Ok over the last few months I have bought read and been
inspired by many rule sets some I had for years some I bought and read and
never tried or gamed, after a long time painting my miniatures and still
reading and been inspired I planned a war-game week where I would clear the
table and play test some rule sets I had.
I had enough miniatures for anything and wanted to test the rules,
after a week I have taken a lot of pictures and will give my write up and
thoughts.
My good friend Dave Wood surprised me by sending me a copy
of the old table top games Reaper rules 1978 I did some of the art work and
was chuffed to see and hold a copy in my hands again, lying
out my skirmish table I dropped 2 sides
off wrote down the stats and played, (we
actually used this as our huge battle fantasy games we held at our club back then , everyone brought whatever
and joined in, wonderful times).
Reaper
The game my barbarian raiding force took on some savage Picts
lay out and played to the death, the games stats and ideas are old calculation
and some thought is needed but at the end I smiled because it gave a result,
not fluid but a result. Over all was a fun game with the feel of a battle, will
try again with my war-game mate some time later.
A Fist of Kung Fu
Ospreys rule set wrote by the great Andrea Sfiligoi of Song
of Blades and Heroes fame, a complete and wonderful book , once read it makes
you want to play, laid out a small terrain and the objective was to turn off
the bomb, used a proxies Demon company
against a combination force I put
together.
The activation sequence I knew and the tests to some degree
the new combat results I had a cheat sheet ready and would read and digest
anything I remembered or what came up in the game.
The game is fast and involves you in the action, the
reaction of the main character to opponents fails makes for a good sense of the
games genre, the combatants hit shot and sliced each other to an end result the
Deamons being wiped out. I must say very enjoyable and got my mind on other
companies and thoughts…
Song of Blades and Heroes
I think I own most of the supplements and other world to this
series and have played it a few times this time serious read and absorb and
take in time, 2 300 point companies fighting to get an object/prize and take
off table. The system uses all activation dice and these give actions, 2 fails the
turn moves to the opponent.
The forces were good vs.
evil if that can be in my universes, 300 points aside and played superb, enjoyable the forces of good just
winning as the evil guys who were slaying all around failed some rolls and then decided best thing to watch on TV. Great
game and this will be used in coming months as me and my mate’s weekly games.
Bolt Action
Bought this when it first came out Warlord games battle
rules had a long good read again and
opened up my box of Very British Civil war mines, spent a short time
deciding what was what and laid out the table and rolled the scenario, it was
to destroy each other’s command.
The game uses activation dice drawn from a bag these are
placed on the unit and the order is shown. Both sides started and I was presently
surprised how easy the game worked, once in range or sight they opened up on
each other, the firing and combat result method is very easy and to me works
extremely well. The Royalist won in the end over whelming the rebels, I found it
involved you in the game and situations were made and places fought over. I
would say a strong stable game rule set, I will try again I do have the bridge
set with some Germans and paras Ill paint up)
Flashing blades
This is another Song of blades and heroes set using the 1500-1700
worlds, I wanted to try the difference to SOBH, my collection of swashbucklers
came out against a party of an evil with taken from the SOBH Arthur Merlin book.
The scenario was to kill the witch who had some fearsome bodyguards, the game
played like the system with fun and chance and some great results the new
special rules for the book added to the games mechanics and fun. The result was
a hero locked in battle managed to slay the witch only after knocking her down.
Great rules and SOBH to me is one of the best I have ever played in my gaming
life time...
End thoughts
Enjoyed the week and infused
me to paint some more of the lead pile and look to what I wanted
next, SOBH system stood out as a playable
great game, Bolt Action for me is excellent rules and will make me think on other
projects…
These are only my thoughts and mind on the rules; I have
been war gaming for very very long time and think we are now blessed like many
say with great rules and terrain along with stunning miniatures from people…..