A Seasonal Post

It may seem like things have been quiet here at Lead HQ. Well, far from it. With Christmas looming I have had to up sticks and relocate to a new home. With a tale that was almost Dickensian, involving forced house moving at Christmas I have done it. A wargamers worst fear, transporting their leadpile.

So, apologies for the lack of posts, but I'll be honest, I've been busy. I don't need to explain in detail, everyone knows moving house is a pain. Moving house with a wargamers collection even more so. So, now we are mostly settled, (the Christmas tree is up and I can find a shirt for work) I thought I would talk to you about the exciting world of storage.

We all spend a small fortune on our toy soldier collections, yet how much care do we take of them? I have seen collections thrown in cardboard boxes with little more than a carrier bag to vaguely try and stop the Armee du Nord from chipping their paint. I have seen players sweep whole regiments off the table at the end of a game like them are gathering loose change into a bucket at a jumble sale. Taking them home in a shoe box tucked under an arm like a subuteo team.

When we discovered we had to move house one of the saving graces was that my extremely intelligent and organised wife has always insisted that apart from the few pieces on display in a couple of glass cabinets, all our hobby items were already organised and stored correctly. Only a couple of days after we had agreed on our new home, I was moving the lead pile in. A combination of old GW cases, KR multicases and boxes from The Works ensured most of my armies travelled in comfort. Yes, I have discovered that The Works sell a collapsible box that can hold five GW or KR trays with space at the side for a rulebook or two. They have lots of designs, comic characters, cute characters, I even got a  couple in classic Great War propaganda posters.

If you are buying multiple, they will cost you a fiver a box, then just buy some foam trays separately from your favourite supplier. I'll still use my official cases for taking models to play elsewhere, but for home storage they do an excellent job.

So, the home move went well, minimal casualties, there was the odd model that was in the glass cabinet that yes, I did just put in a very small foam filled box and carry on my lap in the car, some models are just too delicate. Yes, a tiny model of a boat with paper sails and rigging looks good, but how do you transport them without completely trashing all your hard work?

How this resin guy made it unscathed I will never know, he normally breaks from just being looked at.

Some models didn't fare so we'll.

How?

Looks okay at first...

my dodgy pinning job is going to need re-doing though.

The rest of the move? Well, luckily my wife's hobby is knitting. Wool is a lot lighter than lead and doesn't need packing in bubble wrap or foam. I'm a little jealous of a hobby that is light and soft. Well, apart from the needles of course, but my wife has nowhere near as many needles as I have brushes, so let's leave that there shall we.

The Illustrious Opponent was one of many that selflessly gave up some of their free time to help me move, for which I am forever grateful. When he saw our new living room with space for a new larger dining table the gaming ideas were already being discussed. The new year will definitely have to have some tabletop skirmishes taking place at the new Chez Lead. I have however promised myself not a dice will roll or a brush stroke until the boxes are fully unpacked. (Let's see if that promise is kept.)

A quiet month on the hobby table

It's been a quiet month hobby wise folks. In fact, nothing much to report I'm afraid. One of the reasons for this is due to the return of my chronic migraines. With a job that involves staring at a computer screen all day, when a migraine hits, it's difficult to then squint at a tiny toy soldier or look at another computer screen whilst writing about them.

Avoiding screens has meant an opportunity to catch up some reading (bear with me this is going somewhere). I've recently completed my second hand collection of these graphic novels.

Which reminded me of these conversions I did back in my youth for for my Warhammer Chaos army. The contents of my glass cabinets are currently being dusted and packed away for a move and so I took the opportunity to photograph these for the blog.

When I think about it, these models are around 22 years old. I have come to the conclusion in those 22 years my painting quality has actually got worse. I'm sure I'm not the only person that suffers from what I call the "painters shakes" a non recognised condition where older crafters can't hold a model to paint it without getting involuntary shakes. I would never try sculpting green stuff on a helmet like that these days. I always thought with time would come better skill, but sadly it hasn't. I think partly I have learnt shortcuts when painting squads and regiments, so my models look good "en masse" but the individuals now don't look as good. Maybe I should slow down a bit for my characters and take some inspiration from some of my older paint jobs. Us wargamers are always talking about getting through our lead mountains and painting our models. Maybe sometimes I should just slow down a bit and just enjoy painting like I did in my youth.

I have also finished a few other random items off my painting table. Firstly a Reaper half Orc I bought for my Youngest to use in Heroquest:

My son especially loves the fact that he is already carrying a chest on his back for putting treasure in. (It's all about the gold.)

I've started painting up some of the Grenadier models I spoke about in a previous post. These two chaps were a joy to paint, they may be older sculpts but they hold up to modern standards.

Finally, this hefty lump of lead of a chap. I tried something on the bases which I'm not sure of, I might repaint. The rest, I'm happy with.

I posted a pic of this on Facebook, but for those of you that didn't see it, I painted one of the free Black Seas sprues of a Frigate from Wargames Illustrated. 

I haven't done the rigging, because to be honest, I'm not stealing thread from Mrs B. I'm sure she would probably help me out if I asked, but I'm pleased with it as it is and I bet if I started messing with thread and superglue there is a chance I could make a mess of it. There is always a risk with paper and superglue as I have often found out when dealing with printing flags. It is all too easy to glue the paper to your fingers and remove the print and have to start again with a fresh sheet. I've been enjoying the WI sprues each month, looking forward to the surprise of a sprue of something that I might not necessarily choose to buy but having a go anyway. I'm disappointed next year they are dropping to bi-monthly and especially disappointed with this month's Judge Dress graffiti transfers. I'm sure back in January we were promised a year's worth of sprues, although that might be me misremembering. If we were however, bad form WI, bad form.

What else have I been up to? Well, being a busy grown up it's not all painting models and playing games, sadly sometimes one has to do the washing up or commute to work as well. But I have the solution for the geek who can't help but want to fill their day with gaming, podcasts! Use whatever podcast downloader of choice and then listen to these. For the old school Longbeards may I recommend "Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy"  from the History Network. They even did Episode 33 live via YouTube and yours truly got involved with a few questions. (Yes I did instigate the James May discussion, sorry.)

For a more light hearted listen I have two D&D podcasts I am currently listening to. I find most D&D play podcasts far too serious and not really inclusive enough but are hilarious and yet also inspiring to my own gaming. (ie not just a bunch of fart jokes)

First is Not another D&D Podcast. Three American players, one of whom has never played before but is leaping in feet first with his Barbarian, Hard One, a Mushroom lady druid and a halfling Paladin working towards getting his scout merit badges.

The other is The Dragon Friends. Three Australian comedians take part in a live monthly stage show D&D session. They release each half of the evenings show in a separate episode. This is hands down my favourite podcast I have found so far. My only bugbear is I am caught up and have to wait two weeks between episodes!

And finally. For my fellow bloggers out there. You may not yet know that Google have finally updated the Blogger Android app! It's about time, it's actually been years since the previous update. So this blog update has been done from my phone, photos and all! No more excuses!

Make terrain and scatter

I have been painting a lot of brown this week. When you have an old west town in 28mm you have to invest in multiple shades of brown. Oh but the brown I have been painting. This week I have been painting scatter terrain. It's an exciting one, folks.

Now bear with me dear reader, this post is for the hardcore wargamer. I am going to deep dive on this one and compare the different price points I recently purchased for adding to my gaming table. Before I start, let me add that when looking for terrain for my table I have to consider a few things.

• Storage. Space is limited in my home, so if it is large, if it folds down all the better, although in this case I am buying small items, so if they fit in my handy terrain drawer, brilliant.
• Price. We're all on a budget, I don't need to explain this one, if it's going to be pricy, it better be really nice.
• Useability. If an item is less period specific, ie I could use it for Napoleonic, WW2 and futuristic gaming, then it is actually worth triple its cost to me. Also, am I going to regularly use it?

As you may know I enjoy a game of Legends of the Old West, a 28mm scale skirmish game in the old west. Like a lot of skirmish games, having some cover on the table significantly improves the game. I have a significantly sized cowboy town for this game, but most of the table consists of Sarissa precision building kits (which usefully do flat pack down for storage) and then nice open streets. Time to give my cowboys some cover to duck down behind. All these items were purchased at Colours wargame show unpainted and were not given free for reviewing.

So, the first items I bought were from Iron Gate Scenery.  Each pack cost me £2.50 and contained five of each, crates and barrels. Now these items are 3D printed and if you look closely, you can see the horizontal lines of the printing process. Now, they are clearly advertised as such, but I obviously didn't notice this in my showday excitement. I don't have a 3D printer myself, but I do know people who do who could probably have printed something up something pretty similar. The detail isn't high end, but that is reflected in the price and these are good choice if you need to cover a lot of table on a small budget.

We go slightly up quality to a set of large crates from Grendel. I purchased these from Coritani Magnetic Displays. I have shown some terrain I have painted from this company on my blog before here. They sell their sets unpainted or painted. (It is very tempting to pay for them painted but although I am a terrible painter, I am tighter with my money.) The large crates are three identical "piles" or "stacks" of crates cast in resin for £8. They take paint really well and the detail is pretty good. The resin is a little brittle, you have to be careful not to drop these, they chip really easily. Obviously being identical they may look weird next to each other, but I think spacing them out with the rest of the terrain will work.

Finally we've gone slightly exciting. I picked up the food supplies basing kit for £10:

and the cargo supplies for £16 from Bad Squiddo games:

Now these are obviously slightly pricier, but the detail is awesome. I'm a terrible painter, so I've not done them justice, but you can make out carrots, sausages and lettuce in the food supplies. They are all cast in resin that takes paint really well and isn't brittle at all. The basing kit I have obviously stuck on my own bases through choice, they separate really well if you want to use them for details on a diarama or the base of a model. I couldn't afford to fill my entire cowboy town with this range of scatter terrain, but it definitely will come in handy for a few different game systems.

So, there you go, I told you it was an exciting one. I think I'm going to have to choose something nice a colourful for my next painting project. Put the brown paint away for a bit. Maybe something neon and cyberpunky...

Newbury and Reading Wargame Society Colours 2019

So, another year, another traipse around Newbury Racecourse. Well, I can definitely say I had a jolly good time. The day started out with grey skies, but the weather held out and I got to the Racecourse nice and early, coffee in hand to join the front of the queue. Once again the team of volunteers from NRWS (Do they call themselves by that acronym?) have done themselves proud with all their hard work. A perfectly professionally looking run show. The venue was great, the volunteers were all really helpful and friendly and everyone I chatted to seemed to be having a fun day. I managed to meet up with the Illustrious Opponent and have a good natter with him as well as some of my other wargaming friends. I rolled some dice, chatted to some traders and some other gaming groups and enjoyed my favourite show of the year.

So, what did I see? What caught my eye?
Firstly, I was intrigued by a new game, Contact Front by Gods Eye Games. From the chaps that brough Sons of Mars, this system covers modern warfare from 2000 to 2016. It was described to me as a rules light platoon level system, where after a short while one double sided reference sheet is all you need to play. As a wargamer who struggles with overcomplicated rulebooks this idea did appeal.

I was impressed by the multi-level table for the participation game to introduce the new fantasy skirmish game Thud and Blunder from the Ministry of Gentlemanly Warfare. http://bit.ly/TNBebook . I didn't get a chance to try it out (something I definitely will seek out in the future) but it was fun to see a table that wasn't on one plane.

Talking of tables that aren't flat, this participation game of Romans vs Icenci also impressed me. With a massive campaign map showing Boudica's progress across the south of England.

The Boscombe Down & Amesbury Wargames Club (why are all club names such a mouthful?!) had a mightily impressive tower for their fantasy siege game. My son pointed out it was as large as he was.

On that note I must add that yes, I brought my youngest son to his first wargame show. Earlier in the year on a video call to him on the way back from Salute he told me how much he missed me and wished he could come to the wargame show with me. I had explained that London was a long day for him, but he could possibly come to the more local show later in the year. So, after lunch, Father in Law very kindly brought my son over for the experience. (He had a good browse of the book stalls as well though.) Earlier in the week my son had read a book from the library about chocolate, including the history of his favourite food. He is now obsessed with conquistadors, I'm not sure if the uniforms and weapons, or if he just likes saying the word. So, we go upstairs to see what game to play and Crawley Wargames Club are running "Escape from the Aztecs." My son is sold when I tell him he gets to be a conquistador.
We had so much fun playing this game I only remembered to take one photo.

The idea of the game was to avoid the Aztecs, various wildlife, (giant snakes, crocodiles etc.) and quicksand and get to the fort at the other side of the table. Most of the adult players didn't make it and lost all three of their lives, but the three junior players had decided early on to try and stick together (the photo doesn't show it but they did stick close together most of the game) and they made it all the way across the table. In a wonderful act of kindness, the young lady playing on her last but one turn had the option to move another player an extra move. Instead of moving my sons piece nearer the Aztecs to distract them so she could escape, she moved my sons piece into the fort so he escaped. A wonderful demonstration of kind gaming.

The final game I managed to photograph was from South London Warlords. I had a brief chat with John Treadaway from Miniature Wargames ( a lovely chap and may I add an excellent publication.) who told me about the Dark Side of the Moon. A US Marines versus Chinese Peoples Space Force game based on the old tv series Space 1999. Figures and vehicles for the game are from Ground Zero Games. My photos don't do it justice, a mightily impressive table.

So, what did I buy? After all, that is the main reason we all go to the shows, to add to our lead mountains. Firstly I did as previously mentioned grab some of the new releases from Bad Squiddo.

God Bless Bruce for giving me the last Action Heroines blister. I am so grateful, I shall begin undercoating forthwith!
I picked up the following from crooked dice, now bear with, but I think they are actually perfect for my western town.

I have been promising myself a copy of this book for a while, after being impressed with Frostgrave I have high hopes for this follow up from the same author. Now I have a copy in my hand I can confidently say it really is a doorstop of a rulebook and I actually got it a bit cheaper than the cover price from Paul Meekin books. From a quick flick through I  can tell already I am going to like it, any book that mentions Johnny Mnemomic as inspiration gets my vote.

Finally, regular readers will know there is a tradition for one of my fellow gamers to always buy me random models of livestock. previous purchases have been pigs, buffalo, (useful) chickens and dodos (not so useful.) This year he has not failed. I shall now be imagining four Liverpudlian voices in my head asking each other "Whadya wanna do?" repeatedly as I paint these vultures.

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.

Insert witty replacement Blog post title here

Greetings Longbeards. It's been a hot month over here in Blighty.

Needless to say, no wargaming has happened and hardly any painting. The paint has been drying on the brush before you can get it on the model and I daren't stick a daylight bulb on to see what I'm doing in case I melt into a puddle of goo. Luckily the office has just finished installing brand new air conditioning which is so delightfully cold that some people were cancelling leave and others were putting on layers as they entered the office. Oh, there is no greater sin than cold conditioned air. As you may know, the Illustrious Opponent has just moved in to his new property and has yet to work out how to have hot water come out of his taps without having the heating on throughout the house. Definitely means no wargaming for the moment!

I have managed to get some hobby work in though. I have finished my Bad Squiddo resin terrain.

Medieval kids from Hasslefree Miniatures. Also, see if you can spot the Squiddo Peeg!

Love these two sets, I will definitely be grabbing some more stuff next month at Colours wargame show next month. They take paint really well and the detail is amazing. One set is treasure chests, some open, some closed. Some of them are locked tight with chains. The other set is various piles of treasure, (far too many to put out in one go for your standard D&D party.) and a throne with suitable skeleton perched upon it. Don't let my terrible paint work put you off, they really are lovely casts. Full of lots of lovely detail.

I messaged the Illustrious Opponent at the start of August, to remind him that we now have 13 months left until Colours 2020. So, if we want to get a demonstration game ready for that deadline, time is ticking. So, I don't normally approve of "work in progress" shots (I am of the opinion people use it an excuse for their painting standard, look we aren't all Golden Demon winners, its okay!) but here is evidence that I have started the Prussians:

Perry Miniatures Prussian Hussars

I am being firm with myself and I am going to reward myself with one character model per group. If I finish these, I can then paint Von Blucher. This is definitely a less intimidating start than the massive stack of sprues of infantry in a box under the dining table. (Maybe we should be aiming for September 2021?)

Finally for the blog I'm going to try something new, a bit of flavour text, yep, some creative writing. (I heard that groan at the back.) I've been trying exercise my writing muscles and this weekend the Illustrious Opponent is hosting an RPG day set in a post WW2 Pulp Sci Fi style. He asked if I would briefly describe who my character would be and of course in true self indulgent style I took it multiple steps further. I immediately jumped on ebay to buy myself a suitable model and wrote myself a full backstory.......

Doctor Hans Lieberwitz, scientist, tinkerer, conscientious objector scraped the contents of the tins of dogfood into the bowls.
"Abbott! Costello! Supper!" He called out and two Great Dane's came leaping into view in his makeshift workshop, their paws skittering on the smooth surface of the floor. The sharp turns they needed to make to avoid the workbench meaning both dogs slid sideways like racing cars making handbrake turns.

The two hounds were fully engrossed in their meals so the Doctor returned to his workbench. Held upright by multiple clamps and connected to various copper wires in the middle of the bench was what looked like a glass hexagon. Lieberwitz carefully applied a thin almost translucent layer of gel to one side of the hexagon from a jar labelled as radioactive material. He carefully manuevered a another set of apparatus in front and connected it to to crocodile clips attached to coiled power cables. Bringing his head down level with the equipment, he lined up the two items. The Doctor flicked a switch and power lit up both apparatus. A thin green beam of light shot from the second device into the hexagon and it began to glow. A larger beam shot from the glass out into the centre of the room, forming a floating glowing hexagon in the middle of the room. The shape grew larger until it was almost six foot in diameter. The edge was the same glowing green, but internally a window was forming to another room, the inside of a old warehouse. A grin began to form on Lieberwitz's face. Then suddenly, a brief flicker, a puff of smoke from the apparatus and the portal dissappeared.
"Gott Verdammt!" muttered Lieberwitz as he yanked the power lead.

There was a sudden banging on the loft apartment. The knocking on the steel door echoed around the apartment, Lieberwitz almost fell off his stool with the shock at the sudden interruption. Answering the door, he came face to face with a tall craggy stranger with a scar down one side of his face. Despite the the heat of the summer, he was dressed in a long coat and hat, the hat low down, making a deep shadow hiding his eyes. A brief nod downwards, he persuaded the doctor to look down and notice the Luger pointing right at him.
"I guess you better come in then." said the Doctor, stepping aside to allow the stranger to enter the apartment.
"A wise choice, Herr Doctor." The Stranger slid the steel door behind him, keeping his eyes on the Doctor, gun still aimed. "I've come to take you home."
"What if I don't want to go home."
"The Fuhrer is quite insistent. I'm afraid you have no choice." The Stranger had now begun to pay attention to Lieberwitz's workbench and was fiddling with a bunson burner, "We can't have a man of your talents running around loose in the United States, we need you to come home and help with the war effort."
"From the rumours I have heard, it can be dangerous back home for someone of my origins."
"Exceptions can be made for someone with your talents."
The Doctor glanced at the glass hexagon equipment he had been working on, "Believe me, I am not that talented."
The Stranger followed Lieberwitz's eyeline and noticed the equipment. "What have we been working on here then?"
"It doesn't work." the Doctor replied, unable to hide his disappointment, despite the high stress of the situation.
At that moment a brown blur of movement leapt up from behind the bench. The Doctor's two dogs, Abbott and Costello both leapt over the furniture, snarling and biting at the Stranger. A single shot from the Luger and Costello was hit and brought down, but the Stranger was not quick enough to stop both dogs. Abbott's jaws clamped down on his arm holding the gun, snapping the radius and ulna bones in his forearm, the gun clattered to the floor. A couple more bites and the Stranger was no longer a threat to the Doctor. He was now on the floor with Abbott on top of him, growling, teeth sinking into the jugular in his neck. Despite his injuries he managed still to speak.
"Is that gas I can smell, Herr Doctor?"
"Abbott, Fuss!" shouted the Doctor, and Lieberwitz and his dog ran to the door of the apartment. They ran down the stairs and out of the building and out into the street. Upstairs somehow the Stranger managed to retrieve a lighter from a pocket with his remaining working hand. A spark from the lighter and the entire top floor of the building exploded.
"Down in the street Liberwitz sat on the kerb, Abbott sat next to him panting, looking around on guard, looking out for his master. Lieberwitz patted him affectionately. A moment later, Costello padded up next to them, looking slightly worse for wear. The explosion had removed all his living dog tissue leaving just the dog shaped endoskeleton. He sat down next to the Doctor on the other side and adopted a similar guard position.

Upstairs in the apartment a tiny green hexagon appeared floating in mid air in the middle of the room. It grew larger, then larger until it was six foot in diameter. In the middle the same warehouse background. A figure appeared in the background, a German Soldier in a grey uniform. At first he looked tentively at the portal, poked his rifle through first, then stepped through the portal into the apartment.

"Hamlet" from Hasslefree miniatures, Reaper miniatures Mad Scientist, WIld West Exodus Attack Dog

Playing the game

Some cowboys ready for a skirmish

When I was first getting into wargaming I would make regular excursions to my local GW store and take part in any and all competitive games I could. Every Saturday I would join in the giant anything goes game, shouting a giant "Waagh!" through the wall at the bakery next door before we started, stopping for lunch and all traipsing into said bakery to fill up on starchy goodness (meat and potato pie for me every time, twenty years later I can still remember how good those pies tasted.) and any game I played, I played to win. I have always believed in good sportsmanship and tried to be a good loser, but if I did lose, I would beat myself up about it afterwards. I would overanalyse my game and try and work out where I went wrong. It was always about trying to win the game, I treated each time I played a wargame like chess, the one and only objective was to win and each time I played it was about learning mistakes for next time.

Now, I'm not a great tactician, I'm not very good at chess either if I'm honest. I didn't have a great track record of winning, so over the years as much as I loved my hobby the actual gaming side of things began to be less enjoyable. I became increasingly frustrated with losing game after game of 40K or Warhammer. Where I did have fun however was in skirmish games, Mordheim and Warhammer historical Old West in particular. I also began playing Advanced Heroquest again, and over the years also branched out into some none GW products. (I'm not blaming GW products mind, I also spent a lot of time badly losing at Magic the Gathering too.) What I did realise though, was I enjoyed playing a game where there was a story being told. My interest in WW2 gaming started as well thanks to the encouragement of the Illustrious Opponent (He is a walking WW2 encyclopedia) as well as some other historical periods. What I did notice about the games I enjoyed was that we were basically telling a story rather than trying to win the game.

I have noticed that when I am playing any type of board game with my sons I obviously act as the defacto Games Master, a simpler version of the Dungeon Master in a roleplay game like Dungeons and Dragons. Because they are younger I tweak the rules slightly, giving them a slight advantage, possibly even changing the rules as we play to ensure they feel like they are being challenged but ensuring they don't get bored or lose all the time. I'm sure I'm not the only parent that does this, as they get older obviously I also allow them to get away with less, learning to lose is a lesson too. I try to teach them not to gloat when winning and not to get upset when losing. What I've realised I am doing with them is the same as a good Dungeon Master  in a roleplaying game, giving the players enough of a challenge to make them work for it, but if they constantly lose it's never fun and they will soon lose interest. One of the advantages I have found for having a privacy screen when DMing is that the players never see how well you actually roll your dice, sometimes you have to make up the odd fumble for an NPC. (If you are cheating the other way though, shame on you!)

The idea of the group participation in story telling isn't just restricted to roleplaying games. If you go down to your local church hall on a Saturday night to watch an evening of Wrastling (spelling on purpose) you as the audience all know to cheer the Face and boo the Heel. You know the Hero will win in the end and generally as a rule the audience participate in the story, even though you know the eventual outcome. This group tale telling goes right back through history, I'm sure there are plenty of other examples of group story telling. Casting my mind back to my A level theatre studies I remember there being something about "eyes on the course, not the finish." Sometimes there is a joy in a story on how you get to the end, we all know the Hero will defeat the villain in the end. In fact there also other parts of the story that we expect too, there is the expectation that the Hero needs to have a fail first, then fight back and win in the end.

All of this probably isn't news to you dear reader though. But what I have found is why not transfer this same attitude to wargaming. Recently the Illustrious Opponent and I tried out Blood Red Skies with a friend. Yes we were playing as a opponents, but we were also discussing what we thought the story of the engagement was, how we felt the rules were reflecting what the planes would have been doing in the sky. By the end of the second game all three of us were just willing the Spitfires to shoot down the last of the German bombers. The IO has just moved to a new place and not all hobby supplies have moved in yet, but a few clouds dotted on his dining table were enough for us.

Clouds were just for show on this occasion, but there are rules as well

The Spitfires take on the last Bomber

We did have to constantly have to keep remembering to place chits next to the planes to indicate they had been activated

The most fun wargames I have had recently have been where there have been three participants. Two players and basically a Games Master. I have had great fun in a days wargaming not actually rolling a single dice, but being the chap with the rulebook. If you have the luxury of getting three of you together it really does help as well having one person reading the rules while two others make the tactical decisions. Why not give that third person some extra things to do as well, coming up with random events, NPCs, ensuring the tale is told as well as just the right dice are rolled, responsibility for picking the background music? I propose that we no longer play wargames, rather we tell war stories.