The Romulan Invasion

They stole in past the defences. A ripple of movement caught the eye, but then it was too late. Decloaking en masse the Romulans attacked, overwhelming the enemy. Plasma torpedoes tore through the void, striking and overwhelming shields. Terror and confusion gripped the defenders, but only briefly. For as soon as the attack had begun it was over. As the defenders began to return fire, the Romulans faded away, vanishing back into the blackness whence they sprang.

Yep, Romulans arrived over Christmas, and I had been merrily engaged in assembling and painting them ever since. I had got some Vallejo matte varnish, which worked well on my Federation ships. Although now I look at the pictures below, maybe it is just less apparent on white paint than on pale grey. I've been applying the transfers Mongoose sell - pretty ineptly, and have had to order a second sheet as I ruined so many of the first lot. It took me a  while to get accustomed to using such small transfers. Anyway, the varnish came out nice and matte on the Federation ships, but has been uniformly gloss on the Romulans. That has been a bit irritating, and means I am currently waiting for sufficiently clement weather to have a go at using Army Painter spray matte varnish. Spray-on varnish dislikes the cold and the damp, and even a mild English winter is a bit of a dicey time to use it. I may end up leaving it for a sunny day.

Here are the Romulans prior to their coats of paint and varnish, and a single Federation heavy cruiser with her name and number emblazoned. I have to admit I have something of a heavy cruiser addiction. Five more are winging this way here as I type this. Would that they came at warp speed! Anyway, that will bring me to eight basic Constitutions, a Lexington and a Gettysburg on the same chassis. Time to join Wargamers Anonymous: My name is Pete, and I have a problem. Enjoy these pictures, and I'll try to get the Romulans varnished as soon as possible.

The Oops of War

Another couple of battles from 2012 here. In the first I thought it would be fun to throw a trio of Klingon C7 Battlecruisers at their Federation Kirov-class counterparts, while a black hole in the middle of the table pulled everything inward. As it turned out, the moving terrain rather threw out my brother's plans, so all three of my ships were able to get the drop on one of his, while his other two frantically tried not to crash into an asteroid field being sucked into the middle of the table. With one ship dead, and my fleet pretty much unharmed, it wasn't going to be much fun carrying on, so we called it a day.

In the second one I was still trying to use my laptop as a reference point for all the ships, which went disastrously when I tried to deploy about a thousand points of warships on either side, and foolishly tried my hand at a comparatively huge solo game. I ended up getting as far as the second or third turn, when the fleets had just started taking pot-shots at one another, and then gave up in utter befuddlement! Pretty pictures of a massed "battle", but that's about all that came out of this!

The Fall of Mandalay Gamma

I have a few battle reports and bits and bobs left over from the end of last year, so bear with me as I get through them. First up is this refight of a scenario in which the Attacker has to scan a planet for strategically valuable information. We had already fought this with the roles the other way round, so this time I led a Klingon assault force (4 D6s, an F5 and an E4) to investigate a planet mysterious protected by three Constitution-class heavy cruisers and a Lexington command cruiser. As I recall, I had my fleet divert power to the engines, and surged forward over two turns, reaching the planet in the third. I through out the E4 and F5 as distractions on my left flank, intending to have the D6s scan the planet. The Federation fleet was perhaps inadvisedly divided into a strong right flank and a weak left one.

As I approached the planet I had the advantage of more ships, and that the ships were themselves more manoeuvrable. So I was able to take advantage of the positioning of the left-flank Federation cruiser, and get ships all around it. It took a pounding, and, I think, went down with all hands that turn. As my ships scanned the planet, the rest of the Federation squadron moved in. I elected to distract them with a couple of ships, while keeping some more obscured by the planet. These distractions were probably unnecessary, and just got a couple of ships killed to no real purpose. Anyway, by the time the Federation squadron had cleared the planet, I was able to order my ships to warp in time to zip off back to the High Command with juicy, juicy information. I think it was after this battle (or just in the final turns) that I realised that each ship had to note what it had scanned individually for its points to count. We've played this scenario pretty much to death, so we shall have forgotten by the time we come back to it, no doubt! End result: Klingon victory.

2012 and 2013

The Roman god Janus had two faces, one which looked back, while the other one didn't. As his month of January begins, it behoves us to follow his example. 2012 has been rather a good year for me. I have made steps toward employment, including spending a week sitting in on History (and Politics and RE and Modern Language) lessons at my old school, which made me sure that teaching is something I should be happy to do. I attended two friends' weddings, and this has also been a year of babies being born, which is rather sweet. On the wargaming front, I have been consistently having a few games, granted only by coercing my brother! The blog has grown by leaps and bounds. I apologise for the paucity of posts this last month, but December has turned out to be remarkably full. Expect better of January!

So what for this year? I am not by nature an ambitious man, being rather more aptly described as half-asleep. Money and power don't really speak to me. Well, let us be ambitious in other ways. I am waiting to hear back about starting a PGCE in the autumn, but prior to that I mean to get some teacher training experience, so that I am better informed. I was a little late applying this year, so if things should fall through, I shall be able to put together a better and earlier application next year. Hope for the best, plan for the worst, and all that! As well as that, I have already begun a deliberate rescue effort. I have deduced that within me is a thin man attempting to get out, so I jogged a mile earlier, walked another four and did some light weights. I hope to see some heartening results in a few months.

As part of a plan to try new things I experimented with a foodstuff called kassava on New Year's Eve. It's a little on the bland side for my tastes, though if it were a foodstuff native to these shores, it would compare favourably with the potato (yes, yes, I know). Even the inflated prices of spuds following this year's torrential rains don't let the imported kassava yet stand shoulder to shoulder. Anyway, experimenting with food is one thing, but insufficiently adventurous. Having looked about at friends doing things, I  have drawn up a list of ridiculous things I would never consider doing. At some point be prepared to learn that I have thrown myself from an aeroplane - or been thrown by the experienced person I'll tandem-jump with. That will not be for a while, and I have some other madcap plans in mind. At a more down-to-earth level, I mean to have a proper look about the area for some other gamers. I am still very into this whole Star Fleet system, so it's mainly opponents for that I'll be seeking. I had a Romulan fleet arrive for Christmas, pictures of which should be up in the next few days. There may be a slight problem, as I appear to have an addiction for the Constitution-class Heavy Cruiser: I bought another three the other day, which will bring me up to half a dozen, plus the Lexington Command variant and Gettysburg Heavy Command variant. My name is Pete, and I have a problem!

In closing, I wish you all a Happy New Year and much success!