No gaming tonight

A week into March finds the weather too cold to get out and seal coat painted figures or prime new figures. Fortunately I've enough primed and half painted figures to keep me busy. Fifty three figures need coating showing a productive painting month. We squeezed a game in on the 31st and gamed three of the four Thursdays in February. Three games of A Gentleman's War and one of Chainmail Bikini.

The first AGW game takes place in the foothills of the Khyber Pass. Matt held the fort as the British with a relief column arriving from the south. A good run of cards brought the cavalry into the fort reinforcing the garrison but the infantry were held up by the Pathans. Despite gaining a foothold in the fort the Pathans were pushed back and a forey by the Gurkhas pushed the enemy  cannon off the hill ending the attack.

i

The Pathans fire on the fort

The Relief force breaks through the pass. 

The Pathans swarm over the hills.

Reinforcements make it into the fort

The remainder of the relief column fight off the Pathans.

The Gurkhas push the natives out of the fort.

A rearrangement of the fort and replacing Pathans with Madists brings A Gentleman's War to the Sudan. Here Nate defended against the attacking Madists. The cards worked for the natives with Howards troops moving as a group on a facecard and getting in close with out being shot up. I was able to move up a unit and get into the fort but was not strong enough to hold on. Outside Nate's men made short work of my cavalry but were held off long enough that the garrison was overrun.

The gallant defenders await the attack.

A horde of camelry threaten from afar.

Despite heavy losses the Madists gain entry into the fort.

Across the parade ground the British and Egyptian troops are over run.

Making off with a captured British officer.

The last game was an 18th Century AGW  game loosely based on the battle of White Plains played at Toywiz. Howard commanded the Patriots and I the Crowns troops. My artillery opened fire doing little damage. I was then able to bring up both my brigades easily chasing off the skirmishes on my flanks. On the left the Hessians underestimated the Continentals and were quickly dispatched. On the right the British with the aid of Green apples ( a card which causes a negative effect on a unit drawn at the turn of a joker) pushed back the militia defending the fence line.

American militia defending.

Third NY hold the hill.

the British brigade form up for the assault.

The German brigade.

The British move up to the fence line.

Heavy firing on the British right 

The British persevere despite mounting casualties.

The Militia hold as reinforcements move up.

The firefight heats up.

More Americans enter on the left.

Things get tense.

Finally the Americans are pushed off the fence.

The Hessians move up against the Continentals.

More Americans show up.

The Hessians take casualties while closing in and then are crushed in close combat.

A playtest of Chainmail Bikini finishes out the games. Matt set up the table and the scenario. Three groups of Heros set out to find and rescue the Hobbits. Combat began right away and remained steady throughout the game.

Legolas, Gimli and their kinsman prepare to rescue the Hobbits.

Fighting around a pool results in the rescue of Sam.

Goblins appear behind our Heros.

Down in the tombs Gimli fights off a Wraith.

Gandalf & Aragorn are attacked by Warg Riders.

The men of Gondor battle in the tombs and find another of the Hobbits.

A good month for hobby pursuits.

 

More on the last game 

http://saltflats1929again.blogspot.com/2019/02/hobbit-hunt.html

Matt's Colonial game reports

http://saltflats1929again.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-great-game-part-2.html

http://saltflats1929again.blogspot.com/2019/02/once-more-into-desert.html

More on the AWI game on Howard's blog

https://thegatlingsjammedandthecolonelsdead.wordpress.com/2019/02/22/back-to-the-revolution/ 

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.