24th January Games

Another good turnout last night; Andy P hosted Alan, Nigel and myself in a Dead Man’s Hand Western gunfight game, while Steves H and S ran a Ronin Japanese skirmish for Dave K, Mark and Eddie. The latter was intended as a trial of a set of rules published by Osprey some time back. I don’t know how it went but given I have already got figures for the period , feedback would be gratefully received.

Meanwhile, Nigel and I ran a team of Mexican bandidos and assorted other ne’er-do-wells against the most recent version of the Magnificent Seven (i.e. no Yul Brynner, but Denzel Washington in his place? Yeah, I know....). Initially, we struggled against Andy and Alan who have played more regularly and knew how best to play the hand of cards they held to frustrate our plans. I eventually got my dice to behave and threw three natural 20’s in succession on a D20, thereby sending three of their men direct to Boot Hill! I have pictures of the dice as proof, as no-one will believe me otherwise. 

 

Next week, the Steves intend to play Strontium Dogs (from the 2000 AD comic universe), and I’ll run some WW2 aerial action for anyone interested.

 

See yer soon,

Neil    

17th January Games

We had a good turnout last night; Wayland Games was hosting Dave from MiniWargaming and his team (from a YouTube channel) and he was kind enough to drop by and check out our games. Mark, Dave K, Steve S and Eddie were playing a SWAT team game umpired by Mark, Rob, Andy and friends were playing dead Man’s Hand, while I ran a Napoleonic naval game for Mike C, Steve H and Nigel (whose first game this was). We deployed the squadrons on a table edge by dice roll, then decided wind direction – which promptly gave Steve and Nigel as the French the benefit of the weather gauge. This is a bad thing if you are downwind (as Mike and I were), and we were soundly beaten as a result. Nigel managed to damage our ships with some devastating stern rakes which took half the force out in two moves. My flagship received the same benefit from Steve, and should have been destroyed but was in any case forced to strike its colours. That said I was pleased to see the others enjoy themselves, while I await my court martial............. 

 

Next week, I’ll provide figures and a terrain mat for a Dead Man’s Hand game, whilst the Steves will try the Ronin samurai skirmish game.

 

See yer soon,

Neil 

10th January Games

We had rather more activity this week; Steve S, Mark, Andy P and Dave K were playing a D&D game which developed as the players moved through the dungeon, meeting assorted gribblies on the way, Alan and Rob were playing a further game with the SF skirmish set used last week, while I set up my Anglo-Saxons and Norse collections for a Lion Rampant game which Steve H and Nigel took part in. Nigel’s track record was slightly better than last week’s Men Who Would Be Kings game in that he lost his leader, but was able to withdraw much of his Norsemen off table by game’s end.

 

Next week, Mark wants to run his ever popular SWAT game, Andy has a Dead Man’s Hand game lined up, while I intend to introduce Nigel to the delights of Napoleonic naval warfare.

 

See yer soon,

Neil   

3rd January Games

Good to be back after the festive bacchanal; Steve S, Andy P, Mark and Dave K played Zombiecide (and may have survived), while Rob and friend were playtesting a set of SF skirmish rules he’d found online.

I had set up a Zulu War confrontation for the benefit of Steve H and Nigel, who is making a return to the hobby after a decades’ long layoff. The British column of three infantry and one mounted infantry units were tasked with a punitive raid of a Zulu kraal whose inhabitants had developed an unpleasant habit of ‘borrowing’ other people’s cattle from the British side of the border. The Zulus were unsurprisingly not willing to cooperate; Steve was playing the Zulus using the Mr. Babbage rules from The Men Who Would Be Kings (the rules of choice for this game) which meant their movement and actions were controlled by a roll of dice.

This got very messy, very quickly. The Zulus deployed immediately on three sides of the British force, wiping out three of the four units within three moves. Zulu losses were also high when the British got a chance to shoot, but by game’s end the British were reduced to four figures from the 24^th Regiment (how appropriate!) while the table was ‘littered’ with Zulu casualties. Nigel was grinning all through the game, so despite his losses, I believe he enjoyed the game. 

 

Next week I’ll run a Lion Rampant based Dark Ages game, and I understand that there are board games planned as well.

 

See yer soon,

Neil

6th December Games

Having missed last week’s meeting due to family commitments, I’d hoped to run a game this week. Unfortunately, I have been blessed with the Pre Christmas Cold which is doing the rounds at present (I note Dave K has retired hurt with a similar infection, hence no Here’s Negan game as planned) so attendance was low this week. I popped over to deliver some Christmas cards and booked a table for next week. Andy P, Steve S and Mark were setting up a Zombiecide game when I left early for a warmer environment.

 

Current plans are for an Angels 20 game, probably Pacific theatre as I have recently obtained a reinforcement of models from Dave C, a large proportion of which are usable for the Pacific; I have a specific scenario in mind based on some of the backup material also supplied by Dave. More anon.

 

See yer soon (if I survive)

Neil, Champion of Nurgle   

22rnd November Games

We were down on numbers again last night; Dave K ran a Bolt Action games for Mark, Andy P and Steve S, with some armour turning up; a Panther for the Germans and a Sherman for the US forces. No apparent arguments so they must be getting the hang of the rules.

 

Rob and Alan were engaged in separate Blood Bowl games nearby. Rob reportedly lost his game but was able to ‘beat up some Orks’ as he advised me. Alan was playing against Skinks but no details of the result have reached me as yet.

 

Steve H and I were engaged in a further play test of my DBA derived ECW rules, using my collection of WoFun flat figures. I’d made a number of alterations to the rules following our last game, and we were also using sub commanders as well as a commander in chief to give some extra flexibility. Steve drew the Royalists for his force, so I found myself in the position of being right but repulsive on ‘1066 and All That’ terms as the forces of Parliament. We fought to a bloody but honourable draw (although Steve took out a couple of my infantry units in the last move to have a slightly higher kill rate than myself), but overall the changes and use of sub commanders speeded up the game considerably.

 

I probably won’t be down next week due to family commitments, but there is a further Bolt Action game arranged.

 

See yer soon,

Neil

 

15th November Games

Good turnout but we were spread around Wayland last night. Dave K, Steve S, Paul, Eddie Andy P and Mark played Here’s Negan; not sure of the outcome but it was probably messy and involved lots of zombies. Alan and Rob played Dystopian Wars naval; Alan’s dice were not his friends and it almost ended in tears. Steve H and I played a further Dark Ages Lion Rampant game, this time playing The Fugitive scenario. My Norse had to rescue a VIV (Very Important Viking) who had escaped Anglo-Saxon custody and was reported to be hiding in one of six different areas of rough terrain on the table. All I had to do was enter said areas, roll a d6 needing a score of 6 reducing by 1 for every area checked that was unoccupied. How hard could it be?

Very, as it turned out. My dice went on strike for searches and movement, combat rolls were ok but with time running out and the remaining areas behind Anglo-Saxon lines, I made one last all out attack with my leader’s unit against Steve’s commander; we both lost one figure in the combat....then I rolled a double one for the Courage test. The cloud of dust left by my leader ‘retiring’ is still settling. A deserved win for Steve, but great fun for both of us. 

Next week Dave K is hosting a Bolt Action game, and I’ll bring my WoFun ECW collection for a further test of the DBA derived rules I’ve been working on.

 

See yer soon,

Neil