This fall I am running a Hordes of the Things campaign for friends both near and far. It will kind of work on two different levels.
First the Strategic campaign will be played by friends who do not live in Saskatoon. They will act as the heads of state for the various nations involved and conduct diplomatic negotiations via email and submit movement orders for their field army once per week (on Mondays).
Second will be the tabletop battles which will be played out by those that do live in and around Saskatoon at our regular Wednesday night game night. The strategic email campaign will essentially act as a scenario generator for our weekly games night.
I’m just working on a good copy of the map right now and sorting out who is playing which nation. Stay tuned for regular campaign updates! The map will be done in the next couple days, armies deployed next week, and the first campaign turn begins the following week!!
Oh and the strategic players aren’t going to know who each other are… (all correspondence will be filed through me!). So if you’re playing in the strategic campaign and commenting on this blog – please try to not give away who you are playing!?
Showing posts with label Game Plan 09. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Game Plan 09. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Lies
As the old saying goes there are three types of lies: Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics…
Over on the left there you will see a page element titled 2009 Totals. I originally got the idea from Patricks Hobby Shed. So last year I started keeping track of how many things I’ve painted. It was kind of fun to keep track of how much I actually cranked out.
So this year I added “figures purchased”… This was to keep track of how many toys I actually buy over the year and to be able to compare it to how much I’ve painted.
I’ve been doing pretty good so far – painting far more than I’ve purchased… well… up until a couple weeks ago….
To date I have painted 601 foot, 100 mounted, 2 vehicles, 3 artillery pieces, and 5 buildings or strongholds – these are all for 28mm figures. Up until last week I had purchased 366 foot, 61 mounted, 3 vehicles, 6 guns. A fair chunk of them are GW plastic figures I picked up off of ebay.
I’ve finally updated the figures purchased after the big ancients sale at Rafm and an order to the the Sentry Box. I’ve now, to date, purchased 825 foot, 142 mounted, 9 Vehicles, and 7 artillery pieces…. Oi! If I manage to not buy any more stuff this year I think I’ll be able to catch up and paint more than I’ve purchased by the end of the year. Of course since I started the year with a considerable amount of unpainted led and plastic I was hoping to have painted a lot MORE than I purchased…
The totals also don’t include figures I have received in trade – for either stuff I’ve traded away or in trade for figures I’ve painted for others… should it? Should I also keep track of figures I trade away then? Included in the painted totals are figures I’ve painted in trade for figures received…
I’ve seen some others that do similar things, like Neldoreth’s at An Hour of Wolves and Shattered Shields. He’s taken a slightly different approach that I really like – instead of purchased and painted he’s just kept track of Unpainted Figure Totals. I’d like to do something similar, perhaps an annual figures painted vs. figures unpainted total – broken down by period/scale/etc.
We shall see…
Over on the left there you will see a page element titled 2009 Totals. I originally got the idea from Patricks Hobby Shed. So last year I started keeping track of how many things I’ve painted. It was kind of fun to keep track of how much I actually cranked out.
So this year I added “figures purchased”… This was to keep track of how many toys I actually buy over the year and to be able to compare it to how much I’ve painted.
I’ve been doing pretty good so far – painting far more than I’ve purchased… well… up until a couple weeks ago….
To date I have painted 601 foot, 100 mounted, 2 vehicles, 3 artillery pieces, and 5 buildings or strongholds – these are all for 28mm figures. Up until last week I had purchased 366 foot, 61 mounted, 3 vehicles, 6 guns. A fair chunk of them are GW plastic figures I picked up off of ebay.
I’ve finally updated the figures purchased after the big ancients sale at Rafm and an order to the the Sentry Box. I’ve now, to date, purchased 825 foot, 142 mounted, 9 Vehicles, and 7 artillery pieces…. Oi! If I manage to not buy any more stuff this year I think I’ll be able to catch up and paint more than I’ve purchased by the end of the year. Of course since I started the year with a considerable amount of unpainted led and plastic I was hoping to have painted a lot MORE than I purchased…
The totals also don’t include figures I have received in trade – for either stuff I’ve traded away or in trade for figures I’ve painted for others… should it? Should I also keep track of figures I trade away then? Included in the painted totals are figures I’ve painted in trade for figures received…
I’ve seen some others that do similar things, like Neldoreth’s at An Hour of Wolves and Shattered Shields. He’s taken a slightly different approach that I really like – instead of purchased and painted he’s just kept track of Unpainted Figure Totals. I’d like to do something similar, perhaps an annual figures painted vs. figures unpainted total – broken down by period/scale/etc.
We shall see…
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Campaign Plans
As I mentioned earlier I’d definitely like to try and run some more campaigns. To start with I’m going to run a play by email Hordes of the Things Fantasy Campaign in the fall. I’ll have a number of players out of town playing the various heads of state of the nations involved – they will be playing a game of diplomacy via email and the movements of their armies will create a scenario generator for tabletop battles played with however happens to be available to play locally…
I got to thinking, however, that I’d really like to run more one-day “in-person” campaigns, perhaps as many as two or three each year. I could possibly run one as early as this fall. If I ran three a year, distributing them evenly throughout the year, and used this past Campaign as the starting point that would put one in October and the next one in February. Both seem like they might be decent times. February is perfect for having a Wargaming Birthday Bash Campaign day! I’m not expecting that all the folks that came to the last one would be able to make it out to ALL of them, rather I’m hoping more regular campaigns might give some of the other folks who missed the last one an opportunity to get in on the action.
If I did host another campaign in October it would likely have to be another Hordes of the Things Fantasy campaign as I don’t think I’d have enough armies to do any others just yet – except maybe the “Back of Beyond” campaign. I have been thinking a lot about some possibilities for future campaigns. Here are a few of them…
HOTT – “Generic” Fantasy
Obviously I could easily throw together a HOTT Fantasy campaign any old time now that I have the armies I prepared for this first campaign. As I continue to add to these armies there will be more options for players and/or larger armies and the potential for more participants.
I have Elves, Orcs and Dwarves and Amanda’s “HOTT Chick” army. Of course any of the DBA historical forces I have can also be fielded as HOTT armies with (or without) the addition of a few extra fantastical elements. With the stuff I have (plus a couple extra things) I could easily put together a second Elf army (wood elves, maybe) and a second and third Orc and Dwarf Army!? (This doesn’t even include my Lord of the Rings armies…)
HOTT – Lord of the Rings
I think it would be fun to have a campaign set in Middle Earth around the time of the “War of the Ring” and I happen to have a number of suitable armies in the works. I have an Army of Isengard more or less completed and have enough stuff that I could put together armies for Rohan, Mordor, and Moria. I’d need to put together an army for Gondor and possibly some (more!?) Dwarves and some of the “Fallen Realms” – Harad, Easterlings, etc. That’ll probably be a ways off… But it’s fun to think about…
DBA – 1066+
This has sort of been a dream for a while, but I now have, in addition to more or less complete Anglo-Danish and Viking armies, enough figures to do Norman, Welsh, Irish, and Scotts armies! This is closer to happening than the Campaign for Middle Earth!
DBA-Roman Civil War
Okay I don’t actually know much about the history of Rome (which is sad, considering I did take a Roman Classics class at one point…), But it seems to me they did have some civil wars, and I do happen to have almost enough for three or four DBA Early Imperial Roman armies… Of course I could just run an campaign centered on Rome where there happens to be three or four Roman players and they can work together to crush the other players and expand their empires… or have a civil war to see who is Master of all Rome – while the others pick away at their empire… Could be fun! I guess I’d have to get some additional armies for this one.
DBA- Alexanders Successors
I have enough of the old Rafm Armies of the Hellenistic Period to do at least a couple Successor armies… I really don’t know anything about the period, though I imagine after the death of Alexander there was much squabbling and in-fighting amongst his successors… It would certainly be colouful! If anyone can recommend a good (short!) readable book on what happened to Alexanders Empire after his demise…
18thc - Ticorne, Horse and Musket – Imaginations
I thought it might be fun to put together forces for a half dozen or so “Imagi-Nations” for a campaign nominally set somewhere between the War of the Spanish Succession and the Seven Years war. I’d use the DBA 1500-1900 extension and twelve stand armies of very generic home-cast tricorne figures. This might be fun to get others in on the painting and designing of the armies of their various duchies, nations, etc.– if I could get them to agree to a common system of basing!?
Great War Era – Back of Beyond
The Far East during the Russian Civil War seems a suitably chaotic setting for a DBA-ish campaign. I could offer a number of different factions that could make temporary agreements and turn around and then stab each other in the back when it was beneficial to do so… If I could hammer out some rules that I like, this could very easily be done as I have Warlord Chinese, Tsarists, and Bolsheviks. If we were using armies of about 12 stands like DBA I could probably put together TWO of EACH right now! To this I could add some “Canadian Interventionists” using the Great War Canadians I also already have… It might be fun to make a few more armies – the Army of British India, “Basmachi” Rebels, etc.
Great War Era – Balkan Fantasy 1910
Similar to the Horse and Musket “Imagi-Nation” idea above I thought it might be fun to come up with some fictional Balkan countries (Bertzegovnia, Zergia, Syldavia, Borduria, etc) and make up a number of small forces for each and have a little Balkan war nominally set in the early years of the 20th Century.
Diplomacy/Europe 1880 -1900
Possibly using the map from the board game Diplomacy – we could have a fictional world war (or at least a European war) set in the latter years of the 19th Century using the DBA 1500-1900 extension we’ve been toying with. Historical armies would be used - Germans, Russians, Austro-Hungarians, Ottomans, Italians, French, British… (plus Belgians? Dutch? Balkan nations?)
So, who’d be up for a campaign in October!? Or February…? It looks like the “Back of Beyond” or another “Generic” Fantasy campaign would be the most realistic possibilities for October. Which of the others would you be interested in?
I got to thinking, however, that I’d really like to run more one-day “in-person” campaigns, perhaps as many as two or three each year. I could possibly run one as early as this fall. If I ran three a year, distributing them evenly throughout the year, and used this past Campaign as the starting point that would put one in October and the next one in February. Both seem like they might be decent times. February is perfect for having a Wargaming Birthday Bash Campaign day! I’m not expecting that all the folks that came to the last one would be able to make it out to ALL of them, rather I’m hoping more regular campaigns might give some of the other folks who missed the last one an opportunity to get in on the action.
If I did host another campaign in October it would likely have to be another Hordes of the Things Fantasy campaign as I don’t think I’d have enough armies to do any others just yet – except maybe the “Back of Beyond” campaign. I have been thinking a lot about some possibilities for future campaigns. Here are a few of them…
HOTT – “Generic” Fantasy
Obviously I could easily throw together a HOTT Fantasy campaign any old time now that I have the armies I prepared for this first campaign. As I continue to add to these armies there will be more options for players and/or larger armies and the potential for more participants.
I have Elves, Orcs and Dwarves and Amanda’s “HOTT Chick” army. Of course any of the DBA historical forces I have can also be fielded as HOTT armies with (or without) the addition of a few extra fantastical elements. With the stuff I have (plus a couple extra things) I could easily put together a second Elf army (wood elves, maybe) and a second and third Orc and Dwarf Army!? (This doesn’t even include my Lord of the Rings armies…)
HOTT – Lord of the Rings
I think it would be fun to have a campaign set in Middle Earth around the time of the “War of the Ring” and I happen to have a number of suitable armies in the works. I have an Army of Isengard more or less completed and have enough stuff that I could put together armies for Rohan, Mordor, and Moria. I’d need to put together an army for Gondor and possibly some (more!?) Dwarves and some of the “Fallen Realms” – Harad, Easterlings, etc. That’ll probably be a ways off… But it’s fun to think about…
DBA – 1066+
This has sort of been a dream for a while, but I now have, in addition to more or less complete Anglo-Danish and Viking armies, enough figures to do Norman, Welsh, Irish, and Scotts armies! This is closer to happening than the Campaign for Middle Earth!
DBA-Roman Civil War
Okay I don’t actually know much about the history of Rome (which is sad, considering I did take a Roman Classics class at one point…), But it seems to me they did have some civil wars, and I do happen to have almost enough for three or four DBA Early Imperial Roman armies… Of course I could just run an campaign centered on Rome where there happens to be three or four Roman players and they can work together to crush the other players and expand their empires… or have a civil war to see who is Master of all Rome – while the others pick away at their empire… Could be fun! I guess I’d have to get some additional armies for this one.
DBA- Alexanders Successors
I have enough of the old Rafm Armies of the Hellenistic Period to do at least a couple Successor armies… I really don’t know anything about the period, though I imagine after the death of Alexander there was much squabbling and in-fighting amongst his successors… It would certainly be colouful! If anyone can recommend a good (short!) readable book on what happened to Alexanders Empire after his demise…
18thc - Ticorne, Horse and Musket – Imaginations
I thought it might be fun to put together forces for a half dozen or so “Imagi-Nations” for a campaign nominally set somewhere between the War of the Spanish Succession and the Seven Years war. I’d use the DBA 1500-1900 extension and twelve stand armies of very generic home-cast tricorne figures. This might be fun to get others in on the painting and designing of the armies of their various duchies, nations, etc.– if I could get them to agree to a common system of basing!?
Great War Era – Back of Beyond
The Far East during the Russian Civil War seems a suitably chaotic setting for a DBA-ish campaign. I could offer a number of different factions that could make temporary agreements and turn around and then stab each other in the back when it was beneficial to do so… If I could hammer out some rules that I like, this could very easily be done as I have Warlord Chinese, Tsarists, and Bolsheviks. If we were using armies of about 12 stands like DBA I could probably put together TWO of EACH right now! To this I could add some “Canadian Interventionists” using the Great War Canadians I also already have… It might be fun to make a few more armies – the Army of British India, “Basmachi” Rebels, etc.
Great War Era – Balkan Fantasy 1910
Similar to the Horse and Musket “Imagi-Nation” idea above I thought it might be fun to come up with some fictional Balkan countries (Bertzegovnia, Zergia, Syldavia, Borduria, etc) and make up a number of small forces for each and have a little Balkan war nominally set in the early years of the 20th Century.
Diplomacy/Europe 1880 -1900
Possibly using the map from the board game Diplomacy – we could have a fictional world war (or at least a European war) set in the latter years of the 19th Century using the DBA 1500-1900 extension we’ve been toying with. Historical armies would be used - Germans, Russians, Austro-Hungarians, Ottomans, Italians, French, British… (plus Belgians? Dutch? Balkan nations?)
So, who’d be up for a campaign in October!? Or February…? It looks like the “Back of Beyond” or another “Generic” Fantasy campaign would be the most realistic possibilities for October. Which of the others would you be interested in?
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Game Plan 2009 – Part Two
Woah…. Sorry about all that nattering yesterday… Did anyone read through it all!?
Anyway, looking back at my original Game Plan for 2009, I’d say I’ve pretty much stayed right on track. I have a number of 28mm Hordes of the Things Fantasy Armies and DBA Historical Armies ready to go and I’m still interested in building more. I’d still like to do some WW2 skirmish gaming and I’d like to get back into some modern gaming, on both a skirmish and battalion/brigade/divisional level - but I’m not still totally stuck on Cold War Commander. I’m not completely abandoning it or anything, but I’d like to give Modern HOTT a try. I’d also still like to resurrect something of my Quebec 1759 plan…. Now, how to do that all!?
PAINTING PRIORITIES
This Week
- Paint 6-9 British Cavalrymen for Great War HOTT
- Finish painting “Libby” Hero for Amanda’s “HOTT Chick” army
This Month
- Cavalry Unit for John
- Descent minis for Other John
- Magician and Riders (if they show up) for Amanda’s “HOTT Chick” army
- 6 Uruk-hai pikes (I just stumbled into 6 more of the orcs with their pikes upright – I can paint those up and rebase the me with the other upright ones and ditch the ones that are “at the ready”!)
Rest of the Year…?
I’ll have to work on sorting that out… But right now I think the priorities would be:
- Finish rest of cavalry units for John (haw many did I agree to paint? 4 or 5…?)
- Enough Seven Years War British to play a game of DBA 1500-1900
- Enough 1914 British to finish a Brigade
- Finish ALL the 28mm WW2 stuff that I have
- 6 stands of “regular” Dwarf warriors (Blade)
After that…?
- Finish MY Norman DBA Army
- Anglo-Danish DBA Army for CVT
- Pict DBA Army
- Middle Earth HOTT Armies – Rohan, Isengard, Mordor… (and some Heroes!)
- Other Dark Age DBA Armies – Scotts, Welsh, Irish…
- Other Ancient DBA Armies – 2x Romans, 2x Early Successors…
- A few more elements for the Seven Years War in North American – Indians, More French and British Line troops, French Militia and colonial Troops, British Rangers…
-Narnian DBA Armies
Other Stuff – some of this requires BUYING stuff. Others are dependant on whether people show any interest. Others still feend on how muchof the other stuff gets done and/or my particular mood in the moment.
- Build 2x Mi-8 and 1x MiL24 Hind helicopters. I have these kits and they’re 1/72 they’re WAY too big for use with my other “20mm” stuff – I use 1/100 to 1/144 for aircraft with those – and if you look close they might look a bit small for 28mm figures… but they’re going to be BIG models – and take up plenty enough room on the tabletop if they land, so I don’t think I’d really want anything BIGGER. Like something that actually matches the scale of the 28mm figures… Anyway, I have some 28mm modern skirmishing figures – including some Soviet VDV Air Assault troops… it would be fun to run a scenario where they fly in and do an actual Air assault complete with gunship support and everything!!!
- Highland Dwarves – I’d like to build a separate army/command of Highland Dwarves. I have enough for 6 stands of Blade (or warband…? Depending on my mood!). I’d like to pick up two packs of the Westwind Highland Dwarf Infantry – as that would make three more stands of foot (blade or warband) – and two packs of “Rammock’s Raiders” for some Riders…
- Other Dwarves – If I had another 18 metal Dwarf (either more Ghost Miniatures or West Wind) and could find some artillery piece made of metal to replace the GW plastic elements of my army I could have an entire army made of metal… I could then make a THIRD Dwarf Army made entirely of GW platstic figures….
- If there was interest I might try and crank out enough Seven Years War stuff to play out the battle at Quebec for the 250th Anniversary… again I’d have to look and see what I have and what I’d need to finish up.
-BERBERS!? What the….!? Bob gave me enough Berbers to make two stands…. And they’re kind of cool looking and would be totally easy to paint. Now, I don’t have any historical opponents… and I have no desire to BUILD any armies of their historical opponents… But I thought I could use them in HOTT as a generic Nomadic Desert Dwelling folk… they could fight my “Tomb King” undead army - if I ever got that finished.. anyway… just and idea – WAY down on the list of priorities…
- Modern 20mm – As I mentioned I’d like to try out Modern HOTT. If that went over well enough I might launch (yet another) massive Re-basing Project to get all of my 20mm stuff on bases with 60mm frontages. Most of the AFVs are already on a base that’s close (I think they’re 2.5” so they could probably just be shaved down a touch rather than totally rebased…)
I guess the Eldar and the Imperial Guard should be taken off the back burner and metaphorically be bagged up and put into the freezer for now. I just don’t think I’m going to get to that at all anytime soon…
BIG PROJECTS
Well with the success of the HOTT campaign I am already starting to think about what “Big Project” event or campaign to do next…
Obviously another HOTT Fantasy campaign would be really easy to do – I could just add additional armies and some new element options to the existing ones.
An Historical Dark Age DBA Campaign – I have the armies for Normans, Vikings, Anglo-Danish, Scotts, Irish, Welsh… In fact if Chris brought HIS Normans one could be the Normans, and another could be the other West Franks. I have enough for two Viking armies so one could be the Norweigans, and another could be Danes or Some other group of Norse…
In addition to this I was thinking about an event for possibly Mayday – or maybe just an invitational event here ‘toon – a three stage Big Battle 1066 mini-campaign. I should mention that I stole this idea from my friend Curt…) We would play the big three battles of 1066 – Fulford Gate, Stamford Bridge and Hastings. As I mentioned I have enough for at least two Viking armies (and Gary’s starting on one of his own…) and between CVT, Cory and Myself we have (or WILL have) three Anglo-Danish armies, and both CVT and I have Norman Armies… so the first battle could be two or three Viking commands against two Anglo-Danish. The winners of that battle (presumably the Vikings) will fight against Harold at Stamford Bridge with whatever they have left… so the first battle shouldn’t really be winnable for he Anglos – it’s just to whittle down the Vikings a bit… however Stamford Bridge should have the potential to be a bit more of a pitched battle – because the winner of that one will fight William the Bastard and his army at Hastings in round three! Wouldn’t it bee cool it if was Harald Hardrada instead of Godwinson defending England at Hastings…!? Anyway…just an idea…
Another possibility would be a HOTT or DBA campaign using the 1500-1900 rules and armies of the Tricorne/Horse and Musket era (somewhere between Marburian/War of the Spanish Succession and the Seven Years War). As John and I have made masters and can cast our own – it could be pretty easy to come up with 12 or so stands for a half dozen “Imagi-nations”…
Still another possibility would be a Great War Era “HITT” campaign with forces based on the armies of 1890-ish to 1910-ish. We could use a map of Europe or another completely fictional land of “imagi-nations”
Anybody out there have any particular preferences…?
Anyway, looking back at my original Game Plan for 2009, I’d say I’ve pretty much stayed right on track. I have a number of 28mm Hordes of the Things Fantasy Armies and DBA Historical Armies ready to go and I’m still interested in building more. I’d still like to do some WW2 skirmish gaming and I’d like to get back into some modern gaming, on both a skirmish and battalion/brigade/divisional level - but I’m not still totally stuck on Cold War Commander. I’m not completely abandoning it or anything, but I’d like to give Modern HOTT a try. I’d also still like to resurrect something of my Quebec 1759 plan…. Now, how to do that all!?
PAINTING PRIORITIES
This Week
- Paint 6-9 British Cavalrymen for Great War HOTT
- Finish painting “Libby” Hero for Amanda’s “HOTT Chick” army
This Month
- Cavalry Unit for John
- Descent minis for Other John
- Magician and Riders (if they show up) for Amanda’s “HOTT Chick” army
- 6 Uruk-hai pikes (I just stumbled into 6 more of the orcs with their pikes upright – I can paint those up and rebase the me with the other upright ones and ditch the ones that are “at the ready”!)
Rest of the Year…?
I’ll have to work on sorting that out… But right now I think the priorities would be:
- Finish rest of cavalry units for John (haw many did I agree to paint? 4 or 5…?)
- Enough Seven Years War British to play a game of DBA 1500-1900
- Enough 1914 British to finish a Brigade
- Finish ALL the 28mm WW2 stuff that I have
- 6 stands of “regular” Dwarf warriors (Blade)
After that…?
- Finish MY Norman DBA Army
- Anglo-Danish DBA Army for CVT
- Pict DBA Army
- Middle Earth HOTT Armies – Rohan, Isengard, Mordor… (and some Heroes!)
- Other Dark Age DBA Armies – Scotts, Welsh, Irish…
- Other Ancient DBA Armies – 2x Romans, 2x Early Successors…
- A few more elements for the Seven Years War in North American – Indians, More French and British Line troops, French Militia and colonial Troops, British Rangers…
-Narnian DBA Armies
Other Stuff – some of this requires BUYING stuff. Others are dependant on whether people show any interest. Others still feend on how muchof the other stuff gets done and/or my particular mood in the moment.
- Build 2x Mi-8 and 1x MiL24 Hind helicopters. I have these kits and they’re 1/72 they’re WAY too big for use with my other “20mm” stuff – I use 1/100 to 1/144 for aircraft with those – and if you look close they might look a bit small for 28mm figures… but they’re going to be BIG models – and take up plenty enough room on the tabletop if they land, so I don’t think I’d really want anything BIGGER. Like something that actually matches the scale of the 28mm figures… Anyway, I have some 28mm modern skirmishing figures – including some Soviet VDV Air Assault troops… it would be fun to run a scenario where they fly in and do an actual Air assault complete with gunship support and everything!!!
- Highland Dwarves – I’d like to build a separate army/command of Highland Dwarves. I have enough for 6 stands of Blade (or warband…? Depending on my mood!). I’d like to pick up two packs of the Westwind Highland Dwarf Infantry – as that would make three more stands of foot (blade or warband) – and two packs of “Rammock’s Raiders” for some Riders…
- Other Dwarves – If I had another 18 metal Dwarf (either more Ghost Miniatures or West Wind) and could find some artillery piece made of metal to replace the GW plastic elements of my army I could have an entire army made of metal… I could then make a THIRD Dwarf Army made entirely of GW platstic figures….
- If there was interest I might try and crank out enough Seven Years War stuff to play out the battle at Quebec for the 250th Anniversary… again I’d have to look and see what I have and what I’d need to finish up.
-BERBERS!? What the….!? Bob gave me enough Berbers to make two stands…. And they’re kind of cool looking and would be totally easy to paint. Now, I don’t have any historical opponents… and I have no desire to BUILD any armies of their historical opponents… But I thought I could use them in HOTT as a generic Nomadic Desert Dwelling folk… they could fight my “Tomb King” undead army - if I ever got that finished.. anyway… just and idea – WAY down on the list of priorities…
- Modern 20mm – As I mentioned I’d like to try out Modern HOTT. If that went over well enough I might launch (yet another) massive Re-basing Project to get all of my 20mm stuff on bases with 60mm frontages. Most of the AFVs are already on a base that’s close (I think they’re 2.5” so they could probably just be shaved down a touch rather than totally rebased…)
I guess the Eldar and the Imperial Guard should be taken off the back burner and metaphorically be bagged up and put into the freezer for now. I just don’t think I’m going to get to that at all anytime soon…
BIG PROJECTS
Well with the success of the HOTT campaign I am already starting to think about what “Big Project” event or campaign to do next…
Obviously another HOTT Fantasy campaign would be really easy to do – I could just add additional armies and some new element options to the existing ones.
An Historical Dark Age DBA Campaign – I have the armies for Normans, Vikings, Anglo-Danish, Scotts, Irish, Welsh… In fact if Chris brought HIS Normans one could be the Normans, and another could be the other West Franks. I have enough for two Viking armies so one could be the Norweigans, and another could be Danes or Some other group of Norse…
In addition to this I was thinking about an event for possibly Mayday – or maybe just an invitational event here ‘toon – a three stage Big Battle 1066 mini-campaign. I should mention that I stole this idea from my friend Curt…) We would play the big three battles of 1066 – Fulford Gate, Stamford Bridge and Hastings. As I mentioned I have enough for at least two Viking armies (and Gary’s starting on one of his own…) and between CVT, Cory and Myself we have (or WILL have) three Anglo-Danish armies, and both CVT and I have Norman Armies… so the first battle could be two or three Viking commands against two Anglo-Danish. The winners of that battle (presumably the Vikings) will fight against Harold at Stamford Bridge with whatever they have left… so the first battle shouldn’t really be winnable for he Anglos – it’s just to whittle down the Vikings a bit… however Stamford Bridge should have the potential to be a bit more of a pitched battle – because the winner of that one will fight William the Bastard and his army at Hastings in round three! Wouldn’t it bee cool it if was Harald Hardrada instead of Godwinson defending England at Hastings…!? Anyway…just an idea…
Another possibility would be a HOTT or DBA campaign using the 1500-1900 rules and armies of the Tricorne/Horse and Musket era (somewhere between Marburian/War of the Spanish Succession and the Seven Years War). As John and I have made masters and can cast our own – it could be pretty easy to come up with 12 or so stands for a half dozen “Imagi-nations”…
Still another possibility would be a Great War Era “HITT” campaign with forces based on the armies of 1890-ish to 1910-ish. We could use a map of Europe or another completely fictional land of “imagi-nations”
Anybody out there have any particular preferences…?
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Well… NOW what?!
Well now that the HOTT Campaign/Gaming Weekend is over It’s time to ponder about what exactly I’m going to do next…
When I’ve worked on a big project like this in the past, by the time the big event rolls around I’m usually SICK of what I’m doing and it takes every shred of self-control to stay focused and pull it off. Indeed in January I fully expected to be sick of Hordes of the Things and ready to move on!
While there have been things I thought might be fun to work on I had very little trouble staying focused. In fact I’m still totally fired up about HOTT – probably more so than I was a week or two ago!! There’s so many things I’d still like to do; forces to finish, additional things to add to current forces, new ones that might be fun… There’s so much in the game we haven’t even tried out yet!?
I’d like to try out some battles on 48”x48” playing surfaces – like it was suggested in my original HOTT and DBA books. I’d also like to try out some bigger battles – with up to ~36AP per side. I recently picked up a book of generic wargame scenarios I’d like to try tweaking them for use with my HOTT armies to give some ovjective other than simply smashing the opponent…
And that’s just in the fantasy milieu… I’ve become enamoured with the whole DBx thing and am keen to try it out for other periods or settings. Primarily I’d like to try out some Great War HOTT rules I came across. Conveniently I have Russian Civil War/”Back of Beyond” forces appropriately based and ready to go! I’ve also got some early war Germans and British I’m working on - painting some, rebasing others… I’m also keen to try the DBA 1500-1900 rules with my Seven Years War forces (also conveniently based on 60mm frontage bases…). I’ve even stumbled across WW2 and modern adaptations of HOTT I’d like to have a go at. (already thinking about how to rebase all those 20mm modern figures…).
Occasionally I even take a peep at the drawers full of ECW and Ancients (Romans… Successors… etc…)
Beyond all that HOTT/DBx madness I’d like to get back into some Savage Worlds skirmish gaming. I’ve had a hankering to play some Pulp Adventure and/or World War Two (or WEIRD War Two!?) games. I know some of the others would be keen to play some Victorian Horror/Sci-fi or Rippers…
Over the last few months I’ve been acquiring a number of old Eldar and Imperial Guard Catachan figures. I have no desire to play Warhammer 40K, but I like the figures and it brings back fond memoried of all the Rogue Trader skirmishing we did way back with whatever we happen to have… I though I might put together some forces for some Savage Worlds Sci-fi Skirmishing…
So maybe it’s time to come up with a new “Game Plan” so I can focus a bit instead of scattering off in all directions and accomplish nothing….
To summarize, here’s what I’d like to work on:
HOTT/DBX:
Fantasy
Ancients
Great War Era
Seven years War
World War Two
Modern
Savage Worlds:
Victoriana (“Rippers”/Horror and/or Space 1889/VSF)
Pulp Adventure
World War Two (Historical and/or Weird War)
Sci-fi
FANTASY - HOTT
I have a number of forces I’ve acquired stuff for and would like to get going on. I would also like to expand upon some forces… here’s a list of what I have and what needs to be done (or rather what I’d LIKE to get done…)
Generic Armies
Dwarves
I need to start by painting three stands of blades to replace the Dwarven Shieldmaidens that have left permanently for the Saphistic League of Unity and Togetherness (Amanda’s “HOTT Chick“ army). Easily done as I HAVE enough unpainted dwarves to make TEN more stands of blades – not to mention another artillery piece, four stand of shooters (handgunners) and three stands of miners (more blade…?). I really only need to paint six blade – three to replace the Sheildmaidens and then three to replace the Highlanders that will also at some point strike off to form their own army.
I have three more stands worth of unpainted Ghost Minis Dwarf Highlanders… I thought I’d pick up two packs of Westwinds Dwarf Was Dwarf Highlanders (10/pack = 20 = 3 stands of 6 plus two spares for skirmishing) and two packs of the Dwarf Highlander “Rammock Riders” (Dwarf Highlanders of bighorn sheep! 3/pack = 6 = 3 stands of two “riders”).
Not sure what I’ll do with the rest – the additional three blades, the miners (more blade?) and four shooters… Another command or army…? All I’d need is another Hero stand…!
Elves
I have no need to paint any Elves any time soon. I have 13 stands of rank and file 2AP type units (two Knights, two Riders, three blades, SIX shooters) and three magicians and two lurkers. Forty army points worth of stuff!! At some point I might paint up some more of the stuff I have to make two commands or two separate armies – one more of a “High Elf” army and another that’s more of a “Wood Elf” army… I have enough for another SIX Shooters, six Spear, three Blades (great swords), and two Knights… None but three of the stands of shooters look all that “Wood Elfy”…? Hmmmm…
Orcs
Nothing I really need to do with this one right this second… I have ~29 Army points of options right now (Hero, Artillery, three Behemoths, one Warband, six Hordes, Three Beasts, one shooter, and two lurkers….). The next things l’s like to add would be more Orc Warbands and Riders. I have about five to seven stands worth of Riders to be painted (depending on how many I put on a base), and anther seven or eight stands worth of Warband (again, depending…). If that weren’t enough I also have another three horde and two more behemoths!? (and that’s not even counting all the old stuff that could be stripped and repainted!?) Oh and I also have a couple of bizarre shaman types to paint which cold be clerics or magicians… gosh that’s getting awful close to 72AP worth of stuff if I got it all done… How cool would THAT be…!?
Centaurs
It’s always been a dream to have an army of Centaurs – moelled after some nomadic steppe peoples (Scythians or Mongols..). Right now I only have one stand painted. They could be an allied contingent in a human or elf army perhaps. I have another 4-6 stands worth to paint (depending…). I think I’d call them all Heroes or Riders… Knights just haven’t worked out in HOTT.
Undead
I have none of it done. NONE. It seems like too much work to even contemplate right now. I know, you’re thinking; “skeletons, they’re totally easy..” Well maybe if their bare bones skeletons, but mine are mostly metal figures that have lots of scraps of clothes and stuff… I think they’ll just stay in the drawers for a later date…
HOTTies
The Saphistic League of Unity and Togetherness – Amanda’s HOTT “Chick Army” is nearing completion… or at least fieldability… I currently have three Blades (Dwarf Shieldmaidens), two shooters (one Elf, one Ngoni), two Warband (Dark Elf Witch Elves), a Lurker (Dryads), and a Sneaker/Lurker (Halfling thieves) – that’s 16-18AP. The Hero General is very nearly done and a Magician could be stolen from the elves…. That would make 24AP. Darrin at the Dragon’s Den assured me that the Shadow Forge Female Centaurs I ordered would be in this week – another two riders… Reaper makes a lot of Angels and Succubus/Deamon types that I was also considering to add as Flyers… There’s a Female Giant made by Reaper I’ve been eyeing up…
Middle Earth Armies
Isengard
My army of Isengard could march to war! I have five Blades, four Spears, two Shooters, Two Warbands, one Beast/Rider, and, of course, one Magician (should Sarumon ever want to come out and play!). I have another three stands worth of Warg Riders – but they’re all broken and some are missing legs (that would need to be made anew out of green/brown stuff…) – which seems like a lot of work, so not really a “priority” right now…
Rohan
I have three stands of Riders done and another six to paint. I also have a Theodred stand (accompanied by the royal standard bearer and a royal guardsman) and an Eomer Stand (also accompanied by two royal guardsman). I had thought of classing them as Knights… but knights don’t seem to be working out so well in HOTT so I might class them as “Heroes”. I also have Theodred and Eowyn (and some more Mounted Royal Guardsmen) to make two more Hero/Knight stands… maybe they could be Paladins…? Hmmmm. Anyway, the idea is to be able to field the Rohirrim – an entirely mounted force!! Now that might not always work out so well so I also have a few foot – currently one stand of Shooters and one of Blade (or maybe “Spear”…) and another sprue of foot comig in the mail to make another stand of Shooters and amother stand or two of Blade and/or Spear… I should get cracking on these I have all I NEED and have an opponent (Isengard) finished!
Mordor
I have four stand of foot finished. I’m not entirely sure if I should class them as Blade or Warband. Probably Warband… I have another four of five stands worth of those to paint up plus a couple stands worth of archers and a troll. Just enough for an army. I would like to add an Aerial Hero (Witch King on Fell Beast!) at some point… Maybe when I finish painting all the Mordor stuff I already HAVE I’ll treat myself to one!
Moria
I have a General stand finished… I think I’d call him a Warband – then I have enough for nine or ten stands of HORDE to paint (not looking forward to that…)! I also have two cave trolls. Due to the large volume of work to be done on this it’s currently a “back burner” army…
Others…
I have a number of other odds and sods for Middle Earth. I have a couple of fellowships… (why have just one!?) I have a Hero stand of Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas on foot partly completed – and if that weren’t enough I have them also on horseback for another Hero stand (just… don’t ask… I thought the mounted versions might look better if I were ever fielding them with the Rohirrim…?). I have Frodo and Sam and Gollum that I thought I’d use as sneakers - when I get them done… I have TWO Gandalf stands finished, both on foot, one grey, one white. I also have a Gandalf on Shadowfax to finish up (again, depending on the army he’s accompanying…).
I also have a handful of LOTR Elves and Dwarves. Like a stand of Elf Archers, and stand of Balin and his guardsmen and a stand of Dwarf Archers – none of which are painted. I really like the GW LOTR Dwarves and Elves. I think at some point I’ll probably pick up a couple boxes of Dwarf Warriors Which would get me four more stands of archers (4/stand) and five stands of Blade (6/stand). If I called Balin a Hero that would be an army right there! The Elves…? Feh! They’re leaving Middle Earth anyway, right? I might pick up a couple boxes of the Wood Elf warriors just to put a little contingent on the table if I wanted to do a Battle of Five Armies. If I did 4/stand for all of them I’d end up with 12 stands from two boxes…
Gondor might be a force to put together at some point in the future, but I should maybe finish up some of these others first. I’d also like to be able to do some of the other “Fallen Realms” – Khand, Mahud, Harad, etc. to do a big Middle Earth Camapign. Part of me wants to just find a suitable historical army and fake it…
Narnian Armies
Narnia
I started reading the Chrinicles of Narnia last fall and got the idea that I could put together two armies to fight the battle at the end of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Some stuff I could pull from other armies: Dwarves, notably, and maybe some critters. I’ve picked up Hasslefree’s Medival Children to use as the Pevensies. Peter and Edmund I thought I’d put on a base with maybe a dwarf and some other critters and call them Heroes. Susan and Lucy I thought I’d put on a shooter stand – or at least Susan… I don’t know where I’d put Lucy… Cleric…? I need to find a big damn Lion fro Aslan – While reaper’s Celestial Lion looks cool – I’ll probably just find an appropriately sized plastic one at a toy store. I’m awfully tempted to order a bunch of Satyrs and Fauns and critters from Splintered light. Though Splintered light makes “15mm” figures the satyrs and fauns are apparently about 18mm tall and the walking talking critters are 12-20mm tall – which would make them about the right size for “28mm” talking beasts of Narnia.
Army of the White Witch
Again I can use Dwarves and Wolves from my other armies. I found a great figure for the White Witch – but it will require a bit of converting… I’ll need to find a bunch of other assorted nasty creatures and monsters.
Other odds and sods…
I have some Giants and Dragons (which we rarely use) and a God of Death. It’d be nice to pick up some stuff to use as flyers and airships and all the other stuff we never use… though I’m not entirely sure which army they might be used for..
ANCIENTS/DARK AGES HISTORICAL - HOTT/DBx
Some of these have blur the line between historical armies and HOTT armies. As fantasy is what most folks around here are interested in most of these will have fantastical elements added for use with HOTT. I’ve separated them from the “HOTT Armies” because they do have the POTENTIAL to be used as a straight-up historical army…
Vikings
I have an army I can field as either a historical Viking DBA army or a HOTT one. I have enough unpainted figures to make a second army… I’d like to find some appropriate fantastical figures to make my army more… well… fantastical when playing HOTT – but I’m not entirely sure what to look for… maybe a great big hairy Norse-looking barbarian for a “Hero”…?
Normans
I have enough stuff to make a historical Norman DBA army. I have a couple Knights done and some spear and a Cleric stand and peasant Horde for when I field it as a HOTT army. Nothing really I need to add to it. I just need to paint it! I can’t say I’m really excited about doing so since we have found Knights aren’t really all that great against most of the other HOTT armies I have.
Anglo-Danish
I have one complete Historical Anglo-Danish DBA army more or less complete – but I hate all my spear stands. They’re almost all stabby-jabby thrusting poses which always makes lining up stands difficult and they’re always getting bent and broken. I think I’m actually going to have to just model an infantryman with a spear held upright and a shiled out in front and cast myself an ass-pile of them!
Welsh
I have enough Welshmen to make a historical Welsh DBA army – less the Cavalry General option… None painted. Nothing fantastical about them. Maybe they need a Dragonfor the HOTT options!?
Scotts
Got ‘em, need to paint them.
Irish
Got ‘em. Need to paint them.
Picts
I’ve painted a couple stands of the Nekkid Warrior fanatics (Warband) and some archers/crossbowmen to use as Psiloi or shooters. I might need some Light Horse/Rider types…
Romans
I easily have enough for two, maybe three Early Imperial Roman DBA armies… not sure who they’d fight against other than themselves…
Alexandrian Successors
Again I think I have enough to put together any two Early Successor or Selucid DBA armies. One of these days…
GREAT WAR ERA – HOTT/DBx
Early War
If a stand is approximately a company and 4 stands makes a battalion I have enough ready to go to make two battalions of British (well… one British, one Scottish) and Two battalions of Germans. I also have two squadron/stands of German Uhlans, and a battery/stand of field artillery and machineguns. I could quite easily crank out an couple squadrons of British Cavalry and have two machineguns ready to go, and could quickly rebase a field gun battery/stand. I’d like to try this out in the next couple weeks and if it turns out to be fun we can churn out as many as we like – I made the british myself and John has more Germans and French that would just need to be rebased, and tonned of Russians, Sebians, Austrians….
Late War
I have made Canadians and Germans. I have a regiment of Germans and two brigades of Canadians ready to go… and can cast more at anytime.
Russian Civil War/”Back of Beyond”
I have White Russians, Bolsheviks and Warlord Chinese all ready to go… what are we waiting for!? I guess I have to read the rules again, clear off the games table which has exploded with all these figures I’m trying to take stock of, and invite some people over to game!
SEVEN YEARS WAR - HOTT/DBx
I easily have enough French to put together a little game to try it out – Five Regiments of Infantry (3 stands each), one regiment of Horse (three stands), and two stands of artillery. Unfortunately for the British I only have two regiments of infantry completed… I suppose I could set up a scenario game where the British are holding some defendable position and the French have to try and take it…?
Anyeay I have no shortage of stuff I can paint up for this as I bought a pile of specialist type things and I can cast all my own rank and file types.
I’ve had this idea that I could try and get the forces for Quebec ready for the 250th anniversary in September… Hmmmmm… I should figure out what I’d need to have done.
WORLD WAR TWO - HOTT/DBx
I think most of my 15mm forces all have a common frontage (2.5”) – with the exception of small guns which have been based facing the short edge… Not sure if they really come into play in HOTT WW2 anyway… This would require no work to try out as I have stuff ready to go in 15mm.
The majority of the forces I have in 20mm haven’t been painted yet so it would be very easy for me to rebased those to a 60mm frontage. The 60mm frontage would first of all match all my other HOTT/DBx stuff (so I wouldn’t have to cut so many different sized bases) and it would also most easily facilitate 20mm tanks.
MODERN - HOTT/DBx
All of my modern stuff is 20mm and the infantry and vehicles are on bases of differing frontages. I’m not sure how big of a deal common base frontage would be for modern gaming…? But like the 20mm WW2 stuff I could rebase stuff to a 60mm frontage – and I could still use it for CWC (because base size does not matter at all for that…).
SAVAGE WORLDS SKIRMISHING
Victoriana (“Rippers”/Horror and/or Space 1889/VSF)
Hmmmm… I have quite a bit of this. Just need to figure out some fun and interesting new ways to use them in scenarios. Some terrain might be nice and some fun vehicles – like ether flyers and steam tanks…
Pulp Adventure
World War Two (Historical and/or Weird War)
There is very little I need to paint for WW2 stuff. I just need to sit down and come up with some scenarios and start playing. I’d like to built a zeppelin and a tramp steamer and some other pulpy vehicles and terrain…
Okay, there are a few things still unpainted – a couple squads of Russians to finish off my under-strength COMPANY(!?), a KV-1, a PzkwIV, A Russian Jeep, Two squads to finish off a second platoon of British Paras (really… when am I ever going to use more than ONE!?), A squad of 8th Army British I just picked up, the better part of two hald-sections of British commandos to finish off my full assault troop, Some Commando support weapons, a handful of partisans/resistance fighters, odd and sundry Germans - some engineers and field police, maybe a fourth squad of them, and a few anti-tank guns and crews – British, Russian, and German! It sounds like a lot, but it isn’t so much.
At some point I’d like to pick up a few more vehicles – just light ones like a Panzer II or some armoured cars, maybe some desert jeeps, etc.
What I really need to work on for the skirmishing is the TERRAIN!! I have a pile of ruins and rubble terrain that’s half-built. If only I could find some time to finish it up…
Sci-fi
I have none of the Eldar or Imperial Guard painted… There’s quite a few of them… I could throw in a Sci-fi skirmish with what I have of other sci-fi stuff from time to time, just to keep me thinking about it… once in a while squeeze a fire team of this or that into the painting queue…
THE PLAN
Well that’s what I’m thinking about these days and some of the stuff I have to work on. Now I just need to make some sense out of it all – decide what the priorities should be and make some sort of prioritized “TO DO” list….
In terms of what games to play it would make sense to try out some Great War era HOTT (or “HITT” – Hordes in the Trenches) as I HAVE a pile of stuff for it ready to go! If it works out maybe build on those forces…
I should work on another regiment or two of Seven Years War British, or maybe one regiment and a couple stands of British artillery. That way we could try out a small game of DBA 1500-1900 with about 12 stands on each side. Again, if it was fun and to everyone’s liking I have no shortage of more stuff I could paint up for it.
I’ve been kind of tired of WW2 stuff – well at larger than skirmish scale. But I have a lot of stuff that could easily be pressed into action for HOTT WW2… and it looks pretty similar to Modern HOTT… so… Or I could just re-base 12 stands of two of my 20mm Modern forces for a quick try of that variant – as I’m more interested in it anyway….
Of course there’s lots of things to try out with plain old fantasy HOTT and DBA…
I think I’d like to bring back Savage Saturdays – I’m somewhat reluctant to do so in the summer as I’d like to be able to get up early on Sunday’s and go for a bike ride… But if I kept it to skirmish games – and small, reasonable skirmishes with clear objective and a turn time limit… we could potentially finish up at a reasonable enough hour…
Hmmmm… I need to paint a couple units of cavalry for one John and a couple Descent figures for the other John…
I guess priority number one for this week should be to paint up six British Cavalry men for a little 1914 action and clear off the table! Maybe get painting some of the stuff for the Johns to get that out of the way!
When I’ve worked on a big project like this in the past, by the time the big event rolls around I’m usually SICK of what I’m doing and it takes every shred of self-control to stay focused and pull it off. Indeed in January I fully expected to be sick of Hordes of the Things and ready to move on!
While there have been things I thought might be fun to work on I had very little trouble staying focused. In fact I’m still totally fired up about HOTT – probably more so than I was a week or two ago!! There’s so many things I’d still like to do; forces to finish, additional things to add to current forces, new ones that might be fun… There’s so much in the game we haven’t even tried out yet!?
I’d like to try out some battles on 48”x48” playing surfaces – like it was suggested in my original HOTT and DBA books. I’d also like to try out some bigger battles – with up to ~36AP per side. I recently picked up a book of generic wargame scenarios I’d like to try tweaking them for use with my HOTT armies to give some ovjective other than simply smashing the opponent…
And that’s just in the fantasy milieu… I’ve become enamoured with the whole DBx thing and am keen to try it out for other periods or settings. Primarily I’d like to try out some Great War HOTT rules I came across. Conveniently I have Russian Civil War/”Back of Beyond” forces appropriately based and ready to go! I’ve also got some early war Germans and British I’m working on - painting some, rebasing others… I’m also keen to try the DBA 1500-1900 rules with my Seven Years War forces (also conveniently based on 60mm frontage bases…). I’ve even stumbled across WW2 and modern adaptations of HOTT I’d like to have a go at. (already thinking about how to rebase all those 20mm modern figures…).
Occasionally I even take a peep at the drawers full of ECW and Ancients (Romans… Successors… etc…)
Beyond all that HOTT/DBx madness I’d like to get back into some Savage Worlds skirmish gaming. I’ve had a hankering to play some Pulp Adventure and/or World War Two (or WEIRD War Two!?) games. I know some of the others would be keen to play some Victorian Horror/Sci-fi or Rippers…
Over the last few months I’ve been acquiring a number of old Eldar and Imperial Guard Catachan figures. I have no desire to play Warhammer 40K, but I like the figures and it brings back fond memoried of all the Rogue Trader skirmishing we did way back with whatever we happen to have… I though I might put together some forces for some Savage Worlds Sci-fi Skirmishing…
So maybe it’s time to come up with a new “Game Plan” so I can focus a bit instead of scattering off in all directions and accomplish nothing….
To summarize, here’s what I’d like to work on:
HOTT/DBX:
Fantasy
Ancients
Great War Era
Seven years War
World War Two
Modern
Savage Worlds:
Victoriana (“Rippers”/Horror and/or Space 1889/VSF)
Pulp Adventure
World War Two (Historical and/or Weird War)
Sci-fi
FANTASY - HOTT
I have a number of forces I’ve acquired stuff for and would like to get going on. I would also like to expand upon some forces… here’s a list of what I have and what needs to be done (or rather what I’d LIKE to get done…)
Generic Armies
Dwarves
I need to start by painting three stands of blades to replace the Dwarven Shieldmaidens that have left permanently for the Saphistic League of Unity and Togetherness (Amanda’s “HOTT Chick“ army). Easily done as I HAVE enough unpainted dwarves to make TEN more stands of blades – not to mention another artillery piece, four stand of shooters (handgunners) and three stands of miners (more blade…?). I really only need to paint six blade – three to replace the Sheildmaidens and then three to replace the Highlanders that will also at some point strike off to form their own army.
I have three more stands worth of unpainted Ghost Minis Dwarf Highlanders… I thought I’d pick up two packs of Westwinds Dwarf Was Dwarf Highlanders (10/pack = 20 = 3 stands of 6 plus two spares for skirmishing) and two packs of the Dwarf Highlander “Rammock Riders” (Dwarf Highlanders of bighorn sheep! 3/pack = 6 = 3 stands of two “riders”).
Not sure what I’ll do with the rest – the additional three blades, the miners (more blade?) and four shooters… Another command or army…? All I’d need is another Hero stand…!
Elves
I have no need to paint any Elves any time soon. I have 13 stands of rank and file 2AP type units (two Knights, two Riders, three blades, SIX shooters) and three magicians and two lurkers. Forty army points worth of stuff!! At some point I might paint up some more of the stuff I have to make two commands or two separate armies – one more of a “High Elf” army and another that’s more of a “Wood Elf” army… I have enough for another SIX Shooters, six Spear, three Blades (great swords), and two Knights… None but three of the stands of shooters look all that “Wood Elfy”…? Hmmmm…
Orcs
Nothing I really need to do with this one right this second… I have ~29 Army points of options right now (Hero, Artillery, three Behemoths, one Warband, six Hordes, Three Beasts, one shooter, and two lurkers….). The next things l’s like to add would be more Orc Warbands and Riders. I have about five to seven stands worth of Riders to be painted (depending on how many I put on a base), and anther seven or eight stands worth of Warband (again, depending…). If that weren’t enough I also have another three horde and two more behemoths!? (and that’s not even counting all the old stuff that could be stripped and repainted!?) Oh and I also have a couple of bizarre shaman types to paint which cold be clerics or magicians… gosh that’s getting awful close to 72AP worth of stuff if I got it all done… How cool would THAT be…!?
Centaurs
It’s always been a dream to have an army of Centaurs – moelled after some nomadic steppe peoples (Scythians or Mongols..). Right now I only have one stand painted. They could be an allied contingent in a human or elf army perhaps. I have another 4-6 stands worth to paint (depending…). I think I’d call them all Heroes or Riders… Knights just haven’t worked out in HOTT.
Undead
I have none of it done. NONE. It seems like too much work to even contemplate right now. I know, you’re thinking; “skeletons, they’re totally easy..” Well maybe if their bare bones skeletons, but mine are mostly metal figures that have lots of scraps of clothes and stuff… I think they’ll just stay in the drawers for a later date…
HOTTies
The Saphistic League of Unity and Togetherness – Amanda’s HOTT “Chick Army” is nearing completion… or at least fieldability… I currently have three Blades (Dwarf Shieldmaidens), two shooters (one Elf, one Ngoni), two Warband (Dark Elf Witch Elves), a Lurker (Dryads), and a Sneaker/Lurker (Halfling thieves) – that’s 16-18AP. The Hero General is very nearly done and a Magician could be stolen from the elves…. That would make 24AP. Darrin at the Dragon’s Den assured me that the Shadow Forge Female Centaurs I ordered would be in this week – another two riders… Reaper makes a lot of Angels and Succubus/Deamon types that I was also considering to add as Flyers… There’s a Female Giant made by Reaper I’ve been eyeing up…
Middle Earth Armies
Isengard
My army of Isengard could march to war! I have five Blades, four Spears, two Shooters, Two Warbands, one Beast/Rider, and, of course, one Magician (should Sarumon ever want to come out and play!). I have another three stands worth of Warg Riders – but they’re all broken and some are missing legs (that would need to be made anew out of green/brown stuff…) – which seems like a lot of work, so not really a “priority” right now…
Rohan
I have three stands of Riders done and another six to paint. I also have a Theodred stand (accompanied by the royal standard bearer and a royal guardsman) and an Eomer Stand (also accompanied by two royal guardsman). I had thought of classing them as Knights… but knights don’t seem to be working out so well in HOTT so I might class them as “Heroes”. I also have Theodred and Eowyn (and some more Mounted Royal Guardsmen) to make two more Hero/Knight stands… maybe they could be Paladins…? Hmmmm. Anyway, the idea is to be able to field the Rohirrim – an entirely mounted force!! Now that might not always work out so well so I also have a few foot – currently one stand of Shooters and one of Blade (or maybe “Spear”…) and another sprue of foot comig in the mail to make another stand of Shooters and amother stand or two of Blade and/or Spear… I should get cracking on these I have all I NEED and have an opponent (Isengard) finished!
Mordor
I have four stand of foot finished. I’m not entirely sure if I should class them as Blade or Warband. Probably Warband… I have another four of five stands worth of those to paint up plus a couple stands worth of archers and a troll. Just enough for an army. I would like to add an Aerial Hero (Witch King on Fell Beast!) at some point… Maybe when I finish painting all the Mordor stuff I already HAVE I’ll treat myself to one!
Moria
I have a General stand finished… I think I’d call him a Warband – then I have enough for nine or ten stands of HORDE to paint (not looking forward to that…)! I also have two cave trolls. Due to the large volume of work to be done on this it’s currently a “back burner” army…
Others…
I have a number of other odds and sods for Middle Earth. I have a couple of fellowships… (why have just one!?) I have a Hero stand of Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas on foot partly completed – and if that weren’t enough I have them also on horseback for another Hero stand (just… don’t ask… I thought the mounted versions might look better if I were ever fielding them with the Rohirrim…?). I have Frodo and Sam and Gollum that I thought I’d use as sneakers - when I get them done… I have TWO Gandalf stands finished, both on foot, one grey, one white. I also have a Gandalf on Shadowfax to finish up (again, depending on the army he’s accompanying…).
I also have a handful of LOTR Elves and Dwarves. Like a stand of Elf Archers, and stand of Balin and his guardsmen and a stand of Dwarf Archers – none of which are painted. I really like the GW LOTR Dwarves and Elves. I think at some point I’ll probably pick up a couple boxes of Dwarf Warriors Which would get me four more stands of archers (4/stand) and five stands of Blade (6/stand). If I called Balin a Hero that would be an army right there! The Elves…? Feh! They’re leaving Middle Earth anyway, right? I might pick up a couple boxes of the Wood Elf warriors just to put a little contingent on the table if I wanted to do a Battle of Five Armies. If I did 4/stand for all of them I’d end up with 12 stands from two boxes…
Gondor might be a force to put together at some point in the future, but I should maybe finish up some of these others first. I’d also like to be able to do some of the other “Fallen Realms” – Khand, Mahud, Harad, etc. to do a big Middle Earth Camapign. Part of me wants to just find a suitable historical army and fake it…
Narnian Armies
Narnia
I started reading the Chrinicles of Narnia last fall and got the idea that I could put together two armies to fight the battle at the end of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Some stuff I could pull from other armies: Dwarves, notably, and maybe some critters. I’ve picked up Hasslefree’s Medival Children to use as the Pevensies. Peter and Edmund I thought I’d put on a base with maybe a dwarf and some other critters and call them Heroes. Susan and Lucy I thought I’d put on a shooter stand – or at least Susan… I don’t know where I’d put Lucy… Cleric…? I need to find a big damn Lion fro Aslan – While reaper’s Celestial Lion looks cool – I’ll probably just find an appropriately sized plastic one at a toy store. I’m awfully tempted to order a bunch of Satyrs and Fauns and critters from Splintered light. Though Splintered light makes “15mm” figures the satyrs and fauns are apparently about 18mm tall and the walking talking critters are 12-20mm tall – which would make them about the right size for “28mm” talking beasts of Narnia.
Army of the White Witch
Again I can use Dwarves and Wolves from my other armies. I found a great figure for the White Witch – but it will require a bit of converting… I’ll need to find a bunch of other assorted nasty creatures and monsters.
Other odds and sods…
I have some Giants and Dragons (which we rarely use) and a God of Death. It’d be nice to pick up some stuff to use as flyers and airships and all the other stuff we never use… though I’m not entirely sure which army they might be used for..
ANCIENTS/DARK AGES HISTORICAL - HOTT/DBx
Some of these have blur the line between historical armies and HOTT armies. As fantasy is what most folks around here are interested in most of these will have fantastical elements added for use with HOTT. I’ve separated them from the “HOTT Armies” because they do have the POTENTIAL to be used as a straight-up historical army…
Vikings
I have an army I can field as either a historical Viking DBA army or a HOTT one. I have enough unpainted figures to make a second army… I’d like to find some appropriate fantastical figures to make my army more… well… fantastical when playing HOTT – but I’m not entirely sure what to look for… maybe a great big hairy Norse-looking barbarian for a “Hero”…?
Normans
I have enough stuff to make a historical Norman DBA army. I have a couple Knights done and some spear and a Cleric stand and peasant Horde for when I field it as a HOTT army. Nothing really I need to add to it. I just need to paint it! I can’t say I’m really excited about doing so since we have found Knights aren’t really all that great against most of the other HOTT armies I have.
Anglo-Danish
I have one complete Historical Anglo-Danish DBA army more or less complete – but I hate all my spear stands. They’re almost all stabby-jabby thrusting poses which always makes lining up stands difficult and they’re always getting bent and broken. I think I’m actually going to have to just model an infantryman with a spear held upright and a shiled out in front and cast myself an ass-pile of them!
Welsh
I have enough Welshmen to make a historical Welsh DBA army – less the Cavalry General option… None painted. Nothing fantastical about them. Maybe they need a Dragonfor the HOTT options!?
Scotts
Got ‘em, need to paint them.
Irish
Got ‘em. Need to paint them.
Picts
I’ve painted a couple stands of the Nekkid Warrior fanatics (Warband) and some archers/crossbowmen to use as Psiloi or shooters. I might need some Light Horse/Rider types…
Romans
I easily have enough for two, maybe three Early Imperial Roman DBA armies… not sure who they’d fight against other than themselves…
Alexandrian Successors
Again I think I have enough to put together any two Early Successor or Selucid DBA armies. One of these days…
GREAT WAR ERA – HOTT/DBx
Early War
If a stand is approximately a company and 4 stands makes a battalion I have enough ready to go to make two battalions of British (well… one British, one Scottish) and Two battalions of Germans. I also have two squadron/stands of German Uhlans, and a battery/stand of field artillery and machineguns. I could quite easily crank out an couple squadrons of British Cavalry and have two machineguns ready to go, and could quickly rebase a field gun battery/stand. I’d like to try this out in the next couple weeks and if it turns out to be fun we can churn out as many as we like – I made the british myself and John has more Germans and French that would just need to be rebased, and tonned of Russians, Sebians, Austrians….
Late War
I have made Canadians and Germans. I have a regiment of Germans and two brigades of Canadians ready to go… and can cast more at anytime.
Russian Civil War/”Back of Beyond”
I have White Russians, Bolsheviks and Warlord Chinese all ready to go… what are we waiting for!? I guess I have to read the rules again, clear off the games table which has exploded with all these figures I’m trying to take stock of, and invite some people over to game!
SEVEN YEARS WAR - HOTT/DBx
I easily have enough French to put together a little game to try it out – Five Regiments of Infantry (3 stands each), one regiment of Horse (three stands), and two stands of artillery. Unfortunately for the British I only have two regiments of infantry completed… I suppose I could set up a scenario game where the British are holding some defendable position and the French have to try and take it…?
Anyeay I have no shortage of stuff I can paint up for this as I bought a pile of specialist type things and I can cast all my own rank and file types.
I’ve had this idea that I could try and get the forces for Quebec ready for the 250th anniversary in September… Hmmmmm… I should figure out what I’d need to have done.
WORLD WAR TWO - HOTT/DBx
I think most of my 15mm forces all have a common frontage (2.5”) – with the exception of small guns which have been based facing the short edge… Not sure if they really come into play in HOTT WW2 anyway… This would require no work to try out as I have stuff ready to go in 15mm.
The majority of the forces I have in 20mm haven’t been painted yet so it would be very easy for me to rebased those to a 60mm frontage. The 60mm frontage would first of all match all my other HOTT/DBx stuff (so I wouldn’t have to cut so many different sized bases) and it would also most easily facilitate 20mm tanks.
MODERN - HOTT/DBx
All of my modern stuff is 20mm and the infantry and vehicles are on bases of differing frontages. I’m not sure how big of a deal common base frontage would be for modern gaming…? But like the 20mm WW2 stuff I could rebase stuff to a 60mm frontage – and I could still use it for CWC (because base size does not matter at all for that…).
SAVAGE WORLDS SKIRMISHING
Victoriana (“Rippers”/Horror and/or Space 1889/VSF)
Hmmmm… I have quite a bit of this. Just need to figure out some fun and interesting new ways to use them in scenarios. Some terrain might be nice and some fun vehicles – like ether flyers and steam tanks…
Pulp Adventure
World War Two (Historical and/or Weird War)
There is very little I need to paint for WW2 stuff. I just need to sit down and come up with some scenarios and start playing. I’d like to built a zeppelin and a tramp steamer and some other pulpy vehicles and terrain…
Okay, there are a few things still unpainted – a couple squads of Russians to finish off my under-strength COMPANY(!?), a KV-1, a PzkwIV, A Russian Jeep, Two squads to finish off a second platoon of British Paras (really… when am I ever going to use more than ONE!?), A squad of 8th Army British I just picked up, the better part of two hald-sections of British commandos to finish off my full assault troop, Some Commando support weapons, a handful of partisans/resistance fighters, odd and sundry Germans - some engineers and field police, maybe a fourth squad of them, and a few anti-tank guns and crews – British, Russian, and German! It sounds like a lot, but it isn’t so much.
At some point I’d like to pick up a few more vehicles – just light ones like a Panzer II or some armoured cars, maybe some desert jeeps, etc.
What I really need to work on for the skirmishing is the TERRAIN!! I have a pile of ruins and rubble terrain that’s half-built. If only I could find some time to finish it up…
Sci-fi
I have none of the Eldar or Imperial Guard painted… There’s quite a few of them… I could throw in a Sci-fi skirmish with what I have of other sci-fi stuff from time to time, just to keep me thinking about it… once in a while squeeze a fire team of this or that into the painting queue…
THE PLAN
Well that’s what I’m thinking about these days and some of the stuff I have to work on. Now I just need to make some sense out of it all – decide what the priorities should be and make some sort of prioritized “TO DO” list….
In terms of what games to play it would make sense to try out some Great War era HOTT (or “HITT” – Hordes in the Trenches) as I HAVE a pile of stuff for it ready to go! If it works out maybe build on those forces…
I should work on another regiment or two of Seven Years War British, or maybe one regiment and a couple stands of British artillery. That way we could try out a small game of DBA 1500-1900 with about 12 stands on each side. Again, if it was fun and to everyone’s liking I have no shortage of more stuff I could paint up for it.
I’ve been kind of tired of WW2 stuff – well at larger than skirmish scale. But I have a lot of stuff that could easily be pressed into action for HOTT WW2… and it looks pretty similar to Modern HOTT… so… Or I could just re-base 12 stands of two of my 20mm Modern forces for a quick try of that variant – as I’m more interested in it anyway….
Of course there’s lots of things to try out with plain old fantasy HOTT and DBA…
I think I’d like to bring back Savage Saturdays – I’m somewhat reluctant to do so in the summer as I’d like to be able to get up early on Sunday’s and go for a bike ride… But if I kept it to skirmish games – and small, reasonable skirmishes with clear objective and a turn time limit… we could potentially finish up at a reasonable enough hour…
Hmmmm… I need to paint a couple units of cavalry for one John and a couple Descent figures for the other John…
I guess priority number one for this week should be to paint up six British Cavalry men for a little 1914 action and clear off the table! Maybe get painting some of the stuff for the Johns to get that out of the way!
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Game Plan 2009
What to do for 2009!? Well any of you that have been paying attention this last month or so will know I’m already deep in the planning of a Fantasy campaign weekend and an extended PBEM campaign using Hordes of the Things.
Looking back at the original Game Plan for 2008. It seems the plan lasted until about March or April…. There are a few reasons why the project died. Partly it was because the dealine was so far off… Then I got interested in trying to get fit and started riding a lot which cut into my productivity. I think the big reason was that no one was really showing up to my regular weekly game nights or showing any interest in the project. Sure there was plenty of people online – followers of the blog – that were very interested (bless you all), but they aren’t the people I play games with…
What have I learned from this..?! Make plans with closer deadlines. The deadline for the big plan for the 2009 Wargames weekend was 14 months away…
Also make plans for things that other people might be interested in… people that might actually play games with me…
So, what I’m thinking about for this year.
Hordes of the Things Campaign(s) – 28mm Fantasy Armies
Well the Wargaming weekend is set for June so I have five months to finish up seven armies. Three are more or less complete – the Vikings, Saxons, and elves. Each could do with a couple more stands for options and I need to make strongholds for each. The other four armies need a bit of work, but if I did one army a month and used the remaining month to finish up any optional extras, Strongholds and other terrain.
I think for January and February I’d like to work on The Dwarves and Orcs.
Maybe for my Wargaming Birthday bash I’ll have a Big Battler HOTT game – Orcs and Vikings versus Elves and Dwarves and Saxons…?
That would leave March and April to work on the Undead and the Normans (if CVT ever sends them too me!?)
That leaves me a month to finish up any odds and extras and terrain and stuff…
While I’m working on the HOTT armies I’ll also work on some individually based fantasy heroes and villains and minions for some Savage Worlds skirmish gaming…
After I’m done the Weekend Campaign I’m going to organize a long-term play by email HOTT campaign. Well… the emailers won’t really be playing any HOTT… they’ll just be playing heads of state and moving their armies around on a campaign map and making strategic decisions for their country… I’ll be playing the HOTT games (hopefully with the help of a few locals…) to determine the outcome of any armies bumping into each other!
That’s pretty much going to keep me busy for the first half of the year… and I don’t want to make any guarantees about what I’m going to to for the second half… There’s a few other things I’d LIKE to work on and play… They might be the things I work on after I’ve finished my HOTT fantasy armies… or I may just try and slip them in here and there between HOTT armies just for a little change of pace....
Cold War Commander - 20mm Cold War armies
I would like to work at finishing up (and PLAYING WITH!) some of my 20mm Cold War Commander forces. Some need very little to complete (assembling and painting a few AFVs). Some need a bit more (assembling and painting a whole lot of AFVs!). For the most part There isn’t much I’d really NEED to buy to finish up any of them. (Sure, sure - there are a few things that would be NICE to pick up to make them really feel “complete”…)
Future War Commander – 20mm/Micro Sci-fi Armies
I’d like to play this a bit this year… and work on some forces for it… but right now I have very little that’s done. I don’t even really have two small forces that could play against each other unless I used some of the Cold War Commander forces… and really… if I’m doing that I might as well just be playing CWC…!?
DBA - 28mm Historical Ancient Armies
Well since I’m going to be working on armies for HOTT… I might as well crank out a few more historical DBA armies (as they can be used as Human armies in a HOTT Fantasy game…?) I have enough to do a couple of Successor armies as well as a couple Early Imperial Roman armies… Occasionally I get the idea that I should model myself a basic greek hoplite figure and make myself a couple of ancient greek armies… we shall see…
World War Two Skirmish – 28mm Savage Worlds
Maybe it’ll get CK and Gary out if I say I’m going to run some WW2 stuff… There is startlingly little to do to finish up the forces I have for WW2 in 28mm. I just got a couple of things in the mail to finish up a second platoon of Russians… well, two slightly understrenght platoons of Russians… without one of their DP LMGs… Actually If I picked up the Assault Group DP pack I’d have enough for an understrength COMPANY (with their full compliment of LMGs!)….!? How cool would that be!?
Modern Skirmish – 28mm Savage Worlds
In the latter half of 2008 I finished painting up all the 28mm Modern I had and picked up some more… I don’t have a LOT of it, and thus not a lot of scenario options… I might like to pick up a few new things and play some more…
Quebec 1759!?
Is there any chance I could, after doing all of the above stuff, pull this off for the fall? Not the originally planned weekend campaign, just the battle on the Plains of Abraham…? It IS the 250th Anniversary. Nice big round numbers like that don’t come along all that often…
Regular Gaming
I’ve been kind of back and forth the last couple days about whether I should really bother hosting a regular weekly game night as I have done in the past. I’m kind of really stoked about painting and modeling right now. I’ve got Savage Saturdays (my weekly Savage Worlds game night) and right now setting up a second wargame night each week… for guys that don’t necessarily even show up… seems like a lot of work for… well… not much in return…. I think I’d rather spend the time painting right now.
Looking back at the original Game Plan for 2008. It seems the plan lasted until about March or April…. There are a few reasons why the project died. Partly it was because the dealine was so far off… Then I got interested in trying to get fit and started riding a lot which cut into my productivity. I think the big reason was that no one was really showing up to my regular weekly game nights or showing any interest in the project. Sure there was plenty of people online – followers of the blog – that were very interested (bless you all), but they aren’t the people I play games with…
What have I learned from this..?! Make plans with closer deadlines. The deadline for the big plan for the 2009 Wargames weekend was 14 months away…
Also make plans for things that other people might be interested in… people that might actually play games with me…
So, what I’m thinking about for this year.
Hordes of the Things Campaign(s) – 28mm Fantasy Armies
Well the Wargaming weekend is set for June so I have five months to finish up seven armies. Three are more or less complete – the Vikings, Saxons, and elves. Each could do with a couple more stands for options and I need to make strongholds for each. The other four armies need a bit of work, but if I did one army a month and used the remaining month to finish up any optional extras, Strongholds and other terrain.
I think for January and February I’d like to work on The Dwarves and Orcs.
Maybe for my Wargaming Birthday bash I’ll have a Big Battler HOTT game – Orcs and Vikings versus Elves and Dwarves and Saxons…?
That would leave March and April to work on the Undead and the Normans (if CVT ever sends them too me!?)
That leaves me a month to finish up any odds and extras and terrain and stuff…
While I’m working on the HOTT armies I’ll also work on some individually based fantasy heroes and villains and minions for some Savage Worlds skirmish gaming…
After I’m done the Weekend Campaign I’m going to organize a long-term play by email HOTT campaign. Well… the emailers won’t really be playing any HOTT… they’ll just be playing heads of state and moving their armies around on a campaign map and making strategic decisions for their country… I’ll be playing the HOTT games (hopefully with the help of a few locals…) to determine the outcome of any armies bumping into each other!
That’s pretty much going to keep me busy for the first half of the year… and I don’t want to make any guarantees about what I’m going to to for the second half… There’s a few other things I’d LIKE to work on and play… They might be the things I work on after I’ve finished my HOTT fantasy armies… or I may just try and slip them in here and there between HOTT armies just for a little change of pace....
Cold War Commander - 20mm Cold War armies
I would like to work at finishing up (and PLAYING WITH!) some of my 20mm Cold War Commander forces. Some need very little to complete (assembling and painting a few AFVs). Some need a bit more (assembling and painting a whole lot of AFVs!). For the most part There isn’t much I’d really NEED to buy to finish up any of them. (Sure, sure - there are a few things that would be NICE to pick up to make them really feel “complete”…)
Future War Commander – 20mm/Micro Sci-fi Armies
I’d like to play this a bit this year… and work on some forces for it… but right now I have very little that’s done. I don’t even really have two small forces that could play against each other unless I used some of the Cold War Commander forces… and really… if I’m doing that I might as well just be playing CWC…!?
DBA - 28mm Historical Ancient Armies
Well since I’m going to be working on armies for HOTT… I might as well crank out a few more historical DBA armies (as they can be used as Human armies in a HOTT Fantasy game…?) I have enough to do a couple of Successor armies as well as a couple Early Imperial Roman armies… Occasionally I get the idea that I should model myself a basic greek hoplite figure and make myself a couple of ancient greek armies… we shall see…
World War Two Skirmish – 28mm Savage Worlds
Maybe it’ll get CK and Gary out if I say I’m going to run some WW2 stuff… There is startlingly little to do to finish up the forces I have for WW2 in 28mm. I just got a couple of things in the mail to finish up a second platoon of Russians… well, two slightly understrenght platoons of Russians… without one of their DP LMGs… Actually If I picked up the Assault Group DP pack I’d have enough for an understrength COMPANY (with their full compliment of LMGs!)….!? How cool would that be!?
Modern Skirmish – 28mm Savage Worlds
In the latter half of 2008 I finished painting up all the 28mm Modern I had and picked up some more… I don’t have a LOT of it, and thus not a lot of scenario options… I might like to pick up a few new things and play some more…
Quebec 1759!?
Is there any chance I could, after doing all of the above stuff, pull this off for the fall? Not the originally planned weekend campaign, just the battle on the Plains of Abraham…? It IS the 250th Anniversary. Nice big round numbers like that don’t come along all that often…
Regular Gaming
I’ve been kind of back and forth the last couple days about whether I should really bother hosting a regular weekly game night as I have done in the past. I’m kind of really stoked about painting and modeling right now. I’ve got Savage Saturdays (my weekly Savage Worlds game night) and right now setting up a second wargame night each week… for guys that don’t necessarily even show up… seems like a lot of work for… well… not much in return…. I think I’d rather spend the time painting right now.
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Some More Thoughts on the H.O.T.T. Campaign
WHEN?
After some more serious stock-taking and organization I’ve come to the realization that I still have an awful lot I’d need to paint before we even got going. It will probably be spring before I’m ready… So I’m thinking I’d like to host a H.O.T.T. Camapgin Weekend some time in the spring/early summer to kick things off, then after that start a new, longer strategic campaign via email sometime shortly thereafter.
So when would be a good time for folks in the spring/early summer to have a H.O.T.T. Camapgin Weekend? Who would be willing to travel to Saskatoon to do so? POST COMMENTS HERE!
Armies
Three of the armies will be human kingdoms. They will be based on historical Anglo-Danish, Viking, and Norman DBA armies. As this IS “Fantasy”, however, I though I should probably add the option of having some heroic, fantastical elements in the army. I think all three could certainly have a Hero General… but what about magic. I think the Normans might be limited to having a Cleric element (bishop). How about the Saxoms and Vikings? Should they have Magician elements (shamans)? I’m not entirely sure they’re necessary, and I can’t think of anything else I could add. Suggestions? Should one of the Norman Knight stands be upgraded to Paladins?
After some more serious stock-taking and organization I’ve come to the realization that I still have an awful lot I’d need to paint before we even got going. It will probably be spring before I’m ready… So I’m thinking I’d like to host a H.O.T.T. Camapgin Weekend some time in the spring/early summer to kick things off, then after that start a new, longer strategic campaign via email sometime shortly thereafter.
So when would be a good time for folks in the spring/early summer to have a H.O.T.T. Camapgin Weekend? Who would be willing to travel to Saskatoon to do so? POST COMMENTS HERE!
Armies
Three of the armies will be human kingdoms. They will be based on historical Anglo-Danish, Viking, and Norman DBA armies. As this IS “Fantasy”, however, I though I should probably add the option of having some heroic, fantastical elements in the army. I think all three could certainly have a Hero General… but what about magic. I think the Normans might be limited to having a Cleric element (bishop). How about the Saxoms and Vikings? Should they have Magician elements (shamans)? I’m not entirely sure they’re necessary, and I can’t think of anything else I could add. Suggestions? Should one of the Norman Knight stands be upgraded to Paladins?
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
H.O.T.T. CAMPAIGN!!!
A number of influences have converged and got me thinking about DBA and Hordes of the Things again… This past week I’ve been planning and plotting and figuring what I’d need to finish up a number of DBA and HOTT armies. I’ve even started some painting and rebasing of old figures to the new basing standards. All this has, of course, got me thinking, once again, of the megalomaniac dream of running a grand sweeping fantasy campaign of good versus evil (and all the confused and easily corrupted, volatile and fickle humans in between…).
Since the very first edition of DBA came out (I still have my first edition somewhere – ordered direct from England in 199 – after reading about it in a Wargames Illustrated article..) I’ve wanted to run a campaign. It’s just never seemed to work out – people involved never getting around to painting armies, moving away, unable to find people willing to play, etc… I imagine it would add so many new dimensions to the basic tabletop wargame. From the wheeling and dealing (and possibly back-stabbing) of international diplomacy to strategic planning and movement to new elements of tactical decision making – do I risk destruction of my army to win this battle or retreat and live to fight on another day…?
I reckon I could put together six or seven armies in the not too distant future; Dwarves, Elves, Orcs, possibly Undead and two to four Human Kingdoms. I’ve been considering two options for campaigns..
The first would be a simple one day or weekend long affair using the simple campaign system as presented in the DBA/HOTT books. All participants would be present and I imagine it would be a bit like a game of diplomacy with some games of HOTT in between to figure out the results of armies bumping into each other…
The second idea would be a longer, on-going campaign with a more detailed campaign system – possibly based on the old Mighty Empires game. For this campaign I would recruit players on two different levels. First I would need to recruit players, that would hopefully be unknown to each other, who would serve as the kings or leaders of the various countries. They would be players in a play-by-email campaign of politics and strategic decision-making – and so wouldn’t necessarily have to be from around here! On a local basis I would need a couple players to game out any battles generated by the strategic campaign movements – though, if needed, these could even be played solo – and these would be chronicled in battle reports on my blog… or maybe even a new one dedicated to the campaign…
These two options wouldn’t necessarily be mutually exclusive. I thought I might run a simple day or weekend long campaign whenever I get all (or even SOME) of the armies finished… maybe in February for m 6th Annual Wargaming Birthday Bash? Or alternatively (or additionally) I could potentially be convinced to drag the whole mess out to Edmonton or Calgary – either to Fallcon or Mayday or some other mutually agreeable weekend… (this might be tough this coming year as time and money for travel will be a bit tight as we really can not further put off some serious home renovations… maybe if I could carpool/split gas with others, this might be a bit more feasible…). The ongoing campaign could start anytime after I get all the forces finished.
I imagine the long campaign would be played with weekly campaign turns that could represent seasons (spring, summer, fall) or months of the campaigning season (six, approximately equating to April to September…?) depending on the system I use. At the very minimum players would be expected to send one email to me each week indicating where they would like to deploy their field army (or armies) at the beginning of the campaign season and which elements of their army they’d like to replace, and then where they would like the army to move each turn… It would be helpful, though not necessarily necessary, to read all of the campaign notices, dispatches from other players, and battle reports from the previous moves… There would be all sorts of opportunity for as muc or as little role-playing as one desired; sending secret messages to other kingdoms, or making public royal proclamations, challenges or ultimatums!
I might even tie the long campaign into my weekly Savage Worlds game night – for which the players have just made new fantasy characters… (BWA-HA-HA-HA-Ha-ha-ha…ha…heh… see? Megalomaniac slipping out again there…)
So…
Who’s interested….?
Since the very first edition of DBA came out (I still have my first edition somewhere – ordered direct from England in 199 – after reading about it in a Wargames Illustrated article..) I’ve wanted to run a campaign. It’s just never seemed to work out – people involved never getting around to painting armies, moving away, unable to find people willing to play, etc… I imagine it would add so many new dimensions to the basic tabletop wargame. From the wheeling and dealing (and possibly back-stabbing) of international diplomacy to strategic planning and movement to new elements of tactical decision making – do I risk destruction of my army to win this battle or retreat and live to fight on another day…?
I reckon I could put together six or seven armies in the not too distant future; Dwarves, Elves, Orcs, possibly Undead and two to four Human Kingdoms. I’ve been considering two options for campaigns..
The first would be a simple one day or weekend long affair using the simple campaign system as presented in the DBA/HOTT books. All participants would be present and I imagine it would be a bit like a game of diplomacy with some games of HOTT in between to figure out the results of armies bumping into each other…
The second idea would be a longer, on-going campaign with a more detailed campaign system – possibly based on the old Mighty Empires game. For this campaign I would recruit players on two different levels. First I would need to recruit players, that would hopefully be unknown to each other, who would serve as the kings or leaders of the various countries. They would be players in a play-by-email campaign of politics and strategic decision-making – and so wouldn’t necessarily have to be from around here! On a local basis I would need a couple players to game out any battles generated by the strategic campaign movements – though, if needed, these could even be played solo – and these would be chronicled in battle reports on my blog… or maybe even a new one dedicated to the campaign…
These two options wouldn’t necessarily be mutually exclusive. I thought I might run a simple day or weekend long campaign whenever I get all (or even SOME) of the armies finished… maybe in February for m 6th Annual Wargaming Birthday Bash? Or alternatively (or additionally) I could potentially be convinced to drag the whole mess out to Edmonton or Calgary – either to Fallcon or Mayday or some other mutually agreeable weekend… (this might be tough this coming year as time and money for travel will be a bit tight as we really can not further put off some serious home renovations… maybe if I could carpool/split gas with others, this might be a bit more feasible…). The ongoing campaign could start anytime after I get all the forces finished.
I imagine the long campaign would be played with weekly campaign turns that could represent seasons (spring, summer, fall) or months of the campaigning season (six, approximately equating to April to September…?) depending on the system I use. At the very minimum players would be expected to send one email to me each week indicating where they would like to deploy their field army (or armies) at the beginning of the campaign season and which elements of their army they’d like to replace, and then where they would like the army to move each turn… It would be helpful, though not necessarily necessary, to read all of the campaign notices, dispatches from other players, and battle reports from the previous moves… There would be all sorts of opportunity for as muc or as little role-playing as one desired; sending secret messages to other kingdoms, or making public royal proclamations, challenges or ultimatums!
I might even tie the long campaign into my weekly Savage Worlds game night – for which the players have just made new fantasy characters… (BWA-HA-HA-HA-Ha-ha-ha…ha…heh… see? Megalomaniac slipping out again there…)
So…
Who’s interested….?
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