"A first taste of Sharp Practice during the AWI" Topic

After the usual lengthy lead up period painting minis and making terrain I was finally able to get my AWI figures onto the table this weekend for our first game of Sharp Practice. We really liked the rules and being familiar with the Lardie rule style found we could keep the game flowing at a decent pace without too many interruptions to consult the rule book. I've posted an AAR that summarises the game here First game of Sharp Practice during the AWI

Nice looking table

Great table and figures, and thanks for the link to the AAR. I'm looking forward to getting enough AWI troops finished for some Sharpe Practice games soon as well…maybe by January…

Beautiful TP, really!

Now, as one who loves your aesthetics, and your care and attention to detail, just viewed the game AAR on your blog……dice trays all over?

I know it's the initial run through of this impressive project of yours, and that you're still working on more aesthetic-looking game markers that'll fold seamlessly into your scenery, while still doing their yeoman job of tracking that rules stuff, right?! ;)

What???

Outstanding! Beautiful terrain and excellent figures. An inspiration for all of us.

I know it's the initial run through of this impressive project of yours, and that you're still working on more aesthetic-looking game markers that'll fold seamlessly into your scenery, while still doing their yeoman job of tracking that rules stuff, right?! ;)

I take it you are referring to these mini dice shock markers?

I'm not sure there's going to be a way to have them 'fold seamlessly' into the scenery, nice as that would be. If this game is anything to go by shock is something that will need marking and adjusting frequently so I'm not sure there's an easy answer. I do have some of those adjustable dials that I could consider but I'm not certain they are the answer as they are not small.

I like the idea of having the shock markers on a base that will fit into the sabot once I lose some casualties. They serve two functions – firstly they fill a nasty looking hole in the sabot base where the missing man once was and, secondly they ensure I track the right shock with the right unit. Perhaps function has to win out over form in this instance (although I may consider using a different colour dice other than red).

Wondering what would be thematic for the AWI?

Cork rocks for Shock Markers and open crates for out-of-ammo conditions (some examples, but these for 19th cen. Heart Of Africa gaming) –

Nice. For Sharp Practice there can be a lot of shock to record at times and so I somehow need to find a way to contain this within a relatively small space and ensure it doesn't stray too far from the unit it pertains to. It's finding that fine balance between playability and aesthetics, but some things are easier to solve than others. It's given me food for thought.

Excellent TP!

Some thematic object(s) could have rare earth magnets glued underneath them, allowing attachment to steel washer bases (still suitably textured and flocked on top). If you're using MDF or coin stands, you could always convert a number of them to be metallic-topped, to still be able to insert them into your base slots – and each attracting insert could hold a number of attached shock markers w/o them falling off.

Hmmmm…..might even consider the opposite method too – have the base mounting a wide, flat, rare earth magnet on top, which could hold steel objects, like ball bearings – aka – cannon balls! Wonder how that would look?