PAPERCRAFT BUILDINGS AND TERRAIN FOR WARGAMES

Quite a few times I have been asked about the buildings I use when playing Fear of the Dark  or Frontline Heroes: Fields of Normandy, and I think they deserve their own post... 

When I started with the idea of ​​playing skirmish wargames alone and at home, I had several problems, the buildings I wanted to use as terrain (resin, 3D, mdf, plastic ...) were expensive and take up a lot of space. Think that we are dealing with solo wargamers, and most of them have to store their miniatures and terrain at home.

"They were expensive" ... Many of you will think that they are not expensive for the quality and detail they offer, but of course, if we think that I play solo, the cost in mdf (for example) of a city that fills a 3x3 ft (90x90 cms) game board, being just one person who pays for all the buildings becomes too expensive... 

And if we talk about making several settings (modern, fantasy, scifi), then that´s quite a lot of money... 

"they take up a lot of space"... Buildings to represent a city on a 3x3 ft (90x90 cms) game board take up quite a lot of room at home, and we are not talking about shelves or boxes in a club, we are talking about a house where I live with my wife, two little boys and a cat...  for example...

So in my search for a solution I found cardboard buildings: they are cheap and if I could find a way to store them without occupying much space they would be my best option.

These are some examples of the settings that I have made for wargaming at home, but let´s go one step further...

Most papercraft buildings are designed to be made and stay that way glued, being impossible to fold them without breaking them, and then the buildings, although being cheap, they take the same room as a resin or mdf one. Did I tell you that I live with my wife, two kids and a cat?

As I didn´t find buildings that could be folded flat I chose to design them myself so that they could be folded and could be stored without occupying a lot. 

Based on papercraft buildings from companies such as worldworks games, fat dragon games and Z-war one boardgame, I "redesigned" the buildings so that they could be folded, separating walls and roof. 

I made a few houses printed in A3 on 200 grms paper, look at the result, and see how those houses look once glued and how much space they take once they are stored... 

In the last photo you have an example game board with these houses.

Apart from that small town I wanted to have a city setting, and I wanted the roofs to be playable, so they needed a flat surface.

Once again, using models that I bought from companies that sell them online to make building models that can´t be folded I modified them.

The idea is that the walls of houses or buildings should be square or rectangular, so that when folded they fit perfectly.

Each wall of the building is joined to the next wall using a fixing tape that is called invisible, which is completely transparent and matte, so that it is barely visible.

This fixing tape is what will act as a hinge so that the sides of the building can be folded together.

The roof of the building will act as a stopper to hold the structure in place while we play. In addition, it will be tough enough to attach miniatures on it.

Here we see how it is folded and how we assemble it, in the last photo, with minis and some terrain. 

In addition to all these advantages if you are accustomed to using photoshop or other image editing software you can even modify the buildings to make them look like collapsed buildings.

In this table I modified the buildings to make them look like they had been destroyed during a heavy bombing, they were foldable and had pieces of floor to use to play with the heights.

There will be people who think that the idea of using papercraft is not good, but for me it is because the cost is the cheapest I have found, I can make many houses of different settings and most important, it allows me to keep everything in a single box...

I usually use recycled boxes (I have many of the same) with the measures 38x28x10 cm, the same kind of boxes you may have at home.

Inside those boxes I can put an entire city and still I have plenty of spare room. Everything you see in the second photo is in that box (buildings, streets, lampposts, trash cans ...), and as you can see, there is plenty of room left.

In the box in which I put the middle east town, I had so much spare space that I put all the palm trees, small terrain pieces, figures ...

And maybe you think that this system works with simple structures, because another kind of structures would be more difficult to fold. Well, this is the las terrain piece that I made myself from a Dave Graffam model.

... or even a f#*?@#g huge lighthouse!!

All the buildings you see in this pictures are modified versions of products you can buy online, so I'm going to make a small list of the best companies I have found:

Worldworks games, has plenty of houses and buildings for several settings (medieval/fantasy, modern, far west, scifi...)

Fat Dragon games (nice selection of medieval/fantasy and modern/20´s buildings)

Stoetzel models (several modern/20´s buildings and houses)

Dave Graffam (fantasy/medieval houses)

This options are really cheap (think around 1-4$ for a big building and you can print as much as you want) but there are other FREE options that you may consider as well:

Zwarone is a really good zombie boardgame that is worth to be considered for zombie apocalypse games, and in their web page they offer to download for free a set of several houses that have a really good quality (I use many of them when I play).

Papermau is a website full of free papercraft, you can spend a whole afternoon checking this webpage to find real treasures. It has a good search engine to look for what you need (try house, boat, egyptian temple... for example).

There are many more companies, but these ones listed above have the highest quality/lowest price that I have found, and apart from such a huge amount of buildings, they have mats, scatter terrain, bridges and almost anything you may need for your wargaming table. 

Well, I hope I have satisfied your curiosity, and as always, I hope to encourage you to play alone...

Don't let terrain and scenery be a problem...

FRONTLINE HEROES: FIELDS OF NORMANDY

 WHAT IS FRONTLINE HEROES?

Frontline Heroes: Fields of Normandy is a fast paced, easy to learn solo/PlayerVSplayer skirmish wargame set during ww2. If you want to know more about this game THIS LINK will take you to the time where heroes were born. Hold your rifle, stay close to your brothers and fight to the last man.

FRONTLINE HEROES VIDEOS

In these videos we will learn how the mechanics of this game work:

VIDEO #1 INTRODUCTION. What is this game about and what do you need to play.

VIDEO #2 INITIATIVE. In this video let´s explore the initiative system that moves this wargame.

VIDEO #3 COMBAT. In this video we explore how the combat system works. Frontline Heroes is a wargame, so combat will be a main part of this game.

VIDEO #4 MORALE. In this video we see how morale works in Frontline Heroes. We see an example of a combat and the morale checks we have to make in that combat.

VIDEO #5 GAMEPLAY. In this video, we’re going to explain through examples how a full game turn of Frontline Heroes is played.

Los mismos videos han sido grabados en castellano para los jugadores de habla hispana, a continuación encontrareis los enlaces a los videos:

VIDEO #1 INTRODUCCIÓN. De qué trata este juego y qué necesitas para jugar.

VIDEO #2 INICIATIVA. En este video vamos a explorar el sistema de iniciativa de este wargame.

VIDEO #3 COMBATE. En este video exploramos como funciona el sistema de combate. Frontline Heroes es un wargame, así que el combate será una parte principal de este juego.

VIDEO #4 MORAL. En este video vemos un ejemplo de un combate y los chequeos de moral que tenemos que hacer en ese combate.

VIDEO #5 TURNO DE JUEGO.  En este vídeo vamos a explicar mediante ejemplos cómo se juega un turno completo de Frontline Heroes.

FRONTLINE HEROES: FIELDS OF NORMANDY SKIRMISH WARGAME

 FRONTLINE HEROES: FIELDS OF NORMANDY

Frontline Heroes is a solo/PvP skirmish wargame set in World War II. In this game, our soldiers will be members of the Allied forces battling against the Nazi army on the European front.

Players have the option to play solo, controlling one side and facing an AI system that manages the enemy, or to engage in competitive mode against a human opponent, with each player controlling one side of the conflict. Additionally, the game can be played cooperatively with multiple players acting on the same side, fighting together against the enemy controlled by the AI.

As a skirmish game with only a few miniatures (from 4 to 14 models per side), Frontline Heroes offers missions encompassing stealth assaults, direct confrontations, sabotage, and reconnaissance. Players may also engage in small segments of larger battles, determined by the outcomes of their characters' actions.

Players take on the role of a small group of soldiers fighting for the Allied cause in Europe against the Nazi army. Choose your soldiers, issue the right commands, and accomplish the objectives of each mission. Some missions may be completed without firing a single shot, while others may involve intense life-and-death combat.

Now is your chance to take part in the events that changed the course of world history forever. Stand firm in the sands of the beaches, push through the dense bocage, defend each of the rooms in the ruins where you hide, climb the heavily fortified hills, seize enemy strongholds, and eliminate your enemies one by one before it's too late. The future of the entire world depends on you.

SOLO vs COMPETITIVE MODE

Frontline Heroes primarily focuses on solitaire mode, although it also offers cooperative and competitive mode options.

Solitaire mode involves a single player battling against an Artificial Intelligence (AI) that controls the enemy forces and their decisions. This mode emphasizes narrative and storytelling. The AI controls wich enemy models activate, when and the actions they make. The player doesn´t have to take any decision in this process.

Additionally, cooperative mode allows two players to team up on the same side, facing an AI-controlled enemy.

Competitive mode follows the standard format of miniatures wargames, where two or more players form opposing sides and engage in direct conflict, aiming to defeat the enemy and eliminate as many opposing miniatures as possible. It is a purely competitive mode. In this game, you won't find exhaustive army lists to form different factions. Instead, the system for creating the opposing factions is completely original and fun.

NORMAL vs STEALTH MISSIONS

Frontline Heroes features 21 missions, each specifying the miniatures that make up each faction, the layout of the game table, the background information, possible events, and everything needed to play a game. Furthermore, each mission offers high replayability.

In the game we have normal missions, as in any type of miniature wargame, where two forces face off until one prevails over the other through sheer force; and we also have stealth missions, in which we must infiltrate a small group of soldiers into enemy territory to accomplish certain vital objectives, such as sabotaging supplies capturing bridges or blowing up installations.

Frontline Heroes features a comprehensive rules system and 21 missions for solo or multiplayer play, presented in a nearly 200-page book. The game is available at Wargamevault in the following link:

BUY ONLINE FRONTLINE HEROES: FIELDS OF NORMANDY

FRONTLINE HEROES: CAMPOS DE NORMANDÍA

Frontline Heroes es un juego de guerra de escaramuzas en solitario o a dos jugadores ambientado en la Segunda Guerra Mundial. En este juego, nuestros soldados serán miembros de las fuerzas aliadas que luchan contra el ejército nazi en el frente europeo.

Los jugadores tienen la opción de jugar en solitario, controlando un bando y enfrentándose a un sistema de IA que gestiona al enemigo, o de participar en modo competitivo contra un oponente humano, con cada jugador controlando un bando del conflicto. Además, el juego se puede jugar cooperativamente con varios jugadores actuando en el mismo bando, luchando juntos contra el enemigo.

Como juego de escaramuzas con solo unas pocas miniaturas (de 4 a 14 por bando), Frontline Heroes ofrece misiones que abarcan asaltos sigilosos, confrontaciones directas, sabotaje y reconocimiento. Los jugadores también pueden participar en pequeños segmentos de batallas más grandes, determinados por los resultados de las acciones de sus personajes.

Los jugadores asumen el papel de un pequeño grupo de soldados que luchan por la causa aliada en Europa contra el ejército nazi. Elige a tus soldados, manda las órdenes adecuadas y cumple los objetivos de cada misión. Algunas misiones pueden completarse sin disparar un solo tiro, mientras que otras pueden implicar combates intensos de vida o muerte.

Ahora es tu oportunidad de participar en los eventos que cambiaron el curso de la historia mundial para siempre. Mantente firme en las arenas de las playas, atraviesa el denso bocage, defiende cada una de las habitaciones en las ruinas donde te escondes, escala las colinas fuertemente fortificadas, conquista los bastiones enemigos y elimina a tus enemigos uno por uno antes de que sea demasiado tarde. El futuro del mundo depende de ti.

MODO SOLITARIO vs MODO COMPETITIVO

Frontline Heroes se enfoca principalmente en el modo solitario, aunque también ofrece opciones de modo cooperativo y competitivo.

El modo solitario implica que un solo jugador combata contra una Inteligencia Artificial (IA) que controla las fuerzas enemigas y sus decisiones. Este modo enfatiza la narrativa y la narración de historias. Un sistema de IA se encarga de tomar las decisiones del bando enemigo de manera autónoma: qué miniaturas se activan, en qué orden y que acciones llevan a cabo. El jugador no tendrá que tomar decisiones en ese proceso.

Además, el modo cooperativo permite que dos jugadores se unan en el mismo bando, enfrentándose a un enemigo controlado por IA.

El modo competitivo sigue el formato estándar de los juegos de guerra de miniaturas, donde dos o más jugadores forman bandos opuestos y se enfrentan en un conflicto directo, con el objetivo de derrotar al enemigo y eliminar tantas miniaturas enemigas como sea posible. Es un modo puramente competitivo. En este juego no encontrarás exhaustivas listas de ejercito para formar los diferentes bandos, sino que el sistema de elaborar los bandos a enfrentarse es completamente original y divertido.

MISIONES NORMALES vs MISIONES EN SIGILO

Frontline Heroes dispone de 21 misiones. En cada una de ellas se especifica las miniaturas que compone cada bando, la disposición de la mesa de juego, el trasfondo de la partida, los posibles eventos... y todo lo necesario para poder jugar una partida. Además, cada misión tiene una alta rejugabilidad.

En el juego encontraremos misiones normales, como en cualquier tipo de wargame de miniaturas, donde dos fuerzas se enfrentan hasta que una prevalece sobre la otra mediante la pura fuerza; y misiones en sigilo, en las que debemos infiltrar un pequeño grupo de soldados en territorio enemigo para cumplir ciertos objetivos vitales, como sabotear suministros, capturar puentes o volar instalaciones.

Frontline Heroes contiene un completo sistema de reglas y 21 misiones para poder jugar en solitario o en compañía, presentado en un libro de casi 200 paginas. El juego está disponible en español a través de la pagina Wargamevault en el siguiente link:

COMPRAR ONLINE FRONTLINE HEROES: CAMPOS DE NORMANDIA

FEAR OF THE DARK - WEIRD WW2 SCENARIO - NIGHT RAID

 When I was developing Fear of the Dark rules I used to play a lot of ww2 and weird ww2 scenarios. 

I really like to play ww2 but as a Call of Cthulhu enthusiastic, it wasn't strange that evil creatures and paranormal entities appear on the battlefield. 

Of course, the weird part of the scenario is optional, as many of my games were strictly ww2 skirmish scenarios without a weird component.  But for me to turn towards a weird version of ww2 was the most natural thing. 

I want to show you a weird ww2 scenario that I played using Fear of the Dark rules. Well, not exactly the same rules as it is more combat oriented, so, it had a few rules to make it more tactic. Those rules weren't included in the game system as the idea was to make it a more narrative oriented game. 

The scenario: Night Raid

This time I wanted to test a patrol and stealth system, and the truth is that I really like how it worked, with a few tweaks I can adapt it to the way I play (or the way I like games to be). 

So I designed a scenario in which our men have to make a night stealth raid into a Nazi-occupied town, in order to locate an experimental tank and blow it up.

First I will make a battle report telling you how everything went, and at the end I will make a small comment about how I made the scenario.

So, we return to weird ww2 along with Sergeant Reickhart and his squad of brave men fighting nazis and monsters trying to make it alive to fight another day. 

Sergeant Reickhart is summoned by a captain in the command tent, there he sees several maps and photos of a town, as soon as he enters he sees how one of the present command hides several photos that were on the table in a folder.

"Sergeant, come in and take a seat... I know things are being difficult, but I am afraid that they may become even more difficult... We have had access to information by which a nazi force is being strengthened in the town of Ladon. It seems that they have a new experimental armored light tank brought from the very heart of Germany... We have maps of the town and thanks to members of the French resistance we will be able to make your way to the town itself... "

"your mission will be to make a stealth night raid, locate the experimental light tank, place several explosive charges on it and make it explode before it can even be tested on the battlefield... the lives of many allied soldiers depend on that light tank does not get to be used"

Once the mission is assigned, the sergeant and his men are given bags with explosive charges, and they are taken to the surroundings of the enemy lines, where, hidden in a french resistance truck, they go inside Ladon itself.

Once in the town, the experimental light tank seems to be in the industrial warehouse or in the courtyard nearby, two guards patrol the area; In the darkness of the night I decide to deploy my six men force in three blocks (three blocks of 2 men each), one of them with a sniper, whom I will try to put in a high position.

My men advance taking positions while avoiding the two guards, and after several attempts I get my sniper to take a privileged position to protect the advance of my group.

After several turns of waiting, the guards who patrol the area, turn the corner and one of the streets where the warehouse is located is unprotected, so two of my men advance in the dark to the door of the warehouse... to discover that inside there are four German soldiers talking while smoking a cigarette.

Fortunately, my men go unnoticed and are not seen by the Nazi soldiers. 

I decide that I better go around the warehouse, but the guards who are patrolling have different ideas, and while one continues to advance, the other remains in his place, making that my men cannot advance without revealing their position.

Until finally, after so much waiting, a guard appears behind my men, seeing them in the distance and asking aloud "Who goes there?"... So the only option I have is just let all hell break loose...

I advance towards the guard who has been standing for several turns smoking a cigarette to kill him, and it is my second man who shoots him down, killing him and revealing the light tank standing in the yard next to the warehouse, although perhaps it is not the kind of light tank that they expected.

Once the gunfire has started, the sniper kills the guard who has discovered my men, and Sergeant Reickhart runs towards the light "tank" to place the explosive charges, and once next to it, he finds a harmless technician making minor adjustments to the "light tank".

The sergeant decides that he will take that German technician alive with him, since his knowledge will be of great help to the high command about these experimental "armor".

As Sergeant Reickhart places the explosive charges, all hell breaks loose in the street, German soldiers come out from the warehouse, shooting down two of our paratroopers, and only being stopped by our sniper.

More Nazi soldiers come out from the surrounding buildings, who are stopped by our two men (hiding behind some boxes) and the sniper.

Finally, the sergeant manages to place the explosive charges in the "light tank"and runs off with the nazi technician. In his flee he finds two nazi soldiers who are killed by the sergeant. While fleeing from the place, the roar of the explosion is heard behind...

Once the "light tank" has been blown up and the technician has been taken from the place by the sergeant, the rest of the team decides to flee away, and our beloved sniper plays a very important role,  freeing the way out for our men.

Once almost all of our team is off the game board, the sniper leaves his position and flees from the table the best he can, to meet later at a designated point with the rest of the unit.

I have no words to express my gratitude to this loyal man, who will be entitled to a medal for his actions today.

Once outside the town of Ladon, hidden under a bridge waiting to be picked up by the French resistance truck, the Nazi technician starts to talk about the new situation that the world is living...

As he explains, some months ago there was some kind of experiment going on in Berlin, but something went wrong... 

It seems that nazi scientists opened a "door" or torned a "veil", he doesn't know how to explain it properly, but since then nothing is as it used to be... 

Monsters, creatures, paranormal entities... Call them what you want... Things are fucked up, as if it weren't enough with the horror of war... 

Since the Reich started studying the occult in order to win the war nothing is certain, and we just live until the next dawn...

While the technician pronounces these words, Sergeant Reickhart sees the sun rise over the horizon, while he listens as the French resistance truck approaches to get them out of there...

HOW TO MAKE THE SCENARIO 

Well, the first thing is to determine our warband, in this case it was a Hero (Sergeant Reickhart), an Ally and 4 Extras (one of them with a sniper rifle), the characters work right the same as in Fear of the Dark. 

After that we have to set the gaming table, for this we must place Objective points, Plot points and the guards...

As Objective points we have the experimental light tank, which will be in one of two possible locations: the warehouse or the patio next to the warehouse (they will be revealed when they are in line of sight of a miniature), we will also place six Plot points that the players can check during the game (they must spend an action to check them).

When a character has LOS with any Objective point we will roll in a table with 1d6 (1-3 4 nazi smoking a cigarette, 4-6 the light tank, and if the first Objective point are the nazi guards, you won't roll a die for the second Objective point, it will be de light tank. 

When a character checks a Plot point you make a roll die on a chart made for the scenario that tells you what your men find in that plot point... 

(in red the Objective points and in green the Plot points)

The area will be guarded by two soldiers who will patrol the area, circling the warehouse and the yard. When they reach the end of the street (A) we will place them at the beginning of the other street (B) , as if they had turned around.

Each turn we will roll a die for each guard, with even he will advance 5", with odd he will remain in the same place without moving...

And we will deploy our forces on the opposite edges to where the warehouse and the patio are located, choosing the deployment zones at random, there are four deployment zones, for each group in which we decide to divide our men we will roll one die (if they roll the same result, they will deploy together).

In my case, I divided my men into three groups and I got a 1 and two 4, that's why I deployed that way.

And when the alarm is raised, I predetermined a few buildings from which enemies may appear (most of the buildings, in fact), and every turn I rolled on a table that states how many enemies, appear and the buildings they appear from. 

This would be a general overview on how the scenario is made and how it is played. 

I hope it helps on how to organize things when thinking on playing solo. 

See you in the battlefield, my friends... 

Stay safe...