'Gazumped!' or should it be 'Scooped!'

I had this blog all planned out about the PSC Panthers I got last week. I had the build pictures & a review etc. Then I spot Ben's latest blog post and he's done exactly the same thing and beat me to the punch! As Ben's is a great review and says pretty much what I was going to say there's not much point in my saying the same things.
So I'm now left without a topic for todays post. After a bit of scrabbling about I remembered that back in January a number of blogs had a topic called Playing Favourites. This was a list of your favourite things in various wargame related categories. So I've decided to list mine. In case you missed them here are some of the others  Trouble At T'Mill, Mylardiesgames, Big Lee's Miniature Adventures, Too Much Lead and Steve's Random Musings.

Wargames Period
This is an easy one to pick. It has to be Ancients. Loved the period for years. All the different armies to build & play, with all the different tactics and some great uniforms.

Scale
15mm. I've always seen this as the best compromise between cost & quality of casting. Plus the massive range of figures available means someone somewhere makes whatever figure you're looking for. Although I'm now seriously considering moving into 10mm, certainly for Napoleonic at least.

Rules
This is a tough one. When you've been wargaming since the late '60s you've played a lot of different rulesets. In the 60s & early 70s I had lots of fun with rulesets that I'd written myself (there wasn't the plethora of rules available then that we have today). But I guess if it's the rules I played the most and the ones whose games I enjoyed the most then it will have to be DBM Ancients. Yes they weren't particularly well written or presented and there were lots of fiddly mechanics which endeared them to rules lawyers, but I loved playing DBM.

Figure Manufacturer
There's some great figure manufacturers out there today but when I want some new 15mm figures I always check out Essex first. Great range, good price & pretty quick delivery. Although I'm pretty impressed by Pendraken (10mm) their delivery time can be weeks as they usually have a backlog of orders.

Metal/Plastic
This is getting harder to choose. 28mm is plastic definately, some great makers and growing range of figures available. 15mm WWII plastic, other periods metal still. The Plastic Soldier Company does such great WWII stuff that the only time you need to go metal is when you need something they don't have which is getting less often each month. Other periods there's just not the range of figures available.

Book
I love reading and have hundreds of books so choosing a favourite is difficult. But I'm going to go with the 'Belisarius' series by Eric Flint & David Drake. There are six books in the series and they are now available in three omnibus volumes, Belisarius: Thunder at Dawn, Belisarius II: Storm at Noontide, Belisarius III: The Flames of Sunset. It's the story of Roman general Belisarius & his conflict with the evil Malwa empire based in India. Although Belisarius was a famous Roman general this is an alternate history that goes along at a great pace. It has lots of action both on the battlefield and off and the characters are well written and likeable. Do yourself a favour and read them.

Skirmish Game
Although there's a ton out there now it has to be Malifaux. Great setting & fluff, great figures and innovative rule mechanisms. The use of cards for combat adds a new level of tactical opportunites and this combined with massive number of scenario combinations via the 'Schemes' & 'Strategies' sets it apart from the rest. As games are decided on points gained for completing schemes & strategies this allows you to have a game where all your models are killed and still crush your opponent on points scored by completing objectives.

Boardgame
I havn't played any boardgames for years but the one that sticks in my mind is 'Machiavelli' This was a sort of 'Diplomacy' type game set in renaissance Italy with the board's areas representing the various city states. As well as having the usual player interaction like 'Diplomacy' it also had money with which you could buy armies and, the fun part for me, bribe your opponents armies to do nothing or to change sides at the critical moment therby thwarting his plans. The possibilities for backstabbing and dirty dealing were endless, it was a game you could lose friends playing! I loved it.

Film
There's loads of films I love but when it comes to lists like these I always forget them. So although it's not a war film I'm going to go with 'Leon' starring Jean Reno, Gary Oldman and a young Natalie Portman. This is a great take on the action film genre and Natalie Portman gives an outstanding performance although she must be only about 13.

Internet site
There's so many I visit that it's almost impossible to choose. But the one I find most useful is my club's website Wessex Wyverns because here is where I keep in touch with my opponents, arrange games, answer & ask questions about various games etc. Makes me wonder how we managed before the internet :-)

So that's it, back to normal content tomorrow which will be some batreps on my Basic Impetus games Monday night with Steve. As I'll be writing the post Tuesday morning look for it to be up a little later than usual.