Monday 18 June 2018

A Military Gentleman: Garrison Battalions make Ready

A Military Gentleman: Garrison Battalions make Ready: A quick photo-shoot of the Prussian Garrison battalions making ready just in case they are called into action. John     ...



Posts like this define, to me, what a gaming collection should look like.  Just superb on all levels.

Prepping season

When the weather gets warmer it is time to get the raw lead out and prep models.  This is especially important for priming the figures which becomes problematic in the fall and winter when spraying larger batches becomes impossible.  I do brush-prime smaller groups of figures, but for the cast of thousands (or at least hundreds) that I like to use in my games, large-scale preparations are the most efficient.

So what is being prepared?  Well, I have 14 units of Afghan Regulars (Tiger and Perry) ready to go.  I am also dramatically increasing my ancient and renaissance collections for Armati.  Hundreds of Romans, Swiss and Landsknecht are being prepared for the 2018-19 fall-spring season.  I have also prepped a large collection of WWI French for the BFE Great War variant that I hope will turn into a published game.

On the BFE front I am considering a modest update but taking the opportunity to produce separate rule sets for each of the main campaigns with scenarios (say, 6-8) in each book.  Certainly the Zulu War, Sudan, and NWF will get separate treatments.

Also, I have been working on the Great War and ACW versions of BFE.  It might seem strange to think of having a BFE version for ACW since BFE was inspired by Fire and Fury, but BFE would be at the regimental level and, in contrast to F&F (both Regimental and the new Brigade game) the emphasis would be on faster play.  F&F was never a fast game and while these games are successful and well designed, we just can't finish a game in an evening.  BFE as an interface will do the trick!  I would likely make the set a "mid-century" set suitable for the wars of unification too.

Anyway, lots to think about and do.  The rules work is something I really enjoy.  I have worked with Arty Conliffe for years on most of his games, but playing second fiddle to a designer, while stimulating and fun, is never as satisfying as creating something for yourself.