Your friendly neighborhood…Games Workshop store?

Yesterday the family went into “the big city” for a day of shopping. One of our required stops was The Vitamin Shoppe and, while we normally go to the one in the West suburbs, this time we found ourselves on the South side. So we pull into the strip mall and what do I see in front of me? There was a big Games Workshop sign. It had been rumored that Milwaukee as getting a Games Workshop store but I had largely forgotten about it. Being so close, I had to stop in and see if I had any sort of reaction ala vampires on holy ground.

The store was about what you would expect: stocked full of Games Workshop products you could buy at full retail. There were six gaming tables (three fantasy, three sci-fi) with two games being played. There were also three folks painting their armies and, in between pestering me, the staff was encouraging the painters. The staff asked if I played Games Workshop games. I said I used to. The staff asked why I quit. I said it was a long story best left unsaid.

Despite the whole Games Workshop “hive mind” thing, the store was about what every brick and mortar store should aspire to be. There was gaming space in view of the customers and there was a place for learning how to paint and staff more than able and willing to help. I didn’t buy anything but that didn’t stop me from thumbing the new codexes to see how things got on since I left the hobby.

Interestingly, in big bold letters where the words "PRINTED IN CHINA". I wondered how many other production Games Workshop had outsourced to China. What about plastics production, or the paint and the glue? I also found it amusing how people online throw stones at prepainted miniatures as somehow supporting third world sweatshops yet think nothing of buying similar products coming from Games Workshop and the sweatshop down the street. At least in the case of prepainted miniatures you are getting a more finished product for the same money instead of letting it go to the corporate fat cats.

Wargaming meta-turn sequences

In information technology speak, “meta” means one level of description up. One thing I’ve been meaning to do is start cataloging various game design metaconcepts. I’ve decided to start with turn sequences. Listed below are the turn sequences that I can think of. If you know of any more, please comment so they can be added to the list.

The word “activation” is used throughout this explanation and in this context means performing the game activities and subsequent effects for one game unit. This can also be called “unit activation”

Alternating Player Turn (aka IGOUGO). A turn sequence in which one player performs all the activations for their side and then the opposing player does the same. Activity then alternates back to the first player, and so on, until the game is finished.

Alternating Unit Activation. A turn sequence in which one player performs an activation for a unit of their choice and then the opposing player does the same. Players alternate activating units until all units have had a chance to activate at which point a turn is complete and the cycle starts again. Games often have a mechanic to determine who activates first.

Assigned Random Unit Activation. A turn sequence in which a unit belonging to either player is randomly chosen (often by assigning the unit to a card and then drawing cards) and the controlling player activates that unit.

Unassigned Random Unit Activation. A turn sequence in which one side is randomly chosen and the player activates a unit of their choice. This system often keeps the probability of one side being chosen in direct proportion to number of units both sides have in the game. This is often accomplished by using one card per unit in the game and then allowing the side that had their card drawn select a unit.

Nominated Random Unit Activation. A turn sequence in which both sides declare a unit and randomly determine which side is allowed to activate their selected unit (typically by dice roll or by some sort of bidding process). The losing player may then be allowed to activate their unit or both players may declare another pair of units and repeat the process.

Simultaneous Activation. A turn sequence in which both sides simultaneously perform the game activities for the units on their side which is often accomplished through the use of secret and written orders for the units. This mechanic is often used in Naval and Aircraft games (and their Science Fiction equivalents).

Critical Mass

The fact that AT-43, as a game system, has two factions got me thinking about how many factions you need for an ultimately successful brand. The number must be larger than two because most new miniature lines have around four. Rezolution has the CSO, APAC, Dravani, and Ronin. Dark Age has the Forsaken, Dragyri, Skard, and the Brood. Mongoose’s Starship troopers has three factions and Urban War has six. It would appear, however, that the longer lived game systems have 10 or more factions: Reaper’s Warlord has 10 factions, Warhammer 40K has 11 factions and Warhammer Fantasy has 14! AT-43 is a new game system and time will tell if more than two factions will be released. The state of the market, however, would seem to suggest that the more factions you have, the more successful the game will be.

An interesting thing that Rackham has done with the release of AT-43 is to build the story line as the game is released. The first game: Operation Damocles, sets the story and missions around the first human invasion of the machine factory planet. The troops found in the game represent the recon forces and leading edge of the larger invasion to come. Seems like a nice way to build more troop types and larger battles as the product comes to market.

The Future Has Arrived

As I’ve said before, I think prepainted miniatures have the potential of transforming the hobby. Wanting to fully embrace change, not to mention use it as an excuse to buy more stuff, my preordered copy of Rackham’s AT-43 arrived today. I must say, I am very impressed with the miniatures. For less than the cost of unpainted Games Workshop or Reaper miniatures, you get 19 miniatures with paint jobs that are at least as good, and I would say a little better, than using "the dip"

As you can see from the pictures below, the game comes with two teams of human sized models. Each team in the faction has a heavy weapon trooper so you get two heavy weapon models per side.


Also in the box are two combat walkers. As you can see from the picture below, the human walker is about the size of a Games Workshop dreadnought. Funny that, for $80 retail, I can buy the AT-43 game that comes with two combat walkers (and 17 foot models) OR two dreadnoughts that I would then need to paint and assemble.

So the miniatures are good. Next time, we take a look at the rules.

Thinking About the New Year

It is time to start thinking about New Year resolutions. I am very close to declaring 2007 a pre-painted year. By this, I mean that I will either buy pre-painted miniatures OR include painting service charges in my purchases and force myself to send the miniatures off to be painted.

My first attempt on living this way was my purchase of a Magister Militium Warmaster Ancients army. The company sells conveniently packaged 1,000 point armies and the cost is around $100. Rather than have the army shipped to me, I had the package shipped to Fernando Enterprises in Sri Lanka. I’ve received word that the package arrived and that work has started. The total cost for the army will be $350. All I have to do now is wait for it to arrive! Since I will have the same gaming budget, I think this will result in me buying less figures in raw numbers; but, the figures I do buy will at least see the table and not spend months or years in a closet.

In all likelihood, I will be getting a bit of Christmas money to spend. I’ve already planned a 2,000 point Warhammer English Civil War army using Old Glory figures that will be sent to be painted in two 1,000 point batches.

The holidays are slowing down painting production but work continues, albeit slowly, on my APAC models. I wasn’t a fan of the white/red paint scheme and so I’ve decided to go with a Japanese School Uniform scheme of dark blue pants, white shirt, red tie, and white shoes. I blame The Miniatures Page for this inspiration.

Warband Wasteland

I like the concept of warband style wargames; I really do. I’ve previously posted about what makes a warband game and why I like them. What I have seen recently, however, is a slew of seemingly soulless warband games that are churned out to sell a line of miniatures. I’ve started thinking about what makes a great warband game; and, what makes an inferior warband game.

In the "inferior" category I am going to put Dark Age, Confrontation, Warmachine, Warlord, Lord of the Rings, all the collectible miniatures games, Infinity, Urban War, and Rezolution, All these games use the same (and overdone) formula of having 10 to 30 models per army with stat cards in the packs.

In the "great" category I am going to put Necromunda, Mordheim, Battle Companies (Lord of the Rings), and Legends of the Old West. All these games share one thing that the inferior games do not have: a quasi-roleplaying campaign system in which the troops in the warband gain skills and abilities.

I’ve played the games in the inferior category; but, never with the enthusiasm and length of time of the superior games. I think it is because the one-off points based games get old quickly whereas the changing abilities and models in the other systems keep you wanting to improve and game again.

Perhaps the makers of the inferior games will realize this and introduce campaign systems that include roleplaying style ability growth.

Ready to sail

I finished the Japanese destroyers for Tassafarango. I painted up all the ships from the packs I bought so I have more destroyers than I need for the battle itself. You can see a picture of them below.

I guess I am pleased that they are done but 1/6000 scale ships just don't captivate me like the 1/2400 scale ships. Take the Graf Spee shown below. For some reason, small scale models just can't compete with the grandiosity of a model like that.

As far as I'm concerned, I could save a lot more time and use counters for the ships. In some ways I think the counters would have as much detail as the 1/6000 scale models.

Needing a break, and wanting to paint something I can feel good about, I have begun work on the APAC forces that came with my Rezolution game. Regular readers will remember that I finished the CSO troopers for the game back in October.

The Perfect Shade of Gray

After buying the models for the Battle of Tassfarango, I began researching what color the ships should be painted. I started with the Japanese ships since they were all destroyers and would paint up faster. One thing I realized after painting some 1/6000 WWI ships is that camouflage on destroyers at this scale is largely irrelevant; the models are simply too small. In addition, the deck color is also irrelevant because the models do not have enough surface area to adequately show the deck color.

So, one question remained: what color were Japanese destroyers painted? The simple answer is, if course, gray. But what shade of gray! I was off to find perfect shade of gray. After some searching I found the ship modeling FAQ which gave color chips for the Imperial Japanese Navy.

My quest was almost complete; all I needed to do was find the shipyard in which the Tassafarango ships were built. A few more Google searches and I determined that the Takanami and Suzukaze were built at the Yokasaka Shipyard. The Oyashio, Kagero, and Makinami were built at the Maizuru Shipyard. And finally, the Naganami, Kuroshio, and Kawakaze were built at the Fujinagata Shipyard in Osaka.

It was at this point that my color search reached a dead end. I could not reconcile the paint color for the Fujinagata Shipyard. In the end, I took my color chips to my local gaming store and started looking through the Vallejo Paint. Given the color chips for the Yokosaka and Maizuru shipyards, I was looking for a dark bluish gray. Given that the real colors would fade differently and I couldn’t get a perfect match for all the destroyers, I decided one gray for all the ships would work. In the end, I selected Vallejo 903 Intermediate Blue.

Painting has been somewhat slow this week; but, the ships themselves are done with sea bases yet to be finished. Pictures will be coming shortly.

Tassafarango

Regular listeners of All About Miniatures will remember that Dan mentioned the Battle of Tassafarango in his Battles of the Month segment. Wanting to do some naval wargaming in the WWII period, I picked this battle as one for which I would collect ships. When deciding to start a new period like this, a certain amount of reasearch is involved. For anyone interested, here is the process I went through when working the project. First, we need to learn about the battle itself. There is a good account of the battle itself at Wikipedia. The article also includes a link to the order of battle. We need this order of battle to determine what to buy!

I spent some time debating if I would do the ships in 1/2400 scale or 1/6000 scale. I really like the GHQ models and would have bought the larger ships in a heartbeat except the GHQ ships had two issues: the biggest one is that the range is incomplete and they didn't have any ship models for the Kagero Class destroyers. The second issue is that I really don't have a big enough table to play games using 1/2400 scale models. The table size issue is really secondary, however, because a complete GHQ range would have had me selecting their ships instead of the 1/6000 scale ships

Battle of Tassafarango
Japanese Order of Battle
Strike Force	Class	GHQ	Figurehead
Desdiv 31
Naganami	Yugumo	IJN-5	2J74
Takanami	Yugumo	IJN-5	2J74
Transport Force
Desdiv 15
Kuroshio	Kagero	?	2J74
Oyashio	Kagero	?	2J74
Kagero	Kagero	?	2J74
Desdiv 24
Suzukaze	Shiratsuyu	IJN-13	2J73
Kawakaze	Shiratsuyu	IJN-13	2J73
Desdiv 31
Makinami	Yugumo	IJN-5	2J74

Once I had the models selected, it was time to decide on a color. Next time, I will discuss how I chose the colors I used to paint the models.

Maintenance Phase

I have finished painting my Cardinal’s Guard from Eureka’s 40mm musketeer range. You can see the picture below.

The completion of these miniatures means that my Gloire project is in “maintenance phase.” I think the vast majority of projects undertaken by wargamers spend their time in the “build phase.” In fact, it is often the thrill of the build that keeps people going more than the playing. Once your army is complete, however, the project enters the maintenance phase. In the maintenance phase you can use the army that you originally created or add new units in dribs and drabs.

Eureka has released a handful of new miniatures that add to the musketeer range: serving wenches, Mr. & Mrs. Bonacieux, etc. I will eventually be getting these figures but it is a good feeling to have enough figures to play a game any time you want.

I will be switching gears in painting but still working through miniatures I picked up at Fall In. Next up: 1/6000 Figurehead ships for the Battle of Tassafaronga. Pictures once the ships are complete.