We'll be missing you, Rackham

Dear all,

I found very bad news on the internet: Rackham, one of the best miniature manufacturer I was aware of went out of business on fall October 2010.
Their metal models and skirmish rules were really well made and in my opinion set up a new standard.
We will miss your vision, guys.

Ho trovato una pessima notizia on line: Rackham, una delle migliori case produttrici di miniature in 28mm ha definitivamente chiuso i battenti a fine ottobre 2010.
Rackham produceva alcune delle più belle miniature fantasy mai realizzate ed un regolamento di schermaglie davvero buono.
Ci mancherete ragazzi...


Apart from my painting, the minis were wonderful..
a parte che dipingo col cxxo, i modelli erano proprio belli..

Cheers,
Andrea

NUTS in Italiano!

Dear all,

after a long absence I publish this post to announce that Ed Teixeira from THW will soon provide on the THW site an Italian translation of his wonderful WW2 game, NUTS!, which I've been honored to give my small contribution!
While I'm enthusiast for this decision that will hopefully bring Ed's wonderful games to more users, I decided henceforth to post comments in my blog in both English (in white) and Italian (in the below undefined colour -did I say I'm colorblind?).
Hope to be also able to post soon a review/batrep of NUTS (a batrep with probably a Sci-Fi twist -maybe taking advantage from the free zombie supplement?)!

Ciao a tutti,
dopo una lunga assenza pubblico questo post per comunicare che Ed Teixeira della Two Hour Wargames renderà disponibile a breve sul suo sito la traduzione italiana del suo pluripremiato gioco di schermaglie ambientato durante la 2nda Guerra Mondiale, NUTS!, alla quale ho avuto l'onore di dare un piccolo contributo.
Sono entusiasta della scelta di THW di venire incontro al pubblico italiano ed ho deciso che da ora in poi posterò anche nella mia lingua (in questo colore ragguardevole).
Spero di essere in grado di pubblicare presto una recensione di NUTS! ed un battle report (probabilmente con qualche adattamento che farà accapponare la pelle ai giocatori di wargames storici, come il supplemento con gli zombie nazisti disponibile gratuitamente...)

Cheers,
Andrea

Free small paper houses!

Dear all,

I've been busy with what pays for our gaming habits (work) but finally I can post my first small contribute to all the 15mm gamers out there :).
Here are 4 small paper buildings; they're quite homemade and nothing impressive, still they're free from me and can help you to add some last minute terrain pcs to your table!

Hope to be able to post more (and better) soon!

Btw: you are free to use them but for commercial purposes; the papers are a resource from the Two Hour Wargames yahoo group.

A paper place called Home

Hi!

A couple of evenings ago I was playing with my laptop (and incredibly it was not Fallout 3...) and I had the idea of putting together some paper terrain for my 15mm miniatures.
So I created and printed them out: I have been enough lucky to match the scale at first attempt, still my job is nothing incredible but quite nice.

I put together a very small “cottage” style room and a dirty apartment; below are pics showing minis for size comparison:

Please note I mainly used resources from dotcom (I found the textures Googling around and about and the papers scattered on the ground come from the THW yahoo Group files section (Damn, I really can’t find again the exact section where I took them).

I’m currently working on buildings same size/style (the new square roof is now better than the sample above!) but made with my own textures; when done I’ll be glad to share them here... on NNL!

Cheers,

Andrea

BatRep: HeroQuest!!!

Hello!

just to start: ok, I AM cheating. This blog is supposed to be a Sci-Fi oriented one... and Milton Bradley's HeroQuest, The Greatest Boardgame Ever Made is not really even a "wargame"... but I can't resist publishing the game I have had last night with Affro and Matteo: thanking the great website Ye Old Inn I set up and played with them a nice adventure (Inn of Chaos) and we did had a lot of fun!

The adventure was about a Chaos warband that has established in a Inn after killing the Innkeeper and all the people inside. The Chaos sorcerer plans to build up an undead Army (starting from the bodies of the Innkeeper and other unlucky dudes!) and rule the Land.

But he didn't consider the four Heroes coming to rest in his Inn...





We used different minis from the original ones to add a bit color (my originals are unpainted).
HeroQuest is ALWAYS HeroQuest. A great game, the first I played and still MUCH more fun than a lot of others!

Cheers,
Andrea

Snow on the planet... Snow troopers required!

Hello,

following my former post I'm proud to share my ARC Fleet Light Recon - Winter Camo squad!
These troopers will be the main "regular" force for a game involving a polar environment or ice-cold planet.
As usual my paint job is a bit fast and furious, but since they are just 15mm tall on the table I think is the whole spectrum that really matters! -Only on this blog, every day you can find a new excuse for your lack of patience in painting... And all for free! ;)) -

Did I say I love Critical Mass Games Light Recons?

Specialists: 2 Scouts (from ARC Fleet Laser Defence Platform) with a Medic (Rebel Minis Earth Force Marines trooper I received as a gift when I ordered my Sahadeens and Z-hunters)

I love to convert/rescale miniatures. The Tracked Artillery robot above is a tank from the MechWarrior: Darkage line of pre-painted miniatures. I think it fits quite well the 15mm troopers! With a quick painting and some damages on the hull I hid details like the very small cockpit.

Now I have 3 squads consisiting of 10/12 Light Recons in 3 different Camo and can't wait to add them the incoming LR with SAWs!
Next CMG troopers you'll find on No Nerd's Land will be the ARC Fleet Augments (I have 12 of them) and a sniper who has been hidden between my 28mm miniatures until yesterday -so he must be a very skilled one-!

Cheers,
Andrea

Snow on the planet... and fire in the sky!

Hi,

I recently thought to build up some terrain pcs and paint a bunch of 15mm miniatures for an Arctic inspired scenario.
I still have a dozen Critical Mass Light Recons and I'm planning to paint them with a winterized armor or a colour scheme that could fit...

Below is my first attempt, I think I used too much blu ink! Any advice's welcome!

By the way... the terrain pcs on the right is a work in progress bunker made from a 28mm blister, while the APC is just an old toy.
Clearly the first Arctic Light Recon is intended to be Rep 5 in a CR3 game!

Cheers,
Andrea

BatRep: Battle at Monster&Co

Hi,

as promised here's my first batrep involving the terrifying Aberration Prime!
Unfortunately we made just a few pics, anyway, this was the situation:

An abandoned research site has been taken from a well armed group of rebels looking for a loot. They don't know about the experiments the Alliance was managing underground neither why the site has been abandoned... Before being locked down by AI systems, the site launched a desperade SOS request... Now a patrol has been send to investigate. But time is runnig out: the armour-plated doors connecting the undeground labs to the outside will not resist a long time against the frenzied Biological Weapons that are now crawling in the blood-stained corridors!

I played with 6 people (!) everyone having control of 3-4 troopers and divided between Attackers (the Alliance) and Defenders (the Rebels). The ruleset is CR3, with some material from CR2 and some draft tables and stats I made...






So... I think this will start a new adventure soon!
Stay tuned!

Cheers,
Andrea

"Biological Weapon" in my dictionary means "claws and fangs"

Hi,

I recently ordered a few miniatures at the Rackham store with my friend Affro, taking advantage from their summer discounts.
Years ago I was quite a fan of their "Confrontation" line of minis. The quality of sculpting and design was really high and the rules were quite epic and fun.

Some years ago they proved themselves to be skilled in differentiating their product and communication in the fantasy miniature wargaming market (and, by the way, they had their part in my degree thesis "Communication Mix strategies in the Miniatures Wargaming niche of market" -Yes, I really made it. Yes, I think I'm quite a lot nerdy-)

Now I'm not sure if they still produce/sell their line of fine metal minis but they started producing some wonderful prepainted miniatures both for their fantasy and sci-fi settings.

So... as I was looking for more CR3 action (I will soon buy 5150 -Ed's Sci-Fi System, but at the moment I'm using the basic system) involving biological weapons/alien style monster I ordered:

Aberration Prime, a WONDERFUL enemy for any 28mm figure. The prepainted model was so nice as it was supplied that I just added a very little painting and some work on the base (look at my former post to know where the sand comes from...)


I like it A LOT!
I think the pic above will give an idea of the impact it can have on a game... :)))
Then I ordered the Phemera Omega (I didn't take a pic but you can see them here).
Rackham produces also very nice prepainted sci-fi soldiers. A have a bunch of them:

Below, one posing close to a GW marine for size comparison:

I will probably post in the future some photos of my old fantasy Rackham miniatures.
Hope to share very soon a batrep involving my beloved ABERRATION PRIME!

Cheers,
Andrea

My souvenir from Greece

Hi all,

this small post just for fun and to say "I'm back"!
I've been with my patient gf in Karpathos, an extremely beautiful Greek Island... and now back home.
The island is quite small with just 4 gasoline stations (one with no gasoline at all, and the other 3 are all together in the middle of the island). Travelling around and about with a 50cc scooter -a crappy one, REALLY!!!!- me and Dani saw a lot of beautiful beaches.

From two of them come my souvenirs: two half-liter water bottles filled with fine/coarse sand... for miniature basing and terrains!


I promise to post very soon post more interesting pictures miniatures!!
P.s.: The pic above looks like Sitiako and Lyttos advertising.... ;)))

Cheers,
Andrea

Some 28mm madness - Prepainted minis

Hi,

following up my former post involving 28mm minis I post here some photos of cheap prepainted models I found (from wizkids) and re-based to play CR3.
Some people love prepainted miniatures and some hate them... I personally like them a lot. They definitely cut away a part of the hobby, but you can have a lot of different characters ready to play in a very short time... and you can always take a brush and add details.

I found that especially Horrorclix and Halo Action Clix are very well made although HAC are not pure 28mm but taller.
Unfortunately, it seems that wizkids is kind of dead... on their website there's nothing more than Super Heroes Clix.

Below are a couple of "law bringers":

And here some psycho ^__^ :

then, some innocent bystanders:

With a decent base I think they can easily be accepted by most people...
The prepainted solution would probably fit very well for gamers who play zombie games (horrorclix sets have lots of zombies and EBay is a good source for them) or games involving civilians or so (It's boring to paint dudes without armors/rifles/swords, isn't it?)

Cheers,
Andrea

Neverending Dilemma

Hi,

I'm into the average nerdy wargamer dilemma: what is the best scale to play with?
Ok- there's no one scale which is better than another... still, I'm promising myself to follow these guidelines that should allow me to use the TON of minis I collected in 28mm, 15mm and even 20mm:

-I will use the nice, inexpensive and space saving 15mm minis for large battles in "open" environments involving vehicles and buildings
-maybe I will sometimes use 20mm instead of 15mm (just for the pleasure of changing something!)
-My 28mm minis will be used for a slightly better personal feeling to adventures, and will be employed for dungeon crawlings as well as scenarios involving detailed characters instead of squads of grunts.

There are simply too many minis in the market -and in my house...- to give up with a scale.
Then, I found that CR3 system is perfectly able to manage all the level of details I'd like to try.
Add some features to grunts and Stars and you have a lite rpg.
Use more generic pieces and the game will run fast with more combatants involved.
Wow!

As I started my little blog with the idea of reducing posts without pictures to the lest possible (pictures are what I'm usually looking at on other's blog... and all the blogs I follow have plenty of VERY nice photos or images!) and in relation to what I said above about playing "detailed characters when in mood for 28mm", I post here a pic of the party I prepared some years ago for Inquisitor game (GW specialist game).

From left: Blood Angel Sgt, Space Wolf veteran, Inquisitor, Imperial Guard Sniper.

I played "Inquisitor" once but the rules were uber detailed for my/my friends taste... guess what ruleset I'm going to use, now? :)))

Cheers,
Andrea

BatRep: Battle at the Gym

Hi,

after the great satisfaction I had from playing CR3 intro game with Affro, I repeated yesterday the same "patrol" scenario (same forces involved but different terrain) with Paolo.
Paolo manages the gym I nonchalantly attend and he's a big fan of historical wargaming and a very pleasant person to play with.
We played in the tabletennis room close to the kickboxing training room (where some people were having their lesson!!!)

Please enjoy the... Battle at the Gym!


At this time a lot of very big people with boxing gloves were surrounding us to understand what we where doing... O_O

Two or three of the big guys were at this time quite interested in the battle going on...


After a very short time Paolo had a full understanding of CR3 rules...



and the battle lasted a couple of hours!

After the game Paolo was enthusiast of the rules and he asked me a copy I had on hand of an introduction to Ed Teixeira's system called MG42 (2nd world war scenario).
With the next games I'm planning to start a campaign, I still need to decide with the people involved if it will be in 15mm or 28mm!

Just a note... if we'll play in 15mm I will have to improve Sahadeen's Reputations as they were no match for our Kill Teams!!

Stay tuned!
Cheers,
Andrea

Rebel Minis Z-Hunters

Hi,

below is a pic of 3 (out of 5) of my Z-hunters from Rebel Minis
I'd like to use them as main characters (Stars in THW game system) for my sci-fi games... I think the woman on the right can be a nice mercenary, while the other girl looks like a special agent and I suppose the man with sunglasses to be an hard boiled detective...

Will post more soon,
Cheers,
Andrea

New buildings in progress

Hi,

I was looking for some inexpensive raw material to build up new buildings for my next 15mm battles and I found this brick at the flower shop (!) for just 1,50 euro.
They put flowers in it (of course, that's what they sell...) but it looks great also for modelling as it can be easily cut with a knive.

So, I started making some tryouts...

Some little houses...

... and will update you if this material resists to the primer or just get melted!!!!

BatRep: Battle at Affro's

Hello,

I finally have had the opportunity to play the game I was planning!

Military patrol vs Insurgent PEFs, Sci Fi setting, Chain Reaction 3 rules: let me say that I've never found rules as good as these.

The mission: patrolling an abandoned area where Sahadeen scouts have been detected.

First of all: the table. Me and my friend Affro set up something that was between "Passable" and "OMG, that's horrible", with some well made pieces of scenary together with some crap:

As it was our first game we made some mistakes here and there, but everything has been quite smooth.

After determining the PEFs, our Recons (we played cooperatively) started patrolling the area close to the boat. A scout detached from our group found a Sahadeen presence (not a formerly determined PEF) in the Church area:

Then we kept on patrolling the other sections where we found a "false alarm" and then a "real" menace:

Then a lot of things happened! My Rocket Launcher trooper had a bad reaction to his Leader getting stunned and went away looking for cover... and became useless for the rest of the game as I sent noone to rally him (!), and we found the third PEF in the abandoned facility area, close to the Artillery Cannon:

But, despite all the resistance... at the end we won!

After this first battle I think I will have soon more... 15mm minis and THW rules are just the Holy Graal of miniature wargaming!!!!

Cheers,

Andrea