Another Use for a Cat Food Box

Late last night I was looking at some Infinity terrain you can buy quite cheaply, made from card, infact I ordered some from Ebay. But then I staterd to have a look at one of the Cat Food Boxes I had knocking about and began wondering if I could use it to create a small building or a large container.

May well paint others a lot lighter and perhaps more colourful than this first one.

Anyway half an hour spent last night and another this morning gave me this initial concept which I intend making many more of.

How it all started.

Starport Scum: Landing Craft

At odd mometns over the last few weeks I have been toying with a model I made a long time ago but never really got to use or finish.

Originally it was an epic space marine model that I made from card around an MDF base. However it came to me that I could use the carcase to make a landing craft for my 10 mm Starport Scum/ Five Parsecs games.

I added some beads, completed the base with PVAcrete to give texture and repainted the whole model, topping it off with stain.

On a landing pad.

I have one more of these models, not complete at all, I may well create a second craft but with a different feel to this one. Well I may as well use them, better than having them sitting in a box somewhere.

KOW: WWarriors Building

This is the cat food building I have been working on for the WWarriors club. Finally got to the point whereI am almost ready to paint.

I used beads for the top of the chimney and the stack was coverd in PVAcrete to make it solid.

Went round the base with PVAcrete as well to make it strong enough to stand up to the rough and tumble game club use.

Had to raid my matchstick stock to complete the windows, all rest is made from cat food box. Two more to make.

MUMG: Captain America

I bought this model back in February, I believe, from The Outpost in Sheffield, I was attending a Kings of War tournament and had intended getting a Dead Pool model but since they didn't have one I opted for Cap instead. Having read The Avengers comics since 1970 it seemed only right to get Cap just as a keep sake at the time.

 However I then became aware of the actual game, Marvel Universe Miniatures Game, MUMG for short. Having watched several reports on You Tube now I have to say that I fancy having a go at a game. As it stands at the moment I am going to buy Sabretooth to have a grapple with Cap and see how it goes from there. 

Got to say that while I quite like the combat system I will have to develop story lines and a campaign, even if its a solo game because otherwise hitting folk for no particular reason could become a little boring. But that's for the future.

Tabletop Gaming Magazine

Its not often I set pen to paper to give a magazine a bit of positive feedback or praise but I have got to  mention Tabletop Gaming as a breath of fresh air. It has been a very long time since I last saw a gaming magazine which I fancied buying. For many years I bought White Dwarf, but in the last 2 years I really couldn't be bothered and in fact found myself reading copies of WD from the 80's and 90's more often than not.

So I bought Tabletop Gaming for 3 reasons. I had never seen it before, it looked fun and it had a Frostgrave article in it. Also it was nice to find a magazine that I found interesting, its a standing joke between me and Mrs Daxio that there are no magazines made for me.

Well what a lovely surprise Tabletop Gaming was. Not only was the Frostgrave interview and article interesting it had loads of other items that I started to read and still have not put down. I have found myself reading about games I had never heard of and thinking whether I might buy. This was how magazines used to be, reviewing games from various companies and not just one huge plug for a certain company. 

So, thank you very much Tabletop Gaming for restoring my belief in magazines. I will be purchasing your sterling magazine again next month.

Frostgrave: The Silent Tower

This is our second game from while away on holiday, Mal's warband played by me and Serefina's played by Mrs Daxio. The Silent Tower, but a bit revised because of the terrain at hand.

So we treated the central raised area and the tower on top as the 3 buildings described in the scenerio section and added walkways and ladders to reach the top.

Unfortunately I missed the deployment shots and so this is positions at the end of the first turn, note that Mal has a wound, due to failure to cast Combat awareness. 

Mal's thief had headed for the treasure near to the warband while Serefina's thief did exactly the same.

Proof that the sun did shine when we were on holiday :-)

Serefina won initiative and headed out towards the central ramp

Mal's thief reaching the easy treasure.

The rest of Mal's warband head up the centre.

The main treasure at the top of the tower, worth three roles on the treasure table.

Turning point of the game, Serefina casts Mud at the foot of the ramp basically blocking off Mal's warband.

 In the distance a huge black and white creature threatens to destroy what is left of the city!!! 

Oh no, it just Otis, the dalmation, my mistake.

Although Serefina's barbarian managed to slip round her end.

And her crossbowman set up a lovely crossfire situation to deter any heroic runs towards the ramp.

The barbarian is turned the wrong way because she refused to stand on the ramp facing the right way.

The thief making off with the loot.

Because we were all sturuggling a bit we decided to allow Serefina to cast Leap to the top of the ladder and a turn later Mal cast Teleport and arrived at the top of his ladder. Have to say this was a desperate move on my part and probably rather silly. 

Especially since Serefina's Barbarian closed on Mal.

Serefina moved towards the last ramp into the tower proper and her hound skirted the edge of the Mud and joined the party.

Both Mal's knight and infantryman slowly crossed the Mud.

While the thief made off with the loot and the archer shot at the crossbowman to no avail.

Against all the odds Mal manages to survive in combat with the barbarian, but both Serefina her hound ascend to the tower. Serefina is having "standing" issues again, she is not dead :-)

Mal's knight attacks the crossbowman, but not before the croosbowman shoots down Mal's infantryman.

Mal sloggs it out with the barbarian.

Sewrefina reaches the tower, the treasures are hers!!!!

Mal manages to wound the barbarian, what!!!

The crossbowman wounds the knight and is then attacked by the archer from the rear.

The fight continues with no wounds to either side.

Mal's archer is killed by Serefina's crossbowman, heavens this is going badly for Mal.

But Mal wasn't listening he was too busy being knocked unconcious by the barbarian and the hound.

Having killed the crossbowman Mal's knight decided he would try to rescue his master, but arrived too late only to find himself looking into the bared teeth of a hound and the steel of the barbarian.

The death of the knight signaled the end of the game, it became obvious that Mal's entire warband had been taken out of play, Serefina had comprehensively gained control of all the treasure bar one, Mal's thief had nipped off with that.

The carnage!

The horror!

Post Game Campaign Sequence

 Serefina's recieved 170 exp and 560gc for getting 4 treasures off the board. 

She got: 

Boots of speed

A grimoire with Teleport

Potion of Explosive Cocktail

Potion of Healing

A combination of aggresssive play, see the theme here, and the very fortuetous use of the Mud spell really helped her to win. 

Mal's warband did very very badly, this game really gave them a good kick in the pants. 

Mal limped away with 60 exp and 270 gc, only because he sold a grimoire.

 The big problem for Mal is that in the post game rolling both the archer and the infantryman died, so they will need replacing costing 100 gc.

Epilogue

Serefina worked very well with her warband they all seemed to make good use of their movement and when she cast Mud, well it was inspired. Serefina kept in sight the point of the game and worked to achieve her goals. Mal on the other hand didn't have a plan or really any clue about how to get up the tower and escape.

Mrs Daxio has a firm grip of the rules now, its just a matter of learning when to use certain spells to achieve their best effect, but I recon she's learning that a lot faster than me. The next game could be quite a  challenge for Mal (and me).