Hi all,

After having recently picked up my paintbrush again, im looking at new ideas to take my commission services further.

On the drIve back from Border Reiver on Saturday, I thought about the idea of a "Battle in a box".

Basically consisting of two, evenly matched, researched sides (German and Brits/USA or Germany and Russians) in a box (painted and based) on a battalion or regiment scale. These sides would historically reflect two opposing sides in an operation or offensive during ww2. Ardennes, Caen, Cobra, Arnhem to name just a few. This way the buyer would be good to go and would provide essentially everything you would need to get going.

Just an idea, I thought I would get the general consensus before going ahead and planning.

Cheers,

Jake

Nice plan, good luck sir.

Not something that would appeal to me but it does seem the way wargaming is going so I'd imagine there is some sort of market for it.

Best of luck if you decide to go ahead with it.

I think the idea has mileage, especially as an introduction or starter pack.

My question is what is "evenly matched"?

Take the Ardennes. Presumably you'd want to include a King Tiger. How many Shermans are evenly matched to one King Tiger? 

Jake,

I did that for a couple that are bunny friends. They had never played DBA before, so after they left I painted up two armies that they expressed interest in, made a fold-able game board, set of rules, two cheat sheets, some felt terrain (starter terrain for many), two die and two movement sticks. Sadly I don't think they ever played it though. Anyway, it was a complete game in a box.

But at least form a DBX mechanics game due to the small size of armies, etc. I think it's a great idea. Although I am not much of a fan of DBA 3.0, in fact I stopped playing DBA after it came out. My thinking is - "If it ain't broken, don't fix it". But that's just me and many like the new version/. Just not DBA to me anymore.

Anyway, sorry for the soapbox, I think it could be a great idea.

Terry

Quote from: Terry37 on 03 September 2018, 01:05:45 PM
I did that for a couple that are bunny friends.

Umm... what's a bunny friend?

Hmm, game agnostic? I think you'd find it difficult to find basing that would be generic enough to play across multiple game systems, so then you'd be targeting the box at a specific game (or selection of games).

Quote from: fsn on 03 September 2018, 12:48:08 PM
I think the idea has mileage, especially as an introduction or starter pack.

My question is what is "evenly matched"?

Take the Ardennes. Presumably you'd want to include a King Tiger. How many Shermans are evenly matched to one King Tiger?

Some games assign arbitrary points values to units. Of the games I can lay hands on now

Blitzkrieg Commander I:  Sherman 85pts, Tiger II 220pts
Blitzkrieg Commander II:  Sherman 125pts, Tiger II 265pts
Warhammer Panzer Battles:  Sherman 160pts, Tiger II 440pts
Flames of War (Fortress Europe):  Sherman 70pts, Tiger II 340pts

So, a Tiger II is worth between 2-and-a-bit and almost 5 Shermans, depending on the game?

Cheers, M.
--

Quote from: fsn on 03 September 2018, 05:07:34 PM
Umm... what's a bunny friend?

I'm guessing people interested in these



Rather than friends dressed like this

Unsurprisingly I am more interested in the second type of Bunny.

Quote from: Orcs on 03 September 2018, 09:19:25 PM
Unsurprisingly I am more interested in the second type of Bunny.

Quote from: Ithoriel on 03 September 2018, 07:48:30 PM

Rather than friends dressed like this

If they are MY friends dressed like that, i'll pass  (unless i can pick a particular friend  )

I assumed immediately that a bunny friend would be the same as a f*** buddy as that is what bunnies do a lot of.

Quote from: hakejumble on 03 September 2018, 09:24:46 AM
Hi all,

After having recently picked up my paintbrush again, im looking at new ideas to take my commission services further.

On the drIve back from Border Reiver on Saturday, I thought about the idea of a "Battle in a box".

Basically consisting of two, evenly matched, researched sides (German and Brits/USA or Germany and Russians) in a box (painted and based) on a battalion or regiment scale. These sides would historically reflect two opposing sides in an operation or offensive during ww2. Ardennes, Caen, Cobra, Arnhem to name just a few. This way the buyer would be good to go and would provide essentially everything you would need to get going.

Just an idea, I thought I would get the general consensus before going ahead and planning.

Cheers,

Jake

Hi Jake

When you are around long enough, you see ideas being recycled.  The trick is to update and contextualise to where we are in the hobby.

Way back around 2000, shortly after Pireme Publishing took over Minature Wargames  from Stratagem, and Iain Dickie took over the editorial from Duncan McFarland, the new publishers launched their own version of Battle in a Box. 
It included, dice, rules, unpainted figures and a painting guide.  There was also a "Terrain Box" with card roads/rivers, hedges, trees, hills etc.

The periods were: Ancients 15mm (Greeks v Romans), Medieval (25mm), Pirates 15mm, ECW 15mm, Napoleonic 15mm, ACW 15mm, WW2 (Brit vGerman, 15mm) and Wild West in 25 mm with a card board  town.

The break down for the ACW box was 84 infantry, 8 cavalry, 3 guns, painting guide, rules and dice for £42  (2003 price= £46 today).  No clue if this included postage!  No play mat or scenery were included.

Iain was pretty much  a one man band, so may well have assembled, boxed, advertised (one full page each month), packed, and dispatched the boxes.  He told me once that he got a good rush at Christmas with older gamers buying for sons, grandchildren, nephews etc.   

However, the advertising strap line was "THE BEST WAY TO START' , so it was clear that Iain saw a target market in the reader who would pick up a copy of MW at a newsagents and, on reading the articles, want to dip a toe in the water.

The box art was good (Wild West and ACW portrayed a game being played). The rest had illustrated figures.

Updating and contextualising the idea, a 10mm Army pack (one protagonist) is around £33 for 150 odd figures.  Would it be better to keep the number of figures to skirmish level ? Say in WW2 two platoons, a few half tracks , a couple of buildings and a simple starter scenario something like Charles Grant's Action at Twin Farms ? 

I hope this intel is useful.   

Quote from: Sunray on 04 September 2018, 08:13:58 AM
Hi Jake

When you are around long enough, you see ideas being recycled.  The trick is to update and contextualise to where we are in the hobby.

Way back around 2000, shortly after Pireme Publishing took over Minature Wargames  from Stratagem, and Iain Dickie took over the editorial from Duncan McFarland, the new publishers launched their own version of Battle in a Box. 
It included, dice, rules, unpainted figures and a painting guide.  There was also a "Terrain Box" with card roads/rivers, hedges, trees, hills etc.

The periods were: Ancients 15mm (Greeks v Romans), Medieval (25mm), Pirates 15mm, ECW 15mm, Napoleonic 15mm, ACW 15mm, WW2 (Brit vGerman, 15mm) and Wild West in 25 mm with a card board  town.

The break down for the ACW box was 84 infantry, 8 cavalry, 3 guns, painting guide, rules and dice for £42  (2003 price= £46 today).  No clue if this included postage!  No play mat or scenery were included.

Iain was pretty much  a one man band, so may well have assembled, boxed, advertised (one full page each month), packed, and dispatched the boxes.  He told me once that he got a good rush at Christmas with older gamers buying for sons, grandchildren, nephews etc.   

However, the advertising strap line was "THE BEST WAY TO START' , so it was clear that Iain saw a target market in the reader who would pick up a copy of MW at a newsagents and, on reading the articles, want to dip a toe in the water.

The box art was good (Wild West and ACW portrayed a game being played). The rest had illustrated figures.

Updating and contextualising the idea, a 10mm Army pack (one protagonist) is around £33 for 150 odd figures.  Would it be better to keep the number of figures to skirmish level ? Say in WW2 two platoons, a few half tracks , a couple of buildings and a simple starter scenario something like Charles Grant's Action at Twin Farms ? 

I hope this intel is useful.   

Irregular do something like this in their Battlepacks, which are available for most of their ranges - not 10mm though, so there's a gap in the market 

You do get rules, but not the painting guide or dice.

Quote from: hakejumble on 03 September 2018, 09:24:46 AM
Hi all,

After having recently picked up my paintbrush again, im looking at new ideas to take my commission services further.

On the drIve back from Border Reiver on Saturday, I thought about the idea of a "Battle in a box".

Basically consisting of two, evenly matched, researched sides (German and Brits/USA or Germany and Russians) in a box (painted and based) on a battalion or regiment scale. These sides would historically reflect two opposing sides in an operation or offensive during ww2. Ardennes, Caen, Cobra, Arnhem to name just a few. This way the buyer would be good to go and would provide essentially everything you would need to get going.

Just an idea, I thought I would get the general consensus before going ahead and planning.

Cheers,

Jake

For it to work I think you'd have to tie it to a particular rules set to get the balanced composition and also pick a popular basing scheme - or add your own rules!

Then, using an example from a period I'm familiar with, if it were Dark Ages you could say based for Dux Bellorum, also suitable for DBA, One Hour Wargames, etc. 

I guess with WW2 use the Blitzkrieg Commander basing conventions.  Are they comparable to other WW2 rules?  Pendraken do the WW2 army packs, would two of those form the basis for a reasonable game?

Where are you thinking of selling - eBay, conventions?  Also, how much were you thinking of charging and  - most importantly - what's your target market?

Cheers!

Meirion

To answer the question - "What's a Bunny Friend?". Yes, it is a person who has and loves bunnies. And a bunny is defined as a four legged little furry thing with long ears, a wiggling nose and loves treats - especially banana!!!

We have two - Clover and Winston and our bunny friends also have two - Lady and Brownie.

Here's ours,


Clover

and


Winston

Terry