In need of a reset

Tomorrow is September 1st, and it makes almost a five-month of long sabbatical from posting. This has been, indeed, a fairly frustrating year, hobby-wise. As I briefly mentioned in the past, for more than six months I were not able to purchase much needed miniatures, because of a long and unfortunate sequence of events including the demise of GFI/Minifigs, the supplier of my much beloved Minifigs 15mm miniatures, and the collapse of the relationship between Essex Miniatures and its U.S. distributor Wargames Inc. To say the least, these situations were very annoying, and left me rather jaded in respect of the professionalism in the hobby, or lack thereof. All I wanted was spending my money on toy soldiers, dude. It was indeed frustrating not being able to succeed in such an apparently elementary task, and to deal with counterparties that were less than straightforward in addressing some basic customer request.

Fortunately, things are improving. A two-year baby boy makes very difficult to find the time to paint of play games, but it doesn't deter dad for continuing the build up of his forces, nor to plan ahead future campaigns and new directions where to direct my hobby interests. At the end of spring, I finally succeeded in getting the much desired figures; thus, I am glad to report that a rather massive order of British, French, Bavarian troops, plus some additional Austrian and Prussian complements, is at Fernando, my miniature painter of choice who did marvels on my previous order. I have already seen some previews of his work on the current batch, and I am very excited about it. A few other units are getting completed by yours truly, slowly but steadily -- hopefully pictures will follow soon. In the making, new plans for scenarios, new plans for my long dormant Imagi-nation campaign, new plans for additional WAS/SYW units. Wargaming is slow, but life is good. I feel I am ready for a much needed reset, and I look forward blogging more frequently.

Experimenting with terrain

I have always had mixed feelings with felt as wargame terrain. Yes, it is cheap, and I cannot quite put my finger on it, but I always perceived it as being... cheap, in fact? Compared with the precious miniatures we deploye, and the often beautiful buildings and structures on our tables, felt never looked quite right to me.
Or maybe it was just a matter of execution. Some friends seem to be very easygoing and not too concerned about the silliness of some of their felt patches on the tabletop. But, after all, it is not the material, but what you make with it, right? So, I decided to experiment a little bit with felt myself, and I am glad to report that I am very pleased by the result.
I started with patches of brownish ochra felt, in order to recreate the effect of a summer field. Here's how it looks like.

Happy with what I see, I push the idea further, working with patches of dark green felt in order to recreate the effect of woods. I need more trees, and some bushes to do justice to the concept, but I was also pleased by the first stab in this direction. I am not a fan yet of the thin stripes of dark green used to underscore bushes along a road, or maybe a little countryside creek running across the ope fields, but overall, I am confident I can improve on that front, too.

Since I was on a roll, I embarked in the most ambitious project: to use thin stripes of green felt, of the very same type as my background terrain, to model the banks of a small river. Here the goal is to show some roughness and three-dimensional effect around the edges of the flowing water, something that I have never been able to accomplish in the past. I need to do better work with some glue here, but I was again very pleased by my first attempt.

This is a very rough first stroke at the whole idea, but I am won over. I think felt will become a recurrent trick out of my terrain bag. I just LOVE the effect on the river banks. I thought the corn fields were nice, and they did not feel cheap at all. And I see some potential is the dark green patches for thick woods and forests.
Overall, a productive evening.

Die Fighting, part II: a preliminary review

As anticipated in my previous post, Die Fighting is the latest set of rules by Bob Jones for the Horse and Musket period 1700-1900. These are tactical rules, in the sense that the basic unit is the battalion, unlike Bob's previous set "Repique: Zouave" which was more of a grand-tactical game based on brigades and divisions. In this respect, Die Fighting takes a more traditional approach to wargaming scale. The game has been out for about ten days, and there is already an excellent online review by Scott Mingus at the Charge! blog.

Scott does indeed an excellent job at reviewing the book and the basic mechanisms of the game. I hope my comments here will not result in much redundancy, but I still want to share a few of my reactions at a first reading. I have not had an opportunity to play the game yet, but several business trips over the last ten days (and the resulting idle time sitting at airports) gave me the chance to read the text a couple of times, and start some work on an order of battle for my future first playtest. So, here's my take on Die Fighting.

• Quality of product: very good. It is a nice softcover booklet of 54 pages, including two sets of cards and one Quick Reference Card. The quality of the printing is very good, the text is well organized and easy to read. I would have liked a few more examples, but examples are indeed included and are helpful to get a better understanding of some subtler points in the rules. Overall, the feel is that of a "simple" game, almost with an "Old School" flair-- but definitely not simplistic!


• Core concept. Units in each opposing army have a basic "type" (guard, elite, regular, irregular, etc.) Based on this "type", each unit contribute a certain number of "resource dice" (six-sided dice) to the army common pool. Actions like movement or combat cost resource dice. When you run out of dice, you've lost. Simple, isn't it? In reality, this whole "game engine" appears to create rather sophisticated trade-offs for the player. You need to spend resource dice to execute your plan, but you must be cognizant that the leadership resources that dice represent are not unlimited. Excess spending of dice and lack of discipline in staying focus on the task at hand may result in costly waste; sudden opportunities can be exploited, but you must keep in mind that resource dice are not infinite, and an action now might come at the cost of an action later.


• Other dice. The rules add two additional sources of dice: leadership dice, depending on the quality of commanders and sub-commanders, and "free" dice, that depend on specific game circumstances as dictated by a Free Dice Table (which has mostly to do with terrain and combat factors.)


• Sequence of play. True to his philosophy of game design, Bob did not write a I-go-You-go game; yet, unlike Piquet, the cycling of activities through the turn can be more or less structured. The game revolves around six very straightforward phases: specialized actions, officer actions, infantry actions, cavalry actions, artillery actions, rally restore and reload actions. The actual order in which they are executed depends by the period that is being played, and/or the players' personal preferences. Players can choose between three basic phase orderings: "Fixed Synchronous, " "Fixed Asynchronous," and "Variable Asynchronous," which, approximately refer to a same fixed sequence for both player, a individually-set fixed sequence (that may differ between players), or a more chaotic variable sequence. Additional options add some randomness that would be particularly suitable to solo playing.


• Movement. It depends on a roll of up two resource dice, plus or minus other dice depending on leadership and terrain factors. If you are familiar of The Sword And The Flame, the mechanism in Die Fighting reminded me of those movement rules, with a few original twists added.


• Combat. In firing and melee, attacker and defender roll their dice, and a variety of consequences (from "no effect' to "retreat," "disorder," "rout," and losses in resource dice) will depend upon the difference between the total score of the dice rolled by the attacker and the dice rolled by the defender. The game does NOT require stand removal as losses accumulate. Disordered or routing units can be rallied during the "Rally, Restore and Reload" Phase.


• Basing. Some recommendations are included in the rules, but as long as the two opposing armies are based in a consistent manner, the rules will work for any basing scheme.


• Period flavor. The rules include specific provisions for the "Linear Warfare" period, with two subsets of tables for the earlier War of Spanish Succession and the later War of Austrian Succession and the Seven Years War; the "Revolutionary Warfare" for the American and French Revolutions; the "Napoleonic Wars"; and the "Wars of Transition" (ACW and FPW). More templates will be freely available online at a later time (see below about "game support.") A Colonial expansion is already in preparation.


• Game support. Die Fighting is fully supported by the Repique website and Bob Jones' Zouave blog; furthermore, Bob is very active in addressing general and specific questions on the game at the Repique Yahoo forum, which, in the files section, includes FAQ and the inevitable Errata.

Of course, despite our bad habits as wargamers, rules are not made to be read, but to be played, and every preliminary review can only offer a limited taste of the game until units are deployed on the battletop, and a battle takes place. That's exactly what I am planning to do, and in the meanwhile I will make note about the actually preparation of the game (preparations of OOB, rating of units, organization of sub-commanders' battle groups, etc. etc.) in order to share in additional posts on Die Fighting. For the time being, let's just hope that "real life" will cooperate letting me having the time to follow-up on my plans, without throwing surprises or unplanned business trips on my schedule.

Die Fighting, part I: Bob Jones' implicit theology

I received in the mail the latest work of Bob Jones, of Piquet fame. It's Die Fighting, a ruleset for the Horse and Musket period 1700-1900. Before I write a review, which will probably take a separate post, and after, as a full disclaimer, I mention that Bob is a good friend, companion in several good meals and sparking chats, I have to say a few words about Bob Jones' implicit "theology." By that I mean the views about wargaming, rules writing, and combat that lie at the heart of a rules writer's work. In the "Die Fighting" Foreword, Pat McGuire offers many interesting remarks about Bob's style, and in the very same spirit I want to add one though or two to the excellent points made by Pat.

There are at least three core ideas that shape Bob Jones rules:

• he writes games where players face several crucial decision-node points. In this respect, Piquet was widely and wildly misunderstood. In Bob's games, you have a chance to act on your own turn, phase or card, but you also need to consider opportunities to act at any other moment, oftentimes directly challenging the actions undertaken by your opponent.


• he writes game that reflect the chaotic nature of the battlefield, where you seldom have a clear picture of the whole situation, where circumstances change suddenly and radically, and where your seldom have control of the events when the battle unfold.


• he writes games where leadership is fundamental, but it is also a scarce resource. Either in the composition of a sequence deck, a' la Piquet, or in the tally of Resource Dice, as in Die Fighting, Bob's rules provide you some latitude for action, but a latitude which is not unlimited. Doing something now usually means that you will not be able to do something later. Maddening, for those of us used to linear, I-go-You-go sequences of play: but a mechanism which is a wonderful engine of excitement and uncertainty in the game!

On this backdrop of gaming "philosophy", on to Die Fighting: any fully successful creation that delivers exactly what it promise to accomplish! In the next post, a preliminary review, following a reading of the rules before my first playtest.

The strength of my cavalry squadrons, and the sad state of the miniatures business

I spend most of my 2010 working on my Seven Year War project: shopping for miniatures in the spring, painting and getting miniatures painted by Fernando in the summer, and basing my armies in the fall. So, it was with a certain disappointment that later in the year I realized I made a mistake.
I built my cavalry squadrons at a strength of twelve miniatures (on six bases of two miniatures each), under the assumption that a six-base squadron will look good next to six-base infantry units (each with four miniatures per base, for a total of twenty-four miniatures per infantry unit.) Wrong! Once I deployed my squadrons on the field, it became apparent that they could look even better if they were sixteen miniatures strong. You can judge by yourself by looking at my Austrian cuirassuers.

A linear formation of eight miniatures wide and two deep looks good, and for larger games I can split it in two, and deploy two squadrons of eight miniatures each. It sounds like a win-win arrangement. And also in plain march line the impact would probably be better than the current six bases strength, although the impact in this case is already pretty good.

So, no big deal, you'd think. Go out, but four more miniatures for squadron, get them painted, and voila’, all my squadrons upgrade in strength. Instead… wrong again! I made the big mistake of ordering my missing miniatures to GFI/Minifigs in November, and I found myself entangled in the sad story of the near collapse of their business. After nearly two months of wait, I ended up cancelling my order – fortunately, I didn’t suffer a financial loss thanks to the reimbursement by the excellent Paypal: nonetheless, what a waste of time! Not good. But then I proceed with my next best alternative, i.e. ordering from the US stockist of Essex Miniatures... and I ended up stuck in the back-log of their inventory restocking, which apparently takes biblical times these days because of security delays at the U.S. Customs! Definitely, not my luckiest streak. Bottom line: I have been waiting thirty-six miniatures to complete nine squadrons since mid-November 2010, and tomorrow is March 1st 2011. Ordering miniatures should not feel like root canal.

I am back

I am back. I went five months without an update on my blog, but believe me, it was not for lack of ideas, projects, or progress on my miniatures and terrain. Rather, it was a complete lack of time; it didn't help, either, that I am now blogging for professional reasons. Quite frankly: if you spend many hours at the office thinking about blogging and writing for a blog, a blog is not exactly what you want to do when you come back home at night.
But anyway: I am back now. The goal is to post here at least once a week. Take it as my New Year Resolution. And if I will not deliver, feel free to come and poke at me in the comments!

In the meanwhile, as a teaser of things to come, two pictures from my SYW project now fully under development. Pandurs (above) and Austrian infantry (below).

And, oh, yes, progress also on the terrain front, as you see!

A completed project?

Is there anything like a complete and completed project in wargaming?!? Am I going to die, next?

Well, yes and no (about the project, not about me dying, of course!)

It seems that my colonial Abyssinia project is extremely close to reach its conclusion. My original target was to have all the necessary units required to play every scenario in Mark Fastoso's Colonial Campaigns book, Ethiopia 1887-1895. And I am now glad to report that the target, by and large, has been achieved. The line-up is nearly completed: all the miniatures are in, painted or very near to be finished. I can count, for the Italians, three units of line infantry, two bersaglieri, five askari, three Eritrean bands, one squadron of mounted askari lancers, plus guns, Maxim guns, and wagons. For the Ethiopians, bands of Galla warriors, Bana warriors, and Danakil lancers (two each), four bands armed with muskets and rifles, four bands of Tigrai irregular, two generic spearmen units, four mounted bands, and guns.

Of course, with hindsight, a few choices could have been different. One day, I might buy a few packs from the Italian shop Aude and get some real "Penne di Falco" askari lancers, instead of my own conversion from Egyptian lancers. And yes, sooner or later, I would add an Ethiopian "barded" cavalry unit from Eureka, a range which did not exist when I embarked in my project. But again, these are minor quibbles, refinements on a project which is now firmly built, and ready to be brought to the next stage -- the tabletop!

As I was going to the final touches to some of the aforementioned unit, I had to good idea to take some picture of the final result. You may have already seen some of these miniatures in early stages of development (here and here), and so you may imagine my satisfaction of bringing the work on them to a closing.

The first two pictures show the Tigrai irregular bands, 15mm Irregular miniatures.




Next, Bana warriors from the excellent 15mm Tin Soldier range, which I plan to deploy as Shoa warriors.


I made sure that at least one miniature could stand out as leader, and here's the detail on the Shoan one.


Tin Soldier also offers Galla warriors, and here's what I was able to came up with.


And here's a more dramatic shot of the charging Galla. Notice again the leader.


Finally, the band(s) of Danakil lancers (Tin Soldier.)
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I also completed the painting job on the Ethiopian leaders. Special attention was paid to create a nice vignette for Negus Neghesti, but I also made sure to paint some good details on the other general offered in the Tin Soldier command pack.




A final note: all my Irregular and Tin Soldier 15mm miniatures are distributed in the U.S. by Silver Eagle Wargame Supplies. Over the years, Jacob has provided top notch customer service and assistance, and it is a distributor whom I enthusiastically endorse and recommend.

WAS & SYW 15mm options for minor armies

A few days back I posted the following question on TMP, but the answers I received were unusually inconclusive... so I am re-posting here, hoping to find some additional insights.

I am tempted to expand my WAS/SYW collection, now being built around Prussian, Austrian, and French forces. In particular, I'd like to add some selected regiments from minor countries; I am looking in particular to Saxony, Bavaria, and the Reichsarmee. Since I am working with 15mm, as a matter of fact it all boils down to the style of the coat.

In the case of the Reichsarmee, the excellent article in the Seven Years war Kronoskaf site helps a lot, stating very clearly which contingent wore a Austrian-like type of coat, and which ones followed the Prussian style.

But what about Bavarians and Saxons? I found reference for the Bavarians pointing both to French and Austrian styles; as for the Saxons, I have been looking to plates for quite some time, and I have not been able to decide which way I should head to.

Unfortunately, available 15mm miniatures cover well only the major players: British, Prussians, Austrians, French, Russians; all the 15mm ranges I know of remain somewhat wanting for the smaller contingents. Which leaves me with the doubt about what would be good "stand-in" for Saxony and Bavaria? Could any expert in the field help?

As always, thanks in advance for sharing your insight!

A momentous decision

About a couple of month ago, I had an epiphany.

I was looking at my Marlburian miniatures, feeling not too happy about the basing, nor about my painting, or lack thereof... I looked at the pile of well-ordered units waiting to be painted on my workbench. I quickly thought of how much time it would take me to add just one or two new units to the current roster. And all the sudden, I had to ask myself the question: what is my hobby? Is it my hobby primarily painting miniatures? Or it is about playing battles with them? Until a couple of years ago, my answer would have been a resolute "Both!" but what about now? I am at the stage of my life in which time has become the scarcest of the resources. Back in the days, I was not bothered by projects that would require one, or two years of painting units before one single die could be rolled on the tabletop. But now? Those one or two years have become three, or four, or who knows how many. Painting in any significant batch of time has become nearly impossible, and you don't make much progress with twenty minutes here, and twenty minutes there.

In that moment, I realized it was time for a decision. Either I make painting my primary hobby, and I postpone for good any hope to fight a battle any time soon, or I focus on the gaming side of the hobby, which may require... somebody else to do my painting.

OK, I said it. Until a few years ago, this was anathema to me. But now my disposable time has evaporated, and it might be time to reassess how I do things. My good friends Peter "Gonsalvo" and Bob Jones, of "Piquet" and now "Zouave" fame, have been recommending the outsourcing of painting for a long time. I think the moment has come for me to follow the lead of these wise men. As of July 2010, the decision is taken: I am back to miniature wargaming. And a large package is about to be shipped to Fernando in Sri Lanka to get the proverbial job done.

I feel I am about to enter a new era of appreciation and enjoyment of my hobby.

I am back!

Well, it has been a while since my last update, wasn't it?

You may imagine DestoFante leisurely reclined next to a pool, or on a beach, with a frozen margarita in one hand, and the latest issues of the Battlegames magazine is the other, maybe only partially distracted by a couple of beauties sunbathing nearby (that's usually when Mrs. DestoFante's slap brings me back to reality...)

And you couldn't be any farther from the truth. In fact, the last 60 days have been busy. Really busy. On the personal front: the DestoFante family bought a new home in May, went to closing in June, did the remodeling in July, and we are now ready to move next week! The job has kept me busy, too, with travels through the Midwest and the East Coast. The good news is -- because of a meeting in Philadelphia, I was able to be at Historicon, although for just one day and half! I will provide my personal report from the convention in the next few days.

But, most importantly: I am getting into a new period. The war of Austrian Succession/Seven Years War. This sounds like a momentous decision, but it is not: it is the result of a couple of years of pondering (read what I wrote back in 2008, here and here) and some conclusions reached over the last couple of months. The explanation of which will take the next post.

For the time being -- I am back!