Re-Exploring Old Rulesets

Hi!

I can't believe it's almost the end of June and I've not posted anything here for almost a month!

Saying that, I've been rather busy both with my lovely wife's birthday, two weeks holidays and organising our spare room/man cave/library. This has given me the chance to finally have a bit of a sort through my old ruleset collection which has given me the urge to have a good rummage through the books and have a peruse!

I'm often struck by what a shame it is when great games vanish or are left in a zombie state where they are still available but never get any support, be that new releases or indeed anybody playing them. It's doubly so when some of these games have a fascinating setting with some great ideas that really lend themselves to brilliant fun gaming possibilities.

Take a look at Kryomek for example. It's never been out of production, the rules are freely available to download and the miniatures are still being made but it gets very little attention these days. I must admit that I'm just as guilty as any as I originally picked up the books back in the 90's from the long lamented Mac's Models in Edinburgh as well as a handful of miniatures but never seriously tried to play a game.

Similarly, Void 1.1 is still readily available, the rules are also free downloads and the figures are still available. I even had a VASA force fully painted back in the day but sold it off when I went off to uni and never really got back into it which is a real shame as the rules are really good and the setting is rather enjoyable!

For fantasy gaming, how about Crucible by FASA? While the company is long gone, the core rule book is still available from Ral Partha Europe and the forces are generic enough to allow proxy games without too much issue. The rules themselves are actually really good and the setting is brilliant but nobody plays it.

I think part of the issue with these games is that they are aimed at the GW sort of large scale gamers with multiple units, large gaming surfaces and infinite time to paint stuff for them whereas my interests have moved onto smaller scale skirmishing with at most a couple of dozen figures a side. But should this stop me from incorporating the settings, forces and ideas into the sort of games I play now?

No! Having re-read quite a few of my old books, I'm sorely tempted to put together some small skirmish bands and explore the settings. Imagine a UNION marine squad from Vor: The Maelstrom being dispatched to scout a new world and encountering some unfriendly Growlers or Nexus Marines being tasked with searching a hulk and discovering a Kryomek infestation. How about Principality adventurers exploring ancient ruins for artifacts of power in Crucible or grim survivors fighting over precious supplies in the endless wastes of Leviathan's Aeroth.

The list is infinite and the possibilities for some really fascinating games are out there and it's well worth having a peek at some of the old, forgotten and unappreciated rulesets that are sat in many folks collections.

These possibilities are even greater when using 15mm scale figures as it's possible to create a decent sized skirmish force for under a tenner. For example, Star Mogul only requires about a dozen figures and a vehicle a side while Nuclear Renaissance only needs a handful plus suitably converted vehicles.

With this in mind, I hope to use the opportunity to put together some small forces by rummaging my leadpile of 15mm gubbins to see what I can put together. I will be using the month of July to see what themed forces I can clobber together and see how feasible such a scheme would be.

A good example of this is my Bauhaus Jaeger squad that I put together a while back:

Bauhaus Jaegers

They are Ground Zero Games miniatures with added shoulder pads which gives them the suitably 90's Warzone vibe and with a few additions, I have a Warzone 1st edition force ready to rock!

It's going to be an interesting process and we shall have to see what I come up with but hopefully I will resume regular posting here and I even have a couple of batches of 15mm stuff that I've finished off over the last couple of weeks that needs posting up so watch this space!

Badlands Skirmish

Hi!

After my angry review of the other day, I managed to get a quick game of a Song of Blasters using my Epic scaled Ultramarines versus some Eldar.

I've also been working on getting some new scenery put together in the form of some rock columns to add a bit of height to my setup.

 Early Deployment

The Imperials had a more mobile force consisting of several tactical squads mounted in Rhinos and a Landspeeder to give a bit of mobile punch to the patrol and the Imperial forces quickly took control of the settlement in the centre of the board and pushed forward towards the Eldar positions.

Some poor activation rolls saw the Eldar flank refusing to move off the hill which left the Warlock and his Guardians somewhat exposed with just a Falcon grav tank to support them. The Landspeeder had hurtled up the flank and hit the tank with a heavy plasma gun but only succeeded in damaging it and in return the Falcons Brightlance sent the skimmer crashing to the ground in flames.

At this point it became clear that the Eldar had the edge in ranged firepower with the Falcon, Dark Reapers and Warlock able to hit the Marines before their shorter range Bolters could be brought to bare and if it hadn't been for the use of their transports as a shield, the Ultramarines would have been in for a rough day.

The Dark Reapers on the flank blow up a squad of Marines 

Fortunately for the Marines, their transports sacrifice saw them able to get close enough to the Eldar to let rip with their bolters and the lithe Guardians were shredded in a storm of explosive shells.

At this point, the Eldar were forced to retreat having lost most of their infantry but the Ultramarines vehicles were all wrecked apart from the command Rhino.

 The Imperial Rhino's cook off following Brightlance strikes and Warlock Powers

I'm rather enjoying playing very small games in 6mm scale and think I may have some more skirmishes to play but do need to look at my rules a bit further to make things run a bit more smoothly and do need to add some more balancing units to my forces as my Ultramarines need some long range firepower while my Eldar need more swift moving units too!

At present, an average game lasts about 20-30 minutes which should allow me to run a decent mini campaign over the course of an evening but the more multi wound vehicles and units I add, the longer it takes to play.

In the meantime, I'm also starting work on my Orks and have managed to finish two stands of Goff boyz to test out how they look and if a more verdant base works with them. While I like the Orks, I'm not sure about the bases and think I need to add some green static grass or patches of vegetation like I did with my aris bases to make them pop.

Ork Boyz

I think I need to rummage my Epic boxes to see what I have and what I can add to my forces as it would be great to see some fully fleshed out little patrols duking it out over the coming months!

In the meantime, All the best!

Osprey's Ragnarok: An Angry Review UPDATED

Hi!

I recently picked up a copy of Osprey's new wargame, Ragnarok and thought I'd share my initial thoughts on it.

I'm sorry if I upset anyone with this review but rarely do I get so angered by something to the point of having to post a massive rant about it and Ragnarok has really annoyed me and sadly reading through this post again makes me sound like a loon so apologies for the raging that follows!

Ragnarok

I'd heard rumour of Ragnarok a while ago and really liked the idea of epic skirmishes in a post apocalyptic Viking world and pre ordered a copy from Waterstones (my store here in Dundee!). I must admit that I was a bit hesitant as it comes in at a hefty £25 which is a fair chunk of change for a rulebook but I really wanted to give it a bash.

 Berzerker

On first perusal, I was pleasantly surprised as the artwork throughout is pretty fantastic, as is the case with all of Osprey's games range but when I got down to the nitty gritty, things started to go a bit pear shaped.

I have now read through the rules three times to try and figure out how close combat works in the game and am still no clearer on it than I was the first time I read it. The rules seem to have been noted down by someone who knows the game and therefore doesn't need to explain how it works which is incredibly frustrating. 

Even after my third attempt at reading it, close combat doesn't appear to be explained unless from the attackers point if he's charging or the defender's if he decides to attack back. The stats you compare for the opposed roll isn't mentioned in this section of the rulebook but further back in the Morpheus Engine section (this is the authors generic rule system which I think he's planning on using for multiple different games).

There are few if any examples featured and even then they are badly worded to the point that they don't actually help at all and the layout itself irks me too as it just seems to be jumbled in with the background and rules for campaigns. 

A perfect example of this is the Success Table, the basis for all rolls made in the game. The table itself makes little to no sense but the wording that goes with it makes it even more obscure to the point of madness! 

Another thing that irked me was the poor quality of the miniatures pictures. It's a miniatures game and the rulebook is pretty expensive so the least they could do is feature some decent pictures instead of this:

Meh

I get the impression that Osprey have spent quite a bit on the book so why is it ok to feature tabletop quality figures on a game mat with some polystyrene hills? Worse yet, quite a few of the pictures in the book are decidedly blurry or pixelated and it looks suspiciously like they've been taken on a phone. 

As I've mentioned in previous posts, I've had very mixed feelings about Osprey games releases but this one has really frustrated me to the point that I'm actually considering returning it to the shop which is saying something.

Annoyingly it looks like there may actually be a good game hiding in there and the campaigns look like they may be fun to play BUT it's all let down by seemingly not having anyone who isn't experienced with playtesting the game sit down and read through it to see if it actually makes sense! Ooh it makes me cross!

I must admit that by the time it got to covering the interesting stuff like Godspark (the ability to harness the power of the dead gods to perform heroic actions) and the assorted equipment, denizens of the nine realms and so on, I had lost pretty much all enthusiasm for Ragnarok as no matter how pretty looking a game is and all the shiny bells and whistles of super special abilities or innovative campaign systems it may have, if the rules don't mesh or are so poorly laid, missing out as to be unclear to the point of unusable, they are going to fail!

My angry advice would be to give the whole thing a miss and save a waste of £25!

All the best!

UPDATE

Tim, the author of Ragnarok has contacted me to showcase some examples of play and mentioned that Osprey had edited out all the examples in the game to fit the word count.

I apologise to Tim for raging about his rules which he is clearly passionate about but I don't feel that I can remove this post as it's still my honest opinion that there is something wrong with Ragnarok that needs serious attention and it's a waste of what could been an epic game. 

If anyone has played and enjoyed Ragnarok, please do drop a message here and let me know how you got on with it! 

All the best.

Richard

Epic Command Squads

Hi!

I've passed the blip of mentalness concerning 28mm and have been working on repairing my Epic command stands that my cat so thoughtfully ate the banners from last year.

Ultramarine Command Squads, Techmarine, Captain and Medic

Whilst pootling away with them, it got me to thinking about how command squads are represented in Epic. In 2nd edition, each Space Marine character got it's own base with different abilities while in Epic 40k, things got streamlined and they all got combined on to one.

While I can see the wisdom of such a move, I do like the spectacle of having each little character moving around the battlefield carrying out their own role so went with mounting each on their own base with a bodyguard and banner.

I love the spectacle it provides and helps identify command elements from a distance and while a tad ostentatious, I think it fits the 40k universe quite well!

Here's a pic of all my command squads to show how they look:

Banners Aplenty

Eventually, I plan on adding a Chaplain and Librarian to my Ultramarine force and have got their stands underway as I type but I also have some Orks primed and ready as well as a batch of jungle terrain that I'm busily making for my retro green table!

I had forgotten how much fun it was to paint in Epic scale as it's surprisingly easy to paint up a small formation of troops and vehicles in a short period of time. The only downside is that I am running low on lipped bases so will need to replenish my supply soon. I'm also looking for some slightly larger lipped bases for superheavy tanks and titans so will need to have a bit of a peruse of the interwebs for a source that's not too expensive to fit my meagre budget.

In the meantime, All the best!

Hitting a Snag

Hi!

Well I seem to have hit a bit of a snag in that I find myself wanting to do about a million different projects in different scales all at the same time and it's resulted in me grinding to a halt with all things hobby!

It's rather frustrating as I've been plugging away quite happily for a while now with my assorted bits and bobs but all of a sudden it has all stopped dead in its tracks. I think the problem is that I've been trying to put together some 2mm scale Dwarf infantry for my ongoing Land Ironclads project and it's just not working.

Orc Infantry

My Orcs are made out of plastic Granny Grid, the stuff that is used for cross stitch but I've now tried three different ways for my Dwarves using the same materials and must admit that each result has been less than satisfactory. It has got me tempted to take a peek at getting some of the Irregular Miniatures 2mm stuff but the prospect of spending even a small sum is causing me to baulk. I have tons of 15mm and 6mm stuff that I can be getting on with, not to mention the Flintloque stuff that I've been slowly painting my way through so what is it about the struggle to get some tiny, tiny infantry looking right that has resulted in such a jam?

Maybe I just need to rummage out a random figure and paint it instead but I've been wanting to get my forces for such a tiny scale game painted for a while!

The other issue I find myself flailing against is that I recently picked up a green gaming mat and it's got me looking longingly at 2nd edition 40k and 4th edition Fantasy Battle and images like this aren't helping:

Orky Goodness!

High Elf Army

On the one hand I know I'm being ridiculous as painting 28mm scale armies is now beyond me as I don't have the budget, space, time or patience for such an unwieldy project but there's still that nagging urge to give it a go and that, along with my current 2mm conundrum seems to have resulted in me utterly bamboozled as to what to do.

I'm going to take a bit of a break, go out and enjoy my day off and hopefully come back with some sort of plan but in the meantime, if you've got any suggestions, give me a shout as I'd love some advice!

All the best!

Aldi Gaming Mat

Hi!

I'd noticed mention on assorted sites over the last week that Aldi were selling a grass effect mat that many in the wargaming community suspected would do for a gaming mat so when we were out today getting our shopping, I nipped in and had a peruse.

They only had one left, the dark green one at that and at first I wasn't too sure but my ever patient wife suggested I should pick it up anyway as it's only £6.99 and we could use it for something else if it wasn't suitable for gaming. I must admit that I am super glad that I heeded her advice!

Gaming Mat!

Measuring 1x2 metres, it's perfect for gaming purposes and I had originally planned on chopping it in two for use as two skirmish mats, one green and the other somewhat snow covered but having plopped it on my 3'x3' board, I find myself sorely tempted to keep the full length as is as there's something pleasingly retro about it that got me thinking about those classic White Dwarf battle reports where either the Old World or some far flung planet had vivid green boards.

15mm scale shot

While our library most definitely hasn't got space for anything as grand as a classic 6'x4' gaming board, I do think that with a bit of bodging, I could just about manage a 5'x3' or am I being a mentalist? I'm not sure but I find myself trawling through the old Citadel terrain book for inspiration and itching to make some simple scenery to add to it and recreate some of those classic stylings!

 28mm scale shot

I think for £6.99 it's proved to be a total bargain and with a little bit of drybrushing and addition of flock it will look the business and if you've got an Aldi near you, it's well worth a peruse to see if they've got any left.

Zombie Musketeer

It's a nice change from all the desert landscapes I've been working with over the last decade or so and I'm going to use the opportunity to explore some more retro gaming so watch this space.

In the meantime, All the best!

Messing About With Epic

Hi!

Sadly hobby time has had to be suspended for the time being as we've got guests visiting so the man cave has been converted back to a bedroom but I've taken the opportunity to have a sneaky peek at some of my posts over the last few years and have taken a bit of a hankering for some more Epic shenanigans!

While I'm tempted to have a go at creating a massive army ala Epic Space Marine with entire companies of troops and tons of titans, superheavy tanks I'm much more likely to actually paint up some slightly more modest forces.

Epic Imperial Guard!

With that in mind, I will be using Epic 40k as at least the basis for some skirmishes featuring something more like reinforced platoons or possibly even smaller by converting some more stats for use with Song of Blasters!

I managed a couple of games last year using both systems and rather enjoyed the experience so think I will use it as an opportunity to both flesh out my current armies and build a few new ones too!

What I loved about Epic 40k other than the super streamlined system was in the original rulebook, the sample forces were essentially 6mm scale versions of 2nd edition 40k armies as can be seen with Force Firestorm:

 As you can see, it's pretty small with just a command squad plus two tactical squads plus a smattering of vehicles which was very doable in 2nd edition 40k and I've got plenty of gubbins that wouldn't be too much effort to paint up something similar!

Better yet, with a bit of effort, I could even use my old Codexes a bash to actually put together some teeny versions of a 40k force!

I'll need to rummage my bits boxes to see what I've got and I suspect I need some more lipped bases but I'm raring to have a go and if it gets me painting and gaming, all the better!

In other news, I've now got a Dwarven steamtank formation or two built and ready to paint for my ongoing 2mm project and I've got the makings of my Orc Carnosaurs to work on too and once the gaming room come library is back in place I'll be showcasing my progress and trying out Land Ironclads with some reinforcements!

All in all it's proving to be rather a satisfying week but I'm once again finding myself lured by 28mm and am having to resist as best as I can as I know I'm unlikely to make a go of any larger scale project that I start. Hopefully I'll be distracted by my smaller scale gubbins but if all else fails, maybe I should have a go at putting together a Mordheim style warband to test out the waters...

Anyhoo, for the meantime All the best!