Cult Of Games XLBS: If You Could Only Play One Miniatures Game; What Would It Be?!
December 19, 2021 by avernos
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It’s the XLBS SHow………..Happy Sunday Fellow CoGs!
@avernos your going to make me want to get back to my ‘Hundred Kingdoms Army’ and then my wife is going to remember that I have not finished HER ‘Spires Army’ yet either! I don’t need to start a new Conquest army, but I do like those Dinos. (dang-it)
Welcome to the ‘Moonstone Table Building Club!’ @fcostin I’ve been trying to build up enough terrain to set up at least three tables at a time. Can’t wait for the NEW Moonstone stuff to arrive that I ordered on Kickstarter. I find myself wanting to add to my Moonstone tables with more Tabletop World terrain pieces. So very nice!
Well DONE to the Golden Button Champians. Very nice all!
As for the Topic of the Week……I could never choose just one miniatures game. So many games, so little time.
IMHO …. The most boring people I know are the ones that have only a single focus on whatever their subject is. They prattle on constantly the ONE SINGLE SUBJECT. How boring is that? I don’t mind visiting with a person like that for a short period of time, but soon I find myself in my head asking, “Do you really only have one focus”? Then I find myself looking for an exit from spending time with that individual. “Oh look, I’m late for a Root Canal Operation. Gotta GO”.
In the end………..Varity is the SPICE of Life! The SPICE must FLOW…….
good being first., feels good after many a moons away
Playing one game for 5 years?
Take me 5 years to make my mind up
5 years? You’re rushing that!
I’d first spend decades just trying to find one genre I would play ‘forever’ …
So if I was to pick ‘one game to rule them all’ it would have to be a ruleset that is adaptable and flexible enough to cover whatever time period and scale I’d want to play.
I need variety.
I need an element of surprise so not every game is the same.
I might as well play chess forever … and that’s boring.
Happy Sunday!
Somewhere there’s a ruleset that allows you to play any genre at any scale from skirmish to mass ranks… I’ll pick that game!
Another take is: Isn’t that what most of us are doing? Trying out every game we can in the relentless, fruitless, doomed quest to find that perfect game system? (Note to GW Adherents – I don’t believe you’ll find it there, move on!)
Ok, downloading now.
But while I wait, in answer to the titular question. The answer is “none”. Because if I could only play one game I’d have long ago got bored and quit the hobby. Its the variety that keeps me entertained.
Happy Sunday! Another interesting topic. Whist these aren’t questions we should ever confront in reality, they can be a good thought experiment because it can reveal where you may want to consider spending more time and focus or may be even neglecting. The which aspect of the hobby would you choose was a tough one, and this is also tough. I have thought about narrowing my scope down to give me half a chance of finishing something and not getting distracted with every new thing. So I already have a shortlist.
Which one would I pick if I really had to? I think I’d go Fallout Wasteland Warfare for a number of reasons:
– I love the Fallout universe
– The game is great, and it’s also fantastic solo so I’m not tied to other players
– I do know people who would play it with me
– There won’t be a new video game in the next 5 years so this will keep me Fallouting until there is
– The models are great
– The game is well supported by Modiphius, plenty more to buy in the future
– It’s really scenario based so it won’t become a chewed-meat-meta game if played exclusively for a long time. SW:Legion was a close contender but I think this would happen to that game
– Despite me loving it, it keeps dropping down my priorities, it would actually be a bonus to have to focus on it.
So in some ways – bring it on. Shut that butterfly down!!
The more opportunity to play more and different games with new people or people you know is always better than trodding that same apology path. In my experience If your mates won’t play a new game find someone who will and I guarantee your have a bigger group of mates who do end up playing a new game. I love everything from tabletop to board games and I find that there’s always someone who wants to give something new a spin. I’m happy to cross games. I’m currently devouring Wars of Ozz and I’m happy to mix in my Warp minis as a faction and looking at Turnip28 as three games I can meld easily. So skirmish then rank and file games. A quick smash and grab game over some arc crystal or a March down the yellow brick road. I agree with Gerry, I like to keep my opportunities open and I love the osprey blue book series. Great hobby guys. Love the Raptors. Thank you for the entertainment this year, it’s been a tough one and the distraction and advice has been greatly appreciated. Wishing you All, COGs and OTTs a very merry Xmas I hope you get to enjoy and have a even better new year ahead.
happy sunday
have a good one and i hope your watching the greatest movie ever made
introduced my friend to it yesterday and she was very impressed, speechless in fact
I started with GW and even then I wasn’t tied down to only 1 one of their games, I played both warhammer and warhammer40k and then later Lord of the rings just because the variate of setting. Rule wise the basics of the dice mechanics between WH and WH40k are similar so it wasn’t that hard to change between the systems. Then when GW started changing I started looking to other games and I think I will never just stay with only 1 game as several factors impact this. Some games you can play in an hour while others you need an afternoon and they are both fun to play. Plus I like all the information you get with some of these games, especially the historical games.
I have to be honest that hobby, price and space wise it might be better to concentrate on just 1 or few select number. But it can also be a relieve as when you are fed-up painting some specific model for one game you can go to an other from an other game, like sci-fi to Greek hoplites.
Just the one game. I don’t think I could pick one game for each genre or time period let alone just the one forever.
I have my favourites which make up the bulk of my gaming year but trying out new rule sets and utilizing old armies is a major part of the fun for me.
I’m with Gerry Kings of war , cos of the choice of different armies you can use. Because you can use what ever you have to hand to represent units.. you don’t even need minis ,simple base with unit name will do. Then you can buy what takes your fancy…no wasted time/money on things that you won’t play.
@avernos Trust me, having spent decades working in I.T., there are way worse things to stumble across in a browser history than “Naked Narns”. Naked Nans? Knackered Naans? Knackered Naked Nans??
@fcostin You’ve picked well with the Neptune 2. It’s amongst the easiest to assemble and I believe it has silent drivers for the stepper motors so the main noise levels will be from the fans (extruder and power supply) both of which can be replaced with silent versions if you wanted to at a later date. Honestly though, unless it’s at your elbow, chances are it won’t be any more noticeable than that of your PC. Also, the biggest plus for going with the Neptune 2 is that it should have a decent-sized online fan base to get dedicated advice and support from.
As to one game or many? I couldn’t restrict myself to just one game as I tend to play a couple but for extended periods and then swap out. For instance, I’ve just spent the past year playing Five Leagues from the Borderlands and Five Parsecs from Home. I did a couple of months of each (playing once/twice a week as both as a player and as a GM for someone else) and then swapping. I was using the none-playing time to print, build and paint the models and terrain for the game I wasn’t currently playing in preparation for the next one. Maybes I found it so much fun and less stressful because both systems are quite similar and so the ‘rule fog’ was less of an issue than jumping from say Burrows and Badgers to Saga. I also think it might be because the ‘Five X’ systems encourage narrative play and that kept the games going, even after the dice had stopped rolling and the table had been cleared.
Once again, well done Golden Button winners!
If I had to stick with one rule set for 5 years it would be Saga and I’d switch between the setting books. As you have a good range of periods from Ancient to Medieval, plus fantasy.
I’m planning to only play Saga for Ancients to Early Medieval anyway. I plan to pick up a number of the period setting expansions. I’ve Age of Invasions, then I plan to get Age of Hannibal so I can use my early Roman, Celtic and Greek armies.
Then the plan will be to pick up the Age of Crusades game for some proper medieval action.
I’m trying to narrow down my rule sets and genres. If I can a multi use like Saga all the better. I’m pretty much done with GW apart from War cry, Warhammer Underworld and Kill Team. All of the rest will be sold off.
This discussion has been going on for a while – in 1967 Brigadier Peter Young and Lt.-Colonel J.P. Lawford ended their classic book “Charge! or How to Play War Games” with “If you are enormously rich and have plenty of room, you may be tempted to build up war game Armies of several periods. This is enticing, but it is madness! We would commend you to choose your period, stick to it, read up the subject and get the atmosphere of the age. This is the most rewarding approach to a pastime which, while not lacking excitement, is decidely more agreeable than dropping atomic bombs on one another.”
This wasn’t entirely the mood of the time though – Don Featherstone was playing Medievals, English Civil War, French and Indian War, Napoleonics, American Civil War, Colonials and WWII back then.
Another veteran wargamer has gone down to one period – Charles S Grant said in one of his recent Refighting History books that he has disposed of his Napoleonic and Malburian armies and now restricts himself to the mid-18th century in 30 mm scale.
If I were to confine myself to one period and set of rules, it would probably be either horse and musket (7 Years War or Napoleonic) using Sharp Practice or WWII using Chain of Command. 13th century medievals would be tempting as well, especailly now I’ve received everything from the third Barons War Kickstarter.
Ooh yeah the XLBS SHOW.
Giant magpies an parrots Gerry?
Happy Sunday!
00:00 Play just one game for ever…. have to think about that
01:10 About what? Strictly who? oO You’re all having a stroke!
04:30 Next uHH is finger puppets! XD
07:00 Naked Narrn?
15:45 Neon coloured Megasaurs!
15:55 In a bar @lloyd… they hang out in bars!
17:30 F … lots of F pressed… *takes his tricorn of*
19:15 The cat just wanted to keep you safe from all the monsters @fcostin
20:00 Her chair is a screaky one XD
22:00 Black Friday is a scam
27:15 3D printed cat it is XD
31:30 “put them in Stargrave” … But it’s Star Wars!11!11!
34:30 I love me the movement tools from FFG/AMG…
37:30 Oh they do look so cute… sadly the game itself is a bit more on the expensive side.
44:30 There is a lot of papercraft terrain over at https://www.drivethrurpg.com/
50:00 PIZZA!
51:00 Send HELP! The team’s dying…
56:00 Burrows and Badgers… not, for example… SAGA?
58:00 See! An example!
1:05:00 Amen @brennon As well as X-Wing minis feel wrong in billions suns.
1:06:00 Saaaaaaaaaaaaagaaaaaaaaaaaa
1:16:00 “a pandemics worth” – too soon dude… too soon XD
1:19:00 Clip a part of the show and put it out there? hmm……
So playing just one game… no. Limit yourself to only 2 or three? Yes. But then again: shiny! XD
Final question: What’s that chemical on your shirt @lloyd ?
The chemical I believe is something with Nitromethane – I can’t see the whole image. It’s used in superglue, for example.
caffeine
That Gray guy on the box looks very Tau?
Ooh the next free video how to make terrain from cat damaged tree’s?
Dino frog’s?
I think I’d go for blackpowder just because I could make my way through 200 years of historical. My version of the hobby is to collect as much as possible for a certain setting such as the Zulu war for example and then force my friends to play what I’ve collected. I’m not part of a club and the one time I looked at one it was all 40k and felt out of place and didn’t go back.
Robo rats for the win.
The stone building looks great.
Interesting question… one Miniatures game for 5 years, and I’d probably have to go Burrows and Badgers too.
Other contenders would be, Stargrave, Oathmark and Pike & Shot.
I get exactly where Gerry is coming from re 40k players not willing to even try another game, a lot tend to be very blinkered in their outlook and unwillingness to try other game systems
Our club used to be solely GW, but thankfully over the years a lot more games have become very popular, leading our club to be the first anywhere in the world to run tournaments for both Bolt Action as well as Burrows and Badgers, of which we are extremely proud
So the Swiss stole the army knife from the Romans?
Justin Alpha strike?!? Lol.
I’ve been thinking about the 5 year question and I’m definitely in the ‘one game per genre’ camp. I’ve just introduced a mate to Kingdom Death Monster (literally, we’ve only played the prologue twice) and I’ve definitely got enough content (both unbuilt and purchased but undelivered) to style out 5 years. TBH it’s nearly 5 years since the Kickstarter closed and still no stretch goal box, but this is not the forum to air those grievances.
The more ‘family friendly’ board games are the ones I’m mulling over. I’d need a steady supply of new players but I think Detective: City of Angels with me as the GM fits the bill. Gloomhaven-verse is probably second.
A single game to play for 5 years, I’m with Free, its got to be moonstone. If that is all I am doing I could build some really nice tables for that. I have seen warsurge advertised in wargaming illustrated as a sci-fi & fantasy miniature agnostic game. Does anyone know if its any good?
http://www.warsurge.com
I like the laserburn reference Gerry, I’m pretty sure I still have that some in the loft.
A fab show guy’s.
Some Sage comments from Gerry, In that I have the t shirts etc for that.
Though I would probably be Stargrave if had one game.
Happy Sunday.
One game for five years? I might have done that with 40k a while back but even then it was mixed up with board games and roleplay games.
Now though if I was to choose one game I’d side with Lloyd and choose Frostgrave, or maybe Rangers of Shadow Deep.
But yeah, I like a mix of different games and rules because each one brings something different to the table. For example Moonstone feels very different to Rangers, and Stargrave is very different to Five Parsecs, even though with the last two examples you may even be using the exact same miniatures and terrain.
Also those dinosaurs look amazing.
One game for 5 years? I’d probably go for Bolt Action. But just as others are cheating with Saga era-books, KoW historical, I’d also play Bolt Action Fantasy (Erehwon) and sci-fi (Antares).
It has got to be Saga for me. In the next 5 years we’ll have Age of Alexander and Age of Caesar as well as the existing universe books so that will add even more options. I paint pretty quickly but I doubt I’d get through making warbands for all of the factions in 5 years either.
I would have to roll with Stargrave (I could always hybrid it to play a version of Frostgrave for fantasy).
One game for the next five years? Boring. But, if I had to I think it would be Fallout Wasteland Warfare. There is a wide variety of characters to paint, the game is fun and focused on narrative so there are stories to be told, and no end of post apocalyptic terrain to build. And there is a campaign aspect with Settlement mode.
But given choice, I do and would rather play multiple systems across genres. I want to paint varied things and play in a multitude of world’s. Why have the same experience over and over, week in week out when you can shake things up a bit?
I wish I could settle to one game, but the cult of the new and the fact that I love so many cool things about so many different settings, all makes it hard. I have Dropzone, Moonstone, Burrows and Badgers, Mortal Gods, Oathmark, Test of Honor, Relicblade, Conquest, Oak and Iron, Core Space, Gangs of Rome etc.
Burrows and Badgers is my fav. for Fantasy. Core Space for my Sci fi hit., and Mortal Gods for Historical (with Hydras lol)
Gerry proves he’s got more skeletons in his closet as he reveals an obsession with naked Narn searches (imho he should’ve just stuck with the actual print issue of Playboy featuring Claudia Christian, aka Susan Ivanova).
I’ve been sucked into Saga and its multiple universes. Minis agnostic and universe agnostic compatibility was also shown with that KoW supplement for historicals.
Be organised… paint minis… what nonsense is this!
Happy Sunday CoG’s. Boltaction would be my 5 year plan game. Plenty armies. Awesome rules. That or Kings of War. Large community here and a ton of army’s to choose from. Cheers from The Bay Area! ???
I’ld play 9th Age for 5 years! I’ve been playing almost nothing els for 2 years and a half now. It’s a complicated ruleset and there are plenty of armies to choose from that play very differently. Every battle is different enough to give it entless replayability.
+1 for refusing to share the Daily Heil
I think calling the pile of shame anything positive is simply deluding oneself – ‘pile of shame’ is a proper and honest term, because what loads of boxes of unpainted minis represent is a very low impulse-control when it comes to deciding what to by and in what quantities.
I disagree with your opinion on deluding oneself, whether one calls it a pile of shame, pile of potential or even my preferred pillar of pride.
It doesn’t matter how big it is if your happy, it’s only a shame if you feel shame about it.
And low Impulse control argument is in my opinion half utter bollocks. Not every one can or wants to just paint on thing constantly until that’s finished. Some people need or prefer a variety of things that they can work on, whether that’s so they don’t get bored or complacent, or because they need to do something else that’s just cropped up and has a deadline.
Personally my unpainted stuff is usually referred to as the ‘Where did all this shite come from?’ pile
Wow! A Golden Button. Holy hell, thanks so much, @brennon , @avernos , @lloyd , and @fcostin !
Yeah, I’ve been assembling these buildings in preparation for a 20mm game commemorating the Battle of Trenton (26 December 1776). The fight took place IN a town, so I need a lot of buildings.
So when it comes to the skins, I have found ELEMENTS of these online, but had to more or less put them together myself (I just didn’t draw them pixel-by-pixel), just a little time and patience in Photoshop. Also, they had to be scaled to the right degree.
As @lloyd mentions, “pattern repeat” is a problem, especially in the brick and stone, so again a little patience in Photoshop was able to mitigate that effect. Also, adding in beams, doors, windows, or “wings” on the side of the building helps break up the pattern expanse and defeat the eye’s unconscious search for that pattern.
In an effort to show my gratitude, I have posted those skins in the my project log, anyone in the community can now download and use them (maybe with modifications) if they might find them helpful.
https://www.beastsofwar.com/project/1303724/
Lloyd also mentions Dave Graffam papercraft models, which I wholeheartedly agree. I’ve tried a couple of his building designs and they’re always great.
Congrats to the other winners as well! And thanks again to the OTT team for the award and kind words! 😀 😀 😀
Sweet! I see they are a nice res too, go and check them out peeps 🙂
Thanks very much, @lloyd . I’m glad you like them.
Ben’s sweater on his chair makes it look like he has a huge hunchback on my crappy monitor ? Great show as always, guys…
Happy Sunday……well one game..has to be BOLT ACTION and KINGS OF WAR plus the the BOLT ACTION rules have a star wars of shoot….thumbs up all round.
I’ve more or less managed to restrict myself to one game per genre, but that still has me at 8 miniatures games, not counting board game hybrids like Mythic Battles or Core Space. Now consider the fact that generally I get in one good afternoon of miniatures gaming per month, which means those 8 games get played at most 1-2 times per year each. So cutting it down to just one is actually kind of appealing.
If I could limit myself to just one game, it would definitely be Crooked Dice’s 7TV. It’s a good system that can accommodate many different genres and has a lot of elements I like such as gadget cards for extra character abilities and end of turn events that add some unpredictability to the game environment.
Not sure one game would satisfy my hobby cravings. I think I need a bigger house to store my hobby in… But I find it very hard to let any minis or systems go. (I have two Terminator Genesis starter boxes, one all painted… But never played the game.)
If I had to pick one game it would probably be Walking Dead or Frostgrave. Walking Dead because I am heavily invested, find it is easy to find opponents and teach and there is still tons I don’t have. Frostgrave is an option because of the wealth of expansions, the vast hobby options and being miniatures agnostic I can still be a bit of a butterfly and there’s a decent solo campaign system set up. With some imagination I could adapt the game into more of a Rangers of Shadow Deep feel, which might be cheating in the “one game” selection, but I love RoSD and you can’t stop me. ?
For a new gamer committing to one game is sensible regarding storage, learning the rules, collecting and financially.
But, once you find that you love the hobby the array of options present themselves to you via social media and opponents you find when playing your one game.
The trouble is… If everyone is just playing one game… Would it all become too GW centric because this may be the only way to find an opponent? I have 40K minis, the Dark Imperium box set and a raft of options and contributions, but have already fallen a version and a Codex behind and I am not convinced I want to catch up. I like Shadespire, but that game has left me behind in the dust too. I got a Kill Team starter box, never played, not painted and now they’ve created an edition that bares no relation to what I have.
If we all committed to one game and potentially one company I think things would stagnate, having lots of people feeling left behind like me and I imagine a lot of people leaving the hobby entirely, rather than improving focus, making maximum out of your spend gaming wise etc. that the idea presents as it’s main selling points.
My one game would be (the original) Necromunda. Always opportunities for adding more gangs or converting models to your existing gang. When a gang becomes too powerful you simply retire it and make a new one. The old gang will then be legendary in the game and maybe brought out ever once in a while.
Plus endless scenarios that don’t have to be that balanced.
Then there is the terrain aspect where you can continue to build new parts of the Underhive.
oh good shout, the original necro was a lot of fun
I would pick Burrows ańd Badgers: the only game I can enjoy while stuck in lockdown because there is another player in the house.
I’m with Gerry on this one. KoW allows for so much creativity through the multi basing, that every army becomes an entirely different project and all scratches get itched. Definitely my go-to game if we had to choose.
Finally got caught up on my XLBS. Thanks for the butt-butt-ding!
My choice would have to be Infinity. Maybe then I’d get some proper games under my belt (nah. Who am I kidding. I’d just paint even more armies because I just can’t stop myself.)