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Saturday, November 13, 2010
Our Club President
Binhan, our club president has been absent lately with the birth of his first child...a son (and future wargamer). Today he surprised us all by bring the lad to his first wargame convention! Robert Edward Xavier Lin, welcome to the club. Binhan, have you paid his dues yet? Please see Dave.
DBN Tournament 2010
This weekend is our wargame club's (Colorado Military Historians) annual three-day weekend. This Saturday morning, ten members (including myself) participated in a Napoleonic tournament using the excellent DBN rules.
Each person played three, one-hour games with each person scoring a point for each enemy element destroyed in their battles. Almost all of the games ended before the allotted hour was up, but there were I think three that ended at the timer, and one was a draw.
The top three players points were actually very tight, with myself finishing third. I won both of my first two battles by scores of 5 to 2 and 4 to 2, but lost my third battle 2 to 4. Silly thing is that I was ahead 2 to 0 in that last fight and ended up losing! The Gods of war are fickle!
The winner of the tournament was Terry Shockey - one of the finest gentlemen I know as well as an excellent drinking partner and gaming partner. He was awarded the DBN board I made (seen on this blog).
A special thanks to Dan Gurule and Matt Vigil for organizing and managing the fun we had and for investing their time, cash and friendship into the terrain boards we battled upon. here's Dan getting us into battle formation.
I have to say that I really like DBN.It always produces fun and challenges and does force me to make decisions while elegantly limiting my options! When people say DBA (and this is a DBA variant) is an acronym for "Dice Before Ability" I think they just have missed out on the appreciation of the system. How you set up, how you maneuver, how you get your troops to battle in advantageous conditions is what matters. Sure, you can roll a "1" and your would-be victim can roll a "6" - but that's baseball. That's what dice do - in this game and all others that have dice. The factors of the conditions of the engagements weigh on the die roll result as they should.
Here are some various shots of the gang at play...
Here are some various battle shots. We had 5 French armies battling against 2 British, 2 Austrian and 1 Prussian armies. Although Terry, the overall winner was an Allied player, the French actually edged the Allies in total points scored!
Each person played three, one-hour games with each person scoring a point for each enemy element destroyed in their battles. Almost all of the games ended before the allotted hour was up, but there were I think three that ended at the timer, and one was a draw.
The top three players points were actually very tight, with myself finishing third. I won both of my first two battles by scores of 5 to 2 and 4 to 2, but lost my third battle 2 to 4. Silly thing is that I was ahead 2 to 0 in that last fight and ended up losing! The Gods of war are fickle!
The winner of the tournament was Terry Shockey - one of the finest gentlemen I know as well as an excellent drinking partner and gaming partner. He was awarded the DBN board I made (seen on this blog).
A special thanks to Dan Gurule and Matt Vigil for organizing and managing the fun we had and for investing their time, cash and friendship into the terrain boards we battled upon. here's Dan getting us into battle formation.
I have to say that I really like DBN.It always produces fun and challenges and does force me to make decisions while elegantly limiting my options! When people say DBA (and this is a DBA variant) is an acronym for "Dice Before Ability" I think they just have missed out on the appreciation of the system. How you set up, how you maneuver, how you get your troops to battle in advantageous conditions is what matters. Sure, you can roll a "1" and your would-be victim can roll a "6" - but that's baseball. That's what dice do - in this game and all others that have dice. The factors of the conditions of the engagements weigh on the die roll result as they should.
Here are some various shots of the gang at play...
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| Colin (left) and Dan |
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| Scott (left) and Nate |
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| Matt (background), Andrew (left) and John |
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| Greg (left) and Terry |
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| The gang going at it |
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| Andrew, relaxing before defeating me |
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| Terry (left) and Nate |
Here are some various battle shots. We had 5 French armies battling against 2 British, 2 Austrian and 1 Prussian armies. Although Terry, the overall winner was an Allied player, the French actually edged the Allies in total points scored!
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Yep, another Vietnam terrain update
OK, had time this evening to "nearly" finish up the first terrain board. Posting some pictures here of it...yes, the Germans are still on the board.
I think this board looks pretty good so far. The reason that I say that it is "nearly" finished is that I have ordered the stuff I am going to use in the rice paddies (see this link) but it has not yet arrived. Perhaps tomorrow?Once the paddy plants come in I'll pour the water resin in too.
I also bought a very small resin statue of "Buddha" to use as a shrine. Still processing on which board it will be a part of. Also, I am going to make at two more buildings for the village.
The jungle on this board, and indeed all of my boards, is light jungle. I can make additional stands of trees to place on the board when heavier jungle is called for, and this will minimize some of the hassle of moving miniatures on a table with fixed terrain...then again, this is not the Seven Years War with its perfect ranks of close order troops. This is Vietnam, loose formations is the norm.
I think this board looks pretty good so far. The reason that I say that it is "nearly" finished is that I have ordered the stuff I am going to use in the rice paddies (see this link) but it has not yet arrived. Perhaps tomorrow?Once the paddy plants come in I'll pour the water resin in too.
I also bought a very small resin statue of "Buddha" to use as a shrine. Still processing on which board it will be a part of. Also, I am going to make at two more buildings for the village.
The jungle on this board, and indeed all of my boards, is light jungle. I can make additional stands of trees to place on the board when heavier jungle is called for, and this will minimize some of the hassle of moving miniatures on a table with fixed terrain...then again, this is not the Seven Years War with its perfect ranks of close order troops. This is Vietnam, loose formations is the norm.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
More Vietnam Terrain
Made a little more progress today on the Vietnam boards. Got some paint and flock down and build one building. The building's roof lifts off and there is room for two elements of troops inside. Need to apply more flock here and there...and...the trees need some sort of treatment, as they look too much like cake decorations.
I think that what I am going to do is place some of the palm trees directly into the board, along with some other plants and also make some "bases" that are populated with palms and plants that can be used to fill gaps. I think that in this manner, I can get game-quality dense jungle without all of the hassles of permanently fixed trees.
Yes, this is for Vietnam and yes, those are German miniatures...but...I don't yet have any Vietnam miniatures, so the Germans are filling in for now to help me keep perspectives.
I think that what I am going to do is place some of the palm trees directly into the board, along with some other plants and also make some "bases" that are populated with palms and plants that can be used to fill gaps. I think that in this manner, I can get game-quality dense jungle without all of the hassles of permanently fixed trees.
Yes, this is for Vietnam and yes, those are German miniatures...but...I don't yet have any Vietnam miniatures, so the Germans are filling in for now to help me keep perspectives.
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Dungeon Delving
It has been a while since we got some dungeoneering accomplished. So, we remedied that today. My nephew Jake game over to play with us too. He's into video games and such, so I thought maybe he'd like to try playing a tabletop game...and...he did like it. Jake, thanks for coming and playing!
Before playing, we talked about using one's imagination to create details in the story that the game produces, and he didn't miss a beat with his imagination before long he was helping us with describing certain things - like a trap on a door that he encountered - he described it as a magical fist that punched out through the door (he passed his tests and the trap did not get him).
Several times during the afternoon, we all played for 4 hours, we offered him Coke, snacks, even pizza - but all he wanted to do was keep playing. Once, he even said, "no thanks, let's get on with the game".
We play a home-spun variant of Two Hour Wargames "Warrior Heroes" - we have lots of monsters written up, and expanded the random dungeon charts in a most excellent way. We call our little version "Warrior Heroes : Magica" in honor of our favorite metal singer, Ronnie James Dio, who battled many dragons, falling only to the fiercest one imaginable.
OK, onto some pics! The dungeon tiles were drawn primarily by Matt - you can only see a few here, but he drew some really spectacular tiles.
Before playing, we talked about using one's imagination to create details in the story that the game produces, and he didn't miss a beat with his imagination before long he was helping us with describing certain things - like a trap on a door that he encountered - he described it as a magical fist that punched out through the door (he passed his tests and the trap did not get him).
Several times during the afternoon, we all played for 4 hours, we offered him Coke, snacks, even pizza - but all he wanted to do was keep playing. Once, he even said, "no thanks, let's get on with the game".
We play a home-spun variant of Two Hour Wargames "Warrior Heroes" - we have lots of monsters written up, and expanded the random dungeon charts in a most excellent way. We call our little version "Warrior Heroes : Magica" in honor of our favorite metal singer, Ronnie James Dio, who battled many dragons, falling only to the fiercest one imaginable.
OK, onto some pics! The dungeon tiles were drawn primarily by Matt - you can only see a few here, but he drew some really spectacular tiles.
Vietnam Terrain Boards Begun
Began building the terrain boards for 15MM Vietnam last night. Here are some in progress shots. Going to build them 2 at a time and bought enough materials yesterday to make 4. That ought to be a fair place to start.
For these two boards: one have a road, some rice paddies (I am thinking about a small crop field and a couple of smallish stone walls too) and a small village with the rest of the area taken up by light jungle. The other board will be all light jungle with some clearings, etc.
The above shot shows the two board's basic construction. A 2X2 plywood bottom built up with 1X1's and filled with Styrofoam. Easy enough, no instructions needed. I don't worry about the perfect fit of the foam as a layer of plaster will hide all of that stuff.
I'll use some small strips of basswood to frame some paddies, and I'll use some sandpaper to create a slightly sunken roadway. Then I'll apply the plaster.
While the plaster is still damp, I sprinkled some small railroad ballast into the roadway to help me texture it. Not worried about the rest of the plaster surface as it will be underneath a layer of flock grass. I think that you can see how the plaster shapes up over the basswood strips to form the small berms that line the paddies. Here is a closer view:
The last steps on the paddies will be to pour in a very thin layer of water compound and plant some rice in it.
OK, more at another time. I have beer to drink and dragons to slay this afternoon.
For these two boards: one have a road, some rice paddies (I am thinking about a small crop field and a couple of smallish stone walls too) and a small village with the rest of the area taken up by light jungle. The other board will be all light jungle with some clearings, etc.
The above shot shows the two board's basic construction. A 2X2 plywood bottom built up with 1X1's and filled with Styrofoam. Easy enough, no instructions needed. I don't worry about the perfect fit of the foam as a layer of plaster will hide all of that stuff.
I'll use some small strips of basswood to frame some paddies, and I'll use some sandpaper to create a slightly sunken roadway. Then I'll apply the plaster.
While the plaster is still damp, I sprinkled some small railroad ballast into the roadway to help me texture it. Not worried about the rest of the plaster surface as it will be underneath a layer of flock grass. I think that you can see how the plaster shapes up over the basswood strips to form the small berms that line the paddies. Here is a closer view:
The last steps on the paddies will be to pour in a very thin layer of water compound and plant some rice in it.
OK, more at another time. I have beer to drink and dragons to slay this afternoon.
More North Africans
Had a little time to paint a handful more North Africans. They are shown below. Four more on the painting table. Going to have to order some mounted models - Old Glory - to match these. Maybe some Chasseurs du Afrique too.
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