Random musings #1 - The Rise of the Consumer-Games

So having passed the dreaded seventh day mark of any blogger I figured I'd better get going and write something again. Not so much because I fear for losing whatever audience I have, but rather because I made myself a promise (or resolution, if you will) that I should really write more in this new year - there's only one way to get better at something, sheer repetition.

However, luck would also have it that I've been mulling over a topic as of late that I'd like to present to you - the wargamers out there - the rise of the Consumer Game!

What do I mean by a Consumer Game? To me it is a very specific method of promoting your wargame wherein you actively encourage people to always buy new miniatures, new books, new stuff and even more stuff for them to have an equal footing with their peers down at the club where they are usually played. Some also refer to them as Boutique Games, because of the beautifully sculpted but extremely expensive miniatures; I've also seen them referenced as Coffee-table games as they can usually be played on an area similar to a coffee table.

But, to me, these classifications both miss the mark of what I feel these games really are - Magic the Gathering with Miniatures; a collectable game that you need to do all the work for yourself, with only a single driving force - money. They are wargames, as such, but are driven by corporate entities whose sole purpose is to create games that can be sold as a complete package for maximum profit. Games Workshop is the worst such example, but the wargaming community is slowly flooded by the likes, with their overly specialized miniatures, set-piece-combo-rules and what have you. It's not a hobby, it's a product disguised as a hobby.

I'm not going to argue it that much; money makes the world go 'round and if you want to make it in this world of ours then you need to make some yourself. I'm fine with these companies trying to earn a buck or two - but I do feel that in their drive towards earning said buck, then they make games that are ultimately soulless and neither fowl nor fish. They have all the trappings (miniatures, terrain and dice) of a normal wargame, sure! And they do look fancy and great on display - but when you actually start to play the damn thing then it all goes wrong.

There's little joy to be had from a game that you lost before you even got to deployment. In my eyes, almost all of these games could be played on a squared off board, 8 by 8 squares and that would have all of the effect of what the miniatures and terrain actually do in these games. Manouvering and tactics are out the window as soon as you deploy your troops; at the very instance the deployment phase is over you know whether or not the game is lost - and the rest is just going through the motions.

But why is there then such a surge of these games? I mean, except for it being rather like printing money, then there must be something there that the hobbyist would like to get in on. I'm guessing that it is because of the percieved low buy-in on said game; Warmachine had long claimed that you could buy a starter box and be able to play the game and have fun - which is similar to saying that you could by a squad of Space Marines and have fun playing Warhammer 40.000; a highly theoretical kind of fun because there's little tension in having two squads of Space Marines fight each other. It mainly comes down to the luck of the dice. Even though I don't mind a bit of luck to win the day, then there's a time and place for everything. And without "access" to the rest of the miniature catalouge then how much fun is a game of Warmachine then? If all you have is the starterbox, then you're disadvantaged before you've even started the bloody game!

It would appear that the main selling point of these games is the fact that you have fewer miniatures to paint in order to get a game in - which is perfectly understandable, but also a bit of a false promise. Because people seem to think (or at least a lot of the people I've talked with seem to think) that if they can't paint to the Golden Demon standard of the packaging of these miniatures, then they're not going to paint them at all. I've lost count of the number of Consumer-Skirmish-Games that I've seen being played with unpainted miniatures with the justification always being "I'm just going to try..."

And who can blame them? If time is at such a premium, then why are you going to spend your minimal spare time on painting up miniatures that are going to be out in the next edition or just won't work at all in the current edition? But then, why keep playing a game where you can't just use any miniature that you'd like and still have a fun game?

I guess I just don't get it, mainly because I'm much more of a story-telling gamer or an old-school wargamer that thinks wargaming should be about gaming war. But when all that is available for skirmish games are these overly specialized combo-building game, where you are looking to utilize specific synergy combos in your armylist to win; it becomes a game of mechanics and thus, in my opinion, it loses its soul as a wargame.

Personally I find this trend rather disheartening. Which incidently coincides with my other resolution - make more games. If you don't care for a trend, then try to buck it. So that's what I'm going to do; buck the trend and make logically progressing skirmish and battle games for science fiction and fantasy. Fingers crossed!

A new year looms and a wargamer waffles

So, I've finally gotten around to have a bit of a sit-down and write a few thoughts on this here blog of mine of what I want to do, hobby-wise, in this new fangled year of our lord - 2014.

First off, I'd like to finish off an old project that has waxed and waned a lot over the last couple of years - a complete book on the The Employment War, which will include armylists, campaigns, narrative ideas and, perhaps most importantly, a new set of rules.

I know that I've already got one set of rules to my name, but for a long time I've had a bit of a burn out in regards to those rules. It's not that they're bad or that I dislike them - far from it! It's just that they're of a style that I don't care too much for these days. It might seem weird, but I actually feel that they're a bit too fiddly and hit an odd spot for me, as a gamer.

Let me be quick to state that I'll not stop supporting Fireteam Andromeda because of this, far from it! The plans for an updated edition is still in the pipeline for the new year! It is just that I don't really play it much myself anymore. I've found other pastures and that means that I'd like to venture forth and see what they'll bring.

Which, in this case, means a greater focus on the narrative aspect - and thus also fluff - of science fiction wargaming. And in doing so then I figured I might as well have a go at creating a game that gave way for more characters, narratives, heroes, villains and what have you. A sort of gateway between the 'pure' wargame that is Fireteam Andromeda and something akin to a very light RPG of sorts - whilst still being a wargame as I know and love them.

Thus, that is what I'll attempt to direct all of my creative energies towards in this new year of ours. It also means that the recent interview with me might have to change a bit, because Rosetta has to be moved to the back burner once more. Why? Well, I've got a whole other rant in that regards, but let's just keep it at stating that I've found it beyond difficult to figure out what to do with skirmish games as they are neither fowl nor fish - and until inspiration strikes, then I've decided to let it simmer a bit over the perverbial stove for just a little while longer.

Now with this preamble out of the way, let's look at my Wargaming New Year resolutions:

• Blog more - Self explanatory really; my blogging dropped off at the end of last year, as per usual. This time around I'll do a more full-hearted attempt at keep a steady pace on the blog. My main issue is the sharing-round after each post. I think I'll keep that to a minimum this year and just keep logging away instead.
• Play more - Like all other wargamers on the internet then I too want to play more games in this here new year. I've already had a game of DreadBall and GOB-15 within the first 7 days of the year; let's hope that this will keep up! I'm hoping for at least one big game per month, but hopefully more which segways into...
• Organize more - This is going to be the year where I finally get around to organizing at least one tournament (of sorts) for GOB-15 and start a DreadBall League as well as a DreadBall Cup, but hopefully more.
• Write more - Last year I released my first book in early Feburary and since then I haven't written anything worth of note. This year it's going to change and I'm going to have a crack at becoming a more competent writer - bit hard seeing as this is my second language, but so be it.
• Get on Camera - And finally, with my new camera, I'm also able to do something I've thought of doing for a long time - get on YouTube! I don't really know yet what I'd like to do with it, but having the possibility has made me think. I'll most likely end up doing a tutorial video for The Employment War and hopefully be able to make some video-bat-reps instead of some written ones.

So, that's my new years resolution. I did consider putting in 'paint more' but I've just started doing it for fun anyway (painting, that is) over the last year so I don't need much motivation in that regard. Not that they paint themselves, but I'm slowly, and steadily, getting through the lead-pile on my own accord. This means that I'm not going to have any sort of Buy/Painted tally as I've slowly stopped buying stuff on a whim - having a rather poor economy puts an effective end to those impulse buys of the past.

Right, let's end this waffle - Happy New Year everyone!

And now for a bit of landscaping

Earlier this year, I lamented to Duncan of my inability to be able to build terrain. Not so much that I couldn't make terrain, as such, but that I loathed building it. It would either warp, become too brittle or just look horrible because I never invested the care or time to it. Further - the materials I used always ended up looking just like that - the materials used!

So, when Duncan handed me a couple of imported cork-tiles and said: "See if this helps!" I was hesitant to say the least. Would it really make such a difference for me, after all of these years with failed attempt after failed attempt of being able to build anything remotely stable and straight?

The end-result in all its glory!

It certainly seemed that I could! Well, at the very least I could build something that looked the part - if you look closely then everything is rather crooked, bent or just out of scale. But I've got to say that consider me a cork-vert (heh-heh); this material is brilliant and I keep getting new ideas for stuff to make! Unfortunately, as astute readers might have noticed, then it's imported meaning that my supply might dry up soon - and Duncan seems to have forgotten his supplier or is just unwilling to tell me of his secret stash of this wonder material.

Orcs for scale; they seem to be having a hoot!

But, now that it has been built and put into the context of a battle (which I unfortunately forgot to take any pictures of) I've since then realized that I didn't really mind that it was crooked. Sure, it didn't exactly look like something the populace would have built (I'm pretty sure they would have hired a competent architecht instead) but I was in the need of a borderpost, so I built a borderpost! And it felt good to just do something, knowing full well that it wouldn't rank up there with the 'Eavy Metal terrain builders out there, something that has always kept me from even attempting to do it myself.

Oh, while I was at it I also painted up some camping stuff:

Tents and fireplace by Renedra/Perry Miniatures, the Orcs wouldn't bother leaving their fort for posing as scale miniatures

Now I need to build myself a couple of stonehuts, a small farmstead, a keep and all manner of stuff for fantasy wargaming. Kinda weird finding myself in this position after all these years of being a die-hard science-fiction wargamer. Ah well, let's ride this strange wave and see where we end up!

A difference of scale

Yesterday, the strangest thing happened to me in my hobbylife.

After years of pestering Duncan about the glory that is the 15mm scale where I finally gave in and simply stayed on course for 28mm; lo' and behold - there comes Duncan proclaiming that 15mm is now the new black and what a wonderful scale it is... just as I'm going into full 28mm mode for skirmish gaming.

Duncan's wonderful little team of 15mm space brigands

Long have I been an advocate for using 15mm miniatures for the larger battlegames, akin to Warhammer 40.000 and what not. You know, that weird middleground between platoon and company game scale where a lot of miniatures is needed on a large-ish table and bigger battles are fought.

Just like Fireteam Andromeda, which isn't so odd considering that I wrote it for that specific purpose, but there are also a host of other games out there and recently both Duncan and I became rather enamored with Jake Thornton's God of Battles. We had a quick and - very - small test game of it the other day and found it to be sound and just what we were looking for in that weird battle-scale of games for fantasy wargaming.

However. For that game, we could hardly scrape together two armies in 28mm! Having, both of us, not been much for painting the larger 28mm armies required for Warhammer and its ilk, none of us had enough miniatures! Well, not enough painted miniatures at the very least. We then decided that next month we would invest - heavily - in some 15mm fantasy miniatures so we could quickly paint up our armies and play a proper game of GOB... and of course, to have an excuse to purchase new shiny stuff!

Like these beauties right here! Soon... Oh yes, soon!

All fine and well, until Duncan had the notion that you could easily play skirmish games on a coffee table in this scale. And he's bloody right! And yet, there is something here that strike me as a bit wrong - on a personal level. While I can definitely see the merits of using 15mm miniatures for skirmish games, it just ends up feeling wrong to me; mostly because I already have this huge pile of painted 28mm miniatures lying around; I feel that 28mm still can deliver more character and that I can more easily identify, at a glance, what the miniatures are capable of by simply looking at them and not having to do weird basing schemes and so forth...

...And yet, the notion is there. Settling on a single scale for these things would really make things easier on my part as for making terrain and painting miniatures. It would also mean that my limited space for storage would only be taken up by a lot of thing that could be used for a single scale, unlike what I'm currently storing. While I can easily pick up some miniatures from my Fireteam Andromeda armies and play skirmish games with them, I still don't think that I'll enjoy it just as much as I would with 28mm skirmish games; simply because of the wealth of available miniatures in 28mm.

Ah well, idle musings to get this here blog going again - it's been a bit of a slog around here as I find that writing and posting and sharing these blogposts takes up too much of my hobby time and I'm still on the fence as to how to get it all organized and more steamlined for me so that I get to spend more time doing what I like; painting and playing with miniatures!

A very first outing of the Rosetta Skirmish System

Yesterday, I finally managed to finish a simplistic, bare-bones working edition of the upcoming Rosetta Skirmish System (RSS) that me and Duncan have been toiling away on for the last couple of months (and thus also the reason as to why Two Knights Publishing have been rather silent as of late).

However, instead of just placing troops at random, then I instead opted to create a little scenario, pitting roughly similar groups of fantasy warriors against each other; with the foul necromancer Mortia wanting to acquire water from the oasis (magical water, of course) and then being foiled by local wildlife preservist and local hero Toi-Toi and her rampaging beatmen.

And thus, the scene was set for the very first trial run of the RSS system! Toi-Toi and her gang on the right and Mortia on the left!

An eclectic gathering of miniatures makes up Toi-Toi's Activist Group...

...Whilst a slightly more unified band of Celtos miniatures makes up Mortia's Undead Horde Warband

Now, while I had an idea of using this scenario as a general playthrough of any given scenario, I was interested in seeing how a couple of things that has always annoyed me in my games would work out; Command & Control and Close Combat.

As for Command & Control then it worked out near perfectly. Having already found and implemented my favourite compromise between control and friction in Fireteam Andromeda (FA), I began seeing RSS as a testing ground for a couple of ideas that had been bubbling around in my head ever since I finished up FA.

The first being a slight issue that I've had in regards to units being shaken and them not contributing Command Points. It was mainly something that slightly annoyed me, but I couldn't find a solution back when I started penning FA - it of course showed up just after having released the rulebook. Typical, right?

Anyway - in FA then whenever a unit becomes shaken then it won't grant you a Command Point for being deployed. Simple, right? Except that it could, sometimes, become a hassle counting up all those command points only to then subtract some of them along the way because you forgot about untis being shaken. Not a dealbreaker, but slightly annoying.

The solution, as implemented in RSS, was just as simple as the oversigt; instead of subtracting points form your pool of Command Points (CP) because of shaken units, then you would simply pay 2 CP to activate a unit that was shaken! And yes, upon getting this idea there was a lot of facepalming at the office.

This then extended to the system that is going to be used in RSS wherein each unit grants you 1 CP for being deployed and then it will cost 1 CP to order a unit, and thus activate them.
However, the price goes up by +1 if:

• The unit is shaken 
• The unit is out of command 
• The unit is an excess unit

Brilliantly simple and give exactly the same result as the system implemented in FA! And it even works too! Furthermore, CP's are now also used to utilize various special tactics that an army is capable of; additional special manouvers that all units are capable of, if given enough time (another representation of CP).

Excess units is a simple little modifier that applies to the cost of activating units when the other player cannot activate any further units. It's simple really; it makes it easier for the smaller force to manouver faster and more effecient than the larger mob on the other side; thus negating all penalties in having a smaller force in an alternating activation system. And yes, it worked just fine!

Close Combat - the bane of all game systems, or at the very least the hardest part to make exciting and somewhat realistic. The issue I've always had with close combat in most of the bigger systems out there is that they mostly end up being a giant moshpit on the middle of the board, with very little else happening before either untits suddenly breaks or buys the farm.

While I am aware of the reasonings behind doing so, it has always irked me slightly that you can't make an easy system in that regards that actually makes close combat feel a bit more like, well, like a good old fashioned brawl!

And, unfortunately, then this early draft of RSS isn't without its faults in that regards. While the system itself is streamlined and works like a charm, there's still something lacking in regards to close combat ending up feeling like one big scrum in the middle of the board. Sure, it kind of makes sense, but it makes for a somewhat boring and predictable gameplay - which I don't really fancy. At any rate, I'm trying not to get too hung up on a single outing of the rules - they work, they're playable, they need testing.

So, even though I'm at a bit of a loss as to how to flavor the close combat, I think that the RSS system has proven itself for my skirmishing purposes. There's only 5 pages or so worth of rules (most of which is written in a prose that would mainly makes sense to me and Duncan), having distilled everything down to its absolute basics, it's now time to add seasoning and flavour to the whole deal; leaving me to work on the Science Fiction stuff (Yay!) and Duncan to work his (pardon the pun) magic in regards to the Fantasy version of these rules.

As for a betatest set and so on? Well, i'll probably put one up next month, once I've found out what to do about the basic close combat mechanics and finally figured out how to layout the booklet as well and what to include and what to cut. Ah well, I forsee a great writing frenzy in the near future whilst I start up a small Chaos Warband for a danish Path to Glory competition; so painting wise there's bound to be even more fantasy models here - stay tuned!