Finally got the chance to go do some gaming with the Basement Generals last night. See previous post. I need to say that I am a lucky man that I get to game with such a great, diverse, fun and smart group of guys. Each one of us has a tremendoulsy varied interest in what we like to game and everybody's ability to just play whatever is awesome. It's always a treat to game with them.
And in our post game bull session, we talked about doing a group game where we all contribute to the common good. Some of our members, me included, have been spoiled in the past by groups that focus and just play 1 or two things for a long time. Nappies, Civil War, WWII, Warhomer, Blood Bowl, etc. The nature of the BG's is to stick and move. BEcause we have a big group that can't always make regular games(my curse for sure), we tend to play one off games, and rarely play things back to back. We have a few favorites that we play a lot and that we all know and love: GASLIGHT, Supersystem, Flower of Chivalry, Fast Play Grand Armee, Fire and Fury, Fistful of Lead. That's a pretty great group right there. VSF, Superheroes, WoR, Nappies, ACW, Cowboys. But almost all of thsoe games are hosted by the BAron and he supplies all the Terrain and painted figs. We don't really have a game that we can all collect and paint individually, and then battle with our own army or faction. There was some discussion of this last night. I have been a champion of a collective focused game for a while now. And I have kinda got one started by having some of us paint units of French for Black Powder. Not everyone is interested, but thos ewho are willing have taken up the banner and are painting a couple of French units to fight my British. That way we can bring it to the tbale quicker. Great. But maybe we can do it one better. I think we should opick a game that's small enough to collect and paint on a budget, both time and cost, right Chris ; ) and we should do that. We don't have to play it all the time, but occassionally, and in a very lose campaign that isn't dependent on you showing up all the time(see any Blood Bowl season). Therefore...duh duh duh duh(fanfare) I propose the following to my fellow BG's:
Let us consider collecting, painting, and playing ONE of the following games and selecting a faction of your choice to lavish with love and affection, or the rod and the whip, and have one game that is a collectively focused effort that requires not much commitment, but a little, to make all those little lead deaths, that much more meaningful. But let us not forget to continue on with our own personal projects that makes the BG's such a fun group to game with(don't stop painting the French Nappies). I propose the following games for your satisfaction:
Full Thrust: A free(now) generic set of really fun rules the BG's know a little bit. We would have to cobble together our own fleets from vaious manufacturers, make stats, etc. A great game, but maybe something a little more contained would be better.
Uncharted Seas: Since GW refuses to make all the money it could and will never rerelease Man oWar, and since Spartan Games out Man O War'ed GW with their Uncharted Seas game. why not try it. Good reviews of the rules, great fleets and options. Fantasy naval fighting. Awesome. A real choice.
Firestorm Armada: And the space fleet option from Spartan. Really amazing sculpts, reasonable prices, and similar rules for US and DW. Spartan is a real front runer on these kind of games. And their availability and quality really shows.
Dystopian Wars: VSF. Tons of amazing models and great variety and choice. Several of us are already collecting, so I think it should be knocked off the list for that reason. I want something that we all start fresh on (forget that when you get to Necromunda, below). But man the figs are nice. Haven't read the rules.
Necromunda/Mordheim: an old favorite. I have a bunch of the gangs and all the rules and terrain. And proxy figs abound, as well as sourcing on ebay. It always broke down as you progressed through a campaign and balance was a problem. but it sure is fun. Its's really the scale the GW rules actually work well at.
Infinity:I have talked about my budding interest in this game. Its mechanics are fun and solid and would fit our stle of play. However its not really a 6-8 player game, and the figs are potentially prohibitavley expensive.
Freebooters Fate: A very well reviewed game that is a fantasy pirate game with some interesting mechanics that focus on individual combat and card driven resolution.
Kings of War: A wildcard. Mantic is doing a Kickstarter campaign for there upcoming realease of their Fantasy Battle Game: Kings of War. Cheap armies that look pretty good on the table. I particularly like the Orcs and undead. If we pooled our money we could get some pretty great stuff. This is the only large battle set on the list. simply beacuase of the affordability of the models. You could buy 3 armies of these guys for the cost of one of some of the games on this list.
?: I am certainly open to suggestions.
I did leave out the WWWII stuff we talked about last night. It is a possiblility as well I guess.
OK guys. Lets do this...
