-So with the internet release of the UK company Mantic Minatures, I figured it was time that the "games" section branched out from plastic boxes of wires and wireless waves into bits of painted plastic being pushed arround table tops and bedroom floors.
-Today Mantic launched a ruleset for Kings Of War, a simple and quick rule set that works for huge or tiny battles of fantasy gamers.
-Many people may already have heard of Warhammer and 40k, or even Napoleonic wargames.
So to make a discussion of wargames I'd like to hear:
1) what wargames we Ichigos play.
2) any clubs we're in
3) age and reason for starting wargames at all

i don't really play those
but settlers of catan and munchkins are always at hand when i'm with family

Warhammer 40K is great if you have a serious amount of money to spare. I play it myself, mainly because I had a friend in my primary school days who's brother played it and I thought I'd give it a go. Took me a while to get the money up to buy my army, but it really is a great game. It's more on the higher end of tabletop games like advanced d&d, but not too over the top that new people can't pick it up and have fun quick.

Been playing that for the last 7 or so years, not frequently but I do go down to the Games Workshop store, there's always someone there to play against. I joined Mini War Games and played against a few of their guys, they're pretty small in Australia and Britain though. Best part is being able to build and paint your models how you like and by adding other things to your units, such as gluing on shields and the like, you can get those benefits in the actual game if you play by certain rules.

Other than that my dad sometimes gets out his old d&d 1st edition set, that's good fun but the player base is very minimal now-days. Warhammer 40K is probably the biggest.

Yeah 40k is the biggest because it has the costly stores to pop down to, for quicker learning, painting tips and all that.
If you already know the basic elements of wargaming then you can find cheaper versions or evenjust more simple rules for enticing friends into the experiance. Take a look at Mantic, as a nice example. The models are easily half the cost of warhammer and from 24th october the rules will be supplied free in every box. Free to download in beta form already too.

I find local gaming clubs die out too quick in this economy, all three in my local area that had internet sites and existed 10-30 years have all faded out. Only surviver is Magic The Gathering, which itself could die out with the soon to appear computer game version.

If your in france, canada or the US then look out for a game called Exilis, it uses a computer softwear availible on multiple OS's and iphone apps etc as the dice and damage effects so the games become much quicker and you get the visual aids, even get your armies stored online and they can level up for new skills.

The only problem I find is keeping the cat away from my battle boards. Squished units covered in hair is not a nice discovery after a lazy day at work/school.

Build a pretty respectable tau army at one point, never learned to play but had a good 4 battlesuits, a tank (hammerhead maybe?) couple squads and even a small group of kroot.

Bro had a small contingent of orks.

Should really learn to play, since then i've passed the miniatures down to my other bro who paints about one every two weeks as he doesn't want to "waste them" by messing em up.

I love the miniature thing, but find the rules hard (never properly tried mind you) and the whole measuring thing seems cumbersome. remember seeing something awesome about dnd (link below) some warhammer implementation would be badass to watch.

http://kotaku.com/5385175/dungeons--dragons-on-microsoft-surface-is-for-wealthy-dms-only

Though I guess you might aswell play dawn of war at that point... but meh.

The warhammer 40k rules are basically the most detailed and complex ones out at the moment. They got tidied up well but with so many special rules and factors you'll need a full year to know the goods, by which time the next edition willbe arriving. Infinity has some more simple rules.
The latest starter sets are the greatest con yet. You buy a lovely big box set that comes with a "getting started" and a mini rulebook but to get the stats for the models you then have to buy the seperate army books. You wont know this until you open the box up, so then it's a second trip to geeksville GW.
Luis could check out the gridmap style games, either skirmish ones like DnD or unit based ones, though i've not played grid based sci fi types so i'd not know of one to suggest.

Actually the starter sets are quite well priced, they give you templates, multiple units from 2 teams, rule book (which is quite pricey on its own) and other bits and pieces. So I'd say they're not a con, for it is quite hard to learn from each individual sides book, and trying to work off the rule book alone. The starter sets also include a few tutorial like missions. And if you find the rules too complicated, just choose a simpler game type and leave out some of the expansions and new additions. Not to mention there's different starter sets with different teams, so you don't just end up with extra models but you might be able to get a head start on your own army.

EDIT: Should really stop moving stuff arround in my photobucket.

A mighty cause? (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250704639254#ht_834wt_1137)

Lets just hope bad things don't come in threes. Be it his figures or himself.
Anyway It's amazing how one small featured army can be worth so much money when my entire painted collection would be needed to match that sort of ebay valuation.

I'm still amazed people are willing to spend that much money on a stationary fantasy figurine.

You could place magnets in the joints and have them able to move and change parts arround like a glorified Mr Potato head.
But then it is a form of art, You get the story writers and fluff fillers bring the model to mind, then a sculptur designs the model and sends it to be scaled down and made to a mold, then finally you get the profecional painters and packagers to design the colour schemes for retail where guys like me then paint them for the fun of it.
It's like wanking, it's not going to birth a child but it still happens.

I'm still amazed people are willing to spend that much money on a stationary fantasy figurine.

People spend a lot of money on other things that are equally useless as well.

And Han, when I find my camera I'll take some pictures of my current Necron army. When I current, I mean I used to have more. Though......there was a bit of an accident involving heavy falling objects which minimized my army :\.

Looking forward to those pics actually.

Always loved the look of the demonhunter armor, not all of em just the terminators. damn they look cool.

I used to borrow tons of white dwarf magazines when I was younger just for the lord of the rings battles. I loved seeing those figurines battle it out.

I still have some of the really early white dwarf issues, as early as #20 maybe. It was all judge dread and Dr Who back in those days xD

EDIT: OMG QUICK! Mantic are doing sales in the open day section, for various bargain sprues.

I'm too weak and cowardly to invite myself round to the local gaming clubs or houses of strangers I met online.
Now where's Taemond and his pictures?

School has a tabletop games club, though I don't know anything about such games; should I go?

Yes, take pictures!

They'll talk alot and you'll get a bit lost in all the nonsence but they'll love the new face and start giving you rulebooks and webpages. Just be warned that the average cost of warhammer 40k is now arround £250
So start with a nice small skirmish game like warmachine, infinity, or even some cursed evil card game.

Went into a games workshop today, I think I might like fantasy more than 40k.

and check THIS out!

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2008/11/29/3647_md-54mm,%20Epic,%20Humor,%20Space%20Marines,%20Warham mer%2040,000.jpg

Oh my God! That spacemarine has one of the cheapest painting stations I've ever seen!
The SpaceMarine movie comes out soon too.

I did it.

http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/2962/18112010635.jpg (http://img824.imageshack.us/i/18112010635.jpg/)

Went into a games workshop today and bought my first models+book+paint. Going to try assemble one of them tonight. When I have them done (assembled and painted), i'll surely post pics.

Don't worry Han I haven't forgotten about posting my army, its a matter of trying to find the damn camera. :think:

I'd say we'd have to play sometime Phard, but since you got the fantasy version instead........ Lol, you just go for what you want though; since this is taken from the official games workshop 40K rule book. :)

"The most important step in choosing your army is to simply choose one you like the look of. There's no point cringing at the sight of your own troops."

I don't think I'll ever battle. I just love the look of the figure. And High Elves look the awesomest in my books.

Finally found the camera. :) Excuse the lighting conditions since I've only got a blue and yellow light in the room at the moment, also these were painted when I was like 12, so they're not anything special. :heh: Also excuse the camera quality, the camera was a really cheap one.

http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab293/Taemond/DSCF6050.jpg

They look sweet. What are the things all the way on the right? Land mines?

I'll think I'll just post a quick overview-list of my army.

Army: Necron

1 Destroyer - Standard "Vehicle" type unit, fast and iconic of a necron army.
12 Necron Warriors - Standard Ranged Infantry.
3 Scarab Swarms - Fast, weak units that act as moving mines. (The small things you asked about Phard)

I did have 2 more destroyers and 1 more scarab swarm but they succumbed to a terrible accident involving a falling heavy object. :\


I also have about a dozen odd space marines and a dozen odd Tyranid units too. But they just came with one of those introduction battle kits, so not all are fully painted, and I was 9 or 10 so they're not painted very well either. :heh:

I finished gluing the elf commanders head to his main body and an extra helmet thingy. Can't wait to fully put it together and then start painting.

What colour did you use as a base? The guy at games workshop recommended black as the undercoat.

I always do 2 coats of black, or if you want a white undercoat, I do 1 black then 3-5 white coats. I'd also advise painting each part separately before gluing them for the best results. Also glue them near an open window or outside, since while the games workshop glue is very good, its also extremely potent and does funny things to your mind if you spend too much time around it (the same can be said for most other modeling glues as well). :heh::\@_@

Thank God you mentioned painting before glue. *pets tae on head*
Nice paint job for a 10 yearold.

Oh man, I've glued the commanders head to his body without painting. I was going to assemble the whole thing and then paint it. Not a good idea?

And yeah, when I first opened the paint box the smell was both strong and intoxicating.

It's more a problem on things like getting behind shields or under the legs of mounted men. Weapons can get in the way of bodies, bare arms can cross over armoured chests etc. Simple things like a bare neck between a head and back become huge problems with many layers of paints where you fix errors.

Might be going down to Games Workshop to get myself a Wraith (http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?catId=cat440174a&prodId=99060110017&rootCatGameStyle=) for my army next weekend. All this talk has gotten me back into it. :)

We could meetup at the one on little collins if I'm in the city for work.

I've started glueing the main body to the elf commanders head and now going to try the lance. I've decided to assemble and then paint. I guess I'd better be ready for a tricky painting job!

Edit: And I'm using a stanley knife as a craft knife, working well so far. And the lance is pretty bent from being on the sprue, I've had to bend it back gingerly without snapping it!

If you need to bend stuff, the best way to do so is to use a hair drier to warm them up first; they bend quite well then and they don't morph and they stay in the place you want them to.

Sorry but I was planning to go to Games Workshop Chadstone, it's a bit closer than Collins Street (still a fair way away though :\).

Fair enough.

I glued the elf commander all together! Now to let it dry well and do the first undercoat. I'm going to go for a black undercoat.

Undercoat done. Painting is so hard!

If it were too easy we'd not enjoy it so much. You can do it! [run out of paints to use, that is.]

I am almost always going over the lines. How do you deal with it? Just paint the other area a few times to hide it?

You could just paint in layers (although that uses lots of paint), fix up mistakes by just going back over it. However its really just practice, try and get a really fine brush. I've got a brush that only has 10 threads and they're only 3mm long. Its perfect for small details like eyes and for painting near lines. It really is just practice though. My first lot were really quite bad, but after you paint more you'll get the hang of it. :)

That's another thing, I'm using the citadel starting brush which isn't very thin. Guess it's just practice.

Play arround with brushes, checking for thickness of the handle, how far down you hold it and keep telling yourself that mistakes are ok. Mistakes are fine. Mistakes happen. Mistakes can be corrected.

I feel reassured.

I am almost always going over the lines. How do you deal with it? Just paint the other area a few times to hide it?

Cut masking tape to where you don't want the paint or use plastic to ensure you don't :D

You'll chip the paint or just waste a whole day. These are 28mm models, about 1/72 scale people.
Maybe try placing the model down on the desk to paint it. In the air you have two hands wobbling instead of one.
Mies should show us his painting skills.

Cut masking tape to where you don't want the paint or use plastic to ensure you don't :D

The masking tape would have to be 1mmX1mm in some cases. :/

Bought a 'Fine detail brush' from games workshop. Works like a charm for the itty-bitty places.

:D Be sure to post a picture of the finished product. :)

As embarrassing as it may be, I will.

Lets soften Phards blow with some models I spent a total of 30 mins on.

http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s259/HanTony/wargames/november2010032.jpg

Yay, more minitures! They don't look bad for only being worked on for 30 minutes, that's the level of detail I have for a few hours lol. The one all the way on the right is pretty plain though. :)

Also, this may interest you. http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=170730

I dislike seeing such nice work. Makes me all green and jealous.
As for my guys looking a bit plain, well that's just Mantic, they are sculpted for quick army building. I could pick out the markings on the spears better if i really tried but until I finally pick a nice icon to free-hand onto the shields I'll just stick to adding gold sparkles.
S'pose I should put all my elves together for one quick pic? 6 pieces :heh:

EDIT:
Ok my tiny elven army in there quick homemade movement trays that could use some green paint and flock before they ever leave the house.
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s259/HanTony/wargames/part2001.jpg

http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s259/HanTony/wargames/part2005.jpg

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/article.jsp?catId=&pageMode=multi&categoryId=&section=&pIndex=1&aId=12200010a&start=2

unreal detail. those 'eavy metal guys are amazing.

I used to buy the White Dwarf magazines for such nice pictures. So the internet has killed my type of customer off. Forcing the price up and even more people away, Such is the fate of all magazines these days.

Okay, as bad as it may be, I've decided to post up some WIP pics. I do still need to do a lot of work on this buddy. And you might bop me on the head for this ant, but I glued it all together and then started painting. I realise the error of my ways now...

http://img826.imageshack.us/img826/7966/img0070p.jpg (http://img826.imageshack.us/i/img0070p.jpg/)
http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/6200/img0071cd.jpg (http://img521.imageshack.us/i/img0071cd.jpg/)
http://img638.imageshack.us/img638/6263/img00740.jpg (http://img638.imageshack.us/i/img00740.jpg/)


I've only used four colours and even so, I need to go over lots of areas to make it look nicer. Than I need to do the gems and the base.

He's coming together well. Glad you're learning your lessons about glue too. But is that silver on his horse tail? How galiant! :D
Started on 3 more elves today so I could finish them up to my basic gaming standard tonight when bored. Maybe an ichigo insignia? :heh:

And! The reason I can't show off my warhammer items:
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s259/HanTony/wargames/nov3rdbatch001.jpg
Far too many of them all piled up and mixed together like garbage. I'd need a whole gaming table to place them all

The Ichigos insignia is amazing! Too bad the miniatures I have have signs already fabricated on the shields/banners etc.

And that is a lot of models you have there. My goodness, that's a lot. I only have two, one of which is still on the sprue.

That's just the painted ones~ :D
Plus the siblings started me young so I've had atleast 18 years of spending my own money on it, then xmas presents etc. Some of the paints have survived that long too XD
Going to paint half the models with the ichigo icon, leave half plain then space them between each other.
59 mantic models completed.
Interesting point: GW paint went chinese some 10 years ago and so was lower quality yet the price still went up. The french company from the 90's GW still exist with 18mm pots for just 1.75, against the modern lower quality 12mm pots for some 2.50 each. Various other and better paint sets also exist and some will even have warhammer conversion charts for name reference.

Shuuro (http://www.beastsofwar.com/ancient-battles/shuuro/)
Fairly new boardgame style chess piece battlegame that I'm thinking of getting. Discussed in the link (http://www.beastsofwar.com/ancient-battles/shuuro/) repeated, by the maker and a games demonstrator. Anyone one else tempted by simple rules and familiar settings?

finished my 10 ichigos to gaming standard.
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s259/HanTony/wargames/003.jpg

Seriously cool!

The strawberries looks very real.

Free mantic rules for you my lovers.
http://www.manticgames.com/Hobby/Gaming.html
:D

*speaks directly into your mind*
Christmas bonus money is for getting into the wargame hobby.
Wargames last longer than any of the good modern computer games.
You can sell completed goods on for small profits or simply to fund the next hobby.