Monday, November 27, 2006
Beowulf and Grendel
I just got done watching Beowulf and Grendel (2005) and thought that it was an excellent retelling of the poem. Notice that I said retelling. It is, of course, not a literal translation and has many modern sensibilities. But all, in all, I really liked it. The costumes were excellent, the acting first rate, and the scenery interesting.
Of course, while watching it, I began to think about doing a wargame based on the story. My idea is to do a variant of Steve Jackson’s Ogre game. In it, you’d have a single monstrous figure (Grendel, the Ogre, would thus be the Ogre) versus a horde of lesser, one-hit point warriors (the GEVs). The gamemaster would play Grendel—who could soak up lots of hits in various locations—and the players would command the human warriors.
I have the Saxons/Vikings ready to play ... but I’m going to need an appropriate figure for Grendel.
Sunday, November 26, 2006
Star Wars Starship Battles
I just saw the new Star Wars Starship battles miniatures at my local hobby shop. As a whole, they were pretty good looking. The ones I saw had good paint jobs and were well formed. A couple of the ships had permanently bent parts, but I because it was soft plastic, I’m pretty sure you could immerse them in hot water and bend them back.
The main complaint from gamers is of course, that the ships are all horribly out of scale to each other. I don’t see any way around that, though. Even if a Star Destroyer were three feet long, the fighters still would be miniscule.
Perhaps they should have found a way to break the game into two distinct portions, with a Capital Ships game, and a Fighter game. The fighters in the Capital Ship game could have been abstracted.
I didn’t get a chance to look at the rules, but the guys at the shop indicated that they thought they were simple, but fun.
Saturday, November 25, 2006
The Boxer Rebellion by Diana Preston
Diana Preston’s Boxer Rebellion:The Dramatic Story of China’s War on Foreigners That Shook the World in the Summer of 1900 was a primary source when I was researching scenarios for my Boxer Rebellion miniature wargaming project. The book reads like a novel, carrying the reader from one exciting event to another. While it doesn’t have the copious numbers and orders of battle so favored by wargamers, it more than makes up for this by providing dozens of raw ideas for good scenarios. Highly recommended.
Boxer Rebellion : The Dramatic Story of China’s War on Foreigners that Shook the World in the Summer of 1900
Saturday, November 25, 2006
About Dispatches From The Front
Since its inception, the Miniature Wargaming site has been focused on providing links to free wargaming resources: free rules, terrain and painting advice, history sites and the like.
However, over the last couple of years, there have been numerous occasions on which I’ve wanted to bring my readers’ attention to stuff of a more commercial nature: games I’ve played or encountered, wargames related movies I’ve watched, books I’ve read, and so on.
But given the original mission of MiniatureWargaming dot Com, I’ve never felt as though I could do that.
Then, with my site redesign, it occurred to me that I could start a separate blog and use the same template structure. I could distringuish the two sites by altering the mast heads.
So the Miniature Wargaming Dispatches From The Front was born. In this blog, I’ll post on gaming related things that are noc necessarily free, but which have caught my interest, and which may also catch the interest of others.
Monday, November 20, 2006
A History of Warfare By John Keegan
It’s an ambitious title, but military historian John Keegan is up to the task. In A History of Warfare, Keegan analyzes the role of warfare in society, and the progression of war through four “ages” which he characterizes as “stone, flesh, iron and fire.” Most interesting is that Keegan refutes von Clausewitz’s contention in “On War” that war is simply an extension of national policy. While this is not a book about any particular war or battle, the thoughtful wargamer will find this interesting for the ideas and questions it poses.
A History of Warfare
Monday, November 20, 2006
Stillwell and the American Experience In China by Barbara Tuchman
Historian Barbara Tuchman won her second Pulitzer Prize in 1971 for Stillwell and The American Experience In China My copy is a first edition hardback, but this great book fortunately is still available in paperback. Using “Vinegar Joe” Stillwell as the catalyst, Tuchman examines thirty years of US policy in China: from the end fo the Manchu Dynasty to Mao Tse-Tung. The book offers insight to a number of military operations, from the Chinese Warlords of the 1920s to the Pacific War of the 1940s. If the movie “The Sand Pebbles” has ever caught your imagination, this book is sure to do the same.
Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-45
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About the Miniature Wargaming Hobby
Miniature Wargaming is part of the "adventure games" hobby, which includes r ole p laying and board games. Wargamers recreate battles on the tabletop with toy soldiers, like a more complicated game of chess. Models range in height from 6mm to 28mm tall, with 15mm and 25mm being the most popular. There also is a growing interest in toy soldiers and military models, such as the 1/32 and 1/35 scale plastic soldiers from Conte, and Marx.
The most popular miniature wargames are fantasy and science fiction based, such as Warhammer, Warhammer 40K, Warmachine and The Lord of the Rings. World War II games such as Flames of War and Axis and Allies are new favorites. Other favorite historical periods include Napoleonics, the American Civil War, and ancients, such as Romans or Greeks. Other gamers enjoy miniature naval wargames, recreating battles like Trafalgar, Jutland and the Coral Sea.
Hobbyists research historical periods and paint their tiny soldiers in accurate uniforms. Others develop "historically realistic" rules sets or build scale battlefield terrain using model railroad techniques.
For pictures, visit the gallery.
Some of the bigger hobby companies are Games Workshop, which produces Warhammer, Wargames Foundry and Old Glory Miniatures. Wizards of the Coast produces several lines of pre-painted miniatures games, such as the Star Wars and Dungeons and Dragons miniatures games, and a historical game with pre-painted miniatures: The new Axis and Allies game. Wizkids produces a fantasy collectable miniatures game, such as the Mage Knight and Heroclick fantasy games, the science fiction games MechWarrior and Rocketmen, as well as the quasi-historical Pirates of the Spanish Main.
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