Flames of . . . . BRITISH!!

Since getting into Flames of War and getting 2 others to start joining in with me I have dedicated a lot of time to getting my force together and painting.

Here come the pictures!!!

Not the best, but I am happy with how it all turned out. Modeling the force after the 50th Tynes & Tees division from Turning Tide, but is being replaced by Overlord.

But since it has been done I found myself sort of restless. I tend to dive into things head first and the 2 other people don't have their forces together and I haven't really been able to play FoW as much as I would like. When I do I divide the force in half and fight against the same units with the same special rules. So far it has been a lot of fun and the game flows really well. Despite fighting against the same foes I think it will help me learn my British force and what works and doesn't work for them better. But I do want to play against

And despite my last blog post I have been considering getting back into 40k or possibly Warhammer Fantasy Battle.

Yeah, yeah, yeah I know. I am a big hypocrite. But the main reason is that my good friend Kurt has 2 armies already and I know I will have a good opponent to help with rules and such right from the get go. At least with 40k. Fantasy, not so much, but dang those High Elves look cool and so do the Bretonnians and the Empire and it seems like WFB is slightly cheaper than 40k. But also painting and putting together the FoW models has rekindled my enjoyment of painting armies and such and it is also just to have something to paint and play with to tie me over till I get my Robotech RPG miniatures game! OF WHICH IS SO READY FOR!!!!

But alas, it wont be getting shipped till December, but it will probably be pushed back. It was a kickstarter thing after all.






What is a dude to do?

New things. Man, I am a lowsy blogger

So it has been quite some time since last I posted. WHOA! About 6 months.

In my defense I was locked in deadly combat of classes and working towards a masters in history. I am way off from that though still.

Anyway I have been able to have a steady gaming schedule for once in my life thanks to having a set work schedule. So every Tuesday and Thursday I have been going to a place called Games & Stuff in Glen Burnie (Highly recommend this place if you are in the Maryland area) and playing various board games with my new friend Jeff. Whom I met through hosting a Legend of the 5 Rings demo.

We were the core group of a 3 person play group for L5R, but it did not last. It slowly dissolved to just Jeff and I and then we decided to switch venues at the suggestion of Jeff and play board games. And we have been playing a lot! More so that we have been playing a lot, but not necessarily a lot of different games, but we are working on it. Only because my memory is a little fuzzy probably from being sick as I type this.

WARNING! Lots of pictures of what we have been playing incoming! HIT THE DECK!

All those games pictured have been good fun! I recommend checking them out. I am sure I am missing several other games we have played, but oh well.

Another thing I decided to get into:

"But Jared! Why Flames of War and not Warhammer!!??"

Well let me expound at length about the basic premise.

You see my friend Kurt plays Warhammer 40k and is very kind in letting me use one of his armies when we play. His main army is Tau and his other is Grey Knights. I usually play the Grey Knights. Earlier in life I played the Eldar. Never got more than a 700 point army as I was a middle school kid with no job and GW was overpriced then. Kurt and I had recently played a game using the long overdue Tau codex for 6th edition and I no longer felt invincible with my Grey Knight paladin HQ squad. But it was great because Kurt finally got a sparkle of hope in his eye that GW finally recognized him as a paying customer and making his 2600 point army viable again after several years.

So this got me considering getting into Warhammer 40k and building up an army again. I was feeding off our mutual excitement of "Hey! The Tau don't suck anymore!" This was short lived when I looked at the GW site at Eldar units. Dire Avengers, 5 plastic figures, $35. Nope! Wraithguard, 5 plastic figures, $50. Nope! Are you kidding me!? 5 guys for 35 to 50 dollars? Why the price disparity and why the hell are they that expensive when it is plastic? Oh yeah, it's GW.

Thus my interest was quickly taken to the back of the chemical shed and shot dead. Now, go look at the Flames of War stuff, especially the Open Fire! boxed set. I will use Open Fire as an example.

In it you gets
11 tanks (both British & German)
105 infantry (both US Airborne & German Grenadiers
2 PaK40 Anti tank guns
Quick Start guide with 2 army lists
Full color rule book (The whole 296 page rule book)
Dice, carboard counters and terrain

And how much is it you ask? Off amazon it is about $70. It's a ridiculously great deal. Over 100 miniatures and a full rulebook!!

What does GW offer?

Dark Vengeance has much similar things as the Open Fire set. Though it's rulebook is about 272 pages less than the full 6th edition version. 

Though it may seem like I am bashing Warhammer 40k, I really don't mean to seem like it. It is really like the buisness of GW itself that I am bothered with.

Lets wrap it up!

If you are interested in the World War 2 historical setting and/or want a more reasonably priced miniatures war game that is a cheaper alternative to Warhammer, give Flames of War a shot. 

Also Battlefront would give you a free mini rulebook (like the one in Open Fire) if you had the hardcover of the previous edition (http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2011/12/breaking-flames-of-war-3rd-edition.html) and that is the SECOND time they have done it.

Orginization is key!!

So since having purchased several board games I have noticed one flaw in most of them. They pretty much all give you no options or anything to help you organize the components. Some games it isn't so bad, like Flash Point: Fire Rescue. There is a limited variety and number of components making it  no problem to split them among the boxes divider. But with some games, the game as a whole would benefit greatly from at least some attempt to help you divide them other than a box insert. Sometimes the box inserts actually makes it more difficult to store the game once all the components are unpacked and punched out. This is the case, IMO, with Descent 2nd edition.

One of the pet peeves with board games and having it all organized. I am finding that the grocery store sandwich bags just don't cut it for me. They are slightly opaque and when you have a bunch of them in a box it becomes this blurry mess which makes it more difficult to pick out what you are looking for/need.

This is a picture of what looks like all the components from the original game and the 2 expansions to Twilight Imperium. This guy, not me at all, has it all very neatly organized, but the organization rested squarely on him. Look at all that stuff!!! Imagine breaking this out every couple weeks to play and not having it organized at all. The hundreds of cards, plastic ships, race tokens, extra ground and fighter tokens, optional rules tokens, systems tiles, and race sheets just thrown into the box. I can imagine that it would be a HUGE pain in the ass to sift through it all for everything each player needs to play. This in turn would make me less likely to play it as it would be just a pain to get everything organized.

Of course that may be an extreme example. I recently purchased the vintage Risk from Target. It comes in a wooden box. The box tops slides out to reveal neatly organized components. All the wooden army counters are held in plastic containers which are held in place with a black plastic insert. The dice have a place, the cards have a place. Everything has a place!!! The game was about 22 bucks. So it would seem that in a lot of cases the reason companies don't give you much in the way, if any at all, to organize the games (sometimes many) components is due to cost. I can't imagine giving plastic containers or even decent plastic bags costing all that much


Anyway, I just wish more game companies would throw us a bone here. There is 1 company I know that includes nice plastic games, with a little in them so you don't have to worry about trapped air. That company is GMT Games. And damn if that isn't really cool to me!!! I mean yeah sure it is just plastic bags, but that is a ton more than most companies do for you. Memoir '44 is another game that's box is made to keep everything organized. So kudos to GMT games and Days of Wonder for that. I know I really appreciate it

Whoa, whoa, woe!

At work, one my friends plays Warhammer 40k. It is a really cool game, produced by a pretty awful company. My friend plays Grey Knights and Tau and I used to play Eldar. Nothing big, I had a 700-point (699 if you are stickler) army made up of Eldrad Ulthuan, Guardians, Howling Banshees, Striking Scorpions, 1 Grav Tank and a Wraith Lord.

                                                             Can't even paint this good

Through my talks with him, it has made me want to get back into miniature war gaming, but it wont be Warhammer mainly due to not enough time to assemble and paint and I also can't justify paying the ridiculous prices they charge for plastic figures, from what I have heard, are not in as good a quality as they used to be. This is also after a over all price increase.

I debated that maybe I could go with Dust: Tactics, Battletech, or Heavy Gear. Something where there aren't a lot of units on the table and just leave them unpainted, but then I know I wouldn't be getting the most out of miniatures from an ascetic stand point. Plus an army is much less impressive when it is a large group of featureless grey. My friend and I also were looking at Flames of War a World War 2 miniatures game. It had a lower buy in cost compared to Warhammer and the company seems to be much nicer and more in tune with it's customers. We could each just buy 1 box and have a full on army to play with. I know you can buy army boxes, but they sort of half an army in a way, but that is more opinion than fact. But again, painting I couldn't do on them for time and skill reasons.

Thus my search has led me to the now defunct game of AT-43. 

Now it isn't defunct in the sense that now one plays it anymore, I am sure people still do. It is defunct in the sense it isn't being produced or expanded anymore. Which is slightly maddening!!!!!!

Pre-painted, pre assembled. Yeah, at the time they were out, they were priced much the same as Warhammer, but all the nice work is done and they are ready to go out of the box.

Now, it can be argued that painting the figures is part of the fun, which I can't really argue against. It just isn't for me, but more power to you if you like painting the figures.

Alas, I could purchase AT-43 mini's off ebay and other online vendors and I am very tempted. But it is sad to see, what I have heard was a very fun game, with very nice (IMO) mini's, that the game is no longer supported.

I really loved playing Warhammer! It was great! I lost all except 1 of my battles, but it was great fun. I just can't stick with the company that makes it and I don't have the time or patience anymore to paint.

If there are any similar miniature war games that use pre painted figures, that are or arent supported, but worth checking out I am desperate to know

Who likes action movies?!?!

I recently watched The Raid: Redemption. Spoilers ahead.

And it was awesome. So if you are fan of action films, I would recommend you stop reading and go watch it now.

If you still want to read watch this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9BCa5Ijprw&feature=relmfu

This movie really is one of the best action movies in a long time. Many action movies these days employ a shaky cam and don't really allow you to see much of the action or really give you much chance for you to interpret what exactly is happening on screen. But this movie actually does.

Does the camera shake yes, but not to a ridiculous degree. It puts right into the action but you are seeing all the impressive fight choreography and the brutality of the combat clearly. It all just clicks. The movie has a storyline you can follow, but it doesn't get in the way of the action, nor does the action get in the way of the story. This movie knows that it is an action movie and doesn't try do anything too fancy. And that is part of it's charm. There aren't any long monologues or artsy sequences. Just a straight action movie and damn fine one at that.

It's awesome. Go watch it

A Most Dishonorable Victory!!

This is brought you by Ikusa

Aka Samurai Swords aka Shogun.

It is a game where you take command in feudal Japan and wage war for the provinces. It is samurai, so I am naturally inclined to like it.

You control 3 armies that maneuver and divide up the various lands and then go to work. All of your bits I kept in a nice looking tray that comes with a card that lets you plan you koku expenditure in secret before you reveal your plays and carry out the orders. It also gives a nice overview of the turn phases, costs of units and their combat roll.

Combat is handled in a ranged phase, remove casualties, then a melee phase. You can levy units to build up your provincial forces or your roaming armies, build castles, hire ronin to bolsters your forces, or ninja's to assassinate enemy daimyo or act as spies revealing your enemies plans.

It is all a lot of fun and spreads you slightly thing considering how large your empire starts at the beginning of the game. As you lose daimyo's you armies may grow larger, but you are not as flexible.

Today I played a very good game of Ikusa with my pals Alister & Mike. So here is the overview  of the game.

On the 2nd turn I managed to slay one of Mike's daimyo's and eliminate one of his 3 armies. Soon after Alister wiped out one of my armies and I made an ill fate alliance with Mike to not wage war on his lands so long as he doesn't on mine. Before I could recover from the first daimyo loss, Alister destroyed my 2nd force leaving me with only 1 lone army which I proceeded to build up. Meanwhile Mike maneuvered and made a surprise strike on one of Alister's armies and then immediately attacked another managing to take out both, but with heavy casualties.

This left Mike with 2 armies, Alister with 1 fortifying his position in the center of the map and me with 1 moving and reinforcing to have the final battle of the game. We both hired as many ronin as we could muster and I moved my forces in for the attack. Alister's defenses proved too much and I took heavy losses till only my last daimyo remained.

Then Mike's ninja struck!!! Killing my daimyo and winning the game in a most clever but dishonorable way.

And this is why playing board games is great. It felt great to lose. Alister and I were so wrapped up in our battle that we forgot about Mike hiring the ninja. It was a big gamble that relied on 1 of us having only 1 unit left in our armies and getting an 8 or less on a 12-sided die roll. Oh it was exciting and a very satisfying way to end the game.

Plus it always great to spend time with friends, which board games are a great way to do that

Oh Netrunner, How I've missed you

There was a time when Magic: The Gathering was starting to hit it's stride and I wanted to get into it.  Everything about seemed awesome. It had magic and fantasy and warriors and you were a wizard doing battle with other wizards! But there was a problem. My mom didn't like the game.

The reason for this involves us visiting family friends. One of the children played Magic: The Gathering and my mom asked him about it. She found out about the various colors. Then when she talked to me about it, she told me she didn't want me playing it because white decks always lose. Now before you judge she was operating on the logic of a shitty MtG player. The guy clearly sucked if white decks he played always lost. Now that I am adult I could buy cards and play on my own and my favorite color is white. And I win plenty of games.

In the time before I was able to buy my own MtG, my mom was awesome enough to buy me an alternate card game. That game was Netrunner. Made by the same person who created Magic: The Gathering. It is a 2 player asymmetrical game, meaning the the Runner plays and presents his cards on the table is different from the way the Corporation player does. And the cards were really cool looking to boot. Plus it was cyberpunk, which I am big fan of in general.

Look at that OWL!!! Also, I think owls are cool.

But I never actually managed to play it. I was too young and didn't have anyone interested in playing it, but now FFG has re-imagined the game in Android: Netrunner. And now that I am old enough to appreciate it and play, I thoroughly am enjoying it. From reading sources online the game is largely the same save for a few differences. One of them being that there are Runner and Corporation identities that you build your decks around. As writing this there is only the starter set out which has 3 Runner identities and 4 Corporation identities.

I have only played with my girlfriend, but we both really enjoy the game. Learning things can be a little bit of a challenge, but only about as much as MtG or Legend of the 5 Rings. The starter set comes with lots of cardboard tokens to track how many credits you have (bits in the original game) and if the Runner is tagged and so on.

Also it is Living Card Game, and so far there are 2 Data Packs (card packs) in the pipe line that will add more identities and new strategies to the game. Speaking of which the goal of the game is score 7 agenda points, reduce the Corp's R&D (draw deck) to nothing, kill the Runner by causing meat damage, and reducing the Runner's stack (draw deck) to nothing. But mainly you are aiming for the agenda points. The Corp has the agenda cards which the Runner makes hacking run on their servers to obtain. Corps get agenda points by advancing the agendas a certain amount.

Now to protect them the Corp sets up barriers known as Ice. Runners need Ice breakers to break through. The cool thing about the Corp is that some cards can be advanced that arent agenda cards so the can set up ambushes for the Runner. It's quite exciting and can be tense when making a run on and you don't know what lies within.

As with any FFG it all look very good. From box to the cards and tokens it all looks very good and helps make the cyberpunk feel come alive, along with all the terminology. Though with many FFG, the box could have been made to store things better. It is a minor complaint and I could use little bags to hold things, but gosh darn it I don't want to. But luckily there isn't too much to store and the bits are fine just sitting at the bottom of the box.

In conclusion, if you are fan of the original game, you shouldn't be disappointed. And if you are a fan of living card games or collectable cards games you should check it out.