Protectorate of Menoth: 2013 will be the year of the Creator

When I got into WARMACHINE way back when first edition cards were black and white line drawings, I had selected two forces to field, the Protectorate of Menoth and an aggressor Khador army (Khador would be the loaner army for friends)

More and more I ignored the chosen of the Creator and played Khador as my main army. Why? Well, because Menoth relies on unit synergies to win and I managed to make a *very* sub-optinal force that struggled to break even. Essentially I had chosen models that I liked the look of (which is a valid reason, don't get me wrong) instead of researching which unit works best with what other unit.

This was in stark contract to my Khadoran combined arms forces which were giving as good as they were getting. In contract to this the Menoth army felt clunky and fought me as much as the opponent it seemed. I needed to re-tool the army...

NO MORE EXCUSES! The time is now to move on Caspia and in the Thornwood. Time to muster a coherent force and burn the chaff. I've given myself the following goal for 2013: Assemble and paint a coherent and effective 35 point Protectorate of Menoth army. According to this schedule, I would need to completely finish 4 points worth of models per month, considering that the warcaster credits points to the army list.

Even if January is two-thirds over, I think that this is ample time to finish the army compared to a Journeyman League for example. Let us hope that I do not get distracted by new shiny models as the year progresses. Wish me luck.

10mm Flames of War Infantry Basing

Having an extensive 10mm WWII german collection and recently acquired the 3rd ed of Flames of War rules, I've been thinking about infantry basing. A few options are open to me as follows:

• RaW: Base 10mm infantry as the rules state. Might be a little sparse and out of whack with the reduced tank scale
• Multiply by .66 the size of the bases: This would result in a standard base size of 7/8" by 1 3/8" (2.25 cm x 3.5cm)
• Multiply the base size by 2 and use the number as cm: This would result in a standard base of 2.5cm x 4cm. I think that the extra 5mm width would be the most useful considering the space required for 5 infantryman models.

What do you guys think? Do you know of more options available for 10mm / 6mm Flames of War?

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

And by this I mean it's time to play tricks and obtain treats! Halloween is upon us and our friends at Wargame Vault and DriveThruRPG are running their annual trick or treat treasure hunt. Just browse around on their webstore and click on every pumpkin you find. Some of 'em are trick, most of them are freebie treats.

To dress up your wargaming table for Halloween, one cannot have too many zombies, and with the upcoming release of All Things Zombie: Final Fade Out, there is no excuse (for me) to paint up more Walkers. Enter the Wargames Factory with their 28mm modern zombies. They look really nice and you can't beat the price since quantity is important in regards to zombies. $20 will net you a pack of 30 zombies, either male or female. Now all I need is the Romero-esque zombie clown to complete the set. I think i'll order me a set of each.

And finally here's a little something to add to your Halloween soundtrack from Jonathan Coulton:

Vampire Counts @2000 points

Halloween is upon us once again. Here's a quickie list for our favorite blood  suckers for a late night skirmish or three.

• Vampire Lord, L2 wizard, red fury, quickblood, armor of destiny, ogre blade, shield (428pts)
• Wight King, BSB, nightshroud, barded skeletal steed, shield (174 pts)
• 28x Ghouls with Ghast (290 pts)
• 40x skeletons, full command (230 pts)
• 28x Grave Guard, great weapons, full command, banner of the barrows (416 pts)
• 9x Black Knights, barding, lance, full command, screaming banner (289 pts)
• Varghulf (175 pts)

2002 pts total

Vampire lord goes in the GG block, and the Wight King rides with his knight buddies. The weight of number per unit should enable you to survive a round or two of combat to get that Invocation off to replenish the ranks.

Happy Halloween!

Wargaming terrain generation

Too many times has terrain generation been a necessary evil in my group. Either there's too much of one terrain type and we run out of ways to model it, or random generation required terrain that we don't have.

I recently found this universal card-based terrain generator inspired by Fantasy Battleground's Kingdoms expansion. I recommend using it as limits the number of terrain pieces that you would require while still keeping with adequate randomness to keep things interesting.

Solo play campaigns

I usually have a couple of hours free while the little one has her afternoon nap so I've decided to keep myself entertained with a wagames solo campaign. Here are my choices:

* 5150 Star Army (pro: have 40k and AT43 figs to use. Con: lots of charts)
* 5150 New Beginnings (Pro: have rezolution figs to use. Cons: need urban terrain and scifi civilian figs)
* All things zombie (Pro: Zombie figs available, terrain choice. Con: Survivor figs missing, urban terrain needed)
* Blitzkrieg commander (Pro: have figs easy rules. Con: no opponent automation)
* Cold war commander (Pro:  Easy rules Con: no figs or terrain)
* Future war commander ( Pro: have figs Con: same a BKC)
* Descent: road to legend solo (Pro: boardgame Con: no opponent automation)
* Battleground: fantasy warfare (Pro: 4 factions available. Con: no campaign rules)
* Heavy Gear Blitz (Pro: giant robots on roller skates. Cons: No opponent automation. Missing Southern minis. No campaign rules)

I *could* adapt the 'de bellis solitarius' unit automation for those games missing such rules so it's not as big a deal as it could be.

Now in making a choice, I absolutely have to stick with it 'till the end. None of this 'try if for a few sessions then switch' since that's what i've been doing recently which has resulted in too many false starts.

I'll have to give this further  thought, but i'm absolutely open to suggestions as well.

Edit: After careful consideration, I'm going to start an All Things Zombie campaign. Time to generate the survivors.

Quickie Malifaux campaign

I'm really smitten by the Malifaux game, so much so that i'm tinkering with a simple campaign system. It would go like this:

* 10 game campaign
* the player with the most accumulated VPs win
* Sudden death victory is awarded to the player who completes 8 different schemes in order (selected at the start of the campaign).
* players must select a faction at the beginning of the campaign and stick with it.

Standard Malifaux rules apply for crew selection and gameplay.

What do you guys think?