Seeing the light?

I played in a team game of WHF last Saturday with three boys in the College 'gaming group, a two a side game. We paired up my Dwarves with Nick's Wood Elves, and played Peter's Dark Elves, and Elliot's Chaos. An odd thing happened: I began to see them making mistakes.

I was even able to see some of their possibilities, that is, what they could do to defeat us. It was a little more difficult to see our own possibilities, because I know even less about Wood Elves than I do about my own Dwarves, although my Dwarves were tenaciously holding the flank, with the help of an organ gun, and some miners.

Does that mean that I might be starting to see how to play the game? Back to the painting.. a few figures to pad out my Warriors, crew for the artillery, and a unit of Rangers. Then.. dah daaah, there's the Gyrocopter... he! he!

Seven Years War Volley and Bayonet

I'm never afraid to say that Frank Chadwick's 'Volley and Bayonet' rules are my all time favourite 'gaming rules, so when good friend Adrian suggested that we needed to push some of his 15mm metal around the table in a 7 Years War game I could hardly say no.

His figures are 15mm Essex, beautifully painted as always. The game saw Prussians assaulting defending Russians, trying to capture a series of bridges sitting on the table edge. The scenario was originally a napoleonic battle, adapted for 7YW. This is not so much a photo after action report as an excuse to show off some of Adrian's fantastic figures. Enjoy the photos. We had an exciting game, with the Prussians finally winning the day.







While I'm not giving a blow by blow account, this was one of those photographic moments in the battle. Prussian Cuirassier attack Russian infantry that are disordered, giving the cavalry 'shock' i.e. they hit on 5's and 6's. What did I throw? You guessed it: 4 dice and 4 ones. We still managed to win the fight though.

Three projects ahead...

Yep, ok.. I'm really no different from any other 'gamer out there: my brain is at least 3 projects ahead of my painting plan, dreaming about another project.

On the books for quite some time has been a Victorian Science Fiction army for my HotT collection, and the British riflemen have sat undercoated for at least 6 months awaiting my dexterous touch. I have been pondering a behemoth, and have even posted quite some time ago on what I might use. At the recent Conquest tournament I spotted a group of guys playing 'Warmachine', and amongst their 'kit' were steam powered robots... well, what more could I say!!



(The photo is courtesy of the Privateer Press website.)

This goes against my basic HotT philosophy" fantasy 'gaming doesn't need to be hugely expensive. I've mostly tried to create armies from relatively cheap materials. But it's pretty cool.... and there is quite a collectoin of possibilities out there.

This might well be that Behemoth I have been considering... sigh.. too many choices, too many projects.

Hankerings for WW2 Spearhead again...

With life returning to something more balanced than it has been for a while, my Modern Spearhead game last week has resuscitated my long time interest in WW2 as well, and more specifically WW2 Spearhead games. I've started to tinker with lists for Keith McNelly's Scenario Generation System, and of course I just had to get out some of the toys.. nothing quite like the tactile experience..... when the stands came out, I just had to grab the camera as well. Here are a few photos from the late war British list, based around a tank battalion equipped with Cromwells, and a mechanised infantry battalion.

HotT tournament at Carnage..

HotT Carnage is back..a heap of HotT games on a festival style day of fantasy wargaming as we sit next to our WHF colleagues fighting for or against the powers of darkness. So drag out your dragons, stir up your cauldrons, and sacrifice to your Gods in vain hope.. because you are going to need it as you enter the dark realms.

Here are the details for anyone who might be interested, and who hasn't seen the details on any of the lists I inhabit.

Woolston Wargames Club is pleased to bring you HOTT Carnage 2009. The ethos is fun and although it is a tournament games are played within the spirit of the rules and the competitive edge is rounded off ensuring every one enjoys themselves.

Venue: Date: 6 December 2009
Woolston Working Mens' Club Entrance Fee: $10.00

Rules:
The version used will be Hordes of the Things 2.0 (April 2002) with the exception that the new ‘standard’ movement rates for Shooters and Warbands will apply; 200 paces and 300 paces respectively in good or bad going.

Scale:
Will be 20/25/28mm (60mm frontage). Each entrant should bring an army, although several loan armies will be available on request.

Armies will be composed of 24 army points. Players are not limited to army lists printed in the rules book, but armies must obey the element composition rules. Playing surfaces with pre-set terrain will be provided, but players are expected to bring Strongholds for their armies. Each player retains the same army and army composition throughout the tournament.

Format:
A pre-set draw will be provided, with players playing five games during the day. The unpire will lso be playing in the tournament.

Scoring:
• 3 points for a win
• 1 point for a draw
• 0 points for a loss
Tally opponent’s lost/destroyed AP (as defined in the rulebook) and record this along with each player’s game score game scores for use in the event of a tie-break.

Normally draws shouldn't happen, but there is a time limit of one hour per game. If at the end of the hour a game is not finished, the umpire will, at the end of the current turn, declare the game a raw. All army points killed should still be recorded and submitted to the umpire on the results sheet in the case of a tie for overall tournament winner.

Contact:
Send entrance fee and planned army lists by 1 December (including army name, race, make-up) to:
Robin Sutton
27 Horton Place
Christchurch 8061
E-mail: rsutton@paradise.net.nz ; Phone 981 8361 ; Mobile 027 258 8905
Timetable

8.30 Doors open/Registration
9.15 Round 1
10.15 Round 2
11.15 Break
11.30 Round 3
12.30 Lunch
13.30 Round 4
14.30 Round 5
15.30 Break
16.00 Presentations to winners

Terrain

1. Games will be played on a 3'x3' playing area.
2. Attacker defender will be determined in the usual way. Terrain set-up is defined on page 13 of the rule-book, conforming with the terrain rules as printed on pages 11 and 12 of the rule book. Players will provide their own terrain.
3. The attacker then uses the rules as written to determine the attacker/defender baselines.
4. Game set up and play then proceeds as outlined in the rules book.

Tournament Etiquette

1. The defender will define troop types prior to the attacker setting up. The attacker will define troop types once set up is complete.
2. It is good manners not to take back a move once an element has been moved. If doubt arises about where an element was before it was moved, and the umpire is called, a die roll will be used to settle the disagreement.
3. Pre-measuring is allowed.
4. In the words of the organizers of the 2008 TAGCon DBA tournament: "We are confident that all (HotT) players will be polite and play for the sheer enjoyment of killing, burning and pillaging rather than pin-pricking." You are the commander of a fantasy army intent on world domination!!!! Get in their and fight for it!!!!

Prizes:
The tournament winner will receive the HotT 'Emperor Dragon' Trophy, and a small prize pack.

Prizes will also be awarded for best-presented army, and most memorable game incident, both determined by player nomination.

BAOR struggles...

Well to be more accurate, the commander of the BAOR mechanised brigade struggled (and that was me, in case you are wondering). This was my first Modern Spearhead game in over a year, and I have to say firstly that it was an excellent reminder of exactly why the Spearhead rules system is one of my two all time favourite rules systems.

The game was organised by Keith, and my opponent was Andrew, commanding a WarsawPact 2 force (shall we say Poles, or Czechs perhaps?). The game was created using the latest version of Keith's scenario generation system (although Keith had set up the terrain to save time). Rather than give a blow by blow account of the game, here are a few observations on my own approach to the game which I hope might highlight some of the facets of the game that I like so much.

I used a mechanised infantry battalion, supported by a tank regiment, and cross attached infantry with tanks to give two combined arms maneuver units. There was some limited AA support from three Blowpipe detachments, possibly only slightly more useful than their namesake, but fortunately not required because Andrew in this case had taken no air support of his own. My own force was supported by a flight of Lynx attack helicopters, and another flight of Harrier GR1s.

I began the game by adopting what I thought would be a secure defensive position with an on table battalion, but events proved that I misread the terrain so that the advantages I thought I'd taken turned against me. Using my Electronic Warfare Counter-measures, and the Corps' long range medium artillery that I'd bought in support of my defending forces, I worked hard to eliminate Andrew's supporting artillery, and air defenses, managing to destroy half of one heavy artillery regiment, and forcing it to retire from its positions, and stripping out one of his on table air defence units, all in preparation for the deployment of my own air assets.

I then attempted to bring on my air units in support of my flanking attack. The Harrier failed to arrive, but the Lynx showed up using a way point placed to allow it to reap havoc with the tank battalion that Andrew had defending his own left flank.

Requiring anything but a 1 to suppress, and a 3+ to destroy one of Andrew's T55 platoons, I promptly threw a '1', illustrated in the last photo of the selection below. The overall strategy was reasonably well conceived (I thought), but my poor on table maneuver of the armoured units, combined with my misreading of the terrain, gave Andrew a well deserved victory as he read the terrain better than me, and showed the patience necessary to break my own flanking attack.

It is this multi-layered aspect of the Modern Spearhead system that is so appealing. As a player you have to 'get your ducks in a row' as they say. As a player I have to make a good plan that combines my assets with the terrain, time and space in order to defeat the enemy. In case you hadn't noticed, I'm not that good at it, but it's damned good fun!!

Here are a few photos from the game. The last photo illustrates that classic 'gaming moment.. the 'certain kill' defeated by the '1' on the die..lady luck is a fickle mistress!!! . but I tend to the philosophy that on average she will reward a good plan.

Conquest DBA et al

I spent the day today playing in the Conquest DBA tournament. Conquest is a local tournament that usually runs over Labour Weekend in Christchurch New Zealand. Other commitments have meant that in the past I haven't been able to take part. However this year it has run a week later. It has traditionally included WH Fantasy and 40k, and this year also included Flames of War, Warmachine, Lord of the Rings, and War of the Rings. For the first time this year there was also a DBA tournament, run by Keith McNelly.

The DBA tournament involved 12 players from across the country, playing 7 games through the day. The tournament was themed using Book 2 Armies, and was played using 15mm armies.

Below is a range of photos from the tournament. I have also included a few photos from games played in the WH Fantasy and 40 tournaments. I had a bad day with the camera, and quite a few photos didn't come out.

The DBA tournament was kindly sponsored by Corvus Belli and Magister Militum. Thanks to Keith for organising the tournament, and the sponsorship. And thanks again to the sponsors.. I was lucky enough to win one of the prize armies, the Corvus Belli Ancient Spanish Iberian army.. lovely figures, thanks guys.