Games for the wee ones

Rhys goes with me to the store on Thursday nights.  While I play or talk, he hangs out and plays with Star Wars minis on some of the store terrain or plays the DS.  Lately he has been wanting to play LotR with me.  He'll be right around the table, "measuring" things with a tape measure.  Thursday nights are special bonding time for Daddy and Rhys, but he is also starting to intrude into the games.  So far, everyone at the store has been very nice about it, but I obviously need to get Rhys his own game that we can play together.

You see, Rhys is seven and has special needs.  He doesn't grasp the rules for LotR yet.  He's, among other things, developmentally delayed about a year and a half to two years.  I've been looking for the right game for him, but have not been able to find something.  I finally gave up on buying it and decided I'd just have to make something up.  He loves the mini's and he loves the Lord of the Rings. 

I decided on a dungeon crawl game.  I wanted something simple and quick to pick up and put out.  I don't have any dungeon tiles but I do have Spacehulk.  Problem one solved.  They may be Space Ship tiles but to a little boy they are tunnels and rooms in a dungeon.

The year of rules

This is the year of rules.  I'm laying down the law...  No, not that kind of rules, I kid.  I realized that I had made a decision which will affect my wargaming this year, and therefore my blogging, but that I had not shared it with you.  This seems a little perverse, and not in a fun way, so I'm aiming to rectify that.

For years I have played GW games.  This was driven by several factors.  Availability, good IP, model quality, opponents, rules standardization.  I came into the hobby through Warhammer.  I picked up LotR when an enthusiast moved to town.  I never got into 40k.

 Now let's be clear, I've always wargamed, from when I was itsy bitsy.  I remember the fall of Saigon.  I was three years old, sitting on my parent's floor.  The helo's were pulling people off of the roof of the embassy and I was playing with my father's Civil War game.  I had the little dudes lined up and the artillery was taking great chunks out of them, as represented by my chubby little fingers.  So, one of the iconic events of our age and I don't know if I remember it because of the images on the TV or the little plastic playing pieces.

I am not saying these are the same figures, though they look this good in my memory.

Battle Report - Harad vs Gondor and Dwarfs

With the league in hiatus there were only two of us playing last night at Collectormania.  When Rhys and I arrived there was no one else there to play so he played with his Star Wars Squinkies on some Osgiliath terrain while I talked painting and rules sets with Russ and Chris.  Chris is a great painter with a really entertaining blog, which I can't find right now.  Hopefully I'll be able to dig it up or someone will shoot me the link.

Micah showed up a little after 1900 and we agreed on a game.  I had played him a couple of weeks ago, before the switch over from Legions to Warbands.  In that game he had an avenger bolt thrower and Boromir.  Two very expensive options.  His new list is led by Faramir as a ranger.  It had a Capt with five knights, Faramir leading nine rangers, a captain with six sword/board and six spear and shield and finally a Dwarf captain with five or six Iron Guard.

We rolled up Reconnoiter, which is not my favorite scenario.  It pulls me out of my comfort zone.  This is not a bad thing.  My army is designed to stay out of combat as long as possible while shooting the hell out of everything that gets in range.  If I haven't whittled my opponent down, by a lot, before we get into combat then I am going to lose.  My guys are squishy and my force is only average sized.  The opposition last night was very crunchy, and had almost as many models as I did.  Not a good place to be. 

Reconnoiter gives points for getting models off your opponent's table edge, wounding or killing the opposing general and for breaking the enemy.  His knights were a priority target.

I apologize now for the pictures.  I forgot my camera so these were taken with my phone.

Two warbands, one of which is the Nazgul and Hornblower.

The knights moving forward to try to get off the table.  Faramir, his general, with the rangers, moving up in the background.

The Gondor Phalanx followed by the slow moving Dwarfs.

Behind the scenes at GW

However you feel about GW this video has some interesting shots showing how molds work as well as some sculpting.

Video Here

Look what just arrived in the mail

I just received my Warhammer 40K 25th anniversary model.  This is a great model.  It captures the old cover art beautifully while showing the phenomenal skill that GW sculptors are capable of these days.  I cracked the box to make sure it looked like a good casting. 

I hear a lot these days about how crappy Finecast is.  I've now bought two models in the substance and both casts have been perfect.  I love the detail, it's crisp and sharp.  I don't like metal models, mainly for the difficulty of conversion and the fact that the paint ALWAYS chips on them.  This model is good to go.

All of the above is great and all.  The only problem is, I don't play 40k.  I just hate the rules.  I like the models just fine.  The IP is fun.  The rules leave me angry and frustrated.  With all of the time I've been spending, lately, on other people's blogs, one thing I've been looking for is a generic set of Sci/Fi rules that I can use instead.  There are a lot of great models out there.  I just need rules to let me play with them.

So, you ask, what will become of the model above?  It will sit in a bin in the basement with my Harry the Hammer model until I figure out what to do with my Space Marines, because it won't, likely, be playing 40k.

Lord of the Rings - Risk

Oddly, SWMBO (She Who Must Be Obeyed) likes Risk.  We have three different versions of it, including my ancient version from childhood.  Naturally I assumed that she would be as excited as I was when I found this for a good price on eBay.

Perhaps I was a little bit optimistic.  On the other hand, she did smile as she was shaking her head, so there is still hope.  I'm looking forward to playing this, at any rate.

Wordle

I saw this on Sidney Roundwoood's blog, here.  It seemed like a bit of harmless fun, so I went ahead and did it as well.

We'll see how things change over time. 

Wordle is located here.