Things are never as they seem - or the way you hoped!

Play testing a set of rules often creates more questions than answers, and so it has been tonight. Daz kindly offered to have a go at my WWII rules. I have tried to blend the best aspects of many of the games I have enjoyed in the past...Advanced Squad Leader, Force on Force, Conflict of Heroes. Add to the mix my own dice system and you have a wealth of opportunities with many pitfalls. I tried just to use infantry tonight and leave the armour alone, as the footsloggers have to be the foundation of the action.

After a slow start, the game clearly heated up in the favour of the Germans. Strong initiative and well placed machine guns suppressed the Americans before they had a chance to make an impact upon the defences. So much so, that the Germans were beginning to counterattack when we decided to call it a day. The game seems to have some rugged, engaging and flexible approaches worth pursuing, with a fundamental concern that may require yet some more re-basing.

The Pros

• The initiative system using chits and playing cards worked well in representing the ebbs and flows of combat, with either side having opportunities to take command at the appropriate moment (and also cancelling out each other at crucial moments too). Refinements are required to balance how many chits are available to each side to maintain a fair tempo for specific scenario designs.
• Using a square grid worked just as well, if not better than using hexes. Facings become more important with limiting lines of sight
• Machine guns fulfilled their role well when combined with overwatch. They punished the movement of infantry, particularly if moving at speed. Play balance in terms of the ratio of MGs to infantry requires greater thought; I'll consider the ratios used in scenario design from Advanced Squad Leader.
• Defining support weapons as different and attached to infantry sections give a clarity and definition to their role. When the ratios are clearer, I feel they will have the correct impact on decision making for the players

The Cons

• Stacking limits and the interaction of firefights became unclear, particularly when the attacker had several outcomes available from the results of their dice rolls
• Following on from this, how units sit in the grid became an issue. It seems at the moment the sensible ( and painful) solution is some rebasing onto squares. An advantage is that I can add some dice frames directly to the bases themselves.

Let's hope this playtest will keep me encouraged and motivated to keep going, as I need to get my teeth into something that keeps my attention; we'll see...

 

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Five E-Bay buildings for 'under a tenner'

What a bargain! Was so inspired by the arrival of some railway buildings that I got out the weathering powders straight away. Five buildings for under ten pounds (excluding postage) was an absolute bargain. Whilst the scale is a little large for 15mm (HO/OO scale) if you don't look too closely, they're okay.

For me, a main problem is that they appear too modern for WWII, however after a quick Google search, they aren't too far out. Again, if you don't think too closely the imagination can do the rest for you (sorry for the purists!). They arrived unweathered, so out came the mascara pads (definitely miniature modeling only).

I've had some Vallejo powders and not found them as useful as the MIG powders...until today. They are far more subtle on plain wall surfaces than the other powders, giving a less stark contrast. I'll probably try these constructions with a skirmish game of O.S.C. when I have learnt the rules...

 

 

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Ninja characters for Rise of the Kage

Here they are, complete with their cat like skills...

Just the boss characters left to do, then maybe some of the Dockside expansion.

 

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Rise of the Kage - more finished figures

Another batch of figures finished, including the ninjas themselves. Before showing them in more detail I felt the need to place the figures on the playing board. Here's some action shots; I've edited the piccies to give a moody, dark feeling. Tread lightly, think clearly and strike swiftly!!!

 

 

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More 'Rise of the Kage'

About half way through the figures for the base game. I really like the Samurai, and kept their paint scheme quite simple; dark blue undercoat, Prussian blue drybrush and nut brown wash.

The young guards, whilst quite interesting, took a little more perseverance to finish. The soft plastic lacked a little definition on the faces - don't look too hard!

Typical me, not completing the job - one base of the Samurai not painted black; well, there's always one! Next I might have a go at the main player characters; just hoping the detail is raised enough for my eyes to see...

 

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Dusting off old scenery

When I first started playing 15mm WWII I remembered seeing down the local club a guy using railway scenery. Whilst the buildings seemed to show their plastic origins, I quite liked the detail. After some investigation, and a little compromising on scale, I settled on using HO/OO scale kits.

A friend put me onto the wealth of German railway building manufacturers - Faller, Vollmer and Pola to mention a few. One problem is that the scenery naturally depicts Northern Europe. However for me this wasn't a problem as I game the late war period anyway. But still the problem of the plasticness remained..

...until I discovered weathering powders. Previously I tried using washes and drybrushes on the buildings, but the paint never seemed to 'stick' nice and evenly. The powders seem to stick to, and soften,the plastic, giving a less harsh, more realistic texture.

Recent motivation to go back to my kits and start the dusting process has been the purchase of some gridded terrain mats from BigRedBat. I have been using some of the ideas from my Sci-fi rules to write my own WWII rules. My first love was Advanced Squad Leader, and I wanted to bring some of those concepts into my custom dice...but more on this another time!

 

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To The Strongest - Arab Conquest

Ah, too many projects on the go, when will I learn? (Smiling...). Here's the other half of my starting effort for a first game - the Arabs. It's taken a while for me to get them to the camera simply because I needed to add some bushes to the bases, it would probably have been quicker to grow them! Anyway, here's their basic list and some more piccies

 

 

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