FabLab, Wargames And Bases

Much to my surprise I got to FabLab just about on time. This proved to be a bad thing. Having booked the machine, someone else was using it when I got there and I was told that the time I had wasn't going to happen because they were going to close early. With a bit of targeted complaining I got them to extend the hours but still didn't get what I want done because it took over forty minutes to get the other guy of the machine.

For a while now I have been working on the idea and basics for a Savage Worlds driven wargame. There are a couple of wargame systems available already. The mass battle system in the rules is extremely basic and the Showdown rules won't handle mass battles. So I thought I could find a third way.

The plan calls for about ten to twelve units per side with units ranging from about five to thirty men. In a world where two hundred men might be called an army, this is about right. What I have wanted to do is give the rules a serious play test. I have played them through with digital paper counters and they seemed to work okay. Over the summer I have been thinking about doing it as a miniatures games, I just needed some sabot bases.

As a game it is really an extension of a RPG campaign but like most of my games, I like a mass battle element to them. So I want  a mass battle feel but still have the scope for using individual heroic characters. There are plenty of dark age figures in my collection but they are all based individually as I am primarily a roleplay at the moment. So whatever the rules were going to be would have to take this into account. I also wanted a system that would allow characters to be right up in the action but a bit more, well, wargaming light. The most obvious solution was sabot basing.

Take somewhere between two and six infantry or two or three cavalry figures per base. Make sure that there is some scope for bigger monsters and even light artillery (okay I have two dwarf ballistas and I might get one for a Romano-British early saxon army).

I had hoped to walk away with about enough bases for two armies. Time got a bit short but I have still walked away with enough stuff for eighteen bases, admittedly some are not needed at the moment and I could do with a few more leg infantry bases. However, I should have enough of the stuff cut by the close of play on Saturday to make that happen.

A bit of sand, some time, some paint, some wash (maybe make some of my own wash as I am now going to need a lot of it) and a bit of highlighting and that should do me.Time is getting a bit tight to have all this done and finish my figures but I live in hope.

Hellishly Busy Day

Not once today have I had a chance to pick up a paintbrush. Come to think of it I haven't even sat at the bench today. There has been a lot going on and to be honest, some of it has been pretty good.

Most of my limited laptop time has been spent doing stuff for FabLab tomorrow. I have finished off all the ideas I have for the Viking Wargame and moved on to extra bits and pieces. This is more about basing. A while back I wrote myself, and my players some rules for basing after getting people who wanted to bring their own figures which were on display bases far too big for the 1" grids I use which came on piles of rocks almost doubling the size of the figures concerned. Most of the bases I already have but I figured some of the monster sized bases, especially the double length ones, not only do I not have but can't find. I thought I would try cutting out a swarm base as well and see if that looked any better. Pretty sure that it will and make the bases look a little more even to.

So I am hoping for a bit more basing time in the morning and maybe after I get back from FabLab. I should have a few samples to show as well.

A Good Year For The Blog

To be honest I have been blogging really hard this year. This probably explains why I have just hit seven hundred blog posts which is something that has made me proud. Some may say I have low standards :) Most of it seemed to make some sort of sense and it has gotten me few a number of darker days. It's already the year where I have posted the most and it's looking I will average over a post per day, if only just.

It does however seem to be paying off. Whilst the traffic has slowed a bit just of late, it is still running along at a much better rate than past years. Various other bloggers have been kind enough to put me on their blog rolls. Visitors are good but knowing that there are other people out there that think I am worth a mention really lifts my mood.

Playing a bit more of an active part in the blogging community and Google plus appears to have helped. I have more followers on the blog than last year, by about half a dozen or so and I've double my followers on Google plus. So I am quite happy.

I have done a bit of painting today. Although I could have done more, the base coats on the figures for the week are almost done. I'm at the Fablab tomorrow. For well over a year I have been working on a Savage Worlds wargame. The plan for tomorrow is to to make some sabot bases and actually give the game a dry run or two.

RIP Jerry Pournelle

Over my time blogging I have done several obituaries. To be honest I can't say I have any love of writing them nor any real talent in writing them. The thing is, people I admire keep dying. This may come as a surprise to you I know, given the shortage of admirable people out there.

When I first started reading  science fiction books by Jerry Pournelle were in just about every science fiction section of every bookshop. At the time I never read any of them. It's only in the last five years that I started reading them. I went through a phase of digging up old military sci fi books which brought him some criticism at the time. This, I think, was a product of the times he was living in and the world political situation in general and possibly some of his own experiences in the Korean War. He was something of a gamer in his time and contributed to a number of related gaming magazines. When I started going through some science fiction classics audiobooks, Jerry Pournelle figured quite highly on those lists. I guess his degree in Psychology did him more good than mine.

I guess it was his collaborations with Larry Niven that have stuck with me the most. The Mote In God's Eye, Lucifer's Hammer and Footfall are amongst my all time favourites. They are well thought through novels and have inherent consistency which make the worlds much more believable.

The guy was clearly a thinker. There are several statements referred to as "Pournelle's Law". The most relevant to me has always been "the importance of checking cable connections when diagnosing computer problems". Then there was the Iron Law of Bureaucracy. "In any bureaucracy, the people devoted to the benefit of the bureaucracy itself always get in control and those dedicated to the goals the bureaucracy is supposed to accomplish have less and less influence, and sometimes are eliminated entirely". If you have worked in any office, this has to colour your viewpoint in some way shape or form, depending on the side you were on.

He was a major advocate and early adopter of the personal computer. The are a number of non-fiction books he wrote about computers. This goes back to the early days of the personal computer. It is said to be the first author to have a book published that was written on a word processor.

I, for one, am sad that this talented man has passed away.

Just On The Edge

I have made it to the end of another week and I have stuck to The New Cruelty. Short of varnishing and a few embellishments on bases, I am back on target for my five figures per week. Five odds and sods figures, which I think are all Frostgrave, have been finished off. I have even got close to finishing a couple of background project ones on top of that.

So the plan is to do some early Saxon / Romano-British figures next. these are what is on the table and have been sat there for a while. They have been in the paint queue for about four years now. The whole Romano-British / Arthurian thing is a bit of an inspiration for me. This stems from the Merlin mini series years ago. The style of costume is probably a bit archaic for The Viking Game but I don't mind that. As a GM it is good to take a few liberties so they have become the figures I was going to use as The Kingdom Of Wessex. I did also think about using them as light elves and painting them with a white skin platte.

I've been to Southport today. There is a good gaming store there. A couple of presents have been brought for me. Not got them yet them, but I guess I will get them in a month or so. As a bonus I went to an arcade and walked out with enough 2p coins to meet my basing needs for another six months.

Back To FabLab

With the kids being back in school FabLab is back on. I went down there yesterday with little expectations of even getting access to the machine let alone the thing working properly. So I was surprised when there was no one there wanting to use it and the machine working properly. Apparently I had done a better job at diagnosing the problems with the machine that the staff had.

The trouble was that I didn't have much of an idea what to do. Over the last week or so I had an idea for a stick to paint figures on. Something I could slot in bases so that I could secure the figures with whilst priming and varnishing. As I have done a lot of that lately, I thought it might come in useful. Seems like it worked out well, hopefully not too well. This is a product I think I am going to produce.

This wasn't going to take too long so I thought i would cut up some bases. For years I have been using two 2p coins glued together as cavalry bases. This works well but us time consuming and messy. So I cut a few appropriately sized bases. I don't do too much cavalry (I have a thing about hating painting horses) but there are plenty of monster minis (I am thinking about the dozen or so dire wolves I did a few years ago). Then onto a few larger monster sized bases. My stocks of 30mm, 40mm and 50mm were running low so I thought I'd top these up.

There was a little bit of space left on the board so I thought I'd do some template sized circles for Savage Worlds. Sadly the Medium Burst Template didn't come out how I would of liked it.

For a while I have been working on a Savage Worlds wargame. I think I might give the sabot bases for that atrial during the week.

Auto Translate Is Not Always A Good Thing

I love the internet. It gives you some fantastic tools which makes dealing with the world so much easier. Sometimes though, things like auto translate do not always work.