Scotland Rising Bannockburn 1314 is the first wargame I'll be showing off. I posted some pictures of games from Minden but didn't show you what was inside. I hope you enjoy these shotty pics taken with my phone. I have the map under plexi-glass to keep it nice and flat, that's why you can see me in the pictures! This is a really simple game, the rule book is only 4 pages and a few more pages of examples and history are also included. Bannockburn was a battle fought between Robert the Bruce and Edward II after the Scots laid siege to Stirling Castle. The English had suprior numbers but ulitmaly lost due the Scots pike tactics which included the Schiltron similar to the more modern Infantry Square. This rendered the English Knights less powerful.

This is an overall shot of the starting positions. You can see the English army is a little less organized then the Scots. The Scots also have a wooded area to their rear in case a retreat is necessary.

 The back of the box has a track on it used to keep track of the Action Points each side has available as well as the Victory Points.

 English Center lead by Edward II.

 English left lead by Hereford and the remains of Bohuns cavalry. Henry de Bohun was slain in single combat with Robert the Bruce at the start of the battle.

 English right lead by The Earl of Gloucester.

 Scottish left lead by Edward Bruce.

 Scottish center lead by Robert the Bruce.

Scottish right lead by Moray.

Overall the game plays quickly and its use of Action Points to activate and use units makes ever turn ponderous. I enjoyed playing it. It can also be played solitaire. All the counters come on one sheet and are easy to punch with a few cuts of an exacto. Stay tuned for more wargames coming soon!

Hope you all had a good Christmas! I received some cool games and some minis which I will be posting over the next couple weeks. Hopefully I will make some videos shortly too! First up is the Firestorm Armada box set, Battle for Valhalla! Sorry that some of the pictures are blurry the combination of my bad camera, bad camera work, and 80 year old man hands is a slight handicap. The factions included in the box are the Dindrenzi Federation and the Terran Alliance.

Main bodies of the Battleships, and the Research Station.

Fighters and other small ship bits.

Cruisers

Ship Bases

Dice

Ship Engines for the Battleships

Frigates

 I think these are the arms for the base.

Couple sheets of asteroid terrain.

Counters

 More Counters!

 Score sheet, and turning templates.

Cards

Scenario Book

Hardback second addition rulebook.

It's been a little while since my last update! Anyway, I wanted to show off the cool games I got from Minden Games! Check them out here: http://minden_games.homestead.com/index.html

Most of them are Solitaire games. I hope to do reviews for them soon! Maybe even some video reviews if I can figure out how to record videos IRL! So stay tuned!

Ok! Back with my painting process for the Reaper Frigate. Again I used all Reaper paints and a GW Badab Black wash. 

 Based in the usual cheap BLACK.

First layer is PEACOCK GREEN 09226 

Next a few layers of BRILLIANT GREEN 09227 

Next a BADAB BLACK wash in between the armor plates.

Now Highlight the high armor plates with VIPER GREEN 09228

Layer on the high black areas with STORMY GREY 09088

Add the yellow stripe with MUSTARD YELLOW 29807 this make take a few coats

Finally add the last highlights on the grey areas with CLOUDY GREY 09089 then MISTY GREY 09090 and the yellow stripe with  PALE SAFFRON 29809

Thats the frigate and corvette box done! Next I'll be doing the battlecrusier box so stay tuned for that!

Alright so here is my first set of step by step guides for the Sorylian Collective. I used only Reaper Paints. I'll list each paint by name and number at each step. First up is the Plumbata Corvette. Sorry about the weird shadows on the first couple.

 Right out of the box

 Based in BLACK, I use the cheapest, biggest bottle of black paint I can find.

 The basecoat is PEACOCK GREEN 09226

 Next I used STORMY GREY 09088 on all the weapons and exposed metal bits. Then painted BRILLIANT GREEN 09227 on the green sections.

 Then I did a highlight layer on the grey first with CLOUDY GREY 09089 and a second highlight with MISTY GREY 09090

Next up I added the yellow strip and a small strip on the bottom. The first layer was MUSTARD YELLOW 29807 then a highlight of PALE SAFFRON 29809

 Finally I highlighted green areas with VIPER GREEN 09228

 BOOM! Done! I'm still working on the engine colors, but I'll post my process for painting engines at a later date.

Finally received my back ordered paints and started working on my Sorylian Armada. I started with the smallest ships, the Plumbata Corvettes and Reaper Frigates. I'm saving one of each type to hopefully record some painting videos. I have a couple complete pictures here and tomorrow I'll post a step by step painting guide for the Plumbata. 

 Reaper Frigate

Plumbata Corvettes

Some more stuff arrived!

Got some new brushes, a cool wet palette and a huge box of super glue.

 Kolinsky Sable Windsor 7

 A Da Vinci synthetic brush, it was cheap but its a good brand.

 12 pack of super glue, was only 3 bucks.

 Masterson wet palette, with the lid on.

Here's the inside.

I'm excited to try out all this new stuff. I'm still waiting for my paints to arrive before I can use them however. I'll get to work super gluing all my Sorylian ships and start base coating them in the meantime.