A Quick Visit to a Local GW Store and WH40K Game

(Image from:  Games Workshop Website)

I've often whined about commented on how my rotating work schedule derails most of my free time I'd love to spend gaming.

This past Saturday, my "virtual Sunday," was no exception.  

I heard the Games Workshop (GW) store at the Sunrise Village was hosting a Warhammer 40K Apocalypse game.  

Since I had too much prep work to do before going on-duty, I only had time to swing by with my trusty Panasonic Luminx Camera to pester chat with the store's staff and gamers. 

The Sunrise Village GW store is small, but well stocked.  If there's a GW item you want that's not on their shelves, the staff will order it for you.

The newest version of Warhammer Fantasy, Warhammer Age of Sigmar has a prominent display.

If you're having problems assembling, or painting your GW miniatures, the friendly staff is willing to help you at this workbench...

...or this one.

But the far end of the long workbench was occupied by an aircraft assembly-line preparing models for some Death from the Skies dogfights.

The Sunrise Village GW store has two game tables.  One leaning more towards Warhammer Fantasy...

...while the other is geared for the grimdark "...of the far future..."

Saturday's game was a free for all featuring the Necrons, Orks, Tyranids, Tau, and Adeptus Astartes (Space Marines)...
   

...fighting in a ruined city.

Here's additional photos of last Saturday's apocalyptic battle I snapped during my short stay:

Icy conditions in the inner city.

Several Munitorum Armoured Containers were dropped on to the battlefield.

 Now this picture of the hero standing on top of a Rhino APC...

...reminds me of this popular meme/demotivational poster:

At least the Rhino-riding hero had a gun.

Orks move through a street to swipe supplies while a statue (of the Emperor?) looks down with disapproval.

Space Marines ambushing a Necron squad.

Players took a break to touch-up some figures and discuss the current game.

Tyranids sniffing-out an armored container.

Orks closing-in on the Tau.

A band of Orks braving the broken ice to seize the promethium relay pipes.

Now tabletop gamers can be a finicky lot.  We all have our preferred historical eras or fictional settings, along with our favorite styles of playing--boardgames, miniatures, or role-playing games (RPGs).

However, as the gamer on the left in this photo demonstrates...

...the tie that binds all gamers together is: 

The amount of time we spend pouring over the plethora of rules.

So if you venture to the Sunrise Village GW Store for your favorite Warhammer-flavored game; bring your figures, your sense of humor--and your rulebook.

Starfleet Battles Miniatures Collection

(Image:  Title page of Taylor Hord's webcomic)

I got into Star Fleet Battles (SFB) right when it was first published in "pocket games."  I moved on to Federation Commander a few years ago, but still have a lot of SFB stuff, along with other Amarillo Design Bureau (ADB) material.

Like movies, TV shows, books, graphic novels and webcomics, like Star Trek Beta Fleet; game designers utilize tropes--storytelling shorthand--when whipping-up Fluff. 

The good folks at ADB have made a great use of such tropes for SFB throughout the years, primarily Space Is An Ocean, to give players a plethora of Standard Sci-Fi Fleets.
     
Despite being a long running tabletop game, the one thing I never bought all these years were ship miniatures, for my own Standard Sci-Fi Fleet.

So when my friend Dan was preparing to move, he offered to sell me his starship collection, I found it impossible to say "no."

Every figure pictured below was painted by Dan.

My contribution to this photo-op was providing the star field mat from Monday Knight Productions.


The United Federation of Planets (the Trope Codifier for--well--The Federation)

(One of the most recognizable starships in sci-fi)

(Image:  A Federation dreadnought escorted by cruisers, a frigate and scout/destroyer)

The Romulan Star Empire (a.k.a Space Romans)

(An uncloaked Warbird/War Eagle)

(The "problem" with this figure is--all the great detail is underneath)

(Another shot of Dan's great detail work)

(A Sparrowhawk modular cruiser)

The Klingon Empire (a.k.a. Proud Warrior Race)

(A dreadnought escorted by a battlecruiser, destroyer and frigate/escort)

(A battlecruiser on patrol)

The Gorn Hegemony (a.k.a. the Reptilians)

(A cruiser on patrol)

The Orion Syndicate (a.k.a. Space Pirates and The Syndicate)

(A Salvage Cruiser trailing two Slavers)

Freighters

(Two small freighters--or maybe even Q-ships)

The Interstellar Concordium (a.k.a. Well Intentioned Extremists)

(A cruiser on a peace enforcement keeping patrol)

The Hydran Kingdom (a.k.a. Starfish Aliens)

(A Ranger Cruiser protecting the Kingdom)

The Andromedan Invaders (a.k.a. The Greys? Or maybe Little Green Men on steroids? Who knows?)

(A Mothership and her Satellite Ships)

I'm not sure what this ship is, but it was in Dan's collection...

The Lyran Empire (a.k.a. Cat Folk)

(A Tiger-class cruiser escorted by two frigates/destroyers)

(A close up of Dan's detail work--this time on top of the ships)

The Kzinti Hegemony   (a.k.a. another breed of Cat Folk)

(Cruisers, destroyers and a frigate escort a tactical tug)

(An CVE--escort carrier being escorted by cruisers, destroyers and a frigate)

(A BCH--heavy battlecruiser, or CVS--strike carrier under escort)

(A CVA--attack carrier, or SCS--space control ship under escort)

In addition being able to unleash a Macross Missile Massacre against their non-feline foes with their drones (missiles), the Kzinti pioneered the use of attack shuttles to provide players with Old School Dogfights.

(A strike force launches all its attack shuttles)

(A true cat fight--not the titillating kind--is about to ensue)   

Thanks to Dan, I now have at least one ship from nearly every race in the SFB 'verse.

The only vessels I don't have, for now, are Tholians (Insectoid-like Aliens) in which to ensnare trespassers...

(Image from:  Memory Beta--The Tholian Web)

 

Emerald City Comicon 2017: Part 3, The Cosplayers

(Dr. Jones, I presume?)

I use to dress like Indiana Jones.  I still have my outfit, similar to the cosplayer pictured above.  We both agreed the "Indy look" is better with the leather jacket.  More often than not though, it's way too hot to wear, unless it's some con-at-the park in late fall.

Plus I'm often lugging a non-vintage backpack stuffed with "con survival gear."

I still have my basic Indiana Jones outfit.  I'll probably wear it again, maybe in time for the upcoming fifth film, once I acquire some vintage-looking accessories that don't disrupt the look of the costume.

But, until Indy-5 hits the theaters, I'll continue attending cons in my "lazy man's Punisher" outfit.

(Image:  Me at the CBC4C booth during last year's JCCS)

One group of cosplayers dressed as DC Comics heroes and villains asked me to pose with them.  Since I was sort-of dressed as a Marvel Comics, you could say we formed our own crossover photo.

Otherwise, because of the time-crunch I've mentioned in the previous ECCC posts, I felt camera shy and didn't take any selfies with cosplayers or artists.

Maybe it was my own imagination, but I got the impression some (many?/all?) of my fellow attendees felt as rushed as I did and weren't in the mood to be waylaid by a pesky amateur photographer.

Whether this is true or not, I only took a handful of photos during my fly-by.

Here's my Cast of Cosplayers (most with character links below the images):

(Image:  Rorschach)

I actually saw two Rorschach's.  One was taller and thinner than the one I took a picture of.

(Image:  Rocketeer)

(Image:  Spider-Man (Miles_Morales))

(Image:  Captain Jack Sparrow)

There were even some non-human cosplayers...

(Image:  An approaching Dalek--"EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!")

(Image:  Ghostbusters answering the call)

(Image:  Catwoman, Batgirl, and Black Cat)

(Image:  Ladybug minus her Cat Noir friend)

Before I come to the last cosplayer I accosted snapped a photo of, I want to point out something I noticed during my short stay at this year's ECCC.

This was the first time I noticed couples consisting of a cosplay gal with a non-cosplaying guy.  I'm under the possibly false impression this usually isn't the case.  Prior to this con I've seen couples where both or neither are cosplayers; or the guy's in costume while the gal isn't.

Now I'm not saying this is a sudden phenomena, just the first time I truly noticed it.  And I'm sure there's all sorts of logical explanations for this, including my imagination.

I wanted to take pictures of some of these coupled, cosplaying women but felt reluctant to do so.

It seemed as if these guys were with were either:

a). Stoically supporting their sweetheart's hobby, or

b). Felt like they were being dragged through every women's apparel shop in the Mall of America, while the Big Game was being televised.

Since I couldn't tell, I didn't want to disrupt any delicate dynamic--even if I was imagining the whole thing.

I did make one exception though.

As I rounded a remote corner of Artist Alley, I nearly collided with Lady Punisher and her non-cosplaying boyfriend (husband?).  Since we were dressed alike, it was easy for me to break the ice and ask if she wouldn't mind posing for me.

I was tempted to overcome my camera shyness and get a picture of he both of us, but I didn't want to "overstay my welcome."

So that's it folks, a short & sweet synopsis of my partial day at the 15th Anniversary of the Emerald City Comicon.

Thank you to all the cosplayers for your patience while allowing me to photograph you.  Best wishes to you in all your cosplay activities and convention ventures.