NeoGrognard

I was not a member of the generation that moved to RPGs from its miniature wargames roots. I didn’t even encounter a real-life wargame until I happened upon one at a gaming convention during my mid teens. Ever since my first encounter, though, I was pretty much hooked. For those of you who haven’t tried miniature wargames, they’re a hoot. In my opinion there are a few things more fun than fielding a force of miniatures and having them battle across a terrain board. That’s my grognard showing, and this week I’m not zipping it up.

I also realize that miniature wargames can be daunting. After all, painting an army of Civil War soldiers, knights of the Crusades, the armies of Chaos, or an expeditionary force of Space Marines is a time-consuming process. If you’re a DM and you are spending a lot of time preparing for you game, that can seem like nothing compared to the hours upon hours of painting and basing your minis just to get them on the field. Compound this with the fact that you must have at least one other friend who is willing to do the same, the odds of playing may seem insurmountable…unless you have a Games Workshop store nearby.

There are alternatives. Prepainted miniatures games—though their bubble has burst—are still on the market, and some of them are pretty good. One of my favorites is a game called Wings of War. First released in Italy in 2004, its English version is available though Fantasy Flight. In the original game you play either a WWI flying ace or the commander of a squadron. Another version of the game uses a variant for WWII fighters. Your plane is represented by a card, and your actions come from a maneuver deck. Damage comes from another deck, and with this mix of cards and counters it does a reasonable job of simulating a dogfight over the fields of France in 1914. Technically, the game does not need miniatures at all. Aircraft minis don’t come in the box, and the aircraft cards that come in the box do a fine job of representing your fighters. Prepainted minis of the planes are sold separately, and are some of best pre-painted minis on the market though you are paying about $13.00 a plane for them. Personally I think they’re worth it.

Just a snap shot of the oversized Wings of War I played last year at Enfilade!.

Supposedly there’s going to be a version of the game released for XBox 360 and PS3 this year, but it’s a long time coming (some friends brought back the news of its impending release from Gen Con a couple years ago) so I’m not holding my breath for it. The analog game is fun enough.

In many way Wings of War is a Neogrog of a minis wargame. The box has everything you need to play, but just like every game on the market these days, there are expansions. It takes wargame fundamentals and adds a board game sensibility to fantastic effect.

Another that that mixes wargames with board games is BattleLore. Containing all the minis you need to play (unpainted, but don’t worry about that), BattleLore uses a hex grid for movement and ingenious command and dice pool mechanic created by Richard Borg (and featured in his earlier games Battle Cry, Memoir ’44 and Commands & Colors: Ancients). Once published by Days of Wonder, BattleLore is now available though Fantasy Flight. If you’ve always wanted to try a minis wargame, but find all those bits and painting daunting, you can do worse than try either of these games.

So why is my mind on wargames this week? I’m getting psyched for an old school minis wargame convention this coming weekend. Every Memorial Day weekend in Olympia, WA the NHMGS (The Northwest Historical Miniature Gaming Society) hosts Enfilade!, a historical miniature convention. I went for the first time last year and had a blast. I played Wings of War WWII game using larger scale models of aircraft, a Wild West skirmish game, and a swashbuckling barroom brawl using a basic version of the Savage Worlds rules run by my old Solomon Kane GM, and newly promoted Dragon and Dungeon magazine editor-in-chief, Steve Winter. It was a weekend of grognard goodness—even the convention structure was old school. No computer’s here, just sign up boards and a first-come first-serve system that worked really well, and reminded me of the conventions of my younger days.

Steve Winter’s awesome set-up for his Savage Worlds swashbuckling tavern brawl. I hope to play it again this year, and I can’t wait to see what, if any, changes Steve makes this year.

I’ll freely admit that I’m probably feeling old, and my love affair with Enfilade! may have something to do with me trying to recapture the experience of my youth. Hey, but that’s better than me fixating on fast cars and faster young women, at least that’s how my wife justifies my weekend away from her just to push around toy soldiers. At the same time, every time I play a minis wargame, I learn something about game design. Often the lesson involves what not to do. Some of the mechanics of these games are clunky and disorganized and serve only to distance themselves from similar games of the same genre…but hey, it’s not like RPGs don’t do that—I’m looking at you Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 3rd Edition! Other times I some little bit of interesting design or the ability of a lifestyle game to invest game fans for a long period of time. Though it is primarily a sausage fest (women rarely hear the call of toy soldier battles, though a number of them love the art of painting miniatures), I am always amazed at the age range and range of backgrounds at Enfilade! From boys to graybeards, from military men to technology professionals, the wargaming crowd may be smaller than other game crowds, but it is dedicated.

I’m taking the weekend off folks, to indulge in minis fun. Don’t expect a blog on Friday or Monday, but I’ll give you a run down on my weekend playing with minis next week. Until then, have a great weekend everyone! I hope it contains some form of gaming.