What's better than having one longship? Having two longships!
The Other Longship
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| Whole ship |
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| I used the left over shields from the first longship to line this one as well. Now they are like twins. |
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| Dragon prow. Somehow it looks both mean and sad at the same time. |
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| The Ship is sold as a 25mm model. So here it is crewed by some 28mm Viking thugs. |
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| Both ships together. They match up near enough. I doubt that I would ever want/need more than two. |
Wandering Eyes in the Dark Ages
I have mass battles rules that I like well enough, these being Sword and Spear and Hail Caesar, but I don't really adore them. They're like the women you date while you wait for someone better to come along; so that you have someone to go see movies with or take to parties. This leaves me with wandering eyes for different rulesets. I've heard some good stuff about IMP2 so when I saw it was on sale I purchased the PDF.
At first I found it hard to read and understand honestly. Usually when I read a wargame ruleset I can see in my mind how the game takes shape but not in this case. This has happened to me before with this publisher (Dadi&Piombo); as I also have Lords and Servants and Long Rifles by these guys and find them confusing and hard to grasp so have never tried them. Now I am not a dumb person (Of course I would say that); I double majored in college and have a doctorate so I'm pretty sure I can take in information and spit it out again. And I don't mind complexity in a rule set and have plenty of such board games to prove it. But there's something with the writing style, or maybe because it's a translation, or maybe it's just the mechanics themselves don't ring with me; that I found myself going "what?" a lot while reading it.
Though during sequent reads it's starting to make sense and I'm actually liking what I am reading. Persistence pays off sometimes! I usually give myself 2 read throughs of rules; while I don't expect to know everything right away on the second time it at least needs to start to make better sense or I'm not bothering with it. (I'm LOOKING at you ADLG! I read you twice and still you made little sense, and now you're in the trash!).
Yet I know it's going to be one of those games that you have to see on the table and run it through it's paces to really understand how it all comes together. Ideally I would find someone who already knows the game and could walk me through it.
Though I am annoyed with them again because apparently I have to buy The Warbook 2 to get the army lists I want which is NOT AVAILABLE as a PDF yet, and I have mentioned that I HATE BUYING BOOKS OF ARMY LISTS THAT HAVE 103 LISTS IN THEM (yes I counted) WHEN I ONLY WANT 4 OF THEM!!!!
Sorry for shouting. I get worked up sometimes. If I were a wargames company I would do the cool thing and either provide the points system so that people can make their own armies, or provide army lists free online, or just sell smaller PDFs that have 20 lists for like $5 based on theme or region.
The other ruleset I purchased on a lark was Triumph! This one has the advantage where there are lots of youtube vidoes on it. There are somethings I really like about it and somethings I'm not so sure of. Apparently it's a DBA derivative but I've never played DBAnything so it's all fresh to me. However, I've never seen a DBA game being played and thought; "that looks like fun."
Time will tell.
What Now Kemosabe?
Besides working on the above Longship and being distracted in real life by such things as Mental Illness, a insect infestation in my house, drunken in-laws, sick children, erupting volcanos, homicidal inmates, meteor showers, and a general lack of time; My wargaming hobby has been meandering and unfocused and not much done. (yes, I made up some of those things; I enjoy hyperbole).
I'm feeling the urge to actually complete something. Just need to pick something that give my life direction and meaning.
Till next time. Thanks for reading. Extra thanks for writing a comment.
Nice addition to you growing fleet …. :-)
ReplyDeleteAgree about the army lists, i do like self contained rule sets. At least ADLG, like its sister napoleonic set, are oozing with lists. Sword and Spear have lists on line, which I think is my preferred option, as the ADLG book is pretty weighty.
Thanks Norm.
DeleteActually S&S let’s you download the points system so you can design your own units which I think is the best option. Most army list are just that with some arbitrary kin and max numbers for unit types I feel. 😀
And as I said in the above post. I could make heads not tails of ADLG so chucked my copy.
Longship looks good - you should check out the Little Wars "Alfred burning the boats" scenario, now that you'd got the doings. I've not played I2 yet, but played the heck out of I1, and loved it. Fingers crossed it's the one you've been waiting for.
ReplyDeleteThanks Markus. I did se that episode. Looks like a fun scenario. Course I could be tempted to do the board too.
DeleteI’m gonna have to arrange a little try out for I2. It does look promising. 😀
Often tough to assimilate a rules system cold as opposed to having someone run a game to demonstrate. Might be my time of life, but I am not enamored of rules that require the purchase of separate books of just army lists. Then again, if the rules are of the “marrying” variety, then the extra booklets are just part of a happy family 😁. Love the longships: nicely done!
ReplyDeleteThanks Ed. Usually I have to learn rules cold and it’s not really an issue; it’s just me and this publisher don’t jive very well. Other rules have not been a problem.
DeleteI don’t really don’t like buying army list books when 90% of the book is useless to me. Lame. I rather they just give me the points formula and let me design my own. There’s nothing stopping me from doing that I guess in the end though. 😀
These ships look wonderful Stew. Similar to yourself, I have a couple as well though at least you’ve got a plan for yours.
ReplyDeleteThanks Carlo. But plan is a strong word; more like a vague idea. But I will use them now that I have them. 😀
DeleteGreat stuff Stew! Sometimes that OG resin can be tough to get good painting results but you've done a fantastic job 🙂
ReplyDeleteThanks Ivor! I thought it painted up well. My biggest issues were that the deck was slightly bowed and some stuff was a little rough, especially under the seats. 😀
DeleteYou pulled a second Viking ship seemingly from out of nowhere. It looks great! On Impetvs, I started with Basic so the incremental move to the full set was not so hard. I think the Beta I let s 2.0 lists are still in the website. For WB2 lists, maybe I can help?
ReplyDeleteThanks JF. It seems out of nowhere because it took me sooo long to get it done.
DeleteI knew that if I whined on the internet about army lists some helpful soul would offer to help. Yes please help me. 😀
Another nice addition Stew. Our club uses Impetvs for all it's ancient and some medieval games (although I don't play these periods myself) Which army lists were you looking for?
ReplyDeleteThanks Tony. I’m looking for the standard dark ages lists; Vikings, Saxons, and Normans. 1066 stuff. 😀
DeleteGreat looking longship 2! Two longships,that's fancy,practically a fleet! To use your girlfriend analogy, basic impetus was my first proper girlfriend, I'm not counting WRG ancients because it just never worked out, more like the one I persuaded to move to the north of Scotland to be as far from me as possible! Impetus does seem a bit odd ,I guess because it was written in Italian, anyway I've moved on,hello TtS and Hail Caesar!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Wow, these rule sets certainly get around….😝
DeleteIt’s been a long time since I’ve gotten HV to the table. I’m due for a refresher it seems. Still haven’t actually tried TtS though I do have the rules.
Thanks Iain!
The OG longship looks great and seems to match the earlier plastic kit very well. Your analogy about finding the right woman made me laugh out loud. As for army lists...don't let the man tell you what you can and can't have in your army...choose what you like then just use their rules...job done!
ReplyDeleteThanks Kieth! Glad my silly jokes entertain. 😀
DeleteNo doubt I can just assign the stats as I see fit and will probably do so if/when I get around to trying out Imp2. The MAN can suck on that.
Lovely new longship making the old one jealous cos of it's fancy prow.
ReplyDeleteSaw those rules and was dallying with the idea of picking them up myself. But I think i'll hold off until you get to grips with them and can run me a learning game! :P
Thanks Dai. Whenever there are multiple of something one is bound to be the favorite; just like children. 😃
DeleteNow that you’re so far away who knows when I’ll get the chance to walk you through them. Hopefully that will happen.
If you are gaming with Vikings then having a longship or two really sets the scene placed on the edge of your table. The rigging and wrapped sails finish them off perfectly.
ReplyDeleteThanks Pat. It’s minimal rigging just to get the hint; mainly bc I got lazy. Just as you said; some nice terrain to sit at the table edge and attract Viking lady groupies. 😀
DeleteTriumph has both an on-line forum and on-line army lists.
ReplyDeleteForum -- https://forum.wgcwar.com/
Army Lists -- http://meshwesh.wgcwar.com/home
Jim
Yes, that’s a point in its favor. Makes it easier to get onto the table sooner. Thanks for the links. 😀
DeleteAnother nice boat! Soon you will be able to fill your river bank.
ReplyDeleteHope you find some project to complete. Completing things is sort of the point... so I have heard, I seem to have problems in that regard.
Thanks Laz! And don’t we all. Too bad completing things takes so much effort. 😀
DeleteI'm glad to hear it isn't just me saddled with distractions and other pressures that are limiting my hobby time. That is a bummer that the one rule set is so complicated too. I really gravitate towards the simpler ones these days as my poor brain can only handle so much. The Viking ship came out really well. Each one you've worked on lately looks really great in my opinion and are something worth being proud of. I hope your move is going well. I'm still dragging stuff out of my old apartment and trying to get it clean by the end the month and I'm running out of time...
ReplyDeleteThanks Jeff. It’s probably not THAT complicated, I think it’s more, to do with, the writing style that tends, in a high amount, to use a lot commas, to link together several ideas I a long sentence, with odd acronyms. 😀
DeleteI’m glad you like the ships; just some fun terrain really. 😀