Franco-Prussian War 40

I dropped in on Bruce last night and he hauled out a new game: Victory Games' Franco-Prussian War 40. This is a very small game with simple mechanics but a lot of depth. There are relative few units in the game (maybe 40 total) so the maneuver decisions are tough.

The core of the game is actually the morale table, which determines victory. Each side's morale moves up and down based on table-top events. There are cards, but it is not a card-driven game in the sense of CCA or We The People. Rather, the cards have multiple uses (bring on reinforcements, affecting combat, hosing the other guy, triggering political events) but every unit can move each turn.

Germany starts bottled up and must break into France. The French are few but have a few good units. There is a race then: as the Germans push in and towards Paris, the French get more units and can threaten the German supply line or even counter-invade.

Above, you can see I've pushed in and blocked the French forces south of my line of advance while racing along the Belgian border to threaten the French supply lines and secure an approach to Paris. Bruce, to my annoyance, blocked my efforts at every turn (see below) but I did grab a supply base which has a recurring morale penalty for the French.

Rail lines are very important in sustaining the German advance and disrupting French redeployment. An interesting aspect is that once you are in a ZOC, you cannot back out (there is a mechanic, but it is costly).  This makes both sides leery of being ZOCed and then at risk of being dog piled--so there is a lot of maneuver but not necessarily a lot of battle.

In the end, my first assault on Paris was driven back but things were pretty dodgey for the French and we called it as a likely German victory. With secure German rail lines and the French way down on morale, I don't think the French could have fought back. It is a tough game for them and I think the key is to bottle neck the Germans right out of the gate to slow them way down. That might force the Germans south and delay their move west.

Up next: My vacation starts Friday so I have some painting lined up. More 10mm AWI, some 28mm HoTT, a HoTT Star Wars camp and perhaps some 28mm warbands. It is also the club on Tuesday.

HoTT campaign in Saskatoon

I drove east for a day of gaming with Tim in Saskatoon. This was a HoTT campaign and I was the centaurs. The poor, hap-less centaurs whose success mostly came from their magician and their shooters. Tim has posted up a report that I won't repeat, other than to note that I won the campaign (unexpectedly and based on game play, not stabbing anyone in the back!).

We started out with a quick game of two-on-two to test-drive our armies and give me practice with the river crossing rules (apparently).

Tim and I played a couple of games of centaur v samurai. He won the first game handily (after I thought I had him in my clutches). But I managed to eek out a win in the second game. Above you can see my magician general fending off his ninja sneakers.

The quickest game I played was against John where I moved, ensorcelled his hero general and we were done. He took this rather better than I might have. I was worried there would be some complaining about gimmicky wins (cause it was...) but everyone was a good sport.

I won and lost a couple of other battles but the two I recall the best were glorious defenses. In one game I had two shooters, two centaurs and a magician. I managed to drive off a dragon, an airboat and bag some riders. Then I took on the main body of the enemy army as well as an allied contingent and managed to push them past their break point. What a defense!

My last game was a defense of my capital against John's endless rat hordes. I had two shooters, two lurkers and two riders. John moved forward in a column, brush up against some forest and out came the lurkers. This jammed up his arm because of ZOCs and then I duked it out with his blade general, using a shooter and a rider to close the door. Another sneaky win for the good guys.

Overall, a great weekend of gaming. I can't wait for the EDBAG HoTT campaign to start this autumn.

Up next: I need to figure out what I want to accomplish this summer on my holidays. completing this 10mm AWI commission is first up. Then maybe a 28mm LotR HoTT army. Then maybe some terrain and 28mm warbands for Songd of Arthur and Merlin?

June 19 EWG Club Night

We had 13 (I think) guys out at the club last night with four games eventually running. Mark and Scott played some Warhamster (Goblins versus Daemons) while Bill and Jon played a WW2 game.

Dave hosted a game of Impetus, with Greeks fighting off some Persians in glorious 1/72-scale.

I brought out some 28mm HoTT armies. Bruce played Romans, Andy played Vikings, Chris played Celts and Terry brought his own goblins. We got four games in which was a good number. I think the Romans took two games for the overall best record of the night.

Here you can see the Romans advancing on the vikings, who are holding the hill. The Viking's flyers (three eagles) are sneaking around behind the Romans and made this a very close game by causing Bruce no end of flanking and blocked drive-back problems. But he managed to pull out a win.

Below you can see the Vikings again lining up, this time against the goblins. Terry's determination to keep his shooters in the wood made like hell for the Vikings, who eventually got picked apart and then rolled up by a troll.

Up next: Some more 10mm AWI are underway (foot plus three batteries of cannon).

More LotR HoTT bases

Two more bases for my Lord of the Rings HoTT army have finally finished drying. These are 28mm GW figures. First u[p is a base of elven heroes. I don't recall who the metal hero is (Elrond?) accompanied by a plastic elven guard. I expect a LotR army will include a large number of high-cost stands so I wanted to have lots of options.

There is also a magician in the form of Gandalf the White. Probably the wrong sculpt for that point in the series (did Gandalf the White have a hat?) but I've painted various Gandalfs so many times over the years that I could not face another set of grey robes.

Up next: Some 28mm HoTT at the club tomorrow might, then likely some more 10mm AWI. I assembled a bunch of cannon last night after securing some more glue. If I get time tonight, I will prime these fellows. I also have some more 28mm LotR underway.

More Lord of the Rings HoTT

I'm continuing to work away at an AWI commission (just finished gluing some infantry and artillerymen to some paint sticks) but I have been leavening the mix with some more 28mm LotR figures for a HoTT army I'm building.

These elves are plastics from the Fellowship of the Ring box that I picked up at MayDay. I always thought they were rather uninspired poses (fine and all, but nor much variation) so I decided to mix up the colours some to see if that would help. I think it did.

I'm quite taken with the flashing steel effect I got in the photo above. Overall, three nice blade elements.

Up next: I have some 28mm HoTT action at the club this week. And I have a few more bases of LotR that are drying. Then back to some 10mm AWI. I must go buy some glue today to assemble the gun carriages.

AWI Maurice whomping

I was feeling pretty cocky after my last Maurice victory over Bruce, but apparently he'd been thinking about the game quite a lot and had some new ideas to try out. We played a75-point AWI game with a small, highly trained British army against a large, crappy American army whose general clearly had been into the wine. Bruce created the Americans by building command stands for his new Prussians.

We did terrain placement as per the book and I was the defender. Here, you can see bruce overloading my left with a lot of British foot. He would then rush in with some mounted skirmishers, bag my cannon (%$#*^@^&!) then advance and beat the heck out of me with his grenadiers with deadly fire.

It turned out to be quite the slaughter and we were done in 45 minutes. So we decided to try again.

Despite some terrible dice on Bruce's behalf (the roll below happened twice in the game to him), the second game was even worse and I conceded after about an hour.

I set up to cover the front but neglected to block a line of advance up the side. He set up, drove his whole force up the open flank (oh %^&#^I*&#%!) and appeared, ready to go as I scrambled to turn my army to face him. He then chewed my units up piece by piece.

I think I will do some more reading in the army building section of the book. Grenadiers with deadly fire meant my guys could neither out shoot nor out melee him. He was careful to protect his flanks so I could never really get an enfilade. Maybe there is a magic missile option in there somewhere?

Up next: Some 28mm LotR HoTT units are almost painted. And, if I get some time, I will prep the next batch of 10mm AWI. Lots still to do here--maybe some cannon and more formed troops.

More 10mm AWI

I'm off to Bruce's tonight for some AWI Maurice and it reminded me that I finished up another part of a big 10mm AWI commission this weekend.

There are 28 bases of Maryland (I think) regulars here. These were supposed to be slightly less uniform that the New York fellows I did a couple of weeks back, so a fair few have homespun rather than blue jackets.

Some very nice poses in this pack--I love the guy biting the end of the cartridge. The owner will supply his own flags for the command stands.

Up next: Some AWI Maurice and a couple of bases of LotR HoTT are almost done. Then back to the 10mm AWI.

June 5 EWG Club Night

We had a dozen guys out at the club last night, with three games running. I played in a game of sci-fi FUBAR hosted by Bruce along with Guy, Chen and Stu (below) and Chris, Jonathan and Terry (not shown due to shame at our loss).

Dave and WIll tried out GW Historical's Waterloo game. It looked pretty but the reviews were mixed.

Mark and Scott played a game of Warhamster, where Scott's daemons fought Mark's goblins. I missed the outcome of this game--a lot of time was spent on magic at the beginning and they were moving to contact as I left for the evening.

FUBAR started badly for the attackers (see below) as we lost control of the net and then had our command unit rudely destroyed in the opening turns. We never really managed to get going until the defenders had occupied key terrain.

We then took a beating trying to knock out the heavy tanks (this was likely a mistake to focus on them) while the defending infantry occupied the towns (i.e., the victory objectives). For the most part, we never really got out of our set-up area. Had we had the net for even a couple of turns, the game might well have tipped the other way. A good bit of play by the defenders and some bad luck for us. Oh well!

Up next: Some 10mm AWI are creeping through the painting process, with hair, wood and gunmetal left to do. I also picked up some walls to paint. With foul weather expected tonight, I hope to spend some time in front of the painting table.

FS 28mm HoTT Medieval Army 1

I've decided to thin the ranks of my collection and will have three 28mm HoTT medieval armies up for sale this week. Nothing wrong with the armies--I just haven't been playing enough HoTT to warrant have ancient, dark ages and medieval HoTT armies (let alone three or four in each era!). Below is Army 1.

This army comprises 36 AP plus the camp pictured above. This includes four bases of blades (4x2AP). These are metal figures (maybe Reaper?). All figures are mounted on 60mm frontages although some bases are a bit deeper than recommended to accommodate the figures.

There are also six bases of shooters (6x2AP) which are Perry plastics (I think) to place in the woods or in front of the enemy's mounted troops.

There are three bases of knights or riders. These are GW Bretonnians on the left and centre and metals (no idea from where) on the right (3x2AP).

Finally there is a plastic Dragon (1x4AP), three basis of plastic lurkers (3x1Ap) and a metal cannon (1x3AP). All come from a smoke- and pet-free home and were painted by me.

Shipping is at cost and will be roughly $25 in Canada or to the US (exact amount depends on location). All bases will be individually bubble-wrapped and floated in shredded paper. I'd like $80 plus shipping. emails to bob.barnetson@shaw.ca

FS 28mm HoTT medieval army 2

This is the second of three 28mm HoTT medieval armies I am looking to part with to free-up some shelf space. These are all based on 60mm frontages (depths vary to accommodate the models) and they come from a smoke- and pet-free homes. This army comprises 40 AP and a camp.

First up are five bases of metal spear (Black Tree Design, I think) (so 5x2Ap) plus a camp. I may need to detach the guys on the walkway for shipping to avoid damage to the pikes. Simply to re-attach with crazy glue.

There are two large bases of plastic GW bowmen. These I play as hordes (2x1AP) but you could also play them as shooters (2x2AP).

There are three bases of metal musketmen (3x2AP) from Old Glory.

There are three bases of plastic GW Bretonnians, include a hero (1x4AP) and 2 knights or riders (2x2AP).

There are five bases of foot that I would play as spear (5x2AP) but two you could also play as blades. These are Perry plastic figures. Finally, there are two bases of flyers (2x2AP).

Shipping in Canada or the US will vary but will be about $25. This includes individually bubble-wrapping the bases and floating them in shredded paper. Iw ould like $120 OBO plus shipping. Offers to bob.barnetson@shaw.ca .

FS 28mm HoTT medieval army 3

This is the third of three 28mm HoTT medieval armies I'm looking to part with. All figures are based on 60mm frontages and come from a smoke- and pet-free home. This army comprises 30 AP and a camp.

First up there are two bases of heroes (2x4AP) and one base of magician (1x4AP). The foot hero os Zvezda plastic, the mounted hero is GW plastic, and the magician is GW LotR plastic. The camp is a plastic town from the old Battlemasters Game.

There are three bases of knights or riders (3x2AP)--all are GW plastic Bretonnian knights.

There are four bases of shooters (4x2AP). Three of the bases are plastic Zvezda and one is plastic GW. There are also two bases of Zvezda spear (2x2AP).

Shipping will be about $25 in Canada or the US (varies by location). Each base will be bubble wrapped and floated in shredded paper. I'd like $80 plus shipping for this army. Offers to bob.barnetson@shaw.ca .