Friday, February 5, 2016

Rising from the ashes



For everything, there is a season...

It's been over 2 years since I lost my hobby mojo.

My old friend's passing started a series of life events...hip replacement surgery, finishing a masters' thesis, training for a vintage cycling race, a separation.

Most of it good, life moving forward stuff.  No complaints. But the creative juices were travelling down other sluices.

And yet, over the last half year I've been slowly getting back into gaming and back to my two main projects:

   1 - Wargaming in Westeros - kitbashing all the wonderful 25mm medieval plastics available.

   2 - Wargaming in Middle Earth - War of the Ring with house rules to refine the v1.0 from GW

But part of my momentum stems from my cycling and reenacting buddy Nick Addison roping me into his own reentry into table top wargaming via Chain of Command.

And part of the momentum comes with the advent of Lion Rampant, and now Dragon Rampant - i.e. adaptable rules that allow for building retinue sized forces that can be combined into large armies using massed battle rules such as Hail Caesar, Medieval Warfare, Impetus or Sword & Spear.

What's to come...

   > Work I've done with my back log of terrain projects to create an attractive table top. A good
       start with plenty left to do.

   > Plans for my multiple Westerosi retinues - Stark, Lannister, Greyjoy, Tully and Arryn (with
      Tyrell, Martell and Baratheon not far behind)

   > Battle reports using Lion/Dragon Rampant and my painted LotR forces until the Westerosi
      retinues come on line.

   >  Plans for my multi-player Battle of the Pelennor Fields project

   >  Irregular reports on games outside these core projects - mostly Chain of Command and,
        hopefully some Dux Britanniarum.

   > Related boardgame forays into War of the Ring, Battle of the Five Armies and Battles of
       Westeros.

   >  Showcasing kindred spirits with similar, inspiring projects to build community across our
        little corner of this diverse hobby.  "There are many like it but this one is mine..."

Believe me, after all I've been through, I'm not entirely confident that I won't wander off again. (You did see the name of this blog, right? Truth in advertising.) But I'm having fun with it and feeling the muse upon me.

I welcome your comments, feedback and encouragement.

Cheers!

TDG

Postscript though: perhaps this image is more apropos than a phoenix...





14 comments:

  1. Good to see you back! I look forward to seeing what westerosi stuff you one up with, mostly so that I can steal inspiration for mine ;)

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    1. Everything is "open source" - we should borrow shameless we from each other where we can. Cheers!

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  2. Welcome back Wade!

    Beware Chain of Command, I just thought I'd 'try it out' and before I knew it she was my harsh mistress and I her slave... sort of. :-)

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    1. Thank you, Jim! I get that sense after just 3 games. My friend Nick is the one that has all the kit. And I'm keep telling myself I'll just guest game on this one. He focuses on North Africa and Sicily so far. I've started to noodle on the Pacific Theater, starting with Okinawa where my father fought.

      BTW, last week I tried to comment on two of your posts but it doesn't look like they stuck. I'll try again from this account. Best

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    2. I got two and replied... were there more?

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    3. I know that feeling! "A dice activation system instead of cards. Sounds interesting"
      And four years later, I am running a CoC convention game...again.
      Welcome back to the gaming world, and long may you mojo last.

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    4. Thank you, Thomas. Related to your Dux Gondorum efforts - have you seen folks forays into LotR using Dragon Rampant?

      I love the linked scenarios campaign feature of Dux Brittaniarum, but for elegant ease of play, Lion Rampant/Dragon Rampant are hard to beat!

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    5. Mike the Mad Padre is doing just that.
      http://madpadrewargames.blogspot.se/2016/02/gaming-roundup-lions-and-eagles.html
      I will be following his efforts to see what he finds. I hope to get back into LOTR/Dux Gondorum after we finish our convention game at Easter.

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    6. Thanks for that blog reference. I'll keep an eye on the Padre - and on you, too! ;-) Oh, and here's Dalaupproar's sweet Isengard retinue for the new Dragon Rampant. http://dalauppror.blogspot.com/2016/01/lotr-with-dragon-rampant-rules.html


      What do you have planned for your Easter convention game?

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    7. I was fortunate enough to join the club where Dala games last year, you bet I will keep an eye on this!
      The Easter game is at GothCon in Gothenburg, we are running a French Indo-China game portraying small actions around the Dien Bien Phu base. The rules will be a modified version of CoC.

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    8. Thanks for that blog reference. I'll keep an eye on the Padre - and on you, too! ;-) Oh, and here's Dalaupproar's sweet Isengard retinue for the new Dragon Rampant. http://dalauppror.blogspot.com/2016/01/lotr-with-dragon-rampant-rules.html


      What do you have planned for your Easter convention game?

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  3. Nice that you are back! With hopes of a grand miniature future.

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    1. Thank you, Llama!

      I've been looking in on you and happy to see you're still going strong - particularly with LotR. Keep the faith!!

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