Wargaming with miniatures is pretty much where I started from with gaming. Initially with soft plastic figures from Airfix and Matchbox, then moving to include other soft plastic miniatures companies like Atlantic. Which is something that I've discussed before when I started my blog.
I also moved to using metal miniatures in the late 70s, with the first company that I really used being Miniature Figurines of Southampton, Minifigs for short, one of the longest established British miniatures companys. I've still got many of the old figures that I bought way back when, some of which were never painted.
These days I've moved away from 25mm figures for most periods and games though I will admit to having a frequent desire to add new periods and ranges to the 25mm part of my collection I am being reasonably successfull in just adding to the fantasy and medieval groups that I use mainly for roleplaying and probably some game of Warhammer Fantasy Battle.
The biggest frustration is not having time to really get on with my figure painting as I feel the need to reduce my unpainted lead and plastic to single figures which will take some time. At the moment my main projects are a 15mm Fantasy Arab and Eagle Rider armies from Peter Pig, some assorted 25mm fantasy figures and a 25mm Warhammer Lizardman army.
It is most likely that I will end up gaming again soon using the Hordes of the Things and De Bellis Antiquitatis rules from WRG as these are simple fast play rules that I can use on a small table with each side only having a limited number of elements and small amounts of terrain to deal with. I'm also looking at playing some SF games with the Dirtside and Stargrunt II rules from Ground Zero Games with the 15mm Stargrunt range of minis appealing as I can mix it with my existing 15mm SF figures for Laserburn. I think that the Stargrunt rules with the greater emphasis on command and control appeal more these days, but I'm sure I'll play through Laserburn too.
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Monday, January 29, 2007
Which Science Fiction writer are you?
Another of these internet quizzes which I occasionally waste time on.
Not too bad a choice I suppose as I'm nearly a contemporary of the Cyberpunk authors and Gibson has been an author I've read heavily.
 | I am:William GibsonThe chief instigator of the "cyberpunk" wave of the 1980s, his razzle-dazzle futuristic intrigues were, for a while, the most imitated work in science fiction. |
Not too bad a choice I suppose as I'm nearly a contemporary of the Cyberpunk authors and Gibson has been an author I've read heavily.
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Warhammer
Well it looks like despite a long period of avoidance I'm getting sucked into the world of Warhammer Fantasy both with the RPG and the Fantasy Battles game, which will be referred to as WFRP and WFB from now on. I think some of my resistance has been due to Games Workshop's habit of talking about it as the Games Workshop hobby rather than the gaming hobby and the RPG being out of print. The setting being more early renaissance than the more feudal period of many fantasy games.
With the miniatures game I have been slow to buy in as I have quite a number of other miniatures rulesets including Reaper and Hordes of the Things for fantasy gaming. The quality of their figures is good, but the prices seem to be going through a phase of rapid increase.
Now I'm going through the WFB rules though it is the 6th edition rather than the latest 7th edition. From what I understand the rule changes between editions have been incremental rather than wholesale.
The WFB rules are quite traditional using an "I go, you go" turn sequence where one character completes all their actions before the other player goes. In each player's turn there is a sequence of phases with only the final close combat phase involving both players. The mechanics of rolling D6 with a target number to beat is very traditional with similar mechanics described in Donald Featherstone's rules from the early 1960s. Generally the rules look to be readily playable with a fairly consistent approach to the mechanics which has added to their ability to support new players starting.
With the miniatures game I have been slow to buy in as I have quite a number of other miniatures rulesets including Reaper and Hordes of the Things for fantasy gaming. The quality of their figures is good, but the prices seem to be going through a phase of rapid increase.
Now I'm going through the WFB rules though it is the 6th edition rather than the latest 7th edition. From what I understand the rule changes between editions have been incremental rather than wholesale.
The WFB rules are quite traditional using an "I go, you go" turn sequence where one character completes all their actions before the other player goes. In each player's turn there is a sequence of phases with only the final close combat phase involving both players. The mechanics of rolling D6 with a target number to beat is very traditional with similar mechanics described in Donald Featherstone's rules from the early 1960s. Generally the rules look to be readily playable with a fairly consistent approach to the mechanics which has added to their ability to support new players starting.
Monday, January 08, 2007
En Garde!
En Garde! is a RPG set amongst the French military in the era of the Three Muskeeteers, which is one of the first games I remember to have a substantial element of social interaction as part of the requirements. As the first edition was published in 1975 it is definitely one of the first RPG to look at this, most other games at the time were much more from wargaming perspectives, particularly D&D and its imitators where morale is the main psychological factor considered.
I have rarely done what this game is really good for, which is extended campaigns having generated far more characters than I ever played (not unusual with a lot of games systems) and used the duelling rules quite often even for other games when it seemed more appropriate than those games core ruleset (neither Traveller or D&D gives a particularly good feel for that intense one on one combat like a duel).
The requirement for characters to keep a diary of events makes it particularly suitable for play by mail or play by post games and the continuing support has been from the pbm community and now the online community. There have been variations in setting used from the fictional Paris of the original to London or Rome. There are active games in many languages and the official site lists them.
I have rarely done what this game is really good for, which is extended campaigns having generated far more characters than I ever played (not unusual with a lot of games systems) and used the duelling rules quite often even for other games when it seemed more appropriate than those games core ruleset (neither Traveller or D&D gives a particularly good feel for that intense one on one combat like a duel).
The requirement for characters to keep a diary of events makes it particularly suitable for play by mail or play by post games and the continuing support has been from the pbm community and now the online community. There have been variations in setting used from the fictional Paris of the original to London or Rome. There are active games in many languages and the official site lists them.
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