SnakeEyes March 2015

GARAGE GAMERS GROUP

ISSUE # 17

March 2015

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SNAKE SN AKE EYES I S S U E

1 7

M A R C H

2 0 1 5

Garage Garag e Gamers Gamers Group (GGG) Cover: Michael Colclough Commemoration piece

Editorial

Reviews on the Run

Gaming Tips

The Collector

Penny for your thoughts

Dog County Range Wars

Eyes Around the World

Member Spotlight

Finally, my favourite season. Autumn. Well in Australia it is. That means no more hot garage that make it i mpossible to bear to be in, reducing gaming, painting and assembly time to almost nil. It did make me go out and buy an industrial ground fan. Noisy but keeps the temperature bearable at least. I hope you all had a great February, wherever on the globe you reside. By next issue I hope to have some more variety of contributions, from other gamers who read Snake Eyes. Keep watch out for the posts if you are interested. Just a reminder that when you send in submissions for inclusion please include the name of the person to whom the credit will go to. Also ensure that you have the appropriate permissions. Some people are cool about having their miniatures in a magazine, but others are not. PentaCon will have a set date by next issue, anticipating a winter date, and a change of games. More to come in April edition of Snake Eyes. There has been some discus-

can only happen with your support so if you are a member of a club or attend tournaments then we would like to know so we can tell everybody, and create more excitement, for your tournament, or the one at your club. MiniTrades on Facebook is open for any GGG members to post sales or trades, or just having a look. Please ad location if you wish to post anything on there, and feel free to use it for your gaming trades. As you would be aware, the more support, the more likely you will move your miniatures that you no longer need.

All adverts in this magazine are currently free, and are used with the permission of the owner/s. Snake Eyes encourages stores and vendors to promote their wares with us. Likewise any clubs or tournaments are free to utilise our medium. Garage Gamers Group and Snake Eyes are created for the Gamers by the Gamers, which is both a motto and something that we believe in. We will not discriminate be-

Lastly, any member of GGG who would like to have their own copy of Snake Eyes emailed every month directly to them, please let me know by sending a PM on the facebook group page or an email to the address below.

Send your submissions in to: garagegamersgroup@ gmail.com and put Editor in the subject line. SEE YOU THERE











GarageGamersGroup-The GarageGamersGroup-Th e Games We Play Warhammer 40k Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay BattleCry StarWars X-Wing Old West Zombiecide Axis & Allies Warhammer 40k Roleplay

American Civil War

Mordheim

Apocolypse

Flames of War

AD & D

Pathfinder

Arkham Horror

Napoleonics

Necromunda

Warhammer Fantasy

Dreadfleet

Blood Bowl

Man O War

War Machine

Bolt Action WW2

Infinity

Innity

One hundred and seventy -five years into the future Humanity has managed to survive despite itself, but for how much longer? The human race has reached the stars. Travelling through worm-holes, enormous commercial ships, run by the international community, known as Circulars, jump from one star system to another. Circulars are controlled by O -12, an international organism that is the second generation United Nations but with much greater capacity for decision-making and for taking action. A single, massively powerful Artificial Intelligence that is present in the entire Human Sphere, and indispensable for the great powers, assists the O-12 in maintaining a fragile balance between them. The old nations have grouped themselves into great international federations and have allotted between themselves the star systems that have been shown to be adequate for human life. These new powers, much more powerful than the old ones, continue to be moved by the age-old driving forces of human history: the quest for living space, resources and power. They all want the same and that makes peaceful peaceful coexistence difficult. Confrontation and conflict are the constant norm, whether they be open or concealed, of high or low intensity, of long or short dura-

REVIEWS ON THE RUN With GGG Member Peter Toh Are card games viable alternaves for

other player for the purposes of shoong

“Gamers”? Anyone who has been to a gaming

them (each player usually only has a range

store or convenon holding a “Magic” Tourna-

of 1 at the beginning of the game, meaning

ment will have no doubt that the answer is yes,

they can only shoot the players adjacent to

but what about other styles of card games, and

them. Within the deck are bang cards which

can they compare with or replace board games?

are used to shoot other players, pl ayers, missed cards which allow people to dodge the bang

I will look at this queson from two points of view:1) Mechanical variaons on a single theme, and 2) diering presentaons of a similar mechanic. Themacally I present the Wild West: Many of us are familiar with Dog County Range Wars which has been running in some of the pr ior edions of Snake Eyes, and those of us who have been to a PentaCon will know the wild west miniature game played there, but how would we convey the feel-

cards , and a whole lot of other cards to help or hinder players like beer weapons, barrels to hide behind, dynamite to throw at other players and so on. This is a fun fast paced game (usually ~30 minutes) that is easy to learn and play. There is a lile reliance on the rules to explain some of the eects that some of the cards have, but is easy enough to remember aer a couple of games.

ing in a card game? I do believe that the game gives a reasonaThe game Bang! has been released through dV Giochi (daVinci Games) and has been around a round

ble portrayal of the Wild West in a card game format.

since 2002 in English. In this game for 4-7 players, each player is a character from the Wild West, but each player also has a role – either Sheri, Deputy Sheri (1-2), Outlaw (1-3), or Renegade. But apart from the sheri, each player’s role is unknown unl they are killed. The role of the sheri and his depues is to kill all outlaws and the renegade; the outlaws aim to kill the sheri, but may also kill anyone else; the renegade just wants to be the last one standing. Each player on their turn draws 2 cards from the

For a similar mechanic game using a board/ miniatures versus cards, I present Twilight











Twilight Imperium (base set) is aimed at 2 to 6 players,

ally through selling trade goods. There are only so many avail-

whereas Race for the Galaxy (base game) is only 2 to 4. Both

able, and that is also dependent on the number of players.

are set in space, and feature a mulple phase play system. For those who have not played either this means that dependent on the number of players, various v arious “phases” may be aconed during one game turn. These range from types such as a maral phase (conquering new planets or baling space eets), a

While I do enjoy Twilight Imperium, I do believe that most people will enjoy Race for the Galaxy more, as it is easier to learn and signicantly shorter to play, while sll keeping the same core gameplay mechanic.

trade phase, or a technology advancement phase to name a few. Each player will select one phase that they will lead, which will usually give them some benet associated with the acon(s) of that phase. During each phase each player performs, if they wish and are able, the acon(s) associated with that phase, then the next phase is iniated, unl all phases are played during the round.

It is important to note that in both games, regardless of who chose which phase to lead, the phases themselves occur in a specic order which does not change. (The mechanic is similar to the one used in Puerto Rico) That is where the similarity of the games realiscally ends. Twilight Imperium has an extremely steep learning curve, and with any more than 2 new players, you can expect a game to last 2-3 hours per player at the table. Even with gamers experienced with the game, you can expect at least 1 to 1.5 hours per player. One of the reasons is the complexity of the game’s mechanic around advancing your race to achieve the ulmate goal of controlling the Prime planet at the centre of the board. There are other ways of winning the game, but this is the most common one. Advancement is a slow process, and ed to it is the need to put resources into both technological and military advancement. Race for the Galaxy also has a slightly steep learning curve, but aer a couple of games, you can expect it to only last 30 to 60 minutes. Signicantly, there is no amassing of actual space eets to do bale against other players. This drascally reduces the need for prolonged gathering of resources to aain an ulmate goal. Unlike Twilight Imperium, players may actually select the same phase to lead, however this means that some phases may not actually be played dur-

[email protected]











ISSUE

17

P A G E

Playing for a reason When I rst started playing 40K, it was one on one, on a table and to the death. Frankly, I didn’t see the longevity in it for me. I need story. Then I got the books - Slaves to Darkness and The Lost And The Damned. Hoooo mumma.! That was my thing. Flu. History, Even makebelieve history. And for sure, was I addicted to 40K then. If you don’t know of these books well, you are missing out. As was menoned in a previous issue of Snake Eyes, GW knows how to sell the sizzle. Reading these books got me to thinking. Why do I play these one on one bales? I like to win. Who doesn’t? But that’s not the only thing. It’s not even the main thing for me. I know people who like to win above all. And playing that person is not very fun for me. In parcular, when the person involved is not even con-

6

With GGG Member Nigel McDermott

scious that their playing is not making it fun for me. Take it one step further, like in my rst ever tournament and the player wants to win so much, they cheat. I felt so so bad aer that rst game. Not that I had lost. Not that I had lost because the other guy cheated. I didn’t even feel bad about not reporng him. I felt bad for the guy that he was missing out on what I felt was so much more to the hobby. Some people paint. Some modify miniatures, some scratch build, some play hard to win, some do it all. Not long aer that tournament I stated to write lile vignees and stories about the game just played. Each game became a part of a larger story arc. I got a lot of enjoyment from adding that small piece to my hobby life. The next tournament I came across the same player

and we had a ‘rules disagreement’. I was ready this me. I knew the rules, as I did last me but this me I said, - if you want to hold up play and get the rules checked, then that’s Ok, or we can just Dice For It now and see what the dice say. If they come up your way, we’ll play those rules. My way, we’ll play the rules how I think they are. Of course we rolled. He didn’t want to be told that he got the rules wrong. The dice came up my way and he was sour the rest of the game and marked me as low as he could for sportsmanship. It was a win for me though. Not the game. In a personal sense. I’ve come across people who ‘know the rules’ but are wrong and this Dice For It system works for me. When the dice don’t go

my way, I smile and keep playing the way I want to play. For fun. And the dice smiled on me as then I played Impy Guard Brendan, who named all his tanks and tank commanders and had a story for each of them. Brilliant! So the gaming p from me is, work out what’s your passion, why do you play and see if you can expand on that experience. It will almost always be worth it.

Have a good one.

-Mac

From the Collector’s Vault I know that we are all about

then went on to say that he

thing. Most of my collecng

collecons of gaming para-

paid $3500 for his current golf

revolves around gaming, and

phernalia in Snake Eyes, but as

clubs. I asked whether he

as well as gures, includes

a collector you probably nd

needed to have all of the

paints, magazines, hobby tools

that you have friends who col-

clubs. He responded that it

(have to have them all), board

lect, and not necessarily what

helps to have all of them and

games and their add-ons, dice,

you do. I recall a conversaon

he wanted all of them anyway.

rulebooks, painng guides and

with some work mates many

Isn’t that collecng? I gave an

the list goes on. My point is

years ago. One of them, a

example back to them both,

that if you are a collector you

younger guy had just bought a

knowing that they would nev-

probably collect lots of things

single speaker for his car at a

er understand how I could pay

related to that pursuit,

cost of $1300. The other guy

$50 for a box of toy soldiers. I

(probably even hoard things

hand over $70 for that

and I were shocked at why

said to the speaker guy, that

like a dragon and their gold),

box of Blood Angel Ter-

would someone pay so much

the golfer and I would never

and unless someone is a fellow

minators, ask them what

The Collector is a gamer with over 40 years in collectable games and wargaming...













Forward Scout By GGG Member

Glen Taylor

Hello all, I love my hobby but sometimes wonder where its heading? Its like a seven headed hydra and all the heads are going in different directions directions at the same time. I know that we don’t have a world body to look at the overall plan. Hell we don’t even have an Australian council of gamers. What about locally? Well, most do their own things and are happy with that, while some have tried but have gotten little support. Now I don’t say I have any easy answers but every now and then I see something stirring or someone trying. ‘GO YOU GOOD THING’ I shout! Well Warmachine and hordes is a game I have started playing recently and here is a group of gamers and store owners having a go. A Facebook page has been set up titled SEQSE Tournaments. It carries all games as well as Warmachine, and there I see a group of organizers getting together….Wow! This could be so good for Warmahordes and the players. Hat’s off and go you good thing. Please find this site and help make it a successful for all off us. Trophies is something else which will always be an issue for gamers. What players don’t like lots of prizes and trophies. Yes would be nice but needs someone to donate prizes. It costs money for the venue most times so unless big numbers there is not much money to found after entry fees are payed. Also how do you place the prizes? All at the top which means the same good players or random gamers so is it fair for all? I have heard the arguments many times but never found the right answers. Some good compromises, but not the holy grail yet!

Last but not least something of interest ST GEORGE and the DRAGON. The dragon was terrorizing the people of Lydia ( part of modern Turkey). The king offered his daughter to the dragon if he left his people alone. St George arrived and said he would kill the dragon if they became Christians like him. Thousands excepted his offer, and George killed the dragon. St George was adopted as the patron saint of England in the 1300’s. May your dice roll high Glen











Teaser for next issue, highlighng the collecon and gaming table of GGG member Simon Ford.

DREADBALL The futuristic sports game The Blind Pig gaming club is running a Dreadball League! Started 21st February

Finnish Hall











Sunday 22 nd February, a group of fantasy loving gamers descending upon Brisbane Independent Gamers Paddington venue to battle for the Crown and be title ‘King of Brisbane’. 10 players (names later) came together for 3 games at 1,500pts. Each game lasted 90 minutes, which was often plenty of time. Here’s a showcase of some pictures:

Reece (not playing) MC’s the game and did take a demo of the game .

Trevor deploys a unit of knights in the I -go-u-go deployment.

Trevor keeps Sam’s mahoosive swarms swarms of zombies at bay with his valiant knights. Spot the king in the background background











Ed ponders his next move with his old Brettonians.

The range of miniatures used was impressive. This Abbyssal fiend army by Ken Dunford won the best painted award and made use of Mierce Miniatures demons

Thanks to everyone who turned up. A really good day of prime sportsmanship fun and some stiff competition. Results 1st place: Sam Hipcat Harris 2nd place: Sam Rounsevelle 3rd place: Ed Hamacek Best painted: Ken Dunford John Pope, Nathan Kalkman, Trevor and Glenn, and me, Neal Barton























Dogtown howler

7¢

Edited & Published by Jacob Adams Esq.- Journalist & Photographer Photographer - Established 1867 Dogtown County - Member of Professional Newspapermen Newspapermen of N.Y. March 1869

TumbleWeeds 68 Hacienda San Marn 45 Highlands 61 O’Doney Hacienda 53 The GGG 56 Double Horn 53

Lexington 24

Top 10 Ranches Tumbleweeds

Keenai Ranch

Bar C

O’Doney Hacienda

Highlands

Double Horn

Port Royale 26

B-B-Q

MacCaroney

Benny’s Hills 13

The GGG

Hacienda San Martin

Bugman’s Ranch 29 The Pondarosa 10

Foundry Fortress 21 MacCaroney Ranch 49 The B-B-Q 57

Lazy A 0

Lucky O owner Ol Pederson, was in town voicing a claim that he had been aacked during an amnesty

Drymouth Gulch 0

Bar C 61

by the very rancher that he had brokered a non ag-

Deadwood 0

The Lucky O 17

gression pact with. Allegedly, men from the O’Doney

Old Stump 0

The Old Dry Patch 33

Hacienda open re on cowboys manning land in the

Melody Ranch 0

Keenai Ranch 56

Lucky O’s borders. Without a town sheri sheri at the moment, Ol Pederson will have to wait for the circuit

The Double W 21

judge to hear his claim. Judge Frendly will not be back

Hat Creek Cale Company 26

in Dogtown for at least two months... Bison connue to over graze Dog County. They are connuing to move through the county in a westerly direcon. As this is their usual migraon route, there is lile the scouts can do about it, insisng that it’s best to let them have their head. The down side is that any land they move through will not be producing any viable income, and de-































This issue of Eyes Around the Worl d shows one persons collecon of one of my favourite armies. I was not successful in nding out who owns this collecon, so if anyone can let me know if you recognise the subject manner, so that I can give credit where it is due. Recently these guys nally had a new codex release. They carry a hidden curse of being blood drinkers, and when aroused certainly show their fangs to the enemy. Enjoy a collector’s army of BLOOD ANGELS...











































Goodbye to WFRP Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, begat 3 edions in total and a lot of supplements. It spawned Warhammer Fantasy and from there originated the idea for 40k. As a group GGG was created in April 2012, when we started playing WFRP as a group together, so it was a fairly important history item, for us, and for GW. Every Sunday that we could, 2 Dwarves, an Elf, a Haling and some humans , went on the hunt for gold and infamy. We took on the campaign that started in the original edion, The Oldenhaller Contract. We baled our way through trials

and tribulaons of the Warhammer World, which was portrayed as a very dark and dismal place. We connued on into The Enemy Within, and aer that, Death on the Reik. It was nearing the end of this campaign that we lost

one of own for real, and the campaign lost some of it’s joy aerwards. When we had nished Death on th e Reik, paying homage to our lost friend, we began to follow our own path. Our eventual objecve, was to advance along the meline





















MEMBER SPOTLIGHT - Nigel McDermo Good news everyone!

Professor Farnsworth is a great character from that TV show ‘Futurama’. And I am starng to relate more and more to his character. I’m not dong too well in the vision takes and I nd myself more and more thinking like a crazy old fart.

Before I talk about the now, it seems, based on other proles I’ve read, I need to go back in me to talk about the then.

I started my journey reading non-con and making model aircra and tanks. Then in 1980 when I was gied a Sinclair ZX81, I had to do something with it. The ZX81 was a small and early version of the home PC. I was in-













MEMBER SPOTLIGHT - Nigel McDermo I’d fallen in love before but wow, did I fall hard for the Warhounds. What a great me, and fantasc people.

And then my eyes fell out of my head. A medical issue meant I was very poorly visioned.

I don’t mean to say this to evoke sympathy. Merely to point out that I had to make changes to my hobby to accommodate my limitaons. A man’s got to know his limitaons. I heard that somewhere.





















Garage Gamers Group

GGG or Garage Gamers Group is a collection of gamers with similar ideals about what makes a game fun and how to have fun with it… Snake Eyes is the GGG magazine, available for free to members and selected

SnakeEyes March 2015

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