Phil Comes for a Visit - Wargaming in the Holidays

My friend Phil from Charlotte dropped by just after Christmas to drop off a homemade cheesecake (out of this world flavor!) and to do some gaming! This time we did a modest schedule so we wouldn't be exhausted and would have time to complete the games we wanted to play.

As usual, click for larger image and open them in a new tab for the largest version.

Kaiser's High Seas Fleet

Monday morning, we played this game. It was thoroughly enjoyable and moved rather quickly which I thought was great. Game mechanics were fluid and made sense. I played the British (and allies) while Phil was the Germans. It was a British Victory.

BGG Link

Map and counters are gorgeous. Love the 1" counters.

My British fleet was fairly battered after this battle

Germans took some damage too!

Had to sneak a photo of this Italian vs Austro-Hungarian fleet battle! I like how the minor powers are involved in the game

Now to sail on to Spain!

King in the North

Monday Afternoon

I have always wanted to get some miniatures for this period, but just can't justify another collection to paint and acquire. 

BGG Link

I have had this game on the shelf for two years and Phil wanted to give it a go. 

The rules have some translation issues and we made several mistakes in the game play that made the game unsuccessful. We will have to try it again and play the rules correctly. I need to send the feedback to BGG with the rules questions and corrections in the near future.

Once again, this is a different and beautiful game. I played the Carlists and captured a reinforcement location and that effectively knocked out the Isebella forces. 

I really love the graphic quality of this game. Because the forces are intermixed throughout the map you truly don't know what strategy to employ. More experience will help with this. I'll see if my local gamers will play this game with me.

Six Sojourns

Monday Evening

BGG Link - I have the Deluxe Edition from the Kickstarter.

What a very pleasant surprise this game was! We loved it. Even my wife enjoyed this! Beautiful graphics and gameplay sucked us in. Another nice feature is that you can finish a game in less than 90 minutes, so why not play twice! Phil won one game and Paige one the second game. Both were VERY close games.

Sea Serpents Expansion

Phil after winning his game!

We enjoyed this so much we played the next evening!

Vikings vs Saxons (Command and Colors) - Battle of Reading

Tuesday morning\early afternoon

C&C Medieval Scenario Link

I just bought some 18mm WoFun Vikings and Anglo-Saxons and wanted to get them on the table. Phil and I have played a LOT of Command & Colors so we thought we would play this Fan-made scenario. We had a blast with my mighty Vikings eking out a narrow victory 8-6!

Battle Background

On about 4 January 871, Æthelred and Alfred brought up the main West Saxon (Wessex) army and joined Æthelwulf's forces for an attack on the Danes. The West Saxons fought their way to the town, slaughtering all the Danes they found outside, but when they reached the town gate the Vikings burst out and defeated the West Saxons with a successful counter-attack.
Among the dead was Æthelwulf, whose body was secretly carried off to be buried in his native Derby. According to a late source, Æthelred and Alfred only escaped due their better knowledge of the local terrain, which allowed them to lose their pursuers by fording the River Loddon

Map setup

I then used my 4" hex map with my 18mm WoFun minis to recreate the battle. Movement trays are 3D printed to allow for me to add a label to each one. I also use these for my To the Strongest games. I think WoFun figures are really perfect for Ancient and Medieval warfare games due to the linear nature of that warfare. A view from the Anglo-Saxon lines.

Simple, but very effective look. Now from my Viking perspective.

Here are several close ups of the figures, movement sabots, and labels.

Viking medium infantry.

Aethelwulf's command:

King Aethelred's command of warriors and medium infantry

Saxons (men of Wessex) quickly advance and disperse the Viking light infantry in front of the camps (tents). The mass of Vikings is stuck behind the walls.

The Vikings use a quick march (twice) to get their main forces from behind the walls. Red cubes indicate hits.

Hits are piling up. As the Vikings I nearly lost my Jarl twice! I was very aggressive with him.

Vikings final push before victory!

The WoFun figures (18mm) look outstanding to me when used in this way. It was a fantastic battle and a very near run thing as if I didn't seal the last Victory Banner, the Saxon dogs would have surely won.

Six Sojourns Again

Tuesday evening

This game comes with 8 different maps and about 10 expansions, and we tried out two more maps this evening.

I really like this snow map.

Phil liked this game so much he purchased it before he drove back to Charlotte!

Fighters of Europe 

Wednesday morning

BGG Link - Eric's House Rules Link on BGG

I've been working on some house rules to add more non-deterministic outcomes to the Fighters of Europe and Pacific game rules. I asked Phil to run through a playtest with me. I was the American bomber force, while Phil was the Germans. The Americans won this game. No blow-by-blow battle report just some photos of the game. Once again great components. I'm actually getting a larger map with 2" hexes that will better fit the planes that come with the game.

We thoroughly enjoyed the game with my new house rules. I'll play all future game with the house rules.

Bonus Coverage! SYW Game!

Shortly after Phil left I was able to play in a Seven Years War game pitting Prussians vs Austrians. This is Michael's fine collection of 15mm Old Glory figures and his home rules. Austrians were surprised by a Prussian attack on their camp. Still, the Austrians managed to pull out a victory!

I was the Austrians in this battle and struggled to get my cavalry to do anything but rout! Below the  steady Austrian has formed up!

My Hussars plowing into the Prussian Grenadiers. 

Hammer and tongs! 

I really liked how Michael made casualty stands with a die indicating how many hits the unit has taken and a 10mm casualty figure on it. Clever! I ordered some dice so I can do the same.

Happy New Year!!

Good night from Oak Island, NC!

Eric

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!!!