A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away (episode I)

I've always loved Star Wars, it's the first film I ever saw in the cinema and like so many I've grown up with what was a truly ground breaking trilogy (yeah I know). The Jedi knights leading the rebellion against the evil empire (it's all a matter of perspective) and of course SPACE SHIPS!

A demo game I played at Dark Sphere (London)

These ships were different though, not all shiny and new, most of them were grubby and sometimes didn't even work - Millennium falcon, I'm looking at you! The story was perhaps a little familiar in places but some of the ideas and characters were totally revolutionary!

I'd seen games of XWing being played and greatly admired the rather nicely pre-painted ships, the titular XWings dog fighting the menacing Tie fighters along with all the other memorable ships from the (first three) films. I though to myself "I could enjoy this" . . .

The release of Episode VII The force awakens, saw a huge increase in XWing players at Athena games where I work and I thought to myself, it's time to jump on that band wagon!

Well the game itself is quite easy to get into, it doesn't require a huge capital investment (which is often a problem) the core set is just £30 for either original or The force awakens versions and contains everything you need to start playing straight out of the box.

You'll get a great XWing and two Tie fighters, all rather nicely painted. Tons of markers, templates, counters & cards and 3 of each attack and evade dice (4 would have been ideal).

I managed to bump two ships into the same asteroid!

The basic premise of the game is to move as per your ships available maneuvers and shoot your opponents ship when in range - dead simple but that's the beauty of this game. There's normally very little in the way of cover (you are in space) so you must think carefully about your closing speeds and position. Ideally you want to be able to get the first shots in! The game also uses a mechanic where the lower skilled pilots move first but the higher skilled pilots will shoot first, so things can start to get a little more complicated.

Like most people I didn't settle for the single T70 XWing in the core set, I got an additional one, then two AWings, this would comfortably make up the standard 100 points. I then got myself a KWing (massive flying tank) because i thought it looked awesome, to be honest I thought that of the other ships too.

My mighty KWing is mighty

To date i have only played a handful of games, but thoroughly enjoy it, I consider it my "lite" game, both in physical presence and cost when compared to my old friend Bolt action (think hundreds of Russian infantry)

The good ship Venus

Some pictures here of my Bronekator the good ship "Venus" from Warlord games.

Let me start by saying that this kit is enormous! 16" long and about 4" wide. The main hull of the boat comes as one very large resin cast with the bridge and the T34 turret and machine gun turrets also cast in resin. Then there is a multitude of metal parts, gun barrels, antenna, masts and safety railings to name but a few.

The required cleanup on the kit was absolutely minimal, no trimming required on any of the resin parts and only light filing needed on the main gun barrel. In spite of its size the hull was flawless with no additional bumps & lumps or any holes that needed filling.

Construction was surprisingly straight forward with all the main parts being turrets that don't necessarily need to be glued in place, some of the railings were slightly bent (easily rectified) and all have flat sides to enable better location in the deck. I purchased brown linen thread from a local haberdashery to use as the cables in the railings. The main mast was slightly tricky being quite long & thin, it is easily bent. All the gun barrels glued in place as you'd expect (if you've built any resin tanks) with a dab of superglue and pressed into place.

Painting this presented a slight challenge in that I (hangs head in shame) do not have an airbrush but I knew I simply had to paint it in a camouflage scheme! So after priming and spraying the grey using a spray can, I seized the nettle and used a spray can to spray the green strips. I was so pleased when it came out well, a disaster was lurking!

Using the boat in a game of Bolt action is an entertaining challenge, it has a myriad of options and upgrades and can use a substantial chunk of your points! Secondly the model itself is absolutely huge so covert movement isn't often an option, in fact even gaining cover can be quite a tall order.

All said and done I was mightily pleased to have bought this model, adding it to my extensive 28mm Russian force

The Bronekator "Venus" waiting for fuel.

Before the fuel trucks arrive an enemy armoured car approaches!

Oh Fubar!

The Bronekator model can be found in Warlords webstore here.

On the road

Got myself a road from TinyWargames. It's a cobbled road with kerbed edging that would fit in well in an old fashioned urban environment, like Victorian London.

It's made from vinyl, not unlike the vinyl flooring I've got in my kitchen (so I know the road will be okay if my cat pukes on it!)

The road is 6ft in length so will go all the way across your typical gaming table, but there's no reason why you couldn't cut & angle it to make corners and junctions. It's 3" wide allowing most common scale vehicles to fit comfortably on it.

Oh my, what have I done?

I am hoping to start work on a blog, just a collection of (what I think is) cool stuff.

Building, painting, playing and general funky stuff!

I started gaming with Judge Dredd back in 1984 with my brother when I was a mere 11 years old! Judge Dredd was absolutely awesome and provided countless hours of entertainment for us both. Warhammer 40,000 shortly followed and was a revolution for me, leading to me going out and expanding my limited (and rather awkward) social circles :)

The next few years bought HeroQuest, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (RPG), Blood Bowl and the legendary Space Hulk!

Then . . .

. . . life happened . . .

. . . fast forward 22 years to 2012 and I saw my little brother had returned to gaming with his 40K Orks! This caused an awakening in me, I suddenly really -needed- to play games again. I joined a local gaming club Aftermath and discovered a whole new world. It was here that I first experienced Bolt Action which absolutely blew me away, it was like the early editions of 40K but set in the real world, world war 2. This led onto to other games and more friends and (for me) a new lease of life.

Then in 2015 I was lucky enough to get a job at my FLGS Athena Games and have been enjoying that fusion of job and hobby ever since!

So here I am writing an intro to a blog, I'll add more details to my back story as time goes by and post my toys, painting, building and thoughts as I go. I hope I'll reach to you and make you smile or maybe just help you (a tiny bit) through your day.