Warhammer For Everything/40mm Fever/Even Ernest Hemingway Knew of The Irresistible Magnetic Allure Of The Miniature Painter!!

Although I obsessively collect rulesets and actually try to play them, I find I always come back to good ol'Warhammer.   Ah, Warhammer.  Roll to hit, roll to wound, roll to save.  So simple, so wonderful, and so adaptable to every single conflict/adventure imaginable!  Over the years I have used the Warhammer system to game everything from cavemen squabbles to WWII aerial combat.    Last weekend The Kid and I used it to fight out a fictional battle from the War of 1812:

    The good citizens of Buffalo are fed-up!  They march to join the American Regular Troops who are advancing over the border into Upper Canada.  Along the way they roll a D6 (1,2, -they are fearful, 3,4, they are just fed-up, 5, 6, Frenzied!) - the good citizens of Buffalo are frenzied!!

American Regulars form into a firing line to impress the citizens.  (We gave all Regular troops the ability to re-roll any 1's when rolling to hit if they are in a firing line formation.)

And here come the British! 

Battlelines form.  (Niagara Falls can be seen in the distance...)

The Americans shoot first!  Cannons in Warhammer are always so much fun!

British Hussars charge the American Frontiersmen.  "They don't even know how to form squares!", laughed one Hussar before he was shot from his saddle.

British native allies charge too.  (We gave them extra attacks and the Hatred rule to make them truly terrifying and potent.)

The mid-point of the battle:

First Nations warriors overrun into the American Batteries!  At this point in the battle things really swing in favour of the British.

Realizing all is lost, the Americans pause for a cool silhouette/shadow shot and the game ends.

 

By the way, all these figures are 40mm and were painted by Ross Mac of the fantastic blogs, Battle Game Of The Month and a Gathering of Hosts.   Yeah, 40mm is where its at!  I love this scale and wish I could transform all my miniatures now into 40mm!  I first became hooked on 40mm when Front Rank Miniatures was having their Fall Sale.  This led to a very fortuitous series of happy transactions with Ross Mac as he was selling off some of his beautifully painted colllections of 40mm.  It was really perfect timing too because I have been finding that I enjoy painting less and less as my eyes change/age.  (Boo and hiss.)  But speaking of painting, the other day I came across the following when re-reading Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises:  "...and just when he had made up his mind to leave his wife she left him for a miniature-painter." (!)   And this "he" is a good-looking, athletic rich young man from a well-respected old New York family, yet he is no match to the mighty allure of a miniature painter!!  It makes one think, because afterall, Papa Hemingway really knew what he was talking about.  I think I will continue to paint...