The Miniatures Disease

It's been six months since I've bought any miniatures, a fact that shocks and awes me. Due to various other factors, I've had to put down my paintbrushes and do other things for three months.

But recently I've been able to get back into the game, albeit slowly. I've painted a pair of miniatures, and I'm approaching completion of my Brazen Claws company--a long term project.

When I spent those three months not painting, it was easy to forget about it--or rather, I'd think about 40k, but not too deeply. Yet as soon as I started painting again, I started thinking about it. New projects to work on, new ideas for armies.

I still have many projects to complete, and a mountain of miniatures still in boxes unpainted. But I can't help but think of new things I want to do. It's amazing how quickly the addiction consumes you once you get back into it.

• I still need to complete my Brazen Claws.
• I still need to complete my Ork Land Battleship.
• I still have my Space Hulk minis to paint
• And tons of other miniatures lying around....

And yet, I see a picture like this:

The new Shadow Spectres from Forgeworld, and I want to start making that new Eldar Army I've been dreaming of for a while.  The theme of the army is very ghost-like, and as such the Shadow Spectres would be a perfect fit.

And then the Grey Knights are coming out soon, which is exciting...

And to top it off, I still have lots of ideas for my Warhammer and LotR armies too...  Sigh.

Knight of the Raven

This past weekend I did something I haven't done in over three months: painted a miniature. Real life has been pretty busy recently, and I simply haven't had the time to sit down and paint since October. It feels good to be back. This doesn't mean that I'll be pounding out miniatures left and right again, but at least I'm back in the game a little bit.

I always thought that the Knights of the Raven chapter looked pretty cool. It seems clear to me (although it's stated in the canon that it's not definitive) that the Knights of the Raven are descended from the Raven Guard, which has always been a favorite of mine.

I had originally thought that their paint scheme was essentially the opposite of the Raven Guard, that is, white with black markings. But upon closer inspection, it's actually burnished silver with black markings. Pretty cool. So just for fun I decided to paint up a test miniature in this scheme.

Not the best work I've ever done, but passable, I think.

Sometimes real life gets in the way...

Things have been crazy the past few months. I'm currently caught in a vicious cycle of sickness--catching a cold from my daughter, only to reinfect her and vice versa. This has been coupled with some home improvement projects. All the family is moving in with my mother-in-law. And work has been busy too. All of this has conspired together to mean that I haven't had time to sit down and paint for ages... :( And there's no end in sight. Perhaps in a few months things will settle down, but until then, I'm stuck taking care of other things. There's no question I'll get back into it, but it'll take some time. Out.

The End is Nigh...

For a long while now I've been working my Brazen Claw army--specifically, the Brazen Claw 2nd Company. It's been a long road filled with distractions due to other projects, as well as burnout painting so much red and blue quartered paint schemes.

Recently I've been trying to inject some self-discipline into myself and not buy any new miniatures for a while. Then I saw my Brazen Claws sitting on the shelf. The company is almost done, mainly just the above miniatures left to go. Painting the whole company seemed like almost an insurmountable task in the beginning. But now, I think I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Finishing the company before I buy any more miniatures seems to be a reachable goal. Also, as it's going to take me a while (at least a few weeks) to find the time to finish these guys anyway, it'll also help my wallet a bit too.

Thoughts on the State of Gaming, Part 3

I think GW has a workable business model with The Lord of the Rings line, provided they marketed it right.  The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game is a perfectly workable skirmish game--easy enough for a new player to get into with a relative minimum of effort.  Once they become a veteran and want to play games with huge armies, then they can "graduate" into playing War of the Ring, and purchase the additional loads of miniatures.  If The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game was marketed as the "entry-level" game, it might attract new players.  As it is now, it seems to be presented as a sub-game to War of the Ring.


It seems to me that there are three levels of games that could be tapped in a logical progression for each genre.  

1. A fast paced "board" game.  This could consist of interlocking board pieces like Space Hulk or Warhammer Quest, and a few miniatures that act as game pieces.  The game should have simple enough rules to appeal to players who are not gamers (the genre itself should keep the veterans interested).  The game should be something that you could play with your children or disinterested SO.  An example is the Settlers of Catan, which is arguably has some fantasy elements and yet is popular outside of traditional gaming circles.
2. An intermediate level "skirmish" wargame.  This should contain more miniatures than the previous level, while not being huge battles, either.
3. A wargame.  This is the level of the current games of Warhammer, Warhammer 40k, and War of the Ring.

The key to a marketing strategy like this is to ensure that the games should be as compatible as with each other as possible, at least in terms of the miniatures.  That ensures that a new player will "add on" to his army as he progresses up the chain, rather than feel like he has to "start over" each time.  

For each of the three main lines that GW has, I can envision the following tiers:

Warhammer:
    Tier One: Warhammer Quest.  A handful of characters doing a dungeon crawl to accomplish a quest.  
    Tier Two:  Mordheim, or something similar.  Basically warbands fighting each other for whatever reason.
    Tier Three:  Warhammer itself.

Warhammer 40k:
    Tier One:  A Warhammer Quest analogue, perhaps a Rogue Trader or Inquisitorial Retinue on a mission on board a space hulk to accomplish a quest, like retrieve an artifact and then escape.
    Tier Two:  A skirmish game, perhaps more like Necromunda, the original Rogue Trader version of the game, or something along the lines of the Kill Team rules from 6th edition 40k.  A disadvantage of Necromunda itself was that you couldn’t use the miniatures in Warhammer 40k, and, as far as I know, the vice versa.  Suffice it to say, it should a be a squad level game where each player has maybe a dozen miniatures.
    Tier Three:  Warhammer 40k.

The Lord of the Rings
    Tier One:  A game called something like “Escape from Moria”, where the Fellowship (or a small band of other heros), has to escape the mines of Moria before they are captured or killed by its evil denizens.  This is a different concept from the boxed set The Mines of Moria, which is the starter set to The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game.  Rather, this game would have the interlocking game pieces like Warhammer Quest or Space Hulk, which creates Moria as the players explore it, searching for an exit.  
    Tier Two:  The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game, albeit marketed at the skirmish level like it was originally envisioned.
    Tier Three:  War of the Ring.  

Having a tiered structure like this I think would attract more gamers.  As it is, many new players jump in and get hooked for life, while others start to get involved, build an army, get frustrated at the escalating costs or codex creep or whatever, and then and sell everything on ebay and leave permanently.  Those that are lost are going to tell others about their experiences, and potentially drive others away.  However, with more gaming options available, someone who gets frustrated might instead take a break from the Tier Three game and slide back down to Tier Two or One, and still have fun.  Even if their never go back up to Tier Three, they’re still playing games within the company, and even if they spend way less money than they used to, less is better than none at all.