Tag Archives: tabletopwargamer blog

Danger on Outpost 32!

Posted on by

I really do need to keep track of time.  Really I do, as I seem to have lost a couple of months.  I blame the summer holidays from the schools.  Having the three little demons at home has thrown me for six and no mistake.  My own work output has dropped by about half over the last eight weeks.  Leaving aside the fact that I personally think that eight weeks is WAY too long for children to have off school (poor overworked teachers they say, what about all of us who work on while they relax for twice the time I get off in a whole year!) my reason for this post is to announce a return to normal once more with my next project about to go on general release as of the end of this week.

Danger on Outpost 32

This follows up on the WIP posts from back in May.  Have a read of those for the concepts and so on behind the USE ME Starter Packs and the over all plan.  But DOOP32 (catchy eh!) is all you need to play in a handy box which, trust me on this, is really good for carrying about your current Flintloque project too.  A rulebook, two dice, twenty seven miniatures and twenty seven bases along with a set of sheets with three scenarios and rosters.  The miniatures are from the HOF range and the SHM range and include some crackers such as the Prang that Eli Arndt designed for the range. Packed full of Fun!

You will be able to see more images once it is uploaded to the site along with a link to download a PDF of the included sheets, so you can read them and use them if you already have the rules and miniatures to hand.

DOOP32 was a small project that came about due to some conversations mainly with Chris Knowles (head blogger on Dropship Horizon blog) and a few dozen requests from customers who desired to get a whole game in a box for USE ME.  It was about fifteen hours work all in.  A testament to the rugged simplicity of the rules system and the 15mm scale.   I do not know how well it will sell but time will soon tell and I await wargamer responses with eager nervousness.  One additional point worthy of mention is that many of the requests for a starter pack was that it be affordable as most wargamers are working to a tight budget these days.  Well I took this on board and DOOP32 is very affordable at only twenty pounds which is spot on budget for what you get.

You can see the whole USE ME Series on 15mm.co.uk.

GBS

Eve Hallow gets a Wargaming Blog!

Posted on by

 

In a crypt near me a creature stirs from its slumber to emerge into the world of wargaming…that creature is none other than my good friend Eve Hallow.  Now that is not his real name, and it is a he, for apart from his luscious locks he does not much look like a lady. Like some other gamers he likes a ‘handle’ when online.  Eve lives near me in Ayrshire and as a result we can get together now and then for a game or two.  His favourite systems include HOF Fire-Team, USE ME Eldritch Horror and something called Warhammer 40k as well.  In addition to gaming he also is a fine figure painter and dabbles in sculpting too.

You can visit his wargaming blog to learn more about what he and I have been up to in the last month or so.  I have also linked it in my blog roll to the right as well.

We can expect to hear more of Eve Hallow in the next wee while as he has entered his first ever miniature into the SHM range and he has also painted up four of Fjodin’s SHM 15mm Alien Creatures too for use on 15mm.co.uk later this season.  You can also expect some AAR’s as well as we lock horns playing 15mm sci-fi, perhaps MOTH too and if he is brave enough some Flintloque.

Until then Stay Ghoul!  (Terrible pun, but he said it first!)

GBS

Rob Alderman has a video look at HOF Fire-Team

Posted on by

Congrats to Rob Alderman, talented painter and miniature sculpter and all around good guy, for posting up a video review of HOF Fire-Team on his Voodoo Orc channel on You Tube.  He read a posting by the rules author of the game Bob Minadeo in which Bob pointed out that despite being playtested and bought by hundreds of 15mm sci-fi wargamers he had yet to see any review of the rules.  Well I like to read independent reviews (or watch them as in this case) and also had through it odd that there were no reviews of HOFFT while USE ME has had at least a dozen I know of.

Rob says he will be doing more posts about the game and perhaps even a couple of live play through examples too. Plus possible hobby articles like my own ones on TTWG blog about HOFFT tiles and scenics.  I look forward to this!

I have known Rob for about five years now and he always impresses me as a designer and as a person.  Keep up the good work lad!

Oh, and congratulations also to Harlequin Han on getting a 1st in her Fine Art degree…she is too good for the likes of you now Rob 🙂

GBS

Tabletop Wargaming blog goes live!

Posted on by

Today is a grand day as it is the day that I release my own purpose build wargame blog on the world!  TableTopWargamer.Blogspot.Co.Uk

This blogger blog is quite seperate to my presence here and it will only deal with my wargaming projects.  These projects will include everything I do personally and for the company too including playtesting, battle reports, figure painting and more.  So if you see something on Barking Irons Online from this point it will most likely be on TableTopWargamer too.

Why announce this today…well its down to the first project I have undertaken on TableTopWargamer.  Scenarios for HOF Fire-Team.  The first of these has just gone live and you can see here and look at an AAR on the scenario on the new blog too.  Nice tie in eh!

I will make some announcements here about TableTopWargamer but the two sites are very different beasts so there will be little in common posting’s wise.  See you on the bloggosphere!

GBS

A week of Admin and Planning

Posted on by

Am I the hand or the mite?

Those of you who come regularly to this blog will have noticed that my usual rate of a post or two every couple of days has slowed. In fact a few emails have arrived asking after me so it seems only fair for me to tell you all what is going on.  Simply put for the last week or so I have been working on a few needed but not creative projects which include mailing lists for 15mm.co.uk (see the Mail Chimp post), catching up with paperwork, clearing the inbox at work in the email, learning new web software, speaking to a professional webmaster and lastly my wargaming blogger blog.  It has left me with little ‘oomph’ for posting.

While all this is tedious and you do not wish to hear about it the last one on that list I just gave is fun, fun fun.  I will post about it properly when ready but for now I will say that I am now on Blogger and have amassed a few postings and pictures and I am working on some scenarios for use on Barking Irons Online.  The game…HOF Fire Team.

So normal service will be resumed soon….I assure you all.

GBS

Blogger and Wargaming

Posted on by

Over the last week or so I have watched with  interest some messages posted on The Notables Yahoo Group about why the majority of the wargames I have created or maintain do not have ‘a big presence on the net’.  You might think this strange what with this blog along with the official company websites and Barking Irons Online plus Orcs in the Webbe and other websites all having our material but that is not what the posting was really about.  To me the posting which kicked off this discussion (and confirmed by those who replied to it) was about Blogger.

You see the vast majority of wargamers who are online in their own right use Blogger, a simple and free tool provided by Google, to get their hobby across to the world.  Blogger is a community unto itself in that it links up among its own blogs and its users.  In fact in order to post on blogs like Tony Harwood’s I had to create a ‘Blogger ID’ even though I do not have a blogger blog.  So if you are on Blogger and you search for the wargame products I produce then you will not see them as none of the current online presences we have are part of Blogger.  Makes sense eh!

I had been thinking of putting up my own wargaming experiences, my collection, my terrain and my methods in the form of photos and perhaps video too and this is decided me.  I will do it and I will use Blogger as the platform for it. Separate to my online personal presence here.  When its done you will see all you want to see of my wargaming including the play testing and concept gaming for new games and scenarios.  This will take some time as I am as always ruddy busy with many things but more on this when I have it.

GBS