Merry Christmas to the Table-Top Gaming Society and all wargamers (and all you regular people) everywhere!
Don't forget those who sacrificed so we can be where we are.  Raise a glass to 'em!

Image: Dec 7th 1918 Saturday Evening Post
"WW1 Santa" by J.C Leyendecker

Lion Rampant Big Battle

 On Saturday the club put on a "Big Battle" version of Lion Rampant.  3 players per side.  Each team rolled an average die for the total number of activation failures that were allowed before the turn was over.  As you can probably figure out, this led to much discussion about who was letting down the side!

Here is a mix of Perry's, Fire Forge, and Games Workshop figures.

 New Mike brought some fantastic Old school Citadel figures from way back when.....

While the Warhammer Empire Flagellants standing in as fierce foot, received the absolution they desired.... as they were all brutally killed.

The B'ha Loni Campaign - first battles

We have been at this thing for 4 turns now and this was the initial battle.  It took place between the US and the Ottomans at the disputed mine in hex 30.03 way to the north.  The US got there first with a few units and claimed it.  The Ottomans felt it was on their territory and came to take it back.  After a week siege, where there was much beheading of prisoners and hurling of pork products, the Americans had a chance to send a relief column.  The rules we used were Fields of Honor on company level.

 

 

 

 



In the end, the relief column was repulsed and the remaining US defenders held out grimly.  No prisoners were taken.  Needless to say, a state of war now exists between the US and the Ottomans, spanning the northernmost reaches of B'ha Loni.

 

 

Wargame Bloggers Quarterly V2 I1

Thought I would mention that Wargame Bloggers Quarterly, which is an awesome free e-zine, can be found here:

https://goo.gl/2r54RQ

and here:  https://www.facebook.com/WargameBloggersQuarterly

They are now out with Vol 2 Issue 1 for August 2015.  Yeah, I'm two months late.

2mm Ancients Game Report using Triumph! rules

Triumph! is a new rule set from the Washington Grand Company for fast-play ancient wargaming.  For those of you familiar with DBA, it is very similar.  I have read comparisons between it and DBA 2.2+, which was a fan-made extension of original DBA.  They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery...so, it has that going for it.

There are many different troop types so you don't  have that problem where your New Kingdom swordsmen are exactly the same as Roman Legionaries are the same as Viking Axemen.  Which is good.  Cavalry has gotten a boost with new troop types including "Bad Horse", which this author thinks describe Roman Equites quite nicely.

TRIUMPH! has a points system, so gone are the limitations of 12 stands per army.  This alone may make some DBA-haters come in from the cold. It also has a big battle system available for free online.  There are also some special rules and a card system where a card can be played to set off a one time special rule.  You can probably ignore the cards if you want.  Dismountables and special support situations for certain army lists are allowed.  Overall there is more flavor and chrome than you get with vanilla DBA, and I think it is worth a look.

Today's game was Polybian (Republican) Roman vs Carthaginian.

This is presented using 2mm figures from Irregular Miniatures UK.  They are based in DBA standard 40mm frontage.  If you are limited in space and budget - and have good eyes - this is a scale that can give you a real battlefield feel.

Republican Romans.  Triari at the rear.

Carthaginians.  Elephants at center.  The line of stands in the background is spearmen (heavy infantry) representing Libyans or other mercenaries.

Carthage Deployment.  An MU is 1/2 a base width.  All board measurement is done in MUs.

Closeup of 2mm scale Elephants with escort. Okay so you laugh.  "There so tiny"!  "Ed, you're an idiot!"  "You Fool! Stop before you ruin miniature wargaming for all time!"
Yeah, shut up.  I like them.

Romans deploy with skirmishers front.

The battle is joined.  Carthage decides to push the elephants, escorted by skirmishers in the center, with a double rank of warriors (Mercenary Gauls) with the Light infantry (Punic militia) on the far right.  The Romans managed to march past the rough ground so they would not have to fight in it where they would be -2 to their die roll.

Carthage cavalry takes the far left flank.

Three stands of Carthaginian Heavy Infantry make up the reserve.

 In the end, the Romans were able to fight the elephants to a standstill.  Roman Elite Heavy Infantry (Triari) eventually crushed the right flank of the Carthaginians.  By the time the Carthage Heavy Infantry reserve got in to the fight, they put up a good showing, but it was too late.  Having lost 5 stands to the Roman's 2, it was over.

Renaissance in 28mm

It has been my understanding for some time that the figures made for GW's Warhammer Fantasy Empire army are very similar to early Renaissance historically.  Other than the obvious fantasy elements, the regular troops and cavalry mirror the kind of troops seen in the late 1400's and early 1500s in the war in Italy.  Since I seem to have quite a few figures from my old Warhammer days, I decided to put them together and play a modified version of WHFB.

Above, the initial set up.

 I added rules for skirmishers, dense formation pikes, modified the weapon ranges and charge distances.  The skirmishing was particularly interesting as there turned out to be quite a bit of "petite guerre" going on.

 Below, pike and accompanying Shotte.

 Bowmen and skirmishing arquebus.

Below, skirmishers and arquebus try to get advantage in a field of crops.

It seemed to go well, of course the figures look very nice.  I have glued small magnets to the bottom of the usual GW bases and cut sheet metal trays or strips to stick them on.
A few days after the battle, I got my hands on a copy of Warlord Games Pike & Shotte rules.  I like them and I think they may come across as similar yet simpler.  There is no figure removal in P&S which is appealing.  More to come.