Skirmish 2011

Yesterday I took my daughters to the Skirmish show in Sidcup. I didn't have a great deal to buy and knowing the show was small I decided it was the perfect venue to take my youngest daughter to. This was her first show and she really enjoyed it - particularly the Dr Who Dalek vs Cyberman game run by Medway Wargames Club. For obvious reasons I didn't take many pictures but here's what I did get:



I met a few friends at the show although I wasn't able to chat as much as I would have liked. As well behaved as my little Padawan Learner was I still needed eyes in the back of my head! I also bumped into a few followers of this blog which is always nice. So if I met you but seemed distracted I should apologise. I'm sure there will be more opportunities to chat at other shows.

We only stayed for about 2hrs but that was more than enough time for me to pick up a few items. One thing I particularly wanted to get was a new display case. I only have a small area in which to put my models out on display and currently I use a display box normally reserved for the larger scale model cars. I knew I could pick up a larger box (the sort used for model ships) so I bought one that was 501mm x 148mm x 148mm (pictured above). One of these days I'll get a proper display cabinet but in the meantime this is a good alternative.

My daughter bought a big bag of 54mm plastic skeletons, which she has already started to paint. She also picked up a mint condition LoTR 'Combat Hex' TMG Starter Set. I thought this was a particularly good buy because it's a whole game in a box (Miniatures, rules and hex battle map) and we were able to play it when we got home. I had to streamline the rules a little so she could understand them (she is only 6 after all) but we can add in more detail next time we play.

All in all a nice morning out and one more step in my Geek Training Programme for my two girls. Our hobby may be male dominated at present but I'm doing my bit to change the gender demographic of the next generation of gamers!

Heroclix DC Super Heroes

The Dagenham Dungeons Delvers gather last week for our regular game session but this time without our GM. Unable to continue our D&D campaign we decided to spend the evening playing something else. One of our group brought a HeroClix starter set of DC Super Heroes. He also had a few other (earlier) models and between them there were enough figures for three players to put together a 300point team each.

Two of us had never played HeroClix before but we were quickly able to grasp the basics of the game and understand its simple mechanics. We started off with a training game just to get acquainted with the rules them moved on to selecting our own 300pt team and battling it out against each other. And I have to say it was great fun.



Battle on a HeroClix town scape

 In many ways what we were doing wasn't a great deal different to our regular D&D games where combat (and the use of miniatures on a map) is a large element of each game. I saw a strong parallel between the powers and abilities of the HeroClix system and the powers used on 4e characters. Certainly the combat didn't feel much different from playing out a 4e combat scenario.


The Green Lantern goes head to head with The Scarecrow

Clearly we are not about to abandon our D&D campaign to concentrate on HeroClix but I suspect that this won't be the last time we don the Spandex (metaphorically speaking of course) and battle it out against fellow superheroes.