Trials & Tribulations

 

When Black Friday was on I looked at "The Little Corporal" website.  It was applying a 20% discount to their Lurkio South American range.  Being fairly well aware of which armies I lack I thought to persuaded Ian to play some trial DBA games with 'approximated' figures.

DBA v3.0 on Saturday (26th Dec):

(1)  4.71a Chimu Imperial v 2.81 Inca Imperial   4:0 win
       Dice rolls ruled this game (especially movement).

(2)  4.84a Araucanians v 4.84b Other Mapuche    7:1 win
     The (b) option is a pretty lousy army - Ax supported by fast Bw.  The terrain channelled my   opponent allowing me to double up my fast Pk.

My previous experience with the Incas showed me that 2 x Hd(F) were more effective than 2 x Pk(F) so I didn't even bother to try out 4.70  Chanca or Canari.  Maybe I should have!

Will my wallet moths be disturbed?  It seems that the Lurkio 'pack-breakers' are no longer available. This means that I have to buy full packs which will give me far too many surplus figures. Although the Chimu with copper armour are great figures I am not tempted to buy.

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 Pict Command

Scouting around further in the LC site I discovered Splintered Light figures.  Although mostly fantasy there are some historicals.  Further trials were required.  This time Ian had most of the required elements.

(3)  2.54a Scots-Irish  v  2.81a Dux Brit      4:3 loss
      A tight game that went down to the wire.

(4)  2.60 Caledonian v 2.56 Early Imperial Roman   4:1 win
     Terrain and dice rolls decided this game as well.  I could double up my Wb without being  overlapped.

(5)  2.68a Pictish v 2.73 Old Saxon          5:0 loss
      Just shows how capricious the dice gods are.  My Pk(F) were no match for massed Wb.

None of these armies seem particularly strong and my existing stocks would cover most of this group.  The exception being 6 x Pk(F) for the Picts.  Am I tempted?  Cannot remember ever buying Splintered Light figures but they look alright. Maybe purchase a few!

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Terrible Regiments of Women - unicorn riders

(6) I still need an enemy for my HotT Garden Gnomes.  Further delving into SL I noticed some female  figures.  Most 25mm sculpts that I have seen have obviously been derived from adolescent boys fantasies  These 15mm figures are much more sensible. (Seem to remember seeing a stall at shows offering realistic 25/28mm models).

Wood Elves of Wyldewood:

Wood Elf Sorceress / Wood Elf Unicorn Riders /                                                                                  Wood Elf Female / Wood Elf Maiden Guard                          

So we have some useful foot and mounted.  There are certainly other suitable creatures to be found in the other fantasy ranges!                          

HOWEVER - a recent notice says that no new orders are being taken until 3rd April 2023 so
                        I will just have to shelve yet another purchase.

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Closing Note:  On the 7th attempt I managed to introduce printer to network.  Don't know how but I'm not risking any changes.  Have printed out a copy of the naval rules and given them the once over.

Leftovers

Monday 14th August 2017 - WDW

A quiet night at the club:

(a)  DBMM - Later Muslim Indian v Seljuk Turks
(b)  Black Powder - AWI - Brits v Americans

(Note: this is the picture that I couldn't add last week - dwarves v lizardmen)

(c)  HotT - Skeletons v Rats

I scratched together an army based on the club's rats (plus a few samurai) - 4 x hordes, 3 x beasts, 1 x hero general, 1 x magician, 1 x blades plus 1 x behemoth. 

Jim had a skeleton army of 1 x behemoth, 2 x lurkers, 1 x seekers, 3 x shooters, 5 x horde and 1 x magician. 

For once the dice favoured me and starved Jim of movement points.  A 12 - 2 victory for the rats after nearly 90 minutes of play.  What a a marathon!


Wednesday 16th August 2017

Finished the Terry Pratchett book - "A Hatful of Sky".  I love the logic of his arguements - "It's not what a witch is, it's what she appears to be."  Thinking back to the "Hustle" series - they could walk into anywhere if they had enough hutzpah.


Thursday 17th August 2017

Read all that I wanted to from "Slingshot" 313.  In the 42 pages of text were only 3 articles that interested me:

"Wagaming with Vandals" - shows that the one DBM(M) list is inadequate
"The Battle of the 5 Lamas" - outside the Ancient period but worth a read
"Mythological Wargaming" - a twist on classical warfare

Still unimpressed by Slingshot and unlikely to re-subscribe.


Footnote:  preparing for a game of "Quetcoatl Rampant" against Chris on Saturday.  Previously I have only played solo (and put the result on this blog).  I now have the chance to find out what I did wrong.

The Place Was Packed!

Saturday 8th July 2017

Slingshot 312 finally showed up.  More interesting, for me, than the previous issue - "The Second Sui Invasion of Koguryo" by Nicolas Spratt and "The Battle of Amnias 89 bc" by Richard Andrews being of particular note.

Horbury Library - Andrew put on a WW2 game based upon the "One Hour Wargame" book.  Some interest shown.


Monday 10th July 2017 - WDW - 17 people in attendance - is this a weekday record?

A pile of these mags was dropped onto a table with the general invitation to take what you wanted - these are the three that I fancied.  There was also cake contributed by the same 60 year old (I can vaguely remember being that young).

HotT competition - 'round robin' divisional play starting.  Tim took on Andrew (Lizardmen v Wood Elves).  Surprisingly the Lizardmen were triumphant in a very long game. 

"Heroes of Normandy" boardgame set up by Bob but the Hott game dragged on too long.

Trafalgar - naval games with ships of the line are always a treat for the eyes.

Black Powder - Texans v Mexicans - an unusual period - Deany seems to have so many PAINTED figures!

DBM - Hussite v Yorkist - a boooooring game with no conclusion.

A Dragon at the Library

Saturday 13th May 2017 - Horbury Library

Played 2 games of HotT - one on the lawn at the front of the library area and one inside. 

Game One - two vaguely medieval forces - one with a dragon & hero - the other with artillery and lurker.  The dragon turned up on the second move - was shot at by some bow - and scuttled off the board.  The hero also took an early bath.  So my side was winning with a great chance of victory......NOT.   Nigel managed to batter me into submission so we packed away the 54mm figures before the rain started.

Game Two - Andrew v Nigel (Andrew won - no surprise there) plus Paul and myself.  My Garden Gnome army doesn't often get an outing and it usually looses when it does.  This time the enemy medievals/Normans came a cropper with their general biting the dust.  I could put this down to my masterful use of fliers...but maybe not.


Monday 15th May 2017 - WDW

Bolt Action - Americans v Germans - this scrap featured an AFV with 2 x flame throwers plus an Mg that couldn't hit the side of a barn.

DBM - Etruscan League v Syracusan - an actual historical match-up.  In the centre Al's C-in-C found himself in a sticky position and fell to a Warband onslaught.  Said warband almost immediately doubled the number of routing commands.  At close of play it was a 7:3 win to the Etruscans. 


Thursday 18th May 2017 

Currently de-cluttering my house.  It's amazing the stuff that gets pushed into corners or put in cupboards and drawers!  Nothing exciting has turned up yet but you never know. 

Back from my Hols...

Monday 1st May 2017 (Bank Holiday) - WDW


Saga - no details
Bolt Action - no details
HotT - no doubt practice for Saturday at Horbury library. 

DBM - Nikephorian Byzantine with Arab allies (Andy + Chris) against Ottonian.
"The arab ally was unreliable, until the moment the Germans went in, then sprang to life. There was a slaughter in the middle, of Byzantine bowmen and Ottonian knights, with the game ending a couple of casualties (on each side) short of a decision."


Tuesday 2nd May 2017 - Burnley WGC

I was last there two years ago - a touch of Deja Vu!

I struggled to find the turning off the main road (didn't help that Google maps had the wrong number for the A road).  Eventually turned into a filling station where I asked a guy working there where the college was - he didn't know.  The other guy pointed next door and said "turn right at the lights."  So I turned left and left again into Ennismore Street.

There were two guys with vehicles standing around outside the venue - it was 7.35 pm.  A few more arrived but nobody had a key!  A car was despatched and the hall opened up at 8.10 pm.

Deja Vu!  This was almost a complete re-run of two years ago.

On offer were two WW2 games (and that was it).  Normally I walk away from such games but after leaving Mytholmroyd some two hours earlier I was determined to play something. 

One table had "Bolt Action" which I have observed before and not been impressed by. 

The other was using 'home-grown' rules.  So I became the German second in command facing off against hordes of Russians.  In spite of some hairy moments we gave the Reds a pasting.  On paper the rules looked very complicated but they played well and were fun.

The Burnley lads are welcoming to guests so I would recommend visiting the club.  Maybe one proviso....don't expect to start at the advertised time (7.30 pm)....I don't think the word punctuality is in their dictionary!



Thursday 4th May 2017

Well I have unpacked and it is brilliant sunshine outside.  Plastic soldiers are going through 'chemical processing'.  My esteemed neighbours are being noisy again.  Just an ordinary day I suppose!  Must get on with de-cluttering my house. Watch this space!

Yes...It's Thursday!

Saturday 5th December - Recon 2015 - Awful weather - wind & rain.  Train fine going, delays coming back.  Numbers down, nothing much to buy.

What I did buy, however, were two additions to my growing stock of (unpainted) fantasy figures:

 

Caesar - Fantasy 103 - Undead

 Caesar - Fantasy 106 - Orc Warriors

For more details see:     http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/ShowFeature.aspx?id=39

The next question is - which HotT armies can I make?  One of the WDW squad (Jim) has an Undead army which loses on a regular basis and the club stock can provide another.  First impressions are that the Caesar boxes don't provide enough variety - its mainly the PBI..

So I can make:     1 x shooters @ 2 ap = 2
                             3 x hordes @ 1 ap = 3
                             2 x blades @ 2 ap = 4
                             1 x magician general @ 4 ap
                             2 x sneakers @ 2 ap = 4
                           ---                               ----
                            9                                 17

A shortage of 7 ap then - seems like a visit to some of the cheapo shops in Pontefract is called for!

                   2 x shooters @ 2 ap = 4
                   3 x blades @ 2 ap = 6
                   1 x magician general @ 4 ap = 4
                   4 x warband @ 2 ap = 12
                  ---                                    ----
                   11                                   24

A full army with a few 'spares' - plus I can draft in some goblins as horde.  Well.....after a few acquisitions I will think about painting these new recruits.


Monday 7th December - DBM - Muslim Indian v Feudal English.  I was on the left with a tiny light horse command.  In the middle was a mixed (joint) command of 20 x Irr Bw(I), 2 x Art(S), 5 x Lh(S) & 3 x El(O).  Luckily for me my opponent was set up in a refused position with half irregular troops.  The dice gods were also unkind as their movement was sluggish.  By the end of the game I was about to be swamped by enemy Sp(O) & Bw(O).

Our C-in-C (Andy) faced off against the dastardly Knights(O) plus supporting Bw(O).  He had Lh(S), Mtd Bd(F) and 4 x Kn(F).  Ably assisted by my 4 elephants the enemy left flank was broken.  Not long after that the enemy centre fell.  A hard game and one where I had to keep my nerve.

On the other tables:  Mars Attacks (2 games played)
                                 Square Bashing - Austro-Hungarians v French (again)
                                 Hordes of the Things - scratch armies from club stock

Online Activity

Yes an extra entry.......because I forgot to add my recent online (wargaming) activities:

Sunday 29th November - "Galleys, Guns and Glory" rules by Thomas Foss.  Published by Skull and Crown Stratagem Inc.

 http://www.skullncrown.com/store/

I had seen these rules mentioned on the Edinburgh wargames club site and have followed the journals ever since.

Renaissance Galley page:

http://www.edinburghwargames.com/Renaissance%20Galleys.htm

 'Journal' references at the bottom of the page.

All I need now are some of those splendid wooden ships.


Wednesday - 2nd December - D3H2 - a 'Hordes of the Things update by Thomas J Thomas (to be compatible with DBA v3.0).

Thomas kindly sent me two files - D3H2 plus  "Ice and Fire" a DBA-like set of rules set in the Game of Thrones world.

Here's a  D3H2 test game by timurilank (plus the thread on Fanaticus Forum):

http://fanaticus.org/discussion/showthread.php?t=17926


After printing out 26 pages of GGG and 23 of D3H2 my black ink ran out - such is life!.