Monday 16 February 2015

Shake the hand.

Lego game - Battle for Helms deep. A lesson in wargaming etiquette.

The game contents stores nicely into the box it cam in.


For his birthday our eldest got the Lego game of 'Battle for helms deep' from a friend of ours. I don't know who was more excited me or him.

After a long day at the Zoo, on Sunday. We put the exhuasted baby's to bed, and I asked the 8 year old if he would like to play his new game. We had spent yesterday afternoon building it together and we were both keen to get a game of it in. He leaped at the chance.

The game itself is a lot of fun, it gives the precept of a siege game, but it quickly became clear that it is battleline game. By which I mean the walls have little impact and either side can cross the siege ladders, and the win conditions are to kill all enemy leaders, well the good guys have more so you think it would be stacked in their favour. but the bad guys have a lot more troops and the ability to respawn the dead troops.

So after watching for a few game turns it became clear that you need to be aggressive to win, I kept sending out the respawning swordmen and keep my leaders safe in the back. Unfortunately Reilly had been caught in the siege mentality of the game and stayed behind the walls slowly losing troops and leaders.
So I told him that he would need to be aggressive to win, but by the time I had worked out a way for him to win and convince him several turns later to actually do it, it might have been to little, to late, he had lost to many leaders.

But still he gave a good accounting of himself and had me against the ropes towards the end, if the dice had of been kinder to him he might still have won.

When the final dice fell against his favour he was upset, but to his credit up until that point he had been optimistic. And we both had a lot of fun playing the game.

So I explained some basic wargaming etiquette to him. When the game ends, win or lose, you shake the opponents hand. And say thankyou for the game. I went on to explain, that we thank the other player because they to have taken the time to play a game with us, we might be upset that we lost, but as long as we had fun playing, that is what counts.

A valuable lesson for game players everywhere,one it took me many years to learn, not having wargaming parents or an older mentor.

So if we have every played a game together this message is for you.

Thank you for spending time playing a game with me.


Thursday 12 February 2015

Retro Silver Helms - commision complete

Sent this set of photo's to the customer, to either get approval, or more improvements to be made. The verdict?....... Success he is very happy. So pending a physical inspection, these are done for now. 

Side

Front

Horses arse!


These are the last set of images I sent the costumer, form these he asked me to improve to cloth on the horse to match my style.

Let's go this way!

And this is the state I received the minis in. The horses had been mostly done by another painter, and the riders where in many different stages of painting, I cleaned up and painted the riders from a white primed start. The horses I just touched up and finished the other painters work.
Original state of the Hrlms

I have told the owner that if he ever finds the shields for the sliverhelms I will paint them to match. 

But considering I only have one customer and he has started a new career (well done to him) but he has to start as an apprentice. So i will be getting no further commissions from him for a while. 

So if you are UK based and want something painted. I offer very competitive prices!

Until then it's time to reward myself with some Stormfiends!

Monday 9 February 2015

Stormfiends - planning

I am planning a series of blogs to cover the planning , building and painting of my 6 Storm Fiends. What follows is the planning stage.


I was lucky enough to have the funds available when they where released to buy 2 boxes of stormfiends . But due to other commitments, (LARP weaponS and commissions) I have only just got around to looking at what I will do with my new plastic.

First let me start by saying they all look amazing, and each Fiend you can build has several customizations.
But there is where the problem lays. In game terms each Fiend has the choice of 1 of the 6 weapon options. But the box contains 1 of each choice. So i have to choose when I build them what I will use for the rest of their table top life, before I have even got them on the table a found out how they play. Oh no no.

Now if I was a WAAC player I would look apon the forums and see what everyone else thinks. And i have, but I am not prepared to base my decisions on some keyboard warriors assumptions. I want to test for myself.

So what do I do? Convert, magnetized or make 1 of each choice.

Convert - I have seen several early conversion for the internet hotness (Rattling cannons) but as I have yet to make a decision on what is best. So permanent conversions don't seem the way forward.

Make 1 of each - this sounds like a lot of fun. 6 individual models, all with a different load out, but what if later on I want to try 2 wind launchers, or I decide that the grinder is useless.

Magnetized - Which brings me to to this option. Now I think it will be possible to add magnets to the weapons so I can interchange them. And whilst I have the tools for the job, and I think I have the skills, it's still the first time I have attempted to do this, so I am naturally apprehensive.

So I will be going forward with the plan to magnetized the weapons, but i will have to see how the models are constructed before making a final choice.

Saturday 7 February 2015

Retribution Falls - Chris Wooding

Retribution Falls - Chris Wooding

I picked up the 1st chapter sample of this book on a friend recommendation. And after reading the sample I had to read the rest.

The book follows the exploits of the captain of an Airship, and his motley crew of misfits and criminals. It is set in a world where air travel is made possible by a  chemical called Aerium, that can be altered to make a safe lighter than air gas. Making air travel easily accessible to everyone. But in the world of science there is still a touch of magic that can also be measured as science (it's a little complicated), this blurs lines Between science and magic. Plus a superstitious religion making for a very deep interesting world to immerse yourself in.

The book has similarities to the serenity/firefly story's. And I found it hard not to make the comparisons as I read. But this is doing the book a disservice, and I had to step away from those unfair comparisons. And read the book as the individual entity it is. Once I had done that the book came alive in it's own right. I got alot of enjoyment reading the developing relationships on board the ship.

A great read I am looking forward to reading more of this world and these characters. As luck would have it a quick search on the kindle store shows 3 more in the same setting/series. Onwards and upwards!




Foot note- I have also finished reading Blood of the Gods by David Dalglish and Robert (whats his name). I am not impressed with this series. I love David's solo work, I have just started reading his King of the Vile (it's starts great). But the broken world series has been a struggle to get through, I can only guess that it is Roberts influence that is putting me off as I still really enjoy David's other work. Maybe I will try one of Roberts solo books to see if that is the case.






Wednesday 4 February 2015

I like some hobby with my hobby.

So last night I headed down the the LGS to run a warhammer fantasy demo. It all went well, but on the way out I got talking to the other patrons of the store. It went like this,

Cardboard Crack Dealer "Do you play Magic?"
Me "No"
CCD "WHY NOT?"
Me "Er I like some hobby with my hobby game."

Now I am paraphrasing and I was a little more diplomatic than that. But I got me thinking why is that.

First off let me start by saying I like card games. I enjoy Munchkin, I had a great time playing Dominion the other week with some friends and before that we also played Cards against humanity. And yes I enjoyed that too.
But the difference I see between these games and MTG is that they are pick up and play, where as I feel MTG takes time (deck building/booster drafts) and a similar cash input I would associate with a hobby game.
And at the end of that process I have a deck of cards. Where as if I put a similar amount of money and time into Warhammer, I buy my plastic crack and turn it into a painted miniature that I can put on the the table to play a game with. Consequently I feel more invested as I have made something for the game, which it gives me a sense of accomplishment I don't think a deck of cards would provide for me.

Now that evening I was lucky enough to have been able to play a demo of Star Trek attack wing (thank you Paul). This game is very similar to Star Wars-X-wing, which I own a few ships for.
Now again, I enjoy these games they are fun pick up and play games. But I feel no sense of a accomplishment when I put those miniatures on the table, I put no effort into them other than spending a few quid (actually all my X-wing stuff has been gifts I haven't spent a penny on it myself) and thus it's just a game to me.
I have friends who love X-wing and they are constantly trying to construct the best lists (like deck building in MTG). But I also notice one is a notorious Tin boy (Looking at you Pete) who loves that the game is balanced and competitive.

Which leads me back the WHFB, because it is not a balanced game, and whilst you can be competitive when you play, it doesn't lend itself well to competitive play.
Why is this, well the rules are unclear, and unbalanced (between army books).
This use to bother me, when I was trying to play WHFB competitively. But I have since changed my attitude to the game, I am no longer solely trying to beat my friends, I play for the fun of the game, the narrative it can tell, and 3 or 4 hours when I have a friend around to chat and laugh with.

Wow this went onto a massive tangent.
To go back to my original point, no I don't play Magic, I prefer to hobby side (painting) of my hobby to be productive. And the games whilst they don't happen often are a fun social evening with a good friend.
This is why I stick with Warhammer despite the expense, the unbalanced rules, I am invested, not with money but with time, that I have spent lovingly painting the models. And it is a labour of love, after a day at work, I look forward to a relaxing hour or two indulging my art. It helps me relax and unwind, and forget the troubles of the day.

So keep your cardboard crack and pass me a paint brush.


Tuesday 3 February 2015

FLGS - Warhammer fantasy demo evening

Last night I took a trip to the local gaming store, to run a Warhammer Fantasy demo game. I was a little worries that there would be no interest, but luckily an old friend Paul was there he use to play about a decade ago so we sat down and played a refresher game.

The armies are 400 points each.

High Elves
Noble with Great weapon.
10 Seagaurd with shields and full command
5 Sworsmasters with full command.
1 bolt thrower.

Skaven
Chieftain additional hand weapon
26 clanrats with full command
Poison wind mortar
3 Rat Ogres and pack master
5 giant rats and pack master.

The game was quick, fast and fun. I used it to highlight various basic concepts of the game.

The Battle!

Charging full speed across the field, the giant rats fail to make it to their target, as the bolt thrower unleashes 6 bolts at short range, all of them hit and all off them wound.

Rat Orges tear across the distance, but elven shooting destroys 2 on the way. The remaining one makes it into combat, but is swiftly sliced down by the elven Noble. The swordmasters robbed of their foe, all turn there attention on the pack master, after it is quickly dispatched, they reform the face the centerfield, where the Seagaurd have been engaged by a horde of rat men.

Charging into the melee the swordmaster relieve the embattled Seagaurd. The Noble calls out the Chieftain, who in an uncharacteristicly show of bravery steps up to the challenge, but the Noble proves to be the better fighter inflicting one wound and receiving none in return.
                 
In the main combat the Elven units cut down the rats and only suffer minor casualties in return. It's to much for the clanrats seeing their leader wounded, and their fellowss slain, they break and run , but barely get started before the elves cut them down from behind.
                   
The swordmastets pursuit takes them into the last remaining skaven alive on the field. And we call the game there.

A good fun game, I hope it rekindled some enthusiasm in an old players.