Yes It's Saturday (Again)

Monday 2nd October 2017 - WDW

HotT - (1) Lizardmen v Samurai (2) not recorded
Black Powder - ACW
Bolt Action (WW2) - Japanese v Americans

DBM - Chola Empire v other Tamil Indians.  Regular troops with blades versus (very) irregular warband.  The terrain suited the empire with a steep hill on the left flank and a wood on the right.  The Tamils had a large wood and a steep hill in their central sector.  My central command fell to pieces against the enemy bows (before they even got to the blades).


Wednesday 4th October 2017

The fourth issue of "Wargamer's Notes Quarterly" has just come out. 

"Conington Contraband' - French v Rebels
"Breaking New Ground" - renaissance campaign - the Italians
"Chit Games" - Barnet 1471 - played as a 3-hander
"Making a Fort for the Caribbean" - 18C
"Eureka Stockade" - Australia 1854
"Atlantic Breakout" - WW2 Naval
"Battle of Fehrbellin 1675" - Swedes v Brandenburgers
"Building a Boat" - Australian colonial 'flat irons'
"Combat of Dva Mosta" - Russians v French Napoleonic)

If you want to receive a copy (or even submit an article) contact the authors by email at:  wargamersnotebook@gmail.com


Saturday 7th October 2017 - Gt. Houghton

4 games of DBA v3.0 - started around 13.10 and finished about 16.30.  Clearly we are getting more used to the rules - but I am still making mistakes!

Game 1: Lysimachid v Thracians - my usual dice throwing but managed to lose  only 3 to 4 - time 60 mins.

Game 2: Italiot Greeks v Samnites - I managed to keep a good line of hoplites and the lack of enemy movement dice meant that my flank was not turned. - a 6 to 0 win - 40 mins.

Game 3: Moorish v Maurikian Byzantine (single based Cv) - I almost threw this one away but poor enemy dice prevailed - a 4 to 0 win - 30 mins.

Game 4: Moorish v Maurikian Byzantine (double based Cv) - I used the terrain reasonably well this time (but still forgot about the road movement.  A 4 to 1 win - 40 mins.

The dice gods were definitely on my side after the first game.  I even had 3 x 6:1 results.  I have promised not to gloat (makes a change from my usual losses though).


Home - Two more of the ERB stories read:

9)  "To the Nearest Planet" by Todd McCaffrey (64p) - Poloda and its associated planets - as told by a ghostly typewriter - not a bad yarn at all.

10)  "The Dead World" by F Paul Wilson (58p) - inner Earth - rather long-winded but it got there eventually.

Not A Lot!

 Not a lot happening this week - too much RL getting in the way.



Monday 25th September 2017 - WDW

Definitely quiet on the western front (Horbury) - only 3 games and few players:

Black Powder (AWI) - "Gloucester Road" scenario
Hitler's War (boardgame)

DBM - Fanatic Berber v Hindu Indian (both book 3).  Had to pull an army together at short notice.  The list wasn't great nor the deployment.  A pretty 'hairy' game with a number of commands broken or close to collapse.  Next week I will be trying out the Tamil Indian (book 2).


Thursday 28th September 2017

 Two more stories from the ERB book:

7)  "Tarzan and the Martian Invaders" by Anderson & Hoyt (24p) - not a Barsoom story but an alternative devised by the two authors.  Unexciting.

8)  "The Two Billys, A Mucker Story" by Collins & Clemens (26p) - after the 'stutter' start the tale tries to be atmospheric but somehow falls short.

Two Days Late

Saturday 15th September 2017 - WDW

A FUBAR modern game running (so of  no interest to me).


Saturday 23rd September 2017 - Gt. Houghton

Three more games of DBA v3.0.  I took along my boxes of Indians & Malays.

(1)  Classical Indian v Alexandrian Imperial - 4:1 loss - discovered just how difficult it is to move elephants around.  If you get the pips it's OK - if not...well!  Bowmen are also pretty crummy under this version.

(2)  Mountain Indian v Graeco-Indian - 5:4 loss - last 4 throws were twos.

(3)  Malay v Tamil Indian - 4:3 win - Ian decided to charge down the road with his elephant general.  He destroyed my artillery but fell to overlaps in the next round.  I was 3:1 up at one stage but the dice gods didn't like that.  At 3:3 it was anybody's game - for once it was mine.

We are getting more used to the new system but it is a steep learning curve - tactics will come later - I hope!


ERB stories:

4) "The Forgotten Sea of Mars" by Mike Resnick (82p) - strictly speaking this is a re-print and not an original story.  Stereotypical action hero (John Carter) stuff.

5)  "Apache Lawman" by Ralph Roberts (50p) - what a contrast to the last tale - a character you actually care about.

6)  "Moon Maid Over Manhattan" by Peter David (42p) - a somewhat depressing tale set in an alternative reality.


There is a normal WDW meeting on Monday and I am likely playing DBM again.  The HotT competition seems to have ended up in the long grass so what else will be going on is anybody's guess!

Battle of Wakefield

Monday 4th September 2017 - WDW

DBM - Tupi v Anglo-Irish - a strange battle with flank marches on opposite short edges of the table.  The result was a draw (again Jim was the fourth player).

Lion Rampant - Attacking Wakefield Castle - not entirely satisfactory as both my artillery and bowmen were pretty ineffective.  The attackers had too many useless troop types - knights and sergeants who could not dismount plus light spear who are only good in defence.  Methinks the scenario needs some tinkering!

Sci-Fi Tanks - another outing for Andrew's rules.  Two quick games were played in succession.

Tuesday 5th September

Starting on a new book: "Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs" - a collection of short stories set in the various worlds of ERB's imagination.

1)  "Tarzan and the Great War" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (30pp) - a small incident in Algeria but very atmospheric.

2)  "The Fallen - A Tale of Pellucidar" by Mercedes Lackey (20pp) - set in the Inner Earth - somewhat ephemeral.