It annoys me when plastic minis don't come with instuctions, so I made my own.
Saturday, July 27, 2024
Tuesday, December 6, 2022
Snowball Alley - a whimsical winter wargame - now available on Wargame Vault
My game Snowball Alley is now available at Wargame Vault as a pay-what-you want title! So far I've had downloads from the USA, Great Britain, Australia and Canada!
My family has played this every year for the past 5 years and I've decided to make it available for everyone to enjoy.
There are two teams – the Naughty team and the Nice team – represented by appropriate miniatures on the tabletop. Each team has a base at their side of the table. In the middle of a table is a pile of presents – the Pre-positioned Present Depot (PPD).
To win, get more presents back to your base than your opponent. Running them back is safer (unless you get hit by a snowball!) but throwing them is quicker (but they could be intercepted or dropped!).
Throw snowballs at your opponent’s forces to make them drop any presents they are carrying and return them back to their base to warm up with a cup of hot cocoa! But beware – they will be throwing snowballs at you, too!
Saturday, August 21, 2021
A call to arms for SARGE
So over on Delta Vector, EvilMonkeigh has written a great critique of SARGE and a gently worded prod (one might say "demand") that the author (me) not let this idea languish. Since the Kickstarter is in a down period before fulfillment begins, I'm game to give it a go.
I think all it really needs is more examples and diagrams. That's easily said but I'll need to come up with a method of doing those diagrams more quickly. I was using a battle report software that seemed easy but I had trouble getting it to do exactly what I needed it to. I do have Affinity Designer so this would be a good time to break it out and really learn it. What I need isn't that complex so a few green circles for trees and brown squares for houses would be fine.
There's nothing like someone praising your work to give you new incentive to finish said work!
Here's the article -- it's a really clear explanation of what I presented, so I guess I was able to describe it at least well enough for someone else to take it and summarize it!
https://deltavector.blogspot.com/2021/08/solo-wargaming-designing-ai-sarge.html
Wednesday, August 18, 2021
Kickstarter Accomplished
I don't think it will really hit me until the box with all the castings shows up at my door, but my SciFi Dino Kickstarter was an overwhelming success. You can still late pledge by emailing me.
And if you don't know what I'm talking about, take a look here.
Friday, July 2, 2021
Garden Ninja paints the Ganorn
This is the first time I've had something pro-painted but I figured my Kickstarter was the time to do it.
Thursday, July 1, 2021
Monday, June 28, 2021
Ganorn Kickstarter Preview
Going live July 1!
See here for notifications:
See here before July 1 to offer Feedback on the project before we go live:
Saturday, June 12, 2021
Kickstarter launching July 1, 2021!
At last, everything has come together. I'm launching a Kickstarter! 3 years ago I had an idea, hired a concept artist, hired a sculptor -- and now on July 1 I'll be raising the money to get the production molds made to bring these little guys and gals to life.
Presenting the Ganorn -- 32mm sci-fi dinosaurs cast in resin. There will be two rewards -- 1) One each of the 10 poses and 2) a "unit builder" of 5 standing and 5 kneeling models (these look great ranked up into a Victorian Sci-fi firing line!)
It's been a long journey with lots of ups and downs -- not least of which the pandemic which scuttled my plans to launch this last year -- and I'm glad it's reaching the end of the beginning.
Monday, March 22, 2021
Saxon houses 3d-prints for Dux Brit
I am calling it Dux Brit because I can never remember the spelling of the darn game! You know, the Dark Ages battle game by Too Fat Lardies.
Anyway, found these great Saxon buildings on thingiverse.com, printed and painted them, then tipped the sculptor and posted the makes back on thingiverse (always tip your sculptor!!! Seriously. They took the time to share something with you, give them a fiver back). And here they are - several buildings and a neat church (which has some issues printing but nothing a little CA glue won't fix)
Friday, May 1, 2020
Sci-Fi Dinosaurs Kickstarter coming soon
I've been working on this project for over a year and it's close to fruition. Of course, the pandemic kind of threw plans up in the air for a while. I'm still hopeful to get these guys done this year -- and this is the concept art that started it all!
Edit: Photos of the actual sculpts are now up!
Edit: Photos of the actual sculpts are now up!
Saturday, April 25, 2020
How expensive is it to get into 3d printing?
Someone posed this question to me recently in the form of "this Kickstarter has neat model ships -- how expensive would it be to get a 3d printer and print them?" Here was my answer, although I can boil it down to the last paragraph -- you aren't buying a 3d printer; you are buying a new hobby:
How expensive is it? That's a long answer. Really long. :0
THE TLDR:
My flippant TLDR answer is that it will take you $704.52 and 1 year, 6.5 days, 3 hours to print one ship. At least, that's what it's taken me :-) If you want a new hobby and this KS is the catalyst for starting that new hobby -- it's a great hobby! It's fun and rewarding when you finally get a print just right. But if you just want a model ship -- hire somebody to print it for you and let them deal with the headaches.
The $704.52 is for: buying your first printer ($300), buying your second printer after something goes wrong with the first one and you try to fix it and FUBAR it ($300), the price of the filament for all the failed prints before you get a good one ($100) and the $4.52 in filament when everything goes right and you finally get your ship to print exactly right. Oh -- and that is ZERO dollars for labor. (How much is your time worth?)
The time is for: the 1 year learning curve from knowing zero to finally becoming somewhat competent at printing. At "competent" experience level: Your prints still fail, but they usually aren't catastrophic failures and you can either live with the errors, fix the errors in software and reprint, or fix the errors on the print with sandpaper and super glue. The 6.5 days is for printing the actual models -- those ship hulls each consist of at least 3 pieces, each of which will take 12 to 20 hours to print. And the 3 hours is with sandpaper and hobby knife cleaning each piece up and then fitting it to the next piece -- you know, if the piece actually printed near perfectly and didn't warp at the bottom (due to the heated build plate) and now the parts don't quite line up...
If you don't want a new hobby, you can get someone else to print it. Shapeways.com would be quite expensive but the quality is guaranteed. And there are a number of websites where you can submit a project and get bids from other hobbyists on printing it for you. Also - if the library or your job has one -- ask them how to use it and try it out before you buy one. Try printing a set of normal 6-sided dice and see what you get.
FULL STORY:
So you want to get into 3d printing? First question -- what kind of printer do you want? In general -- FDM or FFF (fused filament fabrication) printers are good for large projects like the ships in the KS and are less expensive to purchase and operate; Resin printers produce way better quality, so they're good for the miniatures in the KS, but the cost is higher both for purchase and for materials.
Here's my experience for what it's worth. All that I said above in the TLDR holds true for FDM (fused filament) printers. I don't have any experience with resin printers as, although they far exceed the quality of FDM printers, the resin used and the fumes from the resin while printing are both toxic. Seriously - you literally need to wear gloves and not get this sh*t on your skin or breathe it in. Someday I will convert part of my storage shed into a resin printing station but not now when the kids are young.
Why would I want a resin printer? Because if you print with a resin printer, you get a miniature figure with all the high detail you expect. It will look exactly like it does on the computer screen. Well, it will after you spend a few hours with an ultrasonic cleaner, alcohol bath, wet sanding, etc.. Oh and using a UV protective primer so it doesn't melt in sunlight. :-)
FDM works for me for now and for the SHIPS in this KS, it's arguably a better choice because the build plates are so much bigger (for the price). Resin printers are limited in their size unless you spend big bucks. So you're looking at maybe a 5x5x2.5 inch print area. My FDM has 8x8x8 -- it's not a huge difference but it adds up when you are talking about multiple parts. (That, by the way, is the reason that the KS has a pledge level just for resin prints - they have to be smaller parts). But for the miniatures -- you're definitely going to see some lines on them with FDM. (You'll see lines on the ships, too, but that will be easier to sand away).
IT'S A HOBBY:
Right now, the 3d printing industry is like the early computing industry. If you buy a low-end printer (below $300) you have to expect you will spend time tinkering with it. If you tinker with it enough, you will break it and have to repair it. Or FUBAR it and get another printer so that you can print the parts to fix the first printer (that's where I'm at right now). But it's ok -- you will have learned so much by FUBAR'ing the first printer that you will have much greater success with the second. And guess what? In the meantime, the printers have gotten faster and better and dropped in price! Sound familiar? In 1993, I read an article about the first 3d-printer. It was the size of a refrigerator, cost $100k and could print a cube the size of a postage stamp. (again - sound familiar?) And I remember thinking that in 10 years I would have one of those on my desk. Well, it took a little longer but that's where we are today.
But the next step is to raise it to consumer level like an inkjet printer -- and we're definitely not there yet. In 10 years, there will be a resin printer with a recyclable cartridge for the resin, non-toxic fumes, fast print speed, non-damaging light for curing (did I mention needing eye protection while you cure the resin? Don't want to go blind, you know.) and only fails as often as an office printer (think the frequency of paper jams, clogged toner, occasional maintenance that's easy to perform -- that sort of thing).
What you have now -- your print might not stick to the build plate, so at 17 hours into an 18 hour print the printer knocks it off into the floor and spends the next hour pouring molten plastic over it. (done it). Or maybe it sticks too well, so when you pull the part off the printer the part breaks (ditto). Maybe your x-axis stabilizer wobbles so every 4th line is juuuuust a hair off and your print looks like crap and you have to tear the whole machine down and re-seat the bar (done it). Or one of the 300 (not exaggerating) settings in the slicer (the software you have to learn to take the stil that you get with the KS and turn it into gcode that the printer can understand -- a bit like compiling C++ code into machine instructions) is just a hair off and you have to print small test prints over and over and over while adjusting JUST ONE of those variables each time until you figure out why you are getting so much stringing (thin, wispy plastic that occurs when the nozzle moves from one part to another across a void) -- done it, done it, done it to death.
Here's a good website with illustrations about Things That Go Wrong: https://www.simplify3d.com/
And here's one of mine that did go wrong :0 -- https://colony13.blogspot.com/
And oh god, I haven't mentioned that your build plate has to be absolutely level, that you have to do that by manually adjusting multiple screws around the plate, and that it has to be within a tolerance level of a single sheet of paper. Again, not exaggerating -- you put a piece of paper on the build plate and lower the nozzle until it touches. Auto-leveled build plates are coming -- high-end ones have it now so it will trickle down to low-end within a year or two)
And that's just the hardware. I alluded to the fact that you also have to learn how to use a slicer. The good news is there are some good free ones -- the bad news is I was too dumb to figure them out and had to buy one.
CONCLUSION: It's a wonderful, wonderful hobby. When you can print a glow-in-the-dark My Little Pony for your daughter and she falls in love with it and sleeps with it every night as a night light...yeah, all the trouble is worth it. Just be aware that when you buy a printer today, you are buying a hobby and to get good results you are going to be spending some late nights one-on-one with your printer, your slicer and the generally wonderful support on reddit forums while you try to figure out one glitch after another. Or you just accept the imperfections and move on -- that's generally what I do. I am printing out some ships now and there are strings all over the railings. So am I reprinting it? Nope - I'm taking some side cutters and cutting them off and lightly sanding them smooth. An hour doing that is better than re-printing for 12 hours or spending days trying to tweak the slicer. And in my spare time, I do tinker with the slicer -- some day I'll find just the right setting. In the meantime, I've got some 15mm sci-fi tanks to print! And then some houses. And then a pirate ship. And a rainbow-colored toy boat for my daughter's bath-time. And then a sky ship. And then...
How expensive is it? That's a long answer. Really long. :0
THE TLDR:
My flippant TLDR answer is that it will take you $704.52 and 1 year, 6.5 days, 3 hours to print one ship. At least, that's what it's taken me :-) If you want a new hobby and this KS is the catalyst for starting that new hobby -- it's a great hobby! It's fun and rewarding when you finally get a print just right. But if you just want a model ship -- hire somebody to print it for you and let them deal with the headaches.
The $704.52 is for: buying your first printer ($300), buying your second printer after something goes wrong with the first one and you try to fix it and FUBAR it ($300), the price of the filament for all the failed prints before you get a good one ($100) and the $4.52 in filament when everything goes right and you finally get your ship to print exactly right. Oh -- and that is ZERO dollars for labor. (How much is your time worth?)
The time is for: the 1 year learning curve from knowing zero to finally becoming somewhat competent at printing. At "competent" experience level: Your prints still fail, but they usually aren't catastrophic failures and you can either live with the errors, fix the errors in software and reprint, or fix the errors on the print with sandpaper and super glue. The 6.5 days is for printing the actual models -- those ship hulls each consist of at least 3 pieces, each of which will take 12 to 20 hours to print. And the 3 hours is with sandpaper and hobby knife cleaning each piece up and then fitting it to the next piece -- you know, if the piece actually printed near perfectly and didn't warp at the bottom (due to the heated build plate) and now the parts don't quite line up...
If you don't want a new hobby, you can get someone else to print it. Shapeways.com would be quite expensive but the quality is guaranteed. And there are a number of websites where you can submit a project and get bids from other hobbyists on printing it for you. Also - if the library or your job has one -- ask them how to use it and try it out before you buy one. Try printing a set of normal 6-sided dice and see what you get.
FULL STORY:
So you want to get into 3d printing? First question -- what kind of printer do you want? In general -- FDM or FFF (fused filament fabrication) printers are good for large projects like the ships in the KS and are less expensive to purchase and operate; Resin printers produce way better quality, so they're good for the miniatures in the KS, but the cost is higher both for purchase and for materials.
Here's my experience for what it's worth. All that I said above in the TLDR holds true for FDM (fused filament) printers. I don't have any experience with resin printers as, although they far exceed the quality of FDM printers, the resin used and the fumes from the resin while printing are both toxic. Seriously - you literally need to wear gloves and not get this sh*t on your skin or breathe it in. Someday I will convert part of my storage shed into a resin printing station but not now when the kids are young.
Why would I want a resin printer? Because if you print with a resin printer, you get a miniature figure with all the high detail you expect. It will look exactly like it does on the computer screen. Well, it will after you spend a few hours with an ultrasonic cleaner, alcohol bath, wet sanding, etc.. Oh and using a UV protective primer so it doesn't melt in sunlight. :-)
FDM works for me for now and for the SHIPS in this KS, it's arguably a better choice because the build plates are so much bigger (for the price). Resin printers are limited in their size unless you spend big bucks. So you're looking at maybe a 5x5x2.5 inch print area. My FDM has 8x8x8 -- it's not a huge difference but it adds up when you are talking about multiple parts. (That, by the way, is the reason that the KS has a pledge level just for resin prints - they have to be smaller parts). But for the miniatures -- you're definitely going to see some lines on them with FDM. (You'll see lines on the ships, too, but that will be easier to sand away).
IT'S A HOBBY:
Right now, the 3d printing industry is like the early computing industry. If you buy a low-end printer (below $300) you have to expect you will spend time tinkering with it. If you tinker with it enough, you will break it and have to repair it. Or FUBAR it and get another printer so that you can print the parts to fix the first printer (that's where I'm at right now). But it's ok -- you will have learned so much by FUBAR'ing the first printer that you will have much greater success with the second. And guess what? In the meantime, the printers have gotten faster and better and dropped in price! Sound familiar? In 1993, I read an article about the first 3d-printer. It was the size of a refrigerator, cost $100k and could print a cube the size of a postage stamp. (again - sound familiar?) And I remember thinking that in 10 years I would have one of those on my desk. Well, it took a little longer but that's where we are today.
But the next step is to raise it to consumer level like an inkjet printer -- and we're definitely not there yet. In 10 years, there will be a resin printer with a recyclable cartridge for the resin, non-toxic fumes, fast print speed, non-damaging light for curing (did I mention needing eye protection while you cure the resin? Don't want to go blind, you know.) and only fails as often as an office printer (think the frequency of paper jams, clogged toner, occasional maintenance that's easy to perform -- that sort of thing).
What you have now -- your print might not stick to the build plate, so at 17 hours into an 18 hour print the printer knocks it off into the floor and spends the next hour pouring molten plastic over it. (done it). Or maybe it sticks too well, so when you pull the part off the printer the part breaks (ditto). Maybe your x-axis stabilizer wobbles so every 4th line is juuuuust a hair off and your print looks like crap and you have to tear the whole machine down and re-seat the bar (done it). Or one of the 300 (not exaggerating) settings in the slicer (the software you have to learn to take the stil that you get with the KS and turn it into gcode that the printer can understand -- a bit like compiling C++ code into machine instructions) is just a hair off and you have to print small test prints over and over and over while adjusting JUST ONE of those variables each time until you figure out why you are getting so much stringing (thin, wispy plastic that occurs when the nozzle moves from one part to another across a void) -- done it, done it, done it to death.
Here's a good website with illustrations about Things That Go Wrong: https://www.simplify3d.com/
And here's one of mine that did go wrong :0 -- https://colony13.blogspot.com/
And oh god, I haven't mentioned that your build plate has to be absolutely level, that you have to do that by manually adjusting multiple screws around the plate, and that it has to be within a tolerance level of a single sheet of paper. Again, not exaggerating -- you put a piece of paper on the build plate and lower the nozzle until it touches. Auto-leveled build plates are coming -- high-end ones have it now so it will trickle down to low-end within a year or two)
And that's just the hardware. I alluded to the fact that you also have to learn how to use a slicer. The good news is there are some good free ones -- the bad news is I was too dumb to figure them out and had to buy one.
CONCLUSION: It's a wonderful, wonderful hobby. When you can print a glow-in-the-dark My Little Pony for your daughter and she falls in love with it and sleeps with it every night as a night light...yeah, all the trouble is worth it. Just be aware that when you buy a printer today, you are buying a hobby and to get good results you are going to be spending some late nights one-on-one with your printer, your slicer and the generally wonderful support on reddit forums while you try to figure out one glitch after another. Or you just accept the imperfections and move on -- that's generally what I do. I am printing out some ships now and there are strings all over the railings. So am I reprinting it? Nope - I'm taking some side cutters and cutting them off and lightly sanding them smooth. An hour doing that is better than re-printing for 12 hours or spending days trying to tweak the slicer. And in my spare time, I do tinker with the slicer -- some day I'll find just the right setting. In the meantime, I've got some 15mm sci-fi tanks to print! And then some houses. And then a pirate ship. And a rainbow-colored toy boat for my daughter's bath-time. And then a sky ship. And then...
Friday, March 6, 2020
15mm Quar Kickstarter on now!
Zombiesmith's Quar 15mm 2.0 Kickstarter is underway. I've loved the Quar since I first came across them and their murderous little hearts. I'll be using them for both Chain of Command and the Company level game that is being produced as part of the KS. KS ends March 23 2020.
I love their vehicles and came up with this for the Creevin "Anfyr" tractor: "In my head-canon, in order for the Creevin to fire that big, off-center gun on the Anfyr tractor, they first put the turret in "neutral." When the gun fires, the whole turret spins around one entire revolution to absorb the recoil. This vertigo-inducing behavior can result in the crew staggering around and chundering for hours after an intense firefight. As a result, Creevin tankers are often referred to as "Drunken Dragoons" with varying degrees of respect depending on whether their posterior was just saved by one or if one just drove over the nice foxhole you just dug."
I love their vehicles and came up with this for the Creevin "Anfyr" tractor: "In my head-canon, in order for the Creevin to fire that big, off-center gun on the Anfyr tractor, they first put the turret in "neutral." When the gun fires, the whole turret spins around one entire revolution to absorb the recoil. This vertigo-inducing behavior can result in the crew staggering around and chundering for hours after an intense firefight. As a result, Creevin tankers are often referred to as "Drunken Dragoons" with varying degrees of respect depending on whether their posterior was just saved by one or if one just drove over the nice foxhole you just dug."
Monday, May 13, 2019
First Bones 4 model painted
Yep, the ghost pirates from Bones 4 sucked me in. :-) Here's my first model painted from the ginormous plastic pile that was delivered a couple of weeks ago. Pretty good for me to get this painting table so quickly. Oh, and my wife and I are aiming for "tabletop good enough" paint jobs for these, so I haven't done anything with the basing. We have so many to get through we just want to put paint to plastic and get gaming with them!
Saturday, May 11, 2019
New Terrain - Infinity Colored
I'm a huge fan of these Infinity Colored terrain pieces. They have a nice retro-future look to them and most could be at home in fantasy and near-future as well as far future. Looking forward to getting some good use out of them this year.
Saturday, May 4, 2019
A brief post about Warlords of Erewhon
A brief comment on Warlords of Erewhon
I'm a fan of Rick Priestly games and had a wonderful opportunity to chat with him at a GW Games Day in Baltimore. In fact, he signed my WH40K softcover ("It's been a while since I've seen one of those!") and gave me a one-one-one demo of the system that would become Warmaster.
So when Warlord Games announced Rick's Warlords of Erewhon, I took the unusual step of pre-ordering it. And I'm glad I did. Why? Because when I set up a simple 2 unit scenario to demo the games to my wife, it turned out to have a really interesting set of decisions. Let's set the stage:
 |
| Amazons versus Romans |
I put together a unit of 5 Roman Legionnaires using the Dwarf warrior stats. My wife took her Amazons which actually do have stats from the Olympians army list. I randomly put the units out and they turned out to be about 16" away from each other.
I drew the first order and realized that I couldn't charge her unit. So I just moved it 5" closer -- this put me at a disadvantage as the only way that I could get my charge in first next turn would be to draw my order dice first. My wife had a much more interesting choice. She could either hope that she would draw the first order next turn or go on Ambush this turn and wait for my attack. I would have gone for the Ambush but she chose to trust in luck. Unfortunately my luck held out.
Turn 2, I drew the first order and charged in. For this combat, we treated the Amazons as having spears and my Romans took a casualty on their charge in despite their high armor. Then thanks to some abysmal rolling I ended up losing the combat and retreating. In the following turn the Amazons were able to charge and auto-routed my Romans by getting more pin results.
And that was it - a very simple demo that left me wanting to play more. I like the activation, the system is modern and clean with simple die rolls and simple modifiers. My one complaint is that there is no insight into the points system. I want to add the Shieldwall rule to my Romans but there's no advice on how to cost it. It's a minor complaint, though. [UPDATE: Points system has been published by Mr. Priestly)
All in all, a very solid set of rules and I'm looking forward to getting my skeletons finished and getting my goblins and orks to battle once more. It's been a long time for those guys.
What happened to 2018?
This is becoming a theme, isn't it? Well, a new baby (our second) coupled with some health woes kept me from returning to blogging. I'm going to try to do better. And I have good reason to -- Invasion:UFO is nearing completion and will be heading to Kickstarter along with at least 10 beautiful sculpts done by the talented Andrew May of Meridian Miniatures. Final sculpts are done and I will soon have the first models off the molds. In fact, I am looking for some professional painters to paint a few for the Kickstarter. Drop me a line if interested.
Friday, March 30, 2018
Adventures in 3d Printing
I was lucky enough to receive from my lovely wife a Monoprice Mini Select v2 3d-printer for my birthday. I remember very clearly sitting in the library in college around 1992 and seeing in a magazine an article about one of the first, if not the first, massive, multi-thousand dollar 3d printers and thinking, "In 20 years, I'll have one of these in my home." Well, I was a little off on the timing but I couldn't be more pleased with this machine. It just works and with a sale was under $200.
Now, it's not going to be producing any miniatures -- it has good resolution but the texture isn't there for miniature people. But it works darned nicely for terrain! Here's some wattle fencing I whipped up the other night. Total design time -- 2 hours. Time per print: 1 hour.
And yes, 3d printing still involves lots of experimentation and things do go wrong. At the front is a perfect print and at the back is where the extruded plastic failed to adhere to the base and just made a plastic cobweb!
Now, it's not going to be producing any miniatures -- it has good resolution but the texture isn't there for miniature people. But it works darned nicely for terrain! Here's some wattle fencing I whipped up the other night. Total design time -- 2 hours. Time per print: 1 hour.
And yes, 3d printing still involves lots of experimentation and things do go wrong. At the front is a perfect print and at the back is where the extruded plastic failed to adhere to the base and just made a plastic cobweb!
Sunday, March 25, 2018
SARGE release!
Today is pretty momentous as I'm releasing SARGE into the wild. This is the first time I've released a set of rules of my own making into the general public. I hope it sees some usage as I really like this system and I think others will too.
SARGE is a relatively simple system that gives relatively complex results for a solo gaming opponent. SARGE borrows a concept from computer gaming -- calculating a “weight” for the various objectives that the AI is trying to achieve – so that he moves purposefully toward objectives while still retaining enough randomness to the moves that the system can still surprise you. And the weight calculation is a simple addition solution so my brain doesn't hurt!
SARGE is the out-growth of my work on my solo "Ode to X-com" game Invasion: UFO. While creating that game, I was encouraged by the Delta Vector game design Google group (particularly by TheEvilMonkeigh himself) to generalize the rules to fit any wargame that has hidden units that need to move intelligently. Thus, SARGE was born.
Link to the SARGE page for current rules.
(Longtime readers will remember the first generation of SARGE from this post. A lot has been streamlined and edited since then!)
If you try the rules and like them, please leave a comment here or on the page.
SARGE is a relatively simple system that gives relatively complex results for a solo gaming opponent. SARGE borrows a concept from computer gaming -- calculating a “weight” for the various objectives that the AI is trying to achieve – so that he moves purposefully toward objectives while still retaining enough randomness to the moves that the system can still surprise you. And the weight calculation is a simple addition solution so my brain doesn't hurt!
SARGE is the out-growth of my work on my solo "Ode to X-com" game Invasion: UFO. While creating that game, I was encouraged by the Delta Vector game design Google group (particularly by TheEvilMonkeigh himself) to generalize the rules to fit any wargame that has hidden units that need to move intelligently. Thus, SARGE was born.
Link to the SARGE page for current rules.
(Longtime readers will remember the first generation of SARGE from this post. A lot has been streamlined and edited since then!)
If you try the rules and like them, please leave a comment here or on the page.
Saturday, February 10, 2018
Sellswords and Spellcasters in Mordheim
I recently tried out Sellswords and Spellcasters from Ganesh Games using the setting from Mordheim - a city destroyed by a comet centuries ago that is newly opened to exploration. My players were: an 11 year old boy who wanted to play "that game from Stranger Things (ie, Dungeons and Dragons)", his mom with little gaming experience but great imagination, my 14 yo daughter with some gaming experience but not really a gaming enthusiast and my wife and I.
It went splendidly and everyone had a great time and wants to play again!
My wife and I did a moderate amount of prep work by just asking what kinds of fantasy characters they might like and then showing them a few of my painted models. I then took that and created the characters. I tried to also include an option for each one. For instance, for the mom's character I offered the choice of taking the "Impulsive" disadvantage along with the "Fast" advantage.
Characters were:
Me: A con-artist witch hunter with the Leader, Cleric and Heavy Drinker traits (scarred by all the terrors he has seen in Mordheim)
Wife: A dual-sword wielding fighter with Whirlwind of Steel
Daughter: A thief type with the Greedy disadvantage
Boy: A wizard
Mom: Essentially a Ranger type with Archery, Impulsive, Fast, Forester
(Also 2 three year olds, one from each family, who entertained and interrupted constantly as we played)
Since we had 5 players, I built each type on 30 points each and each player only had one character. This seemed to work pretty well. It's not really possible to build a good Wizard with only 30 points so I fudged it a little and gave him two spells: Teleport Other and Magic Dart. I chose Teleport Other specifically to get him into the idea that this is cooperative and and encourage him to think about how to help everyone else.
First scenario was the Wine in the Brambles -- it was easy to substitute a ruined building for a bramble patch. We started off really rough as several of us failed 2 or 3 activations in a row. This kind of spooked us and we started rolling only 1 or 2 dice, but that didn't help much either. Basically, we just had bad luck with reinforcements and ambushes popping off around us. We didn't manage to get further than 12" into the battlefield, but we still managed to find 2 jugs of wine and get everyone off the board for a technical win.
Then it was a break for King Cake (it's Mardi gras, y'all!) and we went back for a second scenario to try again. Everyone upgraded their characters (just adding 1 point to either Ranged or Melee was pretty quick) -- that might have been a violation of the campaign rules, but wanted to keep the game going without bogging down in the campaign.
This time I chose the first scenario (the run through the wasteland) -- the story was that we had fled the city proper but still had to get through the ruins to find the merchant (so that I didn't have to set up all new terrain). And I ruled that there could be casks of wine here, too, so if we searched the houses we might find some. This game went MUCH better and we racked up quite a kill count. Nearly everyone was trying for 3 activations per turn and for the most part we were getting 2 activations and an event instead of the other way around like we got in the first game. We even had a great plan -- we would open a path and the wizard would run up the battlefield, then teleport us all up to him and we would start again. It was a great plan until the wizard rolled a 1 and couldn't cast the spell!
Highlights of the second game were the Ranger using her healing skill to keep everyone healthy as we fought off hordes of goblins, the fighter with Whirlwind of Steel cutting her way through 9 goblins and 3 Orks over the course of the game, and the thief looting every dead goblin in sight. Oh, and right at the end we managed to surround and kill the troll with archery and crossbow shots without ever having to face it in melee combat!
Everyone is excited to do the campaign turn and go shopping the next time! It's a great little game. I love how the characters are the only ones to roll dice and the risk-reward system of the activation and how it interacts with the event deck is just genius.
BTW, while I have several other Ganesha Games products, I haven't really played them. This one is different. It's elegant. I'll be playing this one a lot. And I knew I had a winner when, the night before, I set up a simple solo game and had so much fun that I couldn't wait to play with my friends the next day.
PS -- I would buy a science-fiction version of this in an instant! This is the game I wanted Rogue Stars to be.
Some house rules we implemented:
I discarded arbalast and made the crossbow deal 2 damage. Otherwise I can't see any reason to take a crossbow instead of a bow, and besides crossbows LOOK like they should do more damage. That's my justification and I'm sticking to it. :-)
My daughter's thief character is holding a little hand-crossbow thing -- totally not a realistic weapon. I gave it a 12" range, 1 damage and does NOT take a turn to reload. And I told her that being a thief she can coat it in poison next game. She was happy. (Should I be alarmed that my daughter enjoys playing assassins?)
The Mana Fluctuation card -- I like this one -- the Boy was so disappointed after he rolled a 1 and couldn't do spells (without doing blood magic) that I ruled that if the Mana fluctuation came up as +2 afterward we could instead choose to let him cast spells again. In other words, it would recharge his magical energy instead of giving the +2 to casting.
On a natural 20 to hit, you do +1 damage. It just seems right. :-)
Any questions, just ask. Pictures to come!
Best,
Nicholas
Edit: Great discussion of using this game with kids over at Lead Adventure Forum:
http://www.lead-adventure.de/index.php?board=18.0
It went splendidly and everyone had a great time and wants to play again!
My wife and I did a moderate amount of prep work by just asking what kinds of fantasy characters they might like and then showing them a few of my painted models. I then took that and created the characters. I tried to also include an option for each one. For instance, for the mom's character I offered the choice of taking the "Impulsive" disadvantage along with the "Fast" advantage.
Characters were:
Me: A con-artist witch hunter with the Leader, Cleric and Heavy Drinker traits (scarred by all the terrors he has seen in Mordheim)
Wife: A dual-sword wielding fighter with Whirlwind of Steel
Daughter: A thief type with the Greedy disadvantage
Boy: A wizard
Mom: Essentially a Ranger type with Archery, Impulsive, Fast, Forester
(Also 2 three year olds, one from each family, who entertained and interrupted constantly as we played)
Since we had 5 players, I built each type on 30 points each and each player only had one character. This seemed to work pretty well. It's not really possible to build a good Wizard with only 30 points so I fudged it a little and gave him two spells: Teleport Other and Magic Dart. I chose Teleport Other specifically to get him into the idea that this is cooperative and and encourage him to think about how to help everyone else.
First scenario was the Wine in the Brambles -- it was easy to substitute a ruined building for a bramble patch. We started off really rough as several of us failed 2 or 3 activations in a row. This kind of spooked us and we started rolling only 1 or 2 dice, but that didn't help much either. Basically, we just had bad luck with reinforcements and ambushes popping off around us. We didn't manage to get further than 12" into the battlefield, but we still managed to find 2 jugs of wine and get everyone off the board for a technical win.
Then it was a break for King Cake (it's Mardi gras, y'all!) and we went back for a second scenario to try again. Everyone upgraded their characters (just adding 1 point to either Ranged or Melee was pretty quick) -- that might have been a violation of the campaign rules, but wanted to keep the game going without bogging down in the campaign.
This time I chose the first scenario (the run through the wasteland) -- the story was that we had fled the city proper but still had to get through the ruins to find the merchant (so that I didn't have to set up all new terrain). And I ruled that there could be casks of wine here, too, so if we searched the houses we might find some. This game went MUCH better and we racked up quite a kill count. Nearly everyone was trying for 3 activations per turn and for the most part we were getting 2 activations and an event instead of the other way around like we got in the first game. We even had a great plan -- we would open a path and the wizard would run up the battlefield, then teleport us all up to him and we would start again. It was a great plan until the wizard rolled a 1 and couldn't cast the spell!
Highlights of the second game were the Ranger using her healing skill to keep everyone healthy as we fought off hordes of goblins, the fighter with Whirlwind of Steel cutting her way through 9 goblins and 3 Orks over the course of the game, and the thief looting every dead goblin in sight. Oh, and right at the end we managed to surround and kill the troll with archery and crossbow shots without ever having to face it in melee combat!
Everyone is excited to do the campaign turn and go shopping the next time! It's a great little game. I love how the characters are the only ones to roll dice and the risk-reward system of the activation and how it interacts with the event deck is just genius.
BTW, while I have several other Ganesha Games products, I haven't really played them. This one is different. It's elegant. I'll be playing this one a lot. And I knew I had a winner when, the night before, I set up a simple solo game and had so much fun that I couldn't wait to play with my friends the next day.
PS -- I would buy a science-fiction version of this in an instant! This is the game I wanted Rogue Stars to be.
Some house rules we implemented:
I discarded arbalast and made the crossbow deal 2 damage. Otherwise I can't see any reason to take a crossbow instead of a bow, and besides crossbows LOOK like they should do more damage. That's my justification and I'm sticking to it. :-)
My daughter's thief character is holding a little hand-crossbow thing -- totally not a realistic weapon. I gave it a 12" range, 1 damage and does NOT take a turn to reload. And I told her that being a thief she can coat it in poison next game. She was happy. (Should I be alarmed that my daughter enjoys playing assassins?)
The Mana Fluctuation card -- I like this one -- the Boy was so disappointed after he rolled a 1 and couldn't do spells (without doing blood magic) that I ruled that if the Mana fluctuation came up as +2 afterward we could instead choose to let him cast spells again. In other words, it would recharge his magical energy instead of giving the +2 to casting.
On a natural 20 to hit, you do +1 damage. It just seems right. :-)
Any questions, just ask. Pictures to come!
Best,
Nicholas
Edit: Great discussion of using this game with kids over at Lead Adventure Forum:
http://www.lead-adventure.de/index.php?board=18.0
What happened to 2017?
You would think I did no gaming in 2017, but the reverse is true. We actually played a lot of Rebellion, one game of Sails of Glory, and a few X-wing games. But I've been so busy with a 2-year-old, moving house, getting laid off and trying to find a job (one is found, now, thankfully) that I just haven't had time for the blog.
That's changing for 2018. We're playing games but I'm also really pushing to get Invasion:UFO published and getting sculpts made for the miniatures. Yep, if I can possibly afford it I'm going to get my own miniatures line going for the various aliens and human factions in Invasion:UFO. I've already got some great artwork thanks to some great artists from Fiverr. I may make a mess of it, but I'll try to publish as much here as possible.
That's changing for 2018. We're playing games but I'm also really pushing to get Invasion:UFO published and getting sculpts made for the miniatures. Yep, if I can possibly afford it I'm going to get my own miniatures line going for the various aliens and human factions in Invasion:UFO. I've already got some great artwork thanks to some great artists from Fiverr. I may make a mess of it, but I'll try to publish as much here as possible.
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