Zulu war Lancers

The plans to have a go at something historical continues. I had bought a copy of Ospreys Men Who Would be Kings, which is a nice neat system (similar to Dragon Rampant) and was using that book as a guide to what to buy. Another box of plastic Zulus from Perry's was a must as even at skirmish level you need a lot. 

I bought some MDF movement trays Warbases for them to aid in play.

I then wanted to get something else for the Brits, so some cavalry was a must. 

They are metal from Perry's and as usual a lovely sculpt. I do think the actual lances themselves are going to be prone to bending or even snapping easily, they may have to get replaced with brass rods in the future.

The pendant flags are hand painted paper, a strip of masking tape down some paper meant I could paint a crisp red line, then the shapes were just cut from the paper. A thin coat of Modge Podge makes them nice and firm for shaping into dynamic, flapping shapes.

I've no idea if the horse colouring is historically accurate, I just decided to have  bit of fun painting them all different colours. Just like everyone else I speak to, I hate painting horses, all that tack is a pain to do. 

I did get to use some of the models, for a game of Blood and Steel at the local club I took my Zulus. It was a fun system and I would play it again. I'm really not well read on this era so I picked up a copy of Daniel Mersey's A Wargamer's Guide to the Anglo-Zulu Wars. It's a a great introductory read to the history and how it relates to the tabletop. I found myself using the Horns of the Buffalo in our game as a valid tactic. 

Talking of the club, our annual show Colours, at Newbury Racecourse is swiftly approaching. I shall be on the Bring and Buy stall for a lot of the day, so come say hi. It's always busy there but that just shows its worth coming for a peruse.  It is on the 9th of September, more details can be found here. As I'm volunteering for the show this year I may not be able to review the show as a punter like previously, but I'm sure I'll have some comments to make afterwards. Looking forward to seeing you all there!

Turnip28 attempt

 I've never made myself beholden to a set frequency of blog posts, but I tend to get itchy if I don't at least post once a month. So, when I noticed my last post was the beginning of June and July is rapidly disappearing I thought I better give an update.

As you may know I have joined my local club and I now get to play a tabletop game every week. Finally all these models I have painting are getting some action. The first fun is working out how to safely transport them to the club each week along with all the terrain and paraphernalia required, thank goodness for flexible high tensile foam!

I have been aware of the phenomenon that is Turnip28 ever since it started spreading across the hobbying Internet like the creeping hidden root system of a perennial weed. I only failed to look into it due to the other numerous ongoing projects on the painting tray. A couple of the club members have been enjoying games of it however and encouraged me to have a go at kitbashing something for it myself.

A trip to the cobweb infested garage to delve in the bits box (it's more like a packing trunk these days) and I returned to my hobby desk with a good handful of forgotten, unclipped sprues (Many of which were various magazine freebies from Wargames Illustrated). So for just the cost of the extra paints and tufts I purchased specifically during this project I created a starter Turnip28 force. When deciding on a faction I opted to go for The Fungivorous Herd due to the fact that my model collection already includes a vast array of different animals I could use for the Specialist unit, The Herd. The rest of the force is as follows.

The Toff, Sir Reginald Boggis.

The steed is GW as are the hangers on (not needed but I thought they fit the theme) Sir Boggis is kitbashed from Warlord, Perry, Frostgrave and Fireforge bits.

The Chaff.

These chaps are made from Victrix bodies and Frostgrave heads. (Prussians I think.) The bodies are one complete piece on the sprue so I decided not to mess too much and just pop some alternative heads on. The basing was fun to do, mixing a couple of Tamiya texture paints with agrax earthshade to darken some spots and then tufts and model railway ballast added in patches.

The Toadies, Sir Arnold Bunce and Sir Hugo Bean.

I think they are Perry Steeds and then like Boggis the riders are a mash up of Perry, Fireforge, Frostgrave and Warlord.

The Fodder.

Like the Chaff these are a complete body (from Victrix again I think) with Perry and Frostgrave heads this time. I love the combo of big coat and hat and tried to give the coats a faded cammoflage look.

The Brutes.

These guys all have heads from the Fireforge knights sprue and bodies made from Perry and Fireforge bits. These are my close combat unit so I felt being partially armoured fitted into that. I can imagine those helmets are now fused to their heads and they can only now eat turnip smoothies through the breathing holes.

The whole lot were great fun to make, I could have probably been a bit more liberal with the muck and grime, I suspect they look a bit clean compared to other Turnip28 armies. I'm pleased with them though and I'm looking forward to having a go at the rules. The kitbashing fun isn't over yet though as I couldn't resist pre-ordering a copy of the new rules "The Doomed" which is a scifi game that also encourages using your own creations on the tabletop. The latest Stargrave plastic sprues that have just arrived will certainly come in handy for that. Don't expect to see anything within the month though!

Zulu wars Perry Plastics

Its been a while since my last post here. I haven't been idle though. Regulars will know I have been taking part in the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge and posting there instead. Post Christmas I managed at least one post a week, so not too shabby if I may say so myself. So, apologies to anyone that saw these models in that blog  but I thought they warranted another posting here with some different accompanying words.

As I have previously said many a time, I love historical gaming, but I am slower at painting for it due to the self imposed stress of historical accuracy in uniforms. (Yes, so much has already been said about "Do your own thing" This is just my own issue, let's move on.)

So, I greatly enjoyed sticking together these Perry Miniatures plastics, then they sat on my painting tray for a long time. A very long time. Inspired by the Father in Laws love of the Victorian era in toy soldiers, I picked up a copy of Ospreys, The Men who would be Kings rulebook. They are skirmish rules and using their half size unit rules, you have enough for two forces if you buy two boxes of Perry Plastics, one for Brits, one for Zulus. (You are actually just a couple short, but the free Warlord sprues from Wargames Illustrated I have got recently covered the shortfalls.)

After these were all finished I decided to add a Gatling Gun to the Brits.

The gun carriage colour was inspired by checking out these guys here.

I also remembered I have a couple of the Wargames Illustrated limited edition figures that fit in nicely.

I'm probably going to paint up another box of Zulus if I can bully myself around to getting to it.

The British box comes with casualty markers. The rules I have don't specifically require any on-table markers but I decided to future proof myself by using green stuff to make some dice holders with them in case something crops up in the future that they are useful for.

All the models were finished with Coat D'arms Super Shader which gives them some nice shading, as well as an old school gloss finish that I kinda like for this project.

The paints used were (For those interested):

British.

Citadel paints:

Zandra dust, Corax White, Cadian Fleshtone, Eshin Grey, Dawnstone, Ironbreaker, Abaddon Black, Retributor Armour.

Coat D'arms:

Pale Sand, Horse Tone Dun, Beige Brown, Blood Red, Supershader Light Brown.

Zulus.

Coat D'arms:

Beige Brown, Dark Flesh, Pale Sand.

Citadel:

Zandra Dust, Corax White, Abaddon Black, Agrax Earthshade.

For the bases:

Tamiya Grass Effect Khaki, Gamers Grass Dry Steppe tufts.

The gun carriage is Citadel Russ Grey.

Now, anyone know if I can get an mdf Rorke's Drift kit in 28mm that folds down for easy storage?

So, I accidently painted an army

This lockdown is starting to feel like being under house arrest, but without a known end date. It all seems a bit in the UK, some things are starting be less restricted yes, but we definitely aren't out of the woods yet. So I continue to stay at home working at my dining table during the day, moving my keyboard to one side in the evening and painting models at the same spot. I count my blessings that my friends and family stay well and I have a job. 

I made a comment recently on facebook about Eldar in Warhammer 40K being a cheesy army. Now although my comment was definitely made in jest with tongue firmly in cheek and was taken in that context I was called up on it by a friend and rightly so. The reason being it has been a long time since I've actually played any Warhammer 40,000, so I'm probably not actually in a position to comment on the current balance of the system. I was wrong to make the comment and so should have been corrected. Thinking about it, the period of time since I last played either Warhammer is probably actually longer than the time I spent playing them.

I still pop in the store and read the odd book and sometimes maybe buy the odd model as you may know if you are a regular reader. I just haven't kept up with the rules. I started playing so infrequently it didn't make sense to keep buying the latest books as they came out for them to just collect dust on the shelf. When you you have multiple Space Marine Codexes (Codices?) slowly taking up more and more valuable bookshelf space it does make you feel old too.

I mention this because it reminded me of a podcast I listened to recently which I thought I would share. The Cast Dice Podcast, Episode 91 was an interview with Rick Priestley talking about the creation of Rogue Trader. ( Link here) He himself in the Podcast states that the current 40K is something that he doesn't keep up or recognise. It was fascinating listening to him talking about how he created this thrown together lore with ideas from all over the place that has now become this huge lumbering beast of a game. (I myself came in at second edition so I learnt even more than some Longbeards may.)

Another reason I haven't picked up a Warhammer book in a while is the excellent range of alternative non specific model rulebooks from Osprey. One of these titles, Dragon Rampant, makes an excellent alternative to Warhammer Fantasy. The rules are specifically written so that you can create your army to match whatever models you have, whether they be a GW army or just some random things you've picked up at trade shows and like the look of.

Now I did only have one fantasy army, (painted that is, countless other ones sit waiting to be painted up of course!) an old GW Chaos army made up of Marauders, Knights and Warriors. I love the models and would like to play with them again, but I didn't have another army for them to fight against. So, one evening armed with the book and some unbuilt plastic sets I built an army.

A box of Frostgrave Wizards, Frostgrave Female Warriors and Perry Men at Arm's that the Father in Law had presented me with for my birthday were all built with a few head swaps, tweaks and the addition of a single bushy bearded head from a Landschneck sprue that had come free with Wargames Illustrated. 

First set of Wizards

Second set of Wizards

Final set of Wizards, all twelve make up one unit

Light Cavalry

Light infantry

Heavy Cavalry with Leader on distinctive base

I've tried to give the army a vague sense of uniformity with a pale blue colour cloth among their clothes, but then the wizards turn up wearing whatever they feel like. I'm already thinking about extra units to add. Possibly some hounds, or maybe something a bit more fantastical, maybe something more draconic?
The fantasy has been a nice change from historical painting, not having to get exact colours right with research is a lot easier. On the historical side I have painted up another unit of Prussian infantry but they look exactly the same as the last lot, so if you want to know what they look like, I refer you to my last blog post.

Oh and finally, I hope the photo's look good. Thanks to top tips from Wargames Illustrated editor Dan I tried something new and I think they look really good if I may say so myself! (Although the paint job could probably still do with improving!)

Napoleonic progress

So, it's been a while but bear with I'll catch you up.

So, still in lockdown here in the UK as most of you will know, but I do have international readers. Still working at home, only going to the shop once a week if that. I'm going a bit stir crazy if I'm honest, but hey I'm sure we all are. Working at home has taken its toll, not having been prepared for this, I've been working at the dining table on a solid dining chair. Fine for sitting eating your dinner, or painting for a few hours in the evening, but not really suitable for all day working. One day working all day, then an online Pathfinder roleplay session, followed by a couple of hours painting and I worked out I spent around 16 hours sat in the same spot. Needless to say, my knees gave in. A couple of days later I had what looked like two filled water balloons in the middle of my legs.
Not being able to do your hobby when you are stuck indoors under lockdown makes it even less fun, but at least I could catch up on some of my Netflix list. A weeks rest however and work to the rescue with a more suitable work chair safely delivered and I am back up and about.

Before my stupid self inflicted injury, I did however get quite a bit of painting done including some things for my on going Napoleonic project.

A while ago I treated myself to some character models to paint in between rank and files models. I actually didn't paint this until after the other items I am showing below as a completion treat. I find sticking a character between the repetitive painting tasks helps motivate.

Wellington and Copenhagen fron Front Rank

I've been toying with the following idea now for a while and I finally got the parts required. For my Napoleonic rules I wanted to create models to represent a Zombie French regiment. I ordered some standard zombie sprues from Mantic games and then raided my bits box (and had some donations from the Illustrious Opponent as he has a French force). There are parts from Perry and Victrix I believe. I thought I would show you photos in progress to show how much of a mix of parts the models were.

regiment bases are your friend when making zombies

I'm sure a couple of them look like they are trying a dance routine

I'm particularly proud of this one dragging his drum

Next up I've completed some Prussian infantry, I managed to get a good system going painting them on strips with blu-tak to get some good speed painting going. I've got a couple of boxes of these to paint so I'm not going for super-detail, they just need to look good when there are in ranks on the table.

Perry Prussian infantry

All bayonets currently still intact (I'm sure that won't last with my clumsiness)

Prussian Jaegers from Perry

The last show I went to ( when was that? I've lost all sense of time, was it a couple of months, a couple of years?) I picked up the following as part of a pair. His bowler hat wearing friend is still on my painting table. I'm not going to use them for their intended purpose however. I think he will make a great brawler in the Old West. He is 28mm scale but actually represents more like 7"

Henchman from Crooked Dice

Next up are a couple more character miniatures from Front Rank. They are listed as civilians but I shall certainly not be using them as standard civilians. Note one is dressed slightly more flamboyantly than the other? Yes, may I introduce to you, Jonathon Strange and Mr Norrell.

Wellingtons own practising magicians

I made an order recently to Black Hat miniatures to fill out some gaps in my paint pallette. It's a paint range I have used for many years, picking it up at shows from various traders but I've never bought direct from the owner. My paint purchasing I must admit is not very organised, when I go to a show I forget to take note what I need and just make random choices (I'm never going to run out of red) or I get lazy and if I need one colour, I work in town, so I do admit, it is easy to pop to the local GW at lunch time and pick up that one pot (shh, don't tell anyone, I hate myself.) so this is the first time in a while I have made a concerted effort to spend a good chunk of change and sort out my paints. (and throw out all the dried out ones.)

Well, I was intrigued by a product on their site for shading. I have often used inks and washes but never an all over shade. So, I added the below to my order to give it a go. I've used it on most of the models I've shown in this post. You just paint your model in block colours then paint the whole model with the shade. I'm probably teaching you all to suck eggs, but I've got to say I love it. I'd probably not use it for special characters (I didn't use it for the whole of the Wellington model or the final model of my blog below.) but for quick repetitive painting, it's the bees knees. It's called dark brown, but I find it gives more of a brown/grey shade to the model. It has almost a gelatinous texture and goes on like a wash but somehow has a semi-transluscence that means it matches the colour it sits on. They do a lighter one too if you like your models a bit brighter.

And finally...

Illustrious Opponent and I and our regular Pathfinder group are trying something new. We are embarking on a new adventure with new characters starting at level 4. My previous character being a dwarf bezerker, I wanted to try something completely new. Our crew are to be employed in the local Navy so I volunteered to be the ships wizard. Meet Zachariah the Great.

Zachariah is available for Life Day celebrations and Coming of Age Ceremonies

Now I know what you are thinking, we aren't actually meeting up, don't panic. The sessions are still being played via Zoom. I just found building and painting a model really helped to "create" my character. Some people can draw and have done so. My drawing skills are limited to stick figures and tracing, so actually getting to make Zachariah really helped me imagine him ready for our first session.
He is mostly made up of bits from the Frostgrave Wizards sprue with a tricorne from a Warlords AWI militia sprue. Then his staff has been given a burning sphere I had in my bits box that I believe was from a GW wizard and so was the swirling mist he is stood upon. Needless to say his favourite spell will be Glitterdust.

Anyway, that's all for now. Stay safe, keep painting and please feel free to comment below.

Colours 2019 preparation

photo taken from newburyracecourse.co.uk

Well, its here again. It snuck up really quickly. Next weekend is the Newbury and Reading Wargame Society Annual fair. Or as we all know it to be called, Colours.
Regular readers will know this is my favourite show due to the minimal commute, but also as it just seems to be just the right size of show to be a fun day out without being too huge and overwhelming. Plus being close to home means I soak in the whole show and not miss anything and still be home in time for afternoon tea.
Bizarrely as I said, this has snuck up on me this year so I haven't really put much thought into research this year. Regular readers will know of my meticulous research for show days out and yet I have done none of that for Colours 2019. I haven't even done my annual delve through the under bed boxes for things to sell at the bring and buy. You can see the list of traders on the website here. Last year I produced a handy list of hyperlinks, but it looks like the club have added web site addresses this year so I shall not bother.
So a brief list of things of note. Perry are a last minute addition, as they don't always  come to Newbury either, will be good to see them. Bad Squiddo will be getting a visit from myself, I'm hoping to pick up some more of the new terrain resins, always useful. I may finally bite the bullet and invest in a Deep Cut Studios gaming mat for the dining table. I always drool over them at shows but you all know how it is, terrain isn't as much fun as soldiers. Finally, I have noticed Debris of War do some Gaslands conversion kits reasonably priced. I may have to make a visit to them to pick up some bits for my hotwheels collection.
Otherwise I'm thinking I'm just going to browse and take in the atmosphere. I may actually be persuaded to join in some participation games this year. After deciding to do more than just retail at a show earlier in the year and having fun at the speed painting competition,  I'm beginning to think there is more to these shows than just spending monies.

Salute 2019 - After the Apocalypse

That time of year is almost upon us once more. Yep, it's the big one, Salute. The theme this year is "After the Apocalypse"

 Image copyright South London Warlords. Obvs.

We all descend on the Excel Convention centre in London. Backpacks empty, shopping lists in our sweaty hands, cameras and smartphones in macro mode ready to snap away.
My Facebook feed already no longer shows anything my friends are doing, just all the various Wargaming companies reminding us they will be there for that one day in April where the Longbeards of dice rolling gather in the Great steel hall of trade.

We start the day with the long train ride, what is the best way to get across London, what stations are closed? Why didn't my Brother in Law bring himself a coffee like the rest of us always do and now he is in a caffeine grump. As we get on to the DLR we normally play the traditional game of "wargamer or marathon runner" as we normally share the Excel with all the healthy bods signing up for the London marathon the following day. Although this year Salute is early, so we shall miss those Lucozade swigging health nuts. (I'm not sure how many wargamers out there run marathons too. Although if they do they won't save on train fair this year.) One year we were totally thrown when two young ladies on the DLR didn't look particularly athletic (not dressed head to toe in Lycra) but also didn't seem the wargamer type. It turned out that year the same day at Excel there was a "Sherlocked" convention for fans of Benedict Cumberbatch's recent portrayal of the Baker Street detective. Totally threw us. Anyway, I digress.

So, a quick run down on my own personal list of things to look out for at Salute. Quick editorial disclaimer first, if I state a miniature company is new, it's new to me, or feels new as the many years of dice rolling fly by so quick, apologies if they have been going for years, blood, sweat, lead and tears, trying to sell their wares, I just haven't noticed them until now.

So, before Salute it is advisable to research who will be there, I have said this before and on a previous blog post I have hyperlinked all the companies attending a show. (Colours in September) luckily, South London Warlords have done the hard word for me here.

So, let's start with the old familiars. First visit is definitely always Hasslefree Miniatures. I've said it before, lovely company. I cannot stress how good the models are from this company, follow Kevs page on Facebook, Hasslefriesian, to see work in progress photos just to see how much effort goes into these toy soldiers. He is always open to discussion too, no matter how much he pretends to be grumpy. Although don't start suggesting he "does that character from that film I like" because he will shout at you for being a moron. (rightly so.)

I am loving the renaissance(?) in laser cut MDF terrain at the moment. Until this came along your choices for buildings on the table were expensive resin (which got dropped and chipped just five minutes after purchase) or build your own. Now not all of us are Anthea Turner or Diane Sutherland (How does she do all that crafting and keep such a wonderful manicure? See her book here.) So MDF came along as a relatively cheap option that looks so good on the table, especially for periods in history that involve a lot of wood, like the Old West. My personal favourite company are Sarissa Precision, mainly because they come unpainted, which keeps the price down and also they were the first I had. I won't lie, my amazing wife discovered them when looking for birthday presents for me back when they had a very small range of just Old West town buildings, now they have a huge range, I might even be tempted to buy their steamer boat this year.

Anvil are a reasonably new company that started out with just a few heroic scale compatible sci fi heads, arms, weapons etc. that could make your Spam army that bit different from the four billion other ones out there. They have since expanded and have their own proper range that you can still buy in mix and match.

Leslie's bits box, I've no idea where they manage to get their stock from but if you want old school Necromunda, Mordheim, Epic, Warhammer, go visit them. They also have a good range of new boxed stuff too.
Bad Squiddo, obviously, need I say any more than I have before. Annie is reducing her buying in of other manufacturers and starting to expand her own range. A bold move, but definitely the right one I think, starting at Salute with a range of scatter terrain that I shall be looking to grab for my Heroquest table.
Obviously Warlord games. I shall be visiting Wargames Illustrated to sort out my subscription for the year to ensure I don't miss out on any of the rest of the free sprues in 2019 and getting a voucher to spend at Warlord.

Perry Miniatures is a must. I shall be picking up some British Intervention Force as I am going to try a Pig War gone hot scenario. Already having some period American civilians, I just need to add some plastic American Infantry and find the pigs I bought at Colours last year. There are some handy scenario notes in Ospreys Men Who Would be Kings book that will mean the Illustrious Opponent and I will be exchanging polite warning shots across the backs of the greedy livestock!

Avoid Forgeworld like the plague unless you like contact sports and know in advance what you want to purchase from them. They don't have anything on display and previous years it's been a struggle to get a clear look at a catalogue. I guess GW assume their customers have a photographic memory for their range. I'm not doubting they have some nice stuff, as is obvious by how busy they are, but I haven't the energy any more for trying to get served like it is five to closing time in the bar on a Saturday night.

Looking at new people to visit. Firstly I am interested in a company called Blotz. I believe they have been going just a couple of years and have an interesting MDF range including a 28mm scale submarine that you can buy in sections so you can build any size sub you like and an interesting looking dungeon terrain system.
Atlantis Miniatures are getting bigger, they started with some lovely sculpts of very hairy dwarfs a couple of years ago and now the range includes trolls, orcs and bears, oh my! Seriously though, these are really nice "beefy" resin 28mm models, although that is reflected a little in the price. The orcs remind me of the orcs in the Warcraft movie. (Terrible movie but lovely design.) Finally of intrigue is Modblokz. A new looking terrain system, that consists of plastic modular sections that are held together by magnets. The professional looking videos make it look effortless to build and I am guessing it is designed for the wargamer with limited storage space in my mind. My wife would approve.

There are lots more obviously that I could go on about but this blog post is becoming an essay. I am possibly going to try some live Facebook posting on the day so be sure to like my Facebook page @playwithlead to see photos of the day as I enjoy my day pass and try to resist buying a new game system that takes up too much room and annoys my very understanding wife.

Getting my soldiers on the table

Regular readers will know that I have been painting Napoleonic British in 28mm. Now as we all know, these models are not just intended to sit in a foam tray in a cardboard box, I need to get them on a table. As this project has been going on for some time now, I have had time to look into and purchase various rules. Painting Space Marines then playing with them is easy, you buy a copy of Warhammer 40,000 and away you go (although these days there is the argument of which version of those rules are best, if you aren't playing in store, why not go back to 2nd edition? I loved the Dark Millennium add on rules.)
The problem with historical wargaming, or maybe the advantage, is that there are countless rule sets out there. 

As my models are 28mm scale and I learnt to wargame through warhammer, I really wanted to play something closer to 1 model equals 1 man than 1 equals many. Now, obviously this is not actually practical unless we go to a skirmish level, using something like Sharpe Practice or Chosen Men. The problem with these rules however, are that I really won't get a full table of models without meaning the game will take days to play. 

Going up scale, we have Warhammer Historical, Waterloo. Now it has Warhammer in the name, surely this will feel familiar, after all I am a massive fan of the Legends of the Old West Warhammer Historical rules too. These rules feel like what I am going for, but they are just slightly too complicated. We played them, but I just couldn't get my head round TAC points and when models are removed as casualties. It left me and my fellow gamers scratching our heads, wondering if we got it right or not. Also, the first models I painted were my British Riflemen (I will openly admit all my historical wargaming is heavily influenced by totally inaccurate fictional versions from movies and tv.) These rules meant I would only be fielding about 8 models from my lovingly painted green jackets.

Neil Thomas has written an excellent set of rules called One Hour Wargames, which have a chapter on the Napoleonic era. These are excellent rules but a little basic for what I want to do. That is obviously their intention and I will probably use them at some time when I do only have an evening to play. Especially as they are also designed for the smaller table. I also feel these rules would easily scale up to a larger table and are simple enough to not slow down play. I do however want to have a little bit more complication by including some congreve rockets. (Wargaming has to be fun after all, what's more fun than misfiring rockets?)

My own crude Congreve rockets conversions

All this leads to one conclusion, I am going to have to write my own rules. What I am looking for is something that falls between the rule sets I have. Another reason is learning wargame rules is hard, it is very difficult to learn a set a rules from reading them. Just like boardgames, we all find it easier when someone else shows us. It is extremely difficult to to fully convey the authors intention in a readable rulebook.

 If I write my own rules using methods my local wargaming group already understand, we will more likely spend a day enjoying a wargame, than constantly referring to the text of a book written by someone we have never met. The age of the internet has helped this a bit, authors can now easily answer queries via the internet. One of my favourite current rulesets that I have taken the effort to learn is Rogue Stars from Osprey, mainly because the author Andrea Sfiligoi is so willing to discuss his rules on Facebook. But nothing is more useful than having the author of a ruleset in the room to immediately answer a query, interpret his intentions or fill a gap in the text.

This did at first seem a daunting task. The most I have done so far is write extra "houserules" for systems already in place. As I have mentioned in previous blogs I have written my own sci fi version of Advanced Heroquest and a WW2 version of Warhammer Legends of the Old West. I have been confident that these would work as the hard job of the bare bones of the system is done for you. This would be more of a challenge. Luckily help is at hand.

This book comes in very handy. The authors are experience wargame writers. The book won't do the hard work for you, but it answers a lot of questions I had when I first thought about writing my own rules. It not only goes through the mechanics of writing rules but also how to identify the language of rules writing. If it is something you have not done before it is a tricky writing style to master. All I have to do then is some playtesting, but that is the fun bit.

And finally....

Now I am going to talk about something that the purists will baulk at, so if you like your wargaming perfectly historically accurate,(surely you have realised by now that is not me.) look away now.

Seriously, I don't want to upset you.

You aren't going to like this.

Right, now the grumps aren't reading I'm going to make a suggestion. Now, don't get me wrong, there is a time for historical accuracy, the educational benefits are clear to see, but sometimes wargaming has to be a bit fun. So I have taken some inspiration from this humongous tome.

You could break a toe dropping this book.

If you haven't read the book, Mr Norrell goes out with the British army to see what he can do in the Peninsular wars. After being ignored by Wellington for a period, he eventually assists the army mainly by magically conjuring up nice flat roads for them to march on, then removing them afterwards so that the French cannot take advantage. I love the idea of having a Gentleman magician on the table, accompanying the Officers in doing what he can to stick it to ol' Boney.
Obviously I need to give the French something equivalent. Now, in the story there arent any magic users on the French side, but I came up with the idea of giving them a Necromancer, perhaps a mysterious bearded stranger from Eastern Europe? He could raise up units of recently deceased Imperial Guard to shuffle across the battlefield. I just need to purchase some Perry plastics and maybe some Mantic zombie sprues. It's been a while since I've done some kit bashing...

The end of an affair

Or how I still can't not walk in to a Games Workshop.

Previous readers will know my first GW purchase was a copy of Advanced Heroquest. My first store purchase however was a few years later, a Necromunda gang. Sold to me on the promise that I would just need that one small gang of models, one simple purchase that wouldnt break the bank and I could play this awesome new game.

Not a perfect rule system, Necromunda however was awesome for its time. I of course later bought the box set, all that multi level terrain and the multitude of models in the core box set was a perfect example of how Games Workshop earned its reputation as the "Gateway" to wargaming.

All except I think one of my fellow wargamers started with painting Citadel miniatures. I was drawn in to this community and found my people. I could tell you minutae detail of the stories behind Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000, I went to Games Day, I even applied for a part time job at my local store (I didnt get the job, but I am now kinda glad I didnt. Painting to deadline? Not for me, see my previous post!)

As I have become a grumpy old gamer I have fallen out of love with Games Workshop though. I don't want to start an anti-GW rant, there are plenty of those all over the internet, believe me. I just genuinely believe they have lost some of us older gamers. Maybe this has always been the case, there are teenagers now going to their local store every Saturday without fail just like I did, maybe I am the problem, maybe I don't "believe" anymore. Have they really become "over priced and share holder led", or were they always that way and I didnt know any better? Of course they have to gear their product towards selling you new models every week, they have staff to pay and shops to rent.  Maybe I have just matured in my tastes, or maybe I just miss the old days?

My favourite days of the year are day trips to wargame shows. It doesnt surprise me that some of favourite companies have ex GW staff running them. Warlord Games started by John Stallard and Paul Sawyer (affectionally known to us oldhammer players as the non politically correct "Fat Bloke") has a very familiar GW feel to its business model, I am particularly fond of their alternative history WW2 game Konflict 47. Alan and Michael Perry of Perry Miniatures are the Rock Stars of wargaming in my eyes, I love their Napoleonic range but my favourite model I have is a Salute special of an American Civil War general.

Hasslefree Miniatures gets a special mention as the nicest family in Wargaming. They are always my first visit at Salute each year and I love everything Kev White sculpts, I would even go out on a limb and call him the best sculpter out there right now. If I remember correctly, Kev used to sculpt for GW, he is so prolific at sculpting that following him on Facebook is a must to witness his talent.

The Trenchcoat wearing "Harby" has been given horns by yours truly with some clumsily added green stuff.

My wife has an excellent way of describing my relationship with GW. They are like a terrible ex partner. I tell everyone I am over them, that I want nothing to do with them, but every now and then we bump into each other and I only remember the good times. I know they are bad for me, I know there are better products out there, I know their game systems can sometimes seem unbalanced and possibly even geared towards selling more products than making a fair game. Yet I will still pop in and say hello and have a peruse. The staff are always lovely, they are conveniently just round the corner if I need some Goblin Green, if it is still called that? (I miss the old paints, where's Brazen Brass gone?!) and if there were no Games Workshop this hobby may not be in the renaissance it is now.

I said I didnt want to do an anti-GW rant and I hope I haven't. I'm still keeping my stack of Warhammer rulebooks and I will still buy every new Dan Abnett novel when it comes out. (I could write another whole post about my love of the Gaunts Ghosts saga.) When my boys are older if they want to wargame I'm not going to refuse them a trip to Games Workshop, I shall just have to start saving now for it.

Maybe I should hope they want to take up sports instead.