Sunday 20 January 2013

Star Wars X-Wing

No-one in my family ever buys me toy soldier or gaming things for my birthday or Christmas.
They do however often mither that I am "difficult to buy for" to which my response is usually, "well if you'd just buy me things I like or want it would be much easier for all concerned".
As a result of this ongoing farrago I have take to occasionally buying presents for myself and wrapping them up and inserting them under the tree labelled To Tom, much love Tom xxx. This amuses both me and the offspring and irritates the present Mrs Tom's Toy Soldiers.

This Christmas to celebrate my return to gainful employ I splashed out on The Star Wars X-Wing game from Fantasy Flight. With Mrs TTS and son and heir visiting the frozen north I was able to get the box out and play the basic fast-play version of the game with smallest child.

Here are a few pictures:



 


Verdict. The fast-play version actually proved to be a little dull and not that fast. It took ages to get much damage on either fighter and small boy's attention was definitely wandering by the end.
However looking at the full rules seems to give much greater depth and demands to it, so I'm looking forward (maybe tomorrow) to a game with Luke Skywalker and some photon torpedoes and the like which should make for a better result.
Also the models are jolly lovely. And it is impossible to play without humming the Star Wars theme tune and making lazer noises.

Saturday 19 January 2013

SAGA Scots (1)

I took advantage of the recent North Star sale (thanks Nick!) to pick up some cheap SAGA dice for my Scots faction, and while I was there I picked up a couple of blisters of Crusader Scots that, once finished and added to the Warlord and Thanes I've already painted will give me a four point warband.
Here's a few shots of them on the workbench:
Bare metal:


And then after a coat of Plastikote Matt Chocolate Brown spray:



I'm really struggling to get my camera to focus at the moment. I think it may be on the way out.

These guys did actually get a minor run out last week against my regular SAGA opponent's nascent Welsh warband. But given that both of us were fielding largely brown (me) or black (him) warbands I took no pictures.
Also as we were both wrestling with new and complicated boards I can't even really give a brief report - except to say that at the end neither warlord lay dead and I lost on a casualty count-up (new warband, same old story).

The current Mrs Tom's Toy Soldiers is away this weekend, so I'm hoping to make some more progress on these chaps.