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Supersonic Subs, Airships and more Terrain Building
Here's two tables where I am using my 30-minute scratchbuilt terrain. Here's a more "traditional" aeronef dock. The aeronef aerial dock was my latest 30 minute project - to go with the "submarine pen"...
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Cheap & Nasty Scratchbuilt Terrain - 30 minute Plaster Undersea...
This technically was longer than 30 minutes due to the plaster drying but since the wife, not me, did this it counts as under 30 minutes. In fact this took me 0 minutes to make. Nice!The wife made a...
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Oil Rig - Cheap & Nasty Scratchbuilt Terrain
Here's my next 30 minute project. It was just random balsa pieces put on top a piece of precut MDF (I think they are meant to be drink coasters but they are very handy for terrain bases).The rig "legs"...
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Rant: PlastCraft Foam Terrain - Infinity Miniatures
Well I'm on holidays and back gaming at last after months with nose to grindstone!But after yesterday, it feels like the gaming IS the grindstone. Allow me to elaborate.... INFINITY Well, I got a big...
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Does 1:76 Terrain work with 28mm minis? (Pegasus Hobbies Farmhouse) + MDF...
1:76 Terrain for 28mm Pegasus Hobbies have some cheap $10 snap-together farmhouses - a miracle in a time where everything with the word "terrain" in it doubles the price (and postage.)I was actually...
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Ronin - Skirmish Wargames in the Age of Samurai (Rules Review)
These rules have been sitting on my bench due to my enforced absence from gaming, and I am very keen on cracking them out and giving them a go. I've got Perry samurai undercoated and ready to go, and...
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The Accursed Kings - Medieval Books & TV Series
I thought I'd share a series which has inspired an interest in 100 Years War (I've got 28mm Perries sitting on my workbench as we speak...)The author Maurice Druon (1918-2009) was himself an...
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Moving on from IGOUGO - Activation, initiative and movement in wargames
I was thinking about this yesterday when I was looking through my Bolt Action rulebook. I think my opinion of Bolt Action is"perfect for its intended role to attract 40K/Flames of War players into...
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Bulldogs Away! Naval Rules Review (Modern Fast Attack Craft)
Modern naval wargames bore me. Not that they are all overcomplicated - for example "Shipwreck"is a pretty good game that covers all the key areas without tedious rivet counting. But it's the scale and...
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"MacDonalds" Wargames Rules
Bolt Action's close adherence to the Games Workshop/Flames of War formula means it will be an easy crossover - appealing to the legions of fans of both franchises. Without delving to deeply into the...
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Battletech & Mechwarrior: Online
Battletech was one of my first wargaming experiences back in my teens. I loved the giant stompy robots, the heat management, and the ability to customise my mechs.I didn't like being restricted to only...
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(Rant) The .303 Lee-Enfield that only fires 50 metres...
Like all GW-ripoffs with a strong commercial backing, I can tell Bolt Action is going to take off. So I'm thinking of adding to my Weird War II legions with some "normal" WW2 28mm in case the natives...
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Wargame Design #1 - "Decision Points"
Decision Points Something that comes through a lot of my rule critiques is my focus on "decision points."What is a "decision point?"tmA good example is chess. You know when you pick up a piece, then...
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Wargame Design #2: The Fifth Element
The Fifth ElementNo, this is not a review of a cheesey Bruce Willis movie. Rather I refer to the "X Factor" which gives a game depth.Most games have the four "M"s in common - Movement, Melee,...
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Game Design #3. Special Rules, Stat Lines, and False Economy
I've noticed a major trend towards simplifying the "stats" of a unit.For example, take Song of Blades for an extreme example. There are two stats."Q" or "quality" - showing how easy it is to activate...
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Game Design #4: Keep it Consistent
This isn't a recent phenomenon, but something that bothers me when I use rules is that they use too many different dice mechanics to resolve actions. No one likes a billion charts, tables and dice...
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Game Design #5: What happened to Time Scale and Ground Scale in Wargames?
Now I used to say:"Why the heck do I care how long each turn is, or how far things are on the table? It's just a game!"Rules like this are the reason I dismissed ground and time scale as something only...
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Game Design #6: "Realism" in Wargames
Realism = Bad?If you say a wargame needs to be more realistic, you usually get showered with a bunch of platitudes like:"It's just a game, sheesh." "Do you LIKE lots of charts and tables?" "It's...
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Game Design #7: Design Philosophy
In my old rulebooks, game designers often used to intersperse their rules with a foreword, then a running "commentary" throughout the book - usually self-indulgent, rambling, and replete with stupid...
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Game Design #8: Scenarios for Wargames
Sorry - I'm not going to suggest scenario ideas for you. This post shares its title with the name of a old (~1981) book by Charles Stewart Grant, of WRG. It is a purpose-built book of generic...
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