Pendraken Miniatures Forum

I thought I'd kick this off today even though I won't play a game for a day or two.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? -
2) What armies were confronted? -
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? -
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? -
5) How many players were in the game? -

I'll get the first game in then, on the 1st, even if posting just into the 2nd!

1) Rules - Epic Armageddon
2) Forces - Space Marines vs Orks
3) Comfortable - Yes, only had to check a few minor points
4) first time - No. Played many times over the last year
5) Players - 3 (2 Orks vs me as SM)

Congratulations on being first, how did the Bananas get on?

Had a few games recently - thank you the bad weather :)

Game 1:

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Mit Blut und Eisen (http://www.wfgamers.org.uk/FUFF.htm)
2) What armies were confronted? - FPW French vs Prussians.
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes
4) and... was this the first time you used the ruleset? - No
5) How many players were in the game? - 2 vs 2

A play through of a battle of Gravelotte/St Privat scenario. A pleasant game which saw a very aggressive Prussian assault across the front. This nearly led to disaster on the Prussian right but the inability of the French players to decide what to do gave the Prussians time to win on the left.


Game 2:

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Hail Caesar
2) What armies were confronted? - Romans vs Gauls
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - No
4) and... was this the first time you used the ruleset? - Played the series of rules a few time, 2nd game of Hail Caesar
5) How many players were in the game? - 4

The game was enjoyable thanks to the player involved but the rules, and the rest of the series, are frankly a joke. I have tried with this series of rules but they not for me.


Game 3

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Playtest of 'Warr Without an Enemie' rules (http://www.wfgamers.org.uk/WWAE.htm) for 1680-1720
2) What armies were confronted? -
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes and no. Yes with the original rules, some of the proposed changes for 1680+ need work
4)and... was this the first time you used the ruleset?  - Yes
5) How many players were in the game? - 1 vs 1

A playtest game aimed at extending the ECW rules to cover later wars. Generally very encouraging but still some problems to overcome.

Greetings

1) What ruleset did you use in your last game? I Ain't Been Shot Mum (IABSM)
2) What armies were used?  British v German Operation Bluecoat Normandy July 1944
3) Did you feel comfortable with the rule set? Broadly - though we were pretty rusty
4) and... was this the first time you used the ruleset? No - though it has been well over a year since any of us used it.
5) How many players were in the game? 4 (2 vs 2) plus umpire

A two platoon British company from 15 Scottish Division with Churchills and a Crab Flail and a Crusader AA in support attempted to push forward through a prepared defence manned by a reinforced platoon from 326 Infanterie Division - including stragglers and a PAK40.  We played about 4 hours or so. Advantage to the Germans but the British were about to get another rifle platoon.   Iron crosses for the Panzerschreck team (KOing a Churchill and the Crusader AA).

Regards

Edward

Happy New Year to all.

First game of 2016.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Tonight we play tested It's a Long Way to Tipperary, first draft of my WW1 rules.
2) What armies were confronted? - 1914 Germans and BEF
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes, only as I wrote them
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - Yes
5) How many players were in the game? - 5

Learnt a lot and we still have some way to go.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Naval Thunder
2) What armies were confronted? - Scharnhorst and four destroyers vs Duke of York, cruisers and destroyers (Battle of North Cape)
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - very.
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - 4th game today.
5) How many players were in the game? - 2, Poth and I.

Full report later, but wow! Scharnhorst is a lot harder than people give her credit for!!!

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - 'Panzerkeil'
2) What armies were confronted? - Belgians against Germans, May 10th 1940; fortress Eben Emael and the Kanne bridge
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes!
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No, we've played this for years now.
5) How many players were in the game? - 9

The German glider troops had some very bad luck with most landing on the extreme Southern tip of the fortress meaning they had to cross along the whole length of the fort while the Belgians had some luck; although they only managed to occupy two blockhouses at the start of the game they were the two MG-bunkers covering the whole area. In the end the Germans did destroy their targets with their hollow charges and flamethrowers but at a heavy price. The gliders landing in the rear of the Kanne bridge positions had some extreme bad luck. Bad map reading resulted in one glider overshooting the drop zone by several kilometers and of the remaining nine gliders the dice rolls were 'ones' on four of them which meant they ended up crashlanding. At the end of the first round the Germans had less than 2/3 of their original numbers available. The parachute reinforcements went pretty bad too (with a German artillery strike, that they forgot to call off, hitting the jump zone immediately after the Fallschirmjäger landed) and with the bridge effectively blown the remnants were rather quickly shot up and captured...

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Battleship Zenith
2) What armies were confronted? - German Kriegsmarine vs British Navy 1040
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes!
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - It was for me.
5) How many players were in the game? - 8

After the Eben Emael game we played a try out of Battleship Zenith which some of our members have played before. The German Battleship Bismarck tried to break out to open water together with the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen. The British had the battleship Prince of Wales, the old Hood and the two heavy cruisers Suffolk and Norfolk. The game mainly is about manoeuvring your ships into the best possible position to engage (of course). After the manoeuvring the positions and targets are plotted complete with bearing, speed, distances etc, and the computer then works out the spotting and detailed damage for hits. In the end the Germans won tactically but lost strategically. When we had to stop the Prince of Wales was listing heavily and had only it's rear turret left operable; Hood had just one turret left and was waiting for it's coup de grace; Suffolk was completely silenced and had only 1/3 of it's speed left and was burning, as was Norfolk which had just one turret left firing. Prinz Eugen lost three turrets in the last round (!) but was still under control and structurally in acceptable condition as was Bismarck despite being on fire and having lost one turret. Yet the threat was gone and the Germans really had no choice but retreating and licking their wounds while the British would be able to replace their losses and repair damage relatively easily... great game; nailbiting tension while waiting for the firing result to appear on the screen!

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Tonight we play tested It's a Long Way to Tipperary, second draft of my WW1 rules.
2) What armies were confronted? - 1914 Germans and BEF
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes, only as I wrote them
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No
5) How many players were in the game? - 5

Second play test of my quick play rules, must have gone down well as we will play the third draft next week.

Hello AoS

Quote from: Ace of Spades on 10 January 2016, 09:41:37 PM
1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - 'Panzerkeil'

I'm not familiar with this rule set. Being a rules fool/junkie any mention of an unknown rule set can set me  off with one of my turns  :o. Couldn't find it with a quick Google, any chance of a link or quick explanation?

Cheers

GrumpyOldMan

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Bloody Big Battles
2) What armies were confronted? - Austrians vs Allies at Montebello 1859
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Very
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No
5) How many players were in the game? - 2

Excellent rules that feel like we've been playing them a long time, even though this is only our third outing with them :).

Quote from: GrumpyOldMan on 11 January 2016, 02:44:38 AM
I'm not familiar with this rule set. Being a rules fool/junkie any mention of an unknown rule set can set me  off with one of my turns  :o. Couldn't find it with a quick Google, any chance of a link or quick explanation?

Sure GOM,
There is no link; it's a ruleset friends of mine made up many years ago and they are meant for WW-2 platoon level. It's not a skirmish game with individual figures but rather your platoons are based in teams; rifle teams of three men normally; rifle teams, rifle/smg teams, two man LMG teams etc. It is a very detailed rules set and therefore not a very quick one. Yet the results, even when playing large games (we tend to play virtually everything 1:1) are very close to historic outcomes usually in terms of losses, ground gained or traversed in game time etc. Up 'till now the rules are still only available in German (I am working on a Dutch translation) but if you're interested just drp me a line!

Cheers,
Rob

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Bloody Big Battles
2) What armies were confronted? - Confederates vs Union at First Bull Run
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Very
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No
5) How many players were in the game? - 2

Hello AoS

Quote from: Ace of Spades on 11 January 2016, 09:11:22 PM
Sure GOM,
There is no link; it's a ruleset friends of mine made up many years ago and they are meant for WW-2 platoon level. It's not a skirmish game with individual figures but rather your platoons are based in teams; rifle teams of three men normally; rifle teams, rifle/smg teams, two man LMG teams etc. It is a very detailed rules set and therefore not a very quick one. Yet the results, even when playing large games (we tend to play virtually everything 1:1) are very close to historic outcomes usually in terms of losses, ground gained or traversed in game time etc. Up 'till now the rules are still only available in German (I am working on a Dutch translation) but if you're interested just drp me a line!

Cheers,
Rob

Thanks for the info. Excuse any mistypi g on my teeny tiny phone screen. That explains why I couldn't fi d any information :). They sound a bit complex for my tastes but it sounds like they give a good game. Thanks again.

Cheers

GrumpyOldMan

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Warhammer 40000 (new guy at the club, trying to convince him of the ways if truth and light)
2) What armies were confronted? - My Tau (which haven't been out the box since 2005) vs Imperial Guard
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - no.
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - Yes for this edition, but have played on and off since the 80s.
5) How many players were in the game? - two

Played because Matt is a really nice guy who we want to get down the club more regularly. My force was basically one I inherited in th noughties, which just came straight out the box, his was a bit beardy, but I killed all that stuff!

I enjoyed the game and the company, but did not enjoy the rules! ;)

Quote from: mad lemmey on 14 January 2016, 11:55:31 PM
Played because Matt is a really nice guy who we want to get down the club more regularly. My force ... his was a bit beardy, but I killed all that stuff!

Killing all his stuff may not have contributed to your first objective ;) ;D

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Big Bloody Battles
2) What armies were confronted? - 6mm ACW; 1st Bull Run 1861.
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - yes
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - no.
5) How many players were in the game? - two ... I think it was two, can't remember the other geezer.

http://wwiiwargaming.blogspot.co.uk/

Quote from: paulr on 15 January 2016, 01:03:55 AM
Killing all his stuff may not have contributed to your first objective ;) ;D

He loved it and was talking follow up game already! :) Points lost were about even...

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Wars of Marlborough (not their actual name... Don't have one yet - home brew rules)
2) What armies were confronted? - Franco-Bavarians v Dutch
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - certainly... I co-wrote them :-)
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No. They have been tweaked over the last ??? Years, but are just about there.
5) How many players were there in the game? - 5 players (2 Dutch, 3 French/Bavarian) and me (umpire)

Game was very close in the end. Dutch played a blinder early in the game, refusing a flank to almost completely nullify the flank attack of one of the French contingents. In the end time was our enemy & we had to finish with a draw :-/

Rob

Having seen pics of the figures used on a well known 6mm manufacturers forum the game must have looked superb

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Tonight more play testing of It's a Long Way to Tipperary, third draft of my WW1 rules.
2) What armies were confronted? - 1914 Germans and BEF
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes,
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No
5) How many players were in the game? - 5

Some excellent discussion, no wonder rules end up so big! I am determined to keep them very short!

Quote from: vonlacy on 18 January 2016, 12:24:05 AM
Some excellent discussion, no wonder rules end up so big! I am determined to keep them very short!

That is usually harder than it sounds ;)

"I'm sorry that this was such a long letter, but I didn't have time to write you a short one." :)
Blaine Pascal, French mathematician

So true  :)

1) What rules set do you use in your last game? - Iron Cross.
2) What armies were confronted? - Late war Germans vs. U.S.
3) Did you feel comfortable with the rules set? - Yes
4) and... was the first time do you use the rules set? - No, we played once before a few weeks ago
5) How many players were in the game? - 2

This time I used my recently painted Panther and one Stug G with a reduced company of infantry and support weapons to go against the U.S. company with three supporting Shermans.  The US focused a lot of their effort (i.e. activation tokens) on shooting the Panther with their three Shermans. I supported the Panther with the Stug and a panzerschreck armed infantry squad. I was able to knock out two of his Shermans but he managed to get a flank shot on the Panther which caused a "Kaboom" (rolled a "6" on the damage)

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - FoGR
2) What armies were confronted? - ECW New Model Army vs Scots Royalist
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - very
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - nope
5) How many players were in the game? - 2

And again, Pete and his Montrose army gave me a kicking! :)

1) BBB

2) ACW Union and Confederate - BBB scenario for 1st Bull Run

3) Hadn't had a game since November, but it's such a straightforward and logical system that we were bowling along very quickly, What a fun game with fragile and raw troops on both sides, and the Union doesn't even get a general figure.

4) No

5) 2 players

Who won Leman? We found it a great scenario, with lots of challenges due to the poor quality of the troops (on both sides), with the lack of a General for the Union being a bit of a pain, but historically accurate.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - To the Strongest
2) What armies were confronted? - Pendraken Romans v britons
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - very quick flowing set of rules.
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - nope
5) How many players were in the game? - 2

Great fun this game, very close but as always I managed to grab a defeat by just 1 Victory point.

Quote from: Steve J on 22 January 2016, 11:35:42 AM
Who won Leman? We found it a great scenario, with lots of challenges due to the poor quality of the troops (on both sides), with the lack of a General for the Union being a bit of a pain, but historically accurate.

No one yet. We spent a while setting up the table and sorting the troops, then had a break for tea, and played three turns between about 7.30 and 9.00, then went home, leaving the game set up to conclude next week, when we will be able to start about 6.00. AAR to follow, with piccies, although the figures are my Fire and Fury 15mm armies.

Quote from: Steve J on 01 January 2016, 08:37:34 PM

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Warband
2) What armies were confronted? - Kallistra Dwarves v Pendraken Undead
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - yup
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - no
5) How many players were in the game? - Solo

the Dwarves got mauled on their debut :o

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Dragon Rampant
2) What armies were confronted? - 28mm Goblins v High Elves
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - yes
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - yes, but have played Lion Rampant a few times, they are very similar.
5) How many players were in the game? - 2, I once more grabbed defeat from certain victory in the last turn, a really good fun set of rules.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Bloody Big Battles
2) What armies were confronted? - Union vs Confederate at Shiloh
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No
5) How many players were in the game? - 2

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Bloody Big Battles
2) What armies were confronted? - Russians & Romanians vs Turks at 2nd Battle of Plevna
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No
5) How many players were in the game? - 3

Very much a training/intro game for a colleague of Dave Fielders. He also brought along his 2mm armies to look at and they were really rather nice.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - X-Wing
2) What armies were confronted? - All three factions.
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes.
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No.
5) How many players were in the game? - 18 - Store Championships.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Sabre Squadron
2) What armies were confronted? - West Germans vs 2nd line Soviets
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - increasingly yes.
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - second game, but really picking it up quickly.
5) How many players were in the game? - two, myself and Genorm

Soviets vs my West Germans, ground to a standstill after both sides lost about 2/3 of their forces. One turn saw 6bmps offed by five Marders! Very bloody game, great fun. Milan teams holding on for dear life, rampaging T-64s, dodgy Soviet morale rolls that saw one flank suddenly disintegrate (KGB will be asking questions). The Russians took the hills that were their first objective, but failed to get to the vital road junction (and local branch of Aldi), whilst the West Germans held the swimming pool!!!!

1. Blucher
2. Spanish against French
3. Yes
4. no
5. Solo

Spanish mullered the French!

Excellent

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Honours of War
2) What armies were confronted? - French vs British at Hastenbeck
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Very
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No.
5) How many players were in the game? - 4 plus the author as umpire.

Quote from: mad lemmey on 12 February 2016, 10:04:02 AM
1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Sabre Squadron
2) What armies were confronted? - West Germans vs 2nd line Soviets
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - increasingly yes.
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - second game, but really picking it up quickly.
5) How many players were in the game? - two, myself and Genorm

Soviets vs my West Germans, ground to a standstill after both sides lost about 2/3 of their forces. One turn saw 6bmps offed by five Marders! Very bloody game, great fun. Milan teams holding on for dear life, rampaging T-64s, dodgy Soviet morale rolls that saw one flank suddenly disintegrate (KGB will be asking questions). The Russians took the hills that were their first objective, but failed to get to the vital road junction (and local branch of Aldi), whilst the West Germans held the swimming pool!!!!

What sort of scale is Sabre Squadron? Havent played Cold War games for a few years and found that CWC just didn't really do it for me.

Looking to game 70's/80's in Germany

1. BBB

2. Union v. Confederate, Champion Hill 1863

3. Very

4. Have played a number of games now, since first publication. All have been ACW or FPW so far. FAW and APW in the offing.

5. Two.

Quote from: Nosher on 14 February 2016, 10:06:12 AM
What sort of scale is Sabre Squadron? Havent played Cold War games for a few years and found that CWC just didn't really do it for me.

Looking to game 70's/80's in Germany

Any scale you like! This week's was 15mm (ranges felt very, close) but we've played 10mm and I've seen 6mm too.

1: Polemos SYW (Army Scale)

2: Austrian vs Prussian: Refight of the battle of Kolin, 1757

3: Yes

4:Yes/ No - first game for the Austrian player

5: 2 plus umpire

A hard fought victory for the Prussians, aided by some lucky rolls and a little inexperience by the Austrian player.

Quote from: mad lemmey on 14 February 2016, 11:14:27 AM
Any scale you like! This week's was 15mm (ranges felt very, close) but we've played 10mm and I've seen 6mm too.

Nice one. Good to hear it fits six mil as that fits my collection. It looks like company level? Can it handle battalions and any thoughts on its suitability for solo gaming?

I've asked Nick who wrote the rules to pop by and tell you mate, he is a forum member. ;)

Sabresquadron is for any scale up to 15mm, and has alternative measurements to allow 20mm to be used.
It is aimed at a company aside but have used 2 companies attacking 1 company (with beginners I might add) and others have played big games on large tables. Also  where there is a big disparity in quality you might need one side to be much bigger to balance it.

Nick

Thanks Nick

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Black Powder with Franco-Prussian War modifications
2) What armies were confronted? - French VI corps vs Prussian Guards and XII (Saxon) Corps
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - absolutely, it was lovely to play it again.
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - Not by a long chalk
5) How many players were in the game? - 3 (the young lad we set the game up for couldn't make it)

Full battle report in the next day or so, but great game, couple of unexpected twists on real events, but a very historic outcome (Dave Von Württenberg wasn't happy)!

Quote from: mad lemmey on 18 February 2016, 11:54:42 PM
1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Black Powder with Franco-Prussian War modifications
2) What armies were confronted? - French VI corps vs Prussian Guards and XII (Saxon) Corps
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - absolutely, it was lovely to play it again.
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - Not by a long chalk
5) How many players were in the game? - 3 (the young lad we set the game up for couldn't make it)

Full battle report in the next day or so, but great game, couple of unexpected twists on real events, but a very historic outcome (Dave Von Württenberg wasn't happy)!

Black Powder is my favourite set of rules

Take care

Andy

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Bloody Big Battles
2) What armies were confronted? - French VI corps vs Prussian Guards and XII (Saxon) Corps
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Very
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No
5) How many players were in the game? - 2

Excellent game which was close right to the end. AAR to follow on today with a bit of luck...

We had better coordinate thread titles, people might get confused! ;)

Too true Lemmey :D. Looking forward to being able to compare how the games played out.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Sword and Spear
2) What armies were confronted? - Burgundians and Medieval French
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - struggled with the combat system and particularly when and when you dont gain impetus.... :(
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - Yes
5) How many players were in the game? - Solo

The Burgundian's won quite convincingly

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Cold War Commander
2) What armies were confronted? - Russian v British
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Reasonably
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No
5) How many players were in the game? - 4

It ended in a draw

Take care

Andy

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Sword and Spear
2) What armies were confronted? - Norman v Anglo Danish
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - still not entirely sure of Impetus....
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - 2nd game
5) How many players were in the game? - Solo

Much more fluid second game with only a few reads of specific rules as the game developed.

Narrow win for the Normans.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? Warr Without An Enemie - test game for later 17th century version
2) What armies were confronted? - Franco Irish vs Anglo Dutch 1690
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - yes
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - no but first time after rules changes, mainly connected with charges
5) How many players were in the game? - 4

A large cavalry fight with a few supporting infantry to maximise the number of charges. The Anglo Dutch (actually Danes and Dutch) infantry stood like a rock amid a swirling cavalry melee. They saw off the opposing infantry and attacks by various enemy cavalry units that took a break from beating up the Anglo Dutch cavalry. The game ended with a bloody draw as neither the victorious French/Irish cavalry or Anglo Dutch infantry were in any state to finish off the other.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Bloody Big Battles
2) What armies were confronted? - Part of a French Corps vs 2 German Corps at Wissembourg
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Very
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No
5) How many players were in the game? - 2

Start of a narrative campaign, with the action based upon the attack at Wissembourg. Next up a version of Froeschwiller.

Quote from: Steve J on 25 February 2016, 07:03:07 AM
Start of a narrative campaign, with the action based upon the attack at Wissembourg. Next up a version of Froeschwiller.

Ooh, exciting! AAR to come, I hope?

Wissembourg was what we used to field-test various different rules before giving up and deciding to create BBB instead. I'll be interested to see how you made a decent challenging scenario out if it.

And also to see what you do for Froeschwiller. I'm guessing you'll shrink it down in ground scale and troop scale to suit the two of you for an evening? Froeschwiller was one of the first scenarios we did for BBB and it's a bit 'traditional'. If we were to write it again now, with the experience of another 50 or so scenarios under my belt, I think I'd produce something a bit more streamlined. So I'm looking forward to your take on it.

Chris
Bloody Big BATTLES!
https://uk.groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/BBB_wargames/info

1. FoB2

2. French Guard division against Prussian Guard division - 1870 - 15mm figures

3. Yes, except I sometimes forget I can fire when I like

4. No

5. 2. I made a basic mistake (apparently - I always get a mini-lecture as to why I lost) by having my reserves in column ready to move to where needed. Told I should have deployed them in line. As I've written before though, I have the tactical nous of a beached whale, so I will be beaten again next time I play. Solo play is beginning to look like a very attractive proposition.

Leman, that sounds a bit less than fun to end the evening... although I do like a post battle recrimination and blame phase followed by ritual burning of the dice ;)

1/ Song of Blades & Heroes in 28mm
2/ Dwarf Family Robinson against Tomb Guard Skeletons
3/ Yes, very simple set of rules that produces a lot of tactical play and always feels right for a pointy stick scrum
4/ No, one of many - getting reacquainted for WMMS in March where we're running a participation game again!
5/ Two.

Played a test couple of games on my "in progress" dungeon tiles & walls to see if the idea works. It does, just have to decide how big a set of gaps I leave for the big 'uns like the Hydra and Minotaur to fit through... next week, with proper warbands not the randomly grabbed ones my club mate has done up.

The participation game is going to be a Greek-ish Myth (ish) set up, six different warbands ready (Children of the Hydra, Minotaur & Satyrs, Medusa and Living Statues on "mythic" side, then Hercules, Theseus and Perseus with their men on the side of Man) to choose from, three mini-tables (one Labyrinth, one "golden fleece"/Hydras lair, one Medusas Temple) to fight over so if you;re at WMMS in March stop me and stab one :D

Song takes @30mins tops to play and has a learning curve young kids can climb in a couple of turns so it's ideal for a participation game!

Sounds like something I could manage. Mind you, reading Too Little Too Late about the 1866 campaign in Germany seems to indicate that my level of tactical nous is not uncommon in the military.

QuoteOoh, exciting! AAR to come, I hope?

In the next day or two Chris, all being well. For Froeschwiller the initial thoughts are to bathtub the units to a manageable size and miss off the top and bottom of the map. Still a work in progress so things may change...

Quote from: Leman on 25 February 2016, 08:14:10 AM
1. FoB2

2. French Guard division against Prussian Guard division - 1870 - 15mm figures

5. 2. I made a basic mistake (apparently - I always get a mini-lecture as to why I lost) by having my reserves in column ready to move to where needed. Told I should have deployed them in line. As I've written before though, I have the tactical nous of a beached whale, so I will be beaten again next time I play. Solo play is beginning to look like a very attractive proposition.

Playing the period, it sounds quite logical to me to place your reserves in column. Can only imagine you would place them in line if you were on the defence and wished to counter any breakthrough in a specific part of the line directly ahead. Could it be that it wasn't the rules but that your CiC was Bourbaki? Seriously, I wonder if the chances of the Manoeuvre Card coming up was a factor in the thinking behind placing them in line(?). Anyway, don't know if you spotted a Napoleonic AAR on Brent's blog some months ago which featured a house rule to make cavalry more threatening by eliminating Manoeuvre Cards. Here is the link:

http://wargamesandstuff.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/back-to-napoleonics.html (http://wargamesandstuff.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/back-to-napoleonics.html)

If not able to access the link, he says, " .... no Maneuver cards were in the deck.  Units could maneuver or change formation on Move cards for the price of 1 move segment.  On Move cards with won even rolls, the maneuver/formation change was free.  Finally, and most significantly, ordered cavalry could melee on Move cards.  Disordered/out of command cavalry still required either a Melee or won even roll on a Move card.  These all worked fantastically well.  In particular, I really liked allowing cavalry to melee on a Move card.  It made them much more dangerous, and not a thing to be trifled with."

As you will have surmised, in the absence of Manoeuvre Cards, this meant all units (and not just cavalry) could change formation on a Move Card and so I wonder if this "house rule" would have alleviated any disadvantage perceived by your opponent in the formation choice of your reserves in your 1870 game?
.... and if that doesn't work, just blame Bourbaki, Bazaine or whoever.  :)

Thanks, that sounds interesting. As it happens I was on the defensive, but had to deploy first so did not know where the attack was coming from initially, then, almost immediately my corps artillery grand battery was obliterated. The chassepots did do some damage, but not as much as I had hoped.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Rapid Fire Rules
2) What armies were confronted? - Russian v Germans
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - yes
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - no been using this set since they first came out
5) How many players were in the game? - 4 players and me as umpire

It was an extremely close run game but in the end a good draw

Take care

Andy

Quote from: Leman on 25 February 2016, 10:40:04 AM
Sounds like something I could manage. Mind you, reading Too Little Too Late about the 1866 campaign in Germany seems to indicate that my level of tactical nous is not uncommon in the military.

Almost every military commander in history seems to be saddled with the brains of an ass, however sometimes the opposition has the brains of an ass but also has a carrot to motivate it :D

I suspect were we all dealing with "real" fighting with all its attendant friction what seems so obvious and easy on the table top would be a bit harder work...

I think anyone can manage Song, we had a couple of kids as young as about six playing the other convention! They were enthusiastic about the stabbings and the slashings :)

Yes indeed, we cosset kids too much in this society,

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Three games of Black Powder tonight
2) What armies were confronted? - US Cavalry vs American Natives
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Absolutely (although I kept trying to claim the FogR rule that generals give +1 to morale rolls)
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - nope
5) How many players were in the game? - three, one was US, other two were competing warband a of Injuns!

Three of us laying, Graham, Dave and I. The US objective was to get the stage coach off table, the natives was to shoot/capture the stage. The injuns had semi-random movement.
Game 1: I controlled one unit, and due to a US blunder that sent the covering force behind the stagecoach, he had hardly moved on table when I swept in, I shot the coach on turn 3 and Dave failed both saves and his morale! Victory to me.
Game 2: I got the coach across table and was one move off getting it off table when the random time limit ran out (30 time units, roll each turn, I literally rolled 6,5,4,3,2,1,6,5!) Lost one US cavalry troop, killed three units of injuns. Much hilarity as every time the injuns got near the coach it moved away at full speed, or the injuns fluffed their roll and moved off randomly!
Game 3: Killed 2 of Graham's US troops, Dave killed the other two, then I was tied up trying to capture the stagecoach in combat when Dave snuck in on it and stole the win!

Basically, if an Indian tribal leader could keep his troops reined in, they were nasty, however, once they scattered they could do ANYTHING!

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? To the Strongest
2) What armies were confronted? Germans (me) & Gauls (bodvoc) vs nasty Romans
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? Yes. Definetly, after I've learnt them  ;D
4) and... was it the first time you'd use the ruleset? Yes.
5) How many players were in the game? Four - two on each side.

6) Did you have your command absolutely wiped out to a man? Yes.  :'(
7) Were the figures beautifully painted? Oh, yes.
8 ) Did I contribute any of the figures used? Erm...  :-[

Like q6-8

Greetings

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - I Ain't Been Shot Mum
2) What armies were confronted? - British v Germans 20mm
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - reasonably: we used it 4 weeks ago and 2 of the players had more or less forgotten everything - we may have to do a pre-game cheat sheet and give them a copy of the QRS in advance
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - no been using them intermittently since release
5) How many players were in the game? - 4 players and an umpire.

A&S Highlanders with Churchills from 6 Guards Tank Brigade tried to take a village on 30 July 1944 during Op Bluecoat from a rag bag of elements from 326 Infanterie Division who hung on grimly through about 18 Tea Breaks  A Jagdpanther turned up near the end and then broke down before firing a shot or even being spotted by the British.

Regards

Edward

Sounds absolutely perfect for a jadgtigger

Quote
1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? To the Strongest
2) What armies were confronted? Germans (me) & Gauls (bodvoc) vs nasty Romans
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? Yes. Definetly, after I've learnt them  Grin
4) and... was it the first time you'd use the ruleset? Yes.
5) How many players were in the game? Four - two on each side.

6) Did you have your command absolutely wiped out to a man? Yes.  Cry
7) Were the figures beautifully painted? Oh, yes.
8 ) Did I contribute any of the figures used? Erm...  Embarrassed

It is an excellent set of rules for a group game and we all seemed to have fun, even the Germans :)

Quote from: Bodvoc on 29 February 2016, 07:01:00 AM
It is an excellent set of rules for a group game and we all seemed to have fun, even the Germans :)

If at first you don't succeed...
...Come back at the Romans with a lot more men!

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Song of Blades & Heroes
2) What armies were confronted? - Three games worth - two different "heroic gladiator/Argonauts" and three monstrous creature warbands.
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Very.
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - Not at all
5) How many players were in the game? - Two

Still doing show prep/practise for WMMS on the 13th; tried out two different "heroic" warbands and three monstrous bands. First game I charged my massive, unkillable Hydra in whilst everyone else failed their activations so it got swamped and bashed up. When I finally DID get any activations my minions ran in and died so gruesomely it spooked the Hydra so badly it fled the field. Bad, bad game :D

Second game I had a better plan, got a good battleline going with my "petrified warriors" with Medusa behind to transfix or eye blast the opposition as they came in, whilst her harpies skulked round to be ready to fly over the lines and envelop the heroes from behind. So, the Argonauts slashed my line to ribbons, killed Medusa then hunted down the scattered remaining statues and Harpies one by one.

Third game was the charm, this time a dungeon bash against the Minotaur and his satyr minions. Looked like it was going to go badly as my opponent again mobbed up successfully, got his battle line into an excellent blocking position whilst my guys fluffed activations. Then he charged in, got a lucky gruesome kill on a giant dungeon rat, causing several of my satyrs to panic and flee off table, but in the process got a chap knocked down. Seizing their moment the remaining Savage Satyrs and the Minotaur bellowed a challenge, raced in, butchered the down guys causing a cascading morale fail for the Argonauts as they started to panic and run giving free hacks, dropping them under 50% on table, causing another morale fail for the remainder who all fled except Jason who was too slow in his Dendra Plate! So he got surrounded and hacked to pieces :)

Well, one out of three ain't bad :D

Stop me and stab one at WMMS if anyone is there and fancies joining in - takes 30mins or so for a game!

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Songs of Arthur and Merlin
2) What armies were confronted? - 'Fantasy' Arthurian so that I could get a few models on the table.
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Pretty much considering it was my first game and a solo one at that.
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - Yes
5) How many players were in the game? - Just me.

I've had these rules for a while and dug them out after seeing a game being put on at the Hammerhead show. Very much a quick game to get a handle on the mechanics, which I picked up in about 5 minutes which was good. Plenty more to learn though but nice to have got a handle on things quickly. The aim is to get in some more games soonish so that I can consider some form of mini-campaign as and when time allows.

I have 'ASong of Arthur and Merlin' too. It is an easy game to learn and I like how you can vary the Arthurian setting from historical, mythical or Mallory.

More love for the "Song" series? I approve heartily :)

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Warband
2) What armies were confronted? - Goblins v Dwarves
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No
5) How many players were in the game? - Solo

A quick game before heading off for work. Dwarves won comfortably - their artillery was devastating and more or less single handedly held up the main thrust of the Goblin attack. To be fair the Goblins were spread across to wide a frontage and their battle plan relied on lots of units having to move singly - far too complicated a plan for Goblins - clearly!

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Bloody Big Battles
2) What armies were confronted? - Germands vs French
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No
5) How many players were in the game? - Two

A 'bathtubbed' version of Froeschwiller that worked very well on a 4'x4' table for our standard evenings game. AAR to follow in due course.

1) Blucher
2) Napoleonic Peninsula French v Spanish
3) yes (although I got firing scores wrong and had to restart the game......  :-[
4) No  :-[ see 3......  :-[
5) Solo - although this was a virtual scharnhorst campaign played with T13a

Head over to http://nosherswargames.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/putting-down-andalusian-revolt-battle.html to see the result.

Have not had a game in 2016  :(

) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Lion Rampart
2) What armies were confronted? - Late Medieval
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - OK, but the Bidowers are like the SAS!
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No
5) How many players were in the game? - 5

1 What ruleset do you use in your last game? - I don't play by no rules
2) What armies were confronted? - LMe vs the World
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - I make it up as I go along
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - 4 decades and counting
5) How many players were in the game? - 7 billion

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Song of Blades & Heroes
2) What armies were confronted? - Labyrinth Dwellers versus Mycenean/Greek Heroes
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No
5) How many players were in the game? - Two - but played through four times!

Several cracking games at WMMS on Sunday, where the Minotaur and his Satyr allies and giant rat minions got a repeated whalloping from Theseus or Jason and their men. I don't think the monsters fared very well elsewhere either! We had a good selection of punters from kids to veterans play, probably a dozen games or so over the day? Show was good too, cheers to all who went along!

Back to running D&D at the club in Wednesday so no wargaming for a few weeks but I'm hoping club mate Alan will have finished his 6mm Napoleonics by then, and if not more Frostgrave.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Bloody Big Battles
2) What armies were confronted? - Germans and French & Spicheren 1870
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Very
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No
5) How many players were in the game? - Two

Another great game with the terrain offering a very different set of challenges. AAR to follow.

Quote from: Steve J on 17 March 2016, 11:00:26 AM
Another great game with the terrain offering a very different set of challenges. AAR to follow.

Tantalising ... dare we hope the French might have recorded a win?

Chris
Bloody Big BATTLES!
https://uk.groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/BBB_wargames/info
http://bloodybigbattles.blogspot.co.uk/

No spoilers Chris but... :)

1) What ruleset did you use in your last game? - Mighty Armies
2) What armies were confronted? - Gnomes Vs Penguins  :D
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No
5) How many players were in the game? - 2

For anyone whose never tried it, Mighty Armies it is very simplistic but is great for a good all round 30min - 45min game. The core rules are easy as pie but the strategy element is quite deep. You can build whatever army you like (using a point based army builder in the core book), using whatever figures you want so long as both sides are based the same. If you get the chance and have a spare half hour or so, try it out!

P.S Polar Bear Mounted Penguins are EVIL!!!! By far the nastiest Cavalry I've come up against in Mighty Armies, and I've come up against some really weird but fun concoctions.

Which figures do you use? ;)

Quote from: mad lemmey on 17 March 2016, 05:31:24 PM
Which figures do you use? ;)

The Gnomes are done by RebelMinis in a ready to play army pack with Snail Battlewagons and Sun Flower catapults extras. The Penguins came from Magister Militum, not sure where the Polar Bears came from, they were a conversion done by a friend.

UPDATE: Had a quick look on Magister I think he probably used the Dwarf Bear Cavalry (the models look very similar).

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Those [Expletive removed so as not to offend] Frenchies started it! (wars of Spanish Succession home brew rules)
2) What armies were confronted? - Allies (Brits & Austrian) v's Franco-Bavarians
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No
5) How many players were in the game? - 6 - 3 per side & me as umpire

I meant to take a few pics, but as usual I got caught up in the game & forgot :-/

Rob

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - FogR
2) What armies were confronted? - Henrician English vs Korean
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No
5) How many players were in the game? - 2
20-5 win for Henry VIII and his boys, although Pete had some majorly naff dice and poorly positioned units!

White Man's Burden, Victorians vs Zulus, familiar rules, two players, battle went smoothly despite having both machine guns jam at critical moments. A useful little bonus was having two impis recoil from squares into each other, with calamitous results.

Couple of snatched shots
(http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc94/madlemmey/Tudors/E086E86C-60AD-48DF-A8F3-06B4BD9BD6E5_zpsctmydgdv.jpg) (http://s214.photobucket.com/user/madlemmey/media/Tudors/E086E86C-60AD-48DF-A8F3-06B4BD9BD6E5_zpsctmydgdv.jpg.html)
Deploying, I'm on the right.
(http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc94/madlemmey/Tudors/9F21E744-2527-4CB8-8B5C-8B643E53F43B_zpssfuo0f78.jpg) (http://s214.photobucket.com/user/madlemmey/media/Tudors/9F21E744-2527-4CB8-8B5C-8B643E53F43B_zpssfuo0f78.jpg.html)
The moment of victory

My army still needs basing and two units to paint, but they did well.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Twilight of the Sun King - updated version that is coming soon
2) What armies were confronted? - Battle of Almenar, 1710 - Spanish vs Confederates (i.e. British and allies)
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No
5) How many players were in the game? - 2

A refight of a battle in Spain during the WSS. It was a meeting engagement. Historically the Spanish lost but this time they managed to hang on until nightfall and so claim a morale victory.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Frostgrave
2) What armies were confronted? My noble Enchanter and his gang against Roy's y Illusionist and his squad.
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No
5) How many players were in the game? - 2

This was mine and Roy's second game of Frostgrave and really good fun. I managed to bag most of the treasure by using a Telekinesis spell to move most of it my way; this spell seems to dominate the game but then my Wizard does wear an anorak! :)

My earlier Frostgrave experience was against flashy Elementalists and ingrained a "shoot first, shoot second, then set fire to the bodies" approach to "winning". Swapping around a little I've then been playing versus an Enchanter who uses a lot of Telekinesis, Mud and Fog spells to shape the field, who'd normally played against a very cagey Necromancer who generally contented himself with bagging a couple of closer treasures and not risk too much.

I think our disparate approaches caused each of us some consternation. He gets a bit wierded by me closing right up and just killing his chaps, I get wierded that all the treasure keeps disappearing :D

Good game!

1. Field of Battle 2
2. Russian v. Japanese 1905
3. Yes. Played the Japanese and experienced a rare victory.
4. Been playing these since published.
5. Two.

Just so you know I do other stuff than BBB sometimes!

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Victory at Sea (WWII naval)
2) What armies navies were confronted? - US vs Japanese 1945
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - Yes
5) How many players were in the game? - 3

I generally don't do boats and am no expert, but VAS seemed to me to capture some key aspects of WWII naval warfare with rule mechanisms that were slick and quick and easy to grasp.  We didn't have any carriers or strike aircraft, but I did get to command the biggest battleship ever built, the Yamato. Only reservations: torpedoes seemed a little too deadly, and the squadron-by-squadron activation makes it slow for multi-player. Good fun nonetheless.

And also:
1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Bolt Action (WWII skirmish)
2) What armies were confronted? - Germans trapped between US and Russians in 1945
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - Yes
5) How many players were in the game? - 4

Apparently the Allies had 2000 points vs our German 1500. As it turned out that was poor odds for the attackers. We'd set up the German defence efficiently and the Allies mostly just walked into our ambushes. I didn't lose a man and didn't have to move. Satisfied with my basic tactical competence. As for the rules: surprisingly similar comments as for VAS! Quick and simple and easy to grasp; again, a big reservation about the unit-by-unit activation so that in a 4-player game I was doing nothing 3/4 of the time.

But it was good to vary my diet, and I had a great day.

Chris
Bloody Big BATTLES!
https://uk.groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/BBB_wargames/info
http://bloodybigbattles.blogspot.co.uk/

What Bodvoc said.

Here's a link to some photo's
http://nevermindthejankers.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/frostgrave-game-2-mausoleum-scenario.html (http://nevermindthejankers.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/frostgrave-game-2-mausoleum-scenario.html)

Quote from: Bodvoc on 23 March 2016, 11:39:56 AM
1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Frostgrave
2) What armies were confronted? My noble Enchanter and his gang against Roy's y Illusionist and his squad.
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No
5) How many players were in the game? - 2

This was mine and Roy's second game of Frostgrave and really good fun. I managed to bag most of the treasure by using a Telekinesis spell to move most of it my way; this spell seems to dominate the game but then my Wizard does wear an anorak! :)

I don't think Telekinesis played as big a part in this game, as it did in the first, to be honest. A couple of the nearer treasures were brought closer to be claimed, but they probably would have been anyway. Apart from one, the furtherest treasure from Bodvoc's warband was more hotly contested and I only came off second best due to my soldiers and apprentice falling wounded to shooting or combat.

The only thing that I'd possibly like to try, as a House Rule, would be the following (as earning 50 Experience for each treasure secured is unbalancing the rival warbands too quickly, I feel).

Possible House Rules For Frostgrave
In an effort to try and keep rival warbands balanced, in regard to experience gains and rapid advancement of "Levels".

1) No experience gained for each treasure recovered.

2) alter the experience table to include:

+10 Exp. | For each enemy soldier that one of your soldiers takes out of the game.
+20 Exp. | For each enemy apprentice that one of your soldiers takes out of the game.
+35 Exp. | For each enemy wizard that one of your soldiers takes out of the game.

+20 Exp. | For each enemy soldier that your apprentice takes out of the game.
+40 Exp. | For each enemy apprentice that your apprentice takes out of the game.
+75 Exp. | For each enemy wizard that your apprentice takes out of the game.

This 'warband' experience is in addition to the normal experience gains awarded from a game (excepting that stated above in House Rules 1).
All experience benefits achieved are still only awarded to the Wizard, however.

Using my alterations, after our two games, both warbands would still be on a par with each other and we would both, I feel, be more satisfied recording the successes that our soldiers had achieved. [Bodvoc's crossbowman notching-up at least 3 'kills' and my knight took out Bodvoc's wizard in the first game.]

Other than that, its an enjoyable game  :)

1. Rank and File -Lace Wars period
2. British and allies v French and allies
3. yes
4. Yes
5. 8

Reasonably quick to learn, easy to play which was good as there were 8 of us from the LAW forum . Pics and report if anyone is interested on the blog at:

http://thewordsofsubedai.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/yesterday-after-interesting-driveiain.html

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Lion Rampant
2) What armies were confronted? - WoR
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Ish, find the Bidowers too strong for 2pts
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No
5) How many players were in the game? - 6

1. FoG Renaissance
2. TYW Swedes v Catholic League Germans
3. yup
4. No but first outing in almost two years
5. Solo

First time the Germans have managed to beat the swedes in four outings and first time I have used early tercios which may be coincidental?

I'm using Swedes in 25mm tonight, be interested to see how cheesy they can be! ;)

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - FogR
2) What armies were confronted? - Aztec vs Early 30 years War Swedish! In 25mm!!
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - very
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - no, first time with two armies
5) How many players were in the game? - two

Pete wanted to run his Aztecs out before Rollcall. I picked the cheesyist possible list to use against him so he could try to figure out how to beat it.
It didn't go well for the Aztecs.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Volley & Bayonet, Wing scale
2) What armies were confronted? - AWI British v Rebels/Patriots
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - very
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - Not by a long way
5) How many players were in the game? - two in yesterday's game, three in today's

Two refights of Guilford Courthouse marking the 235^th anniversary  :)
After action reports to follow

White Man's Burden again, Boers and Brits, trying out a new scenario system intended to make it a bit more interesting. As it worked out, the Boer artillery couldn't roll a bad die all the battle, so the scenario wasn't much of a test. London is probably speaking Afrikaans by now if the victory points system is accurate.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Dragon Rampant
2) What armies were confronted? - Goblins (led by a very big giant) v Wolfen 36pts per side.
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - nice easy set to play
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - 2nd game
5) How many players were in the game? - 4, two per side.

Kral Kral K'aan the giant looked down on the wolfen horde with contempt. With a mighty bellow he sent his goblin warriors into battle. Shortly later he looked at his fleeing goblin warriors with contempt, then fled as well!
or played 2, lost 2  :) but great fun anyway.

(http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh499/Merlin1960/giant1_zpssr1py5ug.jpg)

Here, Kral Kral K'aan berates the goblin shaman for hiding behind a tree for most of the game and doing bog all!

He's cracking! Who is he by?

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - To the Strongest!
2) What armies were confronted? - Caesar v Pompey at Pharsalus
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No, I have a few games under my belt now
5) How many players were in the game? - Just me. It was a play test for the game I am putting on at the Society of Ancients Battleday on Saturday with my 6mm armies (sorry Leon!)

Mollinary

QuoteHe's cracking! Who is he by?

The giant is a Reaper Bones mini. He is so big there were no 'bendy weapon' problems with him. I got two different ones from a friend who let me add a few things to his Reaper Bones Kickstarter.

Cheers Bodvoc :)

Quote from: Bodvoc on 30 March 2016, 10:40:42 AM
(http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh499/Merlin1960/giant1_zpssr1py5ug.jpg)

Here, Kral Kral K'aan berates the goblin shaman for hiding behind a tree for most of the game and doing bog all!

BBBB? Bloody Big Blue Bastards.

"BBBBB" even?

"Bodvoc's Bloody Big Blue B*st*rd"?!

Don't know why I painted him blue but I quite like it.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Black Powder
2) What armies were confronted? - UnionUnion and Confederates
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - yep
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - nope
5) How many players were in the game? - 2

Confederate victory

Take care

Andy

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Star Wars Armada
2) What armies were confronted? -Rebels vs Imperials
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - yes
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - no
5) How many players were in the game? - three, two rebels and me with the Imperials.
The Rebels killed 40-odd points of my fighters, I killed about 85 of their points, including a Corrillian Corvette and Luke :D Also manage to do the equivalent f a hand break turn with a Star Destroyer!!!

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Twilight of the Sun King - updated version that is coming soon
2) What armies were confronted? - Battle of Almansa, 1707 - Franco Spanish vs Confederates (i.e. British and allies)
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No
5) How many players were in the game? - 2

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - FogR at Rollcall in Cranfield, 4 game weekend.
2) What armies were confronted? - My Henrician Tudor vs 1) Early Hungarian 2) Samurai 3) Early Henrician Tudor 4) Maximillian Imperial
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - yes
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - not now
5) How many players were in the game? - two, but four different opponents.

Game 1 was called my very good friend Paul, who forgot to put his club down on his entry... He walloped my flank and back field with Gendarmes, my foot ran through his centre. Great game, I won 18-7.
Game 2 cs Adrian's Samurai. My dice were tired and gave up. He won 14-6 (you get 5 extra for breaking an army, he didn't).
Game 3 vs my mentor Don, almost identical armies. After a couple of early upsets, Don turned it round and spanked me 2-23.
Game 4 vs Issabelle, a new girl to the scene, but with potential to be awesome. Despite trying to give her units to pick on, she made a couple of errors that cost her the game. 23-2 to me.
Overall I scoters 49/100, exactly the same score as Don! Great weekend. Lots of praise for my 10mm in amongst all the 15mm! :D

[/quote]

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - My Homegrown Zombie Rules
2) What armies were confronted? - US WW2 Armoured Infantry section v Zombies (funnily enough)
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Making it up as I went along doing and rolling for results I thought felt right where I came across situations in the game not already 'in writing'
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - Yes
5) How many players were in the game? - Solo

The US faced off against 30-40 zombies on a featureless terrain table advancing towards the Zombies in arrowhead/extended line formation. The section had been tasked with locating another section from the platoon which had not been in contact with HQ for the past 24 hours after being sent on a reconaissance. The US troops had not encountered Zombies therefore the game was played out as an encounter game the US couldn't open fire until they were attacked by the zombies. The Zombies would simply shamble forward until they could reap flesh.

I was really happy with most of the mechanisms I'd put to paper and the ebb and flow feels right but could be refined. Once the initial shamble had gone in from the zombies the US fared pretty well but as more and more zombies began to close the US found themselves in dire straits. The game ebbed and flowed and although Zombies were cut down they made typical shambolic progress where weight of numbers whittled down the US troops. Of twelve men that started the scenario only two survived pursued by the Zombies.

A work in progress

1. Field of Battle 2

2. Bavarian v. French - A game set in 1870, but non-historical. The Bavarians were tasked with taking a river crossing held by the French. Unfortunately for the Bavarians their first Brigade into the fray was their weakest, whilst the French opened the battle with their strongest brigade. Although the Bavarians outgunned the French two of their three batteries were straggling forward off table. Consequently the Bavarians took out the French artillery battery and successfully stormed across a bridge, only to find themselves in short range of chassepots fire delivered by elite chasseur battalions, working off a fire factor of 12+1. Needless to say the Bavarians were seriously compromised before their reinforcements could arrive, ran out of morale points and finally failed an army morale test, with the entire Bavarian force withdrawing to lick its wounds, and all without a single mitrailleuse in sight.

3. I am now extremely comfortable with this set of rules. They give a very good battalion level game - in this instance a two brigade infantry/artillery force with a supporting large cavalry brigade (neither of which did anything other than look pretty.

4. I have used these rules a lot since they were published in 2011'

5. This was a two player game.

Last Sunday.

1) Rules - Sharpe Practice - Long Carabine
2) Forces - American Provincials v Cour du Bois and Huron
3) Comfortable - Yes , great fun
4) first time - No. Played many times over
5) Players - 6

1) Rules - Square Bashing
2) Forces - German vs Russians 1917
3) Comfortable - Yes , great fun
4) first time - No. Played many times over
5) Players - 2

Germans pre game bombardment nuked a quarter of our forces, then storm troopers ripped another 8 units apart before the game began. We couldn't hold the Germans, and the time dice was still on 23 out of 30 minutes by the time they reached the base line! Gah!;D

Ouch, Will - that sounds painful! Guess the sealed train to St Petersburg is on the way :D

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Sword & Spear v2
2) What armies were confronted? - Crusaders vs Saracens
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes.
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - Yes
5) How many players were in the game? - Two plus an 'umpire' who guided us through the rules etc.

I must say I'm very very impressed by these rules. The mechanics were very quick to pick up and the command and control system was great. Defintely a ruleset to pick up at Salute and I can use my dux Bellorum figures as is :).

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Greek Fire & Roman Fury
2) What armies were confronted? - Roman v Carthaginian galleys
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - First & second
5) How many players were in the game? - One, play testing with top down views on cardboard

The rules are simple but give an interesting game, you are commanding squadrons rather than individual ships which works well for this period :)
I used 2D6 rather than a D10 in the second game and it played much better, still had an occasional wild result but most more 'normal' meaning fights lasted longer and allowed more player input :) :)
I've added a couple more melee modifiers which I think will improve the next game :-\

KINGMAKER! With own supplementary rules.

'nuff said.

Last Thursday.

1) Rules - Baroque 1550-1700, Dadi & Piombo
2) Forces - King v Parliament (sort of Edgehill)
3) Comfortable - yes with the mechanics, still learning the nuances
4) First Time - no game #4 now, still unearthing the odd new thing but now exploring the impact of the rules
5) Players - 3 with one acting as umpire/organiser

Really enjoying this development of the Impetus stable, lots of decision points, good command feel. Still not entirely certain what "scale" the games aimed at, are units battalia or brigades. Game play says the former, size of action indicates the latter. Suspect its the former with army size limited due to tournament pint constraints and the desire to ensure gameplay is under 3 hours.

Anyway crushing victory for Parliament's cavalry as both sides massed both cavalry commands on the same flank and the Royalists failed to capitalise on their aggression and faffed about too much, in the end falling prey individually to relentless Parliamentarian pressure. Then the infantry poked at each other inconclusively while the Parliamentarian cavalry reformed, at which point the King withdrew from the field, his forces substantially intact.

Quote from: FierceKitty on 10 April 2016, 05:53:50 AM
KINGMAKER! With own supplementary rules.

'nuff said.

I did winned. Assisted by the treachery of the Duke of Clarence, I must confess.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Bloody Big Battles
2) What armies were confronted? - Austrians vs Allies at solferineo, then Austrians & Saxons vs Prussians at Koniggratz.
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - yes
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No
5) How many players were in the game? - 6 in the first game, 5 in the second.

All part of Bloody Big Battles Bash day. Report and plenty of pics to follow when I've had a rest as it's been a long day.

Quote from: toxicpixie on 07 April 2016, 09:46:17 PM
Ouch, Will - that sounds painful! Guess the sealed train to St Petersburg is on the way :D

No need for the train with a few more victories like that ;D To be fair I haven't known the Stosstruppen to be so on form before. The Junger did Gut so to speak!

Nick

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Dragon Rampant, 3 games
2) What armies were confronted? - 15mm Barbarians v Orcs, 15mm Beastmen v Orcs, 28mm Elves v Wolfen and Uruk Hai
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - yes
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - no, we have had a few games now
5) How many players were in the game? - 2 in the first 2 games, 5 in the last

I had a wonderful day of gaming yesterday. First I drove down to visit my very good friend Chris who lives in Brighouse. We have been gaming against each other for over 30 years now and he is the one to blame for me getting back into 15mm fantasy for Dragon Rampant.

I played 2 games against Chris, firstly, my mighty Barbarians took on his orcs.
(http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh499/Merlin1960/Chariots1_zpsflfc5gqu.jpg)
The Barbarian Chariots advance.

(http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh499/Merlin1960/OrcBoars_zps600hokoi.jpg)
Chris advances his fearsome Orc Boar riders, wonderful figures these!

(http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh499/Merlin1960/Bodvocs%20last%20stand_zpssnvjszrw.jpg)
Bodvoc's last stand.

In this first game I won by 1 glory/boats point when a heavily injured Bodvoc defeated all around him in the last couple of turns.
Next my Beastmen took on Chris's Orcs...
(http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh499/Merlin1960/Beastmen%20adavnce_zpsiwy9ftz8.jpg)
...and we beat him again (having lost or drawn most games against Chris recently I was happy about this)

Then I drove up to Bentham to play my mates (of just under 30 years) up there. Sharing my Elves with pal Ian a quick dice throw decided we would play the Sacred Mole of Ukkert scenario. , we lost our mighty Treeman early on but survived to win on the very last throw of the game. I got so excited in this game I forgot to take photo's :(

But 3 games and 3 wins in one day with great friends, that is what wargaming is all about :)

Those reindeer chariots are fab ;)

It dose look rather good

Take care

Andy

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - another play-test game of My Homegrown Zombie Rules
2) What armies were confronted? - US WW2 Armoured Infantry section v Zombies (funnily enough)
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - refined rules V3 - getting there!
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No
5) How many players were in the game? - Solo

This game was fought between the same US WW2 squad that had fought in the initial game again coming up against hordes of Zombies (about 50) in a Village. The Zombies had four spawning points in the village and the US force had found themselves in the village in a Half-track which had broken down. The Zombies had a character with them - a Scientist and his bodyguard (a gun-toting female Officer).

There were lots of buildings, gardens and alleyways and the Scientist was holed up in Coaching House complete with walled garden.

Having learnt the lessons of the first game, the US section was led by a JNCO with a second JNCO commanding the BAR gunner. I also allowed the US to man the 30 cal on the half-track.

The US fared much better in this game and very quickly whittled the zombie horde down to just a few small groups who finally cornered the US section in a graveyard. Very few Zombies made it into contact with the US troops, but those that did began to whittle down the Americans to a third of their starting strength before being beaten off.

The scientist escaped, his bodyguard sacrificing herself.

All in all quite pleased with the progress the game is making. Once I'm totally happy with Zombies and how they interact, I am hoping to add werewolves and other creatures to the game.

Ten More Sons, Moghul Indians and Ava Burmese. The rules are pretty familiar to both of us by now. Close fight; clincher was a lazy Burmese elephant unit that didn't get into the main body of dakhili and tabinan cavalry until they'd broken the Burmese right flank, and the player's failure to realise how tough the Portugese mercenaries were, and thus to commit them in time. A touch of the bizarre was that the Indians lost of unit of Hindu bowmen who deserted to the Burmese, but the Burmese lost some Siamese crossbowmen who crossed over to the Indians.

Wife is demanding a rematch. Interestingly, she complained that the Siamese troops looked wrong ("We never dressed like that!"), spent an hour Googling this morning, and reluctantly admitted that I'd got it right anyway. Even if I had to point out that looking at 19th-century photographs wouldn't help much in the search for data relating to the early Ayyuthaya era.

Last Thursday.

1) Rules - SW Armada
2) Forces - Good Guys v Rebel Scum
3) Comfortable - not at first but quickly got the hang of it
4) First Time - yes - played SW X-Wing a few times, this is similar, and yet different
5) Players - 5 with one organiser (and supplier of all toys)

I'm told it was about 300 points a side, 3 Rebel Scum (including me) with 4 ships (a Nebula something and something else - not a SW nerd, sorry) and 4 squadrons of X-Wings against 2 Good Guys with 2 Destroyers with 6 squadrons of TIE fighters. It was a fun evening as I led the Rebel Scum to victory, nice to see all the counters that ruin SW-XW gone from the table but still a bit fiddly with dials and stuff and you really need more than one of those clicky turn thingamajigs. But otherwise looked good, we all had fun, made appropriate wheeee, whooom, fsst noises, etc and drank some wine.

Not sure I'd invest in it (although the pre-painted models are very nice) but certainly happy to play as an infill game. Although I suspect there are a lot of additional personality and "special" cards we didn't use that probably bog it down just like it does in SW-XW.

The extra cards usually just give revolt or other effect, not many are characterful

Quote from: Zippee on 16 April 2016, 07:57:04 AM

1) Rules - SW Armada

Not sure I'd invest in it (although the pre-painted models are very nice) but certainly happy to play as an infill game.

Agreed. I haven't played a game yet as I keep missing the nights when its played at the club (come to think of it I have only made two club nights since january.....) I baulked when I saw the prices of the mini's, but that is often what puts me off a new project - having to buy both sides as most of my games are solo.

Regular Friday get-together with three long-standing friends, a couple of bags of crisps and a couple of bottles of wine

1) Rules - Spartacus: Blood and Treachery
2) Forces - Houses Batiatus, Solonius, Tullius and Glaber
3) Comfortable - Yes, all players were comfortable with it by the end of the first turn
4) First Time - Two of us had played one game before the others were first timers
5) Players - 4

This is a boardgame based on the TV series and I didn't have high hopes when I first saw it but at £25 including postage it seemed worth a punt given I play boardgames at least twice a week with three different groups.

It is definitely not a game to take too seriously  but it is surprisingly good fun.

There are three main phases - Intrigue, Market, Arena.

In the Intrigue phase you acquire and play cards to advance your own cause, hamper others or foil other players nefarious schemes.

In the Market phase players trade with each other or the Bank, they bid for Gladiators, Slaves and Equipment and finally bid to host The Games.

In the Arena phase the host invites two players to provide gladiators for the arena - they can refuse or can send a lesser gladiator or even a slave if they don't fancy their chances against the opposition. In the arena a gladiator's stats (Attack, Defence and Speed) are the dice they roll. Speed dice are rolled to decide initiative (very important) and movement is limited to a number of hexes equal to the number of speed dice. Attack dice are matched against defence dice - highest to highest. Wounds mean losing your choice of dice, reducing your gladiator's abilities. Lose all of one pool and you are beaten, all from two and they're wounded, all three and they are decapitated! It's a fast yet surprisingly tactical system.

The Arena phase would make a good Public Participation game.

(http://www.spitl.de/wp-content/uploads/gf9-spartacus.jpg)

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Lion Rampant
2) What armies were confronted? - Swedes vs Danes (12thC)
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Very
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No
5) How many players were in the game? - 4-6 as it was a demo game at Salute.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Spearhead
2) What armies were confronted? - German 3^rd Light Division v Polish 10^th Motorised Brigade, September 1939 in 6mm
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes, if a little rusty
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No, but we haven't used them for about a year :o
5) How many players were in the game? - 3 Germans & 2 Poles

Can't say too much, we only got half way through the game, should finish off the Poles the game next Saturday ;)

Need to bang your head against a Polish army of the glory days. A very different class of opponent.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Impetus
2) What armies were confronted? - 6mm Persians with Greek allies against Carthaginians
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - no, we have played Impetus many times now.
5) How many players were in the game? - 2 Persian/Greeks against 1 Carthaginian

(http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh499/Merlin1960/set%20up_zpseutwh3cc.jpg)
The armies deployed

(http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh499/Merlin1960/persian%20high%20king_zpsrwwp5d2y.jpg)
The Persian High King Advances confidently

(http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh499/Merlin1960/village_zpstb4mu1qt.jpg)
The battle for the village ends in total disorder!

(http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh499/Merlin1960/hoplites%20advance_zpsug2uyqlp.jpg)
The phalanx hits home and promptly collapses causing us the loss of our centre and the game.

Great fun, took about 4 hours inc. lunch break but the Carthaginians slowly rolled us up once our centre boke.

Quote from: FierceKitty on 17 April 2016, 06:38:02 AM
Need to bang your head against a Polish army of the glory days. A very different class of opponent.

The Polish 1939 offensive against Berlin is expected to commence shortly  ;)

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Updated Twilight of the Sun King
2) What armies were confronted? - Battle of Luzzara, 1702 - Austrians vs French and allies
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Very
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No
5) How many players were in the game? 2.

A test of the upcoming scenario for the updated version of the rules. The real battle started late and went into the night. The outnumbered Austrian player who was attacking decided to moved fast to make the most of the daylight. The initial attack didn't go too well but slowly the better quality of the Austrians paid off. Night fall was a random dice roll and was late. This probably favoured the Austrian player. On the last turn night finally came but both French cavalry wings failed their morale.

Iacta alea est, two, Romans and Numidians. It was rather gratifying to see mavouevrability winning out over weight.

Overweight Romans, oh dear, too much garum and honey stuffed dormice?

Garum is still much used in Asian food; it's a far lighter salad dressing than olive oil.

Quote from: FierceKitty on 18 April 2016, 12:48:55 PM
Garum is still much used in Asian food; it's a far lighter salad dressing than olive oil.

Fermented fish-guts? I'll stick with olive oil!

They're no substitute for each other. But SE Asian fish sauce is delicious and healthy. I'd never have believed before moving here that a good salad without olive oil was possible, but it is.

A winner: combine boiled prawns, toasted peanuts, grated fresh cocoanut (also lightly toasted), quite a bit of fresh coriander leaf, a little very finely chopped fresh red chillie, and a lot of roughly broken segments of som oh, which isn't too far from a grapefruit. Chill a bit, and splash with nam bpla (= fish water, garum) before eating.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Battlegroup Panzer Grenadier
2) What armies were confronted? - Tunisia - German v British Commonwealth forces.
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No, they are not my favourite set of rules, but I was playing rather than umpiring.
5) How many players were in the game? 6

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Sword & Spear 2nd Ed
2) What armies were confronted? - Tunisia - Saxons vs Vikings
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Pretty much
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No, second outing
5) How many players were in the game? - A quickish solo game to get the mechanic sorted.

The rules are pretty damned quick to pick up and the index at the back is a great help for those little queries during a game. 95% of the time the QRS was enough. Just need some more games to get au fait with everything, including tactics etc. Hopefully another quick game tonight with more terrain and non meeting engagement scenario.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Dragon Rampant
2) What armies were confronted? 15mm Beastmen v Barbarians
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - yes
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No, several games played now
5) How many players were in the game? - 2, me and my mate Steve who enjoyed it so much he is going to buy some 15mm fantasy figures now.

For those of you who have these rules, we played the scenario where you have to grab as many magic crystals as you can. At 5 each the game was drawn but the 15mm sized Bodvoc survived again :). This is a very versatile set of fantasy rules that I am really enjoying playing. I used all my recently painted figures and new scenery so I will post a few photo's soon.

1. Field of Battle 2

2. Italians v. Austrians 1866

3. Yes

4. Many games played now

5. Two players

This was a hilarious game - two abysmal comic opera armies trying to have a go act each other and not doing too well. After five hours of play a very minor tactical victory went to the Austrians, who still had three morale points left, whilst the Italians had now run out and were handing them to the Austrians. The Italians had lost four infantry battalions with a further three in rout. The Austrians had lost some artillery, with cavalry and the much vaunted Kaiser jagers in rout. A very see-saw affair eventually decided by time and morale points. A few shots:

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/dourpuritan/15mm%20C19th/Photo0216_zpsiuobuapf.jpg)

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/dourpuritan/15mm%20C19th/Photo0215_zpswwm0if1n.jpg)

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/dourpuritan/15mm%20C19th/Photo0214_zpsep2cszcp.jpg)

Not my best efforts as on a phone camera. All 15mm figures painted for my mate in Hoylake.

5 hours of play :o!!! Was it last man standing won the game ;)?

More like last morale pip standing.

Splendid period! Comic Opera is a good description of both armies :D

Sounds a good, if gruelling game - although Custozza probably took less time in real life ;)

Quote from: paulr on 17 April 2016, 05:44:24 AM
1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Spearhead
2) What armies were confronted? - German 3^rd Light Division v Polish 10^th Motorised Brigade, September 1939 in 6mm
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes, if a little rusty
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No, but we haven't used them for about a year :o
5) How many players were in the game? - 3 Germans & 2 Poles

Can't say too much, we only got half way through the game, should finish off the Poles the game next Saturday ;)

Well we finished off the game last night but not the Poles :(

The German Recce Regiment was supposed to occupy the hill on the German right against light or no opposition. This would clear the way for the Motorcycle battalion of 9^th Mounted Infantry to capture the bridge...

Unfortunately the "light" opposition ended up being almost half the Polish Brigade :o :( :(
The Motorcycle battalion was hit in the flank and over run by a battalion of 7TP tanks  :o :o :o :(

The rest of the Germans were doing rather better but we still hadn't captured a single objective :(

A good time was had by all and it was a great way to re-christen two armies that I had recently bought off the guy I had painted them for.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Warmaster
2) What armies were confronted? Kislev vs Dark elves. Winner Kislev
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - yes
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No, several years playing WM and variations
5) How many players were in the game? - Solo game, but full of surprieses, unexpected victory  :D.

Setting 'em up now, Ten More Sons, Ava Burmese vs Moghul Indians again, two players.

Three games of ECW FogR. List one, free two, ended up 2nd from bottom! Three corking games though, was unlucky on quite a few turns! 8)

Greetings

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - BKCII
2) What armies were confronted? Soviet v German July 1943 Kursk
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No, Have played for a few years intermittently
5) How many players were in the game? - 3 plus me refereeing

KG Schulz (7 Pz Div) with a battalion of tanks (I/Pz-Rgt.25), and a regiment of Panzergrenadiers (Panzergrenadier-Regiment.7) attacked the dug in HQ and 3/225 Guards Rifle Regiment, (supported by an artillery battalion and a counterattacking force from 167 Tank Regiment) defending the approaches to Krutoi Log.  By the time the game ended the German infantry had suffered heavy casualties but the armour was untouched. Soviet casualties were lighter but the main Defense line had been penetrated.

Regards

Edward

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - FogR ECW
2) What armies were confronted? - Parliamentarians vs Cornish Royalists, Later Royalist and Parlimentarian
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - yes
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - no
5) How many players were in the game? - one on one out of 18 players.

Came last but one, but didn't get broken in any game, but didn't win anyway. One big loss, two close draws. Ho hum! Great day.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Pike and Shotte
2) What armies were confronted? - a refight of the Battle of Kahlenberg 1683
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No
5) How many players were in the game? - 2

The Turks held out! The combined Polish, Austrian and German states relief force blunted itself on the Turkish defence. Atrocious morale save by the allies (me) in the 1st 2 rounds of Turkish shooting disrupted the attack so badly I was not able to recover.

It was a large game - 41 units on the Turkish side and 44 on the Allied side of much better quality, game was fast paced and fun.

Cheers
Ian

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Honours of War
2) What armies were confronted? - Austrian v Prussian
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - First time out so still learning
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - First time out so will reserve judgement
5) How many players were in the game? - 6

Hope there's an AAR on the HOW site.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Lion Rampant
2) What armies were confronted? - Swedish Crusaders vs Baltic Pagans
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Very
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No, but a while since I played them
5) How many players were in the game? - 2

Dave Fielder and I had a couple of nice, fun games that were easy to set up. We might try and get a mini-campaign going in the future, but next up should be some more BBB.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game?

Hail Caesar

2) What armies were confronted?

Roman vs British

3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset?

No.

4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset?

Yes

5) How many players were in the game?

3

Please explain why you did not feel comfortable with the rules for the benefit of those still waiting to play them.

I've played Hail Caesar and whilst they promise much, we found that it was so hard to find the relevant rules as they are spread through the book. Checking for rules constantly spoilt the game for us. Compare this to the Osprey rulesets (Dux Bellorum, Lion Rampant, Honours of war) where it is pretty damned easy to find what you want, leaving you to play the game. Sometimes less is more...

Quote from: Steve J on 27 April 2016, 08:42:36 AM
I've played Hail Caesar and whilst they promise much, we found that it was so hard to find the relevant rules as they are spread through the book. Checking for rules constantly spoilt the game for us. Compare this to the Osprey rulesets (Dux Bellorum, Lion Rampant, Honours of war) where it is pretty damned easy to find what you want, leaving you to play the game. Sometimes less is more...

Agree with Steve. Finding all the unit rules is a right royal pain. :(

I spent a good week writing an additional rule sheet for just this and got fed up finding things I had missed later on when reading the rules again :'(

HAIL CHEESE

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? -
Airfix Battles Intro Wargamne with house rules...

2) What armies were confronted? -
US troops (I substituted Brit minis as I don't have US...) vs. Wermacht

3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? -
No, it was a test shot, but they're easy enough

4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? -
Yes as a miniatures game, house ruled from the boardgame...

5) How many players were in the game? -
One, me...

The game as published is a boardgame with a squared map & counters - however, it advertises an upcoming expansion with rules for full measured movement & miniature terrain. I made up a few house rules...

Seems fine as an intro, very simple rules, card driven.

Ten More Sons, 2 players, Ava Burmese vs Ming Chinese. Rules worked smoothly, presenting a few handy openings for a mobile detached force to turn the Burmese flank. Now I have to soothe the wife's ruffled pride....

Quote from: Leman on 27 April 2016, 08:23:08 AM
Please explain why you did not feel comfortable with the rules for the benefit of those still waiting to play them.

Three reasons:

1.  We've not played them before to it was faltering and a bit of a learning experience.

2.  We're used to Black Powder which is similar but significantly different in the way it plays.

3.  The rulebook isn't exactly transparent and easy to refer to.

After our first session i get the impression its a good game but there's some hard yakka to learning them.   :D

QuoteAfter our first session i get the impression its a good game but there's some hard yakka to learning them.

That's pretty much our feeling. But then why bother when say Sword & Spear or Dux Bellorum give you a nice 'Ancient's' game with minimal pain?

At the back of the HC book is a few page summary of all the rules, without all the fluff and pictures. This is much more useful for actually playing the game. Once you get the hang it plays pretty smoothly - we went from WM style rules to HC, so it was a pretty smooth transition as lots of stuff is shared between them.

Thanks for sharing those thoughts chaps.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Morteium et Gloria
2) What armies were confronted? - My 10mm Later Imperial Roman (finally got them on the table) vs Paul's Persians with Cyrus
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - yes
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - yes
5) How many players were in the game? - three.

Full report later, but Romans won (just, massively, depending on whose history you read)!

Now there's a set I've never heard of.

New set of rules by Simon Hall, Leman. Debut outing at BGHS' Britcon this year.

http://www.bhgs.org.uk/britcon---morte-et-gloria.html

Still think it should be Mortem AUT Gloriam!

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Honours of War
2) What armies were confronted? - Austrian v Prussian
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Second time out
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - Caused a deal of heated discussion and debate with super charged Prussians!
5) How many players were in the game? - 7

1. What Ruleset? Sharp Practice 2
2. Which armies? 1778 British v Rebels in the AWI
3. Comfortable with the ruleset? No, not really
4. First time used? Yes, and it showed!
5. How many players? Solo

Used AWI British v Rebels in 1778 at 80 points a side (including support points). I played on a 5x3 table with lots of clutter but on reflection should have used 6x4 and left a bit more space for manouvre.

Like all lardy games I am guessing its more fun with a live opponent and a decent QRS would help as I was flicking constantly through the rule book to check things so it slowed play down an awful lot.

Undoubtably there's lots I got wrong but even with checking rules the game still flowed.

There's a lot to think about (like CoC) and the card activation system gives lots of tactical considerations into play. I found that like CoC shocks the killer. And when I did get kills I rolled really low and the British came off worst losing two leaders (one dead outright and one routed with a skirmisher unit). I never seemed to have enough leaders and it wasn't until very late in the game that I realised that command cards can be used to activate groups/formations.

I'm left with an awful lot of questions but I felt the same with CoC so am sure it will give a good game once you get the hang of how to best use your troops.

The Rebels whooped the British, even though they were hemmed in with their back to their DP. I'm glad I didn't name any of the leaders......

Lots of flavour in the rules. With better reading, a better QRS and a better understanding of how the mechanics work I am sure this will become a staple diet for the next few months if not longer

"whooped"? That's a transitive verb?

Maybe they shouted hip, hip, hooray?

That must be it.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=whooped

In the words of Cicero, I'd rather be wrong with Socrates than right with Pythagoras.

Quote from: Nosher on 03 May 2016, 01:37:46 PM

There's a lot to think about (like CoC) and the card activation system gives lots of tactical considerations into play. I found that like CoC shocks the killer. And when I did get kills I rolled really low and the British came off worst losing two leaders (one dead outright and one routed with a skirmisher unit). I never seemed to have enough leaders and it wasn't until very late in the game that I realised that command cards can be used to activate groups/formations.

Actually we have always found that kills are the killer in COC, shock is manageable but kills happen on a 6 come what may, regardless of volume of fire, defence, stance or anything other than blind luck. It's really rather left us returning to IABSM, shame really.

Quote from: Zippee on 03 May 2016, 04:20:44 PM
Actually we have always found that kills are the killer in COC, shock is manageable but kills happen on a 6 come what may, regardless of volume of fire, defence, stance or anything other than blind luck. It's really rather left us returning to IABSM, shame really.

Not so much of a killer in SP2 as the unit sizes are generally bigger and can therefore take more punishment. Shock REALLY piles up in SP2 and can be quite difficult to rally off.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Lion Rampant
2) What armies were confronted? - Swedish Crusaders vs Mongols
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Very
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No
5) How many players were in the game? - 2

We played a couple of games as part of a mini-campaign. AARs etc to follow...

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Bag the MIG
2) What armies were confronted? - 1956 Egyptian Vs Israeli
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Very
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No
5) How many players were in the game? - 6

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - FogR five games.
2) What armies were confronted? - Henrician English vs 1513 Scots, Tamarsala Spansish, Swiss, 1512 Scots (no pikes), Maximmillisn Imperial
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Very
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No
5) How many players were in the game? - 6 (out of an 18 player competition)
5-15, 10-10, 24-1, 9-11, 5-20. Rather pleasing symmetry to my scores. 53 points. :) Pity it was a team event, and the other two members of my team couldn't make it, so I came dead last!  :'( Great weekend!

Ten More Sons, Ava Burmese vs Moghuls, 2 players. A smooth but calamitous game with familiar rules. The Burmese have now lost seven times in a row; I may have to consider tinkering with the list a bit.

Too much reliance on treating elephants like double-decker buses?

Could be undersized elephant units; one good gunshot and the regiment is down 50%.... Fewer but larger units may be indicated.

Oops........ and it's goodnight Dumbo.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game?
Blackpowder

2) What armies were confronted?
Prussia vs. Austrians-Silesian Wars

3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? -
Yes,

4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? -
It was may 15th or so game..

5) How many players were in the game?
2

I really enjoy Warlord Games' rulesets. Almost every time I play with Blackpowder, I figure out some new tactical point of view.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Bloody Big Battles
2) What armies were confronted? - Austrians vs Prussians 1866
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Very
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No
5) How many players were in the game? - Two

Hi

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Impetus
2) What armies were confronted? - Late Republican Romans v Gauls
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Fairly - I have played a fair number of games now but there are still one or two specific issues that I have with the rules e.g. range of javelins compared with bows.
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No
5) How many players were in the game? - Two

Cheers Paul

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game?
Swashbuckler. Play by Mail (or eMail) RPG game.

2) What armies were confronted?
No armies. Though my Yorkshire merchant is trying to escape from a trio of bruisers who want to throw him in the River Ouse.

3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset?
First turn, so I required a little help writing out the turn orders from other players.

4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset?
Yes, first time I've used the rules set.

5) How many players were in the game?
In this instance, it's myself against the GM. But as I'm playing as part of a larger game there could be as many as 10 or more.

1/ Sword and Spear

2/ Roman vs Roman

3/ Seems to flow okay even for this newbie to Ancients

4/ Yes, my club has tried Hail Caesar but found it didn't flow as well as Warlord's Bolt Action rules. The average age in the club is 53 so we like to keep things simple  ;D

5/ 2

QuoteThe average age in the club is 53 so we like to keep things simple

Crikey, what a bunch of youngsters, who said you can't get the young uns playing! ;)

Quote from: Steve J on 11 May 2016, 06:53:39 AM
1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Bloody Big Battles
2) What armies were confronted? - Austrians vs Prussians 1866

Ooh, tantalizing. Is an AAR in the offing?

Chris

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Blücher
2) What armies were confronted? - 1815 Anglo-Allied vs French
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - after an hour, yes.
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - yes.
5) How many players were in the game? - three. Two Brits, one French
Squeaked a win, we only needed one unit each to break by the end, really enjoyed it. Couple of classic moments, with our first unit blown to pieces by massed French artillery. Twice French cavalry charged unprepared British foot units and lost. British heavy cavalry deciding the only decent thing to do was to take French artillery battery.
Great game, next game already booked!  8)

QuoteOoh, tantalizing. Is an AAR in the offing?

Trying to do it this morning before disappearing into the garden to enjoy some lovely weather 8)

1. Sharp Practice 2
2. AWI British with Indian Allies v Rebellious Militia and State Line
3. I will let you know - just about to play!
4. No. Second game
5. Solo

Quote from: Nosher on 13 May 2016, 08:10:08 AM
1. Sharp Practice 2
2. AWI British with Indian Allies v Rebellious Militia and State Line
3. I will let you know - just about to play!
4. No. Second game
5. Solo

3. Getting there......

The British got their revenge today in a tough scenario where they had to sweep their opponents from the field whom were lodged firmly behind breastworks. The British Line drew the attention of Breastworks defenders soaking up a tremendous weight of fire whilst their Indian Allies casually swept through the ranks of two Militia Line units and a Militia Skirmish unit.

The British got VERY lucky with morale rolls. Several times the line were forced to withdraw only once losing any morale points in doing so. The Rebels fared less well - their morale rolls were always high resulting in a rapid decline in morale loss.

An excellent, if somewhat slow game as I flicked through the rules to look things up.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Bloody Big Battles
2) What armies were confronted? - Prussians vs Austrians 1866
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Very
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No
5) How many players were in the game? - Two

I think the best game so far as it was full of action and challenges. Once my thoughts are collected, an AAR to follow...

Numidians and Romans again, Iacta Alea Est, 2 players. Close one, though the Romans won this time, despite a lot of morale tests. I'm starting to think that successive morale tests should become harder to pass; sometimes the decision can seem a bit arbitrary.

1. Baroque
2. Thirty Years War Swedes v Catholic League
3. Quite comfortable for a first attempt
4. Yes
5. Solo

A draw going right down to the wire. I forgot about exhausted units and their impact on the lowering of army morale (although this had no impact on the outcome as both armies broke at the same point)

It gives a reasonable game and reaction is much more playable than in impetus. The rules give a good feel for the very different types of cavalry in the period. Even a unit of Croatian Light Cavalry had its moment of glory charging a unit of Latta Ryttare in the rear!

Looking forward to giving this a proper play through with a real opponent as that's where the proof of the pudding lies.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Mortium et Gloria
2) What armies were confronted? - my Later Imperial Roman vs Pontic
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - no, I tried to be too clever and lost
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - 2nd
5) How many players were in the game? - two

As I said, I tried to be too clever and was smashed to pieces! :'( ;D

1) Bloodbowl
2) Elves (me) vs Skaven (bro)
3) yep love 'm
4) no, played lots and lots
5) 2

Ready for kick off

(http://i1096.photobucket.com/albums/g340/MattofMunslow/Mobile%20Uploads/WP_20160519_001_zpsajuqe1vi.jpg)

The rat ogre on the rampage before being horribly killed by puny elves  ;D

(http://i1096.photobucket.com/albums/g340/MattofMunslow/Mobile%20Uploads/WP_20160519_002_zps3327xfgt.jpg)

Got completely murdered first half even after the demise of the rat ogre went in for oranges with 5 players left and 1 _ 0 down. Pulled it back 2nd half, last gasp touchdown to finish 2 -2.]

I love Bloodbowl !

If Leon had unlimited funds, I'd ask if I could make some figures for a mini version of that.
(Travel Bloodbowl, anyone ?)

Can't see that being commercially viable, sadly.  :(

Lovely looking game, Matt !  8)

Cheers - Phil

Good looking game Matt. I like the idea of Oranges at half time  :)

Quote from: mad lemmey on 19 May 2016, 10:40:01 PM
As I said, I tried to be too clever and was smashed to pieces!

We told you about that before  ;D :d

Quote from: mad lemmey on 12 May 2016, 10:21:08 PM
1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Blücher
2) What armies were confronted? - 1815 Anglo-Allied vs French
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - after an hour, yes.
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - yes.
5) How many players were in the game? - three. Two Brits, one French
Squeaked a win, we only needed one unit each to break by the end, really enjoyed it. Couple of classic moments, with our first unit blown to pieces by massed French artillery. Twice French cavalry charged unprepared British foot units and lost. British heavy cavalry deciding the only decent thing to do was to take French artillery battery.
Great game, next game already booked!  8)

Looking forward to it. I've gone through my Prussians - massed Landwehr it is - and just need to cut some temporary bases. Also been looking at other armies - got a thing about Eylau, gotta love a bit of snow - and the Peninsula - downloaded the first couple of Sharpes from On Demand.

Sounding great Gennorm!

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Bloody Big Battles
2) What armies were confronted? - Prussians vs French 1870
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Very
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - yes
5) How many players were in the game? - Two

a most agreeable game

W

Quote from: wurrukatte on 20 May 2016, 02:31:09 PM
a most agreeable game

:)

Quote from: Leman on 20 April 2016, 06:15:55 PM
1. Field of Battle 2

2. Italians v. Austrians 1866

3. Yes

4. Many games played now

5. Two players

This was a hilarious game - two abysmal comic opera armies trying to have a go act each other and not doing too well. After five hours of play a very minor tactical victory went to the Austrians, who still had three morale points left, whilst the Italians had now run out and were handing them to the Austrians. The Italians had lost four infantry battalions with a further three in rout. The Austrians had lost some artillery, with cavalry and the much vaunted Kaiser jagers in rout. A very see-saw affair eventually decided by time and morale points. A few shots:

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/dourpuritan/15mm%20C19th/Photo0216_zpsiuobuapf.jpg)

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/dourpuritan/15mm%20C19th/Photo0215_zpswwm0if1n.jpg)

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/dourpuritan/15mm%20C19th/Photo0214_zpsep2cszcp.jpg)

Not my best efforts as on a phone camera. All 15mm figures painted for my mate in Hoylake.

Just seen your game Leeman, nice figures, are you using FOB2 or our FOB2 variant ?

Looks a lot of fun Cameronian! 8)

That was straight FOB2. It was an amusing game.

(http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh499/Merlin1960/201st%20game160522_121847%202_zpsbdjaw3ws.jpg)
1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Baroque
2) What armies were confronted? - ECW Royalists v Parliamentarians
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - yes, very similar to Impetus Ancients
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - yes
5) How many players were in the game? - Three

We have been waiting a while to get a game of Baroque in. It plays very well and feels like a refined, smoother version of Impetus. We do need to re-read/check up on one or two things but we all want to play again soon. Right, off to paint more ECW figures

Wow cracking looking game!

Great looking game Bodvoc

Hi

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Age of Honor (Age of Eagles variant)
2) What armies were confronted? - French v Hanoverians/British/Hessians (Pendraken of course)!
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes, very
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No
5) How many players were in the game? - Two, me v my 10 year old son.

Good game based loosely on the Battle of Quatre Bras, finely balanced with reinforcements coming in.

Cheers Paul
PS Despite reading the posts on the forum information I still do not seem to be able to put photos direct into a post from my computer, any help gratefully received! Loved Bodvoc's photo.

I had to get help from fellow Forumites to put photos on. I put my photos onto Photobucket, then when I post them I just copy them onto the forum between the imaging thingies, sorry I am not very technical but essentially you need to host your photos on something like Photobucket before posting them.
Thanks to all for the nice comments about the photo of todays game, it is friend Pete's table, a mix of all three players figures and my houses in the background.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Surfs Up
2) What armies were confronted? - Local VC v USA
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Very
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - An excellent set of rules that give a great game.
5) How many players were in the game? - 5

Tonight's was based around an American sweep of a hamlet to move the civilians and fire the settlement. The American's were harassed by snipers and a few brave locals. Americans lost 4 with 3 wounded. the VC 2 KIA. The village was destroyed but the stores, bunker and tunnels remained undiscovered. Both sides went away believing they had won. Success!

Splendid looking game, Bodvoc !  :-bd

Cheers - Phil

Great looking game Bodvoc 8)

Lovely looking game Bodvoc.

Where are the markers from?

I made the markers late last year when my school was loaned a laser cutter, it seemed a good way to teach myself how to use it ;)

Good game there Bodvoc. I am looking to do the same in 15mm. Armies I have - just need to paint the buggers now.

Quote from: T13A on 22 May 2016, 07:46:46 PM
Cheers Paul
PS Despite reading the posts on the forum information I still do not seem to be able to put photos direct into a post from my computer, any help gratefully received! Loved Bodvoc's photo.

Paul, as has been said, first step is to get the photos somewhere on the internet - a blog, photobucket, flikr, Facebook or wherever. Have the page with the image open.

You can either copy the image link now or when you have your post ready to drop them in. Right click on the image itself and from the little menu that opens click on Copy Image Location. There may be several similar options so make sure you've hit the right thing.

Start your post or reply on the Pendraken site as normal and include the img tabs in the appropriate place in your post by clicking on the Insert Image button - second row of buttons between the Message Icon selection box and your input, 3rd icon from the left..

You will wind up with a pair of tags that look like this {img}{/img} except they'll have [] brackets not {} ones. If I put in the proper thing you wouldn't see it!

The cursor will already be in the middle between the tags. If you copied the image location earlier you can paste it in at this point. Otherwise find the image, collect the location info and then paste.

Preview will show if you've got the image in place.

If it's huge or tiny you can adjust the size by editing the first tag to read {img width=500} or similar. Play around with the number used 'til you're happy. You can use height instead of width if you prefer. Space between img and width but not elsewhere or it won't work.

Bear in mind if the image is moved or deleted it will vanish and if it's somewhere the general public can't normally get to it may not show for anyone but you!

Hope that makes sense.

Quote from: Bodvoc on 23 May 2016, 06:50:17 AM
I made the markers late last year when my school was loaned a laser cutter, it seemed a good way to teach myself how to use it ;)

Nice one ;)

 Just testing

(http://[URL=http://s1182.photobucket.com/user/Fulham-fan/media/Quatra%20Bras/QB-6.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x444/Fulham-fan/Quatra%20Bras/QB-6.jpg)[/URL][/img]

I think looking at the link you entered, you entered it twice

Quote from: T13A on 23 May 2016, 08:31:39 PM
Just testing

[i m g]http://[I M G]http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x444/Fulham-fan/Quatra%20Bras/QB-6.jpg[/img] (http://s1182.photobucket.com/user/Fulham-fan/media/Quatra%20Bras/QB-6.jpg.html)[/img]

Paul, no need for url tags for a picture

To show the picture you linked you only need to have entered

[i m g]http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x444/Fulham-fan/Quatra%20Bras/QB-6.jpg[/img] I've separated the letters in the first tag to make it visible. If I close up the tag contents to read img I get

(http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x444/Fulham-fan/Quatra%20Bras/QB-6.jpg)

1. Sharp Practice 2
2. 1812 Napoleonic Russians v Polish - somewhere on the steppe
3. Yes
4, No
5. Solo

Another stonker of a game. The Poles were on a foraging mission sweeping the table for much needed supplies including livestock, fodder and water. The Russians simply had to stop them from achieving their goal.

Game was played lengthways on an 8x4 table with minimal terrain, mostly cornfields with two small farms. Forage and livestock markers were spread about, one in each farm and some wandering the battlefield randomly. (Each time the Tiffin card was turned a random livestock group would move randomly.

The Poles quickly secured three of the five forage items, the remaining two being deep in Russian territory. The Russians were delayed arriving but once in the area moved swiftly to make it tough for the Poles to secure the two remaining forage items which were within the second farm and the fields adjacent to it.

The early firefights went the way of the Poles and casualties quickly mounted in the Russian Ranks but their lines held firm and soon the firepower battle started to swing in the Russians favour. The Poles had massed an assault column with skirmish screen protection but the Russian Status III leaders Line forced the Polish Skirmisher screen back and wounded the Polish Status III leader rendering him unconscious. Return fire from the Poles was desultory at best.

Thankfully for the Poles a second Status I leader was present with the assault column and he led a desperate Pas de Charge Fisticuffs which saw the Russian Line disintegrate and withdraw to the rear in disarray. The Russin Status III leader was rendered unconscious in the round of melee but the Poles were two battered themselves to follow up on their victory and soon found themselves under pressure from another Russian Line unit firing from a cornfield.

The two battered sides loosed uncontrolled volleys at each other from long range with neither capable of rallying their troops sufficiently to deliver a telling blow. The Poles had multiple units on double shock whereas the Russians had been whittled down to under half strength in some cases due to casualties but were relatively shock free.

A Random event saw one of the livestock herds crash through a Russian unit causing 3 points of shock (I imagined it was an aggressive goose in my own mind!) and shortly after this the Tiffin Card was the first card drawn and the Poles finally routed from the field.

The Poles needed to roll 2 or less to win the game and promptly rolled a 2 meaning they had secured sufficient forage for the time at least. A narrow victory to say the least given the Russians were so few in numbers that they wouldn't have been able to mount an effective pursuit.

Ithoriel

Many thanks for all the bother you have gone to. I'll have another go over the next few days.

Cheers Paul

Sounded like it was great fun Nosher,

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Baroque
2) What armies were confronted? - ECW Royalists v Parliamentarians
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - yes, getting the hang of them now
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - 2nd game
5) How many players were in the game? - Two
(http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh499/Merlin1960/ECW1_zpszyiauxyu.jpg)

Played at mate Steve's house last night, aprx. 400 points per side. After starting well my cavalry lost my right flank resulting in my Parliamentarian butt being well and truly kicked, still great fun though :)

Ten More Sons!, Cossacks and Muscovites, two players. A hard-fought and bloody draw.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - FogR
2) What armies were confronted? - Mapche, painted by Pete, used by me, vs Tlaxcalans, painted by me, used by Pete
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - very
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - nope
5) How many players were in the game? - two

Pete win 24-1! Dice went his way all night! ;)

[/quote]

But wasn't he using the newly painted Tlaxcalans :-/

A newly painted army doing well :o

I know! Shameful!
He usually falls apart after two rounds of fighting.  ;D

1. Black Powder, Glory Hallelujah

2. Union and Confederate in the West - Battle of Iuka  1862

3. Not played for a while, so the usual kerfuffle of having to find rules in  two very large A4 books, with rules spread all over the place. 2 1/2 hours to play two moves out of seven, not helped by my opponent arriving an hour late.

4. First time for nearly a year, so very rusty.

5. Two player game.

Obviously the game is not yet finished, but the beauty of the Liverpool club is that everything is left set up for us to continue next week, whilst in true exam season style we revise how the rules work, and learn more about the GH rules additions.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Bloody Big Battles
2) What armies were confronted? - Austrians vs Italians at Custozza
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Very
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No
5) How many players were in the game? - Two

We bathtubbed the units to make it playable in an evening, which worked well. Full AAR to follow. A proper re-fight of part of the battle around Oliosis is planned for when we next meet up, as this provided the most fun during the evening.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Zombicide
2) What armies were confronted? - 8 stout heroes against a multitude of zombie types.
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Quite easy to pick up rules.
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - Yes, but everyone else had played before several times.
5) How many players were in the game? - Five

This was the fantasy version of Zombicide rather than the modern era one. It plays a bit like a dungeon delving game which is never really clear of zombies no matter how many you put down.
A good fun, easy game.

Quote from: mad lemmey on 26 May 2016, 10:27:49 PM
1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - FogR
2) What armies were confronted? - Mapche, painted by Pete, used by me, vs Tlaxcalans, painted by me, used by Pete
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - very
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - nope
5) How many players were in the game? - two

Pete win 24-1! Dice went his way all night! ;)

Ouch......  :D

IACTA ALEA EST, two players, NKE and Assyrians, and I haven't stopped crying yet.

1. Sharp Practice 2
2. 1812 Napoleonic Russians v Polish - somewhere on the steppe
3. Yes
4, No
5. Solo

A follow up to the Polish foraging mission, this time pitting a similar Polish force supported by some Hussars taking on a Russian Light force of light Infantry and Jaegers supported by a solitary unit of Grenadiers. This was a straightforward encounter battle.

The Poles having secured a decent amount of forage in the previous game were able to field some supporting cavalry - a single unit of Hussars with a Status 1 Leader. They also managed to secure a more favourable deployment area flanked by woods and a farm house. The Russians were left with a deployment zone in the open which made a tempting target for the Hussars!

The Poles deployed really quickly with their whole force managing to deploy during the first round of the card deck draw. The Russian were able to field their Light Infantry in line to contest the Polish advance but found themselves within range of the Polish Skirmishers who found their mark even at long range.

Thankfully the remainder of the Russians were able to deploy and the Russians sought to protect their left flank with the Grenadiers as Polish Hussars made use of a extraordinarily long Gallop move which saw them outflank the Russians. The firefight in the middle began to develop as the Russian lights supported by two units of Jaegers started to get the better of the Polish skirmishers at the farm.

A devastating volley from the Grenadiers piled on six points of shock on the Hussars whose leader turned his horses ankle (random event) before being knocked from his horse and wounded by the Grenadiers fire. In the middle, the Polish Line advanced on the cornfield being used as cover by the Russian Lights and gave fire knocking out the Russian Status III leader. The Russian Jaegers tried to stem the tide but soon found themselves the target of the Polish Line formation who pounded both units relentlessly forcing the whole Russian Centre to buckle.

In a wild gamble the Hussars charged the Grenadiers only to lose the fisticuffs horrendously, whereupon they were sent packing with horrific casualties. Their only saving grace was that the Grenadier Status I leader was knocked out in the combat and therefore the Grenadiers were unable to follow up their victory.

Both sides morale was beginning to waver, however the Polish Line formation was still in good order with relatively light casualties which became the telling factor as they pressed forward pouring fire into the withdrawing Russians who finally broke and fled the field.

Hi

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Blucher
2) What armies were confronted? - jammy French and glorious but unlucky late Prussians (6mm Heroics and Ross, hope that is OK on this site)?
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes, but not played for about 6 months and was quite pleased with how much we remembered - always a good sign in my book about a good set of rules.
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - See above
5) How many players were in the game? Again, my son Jack and myself. Jack was the French and managed to crush my left flank with some truly Napoleonic use of his artillery (I put it down to jammy throwing of 6's)

(http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x444/Fulham-fan/Blucher/31%20May-16-2.jpg)

Hey, Ithoriel, I think I may have cracked it! Thanks again.

Cheers Paul

Great looking game. I am increasingly drawn to games which have a unit as a single base.

Well done Jack! As I posted elsewhere recently,

"I know he's a good general, but is he lucky?" - Napoléon Bonaparte

Delighted if my comments on posting pics helped Paul.

Lovely looking game Paul.

I regularly get beaten by my kids whenever we play a game. Alas with only the one boy and three girls it's highly unlikely my hobby will continue in the house when I'm dribbling both ends. ;D

That looks bloody cracking :D

Quote from: toxicpixie on 01 June 2016, 03:32:54 PM
That looks bloody cracking :D

Indeed  8)

I do like Blucher - planning a game at the club in a couple of weeks (using my 2mm armies though!)

1. From Shako to Coal-Scuttle, Nordic Weasel

2. ACW Union v. Confederate.

3. Reasonably so, second outing. It is a beta set and a couple of things were still not very clear

4. 2nd time

5. 2 players

It did give a good game with a definite outcome, which was not as bad for the Union as it appeared physically, mainly because the Confederates did not get beyond the halfway line, most of the casualties coming from artillery and musketry. A tip for players - if you have artillery facing troops in the open, and not too much morale to recover, then use command dice 6s for artillery rapid fire - it has the potential to be devastating. However, to achieve an overwhelming victory it is necessary to put in a large co-ordinated attack. We have also realised that to get the most out of the game there needs to be plenty of terrain on the table.

Quote from: nikharwood on 01 June 2016, 09:25:40 PM

I do like Blucher - planning a game at the club in a couple of weeks (using my 2mm armies though!)

Actually, I kind of regret not going 2mm as you could do a relatively small base (eg 40mm wide) and still look like a proper brigade. That said the 6mm MDF on full size bases looks a treat so I can't complain :D

Esp. as I sort of regret not going for 60mm wide in 6mm, as that would match mates competition based armies and have given me twice the forces...

I've gone with 2mm on *exactly* the same sized bases as the (poker sized) Blucher cards...in terms of scale of 'units' 2mm really does grab this for me...

I've got some pics on my blog here:

French here: http://nikharwood.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/2mm-blucher-french.html

Austrians here: http://nikharwood.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/2mm-blucher-austrians.html

Oddly enough I was looking at those earlier! I'd thought they were smaller, but I guess you've got three blocks of infantry per "unit", then four "units" and a command group to a base? Or similar for cavalry etc.

They look cracking, as well btw :)

I'll be going 2mm for other Blucher Forces as I add new armies, but still have a fair few 10mm figs to finish yet.

If I get hooked by BBB I may well sell off my 6mm FPW and do it in 2mm too, simply so I can buy villages and towns ready made.

Despite the 6000 to 7000 miniatures I paint every year (99% being 10mm), the rules I play the most is by far Battle Cry from Richard Borg and I love it! We play every Friday evening with my 'club' in a German restaurant after having dinner with a few pints of Chinese draft beer.

Quote from: Le Manchou on 02 June 2016, 06:58:47 AM
Despite the 6000 to 7000 miniatures I paint every year (99% being 10mm),

Wow! I bet your house is full by now.

Quote from: Le Manchou on 02 June 2016, 06:58:47 AM
the rules I play the most is by far Battle Cry from Richard Borg and I love it!

You have been assimilated.

Quote from: Le Manchou on 02 June 2016, 06:58:47 AM
We play every Friday evening with my 'club' in a German restaurant after having dinner with a few pints of Chinese draft beer.

You eat German food and drink Chinese beer.  :-\ I would say that's the opposite for many of us on a Friday night.

Well, Chinese beer is 10 yuans, German beer at least 25, 3 pints every Friday makes a significant difference at the end of the month!

Sounds good to me, Le Manchou :)

1. BlackOps by Osprey. Pitched at "modern" small unit action, 4-12 guys a side or thereabouts, played "straight" or cinematic with add ons for Ninjas and "five minutes from now" technology so you can play "Hitman" or "Metal Gear" or slog it out in Helmand as desired.

2. US Conscript rifle squad versus VC Local Force militia in @'65-ish. See, told you it was flexible ;)

3. First turn, made a few bloopers which I picked up on just after some devastating fire but actually nothing too bad. Pretty good for a first run through.

4. 1st time! Test game whilst rest of club busy and I was late.

5. One - me, solo. The card activation and a healthy dose of swapping hats made it quite playable.

I used 10mm figures, the Yanks were single based but the VC are my 1st Indo China figures on CWC/BKC bases, 40mm wide with four figures on. Worked fine, at least with myself. Don't know if others would need more mental fudging but it kind of looks like a fire team/cell together and I used a tiny dice to mark off casualties.

Played using centimetres due to table space, using a D&D battlemap that's close enough to random jungle as no possibility to bring terrain, and it was @48cm by 36cm or close enough to make a four foot by three foot equivalent table.

First turn the US squad leader (Ace) triple activated, moved in, shot up the VC cell leader (Ace), who ducked nobly behind his riflemen who sacrificed themselves for the cause. Then the entire VC force activated (mostly twice!), moved up a little and spread out for cover, shot the US Ace down (who'd advanced well beyond his men), picked off two riflemen and nearly took out the Hog, before the tables swung and the Yanks all activated. It was looking grim, but the squads M79 gunner lobbed several bang on the money shots into the VC riflesquads, decimating them one after another. Suppressive fire from the Hog eventually picked off some more and most of their remaining riflemen on the flank got blasted by concerted "crazy time" M16 autofire.

That took them just over half their force in losses, forcing them to make a 50/50 Break test. Which they failed, and then due to being too close to the edge the survivors were forced to retire off board pursued by a hail of 5.56 NATO!

Cracking little game, took me 40mins to do one full turn (two activations each side for everyone), then half-ish of another - but I'd reached decision point at the end of Turn 1 so that was just mopping up to see what of the VC made it out. Very back and forth, but the "small-ish bucket o'dice" gives a decent enough "bell curve" feeling that it's not all on one throw entirely at the whim of the dice, felt like it should reward "proper" tactics of fire/suppression/manoeuvre and the activation system seems ok. Card driven systems can be tricky but with relatively small card numbers and everyone guaranteed an action twice a turn (possibly three with judicious use of Aces, and the ability to "group activate" with Reserve moves) it didn't feel like anyone was ignored.

Going to try and see if we can play next week, four player stand up fight ;)

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - FogR again!
2) What armies were confronted? - My 1635 Poles vs Pete using Germans
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - yes
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - no
5) How many players were in the game? - two

Poles are considered one of the 'dog lists' in FogR, and tonight I found out why! 20-5 loss. Six units of German cuirassiers and reiters completely did for me!

1. Bloody Big Battles
2. FPW Prussians v French (battle of Spicheren)
3. Sort of (felt not too dissimilar to Principles of War which is unsurprising given it came from those rules!)
4. Yes - and it showed!
5. Solo

http://nosherswargames.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/bloody-big-battles-spicheren-fpw-in-6mm.html

Game done and dusted in 3 hours very little reference to the rules and feels intuitive after a turn or two. I am sure I got lots wrong, but a read through of things will hopefully put those wrongs right as the actual rules content is thin and relatively easy to read.

Quote from: Nosher on 03 June 2016, 12:25:25 PM
2. FPW Prussians v French (battle of Spicheren)
5. Solo

http://nosherswargames.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/bloody-big-battles-spicheren-fpw-in-6mm.html

Hi Nosher, commiserations on your defeat, but congratulations on your victory! Good-looking game, and I'm glad you had fun.

Cheers,
Chris

Bloody Big BATTLES!
https://uk.groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/BBB_wargames/info
http://bloodybigbattles.blogspot.co.uk/

Ouch! The French got a beating then!  :'(

Great looking game and the French boys took one hell of a beating!

Napoleon Bonaparte, Louis XIV, Charles DeGaulle, Marie Curie, Roland ........... where are you now?

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - At War in the Americas - Wing Scale V&B
2) What armies were confronted? - Loyalists v Patriots
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes, introduced Native Americans on both sides which was new for us
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No
5) How many players were in the game? 4

I was asked at short notice to organise our regular Saturday game, it was also suggested that we hadn't played AWI for a while

I took the hint and decided to try and use troops that hadn't been used before...

• Wagons
• Catabwa native Americans
• Cherokee native Americans
• North Carolina Volunteers (Loyalist Militia)
• South Carolina Royalists
• 63^rd Foot

The British ended up with:

• a regular Brigade with 3 battalions and a converged light battalion
• a Brigade of two loyalist state battalions
• a Loyalist Militia brigade of three battalions
• two troops of the 17^th Light Dragoons
• about 250 Cherokee native Americans

The Americans didn't have any unused troops except the Catabwa native Americans, they ended up with

• Lee's Legion with a battalion of light infantry, a battalion of riflemen and two troops of dragoons
• a Brigade of Virginia Continentals of two regiments
• a Brigade of Virginia Militia of two battalions
• about 250 Catabwa native Americans

The wagons were at a couple of farms in the middle of the 10'x5' table the Loyalists came on at one end and the Patriots at the other, 10' apart. The winner was the one who got the wagons off their end of the table.

The Patriots won the race to the farms and garrisoned them with the Continentals. The British Regulars bypassed the farms to the right and took on Lee's Legion on a wooded hill quickly exhausting them but taking significant casualties from Lee's Legion, the Virginia Militia and also the Continentals when one unit was forced to withdraw in the direction of the farms.

On the left flank the Cherokee fought a back and fourth battle with the Catawba slowly gaining the upper hand. The Loyalist Militia 'bravely' screened the Continentals in the farm from beyond musket shot.

The survivors of Lee's Legion escorted the wagons towards the Patriot end of the table before being cut off by the by now exhausted British Regulars and the Light Dragoons.

With almost all units on the table exhausted and it getting late a draw was called.

TWO games yesterday. Ten More Sons, two players, Incas and Conquistadors, and I got thumped but the rules worked. Also White Man's Burden, three players, Save Gordon scenario, and this time I won.

God help me, another battle this afternoon. Shell shock is setting in.

Hep! Devs vvlt! 2 players, Franks and Byzantines, I winned.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? -

Honours of War - 1st historical set I've played. Used the St Ulrich starter scenario and played using (urgghhhh) counters as don't have any minis yet.

2) What armies were confronted? -

Generic SYW blue people vs generic SYW yellow people.

3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? -

Pretty quickly. Kept everything standard quality and stayed away from the national differences to make things more straightforward.

4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? -

Yes

5) How many players were in the game? -

Two - my opponent had never played any wargames before and picked it up fast.

Things move quickly - coming from warhammer the moving, shooting and combat all feel very streamlined, which I liked, but battles are resolved with an almost unseemly haste for my idea of the period. I think this is exaggerated by having such small forces in this scenario and is probably more my problem than anything wrong with the rules.

Used 10mm basing and distances (which approximate to a 1 inch to 1 centimetre conversion). This means a nice small playing area but I think things would feel less cramped and look better if played using the 25mm distances and basing but 10mm figures. Also using the 10mm distances a deviation of a few mm here or there in movement matters more than at the larger scale so everything becomes more fiddly.

All told, a great first game and will definitely be playing more soon.

This battle does resolve itself quickly so that you can just get to grips with the rules. As you move through the scenarios and more detail is added, then you do get much more of a SYW battle feel.

Quote from: Steve J on 06 June 2016, 02:17:54 PM
This battle does resolve itself quickly

To be honest, a piece of totally deliberate tactical ineptitude on my part may have helped to tie things up in double-quick time...

Used 10mm basing and distances (which approximate to a 1 inch to 1 centimetre conversion). This means a nice small playing area but I think things would feel less cramped and look better if played using the 25mm distances and basing but 10mm figures. Also using the 10mm distances a deviation of a few mm here or there in movement matters more than at the larger scale so everything becomes more fiddly.


I tend to find exactly this, that swapping inches for cm is just fiddly. Unless you really want to drop the playing area, I always prefer to use 28m distances with 10mm figures - you get nice big looking units too.

I find the 15mm QRS works best with my 10mm figures and gives a very nice looking game. I use four 25mm squares as bases for a 10mm infantry and cavalry unit. This gives a 100mm frontage, which is the unit size of the 15mm QRS. A couple of photos to demonstrate.

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/dourpuritan/Honours%20of%20War/Clash%20at%20Kutzdorf/IMG_1698_zps9xtkpetu.jpg)

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/dourpuritan/Honours%20of%20War/Clash%20at%20Kutzdorf/IMG_1694_zpsxxujjxut.jpg)

Damn fine looking game, Andy.  :)

Cheers - Phil

Pretty ;) :)

Quote from: paulr on 06 June 2016, 07:46:12 PM
Pretty ;) :)

Very  8)

That is a great looking game :)

Now that is mighty pretty 8)

Very nice. How many horses do you get on a base?

Three horses to a base:

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/dourpuritan/Honours%20of%20War/Clash%20at%20Kutzdorf/IMG_1700_zpsmnys9qb9.jpg)

All three photos from HOW's Clash at Kutzdorf scenario.

10mm buildings for Ithoriel.

Great looking figures Leman.

Buildings look good too!

This receives the Ithoriel AAA* rating!

*Award for Architectural Amplitude :)

 :) Cheers mate! :-bd

1. SP2
2. AWI 'Sundry Rebels' attempting to capture a British Pay Chest
3. Yes
4. No
5. Solo

Stonking game with a few minor characters thrown in for good measure and each leader had a character profile generated which made for a really good game.

Full batrep with photos tomorrow.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Blücher
2) What armies were confronted? - 1813 Prussian (heavy on the Landwher) with 27 units vs French 1813 (Many Marie Louise) with 24 units.
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Getting there
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - 2nd time
5) How many players were in the game? - 3
Great game, hard fought conflict. I spent my time avoiding the French Young Guard, while Nick destroyed the Allies and Marie Louise units!

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - X-Wing
2) What armies were confronted? - Resistance X-Wing vs 2 x First Order TIE Fighters (The Force Awakens Core Set)
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - 2nd time
5) How many players were in the game? - 2. One was 45, the other 9. Guess who won? Again.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Black Powder
2) What armies were confronted? -Union vs Confederate
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes - enough that we can have 3 beers while playing (technically 4, but we never drink the 2nd)
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - Definately not.  Not only do we use it for WSS, but this was (as it turned out) the last engagement in a 'mega-battle'
5) How many players were in the game? - 2


Since last August Sunjester and I have been engaged in a different take on a 'campaign'.  Instead of fighting interconnected battles we fought one battle of 3 Union vs 2 Confederate a division at a time

Quote from: nikharwood on 09 June 2016, 10:51:21 PM

5) How many players were in the game? - 2. One was 45, the other 9. Guess who won? Again.

Is there a prize for guessing?

;D

Quote from: Nosher on 10 June 2016, 06:36:09 AM
Is there a prize for guessing?

;D

Yes, Nosher mate - you get to play him at any game of your choice - and lose. What time shall I drop him off?

Quote from: nikharwood on 10 June 2016, 07:54:43 AM
Yes, Nosher mate - you get to play him at any game of your choice - and lose. What time shall I drop him off?

LMAO  ;D ;D

What happened to your pointy stick or can you still go to prison for that?  :d

Quote from: Nosher on 10 June 2016, 12:15:49 PM
LMAO  ;D ;D

What happened to your pointy stick or can you still go to prison for that?  :d

I've still got the pointy stick - but it's generally frowned upon to use it on the under 10s...especially given my line of work ;)

Quote from: mad lemmey on 09 June 2016, 10:38:12 PM
Great game, hard fought conflict. I spent my time avoiding the French Young Guard, while Nick destroyed the Allies and Marie Louise units!

The Guard was a shock - right in front of our initial attack :o - but leading with the grenadiers paid off as they and the cavalry held up La Garde long enough for the soft under-belly (the Italians by coincidence) to be found. It turned out that the opposing dross was even drosser than our dross! Gotta love a load of Landwehr. I might have recruited 2 more players as well :)

Nick

Excellent plan Nick! :)

1. BP Glory Hallelujah -

2. Union v Confederate, Western theatre. We used the Luka scenario for our first game. It was a little toughie, seven moves long. The Confederates were whittled down for a narrow Union victory right at the end.

3. Not entirely. The toolbox approach of the rules is somewhat akin to somebody having thrown the box on the floor and jumbled everything up. The amount of matey, jokey verbiage in the books also makes for an entertaining  read, but is an absolute bar steward when you are trying to pinpoint a particular rule.

4. This particular supplement, yes. It should become more familiar over time.

5. Four players.

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/dourpuritan/ACW%2015mm/Photo0222_zpsx52deurs.jpg)

Double post from me, as I failed last week!

So - last week -
1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Frostgrave
2) What armies were confronted? - My Necromancer & his minions from the Court of the Shadow Fey, another lame human necromancer and an enchanter of little account.
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Very. It's quick, simple, and coherent. Supports multiplayer well, just needs a surprising amount of terrain to break up LoS!
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - Crikey no! We've been campaigning in the ruins of Felstad for a year now, off and on. My Wizard would be top but he got viciously killed some time back and I had to promote my apprentice to fill his pointy Elven wizard shoes :D
5) How many players were in the game? - 3

Cracking game, one of the Thaw of the Liche Lord campaign trail. We'd heard rumours of a broken down cart carrying TREASURE guarded by some death cultists, so we'd converged on it to ransack the money secure it for the good of the living. The other Necromancer picked a fight with me early on, hoping to pin me against him and the enchanters warband, but the 'chanter always plays cagey and sought careful cover instead. As I'd deployed in arrowhead formation so I could fight either side or forwards I just swung and pannelled the pitiful challenger into the dust.

The necromancer got two treasures out but most of his warband was left bleeding in the snow, whilst the enchanter played so cagey (Fog, buffing up, scuttling between cover, trying to be clever and pop up to shoot into combats between other people then dive back again) that the undead reinforcements of the Death Cultists arrived and he had to deal with them whilst I ransacked most of the treasure off the cart :D

And my Captain finally levelled up! Now he takes even more gold off the top of my profit, goit.

And this week -

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Bloody Big Battles!
2) What armies were confronted? - 1859 Austrian versus French (with token Italian allies), Montebello  small sized minimim scale trainign scenario off the Yahoo! Group files.
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Mostly. It's like a simpler, better F&F without the faff that's well written and easy to play straight off the book/scenario.
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - For BBB, yes - I wanted to try and play through with myself before introducing it at the club or playing with others ;)
5) How many players were in the game? - Me!

Montebello is a small division versus brigade-ish sized encounter and part of the short, sharp initial engagements in 1859 that rocked the Austrians back in confusion prior to the big battles at Magenta and Solferino. In many ways it's a simple "quality versus quantity" fight, with small numbers of veteran, well led French against masses of inept Austrians, but it introduces pretty much all of BBB's rules concepts and is also well balanced (from one run through).

For the French it's a delicate balance between massing your limited forces, throwing caution to the wind and going in a la bayonette at every opportunity and spreading out to cover the potentially wide frontage the Austrians could advance on. For the Austrians it's a question of actually getting everyone in the right place and going in mob handed - their limited entry points are over a rail or road bridge on the same table point and trying to get multiple badly commanded big formations across without causing a huge traffic jam is really hard work.

The French looked about to be overwhelmed initially due to bad movement rolls on their part giving early reinforcements to the Austrians, and excellent movement rolls for the Austrians meaning they got substantial forces over early and towards a useful position to mass up in formation, but then they reverted to type and stalled, the Italian cavalry ran their opposing brigade out of ammo and finally charged home breaking them and sending them back to jam up the bridges and the small French veteran unit that bore the brunt of the Austrian attack being able to retire behind a larger one and recover after breaking a second large but fragile Austrian regiment.

All was not lost for the Austrians as one of Schaftgotters two regiments had remained in column of march and just kept trundling round the southern hills and into Genestralo (a victory point village location), and as I'd mistakenly panicked over how bad the French centre looked and sent their reinforcements to shore it up, there was no one left to chuck them back out without some heavy counter marching!

Only got four turns in as despite a quick play time (even with a solo first game and having to check things in the book and remember which bases are with which unit - must sort proper base labels for the Austrians!) people kept asking me what was happening and what I was playing :)

Tuesday - four ironclad games. First was god old Monitor v. Virginia. As the Virginia I blew away the little cheese box's  guns, then smashed it's engine. After that it was the Manassas up against my two cotton clads. Disaster for me. Tried again and another disaster. So finally I had a go with four cotton clads. After three of the beggars sank I finally got the little Seegar.

Wednesday - A four person game of FOG - Indians v. Later Achaemenid Persians. The Persians won. I was on the Indian side.

Tonight - Neil Thomas' C19th Europe rules. The Battle of Nachod using top down paper soldiers. Will try and get some photos up soon.

It's funny how Hampton Roads is popularly described as a Union victory. Look at both days, and it was a substantial rebel success, and even on the second day the only casualty was on board the Monitor.

Quote from: FierceKitty on 16 June 2016, 03:27:17 PM
It's funny how Hampton Roads is popularly described as a Union victory. Look at both days, and it was a substantial rebel success, and even on the second day the only casualty was on board the Monitor.

.... except, FK .... after the action, the Union blockade was still in place. A bit like Jutland, I suppose.   :-\

Surely nobody expected the Virginia to break the blockade? It was a raid, wasn't it?

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Repique II
2) What armies were confronted? - Federal v Confederate
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Just getting to grips with the mechanisms
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - Yes
5) How many players were in the game? - 4

Doing a re-run of the 1st Bull Run.

1. Honours of War

2. Austrian v. Prussia - Seven Years War

3. Yes, two moves and I was back into it - introducing a friend to the period and the rules using the Clash at Kutzdorf scenario from the book. The Austrians attacked from the south, but the Prussians soon gained control of Kutzdorf and once they had positioned their guns mayhem ensued and the Austrians were driven off.

4. Played a lot of games, but this was the first one since March.

5. This was a two player game.

Iacta Alea Est, Greeks and Persians (two games on successive days), two and three players respectively, good game which gave a very satisfactory and plausible result.

1, Baroque
2. Royalists v Parliament Braddock Down 1643
3. Still a bit suck it and see at the moment - need more games as I am not sure I am getting all the rules interpretations right
4. second game
5. Solo

The Parliamentarians even though outnumbered, delivered a crushing blow the the West Countrymen, helped along the way by some spectacular dice throwing and very helpful terrain.

I would like to run this scenario again, grading the hill as gentle and offering no advantage to the defenders. I'd also reduce the table size for the scale (fought using 6mm units on 60x30 bases) Most of the game was spent manouvering across the vast 5x3 table!

Batrep up soon ;)

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Blücher
2) What armies were confronted? - 1806 Prussians vs Early French
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - First time solo without our guru, lots a rules diving and mistakes, but fun.
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - Third game, first time without our experienced player.
5) How many players were in the game? - two with two observers/rip takers.
I sacrificed a corps of Prussians to destroy the French flank with my cavalry. We got the win/lose ratio wrong, armies break at 1/3 strength, not 50%, which means I might have won about an hour earlier rather than losing later, but a very tight game and great fun. One base for both to break at the end! 8)

Hep!, 3rd Crusade vs Ayyubids, two players, and I was pleased that for a change massed fire took the bite out of the knights' charge (a lucky hit against Richard helped).

The 1806 Prussians are uniquely handicapped, it's brilliant!
The infantry get a bonus for volley fire (range 1 base width) which they pay for in their unit costing, however, skirmish and charge range is 2 base widths, so the French will always have the drop on you.
You cannot move and fire, so if you park a unit inside volley range, the odds are the next turn you will either get sniped or charged!
This also means you have less Prussian units on table.
Brilliant idea Mr Mustapha! :D

HOTT

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Frostgrave
2) What armies were confronted? - Two necromancers and an Elementalist
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Very, at least two of us are and the third had played through the Dark Alchemy mini-campaign to get up to spec
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - About a year in for me, six months for one and fourth game for the third.
5) How many players were in the game? - Three

We played one of the Liche Lord scenarios, Battle on the Ice, across the frozen river running thru the city - bulk of the table is the iced over river covered with frozen ships, then banks either side. Makes moving fast really tricky. Part way through the game one of the Liche Lords minions pops up from the middle ship and tries to run off with some vital to his plans treasure.

Everyone got stuck in fast, with the second Necromancer foolishly dividing his forces to face the other two of us. The newer Elementalist used a combo of Wall spells and Telekinesis along side his cheap soldiers to secure three treasures and leg it after fighting off the other Necromancers troops facing him. Meanwhile my band converged on the remaining soldiers and apprentice, my wizard got shot up then blew himself up miscasting a spell, an opposing Thug took down two Treasure Hunters and Knight (AND i had two or three to one numbers!) before falling to my wardog, but my better troops and weight fo numbers told and despite one to one losses I forced him off with no treasure securing all the rest for me, lovely.

Towards the end the Liche Lords mage minion popped up, and as the dice had it ran for my table edge. Ah ha, I thought, easy treasure! ZAP and he dropped my other Knight, then beat down several more in close combat, and only went down finally because I surrounded him with soldiers and beat him to death en mass.

Good game, great fun, and loads of TREASURE and XP, hurrah!

Quote from: mad lemmey on 01 July 2016, 09:58:18 AM
The 1806 Prussians are uniquely handicapped, it's brilliant!
The infantry get a bonus for volley fire (range 1 base width) which they pay for in their unit costing, however, skirmish and charge range is 2 base widths, so the French will always have the drop on you.
You cannot move and fire, so if you park a unit inside volley range, the odds are the next turn you will either get sniped or charged!
This also means you have less Prussian units on table.
Brilliant idea Mr Mustapha! :D

Firepower trait is less useful than Skirmish, I'd agree - but when you do get to shoot (which is reasonably often, in general), it's better as you get an advantage with full dice not half. Skirmish edges it out, but volley fire is by no means unlikely to occur. Note the Late War list drops Firepower for skirmish, reflecting historical practise.

It might hurt from a game viewpoint, but from a historical viewpoint its very much on target :D

I have no problems with it, I thought it was brilliant!  ;D

Hahahahaha, yes, ok, fine then Will :D

Playing Austrians as I do, any specials are quite few and far between ;)

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Space Hulk (1ed)
2) What armies were confronted? Aliens Genestealers v Colonial Terminator Marines
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Very, but some players either had never played or hadn't played in years
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No, absolutely not
5) How many players were in the game? - Three (one Alien genestealer got stuck in Time & Space Liverpool) plus me running the scenario

Great fun, the alien player reported to his absent colleague:

QuoteWe failed! The marines succeeded in blowing up the hulk - and even escaped with 8 out of their original complement of 18! The Hivemind was not well pleased!

Was a great game though - and remarkably well balanced. Andrew and Kyle struggled at first (particularly Kyle) but - with a bit of help & advice from Zip and I especially about the tactical use of flamers - once they got the hang of it they really 'rocked'. Andrew's overwatch shooting was lethal. And his captain was definitely man-of-the-match/MVP, leading from the front the whole way and personally seeing off the last stealer assault in the final room with some well aimed overwatch shooting and even getting up-close-and-personal with his power sword to hold the line!

Sorry to have lost [the shame! the shame!] - but plaudits to Andrew and Kyle for a well-earned win!

Next week back to D&D

Sounds like a very well run game ;) :)

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? Draft rules for League of Augsburg
2) What armies were confronted? French vs Williamite
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? The game was a play test. It went smoothly but also threw up some issues.
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? No
5) How many players were in the game? - Two

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - If the Lord Spares Us
2) What armies were confronted? ANZAC's vs Ottomans Suvla Bay April 1915
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes, but hadn't played for some months
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No
5) How many players were in the game? - Four

We were originally going to play this game around ANZAC Day but it been delayed a few times for various reasons but finally started last night. I came up with a bit of an alternative scenario that sees the ANZAC's going ashore at the flat plains near Suvla Bay rather than the vertical terrain at ANZAC cove. The game is ongoing with the ANZAC's about to engage the main Ottoman trench line having fairly easily rolled up the outlying defence works.

One of the advantages of our usual gaming venue (Roy's Place) is that he has a huge table (17ft x 5ft) and we can leave games set up without them being disturbed, unless Roy's cat feels adventurous. Though being winter here she prefers hybernating next to the logburner than anything too strenuous  ;)           

Ten More Sons, Scots thumping the English. Four in a row! I'm in the zone, men!

Quote from: pierre the shy on 03 July 2016, 10:07:48 AM
1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - If the Lord Spares Us
2) What armies were confronted? ANZAC's vs Ottomans Suvla Bay April 1915
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes, but hadn't played for some months
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No
5) How many players were in the game? - Four

We were originally going to play this game around ANZAC Day but it been delayed a few times for various reasons but finally started last night. I came up with a bit of an alternative scenario that sees the ANZAC's going ashore at the flat plains near Suvla Bay rather than the vertical terrain at ANZAC cove. The game is ongoing with the ANZAC's about to engage the main Ottoman trench line having fairly easily rolled up the outlying defence works.

One of the advantages of our usual gaming venue (Roy's Place) is that he has a huge table (17ft x 5ft) and we can leave games set up without them being disturbed, unless Roy's cat feels adventurous. Though being winter here she prefers hybernating next to the logburner than anything too strenuous  ;)           

We were definitely a bit rusty on the rules but seem to have got back into the flow. The Kiwis are making good progress despite some shorts from the Royal Navy and the scenario is definitely interesting ;)

Quote from: mad lemmey on 01 July 2016, 09:58:18 AM
The 1806 Prussians are uniquely handicapped, it's brilliant!
The infantry get a bonus for volley fire (range 1 base width) which they pay for in their unit costing, however, skirmish and charge range is 2 base widths, so the French will always have the drop on you.
You cannot move and fire, so if you park a unit inside volley range, the odds are the next turn you will either get sniped or charged!
This also means you have less Prussian units on table.
Brilliant idea Mr Mustapha! :D

The opening French artillery salvo was devastating which helped a lot. But it could have gone horribly wrong. The French cavalry forgot they had sabres and the grenadiers were thrown back. It was left to the grognards to win it. Even then, the French lost 3 units quickly near the end in a failed attempt to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory :o Fast forward to the 100 Days on Thursday.

Nick

Hi Guys

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Impetus
2) What armies were confronted? Late Republican Romans v Gauls
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes, some good mechanisms which although fairly abstract give a good overall feel of what I think an ancient battle should be like. You need to be prepared for occasional extreme outcomes and light cavalry can be devastating.
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No
5) How many players were in the game? - 2

Another good game, although the Romans are proving impossible very hard to beat (and yes I commanded the Gauls)!

(http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x444/Fulham-fan/Impetus/5%20July%202016-2.jpg) (http://s1182.photobucket.com/user/Fulham-fan/media/Impetus/5%20July%202016-2.jpg.html)[

Cheers Paul

Nice looking game!

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Blücher again.
2) What armies were confronted? - 1815 Anglo-Dutch vs French
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - more so
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - fourth game.
5) How many players were in the game? - two, Gennorm (French) and I (Brits)

Another cracking game, the French came on piecemeL due to some shockingly low dice rolls, but I attacked them too early, and threw the game away. Lesson learnt, sit back and shoot, then when he's weakened, attack. I also committed the British Heavy cavalry too early.
Interesting that most assaults from either side failed and bounced. It was the shooting what did it guv!
:D
A well deserved win for Gennorm.
Not much happening here yet...
(http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc94/madlemmey/image_zpsjn11aorx.jpeg) (http://s214.photobucket.com/user/madlemmey/media/image_zpsjn11aorx.jpeg.html)

Oh heck, there's a lot of them! My units deploy left.
(http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc94/madlemmey/image_zps8xz3ro6n.jpeg) (http://s214.photobucket.com/user/madlemmey/media/image_zps8xz3ro6n.jpeg.html)

(http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc94/madlemmey/image_zps3bynmudx.jpeg) (http://s214.photobucket.com/user/madlemmey/media/image_zps3bynmudx.jpeg.html)

Dutch cavalry tries to Flank the French, unsuccessfully! ;) Already lost a brigade of Guard cavalry...
The pink cup of doom resulted in Nick having an average of 4.5 for movement dice! ;D
(http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc94/madlemmey/image_zpsm6ls8zpk.jpeg) (http://s214.photobucket.com/user/madlemmey/media/image_zpsm6ls8zpk.jpeg.html)

The British right collapses
(http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc94/madlemmey/image_zpsa4e9wwgt.jpeg) (http://s214.photobucket.com/user/madlemmey/media/image_zpsa4e9wwgt.jpeg.html)

Not sure about the first photo! But develops into a good looking game.  ;)

It's because troops are not automatically shown at the start of a game.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Osprey's "BlackOps"
2) What armies were confronted? - Special Forces & Armed Police versus two sets of separatist conscripts
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Pretty much at start, very by the end
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - Second game fir me, but first with live opponents. First for all the rest!
5) How many players were in the game? - Four

We knocked through a starter game of Osprey's recent-ish "special forces and secret agents" skirmish set on Wednesday at the club, and it was good fun. We didn't use the "stealth 'em up" rules but had a head to head encounter fight, set in a small east African nation-lette where many factions collide, around a village-truck stop nestled in a dell under some towering buttes.

Our side was heroic Western Special Forces (me) who'd helidropped onto a suspected tribal separatist arms dump ahead of my ally the Royal Armed Presidential Police Special Service Para-Marine Commando Brigade. Spec Forces are ludicrously good but by crikey you don't get many (I had four warm bodies on table, an Ace (leader) with Assault Rifle and under barrel grenade launcher, a King (heavy weapons) with dedicated marksman rifle and two troopers with Minimi's). The Police are "Professionals" but a bit nobbled by weapon selection (an Ace with PDW (posh SMG), two veteran "brute squad" with ballistic shield and pistol, four "volunteers" with PDW's and bad stats (training? we don't need training when we're loyal to the President!) and another Heavy with a DMR as well).

Against us were two sets of conscripts, mostly poor quality but with proper military weapons - assault rifles, GPMGs. Judging by the figures one was from the Gendarmerie/Royalist armed police, whilst the other were ex-colonial militia from the politically charged, western influenced coastal industrial city (more armed police, and some chaps who I suspect have seen more action in Spain in '36 than Africa :D).

I surprised the ex-colonialists who had not appreciated that in modern firepower heavy games COVER IS KING and gave them a good going over as they moved up into the central area, whilst my allies moved on and faced off the other armed police. Our snipers were on the money but the enemy Police GPMG just kept shrugging off the hits and laid down enough suppressive auto to hold up our own Police "armoured conga line" for most of the game. There was a lot of back and forth and rushes covered by auto fire between the two, the ex-colonists never really recovered from their initial "three men down in the first burst" ambush but I did get cocky and lose the Special Forces leader to "some kid with a ten dollar AK" as he moved in to finish them off, whilst their Gimpy eventually found the range for my sniper, pinning him with suppressive fire which I then walked into thinking "faint heart, fair bride" and popped up anyway to get some shots in instead of cowering. Note - even a 2+ save on a d6 will inevitably fail at the vital moment :D

Played well, nice and quick even with the usual "new game faff", and we got through four full turns with the outcome never certain till half way thru the final one. Aces passing actions worked really nicely, it had the feel of modern fire and manoeuvre squad sized warfare (felt a bit like the unpleasant bits of Bluestone 42 or BlackHawk Down etc...), with different factions feeling actually being different, weapons being different but not overly complex, and requiring a bit of tactical thought to get through.

We played in 20mm, on an about four by three table, using inches as written and it looked and felt good - I can imagine in 28mm it'd be the usual complaint of figures looking odd to the ground scale, but I do think it'd look even better a couple of scales down to 10 or 15mm...

Quote from: toxicpixie on 08 July 2016, 09:02:58 AM
1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Osprey's "BlackOps"
2) What armies were confronted? - Special Forces & Armed Police versus two sets of separatist conscripts
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Pretty much at start, very by the end
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - Second game fir me, but first with live opponents. First for all the rest!
5) How many players were in the game? - Four

We knocked through a starter game of Osprey's recent-ish "special forces and secret agents" skirmish set...

Love it - thanks for the detail; this ruleset is fast becoming a staple of our club, simply because of its adaptability :)

Quote from: paulr on 03 July 2016, 08:02:29 PM

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - If the Lord Spares Us
2) What armies were confronted? ANZAC's vs Ottomans Suvla Bay April 1915
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes, but hadn't played for some months
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No
5) How many players were in the game? - Four

We were originally going to play this game around ANZAC Day but it been delayed a few times for various reasons but finally started last night. I came up with a bit of an alternative scenario that sees the ANZAC's going ashore at the flat plains near Suvla Bay rather than the vertical terrain at ANZAC cove. The game is ongoing with the ANZAC's about to engage the main Ottoman trench line having fairly easily rolled up the outlying defence works.

One of the advantages of our usual gaming venue (Roy's Place) is that he has a huge table (17ft x 5ft) and we can leave games set up without them being disturbed, unless Roy's cat feels adventurous. Though being winter here she prefers hybernating next to the logburner than anything too strenuous  Wink  

We were definitely a bit rusty on the rules but seem to have got back into the flow. The Kiwis are making good progress despite some shorts from the Royal Navy and the scenario is definitely interesting ;)

We continued this game last night - another good session for the Kiwi's, apart from the Wellington Battalion who lost half a company to more shorts from the RN  :-[

My Ottoman Gendarmarie battalion was thrown back and torn up, mainly by the Auckland Battalion (aka the JAFA's) who used some rather good tactics to take the left hand side of the main Ottoman trench line. My usual rubbish dice rolling didn't help. Rumour has it that they were told that there was a house with good location and sea views for less than $1m at the top of the hill I was defending so the rush was on. Sorry, bit of a Kiwi joke as housing affordability in Auckland is a real issue currently.

The other Ottoman battalion is still diligently hanging on in half its section of the trench line with its remaining two companies.

We will conclude the game next week as it still has some way to go. I get the Ottoman reserves to play with and they have only just started to arrive, including some decent artillery - I love the unit card activation system in ITLSU as you can never predict exactly what is going to happen first.

Will post a report and some pics after the final session next week.

And yes the cat was in front of the fire last night - but I did see her move  ;)

But that was only because Roy's wife picked her up ;)

On BlackOps -

Quote from: nikharwood on 10 July 2016, 12:15:12 AM
Love it - thanks for the detail; this ruleset is fast becoming a staple of our club, simply because of its adaptability :)

Yeah, they're simple enough but broad enough you can cover a lot, and it looks like the stealth & blind rules are simple enough to actually use in anger to add a bit more depth.

Everyone wants more Gimpys now, though. I'll have to get some more figures... Anyone know who makes Armed Response Police/SWAT types in 20mm with GPMGs?!

Alamein to Zem Zem, Germans and Imperialists, 2 experienced players. Easy enough, but I was frustrated that my South Africans, who should obviously have been the best of the best, kept recoiling from smaller German forces. Fortunately, a suicidal-looking tank attack paid off, literally ramming and crushing a pesky 88.

Perhaps not wanting to be too tough on their erstwhile supporters.

Germany missed a big chance not trying harder to support the Boers.

I actually managed 2 games over the weekend! Well kind of.....

First up.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Twilight of the Sun King updated version.
2) What armies were confronted? - Russian & allies vs. Ottomans & allies, 1711
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - I set up the game and then left the players to play. 2 were experienced with rules but never used these troops and 2 new players
5) How many players were in the game? - Four


The battle was a trial run of a semi historic 1711 battle scenario for a scenario booklet - a field battle with the equivalent of roughly 90,000 a side. The Russians probably deployed too extended and would probably have been better with a shorter line with greater depth. The Ottomans (and their Tatar, Swedish, Polish and Cossack allies) sent forces all along the Russian (and Moldavian/Wallachian) line to do pinning attacks. Then they used their 'good stuff' to punch some holes in the Russian lines, they were in 2 lines, but the Russians didn't really have a reserve to plug these gaps. So the Ottomans were soon swarming through the gaps and it was not pleasant for the Russians.

I was popping over to watch the above game while actually playing ......


1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Black Powder with SYW modifications
2) What armies were confronted? - Prussians vs Austrian
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Understood them - yes, like them NO
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No - played about 10 games of this or the other versions of the rules
5) How many players were in the game? - Two


OK so I had a nice game with a great opponent with lots of laughs, unfortunately often at how stupid the rules are. I am sorry I just don't get why people like these rules! I have tried but not for me.

Give Honours of War a try. I switched to them entirely from Black Powder - best SYW I've used (about fifth rule set I've tried for this period) and don't think I'll need to try any others now.

I have already tried Honours of War and didn't like them either. We actually have a SYW set we like we have just been trying Black Powder (and family) because they seem so popular.

Well that certainly  proves different strokes.......

I love Honours of War and find it's really easy to pick up after not playing it for a while. I wish the same could be said of BP and other rulesets :(

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Dragon Rampant.
2) What armies were confronted? - My 15mm barbarians against my 15mm beastmen
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - yes, quick easy rules.
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No, several games played now at least.
5) How many players were in the game? - 4, two on each side with 36 AP a side

The beastmen had to get across the table to their lair in an old mine; the barbarians had to stop them. The beastmen only managed to get one unit to safety, Mighty Bodvoc, the Barbarian leader managed to kill a Wyvern before he was taken out by a pesky magic user and  :)some armoured beastmen whose luck at rolling 6's with their mystical armour was unbelievable! They threw six 6's out of seven attempts! This was the first time Bodvoc had been 'slain' but he will rise again!
Dragon Rampant is a really fun game, perfectly suited for a group game, there was lots of laughter.

1. Honours of War

2. Poor quality Prussians v. Russians

3. Yes

4. No, very familiar with these

5. Two players.

My good mate Chris has just been up for a short gaming day. We got in 2 games as follows...

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Dragon Rampant.
2) What armies were confronted? - My 15mm Barbarians v Chris's Pendraken Ratmen
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes.
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No.
5) How many players were in the game? - 2 with 24 AP a side

One of those strange games where I easily scored most 'Glory Points', thus supposedly winning yet Chris wiped my Barbarians out whilst he still had 3 units left? We called it a draw.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Deadzone.
2) What armies were confronted? - Forgefathers v Enforcers (all supplied by Chris)
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - yes, quick easy rules.
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No, but first game with the much improved 2nd edition. They give a cleaner faster moving game with less clutter.
5) How many players were in the game? - 2

I was determined not to like this as I do not need another new game...but I liked it and now need another new game! I think Chris let me win and he has 'kindly' lent me a spare rulebook; he knows how to get me hooked.
A great few hours of gaming with one of my best mates.

1. SP2
2. FIW French with Indian and Canadian Militia Allies v Provincial 'British' Forces
3. Absolutely
4. No
5. Solo

A savage battle on a table littered with woods, hills, swamps and rocky outcrops.

Both sides skirmish units (French Chasseurs, Canadian Milice v Settlers and Frontier skirmishers) really dominated the game especially in the woods and rocky outcrops. The Indians also had a good game drawing out the Provinicials and then mauling them in fisticuffs.

The Provincial Commander spent most of the game rallying off shock and as the game drew to a close with both sides equally battered the game ended in a draw. Casualties were horrendous on both sides.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Warmachine
2) What armies were confronted? - Cryx v Mercenaries
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes.
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No (2nd time only though)
5) How many players were in the game? - 2 with a couple of hecklers  ;)

I'm liking Warmachine - and the models are v coolio; can see a couple of small factions getting purchased at some point soon.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - FogR
2) What armies were confronted? - my 10mm Tibetans vs Pete's 15mm Mapuche, a warm up game for Attack Doubles at Devizes
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - yes, it was to get Pete warmed up!
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - nope
5) How many players were in the game? - two

Great game, it ended up a 12-8 to Pete, I was one unit off breaking, but had taken his camp and had ruined his cavalry wings while holding his heavy infantry line up with two light horse units and sone slingers!  :d

Pete's view of the game:
(http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc94/madlemmey/image_zpsp2nvuke5.jpeg) (http://s214.photobucket.com/user/madlemmey/media/image_zpsp2nvuke5.jpeg.html)

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Honours of War
2) What armies were confronted? - Austrians vs Prussians
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Very
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No
5) How many players were in the game? - 4, one of which was new to the game.

A cracking days gaming with good friends and to boot a visit from Stuart Asquith, who is a great laugh and very down to earth. Hopefully we can meet up again this year for more of the same.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Wargaming 19thC Europe
2) What armies were confronted? - Red vs Blue
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes (see below)
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - First run through
5) How many players were in the game? - Solo

Given it was my first game, it all ran very smoothly and incredibly easy to pick up. I used the mini game with 5 units a side on a 2'x2' table, which was perfect. Next up will be a bigger game, using the 1st Schleswig-Holstein War as a basis for the forces.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Repique II
2) What armies were confronted? - Federal v Confederate
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Still getting to grips with the mechanisms
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No
5) How many players were in the game? - 6

Some nice innovative ideas in these rules, operating on a divisional scale and then telescoping down to brigade scale. As it is playing card driven moves, actions and sequencing are random. Firing is ineffectual but regimental columns are deadly. Some of our players liked the divisional scale, but the telescoping in and out made it feel as though it was two sets of rules trying to be one. Probably a set of rules for the shelf, but I may dip in to it for ideas and mechanisms.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - four games of FogR at Attack in Devizes
2) What armies were confronted? - Mapuche vs 1 X Mughal, 1 X Maratha, 1 X Safyiad Persian, 1 X Burmese
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - yes
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - no
5) How many players were in the game? - double competition, barring a few absences, 16 of us

Three games yesterday. First I drove to mate Chris's house where we played Dragon Rampant. His ratmen narrowly defeating my barabrians in a close fought game. Bodvoc and his brave warriors had to run around the battlefield trying to fill in lots of ratholes before the ratmen came running out. A good and amusing scenario devised by Chris.

What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Dragon Rampant
2) What armies were confronted? - 15mm Barbarians v Ratmen (24 points per side)
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - very
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No
5) How many players were in the game? -2

Next up we had another go at Deadzone with me having rapidly painted up an Enforcer squad over the past few days. Chris narrowly won this game too!

What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Deadzone
2) What armies were confronted? - Orcs v Enforcers
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Mainly yes, particularly as Chris knows them so well.
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - second
5) How many players were in the game? - 2

Then I drove up to Bentham to see my gaming pals thee for a large game of Dragon Rampant. Here my 28mm LOTR elves took on a mighty 28mm Wolfen army and soundly thrashed it!

What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Dragon RampantI
2) What armies were confronted? - 28mm Elves of Lothlorien v Wolfen (36points per side)
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - yes
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No
5) How many players were in the game? - 5

The weather made it all very hot work but 3 very enjoyable games despite all the driving.
Next up, 15mm ECW using Baroque hopefully this Sunday.

1, SP2 FIW scenario 2 of a campaign I am working on
2. French Marines (debut outing) with Indian and Canadian Support v Regular British with Ranger support
3. Very
4. No
5. Solo

The British were moving up supplies in typically challenging terrain - the French were attempting to stop them.

The British secured a hefty win although the Indian allies performed well some very unlucky runs of cards meant the British were ably to deploy pretty much unchallenged and wait for the French to make their moves. When they did repeated volleys did the necessary damage.

This was the second of a series of scenarios I am hoping to pull into a pint-sized campaign. Playtesting the scenarios to iron out any issues and so far no major issues.

1. FOG

2. Indian 1250 v. Chinese 1250

3. The turn pattern is becoming clear, so I knew some of the dice and scores I had to get without being told

4. Second time I've been given a sub-command - Chinese crossbows and infantry with heavy weapon.

5. Four players

1. Warband
2. Undead V Hill Dwarves
3. Unusually no - haven't played for a while and hadn't realised how much I had forgot, but picked it up once I started playing again. My deployment was awful which led to a very simple victory for the stumpy people
4. No
5. Solo

Last minute game before I am starved of wargaming whilst away on holiday with the family.

Hefty victory for the stumpys due to an awfully poorly thought out deployment by the undead.

Quote from: Nosher on 22 July 2016, 10:14:59 AM
Hefty victory for the stumpys due to an awfully poorly thought out deployment by the undead.

That's cos they iz undead innit...no brainz ;)

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Baroque.
2) What armies were confronted? - 15mm Early War Royalists v Parliamentarian
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - More or less, but as this was a bigger game with 4 commands per side it threw up a few situations that needed to be looked up in the rules.
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No, probably 4th game by now.
5) How many players were in the game? - 4, two on each side with about 650 points and 4 commands per side.

Loosely based on the battle of Whalley in 1643, I used the terrain and deployment of the original battle but added in extra units and totally made up command figures.

The view from the Parliamentarian left wing.
(http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh499/Merlin1960/Aleft%20wing_zpskqlh3fot.jpg)

The view towards their right wing.
(http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh499/Merlin1960/Aright%20wing_zpsy5obbrzv.jpg)

The Royalist cavalry advance.
(http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh499/Merlin1960/Acavalry%20advance%20_zpsh0k8jgn0.jpg)

The Scots valiantly hold onto the enclosure by Reads hall. (There were no Scots at the real battle but as John had painted up some we thought it best to use them).
(http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh499/Merlin1960/Adragoons_zpsttvjowio.jpg)

End result: a draw as we ran out of time. We played 'one last turn' as so many Commands were close to breaking but none of them actually did. It really could have gone either way but people needed to leave with quite a distance to travel. A great fun game though and played in the right spirit with plenty of banter too!

That is a REALLY good looking game!  And great skill with the camera. =D> =D> =D>

Mollinary

Nice!

Was that each command at 650pts so 1300pts per side, or 650 in two commands of @325pts  per?

Top looking game!

Great looking game and hopefully my rules arrive this week :)

Great looking game. I too use 15mm early war Western armies, but they do need an awful lot of painting.

Thanks for the kind comments guys, I used my little tripod for the photos, it has bendy legs, ideal for getting into good positions for photos.
The game was 650 points per side with 4 commands per side, certainly our biggest game yet but with 4 of us painting and collecting the armies grow quite quickly.

Nice looking wee game there, Bodvoc. Figures looking really good. All done justice to by some nifty photography.  =D>
And what's also good to note is that you all had a good time! Huzzah!  :)

So that's a couple of units per command, plus a general? Doesn't seem much but I guess with the action/reactions, small command ranges and not losing your impetus bonus till Exhausted its still a decent amount of grunt for a player?

I'm currently in the throes of putting four armies together in 2mm and the suggested 600pts per side with three commanders only comes to about eight or nine units per army, which seems very small...

650 points a side with 4 commands was between 2-4 units per command. Previously we tried larger commands and it proved difficult to break anyone. We are still getting used to the rules but do like them. Another problem we have is that when we all get together for a game we chat too much about future projects, current projects etc... :)

Sounds like us, Bodvoc. A 90 minute game takes three hours as there's pre-game faff & chat, in game faff & chat, and then "oh sh!t, we've not finished and it's nearly pack up time!" faff & chat.

Ok, cool, you've found a 2-4 unit command is enough to keep interest for a player? Nice to know, my usual group plays a lot of Impetus and we usually have a command each which tends to give 6-9 or so units, so I'm a bit wary about the higher cost, lower unit count in Baroque but they do seem "meatier" :)

Back to paid work 10mm C18th tricorns for me, until Irregular deliver my personal 2mm ECW bits and bobs and I slip back to Baroque :)

Ten More Sons!, two players, Burmese vs Indians. I had superior artillery but elected to attack in a rainstorm in the hope that the superior Moghul cavalry would be neutralised by a muddy field. Hmmm...mainly neutralised my own shooting.

QuoteOk, cool, you've found a 2-4 unit command is enough to keep interest for a player? Nice to know, my usual group plays a lot of Impetus and we usually have a command each which tends to give 6-9 or so units, so I'm a bit wary about the higher cost, lower unit count in Baroque but they do seem "meatier" Smiley

If we had been doing a two player game then I would probably have gone with 3 commands per 650 points but as we were a group of 4 players I went for 4 commands, two each to keep everyone in the game and it seemed to work out OK. Typical of me, one of my commanders  Level 1) threw a double 1 on the second turn, dropping a level to incompetent and then proceeded to throw a double most turns in the Initiative phase which meant he could not issue commands that turn! This meant my whole command of horse spent most of the game dithering :(
When we play Impetus we normally have larger commands too.

Cheers Bodvoc!

Being 2mm, even in my limited personal painting time and funds I can knock up four armies, and as I've gone with 60mm base widths they'll fit on a 2ft by 1.5ft ish board, so I can get four people playing at the club :) Don't think that'll lend itself in just sheer tiny physical size for two players per side but might fire them into getting an army :)

Great looking battle, Bodvoc 8)

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Mortem et Gloria (MeG)
2) What armies were confronted? - Later Imperial Romans vs Persians
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - getting there
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - third
5) How many players were in the game? - two

I took a tonking as I stupidly went in to combat as individual units, and Dracostandard, who knows the rules far better than I, took me to pieces in detail. Great game, learned a huge amount.
And remembered a huge lesson from the days of WRG 6th, unsupported Roman Cavalry die!
As punishment (game was over by nine) I came home and finished a unit of light foot, two units of Auxilia and a unit of catefractorii!

1. BBB

2. Hanoverian v. Prussian 1866

3. Yes

4. No, fair number of games under my belt now.

5. Two players

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Blucher
2) What armies were confronted? - 1809 French v Austrians
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes, despite it being our first game
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? Yes, yes it was
5) How many players were in the game? - Two players, one umpire/rule arbitrator/maker of coffee


Got through 18 turns in an evening - not bad for a first outing. My stoic Austrians defended their positions and roundly defeated two corps level attacks without breaking into their reserve.

First the French launched I Corps against my Avant Garde on the left flank - they were repulsed by a grenadier counterattack and artillery support from I Korps - Austrian hussars were working around their flank by game end, although one battery had been forced to retire and the Grenz brigade was shattered by the experience of countering 4 French brigades.

Next the French launched II Corps against the central Austrian ridgeline occupied by I Korps, this was pounded on the approach and despite some grim assault odds rebuffed at knife point, where stuck in the mire the French were pounded by artillery and skirmish fire and all but ceased to exist as a fighting formation.

In desperation (I think Andy was channelling Ney) the French launched the Reserve Cavalry Corps (columns of cuirassiers), who charged up the hill, bounced and fled back down it again. Prepared Infantry uphill are quite tough it seems - although they did force another battery to retire.

French III Corps approached behind the wreckage of II Corps but thought better of it. Austrian II Korps hadn't been involved (except for artillery support) and they together with the Kuirassier reserve had a pleasant day picnicking in the sun.

All good fun and very few mistakes that we could identify. We will be returning to it soon - back to D&D again for a while though

Ten More Sons!, Ava Burmese vs Ming Chinese, 2 players. YES! The Burmese have finally won a battle. :)

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Impetus
2) What armies were confronted? - Late Roman v Hun Confederation
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? No
5) How many players were in the game? - Two

Attila proved victorious in our re-run of Catalaunian Fields but it was a damn close run thing as ever. Moment of the game was Theoderic dying in a most historic manner. And Sangiban, rolling double and losing his activation just as the Huns swarmed over his command.

We love Impetus, as always it came right down to the wire with Aetius almost managing to grab victory in the closing moments with his second rate pseudo-comitatenses managing to hold the full bore charge of several large gothic warbands. In the end the Roman foederati Saxons couldn't stand against the Gepid nobles and the army morale collapsed as they were overrun.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Impetus Baroque
2) What armies were confronted? - Early Imperialists vs Swedes
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? Yes
5) How many players were in the game? - One

As Ms Pixie and the bairn are away, I have some free time so am getting a few games in; last nights was Baroque "I can't believe it's not Bretenfeld". I've just completed some 2mm Irregular figures for it (@£25 for four armies worth, bargain!), and even using multiple blocks per base 60mm "brigade bases" mean a two foot board. Am hoping to drive some easy take up at the club, as it's got a low rules AND table foot print.

Anyway, poor maps meant Tillys deployment hampered him more than helped, Swedes are tough to close on, Tercios are scary until they get shot up, and the Finns are bloody terrifying when you can let 'em rip. Outcome looked like a Swedish defeat for most of the game, until Gustav's cavalry wing stopped dithering in front of a stalled Tercio and left it to race across the back of their lines and stave off a successful flank attack by the Germans. Good stuff, think after a few games it'll be dead quick as I'll have memorised the Reaction options and chances, and not have to keep stopping to think "errr, wait, hang on, some one should do something here, who can do what, err...". Good stuff, well recommended if you're at all an Impetus or c17th fan.

One thing it reminded me is that I really need to buy rules on paper. A tablet copy is great for reading and very portable, but flicking back and forth during a game on it is a pain. I finish with a piccy!

Interesting stuff - I think you could have fitted more of the little blocks on the bases  :d

I too am thinking about needing a hard copy of impetus - not sure whether to spring £15 to get the PDF printed properly or just print it myself, but it might use that much ink the professional printing and binding would be cheaper!

Quote from: fred. on 01 August 2016, 04:22:00 PM
Interesting stuff - I think you could have fitted more of the little blocks on the bases  :d

I too am thinking about needing a hard copy of impetus - not sure whether to spring £15 to get the PDF printed properly or just print it myself, but it might use that much ink the professional printing and binding would be cheaper!

Yes, I could have squeezed a lot more on - my inspiration for actually getting them sorted was http://steelonsand.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/2mm%20ECW (http://steelonsand.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/2mm%20ECW) where he's really got them packed in and it looks even better! However, cost and time and speed meant they were actually a little bit thinner on the ground than I'd have gone for. I'd actually have liked to use 15mm base sizes (12cm wide) and gone "full size" with even more figures on but that would defeat the object of being able to run two games in a one game space :D

I suspect just buying a copy on dead tree would be cheaper than printing :D

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Battlesheep
2) What armies were confronted? - Sheep vs Sheep
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes, it's battleships, with sheep!
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - yes
5) How many players were in the game? - 2, my eldest Imi and I.

Imi thrashed me! 🐏⚔🐏

Not sure I agree about the number of blocks per base. Sometimes the sheer number of blocks just makes them look like a blob rather than being able to see the formations being aimed for. Not sure I would do the blocks the same as I did for Langensaltza again. Will try to get a more accurate look next time, but it will probably mean more blocks without flags.

Lemmy got in while I was posting. my post is directed at Toxic.

Shame, coz it makes sense!

For a limited value of "sense", Will :D Battlesheep, hey? I must keep an eye out for that for me and the bairn :D

Andy, I liked your Langensalza chaps - I went for 20mm by 15mm bases for 2mm BB, which in hindsight was an error. I'd already stuck and flocked a shed load of 1866 stuff for an abortive former project, so followed suit. Should have sucked up popping them off and going with larger squares (makes game play easier!), and used a couple of blocks per base for storm columns, or a line and a skirmish for Prussian style etc.

I know what you mean about too many blocks spoiling the look but so long as the base size and figure numbers look about right... which I *think* I hit?! Just bigger bases still could have even more representative figure to man to formation ratios...

Tbh I'm thinking the 3mm ACW blocks are looking better. My next 2mm effort will be the frontier battles in 1866 so I'll be looking to do Austrian columns v Prussian lines. Will use Millenary's photos for inspiration.

This is not the game we played, but if anything looks more fun!
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/54137/battle-sheep

If we're doing animal themed games you might like Battle Cattle: The Card Game

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2458/battle-cattle-card-game

I picked up a set second hand at one of the board game conventions.

The 3mm blocks give a lot more "wiggle room" for actual painting instead of the very "squint at arms length" that the 2mm blocks give... your's in the photo's do look good!

Will, your link looks a bit like Wooly Bully? That's fun, I got that as a Crimble pressie for sister & BiL... Ithoriel, I have a copy of Battle Cattle! Fully compatible with the Car Wars card game ;)

I wonder if I still have "Danger! Unexploded Cows!" in the loft...

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Frostgrave
2) What armies were confronted? - My Level 24 Necromancer versus a regular opponents level 16 Necromancer.
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Very.
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - Nope, not at all :D
5) How many players were in the game? - two

We're part way through the "Liche Lord" campaign, and last nights game was where he shows his hand - as usual we were skirmishing over treasure in the ruined city of Felstad, but this time over a square full of treasure, in a snow storm. Then the green lightning hit the obelisks at the corners, and the dead rose all across the city...

My opponent brought a knife to a gun fight, and rolled appallingly in the first couple of turns we contacted, going down to 50% losses and securing only one treasure for me seeing loss of a single warhound and securing the other five treasures. Quite rapidly he was down to just his Wizard in the central square facing everyone in my warband who hadn't run off with treasure (his apprentice and two archers decided to peg it with their single treasure token)!

I tried to set it up so my Wizard could finish off his, but stuffed it and killed him with someone else before I could get in, having been rather hampered by the skeletons rising all round me.

Fortunately for my opponent he didn't lose anyone permanently in the post game rolls, which is good as he's been hammered recently and got very little treasure. I used my new Telekinesis and Fog spells for the first time, and they're an awesome combo. I can see why our Enchanter had done so well before as they're his favourites :) Funny, when you start it looks like the blast spells are overpowered, just a little bit of thought and they become a bit irrelevant ;0

Later tonight, ECW Baroque, hopefully (solo), and tomorrow D&D.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Baroque
2) What armies were confronted? -  1643 Royalist v Parliamentarian
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Mainly, yes.
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - We have had several games now and are getting used to the rules, not even needed the reference sheet for factors now.
5) How many players were in the game? - 3, two parliamentarian commanders trying to get across the river in a vain attempt to stop a Royalist advance, we got thumped, not helped by the fact that the dice did not allow us to finds the fords quickly enough and my gallant charge across the only bridge led to the untimely demise of Sir Thomas Fairfax.

Another great game of Baroque did lead me to wonder about how Dragoons are rated and I would quite like to hear from other Baroque players on this issue. With their VBU of 5 matching most Pike and Musket units rating also of 5 (or at best 6) a unit of dragoons is an equal match to most Pike and Shot units who get no bonus for their pike in the melee with Dragoons being rated as Mounted Infantry (not a Mounted unit as detailed in the troop classifications). 
Any thoughts or opinions?

Played an ECW solo game the other night, and Dragoons... well, with even a point lower VBU they got blown away as soon as any serious P&M units got blasting! Or shoved out the way quite easily as the lines closed up. They were *very* useful whilst they lasted, though.

I'd have to play a bit more to really comment though. I try not to monkey with stuff these days until we've blasted through as written a *lot*.

1. FOG

2. Late Romans v Picts

3. Not really. Can't get my head around the abstract way units manoeuvre. Also find it difficult to play when it appears you need to know in intimate detail what your army is capable of and what your opponents army is capable of, and there are about three million army lists and honestly I'm not that arsed. Considering PP's Conquerors and Kings as a viable option.

4. No, but I'm just not getting a buzz from them.

5. Two players plus umpire.

Peter Pig's C&K is a bit dodgy - we tried it, too many holes. If that's the style game you're after try Too The Strongest.

Better still just change to Impetus  :D

Actually, I discovered To the Strongest today, so may well give it a go.

Quote from: Leman on 08 August 2016, 07:13:35 PM
Actually, I discovered To the Strongest today, so may well give it a go.

I have now played it quite a bit, and find it great fun. I have even started working on an ECW variant with Simon Miller, the author. I used the Ancient rules to do Pharsalus for the SOA games day, and reprised it at Baccus' Joy of Six show the other week. It worked really well.

Mollinary

I liked the look of the ECW version from the Facebook page. I think I will have to get these

Simon contacted me yesterday about an ECW version. I was pleased about this as I haven't taken to the new version of Regiment of Foote at all.

QuotePlayed an ECW solo game the other night, and Dragoons... well, with even a point lower VBU they got blown away as soon as any serious P&M units got blasting! Or shoved out the way quite easily as the lines closed up. They were *very* useful whilst they lasted, though.

Thanks for your comments, yet we found the opposite. A unit of P+M foot (who all get the -2 shooting factor) were blown away by the dragoons who then went on to out fight the next unit. So 2 P+M units taken out by one unit of dragoons who were hardly scratched?

I suspect it's likely a situational issue, as my evidence is based on one game, whilst yours is over a few more?

In their detriment - Dragoons can't Defensive Fire, so they have to rely on less likely to occur Op Fire to stop a charge. No pike, so very vulnerable to mounted, although Evasion will help as they move as fast as most.

The rest of my thinking is essentially based on the difference between being a point down on VBU but if you're P&M are the same VBU then that doesn't help. Disorder and a hit means you're testing on three's instead of fours in the cohesion test which hurts, even the bonus for range helps the higher VBU unit more. But if all/most of your P&M are cheap VBU 5 ones then they're the same :D

Try floating it on the Impetus forum, see what they say. I hesitate to tinker much for a long while these days, but I can see where you're coming from and it looks a reasonable argument.

I shall have a look on the Impetus forum later for comments re. dragoons although activity there is somewhat slow compared to this one :)

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? -Deadzone
2) What armies were confronted? -  Forge fathers, Vermyn, Plague and Rebs
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes, quick easy and loads of fun.
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - Third game, easy to pick up.
5) How many players were in the game? - 4 of which I came 3rd but one of my Forge Fathers got the 'Man of the Match' award for taking out so many Rebs and then soaking up loads of enemy fire before finally making a heroic dash for glory and dying in the attempt to snatch some Victory points.

1. Field of Battle 2

2. Keller v Hoysee - imaginations campaign set around the 1860s. Keller has tended to copy Prussian fashions, whilst Hoysee troops hanker to be Austrians.

3. Yes, excellent set providing an unpredictable swings and roundabouts game.

4. No, been using Piquet variants since the 90s, but this is the best set yet in my opinion.

5. Two player game.

In the ongoing Kleine Hoysee affair, the Kellerites had made a successful landing of troops from the Great River into Hoysee territory. This followed their successful naval battle against the Hoysee ironclad, the Jakob Parrsonnes. However their bid to take the vital river port and area of Kleine Hoysee came to nought when a Hoysee relief force turned up to thwart them. The game seemed to be going in Keller's favour, especially when a winning 9 card hand included two artillery and two rifle reloads. Unfortunately, the 9 card Hoysee hand included two command cards, enabling the Hoysee army to regain both morale, strength and disorder. Having been reinvigorated the Hoysee army launched a number of successful counter-attacks, driving the Kellerites from the field.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Mortiem et Gloria
2) What armies were confronted? - Kushan vs Later Imperial Roman
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - still finding our way round.
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - Forst game for Gareth, first independent game for me.
5) How many players were in the game? - two.

1. BBB

2. Hanover v Prussia 1866

3. Feeling very comfortable with these rules now. This was the third outing for this scenario. Again the Hanoverians were defeated as the Prussians put in attack after attack on Merxleben. They inflicted a lot of damage on the Hanoverians, but received even more. Both sides had spent and disrupted units who were low on ammo. In move 8 (final move) the unthinkable happened. The Prussians were hanging on by a thread in Mills and Bad. A successful attack by the Hanoverians would have given them a well deserved draw. With three possible attacks, the Hanoverians threw rally on the spot and two throws of hold and remain disrupted. The Prussian player used the Landwehr very imaginatively by sending them down the road to Thamsbruck and holding the attention of an entire brigade for 6 moves. Once the Hanoverians were able to cross the Unstrut a quick dash down the road would have secured Langensaltza for them. Again a poor dice roll meant they could only move at half speed and they were unable to reach the town. A very hard fought victory for the Prussians.

4. Used these rules a lot now. They always give an exciting and entertaining game.

5. Two players plus me acting as umpire. The game took 2 3/4 hours, including one of the player's ciggy breaks so that I and the other player could go and have a look at the giant 10mm BP Crimean game.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Twilight of the Sun King
2) What armies were confronted? - Ottoman vs Russian, 1711
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - yes
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? -no.
5) How many players were in the game? - two.

A play test of a scenario for the 1711 campaign. The game is played on a long table and features the Russian cavalry advance guard faced with a choice between trying to seize a vital bridge or withdraw to the safety of the main army. The Ottomans have limited forces at first but surround the Russians and build up as the game progresses. The Russian player decided to go for the bridge and had some initial success. But the Ottoman forces just hung on long enough for some of the reinforcements/uncommitted forces to arrive at the action. It was then backs to the wall time as the Russians attempted to withdraw, unsuccessfully.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Mortiem et Gloris
2) What armies were confronted? - Later Roman vs Alan's
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Increasingly. Second game on as senior player vs someone who has never played before.
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - see above.
5) How many players were in the game? - two

I lost two legions to flank charges by the C-in-C's unit of lancers. However Mark lost because he only had one fighting unit in table, which broke. The rest were on a flank march. Mark never managed to get the marchers on table! :(

1. BBB Hanover v Prussia - 4th game introducing yet another club member to the rules (another convert).

2. Once again Hanover given a hard time by both the Prussians and the dice. The Hanoverians in Nagelstadt rolled four 4s on the bounce for movement whilst the brigade in Thamsbruck had only slightly better luck. Consequently the Prussians drove into Merxleben with only two infantry units to contend with, and after three successive charges drove the Hanoverians back 9", and then pursued and caught them again on the southern ridge. Despite being beaten, the Hanoverians could not get a good enough roll to follow up. In the final move the Hanoverians retook Merxleben, but no time left to grab a draw by crossing and taking Bad and Mills (known in the club as Mills and Boon).

3. Very comfortable with the rules now.

4. Lots of use in four different conflicts - ACW, FAW, APW, FPW.

5. Two players.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - MeG (Mortiem et Gloria)
2) What armies were confronted? - Alexandrian Macedonian vs Classical Persian
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - increasingly so.
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - sixth game, third in a row.
5) How many players were in the game? - four, we played doubles.

Great but bloody draw, Alexander's flanks were fragile, but at the same time he punched through the middle. ☠👍😎

1. Regimental Fire and Fury

2. Army of Tennessee v erm... not sure - Army of the Tennessee or Army of the Cumberland

3. Very comfortable with this set, but normally only with relatively small forces. This game involved a crack brigade (Govan's) from Cleburne's division attempting to disrupt Union deployment early on in the battle of Pickett's Mill. Confederate victory conditions were very specific, owing to the disparity of the forces involved, i.e. five Confederate infantry regiments up against nine Union regiments in two brigades supported by two gun batteries. Needless to say the Union troops were of poorer quality and were also lumbered with an overly cautious brigadier in charge of the reserve troops. This was a quick six move affair, so was played twice with one Confederate and one Union victory. In both games the victory was only achieved in move six.

4. I have played this rule set a number of times each year since they were published.

5. Two players.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Blucher
2) What armies were confronted? - 1810 French v British in the Peninsula
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes, despite it being only our second game
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? No, not this time
5) How many players were in the game? - Two players, one umpire/rule arbitrator/maker of coffee

Set this match up using the Scharnhorst campaign system - slick and easy, generated an interesting situation with both sides having off table reserves.

The British found themselves having to storm a town across a small brook - never fun but they had substantial qualitative and numerical advantage in the area - the other (right) flank so the light brigade and some Portuguese cavalry try and hold a French Allied brigade and Reserve cavalry Corps at a second crossing.

Sadly the British commander couldn't stick to his plan and dithered before assaulting, allowing a French reserve Corps to bolster the defence, by the time he got his attack underway the position was too strong and his available reserves had been entangled in the sad tale of the right flank. Here the cavalry foolishly attempted to hold the line at the river bank, much to the glee of the enemy sharpshooters who practiced their target practice supported first by a heavy battery then by the cavalry's horse battery. not even the arrival of the Horse Guards from reserve could do much as the French Allies swarmed and overwhelmed the isolated Light brigade. very ordinary French Dragoons, held the charge of the Elite British heavies and then threw them back.

The British position was irrecoverable, with some final salt being rubbed in by some French chasseurs who caught a KGL brigade unprepared and broke it in the centre.

Good fun as usual - managed 18 turns even with the dithering. Waiting for my Austrian cards to arrive so we can have a bash at Eckhmul.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Blucher
2) What armies were confronted? - Allied Austro-Russian versus French and their lackeys
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes, even with the size of the game and missing the first part due to breaking the toilet and having to take the host to B&Q to get the bits to fix it :D
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No, but I never quite seem to be able to play a full game (see above)!
5) How many players were in the game? - four, two per side

We had a big game of Blucher on the weekend - 400pts, the ALlies being 50/50 Russian/Austrians, each a separate army on half maximum shiny things. I think the French just picked one massive army off the normal maxima. This somewhat accidentally replicated command and control headaches for the Allies, as we ended up with seven Corps to their four :D

Scharnhorst went swimmingly for us, despite me being at B&Q buying toilet repair supplies!), as my Russian co-general split the French and used his Guard and my big infantry Corps to victimise the Polish Corps on its own. Sadly the gallant Poles held on (one unit from breaking!) until the French heavy cavalry arrived from the rear to reinforce them. The Russians dithered on the flanks whilst the now rather depleted Austrians & the Russian Guard tried exhausted to drive the final nails into Poniaowski & the horse boys coffins bit too late - the rest of the French and their lackeys sprang up on the flanks.

The Russians flank guards didn't, lost their arty, and let the French Dragoons ride round them and into the now reeling Austrian centre. We'd finished off the Poles, but then hordes of cavalry were overruning our depleted and exhausted infantry brigades and massed artillery, whilst the Russians continued to dither! On the other flank a massive pair of Corps of French & Allied infantry had arrived, deployed against the thin white line and commenced a general attack. The brave Austrian (noticing a theme here? The Tsar appears willing to fight to the last Austrian...) Cuiraissiers and infantry fought tenaciously to hold them back, and did so for several hours despite massed French artillery and overwhelming numbers, but it was invain. Eventually we cracked, they poured across the bridges and scrambled across the shallow parts of the river and we were forced to retire from the field, ceding Bohemia to the dastardly French.

Next time, Napoleon, next time!

Really good game, out come in doubt all the way right from the start. Each side had ended up with 31 fighting units, with the French having an edge in arty numbers whilst our cavalry was better (barring the cossacks). French infantry with their Skirmish trait were better than the rather bland Austrians with no specials (although the Avant Guard of both my attacking, centre corps and my blocking flank corps deserve medals!) or the Russians with their defensive bonus from Steady, but their cavalry was better due to better usage - very historical! Our heavies either painfully crawled round villages or were deployed out the fight (think they'd taken the Russian tactic to heart :D) then had to face a humongous amount of fresh and ready infantry liberally supported by massed artillery. Then  the remnants got chased off by the supporting cavalry. The Hussars had a particularly bad day. They got utterly hammered by arty then fled from the Chasseurs :D

By the end the French were refusing to shoot off their arty and retire, as that would have broken them as an army. We ended up retiring on 50% Broken and Retired, and the French were one unit off that as well, and that on turn 26! Nearly, so nearly...

Quote from: Zippee on 26 August 2016, 11:12:11 AM

3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes, despite it being only our second game
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? No, not this time

Best answer to these two questions EVER! ;D
Me guy be time to relax graze or combine q2 & 3?

Quote from: mad lemmey on 26 August 2016, 01:54:18 PM
Me guy be time to relax graze or combine q2 & 3?

Probe lemons wish Otto carrot?

What ruleset? Mixture of the Osprey Ronin and En Garde Rules. Ronin forces but the better En Garde combat resolution stuff.
What armies? 4 bands of Samurai and one of Sohei monks. 3 bands attacking and 2 defending.
Did you feel comfortable with the ruleSet? Sort of though combining the two was confusing and it took us ages to actually sort out the warbands.
First time? First time using the combination of the two sets.
How many players? 5, each with a 10 figure warband.

We didn't reach a conclusion, partly I think because it took sooooo long to sort the warbands.
It was also the case that with most people having heavy or medium armour it was very hard to kill anyone. One round of Melees, 5 figures vs 5 figures resulted in a grand total of 2 light wounds, one of which was ignored anyway because of a figure's toughness attribute.

Musketeers etc in En Garde die much quicker and so games don't take as long.

Overall great fun and I'm looking forward to getting my En Garde "Red Guard" on the table. They look suspiciously like the "Cardinal's Guard in a certain tv series so I hope they don't die as easily. I've given mine a different uniform to encourage them to live longer.

Quote from: Ithoriel on 26 August 2016, 02:08:07 PM
Probe lemons wish Otto carrot?

More likely postillions on weed methinks.

Quote from: mad lemmey on 26 August 2016, 01:54:18 PM
Best answer to these two questions EVER! ;D
Me guy be time to relax graze or combine q2 & 3?

Try again (bloodyphone) Maybe time to rephrase or combine q2 & 3?

Quote from: mad lemmey on 26 August 2016, 04:05:32 PM
Try again (bloodyphone) Maybe time to rephrase or combine q2 & 3?

Or maybe q3 & 4?

Where would the fun be in that?  ;D

Maybe in future I'll just randomise my answers and you lot can work what goes with what  :D

1) What rules did you use in your last game? - La Flota. Beta test of my home grown Armada period naval rules.
2) What forces were involved? - Spanish vs English. Spanish had 2 small, 2 medium, 2 large galleons and an Atlantic galleass guarding 1 large and 3 medium merchant ships from an English force of 2 small, 2 medium and 2 large galleons and 2 pairs of Cromsters
3) How many players were involved? - 2
4) How many times have you used these rules? - Only this once with this iteration of the rules
5) What do you think of the rules? - Have some promise but need more work.

Despite savaging the Spanish warships the English failed to stop the Treasure fleet reaching their destination intact. The Spanish Admiral, was gobsmacked to find that despite having lost his flagship and his freedom he'd won the game. Other than the merchants and one small galleon (that was only one hit from sinking) the Spanish fleet was either sunk or captured at game end.

I really like my pair of Cromsters. They keep my feet lovely and warm in winter.

Quote from: JeffNNN on 26 August 2016, 02:52:32 PM
Overall great fun and I'm looking forward to getting my En Garde "Red Guard" on the table. They look suspiciously like the "Cardinal's Guard in a certain tv series so I hope they don't die as easily. I've given mine a different uniform to encourage them to live longer.

Have you never watched Star Trek, the red shirts always die first ;) ;D

It's why I used to go to fancy dress parties in the light blue top.

Hail Caesar.

Did I know what I was doing: No.

Did I understand the rules:No, as I've never looked at the book never mind read it.

Did I somehow succeed and break the back of the enemy army: Yes. [it being a multi-player, 3-a-side game and I controlled the Yorkist Centre. I got rid of my crap dice rolls early on and rolled great ones when it came to the clash of melee, after that I was back to rolling poorly]

Was it more luck than good generalship: Obviously!  ;D

Like the new questions Roy!

Can we just answer the last question with FK's sig?! Also, always a good idea to get rid of your duff rolls on the non-essential dice :D

Quote from: paulr on 26 August 2016, 07:13:53 PM
Have you never watched Star Trek, the red shirts always die first ;) ;D

Hence the

"What happens when a (Star Wars) storm trooper shoots at a (Star Trek) Red Shirt. The storm trooper misses but the red shirt dies anyway."

Quote from: JeffNNN on 27 August 2016, 05:21:39 PM
Hence the

"What happens when a (Star Wars) storm trooper shoots at a (Star Trek) Red Shirt. The storm trooper misses but the red shirt dies anyway."

But, but surely they'd both be on the same side being both neo-fascist states. . . The rebels would be aligned with Jedi Klingons and in the end Romulans would win anyway.

The Feds are not bro-fascist, they're a post scarcity  do gooder mob. Like the Culture but with bad jump suits or shorter skirts!

Quote from: Zippee on 27 August 2016, 05:36:33 PM
But, but surely they'd both be on the same side being both neo-fascist states. . . The rebels would be aligned with Jedi Klingons and in the end Romulans would win anyway.

The Federaion a new-fascist state - with the prime directive?  I think not.  The Federation was the obvious forerunner of the Rebel Alliance, if not the system actually replaced by the Empire itself!  What am I talking about, I know nothing about this at all!  :-\ ;) :o

Mollinary

Quote from: toxicpixie on 27 August 2016, 05:45:42 PM
The Feds are not bro-fascist, they're a post scarcity  do gooder mob. Like the Culture but with bad jump suits or shorter skirts!

A do-gooder mob that insists on it being 'their way or no-way', those that disagree are chemically brain washed into alternate life structures, there's no dissent allowed.

They may not have the evil mass-murder intent of other fascist states from history but they are totalitarian: alternate views are not acceptable, variance is not acceptable - the Prime Directive is sacrosanct right up to the point the viewpoint being protected ceases to agree with Star Fleet's ideals.

Hell even the crews of flagship starships have 'counsellors' on board to ensure compliance and the correct mental attitude is adhered to - previous cultures would have called them commissars.

We may not see them deploy a death star but they absolutely would do whatever was necessary to meet their ends - no matter the good intention, a policy of 'the ends justifying the means because we know best' is fundamentally no different from the Sith's, only the motive and what is considered 'best' is.

From all I can see the future earth of Star Fleet is utopian fascism. . .

I have now probably invested far more thought into this than the subject warrants and it is a derail, so apologies for that  :D

Quote from: Zippee on 27 August 2016, 08:05:12 PM
A do-gooder mob that insists on it being 'their way or no-way', those that disagree are chemically brain washed into alternate life structures, there's no dissent allowed.

They may not have the evil mass-murder intent of other fascist states from history but they are totalitarian: alternate views are not acceptable, variance is not acceptable - the Prime Directive is sacrosanct right up to the point the viewpoint being protected ceases to agree with Star Fleet's ideals.

Hell even the crews of flagship starships have 'counsellors' on board to ensure compliance and the correct mental attitude is adhered to - previous cultures would have called them commissars.

We may not see them deploy a death star but they absolutely would do whatever was necessary to meet their ends - no matter the good intention, a policy of 'the ends justifying the means because we know best' is fundamentally no different from the Sith's, only the motive and what is considered 'best' is.

From all I can see the future earth of Star Fleet is utopian fascism. . .

I have now probably invested far more thought into this than the subject warrants and it is a derail, so apologies for that  :D

WOW!   SCARY!!!!!!!     :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o

"A deep unwavering belief is a sure sign you're missing something..." - Anon

1) What rules did you use in your last game? - General Quarters 2 with various pre-dreadnaught period add-ons.
2) What forces were involved? - Ottomans vs Greeks - a refight of the Battle of Elli December 16 1912 off the entrance to the Dardenelles.
3) How many players were involved? - 5
4) How many times have you used these rules? - Many times, but first time we have used the pre-dreadnaught add-ons
5) What do you think of the rules? - I LOVE GQ 1/2 rules and the add-ons we used really gave a good feel for the period.

Despite sinking two Ottoman TBD's without losing any ships themselves the Greeks lost the action by 5VP to 2.5VP as the Greek flagship, the new armoured cruisier "Georgis Averof" took significant damage while the old coast defence "battleship" Spetsai was also damaged by an Ottoman torpedo.

The Ottomans were slightly gobsmacked to find that they won the game  :o

Paul ran the Ottoman shore batteries but the Greeks wisely never came into range of them, so he was gainfully employed in calculating "to hit" rolls instead...Thanks Paul  ;) 

It was a jolly good game even though the Greeks never came close enough for me to fire at them ;D

The pre-dreadnought mods, including halving the ground scale, gave a significantly different game and I think had the right feel :)

Both 'battle' lines got to within 5,000 yards and were still struggling to score straddles and then do damage. The new fangled turbine driven Greek destroyers ran rings around the much slower Ottoman ships

It was amusing to see both sides more than happy to break off because of the heavy damage they had suffered and find that under the GQ victory conditions only three ships were sufficiently damaged to count towards victory :o

We jump forward 30 years and half way round the world to Iron Bottom Sound next week

MeG, Imperial Rimams vs Alans

Did I know what I was doing: Kind of.

Did I understand the rules: Yes.

Did I somehow succeed and break the back of the enemy army: No, I was one hit from breaking him, when he broke me!

Was it more luck than good generalship: For Mark, yes, for me, no, my generalship was appalling, but luck was good, his was great!

1. Regimental F&F

2. Federal cavalry v. Confederate infantry

3. 2 player game.

4. Used these rules a lot, but still find trouble with them because there are so many bits and pieces to remember and I am rapidly going off that type of rulebook as I get older. On another table a player using the same rules discovered (no one else in the club could remember it or even ever using it) that a 10 on first fire does not cause a unit to go low on ammo.

5. I think 4 has just answered 5.

6. So how did the game go? Reasonably smoothly but probably loads of rules forgotten or ignored. There's that weird slightly involved rule and another where your not involved but you contribute to outnumbering, and we ignored the table edge, as it was only a four foot square table, and someone else in the club then had a rant about "off the table means off the table" and I had to gently remind him that:
a) he was not playing in this game,
b) the two people who were were actually enjoying it. (Reminds me, again, of what happened at Phalanx).
Oh, incidentally, it was Buford (me) at Gettysburg, and the Federals gained a narrow victory.

Thank god for the home wargames room!

"and someone else in the club then had a rant about "off the table means off the table" and I had to gently remind him that:"

I especially like that when they haven't actually ever played the sodding rules. Here, let me comment on something I am not only not involved in, but also know nothing about!

*winds up the middle finger

I rathe rlike the F&F rules of various stripe, but am in agreement re:fiddlyness and faffiness on rules. Whenever I use them I spend more time thinking "wait a minute, I'm missing something..." than actively playing :/

In many ways I think BBB has streamlined F&F, which is why I'm playing much more ACW with them and also with Altar of Freedom these days. I may well give that McPherson's Ridge game another go, but with FOB2. For one thing the units will fit better as they are all four bases, but with different characteristics.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Honours of War
2) What armies were confronted? - Jacobites vs Hanoverians
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Very
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No
5) How many players were in the game? - 2

After a long summer break, nice to be bunging die again :)

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Sharp practise
2) What armies were confronted? - British & Spanish vs French in the Peninsular
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Not bad having played CoC
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - Yes
5) How many players were in the game? - 4

A good, fun intro game which is what I think these rules will be good for.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Last Night on Earth
2) What armies were confronted? - err Zombies v Survivors
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No
5) How many players were in the game? - 4 plus a scenario coordinator

Ok so not really a wargame but effectively a miniature skirmish game.

We got lost in the forest, it was full of zombies, many of us died, but we found the relay tower and scaled Jacobs Ladder when our rope broke, the Sheriff died like a hero (so did the Nurse, several students and a drifter or two) but I got away to warn the next town..  VP was at 4:2 to the zombies after the last scenario, we changed that to 8:5. I don't care what you say I'm claiming that as a win  :D

Last but one game:

1. Honours of War

2. French v. British SYW

3. Very comfortable with these rules

4. No

5. Two player game

6. It was the Surprise at Spittelwitz scenario from the rule book. The French sprung a surprise and got well rogered for their trouble - needless to say I was the French.

Quote from: Zippee on 02 September 2016, 04:29:13 PM
1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Last Night on Earth
2) What armies were confronted? - err Zombies v Survivors
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No
5) How many players were in the game? - 4 plus a scenario coordinator

Ok so not really a wargame but effectively a miniature skirmish game.

We got lost in the forest, it was full of zombies, many of us died, but we found the relay tower and scaled Jacobs Ladder when our rope broke, the Sheriff died like a hero (so did the Nurse, several students and a drifter or two) but I got away to warn the next town..  VP was at 4:2 to the zombies after the last scenario, we changed that to 8:5. I don't care what you say I'm claiming that as a win  :D

Love that game. Just can't find anyone to play it with

1. Wings of War

2. One of those 3 wing Fokker planes, and another one that only had two wings v. a Sopwith Camel and another British two winged plane.

3. Seemed to play very smoothly and very quickly.

4. I had never used these rules before and it was only the second time I've ever played an air wargame.

5. Four plus the scenario co-ordinator.

My impression was that, for such an expensive game, it was a very random affair. I managed to get one clear shot in and the Germans won, but I was not really very clear about what was going on. Wouldn't mind a couple of the planes for use with my WWI armies.

Iacta Alea Est, Two players, Neo-Assyrians and late ancient Egyptians. Good game, with a bit of amazingly bad luck on both sides, which may explain why both armies withdrew with dodgy morale after five rounds, probably getting mugged by the Babylonians on the way home.

There is a tendency for that to happen in that part of the world.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? General Quarters 1 & 2
2) What armies were confronted? US Navy (with HMAS Hobart) v IJN in Iron Bottom Sound September 1942
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? very
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? No
5) How many players were in the game? 5, 3 Japanese and 2 Americans

(http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t197/paulreynolds999/DBA%20First%20Crusade%20project/IMG_0149_zpsl13kolat.jpg)

The game hypothetical with the players picking from three plausible and approximately balanced forces.

It was a night action, hence the star shells and close ranges, in some cases under 5,000 yards :o

The Japanese Battle cruisers had approached down both sides of Savo Island and did significant damage to the the USN Light cruisers which also suffered from IJN torpedoes

As the eastern battle cruisers turned to face the rapidly approaching USN battleships (Washington & South Dakota) the Hiei was overwhelmed by close range radar controlled broadsides from both battleships. This combined with a torpedo hit was enough to sink her :o

The remaining IJN battle cruisers withdrew narrowly avoiding more USN torpedoes.

The IJN destroyer division I was commanding was still approaching from the west along the coast of Guadalcanal and covered the withdrawal of the other IJN ships

A solid USN victory with both US commanders promoted and the IJN commanders transferred to shore commands

That looks great fun.

Cheers - Phil

That looks cracking. I saw the piccy and thought it wasn't going well for the Japanese there! Write up sounds like I was correct :D Well done the allied superweapons of radar and tactics ;)

No Japanese battleships? In what way is this balanced? Or are they on their way?

Looks like four BC's to two BB's - I'd have to look at the GQ actual stats (which are in the loft, somewhere...) but both sides should give each other a good run for their money!

4 battlecruisers, by the look of it, to 2 battleships not that imbalanced at that range. The Japanese tended not to send battleships down The Slot as US airpower made it unlikely they'd make it back.

I hope the South Dakota had some rule in place to allow for it's Chief Engineer pulling the plug on the electrics in the middle of the action!

Nice pic, good AAR, thanks.

Excellent idea for a game.

As noted 4 BCs to 2 BBs was roughly even, the Japanese also had more destroyers. Unfortunately half of them were still working there way along the Guadacanal coast and never got into action

Splitting the BCs meant that two of them were effectively fighting the American BBs on their own for a little while. I deliberately had 3 players on the Japanese side to encourage them to split into multiple forces as the Japanese often did.

The commander of the eastern BCs managed to consistently miss his straddle roll by one for several turns which meant he was doing any damage to the US BBs which certainly didn't help

All US radars had several chances to fail, one of the light cruisers lost hers before the battle started

Fond memories of GQ. Would love to give it a go again  but so many projects on the go already......

MeG again tonight, Later Roman Civil War, my British Usurper vs Eastern Imperial.
Big win for the little Britions! ;)

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Star Wars Armada
2) What armies were confronted? - Bad guys v Good guys (your call)
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Sort of (very rusty)
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - Not quite
5) How many players were in the game? - 4 plus a scenario coordinator

Unfortunately our scenario coordinator has not learnt the value of "less is more" so our weekday evening quick game was presented as 9 capital and supporting fighter/bomber squadrons plus specials per side! And not a duplicate ship in sight. . .

Needless to say we did not complete the game. . .

Apparently the sides were balanced because one was more manoeuvrable (we were toe to toe, wing to wing on the table) - a considerable defacto advantage to the heavily armoured side.

Still it looked very fine with lots of (frikkin lots) of stuff on the table but overall rather unsatisfactory as a game.

Next week Star Wars RPG for a one off.

I agree, less is more!

Talking of less is more, last week I played McPherson's Ridge as a RF&F scenario.It took 3 1/2 hours to put up and take down, plus 2 1/2 hours playing time. Some of the regiments, on both sides were between 14 and 18 bases in size. At the end I was totally knackered. This week, same battle with different rules:

1. Piquet - Field of Battle 2

2. Union cavalry and artillery v.  Confederate infantry and artillery

3. Very comfortable with these

4. I use these rules regularly with another player in our C19th imagi-nations campaign

5. Two players

For a start only four bases per unit, except artillery who have two bases per battery. Put up and take down was 1 3/4 hours whilst game time was 2 hours - still had a creaky back at the end though. Will post AAR tonight with photos.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Honours of War
2) What armies were confronted? - Jacobite & French vs British & Hanoverian during the '45
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Very
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No
5) How many players were in the game? - 2

Absolutely cracking game with AAR to follow.

Whilst waiting for my 4 ground buildings I managed to squeeze in game 3 of my AWI Sharp Practice campaign.

1. AWI Sharp Practice
2. British regulars with loyalist ranger and Indian support vs State Line and Minute men with some Colonial support including a unit of light dragoons
3. No very familiar with the rules now
4. Solo

The British secured all of their game objectives - including finding the Exploring Officer who had set up a decoy to distract the Colonials defending a stockade housing some British Deserters.

The Indians massacred the Colonial Stockade group whilst a small group of Light Infantry escorted the Exploring Officer back to British lines. The British main force was hard pressed facing artillery cannister and narrowly avoided losing their deployment point to the American Dragoons.

The Indians saw off the State Line but with their blood up met disaster when the Colonial lights wiped out the Indians in Fisticuffs. Both forces were in tatters by the end of the game but young Lt Henry Calverton had restored his honour and also confirmed Battalion suspicions that recent desertion had led to King's Men fighting on behalf of the Rebels.

Sounds a great game and love the level of background detail 8)

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? RAPID FIRE 2

2) What armies were confronted? Introductory game from the rules - The Action at Lingevres, June 1944. The 9th DLI versus elements of the Panzer Lehr

3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? No, not at all

4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? No. Played RF2 many years ago and gave up on it when a regular gaming partner left the UK and had no regular opponent to play against

5) How many players were in the game? Solo

I played in 6mm having sold off almost all of my very large 20mm collection. I used normal ranges (imperial) but think I may use cm's at this scale....

The game was pretty much done and dusted in 6 moves of a 12 move game. Very bloody with the Panzer Lehr pretty much destroyed and very few casualties within the ranks of the DLI.

Not sure how much I enjoyed it :-\ I thought the DLI might struggle but found exactly the opposite. Possibly playing in 6mm there seemed to be too much space and the British were able to bring pretty much every weapon to bear almost right from the off resulting in the Panzer Lehr being massively outgunned and outmanouvred despite very favourable and defendable terrain.

I seemed to spend more time setting the game up than playing it :'(

I spent an awful lot of the time flicking back and forth through the book trying to find out how things happen, and frustratingly trying to find individual rules and weapon stats. The most familiar thing I remember from my games ten years ago (or more) is that its VERY bloody. That was one of the reasons I moved away from RF in the first place.

Nick B and I are hoping to get a game in at some point so hopefully playing with someone far more familiar with the rules will help make things more enjoyable.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? Star Wars: Edge of Empire + Age of Rebellion

2) What armies were confronted? Err none really, some stormtroopers and someone pretending to be a rebellion pilot died, so lets just say Good v Bad and one side lost (other opinions are valid)

3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? Fairly, though the dice pool reading still feels a little like taking the auguries

4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? No. Although this was the first time our resident SW nerd felt brave enough to actually run a game (any game) so it is notable for that step [to addiction]

5) How many players were in the game? 5

Opening Sequence:
We were strong-armed (family member held hostage = Obligation) by an evil crime syndicate into making an illegal cargo delivery to a planet far away run by an even worse crime syndicate. We ran into mechanical problems on the way and put down on some nondescript backwater planet, where the ship was immediately impounded and we were thrown into a high security holding pen by elite{?} stormtroopers without charge. We encountered a fellow prisoner, he claimed to be RA here to extract an important RA contact but his uniform was wrong, we were suspicious. Someone blew the cell door and a wookie raced in and killed the pilot. The droid with the wookie toild us to run for it, we grabbed our gear from the next room (conveniently) and shot our way out and into their ship. Score 6 dead [ex-elite] stormtroopers.

Roll Credits

Scene One:
We find ourselves taken to a deep space rebel HQ ship - apparently our rescuers/abductors (we're not sure which0 aren't RA but freelancers - where we're meted and greeted by name, almost like we were expected. Deeply suspicious we're led to the bridge. . .

tune in next week for episode two (or maybe episode one, this might just be a pilot)

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? Song of Blades & Heroes

2) What armies were confronted? Golden Host of Huge Ass Sigmarines, Dwarven tunnel rats, JasOrc and the ArgoNauts, scurvy tomb robbing band of ne'erdowells.

3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? Very much so, even the new players after a turn or two.

4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? Not for two of us, yes for the other two.

5) How many players were in the game? Four, if you haven't guessed from above!

SoBH is our "go to" for quiet evenings and participation games. This time round we had two new players who were without game elsewise, and we played on a D&D "battlemat" so had an underground/maze game. Although Song usually finishes in 30-40mins, the combination of four players and really awkward terrain meant it took 90mins all told.

The Dwarven tunnel rats looked about to be crunched by three of us, so i slipped back off without engaging and went for an end run back past my entry point and into the rear of the Sigmarines, who did the same but faster and we collided at my entry point. This proved to be a cock up on my part, as after about three turns of ineffectual slap fighting one of the Sigmarines connected with one of my lowly thieves (who should have been great from ambush, not so great when locked in combat against an eight foot melee loon) and scored a Gruesome Kill. This forced the rest of my band to make a series of cascading morale failures (sorry, tests!), and caused all bar one crossbowman to run off the board. He was summarily dealt with and the Sigmarines (less the one casualty I actually managed to cause) stomped round to face the remaining two warbands...

The Orcs had seized a cunning position, splitting the Dwarves up and engaging them piecemeal by... failing their activation's so awkwardly the Dwarves got cocky and tried to be clever. At which point one round of average activation's by the Orcs saw them get somewhat overwhelmed! They barely fought off the initial rush, and only survived due to the Sigmarines crashing into the now extended Orcs and returning the favour. Remaining Orcs ran off via the Dwarven entrance, the Dwarves took it as a sign they should disengage and fought a careful retreat rather than face the mostly intact Sigmarines.

Reflections - Big creatures with decent Combat and Activation scores are frightening. Even more so when despite being quite well tailored to taking them down you can't roll dice. Don't fight near a table edge/entrance, as even one bad morale check will see you off table. Roll better.

Good fun, cracking game, but probably would have been better as two separate games as we'd probably have got through two fights each!

Interesting to read that as we're just about to have our first run through of ASBH this weekend - kids involved so it felt like a better bet than Frostgrave.

I will mostly be repurposing LotR stuff and fighting through my 4Ground village :)

It plays brilliantly - and the warband calculators let you knock a force really quick to match whatever mini's you fancy. And it's simple enough that a couple of junior age kids can pick it up and play in minutes :)

I'm tempted by the Deeds & Glory booklet as it's got a fully fledged ongoing campaign system, but I want to convince someone else in the club to buy it as I've bought the rest :D

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? Playtest version of Twilight of the Sun King rules for ECW/TYW

2) What armies were confronted? Parliamentarian & Catholic vs Royalist & Protestant - table split down the middle with ECW on one half & TYW on the other.

3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? Yes but this was the first test game for this era

4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? Yes but the players were familiar with the original set covering a later period

5) How many players were in the game? 2 and an umpire


The game featured an ECW clash (set about 1643) on one half of the table and separated by a river from a TYW clash (set about 1632) on the other side. The ECW half of the game went smoothly. The number of troop types here was relatively small and so the players quickly picked up the advantages/disadvantages of the various types. It was more complicated on the TYW half as there were many more unit types so things went slower there.

In the ECW clash the initial rounds went to the Royalists who were supposed to be defending. Encouraged by this the player launched a (as it turned out an uncoordinated) counter attack which quickly led to destruction for the Royalists. Meanwhile on the TYW side both players were trying to work out what to do with their troops and neither committed their troops seriously being content to 'fiddle about'. To be fair both sides had made some 'school boy errors' in the beginning and they were sorting these out & also absorbing the advantages/disadvantages of the various types. As the Royalists defeat was progressing their protestant allies (run by the same player) decided it was time to commit these forces. On this flank the battle was very hard fought. The Protestant cavalry managed to get the upper hand over their Catholic opponents but with the infantry it was the other way round. It was difficult to call but at this point the Royalist/Protestant army morale collapsed and ended the game.

A promising first game which generally went well. A few things came up, as they always do with play test games, but very encouraging. Next up we will do some historical battles - probably Naseby or Breitenfeld.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? bag the Hun

2) What armies were confronted? JUNE 1940 German and British

3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? Yes a great set.

4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset?

5) How many players were in the game? 7

Scenario was a convoy caught in the Channel, The Germans had a squadron of Ju 87s, two schwarmes of ME 109s, later joined by a squadron of HE 111s and a pair of Me110s. The Brits had 2 Vics of Blackburn Skuas, 2 Vics of Spitfires and later 1 Vic of Boulton Paul Defiant's . Outcome was: HMS Wolfhound was badly damaged and limped to port with a contained fire on board, 2 small merchantmen sustained heavy damage but made it to port, one large merchantman was sunk.
RAF lost 1 Spitfire and 1 Skua, a further damaged Spitfire was wrote off on landing but the pilot survived unharmed.
Luftwaffe lost 2 Stukas, 1 He111, several bombers sustained damage, 1 Me109 ditched in the channel, 1 crewman was rescued by the Kreigsmarine, for 3 others their war was over as they were rescued by the RN.
A fun game enjoyed by all.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? Star Wars: Edge of Empire + Age of Rebellion

2) What armies were confronted? Err none really, some idiot started a gunfight in the local McDonalds though, so lets just say Good v Bad and one side lost (other opinions are valid)

3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? Fairly, though the dice pool reading still feels a little like taking the auguries

4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? No. Although this was the second time our resident SW nerd felt brave enough to actually run a game (any game) so it is notable for another step [to addiction]

5) How many players were in the game? 5

Scene One:
We find ourselves on the bridge of a secret rebel Nebulon B HQ ship in front of the Vermilion Nebula and Black Hole. The Captain greets us and thanks for volunteering (what we say, who volunteered, we woz press-ganged?) and invites us to her Ready Room (it would just a shade too Picardesque except for tripping over the giant lizard on the way, bloody pets!). Here we have an interview with General Kraken via a dodgy holo terminal, he apologises for the short notice and thanks us for our help in sorting out his droid problem (what droid problem we ask and why should we care?). Turns out the Alliance is chronically short of droids and is aware of a large shipment of ex-Imperial droids that are on the black market having been 'liberated' from Hama Station. Would we be so kind as to nip over to Port Tuga and purchase them from Captain Oggla a 'trustworthy' pirate? In exchange, Kraken promises to purge our criminal past from Imperial records. Nice we say - except for our Captain, who given a golden opportunity to extract his brother from the clutches of the Pyke Syndicate, instead sells him down the river for 5000 credits. The rest of us are rather surprised by this! Still it seems like a deal for the rest of us and we accept.

Scene Two
And back on the Spinsters Loom with the wookie and her droid LELU and it's off to Port Tuga which turns out to be an age old clone wars factory repurposed as a pirate station in the middle of Hutt Space. There follows a deal of paralysis/analysis that passes for planning at our table. Fortunately we can just edit this out as we jump to hyperspace. . .and back!

Scene Three
Port Tuga, sits far too close to the sun, we're nearly blinded on arrival. Crazy place has anti-radiation force shields protecting it! Anyway we dock and say bye-bye to LELU (there's really no point talking to the wookie [a disappointment for the GM who had recently downloaded a wookie emulator on his phone]. We have 12 hours to find the pirate, do the deal and collect the droids; if we miss that LELU is leaving anyway, so no pressure then! The station is a bazar of the bizarre and heaving with the outcasts of a galaxy. We blunder around for a while, the captain gets stuck into some Tatooine bloo milk and has an argument when he tries to sell his captured E11 rifle, we leave him to it and try and slice a terminal for info on who's docked where. This doesn't go well and a port official asks if we need help, fortunately our Charm is better than our skill with computers, so he does it for us. Typical players we should a just asked! Gate 22, is where we need to be that's not far, we docked at Gate 30. We duly arrive at Gate 22 (even we can navigate a tube that far) and ask for Captain Oggla - the security at the gate say she's not here, gone to lunch, try the Biscuit Baron - so we do (no one said we were bright or imaginative).

Scene Four
The Biscuit Baron - its really jolly decent and the crew tuck into Banther burgers (the trandoshan has ordered several - although he's disappointed that they come cooked and with unnecessary vegetation). I (the droid, impassionate hero of the piece) remain outside keeping an eye on Gate 22, which I can see from the doorway, so most of the rest is hearsay. There's a human male in the centre of the restaurant holding court and telling tales - he spots our captain and has a waiter bring him drinks. No-one thinks this is odd (I told you not bright, not imaginative). He then sidles over and engages the captain in conversation. I don't really know what happened next but the captain shot him, the trandoshan ripped the table up and used it as a shield, there was lots of shooting and screaming and mayhem. What should a droid do? I entered and hit what I thought was the fire alarm, thinking a cold shower might help (it's a reach I know) unfortunately this turned out to be the panic alarm and sealed the security doors, windows, vents, etc and called for "security" (whatever that may be on a pirate station). More gunfire and screaming and panic - how to open the security field? I know I'll disable the power - so I shoot the power distribution board over the other side of the restaurant. That worked! There is now absolutely no power in the building - no lights, no ventilation, no heating, probably no life support - nothing! Fortunately I can see in the dark (hardly anything else here can but most of them are heavily armed - what can go wrong?)

QuoteZippee - "what can go wrong?"

I can think of a lot, but I won't jinx it. You're already recharging in unstable currents (or living in interesting times if you weren't a droid !) :D

Oh that sounds a lot of fun!

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game?

Mortem et Gloriam

2) What armies were confronted?

Greeks vs Persian (otherwise known as rock hard wall of unbeatable spear vs soft and squishy targets)

3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset?

No.  Not at all.  I suspect it will take a good few games to get anywhere close to that.

4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset?

Yes.

5) How many players were in the game?

4.  Plus 3 "advisors", serious spectators pitching in and all trying to get to grips with the rules too.  And at times 4-5 onlookers.

Chain of Command in 28mm. Fictitional scenario just after DDay

http://nosherswargames.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/colombelles-june-9th-1944_24.html

(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mVCVqcYHOe4/V-QK4pXtsJI/AAAAAAAAClA/gxB3GrpzpPwyTu0EdyVGQJjO7WpmP5fiACLcB/s320/DSC09996.JPG)

(https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BHUUsg0UZMU/V-QKn7uTkOI/AAAAAAAACk0/HtyROG0R4jIu7MeiL6DxMrFuq1PgwTvrwCLcB/s320/DSC09993.JPG)

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? Advanced Song of Blades & Heroes

2) What armies were confronted? Goblin Warband vs High Elf Warband

3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? Fairly quickly, yes

4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? Yes

5) How many players were in the game? Two, with me stumbling around as an umpire

Good fun, took longer than it should - man high elves are tough cookies but trolls are worth their weight in elf skins.

Our first bash with these rules and it won't be our last, definitely need to think carefully about what traits you want in the game though. Some are very powerful - the Elven Bowmaster legendary shot was a killing machine. Like nearly all the mechanics, nice and fluid, I'm sure we'll get faster quick.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? General Quarters 2

2) What armies were confronted? Royal Navy v Imperial Japanese Navy

3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? very

4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? No

5) How many players were in the game? 4

We played another of my "what if" scenarios. Its the night of 9 December 1941 and Force Z plus two light cruisers are heading north to attack the Japanses landings at Kotu Bahru in Northern Malaya.  Protecting the landings are Admiral Kondo's Covering Force of two Kongo class battle cruisers, two heavy cruisers and 3 destroyers.

Although the British heavy ships are equipped with radar it's not very reliable. The British units are not used to working together at night while the IJN is quite skilled at night fighting early in the war. The IJN ships had some amazing early gunnery rolls which saw HMS Express quickly sinking after taking a multitude of 8" fire from the two enemy cruisers. None of the RN ships was hit by Japanese torpedoes fired at long range, though the Prince of Wales had a narrow escape. The Japanese battle cruisers came into action at that stage and caused enough damage to Prince of Wales and Repulse for them to abandon their interception mission and return to Singapore. HMS Durban was also sunk by the fire of by the two Japanese cruisers, though both of them were quite badly damaged by return fire.

A well deserved victory to the IJN in the end  ;)......next week we're sticking with WW2 naval but shifting to the North Atlantic...can the Bismarck make it home with a little help from its freinds (and the Z plan actually being progressed somewhat?)  :-\    

Is there much difference between Advanced Song and "normal" Song? I gather there's stuff with reactions to enemy activations and the traits are different in some details? Either way, sounds good - the basic engine is cracking and quick :)

Quote from: toxicpixie on 24 September 2016, 10:49:03 PM
Is there much difference between Advanced Song and "normal" Song? I gather there's stuff with reactions to enemy activations and the traits are different in some details? Either way, sounds good - the basic engine is cracking and quick :)

Essentially the activation sequence is that any failures can be picked up by the opposition and rolled to activate their figures as a 'reaction' in the opponents turn. A reaction trumps an activation.

So if I roll 2 dice to activate my guy and get 1 success, 1 fail: my opponent can use that failed dice to roll for a reaction - if successful this happens before I activate my guy.

If I roll 2 fails, he can choose to take the 2 reaction dice or take the turn.

Each of his guys can only react once per turn.

So goblins (Q4+ mostly) v elves (Q2+) meant that the elves essentially all got to move in their own turn and in the enemy's whilst the goblins occasionally got a chance when the elf rolled a 1.

A small difference on paper but against such widely differing warbands had a significant impact - I gather not everyone likes it and the rules retain the option not to, or to moderate / limit it. We found that it meant the elven player was always involved in the game (this was good as Luke is 11 and easily distracted) whereas his dad the goblin king essentially had a go and then sat Luke's turn out apart from rolling for being killed, sorry shot at. In reality it meant rolling to activate a 'prone' goblin was a risky affair as any failure (50% chance) would probably (anything but a 1) lead to an elven archer planting an arrow in him and adios gobo!

Can't really say about the traits - haven't done an analysis (I have both OSBH and ASBH but none of the supplements), I think the ASBH calculator includes all supplementary traits so it's a bit of a big list, I'll certainly be cropping it as we found that too many traits (or at least too many different ones) bogged the game. Oddly the goblins had the most divergent and eclectic set. We certainly found some were very powerful, some subtly so (like Tough - only becomes apparent through play how good it is) others blatantly so (like Legendary Shot and Longbow and Leafsight).

We'll definitely be playing more but I'll take considerably more notice of the traits, both in their effect and the number employed. My gut reaction is that we'd prefer more minions and less 'superhero' heroes but one of the good things is that the game allows precisely that sort of crafting.

We deliberately left magic out of the game this time around, so can't comment on that. I know the spells and magic system in ASBH is far more 'in depth' than in OSBH.

Cheers Zippee, great stuff. From the sound of it good quality figures benefit even more than usual - Q2 is just ludicrously good normally and with a reaction chance that gets Even better!

We found with normal SoBH that having figures with too good stats wasn't much fun.

Yeah, I tend to Quality 3+ at best. Quality 4 if the warband really needs the numbers/it fits thematically - but a Leader is usually de riguer then or there's just no fun for whoever is playing them. Means they can get a good schwerpunkt going on at the risk of stragglers or bunching :)

One of our players goes Quality 2, max fight. He tried to shoehorn a Leader in as well, just in case :/

Actually, in more Pendraken related themes, SoBH would be cracking in 10mm with single based figures!

Quote from: fred. on 25 September 2016, 08:10:51 AM
We found with normal SoBH that having figures with too good stats wasn't much fun.

I think (and admittedly it's based on very limited intel) that that is even more so in ASBH.

The troll and goblin king (eventually, after several rounds of mutual clanging off of shields and bigness) managed to eat the 3 elven spearmen (thanks to a Gruesome kill by the troll and a miraculous morale fail by the elves leading to effective free hacks) but the ordinary goblins couldn't do a thing, they just needed to stay out of sight from the elven archers.

There was plenty of terrain to do this but unfortunately the Bowmaster has Leafsight (can trace LOS through vegetation and cancel its cover effect) and Legendary Shot (can perform a shoot action with any/all of his actions) plus a Longbow (range out to 4L +1 at 1L) with Good Shot (+1) - so well positioned he just dominated a huge area of table. And it proved impossible to get to grips with the archers and Bowmaster as they all had Free Disengage, which when combined with their high chance of reaction meant they were always able to dance out of the way and take shots.

The combat in the ruins with troll and king v spearmen with archer support was great, the next hour or so was pretty dull. Good experience using the rules though.

This was not helped by not having limited the table size - I just put the ruins in the centre of my 6x4 with a stream and ford with the ruins (where the action was) plus hill with a temple ruin (played no part) and surrounded it all with forest and undergrowth. Obviously if I'd taken the time to define a 3x3 or even 4x4 area that would have had a significant impact (mea culpa: hindsight is ever thus  :( )

One thing we did find tiresome was the recoil on odd, prone on even (or is it the other way around?) based on the dice mechanic - for some reason we just couldn't remember and it isn't on the QRS (well until I wrote it in BLOCK CAPS across the top  :o )

Quote from: toxicpixie on 25 September 2016, 08:31:49 AM
Yeah, I tend to Quality 3+ at best. Quality 4 if the warband really needs the numbers/it fits thematically - but a Leader is usually de riguer then or there's just no fun for whoever is playing them. Means they can get a good schwerpunkt going on at the risk of stragglers or bunching :)

One of our players goes Quality 2, max fight. He tried to shoehorn a Leader in as well, just in case :/

Actually, in more Pendraken related themes, SoBH would be cracking in 10mm with single based figures!

I took the stats from the suggested lists in the book - all elves Q2 . . . I didn't know guv! Archers 55pts, Spear 58pts, Bowmaster 116

The goblins had two personality-leaders - one of them a discipline master, the elves just had the one personality who isn't a leader.

With it being a first game, it perhaps took a little while for the goblin king to realise the benefit of group activations but I don't think it was a game changer.

Group activations are key for low value troops. One of my daughters likes to play a halfling band in SoBH and they really struggled the first few games, then we read up on leaders, and suddenly they were much more effective, swarming big stuff.

We have played with multi-based 10mm works great. We just treated each base as a figure.

Constraining table space when you have shooters vs Melee is rather important, for any ruleset. We once tried Mongols vs Lizardmen, it was fairly pointless. The Mongols could barely damage the lizards with shooting, but could stay away from melee. I've seen the same in epic with IG tanks vs Tyranids.

Yeah, that sound like a recipe for a massacre, the Elves having free rein, machine gun artillery bows and three times the activations :D

Song works with a small table space, it's one of its strengths.

What points were you playing to - looking at those elf stats more than the 300 that "basic/normal" plays to?

And I agree with Fred re:leaders, especially if you've got Shield Wall or Swarm Fighting (what wee it's actually called!). Also for group shooting - half a dozen rubbish shooters become lethal as a group :)

Quote from: toxicpixie on 25 September 2016, 09:07:35 AM
What points were you playing to - looking at those elf stats more than the 300 that "basic/normal" plays to?

ASBH recommends 400 for a 40-60 min game, we had 6 hours, a game of X-Wing plus our first game of ASBH plus some infill boardgames - so I upped that to 500 to give a bit more to play with and avoid a crippling early quick loss situation.

Warbands were:
HIGH ELF (510)
Bowmaster: Q2+ C4 Personality: Free Disengage, Good Shot, Leafsight, Legendary Shot, Longbow, Rare 1 (113pts)
3 Warriors (spear & shield): Q2+ C3 Block, Long Reach, Rare 3 (55pts = 165pts)
4 Archers: Q2+ C2 Free Disengage, Good Shot, Longbow (58pts = 232pts)

GOBLIN (511)
The King: Q3+ C3 Personality: Discipline Master, Difficult Target, Heavy Armour, Leader, Melee Block (108pts)
War Boss: Q3+ C2 Personality: Difficult Target, Good Shot, Heavy Armour, Leader, Shortbow, Unerring Aim (86pts)
2 Elites (spear): Q4+ C3 Heavy Armour, Long Reach (33pts = 66pts)
4 Warrior (sword & shield): Q4+ C3 Melee Block (27pts = 108pts)
3 Archers: Q4+ C2 Difficult Target, Shortbow (27pts = 81)
1 Cave Troll: Q4+ C4 Big, Bludgeon, Dim-Witted, Tough (62pts)

Ahh, I see :)

Yeah, that elf list looks lethal, I'd guess the goblins need to group up their melee guys with the Leaders and surround the bowmen so they can't run off and turn them into pin cushions! Hard work with no table edges :D

Otherwise they're probably hitting four activations to one including reactions? Dakka-dakka-dead.

Yeah in retrospect it was definitely the table edges  :(

Still frustrating as the second half was it was a good learning exercise in design and play which was the objective.

Thankfully the 11 year old picked elves not goblins, otherwise there may well have ben tears before bed  ;)

Thanks for all the pointers, much appreciated

Oh and although I could play in 10mm and have done Sharp Practice with multi fig bases subbing as a single model, I have such a huge LotR collection (thanks to my wife who's a bit of a fan and spent frivolously) that to consider doing it in anything else is frankly silly (especially when you throw in all the RPG stuff filling 12 GW cases).

Do you thin 196 Uruk Hai pikemen will break the game   8)

Quote from: Zippee on 25 September 2016, 12:21:12 PM

Do you thin 196 Uruk Hai pikemen will break the game   8)

No more so than the machine gun elves.

You might get bored of rolling activations though

Quote from: fred. on 25 September 2016, 12:48:20 PM
You might get bored of rolling activations though

Surely that's what Group Activations are for  :D

If think 196 Uruk Hai might be a bit awkward even with group activations :D

Multi basing and using them in units and call "prone" disrupted might work though :)

I tend to think of Prone as Dazed or Staggered in any case - certainly don't like the 'lay the model' down stuff.

But no, those numbers are well in excess of the system.

My hardcopy arrived this evening - it's a really lovely book, a real upgrade in professionalism over OSBH

Anyway back to Star Wars this Thursday.

If I had time and funds for more systems I'd be tempted, but tbh for what Song does, it does it superbly for what we want out - Advanced seems a bit too much extra chrome...

Good luck in Star Wars. Remember to let the wookie win!

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? Piquet Field of battle II

2) What armies were confronted? Italian Vs. Abyssinian in late 19th century war

3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? Very

4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? No

5) How many players were in the game? 2

Quote from: abikapi2 on 26 September 2016, 09:55:32 PM
2) What armies were confronted? Italian Vs. Abyssinian in late 19th century war

Cool! Any chance of some photos?

Welcome to the forum Abikap. I am a big fan of FOB2 and have a Russo-Japanese War game on today.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? Red Actions

2) What armies were confronted? Red Army V White Army

3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? Very

4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? No

5) How many players were in the game? 5

Quote from: vonlacy on 27 September 2016, 12:18:34 PM
1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? Red Action

Never heard of it, what's it all about then and is it suitable for the colour blind?

1. Field of Battle II

2. Japanese v. Russian 1904

3. Very

4, This has become the go to set when I go to my mates for a game in 15mm

5. Two

The Japanese division attacked a Russian division in a defensive position. The forces were identical, i.e. 4 3 battalion regiments, 3 cavalry regiments, 4 field batteries and 1 machine gun unit. The Japanese had an extra battalion of guard. The Japanese also had a much superior hand of cards, e.g. 2 breechloader cards and an advance card, whereas the Russians only had one breechloader card, a withdraw card and 6 lull cards in the pack. Despite this it took 6 hours for the Japanese to cause the Russians to retreat whilst they still had half their army intact. The Japanese lost only one full infantry unit.
Some photos of the Irregular Miniatures used:

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/dourpuritan/15mm%20C19th/Photo0252_zpsiyidxrpp.jpg)

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/dourpuritan/15mm%20C19th/Photo0251_zpsawleb3rm.jpg)

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/dourpuritan/15mm%20C19th/Photo0250_zpsxfcnn5qw.jpg)

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? Konfilkt47

2) What armies were confronted? Germans v US

3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? It wasn't a bad first experience as its based on Bolt Action 'with tweaks'

4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? Yes

5) How many players were in the game? Solo

Enjoyed it largely, even if quite a bit of time was spent rifling through the pages to find special rules etc. For me Bolt Action mechanics work well for this kind of game - it felt right (unlike when you play BA set in WW2). The weird units work well once you find their special rules and it was good to get some use out of 28mm Weird War 2 minis I have had knocking around for some time that were getting very dusty.....

http://nosherswargames.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/konflikt-47-if-you-go-down-in-woods.html

(https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-osSenVAjQCs/V-vnv-m8_EI/AAAAAAAACl0/32Leparz37IDu2rbLMw35CcP8U_iSyaDwCLcB/s320/DSC00006.JPG)

(https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NAPFZkg0_D0/V-vnvtQoAlI/AAAAAAAAClw/-ATTv0m7ligClly-2HasbHpL46vswOKUQCLcB/s320/DSC00007.JPG)

That Ranger medium walker looks familiar, Nosher... I'm surprised the Rangers weren't in white :D

Good reuse of figures! I've some DUST mechs gathering err, dust, which I should probably get some use of...

I'd have posted that on the blog but it's restricted to team members only!

Quote from: Zippee on 27 September 2016, 02:44:53 PM
Never heard of it, what's it all about then and is it suitable for the colour blind?

A good fun rule set covering October 1917- October 1922 in the East. Covering White, Red, Polish, Friekorps, Mahknovist, Estonians, Latvians, Ukrainians, Finns, Czechs. Interventionists: British, French, American, Japanese, Turks etc. Set at company level it gives the flavour of these small army battles and campaigns.
Enjoyed these rules so much I have ended up with the following armies using Pendraken minis - Bolshevik and Konarmy, White Russian and Finns, Baltic Nationalist, Freikorp and assorted Interventionists. The rules are free but you are encouraged to donate to charity if you down load them.

Go over to http://perfectcaptain.50megs.com/redactions.html for the rules cards etc.

Quote from: vonlacy on 29 September 2016, 09:21:44 PM
A good fun rule set covering October 1917- October 1922 in the East. Covering White, Red, Polish, Friekorps, Mahknovist, Estonians, Latvians, Ukrainians, Finns, Czechs. Interventionists: British, French, American, Japanese, Turks etc. Set at company level it gives the flavour of these small army battles and campaigns.
Enjoyed these rules so much I have ended up with the following armies using Pendraken minis - Bolshevik and Konarmy, White Russian and Finns, Baltic Nationalist, Freikorp and assorted Interventionists. The rules are free but you are encouraged to donate to charity if you down load them.

Go over to http://perfectcaptain.50megs.com/redactions.html for the rules cards etc.

Agree with vonlacy. Also the Yahoo group has stuff for the SCW and also lists and cards for Chinese, Warlord, Mongol, etc for Back of Beyond - https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/perfect_captain/info (https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/perfect_captain/info) plus scenarios for all.

Cheers

GrumpyOldMan

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? MeG
2) What armies were confronted? Early Imperial Roman vs Imperial (Later) Romans

3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? Increasingly

4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? For me, no, for my opponent it was his second game.

5) How many players were in the game? Two

Hugely enjoyable game as two Emperors squared off against each other. Mark quickly pounced on my Catafracts and destroyed them, while I ran over his archer with my cavalry, however, those cavalry came off the wrong side of his auxiliaries, breaking and taking two more units with them!
I them broke his centre of legions and cavalry with my legions and guard Auxilia.
Cracking game 15-8 to Rome, or against Rome....

Quote from: vonlacy on 29 September 2016, 09:21:44 PM
A good fun rule set covering October 1917- October 1922 in the East.

Go over to http://perfectcaptain.50megs.com/redactions.html for the rules cards etc.

Thanks for that - makes sense of the title   :D

Perfect Captain - I have a couple of theirs, they don't get played, such is the vagary of taste.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? Star Wars: Edge of Empire + Age of Rebellion

2) What armies were confronted? Err none really,  so lets just say Good v Bad

3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? Fairly, though the dice pool reading still feels a little like taking the auguries

4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? No. Although it had been a while and this is the third session with a first time GM (of anything)

5) How many players were in the game? 5

Scene Five:
It's pitch black in the Biscuit Barren - all that can be seen is the steady white gleam of a pair of dots at the entrance door (CH-01's visual input sensors - some would say eyes, but that's just so anthropomorphic). CH-01 can see a widening circle of emptiness in the centre of the restaurant, with a human crawling around trying to hold his guts in, the captain blindly groping for his blaster on the floor, the trandoshan scooping 'free burgers' off the floor and tables. The bothan is standing to one side, the rodians and aqaulish also are standing still, blasters drawn. All around is bedlam as panicked customers try and make it to the (sealed) exits. On the far side, CH-01 can see the outline of a door - the only apparent way out. Clicking his com link, CH-01 instructs the crew to come to him, "follow the white dots gentlemen, please"; eventually they assemble, despite wild shots from the rodians and in a comical conga line CH-01 leads them to the other door. Behind them there is pounding and then the sound of someone cutting through the main door and security shutters.

The crew make it to the door, it's one of those swing-both-ways restaurant doors and it leads into a kitchen, it's dark, behind them the injured human crawls in as well - CH-01 drags a large desk unit across the doorway. The bothan tries to bring up schematics on his data pad, we find a cold store and finally in the far wall a maintenance hatch. The sound of cutting and screaming behind gets louder, someone starts shoving at the blocked doorway. Jovan opens the hatch and peers in - a dark space, possibly a chute – never mind, we shove the injured guy down it and then jump, in a moment of clarity, the captain flips the catch as he goes through shutting it behind us.

There's a long, long, slippery slide into darkness, followed by a painful landing.

Scene Six:
Apparently the smell is awful - the injured guy is dead, broke his neck on impact. Too bad, no answers from him then. We seem to have come down a garbage chute and landed on a conveyor belt collecting trash. The good news is that it's dimly lit by occasional bulkhead lights. Moving through the area small scavenger creatures (uggnaughts), they immediately strip the body and then try and 'buy' the bothan's datapad with the orange jacket it was wearing.

After some discussion and the donation of a handful of credits we find that this leads nowhere except, ultimately an incinerator. There are down chutes for every building on the ring, neatly labelled but only very occasional maintenance access ways. The crew chooses to head for the nearest hatchway, climbing the disgusting, slimy, chutes doesn't look like a good idea.

Eventually we find a ladder in the gloom and climb up – a moment of luck as we find that the entrance actually is also a sanitisation shower, so we emerge a bit damp but reasonably clean and not too smelly.

Scene Seven:
We find ourselves in the kitchen area of what seems to be a nightclub, the staff studiously ignore us, despite some surprised glances, they say nothing. Peering into the main auditorium there is something big going down, a major sabaque  tournament apparently – this is The Nova Room, broadcast on pay-to-view all over the galaxy. There's a human and wookie sat under the spotlight in the centre and music starts up, the PA blares out "...And in the Blue Corner we have Lando Carilisian" – someone enters the far side, to huge cheers and stamping of feet – we hear the start of a chant "Hello, what do. .." and then the crowd choruses with "..we have here!"

During all this we avoid the attention of helpful staff asking to seat us if we could just show them our ticket and make our excuses and leave – the bouncers are highly suspicious but we make it out without incident. In the background we here the ringmaster introducing the current champion Han Solo. We're back onto Shoola's Ring.

Scene Eight:
Trying to get our bearings we locate the closest docking gate – Gate 10, quarter of the way round the Ring. There is the usual hubbub going on and billboards flashing news and adverts – something catches CH-01's attention, images too fast for normal viewing. Lists of wanted criminals with details subliminally flicker through the adverts, for girls and bars – the Burpee Harpy features prominently. The captain, the trandoshan and droid all feature – wanted for questioning about a breach of the peace at the Biscuit Barren – the human, aqualish and rodians don't feature. Great we're now wanted criminal's on a Hutt space station. Checking the clock, we have eight hours left until our ride leaves.

Someone calls out to Tray'esseck, it's the arms dealer from earlier. Seems there was more to the deal than we realised, and he has purchased some special trandoshan bladed weapon – a 'slaver blade'. Great so we're that easy to spot!

A commotion ahead and a bunch of red robed 'Church of the Force' spritualists come down the Ring, begging for credits as they continue their pilgrimage. In a moment of inspiration, to provide a disguise, the crew purchases two of the robes (big boxy headed things) for a substantial contribution to the cause and Tray'essek and the captain don them. Thus clad we make our way back toward Gate 22 – surely Captain Oglerk has finished lunch by now!

After some fraught discussion with the Gate 22 guards they point is to the Burpee Harpy, which is where the crew usually hang out.

Scene Nine:
The Burpee Harpy – we enter a throbbing, loud and packed cantina come night club, we start pushing our way though looking for the Captain. An angry, one-eyed wookie, very drunk and with a bad attitude spots Tray'essek (we're not wearing the robes inside. . . seemed sensible) and grabs him, the trandoshan shoves back, the wookie stumbles into a table, drinks are spilled, someone takes a swing and then. . . all hell breaks loose, full on bar room brawl.

In the midst of which we find Captain Oglerk and her First Mate Kog. In a difficult negotiation, conducted whilst avoiding flying bottles and stools we agree to meet at Cargo Bay 99.

Scene Ten
Cargo Bay 99 is probably the quietest place we've been. A cargo tug and five large container pods sit waiting as do Captain Oglerk and Kog. We're invited to check two of the pods at random – we do and find that each contains 10,000 neatly stacked droids. The tug is hyperspace capable, so we negotiate for its inclusion, Oglerk seems uninterested in it, just wants shot of the whole lot. So we cut a deal at 5 million credits, the bothan opens the briefcase and transfers the fee (cue momentary shock from the rest of the crew that this bit could be so easy and the money was actually available).
Success we have a tug and 50,000 droids . Now we just need to get them to the Shadow Raptor - only we don't know the route.

Scene Eleven
Back on the Spinsters Loom in discussion with LELU-979, who also doesn't know the route, there's just an implant programme that allows the Spinsters Loom to make the jump. It's hardwired into the droid – how do we get two ships to use the same programme? Cue some fancy-dancy slicing by the bothan and we manage to duplicate the programme with a one use kill switch so that it will self-delete. LELU-979 satisfies herself of these precautions and we're good to go.

Scene Twelve
We pack into the Cargo Tug – no name yet but hey we have a ship again, the captain straps in and asks for clearance to leave. Within minutes we're off, the bothan runs his programme and the whole ship vibrates and hums as we enter hyperspace

Awesome

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - KR-16
2) What armies were confronted? Crimson Allaince vs RDF
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? very, although a tad rusty as it's been some time since I played.
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? No.
5) How many players were in the game? First off solo then two two player games as I demoing the rules at Blast-Tastic.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Bolt Action 2
2) What armies were confronted? Late war Germans v US
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? Yes
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? Yes for Bolt Action 2 but played many games of the original set
5) How many players were in the game? Solo

I like the new rules amendments. they add a bit more depth and address most of the issues of the original set.

At our Group we've got a multiplayer huge game using BA2 this coming Saturday, so this was very much a trial run.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? – De Bellis Antiquitatis (DBA) 3.0
2) What armies were confronted? IV/1a Komnenan Byzantine 1071-1142AD v IV/6a Syrian 1092-1286AD
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? Yes
4) and... was the first time you used the ruleset? Yes for DBA 3.0 but played several games of earlier versions of DBA and also DBMM
5) How many players were in the game? Solo

The Byzantines rolled lower than the Syrians and so defended. They selected the two compulsory areas of plough, a gentle hill and two rough areas of scrub. They ended up as shown and the Syrians chose to attack from the right as the one rough area that fitted on the table gave their hordes somewhere to hide.

The Byzantines scored a 1 on their first PIP roll so the areas of plough counted as rough due to heavy rains rather than good going much to the annoyance of two mainly cavalry armies.

After the first three or four bounds both sides had squared off in the centre with the Syrian Cavalry nervously watching the Byzantine Bow and Spear on the hill and the Byzantine Knights worried about facing Bedouin Light Horse in the centre. The Byzantine Light Horse had pushed hard on the right flank to threaten the Syrian camp.

(http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t197/paulreynolds999/DBA%20First%20Crusade%20project/IMG_1670_zps8ii45kz6.jpg)

After a few more bounds the Syrian Psiloi had dealt with one of the marauding Light Horse (6-1). The Byzantine Knights had destroyed the two Bedouin Light Horse. The Syrian Cavalry had been repulsed by the Bow and Spear on the hill but another Cavalry element and two Light Horse had managed to get out of the rough plough.

(http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t197/paulreynolds999/DBA%20First%20Crusade%20project/IMG_1677_zpsdsueamxs.jpg)

In the centre the Byzantines turned the Syrian Cavalry's flank, but the Byzantine Knight General had pursued and was isolated, he rolled just enough to avoid destruction.

(http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t197/paulreynolds999/DBA%20First%20Crusade%20project/IMG_1682_zpsjambziap.jpg)

On the hill the Syrian Cavalry and Light horse had managed to turn the flank of one of the Bow and destroy them. They then followed up in their next bound turning the flank of the Spear and destroying them to win the game 4-3.

(http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t197/paulreynolds999/DBA%20First%20Crusade%20project/IMG_1685_zpsblldknd3.jpg)

Overall a very enjoyable play test of the new rules which seem to have improved significantly from DBA 2.2. The added rules, e.g. flank support, seem to add to the game without adding to much complexity.

Nice report

Looking good, Paul!

You'd rate DBA 3 better than DBA 2 then? I'm half tempted to run something campaign wise at the club if I can drum up support. Am currently torn between using Impetus/Basic Impetus or DBA, or  Impetus Fantasy/Hordes of the Things...

Good stuff, Paul !

Cheers - Phil.

Quote from: toxicpixie on 05 October 2016, 08:51:04 AM
Looking good, Paul!

You'd rate DBA 3 better than DBA 2 then? I'm half tempted to run something campaign wise at the club if I can drum up support. Am currently torn between using Impetus/Basic Impetus or DBA, or  Impetus Fantasy/Hordes of the Things...

From my reading of the rules and several reviews and one play test there are a number of improvements

• improved Knight Bow interaction
• Flank support factors further encouraging battlelines
• removal of some of the geometric cheese
• diagrams :o
• indexes :o

It is a shame it is still in Barkerese

There are a set of DBA Campaign rules dated 2010 available here, http://www.wrg.me.uk/SUE/DBACampaigns.pdf (http://www.wrg.me.uk/SUE/DBACampaigns.pdf) I am yet to use them and they are also in Barkerese

Cheers!

I never found DBA had a great difficulty with the geometric cheese that DBM generated - I guess quicker games with less elements made it less of an issue? Or maybe we just played to the spirit and not the angles with the smaller games I rated DBA well over DBM tbh, the essence was lost in translation IMO.

Flank support sounded an excellent addition. And diagrams?! Superb.

I was just going to use the "geometric" campaign from the DBA rule book. It just works :)

I presented with a couple of interesting geometric situations at the 2011 Worlds, all done in the best possible taste ;)

16 pages :o :o :o of diagrams :) :)

I must see if I can find my old copy of DBA, if I remember correctly the old campaign system was much simpler

I concur with Toxic's assessment. Don't know about DBA3. I now use DBA 2,2+ using the version put out by WADBAG. It's big but it is also in understandable English, with  sufficient explanatory diagrams and a superb QRS. The only thing it doesn't have (for legal reasons) is the army lists, but these can be found elsewhere, and there are some decent Italian Wars ones on the web these days.

Cheers Andy - that's a great group, I'm currently reading the excellently explained and written rules working hard at my day job.

Paul, the original campaign was node based and everyone had two nodes, connected to a neighbour either side and a third "safe" connected only to their own two border nodes. THere's an extra node in the middle initially controlled by the target, sorry, number 1 nation in the campaign, and you move your army to adjacent nodes and fight the owners army, with the intent of securing their capital and forcing them to be a subject/client kingdom. Campaign was finished when someone either rules the world or a set number of turns or similar, and tot up battles won, enemies subjugated etc for the overall winner.

Produces a very easy, virtually no booking, guaranteed battles game with an easy structure.

Thanks TP, I dug out my copy of the original DBA and had a read last night

My goodness, how DBA has grown over the years ;)

Now I just need to find a suitable First Crusade map to add some background colour

I also need to work out what to do with 6 armies and 5 players :-\

Quote from: paulr on 06 October 2016, 07:17:48 PM
I also need to work out what to do with 6 armies and 5 players :-\

Co-opt a sixth or have a neutral  power to allow for play by visiting firemen?

Or just squeeze one of the six locations out so you have five players each with three nodes? Means a trip to a graphics program or freehand and scan but it works exactly as well as with six!

A thought that has just occurred is to dice each season for who gets to control the sixth army  :-\

That should leave them in suitable confusion ;)

The Egyptians are probably the army I would leave to this fate for the First Crusade campaign  :-\

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Fogr
2) What armies were confronted? - Later 10mm Poles vs 15mm Ottomans
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - yes
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - no
5) How many players were in the game? - two

We were both a base away from breaking, when I broke! Great game. :)

"Tomascz, I think they have sent an army of genies!!"

Quote from: mad lemmey on 07 October 2016, 07:36:59 AM

We were both a base away from breaking, when I broke! Great game. :)

Agreed. It was very tense. If those German infantry hadn't broken I'd have lost my camp next bound and been sent running back to Constantinople. Interestingly the good troops - winged hussars, Kapa'kulu, Janissaries - didn't contribute much and it was the rank and file - sipahis and cossacks - that did the damage on both sides.

N

1) What ruleset: Bloody Picnic, with lots of tweaks round casualties in particular
2) What armies:  Russians attacking  Austro-Hungarians waiting desperately for reinforcements fromGerman allies. 1914.
3) Did you feel comfortable: Yes, once I'd remembered what we'd done with the casualty system!
4) First time: No I've played a good few tines with Tony (from Tiny Tin Troops).
5) Solo game.

Played with Pendraken (mostly) figures on my 5'x3' table.

The rules are designed to cover the 1904-24 period but I think they are mostly focussed on the Trench warfare period. The casualties in open warfare were just too lethal even by the actual standards of the period.

I took a couple of pictures and once I can work out how to reduce them to a postable size I'll put them up.

Jeff

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Age of Reason
2) What armies were confronted? - 28mm Russians v Ottomans
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - yes
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - no
5) How many players were in the game? - Four

Scenario is for the Russians to stop an Ottoman punitive expedition at a wide,  shallow river crossing. We will complete it next Sunday evening.

Two games off MeG at Milton Keynes tonight.
Game 1:
Scratch force of Carthaginians vs Imperial Romans. Not sure of points until tomorrow as Mark's Alans were being rebased. I was using c.8500 of Romans, no superiors.
C elephants broke my Equites Illyricani, and then ran over a unit of LI bows.
I hit his two spear blocks and Celtiberians (all 8) with two Auxilia and two legions, that one definitely went my way as the Auxilia also caught the trunkies, routing all four of those units, then the Carthaginian cavalry also charged a beaten up Auxilia and broke them, then we both lost a cavalry unit simultaneous on the flank. Carthage broke. 15-7 Rome. Suspect the points were pretty even, but basically I held off two units of Gauls and a unit of Celtiberians with one unit of four Equites sagittari, if they had got in on my legions flank it would have been goodnight Vienne (or any other Roman colony)!
Between u s we lost four generals in combat!!!

Game 2: Huns vs Ottomans (Gennorm, of this parish)
Lots of LH dancing round each other, Ottomans realising they were going to be out shot and out fought (but missing the vital detail that the Huns were unprotected). Ended up as a 2-8 to the Huns.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Honours of War
2) What armies were confronted? - British vs French
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Very
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No
5) How many players were in the game? - Two

A chance to give Dave's French their first outing and for once to play a SYW game :o ;). AAR to follow in due course.

Hi

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Blucher, including Scharnhorst campaign system.
2) What armies were confronted? - Anglo/Portuguese vs French (6mm H&R, first outing for the Anglo/Portuguese0
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Very
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No
5) How many players were in the game? - Two, me against my 11 year old son (inset day)

The Anglo/Portuguese thrashed the French even before a third of their forces could come on as reinforcements. I think I'm on my way to Paris to be shot.

Cheers Paul

I must admit I had so much trouble with the Scharnhorst campaign that I dumped Blucher. Much prefer Longstreet as a campaign game.

Took us a little to sort out how to make Scharnhorst work - it's quite awkward if both players are rubbish at it, or if one player is massively better. Or if someone tries to be too clever ;) That said we've had some superb games even when the initial set up looked a walkover!

I'm slightly dreading playin at the club though, as I suspect anything that can go wrong will go wrong :D

Must admit I only ever use it as an umpire tool,

never had a problem but I guess I can see how players left to themselves could get into a bit of a bind with daft moves.

As an umpire I'm a bit loose on application of the rules, allowing common sense and my judgement to dictate outcomes, especially for reveals and overruns, etc.

All I'm looking for is a back story to the game.

Looks like you've found a good solution to a potential problem. I found against my regular opponent that Scharnhorst left me far fewer troops than he had and the games turned into a forgone conclusion. Where's the fun in that? It's one of the reasons I prefer scenarios where the weaker side can appear to lose, but still win, e.g. exiting the table in retreat with more troops intact than happened historically.

We've had a couple of terribly unbalanced games that went badly (not always straight numbers. before we got the columns/corps/combined arms set up sorted we had a game with even numbers, except one side was almost all conscript infantry, the other had a cracking mix of artillery, infantry and cavalry...), but more nail biters where reserves arriving through the game (or possibility of) meant it was a knife edge for both sides :)



Oh yes, and despite our fairly strict "no tinkering" rule, we've started rolling for reserves a point more easily - it seems to work very well, especially as we tend to play big games with multiple players per side!

Duh Hullo

1) Sharp Practice II (with 15mm figures & bigger unit sizes)
2) AWI - British vs Duh Americans
3) Very, like an old air of jeans
4) Our very first game, and we got loads wrong, missed lots of the special abilities of individual units and got so caught up in the action we forgot the Force Moral almost completely
5) Two

But - boy are they good (I lost)

Playing again tomorrow afternoon at Washington Wargames Club, this time British Loyalists vs American Southern Militias.
These are the armies straight out of the film Patriot, and tomorrow I get Tarlton.
Scenario No 2 - Both sides are searching for the Major's wife, each for his own Honourable or Nefarious reasons

Patriot - there's me thinking you were playing historical and not fantasy. Don't forget to don the nazi uniforms, invade Russia and burn the peasantry in the local church.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - From Sedgemoor to Staket
2) What armies were confronted? - Jacobite vs Williamite 1691
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes and no
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - Yes and no - the game was a play test of an extension of ECW/TYW rules to cover this era
5) How many players were in the game? - Eight plus an umpire


The game was a large playtest of a development of the Warr Without an Enemie ECW rules to cover the period 1680-1720. The game featured 2 tables notionally some distance apart. On the largest table the Jacobite manned a defensive position and were being attacked by a larger Williamite force. This was a mixed engagement. The smaller table was a cavalry clash with a larger Jacobite force was trying to defeat a blocking Williamite force. If they could do this they could, after a suitable interval, join the main table.

As it turned out we were probably a bit over ambitious with the number of figures used. 6 of the players had not played the system before and so the game went relatively slowly. On the main table the Williamites made progress and probably had the upper hand but it was all still to play for. On the secondary table the Jacobites suffered from a run of poor dice but managed to defeat their opponents and as the game was ending were traveling to join the main battle when we ended the game. The Williamites successes had put them into a position where the victorious Jacobite cavalry would arrive on the main table behind the Williamite lines. So at this point with the main Jacobite force bloodied but undefeated it was decided the Williamites would pull back and we ended the game.

Quote from: Leman on 15 October 2016, 03:52:28 PM
Patriot - there's me thinking you were playing historical and not fantasy. Don't forget to don the nazi uniforms, invade Russia and burn the peasantry in the local church.

Mel REALLY doesn't like you guys!  :)

It's because he was brought up as an Aussie...

Quote from: Hwiccee on 17 October 2016, 02:29:35 PM
1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - From Sedgemoor to Staket

Staket? Crikey but that's a pretty obscure battle reference to name a set of rules after!

1. FoG

2. Carthaginians v Gauls

3. Reasonably. The gamers who play these rules are very patient with me, and I get plenty of help. Consequently I am getting better at using a set that originally I found incomprehensible.

4. As a result I am getting more comfortable with these rules.

5. This was my 5th game. Should be ok by my 25th.

6. 3 - one Carthaginian, two Gauls, including me with a sub-command of three battle groups.

Quote from: Zippee on 17 October 2016, 04:44:18 PM
Staket? Crikey but that's a pretty obscure battle reference to name a set of rules after!

It is only a working title but we are struggling to find a good one. This time has always had problems with names and doesn't even have an agreed 'period name'. The current name does at least more or less cover the time period and scope of the wars covered.

So if you have any good suggestions I am all ears :)

p.s. As a Brit I wonder how many non Brits know about Sedgemoor?

Some variation of a 1970s (?) rules set. Pony Wars, I think.

Far better than a lot of the 100+ page rules books you get today!

Quote from: Hwiccee on 17 October 2016, 06:46:31 PM

It is only a working title but we are struggling to find a good one. This time has always had problems with names and doesn't even have an agreed 'period name'. The current name does at least more or less cover the time period and scope of the wars covered.

So if you have any good suggestions I am all ears :)

p.s. As a Brit I wonder how many non Brits know about Sedgemoor?

Fair enough but there are better known battles in the GNW  :D

Yeah there is no good period name - or possibly too many good names for much of the period but not all.


I doubt Sedgemoor is known by many Brits at all - it's wargamers you need to address and I dare say any of those with a passing interest in the period(s) would recognise it

Most people will know the name if they travel down the M5 on holiday, as there is Sedgemoor services!

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? – De Bellis Antiquitatis (DBA) 3.0
2) What armies were confronted? IV/6a Syrian 1092-1286AD v IV/2 Cilician Armenian 1071AD-1375AD
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? Yes
4) and... was the first time you used the ruleset? Second time for DBA 3.0 but played several games of earlier versions of DBA and also DBMM
5) How many players were in the game? Solo

I decided to give the newly painted Armenians a run against the Syrians that won the last test game.

The Armenians end up invading Syria, choosing to come on through the ploughed area to deny the Syrians terrain. Fortunately the first PIP roll was not a 1 so the ploughed areas counted as good going.

Poor PIPs left the Armenians stranded but limited PIPs meant the main Syrian line couldn't support their Ligh Horse

(http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t197/paulreynolds999/DBA%20First%20Crusade%20project/IMG_1695_zpshzvmbaqc.jpg)

On the left the Syrian Light Horse managed to kill one of the Armenian Bow but were then overwhelmed by the Armenian Knights. On the right the Syrian Ligh Horse were tying down three Armenian Spear.

(http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t197/paulreynolds999/DBA%20First%20Crusade%20project/IMG_1696_zps3wzkrxc1.jpg)

Finally the infantry came to grips and the Syrian Warband broke through the centre of the Armenian Spear, the 6-1 helped overcome the side support

(http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t197/paulreynolds999/DBA%20First%20Crusade%20project/IMG_1702_zpsh0re3s2t.jpg)

Unfortunately the Warband pursued into the midst of the remaining Spear and was counter attacked by one of the Armenian Knights and despite rolling high was killed

(http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t197/paulreynolds999/DBA%20First%20Crusade%20project/IMG_1704_zpsuaqdksce.jpg)

The Syrians committed their Cavalry to support the remaining infantry and after some success one of them was caught unsupported by an Armenian Knight and 6-1'd

(http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t197/paulreynolds999/DBA%20First%20Crusade%20project/IMG_1707_zpskgvhvzrl.jpg)

A 4-3 victory to the Armenians and another enjoyable game :)

Looking really good!

DBA 3.0 is a major improvement then, not just in writing style and clarity but actual rules?

There are a number of changes in the rules and so far all of the interactions are improved :)

The writing style has not significantly improved but the diagrams definitely help ;)

Figures 14c and 14d helped when the Syrian Light Horse caught the Armenian Spear in column :)

Well, at least the diagrams are better then :D

Nice looking troops and matching looking board as well!

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Konflikt 47

2) What armies were confronted? - US and German

3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes

4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No, 2nd game but flowed well

5) How many players were in the game? - solo

Purely infantry battle with weird war Schreckwulfen and Totenkorps, SS Shocktruppen and US Rangers and Heavy Infantry.

Highlight of the skirmish was a US Rangers Flamethrower team failing it's morale check against a unit of Totenkorps and the resulting friendly fire causing maximum casualties on a nearby Ranger unit which routed as a result of the blue on blue.

At full strength the US Ranger sections were rolling 21 firing dice (2 for each rifleman and three for the LMG).... even this didn't save them.

Not everyone's cup of tea, but at least I'm getting some use out of the weird war miniatures I've had knocking around.

1. ITLSU (If the Lord Spares Us)

2. Russian v. German 1917

3. Definitely not. This was our first game with them. (see below)

4. First game

5. Two players.

By the time I went to bed last night I was totally bewildered by these rules. Perhaps other players could help me out:

1. How many times can a blind or unit spot?. My mate reckoned as many times as you like if blinds are in view, which made the blinds almost pointless as one unit immediately auto spotted both my dummies and an infantry battalion.

2. Totally confused about suppression - the rules state that suppression is removed when the unit card is turned, but the markers are not removed until the end of the following turn (T break card?) and until then the removed suppression is added to the total suppression, but what about suppression gained during that following turn. At one point I had units with 5 or 6 mini dice next to them - how on earth does one keep track. This seemed to me to be an unnecessary and over complicated rule.

3. The rules are very unclear on machine gun units. My mate reckoned that if my machine gun unit (4 models) received 6 suppression, then when they returned fire each model had to count the 6 suppression. This also destroyed those machine guns in rapid time.

4.  And I really can't cope with the spunk rating - I'm not a 14 year old schoolboy.

So many unclear points in those rules that caused confusion and frustration that it has thrown my entire 15mm Belgian project into question. I think I will have to look elsewhere for something to use.

Quote from: Leman on 19 October 2016, 12:32:25 PM
1. How many times can a blind or unit spot?. My mate reckoned as many times as you like if blinds are in view, which made the blinds almost pointless as one unit immediately auto spotted both my dummies and an infantry battalion.

I reckon you need to redefine the term 'mate'  :D I think's you was robbed.

Quote: 4.1.1 When the Blinds Move card is turned, unspotted troops of that force – those which are still represented on the table by the blind marker - may move, spot or 'decloak' and fire (voluntarily deploy).

Blinds get to do one thing - move, spot or deploy, they don't get to take multiple actions. Only commanders get PIPs to undertake multiple actions. Units get a number of dice as 'actions' blinds don't. I have no idea where your mate got the idea blinds could spot more than once - where was he getting the number from? Was he allowing each blind to attempt to spot each visible blind? Utter nonsense anyway, you get to spot once with each blind, that's it.

Quote2. Totally confused about suppression - the rules state that suppression is removed when the unit card is turned, but the markers are not removed until the end of the following turn (T break card?) and until then the removed suppression is added to the total suppression, but what about suppression gained during that following turn. At one point I had units with 5 or 6 mini dice next to them - how on earth does one keep track. This seemed to me to be an unnecessary and over complicated rule.

Quote:
11 Suppression points sustained in the firing round cannot be removed until the end of the next turn, thereby remaining in place for the targets next move and fire phase.

To be blunt we disregard this - it's an unnecessary complication and memory challenge, I don't believe it benefits the game one whit. Unit activation is random, there's no guarantee you will be able to try and remove suppression before receiving more fire. it's just plain redundant.

Quote:
11.2 Suppression can be removed in the following ways:
1. By the Brigade HQ which can allocate some of his command pips to the unit. One point is removed for each point allocated by the HQ. (see 11.2.1)
2. Battalion HQ can use some of it's points to remove suppression (see 11.2.3)
3. Individual companies/squadrons/batteries can remove suppression by taking an individual unit test (see 11.2.5)

This I think is fairly straightforward - suppression removal can (only) be attempted before movement or firing when activating a lone unit or by the Battalion HQ on the turn of the unit card, or by Brigade PIPs.

Quote3. The rules are very unclear on machine gun units. My mate reckoned that if my machine gun unit (4 models) received 6 suppression, then when they returned fire each model had to count the 6 suppression. This also destroyed those machine guns in rapid time.

Most MGs tend to be individual teams added to infantry units as per

Quote:
3.1.1 MG's attached in this way cannot be specifically targeted, and therefore count as part of the ordinary infantry unit at all times. When the unit incurs kills or suppression points, the players must dice to determine whether the kill is on the MG section.

So in this instance although you add modifiers for each MG (-1 for 2 suppression) the suppression is assigned to the whole unit, MGs can't be 'sniped' out of the game. So 6 suppression here is across the unit, some may be on the MG but you don't count the effect of 6 on the infantry and the effect of 6 on the MG the total is spread randomly.

MG units are a different thing, they are a unit just like any other unit.

So in this instance the 6 suppression on the unit are on the whole unit but unlike infantry you must fire each MG separately, therefore the impact of that suppression for firing must also be spread across all 4 sub-units. It doesn't say how to distribute the suppression, you can either do the same as above and randomly apply it or apply it evenly across the sub-units. The short version is that the unit had 6 suppression not that each MG had 6 (or the effect of 6).

I'm surprised you had such MG units on the eastern front - not my area of specialisation though.

Personally I think your mate was trying to have his cake whilst also stuffing it in his gob as fast as possible.  :D

Quote4.  And I really can't cope with the spunk rating - I'm not a 14 year old schoolboy.

Sometimes the attempt at being 'in period' is just a step too far - just change the word. Some of the unit classification names suffer here as well.

QuoteSo many unclear points in those rules that caused confusion and frustration that it has thrown my entire 15mm Belgian project into question. I think I will have to look elsewhere for something to use.

To be fair they are a very early set, 11 years old now and like the other early sets of TFL rules they were very much to be played by those that knew how to play them. At the core they do work, you just have to do a bit of editing and interpretation. They could really, really do with a revised edition but I'm not sure that's at all likely given Rich's workload currently.

I generally agree with Zippee but there are a couple of things we do differently

Quote from: Leman on 19 October 2016, 12:32:25 PM

1. How many times can a blind or unit spot?. My mate reckoned as many times as you like if blinds are in view, which made the blinds almost pointless as one unit immediately auto spotted both my dummies and an infantry battalion.

Agree, Each blind or unit can spot once if activated

Quote
2. Totally confused about suppression - the rules state that suppression is removed when the unit card is turned, but the markers are not removed until the end of the following turn (T break card?) and until then the removed suppression is added to the total suppression, but what about suppression gained during that following turn. At one point I had units with 5 or 6 mini dice next to them - how on earth does one keep track. This seemed to me to be an unnecessary and over complicated rule.

We use a label covered in plastic which we write on with white board pens. It is divided in half; Current and Total

All suppressions are recorded in the current section during the turn, these may not be removed. Add the Total and Current suppressions to determine how many supressions a unit has.

When the Tea Break comes up add the Current suppressions to the Total and wipe the Current section clean

Supressions may be removed from the Total section as described in 11.2

Quote
3. The rules are very unclear on machine gun units. My mate reckoned that if my machine gun unit (4 models) received 6 suppression, then when they returned fire each model had to count the 6 suppression. This also destroyed those machine guns in rapid time.

We play that supressions apply to a unit so if an infantry company with an MG attached has 6 supressions both the rifles and MG fire with 3 less dice. In an MG unit with 6 supressions each MG fires with 3 less dice, but will get 2 more dice each for the extra MGs (4 in unit)

Quote4.  And I really can't cope with the spunk rating - I'm not a 14 year old schoolboy.

Just be glad none of the units had Spunk "Damn Sodomites" :-[

QuoteSo many unclear points in those rules that caused confusion and frustration that it has thrown my entire 15mm Belgian project into question. I think I will have to look elsewhere for something to use.

Stick with the rules they work really well and give a great game

PM me if you would like a copy of the Quick Reference sheets I put together

Quote from: Leman on 15 October 2016, 03:52:28 PM
Patriot - there's me thinking you were playing historical and not fantasy. Don't forget to don the nazi uniforms, invade Russia and burn the peasantry in the local church.

Sorry correction, for our 2nd game, the forces were made up of Southern Militias and British Loyalists as per the rules not as per Mad Max. And yes I do know that it was the Americans who burnt down the church not the British. I think the cinema call it artistic licence, I would hazard travesty as closer to the truth but still better than Last of the Mohicans.

We played Scenario No 2, variation, find the  Majors wife and bring her home.
Random deployment and random location of the Majors wife.

Highlights -
Mutual destruction of American infantry unit and one of the British Dragoons in our first cavalry melee (both players rolled high on all dice) and the exploits of this fine chap:
I quote 'Captain Hugo Beeton is extravagantly wealthy with few connections. He is known to be an honourable chap, is no looker but thoroughly charming. He is a towering giant with no remarkable abilities.' Having only just about managed to get the troop under his command to march almost the full length of the table to the far most buildings, Capt. Beeton managed on the penultimate turn, after many attempts, to find the Major's wife in a one room hovel. She must have hidden behind the door! Then on the final turn as the British Loyalists moral fell to zero, mainly because all but 10 figures had been killed or routed by withering American fire, he convinced the good lady to mount his saddle and they rode off back to Fort Murray. Although how the Captain was going to phrase the after action report as a victory, having lost all of the men under his command is unknown.

Great fun and only took 2 or so hours start to finish.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Honours of War

2) What armies were confronted? - British vs French

3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Very

4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No

5) How many players were in the game? - Two

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? Star Wars: Edge of Empire + Age of Rebellion

2) What armies were confronted? Err none really,  so lets just say Good v Bad (good droid v bad droids it turns out)

3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? Fairly, though the dice pool reading still feels a little like taking the auguries

4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? No. Although it had been a while and this is thefourth session with a first time GM (of anything)

5) How many players were in the game? 5

Episode 3:

Scene 3.01
Back on the Shadow Raptor where they are welcomed aboard, even as Captain Sortuli leads them back to her ready room they see droids being unloaded from the tug and sent straight into service aboard the Raptor – man they must have been really short of droids.

In the ready room the crew is interviewed by General Cracken, it is quickly apparent that whilst happy to have the droids he is less than happy at the cost, it seems that the crew were expected to haggle and 5 million was the limit. Never mind it's done now and Cracken has to accept that they completed his mission, grudgingly he endorses the history wipes and pays up the 5000 credits for Matwe, who then goes on to negotiate the tug as an extra payment. By this time it is apparent that Cracken just wants rid of them.

Proceedings are brought to a sudden conclusion as the PA system blares out: "Attention, all hands prepare for immediate hyperspace jump". The doors slam shut and lock.

"What's going on, why are we..." starts Matwe when suddenly there is a series of muffled explosions from below and alarm sirens begin to howl. The Shadow Raptor drops out of hyperspace with a sickening lurch and drifts, engines dead. In the vision panel is the huge glow of the Vermillion Black Hole – looking very close indeed.

The virtual terminal is offline, the crew look at each other wondering what is happening, the protocol droid (one of the new ones they acquired) attending the interview raises an arm and shoots Tray'essek with a concealed blaster. The trandoshan responds by leaping the droid, knife in hand, only to be punched away to fall heavily against the side of the table. Joval draws his blaster, shoots misses. Matwe turns and shoots blindly into the nearest computer terminal. Meanwhile CH-01 calmly swings his heavy rifle up, aims and blows the droid's head off.

A Lt Hastings comes on the PA "The captain is assessing the damage . . . a technician is on his way to your location . . . several internal explosions . . . dropped out of hyperspace . . . spinning slowly into the black hole . . . dead in the water . . . ion engine, hyperdrive, life support, hatch control, communications, all offline . . . wait . . . something is happening . . . [shooting and screaming] . . . THIS SHIP IS NOW THE PROPERTY OF THE EMPIRE, STAND DOWN, CEASE TO RESIST OR YOU WILL BE TERMINATED [a deep mechanical droid voice, comes on] . . .[more shooting] . . ."

Joval begins tapping into the monitor displays in an attempt to bring up schematics of the ship. Suddenly the internal intercom splutters into life and the Captain's voice announces "Anyone who can hear me, this vessel was on course for the Alliance Headquarters, we must not let those coordinates fall into Imperial hands, if you can hear me please do the utmost to do the following:
[There is the sound of metal screeching]
1)   Warn the rebel fleet that Shadow Raptor is compromised
2)   Disable primary communications – so that the droids cannot relay our position
3)   Use secondary communications to issue an abandon ship order
4)   Disable all hyperdrive capable craft in the fore and aft hangar bays
5)   Free the ship's intelligence officers on the analysis deck and reclaim the ship
That is all, Captain Sortuli out . . . [shots are fired] . . ."

Joval finds schematics of the ship and identifies many of the locations mentioned by the captain. There is much discussion about what to do next, some are for heading to the hangar, grabbing the tug and leaving, others want to help. Eventually it is decided that Joval, Tray'essek and CH-01 will attempt to make it the primary communications on level 1 and issue the warning. Matwe declares he is heading for level 8 and the nearest armoury and then to his tug.

Joval splices the door controls and the crew head to the lifts.

Scene 3.02
In the lift Joval has the panel off and spliced into his tablet and the lift rises, slowly. At level 8 he stops and the doors are pulled apart so that Matwe can get out – he does so and heads down the corridor looking for the armoury door.

The lift doors shut behind him, and the rest ascend to level 1

Scene 3.03
The lift doors open onto the primary communications deck, ahead are several protocol droids a medical droid and an astrogation droid. In the two lower work bays on either side are rows of crew kneeling with hands on heads covered by more protocol droids.

Grenades are rolled, CH-01 shoots the astro-droid, the droids reel in shock.

The crew storm the deck, grenades, shots and knives in a flurry of action – CH-01 walks to the railings and announces "Stand up Rebels and fight back" and then methodically shoots protocol droids – the heavy blaster rifle destroying each droid with a single hit.

Tray'essek kills the medical droid in hand to hand combat, once the smoke clears the crew are in control of the communication deck. CH-01 shoots the last droid in the head.

Joval releases the crew and instructs them to inform the Rebel fleet and hold the primary communication deck – "destroy the array if the droids return".

The crew leave, descending to the hangar bays.

Scene 3.04
In the lift, Joval stops at level 8 and collects Matwe who has been unable to break into the armoury. Again he splices the controls and the crew descend to the forward hangar bay.

Scene 3.05
The bay has many ships, Y-wings, X-wings, Shuttles and the crew's own tug with droid pods. It is apparent that many of the droids are still unpacked.

The bay is patrolled be several protocol droids and astro-droids and a couple of mechanical lifter droids. The hangar bay 'door' is a magnetic field. Above them is a control room on a stairway and gantry.

The crew storm into the control room and shoot the droids there dead, Joval splices into the controls and releases the magnetic doors to the bay, depressurising it – all the droids and the unpacked pods are ejected. Turning the field back on, the crew walks into the hangar. At the far end is a sealed door where the flight crews and engineers are kept prisoner. CH-01 shoots the droid standing guard and releases the rebels. Chief Moheed leads his crews to seal the hangar.

The crew discuss what to do next, Tray'essek and Joval think that they should use some of the X-wings here to take the aft hangar. Before any decision is reached Matwe jumps into one of the X-wings, powers up and launches – as he speeds away from the drifting Shadow Raptor his voice comes over the crew intercom – "I'll meet you in the pub guys. . ."

Joval attempts to convince the rebel pilots to give chase and shoot him down but they refuse.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Honours of War

2) What armies were confronted? - Austrians vs Prussians

3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Very

4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No

5) How many players were in the game? - Four plus an umpire

Had to leave before the end but it looked like it might be an Austrian victory.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - To the Strongest

2) What armies were confronted? - WOTR, Lancastrian v Yorksist

3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes

4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No

5) How many players were in the game? - 2

As usual I managed to throw away the victory even after ransacking the Yorkist camp.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? Star Wars: Edge of Empire + Age of Rebellion

2) What armies were confronted? Imperial Droids vs Rebels (and the party fighting for survival and a quick profit)

3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? Yes, we're getting better (and quicker) at reading the dice auguries and moving the narrative on accordingly

4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? No, although it's been a year or two

5) How many players were in the game? 5 (not necessarily the same 5 as previously though)


Episode 4:

Scene 4.01
Joval, Tray'essek and CH-01 stand with Chief Moheed in the forward hangar bay, wondering where their Captain Matwe thinks he is going. The chief is happy to secure the bay and ensure that no intact hyperspace capable ships will fall into droid hands. However it is increasingly apparent to all that the air quality is dropping alarmingly so, despite being keen to take control of the aft hangar bay, it is clear that life support has to be the priority right now – especially as there is no easy way to reach and take the aft hangar bay.


Scene 4.02
Stepping out of the lift, the crew arrive at the door to life support engineering and, peering through the vision panel, see three droids: two medics and one astro-droid. There are no crew in sight but several terminals and workstations can be seen in front of a number of large silos, each connected by an array of pipes, valves and digital readouts.

With a deep breath, Joval pushes the door open from the side, CH-01 aims and shoots the astro-droid, peeling it's head like a chocolate orange with a single blast, Tray'essek dives through the door and engages one of the medics in melee, knife and claw against vibro-scalpel and hypodermic.

Tray'essek takes his time with his medic whilst CH-01 shoots and destroys the other one. Eventually Joval shoots the medic fighting Tray'essek in the head. That was easy – too easy perhaps?

Taking stock of the control room, there are four labelled workstations (Gravity; Air; Power; Water), Joval splices into the one labelled Air and successfully takes control of it, re-setting the system. However this has no effect – further diagnosis reveals there is a mechanical fault in the ventilation system - a fault beyond the engineering skills of any of them.

Whilst discussing what to do now, Tray'essek hears a muffled thumping coming from one of the silos and CH-01 identifies a maintenance hatch in the wall; opening the hatch they find the engineer team trapped inside. They are immensely grateful and immediately begin work on bringing life support back online.

The crew discuss the next option – they are still keen to get to the aft hangar bay. CH-01 asks the engineers if they can just dial the local gravity in the bay up to impede activity there – they refuse as they can't guarantee not crushing the crew in the area. CH-01 is baffled by their refusal.

Suddenly their short wave comms crackle to life and Matwe says "hey guys..."


Scene 4.03
Matwe: alone in an X-Wing, suddenly realises that without an astro-droid aboard his options are severely limited. So he returns and approaches the forward hangar bay entrance. Over shortwave comms he asks if the rest of the crew can support him in an attack on the aft hangar bay. Joval and Tray'essek inform him that air was getting short and it was vital they got to Life Support or everyone aboard would have died. Matwe tells the crew he is landing and will meet them at the lifts in a minute.

As they conclude this discussion, one of the Raptor's defence turrets targets Matwe's X-Wing. Matwe shoots, misses and then ducks under the body of the Raptor. More turrets activate, Matwe manoeuvres wildly, and then crash lands his X-Wing right into the middle of the bay, destroying another X-Wing in the process.

Chief Moheed is furious at his conduct, shooting at the ship, crashing his bay, destroying valuable ships and generally being a loose cannon. Matwe waves at him, smiles and tells him he's just following the captain's orders and disabling the ships as he swaggers off towards the lifts to wait for Joval and his crew to join him.

Chief Moheed watches him leave, jaw dropped and fuming, fists clenched and knuckle white.


Scene 4.04
Joval, Tray'essek and CH-01 return to the lift block, still discussing their next objective whilst waiting for Matwe to join them. They really want to get to the aft hangar bay but can't see any easy way to do so, Joval calls Chief Moheed and asks him if some of his pilots could deploy in X-Wings to cover the aft hangar bay and prevent anything leaving. For some reason the chief is less cooperative than when they left him and refuses to do so, because the Raptor's defence turrets would target them and besides he can't afford to lose any more ships. Puzzled, Joval severs the link as Matwe swaggers down the hall.

Finally re-united the crew decide that they should make an attempt to free the Analysis Deck to regain control of the ship. Matwe convinces them that it would be prudent to stop off at the Barracks level on the way as this level is also where the brig and armoury is located and thus there will be heavier weapons available and possibly marine prisoners who could assist with any attempt to reclaim the ship.

Joval brings up ship schematics again and the crew identify a maintenance crawl way that leads into the central barracks area between the brig and armoury. It is assumed that this area will be heavily guarded and the usual approach of kicking down the front door is probably not a good one.


Scene 4.05
Joval, CH-01, Tray'essek and Matwe lie in a metal ventilation duct observing the barracks room through a high level grate. There are dozens of bunk beds in many rows across the chamber. Off to the right a force field glimmers (the entrance to the brig), there is a control panel next to it. To the left there is a door, which should lead to the armoury. Unfortunately there are also numerous droids in the area: four groups of five protocol droids and a pair of medics – their attention seems to be focused on the main entrance almost directly opposite the grate.

In hushed tones it is decided that Joval should attempt to sneak to the control panel and open the force field in the hope that there are prisoners in the brig. CH-01 will cover him from here, and await results.

Joval carefully removes the grate and slides out of the crawl space.


 
Scene 4.06
Joval sneaks up to the control panel and peers through the force field, beyond he can see a corridor lined with cells all behind more force fields – from this angle he can't tell if the cells are occupied. He begins to splice into the control panel, unfortunately this demands standing in plain sight and one of the medic droids spots him and points – before he can utter a command though, CH-01 shoots and the droid's head explodes, CH-01 then rolls out of the crawl space and takes cover behind one of the bunks.

Behind him Tray'essek leaps out and dashes towards the other medic (they have decided the medics must be the 'officers' so taking them out first is probably a priority), Matwe follows him, moving to the left he shoots at the medic and misses. The medic and Tray'essek fight in a whirl of blades to little effect.

Joval opens the access panel and drops the main force field – but not the ones holding the cells. The protocol droids react and open fire, group one shooting at CH-01 and missing. Group two shoot at Matwe and hit him (the door to the armoury swings open), while group three shoots at Joval and group four at Tray'essek, both are wounded.

Joval attempts to force the cell doors open but fails, cursing he jabs a stimpack into his thigh. Matwe dives through the open door to the armoury and also uses a stimpack. Tray'essek rips the medic apart and then races after Matwe, seeking cover. CH-01 continues to fire, eliminating two droids from group one.

The droids return fire, group one hitting CH-01 (and incidentally shooting out the light controls behind him, shrouding him in shadows), group two moves towards the armoury and shoots at Matwe, hitting him again (Matwe grabs a heavy blaster from the weapon racks). Group three manage to miss Joval standing at the access panel (as the wall explodes into chips around him, Joval drops his datapad). Group four also shoot at CH-01 but miss (the bunkbed takes a lot of damage though).

Joval recovers his datapad and finally releasing the cell force fields he stumbles into the corridor, seeking cover. As he moves around the corner he can see curious heads poking cautiously out of the cells – marines, lots of marines!

Matwe shoots at droid group two, taking down one of them; searching the shelf behind him he finds an emergency medical pack. Tray'essek bellows and charges back out; attacking all four droids of group two he disables one of them. CH-01 shoots and destroys another one from group one.

The two remaining droids of group one fumble with a control panel and turn the lights back on around CH-01, the three droids of group two fight Tray'essek but fail to hurt the trandoshan. Group three moves over to the control panel and attempts to reactivate the force fields – they fail. Group four shoots at CH-01 but misses.

Matwe shoots at group two and takes down a droid, CH-01 drops another from group one and Tray'essek kills both the remaining droids from group two, shredding them with his claws. Joval turns to the marines and shouts "Charge!" pointing at the droids attempting to close the force field doors. As 50 plus marines pour out of the cells, he steps back into cover.

The marines take losses but by sheer weight of numbers overwhelm the remaining protocol droids.

The barracks and armoury are secured.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - four games of MeG
2) What armies were confronted? - Late Eastern Patrician Roman vs successor Macedonian, another Later Eastern Patrician Roman, Early Carthaginian and a Bactrian Greek (not all at the same time)
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - yes
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - no
5) How many players were in the game? - doubles, so four per game.
Won one, lost three! Great games, top weekend! :D

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - A Crown of Paper

2) What armies were confronted? - Lancaster v York

3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes

4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No

5) How many players were in the game? - Five

Battle of Towton 1461 a two week game.

Quote from: Zippee on 23 October 2016, 01:43:06 PM
1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? Star Wars: Edge of Empire + Age of Rebellion

... Joval turns to the marines and shouts "Charge!" pointing at the droids attempting to close the force field doors. As 50 plus marines pour out of the cells, he steps back into cover.

This man will go far, or be shot out of hand ;)

Quote from: paulr on 24 October 2016, 02:17:19 AM
This man will go far, or be shot out of hand ;)

:D to be fair he's a bothan intelligence officer/technician he has no real reason to be anywhere near an actual gunfight - and he was/is badly injured.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Chain of Command Campaign Game 1

2) What armies were confronted? - US and German

3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes

4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No, but plays very differently when you have named officers and NCO's.......

5) How many players were in the game? - solo

Game 1 in a solo campaign 10 days after DDay with US Forces (Delta Platoon of the 39th US Infantry Regiment) pressing German Fortress troops 4th Platoon/2nd Kompanie of the 729th Fortress Grenadier Regiment deeper into the Cotentin Peninsula.

Only it didn't turn out that way :(

The US Infantry platoon got a very bloody nose, losing two NCO's and suffering the embarrassment of a whole section being dispersed around the Normandy countryside trying to make their way back to allied lines after attempting a withdrawal under fire.

Some appalling patrol phase manouvres left the US struggling to cross their start line whilst Ostruppen MG42's played a merry dance pinning the Americans down.

To add insult to injury, the Ostruppen are now taking the fight to the American's and are set to probe the weakened US platoons defences.

Hoping to get game 2 in tomorrow with some pictures and background fluff.

Sounds like a good game, just not for the Americans ;) :)

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Baroque

2) What armies were confronted? - 6mm Parliamentarian v Royalist

3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Mainly yes.

4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No,

5) How many players were in the game? - four players with 2 commands each.

The Royalists were given a good hiding by the Parliamentarians (I was Royalist and my dice throwing has not improved!). We still all reckon that dragoons are too powerful in these rules. Last night a unit of dragoons took on two charging units of Royalist cavalry (first unit were also Elite Fighters) and won!

Quote from: Bodvoc on 25 October 2016, 06:26:45 AM
1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Baroque

2) What armies were confronted? - 6mm Parliamentarian v Royalist

3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Mainly yes.

4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No,

5) How many players were in the game? - four players with 2 commands each.

The Royalists were given a good hiding by the Parliamentarians (I was Royalist and my dice throwing has not improved!). We still all reckon that dragoons are too powerful in these rules. Last night a unit of dragoons took on two charging units of Royalist cavalry (first unit were also Elite Fighters) and won!

I concur. Dragoons need downgrading shooting wise.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Regiment of Foote

2) What armies were confronted? - Late Royalist and Parliament

3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes

4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No

5) How many players were in the game? - 2 Last Hussar and myself

Lesson to self - be (even) more aggressive! I was defending with the Royalists. I had my poorer infantry units on the right flank behind a stone wall, my veterans in the centre and massed my cavalry on the left, where there was open ground. LH massed his cavalry to face mine, deployed just enough troops on the other flank to pin mine guys there and launched as massive infantry assault in the centre.  As the countdown reached a score of 6 the cavalry had achieved mutual destruction (I had a couple of unit off table in pursuit, but they were both at a reduced strength) and, following a prolonged fire fight, LH had 5 infantry units closing in on my veterans. I decided to use the parley rule to end the battle early and in the end I'd achieved a marginal victory for the King.

We decided to play on, as we had time, "to see what might have happened". I threw my infantry forward, attack being the best form of defense, and promptly routed several of his units in quick succession! :o :-\

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Bloody Big Battles! (BBB)

2) What armies were confronted? - Confederate vs Union

3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Absolutely!

4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No, it's been our staple diet for the past 7 years.

5) How many players were in the game? 4 + the ref

This was the ACW battle of Nashville, about which I knew nothing, but apparently was the only truly decisive battle of the war, in which an entire Confederate army was pretty much destroyed. Our game managed to replicate that fairly faithfully, but the scenario presented enough challenging decisions for both sides and the victory conditions are well calibrated.

I don't usually post here about my regular BBB outings, but this was my first BBB game for a month and I really needed my fix! As a bonus, I didn't have to do anything except turn up and play: Crispin not only wrote the scenario, he provided armies and custom-built terrain. We had a great time.

Chris

Bloody Big BATTLES!
https://uk.groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/BBB_wargames/info
http://bloodybigbattles.blogspot.co.uk/

Sunjester - ROF, Peter Pig RFCM yes?

Does it (like other games in their range) use the squared terrain movement system?

How much does slightly larger bases than 30x30 affect the game? My bases would be 40x40, three bases to a unit - two of pike, one of musket?

On Baroque -

Quote from: Nosher on 25 October 2016, 07:02:14 AM
I concur. Dragoons need downgrading shooting wise.

I'm starting to wonder the same tbh. Not sure about downgrading shooting (ie giving them a shooting mod), but perhaps knock VBU down to 4, which is sort of the "tipping point" where a couple of hits becomes likely to smash you in one bound...

Must trot over to the Impetus forums and see what others think!

Quote from: toxicpixie on 25 October 2016, 08:12:02 AM
On Baroque -

I'm starting to wonder the same tbh. Not sure about downgrading shooting (ie giving them a shooting mod), but perhaps knock VBU down to 4, which is sort of the "tipping point" where a couple of hits becomes likely to smash you in one bound...

Must trot over to the Impetus forums and see what others think!

Not been much in depth comment on it, but I think it's understood that they may be a bit good / under-priced. Similarly massed RE are a bit good / under-priced

In general there's not a lot of play experience being discussed, possibly due to the limited number of lists available. Whatever you opinion, tournaments produce the best performance commentary and I don't think there's been (M)any

You can comment on whether you think tercios are too manoeuvrable, whether gendarmes in 1560 should be heavier armoured and whether you think lancers should be able to use point blank shot just because they have a pistol though  :-\

Can't see any comment at all on Dragoons, though I do remember some muttering about Massed Reiters (and I do have to say on the occasion you manage to get the caracole to work it is good, but it ain't easy with all those Discipline tests!) and Massed units in general (the melee bonus is far better than the drop to S speed and minor vulnerability to Artillery, I think).

Tournaments tend to produce "hot house" results, and probe the margins but they're not a substitute for reasoned play testing and discussion. Although they do show what creative people will be willing to cheese against holes you didn't even know were there!

Quote from: Chris Pringle on 25 October 2016, 07:52:53 AM
1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Bloody Big Battles! (BBB)

2) What armies were confronted? - Confederate vs Union

3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Absolutely!

4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No, it's been our staple diet for the past 7 years.

5) How many players were in the game? 4 + the ref

This was the ACW battle of Nashville, about which I knew nothing, but apparently was the only truly decisive battle of the war, in which an entire Confederate army was pretty much destroyed. Our game managed to replicate that fairly faithfully, but the scenario presented enough challenging decisions for both sides and the victory conditions are well calibrated.

I don't usually post here about my regular BBB outings, but this was my first BBB game for a month and I really needed my fix! As a bonus, I didn't have to do anything except turn up and play: Crispin not only wrote the scenario, he provided armies and custom-built terrain. We had a great time.

Chris

Bloody Big BATTLES!
https://uk.groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/BBB_wargames/info
http://bloodybigbattles.blogspot.co.uk/

Looking forward to that one appearing in the scenario downloads. I'm very much a fan of the ACW Western Theatre which hasn't received that much coverage until relatively recently.

Quote from: Leman on 25 October 2016, 01:11:44 PM
Looking forward to that one appearing in the scenario downloads. I'm very much a fan of the ACW Western Theatre which hasn't received that much coverage until relatively recently.

Glad you like the sound of this. There'll be a short delay while we incorporate final tweaks from the latest playtest and do some editing and polishing. But I should be able to post it in the next week or two.

Chris

Quote from: Nosher on 25 October 2016, 07:54:25 AM
Sunjester - ROF, Peter Pig RFCM yes?

Does it (like other games in their range) use the squared terrain movement system?

How much does slightly larger bases than 30x30 affect the game? My bases would be 40x40, three bases to a unit - two of pike, one of musket?

No Nosher, it's not using the squared terrain system (which I'm not fond of myself).

We were using 30x30 bases but I don't think slightly larger bases would really have much effect on the game. But the units are of variable size, usually 3 to 5 bases on average.

Sounds like Sunjester is using the ROF first edition. The second edition does use squares. I really like Square Bashing, but have to admit to being rather disappointed with ROF second edition. Like Sunjester, I don't actually see anything wrong with the first edition and would much prefer that it had been  brought up to a more professional presentation, rather than having been scrapped and replaced with a completely different beast.

That's exactly the process original AK went thru, albeit with loads more discussion and lots of input from the Yahoo! Group, much play testing and revision. We all expected a "cleaned up" and refreshed rerelease and were very surprised at the totally new game that came out the door.

Sadly it didn't grip me or my groups at all, but others liked it!

I agree with toxicpixie on AK47, the latest edition is pants. AK47 was very popular at our club but as soon as we got a look at the new set we all stopped playing it, probably out of sheer bewilderment at how Peter Pig could get it so wrong! Recently people have started playing a few games again, using the old version of course.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Honours of War

2) What armies were confronted? - British vs French

3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - very

4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No

5) How many players were in the game? - 2

Follow on battle from last weeks game, with AAR to follow.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Matrix game engine on a hand drawn map

2) What armies were confronted? - Great big hairy barbarians against allied but fractious Imperial Successor statelets versus Dwarf merchant-venturer-vikings

3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Very - concept is easy rules wise, and the background was generated from my ongoing D&D game :D

4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No. I tend to use a big multiplayer matrix game to do the high scope "geopolitical" aspects of my campaign

5) How many players were in the game? - Seven incl. the "impartial" GM (me)

If you're not familiar with matrix games this may be a bit weird, but basically each player takes the role of a faction leader/nation/family/whatever, each with disparate goals that may or may not mesh with others, their own resources and skills/weaknesses, and then argues out what happens for them to achieve their goals against the other players. The actual milieu could be anything from resolving an industrial dispute ("characters" might be the shop steward, the bastard manager, the other union, the ineffectual owner etc etc) to in this case resolving the last great wave of barbarian invasion/settlement into my fantasy version of the Fall of the West/"I can't believe it's not-Arthur!" era of my long running D&D world.

Players say "I want X to happen" and support that with three arguments. So "My horde crashes down the causeway bringing the warlords forces to battle and beating them decisively because - 1/ we're huge, deadly barbarian fighters, 2/ our shamans conjured secret tracks and mist so we attack with surprise and 3/ the enemy are unprepared as their commanders are bickering amongst themselves" and as GM I rate that as a good argument (succeeds on a 3+ on a d6), acceptable and succeeds on 4+ or weak and only a 5+.

Each player runs through an argument each turn which might directly or indirectly contradict other peoples, the GM adjudicates clashes and moderates the results; if they conflict I look at the margin of success/error and strength of argument to say who "won" and how much it hurt either side etc  (A attacks B who stands and fights, both have reasonable arguments, if both fail on the dice it's a bloody but indecisive clash, two armies grinding away getting nowhere, if one wins and the other fails it's a big win going how the thrust of their arguments went, if both made the dice roll it's down to who made it by the most and they'll get better results etc).

Anyway, the actual game -

It's the "big picture" of the particular region & period of my persistent campaign world, set fairly early on in it's overall time line and is a pseudo Fall of the West/Arthurian setting with actual magic and monsters, where the players have been the warband of Uther of Gwent, Lord of the the Tanneries and have risen to be Arthur/Merlin/their particular Kings "go to blokes" for when extreme violence and magic is needed. The party proper are off in Hecates Shadowlands and the "on map" action is happening in the meantime.

They're playing a variety of the NPCs they've interacted with, and others from the background that were doing stuff that they haven't really seen; usually they were supposed to be major carriers of plot but the PCs avoid that like the plague :D There's two huge hairy barbarian warlords (Ael,their high chieftain, Roland whose the most noble Paladin of their Dismembered God, three successor warlords (Volus - actual warlord, his seeress co-leader Nimue, and Goethe, a mage-smith from the capitol leading the reinforcements) and a neutral faction of Duer (Dwarves, from Duerheim, led by Marduk) looking to bite off as much land, profit and trade as they can.

Everything ticked along quite slowly to start with just shows of strength and securing of borders initially (mainly around Aelsford, the Successor statelets main base and best crossing place of the Glevum - named for the barbarian leader when the PCs stopped his swift assault a few years back!), with the Duer making some shady deals back and forth and spreading across the successors river lands in search of trade and profit. The Barbarians then started a push across the north and down to the other major river, very slow going as all their supplies started to dry up - Volus had cut a deal with Marduk that his traders would fleece the barbarians and cut the economic legs from under them by selling them trinkets and booze etc at hugely inflated prices! Ael was pushing east towards the Duer trade fort, whilst Goethe went a bit off message and started building his own fiefdom nearby whilst giving Nimue (who already though he was a dodger!) assurances that he'd turn up for the big fight, for sure. AND be on their side, of course, why do you ask?

The "big clash" came suddenly - somehow so surreptitiously that even the GM didn't realise, the warlords had positioned themselves to catch Ael's barbarians in a trap - with Roland tied down opening the northwest passage, they'd carefully drawn Ael south and with a serious of lightning thrusts pinned him down, assaulted him at four to one odds and butchered him. At least, they would have, if a great flood down the rivers hadn't sent the Duergar right back like flotsam and jetsam, nearly drowned Nimue (and did drown most of her troops!), and cut Volus off from his base and supplies, allowing Ael (who had been consolidating, not retreating!) to catch Volus' force on it's own and unsupported (dodgy deals all round, and Goethe risking exposure as an agent of the evil powers to use his magics to cause the flood in an attempt to devastate as many factions as possible at the same time).

Fortunately for Volus, Goethe came to his "aid" (actually attempting to extend his malign influence to get into Aels base first and nick all his stuff!) and what looked like a rout nearly turned into a trap, but Roland used a really good set of arguments (including his staunch, unwavering opposition and great powers of fighting evil as a Paladin) to force march back cross the roads and trails he'd just finished and fall like the hammer of the sun against the smith and his followers. The smith countered with his fearsome powers to terrify Roland and his forces, which was a bad call as they simply took that as proof of Goethes obviously evil nature, got EXTRA FURIOUS at him and got stuck into some serious smiting.

This allowed Ael to rally and drive into Volus' forces before his soggy and half drowned allies could stagger up across the ford and causeway to him. To try and prevent a rout and buy time Volus stepped forward and challenged the huge warlord to single combat. Mighty was the fight between the two great warriors and many blows they struck in the bright flashing blood, but might proved right and Ael smote Volus with a cleaving leap and split him in twain across the causeway setting his army to panicked flight, pursued like the fox by the baying barbarian hounds.

And there we left it for next week - I was only going to run one week, but they all clamoured for more :D Which is quite good, as we should have more players next week and I can slip in some more factions in the area that aren't yet represented! So that it can go even wronger for everyone :)

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Sabre Squadron (well, bits of it)
2) What armies were confronted? - BAOR vs Warsaw pact
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - no, but no major issues
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - Yes
5) How many players were in the game? - 1 - me

This was actually a 'proof of concept' game with unpainted 3mm minis & makeshift terrain, just to see if it would work with such small minis. The idea is to have a completely portable but complete wargame contained in a small enough box, including terrain (well, barring a cloth).

That much worked fine, barring being a bit fiddly (not too bad as the minis were all mounted on 1p coins), and stuff not moving much - it doesn't feel very dynamic when you scale down movement. Biggest issue was getting a decent ToE with balanced forces that worked on a small battlefield (3'x3') Sabre Squadron has Warsaw pact force lists, but no NATO yet, and don't really know what numbers are appropriate (I have the right minis, but have to figure out how to group 'em). I have to decide on movement/range scaling for the next run.

Wolf, I've let the author know... ;)

Not being a modern war gamer that lot was just gibberish to me. And boar was spelt wrongly.

Did the fantasy committee game write up make more sense, Leman :D

Absolutely no chance. I'm not yet away with the faeries.

Quote from: mad lemmey on 27 October 2016, 12:28:03 PM
Wolf, I've let the author know... ;)

Oh, they're working on the NATO lists, apparently. The forum has people discussing the British lists, but I can't see the actual lists anywhere... :-\

Quote from: Wulf on 27 October 2016, 03:29:39 PM
Oh, they're working on the NATO lists, apparently. The forum has people discussing the British lists, but I can't see the actual lists anywhere... :-\

That's a pretty sad state of affairs in that BAOR was the forefront of the forces in the 'cold war' as its so cutely phrased.

Quote from: Wulf on 27 October 2016, 10:57:18 AM
1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Sabre Squadron (well, bits of it)
2) What armies were confronted? - BAOR vs Warsaw pact
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - no, but no major issues
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - Yes
5) How many players were in the game? - 1 - me

This was actually a 'proof of concept' game with unpainted 3mm minis & makeshift terrain, just to see if it would work with such small minis. The idea is to have a completely portable but complete wargame contained in a small enough box, including terrain (well, barring a cloth).

That much worked fine, barring being a bit fiddly (not too bad as the minis were all mounted on 1p coins), and stuff not moving much - it doesn't feel very dynamic when you scale down movement. Biggest issue was getting a decent ToE with balanced forces that worked on a small battlefield (3'x3') Sabre Squadron has Warsaw pact force lists, but no NATO yet, and don't really know what numbers are appropriate (I have the right minis, but have to figure out how to group 'em). I have to decide on movement/range scaling for the next run.

I'm glad it worked on the smaller table. Did you half everything? The NATO supplement is close to completion - currently in proof-reading and correcting with an aim to open it for advance order next week (hopefully).

N

Boar is still spelt wrongly, and you'll find the lists just outside the city wall, where the knights are practising for the joust.

Quote from: Gennorm on 27 October 2016, 04:21:05 PM
I'm glad it worked on the smaller table. Did you half everything? The NATO supplement is close to completion - currently in proof-reading and correcting with an aim to open it for advance order next week (hopefully).

I did half all distances but... meh... it felt very static. My point was not to produce a small footprint game, but a highly portable one, so I may just go with 1"=2cm as I have with Chain of Command in 10mm.

Nice to hear NATO is closing in.

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Star Wars:Armada
2) What armies were confronted? - Imperial vs Rebels
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - yes
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - third for me, first for my opponent.
5) How many players were in the game? - 2

Too many eggs in one basket for the Imperials. Lost all three ships to close range Rebel scrapping. Tools down one corvette and all the rebel fighters. Note to self, Imperials are not built to mix it at point blank range!