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.

Age of Invasions Campaign-Franks vs Visigoths (S2,G1)

Last Friday I got together at the Abyss with Robbie for the start of season 2 of the Age of Invasions campaign. This time I was asking on the Visigoths. In my previous 2 games, I had a loss and a draw so I was not that confident going into this game as Robbie is definitely one of the better Saga players in our club. 

I had chosen to DEFEND this season, thus there would be just one game. We played the Turning the Tides scenario from the Polish Tournament Battle Pack, it was a bit of a weird scenario where we each started in opposite corners with our Warbands. There were 5 objectives (animals) spread across the centre of the table and essentially we had to grab them and then move them to our opposite edge at which time we would gain VPs, so it became pretty clear that this was quite difficult so the route to Victory was Massacre Points.

Photos

Results

It was nice to have victory. Well that is it for this season, on to Season 3.

Full Nelson Playtest

 

We had another playtest of the Full Nelson rules from TFL last week. Again a lot of fun, we had a 3 player game with two of the players having 2 brigs and 1 player having 3 brigs. The players with 2 brigs acted together against the 3rd.

We played the game with v1.1, we actually received the v1.2 pdf the next day. I believe we made gfar fewer errors and really the only challenge I am now having is getting my head around movement when the individual ships are acting in a squadron. 

Where the rules are in playtest, I will not say more but here are a couple of photos from the game. I think in our next game we will go up and play with frigates!

And the good news is that I finally found my 2 missing islands.

Saga Terrain

A beautiful winter terrain set up for Saga Age of Magic which I poached from a Sage blog. Everything looks great, I see a forest, a low hill, as well as what looks like a marsh. 

I have been playing SAGA since it was first released in 2011, and I have played even more frequently since the second edition appeared in 2018. Over the past three years, SAGA has clearly become the most popular game at our historical wargaming club in Montreal. David K. has done a terrific job supporting the game, organizing two SAGA nights each month, an annual Grande Mêlée, and, most recently, a three-table Norman Invasion Day.

I enjoy SAGA, even though it is more of a game than a historical simulation. There is a great deal of fun in assembling warbands and working out the intricacies of each battle board. I am not especially good at mastering them, but I do manage to win the occasional game.

For me, SAGA has two downsides. The first is more my problem than a problem with the game itself: it can be extremely competitive, as demonstrated by the many SAGA tournaments held around the world. We have several very good players in our club, although I would consider only a couple of them overly competitive. That is perfectly fine, but occasionally you find yourself thinking before a game, “This may not be a fun night out.” On the positive side, it is still an evening spent with friends, and losing has never been a big concern for me.

The other weakness—and it does not affect every game—is the terrain. For me, much of the pleasure of wargaming comes from its visual appeal, and I enjoy putting attractive terrain on the table. With SAGA, however, this can be challenging. Accurate measurement is extremely important to some players, as it should be. I tend to take a more laissez-faire approach, although I am trying to improve.

Terrain with a vertical element, such as a hill, can make accurate measurement difficult. The same is true when trees or other features are permanently fixed to a terrain base. To solve this problem, many players use flat terrain pieces printed with images of woods, marshes, fields, and other features. This eliminates the difficulties associated with three-dimensional terrain, but, to be honest, it also detracts from the overall appearance of the game. I have noticed that this approach is particularly common at tournaments.

I therefore decided to see whether I could solve the problem—or at least solve it for myself. SAGA uses a standardized terrain setup, with maximum dimensions of approximately 30 × 30 cm for large terrain pieces and 20 × 20 cm for small ones. Smaller pieces can be used, but I think most players would consider doing so a significant disadvantage.

After giving the matter some thought, I designed both large and small terrain bases, along with separate three-dimensional pieces representing the different types of terrain used in the game. These features are not permanently attached, so they can easily be moved aside to allow accurate measurement and the convenient movement of troops. Most of the terrain components were produced using a 3D printer.

This is what I came up with.

The vertical pieces that block line of sight are all more than 35mm high.

Clockwise from the top; a large forest, a small marsh, a large hill, a large steep hill, a small scrub land, a small rocky ground with a small ruin in the middle. 

A recent game with the terrain pieces.

Well that is all, by no means does it look as good as modelled 3D terrain but it does work.