Tuesday, April 30, 2013

OMG, This is Fantastic!

I've been tinkering with the idea playing some games of Bob Cordrey's The Portable Naval Wargame, formally known as Memoir of Battle at Sea. Had I paid more attention to his updates, I would not have ordered the blank dice originally needed for these rules. He made some minor changes that included using standard dice rather than color-coded dice. Based on my read of them, they are a simple (but not simplistic) set of rules that emphasizes playability and a fast game, but seems to have a good degree of flavor for pre-dreadnought and dreadnought naval battles.  I have not been able to give them a try (big surprise there), until now....

...anyway, from Bob's site, I found that another site, Three by Two Tactics, has taken his game and made a virtual board game for it (see here). Its not an online game.  You do need to have the rules handy, but it allows you to run games and test the rules without investing in physical miniatures. Plus you can play it anywhere...like in your office...when you are trying to grade final exams.

Bob's rules are free, and its free to run the game board. Another plus is that it runs on Macs as well as PCs. That's a big plus for me! Give them a try.

Now, back to grading (cue "Volga Boatmen").

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

FYI: New Discussion Group on Google+ for 15mm Fantasy Gaming

Over at TMP, there was an invite to join a 15mm fantasy figure discussion group on Google+.  A number of years ago, I joined the 15mm fantasy group on Yahoo! It petered out not long after it started. It is still active, but barely. Hopefully, this one will generate more interest than the Yahoo! group did.

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

March Paint Fest

Sorry for the lack of gaming-related posts. Work and home life has been crazy. At least things at work will calm down once the semester is over in a few weeks. Back in March, I realized that I needed to address the HUGE backlog of unpainted fantasy figures that have been piling up. So, I made an attempt to put a tiny dent in the pile. I started with the most recent purchases first, and have been slowly working backwards.

Splintered Light Miniatures Kobold Command

Splintered Light Miniatures Orcs
I painted more, but I didn't want to photograph them until I've based them. I'm bad about painting a batch but not basing them. In my view, they are not officially done until they are on a base.