Steampunk? You Bet your Pocket Watch!

I have been enjoying the Steampunk movement long before it became the fashionable mega-craze that it is today - heck, Steampunk is almost on par with teenage vampire romance novels these days. I am a founding member of the Society for Advanced Meta-Exploration, I have been known to occasionally wear a fancy waistcoat and pocket watch to the office and I have personally hand-crafted several magnificent pairs of goggles that may or may not allow the wearer to detect psychic-anomalies in an urban environment. If I could fly a zeppelin today, I would do it.

Without a doubt, I will be pre-ordering the new Steampunk skirmish rules In Her Majesty's Name by Osprey Publishing along with the fantastic looking models that are being being released by North Star. I probably don't need another game to play right now, but this sounds perfect for me. There have been other Steampunk rules in the past, most notably Dystopian Wars, but those have all been ship-based games and so I have thus far been able to avoid them.

In addition to the obvious love for the genre, I am excited about these rules for several reasons: First, the games are meant to be small and quick and I can get started with just a few painted models. Second, there is a larger campaign component to add story and some aspects of role-playing to the games if desired. And third, the rules seem to be fairly open and can be customized and appended based on each persons style of play and imagination. If my understanding is correct, new types of characters, new adventuring companies and weapons can all be devised by players and used in games. That is a huge win for me. 

I don't think I'll have any trouble recruiting other local players to join me on some adventures!

The League of Steam

Hail Caesar Unit Reference Cards

I haven't felt the painting mojo this week. I've certainly had my opportunities, but I'll sit down to paint and fifteen minutes later I'm up doing something else - I'm sure you know what I mean. The second unit of Spanish Scutarii are on the table, but progress has been slow. Despite that, I have managed to do some fun hobby related things - such as planning the Republican Romans and creating these Hail Caesar unit reference cards for the Carthaginians.

The cards measure 3.5" x 2.5" and includes a icon, the unit name, type and size, game statistics and a list of any special rules and definitions. My plan is to print a card out for each unit type in the army and have them handy at the table's edge for quick reference. I made the cards using Adobe Illustrator and they can be easily saved as a PDF file for printing. I'll print these on card stock, cut out each card individually and then place them in plastic card sleeves for protection.

Now that I have a design and temple, creating cards for additional units and armies will be easy. If anybody that plays Hail Caesar would like some cards created for their specific army please let me know and I can mock them up and send you a PDF file. I'm serious.

This is a low resolution example of the Hail Caesar unit reference cards.

Some Nice Things that Have Caught My Eye

Here are two things that have recently caught my eye:

Dux Bellorum: Arthurian Wargaming Rules AD 367-793

I have a long interest in this era of history and this region of the world, so when I discovered that Osprey was publishing a new set of Arthurian rules written by Dan Mersey it captured my interest greatly. There was an article and interview with Mersey about these rules in the most recent Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy magazine. When asked "what makes your game different from other rule sets?", Mersey replied:

"I suppose the big one is that I have focused on recreating battles from a very short, defined period of history. Using a set of rules designed exclusively for use in Arthurian Britain means that I've worked out what I think is important and what to ignore, unlike those ancient rules that try to cover 4,000 years."

He raises an interesting question regarding generic(ish) rule sets that span large amounts of the historical timeline versus rules that aim to recreate a very specific period of history. Which do you prefer? While I didn't have any immediate plans to jump into painting and gaming this period, I'll be picking up this rule book to add to my bookcase for future fun. (and yes, I also know about Dux Britanniarum).

Crann Tara Miniatures
These new Scottish highlander miniatures by Crann Tara Miniatures are simply fantastic and quite honestly, I can't wait to paint some of them. These figures are in true 1/56th scale (about 33mm) and are intended for the Jacobite Rising of 1745. Again, this isn't a project I had on my radar, but I know some of these models will find there way on to my painting table!

English Civil War Rules

I love rule books. I love studying them, I love carrying them around town in my bag and I love looking at the charts and photographs in them while I drink my coffee. Knowing that I was embarking on an English Civil War (ECW) project, I immediately began researching all of the various rule-sets (and there are lots of them) available for this historical time period.

What do I want in a rule-set? 

1. It must be historically accurate. I understand that we are playing games, but the rules needs to reflect (not replicate) the historical context of the era and translate that into enjoyable game play somehow.
2. It cannot rely too heavily on complicated charts and tables. I don't mind a reference sheet and the need to look something up from time to time, but when I am playing a game my attention should be on the game table and not the inside of a book.
3. The games must be able to be played in a reasonable evening. I enjoy games that can be played in three hours or less with the occasional longer game when I am feeling sassy.

After browsing messaging boards, reading blogs and asking some questions I have whittled the rule choice down to two candidates: Pike & Shotte, by Warlord Games and For Parliament, King or Glory, by David Marks.

Two ECW Rules Finalists

Pike & Shotte is a very slick, nicely designed hard-cover rule book that is gorgeous. The diagram and charts are easy to follow and the photographs of the models are exquisite. I have only begun reading through these rules, but it is a pleasurable experience. I will withhold judgement of the rules themselves for another post.

The beauty of For Parliament, King or Glory is that these rules are free. I always marvel at the dedication, commitment and generosity of individuals in this hobby like David Marks who produce rule-sets for the public without asking for anything in return. A big thank-you and applause for Mr. Marks. I have printed the rules and placed them in a suitable binder for reading. At first glance I am very impressed with the layout and some of the rule mechanics and I am certainly looking forward to digging into these further.

I will provide some deeper analysis and comparisons of these two systems in a future post after I have had sufficient time to read and study them both.

In other news, the Scots I had recruited for my first regiment under Montrose have fled back to the highlands and are considered lost. With the kindly assistance of Robert Walter at Eureka Miniatures, a new batch of recruits are on their way!

Hail Caesar!

To begin this process of returning to war-gaming specifally set in the ancient world I needed a set of rules so that I could field my armies and play to conclusion. There are many different rules sets available - some of them are very tournament oriented and tedious and some are very loose and well, not very well thought out. I had heard good things about the Hail Caesar rules that were written by Rick Priestly and published by Warlord Games. A friend at my local gaming club, also looking to play more historical games, mentioned that he would be purchasing the Hail Caesar rules to evaluate, and with that I ordered my own copy (its always good to have somebody else to play the games with).

After reading through the rule book I am very excited to give them a test drive on the gaming table. I wanted a rule-set in which a game could be completed within a reasonable amount of time (three hours is fine, I just don't want a game to last three days) but still allowed for the battles to feel epic with a good number of models on the table. I have played many "skirmish" style games that I enjoy very much, but I want something a bit grander for my historical gaming. Hail Caesar seems to fit the bill here perfectly - the rules are casual and meant for a more fun and relaxed atmosphere. The book was high quality, well laid out and very descriptive - and I loved the photography included.... talk about motivation to get painting!

So, for now at least, I will be using the Hail Caesar rules for my historical games. I will certainly give my full impression of the rules after my first game.