PAX AUS Day 1 - Maximillian 1934 and Tribal

Went to PAX for the first time yesterday, to demo some Maximillian 1934 and Tribal games with Ara from Mana Press. Below is the set up of the two tables, with Max34 in the front (a "U" shaped race track) and Tribal at the back (Eureka Miniatures' Maori and Denisovans facing off against each other on an open field):

 

Some close up shots of the Max34 table (the white barriers are new from Battlefield Accessories and part of the Max34 box set available from Eureka Miniatures):

As the crowds slowly trickled in from 10am, Ara and I played a few games of Max34 to test some racing scenarios:

Things weren't going too well for my junker, until I realised ramming Ara's buggy was one way to win.

We also played a game of tribal, where I wasn't able to maneuver well enough and Ara was able to take out my Maoris with well placed Strike cards.

At this point members of the general public had found the wargaming tables, and we played a few demo games (Brendan also joined us to assist later in the day bringing along his stratch-built cars that are lovely things to behold).

I wasn't quite sure what to expect - I knew that there would be a lot of people (and there were - but a lot less than there are on the Saturday apparently), and that it would be full on (was actually okay - everyone we interacted with was really chilled). Unlike other gaming conventions I go to, this was mainly console/PC gamers who didn't always know what wargaming was all about. Introducing them to the hobby was fun (who doesn't love ramming and shooting up your opponents in fast cars?).

Last Game I Played - ADLG Tournament Practice

Next month will be the League of Ancients' annual ADLG tournament again, this time limited to lists from the Ancient and Classical periods.

I tweaked my Scythian (#77) army from earlier in the year - basically the Saka option to represent Yuezhi cataphracts with a Mountain Indian ally. I swapped a lot of the light horse I had used for infantry bowmen to give myself a little more flexibility if there was terrain in the game (and also to push myself to paint the unused Nepalese bow elements I had for this army - original build as a Tibetan one, but easily morphable to other Central Asian options).

First game in the morning was against Michael and his Achaemenid Persian (#64). On my left flank I placed my Mountain Indian command opposite his infantry command (that included two units of Immortals), in the middle my infantry bowmen with cavalry and light horse support faced off mainly against heavy cavalry bow Persians, and on my right my cataphracts were opposite a bowmen and a mix of heavy cavalry and light horse command.

I was lucky with the shooting I received early in the game being ineffective, but in turn three I took a bit of a hammering - and it delayed my charge of the Mountain Indians.

But charge they eventually did (photo above is from just beforehand), hammering in and cutting open the lines (first time seeing the benefit of an elephant in ADLG). Meanwhile on the other flank I managed to use my most expensive units to chase light horse around the board. I wasn't thinking (again!).

Unsurprisingly I lost the game, but a few simple corrections in deployment and tactics could've seen a vast improvement in results.

In the afternoon I played against Tyler with his Cyrenian Greek (#58). His army seemed to be pretty much unchanged from the game earlier in the year. I deployed my Mountain Indian command opposite the terrain (off to the left in the photo below), with my cataphracts opposite two foot commands.

On my right flank I placed my archers and supporting mounted elements, slightly refused (but not enough as it turned out). There's also three unpainted elements in the back (the horror, the horror!).

Because these guys would come thundering in. Again.

I was able to shoot, retreat and shoot again a few times and take down two of the chariots, but my infantry bowmen suffered rightly for being in the open. They got crushed under hoof and steel, with the remaining Greek chariots and elite horsemen mopping up the leftovers.

Meanwhile, back in the middle of the battle, there was a bit of chaos with my poor rules knowledge showed as I was flank charged a few times for particular set ups (slides and semi-exposed flanks).

However, my elephant did have success again and punched through the lines to cause cohesion drops on the Greek hoplites behind the main line.

But yet again, this was all not enough - I failed to keep my troops together; "look at all these little things! So busy now! Notice how each one is [not] useful. A lovely ballet ensues, so full of form and colour." The game was a lot closer as I had a plan (charge with the cataphracts and elephant), although the cataphracts all got destroyed (as Tyler divided them up to deal with each one in turn).

A few tweaks to the list is needed, but nothing major. The elephant and supporting medium spearmen were good performers, the infantry bowmen were just poorly utilised. Let's see what next month brings.

Pax Practice Game - Maximillian 1934

Had a quick playtest with Ara and Nic of Mana Press' Maximillian 1934 for next weekend's PAX AUS convention. Was a pretty simple scenario, but we wanted to make sure we all remembered the rules (particularly Ara!) and agreed on what we were hoping the punters would get out of the experience.

Warm up beers was La Sirène's Citray Sour. A zesty number to give us a bit of a zing as we fired our Lewis guns at each other.

Game was relatively quick (even though it was actually my first game of Max34), I didn't do enough damage on Ara's racer to stop him running over the finish line first. Looks like it's going to be a long, but fun day. You can also see the new bases to help get a bit of consistency in the game.

I also picked over some random stuff from Nic to fix up, including a camel rider that I'll be painting up as the fictitious Sheikh Nic. I've just spent the last hour designing his flag:

It's based on the Palestinian flag, with a version of the Somalian flag blue (to tie in with the Yorkshire flag) and the Arabic inscription from the Saudi Arabian flag - the shahada (Islamic declaration of faith): lā ʾilāha ʾillā-llāh, muhammadun rasūlu-llāh (There is no god but God; Muhammad is the Messenger of God). The flag features the White Rose of York, as Nic is from Yorkshire (North Riding to be exact).

Last Game I Played - Tribal Maori and Koreans

Played again at Axes & Ales in the Tallboy & Moose brewery in Preston last night, this time against Liam's Koreans (Nic and Jack where on the other half of the table). I managed to get more rules right this time (I blame the great beer for hindering my ability).

As it was Liam's first or second game, we kept things simple; our 5 Honour warbands consisting of a Chief, 2 Heroes and 3 units of Warriors. No skills were selected, but they definitely add an extra level of tactics to the game. Deployment was uncomplicated (due to less terrain than normal), and we used the opening moves to reposition our respectives armies a little.

Liam's Koreans were from Perry Miniatures, and they paint up pretty well (whites always being hard to get right - these however look great):

He also quickly understood the mechanics of the rules, and was able to fend off my warlord - who charged the lone spearmen before being beaten back and ending up where he started his charge from (I couldn't tell you if this was the before or after photo!):

In the end with a little luck I was able to edge out a victory, but in the process taking a fair few losses in both in men and Honour (which you give up to you opponent when you loose a combat round or units - in this game we used shells):

The last of Liam's troops before we called it:

Even as a striped down version of the game, Tribal (mainly due to the combat mechanism) is always able to give a balanced and fun game.