23rd August Games

   A reasonable turnout last night, even if we were scattered around the Wayland Games Centre. Dave K, Steve S, Paul, Andy P, Mark and Eddie were involved in a Walking Dead campaign game in the bar area, Rob and Alan were playing the Stargrave sci-fi rules from Osprey along Steve H and myself. My game brought out the Napoleonic naval collection for a refight of the Battle of San Domingo in 1806, when a French squadron was destroyed in the West Indies. The layout for the game didn’t quite match the reality, and the French under Steve did rather better than was the case in reality. I pulled victory from defeat not by preventing the French squadron from escaping, but  when the British flagship blew up after suffering catastrophic damage, it inflicted so much damage on the surrounding French ships that they couldn’t evade the pursuing British! You take your wins any way you can...............  

 

   I understand a further Walking Dead game is planned for next week. I won’t be down for a couple of weeks, but I’ll see you all in mid September. If someone could update the Facebook page in my absence, I’d be most grateful.  

 

See yer soon,

Neil

16th August Games

Thin on the ground once again this week; due to absence and illness decimating our ranks, Andy’s Samurai game fell victim to the low attendance. While Rob and Alan played Frostgrave with some very impressive painting on display, I ran an Angels 20 WW2 aerial game for the benefit of Steve H, Andy, Mark and myself. One of the game’s great strengths is the inclusion of some of the period’s lesser known aircraft. This week, I chose to feature the French Dewoitine 520, which was entering service just as German forces invaded in 1940, and subsequently saw service with Vichy forces in Syria and North Africa. The first game therefore pitted three D520’s against two Bf109E’s escorting a Stuka to attack a ground target. The D520 pilots were graded as Ace by the data card supplied, which might be a bit unfair (but since the formula for calculation is not available, I had no choice) but the aircraft certainly performed well, shooting down the Ju87 and one Bf109 and damaging the other. The second game played two D520’s against two P-51C Mustangs, which was slightly fairer, and honours were even for this game. 

 

Next week, there is a board game session planned, but I’ll bring my Napoleonic naval collection for a pickup game to benefit any others attending.

 

See yer soon,

Neil  

9th August Games

We had a whole row to ourselves this week! Three games were running – Frostgrave with Rob, Alan and a friend, Andy P, Mark and Steve S with a Lord of the Rings inspired assault on a Rohirrim fort (?Helm’s Deep?) by a whole horde of marauding Uruk-Hai, and my play test of my DBA inspired ECW rules for the WoFun figures I acquired a while back. 

I’ll confine myself to comments on the last of these as I was umpiring while Dave K, Steve H, Paul and Eddie commanded the Royalist and Parliamentarian forces. Increased movement and firing ranges were an improvement, but some tweaks concerning the use of cover, effects of disorganised movement through the same, group movement and firing priorities are required before a further game. Casualties were light before the Royalists came to hand strokes with the Parliamentarians, and just edged a win in the last move by forcing the latter to a loss of one third of their forces. The game went well for the most part other than the points mentioned, which is always to be expected in a play test. I’ll make the necessary adjustments and email copies to the players for their comments asap.

Next week, Andy P will run a Samurai game, while I’ve offered to run a WW2 air combat game with Angels 20.  

 

See yer soon,

Neil

2rnd August Games

Greetings

 

Still a bit thin on the ground, which meant there was sufficient room for all to play Mark’s SWAT team game without my gladiator game being required (although I did bring some of the 54mm figures intended for use for the proposed show game, currently in the planning stage). The mission was to rescue a group of scientists held hostage by a mix of low level thugs and mercenaries, moving though a 3D setup Mark has acquired. Most enjoyable, proper tactics were rewarded and the hostages were rescued. Rob and Alan were playing Infinity, and still going strong after we’d completed our mission and packed up! 

Next week, Andy has organised a Lord of the Rings game, while I’ve revamped the DBA based ECW rules I devised to use with the WoFun flat figures I bought a while back, and will run a game at the same time. 

 

See yer soon,

 

Neil

26th July Games

It had been decided that the planned AWI game would not proceed, due to insufficient space and that Dave K wasn't quite ready to proceed - we've put this on hold for a little while. We ended up with Mark, Alan and Andy P playing Dead Man's Hand, while I ran a Ludis Gladiatorus arena fight for Steves H & S, Dave K and myself. We haven't played this for a while so we were a bit rusty, but I took the retiarius for a change, and found him very effective. Dave K had the Lion and spent his game chasing around trying to chomp people! Steve S ran out as winner and last man standing, while Mark and Alan pounded Andy P into submission in the Old West. A fun evening in spite of everything.

Next week, Mark has offered to run his SWAT team game. I'll bring Ludis Gladiatorus again; there's talk of running the game with 54 mm figures as a show game, which I hope to develop further.

See yer soon,

Neil

19th July Games

Somewhat reduced attendance this week; Steve S ran a Star Wars Legion training game for Andy P, while I set up a Space Hulk game for Mark and Alan as the only other members present. The Deathwing were tasked with searching for missing Techmarines, with a view to recovery if still alive. I ran the genestealers, who had limited reinforcements each move but no upper limit. Mark and Alan did the Sons of the Lion proud this time, suffering about 30% casualties in the two squads, but bumping off 'stealers left, right and centre and granting their Techmarine brethren an honourable death as they had both been infected with xeno toxins.

Next week it was hoped to run the AWI game previously planned, but there are no tables available in the main hall due to pre-planned gaming events. I've booked two tables in the bar area as an alternative site for the game, but on reflection and discussion with Dave K, it might be best to postpone the AWI game a further week and settle for board games instead. I can run Space Hulk again, but would welcome any other suggestions.

See yer soon,

Neil    

12th July Games

We had two possible new members attend last night; Chris and John are both members of the local IPMS branch, who were recommended to contact me by Graham after they expressed an interest in becoming involved in wargaming as well. It turned out that John already knew Dave K, as they had worked together in the past. Chris had brought along some figures for the Dead Man's Hand Western gunfight game - Andy agreed to run a game for the pair as he is well versed in the rules, and they apparently enjoyed themselves . The Steves, Mark, Dave K and I played BattleTech as arranged which was hard fought but no machines were destroyed (I survived undamaged for a change!). Elsewhere, Rob and Alan were playing Titanicus with rather larger models. Most impressive, but a tad more expensive........... 

Next week I'll run a Space Hulk game, clear Steve S has offered to run Star Wars: Legion to allow Andy to field his collection of figures for a first game.    

See yer soon,

Neil