Gaming

Interview by Troy Hill, Photos courtesy of Sylvia Urquhart Smith

No Dice No Glory is pleased to introduce the newest member of our staff, Sylvia Urquhart Smith.

Sylvia is a common attendee at major gaming events and was recently reporting live from the NOVA Open when Mitch Reed got to talk to her. He was able to convince her to lend her talents and experience in the table-top gaming scene to us here at NDNG.

If you’ve been to an event with Sylvia, you’re likely to remember her as “the lady in the dress,” due to the unique 1950 style of dress she wears to be easily recognizable.

Here on NDNG, you can expect to see her posting and interacting in our social media feeds.

I recently began corresponding with Sylvia, to learn more about how she became involved in gaming.

Gamers may know Sylvia’s husband, Steve Urquhart Smith, from his involvement in designing, writing, and playing games. His most recent efforts have been directed at the upcoming Korea book for Bolt Action from Warlord Games.

Below is my conversation with Sylvia, edited for grammar and length.

Avast ye mateys, once again Talk Like a Pirate Day is upon us; this buccaneer is going to tell you how to take the first steps in playing the game which commemorates this day every day, Blood and Plunder. I was shanghaied onto the B&P sloop for well over a year now, and I have shared some grog with the swashbucklers at .

Many of you have read about the game and some of you have even played it. I know a lot of folks are like scurvy dogs who see the names like Sea Dogs, Les Enfants Perdue, and Freebooter and get confused on how to actually buy a force for this game. To be honest is easier than walking the plank. With this article, you will learn the ropes of this game and be able to tell a mizzen mast from the poop deck.

When I first started playing this game I was able to use to build my force, however, the folks from Firelock starter their own that includes all of the new forces, including those from No Peace Beyond the Line. I will take you through this excellent force builder and talk a bit on how to build a list.

This year saw the biggest improvements so far for Canadian Nationals. Read on!

Not too long ago I covered a bunch of fun games that I considered games, which are fun games that are quick, fun and not too hard on the wallet. A while ago I saw a for a game called from a company from sunny Italy. A lot of games hit Kickstarter and some of them actually get delivered to you, so when this came two weeks ago (it was 6 months behind schedule which is on early delivery for Kickstarter projects) I wanted to paint it and see what this game is all about. One disclaimer here, I used a game board with hexagons as a backdrop for my pictures, the game does not use hexagons within its mechanics.

By Dennis Campbell AKA Matt Varnish

Photos by the Author and Chris Fretts

                                    Honest Ahmed (foreground) “Ah yes, come here GI Joe, have best price on allied 6pdr, trade-in on 37mm AT guns, very good, you get Masters shirt fast!”

Hey guys, This will mostly be a big picture dump from Canadian Nationals, and perhaps I will leave the analysis for others.  Firstly, shots of armies before they got deployed, then gaming pics, with Day 1 and Final standing snapshots by Chris Fretts.

I hope many of you checked out my first article about learning how to play . It covered the initial steps I took to collect, paint, and read the rules which culminated in signing up for a major Bolt Action event. This article will detail the list I plan to use for the event and will cover about how list making plays a part in Bolt Action and other games we play.

Make a List and Check it Twice
It has always been my opinion that list building is the game behind the game. It keeps us thinking about the game when we are not painting or actually playing it. The vendors probably see list building as the unseen hand that forces us to purchase more models and to keep the buzz going 24/7.

Why does list building take up so much of our time? I think the answer is simple, it is an extension of the game we can “play” at any time. It also represents the analytical side of the game where we try to find the perfect combination. I am guilty of spending a lot of time list building, I really enjoy it and I am attracted to games that have list building in it.

While this may not be popular with some, I think other than assuring you have a rules legal list there is no “Perfect” list or any list that will assure you success. A lot of factors in games are not covered by lists,   terrain, your opponent’s forces, and missions. Nor can you predict how your dice rolls will come out. On top of this, during a game, we run into so many possible unique situations and we analyze these quickly in order to make decisions on what moves to make, as this is happening your list makes little difference, however knowing what the units can do makes a lot of difference.

1st Gear:  Do you remember a time when miniatures gaming was much more about having fun with toys, and less about min/maxing your army lists to ensure complete and total victory over unsuspecting fools?

No?  Me neither!

But, if such a time existed, Gaslands comes from that time.  is a miniatures rules set from Mike Hutchinson and published by .  It takes the time-honoured traditions of Car Wars and other post-apocalyptic car battle games, the flavour of the Mad Max-type setting, and the mechanics of a 21st-century miniatures game, and rolls them into one tasty, succinct, and inexpensive package.

A player needs only the book and some Matchbox or Hotwheels 1/64 scale cars to get playing.  This review will take a look at the setting, rules, and materials needed to play and give you the information you need to decide if Gaslands is for you.

By Mitch Reed

What is

It is a 28mm skirmish game that takes place during the early age of pirates which is called the . During this time, the British and French fought a war in the Caribbean against the Spanish. Both the French and British enlisted the aid of independent contractors to help them in the fight and became what we call pirates or buccaneers. While much of pirate lore is told in works of fiction; the truth behind this that this was an actual historical war that lasted for almost 130 years and was not contained in just the New World. While I butchered the above history, do not fear, both of the books for B&P come with an in-depth history that will set you straight.

By Benny Christiansen

Last time the team was introduced. The Captain, Helge, explained a few things about the event as well as the strategy.

The event has now started, and the status of the event, after 4 games, is as you can see here:

War gamers rejoice! In this episode we sit down with Mark Walker, a game designer who has published some of the best games that you should be playing like 65′ Squad Level Combat in Vietnam.