GW discontinuing Specialist Games

Looks like the news has been around for a while and we've definitely expected it to happen but GW has dropped all of it's Specialist Games. No fanfares or rifle shots at the funeral, I can't even see an announcement about it on the GW pages. They just sell their remaining stock and then you'll have to start looking for Specialist games on Ebay if you want them. Looking at the GW webstore, a lot of the stock is already gone so if you are waking up late to the news like I was, better hurry and stock up on whatever you might still want.

Of course keeping the Specialist Games on their shelves wasn't probably profitable by GW standards but it sure is a pity seeing them drop the games which still had some tactical depth to them. They're even dropping Blood Bowl! Instead, they concentrate on releasing bigger and bigger plastic kits for their core ranges. Their new Eldar Wraithknight will stand only an inch shorter than the Forge World Warhound Titan. I guess you have to compensate the loss of Specialist Games somehow, har har...

Concept for using my 6mm Fire & Fury stands in Volley & Bayonet

I got the Volley and Bayonet rulebook a few months back as I'm looking for a grand tactical ruleset I could use to play entire ACW battles in reasonable space and time. The game uses three inch squares to represent brigades whereas my ACW is based for Fire & Fury with 1 inch * 3/4 inch stands.

Here's my quick and dirty sabot basing scheme:

I had some leftover MDF and I took some time with a table saw to make a hundred or so of these squares. Then I just sanded the edges, painted the base brown and glued on some terrain flock mix I used for my Normandy game. I then blu-tacked some  F&F stands on the base and there you go. The white slit is the space reserved for me to print out the unit data on. By placing down one stand per strength point I can give a visual difference between the small and the large brigades, which is an advantage over "static" 3" bases. The visuals suffer a bit but I think it'll work just fine. There's just one small problem:

The Blu-tack leaves an ugly mark once I remove the stand. If I don't use anything to make them stick, I think the units will be fiddly to move around. The small stands have a magnetic strip underneath so there is an obvious and attractive solution but metal bases cost a fortune, especially as I need a hundred of them to do a battle like Gettysburg.

Ideas? The solution should be cheap and quick to do.

New place, new possibilites

Me. my wife and my son moved from the city to a house in the country a little over a week ago. We bought it from my parents who didn't need as much space anymore. The place used to be a small farm built after WW2 and my parents bought the place from the sons of the original owner after he had died in the early 90's. When we originally moved in, there wasn't running water, the electricity wiring was original (1950) and there was a lot to do. We did some small scale farming there until Finland joined the EU and well.. small scale farming ended up being a losing business. My father has spent a lot of time, money and effort modernizing the place and we're continuing the effort.

The house is a 25 minute ride away from my place of work so it's quite well situated. What's more important, there's plenty of room for all sorts of hobbies and activities. When I originally moved out from here to study in the university, I felt claustrofobic in a 12 square meter dormitory room. Not much space to paint miniatures and build terrain there, either. Now.. I have this:

Its the old barn of the farm. Part stone, part wood. My dad kept horses there until a couple of years ago, and its now used as storage. I intend to convert it into a workshop/gamespace/mancave!

The barn is filled with junk and it will take a lot of work, but I will dismantle the enclosures, put down a new floor, paint the roof and insulate the walls. As manly it would be to have stone walls in your workshop, the temperature drops sometimes below -30 celsius during the winter and the place definitely needs the extra layer of insulation inside if I intend to keep it warm and dry during the winter months. 

Building the workshop is somehow not on the top of the list of things to do over here according to my wife, but once I have time for it, I intend to bore you with the details. I'm happy I have enough space to put down a decent gaming table and leave projects lying around again. Heck, I have enough space to host a re-enactment if I want to!

X-Wings of War

My regular opponent got himself the new X-Wing miniatures game from Fantasy Flight Games and I got a chance to try it out yesterday. The game inherits it's base mechanics from Wings of War (hence the clever topic I'm sure no-one has thought of before me) which means players control a small selection of aeroplanes (or in this case starships) and have a dogfight. As in WoW, player secretly choose their fighters' next move, but in X-Wing, you choose only one move at a time instead of three. Whereas in WoW you draw cards with variable damage each time you get your opponent in your fire arc, in WoW you have a simple die roll mechanic for hitting and dodging, and only critical hits are randomized by cards. In X-Wing, the skill of the pilots determine the sequence at which things happen. The worst pilots move first and shoot last, giving the better pilots and edge, even though you cannot see how your opponent will move before choosing your move.

As you'd expect from Fantasy Flight, the base Wings of War rules are beefed up with some effect cards and special abilities as well. You buy your fighters using a points buy system and can beef them up with special skills, missiles, R2 units and so on. It isn't complicated though, and doesn't slow the game down from what you'd expect from Wings of War.

The game is played using pre painted miniatures of X-Wings, Tie Fighters and so on. The core set only comes with one X-Wing and two Tie Fighters, but you can naturally buy "booster packs" with the associated cardboard stuff. The Expansion packs seem a bit pricey, but the pre painted models acturally look pretty good so if you are the kind of gamer with no shortage for cash but no time to paint then these are not a bad deal. I'm pretty sure FFG is going to be doing a lot of expansions for this and make a bunch of money.

Our game was a simple meeting engagement between a squadron of two X-Wings and two Y-Wings and another of four Tie Fighters and one Advanced Tie. Except the rebels had Wedge Antilles and the imperials had Darth Vader. The game went like a usual game of Wings of War, a true furball without any regard for the z-axis. The rebels ended up losing (possible aided by poor die rolls) as the imperials lost only one Tie Fighter. 

I recommend this for some light beer and pretzels fun (possibly with non gamers) and as a light tournament game.

A couple of pictures from my early wargaming days

I started miniatures wargaming in 1998 through Warhammer fantasy. I had played HeroQuest and pen and paper roleplaying games before, but I had long had that itch towards Warhammer. After playing Warhammer: Dark Omen and getting a coupon for a free miniature I was lost. I found some old photos of my first Warhammer models and I thought I'd share.

My first army was Orcs & Goblins and they have remained close to my heart. I started during 5th edition but in this army shot there's already models from the 6th edition starter set. There's also a nice collection of terrain available. I think the first couple of years I played mostly with bits of cardboard on the table.

I sold off this army after being fed up with a few too many failed animosity rolls. Later I would regret selling that Marauder Giant, a mistake already remedied. 

Next we have a battle shot between those orcs and a Wood Elf army belonging to an old friend. This is pretty much the level of terrain I had for a long time. I guess my modeling has improved in the past 15 years, huh?

I really liked Warhammer siege games back then, and build that castle for it. I think the castle is still at my parents' house, intact. By the way, that Metallica poster was BAD. ASS.

My second army was a Vampire Counts army for Warhammer 6th edition. It was the first miniatures project I completed, and the first I entered into tournaments with. It was a powerful army and I'm still quite pleased with the figures.

Here they are fighting the wood elves again. I'm afraid the Wood Elf list during 6th edition didn't have a snowball's chance in hell against the Vampire Counts and my friend ended up losing the majority of his games against me. I didn't mind, I was having a competitive streak back then.

There was a period when I played Warhammer 40 000 too. I think I completed a 1000 point space marine army during the third edition, and played with some Tyranids and imperial guard without buying the armies (couldn't afford to). I ended up selling away all my 40K stuff after getting bored with the third edition rules.

Hmm. If I started Warhammer 15 years ago and I'm 30, I guess I've played for half of my life now. I didn't grow out of the toys after all..

This upcoming PC wargame looks promising..

Wargame: Airland battle is a sequel to Wargame: European escalation. The first game received mixed reviews, but this one looks downright delicious:  http://www.wargame-ab.com/

The feature list looks as impressive as the visuals. I just hope they'll include a "click here to watch shit blow up from a neat camera perspective" -function so that we'll actually see some of that eyecandy instead of just looking at some top zoom level NATO symbols flashing :)

Any European Escalation players out there? Will this be worth the wait?

Waterloo and Borodino

After visiting the Waterloo battlefield, I decided it is high time to fill a gaping hole in my education and watch the 1970 Waterloo movie. I can't believe I've missed it until now! It definitely climbs to the undefined top 5 of my favourite war movies of all time. Apart from a few cheesy moments the movie is a real treat. Christopher Plummer does an excellent portrayal as Wellington and Rod Steiger's Napoleon alternates interestingly (and overactingly) between despondency and inspiring enthusiasm, just as I imagine the Emperor did at that point. The battle scenes are simply epic with about 20 000 Soviet extras bulking up the scenes. There's a lot going on in the background and the fact that none of it is in CGI is humbling. The movie has aged very well and I recommend it wholeheartedly to anyone else who's missed it.

The next day I had an opportunity to end my two month long wargame-less season and with the battle of Borodino, no less! We sat down to play Columbia Games' treatment of the battle. The scenario was set up for the initial engagements at the Shevardino redoubt instead of the full battle. The French are only just arriving on the field and must capture as much ground and inflict as much damage to the Russians as possible, while maintaining cohesion. I got the role of Napoleon and set out to do just that.

The French columns advance towards Borodino, making sure to grab as much ground on the right as possible.

The French move into contact with Shevardino redoubt from two directions. Wait, did someone forget to secure the road on the French left?

Yep, Cossacks exploit the vulnerability by making a rush for the French supply area. The French have to make a desperate realignment to counter. In the center, there is an envelopment developing around Shevardino and the defenders are in the danger of being cut off. The French imperial guard reinforce the right.

The cossacks reach the supply point and block it. Against all odds, they repel all attempts to chase them off for three whole turns. Napoleon facepalms me from beyond the grave.

The noose tightens in the center, but both Russian block groups manage to repel attackers for one round before being destroyed. The French guard moves ahead on the right, but the French left is dangerously thin. The Russians exploit the situation and beat the French back.

The Russians, seeing they're one VP behind the French, make a push in the last turn. On the French right, the Russians send their Guard units to attack what they think is the Polish division. Instead they encounter the French Imperial Guard with a grand battery of guns and the Old Guard coming in from reserve. The result is bloody, spectacular and decisive.

The game ended in a three VP win for the French. In the center, I was pretty pleased with my envelopment around the redoubt where most of the Russian blocks were captured. On the right, the Imperial Guard was in a good position to defend the flank. On the left, however, I made that terrible tactical blunder with the cossacks and as a result, the flank was left in a poor state. The Russians were in a good position to punch through the thin line and managed to capture three blocks. In the end, nightfall saved the French left.

All in all, a good game with plenty of maneuvering and and bluffing. A good offering from Columbia games!

Lousy cossacks.. *grumble*