Gaming with Kids: Starcrashers! 6/1 Painted fleets

[The_Beast]

I did repeat some of what  you were saying, but thought I'd share what I heard with everyone. Did say EM-4 is legit; anyone ordering in the US can compare price and shipping, and if there are other things in the SD line, parts of which I love.

I'm sure I can spare a few of those; I'll let you know. I think there may have been one of the other MiS ship as well. I think that began with a V. I think I have that Liabe kit in the garage.  

Doug

Edit: AND a few of the SD line have interesting histories. Ral Partha took a few of their old Traveller ships and repurposed them to SD, and Amarillo Design Bureau suggested using others for their 'Early Years' wars.

[eilif]

I'm sure I can spare a few of those; I'll let you know.

That would be awesome, thanks!  If you can spare 6-8 of each, that would be ideal, but I'll take whatever you're willing to give up.

As for EM4 vs MX prices, in the past they were pretty comparable, but with the current exhange rate EM4 is less, even shipped to the USA.  Plus all the other cheap basses and stuff EM4 sells that I could use.  Of course if you need more spacehips, EM$ doesn't have any and MX has lots of affordable ones including a surprising number for less than $3 each!  As it turned out I spent too much time on the EM4's site before ordering the ships and ended up spending a couple times more than I had expected.  

Interesting to know about the traveler spaceship designs.  It's always nice when old figs find a new home.

[eilif]

Finished varnishing up the ships and the starbase last night. I may go back someday and wash and drybrush them, but given the issues I mentioned before with the blue fleets. it's more likely that I'll just paint up one additional fleet extra nice for myself at some point.  I think they look fine as-is.



I'm getting low on clear flight stands and I want to save what I have for expanding the above fleets. Black Flight stands (clear is out of stock at EM4) are currently on the way for the ships below.

The starbase turned out great but I somehow forgot to take a pic of it on it's own. I'll remedy that this week.

Also had another game last night and got to use my new starbase and some of the ships. Here's a couple shots.  I'm playing the Blue with red ships and my son has a mix of his and the teal and Orange.  I used a few of the black and grey as Pirates. Everyone starts at the starbase.








One small recommendation for playing with kids. End the game when the last blip is revealed, not when it is "resolved".  The game went far longer than my son's attention span when a couple pirate ships wouldn't die.  The two Pesky Pirates...

[eilif]

Returning to the topic of gaming with my son...

One of our club members was a bit inspired by my son and I were doing so after yesterdays meeting I sent him home with 3 fleets of ships and an Axis and Allies board's worth of hex paper.  I'll be curious to see if he can convince his kids -who are older than mine- to play.

Also, I just got hold of a few pieces of volcanic rock to make asteroids out of.  The rules imply that an asteroid blip is resolved and then removed, but I think we'll be playing asteroids as staying on the board.  Something like Dropship Studio has done...

https://dropshipstudio.wordpress.com/tag/asteroids/
...but mine will be small enough to fit on the EM4 stands and not take up much more room than one hex on the board. Also, I'm not sure whether to repaint black/grey or just drybrush and keep the redish lava color.  I'll base them up as soon as the stands arrive.   I think it'd be fun to have 3d representations of salvage as well. Anything to add more visual interest to the board.

And my son is still asking to play, making Eilif a very happy daddy right now!

[Westfalia Chris]

All right then, let's try to get this back on track. I have removed the sources for the pirated models.

Please do not discuss potential purchase channels for pirated/unlicensed clone copies. Nonetheless, do note that the rights holder is very much entitled to point out any infringement to his right. The removal of the pirate discussion does not constitute a reprimand or an endorsement, and I may put up parts of the split discussion for reference.

[eilif]

Played again a couple evenings ago.
Ending the game when the last blip was removed (instead of playing until they all were "resolved') was definitely the answer for wrapping the game up before my 5 year old son got bored. 

Haven't received the bases for the rocks yet or repainted them, but he insisted we put them on the board and I'm glad we did.





I've gradually worked in all rules except for "transport" so we're now playing it virtually as-written and I don't see that it will change much.  I probably won't update again until the bases come in and I finish up the asteroids and salvage bases.

And of course you'll all be pleased to hear that he's still asking to play again!