25mm Mongol vs. Samurai Playtesting AAR

I play tested my 25mm Mongol Conquest house rules named Storm in the East today.  I ran my 25mm Mongol army against a mounted Japanese samurai force with samurai archer infantry.  I was able to shoot up Don Cox's Japanese samurai with my light Mongol archers.  We then got engaged in hand to hand combat.  I was able to whittle down his infantry force.  But Don routed my Mongol infantry off the board.  The game went 8 Turns.  I had a small reserve of Mongol heavy cavalry I was able to shoot up Don's remaining samurai infantry.  But the Japanese held.  What units that routed were able to rally.  I lost two Mongol light cavalry units in close combat with the Japanese.  I also lost my bolt thrower when Japanese cavalry overran my position.  What killed me was my Army Morale roles.  I kept rolling 1's when I wanted the game to end.  On Turn 8, Don rolled a 1 for army morale, while I rolled a 12 and failed army morale for my remaining units.  At that point, we called the game. 

Here are some photos from today's play testing:

                                          Initial Deployment.  Photo 1.

                                          25mm Light Mongol Cavalry

                                          28mm Japanese Samurai from Perry Miniatures.

                                          25mm Light Mongol Cavalry from Old Glory Miniatures.

                                          Battle on the right flank of the army.

                                          Don Cox moving his 28mm samurai to deal with my Mongols.

                      What's left on my Mongol light cavalry and the pile of Japanese dead behind them.

15mm SYW Game, 15FEB13: AAR

Well, the dice gods weren't kind to me last week.  I played Don Cox in a game of Koenigs Krieg 2nd edition rules.  I had the British and Hanoverians.  Don had the Austrians.  It was a hypothetical engagement between two former allies.  I engaged my cavalry against his.  My cavalry flanks routed.  Don's Austrian cavalry pursued.  I attempted to form square.  Don's Austrian artillery and cavalry attacked.  I repulsed an Austrian cuirassier brigade.  At the end of turn 4, Don rolled a 2 and I rolled a 6 for Army Morale.  I lost and fell off the field while the Austrians stood firm.  Such are the fortunes of war.

Here are some photos from the Koenigs Krieg Game that was played at Game Nite on Friday afternoon, Feb. 15th:

                                         15mm SYW Austrians.

                                          The advancing armies.

                                          Austrians taking their time moving.

                                          Everything before the big crunch.

                                          The Austrian anvel swings on my British line.

                                          End of Turn 4, collapse of British Army Morale.

Progress on my 28mm 1870 Prussian Infantry

I completed 1 battalion of 28mm 1870 Prussian infantry this weekend.  There are only five more battalions to finish!  If I get one done a weekend, I should be done by the end of March.  I also have 25mm European buildings to paint.  This is for a local gaming convention in June 2013.  I'll have to finish up the rest of the 28mm 1870 Bavarians, 1870 Turcos, and 1870 French Zouaves by August 2013.  I'll then run a large divisional game of Chassepot & Needlegun in October 2013.

I spent the evening typing up my future figure purchases and painting schedule.  I'm now of the opinion I list what I have to paint and I then cross it off when I complete it.  It keeps me honest.  I get things painted as I get around to them.  This 28mm Franco-Prussian project is taking longer than I anticipated.  But I'm devoting more of my free time to writing and editing.  Painting has taken a backstage to the weekends.  Now, I have committed myself to more projects.  Namely 15mm FOW Battlefront. 

Instead of planning my painting projects for the next two years, it's spread out to five years!  The 28mm FPW armies will get done this summer.  What remains of my 30mm WH40K armies will take the rest of 2013.  My 25mm Trojan War armies will be for 2014.   I have 15mm FOW British Paras and Waffen SS along with 28mm Vietnam for 2015.  Then to be followed by a massive 20mm 1914 Western Front project starting 2016.  I won't be able to start in time for the 100th anniversary of WWI.  But I'll eventually be able to play it using No-Man's-Land, my 20mm WWI house rules. 

I also have some 28mm Darkest Africa Masai and 25mm Korean Turtle ship to assemble and paint, too.  That will complete my colonial armies for a while.  I could lament the fact I'd like to get a 15mm SYW Prussian army.  But my friends don't want hear me moan about painting another 15mmm force...

Backlogged reading list for 2013

I wanted to start something new.  I wanted to deplug from electronic media on Saturdays and catch up on my reading.  I did that last night.  However, I finally broke down and checked my emails.  I did get some reading done.  I started a book called SS Intelligence.  It's a history of the SD.  That was the SS intelligence service during the Second World War.  I also read about 100 pages in Fear To Tread by James Swallow.  It's a 40K Horus Heresy novel about the Blood Angels.  It's now getting interesting.  I've been reading it off and on for several months...

Part of my problem is setting aside time for reading each week.  Unplugging allows time to actually read.  Here is a list of books I want to get to this year:

The Long Sun Series by Gene Wolfe - 5 book sci-fi series.
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
She is Darkness:  A Black Company Novel by Glen Cook
The Blood Angels Omnibus by James Swallow
Semper Fi Vietnam:  From Da Nang to the DMZ Marine Corps Campaigns, 1965-1975 by Edward F. Murphy
New Dawn:  The Battles for Fallujah by Richard S. Lowry
The Eyes of the Eagle:  F Company LRPs in Vietnam, 1968 by Gary A. Linderer
Yanks:  The Epic Story of the American Army in World War I by John S.D. Eisenhower

As I get these books read, I'll post book reviews online.  I don't know how fast all this will go.  I guessing all this will take the rest of the year and part of next year to finish.  Afterward, I want to buy an E-reader.  I'm running out of room to store my books.  Going electronic makes sense.  It's just finding the right type of tablet computer for my needs.  I shouldn't buy anymore books until I get my backlog of reading materials sorted and read.  However, I do need to pick up a copy of Force on Force and Flames of War at some point this year.  Those are for future gaming projects in 2014...

Discovering Flames of War and other things...

I played Flames of War with Joe Collins (Sapper Joe), Steve Hood (Combat Colors), and Curtis Turner (Hostile Contact) last weekend at Wargamers Cave in Granite City, IL.  It's basically WH40K for WWII.  I am not a fan of the Second World War.  But the FOW rules are easy to learn.  I like them.  I broke down and want to Waffen SS vs. British Paras for 1944 Holland.  The FOW games Steve runs are scenario driven.  My games will also be scenario driven.  I'm not interested in doing tournament games.  There are other things I'd like to focus on.  15mm late WWII is not one of them. 

I am interested in getting a company of Waffen SS along with a Company of British Paras and support weapons for each side.  I had the old Avalon Hill "Storm over Arnhem" game.  I was also a sucker for "A Bridge Too Far".  I thought about late war Eastern Front.  That is evil vs. evil.  I can't really cheer for either side.  If I'm going to game war-criminals, let me do Hitler's SS.  It's like playing Chaos in WH40K.  You know you're evil.  You're supposed to revel in it.  I find little redeeming features in people like Felix Steiner or Joachim Peiper.  They served as the elite body-guards of a fascist regime who tried to conquer Europe and the Middle East.  The German war machine spread untold destruction and death throughout the Continent. 

Likewise, I'm not going to glorify the Allies when WWII could have prevented numerous times.  There was no need to fight it if Russia, France, and Britain had showed some spine at Munich in 1938 and prevented Germany from invading Czechoslovakia or Poland in 1939.  That said.  The war was fought to prevent the world from sliding into another dark age of tyranny.  In that sense, it was a crusade for freedom.  But it was made with a tacit understanding Soviet Russia would get Eastern Europe after the war.  Central Europe had to wait another fifty years before it could truly be free.  Churchill and Roosevelt made a deal with the Devil when they allied with Stalin, the biggest mass murderer in modern history. 

I'm not fond of the Americans.  And I didn't feel like painting up lots of Russians.  So I went with British Paras.  As you can notice, I have definite feelings about WWII.  It's something I game.  But I thought I wouldn't collect anything for it.  I'm much safer playing Cardassians vs. Klingons.  That fight with Don Cox went downhill today.  My Cardassian Galor Cruiser got torpedoed twice.  I lost most of my systems on critical system rolls.  To add insult to injure, my ship got blown to pieces before I could get off the board (I'd lost most of my batteries, shields, warp drive, and conventional drives when I finally exploded).  That was the result of my recent Star Trek Full Thrust game today... 

Gaming conventions here in St. Louis for 2013

I thought I'd mention a number of gaming conventions here in St. Louis, MO for 2013. 

The first gaming convention I'll be involved with is Die Con 13/Big Muddy's Barracks Battle Weekend.  That is June 21-23, 2013 at the Gateway Convention Center in Collinsville, IL.  More info is available at http://diecon.com/D13/

Big Muddy will be running its spring Convention at Die Con 13/Barracks Battles.  They are looking for any miniature gaming events to be run at the Con.  I'm putting on a 28mm Franco-Prussian War Game:  Battle of Woerth - August 6, 1870 using Chassepot and Needlegun.  I'll also be running a 28mm First Boer War:  Battle of Lang's Nek - December 22, 1880 using The Sword and The Flame. 

A preliminary events list will be out later (probably in April to attend.  Besides Big Muddy's Barracks Battles, Jon Bancroft is also looking for other wargamers, boardgamers, CCG's, and even LARPer's.  If you'd be interested in running an event or scenario for him, please contact him through the Die Con 13 website.

The next gaming related convention in St. Louis is Archon 37 on October 4-6, 2012 at the Gateway Convention Center in Collinsville, IL.  I promised Jon Bancroft I'd finally show up this year and running a WH40K game for him.  It's been a long time since I've been to Archon, so I don't know about what's being run besides Full Thrust and Battle Tech.  There usually RPG's and CCG's, too.  Gaming usually takes second place to the other stuff that goes on at Archon.  But I do know gaming will be there.  The website is http://www.archonstl.org/37/index.php

The other two gaming conventions that take place are August Spearhead and Command Con in November.  Both those events are sponsored by Big Muddy Historical Gaming Alliance. 

August Spearhead was held last year in August 2012 at Game Nite on Watson Rd. in St. Louis, MO.  It's a one day mini-con with two gaming sessions.  Command Con is held in mid-November.  I don't know where it will be held this year.  That is TBD.  Command Con is a three gaming convention.  Last year I ran a 28mm Zulu War game and a 28mm Imjin 1592 game between Japanese samurai and the Royal Korean army.  I'm not sure what I'll run this year.

As soon as I get more info, I'll post it online.  If you're in town any of the weekends I'd mentioned, then please show up and I'll look forward to gaming with you.