Itinerant Hobbyist: 10 Games Challenge

Check out Itinerant Hobbyist: 10 Games Challenge

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.

Adventures with an Airbrush

After this past Black Tree Design (BTD) 50% off sale, I'll have a lot of metal to paint up for various armies. Plus I've been doing a lot of terrain building and painting, so with an Amazon GC from Christmas in hand, I figured now would be as good a time as any to see if an airbrush was for me.

Since this was primarily an experiment, I wouldn't be getting anything too extravagant and would curb my expectations as well. 

I found this Master G22 starter kit for under $50. With that $25 GC, this would be a minimal investment to experiment with. 

I had primered the metal figures as usual with a matte black primer by Army Painter. Apologies for the lousy photo... black on black is tough to see otherwise.

These are the French and Polish by Warlord Games; the BTD figures haven't arrived yet. They both wore similar color uniforms so this should be a perfect example of any potential efficiency to be gained using the airbrush to base coat large lots of minis. 

I'll be using Vallejo's Green Brown for the base coat thinned with water. 

I had read the mix should have the consistency of milk, so I started with that in mind. I didn't know if we had any pantyhose  laying around, so I didn't strain the acrylic at all. This may have been a culprit of some of the issues to come, but I'll give it a try later to see if the results are any better. When I did get flow from the airbrush, it seemed very watery when it hit the metal figures. I tried adding some more paint and mixing, but this usually resulted in a no flow situation. So I would dump the paint mix into a cup and clean out the airbrush. I did this several times and as a result am getting much more proficient at disassembling and reassembling the airbrush - something I read to be one of the more time consuming and troubling parts of using an airbrush. Well, at least that's one obstacle overcome.

In the amount of time spent, I really would have expected to spray all of them, so there's still some things I need to figure out. Someone has suggested Tamiya's airbrush thinner and of course another recommendation for straining the paint mix through a pair of pantyhose.

If you have any other recommendations, please feel free to post below.

Here are some of the results - some taken midway through and a few others at the end when I called it a night.

Mixing Business with Bolt Action - Part 1: Tennessee

A recent project at work has had me on the road for the better part of August. It started in Knoxville, TN and wrapped up near LA. Along the way I was seeking out local games stores to see who had some Bolt Action goodies stocked. 

Knoxville, TN

I found an LGS in "Olde City" and a few others in surrounding areas, but unfortunately, no Bolt Action. 

Nashville, TN

A 10-20 minute drive from the airport landed me at The Game Keep. After having a look around at several miniatures, I asked the shopkeep about BA. He mentioned they have had a few people inquire about it and even had a few people order some of the books. They actually had an Armies of Japan book on the shelf. Wanting to support the local game store scene, I made a small purchase - some Army Painter Quickshade Inks.

 Man these thing do wonders things for these minis.

Unfortunately, their historical miniatures crowd gathered the following night and I would be on the road to Memphis...

Memphis, TN

Ah, Memphis. You delicious dry rubbed ribs... 

Oh, right, Bolt Action...

Even without the ribs, I was in for a treat. I asked some folks on the Bolt Action FaceBook group if there were any shops in Nashville an Memphis. The response was that I needed to check out Mid-South Hobbies. And I'm glad that I did. When I walked into Mid-South Hobbies, my mouth dropped. This place is huge and it's filled with R/C you name it, model trains, Boardgames, miniatures, and of course Bolt Action. So, after my 30 or so minute tour around the place I settled in - standing in front of the Warlord Games display (yes, they had other Warlord Games miniatures as well).

It wasn't long before (well, it may have been - I probably lost track of time) another gentlemen approached and began to inspect the wall of Bolt Action goodness. I'm not usually one to strike up a conversation with someone standing in any typical store, but this was no typical store. So I began to ask about the his interest in Bolt Action and the BA scene in general here in Memphis. That led to some discussion of a possible game later that night. I checked in to the hotel, ate dinner, an returned to find him assembling his latest purchase - some Wargames Factory Germans. It turns out that many of the Bolt Action regulars were up in Indy for GenCon2013, so we ended up playing some BattleTech - my first time playing it and it was also enjoyable.

I ended up leaving Mid-South Hobbies with some new recruits: a Bolt Action US Army Command blister pack and a US box of the Wargames Factory minis.

The next night, while i was in Memphis, a couple guys from out local gaming group were playing some Bolt Action back home. Through the marvels of modern technology, I was right there on the battle board with them. 

Spent the weekend at home and then it was off to the southwest! Next stop: El Paso, TX... (To be continued...)