Weekend in Gaming

For me it was very unusual as my weekend actually was full of gaming or gaming related projects. Lately it seems I spend more time considering gaming than actual gaming.

Friday afternoon I received a response from a rules author for which I had a question concerning their French and Indian Wars rules. In an attempt to protect the innocent, I’ll skip the rules and authors names… “Your answer has absolutely frelling nothing to do with the question I asked. As a matter of fact my question was on the interaction of movement ranges and firing their answer was on unit morale and survivability.” So in other words neither the authors or the play test groups never asked why a infantry unit can basically charge half-way across the table and not take a single round of fire while closing. I’ll just say I didn’t know whether to be amazed or just accept it as fact that the Authors let reality come in the way of a bad rule set.

Friday evening it was all about research and banging my head against the wall. Sometimes the obvious questions are the one that go unanswered in peoples “painting guides”. Where the uniforms of British Drummers of the Line Battalions in the French and Indian Wars reversed. The obvious answer is yes, but I don’t have a single source that actually sells that. And since the only source I have access to that says directly is Kronoskaf, and it indicates that some are and some aren’t. In the end I finally agreed with Jim, even it is wrong it just makes more sense to reverse the colors.

Saturday afternoon was all about the Carnage and Glory Napoleonic Game at the Levee Café. Okay I need to preface this, I have suffered through six games of C and G before Saturday game and had some idea on how the rules worked, but this the first time I played v2 so I was slightly surprised. Now honestly I am not going to buy the rules or run games using C and G 2, but I will not not play. So I can’t say I dislike the game but I am not enamored with them either. Too many things happen that make you go, um okay, I guess if the rules allow it.
I was on the Prussian side and a piece of bad intelligence before we set a single figure on the table probably did more to stop us from crushing the French than anything else. We were told the French were approximately 32” (one mile in game terms) away from our starting line, when in reality the French set up within 12”. Do you take three turns to reorganize yourself for an attack you were planning for turn three/four or do you push forward. Half the Army charged the other half attempted to reorganize neither worked.
I had to leave early to make it home and let my new puppy out before she had a bad accident in her kennel, So I missed the Prussian attack completely stalling.

Sunday was all about painting figures. 25mm British Line for the French and Indian War. I am tentatively planning on playing BaR for the period, singly mounting figures against my better judgment cause there isn’t anything else out there right now I want to play. I bought the figures years ago for another project, now I am trying to make something out of it cause I own the figures.
Well anyways I completed the first division of the 48th Infantry Regiment, just 45 figures to go and that regiment will be all painted. On the plus side I have completed all the difficult figures to paint and just have musketeers left to paint, so they will take like six to nine hours to finish the other 45 figures. However I wonder where I put all those painted 25mm Hessen figures for the AWI. I probably have a 25mm Prussian Army already painted.

Too Many Projects.

I spent several hours over the weekend looking at projects I have started and not got around to finish and wondering what the heck I had to do to get them to a playable state. While I have literally dozens of projects I was really looking at the projects that I currently own figures for, have started painting figures and basically walked away. So projects that I have playable armies for and not the need to paint, even though I may own more unpainted lead, are not included (with one exception).

Here is the list in Historical Order (from Ancients to Modern) with comments:
Bronze Age Greeks (IE the Trojan Wars)
Several years ago I was convinced to buy figures for a Chariot Wars supplement of Warhammer Ancient Battles. I bought figures for a Greek Army and basically completed painting the chariots using an Ink only painting plan. A number of spearmen are started as well. The problem here is I only have one side and there is not much interest locally to do the period anymore. It is too expensive with all the chariots and other such figures that are needed. While I like the paint job it was very time consuming way to paint.

Ancient Greeks (The City State of Lesbos)
Another Ancients project that got started and lost traction as soon as people bought figures; at least in this case I don’t have a huge investment in figures. I am thinking these figures will go up on ebay shortly. There are a few primed but literally no paint on any figure other than primer. I doubt you’ll see interest restart in this scale anytime soon.

Seleucid
I bought a starter army several years ago at a RockCon. The army was never complete for anything and for years I have debated on what to do for it. Fitz has given (loaned) me the needed Essex figures to complete a Seleucid Army so I can fight his Carthaginian Army using Field of Glory. But I got to put paint to brush. I probably will send these figures to Sri Lanka to get painted.

Wars of the Triumvirate (Roman Civil War 55 BCE to 49 BCE)
Another ancients project I was convinced that HAD to be done. The Roman World during the Fall of the Republic. I should have known better than when I had been convinced to buy figures this period was going nowhere. Problem is I have continued to buy figures for this period, good money after bad I believe the saying is. Anyways I own enough figures to almost have three playable armies, yet I still need to purchase more figures to fill out the individual armies and make it playable. I have a Two Roman Armies (Caesar and Pompey) and a good start on a Gallic Army. The Figures I own for Caesar (Roughly six of the 10 legions) are painted as the legions for Pompey have a good start. The issue is the figures I don’t own. I would need to get those figures.

Fall of the West
Reoccurring them in the Ancients period. I was convinced there was interest in a period I invested money and then as I got started the project fell completely apart. Here I own 95% of the figures need to make a playable army, but I am not sure who I would fight as a historical enemy. The only painted army I know of is Jim’s Saxons that are 400 years to far into the future. I have good start on the painting with four “legions” painted.

Third Crusade
Okay, here at least I can almost blame myself. I was interested in doing First Crusade but was later convinced to Third Crusade (by a player no painting first crusade) and so I have two half painted Armies I really have no clue what to do with. I am currently planning to complete a Third Crusade Army for both the Crusader States and Arab States. But I will be honest it is not high on my painting list. I am still pissy about the fact I was dragged kicking and screaming to the Third Crusade and then they went back to the first crusade.

Seven Years War – Swedish Pomerania

Seven Years War – Quebec Campaign 1759
I own a painted French Army for this campaign I probably won’t have to paint another figure for the period, all I need is a set of rules. “Wilderness Wars” which is the de facto set for the period around here doesn’t handle the larger campaign that I am interested in. I suppose if I wanted to do the Mohawk Valley or Louisburg or Louisiana or Mississippi Valley Campaigns “Wilderness Wars” would work out okay. I just not sure how interesting that will be considering we are using “Wilderness Wars” for a similar projects in the Southern Campaigns….

Napoleonic Period
This will need to be it's own post.

American Civil War – Fire and Fury - Gettysburg Campaign
I think I am just doing this period to piss off other people and I am not sure i care it is such a poor reason, at least I have one.

American Civil War – Fields of Honor - Gettysburg Campaign
I am not sure why i list this project as I will have in about three weeks playable forces on both sides when my latest batch of Union gets back from Sri Lanka.

Franco-Prussian War
I suppose we just need to settle on a rule set "Field of honor" being the current favorite and move forward. I have a good number of French done and a good start on some Prussians. Maybe I hand Tom some figures here.

World War II - Russians
Painted for Broadsword, being converted to Spearhead basing. Jus the rebasing is all that is left, I suppose this will be a weekend project.

World War II - German (Hermann Goering Panzer Korps)
This unit fights in North Africa, Sciliy, Italy and the Eastern Front. So i figure a good generic unti that with trading out a few pieces of armor I can use from 1940 to 1945. Most of the Armor is painted I just need to finish the Infantry.

World War II - Japanese and US Marines (Island Hoping)
Need to choose a rule set. I have about three hundred painted Japanese and equally that number of Marines, but I have not chosen a rule set yet. I am leaning toward a modified Broadsword, but I am not sure I can stand the screaming I'll get from Kevin.

World War II - Operation MarketGarden (A Bridge too Far)
I just need to finish painting a few figures.

Modern Czechoslovakia and Modern French
Need a rule set. I suppose I will need to go over to "Modern Spearhead" i just wish it was as interesting as a set as "Corps Commander" which is a better system except for combat. I have talked for years about combining the two and going with it.

Jeff's Thought on Campaigns

A topic that has been discussed a little bit over the last couple of days is campaigns or more specifically why aren’t we (ie the Centurions or SPI) running one currently.

Why run a campaign?
The first part in any discussion on running a campaign is “what is the benefit for the players going to be?” this is a small topic that is overlooked a number of times.
1) Encourage players to paint for a new period
2) Use figures already existing to run games.
3) Interconnect battles

The next consensus a group needs to agree on is on rules.
1) Grand tactical movement
2) Logistics
3) Battle Rules
4) Recovering battle losses
5) Replacements
6) Siege
7) What happens if a player doesn’t turn in a orders for a turn?
8) What happens if players can’t fight a battle
9) What battles need to be fought?

The next step is agreement on schedule
1) When does the Campaign begin?
2) How often do players need to make turns
3) When are battles fought

The Final question is how does someone win a campaign?

If we wanted to run a campaign
In our case we have all three choices available to us when it comes to determining what the benefit for the players is.
1) For the Seven Years War period we could use this to encourage people to paint up figures for a relatively new period for us. While some figures have been around for a while most of us are painting up figures for the first time.
2) For the Napoleonic period a number of us already have large collections and be nice to get these figures on the table.
3) Sometimes called a tree campaign it would be easy to interconnect a few battles and get people started in thinking about campaigning without getting into logistics or other requirements.

Rules are always the tough one, but the real key is identifying potential problems early and getting them nailed down.

A key in any successful campaign is the schedule, again something often overlooked in the initial planning. If it takes too long to get the campaign started players’ interest wanes and any momentum created before hand is lost very quickly.

I love campaigns and I think they are a good way to achieve many objectives most importantly getting figures on the table.

Painted Figures the followup

I was asked yesterday about my two ranting posts concerning painted figures and were they directed at anyone in particular.

The answer to that question is no. Not just no but HELL NO.

So I would like to take a moment and explain how those rantings came into being in the first place.

On Sunday evening I posted my first version of the what becomes the “Seventy-Third Battle of Falcon Heights”. All done in pure fun. Monday I made a few corrections and lengthened the story a bit plus changed some formatting around in an effort to make it more readable. I laugh at myself for the use of the Cell-Phone Camera and the effort I spent to get pictures of players as opposed to just the figures.

Around noon I traded some email with another individual who made what I thought were some interesting remarks about the period and the hobby. We traded some more emails about my thoughts on the game which becomes the Thoughts on Koenig Krieg Game - October 5. Of course this leads to another email exchange. Somehow my comments on my attempt to paint up some figures becomes a discussion on Painted Figures. The individual I was corresponding with of course found the right button to push.
It's well known that I am believer in big games and when I enter a project I expect to paint a large number of figures. Sometimes this is my downfall as a project for me is like 2,000 figures leaving some casual players to wonder why they are painting figures.
However my biggest complaint is that I often hear people tell me excuses rather than shall I say the truth. I don't hold it against people that they aren't interested in painting, just come out and say that rather than tell me you purchased A THOUSAND RSM 25mm SYW figures that you are going to paint someday. While I might believe one hundred, A THOUSAND is tough to swallow.
Every game needs two sides and I am more than happy to provide figures for both sides on two or three projects, BUT NOT EVERY PROJECT.

In a way two individuals in Sunday game became an example, not because they personally did anything wrong rather they are symbolic to the issues that IMHO are hurting the hobby. I have tried my best to make sure those individuals are kept as anonymous as possible because as faceless symbols they are okay to use but as named individuals it is not to call someone out when they don’ have the ability to defend themselves.

Of course this was complicated by the fact that someone who read the blog decided to forward it to everyone who played. So my faceless symbols suddenly were faced for about eight people. And I apologize for that.
My frustration and “anger” at this issue is often misread as a personal attack, I understand that sometimes certain periods, figure scales, rules, and what not are not in everyone’s cards or plans for painting. I certainly don’t ask people to paint figures for every period. But some games and periods drive me up a wall when I listen to the “excuses” people use for not painting. If you are not interested in painting something just fess up and admit it, no one will think less of you, however if you use excuse like “it is too expensive”, “too time consuming”,” too difficult”, “too whatever” we will think much less of you as we know that is as Sheldon Cooper says “Balderdash”.

I use Koenig Krieg as an example because it is the perfect period for you to paint a few figures I could say the same thing about American Civil War or hyphenated wars.

There are several parts of the story yesterday which are not included in the discussion and I for reasons that aren't always obvious want to keep them out of the discussion.

EDIT in ITALIC

Additional Thoughts on Painted Figures

Yes of course somebody wound me up this afternoon. So forgive my crankyness. I realize I am speaking of a perfect world that no longer exists in gaming, hell I am not sure the utopia which some people speak of ever existed. But someone dropped a quarter in me and now it is time to for me to rant.

The Seven Years War (Or the four wars that make up the SYW Period) is a great period for miniature gamers almost a wargamers wet dream so to speak. With ten major powers (Austria, France, Great Britian, Hanover*, Portugal, Prussia, Russian, Saxony*, Spain* and Sweden*) and more minor powers than you can shake a stick at it is almost a perfect period to game. (I say the same thing about the Thirty Years War by the way)
*I’m not the one who labels these as major powers by the way.

The game of Koenig Krieg really moves full well into the ease of entry for players. First your average brigade is four battalions of troops, an artillery stand and a mounted commander. This is typical organization covers a good 75% of all forces engaged. The reason this organization plays so easily into gaming is that a bag of Old Glory 15’s for the period includes four battalions of troops and a mounted commander. Your cost of entry into the period this period is $15 and with a little help on the Artillery you are done if you want to be.

I suggest that players who consider themselves to be minor participants in this project, or any project, to paint Minor Allies, lesser Major Powers or even sub-groups of the major powers (France’s Swiss Contingent for example). This puts very little pressure on you a minor participant and makes the group as a whole less dependent on you.

I have listened to the cost argument for years and I do appreciate the fact that not everyone is going to paint figures for every project but there are certain projects where the cost and time is so little I just can’t take listening to the argument. We are not demanding that you spend $500 on a Warhammer Army, just a couple of bucks.

I have listened to the time argument on painting figures for years. Again it falls of deaf ears. I still paint over half my figures in two and three hour increments twice a week. Budget yourself a couple hours and you’ll be surprised how fast it goes.
If time is that much of an issue you can always commission to get your project done, Tom Zwirn, Jack L, or other members of SPI will paint figures for a nominal price or you can use a painting service like “Fernando Enterprises” in Sri Lanka.

My other favorite argument is “how poorly I paint”. I have horrid painting skills, I am a god awful painter, I think every one of my paint jobs is complete crap… Accept I seem to win a few awards along the way for painted figures. Considering how poorly I paint I am always shocked when I win. 15mm figures are easy to paint. My Swede’s take almost an hour per battalion to prepare and than two hours top to paint. The paint job is nothing special and under the magnifying glass looks crappy, but at 3 feet you couldn’t tell my figures from one taking five or six hours longer to paint to do highlights shading and all the rest.

And finally the last argument I need more figures than I can paint. This reason I really like to heckle as complete baloney. There is no reason other than visions of grandeur to need to push multiple brigades. Yes it nice to have something else to push but one brigade or two in Koenig Krieg and your are an active participant unlike other games. Yes in several periods I am a horrid person pushing the limits of reason in what I paint, but that is only in periods that I don’t expect people to paint figures. I like the AWI in 25mm so I don’t expect you to paint figures and because I have been collecting and painting figures for 20 years there is no reason for you to paint figures unless you want to. Yet in other periods like the SYW in 15mm, ACW in 15mm, or even Napoleonics there is no reason for you not to provide a few painted figures other than I am providing figures for another period.

Beyond the Seven Years War we have a number of periods and games where one “mover and shaker” moved away, left the hobby or became a ghost that now I have one side or an unplayable force. The scary part is we are talking about some big periods like the American Civil War. Another period where your cost of entry is like $20 so there is no reason that should ever happen.

Painted Figures

Our Koenig Krieg game on Sunday highlights what I think is one of the most annoying problems in the wargaming hobby today, the fact that not everyone paints their troops, well that didn’t come out like I wanted it to. My complaint is that not everyone provides troops for the games I really don't care if you painted them or commissioned someone else to paint them.

It is not that I think you should provide troops for every game, but the regular games we play that require so few figures you should make an attempt to have your own command. In the game we played on Sunday we had eight players with six players providing figures. We had a number of onlookers and had any of them wished to play we are shit out of luck. You can’t grow the hobby that way.

In one players defense from Sunday he has a large number of figures for other periods and wasn’t ready to invest in another period yet. But that doesn’t seem to be the case for other player.

I have listened to the arguments of cost for years and in the case of Koenig Krieg that is almost completely baloney. I know that if you buy Tom Zwirn a pack of figures he will paint you up an equal number of figures. So for $27 plus tax you can have a playable command for Koenig Krieg. I am pretty sure we can come up with one stand of Artillery.

Now in other periods and other systems I do understand cost, just not with Koenig Krieg. As we look at Fields of Honor or Fire and Fury for the ACW period or other minor projects I just can't see not asking people to paint figures.

I suppose growing up in the hobby and always having to paint my own command biased me in my current jaded ways, but as I look at ways to grow the hobby I doubt my opinions are too strong.

Thoughts on Koenig Krieg Game - October 5

The game itself seemed to drag and drag and drag on. As though it was taking hours to play on the other hand in reality we were completing a turn every 15 minutes or so, which isn't bad. It just creates such a negative perception of the game so Jim and I talked about this perception and what can we do to improve it.

The Coalition side lacked a coherent plan, we had to defend and we had a good defensible position between Falcon Heights and villa of Rose but the Ottomans were left out to dry on the left flank. Jim and I talked about it and the optional troop list really hurt Chris, had he been using the standard list he would have been in a better position. Jack and Jimbo (whose real name I will learn someday) couldn't decide whether to be on the defensive or the offensive (the best defense is a good offense). They stayed on the defense too long and any opportunity they would have had offensively was lost when them surged forward about two turns too late. I can't really comment on the Alliance but I am not sure if they had a plan either.

The Swedes really could have used another couple of battalions of Infantry, even the Indelta battalions, would have really swung the scenario more in our favor.

Everyone had either too many canons or not enough, something we will address in the next scenario.

I think everyone had fun, except maybe the great Pasha Beybey, who spent more time wondering how to redeploy tactically to the rear. I always feel bad when one player by really no choice of their own is so totally screwed in a scenario. Okay Chris choose to use the neat troop list that totally screwed himself, but WE should have looked closer at it since we knew Chris had a Ottoman Army.

In the end I think the scenario would have been a minor victory for the Sarcastic Alliance as we would have been driven off the board, but in a campaign setting that would have been a very costly victory for such a small prize.

So many projects so little time.

A topic which has come up a couple times in the past week is why do I have so many projects yet none of them seem complete. As was pointed out my project list look someone took out a shotgun and fired at a list of projects and whatever got hit I bought into.

The truth is a lot simpler I am a gaming whore and enjoy the hobby. I enjoy painting figures as well as playing the game. So over the years I got involved in a whole lot of projects I shouldn’t have, picked up the figures and gotten started with them; then of course the project falls apart and I have a half painted army.

Let’s look at some of my projects.

Clan War is a 25mm Fantasy Japanese miniatures game I got into heavily in 1999. I collected my first army, Lion, and started expanding it and adding figures to make an opposing army, Dragon. It was, and still is, a fun game but the Manufacturer, Alderac Entertainment Group, in 2002 sold the figure rights and got rid of their casting machines. Long story short the game died and I was able to pick up dozens, okay more like hundreds, of figures extremely cheaply. I occasional pull the figures out and paint up a few more on hopes of restarting the game around here but it hasn’t happened.

I own two Warhammer Fantasy Battles armies, Lizardmen and Bretonnia Questing Knights. As funny as it is these are the only two fully painted armies I own. The lizardmen have actually won several awards for their painting. It’s too bad the Lizardmen Army has NEVER been used ina game, and the Bretonnias haven’t been a legal army since the Big Orange Book, like four editions ago.

I have a large Black Templar force for Warhammer 40K. Been used three times (give or take a couple) in like the past five years. I keep buying figures and adding them to the collection. I know own about 25,000 points (a typical army is 1850 points).

In the Napoleonic period I have started 1799, 1809, 1810, 1813, and 1815.
The 1799 project is the only project truly of my own accord. I figured it would be interesting to play a game where everyones troops suck.
1809 was Herman Schouten project, until he became a she and moved to San Francisco. I suddenly had the start of 1809 Austrian Army which has gotten expanded over the past 20 years to be damn near complete Austrian Army. I have been working on the French Allied for the game. Next year I will be doing Wagram and it will be all worth while.
1810 was another Side project that I was involved in starting but not entirely my fault. There is a side war in Northern Europe pitting Russia and its Ally France vs. several small Allied States supported by Britian. I painted up a goodly number of Russians, started some Swedes but that where the project ended when everyone else backed out.
1813 was Fitz project, there are a number of good reasons for playing the period, parity amongst the troops and such. I have a few Austrians for the period (in Shako vs. Rottenhelm of 1809).
1815 is a project everyone seems to do. Not sure who started it, but I later decided to so it as 1:30 project.

I can say the same about a goodly number of projects. Good intentions lost when everyone else backs out.

One of the few projects that I stayed away from was the Seven Years War project. Actually I bought four bags of Prussians when the project got started in 2003 however after several people made it clear that they expected me to paint more than my own command, the figures got handed to Fitz. So until people show up with painted figures no interest. While finally five years later Fitz has hosted two games. Now I may actually have to paint up an Army for Koenig Kreig.

theminiaturespage

Okay, Rant time.

Today I posted a message to theminiaturespage in an effort to get some clarification:

Does anyone know how long I can continue to get the First Edition (or whatever they are calling them) Old Glory 25mm Figures. I own way too many to shift to another size / manufacturer / other.

Nice simple question, one that had Old Glory responded to my email I wouldn't of had to post when some putz named Phillius resonds "Ask Them?".

Okay I did ask them and didn't get a response that's why I posted it here. Is it to much to ask that before you respond with what could be considered trolling you think about what you are writing?

No Response from Old Glory

I have sent three e-mail messages to Old Glory seeking clarification on the length of time I can still get the old castings.

Unfortunately I have not received a response. Funny how even Joel has failed to respond. So I am going to post a message to theminiaturespage because I know both of them read the web-site religiously.


UPDATE:Message Posted to the ACW discussion Group
http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=151529

Does anyone know how long I can continue to get the First Edition (or whatever they are calling them) Old Glory 25mm Figures. I own way too many to shift to another size / manufacturer / other.

25mm ACW

Over the years I have amassed a fairly large 25mm American Civil War collection which has been in need of a project. Well the collection is fairly large it has some gaping holes; notably no infantry command figures, no dismounted cavalry, and no artillerists; which make the collection fairly useless. I always figured once I found a project I wanted to do I would add the needed figures to my collection.

While I am not sure what the impetus is, must be a new movie or something that I don’t know about, whatever the cause a couple of groups in the Twin Cities are trying to get 25mm ACW gaming going.

Normally I think new projects and ideas are a good thing. I have unfortunately ended up in the crosshairs of the discussions since I have a few figures for the period. [insert joke about megalomania and the word few].

In times past I have listened to dozens of ideas on projects and none really have caught my fancy. So when two new plans were presented I listened. After listening I really don’t have much interest in what either group is doing, hell I normally don’t have much interest in the period. After listening to these two competing plans I think if one groups’ plans came to fruition it might set back 25mm ACW gaming for a while, considering there was almost no interest before. The other group well if they have a plan I am not sure whether Pinky or the Brain came up with it. So you might hear my name taken in vain more often than usual as I rebuffed both groups. Hell for once I tried to stay out of the middle.

At the same time the other two groups are planning to take over the world, unfortunately for me, Old Glory has decided to recast their ACW line (Napoleonics and AWI are next) so being I have some holes in my collection I have to defecate or get off the pot. Okay so I don’t own any Infantry Command Figures or Artillerists and being the new castings don’t match the old castings requiring that I have to buy the old castings while I still can. All said I had to come up with a plan for my figures.

So I pulled 120 Infantry and a couple other figures out to be my two BaB forces. Both choices were based on what figures I had that I can’t use for other projects; the union will be 2nd Wisconsin and the confederate the Louisiana Zouaves (with Straw hat). Like I said decision based upon what figures I had. As Jim Smiley, amongst others, already has a pretty good collection of BaB forces these aren’t high on my “to paint” priority list, maybe 198th and 199th respectfully. And I truly wish those numbers weren’t more than a slight exaggerations on the number of projects I got going.

I’m going to use the rest of the collection, plus what I need to buy, for a “Fire and Fury” project. I know not the most glamorous choice, but at least in comparison to “Rebel Yell” and “Rally Round the Flag v2” a far more playable choice and I already own a huge 15mm collections organized at 1:33 makes the choice a lot easier.

I realize of course this is not in exact harmony with a couple of other projects people are working on. The fact my decision isn’t in harmony with other projects was very much considered before it was made. I’ll be honest with my reasoning; I’m not very interested in a skirmish set of rules (yes I did pull out 120 figures for BaB because I know other people already have this painted up) and a Tactical Game would take way to much space to be playable if the game was playable at all.

I'm I being Useful

A little back ground first: For 10 years I have been quietly working away at a 25mm Napoleonic Project in 25mm. Over the years I have gotten only about 750 figures a side painted the issue of course is rules. While the 25mm Figures are beautiful, most games in 25mm takes way too much space. Well we tried a variant of “Wilderness Wars” a year back and there was enough interest to try again. Slowly over the past year we have gotten enough traction to get other people interested in painting figures. So below is series of emails I exchanged with a player over the weekend, only the name of the guilty has been changed as well his final choice, because I’m not sure if they were serious or not:

Joe Blow: “I am really interested in painting some figures up for the Napoleonic [period you guys are working on] but I want to make sure what I paint up is useful. What do you suggest?”
Me: “The most useful units to paint up are French Infantry Battalions. You are almost always assured to be able to push your figures that way.”
Joe Blow: “So the French are the most useful. But I thought you guys had enough French Painted.”
Me: “While I have Six Battalions of French Line and half-a-dozen battalions of French Allied, Jim has six battalions and then Tom and Joel have a larger number.”
Joe Blow: “ Well isn’t that enough?”
Me: “French are the one group of figures that are almost always useful. It is hard to have too many.”
Joe Blow: “I am not sure I really want to paint French.”
Me: “Than paint what you want to push. Not a big deal.”
Joe Blow: “So I can paint anything?”
Me: “Within reason you can paint anything you want.”
Joe Blow: “Cool I have always wanted to paint Bolivians. Now my only question will it be useful?”

While I could almost make a Bolivian Army useful or atleast interesting in the period (Wars of Independence in Latin America) their choice was far less useful..

Will it be useful? Some how this will become my gaming mantra, heck it is almost a stand up comedy routine already. But I am left wondering if they are being serious or as my friend Jim says "setting themselves up to fail from the get go." or what?

Incompetence at work

Okay,

So on Saturday I check with the staff of the Source about the summer availability for our games, considering they have two huge "World Wide D&D Day" signs up and they are the World HQ for the event on June 7th.

"Nope, you guys still have the Sandtable"

Today we get the notice on the Minnesota Miniature Gamers Email list from John Nordling that "Sorry Guys that World Wide D&D Day so no game on the 7th" so either Nordling is wrong about the availabilty or wrong on Saturday whether we have the table or not.

My bet is they forgot to kick us off the Sandtable until after we make the public announcement and someone decided to actually look at what they have on the schedule. Such a simple process.

My Figures Came in

Stopped in at the Source and picked up my figures I had ordered plus a couple extra packs.

• Continental Personalities
• Foreign Generals
• British Colonels
• Dismount Tarletons
• 2 Packs Continental Artillery
• Hessian Jagers
• Continental Command

Of course John was my cashier and he makes my head hurt when I talk to him. Today he tried to convince me to put my figures back and change over to 1/72 plastic figures. Considering that the Source doesn't sell 1/72nd plastic figures, I already own 2,000 Old Glory Figures in the AWI period, and I have a game scheduled next week I was speechless. I mean does he really expect me to put $200 figures back on the shelve and go some where else to by plastic. I guess I am no longer shocked about what he tells me but I am worried that he might tell someone else who might buy into it.

Last Night's Painting

I began painting Fitz's 2nd Maryland Regiment last night. We might however have to talk as I discovered the 1st Maryland wore a white hunting shirt, I painted them a year ago in a blue hunting shirt, again a misidentified image was the culprit that lead me astray. Oh well only myself and the four of you that reading my blog would catch my mistake.

I got the first eight of the sixteen figures painted last night. I like how about five or six of them turned out. A couple figures are difficult to paint due to the pose of the figure and well the unit will look good those two or three figures want get high marks on close inspection. The other eight figures are primed space marine blue and have some of the basic colors already applied so I should be able to finish those up tonight. Afterwards I will start cleaning up the next block of figures. I am not sure 100% what I will make the next unit, I am leaning towards the 1st and 2nd New York Continental Regiment but I kind of have an inkling to paint something a little more crappy like maybe a North Carolina Continental Regiment, but that might take too long to paint at this moment.

Biggest Challenge in Gaming

Recently I was asked what I feel the biggest challenge to my gaming hobby is. My answer was quick extremely quick “The inability to complete projects”. Of course that led to further questions so I better expound on my answer.

Years ago figures were packaged with specific games in mind, when you bought Minifig Napoleonic figures you bought two packs and had a complete unit, one command and one trooper. Later when economy of scale increased the size of the packs a single command pack could be meshed with three or four packs of troopers and you would have entire divisions. However as the games evolved and the pack sizes got larger it creates difficulty in ordering for the stores. No longer could you order one command pack for each pack of troopers you have to guess I mean gauge a better ratio. The problem is customer one wants a command pack and three packs of troopers and customer two a command pack and a single bag of troopers.

Now when you visit stores, whether it the Source Comics and Games, or Tower Games, or the Last Square in Madison it is difficult to find exactly what you are needing to do the next unit in your project, one might have the command pack you need and another the troopers but unless you get to the stores right after they order they probably won’t have both.

My solution is to mostly do special orders.

Rules in the Mist

As long as I have been in the hobby the discussion on how well or poorly rules work has been a topic of much discussion.

Lately Jim Fitzgerald and I have had many a long discussion on the one real sore spot in Wilderness Wars and that would be the interaction of Continental Militia and British Regulars.

The issue goes like this:
British line unit of 4 stands of 16 figures, in conjunction with two others in its brigade, is moving up on continental militia unit made up of five stands of 15 figures.

In the first turn the units are just less than 12” apart.
The militia unit because there is no reason not to fires a volley. (Target is in the open, formed troops in line, each strength factor over 4, D class troops, long range). Result on four dice is 14 -1=13, resulting in two casualties on the British.
The British are penalized heavily for moving and firing and than giving up the +2 first volley don’t shoot.
No Morale Check for either side.

The second turn the British move to just under 6” apart.
The militia unit fires again (Target is in the open, formed troops in line, each strength factor over 4, D class troops). Result on four dice is 14+2=16, resulting in three casualties.
The British return fire (British First Fire, Target is in the open, B Class Troops). Result on four dice is 14+4=18, resulting in three casualties.
Militia Morale Check (Rear Support, D Class Troops) resulting in 25% chance of failing morale. Law of averages says no failure in the first round
British Morale Check (Rear Support, B Class Troops, -25%) resulting in a 14% chance of failing morale. Again the law of averages says no failure in the first round.

Third Turn British move to under 3” apart.
The Militia unit fires again. (Short Range, Target is in the open, formed troops in line, D Class Troops). Result on Four Dice is 14 +4=18 resulting in three casualties.
The British return fire again (Short Range, Target is in the open, B Class Troops). Result on three dice is 10+5=15 resulting in three casualties (61% chance)
Militia Morale Check (Rear Support, D Class Troops, -25%) resulting in 38% chance in failing morale. Law of average says one of three will fail.
British Morale Check (Rear Support, B Class Troops, -25%) resulting in 14% chance of failing. Law of averages says one of three British Regiments will fail morale check.

Assuming continuation of this pattern for each militia unit that fails there will be a corresponding British unit to fail, the exception is that a fourth continental battalion with fail with the third continental/British pair assuming it is in the line and can be shot at, which generally it is not.

To further skew the result you are more likely to only become disordered rather than rout or even break.

Another option for the British is to stay out of range in turn one, move more than half in turn two, but the result is more skewed to the continentals as the British first fire will cause one maybe two casualties and the second round three casualties while taking five casualties at the same time frame.

The Third option is to try and charge, but the British will have two morale checks and as most of their units are shock infantry the units fail.

As you can see this is really something hanging over us like a dark cloud. We have already instituted some house rules to alleviate the issue. First we went to three figure bases for most militia, making them either formed or unformed. We changed the rear support rule so that the supporting unit must be of equal or greater level than the supported unit. Finally we ruled all bases in the period would be considered "open order" as terms of targeting for small arms and artillery.

We are going to try a forth house rule out and it will be in play on May 17th. A strength point is represented by four figures rather than a base. So the militia will be worth three quarters of a strength point rather than a full strength point. As with Wilderness Wars any partial strength point would be rounded up; ie 15 figures is equal to 4 strength points.

New Period Rant

I was shopping at my local game store, The Source Comics and Games, and was working my way through the Old Glory Seven Years War figures in 25mm when another customer decided I was the perfect victim to begin a conversation with. The gist of the ten minute conversation was as follows:
Them “Hey I see you are buying Seven Year’s War Figures that is a project I really want to get going.”
Me “Sorry Hessians for the AWI”
Them “So you are not interested in a SYW project.”
Me “Not really, but what do you have in mind?”
Them “25mm SYW it the bomb.”
Me “What rules and basing”
Them “TO BE DETERMINED”

Now there is nothing wrong with spotting a guy checking out the SYW figures in the store and going “Hey I see you’re checking out the SYW figures and I am kind-a interested in the period can you help me out?” But “To be determined” gosh dang do I hate that answer, it drives me insane [short drive and I know the way]. if you are SOOOOO interested in a specific period you must know what caused your interest. Did you see a game and like the figures, do you like the uniforms, did you find the perfect rule set, is that what your wife demanded you paint? If you can’t answer what you’re interested in how do you know you’re interested?

So you want to get me interested in a project here are some helpful hints:
1) Have a plan. A plan is more than I want to do SYW a plan is a sketched out idea on what you want to accomplish. I want to do 1:50 SYW game using Piquet is a plan. It is just as important to know what you don't want to do for the period. Not interested in a skirmish game, not interested in 1:10 game and you want units to be battalions rather than brigades. All that information is extremely helpful.
2) Paint some figures. Yes it is your plan so you need to take the lead. Paint up at least one playable force. That means if you want to play BAR (1:10) you better be ready to have 300 plus figures painted, or if you want to play Fredericks Battles you only need to have 120 figures painted.