Sharp Practice-French Indian War

 

A couple of weeks 4 of us got together are the Abyss for a game of Sharp Practice. This was my turn to host. I had only arrived in Montreal late the night before so I did not have much time to put things together. This was made complicated by the fact that I was a bit unclear on what figures I had. I also had little time to put a terrain together. But I go things together that morning and fortunately Graham offered to pick me up.

Myself and William took the English while Rob and Graham took the Canadiens. We decided to play the first scenario in the book which is a simple attack on each on each with the goal of mutual destruction.

The setup was a bit rudimentary

But there was lots of action

Myself and William surveying the British attack

Thanks to Rob for some nice photos. I thought the game went pretty well, I am not sure if we did the forest los, movement and cover correctly. I just have not had a chance to check. But overall I was happy how the game went, it was quite bloody and there was lots of shooting, tactical movement and combat. If I remember correctly the British won the game.

An aside:

We played another FIW game on Sunday with 4 of the board members of our club, basically the same terrain and same troops (but with a different organisation) using the Muskets and Tomahawks rules. 

I forgot to take any photos and this time myself and Graham took the Brits while Iannick and Luis took the French. The game are differently mechanistically for sure but I enjoyed both of them. I think the organisation is a little more straight forward with SP but M&T has a lot of flexibility in organisation but a slightly more novel mechanic. Both are card activated but the card playe

d can be chosen to a certain extent in M&T. SP does cover more periods and might be a little more narrative in a sense....if you want to be Flashman in the First Afghan War or Sharp in in the sack of Badajoz, SP is your game. But this does not diminish the command nuances of M&T. And I see that Studio Tomahawk has just released an ACW supplement Kepis and Bayonets.

Full Nelson Playtest v2

 

Last Saturday myself and William got together for another playtest of the Full Nelson rules from TFL. This is the first time we had an opportunity to play version 2 of the rules.

We went with larger ships this time with the Brits have two 3rd rates and one frigate with the Spanish having one 1st rate and 2 frigates. The Spanish 1st rate was the famous Santa Ana was of the largest Age of Sail ships built.

First game setup with William taking the Spanish

We played 2 games with alternating sides, each game probably took less then 2 hours, it is a pretty fast playing set of rules. In our first game we were still learning the rules but the 2nd game went very quickly.

I pretty well have all the accruements required for the game done now, most of them of my own design. They all worked quite well. 

William slaughtered me in both games! It was a lot of fun.

Storming the Citadel-Game 7

We played the 7th game in our Storming the Citadel campaign last Thursday at the Abyss. This was on table 6 and was the third attack by the Germans. The Soviets again carried over their supports from the previous game. We both got extra dice rolls as this was 3rd go on this table. I should note to gain a major victory, the Germans have to win this game.

Forces

Germans (FM 11)

1942 Panzergrenadier Platoon (no. 3) 

Supports  19

SL

MMG

StuH 42

IG18

Soviets (FM 9 )

1942 Soviet Rifle Platoon (no.2) minus 24 figures

Supports 7 (+ 17 previous)

Marsh

DSHK HMG Tm

ATR

PGB

Minefield

3 entrenchments

L46 ATG

Flamethrower team

MMG

Regular Squad

Game

This was an interesting game as it could be the last. The Soviets were already significantly depleted and although the Germans had a strong force, they had to win at all costs. The game initially started off somewhat tentatively with both side reluctant to deploy with a focus on going CoC pips. Soon after suddenly everything was on the table (except the Soviet Flamethrower Team). I knew that this was not going to be a tactical movement game but more so an attempt to crush the Soviets with HE as they were well entrenched in hard cover. This turned into a bloody battle, certainly the Germans had more double phases as well as better attack dice but their defence dice were not good and they lost both SLs as well as a full squad. The Soviets held up as best as they could but the heavy bombardment took it's toll. Both sides had plumetting morale, but the Soviets hit 3 while the German morale was 5. Game over.....German Major Victory.

Summing Up

I believe this campaign structure made it pretty difficult for the Soviets do win. Notwithstanding, we decided to go on to part 2: The Breakthrough, so more to come.

Three Million Views

 

Some Royal Navy Ships

 

I have enjoyed play testing the TFL Naval rules so I recently decided to finish off a couple of more ships. I already have quite  few brigs so I focused on the one 3rd and 5th rate that I had yet to assemble. I was lacking Royal Navy ships as my primary focus when playing Black Seas were the Spanish. Not sure why in retrospect but it is what it is.

The ships are easy enough to assemble and paint and I have applying the sails down but rigging is still a challenge. I have noticed that some of the rigging is not necessary and I am not a purist so it was ok to leave some off. I also had no interest in attaching the rat tails. I am pretty happy how they turned out.

I still have some work to do on the rigging of 4 or 5 more ships but that will have to wait until I get to Montreal.

Storming the Citadel-Game 6

We played the 6th game in our Storming the Citadel campaign several days ago at the Abyss. This was on table 6 and was the second attack by the Germans. The Soviets again carried over their supports from the previous game. We both got extra dice rolls as this was second go on this table.

Forces

Germans (FM 8 )

1942 Panzergrenadier Platoon (no. 2) minus 5 figures

Supports  13

SL

PGB

StuH 42

Soviets (FM 9 )

1942 Soviet Rifle Platoon (no.2) minus 3 figures

Supports 7 (+ previous)

Marsh
DSHK HMG Tm
ATR

PGB

Minefield

3 entrenchments

L46 ATG

Game

The Table

The Patrol Markers

The Jump Off Points

The Soviets deploy early

The Germans counter with a Stug......

.....as well as a PG squad with a SL

Time to check the campaign!

I need to use covering fire more frequently as the Soviets deploy multiple supports, including an MMG, an ATG as well as an ATR. They already have a HMG on the table.

Enough damage done, I decide to withdraw with minimal loss.

I planned a different approach in this game which I had given considerable thought. Including this game, I have 2 shots at achieving a Major Victory in the campaign. The Soviets have their last platoon on the table but the Germans have one in reserve. Rather than trying to take the table, I decided to try to inflict as much damage on Soviet Platoon Two as well as trying to affect their morale. I was successful in this as you can see from the table below, but in retrospect I think I could have done the game if I stayed on the table. German FM had held while the Soviets had dropped to 5, with significant manpower losses. But on to game 7 which will happen next week sometime.

Summing Up

Général d'Armée at the Abyss

Last Saturday, we gathered at the Abyss for a game of Général d’Armée. Graham and I had been planning the game for a couple of months and had previously play-tested it. The full order of battle can be found in this post. We made no changes to the scenario following the play-test.

Two of the four players were complete novices, while the other two had played only a couple of games. The Abyss is one of Montreal’s main miniature-gaming venues, although I would estimate that around 90% of the games played there are fantasy. Members of our club regularly play historical games at the venue, but it is rare to see a divisional-level historical game being staged.

We decided that the best approach was to have two game masters and effectively divide the battlefield in two. Each player was responsible for one flank, ensuring that all four remained engaged throughout the game rather than spending time waiting for their turn.

The game masters handled the mechanics with the aid of the quick-reference sheet, while leaving all command decisions—including the allocation of ADCs, the use of the C-in-C and movement—to the four players. Overall command alternated between the two players on each side.

The game was limited to ten turns, which we completed in approximately four and a half hours.

I thought of would post some photos which I took as well as some taken by the players.

Myself and Graham in the club t-shirts laying out the plan

Myriam and Rob, playing the defending French.

Michel and William planning the Allied attack

The village of Osma

Attack on San Millan

It was a lot of fun, Graham is already planning our next game which I believe will feature the French vs the Prussians. We will also probably put on some divisional level ACW games.