I have been excited to get back into miniature gaming. It has mostly been the Star Wars games from FFG, for now, but interest in Warmachine and Hordes has grown pretty significantly lately as well.
Here's a game of Star Wars Armada just beginning- I was playing against Dan here, running a Rebel list trying to take advantage of General Rieekan, getting my ships into good position, then shot up, but giving them a parting shot, so to speak. Dan's list focused on the additional firepower from Admiral Ackbar, locking his firing to just his side arcs. Many things went wrong for me this game- my MC80 started so far from his ships that I could not get it engaged at any point in the game. Additionally, I really just need to play more- my skills are awful!
I played two games of X-Wing against Ben, as we have recently rediscovered our love of this game.
In game one, I brought a Rebel list consisting of Corran Horn in an E-Wing, Poe Dameron in a new X-Wing, and a spare A-Wing. In several games (in the past), I had never managed to achieve victory with my Rebels- I get so caught up in the fact they have shields that I attempt to shove the ships right down the middle of my opponent's squad, and usually I can't take that beating long enough to be victorious.
With this list, I had a lot of maneuverability, and set Poe and Corran up to have abilities to recharge shields. My hope was that I could take a few quality shots, disengage, up my shields, and then get back into the fight. The A-Wing was there solely to get in my opponent's way, with the intent of keeping a larger, much pricier ship annoyed.
Ben also took Rebels, and designed his list to synergize his three ships (an E-Wing, a HWK-90, and a B-Wing) for some HEAVY attacks).
First turn, I fly all of my ships forward at near top speed, which results in the A-Wing getting too far forward, and hit hard very early (it lost all its shields, and all but 1 hull). The next turn, it does manage to get in the way of Ben's E-Wing (with very good timing, actually), although I do lose it this turn.
Corran's double shooting did some decent damage to Ben's E-Wing (Etahn), and I make a clean getaway, get my ships turned around, and keep the pressure on. Ben can't get his ships back into a good enough position to get his combinations to work, and my ability to stay out of his firing arcs ends up being too much for him to handle, causing him to concede.
Game two, I take my Scum and Villainy list, with Boba Fett and IG-2000B, and play against Ben's Imperial list running a heavily loaded Bomber plus two Interceptors (both with Push the Limit). The Bomber should hit hard, and the Interceptors should be able to stay out of IG-2000B's fire arc, and wear him down (Boba Fett, with the second arc, would be a much more difficult target for the Interceptors to avoid).
We move in to begin the engagement.
Our initial shots are all in my favor- I only hit the Bomber for two damage, but a critical on the shot prevents him from shooting with me dead center on him- look how perfectly he had me set up:
He does get some satisfaction next turn, however, when the Bomber moves first, and deploys its Cluster Bombs on IG-2000B, removing all four of its shields. With the Segnor's Loop and Boba Fett, however, the TIE Bomber does not get another shot- I destroy it.
Ben attempts to keep his remaining Interceptors safe, but Boba Fett has too many ways to get shots at the Interceptors, and eventually Ben concedes.
This was a great time- I need to keep trying out some new ships, and rediscovering how much I enjoy this game.
On the hobby front, I have begun working to get some Imperial Assault Miniatures painted. I am going to paint them, and then replace their bases with clear plastic bases, which I think is a very sharp look both on the Imperial Assault tiles and on traditional wargame terrain. Depending on how this goes, I will likely do the same rebasing for the Mansions of Madness miniatures.
Finally, I recently received the first part of my Kickstarter pledge for the Walking Dead: All out War miniatures game, and that will require some of my attention very shortly :)