Category Archives: Uncategorized

Where Am I?

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Only a couple of weeks until heading East to  the Sunfish Capital of The World, one other game to play and it’s time to move on from Irregular Wars.

The game in question is Serbia Defiant from the Der Weltkrieg series.  Need a quick play-thru to justify the time it’s been taking up table space (months!).

But first, a summary of the plot lines in the East African Renaissance Campaign.  Need to get this down.  When I resurrected it a few months ago, there was considerable forensic effort needed to get the campaign back on track.  So, here goes; by faction with a map for reference

Behefe:  Now the campaign’s most intriguing faction.  Ruler Bey Mahir’s status received a boost due to his critical help to Neo when they were attacked by Sanwa.  The Persian mercenary, Bey Heydar also received accolades for his skillful handling not only of his contingent, but working with the Neons.  Could Bey Mahir, with Neo support, turn on his mentor, Sultan Efe of Mweyne?

Neo:  Has their leader Sisay profited from his experience?  Has he shrugged off his reputation for being “shy”?  Will Neo go on the offensive to quell any further threats from Sanwa?

Sanwa:  The reputations of both Tamrat, and the mystic leader Kibwe Nkruma have suffered due to their defeat.  Will they seek revenge, or be deposed?

Kattego:  Will Kattego take advantage of any unrest in Sanwa and  seek revenge for their previous defeat?  Will Ormar remain their leader?

Ekene:  Will the Portuguese become more aggressive given possible unrest in Kattego and Sanwa?

Ottomans:   With their victory at Temple Hill, will the Ottomans continue to focus on an overland advance along the coast, or attempt another  seaborne landing?

Chinese:  Will they commit to an alliance with Mweyne?

Mweyne:  Will Sultan Efe be challenged by his protege Bey Mahir of Behefe?  How can he persuade the Chinese to become his military ally and trade partner?

Battle of Temple Hill – Part 1

East African Renaissance Campaign, Miniatures, Renaissance, Sessions, Uncategorized

The Ottoman attack has finally developed.  It took some time to rally unit resolve, and re-align the ranks after the poor Disease and Mishaps die rolls.

Beginning to think that I’m a tactical rut.  Once again (it seems) the main effort is on the left with a demonstration on the right.  Or, is it a terrain placement rut?  I’m not going back in the archives, because I just don’t want to know.  I guess it’s enough to be aware (?).

Trying very hard to honor the command radius distances for each side.  That does make a difference.

I bumped the Janissary missile troops rally value to a “2”, vice “1” based on my past readings of their tactics.  We’ll see how that works when they contact their Abyssinian counterparts.  I did remember one lesson from the previous Ottoman fight; the missile units are backed up by two units of Janissaries with cutting weapons.

And The Answer Is: Two Certainties

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What happened over the past two months?  Well,  Death and Taxes.  Difficult to summon up the wherewithal to post when the daily grind involves form after form, and interminable holds (up to 2 hours!) to straighten out/resolve situations.

Been able to make some progress with the sale of various miniatures, painting of medieval 15mm Essex figures, and continued desultory stabs at the  Husaria rules.  Things have calmed down (for the moment), so I’ll start posting again.

One Finished

East African Renaissance Campaign, Renaissance, Uncategorized

Quick post.  Over to Portland to see Tim for some football and to finish our Operation Jupiter Europa game.  It has been a real saga so far, and I’m looking forward to telling that story when I return later in the week.

Well, I have to flock one stand’s base, but the Irregular Wars army project is finally finished.

Probably bought the figures over eight years ago.  Started the East African campaign a few years ago, but moved on to something(s) else.

The Abyssinians were the last 200+/  point force left to paint.  Finally got on it in November.  Now I have to re-start the campaign.  Still have my maps and notes.

Probably will happen when I take a break from my survey of skirmish games.

 

 

Been A Long Time

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Decided to get back at it, if only to keep track of what’s happened.  I know readership is a little thin.

Over the past several months there has been plenty of war gaming related activity,  just not any reporting.

Sold off about 30-40 games.  No, it wasn’t a reaction to  Boardgamegeek threads, but a need to clear shelf space and free up some cash for other purchases.  Too many games, too little time.  Decided to focus on systems instead of “one offs”.  I may go crazy and start shuffling through my magazine games, too.

Those other purchases involved a lot of ASL/ASLSK games, mags and modules.   I’m now in maintenance mode, limited to new stuff from MMP, and maybe a “highly recommended” from the recently revived Desperation Morale blog.  The re-do of Croix de Guerre is looking mighty tempting.  So far I’ve played through all the scenarios in ASLSK #1 and doing my (almost) daily work on ASLSK #2.  I like that most of the scenarios are one-mappers, with small footprint but plenty of action/learning.

Tim and I have also played a number of games over the past 8 months.  These included Fire In The Lake, Third World War, and our go-to, Paths of Glory.  We are currently in the middle of the Operation Jupiter scenario found in Europa Magazine Issue #41.  More on that in a separate post.

There were no new miniature purchases, just painting what was on-hand.  While no project is ever really finished, I have only a handful of  figures left to paint/acquire for my Irregular Wars, Back of Beyond and The Sword And The Flame (TSATF) endeavors.   I also have my 15mm colonial British ready to campaign against a horde of Middle East figures, as well as full contingents of Warhammer Empire troops for Renaissance skirmish games.

The remaining major miniatures project is finishing armies for play using the  Wargames Research Group (WRG) 6th edition rules.  The forces will include Byzantines, Arabs and generic opposing forces from the Late Middle Ages.  The core elements for each of these armies are my old DBA figures.  This is part of the decision to go old school and granular.  Likewise, I’ll use the  George Gush Renaissance rules, instead of DBR for any renaissance battles.

Stymied

Boardgames, Uncategorized

TAD back in the Midwest.  Had visions of getting some gaming in, but small children, erratic weather, poor planning, and nearly catastrophic fall from a boat hoist have rendered these plans moot.

What I have done is read some old issues of Panzerschreck picked up on EBay a couple of weeks ago.    The poor planning part was not bringing card and adhesive to use after I cut out counters and markers.

Did get through the rules for both Battle of the Atlantic and Fall of Constantinople.  Gary Grabner’s solo games always have a certain level of abstraction, and I mean that in the best way.  He always focuses on the simple solution in the cause of playability.  Granted, these are truly low-fi games, but many designers would be tempted to overwhelm the player with rules/chrome to compensate for a nearly absolute lack of physical quality.

While it is patently strange to compare games of these topics/periods, there are similarities. Both games use area movement, by turn assignment of units to these areas,  and straight-up combats without a whole load of modifiers.

I will play these games during the trip…..well, I need to find the misplaced Battle of The Atlantic issue (no, don’t blame pain meds, not using them).  It’s just the problem of finding hobby supplies in a town of 7,000.

I really am looking forward to the Constantinople game.  I own and actually tried to play the S&T game.  That was before I read about its total lack of development, playtesting and……this is the best…..total ommision of naval rules.

Geek, Dweeb or Spazz?

Boardgames, Uncategorized

Sucked into the vortex that is Advanced Squad Leader.  Feel like one of the characters in the classic SNL skit when  organizing counters in plastic containers.

The slippery slope began with Starter Kit #1.  The slide accelerated with the decision to play a couple of scenarios from Partisan. Why Partisan?  It’s been sitting on the shelf for about 4 million years, is infantry only, with low counter density.  The deal was closed when I read this review in Boardgamegeek.  It’s my fondness for un/semi-loved games.

The GDSpazz-iness started because the partisan counters aren’t in the Partisan game.  Huh?  Yes, this predecessor to Armies of Oblivion only contains generic axis allies counters.  The partisan counters are in Beyond Valor.  I bought Beyond Valor loose, bagged and without a box about 4 million years ago.  So, started separating Russians to get the Partisans.  Since I was involved in the process, it seemed logical to take care of the German infantry, too.

Now that I have them organized, might as well get some of the play-aide and marker counters organized.   Why play when you can while always the hours fiddling with cardboard?  Croix de Guerre beckons.

Patton’s Best

Boardgames, Solitaire, Uncategorized

 

Patton’s Best (PB) lies somewhere near the other end of the solo spectrum from In Magnificent Style. I would characterize it as “accessibly granular”. An excellent review can be found here.

 I received this game as a gift in the late 90s. It has languished since then, even exiled to The Lake. However, the continuing bad weather was enough motivation to get it on the table and start punching counters.

 The rules are organized, but lack a play-thru to help synthesize an understanding of the many steps involved. While an outline of the daily sequence is printed on the mounted map (along with several charts and Battle Board), one has to jump around between three other charts and brief explanations in the rules to gain a rudimentary understanding of game flow. It took several hesitant steps to get semi-comfortable with how to proceed.

 Like its cousin, B-17, PB is best played as a mini or full campaign and not a one-off, although the rules allow for interesting daily missions. The elusive (it’s appended to the back of the After Action Report Pad, and took an internet search to locate) Combat Calendar breaks the Northwest European Campaign down into operational segments with differing tempos of operations, weather and missions.

 PB has a great deal of replay value. The wide variety of German weapons, areas for combat, and types of Shermans (18!!!), make for any number of trials and tribulations for the crew. The After Action Report allows for good narrative and character development. A fine example of this is the “Spring Chicken” saga over at Web Grognards.

 I’ll be digging into this one over the next several days. Might even bring it back to Central Oregon.