Red Alert! I'm back! I'm back? You didn't notice I hadn't posted for a couple of months? Well, the Red Alert isn't for me. . . more on me at the end of this post. First, the gaming content.
Richard Borg and PSC games launched a Kickstarter for a new space fleet game, and I'm all in: Red Alert. It uses the tried and true Commands and Colors board game system that started with the American Civil War, then moved into WW2, Ancients, Napoleonics, WW1 and now to what would seem an unlikely genre, space fleet combat. I am a fan of Commands and Colors: Ancients from GMT Games and have played a lot of games using 15mm miniatures. I also own and play Commands and Colors: Samurai Battles by Zvezda.
So, does this system work for "space combat?" The kickstarter actually posts the complete rules for download.
I really like the "fleet" aspect and emphasis on "positional" warfare as opposed to "dogfighting in space" like WW2 airplanes. My plan will be to exchange the multiple miniatures per unit to track losses with the individual 1/2500-scale Star Trek miniatures, tracking losses with "shield" markers instead of additional ship miniatures. That will mean about 12 ships (plus fighters) per side. The game ships in March 2019, which should be enough time to build the models, but we'll see!
Here are a few images from the Kickstarter. Hurry, if you're interested, it closes in about 40 hours.
So where have I been? Getting new knees. Or, at least getting the first of two partial knee replacements. Hereditary osteoarthritis and years of martial arts training finally made the replacements essential, at least if I want to be able to walk for more than 15 minutes at a time! Surgery, rehab exercises and a full-time-plus job is cutting into hobby time. Plan is to get the second knee done in the fall.
I decided NOT to leave you with a Cluck-Amok-style selfie featuring my new scar : )
While reading A Wilderness of Miseries by John E. Ferling, I came across this passage in a chapter about typical military discipline during the American Revolutionary War that surprised me:
"Some of the orders were designed to protect the troops from one another, to prevent accidental or deliberate injuries; for instance at the outset of the war officers were notified to fine soldiers around Boston who tried to catch British-fired cannon balls before they stopped bouncing."
Who has to be told, under threat of fine, not to catch a cannon ball?
Made ya look! Construction is underway at Castle FusterCluck.
Since I can't get to any of my projects, I've been doing some rules research. I am currently fascinated by THW's Nuts Big Battle rules. I like the scale (company-sized battles) and the relatively marker-free environment. I think they would work great for micro-armor; I'd just have to adapt for early North Africa.
I'm also quite taken with THW's Future Tales; pulp action in a science fantasy universe. For Barsoom, of course. . . who knows if Modiphius will ever actually get to the miniatures rules.
See ya!
A couple of "100-year-rain-events" within a couple weeks put enough water in our basement to ruin the wood flooring we recently installed. . . and the insurance company ruled we are on our own. . .
So, this time we are going to tile. Above is a shot of the room with all the wood taken up and piled and the bookshelves moved to the middle of the room. No hobby time for me for a couple of weeks.
As a reminder, here's what it looked like before the water damage:
See ya!
Here's something you may never see again on this blog - Cold War action! Or in this case Cold War gone hot. I was invited to join a game of Challenger 2000 (I think) at our local Recon gaming event.
I was on the Russian team, tasked with clearing the Americans from the urban area, somewhere in Europe, pictured above. American armor and infantry held the urban center, with armored support in the wooded areas on both sides of the town. While my team mates provided fire support on the American armor on the flanks, I was tasked with rushing two companies of Soviet infantry in BMPs into the town from the cover of some woods and a white phosphorous smoke screen. "Expect some casualties," I was told.
My small armored company of T-90s suppressed the American tanks in the woods initially but were soon destroyed in turn. My infantry then dismounted behind the smokescreen and headed toward the town on foot, with the BMPs racing ahead to try to neutralize the American infantry in the buildings.
Then suddenly a British armored column appeared on our right flank and started a turkey shoot on my BMPs!
While my infantry worked its way into town, my team mate (Bruce) chased the American armor out of the woods on our left flank . . . and into the town where I assume the rest of the fighting took place.
I "assume" because I had to leave the game before it was finished - a definite "party foul" on my part but couldn't be helped. I wonder if "we" cleared the town, too.
See ya!
Oh. . . and Merry Christmas!
Star Trek?! Surprised? My Butterfly Brain takes wing again. . .
Some background. . . and a WARNING: this post is text-heavy and riddled with personal opinions - if you read on feel free to disagree with any or all : )
The original Star Trek TV series was a real part of my childhood, and I turned into a fan of TNG (The Next Generation) begrudgingly, of course. Who would dare try to replace Captain James Tiberius Kirk? Picard made it work, but l lost interest with the onset of the later series. And I like the new "prequel" movies, presumably because they hearken back to the original TV series, but with all the new modern CG thrills. Outside of the Borg in TNG, for me it's all about the Federation stand-off with the Klingons and the Romulans!
I've always kinda wanted to game ship-to-ship in the Star Trek world, but all the games I was aware of were way too complicated for my taste. None of the models I saw appealed to me, either. Very important point. I love the ship designs from the original TV series-era through TNG and none of the metal castings - even painted - seemed to do them justice.
And there's that pesky scale problem. Well, two problems actually. First, the ships fight at distances measured in thousands of kilometers. How do you represent that on the tabletop?! You don't, really. You live with an abstraction of distance, or you can't put decent models on the table. So the models have to be small enough to represent a feeling of distance, but big enough to be worth modeling. Second, the ships have to be in scale with one another. They just have to be. It's part of the coolness factor in playing with model ships.
So where is this going? A couple weeks ago I happened across the WizKids Star Trek Attack Wing (STAW) game in the LHGS. STAW uses the same game engine used in the Star Wars X-Wing game, licensed from Fantasy Flight Games. It's a simple, fun system that works great for dog-fighting, so is a good fit with Star Wars and its "lots of fighters zipping around." X-Wing is not for me, though; I don't find the Star Wars universe compelling at all, and for dog-fighting I'll stick with Crimson Skies. And why the hell aren't I playing Crimson Skies, anyway? Maybe because I haven't asked anyone to play. . .
Getting back to STAW, the Attack Wing adaptation for capital ships - the Star Trek universe - is actually pretty clever, but just doesn't quite capture the feel of the big capital ships, partly because the distance scale looks wrong. (And speaking of scale, the model ships are not in scale with each other - not even close! Ack!) Finally, I don't like all the TV and movie characters being tied up with special events and crew capabilities. It works as a game mechanic; I just don't like the feel.
In tooling around the net looking for reviews of STAW (you can download the rules from the WizKids site) I happened across the release of the new ACTASF: A Call to Arms: Star Fleet on BoardgameGeek.
You can get it for free (actually "pay what you want") for a limited time on WargameVault, so I won't bother with a review. I will say that it has more of a "wargame" feel, but is still low on the complexity scale, with a good feel for scale (still abstracted) and the differences in the ships of the various factions. So far, all of the ships are pre-TNG, but I'm ok with that. The capital ships of this era were generally similar in size and comparable in technology, so it's a good place to start. I would play this game. In fact, I'm thinking pretty seriously about playing this game.
So are there models for these rules? Yup, on the Amarillo design Bureau site. But they are metal, and I think these ships, at this scale, just look better as plastic model kits. A plastic model kit I found at a Michael's Craft store started this whole butterfly trip: a 1/2500 scale Enterprise D (from TNG). Round 2 Models has been releasing 1/2500 scale models of the ships from the TV-series and movies as part of their MPC/Cadet series. The original Enterprise is just over 4" long in 1/2500 scale; Enterprise D in this scale is over 10" long! That scale thing again. . . you start to get a sense of how big that Galaxy-class starship is supposed to be when you set it next to the original Enterprise.
After a little research, I found some more plastic model kits - all in 1/2500 scale - apparently the One True Scale for Trek. A new (?) trend seems to be extensive decal coverage simulating the "aztec" patterning on the Federation hulls. Looks really good if done properly.
Some good sources for models:
All-Scale Trek has a listing of all "known" Trek models.
Deltra Quadrant makes resin 1/2500-scale models. I bought a couple and they are very nice; good detail, very crisp casting and minimal flash.
Federation Models is another good US source for more 1/2500-scale models.
Anyone want to play some A Call to Arms: Star Fleet? I'll add it to my project list : )
I hope everyone - at least those of you who reside in the US - had an enjoyable Memorial Day, and found a way to say "thank you" to someone for their service.
We are finally getting Spring here in Minnesota so outdoor chores trumped game projects this weekend. I made a tiny bit of progress on the Forest Edge Strips. . . but I promised not to bother you again until they were completed. They're not, so I'll improvise a bit.
I had a birthday last week. Sort of a milestone. . . 55. My celebration plan was to leave work early enough to have dinner at 4:30 in the afternoon at some "fine eatery" that catered to "early bird specials" for the "senior set." But it was raining - hard - and the rain kinda makes my joints ache, and it just seemed like a lot of effort, after all. . . so I bagged it. Seems rather appropriate, now that I think about it.
Still improvising, here's a recent photo of Jack.
He's two years old now. Compare his size relative to my hands in this post to see how he's grown.
Well, back to those Strips I am not mentioning. . .
See ya!
It ain't perfect, but there's no place we'd rather live. Jack's ready for the fireworks!
Despite the recent focus on work, I did finish a book: The War of the World by Niall Ferguson. It took a while; it is over 600 pages long before the footnotes start!
Amazon describes the book thus:
Astonishing in its scope and erudition, this is the magnum opus that
Niall Ferguson's numerous acclaimed works have been leading up to. In
it, he grapples with perhaps the most challenging questions of modern
history: Why was the twentieth century history's bloodiest by far? Why
did unprecedented material progress go hand in hand with total war and
genocide? His quest for new answers takes him from the walls of Nanjing
to the bloody beaches of Normandy, from the economics of ethnic
cleansing to the politics of imperial decline and fall. The result, as
brilliantly written as it is vital, is a great historian's masterwork.
Also from Amazon, a review, from Publisher's Weekly:
Why, if life was improving so rapidly for so many people at the
dawn of the 20th century, were the next hundred years full of brutal
conflict? Ferguson (Colossus) has a relatively simple answer:
ethnic unrest is prone to break out during periods of economic
volatility—booms as well as busts. When they take place in or near areas
of imperial decline or transition, the unrest is more likely to
escalate into full-scale conflict. This compelling theory is applicable
to the Armenian genocide in Turkey, the slaughter of the Tutsis in
Rwanda or the "ethnic cleansing" perpetrated against Bosnians, but the
overwhelming majority of Ferguson's analysis is devoted to the two world
wars and the fate of the Jews in Germany and eastern Europe. His richly
informed analysis overturns many basic assumptions. For example, he
argues that England's appeasement of Hitler in 1938 didn't lead to WWII,
but was a misinformed response to a war that had started as early as
1935. But with Ferguson's claims about "the descent of the West" and the
smaller wars in the latter half of the century tucked away into a
comparatively brief epilogue, his thoughtful study falls short of its
epic promise. (Sept. 25)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
The first chapter was a slog, but once the author's premise was established and the historical narrative began the slogging turned to pleasure. Well, "pleasure" may be a stretch since the subject matter is so unrelentingly grim. Some perspectives I found intriguing:
• The "War of the World" lasted from the turn of the 20th Century until the signing of the Korean Armistice in 1953, and what followed in its wake, the Cold War, could also be called the "Third World's War."
• World War 2 could have been averted had Britain and/or France attacked Germany preemptively in 1938 instead of embracing the policy of appeasement.
• Josef Stalin's Soviet Union was the single clear "winner" of World War 2.
There's a lot more; I learned a lot about the situations in Europe before World War 1 and in Asia before World War 2.
See ya!
It's been two months since my last post. Work has literally taken over my life. So having found myself in Nashville with a couple of hours to kill after closing down a trade show, I treated myself to the Sensuous Steel exhibit at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts.
20 vehicles from the era of Art Deco, Moderne, Streamline - and Crimson Skies - are on display, housed in a beautifully restored Art Deco style building. I found it an awesome experience. Go see it if you can. Here's a little taste of what you will see.
See ya!
