AN ALONG COMES THE 44TH

 

With this year being the 250th Anniversary of the start of the American War of Independance I have been running a lot of Rebels and Patriots. With my old gaming buddy having moved to the Great White North, (Damn Torry!), I can no longer count on his forces to supplement mine, so I have begun painting the 44th Regiment of Foot. I chose them because first I really like the yellow on a red uniform. I also picked them because of their history. First being part of Braddock's Expedition where they lost half their number, fighting out the rest of the war at Ticonderoga, Fort Niagra, and finally Montreal. Then returning after a stay in Irland, to Boston in 1775 and fighting at Brooklyn, White Plains, Danbury, Brandywine, Germantown, and Monmouth Court House. A very busy carrier in North America. They even made it back to fight in the War of 1812 including New Orleans. The Second Battalion even managed to be at Quatre Bras, and Waterloo. 

When completed they will have three Line Companies, the Grenadier and the Light Company.  

The Light Company

The First of the Line C Company. 

Once this batch of British is complete, I will switch over to Continental Line in their red, white and blue uniforms. Following that in no particular order will come Continental Lights, Continental Rifle, artillery for both sides and a full native war party. 

At present I can field enough troops for a six-player game, which eventually will grow to a twelve-player version.  

WHEN ENGLISHMEN BECAME AMERICANS

I ran a Rebels and Patriots game the other day with Colonias Vs Crown Forces. This matched a rowdy bunch of New York Militia against British Line and Lights. As this was a meeting engagement the only real task was to drive the opponent from the field. With mostly new players we got in nearly ten turns before the end, in just a couple of hours. 

The British Advancing to Cover the Center. The Colonials are Spread Out to Utilize Their Numbers. 

A View from the Opposite Flank. The British Seem to have Lost Their Focus about Concentrating and are Starting to Fan Out to Their Left. The blue tokens indicate units with First Fire available. 

The Large Hill on the Left is Drawing Troops in From Both Sides like Moths to a Flame. British Lights are Close to the Crest, as the Colonial Line is Moving Up from the Opposite Side. 

A Wider View of the Battle. The Lights have Suffered a Devastating First Shot. Meanwhile, the Colonials have Grown as Another Militia Unit has Joined the Fight. Double 6s, followed by another 6.

A Closer View of the Colonial Left as Their Skirmishers Top the Smaller Hill. Stoically the Other British Lights Advance to Hold the British Right Flank. 

With the Lights Driven Off the British Line Advance to Take Their Place. As can be Seen They are Already Suffering from the Withering Colonial Fire. 

On the Opposite Flank the Colonials Advantage in Numbers can Clearly be Seen. Shooting Here was Seeing Both Sides Fairing More Evenly. 

Back on the Left the Lead British Line has Been Driven Off, with the Colonials Having Hardly Suffered. It was at this point I check their dice to see if they only had 5s and 6s on them. 

Things are Going from Bad to Worse for the British. The Three Red Markers are All the Remains of Another British Line Unit. Over Half the Colonials have Yet to Fire a Shot.  

Battles End with Over Half the Crown Forces Having Been Lost. They Make a Better Retreat than the Lads Heading Back to Boston from Lexington and Concord. 

It is hard to believe that these were points that slightly favored the British. The Colonials had lower Discipline, and all were rated as Timid, but the Crown Forces never got close enough to melee. Numbers and equal firepower proved the deciding factor. All right, so did some incredibly hot dice rolling. As one sided as the fight was everyone enjoyed themselves and we shall be seeing more of these rules throughout the year. 

THE HYBORIA, PUNIC WARS PROJECT Part 1

Carthage Vs Rome

After what feels like forever, I finally have the 1st Roman Legion ready. This took so much more time for all the standard first-time painting issues like picking colors, learning the best sequence to paint them in, understanding what would need detailing and what could be simplified, and all the rest of those things. Then came the decals. On the other figures these take a short time to prepare and put on, but with the Romans it got complicated. First, Warlord only supplies eight of the Laurels instead of ten, which is the figure count. If I wanted them all the same on a Legion, and I do, I had to find some more. As Warlord does not sell these individually, I had to find someone that had these and was willing to part with them. Fortunately, I know a guy. It just so happened that the only person I know who is painting these had not used the Laurels and sent me his extras. Next was applying them. They come as a left and right side, so need to be lined up to look natural. I can usually get decals on ten figures in about fifteen minutes, but these took me a full hour. Ugh!!! Enough about that. The key question is was it worth it?

1st Legion Without Decals. 

1st Legion with Decals. 

The answer is a big YES!!! Here are closer, and better shots of the figures. 

Hastati and Principes (L&R)

Velites and Triarii 

Like with my other units these are all two stands, so that's sixty figures in those battle units. The opening picture shows you the units backs, with the Hastati in contact and the Principes in support. The next wave of figures is already started, with Spanish, Celts, the 2nd Legion and a number of horses already started. I'm not sure what will make it off the paint cue first, as I let my muse lead where it may, just so long as something is making progress. 

COLD WAR GONE HOT 1950s STYLE

Onward to Berlin

This was a massive Clash of Steel game. Call it Team Yankee Light since its only focus is on armor. My memory is there were close to one hundred tanks on the field. The goal was for the US to cross the board in force. I'm not sure what the number for "in force" meant, but by games end there were enough burning wrecks to build an aircraft carrier from the scrap. 

US Forces Enter the Table and Immediately Come Under Attack from a Soviet Flanking Force.  

The US Advancing Force Coming Under Fire. Only One Tank Bailed Out. 

On Turn One, The Flanking Soviets are Already in Control of an Objective. This is Crucial as Objectives are Scored Every Turn. 

The Blocking Force Soviets are Having a Poor Day, but not to Worry. There are Around Fifty More Tanks Backing These Up. 

The US Sends its Second Group to Deal with the Flanking Soviets. A Number of the Soviets are Burning, but Yup, there are Plenty More Soviets on the Way. 

Advancing Up the Road is Slow Because of the Need to Keep Killing Soviets. 

It's Not All Going the US Way as the Soviets Begin Knocking Out Tanks. More Importantly They are Still Controlling a Key Objective and Racking Up Points. 

At Just After the Midway Point in the Game and While the Soviets are Losing Lots of Armor There is Still Plenty Remaining. More Importantly They are Ahead on Victory Points at About a Two-to-One Ration. 

While This Looks Like a Lot of Burning Soviets, it is Still Less than Half. More Importantly What Remains is Their Best Armor. They are Also Keeping the US Away from the Objectives. 

A Few More Dead on Both Sides, but Still the Soviets Hang On to the Objective. The Points are Now Close to Three-to-One in the Soviet Favor. 

At This Point the US Advancing Force has About Had It. The Soviets are Now Advancing to Flank the US Tanks Still Fighting the Original Soviet Flanking Force. 

Game End and While There are Plenty of Burning Soviets There are Plenty More Advancing. Just Before the Game Ended the US Finally Finished Off the Soviets Flanking Force. I Lost Track of the Points, but the Soviets Were Ahead Three or Four to One. 

An overwhelming Soviet victory. It was the group's first time playing the rules, and especially the victory point scoring. The Soviet players did everything right, advancing at the double across the short side of the board to grab a two-point objective, taking loses as they advanced up the center to grab a single point objective, and entering on the flank that both slowed down the US advance, but critically captured another two-point objective. The US for its part only held two one-point objectives, so while the kill ratio was in the US favor the points, and therefore victory, were all on the Soviet side. 

I did enjoy myself as there is something to be said about just fighting tanks, but I do prefer combined arms in all my gaming. That said you can see my massed armor for this game in the first post of the blog, so...

OFF TO GERMANY AND THE 30 YEARS WAR

This Saturday we got together to play Repent or Die, that are an interesting rule set that uses opposed dice rolling as its core combat mechanic. The battle saw the Imperial forces fighting a combined Protestant army. Most of the Protestants were Mercenaries which had a high quality to take a licking and keep going, but once they started running were hard to recover. The Imperial force was a high quality and included a single Tercio. These were similar to the Mercenaries in ability to take it but could dish it out a bit better. In theory they were better at sticking around, but in practice they did not seem better at that. 

As the Protestant left wing cavalry commander I looked across the way were the Imperials had better numbers and better quality and felt my best chance to protect the central pike and shot forces was to hold back and let them come to us. The idea being it would give our infantry more time to cross the field and get into battle with their opposite number. After a bit of sorting out my defensive position of getting my infantry into position to halt a flanking attack the cavalry finally got stuck in. While quality had an advantage, it was not as great as I expected, and luck was on my side. I drove off the first wave, recovered, then bashed up the second wave. I did well enough to even break the entire right Imperial cavalry wing. On the opposite flank our cavalry was not doing as well, but was still hanging in. By games end our infantry finally got into it and we came away about even. We had a moral victory as we did defeat the Tercio. We called it a tie with both sides rather bloodied. 

The game system as a whole was rather new to me. The battles felt like they gave historical results. Shooting has an effect, but most units could recover from it quickly. If you could concentrate fire with either artillery and a pike and shot unit, or two infantry units the damage could be telling enough to give you the edge in melee. Once in melee things got really interesting. You keep fighting until one side is driven off. This leads to a lot of pushing back and forth and deterioration of both sides. Eventually one side either rolls really bad, or both sides are so broken that gaining a slight edge gets you the win. If you are fortunate to drive off an opponent early, then you can pursue into the next enemy and start the whole thing again. My experience was after two of these my units were done for a while and needed time to recover. Before they had recovered if they were hit by anything they were likely gone. 

Overall, we enjoyed these rules and will revisit them again, and soon, I hope. 

Here are some pictures from the day that others took. Captions are basics as I was only able to focus on my own fighting. 

 

View from Behind the Imperial Lines. The Tercio is in the Top Center. 

Protestant Left Flank. They are on the Left, Imperials to the Right. 

Protestant Left Flank Close Up. On the Left are Two Imperial Cuirassier Ganging Up on a Single Swedish Galloper. 

Overhead View from Behind the Protestant Line. 

Protestant Left Preparing to Meet the Imperial Attack. 

Battlefield Center from Behind the Protestant Line.

Protestant Left Again. 

Overall View of the Later Part of the Battle. 

The Start of the Infantry Fight. The Big Infantry Block on the Left is the Tercio. 

Protestants Trying to Contain the Imperial Infantry Breakthrough. 

A Closer View of the Above Fight. 

Finally, a big thanks to Steve Mc for hosting the game and providing all the figures and terrain. 

WELCOME DOG WARS FANS

 For all of you discovering this from my Dog Wars blog, Welcome. For those of you in the know of this blog, then check out the link below to find out about the Dog Wars. If you are finding this another way, congratulations and welcome. 

Now Stop Reading this and get on to the other posts. 

Dog Wars - Alternative Seven Years War

http://dogwars7yw.blogspot.com

SOARING TO NEW HEIGHTS - LEVIATHANS: THE GREAT WAR

Italians Vs Germans 1914

 It has been a long wait, but finally Leviathans: The Great War Kickstarter is getting ready to ship. An alternative WWI era where flying warships dominate the skies of the world. The original game released in 2012 to great success and was set in 1910. This saw only British and French Air Fleets battling, while the new version has added German, Italian and Russians to the war. Combat is a unique die system using a set of color coded polyhedrals with Green 4 sided, Blue 6 sided, Yellow 8 sided, Red 10 sided and Black 12 sided all using D12 dice. Weapons are guns and aerial torpedoes, with an occasional ram attack as well. A key feature is unlike most sequenced movement systems where you get conga lines with the best ships holding back to the end to move, this uses the bigger you are the sooner you move in the turn. This plays out with first side A moving its Battleships, followed by side B's Battleships, then A's Battlecruisers, B's Battlecruisers, followed by Cruisers and finally Destroyers. This means lumbering Battleships that are bristling with firepower are vulnerable to smaller faster moving ships that can pick where they want to engage from. The games are fleet action in nature with a typical force of a single Battleship and/or Battlecruiser with an escort of around 3-5 Cruisers and Destroyers. The models come assembled and pre-painted so are game ready right out of the box. To say I am a fan is an understatement. 

I am going to let the pictures do the rest of the talking. 

Italian Destroyer and Prussian Cruiser out of the box.

Prussian Destroyer After I Have Added a Simple Wash. 

Italian Cruiser Again After a Wash.  

British Battleship Again with the Same Wash Treatment. 

The Same Three Ships Shown Together for Scale Comparison. 

The game comes as a Starter Box with rules, boards, dice and a set mix of Destroyers. The add-ons are Fleet Pack of a single Nations Battleship, Cruiser and Destroyers and Ship Packs of each Class of Ship separately. Each ship comes with two versions with different configurations and the cards in the Fleet Packs are different from the cards in the Individual Packs. 

A Game in Action. The Price of Reckless Behavior as an Italian Cruiser Used Its Speed to Get into the Middle of the German and British Fleet.