New Life For Old Heroes.

I have so many miniature figures ranging in scale from 25mm to 90mm. It's true to say that some of my favorite mini's are from games I have little interest in playing anymore. I strive to get them all on the table from year to year because I spent so much a) money on them and b) so much time on their painting, curating etc.

I could field miniatures for just about any fantasy or Sci Fi setting imaginable though and I should and mostly do. I am trying unsuccessfully to wean off my "new bright and shiny" distraction that sits like a monkey on my back. What attracts me to reuse my minis then are commercial skirmish rule sets that are figure agnostic. The likes of Frostgrave and Stargrave appeal and I have played similar rulesets like Gods and Mortals plus Dragon Rampant. All these made great game experiences for any scenario that I could dream up.

In recent years I became a devotee of the DIY movement in gaming that in itself is growing all the time in scope. Having once got hold of a very basic dice allocation system from the pages of Matakishi's Teahouse I was away on a set of 54mm figure adventures that later became the basis for my own set of rules for cardboard dungeons. This was my ultra-cheap one-shot adventures in beige. 

 Another aspect of this DIY mentality is in creating your own game rules. Particularly in situations where you can't find a set that portrays things the way you see them. A case in point was a rule set I created in part for medieval jousting tournaments. There are plenty of rules out there, but they did not portray all the elements I thought were essential for a realistic outcome in jousting. I have seen real life jousting and coupled with about 50 Utube videos as evidence I added the standing start element. This is what launches a joust and greatly effects an outcome. To this I added fatigue then the rest came from Mr. Gygax chainmail rule set with a further few minor stat tweaks. The whole joust is boiled down to just a few die roles per Knight to which a modifier is added and a chart consulted. Ideal then for the 100 odd joists I played for the statistics to see if it would hold up as a balanced tournament game. It does.   

Give your little people some new adventures then watch the smiles on their little plastic faces.

A Game of Gods and Mortals.

Cardboard Dungeon and Dollar Shop Heroes

Home Made Jousting Rules Borrowing Bit's From Mr. Gygax.