Building an Impetus Army - Just in case Santa got the note!

I've been asked a couple of times by the guys in the shop about playing Impetus and choosing your armies, so I thought this would make an interesting post topic (I hope you agree!). What follows is a list of things I think you should think about before you start.

1. Scale
OK I know this seems stupid but "some" people (looking at you Mark) seem to forget that you really need an opponent. Make sure whatever you are buying is in the same scale as the local gaming group, unless you are ploughing a lonely solo furrow, it really helps if your toys are the same scale as your likely opponent. In my area this means 28mm for preference. There are several advantages here. 28mm is easily available, and although the individual figure cost is higher than 15mm and 20mm, you will use fewer figures per unit, so 28mm also tends to be cheaper. Lastly , if you are of "a certain age" they're still big enough to see :-)

2. Cost
The next thing you need to have in your mind is budget. Historical wargaming is not expensive compared to the Fantasy \ Sci Fi stuff around at the moment, and if you are used to paying GW'esque prices this is probably not such a problem. That said do a little bit of a costing per figure to give you a rough idea, and if its looking too rich, maybe think again as if you cant hit the playing points level, you probably wont get to play.... As a general rule historical infantry are about £1-£1.50 each in metal, cavalry between £3-£5. Plastics are cheaper

3. Time
One thing non historical gamers sometimes are surprised by is the size of historical armies. There are a few that can be built at low figure counts, but most are going to be 100+ infantry and at least a couple of dozen cavalry. That can be a significant painting time commitment.  Impetus isn't a "boutique" game with a few figures and simple rules. Building an Impetus army is a much bigger and challenging project. Of course it is worth the effort, but it is a lot of effort and will take you months not weeks to complete.

So that's part 1. If you are still interested I will look at what you should think about when choosing an actual army.

Cheers!

Dropfleet Commander Pre-Launch – Firestorm Games Cardiff 20th August

I arrived home just before Midnight having driven back from Cardiff (OK shared the drive -Paul & I took turns). This morning having had a night to think over the event, here’s my impressions. I should add I was there as a Talon – i.e. a Hawk Wargames volunteer and I was running a couple of demonstration games of Dropfleet using the Beta \ Admiral set of rules. 

The original plan was that this event would have been preceded by the Kickstarter release of Dropfleet Commander, so the public could have attended with their own fleets to take part. Due to some delays with the Kickstarter Hawk obviously thought it was necessary to change the format to more demo and painting tutorials.

I had volunteered rather rashly – we faced a five to six hour drive to Cardiff on a good day, and in the event the trip down from ‘t North was far from good – seven and a half hours in total to reach the venue. We arrived around six on Friday evening and had a good look around. I have to say we were impressed. I had attended an event several years ago in the old venue, but the new one is a quantum leap forward – massive gaming area, great facilities. Shortly after we arrived the Hawk team also came in, and we volunteered to help set up. That proved a mixed blessing as it took some time but I also got the chance to get the demo briefing so saved myself half an hour for tomorrow so we planned to have a “proper” breakfast rather than rush down to Firestorm. It was also great to catch up with some of the older Hawk hands such as Louis (fine chap) and also meet the new members of the team – particularly Liam who is now handling the Talon program.

Next morning started badly - the promised cooked breakfast at the pub was not to be as there was a power cut - so we ended up with a less than satisfying one at McDonalds. 

Arriving back at Firestorm everything went very smoothly, and it was clear to me that the Hawk Team have massively upped their game as far as organisation went. Hawk have always been good with the imagery and their presentation material, painted models, cabinets, banners etc. have always been first class, but in the past their organisation and engagement has sometimes been patchy as they were sometimes swamped by not having enough warm bodies to cover the conflicting demands on their time. This was very different. There were plenty of bodies available, and the briefing and general organisation (by James) was pretty damned impressive – dare I say professional. The demo games were tight and universally well received, and the painting and modelling sessions busy and fun. Dave Lewis gave a very good Q&A session on where they were with the game and dropped some big hints about the future direction of both DFC and DZC. The last part of the day was going to be a massive public participation game of both systems, with Dropfleet action affecting the Dropzone game, but mindful of the long drive home we left a little early, so I can’t say how everything went after that – well apparently from other reports. Sadly I was so busy I only got a chance to take a few pictures.

Was there a downside? Clearly the implications of the delay in the Kickstarter meant this was not the event originally envisaged, and the admirable insistence that no retail stock would be released before the KS backers got their pledges fulfilled meant there was no sales, however everyone was rewarded with a Frigate sprue and also anyone pre ordering more than £75 of Dropfleet through Firestorm got a Cruiser sprue as well. Firestorm Games was superb, but it did highlight the need for a similar venue more centrally located.

Final impressions. Dropfleet is going to be a winner. The rules are solid, gameplay interesting and the models beautiful. More than that, I got the impression that Hawk Wargames has finally steadied itself and grown into something more than Dave and his friends trying valiantly to cope with the runaway success that was DZC. They now have an organisation that has the capacity to deliver the product without the problems of the past, and plans and capacity to support it in games stores and clubs. Looking good for the future.

Protecting Civilisation - Dux Brit Campaign at Asgard Games

I think I mentioned we were looking at playing Dux Britanniarum from TFL?

My gaming schedule is a bit disorganised but when I dropped by Asgard Games in Middlesbrough during the week Steven (the owner) mentioned they were just starting a campaign. I politely enquired if there were any spare slots (ok it was more like begged) and he was happy to oblige, with the first game being set for today (Sunday).

I turned up to discover I was now responsible for protecting Auld Clut against the ravages of Saxons and Picts. It's not a bad place - two provinces on the very edge of Roman Britain (the wrong side of Hadrian's Wall!) and the food is deep fried, but there are worse I suppose :-) 

Steven then very kindly decided to raid my province with his Saxons - Game On!

The Saxons were aiming for a village to plunder, the Romano Brits hoping to head them off before they could steal the family silver. 

The Saxons were having a bit of a bad day - they started with fairly low starting morale roll, which was made worse by an ill advised speech by Steven that went down like a lead balloon. Brit Morale on the other hand was pretty good, so I decided to get stuck in and start the on table part of the game without further ado. 

Steven had the main part of his force running for the target village but detached two groups of warriors to try and delay the Brits who were starting on the flank - rushing to defend the locals.  The Saxons needed to search the houses and find at least 2 units of plunder, and the Brits were keen to stop them - glory is fleeting but a chicken is a chicken!

Sadly the Saxon delaying force got a bit enthusiastic - charging one of these groups out of a copse and into a group of Brits. Unfortunatly a second group of Brits was very near at hand and these joined in the melee. Outnumbered 2-1 the Saxons fought gallantly but broke due to accumulated casualties and shock- not good for already shaky Saxon morale, but at least they had killed 4 Brits for the loss of only three of their own and a wounded leader.

Aftermath of first clash - Brits reorganise as the main Saxon force reaches the Village - meanwhile remnants of the first Saxon group go to check the boats are still secure :-)

At this point the Saxons had another unpleasant shock. A well thrown javelin from some British missile troops plunged towards their Lord as he lead his men forwards. His loyal Champion and banner bearer saw the missile at the last second and threw himself in the way, giving his life for his Lord, but his loss crumbled Saxon morale again.

The Saxons reached the Village and started to look for anything of worth, but even the chickens were hiding.

Knock knock......

Meanwhile the second Saxon delaying group was caught by the British Elite group who threw some pretty amazing dice, killing 5 in one round of melee, and capturing the wounded Saxon Noble.

That was enough to break Saxon morale and they broke and legged it back to the boats leaving the Romano British Lord in possession of the field, the Glory, and indeed the chicken!

Lord of all he surveys Centurion Titus Aduxas and his gallant Warriors!

The post raid results were good for the Romano Brits, losses have been replaced quickly and the Lord has impressed the locals so much four youths have joined his band to act as skirmishers - indeed the Commander has gained a soubriquet "the Good", which while lacklustre is a bit better than "The Bald" which was the original result before modification :-). Meanwhile Steven and his Saxons will have to spend two months recovering their losses before they can raid again.

Great game and a great little shop with some nice members - well worth a visit. While I was upstairs in the gaming room here the shop was busy with a couple of 40K games. I took a couple of general pics to show the layout and general hustle & bustle - not bad for a Sunday. Steven has three tables upstairs in his gaming room and another two downstairs, with tea & coffee facilities. He stocks a wide variety of games and figures and if you want something he doesn't have in stock he can usually get it for you in a couple of days. The shop is located very close to the Middlesbrough bus station so it is quite easy to get to. Recommended - in fact I will be back there on July 5th for a Dropzone Commander event.