My 2012 Resolution - Simplifying - Part 1

My first resolution, to post at least twice per month on this blog, is already off to a good start as this is my fourth post this month (fifth if you count my New Year's Eve post on resolutions)... the key will be to keep it up.

But now, onto resolution Number Two...

As posted earlier, one of the steps I need to take in order to make the most of my gaming is to simplify - concentrate more time on fewer games! I have been giving a lot of thought to the games I am interested in and I've come to the conclusion that there are just way too many. (I am sure I am the only gamer ever to have this problem...) So I did something I am not very good at: I gave up!

I surrendered and admitted to myself the reality that my time, talents and treasure have limits - and my gaming desires do not. So I need to discipline myself and concentrate on the games that appeal to me the most.

There is a reason I titled this post "Simplifying - Part 1." This will be an ongoing process, and changes in focus are inevitable. There will be updates as I refine and change my list. I know myself well enough to know that my interests are varied. Simplifying is meant to be a way to be able to enjoy more gaming, not a strait-jacket that will restrict me from anything not on my list. But since adding anything to my gaming repertoire will necessarily take time and money away from something else, I want to be sure I am adding games that will add value to my gaming. It does me no good to devote myself to a ton of great new rules if I never get to actually play them.

The games or companies that I will initially concentrate on (or re-concentrate in most cases), and why:
Song of Blades and Heroes (Ganesha Games) - This is a terrific set of fantasy skirmish rules, and Andrea has translated the basic mechanics into a host of other genres and historical periods. The beauty of SoBH is that, like Force on Force, it is not dependent on any one manufacturer's figures - they'll all work, and you can mix and match to your heart's desire. In fact, one of our favorite ways to play SoBH involves using Lego minifigures for the warbands. Stay tuned for several upcoming posts on Lego and gaming.
     In particular, I plan to concentrate on creating Lego and 28mm warbands and terrain for basic fantasy battles (dwarves, elves, humans, undead, etc.). I also want to model some small Napoleonic units to use with Song of Drums and Shakos. Skirmish-level games are about all I have the patience for when it comes to Napoleonics - painting 500+ figures to field an army is not my cup of tea. And, I will work on modern-day and/or post-apocalyptic warbands and zombie hordes to use with Fear and Faith and Flying Lead. Andrea has many additional settings and genres under development right now, all using the same elegant mechanics, and I am looking forward to seeing them as they become available. 

Dystopian Wars (Spartan Games) - this is a beautiful game, and has very elegant mechanics in my opinion. It is not overly complicated, which means that I can play with the kids. The miniatures for Dystopian Wars are beautiful! I am very much looking forward to getting some painted and on the table, as I already have a good start on an FSA fleet for myself and a Blazing Sun fleet for my son. And, as Spartan Games has shown with month after month of new releases, the game is expanding and they are continually adding new models to it.
     I also love the new look of the models Spartan is re-releasing for Uncharted Seas. From what I understand, the mechanics of the two games are similar, so sliding into Uncharted Seas should not require learning a totally new set of rules. But that is for the future - first I will concentrate on painting up the models I have for Dystopian Wars, and getting in enough games to feel comfortable with the rules. 

Flames of War (Battlefront Miniatures) - I've long been a student of World War II and its engagements, and the few times I have played FoW I have really enjoyed it. I think the scale is perfect for WWII gaming that includes armored forces as well as infantry. I already have the Second Edition rules (yes, I know they just announced Third Edition!) and many of the supplements, and I have a ton of models that need painting. I may need to add some small units here and there as I build my force, but for the most part I don't think I'll have to sink a ton of (more) money into this game right away (sorry Battlefront!).

Force on Force (Ambush Alley Games) - This is the latest ruleset I've bought, and I am very eager to try it out with some real games to see how it all goes together. My goal is to try this with 20mm figures. I don't have any yet, but I have started putting together a typical Middle Eastern-style building to see how the scale compares to 28mm and see how much actual terrain I'll need to fill a gaming table. 

Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game (Games Workshop) - As a long-time fan of the Tolkien books, as well as the movies, this is a must for me. Especially as Peter Jackson is releasing the Hobbit films in December 2012 and 2013, which I hope will spur new releases and expansions for this game. I already have most of the rulebooks I need, and a ton of models to get me started painting, so I can get stuck in without a huge investment of additional gaming capital. Since Games Workshop prices are generally quite high, this is a very important point.
     The LotR gaming system has been exported to pirates (Legends of the High Seas) and cowboys (Legends of the Wild West), so once again, I can play several themes by learning one basic system. Besides, as you can tell from the title of my blog, I have a thing for pirates, and modeling ships is one of my favorite things to do. I've got LotHS and all the LotOW books, as well as bunches of models to paint up already in addition to some ships that just need painting and detailing to be complete.

That should be more than enough miniature wargaming goodness to keep me busy in 2012 (and beyond). Just before Christmas I picked up the Pathfinder Beginner Box, so I'm also planning to do some more role-playing gaming with the kids. I'm also hoping to play more board games ranging from Survive! Escape from Atlantis, to Lego Heroica, to the Dungeons and Dragons games Legend of Drizzt and Wrath of Ashardalon (we don't yet own Castle Ravenloft).

As you can see from the list, I tend to prefer systems rather than games - learning lots of different rules can be time-consuming, complicated and confusing. I like learning a system once, then apply the basics of that system to different themes and genres. Also, I tend towards skirmish level games, rather than army games. While I love the visual appeal of having hundreds of minis on the table, the reality is that at this stage of my gaming life that is just not feasible. 

What games do I own that didn't make the cut? (Please keep in mind that none of the statements below are intended as a knock against any of the games mentioned. They are purely my opinions in relation to my particular gaming situation. And since my opinions and my situation are subject to change, I may revisit any or all of them in the future.)

Warhammer and Warhammer 40K - first of all, I think Games Workshop prices are too high. The overall consensus of the reviews I have read for their new Finecast line of resin models has been negative. Also, I find that their world is too dark for my current tastes. This may be because my views have changed, or because their fluff has changed, or because now I am more interested in games I can share with my kids. But I do know that I am no longer comfortable with a lot of the backstory to their games.
     I have a ton of Warhammer and Warhammer 40k rulebooks (going back to the original Rogue Trader) which I will likely sell off or trade. I will likely hang on to many of the models, since I can use them with several other game systems.

Malifaux (Wyrd) - This is a tough one, but it boils down to the fact that I do not want to invest the time to master a new gaming system, coupled with the fact that the world of Malifaux is very dark as well. First the system - the use of cards rather than dice is a fantastic innovation, and I like it a lot. But in addition, every model has special abilities and triggers that play off of other models. At this stage of my gaming life, I don't have the desire or time to invest in learning all of the possible combinations and maximizing them to my advantage. Second - as I mentioned above when talking about Games Workshop, the world in which Malifaux is set is quite dark, and while that is not necessarily bad in and of itself (a zombie-pocalypse is dark too, and can be quite fun to game), it is too much for my kids and me. All of the characters cater to their dark, evil side in some way, with some being outright serial killers.
     However, I do love the look of the models, in particular the Guild guardsmen and some of the Outcast figures, and I plan on using them in other gaming systems rather than as their intended Malifaux characters.

Now that I have begun the process of simplifying my gaming, I can turn to the next step - organizing!

They're so cute!

Those were my daughter's exact words when I showed her my first painted Flames of War team, a US infantry command team. Not exactly what you want to hear after painting up the beginnings of an unstoppable and mighty force that will sweep the table clear of all those foolish enough to oppose you!

Yet, in all fairness, I guess that yeah, a little green army man only 15mm tall can certainly be described as "cute." But just wait 'til I paint some TANKS!

Anyway, here are some shots of my first completed unit, an HQ unit that has enough options to be fielded as an Armored Rifle Company HQ or an Infantry Company HQ, either for Mid or Late War. I am working with a limited budget, both in terms of time and money, so I am trying to make the most of it. I decided I would like to have an Armored Rifle Company - the ability to have highly mobile infantry and plenty of support options for any situation sold me. Yet, I may want to field a straight Infantry Company in certain situations, such as when we game D-Day. So I am making my purchases count - each unit will be able to do double duty and serve in either a mechanized or foot infantry company.

The entire HQ unit:



The Company Command and 2iC teams:



Jeep (a Command Decision model with a FoW figure):





Halftrack (Command Decision):





Bazooka Teams:



M37 Gun Team:






'Til next time!

More Flames of War

On May 10 we played FoW again at our gaming group, and having read the rules I understood a lot more of what was going on. Another very enjoyable game, where I was given a mixed force of tanks and infantry (Soviet) to lead. John, Rob and Dave played the Germans, while Mike provided a host of Russians that Kyle and I helped him to command. Again, the objective was to take the bridge at the center of the table, and we played with 6000 points per side. Truly a massive affair!

Unfortunately, I had to leave early that night, and my forces really had not yet managed to engage the enemy. Still, I had another great time and each time I play I feel more comfortable with the mechanics.

Here are some images from the game. As usual, the whole lot of them can be seen at Photobucket.












Also, my Horsa glider was very well received by the guys. Too well, actually! Dave's first words were, "Very nice, now we need 37 by next Saturday!" I was able to talk them down to only needing three or four more, to do a Pegasus Bridge scenario. So now I am thinking of ways to streamline the carving process to make it go a little faster. In the meantime, here are a couple of images of the completed, though as yet unpainted, glider:






Hopefully, for next time, I will have some more gliders ready, maybe one painted, and the beginnings of my US Armored Rifle Company - a force to call my own, so I do not have to depend on Mike's generosity (for which I am very grateful!) to have troops to command.

Flames of War!

Ahoy again!

Wow, has it really been almost three weeks since I started this blog? I think I may need to rethink my blogging philosophy. My initial conception for the blog was sort of a magazine, with different sections and topics, that I would publish every two weeks or so. But, the reality is that finding the time to put together that sort of volume is not easy. Therefore, I am going to change my approach and see if I can be better about updating the blog. I will try to post shorter, more frequent updates, and just basically share what is going on in my gaming life.

So, on that note, let's talk about Flames of War. Flames of War is a 15mm World War II miniatures game by Battlefront, and I had the chance to try it a couple of weekends ago at my gaming club. John set up a magnificent board for us to play on, and we went at it with an Eastern Front battle pitting Mike's Russians against Rob's Germans, John's Hungarians and Kyle's Italians. Since I do not have my own force (yet) I was given a column of Mike's tanks to lead.

Here are some images I made of the game:













The entire gallery of images is available on my Photobucket site. The game was a complete blast - though the battle was lost for us when my tanks fled the field like scared little girls after taking 50% casualties. This is not an overly complex game, but it is not a simple game either. There are many nuances of fields of fire, firepower, saving rolls, artillery ranging in, etc. that I need to learn more about. But I enjoyed the game IMMENSELY and am looking forward to having another go at it. Thanks John, Mike, Rob and Kyle for an awesome game!

The club is planning to do a D-Day campaign, and we discussed the airborne glider landings at Pegasus Bridge. So, I decided to try my hand at some 15mm terrain building. The first thing I wanted to make was at least one of the gliders on the ground after landing its troops. I looked online for some paper/card models of a Horse glider, thinking that would be the quick and easy way to make one - simply scale the plans down to 15mm, print and assemble. I found a nice-looking kit at Fiddlers Green, so I purchased it, downsized it, printed it and started gluing. That is when I ran into a little trouble.

I printed the design on paper, rather than cardstock, thinking the card I had on hand would be too thick to get the nice rounded shape of the plane in such a small scale. But the paper was not nearly sturdy enough so I tried gluing a piece of card inside the wing to give it support. That seemed to work okay, but the glue soaked through the paper completely and made quite a mess of it. Rather than give up I went to Plan B.

I have never carved a plane from balso wood before, but adopting my usual "How hard can it be?" attitude, and being careful to cut AWAY from the body, I grabbed a sheet of balsa wood I had on hand and started carving out the wing and tail shapes. I glued several sheets of balsa together to get the thickness I wanted for the fuselage and started shaping that as well. In the images below you can see the original attempt at paper wings as well. I ended up using the paper plans as templates for the wing and tail to get the right shape, so all was not lost.





I will post more images when the model is complete, but I think it is coming along quite nicely, especially for a first effort. It is perfectly to scale, and looks like a Horsa glider. The fuselage does look a little "lumpy" at places, but I am chalking that up to stress damage caused by a hard landing!

Til' next time!