Post Vegas Haze

My wife and I made a trip to Las Vegas last week to visit her brother and enjoy a little R&R time. We had a great time.

Between visiting Freemont Street, several casinos (including the Bellagio whose inside gardens were decked out for Chinese New Year, including animatronic dragons), and playing Bingo with the locals at South Point Casino which is my wife’s favorite gambling thing to do in Vegas, we did some off-the-beaten-path stuff too.

We visited the Mob Museum, Pinball Hall of Fame, attended a psychedelic Cirque de Soleil show (The Beatles: Love), and drove out to breathtaking Red Rock Canyon. It was a jam-packed few days in the desert.

Coming back to Pennsylvania to go to work this week was a bit of “aww, do I really have to?” feeling. But that’s life for the vast majority of us.

Returning to Normalcy

Since January was a bit of a blur, I’m hoping that life can return to a more normal state, and that includes getting back to some gaming and hobby time. Aside from a mid-January dungeon skirmish, 2024 has truly been a black void on the gaming/hobby front.

I want to start-up our bi-monthly board gaming sessions, and get back to battling it out on the wargames table with games of Sword of Severnia, Lion Rampant, SAGA, Gnome Wars, Warlords of Hexenstein, and more. While fantasy and dark-ages/medieval wargaming are our favorites, I’d love to get some multi-player tank battles to the table with my 1/72 scale diecasts, and I’m hoping that 2024 is the year I finally play a Pulp game or two. You know what they say about the “best laid plans”, but here’s hoping!

Acquisitions Incorporated

It’s not much, but I did acquire a few new games & toys to start the year. Starting on the board game front, I picked up something old and something very new:

<> Iliad game. This multi-player card-battler was created by the same man who designed the excellent Condottiere (Dominique Ehrhard). The theme is Greek heroes & warriors duking it out at Troy. It was released in 2006, so it’s a somewhat old game that’s out-of-print, but it has been on my radar for years and I was lucky to find a good copy on eBay for a good price.

<> Mindbug: Beyond Eternity and Mindbug: Beyond Evolution games. Back in October 2022, I received my Kickstarter pledge of Mindbug, a terrific little 2-player card battler that captivated me after our 1st play session. It has a “Magic the Gathering Lite” feel to it, all built into a single deck of cards and with beautiful whimsical artwork. So when a subsequent Kickstarter was announced for two stand-alone expansions of Mindbug, I jumped right in with both feet. I just received these 2 games earlier this week.

<> On the miniatures front, I purchased an 8-figure unit of Russian Cossack Bear Cavalry (for Gnome Wars), an assortment of Cthulhu Deep Ones, and an assortment of adversaries for pulp gaming (at least in my mind) that included Trotsky’s Red Guard, Germans in greatcoats & picklehaubs, and Tangrenbu swordsmen. All these metal minis are from Brigade Games which is managed by Lon Weiss, a great guy and fellow Penn State alum who I’ve come to know over the years by attending HMGS East conventions.

I hope that my friends and I get back to playing some games soon. And hopefully I will start slapping some paint soon. Until next time, stay safe, sane, and keep on hobbying.

Gnomes, Mules, Trucks, and Lots of Carnage

Yesterday, three of us engaged in a glorious tabletop battle in my game-loft, pitting a motley assortment of bloodthirsty gnomes against each other in a struggle for possession of gnomish provisions, rare antiques, and one legendary ruby of immense value (The Star of Sloofnick).

We used the 2nd edition Gnome Wars rules for this game and a scenario created by yours truly. My friend Kevin Sarnowski is a huge Gnome Wars buff and has a large collection of beautifully painted gnomes of all nationalities. Aside from playing at HMGS East conventions, we always try to play at least one big Gnome Wars game at my place every year, so that Kev can break out his toys and we can have a rollicking good time playing with gnomes.

I’ve posted some snapshots from yesterday’s battle below, but if you want to see a much wider assortment of photos and concise battle report, check out Kev’s blog: Spoils of Wargames. He’s been posting a lot of Gnome Wars goodness of late, replete with plenty of colorful pics.

I’m going to use the rest of this post to share the battle scenario that we used yesterday, which includes a roughed out battlefield map, setup & deployment rules, some special events, and an optional game-mechanic and rules that I created for use with Gnome Wars.

The Battlefield Map

I used a software program called OtherWorld Mapper to throw together a very quick battlefield map for our Gnome Wars game. I hadn’t used the mapper software to any significant extent before last week and don’t really know what I’m doing, so this is what you get from a neophyte. 

The battlefield is broken into 3 major sectors:

1. Left sector features a long road that crosses the battlefield. The road passes between a pair of large hills and then splits into 2 paths. 
2. Center sector contains an Elven Tower surrounded by a circular ring of hedges/shrubs. This “faerie ring” is a magical barrier to entry. You can only enter the Western entrance to this area by possessing a magical key or the legendary ruby (see Star of Sloofnick below). 
3. Right sector features a winding river which can only be crossed at the Old Bridge. There are some small cottages at the edge of a forest located north of the Bridge.     

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Setup & Deployment

ATTACKER:

• The Attacking force of Gnomes is composed of 4 units. They may deploy up to 12″ away from the SOUTH edge of the battlefield, anywhere to the LEFT of the river.  
• Attackers have 3 Pack Mules laden with Gnomish provisions & antiques. One of the Pack Mules carries The Star of Sloofnick, a radiant ruby of immense value. A Mule carrying the ruby can bypass the magic barrier and enter the faerie-ring through its Western entrance. 
• Attackers also have 2 Trucks. A Truck can hold 4 Gnomes or 2 Gnomes and a Pack Mule. Loading a Pack Mule onto a Truck requires a player to discard a Gnome Magic playing card. 

DEFENDER:

• The Defending force of Gnomes is composed of 3 units. They may deploy in the Forest and Cottages in the Northeast of the map, or up to 18″ away from the NORTH edge of the battlefield anywhere to the north of the Red Pass Hills and/or Elven Tower. 
• Defenders have 2 Artillery weapons (Heavy Mortar or a special weapon like the Cheese-Thrower, and one Machine Gun or Cannon). 
• Defenders also have 2 Trucks. A Truck can hold 4 Gnomes.  

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Objective

• The Attackers are trying to move their Pack Mules off the table via the Western, Northern, and Eastern roads, or move their Mules into the Faerie Ring surrounding the Elven Tower. 
• Each Mule must be led by 1 Gnome (it’s Attendant). Unattended Pack Mules can be captured by the enemy. The Defenders will NOT purposely shoot at the Mules because they want to capture the valuable goods for themselves.  
• The Pack Mule carrying The Star of Sloofnick is worth 25 Victory Points (VP). The other two Pack Mules are worth 10 VP each. 
• The Attacker earns VP for moving a Pack Mule to safety (off the table via a Road or into the faerie ring). The Defender earns VP for each Mule that it captures.  

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Gnome Magic Cards

The use of Gnome Magic Cards is a game-mechanic & rules that I devised, and which isn’t part of the standard Gnome Wars rulebook. It’s something that I feel adds extra spice and strategy to standard game-play, while not overcomplicating anything for players. Feel free to use this in your friendly games of Gnome Wars, or ignore it if you prefer.

• Use a regular deck of 54 playing cards with the Jokers included.
• Each army randomly draws 3 cards from the deck to form their starting hand of Gnome Magic cards.
• At the start of each new game-turn (once all units have been activated), players draw 1 additional card into their hand. 

Cards can be played out of your hand at any time (when fighting/shooting, when moving your gnomes, when using your medics to heal wounded gnomes, or to interrupt the enemy’s activation).

SUIT	CARD#	BENEFIT PROVIDED
CLUBS	2 to King	When played, gives all gnomes in the chosen unit +1 on their attacks
DIAMONDS	2 to King	When played, gives all gnomes in the chosen unit +6 inches of extra movement
HEARTS	2 to King	When played, gives all medics +1 on their healing rolls
SPADES	2 to King	When played, enables a player to interrupt the enemy and take action with one of his units instead (must be a unit that has NOT already activated this game turn).
Any Suit	Ace	When played, gives all gnomes in the chosen unit +2 on attacks or +12 inches extra move (individual gnomes may choose which benefit they wish to use).
Red/Black	Joker	WILD = this can be used as any 2 thru KING card that you desire.

TYPES & RULES FOR GNOME MAGIC CARDS

Special Events

• At the start of each game-turn, a special event card is shuffled into the deck of Unit Cards (which are drawn one at a time to activate units). 
• When a special event card is drawn, immediately resolve it. 
• For this scenario, the events include:
  • MAGIC KEY = Attacking army finds the Magic Key that enables entrance into the faerie-ring (Elven Tower location). You can give this Key to any friendly gnome you want. 
  • WIZARD = An old, wandering Gnome Wizard arrives on the scene. Roll 1D6 (1-3: Wizard joins the Attackers, 4-6: Wizard joins the Defenders). Place the Wizard with the unit of your choice. He’s accompanied by 4 Goblin Wolfriders who he also commands (Move=18″, Attack=1D10, 1^st melee lost makes Wolfriders retreat 4″, 2^nd melee lost kills them). If the Wizard is killed, the Wolfriders will immediately rout off the battlefield.   
  • FAE WINDS = Each army may either (a) draw 1 new Gnome Magic card and add it to their hand, or (b) discard 1 card from their hand and then draw 2 Gnome Magic cards into their hand. 
  • GNOME MONOCULAR SCOPE = Defending army suddenly discovers a gnomish telescope hidden amongst their baggage. They can use it to detect which of the 3 Pack Mules is carrying the Star of Sloofnick (which radiates a magical aura).  

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Battle Pic Slideshow!

Two slideshows of snapshots from yesterday’s game.

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Rekindling the Fire

It has been exactly 3 weeks since my little fur buddy departed this world. I’ve begrudgingly come to grips with it and am starting to interact socially with other people again. Enjoyed lunch with an old friend, saw the latest Indiana Jones movie, and went to a nearby winery with my wife & another couple and listened to music on-the-lawn while drinking wine slushies. All of that was very good stuff and great for my mental health.

This week, I took a couple of days off work to travel down to Lancaster, Pennsylvania with two close friends to play games and shop at the Historicon 2023 miniature wargaming convention. We had a blast. Man, I really needed that.

This year’s convention T-Shirt

On Thursday, we played in a grandiose Gnome Wars game (Assault on Fort Lockhart) that was run by Jim Stanton, the game’s designer and Education officer of HMGS East. I was on the side of the Bad Guys (mostly German Gnomes) and was commanding a unit of Russian Gnomes and a small detachment of Gnomo Sapiens (cavemen) accompanied by an angry Stegosaurus. Our side’s goal was to advance longways across the battlefield and take the hilltop fort. Yeah right, like that was ever going to work. Our C-in-C had all of us march out in a slow and careful March Column formation. The lead units got shot up and blown to pieces by enemy mortar fire. After three turns, most of us said “Screw It”, broke formation, and advanced towards our foes. The results weren’t much better. My personal highlight was charging my Stegosaurus through a massed band of Swiss Gnomes, trampling 7 of them in the process. The carnage was glorious!

In the end, it was a Good Day for the Good Gnomes, and a miserable day for the Gnomish Kaiser, the Russians, and everyone else on my side of the table. Still, it was a helluva lot of fun playing with nice people, on a truly beautiful table, with a great GM who keeps things moving and has a terrific sense of humor.

Yours truly (middle guy in top-row) looking sideways as a German ally plots his next action

My friend Kevin brought his French Gnomes, plus Russians and Scots Highlanders.

On Friday morning, the three of us played our first ever game of Wars of Ozz, which was run by Chris Palmer of the H.A.W.K.S. This is basically a Napoleonic mass-battle game set in the world of a post-apocalyptic Ozz, featuring Munchkins, Quadlings, Gilikins, Winkies, Whim Whim, and more duking it out against each other using black powder weapons.

It was an interesting game. For my group, who most often play fantasy games with a wider variety of troop types, special powers, and heroic characters, playing a game focused on just infantry/cavalry/artillery mostly differentiated by their core stats was a big change of pace. On the plus side, I enjoyed the Command & Control rules, the simplicity of combat, and the nice variety of reactions that troops had based on their race/morale-profile. I’m less fond of the endless reaction tests, which feel fiddly and often result in utter chaos. While I love fog-of-war in wargames, I prefer games where players make more decisions & decide on counter-actions, rather than having the game dictate them. That said, I did enjoy Wars of Ozz overall and would gladly play it again.

The Wars of Ozz figure range, made by Old Glory, are unique and really cool. Kevin played the Whim Whim and his cavalry, mounted on what looked like a Camel crossed with a Lizard experiment gone awry, were just fantastic. I was also fond of the green-skinned Winkies, but I wasn’t fond of how they whomped my rotund Quadlings and routed two of my units. It was not that surprising since my Quadling Artillery couldn’t hit the broad side of an elephant’s ass from 10 yards. Gah! Not appearing in our battle were any of the Land of Harvest figures; the pumpkin men are terrific.

Me (lower left) contemplating how my fat Quadlings should fend off the methodically advancing Winkies.

I made some nice purchases during my 3-day jaunt down to Historicon. I wasn’t looking for anything specific, but I’m always on the lookout for nicely painted, reasonably affordable 28mm minis to use in fantasy, dark ages, medieval, pulp, and sci-fi games. Off the top of my head I snagged:

• 16 painted Vikings
• 14 painted Huns (infantry)
• 13 painted Anubis warriors
• 8 painted Norman infantry
• 3 painted Wizards/Clerics
• 1 painted Dwarf Hero
• 1 painted Earth Elemental
• 1 painted Catapult + crew
• 3 painted Rocky Ground terrain pieces
• 1 painted swampy pool
• 6 Monster Fight Club trees (3 Green, 3 Snowy)
• 1 unpainted unit of Late Roman Archers for SAGA (Gripping Beast, 8 figures)
• 2 unpainted Warlords for SAGA (1 Late Roman, 1 Norman)
• 1 unpainted unit of Sleazoids (Star Schlock, 5 figures)
• 1 unpainted unit of Beefheads (Star Schlock, 5 figures)

I plunked down some dough, but I’m pretty satisfied with all that. And it feels good to get back to gaming again. Until next time, peace out!