Monday, October 16, 2017

Olustee Project: Civil War Rules Testing.....Not at Olustee, Fl.



     One of the key factors for running a successful convention game it to be organized enough to know the rules figured out. One of Kalissa's first games at Historicon was a fantasy game. After that first game, she returned to me later in the convention to tell me that the game master did not know what he was doing or the rules. It was even worse to find out that particular gamemaster wrote the rules and has ran this game for it seventh year in a row. Needless to say, he must of gotten some sort of hint, because the rest of the Historicons we have been to, he did not run that game.
   I don't what to ever find myself in the position where I do not know the rules to a game. However, part of the challenge of my project to to find rules that are relatively easy for pick-up players, but still engaging to the players interested. So this last Saturday, we decided to try out the Black Powder rules first. Kalissa and I do not have the "Glory, Hallelujah" supplement, but know that is has about the same mechanics. There is a plus side to these rules that most people know about them, and they are fairly strait forward. They are also easy to modify. As a first time playing these rules, it was not too bad. The couple of things that stood out were that failing orders was rather harsh. However, we forgot about the "Initiative" and "Free" moves that you could make in certain situations. Plus, I plan on having more of a figure presence on the board. I calculated roughly what I had ordered for this game, which brings me to rough 970 figures, before artillery, commanders, and dismounted cavalry. So, it will be a 1,000 plus some number. Also, like tradition, I will be having my normal casualties littering the field.
      Either way, Black Powder seems rather smooth for the most part. It is very promising. However, we some other fun rules to test, such as, Pickett's Charge next week. Anyway, here were some other photos, before the photo froze up. Enjoy!










Sunday, October 15, 2017

Operation: El Guettar: Commission Mission.



   It has been a bit since the last post and a rocky last two months. A couple of things have happened to make things tough. One, my father had pasted away. It seems to be still an ongoing affair to settle his final wishes, since his funeral was interrupted by Hurricane Irma running over the area to not be able to get his ashes for my brother and I to take out to sea, which will be in November. So that was three trips to Florida in a two month span. Second, has been getting a new job that I like, but instantly took up more time than expected. Now, the hours are down to full-fill my project quests. And Third was the new shipping person for the company I buy fur from for my commission work that felt like pulling teeth. The pain of this was so great that, my new project for Waterloo, I got the fur I needed in record time! Thank God for that!
     Life can be interesting in that sense of chaos. However, with the Project of El Guettar, I figured I would just get this out the door, since it has to be to the client no later than Oct. 18th. This was a timeline that was not bad, though, it halfway interrupted another project. Now, that I am back on track, I am planning on "Movin' a Groovin'" as my 4th Grade teacher, Mrs. Krasner used to say!

    Anyway, the rundown on this project was for a WWII game for the Battle of El Guettar in Feb. of 1943. I instantly thought of the Patton quote from the movie: "Rommel, you magnificent bastard, I read your book!" I still think that the guy should name his convention game this. It is just a thought. Below was some images I based this one and the map I had to work with.





    I believe that this game is still going to use Bolt Action rules. Despite it being a short distance to cross, I am sure there are going to be mine fields. Plus, the  board is 6' x 12' in size. I would like to think I got it down for a board. It just needed some more details before it is sent out. Here was what it looked like at the time.










        Next project I will try to showcase will be Jay's Aspern-Essling Project.