Gaming Weekend - Pt.1 - The Circus

The past weekend was a long overdue meet up with some long-time wargaming friends, Steve and Martin, at Steve's place - unfortunately the fourth, Keith, couldn't make it.  Martin and I arrived Friday evening and after a good supper (Green Curried Fish and beans) we moved on to the beer and a couple of quick games of Ludus Gadiatorius using my mini-amphitheatre featured in an earlier article: When it's Too Hot to Paint.

In the first game our randomly selected characters ...

   Me             Steve           Martin

... sized each other up across the sands of the arena.

But why am I not looking at my two opponents you ask?  Well, my attention had been seized by a couple of lions that someone had let loose to enhance the entertainment. 

As a Bestiarius, I decided I would take on the lions and leave the other two to their classic gladiatorial match up.  This was a mistake, as apart from encouraging the lions to take chunks out of me they also seized the opportunity to stab me in the back when opportunity presented.

Then, as they realised that I, in my badly wounded condition, offered little threat they turned on each other.  At the same time the lions also decided that I wasn't the one they wanted to eat, and so down went Steve ...

... shortly followed by Martin as I carefully backed away towards the exit.

Being munched by lions, meant the Emperor's thumb could not influence their fate and both were ruled dead.

For the second game, we randomly selected some new personas:

  Me             Steve          Martin

This time there was only one lion, which Steve rapidly dispatched while Martin and I hammered away at each other to little effect.

I succumbed next as I recklessly neglected my defence to put everything into an all-out attack on Martin, not helped by a dart in the back from Steve.

Steve might've regretted his choice of target as Martin made short work of him once he managed to catch up with him.

So, with Martin declared the winner (sole survivor) the Emperor, clearly entertained, gave both Steve and myself the Thumbs Up to fight another day.

Pony Wars in the Baltic?

Three friends came over for a couple of days gaming during which we managed three games.

Game 1-of-3

To kick off the action we went for a game of Pony Wars.  The only fly in the ointment being that none of us have any US Cavalry or Plains Indians figures.  But some time ago we'd adapted the rules to work with Teutonic Knights and crusaders saving the colonists from the rampaging hordes of Mongol raiders.  It changes the dynamic a bit with the 'good guys' not outshooting the raiders but having a big edge in mêlée.

Anyway, not letting this stop us, the table was set with all my Hexon terrain to provide passes that the rescuers would have to pass through (at risk of ambush) if they took the most direct route to the settlements.  A couple of companies of knights can be seen setting out from the walled 'town' at the bottom the photo below.

Smack in the middle of the settlements was the governor's villa.

So, the nearer settlements were ignored in an attempt to reach the governor first, no doubt leaving the occupants wondering where all this heavy metal was going.

But that plan quickly went for a burton when the first two small raiding parties to arrive both headed straight for the villa.  The test for what they did on arrival at a random point on the table edge saw them both electing to cross the table through the centre; which resulted in them catching the governor's villa between them.

The outcome wasn't pretty; the occupants being quickly massacred and the villa ransacked and set alight - the intended rescue party can be seen approaching through the pass.

At this point a few raiders snuck into the hills and started sending smoke signals to draw in more raiders; although with all the smoke issuing from the villa behind it, it's a wonder they could make it out.

So, while the would-be rescuers visited righteous retribution on the bloodthirsty raiders ...

... another company managed to intercept a large body of raiders just before they could descend on another settlement. 

At this point the photos dried up a bit as the action became more frenetic with raiders arriving from all directions ...

... into the middle of which wandered a wagon train of settlers.  These were met and directed to the town, but proved obdurate, at first pressing on regardless and then deciding to circle the wagons to fight off any raiders.  But the knights persevered and eventually persuaded them to head to safety under their protection.

Amidst all this human violence ...

... Mother Nature pitched in with a landslide that blocked one of the passes.

With the Teutonic Order at full stretch and spread across the countryside trying to counter so many bands of raiders ...

... little was left to defend the town, and after seeing off two large bands, the remnants of my command plunged into another small group of new arrivals.

At this point the dice turned against me with my men all slain I was left with no alternative but to place my trust in the Lord and take them on single-handed.

It did not go well.  But, with my horse down I held forth my crucifix knowing that the craven heathens would not dare to assault one so beloved by our Lord ...

... but they did!  

A sad but noble end, as our gallant sacrifice kept the way clear for the rest to escort the remaining civilian settlers to safety.

A quick totting up of victory points at the end saw us with a very healthy positive score, and as the rules call anything positive pretty good going, we congratulated ourselves and set the table for our next game.

Which will be the next post.

Sleepwalking through MeG & ADLG

This is just a very quick post, more of a 'diary entry', on a weekend spent trying out new rules, namely Mortem et Gloriam (MeG[1]) and Art de la Guerre (ADLG).  I also intended to try out another homebrew set but more on that later.

After a largely sleepless night on Thursday, it was down to Martin's in Brighton for a Friday evening in the pub together with Steve who'd also driven over for a gaming weekend.  A different pub this time, but still Harveys Sussex Best and beautifully kept into the bargain - went down a treat.

Probably not the best start, as I never sleep well after a beer session or in a strange bed.  The result, another largely sleepless night.

So, the Saturday dawned and Martin's friend John arrived with his delightful Italian Wars collection and his experience playing MeG to help us through a bath-tubbed refight of the Battle of Pavia, 1525.

Mortem et Gloriam

I took the Imperialist left wing with some Jinetes and Landsknechts (two pike blocks with attached light guns and two units of skirmishers).

Facing off against me was Martin with some Swiss (eek!), Genitors and cannon.

While outnumbered, Martin had the possibility of another Swiss pike block arriving later in the game - spoiler alert, they didn't.

My men took one look at the opposition ...

... and promptly stepped out towards them to try and finish them off before any more arrived.  Meanwhile, our respective cavalry units crashed commenced what was to be a long-drawn out mêlée.  Martin's cavalry, with their spears had an edge to start with but things evened up after the initial impact - luckily, they were not as fearsome as the Ottoman Dellis who were standing in for them.

A few turns later the first of my Landsknecht blocks finally got stuck in, the other was lagging behind, delayed by the Swiss cannon fire.

The cavalry mêlée rumbled on, but only Genitors were taking losses ...

... as my second Landsknecht unit came up and ...

... joined in the Swiss-bashing session.

And then suddenly it was all over; first my Jinetes, still at full strength, routed what was left of their opponents ...

... then, as they came up alongside my Landsknechts the Swiss were gone[2] ...

...and all that was left was for Martin to ride over and surrender.

While all this had been going there had been plenty of frenetic cavalry action taking place to my right.

But I had taken little of this in so, just a couple of photos will have to suffice.  Firstly, the swirling cavalry fight which went to the French ...

... and finally, the arrival of the Spanish infantry whose firepower finally decided the battle.

Art de la Guerre

I was already starting to fade as John packed his Italian Wars armies and departed.  Then Martin readied his 15mm armies on table for a game based on the Battle of Kleidion, 1014, between the Byzantine Basil II the 'Bulgar Slayer' and the Bulgarian Tsar Samuel.  We went for a fairly basic set up as time was short and as ADLG 'newbies'[3] we wanted to keep it simple.

This was played as a 'chit game'[4] so we had each picked a personal identity from among the commanders in the field and during the game took it in turns to pull out a name of a commander to play during each game turn.

I only took a few photos during this game as:

1. I wasn't enjoying it, this is not an indictment of ADLG, as I often dislike rule sets on my encounter with them; and,

2. I just couldn't stay awake and had to sack it early.

So, just a couple of choice pictures of Martin's nicely painted troops.

The Cancelled Game

The following day I was to run a game with my home-brewed rules for 6mm Napoleonics, albeit heavily based on a set of Napoleonic Rules for Large Scale Wargaming.

Unfortunately, worrying over whether the rules were really ready for a play-test kept me awake most of the night.  Now seriously sleep-deprived I had to apologise to my friends, take some Nurofen and go and lie down in a dark room.  

While I 'wimped out', Steve and Martin, like true gamers, broke out a Thirty Years War game using Liber Militum Tercios[5], with the French taking on the Spanish.  As I didn't play in this game, I won't attempt to describe how it played out and will just post a few photos I took later in the day when I was feeling a bit better.

The French infantry dares to take on the Spanish Tercios, and wins!

The Musketeers run away!

And finally, Martin's desperate attempt to get two '6's on just three dice to stop the Cardinal's Guard from breaking and fleeing the field.  He threw '6's on all three dice!  A 1-in-216 chance!!!

Post Mortem?

So, what did I learn from the weekend?  First and foremost, a need to manage my sleep better.  But with regard to the rules, both MeG and ADLG are similar to the DBx series of games but have tried to steer them in different ways: MeG with multiple elements/bases formed as units and a more sophisticated approach to unit activation, actions and costs; and, ADLG with the slow attrition of unit strength ('cohesion') in place of just recoiling or killing units.  From my limited sampling of these, I don't feel either adds much to a game, yet both, for me, seemed to increase complexity.  

In particular I felt that the way MeG breaks down the fighting to individual bases negated any benefit from multi-element units.  Also, the rigidity of the battlelines in ADLG, due to units not moving while in combat as they grind each other down, felt (for me) too mechanical.  That said I enjoyed the MeG game and will have to try ADLG again as my first impressions are often short-lived.

Notes:

[1.]  To be honest I had tried a small game of MeG before, as you might've spotted in a previous post (link), really hadn't got much of a feel for it,but I was a complete virgin when it came to ADLG - is there such a thing as an incomplete virgin?

[2.]  Actually, there are still a couple of Swiss in the top right of the frame.  These are marking where their reinforcements were due to arrive, only fate determined otherwise.

[3.]  Martin had played a small club game of ADLG once before and had a copy of the rules, Steve and I had never even read them, let alone played them.

[4.]  A previous post (link) describes the 'chit game' concept developed as a way to cope with uneven numbers of players and/or players arriving late or leaving early. 

[5.]  We're all familiar with these rules having played them often e.g. (link).

When it's Too Hot to Paint

Courtesy of the recent heatwave (well it's a heatwave by UK standards) which makes the fumes more noxious, the paint dry too fast, and the temper too short, I've stopped painting for a bit.  Having, like most gamers, a mass of stuff needing doing I thought I'd use the time to finish of some other jobs i.e, my 15mm Ludus Gladiatorius set up and replacement Platoon Boards for my 20mm Chain of Command collection

Ludus Gladiatorius

The arena for my 15mm gladiatorial gaming has already featured in a previous post covering how it was converted from a chocolate box.  But at the time I hadn't completed all the cards and tokens I intended to use. These have now been made and packed away in the arena-box.

The cards describe the characteristics of the different gladiator types for the players, along with tokens used to indicate choice of any special action played or where a thrown net, or spear, has landed.  All in all, with the rules, special action reminder sheets and dice it's quite a pile of paraphernalia to accompany the figures.

The cardboard frame inside the arena-box not only provides compartments to keep these elements in place but for gaming is placed in the lid.  This not only allows cards and tokens not in use (not figures) to placed out of the way in it ... 

... but also lifts up the playing area (base of the box) when placed inside the up-turned lid to give a raised, and (IMO) pleasing, appearance to the arena in play.

This long drawn-out project is thus now officially done and dusted.

Chain of Command v2

Many of my recent posts have covered changes in these rules with the new edition, including a recent post on the replacement Force Morale and CoC Dice trackers I made as the changes had rendered my previous ones defunct.  

As well as rule changes, the organisation of the various platoons has also been changed to better reflect those actually used by the combatants.  So, with foam-board plus my trusty Stanley-knife and steel rule I've made replacement boards for my British and German infantry platoons.

After my opening paragraph about painting in hot weather, I should perhaps own up and admit some paint was involved in this process to colour the sides of the foam-boards in the 'pits' that hold the figures.  The shapes depicted in the pits match the base sizes I use for my figures which are on a mix of single and double figure bases.  Also, I use different base shapes to distinguish junior and senior leaders.

As my German infantry have recently been posing a lot as panzergrenadiers I also made up a specific panzergrenadier platoon board.  Likewise, I made one for my planned British airborne platoon, most of the figures for which were delivered while I was typing this post.

What Next?

So now I have to decide what to start prepping for the painting table once this heat breaks in a day or two.  Aaaargh!  The agony of choice!