New Games for the New Year - Naval Warfare?

Hi, 

I just wanted to share what is hitting my gaming table lately. A weird collection of games and scales, plus some new Euro style games. I've never been into Naval games (no terrain), but because I bought a game called Fighters of the Pacific, I wanted to add additional ships to the game at 1/2400 scale to match the small number of ships that come with the game. Of course, I can't just add a few ships!

Naval Thunder - Savo Island Game

Now, my local gaming friend, Daryl, decides to run a Savo Island scenario using the Naval Thunder rules at Cape Fear Collectables game store! He wasn't using miniatures, but rather 2D top-down miniatures that match the counters from the Fighters of the Pacific game. Alarm bells go off and I now know where I can get additional ships for Fighters of the Pacific! 

Daryl is using Top Side Miniatures. 

A photo of two of the ones I purchased. I bought the hard copy version that comes on beautiful vinyl paper with a peel off backing. I just stuck mine to thick black Presentation board that you can get at Michael's or Hobby Lobby.

You may notice that the first picture has Italian ships! I ended up buying the two Battle Sets: Pacific and Mediterranean. There is a Kickstarter for Fighters of Europe and I hope to add ships into that product when it arrives.

The Battle of Savo Island

Naval Thunder Rules

Daryl's summary of the battle:

"Savo Island proceeded today at CFC. The Japanese were played by Daryl as Flag Commander with Michael and Eric. The US were played by Harrison as Flag  Commander with Bill and Rob. The Japanese enjoyed early success sinking the Chicago on turn 2 while suffering little damage. The fates turned however when the Vincennes, Quincy ,and Astoria inflicted a heavy toll on the lead Japanese cruisers. The fight of the day goes to Rob's Bagley class DDs  that, although losing 5 of the 6, sunk 2CL and 1 CA with precision torpedo strikes. The night action belonged to the Allied forces. A well earned victory!"

Post Analysis

"OK, a little research into the battle and the rules and the flaw in the way the scenario was written becomes obvious. The exhaustion rules should be replaced with hidden rules.  This would require the Allied ships to spot the Japanese ships before they could engage them.  The Japanese historically were able to close on all of the Allied ships, in two separate engagements, and fire torpedoes before the Allies were even aware of them. The fire from the first fight did not alert the second group of Allied ships. In fact, the setup for the allied ships was incorrect. They were in patrol line formation, not attack fronts, and of the DDs only 2 ever engaged and they fired one torpedo spread and disengaged.  A 3rd DD, the Jarvis, was so badly damaged it was on its' way to get repairs and was torpedoed the following day and sunk with all hands.  The 2 picket DDs never were involved.

Suffice to say I've learned my lesson on trusting scenario setups.  I will do my own research from here on."

I only took a few photos and only one is worth showing:

Spanish Armada

So, what the heck am I doing? I saw a nice Armada miniatures game at Historicon with simple rules and the players seemed to be having fun. I then remembered that Peter Dennis, Paper Boys fame, had drawn out the entire Spanish and English fleets for this period of time. So, with a $10 purchase at Siege of Augusta I picked up the Spanish Armada book. Just need to cut and glue and I will have two entire fleets to recreate some of the action of that period of time. Why not?!?! Hahahaha.

Links to WoFun, Hellion, and Peter Dennis Site

Bloodstones

Ok, this game is gorgeous. The components are just amazing. I've played solo and it was good fun, but can't wait to play with my group. It is a very lightweight wargame, which I may be able to get the wife to even play. Innovative and unusual game. Here is a review from a more experienced player which coves all aspects of the game.

Review

BGG Link

Below are three of the six factions included in the game. Horse Lords, Corsairs, and Dragon Lords.

Maps are hand-drawn and are made of psuedo-silk.

Other Euros

Every Sunday night my wife and I get together with Bill and Linda to play Euro games. Here some of the new ones we have purchased and\or started playing already

I've heard tons of great reviews on Obsession and fits into my wife's obsession with Downton Abbey! I can't wait to break this one out. BGG Link.

Next, I picked up this massive Castles of Burgundy Special Edition game at Siege of Augusta convention. This has been on my purchase list for a long time and just fell into my lap at the convention. BGG Link. 

Lastly, is Ark Nova which is HIGHLY rated and we started playing this about two weeks ago. I give it an A so far. We have really enjoyed it and has emmence replayability.  BGG Link.

Cheers! That is all for now!

Eric

PS - Look for a Sikh War battle in 15mm in February! Kudos if you read this far!!!

2018 a Year in Review

Hard to believe another year of gaming has slipped by!

I have to say that it was a banner year of wargaming for me and I was able to get both my wife and son to start playing Euro style games with me too!

This has lead to 22 miniature games and 84 board games (106 total!!!) played over the last year which is an absolutely amazing accomplishment. I wasn't able to run any miniature campaigns like I was hoping, but maybe 2019 will usher in a new campaign! I also need to finish working on two rules in 2019.

Here is the run down of games with links to prior posts if appropriate.

2018 Total Miniatures Games Played: 22
2018 Total Board Games Played:      84

JANUARY (MG: 2, BG: 7)
 3rd - Formula De x 2 (EB, Phil, Brian, Jan, Steve)
 5th - Merchants and Marauders (EB, Wes, Phil, Hammer)
 6th - Raiders of the North Sea, Kemet x 2 (EB, Wes, Phil, Charles)
10th - 878 Vikings (EB, Phil, Wes)
24th - GWSH2 - WWI - Russians vs Turks (EB, Wes, Brian, Phil, Jan )
31st - 1790s Russians vs Ottomans - see bottom of link above. (EB, Phil, Jan)

FEBRUARY (MG: 1, BG: 4)
 7th - Raiders of the North Sea (EB, EC, Paul, Brian, Jan, Phil)  
14th - Russo-Turk 1877 battle (Brian, EB, Wes, Phil)      
21st - TALON - Base Attack (EC, EB, Jan, Hammer, Phil, Wes)
24th - Here I Stand 500th (EB, Brian, Wes, EC, Jan, Phil)
28th - TALON (EB, Wes, Phil, EC)

MARCH (MG: 1, BG: 4)
 7th - No Retreat - Italian Front (EB, EC)
14th - Table Battles & Maneuovre with Phil
17th - Burma (Saturday) - EB, Jan, Hammer
21st - 25mm ACW battle (Brian, EB, Charles, Jan, EC, Phil)

APRIL (MG: 4, BG: 6)
 4th - Battle of Bergen (SYW, Franco-Saxons vs Allies) - EB, Mac, Jan, Brian, Phil, Wes
 6th - E-CON - F&IW, 878 Vikings(x2), Andean Abyss, Kemet, Raiders of the North Sea
11th - Kings of War - 28mm Fantasy (Wes, EB, Brian)
12th - Burma - Lions in the Jungle (Jan, EB, and Hammer) - Playtest FOW Series
25th - Lion Rampant (Charles, EB, Jan, Glenn)

MAY (MG: 2, BG: 5)
 2nd - Table Battles (x2)
 9th - Battle of Puebla - Piquet (EB, Jan, Phil, Brian, Charles, Glenn)
16th - Battle of Puebla - rematch! (Brian, EB, Phil)  
23rd - Fields of Despair (EB, Phil, Brian, EC) - 2 side-by-side games
28th - Castles of Burgundy (EB, Steve, Ike)            
30th - No Retreat: Italian Front (EB, Phil, EC) and Brian, Jan (Mr. Madison's War)

JUNE (MG: 3, BG: 18)

 1st - 2 x Pandemic (EB, Paige, Turner)
 3rd - 2 x Pandemic (EB, Paige, Turner)
 6th - Musket and Tomahawk (Mac, EB, Wes, Jan, Hammer)
13th - Dungeon Saga 2 scenarios (EB, Brian, Phil, EC)
10 Games of Explorers of the North Sea with Paige and Turner
27th - 2 x C&C Ancients (Phil and EB)
29th - 2 x Pandemic (Paige, Turner, EB)
             
JULY (MG: 0, BG: 2)
25th - Dungeon Saga (2 adventures) (EB, Brian, EC, Jan, Phil)
27th - Great War Commander (EB and Phil)

AUGUST (MG: 6, BG: 3)
 1st - Dungeon Saga (#5 and #6) (EB, EC, Brian, Phil, Wes)
 8th - Great War Commander (EB, Phil)
15th - 28mm Taiping Rebellion (EB, Phil, Brian, Jan)
16th - Explorers of the North Sea (Paige, Turner, EB)
22nd - 28mm Taiping Rebellion (EB, Phil, Brian, Jan, Mike, Glenn)
25th - MooseCon - Bolt Action (Red Devils vs SS), Game of Thrones(minis), Captain Sonar (x4)
29th - 28mm Taiping Rebellion (EB, Phil, Jan, Brian, Mike P., Mike J.)

SEPTEMBER (MG: 1, BG: 13)
 5th - 1754 x 2 (EB, Wes, Jan, Hammer)
 8th - Clans of Caledonia (EB, Hammer, Brian)
13th - Explorers of the North Sea (EB, Paige, Turner and Maggie)
14th - Pandemic (EB, Paige, Turner and Maggie)
15th - 1775 (EB, Paige, Turner and Maggie)
16th - Hearts (EB, Paige, Turner and Maggie)
17th - Explorers of the North Sea (EB, Paige, Turner)
19th - Maneuovre (EB, Jan, Brian, Phil)
21st - Viticulture (Paige, Eric, Turner)
22nd - Viticulture (Paige, Eric, Turner)
23rd - Viticulture x 2 (Paige, Eric, Turner)
26th - Belleau Wood 15mm using Take Action! (EB, Brian, Phil, Mike J)

OCTOBER (MG: 1, BG: 5)
 3rd - Great War Commander (EB and Phil)
17th - Dungeon Saga (EB, EC, Jan, Phil)
24th - Pericles (EB, Jan, Brian, and Phil) - didn't finish
27th - Raiders of the North Sea (EB and Paige)
28th - Raiders of the North Sea (EB and Paige)
31st - Napoleon 1806 (EB and Phil)

NOVEMBER (MG: 1, BG: 11)
 7th - Scythe (EB, EC, Wes)
14th - The Great War (C&C) (EB, Jan, Phil, Charles)
15th - The Great War (C&C) (EB, Phil)
19th - Raiders of the North Sea (Paige, EB)
21st - Raiders of the North Sea (Paige, Turner, EB)
22nd - Raiders of the North Sea + Expansion (Paige, Turner, EB)
23rd - Viticulture x 2 (Paige, Turner, EB)
24th - Robin Hood x 2, Raiders of the North Sea x 1 (Paige, Turner, EB)
28th - 15mm Fantasy (EB, EC, Brian)

DECEMBER (MG: 0, BG: 6)
 5th - Scythe (EB, Jan, EC, Brian)
19th - Architects of the West Kingdom (EB, BW, BC, Phil)
26th - Maria (EB, Phil, Hammer)    
28th - Viticulture (EB, Paige, Turner, Maggie)
29th - Explorers of the North Sea and Viticulture (EB, Paige, Turner, Maggie)

January 2019 has already started with a BANG as my son was in town before going back to UNCW.

I hope you all have a blessed year filled with lots of gaming and joy!
Eric

Gaming in March and April with another Spring E-CON

Hi folks,

March and April saw the following games played here in the War Room (aka my basement).

A hearty schedule around my work and vacation schedule and some thoughtful playtesting. A total of 10 board games and 5 miniature games were played! We had another Spring E-Con (Eric Con) with a ton of games played.

MARCH (MG: 1, BG: 4)

 7th - No Retreat - Italian Front (EB, EC)
14th - Table Battles & Maneuovre with Phil.
17th - Burma - Lions in the Jungle (EB, Jan, Hammer)
21st - 25mm ACW battle (Brian, EB, Charles, Jan, EC, Phil)

APRIL (MG: 4, BG: 6)

 4th - Battle of Bergen (SYW, Franco-Saxons vs Allies) - EB, Mac, Jan, Brian, Phil, Wes
 6th - E-CON - F&IW, 878 Vikings(x2), Andean Abyss, Kemet, Raiders of the North Sea
11th - Kings of War (Wes, EB, Brian)
12th - Burma - Lions in the Jungle (Jan, EB, and Hammer) - Thursday
25th - Lion Rampant (Charles, EB, Jan, Glenn)

EC and I thought enough of the No Retreat - Italian Front that we are going to do a playtest game with Phil joining us in late May, with the goal of playing the entire Italian WW2 campaign on a weekend or several weekends as time demands. I'm thrilled to play another front of WW2 besides West and East front!!

Table Battles, is a VERY unique concept and here is a great review here. This game can be played in 20 to 30 minutes, so we cranked out 2 to 4 games per session. I just heard that they are going to do another expansion for Alexander the Great! Woot!

Burma - Lions in the Jungle is a playtest we have going on for Academy Games' Fog of War Series (Strike of the Eagle is the only one in print so far). Hammer and I went head-to-head twice with this wonderful system. Jan was our host and Umpire. We were able to play the first scenario twice and have provided feedback to the designer Brian Asklev. We have playtested several other of his designs: Korean 1950-15 and Russo-Japanese War, both Fog of War series.

Brian broke out his 25mm ACW figures for the first time and tossed them into the Wilderness for a hot battle in the thickets and confines of that battlefield. We all had a great time with it, but we didn't quite finish (rough terrain makes for a difficult go). My Confederates were able to turn the flank of the damned Yankees, but before I could really cause unrecoverable damage the Yankees through another brigade into the mix. Hurrumph!  We used Piquet as usual. :-)

Below is my Rebels on the flank of the Union line!

The Battle of Bergen (April 1759) will be talked about in another blog post.

E-CON

This Spring 2018 E-Con was a fantastic weekend. We played loads of different miniature games and board games from all sorts of eras of warfare. Six games in 36 hours. I almost needed a vacation from gaming after that!

Friday night Mac started us off with a fun filled game of Musket & Tomahawks (F&IW) featuring his 25mm collection with the French and their Indian allies attempting to capture civilians and kill as many red coats as possible. What I really enjoyed about this game is Mac created individual victory conditions for each command it was a hoot to see how players went after their objectives!!

My mighty Hurons before the battle begins:

British Allies: Indians, Provincials, and some lovely camp followers!

Another view. This is a Cigar Box plush table mat.

French Grenadiers marching to engage the British.

Here is an example of the really cool individual objectives that Mac designed!

About 30 minutes in we decided to add some accompanying music!

British Grenadiers and the General's daughters. Looks like Hawkeye and company have "rescued" them! They were eventually captured and killed.

My Hurans, after sprinting across deadly ground, flank the Provincial light infantry! They took many scalps in that attack.

The next morning we fought two battles using Academy Games' 878 Vikings. Best of all we had the Giant map along with Wes' pimped out 25mm miniatures! What a treat. The English won both games. Here is a photo or two of the upgraded game components.

Next we broke out a four player game called Andean Abyss, which is a COIN game from GMT Games. The original COIN game! Quite frankly, this was my favorite one so far, where all the factions just made sense to me. We have played A Distant Plain, Liberty or Death, Cuba Libre, and Fire in the Lake in the COIN series also. The components, color scheme, and game play are outstanding. If you are going to play all four propaganda rounds, make sure you have 6+ hours of game time like we did.

Sunday morning and afternoon, round out the weekend with games of Kemet and Raiders of the North Sea. My Mummy Giant from my small 25mm collection.

We had a wonderful time and can't wait for the next E-Con (make sure to stock up on caffeine!)

Historicon and the Months After

Hi folks,

Even though I haven't blogged in a while I have been quite busy on the wargaming front.


Historicon

I had a wonderful time at Historicon as usual, but since they are moving the show back to Lancaster, PA, I doubt I will make that 9 - 10 hour trip anymore. It is ok, in that I will focus on my local gaming conventions and my weekly gaming.

You can see a battle report of my Reichenberg game on Peter's blog:

http://blundersonthedanube.blogspot.com/2017/07/battle-of-reichenberg-at-historicon.html

Here are some photos I took and I really like how the terrain come out. The rules I used was Cartouche from Piquet, 15mm figures (mostly Old Glory), and PaperTerrain houses.

Below is the carnage left after the armies left the field. The little black casualty markers are stand(s) lost in the battle.

I also really enjoyed playing in Martin Goddard's "Men of Company B" game (Peter Pig). The Search and Destroy mission was fun and exciting. I'll definitely play that one again!

War of 1812 x 2

I had the pleasure of fighting in two War of 1812 games in back to back weeks. What are the odds of that?!

The first battle was a knock-down drag out fight in 28mm over at Dr. Bob's house. We used Carnage & Glory for the rules and it was a MASSIVE game.

I had to leave to help my parents move before the end of the game, but I was told it was a nail bitter with the Americans coming out on top!

The second game was with Piquet using Brian's 15mm collection. We refought Bladensburg outside of Washington, DC! This ended up as a smashing British victory, although that game hung in the balance for most of the night.

Here are a couple of shots of the game.

This Heroic Artillery move allowed the Americans to bring up their BIG guns from the third line to the second line so they could hammer on the British a bit.

Americans try to halt the advance of the British. My America brigade paid a heavy price that day, but gave the other American commands time to form up and prepare for the big battle.

American forces routing from the field. Washington will fall.

Board Gaming

We have been very active as a group with board gaming. Sometimes I don't feel like setting up a big miniatures battle and it is also hard to get a big group of gamers together each week. Life can get in the way sometimes.

Here is a list of games that we have played over the last couple months.

July 26 - Zombicide: Black Plague (EB, Phil, Wes, Jan)

Aug  16 - Time of Crisis - Rome 3rd Century AD (GMT) (EB, Phil, Wes)
Aug  23 - Quartermaster General:1914 (Mac, EB, Brian, Wes) 2 games played
Aug  30 - Vikings 878 (EB, Charles, Jan, Phil)

Sept  6 – QMG:1914 (EB, Jan, Wes, Mac, HH) two games played
Sept 13 - Nappy Wars (EB, Jan, Paul, Phil, Brian)
Sept 20 - HIS playtest (EB, Jan, EC, Brian, Phil, and Wes)
Sept 27 - Time of Crisis - Rome 3rd Century AD (GMT) (EB, Phil, Brian, Mac)
Sept 30 - Twilight Imperium 4 - (EB, Wes, Mac, Hammer, Victor, Nick)

Oct  4 - Terraforming Mars (EB, Mac, Jan, Phil, EC, Charles)

Oct  8 - Manoeuvre (EB and Phil) x2 on Sunday

Here is the BIG one! We will be playing Here I Stand (GMT Games) on the 500th anniversary of the 95 Thesis and the religious wars of the 16th century..
Oct 21 - Here I Stand (Jan, EB, Brian, Phil, EC, BenS) - Saturday all day game at my house.


Guns of Liberty 3rd Edition

These rules are nearly ready for publication. I have a couple more playtests to work out, but then I should be able to hand off to the publisher for a 2018 release date. That will be the 20th anniversary of the rules too!

Vauban's Wars

I will be making more terrain for this ruleset, and should get back on track for a 2018 release once Guns of Liberty is off my plate.