Spring 2016 Update

It would seem the buzz over Team Yankee has died down somewhat.  Considering I pre-ordered the rulebook from a store a few hours away in December, but it is almost four months later and I have yet to even read the rules, I will admit my own interest in waning.  I still plan to work on the models I purchased in 6mm, so hopefully actually getting the rules in my hands will get me motivated.

Though, I have to admit, I am somewhat glad it went this way.  Battlefront just announced the new rules set for the Afgantsy Air Assault Battalion which is how I had wanted to run my Soviet force anyway.  Of course, this means I need more Hinds.

Flames of War is on a semi-hiatus as well, at least with playing.  One player moved, another found a new hobby (that I also share), and another is on a different shift.  Makes scheduling games fairly difficult.  Still, work is proceeding along, just at a slow pace.  I would like to make this the year I FINALLY finish an entire army, and I have fairly high hopes of accomplishing that.  My Soviets are all in the beginning stages of painting, with the infantry almost done, and the tanks moving along.  If I can just keep from adding any more units, I should be fine.  Also, by the time I get it done, maybe the tournament points will return to a higher total so I can run the horde I had planned.

The Heavy Gear Kickstarter is showing some progress.  It was supposed to be delivered last November, but they are being good with the communication on status, and the delays are understandable.  The Living Rulebook (Beta) looks to be pretty solid as well.  I played a game about a year and a half ago that went fairly well.  Since then, I have been content to just continue working on the figures I have, planning lists, and watching videos.



I have some rough ideas of how I want these figures to look.  Basing is pretty much set, I decided to go with the Privateer Press 'lipped' bases, and I am heavily pinning most of the models.  My Southern force has been worked on since I started buying them up in 2013.  The Northern figures I have are coming along much more slowly, I had to re-plan the whole force with the Beta rules.  I still have the Peace River models unopened in their boxes, I wont even get into that until at least one of the other ones is finished.

Recently I decided to get back into X-Wing Miniatures.  There are a few local players, and it seems to be a much better casual play game, so I have been able to play it much more easily.  I am amazed at how much it has changed since I played last.  New faction, several new waves, and a fairly active organized play structure.  A friend and I started a cinematic play campaign using his Rebel Transport, and that has been pretty fun.  I wont go into a lot of detail on that, but felt it was worth mentioning.

I want to try and keep this updated, but the time I spent writing, I am not using to finish projects.  Still, I imagine a few people still read this, so I want to make it worthwhile.  As I can, I will update projects, post photos, and have some resources available for those that are interested. 

Considering DBA 3.0

One of my first ventures into ancient/medieval wargaming was De Bellis Antiquitatis (or DBA for short).  I believe it was 2008/2009 when my friend Mark introduced me to a simple, quick play historical game.  I was skeptical at first, not really needing another game to get into, but after a few rounds I was hooked.  It had just what I was looking for with small armies (12 bases per army, not counting optional units) and it was also a lot of what I liked about the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism - another long-term hobby) in that you could either do strict historical scenarios or a free-for-all with history.  Soon we had about a half-dozen players at the store, with everyone wanting to give it a try.  The game was cheap enough to make this possible, no matter how strapped you were with your other games, putting a whole army together for less than $20 was easy enough.

Anyway, eventually this fell to the side for me, though I never got rid of my models.  Even my unassembled armies (I had purchased several that I never got around to) are still in my model box.  This past week I had the pleasure of meeting another local gamer who has a lot of experience with wargames, and eventually we got to talking about DBA.  I knew it was moving into 3.0 with the rules edition, though I had not had an opportunity to play it yet.  I was mostly waiting around to see if I would need to get new armies (if any of the lists changed).  Turns out, they didnt.  So my Romans and Huns (likely my Landsknechts, Byzantines, and Samurai as well) are still good.  Since I have not been able to sell off my almost finished Field of Glory Imperial Roman army, I might as well put it to use in DBA.

I may have to post some photos of what I have, as well as any side projects I get into.  One thing I really enjoyed about the game is that if I dont feel like setting aside a block of time to work on one of my current projects (I generally spend 3-4 hours per Flames of War platoon, give or take), I can do something for DBA in less than an hour.  A piece of terrain, a camp, a few bases of figures, whatever.  I can test out new methods, and if it doesnt work, who cares?

The game is played on a 2' x 2' board.  When I got into it Mark had several which I think were a part of some sort of modular game board system.  One was flat, another with a mountain on one corner, and another had some random hills.  The only one I ended up with was the flat one, figuring I could adjust the terrain as needed rather than having a permanent hill or other features on it.  Anyway, it is gone now, and I am left trying to find a new game board.

Some articles I have run across detail some creative ideas.  This article details making them out of plywood squares so you can mix and match as needed with built in terrain.  With that in mind, another article suggests the use of canvas squares (like, a painting canvas) with much of the same idea overall.  I like the idea of modular boards so you can change things around as well as having some of the terrain built into the table (something that has been fairly difficult for me to figure out without a dedicated gaming space).  Water, roads, fields and hills all look better when you can make it more permanent.

Camps are another easy terrain project.  I have a box full of random odds and ends I have collected over the past 5-6 years with the intent of building camps or towns with them.  Some pages that have excellent examples are here and on the fanaticus website here.

Anyway, I wanted to put some of my thoughts down and see how motivated I am to follow through on it.  I already have a lot on the bench currently, but if I find myself working on it, and maybe talking some of my fellow gamers in the area into trying it, I may just see how far along I can get things.


01JAN2016 Update - Between my inability to secure a copy of the rules and the abundance of other projects, DBA has been shelved again.  It seemed like a worthwhile idea, and if I had anyone interested in playing it locally, it would be worth looking into.  Until then, back into the box.

From Start to Finish - Part 2 - Planning and Purchasing

So, I have decided on a game (Team Yankee), decided on a scale (6mm), now I need to start pricing out miniatures.  Considering the rulebook has not yet been released, I do not have much go to on.  The pre-release list of units that should be available gives me a rough guide to what I should be looking for, and the two box sets (Bannon's Boys and Potecknov's Bears) provide a baseline of what a 'starter' force should be.  This also gives me a good opportunity to show the differences in price.

Bannon's Boys ($90) contains:
5x Plastic M1 Abrams Tanks 
2x Plastic AH-1 Cobra Attack Helicopters 
1x Special Objective 
2x Decal Sheets 
7x Unit Cards 
1x Template

Potecknov's Bears ($120) contains:
9x Plastic T-72 Tanks 
2x Plastic MI-24 Hind Assault Helicopters 
2x Decal Sheets 
8x Unit Cards 
1x Template

Team Yankee Rulebook - $25.00 ($22.50 on sale/pre-order)


By comparison, the most expensive 6mm supplier (GHQ, which is also regarded as one of the best in quality) I would end up spending the following:

Bannon's Boys - 5x M1 Abrams, 2x AH-1 - $23.90
Potecknov's Bears - 10x T-72, 2x Mi-24 Hind - $47.80


I can get an equivalent number of models to both starter boxes and the rulebook for $94.20 (not counting tax, shipping, etc).  For a little over the cost of the least expensive box set, I can get everything I need to play.  For the purpose of gaming on the cheap, 6mm seems very much like the way to go.

Currently, I am torn between holding off on ordering any figures until the rules are available, and having two forces ready to go when the book does come out.  I think I may just order the basic items listed here to start, and expand once the rules are available so lists can be drawn up.  Otherwise, I may be tempted to buy one of everything, "just in case."  I may also have a work-related project to do in 6mm, so I can always tack that on with this order.

Once I have ordered everything I will post an unboxing and prep-work post to detail everything.

Edit - 27 November 2015: GHQ ran a decent Black Friday sale, so I picked up enough to run a 75 point force for both US and USSR (which really was not much in the way of figures).  

From Start to Finish - Part 1 - New Game, New Army

One of my goals has been to detail how I select a game to play and put a collection of models together, then to record the whole process (with pictures).  I had a great opportunity to do so when I started up a Soviet Tankovy for Flames of War a few months ago, but in my rush to get it up and running I completely forgot about documenting it.

Luckily, I have another opportunity.  Battlefront is set to release a new game this month next month, called Team Yankee.  Based on the novel by Harold Coyle (currently available on Amazon in the Kindle store), it details a what-if scenario of WW3 set in Germany in 1985.  I am about half-way through the book, but by chapter 2 I had already pre-ordered the rulebook.  Armor-based units were what got me into Flames of War, and this looks to be along those lines.  The M1 Abrams vs the T-72, Cobras vs Hinds, and A-10's busting up Soviet tanks.  Initially the previews did not really hook me, but the book has.

So, now I have another game to play.  But, this one is different, because even though Battlefront is providing a range of 15mm models for the game (of which I may pick up a few individual ones, for Force on Force if nothing else.. they do look good), it seems there is a fairly large community of players who are going to be playing it in 6mm.  Micro-armor is a field I never really got into up until this point.  I briefly considered Epic Warhammer 40,000 when I was in Colorado, but that was about it.  Technically Battletech is in the same scale.  6mm is 1:285 scale, though from what I am reading it is pretty much the same as 1:300, as well as being pretty much the same scale the military uses.

Now I have a game I am interested in, with a new scale people are actually using.  So it is time to start researching what I will need.  Some useful links I have found so far are listed below:

http://www.ghqmodels.com/store/military-models-modern-micro-armour.html
http://www.pfc-cinc.com/front_page.html
http://6mm.wargaming.info/index.htm

At this point, I have a plan.  Next step will be to get an idea of what models I need and who I will be ordering them from.


Continued in: From Start to Finish - Part 2 - Planning and Purchasing

Finding Supplies

So, let me start off by saying I am the kind of person who likes to be prepared for things.  When I find a tool I like, I buy two, just in case one breaks or gets lost.  I find a paint I like, I tend to have a few, or a line on them.  New box that works well?  I will probably use several, might as well have them ready.  

That being said, I rarely find myself in a situation where I run out of something and am unable to replace it.  But, it does happen, and is incredibly frustrating.  

In this case, it would be the Battlefront spray paint, specifically the Mid/Late War German Armor (dunkelgelb or a medium dark yellow).  It was perfect for a base coat.  Put a layer on, airbrush the other camo colors, add details, and that was that.  Naturally, it has been out of stock since 2012 when I got back into playing.  I had figured I would exhaust my supply, paint all my vehicles, and by the time I got back into playing (or whenever I saw it available) I would pick up a new can.  Turns out, it never came back into stock.  Looks like they just quit making it, and even the other companies that tried up make up for the lack have also run out.  

This could be a mixed blessing, I suppose.  In 1945, at the end of the war, many vehicles were rushed right out of the factories with a variety of paint jobs done, so I could paint different units in different styles to reflect this.  I also managed to get most of my armor base coated in the spray while I had it, so there are only a few units that really NEED it.  Still, frustrating.  Feels like I am reinventing the process I had set up.  

Also trying to find suppliers for the few models I still need.  Bartertown has gotten me much of what I needed, but there are still a few packs I need to buy to be done with it.  No stores in my area stock Flames of War, so I am back to looking online.  Joy.  

Ah well, at least something is getting done.

Back Home and Gaming Again

That was quite a break.  Between getting ready to head home from the middle east, to the actual move, then settling in, gaming took a back seat to just about everything else.  That is not to say I was not gaming, just that I did not have the time to really write about it.  My apologies to anyone that actually reads these.  I am hoping to correct the sporadic nature of my posts.

While I was away, some things changed in the games I played.

Flames of War - I picked up two more late-war books covering German and US forces.  Between the main four I own (Bridge at Remagen, Desperate Measures, Blood Guts and Glory, and Nuts!) I have enough to run a nice mix from both.  Settled on the Heavy Panzer list from Bridge at Remagen, the Panzer Kampfgruppe from Desperate Measures, and the Volksgrenadier list from Nuts! as the primary three.  I could do more, but those have a nice overlap and use a good portion of the miniatures I own currently.  I would have dropped the Volks, but I have already finished nearly half the army, so might as well get that one wrapped up.

For the US there are two armored lists (one in Bridge the other in BG&G) that are pretty much the same, with a few different options.  Good news there is that I also pretty much have everything I need.  All I really want is enough to have 2-3 decent forces to play with, because I think the odds of finding local FoW players is slim to none.  The gaming community here is fairly small, and seems to be limited to 40k and Warmachine.  If I have two nice looking armies, maybe I can inspire folks to give it a try.

SAGA - They finished up SAGA in the Viking age with the Byzantine supplement while I was still deployed.  Nothing new there.  Then they went and released a set of SAGA rules for the Crusades (Saga: The Cross and the Crescent).  Naturally, I had them on pre-order.  I think they are getting delivered this week.

I am sticking with my plan of doing them up in 15mm.  Originally I had considered doing a single force in 25/28mm, and even traded for a full Norman army to assemble.  While I am not sure if I want to follow through with that or not (it mostly depends on how much I can get done over the next month with other projects).  15mm is quick and easy, and cheap.  I can assemble several forces, and even get a decent table set up without too much effort.  Pretty much everything I play is in 15mm, and it just works better.  I might be supplying both sides for every game I play, but I had planned to do that anyway, and this way I can afford to do so.

Heavy Gear - We got a whole new rules set while I was away.  Frustrating, because everything I had planned to do with the Southern list I assembled has to be reevaluated.  The Northern list I was working on (the Crazy 8's!) also got changed.  Presently, the rules are in the Beta Test stage, they even released a cheap printed rulebook for that.  As it stands, I am thinking I will just use the models I have to actually PLAY, maybe assemble a few other squads, and worry about the overall scope of the units once the rules are set.  As I said, it is still very frustrating... Putting together a few lists and buying models for those lists, just to have them tossed aside with a rules change.  That is a big part of why I quit playing 40k and anything else made by Games Workshop.  Still, they have one free one here, the rules DID need an overhaul, and it looks to be an improvement.

Force on Force/Tomorrows War - I wish I could say I had some grand plans here, but that is not the case.  I have my painted forces for FoF and any Zombie related game, but they have been in foam since they got painted.  I can barely find anyone interested in gaming in general.  I THINK I could get some military interest in FoF, based on the tactical nature of the game, but my heart is just not in it right now.  I know I am not trimming back on those games, but I would need some serious interest from another player to get going again there.  Possible, but not a high priority.  Same deal though, I have a few models that do need to get painted up.

I am going to have quite a bit of free time over the next few weeks, so my plan is to write up a plan of action with getting models assembled and painted, see what I can get done, and adjust as necessary after that.  I have trimmed out so many other games, I am down to the few that I have any interest in at all, but if I can not muster the interest in the time I have (currently in abundance) then I should probably reevaluate the whole thing.  Lets see how I do.

Resources

A collection of useful articles, pages, and other information.

Updated: 21 November 2015

Games

Heavy Gear (Dream Pod 9) - www.dp9.com
Force on Force/Tomorrow's War (Ambush Alley Games) -
Flames of War (Battlefront) - www.flamesofwar.com
Team Yankee - www.team-yankee.com/

LGS (Local Game Stores)

Colorado Springs, CO:
The Yellow King - www.facebook.com/The-Yellow-King-132983833429520/
Gamers Haven - www.gamershavenco.com


Tucson, AZ:
Hats Games - hatsgames.com

Online Suppliers

The War Store - www.thewarstore.com