It’s at this time of the year, with thoughts of gaming
freedom based on time off work, that the wargamer’s mind inevitably dwells on
all of the games that he is going to play during the all too brief Christmas
period (neglecting to consider all of the time which will actually be spent
with family, bike riding, DIY and washing the car.)
With such considerations in mind, I have formed the ‘Wargaming
Butterfly’s Christmas Wish List’ – consisting of all those games which I wish I
could get around to during the Christmas period or (and more likely) that will
form the mainstay of the blog in 2014.
(1) Modern
Spearhead
Being a ‘wargamer of a certain
age means’ that I played WRG rules back in the day. One of the sets forced upon
me, or that I enjoyed I should say…was the 1950-1985 modern set. Now,
combining this with when I grew up, I had an absolute love for the period (and
complete paranoia for the reality) of the cold war. Hordes of 1/300 scale
Russian T-72s crossing the German plain (in turn being blunted by the odd M1
Abrams) was a wargaming scene that I grew up with.
As with many of the rules that I
bought in the late 80s and 90s and never ended up playing due to career and
family (that’s my excuse), Spearhead always looked fantastic to me with its
mapped orders systems and I always dreamed of using it for 1967-73 bashes in
the desert too. So, we’ll be trying it for Arab Israeli and Cold War options.
(2) More
Maurice
As previous blog posts will most
certainly attest to, Maurice gives an excellent game. The cards add atmosphere and theme, the rules
are nicely balanced, and a game the size of the Boyne
is manageable in an afternoon. There are other Irish campaign games in mind (fictional Inch Island
and actual Aughrim), and the thought of a long campaign game is very exciting.
(3) Bolt Action
Haven’t bitten the 2FL Chain of Command bullet yet, but did get Bolt Action. Want to try this as a ‘fast
set up’ option to the larger scope Rapid Fire that we’ve been doing.
(4) Force on
Force
Still very interested in
mastering these rules as there is enormous scope in terms of modern conflicts
(and I have many, many scenarios).
(5) Black
Powder / Pike & Shotte
Have heard nothing but good
things about these rules and want to try them out with the late C17th figures.
Possibly another Boyne game.
(6) PMC 2640
An excellent sci fi merc game from Poland. (And when I say sci-fi, I
of course do not recognise the b.s. put out by a certain evil empire since the
80s…there I said it, sort of…). A nice game based on future corporate mercs
(Hammers Slammers style) and I get to use my 10mm stuff.
(7) More Snappy
Nappy / Volley & Bayonet Hybrid
Still adore V&B despite its
little foibles. Possibilities abound with using it with some Snappy Nappy
changes for the AWI.
(8) More Snappy
Nappy
All Steve’s fault of course (and
glad to see him back into gaming and on the bike at he same time http://steveswargamestuff.blogspot.co.uk/). Absolutely adore the
mechanisms here, though does give the strict organisation buffs a bit of a
slap. It does however make you the 'big cheese', so you’re
only worried about corps and divisions.
(9) WWI
Spearhead
I watch a lot of history shows of course. This year I watched
the entire 1964 BBC WWI documentary. I was fascinated. I had always had a
passing interest, but this one floored me. So then I bought WWI Spearhead and
am getting some minis for Christmas since I don’t have enough periods to paint
figures for!!!…sigh…
(10) Naval
‘Naval’ gazing time (pun intended). Red Banner style modern
games using GDW’s Harpoon Captain’s
Edition as the kickoff for a campaign, and/or Mongoose’s Victory at Sea WWII rules. So much scope here and a period that I have not explored enough.
(11) Naval Meets Sci-Fi
Always been a fan of Full Thrust, and have a couple of unpainted
fleets. It was a nice set of rules back in the day and warrants another look.
(12) …and wait for it, SPI style board wargames
This is kind of where I started in 1980. I also have more of
the more modern GMT and GDW games. Watch this space.
(13) Diaspora
Diaspora starts life as an RPG based on the FATE engine (I’m
probably not going to explain that for the uninitiated so please move on if you
just said ‘what is he talking about?’). It’s very Traveller-esque and within
the system is a mini-game based on platoon level sci fi combat, which is
reminiscent of ‘Book 4 Mercenary’ and ‘Striker’ from the 80s Traveller books.
It uses ‘aspects’ to describe what troops can do, together with fate dice, and
looks simply awesome.
(14) Sword & Sorcery Style…stuff
I’ve tried Songs of Blades and Heroes once in the
past and love its mechanics and activation methods. Must try this again with my
collection of old 28mm (with no spikey bits) miniatures. (And of course, when I
say Swords & Sorcery, I don’t recognise the b.s. put out by a certain
evil…see point 6…you know what I mean.)
As you can see I have far too much cr*p - both painted and unpainted, and not enough
hours in the day. I did say 2014 plans right? Perhaps we should call this the
‘2020 Blog’ plan. First priority? Try to get back to a monthly game schedule
for a start. I’m sure I’ll get some prep time over Christmas, right?
Keep calm and panic after the holiday!
Merry Christmas to all.
