My friend Thaddeus...

[nikharwood]

...has had a proper-good rant on his blog about Wargames & Gift-giving. Enjoy: http://leadnobleed.blogspot.com.br/2012/04/how-hard-is-it-to-buy-me-presents-let.html

[Maenoferren]

Hence the reason I buy my own and get them to wrap it

[GordonY]

My missus usually just hands over the credit card and says "you can spend this much!", I never fail to get something to please me.

On another note, just for Nikky no-mates, or as he'd like to be known, a selective solo wargamer, take a look at this little gem Nik http://gordonsgaming.blogspot.co.uk/ more information can be found here http://assaultpublishing.com/?page_id=509

Whats the excitement? A wargame written from the ground up as a solo game!  How, good? Well I've played one scenario 4 times (on easy mode) and lost 4 times.

[nikharwood]

On another note, just for Nikky no-mates, or as he'd like to be known, a selective solo wargamer, take a look at this little gem Nik http://gordonsgaming.blogspot.co.uk/ more information can be found here http://assaultpublishing.com/?page_id=509

Whats the excitement? A wargame written from the ground up as a solo game!  How, good? Well I've played one scenario 4 times (on easy mode) and lost 4 times.

Cheeky sod - I've got loads of mates 

I've seen that - it's tempting, but I'm not convinced by the amount of counters & dice etc - all looks a bit cluttered to me...how does it play?

[Luddite]

That's an excellent rant. 

Luckily i married a geek so my wife 'gets it', and so i receive presents i want. 

The rest of the family however...

[GordonY]

There's one counter per plane Nik, either Low/Med/High altitude the targetty looking ones are unrevealed contacts (you dont know what they are until you get close enough) the wee dice are ammo markers blu-tak to the planes base, so not a lot of clutter.

It plays fast and furious, those fellas with protractors and slide rules need not apply, for instance take a Mig 21, medium manauverable plane, it can (if you wish) turn up to 45 degrees at the start of its move, then moves between 2" (stall speed) and 8" (max speed) in a straight line then turn up to 90 degrees, it can fire either its cannon or missiles at either the start or the end of its straight line run. You can only shoot at stuff at the same level as yourself, shooting is basically chucking a number of d6 then adding it all together to beat a defence value, a few modifiers are shooting at a plane coming towards you -1d6, shooting at a plane heading away +1d6. As you can see its not unnessecarily complicated, the AI for when you play solo is pick a plane and roll a d6, on a 1 the pilot is Homer Simpson and he'll just fly off in a random direction for a random number of inches, 2,3,4 the plane will head towards the nearest enemy and shoot if he can with the weapon with the best chance of damaging it. 5,6 he'll go after his preferred target (might be fighters, might be ground attack planes) again using whatever weapon is the best for the job.

Rules run to 12 pages, of which 6 are scenarios each with easy/medium/hard settings, some are easier than others (even on easy setting), so far I've played 5 and lost 4 but those 4 losses were playing what the designer regards as the most challenging one, youre creeping about in the dark with a couple of Stealth Fighters trying to bomb between 2 and 4 SAM launchers. I will hang my head in shame and say right now that in 4 sorties I have yet to put a single bomb on one of these yet.

[GordonY]

Just ask yourself Nik, does this look cluttered?



Gordon

[Ben Waterhouse]

It does look tempting...

[Techno]

Just ask yourself Nik, does this look cluttered?
Gordon

Nope !
Cluttered is NOT a word that springs to mind here Gordon.
Has your Pup been nicking figures off the table ?
Cheers - Phil.

[nikharwood]

Thanks Gordon - your pic certainly looks uncluttered [but they have just deployed, right?  ]

It sounds simple enough too - and fast & furious, which I like; I'm just trying to resist another game 

Although - if you could buy the rules separately, I've already got most of the planes / armour etc required in 3mm...I'm definitely not convinced by the price tag either: £49.99  especially if the game is as simple as you describe...

[GordonY]

In that one Nik there were 4 more Iraqi planes to reveal, once the F16s got in radar range, so it didnt get much more cluttered. In fact it got a heap less cluttered very fast, as the F16s volleyed off a bunch of MRAAMs at the 3 that were shown.

Rules on their own, I wish, but gimme a PM later in the week and I'll see what I can do.  To be honest, I'd rather up the table size a bit and use 1/300 planes as I find these 1/600 a bit of a pain, plus I could get a bit of mileage out of them for my CWC armies.

[lentulus]

To be honest I am not sure I want my wife and kids to "get" my hobby.   The boys know to get me bookstore gift cards.  And I have to get shirts, socks and trousers from somewhere.

Admittedly wargames are simpler than books.  I can always use another regiment of Prussians, but trying to find a mystery my wife will like and has not already bought is murder.