The world of Leviathans!

In 1906, Great Britain launched the HMS Leviathan, the first of the “super air ships”, sparking an arms race around the world. By 1910 the most powerful nations boasted large High Fleets, and the start of small skirmishes left the world uneasy…

Welcome to the world of Leviathans. 

Leviathans is a game being developed by Catalyst Game Labs that simulates airship combat in an alternate history in 1910. It has a very steampunk look and feel. The leviathan battleships are the largest of the sky vessels. Maneuvering in support are the smaller light cruisers, destroyers, and others ships.

I’ve always enjoyed the “alternate” history games and the steampunk genre. This game looks to bring it all together and we can’t wait for it’s release. Here is a picture from Gencon that shows the box set and a listing of what it contains.

 

2 rulebooks to transition players from the quick-start rules to the core rules
8 high-quality, 1200-scale plastic ship miniatures
12 Ship Cards
12 full-color Recognition Cards
1 Leviathans Gazetteer universe primer
2 fiction novellas
2 18” x 22” board-game quality maps
10 custom D12 dice and 2D6
2 reference cards
Leviathans recognition poster
Sheet of faction/ship crests
Template game aides (die cut cardboard counters)

The Monsters in the Sky website has plenty of additional information and background for the game. The link above also shows two of the coming expansion packs. Be sure to check it out!

What remains now is (as soon as it's released) to join your country, expand your nation’s power and become one of its legends! Or fall from the sky in a comet of burning wreckage to be forgotten.

Have a great battle!

The Old Crow

Warhammer 40k Space Marine Bolter Conversion

Welcome back to Battleground Hobbies!

Today we are going to look at a simple yet effective conversion for space marines and other races in the Warhammer 40k realm. First thing you need is some1/8 inch plastic tube. You can try 5/32 too but we liked the 1/8 for space marine bolters. Other races may require larger diameter tubing, it depends on the size of the weapon at hand.

We picked up item 224 from Evergreen Scale Models. They came 5 to a pack and are 14 inches long, so you can do a great number of marines.

Experiment with the length, we recommend anywhere from 1/4 to 3/8 of an inch for normal bolters. We simple shaved the bolter barrel down until it would insert it into the tubing.glue it in place as seen here.





Here you can see the painted conversion. We were going for a crack night ops special forces chapter. They get in, get the job done and get out before anybody knows they were there! The barrel length is 5/16"

Here you can see the extra long barrel for the "sniper" in the unit. This barrel length is 1/2" an inch long.







Other simple yet easy model modifications are simply using a pin drill to hollow out the gun barrels. It adds a bit of realism to the model if it looks like a projectile will actually come out of the gun.

I know, how real is a space pirate ork anyway.


And as long as we are on 40k orks and gun conversions, another easy one is to attach a chainsword to the bottom of any blaster for some hand to hand combat fun!






Try a couple of these easy conversions and let us know how they worked out for you!

Have a great battle!
The Old Crow

Warhammer Generals and Leadership on the Battleground!

I found a great article on Warhammer Generals and their affects on morale on the Hendersonworks blog. They talk about the Black Orcs and Borgio from the Dogs of War. It's simple titled "Warhammer Generals" and as mentioned they are very important to your army.

Horde armies are especially subject to leadership issues if the general is not nearby or has not been killed during the battle. Plying an army like the Skaven with leadership scores ranging from 2-5 for core troops means you really could use a good general that can boost your mundane troops to a 6-8. The same could be said for goblins and night goblins. A basic goblin horde is testing leadership on a 5 or 6, so keeping them within 12" of your goblin warboss can raise the stakes to a leadership of 8.

For those who don't play Warhammer, making a leadership test for breaking from combat, panic or trying to attack a fear causing enemy, is rolling a pair of dice and equaling the leadership score or less. So if the goblin wolf riders are out on a flank away from your general, they'd need to roll 6 or less on two dice. However if they were within 12" of the general, they could test based on his inspiring presence of 8.

Other special rules to look out for are things like units being steadfast so no modifiers apply to their leadership tests and armies like the Lizardmen being cold blooded get to roll 3 dice and use the lowest two.

Here's a great Saurus Oldblood General who has a nice leadership of 8 and gets the cold blooded special rule.

Also consider magic items for your army like the Standard of Discipline, this banner gives a +1 to your units leadership, but they cannot use the generals leadership so weigh your options carefully.



So keep your low leadership troops nearby your general and watch out for dark elf assassins and skaven trying to cast skitterleap!

Have a great battle,
The Old Crow

Battlefield Jungle Terrain

Everybody is on a budget these days and looking for a way to cut corners. Making terrain for your battlefield always gets left for last and you wind up using a tube for a tower and some books for a hill. We found a quick and easy way to make cheap jungle terrain while you're doing other productive home improvement things.


If you have a home and do any work requiring filling gaps and cracks with "Great Stuff" spray foam insulation, You know there is always some leftover in the can. Well this time, don't just throw it out. Get a piece of board or old cardboard will work. Spray the leftover insulation foam onto the board and remember it expands. 


Always keep your eyes out in second hand shops and sale areas of craft stores. We found some nice potted plastic jungle like items on sale for 25 cents each in a craft store sale bin. Immediately smash the old pots and remove filler from the base of the plants. 

You can cut holes in your spray foam or just push the pieces you have into place. Once I had them where I wanted them, I took them out and painted the foam with some moss green paint leftover from a room we had remodeled. I've also found great colors in the mismixed paints at Home Depot or Lowes for a couple bucks a can. 

While it was wet I spread on some blended turf from Woodland Scenics onto it. You could easily use sand or  old herbs for texture. Then using glue that won't dissolve the foam, stick your trees back in place. 

You can add other touches like extra clump foliage and small plastic snakes or the like.


Then it's onto the battlefield!


Have a great battle,
The Old Crow

Warhammer: The Empire Handgunners

For you Warhammer enthusiasts, we bring you a great Forgeworld conversion set.

The Empire Ironsides Handgunners!

"The ‘Ironsides’ are drawn from the guards and apprentices of the renowned Imperial Gunnery School. Clad in heavy armour and armed with master-wrought firearms, the Nuln Ironsides are one of the most widely respected and well equipped Handgunner regiments in the Empire."

These resin figures sport heavy armour and will bolster your firing line! If you purchase the Empire State Hangunners/Crossbowmen kit from Gamesworkshop you'll be able to field 10 crossbowmen and 10 Ironsides! 

You can find them currently at the Warhammer Forge. Experimental rules for the Nuln Ironsidescan be found here in PDF format.


 Here's what the resin kit contains:

Please let us know if you like this and want to see more like it or if you'd prefer something else. We want to hear from you


Have a great battle,
The Old Crow

Welcome Aboard

Well here we are with the inaugural post to Battleground Hobbies.

We are a couple war-game enthusiasts who'd like to share some of what we like with you. Table top games are the mainstay of hobby gaming. You might prefer a great WWII tank battle or WWI air combat between a Sopwith Camel and a  Fokker triplane. Some like space marines fighting a horde of aliens. Others go crazy over the thunderous charge of knights crashing into a line of orcs and goblins.

We are looking for the old mainstays and new games that we can bring to you. Scouring vendors to find unique boardgames and models that can be built for use when battling your opponent. Also keep a lookout for paints, brushes, pin-drills and other hobby equipment

Soon we'll be launching our website at battlegroundhobbies.com and bringing you a great selection of merchandise!