Hurrah ! a game played, in fact two thanks to L'Art De La Guerre

Actually managed a figure game today at Stephens using LADG as we had little preparation time and Dice Demon in the groove with rules after outing at Munster last weekend and to christen a new mat he bought.

I brought two armies (one big plus for LADG is quick set up and playing time) Minoans and Sassanid Persian.
First game was Minoans against Hittites the second Sassanid against Late Roman.

Two quick playing and fun games as ever (despite my losing both as per usual) and good to see that we had pretty much got rules correct which is not always a given when we only play each other.

Combat Commander takes the field again

Been a bloody awful month for wargaming overall (roll on retirement in July !) but managed a set of three games of Combat Commander tonight with my Dad.
The scenarios were from a set of WBC 2009 Tournament games.
First up saw my Dad with Germans as usual in Normandy against Yanks.
A narrow win for the Germans as Sudden Death saw game end with 2 German VPs mainly due to relentless Time triggers.
Second game had some Elite Ivans against his Nazis in Germany 1945 with Fascists hampered by a 2 Action hand.
Judicious (and somewhat lucky) use of Smoke Grenades saw Ivan Assault units thump into a building defended with Bunkers with Satchel Charges and Flamethrowers chewing up SS and lesser defenders for an easy Russian win.
Last game had French in 1940 facing Teds again.
Bloody French hand discard of one is very frustrating and the Germans were able to pick of a key VP location early on and again a quick march to Sudden Death roll saw them win.
Great stuff with a great game.

I also took plunge on latest iteration of the Combat Commander system
Great War Commander and look forward to its arrival despite the lack of British in initial release !!!

Wild Blue Yonder again

Another session with WBY with my Dad.

First up I had early Spitfire MkIIv ersus early ME109e with Spits winning 3 of 5.
Next it was ME109G up against my YAK5 with ME winning 2 of 2
Then I used La5 against the ME109G with Ivan planes winning 2 vs 1

Great fast play little card game

Wild Blue Yonder first try

Managed first gaming session of new year at last !
Game of Wild Blue Yonder with my Dad, well to be exact several dogfights played
Nice to have two separate but identical Action Decks as probably main change from older Down In Flames games.
However my deck seemed to throw out a stream of useless cards whilst my Dads Luftwaffe had a bottomless pit and of Aces, Engine hits (fatal to single engine fighters), Fuel Tank hits (more auto destruction) and even Out Of The Sun cards with 4 hits !
The FW190A was a beast with extra bursts and a potent Wingman (3 offence and defence rating) downing Spitfires, Yak 3s, P38s and P47s in quick succession.
This is big plus to this game the quick fire dogfights and variety of aircraft.
We must try one of the new enhanced Campaigns

Ramillies re-done this time with Field Of Battle

Re-fight of Ramillies again today with Le Duc again but this time with 'the one true set' Field Of Battle.
And what a difference a much more fluent and exciting game helped of course by our familiarity with rules.
Game so much faster playing and yet with so much narrative built in as attacks ebb and flow with crushing charges along with ignominious versions !

Le Duc took the Allies today and I (should that be moi ?) the French.
Inevitable cavalry clash on my right wing (Thatcherites as I termed them) saw me gain upper hand but unable to exploit as Dutch foot shot up some Horse.
In my center (the Libtards) Duc De Villeroi was killed very early on reducing me to a D8 Command roll.
He did manage to pass around Ramillies as Le Duc drew back his Dutch foot as my mounted force threatened.
On my right (yes you guessed it the Corbynites) I was trying to advance across the river but was hampered by failing move rolls.

On both sides there was a steady drain of casualties from artillery fire and I suffered greatly on left as Corbynites rashly advanced as Le Duc had to go (ie taxi duty to perform for daughter) which saw my Morale Pool of 35 crumble.
Le Duc was surprised thinking such a fate was to befall him although he had 8 of 40 left.

Had toyed with trying couple optional rules regarding units offering each other support in Line but felt it was not worth effort as they tend to mutually support each other anyhow.
Only went with no oblique moves for Infantry and canister for guns only at point blank range (ie 1 base width or 2") also no movement for guns once deployed other than to rotate in place.
Also gave Allies a 'Special Infantry Firepower' card being an extra card that only Platoon firing Infantry could use (ie English and Dutch foot).
Only formations allowed are Line and March Column with Assault Column being restricted to attacking towns, fortifications or across bridges or similar

Marlborough was D12+1 with Superior deck whilst Villeroi was D10 (prior to death) with Average deck.
Bulk of units were C10 D6 with one or two Elite D8s and a couple of Guard units of D10

Great fun with such a super set of very slick rules and a fun way to see out the old year.





Central (Libtard) French command deployed at start

Right wing (Thatcherites) French horse

And French left wing (Corbynites) command

Early clash on right as Maison Du Roi ride down two Dutch horse units! alas they were later shot from saddles by flanking Dutch foot.

General view of initial Allied advance

Le Duc fearing his left was about to fold

Left wing later in game as French pour across stream

And move forward in center as Allies retire

Central command pushes on

Stand off on right (note Allied Infantry 'squared' to left from where they destroyed the Maison Du Roi)

Allied center

And Orkneys command of high quality English and those bloody guns

French pushing past their damaged horse

And left heads to its doom against English despite killing a unit of Elite horse

Die Fighting II - Ramillies in 10mm

Had set up battle of Ramillies 1706 for Field of Battle but Le Duc managed to come along on Saturday evening for a game and we fought the battle using Die Fighting II as Le Duc wished to see these in action.

An interesting set with some nice ideas and mechanisms but overall just a bit too much resource handling for our tastes making for a less dynamic and exciting game than with FOB with less of a narrative to proceedings.









Game in progress units are Brigade/Regiment equivalents (note ratings are for FOB)