Liaoyang Game: The Russian and Japanese Armies

Both the Russian and Japanese armies are ready to be packed up for the up coming Liaoyang game Saturday.  I still need to add a few flags but not much more is needed to be done.  All of the units are based in #D printed sabot bases which have a thin metal strip across the base label.  This will allow player to track unit status with tiny magnetic map pins.

Here's a picture showing the pins in use - the Divisional artillery unit has 3 rounds of ammunition (3 green pins) and the 4th Regiment from the 3rd Division has taken 2 fatigue points.  In past games I used round disks or paper to track status and it became confusing - hopefully this method works better and keeps the table less cluttered.

 The Russian army at Liaoyang consisted of 12 Infantry and 2 Cavalry divisions organized into 6 Corps.  It is a formidable force that was lead by shall we say not the most talented of officers.

The Japanese forces at Liaoyang consisted of 8 Infantry Divisions, 3 Kobi Brigades and a number of independent formations.  The only are where the Japanese had a material numbers advantage is machine guns plus they were employed in a much more flexible way.  I think I've come up with a simple rules construct to represent this advantage.  I guess we'll find out on Saturday!

Liaoyang Terrain

 The city of Liaoyang and three outlying village markers are complete.  These will all be used as objectives for Saturday's Liaoyang game at the club.

I still need to finish up some hills that will run south of the city.  These are pretty good approximations of the actual hills.  I suspect the Japanese players will not like them very much

Game Night at the Club: Coral Sea

Last night we play-tested a new naval game from a local game designer.  We re-fought the coral sea campaign with Chal and I commanding the Japanese and pitted against Ed and Dave commanding the allies.  While there were a few rough parts in combat resolution, the game was very fun - it  did a great job of simulating carrier operations and the searching mechanism's were easy yet fun.

As we haven't communicated the clubs thoughts about the game to the author, so I'm going to hold off any specific comments.  I think this will be a very fun game and I enjoyed helping to playtest it.

Earlier in the day the Nola campaign resumed and there will be a rather large battle in the next few weeks.

We did socially distant and wear masks while playing our games last night because it's the right thing to do.  Some club members also helpfully pointed out that my wearing of a mask actually improves my appearance so masks also have that going for them.

TMP Wars and Changing Media Consumption Patterns

My Alternative Logo for TMP

Over the past week I noticed that an old post of mine from May of 2017 was getting a lot of traffic.  The post is titled "I've Been Banned From TMP and I Feel Fine" and you can guess the topic from the title.

I've got no issues with being banned.  TMP is a privately run site and can choose who can have access to the "service" and who can't.  I was a free user and really don't have any rights to access.  The degree to which these decisions are good business practice is another matter but the proprietor both makes those decisions and deals with the ramifications.

Against my better judgement, I hopped onto the site to see what was driving the new traffic and was was not surprised to see there is yet another flame war.  This one was a bit different as it wasn't with a competing forum or subgroup of TMP users but with an Advertiser in the form of Richard Clarke owner of the TooFatLardies rules publishing company.  TMP's revenue model is add driven and getting into a public snit with an advertiser seems to be really, really silly.  I suspect Mr Clarke has also learned the lesson about wrestling with a pig in his pen.  You just get muddy and the pig kind of likes it.

For fun, I looked up TMP's traffic stats - I use a number of paid tools for investment purposes but even TMP's self reported stats tell a pretty damning.  Lets just look at those self-reported stats:

                Hits.                  Avg Daily Visitors

2Q'17:    24.7MM.           4Q'17     8.9k/day
2Q'20:    15.0MM.           Current.  6.6k/day

Wow - that's a 40% decline over three years.  To honest the decline is even worse once traffic for 'bots are separated out but an ominous trend when overall online traffic metrics are skyrocketing.  Theres a similar trend in terms of average daily visitors which has declined for just over 8.9k/day in 2017 to a current level of 6.6k/day.

While it is tempting to just continue to beat up TMP and they sure make it easy to do so, similar sites like the Lead Adventures Forum are also seeing traffic declines - not nearly as large but still steadily down.

The tabletop industry as a whole has never been better - so why are these general purpose sites seeing a decline in both traffic and business relevance?

In my opinion, there are several factors at play from both a consumer and business perspective.  Now just because I say it doesn't mean its accurate and your milage may vary.

Consumers:
Like or hate Facebook, general purpose platform like it are winning the consumer eyeball wars because they work and provide a single user interface to use.  Special purpose forums like TMP have their own unique infrastructure and interface (I never really figured how to post pictures on TMP) and that creates a form of user "friction" and a tech backlog as they just dont have the resources to keep pace with the competition.  Both facebook and Youtube have a simple interface that once you learn it it works for every site / group / topic your interested in.  One of my main uses for TMP was reference material on uniforms and other historical minutia - now there are innumerable Facebook groups on the same topics with integrated images and a simple user interface.  Other than watching the spectacle of people squabbling over how HMGS should run a convention, I really have no effective use for TMP.

Business:
The internet has made it even easier for a business to interact directly with its customers on a global basis.  A small manufacture of historical figures used to have to market through physical game conventions (the vendor booth) or sites like TMP or magazines to announce and sell products.  Now they can reach out directly or use very sophisticated marketing tools to target their audience.  Throw on top of that the evolution of platforms like "KickStarter" which effectively perform a combination market test and trade finance platform and the need for an intermediary site really needs to be questioned.

In real life, I'm a very active tech investor and have observed these trends impacting a number of industries.  I am intrigued by the impact and implications these forces will have on the historical gaming industry and will be doing some more research on the topic.  The downside of that for you is there will be a few more really boring "business trend" posts on the blog.

Back to TMP - I fear the site and, others like it, are condemned to a continual downward slide in relevance and economic viability., with the only variation being the slope of the decline.  Like large format department stores, their value in the delivery chain has been supplanted by superior technology.  I suspect the questionable decisions of TMP's owner will hasten it's demise but that's just speeding up the inevitable. 

Battle of Liaoyang: Terrain Prep

 With the club now re-opened (in a socially distant way), it's time for me to run a big game.  Given my current infatuation with the Russo Japanese War, the game in question will be the Battle of Liaoyang.  One of the defining battlefield terrain features is the city of Liaoyang itself as it had 30 foot tall walls. I've decided to 3D print a representation for both the city and 3 villages that will serve as objective markers.  These are not architectural models (I made up the layout) but size wise and shape its how the city is represented in period maps.  I found some 3D model files for Chinese buildings and fortified walls on the Wargaming 3D site and downloaded them.  I experimented with printing sizes and settled on using a print scale of 15%.

 With all the components printed out, I cut some bases from thick cardboard and glued the pieces down.  I found PVA glue worked best as I am printing with PLA.  These were then primed (all i have on hand is tan) and left out to dry.

The battle itself was a rather long affair running from August 25th to Sep 5th, 1904.  We'll be refighting the climatic part of the Battle during August 30 to Sep 1.  The opposing armies were fairly evenly matched.  The Japanese had 8 infantry divisions and roughly 125K men pitted against a Russian force of "approximately" 135K in 12 Infantry and 2 Cavalry divisions.  The historical reference materials have fairly large variances in reported Russian troop strength - from 128K all the way up to 245K!  Some of the Russian troop counts are suspect as their sources are various Russian commanders who either supported the Russian CIC (Kuropatkin) (lower counts) or despised him (higher counts).  "Alternative Facts" seems to have existed far before the Trump administration.  I'm going with a troop count that matches the formations present.

Another terrain feature of the battlefield was a low ring of hills to the south of the city and along the eastern edge of the map.  I've got a number of hills that are large but decided the game needed some smaller ones that fit better with 6mm figures.  The terrain on the Western side of the side was pretty open but did have lots of fields of Sorghum, which was just about ready to be harvested and approached 9 feet in height (think cornfields from the ACW)

Speaking of ACW, the rules I'm planning to use are based on Greg's wonderful ACW ruleset "Alter of Freedom". I really like the command mechanics in AoF and think they are a great way to simulate the command issues the Russians faced without making then "no-fun" to play.  This will be my second outing with my modified ruleset and I'm hopeful they work out well.  The first outing was another R-J War battle Tashinchiao - which was fought in July of 1904 with about half the forces we'll be using for Liaoyang.

For those of you who are familiar with Alter of Freedom, the scale of Liaoyang is a little bigger than Gettysburg.  If you are not familiar with Alter of Freedom well you're living a life of unnecessary deprivation - below are some links to some videos from the club about a game staged with AofF and a rules review.  Its a great set of rules that you should go out and buy.  Go ahead, treat yourself - you deserve it.

Battle of Antietam

AofF Rules Review

Normally this time of year (late June / early July) is filled with frantic preparations to put on my game at Historicon.  With this years convention cancelled, it's actually very calming to have to have something to frantically prepare for - it's a reminder that things will get better eventually.

Be safe everyone - and don't be an ass, wear a God-Damn mask in public.

3mm WW2 Tiny and Really Fun

 Last night at the club, Tom put on a fantastic WW2 game using his newly painted 3mm Americans and Germans.  It's very good that Tom did not waste his quarantine time on binge watching Netflix.

I've never experienced a 3mm game (each base was a company) and was both impressed with the look and playability.  We ere using some draft rules that worked pretty well. 

Ed and I played the American while Tony and Josh were the Germans - it was a very close game but I think the edge went to the US but it was very close.  As usual, Ed did all the hard fighting while I just roamed around in my tanks taking pot shots at Stugs and running away (maybe fleeing) from Panthers.

While the club is now re-opened, we still practiced social distancing.  Here you can see Ed modeling his very dapper mask - if only the rest of us mere mortals could be as debonaire as Ed while strutting around in such a stylish mask.

Ed, Tony and I have embarked upon a secret project over the next few months - you'll see hints about it in various posts.   In fact you already have......

3D Printer Tool Caddy

 I was cleaning out my workshop and stumbled across a test box I had put together when making my son's Christmas present.  Rather than toss it out, I deicded to make a tool caddy for all the small tools and spare parts I have for my Prusa 3D printer.  It's a bit of a tight fir but the box holds everything.  There's a hanging rack on the front side for hand tools like clippers or needle nosed pliers.

 On the other side are holes that hold the Allen wrenches and small screw drivers.  Inside the box are replacement parts like extra print nozzles and tubing.

I just added a few pieces of scrap wood for the tool rack and some simple handles.  Now, at least, I'll know where all my 3D printer tools are. 

Lockdown Haircut

It had to be done.  OK, it only had to be done because my wife decreed it so.  Since she out ranks me, my only course was to follow orders.  That's right, I got a home hair cut after four months.

I'm sure that last statement disappoints a lot of my blog readers as you were are were all anticipating the debut of my silver haired man-bun.  Please direct your outrage at this artistic denial to executive management.

After procuring some hair clippers (DAMN YOU AMAZON!) and watching a you-tube video, my surgeon wife declared herself a barber and set about her task of shoring me like a sheep. 

Before we go any further, I should point out that I have developed superb hair coloring skills as I've done my wife's hair twice.  I may open a salon post lockdown, that's how good I am.

So how did it go?  Well, first off, it is very unnerving when a surgeon is cutting your hair and wondering out loud about how long it would take to suture an ear back on.  As for the haircut.  Well lets just say I have a lot of hats.....

Barstool Project Edging Closer to Complete

 I was able to spend a couple hours in the garage workshop and managed to finish the seats tops and attach them to the frames.  There will be another round of sanding and then the barstools will be ready for finish.  It looks like I will make my self imposed deadline of Monday's club re-opening.

 The first task of the day was to glue up the fourth seat top.  I had to use narrow cut-offs from the leg / apron pieces but had just enough the get a 14 inch square seat out of those scraps.  Sometimes it is better to be lucky than smart.

While the fourth seat was setting up, I got out my router and a round-over bit to take the edge off the seats - I think they came out nicely.  I'll hand sand the top flush and buff out the sharp edge on the corner.

Once I finished rounding over the three previously made seats, the fourth had set up and was also rounded over.

Attaching the seats to the frames was done with glue and some hidden cross sections tacked in place with brad nails.  Once the glue dries the seats will be very firmly in place.

The final task of the day was going over and covering all the brad nails with wood putty.  I've got about 3-4 hours of sanding to do and these stools will be pretty much done.

Barstools for the Club

 With social distancing rules beginning to ease, there have been rumblings of re-opening our club for gaming.  Normally this news would be greeted with joy but I need to get some barstools built to make good on a promise.  I cut all the wood and lap joints a few weeks ago so should get these built this week - well that's the plan at least.  So far 2020 has done a pretty good job screwing up my plans

First up is assembling the leg frames - these are being built for strength and durability not style.  I am cheating a bit as I'm using a brad nailer to tack the pieces in place while the glue dries.

A few hours of workshop time and all for frames are built.  Two stools will be 29 inches high and two will be 24 as that's what we have in the club now.  These frames are super sturdy and should survive high impact gamer usage for years to come.

With the frames built, the next step is to glue up the panels for the seats.  The seat tops will be 14 inches square so I'm glueing up 15 inch square panels (3, 15x5 inch sections).  When glueing up panels, it's really important that the edges faces are square and well sanded.  Also don't put too much pressure on the clamps or the wood will bow.

It was at this stage of the project, I was reminded that I was, indeed, a moron.  I've only got enough poplar wood prepared for three seats not 4!  I could plane up some more from scraps or make the 4th seat out of (shudder) plywood.  I am in a bit of a ethical quandary here.

While the panels are setting up, I made some test pieces with different finishes.  I really like Danish Oil as a finish - it's looks good and is very easy to apply.  After looking at this picture I've realized that my color palette for wood finishing is somewhat narrow - I might need to try some darker finishes.

Before attaching the seats to the frames all of the outer edges will get rounded over and there will be sanding - oh there will be a lot of sanding on this project.

I should get these finished this week and have them up in the club by Monday.  Hopefully you'll see them in a supporting role in a future Little Wars TV episode.  Get it, "supporting role" - he,he - I should have been a stand up comic 'cause I slay me......