Tough Mudder 2014

So today Will and his nutter gym friends all tackled the Tough Mudder course. I went along and took photos and a few videos as well. It was alot of fun, and I ended up with quite alot of mud on myself and camera gear, although nothing like the participants, No electric shocks either. So much fun watching other people in pain and agony and then get zapped ... opps.. was that out loud .....lol

Here’s a selection of the shots.

Dive in ... it's only mud

 Just a small zap, nothing to worry about right.

The End 

Anzac Day Commemorations

Tonight I went along to a very cool display put on by Auckland Museum for 2014 Anzac Day Commemorations. They played some WWI footage on the side of the museum.

We had a helicopter fly over which created the "tracer bullet" effect.

Easter surprise

At the start of the year I said I wasn't going to start any more miniature games, well, I haven't so far. (Now that's a surprise) Yes that's right, I’ve ended up playing other games using other peoples models, and acquiring a few more rule books. But I actually haven't started with miniatures from other games. I’ve managed to hold out, using stuff from my existing collection or borrow models.  I’ve also made a good dent in the mountain of metal I already have, having started on my Samurai army for FOGR and well into all those Flames of War Russians I have. Things are ticking over nicely.

So my main focus in the past few weeks has been Japanese based, with the Samurai army and putting together terrain for Ronin, Bushido and Malifaux. My 4Ground Shogunate buildings turned up the other day. They are absolutely fabulous, but extremely time consuming to put together.

My cork tile method is working a treat, and the table is starting to take shape nicely. The next big challenge is to figure out how to best do the water for the rice paddy’s. I’m going to try three different methods, the first being mixing in paint to some Kleer Resin. Which I've just pored into my first tile. (super strong smelly stuff) It looks good so far, but unsure how it will dry, fingers crossed it wont rain, as It's sitting outside so I don't stink out the house. I missed a spot when sealing the base, so had to use a bit of tape to plug the whole....resin leaking all over the place.

Yesterday I watched Lee and Paul play a game of Saga and also a little bit of Mark and Phil play a game of Drop Zone Commander. Here’s a few pic of the games.

After that I got in a game of Kings of War with Mark. A fun game which I can use all my old models. Went right down to the wire, before I lost out to the last few Goblins.

Slow going

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted, the usual work and life getting in the way. Thanks to a few stitches in my shoulder and now a full on head cold. There was no gaming for me this past weekend. But things are starting to clear and I’ve been slowly, ever so slowly, chipping away at various projects of the last few weeks and have made some good ground in several of them.

Well first up I purchased myself a new set of dice, after the horrific performance of my current set, I just needed a change. Now of course a few days later, I find a bag of dice under my painting table.. typical… LOL… you can never have to many dice.

The first two projects I finished last week were completing my Tank Killer Company and Heavy Assault Company for my Russian FOW army. So ten new tanks to add to the massive force I have managed to acquire. (Soooo many infantry to go.)  I’ve now finished cutting down all the bases of Russian Infantry that I got given, and glued them all onto the correct size bases. Along with plastering up the edges of some 80 bases I still have about another 40 to go.  Then onto the task of painting and re-grassing the bases.

I’m also finished my first battle group of 15mm Samurai Warriors for Field of Glory Renaissance. A project that’s been a long time coming and it’s finally made it to the painting table. It will be a long time before it makes the gaming table but it has got my painting back underway.

There is also the SSU Steel Guard for Dust Warfare. All base coated, toned and ready for some inking and detail work.

Spent a bit of time working on some terrain for Ronin and Bushido today. We could also use the terrain for Malifaux as well I guess, for something a little different for the likes of Mark’s Ten Thunders gang. With what little energy I had I managed to get alot done. Finished the Japanese garden idea I’ve had for a very long time. I’m well underway with the crops and a couple of other tiles. I’m basing them up on some 1x1 foot cork tiles, each with a feature on them. The idea is we can then easily move them around and change the setup. I’m looking at doing a couple tiles of crops, some rice paddy’s,  fish pond, garden and a temple or shrine. Add to that some building that I’ll get very soon and we should have quite a good little setup for some Japanese based games.

WIP: Japanese style garden

Friday Brain

Yep, it sums up my week nicely.

Club Day.

After a couple of weeks off gaming and loads of shooting photos, I got back to some gaming on Saturday. I went out to the South Auckland gaming club as per usual. This month the guys were all playing Bolt Action. I had picked up a copy of the rule book, but hadn't managed to do any reading with all the time spent at the Air show and even more time eaten up my post editing all the photos. Kevin kindly put together a German force for me from his extensive collection and we rolled out a few games. (My photos are just from my iPhone so aren't that great.)

I lost the first game against Glen, when I did a last ditch effort to try and score some more points in the last turn, which back fired and I went from a draw to a loss. Glen was teaching me the game as we went and as I made a few gambles that didn't work it was my own fault.

The second game I was up against Arthur with his Russian, the objects were to take your opponents camp. I got well pined down quickly and tried a few things out for fun and to learn the game. Charging a building with lots of Russians in it with Sub Machine guns is a really bad idea, as I learnt quickly. But the end goal for me at that stage was to try for a draw and simple hold off the Russian swam. The game ended in a draw on turn 6 thanks to the dice roll. Arthur takes the moral victory there, as next turn he would have won and wiped me out.

Thanks to the guys for teaching me the game and lending out some mini’s. I definitely enjoyed the game and really liked the rule set. Maybe in the future I’ll acquire some Russians or maybe even some Japanese.

"13"

Yep, 13 years married today. I very lucky man.