First Blood

The Red block Army Box.

A nice way to get an army for the Red block of 2000 army points (AP) for not so much money. The box contains a lot of things, but the interesting is the army itself:

• 1 unit of 12 Krasnye Soldaty: regular infantry containing three grenade launchers, two medics and an officer

• 1 unit of 8 Krasnye Soldaty: regular infantry containing one grenade launcher, two mechanics and an officer

• 6 Dragonov Kommandos: elite infantry with one sniper rifle, an electronic warfare specialist, a medic and an officer

• Odin O-1 and Manon O-2: the Red Blok’s two greatest heroes

• 1 Urod: Odin O-1’s and Manon O-2’s combat strider

• 1 Dotch Yaga: the most heavily armored combat strider to ever grace the battlefield

Before getting this box I was already having some Krasnye and some Spetsnatz Kommandos but I wanted to try the army box so I decided not to use any other unit for my very first game of AT-43.

My opponent was also a 2000 points army form the U.N.A. Mind (actually only 1990 AP)

1 Copperhead (470)

1 Fire Toad + Bad Dog (450)

3 Death Dealer Tac Arms + Lieutenant G. Epstone (440)

2 Wing Sniper Team (95)

2 Wing Laser Team (120)

1 Cobra M8 with a sergeant (415)

We used a quite big table, around 2 x 2 meters (7' x 7') and we decided to run a "King of the Hill" scenario. The hill was actually a system of trenches slightly above the general level of the table. There were some containers and other scenography maybe no so much as it would have be needed, but taking into account that it was also the first game of my opponent, we were (we are) still trying out things :D

The trenches system was open, without any roof and turned out to be a deadly trap for my infantry as the U.N.A. army was having several indirect fire arms which fired unopposed on my Krasnye, massacring them.

For the starting positions of deployment we rolled a dice but we considered also the corners of the table for the roll and sure enough we got that outcome. So we started the game on opposite corners of a big table without so much cover and a lot of AFVs around. The heavy vehicles dominated the field and the infantry was a mere spectator of the battle.

Impress by the heavy armour of the Dotch Yaga I decided to deploy it on my right flank with a unit of Krasnye to try to go for the souther side of the hill, whereas the Urod was deployed on the left flank with the other Krasnye unit and the Dragonovs.

The Urod managed to get cover behind a container and open fire on the AFVs of the imperialists. At the same time, the Dotch Yaga was able to see them over the low elevation of the trenches and also opened fire on them. Unluckily for my side, the U.N.A. AFVs were all of them having the ability of mechanic and therefore able to repair themselves. Obviously this made the destruction or serious damage of these units very difficult even for the Dotch Yaga. Some attempts of concentrating the fire on one unit were also not so fruitful.

However, the Tac Arms tried to approach the trenches from the East side and were deadly close to the heavy mortar of the Dotch Yaga, only the hero (Lt. Epstone) managed to survive the round :D

Nevertheless, she managed to manoeuvre and outflank the Krasnye on cover behind the Dotch Yaga and to shoot them on a very short range, killing the last mechanic. A lucky salvo from the imperialist AFVs landed on the frame of the Dotch Yaga and destroyed it !!!.

In the mean time, the Urod was shooting the U.N.A. forces from behind the trenches, but without too much success. The Wing Sniper Team was behind a fortified wall and able to target almost any point of the battle field. Something not very good for the survival chances of the Krasnye Soldaty.

The Urod charged against the U.N.A. forces on an attempt to short the range and destroy the leading AFV, but the destruction of the Dotch Yaga focused all the fire on it.

The second unit of Krasny had managed to reach the trenches but the position was so exposed that the mortars of the U.N.A. and the snipers were able to almost wipe them out.

The destruction of the Dotch Yaga was also the end of the game. The time we were having for the whole game was over and the final outcome was more or less clear. A sounded defeat for the Red Block :(

Our posterior analysis of the battle in the light of the forums and related webs pointed out to an excessive size of the table and a lack of cover for the battle. The tactical error of letting the Dotch Yaga alone on one flank with only one mechanic was also something to learn for the future.

But, the game was incredible funny, fast paced (more or less, we are still mastering the rules after all) and with glorious moments.

After this first battle we decided to go on with the game and order some more miniatures and plan the second round, but with more cover and a better hill; a bit higher, so that no unit should be able to see over it ;D (the first one was very low and allowed the AFVs to see the other side, which kind of hill does it?)

Even having being defeated, I really enjoyed the battle as well as my opponent did.

We were both of us looking forward for a second go !

Not Funny

Not funny at all !

According to my DVD magazine review this movie was supposed to be very funny but actually Paul Blart*Mall Cop is not a funny movie.

The plot seemed fine. A guy with some problems due to hypoglycemia tries to be a cop but due this issue does not manage to pass the physical test and just goes on with his job as mall cop. There is daughter for a previous marriage and a nice girl on the mall which the main character finds very attractive and you learn almost at the beginning that she also likes him. There is also a bunch of bad guys who try to take over the mall to steal all the money from the shop just before they close thanks to some computer thing.

At first approach, the movie has a bit of everything: romance, not so common disease, action, bad guys, and so on; but the movie just falls into common easy jokes.

The guy is quite fat due to his problem and a lot of situations arise where this issue is used to try to make fun by the easy method of ridiculing him or best to say to try to make fun but the jokes are so bad that you almost have to cry.

The secondary characters are also very easy and the plot just does not add. The bad guys are bad, very bad but just as characters not as opponent. They are a useless bunch of idiots without any substance. They are just there because they are needed for the plot but they are so bad portrait that no one can believe on the characters.

The romantic part of the movie is more or less fine, but that is not so difficult, isn't it?

Conclusion: A movie that maybe you should avoid wasting your time with.

By the power of Grayskull !

Last night we watched the film Hot Fuzz (Wiki) and we really enjoyed it.

The film is about a kind of fantastic good police officer in the UK which is transferred to a little nothing in the middle of nowhere and how he (not)connect with the new surroundings.
The film is from the same team as the fabulous "Shaun of the dead" and very hilarious.

Plenty of great moments and ironic dialogues together with excellent actors, habitual from English movies. Two of the secondary characters, for example, were part of the team of "Love Actually", namely the old rock star and the guy making the poses for the porno movies.

But no spoilers and no more words here.

Just Watch It !!

AT-43

AT-43 is a miniature sci-fi wargame from the company Rackham in which several factions fight for their lives.

Actually there are six factions: U.N.A., Red Block, Therians, Karman and the new factions Cogs and O.N.I.

As usual in this kind of games, each faction has its own "philosophy", that means, each faction follows a different approach to war and to technology (better accuracy but lower damage, slow fire-rate but high armour, and so on).

U.N.A. and Red Block are human-like, Therians are a kind of hybrid between humans and machines, Karmans are big intelligent apes, Cogs are giant high evolved creatures and O.N.I. is a human corporation with access to a kind of "zombie" virus. Those two (Cogs and O.N.I.) are new additions to the game universe, so there is no so much information about them, however, there are initiation army boxes for both of them (the one for Cogs is already on the market since some months and the one for O.N.I. was presented last month and will be released this November).

I discovered the game some time ago, in 2007, in the GenCon in Paris and it was probably the only good thing about that GenCon (how can you call it "the European GenCon" with barely 20 stands in a ridiculously small hall which was still half empty and no parking possibility??? go to SpielMesse in Essen to see what a REAL games convention looks like).

But coming back to the game, at last year SpielMesse in Essen we found some of the miniatures at a very reasonable price (actually it was a very low price) and we decided to buy a few. The offer was not so big, basically some U.N.A. soldiers, some Red Block Kommandos and some Therians. Biassed by the bizarre look of the Therians we decided to buy the U.N.A. and Red block guys but afterwards we never found the time to try the game, until last month...

After the initial adquisition of troups, we got some more U.N.A. and then the Red Block army box (great deal, really) and we try our first battle with this army box of Red Block against a U.N.A. army of also 2000 AP (more on that on further post).

The outcome is that we are waiting now for not one, but two quite big deliveries of more miniatures, including Therians and Karmans and that we are trying (with quite a success) to mutate more people into players :D

Inglourious Basterd

No spoilers here.


Just go to the cinema and watch it if you didn't yet.

Great movie, sometimes a bit too slow, but clearly a Tarantino's film.

The Gourdiaan Route

This route (http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=yduwhezfehzivcva) is a walking route which should start on the little town of Gourdiaan and be a round trip of 23 km around some beautiful Dutch landscape (channels, windmills and similar).

However, the indications are almost missing, the road is sometimes just disappearing right in front of your nose and there is no place to eat anything along the planned route.

Once you arrive to Gourdiaan you will find a place called Het Raadhuis cafe. The place looks fine and the parking area is empty early in the morning, at least it was empty this morning around 1140 local time.

Directly there you will see one of the markers of the route, look carefully to it because is one of the few you will be able to see :(

To begin with the walking you should go over the bridge and to the left, there you will see one marker. After a few meters you will see another marker like the one in the picture. The direction of the arrows is supposed to be followed. We didn't and skip around 3 km going directly to Ottoland.

This little place has nothing except some very nice houses and a church with a nest. Even if you miss this marker and follow straight ahead to Ottoland as we did, you will eventually connect again with the route way, but you will be at the wrong side of the channel without a bridge to cross it...

One you manage to arrive again to the N214 you will be back in business.

The road will take you to Giesen. A nothing in the middle of nowhere, without any place to buy food or water, at least as far as we were concerned today, maybe you have more luck...

The surroundings are very quiet and not so crowded. Around only fields with cows, sheep, and horses. A lot of cows.

After Giesen the planned route will lead you into a dead end or best said to the garden of a private property. A huge garden, that is true, but still a private and closed property.

The shortest way that we found to come back to Gourdiaan was heading to Hoornaar and then turning direction Noordeloos.

Good news are in Hoornaar there is a kind of cafe, bad news the food is not so good even if you are already quite hungry.

The way to Noordeloos is very pleasant and full with channels and shadows.

From Noordeloos to Gourdiaan there are still some kilometers. This is not really the route indicated in the book or on the internet, but as the markers where more or less never there and the road was not really following this, we didn't care too much at all.

It was anyway a nice trip, even the weather was great, sunny but not too hot.

If you try this route, good luck with the indications ;)

Today

Today I wake up quite late, around 1100 and I found warm chocolate waiting for me for breakfast. A fantastic way to start a day.

Sadly today was bye-bye day. After several months in duty at the tower, keeping my tachyonic transmitter in position only with the help of his special genetic markers and adhesive tape, Gato was leaving.

His trainer, an agent of the FPF needed him back for different duties. From today Gato will be protecting the life of a new born, a future agent of the FDF maybe. If we are lucky maybe even an author. We don't get so many those days...

Today was also cleaning day. The hideout in the city center needed some material and some repairs. After the activity of the last months on the docks, some ammo was too short and more explosive traps is always a good idea.

The new agent will arrive in time minus 13 days and will probably fancy some extra toys.

Afterwards beach-duty. I like beach-duty. Usually there is nothing wrong going there. People are used to the presence of FPF forces patrolling the area. They know what happens to other worlds when the Tedio took them. No papal agent will survive here if detected.

In some ways this planet remembers me from my home one, little bit less mountains, but you can not have everything.

Now I just re-invented a kind of liquor. The recipe is not too difficult, some milk (better cold), some (quite a lot) spoons of chocolate powder and a bit of cachaca rum. I think we deserved it, well only I am actually drinking it, but was a team work. After beach-duty it was obvious that it was a moment as good as any other one to fix minor problems at the light house. Basically the tachyonic antenna needed a new disguise and some bullet holes in the walls are now not visible anymore. My base looks again as unremarcable as it should look.

Alpha is now running a total check up of hers systems and will be down for a while.

The sun is setting course to the other side of the planet and the sea is about to explode in red.

End of a nice weekend.

But, Tomorrow Will Be Another Day