A review of mine on the Steam Fortress Victory RPG is up over at Steampunk Canada.
Steam Fortress Victory Review
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Thursday, May 24, 2012
CanGames Day 3 Part Three - DBA and Wrap Up
DBA Tournament
I was really looking forward to this tournament and I was not disappointed. There were 15 players altogether giving us a solid four games each. The tournament organizer, Tod, did his best to create reasonable match ups.
My first game saw me up against Macedonians. I managed some generally good match ups but the dice did not cooperate and the centre folded. Facing double ranked pike didn't help either. My second game was against Patrician Roman. This went as expected with fate tipping to the other side - but my opponent Ben is a very good player and definitely gave fate a hearty shove.
Game 3 against New Kingdom Egyptians went a bit better with the foot sloggers on both sides hanging out while the chariots got to it - again I came up short. Game 4 saw me against Ayyubid Egyptians. With three straight losses I was a little rattled, I allowed myself to be distracted by a kibbitzer and didn't put down enough terrain. I lost yet again.
Some of the other games
I have been holding off on this post for a while because frankly I was a little disappointed in my performance. I made a study of the rules, tried for good match ups, developed a set of contingency plans and still placed dead last. Ancient British has a reputation for not being the best tournament army but still I should have been able to pull off one victory. In the end, my scores were something like1:4, 3:4, 3:4, 2:2+General which frankly isn't that terrible a performance for my first big tournament. My one lasting regret is that I let the kibbitzer distract me in the last game. My opponent deserved my full attention.
So will I give up on Ancient Brits and get something more tournament effective? No - while a win would have been nice, just playing was the highlight of my weekend. When my boys do come out on top - I will relish it all the more.
Wrap Up
CanGames is a gamer's convention. Apart from the small vendor's area there is nothing to do but game. This appears to be by design or at least tradition. During my volunteer stint we did regular headcounts including people not at the gaming tables. One of the committee remarked that if people weren't gaming, what else were they doing? I also saw one couple cancel a couple of Sunday games on Saturday afternoon because they had been gaming since Friday opening and were burnt out. I am not sure if the venue is big enough to effectively offer other activities and the formula seems to have worked well for the last couple of decades. It is certainly very well run with no major problems left visible to the attendees.
Apart from the food situation mentioned earlier, my one complaint was the noise level. It is entirely due to the characteristics of the building and thus unavoidable but still I found it very difficult to hear even across a 2' table.
Would I go again? Without hesitation.
I was really looking forward to this tournament and I was not disappointed. There were 15 players altogether giving us a solid four games each. The tournament organizer, Tod, did his best to create reasonable match ups.
 | |
| Game 1 Ancient British vs Macedonians |
 | |
| Game 3 Ancient British vs New Kingdom Egyptian |
Some of the other games
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| Crunch! |
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| Burgundian Ordonnance vs some flashy eastern chariot army |
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| Burgundians again |
So will I give up on Ancient Brits and get something more tournament effective? No - while a win would have been nice, just playing was the highlight of my weekend. When my boys do come out on top - I will relish it all the more.
Wrap Up
CanGames is a gamer's convention. Apart from the small vendor's area there is nothing to do but game. This appears to be by design or at least tradition. During my volunteer stint we did regular headcounts including people not at the gaming tables. One of the committee remarked that if people weren't gaming, what else were they doing? I also saw one couple cancel a couple of Sunday games on Saturday afternoon because they had been gaming since Friday opening and were burnt out. I am not sure if the venue is big enough to effectively offer other activities and the formula seems to have worked well for the last couple of decades. It is certainly very well run with no major problems left visible to the attendees.
Apart from the food situation mentioned earlier, my one complaint was the noise level. It is entirely due to the characteristics of the building and thus unavoidable but still I found it very difficult to hear even across a 2' table.
Would I go again? Without hesitation.
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
CanGames Day 3 Part Two - Queenston Heights
On Saturday I decided to sign up for another game to replace the naval game I missed. Since this year is the anniversary of the War of 1812, I decided to go with a re-enactment of the Battle of Queenston heights using the Rockets Red Glare rules. We played in teams generally by committee until enough reinforcements arrived that we could each take a command. I stood on the wrong side of the table and was assigned to the American side.
If you see some similarity between this setup and the Dr. Who game posted earlier, it
is because they were run by the same person and I believe on the same
terrain using the same troops. The objective is to control the town and the gun emplacement on the high ground.
The Americans have superior numbers but have to land them in waves under the muzzle of a rather nasty gun in the redoubt on the first elevation. Our beach area was roughly from the base of the high ground elevation to the movement stick in the village. There was a gun on the hill and a rifle and a musket unit in the village. We decided that the gun was the biggest problem so went for that first.
The first wave consisted of a unit of regulars and a unit of Militia. We landed our regulars first and while we were able to shoot up the gun a fair bit, we were pushed back. The militia then went in and retreated in short order. While the regulars stood and took it and were chewed up for their efforts, the militia ran away preserving most of their strength.
We had been under harassing fire from Sharpe's younger brother and the Militia were proving decidedly ineffectual against the gun. We switched targets to the town. Above you can see the remnants of our regulars resting on the landing beach as the reasonably intact militia tries to clear the buildings.
This shot is from much later in the game. Both sides have received reinforcements including an American unit right next to the gun emplacement as part of a special deployment roll. Of course they took one look into that big black muzzle and hightailed into the wheat field upper left. Here they were able to occupy British reinforcements for the rest of the game. We have more troops in the town and are close to clearing it out.
At the whistle, we were a couple of turns short of the scenario limit but had got all our troops landed including a cannon. the town was cleared but not occupied but the British still held the high ground with fresh troops. So not exactly a success for the American side but better than the historical outcome.
The rules were not the ones the GM wanted to use initially and none of us was familiar with them. After reading them again there were many things we were doing wrong but since that was happening on both sides, it cancelled out. An enjoyable recreation of a famous Canadian battle.
Next section
 | ||||
| Board setup |
 | |
| The invasion goes in |
The Americans have superior numbers but have to land them in waves under the muzzle of a rather nasty gun in the redoubt on the first elevation. Our beach area was roughly from the base of the high ground elevation to the movement stick in the village. There was a gun on the hill and a rifle and a musket unit in the village. We decided that the gun was the biggest problem so went for that first.
 |
| The Assault goes in! |
 |
| Let's try the town instead. |
We had been under harassing fire from Sharpe's younger brother and the Militia were proving decidedly ineffectual against the gun. We switched targets to the town. Above you can see the remnants of our regulars resting on the landing beach as the reasonably intact militia tries to clear the buildings.
 |
| Reinforcements for all! |
At the whistle, we were a couple of turns short of the scenario limit but had got all our troops landed including a cannon. the town was cleared but not occupied but the British still held the high ground with fresh troops. So not exactly a success for the American side but better than the historical outcome.
The rules were not the ones the GM wanted to use initially and none of us was familiar with them. After reading them again there were many things we were doing wrong but since that was happening on both sides, it cancelled out. An enjoyable recreation of a famous Canadian battle.
Next section
CanGames Day 3 Part One the other games
Again there were a great number of participation games running on Sunday. I did a quick tour of the tables before I got stuck into my games. First up is a trio of Warhammer Fantasy shots. This game has a soft spot in my heart because I played a fair bit of second edition. I have yet to get sucked into the current cult.There was a tournament on bringing out a number of interesting armies.
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| Warhammer Fantasy |
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| Warhammer fantasy |
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| Warhammer Fantasy |
I was also able to grab a shot of the Phaser Lock game. Many nice looking ship models but none of my favourite, the classic Trek destroyer.
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| Phaser Lock |
Next Section
Sunday, May 20, 2012
CanGames Days 1 and 2
Day one for me - the Friday was something of a non-event as all I did was go and pick up my package. I did take a shot of the outside of the venue. Being a bit too clever, to save batteries, I used the viewfinder on the camera instead of the display screen and didn't notice the camera strap across the image.
CanGames is held in a down town curling club, with the main playing space on what is normally the ice surface - about 20x50 meters. This gives a large unobstructed playing area but also means there is no sound absorption so it can get very noisy. There are about 37 tables in the main area for the most part each hosting one game. For larger tournaments, tables can be combined or multiple sets of tables used. There is a small dealers area in the back and board game and RPG areas in the off-ice club section of the venue. A big plus is that the site is licensed - beer at the gaming table! (I only saw a very small number of people partaking though.)
Day 2, Saturday began with a walk around the dealers area. It was small with the majority of the space taken up by a local comic book/game store. There were some interesting things on offer but the prices could be wildly variable. For example a copy of Panzer Blitz was on sale for $15 at one booth and for $45 at the booth next door. I nearly came away with some 20mm WWII Japanese but forced myself to be good and stuck to my plan to buy some more 15mm Ancient Brits. The convention price wasn't any better than retail but I saved shipping. The bring and buy had some good deals and also some very "hopeful" prices. From one bring and buy, I picked up a 1/72 kit for VSF conversion and might grab a couple of 1/32 kits today for the same purpose.
My brief shopping trip over, I went to do my stint behind the awards desk. I will not go into detail on the next five hours I spent filling out certificates, assembling trophies and filling in stats. The end of my shift does highlight one interesting event. The food. The curling club provides on-site food services as well as the bar mentioned earlier. They also strictly enforced a no outside food policy. I can't really disagree with this as it allows them to pull in some extra money and provide a service to the convention goers as well. All well and good if the average war gamer had the same spending habits as a curling club member. A very basic hamburger with French fries was $11 and a hot dog with fries was $7.50. In the neighbourhood are a couple of pizza places and some of the best Vietnamese and Chinese food east of British Columbia. For contrast a bowl of Pho (Vietnamese noodle soup) big enough to feed any war gamer for day or a small village for a week can be had for about $6. The uptake on the curling club offerings was minimal. Towards the end of the day, the prices had been dropped twice down to a much more reasonable $3.50 for a burger and $1.50 per hot dog with fries extra. Being especially cheap, I left the venue and supped on my home made lasagne in a serene curbside environment.
I chose to do the right thing and asked about the photo policy - no faces in frame without permission. As a result, I wound up shooting many tables with terrain but no players. This is a tiny small sample of the participation games that ran on Saturday.
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| Heavy Gear |
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| 28mm Sci-Fi Rules unknown |
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| Another 28mm Sci-Fi - rules unknown |
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| Fields of Glory |
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| Computer moderated WWII |
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| Dr. Who 1812 |
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| Dr. Who 1812 |
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| Saga - Normans vs Scots |
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| My valiant troops - about turn 4. |
I made more than a few errors including putting saga dice on abilities I couldn't use but on the whole I think I did fairly well taking out a good chunk of the Norman mounted on my wing and still having a strong force on the board at game end. A great experience I intend to repeat as often as possible. In the end the two youngsters did the best decimating the Scots forces on their flank. A great performance that bodes well for the future of war gaming. The young man gallantly gave the trophy to his co-warlord.
That's it for Day 2. Today - Day 3 is 1812 and DBA!
Friday, May 18, 2012
A slight interjection Space 1889 Yahoo Group
A new Yahoo group has just been started for the RAFM Space 1889 line of miniatures. If you are a fan of big skirmish, drop in and join the rest of us.
CanGames Day 0
Operating since 1977, Cangames is one of the longest running conventions in Canada and I suspect North America. For the first time in 30 years (you do the math - it has been a while), I simultaneously have the time and money and interest to be able to attend. Unlike the British and European conventions I have heard so much about, Cangames is almost purely comprised of participation games with a small vendor area at the back of the hall. It is spread over two and a half days and runs from 2 p.m. Friday afternoon with the last games ending at 11 p.m. on Sunday evening.
The schedule features approximately 180 games with the possibility of a few more being added to open tables. Each day is further broken down into five time slots to allow players to plan out their gaming weekend. Players have four options to play a specific game. For the nominal charge of $2.50, players can reserve a slot when they pre-register on-line, through a participating game store or via post. At the door, players can purchase game tokens at the registration desk for $3.00 then use a token to sign up for a slot on the game sheet at the tournament desk. The third option is to wait until 30 minutes before game start when the sign up sheets are placed out in the sign up area for free to all sign up. I am told that the press of gamers to get at these sheets resembles gladiatorial combat. Each sheet has a cut off for number of players but extras can sign up as alternates. Finally, each game master has a small orange traffic cone they can place on their table to indicate they have slots open to walk by traffic.
After perusing the schedule, I settled on three games. The first was the Sunday DBA tournament - my first outside of a small club event, the second was the Saturday evening Saga game - I am excited because I have heard so many good things about this system and the third was a 1/2400 coastal forces game on Saturday day because I like the period. With a lot of extra time to spend and not a lot of spare cash to drop in the dealer's room, I thought I might as well volunteer and see the event from the other side. Each volunteer shift is 5 hours long and can be used to count toward the weekend's admission fees or toward the mandatory volunteer hours (yes that is an oxymoron) high school students have to perform to graduate. I will be assembling trophies, printing certificates and handing these out to the lucky winners. Unfortunately due to an oversight on my part or a last minute schedule change, my shift conflicts with the coastal game. Slightly annoying, but not the end of the world.
Last night was spent setting up tables and taking the needed of training (No WHS warnings about the glue guns though). For some reason the amount of lifting done seemed to be proportional to the age of the people doing it with the young 'uns standing around waiting for direction while the grey beards got stuck in. I have nothing on tonight other than picking up my badge on the way home from work. I will post updates and pictures as the event progresses.
Next section
The schedule features approximately 180 games with the possibility of a few more being added to open tables. Each day is further broken down into five time slots to allow players to plan out their gaming weekend. Players have four options to play a specific game. For the nominal charge of $2.50, players can reserve a slot when they pre-register on-line, through a participating game store or via post. At the door, players can purchase game tokens at the registration desk for $3.00 then use a token to sign up for a slot on the game sheet at the tournament desk. The third option is to wait until 30 minutes before game start when the sign up sheets are placed out in the sign up area for free to all sign up. I am told that the press of gamers to get at these sheets resembles gladiatorial combat. Each sheet has a cut off for number of players but extras can sign up as alternates. Finally, each game master has a small orange traffic cone they can place on their table to indicate they have slots open to walk by traffic.
After perusing the schedule, I settled on three games. The first was the Sunday DBA tournament - my first outside of a small club event, the second was the Saturday evening Saga game - I am excited because I have heard so many good things about this system and the third was a 1/2400 coastal forces game on Saturday day because I like the period. With a lot of extra time to spend and not a lot of spare cash to drop in the dealer's room, I thought I might as well volunteer and see the event from the other side. Each volunteer shift is 5 hours long and can be used to count toward the weekend's admission fees or toward the mandatory volunteer hours (yes that is an oxymoron) high school students have to perform to graduate. I will be assembling trophies, printing certificates and handing these out to the lucky winners. Unfortunately due to an oversight on my part or a last minute schedule change, my shift conflicts with the coastal game. Slightly annoying, but not the end of the world.
Last night was spent setting up tables and taking the needed of training (No WHS warnings about the glue guns though). For some reason the amount of lifting done seemed to be proportional to the age of the people doing it with the young 'uns standing around waiting for direction while the grey beards got stuck in. I have nothing on tonight other than picking up my badge on the way home from work. I will post updates and pictures as the event progresses.
Next section
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Magnesia in DBMM
The Soldados Viejos blog has post on an amazing game of DBMM they played a while back. I love DBA but 12 elements doesn't compare to the beautiful ranks on ranks of figures on this table.
SOLDADOS VIEJOS: MAGNESIA en DBMM
SOLDADOS VIEJOS: MAGNESIA en DBMM
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Show you mine
Bob Cordery over at Wargaming Miscellany has put out a show me your desktop challenge. Kris Kemp of Not Quite Mechanised has put up his. So, here is mine:
Lest you think I am some sort of minimalist highly organised person, here is a shot of my Chrome browser bar with no less than 23 pinned tabs:
Lest you think I am some sort of minimalist highly organised person, here is a shot of my Chrome browser bar with no less than 23 pinned tabs:
Monday, April 30, 2012
25mm Monorail
This past weekend I was able to make considerable progress on a number of projects. The subject of this particular post is a 25mm scale monorail inspired by the Patiala State Monorail Tramway.
Breaking out the razor saw, filler and epoxy putty results in this:
I am very happy with the gondola and flat car. Though the gondola is of metal and not wood construction, it has that toy like quality of its inspiration. Key to making these cars was realising that I am making what are effectively terrain pieces and not actual model trains. The wagons will not have functioning wheels underneath just alignment blocks to keep them on the rail. The wheels on the original scale out to 1/16" radius and are not visible from most angles. I am not entirely happy with the passenger car as it is a little too short for 25mm figures to fit in without bending down their heads. Not very comfortable for my pewter passengers. I will keep it for the moment with the intent of replacing it in the future. I might plate over the windows to turn it into an armoured troop car with firing slits.
Also in shot is the Cyclops in its draisine configuration with the rear wheel well faired over with epoxy. To its left is the remains of an HO locomotive power bogie. This will be reassembled to go under the Cyclops. The actual Patiala locomotive drive wheels can't be seen easily, but that look didn't really work here so I went with something beefier. As of this writing, the epoxy hadn't hardened up (cold in the garage where I do my work) so further conversion is pending.
The wheels are spares from the Cyclops kit propped up against the wagons to test the look. When I started this project, I thought that more prototypical wagon wheels would be easily available from the Dollar Store. I went to three different stores thinking I could pick up a couple of cheap plastic farm wagons or stagecoaches but no luck. Cow herding and farming being out of fashion with today's youth apparently. I have written RAFM with a request to get some of their artillery wheels for the project as well as more Cyclops wheels for a VSF/Steampunk Saladin armoured car.
Track laying and ballasting up. I stuck the track down with contact cement. Unexpectedly, the glue failed in shear when I was trimming the rail ends so the track needed to be re-glued and pinned. This is not an issue with normal flex track as it has holes in the ties for nails - holes that I had trimmed away earlier. The ballast itself is some very fine sand and dirt I have lying around as I am toocheap frugal to go buy real ballast. It is wetted down with wet water - water with a couple of drops of soap to break the surface tension - then flooded with dilute PVA medium. The effect was not quite what I was looking for but I will live with it for now (which beats scraping it all off).
The result. There is a lot more work to do especially with the road way. I am going to make up a card form with the road profile cut out to shape the road a little more cleanly before sticking everything down.
To date this is one of those projects that gets better as you go along but will probably not do again.
More to come.
Rolling Stock
As mentioned in a previous post, my first inspiration was the RAFM Cyclops land wheeler converted to an armoured draisine as used on European Railways in the 20's and earlier. I had some ideas on this but also needed some regular rolling stock. Digging around the bits box - or bits shelf in my case I came across these cheap HO (1/87) scale north American prototype cars. I bought them and other assorted bits for a couple of dollars at a yard sale. At 25mm (1/64), they are very close to the 6' width used on the Patiala.
Breaking out the razor saw, filler and epoxy putty results in this:
I am very happy with the gondola and flat car. Though the gondola is of metal and not wood construction, it has that toy like quality of its inspiration. Key to making these cars was realising that I am making what are effectively terrain pieces and not actual model trains. The wagons will not have functioning wheels underneath just alignment blocks to keep them on the rail. The wheels on the original scale out to 1/16" radius and are not visible from most angles. I am not entirely happy with the passenger car as it is a little too short for 25mm figures to fit in without bending down their heads. Not very comfortable for my pewter passengers. I will keep it for the moment with the intent of replacing it in the future. I might plate over the windows to turn it into an armoured troop car with firing slits.
Also in shot is the Cyclops in its draisine configuration with the rear wheel well faired over with epoxy. To its left is the remains of an HO locomotive power bogie. This will be reassembled to go under the Cyclops. The actual Patiala locomotive drive wheels can't be seen easily, but that look didn't really work here so I went with something beefier. As of this writing, the epoxy hadn't hardened up (cold in the garage where I do my work) so further conversion is pending.
A proof of concept shot:
The wheels are spares from the Cyclops kit propped up against the wagons to test the look. When I started this project, I thought that more prototypical wagon wheels would be easily available from the Dollar Store. I went to three different stores thinking I could pick up a couple of cheap plastic farm wagons or stagecoaches but no luck. Cow herding and farming being out of fashion with today's youth apparently. I have written RAFM with a request to get some of their artillery wheels for the project as well as more Cyclops wheels for a VSF/Steampunk Saladin armoured car.
Trackwork
In the shot below is some HO/OO set track that also came with the loco and rolling stock. I measured the amount of tie projecting out from edge of the two rail track, set that as the offset on my scroll saw and ran the sections through. There was a little bounce from the blade action that gave a raggety look to the ties that fits in with hurriedly and cheaply laid rail. A band saw would give a smoother cut. I did not use the set track as I have a box of flex track to play with that gives longer continuous runs and tighter radius curves.
The next shot is the MDF combined railway roadbed and road way with the track line and road edge marked in. These are of course wrong as I discovered once I thought about it. The monorail is "handed" in that the track runs along the left hand edge of the adjoining road. This means that on a right hand curve, the supporting wheel is on the inside edge but on a left hand curve it is on the outside so the radii and placement of the track and road need to be adjusted accordingly. The widths and offsets were calculated from the prototype and the curves are designed so that a 90o curve fits within a 12"x12" block.
Track laying and ballasting up. I stuck the track down with contact cement. Unexpectedly, the glue failed in shear when I was trimming the rail ends so the track needed to be re-glued and pinned. This is not an issue with normal flex track as it has holes in the ties for nails - holes that I had trimmed away earlier. The ballast itself is some very fine sand and dirt I have lying around as I am too
The result. There is a lot more work to do especially with the road way. I am going to make up a card form with the road profile cut out to shape the road a little more cleanly before sticking everything down.
To date this is one of those projects that gets better as you go along but will probably not do again.
More to come.
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
The good and the bad.
The Easter weekend found me laid low with a nasty cold putting paid to a whole series of projects. It was so bad, I had to take a nap during the family D&D game. One of the projects put on hold was a steampunk monorail based on an RAFM Cyclops blended with an early 20th century armoured draisine. More to follow on that one.
The good news is some overtime came through so I was finally able (read coerced) to buy a storage cabinet for all my miniatures that have been cluttering up the hall way (why my wife objected I don't know). I went with a portable tool chest from Canadian Tire that rolls and splits into three separate boxes. The drawer unit was very quickly lined with magnetic tape and is now a safe and comfy home for some of my troops.
With the rest, I bought a contingent of hill martian cavalry and a contingent of hill martian infantry to back up my canal martian troops. With all the hardware the Brits have, the martians are going to need all the help they can get.
The good news is some overtime came through so I was finally able (read coerced) to buy a storage cabinet for all my miniatures that have been cluttering up the hall way (why my wife objected I don't know). I went with a portable tool chest from Canadian Tire that rolls and splits into three separate boxes. The drawer unit was very quickly lined with magnetic tape and is now a safe and comfy home for some of my troops.
With the rest, I bought a contingent of hill martian cavalry and a contingent of hill martian infantry to back up my canal martian troops. With all the hardware the Brits have, the martians are going to need all the help they can get.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Cyclopean delights
A while back I mentioned that RAFM had made a limited run of their 25mm Cyclops tri-wheels . I received mine a while back. Below are a few comments on the build so far.
The parts:
The parts:
The vehicle body is a soft cast resin with the wheels, boiler top, smokestacks and small cannon in cast metal. The body has a wonderful rough texture that gives a much nicer effect than flat plate would. The ventilation grid in particular had lots of crisp relief. This is the first resin cast I have worked with and I found it quite soft and easy to clean up. The boiler casting is clean and well detailed with rivets and re-enforcing bands. The smokestacks and gun were very basic and the stacks a bit rough in places. They do the job but I expect to replace them on future builds. The wheels however are works of art. Cleanly cast with no flash minimal mould lines and loaded with detail. I may try seeing if I can commission a run for other projects.
I had to heat the garage up beyond our sub-zero temperatures to undercoat with my usual grey automotive primer. Drying took a long while and there was some bubbling on one model - entirely my fault. For the first version, I decided to go stock, pretty much following the colour scheme on the website:
There is more dry brushing to do and more detailing possible but I am quite pleased with the results. The next version will have a Martian dazzle scheme, tactical signs and perhaps some additional armament. The creative possibilities of this great little kit cannot be understated.
As for the rest of my Martian forces - I am not that great a figure painter so here is an arms length look:
Yes - Lovecraft has put in an appearance stage centre.
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Best Laid Plans IV - Or UPS the Pirates in Brown
The latest update on my troubles with UPS. The package was refused and to be returned to the shipper. I received a distraught email from him saying that UPS wanted to charged him $55 in U.S. customs and related fees to re-import the package back into the States. Note that the package never cleared Canada Customs so in terms of tariffs, effectively never left the US. We have agreed that I will accept the package just so the minis don't wind up in the trash or some UPS employees pocket but of course UPS still wants to charge me for the privilege of delivering the package entirely on their terms. More to follow.
Friday, February 24, 2012
Best Laid Plans III
Well it seems that even these can go astray. The good news that the cyclopeans arrived and pretty little things they are too. So did the flying Martians - and ugly brutes they are. The bad news is that the Brits and Gashants I found such a good deal on were shipped UPS . Despite all the trumpeting about Free Trade and Open Borders our politicians engage in, items crossing the border from the U.S. into Canada are still subject to tax and duty. This is not a problem except that UPS decides what it wants to charge you for the privilege of acting as your customs broker. On a $50 order that cost $25 to ship, that amounts to $40. Here's the kicker - the duty payable on model soldiers is - 0%. Ok so how about collecting the taxes - and surely there is some handling required? The same package shipped by regular parcel post would incur at most $7.50 in tax and the post office's "let us be your customs agent" fee is $8.50 for a total of $16 - less than half of the UPS price.
Needless to say they are on their way back.
Grrrr
Needless to say they are on their way back.
Grrrr
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Enemies of Rome DBA Campaign
This weekend marked the first game day of the Ottawa Miniature Gamers 2012 Enemies of Rome campaign. This is my first ever DBA tournament and my first long term tournament in any system. Each turn represents a year of 3 campaign seasons - each with one battle per pair of players. We start with a strategic map laying out the various major cities of the world of Late Republican / Early Imperial Rome and their transport interconnections. The map is also populated by various support armies loyal to a specific side.
Since we have six players, we used a simple dice roll to decide which side attacks for each of three possible battles. For each attack that side specifies an enemy location it can reach from a city it owns then adds in 3 element support contingents from adjacent supporting armies as available and desired. The defender then adds in any support contingents they wish to use and it is off to the games table to play out the battle.
Attacker and defender both can use what armies they wish from their side but on the terrain of the actual area where the battle takes place. This results in interesting things like Celts in the desert and Pikes figuring out swamp wading tactics One notable point is that support contingents do not increase the break point of the army. Further, they only come on on a roll of 6 on their pip die. Once the battle is complete, any support contingents on the losing side dice for survival depending on the win-loss ratio of the battle. Once a contingent is used, it is spent for the year and cannot be used again. Dead contingents can be replaced at recruiting centres in the non-campaign season. Movement across water of the main army or supporting contingent can incur shipping losses depending on season and a die roll.
Unfortunately I had the tail end of the flu on game day so I am a little weak on some of the details. Following the advice of the original Purple Primer, I decided to stick with British as my main army and also - perhaps foolishly - used Ancient Brits for my supports as well.
Battle 1
I took a fairly standard army into the deserts of North Africa with 2xPs, 2xLh, 6xWb and a LCh General with another to keep him company. In support I took 3xLCh that due to their point of origin, would come in on my left board edge. Opposing me Duncan had some eastern army with at least one Nellie, some pikes and a mass of cavalry. Duncan had rolled poorly on the ocean crossing and had a core of 7 bases - The game was almost won! The first turn or two was spent with me moving my Wb into a rough patch and both of us jockeying our horses about as I tried to line up the Lh with the elephant. About turn 3, Duncan got his support contingent roll and moved a group of Cv onto the my left side of the board from his baseline. Turn 4 I got my roll and thinking like a Celt entered my LCh on the left as well to hit Duncan's support in the flank and end the game.
As it turned out - it didn't work out quite that way. I was unable to shake the chariots out of column into line fast enough and wound up losing all three including one recoiled off the board edge. Meanwhile at board centre, my Lh spattered off the El with some assistance from Duncan's core Cv. Four units lost and game over. Lesson Learned: Don't fight with your weakest arm against your opponent's strongest and make sure you have enough room to maneuver.
Battle 2
Let's just get this over with quickly please? I forget the opposing army though it doesn't really matter other than it was foot heavy. I advanced my Wb (in two ranks to get the +1) across the board even using the extra move to contact because I was just that confident my boys would break through. After all my general was supporting them from the second rank. That's right the second rank. With their general cheering them on from behind, in goes the first Wb with a +1 from his C in C - and loses taking the C in C with him. I lost my general + more game over thanks to utter stupidity on my part. This match was over so quickly, we reset and went at it again. Same setup but with my general in front. I steam rollered my opponent.
Battle 3
This time I was up against Nick and his Marian Romans. I had two supports for this match up both from my base edge and I went Wb heavy with just the obligatory pair of Lh to ward off the opposing horsies.. Pips were ok and we stomped across the board towards each other. Nick did some fancy wheeling about that I was able to match but which allowed him to chose the moment of contact. Decision time found me two deep for the +1 but overlapped and facing Bd with Ps support. The first combat saw my overlapped boys go down under the Roman pila shower but the second pair stuck, removing the overlap and setting up the Romans to go down under a flurry of quick kills. At this point Nick decided to roll 6's lots and lots of 6's. Do you remember the scene in Gladiator where Maximus is galumphing through the Spanish wheat field? Well Nick was wearing Russel Crowe's sandals and my poor boys in blue body paint were the wheat stalks getting stomped under rusty Roman hobnails. Four dead end of game.
Oh those two support contingents I mentioned earlier? Over 4 or 5 turns, neither rolled a six to get on the board.
Aftermath
My fellow barbarians fared a little better winning two games and preventing our total humiliation. We retreated to lick our wounds and ponder how best to use the services of a minor Thracian slave currently in chains deep in the heart of enemy territory - Spartacus.....
A good learning experience even with the embarrassment of my stupid error the second game.
Since we have six players, we used a simple dice roll to decide which side attacks for each of three possible battles. For each attack that side specifies an enemy location it can reach from a city it owns then adds in 3 element support contingents from adjacent supporting armies as available and desired. The defender then adds in any support contingents they wish to use and it is off to the games table to play out the battle.
Attacker and defender both can use what armies they wish from their side but on the terrain of the actual area where the battle takes place. This results in interesting things like Celts in the desert and Pikes figuring out swamp wading tactics One notable point is that support contingents do not increase the break point of the army. Further, they only come on on a roll of 6 on their pip die. Once the battle is complete, any support contingents on the losing side dice for survival depending on the win-loss ratio of the battle. Once a contingent is used, it is spent for the year and cannot be used again. Dead contingents can be replaced at recruiting centres in the non-campaign season. Movement across water of the main army or supporting contingent can incur shipping losses depending on season and a die roll.
Unfortunately I had the tail end of the flu on game day so I am a little weak on some of the details. Following the advice of the original Purple Primer, I decided to stick with British as my main army and also - perhaps foolishly - used Ancient Brits for my supports as well.
Battle 1
I took a fairly standard army into the deserts of North Africa with 2xPs, 2xLh, 6xWb and a LCh General with another to keep him company. In support I took 3xLCh that due to their point of origin, would come in on my left board edge. Opposing me Duncan had some eastern army with at least one Nellie, some pikes and a mass of cavalry. Duncan had rolled poorly on the ocean crossing and had a core of 7 bases - The game was almost won! The first turn or two was spent with me moving my Wb into a rough patch and both of us jockeying our horses about as I tried to line up the Lh with the elephant. About turn 3, Duncan got his support contingent roll and moved a group of Cv onto the my left side of the board from his baseline. Turn 4 I got my roll and thinking like a Celt entered my LCh on the left as well to hit Duncan's support in the flank and end the game.
As it turned out - it didn't work out quite that way. I was unable to shake the chariots out of column into line fast enough and wound up losing all three including one recoiled off the board edge. Meanwhile at board centre, my Lh spattered off the El with some assistance from Duncan's core Cv. Four units lost and game over. Lesson Learned: Don't fight with your weakest arm against your opponent's strongest and make sure you have enough room to maneuver.
Battle 2
Let's just get this over with quickly please? I forget the opposing army though it doesn't really matter other than it was foot heavy. I advanced my Wb (in two ranks to get the +1) across the board even using the extra move to contact because I was just that confident my boys would break through. After all my general was supporting them from the second rank. That's right the second rank. With their general cheering them on from behind, in goes the first Wb with a +1 from his C in C - and loses taking the C in C with him. I lost my general + more game over thanks to utter stupidity on my part. This match was over so quickly, we reset and went at it again. Same setup but with my general in front. I steam rollered my opponent.
Battle 3
This time I was up against Nick and his Marian Romans. I had two supports for this match up both from my base edge and I went Wb heavy with just the obligatory pair of Lh to ward off the opposing horsies.. Pips were ok and we stomped across the board towards each other. Nick did some fancy wheeling about that I was able to match but which allowed him to chose the moment of contact. Decision time found me two deep for the +1 but overlapped and facing Bd with Ps support. The first combat saw my overlapped boys go down under the Roman pila shower but the second pair stuck, removing the overlap and setting up the Romans to go down under a flurry of quick kills. At this point Nick decided to roll 6's lots and lots of 6's. Do you remember the scene in Gladiator where Maximus is galumphing through the Spanish wheat field? Well Nick was wearing Russel Crowe's sandals and my poor boys in blue body paint were the wheat stalks getting stomped under rusty Roman hobnails. Four dead end of game.
Oh those two support contingents I mentioned earlier? Over 4 or 5 turns, neither rolled a six to get on the board.
Aftermath
My fellow barbarians fared a little better winning two games and preventing our total humiliation. We retreated to lick our wounds and ponder how best to use the services of a minor Thracian slave currently in chains deep in the heart of enemy territory - Spartacus.....
A good learning experience even with the embarrassment of my stupid error the second game.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Best Laid Plans II - Recruitment underway.
I placed my order for two Cyclopeans and a unit of flying Martians. Scenario possibilities are roiling around my head including a flying ambush on a Cyclops escorted column. Now - back to finishing up that cuff lace.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Best laid plans.....
Well so much for my purchasing plans. I have a line on some very inexpensive British mounted and foot and Gashants - and - RAFM has put the Cyclops land wheeler back in production! I will be getting a pair of the Cyclops and may pad out the order with a unit of flying martians.
Image below from the Members Area of the RAFM Forums British figures are true 25mm, the Martian is roughly 30mm.
Image below from the Members Area of the RAFM Forums British figures are true 25mm, the Martian is roughly 30mm.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
2012 Purchasing Plans
Unfortunately Santa was not looking at the list provided and while many nice things were received for Xmas, lead was not one of them.
With Space 1889 rebooting into 15mm, I am left in a bit of a hard place. The status of the 25mm line is unknown yet I have enough miniatures in hand to feel committed to sticking with 25mm. Further, while I do most of my wargaming in 15mm and 6mm, role playing is still done with 25mm. Practically, I have to plot out what I need and get that before it disappears.
So from RAFM:
I have enough 15mm Celts to field several DBA armies or around 200 points in DBMM so I would have to say I am done with 15mm ancients for the foreseeable future. As mentioned in a previous post, Marc and I have been playing DBA with 6mm figures on 25mm bases - very nice looking. I have a DBAs worth of Alexandrians waiting to be painted and based but I would like a third army for some variation. I am thinking of Libyans as covering both books one and two and because they are dead cheap. Two strips per base so about 5 pounds sterling or about 15 bucks with shipping for DBA army. Since I might be able to drop in on Baccus directly when we go to England in the Fall, I may let that purchase wait.
So planned purchases of around $100 an entirely achievable goal I think.
With Space 1889 rebooting into 15mm, I am left in a bit of a hard place. The status of the 25mm line is unknown yet I have enough miniatures in hand to feel committed to sticking with 25mm. Further, while I do most of my wargaming in 15mm and 6mm, role playing is still done with 25mm. Practically, I have to plot out what I need and get that before it disappears.
So from RAFM:
- Two 20 figure bands of Hill Martians @ $30 each = $60
- One 20 figure band of High Martians @ $20 = $20
I have enough 15mm Celts to field several DBA armies or around 200 points in DBMM so I would have to say I am done with 15mm ancients for the foreseeable future. As mentioned in a previous post, Marc and I have been playing DBA with 6mm figures on 25mm bases - very nice looking. I have a DBAs worth of Alexandrians waiting to be painted and based but I would like a third army for some variation. I am thinking of Libyans as covering both books one and two and because they are dead cheap. Two strips per base so about 5 pounds sterling or about 15 bucks with shipping for DBA army. Since I might be able to drop in on Baccus directly when we go to England in the Fall, I may let that purchase wait.
So planned purchases of around $100 an entirely achievable goal I think.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
DBA3
Over the Christmas week I got in a couple of DBA3 games with Marc. I took my new 6mm on 25mm basing Romans against his Thracians. A few of first impressions. The new quasi-random terrain generation removes a lot of cheese. No more setting symmetric terrain that suits you no matter how your opponent rotates it. The new move rates get you into the fight much faster. They aren't really any different from DBMM but on the small DBA table you won't be manoeuvring much. As a result of this, both games were under 20 mins. Blades following up was a little odd. This is another carry over from DBMM where irregular blades follow up but regulars - like my Marians, do not. I am not sure how I feel about this but at the moment it doesn't feel right.
I won both but only because I was able to tempt the Thracians out of the bad going. An enjoyable pair of games.
I won both but only because I was able to tempt the Thracians out of the bad going. An enjoyable pair of games.
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