I have been slightly disheartened by the time it takes from deciding to try a new setting, to actually generating your first battle report. You may have terrain that is suitable from other sources, if not, you may decide to do your own, if you have the skills, you may go the paper terrain route or buy it.
The same goes for your miniatures. What scale shall I go for? (54,28,15,10 or 6mm). Shall I stick to what I am used to or try something new? How many minis do I need? (An army or a few characters and monsters?). Am I going for a fast-paced skirmish game or a full-blown battle with loads of scenery? Where do I get them from? - online or at your local game store if you have one in your area, possibly at a Wargaming show? (If you can wait that long). If it's a local store or show, there is your journey time and browsing during a precious day off, but that does have the bonus of meeting up and chatting with like-minded people, even possibly having a small game.
The same goes for your miniatures. What scale shall I go for? (54,28,15,10 or 6mm). Shall I stick to what I am used to or try something new? How many minis do I need? (An army or a few characters and monsters?). Am I going for a fast-paced skirmish game or a full-blown battle with loads of scenery? Where do I get them from? - online or at your local game store if you have one in your area, possibly at a Wargaming show? (If you can wait that long). If it's a local store or show, there is your journey time and browsing during a precious day off, but that does have the bonus of meeting up and chatting with like-minded people, even possibly having a small game.
If it is the net, you are in multiple-choice mode. How many companies do stuff for that setting? How complicated is their website? What Minis are available? Should I opt for plastic or lead minis? Which looks the best when painted? Are there reader reviews available? (Yes, usually on the company website or youtube). What are the costs? How long do to wait for delivery times? Are you stuck on finding the right mini to suit your character?
Once you finally have your miniatures to hand, there is the task of painting them. Are you any good at it? Clean and primed, good. Unfortunately, the better you are, the longer they take to paint because you lavish more detail on them.
At last, you are ready to go, you have your minis sitting on your nicely laid out terrain, all you need now is an opponent to show up at the appointed hour, unless you are playing in Solo mode. Have you printed out the rules or got the book handy? Are character sheets all in order? Are tape measures handy? Are templates and status markers sorted? Have you got enough dice of the right type? Do you have refreshments to hand? Great, Away you go.....
At last, you are ready to go, you have your minis sitting on your nicely laid out terrain, all you need now is an opponent to show up at the appointed hour, unless you are playing in Solo mode. Have you printed out the rules or got the book handy? Are character sheets all in order? Are tape measures handy? Are templates and status markers sorted? Have you got enough dice of the right type? Do you have refreshments to hand? Great, Away you go.....
Hang on, you do want a record of this epic battle, right? Have you got your camera or mobile on a stand? Click, (What is the best shot for this scene ?) Click (Flash or not ?) Click, blurred, and do it again. Scribble down some notes down, (try not to lose them afterwards) what turn was it, how the dice landed and who moved where and shot XYZ.
(TIP: At the start of each turn, I advance the "Turn Dice" by one and then take a photo of it. It helps in the editing process later, no wondering if a gangster got killed in turn three or four).
Finally, Victory, or not. Shake hands with your opponent and thank him/her for a good game. Packing it all away, unless you have a dedicated area for gaming (lucky you). Next is sorting out what pictures to use, do I need to add speech bubbles or captions to them? Lastly, turn your notes into an action-packed story of heroic and good deeds. Do another edit or two, with the spell checker, turned on this time. Are you happy? Super, Hit the Publish button. Bing. All done.
If you do one-offs, you can relax for a bit, but if you do a campaign, you have some working out to do. What are the implications of the result? Did our heroes get to their goal and get the treasure? Did the forces of evil triumph? Is there character rolling for possible upgrades? New weapons to dole out to the party? Were any vital supplies used up? Do any of your forces need to be "healed" or replaced? (Does this mean some more minis to buy or just do a repaint job on the losers?)
Do you know where are your characters going to go next? (Does this mean more terrain to design/build/buy? or have you got the very thing from another project you can tweak). Consult those plot tables, decide what works best for the story and scribble some notes for the next chapter. Phew.
It all takes time, that's before you slot real-life events in the way too, hopefully, the delays will get fewer and the actual games will get more frequent, real-life permitting. So, when you play your next game, enjoy it, win or lose, because you have worked jolly hard to get there.
Regards,
Ivor Cogdell
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