Hi all!

[Andy]

Hello everyone - I'm Andy, from the UK, just moved back to Nagoya. First up, a confession - I have never wargamed in my life. However, I'm looking for a hobby that's fun, social and satisfies my love of history. I think miniature wargaming might fit the bill! Would it be possible to pop along to one of your events, say hi, and have a try at a small game or two?

[Primarch]

Hi Andy and welcome to NagoyaHammer.

Wargaming is a fun (though sometimes time and money intensive, fair warning) hobby and from what you have said, could be what you're looking for.

What period of history are you interested in? We have semi-regular games based around WW2, The Dark Ages and Napoleonics. Within our group there are players with quite a range of interests, so hopefully you'll find someone with a similar interest. Fantasy and SF games are also pretty popular locally as well. If there is something you want to try, most people are happy to do demonstration games.

Feel free to jump into any threads on the forum that catch your attention. Of course, you're welcome to come along to one of our games days if you want to. We have a game event happening tomorrow actually.
http://www.nagoyahammer.com/forum/viewt ... =12&t=3586
In May we have our annual 2 day Wargaming event, which you are welcome to come to.

Regards,
Stuart.

[Andy]

Thanks for the welcome! I'm up for pretty much anything historical - my interest ranges from Ancient Egypt to the Cold War and touches on pretty much everything in between. It seems people play a fair bit of Bolt Action, so I'm wondering if that might be a good place to start. Sadly I have to work tomorrow, so I don't think I can make the event (unless it's in the evening, too) but I would definitely like to pop in when I don't have a weekend shift.

Personally, what I'd like to do is short, fun skirmish games with a minimium of models - having not tried the hobby yet, I'm not sure I'd like to expend vast sums on a full army just yet! I'm also thinking that I'd like to do something Japan-related, to remind me that I live here because I like it when work gets a bit much. To that end, I'd quite like to try either a 1860s-period skimish game with samurai and westerners - lots of historical events to provide inspiration, like the Nanamugi incident, and although I'm no expert on wargaming, it seems as if it could be done with a small number of figures - say between 5-10 a side?

I'd also be interested in doing something around a pet interest of mine - 1930s Manchuria. I'm thinking similar to the above, but with a more 1930s 'pulpy' feel - Japanese military intelligence, Chinese warlords and bandits, NVKD operatives, you name it.

As you can probably see by now, I've got a fair amount of ideas but I have no idea how practical/popular they'd actually be! If there's anyone who might be interested in this sort of thing, please give me a buzz! I have no experience or actual miniatures at this stage, but I do have a fair amount of enthusiasm ready to be channeled!

[Primarch]

Neither of those periods are currently played to my knowledge, but if you are enthusiastic about them, then that could change.

For 1860's Japan, there is a small company called Bac Ninh Miniatures which makes figures specifically for the period.
http://bacninhminiatures.blogspot.jp/?m=1
It is a very small company and you have to order via email. The models look nice though. For westerners, maybe these would suffice.
https://www.perry-miniatures.com/index. ... eglq5lubr4

As for Manchuria, there are a few choices available, but for a wide range of figures, maybe these would be good?
http://www.copplestonecastings.co.uk/li ... t=2&page=1

[The Other Dave]

Welcome!

I'm only peripherally into historicals myself (well, relatively speaking - typically for wargaming types, "peripherally into" means I "only" have a few boxes of miniatures in a two or three different scales and time periods, heh), so I'll let someone else fill you in on what's played locally, but as far as collecting goes, if you want to give things a try pretty much anyone in our group would be ready, willing and able to lend you some miniatures to try some games out.

Keep an eye out for the May get-together (the date should be set at the meetup on Sunday) - although it may not be too heavily populated as the big yearly 40K event is in May, and lots of us have to ration our gaming a bit. That said, if you want to drop by and meet people (and see what science fiction wargaming is like), I'm sure you could poke your head into the NagoyaHammer event - there's a whole thread about it in the relevant section.

Hope to see you around!

[job]

Hello and Welcome, Andy!

Glad to hear you are history buff, too. There are certainly a good bunch of history war game enthusiatist around here.

For some wargames that are commonly played around here and most likely not too rough on a beginner, this would be my list:

Bolt Action(skirmish to bigger scales - WWII and other periods - WWI and Cold War gone hot)

Ronin (skirmish) - Sengoku period samurai warbands

Non-skirmish
Black Powder - Adaptable to conflicts in the 18th and 19th century, around here it is princiapally Napoloenics
Pike and Shot - 15th and 16th century conflicts
Hail Caesar - Ancient, Classical and Medival conflicts

And if you liked the Sharp series - A Song of Fife and Drum for skirmish level Napoleonics

If you want to go into the deeper section of wargame rules there are numerous rule sets. A couple that people play:

Flames of War (that's basically me)
Blitzkrieg Commander (there's a El Alamein battle in 6mm on hold)
Command Decision
...and so on

Hope to catch you in person some time soon!

Joseph

BTW, (Sunday) May 13th is going to be a big Bolt Action day, so I hope you join! Just holler and I'm sure one of us (ahem probably Stuart - however include myself in the statement) will be glad to show the ropes.

[Andy]

Thanks to everyone for their welcomes! I'll put the 15th May event in my diary, and be sure to come along.

As far as rulesets go, at this stage I'm open to anything. So if anyone feels like dusting off an old favourite or trying something new, I'm happy to play guinea pig!

I'd also be very grateful if someone could lend me some miniatures on the day - again, anything will do at this stage! The suggestions for miniatures I've received already look great, though; I'm already planning ideas for games...must be sure not to let my imagination run away with me!

[Primarch]

I'm already planning ideas for games...must be sure not to let my imagination run away with me!

That's the best part of the hobby.

The date for the big gaming event is May 13th, not the 15th. It is on a Sunday.
http://www.nagoyahammer.com/forum/viewt ... f=3&t=3547
We'll mainly be playing Bolt Action that day, though there will no doubt be some SF gaming going on as well. I'll see if I have some spare figures you can use on the day. I think I have enough.

[me_in_japan]

Hello and welcome, Andy. Glad to see you found the forums Best of luck with your foray into wargaming. You’ve got a good bunch of folks here to show you the ropes Hopefully see you at a game event some time

-Dave