Sunday, October 9, 2016

New Rules, Deep Thoughts and Dark Plans

    After several successful games of The Men Who Would Be Kings and a serious-minded discussion with some of my gaming compadres (and an even longer serious discussion with myself) I have decided to float the idea of starting a new VSF campaign. Drawing deeply on the seven years of experience that the Daftrica campaign provided will correct the flaws that became apparent as time went by.

      All are invited to the discussion of what they are looking for but I am the final arbiter of the campaign. I will set forth the rules and modifications to be used, I will establish the entry level commitment for players (be ready to paint your army if you don't already have one available) and the time-lines that will drive the campaign. If you aren't serious, have issues with completing paperwork in a timely manner or want to sponge armies off other players please do not apply. There will always be plenty of slots in the OPFOR side of things for people that only want to show up and push lead.

    Baseline requirements are:
       1. Have a copy of the rules, The Men Who Would Be Kings, no excuses, none, don't ask. Osprey rules are cheap and widely available, and these are dead-easy to understand.
       2. Have an email that is checked regularly, that means daily, preferable twice a day.
       3. An army totaling 40 points under the rules, these must be composed of PAINTED  period-specific figures from 1850-1900. No recycled WW2 Japanese or such. Certain exceptions will be tolerated but you must come to me on bended knee to ask permission.
       4. The ability to undertake the rudimentary math required by the rules.
       5. A true sense of the Victorian and a jovial sense of humor, a strong sense of the power of the Pun is welcomed as well.

     Further, probably more irrational requirements will be imposed by me on a whim, proper pith-helmets (or other period appropriate headgear) is a possibility.

     Interested parties can reply to my email or directly in the comments section

Cheerio!

22 comments:

  1. On the Dux Rampant site, the author of the rules (The men who would be kings) has a forum on the rules. scroll down the forum.
    http://duxrampant.yuku.com/

    ReplyDelete
  2. Viva Emperator Maximilliano.

    The Mexanish are IN!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I, of course. will lead the Kaiser's brave lads into the fray

    ReplyDelete
  4. Okay what armies or forces are left over? Would like to know before I start buying figures. Also check your email I have questions...

    ReplyDelete
  5. *Insert "Boy, that escalated quickly" picture here*

    I'm excited to start up as anyone else, but I would say hold up on the army building until we playtest some vehicle and steam-tech stuff first, along with how we intend to run the economics and such. Perhaps we can have a few weekends where we hash this stuff out?

    Also, I will reserve my pick of forces until Joe and others pick. I have a few ideas, but I'm not tied to anything quite yet, so I'm willing to wait.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Of course there is no reason that two people can't have a colony based on the army of the same Foreign Power, it seems to me that even little Portugal have more than one overseas holding.......

    ReplyDelete
  7. Well, since the Brits have been called, I shall be either the USA or CSA, deferring my final decision until if the previous nation holders want to take up their former country. I am leaning towards leading the 7th Cavalry "up country" though...
    I was kind of hoping that total forces for the colony would be somewhere in the 120 points range honestly.
    I agree what we should try some mechanized games and maybe some stuff with weird native vsf stuff.
    Gary, let me know before you buy any Cavalry, I have a boatload of British Dragoons and Lancers. I'm probably going to use the Infantry bodies for my own projects.
    ~Joe

    ReplyDelete
  8. The Yankees will be available as Steve Polan was their management, and he will not be running them anymore (much sadness still). I think J&R (Kris, EVERYTHING around here escalates quickly!) was the "sister kissing "we gots both kinds a musac ... 'Hill' and 'Billy'" 'gentlemen' of the South. So that might not work out.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Steve laughly said he was going to be messing with me from day one, and if he had managed to stick around I'll be he would have been endlessly prodding me with stuff.

    If no one has objections, I'll likely be taking the French. Looking at Foreign Legion, but will probably add Tirailleurs and maybe some regular Army and Cavalry. I am looking at adding my own models eventually as well because, well, I'm weird. But I still think we should work on getting the economics right, as well as hammering out how technology works and advances. My immediately suggestion would be a sort of loose "prologue" campaign, where we can play with concepts and such before firmly hitting things. I mean, it basically took until Year 3 before we firmly hit what we wanted with vehicles and such. Probably should look at doing a quick "3 year" campaign between 1 or 2 sides just to see how things would work out into the future.

    Also, have all those Zulus constructed and undercoated. I had almost forgotten how frustrating multi-part plastics can be. Hopefully I'll have them painted by next week.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I object ... to the French! Cork sniffing, liquid cheese eating, snail licking, wine bottle f#$%ing, posterior inspecting, pootwaddles!

      You know you will fail miserably! French troops only perform well when led by someone who is not a French Man.

      Delete
    2. Come now, servant of Maximilian! We should be the best of friends. We fully support your Emperor's rule and we'd never leave you hanging in the wind. :-P

      Delete
    3. When you see the Mexanish history (it is midterm season so I had to have something to do besides read exams) you will see that there have been some slight issues arisen between us of late, but nothing too serious. My comments are mostly based on long term study of French military history (and slightly upon my dislike of soft cheeses and those that consume them).

      Delete
  10. Assembling my Brits. I agree with Kris. Gluing these tiny turds is pain in the ass... Just ordered some movement trays from Warbases. These should make pushing the troops around the tables easier...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Man do I agree, I hate that nonsense. I built a Welsh army for SAGA using Numidians (Wargames Factory if memory serves), but lost all interest due to the irritation of building the figures. They are still sitting around in my basement ... maybe next year.

      Delete
    2. I'm looking at Litko for horde bases for natives. They allow for custom base numbering, so you can do two sets of eight (Which works for Native Unit numbering).

      And I think the most frustrating part was not knowing how to start putting things on. I realize now that I should start with the head, then do the arms. However, now that they are undercoated I'm excited to paint some Zulus. Also apparently Dan has John's Masai at our house (He had meant to paint them), I'll start looking at those as well.

      If anyone does purchase more Zulus, I'll get around and put them together at the very least. Cheap as hell to buy right now, too. I'd love to fill out the African armies we currently have and make actual distinctive ones rather than having to reuse them. Long-term goal, but something to consider.

      (I also saved all the "Aiming Rifle" arms for a possible regiment of trained Zulu Rifles. Need at least one more box to try. :-D )

      Delete
  11. Warbases are half the prices of Litko. The British pound is way down. 25 movement trays 3x2 cost me 21.50 with shipping. They will also make custom bases for you. My bases for my troop are 20x20mm.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ooh, didn't realize they made custom bases. I'll have to discuss with John as to how to base them; they won't fit properly on just pennies. But good to know in the future. I'm trying to price out native armies right now to fill out things rather than just having similar looking armies each time.

      Hm... with the pound down and Foundry's prices the same, I may well have to look into ordering some stuff from them.

      Delete
    2. If you looks at the images of the troops in the rule book. You will see them bases singly, two to base and 4 to a base. The rules pretty well let you base your troops as you wish. Using a movement tray should speed the game up. Plan to email War bases to see they can make 1" dia movement tray. That is what I have a lot of troop based onn fender washes.

      Delete
  12. For those who are looking for a copy of the rules I found a company on the 'bay' of 'E'ness (no brand name affiliation here!) that is selling the rules for under $12 postage included from Britain.

    http://www.ebay.com/itm/191962751489?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

    ReplyDelete
  13. We should perhaps discuss getting a group old glory army card

    ReplyDelete