Marching into March

March is off to a good start. Continuing to refine A Gentleman's War AWI we fought a scenario based on Bemis Heights. The Patriots objective was to capture the two redoubts while the British were charged with stopping them.

The British right redoubt.

The Patriot left

The Patriot right

The Americans got off to a slow start and the British moved up to prevent any assault.

Finally the Americans on the right were able to close on the redoubt with the Continentals followed up by the Militia.

   

                                     

3rd NY assaults redoubt

On the British right the Brunswick Grenadiers and Rangers moved to push back the Americans. However after defeating one regiment the Grenadiers were attacked from behind by the Patriots and destroyed along with the Brigade Commander.

A decent victory for the American forces. 

The game took about three hours including set up and part of breaking down. 

Matt has some more on his blog.  http://saltflats1929again.blogspot.com/

Howard has started a new blog for A Gentleman's War here https://thegatlingsjammedandthecolonelsdead.wordpress.com

February review

This month seems to be a mish mash of unproductivty, random thoughts, painters block and very little gaming. The succes for the month was not buying any lead, only painting three figures didn't help captilize on that. A game of Battle Troll to kick off a campaign  was lot's of fun and I'll be looking forward to more action there. The random thoughts have come to me while at work best shown as pictures

Looking forward to a better march.

The picture I had in my mind.

Not everywhere you go is as you expect but Oslo met my preconceived expectations. Snow,sun,clouds, water and tall people. First stop the Viking ship museum. Though not large it has three grave ships that were dug up and reassembled in the museum plenty of artifacts giving a glimpse into Viking life.

A small cart.

                                        

                                                        The longest of the ships.

A sled.

Next door was the Norwegian Folk Museum. Inside were exhibits of Folk Art, Sami culture and Norwegian farmers and craftsman which also covered a bit of 17th and 18th century military history. Outside was the larger part of the museum a display of buildings from various periods and sections of Oslo's history. 

Boardgame from a toy exhibit.

Stave Church.

House used to entertain.

Fencing so I get the right look on the wargames table.

The plan for the next day was sledding for an hour or so and then off to the history museum. We never made the museum sledding was too much fun. Toboggan-run-Korketrekkeren.

Preparing for the 2Km ride down the hill. The public transit brings you back to the top.

At sunset we took a quick ride on the ferry around the harbour and then a stroll around the Akershus Fortress.

Defending the city.

The grounds were open but the buildings closed.

View through the gate.

Another successful trip. Then to top it off back in Stockholm wandering the old town we came upon the Royals.

Princess Kate

Crown Princess Victoria and Princess Kate.

Obligatory events and terrain

We jumped a plane to Copenhagen and after a red hot dog started to explore the city. First of the musts was a drink at Mikkeller and Friends. The next was bike riding with a visit to the Little Mermaid and the Fort. I love it when the location of these things work out. The timing was perfect to see the changing of the Guard.

Beer Geek Breakfast Stout

                                     

                               Biking around the Harbor.

The Changing of the Guard.

                               

                   The Star Fort.

My dinner companions thought this was a unique way to present the food.
I thought this would be a cool as ground cover for a wargames table.

I noticed we must be near the border of
The Duchy of Tradgardland

No painting, no gaming. I'll call it research.

As we come towards the end of the month I've missed several chances for gaming and haven't lifted a paint brush, before you fell sorry for me I have been able to get some research in. It's taken the form a trip to visit a daughter in Stockholm.

First stop Valhalla Bageriet for a cardamon bun and the seasonal Semla. Next was off to the History Museum We didn't plan enough time for this it certainly needs more than the hour or so that we were there. A nice display of early Swedish inhabitants with a collection of Roman weapons, the Viking exhibit with it's many artifacts from the dig at Birka, the history of Sweden timeline and the Gold room took most of our time.

Model of ship.

Model of town.

Ships at dock.

Giant cat of the Vikings or perhaps Loki in disguise.

We pretty much ran through what was left the Medieval Art and Medieval Massacre sections but will go back another day. 

Uniform from GNW.

Mans clothing.

Women's dress.

Women's Dress.

The next day we went over to the Army Museum  as I had been here before I didn't take but one picture. Now I need to find a figure for the Shiny Toy Soldier project in that tricorne hat.

Officer and cadet early 20th century.

The Wargame exhibit was closed but I had missed most of the rest of the exhibits we went trough those. My normal scheduling challenges arose when we found out that the tour on Military uniforms in pop culture was starting and we were off to a dinner reservation. We left with the music of Jimi Hendrix blasting away.

The first sight of Flashing Steel

Having drunk some cheap wine Howard's man waves his swoard at Nate's men

I didn't get the camera out much during our first try of Flashing Steel from Ganesha Games . Nate and Howard came over and we did a quick game. I had spent a little time setting up the character sheets giving us each two characters. The scenario was taken from the Gloire rulebook but moved from a tavern to a market square. We mostly used the QRS sheet to play and only refered to the rulebook a few times. It always takes me a few time with the rules to get a grip on them but I felt the game went well. I had given all the characters the best quality and combat skills. Reading through the book latter and looking at Song of Muskets and Tomahawks I realized the numbers should have been bit more moderate. For the next outing a game with six to eight characters per player  should provide a better feel for the rules.

A wider view of the action.

For the game I had painted the reverse side of my gridded board in a greyish which provided a suitable backdrop. Good for small games we'll need a bigger area for the next games. Since I had the miniatures out and hadn't taken many photos during the game I set up the board and took a few shots.

Brigade Games figures

 Redoubt figures

Sticking to the plan.

Wednesday night saw the first game of the year. A forcasted storm had Matt decide he was available on Wednesday so he could get a game in just in case the storm did come. Good decision!

We chose to play The Pikeman's Lament. Matt pulled out his Samurai and although there was not enough for a 24 point game we still managed four units each. The forces were balanced with One Samurai (forlorn hope), two Shot and, one Yari (pike). I placed my leader with the Samurai, Matt put his with the Pike unit.

Matt's force

My Force

More of my force with the only Samurai I own in the foreground.

This was the first time that either of us had played these rules so the game was a little slow moving as we looked things up. It still moved quickly taking us about an hour and three quarters to finish. I think we got most rules right and decided we should give it another try. The main concern is that with the activation system one side may not get much of a chance to move. Playing a few more games should show if this was just how we rolled last night or if it's a legitimate complaint. 

My Samurai attack.

I'm pushed back with two casualties.

What's left of my pike prepare for a charge by Matt's Samurai.

The Last Samurai dies with honor.

A good game to kick off the New Year. A plus in that this was one of the games I've been wanting to play for awhile and that I used figures that someone else had and didn't rush off to buy some for myself. I'll admit I did visit the Perry website this morning:-).

As usual more photo's here at Saltflats1929
Exotic Army Lists for the Pikeman's Lament
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