Mainly Vet Con AAR, mainly Quar

 (scratching my head and thinking)

 "What was I doing again?"   "Oh yeah!  Writing the best damn wargaming blog on the internet!"

Except for all those other ones, which are equally as good.

Fine.  They're BETTER even.  Go read all those why don't you.  OH you do?  Well, good, you should.

Good blogs probably wouldn't go a whole month without posting, except of course when they do.  Like I just did.  Here's a mega update, but mainly a Vet Con AAR, and mainly Quar. 

 VET CON AAR

Every time I go to a convention, I think I should try to be a good blogger and take pics of ALL the games.  I start off well enough, but then I get distracted and stop.  Unless I'm standing right there next to it then I don't see or hear it, just like small dogs and miracles.    

Vet con ran Friday night through Sunday, and that lends itself to a fine structure...

FRIDAY:

Broke free early on the Friday afternoon from my home life, and safe in the knowledge that my in-laws had come town to help my wife with the children, I prepared for a holiday weekend of gaming with no responsibilities other than driving safely (and I barely did that).

I had brought my Quar stuff for a Friday game but the nice man I was supposed to play could NOT break away from his own responsibilities, so instead I jumped in a game of Gunfighters Ball (a Cowboy game) hosted by the Mr. DP who was running the con... 

along with socializing and saying hello to people, I'm a regular chatty Cathy at a wargame convention.

My two bandits making off with a wagon

I named myself the King of the Banditos as my two bandits actually stole a wagon and got it off the table while everyone else was getting shot or throwing dynamite and getting themselves blown up.

Gunfighter's Ball is a fun game.  When you get shot you draw a damage card, and I swear every other card is getting shot in the ass or balls.

SATURDAY:

Most of Saturday was spent playing a Bolt Action 3rd edition tournament.  3 games, each about 2.5 hours.  Tournaments can be nerve racking if one trying to do well.  Fortunately for me this was not the case as I just wanted to learn the game better.  It was nerve racking for me because I did not have a 3rd edition rulebook nor a 28mm WWII army.  I didn't have the rules because despite ordering them in JULY from Osprey. and them being released in September, apparently the books from Osprey were somehow delayed, and delayed again.  Even while I'm writing this sentence I still don't have my book. 

As for the army, I know all about how these WWII types operate and saddled up to one and said "Hi. My name is Stewart, and I'm you're new best friend.  SOOOoooo, got a spare army?"  And he did.  Mr. R kindly lent me a Soviet army that was very beginner friendly. 

In actual fact, I had arranged with the Organizer Mr. SM ahead of time to borrow an army.  That morning, he did have a spare army but also said "that man over there also has like 4 armies that he said people could borrow, try him."  Mr Said that it was nice for him because he had all these armies that hardly ever see the table, and it was nice to see them used.  I said, "well, as long as you understand that I'm one doing YOU a favor then we're all good."  No, I didn't say that for reals. 

Nothing says WWII like Hedgerows.
Hedgerows and machinegun noises.

The red bobbles are pins, so you can tell that I'm doing really well.

In my last game, I played Mr. SM and his British Commandos.

The BA tournament was super friendly, super fun, laid back.  Lot's of people were still learning the 3rd rules so I didn't stand out too much with all my nagging questions.  

And then, because it was too early to go home, I once again played a game of Gunfighters Ball in the same scenario.  I loudly announced that last game I was the King of the Banditos and to watch my example.  After lecturing everyone that no one should be throwing dynamite, the game began where I was the first cowboy shot dead.  

Strangely, all pictures of this game are lost. 

OTHER GAMES: 

Before we get on with Sunday, here are some pictures of other games that I did manage to photograph...

A 54mm WWII game that everyone seemed to enjoy

Star Wars

Some AWI

I know, it's such a lack luster effort.  There were others, LOTS others, I just didn't take pictures of them.  I'm just not naturally inclined to take a bunch of pictures unless it has something to do with me.  Because I selfish. I never share my french fries.  

Lots of pics of Sunday though, because on Sunday I hosted two games of Quar: Clash of Rhyfles.

Sunday is Quar day

To refresh your memory as it's been a month, a Quar is a Humanoid Anteater-ish thing in WWI-ish tech.  Like so:

Some recently painted Quar.
Over exposed, as I was playing with the setting...

I set up a scenario for 5 players, where 3 payers would play the crusaders, and their job was to assault across a river and take the center ground of the two players playing the royalists.  The scenario ran in the morning through afternoon, and again late afternoon till evening.  

Table Set up.

Each player had a 300-ish point force of 11 miniatures (so 600 pts on defense vs 900 pts on attack). 

Just a closer look.

The game was just kinda but not really, but just barely; local enough tothe Developers of Quar miniatures and Rulebooks, so the guys who are Zombiesmith, Mr. JQ and Mr. AB, came up to have a look-see and have a chat.  Which was very flattering.  I mean for them, because how often do you get to meet a famous blogger like myself with an international blog read by a dozen people?  

I pretended not to be starstruck.  It's rare you get to meet the people who make the stuff that you enjoy so much.  Mr. JQ and Mr. AB were very nice and we go to get in some good chat when I wasn't distracted by actually having to run the game.  

Mr. JQ pinned a Crusader badge onto my collar.  It felt like being knighted.  

I didn't get any pictures of us together.  Which is unfortunate because it would have made me a very minor celebrity in some very small circles.  Very-very small circles, more like dots.  But still, my wife thought it was cool when I told her all about it.  Repeatedly.  

Some Cadier (Horse equivalent) are tethered by the bridge for some unknow reason.

Me in the purple shirt.
Pointing with intention.

The Coftyrans are defending the bridge.

In the evening game, One of the local players, Mr. NB, brought his newly painted 
Arnyaran faction to try out.  We swapped out one of my crusader forces for his force.
The Tractor (tank) was just for fun looks.

Two lone Royalists try to hold out.
Can you be lone if there are two of you?

Trying to get across the river

At one point, it felt like it was getting really late.  "Man, it feels late.  What time is it anyway?"  "6:30?!!"  "We all need to man up, my children aren't bed yet so I can't go home."  

Quar moving through the woods.

Some Crusaders trying out the bridge.
because crossing rivers is for suckers.
Why get your feet wet AND be shot at?

We were the last game to wrap up and we few players closed out the convention.  

So Vet Con was a great success.  Lots of fun, and in typical convention fashion you see a lot of people you seem to only see at conventions.  I made some new gaming friends, I sold everything I placed in the Bring and Buy so had enough cash to pay for all my drinks.  

Monday is Veteran's Day

Woke up early, put flowers on my father's grave who served 20 years in the navy, and then off to a parade.  My older children were marching in the local parade as part of Scouts.  It was cold, wet, and raining.  

Question: What does an almost middle aged, kinda out of shape, definitely hung over, father do in a cold, wet, and raining parade?

Answer:

He carries his 4 year old for 2 miles.
Not all heroes wear capes, but I bet they all have sore backs.

After we got home and put on warm dry clothes, my oldest son (6 years old) demanded that since I was gone all weekend playing games with other people that it was now his turn to play.  So out came his favorite game King of Toyko. 

Where he beat me three times.
He can barely read but he knows what ALL the cards do.

Thanks for reading.
Double thanks for writing a comment.
Till next time.

And then I

 Hello again. 

Ever take one of those writing classes in school where there was an exercise where a writing prompt would be provided, and you had to fill in the rest?  

I know, those are lame and were never fun.  But let's try it anyway, wargaming blog styles.

And Then I

was super annoyed because I had to skip out of playing remotely in Jonathan's Freitag's remote ACW game.  I had to skip out because my wife volunteered to host a baby shower at our place at the WORST possible timey given mine and JF's schedules.  It just became impossible. Now children that aren't even mine are ruining my wargaming.  And I was in need of a good ACW game.

Does it even count as an ACW game without me?!

yeah, I mean, of course it does.  

And Then I

had to take my actual children out of the house on the day of the baby shower for 6 hours.  Spending the day with your children is, in theory, not the end of the world.  It is a challenge to find activities that a 3-year-old, a 6-year-old, and an 11-year-old can all do together.  

Plus, it was 100 degrees outside. 

In October.

So the usual ploy of packing a lunch and going to a park was off.  Instead, I cheated and did a bunch of indoor activities like Chuck e Cheese arcade, The Mall, a "Make your own slime lab" and spent a LOT of money.  

On basically nothing.  But the kids were tired at the end of the day, so I guess it bought me an easy bedtime routine.  

And then I

Went to a Gaming Convention.  On a Saturday I attended Conquest Avalon to host two miniature wargames.  I can say without reservation that I had the BEST miniature wargame of the con.

Because it was the only one.  This was a very small convention and centered on roleplaying and boardgames.  When I checked in the nice lady laughed and expressed "oh, I didn't know we had a miniature game."  So I had brought a miniature game to a roleplaying convention. 

I set the game up, another game of "This Quar's War: Clash of Rhyfles" for 4 players and waited...

Everyone there was super nice but not interested, kinda like I am when people talk about their pets.  And 10 mins after the game was supposed to start, I had no players, and was juuust about to start cleaning up, putting my phone down, when lightning struck, and 4 players arrived.  "We're here to play in your game."  Awesome.

Covering faces, because I forgot to ask...

other in game pics:

And it was kinda a great game.  Everyone enjoyed themselves, everyone had the right attitude, and the game is really just fun to play.

I was supposed to run the game again in the afternoon, but this time lightning did not strike twice, and 15 mins after the game was supposed to start, I was sitting there alone.  I packed it up.  I could have stuck around and found a game to play but I decided to go home early for extra hubby points. I'm low on hubby points anyway.

And Then I

played Quar again.  As I had missed the aforementioned remote game due to wife, I guilted her into another game day.  I arranged for the day after the convention game for some new friends and Quar fans to come over and play some more of This Quar's War.  Another 2vs2 game but this time I got to play.

yeah, it's all the same terrain. so what?

and it was a great day.  Once again the wife took the kids out so we mostly gamed in peace until they came home.  My wife also spent a bunch of money on the kids but at least it was on clothes.  

My gaming circle increased by 3 more dudes, and by 3 more dudes that like WW1-ish anteaters.  What are the odds? 

I'm really liking this game.  And it's kinda fun to go all in on something.  

And then I 

went crazy.  Super crazy.  And bought all new miniature paints.

There's like a brush taped on the outside of the box.
Thought that was funny

For a variety of reasons.  None of them really good by themselves but taken all TOGETHER, then maybe.  Overall, I wanted to start over.  And the price was good during Amazon Prime days.  

Still too expensive.  But we just spent all this money on children, and I just spent the last two weeks doing extra on call shifts, so maybe I get a treat.  

And maybe, just maybe, this will make painting easier and more enjoyable. 

And then I

ended the post.

Thanks for reading.

Double thanks for writing a comment.

Till Next Time.

Quar trench board (part 5) and trees

 Grahgl!

(that's the noise that I make when frustrated)

I've been frustrated a lot lately.  it's starting to hurt my throat.

And painting miniatures is so boring and dumb that I'd rather pull out my eye lashes.

So instead I'll make some terrain.  

Everybody loves terrain.  

and then everybody will love me.

In truth, I've painted enough Quar for a good 2vs2 or even 3vs2 games and it's a good time to switch over to terrain, to make the battlefield a little more This Quar's War instead of This Quar's American Civil War.  

F.O.U.C.s

Trees are an easy place to start.  Trees are definitely not frustrating.  Lots of the Quar artwork show special trees.  Not really alien trees, because they're obviously normal trees, but F.O.U.C.s.  That stands for Flora Of Unusual Colors.  So I Branched Out to create some trees of reds, purples, pinks. 

They came out Oak-kay.  Knot the best but Be-leaf-able.  

My wife thought they were pretty.  The idea is not to have whole forest of these, but to use them more like accent trees, spots of color.  Like hair highlights or frosted tips.

Clean

Building on my frustration is my hobby desk has gotten waaay to cluttered....

Embarrassing

I can never find anything.  Where did that glue go?  Where is that base?  Where is my sense of gratitude and contentment?!!!   Grahgl!

I'm especially mad at my paints.  I have this random collection of Vallejo paints that just grew haphazardly over the years.  The paints themselves are fine, but everything else about them has been annoying me lately.  It's hard to replace individual bottles as these are mostly sold in sets, unless you go out to a store thats tocks them but you necer know if they have the color you actually want but that means leaving the house and dealing with weather, people, and vicious animals.

I'm always trying to remember which color was used for that other's color highlight and why do I have 8 shades of brown with 2 that I never use.. and what's Iraqi Sand supposed to mean and what's this number system that doesn't make sense Grahgl

I feel like I need a new system of some sort.

But in the meantime I did the simple thing and cleaned / organized the desk. 

Better

Oh, that OTHER desk belongs to my wife for her hobbies.  It's also known as the Desk Where We Put Random Stuff.  

Trench Board

It's been a couple of weekends since I touched the This Quar's War Trench Terrain Boards (say that 5 times fast, don't bother, ya can't.)  I went to a con, I had a wedding anniversary (15 years), there was a child sleep over.  Anyway, I was able to dig them out fo the garage and complete the planking on the third board.

the last 2x4 board.
It goes well with the carpet.

The last stone staircase

The last bridge test fit.

The last trench redoubt

Well... Almost done

The arrow shows a place where I screwed up with the spackle and made a place where it was impossible to get little wooden sticks to... stick.  I'll have to think of something else to go there.  I'm open to ideas.  I also need to go back to school and learn more words.  

Here's all 3 of the boards together to make a 4x6 wargame table:

tah-dah

Which I admit is underwhelming.  Though I do take comfort in the Pink Panther giving me the thumbs up.  

The idea is that all the flat space will be used for scatter terrain and whatnot. These scatter pieces will  be from the existing collection or from items I've yet to make.  So far the best items I have are the ones in my imagination.  

Thanks for Reading.

Double Thanks for writing a comment.

Till Next Time. 

Slightly more Quar and Inventory

 After the overwhelmingly mild success of my ARR, it's time to get back to the wining blog formula:
Stupid jokes and adequately painted miniatures. First for the stupid joke:
What is Orange and sounds like a parrot?
-- A Carrot.

And now miniatures.

More of Painted Quar

We always want more.  

Quar!

The Coftyran (Royalist) faction has pulled ahead in the arms race that is happening on my hobby desk, as they now have an actual machine gun, maned by 3 quar.

Medium machine gun team.

Not too shabby

I've also painted up 4 rhflyer buddies

Advance to the left!

I tried out doing the splotches in a slightly different way, adding in a dark outline around a brighter center. Like the sun shining through a dark cloud.

Close ups so you can see them,
not because the paint job is fantastic,
because it's not

I also tried it the other way, a bright outline with a dark center.  Like a little black spot on the sun. 

The first way looks better.

Advance to the right!

Avoiding Rebasing 



The Quar are something of a resurrected project, and as such I have some Quar that were painted and based over 10 years ago..    Really is too bad that my painting skills never improved. 

Past me did not know that future me would go all in with magnetic bases; and used MDF rounds that are 3mm thick.  Past me didn't know a lot of things. 

The two different bases look fine together on the table, so that's not the issue.  The problem is storage.  I like the magnet bases mainly for storage ease.  Having the collection using two methods of storage is a pain and heart breaking.  I would LOVE to love them all in the same place in the same way.  I really don't want to rebase, but I would do an-y-thing for love.  Yes I would do an-y-THING for LOVE!

Yes I would do aaaaannyything for love.

but I won't do that.

So instead, I took a drill and made a shallow hole
and glued in a 1mm by 5mm rare earth magnet.

Yay! Now they all can stick together in the same storage tub.
Sorry for the glare.

While everyone is all together like this, seems like a good time to take an inventory.

The Coftyrans:

24 Rhyflers with Harlech rifles

3 Rhyflers with Cryfen LMG

3 Trench Raiders (smg and sword)

3 Yawdryl (smg and sword)

2 Snipers

1 MMG team (3 Quar)

4 Is-Caerten (pistol and sword)

42 total to keep the King safe.

The Crusaders:

16 Rhyflers with Bogen rifles

8 Rhyflers with Ryshi Rifle

3 Rhyflers with Ha-11 LMG

2 Snipers 

2 Yawdryl (with Bogen)

4 Is-Caerten (Grifkis Shotgun)

35 Total to save the world by breaking it.

Grand total of 77.  Not bad, considering that 4 months ago I had 18.

Wait, That was Only One Dumb Joke

Isn't everything in life kinda a dumb joke?

But when you're right, you're right:

How do you tell the difference between an alligator and a crocodile?

--One will see you later, and one will see you after a while.  

As will I.

Thanks for Reading,

Double Thanks for writing a comment.

See you next time.