Crazy Thoughts

Last weekend, I had some crazy wargame ideas that led me down a couple of rabbit holes.

Space Campaign

It started in a very innocuous manner; I was just clearing up some books from my coffee table. I caught a glimpse of one out of the corner of my eye. For a second, I thought it was one of my Ace of Aces booklets. 

It wasn't, but I got a hankering for some air combat. Then I started thinking about a new campaign. Then I remembered that Voidfighter had a bunch of scenarios. Then I started thinking about a space combat campaign. Then I remembered that I have no starfighter counters. And that's where I am now.

Fantasy Wargame

I'm not exactly sure how I went down this path. I guess I was thinking of games to play with my fantasy LARP group when the weather is too bad for sparring.

I'd like a game that fits in a small space, perhaps 2 ft square, and can be played in an hour or so. Fantasy theme, naturally. Perhaps use counters instead of miniatures.

A number of ideas ran through my head - HoTT (expensive!), Battlelore (also expensive and OOP I think), The Portable Wargame (need to tweak the ancients version for fantasy). I also looked into Fantastic Battles (looks like it uses individually based figures unfortunately) and a couple of other games. Right now, I'm still pondering options.

Like many of my manias, I think these will fade away soon without any progress.

Halfway to Nowhere

I am at the halfway point of my vacation and I have done nothing.

OK, that's not really true. It just feels that way because I have not played any games worth posting. 

What I haven't done

As my vacation began, I had a few game-related items on my to-do list.

• A Memorial Day Civil War battle
• The next expedition into the Caves of Chaos
• The next mini campaign in my Twelve Foes of Rome series

What have I done?

As I mentioned, it's not really true that I've done nothing. I made some progress in other areas.

• Completed some yard work
• Worked on a couple of shields
• Dabbled with some baseball rules

Shield Work

Here they are so far. I cut everything out; I just need to glue everything and then add covers.

I experimented with a design change. I used to use PVC pipe for my handles. Being round, they had a tendency to twist. This time, I'm using square dowels. They should not twist. I used a Dremel to round the edges for the handhold.

Baseball

I've had a hankering for baseball, but I haven't been feeling Fast Inning Baseball, which was my jam last year. I've been hunting around for alternatives, but found nothing that  I like.

Now, I'm dabbling with some ideas of my own. The key concept is to resolve an inning using an opposed die roll (inspired by DBA).

Stuck and Some Random Thoughts

I find myself in the wargame doldrums again, and I don't care. It has me pondering my gaming.

The LARP Effect

I've mentioned before that my favorite hobby is actually LARP. Things have been going well, with lots of new players. I've also been busy with some crafting projects (mostly weapons).

Alas, the season is drawing to a close (we shut down for the miserable Florida summers). That has me thinking about using games as a substitute. But how?

Dungeon Crawls

This seems like the perfect substitute for LARP, but I've been having issues.

• I'm not satisfied with my rules and I haven't found commercial rules that work for me.
• Setting up a game can require some work - I have to come up with the dungeon encounters. I could use a random generator, like Four Against Darkness, but it can feel too random. Playing a battle, like the Dominion of series, is actually simpler to set up.

I'm still thinking about how to do quick and easy dungeon crawls, but I'm not really getting anywhere.

Skirmishes

In lieu of a dungeon crawl, perhaps I could do some fantasy skirmishing.

As part of my stalled American Revolution skirmish project, I made some counters with small numbers of figures per stand.

I designed these for "big skirmishes" where each unit is approximately a "squad."

But I haven't printed them because of printer problems. First, I ran out of toner. When I refilled, my tablet that was linked to the printer died. I have a new tablet but I have to figure out how to link it to the printer.

Regardless, I am still wondering if I should do small or large skirmish (1 figure vs. multiple figures per counter).

Posting Less

I'm writing this as a way to sort out my thoughts. But I'm feeling that I'm wasting time with blogging. I may reduce posts to just battle accounts, in which case there may be long periods of silence when I fall into the doldrums.

The Pace Slows

No battle report for today. Other things going on lately

LARP Distractions

Over the past couple of weeks, I have been busy with some "smithing" for LARP,

It started when one of our members made some pirate ships to use as targets.

In exchange, I offered to make a spear. I went to purchase a fiberglass core but the rods only came in 5' or 10' lengths. I wanted a 6' core so I went with the 10' and cut it down.

Once I finished the spear, I had a 4' core. I turned that into a two-hand sword.

Someone asked for a buckler. I made one; didn't like it, so I made another.

Finally, we did a build day. I participated for a bit. I ended up with a partially-finished, one-handed sword. I completed it last weekend.

Here is some of my handiwork - two bucklers and the one-hand sword.

Twelve Foes of Rome

I actually played out the next installment of the Twelve Foes of Rome. It's the Hannibal edition. I plan to post it in March.

What's In Store for 2026?

I was SO wrong with last year's predictions that I seriously toyed with skipping them this year. But I fought off the urge and will pull out my cracked crystal ball once again.

Here is what the wizard sees:

• Dominion of still dominates - this will continue to be my go-to set of rules.
• Fewer posts - I had my best year in over a decade in terms of number of posts. This is largely due to Dominion of. For example, I gamed all 36 battles of the Spear supplement. I don't think I'll be quite as aggressive with games, and therefore posts.
• Semiquincentennial - 1776 was a busy year for American Revolution battles. Expect to see them on the tabletop.
• Dominion of the Eagle and Bear - last year, I briefly dabbled with some Red Dawn style battles. I didn't get far. I'm hoping this year will see a Dominion of variant for late Cold War battles. If not, I may need to create some.

The Year In Review

Another year has almost passed. Let's take a look back at this year.

Going strong without miniatures

This is the first full year of the War Without Minis blog. I have to say I'm doing fine without miniatures. 

Instead, I opted for generic counters. This gave me the flexibility to dabble in lots of eras, such as:

• Pyrrhus
• American Revolution
• Late 19th Century
• Even fantasy!

Semiquincentennial

I began gaming battles to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution. So far, I gamed:

• Lexington-Concord, and the British retreat to Boston
• Bunker Hill

I should have Quebec up soon.

Dominion Of

This was my big trend of the year. I discovered Dominion of the Spear in early January and never looked back. I purchased and gamed with many of the other titles in the series. This has become my default set of rules.

The originator

Sports

I got into sports gaming.

• This summer, I did a tournament using major league teams from 1922 using Fast Inning Baseball. 
• I did some fantasy gladiator fights featuring Nocan the Barbarian.
• Recently, I used Fast Drive Football to play the 2025 college football playoffs and have started a league using my own fast play football rules.

Prognostications

Traditionally, I begin the year with prognostications for my gaming in the upcoming year. How did I do for 2025?

• Micro Dungeon - I expected to finalize my quick play dungeon crawl / fantasy adventures rules. I abandoned them in January. WRONG
• More Killian - I planned to continue the adventures of Ser Killian, my main Micro Dungeon character. I played one adventure then dropped him. WRONG
• More GADD - Not a stretch here, and I did jump between many eras, as detailed above. BUT, I settled on a single series of rules - Dominion of. We'll call this HALF WRONG.
• Counter Consolidation - I wanted to consolidate all my counters into a single box. It didn't happen; in fact I went the other direction. WRONG

3.5 wrong out of 4. Well, that was an epic fail!

Silly Thanksgiving Project

In the US, the Thanksgiving holiday is about a week away. 

I have some time off from work so I should be able to fit in some games. The question is "what should I play?"

The answer came in a roundabout way.

• I'd like to play some Dominion of.
• I should get Pilgrims involved.
• Pilgrims vs. Indians? Too obvious. Besides, the holiday celebrates an instance of cooperation between the two cultures. Shouldn't they work together?
• WAIT. What if ...? No, that's too crazy.

So I'm going to do it anyway.

Many years ago, my LARP group did a silly Thanksgiving themed scenario - we fought fire-breathing dire turkeys! Let's do the same.

I decided to make some one-off special counters, incorporating a variety of Thanksgiving foods. I grabbed some icons off the web and got creating.

Here's what I have so far - dire turkeys, pumpkin chuckers, and potato heads.

The potato heads are melee infantry, pumpkin chuckers are artillery, and I will likely use the tank stats from Dominion of the Trenches for the dire turkeys. I want some skirmish infantry - thinking cranberry or corn shooters.

Creating the Counters

I'm not sure if I'll keep the counters after the game, so I plan to take a simple approach to making them. Instead of using Litko plastic bases, I will likely just use cardboard. I have a load of Amazon and Chewy boxes lying around to scavenging won't be an issue.

The Opposition

I will use my generic counters, specifically the black faction, for the Pilgrims. I may give them some Indian allies using brown.

The Scenario

Who knows? I'll whip something up.

Maybe I Spoke Too Soon

Last week, I went on about my increased output of posts, largely due to the Dominion of series.

Well, I may have spoke a little too soon. My production has dropped off considerably. Throughout most of this year, I have had a backlog of posts, which I space out through the month. Right now, I have nothing in the tank.

What factors are causing this drop-off?

1. LARP

LARP season has returned and I find myself dedicating more free time to LARP preparations.

For example, I worked on the helmet and shield (not pictured) for my death knight NPC.

I also spent time working on scenarios for this season and prepping other NPC costume bits.

2. Crash and Burn

Starting in July I got caught up in a Voidfighter bug. I played some aerial games in anticipation and then planned a project after the rules came out.

But it was all short-lived. The rules failed to hold my attention and the project slipped into oblivion.

3. What Next?

Similarly, my engagement with Dominion of has faded. Don't get me wrong, I still love the rules. I just don't know what I next want to do with them.

• Previously, I went all-in with ancient battles, playing all 36 of the scenarios in the expansion.
• I also did Lexington-Concord and Bunker Hill.
• I played a few 19th century campaigns (Austro-Prussian, Austro-Italian, and Russo-Turkish) using Spear and Bayonet. I could upgrade to Bismarck, but I'm a little variant'ed out.
• I have one campaign, set in my LARP's fantasy world, but it's not gripping me.

I just don't know what era or campaign I should game next. Nothing is grabbing me at the moment.

Going Forward?

I'm using Nocan as filler, but that is not enough. From my experience, however, these doldrums don't last forever. I just need to ride it out.

Nine Month Check In

Normally I wait until the end of the year to discuss my annual prognostications (which are usually wrong). 

Trying to predict my gaming for the year

Something struck me recently so I wanted to make a few comments.

On Pace for a Record Number of Posts

By the end of August I had 90 posts; 98 by the end of September. That is more than 10 of my last 12 years of blogging. My average over those last 12 years has been 84 posts in a year. I am on a pace for 130; my best was 126!

The Dominion Series Has Revolutionized My Gaming

The Dominion series by Steve Parker of Ork Publishing is largely responsible for that. With such quick games, I find myself pulling out my counters and dice far more frequently. And of course, I like to record the results; I use this blog as a wargame diary. Naturally, this has increased my blog post count.

The next question - will it continue? I suspect it will.

GADD is Good

I joke about having GADD - gamer's attention deficit disorder. By this, I mean that I can't focus on one thing but instead jump around between games and eras a lot.

I mention this because I took a look back at my predictions for the year. I predicted GADD (when isn't that true for me?) but I also focused on my Micro Dungeon rules. I have barely touched those since January. What happened? GADD of course. Once I discovered the Dominion games, I went off in a whole new direction. But that's OK. As I mentioned above, Dominion revolutionized my gaming, resulting in far more games completed! So GADD was a good thing.

Planning is Bad

A corollary of this is that, for me, making plans and setting priorities for gaming is bad. Many years ago, I stopped doing new year gaming resolutions. I feel like it was a good decision because it allows me to go with the flow and experience new things I did not plan. Like Dominion. If I had locked myself into strict plans, I may not have tried it. I'm glad I did.

Some Random Thoughts

If Only

While perusing some battle reports on my old blog, I began thinking about my miniatures history. I kept leaping about among multiple periods and scales. I counted at least 20 abandoned projects on my old blog. It made me wish I had settled on counters ages ago. It would have saved a lot of work.

Marker Musings

I'm debating with myself if I should revise my markers. Right now, I have pill-shaped gold, red, and silver markers to represent elite, ferocious, and armored units. Initially, I put the markers behind the units. Lately, I put the markers on the units.

The idea is that the markers could represent flags. Now I wonder if I should get markers that look more like flags. The easiest would be to switch to rectangular markers. Another idea I had was to sit them on the side, but I don't think they'd be stable enough.

Anyway, just something I'm pondering.

Dungeon Crawling

Played a little Pathfinder last week, It has me hankering for some dungeon crawling. I need to work up the monster cards for my micro dungeon rules.

Dominion Reference

I spent some time this weekend organizing my Dominion files on my tablet. I had every single title downloaded, which was taking up a bit of space. To streamline things, I created my own reference document with the quick reference sheets for all eras. I debated adding the army lists. At first, I was just going to add some representative armies, but I could not decide which ones. I eventually added them all. It is still smaller than the separate files, and they're now all in one document.

Dominion Naval

I was toying with ideas to use Dominion for galley battles. Well, Mark Cordone beat me to it. Over at the Portable Wargame Facebook group, he posted galley rules. I'll have to try them out while I'm on vacation.

Returning to Your Regularly Scheduled Coverage

Since the new year began, I have consistently published multiple posts per week. This occurred due to a couple of factors:

• I built up a backlog over the holidays
• I was experimenting with fast play games

Well, it looks like the well is drying up. My output has slowed and I only have one post ready, which I'm saving for Saturday.

Unfortunately, this means fewer posts for the near future.

What's in Store for 2025?

Every year I try to predict where my gaming experience will go. I'm usually way off base, but I find it fun to try.

So how about 2025? Let's peer into the crystal ball.

Here is what the wizard foresees in 2025.

• Micro Dungeon - I'm very close now so I suspect that I will have rules finalized for my quick play dungeon crawl / fantasy adventures game.
• More Killian - Assuming that Killian survives Icespire Peak, I'd like to continue his adventures. I have my eye on the Storm Lord's Wrath.
• More GADD - other than Micro Dungeon, I suspect I'll once again be all over the place in terms of games and eras. Not exactly going out on a limb here.
• Counter Consolidation - I previously mentioned consolidating my counters. I think it's going to happen.

The Year in Review

I'm a little early this year, but I decided to publish my year-end review on the last Saturday of the month.

What was I up to this year?

Bye Bye!

Let's start with the obvious one.

I abandoned my old blog and started this one. I did this to emphasize cutting ties with miniatures. I've given up on minis - it's all counters all the time!

Bye bye, miniatures

All Over the Place

As usual, GADD struck and I ended up fiddling around with a slew of games and campaigns. Some were one offs and I haven't yet finished many of the campaigns

On my old blog:

• A Napoleonic Knockout campaign - completed with a Turkish victory
• Five Klicks from the Zone - I played a couple games
• Night Watch - test game
• Lion Rampant - played the first scenario  of A Viking in the Sun mini-campaign
• American Revolution in Florida campaign - I actually finished this campaign that I began years ago!
• Some aerial dogfights
• An ancient naval battle

And on this blog:

• Pyrrhus campaign - actually completed a short campaign! Ready for his next adventure.
• Fiddled with skirmish games and started the Snorin the dwarf campaign
• Ganesha Games' Demonslayer
• Micro Dungeon - a new RPG-light approach, which I'm using to finish the Icespire Peak module

Whew, I was busy!

Prognostications

I started the year with a prediction on where my gaming would go. Let's see how I did.

• The Slows - I expected a slow year. Wrong! As you can see above, I dabbled with a lot of different games and had many more blog posts compared to 2023.
• Summer Song - I thought my LARP group might play Song of Blades & Heroes over the summer. Wrong! We never got around to it, although we played a lot of board games.
• Printer - I wanted to get my own printer. Right!
• LARP - I expected to be busy with LARP. Interestingly, I mentioned two LARP organizations but have done little with those. However, my local group has gotten a few solid new members so it's going better than expected. So I'll call this Right!

A 50% success rate. Not bad for me!