Thursday 15 October 2015

The Three Plains : Epic Games - For my Kings of War on a Budget

I have recently been looking a lot more into paper model wargaming. My main rationale are the resources of time and finances. Although in an ideal world I want a stonking great fully painted army for wargaming, what I really want to do now is play games! I enjoy modelling and painting but not to the commitment level that is required to get an army fielded as quickly and to the extent that I want too.

That for the most part has been the reason my current miniature collection consists of the skirmish style or team games. This is not for lack of desire for epic scale wargaming. Many people I speak to have the same thoughts. One of my friends actively avoids miniatures games to some degree for that exact reason even though he was heavily into Warhammer and other games in his earlier years. He now sticks to card or tiles games generally cool little ones he's found on kickstarter.

This thought stream lead me to finding the following.......


The Three Plains


Epic Wargaming - Home Page
Rules

I gave the rules a quick read myself and they are very extensive and detailed. However there is a lot to digest and finding an opponent willing to put the time in for a trial game may prove difficult. I found a good full review of the rules on The Shell Case:
The Three Plains Rules Review

Whats Here
Lots and lots and lots of free to use paper models. A full set of free rules, extensive resources and youTube videos of battle reports.

Free Model Downloads
So There are currently a total of four full armies of paper models for free download: Elves, Men, Mercenaries and Orcs
There appear to be more on the way including Dwarves and Summoners. The art is good quality and the variety is huge.

Overall
Simply put a large amount of work has gone into this and it deserves major props to Epic Games and the creator Dave Scholes.


My Uses
So why am I talking about Kings of War? So the rules for The Three Plains are free too and as I said they appear to be detailed, in-depth and well conceived. But I return to my previous point of "what I really want to do now is play games!". Do I invest the time in learning a new rule set (Yes) but I still need to find a friend who wants to learn the rules too. I know the rules for Kings of War, it is a quick game to get in to and also has the benefit of having a current large player base/community. I'm sure it wouldn't be a problem to field a paper army at my club while I build my model base.
I do want to play The Three Plains (the lore reads nicely, blue magical orc hags!!) I just need to find me an opponent. What I really want is a precident set that paper models are a serious alternative for gamers to get into a rules system.

Any way let me know your thoughts.

Thursday 24 September 2015

Frostgrave Scenery - Paper Models

Found some great paper models for making some much needed scenery fast and free.


Test of the Models

Chest:
Observatory:

I thought they were brilliant quality especially since they are free!


Sites:

I found a load of sites that provide templates for free:

Fantasy Paper Miniatures Blog
Onemonk
Cardboard-Warriors - Proboards
Germy - Papermodels
Daves Games
Wargame Vault

Wednesday 9 September 2015

Freebooter's Fate - First Impressions

So first game of Freebooter's fate last night and all I can say is no dice....

....AWESOME!!!

In brief

I played Pirates against my opponents Brotherhood. We both had the basic starter sets except for my specialist (I had Spitfire instead, woman with a massive multi-barrelled gun... devastating)

It's a well tested game and has an in-depth and interesting back story for the crews but with a huge element of insane fun (especially with the Goblin crew). All measurements are in metric (the game is German) which I personally preferred but I'm guessing might dissuade those gamers who still use imperial measurements everyday(naming no countries).

As with my previous Frostgrave review (although this game is much older) the scenery is key. The stuff we had available at the club that my opponent made was fantastic. It really added value to the game so lots of building levels, trees, jungle gangways all adding to a rich and absorbing experience. Rather than dice everything is dealt with (pun intended) by cards. Combat is almost a form of more complex Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock. But with corresponding body parts each having an effect on your crew members capability.

For an overview of the rules check out the quick start guide. The Download for the quick start guide is available for free from the website here:


Crews & Starter Sets

I found the Pirates to be good all rounders my crew stood well in combat but had real punch with ranged as well. The brotherhood are sneaky as assassins, they had not a great deal in the way of ranged but compensated by being incredibly fast with lots of special hiding moves, poisons and sneak attack complex moves.

I won't go into each crew but the list of those available is as follows:

Links take you to official crew pages.

The starter crews come in around £25-30 ($35-45) but there were crews going second hand on Ebay for cheaper (more like £15 - 20)

UK: UK:

Overall

A really great game with a fantastic and different combat mechanic. There is scope for some campaign (in the further books) and it can be scaled up to include other players and crews easily. Its meant for fun crazy so a co-op scenario against waves of zombie octopus' is totally plausible!

Wednesday 2 September 2015

Frostgrave - First Game Impressions

Introduction
So my first game of Frostgrave is over and I can see this is going to be fun in a campaign game. This was not a campaign game just an initial basic game with no scenario.

Warbands
I played my Enchanter Warband (previously posted) against a my opponent's Thaumaturge. We both had seven Warband soldiers and an apprentice. It worked well as the wizard and apprentice activations occur first most of the action was happening in these phases keeping our Warband soldiers close by them. I found starting with lots of low cost soldiers (as recommended by the book) hugely advantageous to fewer but higher cost soldiers, especially when I looked at the other games being played.

Table Top
The size of table top I found a bit small (2' x 4'). I would have preferred something more of a square 4'x4' as it would have added better options for treasure placement. As it was all the treasure was in a strip down the centre of the board. Also our terrain was far too sparse, although initially it felt like a lot. We did not have enough levels the highest buildings being a single story.

Overview
So for starters I really like my Warband set up and was pleased with my choices in game. For the board set up we used I found my Warband was balanced for my purposes but I massively overpowered my opponent. I felt sorry towards the end as I had killed a number of his warband (including the apprentice) and the survivors ended up retreating off the board. I lost none of my own men (although one of my thugs took some damage at the beginning). Had this been a campaign game it would have been a crippling defeat.

I had two archers and a crossbowman which were integral to my victory. In addition I also had the Grenade and Telekinesis Spells (both Enchanter spells). This meant I could pull the treasure tokens towards me whilst picking him off at long range. We didn’t even get a chance for a single melee combat.

I did get some very lucky rolls and my opponent had some unlucky ones when casting magic, taking damage for miscasting on two occasions.

Suggestions
It was mentioned that in a campaign the wizard gets experience for killing things. This heavily weights the gaining of experience to those wizards with cheap and effective offensive spells. These include such wizards as Elementalist and Necromancer. Whilst a more buffing spell wizard like a Thaumaturge is less likely to kill things playing more of a support role to his warband soldiers.

Overall
Really great game that I'm glad to have invested in. There are answer to the FAQ's already posted and it is dirt cheap to get into. The community seems to be growing rapidly and campaign expansions are coming out soon (November I believe). I will try to steal the Wizard sheets from my fellow players and post them for perusal (if they let me) so we can all get a balanced view on what makes a good starting wizard.


 Any additions, experiences or suggestions you have let me know. We are constructing our own in house rules for the a campaign and any help is welcome.


Tuesday 1 September 2015

Frostgrave - Warband in progress

Finally started putting my warband together. Got the Frostgrave box set which is really nice with a good variety of options for your soldiers. There are four main bodies eight heads and a multitude of bits. There are four sprues in total in the box (all the same).

Available here: 
Frostgrave Soldiers



This is what I have so far to go with my Enchanter and apprentice (below).


Available here: 
Frostgrave Enchanter & Apprentice
Nothing painted yet and first game tonight, hopefully will get some painting done soon!

My Wizard Sheet if you want a peek is here:

Sunday 23 August 2015

Free Warmachine and Hordes Rules Available

Have played Warmachine several times and really enjoyed it. I think my favourite faction is Cygnar but have played with Cryx and Menoth.

Anyways a great game to try so check the rules for free.

For a limited time it is possible to download the full rules and Faction and buy the hard copies at massive discounts.

Free rules here:

Wednesday 12 August 2015

Guild Ball

Give it a try its completely free!

Played my first game of Guild Ball last night Brewers vs. Alchemists. Overall review was that its a fun, well balances and tactical game. Its was simple to learn, but I could see that there was scope for refined complexity.

A basic run down of the game is Violet Football (Soccer) in a Victorian style setting with hints of Steampunk and High Fantasy. I found a good playlist of videos which explain the game, rules, tactics and teams better than listing them out here. Also the Rules, Teams, Markers and even paper dolls of the players are available for free download as PDF files from the official site. The games last about an hour tops (even as a beginner) so quick to give a it a go. If and when you do invest in miniatures the sculpts looked great, weren't expensive and were of a high quality.

Let me know what you think if you try it out.


Free Resources (everything you need):

Guild Ball Downloads

Guild Ball TV Playlist:

I played the Brewers Guild who were fairly hitty with a longer melee range (polearms) weapons but had good ball handling skills as well.

Brewer Starter Set

Monday 10 August 2015

Frostgrave

Just bought myself the Frostgrave Rulebook for a game in September. Hopefully going to get some mini's soon, want to check through the rules first to see which Wizard I prefer.

Best Deal I found was from Wordery for £9.74 free p&p (UK):

Fantasy Wargames in the Frozen City - Hardback

Found a quick Video on YouTube about Frostgrave to give an overview of the game.

Wednesday 5 August 2015

15mm - Undead Army List

Undead Army List padded out for UK Suppliers (some available in US and Europe). I will add add more and for other countries as I go through.


15mm Undead Army Miniatures List can be found here:

Kings of War 15mm - Undead List



I Also found a hint that there will be a book released new year which could contain conversion to different scales but that is just my hopeful conjecture. Cant get Time Code to work so its around 3:00 minutes in.

Tuesday 4 August 2015

Primer Spray - Halfords

Have checked through a lot of sources regarding Primer Sprays and it appears that Halfords Primer's might be up to the task. I also saw something about Walmart Spray primers for those in the US

I will be testing the Halfords Paint as I can pick it up on my way home and see how it goes. I will post up results when I'm done.


Hafords
Source: Warhammer Forum
Link: Halfords Primer White 500ml

They also Have Black for your base coat and someone mentioned something about using the clear Lacquer too.

Walmart
Source: Dakka Dakka
I found a link but dont want to post it as I'm not sure about the procduct (I cant test it).

Be careful though, according to keezus (see source) Walmart keeps rotating their product lines. This meant that they were not able to find the same product twice.

Monday 3 August 2015

Elemental Games - Cheaper on Ebay

I just purchased some Army Painter paints from Elemental Games Ebay Store (linked below). What I found interesting was that through Ebay I got a better deal than through their official web site (also linked below). The Ebay Store has a smaller selection than the main site but is still worth a look for the chance of a bargain.

Although they were listed more expensive in outlay on Ebay the postage and packaging was free. I only saved a couple of £'s overall but I think this sort of thing is worth bearing in mind when deal hunting. I have several Ebay and other on-line stores listed on the links page and all of them have really good deals for specific things.

If you have found anything that you think that is worth a mention I would be very great full if you let me know. You may have found deals or good sites (including your own stores and sites), I can then use them and list them.


Elemental Games Ebay: Element Games - Ebay

Elemental Games (Main Site): Element Games - Main Site

Friday 31 July 2015

Kings of War 15mm - Orc List Compiled

Got a reasonable list compiled for the Orc Army. I'm glad the version 2 rules have a Godspeaker because I really like the Demonworld 15mm shaman miniatures. Its a shame they don't have catapults though. It would also balance out the warmachine aspect of the Orc Army. Perhaps I'll add a modified Balefire catapult/Balista.

15mm Orc Army Miniatures List can be found here:


Proposal for a catapult:

Unit Size Sp Me Ra De Att Ne Pts
1 5 - 5+ 4+ 1 9/11 60

Special

Blast (D3+2), Piercing (3), Reload!


Basically the same as Kingdoms of men Ballista which you could use as allies anyhow!

Wednesday 29 July 2015

Kings of War 2nd Edition eBook

Nice Little Find

Although I am getting the hardback mainly for the History and Army backgrounds, its interesting to know that there is a cheaper eBook option available if you want it.

Kings of War 2nd Edition eBook

eBook Price

£19.99 rather than £24.99

$31.99 rather than $39.99

Kings for War Version 2 - My First Impressions

Last night I had my first club game of Kings of War Version 2. The Rules have been tweaked and the Armies rebalanced from the previous version. This was also my first proper mass battle game after many years out of gaming in general, so I had the unique view not having played the first rule set but having been through it waiting for the version 2 release. The club Mantic pathfinder gave me a Q&A about my experience which I have shared below. Please let me know your thoughts on the new version and I will pass them on.


How did your first ever game of kings of war go? Did you enjoy it?

I found it very accessible as an entry level gamer being quick to pick up. As a beginner this meant I could spend more time learning the strategy and rather than the rules. I really enjoyed the game and got a good feel for how games in general would play out and how scenarios (listed in the rules) would affect different strategies.

What army did you use and how did they play? Did you win?

I played a big smashy Orc Army including 2 Trolls, 2 Gore Riders, 1 Greatax and 1 Chariot Regiments with no ranged or magic which made it easy by limiting my options to run at things and hit them (very Orc like). My opponent a heavily ranged orientated Elf Army but a Phalanx and Drakon Riders. He was obviously on the defensive with three bolt throwers on higher ground. I did win but felt I possibly shouldn't have. I wasted my chariot and Greatax regiments with poor positioning at deployment. I also didn't make good use of my Trolls due to poor manoeuvrings. I found the Orc Gore Riders to be my most useful unit (although these have apparently been toned down from the previous version) along with a big Orc Ax Horde, which were a formidable looking unit on the table top and dominating my opponents focus.

What did you think of the rules? What did like about the game?

The rules seemed very streamlined and I was only checking stat lines from a cheat sheet. I liked how fast paced it was and that I wasn't worrying about flicking through pages of books to find the one stat or roll I needed on one occasion. Although it was seemingly simple it feels like there is a lot of potential. I think that also extends to the Army building, the core of which is the regiments, hordes and legions with the rest of the army built around it. I could really feel that in the game with my Orc Ax Hordes vs. the Elf Phalanx. The magic items for the units added a nice variation to the standard units and not having to mess about with musicians and banner bearers really appealed to me. I had two Krudgers to give inspiration one mounted one not.

Is there anything you think would improve the game?

The table top battle area felt a bit small in a strange way. Although this was to my benefit as I had no ranged attack and covered the ground quickly. I guess this was because it was a starter game so I had the basic run at the enemy tactic. Also you get stuck in quick with action from the get go. With only 6 turns I think there were choices I made which were just to win the game rather than to win the battle if that makes sense. This being said it kept the game time in check added a level of urgency. It did prevent what could have been an annoying and monotonous scenario where a slow Orc Ax Horde would have been chasing and fast flying elf dragon rider around turn after turn. One idea to give each battle end more flavour could be that if the majority of both armies are left (which would otherwise be a fairly unfulfilling tie) there could be a random end battle event which also gives additional random turns. Maybe more Orcs or elves (or just a special character) turn up to fight late, maybe a natural disaster occurs (meteor hits, earthquake, volcano, acid rain, tidal wave, tornado, etc.). Maybe a god grants a boon or curse to other or both sides for fun. Maybe nightfalls benefiting Orcs and Dwarfs in some way or sun rises hindering them. In a dwarf cavern maybe there's a cave in. Choices are endless, I'm certain how this would play out but I think that could add a fun aspect to friendly games. "I was doing fine until the lighting hit my Gore Riders!"

Will you be playing it again? Do you intend on starting a army?

I will definitely be playing again and again and again. I have no Idea what army I want because of the possibilities. Orcs were a lot of fun I can imagine throwing goblins in the mix would be even more so with mincers and fleabags. I am personally not so keen on the Elves, but I cant put my finger on why. Maybe they just feel a bit vanilla (stereotypic Arrows, Magic & Dragons) but that might just be because I haven’t played with them. If they had bit more of a theme or I new a bit more of the fluff they might have more flavour for me. I guess wood elf army with some elementals and forest shamblers in there would be more my thing rather than a High Elf theme. Basilea looks nice but Kingdoms of men offers more scope for a true custom army. The other army I have my eye on is the Dwarfs lots of metal, big guns and big shields also freaking Badger riders what the what! To me that gives them a lot of personality and sounds like a fun starter army. Abysal Dwarfs and Twilight kin not so much but again cant say why, the models are nice as is the background but right now I don’t think its for me. I haven’t mentioned Undead and although the miniatures are some of the best for Undead (as a general consensus from different sources). That style of army at the moment doesn’t appeal to me. I would prefer to be blowing zombies to bits with a cannon.

During the process of writing this I will probably go with Dwarfs as my starter Army and pull in some forces of nature for monsters and elementals* and Kingdoms of Men for Wizards as allies (Elf Wizard doesn’t fit my concept of a Dwarf Army). For an evil Army I think I like the Orcs using Goblins (Wizards, War machines and Fodder) and Ogres (I like the models and they look fun) as allies.

Overall

I had fun and I want to play again. It wont destroy my bank account to start and there are lots of options and combinations. It has well established community which appears to be growing so it hopefully has longevity. Great game for me as a starter and my well versed and battle grizzled opponent alike.


*Good Idead for DIY Earth Elementals

Monday 27 July 2015

First Game With New Rules

I've got my first club game with the new Kings of War rules coming up tomorrow. Found a good video for FAQ's about the game.


Also how good does the Forces of Nature Army look?


Sunday 26 July 2015

Dreadball Season 5 Bargin



Found this offer for Dreadsall Season 5 Rules £9.00 with free P&P!

Dreadball Season 5 - Rule Book






Got my order coming time to break out my Convict team!

Friday 24 July 2015

Can't wait for Dungeon Saga

Just saw this in the Mantic news letter and thought it worth a share.

There are only 7 days left to get an exclusive Legendary Mortibris FREE with a copy of Dungeon Saga. Pre-order before the 31st July from your local retailer or the Mantic webstore.

Kings of War 15mm Dwarf Army List

Finally completed the list of 15mm Dwarf figures which I thought matched to the unit types of Kings of War.

Most of the models would be a good fit. It was a bit of a tricky as the Mantic Dwarfs look so chunky with a lot of plate armour and hammers which is an awesome look. I had thought I would be collecting the Mantic Orc army however looking at these guys I think I'm keen to get a Mantic Dwarf army going, but then the Undead and Ogres are awesome..... too much to choose!

Thankfully the 15mm mini's are not at all bank breaking so giving 15mm a go is well worth it! Anyway have a quick look at the list and see what you think.

Comments, critique and questions are always welcome.

Thursday 23 July 2015

Flocking Free - Scenery Boards

First Attempt at basic scenery board

I found a simple sawdust and paint idea for free/cheap flocking and wanted to give it a go using some other methods I had seen for flag/cobble stones.




My Attempt

It was a bit of a hurried job in between other bits and pieces but was fairly simple and quick.

Boards: I cut some 30x30 cm boards (approx 1 foot square) from 6mm MDF. Thankfully I have a decent mitre saw which made this easy. I was then able to use the saw dust from created for the flocking.

Flocking: I used the method in the above video with left over poster paints. I made several different batches with varying mixes of blue, yellow and red, this meant that I could mix them together after drying to give a more varied grassy tones. You can quickly make a lot for no money which means you can easily cover large boards fast and cheap. I have used felt boards but I like the texture this gives.



Flagstones: For the flagstones I had some left over plaster filler which I spread thinly over. I used a cocktail stick to scratch the shapes which I thought look fairly effective (obviously if yo have the skill lots of detail could be put in). I found I had to work quickly as it was setting fast so I will try a more wet paste to start with next time.

I didn't do the whole board as I wanted to be able to link the boards with grass surround. It was a trial and could be a simple village square or well.

Lastly to spread the flocking on I used a mix of poster paint and PVA glue (as they are cheap). After leaving overnight I got a nice hard stick and not shedding green saw dust everywhere (which I was worried about).

Overall: I was pleased for a first go and with the different methods. I think next time I will use bigger boards of just grass them. I could then have strips of flagstone effect on thinner boards with tapered edges to sit on top of the grass. This would give the option of roads or paths between buildings.

Hope somebody finds this trial helpful, it was incredibly simple and I am sure with more time and skill you can create some amazing work as I've seen on other blogs and posts.

Like this for example: World of Board Craft - TerranScapes (Gaming Terrain and Scenery)

Why You Should Play Kings of War

Kings of War 2nd Edition Release Soon! 


Getting excited.

Wednesday 22 July 2015

Dreadball Kickoff Going Cheap

Great find on Ebay for Dreadball Kickoff Box Set

Its £22.99 including p&p which is a great deal when its £49.99 on Mantic Site before p&p.

Only 9 left when I last checked so I thought I'd share the love:

Mantic Games: Dreadball Kick Off

Monday 20 July 2015

Wargaming Blog Started

Hello All!

My objective with this new blog is to share my forays into the world of wargaming. I will be sharing everything I find or hear relating to the subject. New miniatures, Games, Releases, Videos, my own work, landscape how-too's, rule modification suggestions, reviews and all sorts of other things.

Hopefully you will find it helpful and informative, if not feel free to let me know so I can improve and help others.

Thank you for taking the time to read my introductory post. Let this be the first of many!