"Pawed" Racing Game with Eureka Bear-o-planes

At last Friday's Hawks meeting, Todd Harland-White hosted a fun game of "Pawed" Racing using Eureka Bear-o-plane figures, and Jamie Davis' great Star Wars Pod Racing rules, "Future Race." The game was based loosely, very loosely, on the famous London to Cape Town airplane race of 1920. While a playtest for a future HAWKs Kids' Table game, we adults had a blast!

Pilots at the start line.  The bear pilots start of running on their feet (which stick out the bottom of the plane). When they gain enough speed, however, they go airborne and are placed on plastic stands to show they are flying.

Each player controlled two planes, and our goal was to be the first to complete the figure eight race course and cross the finish line with one of our planes..  There were many hazards along the way, including angry natives, flying monkeys, and tangled jungle bordering the race course. Attached to each plane was an "R2-Bee2" Bee Hive. The player could use these to either send groups of bees at opposing players, or twice per game drop blobs of sticky honey on the course or launch swarms of bees that created obstacles in the flight path of oncoming planes.

A scrum of bumping planes develops at the second turn as everyone cuts it close to save valuable inches.

My planes started in the poll position and were quick to gain an early lead. Unfortunately though, I misjudged the second turn, and ended up flying into the jungle a distance with one of my planes and obtained some damage. An effective bump from another player, that subsequently stalled the plane, effectively put it out of the game. My second plane flew on though, neck and neck for the lead.

An overview of the table. Half the course was bordered by angry natives who, whenever a face card was drawn, would throw a "spear" at the closest plane. Brave guard bears attempted to keep them at bay.

   Unfortunately, I screwed up  my turn into the gap between the two hills, and had to cross over the jungle strewn hill that bordered it for part of the way, luckily passing most of my pilot checks and only getting light damage. I did however manage to avoid the evil flying monkeys that guarded the gap.

Pilots head into the dreaded valley of the flying monkeys. Like the natives, whenever a face card was drawn, one of the monkeys would attack a random plane in the gap.

  In the end, a bad speed die roll, cause me to drop into second place just as we called the game due to time with only half the course completed.  I had a great time though, and look forward to another chance to play.

Heading into the final stretch.  My plane is on the right.

 

Teddy Bear Pirate Ship Conversion: Part 3 - Completion

I had time over this past weekend to finally complete my Eureka Teddy Bear Pirate duck-shaped-watering-can ship conversion. I'm quite please with the results.

For those of you who haven't been following along with my lst two blog posts;  I found this great plastic duck shaped watering can at my local Target store a couple weeks ago.  And, it looked to me to be the perfect base to make a rubber ducky shaped pirate ship for my Eureka teddy Bears to sail in.

Since my last blog post, I completed the assembly; adding hatches, a mast, and a ladder leading up to the door in the back of the head, as well as a flag staff in the stern.

After the assembly was complete, I sprayed the whole thing with Krylon Camouflage Flat Black with Fusion to help with the paint sticking to the plastic.  When this was dry I sprayed the ship with some basic white primer

  After the spray primer coats were done, it was just a matter of painting the ship with the same basic craft paints that I use for my miniatures. I chose really bold colors to help with the rubber duck look of the ship.

All in all it has been a very satisfying project.  And I couldn't be more happy with the outcome.  My goal now is to make two more of these so I have a whole Teddy Bear Pirate Armada.

Teddy Bear Pirate Ship Conversion: Part 2

I've had the chance to work a bit on my Pirate Teddy Bear Duck Ship this past week, and thought I'd post some photos of my progress.   Below is a picture of the plastic duck shaped watering can that I got at Target, that I am using for the basis of my ship.

The first thing I did was cut off the handle with the rotary saw on my Dremel tool, I then cut a large section out of the ducks back, and about a 3" x 3" section out of the underside to make an access opening to help me in assembly. I also trimmed up where I had removed the handle from the back of the duck's head to make it a doorway.

 

My next step was to cut out a cardboard deck to fit in the back.  At first, my plan was to use this as  the main deck, but after I glued it in place I noticed it had a bad slope in it so I decided to use it as an under-decking for a proper wood plank deck.  At this time I also took a spare metal cannon I had, and glued it into the spout in the duck's bill.  I used E-6000 glue for all the gluing of parts to the duck's plastic body, and Tacky glue for gluing cardboard and wood together.

 

  I glued some popsicle sticks I cut to fit onto the cardboard deck to correct the slope, then cut planks from a sheet of balsa and glued them in place.  Next, I cut a cardboard oval, and glued it into the top of the duck's head to make the crow's nest. 

I then cut a piece of cardboard to fill the area between the deck and the top of the duck's back. Finally I cut a door to fit in the doorway at the back of the ducks head.

  My next step will be to glue on hatches and a mast, and then move on to to painting it.

Teddy Bear Pirate Ship Conversion: Part 1

For a long time I've been looking for a suitable ship for my Teddy Bear Pirates from Eureka. I always had in my mind it should be some sort of rubber duck looking vessel, but I never found a rubber duck I liked. One large enough to be a ship big enough to carry more than a couple teddy bears.
  Well, that all changed today during a trip to Target.  In their "cheap crap" department at the front of the store, they had these great plastic rubber duck watering cans.  Shown in the photos below with a Eureka Teddy Bear Pirate for scale.

   I wanted to get this posted now, before I had a chance to do any work on the duck, because I figured these were seasonal items for Easter and/or Spring, so might not be around in Target for much longer. And, I wanted anyone who was interested in getting one, to have a chance to before they were gone.

My plan at this point is to cut off the handle and a section of the back to make an open deck. I think the hole in the duck's head will become a crows nest, and the pour-hole in its bill will become a gun port.