Tuesday, July 29, 2014

COLLECTION DIARY: JULY 2014

STAR WARS X-Wing Wave Four and X-Wing EPIC are looking good this month! I now have three of every new Wave Four ship, including a six-pack of Z-95 Headhunters. The Z-95's are going to be a main force ship in my Epic games so I got twice as many right from the word go!


In Epic all of my small ships will be deployed in units of three to six. I think I may get three more TIE Defenders later, because like TIE Bombers, these babies are just awesome in stronger units.
I have been needing to get a second X-Wing Core set for a while, and now that Epic is real, I finally got another one. I will have use for plenty of Swag particularly the dice and two damage decks for my large battles. I like that!


I have also gotten some nice storage cases for my small ships this month. Until now I had kept them all in my cabinets. I play at home so there has been no need for carrying cases.
The collection is going full on Epic thus it is time to consolidate my small ship storage. My cabinets will now become the hanger bays for Epic ships.
I am going to have all of my wonderful little X-Wing swag; character miniatures, cards, templates and so forth displayed on the nice card mats. I figure red is good for the Rebels and Black is perfect for the Empire. Right? Right!
The bundle of plastic amidst the card sleeves is a set of cool little business card holders, which I will use to hold damage decks and the like. I think this is a very good way to use sleeved cards. I can just pick one from the stand, rather than having to fumble threw them as they are sliding all over the mats during games.


I added several character pilots this month including Kyle, Jan, Coran, and another cool version of Luke. Crew Characters include Dodonna, and Mara, more Mercenaries, and "Don't forget the Droids!"
The D&D Monsters are part of my crazy Void Horrors Project.

Fun stuff...

Boss out!

Friday, July 25, 2014

FFG POST REBEL ACES B-WING PREVIEW THIS WEEK!

FFG has published a very interesting preview of the Elite B-Wing pilots today, in their B-Wing Expanded Article.


These new Rebel Heroes are game changers and make for some very nice improvements to X-Wing Epic as squad leaders.


 I loved the B-Wing before, now it is even better! Very nice FFG... very nice indeed!

B-Wing Boss out!

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

THE COUPLE VS. CARDBOARD WAVE FOUR UNBOXING SERIES

We have all seen Wave Four Unboxing videos I think. I am sure that at this point most of us already own these wonderful models too. I am sharing Couple vs. Cardboard's complete Wave Four Review series at this slightly late date, because I like Glen and his crew, and they have interesting sentiments in every unboxing they do.



Thanks to C vs C for posting this series today and sharing some of their cool insights and ideas with us. It was fun to see Max and Dallas again too!

Note: this is video one of a playlist gang, so you should be able to watch the entire four part series in this player.

Boss out.

Thursday, July 17, 2014

THE KESSEL RUN EPISODE XII PODCAST

I discovered The Heroic 28 Blog this week. The guys posted a link to their recent Star Wars X-Wing Podcast at the FFG Forum. I gave them a listen and it turns out that these fellows are actually very funny and full of neat gaming ideas.



Have a listen and see what you think, you may like them too.
  
The Kessel Run Episode XII

Boss out. 
 

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

BOSS SHOP: X-WING EPIC INTERSTELLAR TERRAIN & VOID HORRORS PROJECTS PREVIEW

With the arrival of my recent Cool Stuff order this week I now have most of the base models I am going to use to make my Void Horrors. Just the idea of making these beauties work as appropriately based models that I can incorporate into my X-Wing and Epic games just makes me smile. Now I am going to get the fun work started this week, and make this project happen for real.


This core group will make a fine collection of Space Monsters. The plastic components pictured are the base foundations for both the Hatchling and Juvenile Exogorths. In the foreground from left to right are; Skligg, Dracidizar, Thunder Mawler, and Mynock Hunter. I have not decided if I want to use a spider model or just sculpt something suitable for the Vorachnid. Last but not least at the bottom you can see the adorable jelly fish toy that will be used to make a Hazer. The Star Haunter is going to be an original sculpture like both of the Exogorths, but since I am just going to cut a shape out of plasticard to work over I am not showing that until I include the beast in a future article. Likewise the Interstellar Terrain is basically a lot of foam balls and disk currently, and is not going to be interesting until I make the raw materials take shape.

 "Blast 'em will yea?!"

 "We have taken a direct hit on the back quarter!"

 "I've got a bad feeling about this!"

This entire project is going to be a whole lot of fun!

PROJECTS OVERVIEW

ASTEROIDS PART 1

Monster Making & Terrain Building Boss out!

Sunday, July 6, 2014

STAR WARS X-WING EPIC PREPARATION: NEW SHIPS & SWAG

I have been getting my game room and X-Wing collection ready to play EPIC for real this weekend. I have decided that I need to get some new game tables, but I will do that next month since this months hobby budget went to Wave Four and some new storage cases and neat swag.


I am working on incorporating all of the wave four ships as well as other recent purchases into my collection.


It has been a fun weekend opening and sorting everything.

Boss out.

Thursday, July 3, 2014

BOSS SHOP: X-WING EPIC INTERSTELLAR TERRAIN & VOID HORRORS PROJECTS OVERVIEW

"The Void is not just empty space, you know that. There are violent galactic currents; radiation, moody nebula, and unpredictable asteroid fields a plenty. 
You avoid these bad places if you can.
Kid... you think you have it beat, because you win your races with the customs chumps. You have a little luck and a lot of talent, and you are not afraid to hide in the bad places... eventually you will discover there are other horrors out there waiting for you."
A well traveled smuggler to a cocky young freighter pilot. Somewhere in the Outer Rim.

Epic Interstellar Terrain & Void Horrors are special projects that I have wanted to do for a while now. I have focused on learning the X-WING rules this year, and now I feel that I understand them very well and I am ready to take it to the next level by making my own rules for several cool additions to the game.

As I have stated in several of my related articles, I am all about X-WING EPIC!
Now that FFG has produced their excellent rules establishing the Epic System for us, I can finally get to work on competently setting everything up so that Epic will play the way that I want to. I am not going to change X-WING EPIC mind you, but I am going to add to it, and make it even cooler... for me.


In EPIC we are adventuring in a greater arena than X-WING affords us. Asteroid and debris fields as well as Nebula should be huge and dangerous spaces on the game table, that will make our missions incredibly fun and challenging.
With that stated, in many of the best space operas; Flash Gordon, John Carter Of Mars, Buck Rogers, Star Wars, Star Blazers, and Star Trek there are monsters in these bad regions of space. It is this extra level of wonderful detail that makes these Sci-Fi Classics an important part of our nerd-lore.

So... Space Monsters... horrors out there in the void, how will they make the game more interesting and exciting?
In my firm view the very fact that these wonderful things are even on the table make the game cooler. Bring them into play with their own simple but engaging rules and their part in the adventure becomes something extra special and awesome.
Imagine that you have just achieved a goal in your mission that is likely going to win the scenario for you, now a monster springs up out of a rock and eats the ship directly responsible for completing the missions primary objective...AHH! That is just fun and funny... and it is going to be in my Epic-Me-Tah... because I can.

I intend to make about a dozen models to represent several types of Void Horrors.
I am going to stay true to the themes presented in the beloved space operas that many of us grew up with. I will sculpt some of these terrible beauties, while others will be converted from base models, particularly the AD&D Clicks.

Void Horrors dwell in both Interstellar and Intergalactic space. Several stalk their prey in dense asteroid fields, while others patiencely lurk in nebula.
As of this posting I have a mind to make one or more models of the following Void Horrors.


Dracidizar

These large space dragons stalk asteroid fields and make their burrow in the surface of  massive rocks or small planetoids. They will eat any bio-matter they can catch particularly young Exogorth and Starflies. They also survive on ice, and raw soft minerals.
Dracidizars are intelligent and often perceive that a manned craft is a treat worth aggressively pursuing. These deadly hunters doze in their caves after feeding, thus a passing craft may be luckily considered as only a curiosity. If Dracidizar are hungry and on the prowl however, they will attack any craft which dares to enter their territory.


Exogorth (Hatchling & Juvenile)

The huge Exogorths, or Space Slugs, are asteroid field dwellers and mineral eaters. They are not violently aggressive, but will attack any passing craft that comes near their burrows. Hatchlings claim their own asteroids like any other Exogorth and choose larger bodies as they mature. Because of this behavior a variety of different sized individuals may be encountered anywhere in a dense field on various sized asteroids and planetoids.


Hazer

These bizarre gelatinous beings lurk in the upper atmosphere and within the planetary rings of ice worlds. Hazers are also encountered in cold nebula and frozen asteroid fields.
If they are disturbed during their mating seasons, or while they are hunting, these typicality serene beings can become terrifying monsters capable of great destruction to small and large ships.


Mynock Hunter

Hunters are unusually long-lived beast which have grown beyond the norm to dwarf their younger Mynock cosines in stature and ferocity. One of these beast is capable of attacking small or large ships causing all manner or damage and loss of power.


Skligg

These worm-like quadroid-mawed beast are extremely aggressive denizens of warm asteroid fields. They typically hunt microscopic biological and mineral growths for their nourishment, but will aggressively stalk any lifeforms which they perceive as a threat to their burrows or have a chance to acquire for their breeding larder.

Star Haunter

Star Haunters, or Haunters, are large manta-like beings that ride the interstellar currents between systems. Haunters are always seeking raw conductive minerals and energy sources in massive quantities. They will attack any Large or Huge craft they happen upon and attempt to consume it's power cells.

Thunder Mawler

These great lizard-like asteroid and planetoid dwellers live off rich mineral deposits and ice. While they are aggressive with each other in the defense of their caverns Mawlers are normally very passive towards other life. Mawlers spend most of their time tunneling with their great metallic teeth and claws, seeking out the best feeding grounds.
When these peaceful beast are disturbed by an ongoing battle they have been known to warn off any trespassing ship with a bolt of static energy which they can easily generate from their great teeth.
Mawlers have been know to bite ships that pass over the entrance of their cavernous dens. There have been no reports however of any beast leaving their domiciles to press the issue of their territorial boundaries beyond the entrance of their den.

Vorachnid

These bizarre crystalline arachnids live in ice and mineral asteroid fields and on comparable moons. They build webbing between asteroids to form a network which they guard at all times, even when they are dozing they will awaken immediately to deal with disturbances in their territory. Vorachnids will collect and slowly consume any bio-matter they catch in their crystalline webs.
Some captured pilots have been rescued by their fellows who managed to kill the Vorachnids then carefully blast the ensnared ships free from the crystal network.


This is my core group... but I may dream up some more Void Horrors later.

PROJECTS PREVIEW

ASTEROIDS PART 1

Boss out.