Reviews of miniatures is something that prevalent enough on the internet. Sure, if you aren’t interested in the product they’re invisible, but if you are googling a set of miniatures to see if they are right for you not finding any reviews can be quite frustrating. It’s also a good source of content for my website.

My favorite sculpt.

I purchased these Conquest Miniatures’ Woodland Indians¹ for a club campaign that never happened. I’m not bothered that I’ve never had the chance to use them because when I first saw them advertised on TMP I knew I wanted a chance to paint some.

The miniatures come six to a pack for $15 USD today, although I think I paid $11 USD. Still, that’s $2.50 USD a miniature, about average for miniatures of this quality. The packs are not random, what you see on the website is what you get. Here is a painted example of each miniature from this pack². The miniatures were sculpted by Todd Harris.

The miniatures are cleanly cast with little flash. Casting, as opposed to sculpting, is an under-appreciated art. The only time that most people notice it is when dealing with poorly cast figures. Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference between poor casting and poor sculpting. In this case, the casting does the sculpting justice.

The miniatures show a good level of fine detail on faces coupled with crisp, bold detail over the rest of the miniature. This rewards careful painting as well as providing a sufficient base for a more slap-dash style of army painting. Of particular delight is the finely sculpted musculature. The arms are not ill-defined flesh tubes or fantasy-style muscles-piled-on-muscle. This gives a painter something to shade and highlight while still looking realistic for the subject matter. The muskets are pleasingly slender and pouches sufficiently varied and interesting for a subject matter where every possession was both highly ornate and individualized.

A selection of miniatures from the Woodland Indian and Delaware Indian line.

The poses are full of action and animation. The only pose that a hardcore wargame may complain about is my favorite in the batch. The cradled rifle and casually held tomahawk might look a little out of place in a pitched skirmish, but to my eyes are evocative and full of meaning. Perhaps he is watching a battle from a distance, deciding if it is a good time to enter the fray. Perhaps he is a leader, waiting to give the order to attack. He would wonderfully suit a vignette featuring a foppish European approaching him hoping for a parlay. The tomahawk he carries also includes a pipe, so the pose is of an Indian deciding which end of the tomahawk to offer: the axe of war, or the pipe of peace.

These miniatures are a must have for anyone interested in the period. The sculpting is of such quality that display painters looking for an interesting subject would do well to pick up a few packs and create a diorama or vignette.

I rate these miniatures highly, receiving a 5 out of 5.

1) I don’t really like using the term Indian, but other terms, such as Native Americans and First Nations can be unwieldy. The problem is always applying a generic term to a varied group of peoples.

2) One of the miniatures in the gallery was substituted from Pack B. At the time I ordered these miniatures Pack A was listed out of stock. I really liked the poses in Pack A, so I inquired as to when it would be available. Conquest Miniatures’ owner Eric Roof replied that he was a couple of weeks away from restocking, but had a Pack A available minus a pose. He suggested I could substitute a pose from another pack if I was set on that pack. Since the missing pose wasn’t the one I cared about I gladly made the substitution. Great customer service.

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A blog I enjoy recently celebrated their 1st birthday. Reviewing his previous year, Der Alte Fritz mentions that he averages 170 visitors a day, or 5000 a month. Wee Toy Soldiers, now on permanent hiatus, averaged a respectable 3000+ unique visits a month. The General’s Tent, on the other hand, manages just 772 visits a month. Being deeply vain, I wonder why I don’t get as many visits as these other sites.

I’ve recently made some changes to the site and am thinking about more. On the left, you can see that my sidebar is wider. It bothered me that my search bar over-ran it, plus I wanted to add a poll to it, requiring more space. The original width of my sidebar was determined by trying to squeeze as much of my content area into the right side of the site. Since I originally designed the site I changed my content area from dynamically adjusting to the page width in favour of a constant width. I also fixed some IE alignment issues that have been bugging me.

As you can see from the poll, I am also wondering about my update schedule. Perhaps if I updated more often instead of sticking to a weekly schedule. I’d like to hear people’s feedback, hence the poll. Plus comments are as welcome as ever. Anyway, back to the regularily scheduled post.

My entry in the 2001 Canadian Golden Demon

I won the first painting competition I ever entered. It was a small store competition introduced by Games Workshop to promote new releases. They give you a basic miniature to paint, you bring it back in a week for the painting competition. It was the first of its kind, in Canada at least, and it was for the 6th Edition of Warhammer Fantasy Battle. I won through a combination of eye-catching paintjob and lack of serious competition. I think my miniature was good, but I also realize that not many of the top painters in my area were aware of the competition.

My success at the competition, and a chance to attend my first GW Games Day, lead me to enter a miniature in the Golden Demon painting competition. This is a competition that, if people are going to a Games Day, everyone should compete in. It challenges you to paint to the best of your ability, to improve and stretch to greater heights of painting talent. Just be aware of your chances of winning. I was too confident, with hopes set too high, when I entered and it still makes me a little sad today.

I didn’t advance past the first round. Looking at my entry I can clearly see why. However, it was one of the best miniatures I had painted at the time, one of my first conversions and a miniature I am still proud of today.

The miniature is a converted Space Marine miniature by Games Workshop for their science fiction game, Warhammer 40,000. The miniature represents a standard bearer. The conversion was relatively minor, especially considering what is winning today’s Golden Demons. I chose a Space Marine Captain with force-axe based on its pose. I cut off the axe and drilling out the marine’s hand to accept the standard pole. The standard was created in a graphics program and printed with the incorrect latin motto added by hand. It should read Nemo Me Impune Lacessit, meaning Noone Provokes Me with Impunity and is the motto of the Order of the Thistle and of the Royal Canadian Highland Regiment. I also sculpted a laurel wreath on the marine’s helmet, having read in the Warhammer 40K background that all Space Marine standard bearers must have won the Laurel Wreath for distinction in combat to earn the right to bear a company’s standard. The wreath was sculpted with Miliput. Finally, the banner pole was finished with a finial taken from some Inquisitor bits.

The miniature was painted with Games Workshop paints. The scheme was for my fan-made Chapter, the Black Watch. It was based off a scheme I saw in the 4th Edition Warhammer 40K Codex: Space Marines but could never quite match. You can see it here as the Raptors Chapter. I was basecoating with Camo Green, then glazing with brown to get that olive green colour. I was never really happy with it, and one day I will paint some more Space Marines and give the scheme a new try with my Vallejo paints.

Painted: 2001 with Games Workshop paints.

Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine produced by Games Workshop, converted.

Tyler

Rise of Rome: Republican Rome at War is the first companion for Osprey/Slitherine’s Field of Glory ancients wargame.

Rise of Rome is the first companion for Osprey and Slitherine’s Field of Glory wargame. The companion focuses mainly on army lists, with enough potted history to break up the large number of lists for the various forces covered in the book. Interestingly, there are more enemies of Rome than Roman army lists in the book.

The book claims that it is complete with Army Lists, Historical Overviews and Maps. I wouldn’t call the selection of maps complete by any stretch, most notably a map of the kingdoms the book covers. There are two maps: the Siege of Alesia and the Battle of Trebbia. Neither are explained in the surrounding text or captioned. The Siege of Alesia is mentioned simply as the culmination of Gaius Julius Caesar’s conquest of the Gauls. The Battle of Trebbia is noteworthy because the book says Hannibal’s elephants all died following it.

Let it not be said that the book fails in its goal, which is to provide army lists for use with the Field of Glory wargame. It does this well. I mentioned that it contains more lists of enemies than it does for Rome. This is a very good thing, as the authors focuses more on a time frame and geography rather than a single nation. If you want to fight a battle around the Mediterranean in the time of Republican Rome you will find an army list to help you out. The lists are clear by Field of Glory standards and are organized by the game line’s signature sidebar.

Like the main rulebook, the companion features many pictures of painted miniatures as well as reprinted plates from past Osprey titles in full colour throughout. There is also an index which performs a similar function to the table of contents in the front, due to each army taking up only 3-6 pages. However, the maps and illustrations are included in the index, if they were ever needed for reference.

The lack of actual historical information is the book’s main failing, though completely excusable and expected. Undoubtedly there are many references available for gamers looking for more information. To pad the book with more detail would have diluted its purpose. However, a better direction may have been to include more details about the troops and less condensed histories. Realistically, for the intents and purposes of fielding a Pontic army, I care more about what a Thureophoroi looked and fought like – the better to find suitable miniatures – than I do about the history of the Pontic people. Personally, I find it much easier to find histories than descriptions of soldiers and equipment.

Weighed objectively, this is a minor quibble over a book which fulfils its stated purpose with style. It is very easy to fill the book with descriptions of soldiers, their equipment, tactics, histories, battles until the point where the book is so bloated it no longer provides an easy reference and must be split into separate volumes each costing $22.95 CAN MSRP. I would rather have all the lists I need for a specific period in a single book rather than a library of books which each merely amount to a page or two of tables.

I say the book is well worth purchasing for all Field of Glory players interested in the period. It gives comprehensive lists for Rome, its allies and enemies.

I am not an expert in this period, but based on the Themed Tournaments appendix, the following lists are missing from the book: Thracian, Syracusan, Galatian, Hellenistic Greek, Ancient British and Early German. I imagine that this is because they are better covered in other books, notably Immortal Fire: The Ancient Greeks at War and Legions Triumphant: Imperial Rome at War. The Field of Glory website lists which armies each book covers.

Next week, more Warhammer Orcs.

Tyler

Regular visitors may have noticed that my site hasn’t been the most stable thing on the net in the past week. It seems like we were the victim of an exploit attack that brought down the site and effected the server hosting it. Things appear to be cleared up now, and I hope never to have the site down like that again. I took the hint, though, and will be more responsible backing up the database that is the core of the site.

Recently I had to revamp my workspace. I’ve mentioned before that I live in a small apartment. I’ve been lucky in having a room to myself for my hobby. Unfortunately, space has become even more of a premium and my office has been shrunk from three desks to one. We’re a tech-savvy household and run three computers, my wife’s notebook, my old desktop and my new XPS notebook. I need the desk for computers, giving me no real home for painting miniatures.

I’d already moved all my tools into a drawer on wheels. The six shallow drawers holds everything from modeling tools, to paints, tape, rulers, containers of flock, etc, etc. At the time, the idea was that I would roll the unit over to my wife’s desk where my cutting mat is located, unpack just what I need, paint, then pack up and roll everything away. Those who have had a transient painting station know that it can really cut down on the desire to paint. The problem is that, although fairly quick, setup and tear-down can form a physical and psychological bearer to starting work. Since I am already an infrequent painter, this put my output to zero.

The desk, in computer configuration. Note the notebook connected via KVM, currently in extended desktop mode, normally closed with the larger monitor as the single display. Hit the KVM switch and in a few seconds I am using the desktop with the same keyboard, video and mouse.

It was my wife who came up with a solution to my problem. First step, purchase a larger monitor. It’s size will allow it to sit at the very back of my desk yet still be legible at high resolutions. Then, all I would need to do is push my keyboard and mouse to the back whenever I wanted to paint. This was great, if nothing else, I was getting a very nice monitor. However, the addition of a Games Workshop painting station. Expensive – if you have the tools to make one yourself you are better off doing so – but very useful.

With the painting station the problem of pulling out my works in progress is much easier. I don’t have to hunt down my palette, paper towel, brush-washing water, specific paint colours, mister, thinning medium, and miniatures to get to work. I just pick up the whole thing in one go and plunk it on the table. This lets me keep the painting station “setup” even when it’s hiding in the closet on top of my set of drawers.

By pushing back the keyboard and mouse I have room to slide a GW painting station onto the desk. The monitor is perfectly positioned for watching DVDs while I paint. The only problem is I need something to cover the monitor when I prime. I brush-prime, which gets a little messy when I’m rushing.

Another advantage of the painting station is that I can bring it into the living room. While I am sure that many hobbyists retire to their offices as a break from their spouse, I know that there are many that don’t like to sequester themselves from the family. Having my wife keeping me company while I paint has lead to some very productive painting stations. I don’t feel as if I am ignoring her as I do within the other room, and the TV doesn’t distract me as much, since I can simply look up from my work if I have to see a specific scene.

I would heartily endorse some sort of work-tray like the GW paint station for anyone. In the future, when I am blessed with more space for my hobby, I will probably still use it to hold whatever I am working on. It is roomy enough for painting, while allowing me to clear off a work-station quickly and easily for larger projects. The same with the drawers. If I had the space I would purchase a few more for holding terrain and armies, perhaps tucked up under the gaming table. The deepest drawers are a bit over three inches deep, meaning most hills, modular terrain boards, fences, 10mm terrain and whatnot would fit within.

I have to say that, despite the loss of two tables, I am very happy with the workspace I have now. I am making better use of space, am more organized, and know that I’ll get more out of a bigger area when I get it. While there is room for having an excess of room, sometimes learning to live in lean locations builds wargamer character.

Tyler

Field of Glory Cover. By Osprey Publishing. Cheeky recycling tip #4: Make images from previous articles new by adding cheeky recycling tips.

Now that I’ve had a chance to read my copy of Field of Glory I thought that it might be a good time to share my thoughts on it. This review is not based on playtesting. The closest I’ve come to playing the game is to run a few test combats using playing cards at my desk at work.

Field of Glory is a new game produced by Osprey Publishing and Slitherine Software and written by Richard Bodley Scott, Simon Hall and Terry Shaw. It is intended for Ancient and Medieval Wargaming in 15 to 28mm scale. The book claims it can be used for any scale, though many seem to think 15mm will be the tournament standard.

The game is played using Battle Groups comprised of multiple stands of miniatures. Casualty removal, a small portion of the rules, is done by stand. All stands are of a constant width, 40mm for 10-15mm, 60mm for 25-28mm. Depth depends on the type of base, but is acknowledged as not being very important. The most important rule for basing is that everything follows the same standard, with depths adjustable to accommodate larger miniatures.

The turn is UGO-IGO, with a number of phases where both players are involved. Players have indicated that there is less down-time for inactive players than in other games. Interestingly, there are two distinct combat phases separated by a movement phase. The first, the Impact Phase, is where the effects of the charge are modelled. Numbers are less important, since it only represents the initial contact. After a movement phase where bases can be funnelled into combat, but not new combats initiated, there is a second combat phase. Hear, numbers make a bigger difference, as well as small differences in weaponry.

With two combat phases, shooting inevitably takes a back seat to the melee. This reflects the writer’s opinions on the effects of shooting in ancient warfare. I, personally, tend to agree. If shooting where that effective, than combat would have looked more like Horse and Musket with bow and arrow, rather than what it is currently accepted to be.

Combat is relatively bloodless, dependant more on breaking your opponent’s morale. This, again, is one of those things I feel is self-evident from the descriptions of the battle. Just read how many warriors fought, how many died, and realize that most of the casualties occurred when a unit broke. Yes, men died, and there are casualties in the game, though it isn’t likely that a large unit will simply evaporate through casualties after a few rounds of combat. However, apply force to the right area of an opponent’s line and you may cause their whole army to rout.

Command and control is handled by command bases moving independently about the battlefield. They can be used in a number of different ways, from helping to ensure that a battle group is able to move where it needs to move, reinforcing the morale of wavering sections, or jumping right in and getting their hands dirty in the front line. It is a balance of competing priorities. Commanders fighting in the front line can’t do much to bolster a battle group floundering in another section of the battlefield.

I haven’t had a chance to play yet. I’m sure regular readers of my blog will not be overly surprised by that admission. My conclusions are based on reading other gamer’s battle reports, and from reading the rules carefully a couple of times. There have been rule systems which I felt had really innovative mechanics. For example: The Face of Battle is a WWII skirmish game where each soldiers is given a number of cards based on their abilities. The cards are included in one deck per side, with players drawing a card and taking actions with the soldier revealed simultaneously. There was much I liked about that game, but in the end, I felt I was playing a rule mechanic with a WWII theme.

Field of Glory, while having strong mechanics that I look forward to exploring, seems very focused on creating a playable game of ancients. When I think what I can do with the rules, what scenarios and types of game I’d like to play, I don’t see the rules getting in the way. The rules serve the game, not the other way around.

The rules are definitely more expensive than warrants picking up a copy on a whim. I would, however, definitely recommend them for someone looking for a good first historical wargame as many army sets are being released by various miniature manufacturers in order to cash in on the rules popularity. With an attractive, well written and illustrated set of rules, I can see a new player easily getting into the rule set if they happen to pick it up off the shelf of their local Chapters, one of the stated goals of the writers.

Experienced gamers will more than likely know someone who has a copy and will have little trouble giving the rules a shot using their existing army. I doubt they would regret making the effort.

Tyler

My stripping solution.

I had to put right in the title that the word joy is used ironically. I hate stripping miniatures. It starts off so well: I’ll just quickly strip these miniatures and start priming them tomorrow. It becomes an unending marathon of soaking and scrubbing, scrubbing and soaking. I had noticed a long time ago that Pinesol, well regarded, doesn’t clear paint from the cracks. Neither, I’ve discovered, does isopropyl alcohol or that orange stuff I use to scrub grease and paint off my hands. I have three Ratskins waiting for the last bits of paint to work themselves loose in some Pinesol.

I think I’m going try some of my cat’s alcohol. I have a diabetic cat who takes two needles a day. Every needle, the jar of insulin is sterilized with alcohol. I’m looking at the bottle, and it’s 99%. I don’t think the bottle I’d picked up for hobby use was that strong, which may explain why it wasn’t that useful. Plus it was old. I’m sure some of the alcohol has evaporated over the last year, diluting it further. By the way, if you must explain why you need 99% alcohol, don’t tell them it’s for recreational use. That means something different to a pharmacist at a Meth Watch pharmacy than it does to me or you.

Meanwhile, I’ve started sculpting. I’ve wanted to try it for a while, and have invested in tools and materials. There’s been a tube of greenstuff hanging out in my freezer for a few years now, occasionally brought out for a curse-filled gap-filling session. I don’t have the hang of the stuff, I guess, though I hope to change that. HMG Magazine Issue 9 had an excellent sculpting tutorial by Bill Thornhill. Granted, this was just a more cohesive version of the play by play he gave while sculpting a miniature for a pirate painting competition at www.steve-dean.co.uk.

Like many people who are well practiced in their art, Mr. Thornhill makes it all look so very easy. Easy enough, it seems, that I should finally give it a try. When I read the article I was raring to push some putty. As usual, I put it off, got distracted and forgot about it. Typical. Expected.

A month or so back I’m at a buddy’s apartment during a Magic: The Gathering Booster Draft and I notice some pale gray plastic on a shelf. It seems a friend of his was all keen on Warhammer and he had dutifully picked up a load of Tomb Kings miniatures. He assembled a unit, but then lost enthusiasm for the project. He has no paint, no idea where to start, and nothing happening in his life that’ll refresh his interest. Most of his current time and energy is consumed with Magic. As is mine, actually. Still, there is room in there for some miniatures. They are very small, after all. Concentrating on something other than wicked card combos and new decks would probably be good for us.

My skirmish force is partially complete.

So, now I’m poking at him to get to work on a few miniatures and play some skirmish games with me. I figure, I’ll do him a favour and help him get some use out of the money he spent. Meanwhile, I’m getting all excited and decide its time to finish painting the Orcs from the Warhammer 6th Edition boxed set I’d won so many years back. I remember losing interest in them after a good stretch of painting where I finished 12 models. I think I was getting frustrated by their inability to rank up. I know I am now.

With their wide elbows, it’s a pain to fit everything together. When I was basing them, I’d tried to make sure they’d rank, but I hadn’t taken into account the command group. They were a pain in themselves. The drummer’s drum couldn’t make a strong enough bond, and his arms were limited in their pose. The standard bearer cannot bear the weight of his standard, and falls forward. I had to hot-glue a couple of washes into his base to give him a fighting change. It’s not like I could have posed him much differently, and his arms are also limited.

The plan, however, is to merely paint what I have while my friend gets his act together. I am trying to convince him to prime his assembled miniatures, get a brush and journey to the local GW store for help getting it painted. I think I am getting him excited. After that, we’ll play a few skirmish games until we build up a warband, then play some warband games until we have an army. Which means, until we get far enough into this that more financial investment is required by me, my miniatures will not be ranked, and their inability to do so inconsequential. When it’s time to form warbands I can buy some new miniatures.

It’s funny to think that I’m getting back into Warhammer after all this time. I think it’s because, after playing so much Magic, I’ve decided that the ability to play a game vs. not play can make a lot of issues unimportant. Besides, there are other games out there that I can turn him to. Perhaps he’d like to make a force for Heavy Gear: Blitz!. I’d be able to help by contributing some painted models. I think tomorrow I’ll bring some miniatures in for my desk, to temp him further.

Which brings me back to sculpting. I’m missing a head for one of my orcs. At first, I thought I’d just do without, but then decided that it would be a good time to try my hand at sculpting. They always say start small, like sculpting a head, before working on a miniature from scratch. So far, I’ve put a orc-head shaped blob on the miniature, let it cure and trimmed it so it doesn’t get too bulky when I add more detail. There’ll be pictures on my next update.

Tyler

Warmaster Dwarf Command

Round bases are a must for command figures in my opinion. I love the way they look and plan to use them in all my projects. In Warmaster, round command bases are accepted, to the point where The Battle of Five Armies supplied round bases for the command figures.

Warmaster was not the first game where I discovered round bases. I remember, years before, playing an American Civil War game at Ottawa Miniatures Gamers. Someone else had supplied the figures and I was struck by how the round base set the figure apart from the rank and file troopers the officers were leading.

Not all games can use this style of basing. Most Sci-fi games use round bases already, making it necessary to increase the size of the base to make the commanders stand out. I’ve experimented with this, it definately works much better when there isn’t much melee combat. In my Back of Beyond forces, I gave the officers a slightly larger bases, which isn’t that noticable. Larger, and there may be a game effect where more of the enemy can make it into base contact, or the figure has a hard time hiding behind cover.

Painted: c. 2001 with Vallejo Paints.

Warmaster Dwarf Cannons produced by Games Workshop.

It’s been a while since I updated the gallery. I was enjoying talking about my wargaming thoughts for a while. I plan to continue to do both.

Tyler

Ceaseless Searblades + Flamekin Brawler =
2 power per red mana.

I’ve been reading Der Alte Fritz’ blog and marveling at the amount of wargaming he gets in, and the size of the army. There is certainly something to be said for specialization, though it’s not the road for me. I’m finally starting to get a taste of what it’s like to have a regular game. My Friday Night Magic group is still going strong, with a short break over the holidays, then back to the crazy combo decks which people don’t seem to know how to use, and 30 to the head from my crazy pumping Flamekin.

What I’d really like, what would make my life complete, is a fairly regular wargame group. Preferably one of close friends that rotates to follow my schedules, plays the games I’m interested in, and will occasionally take a break to run a DnD campaign. Whoever is hosting the game will live close to me, have a reasonably clean house, and the whole thing will run without my participation, if my schedule changes, or if I decide I’d prefer spending the evening with my wife.

I wonder if anyone has a group like that. What lucky people. Over the years I’ve tried to convert friends into wargamers, but honestly, none are as enthusiastic as I am, which isn’t saying much since I make up for my enthusiasm by painting slowly. Finding a group isn’t easy. There aren’t many that meet those requirements, and I’m concerned about my ability to get along. At least I know from my Magic group that I can get along with people as long as there’s a solid 2-3 other people I get along with well.

I am partially a member of The Ottawa Miniatures Gamers. I haven’t paid my dues because I haven’t been in over a year. Unfortunately, the club goes Sunday, late morning to early evening. If I ever get a Sunday off, I’m usually much more likely to spend it with my wife than a bunch of gamers. Friday nights have been working so far with my Magic Group, so I imagine that evenings are better than weekends for me.

I’ve recently reconnected with some high school friends I haven’t seen in over nine years. I was hanging out with them during the Superbowl and they started talking about playing Necromunda again. I was trying to steer them away from old GW games and into something historical, but even a regular Necromunda game would be a nice change. I should see if they’d like to try Bloodbowl, seeing as the conversation happened during the Superbowl.

Of course, the more likely result is a bit of early enthusiasm, then the grind into oblivion as they try to inject collecting and painting gangs into their lives. Maybe I should find a game with very small forces, like 3-5 to start, with a Necromunda like campaign system, but perhaps Wild West to allow inexpensive historical figures.

If anyone has any ideas, I’d love to hear them.

Tyler

This Christmas my wife gave me a new board game, Hannibal: Rome vs. Carthage. It is a remake of a popular game I had heard of, but never played. I hadn’t had any board games on my list, so it definitely came as a surprise. Even better, my wife promised to play a game.

Hannibal: Rome vs. Carthage box

So, over the holidays we set up the board and sat down to play. The game is long, but relatively simple in terms of mechanics and gameplay. There was plenty of strategy, but players aren’t overloaded with a hundred options straight out of the gate, a problem my wife and I have with Axis and Allies: Europe.

The game did take longer than advertised, and wore on us, though my wife was a good sport and played to the end. This is common with a new game, and I wonder if only playing a couple of turns, then restarting the game might make for a better first experience. I don’t have regular opponents, so many of my games get played once, and once only.

Overall I’m happy with this game, and hope to convince my wife to play it again.

Tyler

For Christmas my generous brother bought me a Lorwyn Booster Box. I’ve been opened a couple of boosters a night, but still have 14 left. I’m not sure if I should hold 12 back for drafting. My playing circle has been talking about drafting for a long time, but I’m not sure if it’s going to happen. Most likely we won’t do a draft until Morningtide is released in February. Plus, I could buy more if I need them.

Chandra Nalaar = Hot stuff.

Real Magic fans will probably crucify me, but I just don’t get a thrill out of opening a tonne of boosters. I haven’t been to one of my circle’s FNM in a while, but those I’ve mentioned the Booster Box to at work all had a scary hungry look in their eyes. Of course, they open a booster, flip to the rare, and move to the next. I, on the other hand, look at each card in the booster, separating them out into colours and reading the ones I don’t know by heart. Once I reach the Uncommons, I really slow down until I finally reach the Rare. If I were to open a whole Booster Box at once, I’d become overloaded with cards and not enjoy the process as much.

For example, I may not have enjoyed the following booster quite as much: Rare – Chandra Nalaar; Foil – Garruk Wildspeaker. That’s two rares in the same booster, plus one of them is the second most expensive foil in the set. It is tempting me to run a green/red planeswalker deck. Imagine hitting Chandra’s Ultimate, followed by Garruk, then a rush by all my creatures.

The holidays have been tough for making it out to Magic nights, but now that I have more deck protectors, I plan to start creating a few more decks and hitting the 8 player Chaos games with a vengeance.

Wargaming!

I’d like to take a moment to talk about something I don’t mention on my blog very often: Miniature Wargaming. Yes, it’s been a while, but I can feel the yearning to paint some miniatures growing. It’s a feeling I haven’t had in a while, and as we all know, forcing yourself to paint, while necessary at points in everyone’s wargaming life, is no fun at all.

It is here indeed!

One of the main reasons that the itch has returned is the arrival of Battlegames Issue 10. Although Mr. Hyde still hasn’t published my article, it’s still a good read and one guaranteed to get a wargamer’s blood flowing. Specifically of interest is an article by Stuart Asquith about creating a small force, terrain and scenario that can all be stored and played out of a box.

Much like a wargaming version of a board game, the idea is not to commit to a huge workload of hundreds of figures, allowing you to play an unspecified number of scenarios in a chosen period, with all the unhappy compromises for flexibility that requires. Instead, by choosing a scenario with limited and finite forces, much like those featured in the Tabletop Teasers articles which appear in Battlegames, you can experience a new period quickly and cheaply. Savvy gamers can even create multiple scenarios which slowly increase their forces to something of the Old School behemoths we all wish we had.

I really like this idea, and once I finish up my current batch of Heavy Gear Blitz! miniatures I will look into a scenario to put Mr. Asquith’s suggestions into practice. I’m think this will either be 1812 or WWII. I’ve already got a bunch of WWII Canadians painted, with some Germans waiting for a paint job. All I would need is to pick a ruleset and create a scenario. Maybe a trench-raiding game. For 1812, I could find some way to use my already painted 49th Foot regiment and paint up some opposing Americans. Perhaps a fictional American raid across the Niagara by some eager, yet inexperienced Americans. Definitely something to think about.

New House

Hopefully, by the time one of these scenarios are ready to go, I’ll be moved into a house and out of my tiny apartment. Right now I’m not allowed any terrain due to storage restrictions. We’re hoping to put our apartment on the market later this winter, with the hope of buying a house and moving in early spring. It’ll be nice to have more space, though I cannot count on having an embarrassment of storage and play space.

Tyler