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GameFly Experience (Monday Musings 77)

Addendum:
I returned Sekiro and by the next day, GameFly already shipped out a new game! I'm very happy thus far with my GameFly experience.

I decided to take advantage of GameFly's free month trial, and place Sekiro at the top of the list. Given that Sekiro was recently released, and GameFly noting that there's "low availability", I was surprised to see the game shipped out the day after I signed up for the trial! I signed up Monday, shipped Tuesday, and received Friday.

Given the popularity of Sekiro, I thought I had to wait a couple of weeks, at least, to receive the game, so I was pleasantly surprised to see "shipped" when I checked the status the next day. However, I'm not sure how quickly you can receive a game that has just been released that day. Would I have received Sekiro four days after its release date?

Looking through the list of GameFly games, I was impressed that they not only have the triple A titles, but also some niche ones including the Atelier series, that appear to come out yearly. I enjoyed Atelier Sophie, but not to the point where I want to buy future Atelier series at the $60 price point. 

You can keep the game for as long as you want, and once you finish the game, upon receipt, they mail you the next game.

Games in my queue are newly released Days Gone, Dragon Quest XI (as I was considering buying the game), soon to be released A Plague Tale: Innocence, and Red Dead Redemption 2. I'm curious to see for myself if I'd enjoy RDR2, and GameFly gives me the opportunity to do so free, as opposed to having buy the game and not enjoying it. 

As difficult as Sekiro is, even if it takes me 2 months to complete, the rental is nevertheless cheaper than buying the game full price. However, it does appear to be a game I'd like to buy on sale, once the Bundled edition comes out (From software always releases DLCs), so I can return Sekiro and hopefully get Days Gone (also "low availability").

Indeed, a strat that you can use, is to write down a list of all the game titles you're considering purchasing, sample these games, spending a few hours to see if this game is up your alley, and then return quickly to receive the next game. If a game appears to be a must own, then you can buy it without buyer's remorse. 

If you're a slow gamer like me and you like to take months on a game, then GameFly may not be a good option, since it costs $15.95/month for one game out at a time, or $22.95/month for two games out at a time.

So far, I've had positive experience with GameFly, albeit it's only been 1 week's experience. If you have a GameFly membership, please feel free to describe your experiences with them.

The How Of Happiness Review

20Mm Big CoC At The WHC Gavrus: Part 1

 I've been badgering Mark Freeth about CoC for about a year now, first of all to do it in 20mm, then of course its turned into 28mm. Meanwhile, The group of lads from Huntingdon who do an annual game to remember their sadly missed old friend Carlo were coming to Basingstoke.
Now I knew they had played CoC, and I also recall Carlo being partial to the game, so I thought it ideal to use them as guinea pigs for trying out Big CoC! They were more than happy to go along with it, so a format was put together. As the 28mm stuff is still being painted (nearly done though!) this weekend would have to be in 20mm
I thought that for 8 players, a Big CoC campaign of 4 games over the weekend from Friday night through to Sunday afternoon would work fine. I allowed for an extra scenario just in case things went a bit quick.
What to do?
An obvious choice was Normandy, I had all the kit required, and of course, Mark has his amazing collection of Mick Sewell buildings which were aching for a run out.
I only needed a reinforced company for both British and Germans, plus various AFV options, all of which we had.

 The scenario was to be the action at Gavrus on 29/30th June 1944, when the 2nd battalion Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders came under ferocious attack by the 10th SS 'Frundsberg' division.
The battle is reasonably well documented, particularly in Iain Dalglish's book "Operation Epsom: Over the Battlefield" which includes some fantastic aerial photographs of the area taken just days after the battle, these would substitute perfectly for maps.
I came up with 4/5 scenarios with games running into each other to replicate the fighting:
The first was a bit of a "what if" with infantry companies from each side recce-ing the village of Bougy about a mile South of Gavrus, the Germans supported by an armoured infantry platoon in half-tracks and the jocks by their carrier platoon. Both sides did recce Bougy, but I doubt they did it in such strength or necessarily at the same time, but I thought it would give a good introduction for the players, and set the tone for the weekend.
This was to be a fairly standard Patrol scenario as per the CoC rules, with each side receiving an additional 8 points of support to be drawn from a fairly limited selection

                                                           Main road at Gavrus

                                                          The British briefing:      

                                                        

                                                   Scenario 1:  BOUGY- BRITISH

This depicts the action between The 2^nd Argylls and the 10^th SS Frundsberg Division early in the morning of 29^thJune 1944, around the village of Bougy. This is a patrol action as per the main CoC rules. National characteristics as per the main rules.

7 Patrol Markers will be placed along the respective baselines, resulting in 6 Jump off Points. Vehicles will enter via the Gavrus road.

The adjutant may either: Act as an off table senior leader for 1 platoon. OR for the entire company, in which case he will just add +1 to their deployment rolls

Casualties from scenario 1 will carry over to scenario 2.

British Infantry: 3 platoons, C Company 2^nd Argylls, Regular, 5 command dice

 Each as follows:

HQ:

Lieutenant: Senior Leader armed with a pistol. 

Platoon Sargent: Senior Leader armed with SMG

PIAT Team: 2 men

2" Mortar Team: 2 men.

Sections 1 to 3:

Corporal: Junior Leader armed with SMG 

Bren Team: Bren LMG 3 crew

Rifle Team: 6 riflemen

SUPPORT OPTIONS:

List 1:  Medic, Adjutant(max 1),,

List 2:  PIAT Team: 2 men, 2" Mortar Team: 2 men.

List 3:  Sniper Team, Universal carrier Bren Team with Junior Leader.

List 4:  6 pdr Anti-tank gun with 5 crew and Junior Leader (max 1)

ELEMENTS, CARRIER PLATOON, 2^ND ARGYLLS: , Regular, 5 command dice.

1 x Universal Carrier with driver, 2 man Bren team, and Senior Leader with pistol

Section 1:

1 x Universal Carrier with driver, 2 man Bren team, and Junior Leader with SMG

1 x Universal Carrier with driver, 2 man 2" mortar team, and 1 rifleman

Section 2:

1 x Universal Carrier with driver, 2 man Bren team, and Junior Leader with SMG

1 x Universal Carrier with driver, 2 man PIAT team, and 1 rifleman

Section 3:

1 x Universal Carrier with driver, 2 man Bren team, and Junior Leader with SMG

1 x Universal Carrier with driver, 2 man 2" mortar team, and 1 rifleman, OR 2 man PIAT team, and 1 rifleman

No Support may be allocated to the Carrier Platoon

Total support points.8

Each asset picked must be allocated to a specific platoon for the duration of scenario 1

                                                  Recce half-tracks move up( die-cast vehicles, AB crew)

                                                        The German briefing:

                                                   Scenario 1:  BOUGY -GERMAN

This depicts the action between The 2^nd Argylls and The 10^th SS Frundsberg Division early in the morning of 29^thJune 1944, around the village of Bougy.  This is a patrol action as per the main CoC rules. National characteristics as per the main rules.

7 Patrol Markers will be placed along the respective baselines, resulting in 6 Jump off Points.

Vehicles will enter via the western road

The adjutant may either: Act as an off table senior leader for 1 platoon. OR for the entire company, in which case he will just add +1 to their deployment rolls.

Senior Leaders must be allocated to a specific platoon

Casualties from scenario 1 will carry over to scenario 2,

German Infantry: 3 platoons of the 1^st Company 22^nd Pzrgrenadier Regt, Regular, 5 command dice

 Each as follows:

HQ:

Obersharfurher: Senior Leader armed with a SMG. 

3 Panzerfaust 30.

Sections 1 to 3:

Scarfurher: Junior Leader armed with SMG 

M42 Team: MG42 LMG 3 crew, 1 Rifleman

M42 Team: MG42 LMG 3 crew, 1 Rifleman

SUPPORT OPTIONS:

List 1:  Medic, Adjutant (max 1), Panzerfaust 30

List 2: Senior Leader armed with a SMG.  Panzerschreck team with 2 crew

List 3:  Sniper Team, Panzergrenadier team: Junior Leader armed with SMG, 5 riflemen.

List 4:  Mg 42 MMG team and 5 crew

List 5: Sdkfz 250/8 with junior leader, 250/9 with junior leader

3rd Kompanie, 10^thSS Panzer  Aufklarungs-Abteilung:  Superior Regular *, 5 command dice

1 x Sdkfz 251/10 + Obersharfurher: Senior Leader armed with a SMG.

 Panzerschreck team with 2 crew

3 x Infantry sectionseach:

1 x Sdkfz 251/1 Scarfurher: Junior Leader armed with SMG

M42 Team: MG42 LMG 3 crew, 1 Rifleman

M42 Team: MG42 LMG 3 crew, 1 Rifleman

*Superior regulars treat a single 6 on their command dice as a 5. Other rolls are unchanged.

No Support may be allocated to the Recce platoon

Total support points.8

 Each asset picked must be allocated to a specific platoon for the duration of scenario 1

                                             Cautious grenadiers (Elhiem and Adler figures)

Gaming In The ATL - 5Th Best In The US

This is a good article highlighting Atlanta as a great place for game play and development.

Super Mario 64 (N64)

Hey, welcome back, it's Super Adventures 9th birthday etc. But never mind that, I've got TERRIBLE NEWS for you. Some quirk of Blogger has retroactively screwed up all my damn 256 colour images, removing shades and leaving them more dithered than they should be.

It only ruined little bits of them, only a few of the colours, but ideally you want your screenshots to be 0% ruined.

So I've got GOOD NEWS for you: mecha-neko wrote a thing and I did a thing and over Christmas we replaced something like 14,000 images over 1000 posts. So now the site is entirely fixed... or mostly broken, or somewhere in between. Why not click a few old posts and find out! I mean after reading this one.

Developer:

Nintendo

|

Release Date:

1997 (1996 in Japan + US)

|

Systems:

N64, DS, iQue Player

---

This week on Super Adventures, it's Super Mario 64!

It's a game that needs no introduction, so instead I'll start off by talking about how much I hate 3D platformers. Actually I don't hate them, as long as they keep their distance and don't bother me, but they've never been my genre. I like 2D platformers, I like games where you wander around in 3D, but somehow when you combine the two I lose interest. Maybe it's because I don't like slipping off narrow platforms and misjudging depth.

Actually I will give the game a bit of an introduction, because I like trivia. Super Mario 64 was designed by pioneering Nintendo game genius Shigeru Miyamoto, who's been making Marios since the first Donkey Kong arcade cabinet. He'd already set the template for the 2D platformer genre with Super Mario Bros. so they were hoping he could pull off the same trick in 3D. And he did... though he took a few months longer than planned. Unfortunately Mario 64 was meant to be the big launch title that got people buying the Nintendo 64, so they had to delay the console for months as well. They probably made the right choice though, as the PlayStation and Saturn were well established even before the delay and the N64 needed to show off some actual magic to lure people over to a cartridge-based machine without videos, voices or CD music.

Personally I love the N64 and I've got a lot of nostalgia for it, but Mario 64 not so much. I've maybe played the game twice and the furthest I've gotten is the stone slab boss that falls on you. But some people seem to like it, and it's "acclaimed as one of the greatest video games of all time", so I'm going to give it another few hours to win me over.

Read on »

So, You Want A Revolution? Well.....

Things are heating up. Well, the melting pot got hot anyway and my new mould was tried out and now I've assembled a few prototypes.

Left to right, primed figures only:

Republican French:
Prince August SYW Prussian infantry with Modified Meisterzinn bicorne.
PA SYW Russian infantry with one of my original 'Tarleton' helmet heads.
General: PA SYW Dragoon officer w MM bicorne.

Allies:
Emigre: Meisterzinn infantry with my original Roundhat.
British: PA SYW Prussian with gaiter tops filed off and MM bicorne.

Today was the first time I've  managed to get an entire Dragoon out of the new mould. I still can't get the officer's sword to cast but did get the dragoon's sword to come out and that's good enough. I only managed three useable dragoons plus three whole or salvageable officers so just need two more dragoons before the Scots Greys will be ready to join the queue. Its a pity they traded in their bearskins for bicornes for this campaign but then, I have a bicorne mould but none for a 1795 Scots Grey bearskin, so, just as well. 

Got some work to do! 



      

Convergence Hobby Update - Speed Painting CoC

One of the theories I had about owning a Convergence of Cyriss army is that it would be very easy to paint quickly.

I am not a particularly skilled painter, though I truly enjoy it when I have a fully painted list on the table. I paint to a standard that I can look at the model from 3 feet away and be happy with it. Not what the crazy painter friends I have are happy with, but what I'm happy with being on the table. This is important as a standard because painting is about time and I don't particularly have a lot of it.

A large part of my enjoyment comes from the idea that once I have a faction fully painted, I can just put it on the table and play and not have to think "damn I need to get to painting this."

So the theory about painting CoC is that you can prime the models with a metallic spray paint, add in a few colors, apply a wash, and then be done.  Turns out this is actually true!

Since my last post about CoC spoke about how the bulk of the models I received were in really bad shape and I highlighted obnoxious the paint jobs were in addition to the fact that most everything was in pieces when it arrived, compare this to what the Monitor looked like before it was primed and painted:

That's quite a transformation! So how much effort was put into this from a painting perspective?

• I based the model with sand/aquarium gravel.
• I spray painted the model with some metallic spray paint, though I did test on the extra armless Axis model that was sent with my lot to make sure the primer wasn't going to be too thick. 
• I spent roughly 2 hours or so applying the colors and washes to the primed model.
• I also had to repaint the base and basing material black instead of silver, which was odd but worth it for how much time the whole process saved me.

I didn't get any fancy primer either, just some Rust-olium at Home Depot:

I should put a few notes, since it was slightly jarring with this as a primer.

The model will look almost comically silver when primed. In fact it was left slightly sticky, despite drying for nearly 24 hours after being primed. In fact before I started I was afraid the entire project was going to be a failure and I'd have to just prime everything black like I always do.

Luckily the washes came through for me in the end.  It's amazing what that did when combined with some gold and bronze paint on the model.  Everything turned out about as I'd have expected it in the end, and I'm at a point where I think I can really hammer out my CoC army probably well ahead of my Trolls.

As a point of painting comparison, I spent about two hours painting that Monitor. I spent about an hour and a half just touching up the base painting on my first Longrider unit, and I still have to finish painting the metals on it before I can apply my wash and then go back and hit a highlight to get the skin on the trolls the way I want it.

Perhaps it's because I'm pushing the Trolls to be painted to a much higher standard than what I think the CoC should be, but man does it just feel nice to be able to knock out a model and have it come out looking good enough for me to be happy with. For my Trolls I feel like I need to put in all this extra work to get it to a point where I'm happy. I suppose that's the difference between having models of something organic like a beast or a infantry with lots of exposed flesh vs. robots. Here's an example of what I paint my Trolls to:

Right now I have to admit it's almost tempting to just try and get the CoC going. I did get lucky and have my wife agree to let me play in our local Scrum League (think a Steamroller with 1 game a week), and lists are due Friday. I was very likely playing Trolls in it, though after last night I admit that I've had some thoughts about playing CoC instead. I have two days to decide!

Building Cities!

What's going on everyone!?

Today for the #2019gameaday challenge I played a solo game of Carcassonne on the mobile app with 2 AI and actually won!

It was a good game and very close until the ene but some wisely placed farmers ended up winning me the game!

As one of my favorite games I don't think I'll ever get sick of this one!

As always, thank you for reading and don't forget to stop and smell the meeples! :)

-Tim

SIEGE 2019

Dr. Chao Mei presenting at SIEGE Kennesaw campus for the College Fair.  Mona and Joy running KSU exhibitor booth.  Check out more information about SIEGE 2019 program here.