Mem. Day Sale (no link) on for WW II minis (any of you CMERs who play BA or CoC)

[John Kettler]

No commercial link, but I wanted to pass the word for those of you who also play WW II miniatures that an outfit called Dream Forge is running a 50% or better sale through D-Day, I believe. For $5, you can have an entire US Rifle Company in 15 mm or a a Rifle Platoon in 28 mm for $8.95. Russians and Germans also available. Russian 28 mm Rifle Platoon has provisions for making a number of female soldiers instead. Obvious applications include medics and partisans. From what I know, and what I shelled out to get my reinforced Japanese Infantry Platoon ($40 a box for Warlord for basic platoon only) in 28 mm, these look like no-brainer buys--presuming the minis are decent. Can't speak to that.

Regards,

John Kettler

Edited May 29, 2018 by John Kettler

[Michael Emrys]

Hey John, last week I brought home several boxes of books and games from where they had lain in storage for over a decade. While going through them, I came across my copy of Tractics and immediately thought of you.

Michael

[Erwin]

Such bittersweet memories. As a kid I couldn't afford to buy miniatures other than an occasional Airfix box of troops.  As an adult, about 25 years ago I was at a convention and bought an entire 1944 British Armored Division beautifully painted and mounted on magnetic bases - for maybe $50(!). 

But what to do with them when we have outstanding computer sims like CM series that do all the hard work of rules lawyering and calculations for us?  So, my miniatures sit someplace in storage along with my 1000+ collection of cardboard wargames - most completely new and unplayed.  I guess I hope that one day they will be recognized as the handmade, limited edition works of art that they are and become valuable collectibles...  Or, I'll have to find a way to donate em and get a tax deduction out of them.

It's a bit sad to realize what used to be so precious and valuable to us when we were young, compared to now when one can afford much more.

[John Kettler]

Michael Emrys,

Glad some of you treasures have finally come home! Brother George still has our Tractics rules, as well as the infinitely simpler and vastly less capable Fast Rules. In Tractics, you could do so much more than we can in CM. This intermittently drives me nuts, but I am grateful not to have to take a long time to resolve a platoon worth of tank firing!  But as you know, Tractics was a lot more than just a tank fight.

Erwin,

An AD in what, Micro Armour or some other scale? As for your astronomic wargame collection, you are sitting (not to my advantage to tell you this) on a fortune, especially given the shape they're in. NOT kidding. People have spent $300+ on a full Up Front set with all expansions, for example. Would love to get the other modules, but too pricey for me, presuming you can find them separately to begin with. I got a used basic one on eBay for $40, but had to fork out $19 in postage because he didn't offer any cheaper choices. Used to have the whole shebang. Those little zip envelope games (MTB, Tabletop Napoleonics, etc.)  with the thin cardboard from which you cut the counters are hard to come by and insanely expensive, precisely because the print runs were likely tiny and the components so flimsy. Never had any, but loved the concept. I used to own SPI's Mech War 77 (played like mad; helped land me my Threat Analyst job at Hughes), Red Star White Star (also helped ),  SSN (basically wore off the top of the counters) Firefight (taught me low level Russian tactics), the siege trilogy with Tyre, To the Green Fields and Beyond, WSIM, Panzerblitz, COI, Yaquinto's Ironclads and Expansion,  the original non-AH Jerusalem AD 70, Attack Sub (expansion my friend and I wrote published in the General), GDW's Assault with all add-ons including the Suvorov expansion, several samurai games, H-Hour, which I play tested, Line in the Sand (helped develop play tested and got a thanks copy while working at TSR West), some Cold War German game, may be Panzer, Which made sense, unlike AH's utterly clueless MBT which I gave to my nephews in utter despair (don't want), the copy of CaS and maybe another one from Admiralty Trilogy Ed gave me (have Steel Typhoon and am credited as one of the designers (get royalties!), original Nuke War (metal spinner), Ogre in the snap box,  and a number of other things I can't recall. Like the bulk of my library, all of that is in a quantum state. Please PM me regarding any of the above and asking price if you'd like to sell. Can't afford the kinds of prices many games are going for on eBay, though. Am sure many of us would be fascinated to see your collection rostered. Super hard to think of even as a number, still less a list. And what a wallet you must've had to be able to buy so many games! If you've got the original Tragic, the Slathering, as I like to call it, some of the rares go for multiple thousands. Forget the card, but I believe one sold for $4000! Gave my Seastrike to a friend back in the 1990s, and it's a cool game to this day, being quite ingenious. Bro George played it with miniatures only a few months back and had a grand time.

If deductible donations you seek, then I would first suggest contacting some of the veteran's groups before exploring other options. Subject affinity, you know. There are doubtless others, too. Here's another possibility, but for now, at least, there's no tax angle. Some friends of mine (see below) are talking about setting up a combined wargame museum, play area and game shop. The way to go for that might be to set it up as a non-profit, charitable foundation or charitable trust. Between them they have the best part of a century of wargame and board game experience, never mind miniatures and computer games! 

Jim Murphy and Don Hawthorne have a FB page called Gone But Not Forgotten Games, and Jim's the one who came up with the living wargame museum idea. He does NOT want the games, the lore and the institutional memory and experience lost. Jim is also running a YT channel as Game Methuselah. He WILL blow you away. 

Hope this info helps you deal with your gigantic wargame collection. Believe you've got Don beat seventeen ways from Sunday on collection size, though I've never had a count. Have seen enough games, though, to stock a game shop.

Regards,

John Kettler

Edited May 30, 2018 by John Kettler

[Erwin]

Firstly they are all wargames as I live with too much fantasy in my RL (lol).  It would take ages to catalogue em and they are at another location so not easy to get at.  Re expense, they are the product of 20+ years of cardboard wargaming puchases, so didn't seem expensive to buy during that time.  Also, I used to edit a wargame magazine (Fire & Movement) so was sent quite a few cardboard (and computer) games for review.  My cardboard wargaming ground to an abrupt halt when computer wargames became sophisticated.  I may have bought a few games (eg: Columbia's updated block games like Eurofront etc.) since CM1 was released.  But, I don't know why since I don't think I have actually played any cardboard wargames in 20+ years now.  I suppose am waiting for the apocalypse when the grid goes down and no more computer gaming. 

think Decision Games has (or used to have) a magazine (Strategy & Tactics?) that listed for sale hundreds/thousands of games so one can see their prices.  It's just sad that these used to be so precious to me and now are just pretty lumps of cardboard. 

It amazes me that companies like Columbia and GMT are still doing well (seemingly).  And there seem to always be new small outfits starting up to produce smallish cardboard wargames these days.  I think it's more an urge by designers/developers to do creative work akin to being an artist.  But, people do seem to buy em.

And yes, the '44 Brit Div is in beautifully painted microarmor.  Some guy was getting rid of his much larger collection at a convention in the 90's.  If I'd had the money I woulda bought a ton more.  And then that would all be sitting around someplace unplayed.  Again, it's rather sad.  

[mjkerner]

Erwin, you edited Fire & Movement?  Cool, I read it quite regularly back in the day.  I only had about a couple of hundred boardgames to your 1000, but I still occasionally by one, thinking I will get to it...on VASSAL if not in my man cave. (Essentially, an expensive rulebook, which aren't included in VASSAL games.) So I know what you mean about the sadness of it.  I spent hundreds of late-night hours when the kids were young, staying up way too late, playing solo. Then miniatures took over, although I still do those, then CMx2 came along, which I spend even more hundreds and hundreds of hour on!

[John Kettler]

Wanted to show some of the WW II infantry, which turns out to be from War Games Factory, not Dream Forge. Per brother George, there are marked disparities in both size and figure proportions among the numerous brands out there. If you've already got some troops from other outfits, this may cause some excitement. 

28 mm Ivans

 

28 mm Germans
 

28 mm Americans (pro paint jobs)
 

Regards,

John Kettler

[John Kettler]

Shifting to 15 mm, here is a useful cross comparison of three different manufacturers' figures. George was unimpressed with these 15 mm WGF figures--until I dropped my idea on him. Even if they aren't good at all, or even undersized, they're perfect for putting into dug-in positions. Dirt cheap way to be able to set up such things. At $5 a box, how can you possibly go wrong? Article is geared toward 28 mm, but the principles are applicable. Also, even if there are figure issues at that scale, the same relative cost differentials apply. Huge gaming impact for a small outlay.

http://tinyhordes.com/dug-in-germans/

 

Regards,

John Kettler

[Michael Emrys]

On May 30, 2018 at 9:32 AM, Erwin said:

Also, I used to edit a wargame magazine (Fire & Movement)...

Holy cow! When was that? I used to own every issue from their first under Roger McGowan up until '83 or thereabouts.

Michael

[Erwin]

IIRC it was a year or so in the early 90's.  DG lost their F&M editor and I agreed to take over temporarily until a replacement was found.

[John Kettler]

Erwin,

F&M was a splendid magazine filled with in-depth, well-illustrated well-written meaty articles. Loved it and, like Michael Emrys, had a complete set for a time and learned a great deal as a result. Recall absolutely drooling when reading about Terrible Swift Sword, which seemed amazing to me. Never saw it played and definitely never owned it.

Regards,

John Kettler