Strike Force Commander

Well, here I sit at the office, waiting for an appointment to get under way. I decided that I could dash off a few notes to update the world at large of my progress on my skirmish game Strike Force Commander.

When I say "skirmish" I do not mean Company Level game where my units move in Skirmish Formation. I actually mean, Small unit game of individual minis moving about the board fighting a small skirmish against other small enemy units.

See, most modern Company level games I see describe themselves as "skirmish" games, when in fact they are whole battle games that simulate full engagements between sizeable forces, not smaller skirmishes between a few combatants.

That being said, I noticed a need for a playable set of historical skirmish rules. Most WW2 skirmish rules I've seen are down right unplayable, unless you are an accountant. Since I'm the kind of guy who wants to have a good, tense, game in under 45 minutes, I decided to fill that niche with my own design. And so, SFC was born.

My current plan is to have the rules finished this year for release next year. I will have the main rule book that will also have competitive strike force lists for tournament play (yes, I said tournament), and then later there will be campaign books for the three different eras/periods that I'm covering. The eras are Ancient/Medieval, Early Modern, & Modern Warfare.

I have yet to see a set of skirmish rules focused on tournament play. Most are campaign based. SFC will let you build a force that is badass and can be played right out of the gate, instead of having to start small & build up like a campaign. I like both, but wanted to be clear that both are great options.

I recently noticed that Warhammer Historicals will be releasing Legends of the High Seas. Undoubtedly a Legends of the Old West variant for Pirates & Swashbucklers. This has motivated me to get my ass in high gear and get SFC published before WH makes a skirmish game for all of the cool periods.

Since I don't get paid to sit around and write games, I'll be getting back to work...

Valhalla

My sweetheart and I spent the weekend with our Landsknecht re-enactment guild at Valhalla Renaissance Faire. See my sidebar links for St. Maximilian's guild website.

We had a great time and I spent most of it banging on Donner, the guild drum. I play regular drums and was invited to play for the guild and learn our march beat this weekend. By the third procession I had it down and was quite at home in my puff & slash pounding away as the soldats behind me shouted "Noch Weiter!" in unison. Thanks to Tom for helping me learn the march.

Cool shit.

We'll be up there again this weekend. If you are dropping by please say hi. Ask for 'Anton' which is my character's name.

Oh yeah, nothing painted as usual. Tune in next time. Maybe I'll paint up some Landsknecht in 28mm....

Faust