Another Civil War Saturday

I haven't played any minis in about a month, so when some of the San Antonio guys put together a game day in a classroom at a local university, I was up for it.  The guys were playing a Civil War game using a variant of the DBA rules.  Blake was playing the Yankees, and I helped Johnny command the Rebels.  Blake supplied the miniatures and the terrain.

The battle wasn't any historical scenario, just a chance to put some brigades out there and get a feel for the period.  It played pretty much like DBA or Hordes of the Things, but required the use of markers (combat could result in a unit being shaken or badly shaken, which had an effect on further combat involving that unit).  All in all, I prefer games where you don't need some kind of tokens to indicate unit status--one of the beauties of HotT is that all the information regarding combat outcomes is indicated by just moving the unit--but sometimes they're a necessary evil.

One other nitpick: an unfavorable result against artillery caused the gun battery to become shaken and to recoil, something that didn't seem right to me.  Whenever we play Johnny Reb, I recall artillery units dueling against each other, and when one got shot up the crew might abandon it, but the unit itself didn't back up.  Still, it was an enjoyable game, and I'm glad I got the chance to play.  Anyone else get to roll dice and move around minis this weekend?

Days of projects past

Ever get an idea for an army--and even start buying miniatures for it--and then abandon the project?  It's not just the usual buying something that looks cool and never getting around to painting it, but just giving up on the idea altogether.  That's what happened to me some time after picking up these beastmen from a vendor at a game convention last year. 

I have a couple of elements for Hordes of the Things (which I had previously won in some tournaments) that wouldn't look out of place in a chaos army.  So I had the idea of picking up some appropriate minis on the secondary market, along with converting some mythological-themed toys from a hobby store, and building a full-fledged Army of Chaos.

Since then, I've got distracted by other things, such as expanding my already-existing HotT armies to 48 AP.  So the chaos idea has fallen by the wayside.  Have you ever done something like that?

The future of gaming?

Image from Formlabs.

I saw this story on WIRED about a new 3-D printer that uses light instead of heat to create objects.  The Formlabs company's Form 1 is a high-resolution, low maintenance device that allows users to print three-dimensional objects like wargaming miniatures.  The company's doing a Kickstarter to get the device into production.

Coincidentally, on The Miniatures Page, there's a discussion about 3-D printers.  Putting aside the intellectual property issues, I see these home-office fabrication devices as a boon to miniature wargamers who happen to be early adopters.  While it will be easy to scan and copy existing sculpts, I know that gamers and artists will also use this type of device in new and imaginative ways--and since electronics get cheaper every year, I can see this gadget soon costing about the same as a laser printer.

Right now, there are a number of designers who sell wargaming figures on Shapeways.  Soon more of us will be creating our own at home.  How do you see 3-D printing affecting gaming?

On the beach

From the first raft and reed boat, ambatche and catamaran, the waters have beckoned men to come and explore.

-- Dungeon Masters Guide, p. 53

Yeah, I got to hang out at the beach last week when I went to a conference for work.  Life's rough, I know.  So turning this photobrag into something game-related, anyone do games (roleplaying or minis) set mostly on or around the beach?  Or what about sea battles or adventures?

The Walking Dead

I'm just now viewing the second season of the AMC cable series The Walking Dead, thanks to video on demand.  Gotta say, it's a great show, and I'm enjoying it.  I'm also noticing how it makes me want to play All Things Zombie, especially since that game is so true to the zombie apocalypse genre, as a recent playtest showed.  Or maybe, with the way the survivors are screwing each other over in season 2, the TV show is a good emulator of Ed's wargame.  Either way, I'm looking forward to watching more of The Walking Dead.

By the way, have you noticed how TWD never refers to the undead as "zombies"--the characters refer to them as "walkers" or "geeks."  It was the same way with the movie that launched the whole genre, Night of the Living Dead--that film refers to the shambling corpses as "ghouls."  Likewise, in the Will Smith version of I Am Legend, the in-movie newscasts reference "darkseekers."

So in your own games that utilize the undead overrunning the modern world, how do you refer to them?  Just zombies, or something else?

Furball flight stands

I got these Furball Flight Stands from Ed the Two Hour Wargames Guy before he moved away.  Although I already have my starfighters mounted on bases, I can use these for missiles.  I just need to prime them black, and they'll be good to go.

There's a space for a die to indicate the number of missiles remaining in a salvo, which will come in handy for some space combat games.  Which brings up this question: Do you use minis to track missile salvos in your games, or is it easier to just use counters?

Sunday Starships: Stardate 3000 aliens WIP

Up next on my production schedule, some of the alien faction's starships from Valiant's Stardate: 3000 line of miniatures.  There's a battlecruiser, some destroyers, and some hyperspace submarines.  Not pictured are a battlecruiser and two escort cruisers, which are still in their packaging.  There's also one (human) Federation escort cruiser (pictured on the far right)--which will serve as a tug in my games, since it just looks like a tug to me.  I'll paint the Fed ship in my usual civilian livery, but I'm still trying to figure out what paint scheme I'm going to use for these aliens.