I went to Historicon last weekend. I went last year for the first and fell in love with the convention and all of the epic battles that were waged. I have been a tabletop gamer for twenty years but the extent of my gaming was always fantasy or sci-fi based. I've had curiosity for historical gaming but it always seemed so daunting. The closest I've come to jumping in is Flames of War. I like the game, but I don't really care for the 15mm size.
So this year at Historicon I decided to check out Bolt Action. It would satisfy my itch for my love of WWII and it is 28mm. Much better for my old eyes and fat hands. I also decided to actively look into games based in the 17th century. Most games from older history I had seen were always big blocks of tiny figures on a huge field and I wasn't sure that's the direction I wanted to go (tiny figures again). So I started thinking about maybe getting into Black Powder. It's made by the same company putting out Bolt Action so it drew my attention.
However, when I was wandering around the exhibit hall I found a game called Beneath the Lily Banners and I met Barry Hilton, the game designer. Not ashamed to say it was the table and the minis that drew me there first, then I got a chance to play and really liked the system a lot. The period (1660 - 1721) covers a lot of ground and conflict. It will be quite the endeavor to pick where to start this journey. I bought "Donnybrook" while there. Donnybrook is a skirmish set of rules covering the same period. Smaller battles and skirmish rules may be easier to get my friends involved. I picked up the PDF of BLB yesterday and will be digging in with great gusto.
So that's where I am. I'm trying to figure out where I want to start. As soon as I do I'll start putting up miniature pics and probably terrain projects.
Oh, this isn't going to be just about BLB and Donnybrook. I'm putting together my first squads of Bolt Action and I've got other things I'm working on. Stay tuned.
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