My Game Collection

I just added Hannibal: Rome Vs. Carthage to my collection tonight and decided to see just how many of the top rated games on Board Game Geek I owned. Here's how it breaks down:

Top 10: I own 5 of 10
Top 20: I own 10 of 20
Top 30: I own 15 of 30 (I'm sensing a trend here)
Top 40: I own 18 of 40 (doh, there goes the trend)
Top 50: I own 20 of 50

Out of the games in the top 50 that I don't own there are only three on my wish list, although there are a couple of more that I might add if I looked at them more closely.

Top 60: I own 23 of 60
Top 70: I own 25 of 70
Top 80: I own 30 of 80
Top 90: I own 32 of 90
Top 100: I own 33 of 100

There are an additional three games in the top 100 that I don't own but are on my wish list.

Top 150: I own 44 of 150
Top 200: I own 48 of 200
Top 250: I own 55 of 250
Top 300: I own 61 of 300
Top 350: I own 67 of 350
Top 400: I own 69 of 400
Top 450: I own 74 of 450
Top 500: I own 77 of 500


I'm not sure what any of that says about me (other than that I have a lot of games and was bored tonight), but it was something I was curious about. If anyone actually reads this and are curious as to what games in the top 100 I actually own, they can check out my profile at BGG.

Games Played

I've added a new feature to the sidebar. It shows my most recently played boardgames and has a link to www.boardgamegeek.com. I've been spending way more time playing board games than either video games or miniatures games, so I thought it was time I added something to do with them. I was going to just add a link, but the guys at BGG have created some handy little pieces of code to display games from their database, so I decided to use one of those instead.

Warmachine Project

I've had the Khador starter box for literally years now. I assembled the miniatures a few months after getting it. About a year later I got around to priming the miniatures, and it was then over a year before I got around to painting them. Basically, I didn't know what I wanted to paint them. The basic scheme of red is attractive, but red is a pain in the butt to paint. Finally I had an inspiration in the form of my Soviet army for Flames of War. Khador is obviously influenced by Russian themes, so it was a bit of a natural leap to simply take the WWII color scheme for the Soviet army and apply it to my Khador forces.

I started with Sorscha using basic Russian infantry colors:
uniform: Model Color 880 Khaki Grey
cloak: Model Color 874 USA Tan-Earth
armor: Model Color 894 Russian Green
holster: Model Color 821 Germ. Cam. Beige WWII
insignia: Model Color 947 Red over a Model Color 951 White base
skin: Game Color 3 Pale Flesh
exposed metal: Game Color 54 Gunmetal Metal
hat and fur trim: Game Color 43 Beasty Brown
pistol butt: Model Color 875 Beige Brown (this appears identical to the above color)
hair and boots: black (left primer showing)

The Warjacks were even easier:
painted metal: Model Color 894 Russian Green
exposed metal: Game Color 54 Gunmetal Metal
insignia and eyes: Model Color 947 Red over a Model Color 951 White base
metal details: Model Color 801 Brass

That was it for the starter box, which is what is shown above. Since then I've started work on the rest of my 500 point force that includes the above miniatures, plus a Greylord Ternion unit, a unit of Doom Reavers, and a unit of Widowmakers (which replaced Alexia that I used in my first battle described in a prior post). The first two are done except for basing and clearcoating. The Widowmakers are only primed, but I should be able to get to them soon.

For the Greylord Ternion I used the above colors, plus the following:
axe handle: Model Color 875 Beige Brown
leather parts: Model Color 984 Flat Brown

The Doom Reavers use a similar scheme plus the following:
hair: Game Color 39 Plague Brown & Game Color 45 Charred Brown

I expect that the Widowmakers will use the same color schemes, but will update this later if they end up needing some other colors.

I'll also do a post with pictures of these units once they are finished, as well as an article on how I plan to expand them to a 750 point force.

Movie Review: Flyboys

Flyboys is based loosely on the experiences of the Lafayette Escadrille in WWI. This French aviation squadron was made up of American volunteers prior to the entry of the US into the war.

The movie is an entertaining showcase of computer generated aerobatics, but it's a bit too long and a bit too cliched to be a truely good film. If it was just one or the other it would be more forgivable, but the two combined tend to drag the film down. When the characters aren't in the cockpit the film drags, particularly during the romantic subplot. You can't blame this on the acting, which is good, there just isn't a lot for the actors to work with. Their characters are a checklist representing different war film archetypes. You will probably be able to tell who will live and who will die as soon as they appear on screen.

A couple of the characters are supposedly based on real-life people, while the rest are supposedly amalgamations of different real-life flyers. Even so, the characters come off cliched.

Still, the action scenes almost make up for it. Seeing some of these classic planes recreated in full color was a treat. If it wasn't for the amount of downtime between each dogfight, this would have been a more entertaining film.

Also, the film does a pretty good job showing just how dangerous life was for a WWI fighter pilot. The escadrille always comes back from a mission short some pilots. I have to give it credit for that and for showing period costume and uniforms in full color. This is always nice for an era usually only portrayed in black and white.

The film earns its PG-13 rating for violence. It's a war film. There's death, there's blood, and there's maiming. Not as graphic as many other war films, but it's all there. Other than a couple of brief scenes inside a brothel, there's no sex in the film, not even partial nudity. The romantic subplot gets no further than a kiss.

For the reasons I've mentioned, I can't give this film a full recommendation. I'd say wait for it to come out on DVD, but the action scenes are worth seeing on the big screen. I just wish they made up a larger percentage of the film, or else that the rest of the film had more to offer.

First Warmachine Battle

Well, I didn't take any pics, but then only a couple of my models were painted and none of my opponent's were even primed. Heck, his Behemoth model consisted of the base and one leg!

My usual beginner's luck held up and I won, barely. It was internecine warfare as my 500 point Khador force led by Sorscha faced his force led by a pretender Sorscha. My force consisted of the starter set for Khador, plus a unit of Doomreavers, a Greylord Ternion, and Alexia Ciannor. His force was Sorscha, a Destroyer, a Spriggan, and the Behemoth.

This was the first game for both of us (well, my opponent had played a demo game before, but this was his first full 500 point game). I totally did not know the rules. I had asked to just watch a match first, but the host of the game day at the FLGS insisted that the newbies start. So, I quickly went over my stat cards and began play. Fortunately the host and his friend were both pretty good about answering questions as we played.

The game board was open terrain with a couple of hills. LOS was not an issue. I got the first turn and advanced all my units, but that was it. I should have tried to bombard with my Destroyer, or cast Fog of War, but I didn't even think about either. I may not have been in range for bombarding though.

He did bombard with his Behemoth on his turn, taking out a Thrall that Alexia had created as well as a couple of Risen. The Destroyer then took out one of my Doomreavers.

The second turn I still didn't bombard, just moving my units closer, except for Alexia and her remaining Riven who retreated. I did cast Fog of War this turn, which would make it harder for my opponent to hit any of my units except for Alexia and her Risen which were out of range. My Greylords also managed to get a couple attacks off on the Destroyer and his Sorscha with Frost Bite, but didn't do a lot of damage. Meanwhile he moved his entire force towards Alexia, with the Spriggan charging the nearby Doomreavers. Fortunately, he was only able to get one of them.

The next turn I charged his Sorscha and her accompaning Destroyer and Behemoth with my remaining Doomreavers. They managed to take off a few more hits on his Sorscha, but she still had at least a half dozen or so hits left. Then on his turn he managed to knock down my Juggernaut and Sorscha with Tempest. He followed this up by attacking with his Spriggan, using grenades against Sorscha follwed by bombarding Sorscha with his Behemoth. The end result left my Sorscha with a single hit left!

Obviously enraged by this, my Sorscha stood up, used her feat, and cast two Razor Wind spells at his Sorscha, finishing her off and winning the match!

It was a very close game, with all the decisive moves (my opponent's Spriggan attack and reminding me to use my feat) being suggested by the host of the session. I learned a lot about how Warmachine plays, and am pleased with what I learned.

I'm also inspired to continue painting the rest of my force (so far just the starter box and a single Doomreaver are painted). I've also looked at what I might get to expand my force to 1000 points.

Alexia was a complete non-factor in this game, except for drawing fire that should have gone to other units. She led the largest unit on my side, and I think that distracted my opponent. Once he realizes just how weak Risen are he won't let them distract him like that. He almost focused all his efforts on Alexia, until the host pointed out that she wasn't my warcaster.

I can see where she will be usefull when the other side takes troops, but against an all warjack force, she has limited utility.

My other units all proved their worth though. The Doomreavers, Greylords, and Sorscha all contributed directly to his Sorscha's defeat, while my Juggernaut and Destroyer both provided useful assists.

I'm now looking forward to building my force and playing future matches. I'm also inspired to continue my painting after getting some positive comments on the units I've managed to do so far.

The only downside is that out of six players there, five of them have Khador forces, and three of those only have Khador forces. There's going to be a lot of internecine warfare going on.