I've been war gaming for 2 years now. Though an RPGer for over 30... actually 35 years, I just got into proper war gaming in 2013 with All the King's Men then Saga and now Lion Rampant. Who knows what I'll end up into next?
Though only actively playing for 2 years I have always had my finger on the pulse of war gaming, historicals and other genres as the hobbies parallel. Kind of like how I know about Magic the Gathering yet have not played it since 1998. We all go to the same place and rub shoulders.
One thing I have heard constantly is the lament that the war gaming hobby is dying. I'm sure there is a good impetus for this but let's look at it from my perspective as a newb to the world that just got into it.
I just got into this hobby. Known about it since I could remember but never got into it until recently - first it was with All the King's Men (54mm, painting bags of Revolutionary War BMC figs) and going the SAGA route that has lead me into Lion Rampant and talk of Pike and Shotte and a few other games. My coworker, Spencer, ushered the way in for us. He had interest in model railroading and we'd talk about scenics and figure painting as he knew I painted 25mm figs for my Pathfinder/D&D3.x games.
Right around the same time we decided to get into historical war gaming there was a parallel "resurgence" of historical war gaming it seems. My anecdotal evidence being that others were saying so as I was researching blogs, podcasts, and forums for the hobby. This was late 2012. I count myself as part of this resurgence, not responsible for it mind you, I'm just in the ranks of new players like the rest of them.
In my love of SAGA, thus my advocacy of it, I have met many people interested that have never delved into the historical niche. Many of the players that have tried SAGA for the first time are from Warhammer or War Machine tables. There's others too, the common factor is they are not historical. Then there is the World War II players. Seems to me that "historical" = "WWII" for us in the USA. Understandable.
Where does my interest come from? (I have had to ask myself)
Well, I've always had an interest in military history. I was in the SCA for 8 years and am currently a Viking Reenactor with Vikings North America. I've also an interest in other areas but Dark Ages is where most of it lies. I've always wanted to role play a historical "Viking" game but none of the players in my RPG groups ever shared that interest. I like to read historical accounts and lists of gear and cultural references of past times like that. I like that "research" to have some fruition and the most cost-effective method of that would be historical war gaming as being a reenactor for 4-6 time periods would be a ridiculous amount of time and money (my collections would be full kits for Scythian, Roman, Viking, Landsknecht, French/Indian, World War I American)
(then there is the tendency of "becoming" your persona and calling the waitress at your favorite pho place "M'Lady") ... (Just a pet-peeve of mine)
The thing is I'm not going to play WWII. Spencer and I have talked about it and there is the whole "Nazi" thing. First and foremost, my Wife is culturally Jewish. She is not practicing now but she is Jewish by blood and family members of hers were killed in the Holocaust. I cannot, as a respecting and loving husband, put myself in a position where Nazi symbols have the possibility to be bandied about in front of her. I will not do that. I choose not to do that.
Being of mixed race myself I also have some opinions on the Civil War and have decided that is not an era I wish to play or paint. My white family actually comes from the South (Georgia to Texas to Eastern Oregon) There is no argument if others wish to play either of those eras but I will not go there myself.
Sorry for the ramble. Suffice to say I am not against ACW and WWII games at all. I'm just not going to partake. Kind of sad as I have 4 Axis and Allies board games from before marrying my Wife! HAha!
As I reach my second year I am excited by, both, starting a new hobby in my 43 years of age and to be a part of a long-lived hobby that is growing. See, I said, it's growing. From where I sit I see Historical War Gaming growing. I am honored to be a part of it and will do my part in getting people into it as I find it invigorating, important to culture, fun, and healthy.
It may have been dying 4-5 years ago. From my research it's been dying since the 60s. Many things do this. RPGing has died a few times as well as Magic the Gathering. Everything ebbs and flows. The things we HWG players need to remember is that people will always want to partake in what we do. We should look at other issues to ensure it's staying power.
Monday, October 27, 2014
Thursday, October 16, 2014
Saga: Viking Levy, Savage Worlds: Beasts and Barbarians
Finished my new Viking Levy (archers) last weekend. I already had some but they were painted poorly by me and so I'm passing them on to another player who does not paint at all but would like to build a Viking Faction for the game.
.JPG)
These minis are Old Glory 25mm Bondi Archer line. I pulled all the ones not wearing helmets (most of them) and speed painted 12 of them. My ever-evolving speed painting process for these:
1) Based with a Renedra plastic 25mm base.
2) Flocked base in sand.
3) Base coat whole thing in Army Painter Leather Brown.
1) Based with a Renedra plastic 25mm base.
2) Flocked base in sand.
3) Base coat whole thing in Army Painter Leather Brown.
4) Painted flesh, hair, clothing, bows - in that order.
5) Quickshade with Army Painter Strong tone (their "medium"). Brushed on.
6) Grassed up the bases.
7) 2 coats spray matte varnish to dull and protect.*
6) Grassed up the bases.
7) 2 coats spray matte varnish to dull and protect.*
*It was about the last day this year of decent spray matte varnish weather, 70 degrees, no wind, low humidity. Time to bust out the brush-on stuff.
.JPG) |
| Old Glory 25mm Bondi Archers |
.JPG) |
| Old Glory |
I have grown to like the Old Glory sculpts. They always look better after a paint job and some shading. Of all the minis I have got this year from them I was a bit disappointed by the sculpts for these but changed my mind after I painted them. For the price, 30 miniatures for $29 or so (Old Glory Army discount) I'm doing all right here. Well on my way to an unpainted lead mountain and my Grognard card!
Some day I'll color-up or fancy paint some figs but I like to get them on the table as soon as possible.
Speaking of fancy painting - got the minis for my up-coming Savage Worlds - Beasts and Barbarians game. It's Conan-esque, low magic and high adventure!! My wife's character concept is the barbarian warrior type where as my concept is of an Iron Legionnaire from the "Roman-falling" analog of the campaign world who has lost his Legion, his noble status... and his name.
I did some pretty heavy mods, by my standards, to both:
"Legion" (as I am calling him now - I plan for him to earn a new name in game)
Modified sword arm to hold spear as pictured.
Modified legs to create more of a dynamic "lunge" look.
Removed javelins from shield hand.
Cut off molded base and rebased on a resin rocky base.
As of yet unnamed barbarian warrior:
Just had to rebase her.
Based, primed in Army Painter Wolf Grey. flesh tones applied. I used Zap-a-Gap to glue them to the resin bases. Took some holding them on but only about a minute. I will be using some color-up methods on these.
I'm getting ready for Historical Wargame Day at Guardian this Sunday, I hope you have some gaming planned too. Good luck, roll well.
 |
| Clickity Clackity son! |
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
Book: The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell
Two Thirds into the book. Will be done in a few days - The Last Kingdom.
Our protagonist is Uhtred, we begin with his life as a 10 year old son of an Earl in 9th century Northumbria (up by the modern day border of Scotland). Vikings come, stuff happens, and thus begins the series of historical fiction.
A lot has already been said about the book(s) and I'm going to try not to repeat it. What I will do is type about why I'm liking the first book so far.
I have read a lot of history books. From Osprey military stuff to 600 page "histories" of specific time periods like the Rise and Fall of Byzantium volumes, Making of the Roman Army, Viking Atlas, even biographies... you name it. All chock full of info that we can soak up. It's all at a national history level though. Generations of important family lines can be boiled down to 3-4 pages thus giving the 60 years covered a small scale.
The Last Kingdom, though fiction, takes it down to a personal level. One man and what he saw in his life. Though a Lord himself thus offered more directions to go than say some common man or even a Thegn, the story throws him into lots of twists and turns in his life. He ends up having to make decisions, not always the best, based off a very miopic view at times.
I like to read stories at that level, one man's perspective. I get to hear about what was for supper or how cold the night was that one time he did not have his cloak about him. How, being a strong-headed boy, he felt about God and the pagan gods. Also, though only 2/3 in the book I get the feeling that he sees both sides of the religions (and politics in general) as tools to manipulate. Kind of how I feel in real-life, so I got a connection there.
We also get good insight on how the 9th century power of Anglo-Saxons turned into Anglo-Danes and how both manipulated/fought/allied with Bretons (who were there before the Anglo-Saxons took it from them, except Wales and Cornwall)... (or something like that). The story is just full of details of the minutiae of how things came about in that period for England. Also gives a good insight, though almost two centuries away, how England fell to Normans.
I like to read about the minutiae like that. Grand tales of huge battles is neat and all but I also want to hear about how the thirsty warrior drank water out of a bucket or what you could buy with a sliver of a silver coin.
The book is a good little romp with some seriousness to it. I am rooting for Uhtred on both his good days and bad. I'm also seeing my Saga games come alive somewhat as the same players are involved. It may be a bit early for Normans as we see them in popular culture yet. Still, so far we've got Anglo-Saxons, Welsh, Bretons, Norwegians, Irish, and all the little cultures that sprung up in between.
On a gaming note, I just got my copy of Lion Rampant and thumbed through it this morning. I'm sure in the next month or so you will be reading an After-Action here.
Monday, October 6, 2014
Post II for October 6: other things not Saga
A year behind but I finally started playing The Last of Us on the Playstation 3. WOW! What a game! I'm no "video-gamer" like it's a lifestyle but I like to get a good game once or twice per year. Other "current" games I have liked are:
HALO I-III
Call of Duty 4... or something like that
Dishonored
Skyrim
Some racing car game that I thought I'd hate but I ended up loving.
Less "current" (Play Station from 1999, Nintendo64):
Resident Evil: Nemesis
A hockey game of some kind
Mario Bros.
Panzer General (still my favorite)
I also played Never Winter Nights on my old PC, Civ III, and hated every iteration of Risk as the AI just rolls wins too often on every version I have played.
That's about it for my lifetime history of video games not including the Atari 2600 I had when I was a wee lad.
All that to let you know that any "review" I might type on The Last of Us is from someone that is not even a hobbiest in video games. It's something I do occasionally, a guilty pleasure if you will.
Points:
- Graphics are the highest details I have seen. I didn't even know I cared that much about graphic minutiae. Seeing trash blow by in the background in areas not even accessible by your character? Awesome. I'e never been as satisfied by the gore of a head shot before.
- Lead Ups? Not sure what you call them but it's the passive visual cues that some of us need to figure out what to do or where to go. Like, wandering around and the beam of sunlight is shining on one door. Very subtle but helpful for the non-gamer like me. Then there are the active cues for clues, items, etc. I love those.
- I do have trouble with the controller to screen interaction. One of the reasons I'm not the best video-gamer. I forget what button does what on occasion. Not the game's fault, all mine.
- The story is remarkable. It pulls your heartstrings but not in a cheesy way nor is it heavy-fisted. Decent TV show level story.
- Load screens. The only lag you get is in the beginning when you first start the game. None of that "go through a door, wait 7 minutes for the next screen to load" BS like in Skyrim.
- They found a perfect balance between having resources and not having resources. I have not run out of ammo and got murdered for it yet. That was one of my beefs with Dishonored ( a game I loved BTW) was that you could easily run out of hard to get resources and get log jammed in the game due to that. In Skyrim you'd just end up with 900 arrows by level 40. In Last of Us I have felt the tension of running low on ammo, finished the fight with no first aid kits, and felt the relief of finding 3 shotgun rounds and a shiv right after the fight.
- It's not zombie apocalypse, but it's kind of like a zombie apocalypse. I don't want to spoil it so you'll just have to get into that hot tub and see what it is yourself.
That about sums up any details of the game I can pull. Other than that, this non-gamer loves this game.
Got a game of Savage Worlds' War of the Dead in yesterday
We made it off the ship and drifted at sea for 2 weeks before landing in North Carolina. We almost succumbed to dehydration and starvation but made it. Bee Bee went to call his agent and lawyer, not yet fully realizing there was a world-wide apocalypse. The group found a small farm-house with an old couple in it that were friendly. They helped us out as we offered to help them.
Two days of relative peace ensued, then some looting bikers came. Just before initiative was determined we called it at that cliff-hanger.
Looks like big Bee Bee is gonna be crushing bad-bikers with his sledge hammer!
He's still running around in the short he was wearing on the cruise ship though. He needs some pants soon.
I ordered a copy of Osprey's Lion Rampant, the new craze in skirmish-level ancients wargaming. Medieval period here. I found one on Amazon for $13. I don't feel too bad about not supporting my FLGS though as I just gave them $60 for a minis case and some other odds and ends.
Looking forward to perusing the mechanics and comparing it to Saga. Opens me up to a whole new era of minis though... there goes my minis budget.
HALO I-III
Call of Duty 4... or something like that
Dishonored
Skyrim
Some racing car game that I thought I'd hate but I ended up loving.
Less "current" (Play Station from 1999, Nintendo64):
Resident Evil: Nemesis
A hockey game of some kind
Mario Bros.
Panzer General (still my favorite)
I also played Never Winter Nights on my old PC, Civ III, and hated every iteration of Risk as the AI just rolls wins too often on every version I have played.
That's about it for my lifetime history of video games not including the Atari 2600 I had when I was a wee lad.
All that to let you know that any "review" I might type on The Last of Us is from someone that is not even a hobbiest in video games. It's something I do occasionally, a guilty pleasure if you will.
Points:
- Graphics are the highest details I have seen. I didn't even know I cared that much about graphic minutiae. Seeing trash blow by in the background in areas not even accessible by your character? Awesome. I'e never been as satisfied by the gore of a head shot before.
- Lead Ups? Not sure what you call them but it's the passive visual cues that some of us need to figure out what to do or where to go. Like, wandering around and the beam of sunlight is shining on one door. Very subtle but helpful for the non-gamer like me. Then there are the active cues for clues, items, etc. I love those.
- I do have trouble with the controller to screen interaction. One of the reasons I'm not the best video-gamer. I forget what button does what on occasion. Not the game's fault, all mine.
- The story is remarkable. It pulls your heartstrings but not in a cheesy way nor is it heavy-fisted. Decent TV show level story.
- Load screens. The only lag you get is in the beginning when you first start the game. None of that "go through a door, wait 7 minutes for the next screen to load" BS like in Skyrim.
- They found a perfect balance between having resources and not having resources. I have not run out of ammo and got murdered for it yet. That was one of my beefs with Dishonored ( a game I loved BTW) was that you could easily run out of hard to get resources and get log jammed in the game due to that. In Skyrim you'd just end up with 900 arrows by level 40. In Last of Us I have felt the tension of running low on ammo, finished the fight with no first aid kits, and felt the relief of finding 3 shotgun rounds and a shiv right after the fight.
- It's not zombie apocalypse, but it's kind of like a zombie apocalypse. I don't want to spoil it so you'll just have to get into that hot tub and see what it is yourself.
That about sums up any details of the game I can pull. Other than that, this non-gamer loves this game.
Got a game of Savage Worlds' War of the Dead in yesterday
We made it off the ship and drifted at sea for 2 weeks before landing in North Carolina. We almost succumbed to dehydration and starvation but made it. Bee Bee went to call his agent and lawyer, not yet fully realizing there was a world-wide apocalypse. The group found a small farm-house with an old couple in it that were friendly. They helped us out as we offered to help them.
Two days of relative peace ensued, then some looting bikers came. Just before initiative was determined we called it at that cliff-hanger.
Looks like big Bee Bee is gonna be crushing bad-bikers with his sledge hammer!
He's still running around in the short he was wearing on the cruise ship though. He needs some pants soon.
I ordered a copy of Osprey's Lion Rampant, the new craze in skirmish-level ancients wargaming. Medieval period here. I found one on Amazon for $13. I don't feel too bad about not supporting my FLGS though as I just gave them $60 for a minis case and some other odds and ends.
Saga, Friday night game Harald Hardrada vs. Welsh
Regular Friday night game for Spencer and I. He had not been able to play since our last game in August so he was rip-roaring ready to go. I don't blame him. I need to game at least once per 2 weeks and I have more outlets than him. When I don't game for a week I really feel it, like something is missing. Yeah, it might be a problem but it's better than being a meth-head or thief!
Slightly off subject, just ordered Lion Rampant hardcover and Spencer ordered a fantasy minis skirmish game of some kind he might be able to get his kids into and I can play with my huge collection of painted fantasy minis and even huger collection of Dungeons and Dragons miniatures (DDM). I have 5 shoe box sized tubs of those things.
The Battle of Wallfield
Meeting on a humid and warm morning are the Welsh and Harald Hardrada with some of his Infamous Varangians and some local Bondi looking to impress Harald and get some of that fame and fortune of Harald. Some local Welsh were seen raising areas of the land and Harald met them at a field that was once the villa of some old Roman lord.
6 points, Clash of Warlords, Vikings vs Welsh. Both using a Hero of the Viking Age - Harald and High King Llewyln.
Vikings
Harald Hardrada
Varangians (12 hearthguard with Dane axes and armor 5)
Bondi x8
Bondi x8
Welsh
High King Guffyrd ap Llewylen
Some famous archers of his
2 bands of mounted warriors
2 bands of foot warriors
We played the terrain game to set up and ended up with 4 pieces. 2 of them got cancelled as we both were rolling "6s" and there was that wall piece I laid down first there.
The Welsh High King went first and hit with some mounted warriors and their javelins dropping a few of the doughty warriors up front. The Welsh then went to the Viking left flank as Vikings moved forward, Harald screened by Bondi up front and Varangianss behind. The second Bondi took cover in the old Roman wall in the center of the field.
The Welsh circled around on the left and the High King and his archers moved back just out of charge-range of Harald and his Varangians. More Bondi took casualties from the Welsh archers.
Harald and his Varangians turned around in the bottom of round 2 to attack and hopefully wipe out the Welsh mounted warriors that circled on the left flank. The gamble failed though as the Welsh were able to slow Harald and his Varangians down. This cost the Vikings a round of actions which would affect the end of the game.
Another poor choice in a tricky grand maneuver by yours truly!! Vikings just don't do these things.
Round 3 saw Spencer's Welsh make a big mistake. His grand plan was to play Taunt and draw my walled warriors over the wall and into range of The High King's foot and archers. This did not work though and his Mounted Warriors that made the grand sweep on the left flank were closer and drew the Vikings to them instead. The Vikings, left with little choice, engaged them on their turn.
This resulted in one Welshman escaping with his life and 2 Vikings falling. Not the complete wipe-out I was hoping for but good enough for some points.
Then, my earlier mistake reared it's head.
My Varangians are built to get into the face of enemy foot and rip them up. 12 figures are armor 5 with Dane axes (hitting the warrior class on 4-6 not including any fatigue and abilities) so that's 24 dice hitting, at least, 50%. They need to be in the middle of any mix. I failed at getting them there and chased mounted units instead. This would work out to be my undoing.
My Varangians did, finally get into the grill of Welsh spears and fared well.
Wiped out the super archers of The High King and loomed over The High King Himself and his retinue of spearmen. Back and fourth, back and fourth went the attacking but the Welsh prevailed after 6 rounds. One to two more rounds and maybe that would be different.
The Warlords never did clash, the game was settled by points. Welsh 16, Vikings 15. One of my last Orders phases resulted in too many rare dice! I was able to get all 8 dice going on the board and still too many rares! haha!
I must concede that my opponent, Spencer, did engage me in round 6 when all he had to do, well ahead in points (12 - 8 at the top of round 6) was retreat to the woods and stay out of my range which would have been easily done. He was a gentleman and attacked instead opening himself up to points being scored on both sides, thus the result of 16-15... and if you do that math that was a winning exchange for me. Big props and a toast to Spencer for being a good gamer.
Edit to add some educational points:
1) Reiterate - NO GRAND MOVES FOR VIKINGS! Hit hard and soon. Don't waste rounds trying something "neat". Viking strength lies in being faithful to getting in the opponent's grill and hitting them.
2) Order of activations. I tend to forget (as I have seen others do the same) that to get "Side by Side" one must activate the Warlord with Determination. A Saga board activation via Saga die will not allow one to "Side by Side". Many times I have messed this up by activating my Warlord with Determination as opposed to a Saga die at the wrong time.
3) Again, the use of Viking Saga ability Ulr proved to be the better ability over any dice addition ability. It's always better to roll (with a re-roll) 10 hits out of 14 dice than 5 hits out of 24 dice. This did happen to me BTW. 24 dice resulted in 5 hits. An Ulr on the board would've been nice.
We do play as strict to the rules as we can. Spencer and I feel it's important to do so. If you are strict on the rules of the game you learn it better and can give your self some tolerance later.
Slightly off subject, just ordered Lion Rampant hardcover and Spencer ordered a fantasy minis skirmish game of some kind he might be able to get his kids into and I can play with my huge collection of painted fantasy minis and even huger collection of Dungeons and Dragons miniatures (DDM). I have 5 shoe box sized tubs of those things.
The Battle of Wallfield
Meeting on a humid and warm morning are the Welsh and Harald Hardrada with some of his Infamous Varangians and some local Bondi looking to impress Harald and get some of that fame and fortune of Harald. Some local Welsh were seen raising areas of the land and Harald met them at a field that was once the villa of some old Roman lord.
6 points, Clash of Warlords, Vikings vs Welsh. Both using a Hero of the Viking Age - Harald and High King Llewyln.
Vikings
Harald Hardrada
Varangians (12 hearthguard with Dane axes and armor 5)
Bondi x8
Bondi x8
Welsh
High King Guffyrd ap Llewylen
Some famous archers of his
2 bands of mounted warriors
2 bands of foot warriors
We played the terrain game to set up and ended up with 4 pieces. 2 of them got cancelled as we both were rolling "6s" and there was that wall piece I laid down first there.
The Welsh High King went first and hit with some mounted warriors and their javelins dropping a few of the doughty warriors up front. The Welsh then went to the Viking left flank as Vikings moved forward, Harald screened by Bondi up front and Varangianss behind. The second Bondi took cover in the old Roman wall in the center of the field.
Harald and his Varangians turned around in the bottom of round 2 to attack and hopefully wipe out the Welsh mounted warriors that circled on the left flank. The gamble failed though as the Welsh were able to slow Harald and his Varangians down. This cost the Vikings a round of actions which would affect the end of the game.
Another poor choice in a tricky grand maneuver by yours truly!! Vikings just don't do these things.
Round 3 saw Spencer's Welsh make a big mistake. His grand plan was to play Taunt and draw my walled warriors over the wall and into range of The High King's foot and archers. This did not work though and his Mounted Warriors that made the grand sweep on the left flank were closer and drew the Vikings to them instead. The Vikings, left with little choice, engaged them on their turn.
This resulted in one Welshman escaping with his life and 2 Vikings falling. Not the complete wipe-out I was hoping for but good enough for some points.
Then, my earlier mistake reared it's head.
My Varangians are built to get into the face of enemy foot and rip them up. 12 figures are armor 5 with Dane axes (hitting the warrior class on 4-6 not including any fatigue and abilities) so that's 24 dice hitting, at least, 50%. They need to be in the middle of any mix. I failed at getting them there and chased mounted units instead. This would work out to be my undoing.
My Varangians did, finally get into the grill of Welsh spears and fared well.
The Warlords never did clash, the game was settled by points. Welsh 16, Vikings 15. One of my last Orders phases resulted in too many rare dice! I was able to get all 8 dice going on the board and still too many rares! haha!
I must concede that my opponent, Spencer, did engage me in round 6 when all he had to do, well ahead in points (12 - 8 at the top of round 6) was retreat to the woods and stay out of my range which would have been easily done. He was a gentleman and attacked instead opening himself up to points being scored on both sides, thus the result of 16-15... and if you do that math that was a winning exchange for me. Big props and a toast to Spencer for being a good gamer.
Edit to add some educational points:
1) Reiterate - NO GRAND MOVES FOR VIKINGS! Hit hard and soon. Don't waste rounds trying something "neat". Viking strength lies in being faithful to getting in the opponent's grill and hitting them.
2) Order of activations. I tend to forget (as I have seen others do the same) that to get "Side by Side" one must activate the Warlord with Determination. A Saga board activation via Saga die will not allow one to "Side by Side". Many times I have messed this up by activating my Warlord with Determination as opposed to a Saga die at the wrong time.
3) Again, the use of Viking Saga ability Ulr proved to be the better ability over any dice addition ability. It's always better to roll (with a re-roll) 10 hits out of 14 dice than 5 hits out of 24 dice. This did happen to me BTW. 24 dice resulted in 5 hits. An Ulr on the board would've been nice.
We do play as strict to the rules as we can. Spencer and I feel it's important to do so. If you are strict on the rules of the game you learn it better and can give your self some tolerance later.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)