Monday 26 August 2013

Wargaming Cherry



The skies darkened as the rain tore at the already saturated earth; there is never a good day to die in this godforsaken place thought Marcus, the weight of his scutum now starting to tell.  He glanced at the three remaining members of his patrol, how many more would he lose?  Gripping the pommel of his gladius with renewed determination, Marcus offered up a silent prayer to the Gods that today would not be their last - welcome to the world of the 'Dark Crucible'.  Fortunately for me, Mike 'The Dark Templar' Reynolds wasn't deterred by the weather as he battled with torrential rain to reach 'Awdry Towers' on Saturday morning, his mission - to get this reluctant wargamer a game or two under his belt.  I’m sure many of you will have read Mike’s post regarding his recently revealed ‘secret project’ – The Dark Crucible, a set of skirmish rules combining historical and fantasy elements, well today was going to be my first encounter. 




Now before I go much further I need to admit to the heinous crime of not recording the event photographically – so excited was I at actually playing a game that it completely slipped my mind; as a result I’ll endeavour to keep this report brief!  I was playing the Celts, which gained me two extra characters to compensate for the Romans superior armour.  I should also point out that we were playing the most basic version of the rules so as not to completely lose me, that said I found them quite intuitive and before long felt comfortable with the format.  The scenario was ‘Last Man Standing’ and after rolling for initiative each character is activated in turn and has two actions to perform.  As we were using my still to be completed coffee table board is wasn’t long before the two factions were locked in mortal combat as I was started to rue my decision for not going for the more heavily armoured troops!  The speed of the game and small amount of miniatures on the board meant totally immersion was inevitable, with gentle banter being the order of the day.  In the end it was the Celts’ speed that was to win the day, preventing the Legionnaires from forming an impenetrable shield wall – much to my relief!  Although we only scratched the service of the game, I have to confess that I was hooked and have already started tinkering around with unit lists and sourcing possible miniatures so as to have my own war band for any possible future encounters – yes, yet another distraction!  



After a brief pause for a bacon butty or two and the obligatory debrief it was time to embark on the afternoon’s gaming – ‘Star Wars X-Wing’.  I am a huge fan of all things Star Wars and Mike had picked up on the fact that I was desperate to have a go at this game, so you can imagine my delight as he began to unpack the wonderfully detailed miniatures.  I’ve read so much about this game on other erstwhile weblogs and was curious to see if it could live up to my expectations, but I can honestly say that I was not disappointed.  We played a couple of quick and simplified games that saw Luke Skywalker blasted from the skies in the first and then the Rebel Alliance exact their revenge on Darth Vader in the second.   Oh yes this was definitely for me, I've ordered up a starter box of my very own this morning!   I can’t thank Mike enough for his patience and willingness to travel down and show me just how much fun gaming could be.  Finally, then, the gaming cherry has been popped, what happens next though is anybody's guess!  


47 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. It certainly was, looking forward to finding about the updates Mike has planned.

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  2. Really interested in the rules as well.

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    1. I just loved the simplicity of them, that led to an intense, quick game.

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  3. great to see you gaming at last, no stopping you now
    Peace James

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  4. A couple of good games then. It is always nice to see bloggers getting together socially for a game and a chat.

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    1. It was a great day and lovely to catch up with Mike again, a thoroughly splendid chap.

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    1. They are certainly looking really promising.

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  6. Yep..I´m back from the hols :-D The Flashman fig and friends Looks excellent.....dressed like that he reminds me of an Episode in the Viz Comic when the gentleman thug beats up WG. Grace

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    1. Welcome back my good man, suitably refreshed I trust?

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  7. Nice to know you're finally getting some game-time :)
    Dark Crucible sounds promising, I like the mix of histories.. would like to see a Huron Raiding party attacking a Roman column (or the small model count equivalent) ;)

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    1. That is the sort of idea that would drive the project forward, certainly the game we played was fast and furious.

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  8. Replies
    1. Not sure I'm ready for that quite yet, but certainly feeling a little more confident about the whole thing.

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  9. Good for you, Sir. Enjoy!

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  10. I'm so happy to hear that you got in some gaming. And truly, The Templar knows his stuff and I can't think of a better person to bring you along with learning.

    Next time have the SMA take phot's for you as she is a great photographer.

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    1. Thank you Anne, it was great day and what a great idea with regards to the SMA taking the photographs!

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  11. Congrats Michael and well done Mike 'The Dark Templar' Reynolds for popping your cherry!! I hope this paths the way for a lot more gaming.

    Frank
    http://adventuresinlead.blogspot.com.au/

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    1. Thank you my good man, I certainly have the bug now.

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  12. I can forgive the lack of photos while you were busy learning the ropes, but there'd better be photos next time! :-D

    I'm glad you had fun and hope there'll be a next time soon (with photos!)

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  13. That's great news, finally some games in. Hold onto that feeling to tied you through the dry spells. I've found that the gaming is what really motivates the rest of my hobby.

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    1. I can certainly see that, I find that I'm already dreaming up lists and thinking about strategies.

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  14. Great to hear you getting in some gaming! Looking forward to some pictures next time...

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    1. Thank you the Scott, I shall certainly have the camera primed next time.

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  15. Great news and even without pics it was a good read.

    I bet the mountain will really start to grow now

    Ian

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    1. I have a horrible feeling that you might be right Ian.

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  16. Hi Michael,

    a good report. Thanks for spreading those information.
    And by the way: X-Wing is an excellent choice. ;-)

    Cheers
    Stefan

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  17. OK, OK, so when the Star Wars models came out did you manage to resist picking them up and going "Zhhoooooom, pew! pew!"?

    Nice to hear your gaming cherry has been lost and that you had a great time doing so.

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    1. Now I can't rightly recall if they noises that I heard in my heard were actually audible, but my goodness me it was great fun!

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  18. Always good to get a couple of games in and both games sound great fun.

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  19. A great day of gaming it has to be said. Thank you for being a willing playtester for our new rules – next time I'll bring the full Dark Crucible experience (once I've finished typing it all up!)

    Thank you for your hospitality – Fantastic host and fantastic Rebel pilot (how Luke survived that second game I'll never know!). Good to see you've bought into the madness, though X-Wing is an addiction… the models are too nice not to purchase.

    Looking forward to the next game day!

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    1. Mike, thank you so much, it was a fabulous day and I just loved the games. Plenty more to come I hope.

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  20. Please do Andrew, I know Mike was looking for additional play testers.

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  21. Glad to hear you got in some games. X-Wing is great fun, I need to play more.

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  22. Great to hear you're finally on board fully! :-)

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