2Q 6x6

Time for second quarter update.

Impetus 

Done (including Basic Impetus 2 games)

Saga 

Three games so far...

Napoleon's Battles 

Two games with more on the way.

DBA 

Two games.

Wings of Glory 

Completed (over achiever).

Songs of Drums and Shakos 

Done as well.


Best of all my report tallies with Kaptain Kobold's.

The Rules or the Models?

This is a variation on the question: "are you a gamer or a collector?"  It is also a bit of a chicken and egg question.

Another variant is wargame models or museum quality miniatures.

This all arose from an exchange of correspondence prior to receiving my Sails of Glory starter set.

Thickness of bases - thin for better table ascetics, or thick for ease of handling?

What I can say about the Sails of Glory miniatures is that they make excellent (as in hard wearing or playing) wargaming models. For the game you can use other miniatures and you can definitely use the Sails of  Glory models for other rules (maybe just with a change of base or no base at all).  Same goes for the planes.

So in that sense Sails of Glory (and Wings) is a double plus good investment.

I started this post in April 2014 and have let if fester since then.

Wings of Glory for WW1 is fine and great fun for a club night.  Unfortunately for WW2 it just doesn't work for me (which is not to say that WoG WW1 is perfect - handling of altitude, collisions and passing shots for example).  The search for WW2 air rules continues and I'm keen to try out some of the hex based systems.

Sails of Glory on the other hand has been surpassed by Galleys and Galleons.  Much simpler but very much more playable.  It is still early days in using G&G for Napoleonic naval and I am working with the ANF in their long search for the perfect Napoleonic naval rules.

Other related developments in my favourite wargame periods also touch on this subject - the models or the rules.

Ancients

Impetus has been a major success and has seen an expansion of my 15mm Tin Soldier collection which was already undergoing an expansion due to using Field of Glory.

Can do Saga in 28mm, but I prefer using the figures for Songs of Blades and Heroes.

Always ready to do a DBA game.

Galleys and Galleons has been great for Ancient Naval and I'm keen to see how things go with the Roman Seas paper boats.

ACW

Fire and Fury 15mm, nothing further to say.

That said, I wouldn't mind having some of those ACW ironclads...

Napoleonics

Napoleon's Battles 15mm works for me.  Songs of Drums and Shakos I enjoy for skirmish and as for naval, still searching (definitely G&G and maybe It's Warm Work).

WW2

Crossfire and Blitzkrieg Commander and Megablitz and 1/72nd or 1/76th and 15mm and really I'm all over the shop.  I just like the models.

Fantasy

Songs of Blades and Heroes and HotT.  More the former as I can just get away with single figures that take my fancy.  I will probably take my Barsoom project forward with the Songs rules.

Conclusion

For me I think it is the models first, then the rules.  Napoleon's Battles maybe the exception, and Fire and Fury as well, but that might just reflect my age.

Great hobby!

It's Still Warm Work

After my truncated game of Space Hulk, I joined Darren in a game of It's Warm Work.

I'm the Spanish (the fleet in the foreground).

The wind is with me.

We turn to face the English.

First engagement is the English frigate which is forced to flee,

after suffering critical damage.

The Spanish round the English line.

Skilful sailing on my part

(or I'm actually now understanding the rules).

The fleets engage.

Victory to the Spanish.

One of the Spanish ships has been dismasted, but two of the English ships have struck, their frigate has flown to Brighty saying all is lost, and one of their ships sank after taking pummeling from the Spanish guns.

I'm starting to warm to these rules...

Space Hulk

I used to play this game with Myron decades ago.  He's no longer with us, but I'm sure he would be glad to know I was thinking of him when I grabbed the chance to play Space Hulk one more time.

Dreadful blurry picture of Space Marines about to go on a cleanse mission with some CAT.

There are two things I know about Space Hulk:

1. It has a lot of background lore.

2. I know none of it,

3. Eh, to be frightfully honest I don't care about it one bit.

Genestealers attack!

It didn't end well.

However, one of the players of the Genestealers had to leave early and so the Space Marines won by forfeit.  Sadly my two minis were dead.

These are figures I painted back in the 90s that Myron had given to me.

I always like to have skin in the game.

The basing on the captain is a photocopy of one of the original Space Hulk tiles.  The crappy painting on the base of the other Space Marine is my attempt to recreate this.  The captain is metal while the other guy is plastic.  I have to say I was very impressed by the new Space Hulk plastic minis.

Thanks Stan for putting on this game and to Craig as my fellow Space Marine buddy.

GDW - World War Three - Game Turn One

Cold War gone hot.

I don't have much hope hope for eastern Turkey.

At least I have a decent foothold in Iran.

I mucked up taking photos, 

but here we see Nato troops having escaped from the Hannover pocket.

The thin green line has been redrawn.

Action round Narvik.

Nato has lost all air cover in this theatre so we are vulnerable.

I don't have much hope for western Turkey.

Which part of Turkey will be served up first?

So we've got the oil, what next?

The game has eight turns, how many will Richard and I be able to complete?

GDW - Third World War

I find it hard to resist mega boardgames and when Richard suggested playing this game I couldn't resist, even though it is a period I have no affinity for.  Of course, being Richard, we are not just playing one module, but them all linked together.

The war starts in Iran as the Iranian army rebels against the Islamic Republic.

The game is set in 1990 and was developed in 1984.

We are just completing the pregame diplomacy phase 

and the Middle East is where it has all been happening.

Then we have Europe.

And Scandinavia.

I'm NATO.

Paper Terrain - European Village Number 2 - Part 3

These have been finished for a few months, which is nothing given my last post on this project was in December 2013.

They look impressive all together.

I put a bit of extra effort into the walls by basing them.

Town in ruins :-(

The walls are a bit thin, you could say paper thin.

And the ruined building internal base is a bit too neat.

But I'm being petty.

What they do need is a surrounding area, paving, garden etc,  and a bit of weight as they tend to move with the breeze.

This set came from http://www.paperterrain.com/