Plastcraft Games Sci-Fi Crates - Complete

After initially constructing the crates, I found the size awkward for 28mm wargaming, as the crates stand at 32mm tall - which is tall enough to prevent a model from seeing over the crate, but not tall enough to completely obscure the model.

Plastcraft Games Sci-Fi Crate next to a MERCS model for scale

I solved this by sticking the crates on MDF 'Pallets', which brought the height up nicely, and added some necessary weight to the pieces. So with the eight crates I had, from the two sets of Plastcraft Games Sci-Fi crates, I was able to make four pieces of LOS blockling terrain.

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Getting Back into MERCS – Basic Battles

With our newborn taking all my time and attention, organising time to game has been really difficult - but my buddy is coming around this weekend for some dice and carnage!
It's been a while since either of us have played, so the plan is to take baby steps - hence our upcoming battles will have the following basic format:

• 3 Megacons, 1 Round Robin Tournament
• 3v3
• No ACMs
• Touchdown Scenario

3 Megacons, 1 Round Robin Tournament
Because we aren't playing with ACMs just yet, I’ll be leaving the USCR and sefadu out of these basic battles - not having Suppression greatly devalues both the USCR's Intimidate and the sefadu's Fearless Corporate Abilities.
Some of the Megacons have abilities outside of my definition of 'baby steps', so I'll be leaving these guys out of these basic battles - the Keizai Waza and their tactical nuke, the Texico and their traps and the ISS with their deployable turret
That leaves me 3 Megacons to play with, which is a perfect number for a little tournament - 3 Megacons means a 3 battle round robin tournament!

• CCC
• KemVar
• FCC

3v3 - Team Composition
As I’ll be doing 3v3, each team will consist of the Leader, plus two other models chosen from the faction. Oh, and no Black Ops for the FCC - that's would bring the game to whole other level!

No ACMs
I won’t be using Bounding, Suppression or Overwatch – just until I get into the MERCS flow again.

Touchdown Scenario
The first team to have a unit in the enemy deployment zone wins. A simple enough scenario, that encourages a good amount of bloodshed - though not particularly thematic, but should still be fun.

That's the plan for the weekend, battle reports to follow!

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CNC Miniatures Scenery Sci-Fi Shipping Containers - Review

A staple of most tabletops - shipping containers! Versatile in a number of scenarios and great for blocking LOS, I thought it was time to add some to my terrain collection.
The CNC Miniatures Shipping Containers look absolutely fantastic - so fantastic in fact, that I didn't know whether to get them or not, just because I knew I wouldn't be able to match the awesome weathered paint job. Well, I picked up the Value Pack with four containers anyways...

Each container comes on a single sprue

Each piece punched out of the sprue and base coated using Fiddly Bits
spray paints

And after adding a little colour to the pieces, assembly was simple enough

CCC Assault Leader corners the KemVar Assassin - or will it be the Leader
falling under the Assassin's blade?

Overall, very happy with the kit. As you can see, the pieces come so that you can spray paint the metal frame pieces separately to the container pieces. Assembly was very simple and straight forward, and although I didn't get mine looking as good as the house job from CNC miniatures, I'm still very happy with my purchase and the new additions to my terrain collection.

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Micro Art Studios Holo Ads Set Complete

Managed to paint these after work the other day, and after slotting the acrylic pieces into their frames (which wasn't easy), my Holo Ad Set is complete! These were definitely a challenge to assemble, but given the end result I can't complain too much. Look forward to seeing these beauties in battle reports soon!
In the end, I would still recommend this product - it was difficult on all facets of assembly, but I just can't go past the great looking artwork on the pieces.

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Plastcraft Games Sci-Fi Crates - Review

These struck me a relatively cheap way for some LOS blocking terrain, and being only $6 for a set of four, I grabbed two sets for some more terrain options.

Comes in a single sheet, with clear instructions on a piece of paper

Really straight forward construction, only requiring some superglue and a
hobby knife. Making the eight crates from the two sets took less than 30 minutes.

Now, the size is awkward - here's a MERCS model for scale.
It doesn't quite block LOS - his head is still visible over the top,
though at the same time I would say that he wouldn't be able to see over it.

And next to an Infinity model for scale

So it cost me $12 for the eight crates, which I think is... OK. If they were a little bigger, completely obscuring LOS of a 28mm model I'd be quite happy with the set, but as it stands the dimensions of the crates are awkward. So for now, I wouldn't recommend this product for 28mm sci-fi wargaming.
I'm going to find some way to extend the height, so that the crates can completely obscure LOS - stay tuned!

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CNC Miniatures Scenery Portable Dice Tower Complete

I managed to get some paint on my CNC Miniatures Portable DiceTower over the weekend, and I finished it off with an assortment of CNC Miniatures Sci-Fi Widgets - to make it look a little more like a piece of terrain.
I'm not sure that I succeeded in making a piece of terrain, but I am really happy with the dice tower and way that the dice shoot down into the tray! I think I'll make another one, so each player can have their own!

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Micro Arts Studio Holo Ads Set Review

I've always thought this product was fantastic - providing good cover and LOS blocking terrain, while looking just phenomenal on the table. Well, what better excuse than a birthday to treat myself to this premium product!

Comes in a single 'sprue', with a page of instructions on assembly. The
 instructions weren't very thorough, but the set itself wasn't too hard to
 figure out.
The Holo Ad pieces themselves come with a protective adhesive on the
 surface to ensure they aren't scratched.

Assembly of the two smaller Holo Ad frames was a PAIN. While no glue
 was required to assemble the frames, slotting the pieces together was quite
difficult, with the slots for pieces being very tight fits. It's not clear from
 the photos, but I did some minor damage to the pieces while forcing them
 together during assembly.

Before putting the Holo Ads in, I'll need to paint the pieces first. While I'm disappointed that the assembly process was surprisingly difficult, I'm still really excited about the end result, so I'm looking forward to the next sunny weekend to paint and complete them.

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[Texico] Leader

And that's it for my Texico! The house paint scheme for the dog is a German Shepard, but I thought I'd go for a lighter colour to make him stand out from the rest of the Texico a little more.

With all my painting done, it's time to get down to some battle reports!

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[ISS] Leader

And this rounds off my ISS! One more model to go, and I'll have finished up my MERCS collection! The riot shield makes it a little tough to see the model's pose, so I thought I'd take two shots to make it a little clearer.

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CNC Miniatures Scenery Portable Dice Tower - Review

After being disappointed in the assembly process for CNC Miniatures Dice Tower, I was really reluctant about purchasing this product. But because I really love the idea of Dice Towers, I took a gamble, and prepared myself for the worst.
Apologies for the dark photos - since the baby came along, the only spare time I have for hobbying is late after she's gone to bed!

Comes in a single 'sprue' and, to my delight, uses the 'newer' CNC processes,
which meant no difficult cutting or trimming the pieces off the sprue!

After taking 2 minutes to punch the pieces from the sprue, it took another
2 minutes to assemble the portable tower - fantastic!

Really happy with this product and would definitely recommend it - I'm actually considering grabbing another one! Assembling and disassembling the product is fast and easy, making for a truly transportable product - though I'll probably be gluing mine together and adding a few more sci-elements to it.

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[Texico] Jaguar

Ah the Jaguar... while some of the MERCS go into battle with close combat weapons, like twin arm-blades, throwing spears and tridents, this guy rocks up with a baseball bat. I have no idea how this unit is going to play, but I plan on fielding him just because he's got balls and wicked steez.

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MERCS: Recon Kickstarter LIVE!

This has just gone live this morning, and I've already put my pledge in. Currently I've pledged at Agent Level, but will definitely bump this up to the OPFOR Level once I can confirm my funding :)

So check out the MERCS: Recon Kickstarter Page!

So excited for this!

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CNC Miniatures Scenery Sci-Fi Widgets - Review

I've had these lying around for a while now, and I had originally purchased this product with the intention of using them on my Bandua Wargames Q Buildings - but quickly realised that sticking these pieces to my Bandua Buildings would prevent the buildings from stacking onto and into each other! No matter, these still seem quite useful, so hopefully I'll find a use for them soon. 

Comes in a single sprue

No instructions, but it wasn't hard to figure out which pieces where part of
each widget.

And the completed set of widgets. The pile of bits on the top right are for
the security cameras, which I'll assemble when I figure out when I'll use them.

So not much to say really, what you see if what you get! Assembly was quick and straight forward, and I'm actively looking for places that I can use these things... already have one piece in mind, so stay tuned.

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[ISS] Heavy

This guy is significantly chunkier than the other ISS models, and has a really heavy-armoured look to him. I like the 'cyclops' aesthetic too - though that may cause a problem with depth perception, a skill I thought would be paramount in operating a heavy weapon...

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More MERCS Terrain!

I managed to finish off the remaining buildings from my three Bandua Wargames Q Building sets! So the above MERCS table comprises of:

• Three Bandua Wargames Q Building Sets
• CNC Miniatures Scenery Sci Fi Bridges Set
• Random scatter terrain (crates and barrels) from Hirst Arts Molds

I thought I'd also share some of the graffiti detail on the buildings, and let you know which notorious graffiti artists have vandalised Sector 216:

'El Chungo'

'DulyDude'

'Fued'

'Cybris'

'Severoth'

Curse the hooligans!

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[Texico] Marshal

The poster-boy for the Texico (literally - check out the poster in the background), the Marshal! Here's another model that I originally thought looked quite disproportionate, but after a coat of paint I think he looks pretty bad ass!

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[ISS] Wavefinder

The Wavefinder and her deployable turret - I really need to look into the rules so I can figure out how they work, but I'm really looking forward to getting these great looking models on the table!

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[Texico] Sniper

I don't think any other model in the MERCS range is quite so stationary, which makes this model quite unique... but it's entirely fitting given he's a sniper. The cloak wraps around him all the way, providing a cool rock camo effect - come to think of it, I should have taken a photo from the back as well!

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MERCS: Recon Coming to Kickstarter!

Beasts of War have revealed some of the details around the next Kickstarter from MegaCon games, MERCS: Recon! Check out Beasts of War: http://www.beastsofwar.com/mercs/lock-load-mercs-recon-coming/

I'm patiently waiting for my Myth pledge, and I'll definitely be backing MERCS: Recon!

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[ISS] Booster

I think the model I got for this was a little miscast - the detail on the face seems a little distorted. Either way, I'm well on my way to finishing off my ISS and Texico, and really feel like I have my painting groove back.

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[Texico] Heavy Gunner

Continuing with my Texico, the Heavy Gunner's stance really makes the gun, look, well... heavy.  I guess the name is appropriate then. Though still not as heavy looking as the [CCC] Heavy Assault's cannon.

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Sci-Fi Terrain

During my absence from MERCS, I was immersed in Infinity and managed to collect quite a bit of terrain that I'll also be using for MERCS.
Infinity is played on a 4'x4' table and  requires very dense terrain layouts. In my effort to create my own Infinity table, I collected enough terrain to heavily cover a 4'x4' table. If I translate this to MERCS, which is played on a 2'x3' table and only requires moderate terrain, I could probably comfortably stretch my terrain collection over three MERCS tables!

Anyways, I thought I'd post links to the terrain reviews from my other blog, in case any other MERCS enthusiasts were interested!

CNC Miniatures Sci-Fi Bridges

CNC Miniatures Sci-Fi Walls

Bandua Wargames Q Buildings Set - Review Part 1
Bandua Wargames Q Buildings Set - Review Part 2

Warsenal Barricades

CNC Miniatures Dice Tower

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