MOAB 2025 - Mother Of All Battles this October long weekend

 MOAB 2025

Once again, this long weekend, MOAB has returned for 2025 thanks to the Sutherland Shire Gamers association. 

Though the numbers may seem a little down from last year, the event is actually spread across a few floors and other buildings. So, numbers are the same in my view. Just spread over a wider space. The Bring and Buy was packed, as usual, and I managed to spend more than I should have. But I did get some nice classics. But that's for another post.

However, here are some of the games and exhibitors present this weekend.

This area was a WW2 skirmish game by TwoFatLardies if I remember correctly. The table here caught my eye for its impact and detail.

This was an Old World Warhammer game. The Shoggothy thing in the middle really caught my eye. Interestingly, Warhammer (AOS / Old World) has been supported heavily in previous games. This year however, it was relegated to the mezzanine level over the main hall and there were probably only twelve tables being played.

Star Wars Shatterpoint / Legion was way more popular as far as I could tell. I also didn't see a single Warhammer 40k table in the main hall. But those tables may have been either on the stage or in one of the other buildings where Marvel Crisis Protocol was being played last year's MOAB. AOS and 40k usually dominate. But they were visible by their clear absence from the main gaming space. That said, the Bring and Buy sections had heaps of Warhammer 40k and AOS / Old World for sale. So maybe there's been a bit of a falling out of love for Games Workshop of late.

This was a massive game of Sword & Spear in the centre of the main hall. There were other historical games being played on the level below the main hall.

Fjord Serpents Vikings at War was up for sale here and being shown off with a demo game. The demo models are eye catching also. You can get it from the web site or from OCKER Games.

Star Wars Shtterpoint and Legion was front and centre in the main hall on Saturday. Very popular. The terrain here is from the excellent Brutal Cities MDF terrain maker.

Bolt Action was also a key game played in the main hall. Bloodbowl had a few games going on as well. The buildings above are from Dark Castle Terrain. I've bought a stack of MDF stuff from their store in the past and its great price and quality. Check them out.

Now THIS seller is top notch. I was tempted to buy some of their orcs, but I have too many orcs already. Can you have too many orcs? But these would fit in easily in any Middle-earth setting and have the feel of the classic Ral Partha style of miniature. They were about $18 for four miniatures and look fantastic. Currently they are doing classic Fantasy, Medieval and Australian Army in WWII. Give Medbury Miniatures a drop by to view their excellent miniatures.

Slave2Gaming was present as well. They were demonstrating their MA.K 15mm game and miniatures. Last MOAB I bought a whole bunch of the 15mm minis for the Grunts15mm ruleset. Again, top notch miniatures and some fun Elvis and Alien Overlords stuff. Their goblins I really like as well.

This independent seller is Ex Manus Studios and is a one-man operation that makes some truly wonderful miniatures that make for fantasy and steampunk style adventurers. I have a few of his miniatures that I use for my Roleplaying group, and I can't praise them enough.

I bought three sets of these little Gembot Work Crew models. You can see two above in the front row. They would work great for 28mm to 10mm, even Epic scale. They come in packs of three with the other sculpt holding a shovel. They make for great automaton miners that can be pesky nuisances for the player characters if they try to steal their gems.

Finally, here are some shots of the painting competition. Apologies for the frosty images as these were all behind glass and it was hard to get a decent shot without some reflections getting in the way.

So, there you go. Got there for Saturday. But it's on all long weekend. And, of course, I spent too much as usual.

Port Nelson for Pirate Borg

You may remember ScratchFort from a previous post? Well, here she finally is...

Port Nelson is a small port village found in the Buried in the Bahamas adventure from the creator of Pirate Borg. You can find the adventure over here.

The Easter Island monoliths are fish tank accessories bought from Amazon.

In that adventure, the port is little more than a collection of shacks and a quey. My interpretation puts it behind a palisade wall. When the player characters arrive, they will find it under attack from the natives, who in this case are goblins. The port itself will be run by a handful of Pirate Orcs and the PC's will gain the orcs favour by helping to defend the port against the savage's assault. This gives a logical reason as to why a group of orcs would permit Skeleton Pirates into their presence.

The Port itself is only meant to be a throw away scenery set and so isn't going to have any extra detailing, paint or features such as vegetation added to it. It's a one scene wonder that my crafting brain decided had to be built. I may turn it into an orcish fortress for something else later on. I'm thinking 15mm Dawn of Warhammer...

The lads within the port are a test here to see if everything can fit. The tents are from the boardgame HATE and are perfectly orcish. I haven't painted them yet, however.

The tower over the main gate permits up two miniatures.

The port side gate has a small, elevated platform to permit shooting and accommodates two miniatures.

The main gate should permit two models to fight side by side.

The main gate tower also permits the ability to shoot down at attackers.

So, that's the fort done. Now on to the next key things to finish for the game. The scatter terrain of crates and a bar and also the quey itself.

Borderlands - Bandit Leader Skullcap

 Meet Skullcap.

This is a Psycho Raider from the Borderlands Mister Torgue's Arena of Badassery (by Monster Fight Club). I wanted to make a low-level Bandit Leader in the vein of Nine Toes, the first Boss encountered by the player in the original Borderlands. So, I added some skulls and a gun to make the standard Bandit Psycho clearly stand out on the tabletop.

I then painted him up and added a LOT of blood to his buzzsaw axe. I envisioned that Skullcap kept the heads of his most ardent opponents as mementoes, with the skull of the worst protagonist being worn on his head and using it as both a cap and a drinking cup. He is a Psycho after all.

Not the clearest of photos, but you can see the blue eyes.

Now all I need to do is paint up his group of Borderlands Bandits. Yet another project to add to the painting table.

ScratchFort for Pirate Borg

ScratchFort (not its official title)

So, what do you get when you go to the 2 Dollar store, buy a round cake base, match sticks, stirring sticks, tongue depressor sticks, hot glue (for your glue gun) and some white glue for about $25 all up?

ScratchFort, that's what!

I'm going to need a small outpost for our next foray into the islands of Pirate Borg. In this next gaming session, the lads will encounter the beleaguered survivors of a small trading port under siege by Savage Tribal Goblins. The survivors themselves are also going to be a more civilised, sea faring goblin faction. They will have to save the port if they wish to have a future safe haven and trading hub to pawn all their ill-gotten gains. Enter ScratchFort (not its official name, but it will do for now).

The gates. A main gate (comprising two parts) and the single port gate

More to come on this but it's always good to post about the craft you do so as to potentially inspire others to make their own stuff. I could have 3D printed something. But I felt this would be a more useful employment of my creative skills. I'll show the finished product later when it's done.