My blog about my wargaming activities. I collect a lot of 15mm miniatures for the American War of Independence and so collect a lot of rules for this period. I started miniatures with Napoleonics, so I have a number of armies in 6mm and 15mm figures for skirmishing. I have15mm WW II figures that I use for Flames of War, Memoir '44, and someday, Poor Bloody Infantry. Finally there is my on-again, off-again relationship with paper soldiers that I sometimes write about.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

What's Happening

Well, our Infantry Aces Cassino campaign is winding down. Although I have not gotten a turn three game in yet (work has taken over), I have gotten some gaming in of late, just not Flames of War. The campaign went as I expected it would. The campaign was played over too long a period of time (each turn lasted a month), meaning it was hard to sustain the enthusiasm. One turn should have lasted a week; two weeks each at the most. People cannot take playing (effectively) the same list for three solid months. Oh well.

As I indicated, I have been gaming however. Of late I have been playing a lot of Battlelore (BL) by Days of Wonder/Fantasy Flight Games, mostly over the internet using VASSAL, but some of it solo. This has gotten me to go and pick up the remaining expansions (Creatures, Horrific Hordes, Bearded Brave, and Code of Chivalry) that did not buy before, as I wasn't playing it anymore. All of this came about because I introduced a good friend to Command and Colors: Napoleonics (CCN) and we started playing it at night over VASSAL. He started as the British and lost every time. We never did get through all of the scenarios. We then flipped sides and he started winning almost all of the scenarios. Although he liked winning, I think it sparked a realization in both of us that CCN was broken (see previous post). So, one night I rattled off all of the variants of this system to him, describing how they differed, and when I came on BL, he said "let's try that", as he is an avid fantasy fan.

After the first session, he was hooked. He pointed out succinctly why BL is "better" than CCN: the missile units really have range. Granted, BL plays at a smaller scale than CCN, but even so, muskets feel like pilum or throwing axes in CCN (e.g. a pre-melee, one-shot weapon), rather than a weapon that you firefight with. Archers and crossbowmen in BL definitely feel like missile units.

So, I bought all the remaining expansions (although I am still holding off on buying all of the Battlelore: Battle of Westeros expansions) and am playing that, looking at ways to turn in into an army-level fantasy campaign. Maybe setup several Imagi-Nations like those old school Seven Years Wars enthusiasts do. This may even get me to figure out how to do more in VASSAL.

1 comment:

  1. I hear you. I was good to go for the first month and a half.. but lately I have been working more and more on DBA and Force on Force. Oh well, live and learn.

    ReplyDelete

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Huachuca City, Arizona, United States
I am 58 yrs old now. I bought a house in Huachuca City, AZ working for a software company for the last three years. To while away the hours I like to wargame -- with wooden, lead, and sometimes paper miniatures -- usually solo. Although I am a 'rules junkie', I almost always use rules of my own (I like to build upon others' ideas, but it seems like there is always something "missing" or "wrong").