Gaming Focus

Recently I have been having various discussions about gaming with several of my gaming friends about gaming in general.  Now all of this is just my personal feelings.  I realized a long time ago that no two gamers see the hobby exactly the same.  I know gamers that are even more easily distracted than I am (which says a lot), gamers that seemingly never get rid of anything, others that have a lot of unstarted projects but only play one game, and others that play only one or two things and are happy with it.  Much of this goes back to something I have struggled with for quite some time:

• The "look shiney" or "squirrel" effect of jumping into new projects before old projects even see the table, or before I have a feeling on how a game actually plays or whether my friends will truly be interested in playing.

The conversations with my gaming friends have just really reinforced my new found mantra of doing what makes me happy.  I believe I am going to cut back some on the number of games/systems I play.  I feel that it may be difficult for me to not get distracted and remain focused in doing so, but in the long run if I can overcome that struggle, I will likely be able to accomplish more of what I really want to do focused on rules/periods that I really enjoy and am familiar with. 

Another issue that drives some of my gamer friends crazy is how I divest/get rid of stuff.  Meanwhile it drives me crazy to have: 

• Armies sitting unused for extended periods of time (years in some cases);
• Projects sitting (again sometimes for years) not being started or started and never worked on to completion because someone else has more than enough stuff for me to game; and,
• Not playing a set of rules or similar rules on a frequent enough basis that I don't have to keep thumbing through the rules to look stuff up.

I have always seen my hobby materials, figures, rules, etc. as "currency" in effect that I can sell or trade off to fund the next greatest thing.  The wheeling and dealing I do is part of the hobby to me, and in the past I have sold unused projects to fund new projects frequently; in some cases I have even gone back and reinvested in scales/periods/genres that I had previously gotten rid of.  I regret the time lost painting and basing when I do this and it is something I did myself, but if it is something I paid to get painted then I certainly don't have the same attachment.  I think this will continue, but since I will be narrowing my focus it is more likely to mean getting rid of some stuff for projects my heart isn't into or possibly changing scales to better fit what I want to do.

The difficult answer I have to come up with now is where to start?

10mm For Gaming Ancients & Medievals - A New Start

When I first started gaming ancients & medievals, I used 15mm because that's what the group of guys that introduced me to DBx were using.  I later migrated fully to 28mm as I became fully involved in Warhammer Ancient Battles (WAB); this included getting rid of my 15mm armies to fund 28mm.  When Warhammer Historical was shut down I really felt it as a punch to the gut; not only would it become next to impossible to get new players into WAB, but all of the time I had spent working on (play testing, proof reading, etc.) the 100YW supplement, the Successors supplement, and others was lost...time I would never have back for wonderfully written books that will never see the light of day because of how the company that "owns" the material operates. My 28mm armies just sat unused.  I tried to get interested in other rules, but interest seemed to die off locally as well.  Eventually I sold and traded my 28's off for 15mm again.

Last year though I started to shift my perspective on gaming and heed the words of a friend..."do what makes you happy...", so here I am starting over again when it comes to mass battles for ancients & medievals.  I am keeping 28mm for skirmish games like SAGA, but for big battles I am moving to 10mm.  My first test is in the pictures below.  I bought a painted army based for Warmaster Ancients off of ebay and realized that this will give me an opportunity to have units be a single base instead of multiple bases like in many games.  I fiddled with frontages and depths before arriving at 100mm by 50mm for infantry and 100mm by 60mm for cavalry, warbands and pike phalanxes.  I think this gives a nice massed look, allows the units to be handled by the bases instead of the figures (something that always drove me crazy with the Warmaster basing and most 15mm basing conventions), allows for for more diorama style basing (like adding some casualties or skirmishers in front of a unit of heavy infantry), and will still allow me to play a wide variety of games since most rules really just depend on similar basing for units.  Now, I did think of basing skirmishers and horse archers, etc. on narrower frontages in order to fit as "small" units for Hail Caesar, but decided against it in the long run.  Since this is a solo project where I intend to build matching armies and host games for my friends which they won't have to contribute anything except for their time, I will simply have unit rosters noting the unit size when/if needed...no big deal to me.

So, here I am...doing something that I have thought about for a long time...finally...and enjoying it.  The pictures don't due these units justice as I didn't feel like setting up the photo box today.  More to come as I get painting on this project...

Time Is Flying By in 2016

Man, where have the first 3 months of 2016 gone?  It seems like it was just New Years.  I certainly haven't been as active posting here as I would like; it seems like I find excuses not to post when it doesn't really take all that much time...something I need to work on for sure.

The good news is that I have been pretty active on the gaming front.  I've played a lot of different games, including playing in the Shifting Sands Flames of War event in January, and the Gathering in the Desert Bolt Action Operation Torch campaign event in February.  I enjoyed both thoroughly...played some excellent opponents and had a fun time.  I actually managed to be the top Axis commander with my Italian Paras in the Bolt Action event with a 1 win, 1 loss, and 3 tie record...just goes to show how poorly the Axis did!  Next year Shifting Sands is supposed to be Team Yankee, so I'll be passing on it...not that I have anything against Team Yankee, it's just that I have plenty else to do and I need to draw some lines.  Gathering in the Desert next year is supposed to be Normandy, so I am more likely to build a force for that than I am getting into a new period.

I haven't completed much painting this year, though I have been working a a few different things.  I prepped a couple of 15mm WWI armies for Great War to be painted by Saguaro Painting Service, painted some 28mm WWII, based some figures for SAGA, and have been rebasing a 10mm army as I shift to that scale for my big battle ancients and medieval gaming.

Here are 3 Perry Brother WWII German Fallschirmjager MG teams.  I am going to use these as additions to my Italian Para force when I want to play Chain of Command as the unit structure is different than that in Bolt Action.  They are nice figures, but a little smaller than the Warlord Games Italian Paras as you can see in the comparison shot:

 Comparison - Perry on the left and Warlord on the right

I also contracted some 28mm Varangian Guard for my SAGA Byzantines.  The painter, Andrew K., had posted some stuff for sale on a forum and I liked his work.  He was great to deal with and said he liked painting these up.  The figures are from Crusader Miniatures with the exception of Harald Hardrada which is a Gripping Beast figures.  All have LMBS shield transfers.

Harald Hardrada

 Command

 Spearmen - Front

 Spearmen - Rear

Well, that's it for now.  The next post will definitely be sometime in April as I show off the 10mm figures I've been working on.  I am not sure what I'm going to work on after that...it will be something as I think I'm starting to get back into a groove.

Looking Back/Looking Ahead - 2015/2016 Edition

Every year at this time I look back on my hobby goals for the year and look ahead to what the new year will bring.  I find doing so gives me a chance to focus on a few things, something which usually fades as I bounce around from project to project...such is life :-)

For 2015 I wanted to play at least one game a week; with 77 total and a record of 43-28-6 I managed that.  A great number of games were Pathfinder - Skulls & Shackles, a fun game.  We are almost done with that adventure path and will be taking a break from that system for a while, so I will find other things to fill the gap in 2016 and hope to meet the 1 game a week goal again.

I had a good year painting with 374 pieces completed, mostly due to the recently finished Flames of War army I completed.  I have plenty of projects to work on including: 2 28mm SAGA armies, 2 28mm Crescent & Cross armies, 28mm WW2 Poles and Japanese SNLF, 15mm Flames of War early war Soviet armor, 15mm American Revolution, 15mm WWI, 15mm Eastern Renaissance, and 10mm ancients.  I recently followed my own advice to "do what you want to do" in regards to gaming.  For a long time I have wanted to do 10mm ancients/medievals and I finally took the plunge.  I divested myself of all of my 15mm ancients & medievals (except for SAGA) and will start on my 10mm project.  I really look forward to having a large number of models on a single base representing an entire unit.  I will also be contracting out some painting like I always do so that will hopefully speed a few things up for me.

I set a goal of working on my hobby stuff for 182.5 hours in 2015.  I fell short of that, but I don't consider it a failure as I had never tracked my time before.  My goal for 2016 is simply to just commit more time (no gaming time which wasn't included) than in 2015; a goal that I should be able to accomplish.

As I start 2016 I am prepping some 15mm WWI figures and also have some 10mm troops prepped to serve as a test case to help me figure out my basing.  I have lots to do and hope to knock a few things off of my "to do" list in the year ahead.  Stay tuned for my irregular updates!

Polish 10th Brygada Kawalerii Pancernej in France - Completed!

Well, it has taken me longer than expected, but I finally completed the 15mm Polish 10th Brygada Kawalerii Pancernej force I started months ago.  The entire force is Battlefront miniatures with the exception of the 4 French 75mm artillery pieces and the 6 R40 tanks which are from Old Glory.  The painting on this has actually been done for quite some time, but anyone who knows me knows that I really dislike basing figures; so the painted figures sat there looking at me...taunting me...until I finally gave in and based them.

I like how this force looks, and enjoyed painting it; I can't wait to get it on the table. I was going to use it in Shifting Sands 2016, but over the summer I started running again.  My weight had gotten up there in the spring and I really wasn't feeling or looking healthy.  It has been 10 years since I ran a half-marathon, and with 50 just a few years off I figured no time like the present.  The good news is that I have lost over 30 pounds...the bad news is that the half-marathon I plan on running is the same weekend as Shifting Sands.  Oh, well...at least the army is done, and here it is:

Company Command with 25mm AT Gun Section

Company Command Mortars (2x81mm & 1x60mm)

1st Platoon (6 Rifle MG teams, 1 VB Grenade Launcher team, Platoon Command team)

2nd Platoon (6 Rifle MG teams, 1 VB Grenade Launcher team, Platoon Command team)

3rd Platoon (6 Rifle MG teams, 1 VB Grenade Launcher team, Platoon Command team)

25mm Anti-tank Gun Platoon 

Machine Gun Platoon

Artillery Battery 1

Artillery Battery 2

20mm Anti-Aircraft Platoon

1st Tank Platoon 

2nd Tank Platoon

Up next I am going to prep some 15mm WWI for Saguaro Painting Service to paint, then work on some other projects...more on that in my obligatory year end/new year post...

New Project - Polish 10th Brygada Kawalerii Pancernej in France

I've been getting in a lot of games this year, but I have had trouble focusing on getting projects done/stuff painted.  With Shifting Sands 2016 confirmed as early war centered around the German invasion of Poland and France, I think I finally have some motivation to focus on a project and completing it.  I could just use my Polish 10th Mechanized Brigade ("the Black Brigade") or my early war German Panzer or Grenadier forces, but instead I have decided to do the one evolution of "the Black Brigade" I don't already have - the 10th Brygada Kawalerii Pancernej - 10th Armoured Cavalry Brigade for France 1940.

Many of the members of "the Black Brigade" that escaped the fall of Poland by crossing into Hungary traveled to France to help form the Polish Army in exile.  General Maczek, the commander of "the Black Brigade" formed the 10th Armoured Cavalry Brigade.  Highly motivated, but poorly equipped and treated less than professionally by the French, the 10th fought well in the Champagne and Bourgogne regions supporting their French allies only to be cut-off when neighboring French units retreated/withdrew.  General Maczek again ordered his men to leave another defeated country - those that managed to escape France helped form the core of the Polish 1st Armoured Division that would return to France in 1944.

This Flames of War force will use the "Compagnie de Fusiliers-Voltigeurs" Colonial list from Blitzkrieg.  The Fearless Trained rating of the Colonials seem to fit the Poles in this instance as they will not use the Trench Warfare or Integrated Defences rules, but will hit on 3+ during assaults.  I've got 211 infantry/crew figures, 15 guns/mortars and 6 tanks to paint up as pictured below.  An interesting note is that the tanks used by the 10th Armoured Cavalry Brigade were R-40's - Battlefront doesn't make this model, so I'm using Old Glory for them and the French 75's (all other models are Battlefront).  I will just use the stats for the Hotchkiss tanks with the R40 models since they are nearly identical.  Here is everything prepped and primed:

Now, some of my gaming buddies question my ability and desire to paint for myself anymore since I seem to be continually farming out painting projects to Tim at Saguaro Painting Service or Philgreg painters.  I still like to paint for myself, it's just that I have a lot of projects and haven't been able to focus on many.  I can, and will paint this army myself...and proceed to defeat the doubters on the game table!  Expect updates as I make progress on this force...

SAGA - Byzantines Complete



It's been a few months since I've posted...not because I haven't been doing anything gaming-related, I've just been busy (and a bit lazy when it comes to this blog).  Anyway, I just finished up a 28mm Byzantine force for SAGA.  All of the figures are Gripping Beast, which are great figures IMO.  The banners are from LBMS; this is the first time I used their products and they were actually pretty easy to work with once I did the first one and realized how I messed up :-) !  Note to self, follow the directions!  Anyway, the force consists of 4 units of 8 warriors (one with bow), 2 units of mounted hearthguard, and the warlord.  The hearthguard can be ran as all bow, or if I want one unit of bow and one with kontos, I can just adjust accordingly.  For some reason the picture of the warlord is a little washed out; I have no idea why this happened since the camera settings were all the same. 

 

Warrior Unit 1



 Warrior Unit 2

 Warrior Unit 3

 Warrior Unit 4 with Bows

 Hearthguard Unit 1

 Hearthguard Unit 2

 Warlord

As you can see by the tracking on the left-hand column, I am a few hours behind on my 1/2 hour a day goal for the year.  With summer coming I hope to catch up as there is only so much time that you want to spend outside in Arizona in the summer!  I have gotten in a lot of games, and have plenty more scheduled including a 3 game SAGA "non-event" run by Tim K over at "Cursed Treasures", and a late war Flames of War tournament in late July.  In the meantime, I'll keep playing various games and having fun.

With the Byzantines finished up, next on my painting cue is a 15mm Polish skirmish force for By Fire and Sword.  I had actually started painting on those figures before finishing off the Byzantines; having an event planned for SAGA gave me the motivation to finish something off which is good since now I have one less project to worry about.  I'm not sure what I'll work on after the Poles; I have lots of possibilities...right now I'm leaning toward picking something with minimal work needed to finish so I can feel like I'm making progress on my mountain of lead.  Anyway, that's all for now...happy gaming!