Wooot! I Am The Weiner!

Big props to Tamsin over at Wargaming Girl for, this week, running a prize draw in honour of 100,000 views on her blog.  And thanks to that prize draw, I've won a wee spending spree at Ground Zero Games.  Cheers again, Tamsin!

The only thing for me to decide is what to actually get.  I used GZG almost exclusively for my light infantry sci-fi force and these guys can always use some more support options.  Alternatively, they do have some alien opponents (again from GZG) who could do with filling their ranks out a bit.  The final option is, of course, more spaceships.  Choices choices!

Gruntz Game 2

Another trial run of Gruntz at the club this week.  Both my and Adam's forces had a bit more paint on them this week, although terrain was still at a minimum.

This week, we added in some sci-fi gubbins to our vanilla forces; Adam had some spider drones with shield generators (Phantom Menace anyone?) and some speeder bikes (ok, he's taking the piss with the pseudo Star Wars stuff now.)  I, on the other hand, picked a quad mech and some support heavy weapons.  This game demonstrated just how poor individual units of Gruntz can be, while how devastating template support weapons can be.

A typical Gruntz unit card, pinched off the net.

Both our forces, although similarly organised, are evolving in different ways.  I have a light infantry force with conventional weapons, tracked armour and piloted mechs, whereas Adam has gone for medium infantry with lots of Grav and AI/Remote support.  I originally wanted to have a core of five light infantry units, but I honestly don't think I'll ever use more than three.  On the other hand, I'll certainly need a few more support options and some heavy infantry to support what I already have. All our current models are by Ground Zero Games and, considering the amount on the table, are great value.

Statistic boffins might be interested in the key difference between our forces.  Both forces have Veteran Shoot values of 5, to hit an opponent, roll 2D6 and add their skill value, hoping to at least match the target's Guard statistic.  As my guys are light infantry, they have a Guard value of 13, so my enemy will need an eight on 2D6.  Adam's medium infantry are only Guard 12, so I'll hit them on a seven up.  To kill (or Wax) an enemy model, the attacker rolls 2D6 and adds his weapon's Damage value, 5 in both our armies, needing to match or beat the enemy's Soak value. As his forces are more heavily armoured (13) I need an eight on 2D6 to Wax a model, however as my force is more lightly armoured, Adam only need a seven on 2D6.  So that's sevens then eights or eights then sevens.  According to my rudimentary stats calculations, I'm coming out just ahead on probability (as well as on the table!)

Ground Zero Games UNSC - WIP

Following on from our trial game Gruntz, I've been hunched over painting 15mm sci-fi figures.  I opted for the fantastic UNSC range from Ground Zero Games for my force.  The range has eight poses for standard riflemen, four separate unit leader figures and plenty of SAW/support weapon options.  Sculpt quality is very good on the whole, only a couple issues of flash on some overhangs, so overall very flexible range.

SAW, two riflemen and two leaders.

For a colour scheme, I had in my head a white/icy blue scheme with a contrasting visor colour and a spot colour or insignia marking.  As you can see from the WIP pics, I haven't decided on what colour to use on the visors or the weapons.  Red would probably look good, but it's the safe option, so I suspect they'll end up with a glowy green colour, maybe yellow.  Still undecided on the gun, but that can wait until the rest of the colours are done.

Oddly for me, I've really enjoyed painting these guys.  Although they haven't yet turned out quite how I imagined (the shadows are dark grey rather than blue, giving them a kind of Stormtrooper feel,) I'm still digging them.  The trick I always find when evaluating your own painting is, when you're not actually painting,   keep the model a couple of feet away from you.  That way you see the overall effect rather than each individual brush stroke!

The Commander is on the right, can you tell he's a head swap?

I've also painted one of the older UNSC hardsuit figures as my commander, but swapped out the original helmet to keep him uniform with the rest of the force.  Converting 15mm figures are a pain. Next up is deciding and painting the visors and weapons, then the arduous process of deciding how to paint the bases.

Ground Zero Games Offer

After waking up to find everything outside covered in the white stuff and an entertaining, but very minor, car crash on our road, I made the executive decision to hunker down today and do absolutely sod all.  Not that I needed much of an excuse, it's back to work tomorrow after a weeks holiday with an early, early start.

While our Chancellor busy giving us an update on how screwed we are and the shadow chancellor badgering him to borrow far more(!?!) I was summoned to the door by our postman, who handed me a wee parcel - and who doesn't love getting parcels in the post?

After some prompting from a couple friends, I went and placed an order from Ground Zero Games for some sci-fi figures (I'll talk later about what and why.)  What clinched the deal was the promotion GZG have on. I'll quote the release from their website:

CHRISTMAS SPECIALS NOW RUNNING!

Our 2012 Xmas Special starts from 00.01 (UK time) hours on SUNDAY 25th NOVEMBER and runs until MIDNIGHT (UK time) on Thursday 20th December. All qualifying orders (which are all those for over £30 of product, EXCLUDING VAT AND SHIPPING*) will get TWO specials included:

1) All orders for £30 or more of goods at list prices EXCLUDING VAT* get a FREE GOODIE BAG of extra minis and stuff - how much you get depends on the size of your order, and we'll tailor most of the contents to fit the kind of items you are ordering (plus the occasional novelty item or a sample that might tempt you into other ranges and scales...). What goes in the bag is OUR choice, so no cheekily asking for particular things please, but those of you who have had our previous Xmas deals will know that we give you a generous selection of items that you can actually use for your armies/fleets!

Sometimes we put in the odd special or unreleased item too, so you never know what you might get....

2) In addition to the Free Stuff with your order, all qualifying customers will also get a VOUCHER that you can use to get a generous DISCOUNT off a further order placed after Christmas - so you can get your pre-Xmas stuff now, and then use the voucher up when you have some gift money from all those relatives who have absolutely NO idea what to buy for you!

So the discount is nice, particularly as it runs to February, but the goody bag I recieved was really outstanding value.  I received two extra (big) packs which came to 25% of the value of my order AND they were from the same and similar ranges, so they'll both be of use. Excellent stuff.  Anyway, back to the couch!