Wargaming Comfort Zones

What does this have to do with war-gaming comfort zones? Nothing at all.

Saturday was a damn good gaming day for me, probably the best fun I've had around a gaming table in years. Not only did I FINALLY get to meet up with fellow bloggers Fran, Ray, Clint and Big Lee, I got to join the (in)famous Postie's Rejects for a Napoleonic Spectacular! I know that all four of the bloggers I just mentioned plan on talking about the day's wargaming with Bat Rep's of day, so I won't steal their thunder or say anything more about it here except to say:

THANKS GUYS!!! I HAD A BLAST!!!

After the game finished and Clint and I were presented with lovely "Honorary Reject Awards", I had a great chat with some of the guys in the grand surroundings of Postie's MASSIVE miniatures collection, during which the conversation turned to war-gaming comfort zones. I can't quite remember how we got onto the topic, (perhaps it was someone mentioning the Battle of the Boyne)  but I do remember Smiffy talking about how much trouble he had getting into sci-fi type games as he couldn't take them seriously. This eventually led me to mention that I couldn't get really into ultra-modern gaming for the opposite reason - I take ultra-modern gaming very seriously. Between my brother-in-law being a serving soldier and being ex-military myself (and having lost friends in some of the battles now featuring as scenarios in several ultra-modern campaign settings) I just don't feel comfortable war-gaming any period in recent living memory. I think that the Vietnam War is about as recent as I could manage.

That ended not long before I was born, which leads me to wonder if my actual cut-off point migh tsimply be conflicts that have occurred in my lifetime?

My attitude strikes me as a little odd really, given that I know of gamers who actually served in places like the Falklands or Iraq and Afghanistan who are altogether happy to wargame those periods. Whereas I, who never got anywhere near any proper combat while in the forces (unless you count a few bar fights in Germany), get a bit unsettled even at the thought of war-gaming any of those conflicts.

Perhaps I simply feel that they have a right to war-game the conflicts they took part in whereas I, (given my lack of participation in those events) do not? Possibly this is simply a reflection of how self-conscious I feel in any gathering of my peers who have seen actual combat. After all, it's not as though I'm uncomfortable or offended by anyone who wargames these conflicts, whether or not they've ever worn a uniform!

What's that? You want me to war-game the Road to Baghdad? Good Heavens No!

If anything, it's my own attitude that I find bewildering and perplexing, rather than anyone elses.

Clint from Anything But a One was present at this conversation and, being very aware of the controversy around ultra-modern games, was a little concerned that I might have been unsettled by some of his recent blog content, but I was able to (truthfully) assure him that it  didn't. As I've already said, I might not be comfortable gaming the period myself, but I have no problem with other people doing it. In fact, I quite enjoy reading about ultra modern games and battle reports. I just don't feel comfortable actively participating myself.

Strangely enough, I actively enjoy ultra-modern gaming so long as we change the damn names! I don't care if the miniatures are obviously British, Israeli, Iraqi or whatever so long as we call them Franonians or  Alcovians or Bongolians instead. We can even re-fight actual engagements, so long as they're re-fought in a fictional context. I  actively enjoy gaming in alternate modern histories, such as "Cold War Gone Hot" scenarios. At one point, I even kept a blog called Untied Kingdom, where I worked on an ultra-modern British civil war setting. But, that skirted way too close to the edge of what I considered acceptable, however unlikely the scenario, because it still explicitly involved regiments and corps to which some of my real-world friends and family still belong. In the end, the project died a slow, languishing death. Every now and then I go back to the blog and take a look at it. I still think the concept had the potential to be some of my best work, but it really did skirt too close to the edge of my comfort zone to live.

I think my willingness to bring down the shutters and game in fictional nations stems from the days when I war-gamed modern day battles as part of my profession. Our exercises and TEWTs (Tactical Exercises without Troops) always involved countries with names that bore little to no resemblance to any real nations or cities. Although we were practicing for a very real war, we could comfortably joke about errors that cost our forces entire fictional battalions at a time -even though those self-same battalions had identical equipment and levels of training to real life formations either in our own army or some other thinly disguised nations'. But as soon as anyone present began taking things a little too lightly, there would be a quiet, yet somewhat pointed, cough followed by the even more quietly voiced question from the Colonel or RSM: 

"but what if it had been some of our boys, eh?"

What about you folks out there? Are there any periods or scenario's you in particular feel uncomfortable with?

Art of War Games Campaign Books

Art of War games (publishers of the free Get Some: Fantasy Warfare and Get Some: Future Warfare rules) produce a number of epic campaigns and scenario books that are completely compatible with the GZG's Full Thrust, Star Grunt II and Dirtside II rules-systems. Most of the various campaigns use all three of GZG's rule-books to incorporate Fleet Actions, Battalion/Company scale ground warfare and platoon level ground warfare scenarios.

Most of these scenario books are literally dirt cheap, costing no more than $2 or $3 to download from Wargames Vault and well worth the money, even if you only intend to mine them for ideas rather than play through the whole campaign yourself.

What follows isn't a proper review (as I haven't played through or even read most of these books). It's more an exercise in bring their existence to the attention of people who might be interested.

(Note: You can download the GZG rulebooks mentioned using the links to the left of this article) 

The Sentai Campaign is published in two parts. Book One details humanities efforts to enlist allies in their war against the Synod. It includes new ships, new units and 12 scenario's for Full Thrust, Dirtside and Stargrunt. Book Two contains a further 12 scenarios detailing additional battles for the Sentai sector.

The Ghost War Campaign continues the story after the Sentai Campaign, and so far consists of no less than 9 separate scenario books, each with around a dozen scenarios.

The Alpha Centauri Campaign occurs in the same universe as the previous two campaigns, but I'm not entirely sure how it fits into the ongoing story as yet. The campaign involves an intelligence point and a Logistics point system to represent the ebb and flow of supplies and information available to the players.

The various books of the new "Regiments" series each center on the exploits of a single regiment. However, the books aren't quite stand-alone. The later books in the series tend to refer back to earlier books rather than repeat vehicle and unit stats. Even so, the books have a very "Hammer's Slammers" or "Falconbergs Legion" feel to them that should really appeal to a lot of 15mm sci-fi gamers. 

All of these books are available from Wargame Vault.

Probably the biggest issue with these books is whether or not the scenario's are balanced. The books seem to be released at a rate of once a week or so. It's unlikely any of the scenario's have been playtested. Many of them aren't. But I believe that's a deliberate part of the design philosophy. After all, how often does a general go looking for a fair fight?

Edit: I've just learned from TMP that at least some of the photographs used in these supplements are copyrighted pictures which have been used without permission: link

The link also leads to a very interesting review of one of the recently released Regiment books. A second review can be found here.

Post Apoc Terrain from GW?

Well, not really. But the Warhammer walls set really does paint up well as part of the post apoc landscape. Despite my best efforts, I've not really managed to do much in the way of painting miniatures or terrain for post-apocalyptic gaming these last few weeks. Having to take some time off last week when the family came to visit was part of it, but mostly it comes down to just being far too busy. I've had to cut out my usual habit of painting my own stuff on my lunch breaks and simply skip lunch altogether (dearly beloved it not happy about this).

I did manage to snatch an hour or so on Sunday to finish the Warhammer Walls set, which has been languishing in it's undercoated state since October. It took no time at all really. Simple drybrushing for the most part, with the metal and rust effects painted on when all the drybrushing was over. Still, for such a rushed effort, I think they really look the part.

Aftermath: Post Apocalypse Project Revived

For centuries, there had been talk of the end-times. Fears of the Rapture, Nuclear War, Ancient Prophecies, Alien Invasion, Meteor Strikes, Fuel Crisis, Super-flu, Zombie-Plagues, Super Volcanoes, Zombie Plagues, Demonic Incursions, Robot Rebellions, Economic Collapse, Melting Ice Caps, Greenhouse Gasses released by for. 

No one expected all of it to happen at once.

When the smoke and dust cleared, earth was left a wasteland. The few nations and major cities to survive walled themselves off from the world, becoming the PZ's, or Policed Zones. Bastions of civilisation, education, science - and oppression. Only the Wastelanders, those cursed to live and roam in the Wastes, are truly free.

Free to hunt. Free to scavenge. Free to kill.

Mission Statement:

 Aftermath is my PA skirmish war-game setting ( and the title for my inevitable pet home-brew rules). It's a kitchen sink setting with room for just about everything and anything PA. Until my home made rules are ready, I'll be using the 40K: Rogue Trader rules to play PA games.

Why 40K Rogue Trader?:

Because the original 40K Rogue Trader game was designed from the ground up as a "kitchen sink" set of narrative skirmish sci-fi rules. Unlike the modern 40K game, where the conflicting groups are more of less organized armies, Rogue Trader allows you to create just about any type of force you can imagine, from a group of Wasteland Scavengers and mutants to a crew of road-warriors. And, if points value driven games are your thing, you can even assign a points value to your mooks based not only on their equipment, but on their stat line too.

What About These Rules You're Developing:

Frankly, they're a work in progress, designed to incorporate the very best elements of a number of game systems. Essentially, I'll be taking the following elements from each of the named game systems below and weaving them into a (hopefully) coherent whole.
[] From 40K Rogue Trader I'll be taking the ability to create creatures and vehicles from scratch and still being able to assign a rough points value for each trait.
[] From Necromunda I'll be modifying the rules for acquiring and running territories.
[] From Gorka Morka I'll be looking at vehicle combat and maintenance.
[] From In The Emperor's Name I'll be modifying the Solo-Campaign and Combat rules.
[] From the Judge Dredd Miniatures Game I'll be taking the Skill Tree and Hero/Minion experience scheme.

Articles so Far:

This isn't really a new project so much as kick-starting an older project I had to abandon in October last year, when most of my Post Apocalypse terrain and miniatures went into storage prior to moving down to Kent. Well, now that I've been here for a grand total of three weeks, it's time I got started again. In the meantime, here's some previous blog posts you might want to take a look at:

Battle Reports:

Attack on Hadley's Post: Scenario
Attack on Hadley's Post pt I
Attack on Hadley's Post pt II

Miniatures and Terrain:

Aftermath Update
Great Ebay Find
Terrain WIP
Vault Dwellers (I use them as Vanners these days)

Aftermath Rules Articles:

Aftermath Theory
Gangs and Crews

Saying Good-Bye to the old Fire Magnets

I've come to a difficult decision earlier today. I've been humming and hawing about it for a while, but in the end I decided it just had to be done. I'm parting with some old treads.

The four armoured vehicles in the post below were painted for my Imperial Guard army, and ended up getting painted red despite the fact my troops eventually ended up suitably garbed for sandy desert conditions. Given that I've never been a huge fan of the current IG infantry ranges available anyway, I've been considering getting rid of the entire army and -rebuilding it using Mantic Corporation troopers instead. But while I'd probably make more from selling a complete army rather than four individual vehicles, I can't bear to part with my IG infantry just yet.

Maybe when all those Mantic ones are painted though....

So here they are, a final look at four Imperial Guard vehicles that I don't think I ever got around to posting on this blog anway.

They're up on eBay by the way. If anyone's interested, leave a comment and I'll send you a link

They're up on eBay by the way. If anyone's interested, leave a comment and I'll send you a link.

So long guys. You Chimera's weren't much use, but those Leman Russ' nearly won me a battle or two.

A Year in Gaming

Looking at my (babdly named) Victory Roll for the year, I see that I played a total of 71 games this year. Not bad, and certainly more than I was expecting.

Here's the breakdown:

26 Wins
37 Losses
8 Drawn

Not exactly a glorious list of victories, but good enough to suit me really, and pretty reflective of my actual war-gaming prowess (or lack of them). I'm one of those people blessed (or cursed) with the satisfaction of knowing that my efforts help keep other gamers win:loss ratios favourable.

So what were the highlights of my gaming year?

Well, starting in no particular order, this month was a bit of a weather-change. I won 7 of my eight games. Granted,  four of those wins were playing Once About A Time the card game with my wife, but she's a gamer too so they still count (I'm reaching a bit here, aren't I?). I also won my first  ever game of King of Tokyo, the rampaging giant monster game, in a field of six players. Then I went on to win my first ever game of Dreadball. But just in case you think it was all beginners luck this month, I should also point out that I lost my first ever game of Blood Bowl Team-Manager as well.

Other highlights for me were my abominable 16 game losing streak with my 40K Imperial Guard army. This has been counter-balanced a little by my ongoing streak of 6 games without a loss using my Chaos Space Marines. My track record with the army is 5 wins, 1 draw and 2 losses so far, not bad considering that the losses were in my first two games. 0ne loss was against Doug's fearsome Daemons ,  the other against fellow pod-caster and high-end tournament player Liam. That was the game featured in the video battle-report in the last post.

The Draw? That was against Rich, another regular tournament winner and Chaos of the Warp host; with his Khorne-themed Chaos Space Marine and Daemon Army.

All in all, it's been a good year. I seem to have gotten back into 40K at just the right time, on the cusp of the 6th edition release. While I haven't exactly covered myself in glory this year, I can't help but think that next year will be different. If it hadn't been for the death of my god friend and fellow gamer, Spencer Werner, in July; it would have been a very good gaming year indeed.

January 2012:
Runewar (Humans) : 1 Loss
Saga (Normans): 1 Loss
In the Emperor's Name (Imp Guard) 1 Win, 1 Loss, 1 Draw.
W40K 5th ed: (Space Marines) 1 Win.

February 2012:
In The Emperor's Name (Necrons) 1 Loss (Moral Victory)

March 2012:
Blood Bowl (Humans) 1 Loss.
Heavy Gear (Emirates) 1 Win.

April 2012:
AE-WWII (Finns) 1 Win, 1 Loss
Tomorrow's War (Xenos) 1 Loss
Empire of the Dead 1 Win
Blood Bowl (Humans) Drawn 2

May 2012:
Malefaux (first ever game) 1 Loss.
AE-WWII (Finns) 1 Loss
Empire of the Dead 1 Loss.
Heavy Gear 1 Win
Blood Bowl 1 Win, 2 Lost.
W40K 1 Win, 1 Loss.

June 2012:
40K 4 Lost,
Bang 2 Lost,
Battletech 2 Wins

July 2012:
40K: 5 Lost
Battletech: 1 Win, 1 Loss.

August 2012:
40K: 1 Loss
Battletech: 1 Win. 2 Loss

September 2012:
Nilch. De Nada. Nothing.

October 2012:
40k: 2 Win, 7 Lost, 1 Drawn
Battletech: 1 Win
Blood Bowl: 1 Win, 2 Drawn, 1 Loss

November 2012:
40k: 4 Win. 1 Drawn
X-Wing: 1 Loss, 1 Draw
Battletech: 1 Win

December 2012:
King of Tokyo: 1 Win
BB Team Manager: 1 Loss
Once Upon a Time: 4 Wins
Dreadball: 1 Win

Battle Report: Black Templars vs Chaos Space Marines

Back from Holiday and already it looks like January is going to be a busy (and therefore) a very happy month for Lead Legion.

As I've been on my hols, I don't really have anything to post up (yet) miniatures wise, but I thought I'd share a video battle report of my recent game with fellow pod-caster Liam. Liam has been taking part in a challenge called 50 games in 50 weeks featuring video battle reports of his three main 40K armies at work. In this battle-report, he takes on my Chaos Space Marines.

I'm the babbling fool in the brown hoodie, by the way