Saga - Pagan Rus "done"...

...except for shields. Waiting for those to dry now and then I'll glue them on tomorrow

These guys were my first attempt at doing a base coat, inking, highlight technique. I also did "eyes' minus pupils as I'm afraid to screw them up.

I always hate pictures as all the imperfections come out and I see them perfectly. I'm sure you readers can too. That said I like how these look in my hand and on the table.I learned a lot from doing these guys.

I just inked a point of Rus Warriors and I look forward to how those turn out as it's less metal on them. It's all hats, cloaks, tunics, and Hammer pants on them.

Truth About Portland I

I've decided to write in regards to the Portlandia Myth. First, this is not going to be some bit about how cool we are and don't want outsiders. No. This is also not a "why I hate Portland"... I don't. Overall, I love this city and hope to stay here. I think other cities are cool too and I think people should stay in their cities if they want.

All I'm trying to do is shed light on what life, for me, is like here in Portland and try to shed light on some of these myths about us.

First, my "Portland" background:
My Mother is from Thailand.
My Father is from Texas, moved to Baker City, OR in the late 40s with his Parents Jack and Emily Jo Martin.
I was born in Los Angeles and we moved up here in the mid 70s; Vancouver, WA to be exact. I grew up in Vancouver, WA which is right across the Columbia River from Portland, OR.
My first "real job" (not parent dependent) was in Portland, OR as a bouncer at The Depot Nightclub. I was 17 and this was the summer before my senior year in high school.
I left to serve in the Navy 1989-1993.
I came back to Vancouver in 1993 and moved across the river to Portland in 1998.
Been an Oregon (and Portland) resident ever since.
--though--
Many people say they are "from Portland" but most live in the Metro Area which would be Hillsboro, Gresham, Clackamas, Vancouver, Beaverton, et al. The whole timie I have lived here since 1998, if one were to write me a letter and send it to me in the mail, the last line on my address would say "Portland, OR 972XX".
^^^ I have no qualms when people who do this, I just wanted to make things clear. When I was in the Navy I'd say I was from Portland, OR because of this:
Where are you from?
Vancouver, Washington.
Washington DC?
No.
Vancouver BC?
No... uhhhh... Portland, Oregon.
Ohhhh!!! My sister loves that place!

Since I'm talking about myself here I'd also like to add that the "weird" culture we are tagged with? I was a part of that in the 90s and into the 00s. I'm not famous or anything. I was just some industrial/metal/tribal kid in his 20s that did the lifestyle that goes with it. I don't do that anymore and, quite frankly, I don't drink and do the drugs like I used to. Many of the "cool" iconic places we hear about? I either worked there or was a customer there. Mostly just saw many bands and drank many cans and bottles of PBR at these places. I'm no originator or anything, I was just some guy that did that stuff. One of many, nothing special.

Myth I - Rain

Yep, it rains here. It rains lots of other places too. According to this link it rains more in many cities in the US than it does in Portland as a matter of fact. Check this out:
http://www.currentresults.com/Weather/US/average-annual-precipitation-by-city.php
Yeah, we're up there. We also have good marks for "days of rain" but we're not very spectacular. Above average at best.

One thing we do do well is "mist coating everything with a sheen of wet". It's like a light sprinkle that just sits there and keeps things wet. That breeds black mold. Yuck. It's a bitch to keep your car clean but it's not a deal breaker. You either clean your car a lot or let mold and green stuff grow on it.

We do have seasons though. Sometimes those seasons come about at the wrong time. Today (January 30, 2015) for example is going to be 55 degrees and sunny. Looking out side right now (afternoon) it's probably 49 and it's totoally clear and sunny out. Tomorrow might hit 60 degrees. Last Saturday I was volunteering at a community event and it was close to 60 degrees out. I had my truck window down and I was bumping my stereo... NPR, but bumping all the same.

Slightly out of the ordinary but no too out of the ordinary.

Note - one thing this did do? False Spring made all the bug eggs hatch and pollen come early. Portland, and the Willamette Valley in general IS famous for pollen. If you have hay fever, you will get crushed here. It's frikkin ridiculous. Right now it's Stuffed Nose and Fleas season.

We might get a last freeze in February, I've seen it snow in April. Vancouver got a tornado a few years back! Some times we get flooding in both the spring and fall.

99% of the time it's normal here. Most rain comes in the spring, March-April. Summer, "hot days" 80 degrees or more, goes July to September. We do get some 100 degree days every year. People cry.We also cry when it snows because, like 100 degree days, we only get a few of those per year. No need to spend millions on "snow contingencies". Just stay home and have some whiskey or coco.

The rain is not too bad here if you are ready for it. Use an umbrella, don't believe that whole "Real Portlanders don't use umbrellas!" BS. Do you know what that does? The rain coat will drain all over the person next to you on the bus. Rude. Use your umbrella.

Make sure you rake your leaves and clean your gutters. Mix of fall leaves and rain can wreck things and flood your basement and streets.

SAGA - Varangians vs. Welsh, Escort

Lonely Viking bannerman...

Got a game going last Friday night with Spencer. We decided to use my quasi new (finally finished painting them) carts and goods figures painted. Old Glory WOR-24 Civilians with Ox Drawn Cart:

They are heavy! I based them with Renedra bases, gave them a good base coat, finished with a quickshade of AP Strong Tone. I store them in a Chessex small case with the middle insert pulled out, all 3 figures fit perfectly in that.

6 point Welsh v. Viking (with Harald and Varangians) Escort, random terrain, we rolled to see who got to escort and also go first.

Welsh:

Warlord

Bard

x12 mounted Hearthguard

x10 warrior

x10 warrior

x4 warrior

Viking:

Harald Hardrada

x12 Varangians (axe) and Bannerman

x8 warrior

x8 warrior

Vikings won the coin toss to get the carts and Escort them across the board.

l-r: Cargo to get across, warriors (my freshly painted Pagan Rus Warrior point) Varangians and Harald, warriors

Harald surveys his charge

Welsh behind the trees, always behind the trees.

This was our very frist game playing Escort Scenario so there was a bit of a curve to get over. The "escort's" mission is to get 2 of 3 of their while the "attacker" mission was to destroy 2 of the 3 baggage figures.

Baggage figures generate Saga dice, as well as 3 attack dice, move like Hearthguard (M movement and all 3 dice activate), and have armor 5 or 6 against shooting. No board abilities may be used with them - either side.

My, Harald's, big plan was to hug the extreme right of the board and screen and fight my way through, and it almost worked!

The Welsh's big plan, from Harald's view, was to harass from the trees and make a grand move with the mounted Welsh Deathstar and kill 2 of the carts. That DID work.

The Welsh go first and send 12 well-equipped riders down Harald's left flank.  Harald, in turn, sends the carts forward and set's up his warriors in a rear and left screen.

These Viking Warriors held true, very well as a matter of fact, in round 2 as the Welsh went full in on javelins and melee, and I only lost 1 warrior and Welsh lost one as well. The errant cart was pulled off the line by a Welsh ability - which was later recanted as we both forgot board abilities could not be used on carts (for or against). This did not prove to be a game wrecker.

Harald's Varangians hit the tree-line hard and fast occupying the dozens of Welsh ambushers and met the leader of the raiders face to face. The first cart and some hunters with a pig pushed forward under the protection of Harald and his friends from Kiev.

Some of those Kievans fell to Welsh javelin barrages . Many warriors in the rear finally fell to javelins and spears of the persistent Welsh horsemen; only 2 surviving the 3rd attack and pulling back.

The Varangians surged forward and, with Harald, attacked the wall of shields and javelins before the Kievans and baggage. They hit the Welsh and hit them hard but not enough to wipe them out. Of the 10 Welsh in the way 1 survived and was forced to pull back.

The Varangians went back to work on the force of Welsh in the woods. One mistake was made though - the Kievans did not redeploy as needed to create a second screen for the Welsh on ponies coming up from the rear.

That is exactly what the Welsh did - captured the rear 2 baggage figures and sealed the win for the game.

Harald and the carts got SOOOOO close to a win! My biggest mistake was not following through with my plan - which was:

If the horsey dudes shoot down my left flank than I will deploy the First group of warriors as a screen. If they fail (and they did by round 3) I will deploy the second group to screen the rear. 

I did deploy them but as a back up to the Varangians that were doing well against the Welsh in the copse of woods. I didn't even realize my mistake until it was too late and I was going, "Where is my second warrior screen?"

The game ended with Spencer putting all his activation dice on his (now) 11 man Welsh mounted Hearthguard and marched them right up the rear and took out a cart and my hunters, giving him the win. Good game!

Thanks for reading.

Saga - Scots from Old Glory

A few months ago the Scots faction in SAGA piqued my interest. I'm still painting my Pagan Rus so I did not immediately source my Scots as I don't want to be painting 2 factions at once. I am in the Old Glory Army and I order from them once per month.

Last week I ordered 9th Century Scots with Spears and Command, cat # SVS-6 and they arrived at my office today. 

Most of the Dark Ages lines (or lines in general) come in 30 packs. You get 30 figures. I've built quite a lead mountain in the past 9 months ordering from Old Glory. Most of the time I only need 8-16 figures per pack and the rest are stored away for future use of any kind. I am even contemplating bring some to Enfilade this year for the Bring and Buy. I have never used a whole 30 pack.

I picked up the Scots Command pack thinking, "It's a good place to start. I'll but this and go from there." Well... I am very pleased in that I'm able to use ALL the figures in this pack and almost complete my 6 points of Scots for SAGA.

Here is what I got:

1x Warlord and 1x Bannerman

4x Hearthguard and 4x Hearthguard

8x Warrior

8x Warrior

4x extras which I will mod into 4x Hearthguard

Scots are spear-centric, meaning that the faction is hard-wired for the figures to have spears. I have some but will buy more next month. The only thing this pack does not provide is 12x levy with javelins. I spoke to my buddy Spencer who shares the Old Glory account with me and we're going to split a pack of Irish Kerns next month netting me my 12x peasants throwing javelins.

Good mix of shields on these guys too, from nice professional warrior type shields to small bucklers.

Thanks for reading and may your dice roll 60% in your favor.

Video Game - World of Tanks

December 29th, 2014.... I loaded World of Tanks onto my lap top and a new "thing" began.

I first saw a TV commercial for it a year or so ago. I think it was at least. Then it got advertised on some of the podcasts I listen too (WTF and Never Not Funny). I still stayed away from it though.

Being as how I can fit into many stereotypes I try to buck as many as I can. I was a jock who played D&D and was in drama. I'm a fantasy/sci-fi/nerdy reader but a bouncer at a nightclub. I'm a comicbook fan yet I can still talk to women in a bar.

One of my weaknesses is my ability to get sucked into a video game. I have a love/hate relationship there.

In 1999 I bought a refurb'ed Playstation, Diablo II, and Resident Evil: Nemesis on a rainy Black Friday at 7AM. Later that day my phone rang and it was my friend Scuffy.

"Dude, what you got going on?"
Me, "Playing my new Playstation, why?"
Scuffy, "I'm at BOG having drinks with Susan, Sara, and Sally*."  *<names changed to protect the innocent.
Me, "Oh..."
Scuffy, "You should come out and meet us, Sally says she would like to see you."
Me, "OK... I'll see you in a few then."

I'm thinking, "Shower, get a quick bite to eat, etc." When I look at the clock and it's past 10PM.

Anyways, though I slide occasionally I am still reluctant to be that stereotype. It annoys me really. As a matter of fact video gamer culture annoys me to some extent. The behaviour, the habits, the justification.... just go outside! I'm old, get off my lawn.

It's all about balance - I like video games and I'm an outdoors-man. Go figure.

I avoided World of Tanks for a long time despite my love of tanks and the game Battle Zone. Finally, I see that The Northwest Historical Miniature Gaming Society has some active members playing and I load the game while on my 11 day winter break from work and the last 3 weeks has been history.

First off, I suck at it. I'm a down-right crappy player. My tanks get stuck on rocks and I can't aim and I forget where my crosshairs are and when things get hairy I panic and hit wrong buttons. What I need is a control paddle like a PS or Xbox but WoT is 90% PC game.

On a sidenote and related to gamer behavior:
I do some research on adding a console controller to my PC for WoT and my search leads me to the WoT forum. Someone had asked the same question about a year ago on the WoT forum and half the answers were of the ilk: "Shaddup noob! WASD 4 ever!! Go back to your peasant box!!!". Seriously? Man, forums and gamers bring out the best.

The good thing about WoT is that the contact with other players is minimal. You've a chat on the lower left of your screen, I ignore this 99% of the time. I've only seen myself get called a "moron" 2 times - both for shooting at a tank on my screen that was behind good cover.

Loading and playing is free and the kind of free where you can still have fun. You can be competitive if you are a good gamer and not pay a cent. If you pay money you get credits, upgrades, premium stuff... that kind of thing.

Game play is straight forward. You've a specific tank with specific capabilities assigned to it. You go onto a battle field with other tanks (other players world wide) and duke it out. Typical scenario is capture the base or blow up all opponents. Seems to me that the kill all the opponents is much more popular than taking a base, which consists of a tank(s) sitting on the designated area of the opponents for 1 minute (faster if multiple tanks). I've seen people do this as opposed to hunting down and killing the last opponent only to get booed on chat.

The battle fields vary from urban to quaint farmer fields. All kinds of variations of terrain exist. Gullies, trees, rocks, buildings, water, etc. all with different affects that I could not list here (long list and I don't know 80% of it). It seems WWII-centric though.

You can advance your tanks, which you start out with 6 of in your garage (one from each nation in WWII), and crews gain experience. Some tanks are better than others obviously. They are all different enough that they are distinct. Without any prompting or guidance I leaned towards American tanks. I also like the Japanese options.

I quickly dumped Russian, German, French, and Chinese tanks. you can "sell" tanks you don't like. The mistake I made was selling experienced crew off with tanks. I have learned that, if you are going to stick with a country but not specific tanks than pull the crew from the tank and put them in your barracks and save them for later.

Tank improvements can be researched and bought by experience earned. This also leads to better and heavier models of tanks. Like a tech tree. American tanks start with a T1 Cunningham and work up to Shermans and Stuarts and such. As this advances so do your "tiers" which is how battles are grouped. I have a Medium US tank that is in Tier 3 though I am reluctant to play Tier 3 as more advanced players are there and I get killed right off in those battles. Stay in my league!

The other thing I learned very quickly is that the "fast track" for heavier tanks is via Soviet tanks. So if you want to get into heavy tanks soon go that route. That's not for me right now though.

I'm learning the nuances of light tanks or "scouts" Fast and agile, you hit the flanks, find good terrain, hide, and identify enemy positions. One of the mechanics that is neat that I don't fully understand is being able to spot. Light tanks can go undetected and spot other tanks within a certain range and "call them in" to other tanks around you, ranged dependent on your radio technology. This is really useful if you've artillery (SPD or self propelled guns) on your team as they won't be able to target anything unless it gets spotted first.

Light tank guns are pretty weak, even if you level them up. What I like to do is make sure I spot it for bigger guns in my area and try to hit the tracks of the target immobilizing it for a few moments so my team mates and arty can zero in and maneuver around them. Sometimes I actually do this, most of the time I do this and get immediately spotted and destroyed. I'm learning.

Speaking of artillery, you can play SPDs or self propelled guns too. This is artillery. You hang back and find a good spot and let the other tanks do some spotting for you. You have a bird's eye view capability and you can aim from that view. It takes awhile for you to "zero in" and be accurate. It's hard to hit a target that is moving or has cover. Sometimes they disappear on you too. What you are looking for is repeatable patterns in movement you can anticipate or a tank that's not moving. I've actually done well with this - suffice to say there is a popular movement in WoT Community of Arty Hate. Again, see forums.

The only other variation is Tank Killers. Big guns on light frames with frontal armor. I have one in my garage and it's hot or cold. I die first or I do OK, get a few good shots in, and die towards the end of the game. Depending on the map I love/hate my T18! My main tactic with this is to hang back, find a hiding spot, and snipe. Shoot, move to new hiding spot. Most of my kills have been with a tank killer and most of my worst games has been with them.

Anyways the addicting part for me is earning experience and spending it on research and upgrades. You earn experience for wins and losses, spotting opponents, damage done by spotting, assists, kills, penetration, damage done, damage avoided... lot's of different ways and I do not know the quantification. You get more if you win, hit stuff and kill other tanks. You pay a fine or are even locked out of the login for 24 hours if you hit your own team mates. I know this because I killed one of my own guys my 3rd day of playing (by accident) and was not allowed to log back in until the next day. Pretty cool and simple rule.

There is a leveling mechanic for your crew members too but I do not understand that one. They go up in skill every battle they are in, it's all I know.

If you pay money you can get permanent camo patterns painted on to your tank, name it and put a custom emblem on the side, You can also expand your garage so you can collect more than the allotted 6 you get for free. You can also expand your barracks over the limit of 16 so as to keep more of your crew members for later. There's also all kinds of premium and special tanks you can buy. Meh... not sure if I want to pay yet.

That there is my new thing. I'm having fun with it though I do not ever see myself as a "good" player. I've seen my overall stats and I'm batting a .499880 right now so just below average!

2015! Some progress on new Saga factions, new painting technique

Happy New Year! I hope 2015 has started good for you and that it keeps getting better. Thanks for reading my blog and I hope to keep it up through 2015.

First, "resolutions" or what I like to call "stuff to be better at":

1) Like many of us, we could use a good work out or some exercise. I know I need to. I will be better at going to my gym 1-2 days a week. At least. By myself I can get a good workout in (weights) 30 minutes. It takes me 5 minutes to drive there and 5 to get home. When the weather gets better I may ride my bike on the weekend. Not asking much from myself here.

2) Food stock/pantry/disaster prep. I have "single guy modified for family of 3" food stores. I am dumping that and hope to have 30 days of food for a family of 3 stores. Not too hard. I have dietary considerations to make as the Wife and the Kid aren't as open to foods as I am.

3) Outdoors/camping/fishing. I barely did any of that last year. I should also get back on track to earn my Basic Bushcraft certification from Bushcraft USA. I am 50% done with that already and the rest of the stuff is stuff I know how to do I just need to film it and post it.

I really like the painting styles I've seen of of Dalauppror and Twin Cities Gamer blogs (go check them out BTW... serious, please do).

Dalauppror

Twin Cities Gamer

I even asked Twin Cities Gamer for some advice and he gave me some and I'm practicing now. I have not done a mini 100% yet but I've pulled a few I have been working on already and re-purposed them as practice pieces. Here's what I've done so far:

Man'Serkers! with axes

Man'Serkers with battered shields

The above figs are also Old Glory Rus Spearmen or Rus Command. I modded them with plastic weapons left over from my Gripping Beast DA plastics and Viking shields from an OG Viking Command pack I picked up last year.

Speaking of Rus... my way-laid Pagan Rus project has picked up steam again. I was on track with that when I first had an itch to improve my Normans with 75 billion archers. Then, I got an itch to play Scots and started reading up on that in mid-December. Over the Holiday break I took I cleaned up my work area and desk and rearranged a few things and did some re-organizing. In doing that I unearthed my Pagan Rus faction that I put aside.

My original attraction to playing Pagan Rus is, first, my affinity to the historical era. Varangians, DA Eastern Europe, Byzantium stuff. My interest began in the SCA as I played a persona from that area. Now, in Vikings North America, I am getting my basic kit together for standard "viking" but plan to go full Rus after my basic kit requirements are filled.

*Note: Recently, in my research, I have been reading the theory that a lot of the original Varangians, thus Rus, were Finns in origin. Obviously got some Swedes in there but the Rus that went down to serve in Constantinople were of Finn stock as Swedes were staying in Rus lands to hold power there. Being 1/8th Finn I think it's an interesting theory, the minutiae of which means very little really.  Finn Pride!!

Xmas gift to myself, some Finnish flag patches - Hakkaa Paalle!

So I read up on Pagan Rus in Saga. Looking at some forum posts from the time they first came out people thought they were both over-powered and not within the realms of historical rules as a lot of their abilities looked like weather magic. It didn't to me. As time went on the Pagan Rus were found to be a balanced faction that could be dealt with like many other factions. Sometimes they even looked easily beat. All in all there is a difference between "paper" and "table" theory meaning (I learned this from my time on Dungeons and Dragons forums) that things play out on theoretical paper much differently than on the table. Anyways...

My interest lost steam and then last week, sitting at my work bench and wanting to go with a Scots faction, I realized that I have not even ordered a Scots miniature yet for said faction. I've got 6 points worth of Pagan Rus waiting to get painted and tabled though. Why am I wasting energy on things I haven't even sourced yet?

Here's where I am - got my PR levy done last year as you can see in this blog.

Slav Javelins - these were the last of my Gripping Beast Plastics DA Warriors

75% done with this point of PR Warriors.

6 Old Glory Rus Spearmen, 3 modded with axes, Old Glory Rus Command figure with red cap

I also picked up Old Glory Spears that you can see on my Rus Warriors. These are 2 part, you drill out the spear heads and glue in the hafts that are steel wire. It takes some tedious work but I like them. Old Glory minis do need their hands drilled out for weapons BTW.

Here is the best way for me to put those spears together.

There is more to hold onto when you drill out the spear heads and then you can set them upright like this to glue in the hafts. This is a job for some glue accelerant BTW. Jeez, holding those wires straight for a few minutes while the Zap-A-Gap thicken is a pain!

I like the spears though. They don't bend and break like plastic spears do (Wargames Factory is famous for this, GB not as much). They don't stab you like a needle like Warlord Games spears or some homebrew of wire can. The steel wire is nice and thin so you don't get the "guy holding a tree trunk" look. On the table they are dramatic enough to look good. I like them and will stick with this option.

That's it for now, thanks for reading.

Things I will try to blog about this month:

Historical Wargames Day

Puukko knives

My work space

World of Tanks