Wednesday 17 March 2010

The Followship of the Blog and THE most important game of 2010.

Today a small apology to several people who are not in my blog-following-list-thing-on the left and a few words on the somewhat improvised and therefore nostalgic playtesting of the much talked about "Black Powder"  rules. 

First of all sorry to all those people who's blogs I would like to follow, but which I don't follow. For some reason some blogs don't accept my "membership". I'm sure it's one of those "settings" issues. Ah well, the world isn't perfect, is it? I'll try and tinker with my blog settings and see if I can join your "Followship of the Blog".

One of the good things of being a member of a games club is having opponents...one of the bad things is having opponents. I was quite comfortable having laid out my four projects. But now I discover, or rather, fear, of being side tracked as fellow club members also have their preferred rulestes and figure scales. For the love of gaming I would quite easily join other gamers already existing projects, but even in Belgium, money does not grow on trees. So...will I allow myself to get sidetracked and maybe let go of one of my original projects. Should I be stubborn and be the only solitaire player in the club, whose only contribution will be commenting other players and sneering at their table top accomplishments?

Anyway...Black Powder. Having decided to give Black Powder a try...no, wait a minute...have I told you you I was Googling Black Powder and found my way to a thread on TMP dicussing a review on Black Powder...I almost pissed myself laughing reading how so called "gentlemen" where reviewing each others posts and comments rather than the ruleset and trying to be just that bit more rude than the other, seeing how two "camps" developed and how some men just couldn't make up their mind and agreed and disagreed with anybody and everybody. The point of the whole exercise seemed to be to get at least one person to apologise for having expressed an opinion.
Oh dear, how sad,  never mind... 
My message to these table top zeros: "Stop whining, start wanking...", as a British battlegroup commander once said to one of his officers just before an attack (about a minute later I heard his voice in the radio..."Gentlemen, let's rock and roll"... as the world around me exploded with incredible sounds and lights)...but I digress.
So back to Black Powder. What do you do when you want to playtest a rule set...and you don't have any armies...and you don't want to wait another ten years to play the game? Yes, indeed...you go and find that big box full of Airfix soldiers, you also find some beer mats (thank you bar keepers of the Officers Mess) and a tube of wood glue. Next Friday my Airfix Nappies will have their first game in ages...these unpainted plastic heroes of many a battle will rise and fight again. This will be the ultimate nostalgic, old school, yes even sentimental event of this year: the rebirth of my wargaming hobby,  a trip to the past,...and it's cheaper than a session of regression therapy. I'm really, really excited about this, yes I am...
Maybe I will be able to salvage my Airfix La Haie Sainte farmhouse? In the end I'll be able to field two brigades of infantry of two or three battalions each, two guns and a couple of squadrons of light cavalry for each side. Maybe, I'll even post a few pictures, just to prove that fun can be had whatever the circumstances. Anyway, this is what it's all about: HAVING FUN!!!!!!

And so it begins...

Happy gaming
Pjotr

PS: in the Black Powder rules, page 175, a reference is made to 30mm "Rusty Sabre Miniatures" Hussars.  Googling didn't give any results. Does anybody have any idea what manufacturer Priestley and Johnson are talking about?
PPS: Oh, and I have my name in print in Battlegames magazine, hurrah. Sadly in Italics as a runner up for the last competition and not in Bold as winner of that competition. Life's just not fair...I hope those weren't my five seconds of fame...that would be sad!



10 comments:

  1. Rusty Sabre Miniatures

    Old name from the 1980s if not before.

    Now produced by the Dayton Painting Consortium as the RSM95 line. RSM95s are "anatomically correct" figures being about 30mm tall and thinner than most "modern" figures. Detail is not as pronounced either. Nice figures. Used by many, many Seven Years War gamers. Good prices too!

    Web site = http://www.dpcltdcom.org

    Enjoy,

    Jim

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  2. Jim,
    thanks for that. I already have the DPC site linked in my CQMS section. I didn't realise RSM95's were once Rusty Sabre Miniatures.

    Plotr

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  3. You're absolutely right! It's all about having fun :)
    I'll look forward to your report and pics.

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  4. Jim Wright beat me to it. Yes RSMs are what once were called "Rusty Sabre Miniatures" . . . and they are very nice (I have a whole bunch of them that I need to put a brush to).

    Have fun, sir. Have fun.


    -- Jeff

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  5. "On revient toujours..." One's first armies will always find employment as new conflicts arise...
    Except maybe my American Civil war dudes.

    Looking forward to your future posts...

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  6. Oh yes, it's about the fun! I was a member of a club which fragmented and finally dissolved after a bout of politics fit to frighten Caesar. Toward the last I heard they almost forgot gaming entirely, but I'd left before then. Truly, I was sick to the back teeth with the squabbling over rules and gamesmanship. The last club I belonged to before I left England was completely different, a really pleasant experience.

    I also have some of those old Airfix Nappies. I'll never throw them away now. ;)

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  7. "Anyway, this is what it's all about: HAVING FUN!!!!!!. "

    Amen!!

    I enjoyed the one Black Powder game I've played so far but as usual I suspect it had as much to do with a genial friend-opponant as the rules themselves (though they will probably make good solo rules...)

    -Ross

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  8. Page 175? There are THAT many pages in a set of wargames rules?

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  9. @ Mad,

    I guess the rules could be filtered down in to -say- four A4 pages. But even if you don't play the game, it's a nice book to have and read. I think it will become one of the classics akin to Charge or The Wargame (maybe not tomorrow, but surely in a couple of years). Better keep that first edition copy in mint condition...

    @ all others

    thanks for the comments and encouraging words. I'm really looking forward to this evenings club night (or haven't you noticed?).

    Pjotr

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    ReplyDelete