Cult Of Games XLBS: I Need My Wargaming Heroes To Feel Heroic!
March 17, 2024 by brennon
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Happy Sunday CoGs, OTTers and Cultists! Back in my day, we were Backstagers…. Just sayin’ is all.
Special characters in games depend on the setting. If Girlyman shows up in every battle you kind of have to wonder why he doesn’t have somewhere better to be? The other issue is his strategic skills vs tactical skills. He’s supposedly a genius so when you fail to live up his abilities….. especially when he gets out manouvered/fought by some ‘no-name’ character. As for historical battles, as soon as you don’t do the same thing as the generals did in history, is it still historical? If I’m Darrius III and the Perians at the battle of Issus, why would I… Read more »
Some interesting ideas there, especially on the Historical side of things
Happy Sunday to one and all. Nice to see Ben at OTT HQ. Great show as always.
Popped in to say hello and might have ended up filming a fair few things…
On painting 6mm ACW….. I tend to use a black matt undercoat, and then paint “patches” of different colours leaving the black showing at the edges of each colour. It’s a very forgiving technique, just a bit fiddly to do. Also with the colour choices, I tend to go with a more vibrant flat colour to paint 6mm, if you start using washes on 6mm figures you’ll end up with it looking like a muddy mess with no definition (even from 4 feet away). Just a single coat, no contrast, no dry brushing, just paint in that “block” of colour… Read more »
Will make sure Gerry and Shay see this!
Well my old Mate (Yarkshire Gamer), also did a painting guide for doing 6mm ACW (although these were Adler minis with the BIG ‘eads). https://yarkshiregamer.blogspot.com/2015/11/6mm-adler-acw-confederate-infantry-from.html Along with some Battle Reports (lots of eye candy to provide the inspiration) https://yarkshiregamer.blogspot.com/search/label/6mm%20ACW (don’t forget to click the blue “older posts” link when you get near to the bottom of the page…there’s LOADS of stuff here). For the gun barrels, DON’T use silver (use a gun metal paint colour instead, plus the darker hue tends to hide any wiggly lines 🙂 ). With the “patch painting” do the smallest areas first, as this will… Read more »
I think Halfords is great as a primer but maybe a little dark for 6mm.i still. Use the primer but maybe put a lighter grey on top with occasional items of clothing in butternut/light brown
Yup, you might get away with it if painting a larger scale but 6mm needs a higher contrast to stand out on the table. Although I do use Halfords Matt Black as a undercoat.
Happy Sunday! And saying that I’m going to start by complaining: Complaint number 1: Ben is in Coleraine but we didn’t get a studio Weekender or XLBS. I would have been okay with shitty production value if the set up was the issue. I’m really looking forward to the content filmed though. Complaint number 2: Ben tried to shoot a medic. Acceptable in WW2 games only when playing a force that historically did commit such war crimes, e.g. the Japanese or SS. End complaints. Big heroes in games. Very much a yes for me. In sci-fi / fantasy, I love… Read more »
I was there to film stuff but unfortunately on the Weekender side of things we had people off, some people ill and other bits and pieces we needed to crack on with. Hopefully you enjoy the stuff we filmed though over the next few weeks.
…and yes, I was a very bad man for shooting that Medic. Well, failing too. Glad that you’re on my side when it comes to those big heroes for Sci-Fi and Fantasy!
Happy Sunday! Great show, I really enjoyed the way Ben moderated the conversation, it was good to hear Justin and Shay’s views. When I think of heroes, what makes them a hero is the ‘history’ they bring with them to the table. Whether that be the lore in fantasy or sci-fi or past deeds in historical. None of that necessarily NEEDS to have special rules in game, it’s just cool to play with these heroes, but it’s nice when it does and does it well. Impact of heroes on a game obviously varies massively depending on game type. Your military… Read more »
I have spent the last few days coming up with more fun ideas for my heroes and adding in that flavour Justin mentioned. Hopefully, it should lead to some neat narrative moments.
Happy Sunday XLBSers OTTers and COGz.
An Justin is Warren’s Minion ? ?
Get a bag of Gray wool an go to a Old people’s home and ask if they can knit you a armour suit Ben ??
But Gerry is a time Lord that’s why he has so many game’s I a small house it’s a Tardis???
Indio Montoya for the win.
Inigo?
Happy Sunday! 00:00 Epic heroes? So.. very very tiny 6mm? 00:14 Firing only on three cylinders? XD 00:21 BACKSTAGERS! 02:15 Future Gerry games? oO 03:05 Pet Shay? This episode is… weird. 04:14 Street sharing 06:15 Fleeeeeeeeeeeegs 09:00 Cosplay Shay? 11:05 Full Plate Bus Drive… sounds like a RPG 12:30 HOLD ON! Older than Shay made in 2001… FLOCK I’m old 15:15 leader suck? oh noes! 17:25 “waiting on Gerry” – he’ll overtake you without flinching *g* 25:15 MOAR DAKKA IS BEST DAKKA! 35:00 powergaaaames 47:00 Burninator apprentice 48:20 Swish! 49:50 Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan! (missing) 51:35 slipped and fell onto the naked lady… Read more »
Good show guy’s strange not seeing some Johnston lunacy on this one
Happy Sunday.
Wow, thanks for the golden button, and a big congratulations to the other winners.
Happy Sunday A great show. On the 6mm ACW great to see Shay getting on to painting them. Using a grey primer works for the Confederates. Other options Butternuts and browns and dark greys if you want to go quirky there are Zourves but they only appear early in the war. On heroes… In fantasyland make your own up much ore fun. In historical If you are doing a something based upon a real event then use the historical individuals. If your doing historical fantasy you can do both buses real characters and made up, for example in barons war… Read more »
I think that’s a good point on the Historical Fantasy with games like The Barons’ War. I really like those types of games where you can start to build up your own characters and their heroic adventures.
If the heroes are (too) powerfull … then why bother with the rest of the army at all? It also feels weird / inappropiate to have one of the top dogs in a small skirmish game, unless it’s some sort of desperate last stand of their HQ. I kind of wish you could create/grow your own hero in these types of games. Why should GW have all the fun in writing lore (and then using none of it in stats) when you could build your own ? Remember when WHFB had generic hero profiles? Another thing is that with named… Read more »
I like the idea of heroes, but in PvP two mechanical issues arise:
* How do you balance heroes vs. minions?
* What if you lose your hero and your opponent still has theirs?
These aren’t issues in solo and coop miniature skirmish games (or RPG’s, for that matter), such as Frostgrave, because the opponent doesn’t have an “equal” army.
Good show guys. Lots of really valid points there concerning characters in games. For me, it comes down to the game and setting. For Historical games, like Shay, I like to have named characters who were there in the historical battle as it does feel like it adds a ‘level of authenticity’. Still, for those games, the characters have more command-and-control elements, I do find that named characters in historical games depend on the character and the size of the battle. I can imagine refighting Waterloo with the likes of Napoleon, but I can’t imagine Napoleon being involved in a… Read more »
Overpowered characters work well in games like Malifaux or MCP where the game is like a bunch of elites versus elites.
High powered characters in any game that uses units of average Joes is a bigger problem as if you don’t design the game well the rank and file choices become irrelevant and players seek to minimise their points investment in these troops.
Thanks for the golden button! I knew that fancy green background I used for the Borg figures would pay off…
Looks like the big industrial cutting table’s Warren you should try looking for windowsill’s for more hard wood choices in shop’s.