This blog has been silent for a while as I have been in the US. When I arrived home I had a little present waiting for me - a huge box of Warhammer (fantasy and 40K) books sent to me by +Daniel Sell. I will have to work out a way to compensate him... More on that later.
Games Workshop used to bill their big boxed games as 3-D Roleplay. Not just Advanced Heroquest, Advanced Space Crusade and Space Hulk, but also such games as Space Marine (the second incarnation of the Epic rules). In a way, I'd like to rehabilitate the term 3-D Roleplay, to stress the kind of characterful, narrative, scenario-driven (and GM 'refereed') games that is the opposite end of the miniature gaming hobby to that occupied by Mathhammer competitive play. 3-D Roleplay could be seen as, at least, closely related to the values espoused in the Oldhammer Contract.
Thing is, I'm a busy man, with kids, something like a career, &c. Miniatures? As the lady says, "Ain't nobody got time for that!" Yes, I can eke a few hours with the daylight bulb here, a few there, and I will slowly but surely put together and paint the Assassinorum miniatures, but with all the games that I want to play...
And I'd rather play than paint or model. The game is the thing.
A while back I got Commands & Colours: Ancients. I think it is a fantastic game. I immediately wished that there was a fantasy version, a Warhammer version even. And yes, there is Battlelore, which to my mind is less elegant, both mechanically and aesthetically. But C&C planted in my mind the idea that I would be very happy with a 'de-miniaturized' Warhammer wargame. If not quite 2-D, then at the very least a little more... flat.
And this has been sitting in my cupboard. A game that filled Sundays (and dinner tables) of my later school days.
And then +Daniel Sell sends me this:
I had toyed with the ambition (the fantasy) of using Hordes of the Things (or Warhammerised DBA) to run a campaign of Mighty Empires. And I still might. But Warmaster could also be a suitable companion. Eminently suitable, as they share the same underlying fiction.
But for someone who 'aint't got time for that', how could this fantasy even come close to being realized. Paper miniatures. Paper armies. Thankfully, someone else has done the work for me.
The League of Ordinary Gamers have some lovely paper armies, which are also collected at Warmuster, along with other resources including the Warmaster Living Rule Book and a set of Mighty Empire house rules to bring it in line with Warmaster assumptions.
If we hadn't just 'Freecycled' our clunky old printer, and having been forbidden from buying a new one until our house move is complete... But paper miniatures? Yes, I can see these being a large part of my future gaming. 2-D+ Roleplay.
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