This blog is the ‘publishing house’ for the Forge of War Development Group with such titles as the Forge of War and FUBAR series of wargames rules. You can also find this incredible team on the Forge of War Yahoo! Group.
Note: The Forge of War Development Group now have a shiny new forum.
You can find this at: http://www.forgeofwar.uk.com/forum/
So if you want to become part of the team, give feedback, ask pointy questions, read fascinating AAR’s and battle reports or just watch and then download the newest developments, this is now the place to go.
19th January – and a Happy New Year!
Well I have managed to land a new job and start next Monday. Once I’ve settled in (say a week or two) I can get my game head back on 
I have a number of projects on the go including a root and branch review of the game that started it all – Forge of War, Blaster – the generic scifi version of In the Emperor’s Name and more work on FUBAR.
5th January – 6mm FUBAR
Our veteran developer Angel Barracks is now providing ready-made forces for 6mm FUBAR. See http://angelbarracks.co.uk/Fubar/fubar.html
He has already made the ‘front cover’ of Tabletop Gaming News and The Miniatures Page.
AB was the lead developer of the 6mm version of our most popular wargames rules and continues to work on them with a group of like minded enthusiasts.
A visit to his site (http://angelbarracks.co.uk) is a must if you like 6mm modern/SF gaming, with lots of gorgeous photos, and much more 6mm goodness.
New Year’s Day – Annual Blog Stat’s
This blog was viewed about 80,000 times in 2011. We are averaging 225 hits per day.
The busiest day of the year was August 24th with 2,286 views. The most popular post that day was In the Emperor’s Name!.
The top referring sites in 2011 were:
- www.freewargamesrules.co.uk
- www.theminiaturespage.com
- www.tabletopgamingnews.com
- www.lead-adventure.de
- www.brueckenkopf-online.com
We’d like to thank each of these sites for featuring our games.
Some visitors came searching, mostly for FUBAR rules, In the Emperor’s Name, Forge of War, and FUBAR wargames rules.
These are the posts that got the most views in 2011.
- In the Emperor’s Name!
- FUBAR – one page SF/Modern rules
- FUBAR Medieval
- Forge Of War
- Dead Simple RPG Rules
It’s nice to see both FUBAR Medieval and Dead Simple making a showing in the top 5.
So overall a pretty successful year for the Forge of War Development Group, and thanks to all of you for sticking by us.
Onwards and upwards!
Christmas Eve – Hale fellow and well met!
I’d just like to take this opportunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! We are averaging 250 hits per day so there are a lot of you interested in and playing our games out there. I hope you all get the models you deserve on Christmas morning
I’ll be offline for a few days – have kids, will be penniless – and there’s the massive Christmas game at Phil’s on the 27th.
For those who are interested, the job hunt goes on unabated. I have had several interviews to date, and have a few more in the New Year. So chin up, fixed grin and lot’s of bearing it all round.
18th December – Advance and be recognized!
Because I am a trusting old fellow (fool?) I have been approving all and sundry on to the FoW Forum, no matter how ridiculous their user name. You can guess the result – spammers.
So now I am only approving membership requests from user names that make some sort of sense. However, I may have rebuffed one or two genuine applicants. If you have a very silly user name like ‘IMRspammer’ and haven’t had your application approved just drop me a message here and I’ll see what I can do. My apologies, but there is only so much viagra our members can afford.
12th December – Ho Ho bloody Ho!
The reason things have been quiet over the last few weeks is that my employer decided to give me an early Christmas present and made me redundant. Thanks Nikon!
So my days are now filled with job hunting, applications, interviews and disappointment. Bitter? me? nah…
13th November – Bloodsworn Designs, back from the dead
One of the my most original fellow rules designers, Hunter from Bloodsworn Designs (http://bloodsworndesigns.wordpress.com/), is back from a serious illness, and already more rules-goodness is flowing from his site.
Yep, I’m envious 
, so if you like systems that make you think, and a lot of unique game designs go check him out.
4th November – Games Workshop know where you live…
Earlier this week I had a surprise in my inbox – an email from Tom in GW’s Intellectual Property team. Apparently they had found out about In the Emperor’s Name… cue thunderclap, cut scene of a spooky Citadel by moonlight, and assorted wolf howls.
Long story short, Tom didn’t want me cease and desist, he didn’t even want me to take out everything associated with GW. All he asked for, very politely, was that I include a standard disclaimer and delete three little icons. So much for the feared Sheriff of Nottingham.
So I’ve updated the Core Rules, Campaign and Retinues supplements with the disclaimer, dropped the icons and we’re now good to go.
I now need a lie down and a change of underwear.
19th October – So where has he been?
I has been away, working in Canada before the snows set in Thus no new rules development.
However, good stuff is on the horizon. Work on all the projects listed in my last update continues, though slowed by my adventures over the pond.
We are also now looking at the next edition of FUBAR…. more on that later.
I am such a teaser
30th September – Progress Report
Busy, busy, busy… 
The forum is now fully operational with discussion taking place on nearly all of our systems. The 6mm FUBAR gang in particular have been posting great AAR’s with lovely photographs.
We’ve also been getting lots of great feedback for In the Emperor’s Name. So much so that we many need to release an amended version soon.
Currently under development we have:
- Blaster! – Generic SciFi version of In the Emperor’s Name – looking good too.
- Unleash Hell! – Full on fantasy wargames rules.
- Busiris – the second adventure.
- Guts – A set of small unit action rules for fantasy wargaming.
So lot’s to do.
30th September – Canadian Tour
Just to let you guys know I shall be working in Canada, in the lovely town of Waterloo (near Toronto), between the 5th and 12th of October.
I’d be happy to meet up one evening with any of our members who come from near there.
9th September – A new home beckons…
We are currently putting the final touches to our new home. We’ll be moving from our trusty, but frankly bursting at the seams, Yahoo Group to a new shiny Bulletin Board. Once it is all complete I shall let you know the address so you can all get in on it.
The Yahoo Group will stay up, it has far too many files and great ideas to lose, but all new disucssions will tkae place on the BB.
As always, watch this space.
5th September – Where’s he been, the lazy sod?
I have been on a much needed family holiday for a week following the hullabaloo of the ItEN launch. 5,600 downloads and still climbing – not bad for an amateur set of rules.
The next major project for the Forge of War Crew is the generic SF version of these rules. All suggestions for retinues you’d like to see will be considered. Also we will be publishing an errata/FAQ based on the huge mound of feedback we have received from all of you.
We are also considering moving from our ancestral home on Yahoo Groups to a Bulletin Board. This would allow us to have clearly delineated space for each of our games systems and projects. More on this as it develops.
Hi James,
Thanks for letting me have the opportunity to do a review of your work.
However, I very rarely do reviews due to the fact that most of my limited leisure time is spent feeding all the systems you see here on this site. Thus I am not promising anything I’m afraid.
Cheers,
Craig.
Hi,
Apologies for the off-topic comment, but I couldn’t find a contact email for you.
I’ve recently put out an ebook of my writing, called ‘The New Death and others’. It’s mostly short stories, with some obvious gamer-interest material. For example I have a story inspired by OD&D elves, as well as poems which retell Robert E Howard’s King Kull story ‘The Mirrors of Tuzun Thune’ and HP Lovecraft’s ‘Under the Pyramids’.
I was wondering if you’d be interested in doing a review on your blog (either a normal book review, or a review of its suitability as gaming inspiration).
If so, please let me know your email, and what file format is easiest for you, and I’ll send you a free copy. You can email me (news@apolitical.info) or reply to this thread.
You can download a sample from Smashwords:
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/92126
I’ll also link to your review from my blog.
Yours,
James.
As it happens Pete, one of the regulars on the Forge of War Yahoo Group (where we cook up all this tosh), has recently published an AAR of a Very British Civil War game he played.
I am hoping that he will produce a Force Supplement for it.
Thanks for asking.
Cheers,
Craig.
Hi
Have you considered an expansion of FUBAR to cover the ‘Very British Civil War’ ?
alright thanks alot Craig i will hook myself up with that site immediatly see you their
!
Hi Shawn,
I am always happy to help people with their rules ideas/concepts.
Can I suggest you join the Forge of War Yahoo Group? It’s a private game development forum that includes Adam and myself and we can discuss this in more detail there.
I’m working in Belgium this week so only have internet access in my lunch hours. So please don’t be disheartened if my answers are slow in coming.
Cheers,
Craig.
Dear: Craig Cartmell
I have been thinking of a game idea , Adam Isheerwood said the game idea is similar to modular game rule set up , he recromended that i ask you of it and some ideas based on it and how to begin to set something like that up. if you could spare the time i would greatly appreciate the help. the idea interests me in being able to make your own unit stats and such it would be an interesting concept and game, let me know if you could give me some examples and help on how to set up such a game.
thank you for your time
.
Dear : Craig Cartmell
I have been talking to Adam Isheerwood and he has recromended that i ask you about a game idea i have been thinking of , it would be able to allow people to make their own custom armys with custom stats that can be selected from a list and make their own units and such. Adam Highly recromended that i see to asking you if you could give me a few ideas on how this could work , i would greatly appreciate if you could give me a response and a few ideas on how this could work for i am still lowely experinced in the gaming aspect of miniturewargaming, the game idea i have would be based for wargaming , Adam said what i was describing relates to modular games please let me know if you can offer some help thanks alot
.
Hi Chris,
As with all my stuff you are welcome to use, misuse and abuse it as you require…;)
Is there anything else you need? Obviously what is on the Blue Pentangle is only a small proportion of the material I have accumulated after DM’ing Codai for the best part of thirty years.
One of the projects in my endless list of things to do is to do a new map of the city, as well as publish the details of ‘Dark Codai’. This is a version of the city and the province that resulted from some time-travelling players getting St.Cuthbert killed, before he became a saint. Thus the city was colonised by Vampire Nobles who run it quite differently…
Enjoy!
Craig.
Craig,
I am the new mystery member from the Yahoo group. I am starting a campaign for some friends in a few weeks and It’s been several years since I’ve DMed. I was searching http://www.youmeetinatavern.com for advice. I was inspired to create my own city from what I ‘ve seen of your Codai City. It’s excellent material, and has me really psyched for my new campaign.
Thanks,
Christopher
You youngsters all look the same to me sonny…
lol, esteemed nutcase? I am flattered but Jason did the stop motion vid
With a plug like that I’m sure we’ll all be dripping with anticipation Adam
You wait till you see what i (and my gaming group
) been working on in secret (for months) for Forges – a setting like no other 
Adam,
What you and the other guys are doing is amazing.
As soon as you have something to publish let me know and I’ll get it up here and advertised with my friend Pete over at FreeWargamesRules.
I’d like all he visitors we have here to see your hard work.
Craig.
Hey Dude you aint redundant – we just havent got lives
Hi Dave,
Grim Future? Crikey they are one of my earliest published sets. I didn’t think anyone played them.
Could I see this slightly amended version as I’d be fascinated to see what you did to make them really playable? If it’s no bother please send me a copy to: craigcartmell(at)yahoo.com
I am hoping that we can add some more FORW stuff soon. My trained rules beavers – sorry fellow authors
– have been hard at it on the Yahoo Group and are really taking the rules into new areas I’d never thought of, such as Star Wars and Historical.
As I have recently been made redundant I have been of no help to them at all. It sure focuses your priorities I can tell you.
Cheers,
Craig.
Craig, look forward to having a read through of the Forge rules, we have (2 of us)been using a slightly amended version of your earlier Grim Future rules for quite a while now.
Had lots of fun and confused many a die-hard 40K player!
And Adam was true to his word. Look at the SF Wargames Rules Page for his excellent contribution.
cheers! will have the stats by monday – should have therian army done by then aswell
Hi Adam,
Drop it to me on craigcartmell (at) yahoo.com
Since I don’t know AT-43 at all I’ll just post them straight up.
Same deal as Kyle – you get full author’s credits on them
Cheers,
Craig.
got the first of the AT-43 stuff done – every unit for UNA – have you got a email address for me to send them to?
Excellent! I was hoping that these could be useful for more than W40K.
thanks for the stats! Seriously am enjoying this game – also opened up alot of possibilities – got a few AT-43 ppl who want to pit there armies against W40K stuff. Can use most of the stats already made – once i think of how to do a UNA Fire Toad and TacArm – will send the stats to you
And hey presto! I’ve added Kyle’s weapons stat’s as well.
It is amazing what an old Luddite like me can achieve if I put my addled brain to it…
Craig.
Sod it – if I’m online I can do this right now can’t I?
If you look at the Forge of War page you will now find Kyle’s Force Lists.
Craig.
Hi Adam,
If you read the firt section – Basic Rules, you will come across this:
“The Activation Roll makes the Player-General consider carefully which units to activate, and in which order, because to fail an Activation Roll passes the initiative to his opponent. ”
I must rewrite that section because the intention was to have the initiative passing back and forth until every unit had had the chance to activate. Thus avoiding the W40K situation where one side sits on its hands for ages waiting for the other to do everything.
I am really heartened by the work you guys are putting in. I had intended to get Kyle’s force lists up by now but I suffer from a condition called ‘cluster migraines’ and most of this week has been a wipeout.
I will get them up this weekend as my first run through them looked liked Kyle had done an excellent job. Of course the proof of them will come in play…
Cheers,
Craig.
nope… was i always supposed to?
Do you not pass initiative when all of your units have had a go?
Done the game – pretty well balance game with the space marines only just scraping a victory – only niggle is that there should be a point where iniative must be passed – as the space marine side did 4 circuits of whole army before the orks got a looking
hey dude – just to let you know i am gonna give your FoW rules a go for the first time today – i will let you know who it goes (Using Space Marines and Orks)
Me again – will the “Notes” section include something analagous to the “Weapon Type” from 40K? I’m thinking particularly of Assault, Heavy, Pistol and Rapid – where various factors were represented by modifiers to your ability to combine movement and firing.
Thanks for the feedback Mysterious Hu. I’ll take them under advisement over the next week or so
It’s good to get positive and useful feedback from all you guys and girls.
In the next few weeks I’ll be doing a lot more work on FoW. I already have one major collaborator who has kindly done some initial troop stats and weapons details. Once I’ve been through his work I’ll be uploading that work with his name on them as the author.
Anyone else who gives useful feedback will be listed on the acknowledgement page of the final version.
One Card 1 it says “Only the move action can be used in a single activation.”; so you’re missing a “twice” from that line.
Card 5; “Vehicles and other units effectively block line of sight for direct fire weapons.”
Maybe infantry do not block Line of Sight for and against Armour – this would allow Armour to advance realistically behind a screen of infantry; using “panzergrenaders” to interdict enemy infantry assault units.
Maybe introduce a filter to the damage system – “anti-personnel” and “anti-Armour” – as a volley of rifle fire will have no more chance of destroying a tank than a single shot – infantry could take “anti-tank grenades” (Krak, Plasma, Melta, etc) as an upgrade – allowing them to make close combat attacks against enemy Armour. Heavy weapons (missile launchers, meltaguns, plasmaguns, etc) could be assumed to have an “alt-fire” (anti-personnel) mode (Frag Missiles, spray and pray, etc) which would have a weight of fire; for example, 1 die @ SV versus a tank or 3 dice @ SV versus infantry.
As an aid to the mathematically challenged, you could say, “If the die roll is less than or equal to SV it hits the target. If the die roll is less than or equal to the target’s Armour it bounces harmlessly off”.
Fire Support (off table artillery, orbital artillery, air strikes, etc) could be a weapon option for commanders and dedicated “forward observers”. It would require a CV roll to call it in; with failure leading to loss of initiative as your advance stalls while waiting for fire support. For Example: Stompa Skreamin’ Meanie Battery (Off Table Artillery), Range: Unlimited (indirect), Weight of Fire: One hit per figure in the target unit (Do you plan on using blast templates and deviation?).
Hi,
I really like the look of FoW and I’m looking forward to seeing some army lists.
Is there any way to see the current “work in progress” army lists for play testing purposes?
News for all those interested in Forge of War.
Kyle has been true to his word and provided us with a set of stat conversions from W40K. He and I will work on these over the coming week or two, update the examples in the rules, add decent weapons’ descriptions and then republish FoW in a second edition.
This is the sort of open cooperation that keeps me gaming and writing and I’d like to thank Kyle for his work.
Craig.
Hi Kyle,
Yes please do – life is interrupting my hobby time a lot at the present (part of the regular load of being a parent).
You can send it to craigcartmell (at) yahoo.com
I look forward to collaborating with you.
Craig.
Craig,
I have worked up some Forge of War unit & leader stats for the Space Marines, Chaos Marines, Imperial Guard, Orks, Eldar, Tyranids, and Necrons. I’d like to send them to you via a file along with how the values were calculated. Do you have an email address I can send them to?
Kyle
Welcome to the 21st Century Craig. I hope you do keep the site updated.