Cold Steel at Gamers Armory in Cary North Carolina

Hi Kids, Last weekend was another game day in the RDU NC area.  The RDU lads chose a Saturday at random intervals to get together and play a few games, this time the chosen locale was Gamer's Armory in Cary. About 12 of the lads showed up for the games, while there were about the same number of other guys playing other stuff like 40K, Warmachine, Battletech, Infinity, or Magic.

 The Bitter End for the Illustrious. Massive wings of torpedo bombers send the 50 hit point carrier to a watery grave!  The guys told me this 1/300 carrier had never been sunk in 4 previous games.  All I can tell ya is they must not have had the same overwhelming mix of Axis bombers those other times, cause even though I was rolling hot with my 4 Seafires there were about 25 bombers lined up to blow that boat clean outta the water!  The Illustrious went down so fast half the bombers didn't even have a target!  Rats!

 Some of the kids playing all sorts of fun stuff!

 The other side of the room.  They're setting up a Napoleonics game back there.

Gamer's Armory, a spiffy store in Cary NC.  If you haven't been there yet, go and check it out!  They even offer discounts!  I got $10 as the "gamer who drove the farthest."  (About 95 miles each way, in case you're wondering.)

 The massive air wing waiting to buzz the tower. 1/300 aircraft.  Rules: Black Cross Blue Sky, IIRC.

 Of the 8 defending Seafires, my bud's 4 take on a squadron of Ju-87's.  I think they shot down about 3 of them.

 Looping in behind the Huns!  Engine critical damage shown by yellow pipe cleaner.  Take that Jerry!

Some captured Beauforts serve Il Duce!



My lads close in for the kill at wavetop height! Critical hits-a-go-go as I smack 'em down with a fuel tank hit which blows up a plane and a cockpit hit on another! Too bad it couldn't last!

3rd, 4th, 5th groups of bad guys jockey for position to get in the killing blow! Sm79's, Ju-88's, oh dear!  My four Seafires have already been crushed by the defensive firepower of the torpedo bombers and the 15 or so escorting fighters. And I did manage to shoot down about 4 or so attacking planes! Those Stuka's were too slow to make it to the party.

Still a damn fun game though!

 A nearby ancients game, 25mm Teutonic Knights vs. Pre-Commies.

 Unwashed masses?

Or Knights Templar?  It's just like a salad bar, take what you like and leave the rest!

 After all that WW2 naval action, lets set the WayBack Machine for the 12th Century!  Time for some Cogs!  Nothing can maneuver like a Cog!  No worries about tide, wind, currents, any of that crap!  These boats are just too powerful to worry about that stuff!  Here's my Bengal Tigers boat!

 Jockeying for stern rakes?  Why bother, we don't have any cannon!  Just get closer and smack em with a sword!

 Closer, I said!

My poor Cog was the first to get boarded, and my crew promptly forgot how to swing a sword.  Bummer!  Although my team attempts to save me, its too late!  Is that a storm on the horizon?  Or just some gamer moving too fast to be seen?  Maybe that's why his rolls were so hot...

 Let's finish up with some shots of the store.  They play Advanced Squad Leader every Monday night, boardgames, every Wednesday night.  I forget what happens every Tuesday, but it was fun!

 ASL?  Oh yes!  More than I realized existed!

 Flames of War?  Got that!  I picked up Barbarosa for $18.00!  SCORE!!!! They had about 4 racks of this stuff, including Fate of a Nation and Vietnam!

 Don't have a copy yourself?  Loaner games!  WOW!

 Holy Cow, a game of Carnage and Glory Napoleonics!

 Store terrain!   Remember what I said about the salad bar?

 Don't know what this thing is, but its pretty honkin big!  Warmachine Colossus!

Old School Battletech!

Stores like the Gamer's Armory remind me how lucky those stiffs in Raleigh truly are!  Here in the Black Hole of Culture 95 miles away we don't have anything like this!

Company B 1:56 T-28

Hi Kids,  And the Chuckster's painting again!  Who would believe it?  Here's a shot of my recently painted Russian T-28 (the tank, not the plane) from Company B in 1/56.  I've never been a huge fan of KV-1 Green so I thought I'd dress this one up with a little camo.  After building it I found out there was a version with one of the MG turrets upgraded to a 45mm AT gun!  If I had know that I probably would have fitted the bigger gun, cause more firepower is usually a good thing.  I'm kinda disappointed that the picture came out so lousy, I can't get the entire vehicle into focus?  How pathetic is that? Gonna have to play with the depth of field selection again....

Also in the month of January I painted up two Tau Stealth suits (the old metal ones) in my Mars camo pattern.  Now they have joined up with the Tau forces hanging out on the shelves with all the other 40K and Fantasy stuff.  One of these days I'm going to find a Sci-Fi ruleset and start using all that stuff again.

I'm thinking of making a Chieftain Tank t shirt.  I think this shot would look good on the back.  What's everyone think? Gotta dig that 120mm rifled gun!

 And here's a picture of one of my favorite planes, the Curtiss AT-9 (or maybe its the AT-9A?)  I just think it's a neat little plane.  A trainer for high performance twins like the P-38 or B-26.  Some pilots joked that it was so difficult to fly that the P-38 should've been a trainer for the AT-9!

 And while we're on the subject of pictures, here's one of Sophia in the movie "Boy on a Dolphin."  All I can tell you is until you've seen that movie you just haven't lived.  Netflix is your friend.

Apocalypse in Winston-Salem GW Store

Hi Kids,  Well its been awhile since I posted anything, mostly because there hasn't been time for me to do anything notable.  The other side of that coin is that I'm working 50-60 hours a week making the righteous green!  I heard a rumor that there was a 40K Apocalypse game going on at the local GW Store and figured I'd go and check it out.  Well whattaya know, there they were, about 10 guys playing a 18,000 point game.  There were even some Forge World items out there.  It's been about 5 years since I played any GW, so I have no idea what some of this stuff might be, but here is the proof gaming is not quite dead in W-S!

 

 

Some enterprising individual set up a ladder just to take pictures!  No, it wasn't me...  The Imperial side is on the upper left, some elements are attacking across the bottom of the shot.  All sorts of superbeasties are spread out in the ruins.  The table was either 6x6 or 8x8.



 The Air Force was there, helping out the Imperial Fists.

 Only one Knight on the board.  Kinda shocking, maybe they're not as popular as I thought. 

 Forge World stuff!

 Kitbashed StormRaven!  I think...  Storm Talon?  Ah well, I used to know stuff...

 Now that's a neat looking dropship!  I wonder if that's one of the ones with the Stretch kit from that other manufacturer?

 Need more speed?  Get more engines!

 Ah yes, more Forge World Goodness!  And one of my favs, the Tau Riptide!  If I still was playing Tau I'd have to have a fistful of those!

More Forge World Big Buck Tanks!

 

 When you've got an extra 1/35th M47, why not make it into something spiffy!!

 These guys weren't on the table, I think they were already dead.  But maybe they were just extra.

 A close up of the solitary Knight.

 SPG's a-go-go!  More firepower, more better!

 Now that's a mean looking beastie.  Smaug better pack his bags and get to hoofing!

 Another from the deadpile.

 Bet you don't see these guys everyday!

 There were some really great paintjobs out there today!

 Tau skimmers!  I must confess, I bought Void skimmers to proxy these things.  I just liked them better, and only $12 each.  Maybe one day I'll paint them up.

 A close up of the StormRavenTalon kitbashed flyer.  Looking good! Purge the unclean!!

 When I saw this thing I thought I'd buy one right away!  Unfortunately the store was sold out of Thunderflash cannon.  Bummer!  And then they told me it was Finecast!  Double bummer!  I still might end up buying one at some point.  You never know, maybe its the one Finecast object that isn't malformed.

 Who is that guy with the skeletal wings?

 When I saw this thing I knew I had to snap a picture.  BUT, before you get too excited, its actually two vehicles, the StuG looking thing is actually a grav tank, not a turret on the back of the Brit WW1 tank.  You gotta admit, it would've been cool!

 Assault guns!

 Tyranid something or others...

 Monster bugs!

 Airborne monster bugs!

And last but not least, a mole vehicle, probably from Forge World.  Bet that'll leave a mark!

And that's about it for this installment of the events of Winston-Salem.  Not quite the Black Hole of Gaming that we thought!

Ready for primer, Flesh Tearers Scout Sniper squad

The 40k league has started but health issues have put my model building behind schedule. I had a good day and managed to get this Scout sniper squad cleaned up, reassembled and the bases flocked. I just need a warmer day to get them primed.

I received the squad second hand and missing a couple parts. I ended up rebuilding the missile launcher and the kneeling sniper to match up their bits. The sergeant model was missing a hand and a telescope so I added a chain sword hand and an old style space marine telescope to the rifle. I plan to have two scout sniper squads in 1500 point army, now I just need to get this one painted.

ColKG

Finished assembling Flesh Tearers Scout Biker squads

I plan to filed two Space Marine Scout Biker squads in my 40k League Flesh Tearers army and finally managed to get them built.

I used the newer scout biker bits to add Astartes Grenade launchers to three bikes in each squad. The grenade launcher bits went onto the old style bikes surprisingly well. I originally planned to put them on the old style 40mm cavalry bases but I scrounged enough new longer bases for both squads.

Scout bikers assembled. My current plan is to equip both squads the same, with a vet sergeant with a Combi-grav gun, three Astartes Grenade launchers and cluster mines. The mines will let me booby trap a couple terrain pieces and then send the scout bikers to harass the enemy back field.

ColKG

Wip Flesh Tearers Scout Biker squads

I plan to add two squads of Space Marine Scout Bikers to my Flesh Tearers army to use in the current 40k league. I have a bunch of the old style metal scout bikers and have picked up some bits to round out the squads.

The first model finished a, A Scout Biker veteran Sergeant. I plan to have a vet sgt leading each squad and armed with a combi-grav gun. I used the drum magazine bolter bit from the original squad. it has a big targeter that once painted will mark it out as the combi weapon.

I bit purchased six sets of astartes grenade launchers to out fit both squads with the max amount. The grenade launcher cowlings took a little modification but fit surprisingly well.

The assembly line of scout bikers waiting for arms. I had previously used many of the scout shotgun arm bits to build a Elysian drop troop veteran squad back in the day. One of the problems of raiding a kit for bits to finish another project. I started raiding the bits boxes to come up with some replacement arms.

After a short search I came up with some bolt pistol arms I had cut from the old Space crusade scouts.

I cut these off of the space crusade scout sergeants to make them into a missile launcher armed scouts years ago. Once again never throw away any bits.

After a bit of a pin and a little trim the hand looks like it was made for the kit.

Two down and one more to go, then it is onto the rest of the bikes.

ColKG