Dispatches from the front XXXVI - A rare double header.

A little bit behind on posts of late, hopefully things should calm down in a couple of weeks once year end is out of the way, this real life stuff can seriously hinder hobby time.

Last weekend saw a rarity on the hobby front, a show and an all day game..... I suspect I will have to make up for that in the coming weeks, lets kick of with Hammerhead. A great show as always from Paul and Sally at Kallistra the hall was packed with plenty of games to chose from and most traders 2-3 people deep. I was reflecting on traders that were missing and the number that now concentrate their efforts on perhaps 3-4 shows a year, you can't blame traders given the cost of overnight accommodation and travel costs. That's a lot of margin to make up before you have even sold a pack of figures.

I did my bit with a nice haul from the show. I am trying to be more proactive so on the evening started to prep them before they disappeared into the draw of things I really must get round to finishing, it might allow me to get a little bit of prep across the week.

The haul Pendragon for the AWI Project with a number of additional buildings and phase three of the project, with more Militia, British Cavalry, Indians and more casualty markers. The under cloth hills from Kallistra will give me more options on the tabletop.

Finally a a couple of packs from Perry to bulk out the Christian forces for the Crusades, separating the Footsore Mini's from their larger cousins. The next game is scheduled for early April so no pressure to get them complete.

With barely time to recover Sunday saw a Wyre Forest all dayer with a dry run for the Alumwell show at the end of the month, I won't give the scenario away but it sees German mechanised forces take on Russian defenders.

Having a dry run gave us the opportunity to tweak the forces and ensure that the scenario moves at pace and gives a balance of troops for each side.

A big shout out to Howard from the club, knowing my Crusades project is underway he very kindly gifted me his "to do" pile... Very generous.... but wow the list of things to do is growing day by day....

Meanwhile back from hibernation the LOTR's campaign is back, over a year has passed since the last posting - Dust, Tears & Dice: LOTR Campaign - Back from the annuals of time. New purchases from my wargaming buddy has perhaps pushed Infamy to it's limits so we discussed switching to Lion/Dragon Rampant it will certainly give a faster play and both rule sets have enough characteristics for the various troops types. We will need to tweak the points for each campaign force but it should not take long to convert.

A greater tester game saw a win for the good guys.... shame it did not count. It was great to be able bring the campaign back to life, as always so many games, so little time.

Getting things done - February wrap up

Quick post this morning before heading out to the first show of the year Hammerhead....

Keeping up with the theme of getting stuff done, the last of Arab foot figures for the Crusades project.

These are from Gripping Beasts metal range, I followed the theme of the previous unit and given these chaps a more uniformed feel, still keeping with the occasional flash of Green or Purple. Spears have been swapped out to steel pins, far tougher but that little bit of jeopardy when you pick them up.

Shield Transfers are from Little Big Man Studios although I did have to a scalpel to a couple of banners to make shield transfers fit two of the mini's who's shields were oval shaped.

I suspect this will be used as Heavy Infantry with Lion Rampant and the more uniformed approach separating them out from their lighter comrades.

March should see the Christians hitting the paint table and hopefully the last of the Muslim cavalry.

If you are heading up to Newark today the Wyre Forest Club is running a game so feel free to drop by and say hello.

Hammerhead 2022 - The Fetterman Massacre 1866.

After two years, wonderful to get back on the show circuit and a visit to Hammerhead at the Newark show ground yesterday. Hammerhead is a great show, every game is participation game which makes for a really friendly atmosphere, it was great to catch up with loads of old friends and find out how many new projects they have been working on over the lockdown period.

For our part the Wyvern's took the 6mm Pony Wars on our travels with a refight of the Fetterman Massacre 1866. Players played the part of Fetterman's command fighting for their lives to escape Red Cloud's trap?

Captain Fetterman believed with 80 men he could ride through the Sioux nation, Red Cloud and Crazy Horse had other ideas. 

Once again the Wood Train coming out of Fort Phil Kearny was under attack by the Sioux, Fetterman led the relief party.

Spotting a group of native horsemen he ignored orders not to pursue the Indians over the ridge and was ambushed by over 2000 warriors.

Could players escape the trap and get back over the ridge before the Indians over ran his tiny command or hold out long enough for his own relief to arrive?

Fort Phil Kearny and Captain Eyck relief force mustering to response to the sound of battle.

Unfortunately I was far to busy to take any photo's of the game in play but needless to say it was not a good day for Fetterman who went down in history for all of the wrong reasons.

What a great days gaming, plenty of interest in how Sharp Practice can be converted into 6mm and how the adaptions work for gaming the native Americans.

The prep for Hammerhead gave me the push to finish the last of the terrain pieces, excellent castings from Leven Miniatures. The fort is a wonderful piece of kit, I left the buildings to allow me to move them around within the command.

The bell tents allow me to expand the fort compound or set up base camp for the cavalry on campaign and at £3.00 a pack great value for money.

The last couple of pieces useful for loads of scenario's. A log cabin or traders post and a church bringing religion to the prairie lands.

Until next time.....

Wyverns Wargamers on tour.

Not long to go now before the Wyverns take themselves on tour....

We shall be hitting the road this Saturday up to Hammerhead my favourite show of the year.

This years offering is a 10mm Indian Mutiny using Sharp Practice from Rich and the Too Fat Lardies gang. Can you clear the town of mutineers?

You can find us right by the bar and food so no excuses not to stop by and say hello. 

Then it's off to Salute where we are helping out our good friends at Kallistra with a great encounter between the Japanese invading Korea and at the Battle of the Imjin River 1592.

You can find us GM07

Hammerhead 2019 - The Battle of Croix-des-Bouquets 1792

A fantastic day yesterday at Hammerhead, great to meet up with some old friends and fellow bloggers who stopped by for a chat. We managed to sneak in a couple of games between conversations and hopefully converted a few people to explore Haiti and Sharp Practice.

 

The games were pretty evenly balanced, to adapt to the participation theme of the day, players were tasked with lowering the enemies morale on the basis they would have to withdraw from the field.

Players could drop in at any time so people got a flavour of the period and the rules, my wife helped out by adding in the unit cards to help people identify who they were and to link the game back to the historical scenario.  

 

The set up. This side of the table sees the French Whites deployed with Colonial Cavalry, elements from the Artois and Normandy regiments, a Company of Africans and Spanish War dogs.

 

The Dragoons of the National Guard and Artillery bolsters the ranks of the French Forces.

Holding the high ground at the Church of Croix-des-Bouquets the forces of Beauvais, Rigaud and Yacinth.

 

Yacinth was only 21 and the vast majority of her troops were rebellious slaves armed only with
knives, spears, hoes, and iron poles.

Onlookers at the Church gather to watch the ensuing battle.

The view from across the battlefield, the terrain is some what undulated which gave for some valuable dead ground to shelter from the French Cannon fire. The plantation field gave partitial cover but did not slow movement.

The first battle was a confused affair with the Mulattoes and free coloured people advancing down the left flank whilst the bulk of the Slave forces faced off in the crop fields.

Rigaud a significant leader of the rebellion fired a volley into the war hounds reducing their number but not enough to stop the dogs tearing into them driving them from the field. However victory was short lived as the Witch doctor of the slave army urged his people forward catching the remaining dogs and handlers in the flank.

 

The French line infantry let loose a volley looking to drive the slaves back.

A highlight of game two as the Colonial Cavalry finally make their mark, having been subjected to skirmish fire for most of both games, they are determined to get revenge on someone, anyone, burning 4 flags they charge down the centre of the table, catching the skirmishers who are unable to run fast enough.

Not content with that, the next round they push on into the flank of the defending mullato militia driving them backwards, until they are finally brought to ground by a slave unit who pull the riders from their horses and reduce them to less than 3 figures.

The French line cheer on the cavalry as they charge forward.

In the final moments of game Two Yacinth is killed by a member of the Artois Regiment pulling the insurgent morale down by two valuable points. 

Game two draws to a close with another French White victory by a single point.

It was nice to get some of the new toys on the table, with a number of the club players holding commands in the campaign there is something to learn on forces and tactics, each force was around 70 points in Sharp Practice, everyone is now thinking cavalry.

I am considering making a minor tweak to forces available on the encounters to give people some local forces to bolster the games or we might have some very small encounters.

The dates for next year are already out.... Saturday 14th March.

We are already down for another game next year, espically given our Flash Gordon game from last year is on the flier :-)

 

One sleep until Hammerhead..

Well it's been a push and with some last minute painting this evening the last of the pieces for tomorrow are complete.

The Wyverns will be presenting the Battle of Croix-des-Bouquets, Haiti March 1792

Chased from Port-au-Prince, the army of Mulattoes and free coloured people commanded by Beauvais and Rigaud reformed at La Croix-des-Bouquets. The arrival of this troop caused an uprising of slaves of the Plain of the Cul-de-Sac. They were armed only with knives, spears, hoes, and iron poles, and their chief was Yacinth, who was only 21 years old. The insurgent slaves joined the army of Beauvais and Rigaud.

The Whites of Port-au-Price decided to attack this rally on March 22, the infantrymen and dragoons of the National Guard of Port-au-Prince reinforced by detachments of the Regiment of Normandy and the Regiment of Artois went to meet the insurgents.

The fight began at La Croix-des-Bouquets. 

The French writer Victor Schœlcher of the nineteenth century, in his book Vie de Toussaint Louverture described this episode: 

"The blacks brought by Yacinthe, almost all Africans, were scarcely armed with knives, pikes, hoes, and iron poles; but fanaticized by their wizards, convinced that they would be resurrected in Africa if they were killed, they threw themselves on the bayonets without caring for the fires of platoons which decimated them. They clung to the horses of the dragons they dismounted by being slashed. Yacinthe, with a bull's tail in her hand, roamed their ranks, shouting that she was chasing death. Men were seen rushing on the guns, holding them hugged to prevent them from leaving and being killed without letting go. Others were found thrusting their arms into the mouths of the pieces to tear out the balls and call their comrades, shouting: Come, come; we hold them."

 

It could be a bloody affair so I have completed a number of extra shock markers for both sides. A useful addition from the guys at Trent Miniatures. With some French National Guard of the Freemen can get close. 

 If you are coming down tomorrow be sure to stop by.

Hammerhead 2018 - Flash Gordon

Back from Hammerhead what is perhaps the best show on the circuit.

We opted for something a little easier to pick up and play largely due to the boot being filled with stuff for the table sale.

A simple four way fight between Flash, Vultan, Ming and the Aborians....

Having been moved back to the 28th April due to the snow. The show seemed really busy this year. For the first time we moved out of the main hall to the Gamers Lounge across the car park. It did not seem to effect footfall despite having to risk getting a soaking on the way over.

We had the benefit of carpet and proper sitting and a bar...

  

The show seems to hold peoples attention for far longer than most shows there was still plenty of activity past 3.00pm, I can only assume this is due to the amount of people that come to play or the chance to win £75 worth of gaming goodies with a raffle ticket issue for every game you play.

Great to see so many kids and families getting involved with gamers engaging with everyone who stopped by.

 

The game was well recieved by those who took a seat to play, with each session taking no more than 30-40 minutes it was fast and bloody. We were using the playtest version of the Star Eagle rules by Ganesha Games

They are somewhat behind on the launch date as they are releasing their own range of ships but the rules work for any range including Flash Gordon....

The War Rocket ships look great and with the rules having a simple rule mechanism we could rattle through the games pretty quickly holding peoples attention for each outing even when they did not know the rules.

Vultan and his Hawkmen pilots came out on top by the close of play due largely due to 'Rebecca' the fighter ace who beat us all soundly in every game.
Knocking up an impressive 5 kills.

A fun days gaming with plans afoot for next year.
Will Ming be back?