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jesselowe

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Posts posted by jesselowe

  5. Dropzone Commander

    in All Other Games

    Posted

    I got into it when it first came out, but eventually dropped it when the local scene didn't take off. But now I find myself craving a sci fi mass battle game and the options seem to boil down to Dropzone, Firestorm Planetfall, or NetEpic in 6mm. I really need to get a couple demo games in with each to decide.

  13. Going small...Modern Armor 1/285th

    in Flames of War

    Posted

    I would normally like to assist on setting this up, but two things are holding me back:

     

    1. I have no clue who to engage with to get this moving to Enfliade

     

    2. We (the I-5 Warriors) need to determine if this game would be micro armor on BF or using another rule set. I think there needs to be a little group talk there first. Just because geography is a barrier and people are used to BF rules, I think it would make sense to mix micros with BF systems?

     

    Concur with Barca, minimal interference on existing games. Either Sundsy morning or a Friday night warm up.

     

    My vote as a kibbitzer is to do a couple test games. I have copies of Cold War Commander and Spearhead Modern available if you want to test them out.

     

    For a con game you'll have different priorities for a rules set than you would for a tournament or the usual pickup game. If I were doing this, I'd be trying to decide between promoting a system or setting up a scenario/historical refight.

     

    Am I trying to promote a particular system? In that case, said system is a given, so I'll tune the scenario to show off the system's best aspects, and provide plenty of play aids to cover any hiccups in the system. (I'll also try to ensure that the rules are easily available from online retailers and, preferably, a vendor at the show.)

     

    Do I want to refight a particular battle - or in the case of Team Yankee, a hypothetical scenario? In that case, I'll look for the rules that best fit the scenario in question.

     

    Regardless, I'd look for the following:

    Ease of play with people who are likely to be somewhat tired, having difficulty hearing (Enfilade can get a bit loud), and are probably new to the rules. Things I've been thinking about are flip charts for turn phases - to keep everyone on the same page - and written orders, though I'm having trouble figuring out how to do the latter without it being cumbersome.

     

    Quickness of play: the more time people spend fiddling around with dice, unit stats, or poking at their phones while someone else resolves a combat or the referee explains something, the less time they're playing the game.

     

    Balance in scenario: Nobody likes a one-sided game, especially the guys on the losing side. There are (at least) two ways to do this: Going for balanced forces and terrain, or tweaking the win conditions so that they're not the usual "break the enemy/hold ground" deal. Fighting Withdrawal in FoW is one of my favorite scenarios for this kind of thing. You can also have fun with assigning individual objectives for the various commands, so an individual player can be "winning" even if his side is losing (and, of course, vice versa.)

  16. The painful pruning process

    in Warpspace

    Posted

    I've done this... a couple times...

     

    First, organization. You need the physical organization (i.e. storage) and the mental organization (i.e., inventory or knowing what you have). For the first, I use plastic Sterilite boxes - the shoe boxes and the ones sized for letter-size paper. These are clear, so I don't have to open them to see what's inside. I also label them if I feel it's necessary - usually for unpainted or still-in-the-box stuff where the original labeling is unclear. And they stack well. For inventory I simply use Google Keep, and start a fresh note for each collection - in my case, Warmachine Skorne, Warmachine Circle Orboros, 15mm WW2, etc. I usually have each "unit" as a single line item, and, if it's not finished, what it's status is, so it'd be something like:

     

    Warmachine Skorne

    Archdomina Makeda

    Nihilators A

    Nihilators B (partially painted)

    Titan Gladiator A

    Titan Gladiator B (assembled)

    Molik Karn

     

    etc.

     

    So here's what you do:

    1. Collect your lead pile and put it on a table in your basement. All of it. Have another table or a set of shelves next to the first table.

    2. Collect a supply of containers, preferably clear so you can see what's inside them, and sturdy enough to protect what's inside.

    3. Grab a notebook (or digital version thereof) and a stack of labels (I just use Post-Its)

    4. Start wading through the pile. I suggest doing this by unit - if you've got a squad of Space Marines or a regiment of High Elves, that's one unit. Record it in your notebook, stick a label on it, and then...

    5. Decide what category it goes in and put it in the right place. These are the categories:

     

    A. Keep & Play. You like this unit and the game enough to play it, and you have a pretty good chance of playing that game in the future.

    B. Keep & Display. You like this model, even if you don't like the game or you're unlikely to get a chance to play it any time soon.

    C. Sell. You don't like this game or this model enough to put it on display, and you're not going to get a game in within the next few years, but you can eBay it or barter it.

    D. Junk. As sell, but nobody's going to buy this off you. Straight to the garbage/recycling.

     

    After you've gone through the table and put everything into categories A, B, C, and D, it's time to take care of them. First, toss all the junk ASAP. Once it's out of the house, you've got a load off your mind and more space to work with. Second, take the Keep & Display stuff and put it on a shelf. You're not using it any time soon, and it'll keep just fine. Third, you need to attack either the Sell stuff or the Keep & Play stuff.

     

    For the Keep & Play, I divide mine up by playsets: opposing forces for a theatre and their appropriate terrain. (E.g., I have all my 15mm WW2 stuff bundled together next to the box that has the terrain). The only exception is Skorne (which doesn't need terrain as I play at the FLGS), which lives in the Warmachine bag as it leaves the house every week. Painted stuff goes on the shelf; unpainted stuff goes on the shelf in the workshop.

     

    Selling is a bit more work. The hardest part is usually setting prices. Last time I did a big sell off was at Enfilade 2015, where I liquidated my Flames of War stuff and some other junk. These are the questions I ask myself when I'm divvying stuff up and setting the price:

    How quickly do I want to get rid of this? The quicker I do, the lower the price.

    How many people are likely to want this? The more potential customers, the higher the price.

    What was the list price? I usually start at around 30% to 50% of list price. I rarely go over 100% unless I can present it as a luxury good instead of a rummage sale. (It's the difference between "I'm getting rid of [big bad swear word]" and "Here's a ready-to-play Panzergrenadiers army, painted to tabletop quality and nicely based, in a durable plastic case.") It's usually the rummage sale, though - I want cash, not lead that's getting dusty.

    • Like 2

  21. Thinking about getting in, got some questions

    in Infinity

    Posted

    I'm thinking about starting Infinity, 'cause I don't have enough toy soldier games to spend money on. So here are some questions:

     

    How steep is the learning curve? (For comparison, assume Warmachine is "steep" thanks to model-specific rules and, say, Kings of War is "shallow" thanks to a very straightforward rules set and not a lot of model-specific rules.)

     

    How do the following factions play on the table, what's the best starting point for each one, and how much could I expect to spend in $$ to get a basic full-size force?

     

    Aleph

     

    Combined Army

     

    PanOceania

     

    Last and most important, how healthy is the player base in Portland? I'm mostly looking at Infinity because I live close to Red Castle games, and being able to sneak in a weekly game there will be a deciding factor on whether I pick this game up.

    • Like 2

  22. New GW Specialist Game Studio?

    in Warhammer Universe

    Posted

    It wouldn't surprise me if this was the rout they choose to go; put out an affordable, plastic box set for Epic / Bloodbowl / Mordheim / etc., then release extra figures / teams / warbands in resin. Maybe not the most ideal situation, but I'm just happy to see the specialist games being supported in one form or another. 

     

    This might be the best option, from my POV, except it'll still have typical GW prices. I'll probably still be building my Epic armies from Onslaught Miniatures.

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