Thoughts on The Great War

I really want to game the First World War and I have for a long time.  The release of the the stunning Renegade WWI models several years ago first got me interested in gaming the period.  Then came the The Great War rules from Warhammer Historical.  The combination of beautiful figures and rules has been very hard to resist.

One of the major roadblocks to moving ahead with this project has been interest of other gamers in my local game group.  The lack of interest has been due to a few different reasons but mostly I think that the period is thought of as dull trench fights and machine gun slaughter.  The fact is that WWI is almost as diverse of a game setting as WW2.  The other factor as been the perceived expense of 28mm figures.

A couple of years ago I started to think of using The Great War rules and 15mm miniatures.  It is actually pretty easy to do as TGW uses a three to one figure ratio so I thought it would be cool to use three 15mm figures in place of one 28mm on the same size base.  This would allow the rules to remain unchanged and would actually look more like a battalion on the table.  I also thought it might be cheaper.

A few of my friends have expressed an interest in this approach so recently I start to look at the idea more seriously.  On the plus side there are some nice figures available for the period.  This is particularly true of the new Blue Moon range.  The down side (at least for me) is that most of this coverage is for late war (1917-18).  This really isn't that bad even though I prefer the early (1914) period.  The late period seems more popular so I started planning a 1918 German Assault Battalion.

Using the army lists in the book, and just looking at the minimum for a legal army (Battalion command and 2 companies of three platoons each), I came up with a force that comprises 63 bases and 189 figures.  This is a three figures to a base configuration.  I planned this around Flames of War small bases rather than 25mm round bases.  I think the FOW bases look better.  This about a 500 point army.

With this basic army plan I was able to determine the number of figures it was going to take to build the army.  I started by looking at Blue Moon as these are the cheapest and easiest to get.  They are also pretty nice looking figures.  For Blue Moon it takes 4 bags of infantry and 1 bag of command totaling $112 (I did not count the member discount as this will not give a fair comparison to the other companies).  Next I looked at Peter Pig.  It takes 24 packs of infantry and 1 pack of command to build this army at a total cost of $117 (priced from Brookhurst Hobbies).  Neither of these includes shipping.  So, using 15mm figures at a near one to one figure ratio will cost me about $120.

Another item I need to consider is that I have no terrain for 15mm European games.  All my FOW stuff is for North Africa ad would be of no use for this project.  This means starting from scratch on terrain.  Not sure how much this will cost but it is a factor I have to keep in mind.

After doing all this research I thought it might be fun to price out this army in 28mm using the TGW standard army build.  This will require 63 figures.  I started with Old Glory 25mm late war.  For this I would need 6 bags of infantry and one bag of command for a total of...$112.  Exactly the same price as the Blue Moon 15mm project.  OK, now I have a problem.

That had to be a fluke.  No way there would be no savings by doing 15mm, even with the increased figure count.  So I checked Renegade, my favorite WWI figures.  This would take 4 regiment boxes and 1 command blister costing $114!  AAAggggHHHH!!  What the hell?  How about Great War Miniatures?  These figures might be better than Renegade but they are expensive.  This would require 10 packs of infantry and 1 pack of command for a total cost of $119.  This is just wrong...

Once I realized that this project would cost the same at 1 to 3 ration for 28mm as it would for 1 to 1 ratio for 15mm I was in trouble.  You see, I have lots of usable terrain for 28mm and I am adding more all the time for my 28mm WW2 games.  This means that total project cost for me is cheaper at 28mm. 

I must apologize to my friends who would like to do this period in 15mm but I cannot join you.  I will be moving ahead with this project but it will be in 28mm.  I know of one person who will join in but I am afraid that will be it.  Oh well, once they see it all painted and on the table they might change their minds.

Ork Battlewagon

 I finished another project that I have had in process for a long time.  I think I started working on this model about a year ago.  This is your standard open topped Battlewagon with a zzap gun, two big shootas and a reinforced ram.

I left the turret mount unglued so if I need to go cheap I can run this as only the two big shootas.

Even though I just finished painting it I have used it in a couple of games.  It works good as a Warboss delivery system.  The open top makes it a little fragile but the ability to assault after dismounting makes it worth the risk.

Flames of War PZ IV G/H Platoon

I just finished a small Panzer IV platoon.  These are Plastic Soldier Company PZ IVs built as late G or H models.  I built them with just the shurzen on the turrets.  When I finally get around to building some proper H's I will use the full set of extra armor.

These tanks will be seeing duty with my mid to late war Fallschirmjager army in Italy.  They may also see some time in support of my Tiger I company (if I can find someone who wants to play against it.

Imperial Guard Air-Cav

Ever since the release of the current IG codex I have dreamed of doing an Air-Cav list.  The idea of a bunch of Valkyries swooping over the battlefield and dropping troops straight into the battle really appeals to me.  I never really gave it much serious thought, however.  I mean, I am not that big of a 40K nut to drop $300+ just on transports for my army.

When I started to seriously work on my Catachan army a couple of years ago I got a really good deal on an assembled and painted Valkyrie.  I was really excited to add it to the collection and I figured it would be fun to use from time to time.  Today I completed another deal to add four more painted and assembled Valkyries to the army.  I now have five and I really can do a mostly air-mobile force.  Things just got interesting.

I have never paid attention to the web lists and the hardcore tournament scene so I am not sure what the killer build is for this kind of an army (and I don't really care).  I have seen some pictures of Valkyrie heavy forces but I am not real sure what units people take or even if the idea really works.  I think it will work but I don't see it being as tough as a standard Chimera heavy list.  Now that I think about it I probably will never play the list even after I build the army.  I just don't get in too many 40K games any more.

As for the models, they are all good builds and in great shape.  When I had only one Valkyrie I was not too concerned with the paint job.  It looked good.  Now I have 5 models and two completely different looks so something will have to change.  I will probably be spraying these with some Krylon Camo Green and picking out a few details.  The cockpits all look pretty good so I might be taping these off, otherwise I will just paint the glass blue and be done with it.

Anyway, keep an eye out for these.  I am not sure when I will repaint them but I would like to do it soon, before the new wares off.

Another Regiment of Rebs

Just a quick update.  This is the second Confederate regiment for my Black Powder project.  I now have a very small brigade.  Just a couple more units and a gun and I will be ready to get this stuff on the table.  I know I can have this on the table this summer.

This unit is comprised of leftovers from various manufacturers.  I know it is strange to start with leftovers but what can I say?  Most of the figures are some really old Old Glory odds and ends.  I added in a few Sash and Saber and Perry plastics to fill out the unit.  They strangely work well together.

I Had a Dream

Many years ago, when I was first getting into war gaming, I dreamed of cool historical games that rivaled the popularity and quality of the top sci-fi and fantasy games.  In my gamer naivety I really believed that gamers would flock to great games, with cool miniatures, based on real events.  Then along came Warhammer Ancient Battles.  It was great and I was hooked.  Finally a cool, fun historical game that a regular person could buy at a real store and play.  I remember the early days of the WAB list with Jervis talking about the future of the game - plastic Greeks and Romans!  The future looked bright.

By the early 2000's it was clear that those dreams where a little over the top but the game was well liked and supported and good times were had by all (well most all).  We had some great army books and new figures lines became available.  Our local group jumped in we had a great group of gamers.  My friend Tom started a WAB tournament that ran for several years and for a while was the largest one outside of Historicon.  By about 2005 the new had worn off.  There were still lots of players and lots of new people getting into the game but it was clear that things had changed.

It was around this time that Warhammer Historical Wargames began to diversify by producing new games that were not WAB related.  These new games were, in most cases, very good but they distracted from the production of new WAB books.  As more new games were released even more pressure built up to release new books in support of all the games.  Now, I really liked many, if not all, of the new games coming out and their release coincided with my own lack of interest in WAB.  This caused me to miss the growing discontent in the WAB world.

Once WHW was rolled into Forge World I think we all knew the time was nearing for the death of WAB.  FW did finally release WAB 2.0 but they did everything in their power to screw it up - and they did a good job.  The game was an over priced, under edited, train wreck that you could only purchase online.  Not only was WAB harder to get but all the WHW games became online only sales.  This really hurt.  I really did believe then that it was over.

Strangely enough it was not over for WHW then but they continued for a couple more years to release some new games.  These new releases were beautiful productions and the rules themselves seemed very good.  But they were still over priced and only available online so very few people actually got to see, much less play, these games.  Today we have learned that the end has finally come for Warhammer Historical Wargames and all the great games they have produced.  I really should be sad about this as the one company that I had hoped would change historical wargaming is now gone.

The funny thing is is that WHW did change historical wargaming.  Today there are many options for beautiful, well written rules for many different periods.  New games like Hail Caesar and Clash of Empires have picked up where WAB left off and they seemed to have learned the important lessons.  We now have more figures than ever before and companies like Warlord and Victrix are producing - gasp! - plastic Greeks and Romans.

I am not sad about this.  My dream is alive and well and I think we are closer than ever to realizing it.  There are certain WHW games that I will continue to play and enjoy but I am excited about the work that others are doing.  Hmm, I did all this jabbering and I didn't even mention Flames of War...

Terminator Reinforcements

My Knights of Eden Space Marine army has been neglected for some time...OK, nearly three years.  I am shocked that I have added nothing to this army for so long.  A couple of months ago I got the army out on the table (I might not have played the army in three years either) and got in a game against my friend, Lonnie.  He wanted to try out his 2000 point Deathwing Assault army.  Well, let me just say that he showed me that I have a few gaps in my army.  In order to try and fill some of those gaps I decided to add some much needed heavy weapons to my terminators.  It just so happens that I had a box sitting around so I decided to build one of each heavy weapon as well as a Chainfist and another Sargent. 

I now have 14 painted Terminators for this army.  I still have another box of unbuilt terminators so I will be adding another Cyclone and an Assault Cannon at least.  I also have 5 more AOBR terminators so this could get out of hand.