RPGaDAY 2017

For the last three years Eric over at Gaming with the Gnomies has been doing this and it looks like a lot of fun, so I thought I’d join in this year. The idea is you answer a question about Role-playing games every day for the month of August. More information and the list of questions can be found HERE.

Some of the questions though… well… I have these Q&A a Day books that I do with the family (The Girl has Q&A A Day for Kids, Finnegan just has the Q&A a Day, Amanda and I do the OUR Q&A a Day) and they’re sometimes fun and sometimes interesting, but sometimes we (especially me) wonder: “Well… what do they mean by….” (I often tend to over think things…). And some of these seem the same (as you shall see). Some of the questions I have no idea about, some just do not apply to me, and I don’t know… some of the questions I’ve looked at made me think: “I guess they used up all the good questions over the last three years”.

So, I might just dig out one of the questions from 2014-16 to answer if I’ve got nothing for the actual question for the day for 2017… or I might just answer questions from multiple years past. I might try to answer every day, but I may end up posting answers in batches if I don’t get to it every damned day… I don’t know, we’ll see how it goes.

Question #1 (for 1 August 2017, I know, I’m a day late… I was up last night and was planning to answer it, but then I got distracted by something else and ended up going to bed without answering it - or turning the computer off!?)

What published RPG do you wish you were playing right now?

Well we’re already starting off with a “Well what do you mean by…” question. By “playing” do they actually mean playing in a game that someone else is running – or do they mean it could be a game I’m running? By “right now” do they mean RIGHT NOW this morning instead of answering this question or a more general “right now” as in “what game do you wish your regular game group was playing right now instead of or in addition to the game you’re currently playing”? (or what game do you wish your game group was playing if you actually HAD a regular game group, for those without). Or does it mean what game would you like to play with a regular gaming group if it was your DREAM GAME GROUP (you know, like if you could game with any of the people you’d gamed with ever – which I think was a question itself for a previous year) because, you know, different groups are… well… different a game that would be a riot with one group, could just fall flat with another...

See what I mean? Waaaaaaay overthinking it…

If it were “RIGHT NOW this morning” with games and people I have on had (entirely possible, I’m in a house full of games and two eager youngsters that would probably love to play a role-playing game!). I think I’d like The Girl to run Shadowrun. She picked it up last year sometime and was SUPER STOKED about it at the time. Picked up a pile of the novels – some of the newer ones from the game store, and some of the older ones from a used book store. I’m not sure she actually finished reading any of the novels – or the rulebook… so many other things she’s interested in. Also, she did try running a quickstart adventure from the Beginner Box for us at one point, but discovered it’s actually really hard to run a role-playing game, so interest waned after that. Anyway, it’s a game I’ve always wanted to try - I bought the original version when it first came out... but I'm not sure I ever PLAYED it – so I hope she’ll have a go at it again sometime.

If it were “what do I wish my game group was playing right now”? Well, first I’d like to say I’ve been really enjoying playing the D&D 5E Primeval Thule game we’ve been playing. More than I expected to, actually!

Our Game Master Bruce is planning to wrap up the campaign by the end of September and so this question has been weighing on my mind a lot lately – what WOULD I like to play in the fall… I may be taking over the role of GM so there are a lot of factors to consider – what am I willing and able and interested to run, as well as what are the people I’m playing with going to be willing and interested to PLAY…?

There are a bunch I’ve been thinking about over the last few months…

I’ve been interested to play or run a couple of the (now recently out of print) 40K RPGs from Fantasy Flight Games – Rogue Trader or Only War. I picked up most of the books for both games over the last few years at the FFG annual Black Friday sale. I have to admit this is partly because I have a lot of fun miniatures I could use with the game and it would tie in nicely with a renewed interest in possibly playing Warhammer 40000. I also have a soft spot for military RPGs like Only War – I always enjoyed playing Recon or Twilight:2000 or Behind Enemy Lines or Top Secret (to a certain extent) and assorted Traveller or GURPS games where players were members of some military-like organization. It’s really easy for the GM – the players superiors give them a mission, the players attempt to carry out the mission (well... maybe not so much in Twilight:2000, but…). There’s never the “well what do we want to do next?” and never the worry that the players won’t pick up on you plot hook for the next adventure.

I’ve also been thinking about Cthulhu Invictus (though I’d probably NOT use the actual Chaosium game rules, I’d run it with something else – I would have used Savage Worlds at one point, but I’ve been thinking of an even simpler homebrew set based on the Song of Blades and Heroes game engine).

Tales from the Loop aslo looks interesting… well… the ART looks fabulous… and I have a soft spot for 80s kids adventure movies – Goonies, Space Camp, Band of the Hand, Lost Boys, Stand By ME, E.T., BMX Bandits, etc. I’m sure they’d all be crap if I saw them now as an adult… but as a kid in the 80s, they were good fun. Seems like that’s the vibe I’m getting off of Tales from the Loop.

There are LOADS of others I’d love to run or play that I can’t even begin to list, but these are the ones I’m considering for the fall. I’m not sure if any of those will fly with my current group, but I’ll bring them up as possibilities. I can’t really just PICK one for them, because some of them may not dig on that setting or style of play…

So I guess the question is really about What game would you like to play right now ASSUMING YOU ACTUALLY HAD A GROUP THAT WAS WILLING AND INTERESTED TO PLAY IT…?

Hmmmmm….

If I had to pick ONE…

GAH!?

This is too hard…

Maybe I should just roll a die.

Good old d4 says: Rogue Trader. Yeah. I’d go with Rogue Trader.

I also asked the kids what they’d like to play. Without missing a beat The Girl said Shadowrun. For Finnegan the question was pure existential torture (TOO MANY CHOICES!).

Question #2: What is an RPG you would like to see published?

Yeah… I don’t know… like with a particular setting…? At this point I kind of feel like; What setting is out there that HASN’T been published!? I’m drawing a blank on this one. When I polled the kids Finnegan was equally unsure, but The Girl said she’d like to see HER RPG get published (it’s a pretty generic fantasy RPG) or one based on a series of books she’s been reading called “Tales of a Red-Headed Sea Witch”.

Odd and Sundry Bits

Below is a collection of an assortment of odd and sundry bits that have been haunting the periphery of my work area for some time, partially painted, that I’ve recently –  over the last month – finished off… but didn’t feel any one group necessitated a post all of their own… or maybe they all could have, but I was feeling lazy…?

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version):

Two English Civil War cavalrymen. One, on the left, is from Old Glory the other, on the right, is from Perry Miniatures.

The two finish up a unit of heavy cavalry for The Pikeman’s Lament.

An English Civil War musketeer casualty from Perry Miniatures. You can’t see it, because it’s hidden by the grass, but he’s sitting on his musket.

A Teutonic Knight Casualty from Gripping Beast. The beginnings of a Teutonic Knight retinue for Lion Rampant. I have two units of Mounted Men-at-Arms and an assortment of pilgrims and clergymen and a bunch of cavalry to paint up for the force. Well… some of the clergy are already painted… I’m not sure what I was thinking when I decided to pick up the knights… seemed like a good idea at the time…? I’ll probably need to pick up some Mounted Sergeants and some more foot for the force at some point… maybe when I actually get some of the other units finished!!

First two of the Reaper Bones 3 Kickstarter, which arrived a couple weeks ago, that I’ve “painted”. There wasn’t much painted involved – other than the base.

The Wizard I actually have a not-so-translucent version of – so I can make him “invisible”.

I’m not sure why I ended up with the invisible/translucent dude with the hammer…?

Three Lead Adventure Miniatures post-apocalyptic survivors.

Two more post-apocalyptic KGB from Lead Adventure Miniatures. I finished the others from this set back in February

One of the figures from the Psi-Paladins and Techno-Barbarians Kickstarter for Mutants and Death Ray Guns.

A Grenadier Guards Officer from Miniature Figurines Winter of ’79 range.

Three female police constables also from from Miniature Figurines Winter of ’79 range.

Dark Young of Shub-Niggurath from Reaper Bones 3 Kickstarter. I got all the big mythos creatures out of this set. Painted up this guy as an adventure I’m prepping to kick off a Cthulhu Invictus campaign involves a Dark Young…

With the wizard for scale – he’s pretty damned big! Shub0niggurath herself and Dagon are even HUGER?!

A terribly out of focus shot of three Grymm sniper specialists from Hasslefree Miniatures. Their camouflage was so good the camera could just not recognize what to focus on…

Are the Grymm supposed to be like Space Dwarves…? I think so. But given that hasslefree minis are on the slightish side, I though they might fit in with one of my units of Imperial Guard Ratling snipers.

Unit of Ratling snipers. They’re still on the slight side… maybe female Ratlings are smaller and have tinier heads than the males of their species…? I probably should have converted their boots into big feet to match up with the GW guys a bit better… ah well…

That’s it for me for now. Need to do some planning this week and figure out what I’m going to work on in the coming months…

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Game Plan 2017: What’s Next…?

Game Plan 2015

Never too early to start planning for next year…

Most of this Involves some concrete plans for the first quarter and some general plans or ideas for the rest of the year.

BIG EVENTS

I recently posted that I will be hosting my 11^th Annual Wargaming Birthday Bash/Winter Wargaming Weekend the weekend of 13-15 February 2015. It will be a Rome-themed weekend with a Song of Shadows and Dust campaign on Friday and Saturday and some board games on Sunday including Conquest of the Empire.

Beyond that…?

I had a thought of hosting a Summer Campaign Weekend… I won’t be thinking about this too much until Wargaming Birthday Bash/Winter Wargaming Weekend is over. I am of missed feelings about a summer gaming thing. Part of me feels like “who would want to spend a weekend indoors in the summer when they could be outside enjoying the weather!?”. On the other hand, it would be easier to travel in the summer – for friends in other cities…

REGULAR GAMING

Board and Card Games

We’re going to play a LOT of boardgames over the next year…

I was looking at my BGG Collection - which by the time the dust settles after the seasonal holiday gift-giving (and BOXING DAY!) I’ll have over 400 games and expansions. Looking a little further I realized I’ve only played a quarter of those – now, keep in mind, many of those are small expansions (a single pack of cards added to a Munchkin game is a separate entry – NINE of those are just Carcasonne expansions that came with the BIG BOX. Many others are games I played a lot “back in the day” but simply haven’t played in the last seven or eight years that I’ve been tracking game plays on The Geek. I have decided that starting now and before the end of the 2015 I’m going to make sure we play 100 new games and expansions – so at least half my collection will have plays recorded! That’s on average about two per week. To kick us off, starting tomorrow, We’re going to play one new game EVERY DAY until the new year – that’ll knock ten off the list and get us on our way.

All the boardgames i played over the last year with the kids was definitely one of the highlights of the year and finding games to tie into the history we were studying was a stroke of brilliance (If I do say so myself) – more on all that in the 2014 In Review post coming up in a week or tow - so I’m really looking forward to playing even more this coming year.

While there will be a lot of other games going on - there will be a number of games following teh periods of history we will be studying over the year - starting with 7 Wonders, Parthenon and  Alexander the Great this week to finish up the Greeks (and other ancients), followed by Rome (Italia, Conquest of the Empire, Ostia, Quo Vadis, Palatinus)  and moving through the Dark Ages (Dux Bellorum, Song of Arthur and Merlin, Tara, Constantinopolis, etc...) and Middle Ages (Carcassonne? Hammer of the Scots, King Arthur, Knights of Charlemagne, Warrior Knights, Lion Rampant, San Gimignano, Siena, Ventura, etc) to the Renaissance... 

In the fall I started hosting a Board Game Afternoon on Tuesday for some fellow homeschoolificators. It was fun. I plan to continue.

I’m attending Freezerburn 2015 this year – a small one-day-boardgaming-min-con hosted by my friend John, who also organizes Tooncon (not to be confused with John – who makes the Toy Soldiers)

Perhaps it’s about time I started attending Tooncon with The Boy…?

Skirmish Miniature Gaming

The next couple of months will be mostly focused on preparing for the Song of Shadows and Dust campaign at the 11^th Annual Wargaming Birthday Bash/Winter Wargaming Weekend. I will be spending a LOT of time making buildings – but hopefully we’ll be playing lots of games just to get the rules in my head really good.

Other than that I imagine I’ll be playing a lot of other Ganesha Games I picked up most of their catalogue over the last year and a few of those remain unplayed. I have Of Gods and Mortals, A Fistful of Kung Fu – Hong Kong Movie Wargame Rules,  Flying Lead, Hearts and Minds, Fear and Faith, Kooky Teenage Monster Hunters, MORE Drums and Shakos, Song of Arthur and Merlin, Samurai Robot Battle Royale, Mighty Monsters, Flashing Steel, and Song of Drums and Tomahawks - all of which I have bought, but haven’t played yet. I’m going to play all of them in 2015 sometime… (that’ll be 12 games off my list right there!)

I’d also like to run a few A Song of Blades and Heroes campaigns using Song of Deeds and Glory.

I’ll also still be playtesting Galleys and Galleons! (not sure if that qualifies as “Skirmish wargaming”..?)

Big Battle Miniature Gaming

I don’t really have time to build any “Big Armies”… I could bust out some Great War stuff and play Contemptible Little Armies… I have any number of Hordes of the Things armies or Dark Ages DBA armies that I could get out… but I haven’t really had the urge to do so lately and I can’t see me doing that at any point in the immediate future. Nor will I likely be adding to any of the existing forces at any point in the near future – with the exception of the Great War miniatures for the Vimy Project. Perhaps I’ll get in a game of CLA before

The only Big Battle games I could see myself playing a bit of is Lion Rampant (which isn't very "Big Battles" as it still has a 1:1 figure ratio... it's just Bigger than all teh other skirmish games I've been playing of late...) and possibly Dux Bellorum - because I have it and I might be able to get away with using elements of my DBA Dark Ages armies to play it.

Role-Playing Games

I made a few attempts last year to get a few Role-playing campaigns going, but most fizzled before they really got started. This year I’m planning on running a Cthulhu Invictus campaign for the kids – which should tie neatly into our study of Ancient Rome over the next few months.

PAINTING, etc.

My main focus for the first part of the year will be to make terrain – buildings, buildings and MORE buildings for the upcoming Song of Shadows and Dust campaign at the 11^th Annual Wargaming Birthday Bash/Winter Wargaming Weekend. I should also get a few civilians done and maybe another faction…

After that…? Painting stuff I already have, mostly. I have a bunch of medieval units for  Lion Rampant I’d like to paint up. I need to finish up The Third Division for the Vimy Project and over 2015 I will need to acquire figures for the 2^nd Division and some Germans (though I may just cast more of my own sculpts) and get cracking on some terrain!

I may pick up another Ancient Civilians Collection… and figures for the 2^nd Canadian Division  (I think the plan was to use 1^st Corps, Gripping Beast/Woodbine, and Irregular Miniatures… but otherwise I don’t imagine buying much else – I’m sure the odd thing will come up… but for the most part I HAVE all the miniatures for all of the games I’m planning on playing this year – I just need to find time to PAINT the ones that are as yet unpainted!  


Well.... That's as much of the plan I have sorted out so far. I'm sure I'll be updating the plan as they year goes by. Stay tuned for the aforementioned 2014 in Review (in a week and a bit) and more game reports and painting updates this week!! 

Scorpion Men and Cretan Archers

Near the end of July Black Tree Design had a 50% off everything Summer Blowout Sale and I picked up… a few things… mostly items that would be useful for Song of Shadows and Dust, but also a few other odd and sundry iteams.

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version):

Cretan Archers – which could be used as “Cretan Bodyuguards” in SSD.

I just happen to be reading Cthulhu Invictus and planning to use it as a setting for a A Tale of Blades and Heroes campaign… and in one of the adventures there happen to be scorpion men… and Black Tree Design just happen to have the scorpion men… so… here they are…

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

We played a game of Song of Shadows and Dust last night and hopefully later today I’ll get around to posting a game report of that.

After that…? more ancients of one sort or another. I had hoped to get Egyptian and Nubian DBA armies doen for the first of second week of September… but that seems to have been derailed in favour of finishing up more stuff for skirmish games and role-playing…