GAMING NEWS: "October MWS Meeting AAR" (5 December 2007)

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TOP: Wargaming is it SHOULD be...
Good friends having a good time together.

Hi All,

October's MWSS (Miniatures Wargaming Society of Sacramento - usually just called MWS) meeting was a good one: great attendance (16 guests! + more visitors!), several games, and, best of all...

Lots of good company, royal socializing, and outstanding camaraderie!

And the attendance was:
- Chris
- George G.
- Hal
- Joe B.
- Joe R.
- Keith E.
- The Keith (Keith S.)
- Maksim-Smelchak (me!)

TOP: Watch out for the Gorn!
Ornery Space Dinos that they are!

- Mark C.
- Mike O'Brien
- Mikos
- Richard M.
- Terry
- Vynnie
- Mystery Guest #1
- Mystery guest #2
- Lots of passersby who came in to see the action!

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TOP: "Spiney Norman" is everyone's favorite, evil SUPER-MUTANT!
Some speculate that he was once just an angry, little prairie dog...
...before the Fall.

1. “Junkworld Episode III – Glittering Treasure in Norman’s Backyard”
HOST: Mark Carper
RULE SET: Savage Worlds (Customized by an “Act of Mark”)
GENRE: Post-Apocalyptic Sci-fi
SCALE: 28mm

PLAYERS:
- Joe B. as: “Grizzly Pete Gang”
- Joe R. as: “The Zombie Master”
- Keith E. as: “Spiney Norman”
- Maksim-Smelchak as: “Sven Glikker & The Sai Wing Gang”
- Mark C. as: “Gamemaster One”
- Mike O'Brien as: “The Unhygienic Ratmen”
- Richard M. as: “Plughead Murphy’s Gang”

SYNOPSIS:
- Rumors that great treasure have been spotted in the zombie-contaminated zone are reported as an adventurer stumble into the bar, tells his tale, and conveniently dies. Half a dozen gangs or so gather their members, bundle into transport, and set out for “The Zone,” a contaminated area jokingly called “The Zombie Preserve (TZP).” TZP is an awful place with high rad counts, leftover bio-contaminants, preserved old Twinkie stashes, wandering gangs of mutated rat men, the “Moby Dick” of mutants, a giant intelligent mutated MONSTER known only as “Spiney Norman,” …and, most importantly, vast amounts of TREASURE! (Or so they say…)

More photos of this game can be found here:
http://s44.photobucket.com/albums/f23/Maksim-Smelchak/Gaming%202007/MWS_10-20-2007/28mm-Junktown-Ep-3_10-20-07-/

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TOP: Noone likes those "Goodie Two-Shoes" in the Federation!

2. “Pirates of the Asteroid-al Penzance”
HOST: Vynnie of RIF
RULE SET: Federation Commander
GENRE: Star Fleet Battles (Star Trek spin-off)
SCALE: Starship Scale

PLAYERS:
- Chris as: “The Pirates”
- George G. as: “The Freighter & Escort”
- Mikos as: “The Gorn – Pirates?”
- Vynnie as: “The Gamemaster”

SYNOPSIS:
- Starbase 4571-Q #3a reports strange pirate activity. As the Federation sends a transport to re-supply the base, a fantastic space-bourne melee breaks out that is still leaving Intelligence men wondering what happened.

More photos of this game can be found here:
http://s44.photobucket.com/albums/f23/Maksim-Smelchak/Gaming%202007/MWS_10-20-2007/Starship-Fed-Cmdr_10-20-07-/

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TOP: It was a WWII "Motor-rama" in the Des(s)ert!

3. “Sour Kraut – Bitter Limey Des(s)ert!”
HOST: Keith The Man
RULE SET: Blitzkrieg Commander
GENRE: WWII – North Africa
SCALE: 20mm (HO RR scale)

PLAYERS:
- Hal as: “The Sour Germans”
- The Keith as: “The Sour Brits”

SYNOPSIS:
- North African WWII Brits & Germans meet in the desert near El Alamein for a rumble in an evaluation of the Blitzkrieg Commander (BC) rule set. BC evaluated well!

More photos of this game can be found here:
http://s44.photobucket.com/albums/f23/Maksim-Smelchak/Gaming%202007/MWS_10-20-2007/20mm-WWII-Africa_10-20-07-/

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Some more photos of the session can be found here:
http://s44.photobucket.com/albums/f23/Maksim-Smelchak/Gaming%202007/MWS_10-20-2007/

Have a great Wednesday!

And Happy Chanukkah to my Jewish readers!

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

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

MINI WARGAMING: The Weekend Wrap Up In Sacto Gaming (22-23 July, 2006)!

Hi Everyone,

This was quite a weekend of gaming, plenty of events.

Vynnie, a local gamer, well known for his generosity and a beautifully designed miniatures web site (link to his site shown below) was among the game hosts this past weekend.

Saturday was full of gaming events...

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Whether from the Sacto Board Gamers at the Arden Dimick Public Library...

http://boardgames.meetup.com/19/about/

You can see several well known gamers in the above photo (photo taken from the Sacto Boardgamers web site) ... among them Phil the "Mighty" and Brian the "Brain."

Kevin Ellingston was able to attend this event and noted the games played here:

http://briefurl.com/Arden_7-22-2006

I have posted a list on BoardGameGeek recapping the games that were played on July 22 at the Arden Dimick Library. Since I did not arrive until 2 p.m., I suspect there may have been a game or two that were played that I did not get a record of. If you attended and played a game that is not on the list, I would appreciate it if you would add it.

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The MWSS Board / Mini Gamers at Fair Oaks Public Library...

The above photo is of Rob "Mako" Kent, a local wargamer with an intense interest in aerial wargames and Don Delis, who hosted a WWII Pacific wargame.

http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/M_W_S/

MWSS also had guests from the Bay Area EBAG Club:

The EBAG guys are certainly a little strange, but are always likeable!

Why is it that so many folks with Scooby Doo T-shirts seem to resemble Shaggy?

http://www.warsweb.com/ebag.html

MWSS hosted three mini games this past weekend:

- A western "gunsmoke" game (homebrew rules) designed and hosted by the always charismatic Joe Bianchi.

- A WWII Pacific game (Flames of War rules) featuring Ozzies fighting the Japanese in the deep jungle hosted by the inscrutable Don Delis.

- A DBM game featuring the Gauls vs. the Romans hosted by the ever magnanimous Brad.

I attended this event and took some photos, which can be found here:

http://briefurl.com/MWSS_7-22-2006

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Or the local gamers that Vynnie hosted at his place...

In the above photo, a might Klingon and Orion fleet head off to deal some "hurt" to the do-gooders of the Federation. If nothing else, the Klingons have thick heads of hair, which is more than many Federation captains can lay claim to...

http://www.recon-in-force.com/index.html

I also attended this event and posted some photos here:

http://briefurl.com/Vynnie_7-22-2006

We played the popular Starfleet Battles remake Federation Cammander and had a good time. FC is a big improvement over the rules and tables heavy SFB.

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/21371

Of course, as often as not, it's the company that makes the game and not the other way around.

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And Sunday also saw a number of games hosted including some games of ASL (Advanced Squad Leader), a classic war game of much renown.

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/243

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And I had a great time everywhere I headed this past weekend!

Thanks to all, whether hosts, players or otherwise!

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

HUMOUR: New SFB Motivational Posters (sic.)...

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Hi Everyone,

I thought I should quickly make a small post about my friend, Andreas Udby's AKA Javelin-98's web site... He's a great guy, very generous with his time, generous with sharing his many fan-created game aids and always ready to brandish his wicked sense of humour!

The above poster is only one of many that he desihned on a lark... snarky spoofs of "motivatial posters" made for gamers. You can find a larger version of the poster here (...as well as the rest of the series):

http://s76.photobucket.com/albums/j20/javelin98/

Just in case you were wondering, the poster features an image of an ACTUAL Star Fleet Battles (SFB) game record sheet... just a wee bit complex, you might say...

And despite the complication inherent to the game, SFB can be fun. I've shared many a game of SFB with good friends over the years and most recently with Vynnie & Gang, whose awesome web site can be found here:

http://www.recon-in-force.com/index.html

Andreas's web site, which is chocked full of gaming goodness, can be found here:

http://home.comcast.net/~kudby/

Enjoy! Have a great day!

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

WARGAMING: The Shield Gaming Conference & Starfleet Battles With Vince!

Hi Guys,

The apartment move is really coming along... most of my belongings are packed and the old aprtment is slowing being moved (scrubbing every surface, filling in holes with putty, repainting any off spots, etc.) although unpacking is nearly as daunting a task as the packing and shlepping itself! Ugh!

However, I am taking a break for most of this weekend and here are the plans:Tonight, my good friend Vince and I are heading down to Lodi (...about an hour or so away) to play Starfleet Battles with our friend Jeff. At least the last game he mentioned that he wanted to play was Starfleet Battles... who knows what we'll actually do when we reach destination. One things for sure though, I'm sure that we'll have a good time!

For those of you who don't recall Vince, he is an inveterate gamer and a great guy with a really varied interest in miniatures.

POLITICAL DISCLAIMER:
Be wary checking out Vince's site as he is decidedly NOT political correct. Warning given...

Here's a link to his web site:

http://www.recon-in-force.com/index.html

And since I know that there are a number of fans of Colonial and VSF games out there, here's a link to the VSF / Colonial section of Vince's site. As a side note, I've played in many of those games...

http://www.recon-in-force.com/Queen-and-Country/index.html

Eat your heart out, Tas and Vanvlak!

Tomorrow on Saturday, my friend Dick and I are heading down to The Shield Gaming Conference for the day. We'll be playing in the DBA tournament and generally having a good time.

Check out this link for more information about The Shield:

http://www.geocities.com/ancientconference2004/

And Sunday, Mark and Kurt as well as Dick have expressed an interest in playing a agme of Star Mogul. We are all three creating our salvage companies / Necromunda gangs and it should be fun!

I am organizing my company / gang around two combat squads and a third salvage team squad supported by some kind of truck for hauling the salvage. Dick had an old 28mm hover truck that I'll probably convert into a wheeled hauling truck for the campaign.

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.