Future Gaming Objectives

It's been a surprisingly productive year in terms of toy soldiers. Especially as, for various reasons, I took about 4 to 5 months off any sort of gaming during the year!

This year I've completed the first stage of my EIR, reaching about 1,100pts. Then I completed ~1,400pts of Celts to face them. I've also managed to get my WW1 project off the ground, though not too much has been achieved so far. But I did manage to attend the GB Evesham event back in June which was a real hoot.

So what might I be planning for next year? Well, leaving aside personal objectives like promoting world peace and reducing my carbon footprint, I have...

Primary Objectives

• Spend more time painting/gaming with my family. I've a stack of plastic figures they can slap paint on, then dip. I've got plenty of Romans and Celts to play skirmish games with. Then there's my fairly extensive collection of LotR figures. It's enormous fun and basically free entertainment. Just a bit of imagination is required to think up some good scenarios and simplify the rules.
• Expand my EIR to at least 1,500pts, preferably 1,750pts. Then I can always top it up with a few hundred points worth of Celts if I need a 2,000pt army for an event - if required.
  
• Add at least 3 more chariots to my Celts, plus another unit of Warriors, possibly the fanatical type. This will give me an army of around 1,750pts thus making possible larger and more fun games of EIR vs Celts WAB.
• Build a proper WW1 (Late War) BEF force of 1,000pts and try to get along to another event. This has become surprisingly important to me. Probably because taking part made me feel more like a 'proper' wargamer ... whatever that really is!
  

Secondary Objectives

• Build some WW1 style scenery - possibly even get on with my modular terrain - though I shall probably make a bunch of barricades, craters, barbed wire sections, etc, for gaming on a 'flat' table first.
• Build either a Celt farmstead or a Roman villa.
• Make better woodland and rough ground sections. These will be such that they can appear on almost any battlefield.
• Attend at least one wargaming show, hopefully two.
  

However, a lot depends on more important external factors, e.g. family, work, finances, etc. Plus there are also the vagaries of the wargaming world itself. For example, if the new 'WAB 2.0' rules, the 'Rome' supplement for WAB or 'Over The Top' for TGW ever get published then priorities will almost certainly change.

Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year to everyone!

Dipped Celts

Here's a few pics of my recently completed Celts. The figures are mostly Warlord Games with a few Black Tree Design.

The first pic shows the basic painting style I use for dipping. White undercoat and block colours. Only the skin and the metal areas get two coats. For the skin I use a base of GW Dwarf Flesh followed by a quick higlight with Foundry Base Sand Light. The metal areas get a first coat of GW Chaos Black followed by either GW Mithril Silver or GW Burnished Gold.


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Now the figures have been dipped using Army Painter strong tone, brushed on. Ooh aren't they shiny!


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A quick spray of Army Painter Anti-shine spray (tip - shake it really well) and a nice base makes all the difference!


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Clearly, to get ahead you ... er ... need to get a head!?


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Basing - 3mm ply bases (20x20mm) from Litko - highly recommended. Covered in a mix of sand and grit. Base colour of GW Bestial Brown, followed by highlights of GW Vomit Brown and GW Bleached Bone. Add a few clumps of static grass to finish off. For these character types I'll also add a few pieces of woodland scenics foliage, since they'll be front rankers.

I now have just in excess of 1,400pts (~160 models) in my Celt force so I think I'll give painting them a rest for now. I'll try to find time to get them all out and take a few whole-army shots for the blog.

Wargame-o-meter #3

A month since my last post where I list my gaming interests in order of current priority and once again things are quite different...

1. The Great War
That this now tops the chart probably has quite a lot to do with a planned visit to Arras at the end of the month with some good friends from New Zealand.
Anyway, I've dusted off my copy of Warhammer Historical's The Great War and had a good read - again. I know from my experience this Summer at GB's Evesham Front event that it's a cracking good game. I really enjoy painting the figures from Great War Miniatures. Checking my figure collection and the 1917-18 BEF lists I reckon I've got almost 600pts. I'd really like to attend more of these one day events but first I need to get my 1,000pt battalion painted!

2. Celts
Almost at 1,500pts now. Just a few figures to finish off, then a big session dipping and basing about 50 figures.

3. Romans
Plan is to quickly paint up the remaining troops for my 1,500pt target using the dip and Warlord's figures. They're built, primed white and ready to paint.

4. Scenery
Earlier this year I had a burst of excitement for building WW1 scenery, but only half finished a number of items. Now I see that Scarab sell very reasonably priced barbed wire sets ... hmmm!?

5. Napoleonics
Still hanging on in there ... definitely a project for next year at the earliest. But I just can't resist those splendid uniforms. Watching 'Sharpe' DVDs doesn't help either. However, my wife is more than happy to watch Sean Bean swashing his buckle!

But ... what with all the build up to the festive season, school plays, shopping, etc I'm not sure exactly how much time I'm going to get for painting in the next few weeks. Perhaps I ought to pull my finger out and post a few pics of all my recent work - after there's only so much Rhubarb that people want to read.

Happy (Festive) Gaming!

More Thoughts on 'Napoleon'

Now I've had some time to read and re-read the rules I thought I'd post a few comments. It's not a full review - have a look at this for what I feel is a pretty fair view of them.

Basically there seems to be a good game in there, but a few things really need to be resolved / clarified.

1) If the rules had been given a final proof read by someone with an eye for these things then a number of annoying typos could have been corrected and some confusing text could have been clarified - both of which would result in a more polished product.
2) More playtesting with 'new' players (i.e. outside the original group) so as to find the areas of the rules that require better explanation. For example, when do units become 'unattached'? Or, can units that fail to implement an order card still volley fire later in the turn?
3) Some of the army lists are missing key pieces of info, e.g. how many skirmishers are used for different troops. This is irritating as presumably the the playtesters must have spent some time getting the balance right.
4) It would benefit from some extra rationale for some of the rules - perhaps playing a few games would help me understand why some of the rules exist.

None of these issues are insurmountable by anyone who has some experience of gaming, but I would really have expected Wargames Foundry to have produced a more mature product. Perhaps it was rushed in to print in order to get ahead of Warlord's Blackpowder? I would like to find a discussion forum so as to get some wider views on what needs to be improved or how certain rules should work in practice.

In conclusion, I like the rules and they have certainly given me the spur to collect more Naps for larger battles rather than just skirmishing, but it would have been even better if that 10% extra effort had been put in. The 'eye-candy' aspect is splendid and seems to be an essential part of any successful new ruleset these days. I'm sure I can add the necessary extras to the lists and figure out the confusing bits in the rules without too much difficulty, thus ending up with a satisfying game but I really shouldn't have to. Perhaps Wargames Foundry would be kind enough to publish an errata sheet? After all, how many rulesets do not require such things?

Wargame-o-meter #2

What a difference a few weeks can make eh? ;-)

Following from my first post on this topic, the top 5 now look like this.

1. Napoleonics (28mm)
As you may have seen in my earlier post I'm now the very excited owner of this splendid rulebook. The production quality is awesome, it's full of pics of beautifully painted Napoleonic miniatures, vignettes and complete armies. The rules themselves look to be quite promising in that they are a nice compromise between realism and playability. I'm not going to do a full rules review because I'm far from expert on Napoleonic rulesets (but I know a chap who is ;-)). The rules introduce the concept of orders for units as the armies close for action, and whether the orders are received and obeyed depend upon the proximity of the division or brigade commander - not unlike Warmaster if I remember correctly. Like many rulesets, it has a core set and an optional advanced set for more detailed play. The book also includes a good starter set of army lists to guide players in choosing balanced forces.
All this has inspired me to revisit my first historical gaming 'love' with a view to collecting both sides. My 'Sharpe' skirmish collection will give me a good start, but that's still a lot of fancy painting so my plan is to work out a way of painting Naps figures reasonably quickly and easily to a good wargames standard. I had dallied with the dip idea but having looked at the pics in the rulebook I've begun to think that the dip just doesn't quite suit the style of uniforms, but I have only the strong tone so maybe the soft tone would be better? Anyway, my initial plan is to look at something like the Foundry "two colour" method with some single colour thrown in for areas that do not notice so much. I first bought Naps figures in 1997 and if I'd painted just one figure a month since, then I'd have 5 or 6 battalions by now! It will be a lengthy project I'm sure.

2. Celts
After a couple of splendid games of WAB with Celts vs Romans "oop north" last weekend, I'm totally set on getting the army to 1,500pts as soon as possible. Another 21 warriors are ready for the dip with a further 12 part painted. To reach my target I'll need some more chariots too. I have 3 from Warlord, so may get 3 from GB just for variety.

3. Romans
Same as for (2) really. However, I've a bunch of Warlord EIR that I'm going to 'dip' so as to give me more Romans, they're now built and ready to undercoat. They will be replaced in due course with conventionally painted Black Tree figures to match the rest of the army.

4. Warmaster Ancients (10mm)
Whoa ... where did that come from!? Let me explain... for years I've been trying to get a very good friend of mine to do more than just collect (mainly Napoleonic) rulebooks and unpainted figures, i.e. to paint up figures and enjoy gaming with them more regularly. Various schemes have been tried and this is the latest. The idea arose from a WAB celts/romans post-game discussion about scales and tactics. However, this scheme is largely his idea and it highlights to me an interest in doing things at a grand scale, that is fielding a whole legion not just a few cohorts. I've not bought any figures or rules yet but it has certainly piqued my interest. The start up costs are small which is an advantage - the WMA rules (based on the Warmaster Fantasy set) are about £20, with armies starting at around £40. I shall wait for my chum to take the first step - it's not like I haven't got plenty to paint.

5. WW1
Pushing AoA off the table we have my trusty BEF. Now here's a potential change of plan ... When gaming with individually based 'skirmish' figures they tend to get a bit of a hammering and even the best varnish won't help. So why spend ages painting them really well? I'm thinking of switching to the dip for the rest of the army. It may be the only way they get painted. The figures I've already painted may get a very thin coat of dip just to make them match in with the rest and give them extra protection. Just a thought at this stage though.

Napoleon!

Look what I was gifted recently ... Oh help!



Vive L'Empereur!

Wargame-o-meter #1

Do you flutter from one era to another? Or are you sturdy enough to keep your interests focussed in one area? Like many wargamers I can be something of a butterfly when it comes to gaming/painting/reading, flitting from one era to another sometimes quite rapidly. So I thought I'd record my "fluctuations" on a semi regular basis (this is no 1) for your entertainment. I've given the matter careful thought and the top 5 currently look something like this...

1 British Celts
Having recently completed the first 1,000pts I'm jolly keen to expand the army further. The dip method makes this fairly straightforward so progress should be swift. Only need another unit of 24-30 warriors and 3 chariots to make it around 1,500pts. The first 10 warriors are done and the next 10 are on the painting table. I recently had a big session of preparation and undercoating so there's plenty to paint.

2 Early Imperial Romans
Ever since WAB was first released in the late 90's I've wanted to collect EIR, so Rome has always ranked highly ... (no Monty Python jokes please ;o))

3 Napoleonics - Peninsular French/British
The first historical army I purchased en-masse was Naps French, with a Foundry army deal back in '99 ... then I sold most of it unopened a year later! Recently I've been listening to "Sharpe's Rifles" whilst painting so naturally I want another army!? Those Victrix or Perry plastics look very interesting. Assembling lots of plastics can become a bit of a chore, but I've learned with the Warlord Celts that the best approach is to have a big building session across 2 or 3 nights thus getting a couple of complete units ready.
"Prime... Pour... Spit... Tap!"

4 The Great War - LW BEF & Germans
I've been interested in the history of WW1 for years but had never really considered wargaming it until WH released TGW last year. Having bought a big batch of BEF from Rob at Scarab when I visited Gripping Beast Towers in June, I really ought to pull my finger out and get some more painted. Only 1 platoon completed so far. Added to this are my rather grand scenic ambitions which have stalled after a great start.

5 Age of Arthur
This just won't go away! It's all GuitarHeroAndy's fault :-) Once in a while I pick up the book and look at the Romano-British or British & Welsh Kingdoms lists and try to justify collecting some more figures. I mean, they're so nice they'll almost paint themselves ... ?

I'll post about this topic again in approx 2-3 weeks ... plenty of time for me to flutter around!