Game Design #101: Overload - Pushing the Rules Past Breaking Point

Wargamers like to add more toys. But the rules don't always support that many on the table at the same time. They are trying to do too much with the rules. The rules start limp along, as they get overburdened.

However some rules are designed overloaded, out of the gate. Born with a limp, so to speak.

How do we know when the rules are overloaded? 

....Does your game drag on? Do you often forget to activate units (or can't remember what is supposed to occur next). Do you find yourself wandering off while someone is taking their turn? Are there big pauses while actions/moves are resolved?  ....Obviously, some of these could be attributed to middle age....

How do we avoid overloading/bogging a game - and what design elements need to be considered?

Now you can't stop players from using more miniatures than intended. That's unsolvable.

But what we can consider is if the game is overloaded for what we intend to use it for: i.e. you can make a game that is already overloaded at a "normal" size game: by choosing the wrong mechanics and mechanisms.

How can we avoid designing a game that is overloaded by default?

Although I haven't kept up with 40K, my original copy was a quasi-RPG (Rogue Trader) which slowly evolved into a platoon+ game. The original game was at Warmachine scale - heck it had more in common with Necromunda than modern 40K. However as the game added more and more toys, it retained many mechanics which did not fit its new role/mini count. There were various attempts to streamline it, but it really needed a more significant revision (Starship Troopers points to what it could have been). Warmachine worked well at around original box set level but the mechanics bogged as they increased the game size.

Sometimes a game is already overloaded, at it intended "troop level." It's already bogged down.

There are a few linked concepts - level of control (what should you the player directly micromanage) and abstraction (what to detail, what to ignore).

If you are controlling a tabletop platoon (3-4 squads, + vehicles) you are the platoon commander. You should be moving/activating squads and fire teams, not individual soldiers. Grouping minis in some sort of forced coherency (the classic "everyone in the squad must be 2" from each other etc) in fire teams or squads is logical AND keeps play moving along (not need to track if Fred from Delta squad has activated - he moves with his squad). The level of control is only 1-2 steps down. If you are a platoon commander, you should be able to command squads; or at best, fire teams/specialist squads. Not micromanaging each and every individual soldier.

If you are playing a skirmish game with ~4-8 soldiers, it is likely you may individually direct soldiers. Maneuvering each mini independently makes sense. Moving them as a single unit would restrict maneuver. Think about real life soldiers and the level of control - how many elements (be it squads, fire teams, or even battalions) is a leader expected to control?

There's a few PC games that suffer from this. Men at War: Assault Squad has you playing as a platoon commander, yet you can (and should) set the stance for each soldier, throw individual grenades... basically you can directly control ~30+ individual guys, as they scatter around like lemmings. If the total men was capped at 8-12, it would work fine. As it is, it is micromanagement hell. 

The Total War series caps your army at ~12-16 or so units at a time. As they have a predictable and mostly static front line, in reality you are only micro-ing 4-6 units, and your attention is only in 1-2 places at a time - most of which you can see on your screen. This works. In contrast, WW2 epic Steel Division could have 30, 40, 50 units scattered all over the map. It's much easier to forget you have that tank in the corner of the map....

So the level of command/amount of units has a historical aspect (i.e. if you are a company commander, you will not be directing the exact location of each and every grunt under your command) and a practical aspect (how many units can you the gamer effectively control) which should roughly align anyway...

It should be obvious when, for example you need to move/activate models as a squad, and when to move them individually.

Likewise, the level of abstraction should be evident: if you are a platoon commander, you don't need to track if Private Parts had his morning coffee so is +1 to his individual "to hit" roll. Instead you might simultaneously roll a handful of firepower dice for the whole squad, adding or removing dice at various ranges. If you are playing a quasi RPG game with 4 elite operators, then individual modifiers probably should be significant.  I'd say it's possible to abstract to oversimplification - say a fire team level skirmish game where everyone succeeds at everything on a 3+ (hero), 4+ (regular), 5+ (newb), with no measuring or no modifiers...  and lose too much tactical choice/naunce. It's taking platoon+ level abstraction, simplifying/abstracting it even more - and applying it to a RPG...

The problem for a game designer is what mechanics handle miniatures best at that scale - and how it aligns with the level of control.

The dreaded IGOUGO technically handles large groups of units better than alternate activation. You can just activate your units left to right until you've done 'em all. With alternate activation, with too many units you may forget who has already activated as you go back and forth taking turns activating dozens of units. However - too many units in IGOUGO can lead to boredom - as the non-active player will sit for ages, passively awaiting their turn. 

Obviously, tracking/recording can cap units. If each soldier has 10 hit points - then where do all the unit cards go to record these? Could you have 30 models, each with its own card?  

Detailed/unique rules can cap units. If each model has its own special rules, there will be a lot of flicking through rule books - slowing the game to a crawl. 

Many modifiers can cap a game. If you have to remember 101 modifiers of +/-1 every time a model (or group of models) shoots or melees or whatever, it can slow things down. 

Gaslands has lots of "steps" in a turn. This slows a game which is supposed to be about frantic car combat and limits the amount of cars/players/special gear (rules) you can use. My solution is to have only 3-4 players, with very simple cars. 8 players, even with one vehicle each, is already 'overloaded'.  There's a lot going on.

Gaslands actually prompted this post, as players said it was "fun, but just a bit much" and naturally I want to question "OK, why? What is it exactly that is the issue?" 

Even physically moving lots of models can slow things - which is why mass battle games tend to base many minis on a single base - you might have 6-12 minis which only need to be picked up/activated/attack once. Rolling lots of dice (lots of "steps" to mechanics) can slow things - roll to hit, roll to beat armour, roll to wound, roll for cover save - all this slows things down.  We could call all of this "action resolution" - once you the gamer make a decision - how long does it take (moving models, chugging dice) to carry it out/determine the results.  Even how you roll matters - take Warmachine - roll 2d6, add the together, then compare to a defence factor and note the difference - a bit clunky, a few steps - yeah fine for a RPG or small skirmish game but not so cool if you have lots of big 10-men squads against each other.

This is obviously not an exhaustive list of all factors, but gives you an idea of what you need to consider when 'scaling' a set of rules to the amount of minis intended to play it.

In short, you need to choose game activation/mechanics appropriate to the scale and amount of units you are intending the rules to handle.

The Hard Cap. Infinity is a pretty detailed skirmish game. It has many special rules (100+), and complex reactions where one or more minis can react to (interrupt) an active mini. It is a game that has all the traits to swiftly bog down and is hard capped at 15 miniatures - which is already probably too many. Unfortunately.... each mini brings a valuable "order" (activation) so more minis is better - a bit of a problem. Given the complexity, the game should be played with far smaller forces; and indeed the designers have made a simplified version (Code One) in recognition of this and seem to be slowly trimming rules bloat).  War Cry also has a 15-mini hard cap. It has hitpoints (boo) to track, but compensates by a much, much simpler ruleset and less special rules - so should play much easier with less "load". Hard caps on max units show the designer recognizes when the rules "break down." I haven't played the new Kill Team, but given it ALSO uses hitpoints AND has more special rules AND a large hard cap (20) I am confident it is a much slower, gluggier game than War Cry - probably already overloaded "out of the gate" and would probably take ~double the time to play.

This begs the question: How long should a game last? 

This is akin to asking how long is a ball of string. I will note - I think we are seeing a shift towards shorter (45-60 minute) wargames over the traditional "all afternoon" affairs.  Some games lend themselves to short format - its wise if a campaign skirmish game lasts only 45-60min so you can squeeze in multiple games in an evening - as campaigns are notorious for petering out after only a few meet-ups.  I think this depends on the genre of game you are aiming for, but it's a question you should ask yourself.

Middle Earth: SBG - Example

MESBG (the best rules GW has ever made) as it seems to break a key concept.  Models move and fire individually yet the game handles ~30-40 comfortably (and only starts to overload at ~50+ which is mostly due to physically positioning all those models - and positioning matters).

So why does it work this way?

The melee centric nature of the rules, and how models touching each other's base can give bonuses in fights. This tends to create natural "shieldwalls" - lines of minis moving together.  Each army has several heroes who act as "leaders" allowing models in range of them bonuses/activation benefits which again tends to create unofficial, organic "squads." 

Activation sequence is simple and somewhat interactive - Side A moves, Side B moves all, Side A shoots all, Side B shoots all, Both Melee. This gives the management benefit of IGOUGO with less waiting around and more interaction.

Mechanics are very simple. Shooting is 3+, 4+ or 5+ to hit (depending on who is shooting) with no modifiers. Just a "cover save" of 4+ if needed. Melee is highest dice wins, with better Fight stats breaking ties (and extra dice from each ally supporting). A potential slow down is the Wound chart (compare Strength vs Defence on a chart) but it tends to be swiftly memorized and not needed in-game. Special rules are minor or rare. The only hitpoints are 2-3 wounds owned by a few heroes or monsters each side; so there is little tracking. Most special rules or recording is thus restricted to 3-4 heroes - not the other 30 regular guys.

So you can see although having 30-40 models moving individually seems a lot (and wrong - it's a platoon level game acting like a skirmish game) due to ticking most of the boxes for simplicity/smooth play, it is physically placing each model which is causing the most major slow down. If you placed the models on trays and moved them en-masse, you could probably handle even more (actually there is a OOP spin-off, War of the Ring, which does just that, and simplifies things even more).

TL:DR

Gamers often "overload" rules by using far more minis than the game was designed for. Unavoidable.

However, some games use the wrong mechanics, and are "overloaded" even using their intended forces.

Historical level of command can help give you an idea of what to abstract/how to activate/group miniatures - the right level of simplification/abstraction.

Choosing the right game mechanics is important - activation, grouping of minis, resolution time/complexity of movement/attacks, amount of special rules/modifiers - all need to match the scale and intended play time/speed.

Can you think of some rules that are 'overloaded?' for the size they are intended to be played at?

What element/s of the game is causing the overload?

Cruel Seas: "It's a wrap"

 Another project bites the dust.

I'm now rummaging through my shed, updating my spreadsheet and looking for 'low hanging fruit - tasks that can be completed relatively quickly i.e. 12 Heavy Gears get painting priority over my ~100 Warlord pike and shot.... 

I've painted at least ~700-800 minis this year (admittedly to merely 'acceptable tabletop' standard) with 205 in the last fortnight alone. About 600 yet to go in my unpainted lead mountain....

Raumsboote - a kinda minesweeper/patrol boat. I'll come back and tidy the camo later - but the main thing is it is playable.

Fairmile D's - my favourite WW2 naval vessel. Pity it would cost me $120+ for another pair... the pricing on Cruel Seas makes GW look like a thrift shop.

Some Higgins and Elco PT boats to co-operate with the British. I left off the masts as they are stupidly bulky but will probably replace them with a pin - later. My over-riding mantra is "is it table-ready - now?"  - I often come back and pretty up bases and add details in later on.

My 2023 focus was on making playable, self-contained projects - painted minis, suitable terrain, fun rules - and clearing the lead mountain of unpainted minis, which stood at 1200+

A few self-imposed rules:

1. No new minis until you have painted DOUBLE that in old, existing minis

2. New minis must be painted within a fortnight. If you can't, you bought too many.

3. No new projects/genres until you have completed ALL minis from another project/genre (preferably similar). Purchases should preferably complete an existing project or a game you play a lot (MESBG etc)

4. A dozen minis per week (steady progress, but not a punishing chore)

5. Tabletop standard - basing can be basic, you can always come back to mini later if not 100% satisfied.

 "Can I play with this mini, does it look cool on the table yet?" not "Is it perfect" Is it a playable toy or a Golden Demon winner?

6. If you buy pizza, you have to build terrain with the boxes 

A suicidal ram in a recent Death Race game. Both cars exploded.... This is a game that is amazingly cinematic but kinda slow; 3-4 people with a simple car each is what I'd recommend. Go to page 3 and have a look at the "steps" a player makes in a turn. Despite my caveats, I strongly recommend the game for the cheap fun it'll inspire collecting and kitbashing Hot Wheels.

A few things I've found helped in my painting marathon:

Swap painting locations - I have 3 painting 'spots' and a moveable paint tray

Swap paint projects (1800s Venice -> Death Race car wars -> PT boats). Try new paints and brushes.

Excel spreadsheet to monitor finished/unfinished minis (look at this BEFORE ordering any new toys)

A brief painting session each night after my kids are asleep

Cutting down on layers (i.e. why paint a leg seven times? Undercoat->wash->highlight->tidy/detail if needed.)

Watch topical DVDs (Battle of Britain prior to Blood Red Skies, etc)

Ensure you play game/s with completed projects

Recording progress

Coastal Forces/Cruel Seas 1:300

I've recently got into my coastal forces after rebooting my old Ender 3. I simply never bothered to finish my coastal project as it was unaffordable. 

 

These 3D printed freighters would 'only' cost me $56 in Australia. $200+ for basically glorified objective markers. That's a lot for a niche ruleset. (With not very good rules!)

But when I say "only" - it's because they seem cheap compared to Warlord's other offerings.  I'm curious how Warlord's business model works. How much for this model, do you think? (IG Vostroyan for scale)?:

If your guess was $62USD a pair ($31USD ea), then well done. In Australian dollarbucks, that's $46 each. Not including P&P (+$25 USD/$37AUD). If I just wanted a box, that's $129 for a pair.

It's just resin, with a few metal guns. Can anyone say "3D Printing" with me?

Hmmm. What about four, similar sized Kriegfishcutters? $112 USD a box (on sale! usually $125) or $169+AUD. That's not counting postage to Australia - another $20 on top with the discount rate. $~200 for four glorified fishing boats. Games Workshop Space Marines - the poster child for overpriced - sell at $76 for 10. 

Who is buying these? Is it like those videogaming companies where they target 'whales' - guys who think nothing on dropping $500 on a bunch of toy ships? It's not even like there is a big resale market. I.e. you can at least expect to move your 40K minis on, secondhand. And can you expect someone else will have a fleet locally - or do you need to buy two sides?

Another 18 minis painted makes 195 this last fortnight. On holidays, I am energetically excising my pile of shame.

I do like the 1/300 Cruel Seas scale as it makes the toys a decent size. I had some 1/600 and 1/1200 coastal forces but they were just to tiny. It seems weird to downsize a warship to something you can sneeze off the table. The visible crew are also pretty cool. 

Less impressed with Warlord going 1/200 for their Blood Red Skies planes - it does not match the coastal forces scale and seems to have everything to do with avoiding competing the the vastly cheaper 1/300 from other companies (I'm talking $2ea metal vs $10-$30ea plastic). That's another baffling game. I suspect they want to make it more about selling cardboard cards (like X Wing) than minis.

My personal theory is that the golden age of wargaming has already passed. It's like how streaming services have fragmented content so much (then increased their prices) it's barely worth subscribing to any. 

10-15 years back, "B tier" wargames like X-Wing, Warmachine, Infinity, Malifaux all seemed to be common, and GW's monopoly seemed to be over. The first two were, for a few years, even more popular than 40K. Heck I even remember Dystopian Wars in my tiny Aussie country town. You could get playing one of these B-tier games for radically cheaper than 40K - testing out new games was viable AND you could find opponents. GW actually had to make some changes.

Now, these B-tier companies have all jacked up their prices. Mantic (classic budget GW) pricing is even comparable to GW in some offerings for much nastier sculpts. To compound this, are so many more new games - choices that compete for your cash. The player base will fragment even further.  The "B tier" games seem to be getting rarer.  If you have to supply both sides to try/get interest in a rare game, pricing matters even more. It's a Catch-22.

Now it seems like it is either (a) 40K/AoS if you want to play someone else or (b) just do your own thing with mates.

Why pay top dollar for some boutique wargame when you can buy a $50 box of Wargames Atlantic sci fi and download free OnePage Rules and off you go? Why lock yourself into someone else's system?

Warlord's pricing meant my Cruel Seas lay incomplete for years. Until 3D printing offered a solution....

The players who aren't bothered with needing a local club are I suspect are fragmenting into increasingly niche games. This drains players/$$$ - primarily B-tier games, pushing these semi-popular games into the niche spot as well. I don't even hear about Warmachine or X-Wing any more. 

I don't think 3D printing will ever threaten GW but I DO think it may kill off some smaller companies. Why would I pay $55+ for a resin model from Warlord when I can get one of better quality for $10-$15 from a 3D print company. I don't even need to own a printer. Many good ship STL's are free or at most $4ea.

Eh, a bit of a rant but I've been thinking about pricing etc a bit lately as some friends have recently got interested in wargaming/miniatures and looking at it through a newcomers eyes -  the pricing can be insane. How can you recommend miniature gaming in good faith when a drug habit would be cheaper...

Yet the variation is huge too - you've still got companies like Victrix selling excellent 28mm plastics for $1.50ea...

Gaslands Project Done... Moving On to Cruel Seas...

 In the past fortnight I have 'finalised' a few projects:

French Indian Wars (~50 minis painted) Carnevale (15), Pirates for Legends of the High Seas (~20), Blood Red Skies (6); remaining Warmachine & Empire of the Dead (~15) and Weird West (~10) - a decent chunk of models, but more importantly, finalizing half a dozen projects so they go into the 'outbox.'

Add to the done pile: Gaslands. I had a pile of ~20 Hot Wheels drilled apart for a year (you drill out the rivet so you can lift the roof off). They are now neatly completed and boxed up, along with templates and some very dodgy home made dice, ready for a game...

 My wee lad is sad to see this phase end - he loved debating weapon loadouts and industriously supervised the 3D printer which ran continuously for a few days, providing dozens of weapons and attachments (he insists on blood spattered rams...  ...8 year olds are vicious). He collected the leftover weapon spares and has outfitted another bunch of cars himself...

We will probably do terrain (12x12 squares with tracks that connect and can be rearranged) but that's an outside thing. And at 36d and 90% humidity it ain't happening...

We've 'driven' the cars around a bit using the Gaslands rules and templates and it was cinematic and fun (slides, skids, and flips) but kinda slow (even with one car each). There are 'kids rules' downloads which we may try but it seems a bit too stripped back and random.

I finished my final weird west minis - arcanists/aka EotD gentleman, as well as some random minis which lay loose in a box... That's 177 in the 'tableready' pile in a week...

Next up is probably Cruel Seas. My printed ships are pretty meh but I'll take free vs $58 any day of the week. I'm trying merchants first as they are relatively low detail, but may try some Siebel ferries, F-lighters, etc. I am dubious the detailed weapon mounts will work well on more complex models like minesweepers and corvettes.... I bought some 1:300 model railway men as I doubt the ability of the printer to do anything close to that size.

The Cruel Seas rules themselves are pretty dodgy and have a real 'untested beta' feel to them. I'll probably use my old Schnell Rules for Schnelleboot as I'm not paying $18+ for a pdf for newer coastal forces rules.  I just resent paying the same for a digital file as I would for a proper book. I've got a few rules from back in the day.

However I doubt I'll be able to resist adding my own twist to vanilla WW2 coastal forces... Perhaps it is dark, demon-haunted seas, patrolled by megaladons, kraken and vicious pteradons. And definitely pirates.

Also sitting on my table is the vikings vs zombies ice world project I am starting...  ..when you have minis leftover from an aborted project - what do you do? Create a new project!

Unfinished Projects = 3D Print Solutions?

 I have a lot of unfinished projects. Many need MORE purchases to complete them. By complete I mean enough table-ready miniatures for two dies, rules I enjoy, suitable terrain etc.

I decided to tackle two projects with my old Ender 3 - Cruel Seas and Gaslands.

While neither ruleset is particularly appealing, (a) I can find some Manley rules for the PT Boats and (b) my son likes cars and machine guns so it is fun to do together.

I'm not super interested in 3D printing - it's kind a hobby in itself. I just want stuff, I don't want to become a 3D print guru, but unfortunately my cheap ass bought the ultimate DIY customisable (re: stuff around with it a lot) old school printer which is mostly disused, as (a) I'd rather make terrain faster with cardboard i.e. I'd barely print a wall in the time I'd make a complete table full of pizza box terrain, and (b) filament printers are crap for miniatures. 

But.... a cargo ship is kinda low on fiddly bits, right?

While far from great, the official ones cost $58 in Australia; ~$200 for a convoy... The whole printer cost me about that.... Due to a 50% off sale I have a decent amount of strike craft, but the merchantmen and escorts were a bit much.... Hopefully with a few of these I can tick off Cruel Seas....

My 8-year-old loves printing off machine guns and rams for his Match Box and basically ran the printer all day yesterday...  Again this was financially motivated. A box of official Gaslands  'bits' from North Star cost $22+ in Australia. Crazy.

Wee lad then visited his sandpit, and armed with a hammer (and a bit of help with dad's bolt cutters) made me some 'wrecks' for terrain. We plan to make a modular track from MDF 12x12" squares.

 EDIT: The girls of the family were off at dance, so wee lad and I played a quick MESBG game and painted a few of the cars...

A bit rough but I'll still claim them as "painted" and table worthy.

While Gaslands itself is a tad gluggy, it certainly is an inspirational set of rules, merely from the fun of kitbashing cars....

 

Levelling a printer and ironing out the kinks (it's sat disused for about a year) was fun.... :-/  I'm not keen on the 3D print 'hobby' but if it allows me to finish off projects, I suppose it is worth it. 

However it will allow me (unless it screws me around) to wrap up another two unfinished projects for a few dollars of filament.

Some quick Warmachine zombies (low hanging fruit) to keep the painting ticking over...  154 non-LoTR so far the last week. I'm trying to tidy up my massive pile of unpainted minis, knowing if my projects ever fail to materialise the wee lad will be keen on a donation....

My Carnevale terrain got another MESBG game. This time some elves defended an incursion by Easterlings....  I'm certainly getting value out of my purchase even if I never actually play Carnevale. Additionally, it has inspired me to paint ~40 pirates as it provided the terrain - the missing link - to make them game-ready....

So step one is to use what other options (like 3D printer) to solve miniature/terrain issues... which hopefully solves two projects....

...but I now have another idea...

Pirates, Vampires & Indians

 I've now fully painted my French-Indian Dinosaur War models and now have done my final Black Scorpion pirate. I can either order more, or start a new project as this 'closes off' two projects. I class these as "suitable painted minis+terrain+rules" - i.e. I can play a game whenever I want.

The bats are based for LotR (Moria goblins needed a bat swarm) so count as LotR #446 for the year. The rest are more Black Scorpion pirates. I love the sculpts but apparently they switched to resin (boo hiss) otherwise I'd definitely get more.

I am doing up Gaslands cars as well, mostly due to my blu-ray box set of Death Race (more entertaining movies than Mad Max, so sue me!). I always found the rules surprisingly gluggy; kinda the thing that would be good at a convention or club game with several players and a simple car each, but definietly slower and denser than you'd expect. It's a set of 'kitbash excuse' rules I reckon you'd spend far more time converting cars than playing. I'm making a race track and digging in my son's sandpit for ruined cars (which I'll further mangle as scatter terrain/burned out wrecks). 

The vamps in the foreground are Westwind Empire of the Dead. A game that kinda appeared then vanished. Does anyone still play it?

EotD vampires will do double duty in my own Carnevale-esque Venice game (I'm using MESBG Legend Of rules and have my own factions and critters such as lizardmen and ghouls) as well as Weird West. I actually have a huge Weird West collection which I seldom use - I really need to dig them out and rebase/tidy up chipped paint etc. 

The Indians I think are Conquest(?) minis sold by Warlord.

 I painted my French Indian War natives with a 50/50 of blue/red accessories, so I can split them into British/French allies OR combine them together into as big war party. I really need to do proper foliage basing but my main aim is to get them painted and back out to the shed where I can tidy them up at my leisure.  Unfortunately in Australia Warlord prices are similar to GW.

These settlers are in town for the shopping, but they actually live in log cabins in the dark forests, to be stalked by velociraptors incited by the French. In Last of the Mohicans, I remember watching the Indians getting ready to ambush the British column and thinking "What if it was velocirators"....    ...as you do. Because adding dinosaurs to any genre improves it automatically. Fact.

Including some hastily painted 1:200 planes for a playtest, that's 53 more minis over two days, which combine with 77 done previous means I've painted 130 non-MESBG for the week, and have now closed off 3 projects (pirates, FIW:dino, and Blood Red Skies).

I've also bought En Garde to give myself another pirate rules option. Thanks to mum - apparently 40+ is not too old for the birthday money. I've just ordered some more 3D print LotR to fill gaps in my collection, but after 445+ painted this year (and 330+ last year) I'm very confident they will not linger long in the unpainted pile. I dislike resin but it makes minis affordable I otherwise would not bother with at all - i..e $1.50 per warg rather than $6ea makes it possible to afford a 'pack.'  $12 for Glorfindel is a reasonable impulse purchase; rather than a $74 investment. It's fair to say 3D printing has re-ignited my LotR enthusiasm and made collecting well-developed factions feasible. 

Multipurpose = Best. I'm also trying to build/buy dual role rules/terrain/minis (such as En Garde) which serve for multiple genres (I.e rules work for pirates or ECW witch hunting). For example, I'm eyeing Fireforge undead peasants which would do duties in a few games. Victrix vikings for SAGA or Ragnarok or MESBG. My pizza box ruined town terrain is used for medieval to muskets. 15mm terrain has to work for mecha and WW2 tanks. Etc etc.  

Carnevale, Pirates & Wound Tokens

I've finished my Carnevale starter. The minis are nice and characterful even if the resin is meh. It does atmosphere so well.

In my Venice, there are also undead pirates seeking a cursed map and Royal Navy shore parties chasing them.

Also, just plain pirates. Pirates, like dinosaurs, robots and ninjas, are automatically cool and always enhance any game you add them to.

Since I'm out of LotR minis to paint, I may as well record my 'other' column. Including 31 today and 46 the other day, I'm making brisk inroads into my pile of shame.  I think I only have 8 pirates to go and I can order more if I want... (The 30 or so I did for my son don't count against my own pile unfortunately)

Since I've done my Carnevale project, I can also start a new project (that's another self imposed rule - no new games/projects til an existing one is finished). I keep eyeing off BFG 3D prints but I kinda feel I should have ALL my Dropfleet ships done first as it's kinda the same genre....  

I'm also plan to retest Blood Red Skies and if it is a success I'm buying some $2 metal 1:300 planes (vs Warlord's 6 for $60 plastics).

Also, since I've been talking a bit about Hitpoints in my last few game reviews, I thought I'd show how I represent a 'wound' - a clear plastic token with a bit of red paint on it. You can do a dozen in 30 seconds and the counters are the sort you buy a bag for $5 or so off Amazon/Ebay.

 It's pretty unobtrusive from a distance.  Along with tipping a model on its side for knocked down/stunned, a wound or two is about the limit of my tolerance for tokens as I hate the mess. As you know, my tolerance for hitpoints is 0 (unless it is something like a warship - which would be expected to absorb dozens of hits and slowly lose hull integrity/sink).

The Carnevale table has already had a workout when a force of Corsairs landed attempting to seize the Arkenstone of all Pirates but the men of Gondor thwarted them by tossing it in a canal, largely thanks to hideous dice rolling from the normally lethal Corsair arbalesters...

 

And nearby, my pizza-table still has an ongoing game with my son (who likes Angmar cos wargs, trolls AND spirits). I always spot him a much bigger force then aim to let him win while making his life difficult. He lost a lot of Wargs impetuouisly charging into my reliable Rangers, thanks to his head canon which says they are much awesomer than they are in-game.

Finally, I got some cool birthday loot. My family never gets me minis as they know they may violate the special budget spreadsheet. So....

I enjoyed Tenet but I may actually understand it when I rewatch it. Death Race is a guilty pleasure (plus I am dusting off Gaslands and just home made some Shift dice as my son is interested, so I need it for research purposes!). LoTR needs no explanation.  

I did order a copy of Osprey's En Garde! as I liked Ronin and I need some more rules for pirates (currently using Legends of the High Seas)...

Also the wife got me some specialty coffee. I may whinge about Aussie postage and 'Australia tax' on minis etc - but I admit our coffee is some of the best anywhere thanks to Greek and Italian migrants. Actually Starbucks et al has never taken off here (and many of the existing ones have shut down as we actually know what good coffee is...)