Friday, October 6, 2017

Photos of Give Fire! Playtest - 3 Months Ago....

As I've prepared our next games for tomorrow - ECW, using the not yet released mini-supplement for FoB2, "Give Fire!", I thought I should post some photos from the previous game. 

Based on previous test games, I'd made some minor changes (salvo fire, commanded shot, some minor modifiers).  I also rebased all of the pike and command figures, so now all foot units have 3 stands.  I really really really like the look of foot units with 3 stands.  They just look more "clumpy" and less linear.   Anyway, now for the photos of our somewhat game of 2nd Newbury:

A rather uneven deployment

Close Up of the new infantry basing

Guns ready to Give Fire!

A major horse melee looms.

I don't think they knew they were going up against a 12+1 unit!

Foot tromps forwards

Infantry supported by guns.

More of the horse melee

Less of the horse melee

I think that qualifies as a flank attack

Who is going which direction???

And finally, somehow, one of the players managed this die roll.

Saturday, September 30, 2017

Final Game of Campaign (Finally)

Actually, the final game of the Field of Battle campaign, using the soon to be released Season of Battles campaign system, was finished back in June.  I'm just slow to report!  I actually don't remember much about the game in detail, but the Austrians did lose, again.  At least they were consistent throughout the campaign!

Some photos of the final game follow.

Plaid was apparently the uniform of choice.
 
Austrian infantry on the advance.

Austrian Cuirassier in support.

The French await.

Yet more Austrians advance.
 
If I remember correctly, the Austrians lost a close battle, that if they would have won would have kept the campaign going.  Alas, the Austrians sued for peace and the French could turn their eyes elsewhere.
 

Sunday, May 7, 2017

Second Game Day of 2017 - 1809 Campaign

Finally had a weekend free (house projects are nearing an end) to get in some gaming!  We started an 1809 campaign as additional playtesting/development of the upcoming campaign system for Field of Battle, titled "Season of Battles".   The game, for some reason, seemed disjointed - maybe the players were out of practice as it has been a while since the last Napoleonic game of FoB.  The French were commanded by the dashing team of John, Chris, Greg R., and Rodney, while the Austrians were led by the soon to be defeated team of Eric, Greg C., and Terry.  The Austrians had some set up and location advantages, but the French had a pretty significant strength advantage (+30%).  Ultimately, the Austrians put up a valiant defense but ended up on the end of a crushing defeat.  It will be a steep climb for the Austrians to get out of the hole created by such a big loss in the opening battle of the campaign, but we shall see!  The set up and post game campaign process helped me a great deal as SoB moves ever closer to completion.

Some photos from the game:










Saturday, April 15, 2017

Miniature Wargames Issue 408

The latest issue (408) arrived.   I look at this as confirmation that the days of printed wargame magazines is past.   Miniature Wargames used to be good.  Now.......

Contents consist of 78 pages or so:

Page 1:  The obligatory self serving editorial that nobody reads.
Pages 2-9:   Historical product reviews.  Better done online and also more timely online.
Pages 10-13:  Regular column "Send Three and Fourpence".  I have to admit, this column holds little interest for me.
Page 14.  Advertisement
Page 15-20:  Roman political game
Page 21:  Advertisement
Page 22-25:  Show review
Page 26-33:  Indian Mutiny rules.  Apparently the author believes all the ground in India is milk chocolate colored.
Page 34:  Ad
Page 35 - 49   Sci-fi and Fantasy section
Page 50-53  Show review
Page 54-55  Using cards in games
Page 56-57  Show review
Pages58-63  Product reviews
Page 64-67  Modelling a stockade.  Crudely done - much better terrain instruction online available elsewhere.
Pages 68-73:  Yet another show review
Pages 74-76:  Club directory
Pages 77-78:  Ads

Literally NOTHING of interest, with bad content.   Why do I buy this?  The new editor clearly has a passion for Sci-fi and fantasy.  The "historical" section has been reduced to mainly show reviews and product reviews.

All in all, a garbage product.  Save your money and buy a book or two.

Tuesday, January 10, 2017

First Games of 2017

I'll try to be more regular with my posting schedule in 2017.  No, really.  I'll try.

We played 2 games this past Saturday - Give Fire! (ECW Field of Battle) and Nothing Less Than Victory (a soon to be published WW2 game).

To be honest, I don't really remember which side won either of the games, as I treated them as development games.  Both were a lot of fun, however.  We started the ECW game at around noon, and were finished before 2:30.  The WW2 game started at around 4:15, and was done at 6:30 PM.  

Some photos!







A few photos from the WW2 game follow below.  The notable feature was the presence of the Tiger II.  Unknown to the US players was the fact that the Tiger II had broken down and was immobile.  On top of that, it only had 4 rounds of fire available.  The Tiger made those 4 rounds count, taking out all 3 Shermans and a halftrack with an infantry squad.  BOOM!