GAMING NEWS: Command Horizon & Maksim's Gaming!

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Hi Everyone,

Despite my myriad chores and lack of enough gaming, this past weekend wasn't a total loss...

I spent part this past weekend beating a video game, something I haven't done in several years. My roommate succesfully got me hooked on a computer game almost four months ago; he got me interested in Knights of The Old Republic, a Star Wars roleplaying game that came out way back in 2003. You can learn more about the game here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_of_the_old_republic

Since then a sequel has come out and even another sequel is rumored to be out sometime next year. Parts of the game were pedantic, but overall, I enjoyed the experience. The music and graphic were spot on... it very much captured the experience of being in a Star Wars movie... at least as I imagined it!

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In other hobby news, I've been very busy with writing for the new Baccus sci-fi game that is now available.

You can learn more about Baccus here:
http://www.baccus6mm.com/

And you can check out the Yahoo support group for Command Horizon, the new Baccus 6mm sci-fi game here:
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/commandhorizon/

A message from Peter here:

I'll put and end to the waiting and speculation and announce that I've finally released the Command Horizon SF range and it is now available. Very shortly I'll be unveiling a brand new web site devoted solely to the CH range, but for the moment you'll be able to find all the information on the models and the prices if you visit the Baccus site.

As well as the models themselves we'll be producing a range of accessories and scenics. The first of these can be found at the above link and is a range of pre-cast bases with different surface finishes. We've been using these ourselves for mounting the demonstration models and they work great, saving loads of time and effort and producing a great end result.

And because we all want to play games with our little men and little tanks we've even produced a set of rules to allow you to do just that. These are currently available as a FREE pdf download which you can access from the Baccus site.

These releases don't indicate that we've stopped work on the range - far from it. Planning is already well underway for more human releases and the first of the Alien races. We hope you enjoy both the models and the rules. We've had a great time working on both.

Cheers,
Peter Berry
Baccus 6mm
http://www.baccus6mm.com/

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I have also been very busy with a hobby project that I never expected to ever get involved with: I'm building a WHFB (Warhammer Fantasy Battles) army in 28mm... oh, heretical scale!

My friend Nils invited me to join him in a game and when I learned that Thomas Foss, one of the big kahunas of Flagship Games was involved as well as Aron Clark, Dirtside II and ASQL (Alien Squadleader) maestro, I couldn't turn them down. Additionally, Harry and Terry of Screaming GIs fame, recently got interested in WHFB and if two seriously dedicated historicals nuts like them can get involved, why can't I?

Not long after I considered getting involved, A-1 Comics on Sunrise had a huge sale of Reaper miniatures so I picked up a ton of Reaper's beautifully cast 28mm Razig's Revenge undead pirates at a steal, or should I say plunder! ...too cool.

I've been working on that army since. This past weekend, I stopped by Michaels, a craft shop, to pick up a little bag of seashells to put on the bases of the figures. I'm going for the whole "Pirates of the Carribean" undead pirate theme.

And to think that Bill from the former Hobby Workshop game store spent years trying to convince me to buy into a WHFB army. He almost had me sold when he told me I could build a Tomb Kings army based on the ancient Hebrews complete with an Ark of the Covenant. I miss that old shop... it was full of character and... um, characters! LOL

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Have a great a day and a great Thanksgiving if I don't get to blog sooner!

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.


Notes regarding photos / pictures: These are not all my images. I am using various images from around the web, mostly from public sources and/or private sources used with permission. I have tried to include only images under public domain, creative commons, or fair use. If I have inadvertently violated any copyrights, please inform me and I will remove your image/s (if it is indeed an infringement).

MINI WARGAMING: The Carper'ian Castle Wolfenstein?

. Hi Everyone,

Some of you may remember a classic old video game called Castle Wolfenstein...

Castle Wolfenstein was amazing for its time... it was the story of a WWII commando / GI sort of fellow who had to infiltrate a Nazi fortress... The original game had an overhead view and the sound effects were nothing short of amazing...

Later, Castle Wolfenstein turned into one of the first and best of the "first-person shooter" games...

The above view isn't the original "first-person shooter" version, it's from one of the sequels with fancier graphics.

I have many fond memories of slaying Nazis and uttering the classic Indiana Jones line:

"Nazis! I hate those guys..."

Why did I bring this up? Well, because my friend Mark Carper recently made an amazing piece of miniatures terrain... a castle that brought back fond memories...

Mark is an amazing terrain builder and miniature painter; when you can get Mark away from "The World of Warcrack TM," he's an amazing game opponent as well as pretty darn good company!

At any rate, I should stop blowing his horn and simply say that he's outdone himself and built one of the most impressive pieces of gaming terrain I've ever seen...

I've also added a link to his Photobucket over on my sidebar:
Mark's Photobucket Albums

While he only has his Carper'ian Castle Wolfenstein up so far, expect more good things from him in the future.

Mark has nominally scaled it for 15mm (...all of the minis pictured with it are 15mm) and it's made out of pink insulation styrofoam, ground cover, spackling, castle walls from some kind of cork board and who knows what else out of Mark's mad scientist laboratory...

Have a great Thursday!

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

P.S.
I also added in a photo of the Wolfenstein honeys... just because!

Notes regarding photos / pictures: These are not all my images. I am using various images from around the web, mostly from public sources and/or private sources used with permission. I have tried to include only images under public domain, creative commons, or fair use. If I have inadvertently violated any copyrights, please inform me and I will remove your image/s (if it is indeed an infringement).

MINI-WARGAMING: Origami Mami AKA Origami-Mania!

. Hi Everyone,

This is one of those wacky things that I always seem to end up coming across while surfing the 'Net.

Check this out:

http://briefurl.com/Origami_Mania

I'm not sure exactly what this guy is making (Sure is skillful though...), but it looks like it might be:

- Starcraft video game
- Starship Troopers
- Games Workshop 40k miniatures game
- Aliens
- Frogs and Whatever?
- Or who the heck knows?

I found it amusing at any rate.

Have a great Friday!

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

P.S.
I tip my hat to Black Horizon in the UK. Additional thanks to Mojarn in Finland!

HUMOUR: Socialist Super Mario Bros?

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Hi Readers,

I came across this while surfing...

Imagine if the USA had lost the Cold War...

What would Super Mario Brothers have turned out like in the alternate USSR-dominated universe:

http://briefurl.com/the_peoples_mario

(Check out comments section for full link)

I used this site to compress the URL:

http://briefurl.com/index.php

I found a bunch of old Soviet propaganda posters here:

http://briefurl.com/Old-ussr-posters

Oooh, weird! Norman Rockwell on Socialist crack...

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.