Budget wargaming: dollar store edition pt2

Now, as a follow-up to the last post, we get into 2x 35 packs of army men.

Pros: Models are much more detailed, and larger if you want a slightly bigger scale. Includes some specialty gear like minesweepers, flamethrowers, and mortars
Cons: Models are way bigger than the scale of most gaming terrain and anything else, and completely random. Where the 50 packs came with a squad of fireteams in each, this is just a grab bag. Maybe usable for decoration, or if you buy a vast quantity to hopefully random-chance your way to something resembling a distribution of units with which to assemble a team.

I had really high hopes for these, but they were dashed by the reality of opening the bags and actually getting a good look at the contents. There isn't enough consistency to get them for minis, whether for wargaming or as tokens for a tabletop game on the cheap. Also, they're way larger than most gaming minis and terrain so you can't mix them in with other stuff.

Verdict: Not recommended

Up next in part 3, we look at assorted creatures and dinosaurs, and then in part 4 we get to the point of all this!

Budget wargaming: dollar store edition pt1

As a lead up to an upcoming gaming convention several months ago, I went to the local dollar store for some figure for running some improv RPGs. Among them, I got 2x 50 packs of army men  25 per side per bag. I wasn't interested in the unbagging, but I was very interested in the unit counts.

Cost: $2 plus tax (two packs of 50)

I was surprised by how fairly uniform they were. 3 of each unit type, roughly.
12 riflemen (3 prone, 3 crouch, 6 standing)
3 pointing men with rifle (NCO?)
3 radiomen
3 shotgunners
3 bazooka troops

Image courtesy of google image search, from an ARMA forum

With 3 riflemen and an NCO, you get a fairly usable squad with 3 fireteams. The rocket troops and shotgunners don't fit anywhere, and either serve as their own squads with no NCO, or the fireteams get buffed up to 6 man teams, with one shotgun trooper and rocketeer each.

One of the tan armies is short one NCO, but all the others are full strength with one bonus unit, to make 25. Get a couple bags and extras will likely offset the occasional miss, riflemen seem to be the most common extras (which statistically makes sense).

Quality: Models are a bit unsteady, but partly my little not-very-stable personal table I'm using is to blame. The quality of the modeling is meh, but it's sufficient to tell who's what, which is enough. For $1, you really can't complain. The degree of completeness and unit distribution is far beyond what I was expecting for the price.

Playability: With a $1 tape measure/measuring tape or just a straight dowel for Line of Sight, $1 for half a dozen dice and a D6 tactics system, or possibly a coin flip system (in most tactics systems, a basic troop winds up with about 50/50 odds), or even no dicerolling at all to enforce tactics and maneuvering, you wind up with a remarkably playable small unit setup.

Cobbling together a WH40k style system and unit cards works well, can fit your entire army's statblocks on a single notecard. Savage Worlds has the roots of a functional tactics game that was made with/in it, but they never really finished it out properly, and it requires the hard-to-dollar-store D&D dice.

Up next, I bust out the premium $1 army men, which are 35 of a single color to a pack.

Tech Thursday: hands on with VR

I've discussed VR and AR devices and predictions of their applications in the future several times. Now I've got a brief hands-on with it to review, specifically the Samsung Gear VR.

Other than not quite being able to get it in perfect focus, it was pretty fantastic. There was no visual lag to be noticed, and most of the images were nicely crisp and reasonably 3d. Headset was easy to wear and comfy, and the whole rig caused no headache, vertigo, or disorientation (note: I'm mostly immune to these, your experience may differ).

The interface needs a bit of work, but various controllers and similar are in the works, and even the included touch interface would work just fine were it a personal model I could adjust the settings on. I'd like a bit wider field of view, but dedicated vr sets like the occulus rift will no doubt handle that. It also kind of requires you sit in a spinning chair, at least for the games I used.

VR and AR are technologies that are going places. A bit more streamlining and development and I'd bet they'll be as revolutionary a step as the smartphone was. Presently vr is stuck in a loop of not much development for it because nobody has it yet because nobody develops for it. I'm used to being a late adopter for tech, but i think this is one that's worth it to get in on.

Cold Steel Macheteswords Review

I LIVE! Well, kind of. Anyway, here's a slightly-past-first impressions review.

First up: CS Cutlass Machete, $30 on amazon

Like all CS machetes, it comes in a really basic plastic sleeve and a cordura sheath. Out of the box, the edge was possibly the worst edge I've ever seen. It also was not a machete edge at all, much narrower of angle, more like a knife's edge. Cleaning up the edge of the blade was reasonably quick, and left a decent knife's edge on it. The blade itself balances a nice 6-8" out from the grip, giving it a hearty chopping weight not dissimilar to a light hatchet. EDIT TO ADD: The balance point of the cutlass machete is identical to that of an SOG Tactical Tomahawk relative to grip. The molded polymer handguard, while not particularly standard for a machete, is nicely placed to prevent crushing your hand should you screw up a swing. The blade is simple stamped steel, covered rather crudely with an anti-rust finish except for the very edge. The blade is sturdy enough, and can withstand a not insignificant amount of bending and snap back straight, and any bend too extreme is easily straightened with little difficulty. The guard itself is molded directly to the blade.

Here's where things diverge from what you'd expect of a machete. First off is the blade length; at 24", it sits right at the intersection between shortsword and broadsword in length. Despite being nominally a machete, it has a rather nice point for thrusting. I may add a false edge to the back, to really step it up to a proper thrusting blade. I've been using it to practice for broadsword fencing, using a free broadsword manual available on kindle (Broadsword and singlestick, with chapters on quarterstaff and bayonet). Other than requiring forearms of might to keep the blade under control and enact swift direction changes, it works quite excellently for it. The blade and grip feel quite nice in hand, the blade size perfectly registering as "Sword", neither too short nor too long, able to be used for shortsword and shield style thrusting just as well as broadsword style cuts and thrusts. The polymer grip and guard, while pleasant in the hand, are just polypropylene and though durable against bludgeoning, polypropylene is easy to shave off or cut through.

Advantages:
-Versatile size
-Reasonable weight
-Good for chopping
-Cheap enough to use and abuse

Disadvantages:
-MUST be sharpened after purchase
-Balance requires substantial forearm strength for anything but the most basic of use
-Molded grip, while passable, is molded on rather than screwed/pinned in, and cannot be easily swapped for a grip to adjust the balance or gain actual protection for the hand.

Overall Rating/Value for Money:
B+, would be A- if the grip were screwed/pinned on and could be swapped by those so desirous. Still, a superb sword for the low cost.

Next: CS Bowie Machete, $18 on amazon

Similarly to the cutlass, packaged plainly and comes with a simple cordura sheath. Had a similarly terrible and even LESS machete-like edge than the cutlass. The balance is also hardly machete-like, and is nearly identical to their simple fighting knife, the GI Tanto. The bowie machete is quite light, as well, despite being such a massive blade it weighs about the same as the nearly half length knife. It has the same molded-on grip as all the other CS machetes, and is comfy enough if odd and lacking in anything resembling a grip.

Advantages:
-Handy size
-Light weight
-Nicely balanced

Disadvantages:
-Poorly weighted for chopping
-No handguard between grip and blade
-Grip cannot be easily replaced.

Overall Rating/Value for Money:
B, B+ with replaceable grip. It's basically just a cheap, abusable bowie knife.

That's not a knife

THIS is a knife!

The old EDC on the left, the new on the right

Knives, really. My old EDC Ti-Lite, my new Spartan, and my GI Tanto for my proper fightin' knife. All from Cold Steel. Had good luck with everything I've gotten from them thus far, the Ti-Lite being the first and a couple Kudu's for gifts. Spartan and GI Tanto first impressions, Ti Lite longterm review.

Ti-Lite Grivory handle, Spartan, GI Tanto

So, review time.

First thoughts on the Spartan, which I've had for about a week. Thought one; Good cripes is this thing massive. I knew it was heftier than the ti-lite, but I'm pretty sure I could bludgeon an elephant to death with this thing. Even folded, it's slightly enormous.

On the plus side, the pocket catch is far superior. The ones on the ti-lite are finicky about actually deploying the blade, and have a nasty habit of attempting to shred your leg; they're SHARP. They also get in the way of several knife grips.

PROS

Big blade. This is a pocketknife you can legitimately fight with. 

Feels good in the hand, great to hang onto.

Retention, that grip keeps it where you want it, in hand. Also a con, more on this later.

Modest price. Shelled out about $60 for this on Amazon, thus far it seems to be worth it.

Curve actually makes it fit in the pocket, even the smallest pockets I have (on garments with vaguely functional pockets, anyway. It will not fit in Imitation Pockets). It even fits with the copious amount of other things I carry.

Ambidextrous, comes with a spare pocket clip so you can put one on the other side.

Razor sharp out of the box.

CONS

WI law treats ANY knife of any size as a weapon, but by and large all but the worst whimpering ninnies will buy "It's not a weapon, it's a knife, purchased because it actually fits my hand so I can use it safely because I can hold it. It's also nearly identical dimensions to a butter or steak knife." This thing? Can't possibly claim this thing isn't a weapon. On the plus side, I avoid Wimp Zones as much as I possibly can.

Weight. It's not light by any stretch of the imagination

Size. It'll fit pockets, but if you've got borderline functionality pockets, this'll fill them up pretty well.

Has a spring to keep it shut, if you aren't careful when trying to close it it'll bite you (Applicable based on difference in closing mechanism as compared to the Ti-Lite.)

Opening the thing without using the pocket catch is kind of a pain. It's SO wide, you almost can't reach with your thumb to flip it one-handed without a LOT of wrist action to provide the momentum to get past the spring.

Risky to close one-handed.

The grip things that keep it so nicely in your hand make it substantially more difficult to reverse your grip one-handed. I've practiced this with a great many blades, and can do so easy as breathing, but I have to really work at it to pull it off with the Spartan.

On to the GI Tanto

It's a cheap ($20) fighting knife. Balances real nice, because it's made to be throwable, and it's fairly light, which is good or bad depending on your needs and purposes. Came moderately sharp, needs some TLC to get a really nice edge on it. Grip is small, good for smaller hands, but if you wear size large unisex gloves, it'll probably feel too small to hold comfortably in all but a few grips. Even still, the grip is decent, it's just not the "OooOoh, that's niiiice" of a few things I've held. 

And now, the Ti-Lite

This is a fantastic value for money. The quilons allow the blade to be deployed as fast as you can pull it out of the pocket, and the lack of a (strong) spring and narrow size makes it easy to deploy one-handed. Similarly easy to close, as the quilon stops the blade from closing past 90 degrees while your thumb is in the way of the blade. I can and have pulled the blade out of pocket, opened it without using the pocket catch, made the cut I needed to, and snapped the blade shut again and back into the pocket in barely a second. Downside of the lack of spring, combined with the pocket catch, is the blade can get snapped slightly open, just enough to poke you in the hand.

The counterpoint has almost identical blade, but has the lock on the back of the knife in a similar manner to the Spartan, and a spring to keep the blade shut. It lacks the pocket catch, and the thumbknob to deploy the blade is slightly more annoying to get at (easily fixed by a few seconds with a Dremel tool)

Knives; a few reviews and a look forward

How many knives is too many? I'm of the opinion that "too many knives" is somewhere between no room for anything else and impossible to achieve.

Presently, I carry 3, at least for certain values of "knife".

I've got my EDC, a 4" blade Cold Steel Ti-Lite. Good knife, but it'll shred the insides of your pockets and your fingertips if you aren't careful. It's also stylish in the same way as a stiletto switchblade, which is good and bad. Real easy to use for fine precision stuff, even with a 4" blade, and it holds an edge fairly well (comes ridiculously sharp out of the box, too). This one hangs out in my right hip pocket, along with 2 mechanical pencils, a pen, and my alumawallet.

Next I've got a multitool, a Gerber Multi-Plier 600 or so. Thus far it works pretty well, and does the trick for needing a knife in polite company, because nobody bats an eye at a multi-tool. Or, almost nobody, I've managed to find whimpering ninnies who were surprised by my last, smallest knife I carry. Could stand to have a few more tools, since it comes with a MOLLE holster and doesn't have to fit in a pocket. Thanks to having a locking blade, I'd say it still technically counts as a knife. It rid.es on my left hip

The last one is a little credit card multitool. You can find these things for as low as $1 if you're willing to look around and wait a month while it makes its way over from China. It isn't ergonomic, but it works. The knife blade is VERY tiny, but in the right hands it can get stuff done. I've also had people who were put off by me carrying this thing and trying to use it as a knife. "Do you carry that with you all the time?" "Yes, and it isn't working very well for cutting this tubing. I also carry this (see item #1), I just try to use the other one in public because it's tiny and nonthreatening *easily snips tubing to length*" If you can find this at the cheap price, its probably worth buying a big stack of them to give to everyone you've ever met. It ain't great, but it works.

They aren't knives, but I also wear a pair of these in my shoes most of the time. With black laces, they're pretty much only visible if you look at the shoes in profile. Nice to have when I don't have a steel toe available.


Lately, I've been looking to upgrade and add to these.  The Ti-Lite is nice, but I'm looking for a tougher lock up, and preferably something that won't punch holes in my pockets and such. The CS Spartan is presently the top contender, but I'm open to suggestions in the ~4" blade range for ~$50 (anything on the CS website can be found elsewhere for about half price). I want an off-hand knife for retention purposes, and have heard that this one is pretty good, and tiny enough that I can probably just tuck it behind the holster for my multitool without needing more belt space. I've got a Fury Tactical dive knife that I theoretically could use as an arm/leg knife, but I think I'd be better served by something else for most purposes. The grip on it is kind of terrible, but in a pinch it'd work, but I don't usually carry it. I'd like to add a neck and/or boot knife.


If someone ever actually has reason to check for all the knives I've got rattling around, it's probably going to raise some eyebrows. And be like the scene in so many cartoons and movies where there's the one weapon lover who's just taking guns and knives and stuff out of pockets for hours.

High Speed First Impression Reviews

Time now for a post-holiday, post-birthday gear first impressions

Gerber Multi-Pliers 600
This thing's nice. It's a good, tough, locking multitool for not a lot of money. I have the blunt tip one, but otherwise the same.Works pretty well at everything, wish it had a few more tools since it comes with a belt/MOLLE holster. It's thin enough to fit in a pocket, and well set with the basic tools, but a few extras would be nice. Still wishing someone would make a standard multitool with a hammer on it like the Leatherman MUT without the price tag.

Fury Tactical 2 Dive Knife
Just got this recently, seems pretty nice. Blade is very thin, great for stashing wherever, but the sheathe leaves something to be desired. It's thicker than it needs to be, for such a low profile knife, and while it holds the blade firmly it allows for some rattle. At least for my hands, the grip is too short for how thin it is, it makes me want to use a grip that won't work. The included straps are fairly long, but not long enough to fit where I want to put it, which is right along my upper thigh (at least for swimming. I hate not having a knife, particularly in the water). It fits low on the thigh, just above the knee, and rides incredibly comfortably on the calf like a boot knife. If you have a Cold Steel ti-lite, this is nearly that size, but with a shorter grip.

Assorted high-speed gear reviews

High speed in terms of how long I'm taking on them, not how low drag they are.

I've got a big post in the works but my brain isn't working these past few days, so here's this instead while I work on it.

Up first, is the Glock Brand Glock Holster. I think it's called the sport tactical or whatever, Sport Combat Holster. It's minimalist, cheap, and works remarkably well. Reasonably good at hiding away my Glock 17 as far as I'm actually concerned (I'm probably the least subtle concealed carrier possible. My everyday coat 7 months out of the year is an oilskin canvas duster, on a 6'3 athletic guy with military-ish hair). So far the holster has had perfect retention while running, jumping rope, doing all possible forms of calisthenics. I have yet to do parkour with it or do a full refresher of Taekwondo (so many kicks), but I think it will hold up sufficiently well for me to even consider testing it. The holster costs ~$10-13 depending on where you look, and is sufficiently no-frills to bear the Glock name.


Next up, the Surefire EP4 Sonic Defenders. They're passive damping earplugs, (mostly) only block loud sounds. My car's muffler just got replaced with one that happens to be really obnoxiously loud inside the car, so I wear them while I drive long distances. I can hear my radio better with them in than without them. I've also used them for shooting, they work at least quite well with .22LR (when not sealed. They're as effective as any other ear plugs when you close up the port that makes the passive sound damping work). You can mostly carry on a conversation with people as normal with them in, but you DO still lose ~5 dB of volume from everything. They're reasonably comfortable, but they make your ears a tad sore after a few hours of being in. Definitely worth the ~$14. Manufacturer's site is here


Cold Steel Ti-Lite. This (4" Zytel version) is my EDC knife. It's pretty no frills, but works great as an EDC. Can snap it open and closed with one hand, it's tough and comes with and holds a great edge (I've shaved with it), and my only real complaint is that gunk builds up and makes folding/unfolding a bit slower. Some gunk builds up in the textured grip, but if you actually care it's easy enough to clean out with a q-tip. I still have a few actual complaints, it's a tad thick (nice in the hand, takes up space in the pocket), and the quillions for auto-deploying when drawn will shred the inside of your pocket (and can occasionally snap the knife partway open when you don't want it to, I've almost gotten a few cuts that way). Still, pretty sure it's the best knife I've ever owned (not that extensive a list, only other EDC knives were an S&W Power-Glide, which looks like a butterfly knife but opens completely differently and is cool looking, but very bulky, and I think another S&W, HRT knife). Even if I get a different knife to replace this, odds are good it will be a Cold Steel. Manufacturer's page is here



Nobody paid for this or gave me anything, or I might have actually put some effort into this.