What I'd like to play in the coming months

With my move finally taking place next Monday I should be getting back to gaming next week after a break of about six months. So more for myself than anything else I've created a list of games and systems I want to play over the coming months. The most recent addition to the list is the new Sword & Spear ancients rules. They sound like they're fun to play and have some interesting ideas. So being a rules junkie I had to buy them (the fact that they're only £6 for the PDF helped).

Sword & Spear - Ancients 15 or 28mm (Have various armies, painted & unpainted)
Impetus - Ancients 15 or 28mm (Have various armies, painted & unpainted)
Dux Bellorum - 10 or 15 or 28mm (Have various painted figs I can proxy)
Ronin - Samurai Skirmish 20mm (Have both sides and painted)
Mayhem - Fantasy any scale (Have 2 10mm armies painted plus some painted 28mm)
Maurice - 18C 10 or 28mm (Have 2 10mm armies both unpainted)
Napoleon at War - Napoleonic 15mm (Have French & British painted. But short a few units)
Longstreet - ACW 10mm (Have 2 armies both unpainted)
All Quiet on the Martian Front - 15mm (Have 2 armies from the KS both unpainted)
Chain of Command - WW2 15 or 20 or 28mm (Have 20mm Germans & Brits painted. But short a few figs. Also have some painted 28mm Russians and a ton of painted 15mm FoW stuff)
Battlegroup: Fall of the Reich - 20mm WW2 (Have some Germans & Brits painted. But short a few units)
Dust Warfare/Tactics - WWW2 28mm (Have masses of US and Germans)
Deadzone - scifi skirmish 28mm (Have 4 or 5 factions all unpainted)
X-Wing - Starter box
Dropzone Commander - Scfi 10mm (Have both sides and painted)
Battletech Alpha Strike - (Have enough painted for a small game)

Android Netrunner - Boardgame
Heroes of Normandie - Boardgame
Lords of War - Card game

Don't have but would like to try:
Malifaux 2e - 28mm (Have a ton of models for various factions but not the new rules/cards)
Dux Britanniarum - 28mm (have some painted and unpainted 28mm figs I can use)
Full Thrust - Space combat
Wild West skirmish of some sort not sure on the best rules.

That's a long list but I've probably forgotten some things. At least unpacking (when I get round to it) will be like Xmas.

Christmas Surprise

I logged in to The Miniatures Page this morning to find out some kind soul has anonymously gifted me a free year of Supporting Membership. I've no idea who did this or why, so in case you read this blog I'd just like to say thank you. You've given me the first genuine Christmas surprise in many years.

Merry Christmas one & all

P.S. Real life is still getting in the way of posting but I hope to get something posted before the New Year

A little aside.

For those of you expecting another Deadzone figure review, sorry. Real life has intervened so there will be a delay. So as a quick interlude here's a couple of things that might make nice stocking fillers.

I came across this by accident. It's a 2-player expandable card game, not my usual kind of thing but after a little research I decided to buy a copy. Look for a review sometime. They also have a Kickstarter going (who doesn't these days) for an expansion if you're interested.

Another card game that's piqued my interest is Field of Glory the card game by Martin Wallace.

From the website:

The game is split into two parts. You first decide which units you will fight with, constructing a deck of twenty-four unit cards. You then fight out a battle across a battlefield made up of five terrain cards. To win the game you must take control of three of these terrain cards. The army cards represent the main troop types of the period, such as heavy infantry, light cavalry and elephants., each having its own strengths and weaknesses. To be able to play units on to the battlefield you must discard other cards to pay the movement costs involved, giving you a number of difficult decisions to make.

The game is supposed to be of medium complexity and should take around twenty to thirty minutes to play. I'm a big ancients fan so I'm thinking about getting this as a Xmas present to myself.

Lastly is another card game Frontline General: Spearpoint 1943 Eastern Front which is, of course, another kickstarter. The original game looks interesting again from their website:

Frontline General: Spearpoint 1943 is a fast-paced two-player tactical card wargame set in WWII. Spearpoint focuses on WWII frontline combat, chaos, tension, and fun. 100 Unit Cards feature an assortment of historical German and US squad level infantry, artillery, armor, and aircraft. 50 Command Cards give support and intel to players. 25 Damage Cards apply unique Damage Effects if a unit becomes damaged. Combat is quick and tense and resolves using four included D10 dice. Standard and Situation games play in about 30 minutes including setup.

If you're interested there's a great review here.

So three quick games that might make nice stocking fillers. Hope Santa brings you something nice.

I Hate Wargames Foundry!

Let me start off by saying that I don't actually hate Wargames Foundry. If anything I should say that I hate Neil Shuck but that's not really fair either, let me explain.

When I'm painting I like to listen to podcasts, in particular Meeples & Miniatures. This time it was Ep116 where Jake Thornton was talking about his fantasy rules 'God of Battles'. I have no real interest in fantasy gaming, but the fates were colluding to change that state of mind. I'd just watched a play though of Mantic's 'Kings of War' on Beasts of War and as the rules were free I'd toyed with the idea of giving it a try. So I was perhaps more receptive to the idea of fantasy gaming than usual. The more I listened to Mr Thornton talking about his rules and the ideas behind them the more I liked the sound of them. So when I'd finished painting I did a quick internet search for 'God of Battles' (there was surprisingly little out there) and read a couple of battle reports and reviews. I'd more or less decided to give it a miss for now as I have a ton of projects on the go, but then I had one of those 'what the heck, let's buy it' moments all too familiar to most wargamers.

This is where Wargames Foundry comes into the picture as they sell the rules. I placed my order on their site and noticed that they said they usually despatched orders on the same day but things could take longer. Now as a wargamer my mind interpreted this as being 'your order will be here tomorrow'! I placed my order on Thursday and of course it didn't arrive on Friday or Saturday or today, Monday. So I've been like a kid at Christmas the last few days waiting for the postman to deliver my present only to be disappointed when it doesn't arrive. Of course I realise they've probably been busy with the Crisis show being this last weekend but a wargamer's brain doesn't lend itself to logic.

To assuage the cravings I've been re-reading everything I can find on 'God of Battles' and even dug out some old Mantic figures I bought years ago that were still in the box. I'm wanting to get painting but without the army lists I'm not sure what I need. In short I'm suffering from withdrawal symptoms for a set of rules I haven't even got yet for a genre I'm not really interested in, and that's why I hate Wargames Foundry ... or Neil Shuck. I mean it's obviously not my fault I'm in this predicament ... is it?

'Repurposing' my eBay proceeds

Having had some good results from my recent eBay auctions I now have about £150 to 'repurpose' (definitely not spend, as that would be frivolous in these harsh economic times). There's a few things I've been looking at but I haven't made my mind up yet.

First up we have 'Battlegroup: Fall of the Reich' the next supplement for the Battlegroup rules. Covering the invasion of Germany 1945 this supplement offers four new army lists (Russian, British and American armoured spearheads pitted against "Defenders of the Reich" ad hoc battlegroups from Germany's last desperate levy), modelling guides and a mini campaign for the breakthrough to Berlin. I've been seduced by the gorgeous looking terrain in the AAR's I've read and by the fact that I can use it with either my FoW stuff or my 20mm figures. So I'm going to get a copy of this supplement when it comes out in November.

Next is the Dust Warfare rules to use with the Dust Tactics figures I bought recently. I've always had a thing for Weird WW2 but never made the plunge. I'm also looking at getting the zombie and gorilla packs as where would WWW2 Germans be without some weird units.

You can never have too much terrain so I'm looking at repurposing some of my funds into the 4Ground 28mm livestock fencing. From the pictures it should be fine for 20mm as well. You get 42" of fencing for £10 which seems like a good deal. Although that will only give you about a 10"square field which, for some reason, seems smaller when you look at it that way.

The last thing I'm looking at (for now) is the Kickstarter for the Winter War 28mm Finnish troops. I've been interested in this for a while. The Finnish Rifle Platoon pledge includes: HQ (1 Officer, 1 SGT, 2 rifle messengers), 2x Rifle sections, 2x LMG sections (1x CPL, 1x LMG & 5 rifles). Includes access to all stretch-goals and free limited figures & free shipping which gives you 38 figures for £60. That's not bad for 28mm but not enough to get me interested. However the stretch goals that have already been achieved will add to this:

Now this makes it a lot more interesting. I reckon this brings the cost per figure down to less than 50p, which is a very good deal for 28mm metal figures and there are more goals which look like being achieved to make it even more of a good deal. The problem is I don't really need these. Without the Kickstarter I wouldn't have considered buying 28mm Finns. I have enough 28mm Russians to play Bolt Action or Chain of Command at that scale and if I have to provide both sides I can use my 20mm stuff instead. My "it's just such a great bargain" gene has kicked in though and that's making it hard to resist.

BTW, I've just noticed that this is my 250th post. Woot!

Sunday Fun: Rationalisations

For a little light relief on a Sunday I thought I'd take a look at the rationalisations we use to justify not only our reasoned purchases but also our impulse buys. (And the reality)

1. If I buy the 2-player starter set instead of just what I need I'll always be able to get a game as I'll have both sides.

• Assumes you can find somebody else who wants to play the game. If you can't you've now wasted twice as much!
• Plus it will take you twice as long to assemble and paint all the parts which means that it will end up on your pile of unfinished projects.

2. If I buy the 2-player starter set I can sell one side and get most of my money back.

• Assumes no one else is as smart as you and eBay isn't flooded with tons of models from starter sets. 
• You realise you could have bought what you wanted cheaper from eBay as people are selling their unwanted bits.
• You eventually manage to sell your stuff for a fraction of its value and, of course, now everyone at the club wants to try it but you only have one side!

3. Its a bargain! If I buy the 2-player starter set I'll save a ton of money.

• Except you are now buying figures for a game you had no real interest in playing before you realised it was a bargain.

4. Its a bargain! Retailers are selling their old stock off cheap as the product is changing manufacturer/distributor.

• Of course a week after you buy your 'bargain' the new manufacturer/distributor announces a cheaper and better starter set plus a new revised rulebook. So now your stuff is out-of-date and expensive.

5. If I buy this new rulebook it will give me the incentive to finish painting all those figures I have for this period.

• No it won't, you'll paint up a few, get distracted and the new rulebook will end up on the shelf with all the others that you never got around to playing.

6. If I buy these new 'easy-to-paint-as-their-uniform-is-simple' figures it means I'll finally be able to use that great set of rules I bought.

• No it won't, you'll paint up a few, get distracted and the new figures will end up on the shelf with all the others that you never got around to finishing.

7. This new system looks great and you only need a few figures to play it so it will be cheap and easy to get into.

• No it won't. You'll base coat the figures, spend ages agonizing over the colour scheme, finish one, hate it and put them all to soak in paint stripper. At which point you'll be distracted by something else and never go back to them. Years later you open the jar and wonder what that gloopy mess used to be.
• Or you get hooked and end up buying every model there is (including the special editions of models you already have because the new ones are 'cool') and a couple of months and a few hundred pounds later you're bored with the system and never play it again.

8. If I buy some (insert which ever system is popular locally) stuff I'll be sure of a game.

• No you won't, as soon as your stuff is ready to play everyone locally will have moved on to a great new system that you don't have any stuff for.

9. (On finding an old game/system you used to play years ago on eBay/Bring & Buy) Wow! I used to love this game it'll be great to play it again. I'll get everyone round for a nostalgia night.

• You used to like the Teletubbies and stuffing Jelly Babies up your nose. Doing that now won't be as fun as it was then. The same will apply to whatever you've bought.
• Or you're the only person who remembers it and no one else is interested in playing it.

I could go on but I was getting a little depressed at this point :-)

If you have any rationalisations you use regularly then please feel free to add them to the comments below.

I have to stop buying new stuff

I'm a bit like a dog in a lamp post factory at the moment. I don't know which leg to cock. I've recently bought the new fast play Battletech rules Alpha Strike and the old Attactix board game Victory at Waterloo, and I want to play more of both of them. However I also want to finish painting my 1/72 Germans and Brits for BA/Chain of Command. Then the postie brought my copy of Osprey's new Ronin skirmish rules and my copy of Longstreet and my copy of Chain of Command should be here in the morning along with my 1/72 Samurai for Ronin.

I've just about got my 1/72 Germans done now, only 4 left to finish and I've primed all the Brits. I used the new PSC Warsprays Khaki primer. It covered the figures well and is on a par with my usual Army Painter sprays. Plus I have 150 10mm Rebs ready for a basecoat as a start on my Longstreet forces.

Just some of the figures awaiting paint.

I'm just all over the place at the moment. I want to get my Brits finished so I can play CoC. But I really need to get a start on the 400 or so figures I need to paint for Longstreet as I really want to give the rules a try, particularly the great looking campaign system. But Ronin looks fun and doesn't need many figures painting up to play and who doesn't like samurai and ninjas.  But if I do all this painting I won't have time to read all the new rulebooks or play Battletech or Victory at Waterloo. Then, just to make matters worse, my 2-player starter set for Dropzone Comander will be here at the end of September. Decisions, decisions.

Re-reading rulebooks is a good idea.

I've played a few games of Bolt Action and feel I have a pretty good handle on the rules. In fact I rate the rulebook very highly indeed. As I said in my review it's the only set of rules I've ever been able to read through in one sitting. Usually my eyes glaze over after a few pages as I try to assimilate the masses of detail.

But, unless you're Sheldon Cooper, you can't remember all the rules from one read through. So generally you just check things as they come up in a game. However doing things that way means that you can miss things. So I like to keep a set of rules handy and read a couple of pages when I have a spare minute. This way it helps reinforce things in your mind but also it highlights things you may have missed.

As I said I feel pretty confident with my understanding of BA but in my latest quick foray into the rules I noticed this little gem regarding the special rule that some weapons have called 'Assault'. I've always thought that it just meant that those weapons got to roll two dice instead of one in close combats. But I just noticed that you also don't suffer the -1 for shooting while moving.  Somehow I had completely missed this and it hadn't come up in any of my games. So without re-reading the rules I might never have found this out and playing with the same group of people means that rules pretty soon become locked in as we 'know' how things work.

So keep a copy of the rules handy to dip into when you have a spare couple of minutes. You never know it might mean the difference between victory and defeat in your next game.

Saturday update

Just a quick progress report today. Looking at Dropzone Commander has put my painting back a few days so I've still got to finish off my 1/72 Germans. I've also been distracted by 'Ronin' the Samurai skirmish rules from Osprey. I've read a couple of reviews and AARs and it sounds interesting.

As I found 1/72 to be really cheap for doing forces for Chain of Command I had a look on Plastic Soldier Review (a great site btw) to see if there were any good 1/72 Samurai and I found these from Zvezda. You can see their review on PSR here. They rate them pretty highly.

You get 44 figures in twelve different poses as can be seen below.

Easily enough for two forces and only £6.76 from Amazon. If I buy the rules from Amazon as well for £9.99 I can have the rules and two forces for only £16.75. That's less than the price of most rulebooks alone. I probably won't get the chance to play often but at that price it doesn't feel like I'm wasting money.

I've also, at long last, made a start on my 10mm ACW armies from Pendraken. I'm hoping to get them ready in time for the release of 'Longstreet' from Sam Mustafa. I'm steadily working my way through the first batch of 150 Confederates cleaning up the bases. After I finish prepping them I have another 150 Union troops, 60 cavalry and six guns and crew to do. That is if my thumb holds out. Those bases can be sharp!

I just can't do it. No, wait it turns out I can!

I'm an admitted wargameaholic, it's not uncommon for me to look at three new systems or armies in a week and want to buy them all. This week while looking to buy some paints online I saw a retailer selling Dropzone Commander.

Like most people I was impressed with the models and like most people I was stunned when I saw the prices. I decided to give them a miss. However seeing them on the retailer's site peaked my interest again.

I had a look at reviews and some batreps and watched a long interview with the guy behind Hawk (seems like a nice guy). It looked like the rules had been well received and the armies and their abilities were well thought out. I was tempted. The rules seem to be good value at £12 and the 6'x4' Cityscape card terrain is great value at £24. (Prices from Total Wargamer)

I had a look on eBay and saw a starter set for £50, not bad. The starter sets, although playable, are only about 540pts and the recommended size of game is 1500-2000pts. So further outlay is required. I reckon about £150 will get you 1500pts or so. I watched some more videos to convince my self but it was then that I realized just how small the models were.

Photo by Nick Ellingworth from DakkaDakka

In the photo above the one on the right is a Bear £11 for a pack of two, the other is a Sabre £11 for a pack of three. A pack of four 15mm half tracks from Forged in Battle costs £13. Compare that to the two much smaller Bear APC's for £11. I don't want to get into an argument about quality or price as everyone has their own opinion. But seeing what you get for your money I just couldn't do it, I just couldn't justify buying a set. It's all about perceived value for money. I don't think the models are worth it whereas the rules and card terrain I think are value for money.

Update:
Bloody typical I do this post and then the same day Hawk announce that they are doing a two-player starter set for £60 which is great value. The bastards! Now I have no excuse not to buy one!

It looks like you get 2 starter armies (previously £68 each) plus all this for £60:

Starter Urban Battlefield:
- 2x Urban Streets Posters, will join together in 4 different ways to create a 48”x33” road layout
- Both posters feature stunning artwork on the reverse face!
- 10 x Pre-cut, pre-folded card buildings in 10 different designs

Rules and Accessories:
- Full sized Dropzone Commander 1.1 Core Rulebook (Usually £15)
- UCM and Scourge reference sheets with stats, army composition and quick reference tables
- Starter scenario and turn sequence prompt sheet
- 10x 14mm D6 black dice
- 1m/38” Hawk Wargames tape measure keyring
- Full set of card templates and Scenario Object tokens

What am I up to?

Just a quick update about what I'm working on at the moment. First up I have a HOTT AAR to finish writing up. I needed to scratch an itch to play HOTT again so I dug out my Dwarves & Lizardmen.

The start of the battle

I have all the pictures loaded I just need to finish up the text.

Next will be my thoughts on the new fast play Battletech rules Alpha Strike. I took the plunge and bought the PDF (not bad value at £10). I've played a couple of games of the introductory rules to get a feel for things and now I'm ready to move onto the standard rules. Initial thoughts are that things are much quicker but I'm not sure you get the same 'Battletech' feel from them. However the intro rules are very basic so that may change as I delve deeper in things.

Lastly the Bolt Action videos over on Beasts of War rekindled my interest in the game so I've ordered a bunch of new figures. The twist for me is that I've moved to 1/72 from 28mm. There's a few reasons for this change. First is price, I bought a box of 68 German infantry which included mortars, panzershreks, MG42's etc all for £8.24 inc p&p. A 500pt force only uses about a third of a box so they're great value. Plus there's lots of cheap 1/72 vehicles available to add to your force if you want to go that route. One of the other benefits is that most of the figures are in one piece so no more fiddly assembly. I've already started painting up some Germans so should have some piccys of the finished models done sometime next week.

I'm also looking at pre-ordering Too Fat Lardies new WW2 skirmish rules 'Chain of Command' (CoC). Although I have Bolt Action there's something about CoC that appeals to me. Plus you can never have too many rulesets.

They don't make them like this anymore!

While surfing the web I came across this entry in Wikipedia

Sir Adrian Paul Ghislain Carton de Wiart VC, KBE, CB, CMG, DSO (5 May 1880 – 5 June 1963) was a British Army officer of Belgian and Irish descent. He served in the Boer War, First World War, and Second World War; was shot in the face, head, stomach, ankle, leg, hip, and ear; survived a plane crash; tunnelled out of a POW camp; and bit off his own fingers when a doctor refused to amputate them. Describing his experiences in World War I, he wrote, "Frankly I had enjoyed the war...and why do people want peace if the war is so much fun".

And this is just the first paragraph! The whole entry is worth a read.

British history used to be replete with tales of men like this, maybe their ilk has died out (not surprising given their proclivities) or maybe the world has changed so much that there is no room for men like these. If that is the case then I think we are the worse off for their loss.

What draws you to a set of rules?

I'm a rulebook junkie. I have loads of rulebooks, some of which I've never even played, and I'm always on the look out for more. For example I have Bolt Action, which is a perfectly good set of WWII rules, but I'm looking at buying Chain of Command from TFL when it comes out on 21st August. I also have Johnny Reb III which I like and used to play lots of years ago but I'm going to be buying Longstreet when it comes out in a few weeks.

So why do I do this? Well, some of this is the 'Ohh! shiny' syndrome that affects most wargamers but some of it is related to how the rules work. In my case what often piques my interest is the ability to exercise my imagination.

This usually manifests itself as a flexible points system with standard unit types. For example Gruntz is an excellent set of rules for sci/fi combat which has troop types like Mecha, infantry, support vehicles, tanks, VTOL's and artillery. The points system lets you customise your choices by adjusting things like speed, armour and weapons. So you could build a high tech sci/fi aerospace fighter or a pterodactyl with laser eyes that poops explosive excrement, a magician shooting firebolts or a space marine with a plasma gun. Both would legal under the rules but I know which I would prefer.

It's this flexibility that so appeals to me, and truth be told it allows me to indulge myself by buying lots of new shiny toys. It also attracts me to games I'd never considered.

I'd had a look at Kings of War from Mantic when it first came out but it didn't really do anything for me. But then I read an article about the flexibility of the Kingdoms of Man list. The article described how easy it was to use ACW or Napoleonics or ECW figures for Kings of War. Any infantry figure with a rifle or a musket could be used as 'Missile Troops', cavalry could be 'Knights' or 'Mounted Scouts' etc. The idea of Union troops facing off against Ogres or an army of Undead really appeals to me. It's this flexibility got me interested in playing 'Kings of War' a game I would never otherwise have considered.

So what is it that draws you to particular rulesets?

My latest temptations.

As I've written before I'm constantly tempted to buy new toys by things I see on blogs or news sites. Some times I manage to resist some times I don't. Currently I have two things calling to me, Heroes of Normandie and By Fire and Sword.

Heroes of Normandie is a squad/platoon sized WW2 board game that seeks to recreate WW2 as it is in the movies. I'd seen lots of mentions of the game because it's Kickstarter is getting a lot of coverage but not really paid much attention to it. Then I was bored and decided to give the Kickstarter a look. The information is very good and there's a couple of videos which give you a flavour of the game.


There's lots of stretch goals which have been achieved and it activated my 'that looks like a good deal' gene. So I'm currently looking at the £45 + £7.50 p&p pledge which gives you the basic game plus most of the stretch goals.

The thing that generally holds me back with Kickstarters is the thought that I'll probably be able to buy the game at a discount and with free p&p once it comes out. The stretch goals though add nine extra tiles and some other bits and pieces that might make it worth pledging. I'm still undecided and as estimated delivery is five months away in September 2013 and I might have gone off the idea by then.

So what's my other temptation? It's the new english edition of the 'By Fire and Sword' renaissance rules. Renaissance is a period I'd like to get into sometime and Anatoli has been writing some nice AAR's and reviews of the rules on his blog. But what really peeked interest was that they include Ottoman Turks. I hadn't really been that interested in the Eastern European warfare but for some reason I've always had a soft spot for Ottomans so that made me give them a second look.



They are also designed to be used for small, medium and large scale games which is a bonus. I understand the the skirmish level game (looks to be about Basic Impetus/Dux Bellorum size forces) is very popular in Poland so that might be an easy and cheaper way into the rules without commiting to a big spend on an army with all the time involved in getting it painted up.
The rules are a bit pricey but are 408 pages with history, painting guides, army lists, scenarios etc all included in a hardback book with high production values so not bad value. They also have a Kickstarter I may take a look at if they introduce some stretch goals.

Wargaming Addiction Yearly Update

About a year ago I made a post detailing the scale of my wargaming addiction. This must have struck a cord with many of you as it was one of my most read posts of last year. In that post I said I was going to keep a record of my wargame expenditure to help me control my spending. Well here is the breakdown of my spending in the last 12 months. This may shock some of you and give comfort to others depending on the state of your own addiction.

Over the past twelve months I've spent £1,111.50 on wargaming. This doesn't include club night fees/subscriptions or travel expenses. This works out to £92.63 a month or £21.38 a week or £3.05 a day. For some reason £3 a day doesn't seem too bad (about the price of a pint) while £1,111 a year seems a lot. I guess that's statistics for you.

However I did sell some Warmachine stuff I didn't need, some figures for Saga as I hated it and a Chaos Space Marine army as I have no interest in 40K any more. This brought in £122.09 so my actual spend was £989.41 for the year or £2.71 a day. As I don't drink or smoke I don't think that's too bad.

So what was the breakdown of my spending.

£396.31 on figures, painted and unpainted
£84.78 on paints including spray primers
£149.78 on rules
£266.34 on terrain
£27.97 on dice
£64.23 on board games

The surprising one for me was the money spent on rules. I'd no idea I'd spent that much, but with the current cost of rules I suppose that's par for the course. I'd like to think that a lot of the expenditure, like dice and terrain, was a one off as I was starting from scratch having gotten rid of my stuff when I quit years ago.

So have I got full value from my purchases? Well let's look at the rules and figures I bought ....

Various models and infantry for FoW some painted most still in a drawer.

Maurice Rules and cards plus two 10mm WSS armies from Pendraken. Not used yet and figures unpainted although still an interest.

FoG:N not used and going to use N@W instead. May be of some use in the future.

Lasalle rules, not used and going to use N@W instead. May be of some use in the future.

Dystopian Wars rules used two or three times. I like them but games take a long time to play. Probably play again sometime in the future.

Johnny Reb III rules and two 10mm ACW armies from Pendraken. Not used and figures unpainted but again still an interest.

Dux Bellorum rules used a couple of times and will use again.

FoG:R rules, not used would like to do some renaissance stuff sometime.

Bolt Action rules and figures. Used a few times and enjoyed them and painted up the Russian figures I bought.

Napoleon at War rules, not used yet and still sorting out my painted armies. My current project and aim to play soon.

Pulp Alley rules, not played yet but looking forward to playing. I have all the figures etc I need to play just need an opponent.

Sadly the main reason for not using most of the above is the lack of an opponent. Most people I know are into skirmish games or GW stuff. So the best I can manage is an occasional historical game which makes it hard to remember the rules and tough to get motivated to paint up the two armies I need to be able to get a game.

So overall I've bought twelve new board games/rulesets in the last twelve months and only played four of them, and some of them have only been played once! Plus the lead and plastic mountain shows no sign of shrinking anytime soon. The amount of unpainted figures I have has convinced me that buying painted stuff from eBay or pro painters is the way to go for now. Although it's more expensive I can use them rather than have hundreds of pounds of unpainted figures stored in the spare room.

I intend to still keep track of my expenditure and I'll post another update next year. It will be interesting to see if things work out as I expect.

Are all Wargamers 'Not right in the head'?

First off I should say that this isn't a rant about the sort of people you sometimes encounter at tournaments or shows. Nor is it a self-deprecating dig at the vast number of idiotic tactical blunders I make on a regular basis. No this is something that has just occurred to me about behaviour that seems innate to all wargamers.

I'm talking about our inability to pick a period/ruleset/activity and stick to it for any length of time. Let me give you an example. For various reasons I haven't actually played any kind of wargame or painted any figures for about six months. Yet in that time I've bought three different rulebooks, two painted Napoleonic armies, various bases, dice and paint and a boardgame. That comes to a grand total of £397.46. While that's bad enough I haven't completely read through any of the rule books, played the boardgame (although it can be played solo) or finished re-basing the Napoleonics. YET just in this week alone I've found myself thinking about going back to play 'Hordes of the Things' which led me on to looking at DBA 3.0 and then onto Mantic's 'Kings of War' and, because someone at the club was having a clear out, various figures and rules for 'Empire of the Dead' & SotTR and it's only Wednesday!!!

This got me thinking and I realised I'm not alone. Go to any club and you'll see a number of systems/periods being played but a month later there'll be a bunch of different games taking place as people have 'moved on'. You can also see this in various gaming blogs with people talking about trying out new rules or having theme months and then doing something completely different. It's the same at shows, even if you go with a list you often end up buying a load of stuff you hadn't planned on getting. Either it was 'too good a deal to miss' or you just wanted it so badly that you rationalised it some way. Often by covincing friends to buy into it as well so it's not just you.

So are we as wargamers just wired to be always wanting something new and shiny or are we weak willed wretches being prayed upon by evil companies dispensing their metal/plastic/paper drugs knowing we just can't say 'No!'

Bolt Action

I've been good lately and in the last six weeks I've only spent £8.99 on wargames stuff. So my urge to buy to more shiny toys is gathering pace. Added to yesterdays mix is Bolt Action the new 28mm WW2 rules from Warlord Games.

As I do my WW2 gaming with FoW I hadn't paid much attention to Bolt Action. I reasoned that it would be pointless to redo the same thing in another scale. But after reading a few reviews I can see that it's really a skirmish game with 30-40 figures a side, not the same as FoW at all.

Part of my mind is trying to rationalise buying the rules by saying that they're 30% off on Amazon at the moment so it's a great deal. Plus I can mix and match figures for Dust Tactics/Warfare, Incursion, Secrets of the Third Reich as well as Bolt Action. This would give me a force that could be used in a range of games so it's a bargain really!

The other thing on my mind is that they're supposed to be easy to pick up and a number of pople have said that 40K gamers like them. So I'm thinking that it may be a way to get more people playing historical games and wean them off GW into proper gaming ;-)

Things On The Horizon

I've been pretty good lately and not bought any new toys. But there's a few things calling to me and I may yet succumb! First up are the War and Conquest ancient rules. I saw them when they were released but was put off by the cover art which looked a bit naff to me.

Then I saw a review of them and got interested. I started having a look at some batreps and was impressed by what I read. They have some nice mechanisms, particularly the use of stragegic intervention points (SIP's) which adds a nice level of tactical complexity to the game. You can take a look at a review here and a pdf batrep here if you're interested. I'm not sure if I'll actually buy these as it's rare that I get a game of ancients as it is with Impetus. So it might be another purchase that just ends up sitting on the shelf unused.

The next thing I've been looking at is Dust Tactics/Warfare. I like the idea of Weird WWII and would have got into Secrets of the Third Reich but no one plays it any more at my club. Then Craig over at 'Frozen Gamer AK' did a review of Dust Warfare that peeked my interest. I like some of the models but I'm not keen on the American walkers, plus it's not cheap to get into on spec. If I can't get anyone interested in playing it could end up being stuck on the shelf as well. I'm currently looking at buying Dust Tactics as it seems like the best deal for the figures, especially as they can also be used for Dust Warfare. But it's out of stock at the moment so I don't know when or if I'll actually take the plunge.

Last up is the new Malifaux stuff released at Gencon. I think I'll be buying the new book and probably one or two new crews. I certainly want to have a look at the Ten Thunders and possibly the Rail Crew. I may add in a few other models for variety like the Rail Golem which also looks cool. As these will be the first plastics from Wyrd I'll be interested to see how they look.

"20 Questions"

Never one to let a bandwagon pass by without jumping on it here's my answers to Ray & Fran's twenty questions.

1. Favourite Wargaming period and why?
Ancients, mainly because of the variety. I get bored easily playing with the same army all the time and ancients gives you hundreds of armies to choose from.

2. Next period, money no object?
I alreay have figures waiting to be painted for Renaissance, WSS, Napoleonics and ACW so my future periods are covered. But with money no object I suppose I could buy painted figures and I think I would go for WSS because I want to use the 'Maurice' rules.

3. Favourite 5 films?
I'm not really a film buff so I don't have a list of favourite films, but here's a few I liked.
'Leon' -  brilliant performance from a young Natalie Portman
'House of Flying Daggers' - this one represents my love of Kung Fu movies.
'Two Week's Notice' - this one represents my love of RomComs.
'Shrek' - The later films were rubbish though.
'Bullitt' - Just for the engine sounds in the famous chase sequence.

4. Favourite 5 TV series?
Again very difficult so many series I could list.
Red Dwarf - Quality British comedy
Blackadder II - the best series of the bunch.
Deep Space 9 - My favourite Star Trek series
The West Wing - Quality American TV (Also check out 'The Newsroom' if you haven't already)
A Town Called Eureka - Although the last two series weren't as good as the early ones.

5. Favourite book and author?
This is almost impossible as I have hundreds of books and love reading. But my favourite authors include David Gemmel, L.E. Modesitt and David Weber. Favourite book would have to be the Belisarius series by Eric Flint & David Drake.

6. Greatest General? Can’t count yourself!!
Napoleon, no contest.

7. Favourite Wargames rules?
There's a few that I'm dabbling with that look interesting like Maurice, Lasalle, Dux Bellorum and War & Conquest. But I'd have to say Malifaux for their original elements and gameplay. (Although more of a skirmish game than a wargame)

8. Favourite Sport and team?
This has to be watching rather than taking part, so it's football and Newcastle United.

9. If you had a only use once time machine, when and where would you go?
It would have to be to answer questions like how did they build the Pyramids/Stonehenge/Incan cities/Nazca lines etc.

10. Last meal on Death Row?
Lean roast beef with gravy, yorkshire pudding and chips followed by Ben & Jerry's Cookie Dough ice cream.

11. Fantasy relationship and why?
Morena Baccarin, because she's stunningly beautiful and was in Stargate & Firefly.

12. If your life were a movie, who would play you?
James Stewart

13. Favourite Comic Superhero?
Captain America

14. Favourite Military quote?
"Know yourself and know your enemy and you will never be defeated" - Sun Tzu

15. Historical destination to visit?
Chichen Itza or Machu Pichu

16. Biggest Wargaming regret?
Selling all my stuff when I quit years ago.

17. Favourite Fantasy job?
I'm retired, trust me it's better than any job! But if I had to choose it would be England Football manager.

18. Favourite Song Top 5?
Don't really have any favourite songs, but here's a few I like.
My Funny Valentine - Big Muff
Foolish - Ashanti
Heaven - Emilie Sande
Callas went away - Enigma
Unfinished Sympathy - Massive Attack

19. Favourite Wargaming Moment?
Running a DBA campaign for Headingley Wargames club in Leeds.

20. The miserable Git question, what upsets you?
People who spend ages trying to reverse into a parking spots in cark parks! Just park nose first, the gap you will then be reversing into to get out is much wider!!!

Here's the list if you want a go:
1. Favourite Wargaming period and why?
2. Next period, money no object?
3. Favourite 5 films?
4. Favourite 5 TV series?
5. Favourite book and author?
6. Greatest General? Can’t count yourself!!
7. Favourite Wargames rules?
8. Favourite Sport and team?
9. If you had a only use once time machine, when and where would you go?
10. Last meal on Death Row?
11. Fantasy relationship and why?
12. If your life were a movie, who would play you?
13. Favourite Comic Superhero?
14. Favourite Military quote?
15. Historical destination to visit?
16. Biggest Wargaming regret?
17. Favourite Fantasy job?
18. Favourite Song Top 5?
19. Favourite Wargaming Moment?
20. The miserable Git question, what upsets you?

FoG Ancients V2.0 Going Digital Only

On the 12th July Slitherine announced the upcoming release of Version 2 of their popular ancients rules Field of Glory. No real surprise here, we've been expecting the V2 rules for sometime now. The surprise was the announcement that they will be a digital only release in the form of an iPad, PC and MAC app.

As you might expect this has been the source of much debate around the 'net. As I've moved on to using Impetus for ancient wargaming this doesn't really bother me. But as a trend it does. I have to say that I think going digital only is a really bad idea for various reasons.

First it's a basic business principle that you don't make it harder for your customers to use your product. Yes most people these days have smart phones but not all of us. While I would read a book on a decent sized tablet I would never try to read one on a smart phone, the screen is much too small. You also have to realise that people use paper rulebooks differently than they use ebooks. For instance it's quite common for me to keep a finger on one page and quickly flick back and forth to another page to cross check things. Although you can bookmark pages in ebooks it's just not the same.

Next there's the cost. The current rulebook has a list price of £25 for a full colour hardback book. This seems to be about the norm for price when comparing it to other rulebooks. After all full colour printing is very expensive and then you have the distribution and storage costs to add on to this. So will the new digital version be considerably cheaper, I doubt it. I'm sure they'll justify the cost by saying it's expensive to develop the app or you're getting free rule updates and errata etc.

Lastly I just don't see people using a smart phone as a rule book. Adding a laptop to all the stuff you already cart down to the wargames club just isn't on, even if you did there's no guarantee you can find a power socket. Plus trailing power cables will just be a recipe for disaster. You can use the battery but what happens when it runs out mid game, you know it's bound to happen.

While I'm all for innovation I just don't think this has been thought through very well. Having to spend £200 - £300 pounds on a device just so you can read a set of wargame rules just isn't a runner for most people. Will they sell less copies of their rules? Yes. Will they lose money? Maybe not, it will depend on the pricing and the production costs. Will they lose market position as the main Ancients rules? Yes I think they will, there's lots of good options out there.

Of course your opinion may vary which is fine. Also I may well end up like the following 'experts':

"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."
Thomas Watson, president of IBM, 1943

"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home."
Ken Olsen, founder of Digital Equipment Corporation, 1977

"I predict the Internet will soon go spectacularly supernova and in 1996 catastrophically collapse."
Robert Metcalfe, founder of 3Com, 1995

"Television won't be able to hold on to any market it captures after the first six months. People will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night."
Darryl Zanuck, executive at 20th Century Fox, 1946

"Nuclear-powered vacuum cleaners will probably be a reality within ten years."
Alex Lewyt, president of Lewyt vacuum company, 1955