My rules, basing, etc!

[BTWilliams]

After reading Rob's post on another thread I decided to take
pictures of a few of my figures to share with the group. I put them
in the files section. I play skirmish battles so I mount each figure
individually. I mostly use Schleich and BBI as I find the Papo a
little too cartoonish. At least the ones I've seen, anyway. I use a
2.5 inch hexagon base from Litko for the foot figures. The hexagon
shape makes it easy to determine flank and rear attacks during melee.
I use Litko bases for most of my miniature basing needs for several
reasons. They're pre-cut and come in a wide variety of shapes and
sizes, they're strong and won't warp, they're reasonably priced and
the laser cut leaves a nice, brown edge which I think adds to the
aesthetics of the finished base. I usually order them straight from
the company using their web site store. Ordering is quite easy and
the service is exceptional. As an aside, they also carry many, many
other gaming aids. They have bases in sizes matching the
specifications of several popular gaming systems as well as markers
and templates for each system. You can even get custom made bases,
markers, etc. Visiting the site would probably be worth your time. I
use 2 x 4.5 inch bases for the mounted figures. These seem to work
fine as any flank and rear attacks are not as difficult to resolve on
mounted figures.

As far as rules, I use home-grown rules for everything except
melee. I've been gaming for several years and have used my
experiences with countless rules systems to develop my own simple but
effective set of skirmish rules. Awhile back, after years of setting
up games and then trying to wade through piles of charts and lists and
modifiers that claim to create realism but actually only create
headaches and sore eyes, certain members of our group decided we
shouldn't let history get in the way of fun. So we puts our heads
together and developed fun, fast and user-friendly rules for most
periods which allowed an entire game to be played in one afternoon
without resulting in mental exhaustion or violence. They still have
the flavor of the period but none of the hassle of more extensive
rules sets. And we carry on the tradition to this day. A kind of
design guideline we all employ is whether or not the rules could be
used in a convention setting. In other words, the rules need to be
such that after 30 minutes of play each player should be able to run
the game on their own never having seen the rules before. This
guideline has worked well and has produced some very enjoyable, very
playable sets of rules.

Now for melee, however, I fudged a little and fell back on a
tried and true system I've always loved. For melee, I use.....and I'm
about to show my age.....the combat system from 1st edition AD&D.
It's simple, fast and efficient. It's easy to understand and folks
seem to pick it up right away. Also, many gamers are already familiar
with it from their early days of gaming. It may not be as realistic
as some would like but I find it works quite well for my needs.

I love everything about this scale of gaming. Pre-painted
figures that are realistically sculpted, look good on the table top
and pack away nice and neat for storage or transport. I haven't tried
any conversion work, yet. The limited number of figures used in
skirmish actions tends to limit the need. I am, however, looking at
scratch building some scenic pieces.

Now let's hear from you guys. I know everyone could benefit from
posts on rules, scratch building, conversions, etc. Even battle
reports are always a good read.

BTWilliams

[Merlin the Mad]

Nice selection of piccies. Those cavalry figs are some of my
favorites. Look in the files of the Group for some piccies of
conversions I have done; especially on the Schleich Crusader knight: I
articulated him.

On the subject of basing. As a kid, the thing I always found at the
top of my list of disagreeable traits in toy soldiers (after "flat" or
otherwise badly sculpted ones, of course), was the necissity of having
to put up with a base. My asthetics was alwasy put off by that glob of
plastice attached to feet. Often I removed the bases to improve the
look of the figure. Of course, this resulted in them not standing up
on a hard surface; but they looked great in the sandbox, which is
where I played more often than not. Now my youngest son and I have
this fairly respectable collection of (mostly) Schleich figures, which
all stand up pretty well on the diningroom table without the
assistance of bases. The last thing I want to do to them is "ruin" the
look by putting bases on them! But I have to admit that your Litko's
look superb - as far as bases go.

Flank and rear attacks: easy: one-on-one is always face-to-face. Add
in a second enemy and he is easily seen either moving in on a flank or
the rear; add in a second or sometimes a third enemy, same thing. I
don't need base shapes or edges to tell me a flank or rear attack is
taking place. But this is a case of YMMV, certainly.

My rules, since you are new, are here:
http://www.angelfire.com/mb2/battle_hastings_1066/skirmishrules.html

Doug

[achilles]

Hi BTWilliams,

Thanks for the post. I also enjoy this scale as my collection is
mostly Schleich, a couple BBI and hand full of PAPO. I just wished
Schliech cast their mounted soldiers to also stand on foot. I like the
ability for my soldiers to dismount and fight.

As far as this scale/period goes I seem to be all over the place with
my interests. One week/month(s) my interests might be in 54mm
Napoleonics and another might be in Halo action figures. I wish I
could be content with just one period, scale, manufacturer and
ruleset.

BTW
I would be interested in reading the rules on melee from AD&D you
mentioned. I continually change how I resolve missile/melee combats
as I don't adhere to any specific rule set.

Cheers Ken

[BTWilliams]

Ken,

I'll get those rules to you asap!

I also can relate to the lure of various periods and scales. I have
figures for the 1967 Arab/Israeli War armor battles in 15mm, Fantasy
in 25mm, Sci-Fi in 25mm, ACW naval actions in 1/600, BattleTech in
10mm, Spanish Reconquista in 15mm, Starship Battles in some obscure
scale, AWI in 15mm, Renaissance in 15mm, WWII in 1/35th scale and I'm
looking at Napoleonic Skirmish in either 25mm or 54mm. My wife says I
should be the poster child for WIBS.....Wargamer's Impulse Buying
Syndrome.....and sometimes I don't honestly feel I can argue the
point.

It could be worse, I guess. I could have a thing for sports cars
instead of toy soldiers!

BTWilliams

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