28th May Games

Various people absent, but we had the welcome return of Bob P, who has been absent for some time and was invited to attend by Andy P (no relation). Andy ran a Wild West themed Zombiecide game, while Nick and I gave a run out for my long delayed Travel Battle game.

This was originally devised by Mike Perry for use on long journeys, but was developed for the market and released in 2017. The game comes with two boards and sufficient generic Napoleonic figures for two armies, which fight using a simple but effective set of rules. I took the British and Nick took the French (figures are 8mm high but clearly identifiable) and we set to. Suffice to say that since we were both using my dice, for once they took my part and Nick conceded with most of his forces lost.

Next week, I've offered to run an Angels 20 game, and Mark is running a SWAT game.

See yer soon,

Neil    

21st May Games

We had two substantial games underway last night; Nigel ran his Swords Weirdos fantasy skirmish for Andy P, Mark and Eddie while Dave C ran the grand finale game for his ACW naval rules. Dave K and I ran the Confederate defenders, while Nick and Steve S were the Union attackers. They were tasked with knocking out the large fort and destroying the defending flotilla while Dave and I only had to stop them........certain ancient mariners present were heard muttering about a 'Kobayashi Maru scenario' prior to the start of play (see Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan for details).

Suffice to say the action was hard fought on both side, but the fort was duly demolished by the Union monitor force, although the Confederate gunboats sank the two Yankee wooden ships in revenge. Great fun even though the South lost - again. 

Next week, Andy is considering a Starship Troopers game, while I've been working to bring the Perry Miniatures Travel Battle game to the table after a lengthy hiatus painting the VERY small figures involved - more anon.

See yer soon,

Neil

14th May Games

We were missing a couple of people last night, but Nigel and Andy P played Rumbleslam (fantasy wrestling game that bears no resemblance to WWF - honest) while I'd brought the setup for the TANKS in Normandy game which the club will take to Broadside on the 14^th June. Steve H and I ran the game and the German forces (which were brought into play via an encounter table after spotting by the Allied players - on this occasion Nick, Eddie, Paul and Steve S). 

The Allied players had the same mission as before; exit the far end of the table to rejoin their unit, while minimising losses. They were unlucky to reveal my newly finished PAK 40 anti tank gun on the first move, which promptly brewed up Paul's Sherman and badly damaged Nick's Firefly. The remainder followed different routes towards their objective, only for Steve to 'spot' a StuG III assault gun and the PAK 40 (respotted after it was withdrawn following the opening moves), and succumb to their fire. Nick and Eddie managed to exit the table after dispatching the StuG, making it somewhere between a draw and a marginal win. You decide...... By and large a successful test game, we covered some issues before the time it's laid until before that most dangerous of opponents, the public!   

Next week, Nigel has offered his Sword Weirdos fantasy skirmish, while Dave C will provide the ships and setting for his ACW Ironclad game which will feature in the revised book of the same. I'll be fighting for the Confederacy as usual.

See yer soon, 

Neil 

7th May Games

There were a few more of us onsite last night; Steve S, Mark, Dave K and Andy P settled down to play a game of the fantasy Venetian skirmish game Carnevale, while Nigel hosted myself, Eddie and Steve H with another fantasy skirmish game of Sword Weirdos. 

I didn't see much of the Carnevale game as I had my own band of adventurers to lead (sourced from a batch of figures originally painted for Frostgrave), while Eddie had a band of Dwarven warriors, and Steve a band of Skaven. We were all after treasure tokens located around the board, and we also scored points for eliminating specific races also on the board. I started from the bottom left hand side of the board, and while Eddie and Steve went about ethnically cleansing one another, I was able to scoop up enough treasure and eliminate two Skaven (plus a Dwarf who resented my taking some treasure he considered -wrongly - to be his) and found myself coming out on top. A rare event in truth....... 

It has been suggested that we should run a further test of the Tanks in Normandy game prior to its debut at Broadside on the 14^th of June. I will hopefully have an anti-tank gun to add to the German forces before next week when we'll run the test game.

See yer soon,

Neil 

30th April Games

We were a bit thin on the ground last night. Local traffic conditions prevented some of us getting there, and Nick had asked me to run a pre-dreadnought game which also affected Nigel's proposed Swords Weirdos skirmish game. The Steves, Nigel, Mark and Andy P played Zombiecide as a game they could all join in with, while Nick and I set up a small scale action with my 1/3000 scale Italian and Austro-Hungarian fleets (picture attached). Lack of time prevented a full fleet action, but a squadron each of battleships, cruisers and destroyers provide enough to show Nick how the rules worked. Gunnery for both sides could have been better, but Nick made friends with my dice and got the better of some of the firing. Nice to see the ships out again after a long lay off due to our change of venue. Unfortunately there are no pictures of the Zombiecide game as this finished before I could take any. I was able to get a finished version of the encounter table for the Tanks game checked by Steve H, and a couple of corrections noted.

Current plans for next week include Nigel's Sword Weirdos game and a further run out for the Carnevale fantasy skirmish game.

See yer soon,

Neil.