Wargaming Wednesday - Biggest Tabletop Wargame Ever

The University of Glasgow is hosting an event this weekend that is being touted as the "biggest ever historical table top war game" though, technically, I suppose some might prefer it be called a floor game.  Read more here!

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A closer examination of board and miniatures Wargaming.

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Tabletopper Friday - Conspiracy: Take the Crown

A big thank you to everyone who was able to participate in the Conspiracy: Take the Crown draft at the store last Saturday.  It was a huge turn out, almost to capacity, and it helped the store tremendously.  My blogs and Facebook will be (mostly) dark for the next couple of weeks so I leave you with some crowded store pics to tide everyone over.  Thank you!

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Wargaming Wednesday - terrainaholic @ Gen Con 2016

The excellent terrainaholic was at Gen Con 2016 capturing some interviews on video for his wonderful YouTube channel (subscribe here) so I thought I'd share some of his vids with everyone for Wargaming Wednesday.  First up, a video with Kevin Cabai of the Historical Miniatures Gaming Society Midwest chapter.  Enjoy!

Next up, Mario from Mats By Mars.

Finally, Ben From 4Ground.

Wargaming Wednesday on MFWARS.com 

A closer examination of board and miniatures Wargaming.

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Nostalgia Thursday - Magic the Gathering (1993)

A LOT of Magic the Gathering (1993) gets played at Lake Geneva Games and some folks forget this game has been around for almost a quarter century.  It's had it's share of "lesser" sets released over the years and there was even a time when Wizards of the Coast was likened to Games Workshop for the business model that rotates sets of cards out of the current standard play format.  But with Legacy play being its own thing and the value of older cards rising, most got over that.  Now there are many two-player and multi-player formats, special sets, restricted and banned lists of cards for various formats, as well as a no-reprint list to protect the value of some older cards.

From the description on Board Game Geek:

From the official website: In the Magic game, you play the role of a planeswalker—a powerful wizard who fights other planeswalkers for glory, knowledge, and conquest. Your deck of cards represents all the weapons in your arsenal. It contains the spells you know and the creatures you can summon to fight for you.

This is the grandfather of the collectible card game (or CCG) genre. Cards are categorized as common, uncommon, rare, and mythic rare. Players collect cards and build decks out of their collection.

Players build a deck of cards and duel against an opponent's deck. The first player to reduce his opponent to 0 life (or meet another set win condition) wins the game.

Deck building is major part of the game. There are over 17,000 different cards from which to build your deck!

Players randomly draw spells to see what they get and can play each turn. Although this limits your choices, there is a lot of strategy in how you play those spells. A robust list of game mechanics, including intricate rules for reactive card play called "the stack," provide for rich tactics and tough choices each turn.

Though traditionally a two-player duel, there are several casual and tournament formats to Magic that allow more players to play.

If you've played any other games, you'll see parallels in MtG in the mechanics either because they predate the invention of the game or because so many other games have been built with MtG in mind as inspiration.  There are some events coming up at Lake Geneva Games (check the calendar here) that are notable for regular players and new players alike.  This weekend is the Eldritch Moon Gameday where players can bring their current decks and play for prizes including a champion's game mat.  Next week is the release of From the Vault: Lore, a special set with a limited run.  Finally, new and old players are invited to sign up in-store for the August 27th, 1 pm, Conspiracy: Take the Crown draft.  It's a simple format of drafting (will be taught) with a fun, multi-player game to follow.  Join us for the fun!

Nostalgia Thursday on MFWARS.com 

Focusing on the roots of current tabletop gaming
with an eye toward the last century and before.

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Wargaming Wednesday - Huzzah! 2016

I've been saving these to share all at once, so here are some posts from Fencing Frog regarding some of the excellent wargaming from Huzzah! 2016.  First, there was "Huzzah! 2016: The Hanghaied Princess" here.

Also, have a look at "Huzzah 2016: Battle of Mont Saint Jean 1794, Carnage and Glory" here.

Finally, check out "Huzzah 2016: Lair of the Ice Spider" here.

Wargaming Wednesday on MFWARS.com 

A closer examination of board and miniatures Wargaming.

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Nostalgia Thursday - Dungeon! (1975)

It's been over 40 years since Dungeon (1975) was first published by TSR.  I've written a bit about it before but wanted to share some pics of the 1992 version we have on the games library shelves at Lake Geneva Games.

I think this needs to hit the table soon, perhaps later today, when some of the gang shows up for Thursday Open Boardgaming.

Of course, if Ernie is in the house, he might be tough to beat since he probably played it even before it was published.

Nostalgia Thursday on MFWARS.com 

Focusing on the roots of current tabletop gaming
with an eye toward the last century and before.

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Nostalgia Thursday - Chainmail (1971)

Just last week, the offspring of the authors of Chainmail (1971) got together at Lake Geneva Games to play the classic Battle for the Brown Hills scenario.

The description from Board Game Geek is as follows:

Chainmail is a medieval miniatures wargame created by Gary Gygax and fellow Lake Geneva Tactical Studies Association (LGTSA) member Jeff Perren, a hobby-shop owner with whom Gygax had become friendly. The game was first published in 1971 by Guidon Games. That first edition also included a fantasy supplement, and is one of the oldest sets of rules for fantasy miniature wargaming.

Nathan Lyke (who took the first two photos) ran a Chainmail game last Friday at the Lake Geneva Games store with the Son of Gygax (Ernie) and Daughter of Perren (Victoria) in attendance, along with Tom Wham and some other friends playing. This is the 45th anniversary of the rules being published and what better place to play than Lake Geneva, birthplace of D&D which was guided by these minis rules!

Nostalgia Thursday on MFWARS.com 

Focusing on the roots of current tabletop gaming
with an eye toward the last century and before.

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The Sunday Miscellanea - Eldritch Moon Prerelease

The Eldritch Moon prerelease weekend at Lake Geneva Games has been going pretty well so far and there is one day left.  I was worried that the Pokemon Go trend would put a damper on it but we've has some good events so far with a couple more taking place today.  The additional game space has served us well for our events the last couple of months.

The 1 pm event is a 2-Headed Giant, which means you play with a partner, one you bring or we can find you a good one on site from among our casual card playing crowd.  Either way, you win just by signing up for $30 per team member ($60 per team), because you get an Eldritch Moon prerelease kit which includes four booster packs of Eldritch Moon, two booster packs of Shadows Over Innistrad, a spindown die with the Eldritch Moon set symbol on it, a two-sided zombie token, and a fine little box (which is very nicely constructed).  Plus, for each round your team wins, should you manage that feat, the team gets two more booster packs of Eldritch Moon.  Win all three rounds and take home a kit plus six extra booster packs.

Finally, at 5:30 pm, we have one final Eldritch Moon sealed event.  It's only $15 and there are two rounds of play.  No additional prizes but, of course, you get your own Eldritch Moon prerelease kit with the aforementioned six booster packs and more.  That's a damned good deal so come on in to Lake Geneva Games today for Eldritch Moon!

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Essentially, a clearinghouse for topics on MFWARS.com

not covered elsewhere or wanting a particular focus.

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Wargaming Wednesday - Mare Nostrum: Empires (2016)

At the last First Sunday event, Wayne mustered a game of Mare Nostrum: Empires (2016) [with 6 players using the 'Atlas' expansion].  It's a new version of Mare Nostrum (2003) implementing more complex rules and adding many fresh components, particularly a wonderful new map.

The description from Board Game Geek is as follows:

The ancient Romans called the Mediterranean Sea "mare nostrum", which is Latin for "our sea".

Mare Nostrum is an empire-building game in which 3-5 players [or 2-6 with the 'Atlas' expansion] lead their individual ancient empires to dominion of Mare Nostrum. You grow the fame and glory of your empire by expanding your influence into new Provinces, then extending your Trade Caravans, building Markets, and founding new Cities and Temples. You can recruit Heroes and create Wonders to help your cause. But beware of your "friends" because they may look upon your gains with envy and greed...

Mare Nostrum is a re-introduction by Academy Games and Asyncron of the original 2003 release with updated rules, counters, and map board. This edition includes many new components and multiple new ways to win!

In more detail, you choose an empire to lead, which begins with three Provinces. You can lead with Caesar of Rome and its powerful Legions, or with Pericles, the prominent Greek statesman and orator, with the great Babylonian lawgiver and healer King Hammurabi, or with Queen Cleopatra of Egypt, whose engineers led in the development of grain storage and irrigation, or with Hannibal, leader of the Carthaginians, whose merchants thrived on trade and commerce. Now you decide how you will grow your empire. You can do this by:

- Expanding your Trade and creating Wonders.- Concentrating on Culture and building the great Pyramids.- Developing a strong and powerful Military to occupy the Provinces of other empires, or-Exerting Political Leadership by claiming the titles of Trade Leader, Cultural Leader, and Military Leader.

This is a fine new version of a very good game.  They've done a great job of adding complexity to it.  The original had only a few pages of rules and though this has a bit more, it's still simple enough for newer wargamers.  (The new rules can be seen here in PDF format.)  I think this game is going to see the table quite a bit locally much as Fief: France 1429 (2015) did and eventually become a local classic.

Wargaming Wednesday on MFWARS.com 

A closer examination of board and miniatures Wargaming.

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The Sunday Miscellanea - First Sunday Open Boardgaming

I don't often announce or promote events on this corner of the CMG Blog Triad but it seems to me that some folks might read this section and miss some things from elsewhere.  Anyway, the point of this post is to ensure folks are aware of the First Sunday Open Boardgaming event that takes place on the first Sunday of every month at Lake Geneva Games.  It runs from Noon to Nine and folks can play whatever strikes their fancy.  Sometimes we'll have a demo or a special game event, so we'll try to make sure that information is included in the Facebook event set up for each one.  You can check out the details of today's June 5th First Sunday event here.

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Essentially, a clearinghouse for topics on MFWARS.com

not covered elsewhere or wanting a particular focus.

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Wargaming Wednesday - Warhammer 40,000 (1993)

Warhammer 40,000 (1993) has a long tradition in wargaming for nearly a quarter century.  Many game stores have regular leagues, tournaments, and time set aside for casual competition and Lake Geneva Games is no exception, though space considerations have always been a challenge.

LGG is getting a short Summer 2016 league together for eight or more participants right now.  With the additional game space opening up, LGG will be hosting and encouraging more 40K play going forward into the second half of 2016.

If you are interested, please post to the Lake Geneva Games Facebook Page here and join the LGG40K Facebook Group here or stop on into the store!

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A closer examination of board and miniatures Wargaming.

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Tabletopper Friday - Renaissance Wars (2015)

One of the play and win games at the Gaming Hoopla last weekend was Renaissance Wars (2015).  This is a wonderful looking game with beautiful artwork and boards and components.  I can't say enough about how great this game looks in person and I am sorry if my pictures below do not do it justice.  As soon as we opened the box, I fell in love with the idea of falling in love with this game.  If we had fun playing it, I intended to make sure I had a copy of this game before the weekend was over.  In this game, you get to play the part of a Renaissance luminary and-  Well, this is where things get a bit muddy . . .

The description from Board Game Geek is as follows:

It was a time of wealth and intrigue. A turbulent time, when wars were fought over religion and territory. A time when artists, architects and writers explored the nature and potential of man and a time when horizons were broadened so far, that a whole new world was discovered!

In Renaissance Wars you play the game as a Renaissance Luminary... someone whose influence and fame has transcended his own time! Using only your unique Luminary powers, the cards in your hand and cunning strategy, you will battle up to 3 opponents to accumulate the wealth and power necessary to dominate each era of the game.

But be careful... because when you least expect it, something may occur that completely upsets the balance of power and may destroy even the most carefully laid plans!

The base game contains 6 playable Luminaries - William Shakespeare, Martin Luther, Fillipo Brunelleschi, St. Ignatius of Loyola, Christopher Columbus and Francis Bacon - all of which come with their own unique Luminary Mats, cards and portraits. Up to 6 more Luminaries will be available in Special Editions.

Unique Event and Intrusion cards are randomly seeded into the game during set-up, so you never know exactly what you may encounter!

Featuring beautiful art and history, Renaissance Wars explores the people and events that made the Renaissance one of most interesting, creative and important historical eras.

Our group had a dilly of a time sussing out the rules for this game.  I think we were at it for over an hour then jumped in despite not feeling we truly grasped it all.  Setting this game up was confusing to us and we had to do a couple of things twice to get it right, as far as we know.  We fumbled around with the first of three rounds for another hour then decided we had played enough and wanted to move on to another game.  It might have just been the time of day or coming off a big Portillo's lunch but this one just wasn't clicking with us.

As for luminaries having unique powers, some of them seem very similar with different thematic text draped over them, essentially mechanically the same.  The battling system felt convoluted and counter-intuitive, though I cannot say this for sure because we never were completely confident we understood what we were doing.  I'm not even sure the jargon of calling these battles and wars makes a whole lot of sense thematically.  Four of us, all experienced gamers, each had the rules in our own hands at several points over and hour before attempting to play.  This game has a pretty high rating on Board Game Geek, though from not all that many users and I wonder if that rating is accurate.

Tabletopper Friday on MFWARS.com 

Mostly about card games and board games,
unless they have a decidedly wargamey feel.

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Wargaming Wednesday - Surcoat (2016)

In a recent post on the Surcoat (2016) Medieval Fantasy Wargame System here, I outlined some of the many influences on me while wargaming for more than forty years and working on these rules over the last decade and a half.  As said then, "My goal is to produce a rather simple, straightforward set of unit-to-unit Medieval Fantasy wargaming rules that can scale nicely to handle combat for very large armies utilizing a d20 as the primary resolution method and which players can buy in for almost nothing more than their time and imagination."

Additionally, the intention is for someone to be able to use these rules seamlessly alongside an RPG to handle conflict beyond the one-figure-equals-one-individual level.  To my way of thinking, most skirmish level combat rules aren't much different from the combat rules embedded within many RPGs.  With little to no modification, an RPG combat system should be able to handle skirmish level battles.  However, once one scales up to army level combats where a unit represents ten, fifty, or even one hundred individuals, it takes a different type of rule set to do this effectively.

From what I have seen over the forty-five years I have been a avid tabletop gamer (first of wargames then RPGs when they were invented in the mid-1970s), when an army level wargame rule set is designed to work in tandem with an RPG, it seems awkward.  In some areas, abstractions are made or assumed while in other areas, skirmish level rules are substituted so that individual characters can be shoehorned into the action.  This tends to be where such systems breakdown.  They fail to recognize that in the grand scheme of things, individuals cannot make a huge difference on army level combats except as generals and leaders of units.  I'm hoping that Surcoat is seen as a way of smoothing out that awkwardness and manifests as a system that can be integrated into RPGs of many stripes.  We will see.

Wargaming Wednesday on MFWARS.com 

A closer examination of board and miniatures Wargaming.

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Nostalgia Thursday - Divine Right (1979)

One of the treats of having an Old School oriented convention like Gary Con is it gives the chance to play some of the gems of wargaming in their original form without the pressure to use some updated or newfangled version.  One can run a 1E AD&D game and not be told that 5E D&D is a preferred choice.  You can set up a session of Civilization (1980) without being pressured into playing the lesser "Advanced" rendition or combining the slot with the newer Mega version.  And you can still play an annual game of Divine Right (1979) with a handful of like-minded gamers who understand that six hours might be too little time for a full game but at least you get a good enough game accomplished.

The description on Board Game Geek is as follows:

Classic game of fantasy empires clashing. Each player controls a unique realm and attempts to use diplomacy and might to ascend to rulership. A colorful map and a host of fantastic creatures bring out a fleshed out fantasy world.

You expected more?  Maybe it does need some additions . . . such as:

The mechanics of this game are fine if you like wargames. If you're more of a modern-era boardgamer, it might be too fiddly. The base game is fairly simple once you know how movement, sieges, and combat work. The Advanced game adds tons of additional factions, powers, magic, that all are basically sub-systems and work in their own peculiar ways. A sentence or two explains each one but with dozens of them, it requires keeping the rule book to hand.

This year's game didn't squeeze in quite as many turns as in previous Gary Cons but was nonetheless conflict-filled.  Folks got right to the business of war which doesn't always happen.  Despite everyone's best efforts, plundering castles was turning out to be very difficult and in the end a couple of non-player monarch assassinations set up two players for a shared victory.  Not pretty but that's that game.

Nostalgia Thursday on MFWARS.com 

Focusing on the roots of current tabletop gaming
with an eye toward the last century and before.

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Wargaming Wednesday - Surcoat (2016)

Surcoat (2016)is a set of Medieval Fantasy Miniatures Wargaming rules written by me and that I have been playtesting for close to a decade and a half.  They incorporate influences as far flung as Chainmail (1971) which I played in the early 1970s to Warhammer (1983) to Hordes of the Things (1991) (based on De Bellis Antiquitatis (1990) which I should include here as an influence in its own right as well as De Bellis Multitudinis (1993)) to Field of Glory (2008) as well as many more minis wargames old and new that shaped my thinking on such systems up to today.  The name, of course, is a homage to the first Medieval Fantasy minis wargaming rules I played, the aforementioned Chainmail.  I recently ran a slot of Surcoat at Gary Con VIII, pictured below, which was well received and I have a couple more games planned at upcoming events in the area.

When I am asked why after four and a half decades of playing minis wargames I am writing one of my own, why I haven't before, and why after starting playtesting so long ago I haven't released it yet, it gives me pause for thought.  Truth is, I love the games I have played and am not looking to publish to replace any of them.  I don't feel there is necessarily any deficiency in the market, as such.  I also don't think that what I will eventually publish is going to feel particularly groundbreaking though they might seem somewhat innovative.  Others will be the judge of that.  This just feels like something I want to do though I haven't felt rushed to meet any sort of outside or financial deadline.  I've been lucky in that regard and I do think the rules are about ready for widespread release.

My goal is to produce a rather simple, straightforward set of unit-to-unit Medieval Fantasy wargaming rules that can scale nicely to handle combat for very large armies utilizing a d20 as the primary resolution method and which players can buy in for almost nothing more than their time and imagination.  I'm not looking to sell a minis line along side these rules nor to pile up quarterly supplements that must be purchased to keep up with a manufactured arms race though I would like to put out a few army list books tied to my Grymwald setting at some point (but they won't be required reading to use the rules).  So, Keep Rolling and Game On and watch for near-future developments on Surcoat!

Wargaming Wednesday on MFWARS.com 

A closer examination of board and miniatures Wargaming.

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Minis & Modeling Monday - Simple Surcoat Minis

With Gary Con VIII coming up later this week, I've put together some simple minis to use for my Surcoat Medieval Fantasy Miniatures Wargame slot.  The basic rules are easy to learn and utilize a d20 as the primary resolution die.  The slot is open to youngsters and their parents and I wanted the terrain and minis to reflect easy-to-craft options.  Essentially the scenario includes one side protecting a border wall at a checkpoint gate.  The figures for this session are set up as light, medium, and heavy units with leaders and spellcasters overseeing the forces.  Here's a look at how I went about putting together some simple, inexpensive units.  I started with some dollar store plastic minis and dominoes to use as bases.

I looked around for minis that gave me some variety and found some that came thirty figures to a pack.

They don't have a ton of detail but aren't bad and are roughly the size of typical plastic army men.

The bases I used for these are actually dominoes that come in packs of 28 for one dollar.

Each is roughly 1 1/2" x 3".  One side has the pips and the other has a thin cardboard surface to which I planned to glue the figures.

I took a big Sharpie marker and colored in the dots on the bottom and touched up the edges with the marker after finishing.

As inexpensive as these bases are, and you can't beat the consistency, it's easy to make some out of sheets of foam or foamboard and you'll get plenty out of a single sheet.

The figures came in both silver and gold so that made it easy to decide on the colors for my armies.  Light units in most traditional wargaming for the Medieval period (and for Ancients) are generally based with two figures.  These would include conscripts, peasants, archers, slingers, and the like.  This shows their loose formations and lack of regimented training.

Medium units, and I'm mainly talking armor but also weaponry, are often based three figures to a unit.

They can be spaced in a number of ways but it helps to not have too much hanging over the edges so the units and come up against one another easily during play.  If they have to hang over, better to have that happen in the back rather than the front or the sides.

Heavy units are the shock troops, work in tight formations, and crowd together at either three or four figures per base.  Special units, like leaders and artillery, should stand out and be easy to identify.  The leader figures, by the way, come from those nifty Toobz that can be had at many toy and crafting stores (make sure to grab a coupon first!).  Those figures aren't proportioned quite the same as the other but that works fine for these simple units.

Once the figures are glued down to the bases, throwing down some paint on the base before adding any ground cover can help keep the grass or sand from appear too thin.

I've collected a good number of flocking and other ground cover options but for these simple units and using black base paint with grass flocking for the gold units and brown base paint and sand for the silver units.  Any inexpensive craft paint works well enough for this purpose, sand is cheap, and probably the most expensive single thing I've used for thee armies is the grass flocking but look around online and even less expensive solutions can also be found.

For some of the units I primed them black and used cheap gold paint with a drybrushing technique but for other units, I simply based them and left them as is.  Cheap plastic figures, with the soft plastic they use, tend to not hold paint very well and it will flake off so don't get to detailed with these.  They're meant to be nothing fancy.

I also used some flat matte coating to keep too much of the flocking from coming off during gaming.  Remember, simple and inexpensive is often just fine for convention and gameday sessions.  These figures aren't for display cases and are meant to be used as much as possible.  Keep a bit of glue in the bin you use to transport them for quick repairs when necessary!

Minis & Modeling Monday on MFWARS.com 

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

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