Gaming goals - June update

Playing

Well, at least June has seen me return to the tabletop!

There was a very successful game of Dux Brittaniarum (and a very lucky one at that!), which will see my force quality improved for future games.

Also another session of What a Tanker with nice match ups: Semovente 75 + Panzer IID vs 2 M5 Stuarts and StuG IV + Panzer IV vs Grant + Firefly. An enjoyable evening.

And the elephant was seen by my platoon of Yankees in my first ever game of Chain of Command. Another successful game that proved an extended firefight from cover with no manouvering. Luck gave me an edge so that morale problems destabilised the Germans before my guys started to waver and then the German attempt to pull out of the fight descended into slaughter. Good for my men's morale but it felt like the game dragged on a long while after the result was clear. Got a reasonable grasp for the game now. Maybe a pint sized campaign later in the year?

Two games of Machi Koro and one of King of Tokyo on the boardgaming front don't count toward any specified goal but were very enjoyable!


Painting

Haven't gotten round to painting much yet, although I did have an evening session putting the last magnetic disks under my WWII Americans. They have been lying around for 5 years without getting a proper game since they were painted so nicely by Rene.

Also did a wash on some 1:100 British tanks to oppose my Italian tanks for a desert version of What a Tanker some day.


Decluttering

Nope. And new stuff will come in soon...


Projects

With Dux and Flames of War running, hints at CoC and Muskets & Tomahawks and the mysterious project starting in the autumn I suspect I'll have my hands full enough.

PolderCon Encore

I did a PolderCon post earlier this week to get my most pressing thoughts out. But there was so much more to see with some 45 different events on 35 tables.

Small scale historical wargaming is underrepresented in my opinion. Not putting it on makes players feel it isn't an option and that there are no opponents out there.

I guess it's a reflection of supply by miniature producers/game designers, but it won't change if there's no demand. Although I enjoy the skirmish type games, the offer different challenges than games at divisional or corps level and I miss that myself. So that's something I'm thinking about bringing more into the spotlight for next year.

Blitzkrieg Commander

Tercios

By Fire & Sword

Quite a lot of 28mm historical stuff

Chain of Command

I Ain't Been Shot Mum

Sharp Practice 2

There was a lot of fantasy gaming.

9th Age

Kings of War Vanguard

A Song of Ice and Fire

And a lot of sci fi/Post-apocalyptic

Necromunda

Fall Out

Walking Dead

Last Days

Looking over all these pictures as I go through them today I am so happy seeing so many of them including the hosts explaining the game to players. That is exactly what PolderCon is about!

Return from Crisis II

Apart from the paper, I also brought home some wargaming terrain: I had been looking out for a game mat that I could use for both Frostgrave and Sci Fi (of course I had originally started out for two). I ended up buying a 4'x4' mat from Kraken. I was swayed by the guy from Kraken showing a WH 40K battle report video which used this mat and it looked dead on.

Last year I bought quite a lot of styrofoam stuff to build large stone buildings for Frostgrave. But as I've got two left hands, I have never actually dared building anything without adult supervision. So this year I decided to just buy a bunch of ready made ruins which I can quickly assemble and actually use.

Finally, I also got some Footsore miniatures to round off my Anglo-Saxon army for Hastings. That's part of the annual project from the Dutch Miniature Wargames facebook group, this year themed for the high and late Middle Ages. More about that later.

Ooh! And the guinea pigs!

More Monks

Well... they are not actually new. I think I painted them about 25 years ago, for a big crusade game where I was the pope and needed some emissaries and bodyguards.

They came out of a box a few months ago as I was rummaging for something else. No clue what miniature company I got them from.

But now they can form a gang for Frostgrave, together with my other monks. The good thing about it is that I don't need to paint any new figures, so it doesn't interfere with the AWI project.

I bought the Frostgrave handbook in epub format so I could look at what I would need. This either calls for a thaumaturg wizard, or maybe a sigilist, as I've got the monks for that as well.

Should be up and running soon. Perhaps only two weeks till my first game.

A Fraction Too Much Glossy Diversity?

 I don't often disagree with Keith Flint, but this time he's wide off the mark. Have a look at his post on the future of the wargame glossies.

Keith argues that the 3 glossies are now all too diverse.

It's time to get back to basics. Every wargamer knows in his heart that playing battles with model soldiers has just three periods - ancients, horse and musket, and modern. [...] Every issue of a wargames magazine should have at least one decent article dedicated to each one of these periods.

But it seems to me the three glossies are not saturating the market, or otherwise they would be specialising (either on periods or modelling/painting etc). Now what might change the dynamic is when there would be a new, specialised glossy. It might not be as big as the other three, but it would cater to a more clearly defined demographic, with potentially similar profitability.

The Mechanics of Violence

Interesting outcome. New research links aggression after video games to the mechanisms rather than violent content. So it´s the designers fault?

Could this also be true for analogue games? Are wargamers happier after a bout of crisp Black Powder and aggravated after a spell of Barkerese?

Do people feel less aggressive after playing an 'elegant' Knizia design and driven to rage by the disorganised, misspelled and obtuse collection of half sentences that the publisher of Luna Llena calls the rulebook?

I wouldn't be surprised.

Why bother about Games Workshop? Because it matters!

Every time somebody mentions Games Workshop anywhere, it is likely to spark a lively discussion. This article is not going to end those discussions. I'm just trying to figure out what it is that is driving those discussions. What do wargamers expect of GW, and what bothers them so much?

A nice example of some GW-love to be found on the net

First of all, everyone agrees about what makes GW special: high quality miniatures (let’s see failcast as an short term aberration), well developed and engaging mythos and mostly innovative games. Although this applies more to the ‘specialist games’ than to Warhammer.

Second, I don’t think it’s about prices. What is acceptable is an individual consideration. I feel awkward at spending more than 3 pounds on a 28mm miniature, while others will gladly smack down a tenner for a superior sculpt. So almost all GW stuff I own I got second hand or remaindered. I was tempted but didn’t even buy the LOTR Nazghul set at half price. Many people have no such inhibitions. But generally people will not get worked up over this much, especially now there are reasonable alternatives.

Where GW lost the plot is in the peripheral shenanigans: gamesdays, White Dwarf, intellectual property, its treatment of its own shops and independent traders and most of all the players. In the last five years we've seen GW's heavy handed approach towards fansites that where keeping alive the interesting in older games, like BloodBowl. And the policy that favoured the online store over independent brick and mortar shops. Then the end of the specialist games. Or the new model for the games days, which was less show, more shop. And now the demise of the monthly White Dwarf in favour of a weekly plus a monthly glossy. In all, it looks like GW is sacrificing its community for the quick buck. 

The point is why non-GW wargamers bother about that at all? I mean, apart from the enjoyment of sticking  it to 'the Man'. My guess is that it is the notion that Warhammer is the portal for young kids to start wargaming. We want more opponents to play against, and somehow expect GW to deliver generation upon generation of fresh blood. 

Of course, Non-GW players realise that the things they value in a lively hobby are not always the same as those of a stock marketed company. GW is in the money making business and has no interest whatsoever in providing clientele to its competition. Not for nothing does it expressly ignore other forms of wargaming by declaring itself The Hobby. No wonder wargamers feel irked by that, but GW have no obligation to anyone other than their shareholders.

An relevant question is whether GW actually serves as the gateway to wargaming. As someone who delved directly into historical wargaming, I have no personal experience, but a comment on one of the Masterminis GW blogs made a big impression on me. A former GW European mainland employee remarked that after the first year about 40% of GW 'kids' quit wargaming altogether, 30% stay in The Hobby and the other 30% move on to clubs or play in their own circle. Which kind of proves the point that we have a real stake in GW's success.

So, with this in mind, many wargamers are torn on the issue of whether they’d like to see The Evil Empire fall or fear the disappearance of those young lads from wargaming forever and see the hobby die out. In fact, knowing those 40% of kids disappearing after GW has ransacked their (parents') wallets breaks our hearts. And we have a sense that if GW pisses of more people, they will not turn to other games and manufacturers, but disappear from wargaming for ever.

So wargamers have good reasons to worry about GW's recent attempts to antagonise their community. The sense of powerlessness only makes it worse.  

New Year’s Resolutions

So much to do, so little time. Which means making choices and focus! Which results in the following resolutions:

1. I’m going to write the book. Everything else is secondary/tertiary etc to that

2. I won’t buy any new games, but play what I’ve got. I’ve registered all my games on boardgamegeek today and found that I have about 240, of which I have played only 120 at least once. I will raise that percentage by playing at least 12 of those this year (one each month seems doable) and shedding 24. Not buying new games will be tough, though.

3. I won’t buy new figures. I might buy some more vehicles for Chain of Command. And maybe some buildings. I will shed some 5% of my lead pile.

4. I won’t buy new books except about Napoleonic warfare. Second hand books under 10 euro/pound on other topics, maybe. I will shed some 5% of my books. Although I have no idea yet of how many I actually have.

5. I will blog once a week. But it's not going to be big thoughts, and not written well.

6. Just to remind myself: I won’t start any new projects. All non-book projects are on hold.

Are wargamers driving 3D printing innovation?

Interestingly, there was a Dutch report out recently suggesting that 54% of Dutch people having order 3D prints, had ordered toys of which it was remarked that there is a high share of figurines among them. That would suggest wargamers are a driving force behind the industry.

Two sample monsters at Shapeways stand for Dutch Design Week

Now while I know a few people who have ordered bit from Dutch 3D printing company Shapeways, I'm not quite convinced that this would be enough to drive an industry. Of course direct sales to consumers is still a small industry (some stuff I've seen suggests that industrial or artisanal prototyping is a major source of 3D prints) and the biggest category is art (75% of people have ordered art works). This means that the process is still so expensive that people will only use it for high added value products. Now some toys may be in that area, but wargaming miniatures probably not, especially as the quality of 3D printing is not up to the standard of metal and plastics yet.

There's an interesting post by Andrew Rae of Khorosho Productions about digital design of miniatures. Andrew also uses digital printing for replacement parts. He explains why digital printing is still an art.

Samples from two different printers, taken from Andrew's blog

So what's the future for 3D printing and wargames? My guess:

In the coming few years we will go from the stage where it is only used by a few designers to one where we will see the first commercial releases, with a wide variety of quality. Some new entries (3D print only) will provide low quality miniatures and some established companies will use it for promotional purposes, riding the hype.

My reasoning behind this is that for new entries there is no cost of switching technique and process from sculpting, molding and casting to direct digital, which is holding back the many small manufacturers that have invested heavily in acquiring those skills. Also, the new entries will be amateurs not worrying too much about profitability. And I mean that as even less than many part time manufacturers presently.

Another cool monster from Shapeways

In a following phase, starting within the next decade, some of the low quality producers will improve their technique and find viable business models. I won't be surprised if this leads to one or two of them cornering a large part of the market and becoming major players later. Some established companies will switch (in stages or in one big step) to 3D print.

It will take two decades, I think, for 3D printing to overtake the present forms of production. This will have to do as much with current designers and companies dying out and wear on molds as with companies switching. It will not disappear completely. But once you need to replace a mold, it might be cheaper at some point to just scan the master miniatures.

A wind driven contraption

Of course there will also grow a community of people making copies of models by other companies. These will be lower quality but cheaper. Piracy will be an interesting development, especially if it is hard to monitor. In that case it might actually drive down prices. That development will be very much driven by the moment where 3D scanning/copying will become mainstream.

But in the meantime, will there be designers making money by giving workshops on 3D design and printing? Will there really be a move to companies just providing designs to be printed at home? That would expand the market even more than the internet has done, because shipping costs will disappear. On the other hand, how do you prevent piracy by individuals or local shops? It also depends on the time it will take 3D printing to really compete on cost with mass plastics production.

On the other hand, with the expansion of DTP and lowering of print costs you had a similar situation for boardgames in the 1990s. This has made it much easier to self publish. That is probably the reason that the boardgame industry has so many small, marginal self publishers hoping that one day they make it big. That may also happen in miniatures, although digital designing requires a level of practice and experience comparable to sculpting.

Crisis Loot

Okay, so I brought some stuff back with me, despite all the talking.

Some books for my Waterloo project. Although I have more than enough books on the Brits already. But on the Fields of Glory offers a battlefield guide and A Commanding Presence focusses on logistics. I'm a sucker for logistics.

Bought at very reasonable prices at David Lanchester

Three Ospreys about the 100 Years War. A project for 2027... or 2028. Teenage dreams since reading the Thea Beckman Geef Me De Ruimte trilogy.

Gained at the bring & buy

You must be worrying whether I bought anything wargames related at all and I can set your mind at ease here. I bought the hard copy of Chain of Command plus some dice, counters and the jump off points. Yes, I have the pdf version, but I like giving these guys money. They won best participation game award at the show and well deserved for the Hardest Working Men In Showbiz.

To the right is the Crisis complimentary miniature in the package (will fit in somewhere in my slavery & maroons project) and a bunch of Japanese 16th century civilians. They will fit well with any stuff I might ever do on samurai.

Purchases from Too Fat Lardies and Dave Thomas

I also added some 1/72 Stuarts, M3 halftracks and a Jeep to my American WWII forces. Too bad that I didn't like the SHQ 20mm Americans and almost nobody else makes them. Given the flood of Germans, Soviets and British I find this lack of love for the Americans in 20mm and 28mm (excepting the US paras of course) surprising.

Very spirited discussion around amateurism and professionalism in the wargaming hobby on the Dutch Miniature Wargaming facebook page (not just due to my post here). My mind is brewing with ideas. Damn! I have no time for that!


ps more beautiful pictures of Crisis at Little Lions and Modus Reg Magni Momenti

A Wasted Crisis?

So yesterday I had a wasted Crisis, but in the positive sense of the word: three Leffe Blond got me quite happy in the late afternoon. But it was mostly talking to some people I had been looking forward to meet.

Leo explaining the Samurai game to Bert and Jan-Willem

First of all, I had great time in the car with Dick, Michel and Hans, discussing games and possible purchases. Dick, thanks for the lift! At the TFL stand I finally met Sidney Roundwood, who was very generous in more than one way. Can´t wait to get to the UK once more. There's a not so flattering pic of us on the Pijlie's blog. That post is a nice reflection on Crisis as well.

At the well attended meeting with members of the Dutch Miniature Wargames facebook group, I spoke to Julius, who will be off to Turkey for four years. And Fred, who's just moved to Amersfoort. I finally  handed René the copy of Okko I promised him a year ago. It was good to see Leo, Arvid, Jan-Willem, Bert and Joop having so much fun at the Samurai participation game at the Karawansaray stand.

Arvid on the right, also in explanatory mode.
Joop on the left composing a Haiku

Gerrit told me about the differences between paper, wood and resin buildings. Duncan had noticed my purchase of Haïtian revolutionaries and maroons and was demanding a follow up article. Jasper divulged that the book on the Duke of Alva that I'm looking forward will be presented in Madrid in three weeks to to one of his offspring. The most awesome news I got was that Neil had taken two young kids into his care. A very brave and very admirable thing to do!

I spent much of the afternoon getting to know Mats and Jos in the bar. Discussion ranged from maroons to 17th century flags to the Hoeken & Kabeljauwen to public relations and the raising of somebody else's kids. We seemed to agree on the 'state of the hobby' which is characterised by many willing to create valuable things for nothing and many willing to pay too much for very little. Think of the brilliant stuff put online for (almost) free and the prices people are willing to pay for GW stuff.

That is not a market in which many people can make a living. For most of the miniature manufacturers, rules designers and small publishers it is more a work of love in their spare time rather than a good living. The hourly 'wages' are only acceptable because it is something they love doing and the recognition they get from buyers and players. That also means that their web shops are occasionally badly done, that they have no presence on social media, that you can only pay cash at their stands. All of that costs them customers.

Some small shops will keep coming and going. Occasionally one will rise above the amateurism and take a significant slice of the pie, like Fantasy Flight and Z-Man in boardgames or Battlefront in miniatures. But Mats was right when he raised questions on the long term future of wargaming if miniature manufacturers, writers and publishers fail to link up to the experiences of new generations of gamers.  It's not lethal to the hobby I guess, but the Golden Age we seem to experience right now, might be one that doesn't last forever.

A better look at the beautiful table

This blog is characteristically short of images. I just didn't take many as I spent more time talking that walking aroudn. You can see all the pretty stuff at the blogs of Little Lions and Paint In.

Never Waste A Good Crisis!

It's been a few years since I've been to Crisis in Antwerp, or any wargames convention, but I am looking forward to this one.

I look forward to meeting people. I don't see my club members in Delft too often lately, so I need to catch up. I will also look forward to play in Peter & Petra's new demo game, or at least have a look.

But Sidney Roundwood will be there, and I look forward to meeting him in person, as well as Stefan of Monty's Caravan.

There will also be a meetup of the Dutch Miniature Wargaming facebook page, so in case you hadn't heared about it, come and have a chat at 13.30 hours at the Karawansary booth.

Anyone not listed above who follows this blog or wants to shake hands for the heck of it, gimme a shout in the comments.

Puppet Wars minis painted and demoed by the guys
next to the Wyrd Miniatures booth at Spiel

Oh yes... games...

I was hoping to score some 20mm US WWII minis, but that seems not so much of an option. I also hope to pick up some Darkest Africa stuff from Foundry for my maroon project. Maybe some books on the Napoleonic wars, eg Stephen Summerfield's books on the Prussians.What about some steam punk minis? Or a reasonably priced copy of Puppet Wars?

Of course I could let myself be persuaded into joining whatever new project boils up among my fellow Murphy's Heroes.  You can see where this is going...

Spiel Essen 2013 part I

Yes! This was a good year to be at Spiel in Essen. Even if there wasn't a great game to swoon about, and even if we had a last minute cancelation (with Douwe as a great substitution) and others were experiencing distractions form real world troubles.

Well, if you say so...

The new layout in the three halls and galleria was an improvement. It felt more spacious even though there were more people than in previous years (according to the Spiel website).

I must say I was also pleasantly surprised this year with effort made by most demo people. The Poles have made a great effort over the past years, but there were more examples of passionate people trying to win you over. For example the guy at the La Mame booth who really knew how to sell Coup to me. Rare to see such enthusiasm. Small designers tend to take all of that burden upon themselves, but demo people can be worth gold, if only to relieve the pressure.

So, what about the games? I´ll start my Essen report with impressions of the games I didn´t get to play. Next will follow my experiences of the games we did play. The Polish games will be in a third and last post.

Some neat balancing mechanisms in the deck management of Kampen om Norge were explained to me by one of the designers, who hung around the Spielbär stand. The Germans have to win 6 victory positions before their deck runs out, while the Norwegians can reshuffle if they want. The Anglo/French also have a limited deck.

It is only because I can’t be fooled into buying another 2 player wargame that I didn’t buy it, but this game genuinely seemed to tackle the most difficult campaign to wargame: Norway 1940. It combines sea, air and ground troops, in a very big area. It is probably hideously expensive to order it from Norway. So it will probably never gain a wider audience. I think that’s a shame.

Origin from Matagot is a civ game, where the shape (length, colour and thickness) of your figures determines their characteristics as you expand over the world. Didn’t hook me though.

Concept from Repos is in the line of guessing games such as Pictionary, but here you have a board of images that helps you to describe your subject. There are hardly any rules in the box and very little stuff. It’s just that I am fascinated by communication between different cultures and the problems of translating abstract concepts, so I bought it anyway.

My friends tried Uwe Rosenberg's new game Caverna, and it is mostly an easier, fantasy version of Agricola. Resources are not so tight.

Canalis from AEG continues the Tempest series. It is a tactical tile laying game.

Northwest Passage from Matagot looked interesting, with the retreat and advance of frozen ice driving the players on... or back. It’s tile laying and action taking. I would have liked to try this.

Russian Railroads lacks armoured trains to make it interesting. But then again, I don’t like train games. If you want armoured trains: buy Corto!

The guy at the Asyncron stand did a great job explaining l'Aeropostale to me. You run one of the first airline companies to encompass the world in your network of postal and passenger services. Nice theme & artwork, but would have liked to try it. That might have clinched a buy.

Hard to figure out why Madeira was making such an impact. It looked like the next ‘trade to impress the prince’ game. We couldn't fit into a table to try it. Probably for the better.

I only had a quick look at Ace Detective by Richard Launius. The investigation issue is dealt with by you putting the most clues on the suspect with the most clues at the end of the game, a mechanism we also saw in Android. The story-telling aspect is just the optional addition of players rewarding each other for story telling and this is also a well known mechanism. But both mechanisms have their weaknesses and didn’t fire me up to come back and find out more.

Had Suburban Dispute explained to me, and the background story is interesting enough, but I just couldn’t see it being fun for the full length of the game (2-3 hours)

Seven Swords (based on the classic Kurosawa movie Seven Samurai) by Xenos looks good and sounds good. The mechanics are interesting and seem to create a nice dynamic and tactical options. However, I just fear that the rulebook will be as badly written as Luna Llena and others from this company. Guys, get your ffing act together! You have interesting themes in the Ameritrash genre, but if you can’t write a decent rulebook I just can’t bring myself to recommend you to others. Bloody shame!

Followers: 39 Reasons To Be A Happy Blogger #3

Well, since I've started to celebrate my followers, I've picked up a new one every week, so let's keep going!Newly enlisted #39 is Peter, who blogs at Comes Britanniae and Oldhammer Fantasy Battle  (yes, that's an interest in Arthurian warfare, but also fantasy and Napoleonics).Welcome Peter, hope we can inspire you on reentry from your hiatus.

and continue the countdown to my most loyal followers:

#24 Jim Duncan, wargamer. Blogs about Ancients, SciFi, WWII, with an special interest in Too Fat Lardies rules.

#23 Michael Peterson, aka the Mad Padre, with a great interest in Platoon Forward (a campaign system for WWII skirmish games), which I awarded one of my five Liebster Awards.

#22 Barks, an Australian blogger with an interest in colonial, ancients and fantasy warfare. Plus some Ameritrash boardgaming

#21 Sidney Roundwood. Roundwood´s World is a nice combination of eye candy (WWI French Verdun project) and great insights into participation games.

#20 Aaron, (taken from his blog roll) is an avid miniature wargamers with a wide interest.

#19 Christopher, aka Axebreaker. Blogs at Bunker Hill about ACW, Dark Ages and 18th century wargaming (and more). Nice brushwork as well..

#18 Sapper Joe, blogs at  ...Wargaming Toys. With some interesting insights into wars of decolonisation, modern and pulp miniatures and cheap kindle books(!).

#17 MiniMike, who shares his Ministories but especially the eye candy.