Hydra Tutorial Part 2: Gun Assembly

Here is the second part of the Hydra turent Tutorial. This cover building the gun from styrene tube and mounting it the already assembled base.

Basic parts

3.2mm styrene tube

11.1mm styrene tube

9.5mm styrene tube

a wheel lug from the ork wheel sprue
The barrel from a bic ink pen

Start with the 3.2mm tube. Cut six three and a half inch sections and a single one inch section.

Assemble the longer sections around the shorter section. I put a good bead of glue around one end of the short piece and added the longer pieces to it. As you add a piece add a touch of glue to each section. Then get them even and set it aside for the glue to cure.

While the barrels cure, take the 11.1mm tube and cut two sections, one half an inch long and the other, one and a half inches long.

The longer section goes in the rear and will form the receiver. The half inch section goes onto the front to hold the barrels together.

Make a mark in the center of the receiver.

Drill a 4mm hole.

The gun assembly them mounts onto the 4mm tube that runs through the center pylon of the base.

I raided the bits box and picked out a lug from the old ork wheel sprue. If you don't have any of these laying around you could substitute the lug from a space marine bike wheel sprue.

Take the lug and glue it in the end of the 4mm tube. You might have to file down the inside a bit to make it fit.

This is what we have so far.

Take the 9.5mm tube and cut a half inch section.

Glue the 9.5mm piece inside the rear of the gun assembly.

While the glue cures dig a Bic round ink pen barrel out from your bits box, remember never throw anything away.

Cut an inch long section off of the back of the pen barrel, keeping the plug in the barrel.

Slide the pen barrel into the back of the gun assembly and glue it down with some superglue.

this is the basic assembly of the gun section.

Come back for the last instalment with the gunner's cradle and finishing details.

ColKG

WARMACHINE: Kicking Contest With A One Legged Man

Hi kids,  And Yes, I am that one legged man.  My sense of balance ain't too good, either.  As much as I dig it, Warmachine is just not my game.  No other game I've ever played is as unforgiving.  It's as if the penalty for jaywalking was summary execution of your entire family and deportation to the gulag for your entire neighborhood.  And then all the houses burned to the ground.  My armies usually lose one or two figures, one of them being the warcaster. Much as I try, there are just too many ways to kill warcasters.  I've watched folks turn incorporial, take over my jacks, pick up my jacks and throw them into the warcaster (a huge favorite, I must admit), or simply outmaneuver or outshoot my jacks, or just beat them to pieces.  Khador.  Can there be a more useless force in the game?  Every jack in the army is the same: big, slow, low skill. No variety at all.  The only thing they are good for is as the enemy's projectiles.  I've tried a few other types;  snipers who can't shoot an enemy more than 5 inches away, solos who get shot & killed on turn two, man-o-wars who never hit in combat, Khovniks who last one shot more than the man-o-wars.  Every other army has all sorts of massively powerful special abilities; incorporial, stealth, return from the dead, massive shooting, massive knockback, massive special attacks.  What does Khador have?  Well, their jacks are big, slow, low skilled, but look impressive for a turn or two until someone attacks them.  But why attack one in the first place?  Just pick one up and use it as a weapon to knock down the warcaster.  Once he's on his butt DEF 5 or 0, it's all over but the crying.  Which is what we're doing right now; crying.  At any rate, here's the latest tragedy:

Skorcha goes into combat with a Jugg, a Destroyer, a Berzerker (subbed by a Maurader) and a Khovnik.  It's a three person game vs. Everblight and some other force, IIRC Elves. But I could be wrong. Things are looking good due to the game not yet starting.  Due to the arrangement of the Comfy Chair I started out between the two other players.

The Nasties of Everblight warm up over in the west.

Power Elves crank up over to the east.

Skorcha casts concealment over her jacks.  One of the elfjacks charges into H-T-H with the right flank jack, the Jugg.  The Jugg takes a pounding, losing 2/3 of his damage boxes, but no crits or system loses.

Khador's finest hour!  The Destroyer meanders into combat (too close to charge) and with the still swinging Jugg they drop the elfjack like a bad habit.  It took about 4 or 5 focus boosted attacks to do him in, but the elf is out of the game!

The end is nigh!  Using a massive feat the elf caster knocks the Destroyer backwards, knocking down Skorcha in the process.  Can collateral damage be boosted?  It doesn't make any difference as the entire enemy force line up to reduce her DEF 5 body into some red jelly.  All too easy.  We're not talking about shooting fish in a barrel, we're talking about using the family atomics on fish laying on the pavement.  Once again Khador has lost the battle while taking two casualties: the Khovnik (shot and killed in one shot) and Skorcha.  It took all of one turn to go from everything's peachy to game over.

While the Khador jacks idle, the Elves and Everblight start sparing.  One of the Everblight micro's charges into combat in the foreground!

After trading potshots a couple times the game comes to a conclusion; both surviving players deciding without Khador to kick around there just wasn't any fun to be had.  Ok, seriously, one of the other players had an appointment and had to hit the road.  It did kinda give me the feeling that we were playing until I was killed, though. 

So what is the correct way to play Khador?  I get the impression the warcaster will have to stay at the edge of the board and not get within 10 feet of the enemy.  I've tried everything else.  Admitedly I have better luck with the Butcher, but Skorcha's my fav mini of the entire game. In fact, she was the only reason I bought the minis in the first place.  Her powers all require her to be near her jacks, though.  I'm telling ya, this 2nd edition is a heck of a long way from 1st; back then I made it a rule to win games without ever using Skorcha's feat.  I won a lot of them, too.  IIRC my record in 2nd ed is about 1:50,000.  I've tried every tactic except taking double the points. So this is your oportunity to tell me I'm an absolute dolt; go into great detail; don't worry about my feelings!  How does Skorcha ever live through a game?

Southern Front Convention Part 3

Hi Kids,  Time for the third and hopefully final post about Southern Front.  Hopefully some of the local-ish gamer lads can make the pilgrimage in the future!  Let's see what we've got....

Let's start out with the French Foreign Legion vs. the zombies in the forbidden city!  The FFL had to fight it's way to water, while holding off droves of zombies.  25mm at it's finest!  Little did they know that the sound of gunfire attracts the undead.  Unfortunately for the zombies, they never learned to duck and cover when the grenades start bouncing around.

The fighting gets hand-to-hand, the only way a zombie can fight...

As the zombies pile on the wounded, a nearby legionnaire tosses a grenade into the dogpile.  The undead become seriously dead!

Dystopia Wars, by Spartan Games.  Looks like the Prussian fleet.  Although it could be the Brits.

Another satisfied gamer demonstrates his pleasant demenoir and thrill to be a part of all the fun!  Looks like those 25mm fantastically painted indians should be taking a few more scalps.

Fun for all ages, it's Brigade Games' "Gnome Wars."  This range was started to give young kids a game all their own, but it's popularity has grown way beyond that!  You can get all sorts of gnomes now; Sikh, Germans, Brits. Most appear to be the ww2/colonial era.  The list goes on and on.....  I especially like the war elephant.

Toad Cavalry.  Could be 25mm Eureka figs, but I'm not sure.  They turned up in one of the Gnome War games.  Eureka also makes Teddy Bear Napoleonics.  I dig their new modern Rhodisian Light Infantry and Delta operators, too!  And did I mention their ultra-modern French Foreign Legion?  Oh man they are way cool!  Go buy some!

Well what do you know.... The indians have been surrounded by the settlers and militia!  I wonder if somebody will ride to their rescue?  Maybe if they had invested in a wagon train they wouldn't be in this tight spot!

A siege game.  Looks like the lads are spread pretty thin up on that wall....

Hope that dragon rider is playing defense, otherwise that wall ain't gonna do anyone much good.  He doesn't look very friendly, though.

Looks like the FFL going back into Zombie Central.  I can tell it's the beginning of the game since there are so many of them still standing.

Flames of War, looks like the Brits in the desert.

Did I post this shot already?  Anyway, this is the "official" recognized-by-Battlefront Flames of War tournament.  20 players showed up to duke it out for some nice prizes and recognition!  Saw some awesome paint jobs, too.  Lots of Tigers, though.  God hates Tiger tanks, boys.  You gotta come into the light!

One of the most original games of the show, it's Bruce's submarine game!  It's played on plexiglass, the surface vessels move around on top, while the subs maneuver below.  You can just see a sub at the end of the orange ruler, closing in for the kill.

The view from the other side.  Sleeping with the fishes!

Well, that's it for this installment.  This show as just about everything, including a raffle with 40 great prizes, everything from Madonna magazines to painted 2000pt FOW German armies.  And you can choose which prize you want by putting your tickets in the specific bag for each prize, so if you really really want the painted unit of 25mm FFL, you just put them in that bag.  No danger of winning the porcelain buddha by mistake!  They usually have a few vendors, too; like Recreation Conflict, Sash & Sabre, Hanger 18, Outland of PA, Yadkin Valley Games, The Game Connection, and Falcon Miniatures.   So put it on your calendar for next year! Raleigh, NC! Do it!  Don't make me come looking for you!

Southern Front Convention Part 2

Just when you thought it was safe to come out of Minas Tireth....  Lord of the Rings in a Big Way.

The ghosts join the party outside the walls.

The walls of Minas Tireth, all sorts of undesireables demanding entry!

Way out in back, two superheavies crank up and approach!  Maybe I should go ahead and build the one I bought oh so many moons ago, cause they look sweet!

The Great Circus of Rome, chariot racing in 15mm, straight out of the Avalon Hill game "Circus Maximus"!  Possibly the most violent of all sporting events.  The guy who finished first crossed the finish line sans chariot!  Still call it a win!  About half the competitors ended up in the morgue.

25mm American Civil War, or is that the War of Northern Aggression?  I can't keep them seperate.

Quite possibly the strangest game of the show, a crazed turkey farming cowboy goes on a rampage in the turkey coop!  It's the classic "A Fistful of Turkeys" converted to miniatures!  Can Billy Jack thread his way between turkey poop, angry bees, decoys and some p.o.'ed fowl and still do some of them in?  Published about 20 years ago by "Some Turkey Games"  (aka Steve Jackson perhaps) you might be able to find a copy at Troll and Toad for about US$100.00.

A close up of the action as the turkeys close in for the kill!  Billy lies helpless on the floor.  Don't panic folks, while the turkeys can stun the crud out of our hero, they can't do any real damage.  But if Billy waits too long, it's a lost game.  "Planet of the Turkeys" could be the final result.

One of the many games of Firestorm Armada, the space age rules set sweeping the galaxy from Spartan Games.

The competition on the other side of the parsec.

A nice peaceful morning on battleship row, Pearl Harbor.  Whats that buzzing sound?

One of my favorite troop types;  Phalangites!  And lots of 'em!  These are 15mm Pyric lads, about the go toe-to-toe with the Russians,  I mean Romans.

You can't have a con without Battletech!  These are a few of the 20+ figs rampaging around the table.  For some reason, the other side seemed deathly afraid of the 35 tonners.  Go figure.

Hmmm.  WW2 Aviation, but is it Squadrons, or Red Sun Blue Sky, or...?

A close up of one of the Krauts.  Looks like a HS-129, but I could be wrong.  It happens!

Some 25mm Rebels crossing some poor farmer's cornfield.  You'd think they'd be more considerate!

The long view of the approaching column.

Ok kids, that's it for this installment.  The computer's acting all wonky and I'm afraid all this will disappear.  If everything works as hoped we should have the final pictures in part 3.