It's not February yet!

It's hard to believe January is almost gone. As is the custom I had meant to write a 2018 year in review and plans for 2019 but I just couldn't get it done. I spent plenty of time reading others reviews and plans.

How did my plan go? Not so well. I wasn't able to get a campaign going for Flint & Feather or Battle Troll. AWI skirmish never panned out and the Portable Wargame stayed put. This is not to say games were not played. Swashbuckling was well represented through Flashing Steel and En Guard. WWII was on the table both in 15mm and 28mm. A Gentleman's War had several outings. Twenty three games for the year, not bad.

The paint table got a fair amount of use with 158 figures being painted 53 more than what I bought. That should be qualified as I did something I hadn't done in years and bought 76 painted Medieval figures(Perry plastics) these aren't included either of the above numbers. The deal was just too good to pass up at a little over $2.00 a figure. None of my projects are complete but a nice good number are getting closer.

2019 has gotten off to a slow start as for games with only one played so far. Tomorrow should see another game and some figures finished. I set a budget for gaming for the first time hoping it will give me a little more discipline. So far I've spent 12% of my figure budget on figures I hadn't planned on ( see Medievals above). 25% of my rulebook budget and 50% of the terrain/other. I feel like a politician.

The plan for 2019 is to complete the GNW figures to be used with A Gentleman's War, Paint the Perry Agincourt Knights I just bought and get a few more games in.

Here's a few photos from this years first game which was a test of Chainmail Bikini.

                                              

It uses a similar engine to Flint & Feather. Howard was testing the combat mechanism so we got right into the fighting without regard to  scenario objectives or story line. Just a knock down drag out fight.


Some of the blogs I follow and their recaps and plans

http://palousewargamingjournal.blogspot.com/2019/01/reflections-on-gaming-2018.html
I love the charts Jonathan makes.

http://25yearsofminis.blogspot.com/2019/01/hobby-year-2018-in-retrospect.html
This guy gets around.

http://wargaminggirl.blogspot.com/2019/01/ahpc9-day-12-hny-and-7th-blogiversary.html
The volume of painting Tamsin does is amazing!

http://blundersonthedanube.blogspot.com/2019/01/2018-year-in-review.html
http://blundersonthedanube.blogspot.com/2019/01/hobby-plans-for-2019.html
A practical out look.

https://gameofmonth.blogspot.com/2018/12/out-with-old-in-with-new.html
Ok so not much of a recap but this is one of the most inspirational blogs I follow.

Thanks for reading and thanks to all the other bloggers out there for taking the time to share their hobby.

Colorized Comic Book Flats.

Out of the pages of history.

This week we met at Toywiz to play A Gentleman's War. Not wanting to lug Two hundred pounds of 40mm figures around Howard suggested we use the AWI Comic Book flats he has been amassing. The figures look great and Howard has done some converting to get a wider range of units. We could pretty much just set these figures out on the table and tell stories all night and it would fine, playing a game with them is that much more fun.

So on to the game. We set up a meeting engagement but as things turned out the Patriots were on the defensive and unable to coordinate any attacks. The pictures will tell the rest.

The Patriot line.

Green Mountain Boys.

The British advance.

Continentals move up.

The British move on a face card.

A picture from behind the Patriot line.

Same position as above but showing the figures better. 

Green Mtn boys move up with artillery support.

The British push through the woods.

The Militia brigade prepare to fire.

Skirmishing on the left.

Things heat up on the right.

The British take some casualties.

Then move in with cold steel.

Butler's Rangers converted from Indians.

  The one lesson I learned was to always take pictures of flats from the side or a 45 degree angle. The game was lot's of fun and many there were happy to see the legendary figures from the past.

The man with the ruffled collar has his ego ruffled as well.

Howard and I got together for a game of En Garde! last night. The others in the group were working or as Matt put it "murdering a Fir tree and dressing it's dead carcass with lights and shiny things."

Still not familiar with the rules, the first game was fun so why bother to read them, we came up with a scenario which essentially was to get into combat as quickly as possible.

Entering the square.

My band arrogantly enters the town square looking mostly for free food and drink but ready for sport.

Vengeance drives this leader. 

Howard's band enters from the other side clearly on a mission. Apparently I had insulted his sister and he was looking for revenge. I couldn't recall offending his sister but if she looked anything like him I must have erased the vision from my mind. Not looking to disappoint him or his friends I quipped that his cloak was a horrid color and the ruffled collar on his tunic clearly showed that he still thought Elizabeth  was Queen. His face burning a brighter red than his cloak the steel of his blade sung as he pulled it out of the scabbard. 

Exchanging words turns to exchanging blows.

I was able to parry the mighty blow of Howard's man and he in turn blocked my thrust. His next attack cut me lightly but enough to aggravate me and my next thrust critically  wounding him.

Not only were his cloths out of date so were his sword skills.

On the left Howard's second made short work of my underling. My companion not wishing to soil his blade hired a nearby group of ne'er do wells to attack. Concentrating on the biggest ruffian he was able to slow him down but the others slipped in and caused multiple wounds taking another of Howard's men out of the fight.

The sword master moved against me hoping to avenge his student/employers honor. His rage must have distracted him as I was able to over power him quickly.

Villagers hope for some excitement but are disappointed.

Across the square the other members quarreled but the fight was basically over and no one was looking to get injured. 

Tired from teaching others their place.

A good game all in all. We got the basic mechanics down and I think with a little more attention to the character development will have more entertaining games.

NUTS the second time I played

Last night we got together to play a game of NUTS from Two Hour Wargames. Howard and I had played them years ago but only once or twice. Nate and Matt had tried them of few weeks back but I was unable to be at those games. The rules have had gone through some revisions since I had played last and it seems for the better.  I don't own the rules but Nate had a set and both he and Matt pick these things up much quicker than I do so just as well. We chose a scenario involving Russians attacking a German position and attempting to cross the bridge. Matt provided most of the miniatures and scenery I brought a themed beer.

T-34s protect the Baltika #5 from the Huns.

So the scenario had the Germans defending the bridge with a Pak 40 and one squad of Infantry. Other forces would arrive based on some rule I didn't quite follow but worked pretty well. The Russians had two tanks, one halftrack, a squad of scouts, two squads of infantry, and a commissar with a heavy machine gun. Their objectives were to capture the command bunker and exit one tank off the bridge. Here's the link to the scenario. sbminisguy, nuts-stalingrad-filippov-at-the-bridge.

The Russians moved first. I raced my tank up the road hoping to reach cover before Nate could fire at me. I didn't make it. Luckily the tank was only immobilized but could still fire. 

Crossing open ground in front of a pak40 is never a good idea.

The tank offered no protection for the riders.

Howard worked the scouts and halftrack up the right flank and came under fire from a German squad on his left which forced him to duck back. I managed to knock out Nate's pak40 but was forced to duck back from the same squad hitting Howard troops. 

German HMG holding up the Russian assault.

The Russians are forced to duck back.

Nate rolled for one of the hidden units (there was a term for this but don't remember it.) It appeared in a house in front of Matt's group. He close assaulted the house with grenades and sub machine guns remove the threat. Matt then moved up his tank and took out the troops causing the Russians so much grief.

Scouts and tank begin there advance.

Surprised by a German squad the Russians go in for a close assault.

With the infantry ducked back the T-34 heads for the bridge.

I laid down covering fire as Matt's squad went in for the attack on the bunker.

Two Russian squads prepare for the assault on the bunker.

For the rest of the AAR you'll need to visit Matt's blog saltflats1929again.

So how did the game go. Very well. We came to a conclusion in under two hours even with some reference to the rules. Years back when we played I seem to remember activating each figure and going into what was a mini turn as the the figures reacted back and forth to each other, this game seemed much more stream lined.  Having not read the rules and nor really using a crib sheet it didn't take long to figure out what was needed to activate and fire. I'm looking forward to playing a few more games of this.

Latest games

Gaming slowed a bit near the end of summer but now has picked up a little. Recently we've played Flint & Feather, En Guard, and A Nobleman's War, a work in progress based on A Gentleman's War.

Flint & Feather played quickly as most of us are familiar with the system. The other two moved a little slower as we discussed and clarified rules. Fun evenings all around.

Iroquois warriors spy the interloping Hurons

Warriors outflank the Hurons

Ensuing melee goes poorly for the Iroquois.

Bloody defeat for the Nation.

Trial game of A Nobleman's War. The English formed up on a hill and waited for the French attack. A group of English Knights grew impatient and charged into the advancing enemy. The game was played as much to see how the mechanics worked for this  era as for glory and plunder.  I think things worked well maybe a few tweaks will be needed but it looks like I'll be painting some Knights soon.

French Billmen and Sargents

The French Knights

English Knights charge the Sargents

Never good to be caught in the flank.

The impetuous Knights the charge the Crossbow men.

As a group we'd been looking for a set of rules for swashbuckling games. We gave Ganesha's Flashing Steel and Eureka's And One for All. Neither gave the game we were looking for. The other night Howard and I tried out Osprey's En Guard. As per usual we quickly scanned the rules and started off playing. After a couple of fights things didn't seem right so we gave the rules a more thorough reading. Yes there were some more modifiers, different level characters had better skills, there was more to it. The next round of combat was more interesting and provided the player with some decision points. We burned through our allotted game time  and finished one section of the planned game but did have a better grasp on the rules. This set definitely calls for a few more tries and may well offer what we're looking for.  

An argument in the Tavern spills out onto the street.

The discourse escalates from taunting to cold steel and warm blood.

Everyone as an opinion to express.

after the loss of so many comrades both sides are happy to pull back and end the fight.

It's been good to get back into the swing of gaming.

Flint & Feather review.

A few years ago Howard asked if we could try some combat rules that he was working on of course I agreed. I was happy when he showed up with beautiful looking Native American figures ( and somewhat envious of them). Although I like to use my own figures when playing I'm always willing to play with figures that are well sculpted and painted such as these were. The rules were similar to Battle Troll but the tweaked a bit to give more of the combat style of the period. A few more games followed and time passed on. Then Howard mentioned that Bob Murch who had sculpted the figures was interested in the project, there was a blog with a group posting their playtests, the game showed up at the conventions and then the Kickstarter was launched.

The Kickstarter was funded quickly and work started on the rulebook. Pulp Figures produced some more figures, rules were tweaked, player aids improved, The figures shipped, and then the book and cards were sent out.

The Kickstarter

Here's what I got. Rulebook (hardback), a set of attack/defence cards, 28 miniatures (unpainted) representing Huron and Iroquois and a bonus Great Warrior.

The figures had been sent out ahead of the rulebook so I was able to paint them up. They're great sculpts and were fun to paint. I used the guide on the website but there is one in the rulebook and the photos in the book are provide inspiration.

Hurons

Iroquois

The production quality of the book is outstanding. Filled with pictures of the figures in action and  artist's drawing for more inspiration. Organization moves from an introduction to forming a Warband, Combat, Campaign, Supernatural, Scenarios and Optional rules. In the back is an index and all the charts, roster and cards needed to play.

Combat Cards

example page

example page

example page

The game sequence is player1 rolls to see who can activate (one group,all groups) activate, player2 reacts, player1 activates again and then it is player2s turn. Combat is by card draw and then a die roll to determine winner. Damage is rolled for on a chart. It plays quicker than those two sentences. There's lots more to the rules. We've played mostly straight up combat games but may try a campaign game out soon.   Some AARs are posted elsewhere on this blog.

I knew I liked the game before joining the Kickstarter and feel that the quality of the book, figures and cards was well worth the price.
Check them out https://www.cruciblecrush.com/

Thanks for reading.