This weekend on my workbench produced two new gizmos.  First, I started work on my first from-scratch terrain.

At the pictured stage, this is just a few randomly cut pieces of foam insulation, cut with a hot wire cutter and primed black.  I plan from the top pieces to be flocked and have trees stuck in it , but keep the base removable so that the top can be easily moved if troops need to be stationed there.  Using two pieces also helps to elevate the woods so that they can block line-of-sight better.

Second, I have been pained watching some Warhammer players’ attempts at fielding hoard formations.  Even when a movement tray of the correct size is employed, the models fall and scatter more easily than usual.  To get around this problem I decided to magnetize my models.

I’ve tried magnetizing in several ways in the past with limited success, but it looks like I’ve finally hit upon a solution that works.

First, I line my tray with a ferrous metal.  For this I used the miniature conversion sheets from Alea Tools.

Next, I spent about an hour stuffing Green Stuff and a 1/16″ magnet in each of my dwarf’s bases.

And just like that I achieve a nice and tidy hoard formation that sticks to it’s tray in tricky circumstances.

Another satisfying weekend full of gaming goodness.  Starting with a quite Friday night facing my Dwarfs against my own Dark Elves.  I figured that playing against myself there was no way I could lose right?

Not exactly.  I had decided to take my time playing myself, paying attention to as many details as possible, hopefully to teach myself to pay attention to such things during a game against an opponent.  I’m not sure if I actually made more mistakes than normal or if I just noticed more because I was paying closer attention.

In any case, the Dark Elves managed to win by the very narrow margin of 131 points.  Nearly a draw.  If the Dark Elves had not left a Sorceress hanging out in the open to be shot to death by Rangers in the first turn, it would probably have been a more decisive Dark Elf victory.

The most decisive factor was magic.  The remaining Dark Elf sorceress with Lore of Shadows risked miscast again and again to give her unit of warriors Occams Mindrazor, which is quickly becoming my favorite spell for elves, as it allows Strength to be replaced with Leadership for an entire turn.  Coupled with Eternal Hatred, a small unit of warriors suddenly becomes a murder machine.

The weekend also saw me running two games of D&D 4e.  I love that the new addition allows me to run a fun 4 hour game with only an hour of prep.  Currently, I’m running two campaigns.  One is during lunch hours at work, and other on alternating Sundays.  The plot lines have been slowly drifting towards one another over the course of the last year.  The campaign world is a blend of the default D&D world and the old Spelljammer setting.  More on this in a later post.

Finally, this Saturday was my first time playing Heroclix.  I’ve avoided this game in the past, as the collectible aspect of the game too closely resembled Magic: The Gathering (As in, rich kids with lots of time on their hands always win).  I figured that with the right people, though it could be a fine distraction.

Enter Bill and Dave, two gentlemen with many, many, many, clix.  At 300 points, Bill fielded the Fantastic Four minus Susan Storm, Dave set up a loose Justice League themed team, and I put down a blend of Nextwave and Alpha-Flight (My goal is to collect the entire Alpha-Flight set and show some Canadian dominance).

Though I couldn’t stand to read the Heroclix core rules, once demonstrated, the game was easy to learn and intuitive.  The fun lies in watching representations of your favorite characters facing off against each other.  I was surprised that the game’s simple mechanics could still offer a feel for individual characters.  For example, I could feel the frustration of having 5 characters ganging up on Batman and still not be able to hit him while he hid in the trees.

I don’t think I see myself getting much deeper into this game, though.  It’s a good distraction, and would be more compelling if I were a stronger Marvel nerd, but I don’t feel the payoff is there for me to invest much time and money to it.