Freikorps v Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine

On Monday I had another go with the Triumph and Tragedy rules.  Allan has a fair sized Ukrainian army but just a couple of squads painted so he put out 2 x 10 man units, trained, each with a leader and an LMG.

To provide a bit of variety I had a veteran 10 man squad with leader, LMG and SMG and an HMG section.  The points were roughly the same.

I took my camera but have got out of the habit of taking photos at games so apologies – you will have to rely on my descriptions I am afraid.

From my side of the battle field there was a wood on my right and a wooded hill more towards the centre.  More or less dead centre of the board was a 2 storey house and on my left flank about 2/3 of the way towards the Ukrainian base line was another wooded hill.  There was also a fairly central wood in the Ukrainian centre.

We drew maps.  My plan was to take the far hill on the left and sweep around from that flank supported by the HMG which set up centre left.  Allan started with one squad in the wood with the aim of occupying the building and his other squad went for the same wooded hill as mine.

Allan made the hill first and engaged my squad from cover.  My superior fire power eventually told and I forced him to flee.  However my casualties were high and his guys rallied just before leaving the table.

In the centre my HMG initially had the better of it but the Ukrainians made it into the building and the value of the cover made them difficult to hit and my team started to take casualties.  I eventually threw 3 ones and the machine gun blew up.  My one remaining guy on the hill shot it out with the 3 survivors of the other squad until he also fell.

A victory for the Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine!

It was the first time either of us had played the rules without the support of a more expert player so despite the low numbers of troops on the table it was all rather slow.  Enjoyable nonetheless and we are both up for a rematch.

Warmachine - Khador

I have taken the plunge and purchased a small Khador force for Warmachine.  There are only 8 models (which need to be painted) but I believe there is enough for an entry level game.  I have no idea how far I will go with this, but, heigh – ho, it’s another project!

Master plan 2012 - half year update

I have done this in the same format as my original master plan post

1 – Get more gaming done

Behind the pace with 29 done in the first six months – still a chance to get to 70 but can’t see me hitting 16 different venues

2 – Get more painting done

Only about 120 v the target of 600 – lets see if I can at lesat get up to 300

3 – Progress my current projects

Impetus Tournaments –  Played the only one held in Scotland o far this year and expecting to play some more

Peloponnesian Wars –Two land battles fought – no naval as yet

Henry VIII’s invasion of France in 1513 – in 28mm –no progress at all

Scottish Renaissance battles (pre Civil War) in 25/28mm –again no progress

RN Carrier Ops – in 1/300 –nope

SF – 28mm – and no again

Post WWI Baltic states / RCW – 28mm –Yes – played two games Great War and Triumph and Tragedy) and now have a small painted Freikorps army 

I have bought some of the Commando Miniatures figures for the Indonesian Confrontation – that counts as a new project for 2012 I think

5 – Play a good variety of other games

Piquet  – not yet but planned

Purple Heart Valley  - played

Force on Force – one game

FOG and Hail Caesar – used for the Peloponnesian Wars games

WRG 6^th – Oh yes

Napoleonic  - not yet

15mm WSS game – not yet

WHFB. – yes

SoA championship – no Scottish members have shown any interest in this

6 – Tidy the attic

It’s not that I haven’t tidied its just I am not sure anyone would notice

7 - Start a blog

What do you think ?  I would say that blogging has gone pretty well

8 – Review this list in December 2012

Lets hope I can plug a few gaps by then

9 – Stay married and keep my job

So far so good

Falkirk District Wargames Club

My planned visit to the Lead Adventurers MacLAM event this weekend did not happen and I had left it too late to organise a Monday night game at the club.  I went over for a couple of hours anyway and for a change was in observational mode rather than participative.

There were 12 games on.  3 Basic Baroque (2 28mm and 1 in 15mm) 3 Warhammer Fantasy Battle, 3 WW2 (15mm FOW, 6mm Blitzkrieg Commander and 15mm CAC) and 1 each of Warmachine, 15mm FOG(R) and 15mm Impetus.  All in all a pretty good reflection of the diversity that we would normally see on a Monday.

Our treasurer was not at the club so I did the fees collection service (£2 for most, £1 for concessions) and in the process did a full count of those attending.  30 members, one ex member wanting to rejoin, a new member wanting to join and one potential new member on his first visit.  I am not sure exactly how many members we have now but it must be pushing 45 which I believe is the highest level in the club's history.

What I particularly like about the Falkirk club is the way it encourages members to do their own thing and get involved.  We all seem to get along pretty well and whilst there obviously are groups of people who have rules preferences these don't take the form of exclusive cliques.

We put on Carronade each May and the show has gone from strength to strength.  This year we have also hosted some weekend events at our club premises - a very successful and well attended 2 day Warhammer Fantasy event and two single day Impetus tournaments - one in 25mm and a 15mm one planned for July.

The above might seem like a bit of an advertisement for the club, but it is simply a refection of how I see it.  I have been a member for 11 years now and look forward to many more years gaming with the group.

It’s not the taking part that counts; it’s being part of a winning team

Imagine the scene.  Cuba 1898.  Two evenly matched forces of Spaniards (in a ridiculous blue and white stripped pyjama uniform) and Yankees both head towards an isolated church to seize it for use as a strongpoint.

The brave Americans are also possessed of low cunning and start much nearer the church allowing one squad to quickly occupy it.  A long exchange of fire then begins with a squad of Spaniards cowering (yes I said cowering) behind a stone wall.  Meanwhile my brave lads dash over a high hedge to be confronted by an elite unit of Spanish and another fire fight erupts (I say elite- their stats may not have been any better but they certainly had elite dice rolls)

A few lucky shots takes down almost all my freedom loving  men but one brave fellow scrambles back over the hedge to assist his comrades in the church.  A certain amount of readjustment of the hedge was needed to set up a good firing position, but it was all done in the name of democracy.

This infuriated the pyjama clad hordes who sent volley after volley of fire into his position.  Truth be told it did put him off his aim a little and eventually he fell to a cowardly bullet much to the glee of the Spanish commanders who pronounced victory. 

Too soon - too soon.  My esteemed colleague in the church, much aided by my diversionary tactics, was able to finally put the ragged remainder of the dastardly opposition either to the bullet or to flight and we loudly proclaimed victory.

The crestfallen Spanish commanders tried to deny me my part in the ensuing celebrations, spuriously claiming that as all my men were dead or wounded I could not claim any of the credit for the American Triumph (as against the Spanish Tragedy)  but I roundly denounced their feeble attempt to diminish my hard won glory in no uncertain terms.  The question of terrain manipulation was also raised and ignored with contempt.

Death to the Spanish!

To PDF or not PDF - that is the question

I have been looking forward to the release of Augustus to Aurelian, a rule set covering the Principate Roman period or Early/Mid Imperial Rome -  when the legion ruled (sounds like a good name for a set of rules, but I digress). I like period specific ancient rules and, as I have plenty of appropriate figures wanted to give them a try out. However my heart sank when I realised that it would only be available as a PDF.

I suppose that I am old fashioned, but I so much prefer a bound book.  I have previously bought a couple of PDFs in the £5 - £6 range but the asking price for this is £12.

I would have quite happily paid £15 - £20 for a bound copy and if it had been priced at £25 -£30 would probably have bought it with a sigh.

Having posted to this effect in a couple of places most of the feedback is that £12 is not unreasonable.  When you think of all the effort that will have gone into writing, playtesting and producing these rules of course £12 is very fair.  It just that to me paying twice that amount for something I can hold in my hand as a printed version seems fairer.

I would be very interested in others comments on this topic