
Classical Hack Rome
Classical Hack Macedonia.

All books, even prototypes were written on Macintosh Computers typically using Adobe for editing and page layout.

You can check out ClassicalHack.com for updates to this great gaming system, or get it from DriveThruRPG.

My First Con

I found a brochure from my first con, from away back in 1977.

The Great Lakes Convention was presented by The Western New York Wargamers Association at the Sheraton-Lockport Inn.