A Missed Deadline

Yes I know I missed a posting last Thursday - it was just that I had nothing to say - an unusually quiet week.


Saturday 25th March 2017 - WDW

Another Baroque scrap between the Swedes and the Spanish.  History also repeated itself with a Swedish victory (but Gustavus was alive at the final whistle this time).


Monday 27th March 2017 - WDW

14 of us turned up tonight:

"King of ther Battlefield" - Prussians v French
"Damnation Z War 1" - a figure game on a gridded 'battlefield'.  Intrepid adventurers fighting zombie hordes!
DBM - Early Libyan v Sea Peoples.  I had one round of good fighting dice.  Another round saw me throw plenty of fours - I still lost every time against Al's higher achievements.  At close of play our central command was one off breaking and the enemy right was half an element from destruction.  A very close run thing.  It proved that determined resistance (and good dice) means that Bd(O) can hold out against Wb(F).


Thursday 30th March 2017

A visit to Mapplewell library meant that I found this:

It's in a series that started with "The Long Earth" (which I have read),;"The Long War", "The Long Mars" and "The Long Cosmos".  The blurb for the last states that it is "The closing chapter in the awesome Long Earth story"!   At a hefty 434 pages this is going to take me some time to get through!

Meanwhile I have re-started painting with the Vikings getting some attention (at last) and some repair work to a broken Dalek (a long story).

I should be going to Cannon at Retford this Sunday.  Need some tiny dice holders.  Might end up with something else as well - I'm a wargamer after all!!!

A Blog Too Far

Monday 13th March 2017 - WDW

"King of the Battlefield" - French v Prussians

"In Magnificent Style" - boardgame adaptation to hex terrain - Pickett's Charge (ACW).  Seemed to go quite well with two players (Confederates) trying to cross the board and taking heavy casualties in the process.  Realistic anyway!

DBM - Samurai v Xi-Xia - just another day when I should have stayed in bed.  My fighting dice were appalling - its rare to see so many ones in succession.  Alright, my set-up could have been better and Andy's Lh(S) didn't really get off the starting blocks.  On my left I had superior numbers of Bw(I) v enemy Bw(I) on a steep hill.  So how come I lost 5 and Al none?


Wednesday 15th March 2017

Received an email telling me that 'Triumph" has been updated to v 0.5.  I dutifully downloaded same and printed it out.  An amendment sheet would have been nice!

If you are thinking Manuel's catch phrase ("I know nothing!") here's a brief explanation.  'Triumph' is based upon DBA plus a number of additions from the forum and DBA Fanaticus.  More troop types are available including Raiders, Rabble, Elite Foot, Horde and Pavisiers.

The best part, I think, is the terrain system.  One side throw a d6 to choose which page and the other side throws a second d6 to determine which of the 6 diagrams to pick.  The maps are simplistic but do give a better outcome than DBM(M) (WRG has always made a pig's ear of this).

I had been looking through a load of rule sets that I have purchased or downloaded during the past year.  I'm sure that, at the time,it seemed like a good idea.  If I had payed out good money for a rules set then maybe  I might actually use them!  The butterfly mind of a wargamer is prone to this self-delusion.  Triumph was going to be my next trial after QR/TPL [last week].   Now I will have to thoroughly re-read the set before I can begin.  Also need to look at the revised army lists.

Microsoft forced another update upon me late in the evening.  After I had re-booted I tried getting onto the internet - eureka!  The boffins had undone the mess they had caused with the previous data.  Why, Oh Why, doesn't Microsoft check their work BEFORE inflicting it upon their customers?

Rorke's Drift in South America

Monday 6th March - WDW

"King of the Battlefield" - French v Prussians
"Baroque" - ECW
"Chain of Command" - WW2 - Germans v Russians
DBM - Tuareg v Welsh  - Andy's typically sneaky set up meant that our opponents could only see two full commands and part of a third.  Our fourth command came onto the flank almost immediately and the remainder of the third emerged from the dunes.  Poor Al was in the mire for another week.  At close of play the Welsh had one broken command and another getting close.


Thursday 9th March - Quetzalcoatl Rampant - first game:

I had already typed up the Lion Rampant additions and worked out a Tarascan army list.  All I needed to do now was a trial game using "The Pikeman's Lament" - easy!!!   Well maybe not.

 The initial set-up with the Aztecs on the left and the Tarascans to the right.  Here are the 'companies':

Aztecs (Ood general) with Eagle & Jaguar Warriors @ 4 pts; 1 x Veteran Warriors @ 4 pts; 4 x Warriors @ 3 pts; 2 x Skirmishers @ 2 pts.  Total = 24 pts

Tarascan (Judoon general) with Veteran Warriors @ 4 pts:  4 x Archers @ 4 pts; 1 x Warriors [+ Atlatl] @ 4 pts.  Total = 24 pts

The Aztecs advanced along the line until one unit decided not to join in.  The Tarascans were more cautious only advancing their archers.

At last the Aztec right began to move forward but only into the wood.  On the far left the skirmishers decided to have a rest.

Now it is getting nasty on the Tarascan right with enemy warriors bearing down on the archers.  Did I hear "Men of Harlech" being whistled?  Whatever it was it worked as the gods frowned upon the Aztec general whose unit took casualties from shooting and then he threw 'snakes eyes'.  The resulting morale tests meant two units retreated and one fled the field.  This is what it looked like:

The Aztecs never recovered.

I thought, when I started, that it would be a walkover for the Aztecs.  Serendipity wiped out the Aztec general on move 5 and a high failure rate to 'activate' units resulted in Aztec pin cushions.

I'm sure that I got many things wrong but managed to carry on.  Lion Rampant (and therefore QR) refer to 'Courage' and' Armour' whereas TPL likes 'Morale' and 'Stamina'.  I hope that I made the correct substitutions.

As you can see I used an 'occasional table' 40" x 24" with green A4 sheets of paper on it.  The three pieces of terrain I diced for.  A pretty primitive  set up but sufficient to try out the rules.  Think I need to play a game with some of the club experts before I go for a second attempt.  Also need to get a copy of Lion Rampant for myself.

Altogether an interesting experiment.

 

Still Struggling

Saturday 18th February 2017 - WDW

Yes that far back!  Apparently there was a big 7YW game going on with French v British in India.  Both sides were supported by local sepoys.  Rules used -  "Honors of War" (Osprey).


Monday 27th February 2017 - WDW

"Honors of War" - repeat of Saturdays game but on a much smaller scale. 
"Oregan" boardgame (3 handed) - a popular option for the club 'spares'.

DBM - Maccabean Jewish (Al) v Arabo-Aramaean (Tom & Andy).  No Chris this week.  Andy set up 3 commands and I had to hold the left (more than Mr Corbin could manage!).  Al was not tempted to rush his troops towards the enemy low hill - very wise.  As it happened an allied command was hiding there with 10 x  Irr Cm(O) - Al's Bette Noir!  At close of play the Arabs had suffered 2 casualties and the Jews 11.


Tuesday 28th February 2017 - Royston Library

I have pretty much exhausted their stock of relevant books but, as luck would have it, I found this:

The first that I have seen featuring the latest Doctor and Clara.  On the back it says "This trilogy of adventures across time and space follows the Doctor's search for the Glamour, the most desirable - and dangerous - artefact in the universe."  Printed in 2015 it would seem to be the first of the series.  Will have to carry out some research - and get reading.


General Notes

(1)  Yes - still struggling with the last Windows update.  I have spent hours trying to fix the mess created by Microsoft but with little success.  Writing this blog has taken quite some time with frequent failures.

(2)  Quetzalcoatl Rampant - finally got around to incorporating the 'Special Rules' & 'Upgrades' from 'Lion Rampant'.  Now, of course, I have 'The Pikeman's Lament' in my hot stickies!  I think that I should try out QR as it stands before I even think about updating them.