Skirmish Gaming: Necromunda

Have you seen this picture before? 

If you have, I'm willing to bet it was a guy friend (or even you) in middle or high school. You knew the image as representative of a skirmish game with 28mm models. Gangs would fight each other for resources and prestige. And it would be played on a 3-D terrain area in a "Mad Max" end-of-the-world kind of style. Of course some girls thought it was cool too, thus the Escher gang, but this cover didn't exactly invite girls to play. Let's be honest, this box cover to the the game is a little misogynistic, but then forgive Games Workshop. This was almost 30 years ago. 

Now this cover invites me in!

So the game was a hit in the 90s, well until it wasn't. Games Workshop phased it out and removed the product from their shelves. Stories of the game were cemented into the memories of many young lads, but thought to be gone in history. It seemed to die away and end up in the same place as lost toys.

But who knew that they would bring it back in 2017? And it came in hot! They rereleased each gang from Necromunda, along with Forge World releasing unique models, adding even more options to play. 

The rules have certainly changed from old, but the spirit of the game is still very much alive. Especially if you happen to be married to a gamer that coerced you to support the Kickstarter Tinkerturf (I have their link in an earlier post). When you put the two together, it is a wonderful marriage of skirmish gaming!!

So let's get a view of this beautiful battlefield with a glorious maze of ancient, abandoned platforms, ladders, and stairs. 

  

This whole board kinda brings out the inner kid in me. I want to take some of my brother's toy soldiers and play in this big elaborate jungle of terrain. Then I remember I'm an adult, and decide to just pound down on my spouse. Oh it's on!

So we started by choosing our force. We have an option of 10 models each in our ganger packs. We want to assemble a team that can take advantage of one another to outsmart (or out gun) the opponent. I took a Champion, so I could take advantage of a rule to activate another fighter within 6" if she is near the Champion. Then I just chose some other highly skilled ladies, one with a power sword, one with two close combat weapons, and three with rifles (the ones are in various stages of painting). All in all a good force, and I came under on points in the end with 830. 

My spouse decided to take his force with a total of 870 points. That gave me some kind of advantage, like setting up.

So here I am setting up the girls to go right in!

And then my opponent, aka my spouse, set his guys up. Here are a few of their starting locations.

At the start of the game, I stole initiative with a higher roll. My plan was to have Olina here, jump over to the other platform and get a headstart on the first level of walkways. Plus it would get her out of sight of the opponent's ganger. You don't notice it in the first picture, but you sure do in the 2nd.  

Olina unfortunately failed. So her ganger girlfriend, Reina, rolled her eyes and proceeded forward to go after one of the Goliath gang members on the bottom level. Rhosin and Reina came together and prepared to attack the 'bad guy'!

Meanwhile, my ladies on the other end of the board proceeded forward, to include some notable progress with Brae as she expertly hid herself behind the column.

He moved his guys up as well, positioning to get the first loot crate. Then came round 2. I was able take the initiative again. I'm taking down these boys!

Of course, with views like this, I may be in trouble...

So Reina charged forward and hoped to slash him with her Stiletto knife. She wasn't able to take him down, but then Jax was able to counterattack. He took her out of action!!

It was a memorable first kill.

Some more stuff happens...

So here I managed to get Rhosin all the way over to the 2nd loot crate (this is around turn 3). She couldn't do anything with it, because as you see in the next image, two gangers Crash and Hoffa are making their way up the stairs. Thank God I was able to position Tumala a few inches from her to relieve the heat behind her. Now if Rhosin can just take down the leader, Hoffa.

Fire...I mean Chemical spray? Yeah Chem spray! It's toxic!!

Hoffa is at the top of the steps threatening Rhosin by the end of this turn.

Moving back to the west side of the board, Olina is shaken by the loss of her sister!! She spots the guy, Mr. Jax and heads straight for him! Retaliation is on her mind as she watched her sister fall!

She shot him dead!

On turn four, the Goliath gangers dashed in and went for the jugular! But the twist of fate would allow Tumala to save the day, again. She attacked Hoffa and managed to take him out of action. At this point we thought we were doing pretty good! We took the leader out and a ganger.

However, after this turn, things went south. We had another two ladies knocked out of action, leaving us with only Tumala and Brae trying to fight through.

In turn 5, we again had good fortune and were able to take the initiative. What else would Tumala do, but blast her chemical spray! Though it managed to slow them, it did not change the course of this battle.

Brae knocked out-oh no!!

And now the Goliath and Escher gangs are dead-even. It all comes down to this roll!

Nooooowuuuuuuhhh!! (Letterkenny for anyone who is familiar)

Soooo naturally, his guys attacked Tumala and took her down. She failed her save roll and retreated.

So Goliath won the game with the points total of 7 to 6. What a loss for Escher, but what a fantastic game for me and the hubby!! It was truly a lot of fun and actually quite easy grasp. I highly recommend this game and look forward to playing again. In fact, I have 3 of my 10 gangers fully painted yet. And after going through this battle report, I kinda feel like Tumala deserves to be next!

What kind of games do you play? What thoughts do you have about the new Necromunda and all that comes with it?

Keto: Morning, Noon, and Night (Part 1 of 2)

When I decided to take the jump into the Keto diet, there was some apprehension. I actually thought I couldn't even do it, like I didn't have the willpower to eat the right diet. There came a point, where I had to stop worrying about if I could do it and just do it! (No copyright infringement intended here).

So there was a great deal of research that went into determining the foods my husband and I would be able to eat. We didn't want to impact the kids, so the limits on particular diets were not forced on them. They still did get to witness the changes we made morning, noon, and night. It was a challenge, but we were up to it!

The first thing that dawned on me was the changes to our daily habits. We have coffee like 2, no 4, no probably like 6 times a day! Usually our coffee is accompanied with milk or sugar, but both are not allowed on the Keto diet. Heavy cream is too thick for our taste, so perhaps a blend of coconut milk and almond milk will do the trick? Add some stevia with a teaspoon of vanilla extract might work. At the end of the day, we decided on good ol' cream and sugar-free vanilla syrup (ratio of a half a tablespoon to 1 tablespoon cream) and a splash of no calorie/carb vanilla syrup to taste.

**Now do beware, if you are just starting in the Keto ways, you have to read the label for your cream. Most heavy cream has a starch in it, but won't list any carbs. So it can be misleading. Just make sure you read the ingredient list to account for the carbs.

Oh and in case you have an obsession for homemade cappuccinos, like I do (I owe the obsession to my mom, 19 years and counting). You can make cappuccinos Keto-friendly, by limiting the amount of milk you use to 1/4-1/2 cup of milk and adding cream/water mix. Too much milk will give you too many carbs, so I have figured out my way around it. And it works!!

Then when I thought about healthy foods, there was a disconnect between what I usually considered healthy and Keto. Fruits like bananas and grapes have a high sugar content. And vegetables are great unless you are a fan of beets or potatoes, the carbs are too high on those. So sweet potatoes are out.

Once my research was complete, this is the list I personally choose from:

Vegetables:

(In order of least to most carbs, not to exceed 5 carbs)
Spinach, Lettuce, Avacado, Cucumbers, Asparagus, Tomatoes, Olives, Eggplant, Zuchinni, Cauliflower, Broccoli, Bell Peppers, and Brussel Sprouts

Onions, Beets, and Carrots could still be eaten, but with a carb count of 8, it's almost not worth it.

Fruits:

Blackberries, Raspberries, Strawberries, Lemons, Cantaloupe, Watermelon, Peaches/Nectarines, and Blueberries (and blueberries have a carb count of 12!)

Now let me be clear, this doesn't mean I absolutely cannot have any other fruits or vegetables, but based on carbs-and specifically servings (a scale is really useful here)-it is just not usually worth it to have other fruits/vegetables.

I would refer you to this website for more information, on what helped me make my decisions on the foliage above: https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/keto/fruits and https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/keto/vegetables

My next thought was what can we eat for snacks. This is where I started to feel a little light-headed thinking about all I couldn't eat. We are talking no chips, no rice cakes, no snack cakes, no cake/ice-cream/candy/cookies, nothing!

Cue maniacal laughter here.

Okay, that's a little harsh, but these kinds of foods your body will turn to first for energy. It will never get to Ketosis. So this is an important sacrifice.

However, with losing that, we gain other great alternatives, such as the following delicious looking (and tasting) foods!

The snacks are easy to put together, in most cases, and involve a high fat approach. So eggs, nuts, small servings of vegetables, cheese (hard and soft), and sour cream are all great to keep you in ketosis. The trick here is to just start basic and then get creative with learning new recipes. Before you know it, you will have a recipe box full of great snack ideas!

So from here, I will take a break from the Keto talk. I look forward to telling you more about the lunches, desserts, and dinners in part 2 of this blog. In addition, I will share some of the tips and recipes I have tried too!

And in case you were wondering, I am 17 lbs down since April 22nd!

How are you doing on your Keto journey? Are there any recipes you want to share? Feel free to add to the comments below.