Hammers Slammers Relaunch at Salute '13

Here they are, the new model David Drake's Hammers Slammers Blower Tanks by Ainsty Castings. I took this photo of the tanks rolling hot at a demo game display at Salute 2013.

The display was fabulous and on an incredible scale. This is a long shot down the table.

Two of the unsung heroes of the Slammer game. On the left is Andrew of Pireme who publishes the rules. On the right, Roger was lagely instrumental in creating the display.

Hammers Slammers on a Thunder Run.

The Hammers Slammers game designers, John Treadaway (on the left) and John Lambshead. The charming lady in the centre adding a bit of tone to the photo is John T's wife. Note the blower tanks on her T-shirt.... greater love hath no woman.

The salt marsh.

Ainsty had a stand at Salute. They had been working 15 hours a day casting the new blower tanks and combat cars. The former can be had for £30 for a box of four and the latter £25. Click on the link above.

Heavy armour moves through the capital city to intercept the Slammers.

In go the airborne.

A heavy transport shuttle at the spaceport.

Light armour waits for the order to engage.

Two young fans enjoy the show.

Dan's Blower Tank

My friend Fred Kiesche sent me this interesting pic of a scrathch-built model made by Dan. It is a recreation of a Hammer's Slammers Blower Tank as depicted on the front cover of the Hammer's Slammers antholgy.



Dan is an amazing modeller and you can see more of his work here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/sfscalemodels

I urge you to have a look.

John

The Crucible - Hammer's Slammers

My complimentary copy of the Crucible has arrived. This is not a review as I am one of the co-authors. It is beautiful! John Treadaway, my co-author, is a professional graphics designer and by God it shows. The Book is in hardback, two hundred large (A4ish) pages, each in colour and illustrated. How the hell, Andrew at Pireme turns this out for £25 escapes me. It is one hell of a bargain.

It is all the material in Books one and two, plus material we published in Miniature Wargaming plus lots of new stuff. There are technical cards for the troops and player aid card sections. Kevin Dallimore contributed a chapter on painting and modelling. Kevin painted many of the models used for the illustrations and he is a superb artist.

This is it, the definitive guide to wargaming armoured cavalry warfare in the universe of David Drakes Hammers Slammers, which IMHO is the finest military science fiction ever written. I know John T is of the same opinion.

I have posted pics of a few pages below. The colour balance got screwed but I have more or less fixed it with Paint Shop Pro.

Enjoy - I have.

John Lambshead

PS You can find more card downloads and painting guides on the official Hammers Slammers website on my sidebar on the right.

PPS The pics are high res. They can be blown right up to read the pages.

Hammers Slammers - The Crucible

My Hammers Slammers rules and source book is released from Pireme this month. This is a reedited hardback wrap up of the first two volumes.

There is a PDF for all the new cards and play sheets here:

http://www.hammers-slammers.com/the_crucible.htm


Heavy Metal.

Slammers Rolling Hot


Molt Guerilas teleport in to ambush a column.



Sunset Watch.

Hammers Slammers Hardback - Rules of game design

The revised harback edition of Hammers Slammers that incorporates all the various updates is in preperation.

The pick shows a draft of a page.

I do not claim to be anything other than an amateur game designer as it was never my day job. However, I have had a number of games published commercially with a degree of success and I do have some thoughts on what makes a successful game. So I have put them below.









1. KISS - Keep it simple stupid. This is the most important rule. Complexity and detail do not increase realism, whatever that means. Every extra rule adds exponentially to the grit in the machine. The rules of chess are so simple that even a computer can play yet no one has come up with a better game. Less is more.

2. It's a game. Repeat that to yourself. Games by definition are based around game theory - i.e. there should not be a single best strategy.

3. You are providing entertainment not setting an exam. If it ain't fun it ain't a game.

4. Ask yourself a key question - What is the game about? Decide, focus on it and stick to it.

For example, Hammers Slammers is about David Drake's iconic SF books - that is armoured cavalry warfare in colonial wars. That immediately tells me what matters in the game. It has to be a fast-moving vehicle game where the tanks are king and infantry abstracted. The player must be able to field decent numbers of tanks so complicated tank damage rules are out. Colonial warfare as depicted by Drake involves multiple tech levels AND multiple skill levels. The latter has to be as important, no more important, than the former.

Hammers Slammers - Molts

Ground Zero Games are now offering for sale the official Molt figures for the official David Drake's Hammers Slammers game as designed by yours truly and John Treadaway.

"Pack of EIGHT "Molt" figures from 5 different poses: 1 leader, 4 figures with 2cm Powerguns (2 poses), 2 figures with combat shotguns, 1 figure with buzzbomb. Reptilian primitive aliens using captured weapons, from David Drake's novel "At Any Price". Figures measure approx. 25mm from foot to eye; commissioned by John Treadaway, designs approved by David Drake, sculpted by Martin Baker and cast and sold by GZG! Sample figures in pic superbly painted by Kevin Dallimore!"

You can buy them here:

http://www.gtns.co.uk/store1/commerce.cgi?product=HS&exact_match=on&cart_id=9083581.31280

See my side bar for link to the official Slammers site.

Hammers Slammers

The SF author, David Drake, has been described as the 'father' of military SF. He served in the Blackhorse elite battle cavalry in Vietnam. The Blackhorse were the unit who devised the Thunder Run. Experience of combat has given him an insight into the impact of combat stress on human beings that no other author has ever bettered. His work stands comparison with the great WWI writers.

He is perhaps best known as the writer of the Hammers Slammers series. These are stories based around the colonial warfare campaigns of an elite third millenium mercenary battle cavalry regiment. These campaigns often involve asymetric warfare.

The picture above shows an Old Crow Hammers Slammers Blower Tank in 28ml. It's main weapon is a devastation 20cm powergun.



John Treadaway and I obtained David Drake's permission to produce the first official rulebook and wargaming guide to the Slammers. We went to enormous trouble to recreate the world of the stories, in the rules, in the background and in the models. Pireme published the books and Old Crow & Ground Zero Games designed the models. David kindly checked all the stages to ensure that we had captured his vision.

There were two initial paperback books - The core book, the Hammers Slammers Handbook, and a supplement, Hammers Anvil.

See:

http://www.miniwargames.com/index.php?cPath=21&osCsid=5e957abgucofq86p8ccgsg4km3

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hammers-Slammers-Handbook-Technical-Specifications/dp/0954727606/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1261245035&sr=1-14

There is an independent review here:
http://www.totalmodels.co.uk/reviews/data/Wargame_Rules/Sci-Fi/pri_hammers/index.shtml

We are in the process of producing a revised version in hardback that will incorporate and update the earlier work.




Hammers Slammers Combat Cars armed with three tribarrel powerguns.



Blower tanks rolling hot.


A firebase.



Slammers 'Hog' - self propelled rocket assisted artillery.


Terran Authority Starmaine infantry and HALO MBT. These are the profesionals that keep order in the colonies. They are tough, highly trained veterans that are superbly armed.




A Texian Mercenary Regiment gunship. These are elite light infantry.




A half track from the Thunderbolt mercenary regiment.


A Wolverine mercenary regiment powergun in an anti-tank role.



A Zaparoyski mercenary regiment Sabre MBT.

For more pictures, modelling guides and free downloads go to the official Hammers Slammers Website here:
http://www.hammers-slammers.com/