Project Housekeeping

Like most wargamers I have quite a few projects in progress at any one time and which progresses depends on my mood and what inspires me at the time. I've found that for any project to make it to the table I need to satisfy three basic elements - figures, terrain and rules. Without all three most projects will end up in some part finished limbo whilst I search (sometimes in vain) for the missing element.

Figures are often a starting point for my projects. I see some really nicely sculpted figures and they often inspire me to get into a new period. As you can see from my Salute purchases the work of Paul Hicks is currently being pretty influential in my choices. Lets face it the Irish War of Independence isn't exactly a popular choice!

Terrain seldom forms the basis for a new project but it is essential to it's début on the table. I've always liked my games to be visually appealing and skirmish games demand key terrain as either objectives or simply to block line of sight.

Rules are often a stumbling block as without them it doesn't matter how good the figures and terrain looks the game either simply won't work or won't "feel" right. Fortunately my latest projects are mainly early 20th Century skirmish outings and so the Two Hour Wargames CR2.0/Nuts! system is ideal. For larger games, particularly for earlier periods, I have found you need to have a bespoke rule set to get the proper feel for any period. And just to reiterate the dawn of time to 1485 is NOT a single period!

So what have I got on the go at the moment, in no particular order (does that say something?):

(1) Early WW1: My Renegade purchases (British and Germans) are off to be painted and I'm now planning to expand into French (well, who can resist les pantalons rouge?). My usual practice is to try to make sure at least some of the figures are usable in some other games and so it is with the Brits and Germans who will, with the addition of some German rocket troops, form the basis of some VSF (or ESF to me more precise!). As to terrain, I'm hoping that by avoiding the trenches I can utilise some of the existing terrain pieces I have for this one.

(2) Winter War: Having picked up some Baker Company figures from eBay, I have now added Bolt Action and Brigade figures to bring the numbers up to something usable. Obviously the BAM and Brigade ones still need painting and the basing will need to be aligned. I also have a T26 (Anglian) and Gaz truck (Force of Arms) to build (and I suspect will need to get some more of them too). What I am looking for at the moment are appropriate buildings and a suitable source for more trees! As I've previously mentioned I initially plan to pitch my Finns against Lenin's RCW troops until such time as I can organise some BAM early war Russians. The big advantage with this one is that the Finns can be used right through the Continuation War into the Lapland War.

(3) Irish War of Independence: Inspired by the Musketeer figures I've started assembling some background material (I wanted to know more about it anyway and the figures were simply a kick start). Terrain isn't so much of an issue (unless I want some rural Irish dwellings which are a little problematic) but I'd really like an armoured car for interest and suspect I'll be going with the Sloppy Jalopy Austin one as Copplestone has worn out his moulds for the Rolls Royce A/C he used to make. I'm hoping that my early WW1 Brits will be usable if I want to do an element of the 1916 rising and, stretching it a bit, Free State army for the Civil War.

(4) Early WW2: I do have a decent amount of Brits and Germans in 15mm which I use with the Lardies' IABSM rules but I'd really like to move into 28mm too. Conciously trying to avoid just duplicating the existing theatre I am currently contemplating Poland. BAM have started a nice little range of figures and vehicles which would be useful to explore the beginnings of the Blitzkrieg. The Poles could also face up to my early war Russians (when I get them) as they were sandwiched between Hitler and Stalin at the time (not an enviable position!).

The 15mm forces also need finishing as I have still to base some and add the armour (only some of which I have painted) to enable me to use them for the early fighting in France and then for Sealion (something I have a great deal of interest in - irrespective of how unlikely any invasion was in reality).

(5) Maximilian in Mexico: I've had a set of Freikorp (now LKM) 15mm figures, that I picked up from a chap a the club some time ago, languishing in a box for a while now. The big stumbling block for this one is rules (apart from actually getting them painted, of course) and I'm still searching around for an appropriate set. I've tried a variant of Fire and Fury but it still felt like Fire & Fury to me (which is indelibly linked to ACW in my mind I'm afraid). So the quest goes on.

(6) Tudor Ireland: This is an offshoot of my Border Reiver project inspired by the Vendel figures. They're painted but need the basing finishing. Again the key element missing is rules. I want something that really reflects the core differences between the forces and am still looking at the moment although I do have a home brew set in mind as well.

(7) Montrose: I have had these Redoubt figures sat in a box for several years now as a result of not having a set of rules I was happy with. I'm planning to get these out again in the near future and start the search afresh.

(8) Sudan: Another 15mm project which is partially based. I really need some inspiration to get me restarted on this one. I'd really like to use Science vs Pluck but may have to fall back on Battles for Empire in order to get these to the table.

(9) Gothic Horror: With the figures now based and Rippers selected as the rules I just need to build Whitechapel in order to get these ones to the table.

(10) Spanish Civil War: Having got some of the excellent Anglian Miniatures figures at Salute these are now off for painting. I'm currently looking at terrain options but have a couple of suitable buildings already from my Peninsular War skirmishes. I've just started reading Antony Beevor's book to get me going.

(11) Greek Myth: With a mixture of Foundry and Eureka figures I have the bases covered here (when they're painted) and with Typhon as the rule set I just need to get reinvigorated to get this one going again.

(12) Vietnam: Bizarrely I have both the rules (Two Hour Wargames' FNG) and the terrain sorted (including some Corgi die cast vehicles) but, as yet, no figures!

I think that's enough to be going on with!

Thrilling Expeditions: Valley of the Thunder Lizard

The latest supplement from Rattrap Productions has just made it's PDF debut. Thrilling Expeditions: Valley of the Thunder Lizard is slightly different from previous supplements as it's designed to work with several of their genre rulesets, in this case, .45 Adventure (pulp), Gloire (swashbuckling) and Fantastic Worlds (pulp SF).

Valley of the Thunder Lizard is 126 pages long and is intended to be the first of a series. In brief it covers adventures with dinosaurs, so the Lost World, anything with Doug McClure in it, time travelling tourists in pre-history etc.

It contains a few new rules, some new archetypes (one each for the 3 rule sets) a couple of new special abilities (Big Game Hunter and Tracking), stats for various dinosaurs (including info on how to create them), prehistoric mammals, neanderthals, saurians and scenarios for each of the three genres.

At $12 for the PDF it's pretty good value (especially with current exchange rates) and will make some interesting reading!

Brigade Games - Great Service

Kudos to Lon Weiss at Brigade Games! When I told him I had a figure missing from one of the packs of Finns he popped the missing figure straight in the post - what a guy!

Great figures and great service too, Brigade Games come highly recommended!

Brigade Games Finns Arrive

Having only got the email from Brigade Games on Saturday the figures arrived in the post today! As with the other figures I've had from Brigade they are nice sculpts and clean casts. Here are a couple of photos:

Finn Infantry Command/winter gear

(Unfortunately there was 1 figure missing from this pack for some reason)

Finn Infantry /winter gear I


and here's a comparison of the Brigade office against the one from the Bolt Action command pack:

Winter War Reading

I may have mentioned earlier that, having picked up some Baker Company Finns from eBay, I have developed a serious interest in the Winter War. I picked up some Bolt Action figures at Salute and have ordered some more figures in winter gear from Brigade Games (I've just had an email from Lon @ Brigade apologising for the delay to my order as their Finns were out of stock). So in order to get maximum use from the figures I started to look out for some reading material.

First off is William Trotter's book The Winter War: The Russo-Finnish War of 1939-40. I have just finished reading it and I can confirm the good reviews that I read of it. It is very readable and has provided an excellent introduction to me for the period. The author has clearly done his research and breaks the conflict down into the different areas in a very clear and accessible way. I can heartily recommend this one.

At Salute I spotted a copy of GURPS WWII: Frozen Hell - Finland in the Winter War and Beyond which is a supplement for the Second World War sourcebook for the Generic Universal RolePlaying System. I've always found the GURPS sourcebooks an interesting read and not too system heavy (something that's not always true for d20 sourcebooks). Interestingly the book as a brief introduction by William Trotter. Overall it's a good introduction to the period but obviously provides nowhere near the depth of the previous book; however, on the plus side in addition to the Winter War it also covers the Continuation War and the Lapland War, albeit briefly, which are both beyond the scope of Trotter's book. As with the other GURPS sourcebooks the sidebars provide some interesting asides and detail, and it also covers the weaponry used. A useful source.

I searched in vain at Salute for a copy of the Finland '39-'40 - The Winter War booklet in the Skirmish Campaigns series. Fortunately I found that The Wargames Command Post had a copy and they sent it to me very quickly. As with the other booklets in the series it provides a brief introduction, an outline of the format, information to enable the scenarios to the adapted to many sets of skirmish rules and then the scenarios, in this case 10 of them split into 4 separate campaigns. I am already checking to make sure that I have the kit for the various scenarios and, with a few exceptions (not enough T26's and trucks for one scenario; no Russian mortar for a couple of the others) I think I will be pretty close when the Brigade figures arrive. I plan to get some of these scenarios to the table later in the year - probably using Nuts! (which annoyingly isn't one of the rule sets they provide translation details for - but it shouldn't be hard) and will post the details.

No SELWG Again!

One thing I did notice at Salute was the notice the chaps from SELWG had posted next to the bring and buy (they run it for the Warlords). It said that the refurbishment works at Crystal Palace are significantly behind programme and so the venue wouldn't be ready for the SELWG 08 show they had planned - so it's cancelled.

It's a damned shame as SELWG has always been one of my favourite shows - a good selection of traders, not too busy, ample parking (and cheap compared to Salute!), a good selection of games and a nice atmosphere overall. Oh well, just have to wait until next year...

Figure Review: Bolt Action Miniatures WW2 Russians

As I mentioned in a previous post Lenin let me have some BAM Russians at Salute. They include the main command group and the two scout packs. I asked him to paint these up in winter camouflage to allow them to be used against my Artizan Germans and Baker Co/BAM/Brigade Finns in the Continuation War.

As with the majority of the BAM range these are super figures with interesting poses and, as you can see, paint up very nicely:

The Wargame Shed - Figure Review No. 5

The Arrival of Solomon Kane

Lenin has done a superb job with the Black Cat Bases Vampire Hunter figure to create Solomon Kane!

Back from Salute

The show is a bit of a trek but I managed to get there at a reasonable time (the DLR was suspended but the rail replacement bus service was pretty quick) and wasn't too far down the Q-Buster queue (isn't that an oxymoron?). The venue is still very much like an aircraft hanger and finding stands can still be difficult (particularly when it's full of people) but I managed to have a good look around.

Lenin had a less fun time initially as not only did he drive but the parking was expensive and the machines weren't taking cards to he had to queue to pay (not wishing to waste his precious cash!). He kindly brought along some WW2 Russians for me - I hope to post some pictures tomorrow - and my Solomon Kane figure. All excellent as you'll see once I have time to take and post the photos.

Back to the show. My first stop was at Musketeer Miniatures, who I had noticed only yesterday have an Irish War of Independence range sculpted by Paul Hicks (who also does the Anglian Miniatures SCW range and some of Bolt Action's figures). I realise that this period isn't to everyone's taste but it is something I'm very interested in and the figures will prompt me to do the detailed background reading. The figures themselves are lovely but how quickly they see the table is anyone's guess!

My next stop was Anglian Miniatures to pick up my pre-order of Carlists, International Brigade and a T26 (which I can also use for the Winter War). As I mentioned these are also Paul Hicks sculpts and again great figures. I added a couple of vehicles from Force of Arms later in the day, a truck and an Italian IZ armoured car. I also picked up a suitable painted building from TableScape (it must be relatively new as it isn't listed on their site yet).

I picked up my pre-ordered Finns from Bolt Action and despite a little initial confusion, which was quickly sorted out now just need the other figures from Brigade I ordered to have a decent force. I also picked up the Frozen Hell supplement for GURPS from Leisure Games. OK, so it is an RPG supplement but it has some nice summaries of the information for the Winter, Continuation and Lapland Wars along with weapons and other information.

Having saved enough in postage to justify the trip I wandered around with Lenin having a look at the traders and games and bumping into old friends and acquaintances. I must admit that the various radio controlled vehicles running around the show looked fun and the re-enactors were somewhat less controversial than last year. Attendance looked like it was similar to last year but that's just my impression.

It was a long day but having had a look at my figures now I've got home I think it was worth it for those and to catch up with old friends.

Salute Prep

With Salute rapidly approaching I decided to do my usual - make a huge wishlist of all the stuff I'm interested in at the moment, price it up and then, having scared myself, pare it down to a more manageable level. The Winter War was a bit of a given so I decided to add to my Baker Company Finns with some Bolt Action and Brigade figures (obviously the latter are mail ordered). I emailed a pre-order to BAM and they responded in a matter of minutes - excellent.

I've been debating whether to take the plunge and go for Spanish Civil War. Having yet another look at Anglian Miniatures site has finally persuaded me and I've pre-ordered some Carlists and International Brigade with a plan to follow that with more orders in phases. I emailed Anglian and got a pretty prompt email back from them (I would have said quick if it hadn't been for BAM's performance) letting me know that they're offering 10% off for pre-orders - result!

Whilst I was sorting my figures out I pulled out the Eureka German rocket troops and decided that I needed to work out a way to use them. I've come up with a slightly left field alternative WW1 background and decided that I needed some more conventional opposition. Having liked the Renegade range I thought I might pick them up at Salute but no luck - they're not there. But I did spot that they're running a promotion (£6/pack inc postage) at the moment so I put an order in on line on Sunday and the figures arrived in the post today - jolly good show Renegade!

Not sure what else I may pick up at the show, I have my eye on some resources for both the Winter War and SCW along with some trees for my winter terrain but who knows maybe I'll spot something that really floats my boat. I'm going to give the new Ironclad figures the once over and, if they are scaled appropriately for my Parroom figures, I might take the plunge with them too (always assuming they've got any left!)

Ironclad VSF Figures update

Ironclad now have the figures listed on their website and are taking pre-orders for Salute.

VSF Figures from Ironclad

Lenin kindly pointed out some pictures of some VSF figure greens posted on the Lead Adventure Forum.

They look very interesting and depending on the actual size might become some opposition for my Parroom Station Masked Minions!

Alternatively they could be more of a match with my Eureka German Rocket troops.

In both cases it would actually allow me to get the figures out of the box and actually use them! Woohoo!

Crazy Dave and his Electropants

I actually managed a visit to my wargames club last night, the first in quite a while. We were treated to a Maximilian in Mexico game in 15mm using a slightly modified version of the Fire & Fury rules. The game was an adaptation of the Matehuala scenario from the Colonial Campaigns booklet by Tim Tilson.

John gave us a potted background to the Mexican Adventure comparing Maximilian to a receiver being sent in to sort out a failed company, in this case country! How Maximilian knew nothing about Mexico but managed to spend the whole trip over developing court protocols and designing uniforms rather than learning anything about it (possibly not that unusual an attitude in Colonial times?). And finally regaling us with the tale of Maximilian's final capture!

I was playing the Imperials (what else?) and our first objective was to hold the hill up up near the Republican set up area for the first three turns. We were considerably outnumbered but Bronze did an excellent job of holding them up. Certainly aided and abetted by Crazy Dave's dice luck (all bad). It gave us enough time for our French troops to arrive at the other end of the table and set up in the village ready to defend the well (another of our objectives). The unit dug in on the hill fought to the last man and the rest of Bronze's troops fell back.

Conversation was surreal as usual and as I had to leave early I now have no idea if Crazy Dave is going to reform the Electropants and go back on tour...

Pulp Figures - New Gallery

I've been a fan of Pulp Figures for a while. They produce a great range of, surprise surprise, figures for the Pulp genre in 28mm. Whilst I was sorting out my figures I took the opportunity to photograph the majority of my Pulp collection with the intention of putting these on individual character cards for .45 Adventure. In any case I've put a link below to the new picasa gallery:

Pulp Figures

Review: Figures in Comfort Multi Storage Case

The Multi storage cystem is one of a range of purpose made figure carrying cases from Figures in Comfort, a UK based company.

The case can be ordered with a bespoke set of trays from the large range made by Figures in Comfort either half or full sized. The half size trays are 355 x 265 x 35mm overall and vary from 35mm to 70mm deep. I ordered my case with a combination of the following tray types:

Tray No. 4 - 35mm deep and has 36 slots, each 26 x 55 x 25mm.

Tray No. 5 - 35mm deep and has 20 slots, 16 are 65 x 55 x 25mm and 4 are 26 x 55 x 25mm.

Tray No. 12 - 35mm deep and has 143 slots, 135 are 14 x 21 x 25mm and 8 are 21 x 30 x 25mm.

Tray No. 13 - 57mm deep and has 15 slots, each 88 x 38 x 47mm.

Unlike the Slotafoam tray from Charon Productions these are formed from two pieces of foam with the upper layer stuck to a lower 10mm thick base. The adhesive fixing the upper and lower parts of the trays is certainly noticeable but does not appear to affect the contents in any significant manner.

The Multi opens at the top and the front and uses velcro to secure these flaps. It is not inherently rigid, as is the Charon Scoutpack or Deluxe Skirmishpack, but rather relies on the velcro to be closed tightly around a full complement of trays. The case lacks a carrying handle as a result and so only a shoulder strap is provided; however this is firmly secured to the sides of the case. A front A4 sized pocket is provided for carrying rules etc.

In use the case is easily loaded, though to access lower trays the upper ones must be removed as there are no internal dividers.

Tray No. 12 was of limited use as the majority of the slots are extremely restrictive though I later got the revised tray for 20mm figures which is now being produced and is a substantial improvement. Whilst having usefully sized slots for 20mm vehicles Tray No. 13 is not double the thickness of the thinner trays and makes the stacks uneven. Fortunately the retailer advised me of this at the time of ordering and added an additional foam sheet to make up the difference. I presume Figures in Comfort do the same but cannot confirm this for certain.

The Multi works fine provided that you neither stress it or try to fit any irregular items into it (e.g. within egg box foam etc.) as the lack of rigidity can allow some figures to become dislodged. The cover is also less secure than the zipped arrangements of the Charon cases and so if items do "escape" they can get out of the case unless it is vertical. I found that with prolonged carrying using the shoulder strap the case would often deform. The lack of a separate carrying handle is understandable considering the construction but disappointing.

Overall, I found the Multi less satisfactory for transporting figures than the Charon or KaiserRushforth systems.

Figures in Comfort Storage Cases

Review: Charon Productions Storage Cases

Scoutpack

The Scoutpack is one of the range of purpose made figure carrying cases from Charon Productions, a Canadian based company. The Scoutpack looks very much like an normal piece of luggage. It is made from a black fabric similar to a laptop case, with two external pockets, a carrying handle and a detachable shoulder strap. The interior is accessed by unzipping one size of the case. On the inside are a zipped mesh pocket, a foam cover sheet and five 'Slotafoam' trays. The Scoutpack is 370mm long by 300mm high by 180mm deep and weighs 1.2kg unladen.

Each Slotafoam tray is 355 x 265 x 28mm overall and has 32 slots, each 48 x 27 x 20mm. It is formed from a single piece of foam. This gives the Scoutpack the capacity to carry 160 25mm figures.

The Scoutpack is well constructed with reinforcement in all four sides to maintain the shape of the case. It is about the same height and width as a laptop case but is slightly deeper. Fully laden with 160 25mm figures it weighs in at 2.9kgs and so is lighter than some laptops to carry.

For a recent game the case was fully packed and taken by car, train and on foot without a single figure being displaced from its slot.

Only minor quibbles. The elastic mesh on the outside seems rather more decorative than useful and the outside pockets are simple slots and not zipped. The interior mesh pocket is not sufficiently large to take an A4 booklet and zip closed.

All in all the Scoutpack is well made and very functional. Unfortunately, Charon don't currently seem to have a UK distributor and consequently the shipping costs add significantly to the overall cost of this case.

Gamer's Satchel (and Satchel Inserts)

The Gamer's Satchel (and inserts) are other products from the range of purpose made figure carrying cases from Charon Productions. The satchel is supplied with a single satchel insert and a small basic calculator. The Gamer's Satchel is made from a black nylon type material and opens via a large top flap which covers the top and the front and is secured by a velcro strip. The flap contains a zipped pocket. The rear of the satchel contains a plastic reinforcing sheet. On the inside are two spaces to fit the satchel inserts, a full depth pocket secured by velcro tab, a smaller zipped pocket, two pen holders and a small mesh pocket. The centre section for the inserts (or books) is secured by a strap and plastic clip.

The inserts are self contained pouches with the Charon logo in which on the same black material. They are secured by a zip and contain a single slotafoam tray with a foam covering sheet and two plastic reinforcing sheets to maintain the insert's shape.

The Gamer's Satchel is 400mm long by 320mm high by 140mm deep (when full). The inserts are 385mm x 300mm x 50mm.

The Slotafoam tray is 355 x 265 x 28mm overall and has 32 slots, each 48 x 27 x 20mm. Unlike other similar trays the Slotfoam tray is a single piece of foam. This gives the Gamer's Satchel the capacity to carry 32 25mm figures with a single insert or 64 25mm figures with two.

The satchel can be a problem to close when it contains two inserts and care has to be taken with the inserts as they have no side reinforcement and can be squashed.

The satchel is primarily aimed at role players and so the balance between a single insert and space for rule books etc. works well. For wargamers the addition of a second insert allows figures for a sizable skirmish game to be accommodated.

Deluxe Skirmishpack

The Deluxe Skirmishpack is yet another of the range of purpose made figure carrying cases from Charon. Like the Scoutpack, the Deluxe Skirmishpack looks very much like an normal piece of luggage. It is made from a black fabric similar to a laptop case, with a single external zipped pocket, a carrying handle and a detachable shoulder strap. Unlike the Scoutpack all the varieties of the Deluxe Skirmishpack come with a large logo emblazoned on the front (in this case the "Northern Wasters" club logo - a result of them over ordering and Charon disposing of the surplus at a significant discount - we are in the process of disguising the logo as you can see from the pictures). The interior is accessed by unzipping one size of the case. On the inside are a zipped mesh pocket, a foam cover sheet, a divider and ten 'Slotafoam' trays. The Deluxe Skirmishpack is 580mm long by 400mm high by 200-240mm deep (depending on whether the external pocket is full).

Again each Slotafoam tray is a single piece of foam measuring 355 x 265 x 28mm overall and has 32 slots, each 48 x 27 x 20mm. This gives the Deluxe Skirmishpack the capacity to carry 320 25mm figures.

Like the Scoutpack the Deluxe Skirmishpack is well constructed with a frame which reinforces the case and makes it very robust. Fully laden with 320 25mm figures it obviously weighs in substantially heavier than the Scoutpack but is still easy to carry with the handle or shoulder strap as with ordinary luggage.

The Deluxe Skirmishpack does not close quite as tightly as the Scoutpack and occasionally figures can be displaced if it is handled roughly.

Again there are only minor quibbles. The exterior pocket looks light a bit of an afterthought, it doesn't seem to fit with the rather pleasant aesthetics of the remainder of the case (logos aside). It is on the underside when the case is opened and, whilst the sides are pretty rigid the front and back reinforcement deflects so the trays can be deformed slightly.

All in all the Deluxe Skirmishpack is another well made and functional product.

Charon Productions Storage Cases

Getting Organised

I've just taken advantage of the KaiserRushforth launch offer for their new aluminium cases as I needed some more figure storage. Knowing how much more space I'm getting has finally allowed me to sort out the figures in my other storage cases (a mixture of Charon, Figures in Comfort, KR and CDRowe) in to some semblance of order. I then went to the unprecedented lengths of actually labelling the boxes - woohoo! I may actually get around to popping up some reviews of the cases too.

Winter War Anyone?

Last weekend's gaming has really got me in a table-top gaming mood again. I was impressed with Lenin's desert Terrain Mat (which you can see in the photos). Having used TSS tiles, mainly for convenience, I've always found it difficult to reproduce more fluid terrain like sand or snow. You can see the difference between the TSS tiles on the .45 Adventure Dragon Bones game and the mat on the Back of Beyond and Medieval games. Having seen Lenin's mat I decided to take the plunge and order a snow mat to use with my existing Brigade Games Gebirgsjaeger and new Artizan late war Germans along with some Baker Company Finns I picked up on eBay.

The Finns got me thinking about the Winter War and so I ordered Finland at War 1939-45 by Osprey and William Trotter's The Winter War: The Russo-Finnish War of 1939-40 from Amazon. The former is a typical Osprey Elite series book which covers not only the Winter War but also the Continuation and Lapland Wars which followed. I'm only part way through Trotter's book but it a great read and has really got me excited about the period. Unfortunately the Baker Company Finns I have don't have quite the right mix of weapons or numbers to suit me and their standard packs would end up giving me quite a bit of wastage unless I was building a company sized unit. As a result I've started looking at Brigade Games' range (which are also in full snow kit) and Bolt Action's range (which are not) to see how I might best mix and match.

Since I'm reknowned for being a little frugal (in other words - mean!) I am also looking at what I can do to flesh out not only the Winter War but also the Continuation and Lapland Wars to ensure I can get the most out of my outlay. Now what I need is some snow based trees and a couple of small terrain pieces...

Gaming Weekend - March 08

Lenin paid a visit this weekend and we managed to get plenty of gaming in. It might not have gone quite as planned (no change there!) but it was excellent fun none the less!

Before "discovering" the benefits of the .45 Adventure system we had tried one or two of the scenarios from the Dragon Bones supplement using Savage Worlds (another of our favourite rule sets). We decided to try them using the rules they were made for and the two games went very well. Strangely enough the results were the same as when we played using Savage Worlds!

We also gave my eBay copy of Quebec 1759 a go. It was the first of the Columbia Games block games and certainly has a pretty simple set of rules; however, the game gives you plenty of things to think about. I took command of the French and was utterly trounced by Lenin playing the British - obviously my usual dice luck had some effect but it was more down to some poor deployment on my part and a well co-ordinated two fronted attack on his! Now that I have some idea what I'm doing I'd certainly like to give it another go.

Next we improvised a Back of Beyond game using Lenin's superbly painted Copplestone figures (along with a couple of Pulp Figures) using Savage Worlds as the rules. More than anything it was a test to see if Savage Worlds could be used for a game of this type and size. Lenin has a very sizeable collection of figures for this period and we have tried a few other sets of rules but haven't been happy with them. The result was a Russian victory - having repulsed the Chinese attack on the Russian dig site - and a decision to use Savage Worlds for future games of this type.

Having majored on 28mm we swapped down to 20mm for the next game, a WW2 scenario using Nuts! A simple take the bridge and hold until reinforced for a small Para jeep mounted unit facing a unit of German engineers (who had been ordered to destroy the bridge) - with a few pesky refugees to get in the way! It was an object example of taking and holding the initiative taking the day with the Paras having it pretty much their own way (it also demonstrated the power of automatic weapons to keep people's heads down under Nuts! - the "outgunned" rules).

Our final tabletop game was another improved Savage Worlds game - this time using 28mm Gripping Beast Normans/Crusaders/El Cid figures. Having seen that Savage Worlds could handle a large 20th Century game, we really wanted to see if Savage Worlds could cope with a melee heavy scenario. We probably didn't have enough variety in the troop qualities and so melee did tend to bog down a little (but this wasn't entirely unexpected or a-historical) but overall SW proved that it could manage to cope. With properly prepared unit cards and a little more unit variety I think we're on to a winner again.

We finished the weekend off with a couple of board games - the Crimissos River (341BC) scenario for Commands and Colors: Ancients and the first two player scenario for Friedrich (The War in the West - France vs Hanover with a little help from Prussia). The C&C:A game was a pretty close run thing but finally going to Syracruse (though not by anything like the margin they enjoyed historically). Friedrich turned out to be a lot of fun with plenty of challenging decisions for both sides. The French were doing well but the Hanoverians managed to cut their supply lines; however the French recovered and went on to capture their objectives just in time. An excellent game that I can't wait to play 3 or 4 player.

I've posted a few photos from the weekend below:

Gaming Weekend - Mar 08

Figure Review: Artizan Designs Late WW2 Germans

I picked up a few late War Germans from Artizan Designs a little while ago and whilst he was down for the weekend Lenin dropped off the painted ones. As always with Artizan the figures are a nice mix of interesting poses and painted in a mixture of camo and winter smocks they look great. I've posted a few pictures below:

The Wargame Shed - Figure Review No. 4

Wargaming Weekend Prep

It will shortly be time for another visit from Lenin - so I'm in the process of working out which games to run. We usually work on 4 miniatures games per weekend (which nicely splits into two a piece) along with various boardgames to fill the evening and between game sessions.

I hoping Lenin will have had a chance to finish my Artizan WW2 28mm figures so that I can use them for a Nuts! game. I'm also trying to work out an urban pulp game for .45 Adventure. Since Lenin will be doing the hard work for the WW2 game that shouldn't need too much work (other than working out the actual scenario of course) but the pulp game is likely to need some building construction as well as scenario creation. I've made a start on developing some repeat characters for a series of games and bought some 6 x 4 index cards to use for them. The Pulp Figures miniatures and recent reading have given me some inspiration though.

As to boardgames, I'm sure that Commands & Colors: Ancients is likely to get an outing and I'd like to give either Bonaparte at Marengo or Napoleon's Triumph a go but it will all depend on what we fancy at the time (boardgames not requiring any preparation - which is alway a plus point!). Of course there's still Friedrich which I'd like to get to the table but whilst there is a two player scenario I'd really like to try the full 3 player game - I'll need to polish up my persuasion skills and approach my better half!

Dark Ages

We've only played one Dark Age game since I started photographing them. It was a playtest of Strandhogg rules. So I dug out some of my Gripping Beast Vikings and Saxons along with some of their buildings and livestock and my Grand Manner fort. The rules have some neat ideas but some of the concepts, whilst nice, can be a little fiddly. We need to try them a few more times before making a final verdict though.

Dark Ages

Lord of the Rings - The Lost Tales

I managed to pick up a number of Vendel painted fantasy figures on eBay and so when the opportunity presented itself to use them I jumped at it. The Lost Tales is intended to be a series of short stories surrounding the Fellowship slipped quietly between the official ones from J.R.R.

The gallery contains a few images from the first tale - The Wizard's Tower:

Lord of the Rings - The Lost Tales

We ran the game using the Savage Worlds rules.

Typhon

Typhon is a set of rules for gaming Greek Mythology. We tried them out with some of Lenin's beautifully painted Foundry 28mm figures with a Jason and the Argonauts scenario. We liked both the genre and the rules and so more figures and games are in the pipeline.

Typhon

Pulp

My Pulp gallery covers a number of games in a genre which has been seeing more and more table time in recent sessions.

The first game was inspired in part by Conan-Doyle's Lost World. An aircraft crash lands on a massive plateau deep in the jungle. The crash survivors encounter dinosaurs and an ancient civilisation cut off from the rest of the world.

The next game was a scenario from the Dragon Bones supplement for .45 Adventure. At the time we were regularly using Savage Worlds so Lenin converted it. Now that we have got into .45 Adventure maybe we'll try it again!

The third game was the first part of Ice Fang the second Mission Manual from Legion publishing for Savage Worlds set in the artic in Weird War 2. The first chance to use my Brigade Games Mountain Troops and my JU52!

Pulp

In addition to the games there are a few staged photos of my Deep Ones for those into the Mythos (actually they are West Wind's Piranha Men but I think they work pretty well). The others are Pulp Figures fighting it out in front of some Microtactix buildings and die cast cars.

Science Fiction

The science fiction gallery currently covers five games and some shots of some of my other themed figures. Of the games three are set in the same SF universe which is a fusion of the GZG background, Aliens RPG and other associated sources with some Cthulhu Mythos influences. The figures used in these are generally 25mm (and I mean real 25mm) from GZG and Denizen.

The other two games are 28mm, the first being a near future Covert Drug Op which runs into an unexpected enemy and the second a Dr Who adventure.

Science Fiction

Modern

The modern album covers two games. The first was a 28mm skirmish using Two Hour Wargames' Chain Reaction 2.0 rules and Mongrel Miniatures excellent BAOR figures (Ireviewed there in an earlier post). The scenario started with terrorists taking an Ulster farmer and his wife hostage and a routine British Army patrol passing and spotting something suspicious.

The second game was a 15mm playtest of the Metal Storm rules using a US vs warlord scenario. The rules are derived from the Peter Pig AK47 Republic rules but with some significant additions - like the use of differing sized dice. The rules played fine but we weren't convinced the additions added value as were as the complications - they need another outing to work that out. The figures were from Peter Pig.

Modern

Gloire

I picked up a copy of Rattrap Productions' Gloire rules at Salute last year. They're an adaptation of their .45 Adventure rules for Swashbuckling Adventure in the Age of Kings. We decided to give the sample scenario a go with my Redoubt Enterprises super-heroic 28mm figures and they played very well - enough so for me to go off and get a copy of .45 Adventure actually!

Gloire

Colonial

Lenin has a frankly astonishing number of the Wargames Foundry and Copplestone Castings Darkest Africa figures - I wouldn't be surprised if it was all of them actually! Anyway, the ones he has managed to paint (and it's a surprisingly large number of them) don't see the table anywhere near often enough as they're very nice (as you can see). So we decided to kill two birds with one stone and try out the Antwerp Fusiliers' Afriboria rules with them.

Colonial

The rules are inspired by the Commands and Colors system but give a different type of game. We enjoyed it but there was rather too much of people being surprised by animals and eaten for our liking (not enough variety in the event cards!). It certainly has promise though.

Russo-Japanese War

Lenin picked up a load of 15mm figures for this period when he was in the States and, as you can see, has made a fine job of painting them. We had previously tried a modified version of Fire & Fury for an earlier game but they didn't quite give the feel we were looking for. So I suggested making some small tweaks to the Too Fat Lardies' Triumph of the Will rules and cobbled together the Battle of Yalu River, 1904 as a trial. The results were pretty good.

Russo-Japanese War

Renaissance

As with many period it can be quite different things that get you interested. In this case it was the figures more than anything else. Vendel Miniatures produce a number of excellent 28mm figure ranges and whilst I couldn't justify their Greeks I managed to convince myself that I needed their Border Reivers.

Renaissance

I have since extended the period with the acquisition of some of the Vendel Elizabethan Irish which I am in the process of basing.

I've tried a number of rule sets with these figures including Vendel's own Hot Trod & Red Hand, Fyre and Sword and the Antwerp Fusilier's Renaissance Raiders; however, for skirmish I think I may fall back to Two Hour Wargames' Black Powder Battles (with suitable adjustments). I'm still trying to work out which rules I will use for the Elizabethan Irish games though...

Steampunk

I have been slowly collecting some interesting miniatures to use for Steampunk or Victorian Science Fiction if you prefer. The album shows my 25mm Parroom Station Masked Minions and an Ironclad Miniatures steam tank on the surface of Mars.

Steampunk

Photo Spring Clean

I know it's a little early to be spring cleaning but I decided to organise my gaming photos - hence the massive growth of my Picasa albums. I'll be putting in additional entries for each of the new albums over the next couple of days. Some of the photos were previously published on a small Yahoo website I was running and some haven't been on the web before.

Lenin's Library

My regular opponent and the source of my many excellently painted minis, Lenin, is just creating his own website with blog. Lenin's Library, as he has named it, will be where he will blather on about his own (and sometimes our shared) projects, hopefully post pictures of his extensive collection of beautifully painted miniatures (plus some ones of girls with guns I suspect!) and general gaming stuff.

If you're vaguely interested in my gaming witterings then, since we share a lot of the same interests, you'll probably find something to interest you there too!

Review: .45 Adventure

.45 Adventure is a set of miniatures rules by Rattrap Productions for Crimefighting Action in the Pulp Era. These rules have spawned several supplements and versions for other periods including Fantastic Worlds (Pulp SF) and Gloire (Swashbuckling Adventure).

Each figure is assigned various stats familiar to anyone who has played RPGs; however, these have been allocated names suitable to the genre - shivs (melee), heaters (shooting) etc. These are allocated to one of four hit locations (head, torso, arms and legs). When hits are taken in these locations the stats are reduced and eventually the figure will be disabled or killed. Each location is also allocated a damage rating (DR) which is taken into account to determine whether a hit is effective or not.

In addition to the stats the figures may be allocated specific attributes or skills which may improve stats or provide special abilities.

The game only uses a 10 sided dice (d10) which makes is less confusing for new players than Savage Worlds, which we have typically used for this period in the past. The mechanics used are based on stat tests where a player will roll a d10 and add the relevant stat (adjusted by an appropriate modifiers) and if it equals or exceeds 10 then they are successful.

On a game turn initiative is rolled and then players activate figures alternately within each Dodge level. Each figure can then conduct a single action (unless they have a special ability which permits more) which include moving, aiming, shooting and the like. Moving and shooting is permitted if appropriate but with a significant modifier.

Figures also give the player Hero points which may be used to improve dice rolls or allow dice to be re-rolled. This contributes significantly to the Pulp feel as along with the better characters being more robust you can use the hero points to avoid results which would spoil the "feel" of the game.

All the usual combat situations are dealt with along with rules for appropriate period weapons and vehicles.

One of the key features of the system is the approach to the terrain. Rattrap have clearly recognised that most games end up being fought in a relatively small area of the table no matter its size. Consequently their scenarios are based around a 2' x 2' area. Obviously the rules will work with larger tables but the more compact approach certainly speeds up game set up and reduces the costs!

In addition to the terrain the scenarios are expected to include encounter markers which trigger events or allow figures to discover equipment, clues or whatever is required to move the story along.

The rules come with a decent number of character archetypes (which are further expanded in the various supplements) and rules for creating your own. Two sample scenarios are provided along with guidance for making up your own (the supplements go on to build in both of these areas).

Whilst .45 Adventure doesn't have the absolute range of Savage Worlds (particularly in the area of magic for example) it is much more straight forward and provides a really fun experience.

Given the minimal requirements to run a game these rules are recommended. They are available as both a hardcopy ($16) and a .pdf download ($8).

First Look: Tannhäuser

We managed a couple of games of Tannhäuser by Fantasy Flight Games at the weekend. It's a board game with pre painted plastic miniatures set in an alternative 1949 where the Great War never ended. This alternate world looks a lot like some alternative WW2 settings but obviously avoids the swastikas which would preclude the game from being sold in some European countries.

The board is double sided and is laid out with paths marked in different colours. These colours allow the line of sight rules to function amongst other things.

The 10 miniatures are plastic and painted to a decent standard (equivalent to Heroclix). They each come with a character card and a number of tokens which allow you to customise them in terms of equipment, skills and the like. The components are relatively language independent but it didn't take too much effort to work out the meaning of the various icons.

The rulebook is of the usual Fantasy Flight type but still relatively easy to understand and we were up and running pretty quickly. In broad brush terms the game pits the Federated States of the Union (the Allies) against the Reich's forces which is a battle generally between technology and magic. On the face of it some of the characters look very powerful but actually our games were pretty well balanced. Once you've mastered the basic concepts it's a fun game.

I believe more figures and expansions are on the way and this one will get some more outings that's for sure.

All Things Zombie

Last weekend Lenin and I played a game of ATZ by Two Hour Wargames. It's another of their rule sets based around the reaction system and with rules to govern the zombie movement and action it works really well solo.

The scenario was based in a ruined world following a catastrophic series of meteor strikes. Lenin had a small squad out searching for survivors and resources. His squad entered the table in two Vietnam era trucks (borrowed from the National Guard) and managed to get about a third of the way in before finding the road blocked by a bus. Failed attempts to start the bus attracted a zombie and from that point things went downhill rapidly. With more and more zombies being attracted by gunfire the squad managed to hold them off for a while but then began to struggle. After losing a couple of the team the others boarded one of the trucks and made a run for it with a huge number of zombies in pursuit. Unfortunately the driver lost control after barging a car out of the way and the truck crashed killing another of the team and injuring the driver. They managed to give the main horde of zombies the slip but ran into another couple on the way to a stronghold they though might hold the local police. Managing to evade them they crossed the bridge to find that the police had succumbed to the zombies and only just managed to get off board.

Lenin thought he'd done pretty poorly having lost half the team, two trucks and not having recovered any resources. On the contrary just managing to get anyone off the table alive in an ATZ game is a win in my book!

See my earlier post for some photos of the game.

Gaming The Red Star

If you read WebWitter, my other blog, you may have noticed that I was lucky enough to get a copy of the collected edition of The Red Star. With such powerful imagery and a compelling storyline any wargamer's thoughts turn to gaming it. Given that Lenin originally introduced me to the series we have already done a little investigation into possible sources for figures and the like. I thought I'd pass on some ideas in case you too are interested.

For figures the obvious starting point has to be Copplestone Castings with his excellent 28mm lines including four packs of Neo-Sovs from his Future Wars range along with some Partizans who might be useful for the Nokgorka rebels from Run Makita Run.


Lenin also suggested adapting one or two of the Bolshevik Heroines as Warkasters.

For those less keen on painting the Red Blok forces from Rackham's AT-43 line are also a possibility. This line also includes some walkers which, whilst I can't recall similar ones appearing in the story could easily be fitted in.


As to vehicles, I doubt that any sane person would look to try to put a skyfurnace on the table (always you had a table big enough) but some of the armour could easily be represented by the Old Crow Sabre heavy tank with a suitable paint job.

I haven't found anything which I would be happy with for Al'istaan as yet but we're still looking...

Pictures from the Gaming Weekend

Gaming Weekend - Jan 08

Gaming Weekend

Lenin popped over this weekend and we managed to get quite a few games in. As expected Rattrap had a good showing with games of .45 Adventure and their new offering Fantastic Worlds. We also had a fun All Things Zombie game and a whole slew of boardgames including a first outing from Athens & Sparta. I did take a few pictures but the lighting was a little problematic so plenty weren't up to much. I should post the few that are worth looking at soon along with a little more description of the games.

Happy New Year!

So scarily enough it's 2008 already (how many of you remember when you were younger thinking the year 2000 was a long way away!) and a chance to make a few changes. I'm hoping to get some gaming in next weekend (.45 Adventure and derivatives is likely to dominate this time) and get some of my lesser played games to the tabletop. I'm sure that, like all New Year resolutions, will fall by the wayside under the relentless pressure of real life! But I'm going to give it a go. Sorting out my figures and terrain would be a useful beginning as would labelling them!

Anyway let me wish you a happy and prosperous New Year!

Duell

I managed to pick up a copy of Duell, the fencing card game, which is a republishing by Ravensburger of En Garde by Reiner Knizia, from eBay. Having read the various comments on BoardGameGeek I used the En Garde rules and tried a few games with my wife, starting with the Basic Game and moving on up through the Standard Game to the Advanced rules.

The game is very simple in concept a linear track is placed between the players and pawns placed on either end of it to represent the fencers. Each player is dealt 5 cards from a deck of 25 (5 sets of values 1 to 5) and then plays the cards in turn to advance down or retreat back up the track or to attack their opponent. With the advanced rules, which include advance and attack and defensive retreats it is a really fun game that actually manages to give the feel of fencing despite its simplicity.

The production values of the Ravensburger version are fine but if you are looking for a real visual feast you might want to check out the version of En Garde being produced by Ferti (although it doesn't contain the English rules so you'd need to download those). Personally if I want to improve the look I'm going to fish out my Redoubt Musketeer figures and I'd also like to work out a way to get it into a miniatures game as it's the best fencing simulation I've found so far.

Lardies Christmas Pudding Arrives!

The Too Fat Lardies have released their latest seasonal special just in time for Christmas. Weighing in at 133 pages it's the usual excellent mix of supplements, scenarios and articles for the Lardies various rule sets.

I haven't been through the whole thing as yet - it only arrived a couple of days ago but I've found from the previous seasonal specials that, even if you don't have the rules in question, all the articles and scenarios and an interesting read. It's sure to keep my occupied over Christmas and for only £5 for the .pdf it's not to heavy on the pocket.

Which is more Important: Your Morale or Your Troops' Morale?

We played a Late Roman skirmish last week using Pax Romana and the game raised some interesting questions for me. One related specifically to the rules, and more of that later, and the other to the issue of morale. Crazy Dave was playing the Franks raiding inland from the Medway and I was fielding the Romano-Brits defending (later ably aided by Gav and Ben when the reinforcements arrived). The game started slowly with Dave picking his way through the early morning fog and eventually spotting my settlement but not before I'd spotted him and nipped off to inform the local garrison. Dave advanced his veteran troops towards my village, which was only defended by armed farmers and it looked like it was all going to be over pretty quickly. But when my lone archer loosed a couple of shots Dave decided to retire to the woods to regroup. By the time he'd got himself organised a patrol from the garrison had arrived and the fight looked like it was going to be a little more even. Unfortunately for Dave his reputation for unpredictable dice rolling was well earned and getting into the village was pretty heavy going for him. But he'd awung some of his troops in a flanking manoeuvre which surprised us from the rear and despite the patrol it started to swing Dave's way. Then more reinforcements arrived from the garrison and we all thought it was over for Dave. But despite the odds Dave moved onto the offensive and charged into the approaching units some of which broke and Dave's vets made their morale rolls. After a lot of heavy fighting Dave was eventually beaten but at a huge cost to the locals.

This all made me think, the game would have been quite different if Dave had used his aggression when advancing on the village in the first instance and had someone else been playing his troops later when the reinforcements arrived they could have simply run for the hills (which given the odds was what we were expecting!). It really highlights that no matter the morale rules for the troops the morale of the players is just as if not more important. It also goes to show that no matter what the odds any game with dice can go either way!

As to the rules one of the things that helped Dave was his veteran troops which get more actions than the less experienced troops. On reflection we were concerned that the veterans were getting rather too much of an advantage from this which was difficult to justify logically. Ben suggested using alternatives including getting several activation cards and being able to choose the highest thus allowing them to react faster. Bronze is now pondering so there may be a revised version coming.

Chain Reaction 2.0 - Available Free!

The Chain Reaction 2.0 rules are now being offered as a free .pdf download by Two Hour Wargames! These are the basic rules upon which the majority of Two Hour Wargames other sets like Nuts! and FNG are based.

The rules cover all the reaction test mechanics and provide stats for a variety of weaponry, so they make a great set for any modern skirmish.

If you haven't tried the Two Hour Wargames style rules I'd give them a go (you can't complain about the price!). They do have a learning curve but once you're over that they are excellent.

Out of the Box: Napoleon's Triumph

Having got my copy of Napoleon's Triumph from Simmons Games earlier this week I decided to get it out of the box and have a look at both the components and the rules. The pieces are almost identical to those from Bonaparte at Marengo (BaM) but there have been some slight printing alignment issues with the unit markings being printed slightly offset, but this doesn't affect game play. The Leaders are designated by metal flag markers which sit on top of the unit blocks, these require stickers to be affixed for both sides of the flags and the Leader's name (oh great more stickers!). These are easily done and set up the game looks something like this:


With this slightly closer view you can see the locale polygons designating the areas on the map:

There are some differences with the rules from BaM but given the subject matter that's not surprising but it looks like a development rather than a rewrite and they continue the streamlined approach. Now all I need is an opponent - this game doesn't have a high SAF (Spouse Approval Factor) and even if I could persuade her I suspect she'd consider it too "thinky"!

WebWitter

Given that the focus of this blog is supposed to be gaming (I know I get a little distracted at times) - decided to create a new blog to cover my other main interest, technology. WebWitter is my new blog on which I ramble on about gadgets, technology, movies, tv and such like. Have a look, assuming you can stand more of me wittering on!

NUTS! Available at a discount

Nuts! - one of my favourite sets of rules from Two Hour Wargames is their featured game this month. Which means you can get it for US$5 less than the usual list price - so the .pdf is only US$12.

All the Chain Reaction 2.0 based rule sets have a bit of a learning curve but once you get over that The reaction test system provides a different but very effective simulation. I've yet to find another set of rules at this level which gives you the "feel" that Nuts! does. It leans more to the realistic than the hollywood version of WW2 but that is what I was looking for anyway.