TheRPGSite

Other Games, Development, & Campaigns => Other Games => Topic started by: joewolz on April 19, 2007, 09:54:39 AM

Title: Miniature Wargames? Where's the Love?
Post by: joewolz on April 19, 2007, 09:54:39 AM
Aiight, folks, I know there's at least some 40k players around here.  I don't play it myself, but I LOVE GorkaMorka.

I also play Confrontation, Starship Troopers (can't wait for Evolution...) and Hordes.

What other minis games do yuz play?
Title: Miniature Wargames? Where's the Love?
Post by: Christmas Ape on April 19, 2007, 10:04:44 AM
I'm in an established, if not terribly frequent, campaign of Necromunda. Having recently retooled my Cawdor from the ground up into a more assault shooty/push forward gang, Father Leibowitz's Revival Hour is ready to kick some ass.

Whenever we manage to play again....:(
Title: Miniature Wargames? Where's the Love?
Post by: Settembrini on April 19, 2007, 10:27:45 AM
Battletech doesn´t count, does it?
Title: Miniature Wargames? Where's the Love?
Post by: The Good Assyrian on April 19, 2007, 10:35:08 AM
It's been hard to make time for any gaming, much less miniatures, lately, but here is a list of minis games that I enjoy playing in no particular order:

Mordheim
Space Hulk
Full Thrust
Babylon 5: ACTA
Flames of War
Command Decision 3
(playing no more than a battalion per player)
Charlie Company
Volley and Bayonet
Chris Engle's Matrix Game
Heart of Oak
Victory at Sea
Harpoon
Ether Ships and Ironclads


I am lucky in that we have a very active miniature wargaming scene in Austin and one of my best friends happens to own the FLGS that caters to the minis gamers... :cool:


TGA
Title: Miniature Wargames? Where's the Love?
Post by: The Good Assyrian on April 19, 2007, 10:38:54 AM
Quote from: SettembriniBattletech doesn´t count, does it?

Why not?  It is a pretty crunchy tactical game.  I play it on occasion, but to be honest it isn't one of my favorites.  However I have a strange obsession with the game that has followed me through the years to try to make it more "realistic" (I know, I know...).  Usually when we play it we play miniature style (no hexes, using a tape measure) and double all weapon ranges.  It feels more "modern" to me.  I also like to use the advanced rules for infantry to make them more effective on the battlefield.


TGA
Title: Miniature Wargames? Where's the Love?
Post by: joewolz on April 19, 2007, 11:02:31 AM
Quote from: SettembriniBattletech doesn´t count, does it?

Hell Yeah it counts!  I mean, no one here is going to disparage anyone else's toys.
Title: Miniature Wargames? Where's the Love?
Post by: Settembrini on April 19, 2007, 01:42:22 PM
Cool!
I just started painting, and I trained on my Mechs. Then I went to some fantasy figs I had. Helluvalot more difficult.

I finally found out how to put sand on a base, that was a small step for humanity but a giant leap for settembrinikind.

Oh, the reason why I started is that I found  out about acrylic colours. Big difference...
Title: Miniature Wargames? Where's the Love?
Post by: Mcrow on April 19, 2007, 01:53:14 PM
None lately, but I like and have played:

CBT
Flames of War
SST
Battlefield EVO
B5 ACTA
Spearhead
Micro Armor
Title: Miniature Wargames? Where's the Love?
Post by: joewolz on April 19, 2007, 01:55:38 PM
Got any pics of your stuff Sett?

I will post pics of my Plasma Bug (http://www.joewolz.com/plasma) from SST...since I'm a showoff who really liked the conversion I did...
Title: Miniature Wargames? Where's the Love?
Post by: Settembrini on April 20, 2007, 03:59:11 PM
I´ve only got access to a 1.3 megapixels camera, and can´t make decent photographs. any pointers or tricks?
Title: Miniature Wargames? Where's the Love?
Post by: The Good Assyrian on April 20, 2007, 04:36:55 PM
Quote from: SettembriniI´ve only got access to a 1.3 megapixels camera, and can´t make decent photographs. any pointers or tricks?

It's all in the lighting.  Your camera should be fine for anything intended for display on a computer screen.  Just make sure you have good lighting, preferably coming from more than one source.

On topic, has anyone here ever tried running a Matrix Game (http://www.io.com/~hamster/englematrixgames.html) by Chris Engle?  I have used the system both for RPGs and wargaming and found that it produces great results.

The basic idea in the wargame version is that you define very basic rules before the game begins.  Usually I just do simple rules for moving and shooting.  Then each turn the players can make an "argument" that is rated by the referee and then rolled for.  If successful, the argument can modify the rules of the game.  One advantage to this approach is that you can account for any of a number of things that are almost never included in wargames rules, but sometimes have a tremendous impact on historical outcomes, like terrain, weather, or plain old random events.  For example, it is clunky to have rules to produce effects like Constantine's army seeing the cross in the sky and surging to victory, but in a Matrix game that is simply a successful argument that may give your Christians a melee bonus!

One example of how I have used this approach in the past was at a local convention when I ran a Star Wars game using some Micromachine minis I had based on washers.  I set up a game in 10 minutes and it was a hoot.  The players built up a set of rules that matched the genre expectations of the Star Wars universe (in fact, it was to your advantage to base your arguments on these expectations so that they had a greater chance of success) and they threw in random events, and just plain wacky special rules.  At one point the Imperial team offered to do the "Chicken Dance" every time they got a +1 to use the heavy blasters on their AT-STs against the Rebel shield generator.  The looks from the other tables was priceless.  And the Rebels used some very cool arguments to model their small group of Jedis on the battlefield.


TGA
Title: Miniature Wargames? Where's the Love?
Post by: Settembrini on April 21, 2007, 06:48:48 AM
Here my first attempts at Mini painting and photography:

(http://hofrat.rollenspiel-berlin.de/MadRifle.jpg)
Title: Miniature Wargames? Where's the Love?
Post by: joewolz on April 21, 2007, 07:24:41 AM
THose look cool!  Maybe back up a bit, though, center them in the frame, so they're not quite as blurry.  The paint scheme looks rocking, though.
Title: Miniature Wargames? Where's the Love?
Post by: Settembrini on April 21, 2007, 09:03:28 AM
Well thanks for the warm words, at least you are encouraging me to make more photographs.

I´d not dare to make that in a Battletch forum, those "painter´s guilds", wow they are real good, but also let everybody know it.

Something completely different:

How do you paint eyes on fantasy figs? Right now I resorted to using a 0,1mm black pen, cause my brush will only leave a big ugly splotch.
Title: Miniature Wargames? Where's the Love?
Post by: ElectroKitty on April 22, 2007, 10:39:30 PM
Heroscape?

*ducks*
Title: Miniature Wargames? Where's the Love?
Post by: pells on April 24, 2007, 04:15:24 AM
I used to paint my own figurines and play warhammer while I was younger, but this just takes too much time for me now ...

That said, I'm still a big fan of wargames and the setting of mechwarrior or battletech (big robots on the battlefield : always nice !!!). So, I've discovered recently mechwarrior (http://www.wizkidsgames.com/mechwarrior/).

The game is very nice, setup (5 to 10 minutes) is quick, it plays fast (around 30 to 45 minutes for a game), and the minis are prepainted !!!

Here's an example (http://www.wizkidsgames.com/mechwarrior/figuregallery.asp?unitid=9931).

And the game doesn't use any hexes ...
Title: Miniature Wargames? Where's the Love?
Post by: kryyst on April 24, 2007, 03:52:15 PM
As far as I'm concerned it's all about the Blood Bowl.
Title: Miniature Wargames? Where's the Love?
Post by: kryyst on April 25, 2007, 04:54:36 PM
Quote from: The Good AssyrianAt one point the Imperial team offered to do the "Chicken Dance" every time they got a +1 to use the heavy blasters on their AT-STs against the Rebel shield generator.  The looks from the other tables was priceless.  And the Rebels used some very cool arguments to model their small group of Jedis on the battlefield.
TGA

This sounds like chaos and I cannot accept your reality.