Take That! You Martian!

     The humans have begun to make a proper response to the Martian Invasion. Having carefully examined the Martian technology Earth  scientists have determined that Martian sensors detect visible light only rather poorly and depend on electromagnetic sensors for a great deal of information. minor field testing has confirmed this thesis.
     A massive undertaking has produced two test vehicles that are equipped with new technology that blocks these sensors, leaving the Martians nearly blind in the intense Terran sunshine. These have been carefully disguised to handle the Martian's  limited sight in daylight and brought to the battlefield just in time to confront a significant Martian assault.

 

 

the Martian horde appears out of the dawn light

Apologies but Not Excuses

     I have been failing in my duties as Editor here over the last couple of weeks. I trust that my cohort in crime J&R has kept you all enlightened and enthralled with his erudite postings. I have been updating the Neulandia Blog with the rules amendments to bring TMWWBK rules into a VSF  theme. That has been completed but I still have to complete the economic system. I hope to have this dome within the week and beg your forbearance until I can return to my usual duties as Editor.

SpartaCon Picture Trove: Kadesh

Recently uncovered new photos of Spartacons, found within the ancient tomb of Ramathull III!

Okay, not so much. I left these in draft form so that Anton and Housemartin might add some quotes or captions to them. However, wonderful gamemaster Chris Maes deserves for these to be seen, so I'm just posting them. I do know that the Egyptians managed a rather solid victory against the Hittites, with a stunning flank march on the right side, stout fighting on the left, and a stunning individual combat victory by the Pharaoh himself and no one else.

Flintcon, Session Two Photo Extravaganza

Hey everyone, back with more pictures from Flintcon! Once again, I'm not giving full on reports of every picture, but a general feel of each game. Have a whole bunch of pictures, so I hope you are prepared.

Flintcon, Session One Photo Extravaganza

WARNING: THESE POSTS CONTAIN LOTS OF PICTURES. IF YOU ARE ON A METERED DATA LINE, YOU MIGHT WANT TO WAIT BEFORE CLICKING ON THIS POST.

Hello! JnR here with a bonanza of photos from Flintcon! As one of the few in the group who made it out (Old Sarge and Joe managed to make it out for a bit), I decided to focus on taking pictures of the fantastic games that were being put on. Not only were there miniatures tables, but a Pathfinder Society room, a board game room, and a painting station! It was pretty great.

Developments in Neulandia

Hey Guys! I finally got the map done and posted it to the Neulandia blog, sorry about the delay.

Upcoming Con Dates

Three months, three cons! SpartaCon is in the books, but we have two more cons coming up before we even hit Spring proper.

Flintcon 3 (THE REVENGE!)

When: 9 A.M.-11:00 P.M., February 4th, 2017
Where: St. Paul Lutheran Church, 402 S Ballenger Hwy, Flint, MI 48532
Website: Flintcon 
Cost: $10 per person, children 10 or younger free if accompanied by an adult

Flintcon is making its third appearance, and unlike most other conventions will be including rooms for Pathfinder and board games, along with a packed room for miniature wargames! I know I'm excited to be attending for the first time since its inception.

Battlefields (Presented by Pro or Con)
 

When: 9 A.M.-11:00 P.M., March 11th, 2017
Where: Livonia Elks Club, 31117 Plymouth Rd, Livonia, MI 48150
Website: Pro or Con
Cost: $10


The redoubtable Battlefields will be making its... I'm actually not sure how many times they've held Battlefields. It's been around since I can first remember going to cons in middle school. But at any rate, it'll likely fill the hall with games like last year. I'm not sure if we'll be running a game yet, but I'm sure Anton will update this as soon as he's sure he can!

*EDIT*

WinterCon 2017 (presented by Metro Detroit Gamers)
 

When: 8:30 A.M.-10:30 P.M., February 11th, 2017
Where: Oakland Center Gold Rooms, Oakland University, 2200 N Squirrel Rd, Rochester, MI 48309
Website: WinterCon
Cost: $15, $10 for children 15 years or younger with adult


As noted by our friend and contributor Gary, we have WinterCon at the wonderful facilities at Oakland University! Much like Flintcon, it will be supporting not only miniature wargaming but roleplaying and board games, with a good portion dedicated to classic railroad games like Ticket to Ride and the 18XX series.

SpartaCon Picture Trove: Second Session

        Another plethora of photos from J&R, I don't know how he found the time to take these as he was busy assisting me with the game that I was running. I have no clue what the games were, or who ran them, so if anybody can provide some help there I would be happy to cation them to give credit to the guys presenting the games.

SpartaCon Picture Trove: John's Dreadnought Game

        My able and energetic assistant, Justice&Rule, during the 28mm Pre Dreadnought game managed to take about three times as many photos as I did. He is half my age so that will be my excuse! They are offered here without commentary as I have already outlined the game in a different post and, frankly,  I really hate typing. J&R captured many angles that I did not so enjoy this cornucopia of photos.

Spartacon Picture Trove: First Session

Hey all! More pictures from Spartacon 2017. Not going to be much in the way of commentary, but tons of pictures.

Battle of the Big Fleets, 28mm Pre-Dreadnoughts at Spartacon

        I took my fleets to Spartacon and ran a game on the vast floorspace they were kind enough to provide. We ended up with twelve players involved using thirteen vessels over about a thousand square feet of playing surface. Now all I need is a week for my knees to recover!

        The scenario is that the French Fleet is escorting a group of troopships to add to the forces attacking a Prussian colony. They expect to encounter only the local Colonial Squadron, to their surprise the Asiatic Squadron has shown up as well. The Prussians have no intention of allowing the French reinforcements to get through and have launched an all-out attack with their more numerous, but slightly inferior, forces.

 

the dashing French Admirals commanding (L to R)

the Charles Martel, the Dupuy de Lome, the Bec de Corbin and the Nemesis

 

the phlegmatic Prussian Colonial Squadron commodores,

 commanding (front to back) the Thor, the Panther and the Beowulf

 

the Asiatic Squadron admirals commanding (L to R)

 the Blitz, the Donner, the Seydlitz and the Gniesenau

A Glimpse of Spartacon

          This year's Spartacon has come and gone. In the assembly hall of the Lansing Center we enjoyed the nicely carpeted floors and comfortable, well lit surroundings. I had the pleasure of playing in a re-fight of the battle of Kadesh in the early part of the day before running my 28mm Pre Dreadnought game in the afternoon session. Attendance was good with almost all of the player slots filled in both the morning and afternoon sessions.As I was playing in a game I didn't quite get the opportunity to get around and snap photos of all the games but here are a few that caught my eye.

 

Chris Maes and company presented the visually (and tactically) satisfying Battle of Kadesh  

using 20mm figures from Caesars