Looking Back and Forth

As we approch the end of the year it's time for the traditional End of Year post. 2016 has been agood year for gaming. Twenty three games were played. These were largely A Gentleman's War and Flint and Feather but also included Chain of Command, Sharpe Practice, Light Bobs, The Men who Would be Kings and SAGA. This last being particulary good as it included several new gamers who have moved into the area.

On the painting front 208 figures have been painted which gets me 4 figures ahead of purchases. The year has finished in the black and there are 26 more figures close to completion on the workbench which may be added to that total. Of course 20 figures from a Kickstarter may arrive at any moment. If I don't open the box until 2017 can I keep them out of 2016s number?

Huzzah and Fall In were visted. Huzzah for a day with two games played and some shopping. Fall In for the day only no games played and very little shopping but some the purchases made fit nicely in with current projects.

Looking forward to 2017 I hope to get some more gaming in. Joining the Six by Six challange(TheStrongholdRebuilt) should provide the motivation and frame work for this goal. I haven't figured out the complete list of games but will in the next week Sharpe Practice2, SAGA and A Gentleman's War are on it.

Choosing which games to play will dovetail into what gets painted. The goal is to have the figures and terrain needed to play the games. I'll focus on four periods. AWI, WWII, NWF and Gangsters. Certainly other periods will show up but these will be the main periods. I have the figures and bits of terrain for all of these but not enough for a decent game.

New periods for the New Year. SAGA may require some new figures I have enough for a 4point Viking force but am interested in Irish or maybe Arturians for the new supplement. The Pikeman's Lament will be released in the beginning of the year and will cause the purchase of figures. I'm on the fence about which period to do. TYW or Scanian war. Maybe GNW. There's no rush as I have pleanty of unpainted lead on hand.

There's the outline of my plans for 2017. Next december will see how it works out. Here's a couple of photos from the last games played.

Busy but not writing

So it's been a while since I posted last. It's not that I haven't been busy enjoying the hobby I've just been lazy about writing.

We've played quite a few games of A Gentlemen's War and tried out a multi deck activation which Howard brought to Fall-In with great success. I'm still painting my units for the Toy Soldier project and am down to the last two Cavalry units. Howard however has enthusiastically painted a large number of units based on an invasion of Britan by the French.

Recently we played some Flint & Feather testing the canoe rules. A thrilling chase with a climatic battle at the end.

The rules are nearing completion and should be available early next year.

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Back in October I was convinced to start on a force for  the War of 1812 to be played with Sharpe Practice 2. I chose to do an American force from the Niagara campaign my friend is building the British. I ordered figures from Brigade Games for the regulars, Knuckle Duster for the militia and used some First Nations I had from Conquest . A tidy little force. All the figures were ordered in the beginning of October and in a first for me painted the same month. Now to get a game in with them.

So there you have it. Playing 2-3 games a month, 50-60 figures painted it's been a pretty successful few months.

Critcal Mass.

Last Thursday saw another game of A Gentleman's War. This time Howard brought a full contingent of French as well as some British. We had three players for this game so split the Blue force between two of us. Blue was tasked with assaulting Red who was defending a building complex.

Blue had seven Infantry units, two Skirmishers, two Cavalry and four guns.

Red had four Infantry, two Skirmishers, two Cavalry, three guns and a Gatling gun.

A run of red cards allowed Red to consolidate his position while Blue took some long range shot with their guns. Turn two saw a more balanced run of cards giving Blue the chance to move some troops up and contact Red

The battle went back and forth for awhile and Blue started a flank assault first on the right with the Cavalry Brigade and then on the left with some Infantry.

The battle hung in a balance and the hour was getting late.

Then Red decided to charge with his Cavalry. The ensuing melee tore a hole in Blue's center.

This and the fact that it was past our bedtime ended the game.

Another great game with good people. We played on a four foot square table and with the number of troops we had it was a little tight. Another foot or two on the flanks and one more in depth would have been better I think. As for the number of units things worked well. It seems seven to ten units will give about a two hour game. Twelve to sixteen units would take just under three hours.

The French have landed

My friend Howard has finally given it to the temptation of 40mm toy soldiers and ordered a few from Irregular. An accomplished painter he's gone with some shading on the figures as opposed to the straight up paint job I've used. His technique compliments the sculpting of these figures and really pops on the table.

I also like the pill shaped bases and will be rebasing my cavalry and using this for future units. 

Eager to get his troops in action we played an Attack/Defense scenario which saw me attacking with a mostly Western Hemisphere force (Blue) against Howard's European Unification force(Red). I was interested to see how this played out as our previous games were meeting engagements with equal forces.

The cards favored red from the start and the chasseurs a pied harassed my troops and the EU artillery wreaked havoc on my Gatling gun.

Fortunately for the Blue the turn ended quickly but the next turn did start off with a run on Red cards. Soon enough Blues cards started to turn up and the advance started.

With opportunities alternating between the two forces casualties built on both sides. Still Reds force remained steady in the center.

Blues forces in the center were taking heavy losses but passed their morale checks and stayed in the fight. 

An inspired but ill advised frontal charge by the French cavalry on the Spanish line eliminated the cavalry freeing The RCMP to threaten the flank of Reds line. With the turn ending, Red having lost several units and a strong Blue force on the left, Red fell back and conceded the field. 

Another great night of gaming! Howard has refined the rules for formation changes and the morale rules. Both worked well and stayed within the spirit of the game. He's also added some rules for abilities to the units so not every unit is the same. These also worked well and give a little more color to the game. 

If you haven't already check out the Yahoo group that's been set up for these rules. A Gentleman's War

Memorial Day 5/30/2016

"Memorial Day isn't just about honoring veterans, its honoring those who lost their lives. Veterans had the fortune of coming home. For us, that's a reminder of when we come home we still have a responsibility to serve. It's a continuation of service that honors our country and those who fell defending it." - - Pete Hegseth

Flint & Feather

Last night was another game of Flint & Feather. They are a set of rules for the wafare among the First Nations of the Geat Lakes region. 

For this game the Huron were out hunting when a Mohawk Stripling decided to make a name for himself and attack on his own. A few shots from his bow wounded a warrior but also alerted the rest of the hunting party to the enemy. The Hurons advanced along three paths, before they caught up to the stripling the rest of the Mohawk warparty arrived. A few exchanges of bow fire and then the Huron charged in. The fight was pretty even and the Mohawks decided to fall back rather than risk any casualties but not before the stripling killed a Huron warrior. There will be much boasting and story telling around the fire tonight. 

The Great Warrior and stripling assist the wounded Huron as the others race towards the Mohawk youth.

The Huron start to close.

The melee in the forest.

Mohawks overlooking the combat below.

Another fun game with this ruleset. I've joined the kickstarter so soon I'll have my own figures to use for the honor of the nation and glory of it's warriors.

Huzzah 2016

I just got back from Maine and the 2016 Huzzah convention. Well it was another excellant event. I went on Saturday. There was a handfull of vendors all carrying a full inventory of products I was sorely tempted to pick up some figures with so many lines available to view but was able to hold off. My purchasing fix was filled by a couple of scenario books and about a dozen buildings from 4Ground and Things from the Basement.

The first game of the day for me was Light Bobs. Chris Parker ran the game using 40mm figures.

It was a last man standing scenario using a slimed down version of the game. Chris did a great job explaining the rules and getting us playing. It moved quickly and kept all the players involved through out. If you play this period I would recomend these. 

The second session saw me playing the Japanese in a Chain of Command game. Ken Eckhardt ran the game which had the US Marines assault an airstrip defended by the Japanese. Ken did a great job explaining the scenario both in game terms and it's historical background. The Japanese slowed the Marines advance with a peliminary barrage but the Marines called in a mortor barrage and pinned the Japanese and reduced their force morale to zero effectivly winning the game. The game played well and moved along. 

Walking around the convention provided pleanty of eye candy with well presented games all around.

Here's a Link to more pictures.

This was my second visit to Huzzah! It's a well run event. Not super big but plenty of games, enough vendors with a good selection of products. I would say well worth the trip.

Generals, Colors and Limbers.

Over the weekend I finished a few more troops for A Gentlemans War.

Generals

Colors

Limbers

Here's a cannon I bought last month on a visit to Appomattax Court House.

These are the NYS National Guard with the new flag figure.

I'm off to Huzzah! in Maine so it will be a few more weeks before they get on the table.

A Gentleman's War the new GW

We played another game of A Gentleman's War last night but this time using Howard's plastic AWI flats. These are vintage figures from the 1960s that were sold on the back of Comic books. There is some great information on them here . Howard pick these up at a flea market, one of those great finds, touched up the paint and rebased them. It was a pleasure playing with these figures.

Our game was the usual line them up and attack. The units had more figures than previous games so that changed things a bit and we used more terrain. There is still some work to do on the deployment rules but I think the game is pretty solid and gives the feel of a toy soldier game.

So here are some photo's of the game as usual once the action started I forgot to get photos.

The opposing Armies

The Patriots move up

The Crown's forces advance

Mohawks skirmish with the riflemen in the woods.

Hessians advance on the center.

Riflemen supported by dragoons skirmish with the Mohawks.

British line charge the guns

Continental artillery hold their ground