Ropecon 2014: Black Powder ACW & Bolt Action Winter War double feature

I was fortunate enough to be able to visit Ropecon this year. Ropecon is definitely the largest gaming convention in Finland, bringing together wargamers, boardgamers, roleplayers, larpers, cosplayers and what have you. It's quite a spectacle and I've missed it for about six years in a row now so I was happy to attend this time.

I played three games during the weekend. The beating I took in Epic Armageddon does not have any surviving images (luckily), but the ACW and Winter War games I participated in do.

I collaborated with the Nopat & Taktiikka association in arranging a Black Powder ACW game to demo during the weekend. My associated designed the scenario and provided some of the miniatures while I provided the terrain and most of the mini's. The scenario put us back in Gettysburg again and was a regimental level scenario going from the cavalry defence of McPherson's ridge on to the defence of Seminary Ridge. Here's the photos:

The scenario fit nicely on a 6x4 foot table. The elevations were made pretty ad-hoc with box lids and whatnot under the grass mat so it looks a bit bulky.

Buford's cavalry defends McPherson's ridge.

Some of my freshly painted dismounted cavalry. I have to take some more photos of these for you soon.

Union reinforcements arrive.

Union forces set up on Seminary ridge. The nice seminary building is from Total Battle Miniatures in case you wonder.

Confederates are preparing to assault seminary ridge.

Union artillery will make it tough to get up that ridge.

Reynolds is slowly retreating under pressure along the railway cut. (It's supposed to be an unfinished railroad, I know. I just wanted to use that railroad I finished last week)

Finally, the Conferedates mount their assault and cave in the Union left flank.

The scenario saw several new players come in and assume the command of a brigade or two during the day and I hope fun was had by all. The multitude of models definitely drew some attention from onlookers as they're more used to seeing WH40k armies.

Next up, I got a chance to take my Winter War Finns to the table as the same Nopat & Taktiikka crew arranged a Winter War demo table. I substituted most of their Finns with mine and played my first game of Bolt Action. The scenario is set during the battle of Raate road. The Soviets are sandwiched on a road between two Finnish forces and must organize a defense as Finns attack. The Finns cannot just sit back and shoot though, as they must capture two trucks on the road and time is against them.

The superb table and opening setup.

The Russians can get a bit of cover in ditches on both sides of the road.

My Finns on offence

The Russians organize...

But get an artillery barrage on top of them which leaves most of them pinned. The Finns fail to exploit this properly though.

On the other flank, the Soviets outnumber the Finns in the woods and attack successfully.

The road under attack.

Finns take cover in the woods and fire.

The situation at the start of the fourth turn. On one side of the road, the Finns are routed but fare better on the other side. The referee calls the final turn and the Finns are in a hurry to make the capture.

A desperate charge is successful, but the scenario ends as a draw nonetheless.

There you have it! I had a blast, thanks to all the players and the crew of Nopat & Taktiikka in particular!

Trolls and more

The dismounted cavalry remain lost. I have no idea where they are and have turned the place upside down. I wonder if I've managed to dump them in the trash alongside the mess I cleaned from the dollhouse project. If so, it is a sad loss.

It's snowing so I can't undercoat stuff to paint so I decided to try my hand at getting proper photos of those stone trolls I mentioned a while back. I think they turned out ok. I used the largest aperture value available, an exposure time of about half a second and ISO80. White balance was measured against the background. There's also a shot of the fresh Lutheran Seminary and of Skarsnik who would be commanding the trolls if I would ever want to play Warhammer Fantasy again. Let me know if you have hints on how to improve my photos. The scene is lit by two LED lamps with a screen of baking paper taped in front of them to diffuse the light. The pictures are clickable.

Gettysburg day 1 project & last games night.

"Sir, if you want to fight here, this is such lovely ground, it's the best damn ground I've seen all day." "It is that."

So, I'm back into figure painting mode. We'll be playing a good chunk of Gettysburg day 1 on the 7th of January and I've started work on it. The good news is that I have most of what I need already painted and done. I just need a few generals, some confederate artillery and Buford's cavalry division to get by. 50 figures minimum, about 250 at most. With my speed of 100 figures in an evening it shouldn't be difficult if I have the time.

I started out by painting the Lutheran Seminary building I bought off Total Battle Miniatures. It's a great centerpiece for the table and turned out all right. I had considerable trouble painting the brickwork, but it turned out good. The slight variations in the tone of the bricks I did doesn't show in the image.

Terrain-wise, I think I can manage by building a small section of stone wall to put near Oak hill, and by scratchbuilding some buildings for the portion of the Gettysburg town visible on the table. I'll leave out the fighting on Blocher's knoll as I don't have that many figures yet.

A slight problem with the project has arisen. I seem to have misplaced an entire division of dismounted cavalry. They were supposed to be the dismounted versions of Buford's division but I can't seem to find them anywhere. I undercoated them a few weeks ago and then.. nothing. I suppose this is what Lee felt when Stuart went missing! If they're truly lost, the game will lose some visual appeal as I don't have dismounted versions of the very central troops defending against the confederates on the early stages of July 1st. Ah well.

I'll also use the opportunity to log some games form a casual boardgames night with friends a couple of days ago. We played some Wings of War, Lexio, Guillotine and a overly long game of Zombies!!! I had forgotten why I haven't played it in years. Now I remember again. Not much happening and the game takes ages to play. I'm pretty much I'll sell my copy if I find someone willing to buy. Other than that, we had great fun though :)