Les limites de la Gloire?

 

Still catching up with reports of games past.  Here is a selection of photos from a game we had way back on December 1st last year.   I thought I may have lost them all in a hard drive crash a few months ago, but it turns out they survived.

A motley host of dour Germanic and hot-blooded Mediterranean types.

Rifles prepare to defend a bridge.

Russians sent to destabilize the Confederation.

I keep meaning to paint these bases!

The French guns didn't see as much action as they would have liked, mostly due to a lack of clear targets.

French shock cavalry.  This was to be their best day to date.

Poor (i.e. nonexistent) scenario design;  Allied cavalry placed in an unintended cul-de-sac.

Giovanni passes on advice based on his extensive tactical acumen to a newcomer.  This would have taken all of ten seconds...

The Fickle Finger of Fate: "You there, go see what's on the other side of that hedge!"

"Maneuver be damned- straight at 'em, mes braves!"

Horse, Foot & Guns

"Traffic is expected to be heavy on the main roads this weekend, so plan accordingly"

The ultimate target-rich environment.

Gen. Sparre was to lead his brigade of Cuirassiers and Lancers to great glory this day!

An exposed flank!

Redcoat purée.  The KGL is mercilessly ridden down.

Never were the French so happy to have won the initiative roll at the beginning of the turn!

Pressure takes its toll; "Sauve qui peut!"

Sharpie gets a taste of what he so richly deserves.

A sudden and dramatic decrease in local property values.

On the French left, things were very much going their way.

KGL Hussars about to get skewered.

The world turned upside-down; my Dutch Guard Lancers, actually winning a melee for once!

And the 95th find out that they cannot evade faster than a horse can advance.

All in all, this had turned out to be a bad day for the Allied Rifles.

But the French cavalry were in a state of sublime ecstasy!

The action around the farmhouse was long and drawn out.

Command roll of 11.  Sada berates an insubordinate subordinate.

The centre still under dispute.  By now, we had run out of time and the game ended here.

As a game it certainly had eye candy galore.  But despite some moments of laughter and suspense, something was missing this time around.  It was evident that we were pushing the envelope for the size of game we could reasonably handle for a typical gaming day. 

Due to a number of factors the game was lacking in terms of challenge, in speed of play, and in any kind of a clear result.  Not what we had come to expect from Black Powder, a set of rules we are very happy using.

As time is increasingly becoming an issue with us all, we had fallen into the trap of showing up at the club, quickly unpacking all our toys and terrain, forming up the troops largely where we had plonked them down on the table, and then just getting stuck in with little regards to scenario design or to plausible victory conditions.

As a club we don't have the luxury of a permanent gaming table that can be left set up from one gaming day to the next.  And of course the greater the number of figures, the longer it takes to set up and then clear the table, leaving us with less time to actually play the game.  

It was just before 1:00 by the time we were ready to roll the first initiative dice, and we had to finish at 5:00 in order to leave enough time to pack everything away so that people could get home reasonably early on a Sunday night.  That meant only four hours of actual gaming- not nearly enough for a game this size.

The poorly thought-out terrain layout meant that there were too many "dead zones" on the table so that masses of troops ended up being funneled into what were pretty much unintended killing zones.  Not fun if you found yourself with cavalry stuck between a river and your own troops, well in range of enemy guns.

The result of all this was, bien sur, a bloodbath.  Any pretense of tactical finesse went straight out the window as the armies just lunged at the nearest enemy.  Damn, and we were all mere pounders after all, by God.

Think the first day of the Somme, revisited.  Or the crater at Petersburg.  A turkey shoot for both sides, albeit with some very well-dressed and colourful turkeys on the menu.

All this was no fault of the rules; I've never played any set of Horse-and-Musket rules that has played faster or as smoothly as does Black Powder.  But large games need planning, enough space for troops to maneuver and- above all- enough time to play them. This game lacked all three.

This was made worse by the fact that two of the players were new to the rules, and to Napoleonics.  Now this is no problem, we welcome new blood.  But aside from speeding up the game, it would have been easier for us grognards to teach, and for new players to learn, had the number of units involved been more manageable and the table less cluttered.

I need to stress that the game was by no means an unmitigated disaster.  It certainly had it's moments; in particular I cherished seeing our brigade of cuirassiers and lancers run down the Allied right flank.  But elsewhere on the table we did not see any really dramatic developments.  It was a battle of attrition, and such games are never so much fun for the participants.  

Unsurprisingly, by the time we had to pack everything up we had come to the conclusion that we needed to approach our games differently.  Our collections had reached a point where having us field everything we had on the gaming table just wasn't an option for your average pick-up game on a regular gaming day. 

In the past, particularly when we were starting off with Napoleonics some five years ago now, our games were by necessity small engagements; often with half-painted units while we waited for our collections to reach critical mass.  Yet they were no less entertaining for that, and indeed provided some wonderful wargaming experiences, as I have posted here and here.

Certainly Black Powder lends itself to smaller engagements just as well as it does larger ones.

Since this game, we have returned to our small game "roots", and have been having great fun.

Fans of gaming in the Grand Manner fear naught, we fully intend to put on large games in the future.  But they will not be undertaken lightly, and will have to be for those special occasions when the planets line up regarding table space and timing.

Delayed Dispatches from the Front

I haven't posted anything at all this year until now, so it is time to get caught up.  

For a start, I had some major computer issues that wasted a lot of my time over the last few months, and this was on top of the usual real life interventions that arise this time of the year, especially as the Japanese fiscal year comes to an end.  All told, this left me with neither the opportunity- nor the motivation- to spend a lot of time at a computer on hobby matters.

I will now endeavor to correct this deplorable oversight.  

First up, back in January this year I had the chance to attend a gaming convention held at the nearby US military base at Camp Zama (aptly named for historical gamers!).  Although the emphasis was on fantasy games and featured a well-attended Warhammer 40K tournament, it was a good opportunity for us to raise our profile and to meet other gamers, so the West Tokyo Wargamers decided to rent a van and were out in force for the event.

Games of a historical nature included Jomsvikings vs. Normans and then Saxons using Saga, a re-fight of Trafalgar using the Trafalgar rules from Warhammer Historical (RIP), some WW2 using Bolt Action, and a large 6mm AWI game played using our beloved Black Powder rules.

Here are some pictures.

 

"Come cheer up. my lads..."

 

"... 'tis to Glory we steer!"

Sada's magnificent collection of Langton 1:1200 scale ships.

Some AWI action. 

Continentals!

 Our fearless leader; Giovanni showing his usual gravitas and humility in the moment of victory.

The US forces know how to feed their troops!  Excellent hospitality and rations.

Damn good beer, too!

I spent my day at the Saga table, where in one game I managed to eviscerate a Viking leader; in the next, I successfully escorted a party of terrified clergy off the table while maiming a good number of Norsemen along the way.  Many thanks to Guillaume, one of our more recent members hailing from Nancy in France, for patiently- and with considerable good humour- walking me through the rules.

Quite a lot of fun on the day, but not much cross-pollination in evidence between the historical and Warhammer 40K camps.  Something we all need to work on.  Still, thanks to the guys at Camp Zama for an entertaining day of gaming.

******

In the last two months, the West Tokyo Wargamers had two quite excellent gaming days. The second was held just today and was a real blast.  But it will have to wait a bit, as I want to report them both in chronological order over the next week.  

For now, I'll just say that we have returned to playing smaller scenarios rather than just plopping everything we owned down on the table and letting fly at one another at close range.  The results have been very satisfying so far, and I look forward to a more thorough write-up of both games, giving details of the scenarios- with, of course, lots of pictures!

Deploy Skirmishers!

Just a quick post to promote the new year's painting challenge at La Bricole, our small (but friendly!) forum dedicated to Napoleonic wargaming.  

The theme this time is light infantry or cavalry of any description, in any size and scale and in any numbers from vignette to brigades, depending on your productivity and ambition!

So if you have any eligible unit lying around unloved and unpainted, now could be a good time to get it down and to share your success with others!

More information can be found here.

Newcomers always welcome. Deadline for completed entries is February 10th, 2014.

 

Krushing the Kaiserliks

Or, Waxing the Whitecoats...

No update since August, since I haven't had the opportunity to play in any games- at least here in Tokyo.

It's been an eventful few months.  I took a few weeks off to visit Vancouver in late September.  Not strictly for holiday, and I was on my own as I was there largely on some personal business (which has also been keeping me busy since my return).  

To make matters worse, the very evening before I left we had to take one of our cats to the vet as he had been ailing.  Turns out he had advanced lymphatic cancer, and held on just long enough to pass away at home with us the day after I came back.   

My wife and I were shocked and devastated- we both were really fond of the old boy.  He was very much my wife's cat, as I had bought him for her as a present twelve years ago when we lived in Iwate, but the loss was felt keenly by the both of us.  He was a very gentle, huge softy, as are most American Shorthairs.  And after twelve years with us he had truly become a part of the family. 

So we did what all committed cat-aholics would do- we got a new one just this past weekend.  Another American Shorthair, this one a ten-month old kitten.  He has grey and black markings actually very reminiscent of the mottled pattern seen on Luftwaffe fighters during WW2. 

But my suggestion that we call him Hermann fell on deaf ears, so we settled on Kumazo instead. 

This one clearly scored high on the adorability table when rolling up his character.  And being an energetic and outgoing little chap, he is keeping us pleasantly busy!

Anyway what with business abroad, pets, new contracts at work, and assorted other demands on my time, there simply hasn't been much room for me to think upon gaming these past couple of months.  

*****

Nevertheless, I did manage a game in with Dave Smith, Walt and the rest of the North Shore Gamers while I was in the Great White North, and Napoleonics at that.  And I have the pictures to prove it!

The game was held in Walt's basement, and Walt and Anne are always great hosts- this general cannot complain of not being well-fed on the eve of battle!

The game scenario was based on a rather well-known action fought somewhere in Belgium and which involved Allied troops on one side defending a ridge, and the French attacking them from across the valley.  At either end in the centre of the field were two farmsteads; one large, one small.  Sounds familiar?  Only in this case, it was the Austrians defending. 

I was, mais naturellement, to be commanding a division of French. The game was in its second day, and one of the French players from the previous week's game was unable to make it.  So we assumed that he had fallen on the field of glory, and that I was to leap nonchalantly into the saddle and lead the troops on to la victoire. 

Rules used were Shako II by Arty Conliffe, Chris Leach, and Dave Waxtel.  Chris Leach is one of the leading lights in the Vancouver and Lower Mainland gaming scene, and in fact had been the original owner of most of the Austrians on the table.  These are now part of Walt's collection IIRC.

Walt also had these fine buildings for us to fight over.

The French had taken shot and shell in their advance towards the ridge, and I would be going in with some battered and bruised troops.

It would be fun taking on the Kaiserliks for a change- an army for which I've always had a sneaking regard.

Time for the "Old Trousers!"

Artillery hurled their hate at one another, as well as at the French columns, but nothing really decisive seemed to result.

Walls of White.  But would they stand?

It was interesting seeing the large skirmish stands used in Shako- they appealed to the modeller in me!  Most skirmishers were more conventionally based, and this seemed to work fine with the rules.

One thing that struck me after being used to using Black Powder was the more "strict" treatment of things like line of sight,  formations, and the like. Black Powder is much looser about such issues.

Both approaches have their pros and cons, and it really depends on how you like your Napoleonic rules to play- and for that matter on the attitudes of the people you game with.

The French assault was touch and go- the first wave was forced back. 

There was a mass of cuirassiers and light cavalry- chasseurs and hussars- on our left, but these didn't really achieve much beyond pinning some Grenzers.

But a second surge by the Boys in Blue knocked out enough Austrian units to push the line back, thus gaining the field- a French win! 

 

 

Break out the champagne boys, you may never see its like again...

 

Chagrined Austrian Commanders.  Here Dave can be seen in the foreground, at this stage in the game clearly regretting the availability of cheap flights from Tokyo to Vancouver. 

The game was fun, although I missed some of the uncertainty that comes from Black Powder what with its blunders and multiple moves.  

But having only had one evening's worth of play under my belt, I don't have enough experience with the rules to get a real feeling for how Shako plays, especially as I had not been there for the previous week's game when a lot of the action took place. 

Still, they seemed to do the job; we got a clear result, and there were a lot of units on the table.  Our games in Tokyo have fewer units, but we use larger number of figures which makes moving and deploying more of a challenge.  Different rather than better.  

But of course, having won the game left me with a warm feeling towards Shako II then and there; as regular visitors to this blog know, the Goddess of Victory has not been overly-biased towards the French in our games here in Tokyo.

Suffice to say I wouldn't mind giving Shako II another try one day.  And it is always a real pleasure to play with the North Shore Gamers- we go back a long way!
 

*****

Back in the Land of the Rising Sun, and this coming Sunday, November 17th, will see the West Tokyo Wargamers put on a Napoleonic game at a gaming convention across town in Funabori, way over in East Tokyo near Chiba. I hope to have a few new units for the event, plus some buildings I've been working on.  

Here's one: what all wargaming tables need, a monument to some local boy who made the big time in some way or another.  May come in useful as an objective marker.

The Funabori event is predominantly a board gaming convention, but it gives us a chance to "show the flag" for the growing miniatures gaming hobby here.  

Photos will follow. 

Sparring Partner

I've a week's vacation ahead of me, and as it far too hot and humid to spend much time outside, this means a golden opportunity to pull up my sleeves and to get down to some serious painting.  

So here is the first result, and should all go to plan this will be followed in a few days with a more substantial offering.

In our last game we realized the need for more brigade and division commanders.  This was more of a concern for the Anglo-Allied side, who found themselves having to elevate cavalry officers (or even pioneer figures of disgracefully low birth) to high command due to a shameful lack of appropriate miniatures.  

But even we French found ourselves scraping the barrel for adequate command figures, so I took the opportunity to tart up an old miniature I had converted many years ago, and put him on a command stand along with an unfortunate Russian jager who has given his all for Holy Mother Russia.

I usually go with fictional names with my generals, but this one represents an actual historical personage for once. Baron Louis Ernest Joseph de Sparre,  in the crimson facings of his regiment, the 5th Dragoons.  

Serving in Spain for much of the Napoleonic Wars, in 1814 he took his dragoon division back over the Pyrenees to serve his Emperor in the Campaign for France.  

After the disasters of the Russian campaign and Leipzig, experienced cavalry were in woefully short supply in the Grande Armée.  The arrival of Sparre's veteran dragoons made for a very welcome addition to what was by now a rapidly-shrinking French order of battle.

Sparre's dragoons were soon in the thick of things, seeing action against the advancing Allies under Blucher- hence the symbolic addition of the hapless Muscovite. 

You can read more about the gallant Baron here on the Histofig site.

This figure began life as a Front Rank French infantry officer in an overcoat.  The original was doffing a bicorne, but I cut off the bicorne-waving arm and gave him one from the spares box that was wielding a sword.  I then replaced with head with one I cannibalized from a dragoon which had been used in a previous conversion.  

After a bit of work with the epoxy putty to rebuild the collar and the new arm joint, I was very satisfied with how he turned out.  

I was a lot less happy with the shade of green I had originally painted his overcoat, which I realized later was much too bright and vivid.  So I gave it four or five thin coats of Games Workshop's Thraka Green wash.  

Not only did this bring the shading more to life, but it also gave the coat a deeper & darker tone, which I thought much closer to French dragoon green without being too dark for a 28mm miniature.  

The supine Russian is also a Front Rank figure, and I enjoyed painting him very much.  In fact, I'd love to get working on my Russians- trouble is we never seem to have enough French!

 

In this shot you can see the light blue armband worn by French brigade commanders.  This was also fashioned from epoxy putty. 

Now the only problem is that I find myself with a French General of Dragoons, but without actually having any dragoons for him to command!  Nevertheless, for the time being he will be equally capable of leading our lancers and chasseurs to victory until a more suitable commission comes along.