Recruits and Stuff

 

 

Recruits 2022 is happening next weekend in Lee's Summit, Missouri. I'll be running two games on Saturday afternoon featuring Wiley Games' Fistful of Lead Bigger Battles set in the French & Indian War. The game will be similar to our Battles & Brews outing, including the use of my rules amendments. . . which Wiley Games is sharing for free here. . . so if you couldn't make it to Battles & Brews, Recruits is your second chance to play a fun historically-themed game in an iconic setting with big "toy-soldier-scale" models.

And the other "stuff" I mentioned? Mr. Daniel Mersey, of Lion Rampant fame, got some of my money twice last month! Lion Rampant Second Edition has been released. It's a good game that I had a few thoughts on back in the day. . .

 

Also from Mr. Mersey, Armoured Storm, an inexpensive little game of World War 2 tank warfare in North Africa that I'm looking forward to playing. . . some day.

 

See ya!

So long, 2018!

"2018 is behind us, men, but keep yer eyes peeled lest it sneak up on us again!"
Pretty much sums up how I feel about 2018. So far, the first week of 2019 is off to a much better start than 2018, seeing as how I'm not planning my mother's funeral or helping my wife recuperate from an emergency appendectomy! Still can't help looking over my shoulder, though, just a little . . .

Didn't get any gaming in over the holidays, though I did have good intentions. I did, instead, with just a little time off from work, give free reign to the Butterfly Brain. I repainted the John Jenkins guys in the photo above as officers of the Pennsylvania Provincials. The sergeants' green coats with red facings and gray gaiters were once red coats with blue facings and tan gaiters.

Still enjoying the NFL playoffs, especially since the Chiefs are still in! Games give me a chance to do some "mindless projecting" while I watch - for example I varnished the entire regiment of Pennsylvania Provincials last weekend:

Now I just need a warm day to spray with matte finish before basing. . . which might be awhile here in Minnesota! 

Still reviewing F&IW rules with campaigning with Bayonets & Tomahawks in mind (play-testing was put on hold), and Sharp Practice 2 is still holding my attention. Will give Rebels and Patriots a look, too, when it releases later this month.

"Flitting" ahead about 700 years to Star Trek, I built parts of a 1/1000-scale Enterprise, before deciding the models at this scale were just too much work for the pay-off. I know, based on my earlier rant about scale in space, I went in the wrong direction, but I had to get it out of my system. Firmly decided to stay at 1/2500-scale now. Firmly. Yup, decidedly.

On the subject of scale, we flit back nearly three thousand years to the Punic Wars. Still my favorite historical period. . . so much so I've never been able to commit to a scale! I have unpainted armies in both 15mm (Xyston) and 28mm (various makers). Though 15mm makes more sense for massed battles, I just "like" 28mm models. The new Victrix plastic Romans and Gauls are really nice:

 

Then, to make this scale thing even harder for me, John Jenkins releases a new Punic Wars range! DBA would be glorious in 54mm and the only way - for me - to play a massed battle at this scale!

I will note that Mr. Jenkins is bringing the same eye for drama and authenticity to this range that makes his F&IW figures so compelling. Maybe it makes more sense to play something like Lion Rampant or Saga. . . but I don't necessarily always make sense. Hey, a guy can dream, can't he! 

And finally, speaking of Saga, I picked up the new Book of Battles supplement, which has rules for new scenarios, massed battles - including a multi-player format - and a campaign. I am not currently playing Saga, but I follow it.

That's enough flitting around for now - it's almost game time. GO CHIEFS!

 

What Am I Reading Now?

My Butterfly Brain is apparent in some of the books I've added to my reading list. I'm really looking forward to wading into Dr. Matthew's hefty book on the Macedonian pike phalanx. Also of "ancient" interest are new books on Rome and Syracusan tyrants, as well as a new set of fast-play wargame rules for classical naval battles from Osprey Publishing.

Here are a couple of new books on the French and Indian War. I highly recommend the new Osprey COMBAT  - it directly inspired my recent Black Powder game of La Belle Famille.

 Osprey just released a new Campaign book on the Gempei War, of course by Dr. Turnbull.

The recent wargaming "glossies" have relevant content, too. This one has a review of The Baron's Fistful of Lead rules by Lion and Dragon Rampant author Daniel Mersey, as well as a mention of his most excellent blog.

All have reviews of the new black-powder-era skirmish rules Sharp Practice 2 from Too Fat Lardies, which have a section devoted to the French and Indian War. The Norman Conquest issue features some Lion Rampant and Hail Caesar! articles to help scratch that Dark Ages itch.

 
See ya!
 

Lion Rampant?

Yup. And Dragon Rampant, too. Do I like em? Yup. Wanna know why? Because they remind me of DBA/HOTT. A lot. And you know coming from me that's high praise.

So how are they similar? Both games primary design goal was for a simple, fast game. DBA 3.0, in its introduction, says, "Our original intent was to provide the simplest possible set of wargames rules that retain the feel and generalship requirements of ancient or medieval battle." Similarly, Lion Rampant states,"Keep the rules simple, streamlined and abstracted where appropriate: don't make players continually thumb through the rulebook. Quick play and minimal record-keeping to allow multiple games in one session." DBA 3.0 concurs: "A game usually lasts less than an hour, so that a 6 round convention competition can be completed in one day. . ."

Significantly for me, their key similarity is the way the combatants are defined. As DBA 3.0 describes: "Wargamers pay more attention to weaponry than did ancient commanders. Surviving ancient manuals lump all foot skirmishers as psiloi whether armed with javelins, sling or bow, defining them by function rather than armament. We have applied the same principle throughout with no apparent loss of overall realism. Morale and training distinctions have also been discarded as linked with function. Thus, most knights are rash, all warbands are fierce but brittle, all skirmishers are timid."

Lion Rampant takes a similar approach: "Embrace medieval caricatures: knights should be headstrong, spearmen resolute, tribesmen fierce, and light cavalry agile. Performance is abstracted: make sure units 'feel' right." Unlike DBA, Rampant embraces unit training upgrades and downgrades, providing some differentiation between "green" and "veteran" units. Again unlike DBA, Rampant uses a point system to build equivalent opposing forces.

Here's a spreadsheet I built showing how the two game systems classify similar troop types in both "historical" and "fantastical" manner. . . I know.

Both games use about the same number of models to represent an "army;" about fifty figures, give or take a few, depending on the army. This permits one to collect a variety of different armies when one has budget or time constraints. Aesthetically, this works in Lion Rampant's favor, as it is designed to represent skirmishes, as opposed to DBA's focus on classic field battles. Another nod to the skirmish level of Rampant is the use of scenarios, which provides some variation from the classic "line 'em up and go at it" nature inherent to larger battles. Models are based individually in Rampant, instead of on "elements" of 2 or more representing larger units in DBA, and this also appeals to the "skirmish aesthetic" because terrain can be more complex and interesting when you don't have to accommodate large bases. I hope it's become apparent that building convincing terrain has become a big part of the hobby for me. 

HOTT (the fantasy companion of DBA) has been criticized (not by me) for an overly simplistic representation of magic, and if that is your assessment, you may like Dragon Rampant's simple but more detailed spell system.

Rampant uses an activation system that has become fairly common today; an activation roll on one or more dice, but gives it a nice nuance by rating each type of unit for movement, shooting, charging and morale, neatly giving each type (knights, spearmen, etc.) a personality and definite battlefield use.

What does all this mean? I am definitely not leaving DBA 3.0 for Ancients "army-scale" gaming, and may use 15mm to get more of that "massed army" feel, but for my Dark Age/Fantasy gaming I am seriously considering moving toward the Rampant family of rules and individual basing, and using some of my F&IW terrain in dual service. Individual bases also have the added advantage of permitting other skirmish rules to be played, too, should I get the opportunity.

And, because someone is bound to ask, "How does Dragon Rampant compare to Saga?" here is my take. I understand why the battleboard system, with special boards and dice for each Dark Age faction, is appealing to gamers of the period. In most wargames rules, one Dark Age warrior fights much like another, so the battleboards and faction-specific rules of Saga give each warband a unique personality. But for me, the system intrudes upon the game "experience;" I am too conscious of the game and its mechanics and less involved with the "narrative" unfolding. 

So we'll see if this goes anywhere. I am deep into the Great 54mm Basing Upgrade still. . .

See ya!




 

The Great 54mm Basing Upgrade Goes On. . .

Some more bases completed; General Montcalm and a Native ally shown above. Following are some British and Colonial Officers, British Regulars of the 44th Regiment, French Colonial Marine Regulars, and some veteran French Marines in campaign dress.

Still lots more bases to do, but next up, Cluck Amok considers Lion Rampant and it's growing number of variants.

See ya!