Hawk Wargames: DropFleet Commander

My kickstarter pledge for DropFleet Commander finally arrived in the mail. It was a very anticipated delivery. I was watching email for the shipment conformation everyday. I chose to pledge at the Commodore level. For this pledge, I receive one Dropfleet Commander 2 Player Starter Set, which contains Scourge and UCM starter Fleets, terrain and accessories needed to play a starter set game. 2 Faction Starter Fleets, PHR. The Kickstarter exclusive UCMF Atlantis model, plus 3 Kickstarter Exclusive Battlecruisers.

When the box arrived I was like a kid in a candy store. This box was larger and heavier than expected.

I was happy to see that when I opened the box it was filled full of goodies. My attention was drawn to this awesome T-Shirt that Hawk WarGames produced.

After unpacking the entire box there was a ton of ships, stands, dice, cards, and markers.  I am happy to report this was one of the best Kickstarters I have pledge to date. Ships, Ships, and more Ships.

After looking throw all of the packages I found this cool Hawk Wargames pin.

The two player starter sets include the decks of cards for battle groups and these awesome custom dice were included.

With my pledge I ordered the modular space station and there are a lot of pieces and parts. This thing is a work of art.

Here is a close up view of the detailed injection molded plastic ships, specifically a UCMF ship. These ships are very detailed. Some of the best I have seen, I am surprised at how far we have come in space gaming.

The DropFleet Commander core rule book is a work of art in itself, 224 pages of glory and awe.  This is one heavy duty book. I am glad they took their time to make sure it was at this quality.

Well I hope to get these ships on the painting table soon. I am getting my second wind of gaming after some personal hardships. Only time will tell.

Axis and Allies: Family Throw Down

Last Sunday night the kids and I sat down and decided to play a game of Axis and Allies. The kids played the Axis and I played the Allies.  This was a learning game for them, but I did not go easy on them. They had to think about each of their choices and work as a team.

So the game started out pretty well, my son took the Germans and my daughter took Japan. My son took a very conservative approach to play the Germans as well as my daughter. I on the other hand did not, I came out of the gate swinging for the fences.  Here is a couple of rounds of the game that ended in a win for myself.  They of course wanted a rematch.

At the end of the turn above I took Germany, South Europe and Eastern Europe. Once that occurred I turned my attention to Japan.

My large combined fleet closed in on Japan and finally took out Japan.  Game Over! It was a well played 3 hour game.

Halo Fleet Battles: Bust Collection

A few weeks ago I was looking through Miniature Markets clearance site and found the two Halo Fleet Battles bust collections extremely discounted.  Since I have always thought they were actually pretty cool I decided to take the plunge and buy the two sets.  The two sets consist of three busts each and they are very detail.  This is something I am coming to expect from Spartan Games in all of the lines.  I need to now find time to fit this project into my painting schedule, maybe sometime after the space stations are completed.  The projects just keep coming!

UNSC Bust Collection

The UNSC Bust collection consists of Fleet Admiral Lord Hood, Vice Admiral Michael Stanforth and Artificial Intelligence Cortana. The busts are made from high quality resin and come unassembled and unpainted. I was surpised to fing two detailed dice plinths are also provided.

Covenant Bust Collection 

The Covenant Bust collection consists of Supreme Commander Rho ‘Barutamee, Imperial Admiral Xytan ‘Jar Wattinree and the Minister of Etiology. The busts are also made from high quality resin and come unassembled and unpainted as well as including two detailed dice plinths.

So finally after waiting a couple of days for them to arrive here they are in all their glory.  First up we have the UNSC Commanders. When I opened the box I was not expecting the bust to be in multiple pieces.

So as we get a close up shot of the pieces you can tell the sculptures are very detailed and great care and patients was taken on every piece.

The detail on these models is amazing.  I am so glad I bought these guys.  However I don't know when I will be able to paint the up.  My list of project is growing.

Lots and lots of pieces to put together.

The Covenant Busts are just as detailed however they will require a bit more assembly. These guys are gonna look mean on the gaming table.

Spartan Games: 30% off Selected Halo Fleet Battles Products!

You read that right, Spartan Games is offering a 30% discount on select Halo Fleet Battles products. This weekend only apply the coupon code HFB30 at checkout and bam you have some amazing models at a great price. Remember this offer will end on Tuesday 4th October, 2016.

Homeword Hiigaran Miniatures

A few years ago I ran across some amazing miniatures from the Homeworld PC game, specifically Hiigaran style miniatures. They were produced by War Games Supplies (wargamessupplies@rocketmail.com) and available via their site Fate Amenable to Change (http://www.fate-amenable-to-change.co.uk/hiigaran/hiigaran.html). 

The ship designers produce the Hiigaran style miniatures specifically for the game "A Call to Arms" (ACTA).  As you remember ACTA was produced by Mongoose Published for the Babylon 5 TV series miniatures game.  They have also developed the ACTA Game Cards necessary to rapidly use these ships in your games.  

Collussus Class Super-Heavy Battleship

I ended up ordering several Hiigaran Battle Group Boxset to use in various games because they look amazing and are in scale with ACTA, Full Thurst, and Firestorm Armada. The Hiigaran Battle Group box gives 28 ships and everything you need to field a superior force. The box also comes with all turrets and flight-stands for all ships.

Hiigaran Battle Group Box

The box set comes with everything you see here and it is pretty cool! 

This is some of my left over ships that I did not build out my patrol fleet

I love the way my patrol fleet sits in this Blu Foam from Portable Warfare.

The patrol fleet consist of a frigate squadron (4) and a cruiser squadron.  One of which I have upgraded to a strike cruiser / heavy cruiser / command cruiser

To add a lot of teeth to this partol fleet I added a Collussus Class Super-Heavy Battleship. Why you ask? Well because it is a cool ship...

 Here is the bottom view of the battleship.  This really are some great models.

Flashpoint Amber: The Medusa Offensive

Spartan Games has done it again with this amazing new flash message traffic.  This just in updated from the front, The Medusa Offensive.

As war rages across the Firestorm Galaxy and each side looking for a major victory Spartan Games zoomed in on the Kurak Alliance Medusa Offensive in the Amber System, on the very southernmost spur of the Moore Systems cluster.

This amazing offensive is destined to bring about epic battles especially since it is protected by a bulwark of defenses.

The most formidable being the new Daedalus Space Station. No intel has been released for this station, but based on the others that we have seen it is going to get crazy in the Amber System.  So strap on your anti-grav shoes, we are going for a ride.

Spartan Games has also introduce some new rules for running mixed cruiser squadrons that are sure to change each sides strategies. Now up to one Cruiser in a Cruiser Squadron may instead be a Heavy Cruiser or an Escort Carrier, for the Points Cost listed in the relevant Statistics profile. Up to one Light Cruiser in a Light Cruiser Squadron may instead be a Standard Cruiser, Gunship or an Escort Carrier, again for the relevant Points Cost. In all cases, the minimum Squadron requirements must still be filled with standard Cruisers or Light Cruisers, and the Squadron cannot contain more models than its maximum Squadron Size.

Check out the full article on the blog site at: http://www.spartangames.co.uk/flashpoint-amber

Spartan Games: Flashpoint Messages

Recently Spartan Games announced in its blog that it will be sending out Firestorm Galaxy updates via what it has dubbed Flashpoint Firestorm. They will be using these rolling updates to discuss both Firestorm Armada and Planetfall games under the same heading since they are part of the same Galaxy, and definitely interrelated.

According to Spartan Games these blog updates will be used to discuss and deliver a wide range of information, improving communications, and keeping us up-to-date with Spartan Games Firestorm plans. Updates will include new and expanded narratives about the Firestorm Galaxy, new model designs, rule discussions, statistic discussions.

As part of their first update Spartan Games announced that long anticipated version 3.0 Firestorm Armada core rules update has moved to 2017. This will allow Spartan Games the flexibility that it needs to add core strength and balance of the 2.0 rules and statistics.

They also announce a new amazing model the Indomitable Class Assault Carrier, see below. 

There is more to come and I am super excited to see what they have in store for us next.

Syndicate Battleship and Patrol Group Unboxing!

Yesterday I receive the new Battleship Group and Patrol Fleet from Spartan Games in the mail. I was a little hesitant to buy these two boxes, however once I opened them I was not disappointed.

In my first order in sometime I ordered a Battleship Group (FAMP21) and the Patrol Group (FAMP20).

The first box we will take a look at is the Battleship Group (FAMP21), which consists of 1 Phantom Class Battleship, 5 Shadown Class Frigates, 1 Large & 1 Small SRS tokens.

The detail on the new Phantom Class Battleship is amazing.

The new shadow class frigates are really cool and exactly what the syndicate need to maintain control over the Storm Zone.

The second box I ordered was the Patrol Fleet (FAMP20).  It consists of 1 Spur Class Battlecruiser, 2 Wraith Class Gunships, 5 Shadow Class Frigates, 1 Large and 1 Small SRS Token.

Introducing the Wraith Class Gunship.  This is an amazing little ship.  I am going to do some damage with it.