A quiet winter of games

I've had a very slow and quiet winter hobby-wise. I didn't get any painting done for months and apart from visiting Kinkkucon 2017, didn't play anything either. That means there hasn't been much to write about to the blog either but I'll pick up the slack now that spring is here and things are picking up. There's a bunch of figures on my workbench and there's a game to prepare for in a month or so. Here's a few notes of the games I did play this winter for the blog archive:

Kinkkucon 2017:


I've looked forward to finding a reasonably priced copy of Up Front for a while now and bought one from Germany (The box art of Up Front has a prominent SS soldier with his insignia showing clearly. Isn't it illegal to own stuff like that in Germany?). I got to play a couple of test games in Kinkkucon and it feels like an interesting game, but I have to learn it a bit more first.

I played a game of Twilight Struggle. I've bought both the board game version and the PC game version of it. The PC version is a great way to learn the basics and get to know the deck a bit!

We resumed our Warhammer Quest lair of the orc lord campaign from a couple of years ago! We played the third deep and was all fine until there was an attack by suicidal rats which took out most of the party. The final survivor met his end at the hands of a random orc encounter. We also tried out the new card game version which really captures the essence of the game well in my opinion.

My "main game" for Kinkkucon was Germantown of the American Revolution series. Excellent stuff as always. The rebellious colonists suffered badly from command confusion but still gave the redcoats quite a fight. In the end the English managed to consolidate their line in a way that made it all but impossible for the Americans to reach their goal so we called the game a couple of turns early.

After Kinkkucon I didn't have any gaming activities until a last weekend when my friend invited me for a game of Modern Spearhead. It's a 90's ruleset with a grand tactical perspective. One model tank equals a platoon of AFV's, you have to pre-plan your attacks on paper and so on. We played a cold war scenario twice during the weekend. Quite an interesting system and I'm looking forward to playing it more. I have the WW2 version and I've also preordered the new edition of Blitzkrieg Commander. It'll be interesting to compare the two systems and see which scratches that WW2 microarmor itch I have best.

So, that's pretty much it. I suppose we all have those quiet times in our hobbies so I don't take any stress over it. The next big game will see us return to the Russo-Swedish War of 1808.

Kinkkucon 2015: Some Chain of Command and Here I Stand

I only had the opportunity to attend my local con, Kinkkucon for one day this year. Still, I got a couple of good games in. GMT's Here I Stand was the main event but I also umpired a demo game of Chain of Command for a couple of players. One of them was new to miniatures gaming so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a new convert! Here's the pics:

And a couple from the Here I Stand game. I played France and was badly mauled by the Hapsburgs and England. The pope won.

a game of Space Hulk

Here's the final game I played at this years' Kinkkucon. I hosted a game of Space Hulk third edition to two other players who shared the role of the Space Marines between them. Their mission was simply to move through the hulk with minimal casualties.

Opening setup. The Space Marines enter from the top center of the hulk and must move out through the corridor on the bottom center.

A Librarian leads the Marines into the hulk.

The Marines advance via three routes while the Genestealers launch initial, unsuccessful attacks.

The Genestealers make their first big push when the marines are at a junction and are gunned down.

The Thunder Hammer Marine faces overwhelming odds but is saved by the librarian's psychic powers.

On the Marines' right flank, the Lighting Claw Marine and the Assault Cannon Marine both defend against 'stealer attacks with great success.

Aided by clever placement of psychic barriers, the Marines reach the end of the hulk with zero losses!

Only the Thunder Hammer Marine acting as a rearguard fails to escape the Genestealers. A near flawless victory to the Marines!

The Marines performed way above expectations in this one. I launched wave after wave of attacks against them and very rarely got to roll for close combat. The marines just kept killing everything in their path. Oh well, they will still never, ever win the 1st edition CAT transport mission :)

Warhammer Quest campaign

We played Lair of the Orc Lord at Kinkkucon but unfortunately had time only for the first two deeps. The adventuring party is dispatched by dwarves into a dungeon crawling with orcs and goblins to reclaim a lost talisman..

Our adventurers: A barbarian, a bretonnian knight, a wizard and a warrior priest.

They start off easy with goblins..

..but the goblins bring bigger clubs!

They are ambushed by squigs and spider riders..

Slay an angry minotaur...

..and meet an orc shaman who runs away deeper into the dungeon.

Our adventurers enter the second level with confidence, but the danger grows!

They get stuck fighting an increasing number of orcs and Black orcs..

Fight across a chasm of fire..

And meet the shaman again! This time the orc summons a monstrous troll to fight our heroes! The appearance of several more greenskins in the middle of the fight make this a tough one, but the adventurers defeat the monsters and enter the third and final level. That's another story however, and we are yet to see it play out.

ASL Pegasus Bridge scenario 1 and campaign start

I had the opportunity to play some ASL at this year's Kinkkucon. The scenario was PB1 from the Pegasus Bridge Historical Module. The module has scenarios and a campaign detailing the glider landing near the Caen canal bridge and the fighting that ensues. If you are unfamiliar on this famous D-Day action, check it out at Wikipedia.

The scenario we played starts at the very beginning. British troops land near the bridge on gliders and proceed to take the bridge from the poor-quality German troops guarding it under the cover of darkness. This was the first time we have used the glider landing rules, but more importantly, we have never played the night rules before. The glider rules are quite easy and you only have to do them at the beginning (and we still managed to make a mistake with them), but the night rules are much more comprehensive and dramatically change the way the game plays out. Not only is visibility limited, but units on the move might stray off course, get spooked and fire when they're not supposed to, or in the case of defenders, are not easy to get to move at all. Also, the rules concerning gunflashes, starshells and such are somewhat detailed. Still, we managed to play the scenario through in decent time and hopefully didn't make too many errors on the rules or learn them wrong.

We rifled through the Pegasus Bridge rules and the rulebook for information on where the wind was blowing at the start of the game but couldn't find it. We ended up randomizing the wind, which forced the British player to land his gliders much further away from the bridge than would have been the case historically. Later on we spotted the predesignated wind direction on a different scenario card than the one we played, but the damage was done. The British attack was delayed by about a turn because of this and made the scenario more difficult for him to win.

Here's the action. I've embedded the commentary in the images to make it clearer.

So, the British failed to take the bridge but then again, the Germans failed to retreat over it. We decided to have a go at playing a campaign game while we're at it and recorded all necessary stuff for later use. The situation as it stands is that the British player will receive some reinforcements in the next couple of games but the German player (me) will receive nothing until dawn. There's not quite a platoon of conscripts guarding the bridge from Cafe Gondree so it will be interesting to see if anyone is left alive after the next scenario. The Germans will get their payback come dawn though, I'm sure.

Fire & Fury: Cedar Mountain 1862

The main event for our group on this year's Kinkkucon was the Battle of Cedar Mountain played with my 6mm ACW collection. We used the brigade Fire & Fury rules which are well suited for a game of this size. It seems our previous experience (we've gamed 1st Bull Run, a part of Chickamauga, Port Republic, Gettysburg day 1 and Antietam afternoon as bigger games using these rules) has paid off as the game progressed quickly without much need to consult the rules or anything.

I'll leave it to you to read up on the battle in Wikipedia should you be interested in the historical events. The scenario starts on the moment Crawford's union brigade gets the drop on Garnett and the surprise attack threatens to cave in the Confederate line.

Initial dispositions. Winder is about to receive a Union assault, A.P.Hill will arrive to assist and Ewell waits for a practicable moment to attack.

Union side, looking south.

Winder and Jackson are discussing the merits of lemon eating towards eliminating harmful humors when the Union forces commence the proceedings.

Garnett is taken by surprise.

Taliaferro is killed leading his brigade in a futile defence. So is Winder.. and Jackson.

A single brigade is isolated on the Confederate left.

Hill's troops start arriving on the scene, but the Confederate center is in chaos and they have to deploy into line far away from the fighting.

Brigades belonging to A.P.Hill's and Ewell's divisions attack the Union center in hopes of capturing the valuable guns on the other side.

A.P.Hill's advance through the woods is painfully slow. The Union forces give ground in the woods and flank the Confederate brigades in the field.

Despite the enfilade, the Louisiana brigade sends the Union defenders running. A shortage of ammunition plagues the boys in blue!

The entire Union artillery train fixes their guns on the Louisianans. A whopping total of 44 fire points is poured onto the Confederate ranks. a Roll of two results in only one stand being removed. Later, the artillery get another shot during the Louisianans' charge. 50 fire points and a roll of one. Two batteries are added to the tally of Forno's brigade. They truly earned their hardtack that day.

A.P.Hill bolsters the Confederate center. Things seem to settle down.

As darkness sets in, both sides attempt final charges without much effect. Brigades are pushed to and fro a couple of inches.

Final positions looking south. The line has stabilized. Ewell didn't make it into the fight with a majority of his division, as they were held in reserve for most of the game.

The game ended as an overwhelming victory for the Union with a VP difference of 30 points or something thereabouts. The initial Union success with their charge and breakthrough charge really made a difference, especially when they killed all the opposing generals involved! It meant that the historical Confederate counter was stalled because A.P.Hill had to deploy way back in the rear, and the Union forces could hold onto victory locations for quite a while. Still, it was a very entertaining game.