Monthly Archives: January 2015

Rules

Warhammer

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Warhammer first edition seems a surprisingly common item. It contains 3 rulebooks as seemed mandated by D&D and has options for both role-playing and wargaming. Compared to what was to come, the look is surprisingly drab.

Next to it is the very colorful 3rd edition which seems to have gotten things together pretty well, with full coverage of the wargaming rules.

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Here is the 6th edition. Games Workshop discovered the benefits of planned obsolescence and rulebooks will soon go out of date so there are always more to come. There is a shift here to a handy paperback format and next to it is a very nice short rulebook which removes a lot of the fluff in the big book. These are usually included in large introductory game packs.

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By now, every type of army has its own special book. That was one of the beauties of Warhammer, the complexity was in the chrome rather than the underlying core ruleset. At this stage, though, even the chrome was limited especially with what appears to be the first book of army lists, Ravening Hordes which was soon followed by a more plush book Warhammer Armies.

Army lists allow a player to determine a suitable makeup for an army providing troop types, statistics and point values. With Warhammer, this usually means some figures will be mandated, others optional with point values determining just how many options are available. Point values also are meant to insure army equity so that 2 players can feel reasonably certain that if the points values are equal, the armies will be. Additionally, increasing total points will usually increase the complexity and length of a game.
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Likely an abortive attempt to sell the Warhammer fortress, there is a big book of siege rules that cover both Warhammer and Warhammer 40K. There is no compelling need to use the rules with the fortress. A 2-dimensional layout should do just as well.

Rules

Star Fleet Battles

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Well, of course this would be on the list. Task Force Games was a small company dedicated to small games so how did they come up with this monster? This neat version of the game in its own blue notebook binder is one of many complete with supplements and extensions, a kind of Squad Leader for outer space. The Star Trek license moved around a bit but this is the game one most closely associates with it. Amazing that the same company came up with the elegantly simple space combat game Starfire. The game and everything to go with it is now available from Amarillo Design Bureau.

Here is a link to a introductory version of the game:
Starfleet Cadet Handbook

Rules

WRG De Bellis Antiquitatis & De Bellis Multitudinis

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De Bellis Antiquitatis
De Bellis Antiquitatis

De Bellis Multitudinis
De Bellis Multitudinis

WRG with another version of ancients rules. The difference here is that the armies are small, very small. Many rule set scenarios require thousands of figures so it is nice to have one that mandates smaller armies yet maintains some historical flavor, part of a backlash against a then burgeoning complexity that made wargaming less and less accessible. Additionally, the rules are trimmed back substantially making for a quicker, less demanding game. De Bellis Multitudinous adapts the rules for larger size armies and offers four booklets of army lists while Antiquitatis incorporates a single list in the rules.

DBA is likely one of the most popular rules sets.  The book is short and contains all the necessary army lists so unlike other sets, DBA is self contained.   Each army is composed of 12 units of 2 – 4 figures ensuring a player needs less than 50 figures for an army.  With the small number of figures it becomes possible to collect more than one army.

The rules are reasonably simple.  Players alternate movement.  At the end of a movement phase, both players allocate fire attacks.  Units in contact than resolve melee combat.

Movement is governed by a die.  The number shown is the number of units that may move.  Units that are in contact and parallel or following may be treated as a single unit.  One side loses when it loses its general or 4 units (a base camp on the edge of the board counts as 2 units) and has more losses than the opposing army.  Since games are bounded by a limited playing surface, battles tend to be brief affairs.

DBA helpfully contains army lists within the rules, one of the neat simplifications in the system. DBM offers 4 separate books detailing a range of armies covering most of the world and presented in pretty exhaustive detail.

DBM follows the simplicity of DBA but expands on the dicing for movement rules with each army broken into individual commands and diced for separately.  The army lists offered are far more varied and elaborate and fill 4 separate booklets.  Troop breakdowns seem fairly obscure.  For example, Teutonic Orders from 1201 -1522 AD contain Knechte(regular cavalry), Turkopolen(Irregular cavalry), and Livonian horse archers(irregular light horse) among others while the DBA listing specifies only knights and cavalry for mounted troops.  DBM does offer an avenue for expanding an existing DBA army into one a bit more epic.

A helpful resource for DBA is The Unofficial Guide to DBA which clarifies some of the more cryptic elements in the tersely written DBA.  DBA, DBM, and the army list books are currently available in PDF form on the Internet and provide an easy way to begin playing with a nominal expenditure.

Administrative, General

Ho-Hum

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Somehow, returning from the holidays is never very pleasant and if not for Martin Luther King Jr., would be unbearable. The holidays saw the arrival of a new child. It also brought the opportunity to rifle through dozens of old boxes of stuff. I found some stuff I did not realize I had and began to wonder if it might be time to repaint the lesser Orcan army.

A lot of stuff came to light including ancient catalogs and convention fliers all of which contain interesting information on things past. I also found some interesting rule books including two from Fantasy Games, Down Styphon and Bireme & Galley. So there is a lot of work needed to add things to the site and hopefully at some point get around to the main focus and play some games.

Conventions

Historicon

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After a lapse of almost 10 years, I once again sought out a convention, this time Historicon. The convention is run by the Historical Miniatures Gaming Society. The original location was a large hotel and convention center in Harrisburg, PA, but the space was too small to accommodate the large convention so it was later moved to a hotel in Lancaster and even later moved to Fredericksburg, VA.

Historicon 95 Dealers List Imagine a time when the Internet was in its infancy. Walking into the dealers' room was like walking into a fabulous miniatures mega-store.
Historicon 95 Dealers List
Imagine a time when the Internet was in its infancy. Walking into the dealers’ room was like walking into a fabulous miniatures mega-store.

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The convention is devoted to miniatures wargaming and there is surprisingly little else on display which is of course pretty delightful. There is a flea market, a dealers’ area, and considerable room for gaming and presentations. A stroll through the gaming area is always interesting as some clubs and individuals will put on games with stunning figures and terrain. It can be a bit overwhelming but at the same time a helpful inspiration. If you want to see just how far gaming has gone, this is the place.

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