Kubla! Con! 2013

Memorial Day Weekend means a lot to many people. But to many gamers (around 1,000) in the North Bay it means 4 days of non-stop gaming at KublaCon! This year marked my 3rd KublaCon and it was my best one yet. Went with great friends, meet up with familiar faces, tried new games, and scored at the flea market.

Friday:

Two things are important on Friday. The first is getting your name on the lists of miniature games that will be run that weekend. It's pretty old school still, hope you get there soon enough to write your on the sheet. Secondly, is getting to the flea market early. This one we nailed. SECOND IN LINE!!

The Flea Market line: This doesn't show that the line wrapped itself left around the corner, down the hall, then back up around, up the stairs and down that hall. And we were second in line. Once inside it was a mad dash to anything interesting. Mario scored Spooktalker a seriously cool bag of old lead minis.

Saturday:

My gaming started with Star Wars Pod Racing. (Thanks to the first 4 people on the signup list who didn't show up) GM made up some fun pod racers and had nice looking table and 10 eager players. I was the small brown colored racer, 3rd row back in the center. I say "was" because I was blasted out of the game before we even arrived at the first corner. Those are my smoldering remains in the picture below. yay. I left the game for around 45 minutes and came back to see that the players still hadn't made it out of corner one yet. Great concept of a game, but far too slow.

 

 

Next up, was running my Axles & Alloys game. This would be my second year, and plenty of folks signed up. To my surprise Kevin, George and Steve names were on my list, and they all were returning players from last year. Matter of fact, Steve & George had brought their own cars they kit bashed up. So cool. Also joining us was Anthony, Spooktalker, OpFor, Mario, plus Theo and Reid. It was great to see the support.

Game one, we had a classic deathmatch scenario. Good old death and destruction ensued.

Game two: Escort the semi mission. I gave the attacking team an additional car and I secretly gave the semi an extra car in it's trailer (which it never deployed). The two teams charged forward into each other, taking turns destroying one other. The funniest chain of events happened at the end, when the semi was on a collision course with some terrain and in a last ditch attempt to evade it, played a Chance card. The card let the vehicle leap into the air, but unfortunately didn't get enough clearance over the terrain. Causing him to crash into the terrain. Giving the last remaining opponent a chance to t-bone him. In doing so, destroying himself and the semi. A dramatic and hilarious end to the game. Victory went to the attacking team.

Mario and I played a round of Dreadball afterwards. Dwarves vs Rats. It ended up being quite a close game. Mario's last rush gave him the lead, and I followed up on my last rush, countering with a 4 point score to steal the win away. Quite a fun game.

Also got the chance to play a beta version of a card game by Steve. Check his blog here http://www.stevebeangames.com. Probably won't say too much since they are still developing it. But it did win an award at the game design competition that weekend. And I know our gaming group was impressed by the game's mechanics and how well they were tied to the theme. Great job guys.

Sunday:

Got in a game of Desperados, Dudes & Deputies by Steve and George. 54mm weird wild west zombie shootout game. I shot it out at the local saloon. My partner was pushing up daisies, but I managed to enact revenge. They ran a second game with zombie hordes, but unfortunately, I had to leave before then.

 Steve even dressed the part. Well played sir.

  Other Fun Things:

 

 Giant Jurassic Park board!

 

 This won the gamer's choice award in the painting contest.

 

 Aliens vs Marines game with lots of kids. I was told it might play as a SpaceHulk game.





 

My score from the flea market and vendor hall. BloodBowl to the max, including 4 plastic teams, one metal team, standard and foam pitches, plus misc BB mags. And PC game Planescape Torment that I have been hunting for. Thank you Damon for the Rezolution figs! Found some Hero Quest figs too. Dice. And some cute bunny minis from ZombieSmith.

Here's to next KublaCon.....

Overall, I had a great time. Not sure if I will run Axles & Alloys again. But if I do, I will need to think of something special to take it to the next level.

What I learned:

1. Arrive (real) early to the flea market 
2. Good Scotch won't go to waste here
3. Never mention you listen to Matchbox 20
4. Let the Wookie win

Axles & Alloys 2 at KublaCon 2012

KublaCon 2012 has come and gone, and with it much gaming was had. On Saturday, Spooktalker hosted a story telling based RPG, then our Op-For Overlord ran an awesome Necromunda scenario game in the evening. I hope he posts some shots and the low down on the game. I placed second of the starting 8 players. (so close, it came down to a couple last shots that could have turned the tide) Be sure to chalk it up to my noob status. This post will cover the game I ran on Sunday.

Axles & Alloys 2
@ KublaCon May 27, 2012

Download Quick Rules Sheet | Download Car Sheets

Download Full Rule Set (I changed up & removed some of the rules for the con)

We had a full turnout with 8 players signed up. I setup the board with terrain and briefly gave a run down of the rules. Everyone seemed ready, grabbed a car and we were off. (Mental note for next time, bring a tan/brown sheet to lay over the white table for better visuals)

Game 1
Scenario: Speed Bumps

I picked a scenario called "Speed Bumps" pitching everyone against each other with pedestrians that randomly spawned around the table each turn that awarded bonus points for killing. One point for each car kill and 2 points for each pedestrian taken out. At the beginning of each round, I rolled and randomly spawned 3 new pedestrians at 6 different possible points around the board. It was great fun to watch everyones plans adjust to were the people showed up. A few times right in front of an oncoming car. Once the game got underway, everyone quickly realized that it was best to go after the pedestrians than the other cars. But we did have, I think, 2 cars destroyed during the 8 round game. Victor picked a winner Kubla Pin and second place got $10 KublaBucks. After the game wrapped, we still had plenty of time and everyone wanted to go again (cool!), so we took a break and got ready for another game.

The rules are light, but tactics are still king

Cars dance around the table

Game 2
Scenario: Ambush!

For change of pace, I picked a scenario that would form 2 teams and pit them against each other. One team was in charge of escorting a semi truck (Semi with two escort vehicles), their victory condition was to drive the semi from one end of the table to the other. The attacking team of 4 cars drove in with the sole purpose of destroying the semi. Each team deliberated over tactics, then charged into the fight. With the escorting team being alittle too aggressive and over taking the semi and driving to the other side of the board, leaving the truck to fend for itself. With a huge deluge of well placed dropped weapons (spikes, mines and napalm) the semi was left in a pickle of a situation. It narrowly avoided the deadly path left by their adversaries, but was plinked away round after round until it eventually was destroyed before reaching the half way mark on the table. Victory and $5 KublaBucks went to the attackers. All to easy.

2nd turn of game 2

Escorting vehicle drives by semi

Witness the impending path of this semi through napalm, spike stripes, and then mines to finish the job!

By luck (or terrain adjustment) the semi cranks the wheel enough to detour from disaster

Final Thoughts

All but two players had never played the game before. Everyone unanimously agreed that it was a great game to run at the con, with easy to learn rules and quick turns, plus fun cars. From the feedback, the truck was both underarmed and should have used the same targeting method as the cars for taking fire. I personally had a great time running the games. I can also say that the game ran very smoothly because we had a great group of people at the table. Thanks for those who came to play!

Be sure to visit the creator of this rule set at axlesalloys2.blogspot.com

Vehicular Combat at KublaCon 2012

Join us at KublaCon in Burlingame, CA on May 25-28, 2012. I have scheduled to run the vehicular combat game of Axles & Alloys 2 on Sunday at 10:00am.

"Come focus your pent up road rage in our radioactive desert landscape. Axles & Alloys 2 is fast paced and easy to learn car combat miniatures game. Rules are a homebrew adaptation of Full Thrust, with cars rather than Spacecraft. Rules are quick to learn (fit on 1 page) and don’t take themselves too seriously, and are designed for jumping in and playing. Free for all battle and scenarios planned."

I will be bringing my custom modified hotwheels/matchbox car miniatures. I have some scenarios we can try or just royale rumble style. Join us at the Khan of Cons!

Axles & Alloys 2 at KublaCon

I am running a demo game of the Axles & Alloys 2 game at KublaCon.

Sunday, May 29
@ KublaCon, Burlingame, CA
10:00 AM and last 6 hours
For up to 6 people

Some come and try it out.

Come focus your pent up road rage in our radioactive desert landscape. Axles & Alloys 2 is fast paced and easy to learn car combat miniatures game. Rules are free online at axlesalloys2.blogspot.com, and are a homebrew adaptation of Full Thrust cars rather than Spacecraft. Quick to learn (fit on 1 page) and they don’t take themselves too seriously, and are designed for jumping in and playing.

Custom modified hotwheels/matchbox car miniatures will be provided to play with. Players need only bring D6 dice, and a measuring tape!



This will be both my first con to attend and first game to demo. Drop a note below if you have any ideas on scenarios or tips for running the game.

We be rollin'

"It's 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses."

Last year I caught sight of a number of tabletop miniature car combat & racing games that seem to be developing. It seems to be slowing growing genre (or at least I recently discovered it). The whole concept seemed really cool to me since it was a nice blend of different interests: fast cars, post apocalyptic, modeling, re-enacting movie scenes and general automotive mayhem.

A couple visits to the local flea market, Toys R Them and an order of goodies online led to the following...

THE CARS:

Van driven by Armitage
Starting off with the big van with mounted gattling gun. This model dominated the first games we played. Gun was modeled using an bit off a PC sound card with drinking straws for the barrels. Plastic from cut up credit cards used to make the front ram plates and side armor. The textured armor is from one of those plastic straps they wrap heavy boxes in. Had a nice texture so I kept it.

Ferrari driven by Magnum
Modeled with turret mounted gun on top and a smokescreen port on the back. Like many of the cars I used window screen to model the medal cage in the windows. Drill out the mounts on the bottom and glue the screen on the underside of the windows. Then assemble. Side armor is a zip tie. Gun on top is from a 6mm miniature model.

Triton Pickup driven by Montoya
This is our flame throwing pickup. Front mounted flame thrower is a piece of drip system. Braded hose is a jewelery chain and fuel tanks are small capacitors off from a scrap PC. Back bumper is a zip tie. Painted red with plenty of washed of Dabab Black and Devlan Mud.

Midnight Otto driven by Gilgamesh
Top mounted gun is a 6mm cannon from a sci-fi range (can't think of the name). Rear armor plate is plastic from an old VHS tape (some cool textures on those btw) and the window armor is a vent from a scrapped laptop. Wheels are covered by plastic that I hole punched and glued on.

1932 Ford driven by Black Skull (Green)
Pretty easy mod. Just two GW Orc guns mounted on either side.

Track T Rod driven by The Cooler (Pink)
Drip system piece is the central gun ajoined to a PC part again.

Hooligan driven by Zoombie (Orange)
Guns made from different diameter tubing/straws glued together.

Mustang Mach I driven by Acid Burn
My favorite model so far. Has a double cannon turret on top (two sprinkler drip system pieces again) Front drills are off a 6mm vehicle.

Model on the Workbench
More cars, a semi truck (to add a huge vehicle), motorcycle gang and individual models for some roadkill action! The motorcycle and models are from Stan Johansen Miniatures. Mounted on plastic card.


AXLES & ALLOYS RULES:

I have since played a number of games ranging from 2 to 6 players using the Axles and Alloys II game rules. It is a completely free game rules system I found online and offers PDF rules and player sheets. Don't expect a deep campaign game system here. It's goal from the start was to be a quick and light game that can be quickly picked up and played. And from those who have played it with me it seemed to succeed very well in that. I have found a few weak points, but overall it's a kick.


PLAYER SHEETS:

I editted the format of the games player record sheets and have uploaded them along with game tokens of the main effects/weapons used. Feel free to download and share. Linking back to www.op4.org if you re-post to the web would be awesome.

Download player sheet & tokens: Click Here


THE WEB SITES:

1. Axles and Alloys II - website
Free rules system adaptation from the Full Thrust game. Fun, light and full of wacky hijinks.

2. Warlands - website
Pay to Play. A developing game system and model company.

3. Stan Johansen Miniatures - website
An awesome resource of 20mm scaled medal car weapon packs, motorcycle gang, and models.

4. Road Wolf - website
Free rules system. Be sure to check out their vehicles page to see skillfully crafted cars. Haven't played it yet.

5. Speed Rally - website
They sell a PDF rules system. Lighter game with movement based on squares along a track you print out and build. They also just made a TRON themed bike game. Haven't played either yet.