All Noisy on the Russian Front

Saturday 19th December 2015 - Setting the East Ablaze (Russian Civil War) with 10 of us playing and Bob umpiring. 

We were all given objectives when we arrived on table. The 'early birds' had to seek out the International Spy "Bill Bailey" whilst the latecomers (White Russians) had physical objectives to take. 

A fun session with "Bill Bailey" the clear winner after he visited all three embassies and then legged-it off table. 

A fun session with a set of rules that are not designed to be taken too seriously.


Otherwise......no Monday meeting.....nothing until the 28th. 

As It's now Xmas Eve (01.00 hrs in the UK) - I will wish you all a Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year!

Monday 14th December 2015 - DBM - Welsh v Western Sudanese.

As I have stated in the past I play DBM for the fun of it and I don't care if I win or loose.  Chris challenged me to play with an army that I said was pretty poor - list 3.19 Welsh.  The version we came up with had two commands of massed bow (backed up by Viking mercenaries); one of Cv(O) and supporting Bw(O); and one of mixed foot. As the game played out the enemy Camels stalled for a few rounds but our lamentable movement dice (eg a total score of 6 for 4 dice) meant that we couldn't take advantage.  Once the Cm(S) got going our Cv(O) didn't stand a chance.

In the end only one of our commands was demolished with light casualties elsewhere.  Given better terrain (most of our choices ended up in the enemies' territory) we might have done better.  I, for one, will not be rushing out to buy a Welsh army.

On the other tables were:                      Game of Thrones boardgame
                                                              One Hour Wargames (WW2)
                                                              Ace of Aces (WW1 dogfight)


This Week - otherwise pretty quiet on the wargaming front but far too busy on the Folk Dancing side of things with calling on Sunday and Wednesday (also preparations for Friday and next Tuesday).

This Tuesday I was at the dress rehersal of Sherburn U3A's  'Jack and the Beanstalk'........."Oh No I Wasn't!"

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!.

Normal Service

Well almost.......still trying to throw off the last of this virus.


Monday 30th November - DBM - Samurai v Sung Chinese - a hard battle where my leftmost command managed to hold on (with the general resembling Houdini) whilst Chris broke two enemy (Samurai) commands. 

I learnt that although Bw(X) may look tough they can soon go down to determined opposition. This situation left me with only one small command intact. An amazing number of sixes being thrown by myself and Al to little result.

On the other tables:
    'Square Bashing' Austro-Hungarians v Russians
        100 Years War fight using Osprey rules
        Star Wars dogfight
        HotT practice game

Incidentally I gave up trying to read 'Field of Glory' Renaissance - too prescriptive and unwieldy for my liking.


Wednesday 2nd December - in between catching up on all my Folk Dance duties I took another look at the basing options in 'Victorian Steel'.  p4 - "So long as the frontages for all......are the same any size can be incorporated.  For anyone starting from scratch we use 3" square bases.....with the depth reduced or increased as necessary for skirmishers, cavalry and equipment."

A sample of the photos shows the following:

        p4       Colonial African Askari            6 figs                              square
        p5       Boxers ('mobs')                         4 figs                              2:3 ratio
                                                                                                      (front to depth)
        p6        Egyptian brigade (foot)           6 figs                              square
        p6               "           "       (horse)         3 figs                              square
        p6               "           "       (artillery)     4 figs + 1 gun                 square
        p7       Bengal light horse                    3 figs                              square
        p7       Bengal horse artillery              6h, limber + gun             long (approx 2:5 ratio)

 Looks to me like any 'regular' troops, horse and unlimbered guns get square bases but irregular 'mobs' have greater depth.  As my Zulus are on (largely) unpainted cardboard bases altering them to 3" x 4.5" shouldn't be too difficult.  Not so for the imperials as they have 60 mm frontages.  Obviously a need for some sabot bases - more work!

Did I really offer to put on a game this month????
              

A Short Note

Yes I know I missed a Thursday....and this week it's just a brief note.  Still firmly in the grips of this virus - coughing, sneezing, raging sore throat and headache.  Local knowledge says it takes at least a month to recover!

Next Monday I hope to be well enough to get to the club for some wargaming.  Meanwhile I am trying to read through the 'Field of Glory Renaissance' rules. 

Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible...............

Books, Books, Books

Saturday 7th November - woke up with a head ache, runny nose and burning throat.  The first of the winter colds had struck.  I didn't feel like putting paint to figures or doing any serious wargaming so I took to the books.

Now Dr Who books are a bit of a mixed bunch as far as I'm concerned.  They are written by a multitude of different authors so variable quality and style is only to be expected.  Plot - aliens con guillible humans into playing a computer game which turns out to be for real.  Now where have I heard that before?  It features my favourite Doctor (of the modern era) plus a  believable companion.  Even so I can only give it 5 out of 10.


Monday 9th November - should have been wargaming but the dreaded lergy had a tight hold on me - now running a temperature and ridiculously high blood pressure.  Obviously some sort of virus to last this long.


Wednesday 11th November - after only 3 days I finished another book:

 Number 41 in the Disc World series - and the last.  It's a fitting end to the series with the coming of the iron railway.  Industrialization is threatening the disc so something has to give.  Primarily it is the Elves that have to come to terms with a new reality. I can't help feeling though that the author was seeing the end of his days - the end to the vaguely medieval rural landscape that the books are set it.  It left me feeling sad.


Thursday 12th November - in my search for the Aquitanians I discovered an Osprey among my pile of reference books:

It shouldn't take too long to read as it is only 40 pages of text.  One curiosity was in the middle of the book - plate C:

Described as "2: Western Slav tribesmen" it's one of those pictures where you can't help seeing two images.  Is it some sort of ulfhednar with a carrot type nose and bulbous orange eyes?  In reality the head is turned to the left with nose, beard and ear being the primary points.  Interesting!