Report from the Front: Cold Wars

I really had a blast at HMGS Cold Wars this past Saturday.  It's been either 15 or 20 years since I had been to one of these events.  A lot is the same, and a lot has changed.  While a lot of gaming conventions have really diversified and become more mainstream because of the rise of "geek culture", Cold Wars (and I am assuming all historical miniatures gaming conventions) remains firmly rooted in grognardville. It really looked like a gathering of Gary Gygax clones at times.  However, I saw a lot of younger faces a newer games too.  It was a great mix of old a new blood.

If you've never been to a convention like this, there are generally 3 types of games going on: Scenarios, demonstrations and tournaments.  The scenario games are designed for people that are familiar with the game system being used to show up and play.  The game master usually provides the terrain and miniatures.  In general these games are large, multi-player events with elaborate terrain.  The demonstration games are very similar, except that they are designed for players that have not played the system before.  Very often they allow people to just walk up and play, and are generally shorter in duration.  The last type are the tournaments, where groups of player gather to compete against one another.  I think that most Warhammer and WarmaHordes players are familiar with this sort of game.  There's usually a good mix of all 3 types of games at these conventions.

The other main attraction is the dealer room and swap meet.  These are a great way to pick up some hard to find rules and miniatures, and to get an up close look at products before you buy them.  The swap meet also offers a chance to get some really good deals.

So whats the same?  15mm Ancients, American Civil War and Napoleonics are still very popular with the older crowd. I don't have much experience with  ACW and Napoleonics, so I'm not sure which rules were being used, but I saw DBA, DBM, Field of Glory, Warhammer, and Warrior being used for ancients and medievals. There were tons of amazing scenario games using less popular and rulesets, timeperiods and scales. I spent most of the day just wandering around and looking at what was going on.

What's new? Well new to me at least.  Lot's of WWII gaming.  Bolt Action and Flames of War were probably the 2 biggest games at the convention.  The 25' long table for the Pegasus Bridge Bolt Action scenario was the true definition of Epic.

The other big game this year was SAGA, the 28mm Dark Age skirmish game.  I haven't tried this one yet, but it really interests me.  Armies range in size of between 16 and 70 figures roughly, and there lots of high quality miniatures available, some in plastic making it a very affordable game, even though the books are a little pricey.

The other major new theme I  noticed was the broad acceptance of Sci-Fi and Fantasy games.  I saw Star Wars X-Wing miniatures and Battletech being played along with 40k, Warhammer Fantasy, Fanticide, Malifaux and many others.

On a person note, I was able to pick up some bargains.  I got the tanks and artillery to complete my Bolt Action Desert Rats army. I swore I wasn't going to pick up any more fantasy, but I found a great deal on some orc boar riders and 2 shamen.  I resisted the $30 chimera for my Imperial Guard, but ended up taking home a box of Schaeffer's Last Chancers because I love the figures and they were a bargain.  I didn't get any of the DBA armies I was looking for, mostly because there were not any dealers there that had quality 15mm medievals.  It seems that in the internet age, many of the major European based companies are not coming to the US conventions.  On there other hand there were vast amounts of 28mm figs available for that same timeperiod, mostly because of the popularity of SAGA.

This convention has really fired my interest in the hobby again, so I'll be writing more about wargaming and miniatures in the future.

Miniatures and the Airbrush

More and more of my free time is being devoted to miniature wargaming.  I've had some great online D&D sessions in recent months, but I really miss running games and I have yet to find a game that really hits my sweet spot as a player.  So I've started working on miniatures again.  I've have several projects going on right now and I think it will take several months to complete them all.

The first major project is a "Desert Rats" army for Bolt Action.  I'm still int he process of assembling the 30 some infantry models, and I have yet to purchase any tanks or other vehicles.  I'm hoping to find some bargains at the Cold Wars convention next weekend.  While I'm there I'm thinking of picking up a few 15mm DBA armies to match up against my Vikings.  I'm thinking Anglo-Saxons or Normans, though Eastern Woodland Indians might be a neat opponent too.

For 40k I've still got some Space Wolves to work on.  I have 2 Rhinos that need to be finished, but since I can't see using them that often I'm not very motivated with those.  The next models I'll probably work on there are the 5 Thunderwolf Cavalry I have.  Then I'll start touching up and converting some of the older models I have.  The only other Space Wolf model I really need is a Njal Stormcaller.

All of my Imperial Guard is painted, but I do need to finish the bases on the infantry.  I've been thinking about adding some of the Wargames Factory Shock Troops for Elites and Heavy Weapons, but as my IG were originally planned as an Ally detachment, I'm not really pressed about building up that army.

I've got a large Orc army for Warhammer Fantasy that is now completely base coated, ie green. That's probably the largest project I have sitting around.  It's over 150 figures.  My other WFB army is still waiting for miniatures to arrive.  I got a small group of Chaos Warriors, but I've been waiting a years for a certain Kickstarter to deliver  with the bulk of the force.  Not that I'd have time to paint them anytime soon.

My Flying Monkey army for Fanticide is now based and primed.  The real pain in the neck starts this week as I have to attach all of the wings to the monkeys.  I have a feeling that these things are going to be falling off all of the time.

And if all of that wasn't enough, I still have ALL of the Reaper Miniatures KickStarter to paint up.  To get all of this painted, I decided it was time to invest in an airbrush.  I'm still getting the hang of it, but I'm really liking it.  Here's a pick of my first project with the new rig.

It's a little hard to see here, but I'm really excited about how easy it is to create shadows and highlights with the airbrush.  I'm not expecting this to be a masterpiece, but I want this to turn out well so I can feel proud about displaying it.

Bolt Action!

So while I've been playing some D&D over Google Hangouts over the last few months, I had pretty much packed in my miniatures.  I stopped by a local hobby shop hoping to track down some DBA gamers and instead ran smack dab into Bolt Action.

If you aren't familiar with it, Bolt Action is a Skirmish/platoon level wargame set in WWII, designed for 28mm figures.  The game was written by Alessio Cavatore and Rick Priestley, and published by Warlord Games and Osprey Publishing. As you might have guessed based on the authors and scale, this is 40k for WWII.  Thankfully there are some great rules innovations.  Instead of players taking turns moving and firing all of their units, players draw dice from a bag to see which player gets to activate a unit next.  There's a mechanic for suppressing fire.  Close combat is rare, but decisive.  It seems to be a great set of rules that makes for a tactically interesting game.

From a modelling standpoint, there are plenty of great miniatures out there.  While 28mm is the suggested scale, as that is what Warlord Games is selling, it would be very easy and economical to use 1/72 scale figures and tanks.  The armies aren't that large generally, so the cost should be prohibitive.  A typical army consists of 30-50 infantry plus leaders, an artillery piece, and armored car or recon vehicle, a tank, and possibly some transport vehicles. Standard 1000 point armies are available for $120. If you want to jump in feet first, they have a whole Pegasus Bridge set for $280.

For an old 40K fan that loves history, is working on a budget, and demands a solid ruleset, Bolt Action is not to be missed.  I'm hoping to get some games in at Cold Wars next month.

Fanticide!

While everyone in the miniatures worlds was talking about the Reaper Kickstarter and the impending release of the new 40k starter box, I' thought I'd take a moment to talk about a new game called Fanticide being produce by a company called Alien Dungeon.  There have been a slew of new miniature wargames and companies in recent years, but this one stands out for a number of reasons.

1. The game is being produced by a local small business: Alien Dungeon, and its sister company Architects of War, are a small business located in Ellicott City Maryland.  That's less than an hour from where I live now, and very close to where many of my friends live.  I believe in supporting local businesses, as I know how tough it is to compete against large corporations.
2. Rick Priestly, Alessio Cavatore and Andy Chambers wrote the game: With these blokes on the job, you know the rules are going to be solid.  From the previews of the rules, it looks like they are a bit different than some of the other games the guys  have worked on.
3. A Fantasy setting that isn't a Tolkien clone:  Instead of producing another fantasy game with elves, dwarves, orc and dragons, Alien Dungeon is producing a setting that seems like a cross between L. Frank Baum and Clive Barker.  One eyed things with big nasty teeth?  check.  Killer trees?  check.  Flying monkeys?  You betcha.  The game world, cleverly titled "Nowhere" seems like a crossroad of the multiverse where anything could happen.  The most feared creature in Nowhere is the Unicorn.  Anyone who saw "The Cabin in the Woods"  knows what I'm talking about.
4. Skirmish/Warband gameplay:  I'm not really interested in getting into another game that will require 100+ miniatures.  Fanticide appears to focus on warbands of 25 to 50 figures.
5. Simple miniatures: Alien dungeon is partnering with Eureka Miniatures to create the miniatures for the first 4 factions in Fanticide.  They state that their goal is to create good quality miniatures that are quick to paint.  I could do a whole post on this point alone.  Think of what an original space marine models for 40k looked like, or even one of the plastic models from the last starter kit.  Simple miniatures, easy to paint, but cool looking.  Now look at some of the stuff that is going into the new "starter" boxes.  How is a beginning painter supposed to paint that stuff?  How is an experienced painter supposed to get that stuff painted in a timely manner? Finely detailed is great when you only need to paint a few of them, but for an army or even a few squads, simple minis that are easy to paint are probably preferable for most wargamers.
6. Use what you have: If you don't like the miniature that are being offered by Alien Dungeon, you can use your own miniatures and create your own warbands!  This may be one of the best parts of the game.  I've seen other games that offer "generic" rules for whatever sort of army you want to put together (Hordes of the Things for example), but I think that this is the first one I've seen that has created its own unique factions and still allows for players to create their own.  Early versions of Warhammer and 40k Rogue Trader allowed for this sort of thing, but that was 25 years ago.  I'm really excited about using the minis I have purchased through the Reaper and Red Box games kickstarter.

Check out their kickstarter for yourself, and follow along on their blog.

Miniatures, Miniatures, Miniatures.

Recently I've haven't given much thought to RPGs:  I don't have a regular group that I'm playing with and with a busy schedule at home it is hard to set aside a regular time to commit to.  Mostly I've been focusing on miniatures.  I haven't done any gaming, for the same reasons I haven't been playing any RPGs.  But I have been reading, collecting, and painting.

The 6th edition of Warhammer 40K came out recently, so I've been going through that again and again.  I've also gone back and re-read the original Rogue Trader rules, just to put things in perspective.  The are some great things about the original rules, but the new rules really are much, much better.  The may not have the flexibility that the RT rules do, but I can look back and realize now that RT is really designed to create narratives, a sort of RPG/Wargame hybrid (the same sort of thing can be said for 1st and 2nd ed. WFB).  I've also taken a look at Warmachine and Hordes since that seems to be the new hot thing these days.  At first I didn't like the rules,  but they have grown on me, and I like the idea of a game with smaller armies.  I might pick up the Hordes 2 player starter box when it is released.

On the collecting front, I've been buying a lot of stuff on Ebay.  I like to paint (more on that later), but seeing as I had no miniatures 2 months ago, I wanted to get back into the swing of things without having to paint up an army from scratch before I could play.  While I may not always have the best painted miniatures, I refuse to game with unpainted minis, even for simple friendly games.  The painted minis I have purchased really vary in quality.  Some of them are barely passable, others are quite nice.  A lot of what I have purchased is older, OOP Citadels.  The great thing is, most of what I am buying is about 50% off of GW's current prices.  So I am saving money, and I don't have to paint them.  At this point I have close to 1500 pts of Imperial Guard, and over 2000 pts of Space Wolves.

I did buy a Space Wolf starter box unpainted, and I have been working on that over the last few months.  It's the first thing I have painted in over 10 years. The drop pod, 10 Grey Hunters, and 5 Scouts are nearing completion. They are table ready right now, but I'm going to add some more details to them before I call them finished. I have another 10 infantry that I am trying to decide how to configure.  I'll probably make them Wolfguard, as I don't need more Grey Hunters, and have no desire for Blood Claws.  I also have a couple of Rhinos to work on that currently assembled and basecoated.  I'll post some pics of these soon.

The other project that I just finished is a 15mm Viking army for DBA.  I haven't played DBA in years, but I had these minis sitting around and decided to finish them up.  I'm thinking about doing a Norman and an Anglo-Saxon army so that I can have all 3 factions for the 1066 invasion. They are small projects, between 30 and 50 figures, and pretty quick to paint, but I'm not sure when I'll ever get a chance to use them.

I've also been following some kickstarters from Reaper miniatures and Red-Box games.  Both companies are making some amazing looking miniatures at great prices, and their kickstarters have some great deals.  I'm not sure what I'd do with these minis, but they look like they'd be great fun to paint.  The thought even crossed my mind to use these as proxies for Hordes, or try my hand at designing some of my own lists.

A quick kickstarter plug

Whether you use miniatures for roleplaying for for wargaming, you should take the time to check out Red-Box Games.  Tre makes some of the most amazing sculpts I've ever seen.  Currently he has a kickstarter going to help him retool his production from metal and resin castings to a new hybrid plastic design.  It's already funded, but there are some great stretch goals, and it is a great opportunity to pick up some top notch minis at a great price.

If you are a fan of Chaos, you have to check these out!

Thoughts on 6th Edition Warhammer 40k

Again it has been far too long since I have posted anything.  Most of my gaming and hobby time has been focused on the new edition of Warhammer 40k, and it has taken me some timer to get my head around the the rules, and the over state of the game and hobby.  I haven't played 40 since 1st edition, probably 20 years, so my take on the rules is a bit different than those who have been playing the more recent editions.

The Book:  The 6th edition rulebook is rather nice, if a little pricey.  $75 for a 450 page hardbound book in full color is fairly expensive in my opinion.  I would have expected to pay between $50 and $60 for something this size, but overall the I still feel that you are getting your money's worth.  I'll be interested to see what sort of rulebook comes with the new starter set that will be released late summer/ early fall.  The book is divided into sections covering the rules, story, miniatures showcase, hobby information, battle examples, and appendices. Each section is pretty hefty and deserves a bit of an individual review.

Story: GW does a really good job with what they often refer to as "fluff".  For a wargamer that came from the Roleplaying community, the "fluff" is a lot more important to me than it might be to others.  I really enjoyed reading through this section.  It describes each of the main factions in the galaxy, spending most of the section on the human faction (aka the Imperium).  What really set this section of the book apart from other 40k books I had seen in the past was the timeline, and explanation of specific events.  The older books gave you a great sense of mood and what type of events could take place, while in contrast this book does a good job of detailing the major events of the last several millennia.

Miniatures:  This is pretty much what you'd expect from GW at this point.  Lots of pretty pictures of their miniatures, often engaged in gigantic battles.  While nice, this section is fairly redundant.  We see plenty of miniatures throughout the rest of the book, and these sorts of showcases are in even codex and in every issue of White Dwarf.

Hobby:  This section is nice for the new player that is just starting to learn how to paint their miniatures, as well as introduce other parts of the hobby such as the novels.  It doesn't go into too much detail, and is actually fairly short.  GW did the right thing here, and left the details to their "How to Paint Citadel Miniatures" book.  I really liked seeing the Golden Demons winners in here, but again, you can see these sorts of things in White Dwarf every month.

Battles: I haven't really had the chance to dig deep into this section, but it looks really nice.  Here GW gives some excellent examples of narrative battles with all sorts of custom rules and neat terrain ideas.  I'm glad that they included this in the book, and we'll probably see more of this in White Dwarf.  There is one problem with this section, which I'll mention in the rules section.

Rules:  The Rules are the first 130 pages of the book, but I saved it for last because there's much more to say about the them. I can't really compare them to 5th edition, as I didn't play 5th (or 4th, or 3rd for that matter).  The are fairly well written for the most part.  The are organized, clear, and there a a decent number of examples and illustrations.  However, there are times when certain concepts are not clearly explained, or examples are not given.  The "special rules" is of  special note, as this some of these rules refer to other special rules, which then requires a lot of page flipping.  The game is complicated, and lends itself to "Rules Lawyers", as they are fairly well written, but you have to know how to read the language precisely, and know where are the rules are in order to interpret them correctly.

Overall, to me, the rules are better than the old 1st edition rules I last used.  It is more complicated however, and there are certain areas of the rules that I don't.  I think that rules should be "Fun, Fast, and Fair"; Fun so we can all enjoy the game, Fast so that we don't get bogged down in the details, and can actually get the game moving and completed in a reasonable amount of time, and Fair so that we can have good, competitive games.  These rules are fun, but there are times when I question how fast they play, and how fair they will be.  The rules surrounding character models, picking targets, and wound allocations are particularly problematic.  Rules like "Look out sir" and "Precision Shots" can really slow down the game.  In addition, some of these rules are not explained clearly enough, and no examples if there use are given.  The Battles section of the book would have been a great place to do "An Example of Play" section.  Instead of describing what is going on in general terms, the details of the game, down to the dice rolls themselves could have been documented to show exactly how the game should play.  Almost every RPG book since 1st edition AD&D has done this, so it's about time that a wargame rulebook does so as well.

One of the major changes to the rules is the inclusion of Allies to the army lists.  As an old 3rd edition Warhammer Fantasy player, I really like this.  I enjoy having small collections of various armies that I can mix and match together for particular uses.  The use of Allies will serve to bolster some of the weaker army lists, but some think that it will leader to broken combinations and "Uber" lists. We'll have to wait and see about that, but it is certainly a possibility.

I think GW has done a good job with this book, but they had a chance to do a great job and missed it.  The rules are clear but could have been clearer, and they don't play quickly enough once you factor in character models.  For a friendly game, I think they'll be fine, but these rules are not tournament ready right now.  Of course, that's not really GW's (or my) main concern with the rules, though I understand that tournament and competitive play are big part of the hobby.  GW does a really good job of representing their hobby, but they still could learn a thing or two about organizing and presenting their rules.

Army Painter

Another miniatures update.  When I pulled out all of my old painting supplies and miniatures out of storage, most of the old paints had dried up.  After looking at several different options for new paint, I decided to go with the Army Painter mega paint set, and a can of their Wolf Grey primer to use on my new Space Wolves.  Everything was fairly inexpensive so I figured that if I wasn't happy with the results it wouldn't be a big loss and I could check out the new Citadel range or the Vallejo paints.

So far I am very happy with my purchases.  The set has a good range of colors, and I really like the dropper bottles.  The paint itself seems to be very nice.  It's thinner than the old Ral Partha stuff I used, but has more pigment than the old Citadel.  Not sure how it compares to the new Citadel or Vallejo as I haven't tried those yet.  I'm really impressed with the primer though.  It went on very smoothly and evenly, and as Army Painter claims the spray cans do match the regular colors exactly.  I was able to prime/basecoat some marines with the spray can, then give them a fairly sloppy ink wash, and then touch up any areas where the ink was unwanted with the regular Wolf Grey paint.  I can't tell where the spray stops and the regular paint starts.  I'll post some pics when I get some stuff finished.

The one thing that Army Painter suggests that I will not be doing is dipping my miniatures in their Quickshade/varnish concoction.  Their results seem ok, but there is no way I am going to hold my miniatures with a pair of pliers and then violently shake them to get the excess varnish off of them.  I'm getting very good results with regular inks, thank you very much.

Out of Print? Really?

I haven;t been posting much recently because my other hobby, playing and recording music, has been taking up most of my free time in the past few weeks.  I've also been spending some time getting back into Warhammer 40k.  In the short time I've been getting reacquainted with Games Workshop and Warhammer, I've noted a problem that GW has in common with WotC; Out of print products that have no business being out of print.

Many other blogs have pointed out that old  out of print D&D products are selling for extremely high prices on ebay, and we aren't just talking about older products from the 70's and 80's.  Even 3.5 core books are selling for face value or above, which would seem to indicate that WotC could make a decent amount of money selling products from their back catalog.  Their reprints of the original AD&D core books should serve as good test case.

Games Workshop also has a problem with out of print products, but it isn't their books.  There are some people playing old editions of Warhammer, but it isn't as pronounced as the OSR.  GW did a reprint of the original Rogue Trader book for the 25th anniversary of the 40k game, but that seemed to be more out of nostalgia than actual demand for the rules. GW's problem is with their miniatures.  While perfectly usable in modern games (a 25 year old Space Marine or Ork is perfectly ok to use in GW sanctioned events), most miniatures from the 80's and 90's are no longer available.

Just 10 years ago, I was able to go to the store at the GW headquarters in Glen Burnie Maryland and place an order for any miniature that was in the catalogs that they had.  These catalogs contained minis dating back to the mid 80s when I first got into the hobby, and included the original metal Space Marines, Orks, and Eldar that appeared in the Rogue Trader book.

Word is you can't do this sort of thing anymore.  If it isn't listed on their website, it isn't available.  I've heard some stories from people in the UK getting some older stuff by calling the mail order department, but those are just rumors.  The fact is that older, out of print miniatures are going for extraordinary prices on ebay, and the current selection of minis from GW is fairly limited.  On the one hand it isn't such a big deal, as the newer miniatures are much nicer than the older ones, so in general you are getting a better quality product for your money.  The problem for me however is that some of the discontinued models have no replacement!  Take my Space Wolves army as an example.  I would love to have some Long Fangs and Wolf Scouts.  A quick look at the 95-96 catalog shows all sorts of Space Wolf characters and basic troops available in metal.  Some of these characters, like Ragnar Blackmane and Ulrik the Slayer are still available.  But the generic Runepriest? gone. Bloodclaw and Longfang Sergeants? gone.  Regular Longfangs and Wolf Scouts?  Gone! Their are no direct replacements for these miniatures, and GW admits it.  The manager at my local store suggested that I just use generic models and spruce them up with some bits.  I'd be all for that if it wasn't for the fact that the models actually existed at one time.

There are a few reasons that GW may be doing this.  I have heard from some people that the older molds from the 80's era may no longer be usable because they are so old.  Some of those older molds may now be the property of the original artists.  Sounds far fetched but you never know how GW was run back in the early days. This doesn't address the issues with the Space Wolves I noted as they are all from the same year, but some models are available and others are not.  Some models may not be available because they are slowly being replaced with "Citadel Finecast" or plastic kits, and GW is trying to create demand by taking the old models out of print well before they are replaced.  Seems like a possibility, but if a person wants a particular model for their army NOW, they are going to go to ebay and get it, not wait for years until GW gets around to replacing it.

In all, it's a sad state of affairs.  GW has every right to control the supply of their product however it would like.  I'm not really blaming them.  It may just be too costly for them to keep all of these miniatures available. As a collector and player it is just sad to think that GW spent all of these years building a large catalog of miniatures, and rules for using them, only to have so many of them go out of print for whatever reason, while players and collectors are still willing to pay good money for those minis.

Miniatures update

I started working on some miniatures this week.  I got a starter box of Space Wolves, and I have them partially assembled. I opened up my box of painting supplies that has been in storage for the better part of a decade to discover that most of the paints have dried up.  That wasn't much of surprise since most of them are pushing 20 years old! The ones that had dried up were a mix of old Ral Partha paints from the late 80s early 90s era, and some screw top Citadels from the early 2000s.  The only ones to survive?  Flip top Citadels from the late 80s!

At any rate, this necessitates a lot new paints.  I've been looking around at the new Citadel stuff, the Vallejo range, and Army Painter.  I haven't made up my mind yet, but I'm leaning towards Army Painter because they offer a fairly low priced set, and their spray primers seem to be exactly what I need. I'm guessing that any of these will do nicely as I'm one of those cheap bastards that has used the cheap paints from the craft store in the past.

Update: I took the plunge and went for the Army Painter Mega Paint set, and a can of the Wolf Grey primer.  I'm not buying into their Quickshade process though.  I remember talking to old grognards in the 80's that swore by dipping their miniatures in minwax, and everyone one they showed me looked like crap. I'm going to stick to traditional inks and washes (most of my old ones have survived storage), and matte sealer.

New Projects

I'm still trying to find time to work on my Searchers of the Unknown remix, but I've been slightly busy with work and taxes in recent weeks.  Now it looks like another hobby is creeping back in to my life.  I just won one of these at work last week:

In addition, I just got a good deal on a box of Space Wolves.  So 40k here I come.  Still going to finish those house rules, I promise.  Looking forward to using them with Paul Hughes's gigantic random dungeon generator

Snakemen > Lizardmen

Giant snakes with arms!  These are so badass.  Next time I use a published module that calls for Lizardmen I am sooo replacing them with these guys.

Retrospective: Mordheim

I have a love/hate relationship with Games Workshop.  I could go on for hours about the hate side of it, but I think everyone is aware of the normal criticisms of GW by now.  I do love the Warhammer universe though, and from time to time they put out some really cool games.  It seems that their best games aren't always the most popular though, and they aren't given the long term support that they deserve. Necromunda, Epic 40k, GorkaMorka. Adeptus Titanicus all fall into this category, as does Mordheim.

If you aren't familiar with it, Mordheim is a skirmish level fantasy combat game, fitting somewhere in between an RPG and wargame.  Each player has a warband of about 5-20 models.  The game centers on the city of Mordheim which has been destroyed by a comet, and the bands of adventures that have come to plunder the remains of the city and gather the precious magical warpstone from the comet.  The warbands are themed units based on different troop types from around the Empire, and some more more monstrous units like beastmen and skaven.  Over the course of time, official and unofficial warband lists have been created for just about every sort of Warhammer army and troop type.

What I love about the game is that it doesn't require a lot of work or time, yet is very fun and has a lot of replay value.  Collecting an army of over 100 miniatures is a daunting task, not to mention expensive.  15-20 is great for a beginner or those that are short on cash, space and/or time.  There are also plenty of ideas for scenarios, and the campaign rules give the game depth and purpose.  The rules are fairly simple, being a slightly modified version of Warhammer Fantasy Battles, the major difference being that units don't "form up" in blocks, thus removing the need for a lot of the movement rules.

In short, Mordheim is everything Battlesystem Skirmishes could have been.  With a focused and detailed setting, thematic army lists and campaign rules, Mordheim is a complete game, not just a set of rules.  Yet, if you wanted to, you could take he skeleton of those rules, and use it for a different purpose, say an RPG?

GW lists this as a Specialist game, which mean they aren't producing new material for it, and most of the rules and miniatures have to be ordered online.  It also means they aren't running games in the stores, which is a shame because I think it is a great way to introduce people to the hobby.  Fortunately there is still some good fan support for the game, and a revised set of rules named "Coreheim" is freely available.

BattleSystem Skirmishes

We've all had this situation in our game.  A large party of players, possibly with some NPC help, gets into a fight with a large group of monsters. Suddenly book keeping becomes an issue.  Lots and lots of dice are being rolled.  What looks like a fun fight at first bogs down and takes far too long.  So how do you as a GM deal with battles that aren't full scale warfare, but are larger than your normal encounter?

Back in the early days of 2nd edition, we had BattleSystem Skirmishes.  Most of us remember the various versions of the BattleSystem mass combat rules, but BattleSystem Skirmishes was the less popular and now forgotten system that bridged the gap between RPG and tabletop wargame.  Skirmishes represents individual models on a 1:1 scale, as opposed to the 10:1 or some larger scale that is used in most wargames.  In this way it has more in common with today's pre-painted miniatures games like D&D minis and the Clix games.  As a wargame, it really wasn't all that interesting.  In fact, I don't recall anyone ever using it as such.  However, it did do one thing fairly well, and that was simplifying and speeding up combat for 2e AD&D.

Even though the book goes on and on about the rules of combat, and has good size list of monsters spells and magic items, we only really needed about 2 pages of the book.  Those pages provided charts and rules for converting 2e characters to Skirmishes rules, which actually turns out to be a very simple process.  Hit points and damage are now represented as hit dice or just "hits".  A 1 hit die create from 2e had 1 hit in skirmishes.  your standard weapon that would do a d8 damage in 2e did 1 hit.  Skirmishes used Thaco and armor class, just like 2e with just a few other modifiers. Other than that, you could just use all of the other standard rpg style rules. I loved this system, because it got rid of the damage roll, and weaker creatures were either alive or dead.  You no longer had to keep track of 20 kobolds that had taken wounds.  Even creatures with more hits could be tracked with a die or another simple marker (really tiny d6s were great for this).

Even though this was written with 2e in mind, it would work with any old version of D&D once you see how the conversion works.

Now for something completely different.

Sometimes I miss these guys.