A Hundred Years of War - Event Report

This event, jointly sponsored by the Falkirk Wargames Club (FDWC) and Society of Twentieth Century Wargamers (SOTCW) has been long in the planning.  The idea was for members of both organisations, together with any other gamers with an interest in this period to get together for a day's wargaming.  It was held at the FDWC venue in Grangemouth.

There were two sessions in the day.  We had 3 games in the morning with 17 participants and 2 in the afternoon with 14.  The numbers were a little lower than I had hoped for (we could easily have coped with double the number) but that minor disappointment was more than offset by the universally positive feedback.

The morning games were a 1904 Mad Mullah battle hosted by the Bathgate club with their own house rules,  a WW1 air game using a playtest version of the second edition of Algernon gets it Off put on by SOTCW member Richard and a Bolt Action game that FDWC member Andy had organised.

In the afternoon Derek put on a 15mm Chain of Command game and there was a large Boxer game organised by another FDWC member, Mark.

All the games were very well received by those playing them.  I am hopeful of being able to make this an annual event so if anyone wants be involved in 2014 please get in touch.

Some photos

 

The Mad Mullah's forces mass, ready to attack

 

The British led forces await the onslaught

 

The German planes have the drop on their British foes

 

The Bolt Action game

 

The Boxers mass

 

The Boxer game

 

The Chain of Command game

 

 

A longer feature on the event will (hopefully) appear in the Journal of the SOTCW

Falkirk Big Roman Week - Real PPW again

We were invited along to another 'meet the people' event today.  The Falkirk Big Roman Week consists of a number of events, walks talks films etc.  We were at Kinneil in Bo'ness which is the site of an Antonine Wall fortlet and has a small Roman museum.  The Roman encampment also featured re-enactors in the shape of the Antonine Guard and several other contributors.  The kids enjoyed dressing up and waving plastic Roman swords and shields around.  It is also the first time I have wargamed in a tent!

The main focus of our presentation was a Basic Impetus game.  The idea was that a Roman official had been dispatched from Londinium to inspect the army's progress in building the wall and he was also bringing the soldiers back pay with him.  The local tribe had caught wind of this and were intent on intercepting his coach.  It succeeded both as a game and as a draw for a number of interested spectators. Reversing the result in both the practice games the Coach made it to the local fort to enable the Romans to claim victory, although not before suffering significant casualties.

I did not take part in the game but instead set up the gladiator game  Ludus Gladaitorius - the idea being to show that wargames has a lot of variety to offer.  Although it was quiet at first two quite young brothers had a couple of games and seemed to really enjoy it and then two teenage lads also had a go.  Certainly worth doing.

All in all a pleasant way to pass an afternoon and promote both the club and the hobby.  We may get a further invitation to a WW1 themed event next year.

Photos

 

The Fort

 

The Auxiliary Archers man the walls

 

Cavalry reinforcements

 

A re-enactor looks on

 

The Antoine Guard

 

 

The coach and supplies head for the fort, with the barbarians in the background

 

 

Not quite the right order but you get the idea!

 

100 years of war gets closer

The list of games is getting close to being complete - there may be one more

Spanish Civil War - Triumph and Tragedy

Boxer Rebellion - Sons of the Desert

Iraq - Force on Force

WW2 Air - Bag the Hun or WW1 - Squarebashing

Mad Mullah

WW2 Platoon - Chain of Command

Secrets of the Third Reich

Indonesian Confrontation

WW1 Air - Algernon Pulls it Off

There will be two 3 hour sessions so 4 to 5 games each session.

I am starting to get a bit nervous.

Scratch that - I am having kittens!

The idea was simple.  The Falkirk club gets together with the Society of 20th Century Wargamers and other local clubs to put on a few games.

Do we have the right number of games for the number of people taking part?

Not everybody will be able to play in their first choice games.  What if 8 people want to play one game and no one wants to play in another?

These things are usually alright on the night but at the moment I am not so sure.

Impressions of Claymore

I had an interesting afternoon at Claymore on Saturday, which is held at Telford Collage in Leith, Edinburgh.  Thanks to South East Scotland Wargames club for hosting the event.  As with other shows I have attended this year I thought I would give it a list of pros and cons, and then my overall impression of the show.  I also have a few photos of the Falkirk Club game which I will put at the end'.

The pros

First of all must be the parking.  It is free, could not be any closer and always seems to have space.

The venue is modern with good light and plenty of space.  In previous years the heat in the Atrium has been oppressive but this year it was just a little warm.

The show had a relaxed feel about it.

I found some bargains on the bring and buy

I got a game, a demo of x - wing that I have been looking to get into.  Thanks to the guys from Chaos of the Warp for that.

I got to meet and chat with a couple of old friends and some people that I had only previously met on internet forums.

The Cons

When I first arrived I got lost trying to find the main hall - a basic map on the programme would have been useful.  The con is that the halls are widely spaced and signage could have been better.

There were fewer traders and games this year, and at times 'relaxed ' looked more like empty.  A couple of traders that I know said takings were down.

With the exception of the chips, which were nice, the catering was pretty basic.

Although I was lucky enough to do well on the bring and buy there was not that much on it and it seemed very quiet.  I experienced one of my pet hates, overhearing some of the guys running it discussing a purchase one of them had made to go onto ebay. 

My conclusions

I was at the show from 12 so can't say what it was like earlier, it may well be that it was busier then.   The length of the list of 'cons' above rather surprised me as I actually really enjoyed my visit and will definitely be back next year. 

The Falkirk Game.

Three was a good turnout of club members in support of a 28mm AWI game based on the action at Monmouth Courthouse in June.  It was awarded a Highly Commended certificate so well done to John, Dax, Marco, Chuck, Barry and Peter for not only running the game but also interacting with the public who showed a fair amount of interest.

The photos

 

General view as the Americans start to advance

 

Close up of the American Centre

 

 

The Church is threatened

 

 

The Defenders Respond

 

 

The British Counterattack

 

 

 

 

 

Roman in the Gloamin'

We have another 'Real Public Participation' (I think I may trademark that term) event coming up.  Falkirk Council is running a Big Roman Week from 14th - 22nd of September and we have agreed to put on a game involving the Antonine Wall in some way yet to be decided, although probably involving Basic Impetus.  Gladiators may also be involved.

The date is the 21st September and the venue is Kinneil House in Bo'ness where there is a Roman Museum.  The line of the Antonine Wall passes through the grounds. Re-enactors and craft stalls will be there - it should be another good opportunity to meet the general public and sell the hobby to them.  This is much nearer home than our other Museum ventures so we may even get a new member or two.

The only downside is that the very next day is the 100 days of War 20th Century Wargames event.  I will make both days but I hope it doesn't put anybody off.

Real PP Wargaming at the Wartime Experience

What a busy wargaming weekend.  Saturday Carronade.  Saturday night a boardgame with Brian.  Sunday down to the National Museum of Flight to take part in their Wartime Experience event.

Following on from the successful wargames participation at the Viking exhibition in Edinburgh we, along with SESWC, were invited to take part in another Museum event.  The only problem was that we did not get much notice and it was the day after Carronade.  Not wanting to miss out we managed to field 7 members and Brian from Washington also came along to help out.

We got there in good time to enjoy a buttie from the burger van, which promised such delicacies as ostrich and springbok burgers for later in the day.

The wargamers were in the ‘Concorde’ hanger along with ‘civilian’ reenactors – we were treated to the vocal talents of the Blitz Sisters and the Flyright Dancers showcased the dances of the period and encouraged public participation.

Outside there were a number of military reenactors of varying nationalities.  Once gain the weather was not great and I was still in recovery mode so I didn’t actually see that much, but enough to want to go back and have a proper look around some of the permanent exhibits.

The Falkirk club put on a Wings of War table and a WW1 naval encounter, South East Scotland a WW2 Bolt Action game.  All were popular with the public, but Wings of War (or should that be Glory) went down particularly well primarily but not exclusively with sons and fathers.   I am sure that online retailers of the system will have seen a sudden burst of activity on Sunday night from addresses in Scotland.

I did my best to help prospective pilots but John, Doug and Brian had much more patience with the youngsters than I could muster.  You know it is often said that computer wargaming is a real threat to the miniatures hobby, but after this experience I disagree.  All the kids are used to playing a variety of different games within defined sets of rules and I was amazed how quickly they picked up the basics of WoW.   I think there is a ready made set of potential wargamers out there if only we can tap into them.  

It was busy almost all day and once again the museum staff seemed very pleased with the contribution both clubs had made to their event.  We are hoping to get further invitations to future exhibitions to continue to spread interest in the hobby and also frankly to have a fun time playing wargames in new and interesting venues.

 

This is a bit dark but you should be able to see the three games with Concorde there in the background towering over us all.

 

SESWC Falise Gap game.  The WW2 equipment on display also drew a lot of interest.

 

Wings of War being explained by Doug, John and Brian (hidden again).

 

A Camel v a Tripe.  We bought the Wings of Glory mats to help bring the game to life and they are certainly very good, although they could really do with one  showing trenches and no mans land.

 

Carronade 11th May Falkirk

I have just realised that I have been lax in promoting the club show on my blog so here goes.  Follow the link for lots more details
http://www.falkirkwargamesclub.org.uk/Carronade%202013/Carronade_2013.html

A few highlights

More traders than ever before - we have 40 this year

30 games listed, many of them participation, with one or too more to confirm

A painting competition

A flea market to unload your unwanted wargaming goodies/ find a bargain

So if you can put 11th May into your diary and come along to see us

Fame at Last!

A few weeks ago and following on from our participation in the Viking event at the museum the local rag did an article on the club.  We were slightly nervous as we have all seen reports that have painted wargamers in as odd at best, fascist warmongers at worst, but in fact they painted us in a positive light.

They have now made us their 'community group of the week' http://www.falkirkherald.co.uk/community/group-of-the-week-1-2865562
Warning - the link includes a picture of some of the members of the club posing for our photograph!

Wargames at the National Museum of Flight

Following on from  the successful event at the National Museum of Scotland in support of their Viking exhibition (see report here http://leadwarriordavek.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/real-public-participation-wargaming.html) the organisers of the Wartime Experience http://www.nms.ac.uk/our_museums/museum_of_flight/whats_on/wartime_experience.aspx have decided to repeat the experiment.

This has only been confirmed in the last week so details may change but at the moment it looks as if three participation games will be put on.  The Falkirk club plan to do WW1 air with Wings of War and WW1 naval recreating part of Jutland.  SESWC are also on board, possibly with a Bolt Action game.  I will post updates on the blog as we have them.

The only real downside is the date, which is Sunday 12^th May, the day after our Carronade show in Falkirk.  This will inevitably reduce the number of club members able to take part.  However we are very much committed to building an ongoing relationship with the Scottish Museums to spread the word beyond the normal confines of the hobby so agreed to participate.  It is also great fun and we get to see the event and museum as well.

 

Falkirk Club at Viking exhibition in Edinburgh

The National Museum of Scotland is holding a Viking exhibition which runs until 20^th May.  However the most important date for your diary is Sunday 10^th March when they are hosting a ‘Viking Wargames Day’.  A number of clubs will be putting on games.

More details on the exhibition here

http://www.nms.ac.uk/our_museums/national_museum/exhibitions/vikings.aspx

The Falkirk club is recreating The Battle of Cruden - or the "Slaughter of the Danes" from 1012.  This saw Malcolm II lead his Scots army against invading Danish Vikings led by none other than Canute, then Prince of Denmark. The result was a bloody draw but a strategic victory for the Scots.

We will be using a slightly modified version of Basic Impetus.  The game is designed to be accessible to members of the public who may have little knowledge or experience of wargaming.  They will be able to take control of a command and will get to roll some dice.

Please pass details on to anyone who you think might be interested.  We don’t often have such direct access to the non wargaming public so I do hope it will be a success and might even attract some new people into the hobby.

24 wargamers go to York

Alarm clock set to 4:00, to the train station to pick up the coach at 5:00 and off we went.  Including one independent traveller and 3 club members on a trade stand that made 28 from the Falkirk club, about 75% of our membership, which was a good turnout.

We arrived in time to pick up the free figures - I quite liked the call 24 figures over here! - and we then hit the show.

My plan was to play games rather than spend money and I managed 3,  The York club put on a visually appealing and well set up 28mm Pegasus Bridge game which I enjoyed.  Later ona I spotted a naval participation game being put on by Mongoose using the Victory at Sea rules, in which I took the part of the British Navy.  Finally I took the part of Jack the Ripper in an Empire of the dead demo game.

I was unable to fully resist purchases with the fleamarket offering up some tempting delights.  My purchases include a couple of carts, both nicely painted, some saxon infantry and 35  Chaos Warriors.  I put in a cheeky offer for a very scruffy 25mm Late Roman Army and on reflection was quite glad that it was not taken up.

The only thing that I was nearly bought from the trade stands was the air war rules Check Your 6.  I will probably pick these up at Carronade.

The journey was long but I sat with Rory both ways and we had a good natter setting the world to rights.

We are planning our next trip, possibly Sheffield or Leeds.

 

My first glider landed in the water

 

The second in a clearing

 

Not a very good shot of the Victory at Sea game

 

Club members taking part in the Mutineer Miniatures game

 

Same game from the other side

 

Closer look at some of the figures

 

Jack the Ripper ready to start his dastardly deeds 

 

The unsuspecting streets of London

 

Holmes and Watson about to try to protect the citizens 

 

Another one of the attractions (yes I mean the canteen)

All in all a 'Grand Day Out'.  Thanks to the York club for putting on such a good show.

Vapnartak 2013

I have signed up for the Falkirk club's trip to York this year.  There will be about 20 of us heading down so I am looking forward to a great day.

I don't have very much of a shopping list so have decided to do something different (for me) and try as many of the participation games as I can.  Hopefully I should be able to get a good few in.  Watch this space for a report!

Historic Battles – two firsts

I like to play a game which attempts to recreate an historic battle.  They are usually a fair bit of work to organise so I don’t do them as often as I would like.  However both of my last two Monday night games at the Falkirk Club have fallen under this category, with not only my first ‘historic battle’ air game but also my first ‘historic battle’ naval game.

This Monday gone was the Battle of Ortegal, a set to between British and French squadrons in the aftermath of Trafalgar.  Four ships of the line were making a dash for a friendly port and were intercepted by four British ships of the line with some frigates in support.  Myself and Doug took the French and Kevan and Mark the British.  In the terms of the Kiss Me Hardy rules we were sans culottes and they were jolly jack Tars.

John, who had organised the game, evened things up a bit by giving the French crews a higher rating than he might but all to no avail.  Kevan skilfully used a frigate to slow us down (even if he did eventually have to strike) and Mark kept his ships together to give us a pounding.  Three of the French ships were attempting a slow exit when British reinforcements led by Chuck arrived and pretty much finished us off.

All in all an enjoyable game.   We were probably outplayed but the fall of the cards (typical TFL mechanism) was certainly cruel.  Very much an historical result.

A week earlier Doug had brought along CY6 Jet Age for another Indian Pakistan set to.  This was a scenario form the book entitled ‘Stake Through The Heart’.  It recreated the action on 1^st September 1965 over Kashmir.  The Indian army was in danger of being overrun by Pakistani tanks.  In desperation the Indians threw in some elderly Vampires to try and throw them back. The first wave got through but the second was intercepted by Pakistani Sabres (we used Mig 19s).

Doug took the Indians and launched a successful attack knocking out two tanks.  As the Pakistanis pounced some unlucky throwing of one’s meant that 3  of their opponents were unable to jettison their rockets which both slowed them and made them less manoeuvrable,

The superiority of the Pakistani aircraft soon told with 2 vampires biting the dust early on.  The air to air defences then came into play.  Not being able to distinguish friend from foe they let rip at the nearest aircraft.  A Mig 19 was hit by a burst of fire from one of the Vampire’s but then almost immediately had to jink heavily to evade ground fire (from his own side) and tore his wings off.

The outclassed Vampires broke for home but both were brought down, the last by a lucky long range shot.  All four Indian pilots were killed but the Pakistani pilot managed to bail out successfully.  When victory points were totalled up it was a dead draw with the early brewing up of the Pakistani tanks as well as the downing of the Mig 19 offsetting the loss of the 4 Vampires.

Two great games – thanks to Doug and John for organising them.  Both games I am keen to play again in 2013.

Claymore 2012

Claymore is Edinburgh's long established wargames show and I always get over for a couple of hours at least.  I thought the standard of games was excellent this year and there was a substantial trade presence.  There is a good sized bring and buy as well.

Falkirk put on a game based in Latvia in 1919 with the Freikorps taking on the Soviets. The game was designed by David Burns using Triumph and Tragedy rules.  He provided most of the figures although I lent him a few of my Germans.  All figures painted by Marco of Rif Raf Miniatures

Some photos of the Latvia game

Overview of the game with David on the right and Chuck on the left

I really like the Freikprps Cavalry converted by Marco

The Soviets advance

Soviet Sailors and Siberians

My Germans

A Soviet strongpoint

Another view of the cavalry!

My acquisitions were modest.  10 28mm ECW clubmen from Reiver Castings.  An interesting first hand account of the Indonesian Confrontation - 'The Last Conflict The Durham Light Infantry Borneo 1966, A copy of the first edition Ga Pa rules from the bring & buy (£1!) and a pot of red paint for my Warmachine models.

I have slowly been collecting the old Knights Battles for Wargamers series and was gutted when I was Chancellorville being bought on the bring & buy.  Still it shows that there are still copies around.

One company that I will definitely be buying from in the future is 4A miniatures.  I really like their Sci Fi figures .  As soon as I get my Pig Iron figures painted I will be putting in an order.

Both Dux Bellorum and A World Aflame were on sale at Caliver Books.  I have them on pre order from Amazon and decided to wait until they are delivered but they did look good.

No game played which makes 6 in July unlikely but at least another blog entry done.  Now for some painting.....

Welcome to Allan and "biffing the enemy"

I’d just like to say thanks to fellow Falkirk club member Allan for becoming the latest Lead Warrior follower and take the opportunity to recommend his new blog

http://biffingtheenemy.blogspot.com/

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.

Another sound thrashing

My opponent on Monday had said that he would be using  a post roman british army, so looking around at my collection and the new Extra Impetus books I had recently acquired I decided that my Carolingians could proxy for Ottonians.  Frazer thought that I had misspelt Ottomans so was quite surprised when I turned up with an army consisting of early knightly types and long spear.

The British were led by none other than a charismatic Arthur, which proved a good ploy as this resulted in Frazer keeping the initiative all night.  I deployed with foot in the centre and the knights equally split on either flank.  The British similarly had long spear foot in the centre with their better cavalry on their left flank, a large unit of Irish on the right and Arthur himself being charismatic in the rear.  I was marginally outgunned in the missile troops department.

The British advanced and I responded in the centre, keeping the knights back on both flanks.  They were classed as impetuous, but in Impetus you can automatically place them on opportunity at the start of the game and keep them in place, otherwise they make straight for the enemy.  The plan was to engage with the foot in the centre and then take the knights off opportunity and throw them  in.  It was probably a good plan but I ignored it and charged forward with all 6 units of knights.

This sort of worked on my right where, after a scare when my general’s unit was taken in the flank,  I was able to take out several units.  However a pesky unit of archers held out on a hill for 3 turns which was long enough to make that success irrelevant.  My left flank knights were ground down by the opposing spearmen and my spear foot took too long to get into contact.

However, just as my army was approaching break point Arthur decided to personally deliver the coup de grace and charged into the fray.  His unit took a casualty and on the xxxx Frazer threw a six.  When this happens there can be all sorts of dire consequences including death of the general and the rout of the entire army.  My celebrations were soon cut short when Frazer rolled snakes eyes and Arthur escaped with a flesh wound.  My army crumbled to defeat soon afterward.

All in all a fun game and a good reminder for me on the do’s and don’ts (particularly the don’ts) of Impetus play.  What was also great was the number of games the club had going.  We have recently attracted a few new members and I think this week was the busiest it has ever been in the 10 years I have been a member of the Falkirk club.  Long may it continue.

This was the point where my general was caught in the flank.  He survived, but you can see the 'pesky' archers about to take position on the hill for a heroic last stand.   Note the FDWC mugs!