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Saturday 31 August 2013

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.

Saturday 24 August 2013

The Gathering - Rosyth Impetus Tournament 11th August

It is a couple of weeks ago now when several members of Falkirk Wargames Club turned up at the Rosyth home of the Dunfirmline Wargames Club for a day of playing Impetus.

I find these Impetus tournaments very relaxing.  A couple of the players had very limited experience (one or two games) with the rules but veterans and newcomers alike were able to enjoy a pleasant days gaming  - winning is the aim but certainly not at the expense of mutual enjoyment of the fray.

I took along the same army that I had used at the Antonine's Folly competition earlier in the year, namely Feudal English.  I usually try to take something different but I had not managed to sort anything else out so I stuck with the same army this time.

My first opponent was Frazer.  A very competent player, although I had the good fortune to beat him quite convincingly just a few weeks before.  The tone of the game and my level of competence was set at my first cohesion test.  Having taken hits a unit throws to see what the damage is with a high throw potentially spelling disaster.  I reached into my dice bag gave a good shake of the dice and proceeded to throw an 8, which, given that Impetus only uses the traditional D6, caused much merriment.

Frazer easily outmanoeuvred me and although I was able to cause some him some damage I ended up pretty close to the bottom of the table after round 1.

Next up Was Richard from the Dunfirmline club with his 100 Years War English army.  My tactics were quite good but Richard's Longbowmen threw unbelievably bad dice and I ended up with a comfortable victory.

My final opponent was Justin who had answered a late call to make the competition numbers even and used Ottoman Turks.  He has played very little recently but that did not seem to cramp his style at all as he gave me a sound thrashing.  It did not help that the dice gods, who had been so kind to me in my previous game deserted me entirely in this one.

A great days gaming - I finished 7th out of 12 which was fine.  Frazer won the competition, the first time Dax has been beaten north of the border so congratulations to him.  Thanks to Ross for organising the event and the Dunfirmline club for being such gracious hosts

I took a few photos - here are the best of them

 
Frazer's Yuan Chinese
 
 
Dax's Assyrians
 
 
Richard's 100YW English
 
 
Two very nicely painted armies from the Dunfirmline club - Richard's Almoravids and Ross's Patrician Romans
 
 
David (Falkirk) with his Normans against Russ (Dunfirmline) with Sui Chinese.  I am not sure where the rest of the Chinese army is!
 
 
 
 
 

Saturday 10 August 2013

A good weekend of gaming

Last weekend I managed 7 games of various types, which must be something of a record.

On the Saturday it started with a game of X wing at Claymore where Chaos of the Warp were running taster sessions.  My second game and I am seriously thinking of buying into this.

The other seven games were with Brian, my mate from down in Washington, who was staying the weekend.

We started with a couple of games of Wings of Glory, which he had purchased at the show.  The 4 planes that come with the set are a bit of a mismatch with a Kittyhawk, Yak 1, an Italian fighter and a Japanese Hien.  Brian had bought a couple of extra planes so we played two Kittyhawks against the Hein.   I took the Kittyhawks in the first game and managed to shoot my opponent down but not before I had also lost a plane, so we called that a draw.  On our second outing Brian managed to shoot my Hien down with no losses so a definite victory to him.   I like the rules but am not sure that I will buy in.

Then followed two board games.  On the Staurday night we played Fury of Dracula, with Brian taking the evil monster and myself and my wife the 4 characters trying to track him down.  The board covers Europe and the trackers rely on reports of his activities, sometimes quite specific others less so.  Brian spent quite a lot of time in Britain and Ireland which fooled us at first.  Angela bailed out at 1 am but, after drawing a lucky card, I managed to track Dracula down to Southern Spain.  Time was running out and I has not retained the right equipment to damage him, so despite winning several rounds of combat Dracula emerged victorious.  Although the game was enjoyable enough I did find that last phase a bit frustrating.

On Saturday morning we started with a 'block' boardgame - Hammer of the Scots.  This starts once Wallaces rebellion has gained some momentum but many Scots nobles have declared for Edward I.  The history has been well thought out but once again I found it a bit difficult to fully grasp the strategy required.  My plan was to reinforce Stirling, take full control of Southern Scotland and then try and push on up to the North.  However an all out assult on Stirling by the Scots at the Earliest opportunity was successful (I was unable to roll 4 or more on 9 dice which did not help) and after that it was an uphill struggle.  I risked all with Edward leading the English in a battle where he was heavily outnumbered and predictably lost.  At that point I conceded .

We concluded with 2 games of Ludus Gladiatorius.  This is a simple Gladiator game we are considering putting on at the Falkirk Big Roman week.  The rules work fine and give a quick fun game.  The 5 Gladiators themselves (prepainted 28mm) are great but the rest of the playing kit will need some work to make them kid proof(ish).  We won one game each.

A very enjoyable weekend with both Claymore and some gaming sessions at home.  Hopefully Brian will be able to come up and stay again soon.  There is talk of another board game called Hannibal...

Looking for help identifying a purchase

I bought a dozen of these at Claymore.  There is also a more Greek looking one.

From a magazine perhaps?  Don't know.  Can anyone help?

Sunday 4 August 2013

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
 
 
 
 
 






Thursday 1 August 2013

Mordhiem game 29/07/2013

Having a look at my blog I realised that I have been doing far fewer post game reports in recent months, so I have decided to try and do at least a short report of all my games - lets see how long I can keep it up.

On Monday we had the fourth round of Rory's Mordhiem campaign.  I had played in each of the previous 3 games with disastrous results so disbanded my Kislevite  warband  and started afresh with Marienburgers.

The board was very cluttered (6x4) with a fast flowing river at one end crossed by a single bridge leading to a structure which housed a mysterious but valuable key.

There were 4 entry points with myself and Kev (Beastmen) in the corners furtherest away from the prize and Rory (Kislevite ) at the halfway point on my side of the board with Andy (Sisters of Sigmar) opposite him.

Providing some entertainment close to the bridge (players side) were some giant centipede type bugs - not particularly good fighters but on a 2+ armour save - who were wandering around randomly but who would attack anyone that came within  6 inches.

Rory and Andy's forces got stuck in pretty much straight away against both the bugs and each other, but casualties were slow to mount.  Kev advanced taking advantage of the cover with the aim of getting close enough to the Sisters to charge without taking shooting casualties.  Rory was using his massed archery with little effect, although a handgunner did manage a lucky shot through the ruins taking out one of my halbardiers.  I ran up the edge of the board taking pot shots at Rory's troops as best I could, getting a few hits but doing no real damage.

Kev and Andy clashed and after a hard tussle the Beastmen were victorious.  Rory looked to be in a good position to storm across the bridge but he was wary of the Beastmen and had his hands full with the final bug.

Things then speeded up rapidly.  The Sisters had gone and in 2 turns the last bug (which I was rolling the dice for) killed 2 of Rory's men who promptly fled. My four longbowmen were deployed covering the approach to the bridge which was fairly open.  They took down one of the Beastmen so Kev decided that discretion was the better part of valour and also left the field.

My guys then surrounded the bug and killed it, collected the key and claimed victory!
My first Mordhiem win this year!  In the post battle phase my halberdier returned unscathed and I picked up a total of 67 gold coins to reinvest in my warband so a good result all round.