Strategy & Tactics Magazine # 287

 

No doubt most of us started off playing board games. I was no exception.  My dad was bitten hard by the Avalon Hill wargaming bug in the late '50's.  Many is the time I was drafted for duty as cannon fodder in Tactics II when I would have rather been outdoors playing baseball.  But some of Dad's enthusiams eventually rubbed off on me. 

Up until the last few years, I continued the occasional board game purchase when I really have no opponents or can't muster the enthusiasm to actually set things up and have a go at playing a two-player game in ad hoc solitaire fashion.  For instance, I have a beautiful game Age of Conan with all the pieces still in plastic bags.  That was about the last as I wised up and stopped buying games that I have little probability of actually playing. But, this upcoming issue of S&T has really piqued my interest. 

Why ? Solitiare !  This will be S&T's second version some may recall the old Flight of the Goeben in S&T #21. It was subsequently released as an SPI board game in 1970.  This new game looks quite enticing:

The thought of being able to have another go at the enthralling story of the Goeben in solitaire mode makes it look as if I'll have to break my self-imposed ban on buying more board games. Also there could be some WW1 Mediterranean campaign potential in this map, as well as the possibility of playing out the battles with ship models.

Still plugging away at the Deetail knights. I took a short vacation this earlier this week so painting time has been a bit limited.

Homeric Battle Game 3 - 40mm Flats

Just finished these (plus another pawn), the Spartan king Menelaos and his godly protector Poseidon. As always, painted in acrylics.  The bases of all the paired gods and heroes are color coded to facilitate identification for the players.

And in their proper element, on the game board.  Interesting that Menelaos is classically Greek but his shield design is Roman legionary in style.  In general, I dislike raised shield designs for hoplites as well as raised herarldy for knights as it really limits their utility for representing anything beyond the one figure. But for these more symbolic figures, it's just fine and makes them easier to paint.

Now working on the mounted figure of Patroclus, then on to Odysseus and Hermes.

Homeric Battle Game 2 - 40mm Flats

Finished the first few figures of the Greeks, an archer pawn, Athena and her favorite hero Diomedes, attired in his sword & sandal movie armor.

And posed in their element. 

 

Working on the next group now, Menelaus, Poseidon and another pawn.

 

 

 

Homeric Battle Game - Antique 40mm Flats

Here's something I just received from Germany yesterday, an old kid's game: Homerisches Kampfspiel. This set was produced by Heinrichsen in 1881.  The figures are 40mm, representing gods and heroes of the Trojan Wars. At least the 19th Century idea of it, not a boar's tusk helmet or figure-eight shield in sight here. 

It's funny, I had contacted Dr.Grobe of Heinrichsen about something completely different, threw in a question about this set thinking it was long out of stock, and was pleasantly surprised to find she still had one with the unpainted castings.  My eBay Romans had fetched a nice sum, more than enough rationalize getting the game.

The components are nice, with a sturdy 9x9 board and two trays of  beautifully engraved figures.

The rules for the game are chesslike, rather simple and minimalist, but somewhat murky at the same time. Perhaps something is lost in translation.  Each side has 23 figures: 5 gods and goddesses, 8 heroes (3 mounted, 5 on foot) and ten warriors serving as pawns. 

Capture is only on the diagonal.  The pawns move like chess kings, the foot heroes move as the pawns do except cannot retreat. One wonders what happens when they reach the other edge of the board, presumably stuck there like players on the old electric football games who vibrated to the sidelines and end zones, out of the action until the next play.  The interesting wrinkle is that the foot heroes all have a patron god or goddess, identified by like color codes painted on the bases. These gods can then fly across the battlefield to protect their heroes from capture (at least from one side). The mounted heroes enjoy no such protection but are nicely compensated by the granting of unlimited movement on the diagonals, like chess bishops.  When a hero dies, his godly protector is removed from play, no doubt retiring to Mt. Olympos. When all heroes to a given side are killed, that army is defeated and the game is over.

Here are the game pieces, shown in their factory paint.

Greeks

Trojans

I look forward to painting these in my own way, as soon as I finish a few other things in queue.