Itinerant Hobbyist: 10 Games Challenge

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What 10 Games (or Game Series) would YOU focus on?


Here was my response:


If I had to focus on 10 games (or 10 game series), it would likely look something like this (in no particular order):

Miniatures:
Bolt Action - My first major dive into the miniatures scene... and man has it been a dive off of the DEEP end!! It's not a great simulation, but it is fun and easy for folks from other genres to come in and play. That has helped grow the community.

Chain of Command - This is where I'd like spend some more time. The beauty part of miniatures, just buy the rule set and go (already have minis from BA). This one focuses more on the doctrine of the time. It feels more historical than BA and leadership/command plays a much bigger part.

(TBD) Modern rule set (playing Force on Force at Historicon) - I've heard horrors of the rule book for this one, but seems once you get into it it's an enjoyable Skirmish level system. It also has the benefit of covering multiple theaters. Building on a theme here... Focus on one core system to cover multiple theaters.

Smoke on the Water (ACW Ironclad rule set) - This was truly my first miniature purchase. I bought a couple ironclads, painted them up and found this rule set for free! Having played and enjoyed the board game Wooden Ships & Iron Men, there were some additional features here that really stood out - like rate of fire... bigger guns take longer to load.

Dead Man's Hand - I bought the rules and some minis, but have only gotten through a few pages and primer. It intrigues me, but haven't had time to focus on it just yet.

Board Games:
LNL "Heroes" Tactical Series (to include WWII, Day of Heroes, Ring of Heroes, etc.) - Once you get through the rules, there's a really good tactical game with some chrome and even better covers a wide range of theaters. To your point, once you focus on the series and grasp the core rules, you'll have hours of tactical goodness.

Combat Commander Series - Almost dropped this one since LNL covers a similar level of game play but is broader (Vietnam, Falklands, etc). However, every time I play it, I'm reminded how much FUN it is. The card play, while random and frustrating to some, is what differentiates this from the other and makes for some good chaotic fun.

No Retreat Series - Fairly accessible Operation level game series. Eastern Front to N. Africa are different enough that you need to read through the rules for each, but most of the core rules and counter markings carry over.

Labyrinth: The War on Terror - I've only played it once so far, but really enjoyed getting into it. It also plays along with my recent interest in moderns.

Thunder Alley - I'm going to throw this one up here for now... Our group has played this one a couple times now on Vassal and it seems like some good fun. Grab some beers, grab some friends, and let's go racing boys! The only thing missing here is running someone into the wall ;)

EDIT: After posting, I realized I had forgotten about LNLP's White Star Rising / Nations at War Series! I recently acquired Desert Heat and prior to that the expansion to WSR, Operation Cobra. This is one I would like to focus on as well.

Pimping Iron & Oak

So, the Thoroughbred Models have arrived - a pair from an eBay purchase and a pair from Thoroughbred Models themselves.

The question arose on BGG about mixing miniatures and Iron & Oak today, so I snapped a few pictures earlier than I would have liked to get the word out. The models below are far from complete. I simply inserted the two stacks in and the turret on the Canonicus-class monitor.

1/600 Miniatures by Thoroughbred Models. Model #TS07, TS22, TS28. Models are not yet assembled. Just inserted the stacks for the photo

USS Tecumseh. Model is 1/600 Thoroughbred Model #TS07 Canonicus class monitor. Model is not yet assembled. Just inserted the stack and turret for the photo

CSS Tennessee. Model is 1/600 Thoroughbred Model #TS28. Model is not yet assembled. Just inserted the stack for the photo

1/600 scale may be too large for some on this board. If you are interested in filling out some of the larger scenarios with all minis, then you definitely may want to consider the TITAN MMP 1/1200 models. They'll squeeze more in the grid space and be easier on the wallet.

If you're just interested in some eye-candy to duel with a friend (or maybe even a pair a piece - four in the same grid would definitely be a crowd), then don't hesitate to get these fantastic looking miniatures. It may even lead to some true miniature gaming.

Progress posts will follow, but first I need to get some supplies!

Where board games and miniatures collide

Steven Duke had posted this photo on Facebook over the weekend, commenting that it made him want to play Iron & Oak.

I was playing Iron & Oak over the weekend and saw this photo and thought: man, that's gotta be neat.

So I started doing a little research on ACW Naval miniatures. Two common scales are 1/1200 and 1/600. The models in the picture above appear to be even larger. The 1/600 scale models caught my eye and I found the following manufacturers:

Thoroughbred Models

http://thoroughbredmodels.com/

Bay Area Yards

http://bayareayards.virtualscratchbuilder.com/

TITAN Military Miniature Products
http://www.titanmmp.com/
Thoroughbred models appear to be all metal. Bay Area Yard models appear to be a mix of all metal, metal/resin, and resin. And after going back to the site, it appears TITAN MMP models are actually 1/1200 scale. 

My queries led me to the Ironclads Yahoo! Group: http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/ironclads/

After that, my search turned to eBay. As fate would have it, it just so happened that a seller had posted several Thoroughbred Models that were ending Sunday evening. I put a watch on a few of them and threw a bid at a couple of others. As 8:00pm approached, the bidding intensified. I ended up withdrawing from the bidding on the USS Hartford but stuck to my guns on the CSS Tennessee (an ironclad ram). I won the auction for the Tennessee as well as one for a riverboat.

I should have looked a little more closely, as riverboat did not mean river gunboat, but rather a troop carrying riverboat transport.

This will not make for an interesting duel, so I will likely pick up a counterpart for the Tennessee. The Tecumseh seemed like an obvious choice, however, it seems Thoroughbred suggests using the Canonicus which is a similar monitor class ironclad.

On that same Facebook posting, Kev Sharp commented: ...counters are one thing, minis another. When does a game system cross the line...?

That's an interesting question, and what ultimately led me to this post rather than just responding via comment.

In this case it's just counter replacement. Glorified Monopoly pieces if you will. I could swap out the Tennessee counter and (hopefully) the Tecumseh counter for these and enhance a duel among giants.

 

Another thought I had was to replace the map with an overview of an area - Mobile Bay for example - and apply the grids in the water space to duplicate what is used on the Iron & Oak map. However, this is just pimping the board as Iron & Oak uses these grids and can abstract many locations.

What I need to figure out is if the Iron & Oak system can be tweaked to move to a grid-less map. What becomes of movement and range? Can this system be adapted... or is a new miniatures rules set the only way to go?

In the interim, pushing 1/600 metal will certainly be entertaining... More so than pushing tiny cardboard chits. But for the foreseeable future, that cool factor will be limited to duels no doubt. 

C-SPAN Book Discussion - War on the Waters (ACW)

Great discussion (link below) considering my recent gaming additions - Rebel Raiders on the High Seas and Iron & Oak

C-SPAN Book Discussion on War on the Waters

Thanks to C3i for the link!