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Not only were his cloths out of date so were his sword skills.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