Thursday, April 30, 2015

Nostalgia Thursday - Old School Quarterly, 7 Secret Maps, & Tactical Wargamer

There's a new quarterly in the works for Old School gaming material.  It's appropriately named Old School Quarterly and more information is available here.


Also, it seems, that Dyson Logos and his Seven Secret Maps are tied into this new OSQuarterly venture but it has yet to become apparent.  Check those maps out here.


Finally, The Tactical Wargamer includes "Information and history regarding commercial games depicting modern ground combat at the tactical level."  Check it out here.


Focusing on the roots of current tabletop gaming
with an eye toward the last century and before.
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Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Wargaming Wednesday - Chainmail with Cabai

A recent posting on Wayne Rossi's wonderful Semper Initiativus Unum blog regarding "Chainmail and OD&D Morale" had me recalling the wonderful time I had at Gary Con, in no small part because of the Gamemastering efforts of Kevin Cabai.  Wayne was discussing some observations made on RPG.net by Mike Mornard and adding some ideas of his own regarding the use of morale from the Chainmail ruleset in the original Dungeon & Dragons game.  It's a good read, so check it out!


My own experience with Chainmail began in the early 1970s at various games clubs in Northern Illinois.  These were primarily wargaming clubs populated by older teens (often in ROTC) and fellas from the Great Lakes Naval Training Center and Fort Sheridan.  Mostly military personnel with a handful of civilians including scrappy kids like myself who loved moving chits around hexes or minis on a tabletop.  My first wargame was Tactic II but once I saw minis in use, and particularly Chainmail being played, I was hooked on the Medieval period and later it's fantastical offshoot(s).  I recently played a wonderful LotR scenario using rules based on the original Chainmail, streamlined for play in a four hour time slot with eight players by Kevin Cabai at Gary Con VII.  I had a blast.  I try to play some Chainmail every year since those old days, missing very few years and playing a handful of games in some years.


I love when a game is well-executed and streamlined allowing for faster play.  Now, I am not talking about adjusting the rules, which is fine enough if done well, but rather doing things with the physical space and objects being used for gaming.  For example, the counters Kevin had set up for the various conditions of the troops like Charge and Routing for handy and clear.  Dice trays has inset tables for easy reference.  When more dice that a few were needed, a crafting box had been set up with pairs of dice in each compartment and the compartments numbered so that the box could be shaken and results viewed through the lid.  Each commander had a book with all needed reference information and each sub-commander had a double-sided sheet with his troops defined, including some history.  It was an amazingly well run game as always from Kevin Cabai!







A closer examination of board and miniatures Wargaming.
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Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Terrain Tuesday - Hills-Outcrops, Swamps-Bogs, & Castle Walls

Over on the GreenLeaf Terrain YouTube channel, he showcases his Hills & Rock Outcrops.  Enjoy.



Also, on TheTerrainTutor Terrain YouTube channel, there is a newish tutorial on "How to do basic swamps, marshes & boggy ground wargames scenery."  Watch and learn.



Finally, on the Stronghold Crafter Kev YouTube channel, there is a very detailed series of eight videos on "Castle Terrain, Wall Tutorials [. . .] - Designing a Modular Castle Wall."  The first one if below but immerse yourself in a playlist I cobbled together here.



For purposes here, the term Terrain is used broadly
to cover 3D and 2D maps, foam, felt, and such.
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Monday, April 27, 2015

Minis & Modeling Monday - Wargames Foundry, Dock with Small Boat, & Funagain Minis

If you haven't had a look before, or lately, check out all the cool minis available from Wargames Foundry here.  They've got lots of wargames minis, obviously, but many, many good for the RPG table as well.


Also, Amber's Secret Cove is offering a direct deal to Friends through the Facebook page here.  Have a look but, in a nutshell, is a a stretch of dock and small boat as pictured with the potential for an add-on.


Finally, before the last of the Funagain Spring clearance stuff gets away from us, there are a ton of mins from various line available at some very good prices here.  I'm particularly impressed at the 70% discount on the "D&D Miniatures: The Scourge of Suderham."


A look at prepping and painting Miniatures,
crafting buildings and paper Models,
and other non-terrain stuff for the tabletop..
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Sunday, April 26, 2015

The Sunday Miscellanea - Elemental Evil Boardgame & Dungeons of Dread

You can check out some details on Board Game Geek or on the WotC website but the Temple of Elemental Evil board game releases at the end of this month.

Also, I am not sure when the sale ends but the AD&D 1st Edition: Dungeons of Dread hardback which has reprints of the S-Series of adventures plus additional material is on sale at Funagain Games here.


Finally, see what the Dungeon Delver has to say about those classic adventures, their origins, and that tome in particular on his YouTube channel.



Essentially, a clearinghouse for topics on MFWARS.com
not covered elsewhere or wanting a particular focus.
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Saturday, April 25, 2015

Systems Saturday - Hyperborea (2014)

I recently got to play a couple of games of Hyperborea (2014) and found it to be complex and challenging in all the right ways.  It hit on many of my favorite aspects of gameplay: a bit wargamey, includes exploration, and has many avenues to achieving victory.  It's a two to six player game set in a fantasy world where rival realms battle for supremacy.


From the description on Board Game Geek:
The mythical realm of Hyperborea was ruled by an ancient civilization that used magical crystals as their main source of energy. With time, the Hyperboreans became greedy, and their search for power in the deep made the crystals unstable, causing earthquakes, mutations, droughts and floods. Hyperboreans just dug deeper, and only a few wise mages, foreseeing the inevitable, built an unbreakable magical barrier. When the unharnessed magical energy was unleashed from the deep, the Hyperborean civilization was destroyed in a single day, only the magical barrier preventing the disappearance of life from the whole land. The survivors living in the small outposts outside Hyperborea were now sealed out by the barrier. The knowledge of crystals was declared forbidden it was because too dangerous, or simply forgotten.
Over centuries, six rival realms were born from the ashes of the Hyperborean civilization: the militarist Red Duchy; the Emerald Kingdom and its death-delivering archers; the Purple Matriarchy fanatically worshipping the goddess of life; the skilled diplomats and merchants of the Golden Barony; the Coral Throne with its efficiently organized society and finally the secluded and enigmatic Celestial Reign.
The fragile peace between the different realms was not intended to last. One day, the magical barrier suddenly collapsed. A whole new land stood in front of the six kingdoms, still haunted by the old Hyperboreans turned into harmless but ominous ghosts, full of ruins to discover and cities to explore. Each realm is now sending its best warriors and explorers to Hyperborea in order to achieve dominance over their rivals, but which will prevail? Brutal strength or deep understanding of science? The discovery of valuable artifacts in the lost ruins or the retaking of long, lost cities? Only you, as the leader of one of the factions, can lead your people to the ultimate dominance over Hyperborea!
Set in a mythical land of the same name, Hyperborea is a light civilization game for 2 to 6 players that takes 20-25 minutes per player. The game begins at the time when the magic barrier protecting access to the mythical continent of Hyperborea suddenly falls.
Each player takes the role of the leader of a small kingdom situated just outside the now open to be conquered and explored land. Her kingdom has limited knowledge of housing, trade, movement, warfare, research, and growth, but new and exciting powers are hidden in Hyperborea. During the game, this kingdom will grow in numbers and raise armies, extend its territory, explore and conquer, learn new technologies, etc...
The game's main mechanism, which can be described as "bag-building", involves you building a pool of "civilicubes". Each cube represents specializations for your kingdom: war, trade, movement, building, knowledge, growth. Grey cubes represent corruption and waste, and players will acquire them by developing new technologies. (Power corrupts by its own definition, and the more complex a society becomes, the more waste it generates.) Each turn, players draw three random cubes from their bags, then use them to activate knowledge (technologies) they own.

My friends Wayne and Dale picked this game up and we got to play two five-players games of it in succession at the monthly A Gathering of Gamers event hosted by Southern Lakes Area Gamers (S.L.A.G.) in Wisconsin.  They have a Facebook group to join here and a Board Game Geek Guild presence here.  It is a relatively easy game to pick up and play but there are a lot of balls to keep in the air for each player so it is advisable to try out the simpler "Invasion" version of the game before moving on to the "Race War" complex version.  The player mats go a long way to keeping the various actions manageable and are quite clever in design, presenting all the options in an iconic manner.  This is a game I could see myself playing on a regular basis and finding it a lot of fun every time.  The company website is here but you can grab a copy of the rule book for Hyperborea here.


A look under the hood of various Games, Rules and Systems.
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Friday, April 24, 2015

Tabletopper Friday - Concept, Fresh Fish, & Imperialism

Over on the Geek & Sundry YouTube channel, there is a new episode of TableTop with from Wil Wheaton with Rhett McLaughlin, Link Neal, and Joseph Scrimshaw playing Concept (2013).  Enjoy!



Also, from the boardgamegeektv YouTube channel, check out the GameNight! crew playing Fresh Fish (2014).  Have fun!



Finally, again from the boardgamegeektv YouTube channel, Beth Heile speaks with Kaja Pietrasik about Imperialism: Road to Domination (2014).  Watch and learn.


Mostly about card games and board games,
unless they have a decidedly wargamey feel.
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Thursday, April 23, 2015

Nostalgia Thursday - Vintage Boardgames, High Elf Tactics, & Gygaxian History

Over on boingboing.net, a recent article shows how to "Enter the dull world of vintage corporate boardgames" here.


Also, on ttgamingdiary.wordpress.com, Matthew Sprange shares his "High Elf Tactical Thoughts" here.


Finally, on farsightblogger.blogspot.ca, we're told of the upcoming "Empire of Imagination - Gary Gygax and the Birth of Dungeons & Dragons" book here.


Focusing on the roots of current tabletop gaming
with an eye toward the last century and before.
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Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Wargaming Wednesday - The Combat Experience (RPG Blog Carnival April 2015)

I'm stretching the meaning of the RPG Blog Carnival for April 2015, "The Combat Experience," even as I utilize the Wargaming Wednesday spot on the MF WARS corner of the CMG Blog Triad this month.  I'm doing so to point out how one can take some aspects of the RPG ancestor of Wargaming and apply them to RPGs in ways that allow for a more immersive experience for campaigns that have a mass combat theme.


Too often, player characters in RPGs, and I'll look primarily at Medieval Fantasy games for this post, have to be sidelined when great armies clash.  It's difficult to integrate between scales in a way that doesn't require fudging and hand-waving while keeping the players in a position where they feel they have agency and are making choices that make a difference in the grand scheme of the campaign during battles between large, opposing forces.  There have been a lot of RPGs that came out with addendum-type supplements meant to allow players to experience wargaming while RPGing but this seems like a backward approach to me.  The first time a roleplaying game and wargaming rules were tied to one another, the roleplaying game was developed out of the wargaming rules, not the other way around.  This was, of course, back in the earl 1970s with Dungeons & Dragons being developed as a roleplaying game system from the Chainmail rules.


This has long had me thinking that for a final roleplaying game product to have a chance of being able to integrate well with wargaming scenarios, that same progression of development might prove to be the best approach.  My own experimental Medieval Fantasy Wargame and Roleplaying System (MF WARS) is based on that premise.  I've been working on this system for many years and it is still being developed and playtested as it reaches new stages.  In the meantime, I make sure to stay abreast of the latest in wargaming rules and most recently have been taking a hard look at Lion Rampant – Medieval Wargaming Rules from Osprey Publishing.  I love the work they did with Field of Glory and hope that same level of quality will be present.


I encourage any GM of RPGs who wants to include mass combat scenarios in their own games to experiment in the same way.  Become proficient or at least familiar with wargaming rules.  Even if you don't want to make the investments of time and money on your own, visit some local gaming conventions and sign up for whatever is on offer.  Even board wargames can help inform how you run such scenarios in an RPG, so look for games that have similar periods to your own genre of choice and try some of those out.  It'll all help when you run scenarios that crossover into this different scale of combat.  Most importantly, to make such a crossover work well in RPGs, keep a close eye on where leaders tend to wind up and imagine what would come under their immediate and direct purview.  That is the place where RPGing will be most easily integrated into mass combat scenarios and where the focus is best placed.  Enjoy!

A closer examination of board and miniatures Wargaming.
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Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Terrain Tuesday - Ice and Fire Maps, Dyson's Patreon, & Rustic Timber Blocks

Over on fantasticmaps.com, check out "The Lands of Ice and Fire" here.


Also, on patreon.com, Dyson Logos has a page set up in support of his wonderful creations here.


Finally, available through Drive Thru RPG and affiliates, have a look at "Inked Adventures Blocks Rustic Timber Interior" here.


For purposes here, the term Terrain is used broadly
to cover 3D and 2D maps, foam, felt, and such.
Please Like, Share, Plus, Tweet, Follow, and Comment!

Monday, April 20, 2015

Minis & Modeling Monday - 3D Figures & Tutorials

Over on techcrunch.com, John Biggs penned an article titled "A Designer Is Making 3D Models Of The Nasties In The D&D Monster Manual" here.


Also, and just because it has some different images to check out, there's an article on Gizmodo about the above article here.


Finally, on tutofig.com, they have a great many tutorials on painting and prepping figures for your game tables here.


A look at prepping and painting Miniatures,
crafting buildings and paper Models,
and other non-terrain stuff for the tabletop..
Please Like, Share, Plus, Tweet, Follow, and Comment!

Sunday, April 19, 2015

The Sunday Miscellanea - Smaug Head, D&D Room, & The Time Inn

Over on entertainmentearth.com, pick yourself up a "Smaug Head Mounted Trophy" here.


Also, on the TabltopProps imgur page, see the "Best D&D room ever" here.


Finally, on Alihs's flickr.com page, see "The Time Inn" here.


Essentially, a clearinghouse for topics on MFWARS.com
not covered elsewhere or wanting a particular focus.
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Saturday, April 18, 2015

Systems Saturday - Aquatic RPG Adventures

In RPGs, particularly D&D, aquatic campaigns have often been overlooked as fertile ground for extensive adventuring.  Some recent posting on Tribality had me digging up some info, including on on EN World by long-time practitioner of all-things-aquatic-RPGing Aeolius.  But let's start with one of the posts on Tribality.com titled "Enemies & Encounters: 1st-5th Level Aquatic Encounters" here.


Also, they recently ran an article on an "Interview with Aquatic Gaming Guru, Emily Kubisz" here.


Finally, over to ENWorld.org for some tips on how to spice up the rum of a pirate game from Aeolius here.


A look under the hood of various Games, Rules and Systems.
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Friday, April 17, 2015

Tabletopper Friday - Board Game Terms, Zoku, & D&D Sleepover

Over on The Dice Tower YouTube channel, they have a videos with "Board Game Terms: Explained" and "More Board Game Terms: Explained."  Enjoy.




I haven't looked into it yet myself but if you're looking to get more gaming in, there has been a Zoku Tribe Page set up for Table Top Gamers here.


Finally, over on Total Fan Girl, we're told "My Youngest Daughter Is Planning an All-Night 'Dungeons and Dragons' Birthday Party" here.

Mostly about card games and board games,
unless they have a decidedly wargamey feel.
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Thursday, April 16, 2015

Nostalgia Thursday - Early D&D Monsters

As part of the Gary Con VII celebration, Paul Stormberg and Kevin Maurice set up their history of early gaming which included information on the dime store toys that helped inspire early D&D monsters.  A series of pictures I took of this display begins here on Google Plus.


After returning from the convention I noted that the 2013 blastr.com article here on such toys was circulating again.


But if you're going to read that, click through the link at the bottom which takes you to the source they used, an article on the subject from Tony DiTerlizzi here.


Focusing on the roots of current tabletop gaming
with an eye toward the last century and before.
Please Like, Share, Plus, Tweet, Follow, and Comment!