Happy New Year 2011

Sheffield Games Day -1- The Somme, 1918

http://megablitzandmore.blogspot.com/2010/12/sheffield-games-day-1-somme-1918.html

WTNW at Warpath Games!

Well it's official. WTNW will be available from WarPath Games to retail outlets for the print version of the book in Feb 2011. You can still get the pdf version of the book on Wargamevault but the print version is full color and very pretty!

http://www.warpathgames.com/wholesale/warpath.php?m=list&mfg=ACG

MWAHAHAHAA!!! Victorian Sci-Fi!

Steam Powered Tanks for Two Hour Wargames!

http://web.mac.com/blackwidowpilot/iWeb/Site/Blog/94817673-9FD3-4950-B75D-D24B88AFAC4A.html

Merry Christmas

To all our members and extended family all our best
wishes for a very Merry Christmas !

DBA 15-19K Imperial Japanese vs Samurai

Splendid little game!

http://mrfarrow2udba1519k.blogspot.com/2010/02/dba-15-19k-imperial-japanese-vs-samurai.html

Lancias By QRF Models Limited

http://www.quickreactionforce.co.uk/

Happy Thanksgiving!

All the best wishes this Thanksgiving

Duncan´s 20mm Colonial Modelling

Welcome to my 20mm (1/72) colonial and late 19th Century painting blog.

I don't know why but I love reanimating and customising 1/72 plastic & metal figures.

Our hobby has seen an explosion of new figures over the past few years with companies such as Hat, Strelets and Waterloo 1815 bringing to the market some very exciting, highly animated and well designed figures; organisations such as Hat and Strelets involving customers more and more it is becoming an even more interesting and enjoyable hobbie.
http://osborneradloff.blogspot.com/

FIREBASE 15mike-mike: TERRAIN: Quick-N-Easy Martian Battle Board

FIREBASE 15mike-mike: TERRAIN: Quick-N-Easy Martian Battle Board: "This is an easy terrain project that you can put together if you don't have a lot of time to lavish on a highly detailed gaming table, or yo..."

Germans Crush The Fon?

After the German main units engaged and 
drove off the Fon they followed up with a 
Landship and Zeppelin attack on all the 
main Fon villages.These villages were 
completely destroyed,they were however, 
also abandoned by the Fon before the 
attack.There has been no further sign of 
the Fon in many weeks...


1) Main German Land Force Attack
2) German Fleet
3) German Zeppelin Attack

First Sikh In 3 Decades Enlisted In The US Army

New Delhi: A Sikh boy from New Delhi has made history in America. Simran Lamba is the first Sikh in almost three decades to be enlisted in the US army.

He has been allowed to join the armed forces with his untrimmed beard and turban, because he has what the US army wants, knowledge of Punjabi and Hindi.

Lamba had gone to America to study industrial engineering.

The US Army since 1984 had banned untrimmed hair, but the 26-year-old was granted a rare exception because he has skills the US Army wants - knowledge of Hindi and Punjab.

During the training, he wore a camouflage turban under his Kevlar helmet, used petroleum jelly to get a tight grip between his beard and gas mask and kept his hair clean under all conditions, to meet the army's concerns about appearance. The army too treats him as one of their own.

Michael Haines a graduate of the US Army said, “Our generation is more accepting than older generations because we've had lots of experience of integrating and everything like that."

Two Sikhs joined the Army as medical officers earlier this year. But Simran Lamba is the first Sikh to be enlisted in the US army who is worthy of the honour of carrying the red-white-and-blue flag.

Happy Veterans Day

To all my fellow Vets hope you have a great day,
and our profound thanks for your service.

Also remember that this day commemorates the
end of WWI...the eleventh hour on the eleventh
day of the eleventh month.

ArmchairGeneral will be at Siege of Augusta

From ArmChairGeneral:

Hurray! It's official, we will be at Siege of Augusta 2011 next year January 21-23rd and we will have our very own table! We will be demoing our game When the Navy Walked and hope to have copies available for sale! Come on down to a great little gaming convention in Augusta Georgia. They have historical gaming as well as some science fiction and Victorian Science Fiction. We may also have a sneak peek at the upcoming Conflict on Mars! to peruse.

In addition, I will be running some Vietnam demos using the Ambush Valley game rules and might have Pulp Alley in tow provided that I can get with David Phipps in enough time to discuss the arrangements. Also if you are reading this blog James and want me to carry some Scrying Eye stuff with me up to the con to sell let me know! The same goes for you Jim as I'd love to have some Airships, etc to sell to the crowd at Siege if you want and/or pirate ships to people as I know there are usually pirate games going on there too!

Happy Halloween !

http://www.newgrounds.com/art/view/johnnyutah/steampunk-halloween

Robot Menace

Dampfpanzergrenadiertruppautomaten menace!

http://workbenchcurses.blogspot.com/2010/09/robot-menace_23.html

Old Mars

http://web.mac.com/rorymh/Legends/Table_of_Contents.html

Yet More Moros...Why Not?

Bloodaxe 15mm Moro Rebellion

http://www.bloodaxeminiatures.com/products.shtml

15mm Figures For America's Splendid Little War

From Sculptor/Modeler/Author Chris Ferree, returns his original line of figures for the Spanish-American War in 15mm. First produced by Richard Houston over 10 years ago as part of the innovative "Battles In A Box" miniatures collections, the full line is once again available exclusively from TVAG.

Masterfully cast by Tom Dye of GFI/MiniFigs USA, the figures come from newly mastered molds and are as crisp and full of character as ever.

"Rough Riders!" consists of all troop types actually sent to Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippine Islands by the United States, and as they fought the defending Spanish forces. The Spanish are themselves well represented by the troops (as defined by recognizable uniform types) defending the last outposts of their former Empire.

And as combat with the Spanish ended, new foes appeared. Of these, the most colorful and exotic were Spain's perenial Philippine enemies, the Moros. "Rough Riders!" provides these fanatical warriors and their lethal weapons in spades.

http://fauxtoys.com/tvag/400-Rough%20Riders.htm

WTNW Core II Game

The ArmChairGeneral (Rob) well be running a demo of the When the Navy Walked: Core II rules at Borderlands Comics and Games on Wednesday October 20 from about 6:00-9:00 immediately following their Jacksonville Garrison meeting. He will be bringing enough for several games at once. He will also be trying out some of the new rules from the Martian supplement!

http://armchairgeneral1.blogspot.com/2010/10/wtnw-core-ii-game.html

Sudan 1885 - Fortune & Glory

A splendid game put on by the "Lonely Gamers",the game they played was ruffly based on the Battle of Ginnis in fact it was so ruff that the only resemblance was the opposing sides and that it was the last time the British Army would were their beloved 'Red Coats' into battle.

http://lonelygamers.blogspot.com/2010/09/sudan-1885-fortune-glory.html

Our Gratitude!

ArmchairGeneral Forum!

http://z15.invisionfree.com/ArmChairGeneral/index.php

Air Mobile - Praetorian Style

Whenever I think myself too clever by half, I'm fortunate enough to
stumble on work such as this, and suitably humbled return to the
drawing board!

http://22ndpraetorian.blogspot.com/

Test Game Scheduled "BATTLEFIELD GAMES" Killeen, TX

Test Game Scheduled BATTLEFIELD GAMES Killeen, TX


Went to our local games store met some new guys and scheduled our
test game of "When The Navy Walked" for Oct 31!


BATTLEFIELD GAMES

4200 East Stan Schlueter Loop
Killeen, TX 76542
(254) 554-5596

http://www.wargames.com/store/783/killeen/battlefield-games
http://www.battlefieldgamestexas.com/index.php

Der Alte Fritz Journal

A very nice North African colonial game battling for the town of Al-Amok.

http://altefritz.blogspot.com/2010/09/skirmish-in-north-africa.html

Now For Something Completely Different

SteamPunked Burger King advertisement. Quite silly actually!

http://www.atom.com/funny_videos/breakfast_bites_back_1

When the Navy Walked

When the Navy Walked - Core Rules 2 Note:

Thank you for purchasing When the Navy Walked! You have the core book in the ground level of a new venture that I started because I wanted to be able to share my ideas. When the Navy Walked is more than just a game or an idea it is a springboard for imagination. The Victorian Science Fiction genre has always been one that attracted creative individuals. The rules in this book should allow you to have many fun battles using the Great Powers. Look for coming supplements such as scenario and army books that will be designed to expand the alternate universe and add rich elements to the game!

http://www.wargamevault.com/product_reviews_write.php?products_id=81192

Blog dedicated to these splendid new rules and other items of interest:

http://armchairgeneral1.blogspot.com/

Martian Wars In 25mm

Done by a big fan of Martian Adventures! Who was raised on ERB's John Carter of Mars and Chadwick's Space 1889, He just can't get enough of it! So here you have his attempts at wargaming Mars in 25mm.

http://martianwarsin25mm.blogspot.com/

Fjodin's Victorian House

Fjodins small blog about real and alternative late 19-th century.
Here I will post all things which may be interesting by Victorian
Science Fiction, Horse and Musket era and Great War fans.

http://fjodinvsf.blogspot.com/

Savage Barsoom

Much of the material and art on Savage Barsoom has been
gathered from the Edgar Rice Burroughs community...A
very nice fan site with news on the forth coming film.

http://www.savagebarsoom.com/

Tea And Tiffin

A blog about Victorian miniatures, some historical and some definitely not!

http://kapitanmors.blogspot.com/

Gunboat Diplomacy At Uncle Bob’s Backwater ~~

By David aaaaaaarrrrgggggh Raybin

Now boys THIS was a game. Chinese pirates attacked by British gunboats in 28mm. A dozen players. A cast of thousands. The Brits were to capture or sink the pirates. Now we know why the Chinese boats were called Junks. They were shot to fish bait. But still a hell of a game. Duncan’s naval games are first-rate mate.

http://hmgs-midsouth.org/?tag=pirates

International Talk Like A Pirate Day

September 19th (every year)
is International Talk Like A Pirate Day

http://www.talklikeapirate.com/

Ghosts Of Games Past! Maj Gen Tremorden Rederring's Page.

Really miss these stout fellows work and the hours of inspiration
they've provided countless other gaming enthusiasts. I'm happy
that their page is still up and running but would be thrilled to see
their adventures continue!

Philosophy and Gaming Style
of the Ouargistan Group

Here are some posts to the REC.GAMES.MINIATURES.HISTORICAL newsgroup and other writings that explain a bit about the group's philosophy and gaming style.

Colonial Gaming with the Ouargistan Group
Original Newsgroup Topic was

'Re: The Sword and the Flame? (longish)'

Our grouplet has played The Sword and the Flame since about 1981, and still enjoys it. Since we play with more figures than the game was designed for, we use a simplified faster version that eliminates some of the individual-soldier features of the game (though one figure still is one man).

We got more grandiose as we went along. First just buildings, then a fort. Then vehicles: Kiel-Kraft 1/76 steam lorries, horsedrawn and early gasoline vehicles (Lledo and Matchbox diecasts), as the period expanded. Native-bashing began to pall, so we started playing Brits vs German vs. American colonial troops, with their native allies. Then came small steam launches and native dhows. Then early aircraft to fling hand-bombs at them with appalling inaccuracy. The period stretched from about 1859 to the eve of WWI, all occuring at once -- Gatling guns bringing down DH-1 biplanes. River steamers next; a big amphibious landing to rescue the Colonel Bunthorne's daughter from being sacrificed to appease the volcano god (Paper-mache volcano spewing dry-ice vapor). Then a detour into HG Wells' War of the Worlds -- Martian tripods battling it out with field batteries and ironclads in darkest Whosistan. Then steam-powered Landships ramming and firing high-wheeled bicycle torpedoes at one another. Though the group games rather seldom nowadays, the German player still occasionally threatens to build a zeppelin from 1-liter drink bottles.

Obviously all this baroque stuff is not in the S&F rules; we just kept adding our own house rules. I know nothing of the new ten-men-per-figure edition of S&F, but the original and second edition game has provided the framework for a lot of fun over the years, and has outlasted any other miniatures ruleset for us (though what we now play bears little resemblance to the original).

Memorable moments:

Alf, a kneeling Stadden rifleman, firing a single thundering round from his Martini-Henry and keeping a complete unit of Fuzzies pinned down prone with bad morale rolls for 3 turns "And if any of you bounding beggars so much as moves a muscle, why, I'll fire again, I will."

Steve's new unit of Highlanders, exterminated to a man on their first outing by the single Arab horseman to survive volley fire and make it into contact.

Two Martian tripods, holding the ends of the ironclad (which had foolishly ventured up the river) in their tentacles, and shaking the crew loose while they played heat-rays across the decks.

Charles' native elephants, reworked from some Ancients army and sporting paper drink-parasols, engaging the Queen's troops at the riverbank, the combat being accompanied by flatulent squashing sounds whenever an elephant won a melee roll.

The Mad Mullah, guiding his dhow through the shellfire to the ironclad, surviving 8 dice from the Nordenfeldt, and levitating himself (through mystical Eastern arts) onto the bridge to challenge the Captain in melee.

I apologize to the sticklers for waxing frivolous in a historical gaming newsgroup. We started out historical, honest. Someone earlier in this thread remarked that the game owed more to Hollywood than to historical realism. Well ... yeah. Turn a card.

---

Subject: Re: Computers and Gaming

Show me a computer

-- that will say, "Really beautiful paint job on those Pathans."

-- that will pull its hair and make gargling sounds when its crack unit fires a volley and gets zero hits.

-- that will stop at a Middle Eastern food store to get snacks for the Colonials game

-- that will supply everybody with funky hats appropriate to the game's period

-- that will stay up all night painting weird figures and making props for some scenario inspired by a Monty Python skit

-- that will say, "remember that game where Lord Gordon charged the baggage train and got pulled off his horse and strangled with a bowstring by some nameless archer in pajamas?"

-- that will shoot your hotshot gunfighter off the roof of the saloon, and insist that you replay the fall in slow motion, Sam Peckinpaugh-style.

-- that will take a pottery course with his wife and come back with a kiln-fired ceramic Foreign Legion outpost

-- that refers to your Dixon samurai as "the Elmer Fudd ronin"

-- that will pass out broomhandle-Mauser water pistols to the German players

-- that will humor your fetishes by building a cardboard steam-tank for the great landships game because he knows you will humor his with a cardboard native sailboat for the giant Nile battle.

-- that will notice that inverted Yoplait containers would make perfect towers for that native hill-fort

-- that will cry out in despair, "They're all dead, and I only painted them last night!"

---

Small is Beautiful
Contrary to what your significant other might tell you, size matters -- especially in tabletop gaming. Specifically: small is beautiful. Because table space is always so limited, everything used in a game must be as small as it can be and still do its job.

The Ouargistan group uses a 5/8"/15mm (David's preference) or 3/4"/19mm (everybody else's) base size for 25mm military figures where possible, with the occasional base cut larger to accomodate the odd figure that needs it. Even a 1" base means that a unit of men will take up over 30% more linear space on the table and 90% more area than those on a 3/4" base. A 2-rank unit of 20 men will be 10" wide, rather than than 7.5". Ten inches is a lot on a table which is only 48" across. When the gaming includes buildings, boats, or vehicles, base size is even more important. Even though we allow bases to overlap when figures are in a boat or structure, a base which is even slightly larger will substantially reduce the number of men which can fit in the same space. A rooftop which is 2.25" square will take nine men with 3/4" bases, but only four men with 1" bases.

Buildings and vehicles themselves should be as small as they can be without looking completely ridiculous. In Ouargistan, a small, flat-roofed native building will be as small as 2.25" square with a roof 1.5" off the ground. The difference between a 2.5" and a 3.5" building doesn't sound like much, but it will allow you to put a 5-building town in about the same space as a 3 building town with the larger size.

When building structures and vehicles it is very easy to let size get out of hand. You must exercise ruthless care to keep things to a minimum, or else you wind up with forts or villages that take up half the table, and boats which require so much river to maneuver that there is no room for land. Generally our native buildings run from about 2.25" square to about 3"x 5", forts are about 12" square, and the largest boats/ships are no more than 9" long.

--David

http://zeitcom.com/majgen/index.html