Village Games' Blog - Fantasy Games

A FANTASY BRAWL

nospam@example.com (Dan Hobot) — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 00:47:00 -0600

A FANTASY BRAWL

The other day Aaron, Richard, Mark and I played a big Fantasy skirmish brawl using D&D Miniatures and the Combat Cards. It was a great game that went far to long (‘til 1:00 am on a work night!). The premise was something about rescuing/capturing prisoners being driven to a new home by some slave drivers. It really didn't matter as mayhem became the goal once battle was joined.

I grabbed a couple of shots while we were playing. The pictures don’t really do a good job of conveying the ebb and flow of the battle, nor the blood feuds that started to develop between some of the figures. Oh well, enjoy anyways…

Until next time – Happy Gaming!

Dan

The Time of Confrontation is Coming...

nospam@example.com (Dan Hobot) — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 00:14:00 -0600

We are starting to see more and more of Rackham’s Confrontation: Age of Ragnarok being played around the shop. It is really nice to see, as the game is the very enjoyable sword & sorcery based sister game to Rackham’s AT-43.

I have included a few shots from a demo game that was played at the shop the other night. You'll notice that some of the figures are the newly released prepainted ones, while others are nicely painted metals that had been previously issued. That is one of the best parts about the game, all of your old Confrontation figures are still usable in the new game.

Hopefully we will be seeing a lot more Confrontation battles in the near future! If you are interested in learning the game, or joining in with the regular players, check out the Events Calendar on our main page for scheduled events. Of course pick-up games are always welcome too!

Well, until next time…

Happy Gaming!

Dan

Swords and Sorcery Get Their Turn

nospam@example.com (Dan Hobot) — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 00:50:00 -0600

A FANTASY COME TRUE

As I have written about on more than a couple of occasions, we have been playing a lot of games with the Combat Cards: Skirmish^© for modern (anything with firearms, really) to sci-fi miniatures. Well recently I finally finished the Combat Cards: Fantasy^© (which also work for the Ancient and Medieval time periods as well) and we have started playtesting them at the shop.

Aaron and Todd had the honor of playing the first playtest the other day. Unfortunately I was really busy helping customers the whole time, so I didn’t get much of a chance to observe them play (I have since had that opportunity for some other games). Based on their feeback though, they felt it played just like the other skirmish cards – fast paced, lots of twists and turns, easy to understand and engrossing to play. Sounded like a positive start to me!

The beauty of the cards is they allow players to use any figures they want - Aaron was using D&D prepainted mini’s while Todd was using his Warhammer Fantasy figures. I did mange to get a few shots of the game (as you can see) which was played on some of the shop’s dungeon terrain.

We are going to be playing a lot of this at the shop in the coming weeks I suspect, so if you would like to try it out and let us know what you think, keep an eye to the Events calendar and drop on by!

Until next time….

Happy Gaming!

Dan

The Warmachine Battles Continue

nospam@example.com (Dan Hobot) — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 00:26:00 -0700

RAMPING UP TO A NEW LEAGUE

The Warmachine League in the shop is coming to a close, with a new league to be started again right after that. The league players come up regularly every other weekend to get their games in, chat about tactics and swap painting tips. They are great group, and always appear to be having a lot of fun.

I snapped a couple of pics of their latest battles, just ‘cause they have some cool looking armies. PS: They are always looking for additional league members if you are interested. J Look for the Warmachine section of the Forums to let them know.

Until next time…

Dan

It's Not Dead Yet

nospam@example.com (Dan Hobot) — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 01:33:00 -0700

NEW HORDES’ STRONGHOLDS

In my never ending attempt to get our HOTTS (Hordes of the Things) campaign off the ground, I recently finished up a couple of new strongholds for my armies. The one on the right is a classic “cavern” motif (complete with an element of flyers soaring over), while the one on the left is the more ominous magical “fog cloud” for an arriving enemy army.

Hordes' Strongholds

I now have ten complete armies for use in the campaign, some of which I may even be willing to share with some newbies who would like to try the campaign. Hopefully we will be able to have a campaign day in January for this.

Well, until the next army is completed…er, next time…

Cheers & Happy Holidays!

Dan

The Warmachine League

nospam@example.com (Dan Hobot) — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 13:00:00 -0700

THE HORDES ARE A COMIN’…

A couple of Saturdays ago we had a bunch of Warmachine and Hordes games going on at the shop in conjunction with the Warmachine League. There were some really nice looking armies on the tables.

I think you can find the results of the games on the Warmachine League thread on the Forums. In the meantime here are some of the pictures I took that day. I have a bunch more to post real soon.

Until next time…

Cheers!

Dan

Into Middle Earth

nospam@example.com (Dan Hobot) — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 17:07:39 -0700

GANDALF RIDES AGAIN

Recently some of the Lord of the Rings (LoTR) miniatures players staged a pretty sizeable battle in Middle Earth at the shop. Besides Cave Trolls, Elves and Southlings, none other than Gandalf the White made an appearance!

The Battle in All Its Glory

The game took the better part of a night, and from the sounds of player groans and moans, was very much a seesaw affair. The LoTR rules are very popular at the shop – with the numbers growing all of the time.

Gandalf Leads the Charge

The LoTR players usually play on Tuesdays or Saturdays, although any day of the week appears to be fair game. It would be great if a specific night could become the designated LoTR night so all the diverse players could hook up for games. Maybe even a league? Any volunteers?

Until next time…

Cheers!

Dan

D&D Miniatures - Adventuring Style

nospam@example.com (Dan Hobot) — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 23:39:00 -0600

D&D MINIATURES � ADVENTURING WE WILL A GO

Recently my partner Carl set up & ran a really neat variant game for D&D miniatures. The premise was that the warbands brought to the game had to first find the clues to the whereabouts of the dungeon entrance, and then mount their expedition into the dungeon levels to find the lost artifact.

Using our 3-D terrain, Carl set up three tables � the first was the outdoor environment above the dungeons. The second was the first layer of the dungeon, and the third table was the final level of the dungeon.

I wasn�t able to stick around and find out how it all went (hint: one of the participants could regail us with tales of the exploits in the forums � pretty please! ) but I did get some pictures of everything as it all got started:

The Outdoor Environs

Some of the Dungeon Levels

The Fighting Heats Up...

Until next time�

Cheers!

Dan

The Hordes Are Coming...

nospam@example.com (Dan Hobot) — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 14:26:36 -0600

THE FORCES OF EVIL ARE GATHERING - CAN WE STOP THEM?

We are currently in the run-up to a Hordes of the Things campaign at the store. Personally I have prepped 8+ armies and won�t probably stop until I have run out of figures.

To hone our generalship skills we have been regularly playing games on Saturdays. Below are pictures of a game Nick and I played a week or so ago. It pitted his brand spanking new Lizard Army against my Woodland Rangers-Barbarians-Creatures army.

The Armies Maneuver For Battle

Nick got off to a great start, repeatedly repulsing the efforts of my archers on the right flank and pushing my warband back on the left flank. Then the dice slowly turned against him and for me� er, my brilliant grand strategies started to pay off � yeah, that�s it!

The Columns In The Center Close

Eventually our behemoths began slugging it out on the right flank with mine gaining the upper hand, and given his was his general, sealing his fate. All in all it was a fun game with lots of ebb and flow.

The Woodland Army Stands Victorious

You will notice from the pictures we are using mostly D&D 25/28mm pre-painted miniatures for our armies (since many of us have tons of these things). To accommodate the round bases on the figures, we are using modified frontages (as per the HoTT�s book). Our base widths are 4�, and base depths are 1-1/3�, 2�, 2-1/2�, 4� and 6� respectively. The ratios are all in proportion to the DBA base sizes, just bigger.

Anyone who has a HoTT�s army(s) could join us by simply placing their existing elements onto a temporary base of the above dimensions. In fact, one of the players has been giving away bases to those dimensions that work perfectly.

Also, here is a shot of the campaign map we will be using. If you are interested, you can find out more of the campaign specifics on the store�s Forum page under the �Misc. Games� section � �HoTT�s Campaign�. Hopefully as the campaign gets going I will have a few pictorial battle reports for the blog as well!

Realms of the Free Lands

Until next time�

Cheers!

Dan

The Hordes Have Arrived

nospam@example.com (Dan Hobot) — Sun, 01 Oct 2006 20:20:02 -0600

Last Saturday, I finished two armies for The Hordes of the Things ("Hotts") - the rules for fantasy army combat from the DBA/DBM folks.

I made special bases to allow my D&D miniatures to be used to form the units. They are only temporarily mounted in the bases though, so I can remove them to play a D&D minis game, or to use them for regular D&D.

I ran several games for new players, all of whom enjoyed the rules and figures very much. Several commented on using their D&D minis in a similar fashion. The possibility of a Village Hotts tournament was even thrown about!

As you can see, I have included some pictures of the battles between an orcish army complete with a behemoth giant, and an army of heavily armored knights, men-at-arms, a flaming elemental behemoth, and a magician. I am hoping to finish an undead army soon too.

Well, until next time...

Cheers,

Dan

Fantasy & History

nospam@example.com (Dan Hobot) — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 16:04:34 -0600

MORE GREAT GAMES

I got in a few great games over the past week - DBA, Hordes of the Things and, of course, Blitzkrieg Commander.

DE BELLIS ATIQUITAS

This is a great game! I really enjoyed the simplicity of the rules, but it still had complexity in the strategy and tactics. We are having a dickens of a time getting the rules in for sale though, so I think we will provide a store/library copy for players who want to starting playing until we can get more copies in.

My first armies (which will be DBM compatible) will be European (First) Crusaders vs. Saracens for some fun fights in the Holy Lands!

HORDES OF THE THINGS ("HOTTS")

This is a derivative of DBA for fantasy armies. Again a blast to play! You create your own armies from unit types and battle it out. Us can use figures from any manufacturer as long as you follow the basing conventions. This is another game I am going to have to build and paint armies for...

BLITZKRIEG COMMANDER

We got in another game of BKC as well this week - this is fast becoming one of the favorite games up at the shop for us miniature players!

Technically I was actually assisting a new player (Welcome to the BKC family Mark!) as he learned the game. It was a mixed bag understrength Russian tank battalion (T34/76's, T34/85's and KV-1's) with an infantry company, commanded by Chris L., trying to stop a breakthough attempt by an understrength German panzer regiment (mostly Panthers & a few Tiger I's).

Game Table Overview

As usual, it only took the new guy a couple of turns to grasp the rules and he was off. Of course his pregame plan looked nothing like what actually unfolded on the battlefield! The command & control checks were all over the board with long streaks of failures and equally long success streaks.

The Russians Move to Reinforce

In the end time ran out and the battle was determined to be a draw, but everyone had a great time! Chris and Mark are fun opponents, which only adds to the good time.

The German Advance Stalls

Hopefully we will be able to get in a few more games this weekend!

Until next time...

Dan

I'm Back...

nospam@example.com (Dan Hobot) — Sat, 29 Jul 2006 06:51:25 -0600

It has been a while since the last entry - my apologies for that. We have been very busy around the store with new games, bringing in new product lines and the like.

I personally have been busy prepping and painting a variety of miniatures: I finished a squad of WWII American paratroopers and German Wermacht (w/a couple of light machine guns) in 25mm. Some KV-1's, German command teams and a Tiger I for 6mm. Making more progress on my 15mm American armored company. Finished a 5-man hostage rescue squad in 25mm (now to finish the actual hostages and bad guys) as well as building a bunch of new terrain including starship tiles for 25mm, more hedgerows and bushes for 25mm and a Russian village for 6mm.

OFF TO RECON

I am taking the WWII 25mm to a local miniatures convention today - ReCon. Should be a good time sharing the challenges of skirmish level combat with others. Again we will be using the NUTS! rules from Two-Hour Wargames. With luck we will be able to run a couple of different games, including a scenario where just after the D-Day drop the paratroopers are scattered and have to regroup into an effective force!

D&D MINIATURES

I did also manage to get in a game of D&D Miniatures this week. I ran a pretty nasty army in a 500 point epic game: 2x Bluespawn Godslayers, 2x Helmed Horrors, a Mind Flayer and a Beholder. The Mind Flayer was thrown in to provide the warband with a commander to rally routed troops, but it turned out he was superfluous as everything except the Beholder was fearless. Next time I may try a Ghostly Consort instead. In any event, I was matched up against a predominantly spell caster army which found the speed and punch of my warband a little too much to handle.

As a side note, my teamate in this brawl also pulled off I trick I though to be near suicide: on the first turn he charaged his Beholder out in to the middle of the map only to have it pounded on by his opponent's "mounted combat" pieces. I thought we might be in for a very short fight at that point (sorry for the lack of faith Robert!). In the end though, it turns out that it was all part of his grand strategy - the Beholder was a diversion & healer for an epic-level Aspect of Nerull, which combined with the Beholder and another Bluespawn Godslayer put the hurt on his opponent.

All in all it was a very enjoyable game, with thanks to Don & Matt for a good time.

THE RUSSIANS ROLL ON

I also managed to get in a game of Blitzkrieg Commander in 6mm. Jeff P. and I commanded a Russian infantry battalion that had stumbled upon a similarly sized German force - commanded by Ron & Aaron - while trying to seize (liberate?) a Russian village in mid-'44.

The plan was to swarm the village with an infantry company, while the supporting tank platoons encircled the village from the north and south.

On the southern flank a platoon of T34/85's went toe-to-toe with a platoon of Panthers for much of the battle. And despite having the advantage of the woods, the T34's took the worst of the meeting in the end. However, it took the better part of the battle for the Panthers to win the day, which prevented them from playing much of a role in the rest of the fight.

The infantry in the center (with very limited armor support - a lone T34/76) took fire right away from a couple of Panthers in the village (are these things everywhere????) and never could manage to really get their assault on the village going. The T34 eventually succumed to the Panthers' fire, and while the infantry made a brave rush towards the village, they were ravaged by some very deadly German artillery fire which prevented any further progress.

The real success for the Russians was on the northern flank where a platoon of T34/76's, supported by a couple of KV-1's, knocked out a pair of Tiger I's and then began rolling up the flank towards the village. The Germans threw every bit of infantry they could muster at the oncoming Russians but with great skill (and some incredibly timely rolls!!!) the Russians were able to fend off the localized counterattack and push into the village. It was at that time that the German commander realized how tenuous his position now was and decided to retire from the battlefield to fight another day.

All-in-all a very fun game with a nail-biter of an ending!

Hopefull I will be able to blog a little more frequently over the next few weeks!

Until then- cheers!

Dan

More Great Gaming

nospam@example.com (Dan Hobot) — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 23:58:10 -0600

D&D MINI'S - ARENA DEATH MATCH

Just a quick entry today. I had to mention the great D&D Miniatures game I played in last night. At the end of each D&D Mini's league cycle we run a special sealed box event that everyone is welcome to join (league members & non-members). Last night we ran a new scenario: you play one mini at a time from your box, starting with the lowest point figure and then when that dies you move on to your next highest, and so on. Last figure standing wins.

There were a few other minor rules but, with nobody having more than one mini at a time in the arena and those figures being out of a random box, some of the most unused figures saw heavy action (if its all you got, its all you got)! The battle was a blast! I had a hunting cougar that couldn't be killed (never mind that he really couldn't kill anything either), and there was an Ophidian that lasted well into the middle of the game!

It also helped that this was all played on the cool 3-D dungeon terrain the store has. Maybe next time I will have to make some transporter pieces to use in the arena, hmmm....

Anyways, look for this scenario to be run during the next league (which starts next week) with constructed armies. It will also be run at the end of the next league cycle with the sealed box being the War of the Dragon Queen - can anyone say "Huges running amok in the arena"?

Until next time...

Dan