Paint Thinning Video

I said I would, and here is your wonderful host...

So there you have it. How to thin your paints. Happy Painting!

Painting Tips: Thinning your paints

Every one has done it. You have opened that paint pot, dipped your brush in, put it to model, and all the detail just disappears under a nice thick layer of paint, and you panic. I do it regularly, think I only need a spot, and then mess my model up.

What are the benefits of thinning your paints? You will not lose any detail in a model with correctly thinned paints, no matter how many times you have to go over the area. The paint will also dry a lot smoother, and there will be no brush strokes in the paint.

So what do you do to think your paints?

Method 1: Basically, you need a palette, a brush some water and the paint. Get some paint on your brush, and put it on the palette. Then using CLEAN (cannot stress that enough) water, use add it to the paint off the brush. Generally, one brush of paint to two brushed of water is where I want to be personally. Play around to get your own ratio. We are looking for paint the consistency of single cream, maybe a bit more watery that that.

Method 2: Go out to your local model shop, and see if they sell Vallejo Game Colour Thinner. This is basically a acrylic medium, and comes in a wonderful dropper bottle. Put your paint on a palette, add one drop of thinner, mix, add more if needed. Still looking for the single cream consistency, and usually (for me at least) 1 paintbrush of paint is thinned by 2 drops of thinner.

Now clean your brush before you start to paint, to get off excess paint, as any excess will defeat the point of watering down the paint. Before you put brush to model, wipe off excess paint on some kitchen towel.

You will notice that the paint may need another coat to get a good, solid covering on the model. This is OK, in fact wanted. 5 thin coats of paint is much better than 1 thick coat of paint. Yes it pushes painting time up, but also the paint dries a lot quicker like this, and you can see the colours emerge, and you have a lot more control over the paint.

One more method I sometimes use, especially with GW paints, is to thin down the whole pot at once, so you can paint out of the pot. Be careful with this, you don't really want to over thin the paint, as you can still use a palette/thinner later. I have used this on quite a few of my GW paints, they last longer and I don’t need to waste time thinning every colour every time I want to use them.

Sorry for the lack of pictures, I did take some but they really did nothing. I will make a video over the next day or so to show consistencies.

Gaming Groups

Are you part of a gaming group in the UK? Do you run a gaming group?

If you can answer yes to either of those questions, then do we have a offer for you. Farlands Games will happily supply your gaming group with games at a (very) large discount. I'm not going to say how much on here, but its definatly worth it.

There are different discounts to, depending on how much you and your group want to spend, starting at £200 and going all the way up to £1000+.

So tell the people who run your groups, or just group together with some mates, and send me a email, at admin@farlandsgames.co.uk with Group Order as the title with your details, what you would like. I will then get back to you to confirm and give you a price. P&P extra, but I will do the best I can. All orders will be with you within 4 days.

Facebook!

If you read this blog and like it even a little bit, you might like our Facebook page.

Over there will be all the updates on Thursday Night Gaming (if your local), what we generally do gaming wise, latest stock alerts from out shop, and most importantly, special offers for only the members of the group (yep.. very special offers, Dominion for £26.99+P&P?!?).

So if you want to be involved in being able to get cheap games, or generally see what going on, then head over to www.facebook.com/farlandsgames and click that like button to get everything! Ill see you over there!

Relic first look: video

I found this first look on youtube, from Elliot Miller (http://www.youtube.com/user/mylantus100?feature=watch). Its from Games Day Chicago 2012, where FFG are showing this game for the first time. They only announced it the day before (two days ago!)

How awesome do those busts look like? I really cannot wait to get my hands on this game! Some of the mechanics also sound really nice, the corruption deck has peaked my interest. I know some people who will take a lot of those cards!

And, its not me in the video. Just thought I would clear that up. It's Elliot Miller, http://www.youtube.com/user/mylantus100?feature=watch and he has some decent videos over there. Go check them out.

Dominion and Androminion

Dominion is a deck building card game, putting you in the role of a Monarch, building and expanding your empire. Expanded many times, it really is a great game, and deserves all the accolades and awards that it has gained since its release in 2008.

There are a few places that you can play online with people from all around the world, but that is not the focus of this article. Androminion is what I will concentrate on, and then make a comparison to the actual game.

Androminon is a Android app for smart phones and tablets. I found it late one night, and it has taken many hours of my life so far. The really great thing about this app is that it is single player. You play against bots, not real people, so there are no worries of disconnects if its not going well for them. Each bot has its own characteristics, and will favour different strategy’s, but I have noticed that they will adapt to situations, to try and get the better of you. This is great, as whilst you can play against certain strategies if you need the practice, a curve ball will be thrown every now and then to keep you thinking on you feet.

Another great thing is that this game is not just the base set. It has expansions built in with it, 6 in total, them being Hinterlands, Seaside, Intrigue, Prosperity, Alchemy, Cornucopia as well as the base set. This gives a lot of playtime with this game. There are pre-set sets, and a option to randomize the cards, but sadly no option to choose your own sets. But coupled with the sheer amount of options you have, that’s not really a terrible thing.

Interface wise, its very simple, but effective. The buttons are big enough to touch, and small enough to fit them all on the screen at once.

The main problem with this game is that is not for beginners. There are no explanations to the game itself, neither the cards. I see this more as a training app for people who know how to play Dominion.

As a comparison to the actual game, however, this is where it slightly falls down. It is only single player vs the CPU, so no interaction with real people. Also the card shuffles do not seen that realistic, which may be the way how I shuffle my cards, compared to a algorithm in a program that shuffles cards.

The board game will always have a place compared to the Android version, which should be used to try new strategies out and general practice when people are not around. It has helped me immensely with my strategy, as games are very fast, allowing you to tweak your engines and strategies very fast.

All in all Androminion gets a solid 8/10 from me, which is the same as the actual game. Its just the way you use that will boost or diminish the score.

Fantasy Flight Games announce: Relic

Now this is one game that I has gotten me in a bit of a twist. This is a game based on some of my favorite games, Talisman and Warhammer 40000.  Yes you, you read that right, Talisman set in the 41st millenium.  Heres the link, go and take a look.

How cool does that look? We will definatly be following that game here at Farlands Games, and with a release set for quarter 4 2012, looks like we dont have to long to wait either!

Monday Madness!

It's Monday, and that means its time for some madness!

Every Monday Farlands Games will make a deal on a great game that will be hard to refuse!  Open only to the Facebook members, it will save you money AND get you a great new game to boot.

The announcement will be made around 1230pm GMT, and will be first come first serverd on a limited basis. Get in early, as when Tuesday comes, its business as usual!

Go and like our Facbook page to be kept in the loop for these great offers and more.

Starting young!

 

I was out with my Nephew today, and whilst his mommy and auntie were busy, I made sure he go a head start in the world of gaming. Yes, this is my two year old nephew Reece having his first read of the Warhammer 40000 rulebook. Its seems like he is going to be a warrior of the Imperium, he was cheering the Space Marines and booing the Orks... 

Miniature Painting: Which Primer?

More to the point, what colour? Black, grey or white?

There are many people who swear by using a certain colour for their primer, and just as many who probably have never given any thought into it. In my (ahem..) quest for painting perfection, I have used all three, and settled on grey as my colour of choice, but I also know when to use the other colours.

Black will generally produce a much darker, grittier feel to a finished model, with colours on top being muted and not as bright. Black also creates a “auto shade” effect, where the recesses will be darkest on the model, usually enough to make you only push the highlights.

Grey produces the most realistic (in my opionion) colours. It still creates a little amount of auto shading, but also pushed highlights a little as well. It takes longer to work with, due to you having to go back and finish the shadows as well as the highlights when the base coats have been completed.

White will create the brightest finished model, and has a “auto highlight” effect. There will be very little shading on the model, so you will have to do and do these yourself, but the highlights will be very prominent from the start.

All three have their followers. Black I use when I am batch painting or speed painting, as it leave things like guns and parts you don’t paint black, and takes to a nice dry brush easily. Grey I use for one off models, such as character models. The paint takes well to the grey, and helps the model stand out a bit better when all the other models are on the table, due to you starting on a lighter base colour. (However, I am finding myself using grey a lot more for everything recently). White I very rarely, if ever use. I just don’t like how bright it makes the model, which to me is very unrealistic. I would only use white one something such as Eldar in WH40k, as these are very bright models when finished.

Here is a little example (excuse the extreme blur on the second photo... but it is only the colour we are looking at so I didn’t retake it.)

The first picture is just the base undercoats. The second is the models painted with a base coat of Mordian Blue foundation, mixed 1:1 with some game colour thinner. You can see the difference, black on the left, which is much darker with much more prominent shadows, and white on the left which, to me, the blue looks way to happy. The middle grey, is perfect to my eye, looks very close to what the paint in the pot looks like.

So there you have it. Use black for quick jobs, grey for everything else and white on special occasions. OK that just my opinion, but next time you reach for that can of spray primer, as yourself, are you using the right colour for the job?

Review: Pirate Fluxx

Fluxx is a long running card game made by the wonderfully named Looney Labs, and these games truly are looney.

One of the simplest games I have ever played, this Pirate Version brings a lot of fun to the table again. The idea of the game is to complete the goal placed by a player, which usually consists of getting two cards in play that match the goal, and you win. It sounds simple, but there are a lot of things that can go wrong.

Green cards are called keepers, and go in front of you. These are the cards that you win with. Blue cards are actions, which can move cards around, to letting you look and pick a card from the discard pile. Yellow rules change the rules of the game itself, from the starting draw 1, play 1, to things such as draw 5, or creating a hand limit of only 1. Pink cards are goals, and change how to win the game. And black cards, Creepers, mean you cannot possibly win if you have it in front of you.

All the rules are simple, just do what they say (my favourite has to be draw a extra card if you talk like a pirate during your turn...awesome!)

This is a real fun game, as you could be about to win and someone changes the goal, then you set about trying to reset it back, or go for the next goal. Mechanically, there’s not a lot. Do as the cards say, and your fine. The artwork in this is great as usual, but I noticed not as comic like as Zombie Fluxx, but still fits the theme of this one great.

Set up time is as long as it take to shuffle some cards, and play time ranges from 1 minute up to about 30 at most, with most games being in the 10-15 minute range depending one how silly you are with voices. All in all, a really fun game at a reasonable price.

One last thing that I like about these games: they are all compatible with each other. The backs are all the same, so you can mix and match as you want, so zombie-pirates are the way to go with our next game I think...

Pirate Fluxx is in stock over at the Farlands Games e-shop.

Thursday Night Gaming 26/07/12

It's nearly upon us again, and boy, is this week going to be a good one!

There shall be this week the following games:

Monopoly
Scrabble
Dominion
Talisman
Formula D
Railways of the World: The card game
LOGO
Chess/Draughts
Cribbage
Packs or cards lying around
Connect4 Advanced
MageStones

And thats all what I shall be taking from my collection! Hopefully there will be many more bought down by other people!

I regret that there will be no Warhammer 40000 this week, as I am in the process of making a new battlefield. A couple of weeks and it shall be back!

So come on down, and lets play some games!!!

Open For Business!

As of today, the Farlands Games e-shop is open for business!

www.farlandsgames-shop.co.uk

Everything is at least 10% off RRP (plus P&P)

New line will be added over the coming months, and vintage and hard to get games will be added over the next few days!

Painting Miniatures: Paintbrushes

Painting miniatures is a skill that can be learnt. Of course it helps if you have an artistic flair, but it is one of those skills that CAN be learnt, and learning how to do it well takes a different amount of time for everyone.

One of the main stumbling blocks that I myself came across was paintbrushes, and which one to use and when. I have been through many brushes of almost every size, and have come to the conclusion that I need 3, no more and no less. I think this will apply to most people who just paint for the tabletop and themselves. If you are painting for competition or display purposes, all the sizes will have a purpose, but for the average gamer/painter, I believe that you only need 3.

So which ones? Well, I have a size 000, for detailing, a size 1 for everything else, and a old Games Workshop large dry-brush for, well, dry-brushing. I paint everything from large aircraft to the smallest Grot with these brushes.

The size 1 I use for just about everything. Get a brush that will always come to a good point (personally I use Winsor and Newton, expensive granted, but ALWAYS come back to a point.) With a brush with a good point, no matter what size it is, you will always be able to do detail, and be able to switch in and out of doing large areas, such as armour, back into doing wristbands and necklaces with ease.

The 000 is used for those hard to reach areas and other things, like eyes and gun scopes. That’s all that’s used for, don’t even think to use one of these for flat surfaces, you will get brush marks and be there painting for a long time.

The large dry brush I use is defiantly at the end of its useful life. Any large stiff bristle brush will do the job for dry brushing though, even other brushes that don’t keep the tip can be used for dry brushing, as it kills brushes fast.

The most important aspect however, I practising with a size 1 brush. The size of it at first may seem prohibitive, making you think that it could never be used for detail, but when you get used to using just the tip of the brush with different pressures, you will be amazed at what can be achieved with such a large brush.

Practice, practice, practice. Paint to your best standard you can, and other times just go out and buy a cheap model and just paint. Don’t care too much what you do to this model, keep it fun. Get good brush control and the rest will come.

Vintage Game: Coppit!

The 1964 Spears Games version

Initially released in 1927 under the name Trap the Hat, the version pictured is the definitive version, Spears Games 1964 version, Coppit!

A really fun game, this can be played by just about everyone, from children to adults.

The idea is simple, you have 4 “hats”, which you can manoeuvre around the board with a dice roll. The circles are your base area, and the pink squares represent safe areas. You can have all 4 pieces in play, but you can only move one per turn. The aim of the game is to land on your opponents pieces, “copping” them, and then moving them back to you home base, where you keep them as points. Be careful, however as on the way back, you can be capped again by another player, and then become one of their points!

The pink squares are safe, you cannot be capped on these spaces.

Red has been "capped"! (on the left)

This is quite a random game, being based on a roll and move mechanism, but strategy does come into play as you can set traps to get closer to the other players, such as not moving far away from your own base to lure the opponent around closer to you.

With children this is a great game. Easy to understand, with lots of laughs all around. But I think this is another one of these games, that when coupled with 6 adults and a party, can produce hours of fun. Playing with two people is OK, its still fun, but when all 6 are at the table, this really is a chaotic game for all to enjoy.

The modern version of Coppit

It has been released a number of times since, and a new version can be obtained from Amazon at a reasonable price. One for the collection if you like fast and fun games that don’t last very long. A nice filler game, with just enough strategy even for the most seasoned war-gamer.

Rating: 7.5

Vintage Game: Connect4 Advanced

Every now and then a game comes through the doors of Farlands Games that somehow manages to get everyone who sees it excited. This is one of them.

I have got to say that honestly I had never heard of this, that MB Games had “expanded” the game. Vintage may be a term not used much for games from 2002 (even though its still 10 years ago!), but this is a rarity. Only produced for a short time before disappearing from shelves, this is that rare to find that as of writing this, there is not even a BoardGameGeek.com entry for this.

The idea of the game is still to connect 4 of your coloured pieces in a row, but this game introduces a third dimension. You can connect 4 horizontally, vertically, and diagonal from base to top. This is a real brain bender of a game. The extra dimension is very hard to keep track of, and you might be setting a devious trap to get your opponent, only to be beaten by a very obvious line that you did not see.

Diagonal connect4 from bottom left to top right, yellow

Construction wise, this game is bad. Cheap plastic all around, but it seems strong enough to withstand some vigorous playing. Price wise, it would have been around £14.99 when released, but if you want this now, you will be paying nearly £30 now, due to its rarity. It does however pop up in charity shops and places like that. If you do see one, I would highly recommend that you pick it up, if only as piece of gaming history, as I don't think that this will be released again by MB.

There are wooden versions available from various manufacturers, under the name of 3D Connect4, but to me they don’t have the appeal of this set, because to be quite frank, this set looks cool.

This shall take pride of place in my collection, as a piece of history, and as a game to get out to lure people into advanced strategy games. Don’t be fooled by this being Connect4, this is different beast of a game entirely.

Zombie Walk 2012, Birmingham UK

"Confirmed outbreaks of a Zombie Virus in Birmingham city centre UK #zombie #breakingnews"

That was my first and only twitter post yesterday. That and my phone died really early on in the day, it was getting into the theme of the day. And what a day it was.

The zombie walk is a charity walk, raising vital money for the Birmingham Children’s Hospital. Brainchild of Jamie Chapman, this is yearly event where the city centre is taken over by a host of zombies, and this year the numbers were well into the thousands I would say.

Right, Me, Middle, the other half Lisa, and left Lisa's sister Shell

 

It all starts at 10am, when people start meeting in the park behind the ICC. This years, Monster energy drink were sponsoring the event, so free cans of Monster were being given to everyone (most likely wanting to create rage zombies..) Here as well is where all the talented artists gather to paint the faces of the willing. These artists take the time to to this for free, and as a customer you have to pay but all that money then goes to the charity, so big props to those talented people who volunteered.

After you have had your face painted, the music is playing, and then we just hung out with all the other zombies until the walk actually started.

I wish I had taken more pictures of this event, but enjoyed myself so much that I forgot. The other half took some pictures, so I will post them in a later post.

The walk itself started at 4pm, after a talk from Jamie Chapman himself about the walk, and he got all the undead fired up. The route was straight through the centre of Birmingham, through Paradise Forum, through Colmore Row, down to New Street, past the Bull Ring, then back up and through the Oasis Market, and finished at the Birmingham Ballroom (which used to be the Carling Academy) for the after party to begin. Quite far for a large group of shambling zombies, I would agree, but all for the greater good.

I just cannot even begin to imagine what the public thought. It is quite a big event, but you would not know about it unless you were taking part, as it seems quite underground. There were looks of shock, people pointing, a small amount of abuse from narrow minded people, but mostly it was camera phones and laughing from the public. I can only imagine You tube and Facebook's servers must have gone mad during that hour.

All in all a fantastic day, and we shall defiantly be back there next year. Sorry about the lack of pictures, I will do better next year!

Go to www.facebook.com/birminghamzombies and like the page for all the pictures from this years, plus when the time comes, the details of Zombie Walk 2013.

“When there is no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth” - Dawn of the Dead

After the smoke

The heretics were slowly advancing, and the Ork rabble behind them following closely. The Grey Knight Paladins looked on, rage filling them as the watched one noble battle brothers pairing up with the Orks.

Standing resolute and brave, the Paladins heard their Tech Priest behind them call down yet another orbital bombardment, and they felt the ground shake beneath their feet. The battle would soon be over, at one cost no one knew.

Out of a thick cloud of dust a smoke screamed a Dakkajet, its guns blazing and the pilot screaming a tirade of obscenities, audible even over the roar of the jets. The Paladins took no action waiting for a opportune moment, but were shook as a rogue bullet from the supa-shooters struck the Tech Priest between the eyes, his body slumping under the weight of his Artificer armour. They looked back, eyes to the sky, powerless against the might of a jet powered aircraft, even as it swooped around to make another strafing run. They had already accepted their fate, and knew their brothers would avenge them with the might of the Emperor behind them himself.

The pilot saw Paladins and took a direct line straight at them, guns blazing.

The Icarus blast vaporised the top half of his body. Behind the lines was a lone Icarus Lascannon, which had just been woken by the Tech Priest, now with a enraged machine spirit. The second blast destroyed the tail, and sent the Dakkajet is a wild death spiral, right down towards the stricken Paladins.

The Paladins saw what was about to happen, and felt a force flow through them. Somehow, maybe the God Emperor himself had sensed what was about to happen, and sent his spirit to protect them. As they were one, the braced, and threw their arms up as the Dakkajet dropped onto them from above, and as a unit threw it further behind them, destroying the bastion, but saving their lives. From the dust and fire emerged 5 Paladins, ready to take on the the enemy all by themselves, fuelled by the Emperor himself.

This is a short fiction based on possibly one of the most memorable things that have ever happened in a game of WH40k that I have played, from Thursday Night Gaming. I don't know a lot about the lore of the Grey Knights, so there may be some creative license here, but I just could not let this go without a good write up!

Thursday Night Gaming 19/7/12

The night went very well again! There was a different turnout of people, but it matched the same amount as last week.

Everyone enjoyed themselves, with many games going on. On one table was a three way game of Scrabble going on, and from the words that were going down I would not have stood a chance. On another table was a rather fun looking game, Yahtzee Poker. I didn’t get chance to play this, but it looks like a great, fast and fun party game. I am going to have to check this one out, as I could not quite grasp the rules from the quick look that I got.

The main event, which I participated in was a rather awesome game of Warhammer 40000. We had decided on a 1000 point game, and I used a alliance of Orks and Space Marines, against the might that are the Grey Knights. I had 43 models on my side, including the Dakkajet, and the Grey Knights were only 11 models strong. And I got the beating of my life in this game. To say that I have only ever lost 3 games of 40k in the past 6 years, this was a shock. Grey Knights are just stupidly over powered (which is why now, I think my next army will be them...). I can't even see a strategy that could overcome them, but there must be one. The game took the best part of the night, and the 6^th edition rules really shined through in this game.

After that, a few round of Magestones whilst we waited for the others to finish their games, then we finished up on a game of Railways of the World: The card game. Again this was played with people that had never played it and had no interest in the theme, but again these people loved it. I am slowly converting the world to love ROTW, one person at a time....

All in all another fantastic night, and one that I hope will continue to grow with new people and seasoned gamers coming down.

If you are in the area, then we are there every Thursday from 730pm onwards. Come on down, and lets play some games!

Nice and quick games

Now I think we all like games that we can sink our teeth into, and I do like a game that lasts 4 hours plus every now and then, but with the stresses of modern day to day life, it can be hard to get a game like that to the table.

This is a list of our top games that are quick and, most importantly, fun.

1. MageStones: Whenever we have 20 minutes to spare, generally this what will come out. Set up time is no more that 30 seconds, and play time 5-10 minutes each game. This is the go to game for waiting for people, or just to wind down from a hard day. Unfortunately, this game is getting increasingly difficult to find these days.
     
   
   
   
   
2. Dominion: This is a odd one for this list. On one hand, it can take a long time to play with a few people, but with two people who know what they are doing, set up time is minimal, and so are game times. 10-15 Minutes per games, with only one game still being able to scratch that board game itch if needed.
   
   
   
   
   
    
3. Rummikub: Easy to play for children and adults alike, this takes a minute to set up and about 5 minutes per game. Easily available, this is a great place to start for your “quick game” section of your collection.
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. Dawn Under: At the time of writing this, I am having a hard time finding anywhere that sells this, and it looks like eBay is the best bet. A nice, bright and fun memory game, get your vampires to bed in the graveyard before the sun comes up!
   
   
   
   
   
   
    
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. Scrabble: No collection is complete without at least one copy of scrabble. The way we play, set a time limit, say 20 minutes, highest score by that point wins. And no time wasting!

So that's our list, our top 5 quick games. Go to www.facebook.com/farlandsgames and tell us your top 5!

Vintage Game: MageStones

MageStones is a old TSR game from way back in the '90s. It didn’t do terribly well when it was released, and faded into obscurity very quickly. I remember getting my first copy one Christmas when I was a child, and I saw it in pound shops a few years back as well.

This game spent a long time unplayed. The written rules make very little sense unless you play along with the rule book in hand. If only TSR had written some better rules, I think that this could have really taken off.

Basically, its a abstract game with its roots in naught’s and crosses. Players roll 3 dice, add them together and then can place their stones on a board with lanes marked 3 to 9. The dice are d3's, and roll of 1-2-3 makes you miss a turn, and a treble number gains you a extra turn. The idea of the game is to move all of your pieces from your hand onto the board. Pieces that have been surrounded by another players pieces, are “dispelled”, removed back the the owning players hand.

Lane 6 is the most powerful, and can only be place there with a roll of 2-2-2. But pieces in this lane cannot be dispelled, but can be used to dispel other pieces.

On first glance, when you get the rules (or have someone show you more likely), the game is shallow with not a lot going on. The theme is pasted on so badly it could be ANYTHING. But after a few plays, the strategy starts to come out, a lot like my findings with Dominion. When you see what can be achieved, with cunning ploys or outright bluffing, this game really comes into its own.

Coupled with the fact that a no game ever really goes over 15 minutes, even with 3 players, this is a great game to play when you are waiting for people, or even at parties. Simple enough, yet also highly competitive I think this would stand well with a league/table based on it.

Its a pretty rare find these days to get a nice copy of this. This game goes for between £10-25 on eBay (plus p+p), so can discourage people to buy it based on an old game at that price. But get this, this has the Farlands recommendation attached to it, it is a valuable addition to any game collection, and a testament to this game is that I spent £30 just to get this in my collection.

WAMP 2012!

August 11^th 2012 is the WAMP 2012 live event in Mansfield, UK.

Who are WAMP? WAMP is a great miniature painting forum that can be found via this link. I have been a member for a while now, and it really is one of those places on the internet where you can just kick back and have a conversation about the hobby. Gaming wise, they don't talk about it a lot, as most of the posters there are helping out people or getting ready for a competition.

I have yet to find a forum that will help you out as much as the guys here will. If you need help, then these people will help you. I cannot stress how much these guys (and gals!) helped me when I first ventured there.

They also have a store, where you can find wonderful miniatures to paint. There is a wide range of miniatures there from companies that I personally had never heard of, and models that you will want. So buy from the store, get stuck and seek help in the forum. You cannot want for more than that!

There is also the webazine Portal, a run down of all things miniature with interviews from all over the industry. It really is a great read for anyone interested in the hobby.

2012 is the second WAMP live event. It is being held at the Maelstrom gaming store in Mansfield. Go here for the details. I hope that I shall be going, if I get much interest from around here I might make it the first TNG excursion.

The event will focus around a painting competition, with feature hands on painting help, and a separate speed painting contest. All in all sounds like a fantastic day out that we all need to go to!

Go and visit the WAMP forum, here at www.wampforum.com, and enjoy your stay there.

Vintage Game: Guess Who!

In this series of posts, we are going to play old games and see if they stand up to the test of time.

Guess who was first released in Great Britain in 1979 by Milton Bradley (MB) games. It went to the US in 1982. It has taken a few design changes over the years, the 1987 version only included 5 women and 19 men, which was not rectified until the 2000 version which had a almost equal split. Star Wars, Marvel and Disney versions have all been released, as well as various travel editions, which had only 20 tiles to choose from.

Guess Who. Now I think that everybody at some point in time must have played this game, it is one of THOSE games. I remember having it as a child, and now I play it with the children that are around now (nephews, friends children etc.), but recently we got this out at a party with adults, and yes it went down a blast.

The idea of the game is to “guess who” the other player has drawn from a deck of cards. You get two game boards, each with 24 tiles with each of the characters faces on them. You take it in turns asking questions about the looks, and by the end you should have one tile left, which should be the identity of your opponents character. If it is, you win that round, and onto the next one. First to five wins.

Now I know that write up is most likely irrelevant, as most people know how to play this simple game. With children, it teaches them logic and how to formulate plans to achieve a goal in a very real sense, and I think that this game alone is worth a place in children’s game collections just because of that. With a group of adults however, the game changes. The once innocent questions of a child are replaced with some, lets say, more colourful questions. But that all adds to the fun of this game.

I have played this game just one on one, and whilst it was still good, I think that with a group of adults, team play is a must. How you go about this is up to you, and part of the fun working that out.

The game in this day and age I think is defiantly still relevant. As I mentioned above, as a children’s game it encourages the building of logic skills, to get to a unknown goal in a structured way. As a adult party game, it works great. Its simple, easy to teach and can have some very funny outcomes and banter associated with it. If your child has this game try it out again, you may be surprised. If your child does not have this in their collection, get it for the both of you.

Descent 2nd Edition

Here is a game off the beaten track of all the Warhammer 40000 posts that have been going up here recently. Descent 2^nd edition is the follow up to the hugely popular Fantasy Flight Games, Descent: Journeys into the Dark.

A lot of people loved the first edition, and a lot of people hated the it as well. The main complaints were about the length of the game, and the sheer amount of space that it took up on the table. 2^nd edition is very similar, but also very different.

Miniatures wise, like all other FFG games, they are fantastic. Not as many as in 1^st Ed, but still a good amount. Cards are standard FFG size, and board pieces and counters again the quality that you would expect from FFG.

It has been hugely streamlined. Many of the annoyances that were in Descent, like the Town, popping to the shops mid quest, all the re-spawn points, and the fact that the Overlord character has so many monsters, and then variations of the monsters that you never quite knew what you were fighting until you were dead.

This leaves a system that begs to be played, and with not as much to remember for a new player, should be completed in 2 hours or less, maybe a little longer, but not by much.

At heart its still a dungeon crawl minus RPG elements, but you can still level up characters, and indeed the overlord player can upgrade as well. If you want more of a RPG series, then D&D or other equivalent system is for you. This is a tactical miniature game. One player takes the role of the overlord, and runs the dungeon and monsters with the help of a deck of cards. Other players take the role of heroes, ones that must defeat the many dangers lurking in these dungeons.

I believe that all of these adventures could be played right from the box, pick one and off you go. This would be great to show new people how to play, but the real heart of this is the campaign system, linking all the adventures together, and powering up your characters. Indeed, the game comes with a campaign all set up and ready to go, and I can almost guarantee that there will be expansions just like 1^st edition.

If you own first edition, then there is a little bonus for you. There is a upgrade kit. It requires that the core 2^nd edition is bought, but upgrades all of the 1^st edition monsters into the 2^nd edition rules, so right from the word go you will have many more options!

Game wise, this plays well from 2 to 5 players, all within 2 hours, without the grind of 1^st edition. I played 1^st Ed, liked it enough, but never played again as it was draining in the long run. This is a lot smoother and a lot better.

If you have never played Descent: Journeys into the Darkness, and like dungeon games, then without hesitation go out and buy this game. It is fantastic and will be supported for a while to come, so many more adventures are to come. If you have played 1^st Ed, I would recommend this game a lot, but would also suggest playing before you buy. The changes are for the better, but may be changes enough to make you not like these rules.

All in all, Descent 2^nd edition is a rip roaring romp through a dungeon, with enough re-playability to keep it on the table for months to come.

The night that was TNG...

TNG being Thursday night gaming!

Well, it was a good turn out, many games were played, and more drinks were consumed. Everyone had a great time, and I hope to see them more at the next meeting!

A difficult question needing discussion...

The night kicked off with a group playing the great game LOGO. I heard lots of laughing and joking just from this group, and they played the game about 4 times I think. Just goes to show how a game so simple can be so social. Moving around the room we had a mahjong game going on, with a brand new player and a experienced player showing them the ropes. I did have to jump in and help the new player (even though I missed the most obvious move..oops!)

MageStones, a game that I highly rate and love, got a good airing, with two players having a good few games of it. A simple game like naughts and crosses with a twist, I can see this being a great hit with everyone.

Take that lowly monk!

Talisman was next, and although only two players, quite a few were involved, laughing at the undeafeatable monk, and a dragon slaying bard (!). That game ended messy, with a unanimous win for the monk, again. It seems like you draw him you win....

Around the room there was a game of Monopoly going on, with a improvised rule I overheard “its only cheating if you are caught”, which I like the sound of.

....But all in good jest

The point someone cheated....

And finally we had a game on Warhammer 40k 6^th 

Edition. I think the new rules shine much better than previous, and a testament that the players had almost no experience of the game, it went smooth with a somewhat predictable Space Marine win (best moment, a dreadnaught assaulting a 10 man group of Ork boys...)

All in all it was a great night. There was plenty of space left, so we want more people to come! Bring your own games, or come and see what we have there ourselves. There will be something for everyone, and I can nearly guarantee that there will be a game there that you will not have played, so come on down and let us show you what you are missing!

Thursday Night Gaming will be every on Thursday night at the Thimblemill Pub, Smethwick, from 730 pm till late. Entry is £2, and there will be at least 10 games supplied by Farlands Games every week, ranging from Scrabble all the way up to Warhammer 40000. Come on down and say hello, we welcome everyone and there will always be something to play!

Thursday Night Gaming, Tonight!

Well the time has come, games are packed ready, just got to move them to the venue.

Nerves are kicking in a little now, I just do not know what to expect tonight. Only time will tell. Full report tomorrow!

Learning the hard way...

So after nearly two weeks after my quitting my job to run Farlands Games full time, what have I learnt so far?

I have learnt that this lark is hard. Hard work, early mornings and late nights. And I am still only internet based. But hard work I have always found to be fun, I love the challenge that life in general can throw at you.

Learning not to trust people, but having to almost walk their path as well as your own. The debacle that was Thursday Night Gaming is a testament to this, and will not be making that mistake again in a hurry.

Getting supplies is a tricky one for me at the moment. As you know (or may not), I want to start supplying new board games to the masses. Getting my hands on these is another matter. Companies, for some reason I cannot understand, do not want to sell to you unless you are a “bricks and mortar”. I would have thought, that in this day and age, a sale was a sale, no matter where it went as long as you paid the price they were asking? Anyway, lets not dwell on that. I have a supplier, I just need to make that order.

Coupled to the above fact though, I have started coming up with my own game ideas, Farlands Originals if you will. I came up with one last night, and am surprised to see that no one on the internet has yet brought it to production. This game will be cool, you will all know how to play it, but it has a nice twist that makes it unique. But more on that later.

Most of all I have learnt that my new job is fun. I have never had a job that is fun, and I know this will have its moments, but I am having a real blast at the moment, and when it all comes together properly at the end of this month, (or the next..), I will be so glad that I left my old job and started Farlands Games properly.

Until the next post, peace and happy gaming

David Dunne

Logan Stones: Rock, paper, strategy

I played a new game today. It was easy to learn, light and abstract.

It was Logan Stones by Gem42. This really is a great little game. As mentioned above, its really easy to learn. If playing with new players, just tell them its a cross between Rock, paper, scissors and connect 4. With a dash of Othello. And that really is all to say about the rules.

In the box you get 18 quite luxurious double sided tokens, the Logan Stones, a nice fabric bag to keep them all in, and a well laid out rule sheet.

Don't be fooled by the simplicity of this game. You place a tile, and in the vein of rock, paper, scissors, if that stone beats it, you turn that one over. When you run out of tiles, you start re-arranging the tiles already down, until you get 4 in a row.

The strategy cones from remembering what is on the other side of the tiles that have been put down, and trying to combo the flips to get the elusive 4 in a row. Your first games will be won by just placing down the winning tile, but soon that will become old hat, and you will be trying to get the final blow dealt at the end of a combo. Which is always good.

Playability wise, with two people, after a few games it could get repetitive, but throw in some extra people, then I think this game would be a fantastic filler between bigger games, or even could be part of a league. It says 2 people on the box, but more than 2 could easily play with a bit of common sense applied.

Overall, this is a great game. It may be a little pricey, but what you get is quality, and quality comes at a price. These tokens will not be damaged by normal wear and tear, you would have to go a long way to do any damage to them at all.

Verdict: 7.5

This will be making it to Thursday Night Gaming, and if I can get my hands on any, will become the showcase game. If you would like this game, drop me a message over facebook.com/farlandsgames or visit our website www.farlandsgames.co.uk and message me. With enough interest, I will stock this game!

Painting a Ork Dakkajet

So I painted a Ork Dakkajet this weekend. I have wanted to paint one of these since GW released the model, so decided what the hell, lets do it. And was I glad that I did, this was a fun model to paint!

So from the beginning, here is how it comes out of the box:

Only three sprue’s, but these are packed with fun little bits of detail and items on them. All was cast well, no problems there.

Putting it together was a breeze, but watch those wing supports! I put them on upside down to begin with, which gave me a headscratch moment when I tried to connect the exhausts.

As I have found with most GW instructions for models, its best to use these as a example of how to put these models together, not the be all and end all. A little experimentation can yield some simple yet nice conversions straight out of the box.

It took about 45 minutes to put it together to this stage.

Note the pilot and weapons are not built at the moment, this allows for easier painting of the main aircraft.

I under-coated it with Tamiya Grey Primer, then put a base coat of Humbrol Crimson down over the top.

After that, I just had fun with this model. I used a variety of different techniques to get the battle damage in place, and played around for around 3 hours until I liked it. (One note, Humbrol crimson spray is a pain to paint over. It has a very gloss finish, and shows up every brush stroke on top of it. Lesson learnt, next test will be with a coat of matt varnish over the top before painting.)

Like I said, I had some real fun painting this, and it is going into the commissions folder to show people what I can do. For now, this is on ebay. Go and check it out if you want, maybe you might even want it, I don't know. More of these can be painted, so if you want a squadron painting, head over to facebook.com/farlandsgames and drop me a message!

The fiasco that was..

Thursday Night Gaming. After a month of Facebook updates, tweets, and general nuisance making in the community, the night came around.

Many many preparations were made, building boards for Warhammer, making sure I had enough games.

And then I went to set it all up. And the pub I was holding it in had shutdown. No phonecall, nothing. I was high and dry with a load of board games, people coming and nowhere to go.

We scrambled to find a alternative venue, but to no avail. Had to cancel before we had even begun.

But thats ok. Because we will be back, better than before, risen from the ashes like a phoenix. Next week in fact. Thursday 12^th July, Thursday Night Gaming!