The next figure - nearly done

Still a work in progress - again sculpted by the talented A Elder. I wonder what potential customers want to see next?

Another work in progress shot

This shows the work in progress of my next VBCW figure, advancing with rifle.
More pictures to follow.

Again please let me know what you think.

Painted Ladies in Lace

Just got a couple of pictures of the painted figures back from painter...

Ladies for the Lace Wars.

I think they look very good.

Ladies for the VBCW
 

Of course since they are designed for imaginations games you can paint them how you wish.
Join the Kickstarter campaign, and show us how you will paint yours.

A sculpt WIP photo

I will put a photo of the next sculpt WIP (work in progress)

Can  you tell what it is yet?

more pictures to follow....

Kickstarter Live - Ladies in Lace

Yes the kickstarter is live, and customer interest is growing.

I now have a small batch of metals that will be going to reviewers and the original sculptors.

I hope to have some painted pictures live on this site before too long.

If you are interested in pledging or making suggestions leave a comment here or move over there and make a pledge.

I hope to have another one or two greens complete in the next couple of weeks, and then I will be more sure of what stretch goals will be needed.

And yet another work in progress

Another lady in lace, in short coat and tricorn.

I need to ask sculptor to add a scabbard & sword. Do you like what you see and do you want to see more. Kickstarter launch is now only days away, I have got the webspace, I have the business cards, I have another sculptor.

I was seeing the Mouldmaker yesterday until the engine management system failed on my Landrover, so I have had to re-arrange until next week.

I hope to have other exciting stretch goals to announce.

And still aiming for an August/September shipping date.

More Images... Kick Starter....

Coming soon... the Ladies in Lace, (Dames en Dentelle)

and the VBCW fighters (brand name yet to be determined)

Pictures of more work in progress from the sculptors.

Three figures (work in progress)

 

I am working with suppliers to fix prices on each stage of the process... and I am aiming to offer more variants as the campaign builds.

At the moment, I wonder what stretch goals to mention...

add on for VBCW machine gun team.
add on for VBCW grenade/molotov cocktails team

Artillery crews?

Floras for lace war?

What would you like to see?

Kickstarters - Love them or hate them?

I am closing down on the dates for the launch of my Kickstarter campaign. I have struggled these last couple of weeks with other concerns (dental and eye clinic visits for me, and hospital visits for my girlfriend... ) and finally got the money from the bank... only to have my account put on hold due to irregularities...?

I have been told that this will last until Tuesday, so I should be paying two sculptors by paypal then, and the third sculptor will have to wait until the Friday.

My personal armies/projects have been ticking over, and I am in contact with some other sculptors for a related project.

I am getting the scenery pieces done for the summer game - rather more slowly than I would have hoped, and I am hoping to visit Foundry - in Nottingham to pick up some quality pieces in the morning.

Next work in progress

Very British Civil War Female militia rifles.
 

As sculpted by the very talented A Elder, this figure will be part of the next range to be produced, being females of the VBCW - but some will be usable in other historical wars, and as partisans in Europe in world war two.

I am hopimg to pay for the next two tricorn era sculpts the end of next week, and have them in my hands in March. I will then be going live with the kickstarter.

Kickstarter will have some lower point entries - facilitated by getting a handful of figures done using my own money, and getting deals on small shipping cartons for rest of world.

comments wanted as always.

Feedback -

As in not much feedback about the Tricorn wearing female...

and obviously there is some feedback about my visit to the shows so far this year.


My visit to Vapnartak in York was great, and picked up some bases at Warbases, and a few figures from Gripping Beast and from under the bed... I was a bit upset that GB did not have their full range of figures, and they only take the same figures I can get at discount at my local store to shows. I really wanted all those figures they advertise on the web, so I will probably try foundry figures rather than GB to fill in the gaps.

As a result of Vapnartak - I had a part unit of miners for VBCW, and I contemplated what I will need to finish them off...

The following weekend it was "Hammerhead" at Kelham Hall - a local show, and another chance to say hi to Martin at Warbases to pick up the other bases I should have added to my order the week earlier... I got a few really nice figures for Dux B/B on the Bring and Buy and spied some strange figures (more to say in future I think)

I bumped into a couple of mates who had some nice figures... and let me have them as part of a deal.. and I managed to convince a couple of traders - Andy at Ainsty being one to let me have some good bargains on figures I need for a game. I also picked up some very cheap PSC 28mm Soviets - for less than the box price - and I am convinced that they will make useful RED forces for the VBCW.

I have got on with painting and basing figures, and I am nearly ready to take the grand photos of the forces for the demo games..

I am struggling with HTML and the web hosting (and there is at least two stories that need to be told on another day) and I do hope to be field testing the demo game this week and then taking it to the club for a proper test round easter...

Work in progress... Tricorn Era Female

A work in progress shot of a brigadier - dismounted
 

I now have the ability to post pictures to my blog, as the computer is working again. Here is a photo provided by one of the sculptors of a female brigadier, this will be one of the bonus figures available as part of the kickstarter.

Unicorns, Rainbows, Dux Bell or Britt, and VBCW

So my Computer is working !

I have struggled to catch up on my three thousand unread emails ... and I have one or two problems to update software for.

I have started my final version of the rainbow making unicorn game, and if I had the website working I would upload the playtest copy (so that people could playtest it to see if I have made a worthwhile game)

I will be knocking heads together at the hosting companies tomorrow since I am stressed by the lack of service I have received.

I have put together the forces for Dux Bellorum / Dux Brittaniorum, for me and Gary to play, and they will be going to the painting service in a couple of weeks (hopefully). I am still looking for a couple of ox carts and a driver, and I am picking up some dogs and a priest and a few other bits hopefully at York, plus the Bases and movement trays from Warbases, which provide excellent service with their custom pieces.

I have picked up A World Aflame - with the intent of making a fictional force or five for Very British Civil War, and will be creating the forces for this in accordance with the following rough plan

Forces

Mineworkers Free Militia -3 squads of eight to ten figures, with rifles, and a heavy weapons squad comprising a heavy machine gun (stolen from regular force stores, or supplied by Red allies), and 2 or 3 light machine gun teams. A command team including a mounted messenger, a couple of runners, and buglers from the colliery band, plus an explosives team of demolitionists will round out the force.

Citizen Fascist force - 3 squads of twelve armed citizens, each squad having an smg eqipped NCO and light machine gun. The command will include prominent locals, flag bearer, and a field telephone team, plus runners. (there may also be a delivery truck, and a staff car in the eventual plans. I also expect a mounted infantry unit to be included in this force eventually)

Police and Local Defence Volunteers (Home Guard)
a squad of each under the command of the local senior officer - each squad would be 10 to 12 members strong, and they would all have rifles and pistols, and would probably count as trained or better shots, plus they would have access to additional rounds and spare ammunition. I think they might get a team of mounted police, plus a heavy machine gun (eventually) and they would have contact with "government" forces for assistance with heavy weapons and artillery and air support and such like.

Local army (?)
Possibly a force of reaction to act as needed by the campaign,
probably two or three squads of 8 to 12 men, includes a HMG and a tankette, and a field piece (old 18 pounder or twenty five pounder perhaps, or even a lighter field gun or anti tank model)

Red forces - being an intervention force of internationals under communist command - not sure what or how many yet

Citizens loyal to parliament (?) not sure who or what these would look like - but might include locals who work for local council, and some moderate folks who have not jumped on board with red land propaganda, but who are against the local fascists  or royalists.


I will let you know how this develops.

being a translation of an honest and true account...

over a drink in a snowed in house last week, I tried to justify the presence of females in a marlburian army. I thought long and hard about how and why female troops could be deployed, who or when would they volunteer en masse.

I decided that the first deployment would have to be an accident, a circumstance of self preservation, or a misunderstanding. my feelings were that the first use would be dressing camp followers as soldiers to create a false reinforcements, and them being half threatened and delivering an effective volley leading to enemy units withdrawing  from the field. after this success a nobles wife begs a more active role

the nobles wife pays a bounty and recruits wives, doxies, and other diverse sorts to guard the camp, and seeks permission of the crown to fight, and based on the heroics printed in the daily courant thousands of women volunteer, and soon regiments with a mix of women from the generally lower walks of life are lead by officers, and colonels drawn from nobility, across the whole of Europe.

can anyone give a reason that has more plausibility for this imaginations standby?

plastic figures, war gaming and....

put together another handful of figures, got to glue hats onto the warlord ecw figures that I have done,  then there are some ancient Germans and some Greeks and some conversions and some more conversions that I have got to do.

I have part play tested the rainbow unicorn game, and am now trying to fix a rules question or two and an alternate rule or two. the scoring has been through the mill and back, so I think a final version is still more than a week away.

had trouble yesterday with the hosting of my website, they just do not seem able to let it transfer to the new hosting service, no matter how many times I call I always end up speaking to someone who is in the wrong department to help, and if I use the online help service going to the appropriate page gives me a 404 error.
the phone number that worked before Christmas now connects you with a diet food supply service... and the old website does not help. I wouldn't mind but it is gbbo and they have changed service providers.

computer should be working tomorrow.
should have more snow tomorrow as well.

currently isolated

yes, as a result of a little snow, we are currently unable to contact the outside world.
still struggling with the man flu, but did find time yesterday to assemble seven more figures, do some minor conversions to two or three other figures, and sort out one or two boxes of rubbish for figures that might be usable for a game.

after lunch today I will spend some time assembling the last of the Saxon lighter armed infantry, and the unit of bows and javelins. I am then building one unit of Germanic mercenaries to add to the army for dux Britt or bellorum

my further mercenary forces are going to be built out of some lightly converted other plastics, including some games workshop bits.

I am also building a high fantasy army that will be able to morph into historic wars of roses or Italian wars for a personal game design.

the Amazon army is looking ok, and the painter has done a brilliant job with the figures. the Greeks to fight it are mainly Trojan war era  and will do for both Trojan and Athenians. I will eventually get round to building some more hoplites so the later period can be done, with both Greek and Persian wars and Alexander.

or not....

so the computer not working yet, might have to let it sit a day back at the repairer again.
better news from the business advisor, and we discussed lots of options, so from that advice I will make a better kickstarter.
I do hope that the best options from the sculptors Will be appreciated and supported by kickstarter pledges.

computer may work tomorrow...

so computer is back.. but not plugged in as advised to get new anti surge device.

spending an hour with the business consultant tomorrow with regard to kickstarter and other business aims, and will be discussing whatever free methods and services I can tap into.

unicorn game now looks ok on paper, with all the variables sketched out, but scoring the chains of complete or partially complete rainbows to make it an interesting game still seems to make it difficult. seems to much like a king making situation, but not sure if that will happen if the game is designed right.

manflu & Jack Daniels, a winning combination

computer will be working tomorrow. I will try and get the sample cards  sorted and printed for the first play test.

I will also finally be able to send pictures to sculptors to get the kickstarter for my first new miniatures range underway.
I am also designing the game that we will be playing at triples in Sheffield.
much more positive design diary in next few days.

no report... laid up with manflu

feeling rough, and really waiting on getting my computer back in the morning. I have had some thoughts on how the cards play out and when you put on your advancement markers from the unicorns, and this will be part of the play testers run this Wednesday and or Saturday. trying to dumb down the rules so that nothing is confusing will be a challenge as well.

no report about unicorns but demons on the horizon

so in an about face I had the first discussion with friends about the Valentine's day aspect of the next game. I have thought that the game will be more adult in theme as it will involve matching up university students to release the most lust points. .

there are one or two other ideas, but they will wait until the game about unicorns is complete.

a whole spectrum of unicorns

as a result of a short drinking session I have further refined how the rainbow unicorns move and score I have even thought about how to remove the score card and how variables such as first player and card ownership moves round the table. I wonder if it should be possible to add rainbow segments to a rainbow that is locked under a cloud.

the child player can use a spectrum unicorn, whilst another adult must pick a normal monoccoloured unicorn.

tying up the number of scoring opportunities and locking down opponents do seem to be things that I must work on when I present the game to the zero playtest group.

jonty

elite dangerous

 kickstarter successful.

war gaming and spending

I have spent a couple of hours today putting together a number of plastic figures, including some more wargames factory war of the Spanish succession.
my next purchase will be some more plastic cavalry, and two more boxes of the plastic artillery.

for the Dux bellorum or britaniarum campaign I am putting together some plastic figures, using a mixture of wargames factory and gripping beast figures, and using a few pieces from the bit box including some games workshop pieces .

I hope to spend less on gaming this year. and by detailing it on here you Will all be able to see that I am frugal as a gamer.

just a short post about games design today

trying to get the scoring track concept easy to use and theme based.

the issues seem to be, all scoring tracks should be in the form of a central rainbow, with a number of individual rainbows that each player is responsible for creating.

I am working on giving each player three rainbows,  that require different amounts of unicorns cards to complete.

computers..... bah ..... more problems

so had my computer in for repair and was promised that it would be back tomorrow morning.

they tried the new power supply and found that it did not have enough power connections for the numerous drives inside. New power supply on order, be delivered on  wait for it..... Tuesday.

aaaarrrrrrrggggghigh.

Will be forced to make updates until then using the touch screen.

Rainbow making magical Unicorns.

other design elements that came together over a small drink last night.
at least seven unicorns, represented by counters, a multi player rainbow tracker, and a rain cloud counter that activates scoring, but stops one rainbow from being scored. the unicorns are controlled by a deck of cards, and some cards force you to gift a unicorn move to a friend.
when the deck runs out everyone scores all of their rainbows.
the end.

now on to math the deck, decide how to implement card removal from the deck, how to balance the cloud scoring mechanism, how to explain the card playing and the gifting of unicorns.

be a lot easier when I'm not typing on a touchscreen when my computer is back tomorrow.

Will be buying printer ink on Saturday and making a test print of the cards and track on Sunday.
play test on Monday card cutter permitting.
then formal rules writing until next weekend and then some sort of alpha play testers pack PDF download Will be made available.

final scores and balancing will come from alpha and beta play test group.

I will then begin initial design work on the second game (undecided on what that will be, so if you head over to my reached a wall posting on bgg. you can let me know)

game design 1

I promised that today I would fill you in on the first free games design, and that game will be a simple game of rainbow making by magical unicorns.
I have one key design constraint, and that is there will be two sets of rules one for younger players, and one for adults/older children, that can be played simultaneously. the children's rule sets must be short (only a handful of short and clear sentences) whilst the adult rules can be more complicated.

my main web page is still down, so if you can tell me where the best free hosting of the PDF files for this game is I will thank you.

computer going into repair today.... so hoping that cost will not be too great.

my games design diary.

day one!
So today, I would have intended to use word to sketch out some play test pieces for the first game I am designing. however computer not working due to busted power supply.

I will however continue to test my new cardkutter and tomorrow will update on what I have decided as the first game for the challenge.