Wargames 2.0 - Ex Illis and what to make of it...

An interesting example of what could be termed "wargaming 2.0" can be seen in the new demo video from Ex Illis: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJ9oztrkSBs).

It seems they have tried to integrate computers in figure wargming or maybe it is the other way around and they wish to integrate figures in computer wargames. 

After watching the demo and reading a bit more on the game I have reached the following conclusions: I applaud their effort of integrating computers (iphones etc) in our wargames, and I can see a lot of advantages gained from this (should eliminate rule lawyers and minimize the amount of forgotten special rules). I also like the natural way in which rankings and the like is integrated in the game. It might even be the "natural" development of wargaming - to integrate that which is already integrated in everything else.

But I also know that it is not for me, at least not yet. As the following quote from QXNINE on TGN puts it:

"My life is filled with computers corrupting all aspects of it, I don’t want a computer ruining my hobby as well." And I agree - wargaming is (still) my sanctuary from the modern world (of computers and other screens that I use naturally everywhere else), it is a special time where hobby and social comraderie meets each other and combines to something greater than each part. I wouldnt like being at a party where every move was analysed on a computer that then decided whom should interact with whom.

Anyways, I think Ex-Illis is probably the future but hopefully the next generations of that future will be more to my liking.

Best regards,

Kasper

German Warband - Steve Barber Miniatures - 10mm

Another painted unit - this time the models are "German Warband" by Steve Barber. And they are some of the best 10mm models I have ever seen - realistic and with great detail. Very nice minis, there might even be too much detail for my clumsy fingers :-).
They are painted with green/white as the main colours, as is the case for all my "warbandish" units.

I painted these last year, but to celebrate the photostudio working as intended I have decided to go through all my units and re-photograph them - hopefully this will give much better photoes as well as a more uniform presentation of them.

Very nice minis indeed - I just wish I had fixed that standard before snapping the photoes... :-).

Best regards,
Kasper

Almost there....WIP

 

A quick photo of my WIP: a unit of lowly peasants consisting of a unit of Saxon Levy (Magister Militum Minitatures) with a few viking commanders (the rabblerousers) which are a pleasure to paint and in the background the last two generic terrain holders. These are used to put forrests or villages in on the battlefield and when/if troops enter them they can be removed leaving these two to show the built up area.

Best regards,

Kasper

Medieval Skirmishers - Empire Handgunners from Games Workshop

Hello!

New minis hot of the painting table. This time it is a unit of medieval skirmishers consisting of a handful of the fabulous Handgunners from Games Workshop.

The small scenarios on each base was made at least six years ago, before Warmaster Ancients was published and as such feature a strong "fantasy" theme, but I really dont mind a bit of fun in my army so I chose to paint them as they are instead of redoing the bases.  

 

The heroic leader, on top of the rock, is the first 10mm conversion I did which was necessitated by his right leg breaking of. I made a small wooden leg for him (the tip of a toothpick) making him a suitable grizzly leader of this squad of jaegers.

 

The unit on the left has encountered a giant rat which is a small 28mm rat from my Skaven days, which translates well to a terrifying monster rat. The monstrous mushroom in the back was given to me be a friendly American ten or fifteen years ago when I spent far too much time on the old Direwolf list devoted to Warhammer - back when the internet was a vastly different place :-).

 

The other group has encountered a vicious snake, causing them to pause in their advance while contemplating how to proceed. The rat is the tip of an old plastic Skaven tail, given a black maw, teeth and eyes. And yes the tail is also from my Skaven days (I have a collection of Skavens in the basement that terrifies me in its pure unfathomable size and state - I will have to let them resurface soon to evaluate what to do with them...).

Anyways, I hope you all like the brave jaegers which were a pleasure to paint - the quality of the Games Workshop Warmaster minis are/were superb.

Best wishes,

Kasper. 

Psycho-Cyborg-Killer-Elephant!

Hi! 

Wanted to share my son's newest creation, which we have named "The Psycho-Cyborg-Killer-Elephant!" Here it is, presented by the mastermind himself (5 years old btw):

 

He has a large box of stuff he finds and salvage from just about anywhere and once in a while we glue some of the most interesting stuff together (I do the hot gluing while he dictates what goes where) while we converse about what bits do what (most seems to be rockets, missiles etc.).

It seems from his comments that this elephant is steered by the three soldiers on top, is armed with various machineguns, missiles and "electric"-rockets while the sides are armoured.

I wonder where he gets it from - but he does make me proud, and I really enjoy those sessions with him .-)

Best Regards,

Kasper & Son

Gothic Infantry from Magister Militum

Another newly painted unit and this time one that I am proud of :-). 

These spearwielding men are Magister Militum Miniatures' "Gothic Infantry" with a smattering of different trooptypes to give some variation (one or two visiting vikings included in the unit).

 

I have become pleasantly surprised by the quality of Magister Militum minis - these are well sculpted, free of any errors and take the paint surprisingly well. I do absolutely not get why some companies have so few pictures on their webpage - I do not like to buy minis I cannot see in detail and have often chosen not to buy from Pendraken  for instance as they have the fewest pictures.

Anyways, the unit was a pleasure to paint and look their part on the battlefield.
What is their part, I hear you asking? Well this will be another of those generic warband type infantry units that I am trying to paint as many as possible of.
At the moment I see the cheap warband units as a neccesity in any army and as such I need a vast number of units to use as warbands.

 

I need to figure something out for their standard but have left it as is, having no ideas...

Anyways, its good to be done with those Amazons and back to the real units - best regards,

Kasper

Amazon Spearthrowers (?) from Pendraken

Well, the last of the Amazons. And not the unit I am proudest of in my collection. 

As with the rest of the amazonian forces they were bought on ebay and arrived painted with some heavy glossy paint type and I admit it I was too lazy to remove it properly. 

So these have been repainted on top of the old paintjob and it shows. While the other units turned out alright these are not impressive. 

 

The unit seems to be a mixture of Pendraken Amazon Spearbearers and some unit type that I cannot identify. They seem to be amazonian pilumthrowers or something similar.

 

Anyways, the models are nice and well detailed, and I might buy them again provided they were unpainted, but those are the last painted minis I buy on Ebay.

On a non-related note, I am very pleased with the photostudio setup - it works really well and provides a nice background for the models while at the same time it cuts down on the time needed for finishing the photos.

Best regards,

Kasper

Siege Ram from Irregular Miniatures

Another siege piece from Irregular Miniatures - this time their 6mm Siege Ram priced at about 50p.
A nice little piece without any miscasts (the only mistake was my own in not filing the ramshead sharper but I didnt notice its bent head before taking these photos - maybe its been in use several tiems before?).

 

 

All in all a nice little mini - wonder if we will ever get to fight a siege? Anyways, best regards

Kasper

Debating 6mm and 10mm miniatures...

Hi!
I would very much like a new army and especially a Roman one as that is a period for which I have no armies and I think I would enjoy painting the massed ranks of legionaries.
Unfortunately that means an investment of approximately 40-70 pounds which is a bit steep.
I have therefore been contemplating buying the army in 6mm, a scale in which I have no experience. It seems practical and very cheap. So I ordered a small sample pack from Baccus Miniatures to get some roman 6mm and see if it was worth it.

The above shows the content - three stands of infantry, two command, three horse stands and an artillery piece.
While the price is attractive and the detail surprisingly fine - I do believe they are just too small for my eyes and hands. The minute minis are just prone to vanishing or being dropped.
So I guess I will have to pay for the increased cost of 10mm miniatures - while I may paint a few command stands from the Baccus Sample Pack.
For reference I included two Kallistra models (12mm), a Steve Barber German archer and a Gothic Infantry model from Magister Militum to show the difference in scale between 10mm and 6mm for those interested.

Best regards,
Kasper

Siege Tower from Irregular Miniatures

Howdy!

Well I had a few spare moments last friday so decided to take a few snapshots of some recently completed minis. The first is a Siege Tower in 6mm from Irregular Miniatures priced at around 1£.

It is a pretty thing but with very few details other than the included ram (but what details could have been sculpted I dont know :-)) and in the back there are a few ladders and the like.

It paints up incredible fast and easy - I tried to use a leathery brown for the hides and pure metal for the head to make it stand out a bit.

Few miscasted details on this one by the way  (as was not the case for the Trebuchet) only one which is one the side visible on  the photoes below while the rams head is marred by a nasty line from the casting I guess.

I must say I'm happy with the models from Irregular Miniatures - especially considering their price. As they are for sieges - which rarely happen - I like the fact that for 5£ you can buy all the siege equipment you need.

  

This also marks the first really satisfying useof the Photo-studio. I bought a new lamp which seems perfect for both painting and apparently photographing. It is the Ikea lamp called Global - both cheap (~10£) and comes with a bulb that spreads the light evenly, is very white and bright. I painted a bit under it last evening and it was a pleasure - the best I have ever tried. I fully recommend it.

Interview with Rick Priestley

Hi!

Just wanted to point warmaster and warhammer enthusiasts towards a new interview at Battlegames.com in which Rick Priestley (author superb) and John Stallard are interviewed.

Very interesting hearing about the early history of games Workshop and Citadel, how Warhammer evolved and quite a few tidbits concerning Warmaster.

Well worth the read, and can be found here: http://www.battlegames.co.uk/documents/BG_HH-RP-JS-interview_unabridged.pdf

A small extract:

Rick Pristeley: People tend to associate me with Warhammer. But once we had started designing Warhammer, we had come up with the basic mechanics, and imagine, there I was, someone whose hobby is
designing wargames, because I have done loads of different wargames over the years, and even
used to just to design them as a game, board games too and everything; but then we had created
Warhammer, and we were all hooked into it. Well, that was 25 or more years ago. So, as a games
designer, it was a little frustrating! The opportunities to do new things were rather limited. And the
opportunities to design new games in Games Workshop are very few and far between. So I sort of
got a bit frustrated. So I started to do things in my own time and the Warmaster game system was
something that I had come up with as a concept and my personal, internal rule, whilst writing it,
was that nothing must come from Warhammer in terms of the mechanics and I wrote it on that
basis. Every mechanism had to be new and original. Then, I found that half the mechanisms
weren’t playable! I already had a few playtesters, and they all came back and said, “Great, but can
you do it like this? Can you do it like that?” So there was much gnashing of teeth and, eventually
said, “Okay, that’s like in Warhammer”. So, some of it is more conservative than my original draft.
HH: I find it very elegant.
RP: Well, “elegant” is the word that people often use, but the funny thing is that when I talk to
people about Warmaster, the one thing they often want to do is add more detail into it. More
representative detail. Especially for Ancients. And I have to tell them that I worked so hard to strip
all that detail out! I wanted to make it simple. I worked so hard to get it down to an abstract, and the
first thing they want to do is start adding all that stuff back in! And the system doesn’t suffer that
very easily, because it is elegant and precise in its own way, in the way it works. If you start to add
modifiers in, and vary the troop types, it can begin to fall apart a bit.
© Copyright Henry Hyde, Rick Priestley and John Stallard 2010