Books read January - April 2022

 Jan

Italian Aces of World War 1  by Paolo Varriale

Mister Rogers Neighborhood: A Visual History by Melissa Wagner, Tim Lybarger, Jenna McGuiggan

American Aces of World War 1 by Norman Franks

 

Feb

Austro-Hungarian Aces of World War 1  by Christopher Chant

Early German Aces of World War 1 by Greg VanWyngarden

The Costume Technician’s Handbook by Rosemary Ingham & Liz Covey

 

Mar

Blood Bowl – Spike! Presents 2021 Almanac! by Games Workshop Limited

Frostgrave Ghost Archipelago: Lost Colossus by Joseph A McCullough

Frostgrave: Forgotten Pacts by Joseph A McCullough

British and Empire Aces of World War 1 by Christopher Shores

Aces of Jagstaffel 17 by Greg VanWyngarden

 

Apr

The Art of Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge by Amy Ratcliffe

A Billion Suns: Interstellar Fleet Battles by Mike Hutchinson

Aces of Jagdgeschwader Nr III by Greg VanWyngarden

 

Dust Tactics to Dust 1947

I keep looking at Dust but never got into it.  I had thought that it was in the same vein as Tannhauser, which I already have, but it is it’s own thing.

 

Tannhauser, the board game and expansions was published by a French company, Take On You, in 2006.  The system was bought by Fantasy Flight in 2009, and a revised edition was released in 2010.  The background is that World War 1 did not end and that it still rages on 35 years later.

 

Dust was created by Paolo Parente, a former fashion designer, who then became an artist for games and Magic cards.  He designed Dust as a series of 1/6 scale action figures, and then comics to go with them.  In his design World War II did not end thanks to the discovery of a crashed alien spacecraft in Antarctica.  This tech leads to the creation of large walking vehicles. 

 

He worked with Rackham to bring this to a game but they did not like the WW2 German forces, so they changed the setting slightly and designed AT-43 (After Trauma: 43) in 2006.  This was a miniature game with Weird War figures and man-sized walking tanks.  The company was spending more money on its fantasy line Confrontation, and ended up closing.

After that ended, he brought out Dust Wars with Image comics, and model kits in 1/35 and 1/48 scale.  There was also a Risk-like game that came out in 2009.  I had a bit of trouble finding it but was able to track down a copy of that when I thought it was an extension of the Tannhauser milieu.  I have also picked up the Battlefront Dust Tactics rules in a previous sale.

 

AEG helped bring together Dust Tactics as a board game with figures but this was bought by Fantasy Flight just before being released in 2010.  There were expansions and a revised set was published in 2011.  This led to Dust Warfare in 2012 as a gridless miniature game.  Another edition came out with a messy kickstarter in 2014 through Battlefront.

 

Then they got it back and published it themselves in 2016 as Dust 1947.  They had upgraded cards to be able to use figures from all the sets, and even brought out new factions in Cultists (Cthulhu), (Japanese), and Mercenaries.  They always had figures available in prepainted and also just primed but finally sold unassembled figures as well for a lower cost.  I just found out that they have stopped publications last year in 2021 partly due to the complications of production with the pandemic.

 

It’s a big system to get into.  I don’t know anyone locally who plays it.  I’m not looking to buy and store multiple forces for another game.  I’m not even a big World War 2 fan.  Now that it is a dead system it is going to be hard to track down figures.

But it is a pretty looking game with a great table presence.  It’s supposed to be fairly simple compared to heavy wargames, and has a really strong supportive following.  It will probably come out again at some point, especially since Paolo had plans for taking it into space and moving the setting forward to 1963 during the Cold War.  The rules are still available on their website so I will probably download them and give them another look.  I can keep an eye out for clearance sales and for people clearing their collections in lots.  If I can find someone to play with, I can always design counters for the figures and vehicles to try it out. 

Miniature Market is having a Spring cleaning sale and I missed picking up a few Dust Tactics operation/mission boxes for the figures and maps.   But I was able to pick up the Dust Warfare rules and a couple of the campaign books.

Figure Painting Total - March 2022

 I also picked up a second MU Wolverine that was already painted.  I just repainted the base to match my colors closer.  I’m not going to count that on the painting total.

 

Bought

BM – Red Robin – 1

DCU – Batman Villains – 6 (Bane, Clayface, Ra’s Al Ghul, the Riddler, Scarecrow, Solomon Grundy)

DCU – Legion of Doom – 6 (Black Manta, Cheetah, Grodd, Joker, Lex Luthor, Sinestro)

DCU – Superboy & Steel – 2

MU – The Incredible Hulk – 1

MU – Ms Marvel – 1

 

Painted

Black cat – 1 – Heroclix rebase

DLB – Attack of the Greys – 3

 

 

Mar total – figures bought 17, figures painted 4

Running total 2022 – figures bought 57, figures painted 19

Making Gold Town

 Whitewash City: Gold Town – The Mining Town game is based in the old West but it is more about the experience of a miner visiting the local town than about shoot outs. 

 

I have had the Gold Town CD for over a decade and haven’t got around to making a playable copy.  This changed recently.

 

I printed out everything with my ink tank printer, and glued many of the sheets of pieces to medium weight chipboard and cut them apart with an Olfa knife. 

 

The Task Cards were printed onto 100 lb cardstock with the backs printed on the reverse.  The Gold Cards were printed on 100 lb cardstock and the backs were printed on a separate sheets and the two parts were glued together and then cut apart. 

The money was printed out on pastel printer paper and cut with a paper cutter as was the Gold Cards and Task Cards.

 

Figure Painting Total - February 2022

 I worked on assembling the Marvel Universe figures and getting them ready to prime.  I worked on the Don’t Look Back figures, and bought some Stirland Mud texture paint to use for their bases.  But I didn’t manage to get anything finished and clear coated.

 

Bought

MU – Doctor Octopus – 1

MU – Thanos – 1

SMG – Goblin Cult Starter – 4

SMG – Superior Spider-Man Starter – 4

SMG – Spiderbots – 3

SMG/MU – Elektra – 1

 

Painted

 

 

Feb total – figures bought 14, figures painted 0

Running total 2022 – figures bought 40, figures painted 15

 

Filling in the gaps in the Marvel Universe

 There were still a few figures from the Knight Models Marvel Universe game that I was missing.  I had bought the cards only from someone last year for the Spider-Man Miniature game figures.  This uses basically the same rules as the Batman Miniature game.  This year the same guy decided to sell the figures.

Luckily, I was online when he posted and was able to snap up the figures to match the cards, and a lot of the remaining figures that I am missing from the Marvel Universe game, including a lot of the more rare ones that were released just before they lost their license – Doc Octopus, Elektra, and Thanos.

This is good, as I was having a hard time finding good alternate figures to use for Doc Ock and Thanos.  Usually I can find a decent Heroclix version to use, but nothing really looked right.  I was concerned that I might have to get the Marvel Crisis Protocol figures to use.

While a bit pricey, these will fill in most of the gaps I have.  I still need the Hulk, Loki, and Venom but I have Heroclix alternatives for these already.  I would also like to get another Wolverine, and another Ms Marvel to use for Carol Danvers.

 

Figure Painting Total - January 2022

 I'm starting the new year off quietly. One of my late Christmas gifts came in the form of another Blood Bowl team. I was able to pick up the Don't Look Back Triple Feature.

Bought

Blood Bowl – Necromantic Horror – 14

DLB – Attack of the Greys – 3

DLB – Death on the Line – 1

DLB – Final Girls – 4

Unmatched – Battle of Legends Volume 2 – 4



Painted

BM – Lamppost – 1

BM – Objectives Game Markers – 3 (Riddler marker, ammo crate, loot)

BM – Objective Game Markers Set 1 – 4 (2 Riddler markers, Titan container, contraband)

BM – Objective Game Markers Set 2 – 5 (2 Ace chemicals, loot, ammo crate, Wayne tech)

BM – Objective Game Markers Set 2 – 2 (loot, ammo crate)

Jan total – figures bought 26, figures painted 15
Running total 2022 – figures bought 26, figures painted 15