Full Nelson Playtest

One member of our wargaming club in Montreal has signed on as a play tester for a new set of Age of Sail rules from Too Fat Lardies. Graham has had one game with Pierre-Yves with v1 of the rules but since then v1.1 has been released so myself and Graham decided to have a go. 

Since these rules are not yet in public release, I will be limited in what I say in respect to the rules themselves. I do understand the rules writer Charlie Walker has been working on these rules for years as an alternative to the older TFL set Kiss Me Hardy.

We played with a frigate and a brig each, and I have to say these rules are very nice indeed and very easy to pick up. We made a few errors especially in respect to movement and I can say that the general mechanic of the game is somewhat similar to What a Cowboy in activation. I will leave it there but I am really looking forward to my next game.

 

Age of Invasions Campaign: Romans vs Franks (S1,G1)

One of the Saga players in our club has put together a campaign for Age of Invasions incorporating the Age of the Wolf and Saga 2. Robbie has put an enormous amount of work into the campaign and it looks like it will be a lot of fun. Five players have signed up for the campaign for season 1 but I see the Welsh have showed up for season 2.

We played the first season in the month of July, the Franks decided to go on a Raid specifically across the water into the lands of the Saxons. Unfortunately on their way before they crossed the sea, they ran into a warband of Romans, who had decided to Campaign against them.

So my first encounter in the campaign was an Ambush against Gavin's Romans.

The Battle

Scenario: Turning of the Tides

Well it was closely fought but a clear victory for the Romans. They were much better at capturing objectives and keeping them.

Post Battle Sequence

Storming the Citadel-Game 5

We played the 5th game in our Storming the Citadel campaign several days ago at the Abyss. This was on table 6 as Graham (Soviets) had made a decision to withdraw from table 5 without defending it. This allowed him to get a new platoon and consolidate his forces. This gave him an extra section automatically as well as his supports. I decided to bring on my second platoon as well. The scenario was Attack on an Objective and was played as laid out in version 2 of the Chain of Command ruleset with the only limitation being the supports as laid out in the campaign.

Here are the JOPs with the PMs still on the table. This is looking from the German left flank with the German entry in the farground. My JOPs were all in the rough ground. You can not see it but the Soviets had a JOP behind a hill in near right on the table.

Forces

Germans (FM 10)

1942 Panzergrenadier Platoon (no. 2)

Supports 12

PGB
SdKfz 251
SL
PZII
Kublewagon

Soviets (FM 8)

1942 Soviet Rifle Platoon (no.2) with extra infantry section

Supports 9

Marsh
DSHK HMG Tm
Flame Thrower Tm
ATR

Game

I believe I might have been a little aggressive in this game when I deployed. I had 3 mobile units with the plan to advance them rapidly and capture the JOP behind the hill. I was able to do this with a team in the Kubelwagon (this should have just been a scout team). The PzII and the 251 both also deployed early to lay down fire. I placed all my squads also down into the 2 areas of rough ground. Graham was cautious in deploying his sections, I should have waited and I am not sure in retrospect if my approach should have been on my left flank. Notwithstanding the Soviets deployed a section which quickly destroyed the LMG team in the Kubelwagon. At this point my FM was better then the Soviets and I had lost about the same amount of men but my initial plan had failed. I felt it best to withdraw ceding victory to the Soviets. I had reach table 6 in 5 turns and I felt I had time to reassess my plan of attack.

Summing Up

What a Cowboy: High Noon

I recently put on a game of What a Cowboy at one of our club meetings. There does not appear to be a lot of interest in western skirmish games at our club although three of our members have put on regular games at our club as they have both the terrain and the figures. Several games of Deadman's Hand as well as What a Cowboy have been put on in the past.

I did feel fortunate to attract both William and Gavin to have a game, neither do I think have played this genre before. I put together 2 posses consisting of 2 characters each, Blondie led one posse while Tuco lead the second. I made the characters vanilla and there was one gunslinger with a Six Shooter and one Shootist with a Winchester per side. 

I just took a couple of photos, we played out in the desert and took the High Noon scenario. 

I think the game went pretty well, I was a bit rusty on the rules, as aside from one game which I was a participant in a couple of months ago, I had not put a game on in a couple of years. I am hoping Gavin and William had a good time they both said that they will play the ruleset again. I think with 2 players, I would go with 4 characters per side next time. I had a good read of the rules the day after the game and I had done better than I thought I would. Most mistakes were made with the dodging rules and I really did not have a good handle when characters are forced off the table.

 

Scouts Out: German Uhlans almost take the day!

Myself and Gabriel got together at the abyss for our monthly Scouts Out game.

Gabriel always does a great description of the game so I will post it here.

The oberstleutnant's favourite pigeon "Prinz" was wounded and fell in no-mans land carrying an important message. German and Newfoundland forces each prepared a nimble squad of hand picked men to reach the avian objective before the enemy or trench rats can get to it. The Newfoundland regiment opted for skill choosing to send many of their best veterans while the Germans opted for speed choosing to employ some of their few remaining cavalry with the men available on hand. The result was a very close game which at many points could have swung either way. Early NFLD advances were thwarted by some well timed german cavalry charges but ultimately Commonwealth marksmanship won the day, successfully shooting the Hun off the objective in the vital moment of the game.

Sharp Practice-ACW

 

Two weeks ago, I got in my third Sharp Practice, this time set in the ACW. William set up the game and Graham provided the terrain. Myself and Rob were the hangers on.

This game set several groups of Confederate Regulars against a mixed force of Union Regulars and Skirmishers. We both took very similar supports. It was a good game although a little more work is needed in dusting off the rules. 

Game

The Conderates

Suicidal Charge

The Union, a lot of time in the rulebook.

I am looking forward to our next game.

Storming the Citadel Game 4

We played the 4th game in our Storming the Citadel campaign 10 days ago at the Abyss. This was the first game where the Germans were not given an automatic advance in the campaign. I continued to use my Platoon 1, Graham does not get a new platoon until Table 6 but he has managed his forces in an excellent fashion.

Forces

Germans (FM 9)

1942 Panzergrenadier Platoon (no. 1)

Supports 10

251 w/2crew and LMG

PzII

Adjutant 

PGB

Soviets (FM 10)

1942 Soviet Rifle Platoon (no.1)

Supports 5

Flamethrower team

MMG Team

Game

Patrol Phase

JOPs

Rapid Deployment of 2 German Squads

Oh Dear a PzII

and a 251 with the 3rd squad almost to the objective

Soviet counter attack

PzII deploys some smoke to protect the advance

This was actually a closer game than it looked above. The Germans were able to get their 251 to the objective but the crew got badly mauled from Soviet MMG fire. I was able to start the Final Countdown and it seemed that the Soviets would not be able to get a unit to back on the objective to recapture it and when there FM hit 5 they decided to withdraw. 

Graham subsequently decided to abandon Table 5 to the Germans and move to table 6 where the last battle will be fought. I was initially surprised but when I thought about it his force overall morale is quite good and he gets his one replacement fresh platoon on that table. It looks like the Soviets will have to hold off the Germans at least 3 times on table 6 to hold off a major German victory. The Soviets are able to build up their fixed defences over these games which will make it increasing difficult to take the objective.

Summing Up

Another German victory but this game was quite close with the Final Countdown at 2 when the Soviets withdrew. 

 

Scouts Out-Sniper Hunt

 

Last week my Blue Puttees made it to the gaming table in a game of Scouts Out. I fielded 10 men against Gabriel's Germans. We played a Sniper Hunt scenario, with the Newfoundlanders being tasked with hunting out and killing 3 German Snipers. 

It was a bit of a tough scenario, I was able to take out 1 of the 2 snipers (victory condition) before my men withdrew. Here is Gabriel's summary of the game. 

The ruined cathedral separating no-man's-land land between the Commonwealth and the German trenches is reportedly infested with German snipers. Without sufficient artillery support or men for a full on assault of the German lines HQ decided a smaller more nimble force consisting of the newly arrived Newfoundland regiment might be just the right thing for the job of dislodging the sniper menace. The Germans quickly muster their own scouting party to provide support to their comrades. The resulting skirmish was quite bloody with 60% losses on both sides and one of three German snipers killed. While the Newfies ultimately withdrew, the German snipers were pushed back far enough that they could no longer harass their lines

Some Photos

Hmm...Lost Again