Solo Tabletop Gaming Appreciation Month: Update (yes, another one!)

With just two days left in November, I am of happy to note that I have 30 figures painted with 2 more nearly done. 


Here's a look at a custom mini I did just for kicks   - he's roughly 1/72 scale, made of Sculpey and a paper-clip. I fully expect him to show up in a game fighting zombies or nazis or nazi zombies.

"Run Prussians, run! For I, Master Shake,  am here from the future to squash you!"

Solo Tabletop Gaming Appreciation Month: Proof!

The blueberry slept through the night last night, for the first time! You'd think I'd have managed to get some painting done, but no. Instead, I snapped this with my cell just so I'd have some kind of proof I am making progress on my goal for Solo Tabletop Gaming Appreciation Month:

Pictured: A 750% increase in painting output compared to the last two years.

I've got 14 more Prussians started and they could be done by tomorrow night.

I hope to finish a pistolero or two tonight after the blueberry goes to bed this evening.

With less than 10 days left, I am already pretty happy with my accomplishment so far.

Solo Tabletop Gaming Appreciation Month: Painting Progress

Professor Panglos and Mademoiselle Cunégonde captured by lizardfolk! Prussians believed to have orchestrated the attack!

We've got company here this weekend, so I'm just stealing a few minutes to update on my progress:


Completed (sans basing):

• 3 25mm cowboys (would have been 2 but I ruined one and had to repaint it)
• 1 25mm pistolero - maybe one of my favorite paint jobs to date
• 10 15mm Minifigs Franco-Prussian war Prussian infantry

Nearly done:

• 1 15mm Brigade Games G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T. figure

Primed and waiting for some attention:

• 1 25mm custom mini made from Sculpey
• 6 25mm pistoleros
• 2 15mm Brigade Games G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T. minis

Glued to the painting stick awaiting priming:

• 14 15mm Minifigs Franco-Prussian war Prussian infantry.

This is the most painting I've done in forever. With 11 days left in Solo Tabletop Gaming Appreciation Month, I hope I can at least complete the pistoleros and the G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T. minis and finish basing everything that's ready for it.

Undeclared In-Game Activity or "Well of course my character did that, I just didn't say it"

My gf and I have been reading Game Night by Johnny Nexus aloud each night as part of the blueberry's bedtime routine. One theme which runs throughout is what do we need to roleplay and what actions do we assume based on the idea that the character exists in the game world and is acting even in those moments not explicitly being played out on the tabletop..

In the book, the GM often uses this to punish a player by leaning to the "you never said you were doing that even though I'm not making everyone declare such things" side while the players use undeclared activity  to attempt to acquire magic items, money and other advantages which they justify by essentially declaring it common sense that their character would do whatever it is, regardless of explicitly declaring it to be so.

Clearly, the "right" approach is probably somewhere in between.

I've been thinking a lot about this because in my own solo dungeon crawl, as I began preparing for the next session (whenever that may happen upon me), I realized that Orecchiette and Bewie had left Zoulford's body behind after he was killed by a gas trap.

This bothered me the more I thought about it (when I realized this had indeed happened). Why didn't he? And why didn't Bewie say something? The reality is that in the heat of the gaming moment I forgot and also that my hirelings are nothing more than one-dimensional pack mules that occasionally engage in combat. I'll address that second idea eventually (probably not today), as I find it disquieting. But with respect to my character, does my forgetfulness automatically mean my character forgets? Or would his nature drive him to drag Zoulford out regardless of what I would declare so that after the fact, I could simply declare it to be so?


As a neutral character (in b/x there are only 3 alignments: Lawful, Neutral, and Chaotic), there is no in game requirement that he do so or consequences to face if he does not.  But what kind of hero does he make if he doesn't? Is he blind to his own humanity? Or maybe just the suffering of others? Is he a jerk?  Self-centered?

Certainly, as gamers, we allow for a good deal of assumption in our play. When we successfully defend against an attack, we may give some description of how we did so, but it isn't imperative - although one approach may make better reading afterwards, the result is all that is important. In fact, we can add the details afterwards while writing up a blog entry even. For the in game moment, we assume we blocked it somehow, probably with our shield.

I admit there are systems that do force such details, but I would be surprised if they did not assume other actions happen, whether explicitly declared or not.

The crux of the matter as I see it, is how much does the assumption impact the game as you want to play it.

Like the Allfather in Game Night, I was tempted to essentially reset reality and allow that they had carried the body out. After all, me-as-player could argue, why wouldn't they? But then I decided this is not the same as say, assuming that the character is urinating as needed or breathing or blinking. It would, I feel, reward sloppy gaming on my part if I allowed myself this retroactive rewrite of history.

I also believe it's more interesting from a character development standpoint to leave the situation as it is. Perhaps he is a bit of a jerk - more Zapp Brannigan-ish than I might care to admit. Orecchiette is human and like all humans he's flawed - hero or not. He will have to live with his decision to press onward however he feels about it.

For me, as the DM, whether it's completely in step with Orecchiette's personality or not, I think it shows something of a lack of concern for one's employees, and I'm docking him one charisma point as a result.

STGAM: Painting Update

As proof that I continue to make progress on my Solo Tabletop Gaming Appreciation Month project, I offer this rather shoddy picture taken with my cell (which explains the lack of flash) just moments ago here at my desk at work:

A motley cast of characters awaiting priming.

STGAM: Return of the Dead part 2 (11/11/11 Solo Wargaming Appreciation Day game)

A dreadfully boring patrol, Corporal Hardcastle was about to open up his pack of custard tarts when Pvt. Peacock spotted the zombie Krauts.

With the action finally heating up, the Tommys find themselves facing a steady stream of undead.

Bloody hell! As one wave is dispatched, another arrives to take its place.

The best kind of officers, Hardcastle and Lance Corporal Deacon join the battle with fists and cold steel! Look at how they turn their backs to the submachine gun armed Axis officer.

The Zombie-Beauftragten* shoots as accurately as a blind man in a  London fog. After wounding both Hardcastle and Deacon with shots in the back, Corporal Hardcastle spins and opens fire. The zombie controller dead, the zombies halt in their tracks and the Brits carry the day.

Some thoughts on the game:

• Using dice to determine location and the number of zombies greatly impacted the game. Where as with cards, you cycle through the encounter deck, thus guaranteeing you will have each of them once per pass through the deck, with dice there's always a 30% chance of having a "no encounter" result. And I had more of those than I would have liked. 

As a result, at one point, the Brits cleared the table of every zombie! Not exactly nail biting that way.

• Removing zombie saving throws sped things up as hoped hoped, but I'm not sure whether or not the tension was sacrificed as a result. It's hard to tell in light of the previous issue.
• On the other hand, my "order of operations" greatly simplified zombie turns. In the last game i'd examine each, try to determine best action, etc. With my simple list it was a matter of a quick glance and then applying the orders.
• Two submachine guns went a long way towards ensuring my squad's survival this time out.
• I should have added a rule for the Axis officer to bail if he is unable to knock out any opponent after he takes damage the first time or if he's reduced to 1/2 or less hp, he'll retire from field. As it was, he dealt some damage, but within range of my entire squad, and with a lack of zombies to distract me, it was a simple matter to take him out.

* provided by Google's translator

STGAM: Return of the Dead

Today, in addition to being Veteran's Day, is Solo Wargaming Appreciation day. 

I honestly don't recall hearing about it until yesterday afternoon but since I already game solo, and I'm participating in Solo Tabletop Gaming Appreciation Month, I decided to make use of my lunch hour for a game. However, with little time to plan, I opted to revisit the game I played earlier this month. I used the same ruleset and scenario, but made the following changes:

Rule Changes

• Instead of 3'x3' board, use a 2'x2' (my desk at work is only so big)
• 6 board edge entry points for zombies instead of 10  randomly placed encounter markers
• The axis officer controlling the zombies will enter the board using same method, but be placed behind or within nearest heavy cover
• Instead of 4 American G.I.s I would field 4 British infantry (WWII) - this time with two submachine guns instead of 1. As per last game, it's one hero(4 hp), one sidekick (3 hp) and two "other good guys"(2 hp each). The nationality is superficial, the weapons assortment is not.
• Distinguish between heavy woods (-2 cards to hit) and light woods (-1 card to hit)
• Allow an aimed shot (for head shots to kill zombies) for -1 activation point AND -1 card to hit. 
• Only allow aimed shots to be used after 10 zombies are killed - this allows any hit, number or face card, to count as a head shot (this is to attempt to model the fact that the soldiers don't know that head shots kill zombies when they first encounter them)
• Zombies get no saves against hits - either knock downs or kills (face cards)

The last two were intended to speed up the game a bit.

 I also created an "order of operations" if you will, for the zombies in order to get more of the zombies on the table involved in the action in a more logical, less random way:

Zombie Order of Operations

• All in melee, standing, will attack
• All in melee, knocked down, will stand and attack if possible
• All within 1 move, standing, will move and attack if possible
• All within 1 move, knocked down, will stand if possible
• All remaining knocked down, will stand if possible
• All remaining, standing, will move if possible

The Axis officer would move according to the scenario description with the following modifications:

Axis Officer: Suggestions to Keep Me Honest

• Advance is done through heavy cover first. Will use light cover only if heavy not feasible
• Will not end move in open ground
• Will not advance further than nearest light cover to heroes and will attack from there
  

Finally, there were two unplanned changes:

1. I used a die roll to determine encounter locations
2. I used a die roll to determine encounter type

These should have been card draws, but I forgot the second deck. These two changes may have more effect than I would have liked.

I'll try to post a report later today if I can but if not then by early next week. I also hope to get some painting in soon to make some more progress on my goal for Solo Tabletop Gaming Appreciation Month and I'll report on that as well.

Corporal Hardcastle leading his squad of Tommys into the maw of death!

If a tree falls in a forest...

Last night, in those few spare minutes between the blueberry falling asleep and my own retiring to bed, I slapped together some examples of the Oversoul trees. One, assembled as intended, the other, an example of making a more 3d type of tree from two identical flats.

I snapped some comparison shots featuring a 15mm, 22mm and 25mm figure (not on his base yet).

Here's the first:

"Hey fellas, I think there's an even nicer Christmas tree over this way!"

and the second:

Each man, with firm resolve, takes their post to defend their tree.

I chose deciduous for the second because the Oversoul forest includes two identical trees which allowed me to experiment with cutting one in half from the bottom up, and one from the top down, each time, stopping in the middle.

Honestly, the effect of the latter isn't overwhelmingly better than the former, in my eyes. The only real benefit I can see it having is that, for a picture taken at the table-top level, you'll always have a tree image. Whereas, the first would not - unless I rotate the trees.

That's not exactly a problem from my point of view.

And from the top down, I find the X shape of the latter to be somewhat jarring, compared to the way the first almost disappears. At a normal viewing angle, I find the first far more pleasing aesthetically.

Both of these were printed at 79% and I think that shows. I'll probably go with 100% or larger even, and maybe extend the trunk length a bit. And I still want to try green card stock and either printing the outline of an evergreen on it, or free handing them with thick marker. 

In any case, I've definitely eliminated the cake topper option with this test.

To tree or not to tree

I've been thinking a lot about trees lately.

Don't you wish your life was this exciting?

After looking at my AAR photos from my Nov. 1 zombie game, I'm reminded of my dissatisfaction with my lack of appropriate foliage for non-tropical locales. As DIY as they are and happy with my trees as I am when gaming a battle on the surface of Venus in 1889 or on a recently discovered island off of Africa's coast in 1885, they have the wrong look for the forests of France in 1944.

Now, believe me, I'm not looking for "realism" in my miniature battles - I use pieces of felt to dictate the area covered by woods and use step-type hills. I use paper flats when I play fantasy games (rpg or Chronicles of Blood). And how many identical figures do I have in a given unit? Unless they're either clones or brothers, it's far from realistic. 

And, yet, all of this works for me (at least at some level. I really have trouble with not seeing a figure=1 man). But the wrong type of trees? Unacceptable.

Let's chalk this up to a character quirk.

In any case, and before I start to sound more than a little nutty,  I've decided I want to do pine/evergreen and I'm considering the following options:

• Cake decorating trees
• Some variation of paper flat trees

The front runner? Paper trees. Yes, paper trees. Oh how I do love irony! 

That and there's something about paper flats and models that appeals to me. Yet another character quirk.

While there are a couple of commercial products over at Wargamevault, I really like the style (and price:free!) of Oversoul's Forest (the link is about 2/3s down the page).My primary concern is the ink consumption for my deskjet. Since I have no intention of covering the table in a one-to-one  replica of the Ardennes forest, this may not be as big an issue as it seemed to me at first brush.

I've also got some ideas to work around this issue using green card stock, but I'm not sure when I'll be able to do a feasibility test. Never mind where to get a decent weight green card stock. 

In the meantime, assuming I have a chance to game any time soon, I think I may dig out those weird looking semi-flat plastic trees that came with the cheap bag of dinosaurs I got for Christmas a few years ago.

STGAM Painting update

In order to meet my goal for Solo Tabletop Gaming Appreciation month (which I'm abbreviating as STGAM in my subject lines), I decided to spend my few hours of hobby time this weekend painting.

The pistol packin' "Garibaldi"Jones about to be run down by some 5 year old kids dressed in Prussian attire.

My output was by no means exceptional but it was still progress none-the-less and I will easily quintuple (?)  my output of the last two years:

Painting completed:

• 1 25mm cowboy - the above pictured "Garibaldi" Jones (his name comes from his red shirt. I crack myself up) (awaiting basing)

Started, not finished:

• 98% of 1 G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T. size unit (10 figures) of advancing Prussian infantry in 15mm (I believe these are Minifigs from their Franco-Prussian line). All these guys need is their red cuffs and some minor touching up (and basing of course)

In the queue, primed and ready to be painted:

• 2 25mm cowboys (not pictured)

The following need to be cleaned and primed:

• 7 25mm pistoleros
• a second unit of 15mm Prussians + officers and standard bearers
• 2 15mm units of French Zouaves
• 2 units of 15mm French Chasseur d'Afrique
• 15mm G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T. character figures from Brigade Games
• There's more, but I think this is enough to start with

Progress!

Last night the blueberry took an hour long nap after dinner (usually he naps while we're eating) during which my girlfriend played the new Sims Pet expansion and I got in some unexpected hobby time.

OK, I don't have any photos to prove it and besides they'd be pretty boring since I didn't finish anything, but paint was applied to minis! *cheers* 

Disclaimer: I should also add that no one will be impressed when I finally do post photos of the completed figures. Thankfully, I play solo so it's not like my opponent is going to rib me because they look like they were painted by a blind baboon having a seizure while bouncing on a trampoline.

Anyway, most of it was just touching up spots I missed during priming, but I did get started on one of the two remaining 25mm gunslingers I have had sitting around forever in a primed state. 

Unfortunately, I also decided to experiment with using Citadel's Devlan Mud wash on another of the cowboys that I had given a very simple block painting. I've used the cowboys as palettes for experimenting with techniques so trying this out wasn't out of the ordinary. The result, however, was that the mini looked like he'd been rolling around in a mud puddle or a coal mine even. Most definitely not what I was going for. 

I suspect the problem would not have occurred had I been more patient and let the first coat of wash dry before I decided that it was too light. I should be able to salvage it to my low standards with some liberal use of dry brushing.

I plan to complete the cowboy I started, fix the one I ruined, and complete a third sometime in the next few days. After that, I'll move on to the Prussians. Damn those Prussians!

Día de los Muertos, WWII style

Yesterday was the start of Solo Tabletop Gaming Appreciation month. It was also the Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos). So what better way to kick off the month than with a solo game with zombies?

Turn 4: I was still very confident this would go my way

For the rules, I used Stephen Gilbert's Solo Semi-Skirmish & Role Playing Wargames System and the scenario Terror Beneath Their Feet from Rattrap Productions. Per the scenario, my objective was to either kill the Axis officer controlling the zombies (not on table until 10 zombies are killed) or destroy the controller itself, all the while dodging, shooting and bludgeoning zombies as they pop up all around us.

Foolishly, I ignored the most basic rule of the horror genre: Don't Split Up! and I made it worse by leaving cover to do so - all for the sake of offing some knocked down zombies. The result of which was that two of my squad with the lowest hit points were out on open ground. I'd say the zombies smelled brains, but they couldn't have - who would run from cover in front of a bunch of zombies?

 

The zombies close in on Pvts. Hawk and Standing.

Sarge and Pvt. Kneeler fight their way over to the hapless duo.

 Things are under control again. I breathe a sigh of relief. Prematurely.

A few turns later, all hell broke loose.  Both Hawk and Standing were done for (I didn't get any pictures of their grisly demises). Kneeler and Sarge managed to keep off the zombies long enough to get the Axis officer on the board - who decided to join in the fray by spraying his submachine gun from cover.

Between the officer's accurate shooting and the arrival of more zombies (I had every zombie mini I own on the table), Pvt. Kneeler was inevitably  done in. 

It was all up to Sarge.

As a final act of desperation, he ran for cover while he unloaded his Tommy gun at the Axis officer. If he could just bring down the officer, the zombie threat would be neutralized and he'd be safe. If not, all hope would be lost.

As an aside, in Gilbert's rules, card draws are used to determine hits. The submachine gun gets 6 cards. 

I held my breath and drew:

one...miss

two...miss

three...miss

four...miss

five...miss

six...miss

Sonofa****!

Although he fights on, driven by a desire to live and to crush the Nazi war machine, the zombie horde soon overwhelms him and it's just a matter of time.

***

It was a fun game although it dragged a bit. This is more than likely due to my modifications of the rules to handle zombies and the requirement that only a head shot can kill them.

I definitely like the rules as written but since the most you can have is 10 pts of actions per turn (which at best means 10 figures move on open ground), most of the zombies, who numbered 30 on the board by the end of the game,  often appeared to be standing around doing nothing (perhaps they were moving imperceptibly?) .

Melee is not quickly resolved given that saves are allowed on each hit.  This is great in a small skirmish Pulp or VSF game with a handful of characters/figures per side, which I believe is exactly what the rules are designed for. But with unlimited hordes of the undead, who require a head shot (which I ruled was K, Q or J) it really slowed things down- resulting in knockdowns (hits on zombies that don't kill them) and a general slogging match between sides. 

Overall, though I liked the effect it had, particularly at the end of the game where it really felt like a desperate fight against a zombie swarm.

Sunday Night's Cemetery Tour

On Sunday night, we headed to Oakland Cemetery for their Halloween tour. I had no idea the cemetery contained so many graves of US Civil War (or the War of  Northern Aggression if you prefer) soldiers. Primarily a Confederate burial site, there are, none the less, 16 Union soldiers buried here- and, according to our guide, no one knows why those 16 are there. Also, amongst the soldiers' graves, there is one woman buried beside her husband, and again, no one knows why or how she got there (you know, other than that she died)..

The Blueberry was not in a great mood so I missed most of the presentations by the Oakland "residents" but I did manage to view the Confederate Tomb of the Unknown Soldier:

Confederate Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

The picture, taken with my cell phone which has no flash, absolutely does not do justice to the memorial. It has to be seen in person. It has a weight to it that demands solemnity and reflection, even in spite of the levity of a Halloween tour.

I found it beautiful and touching, if not for the dead that it honors, then just for the image itself - the mortally wounded lion gathering the flag into his arms in a last attempt to defend it, or, perhaps, seeking comfort in it.

Free Stuff from WargameVault et al!

Despite having to work today, usually a day off, it hasn't been a bad day.


For one, I managed to score a number of freebies over on RPGNow.com and WargameVault.com as part of their Halloween jack-o-lantern hunt (think Easter eggs, but with jack-o-lanterns). 


Throughout their sites, DriveThruRpg people have hidden jack-o-lantern icons that link either to a trick or a treat. All of the "treats" are horror-themed pdf downloads you'd normally have to pay for, while the "tricks" vary from weird videos on youtube to funny "very demotivational"-type images. Each site is different, so stop by them both!

My cat, Pumpkin. She is not a jack-o-lantern. Nor does she have any downloads for you.

Just on title alone, two that stand out are Fear and Faith by Ganesha Games and Werewolf: The Apocalypse Rev. Ed. These are quality products by respected gaming companies (and ones I've considered purchasing at various times). Right there, that's over $26 in free stuff. Even better, it's stuff I'll probably use.


Unfortunately, I can't remember where the links for those were hidden exactly. Just focus on the pages anyone visiting the site might look at - main page, new products, your account pages, etc - and you'll find most of everything.


Good luck and happy hunting!

November is Solo Tabletop Gaming Appreciation Month

Official logo of the Solo Tabletop Gaming Appreciation Month 11/11

Next month is Solo Tabletop Gaming Appreciation Month and me without a date for the prom!

When I first read about the idea back in April, the blueberry (my son) was not yet born and I had no possible way to gauge what life would be like once he arrived. So, other than an occasional thought here and there, I mostly resigned myself to waiting until next year to participate. 

But now that I've got enough of a handle on this whole parenting thing to know that I'll almost definitely be able to do something, I've made no effort, no plans, so what to do?

Given that I can't say for sure how much time I'll have available, I'm hesitant to truly "go big". So I turned to my extensive gaming related to-do list to see what modestly challenging tasks I could complete.

After whittling the list down, here are my front runners:

• Paint those damn Prussians . Not just the 10 figure unit I primed two years ago, but the officers, standard bearers, and the second 10 figure unit.
• Finish the last two 25mm cowboys (also primed two years ago) and base all 7, so that I can finally start in on the Wild West games I envisioned. I can do this along with any other choice I make.
• Prime and paint the seven 25mm pistoleros for the Wild West games
• Clean and prime and paint all 40+ USMC and 40+ Japanese so I can start in on my WWII Theater stuff  (this might be the hardest of all, as not only am I not a good painter, but I'm not fast either)
• Complete enough paper buildings and wall sections to make a nicely cluttered European-style block for WWII gaming. My concern here is having enough printer ink - unfortunately, my inkjet printer uses a rather expensive 3-color cartridge.
• Paint, cut and base my ~3mm Russian and French armies from plastic canvas
• Create two block armies per David Crook at A Wargaming Odyssey to fight out Tabletop Teasers. My local Target has generic blocks for around $5-$6 for 48 blocks. I'd need address labels and that's about it.

And now it hits me, maybe I should just see how much I can get painted with a minimum goal of 10 figures done. I realize that number sounds really low, but I've only painted maybe 2 figures in the last 2 years. That would be a 500% increase in productivity! Now that would be going big! See, it's all in how you spin it.

D&D B/X Session 2

My girlfriend and I have started giving each other one night a week to pursue our non-baby related interests. Tonight, I had a few hours to pursue my hobbies. I had hoped to do a lot more than I ended up doing but I had to clean the game table off, which took far longer than I thought. It had become the man-cave's repository for all things that could possibly be put on it. After working on a paper mask that I found online, I decided the easiest thing to do would be to jump back into my dungeon crawl.

Alas, this last wandering monster encounter did not go according to plan. 

Heart pumping with adrenaline from killing a wandering crab spider in one blow, forcing open the door  into the next room was a snap. And then I looked at the pre-generated room content sheet: Trap: Poison Gas: Save vs. Poison or Die.  The astute among you may notice that Zoulford the torch-bearer is no longer pictured. He rolled a 1 to save (he needed a 14 or higher). Looks like I'll be seeking out his widow when I get back to town.


Not long after, the party encountered a second goblin patrol. It was a tough one. Although the first goblin went down easily, the second one stayed standing after suffering 4 points of damage and then dealt Orecchiette  SIX POINTS. He was down to 1 HP. At this time, Bewie, seeing his meal-ticket in danger, jumped into the fray. Two swords definitely worked better than one and the party succeeded in defeating the goblins - killing one more before the third, not in the picture above, surrendered.


Too beat-up to worry about taking a prisoner, it was decided to take his weapons and send him packing before high-tailing it out of there. 6 wandering monster checks later and no further encounters, they exited the keep.


There's the potential that goblin they let go will report to his chief what happened and this may adversely effect the party when they return (my idea is to increase the wandering monster probability, increase the number of goblins in particular, the frequency of checks or some combination).  Since I'm in this for the hack-and-slash fun, to the dungeon's denziens I say bring it! 


Hopefully, there's no more poison gas traps though. I can't afford to hire another torch bearer as it is and Bewie's liable to start demanding hazard pay.

Celebrating Little Wars

It was bound to happen.


After stumbling on this article a few months ago on Wargaming Miscellany about the centenary of Little Wars in 2013, I had the idea to prepare and play my own Little Wars game using a very modest number of the Seven Years War figures available from Armies in Plastic (something like 50 figures per side).


Their figures are affordable, they have a buy 3 get 1 free and a buy 5 get 3 free deal, and shipping is a flat rate. While the SYW range is lacking artillery and cavalry,their American Revolution range, at least to my undiscerning eye, can plausibly fill that gap.


But then I read the article a few weeks ago on Swords & Dorkery about home casting , and something inside me began to tick. A time bomb if ever there was one. I am now seriously considering abandoning my initial idea and casting my own lead 40mm Seven Years War style armies instead.


When I was a much younger lad, I had a 2 sets of Prince August molds - barbarians and dwarves (it seemed to me that they'd fight it out in some northern hill country). I cast up 10s of each, but never painted any, let alone play any kind of game with them. Shortly after, I put away my miniatures for 20 years (at some point mom did away with the box they were in, along with my beloved and now long lost Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in 25mm from Dark Horse, but I digress). I recall the casting being a fun activity in and of itself. I am older now, wiser some would say (well, I don't personally know any who would say that, but it's possible) but at the very least, I am far more likely to paint up what I cast (please disregard that unpainted lead pile in my closet).


It's hard to beat the cost of the plastic figures - especially with their buy 5 sets and get 3 sets free deal. On the other hand, the more figures I cast, the lower the cost each as I amortize the cost of the molds and metal across each figure. Or so I'm telling myself. I'm not making any purchases yet, but I'm strongly considering it.

Meandering Through Flavor Country

If only I had read the remainder of the chapter before I posted my ideas for the Foreign Legion characteristics. It turns out, according to Porch, the Legion was encouraged to make use of initiative and to take cover as needed when under direct fire, at the level of the individual soldier - something completely opposite what was expected in the standard army. Since it's mentioned the chapter covering the 1890s early 1900s, a period overlapping with my rough idea of when my VSF games take place, I think it's safe to assume that such actions could be allowed in my games.

But how to implement this individual level of initiative under fire? do I give the unit some sort of defensive bonus? Allow each soldier to draw for activation? That seems tedious at the very least. Treat as in cover regardless of where they are on the table as long as they are in line or open order? That seems like a huge advantage when facing an opponent armed with range weapons (the lizard men have a unit of bows and 5 units of melee weapons). Perhaps I can allow individual soldiers a saving throw if they aren't in obvious cover (that is, aside from what I've placed on the tabletop)?

Hmm. I kind of like that. I already use saving throws for characters and army leaders (characters even get a bonus on the roll, to give them a kind of pulp-y adventure novel existence) so it would fit into the game. And, in light of the abstractions involved in playing a game - it makes sense that there are things the individual soldier can see on the ground, that I can't see: a downed tree there, a large rock there, a depression in the ground, etc.

Crisis averted.

Flavor Country: Achtung!

Continuing my characterization of the armies involved in my VSF battles, I did some quick searching through Wikipedia (it's never wrong, right?) for generalized traits of the Prussian army (in my VSF world, the Prussians are France's mortal foe, in some cases allying with the more blood thirsty lizard men tribes).

Although they are largely positive bonuses, this is not much of an issue, as I play solo and the Prussians will be controlled by myself with input from various "ai" mechanisms.

Prussian Army: Bonuses and Penalties

• Auftragstaktic (Individual Officer Initiative) - gain 1 extra action per turn per unit , individual unattached Prussian commanders gain 1 extra action to allow them to command their troops according to battlefield conditions regardless of initial planning.
• Well Drilled - The lock step character of the German armies is much caricatured. Who am I to dissent? Allow change formation and move in one action with no penalty
• Poor Intelligence Gathering - If it’s an attack on an enemy position, Prussians underestimate the strength of opposition - increase enemy number. Also, -1 on movement in non-European battles to reflect an army better suited to Europe than North Africa (or lost worlds for that
• Punctuality/Reliability - Roll for what turn reinforcements are expected to arrive, then roll and see if the do arrive on that turn. If they do, +1 morale bonus for all Prussian units on table. If not, arriving unit suffers -1 morale and -1 to hit to reflect poor leadership and organization and the likely removal of their commander upon return to HQ.

Hopefully, I'll get around to painting the two units of Prussians that I've had for 4 or 5 years and which I primed 2 years ago and put these ideas to the test in a game.

From Virginia to the Bismark

As often happens, real life took center stage this weekend and I was unable to get any hobby time other than a few games of Overland and Sink the Bismark! Neither would be considered much of an intellectual challenge but I could play them while sitting on the living room couch, brain dead from being up early to give my girlfriend a few well deserved baby-free hours of sleep, holding my sleeping two month old son in one arm and rolling dice/moving counters with the other.

Overland, according to the designer, is "a SMALL solitaire game of the 1864 Virginia campaign. Player controls the Union forces, with a simple reaction/retreat system controlling the Rebs." The rules are simple (just 4 pages, generously spaced and with examples of play). The campaign map is one page b&w with most of the rules you need to remember printed on it.

There isn't much to the game in terms strategy. Mostly it falls to the luck of the die roll, and, while there is an opportunity for player choice, it seems to have little effect on the outcome. So, essentially, it's just die rolling and pushing some counters around that could represent any army in any time period. The BoardGameGeek reviews are pretty poor, so perhaps it was the sleep deprivation and the dullness of my mental faculties as a result, but I found it surprisingly addictive in spite of its flaws.

The real value to me is the game board. I think the campaign mechanism could be put to use as a simple solo campaign system for use with miniatures. Rather than determine the outcome of engagements by a single roll, the battles would be fought on the table top instead. The enemy reaction mechanism is not complicated and makes a reasonable starting point for an operational level "ai", although further tweaking seems necessary.

Sink the Bismark! was decidedly more fun and I ended up playing it several times even after my brain was well rested (or as rested as it's been since my son was born).

According to the designer: "A simple solitaire dice based game where the player takes on the role of the Anti Air coordinator on board the battleship Bismarck, while under attack by the British Swordfish aircraft."

The game incorporates randomized enemy placement and randomized (but logical) enemy movement. For your part, you attempt to "lead" the target with your anti-aircraft gun by predicting (guessing) where the planes will move. As the game goes on, if you've shot poorly early on like I seem to do, the sky is filled with planes. Hitting one gets easier as a result, but more will get their torpedoes through and the inevitable sinking of the Bismark will begin in earnest. This is not a "what if?" scenario. You will sink, it's all about how long can you prevent it. I admit that even knowing this, I felt a good deal of stress as I tried to hold off the enemy attack.

Points are awarded for each plane and torpedo you hit. Since you can't save the Bismark, consequently, the game has an arcade style feel to it, where your ultimate goal is to get a high score and to beat your previous best.

For a simple print and play game it does a good job of creating tension. I 'll definitely be playing this on my lunch breaks. Worth the download and printing.

Both are available for free from BoardGameGeek.