Playing Miniatures Battles Online

This weekend I will be hosting yet another game of Blucher for the community. This will be an epic fight set within the 1812 invasion of Russia. My good friends Ian and Neil - whom you may recognize from many TtC PAINT & CHAT sessions - will be Russian and French commanders respectively. Also, we will have some special guests to lend some advice and support to our two glorious commanders.

Preceding the battle, we will also be having a session of Scharnhorst to set up the armies for the coming carnage. This should be taking place the day before the actual battle itself. Although I haven't played only but once using these "mini-campaign" rules, I do so love them. They really would work quite well with any period really. Anyway, this amounts to even more fun over the weekend.

If you are curious about playing miniatures-based games online look no further than this blog! It's one of the reasons we started this whole community! Needless to say, playing online is really pretty easy. Just have a watch at some of the LIVE Plays we have done already over on the TtC YouTube channel. It really is as simple as choosing a player to host the battle - the guy who supplies all the minis, terrain, and table space. As long as this person also has a webcam and a mic all is well. Everyone just joins the Hangout on G+ and the game can start.

Playing RPG's is also a blast on Hangouts! In fact I have a campaign of
Dragon Age starting in a couple weeks using G+ Hangouts with some
of my friends from the TtC community.

I really do highly recommend trying online gaming with G+ Hangouts. I know quite a few people who use Skype to do this, although this is seldom public - it would require videoing the session with an additional webcam and uploading it to YouTube. G+ Hangouts are a blast really, and they have all kinds of useful game-related apps too. One example is Dice Stream, which is a dice rolling program that works pretty darn good. Still, I prefer to pick up a hand-full of dice and throw them myself. I mean would anyone really cheat with their rolls? I wouldn't.

G+ Hangouts are a good way to try out different rules too!

Anyway, feel free to watch our battle on Friday at noon EST. The actual fight will be on Sat. at the same time. You can watch later too if you want, since the video will be uploaded to the TtC YouTube channel :)

And with that, we are off! See you all soon.

~K

Review: ACW Gamer #11

It's been a while since we made a post as of late so I thought I would put up a short review on issue #11 of ACW Gamer - the E-zine.

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For starters this is a pretty slick production - lots and lots of eye candy! But not only that, for the price of $12 USD one gets a lot of useful information! In this case, issue #11 comes in at a hefty 37 full color pages. When I say "hefty" I mean content!

 

For one we have an excellent short article by ACW author Scott Mingus, discussing a few rules ideas for representing supply wagons and such in our tabletop battles. He includes a number of inspiring examples for the popular set of rules,  Fireball in the Night. I know it is not only fun to have rules for these little wagons, but it gives us a great reason to include these models on our tabletop too.

 

This is followed up by a useful review by Arthur van der Ster on Warlord Games new release, Glory Hallelujah.  no surprise here as this Black Powder supplement has been on the minds of many an ACW wargamer. The review itself is quite inclusive and covers everything from background, layout, special rules for the ACW, artwork and even its price. All in all a pretty good review I must say. If you are on the fence about this supplement, or just want to have a good idea of what to expect, this article is spot on!

 

Next we have an article by Bill Moreno, owner of Good Ground Miniatures, where he details his ideas on collecting and putting together 1:600 scale iron clads! I know I have been very tempted to go for this scale myself. In my mind, 1:600 is the equivalent of 28mm models for land battles - 1:1200 more like the common 15mm scale. You just can't beat the detail on these awesome ships. Bill goes on in the article to discuss just that. Chalk full of useful ideas and useful painting and converting techniques.

 

Some of you might recognize the author of the next piece - especially if you are a fan of the Cigar Box Battle Mats. Cory Ring concludes the E-zine with a guide to touring the Franklin battlefield - all with an eye towards the wargamer. Located in Tennessee, the Franklin battlefield offers the wargamer many inspiring locations. Ever wonder what to keep your eye on when touring the battlefield? How about some little known spot that would make a good scenario? That is what this article is all about. Full of descriptions of important areas of the battlefield, as well as a good suggested reading list. Of course, lots of inspiring pictures of the battlefield locations accompany the article.

 

Of course, the E-zine is also full of useful other bits for the ACW gamer - including adverts from leading miniatures distributers, as well as a listing of ACW clubs around the globe. In addition, there is a section at the beginning that covers the news and goings in the ACW wargaming community. In this case detailing the recent HMGS Cold Wars convention held this last March, including plenty of pictures of ACW games in action. In addition, there is a short write up about the upcoming NashCon and Johnny Con conventions to be held in May.

 

Considering the content of this E-zine, and at a price of only $12 for a four issue per year subscription, it is a great value to the ACW wargamer. As a pdf, it is well organized and laid out, easy to navigate. Well worth it if you ask me.

 

Final verdict: A+; the amount of quality content here considering the price is well worth it. If you are interested in ACW miniatures wargaming, I can't recommend this E-zine enough. Well worth it!

 

Check out the E-zine home page here at ACW Gamer.

 

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SO there you go folks. I hope you found that little review worth it. I hope to do more of these in the future her on the TtC blog. Was fun.

Till next time...

~K

Reassessing Your Hobby Life

There comes a time for all of us who have been involved with the wonderful hobby of miniatures wargaming that we get to a point where we need to just sit back, reflect, and reassess our hobby life. Perhaps this comes about after some stressful involvement in a game, or perhaps just feeling over-whelmed with the hobby in general. Perhaps it comes about in our free time after a really good - or bad - game session. Who knows really. But it is something that strikes us all at one point or another.



Am I really in to this?!

The Adventures of Sir Deven Benderbits - Wargamer Extraordinaire: All that Glitters

(Being a series of articles relating to the hobby of historical miniatures wargaming, meaning to bring out thought and discussion. Sir Deven is in fact a very extraordinaire wargamer; his thoughts wander much on the deeper side of the hobby - often nothing more than early morning ramblings and musings. Come enjoy his little diary of sorts as he explores this hobby of historical miniatures wargaming.)

Some more random musings for you all.

Unfortunately, we live in a society based on instant-gratification, where patience is much more than a mere virtue.

"Ahhhh... this looks so amazing! I can do so much with these miniatures. What a great period of history. I could have such grand battles. All my game-mates will love me even! Oh boy, the things I will be able to do. I could DO this!".

Uumm... no. No, no, noooooo!

Memories of Grand Battles

Way back when I first got in to the hobby of wargaming, I was fascinated at the idea of documenting my little make-believe battles. I remember fondly writing down in detail a small battle using the now dated Tricolor Napoleonic rules. The battle featured both French and British forces going at it over control of a redoubt. The Prussians showed up late in the battle marching earnestly through a thick woods - of course, all of this was the result of watching the classic Waterloo movie. It just seemed natural to write out the progress of the battle, much like an author writes about the same in some old history book. It was all good fun, giving me a certain satisfaction that my battles would not be forgotten.

I was always one for taking pictures, even at a young age. I remember getting my first camera as a teen ager and taking countless pictures. I seemed to have a knack for it as well! Taking pictures of my battles seemed a natural fit. Thus started another little hobby of mine: taking wargaming pictures. I guess this is another reason why I love the look of a miniatures battle so much. I am always talking about immersion and such, and wonderfully painted models and terrain really helps in that respect. Making a visual record of my battles seemed natural and normal for me.




One of the very first pics I took of my exploration in wargaming.
Two ACW ironclads go at it. Made completely of
corrugated cardboard and match-sticks. '87.

Airfix Battles Coming Soon!

On out Tabletop Commanders LIVE shows on G+ Hangouts we talk a lot about the old days of wargaming, how Airfix plastic toy kits and soldiers played a big role in our early childhood. Oh the fond memories! I myself have a massive collection, showing off many of these little plastic gems in our PAINT & CHAT sessions. Well, here is something that was brought to my attention by our fellow contributor, Ian. This is a set of rules - including dice and cards, and more - that allows you to put those little plastic models on the tabletop for some fun battles! Oh how I wish I had this back in the day. Funny thing is, even all these years later, and after playing so many different games, I am actually excited to dig out my plastic Airfix once again and have a go! What an awesome idea. I am sure I am not alone in this.

Anyway, here is a link to the Airfix Battles product soon to be produced by Modiphius.