Things I am looking forward to in 2013

The title sounds suspiciously like a new years resolution doesn't it ?

X wing from fantasy flight games,

I have fond memories of Aeronautica imperialis (AI), which was a fighter based game in the 40K universe. I liked the game mechanics and the decision making process. I would rank it was one of GW top two games, even thought it was a Forge World game backed up with Forge World models. I had a demo game of X wing during the week and it did not disappoint. I had two tie fighters facing off against a single rebel alliance X wing, Trying to out guess, out manoeuvre and out fight the superior fighter was blast. X wing is an improvement on AI in that the manoeuvres mechanics are a bit more solid. Each fighter has a manoeuvre counter and the player secretly picks his manoeuvres at the start of each round. So he has to guess where is opponent is going to move to and then try to get into optimum firing range. One of the hi lights of the demo was when a tie fighter and the X wing ended up side by side each other on the same heading and speed. Another hi light was when the X wing crashed into an asteroid trying to dodge a Tie fighter. It was less amusing two turns later a pursuing tie fighter crashed into the same asteroid. 

Tomorrow War by ambush alley games

I really like squad level sci fi gaming in 28mm. The scale allows you to get the most out of the painting and modelling side of the hobby. Sci Fi lets you take almost any story line and adapt it to a sci fi setting. This allowed 40K to become arguably the biggest miniatures wargame setting in gaming. I think GW may have forgotten its roots as it push for a bigger scale with bigger models. Tomorrows War will hopefully go back to the quasi role-play element in gaming.

Bolt Action by Warlord games

Bolt Action is Warlord Games attempt to take over the market of 28mm WW2 gaming. The rules are drafted by Alessio Calavatore and features some clever twists. I like the random activation sequence in the game turn. Players take turns drawing a a dice from a cup, which ever side dice is picked can activate a single unit. It adds an element of unpredictability to the game play. The vehicle rules seem right for the scale of the table, I also like how Alessio has out sourced the army book expansions to other games designers. This I hope will give each army a unique flavour. Incidentally the first army expansion is the Germans drafted by Warwick Kinrade who wrote AI and Battle Group Normandy rules

I ain't Been shot Mom (IABSM) by Two Fat Lardies or Battlegroup Normandy/Overlord by Warwick Kinrade/ plastic soldier company

Both are ww2 company level games like Flames of War. I am really happy with Flames of War at the moment and do not plan on changing systems but I would like to try some other rule sets to see how the other half live.  IABSM has similar activation mechanics to Bolt Action and I think it might be a bit more sophisticated. The game may take a bit more effort to set up and run than say a game of 40K or FOW because it has a roleplay element built in but that might not be a bad thing. Battlegroup Normandy/Overlord/Kursk is Plastic Soldiers Companies attempt to take on Flames of War. I think some of the mechanics were borrowed from AI such has keeping track ammo level. This worked for AI where you had to decide if you wanted to take the shot right away or wait to get into a better firing position. In a company level where there are multiple units in play this could be a bit of a pain. Hopefully it will be fun finding out.

The Esienkern project by Dream Forge games

This was the only kick starter project I bought into last year and there were a lot of really good proposals. Mondragon games where one of the first companies to bring out high quality titan equivalent models. The model standard is quite high. I really like the Eisenkorn Clone troopers/ WW2 feel. I was interested in picking up an original set when they were released but was put off buying because the models were metal making them a hassle to convert. Now with Kick Starter backing they are going multi part plastic which gets the modelling side of the hobby excited. I have vision of a 40K IG army based on the Clone Wars in my future.

Saga by Studio Tomahawk 

Saga is a low level medieval skirmish game that is doing quite well on the historic gaming scene. I would like to try it to see what all the fuss is about. The fact the Irish fraction can take warhounds seems like a bonus.

Flames of war by Battle Front

Currently my go to game. Two new armies are in the offing. A German Volk Grenadier Kompanie from NUTS, germans, tranch coats, automatic rifles, enough said. Facing off aganist a full strength US tank company from Blood, Guts and Glory, slightly cheesy but we will see how it goes. A new revision of Market Garden is out so the British might get some more attention later in the year. Interestingly both Battlefront and Plastic solder Company are bring out A Normandy supplement within a couple of months of each other. I wonder which one will be best.