BitBox March 2017

Two times a year the BitBox in Mülheim an der Ruhr opens its' doors. The BitBox is some kind of very small Tabletop Wargames fleemarket located in a youth club somewhere in the middle of the Ruhr area. It's always crowded, small and very nerdy but you can find often hidden treasures as there are many people selling their old school miniatures for a very good price. This time it was so crowded that the people where blocked for some 15 minutes and couldn't walk in either direction. I had some good chats with folks and bought two sealed boxes of 40K 2nd Edition Imperial Guard as well as some painted metal Trolls.

The lead pile growths with some old metal Imperial Guard minis.



The BitBox is always crowded.



On the hunt for some minis that are definetly needed.

Spiel 2016

Last weekend Bettina and me attended the Spiel 2016 convention in Essen. We tried out several games, including "Klask" an interesting table football game made from wood in which the players try to shoot goals using magnets under the table (http://klask.me/). This game reminds me on our old wooden made "Wutzball" game that we should play much more often.



"Star Trek Ascendancy" is a nice game with great gaming material.

I was very keen to try out the new "Star Trek Ascendancy" boardgame by Gale Force 9. A very nice guy from GF9 explained us the rules even while commiting that he actually never played the game by himself. The game has some interesting concepts and the gaming material is very good. But unfortunately it costs 100 bucks and for me it seemed to be a little bit overpriced for what you get. As I'm thinking about using all my nice Star Trek Attack Wing ships in a similar custom made boardgame I decided against buying it. In the end I was happy to take the free Star Trek badges that were offered there. Sometimes the small things are the best.



Prodos Games' "Aliens vs. Predator" miniatures are just amazing.

Another of my ongoing planned projects is my miniature project set in the Aliens vs. Predator universe. Prodos games is doing the official game and their are doing a great job with the quality of their miniatures. This year I finally bought the "The Hunt Begins" box set as well as some Facehuggers and Alien Warriors. The details on the miniatures are amazing - much better than for example the Games Workshop minis. To conclude the Alien theme of this years' Spiel I finally bought another geeky t-shirt. This time I went for a Nostromo crew shirt. Like every year it was a great day.



This years' buys have a heavy Alien theme.

Beyond the Pillars of Heracles - The Lands of the Aquarians

In the writings of Pontifex the priest about "The Odyssey of the Aquarians" we find this map which is titled "The Lands of the Aquarians".



A map of "The Lands of the Aquarians".

Pontifex the priest also offers a legend of the symbols he used when drawing the map.



A legend of map symbols used by Pontifex the priest.

Spiel 2015

As September passes by and October is just waiting at the doorstep I'm happily looking forward to the Spiel 2016 in the middle of October. Thinking about this I just realised that I couldn't find the time last year to write a report about the Spiel 2015.



Playing Game of Thrones LCG 2nd Edition with Andi.

Last year I went again with Andi. We tried out the Game of Thrones LCG 2nd Edition which is even better than the already great 1st Edition.



My "pillage" from Spiel 2015.

And we did our usual Shopping tour. I bought the Game of Thrones LCG 2nd Core Set, some Star Trek Attack Wing ships for my collection, the Bolt Action rulebook and a really geeky but great Aliens Weyland-Yutani t-shirt.



Now I'm looking forward to the Spiel 2016...

Just Finished Painting: More Catachan Veterans

I finished another unit of Catachan Jungle Fighter Veterans. Again 10 veterans including 6 regular soldiers, 3 Plasma Gun bearers and 1 Sergeant.



10 more Catachan Veterans.

Just Finished Painting: Catachan Veterans

Another project I'm planning now since many years is an Imperial Guard / Astra Militarum army for Warhammer 40K as I'm a big fan of the 40K background and especially the brave men of the Guard. For many years I was thinking about all those different regiments and which one I would like to field on the tabletop. A force of Vostroyan Firstborn mechanized infantry was my top choice. Then the Valkyrie Assault Carrier came out I was hooked by this great model and the idea of an airborne infantry army. And of course a Vietnam war style airborne Catachan army was the obvious choice reminding on the film Apocalypse Now. I bought some boxes of Catachan infantry and command units, put them into my hobby shelves and forgot them.



A unit of Catachan veterans.

When I tried out the hexless Command & Colours rules with Andi some weeks ago I started thinking about a 40K campaign centering on a Chaos invasion of an Imperial planet. As I already have an Chaos Space Marine army, I was just lacking their Imperial adversaries. So I removed the dust from the Catachan boxes and started  to glue them together.



With three Plasma guns they are specialised in Anti-Marine warfare.



















During the last days I painted the first unit: a unit of ten Catachan veterans with three Plasma guns bearers, 6 regular dudes and a sergeant. The main colour I used was Athonian Camoshade. My plan is to paint 20 more of them, give them either Valkyries or Chimera transports accompanied by a Leman Russ tank. Then I can field them as a 750 point Warhammer 40K army or as the backbone of an Imperial Guard army for the Command & Colours campaign.

Beyond the Pillars of Heracles - About the Harpies of the Islands of Aquarius

Aquarians attacked by a flock of harpies.

From the writings of Pontifex the priest about the Harpies of the Islands of Aquarius:

"And those are known as the Harpies of the islands. Half birds, half witch-women. They live on the wild mountain tops of the Islands of Aquarius. And they rule the skies over the islands With their dreadfull chantings they charm both men and animals to descend on them and to feed themselves on their flesh and blood. They represent the baneful. And they also represent the storms and malign winds.

Once in a year Kelaino, the harpy, comes from the far west. Kelaino who once met Aeneus on the Strofades. Then she flies to Aquarius. And she lies with him. This is Aquarius' punishment. The punishment given him by Zeus for his disobedience once in the Bronzen Age of Men.

This is the punishment for the Sons of Aquarius too. As there is one single egg coming from the joining every year. And from this egg another daughter of Kelaino arises every year. Joining their sisters in the skies.

Often men don't see them for many years. But at times they come down from their mountain ranges in great number."