Fighting Withdrawal

Finally got to a Sudan bash and it was great fun.  We used the scenario developed by Matt Mirsik for the free scenario supplement for BFE 2.  We have played this a couple of times and the results have been quite varied.  It comes down to the Egyptian players' decisions and a bit of luck on the initiative rolls.  In this rendition of the scenario, the Egyptians were very lucky and got a significant part of their infantry back to the village and "fort" - the victory objectives for the Dervishes. Ultimately, casualties mounted and the Dervish force was thrown back.

Battle of Ravenna

We played another Italian Wars game last night based upon the Peter Sides scenario.  Worked well although sadly history was reversed....the Spanish prevailed.  I was playing the French....

Figures are from three collections.  A mixture of Connoisseur, Redoubt, Foundry Tiger, TAG, Old Glory, and Perry.  As varied as the period.

A bit of Rapid Fire, Juno Beach 20mm

Played the old Juno Beach D-Day scenario.  Lots of fun.
Piccies courtesy of Thomas Moore...

Renaissance battle: Novara, Swiss vs. French

I game across all periods of history and collect armies that are equally diverse, from ancient Hittites to the European armies WWII.  But my growing collection for the Italian Wars is one of my favourites.  I have some very old Gilder creations from both Hinchcliffe and Connoisseur to figures from Old Glory, Foundry and TAG.  They all happily mingle in my collection and I make no apologies for their compatibility or not.

Yesterday the group played the battle of Novara.  It was not the best scenario, but I always delight in getting the armies out and fortunately have a friend who obliges with his Swiss.  My scenario did not adequately represent the disarray of the French who were literally awoken by the Swiss keils bearing down on them.  Alas, in our game the Swiss got quite badly beaten.

Here are a few shots.  Wiener dog vs the bear!

A Military Gentleman: Garrison Battalions make Ready

A Military Gentleman: Garrison Battalions make Ready: A quick photo-shoot of the Prussian Garrison battalions making ready just in case they are called into action. John     ...



Posts like this define, to me, what a gaming collection should look like.  Just superb on all levels.

Prepping season

When the weather gets warmer it is time to get the raw lead out and prep models.  This is especially important for priming the figures which becomes problematic in the fall and winter when spraying larger batches becomes impossible.  I do brush-prime smaller groups of figures, but for the cast of thousands (or at least hundreds) that I like to use in my games, large-scale preparations are the most efficient.

So what is being prepared?  Well, I have 14 units of Afghan Regulars (Tiger and Perry) ready to go.  I am also dramatically increasing my ancient and renaissance collections for Armati.  Hundreds of Romans, Swiss and Landsknecht are being prepared for the 2018-19 fall-spring season.  I have also prepped a large collection of WWI French for the BFE Great War variant that I hope will turn into a published game.

On the BFE front I am considering a modest update but taking the opportunity to produce separate rule sets for each of the main campaigns with scenarios (say, 6-8) in each book.  Certainly the Zulu War, Sudan, and NWF will get separate treatments.

Also, I have been working on the Great War and ACW versions of BFE.  It might seem strange to think of having a BFE version for ACW since BFE was inspired by Fire and Fury, but BFE would be at the regimental level and, in contrast to F&F (both Regimental and the new Brigade game) the emphasis would be on faster play.  F&F was never a fast game and while these games are successful and well designed, we just can't finish a game in an evening.  BFE as an interface will do the trick!  I would likely make the set a "mid-century" set suitable for the wars of unification too.

Anyway, lots to think about and do.  The rules work is something I really enjoy.  I have worked with Arty Conliffe for years on most of his games, but playing second fiddle to a designer, while stimulating and fun, is never as satisfying as creating something for yourself.

Rorke's Drift, BFE style

At the local con I presented the BFE scenario of Rorke's Drift.  If I may be so bold, I thought it worked a charm.  The Zulus came very close to winning in spite of terrible dice luck in shooting (limited anyway) and having a terrible time breaking into the buildings.  One funny moment was when the Zulus managed to set fire to the hospital and then having another unit impetuously attempting to break in to the same building.  They failed, thankfully for them!

I think the players had lots of fun and I was appreciative of the good spirited play.  It makes such difference.  I have had the odd experience of preparing a game -- with all the terrain construction, painting time and costs incurred -- only to find a player or two simply grumpy, competitive, and rude.  I will be honest, I sometimes have wondered why I bother....

Thankfully, this is rare and here the experience was really positive.

Here are some randomly ordered piccies: