Product Review: Warhammer 40K Roleplay--Only War

(WH40K RPG Only War Core Rulebook)

Despite my mixed-feelings and misgivings about Warhammer 40,000 (WH40K), I amassed a collection of 6th Edition Codexes (book supplements, each focusing on a specific faction), along with the core rule book. 

Two factors helped me accomplish this--

--First, WH40K is now in it's 7th Edition.
--And second, Half Price Books put earlier edition material on the Clearance Rack.

Shortly afterwards, I discovered many of the WH40K role playing game (RPG) material was being sold at a discount by some on-line stores.  (Fantasy Flight Games began publishing WH40K RPG material in early 2008).

With so much material to choose from, but with limited shelf space, I focused on the types of RPG adventures that interested me the most:  Ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances.

In the extraordinarily grim setting of the 41st Millennium, you don't get any more ordinary than being a soldier in the Imperial Guard.  Just about everything in the galaxy is stronger, tougher, faster and even smarter than mere human beings.

The WH40K RPG system, uses one, or two ten-sided dice (1d10, or 2d10--rolled as a percentile) to resolve actions from shooting enemies of the Emperor, to conducting repairs.  Some of the Player Characters' (PCs') nine characteristics are similar to the stats used in the WH40K wargame.

The game mechanics are similar to other RPG systems, but using percentile dice helps heroes "nickel & dime" as many advantages as possible when attempting to resolve an action. Every 10% above the minimum necessary dice roll constitutes a "level of success," resulting in extra benefits.  Likewise, every 10% below the minimum results in a "level of failure," which will most likely have dire consequences.

Two unique features of Only War are that players don't just "roll-up" their characters. 

First, it is decided, either by the Gamemaster (GM), or by the GM and players, on what type of regiment they're serving in.  That is, before PCs are created, the regiment and its commanding officer are rolled-up. 

Second, the players form a squad within this regiment.  In order to fill out the ranks--and to absorb casualties--players roll-up a comrade.  This companion is an non-player character (NPC) who'll follow reasonable orders from the PC, and can assist with resolving actions.

The acquisition of weapons and equipment is also different from other RPGs.  Since PCs are members of a military unit, they don't have to buy equipment.  Instead weapons and equipment are issued.

But herein lies the problem:  PCs are subject to byzantine whims of the Adeptes Munitorum.  Players may have to make "Logistics Tests" in order to acquire additional weapons (or ones of better quality), and even replacement comrades.  So it pays to devote some points to non-combat skills and talents.

Aesthetically, the Only War core rulebook is filled with artwork that evokes the grim setting of the 41st Millennium.  My only issue with this product is there are a considerable number of syntax errors and the book could have benefited from additional editing.  I also found the arcane looking map of the Calixis Sector, found inside the front and back covers, hard to understand.  Easier to follow maps are available on-line by doing a Google-Search.

Only War garnered an average 4.7 out of 5 stars by reviewers on Amazon.com.

For further reading:

If you're interested in an entertaining and snarky review of Only War, check out 1d4chan.

For the writers among you, Only War earned an extensive and humorous entry on TV Tropes.

Some Supplement Books:

In addition to the Gamemaster's Kit, I also purchased the following "splatbooks," as the folks at 1d4chan call them.

1. Hammer of the Emperor:

(Hammer of the Emperor Supplement)

This supplement provides additional material for soldiers.

2. Shield of Humanity:

(Shield of Humanity Supplement)

A supplement for support personnel, ranging from technicians to priests.  This book had the most syntax errors of any of the Only War material I purchased.  It seemed like every handful of pages I'd run across one or more grammatical errors.  Not misspellings, just words that didn't fit the sentence they were placed in.

3. Enemies of the Imperium:

(Enemies of the Imperium Supplement)

An extensive look at the bad guys an Imperial Guard squad may have to contend with in the Calixis Sector; along with a chapter on running mass-battles, acquiring veteran skills and medals.

The most-likely enemies PCs may face are: The  Severan Dominate, Orks of WAAAGH! Grimtoof, the Children of the Thorns Kabal, and a warband of Chaos Space Marines

I haven't purchased any of the adventure "splatbooks."  Many other WH40K and Warhammer Fantasy "splatbooks" are available for a discount, even clearance, at The Miniature Market.

Webcomic Chapter 15 Posted

Chapter 15 (pages 438-479) of Breakout from Bongolaan is now available.

For this chapter's theme song I chose Love & Loss, by Two Steps from Hell.

I thought this song, which I found rather quickly, fit the "big reveal" made my one of the characters in this story.

The way I have the rest of the story plotted-out, there's eight chapters left.  However, it seems like nearly all my previous chapters end up multiplying into two or three scenes.  So for now, let's just say there's eight more plot-points to go.

I'm still in the process of learning about my new Nikon CoolPix P530 camera.  I hope to start using it by the time I start taking pictures for Chapter 16.

In the meantime, I  hope you enjoy the latest chapter.

Product Review: Sails of Glory

(Sails of Glory core rule set)

I've loved playing Age-of-Sail games ever since my brother brought home Wooden Ships & Iron Men, back when we were pre-teens.  While all the boardgames were certainly fun, I yearned to play similar table top battles with miniatures.  GHQ has had a line of 1/1200 scale Napoleonic Micronauts available for years.

However, I never invested in them because painting such figures was--and still is--a daunting task for me.  Fortunately, Ares Games alleviated the painting chore for me with their Sails of Glory game.

Of course, I didn't just buy the core rule set, which consists of two French and two British warships (a ship-of-the-line and a frigate each). 

Thanks to The Miniature Market I was able to afford over a dozen ship packs, and accessories, not to mention qualifying for free shipping over the course of two or three orders.

The supplemental packs feature ships from America, Britain, France and Spain.  In addition to the ship miniature, each pack contains a segmented cardstock ship log (for tracking the ship's status during battle), a ship card (with firing diagram and ship name), and a small pack of maneuver cards.

Here's my Sails of Glory order of battle (links are to the products available from The Miniature Market, which gives a short bio of each ship):

1. The 13 Colonies/America--

(American ships)

--Thorn/USS Atlanta
--USS Constitution

2. Great Britain--

(Ships of the Royal Navy)

--HMS Sybille/Amelia
--HMS Swan/Fairy
--HMS Cleopatra/Iphigenia
--HMS Orpheus/Amphion
--HMS Concorde/Unite

3. France--

(French Ships)

--Proserpine/Dryade
--Alligator/Le Fortune
--Embuscade/Succes
--Carmagnole/Sibylle

4. Spain--

(Spanish ships)

--Sirena/Ifegnia
--Argonauta/Heroe

Board Game Geek has a complete list of ships and accessories.

Speaking of Accessories, I picked out the following--

(Some of the game accessories available)

--Additional Counters
--Coastal Batteries Terrain Pack
--Coast and Shoals Terrain Pack (two of these, actually)
--Damage Counter Bag

The pre-painted, wargame-quality ship figures are made of plastic and are mounted on thick plastic bases, which measure about 2" x 3" x 1/2".  Each base contains a clear cover to hold the ship card in place.

Most models are dual-named with some possible adjustments to their game statistics.  For example, this British frigate can put to sea as HMS Orpheus...

...HMS Amphion.  Or both can put to sea, if you buy two identical ship packs.

I haven't played the game yet, but the size of the miniatures and other components in Sails of Glory strikes me as being best suited for single-ship battles, or actions between small squadrons. 

Now this doesn't mean fleet actions aren't possible.  Last year, in the waning hours of our regional Enfilade convention, several gamers were playing out what I think was the Glorious First of June on an extra-long table.

I'm happy that I've finally obtained some Age of Sail miniatures.  I haven't acquired every ship in the Sails of Glory line--yet.  Right now I'm focusing on frigates and sloops of war (often called corvettes by the French and Spanish).  I only have one, or two ships of the line from each nation, except America, although the USS Constitution (Wikipedia link) comes pretty darn close.

About the only issue I have at this time with Sails of Glory is an aesthetic one.  The bases used to mount the ships are thick and sturdy.  Ship miniatures are held in place by a peg found on the underside of the ship's hull.

While the ship bases are highly functional, they don't blend-in well with the surrounding seascape.

So I came up with a cunning plan.  I bought two extra frigates, HMS Orpheus and the Prosperine, at The Game Matrix.  When I brought them home, I snipped off the tabs and then took some staged photos.

Here's one of HMS Orpheus:

I love how the ship looks, especially when place on the Ocean F.A.T. Mat that I bought several months ago.  I look forward to playing Sails of Glory and using any waterline versions of ships in my after action reviews.

 

A few words of caution are in order when making "waterline" versions of these ships:

 

First and foremost, BE CAREFUL when handling the ships.  The hard plastic makes them rather fragile.  When snipping off the tab of HMS Orpheus, I broke off part of the bowsprit.  Fortunately, it broke in a spot that was easy for me to jury rig it back together with a dab of super glue.

 

Second, the ships are very light, and without the base they easily tip over.  This is okay if you're thinking "cinematically" like I do and are taking staged photos.  But if you plan on using waterline versions in a wargame you may want to find some thin miniatures bases, or some other thin strips of metal, and superglue them to the undersides of each ship.  If the metal strips are wider than the ship's hull, it may help to paint them in appropriate ocean colors.

 

Finally, the undersides of a ship's hull may not be completely flat.  In this case, sanding the underside or scraping it with an exacto knife may be necessary to keep a ship from listing.

 

New Tool of the Trade

(My Nikon CoolPix P530 camera, accessories, and of course, the multi-lingual owner's manual)

Other than my Valentine's Day and President's Day greetings, it's been almost a month since I posted anything of substance.

The reason for this literary lull is that I'm finally getting around to figuring out the new camera I bought early last month.  And yes, this includes reading the owner's manual.

For nearly eight years now, I've been taking pictures for my blog, YouTube videos, and webcomics with my trusty Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX01 camera.

I love the Lumix's handiness and ease of use, although I certainly haven't mastered it.

My biggest problem has been adjusting the light setting (natural daylight, overcast, or indoor lighting) for the environment I'm shooting in.  Once I've taken a batch of pictures I'd use the Windows Paint Program in my laptop, and/or the Paint.Net program I downloaded to adjust the color and brightness of each picture.

I certainly haven't mastered this technique either.

I hardly use the built-in flash because it seems like the subject, usually one or more miniature figures, would be in an over-bright "spot light,"  while the areas outside the "blast zone" would be darker than normal.

Despite my questionable skills with a camera, for the past year I've been wondering if it was time to "up my game."

When I finally decided to take the plunge, the choice was fairly easy:  The Nikon CoolPix P530 was one of the least expensive cameras available at the Base Exchange (BX) I usually shop at.

Getting a camera with a built-in lens is the proverbial double-edge sword.  On the one hand, it's convenient to have a permanently attached lens, but the flip side means that I'm limited to what this lens can do.

Right now, I don't see myself needing a myriad of separate lenses.  For the work do, I think one lens will suffice.

Besides, the learning curve on this camera is long, and steep enough as it is.

(Image from:  English Language & Usage--The Meaning of a Steep Learning Curve)

Honoring Presidents Day

(Image from:  2016 Presidents Day)

Happy Valentine's Day!

(Image from:  Valentines Day 2016 Romantic Pictures)

My Mystery Counters

(Image found on Tarleton's Quarter Wargaming Blog)

I have a small mystery on my hands and I'm searching for answers.

Some years back, I won a couple of bids on E-Bay for a bunch of painted World War II German micro-armor and 1990's American micro-armor.  As it turned out, my windfall was part of an estate sale.  I get a unsettling, yet pleasant feeling every time I handle these figures from a gamer who's passed on.  Which by the way, have a far superior paint job than anything I can accomplish in this earthly life.

While attaining artistic excellence is a mystery to me, it's not the subject of this post.

Also included with the miniatures were two sets of handmade wooden counter blocks.  I packed these away, and didn't give them a close examination until I was doing some re-organization of my miniatures and boardgames several days ago.

The first set are generic pieces representing infantry, cavalry artillery and leaders.  The set is unequally divided into three factions, which I'll call Yellow, Red and White.  These blocks are smooth wood (pine?) and measure about 1 1/4 inches square by 1/4 inch thick.

First, the small Yellow and Red Faction:

The Yellow Faction consists exclusively of cavalry, with two leaders (LDR), organized into two divisions.  First Division is the smallest, comprised of 1st CAV and 2nd CAV; while the Second Division is made up of 1st CAV, 1st BDE and 2nd BDE.  The brigade counters are half-black half-yellow, which I'll assume to be heavy cavalry.

Meanwhile the Red Faction is comprised entirely of infantry, divided into five divisions, containing one to two brigades.

And then there's the large White Faction:

This sizable force consists of four cavalry units (brigades?), two (heavy?) cavalry brigades, 10 artillery batteries and 10 infantry brigades unevenly divided into five divisions.  There's a leader for each division, along with a II Corps LDR and an Army LDR.

There are no numerical values on any of these blocks, but from the unit symbols I'm assuming they fall within the general "Horse & Musket Era."

There are 54 duplicate pieces of various 1st & 2nd BDEs for the five White Faction divisions.  I'm not sure if this was deliberate or an oversight on the creator's part.

I'm certain the collection is incomplete, but this isn't what's so puzzling.  I haven't seen a game using playing pieces this large, and they're not quite thick to stand on their sides like GMT's Block Games. I think these were intended for either battlefield hidden movement, or to represent miniature units on a campaign map.  A very large map.

The second set of counters is even more puzzling.

These counters are larger, but thinner than the first set, measuring 1 1/2 inches square, by 1/8 inch thick.  They're painted blue or green to represent Napoleonic French or Russian units, respectively.

Here's a sample of the various Russian troop types and headquarters elements:

While I can identify the unit symbols, it's the number system that I find so baffling.

Here's some Russian cavalry:

There doesn't seem to be a consistent pattern to the number system.  Most units have a number in each corner, while some have three numbers along the top separated by dashes, along with a percentage rating in the lower left corner.

However, with the artillery units...

...the numbers on the lower left corner with the hashtags probably indicate the size of the guns.  In the above case, 12-pounders, and 6-pounders, respectively.

Some units of the same type also have a different color scheme.

With the Russian cavalry, the counters are either white & yellow, or white & black.  (Light and heavy cavalry?).

There's a similar color differentiation with infantry units.

Russian infantry units come with white, green, or yellow unit symbols, with the majority being white. My guess on this is the colored unit symbols denote elite troops.

Russian headquarters units are in three different styles...

...with armies being named, while others (corps?) have Roman or Arabic numerals.

There are no named-leaders in this collection.

I'm wondering if the values on the counters are based on a boardgame.  If so, it's not a system I'm familiar with.  But these counters are even larger than the first set, so the map would have to be huge.

Or these counters could be used in lieu of miniatures.

I'm hoping someone out there in cyberspace will see this post, recognize the game system and give me a clue on how to utilize these pieces.

The French counters are similarly formatted.

French army and corps headquarters:

Field headquarters:

Various artillery units:

I'm not sure if there's any significance between the red and green symbols.  The black dots with gold lettering appear to be Imperial Guard units.

Infantry:

Like the Russian infantry, I think the color differentiation indicates elite status, with blue being veteran troops and the alternating white-blue being Imperial Guard.

Cavalry:

I didn't find any white-green cavalry units among the Russians.  That doesn't mean there aren't any--I just haven't found any yet.

Hopefully, I'll make good use of these someday without needlessly getting rid of them, or altering them.

(Image:  by Wojciech Kossak, found on Art of the Russias blog)

A Short "Off Topic" Webcomic

(Click on images for a larger view)

I'm taking a small break from my long-form webcomic Breakout from Bongolaan.  This short "intermission comic" was inspired by a story one of my friends told me.

A detailed account of the comic's origin is explained below in the Author's Notes.

Author's Notes (i.e. Methods To My Madness):

During my anonymous friend's tour in Afghanistan, he told me how much he and his soldiers loved Afghan Bread.  So much so, that one day when his squad was suppose to go out on patrol, he asked his interpreter-guide to take them to a village where they could buy some.

This isn't hard to imagine, especially after being on a steady diet of MREs.  Nor is "going off mission" in a quest for Afghan Bread an isolated incident.  Throughout history soldiers have shown a tendency of venturing out, not to engage the enemy, but to search for food, booze, war souvenirs, etc.

Since I only have four US Marine figures suitable for Iraq or Afghanistan theater of operations, I decided to set this story elsewhere.  I have plenty of micro-scale Arab-Israeli War figures, and I recently posted about my new village model, Khaliat Min Bus.  So I blended my friend's story with my miniatures pictures to conjure up this timeless tale.  I also substituted Afghan Bread with Falafel.

All but one of the pictures used in this comic are mine.  I needed a picture of Israeli micro-armor to evoke an image of a sweeping advance.  Thanks to Wargames: Soldiers & Strategy, I found a suitable one for Page One's top picture on Eric Lauterbach's "Fate of the Nation" After-Action Review (AAR).

To give Going Off Mission some semblance of historical accuracy, I scrolled through Wikipedia's entry on the Yom Kippur War, and rummaged through the playing pieces of my game Golan: The Last Syrian Offensive.  I chose the 6th Armored Reconnaissance Battalion counter as the story's military organization, because I assumed soldiers from a recon unit would have the best opportunity to gallivanting off on their own agenda.  I also figured guys in intelligence organizations, like Israel's Military Intelligence Directorate ("Aman"), would also know where to find the best "commodities" for soldiers to "liberate."

Despite such assumptions on my part, I hope you enjoy the story, which can also be found under the Studio Pages Sidebar, at the top right-hand corner of this blog.

Honoring Martin Luther King Day

(Image found on Edom Nuts & Bolts)

As someone who's blogging about current events, this picture of, and quote by MLK struck me the most.

Best wishes to all of you.

Product Review: Manoeuvre

Last week, my copy of GMT's Manoeuvre arrived.  While the game has been available for several years, I've held-off buying the game until I stumbled across it on the Miniatures Market for nearly $20 off.

I haven't punched out the counters yet, but I repackaged the playing cards and geomorphic map sections.  It took me exactly 40 minutes to read the 20 page rule booklet.  I know this because I was on a stationary cardio machine while I was reading.

Manoeuvre is a simple game loosely based on early 19th Century warfare, primarily the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812.  It's something like a cross between chess, with an 8-square x 8-square map board, and De Bellis Antiquitatis (DBA), in that armies are comprised of a set-number of units, in this case 8 regiments each.

These armies come from the following nations:  America, Austria, Britain, France, Prussia, the Ottoman Empire, Russia and Spain. Each army consists of a mixture of infantry and cavalry regiments, most of which are in a ratio of 6 x infantry to 2 x cavalry.  The exceptions are the American Army with only one cavalry regiment supporting 7 x infantry, and the Ottoman Empire with an even split of infantry and cavalry, of 4 each.

Artillery is represented by Bombardment Cards some regiments may have within a card deck.

And speaking of cards, movement and combat is initiated by any of the 8 army card decks.  These can be unit-specific, or overall command, or "HQ" type of cards, which can, depending on the nationality, can include spies, ambushes, guerrillas and famous leaders who "ride-in," inspire the troops and "ride-off."

My initial impressions of Manoeuvre is that this is an easy game to learn, but hard to master, which can be played within 40-120 minutes.  According to the rules, it may take up to two hours to play the initial game, with the playtime decreasing by about 5 minutes after each subsequent session.

I've whined constantly mentioned occasionally on this blog about my shortage of game time due integrating my rotating work schedule with that of my gaming buddies.  So a quickie game that can be whipped-up, completed, and put away within a couple of hours can fit into my limited gaming time.

The sturdy box and small assembled map board makes Manoeuvre highly portable.  Excellent for road trips, like to gaming conventions or to historical sites, and one you could play in your hotel room.

Despite the game's merits, there are some detracting aspects of Manoeuvre.   While the game gets an average 4.4-stars out of 5 rating, on GMT's site, there was one 2-star rating that I took note of.  His main complaint was about the small cards and flimsy map sections.  The 8-square by 8-square battlefield is assembled using 4 card stock map sections. 

I certainly couldn't read the cards without my glasses, and I can see where players have to be careful about maneuvering in Manoeuvre, lest they jostle the assembled map board.  Laying down a sheet of plexi-glass may keep the map section in place, but certainly reduces the game's "portability factor."

As an aside, one of the problems I have with using plexi-glass is that it makes picture taking rather difficult.  It seems no matter what I do, there's always a glare-spot somewhere, even when I turn off the lights.  This may be due to my lack of photographic skill, but this would be a subject for another blogpost.

I'm not a huge fan of square-based maps in boardgames, especially since diagonal maneuvers aren't allowed in Manoeuvre.  On the one hand this simplifies players' movement options, but it also seems to make movement limited and clunky.  However, since I haven't played the game yet, I'll hold off on judging this aspect for the time being.

Anyway, despite these concerns I'm happy with my purchase and have pre-ordered the upcoming Manoeuvre: Distant Lands Expansion.

In the meantime, before taking the fight to distant lands, the original game can still be found, in prices ranging from $30 to $50; along with some fan-made supplemental material which can be found on BoardgameGeek.

Webcomic Chapter 14 Posted

Chapter 14 (pages 424-437) of Breakout from Bongolaan is now available.

For this chapter's Theme Song, I chose Prepare for the End uploaded by xDarkLegacyx2. I think this tune fits the epic, space opera aspect of Star Wars, while it's steady--almost monotonous--beat, implies impending danger.

I'm now in the process of re-writing Chapter 15, which is giving me some trouble narrative pacing-wise.  Once I'm satisfied this chapter is good enough to post, then it's "back to the drawing board" for the Chapters 16 onwards.  That is, I'll need to snap a batch of new photos.

In the meantime, I've been looking at some webcomic hosting sites to determine which one I'd like to join in order to make a "second home" for Breakout from Bongolaan.

Until then, I hope you enjoy this latest chapter.