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.

Last Game I played - Field of Glory Napoleonic 2 Training Game

Richard and fellow wargamers had spent the last couple of years rewriting the Field of Glory Napoleonics rule set and he was keen to walk me through a training game of the new rules. It was fun, with the new rules definitely being more intuitive, not slow in the pace and things felt as a reflection of the period.

I fielded a list that was based on my unpainted French and Danes (Davout's XIII Corps 1813) against an 1809(?) Austrian list.

Set up was myself defending with Probe as my strategy, allowing me to deploy one division, while one was in reserve and the other would come on in the first turn, while Richard deployed his whole army:

This left flank was a couple of unit of conscript French infantry reinforced with combined arms (light infantry and artillery):

The Austrians unit primarily facing this flank was 'uge... and supported by grenadiers(!):

Only a little reshuffling mid-game was needed, but on the whole my deployment was sound:

Soon my Danes and cavalry division arrived, and were able to check the Austrian advance:

Richard charged my left flank a few times, not of them successful (on the whole I pushed the Austrians back instead):

The cavalry I had amassed on the right flank were more successful (in hindsight way too much), routing a unit (but taking a bit of damage in the process):

As it was a training game, we played slower then normal and didn't have the time to play out to a conclusion. Nonetheless, a fun game and the rule set was better than I remember it (so version 2 definitely is an improvement). I definitely plan to play more games in the coming months.

Last Game I Played - DBA and Muskets & Tomahawks

Played the last of the DBA Crusaders-themed campaign games and a game of Muskets & Tomahawks on Sunday.

First up two games of DBA with my Mongol Conquest (IV/35) against Lyle's Ilkhanid (IV/46). We lost a game each, switching terrorities that some outsiders are labelling a shady real estate deal. These are just false rumours spread by our jealous neighbours.

Later in the day I played Peter with his Seljuk Turk (III/74b) in a friendly game (we were at opposite sides of the map). I managed to stumble when the lines hit (maybe slightly unlucky dice were involved too). The Mongol list has way more LH than I'm used to, and definitely needs to do a lot of dancing to win.

I also played a part in a lovely looking game of Muskets & Tomahawks with Mark and Andrew. Mark had a defensive army with an offensive mission, while Andrew had the opposite. We played ignoring the mission and Andrew made a game of it by deciding to attack to not make it a boring game. He failed (as the hail of Vigiliance fire really makes it hard), but was at least fun.

My commander was also successful in throwing it all in and getting himself killed to complete his side mission (c'est la guerre!).

Next month I'm going to stick to the light horse and run them in an ADLG game again.

Last Game I Played - Conquest of Paradise

Played this last night and really enjoyed it.

It's an empire building game with brutal combat mechanism.

Board Game Geek entry:
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/15954/conquest-paradise

I learnt the hard way to defend all islands, after Lawrence (green) snuck through my (red) island chain. Lawrence went on to win the game - even though his fortress of islands was beset by a typhoon, tsunami and almost the blessing of volcanic ash.

Thanks Jack, Lawrence and Liam for a fun (and not unnecessarily complex) game and Nic for teaching us the rules. Definitely one I want to play again.

Last Game I Played - Tribal

On Thursday I played an introductory game of Tribal with Nic at Axes & Ales at the Tallboy & Moose brewery in Preston.

Further information:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/axesandales/
http://www.tallboyandmoose.com/

We stumbled through the rules (I hadn't played since Cancon) with my Maori and Nic's Pond War frogs (both from Eureka Miniatures - http://www.eurekamin.com.au/index.php?cPath=87_126_866_841 and http://www.eurekamin.com.au/index.php?cPath=191).

I was still wiped out by the end of the game (wasn't able to bluff as well during combat as Nic was able to). Still had fun, and definitely like the atmosphere at Axes & Ales and Knight's of Dice (who host the regular gaming nights) beautiful terrain is freely available to use.

Last Game I Played - Black Powder

I played my first game of Black Powder, a hypothetical scenario of the Saxons fighting the French around 1806 using Mark's lovely collection of 15/18mm miniatures.

Having played Pike & Shotte and Hail Caesar before, I was able to muddle my way through the game. Things weren't slow, even though there was plenty of lead on the table and above all the game was a lot of fun.

Below is my Saxon army arrayed at the beginning of the battle. On the left flank my cavalry division of heavy (garde du corps, leib cuirassiers and cuirassiers) and light (hussars, Chevau-légers and uhlans) cavalry units supported by artillery:

My central division with infantry and artillery:

And finally my right flank with grenadiers, light infantry and artillery:

Mark fielded a similar composed army of French.

I decided to be aggressive with my grenadiers and charge forward (without softening up the opposition). Unsurprisingly they got surrounded and blown to bits (I hopefully won't be doing that again).

This was followed by my light cavalry being out fought by their counterparts (uhlans charging uhlans):

I put up a stiff fight, but with both flanks collapsing, and having failed to succeed in taking the town it was a clear victory to Mark.

Along with the 15mm Field of Glory Napoleonic games that were being played, this game inspired me to pull out my collection of unpainted AB Figures French and start getting them prepped for painting. Let's see if I can get at least a unit or two painted by the end of the year. And my thoughts on Black Powder with 15mm miniatures? Loved it - quick and easy. And with any game able to cope with this much on the table gets a big thumbs up from me.

Badgacon 2018 - Walking Dead All Out War

Took part in a small tournament at Badgacon (host by BADGA in Bendigo) for Mantic's Walking Dead All Out War. We all constructed 100 point survivor bands and played without scenarios as it was aimed at beginners. I drove up with James, and we both had similar builds (using Patrick and Sandra).

My survivor band consisted of:
Veteran Patrick (29) with baseball bat (10) & keepsake (4)
Sandra (20) with kitchen knife (10) & screwdriver (5)
Liam (10) with hunting knife (12)

Games were fun, quick and brutal. The zombies just kept on coming with me being the only player who didn't take a gun!

Lessons learnt:

• Sandra doesn’t need any weapons. Her job is to run around.
• Liam does suck, probably needs Derek to protect/ watch over him.
• Patrick with a baseball bat is gold.
• Found out what the hell the “Hide” action is (dropping to the ground behind a car to stop being shot at).
• Stay on mission and follow all the victory conditions (killing and/or collecting loot).

Scott (Trailape) also was running a large 28mm Napoleonics (Waterloo) game that looks fantastic:

 

 All in all a fun game - hoping to get more games in (don't we all).