GenCon 2013: Phat Loot

Greetings once again InterWebs!!!!! It is time to wrap up my coverage of GenCon 2013 with a brief look at some of the stuff I brought home from the convention. One of my main reasons for attending GenCon every year is to visit the Dealer's Exhibit Hall. I try to prepare my wallet for the experience every year but every year my wallet feels the pain. Oh so many shiny gaming things I never knew about but must have! There are a couple of Vendors that I look for every year and at this point they recognize me and we have a nice little chat while I am at their booth. I did purchase a few items not shown here that were gifts which have already gone to their new homes. Here is what I ended up with:


The Forgeworld booth (Mk2b Land Raider, Salamander Dred, Sevrin Loth Librarian in Mk IV armor):

Black Library Booth (getting ready for Heresy Salamanders):

The Shadowrun Booth after the 100 minute wait in line (not shown are a Rulebook and card sets):

The Mercs Minis Booth which had all sorts of new stuff (and awesome people to help me):

Above you will see the new FCC House 4 minis, Mercs Token Set (much needed), 7th Member Printed Cards (much needed), and the special GenCon only release of the Texico Eagle Assault Trooper. The GenCon only version of the Texico Eagle has clear resin smoke from his jetpack which is a cool look. All in all I spent about 45 minutes talking with the Mercs folks and of course spending money, funny how nice people can get when they want your money.

I also made it to the Wargames Factory Booth and spent some time talking with the nice folks there. A few years ago I found out that they have a headquarters in a small town not to far from here making us practically neighbors. On top of the local company side of things they are really nice people so I had to stop by and see what new things they had to offer me..........Apocalypse Survivors!!!!

 30 male and 30 female survivors for $18.00 each box, what a deal!

I had a chance to attend Tracy and Laura Hickman's Killer Breakfast and was actually awarded a prize in a random drawing (a little more involved than that, there was a game show and this was the prize) which was an autographed copy of Tracy Hickman's new novel 'Wayne of Gotham':

I stopped by another of my favorite/must see booths which happens to be a Gaming Map Dealer named Maps of Mystery. There is a running joke with my friends that I have a Map buying compulsion which I most certainly do not have! I do love gaming maps though and figure you can never have enough but I could stop buying maps at anytime.......

You will notice in the above picture I managed to pick up a copy of the Infinity Quick Start Rules. I picked these up during a painting class I took which was sponsored by the Infinity game. The painting class was interesting, basically I learned that I am painting in the correct way after all I just need to practice a bit more.

Finally my good friend Mordian 7th picked up the new phase 3 releases for X-Wing from Fantasy Flight Games. That was an awesome gesture which will make our X-Wing games even more fun! Thanks Mordian 7th!

That is the lot, not to bad after all and I somehow managed to fit it all in the luggage coming home. I am looking forward to reading the Heresy Salamander books and trying out the new ships in X-Wing. The Mercs Mini stuff (7th member cards and tokens) will be a huge help in future games. The Apocalypse Survivors will be used as part of a Christmas Gift for a very good friend that is in love with Zombie Survivor games but doesn't have any survivor miniatures to use. Thanks for stopping by and taking a look! Take care!

Mercs Minis: Project Ascension mini battle report

Greetings once again InterWebs!!!!! My good buddy Mordian 7th and I managed to get a couple of games of Mercs Minis in over the weekend in preparation for a couple of events we plan on playing at Gencon 2013 in a few days.

Gencon Mercs Events I am really looking forward to:
The Warehouse
Dispatch said that the Special Projects package is in this warehouse. Get in, find the package, get out. Pick up new equipment while you're there. Bring your MERCS team for this fast-paced scenario.

The Docks
Some shady characters down at the docks. Time to clean house. Bring your MERCS team or play with one of ours for this introductory skirmish.

According to what I have seen about the above events they will be played on some professionally done terrain which I am really looking forward to seeing. With that in mind Mordian 7th and I set out to brush up on the rules a bit and have a good time which we certainly did. We both decided to try a new scenario (at least for us) called Project: Ascension which basically is a 'super-soldier' type of mission. The scenario called for a small defending group of 2 Mercs and an Über Merc while the attacking squad had a full 5 Mercs. The goal was to kill the Über Merc, easy as pie........

Table Setup (used in both games):

Game 1 CCC defending versus Kem Var attacking:

Über Merc upgrades (CCC):
-1 FN, Fire and Move with no penalties, -1 Armor Repair, Armor self-repair 1 rd, +1 Blood/2 Rds

Kem Var setup:

 CCC Setup with the Über Merc in the center:

The Kem Var (in the awesome optical camo mini form) advance forward quickly:

The CCC Assault Leader staring at the Kem Var heavy trooper setting up (this can't be a good thing):

The Kem Var heavy had his armor broken by the CCC shooting (why the optical camo has been replaced):

The Über Merc moves forward to help thwart the Kem Var assault which had suddenly stumbled a bit:

The CCC Medic had broken a couple of Kem Var armor suits and was feeling cocky that is until the Kem Var assassin rushed him and proceeded to quickly 'gut him like a fish':

 The Über Merc continues his clean-up of the remaining Kem Var attackers:

In the end the CCC wiped out the Kem Var attackers (except the sniper who scurried off) and the CCC Project Ascension continued!

Game 2 Kem Var defending versus FCC attacking:

(Pictures start mid-battle as I forgot to take them earlier)
The Kem Var Über Merc decided early on to attack the attackers while the Kem Var heavy tried to cover him:

The FCC worked really well in teams of 2 and have already wiped out one of the Kem Var:

The end of the battle with the FCC taking out the Kem Var Über Merc who had charged forward:

In the end the FCC wiped out the Kem Var Über Merc with relative ease. It was not a good day for the Kem Var although the optical camo models were awesome to see and use in the game; it was neat seeing the mini switch from optical camo to normal paint when their armor broke.

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look! The more I play Mercs the more I enjoy the game, it is quick and simple (the second game took 30 mins). I will be posting coverage of my 2 events played at Gencon when I return in a few weeks until then Mercs coverage out................

"Thou Shalt not Run!"---Texico MERCs Minis finished

Greetings once again InterWebs!!!! For those of you curious the title of this post refers to the Texico faction's ability to lay out a bunch of traps before the game which their opponent may trigger if/when they run. I think it is a nifty little rule which adds some flavor to the faction. Well enough talk, you are here to see pictures so here are my Texico minis:

My favorite miniature in the bunch....the Texico Marshal:

A closer look at his hidden 'face':

The Demolition Man:

A closer look at his full face helmet:

The Assault Member:

A decent sculpt to the face:

Love his whacking stick!

The Heavy Support:

The business end of the weapon:

The actual Team Leader and his (non-MERCs mini) Dog:

The Dog mini that comes with the set was a little small so I went with something much larger:

Looks like they are going inside for a drink:

Finally the Team Sniper (not my favorite mini in the set):

His green eye lenses are a bit hidden but they are the only 'face' showing:

Well, that is it for now. I can't wait to try these guys out during some games at GenCon 2013. Thanks for stopping by and taking a look! Take care!

Always remember: