On Collecting Boardgames

I realized that my board game collection hit a stopping point when I ran out of space in the hall closet to store them. (No, devoting more space to board games is not an option.) The rate that I've been acquiring board games has slowed from the frenetic pace of a couple of years ago. I no longer pick up a new board game every month, but one every few months or so. Maybe. If it's on sale. In any case, a new game has to fill a new niche in the collection to justify the purchase. If a game does something that one I already own does better, why bother? This reasoning has slowed the growth of my collection, since it already covers a variety of niches.

Below is my current "working" collection of board games. It does not count games packed away in storage or miniature wargames.

• 7 Wonders
• 7 Wonders: Cities
• 7 Wonders: Leaders
• Arkham Horror
• Battlestar Galactica
• Bohnanza
• Nexus Ops
• Pandemic
• Pandemic: On the Brink
• The Resistance
• Small World
• Survive: Escape from Atlantis!

It is a relatively small collection, but it covers a range of game mechanics and themes.

There are some specific things I tend to look for in board games. How well a game does in these areas tends to outweigh all other considerations except for price. I have not yet broken the $100 mark when purchasing a board game and that is not likely to change.

Engaging game play. A new game has to present an interesting and novel challenge. 7 Wonders offers deck building with a civilization building theme. It does those things well enough for me not to go looking for another game to fill those roles.

Play time. My group typically plays on week nights. We also like to finish games. A game that can be completed in 1 - 2 hours or less will get played more than a 4+ hour marathon game that we might have to abandon midway through. In other words, Bohnanza and The Resistance hit the table more often than Battlestar Galactica.

Theme. I would have rated this much higher at one point, but the tastes of my group are a more flexible than I once thought. There is still a preference for games with a strong tactical, sci-fi, or fantasy theme. However, Bohnanza won everyone over with its simple rules, trading mechanic, quick play time, and competitive play. Introducing Arkham Horror to a group with no other Lovecraft fans was risky, but the games sold itself on its own merits during the times we played it. The length of Arkham Horror has placed it firmly in the "special occasions" category, though.

Looking at the hall closet, I think I can squeeze in a couple more games if I rearrange things. The last game I got was Nexus Ops, which filled the Risk / Axis & Allies combat game niche. I guess I'll have to go over some reviews to figure out what to get next. Been hearing good things about King of Toyko and Flashpoint: Fire Rescue...

Hotz Mats – Standard Felt River Systems Review and Comments on Service

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

- Theodore Roosevelt

Critical Mass Games 15mm scale ARC Fleet Infantry crossing a river section.

As a rule, I don't enjoy putting up negative posts on Over the Hill Gaming. Criticism is relatively easy. There are always ways to improve a product, a company, or a project. But doing just about anything is more challenging than it seems to be from the outside. Things like the quote above remind me of that simple fact.

Hotz Mats has drawn fire for slow service and a lack of response to emails. It has also been praised for quick turn around times. I have no interest in that debate. This post simply reflects my experience with this particular product and the process that I went through in acquiring it.

A curved section joining a bend in between two straight sections.

From Ordering to Delivery

• Placed order on March 9, 2013.
• Received email from Paypal confirming payment on March 10.
• Received email from Eric Hotz confirming order on March 10. The email states: "Please allow at least 5 weeks for delivery, but you should have your purchase much sooner."
• Sent email to Eric Hotz to check the status of my order on April 21. No reply received.
• Sent email to Eric Hotz pointing out that it was 12 weeks since the order was placed on June 6. No reply received.
• Sent email to Eric Hotz asking about the status of my order on July 16. No reply received.
• Notice on the Hotz Arts website posted in the News section on August 31. Eric Hotz mentions getting caught up on the backlog and "a long series of family crises that started back in mid-2012" that delayed production.
• Order delivered in early September 2013.

River junction section joining three straight river sections.

The Product

The Hotz Mats' 2 Inch Wide Standard Felt River Systems Set is made up of 15 sections. They range from 12 inch long straight river sections, small curved sections, and a small river junction section. The total length of all 15 sections is 9.5 feet. This is more than enough for most games. Wider River Systems Sets (3 and 4 inch) are shorter with fewer sections.

The quality of the 2 Inch Standard River Systems Set is acceptable, especially considering the low price ($14.00 USD, including shipping). The sections are made of fairly dense felt and seem durable enough for extended use. The effect of the sections at tabletop distances is convincing. Both 15mm and 28mm scale figures work well with the river sections.

Overall, the product is a good balance between appearance and cost.

Please note that the product is no longer linked from the main page of the Hotz Mats' site. However, the Felt River Systems product page is still accessible from this link.

A Cygnar Ironclad Heavy Warjack and Commander Coleman Stryker defend a small bridge.

Personal Opinion

I understand about personal issues and how they can drain the energy out of the rest of a person's life. Dealing with a crisis can make everything else seem meaningless. On the other hand, I can understand the frustration expressed by critics and their arguments about committing to doing a job after accepting a customer's money.

There is a lot of criticism and a lot of praise for Hotz Mats. Personally, I have a mixed opinion. I'm not happy with the delay and the lack of response to my emails, but I understand why. I did receive my order and the product does what I purchased it for.

Will I order from Hotz Mats again? I'm still thinking that over. There are a couple of items that I'm interested in and the prices are reasonable.

Am I looking at other options for mats and road sections? Sure, but I'm always on the look out for good deals on quality terrain.

Workbench #8 - Hexagon Construction Missile Silo and Communications Station

Here are a couple more results of playing with Hexagon Construction Sets. Details on this product and earlier terrain pieces can be found here. Both of these are works in progress.

Missile Silo

This depicts the launch site for a large missile - an ICBM or a surface-to-space warhead delivery system for planetary defense. The structure represents the above ground portion of a mostly underground missile silo. One of the arms would give access to a stairwell or elevator to the underground portions of the silo complex.

Opening silo, preparing for launch.

The silo covers are partly open to make it clear what it is intended to be. At the moment, I've been going through my bits collection for a suitable missile cone to place in the silo.

Communications Center

Why are we always guarding these things?

This represents a communications building made from modular components. The arms of the structure contain communications equipment and storage. Right now, I'm looking at options for an antennia for the central hex-shaped area.

Space Coins! The Futuristic Metal Coins Kickstarter by Minion Games

Space cash.

These shiny trinkets are rewards for backing the Futuristic Metal Coins Kickstarter by Minion Games. They showed up in my mailbox a couple of weeks ago.

I picked these up for two purposes:

• Cash tokens for board games. Which was Minion Games' original purpose in making them.
• Props for the players while roleplaying in futuristic settings.

Overall, these are very nice. The coins are metal, so they have weight and make a pleasing sound as they shift around. Most of the coins are two color, making it easier to distinguish them. All of the coins have two sides.

I understand that Minion Games will have a surplus of these after fulfilling their Kickstarter backer rewards. There is talk of selling them off to non-backers at some point.

Painting By Numbers #12 - Khurasan Miniatures' Dethroids

On the move, looking for trouble.

These are the Dethroids from Khurasan Miniatures' Planet 15 line. They come in a pack of four bodies with five separate heads - four Blasroid heads and one Overroid head. The Blasroids are armed with a prominent "heavy antimatter cannon" and no sense of humor. The Overroid is equipped with what I assume is a sensor array.

The backstory on the Khurasan Miniatures site depict them as pitiless, warlike creatures inside armored shells that double as life support systems. It fits well into the cinematic feel of the Planet 15 line. I'm not going to speculate on the inspiration for this background.

The miniatures resemble reconnaissance robots from a popular sci-fi franchise. The detailing is very good for 15mm figures. In-setting, the danging arms would give them an ability to manipulate objects that, for example, a single arm fitted with a plunger would not.

Trouble located.

The paint job was straightforward:

• Spray primer.
• Reaper Russet Brown (09199) basecoat.
• Citadel Badab Black Wash to bring out the details.
• First metallic layer - Citadel Tin Bitz, applied with heavy drybrushing.
• Second metallic layer - Citadel Shining Gold, applied with light drybrushing as a highlight.
• Reaper LED Blue (09288) to pick out the sensor details on the Overroid head.
• Testors Dullcote seal.

I plan on using these figures as advanced robotic units for 15mm scale games. The cannon-armed ones can be the rank-and-file combat robots. The sensor-equipped one can be a command-and-control or reconnaissance robot. All four could be a scouting unit or a heavy weapons team.

Warsenal Terrain

Close up of Warsenal's Communications Array.

Warsenal is a company that appeared on my radar through a series of ads on Facebook. Their focus is on making 28mm scale sci-fi terrain as well as plastic tokens for Infinity. I took advantage of a sale they were running late last year to purchase a few pieces. These two pieces are the first I've had the chance to put together and paint. I'll post about the others as I assemble and paint my way through the order.

Small Shipping Container

This is exactly what the name implies - a futuristic cargo crate scaled for 28mm. The material is laser cut MDF. Curiously, it lacks the burnt smell I've experienced with other laser cut MDF products.

Construction was easy. The pieces fit tightly - a little tacky glue is enough to hold things together. There are no printed instructions included with the kit. Instead, Warsenal posted an assembly video on YouTube. In many ways, seeing someone actually put the thing together is better than trying to figure out some pictures. On the other hand, I wish Warsenal zoomed in on some of the process. Also, having to rewatch parts of the video as I tried to follow along got annoying. These are minor gripes, though.

The Small Shipping Container is generic enough to fit into a variety of sci-fi settings. Much of its appearance depends on the paint job. A light paint job works for something like Infinity. A little darker and more worn for Star Wars. Much darker and more worn for certain grim futures.

Small Cargo Container pictured with Reaper Miniatures' Sarah Blitzer.

The doors can be removed without modifying the piece. This opens up some options for dioramas. It also has possibilities for an ambush scenario, since the Small Cargo Containers are large enough to contain a 28mm figure inside with the doors in place.

I decided on a quick and easy approach for the paint job. The first step used a grey auto body spray primer. The paint used was Krylon Camouflage with Fusion. The basecoat for the frame was olive and the basecoat for the doors was khaki.


Communications Array

This is a multi-station data access point scaled for 28mm. The structure is made of laser-cut MDF. The screens and antennae are made of acyclic.

The construction was a little challenging. I recommend watching the assembly video to get a feel for the process before starting to fit things together. Tacky glue is necessary to hold the pieces in place. The screens fit well enough without glue, which would be visible through the clear plastic.

Full view of the Communications Array.

The appearance of the Communications Array is generic enough to fit in a variety of sci-fi settings. The lack of skulls might make it a little conspicuous on some tables, though.

The paint job was another quick and easy one. Grey autobody spray primer followed by a Citadel Codex Grey basecoat. Next, I drybrushed on a little white mixed with Codex Grey. The last step was attaching the screens. I may do more with the dish array on top, but I'm holding off for now. Sometimes it's best to say "good enough" and move on to other projects.

Ashen Stars - Reflect, Reorient, Reboot

Our group's Ashen Stars game went on hiatus earlier this year. After running two published adventures, something felt off. That unease grew as I read through the other published adventures. Unable to put my finger on it, I put the game on pause while we tried other games.

But that feeling didn't go away.

There was the potential for a good game in Ashen Stars. One that I wanted to run. A better one than I had been running. Where was it?

There could be no ongoing story if I was running a series of unrelated published adventures. I knew that going in. The whole point was to test-drive the game without a major creative commitment. That wasn't the issue.

I had a hard time working the characters arcs into the game. The first two adventures I ran had no room for them. The ones that were in the pipeline didn't either. That bothered me.

I talked about it with the players. They pointed out that, of the two adventures they played, neither had a conclusion that flowed from what the player characters discovered before. They felt that there were no real hints to what the ending would reveal. The solutions felt outside the context of the adventures. From their perspective, it would be like Sherlock Holmes find out that the criminals were the Martians from H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds.

It was good feedback. The issue may have been with those two specific adventures or my handling of them. But that explanation didn't satisfy me.

I thought it over some more. Then it hit me. There was a core issue that I needed to address.

Our group restarted the campaign. A complete reset with new characters and character arcs linked to an ongoing plot. That would provide a solid narrative structure that the previous campaign lacked. The first session was right before the holidays.

More importantly, I dumped the game that I ended up running for the game I wanted. I didn't want space police procedurals of the week with the player characters as interstellar private eyes poking around for clues, finding bodies, interviewing witnesses, and getting in over their heads. In particular, reading through Ashen Stars' attempt at noir left me cold.

Ashen Stars and GUMSHOE should be able to handle more than space cops.

There is a cycle that exists in most TV space opera stories. Star Trek, Babylon 5, classic and reimagined Battlestar Galactica, and Firefly all use it to some extent.

• The crew gets involved in a situation.
• The crew gathers information and takes action.
• As a result of that action, the crew gather more information.
• Now better informed, the crew takes further action.
• This cycle continues until the crew has enough information to take actions to resolve the situation.

In these stories, the crew is not explicitly looking for clues to solve a mystery. (Unless the episode is a mystery story this week.) They are getting information and working out how to solve a problem with that information. A key difference between a mystery and a space opera story is when the action takes place. A mystery is about what happened, how it happened, and why it happened. A space opera story is about what is happening, why it is happening, and how to resolve it before past tenses are used to describe it.

What I want is a space opera game. What I was presented with was a mystery game. Fortunately, Ashen Stars and GUMSHOE can do both.

Looking at the published materials with new eyes, I can see the game I want there. It is supported by some of the published adventures. Unfortunately, those adventures are not enough to hang a campaign on. An ongoing plot of my own devising was in order.

And so, a casting off of baggage, a break in continuity, and a fresh start for a game with a little less Mike Hammer and a little more Mass Effect.

Workbench #7 - Hexagon Construction Landing Pad and Industrial Spire

These are a couple of new terrain pieces built from a pair of Hexagon Construction Sets. The sets are currently distributed in the United States by Pegasus Hobbies. These have been available for awhile, so you likely have seen them before in some form.

A Large and Small Set caught my eye back at Millennium Con. I've been interested in picking them up for awhile now, but not enough to place an online order. But with two of them sitting right there with some cash burning a hole in my pocket, well...

...I've been playing around with them ever since.

My understanding is that the Hexagon Construction Sets were originally made for a Russian wargame scaled for 25mm. They comfortably scale for anything from 15mm to 28mm with a little management of details like ladders. The doors are undersized for 28mm, assuming that the doors are intended to be walked rather than crawled through.

The parts are well detailed with high tech looking greebles. The overall appearance of a finished assembly tends towards unrefined and functional. A terrain piece made from these sets would fit in well with a gothic or steampunk aesthetic.

All of the parts are made of plastic and are held together by plastic clips. Different clips allow for the parts to be assembled at different angles. I did run into an issue with flash on the sprues gumming up a few of the clips. However, the large number of clips available on the sprues make this a minor concern.

Landing pad ramp-side view with two Titan Marines (15mm) and a Sky Scorcher for scale.

This piece fills a hole in my terrain collection - a landing pad and ramp. The design is based loosely on a couple of pieces I saw at Millennium Con 12+1 in 2010. The pad itself is built from 1 half-hexagonal and 6 hexagonal parts. It is supported by 6 rectangular parts. 6 parts originally intended as 25mm scale handrails act as buttresses to reinforce the whole structure. The ramp is built from 2 rectangular parts reinforced with 2 smaller "handrail" parts. The structure is quite sturdy and lightweight. Unpainted.

Landing pad alternate view with Sarah Blitzer (28mm) for scale.

The landing pad is ideal for 15mm. Every 15mm-compatible flying craft in my collection fits on the pad with plenty of room to spare. Of course, that might change if I ever buy some behemoth of a dropship. Using the pad for 28mm scale is a little more problematic. A small shuttle or flying car would fit, though.

Industrial Spire with a Titan Marine (15mm) and Sarah Blitzer (28mm) for scale.

This industrial looking piece is an exercise in what I could make with a bunch of triangular parts. It could be an atmosphere processor, a solar power station, or a widget replicator, However, I think we all know its main job is to block lines of sight. The piece is intended to work with 15mm or 28mm scale figures. Unpainted.

I'm still playing around with the considerable amount of parts still in the sets. The large square parts look handy for a larger structure. The smaller parts have possibilities for scatter terrain once the bigger ones are used up. Overall, I'm glad I picked up these sets.

Millenniumcon 16 Saturday Morning

The second of two games I played at Millenniumcon 16 last weekend. This was one of the best morning convention games I have ever attended - the hosts brought donuts, kolaches, and coffee.

Wolves from the Sea

Saturday morning slot. GMs: Matt Kibbe and Adam Rios.

Best. Morning. Game. EVER.

Saga is a miniatures skirmish game set during the Dark Ages by Gripping Beast. It is a historical game, but not in the sense of accurately modelling combat in a specific period. Rather, it depicts what might be said about a particular battle after the fact. The kinds of tales that come out late in the evening after a few drinks, a fine repast, and a few more drinks. This was another game I heard about from Meeples and Miniatures and looked forward to giving a try.

This was an open demonstration. Players were paired off against each other and given a selection of four point armies to choose from. I ended up playing the Irish against the Vikings. The scenario started with the warlords from both sides already in close combat range and the rest of their armies deploying on the edges of the board.

Overall setup. Both mats were divided, allowing 8 players to play in 4 simultaneous games.

First Impressions - Pros:

The core game system is light and fast. Granted, this was a stripped-down demonstration game, but all of the players seemed to pick up the rules quickly. Play time was roughly two hours, including instruction time.

The Irish and the Vikings have a very different flavor and rely on different tactics. The Irish use missile fire to soften up their opponents as the range closes. The Vikings favor melee combat. The special abilities of each faction further add to their strengths.

The custom Saga dice determine what a player can do with his army on a particular turn. Units (other than the warlord) must be allocated dice to act in a given turn. Symbols and combinations of symbols can activate special abilities.

The action on the board is very fluid. Units move up to engage and losing units fall back. The back and forth maintains focus. My attention never wondered far from the board, even when it was my opponent's turn.

First Impressions - Cons:

I generally regard "I-go, you-go" initiative as a weakness in a system. It is not as noticeable in Saga. The fluid nature of the game results in relatively little down time during the other player's turns. The period also helped. There were no large fields of fire to encourage players to hunker down in cover and result in a static game.

Each faction has their own custom Saga dice. Each set of six dice costs around $20.00 USD. I regard that as a little on the expensive side.

Overall:

I had a fun time. The game is challenging and kept my attention until the end. Saga is a candidate for my next game, but I have a number of projects to complete until I can take on a new period.

Millenniumcon 16 Friday Night

Millenniumcon 16 was held in Round Rock, TX last weekend. I only managed to play in two games due to a combination of schedule conflicts and game slots filling up. Of course, that's double the number of games I get on a "good" weekend, so I'm pretty happy with that.

Chain of Command Boot Camp

Friday night slot. GM: Tom Primrose.

Central board set up and initial deployments.

Chain of Command is a game that I've been interested in trying since hearing about on the Meeples and Miniatures podcast. It's a WWII platoon level skirmish game by Two Fat Lardies. Normally, I don't play much in the way of historical games, but this one caught my attention.

This was a demonstration game offering a taste of the system without getting bogged down. The scenario featured an American patrol and a German patrol running into each other in the ruins of a European town. The GM took us through force construction, the patrol phase, using command points, the initiative mechanics, and combat.

American G.I.s pile in and around a ruined house for cover.

First Impressions - Pros:

Chain of Command force construction is based on historical deployments. This helps to avoid the "Tiger Problem" found in some WWII games. No showing up to a minor skirmish in a no-name town with every last Tiger tank historically deployed to this part of the front.

The patrol phase and the fact that neither side starts with forces on the board gives the game a very different feel. It avoids the race line start seen in many other miniature games. Instead, two forces grope to find the enemy and scramble to get available forces into the fight.

The initiative system uses dice to determine which units can activate in a particular round. Officers can use command points to activate other units. Senior officers can activate more units than junior officers since they have more command points. A unit with an attached officer is more flexible than one without an officer. This shows the importance of leadership on the battlefield.

The game succeeds at showing the differences between national armies. Each American rifleman had good firepower in the M1 Garand, but the BAR could only provide limited support. This had the effect of spreading out American firepower. Every rifleman not getting in line of sight to a target led to a measurable loss of firepower.

On the other hand, German infantry was armed with a bolt-action rifle, but was supported by belt-fed machine guns with a rapid rate of fire. This meant that their firepower was concentrated in those machine guns. Getting the machine guns into position was the critical part of maneuvering for the Germans.

Decision point: German infantry deploy to stop the American advance.

First Impressions - Cons:

The game never really came together for me. Every rule makes sense - I understand and approve of the logic behind each individual rule. But I never felt those rules flowing together into a system. The game remained a collection of rules. Part of this might be lack of repeated play or the convention experience of splitting a side up among multiple players.

Endgame: the Americans wipe out the defending Germans with a courageous, but costly charge.

Overall:

This is a good game and I had a good time with it. The tactical challenges were interesting and the game was close up until the end. Chain of Command is a game I'll be keeping an eye on, but it might not be my next game.