It’s been a good week for me and wargaming and I’ve been having a ton of fun. Here are some of the things I’ve been working on this week. Since this blog is relatively new, I’m not sure how I’m going to post, but I’m toying with the idea of doing a “Friday Update” on a regular basis. Of course, I’m sure this will morph into something else as we go along.
I’ve been bouncing between several rule books lately, including Empire of the Sun, Heroes of Normandie, B-17 Flying Fortress Leader, and Ukraine ’43. Also, in the last month or so, I’ve spent a lot of time learning the Panzer system. I don’t find any of these rules particularly difficult, but each has different concepts that have to be kept straight and, as usually, I’m sure I’ll forget a lot before I start playing.
I just filmed a play through of the first Panzer scenario, which I hope to edit and get on the Strategy Board Gamer YouTube channel soon. Last night, I set up B-17 Flying Fortress Leader and plan to take it for a spin over the next few days. Once I feel comfortable with it, I plan to film it as well.
I’ve played quite a bit of Panzer lately and although I really like the system, I want to take a break from it for awhile. When playing the advanced and optional rules, the charts look ups start to melt my brain after awhile.
For new games coming in, I’ve filmed four unboxing videos that I’ll post soon. I’m not crazy about unboxing videos, but they do give a sense of the game. The unboxings are for Illusions of Glory: The Great War on the Eastern Front, Band of Brothers: Screaming Eagles (Remastered), Band of Brothers: Texas Arrows, and 878: Vikings – Viking Age Expansion.
I do have a gaming order coming today from Miniature Market. It’s mainly expansions for Heroes of Normandie (HON). I’ve told myself that I was not going to buy any more HON expansions, but when I saw the 4th, SS, and UK armored expansions, that vow didn’t last long.
I also am revamping my storage for HON. I’ve been storing it in tackle boxes and I’m just not happy with it, so I have an alternative plan that I’ll share when I get it squared away. I think after my delivery today, I have almost all of HON, so I have my work cut out trying to organize it all. Luckily, I really enjoy the organization process.
One last thing on the wargaming front this week – my latest Oregon Counter Clipper broke, so I repaired it. It was working great, but I’m having a problem with the ferrules popping out. I’m going to take it apart soon and try a permanent fix, which I might record as well. I was in the middle of clipping Illusions of Glory when it broke, so hope to finish clipping that game soon.
Overall, it’s been a fun and productive week of wargaming. I really enjoy the clipping, repairing, rule reading, and organizing part of the hobby. For someone that doesn’t like those things, this week might have seemed more of a grind than fun.
I’ll be playing some Euro style games tomorrow with friends, which I like as well. After that, I plan to dive back into the wargames.