Podcasts (sorta) for Gamers: Ken Burns' Civil War

Netflix on the iPhone with unlimited data is pretty sweet. I noticed that Ken Burns' "Civil War' was available on Netflix instant view, and having found the Civil War almost too large to grapple with (Burns' Civil War is like 18 hours long, and it's just a brief overview!) I had avoided learning much about it.  Even with the streaming option, I didn't' feel I could commit the huge amount of time necessary to work through the entire series, but once I realized I could stream it wirelessly and listen to it during my commute it became much more manageable. Relying on still photographs and interviews, the "Civil War" is largely and audio experience anyway, and while I may have noticed more nuance by actually watching it, listening to it proved highly rewarding.

I found it a great introduction to the war. It illustrated the personalities involved, showed the various offensive and defensive moves by both sides, and was able to draw distinctions between the battles. I toyed with the idea of getting into ACW for real with Black Powder, but the large number of troops required for the set piece battles, and the  rather bland uniforms put me off.  I might do some ACW skirmishing with An Uncivil War from Architects of War though.

The Best of the "Hail Caesar Yahoo Group"

The Hail Caesar Yahoo group contains a ton of great info, often from Rick Priestly who wrote the game, but I have a hard time keeping up with the conversation. I also seem to lose track of those neat tips  and clarifications months after they pop up in the group. To make sure I don't miss anything and to create a resource for finding those bits of info a bit easier, I've decided to pick the very best tip from each month's messages and repost it here.

August was a pretty slow month on the Hail Caesar Yahoo board, but I thought this tip from Dave Bosse (irondog068) was great:

How do you handle sieges?
"I have run a Samurai siege game before. Treated the wall as a +2 save. Had one watch tower with one teppo treated as small. Every attacker was assumed to have scaling ladders and the wall was looped for fire the whole length. To force the defender off the wall the defender had to lose and fail a morale check. If they did, the winner went over the wall but was disordered for one turn."

I have plans on running some sieges in the future, and I thought Dave's mod fit the rules and would be easy to implement. Hope this turns out to be useful for other Hail Caesar players.

Last Day for Reaper Bones

Just about 24 hours left, and the Reaper Bones kickstarter has unlocked a mind-boggling 220+ figures for $100. That includes things like giants and griffons, and without even mentioning the optional figures ($10 for a massive dragon? That's a steal!)

But not everyone is a fantasy gamer. There are still of great deals to be had. Check it out:

1. The kickstarter includes non-fantasy figures such as cowboys, pulp, modern, and steampunk heroes, along with two types of sci fi soldiers. The Townsfolk I and II could even be used for historical medieval games.
2. Four sets of Reaper paints. $18 for 12 paints. That's way cheap. Just pitch in $1 and you can add a paint set to your order without springing for any figures. $19 = 12 paints. 
3. Same deal for their 100 figure carrying case which is going for $25. With the dollar buy in you can pick the case up for $25.
4. Even if you have never gamed fantasy before, the Vampire level pledge essentially gives you everything you need to get started: heroes, villains, monsters, etc.
5. Shipping for US and Canadian customers is free. International shipping is generally $5, but double check with the folks in the comments section. You'll get an answer within seconds.

If you pledge, keep these points in mind:

1. Always input your total pledge. For example, if you sign up for the Vampire deal ($100) and later decide to add a hydra miniature (+$15), you would click "Manage your Pledge" and enter $115 for your pledge. 
2. If you happen to sign up for the Vampire level pledge which gives you a veritable army of fantasy figures in plastic, you'll also receive a metal "Sophie" miniature, but you can swap the metal Sophie (and only the metal Sophie) for rewards that total $25.

This is a crazy good deal. Really happy I was able to get in on it.

The Reaper Kickstarter is quite a deal

Pretty surprised at the generous offer the Reaper kickstarter has turned out to be.  Close to 200 28mm figures for $100.  Still four days to go, and look at everything you get:

That's nuts.  Just spreading the word since I haven't seen a deal like this in 25 years of painting miniatures. Check out the whole kickstarter, including the huge figures at the Reaper Bones Kickstarter page.

Death to the FLGS!

I've been going to my Friendly Local Gaming Store for 25 years now, and been increasingly disappointed over the last decade with their service and stock. I have two shops within 30 minutes of me, and another about an hour away. Time and again I've made the trek only to find they either didn't carry what I was looking for, or were out of stock. Some things I expect to be hard to find: historical miniatures can't really compete in popularity with Games Workshop and Yu-Gi-Oh. But c'mon. Paint? You've got a rack of GW paints and all that's left is two bottles of bright yellow and a bottle of orange? Combine that with the typical aloof game store staff that's more interested in hanging out than engaging with anyone on the other side of the corner, and each trip was invariably a disappointment.

Despite countless unproductive trips, I'd still try hit the store. I think a physical shop is important to the health of the games hobby as it provides not only merchandise but a place to play and exposure to the outside world of window shoppers. I also loved the idea of immediate gratification, of heading to the store, grabbing some paints and being home painting all within an afternoon. But after leaving these game and hobby shops dozens of times empty handed I finally gave up on them. I'd used Amazon for some game purchases because of their free shipping, but their stock is limited, and the free shipping option usually takes at least a week to arrive at my house.

I finally relented and placed an order with the War Store. I expected a hefty shipping fee, and was hoping to get delivery in one to two weeks, but was shocked to see a shipping fee half that of what I expected, with delivery two days after my order. On top of that, I contacted Neal at the War Store with a question and not only did he respond quickly, he followed up several times for additional clarification and to point out some products I had missed on his site. Amazing!

I'm kicking myself for not trying the War Store before now, but now I'm sold. Let the FLGS die. I'm happy to spend a few extra dollars on shipping for such exceptional service.

Are Reaper Bones Any Good?

I came to wargaming via the fantasy and sci-fi miniatures expressway. I cut my teeth on Games Workshop, TSR, Grenadier and Ral Partha, and while my interest have veered towards historical wargames over the last few years, I still keep a foot in the non-historical side of gaming. A week or two ago I caught wind of Reaper's Kickstarter for their Bones line of 28mm fantasy miniatures. The Bones line is a series of inexpensive figures based on existing metal sculpts, but made from some sort of plastic.

Checking out the Kickstarter page my jaw dropped at the horde of figures they were making available to pledges, the gorgeous quality of the sculpts, and the incredible value (less than $1 per figure and dropping fast). This seemed like a deal too good to be true, but I wasn't sure about the Bones material. I'd heard it was "rubbery", that it didn't need to be primed, that it didn't have mold lines, but I was skeptical. I decided to pick up one of their existing Bones figures and put it to the test to see if it held up to the hype. All the details after the jump.

Hail Caesar Skirmish #5: Driving out the Barbarian

It's been a busy summer and far too long since we got any minis on the table, but my wife and I found a  single free evening to play a short game of Hail Caesar. Each time I play Hail Caesar I try to get a better handle on the rules and try something a bit new. For this game we came up with a scenario rather than fight out a simple bash.

Julius Caesar is throwing around his muscle, using the migration of celtic tribes as a pretense to launch attacks on their "aggressive advances". In this hypothetical scenario a detachment of Roman legionnaires, having defeated one celtic tribe in battle, advance on celtic village intent on burning the inhabitants out. Will the defending celts summon a defense in time to drive the Romans off? AAR after the jump.