British platoon complete(ish)

Been chipping away at my Plastic Soldier Co. Brits. Finally got the bulk of my platoon done, including a field artillery observer, sniper, medics, NCOs, etc. along with the regular foot soldiers. Still have a MMG and mortar team to paint up, along with a paratrooper PIAT team. Once I get my Bren carriers done I should be finished. So a tad more to do but the end is in sight for that pile of unpainted plastic on my bench.

While I had bitched some about the lack of detail for some of the figures, they really did turn out pretty well. Overall I’m happy with how the platoon painted up. I was super lazy with these figures sticking with a single sepia ink wash. I might revisit them with some more highlights via dry brushing. Will have to consider that. For now, they are sealed and ready for the table. Now I have to consider working on my Germans…

Zombicide house rules

I enjoy Zombicide. I don’t feel it’s a fantastic game but it’s enjoyable. There are a few fiddly bits with the game that I don’t care for. One huge issue is the shooting. Mechanically it’s too unforgiving with the targeting priority. While I do think survivors should be at a risk in getting hit, the automatic hits applied to them is too much.

Another thing I don’t like is that with every player using a single survivor, it’s possible they can get eliminated and have to sit out the entire game. Zombicide almost works better with 3-4 people playing instead of 6, as you’ve got some survivors to pass off to another player if one of them becomes zombie chow.

So I made up some house rules. One big change is the shooting. Players are not automatically hit. Instead missed dice from shooting attacks are passed to the survivor in the target zone. On a 1-2 they are hit. I like this as there is less of a chance a fellow player will be hit, but the threat is still there. For weapons that roll a lot of dice (like submachine guns), this can be especially deadly. While a single shot weapon like a pistol are less likely to hit another player.

I also have a rule for players getting a chance to get their last survivor back on the table. It seems the new expansion for Zombicide circumvents this with a zombie version of the players. I think that was certainly something good to add to the game. For as light as a game this is it’s no fun sitting out a game, especially when Zombicide can run a little long. So I have something similar you can also use in the base game.

Happy Holidays

I sincerely hope folks have a happy holidays. Sort of a strange time of the year for me in Korea as it always feels somewhat like Christmas is around the corner, but not quite. So I hope people are able to get with friends and family over the next few weeks (or with them now, happy Hanukkah!). I also hope folks are able to have some time to get a little gaming in too. Cheers!

“Bring the salt” – Superstitions in your game

My wife is Korean. Last year there was a death in the family and I was unable to travel to another city for the funeral. Late at night my wife returned and from the parking lot downstairs she called me, “Come downstairs and bring the salt.” No clue why she wanted it but I comply with the wishes of my CO. As I come to her car she steps out and grabs a palmful of salt tossing it over herself and then tossed some over the top of her car. Walking up to our apartment she called back over her shoulder, “To ward off evil spirits.”

Four is a big no no over here. Four is a number aligned with the same word for death and loss so it’s avoided. Giving cash gifts (a common practice) you never give away increments of 4. 30,000 and 50,000 won is okay, but 40,000 is an insult. It’s so pervasive you can’t even find an option to take out 40,000 or 400,000 from ATM machines.

Now as an American I sometimes roll my eyes at stuff like this, but I realize Americans do similar things too. Next time you are in an elevator for a highrise office building, see if you can find a button for floor 13. Once when it was pouring here in Korea I walked in with a dripping wet umbrella. My coworker took it from my hands and opened it up out in the hallway. For a brief instant I thought about bad luck, then I realized how clever it was to allow the umbrella to dry quickly exposing more surface area (rather than being bunched up when it is closed). Cultures have superstitions, and it’s amazing how pervasive they are.

For RPGs, superstitions are a great way to add some local color to a city or people. Further it’s something that can go beyond religious beliefs, being part of the culture for a group. Maybe every doorway holds a simple wind chime to ward off spirits. Maybe for every cup of ale one drinks in the local tavern, you dip in your thumb and press it on the table while you take the first draught. These small details can bring a lot of life to the fantasy world you create and even better, allow for some local flavor from town to town rather than it being another nondescript village.

Superstitions are also ripe for adventure fodder. In a world of fantastic creatures maybe there is a hint of truth to every dark superstition. It’s quite possible that a village hovel that doesn’t mark its doorway with a sigil might have some foul creature come at nightfall. Maybe players failing to follow a superstitious ritual are shunned, or given dire warnings (with ghostly consequences if they don’t follow a local custom). Not all superstitions have to be in place to ward off evil but could be done to avoid mischievous spirits.

Special events can also provide a backdrop for adventures. Festivals and a customary dinner revolving around a ritual can work too. While the players might be included as friendly participants, maybe they are considered outsiders and not welcome as part of the festivities. Maybe petty jealousies among villagers could lead to one fouling an offering or superstitious ward of a neighbor, bringing about some unforeseen horrible fate. Consider our Halloween and the Jack-O’-Lantern. What if a rival decided to smash his neighbor’s pumpkin in spite to bestow a bit of bad luck? Instead of some slight misfortune, the neighbor’s child is spirited away to the Fey. This could be a great setup for a one-shot adventure.

So the next time you describe a small village, consider looking at superstitions. They can offer an easy means to add some interesting detail to the locale and people, breathing a small amount of life into your world. They might even be a great source for a session’s adventure.

Top places for miniature wargame supplies in Seoul

While board games and CCGs have a lot of popularity in Korea, miniature wargames seem quite the niche hobby here. A while back during holiday at home I scooped up some of my 15mm Russians for Flames of War. I figured during the winter months I could enjoy some weekend mornings doing a bit of painting and finally get through that pile of unpainted metal I had stored away. When I really started looking around I found it exceptionally difficult getting the typical supplies I wanted for painting and modeling. So I thought I’d share some of my efforts to any expats.

As a first caveat to this, my Korean is abysmal. I am certain if I had a better command of the language the process would be easier tracking down materials. Korea is very much an online shopping country. There are likely places I’ve missed that have a larger online presence than a walk in store mainly due to my ignorance with the local language.

However miniature wargaming also just doesn’t seem that popular of a pastime. There is an immense pressure on kids to study and private academies are all the rage. Free time is limited for kids and parents want them studying more. So pastimes that leave a smaller footprint around the house are likely more popular. It’s far easier for kids to carry around a CCG or sneak off to a PC bang (internet cafe for gaming) rather than lug around a painting bench and throw down a wargame table. It does seem for the folks that wargame, it’s much more popular for college students than for kids in high school.

Stationery and Art Supply Stores – Odd enough, stationery stores may very well carry some modeling and painting supplies. Give them a look and you might pleasantly be surprised. Foamcore board can typically be found as well as colored felt cloth. I’ve snagged packs for Woodland Scenics flock, plastic sheets from Plastruct, balsa wood, and other modeling material too. So you can pick up a few things to help in construction of terrain for your games from these places.

As painting supplies go, you can find a fair amount of brushes and can even get down to 10O sizes for model painting. I’ve even been able to snag some Apple Barrel craft paints. While I don’t use them for mini painting, they make great paints for terrain. So hobby and craft supplies can be picked up at these stationery stores. It just takes a bit of digging.

Neighbor Hobby – This is a fantastic place if military models are your thing as there is a great selection of kits. Unfortunately for fans of Bolt Action, they carry only Tamiya 1/48 models, but they seem to have a full selection from that line. As 1/72 and 1/76 scale kits go though, they have a great selection of tanks, soldiers, and terrain. They also have several 1/72 scale buildings too.

What does this place for me though is the paint selection. There is a wide selection of paints from Testors, Tamiya, AK Interactive, MIG, as well as my go to for miniature painting, Vallejo. It’s a wonderful selection for both brush and airbrush painters. They also carry a complete selection of Testors and Tamiya sprays. They also have brushes and other modelling supplies. Well worth checking out and they do online orders as well.neighborhobbyb

To get there isn’t too difficult. Take subway line 2 to Hongik University and get off exit number 3. You need to cross the street and footpath park, and then take a side street. Once it ends, then go right and you will hit a main street. From there go left and it will be in an office building on your left.neighborhobbyc

Orc Town – Likely the most popular wargame store in Seoul, Orc Town is one that is Games Workshop-centric. They also dabble in other game systems like Infinity, Flames of War, Bolt Action, Firestorm Armada, and Dust. What is particularly nice about this store is they carry Citadel paints and supplies, especially matte spray and primer (for typical costs). My biggest complaint is that for some products the prices are horrendously expensive and well above retail (seems to include shipping costs). Because of that, I’ve had a hard time justifying purchasing particular model and rulebooks here compared to buying from an international distributor. Still, having a shop where you can walk in and buy some paints is nice. Having one where you can get a bit of table space for gaming is even nicer.

Tamiya Models – On the first floor of the shopping center at the Yongsan train station is an official Tamiya Model store. For a military wargamer this is a fair place to pick up paints and hobby supplies. They have full stocks of enamel and water-based acrylic paint sets. They also have brushes, cement, and other modeling supplies (plastic styrene sheets and other model building material). I find the prices reasonable for Tamiya model kits and for plastic cement and other modeling tools (which can be a bear to find anywhere locally) it’s a great place to shop.

As the gaming figures go, if you are a Bolt Action fan they have a decent selection of 1/48 scale armor and vehicles along with some figure sets. 1/72 scale options are lacking save for planes and 1/35 is the other popular scale for military models. Additionally scenic materials are also lacking. But if you want to track down a particular 1/48 vehicle or historically accurate paints, the Tamiya store is not a bad choice. TamiyaSeoul

International distributors – Lastly you can always order online and pony up for international shipping. I have had spray paints sent overseas and worked with many stores over the years. It can be done, but expect some costs for shipping. I’ve always gone the route of making a large ($150-250) order to offset the shipping costs. Getting a few paints is exceedingly expensive. It’s best to wrap more goodies into that shipping charge. Because of this, you want to look around for stores that sell other types of games. While you might save a few dollars from one online store selling just paints, using another that lets you also include board games and RPG books into your order is a better choice.

There is a very small wargaming community in Korea but we exist. Hope those into the hobby can find some of this useful for picking up models and supplies for their bench top.

New boxed set for Firestorm Armada

I’m sorta going through a love/hate relationship with Spartan Games. I think they sort of painted themselves in a corner with Firestorm Armada. They cranked out a hardback book to be a ‘definitive’ edition of the rules, then realized the game was not as deep as they wanted. The core mechanics are sound and there was some variation in the ship designs and systems but it just barely scratched the surface. The MARs (Model Assigned Rules) only dabbled a bit with different units and never really expanded beyond a few models. It’s a shame as with all the different races there was certainly room to expand on that concept more. With Dystopian Wars, they really saw how popular MARs was with players and having nation/faction bonuses really made the game more interesting.

A short while back I stumbled across an announcement of a FA 2.0 rulebook which had some details on the new direction of the game. Now being announced is Storm Zone: Battle for Valhalla which is a new boxed set. It looks pretty neat and has rules, tokens, dice, 2 starter fleets, tactic cards, and what looks like cool fighter stands. The price is pretty hefty tagging in about $130 USD, but it looks like you get 2 complete fleets with the set. I really dig the look of the new Terran fleet models and have to say Spartan Games seem to be really improving their sculpts.

One thing that stands out for me are the Tactic Fleet cards. I sort of liked the STAR deck as an addition to the base game. A form of short term bonuses you could employ for your fleet and the more ships you had, the larger your hand (meaning the more options available). It looks like it’ll be tweaked some but I like that FA is dabbling into this somewhat. How core to the play experience is another question, but it may just be an option which would be nice. A little something to add a wrinkle to your typical session.

There is a slight cloud on the horizon with this game. Spartan Games seems to recognize a need to have material that can accommodate older players with the new edition. What worries me is they’ve seemed to have gone a Games Workshop route with a rapid turnover of the rules. I expect the models will be interchangeable, but having fans that have gone through 3 rule books in the space of 4 years seems pretty drastic. I’m certain some will throw in the towel with the game. However another part of me recognizes that they have to bite the bullet as they realized the rules just aren’t as robust as what people want. Core changes to ships and fleets need to be done to allow for some variety in the races, translating to different fleet tactics and a deeper game overall. I’m a little torn with the announcement of these rules. While I have some desire to pick them up, I also realize it’s plunking down another chunk of money while I ignore a growing stack of outdated books I currently own (and thank god I didn’t pick up Marauders of the Rift).

Painted Plastic Soldier Co. British

A short while back I talked about British minis from Plastic Soldier Co. which I thought were okay. The detail on the figs are pretty good but I have a few issues with them. I’ve been slowly painting up my platoon and been making fair progress.

I’ve been using Vallejo paints which has been a fairly new process for me over traditional paint pots and I did go through some rough spots. However I’m getting more comfortable and able to achieve uniform consistency with them now (should look into making a wet pallet). I’ve gone with a complete sepia ink wash for the minis to save a bit of time.

I also might have to go with single figure photos in the future and/or invest in a better camera. Still getting out of focus shots, not to mention I need a better lighting setup. Please forgive some of the crappy pics.

The backpacks have a fair amount of detail, but there is no crease in the miniature separating the top of the pack with the back of the figure, so I had to stick with painting my own line.

Some prone bren gun teams with a firing and loader figure .

Overall I’m happy with how the figures are painting up. For the price, it’s really a great deal and the models do paint up well (despite some grumbles I have with some of the detail).

State of Decay – Screw you lefties on the PC, but thanks for the cash.

For a while now on Steam the zombie survival game, State of Decay, has been out. It was in a ‘early-release’ state with some keyboard support, but mostly an early version of the game for people to tool around with and help find any major bugs. I picked it up and had fun with it, however there wasn’t any functional key binding. As a left-handed person being stuck with the WASD keys is pretty awkward. I dabbled in it for a while but with having to react and move quickly (not to mention long play sessions) it just wasn’t comfortable and downright unplayable for me. I wasn’t too miffed because I knew the game was in early release.

Now the game has rolled out as a full release and key binding is not supported. It’s slated for work to be rolled into another patch at some future date. What I take from this is that for a full feature release of the PC game, key mapping is not a critical aspect of the player experience. It’s window dressing. A nice feature to have but not critical to player enjoyment. I.E. For 10% of the PC users out there, we don’t feel that providing a feature for you to play this PC game is important to our overall market.

It blows my mind that PC games still lack key binding features. Undead Labs isn’t the only one to tell lefties to sit it out with their games. The Walking Dead from Telltale Games had a similar issue. While at least the arrow keys could be used for navigation. Having to rapidly use the Q and E keys for certain parts of the game sucked for lefties. Fortunately it wasn’t quite an action game and the player could make a mad scramble to another part of the keyboard. It wasn’t game breaking, but it sure wasn’t convenient.

Another nightmare was EA’s Dead Space. Somehow the arrow keys for that game were unmappable on the PC. I opted to adopt some weird numberpad layout to use for movement over the typical arrow keys I’d use. So with needing some quick moves and reactions, I’d occasionally goof up and end up munched. Also adopting a different hand posture on the keyboard made longer play sessions uncomfortable.

It’s unfortunate key mapping is still an issue for PC games. I don’t even bother trying to track down if remapping keys is supported. I just assume it’s a feature. But clearly some PC developers still consider it non-essential feature to be pushed off in a later patch (and in some cases never addressed). It sucks. I guess they get the last laugh as they have my money.

Undead Labs, be certain I won’t be buying any DLC until remapping is an option for your PC games. I get that I am a minority of users and it’s just not worth the effort from your company to provide us with tools to enjoy your games. But that doesn’t endear me to your product whatsoever. Hope in the future you consider key mapping a more critical aspect of your games.

Abilities vs skills

I occasionally get this being thrown around in different gaming conversations with how folks lament that skills are just awful in D&D. That it’s so much better just sticking with ability scores. That skills ‘limit’ roleplaying and finding solutions. I consider it poppycock and have been a champion for skills in D&D.

Skills and life experience just make sense, they help add another realistic layer to resolving tasks. Take a theoretical physicist. I’d garner that would translate to an above average INT score in D&D terms. Then take a normal Joe that graduated from high school (regular INT score) that works construction doing welding. Now give them a task of cutting through a locked metal door. Both could very well get the job done eventually.

Now throw them into a sinking ship and give them that same task of cutting through a locked metal door (much like what would model a typical RPG scenario). I think that regular Joe would get through the door in record time, while the physicist would be sleeping with the fishes. It’s not just raw abilities, we also make the use of skills and life experience all the time and even more so in pressure situations.

What also blows my mind is that 4E (and 3E before it) already does this! Skills are based on ability scores. So right off the bat that high charisma PC would likely have a silver tongue, and their diplomacy is above some regular person. It’s not a complete dissociation of ability scores and skills, but rather skill training that compliments natural ability.

I love this idea. It allows for greater flexibility with characters. You are not just a pile of raw ability stats, you can branch out and be good at other things. You can reach beyond just relying on how strong or smart your PC is. If you want to be a learned barbarian with knowledge in the arcana, you can do that and not be saddled if your intelligence score is somewhat average.

Not all skills fit the situation, however I liked the trend that 4E took with making skills be applicable in a broad number of situations. As a DM I think it’s better to remember the importance of pairing up a skill depending on the ability type it’s based on.

As an example in a Gamma World game I had a player trying to focus one of his ranged mutant powers in gravity to pop open an exploding barrel of goop. It was a tricky shot, something as a gut check I would say be based on dexterity, so I called out for an acrobatics check. I got this blank look for a moment. It didn’t register that acrobatics was a skill based on DEX. A dexterity check alone could have worked, but if a player had additional acrobatics skill they could get a bonus. If anything, it was a potential boon to the character depending on where their skill training lay.

I never saw this as a problem in the game. If anything it would encourage players to try different things and round out their character more than dumping everything into a skill or two. The broader the applications a skill could have, the more adept they would be at handling different situations. If anything, they were more confident of trying things rather than sitting back and letting the high charisma player do all the talking.

I’ll admit skills are not perfect for all systems. Savage Worlds has a big divergence between skills and traits. While it’s easier to pick up skills if you have a high strength, you actually need training in fighting to be good at it. However this isn’t seen in D&D.

In 4E particularly, the constant level bonus is sort of silly. Especially as the DCs are continually shifted up. I never quite liked that and felt it better to have just stuck with the idea of paragon and epic penalties that were in the DMG. If I run 4E games in the future, likely I’ll just have a bonus every 4 levels and keep all DC’s at level 1 (with appropriate tier penalties).

DnDnext has some nifty ideas. Most task resolutions revolve around ability scores, but there’s a bonus if trying to do certain tasks based on a skill mastery. It’s pretty close to what is in 4E right now. Still I wish skills were more prominent in DnDnext, but I guess that label of skills chafes at people.

So I encourage folks to not get mired down with terminology. Instead look at the mechanics underlying checks. It’s all based on ability scores you just have the added bonus of being able to train in specific skill sets. Allow that in your game. It’ll give the players freedom to work out a PC that is more unique than a set of six stats.Half-OrcWillingham

Plastic Soldier Company: British Troops

Slowly I’ve been making some progress with my Bolt Action troops. One manufacturer I’ve been gushing over is Plastic Soldier Company. They have pretty decent minis. However from my understanding the sculptures are done digitally. Hence the figures for 15mm are the same for 20 and 28mm. While they can get a lot of mileage out of the plans that way, at higher scales the detail in the figures get a little muddier.

I’ve picked up some WWII British from Plastic Soldier Co. and I’m pretty happy with them. However you really get more detail from the raised portion of the models. Creases, folds, and lines tend to get blurred some. For my British, this is especially noticeable with the back of the models and the packs they are wearing, where there really isn’t a nice fold in the miniature separating the depicted pack. If you look closely in the picture below, the kneeling figure has the stock of the rifle sort of blurring into the shoulder and arm some.

I’m certain this has been one reason why the jump to 28mm hasn’t been fully done yet. I do know some wargaming sites were floating around the blue boxes (28mm) to be released later in the year. Those have dried up and it looks like just the Russians are out. The red boxed 20mm seems to be the scale they are focusing on now. Maybe they’ll wait and see for the Russian figure line before going too heavy into 28mm.

The figures are pretty good though with a decent mix of poses and troop types. There are a few prone Bren gun teams, along with command and radio teams. The figures I have here were primed white with a wash of thinned black primer.

You get a good mix of regular troops and a few NCO types armed with sten smgs.

There are even sniper and medic figures.

Still you can’t beat the prices for these miniatures. I got a full platoon (66 figures) of British for $17.50. The going price for the 28mm kits (with over 50 models) is about $28. Compared to the price of the Warlord sets of $45 for 40 troops, it’s a great deal.

I’ll freely admit that the Warlord kits are fantastic. You really have lovely figures in those sets with a lot of potential variety of poses and the quality is top notch. However if you are really on a budget, it can be a bit steep. Having a cheaper alternative out there (especially if you wanted to dabble in another army) would be great. I hope Plastic Soldier Co. considers getting into 28mm more. As for 20mm scale, I’m very happy with my purchase. It was well worth the investment.